A/N: Wow, it's been a while since I last updated. Thought I'd forgotten didn't you? Well, I proudly present: CHAPPIE 6!
Disclaimer: I don't own it and I'm too tired to think of a snappy way to say that I don't own it, so just accept it and move on to the story, okay?
Ten Little Duel Monsters
"WHAT!" Serenity yelled, wide-eyed.
"How!" Ribbon asked.
"I don't know. We were walking along the beach, which is very high in elevation, looking for the murderer, when all of a sudden Tristan yelled. I turned around and saw him fall off of the cliff, clutching his shoulder."
"And you didn't think to dive into the water and save him?" Serenity asked.
"The water on the bottom of that cliff is covered in rocks. He landed on one. There's no way her survived."
"Wait a minute," Serenity said, frowning. "You and Tristan were the only people on that cliff when he fell off, right?"
"Yeah. A tree branch fell on Marik's collarbone, so he left. So?"
Kaiba was all alone. He could have pushed Tristan off of the cliff himself, and no one would know! Serenity glared at Kaiba.
You know, Marik was totally alone, thought Ribbon. He could have slipped off, sneaked up on Tristan, pushed him off and then run!
There was an awkward silence. Then Ryou said, "You know, we really shouldn't leave Tristan's body down there."
"Why not?" Kaiba asked apathetically.
"Listen, let's find Marik and let the girls stay with him while we go and bring Tristan's body back up."
"But Ryou-" Serenity said, shooting a frantic glance at Kaiba. You'll be all alone with Kaiba!
"It's okay," Ryou said. As they began to walk back towards the castle, he whispered in her ear, "If Kaiba comes back and says that I've been murdered, then you'll know it's him. You, Ribbon, and Marik will have been together, so none of you could have done it. You'll have enough evidence to convince everyone that it's Kaiba, so you can tie him up or something until the boat comes back tomorrow."
"But you'll be dead!" Serenity whispered fearfully.
"But you, Ribbon, and Marik won't be," he pointed out.
"What are you two whispering about?" Kaiba asked.
"Nothing," Ryou replied as he walked away from Serenity, leaving her no chance to argue.
Hefting a rope, Kaiba and Ryou returned to the cliffs.
"Climb down and tie this around him," said Kaiba, offering the rope to Ryou.
"Me? Why don't you?"
"What, are you afraid I'm going to push you down while your back is turned?"
"Not quite. I just don't trust you."
"FINE. I'll go down." Slowly, Kaiba climbed down the cliff and tied the rope securely around Tristan's body. "Okay, lift him!"
With a grunt, Ryou began to lift Tristan. Man, this guy is HEAVY. I wish Kaiba would come up here and help. Much to his despair, however, Kaiba remained down on the rocks, watching Tristan's body rise. "What are you doing!"
"Making sure to catch him if he falls."
"He's already dead! Could you come up and help me!"
"Do it yourself. I don't want to have to come back down if the rope unties or breaks."
Ryou sighed in exasperation. He began to walk backwards, holding the rope, gradually bringing Tristan back. When his chore was finally done, he waited until Kaiba returned to the top of the cliff before grabbing hold of Tristan's legs and, with Kaiba's help, returning him to the mansion.
After kicking on the door, Ryou was relieved to see Marik open the door with his good hand, not thinking that Serenity and Ribbon would enjoy the sight of Tristan's body. Albeit, he had died on impact, so very little blood had leaked out of his wounds, but he thought it might be disturbing. He continued to move forward on autopilot, until he and Kaiba reached the cool cellar, where they had been storing the bodies. Ryou shuddered at the sight of his four other fallen friends, and felt glad that his yami wasn't there to take joy in it.
"I'm so glad you're okay!" Serenity and Ribbon cried in unison, both enveloping Ryou in a hug (Kaiba stood to the side, feeling slightly left out). Ryou was hard put to ask them to let go, as they both continued to cling onto his arm. Kaiba, to cover his embarrassment at being so sappy as to feel annoyed that nobody cared that he came back alive, swept off to examine Marik's collarbone. He lightly touched it with his index finger.
"OH MY RA! THAT HURTS!" yelled Marik, accompanied by a few other choice words.
"It's broken," Kaiba said simply. "Your arm will have to be put in a sling until we can get it properly looked at. In the meantime, I'd also advise that you take some painkillers."
"Did you bring some?" Marik asked sourly, breathing heavily.
"No, but this stupid house has everything and its auntie (A/N- I didn't know the exact saying, so I wrote what sounded somewhat like it. Forgive me! (cries)). I'm guessing that it would have painkillers."
Ryou, accompanied by Ribbon and Serenity, walked off to the kitchen to search for the desired medication. Kaiba, meanwhile, entered his room, calling back to Marik, "Stay there." A few moments later, a ripping sound was heard, and Kaiba re-emerged with a large piece of bedsheet. "Now hold still and don't make a sound."
Marik gritted his teeth as Kaiba wrapped the sheet around his arm, up and over his neck. As Kaiba finished, Marik let out a quiet scream, almost inaudible.
Ryou returned with the painkillers, the two girls once again trailing behind him like duckings, carrying a glass of water. Marik popped two pills into his mouth and took a sip of water, swallowing them.
"Now what?" Kaiba asked moodily.
"I think we should eat dinner and go to bed early," Ribbon said. "After all, the boat will be here tomorrow morning, and then this nightmare will end."
"Sounds good to me," said Marik.
Ribbon, Ryou, and Serenity left to cook dinner.
"I see that sicko killer has left his calling card again," Marik said grimly as he picked at the plate of chicken in front of him.
"What do you mean?" Ryou asked.
Marik gestured to the china figures. "The Cyber Commander is missing."
"Doesn't he or she normally smash them?" Ryou asked, confused.
"I cleaned it up while I was setting the table," said Ribbon. "I just couldn't stand to see the little pieces everywhere. In fact, I've cleaned up all of the smashed pieces." Her voice held a hint of resentment at the fact that they had left such a macabre task to her. "But I never cleaned up the Red Eyes Black Dragon. I don't know what happened to it."
"I have it," said Serenity, pulling the napkin that held the broken pieces of the china figure out of her pocket.
"You're carrying around a smashed china figure that represents your brother's dead body!" Kaiba asked incredulously.
Serenity glared at him, eyes filling with tears, before she picked up the napkin again and fled from the room.
Maybe it's not that Ribbon girl. Maybe it's the Wheelerette. I mean, she's quiet, she cries at the simplest question and... it just seems so logical! He noticed everyone staring at him. "What?"
"Way to go, Kaiba," Ribbon said coldly. "You made her cry again." She slammed her silverware on her plate and left, soon followed by a silent Ryou.
Kaiba continued to eat alone. If they wanted to starve for the rest of the night, it was their decision.
Ryou woke the next morning with one thought on his mind: We're going home today! He rose from his be, dressed, and left his room when he heard a retching and splattering sound from down the hall.
Ribbon was bent over in front of the open door to one of the rooms, a pool of vomit in front of her, and tears running down her face, along with rivulets of sweat. Alarmed, Ryou quickly ran over and pulled her upwards. She yelled and hit him, saw who it was, and then began to cry into his shoulder. Ryou began to walk closer to the doorway when Ribbon pushed him away, trying to speak through her sobs. "Don't go... look... don't look at him! It's ghastly...horri...don't look..." She gulped.
"Ribbon, what happened? Can you tell me?"
"Get...Kaiba...don't let Ser...ty out of...room... Don't let... her look... YOU don...look..."
"Okay, I'll go get Kaiba. Can you make it down the stairs?" he asked, not wanting to leave her alone. She nodded vigorously.
Halfway down the stairs, Ribbon's knees gave way, and she collapsed. Ryou lifted her up onto her feet, walked a few more steps, and saw her collapse again. In a frantic fog, he picked her up and carried her the rest of the way down, then set her on the last step and knocked on Kaiba's door. Within a few seconds, the CEO was in the doorway.
"What?"
"Ribbon wants you..." Ryou couldn't think of a better way to say it.
"Why?"
"I don't know. Ask her."
Ribbon felt her head being forced up (it had been buried in her knees) and saw Kaiba's face through her tears.
"What do you want?"
Ribbon tried to explain. "In Marik's room...can't watch...go look."
Kaiba shrugged and left for Marik's room to find the door open, then walked in, and knew immediately why Ribbon hadn't wanted anyone else in the room.
Marik lay on his bed, his neck slit open, blood staining his bed so badly that almost all but the very bottom of the bed had turned red. He had the Millennium eye drawn on his forehead, and the Millennium Rod, stained with his blood, was clutched in his hand.
Kaiba, for all his strength, could not stand to be in the room. He fled.
A/N: Oh, I had to kill Marik! So SAD! (sniff) I know it's been a while since I updated last, but this chapter was hard to write! Plus I've had an abnormal amount of homework/tests. And then finals are coming, and I have to count on them to pull my grades up --U. In fact, I wrote this when I should be writing my 750-word essay on Panama. I'm such a procrastinator.
Seto's Obbsessive Stalker: Don't skip lunch! It's bad for your health! (Not that I can talk, I'm going to have to type the next installment during lunch because of the B's and C on my report card preventing me from using my computer...)
TCD0012: Really? You need to read it! It's such a good book! And good theory, although I'm not saying if it's right or wrong
Coolgirlmich: Do you speak German? The reason I'm asking is the "mich" in your name could be German for "me." (I've been taking German for five years so I'm a tad bit obsessed, but whatever). I didn't put Yami in the story because Yugi died so early, and I don't think the yami's can take over the hikari's bodies when they're dead, or else Ryou would have died as soon as he got the ring, so Bakura could run around free, wreaking havok. Although at first, the ending to this story was going to be that Bakura killed Ryou and killed everyone while pretending to be him. But that's not the ending now.
SiriusIsthar: Well, Kaiba already is a murderer (the thing with his adopted dad? Or does suicide count as being murdered if you were driven? Whatever). You were right about Marik dying (poor Marik). And you suspect Ryou now? Way to be original and not suspect Ribbon, Ryou, Pegasus, or Kaiba!
BoredAsCrap: Not telling you if you're right or wrong... do you still suspect Marik?
JessiePotter: Well, Marik's dead. You were right. Why does everyone have ESP? And true, Mai could have had a lot of star chips left over. Maybe she did...
Revan Starr: Ah, I know the effects of sugar. I just got back from a two-day OotM road trip/competition, and we were all seriously DRUNK off sugar. We started making potato sculptures and throwing them at each other. And then we all went to eat Chinese food and two of the others got engaged... at fifteen (jokingly, of course) because their fortune cookies both told them that happiness was right next to them and they were sitting together.
Rachel: You don't know who it is? THANK RA! One of my friends took one look at the first chapter and said right off the bat, "It's (insert-killer's-name-here)" and I wondered how obvious I could be! Thank you for raising my self-esteem!
Tristan: llll
Kaiba: lll
Pegasus: llll
Ribbon: ll
Mai: ll
Ryou: ll
Yugi: l
Bakura: l
Alister: l
Marik: l