Phew! Another 10+ page chapter...why do I do this to myself when they're a bitch to edit...Oh yeah...
I actually wrote each segment in stages over the course of the week (while preparing for my vacation) and I just now finished he final pieces...
Enjoy!
Alliances
Marik and this Stranger regarded each other with agreeable avarice. Their eyes were hard and indomitdable as steel and as bright as danger despite the questions buzzing like flies.
Plan? Marik wondered, his expression sharp, but neutral. He hadn't failed to notice the Millennium Ring around the other's neck. His childhood had long been haunted with stories of that particular item. The question now was who was he? And how much did he know?
The stranger stared at him down, a smile slitting his face but his eyes were deadly, hypnotic, not unlike a serpent's contemplating a strange animal it had never before seen and was cautious of whether or not it was an enemy...or a meal.
Damnit, Marik bit back a curse. Right when he had Jonouchi in his grasp, he had to deal with this fool. Still, any new Millennium Item holder could be a threat to Yugi and he couldn't have that.
"Very well then," Marik dismounted his bike: all nonchalance and cool arrogance. "Let's talk."
X X X
Dread filled Yami's gut as the Doll's corpse dropped to the ground and he felt his own knees shake with the weight of Marik's merciless threat.
Jonouchi.
The Ghouls were after Jonouchi.
His and Yugi's best friend.
Rage and terror firing his gut, Yami spun on his heels and bolted. Vaguely, he recalled Mokuba calling out to him. Yami ignored him.
"Yugi!" He stopped only because the bark of his Other self's names sounded desperate on Kaiba's tongue. "Don't run from me."
Yami stopped but did not hesitate. "Kaiba, I can't fight you right now." He didn't look at him as he said it. He did not see the confusing flicker of emotions that flashed across Seto's eyes.
He turned but did not spin around. "The Ghouls are after Jonouchi. I cannot let my friends die!"
He dashed away before Kaiba could protest further. For the briefest moment he thought he saw hurt in Seto's expression, those bold blue eyes that were always so passionate going vacant but he could not ponder it.
Not when the streets of Domino stretched out tangled and labyrinthine around him. Not when everyone standing in the streets was another obstacle putting him further away from his friends and them closer to Marik.
Not when this city was so big and he had no idea where to start.
Back on the bridge, Seto had not moved. Mokuba's gaze switched between Yugi who'd run off in a panic and his brother whom he knew felt some kind of ache at the other's departure.
Kaiba's hands fisted. The sting of the rejection confused him and left him angry though he couldn't fathom why.
"Choosing friends over pride."
Why did that bother him? Why did "Yugi's" abandonment of their duel as soon as his friends were mentioned sting him so? Why did he feel nothing but anger at the way he'd said Jonouchi's name? Like he was somehow important.
More important than "Yugi's" pride.
More important than a rematch with him.
Were he less proud he might have realized the answer, but in that moment all he knew was Yugi's friends being in "danger" was a distraction for the true Yugi, and as long as that distraction was in place it was keeping that Yugi. The Yugi he wanted away from him.
Seto Kaiba could not allow that.
Seto caught up with him easily enough after sending Mokuba off to locate the mutt. Found him frustrated out of his mind as two second rate Rare Hunters argued over who got to duel him first and Kami, above was he beautiful in his rage: those fiery red eyes burning with a fury the Yugi Motou he knew from school could never possess.
He offered his assistance with a dramatic sweep of his trench coat like a King's mantle. "Then come at us as a Tag Team, you pigs!"
These worthless imbeciles didn't deserve the privilege to duel the other "Yugi". His rival.
The sheer befuddlement on "Yugi's" face was almost cute.
"Don't get the wrong idea, Yugi," He uses the name only because he had nothing else to call him. "The whole reason I threw this tournament was to wipe out these card counter fitting scum. It's not like I'm lending you or your friends a hand."
"Yugi" said nothing, but his eyes reflected silent acceptance.
The duel was over in less than fifteen minutes.
Seto marveled in the might of his God smashing down upon these worthless idiots: their shock and terror was like a drug and he drank it in until he was addicted. But more than that was "Yugi's" reaction, for there was no generous smile, no brave front, just pure shock and utter awe.
It made Seto's gut twist with a vicious shock of hunger like a wolf who'd just slaughtered a rival for daring to court his mate.
Yugi... he laughed, triumphant in his glory. This is the might of my God. This is the face of your destruction. Do you see now?
He met the boy's stunned face with a victorious smirk, leisurely and expectant.
Only I am worthy of you. Only I am allowed to be your rival...and you are mine.
X X X
They met on the pier: private, secluded, the perfect place to dispose of a corpse where no one could find it. Marik and Bakura stared each other down, neither flinching.
It was a miracle of Bakura's will that he didn't rip his hair out, let alone scream. What!? He has the Millennium Item? Him!? So that incident in the hospital wasn't a fluke. Two items were still unaccounted for, and this dolt, the brat's Egyptian Romeo, had one of them.
How? Why? What the fuck did that even mean? Ugh, too many questions with no answers buzzed annoyingly like mosquitos mocking flying away after a bite.
"So tell me," Marik broke the stillness. "What is it you want?"
A giddy sort of madness electrified those brown eyes of his, turning them almost lavender.
Fine , Bakura only half-cursed. For now, Bakura would play his game. He would get his bearings. He would learn the truth of this dolt whom Yugi had smitten and grasp the full extent of his role in this destiny, and if he proved to be a threat? Well, Bakura could always kill him.
"Your Millennium item, of course. If you give it to me nice and quiet, I'll let you live." The threat was a song as well as a promise.
Marik twitched at the childish tone. Oh how he hated not being seen as a threat. Oh well, this fool would not be the first to pay dearly for underestimating them. "So...you're 'collecting' them?" he asked, half derivative. "Why?"
A smile slit the man's face.
"Power, of course!" Bakura barked a laugh. Not a complete lie, but he'd be damned if he told this dolt all his secrets. "In a hidden temple in Egypt is the Tablet of the Pharaoh's Memories. When all seven of those items are placed inside that tablet...the Door to Darkness will be opened." And he knew exactly what lay behind that door. Bakura's eyes hardened and he forced back the onslaught of memories that threatened to consume him. The shadows. The blood. The cursed gold. The Darkness with its glaring red eyes, ripe with hunger and hate. Its sharp teeth and terrible claws and lustful smiles. All of it swirled together and spiraled into a single image of a soulless body no better than a corpse in his arms. Crimson eyes so full of fire, gone vacant and blank.
"And the one who opens it...will gain the evil power which was sealed long ago…"He chuckled. And he'd be damned if anyone got ahold of that bastard's power except him.
Marik kept his surprise restrained but it was a herculean effort. How...how did he know about the Tablet? It was a tomb keeper's secret and the one they kept the most vehemently. After all, it had been carved into Marik's own flesh. The fact that this man...this stranger...this teenager of all people knew about it?
No, this was no normal young man, he realized. The Millennium Ring would not have chosen someone who was not already chosen by destiny. Whatever life the vessel had lived, this stranger who he spoke to now, was someone else. someone other .
But there was more to the story than just that…
Marik smirked, regaining his composure and flashed a secretive smile. "I see…" He brightened his eyes, a cat with a bird in its mouth. "But...it seems you don't know the whole truth. I'm afraid it takes more than the Millennium Items to open the Door of Darkness…"
He marveled in the shock that broke the stranger's arrogant demeanor.
Good, Marik thought. Let him know who really held all the cards.
Now the real question was…"Do you know Yugi? The owner of the Millennium puzzle? You must be planning to get rid of him eventually...right?"
Bakura did not miss the harsh edge in the boy's voice and grinned. So that was it? Of course, Yugi was his objective. True enough, he had nothing against the brat. He was a useful pawn, for now. But that certainly didn't mean Marik wasn't going to tease him.
"Maybe," he said in that frustratingly melodic sing-song voice that revealed nothing.
Marik swallowed a growl of fury. "So who are you?"
"You can call me…" the stranger hesitated. "Bakura."
"Listen Bakura," Marik boasted, all mock amusement. "I don't care for the Millennium Items, all I want is…"
"Yugi's heart." Bakura cut him off, smirking.
Marik swallowed a gasp and Bakura's smirk widened. "Let's just say I've been...observing you. I'm not actually this good, you're just horribly indiscreet." he chuckled.
It took all of Marik's will not to show emotion. Not to blush. Fine , two could play at that game. "Yes, I do want Yugi's heart...but I want something else as well...what I want…"
The smiling curling across his face was a wild, wicked thing and the brightness in his eyes was a glee that bordered on madness. Bakura knew that look, recognized that look, had seen that look so many times himself…"Is revenge...on the Pharaoh."
"Really…" Bakura's eyes hardened, brows knitting together. A thousand thoughts jumbled his mind,. He had no doubt the Pharaoh was feisty enough to handle this dolt. That wasn't a worry, but the real question was whether or not he was telling the truth. Did he really know something about the tablet that Bakura didn't? If so, what? And did that make him an enemy...or a rival?
Marik gripped the Rod tight around the neck as if to strangle it. "If I can bury him in Battle City...the Millennium Rod will mean nothing more to me than a hunk of metal."
The boy whirled towards him, spiky gold earrings jingling in the sun like warning lights and that twisted smirk was not that of the young man Bakura had come to expect. "How about this?" When he spoke this time "Marik's" voice was rougher, lower, accented with a scraping that betrayed his true identity.
It took all of Bakura's will not to react.
"If you agree to help me, then after it's all over I'll be glad to give you the Rod."
"And if I say no…?" Bakura hesitated with a growl.
"You won't leave this pier alive."
Gone was the lovestruck dolt who doted on Yugi with lavish affection, and gone was the haughty young man who wielded the Rod and controlled the Ghouls. This was someone else...some whose eyes burned with a ravage lust and whose hunger for the King was more than just vengeful hate...it was…almost...like...
Realization slapped Bakura across the face. His eyes fell upon the Rod, its golden eye glaring with a fierce light that had nothing to do with the reflection of the sun, then back at the man whose face was suddenly consumed by shadows.
No...No! No! No! No! No! NO!
Not him. Please Ra, Heru Seth and all the Gods, Anyone buthim!
"I'll give you five minutes to decide. Yes or no…" His tone was all derision. "It's your choice."
X X X
Yami stormed down the street: heavy, inelegant stomps fired by rage and panicked muttering "Curses! Where are you Jonouchi!"
Kaiba walked calmly beside him: all cool confidence and carefree leisure. His grin one of amusement as he took in his rival's diversion from his fiery confidence. Another wave of uncertain panic morphed the Young man's face and Kaiba found he didn't like it: the rising fear flashing in those eyes, the uncertain grit to his teeth, the bead of sweat dripping down his cheek. Only he was allowed to stir such emotions in the man.
"Don't worry so much, Yugi. We'll know where to go soon enough." He assured him, surprising himself with how much concern he'd managed to use.
His grin widened when "Yugi" spun to him, face transformed into one of confusion so quickly it was almost cute.
"Aren't we an odd pair?" He chuckled. "Here I am walking shoulder to shoulder with the one man I swore would be my lifelong rival. And yet…" His eyes brightened and his smirk curled. "All I want to do is beat you right here and now." He left that statement vague and grinned when his rival glared at him: hard scarlet eyes betraying nothing, mouth a neutral line.
There he was. Triumph dominated Kaiba's face.
"Kaiba," Yami said evenly. "Right now all I care about is making sure my friends are safe."
Your friends. He swallowed a snort, but could not help the bile burning in the pit of his gut.
Your friends. Could not help as it rose and twisted and filled him with an emotion he refused to acknowledge and yet there it was.
Mokuba's alert stopped those thoughts. "Well, Yugi, we've located your friends. I'll expect some thanks."
His gut twisted again with the glee that suddenly brightened his rival's entire expression, the combination of happiness and delight, one that he never showed Kaiba, and yet readily showed everyone else...including…
"Don't get the wrong idea," Kaiba snorted, easily slipping back to the arrogant mask he wore well. "I know that the Ghouls gather where they can find easy prey...that's the only reason I tracked him down."
He stopped when he realized the Other Yugi wasn't following him. He did not turn around but shifted his gaze and was even more surprised to see not subservient gratitude but bold, fiery defiance in every inch of his stance.
"Kaiba," the man's words were even, sinking all his reservation into the tone. "I do thank you for finding Jonouchi, but do not insult him...or me !"
Defiance: bold flaming defiance and absolute certainty. "Jonouchi has become a fine duelist! I swore I would fight him in Battle City and it'll be a true duel between duelists!"
There was so much devotion and faith in those words that Kaiba laughed. Through his head back and laughed like it was the funniest thing in the world because it was. "Him? A True duelist? That brick head who cried when I beat him?" He laughed harder, snorted because it was so stupid.
And yet, the Other Yugi glared at him and did not flinch, so confident in his friend.
A friend whom he considered a duelist...a rival...like he was worthy of ever being such a thing. Of being in the same caliber as him ? And yet Kaiba's stomach twisted with a vicious shock of horror at the realization that it was Jonouchi that this man considered a duelist. Jonouchi, this man looked forward to dueling, wanted to extend that privilege to like it was something to be handed out and taken instead of earned. Was he really so naïve?
Or was Jonouchi just more important to him. Was Jonouchi someone the Other Yugi considered worthy, while he, himself was just a rival?
The thought alone made Kaiba furious.
"If I remember correctly…" Kaiba challenged, turning just enough to meet the Other Yugi's eyes and when he did absolute triumph took control of his features. "Jonouchi is a level 2 duelist. I don't know how he made his way into this tournament but the moment I face him I declare him disqualified!" He laughed again and this time when the Other Yugi stopped, Kaiba spun to face him. "Well? What's the hold up, Yugi? Let's go help your little friend."
He expected the young man's downcast eyes. Expected the way his shoulders stiffened, his fists tightened and his stance hardened with bitter resolve. What Kaiba had not expected, was the way he stormed up to him with fire and ferocity and a regality that was from another era in his every step, nor the sharpness of those eyes when they forced themselves into his, the height difference between them be damned: the eyes of a King.
"Do. Not. Insult. Jonouchi. To me."
It sent a thrill through him. A vicious shock of hunger, Seto could no longer deny and did not want to.
With a single step, Kaiba towered over him, grinning at the empowerment their differences in height afforded him. Grinning wider as the other Yugi stepped away, backing himself into an ally wall and nothing in that fierce, wildfire expression like a cornered animal choosing to fight rather than surrender, could mask the adrenaline shadowed in those bright eyes.
Adrenaline born from fear...and arousal.
It was all the answer Kaiba needed.
He seized him by the shoulders, pushed the smaller man against the alley wall and kissed him.
X X X
"Time's up!" Marik sang. "Now you either die or join forces with me. What's your choice?" He said it so casually, as if it actually were a choice and not a bargain with the only creature in the universe Bakura might actually consider the devil.
But he also held the key to the Door of Darkness...or rather his host did and Bakura needed that more than he needed air to breathe.
Damnit. Damnit. DAMNIT!
Keeping up his mask of indifference and betraying nothing of the inner turmoil of his thoughts, Bakura answered "If you want to hurt Yugi, the easiest way to do so is through his friends."
"It's the Pharaoh I want to hurt," Marik corrected. "Though I already have a plan to show Yugi the threat he poses to him and his friends. I've just been waiting for the right moment myself."
"It wont work," Bakura allowed his neutral mask to slip, dawning a winning smirk. "Their bond is strong, they'll know instantly that you're up to no good."
Once the stranger's attention was upon him, Bakura silently summoned the Ring and felt his shadow twitch beneath him, her red eyes furious with recognition and rage.
Guard the puzzle , he ordered her. Keep the piece of me secret and slumbering until the time is right, then return and guard Ryou. Do you understand?
A nod was the only acknowledgement and all he needed.
"But I have a convenient hiding place," he bragged, silvered words dripping from his tongue with all the ease of a serpent seducing its prey. All the while he slipped the pocket knife he kept from Ryou's back pocket. "My host. Perhaps that can prove useful to both of us?"
Bakura! Ryou's low, mousy voice was high with the anger that arose from uncertainty and the tremble of fear that came with it. No doubt the turmoil in his own mind had aroused the other from the Ring's safety.
Ryou! I need you to listen to me. Now! He commanded and gone was the arrogant playfulness and cat-like chiding the teenager had come to expect from his other half.
What? Why? What is going on? Ryou demanded, no longer content to be compliant, and gone was the timid youth Bakura had, despite himself, come to like.
Listen to me . Bakura's tone was harsh, firm, and brokered no room for argument. I need you to stay in the Ring, Ryou, and whatever happens do NOT wake up.
He cut off Ryou's rising protest with an explanation. There is a new enemy in battle city. I cannot be sure of their identity but if I am correct ...His nails dug into the flesh of his crossed arms, unable to clench them into fists less he rouse suspicion. Images of shadow and darkness flooded his vision: splotches of golden sand bathed red with split blood, the corpses of the fallen strung about like broken dolls, monstrous red eyes laughing, the four Gods screaming, the golden light of finality before Bakura's entire world shattered.
He would die before he let that happen again. Then we are all in terrible danger.
But...But...who...what's happening? Bakura I don't understand?
I don't need you to understand! Bakura snapped, losing patience, but knowing full well Ryou's enraged bewilderment was fully warranted. He forced himself to exhale. I need you to trust me.
Trust...but...why?
He inhaled again and for the first time felt a pang of regret for what he was going to do next.
Because I'm going to break my promise not to hurt you and your friends.
Ryou screamed as he was sealed away, furious and cursing his name but there was no masking the hurt and betrayal behind his rage. Once all the locks were sealed and the shadow had returned, he undid the knife's switch and licked the blade. No doubt or hesitation marring his expression,
"My answer is...this…"
And stabbed the blade into Ryou's upper arm.
The pain that exploded there was a mere scratch compared to what he'd endured 3,000 years prior, but to Ryou's body it was new and he felt the rush of shock and blood loss threatening to consume him.
He tossed the knife away with a laugh, and it sank into the sea. Grinning at Marik and praying he'd pulled a convincing enough act. "I'll lend you my host...for now."
He flashed Marik one final winning grin which the young man returned, and promptly passed out.
X X X
Shock more than arousal forced Yami's lips open but Kaiba took it as permission anyway. Before Yami could even register that Kaiba was kissing him, or the metallic taste of steel and rain and blueberries dominating his senses, the taller man pulled away.
The retreat was so sudden, his body did not know how to process it and Yami felt his knees wobble then give out completely. All the while Kaiba loomed over him as triumphant and nonchalant as ever as if he hadn't just stolen a kiss from him, as if he hadn't just pinned him against the wall and assaulted his mouth like he had every right to do so…
Fire and fury galvanized all of Yami's senses and he shot to his feet, invigorated by rage, fingers already curling into fists. Expecting the punch, Kaiba caught it easily, eyes brightening all the more at the outburst: the passionate display of temper, the fury burning those crimson eyes scarlet, the flames of defiance and battle burning there, consuming his entire expression.
There he was, Kaiba's grin widened and did so even more when Yami wrenched on his fist to pull it free, but Kaiba wasn't ready to relinquish the game.
Instead, he pulled Yami closer and bore his ice blue eyes into those blazing red ones...like a snowstorm arriving in time to tame a summer wildfire. "I don't care at all about your friends, but we both share one purpose: The Ghouls."
That single statement tamed the shorter man enough to listen, though Yami did not relinquish his pride or his resistance. "Cowardly thieves who step on the hearts of those who love collectible card games...I'm going to smash their operation and then I'm going to smash every single one of them individually." Kaiba let all his passion and derision bleed into his voice and it was the first time Yami could ever recall him being passionate about something other than power.
And yet...it brought to mind the single question that had been burning. "Kaiba…" he forced himself to calm, even as the grip on his wrist tightened. "How did you get a God card?"
He vividly recalled Ishizu's words. And knew only she could've been the catalyst for this.
"It chose me." Absolute triumph took command of Kaiba's features, and those icy eyes shone with victorious glee. "And not just one God. All three of them! Out of every person in the world, they will choose me ! And when they do..."
His grip on Yami's wrist loosened but those brilliant eyes shone like steel catching the light of the sun, and Yami understood exactly what that gleam meant. So will you.
That was when the Masked Duelist appeared.
X X X
Marik arrived just as Jonouchi's duel ended.
Marik dismissed his servants, no longer needed to apprehend his pawns. After all, now they had an ally.
And what an incredible ally he was proving to be. Bakura had not lied when he said he would let Marik "borrow" his host. Though he had failed to subdue the darker spirit—doubtless due to the other's far older experience—the vessel's mind in which he occupied had been easy to infiltrate and provided a wealth of knowledge Marik couldn't have dreamed of!
Not only was "Ryou'' a friend of Yugi's but the boy was privy to a wealth of information about the boy—all facts and things that confirmed everything Marik has come to love about him since he'd first glimpsed his little angel's beautiful face on the shores of Pegasus Island. Memories before Duelist Kingdom showed that his love was indeed a sweet and kind-hearted person, who not only earned his namesake with his love for games but was also courageous and strong-willed, standing up to and taking down bullies and assholes and all manner of scum who only seemed to confirm Marik's philosophy of the world and it's need to ruled by someone who would squash such vermin. He'd send his Ghouls after each and every one of them now if the damned false pharaoh hadn't beaten him to it.
And Kaiba was the worst, he tightened his grip on the Millennium Rod, calming his own fury as he recalled how the man had attempted to steal Yugi's grandfather's beloved blue eyes—only to tear it up at a later date, the trials of Death-T whose horrors surpassed any death game his own Rare Hunters had come up with. Not even the fact that Kaiba had not only survived but triumphed and evolved from not one but two shadow games was enough to soothe Marik's rage.
And his sister thought he was worthy of a God? Ha! More likely Ishizu saw a convenient pawn she could easily manipulate and dispose of once he'd served his purpose. Yes, that sounded like just the thing Ishizu would do…
Oh but worst of all...the one memory he remembered with the utmost clarity once seen through this boy's eyes: the duel Kaiba forced his beloved into on the turrets of Pegasus castle. The duel where his beloved (and to his bitter resentment the parasite) faced down the Blue Eyes Ultimate Dragon and won! Or...would have, should have had that callouses bastard not threatened to commit suicide had his beloved not stood down—only to rub that "weakness" back in his face later once he'd forfeited.
Marik had never been more determined to tear that asshole apart and take his god and the precious power he clung to like a child's toy more than he ever had in his entire life!
But that wasn't the worst part...as the Rod and it's shadow was quick to remind him. The absolute worst part was that the Parasite did strike. Had tried to attack against his beloved's will. Would have killed Kaiba (even if the asshole might have deserved it) had his beloved not forced control and made him stop. Had reduced his beloved to absolute tears because he cared more about winning than anything else and confirmed everything that Marik had already known—that this false pharaoh was no king, just a selfish, spoiled, arrogant brat who only cared about himself and used his beloved as a pawn regardless of Yugi's feelings or desires.
And that, that , made Marik absolutely furious.
You see, Master? The voice of the Rod cooed, making no attempt to mollify the man's rage. It is exactlyas you have always known...and exactly why it's my plan that will finally allow your lover to see the truth with his own eyes.
Marik has been reluctant to support the Rod spirit's plan—it was horrid and twisted and would put his beloved in impossible danger. It was one thing when the Ghouls acted on their own accord and created their mad stages—they were all scum whom his beloved, a purifying light, would easily triumph over.
But this…
This…
I will not put my beloved in danger… he said with a finality that aggravated the Spirit. But I will not allow him to be used by the Pharaoh any longer!
The rage that consumed him was delicious and the Rod's Shadow drank it all in.
I refuse!
He dismissed the spirit unaware it was watching everything from the Rod's eye and turned back to his hostage, still passed out and thrown over the back of Marik's bike like a fresh carcass. He'd bandaged the other's wound with the strips of Ryou's pale blue jacket but the Spirit had stabbed deep and the wound was still bleeding. From this angle he could see clearly the differences between the fierce dark spirit and the softer, more rabbit-like boy he inhabited. A childishly round face instead of points and angles, rounded eyes as opposed to serpent sharpness, fluffier hair that fell and draped about like a rabbit's instead of the wild untamed mane of his other self and no trademark bat-wing bangs.
Marik could almost call him cute, even with the sweat drenched face and features contorted in a moan of pain.
Marik was just about to snatch a fistful of that soft hair and wake him up when something caught his eye. A glint so dim it was almost unnoticeable. But Marik's sharp eyes caught the flash of silver peeking out from the boy's pocket.
Curiously he slipped a finger around the chain and tugged the secret free. The pendant was beautiful: a beautifully sculpted silver serpent which shimmered though age has left its mark upon the silver, it's eyes were tiny jewels and it's neck and tail tip were tucked in so that it perfectly outlines the amethyst pendant it guarded preciously. The shape, no doubt, was half a heart and this was clearly a piece of a whole. Curiosity growing, he traced a finger under Ryou's neck feeling around beneath the rope of the Ring and the boy's shirt until he found a similar silver cord and tugged it up revealing an identical silver serpent coiled around an amethyst pendant. A perfect mirror of the one Marik now held in his hand.
"Interesting…" the young man hummed and pocketed the pendant. Whatever it was, it might be important to the dark spirit, and it never hurt to have a little extra...leverage.
This was an interesting chapter.
Originally I was going to have Bakura and Marik's convo be its own chapter (given how intense it was in the manga and the series) but the idea to intersplice it with Yami and Seto's interactions came to me early in writing and I ran with it and I am SO glad I did.
Seto just stole the show and with the dialogue the manga provided it has been an absolute DELIGHT to explore and go into more depth with his character...
and explore some REALLY intriguing behind the scenes moments...
That said I had Bakura and Ryou's planned for a LONG time (and that face Bakura mad ein the manga when Marik said he wanted Yugi's life was VERY telling) I credit these boys for their masks!
That final scene is a throw back to chapter one! Let's see who remembers ;)
I make no guarantees on the next few chapters because we are coming to the final act and these next chapters are gonna be INTENSE for obvious reasons...but I'm having WAY too much fun and I can' wait so see everyone's theories!
Anyone wanna guess who "evil Malik" is and how Bakura knows him? Here's a hint, it is NOT what you think ;) Enjoy!
