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Chapter 33: Freedom and… Other Things (This chapter is dedicated to Bec. You're an awesome reviewer and advice-giver and I can't thank you enough for it all! THANK YOU!-!-!)
Amora watched in wonder as Marik just collapsed on the floor. Literally. He had been strangling her, she thought she was going to die, and then his forehead glowed with this weird eye thingy, his hair was all sparky and zappy, he clutched his eye, screamed, and completely blacked out. Seriously. What the hell? "Um, hello? Marik?" she said as she poked him with her foot. What was she supposed to do now? She didn't want to kill him; she'd feel horrible for killing someone she knew to be someone else's Blood Pack… Not to mention she was kind of rooting for him and Bakura to get together. And even if she did kill him she'd have to explain it to Keith, who was definitely going to punish her for harming a fellow monster slayer. Especially Hank's son… So killing him was definitely out of the question.
She knelt down and looked at the Egyptian. That weird eye was still on his forehead and his hair was still sparking with electricity. She almost wanted to touch it…
She jumped back in surprise (with her hand about two centimeters away from his hair) when his eyes snapped open. "Geez! You're really starting to freak me out!"
Her eyes widened as Marik let out a low, gruff, dark chuckle. "You should be freaked out," he said as he slowly sat up and gave her a look that froze her to the spot. Funny, usually it was the vampire who froze the human, not the other way around. He really is a good vampire hunter!
Marik broke the gaze as he looked at the door Bakura was behind. He pointed to it. "Open that for me," he ordered, holding up the dagger-like implement as an incentive.
"Sure," Amora said as she stood up and unlocked the door's many, many locks with her vampire speed. The door cracked open in a matter of seconds and a weird, almost strangled noise came from the door, but they paid it no mind. Instead, she gestured to the open door before bowing her head. "Your door, sir," she said regally.
Marik gave a wicked grin. "Thanks," he said before he stabbed her in the stomach and slowly took the dagger out. Amora gasped in pain and grabbed her stomach, falling to her knees. She felt a constant, agonizing pain in her stomach, and the shock of how fast that happened made it difficult for her to process much of anything. She was having mixed feelings about this though, because she didn't really want to die, but if she did it would finally end all her suffering… She looked up at him. "I… thought you didn't like… killing," she said.
"Things change," he answered back coldly before stabbing her in the neck this time. She fell to the ground, feeling the blood slowly leek out of her and the pain bury itself in her throat. She tried to speak, but she started choking on the blood leaking from her throat and started coughing instead. She closed her eyes as she started hacking up blood; it wasn't long before she felt another jab in her side, then another, and after that it became too difficult to feel much of anything. Goodbye forever, Kanaye, were her last thoughts as her whole body went numb and the world went black around her.
Bakura's mind was in a frenzy, moving so fast that he couldn't think straight or process anything that was going on. He couldn't see anything except the cool, refreshing red, couldn't hear anything except a rhythmic, methodic dripping sound, couldn't smell anything other than the sweet, addictive taste of life. He tried to reach it, move forward to grab it with his tongue, but it was too far away—he couldn't reach it. His mind was going crazy; it was pounding, thrashing, trying desperately to stop thinking so that it wouldn't be tortured any longer, but his senses weren't listening. They couldn't listen; they were too strong when open blood was involved there was no use trying to shut them down. They wanted it–needed it. He tried moving around, but it always resulted in a painful, electrifying shock, and yet he kept trying, and trying, and trying, getting the same result: zap, zap, zap!
He was going blood crazy with the delicious substance so near it was driving him insane with lust and want that he couldn't have it. He'd try anything to get it, but nothing was working, and that was driving him even crazier. Anguished sounds escaped his lips: screaming, growling, hissing, all terrifying sounds you can think of, and yet the gentle drip, drip, drip drowned that out for him. The dripping was still all he heard; the sounds he made were simply background noise.
He didn't even see the blinding light that came from the open door. He didn't even hear the sounds of someone being killed. He didn't even hear anyone step in to the room. He couldn't–his mind was far too busy being driven crazy. It was all just background for him.
The man who stepped into the room avoided looking at the vampire thrashing around and being shocked, and instead averted his eyesight to the floor. He crept along slowly, almost as if this was a hard task for him to do, which it actually was. He knew he couldn't look at Bakura. It would be very bad if he did, but he needed to kill him. Nothing personal, Bakura; it was just something he had to do.
"This is gonna be it! I guarantee it!" Bandit Keith said to himself as he walked down one of his dimly lit, underground, stone hallways carrying his Sun-Gun. "There's no way this thing will fail me now! And then Amora can kiss my ass!" He laughed happily to himself as he made his way to one of the entrances to his torture room. With the completion of this weapon and the assurance that it actually worked, not only would he be able to purge this glorious city of those wretched creatures, but he could also make a profit by selling it to other vampire hunters! He knew Hank would want one for sure; he always enjoyed any new kinds of torture Keith came up with and sometimes he even helped with the designs! Keith's joyous yet somehow dark laughter filled the tunnels until he got to the designated door.
What he saw inside shocked him so much that he dropped his precious weapon that took him forever to build. "What… Amora?-!" he said as he knelt down next to his vampire lackey and analyzed all the stab wounds. He scowled; did she try and kill herself after all this time?-! He had always thought she was too afraid to do that! He got up and ran out of the room, off to one of his refrigerators filled with blood packs. No way was he losing his vampire sidekick now! She was too valuable!
Besides, he still needed to rub the now fully-functioning Sun-Gun in her face!
Marik was so close to the thrashing, blood-crazed vampire… iIt was now or never…! He had to look at him for just a second, just to make sure that he would be dead forever! Surely he could afford one second…? He looked up, his eyesight immediately filled with a tortured, in-pain, crazed, white-haired vampire, and he felt his heart tighten. He held a hand to his now-pained chest as he held up the Millennium Rod over his head with the other. He was about to bring the Rod down when unwanted memories came to his mind. All the memories of all the good times Marik had had with Bakura swept over his eyes right before his eyesight turned white and then black and a painful, burning sensation swept over his right eye. He shut his eyes tightly and held his hands up to his now throbbing head, dropping the Rod in the process. "NO!" he cried out in pain before he felt himself being repressed again, back into the mind like he had been for so many years before.
Marik snapped his eyes open. "What? What's going, where am–Bakura?-!" he said in shock as he saw Bakura thrashing around on his back like an excited madman. "What's going–" Suddenly, he saw the problem: Some sort of machine was dripping blood into a bucket and letting it build up and pool, obviously the smell of the blood was driving Bakura mad! Marik ran over to the machine and quickly found the off switch. He then picked up the bucket and brought it over to Bakura and poured it into his mouth, granted a large portion also landed on his face and neck… But that was beside the point.
Once Bakura felt the delicious tang of blood on his tongue he gulped it down greedily and licked what he could off of himself. Eventually he calmed down and opened his eyes, which quickly widened as he saw blonde hair and tan skin. "Marik?-!" he said disbelievingly.
Marik smiled, relief on his face as he dropped the bucket. "Bakura! Oh thank goodness, I'm here to get you out of here!" He looked around, trying to find the control panel so he could undo those restraints since he remembered Keith had a thing for shocking chains and things. He soon found the control panel, but all the different buttons confused him. He clicked one cautiously and Bakura was shocked again and cried out in pain. "Sorry!" Marik said sincerely, feeling as if he too felt Bakura's pain. He looked back at the panel biting his lip and telling himself to not press that button again. After clicking another button which moved the slab Bakura was on into an upright position, he found the button that undid the restraints and Bakura fell exhaustedly to the ground. But at least he was free! Success!-! Marik felt happiness overwhelm his senses, and as he helped Bakura up the strangest memory came to him. He could hear Bakura yell perfectly clearly "I love Marik Ishtar, all right?" in his mind. He blinked for a couple of seconds and closed his eyes, shaking his head slightly. Where did that come from…? His eyes widened as he remembered that vampire girl out there. That's right! She had been messing with his mind… She must have put that memory in his brain, right…? He tried to remember more clearly, but he began to get a headache the more he tried to think about it.
It became increasingly more difficult to concentrate or think about anything as he felt himself being hugged. "Marik! I'm so glad to see you again!"
Marik hugged him back happily; although, there was still a bit of blood on Bakura's neck and face, so it made his arms all sticky, and since Bakura's face was in his neck it also made his neck and part of his face sticky. Even so, his face went a little warm as he felt bare skin against his arms; Bakura was still only dressed in boxers. Marik coughed nervously. "Um, Bakura… You should, uh, put your clothes back on."
Bakura felt his own face enflame as he jumped back. "Oh, right," he said shyly. He was about to walk over to the table and put his clothes back on when he now smelled the sticky blood that was now on Marik, who was trying to rub it off. His vision swam as he smelled the intoxicating scent, and before he knew it he had gripped Marik's arms and was licking the blood off of them.
Marik gave a surprised sound and blushed. Hard. "B-Bakura! Stop!-!"
"But the blood… It's all over you," Bakura answered monotonously in his trance-like state as he continued licking the delicious blood off of Marik's arms. The Egyptian was frozen—with shock mainly—but also an odd sort of pleasure at his tongue against his skin…
No, no, no! He's just blood-entranced! There's nothing else to it, Marik thought to himself as he pushed Bakura off of him. "Bakura, stop!" he said again. He wouldn't be doing this if he was thinking straight or I wasn't covered in blood… He then noticed the bucket he had dropped earlier, and it still had blood inside it! "Hey Bakura, that bucket–AH!" His speech stopped abruptly as he felt his tongue licking the blood off his neck now. Marik tried to speak, but it came out in a jumbled, stuttered, flustered mess, and he found that he couldn't move again. He pushed Bakura away once more, but the only thing that seemed to accomplish was making Bakura grip his shoulders. "Stay still," the vampire practically breathed down his neck before he continued licking the blood off. Marik closed his eyes and pushed at him again, but off course he wasn't going to go anywhere… "Bakura! Stop it right–" he stopped speaking when Bakura lifted his head to look him in the eyes.
At this point, Bakura finally had enough blood in his system to control himself at least a little, though the addictive smell of blood still enticed him heavily. Nevertheless, he finally realized what he had been doing, but as long as Marik still thought he was still stuck in blood-crazy or whatever mode, why not lick the blood that was near his lips…? He soon found that's what he was doing, and he was conscious enough to see the absolutely adorable sight of a very flusteredMarik blushing harder than he's ever seen before.
What is Bakura doing?-! Marik thought, He's just, trying to get the blood, that's it, nothing else… It shouldn't matter—it shouldn't– Marik stopped thinking and backed away from Bakura when his tongue got a little too close to his lips… He quickly went over to the bucket, picked it up, and handed it to Bakura. "Here!" he said. "This has a lot more blood on it!"
Bakura stared at the bucket for a while before gently pushing it away and smirking. He wanted it–it was actually very hard to push away he found–but instead he said, "I'm good," just to see what Marik would say.
Marik's eyes widened as he stared at Bakura, and soon the bucket slipped out of his hands and landed on the floor with a thud. "J-just… put your clothes on…!" Marik said, looking anywhere but at the vampire in front of him. If Bakura had enough control to refuse the bucket that had more blood on it than he did, then why the hell did he lick the blood off him…?-! Maybe he just now had enough blood to control himself…? But still, he wouldn't refuse the bucket would he?-! Unless he just wanted to… Marik didn't want to think about it anymore, but he couldn't help that memory Amora put into his brain to crop back up again…
Bakura just stared at Marik for a while with a smirk before he "appeared" next to the table with his clothes and started putting them on as Marik started trying to rub the remaining blood (which wasn't a lot) off of him like a madman. Bakura couldn't help but chuckle a bit at the sight.
"Not so fast!" a voice that annoyed both young adults to no end shouted. They both turned to him with obvious dislike and disinterest on their faces; although, Bakura's expression turned shocked as he saw him hold the Sun-Gun, and it looked fully-charged! He took a step back as he put the last of his clothes on and kept watching him. He wasn't exactly sure how long the sunscreen would last, or if it could survive another close-range blast like that, so he didn't really want to take any chances. Especially not after Keith fixed it; he probably increased the amount of sunlight… "No sudden movements or I'll shoot!" he said before he steadied the gun on one hand and took a pistol out of his pocket with the other and aimed it at Marik. "And why doesn't it surprise me that you're friends with this vampire scum?"
"Gee, I don't know, maybe because you know I don't like killing vampires?" Marik answered back sarcastically. He really wasn't in the mood to deal with this right now, especially after what just happened… But, with that gun aimed at him he couldn't really do much, and he assumed that the other gun was some sort of deadly vampire weapon, otherwise Bakura would be doing something, too. Which is exactly what Bakura was thinking, but then he saw Amora standing in the doorway behind Keith and an idea hatched in his brain. "You know, if you keep threatening to kill everyone, you might have a revolt on your hands," he said, putting extra emphasis on the word "revolt" as he looked directly at Amora. Her eyes widened before she gave a big smile and nodded before disappearing.
Bakura fought the urge to smile as he heard Keith say, "A revolt? Ha! Like they'd dare revolt against me! They don't want to die, no matter how much they say otherwise." He started walking forward, still having the weapons aimed at them. "And now I'll finally be able to see my new weapon at work." He smirked and looked at Marik. "Hey Marik! Wanna test out my new weapon? It'll shoot a beam of sunlight directly at the vampire scum!"
Marik scowled at him. He knew Bakura was still protected by the sunscreen, but he wasn't sure if it would be able to stand it with a ray that close. Other than that, he knew Keith was just trying to make him mad; he did always have quite a temper… But Marik just stood there glaring at his smug face, trying to think of something he could do.
Suddenly, he had to try not to smile as he remembered the Millennium Rod. He slowly started to reach for it as Keith said, "Aw, what? You don't wanna test it? Fine, I can easily do it my–" His words were cut off as he felt something run in to his back and push him forward on to the ground, dropping both weapons in the process.
"Actually Keith," Amora's voice came from the doorway, along with two other figures, "I'm afraid you won't be able to see much of anything soon."
"Amora!" Keith said as he tried to turn around to look at her. Unfortunately, there was a large werewolf with black, spiky fur sitting on top of him and growling angrily in his face. "Zygor, get off of me!" he commanded his werewolf henchmen, but he didn't listen.
"We're not going to listen to you anymore, Keith! I don't know why we didn't do this sooner," she said with a smirk as Keith just noticed the leash she had in her hands.
He paled slightly before reaching his hand in his pocket to grab a weapon, but Zygor scratched his arm, causing huge, horrendous gash marks to scar him with a cry of pain as ambiance. He wasn't going to be able to reach anything with those marks, and he didn't really want matching ones on his other arm…
Amora looked at the person on the end of her leash. "I'm sorry that the dinner you're about to receive isn't very appetizing, Bonz," she said to a pale zombie with rotting body parts. "But it's a meal, right?" She laughed as she let go of the leash. Bonz rushed forward with his rotting arms outstretched and his dry tongue licking his lips.
"Braaaaiiin!" the zombie said happily as he reached Keith.
Marik and Bakura turned their heads away at this part, but they still heard horrible, ripping and eating sounds that they both tried to drown out. It became a little easier when Amora told the mummy with fading red hair poking out through the aging bandages next to her, "Wanna join in on the fun, Sid?" All they heard in response was an excited groan and footsteps. "Actually, can you three take him somewhere else?" Again, the response was a groan before they heard them carry Bandit Keith out of the torture room and off to some other place. Suddenly, Amora was in front of them with laughter on her face. She hugged Bakura. "Thank you! With you distracting him we could finally take him down!-!"
Bakura laughed and hugged her back, deciding to forget about what happened to Keith. "No problem! And I'm guessing those were the others you were talking about earlier?"
"Yup!" she said as she stepped back. "That was Sid the mummy, Zygor the werewolf, and Bonz the zombie! You should have heard their happy cries when I told them we were gonna rid ourselves of Keith once and for all!"
Bakura laughed and Marik joined in with a chuckle, also deciding to just forget about Keith. After all, he was kind of a jerk, and he never did like the guy. In fact, if anyone deserved to die, it was him, so Marik didn't actually feel too guilty.
Amora just looked at Marik with dislike on her face, but she quickly smiled again. She couldn't blame him for trying to kill her, she did ask him to and she did make him mad… But she also did wonder what made that eye stop glowing on his forehead before she passed it off as some "vampire hunting magic" or whatever; she didn't really care anymore. She stretched her arms high in the air. "Well, I'm gonna go find Anai and tell her the good news! You two have a great day." She smiled at them both before she was gone.
All was silent in the room before Marik turned to Bakura with a huge smile on his face. He wrapped his arms around the vampire's neck in a tight embrace. "I'm so happy you're still alive, Bakura!" he said before he loosened his grip slightly, pressed his lips to Bakura's and then resumed hugging him with a smile on his face.
Bakura blinked in confusion before he hugged Marik back. Did… Marik just kiss me? He thought as he put one hand up to his lips. … I think he did! He blinked some more before pouting slightly. I wish I could get away with that… Bakura laughed to himself as he thought of earlier with the blood licking. Oh, like hell I'm letting him get away with this!-! he thought to himself. "Marik, did you just…?"
"What?" Marik asked as he loosened his grip again to look at Bakura's face.
"…" Bakura smirked. "Did you just kiss me?"
Marik didn't answer for a second, and Bakura laughed when he started blushing. "Um… Yes, but… A little girl told me to, uh…"
"A little girl told you to kiss me?" Bakura asked with amusement, obviously not believing him.
Marik groaned and buried his face in Bakura's shoulder. "I know it doesn't make sense, but it's true okay!-!"
Bakura laughed. "It's okay, Marik. I understand."
"You do?" Marik asked as he lifted his head to look at Bakura.
Bakura smirked. "Yup," he said before he kissed Marik again, shocking him to some degree.
Before Marik could think to kiss him back, it was over, and he was looking at Bakura's smirking face again. He felt more heat come to his own face. "B-Bakura?-!"
Bakura opened his mouth to say something when they heard a cough sound through the room. They turned to see a smug-looking Amora and a shy-looking ghost girl standing in the doorway again. "I don't mean to intrude," she said in a way that made the two men think she did mean to intrude, "but I think you two love-birds should go home"
Bakura smiled and looked at Marik who was still blushing and had his mouth open to protest to the term "love-birds." "Yes, I was just thinking the same thing," Bakura answered, having eyes for no one but Marik. Unfortunately, the tan boy had eyes for nothing but the floor at this point.
Marik and Bakura were walking down the street side by side without a single word being spoken between them. They had just gotten off a subway train from Staten Island to Manhattan, and still not a word was spoken between them. Bakura looked over at Marik with a smirk on his face again, and chuckled to himself when he still did not meet his gaze. Marik had avoided looking at him ever since they got out of Keith's place. Of course, that was partly because he was wrapped up in his own thoughts.
Once they were seated on the subway car, Marik began to remember what exactly had happened when Amora tried messing with his mind. He slowly recalled that creature, what he said, what it all meant… And then he began to wonder why he suddenly went away once he saw Bakura. Why did that happen…? What was so special about Bakura that made that thing go back in his mind…?
He had really started avoiding Bakura's gaze when the thought occurred to him that maybe it was because… Bakura made him happy.
The being inside him was a thing of anger and hate, everything he had tried to suppress. Happiness must be a thing that suppresses it. After all, he said that he grew on his anger, not his happiness.
Although, the thing that really made him avoid Bakura's gaze was that stupid memory that Amora planted in his brain, the one with Bakura yelling, "I love Marik Ishtar!" as well as a few other ones where Bakura said "I love him" quietly. He tried to stop thinking about them as they were completely ridiculous. Something that the girl put in his mind and nothing more… After all, there's no way Bakura would actually say that! … Right? But… it just seemed so real! And why would she put those in his mind anyways? What purpose did it serve? And, at any rate–
"Hey, Marik," Bakura's voice broke through his thoughts as well as the silence between them.
Marik finally looked at him for the first time since they left and said, "Yeah?"
"I had this strange dream while I was unconscious. You know, when Keith captured me?" Bakura said, a mischievous smile on his face.
"… What was the dream about?" Marik asked after a brief pause, wondering where Bakura was going with this.
Bakura smiled at him before looking forward. "It started with you giving me a drawing lesson." Marik swore his heart stopped for a moment–he knew where this was going… He felt his face start to heat up as Bakura continued, "And then, one thing led to another, and I kissed you." He looked at Marik again. "And… you kissed me back." Marik was back to his previous tactic of not looking at him, but his face was still warm. "I was just wondering," Bakura said with a smile before he stopped walking, causing Marik to stop walking to and look at him, "did that actually happen?"
Marik stared at him, wondering what the hell he should say. It looked like Bakura thought that the kiss last night was just a dream; he didn't know that if it was real or not… Should he tell the truth? Or should he take the easy way out and say it was a dream?
Of course, he had no way of knowing that Bakura knew for a fact that last night's progressive kiss actually happened and he was just seeing whether or not Marik would admit to it. If Marik said no, then that would mean that he didn't like him that way yet and that last night was just a confusion for him, but if he said yes then… Well, he wasn't sure.
Eventually, Marik coughed awkwardly and scratched the back of his head, avoiding Bakura's eyes. "Um, that actually… that, uh… that happened," he finally said, his face still red.
Bakura's eyes widened and a smile appeared on his face. "It did?" he asked happily, but it was more like a statement.
Marik blushed more and said reluctantly, "… Yeah…" Then he started walking again. "We've had a long day, let's get back to the hotel and rest…"
He turned to Bakura with surprise as he felt a very warm hand wrap around his own. Bakura smiled cheekily at him and squeezed his hand before saying, "Actually, I was hoping we could continue searching for more Millennium Items." Somehow, the way he said that made Marik think he was asking him on a… date…
"… Uh, yeah, sure, why not?" Marik said in a rush, completely flustered before laughing nervously. He immediately scolded himself for his reaction before he turned his head away from Bakura and his amused chuckling.
But he didn't let go of Bakura's hand.
"I'm sorry, Joshua, but I just think this is the best for both of us!" Amora yelled at a cute, skinny, dark-haired, boy with thick, black glasses and a huge scar across his face and right eye. The look he wore on his face made it seem like the worst thing ever had just happened to him. "I just think we should see other people, all right?" she said in a more quiet tone.
"This I because of that French guy, isn't it?" Joshua said sadly, "I knew I stood no chance against–"
"Joshy, this has nothing to do with that French guy! I just really think we need to see other people."
Joshua looked down, the dark night helping to conceal the tears on his face. "But… we're Blood Packs–"
"Don't you see, Josh? That means nothing!" Amora said, desperately trying to explain this to him, "Come on, tell me honestly, do you love me? Like, really love me? It's okay if you say no! You shouldn't be afraid to be honest!"
Joshua took a long time to answer, but eventually he looked up at her with a sad smile. "I… I guess it's not really love… I mean, I like you, but…"
Amora smiled. This was actually going better than she had thought! "I feel the same way. See, Josh? Just because of this bond thing we have doesn't mean we have to love each other, right?"
He shook his head slightly. "I… I guess not…"
Amora pat him on the back and smiled. "We can still be friends. After all, you're a great guy Josh." She smiled encouragingly at him. "Any girl would be lucky to have you."
"Please," Joshua said sadly, "what girl's gonna love a guy with an ugly scar across his face?"
"One that's not shallow," Amora answered honestly. She took a step back from him. "Call me any time you feel depressed, okay, Joshy? And please… go see a psychiatrist. Will you do that for me?"
"… Okay, Amora," he said with another sad smile. "Anything for you." He turned around and slowly walked away. "See ya later… friend."
Amora waved and said an enthusiastic: "Looking forward to it!" with a smile. She exhaled in relief once he was out of sight. "That's one boy problem taken care of… You know, maybe I should just be single for the rest of my–"
"Miss Amora!" a familiar, female, and very English voice interrupted her thought.
The vampire turned to her ghost companion and smiled. "Anai! What are you doing here? You realize you're free right? You don't have to listen to me any–"
"I know Miss–I mean, Amora, but… I don't know what to do! I have nowhere else to go…" she explained in a distressed manner.
Amora's smiled sadly at her and pointed behind her. "I think there's an abandoned house a little ways from here… Maybe you could go haunt that?" she joked.
Anai gave out a sorrowful, ghostly cry that made Amora cover her ears. "I do not want to haunt some filthy home!" she wailed, ghostly tears escaping her eyes. She didn't realize Amora was joking. "I want to live in a real home…! Oh, please, can't I stay with you?"
Amora gave a short laugh. "I'm afraid I have no home either… I was going to just live on the streets since I don't even have a dime."
It was silent between the two of them, and then Amora said, "Remember the day we first met? You were already working with Keith and I was the new vampire torture doll… And then when Keith decided to keep me alive, he gave you to me? He didn't even call you by a name! He just called you 'Ghost Girl.'" Amora sighed, lost in her reminiscence. "You didn't remember your name or your past… And you were so shy! You used to drive me crazy with your stutter!" Amora smiled. "But you're not so shy anymore, and who knows? Maybe you'll remember the days you were alive some other day."
Anai grew quiet. "You know, those two boys earlier…" she began, making Amora wonder why she was talking about those two. "They… they made me remember how I… died…" she choked out between tears.
Amora's eyes widened. "That's…! … Wow, so… how did you, er…"
"… I was drowned in a river," Anai admitted with a sad smile. "Back then, it was not so acceptable to be… what those two boys are." She let out another wail, and more ghostly tears came.
Amora's heart filled with sorrow and pity. "Oh, girl… I'm so sorry." She paused, trying to think of something to say. "You know, Anai, it's okay… I mean, it's not okay what happened to you, but…" She couldn't help but feel she was screwing this up big time. "I mean… it's becoming more accepted now, so… you shouldn't cry. After all, you've been having a sort of fun time after death… right…?" Amora said with a hopeful smile. Oh, like hell this was going to cheer Anai up–it wasn't even cheering her up!
Fortunately, despite Amora's poor comforting skills, Anai seemed to look better. She gave a small smile. "You know what… you are right. I should be happy that… people like me are becoming accepted… Who knows, I might have helped pave the way for them…" she smiled happily, but the ghostly tears still fell. "Besides, I'm dead, I shouldn't be sad about something I can't change anymore…" She didn't have time to say another word before her already faded body started fading even more, and she wasn't causing it! "Miss Amora, what is happening!" she said with alarm as she felt herself being lifted up into the sky.
Amora smiled happily up at her. "You're moving on, girl. You can finally rest in peace!"
"You mean I'm… dying? But I'm already dead!" Anai said, confused, but then she understood and she smiled, too. "Oh… I get it… Goodbye, Miss Amora! It was fun knowing you!" she managed to say before her form disappeared completely, leaving Amora all alone in the streets.
After a few minutes, Amora sighed, looked back down at the ground, turned around, and started walking. "Well, guess I better find a good park bench to sleep on toni–" she stopped speaking as someone ran into her. She blinked in surprise; how had she not heard him?-! She looked up at the offending person, to tell them to watch where they were going, when her words escaped her. She knew this person: the blonde hair, the green eyes, the firm build…
It was Kanaye.
Only now he was 22 years old.
"I'm sorry!" he said in English with a thick Japanese accent. "I shouldn't have been running—my apologies."
"Ah, I speak Japanese… And it's all right," she responded airily.
Kanaye tilted his head to the side, "Have we met before?" he asked. "I feel like I've seen you somewhere else."
Amora opened her mouth to say something, but then she shook her head. "Nope, never met… But I feel the same way. My name is Amora."
"Amora?" he said in an almost confused tone before smiling. "That's a lovely name. I'm Kanaye," he said as he extended his hand. Amora smiled and shook it happily.
She guessed love did prevail after all.
Marik lied down on the bed of room 1313 in The Plaza hotel, ready for bed after such a long day. After he rescued Bakura, they had gone back to the hotel, applied Bakura with more sunscreen, and then headed out to go searching for more Millennium Items. But, throughout his searching he couldn't help but worry about that thing inside him… It was quiet now, but he felt it there… Just waiting for a golden opportunity… Waiting for him to lose it again so he could take over. How could he get rid of that thing? It was inside him… Hell, it was him!
Marik looked at Bakura who was sitting at the desk and typing on his laptop. Somehow, he just knew that, as long as he was with Bakura, he wouldn't have to worry about him. But what if Bakura isn't always by his side? Or what if he gets so angry again anyways? Then what? It scared him; what could he do? He would have asked Bakura about it, but he didn't want to… Then he'd have to admit what he's done, and he really didn't want Bakura to be disappointed in him or to think badly of him or to think of him as some child who can't deal with his emotions…
'But that's all you are, Marik,' the thing spoke up again. 'A child. An immature child who can't handle anything.'
Shut up. I'm not a child! I deal with my emotions just fine–
'Ha! Yeah right; if that's the case then how do you explain me?'
… I'll admit, I used to be a child, but I'm not anymore–
'Oh please—good luck trying to change yourself now. Oh, and FYI, anytime you tap into your strength, remember this: You're tapping into me.
Marik closed his eyes, trying to banish that creature to the back of his mind, but he couldn't help but think that's how he had gotten in to this mess in the first place… He tried to go to sleep, but he just couldn't! He kept thinking about that thing, and how he had created it… He couldn't go to sleep if he kept thinking about it…! He sighed and sat up in bed, staring at Bakura, but the vampire didn't notice with all his fast typing. Marik felt his face heat up as an idea came to him; it would probably help him stop thinking about him… Plus, he kind of just wanted to try it… He moved over to one side of the bed, put his arm on the other, and leaned on it, looking up at the vampire. "Hey, Bakura…" Marik said hesitantly.
Bakura, not stopping his typing, said absently, "Yes?"
"… I can't sleep," Marik said, looking away from him.
"Sorry, not my problem."
Marik began to get frustrated; this was harder than he thought it would be. "… I'm also, um, cold…"
"Then go get a–" Bakura started as he stopped typing and turned in his chair, the words dying on his lips as he saw Marik on one side of the bed, leaning over the other, gripping the blanket tightly, his face red. "… blanket…" Bakura finished. He slowly reached a hand behind him to close his laptop as a smirk grew on his face. He stood up and walked over to him, grabbing the brown blanket from the end of the bed, unfolding it, and placing it over him. "Here, this will warm you up."
Marik let out an exasperated sound and lied down again. "Right. Thanks."
Bakura chuckled before he slipped in under the covers next to him and wrapped his arm around Marik's waist, pressing the Egyptian close to him. Marik blushed, his arms trapped between their bodies and his face very close to Bakura's; it was so close their foreheads and noses were touching. Bakura chuckled, "This will warm you up as well. Is this what you wanted?" he asked happily.
Marik looked down. "… Y-yes…" he admitted, closing his eyes and trying to relax so he could actually fall asleep. Why won't his heart slow down?-!
Bakura smirked, having a wonderful time. Time to let the torment begin! "Really? And why is that Marik?"
"… Shut up, kitty."
"I'm just wondering is all. Do you also want a kiss?"
"I said shut up!-!" Marik snapped. Although, he actually would have liked that…
"You know, usually only couples sleep together–"
"Shut up!-!-!" he interrupted. Again with the couple thing!
"But, Marik! I'm just wondering… You only want me to hold you because you're cold…?"
Marik sat up, propping himself up on one of his arms and glaring at Bakura. "Okay, that's it. Get out."
"… What?-! No!" Bakura said, surprised that he had gotten mad.
Marik blinked at him in surprise before narrowing his eyes. "No?-! What do you mean no!-? I said get out!-!" he demanded.
"No!" Bakura disobeyed before he pulled Marik back down against him again, this time his head was under the vampire's chin.
Marik tried pushing him away, but Bakura just tightened his grip. Marik rolled his eyes; he knew many ways to get out of this hold, he wasn't an idiot or a weakling! Plus he had been trained to get out of any hold a vampire may have on him, but that was beside the point. The thing was… He didn't really want to escape… He pushed against his chest again. "I thought we could try something, but you wouldn't listen to me so get out!"
"Oh, come on, I was just kidding! You know that!" Bakura tightened his grip more, "Please… I'll stop talking, just…" he didn't finish his sentence. He didn't have to.
Marik stopped struggling, a small smile on his face; it looked like Bakura wanted to be like this too… "Okay, fine… but no more talking."
"Promise!" Bakura said happily. Marik closed his eyes and tried to go to sleep again, enjoying the warmth he was receiving and just happy right now. Then Bakura said, "I have to ask though, are you warm now?"
Marik was about to respond with an irritated "Yes," but then he wondered… What would he do if he said no? He had to ask, "And if I said no, what would you do?"
Bakura smirked and gripped Marik's chin to lift his head up. "This," he breathed out before kissing Marik softly. Marik's heart skipped a beat as his eyes widened, his face turning red again. Like before, he didn't have time to even think about kissing him back before it was over, and he saw Bakura's smug face again. He buried his head in the pillow and Bakura's shoulder. "H-how is that going to make me warm?-!" he asked.
"Well, it heats up your face doesn't it?"
"Shut up!"
"Oh please. Don't pretend for one second that you didn't enjoy that."
"I said shut up!-!" Marik ordered again, closing his eyes and feeling massively confused about his feelings again. And, as if it wasn't bad enough, that stupid memory that Amora put in his brain replayed in his head again. Yes, he did like the kiss, but… He just wasn't sure anymore!-! Did he… love Bakura?
… Well, even if he did – and that was if he did – did Bakura feel the same…? It seemed like he did, but… he didn't know, maybe Bakura just really liked to mess with his emotions, or maybe he didn't know either, or…
Marik ordered himself to stop thinking about this and go to sleep, which is exactly what he did… In Bakura's arms… after he kissed him…
I said stop thinking about it!-!
Marik closed his eyes and forced his mind to be blank, but as he did that Bakura couldn't stop thinking about the current situation. It was obvious that Marik had wanted him to hold him and "warm him up," but why was that? Did Marik know how he felt? Did he feel the same way? Oh, that would be great! Bakura couldn't stop himself from smiling like an idiot. Well, no matter the reason why Marik wanted this, it was definitely good! He felt happiness swell up inside him and his throat, and suddenly, without warning, a low rumbling sound erupted from his throat, filling the quiet room. He quickly cut it short though; it sounded sort of like a… purring cat. Bakura felt his face heat up as Marik started laughing. "D… Did I just…" Bakura stuttered, "… purr…?"
"It would seem so, kitty!" Marik laughed out. He looked up at Bakura with a smirk on his face. "You must really be enjoying this, huh?"
Bakura's face turned redder. "Sh-shut up!-!"
Marik just laughed more and then lifted an arm and started petting the back of Bakura's head. "Come on, little kitty, why don't you purr again?"
"Stop that! I'm not going to… to…" Bakura couldn't help it–being petted just felt so good… He purred again, and this time he continued purring. His eyelids drooped as a tired, content feeling swept over him. Marik's soft stroking was almost lulling him to sleep… Like a cat. But, right at that moment, he was really too happy to care about his dignity right now, so he let Marik pet him as he purred. This feeling and Marik's happy smile was worth it.
"That American idiot failed me! Not that I should be surprised…" an Egyptian man with a boyish face said to himself. He was inside a small room, barely furnished with only a single chair, a mini-fridge, a cot, and a small desk inside. He was seated at the chair, his head leaning on the back of it with his eyes closed in almost a depressed tone, but his face was too blank for there to really be any emotions displayed upon it. He was dressed simply, wearing a white turban and white robes. "I told him there would be a vampire coming into New York and gave him a simple task: kill him. That was it, and yet he could not accomplish it. This vampire is becoming more of a nuisance than I had originally thought. Not even that hateful beast could kill him." The man sighed before walking over to the desk, his white robes whipping behind him. He reached into one of the drawers and took out a leather-bound, black book with parchment papers inside. He paged through it and stopped on a particular page, or rather, the place where a page had been ripped out. "Pity I had to lose one of my ancestor's research pages, but at least I will be able to rewrite it. It was awfully messy-looking."
He closed the book with a snap and placed it back in the drawer, his hand moving to the golden ankh around his neck. "As for that interfering vampire, he will be dealt with in France. I hope my associates there will not fail me." He walked over to the cot and laid down on it, not bothering to take off his turban or his robes before he began to sleep.
"Shut up, Bakura," Marik said for the millionth time as they walked down the streets of New York.
"I was just wondering if you're cold again! It's an honest question," Bakura tormented him with a smirk on his face.
"No, Bakura, I'm not cold."
"Are you sure? 'Cause you were cold last night–"
"I'm not cold okay?-!"
"Really? I think you are."
"… Bakura, let go of my hand."
"Damn. Your hand actually is cold."
"I said let go!"
"Well, I didn't really have time to let go seeing as you tore your hand away…"
"If you had let go of it when I first asked I wouldn't have had to tear my hand away!"
"Well, since you wanted me to hold you last night, I figured you'd want me to hold your hand as well."
"Shut up!-!"
"You only tell me to shut up because you know I speak the truth!"
"Bakura, I am this close to stabbing you with my Rod!"
"But that would kill me!"
"That's the point!-!"
"Aw, and to think, you just wanted me to hold you last night–"
"At least I didn't purr!"
"Hey! It's a completely natural reaction!"
"Yeah, for a cat when he's happy. And you were so happy last night, weren't you, Bakura?"
"Well, yes… I assume you were too, considering how red your face was the whole time."
"SHUT UP!-!-!"
Bakura mock pouted, but he was really having a blast. The revelation had hit him that Marik might like him too and that he just didn't know it or accept it yet. He kind of had Amora to thank for that, but nonetheless, thanks to this realization he had now decided to torment Marik about it. Because tormenting him was damn good fun! And seeing him flustered like this was even better! Besides, it would probably take a while for Marik to admit to even himself that he liked him, so why not have a bit of fun until that happened? And who knows? Maybe one of the things he'll say will make it move along faster. He opened his mouth to tell him something else when a little girl's voice said, "Hey! I know you! You're Marik!"
Both young adults turned to the voice, and Marik recognized her as Rebecca and her teddy bear. He smiled at her. "Hey, Rebecca! How are you?"
"I'm doing good!" she said happily. She opened her mouth to say something else, but then she seemed to just notice Bakura and tilted her head to the side and smiled. "Hi! Are you Marik's friend?"
Bakura smiled at her. "Why, yes. Yes, I am."
She seemed really excited now. "And you're a vampire, too! Right?" Both young adults looked at her with a shocked expression, but she just laughed. "Relax! I'm a vampire too! Well, I'm half vampire; that's why I don't burn in the sun… Just like you! Right?"
Bakura stared at her in astonishment before looking at Marik. He seemed just as surprised as him to discover that there were half vampires out there. "Well, actually—Rebecca, was it?" Bakura started, "I'm just a regular vampire… There's this special sunscreen that vampires can wear so they can go out in the sunlight…"
"Really?-! That's amazing!" She seemed really happy about this, but then her expression saddened. "If only my daddy was alive to hear the great news… He was the vampire, and my mommy was just a regular human, but they both died when I was really young…" Both boys looked at her sadly, sorry for her loss. She noticed this and smiled brightly, "But it's okay! My Grandpa tells me stories about them, so I love them very much! And I love my Grandpa the most too, so I think it all worked out!"
"Rebecca," Marik said quietly, causing Bakura to look at him oddly, "if you don't mind telling me, what did your father look like…?"
Rebecca smiled and reached into her teddy bear's overall pocket and took out a photograph. "Here! This is a picture of them!" she said proudly as she handed him the picture. Marik took it gently and looked at it. There was a woman on the left side, and she had long, wavy, blonde hair and blue eyes, just like her daughter. Right next to her was a man with short, dark hair, blue eyes, and vampire-pale skin. They were holding a baby wrapped up in a pink blanket in their arms, smiling brightly.
Marik and Bakura both stared at the picture, but soon Marik handed it back. "They look like wonderful people," Marik said as if he was about to cry. Bakura turned to look at him and saw Marik smiling, yet he looked positively disheartened—like he was going to break down any second.
Bakura looked at Rebecca and said, "Could you excuse us for one moment please?"
"Sure!" she said with a big smile, obviously not noticing Marik's mood.
Bakura gently pushed his friend a few feet away from her. "Marik, what's wrong?" he asked.
Marik looked at Bakura with tears building up in her eyes. "That little girl's father… I-I killed him."
"… Oh…" was all Bakura could say. He rubbed the back of his head, "Oh…" he repeated, unsure of what to say.
Marik started wiping his eyes. "I never thought for one second… I didn't think that maybe he had a child. Dear god… That poor, poor girl, never knowing her father… Because of me." Marik closed his eyes and continued rubbing them. "And I've probably killed hundreds of parents! I'm such a horrible person, Bakura…! I shouldn't even be alive… The world would be so much better without me! That little girl would have a father, and so many other people would be alive today! I should just die–" He stopped talking as he felt himself being slapped. Hard. He turned to look at an extremely pissed-off Bakura.
"You think the world would be better off without you?" he said with barely controlled anger, "Please! If you weren't alive then no one would be trying to find the Millennium Items, and if no one was doing that then vampires would never be freed. And honestly, Marik, it isn't really your fault that those vampires died; your father made you kill them! You didn't want to, and didn't you say you and your mom tried to help a lot of vampires too? Besides, who cares what you did. It all depends on what you decide to do now, right? And right now, you're trying to do some really good things here, so don't you think for one second that this world would be better off without you!" Bakura finished his rant. He glared at Marik, completely upset that he would even think that! "Besides," he continued by stating his next thoughts, "if you wanna play that card, then the world would be better off without me! I've killed hundreds of people for barely any reason at all!"
"But that was before–" Marik started, but was then interrupted by Bakura.
"Exactly! That was in the past, I'm not doing that anymore so it doesn't matter what I did! That's what you were going to say, right?"
Marik stared at Bakura, completely shocked. He then smiled and hugged the vampire. "Thanks, Bakura…"
Bakura hugged him back with a smile. "No problem, Marik. I'll always be here to knock some sense into that thick skull of yours."
Marik laughed, and then he felt his sleeve being tugged. He looked down to see Rebecca tugging on his sleeve with a curious expression on her face. "Hey, Marik, is this your kitty? The one you lost? I meant to ask earlier but I forgot."
Marik smiled at her and looked at Bakura. "Yes, this is my kitty." He smirked as he stopped hugging him and tugged at the red collar around his wrist. Bakura just smirked back at him and shook his head lightly.
"Did you give him a kiss?" she asked, smiling.
Marik blushed only slightly and Bakura laughed before turning to her. "Yes, yes he did." He had thought Marik was kidding when he said a little girl told him to kiss him!
Rebecca smiled brightly. "Good! 'Cause if he didn't he would have broken a promise!"
"Oh, don't worry Rebecca," Bakura said with a mischievous smile as he looked at Marik. "I don't think he'll ever break a promise when it comes to something like that…"
Marik blushed a little harder before he glared at Bakura. "Well, you never know… One day I might just break it."
"No! Breaking promises is bad!" Rebecca pouted and crossed her arms.
Both boys laughed. "We're just kidding around, Rebecca," Bakura explained.
"Yeah, we just like to tease each other," Marik continued.
Rebecca looked up at them and giggled. "Grandpa says my parents liked to tease each other too! He says that's how most couples are actually… Oh, I get it now!"
Marik and Bakura looked at each other with a smile before they both just laughed. They really needed to figure out their relationship sometime…
… Again with not knowing how to end the chapter… -_-"
I hope you all enjoyed the chapter! =D This is the end of the New York era. Now, it is France's turn to shine! (Ohonhonhonhon!) Haha, I love New York :3 What was YOUR favorite part throughout the course of Marik and Bakura's adventures in New York?
I've had such an amazing and awesome time writing this story and entertaining you all. I'm so thrilled people like this, because without you guys this story wouldn't be here and I wouldn't see what I could do or have as much confidence as I do now. You've all really helped me through tough times… and for that I can't thank you enough =) You guys are all awesome!
Also, tomorrow (the fifteenth) is my birthdaaaaay, so um… REVIEW? PLEASE? FOR MY BIRTHDAY PRESENT?-! Thanks~ :3 (I've also been going through a tough time right now… I'm not going into details because it's kind of personal, but just… wish me luck and happiness, okay? It'll make me… happy ^^; Sorry I can't tell you about the problem… just know it's made me kind of, "depressed" (and cry-y), lately…)
~OTHER INFO~
Originally, I had thought Rebecca was eight, so when I looked up her profile and it said that she was eight in the English version and twelve in the Japanese version, I wasn't sure which age I should take… Eventually I decided to take a "Phineas and Ferb" approach and have you wonder how old she is XD
I didn't actually want to use "Hank" for Marik's father's name (because of YGOTAS [looking back I've already taken too much from it…]), but the name "Hank" means "Ruler of the Home" and I felt that was fitting, so I kept it (plus, most people would recognize it).
I did not originally plan on Marik and Bakura's relationship moving so fast (yes, I had it planned to go even slower XD), but this seemed like a good way to go. Plus, it might work out even better for my future plans! Fingers crossed!
When my beta gave me this chapter back, my first thought was: "Oh hey! I forgot about this!" and my second thought was: "Oh… I need to get working on France now!" ^^; *nervous laughter*
I love how no one cares that Keith is dead... it's like he just disappeared off the face of the Earth and no one cares XD Haha, it's just funny to me I guess...
I'm always worried when adding OCs... 'Cause I know how touchy some people are about them *shifty gaze*
THANK YOU ALL FOR MAKING IT THIS FAR! I HAVE NO IDEA HOW MUCH FARTHER THERE IS TO GO! (A lot. Definitely, a LOT).