Author's note: Hey peoples how've you been? Nothing new to report…nope I've got nothing, on with the fic!
Reviewers:
Daikaio: What can I say; I love cliffhangers! (At least when I have a clue as to what will happen) Anyway sorry for the late update.
Kuramarulez: Yeah I feel I've excluded Marik from the last couple of chapters, it's time I let him have some fun. And yes, I actually got Kaiba to admit to believing in magic, (shrugs shoulders) I think I gave him enough incentive. (Looks at Kaiba who is sulking in corner) Doesn't mean he's happy about it though!
S. Chensu and Luff: I know! I'm such a mean author; picking on all those helpless ocs, they never stood a chance. If you're a sadist for finding my writing funny, what does that make me? I'm glad someone likes the orbs; the idea came up on me at the very last minuet too! They might appear a few more times in this fic, but I'm not sure. They will defiantly be in the somewhat sequel though. Any way thanks for the review!
butterflybg: Thank you for reviewing, even though you didn't actually read the chapter yet, it's nice to know you like it so much you're willing to put in a little time to review the chapter.
Kurai no uyoku: Thank you for your four reviews, I'm glade you think my writing's funny. You don't know how excited I was; I checked my mailbox and I was all "Gasp! I've got so many e-mails!"
Juel Haruna: Yep, I liked how the last chapter turned out. Yami's back, he even made up with Yugi, and Marik's about to unleash a radioactive hamster on the unsuspecting people of Domino.
Warnings: Slight language, and Marik craziness.
Disclaimer: Me no own. (Isn't my ability to use the English language wonderful?)
All I Want for Christmas
Chapter 27: 'Harmless' Pranks
The psychopath entered the dimly light room, hand grasping on the wall for a light switch. A soft click brought a dim glow to the cold tiled room. Along one side of the morgue was a long row of metal panels used to keep the remains of those that had passed on.
The metallic doors closed with a soft thud as Marik fully entered the room. "Hmm…" The gears in the madman's head began to turn as his eyes fell on a steel stretcher left in the middle of the floor.
Squeak?
"What?" Marik peeled his eyes off the stretcher and on to the brown hamster. "You want to know why we're here? I'm formulating a plan."
The little rodent bobbed his head up and down.
Squeak, squeak, squeak!
"No," Marik shook his head at the hamster's suggestion. "Desecrating tombs is more of Bakura's thing. Besides its no fun torturing the dead, they can't scream."
Squeak!
The psycho turned his attention back to the stretcher, "But the living can scream quite nicely. Heh, heh…" Marik smirked wickedly. "Come Mecomed." The dark soul said while he started pushing the steal trolley towards the exit, "This is going to be extremely fun."
5 minuets later
Marik had come to the room of a middle-aged man. According to his charts, the man had come in for a bypass.
"Hey what's going on doc?" The man asked startled out of his sleep as Marik flicked on the lights of the room.
"I'm sorry, but it seems like I'm going to have to take a scan, there seems to be more blockage then we first anticipated."
The man, still looking a bit disgruntled at being woken up asked, "This didn't affect my surgery did it?"
"No, we just want to make some extra precautions, to make sure everything is fine."
"Well can't it wait till morning? It's late." The man let out a deep yawn to emphasize his point.
"Hmm…let me see…" Marik walked over with the clipboard he snatched off the door of the room.
"And I don't want to have to pay for some damn test that I don't need!" The man continued unaware of the particularly creepy look the 'doctor' was giving him.
"I'm sorry sir," And with one swift movement the dark soul whacked the man upside the head with the clipboard, "but this can not be delayed." Marik finished as the man slumped forward.
The madman began to cackle as he laid the unconscious man on the steal cart and placed a cloth over his body.
5 minuets later
"See Mecomed," Marik told his hamster as he slide the hospital patient into an empty compartment, "This is much better then messing with dead bodies. Although…I think we might be able to have some more fun."
With a click the metal compartment was locked and the psycho tuned to a compartment already occupied by a…less lively subject.
Another 5 minuets later
Marik was snickering quietly to himself all while he placed the cadaver in the now empty bed where the patient had rested a few minuets earlier.
Squeak!
"Heh, Heh, Yes excellent idea!" Marik agreed while patting his hamster, "Accomplishing all these evil deeds is hard work, lets find the cafeteria."
Elevator (Ten minuets earlier)
Ding!
"OWW! WHEN WILL EVERYTHING STOP BEING LOUD!" Duke yelled into the hall plugging a finger in his ears as he did so.
Tristan's eyebrow twitched irritably, the raven-haired teen's shouting was making his migraine increase. "The only one being loud is you!" he hissed.
"The side effects should wear off soon." Isizue reassured everyone.
"THAT'S GOOD!"
Everyone else groaned as Duke displayed once again that he had no way of judging how loud he was being.
"Hey isn't that the doctor from before?" Mokuba pointed to a doctor who was franticly looking back and fourth in the area they had been sitting in earlier.
"Hey, maybe Yami has shown some improvement already!" Joey said as he led the group to where the man stood. "Hey doc, what's up?"
"Uh, ahh, well…" The doctor looked a bit lost for words now that he had actually found the group. "Is Mr. Mutou here?"
"Yug had to leave somewhere real quick." Joey explained.
"But we could pass on any information you could give us." Tea continued.
Duke unplugged his fingers from his ears; things suddenly seemed to sound not as loud anymore.
The doctor shock his head, he appeared troubled, "No, no, I mean have you seen the other Mr. Mutou?"
"What?" Duke breathed.
"You mean Yami?" Kaiba raised a questioning eyebrow, the doctor nodded gravely.
"How could you loss a critically injured patient?" Malik asked in disbelief.
"I…I don't know!" The doctor's face turned an ashen color. "One minuet we were operating, the next poof, he's gone."
"Poof?" Tea asked weakly.
"What!" Duke asked with a bit more force.
"All that's left was a bullet and a hospital gown." The doctor explained, "I've never seen anything like it before."
An eerie silence fell over the group as the doctor continued, "We will try to find him." And strode off with out another word.
"Did we…um…kill him?" Serenity asked meekly.
"No, that's not what happened. Right?" Joey looked at Malik for confirmation but the Egyptian only turned to his sister.
"Isizue?" The lavender-eyed teen looked questioningly to the raven-haired woman.
The blue-eyed woman remained quiet for a moment in thought, "The spell wouldn't have harmed him, but something has been nagging at me." Isizue confessed.
"Humph, the answer's simple." Kaiba put on his 'I know all' face.
"Since when are you an expert in magic?" Tristan challenged.
"Think of it like a computer, we sent information but didn't specify where to send it to, the data's lost somewhere."
"WHAT!" Duke yelled.
Joey ignored the emerald-eyed teen's outburst and made one of his own. "Why the hell didn't you say something earlier!"
"How was I suppose to know what would happen?" Kaiba answered smugly. "Besides Isuzue did tell us not to interrupt while she was…'chanting'."
"WHAT!"
Now everyone turned to Duke as he shouted even louder.
"Dude what's wrong with you that's all you've been saying for the past five minuets." Tristan looked to the other teen.
Duke's reply was another, "What?"
"He went from having super sensitive hearing to not being able to hear a thing." Joey realized.
"Oh no!" Serenity gasped.
"Amazing, I find this highly amusing yet extremely annoying at the same time." Kaiba smirked.
"I DON'T WANT A LIME!" Duke shouted to the C.E.O. who immediately scowled.
"Ok, annoying is winning out." The brunet then turned to Isizue, "When will he be normal?" 'If such a thing is possible for any of these people.'
"The effects of the spell should last temporarily." Isizue replied wearily for the second time.
"WHY WOULD YOU WANT TO DATE A CHIMPANZEE?"
Tea slapped a hand to her forehead, "Can we focus on the bigger problem? Yami is still missing."
"Yeah where could he have gone?" Tristan muttered.
"Almost anywhere, with the luck we've been having." Malik answered.
"Well let's start with the hospital." Tristan said pulling Duke in one direction, "Come on Duke, let's go find Yami."
"SURE, I COULD GO FOR SOME SALAMI."
There was a collected groan as the two teens left.
"I'll head down this way." Malik pointed behind him, Odion soon followed.
"Ok sis, let's take this hall." Joey motioned before slapping a hand over his sister's eyes.
"Joey?" Serenity asked in confusion.
"You heard the doctor we got a potentially naked Pharaoh on our hands."
At this a blush crept to both Tea's and Serenity's faces.
"I'll go this way…" Tea trailed off, eyes now cast determinedly at the ceiling.
"I'll stay here in case the doctor has anything else to tell us." Isizue said taking a set.
"Fine." Kaiba and Mokuba headed down the last corridor.
It was only after every one left did Isuzue realize what was wrong with the waiting room, "Where's Marik!"
Parking Lot
Solomon Mutou slammed the door of the taxicab as two other pairs of feet exited the other side of the car. The man was beside himself. He had just returned home from the airport to pick up Author Hawkins's and his granddaughter Rebecca when the little flashing light of the answering machine caught his attention.
After hearing the frantic voice of his grandson giving him a very choppy explanation of why he and the others were at the hospital Solomon called a cab and the three headed off.
Now Mr. Mutou was rushing up the hospital's steps as fast as his short stature would allow him.
"Don't jump to any conclusions until we know exactly what happened Solomon." Professor Hawkins said, noticing his friend's anxiety.
"But Yugi did seem really worried on the message." Rebecca whispered tugging on her grandfather's sleeve.
Upon entering the hospital, the three were meet with utter chaos. In one corner a man was trying to console a pregnant woman.
"Honey is there something I can get you?" The man soothed.
"You can get me that doctor so I can rip his eyes out!" The woman snarled while clutching her swelled belly.
"You should lie down, you heard him; they aren't going to give us a room."
"I am not having this child on the floor!"
"But the next hospital's too far away dear…"
"I can hold it!"
"You can't stop the baby from coming. Please be reasonable…"
It was at this point the woman's eyes gained a very feral glint, "What did you say?" She asked very softly.
The man gulped, "I…I…just meant…" The soon-to-be-father stammered, "It's just that I don't want anything to happen to you or the baby so I think we should think clearly."
"And you think me giving birth on the floor is being reasonable?" The woman winced as another contraction hit. She took a breath after it stopped and glared at her husband, "I'll give you reasonable!" She yelled. "Someone get me an epidural!"
While this was going on another man ran around the room franticly.
Glasses askew, the man grabbed Professor Hawkins by his suit, "They're in my head." The man whispered.
Startled by such a statement the Professor asked, "What?"
"They're eating my brains!" The man shrieked before letting go of Author and started to claw at the top of his head.
"Now, now, why don't you calm down for a moment…" Mr. Mutou attempted to pacify the agitated man.
"Gahh! They won't come out!" And with that the man took off down another hall.
"Grandpa…" Rebecca began, uncertain of what just happened.
"Yes, I know Rebecca, that was quite odd."
"Joey!" Mr. Mutou had just spotted the blond enter the room with an auburn haired girl.
The brown-eyed boy looked to where his name had been called. "Oh! Gramps, you must have gotten Yug's message."
"Joey where are we going now?" Serenity asked still not able to see anything due to her brother's hands covering her face.
"We're gonna say hi to some people. Hey Professor, Rebecca."
"Joey, what's happened?" Mr. Mutou interrupted the introductions, wanting to know just what was going on.
"Don't worry Gramps, Yami's fine…hopefully…He's running around naked somewhere…I think." The blond blurted.
Mr. Mutou was not reassured by Joey's statement. Neither was Author or Rebecca.
"We're looking for him now." Serenity chipped in, "Well Joey is anyway…I'm starting to feel silly with you covering my face like this."
"What part of 'naked' don't you get sis? Come on we'll check down here." Joey said steering his sister in another direction.
"Rebecca perhaps we should wait back at the Game shop." Author suggested.
"Spare key is under the mat." Solomon quickly whispered to his friend. "I'll let you know what's going on as soon as this whole thing is sorted out." He then left to follow the blond.
Back Road Way
"Mai watch out!"
"Not you too Yami. I know how to drive." The blond huffed.
"You're going to hit that woman!" The Pharaoh yelled reaching over to the front in an attempt to grab the steering wheel.
The former ruler's hand was quickly smacked away by Mai who narrowly dodged the woman.
"Any closer and we'd be scrapping her off the windshield!" Bakura yelled.
"She was right in the middle of the road!" Mai yelled back in her own defense.
"And I suppose that mailbox just jumped out at us too." Ryou whispered, though the blond heard.
"Honestly, why are you guys so uptight?"
"I'm fine…" Yugi tried to convince himself more then the others that he was, in fact 'just fine'.
"We've already had enough near death experiences today, I'd like it if we could avoid any more." Yami stated diplomatically.
/Quick Ryou, you took lessons, I'll knock her out and you take the wheel of the chariot/
/Bakura, No/
"Here we are!" Mai announced as the car slide to a halt in an empty parking spot. "There, you boys have really got to learn to relax a little." The violet-eyed woman said briskly while exiting the vehicle.
Bakura took a breath before addressing his hikari, "On the way home we take Devlin's car!"
"Agreed." Ryou nodded eagerly while both got out of the convertible.
"It sounds like a good plan." Yugi smiled weakly, undoing his seat belt.
"Forget these death traps, we'll walk." Yami stated bluntly.
As the five entered the back entrance of the hospital they came upon a middle aged woman and a nurse.
"Please have a set." The nurse began; the woman obeyed, setting herself down on one of the hallway's chairs.
"Mrs. Dolton, I'm sorry to be the one to tell you this but," The nurse paused to take a breath.
Mrs. Dolton took a breath as well, leaning anxiously over the chair.
"Your husband is no longer with us…"
The woman shot up immediately from her seat, "No…you can't mean….Harold!" She yelled before she ran around the nurse and into a room.
"No! Mrs. Dolton, please! We didn't remove the body yet!" the nurse ran after the frantic woman.
"This is none of our business…" Ryou said softly to the others.
"Yeah, let's go." Yugi agreed heading off down the hall.
Try as they might the five couldn't keep the woman's sobs from their ears.
"Harold why! Why….Ahhh!"
The five stopped as the woman's scream penetrated the hall. Yami and Bakura quickly spun around and peered into the room.
"What's going on?" Mai whispered as she and the hikaris joined the darker halves.
"Shh…" Bakura silenced Mai as Mrs. Dolton stood up from the bed's side.
"This isn't Harold." She pointed at the lumpy bed while glaring daggers at the nurse. "My husband isn't this handsome!"
"What?" The nurse shifted the blanket and noticed a plastic bracelet around the body's wrist. "Oh dear…" The nurse let out a hiss of air after examining the bracelet. "I need to tell my boss that someone's been playing in the morgue!"
The five backed off from the door, attempting not to look suspicious while the nurse ran by.
"Someone has a sick sense of humor." Yami murmured glaring at nothing in particular.
"Think its Marik?" Ryou asked.
"Malik's not stupid, he wouldn't let that nut case walk around on his own." Mai interjected.
"You spoke to soon." Bakura pointed behind the blond.
"Thank Re!" Malik shouted jogging up to the five, noticing Yami. "You alright?"
"I'm fine." The Pharaoh answered simply, "Malik where is…" However Yami was cut off by the blond Egyptian.
"Odion! I found him, he's ok!" The golden-eyed man soon joined the group.
"So what happened?" Malik asked eagerly.
"Malik…" Yami tried to cut in.
"Where'd you go?"
"Mal…"
"Is it true that there's a bright light?"
"Malik! I'll answer questions later." Yami took a breath to steady his nerves, "But right now I have one for you."
The lavender-eyed teen raised an eyebrow.
"Where's Marik?" Bakura asked just as Yami opened his mouth, the thief was getting tired of beating around the bush.
"Wha…he's in the waiting room…" Malik blinked then turned to his brother who had gone wide-eyed at the mention of the dark soul. "Odion, he was in the waiting room…right?"
"No…" The taller Egyptian now looked as though he had been hit by a ton of bricks, "I believe he wasn't."
"You just let him take off!" Mai accused, jabbing a finger at Malik's chest.
"I'm sorry, he said he would stay put…"
"And you believed him?" Bakura smirked, "You're getting to be just as naïve as these two." With that the thief jerked a thumb at Ryou and Yugi.
"I know, I know!" Malik, utterly frustrated ran a hand through his hair. He took in a breath and let it out before asking wearily, "What did my yami do now?"
"Well we know he got into the morgue." Ryou started, "But who knows what else."
Both Malik and Odion let out a groan.
"We need to find him before he causes any more trouble." Yami announced. "Come on!" With that the Pharaoh took off down the hall.
/Yami/
/What hikari./
/Do you even know where the morgue is/
The spirit halted mid-sprint.
/Erm…no. Do you/
/Nope./
Yami's shoulders slumped in defeat before he spun around to face the others. "Does anyone know where this tomb is?"
The others in the group responded with a blank expression or a shake of the head.
"Great."
"Can't you just tell Marik to stop and go back to the waiting room through the mind-link?" Ryou directed his question to the lavender-eyed Egyptian.
"Like he'd listen to me." Malik grumbled, crossing his arms over his chest.
"We didn't see him down that hall Odion pointed to the way he and Malik had just come from.
"Alright, we'll check down this corridor." Yugi nodded towards his darker half and the two were off.
"Someone should find the others and warn them the demon is on the loose." Odion suggested heading back down the previously mentioned hallway.
"We'll take this way then." Malik nodded towards the opposite way Yugi and Yami had run off in.
"Sorry Hon," Mai started, "But I'd rather take my chances with the guy who actually bet Marik." The blond took down the hall trying to catch up with the two spiky haired duelists.
Both Malik and Ryou sighed in somewhat exasperation before starting to walk down the other hall.
"Look's like it's the three of us then." Ryou stated.
"Two."
"Huh?" Both hikaris turned to stare at the thief, who was not making any attempt to move from where he stood.
"Bakura…aren't you helping?" Ryou asked.
The thief snorted, "Look, if you want to stick your neck out for the Pharaoh, fine, that's your business. But as for me: it's late, and I've helped that royal pain in the backside once tonight. I've done my good deed for the year, now I'm going to my soul room."
With a quick bright flash the tomb robber had returned to the Millennium Ring. The two hikaris stared at the spot Bakura had just been standing in.
"What's his problem?" Malik muttered.
Ryou bit the inside of his cheek. 'And here I though he had changed…' A flash of anger went through the hikari. The British teen grabbed the ring that hung around his neck and proceeded to shack it vigorously for a few seconds before setting it back around his chest.
Anger thoroughly vented the white-haired boy turned back to his Egyptian companion who was staring at Ryou rather strangely.
Ryou's cheeks turned a slight shade of crimson as he shrugged. "I have no idea if it bothers him," He explained sheepishly, "but it makes me feel better."
"Whatever works for you..." Malik smiled in slight amusement, "I'd prefer whacking Marik upside the head."
Ryou's brown eyes narrowed slightly before his tone became serious, "Speaking of Marik, we should probably start looking for him."
Ok people, that's all for now, until next time! Please review!
Next Chapter: Umm…don't really have a preview, more mayhem at the hospital, that's all your getting!