"Bakura..."
The tone of Mariku's voice made the Thief's stomach clench. There was no sadness, no hate, only pure, unhindered astonishment. He would have rather had the Darkness scream, attack, mutilate him past the point of recognition, but instead the blonde just stared at him, wide-eyed and silent.
"Oh shit! I don't know what the fuck is wrong with me! I didn't mean to. I didn't..."
"Leave. Don't talk. Just get out." Snapping out of his daze, Mariku rubbed his cheek and glared viciously at the other yami.
"N-nani?" Bakura tried to grasp the Darkness' hand, but it was quickly pull away. "What's your problem? I apologized didn't I?"
"GET THE FUCK OUT!"
It was the Thief's turn to be shocked beyond words. Not only did Mariku sound insane, but the strange glint in his eyes was particularly unnerving. The only thing that could have made him look any more psychotic would have been the sudden appearance of varicose veins on his face. "Come on, Marik! I didn't mean to get worked up like that! Just tell me what Malik did to you."
"Nothing! He didn't do a Ra-damned thing!" With an angry grunt the Darkness dragged himself across the bed, clambering out on the side opposite Bakura. "I'm going to tell you one more time to leave. Then I'm going to force you."
"Force me?" The white-haired spirit laughed, though there was no humor in his voice. "And how do you plan to do that, Mariku Ishtar? Last time I checked you couldn't even walk!"
"Bastard..." Slowly the blonde made his way around to where Bakura now stood. He pulled his hand into a fist, and before he knew it the Thief was on the floor, searing agony ripping through the injured half of his face. Marik advanced. His face was painted with a devilish smirk. It was not, however, the same sadistic smile he had worn during Battle Ship. There was anger behind it, not madness, anger, true, bitter anger born of hurt. Beneath this smile churned all the pain and anguish caused by a life without joy, a life where everything was bleak and terribly dark. Bakura realized this and backed away. He knew that grin all too well. It was the grin of the frail child alone in the desert, of the child who had lost everything he loved and whose soul had become tainted like so much shadowed gold.
"Marik please..." The Thief King's voice cameacross startlingly soft. He struggled to his feet and gazed into the other's eyes. "Please, I..." Bakura growled inwardly. Damn it! He couldn't even finish a sentence! 'I will not be this weak!' Biting his lip in resolution, he made his way towards the blonde. "I don't want to fight, Mariku, not with you."
"Then what do you want?" That horrible smile had faded, but Mariku's body remained stiff and cold.
Bakura took a deep breath. He remembered the first time he'd held the Darkness in his arms, how it had been as if he were about to take a plunge, falling into an abyss from which there was no escaping. He felt the same now as he had then, terrified and at the same time strangely excited. "What do I want? Its simple. I want you, Marik. You are all I desire."
The blonde's eyes grew wide with surprise. A part of him had known Bakura felt this way, but he'd never expected... 'Don't. Oh Ra, please don't.'
"I love you." The Thief King said this as if the words themselves signified the end of the matter. To him this confession was the last obstacle separating him from Mariku. He had found it in himself to open his heart, and now Bakura would be rewarded. However the look on the younger's face spoke differently. Frown tuggingat his lips, the ashen-haired spirit lightly caressed Marik's freshly bruised cheek. "Don't you get it? I...I love you!"
"I'm sorry." He could have sworn he heard the Thief's heart breaking. It was horrible. The Darkness had never hated himself as he did at that moment, had never thought his tattered soul had that much capacity for guilt. Still, the blonde forced himself to look into the other yami's unbelieving eyes.
"You're...what?"
"I'm sorry. Bakura, I just...can't." The hurt and comprehension that suddenly lit up in the tombrobber's eyes finally forced Mariku to look away.
"You can't? What the hell is that supposed to mean?" Bakura tore at his hair in fustration. Didn't the Darkness get it? Didn't he understand? "I FUCKING LOVE YOU!"
The raw emotion in the Thief King's words caused Mariku to stumble backwards. Tripping over his own feet, the blonde fell onto the bed behind him with a startled cry. Before he could get up Bakura was pinning him down.
"What are you saying, tombkeeper? After all I did for you, do you mean to tell me that you don't love me?"
"Its not like that." Mariku winced as the other spirit's knees dug painfully into his chest.
Bakura's mood was fast deteriorating. With each passing moment he became more dangerous. "Then why do you insist on rejecting me?" His voice was harsh, clipped.
"I do love you...I do, but not like that. Its hard to explain..."
"BITCH!" Mariku turned his head in disgust as saliva sprayed from the Thief King's mouth. "You STUPID, TWO-TIMING SLUT! Have you forgotten who saved you from the Priestess? Have you forgotten who forgave you of your crimes?"
"No." The blonde shook his head wearily. "I have not forgotten, Bakura, and I never will."
"Then why do you deny me what by all right's should be mine?"
"Yours?" With a feral snarl, Mariku began to struggle until the other spirit was forced to pin him down by the wrists as well. "Yours! Well then I suppose that means I'm Malik's too doesn't it? He took pity on me! He put aside my past! Oh, and Rishid and Ishizu and the fucking Pharaoh for Ra's sake! I guess I belong to them too! I mean if they had the kindness of heart to let me stay in this world then I must bow down and be their slave!"
Bakura flinched. "N-no...that's not what I..."
"Cut the bullshit! If all I am to you is another easy lay then you might as well tell me! I'm tired of your games, Bakura!"
The Thief King's eyes, whose fires had been temporarily quelled, flared up once again. "You think I'm messing with you?" He drove his knee sharply into the other's crotch. "I FUCKING LOVE YOU!"
Mariku screamed as a burst of agony assaulted his lower regions. The pain glanced quickly across his manhood, burning upwards to pool below his naval.
Bakura continued to put pressure on the Darkness' groin. "Well, are you just going to sit there or what? Come on Marik! Tell me! Say that you love me!"
"I...I don't..." Mariku's head was spinning, his body beginning to give into exhaustion once more. He tried to focus on Bakura, but his vision was blurred, causing the Thief's angry face to flicker strangely. However his words came across clear as crystal.
"Tell me! Tell me, or so help me God I will MAKE you love me!"
Marik's chest clenched. Of it's own free will his body began to tremble. No. Bakura had not said that. Bakura would never say that, not to him, to someone else perhaps but not to him. Then why were the Thief King's hands forcing their way under his shirt? Why was his knee still digging painfully into his crotch? The Darkness' eyes grew unbearably wide, his pupils contracting into shivery little specks. "Stop this! Touzoukou..."
Hearing his real name, the tombrobber paused to estimate just how terrified the younger yami was. He smirked and lowered himself so their lips were just centimeters apart. The words came in a throaty whisper. "Tell me or I'll send you back to Her like the piece of trash you are."
I'll KILL you. I'LL KILL YOU!" With strength that was almost unhuman Mariku shoved the other spirit onto the floor. Bakura gasped as a sharp kick to the stomach caused him double over in pain. He stared up at Mariku through his unbandaged eye, marvelling at the sudden change of power. The Darkness didn't even give him time to blink. Within seconds Marik had the Thief pinned up against the wall. He gripped Bakura's collar tightly, muttering the same words over and over like a mantra. "I'll kill you...I'll kill you...I'll kill you...I'll kill you..."
After an hour of wandering aimlessly through the streets of Domino City, Malik was finally forced to turn back. It was freezing, and, being from Egypt, he wasn't very used to the cold. To be perfectly honest he also felt rather bad for how he'd treated his yami earlier that day. Mariku couldn't help being who he was, though it seemed he was trying to. 'In a way I am to blame. I mean, if I could have just learned to control my anger...' But then if Malik had learned to control his anger he never would have escaped the Pharaoh's Tomb. He never would have seen the sun or ridden a motorcycle or experienced anything at all like a normal person. Did this mean he should be thanking his darker half? True, Mariku had killed his father, but in a way he had also saved his soul. "Damnit." Malik clutched his aching head in fustration. It was too much. It was just too much.
As he neared the apartment complex, the Egyptian was astonished to see one of his fellow hikaris perched delicately on the porch swing.
"Ryou?"
"Hey." Seeing the blonde caused a sudden and very unpleasant falling sensation to take hold in the Brit's stomach. It seemed fate just wouldn't allow Ryou to ignore his phantoms any longer. "Your sister went out for a bit." He managed a smile that was almost convincing. "I'm sticking around to make sure Kura and Mariku don't decimate the place."
"Yeah, I wouldn't trust those two alone together. Who knows what kind of trouble they would stir up?" Malik's grin was equally as painful. He thought of the phone conversation they'd had earlier that week. Ryou wasn't acting as if he were still mad about that, but he certainly wasn't acting normal either.
"Would you like to sit down?"
"Sure."
The Brit scooted sideways, allowing Malik to plop down next to him. They sat in awkward silence, but the questions on their minds seemed to fill the air with noise. Ryou was the first to speak.
"Ishizu told me about your yami. I'm sorry he's not doing well."
"Yeah," Malik muttered. "Its...its his own damn fault! After all the pain he went through I thought he had really changed! I thought that there might be some good in him after all, that maybe I wouldn't be alone anymore." The teen glared down at his clenched fists. "I should have known."
Ryou frowned. "Known what?"
"Marik won't change. He couldn't even if he tried. He could be subjected to torture a thousand times over and still remain the same cold, soulless bastard he's always been! Probably thinks its funny how worried we've become, that stupid, sadistic..."
"Shut up!" Malik cried out in surprise as Ryou's palm connected with the side of his face. "I can't believe you think Mariku couldever be the same after enduring that kind of agony! He was raped Malik! Not just beaten or stepped on, RAPED! I don't care how evil you think he is! No one could possibly walk away from that without some kind of mental scarring!" Oh shit. Now he was crying.
"Listen Ryou. I'm sorry about what happened to you, I really am, but you don't understand. Marik's not like you."
Shaking his head, the Brit allowed the tears to run in tiny rivulets down his cheeks. "No, its you who doesn't understand! What the Priestess did to him, what Bakura did to me...it stains people. It doesn't matter, good or evil, sane or otherwise, everyone is tainted."
"But Marik..."
"Marik too."
Ryou's voice was forceful, much stronger than one would have expected. Malik couldn't help believing the conviction behind it. Suddenly he was sobbing, sobbing and sobbing like a broken faucet. He buried his head firmly in the other's chest. "Oh God! What did I do? Ryou? Ryou! His voice...so desperate...like he wanted to die...and my father...it wasn't really him...she gave him that shot so she could check the damage...because he wouldn't let anyone even close to getting between his legs...not after...not after..."
Ryou rubbed the blonde's back gently. He didn't comprehend half of what the Egyptain was saying, but perhaps Malik needed this. "Its okay. Shh... Its okay."
"...its my fault...should have saved him sooner...should have stood by him once I did...but I was afraid...his eyes...every time...like I'm falling into them...I can't look away...I-I don't want to..."
Still patting his shoulders, Ryou tried to reason with the distressed boy. "Its not your fault. Its not your fault Mariku was created from hatred or that he suffered so greatly because of it, but itis your responsibility to help him. He needs you, Malik. He..."
"I'LL KILL YOU!"
Marik's snarl was so loud that even from the front porch it was easily distinguishable. Later Malik would come to realize it hadn't been the anger in the Darkness' voice that scared him. It was the panic. With identicle cries of alarm, both lights sprinted inside and up the stairs.
"Bakura what's goi..."
"Are you guys alri..."
Both Malik and Ryou's voices died to nothing as they entered the guest bedroom. The scene before them was uncomfortable at best. Mariku was no longer unconscious in bed. He was standing, teeth practically bared in rage as he kept the Thief King pinned to the wall. His hands were clutching tightly at Bakura's throat, and their bodies were pressed against eachother rather promiscuously. At first the lights weren't even noticed.
"I'll kill you...I'll kill you...I'll kill you...I'll..."
"Get off me!" Bakura struggled to get free. He hated the idea of being beaten by someone who technically wasn't supposed to leave his bed. "Get off!"
"No!" Mariku rested his head wearily against the white-haired yami's shoulder while at the same time putting more pressure on him and the wall. "No! I'll kill you! You need to die!"
Bakura suddenly saw the two hikaris and spat at them angrily. "What thefuck are you staring at? Get out!"
So caught up was he in his panicked rage, it took the younger spirit a moment to figure out who the tombrobber was talking to. Relief flooded his mind. Malik would help him! He wouldn't let Bakura send him back to Her. He'd promised Marik could stay in the Light forever.
"What are you doing? You stupid, crazy, DISGUSTING bastard! What the FUCK are you doing?"
Oh shit! Oh shit! It wasn't like that. That wasn't why he was doing this. Mariku jerked away from Bakura so fast his head began to spin. The Darkness wobbled about drunkenly for a moment until his knees finally gave out and he dropped to the ground. He tried to think coherently, really tried, but Marik's mind just didn't want to function. He was losing touch with reality. He barely remembered how to speak. All he knew was that Malik was angry, far angrier than he'd been in a long, long while. He also looked as if he'd been crying. "Malik?"
"Save it." Said Egyptian backed away, trying not to be sucked in by his darker half's beauiful, shadowy violet eyes. He wouldn't make that mistake again, not now, not ever. "I'm tired of being suckered in by your lies and cheap illusions. I'm leaving now, Marik, and I swear to Ra if you try to stop me I'll send you to the Shadow Realm so fast you won't even have time to beg me not to. Get the picture?"
Mariku gave an almost imperceptable nod.
"Good." Malik turned to go, but he bumped into the still inanimate Ryou as he attempted to breeze through the doorway and was caught by th arm.
"Malik wait!"
"Get out of my way!" Wrenching his wrist from the Brit's grasp, the blonde all but fled his sister's Domino apartment. In a blind rage he plunged down the stairs and across the living room. The last thing they heard from the boy as he left was the sound of the front door slamming shut.
Ryou looked over at his own yami, who was sitting on the floor, propped up exhausted and shellshocked against that same damned wall. /Kura...w- what happened/
But the Thief King didn't answer. He was too busy staring at Mariku. The Darkness was still lying in a heap on the ground. His hair stuck out in all directions, and blood had begun to soak through his fresh bandages. He didn't seem to notice. Marik simply sat their, eyes blank, unreadable, utterly desolate. He was staring at neither Bakura nor Ryou. In fact it was doubtful he saw anything in the room at all. No, though his eyes were open to the world of Light, Marik's true sight was lost in shadows.
'He promised.'
-TOT (Please don't hate me for this chapter! I'm sorry for another long update interval, and I'm sorry the characters came offso OOC. This chapter didn't really come out as well as I'd hoped, though I was rather pleased with Marik and Bakura's fight scene. Please review! Your comments mean the world to me.)