MM, latched onto Marik: Pleeeeaase don't kill me/us! We/I didn't mean to say that we/I hate you!!!!!
Marik, fingering knife suggestively/contemplatively: Well, killing is a favorite hobby of mine…
MM: NOOOOOO! We/I don't deserve to be killed by you! We/I—AHA!
Marik, squealing with laughter from MM's tickling fingers: NOOOOOOO!!!!!!!! Fortunately for the audience, MM own(s) not Yu-AHAHAH-Gi-AHAHAHAHA-Oh—STOP IT! But do(es) have a prominent part in the telling of this story!
MM: Ahem. As you may have noticed, we/I don't have the plots/dialogues within Yugi-Oh memorized, so if the dialogue doesn't match what actually passes in the series, then please tell me/us what actually does. Thanks!
Chapter 9
Run-in with the Runaways
A seagull far away from home drifted with the lull of the wind and landed with a graceful flutter upon the top of a speeding boat. The fish had stopped leaping and the sky had darkened as if during the calm before a storm, and seabird sense told the feathered passenger that he'd better land before something went amiss. A purple-robed figure stood outside, gesticulating rather wildly. Raising a confounded eyebrow, the seagull lowered its head and peered, upside-down, into the port hole.
Lying in the cabin, Andromeda snoozed away the ride to Domino, her body floating in a violet quilt of haze threaded with threads of black. The veils of the Shadow Realm blanketed her conscience, keeping her far from the cackle of the Hunters and Marik, who was spouting evil laughter and brilliant card plays upon the bow of the yacht, working through Strings.
Soft honey mane tossed by the rejoicing wind, Marik threw back his head and spread his arms, drinking in the swirls of malignant clouds and the thunderous dose of power crackling through his veins. His cape leapt in a feral tango, harmonizing with his thrilling mirth.
"Pharaoh! Meet your maker!"
Miles away, Yami recoiled from the supposedly fetid breath of Slifer the Skydragon. Holograms didn't usually come complete with scents, but somehow, the looming monster seemed far more real than the bridge beyond it, or even Strings, the Rare Hunter who hung limply under the dragon, a thread away from the Shadows. Seto Kaiba stood atop the curb, watching the Egyptian God. Needles seemed to be stabbing into his arms, injecting him with jubilee till he reeled on the edge of delirium. Still, his mind analyzed the new card as logically as usual.
"No…this cannot be!"
Trapped in his cage, Yami glared at his opponent, then up at Kaiba's careless stare. Fallen onto his knees, he choked on the rapid stampede of his heart, hating how Marik must be looking down upon him with glee. The gray fumes of the sky seethed through the bars of his prison, snarling at the helpless king. He breathed hard.
Andromeda…I will not fail you. I promise…
"Marik…"
Andromeda mumbled lightly under her breath, flipping around on the couch to lie on her back. Drooping, her hand slipped over the edge and dangled lifelessly.
"I love you…"
Standing in the doorway, Rishid's rheumy eyes studied the little girl mournfully.
Why can I do nothing? Truth is, I can. But why do I not?
His fingers traced the script engraved upon the side of his face. He could still recall the self-inflicted pain, the determination welling up in his heart…
"Marik. Little Marik. Chosen One. I want to be Tomb Keeper, and he doesn't. Yet he gets to steal away all my dreams." Drinking in the bitterness of his own words, Rishid slipped, fuming, into his adopted brother's room. "You killed my mother. You ruined my life. You destroyed everything. Mesedj-I tjew!"
The candle flickered in the corner, watching sleepily over his charge. The white blankets stretched across the dwarf bed, diaphanous material caressing the puny body shivering inside, wracked by pain and fever. Rows of sweat drops crept down his nose, dripping down and winding their way into his mouth. A tiny hand, knuckles white as the snow that it had never touched, dug into the sheets, shaking like an eel out of water.
The Egyptian man approached his brother, stony hand clutching the dagger.
"I don't need you. Neither does the world. Peri-ii."
His heart boiling in a cauldron of venom, Rishid's hand shot up, hovering over the bed of the bandaged Marik. The tip of the metal took on a light of its own, already crimson as it thirsted for the blood of a young child.
"Rishid…" Marik's eyelids fluttered, sensing his brother's presence and struggling to open for him.
Smiling weakly as his eyelids still remained glued together, his feeble hand reached for Rishid's calloused one.
"No matter what, you'll always be my brother…"
Crossing his arms, Rishid drummed his fingers lightly, trying to find a way around his guilty conscience.
Scarface as I am, I should not let something as horrid as this happen to such a naïve child. If only Ishizu were here. She'd know exactly what to do. But what if Marik really does like her? Not very likely outwardly, yet he's softer than pudding on the inside.
He walked in, footsteps quieter than a stalking tigers after all the experience that he had had. Opening the cabinets on the other side of the cabin, he pulled out a wool blanket and wrapped Andromeda up till the soft, scratchy material was stretched tighter than a mummy's bandages. Out of habit, he patted her on the head, remembering those times when Marik was still young and relatively innocent. He and Ishizu checked up on him every night back in the tombs.
He doesn't sleep with his arms around a pillow anymore, the eldest Ishtar ruminated, grabbing two pillows from the cabinet, tucking one under Andry's head and the other between her arms.
Finally, he decided that time would take care of everything, tiptoed out the door, and locked it after its sleeping occupant.
Holding the Millennium Rod across his chest, Ishtar's eyes widened in horror as he listened to Yami's triumphant explanation.
"Revival Jam will keep on regenerating itself…"
The Egyptian squeezed his eyes shut, hands trying desperately to scrunch up the metal of the boat railing. Hatred dripped from his mind as he mouthed "…until I have no more cards to draw…"
Closing his eyes and pressing a hand to his brows, Marik gritted his teeth. String's helpless hand, obeying the rules of the Duel Monster game, drew card after card like a rampaging robot. The savage pieces of paper accumulated in his palms, sliding across as a droopy fan would until the swelling tides of cards flowed out, through the empty air, and landed upon the concrete. Collapsing onto his knees, the mind-controlled mime trembled under Slifer's continuous attacks, eyes vacant as they watched Revival Jam's pieces gathering themselves time after time, a cyclic horror.
It's destroying itself, the leader of the Rare Hunters contemplated. A shivering grin lit up his thunderous expression. Which is perfectly fine for me; since that's the only Egyptian God Card that Yami has and I still have Revival Jam, I can defeat him in our duel. Besides, there are other ways to circumvent an Egyptian God's wrath…Churlishly, he jerked on the still-joyous flutter of his cape, which no longer seemed to match his mood.
"I keep on saying that the Gods are impregnable, but they really aren't," he admitted frankly to himself, watching Yami gloat as Strings crumbled on the ground. Slifer, writhing in horrid agony as if he were being boiled in magma, reared back its head and let out one last roar, then returned to the shadows where he had slumbered for millennia.
Seeking to relieve his possessive pain and ennui, Marik lifted the veil of sleep from Andromeda's eyes and gave her a "subconscious" impulse to come up on deck and look for her boyfriend. A moment later, the door creaked open and a cautious head poked through to look for the blond teen.
Shoving the image of Yami wallowing in his glory out of mind with one of Pharaoh twitching on the ground in pain, Marik nailed a smile upon his lips. "Andry, come here."
Hopping over like a kangaroo after its baby, Andromeda latched her arms around the Egyptian boy's neck. Her fingers twisted themselves about his golden collar, feeling the gentle pulsing of the vein in his neck.
"What is it, Marik?" she asked, admiring the azure waves tossing themselves suicidally against their victorious yacht.
"Look. Domino. Your home. The Battle City Tournament that your brother is in gives a good chance for winning some useful cards, since Kaiba's rules dictate that the winner of a duel gets the loser's best card. Do you want to join?" Turning around, he held her upper arms, cocking his head to one side to study her furrowed brow.
"Well, I'm not too good with this whole dueling shenanigan," she answered, "Though the whole thing about best cards sounds good. I can always give them to Derek to sell. But then again, if I lose a good card, he's going to grow furious and throw me into a den of starving lions." Rationalizing deeply, she tapped her foot against the bouncing deck. Her sea legs kept her upright as her indecisive mind battled itself.
"Did you ever learn? You went out with Yugi Moto—well, a spirit within him—that Duelist Kingdom champion. I bet he taught you a trick or two." His hands absentmindedly twisted around her waist, sneaking under the fringe of her shirt to tickle her.
A flicker of remorse passed behind her eyes. "True, true, but—HEY!" Screaming, Andromeda's russet head disappeared from view as her laughter sent the hitchhiking seagull speeding for safety.
Unfortunately for Marik, Andry retained enough of her wits to cling onto his neck. His cape flared up, trying to escape a rendezvous with the deck as the boy's body went horizontal and the silver gleam of the boat's metal suddenly grew to fill his vision.
"Imbeci—!"
The boat shivered and threatened to give way, bouncing a couple of time to express its hearty disapproval. Rolling like a puddle of dough, the two succumbed to the will of gravity and crashed into the door. Flinching back, Andromeda's flailing arm decided to smack Marik over the head.
"You're blocking my view of the seagull standing on the bow," she expressed brightly, lying on her side and punching Marik in the chest.
"You bruised my bones," he countered darkly, scrambling to his feet and muttering about how nothing was going his way today. First, Yami beats him a quarter of a dozen times in one day, second, he tries to get his mind off of those defeats and gets slammed into a door, and lastly, footsteps were nearing the conspiring door and it might just fly open and bash his nose flat.
Scrambling to his feet and swearing that the yacht was working for Yami, he grabbed Andromeda by the wrist and flicked her to the side, then quickly ran to the bow of the ship to pretend that he had not yet finished contemplating about Pharaoh. Which, sadly, he hadn't.
The door flew open, chewing up a few of the girl's straying hairs before falling back into its frame with a disappointed growl. A man with a long ponytail stepped out, his boot mercilessly crunching the deck's metal and sending the skating sea breeze zooming for a higher perch. Cowering by the railing, Andromeda zipper her lips shut as Rishid walked up behind his master.
"Marik. We are arriving at Domino."
"I know, Rishid. Thanks," the younger Ishtar responded without turning around. "I see it quietly emerging from the horizon, like some parasitic worm."
Sweeping a bow, Rishid turned and headed back in, with a grin and a wave in Andromeda's direction.
Nothing except the sure footsteps, pestered waves, and frolicking breeze disturbed the snooze of the day for a moment. Opening her mouth, Andromeda was about to ask Marik if he felt all right when he spun around, eyes narrowed and sporting a wicked gleam. He lifted one brow, and, Millennium Rod now gone, his hands found themselves to crack their knuckles and stretch menacingly. The mischievous wind tossed up his hair, casting a deeper shadow across his contorting face.
"So, you think you can tackled people and take them for a tumble?"
Something like electricity teased Andromeda's spine, freezing her limbs into their curled-up position. Awakening, her instincts screamed at her legs, scratching vainly at their nerves to tell her to run away. For the first time, an inkling of fear dripped into her heart, and the flow of her own blood pounded her eardrums.
"Yes. No. Wait! Forgive me, Master! I—"
Gleefully, Marik's attentive ears noted the fear darting like a haunted doe around Andromeda's pupils, and the words that she had whimpered, so like those of his tortured Hunters when they fail at their given tasks. Swooping down like a falcon, his hands closed around her waist and dragged her onto his shoulder, then jerked downwards so she slid into his arms. His feet turned to point toward the hungry waves.
Andromeda clutched onto him, burying her face into the groove of his neck and wrapping her legs around his waist. "Don't throw me overboard! I promise I will be your slave forever and ever and ever and do whatever you wish!"
Marik pretended to hesitate, hands pushing her out towards the railing out of pleasure. "Hmmm…anything?"
A fanciful image drifted to the surface of his mind, a dream of a russet-haired girl hiding behind silver clouds, staring at him with those doe-like eyes and a hopeful smile. Yami stood, trapped in a glass prism drifting above their heads, watching him hold her close as the Pharaoh's veins pulsed with rage, blood drowning out his cries for help.
Wouldn't it be ever so easy to defeat Yami—
"Anything except things involving being physically close to you," she clarified with a casual wave of her free hand.
"Ah, darn," he answered enthusiastically, bringing a fresh quiver to his lips. Dropping her onto her seedling legs, he watched her wobble cruelly before she regained her footing.
"You're a jerk, Marik. You know that," she taunted, crossing her arms and tapping her toe now that her boots had planted themselves upon somewhat firm ground.
"I know. That's how I make a living," he completed, noting with disappointment that that was absolutely the truth.
Clasping his hands around his golden collar, he unbent the top circle and removed it from its position. Pretending to pause out of shyness, he reached down, sweeping back her mop of jumping hair. His hands moved cautiously, wrapping the cool gold around her throat and squeezing it till it almost melted into the natural contours of her neck.
"I…want you to have it." Secretly, he admired his handiwork, how much it resembled a dog's collar. Now, all he needed was a chain.
Startled at the sudden change of mood, Andromeda's lips turned upwards in an uncertain smile.
"Thanks, Marik." Her hands fingered the gold, warm from the Egyptian's hands and welcoming its new host. She bit her lip to stop the eager tears. I've never had anything this expensive given to me. But Yami…maybe I shouldn't accept this gift…I…
As if reading her thoughts, Marik smiled. "Don't worry about Yugi, or, rather, the spirit within him that you were dating. You can go back to him whenever you want. I'd hate to force my affections on you. I mean, it's your choice, but at least accept this gift in remembrance of me, please?"
She stayed silent, hand against her throat.
Blushing awkwardly, Marik kicked himself into continuing. "If you leave me, I'd like to still be friends. Every time I look at my collars, I'd remember the great times that we had together, and…I have no talent whatsoever at these speeches!"
Andromeda looked him over, from the tip of the blond hair sticking up like an antenna to the black boots where his toes had ensconced themselves. A warm flutter in her stomach begged for her to agree. She grinned.
"Of course. Thank you."
"I'll be back soon!"
Waving, Marik shot along the road on his motorcycle, leaving Andromeda to watch his disappearing shadow.
"Well, what should I do for the next two or three hours?" Andromeda wondered, walking into the empty building that housed their yacht. Jumping onto the boat, she ducked into her cabin and plopped down on the couch, picking up Duelist Universe magazine. The cover of the issue sported a gargantuan picture of Yugi Moto, winking and holding up his Dark Magician as Exodia loomed behind him.
"Hmm. 'Duelist Kingdom Recap.' Fun." Flipping past the table of contents, she wriggled down amongst the cushions to read.
Marik's eyes, held wide open, looked on innocently as Mr. Moto took the bleeding and trembling Ryou away.
The blond, overly loquacious, bodacious, and doggy-licious boy leapt toward Marik, extending his arm.
"Hey, thinks buddy! What's ya name?"
Smiling, the Egyptian shook the offered hand. "I'm Namu. And you're that great duelist, Joey Wheeler, right? Second in Duelist Kingdom!"
"Ah! My fame travels faster than me!" Joey exclaimed, putting a hand to his head as the others rolled their eyes in dismay.
That's Joey, thought the tall brunette with the kind smile standing next to him.
"Thanks a lot fer helpin' Kura out," the blond exuded.
Marik's eyes closed themselves as he grinned amiably from ear to ear. "No problem. I assume you're dueling in Battle City?" he asked, pointing at Joey's duel disk.
"Yeah! I already have all my Locator Cards!" Pounding himself on the chest, Joey let his ego swelled up till it was bigger than Jupiter.
"Oh wow! I just started," Marik lamented, "do you think you can teach me some of your moves some time?" he asked, putting on puppy eyes. Not that those turned out necessary with Joey.
"Sure! We can find a day to play a few rounds after Battle City!"
Mentally rolling his eyes, "Namu" opened his mouth in pleasant surprise. "Wow! Thanks!"
"Well, Smell ya later, Namu!"
Turning with a wave, the gang started down the street.
Marik stood, looking at the receding backs of his future victims as his mind clicked methodically through the phases of his plan. With Bakura, Rishid, and I entering the Finals, everything is going perfectly.
Sensing the presence of his Rare Hunters in the shades and buildings, Marik sprinted after Joey and tapped him on the back. The carefree boy turned around with his usual grin.
"Hey, Joey. Actually, can you give me some pointers right now?" Namu asked, putting a flustered look upon his face.
Joey shrugged his shoulders, already settled and content since he already had all his Locator Cards. "Sure. The first thing that you need to know about dueling is that…"
Within the first five words, Marik's mind had tuned out upon the hilariously pompous, yet benign, teen. The tree's shadow shifted as a robe rustled in the distance…
"JOEY! BEHIND YOU!"
Pupils dilating in fear, Namu shrank back as two burly hands seized him by the arms. Triumphantly, he watched as his Rare Hunters subdued the twisting Joey and Tea, then destroyed the girl's ringing cell phone.
Perhaps this day wouldn't be so terrible, after all.
Half an hour later, Marik paced the dark interiors of the warehouse, admiring his power as the mind-controlled Joey stood stoically before him. The day had certainly turned around like the hands of a clock. First, Andromeda admires him when he claimed that he had obtained the required six Locator Cards during his two-hour absence, then the midget's friends fall into his hands like pieces of a domino chain.
Marik chuckled lightly, wishing that Andromeda could be here to witness Joey in such a pitiful state. That's what you'll be soon, my charming whore, he thought, fingering the Millennium Rod.
"Yami must be on his way to his little friends now. We have a perfectly little reunion set up for him now, don't we, Joey?"
Seto's helicopter floated over the city, descending toward the blond stick figure standing by the docked ship. "There's Wheeler," he said drily to Yami, "Remember, I'm not helping you out of the kindness of my heart. I just know that Marik has the last Egyptian God Card."
Nodding, Yami folded his arms, thoughts not very focused on whether Seto was helping him or not. His thoughts ran through Umbra's last words after the conclusion of their doubles duel. If he took Joey and Tea, then he must have taken Andromeda, too. That Marik…after all, he did say that he was targeting my friends. His hands tightened into fists and drummed lightly against his knee.
"When I find you, Marik…"
Derek sped up his footsteps.
"Two Locator Cards left to be won!" Cheerily, he searched the roads for another free duelist. As the day wore on, duelists either vanished, defeated, or jumped rashly into games out of desperation for another card. Five minutes, and no available duelist turned up.
"Hmm. I must be far behind everybody else. I bet people like Yami, Seto, and Joey already have all their Locator Cards," he mourned, turning down the nearest alley to cut over to the next street.
"HEY! DEREK!"
Something like a hammer slammed against Derek's back. Stumbling forward, he quickly regained his balance, spun, and grabbed his attacker's shoulder—
"Tristan?"
Blinking, he froze like an ice sculpture, fist an inch from his friend's nose. The wedge-shaped hair and violent attitude matched Tristan five hundred percent.
"Wow! What an eccentric place for a friendly tryst! I missed you, Derek Academ!"
Ruffling his friend's hair, Tristan clapped his arm around Derek's shoulders.
"Hey! Derek is here?"
Turning, Derek finally noticed the cheery girl standing next to the dice-earring-ed man.
"Hey Serenity! Hey, Duke," he exclaimed, gulping a little at the sight of his former boss even as he comforted himself by hugging Serenity. To his surprise, Duke walked up and put his hand on Derek's other shoulder.
"Derek! Buddy! I'm sorry for what I did. How are you now? How's Andromeda? Where is she? Did she escape with you? Who had you? How did you get out? Man, Yugi was worrying all over the place for—"
Laughing, the eldest Academ stared at Duke, jelly-eyed. "What? We weren't kidnapped! I'm working now and everything's great."
Tristan raised an eyebrow. "Really? Man, we had quite a scare! You house was all abandoned and Yugi was screaming and tearing out every colored hair that he had!"
Letting out a sigh, Derek rubbed his forehead. "Man, I'm sorry for not telling you earlier. I was offered a new job and I went to check it out, and I was in such desperate need of a some money that I really didn't think about anything else," he explained, following Duke as he walked quickly along, "but everything's going great. Yugi's a sweet guy. I should go talk to him and tell him that we're okay!" Derek finished, suddenly weak-hearted as he remembered Andromeda's current infatuation with Marik. I'll just not tell Yami about that, he convinced himself sheepishly.
"Well, that's a big relief! Few out of many," Duke said, supporting Serenity.
Reading the anxiety crossing Tristan and Duke's normally hardy expressions, Derek took Serenity's arm so Duke could pick up the pace. "What's wrong?"
Tristan started. "Tea's in trouble. Joey asked us to pick up Serenity, so we did, and—"
"—we called Tea's cell because Joey didn't have one to tell them that we have his sister safely out of the hospital, but no one picked up," Duke took over, to Tristan's annoyance.
"And Tea always picks up her phone, being solicitous about her friends as she always is," Serenity finished in her petal-soft voice, holding her hands together.
"Then these robed goons attacked us in the alley, but we beat them. They wore the same things as the guys who had been pestering Yugi, so we knew that they had a part in this whole mess and forced them to tell us where Joey and Tea were," Tristan hurried, glad to be back in charge of the story, "and it turns out that they're at the dock."
"I hope everything's all right," Derek answered, "Why don't I go to the dock with you just to make sure that Joey and Tea hadn't run into trouble? I'd love to talk to them, plus clear things up with Yugi."
Serenity chirped, leaning heavily on his arm as they crossed a busy road. "Sure!"
A screech scattered the pecking sparrows. Whipping around faster than ninja warriors, the three boys caught sight of the convertible and grinned.
"Hey! It's Mai Valentine!" Derek said.
The blond beauty gave them a wink. "Sure is. Hop in, guys!"
Marik: Wow. My plans are screwed.
MM, typing in chains with Marik's whip near its/their back: Not if you don't want them to be, Master.
Marik: I would like to rule the world…
MM, inclining its/their head(s): As you wish. Agh, I/we am/are speeding through the plot way to fast!
Marik: JUST GET TO THE PART WHERE I RULE THE WORLD!
MM, pulling the curtains shut: We/I will get back to you when he calms down…! Seneb-ti, and see you next time at the House of Muse!