Later that night, she wasn't surprised that it was nearing the early morning and she still couldn't fall asleep, her mind refusing to stop racing, both with endearing distant memories, and frightening recent ones. In a brief outburst of frustration at her discomfort and inability to sleep, she tossed the thin blanket off the bed with her foot. It was a bit too hot, at least to her, even in the short nightgown; normally she felt most comfortable sleeping naked, but recalling even for a moment the way the new Marik had looked at her made her shudder at the thought of getting out of the clingy nightgown.
Another hour of twisting and turning passed after realizing that staying still didn't help her fall asleep, only made her feel more hot and uncomfortable. A glance towards the bathroom suggested the alluring idea of taking a lukewarm shower, but at the same time, she felt too physically tired to get up, she only wanted everything to go dark for a while, she wanted all the thoughts and worries and stress to at least go on pause.
Looking out the window at the night time city lights, growing ever distant, it crossed her mind of how normally, she would love being in a situation like this: safely in an aircraft gliding through the clouds, a great view from her personal room, the soothing sound of muffled engines or propellers, able to put her worries at rest until she arrived at the destination. Not so much this time around, the more she thought about it, the more it seemed almost funny in an absurd, twisted way, being stuck on an airship with the worst possible thing about Marik having come true.
Eventually, her mind finally began slowing down and inching closer to the edge of sleep.
Maybe we should tell people that there's a sadistic murderer on board…
The thought crossed her mind that was clouded by sleep, thought which made her blink her eyes half open in realization.
Shit, who's gonna believe us, it's a crazy story and the crimes aren't on any official records…
A deep exhale left her as her heavy eyelids fell closed, content with the understanding that she was finally beginning to fall asleep. As was the usual, when she was on the edge of sleep, her mind got busy circulating many, many different, seemingly random thoughts, increasingly incoherent, while it was in the process of shutting down for the night. She was barely conscious of it, more aware of the relieving feeling of finally falling asleep. Until some of those supposedly random thoughts made the whole process screech to a halt.
It's weird how I didn't fight him more-why didn't I-that bastard-felt kinda good-exciting-
Penelope's eyes shot open with a sharp inhale, immediately deeply disturbed by her own thoughts. Her arms subconsciously moved to hug herself in a self-comforting gesture, suddenly missing that blanket she tossed on the floor, as a sense of coldness came over her. She swallowed, shook her head and reached for the blanket, wrapping herself in it, the unsettled frown on her face remaining solid, even as she tried to rationalize it.
That's insane, I was scared out of my mind, that's just.. no, these kinds of thoughts, this is the kind of nonsense your brain flushes when it goes through the shutting down process, it's normal, it happened before…
She tried to convince herself and didn't linger on the fact that she didn't believe that this was the case this time too, nor on the fact that she couldn't remember having a similarly disturbing thought while falling asleep before.
To some relief, it hadn't been that long until she finally fell asleep, mainly due to the very late hour.
The few moments immediately after waking up were of blissful ignorance, until all the memories flooded back, and her stretch was interrupted, falling limp, and replaced with a sigh. Considering the hour she fell asleep at, she wasn't too surprised to see it was nearly noon; she felt hesitant to get up, then the also unpleasant memory of the thoughts that ran through her mind right before she fell asleep returned, and she shot up from bed, eager to get busy or at least distracted.
After a shower, she finally noticed the lit up screen that was in every person's room and announced information about the tournament. Penelope's jaw dropped when she read the words displayed:
DUEL IN PROGRESS – MARIK ISHTAR VS. MAI KUJAKU
"Oh… Oh God, no."
Now in a rush, she tossed the towel off herself and pulled the first items she put her hands on from a drawer, which turned out to be a red and black plaid skirt, and a white blouse. She hadn't even finished fully brushing her hair before she dashed out the room, using her fingers to do the rest of the job as she rushed to the elevator.
The upwards trip seemed to take longer than it did any time before, thanks to her anxiety, and when she finally reached the top of the airship and hurried to the duel arena, her worst fear was confirmed.
It was a shadow game, the writhing darkness in the air alone was telling enough, while the heavy atmosphere of abstract, ungraspable but very present terror and looming death was what she hated the most about it. Why a part of her clung to the idea that this Marik wouldn't start a shadow game from his very first duel was beyond her; she hated it even during the times her friend had summoned that dreadful darkness, she told herself how foolish it was to have some hope that this Marik wasn't going to immediately do this.
She also didn't want to think what he'd been doing to that poor woman's mind, but as she stepped out, the full sight of what had been happening hit her like a brick.
Her knees weakened at the sight of the Winged Dragon of Ra behind Marik, and a glance at the woman bound to the Sacred Palette of Wedjat was more than a few horrifying hints of what had been happening, and worse, what was about to happen.
Since Mai was the one whose back was facing the entrance to the arena, Marik was able to spot her quickly as she stepped closer to the observation area where Yugi and his friends were. Both the golden Rod in his hand and his gaze lowered to watch her, she was unsurprised at the wide smirk on his face, and tried to not get intimidated when he spoke loudly towards her. The way he addressed her, however, nearly made her stumble over her feet
"Ooh? And where have you been? You've missed almost the entire show, plaything."
A mix of anger, disgust, and embarrassment stirred in Penelope's stomach, she ignored the few looks she received and the fact that she wasn't alone made her feel courageous enough to shout back at him
"What did you do to her, you sick bastard? You couldn't just play the game normally, you just had to invoke whatever.. fiendish shit that comes out of that rod! And what did you just call me?!"
He chuckled to himself, amused at both her brave outburst, aware that she was only doing it because she was in public, surrounded by people, fact which he quickly realized he could still use against her when he replied eagerly
"I'm not wrong, though, you would've agreed if you hadn't run away so quickly last night!"
Penelope felt her cheeks flush with embarrassment, and then with more anger when she saw the way his smirk stretched upon noticing the change on her face. He must have known, she figured he must have known how much she hated to be publically embarrassed, and took the opportunity to not only be crude to her, but do it in such a way that would make her feel even more shame than if they were alone.
"Oi, Penelope.." Jounouchi's voice drew her attention, his concerned gaze mixed with confusion shifting to her for a few moments before returning to Mai "Do you know this scumbag? He doesn't seem anything like that Namu guy, can you tell me anything?"
Penelope bit her lip with discomfort and, admittedly, some guilt as well
"I can tell you that there was never any Namu, Jounouchi.. There was only my friend Marik, and he's gone, this maniac replaced him…"
It hurt to say those words, but they were technically true.
"As for this one…" Marik drew their attention, and him raising the Millennium Rod towards Mai raised Penelope's concern further "It's time to end this duel and feed this woman to the Darkness."
Almost immediately, Jounouchi took off to the other end of the arena, but unsurprisingly, his request to lower the duel ring was denied by the Kaibacorp employee acting as a referee. Disregarding the warning of potential disqualification, Jounouchi climbed up on the duel ring and attempted to talk to the woman, to snap her out of the trance she was trapped in. Penelope couldn't help feeling emotional, her hand raised to cover her mouth, she could tell his efforts were futile, she had seen people who were on the verge of losing this kind of a shadow game before, they were barely conscious, on the verge of losing themselves.
When Marik ordered Ra to attack, the light was almost blinding, she took a few steps back and partially covered her eyes from the golden rays, so bright that they pierced even the living darkness that surrounded them. As the God's attack charged up, Penelope felt a bizarre sensation, her anger was replaced by a type of sadness, sadness at the thought of how the emergence of this Marik could have been avoided but hadn't been, and sadness at the way she felt completely powerless to stop him.
Just when she was about to go on an internal trip of feeling sorry for herself and everything around, she was suddenly surprised to hear Mai's voice talking to Jounouchi, she had amazingly regained consciousness through his efforts.
"God Blaze Cannon!"
Marik's dreadful declaration quickly reminded her to not get her hopes up, and as the winged beast unleashed its attack, Penelope was even more shocked to see Yugi shield his friends with his own body.
She could only stand and watch as the fiery inferno rained down on the young man, his grunts and screams making it obvious that it was even more painful than it looked, while she had an increasingly difficult time seeing due to the moistening of her eyes, she knew what was going to happen in the end, and she hated it, nobody deserved that.
Finally, he collapsed to the floor, unconscious, and Penelope's legs acted without her, before she knew it, she already rushed to the exit. She had to make an effort to stop herself near the doorway, partially hiding herself behind it and wiping her eyes dry. With a nauseating feeling of fear and guilt, she watched the rest of the events, the referee declaring Marik the winner of the duel, and the latter threatening Jounouchi before inflicting the punishment of losing the shadow game on Mai.
Her muscles felt limp, but only while Marik finished talking to the others, once he began walking towards the exit, in her direction, she suddenly became rigid with anxiety.
Before the sounds of people talking with clear concern began to fade into the background, at the very least, she heard Yugi regain consciousness. That relief was quickly washed away by the noise of Marik's approaching footfalls, and it took her a few moments to snap out of her deer-in-headlights trance.
She took off down the hallway towards the elevator, only increasing her pace when she heard him shouting from behind at her in an infuriatingly amused tone
"Oi, oi, I won my first duel after being gone for so long and I don't even get a hug?"
The thought of hugging him, especially after what she just witnessed, made a shiver run down her spine, she dashed into the elevator and mashed her finger against the button of her floor over and over. She purposefully avoided looking at him the entire time, and only after the doors finally closed did she breathe a sigh of relief, then then another bigger one after she reached her room and collapsed onto the bed.
For the rest of the day, Penelope's anxiety refused to cut her a break, she struggled to leave her room and visit Ishizu's, considering how close Marik's was. When she did talk to the woman, the latter seemed saddened but unsurprised by what had happened, and Penelope resisted the urge to ask why Ishizu hadn't attended that duel.
She knew there was nothing either of them could have done to change the outcome, but she couldn't help it; she couldn't help the sense of guilt she felt either, despite Ishizu reassuring her that the loss of their friend and brother wasn't within their control, that they couldn't have predicted what happened to Rishid.
It took more strength to venture further from her room to visit Rishid, her anxiety being nearly constantly high during the time she spent with the comatose man, throwing a glance over her shoulder frequently, while her visit to the deeply unconscious woman had gone virtually the same way. When her growling stomach reminded her that she hadn't eaten anything all day, she rushed to the cafeteria and brought some food to eat in the comfort of her own safe, locked room.
As the evening came, she still found it difficult to relax, so she put on a movie in the hopes of distracting herself, which was interrupted halfway through by the display on the wall turning on, the orange light under it flickering to indicate a new announcement. She blinked in surprise when she read that the next duel was Ishizu herself against Seto Kaiba, and it was going to start relatively soon. She wasn't sure why Ishizu hadn't attended Marik's duel, but she knew she was going to attend hers, the bad part was that she didn't know if Marik was going to show up too.
A few coughs left her, choking on the popcorn in her mouth at the thought. She attempted to dismiss her concerns with the fact that even if he did show up, there would be people around, he wasn't going to try to hurt her. It did seem to alleviate her worries, until she recalled the way he embarrassed her just earlier that day. It drew a light scowl on her face, the memory was quickly followed by those of when she stuck herself in his room and the feel of his touch. Her chest puffed with a mix of frustration, anger and embarrassment as she began pacing around the room.
It took her a few moments to recollect herself and firmly remind herself that she was going to be there for Ishizu, she had to go, she couldn't just continue locking herself in her room like this.
Shortly after the announcement of the duel, she heard some commotion in the hallway as people made their way to the arena to spectate. Penelope felt like an idiot when she realized that instead of safely joining the crowd, she listened with paranoia as they passed by and left, unsure herself why she had waited until it was silent again.
After a sigh at her own stupidity, the silence was suddenly interrupted by a knock on the door, making her freeze only for a second. With some hesitation, she walked up to the door and looked through the peep hole, but her hopes of Ishizu being the one waiting outside for her to join her up to the duel arena weren't met. The only thing her eyes were met with was the empty hallway.
Penelope struggled to get a better view, glancing out at different angles, until the sight of a purple iris coming into view from out of nowhere, gazing back into her own, nearly made her jump out of her skin. It was accompanied by the sound of a thud, but when he spoke up, Marik didn't seem to be in any pain from his head hitting the door.
"Come on, come on, we're gonna be laaaate."
The low whispery way in which he said it, followed by a similar chuckle raised a few hairs on the back of her neck, he had already made her jump away from the door, and that prompted her to distance herself from it more.
"I'm only gonna say this once: go away!" she yelled from across the room in the most demanding tone she could muster
"So warm with him, but so cold with me. Nooo, that won't do at all."
After that, she could only hear the faint sounds of distancing footfalls, and while his last sentence concerned her, his first one puzzled her. Her brows furrowed thoughtfully, and as she waited for the coast to be clear, she considered that he may have been referring to her behavior towards the original Marik. It made her raise an eyebrow, it was curious and admittedly worrisome how he seemed to have a problem with the way she treated the original Marik during their friendship, and her aversion to himself.
A few more minutes later, she realized she was wasting time while Ishizu had likely already began the duel, so she cautiously made her way to the duel arena, looking over her shoulder more than she would've liked.
Once at the destination, she wasn't surprised to see that the duel had indeed already started, albeit very recently. She waved a hand at Ishizu who waved her fingers back at her, in between which she held a card that she then placed on the field. As Penelope walked towards the observation area where Yugi and his friends were, she glanced to the opposite observation area and was thoroughly unpleasantly surprised to see Marik, whose lips stretched into a smirk as soon as their gazes met.
She walked a few feet past the group as she was busy throwing him a glare, which she quickly dropped as she turned to the other spectators and greeted each other.
During the next few minutes, her attention kept being divided between Ishizu's duel and Marik's near incessant stare at her, with that still present smirk on his face that, the longer she looked at, the more annoyed she became. Granted, his attention was drawn by the duel as well, but she kept noticing how it inevitably returned to her repeatedly.
A gust of chilly but refreshing night wind served as a reminder to relax, she took a deep breath and moved her hair behind her shoulders to allow the air to travel more freely across her skin. Doing her best to ignore Marik seemed to work, and as time passed, she wasn't sure if she was becoming slightly sleepy due to the temporary slow pace of the duel, or the soothing night air, or both.
Her gaze jumped from Ishizu to Kaiba and occasionally the people in the group chattering next to her, purposefully avoiding looking at Marik, despite still feeling like she was being stared at. During the few times that she did glance at him, however, she noticed how he appeared increasingly more displeased, his smirk replaced by a look of mild annoyance, and she hoped it had nothing to do with her deliberately pretending that he didn't exist anymore.
Her relaxed disposition had lasted shorter than she had hoped, suddenly interrupted by the sight of Marik stepping around the back of the duel ring, slowly approaching her. At first thought, the fact that his irritated expression was gone should have been some kind of silver lining, until it crossed her mind that he might be in a good mood again because he was planning something.
As he continued approaching, Penelope didn't know how to react, she didn't want to give him the satisfaction of seeing her scared yet again, so she refused to budge. She liked to believe she didn't step back so she wouldn't appear intimidated, but in reality, it was much less bravado and much more fear. Her glance dropped to his waist where she spotted the Millennium Rod attached to the belt loop on his side, and when he grew nearer, she could notice the others become wary as well, Yugi gently pushing Anzu behind him.
"What the hell do you want?" Jounouchi spoke in a clearly hostile tone, crossing his arms over his chest.
Marik seemed to barely acknowledge him, let alone answer his question, he just boldly stepped between them and Penelope, who was still as a statue with unease. Only when he put an arm around her, placing his hand on her hip and pushing her a few more feet away from the group, did she inhale sharply and realize she had been breathing less and less the closer he neared to her.
"Oi, what's-" Jounouchi protested, but Marik glanced at him over his shoulder with a look and tone of disinterest
"Quiet, you."
"Penelope, are you alright?" Jounouchi turned to her, clearly concerned, and without thinking, she forced a smile as she turned back and spoke in a calm tone, yet with underlying stress that the other didn't pick up on
"I'm fine, don't worry.. O-oh no, looks like the effect of Swords of Revealing Light is over." Her answer seemed to both somewhat placate and distract the concerned stares from the group. While she was now genuinely worried about Ishizu's position in the duel, she was more worried about herself, due to Marik's proximity, especially since he hadn't removed his hand from her hip.
A slight, experimental attempt to pull away from him quickly proved that he wouldn't have it, as his grip on her hip tightened briefly. She couldn't help mentally berating herself for grabbing not only that relatively short skirt, but that blouse that didn't fully reach the waistband of said skirt, leaving a sizeable portion of the skin on her lower abdomen exposed. Granted, she was in a rush when she was dressing up, but she told herself she should have remembered to change.
The touch of his fingers on her bare hip was making her uneasy enough, but when the coldness of the gold that encased his forearm brushed against the exposed skin of her lower back, she involuntarily jumped away. The few inches she managed to distance herself from him were near instantly taken back and then some, as he immediately pulled her back hard, until her side was pressed against his, and his fingers lightly dug into the flesh of her hip.
The brief but fast action drew Ishizu's attention, whose eyes widened once she noticed where Marik was, and the unsettled expression on Penelope's face. Her brows furrowed with concern when in response, Marik smirked at her as he lowered his head towards the other woman, hunching over until his chin rested on her shoulder, all while maintaining eye contact with his sister. Penelope did her best to wipe the unease from her face and mouthed to Ishizu that she was fine, not to worry. She had enough on her plate, she didn't want her to worry about her, regardless of how worried she was about herself.
She wasn't surprised to see his sister was unconvinced, but then Kaiba demanded her attention return to the duel, and when Marik spoke to Penelope, he did so loud enough for Ishizu to hear, but quiet enough to make it seem like he only wanted to talk.
"You know what strategy she's going to use, right?"
Ishizu swallowed with unease at his behavior, but realized she didn't have much of a choice but to focus on the duel and take some comfort in the fact that Marik couldn't do much there, under the eyes of everyone, other than stand too close to Penelope and make her nervous. Reluctantly, she returned her attention to her opponent, after another reassuring message from her friend, but intended to throw a vigilant glance back at him whenever she could.
A squeeze of her hip reminded her that he asked her a question, but she just couldn't focus on much else other than how invasive his proximity and touch felt, amplified more by the sound of his voice speaking so close to her ear, raising the hairs on the back of her neck
"I don't.. Not.."
To some mild relief, he straightened up, and a small exhale left her when his head no longer rested on her shoulder.
"Kaiba thinks he's going to destroy her deck… But she's going to do that to his."
"Oh…" was all Penelope mustered to say under her breath
"What's the matter, you've seen her crush her opponents with that strategy many times before, haven't you? Not even my weaker personality could counter that deck."
Penelope wrapped her arms around herself, less so against the chilly wind and more as a self-defensive gesture, she tried to appear and sound calm and collected.
"Right… I remember."
It seemed to work, she was far from comfortable, but she wasn't stiff anymore and her voice remained steady.
Until she suddenly felt his hand slide from her hip and travel to the side, cupping the curve of her ass, and her composure immediately broke. As soon as she attempted to take a hurried step away, his hand returned to her hip, pulling her back hard but subtly enough to not draw attention.
"Listen to me very closely." He leaned down and spoke next to her ear again "I'm only going to warn you once." The feeling of his fingers slipping under the waistband of her skirt was alarming enough to make her want to take off, but the dead serious, downright threatening tone of his voice made her doubt that it was a good idea. His following words, however, fully convinced her "If you try to draw attention or signal that you need help in any way, in any way, if you even look at Ishizu with those pleading eyes… I'm going to carve her face worse than my back is, I'll carve it to the bone, do you understand?"
His fingers dug into the flesh of her hip harder, as a way of accentuating his point.
Penelope felt dizzy, she found it some twisted irony that she accidentally leaned against him to keep her balance, because she believed him, she believed every word, she had no doubt that he was capable of doing horrible things to Ishizu if she didn't do as he said.
Reflexively, a pained expression set on her face and she threw a quick glance towards the group of friends that were just far enough to not notice anything. The fact that the duel was much more compelling than before, drawing most of their attention, did not help either, and her chances of being noticed were further decreased when Marik pushed her another step away from them.
Immediately, she realized she was looking at them with a pleading look, and did her best to replace it with the most casual expression she could muster, aiming her gaze at the floor, while her heart began thumping even harder.
"I'm sorry, I didn't do it on purpose! I.. please, we can just.. leave, we don't have to stay here."
She didn't think her suggestion through, all she hoped was for a way to get out of this borderline hostage situation.
"Ooh? Are you inviting me to your room?" Marik chuckled, it made her sick to her stomach, but a part of her was glad that he didn't sound threatening anymore.
"N-no, I'm just..."
"You just want to run screaming down the hallway and not stop until you're back in your room."
Penelope swallowed, if it wasn't for his threat against Ishizu, she could see herself doing just that, perhaps with less screaming and faster running.
When his hand slid across her ass again, she didn't know where a sudden slice of anger came from, she bit her lip and whispered under her breath with hostility.
"Okay, fine then, people are going to see how much of a creep you are, go ahead, embarrass yourself."
She crossed her arms under her chest, too busy trying to suppress her frown to even notice the way she pushed her breasts up with the gesture, let alone notice that it drew Marik's gaze there.
Within moments she understood that she spoke too soon, she realized that Marik's hand sliding across her ass was on its way to his own cape. He grabbed the side edge of the material, pulling it across her back too, inserting a piece of the edge of the cloth in the tight space between her hip and the waistband of her skirt so that it would remain in place. Penelope's eyes widened at the realization that what was going on behind her back was now completely obscured by the purple cape, and she didn't even have time to start imagining her fears. They instantly became a reality when she felt his hand lift her skirt and squeeze her buttock tightly.
Her lips parted in shock and she slapped her hand over her mouth to not make a sound.
"Did you say something, plaything?" Marik's mocking tone was adding insult to injury, but then it quickly shifted to sounding more serious "Put your hand down and look relaxed, Ishizu might look at us again."
Penelope complied, she felt like she had no choice, she lowered her hand and did her best to put on and maintain a casual expression.
"What.. do you want?" she muttered between gritted teeth, trying hard to not react in any way to his hand massaging the plump flesh of her ass
"Are you sure you can handle my answer?" his tone seemed to mock her again, her eyes briefly clenched shut in irritation, and fright, and worry, and fear of what he may do next, she hated the cocktail of emotions stirring within her, all of them negative.
A reflexive flinch left her at the sensation of his hand traveling higher and grabbing the waistband of her thong, and when he pulled it halfway down her cheeks, she began feeling nauseated and dizzy again. It was the second time she had to lean against him to maintain her balance, the second time she found it to be some kind of a sick joke, considering how the thing she wanted the most was to get away from him, not get closer.
"Is this string what you call undergarments? Suits you well." His voice dropped lower and had a breathier sound to it, it crossed her mind how he was possibly becoming aroused, and it took great effort to not scream for Ishizu that very second.
As if reading her mind, the woman diverted her attention from the increasingly risky duel and turned to her with a concerned, questioning expression.
Penelope swallowed, but she had no doubts that if she went against Marik's demand, he was going to hurt his sister horribly, so she managed to fake a small smile, even give her a thumbs up and keep her voice steady as she spoke up
"You can do it! He has no idea what's coming."
Ishizu didn't seem completely at ease, especially when she glanced over at Marik's open mouthed smirk at her, yet not entirely aimed at her. She couldn't tell what he appeared so pleased about, but she reminded herself that the man was unhinged, she couldn't always apply logic to his behavior as she could to a normal person's. Fortunately, as far as she could tell, Penelope was doing decently well, so after a reassuring nod back at her friend, she returned her attention to her opponent.
"That was good… Good girl."
Penelope's fake smile instantly deflated at that, she tried hard to not replace it with a scowl and bit her tongue as to not spill some choice words of her own.
A light slap on her lower cheek, as a kind of ridiculing, congratulating gesture in regards to her acting, made her blink in surprise and worsened her anger. A small silver lining was the fact that he then hooked his fingers on the waistband of her panties and rested them there, no longer kneading her flesh for the time being
"Why.. are you doing this?!" she spoke between gritted teeth, keeping her voice low but making little effort to mask the hostility in it
"What kind of stupid question is that?" his immediate answer took her by surprise, and she did not like his slightly irritated tone "I'm finally free again, after all these years. You can't comprehend what it's like drowning under the surface for so long, because you're the sole owner of your body-… Tsk, don't get me started." The fact that he then began sounding calm again should have given her a sliver of relief, but his words did the opposite "I'm going to have fun at every opportunity, now that I'm the sole owner of my body as well. And you… You've been taunting me for a long time, I'm not even close to being done with you."
Penelope remained quiet for a few moments, suppressing a shudder at the thought of this Marik's growing desires and hatred, as he watched her and the original Marik live relatively carefree for years and years. She drew in a deep long breath, and barely had time to fully exhale by the time she heard his mocking tone again
"By the way, I like the way your cheeks get red, you're secretly enjoying this, aren't you?"
Her jaw dropped at that, she hadn't even come close to realizing it until he mentioned it, it was true, she did feel her cheeks warmer than usual, even in the chilly night air and occasional cold breeze.
She huffed with a mix of embarrassment and irritation
"Absolutely fucking not!"
Marik chuckled at the revulsion in her voice and then his smirk widened when an idea hit him.
"Are you sure? We might as well check."
Penelope's guard rose higher at those words, she didn't know what he meant, it made her even more anxious. Seconds later, she wished she continued to remain ignorant; she did not like nor expect the form in which she received the answer.
Marik leaned down closer to her and snaked his hand between her thighs, whose muscles went rigid in response, and as it made its way upwards, her hand rose to cover her mouth as well, both in disbelief of what he was about to do, and out of fear that she wasn't going to be able to remain completely silent.
When his fingers pushed aside her halfway on panties and made contact with her nether lips, she was horrified at the fact that it was actually happening, and also at the realization of how wet she was.
She expected Marik's breathy chuckle, but not the way he rubbed his fingers between her slippery folds, and when the thought of how good it felt crossed her mind, she immediately banished it and felt so embarrassed that if shame was a liquid, she could drown the entire blimp under it.
"You're so slick it came all the way down here, I don't even need to check inside…" his tongue flicking against her shoulder made her flinch, his voice dropped even lower "But I want to."
He grabbed her wrist surprisingly gently, and when he lowered her hand from her mouth, he liked the way her lips were parted open and she was only drawing in short, shallow breaths between them. Unbeknownst to her, he had to make an effort to not grab her by the neck and shove his tongue down her throat.
Her eyes, already staring at the floor into space as her panicked mind tried to deal with the situation, went wider when she suddenly felt the sensation of his fingers pushing upwards into her core. It was frustratingly easy thanks to how slippery she was, and while she felt disgusted with herself for her body's physical reaction, she was surprised at how she wasn't panicking more. She wasn't as panicked, as disgusted, as sickened, as she felt she should be in a situation like this, and the realization made a wave of disgust and hate hit her, but directed at herself for not feeling as bad as she judged she should feel. Another part of her told her it was only because she was afraid, and while she wanted that to be the case, she didn't know how much she really believed it.
Just as she began feeling the tip of his finger invade her, all of a sudden, his hand stopped moving. A few silent moments passed, and when Penelope dared to look up at him and saw the way his eye twitched, it added to her concern. It was bizarre that the sound of his disturbing chuckle calmed her down just a sliver, suggesting, at least in a normal person, that he wasn't upset, but she was still very confused. He removed his hand from her nether lips, which gave her some relief, although the way he sloppily pulled her panties somewhat back up and wiped his fingers on the skin of her buttock was unpleasant. Despite how grateful she was that he wasn't touching her anymore, she remained puzzled as to why he suddenly stopped without any apparent reason.
He didn't straighten up fully until he pulled her directly in front of him, and she heard him mumble under his breath, seemingly to himself, albeit with both mild annoyance and amusement
"Damn it…"
Penelope blinked in confusion when he put each hand on her shoulders and pulled her back towards him. She didn't resist, only discreetly pushed her hips slightly forward, so she could be in as less physical contact with him as possible.
A part of her wanted to ask questions, which she quickly dismissed, she told herself she should be glad it all stopped abruptly, and she was, regardless of the reason. She only hoped she hadn't accidentally done something wrong in his eyes and will be held at fault for it soon.
In the following minutes, despite Marik's admittedly not tight grip on her shoulders as he remained behind her, she could at least direct some of her attention back to the duel.
"I activate the Trap Card, Reversal of the Worlds of the Living and Dead!" Ishizu's declaration made her perk up, and Marik's grip on her shoulders slightly tightened with excitement.
It was somewhat strange to see the confidence stripped so much and so abruptly from the always confident Seto Kaiba. For a few moments he even looked downright frightened, especially when he brought out the few cards he had in his graveyard to use as all of his remaining cards for the duel. She couldn't blame him, considering how Ishizu had virtually destroyed his deck.
"How scary, sister. Heh, this duel is basically already over."
She heard Marik's voice above her, then, she was taken aback by the pleasant surprise of him simply letting go of her and stepping towards the exit.
As soon as Penelope locked herself in her room, she wanted to cry; she felt a few tears forming in the corners of her eyes as she threw her clothes on the floor and hopped in the shower.
Much to her chagrin, she couldn't confuse the water flowing down on her with her tears, she could tell that there were far too few of the latter for her taste, and she couldn't help the feeling of self-disgust that overcame her. A few sobs left her, but she wasn't sure how forced they were, and she couldn't ignore the way she felt more irritated and disgusted and frustrated with herself than anything else. There was repulsion and anger towards Marik and what he had done to her as well, especially right under the noses of everyone, without her being able to even hint that she needed help. But she couldn't shake the feeling that it wasn't enough disgust, and when the thought crossed her mind that maybe she was exaggerating, that her feelings were enough and valid, she just began feeling confused on top of everything.
Her wide eyes just stared at the white tiles of the shower wall as her arms wrapped around herself and the hot water continued to flow down her body, all the while she tried to make sense of what was going on inside her. The possibility that perhaps some part of her was seeing some part of the original Marik in him rose in her mind, followed by a dismissive frown, it didn't make sense since she never even dreamed of Marik doing anything like that to her, there was no doubt about it.
When she left the shower, it was with a sense of defeat and almost numbness. The thought of why Marik's Millennium Rod began glowing near the end of the duel crossed her mind as well, and while it was bizarre, she just couldn't afford thinking too much about that.
She did remember, however, to visit Ishizu, who was surprisingly at peace with losing the duel, despite it going directly against the future she predicted through the Millennium Item she held so much faith in. She seemed more concerned with Penelope's state of being, who reassured her that she was fine and nothing had happened, and she seemed to believe her after a little bit of convincing.
A sigh left her as she exited Ishizu's room, she felt guilty for lying to her, especially about something her brother had done, if they could even consider him her brother. However, not only would she find it very uncomfortable to tell her what happened, she also didn't want her to worry and stress about her wellbeing, she had been through enough herself and she didn't want to add to her list of troubles.
Penelope felt a slight sense of irritation when the question of whether her decision and thoughts were truly right arose, she felt too drained to debate with herself, so she did her best to dismiss it and at least make a decent attempt at sleeping.
It was well over midnight, well over an hour of twisting and turning without even coming close to falling asleep. A deep exhale of both mental and emotional exhaustion left her, she expected this to happen, but it was nonetheless unpleasant. With her patience running lower, she considered giving up on sleep that night altogether and busying herself with something else, at least until the morning when she expected to finally be exhausted enough to pass out.
Reluctantly, she got out of bed, but felt disinterested in anything she attempted to do to pass the time, be it reading, or movies, or video games, or browsing the internet, she couldn't engage with any for more than a few minutes.
She groaned with frustration at both her inability to distract herself and her failure to fall asleep despite her tiredness, and gently tossed the laptop off her lap, onto the bed. Her own body followed, stretching back down on the mattress herself and allowing her eyelids to fall closed, which, despite their heaviness, sleep still seemed out of reach.
The bed covers were slightly cold to the touch, just enough to feel relaxing under her warm skin, she laid there for what felt like too long, when in reality it was less than a few minutes; she was too mentally tired to put up much of a fight against the unpleasant recent memories that raced through her mind, but then one of them made the speeding train of thoughts screech to a halt.
The realization of the possibility that earlier, Marik had suddenly stopped touching her without any apparent reason because he was becoming visibly aroused made her eyes shoot open at the ceiling. She rolled over on her side as her hand rose to her mouth, she didn't want to believe it, but from what she could remember, including the way he cussed at seemingly nothing and made her stand in front of him for a while, it all appeared to make sense.
Her hand fell limp and she shook her head, doing her best to immediately dismiss the realization. It was followed by another one, the frustrating realization of the way she suddenly felt even more awake and alert after the shock of that revelation.
Reluctantly, she stood up and put her night robe on, well aware that her chances of falling asleep had gotten considerably worse, she decided she needed some fresh air.
The short trip through the airship was surprisingly pleasant, in another situation, she would have enjoyed the low lit, sleepy atmosphere, under the soothing, constant hum of the propeller engines. She enjoyed it as much as she could as she made her way to the top of the airship, where the duel arena was, where she could get some air, some refreshing cool night wind on her face.
At least that was the plan, until she heard a voice she somewhat recognized as she approached the entrance to the arena.
Is that.. that Bakura guy? What's he doing here, who's he talking t-
Penelope's heart then sank at the sound of the much more familiar, dreadful voice of Marik, she stopped dead in her tracks for a few moments. She couldn't believe it, all she wanted was a minute of fresh air in the hopes that it would help her sleep after what Marik had done to her, and instead, she bumped into him again, the thought crossed her mind of how it seemed like some kind of sick joke.
Discreetly, she snuck close to the doorway and remained mostly hidden behind it, glancing out occasionally, and then more when she noticed that Marik's back was facing her, so she was less likely to get spotted. She knew it was best to just turn around and go back to her room, but she saw the writhing darkness in the air and felt the looming danger in the atmosphere, it was another shadow game.
A sigh of sadness left her, she didn't entertain the idea that Marik could lose for longer than a few moments, she didn't think there was anything that could withstand the Winged Dragon of Ra, let alone defeat it. It was just going to be another victim.
By the end of the duel, she wished she hadn't been proven right, it was especially disturbing to see Marik's opponent's body become swallowed by the darkness itself. She shuddered at the thought, and wondered why he hadn't done that against Mai as well, then dismissed it, she didn't want to think of Marik's reasons for choosing how to torture and kill his opponents.
She didn't know what Yugi and Anzu were doing there at that hour, but she nearly jumped out of her skin when they walked up behind her and spoke her name. Fortunately, they hadn't made her presence known to Marik, and she only stayed long enough to see him crouch to pick up the Millennium Ring left behind by the vanquished opponent. After that, she began making her way back to her room, only pausing briefly to hear what Yugi and Marik spoke.
As soon as the door of her room locked behind her, she threw herself on the bed and buried her face in the pillow. Once the feeling of the lack of air became too much, she abruptly sat up and grabbed her phone, the sight of the late hour barely registering, her mind was too busy racing yet again, with more concerns.
Her head lowered to rest on her palms, she didn't know Bakura, he seemed like just another contestant, so she wondered why he was dueling Marik at that hour, it wasn't an official duel. Regardless of the reason, the shadow game combined with his defeat ensured that he was swallowed by the darkness, yet another victim. She considered going to Ishizu to tell her what happened, then dismissed the thought, realizing that she was likely sleeping at that hour. Even if she wasn't, she didn't feel comfortable leaving her room so soon after Marik finished that shadow duel, she didn't want the risk of bumping into him again, even for a moment in the hallway.
Curled up on her side on the bed, wide awake despite feeling increasingly tired, she checked the time again to see that less than twenty minutes had passed, even though it felt like an hour of trying to slow her mind down.
It seemed like things couldn't get any worse for the night. And then a sudden knock on the door made her flinch and freeze.