*Note* This chapter uses real life places and names. Though I looked up these places and names, I have never been there so I cannot describe them accurately nor can I say what exactly would happen. Take all descriptions of real-life things lightly, for even if I look it up, I still have never been there, and the internet is limited compared to real-life experience.
In other words, don't flame me, just tell me what's wrong if you know it to be wrong so I may fix it. Thanks! =)
And guess what! This chapter has actually been beta'd!-! That's right! Someone got to look at it before all the rest of you! ;) She's the Lovely Link Fairy: Lady Sunami! =) You go girl.
NO TIME FOR AUTHOR NOTES. JUST READ THE CHAPTER! IT'S ALREADY LATE ENOUGH AS IT IS!-!-! (Although I should warn you about… NAH! (; )
Chapter 29: Death Wish (This chapter is dedicated to netjer ankh – my hundredth reviewer =) Hope you like it netty~!)
" "The greatest love story ever told is your own," " Bakura read in English from his computer screen. "Pfft," he scoffed, "I believe that… Although a few months ago I wouldn't have."
He closed the window when he heard Marik stir and yawn. The tan boy soon sat up and stretched. "Morning 'Kura, what time is it?"
Bakura glanced at the clock, "Seven AM, exactly."
Marik groaned. "Damn it… that's the time my dad trained us all to get up at without an alarm clock. I thought my irregular sleeping patterns as of late would get rid of it, but apparently not."
Bakura raised an eyebrow. "It's interesting that you can train your body to get up at a certain time. That must be annoying."
"It is," Marik agreed as he got out of bed and walked to the closet.
Bakura bit his lip before asking, "What were you dreaming of last night?"
"Last night?" Marik asked casually behind his shoulder, "Hmm… it was something about -" Marik cut himself off as he remembered his dream. His eyes hardened. "I dreamt that Bandit Keith was torturing you," he said despondently, "it was horrible… and I was in some sort of place where I couldn't do anything, I could only scream…" he turned to look at Bakura with a piercing look, and Bakura wasn't sure how to respond. "But suddenly," Marik continued, "someone started petting my hair, and telling me everything was all right." Bakura's throat had become dry at this point in Marik's tale, and he swallowed to get it wet again. Exactly what did he remember?-! Did he remember Bakura saying…
"At first I thought it was my mom," Marik continued, " 'cause she always did that sort of thing…" he furrowed his eyebrows as he observed Bakura more closely, who was beginning to feel that the air was crushing him. "But it turned out to be you…" he said as if he didn't believe it himself, "you looked really worried and you were petting my hair and telling me everything would be all right, and…" Marik stopped talking here, beginning to feel a little embarrassed. The next thing he remembered in his dream was the incredible relief that 'Kura was fine, and that he enjoyed it when Bakura pet his hair… it felt nice. "Don't leave me…" he had said to the vampire, "I can't live without you anymore…" And then he remembered Bakura saying, "I love you Marik…"
Marik started nervously laughing, his face red. "Well! It was just a dream right? Ha… I'm going to get dressed now," he said awkwardly as he walked towards the closet and started taking out some clothes for him to change in to. He had to wonder why he had such a… random dream, but he didn't really want to dwell on it because it was making his heart beat faster, and he was in denial as to why. He couldn't… But this dream was obviously telling him something right? Marik shook his head a little to clear his thoughts. His solution to the problem was to just stop thinking about it, since that usually worked for him.
Usually.
Meanwhile, Bakura just kind of sat there staring at his computer screen. He was taking quiet, slow breaths, trying to calm himself down. It's okay… he told himself, He didn't hear my… confession, last night. He thinks he just had a dream where I was tortured… come to think of it, I should probably be worried about that. "You know I can take care of myself right?" he asked, turning around in his chair and putting his legs on either side of it, resting his arms on the back of the chair.
Marik looked over his shoulder to reply something witty, but stopped. 'Kura looked so… so… attractive in that pose… He turned around back to the closet and shut his eyes so tight that they started to hurt. Since he was an artist, adaptively, his eye-camera was just a little more detailed than normal, and if he didn't get that picture out of his head right now it would never get out! But this thought just managed to somehow lodge the picture deeper into his memory, and now he was blushing. Damn it! WHY?-! Why was it even causing him to blush?-!
"Marik!" Bakura interrupted his thoughts. The way he's said it gave Marik the impression that he had been saying his name repeatedly but that he hadn't heard him. "Hey, answer my question."
Marik took a deep breath and took out a shirt to put on from the closet. "Right, sorry… What was the question?" he asked, for in his haste to forget the mental picture he had forgotten the question as well.
Bakura sighed in agitation. "You know I can take care of myself, right?" Bakura repeated. He was getting annoyed, because he took Marik's hesitance as him not wanting to admit that he didn't think he could take care of himself, which pissed him off greatly. After all, how many times had Bakura saved his life? More than once, that's for sure.
"Huh? Yeah, I know that," Marik said, decreasing Bakura's agitation by a little bit, "but excuse me for worrying about my friend." Marik picked out some pants, grinding his teeth together when that mental picture came into his mind again. What the hell was wrong with him?
Bakura stared at Marik oddly. The Egyptian's movements seemed… stinted, and nervous. What happened? Was he really that upset by the dream? It probably brought back painful memories of his first vampire friend… Bakura stood up and walked over to Marik. He put his arm on his shoulder and said, "Marik, you okay?"
At that time, Marik was not okay. When Bakura put his hand on his shoulder he felt his heart-rate increase again, and when he turned around and saw Bakura's eyebrows creased in such a caring way he just… couldn't take it. "Yeah! I'm fine!" he said unconvincingly as he avoided eye-contact with his best friend.
Bakura looked at Marik oddly. Why wasn't he looking him in the eyes? "Are you sure you're okay?" Bakura asked, even though he knew that Marik wasn't okay. Though he wasn't sure why that was.
"Of course!" Marik said in that same, fake reassuring voice.
Bakura got fed up with Marik lying to him so he spun him around and put his hands on both of his shoulders. But he still wouldn't look him in the eyes, so he moved one of his hands to Marik's chin to make him look at him. "Marik. What's. Wrong?" he asked slowly, demandingly.
Marik couldn't think as he looked into the deep, brown orbs of Bakura's eyes. Brown was such a beautiful color… He could feel his heart-beat increase, and he was certain that Bakura could feel it. Which he could, but he too was lost looking into Marik's beautiful, violet eyes to notice much. They kept staring into each other's eyes, not saying anything, just enjoying the comfortable silence. "Nothing's wrong… now," Marik said after what seemed like a long time.
They found themselves bring their faces closer without even realizing it, and they only noticed when their foreheads brushed together. That was when they both blushed, realizing where they were at that time. Marik then quickly stepped out of that moment and to the side, and once Marik stepped out, Bakura had to blink a few times. That moment had seemed like a dream… so unreal, yet reality was clear throughout it. "I-I need to go…" Marik said, walking towards the door, "c-clear my head…"
Bakura turned around and called, "Marik!" just as the boy's hand was on the door handle. He spun around. "What?" he asked, his heart-beat loud in his ears.
"You're still in your pajamas," Bakura informed him, pointing at the clothes that were still in Marik's hand.
Marik looked at the clothes and blushed more than he had been already. "Oh… right…"
"So, where should we go first?" Bakura asked as they walked around outside New York. Sadly, Bakura's special sunblock had not arrived yet, so he had to wear that bloody cloak that Marik bought him.
"I don't know… don't you have this "Millennium Watch" thing online?" Marik asked.
"Yeah," Bakura said, " "they" say that the Millennium Scale and Ankh are here, which are the last ones we need right?"
"Well, it does total seven, so what do you think?"
Bakura stuck his tongue out at his friend who's a boy (1). " "They" say that the Items were spotted in Manhattan, which is where we are."
"So we're just going to search this whole island?" Marik asked.
Bakura sighed. "Do you have a better idea? Although even if we search this entire island there's no guarantee that we'll find them anyways because the person who has them can move around as well, who's to say they're not in another part of this city?"
Marik sighed, but then he thought of something. "Remember yesterday? You threw the map out so we were trying to figure out where a hotel was?"
"Yes," Bakura said, and then he remembered too. He took the Millennium Ring out from under his shirt and said, "You think this thing could just… point to the Millennium Items?"
"Why not?" Marik challenged, "It got us to the Plaza didn't it?"
"Good point," Bakura said. He stared at the Millennium Ring, and for the first time he felt such a mysterious aura coming off of it, it had so many powers they didn't even know about… such vagueness surrounding this small Item… Wait, wasn't Marik supposed to be an expert?-! "Aren't you supposed to know all the Millennium Ring's powers?"
Marik was silent. "The Ring is the least known and the most mysterious. When the Pharaoh gave them to his most trusted advisors to spread them out, the Ring was intercepted by…" Marik looked at Bakura oddly, "… the Thief King."
Bakura was silent. "Oh, right…" The former Thief King had actually forgotten how he had acquired the Ring, he just knew he had received it somehow… but once Marik said that, Bakura began to feel a memory come back to him.
~!~!~!~
Mahado, one of the Pharaoh's priests, was riding on a horse carrying something very important that was wrapped in cloth and tied with rope in a brown bag tied to the side of his horse. His mission was simple – ride out with the package and find a place to hide it.
Unfortunately, the Thief King knew of this plan.
He knew the package was one of the "Millennium Items" he had heard so much about. He didn't know much about the Items themselves, but he remembered what had happened to make them.
His entire village, Kul Elna… destroyed. Just like that. No mercy, no warning, just… decimated. He could remember the men coming in on horseback during the cover of the night, holding swords and other blunt objects… riding on the horses, killing people like they were running their hand through water. They set fire to the buildings, the greedy flames eating everything in its path, including people. And the screaming, oh the screaming; the horrible, terrified, confused screams stayed with him for years, keeping him awake many a night. The painful sights of his family yelling out, telling him to run, run far away and never look back…
Bakura had been a child back then, and he had no idea why everyone and everything he knew was being destroyed, until he heard one of the murderers on horses say, "Do you think that's enough to make these "Millennium Items" he was talking about?"
"Yeah," another one said, "Let's go."
Millennium Items? Bakura thought, What are those? he asked himself before realizing that it didn't matter. Whatever they were must be evil, to have people be killed for them. He grew to hate these Items, and those responsible for their creation, which he found out was the royal family. Naturally, he grew up hating the royal family. And since, after his family died and he ran away from his burning village, he had been raised by bandits and thieves, naturally he stole anything he could from the Pharaoh and his pyramids. But his real hate was for the Millennium Items that destroyed his home, and over the years he was determined to destroy them.
Now it appeared that he had the chance to do just that.
The Thief King followed Mahado on horseback quietly, so that the priest wouldn't realize he was being followed. The Priest rode on through the night and took a small break at dawn. When Bakura saw Mahado stop riding, he reigned in his horse as well, and patted its nose, signaling it to wait. He crept along the sand quietly, sneaking up on Mahado who was resting his body and eyes by lying down and closing his eyes. But, since he was very loyal to the current Pharaoh, Atemu, he was holding on to the package. Although, that wouldn't be a problem for the Thief King.
He crept forward, making sure the sun would cast his shadow away from the resting Mahado, but just then the priest's horse whinnied, causing the priest to open his.
That was when he saw Bakura.
The priest's eyes widened and he sat up, staring at the white-haired boy curiously. The Thief King cussed under his breath at the stupid horse, but he stared back defiantly. "Who are you?" Mahado demanded, "How did you find me?"
Bakura smirked. "You are not very good at making sure you're not being followed, Mahado. And if you must know, I am Bakura."
Mahado stood up, holding the package behind himself. "Bakura the Thief King?"
"The one and only," Bakura said arrogantly, "now give me that pretty little package and no one has to be hurt."
Mahado got into a fighting stance. "You'll have to pull it from my cold, dead hands before I give it to you."
Bakura smirked, showing off his impressive canines. Almost like a vampire's. "That can be arranged," he said before pulling a knife out of the sheath on his belt.
Mahado had not brought a weapon with him, since his mission had been to go out at once and hide the Item as fast as he could. A heavy weapon would have slowed him down too much, and in his hurry he had forgotten to bring a knife for protection. Nevertheless, he held his ground, determined to protect the Ring at all costs.
Bakura lunged, driven by his hate for these wretched Millennium Items that murdered his village. He had been trying to hide his loathing, but at the thought of finally getting that wretched Ring and destroying it once and for all… he showed his aggression.
Mahado fought off Bakura valiantly, but when it's a knife against fists, the knife will win every time. Especially since Bakura's been trained to fight dirty from the thieves that raised him.
Bakura was careful where he stabbed Mahado, because he wanted him to tell the Pharaoh what was to become of this "precious" Millennium Item. So, he eventually stabbed him in the leg, causing him to fall to the ground, immobilizing him, at least for a time. And then Bakura ripped the package from Mahado's hands and grinned in triumph. "Finally, I can destroy this thing."
"No, you can't," Mahado said through painful, grinding teeth, "if you destroy one, something terrible will happen."
Bakura scoffed at the priest. "You just don't want to see your precious Item destroyed do you? Well these stupid things deserve it, my village died for them –"
"You don't understand Bakura," Mahado said, trying to block out the pain in his leg, "Kul Elna was already a village of thieves, and it was beginning to become a haven for vampires. The creatures were already taking too many lives, we had to do something…"
Bakura looked at the priest. He had faintly heard of the vampire attacks, but he had never met a vampire himself. He had been told many things about the creatures, they were real, they were make-believe, they were just psychos who drank blood for fun. When Bakura heard that last one, he told everyone in proximity, "I guess that makes me a vampire then!" before laughing boisterously with everyone else. But even though Bakura did not know much about the creatures, he was certain that he would remember his village being a haven for them. "Even so," Bakura said, "you could have just hired hunters or something, not murder an entire village!"
Mahado looked up at Bakura with… pity? In his eyes. "Maybe one day you'll understand Bakura… You have to admit that Kul Elna was a suffering village, it was full of thieves and criminals… the Pharaoh at the time decided that it would be the best… and it was needed to make the Millennium Items to wipe out the blood-sucking creatures and stop the murders –"
"You call murdering more innocent people a way to solve your problems?" Bakura asked, infuriated. How dare this man try to rationalize the slaughtering of his village! It wasn't just full of thieves and criminals! It was full of hard-working people, mostly peasants, not to mention parents and…
Innocent children.
Just like he had been, and then his innocence had been brutally taken from him when he saw all the burning… all the death…
All the murders.
"I should show you what murdering looks like," Bakura said, anger clouding his vision as he knife more tightly, "but I want you to go run to your master and tell him personally how you failed to hide this stupid thing," Bakura said as he held up the Millennium Ring, still wrapped up at this time. Bakura ripped off some of his shirt and threw it at Mahado, "Here, use that to patch up your leg and ride back to the Pharaoh." With that, Bakura turned around and walked back to his horse, getting ready to ride away.
He was not expecting Mahado to ignore the increasing pain in his leg and try to put him in a headlock. Because he was not expecting it, he had dropped his knife and fell backwards on top of the man, which hurt his leg even more, but even with the pain still present he tried to reach for the Ring, determined not to lose it.
Bakura was beginning to get tired with this priest, and he started punching and kicking him, wishing that he had decided against humiliating him and just killed him when he had the upper hand. But now his knife was lost in the sand… So instead he used the ground to push himself hard enough to do a back flip out of the already weakened priest's arms. When he landed at the priest's head again, he leaned low and growled into his face, "Mahado," he said, severely pissed off, "you failed. Live with it." He stood up straight, and then a glint in the sand told him where his knife had landed. He picked it up and then walked off to his horse.
Mahado stared after him, letting his head fall to the sand in defeat. How would Atemu take this…?
Bakura had been staring at the sidewalk with a lost expression on his face, but then he looked at Marik, "Right… so this one's the least known about?"
"Yeah," Marik said, surprised that Bakura hadn't remembered how he had received the Ring in the first place. You'd think that'd be something you'd never forget…
"Why was he spreading them out anyways?" Bakura wondered out loud.
Marik furrowed his brows. "You were the one who was actually there! Didn't you overhear anything?"
Bakura shook his head. "It's not like I was inside the Pharaoh's palace or anything, I was a thief. Not exactly the first person to hear about the royal family's doings you know."
Marik laughed. "I suppose not… Well, I don't really know for sure, but you know how they were made to get rid of vampires right? I heard that the Millennium Items were doing just that, but they were also causing something unexpected."
"Such as?"
Marik stared at Bakura. "They were causing others to go insane with power," Marik said coldly, "causing pure hearts to turn evil. The Millennium Items were made from a dark magic, and it corrupted some of the Pharaoh's advisors. Why do you think people had to die to make them? Sacrificial magic is always the worst kind."
"It makes sense…" Bakura said, thinking about Pegasus and his wife, "But why not just destroy them if they were so bad?"
"That was the thing," Marik said, "if the Items were destroyed, a terrible disaster would befall the world."
"No one knows what the disaster is?"
"Nope. And the Pharaoh wasn't willing to risk that chance, so he ordered them to be spread out, make them harder to find."
"Why didn't he just use the wish to destroy them?" Bakura asked.
"The Pharaoh wasn't sure if the disaster would happen or not if he did that, and he didn't want to take the risk. At least," he added as an afterthought, "that's what I've been told."
Bakura stared at the Ring. "So, if these things are evil," he said slowly, "should we really be wishing on them?"
Marik avoided Bakura's eyes. "I don't know… that was a risk I took from the start."
Bakura swallowed, thinking of a horrible thought. "But Marik," he said in a whisper, "what if… what if you or I die or something, when we make the wish? You said that sacrificial magic was the worst kind…"
Marik took a deep breath. "I don't know 'Kura… the Wish is even less known about than the Ring."
Bakura stared at Marik. Why didn't he tell him this from the beginning? Why wait till now? Was Marik seriously telling him that one of them might… die, from this wish? Why was Marik taking this upon himself anyways? "Why?" Bakura asked, "Why do you want to make this wish… if it will risk your own life?"
Marik didn't speak for a long time, then he looked Bakura right in the eyes. "That's the thing 'Kura," he said, his voice far away and quiet, "I've seen too much death… too much pain and suffering, and I just want it to end. I've seen children, children die, just because of what they became, and it's not even their faults!" Marik started tearing up at this part, but he tried to blink them away, "I've seen too much… frankly, my life seems really, really small when I think of all the lives I'll be saving with this wish."
Bakura was silent. He could understand where Marik was coming from, but… the thought of Marik… dying, left him cold and empty inside. The very thought of Marik… dead… it wasn't real, it couldn't happen. He wouldn't allow it…! No way in hell! Why was Marik willing to die for a whole bunch of people he's never even met before anyways? And what about his siblings? Didn't they know that Marik could possibly die from this wish? Did they know? Or did they just not… care? And what about him? Marik would just leave him like that, after all they've been through? "No," Bakura said, his voice so quiet that Marik didn't even hear him. He said it louder: "No."
Marik looked at him. "What?"
"No," Bakura repeated, starting to shake his head, "No."
Marik looked at him confused. " 'Kura, you okay?"
"No," Bakura said, his voice normal now and getting louder, "No. No. No! You can't die Marik! You just can't!"
"Bakura," Marik said, "we don't even know if that's true or not –"
"I don't want to take the risk!" Bakura screamed.
"Calm down," Marik said, glancing at the people who were staring at them on the street, "people are staring."
"Who cares? These uneducated idiots don't understand a word we're saying anyways!"
"Bakura! Calm down."
"You can't just tell me you might die and then expect me to be calm about it Marik!" Bakura told him, "You of all people should understand that!"
Marik looked at Bakura. "That's what I'm trying to prevent…" he said quietly, "I don't want that to happen to anyone else…"
Bakura shook his head, his throat feeling thick. "What about me Marik? You expect me to be okay with the idea of you dying? You expect me to help you die?" Bakura looked down, "I shouldn't expect you to understand, you don't know how I…"
Marik looked at his friend, unsure of what he was saying, but having a guess. "How you what?" Marik asked.
Bakura shook his head before looking Marik right in the eyes. "Marik, I… I…" Bakura couldn't finish it. Even after all this time, he just couldn't do it. Even with the knowledge that Marik was okay with the idea of dying for this stupid wish… He couldn't do it. He couldn't handle it if Marik said he didn't feel the same way…
Marik just looked at Bakura, his mind finishing what Bakura was trying to say. "Marik… I love you." But he told himself that couldn't be, Bakura couldn't… could he? That's what it sure sounded like, maybe that's what his dream had been trying to tell him. But how do I feel…? Marik thought. It was true that he had… enjoyed it when they kissed, and he loved spending time with Bakura, but did that mean that he… loved him? But… Bakura was a boy…
But did that really matter?
Marik never really thought about it…
"Just forget it," Bakura said, interrupting Marik's thoughts, "let's just go find these stupid things that may or may not kill you." Bakura then looked at the Ring and it started to glow, and one of the pointers pointed straight ahead. "Come on, it's this way," he said before walking off.
Marik had to jog to keep up with Bakura, since his anger was making him walk faster than usual. That accompanied with his vampire speed meant Marik would have to start running soon. "Bakura, I probably won't have to die for the wish."
"Probably isn't good enough Marik," Bakura said, still avoiding Marik's eyes, "the fact is, I don't want you to die…" he stopped walking, causing Marik to do a little jolt as he tried to stop short. Bakura looked Marik in the eyes coldly, "You can't die Marik. I won't allow it."
Marik had about three seconds to stare back at Bakura's eyes in wonder before the vampire ran off, this time using his vampire speed.
Marik ran like the wind after him.
"Bakura, talk to me," Marik pleaded. He had finally caught up with the vampire, but now he was being ignored. Didn't Bakura understand why he had to do this, no matter what? There were too many images of death in his brain, of bodies drenched in their life-blood, of their terrified faces right before they died, of the cold, limp, dead bodies, of cold-blooded murder… didn't Bakura understand his need to stop all that? "Bakura," Marik said again.
Bakura turned to him. "Marik, when exactly where you planning on telling me that this wish could cause your death."
Marik's throat felt dry. "I, I didn't really think about it… I've been so busy with researching and looking for them… and having so much fun with you that I just… didn't even think about it."
Bakura shook his head and looked off to the side, "Marik, do you remember how you felt when you thought I died?"
Marik closed his eyes. He didn't want to think about that. It had been too painful the first time, why would he want to think of it again?
But even though he didn't want to think about it… he still remembered how he felt. Sad, terrible, lonely, empty, crushed, like there was no point to anything anymore… Like nothing mattered anymore. "I don't want to think about it Bakura," he eventually told him.
"Exactly Marik," Bakura said angrily, "what do you want from me? Support for your choice to die if that's the only way? Obliviousness to the fact that my best friend might die when we're all done with this? I'm sorry Marik, but I just can't do that."
Marik looked at Bakura with sad and apologetic eyes. "I'm sorry…" he said, "I didn't think it would be that big a deal –"
"You could possibly die and you don't think that's a big deal?" Bakura asked, outraged, "what if I told you today that I could die from something, huh? Then would it not be a "big deal?" "
Marik's blood ran cold. If Bakura had told him that he could possibly die from something… he'd probably act the same way. It actually wouldn't be a "big deal," it would be the only deal. "I'm sorry Bakura…" he said, "Look, how about we take a break –"
"I've got a better idea," Bakura interrupted curtly, "how about we do more research on this possibly death-causing wish, and if it turns out that you do have to die for it, then I'm calling this whole Millennium Search off."
Marik's body tensed up.
Call the Millennium Search… off? After all their hard work, after all the tight spots they'd been through, just… call it off? But, they had a plan! They were going to make the world safe for vampires! How could Bakura just throw that all away now? Didn't he realize how important this was to him…? Didn't he realize that he needed to do this? For all the vampires he's ever killed, for all the poor vampire children… He couldn't just call it off like that! "That's not your decision to make!" Marik exclaimed, "I'm the one who started this, and I'm going to finish it," his face hardened, "with or without you."
Bakura clenched his fists. "Well, you're going to have to do it without me then, seeing as I'm the only one who cares about your stupid life!" he screamed before turning to run away, but Marik grabbed his arm before he could.
"… Do you really care that much?" he asked quietly, "About me… does even the thought of me dying make you so angry like this?"
Bakura let out a breath. "Marik, after all we've been through, do you honestly expect me to say "No" to that question?" he turned around to look at him, "Wouldn't you act the same if the roles were reversed?"
Marik let go of Bakura's arm. "… Probably…" he admitted.
"Well there you go."
They both stared at each other, wondering just how much they did care for one another… When did it get like this? Was their friendship even a "friendship" anymore? It seemed more like a…
Marik didn't know what to think; his whole life, the only people who worried and cared about him were his family – no one else. And not even his entire family, only his mother and siblings. He never thought that someone besides those people would ever care if he died or not… He never imagined that he'd develop such a close friendship with someone, let alone someone like Bakura. He never thought… he never thought that he'd enjoy being around someone so much, that he'd end up caring for that person possibly more than himself… And he never thought that someone would return those feelings either. He had always assumed that he'd be alone, sure he'd have his family and they were wonderful people who only wanted the best for him, but with family… You're almost required to want the best for your relatives, with friends… well, you know that saying: "Friends are family you choose for yourself."
Marik had never really believed that until now.
Bakura… really cared, didn't he? The fact that he got so angry like this is proof of that, it's damn good proof too. Somewhere along the way, things got like this… and it was almost as if they couldn't live without each other anymore. They've gotten too comfortable together, too attached to the other's quirks. They knew exactly what to say and do to get the reaction they want out of the other… and Marik found himself enjoying it way too much; this closeness. It was a wonderful feeling, one that he would not give up so easily, even if he didn't know exactly what it was called. For now, it would just remain a friendship until he found a better word.
Marik was completely absorbed in his thoughts, but after a while he crossed his arms and said, "I just think it's a little unfair, seeing as how I already thought you died once…" he smiled, "I think you need to experience that feeling."
Bakura flicked him in the forehead, "I don't think so. You've already put me through hell with this stupid death-wish you appear to have…"
Marik sighed. "Look, how about we first find out if this wish will cause one of our deaths or not, then we'll go from there."
Bakura was silent, but then he said grouchily, "I guess that's a compromise…"
Marik smiled and put his arm around his shoulder. "Good kitty!"
Bakura growled. "No, bad kitty," he said before trying to bite Marik's ear.
Soon, Marik and Bakura were in the main branch of the New York Public Library. The actual building was called the Stephen A. Schwarzman Building, and it was a very wide, tall, stone building, with six, skinny pillars holding up a small veranda on the front steps framing three arched doors, two pillars framing the middle arch with a single pillar on the outside of the end arches. The building itself was very detailed and fascinating, albeit old-fashioned, with all sorts of engraved patterns and detailed ornaments, but the most noticeable thing about the building was the pink marble lion statues on either side of the staircase. Both were laying down, forever looking ahead, and Bakura couldn't help but think of those lions coming to life and attacking anyone who would try to harm the library or its contents. It would be more of a horror-fantasy then, but he wouldn't mind writing about it. Maybe the lions would chase some sort of wizard or something…
The interior of the building was spectacular as well. The walls and other pillars were all made of either marble or brick, with many pillars and glorious chandeliers and candle-holders placed tastefully across the whole building. Some of the ceilings were painted with the most delightful paintings of people doing all sorts of things. Bakura was surprised to see staircases, but he really shouldn't have been for how tall the building was.
They climbed one of the staircases and the first room they stepped in, the Rose Main Reading Room, shocked them both to a certain degree. The room was tall – about 52 feet – and huge, – at least two city blocks – with long, rectangular, oak tables going across on two sides, creating an isle in the middle and on the sides of the beautiful rows of tables on brown and white-tiled floors. Each table held four bronze lamps along with two plastic card holders that had information about the library inside them. The ceiling was decorated with breathtaking murals of skies and clouds and the frames around the paintings were very ornate, with many gorgeous, layered chandeliers hanging above each table. Massive windows also lined the walls, helping light the outstanding room.
Numerous bookshelves with seemingly endless books lined the walls on the floor level and along the balcony, and in the back there appeared to be a smaller type of building inside that showcased artifacts and other things that were of no significant importance to our two protagonists whatsoever. However, Bakura spotted some computers over yonder, most likely to help with searching for books, and he assumed that this place had wi-fi as well. That would come in handy if he needed to bring his laptop here later.
Marik took one look at the amount of books in the room and felt dread settle into his stomach. For a person who didn't like to read, this was his worst nightmare. How long would it take to even find the books? Let alone read them. And how many would he have to read anyways? Mercy help him…
And what if the library didn't have what they were looking for in the first place? Although Marik found that hard to believe, what with the sheer mass of books in the room, but he had to consider the possibility. He was about to tell Bakura of this, but then noticed that his vampire had already walked towards where the computers were, so he followed as quietly as he could on the hard floors, which wasn't as difficult as he thought it would be, since the library wasn't exactly "quiet." It wasn't loud either, but it wasn't quiet; people were listening to music through their headphones, some were clack-clack-clack-ing on their laptops, and a few were talking, most likely studying or sharing interesting details in books they'd found. But this created a homier atmosphere; it was all comforting background noise instead of the starch silence of most libraries, and Marik found himself actually relaxing, despite the dreary subject they had come to research.
He looked over Bakura's shoulder and found that he had already typed in, "Millennium Items" in the library's search engine under the "About" category. Surprisingly, there were actually a lot of books that were supposedly "about" the Millennium Items! Of course this only made Marik feel as if they'd never find the answers, and dread all the reading he'd have to do even more, but Bakura felt excited. With all of these books, one of them was boundto have an answer! Hopefully it would turn out positive…
They wrote down the books and where they could find them and split the list in half. They each took one piece of the list and then set to work to find their answers.
Bakura was starting to get severely pissed off.
He had been searching for hours all over this blasted library for the books he had found and not one of them held the answers he so desperately desired. The only useful thing he had discovered with his so-far fruitless search was that the Millennium Ring could, in fact, lead you to the other Items, and that it could lead you to other things as well so long as you asked. Which would explain how it had pointed them to The Plaza, but it still explained nothing about the Wish. In fact, the only in-depth description of the Wish he had seen so far was this:
"The Millennium Wish is a wish that can only be obtained through the collection of the seven Millennium Items and the placing of said Items in the Wishing Tablet. The exact location of the Tablet is unknown, but it is most likely in Egypt. Not much is known about the wish, except that it uses Sacrificial Magic to grant the wish, since that is how the Millennium Items were crafted (see page 81). From this, archaeologists gather that depending on how big the wish is the more will have to be taken to supply that wish. Of course this is only a theory, and cannot actually be proven."
Everything else just said that the Wish was a "rule-free" wish you could make when you collected all the Items and put them in the stupid Wishing Tablet. And honestly, the in-depth response he had found so far did not sound too good… How much would have to be taken away to supply a wish with such magnitude as allowing an entire species to be accepted? Bakura swallowed nervously as the only answer that came to him was the most obvious one: death.
Bakura took his nose out of the book he was reading and looked out of one of the many windows that lined the building, sighing to himself. Of course, he wasn't entirely sure the book could be telling the truth either… And he really hoped it wasn't, but it made sense. It was like a trade-off, the Wish would take something of equal value from you in exchange for what you want. Why wouldn't the wish work like that? Why wouldn't it take someone's life in exchange for a species' freedom? It would probably take more…
Bakura shook his head slightly. If he didn't find something positive soon, he was going to have to call off the search… But would Marik listen to him? He seemed dead-set on his mission… literally. What if he wouldn't stop…? Would he have to accept the fact that Marik might… die…?
No, Bakura thought to himself, panic entering his brain, he can't die… not now…! Not ever!-!
Of course, even as Bakura thought this he knew that was preposterous; everyone had to die sometime…
It was then he remembered that a Blood Pack could live as long as a vampire could with the regular drinking of their blood. Would Marik like that idea…? He shuffled his feet at the thought of drinking Marik… regularly. Not that he would mind of course; it was a pleasure to drink blood, especially his, but… What would Marik think…? He didn't even know how he felt about their past kisses, how would he take being drunken from regularly? That was more intimate than kissing…
Bakura's eyes widened at where his thoughts were headed and he shook his head. This is preposterous... I'm supposed to be searching for information about the Wish, not daydreaming about Marik…! He sighed. He wondered if Marik was having better luck than he was… At least he knew that Marik wouldn't be daydreaming about him, even though that thought made him a little annoyed.
Unfortunately, Marik wasn't having much luck either.
He tried searching, and he tried reading, and he tried to find the answers, but he just couldn't. He was having trouble focusing; his mind kept going back to how Bakura reacted when he found out that this wish might – only might – cause (his) death. He had been so mad, like he couldn't even stand the thought of him dying… He really cares… about me, he thought. Many times he had blushed while trying to read a book, making others around him wonder what he was reading (of course a few saw that he was researching Egyptian artifacts and stared at him oddly – very oddly).
And while he kept thinking of how much Bakura did, in fact, care about him, he also kept thinking of all the nice things Bakura had done for him, and all the fun times they've had together, and all the kisses… He had to bury his face in a book once to hide his impressive blush, especially when he thought of that dream he had where Bakura said, "I love you."
He had to shake his head many times to try and read what was in front of him, but for someone who doesn't like reading to be distracted by something much more… 'enjoyable,' we'll say, it was very hard for him to get any lick of information out of any of the books he found. Not that he need have worried, none of the things he would have read held the answers they needed.
He sighed. Why was he thinking of all this stuff now? Yes, they've kissed; yes, they're friends; yes, they care for one another; yes, they can't stand the thought of the other dying, yes, it seems they're willing to die for the other; yes, they've been through a lot together; but… was it possible that he… Was it possible that Bakura…? All of those yeses don't equal…. Love do they…? No, of course not… it just meant they were really good friends… right? Marik swallowed; he was having a hard time figuring all of this out… Maybe he should ask Bakura…?
'No!' his mind immediately screamed at him, 'That's a horrible idea!'
Then what do you suggest? Marik shot back irritably.
'Figure out how you feel first, worry about him later.'
What if I don't know how I feel!-!
'That's why you think about it Einstein. Duh.'
Easy for you to say…
'Are you just afraid of the answer?'
Of course not! … Well… I don't know! … Maybe…
'It's always "maybe" or "I don't know" with you. Turn that maybe into a yes or a no, and get rid of the unknowing!'
I don't know how!-!
'Well, you don't have to decide right away. Just be aware and open to it and decide later. After all, it's your life and your emotion, only you know how you feel.'
Marik thought about what his mind had told him. That was actually really good advice… Thanks!
'No problem, I'm always here.'
Marik smiled before realizing he was talking to himself again… he really needed to stop doing that.
He continued on the search for any information on the Millennium Wish, even though at this point he was feeling hopeless. But he had to keep searching or else Bakura might call it off, and – while it would sadden him – he was already determined to continue searching for them by himself if the need arises. But there was no doubt in his mind that he would miss Bakura… a lot. Not to mention that it'll be a lot harder, since he'll have to do all sort of odd jobs to even afford to live. But he had to do this – he almost felt like he was destined to end prejudice against vampires, even if the vast majority didn't know they existed, they were still afraid of them and he wanted to end that too. He just wanted to end all this pain and suffering and fear, once and for all… Didn't 'Kura get that? He understood that he just didn't want him to risk his life, but it was his life! He could live it how he wanted.
'But when someone cares for you, you have to think about them too,' his mind told him, instantly filling him with guilt. He supposed he should've at least told Bakura about the slight chance about the Wish… but honestly, he hadn't thought of it. He knew the Wish used Dark Magic, but he never thought about if he'd have to give something up or not… That was actually the main reason why he hadn't brought it up till now, of course once he had said it he hadn't expected 'Kura to react so… upset about it.
Of course, now Marik had to wonder… would he die from the wish? Honestly he didn't know how to feel about that, so he felt impartial. He knew that dying was supposed to be this scary thing that struck fear into your very core, but he honestly didn't fear death. If he died right now… he probably wouldn't feel anything. The thought of dying right now didn't fill him with any sort of feeling; honestly his life was just one among thousands – nothing particularly special. Plus, it just seemed so far away… not a reality. When he was high up, however, he felt fear that he was going to fall and die, because it was a close reality – something that could happen and soon. Of course, it wasn't really 'death' he feared so much as the 'pain' he would get form landing… and it wasn't that he 'feared' pain, he's just experienced so much in his short life that he'd rather avoid it at all costs. Pain was… painful, why would he want to feel it? Death wasn't really 'pain,' in fact, didn't people usually say that death ended all pain? That sounds kind of nice form his viewpoint… not that he'd purposefully die! He'd avoid it at all costs, but if it was the only way to accomplish his goal… Besides, he didn't really have anything much else to live for other than what he was doing currently. If it turned out he would die after making the wish, he honestly felt okay about it. That was the price he pays for the greater good, and that would actually be a pretty fair price.
This might be part of the reason he was so surprised 'Kura cared so much…
'Think of it this way,' his mind spoke up, 'you know how you feel when you think of Bakura dying right?'
Marik's body went all hot-cold. No… that can't happen, not again… It was funny how he didn't particularly care for his life, and yet he couldn't stand the thought of someone else dying.
Marik sighed before putting away the book he was supposed to have been looking at. He turned and started walking aimlessly; looking for the next book he's supposed to read. However, while he was looking at the paper that told him where to find the next book, he heard a book fall. He looked at the fallen book; it was a royal red hardcover with golden lettering only on the front – not on the spine. Avid book-readers would describe the book as "old-fashioned," but Marik just thought it was weird that it didn't have spine-lettering. Naturally, he picked it up, intending to put it back (not wanting anyone to trip on it), and he found that the book was entitled "Egyptian Legends," with a certain page bookmarked. Curious, Marik opened it up to the marked page, finding that the page marked was titled "The Black Pig." He assumed that was a legend, and he was about to close the book, but the bookmark caught his eye. It looked like a folded piece of browned, parchment paper…
Interested in why there would be parchment paper in a library book, Marik opened up the paper and was shocked by what he saw hand-written on it:
The Millennium Wish
The Millennium Wish is a powerful thing, for it can grant any wish so long as your will is strong and your heart is pure. The wish can be ridiculously outrageous or impossible and it will still be granted, so long as you fulfill the two credentials stated before.
The Wish uses Sacrificial Magic, one of the Dark Magics (see page 15), just like the Millennium Items do (see page 1). This means that the wish will take something it feels is of equal value from you, but depending on your intentions this aspect can be skewed or completely left out. If you are using the Wish with bad intentions (or an impure heart) then the Dark Magic imbedded in the Items will respond and attach itself to that and corrupt your wish, taking more than it's worth or even changing the wish until it's the opposite of what you wanted. Likewise, if you make the Wish with good intentions (or a pure heart) then the Dark Magic has very little or nothing to respond to, and will grant your wish without corruption. It will still take something in return, just something smaller than what would be owed. If someone has good and bad intentions (or a torn heart) then the Dark Magic will attach itself to the impure part and will take an equal value for what you wish for (see page 100 for the Rules of Equality).
The Wish is not meant to be taken lightly; it will tax your physical and mental strength and might harm you to the point of death. The Wish shows you many things related to your wish, showing all possible outcomes, and mostly horrible ones. But because of the Dark Magic, most of these bad images will probably not come true, and the Wish is just trying to weaken your willpower so that it may kill you from the inside, adding your soul to the many that course through it. It is also said that you will hear the numerous cries of the souls that you're using to make the wish come true, which would cause even the strongest of men to crumble at the prospect of using other's lives for their own wish. That is why only someone with a strong will can make the wish and carry it out, so that the power and guilt does not tear their body or mind apart. If someone with a weak will were to make the wish, he would most likely not be able to carry it out and would end up dead.
Throughout the page many sentences and even whole paragraphs had been crossed out or written over, as if the person writing this kept finding out new information and changed it constantly. The reference to the page numbers had actually been above the word it was talking about, and by those page numbers Marik knew that this person must be planning to turn their findings into a book one day. Interestingly, the opening paragraph had been written in red ink and had nothing else done to it, so apparently that was common sense or something. Marik looked on the back of the sheet and saw nothing written there.
This paper seemed to be telling him that the Wish gets its source and power from the lives that had been taken to make the Items in the first place, combined with the Dark Magic. At least, that's what he got when it mentioned you'd hear the cries of the dead during the wish. It also appeared to tell him that as long as you weren't evil then you could make any kind of wish you wanted with no problem, and you had to make sure that you truly wanted what you were wishing for, or else your mind will be destroyed and you'll die.
Well, as far as Marik knew, his intentions weren't "evil," and neither was he, and he had a pretty strong will… Yes, he definitely had the "two credentials" listed. Which means that he would not die from making the wish; according to this paper. But it still said the wish would take something in exchange… what would it take? Would a life be considered not that much for the magnitude of the wish he was planning to make? Marik bit his lip ponderingly. Upon first look, this paper seemed to tell him that he could make the wish without fear of losing much, but what's considered "much?" A life is pretty high valued and is "much," but in comparison to an entire species being accepted would it seem not that "much?"
Marik sighed. Bakura was sure to bring that point up… what should he say? He looked at the paper again. From reading it he just got this feeling that everything would turn out fine… after all, he had the two credentials, and surely the wish wouldn't take his life if that's what seemed to happen if you didn't have them. And not only that, the paper just seemed to radiate good feelings, reassuring him that everything would be fine and that he shouldn't worry. But would Bakura feel the same way…?
Well, he'd soon find out.
Bakura's eye was twitching at a certain book he had found. It looked promising, since the title of the book was, "The Legend of the Millennium Items," but even it didn't have anything about the Wish! Dang it… this really was the most mysterious aspect wasn't it? Bakura started massaging his temples; this was really testing his patience…
He did a small jump when he felt a hand on his shoulder. He whipped around and saw it was just Marik, with a smile on his face… he must have found something! "Why are you happy?" he whispered very quietly, "Did you find anything?"
"Yeah!" Marik said, giving him a piece of parchment, "I found this in a book of Egyptian legends."
Bakura took the paper with a raised brow. What could this piece of paper possibly say that would make Marik smile…? He started reading it, and by the end he was staring with wide eyes.
… It, wasn't exactly comforting, per say… But he knew Marik, and he definitely had a pure heart. And he imagined his will was pretty strong, considering everything he's seen… Most people would probably go insane if they were in his place…
But… there was still that chance; there was still that slight chance…
What if his will wasn't strong enough…? What if the Wish took his life as the exchange? What if his heart wasn't pure enough? There were too many what if's in this scenario! There were too many chances that Marik would die from the Wish…!
But… there was something off about this paper as well. It looked like someone's journal… who knows if this was a good source either? Who knew if this spoke the truth? Maybe the guy who wrote this was a complete and utter nut-job! Maybe the guy who wrote this had absolutely no idea what the hell he was talking about! Maybe…
But, just like with "A Vampire Story," he just felt like this paper – this piece of parchment, journal paper – was telling the truth… And it filled him with confidence, even though there were so many what-ifs… And Marik just looked so hopeful – he really wanted to do this… He really, really wanted to do this… and honestly, Bakura wasn't really prepared to be alone again, even though he threatened it. And even the idea of Marik going across the world by himselfmade him feel very… protective. I mean, he had faith that he could do it, Marik's a tough guy, but it was just the thought that made him… feel that way.
He glanced at Marik, who was looking at him anxiously. "Where did you find this again?" Bakura whispered. "Inside a book of Egyptian legends," he whispered back. Bakura bit his bottom lip and looked at the paper again. Who stuck this in there anyways? Where did it come from? Was it meant to be there for them to find? "Let's discuss this somewhere else," Bakura told Marik, folding the journal paper and putting it in his pocket. Marik smiled confidently and nodded, starting to walk out of the library. Bakura followed him with one final, sweeping gaze over the library, as if he expected the journal book that this page belonged to was going to just fly out towards him. When this didn't happen, he turned and walked out of the room and out of the library, not looking back.
(1): Although at this point, do you think we could just call them boyfriends? I think we can.\
Originally, this chapter and the next was supposed to be combined to form one long chapter… but fanfiction kept messing it up, so I divided it.
~{REVIEW REPLIES}~
Anonymous: I know exactly what you mean, and I didn't think you were flaming or being mean at all! You were just giving your opinion. And don't worry, Ryou will toughen up, I just can't say exactly when. I have a plan for him though, so don't think he's going to stay how he is right now forever! After all, in this story we don't really know much about him yet, so I need to fix that… ;) How Ryou is right now actually annoys me now as well… What was wrong with me?-!
I thank you for yourr opinion and the compliments dear Anon. I'm glad you love the story and I will keep writing! =)
Bakura's deep brown eyes: I'M GLAD YOU LIKE THIS STOOORYYY! ;) And there's actually a sun allergy? I never knew that… Well, I'm assuming most people don't know about that, and personally if I saw someone walking with a trench coat/cloak, I'd be like, "You're awesome man," but that's just me… XD
I'm glad you like my style! I really wish I knew what it was… and thank you for using that "floats my boat" thing; that made my day XD Lol. Bakura says hi as well.
BTW, your second review made me feel so guiltyyy… TT_TT But everything's fine! I'm just very busy… very, very, very, VERY busy…
Bec: Oh don't feel late, at least you reviewed! =) And I just looked up pictures about the Plaza… XD And described them in unnecessary amounts of detail… *shot* Haha, but I'm sure the Plaza would like to hear that you want to visit it now XD
Haha, yep! I can't wait to show you more of Bakura's background… fun times for me~! XD And yeah, I'd be confused as well, but remember – Bakura is not a Brit in this fic… at least, not yet XD And 'Wilmington' made me laugh too… that's why I put it in here XD
Heehee, I've been wanting Marik's motorcycle back since… the Halloween chapter I think XD And I have to include Bandit Keith! Just like I have to introduce his goons… ;) I'm glad Keith appearing surprised you though! ^^
Yep! VAMPIRE SUNBLOCK! OH YEAAAAAHHHH!... *coughs* A-hem… anyways, yes, that sunblock becomes very important… very, very, VERY important later on… XD
And yes, I'm 14… XD Almost 14 and a half now… Um, thank you! ^/^ I will continue to write because I love it, but this kind of encouragement just enforces me to continue… Thank you! Very much! =) I hope you're enjoying the facebook page… XD And I am DEFINITELY having fun with the fic… XDD And I wish you all the best with life as well! Chau! =)