Kingdom of the Gods

x.x.x

"You're so tense. It wouldn't hurt as much if you would just relax."

"…"

"You act like you've never done this before. I thought all modern day teenagers experimented with this at some point or another."

"…I don't know who you've been talking to, but I have never experimented with recreational masochism."

"Heh, I've never heard it called that before. But, it's fine by me. It's better with virgin flesh anyway. Goes in so much easier without the buildup of scar tissue to get through. You see?"

"Ow!"

"Don't be a baby. It wasn't even that deep. I'm almost done away… There, finished. You can look now."

Seto Nishimura let out the breath he had been holding, opening his eyes and taking a look at Bakura's handiwork. Cut into the skin on his chest was Bakura's name, written in Egyptian hieroglyphics, and framed by a rather crudely carved cartouche. It was bleeding all down his front, and stung rather badly when Seto used part of a sheet to wipe the blood away.

Seto almost wished that he had been rendered unconscious when Bakura had taken his soul. Because this alternative was most decidedly worse than a blank oblivion. When Bakura told him to do something… it was as if he had no choice but to obey. No amount of willpower could make him do otherwise. So when Bakura had told him to sit still, then produced a pocketknife and began to carve his name in Seto, no amount of pain could make Seto even twitch.

"Is this some sort of fucked up way of marking your territory?" Seto muttered, getting up to rummage around the room's small bathroom for bandages.

Bakura lounged in one of the chairs, his eyes glittering with twisted delight, absently licking away Seto's blood from his knife. "You should thank me for only using your chest for my canvas. My first choice would have been your ass. Every time you tried to sit down and couldn't, you'd think of me. The Pharaoh would get so jealous."

"The Pharaoh?" Seto paused in bandaging over his wounds. "You mean Yami?"

"Is that what he's calling himself these days? Darkness?" Bakura snorted, shaking his head in mild amusement. "He always did have a sense of the dramatic."

Seto decided not to comment that Bakura was even more of a drama-queen than Yami was. After all, you learned to keep your snide remarks to yourself when in the presence of a whacko that currently held possession of your soul. He'd noticed that Bakura had a startling fascination with blood, and he didn't want to give him another chance to cut him up.

"Anyway," Seto finally muttered, having bandaged himself up as best as he could. Reluctantly he left the bathroom, glaring at Bakura before retrieving his shirt from the ground. "Can I go now?"

"Mmm…" Bakura examined him with a critical eye for a moment, before nodding. "Yes, you can go. But don't think you're escaping me. I can find you, wherever you go."

"Uh-huh," Seto muttered, turning to leave.

"Oh! One more thing." Bakura smiled as Seto paused at the doorway. "Don't bother telling your little friends about this. It'll be… ah, our little secret for a while, hmm?"

Seto gave him one last glare, before leaving without another word. Bakura just grinned, lounging in the chair. Perhaps Seto was only a consolation prize, but he was still quite the prize. This had… quite a lot of potential. It may take him a little longer to obtain the Millennium Puzzle, but at least he had a new diversion to entertain himself with in the meantime…

And he was sure Seto would prove to be very entertaining…

x.x.x

Seto took his time in finding his way back to Yugi's room. He knew he should be completely furious with the way things had turned out, but mostly he was just tired. He was getting really tired of all this magic mucking up things in his life. Everything was so simple when it was just him, Mokuba and Yugi, with none of this business with the Millennium Puzzle whatever and spirits and freaks stealing peoples' souls. He almost regretted ever meeting Yami. That was when this whole mess had gotten started.

But there was really no use in blaming Yami, Seto decided with a sigh, peering at the room numbers and trying to determine if he was going in the right direction. Things would have been simpler if he hadn't met the spirit. But he had met Yami, and in some weird way, Yami was his friend. And obviously Mokuba really liked Yami as well. That's the way things were, and it was no use wishing they were otherwise.

"Seto?" A soft voice broke him out of his considerations.

Seto groaned, mentally cursing the Powers that Be. Of all the people to be on this ship… it just had to be his own personal rich-boy-brat stalker.

"Noa," Seto muttered, turning to glare at the boy standing behind him. "What are you doing here?"

Noa Kaiba looked absolutely delighted to have found Seto. And before Seto could stop him, Noa had practically tackled him, hugging him tightly.

"Ah! Get off!" Seto growled, shoving Noa away from him. "What is your problem? Why do you keep following me? If I have to get a restraining order, I swear I will…" Now, if I could only get one of those to keep Bakura away from me…

"I can't believe it!" Noa said happily. "I've been looking all over the place for you, I just knew you had to be on this ship somewhere."

"Yeah, well, you found me," Seto said. "And in a second, you'll wish you hadn't. Why did you steal those schematics off my desk?"

Noa's eyes widened, and he took a short, retreating step backward. "I, er… didn't mean to…"

"You didn't mean to?!"

"No! I mean," Noa made a nervous dismissive gesture. "I hoped you wouldn't notice. Or maybe you'd forget about it?"

"You're kidding me." Seto groaned, feeling the beginnings of what promised to be a truly brilliant migraine.

"Seto…?" Noa's attentions had diverted, and he was now staring oddly horrified at Seto's shirt. "You're bleeding."

"What?" Seto looked down to where the blood from Bakura's "marking" had seeped through the bandages, and was starting to stain the shirt fabric. "Crap. Look, Noa, I have to go. Just… stay away from me, and maybe I won't throw you overboard, alright?" Seto didn't wait for an answer to that, simply took off running and prayed he would, by sheer luck, somehow find his way back to Yugi's room.

Seto didn't know how he found his way back to the right corridor during his little mad dash, he was just glad that he did. He slowed down a little to count the room numbers, until finally coming across Yugi's. He rested against the door for a moment, catching his breath and wondering how he was supposed to explain the blood on his shirt, before he finally knocked.

"Yugi? It's Seto…"

He'd barely finished speaking when the door flew open, and Mokuba tackled him so hard that Seto fell over.

"Big brother, we were so worried about you!" Mokuba announced, babbling as he held his brother in a death grip. "What happened? What was all of that? Was that really Ryou? Yami says it wasn't, he's almost sure he remembers that guy from somewhere but he's not sure where, but if that's not Ryou then where is Ryou, and- …Seto, you're bleeding."

"I know." Seto was simply relieved that Bakura had been true to his word, and had returned Mokuba's soul. That, at least, was one thing to be grateful for in this whole mess. "Mokuba, you're kinda heavy."

"Oh. Sorry." Mokuba got to his feet, offering Seto a hand up.

"You had us all worried," a deep, slightly breathless voice murmured from the doorway.

Seto frowned at Yami, noting that the spirit looked, well, dead. Like a walking corpse. Yami was pale, and obviously trying very hard to conceal the great amount of pain he was in. "I could say the same for you," Seto said. "What are you doing back out? You're not going to get better if you keep straining yourself."

"I'm not going to get better until I get my soul back from Pegasus," Yami countered. "Besides, Mokuba was really worried about you. I thought I would stay out and wait for you with him."

"I asked him to," Mokuba added softly. "Don't be mad, Seto."

"I'm not mad," Seto said. "Just tired. I need to sit down." He brushed past the both of them, moving into the room and plopping down with relief in one of the overstuffed armchairs. "Yami, you really ought to go back and get some rest."

Yami ignored that, leading Mokuba back inside, closing the door and frowning at Seto. "What did he do to you?" It was more of a demand than a question.

Seto would have liked to tell Yami exactly what had happened with Bakura. Maybe Yami would know a way to fix it. But Bakura had told him to keep it a secret, and so all he managed to say was, "Nothing."

Yami said something in Egyptian that probably translated into "bullshit." "You're bleeding. You weren't when you left. What did he do?"

"Seto, you know you can tell us," Mokuba murmured softly.

"No, I really can't," Seto answered. "Please, don't ask me again."

Yami's eyes narrowed, but he reluctantly let the conversation drop. "We'll find out eventually, you know."

Seto nodded, offering a weak smile. "That's what I'm counting on."

x.x.x

Malik smiled in satisfaction as the island came into view. Already he could feel the prying gaze of Pegasus' Millennium Eye on him as the yacht drifted toward the docks. Malik probably could have hidden himself from Pegasus with the use of his own Millennium Item, but he didn't see the need. Let Pegasus know he was coming.

Pegasus was at first surprised to find that he had a few extra guests on the way. Early, no less. After all, the ship bringing the others to Duelist Kingdom wasn't due for several hours. So who was this 'Malik' that approached his island so audaciously? Pegasus mused over that as he casually sifted through Malik's mind with his Millennium Eye.

This Malik wanted something, wanted it with a passion bordering on obsession. And for some reason, he was certain that Pegasus had that something, whatever it was. Pegasus brushed back some of his silver hair, his Millennium powers trying to delve in deeper to the mind of this stranger, to find out what that "something" was.

A great darkness rose up in Malik's mind before Pegasus could get far, however. It was like a second presence, a tainted, maliciously wicked darkness, clawing its way over the link of the Millennium Eye, its evil reaching, stretching across the mental distance.

Pegasus snapped the link closed before that darkness could reach him and infect his own mind. There was definitely more to this Malik than even his Eye could see. He could tell that this tournament would be interesting indeed.

x.x.x

"We're here," Ishizu murmured to her brother.

Malik blinked, turning to look at her. He'd been staring off into the distance ever since they had docked, without seeming to really see the place. "Oh, yes. Alright then. This would be your last chance, Ishizu. You don't have to come, you know."

"I know," Ishizu answered gently. "We've already had this discussion. I'm coming. Unless you've changed your mind?"

Malik's dark, wicked smile flashed briefly. "Not a chance." He turned his back on her, moving among his robed followers as they disembarked.

Ishizu sighed and followed after him. It had been worth a try, anyway. A slight shiver passed through her as she set foot on the dock. Three Millennium Items already here, in one place. In a matter of hours, more would be coming. This would prove… interesting.

She looked back over the ocean, silently pleading with the horizon, hoping beyond hope to see the cruise ship come into view. "Hurry, Pharaoh," she whispered. "We will soon have need of you."