And Then There Wore None
Everything happened at once as Honda's death registered. ' That's always the problem.' thought Malik grumpily to himself. ' Things either happen too slowly or too fastly... hmm I wonder if "fastly" is a word?'
"Tell me he is not really dead." breathed Anzu. "What about our friendship? Death is going to really really slow down our relationship. Oh My God!" She turned a lighter shade of pale and slipped quietly into a dead faint on top of Yugi.
Yugi yelped with pain as the full force of Anzu's unconscious form began to crush him.
"This man is dead!" stated Mai. It was stating the obvious but something had to be said.
Malik examined the cup that was still clutched in Honda's rapidly cooling hand. Malik poked his finger tentatively into the dregs of the cup and touched it to the tip of his tongue...then looked contemplative.
"What are you doing?" asked Duke. "A man is dead here. DEAD!"
Malik stared down at Honda.
"I think he has been poisoned."
"Oh my God, How? Why?" asked Duke dramatically.
Malik continued to look passively down at Honda lost in a memory of his time in the Egyptian House of Life where the Pharaohs came to die and achieve eternal life. He remembered the small child who had been brought to him looking much like Honda did now... the child had died from ingesting White Cyanide.
"White Cyanide" Malik said blankly.
"What? How do you know that?" asked Yami.
"Because he killed him." said Joey suspiciously." Hmmf"
Malik popped back to the present. "No" said Malik sadly. "I remember a death like this from long ago." Malik fell silent. The past weighed heavily on him. He preferred the Taco Bell Dog hallucination to the crushing weight of past sorrows.
Darkness had fallen. They were all tired. Duke directed the removal of Honda's mortal remains to his former room.
No one seemed remember Anzu and her motor-powered mouth, now idling in a silent swoon. Yugi wriggled out from under her, came to the conclusion she was better off unconscious and swished off to bed. Others were of the same opinion.
They all went to bed.
Anzu woke up where she had fallen. The quiet of the room was TOO quiet... she sensed instinctively that something was wrong... but what? Slowly, the horrible certainty grew inside her... she was NOT alone.
Anzu was cold and scared. Too afraid to move. She could hear it now... muffled footsteps behind her... or could she? 'Oh My God, Oh My God... No...how could they leave me here alone?'
"Is anyone there?" warbled Anzu. "Can you..."
THUMP. The first blow caught her in the head. Stunning her. She saw a glint of moonlight on metal. THUMP the second blow caught her with frightening precision in the exact center of her forehead. The world shrank to a small speck of light at the end of a long dark tunnel... another meaty THUMP landed and the small speck of light went out.
The next morning Malik awoke early after a night laden with dreams of Ancient Egypt. He was encompassed in a growing sense of futility and leaden with sadness. He was trying to find a reason to get out of bed when he heard a loud sharp scream.
end chapter
heh heh heh well how did you like that?
and for all those who have only seen the English dub version or have not read the manga: anzu and tea are the same character although most of you already know that i thought i should include it for my readers who have only seen the English dubbing