Chapter 5- Soulless Lament
Yugi sat firmly between Jounochi and Anzu, silently watching the travellers as they passed by. He was hoping for a sign of the Ishtars, and they'd already been at the airport for over an hour. It wouldn't have been so bad ifeveryone hadn't decided to come. Yugi did enjoy their company, but he felt that this was something Yami and he should have done alone.
"I sure do hope Malik's alright! I mean if he's coming all the way to Domino because of a nightmare..."
Blocking out Anzu's voice, Yugi glanced at the arrivals board flashing above them. "Hey guys, it looks like their plane has just arrived." Sure enough a mop of golden blonde could be seen exiting the terminal.
As they got off the plane Malik broke away from Rishid and his sister. He smiled to himself, perhaps his first real smile in forty-eight hours. The boy hadn't seen the Yugi-tachi since the fateful Memory World, and even then they hadn't had much time to socialize. He even felt nervous, the giddy, bubbling sort of nervousness a child feels on the first day of school. Malik was fairly sure they would receive him warmly, but in the back of his mind a part of him still worried. 'What if they haven't forgotten?'
"YO ISHTAR!"
Whatever fears the Egyptian had harbored were put to rest instantly as Jou's abrasive accent rattled in his ears. Glimpsing the group of friends up ahead, Malik paused to wave before quickening his pace. At least they seemed happy to see him.
"Malik!" Yugi's climbed on top one of the plastic airport chairs to catch a good glimpse of the boy. He smiled as the Egyptian jogged up to them, breathless and looking almost relieved. From what Yami had said he'd expected Malik to be a basketcase, but at the moment he looked perfectly normal.
"Yugi! Yami! Oh, hey guys! Where's Ryou?"
Yami visibly flinched at this question. How was he supposed to tell Malik that the Brit was currently taking care of his critically wounded yami who had magically reappeared from the Shadow Realm and that this was most likely related to the terrifying dream the Egyptian had had about his own banished Darkness? It wasn't the kind of thing you wanted to drop on someone just like that.
"We'll get to that later Malik. For now lets get out of this airport. It's a bit too crowded for my taste."
The blonde hikari nodded and gave Yami a sheepish smile. "Yeah, that might be a good idea. Hey Rishid! Ishizu! Over here!" Everyone including the former Pharaoh laughed as Malik waved and bounced on the balls of his feet, looking ridiculous as he tried to catch his friend and sister's attention.
Anzu bent down and whispered in Yugi's ear, "Is this really the same guy who tried to take over the world just two years ago? He's like a totally different person!"
The star-haired boy smiled gently. "I guess that means there's hope for everyone then, doesn't it?"
"Nah, I can think of a couple who wouldn't change if their lives depended on it. Bakura an' Seto ta name a few!"
"Jou, now isnot the time."
Once the other Ishtars had joined the group and their baggage been collected everyone turned out to wait for the bus. Yami watched Malik from the corner of his eye. True, the boy was in better spirits than he'd hoped to find him, but something still wasn't right. Fear lurked behind the Egyptian's eyes, and he seemed to be surrounded by some sort of weird aura.
"Malik did you by any chance bring the Sennen Rod with you when you came over?"
"No, I..." The boy began digging through his bag. "I don't usually carry it with me any more. It's not as if I ever have a need to..." Malik gasped sharply as his hand bumped into something cold and slender. Slowly he drew the Rod out from the depths of his duffle. He stared up at the others, horrified. "Y-Yami you've got to believe me! I didn't mean to bring it! I must not have been paying attention! I..."
The spirit shook his head and patted the Egyptian reassuringly. "Don't worry, Malik. We believe you. How the Sennen Rod made it's way into your bag is a mystery, but I have a feeling we'll be a step closer once we talk to Bakura."
"Bakura?"
Malik looked quizzically at his friends, none of whom seemed the least bit surprised at hearing the Thief's name. 'This just gets weirder and weirder.'
From the confines of his cell Mariku listened to his own labored breathing. Each intake of oxygen burned all the way down, causing the Darkness to shudder and squirm. Staring up into the blackness of the nonexistant ceiling he wondered what Bakura was doing at that very moment. 'Probably laughing at my stupidity,' the yami mused. 'I guess I deserve this. If I was that gullible...' Mariku closed his eyes, trying to silence his breathing as he listened. In the Shadow Realm, if he was very quiet, occasionally the spirit could hear echoes of the world of light. It was ironic he thought that after trying so hard to bring about complete darkness he now clung to these few shreds of humanity like a final lifeline. Wind, laughter, tears...sometimes even more. It was how Bakura and himself had first devised their plan for escape. After all, the Priestess' domain lay on the very edge of the two realms of existance.
But voices did not come to Marik as he lay bleeding in the dark. Instead he found himself looking back on a less lonely moment in time.
"So you've been here since Battle City?"
The Darkness nodded. "When Malik forced me out I was still anchored to his mind, though I had no power over him or anything else. Then She came and tore me away from there."
Bakura scooted a bit closer, eyes locked intently on Mariku's. "And would you rather still be there, chained inside your hikari's soulroom?"
Mariku's thoughts reflected inward as he pondered the Thief's question. Was he more frightened of the Priestess' torture, or was the crushing nothingness of his former prison even worse? "I-I couldn't say. Both were unbearable." The spirit's voice sounded pathetic even to his own ears. How had he been reduced to this? Nothing more than a common whore. Marik tried suddenly to clamber to his feet, only to fall back against the painfully rough wall. He gave a short, bitter laugh.
"What's so funny?"
The blonde shook his head dismissively and gave Bakura a strange look. "You must find it quite amusing seeing me like this."
Bakura could think of no response to this. Normally he would have spit out some sort of cocky reply, but for some reason the Thief couldn't bring himself to do this. Instead he drew closer, unexplicably drawn to the tormented and destroyed creature that was Yami Marik. To see such despair in eyes that were once cold as ice, to see blood running down the thighs of one of the few people who had ever defeated him. It was the kind of thing Bakura might have dreamed of, but in his maddest dreams the spirit would have never felt like this. He should have been elated, should have relished the thought of bringing more pain to his enemy. Instead the Thief stretched out his hand and placed it lightly on Mariku's cheek.
It was only when the blonde flinched that Bakura became angry. Weakness of any kind had always pissed him off. How dare Mariku act so pitiful! With a fustrated growl the Thief belted him hard across the face. "Don't fucking shy away from me! What are you, Ry..." The hikari's name died on his lips. Mariku could have sworn that Bakura's already frosty skin grew a shade lighter. This strange reaction peaked the Darkness' interest.
"And why have you been cast from the world of light, robber? What is your story?"
Bakura opened his mouth as if to answer, but a snarl of fustration escaped instead. A flare of agony ripped through Mariku as he was dragged from the ground and slammed up against the wall. Ignoring both the blonde's injuries and those of his own bleeding chest the Thief began to beat the other, punching and raking his nails against every available bit of Mariku's skin. Finally, more because he was exhausted than merciful, Bakura stepped away. The other spiritjust swayed for a moment before crashing down hard upon his knees. Only when he hit the ground did the Darkness cry out. Bakura glared down at the writhing form, a vengeful glint illuminating his already blood-cold eyes.
"Stay out of my business, boy!" It felt good to say this, good to remember that no matter how much destruction he'd caused, Mariku was still a child in comparison to most other malignant spirits. Seeing him now, shivering at his feet, only heightened this realization.
"Just cower like the dog you are, yadu..."
For the second time Bakura had compared the blonde's weaknesses to that of his hikari. The very thought of Ryou made him sick, not because the boy was soft. It was because... because he felt guilty. After all the terrible things he'd done, the tombrobber was rediscovering how uncomfortable selfless emotions could feel. Where moments before he had relished the painful look on the other yami's face, seeing Mariku now made Bakura want to throw up.
But of course he didn't. Instead the Theif continued to watch Mariku. The Darkness lay on his stomach, legs curled beneath him, limber arms all akimbo. His face was covered by a spray of golden hair which stood out vividly against the bloodied waste of skin and shredded clothing. Bakura swallowed hard. He couldn't let this happen. Being heartless had worked for centuries. There was no reason it should fail now, but then why did he suddenly regret what he'd done to Ryou? Why did that confused and insanely shattered look in Mariku's eyes make his own gaze burn?
"You... you can get up now." Shaking slightly with what he was about to do Bakura knelt down and set his hand gently on the other's shoulder. The blonde flinched again, and, realizing he'd done so, buried his face in the dirt and waited. The white-haired spirit was once more struck with how childlike the Darkness suddenly seemed.
"I won't hit you."
Peaking out from behind his bangs, Mariku glanced up at Bakura before attempting to rise. His movements were jerky as he struggled to plant his feet, and wave upon wave of vertigo wracked him until the spirit was sure he would have spilled the contents of his stomach had it been more substancial than semen and rancid blood. The blonde sank back down with a rattling sigh.
"It doesn't matter. I can't get up anymore."
"...that's alright. You don't have to."
Knowing that he had already sealed his doom, Bakura snaked his arm around the other's lower back and carefully pulled him into his lap. Mariku did nothing to prevent this. He was just too physically and mentally tired to object. Instead he collapsed easily into the comforting heat of the tombrobber's body. Bakura couldn't help noticing now more than ever how little clothing the other yami was wearing. He himself was in his red robe, perhaps conjured up because of this place's strange affinity with the past. Either way, Mariku's barely intact, beige tunic left little to be imagined. The curve of his ass was strikingly prominent as were the scars and bruises covering it.
"You don't have to do this." Mariku stared at the wall as he spoke. "You should get revenge on me for sending you to the Shadow Realm during Battle City. Its not as if I'm going to fight back."
Bakura buried his face in the crook of the Darkness' neck, secretly pleased when the blonde did not shy away. "I'm out for the blood of so many people, I suppose its forgivable if I forget tobring vengenceupon a few."
Mariku simply nodded, accepting the Thief's mercyin the same way he would his wrath. The spirit was past the point of truly caring what happened to him. The results would always be the same. Then again, he'd never quite realized how lonely the Shadow Realm really was, and something about Bakura's gruff but euphonous voice was rather soothing.
Sitting alone in the once again frigid cell, Mariku couldn't help but smile. He hesitated to call what he felt for Bakura love, at least not the kind the Thief had been hoping for. Still, he missed him. For one who had been born in the shadows, it sure was hard getting used to being alone again.
"Why does my little pet smile? I've given him no reason to smile! Only to cry... and bleed of course."
By now the blonde was used to the sudden appearances of the Priestess. She flitted about her domain with the ease of a specter, moving through walls that were solid to those of lesser magic.
"What do you want?" Mariku had long ago stopped caring how much extra punishment rudeness would earn him. In a way he was punishing himself for his own stupidity. If he hadn't allowed Malik to banish him in the first place...
There was a flash of Shadow Magic, and a deep, baritone laugh suddenly echoed through the prison. "You don't learn very quickly,do you? Well I suppose you can't really help this stupidity seeing as you're nothing but a bunch of thrown out emotions anyway, but really. No one's THAT dense."
Mariku ignored the insult. He'd long come to accept that he had next to nothing as far as a soul was concerned. Being born of Malik's leftovers had bothered him at one time, but he had eventually came to terms with his inhumanity. It wasn't something he could change. While others died and found their respective places in the afterlife, the Darkness would be left behind, rotting forever in the Priestess' chambers.
"If the only reason you came was to remind me of what I already know then perhaps you'd be better off leaving."
The thing in the shadows hissed with rage and appeared, not as a twisted old woman or beautifully cruel seductress, but as a tall man dressed in the garb of ancient Egypt. As usual the Priestess had taken on the form of the elder Ishtar, and though Mariku knew it was only an illusion used to heighten the pain, each time he heard that familiar voice and saw those terrible red eyes that certainly were not those of Malik's father, the yami was afraid. He felt as though he were growing smaller and smaller, shrinking until he was swallowed up by the monster's great shadow. Then the nothing around him would whisk Mariku away from the little prison, leaving him instead in a flame-lit chamber that smelled of thousands of years spent underground. The stonewas cool beneath him, and the Tablet dark and foreboding above, but the true terror was his host's father, or the thing that feigned to be him. The man was a phantom of the past. His hands were rough, his dagger swift.
And so the hikari's agony bacame that of the yami as did the added perversity of the Dark Lady's sick humor. Each time the Priestess came it was the same yet every bit as terrifying as the last. Mariku knew he would never get used to it. He could go through it a thousand times, his body beaten and desecrated past the point of recognition, and still the Darkness would scream. 'I'm losing my mind,' he thought dully. 'Or at least the bit of it I had in the first place.' He wished for perhaps the hundreth time that Bakura hadn't left him. The Thief wasn't ideal, but he could understand Mariku's pain. He could keep him warm as well. The Shadow Realm really was unbearably cold.
"When will he be here?"
Ryou sighed. Ever since Bakura had learned Malik was coming he'd been asking that question every fifteen minute. It was better than the terrified ramblings of the Thief's sleeping fits, but the Brit's patience was wearing thin.
"I don't know. Yugi and the others went to pick him up at the airport. They said they'd come right over."
"Hmph," the spirit growled. "I said I wanted to speak with Malik not the Pharaoh!"
"Well it certainly isn't MY fault!"
Bakura smirked at his light's rage-blotched face. "It seems you've developed a bit of a temper in the time I've been away."
"Yeah, well things haven't exactly been easy around here after you..." The boy clapped a hand over his mouth, mortified by what he'd almost said. How could he be so stupid? Injured or not this was BAKURA he was dealing with. "Wh-what I meant t-to say wa-"
"Ryou... I'm sorry."
The Thief absolutely refused to meet his light's gaze as he said this. Instead he fiddled with the little bandage where the IV used to be. Ryou stared, wide-eyed at the other boy. Had Bakura meant it? The hikari tried to see past the bandages on the tombrobber's face and into his soul. The spirit's eyes were as full of madness as ever, but there was a new glint of purpose to them that hadn't existed before. There was also sadness, though that had always been present evenin the beginning. It had been a sort of quiet, desperate sorrow, far overshadowed by his lust for revenge. Never had it been so prominent as it was now.
Ryou didn't know what to say. Something had obviously happened to bring about this change in Bakura, but the Brit was at a loss as to what it might be. He could assure the spirit he was forgiven, though that wasn't completely true, or he could let out all the pain he'd been storing up inside and let Bakura be the weak one for once. This didn't seem right either. Instead the light and dark sat in uncomfortable silence, broken only when the sound of the Yugi-tachi and Ishtar family at his doorstep caused Ryou to excuse himself.
"I'll let Malik on up, but it might be harder to keep Yami at bay. I know how much you hate him, Kura, but please try not to pick any fights. You're still injured."
Bakura shook his head in wonder as the boy left. Ryou was one of those people he just couldn't understand. Sure he wasn't strong, but there was a resiliance about the light the tombrobber hadn't noticed before. He was truly sorry for what he'd done, and a part of him even wanted to make it up to the Brit. However the Thief had more important things to think about. He had to rescue Mariku. It had nothing to do with honoring his promises. Bakura was doing this because he wanted to. He even thought he might love the blonde, frightening a thought though it was. Either way he would find a way to get him back, and Malik Ishtar was going to help.
-TOT (Hope you enjoyed, sorry for all the OOCness, please read A/N)
(A/N: This is probably pretty lame, but I need some help finding a fic. It's one involving Malik, Marik, and Bakura as a couple. I think Ryou's with Seto. Anyway, Marik has to take meds so he doesn't go crazy but doesn't take them because he hates being under their influence. He goes nuts, raping Malik and stabbing Bakura. Both die of their injuries. When Marik realizes what he done he feels awful. The fic ends with Yami Yugi and Marik together at Bakura and Malik's graves. If anyone has any info that might help me find this story it would be much appreciated. Arigatu!)