Bakura sat in the commonroom, waiting absently for Marik to appear, as he had been told to. It was 9:30 and Marik had had plenty of time to arrive, in Bakura's opinion, but he had no choice but to wait. He was reading a book to look inconspicuous, and the occasional staff members that passed through the room all left him alone. He didn't know if there was such a thing as a curfew here; he had been sitting there for the past hour or so, and quietly observed as most of the patients retired to their quarters, on their own, with no urging from any staff. As he was usually alone in his room long before this hour, he could only assume—and hope, for his and Marik's sake—that they were allowed to retire whenever they chose.
Bakura couldn't help but notice how quiet it was in there. The only thing that broke the silence, really, was the sound of rustling paper; the only other permanent occupant of the room was Seto Kaiba, who seemed to be looking through a stack of books and papers intently. He didn't bother Bakura, and he was fairly certain the man wasn't keeping tabs on him, so he didn't try to do anything about the situation, despite Marik's warning to not let anyone see him. It wasn't like Marik had arrived yet, anyway.
Finally, that changed. Just as Bakura was looking up from his book to glance around the room and see if there was any sign of the one he was waiting for, he noticed a dark face with light hair poking around the corner of the hallway that the two had been down just earlier that day. Marik spotted Bakura quickly, and noticed him looking at him. They stared at each other for a few moments, then, after glancing around the room and eyeing Kaiba warily, he came out and walked over to Bakura in a dignified manner, a sudden change from the childlike image he had displayed just moments ago.
"I thought I told you to be discreet," he said quietly, sitting down next to Bakura with a slightly irritated tone.
"How am I not being discreet?" Bakura asked absently.
"You're sitting out in the open," Marik replied with his arms crossed, obviously trying very hard to keep from raising his voice. "And you're never out this late, either."
"I doubt anyone but you is keeping track of that sort of thing, Marik," Bakura told him, closing his book and looking at the man. It was a little strange to think that Marik would have been keeping track of his sleeping habits, but if he really thought about it maybe it wasn't so surprising. If Marik really was in love with him as he claimed, anyway. And that was still a difficult concept for him to wrap his head around.
"You can never tell," Marik defended himself, looking away with a huff. His posture changed after a few seconds, to something more alert and cautious. He looked around the room, his eyes finally resting on Kaiba, who was paying absolutely no attention to either of them in favor of his papers. "We can't go anywhere with him watching," he said softly, his eyebrows furrowed.
"I've been sitting here for the past hour and I haven't seen him look up once," Bakura said quietly, glancing over at the other patient. "I don't think it will matter much."
"I can't take that chance," Marik shot back at him, looking a little upset. "I'm trying to show you something secret and I can't afford anyone getting suspicious or finding out, okay?"
Bakura looked at him for a few moments, slightly puzzled. "He really isn't paying attention. How about you leave first and I'll follow you in a few minutes," he suggested quietly. Marik paused to think it over, and apparently decided it was the best decision because he stood and strode back out of the room the way he had come, leaving Bakura and Kaiba alone again. Kaiba didn't so much as look up from what he was doing.
Bakura reopened his book to read another page or two before standing and following Marik to the hallway.
The room Marik took him to was one that he would have completely missed otherwise. It was tucked away discreetly in one of the crevices of the hallway, and even if he had seen it, he wouldn't have thought there was anything spectacular about it. It didn't have a nameplate like most of the other doors did, announcing its function, or a window for curious eyes to peek through. It was just a solid white door. He would have guessed it was a closet if asked.
Marik opened the door—just opened it, it wasn't even locked—to reveal a room much bigger than a closet. It looked like any of the other rooms in around, having completely white walls and floor. The difference was it was almost completely empty; there was no furniture at all. The only thing occupying its space was a large, boxy machine in one corner. Marik closed the door after Bakura entered the room and walked right over to it. Bakura followed and, surveying the it further, concluded that it almost resembled some kind of cage. Embedded in the very middle there was a glass box with different wires and tubes connected to it from inside the machine. Compared to all the equipment Bakura had seen in the different wings of the hospital so far, it looked unfinished, with covering panels missing and stray wires protruding from various places.
"What is this?" Bakura asked, studying it closer. There was one small panel on the side that had ten or so buttons on it, which was where Marik had chosen to stand.
"Hold on a minute and you'll see," Marik replied, pushing a few buttons. Bakura looked back to the machine and was surprised to see changes taking place inside the glass box. There was what looked like smoke flowing through the tubes into it, and instead of diffusing through the entire space, it all swirled together into one gray form. Then, it seemed to change itself to create a distinct shape, and it wasn't long before Bakura could recognize limbs and a head. Marik watched in silence, a neutral look on his face. Eventually the form of the upper half of a human being had distinctly materialized and was floating in front of them. And, with a menacing grin on its face, it looked almost exactly like Marik, yet different in an unidentifiable way.
Marik took a deep breath. "Bakura, this is my Soul."
"This is him?" the form laughed darkly, leaning closer to the glass to look at Bakura. "No personality orgood looks. You must be getting desperate."
Marik looked conflicted as to whether he should defend himself or Bakura. "I am not," he finally said indignantly.
"Please, spare me the 'he's different' speech. I've heard it enough."
Marik bit his lip and looked away. Malik took the opportunity to direct his attention to Bakura.
"So. Bakura, hmm? What's it like having no feelings?"he asked with a wide grin. "I don't know how you can put up with my Heart, honestly. Every time he visits I feel like I'm talking to a child."
Bakura looked at the form blankly. He wasn't sure what he was expecting to happen during this meeting, but this wasn't it.
"I've never had any difficulties like that," he finally said, speaking form laughed loudly.
"Oh, please. You don't need to lie to me, Bakura. We're practically kindred spirits! So tell me, what exactly do you want to get out of my Heart, exactly? Information? Assistance?"
"I—" Before Bakura could form a full sentence in reply, he was silenced by the sound of fist on glass. The form looked almost as surprised as Bakura probably did, and Marik looked absolutely furious.
"Those are all lies,"Marik snarled, emphasizing each of his words. "I didn't bring him here for you to cause trouble and make me doubt myself, understand?"
A smirk spread onto the form's face. "Fair enough,"it said, "but answer me this, Marik. Why did you bring him here?"
There was a long pause, where Bakura switched his gaze between Marik, his Soul, and back again. They both seemed to be almost frozen, with the form still smug and Marik still angry.
"You're done," Marik finally said quietly, his expression morphing into one more passive as he pressed a few buttons on the machine's keypad. His Soul's expression didn't change, but its form did start to swirl around again, like smoke, melding into itself in a reverse process of the one they had witnessed just a few minutes ago, when it materialized, until there was nothing visible left. Then Marik turned around and walked over to the opposite wall and, leaning his back against it, he slid to the floor.
After taking a moment to look over the machine one last time, Bakura followed, taking a seat on the floor next to him. Neither of them spoke for a few minutes, Bakura sure he didn't have anything to say that could come close to remedying the situation. Finally, his curiosities got the better of him.
"Why didyou bring me here?" Bakura asked.
Marik didn't look at him. "I...I don't really know. I guess I just wanted to show him to somebody. I've never been allowed to tell anyone about him." He paused, looking reminiscent. "I used to spend almost all my time in this room, just sitting here and listening to him talk. It almost wasn't any different than when we were one person. My siblings told me I needed to stop visiting him so much, but there was never anything else to do. I always wanted to tell someone about him. But there wasn't anyone, until you came along."
Bakura let that simmer in his mind for a little bit. Marik was opening up to him a lot lately, for reasons that he was still attempting to completely comprehend. He couldn't say he minded it, though. And finding out about Marik's Soul was very interesting. If he could get Marik to tell him more about it, it was possible he would be closer to understanding his own situation better. Once again, it seemed, Marik was the keeper of all the information Bakura needed.
"He was laughing and insulting you," Bakura pointed out. "How? Souls aren't supposed to have emotion."
"I know," Marik said with a grimace, finally looking at Bakura. "It has something to do with how he became evil in the first place. I think, somehow, my emotions found a way to contaminate my Soul. And Malik was the result."
"Malik?" Bakura questioned, remembering the page in Marik's notebook he had caught a glimpse of with the same word written across it.
"That's what I call him," Marik said, diverting his eyes again. "It's stupid. I guess it's because he's more...malicious, or something."
"That's not stupid," Bakura said.
That earned him a grateful smile. "That probably wasn't what you were expecting, huh?"
"Not really, no," Bakura answered, "but I had no idea what to expect anyway."
A short silence settled between them again, and Marik sighed and rested his head against the wall. "We should probably go back now. I don't want anyone getting suspicious." At his suggestion, Bakura stood, and held out his hand to help Marik up. They walked back down the hallway in silence, and, after Marik deemed the commonroom safe, he let Bakura continue to his room alone.
The day had certainly been a...revealing one, and Bakura decided he was going to need some time plugging this new information into his prior understanding. He was almost certain he would need to reevaluate some things, especially the functions possible to a Soul. But, none of that would happen that night. He fell into a light and restless sleep almost immediately after getting into bed.
A/N: WOW that took way longer than it had any right taking. I can blame the chapter for part of it, but. It was mostly me and my strange inability to focus on writing very much lately. Sorry about that, guys. :'D
Anyway, I'll definitely try to be quicker with the next chapter. I hope all of you that're on summer break are enjoying your summer! C: