Black Scarab

Chapter Two

Author Note: Thanks for all the support, dear readers!

Special Thanks to Chapter One Reviewers:

Anonymous

Kanyon01

Presea

SashaPayne56

Also, there's another reviewer who should get credit here...but it keeps erasing your name! You know who you are. Sorry 'bout that...

Okay, on with the chapter. Read and maybe your questions will be answered or maybe not…Just keep readin'. Let's also just ignore the fact that I haven't updated in a long time…and the fact that this is only chapter two…

There was nothing but darkness before him. It was almost as if he had ceased to exist at all. But Marik knew this couldn't be true because he still felt the pain, the hatred, the loneliness throbbing in his heart. He felt weightless – there was no gravity in this place.

Where am I?

No echo either. No sound. Had he even said that out loud? Or had it remained in his head?

"Marik." Someone said his name. Disembodied. The voice was familiar…it was his own. "Marik."

I don't want to hear it!

A laugh. His laugh but someone else's at the same time.

Go away, go away, go away…

Gravity returned. Marik started to free-fall through the darkness. He reached out to grab something…anything! But there was nothing in this place – this void.

Then light. A light below him. He was falling towards it. Would it hurt?

"Marik!" A woman's voice this time. His sister's voice. "Marik!" Ishizu's voice was breaking through the void. She sounded anxious, worried.

The light washed over him.

Marik's eyes shot open and he pushed himself up. His breathing was frantic as he looked around his room. It was a complete mess! His clothes were thrown around, drawers were left wide open, and each and every cardboard box had been emptied onto his floor. It was as if someone had gone searching in his room for something...

There was a knock at his door and then the doorknob started to rattle. Someone was trying to enter. "Marik! Open the door this instant!" Ishizu's voice was muffled on the other side but clear and concise. "You're worrying me…"

Marik tried to stand but another dizzy spell hit him as he stood. Regardless, he made his way to the door even though the room swayed back and forth. He could hear his heart pounding in his ears and the sound blocked out much of what else his sister was saying.

Hand on the doorknob he opened the border between the outside world – what was supposedly real - and his own strange prison.

"I-Ishizu…" Marik used nearly all his strength just to say her name.

"I've been standing out here for almost an hour! Why haven't you been answering…" Ishizu's voice sounded even more distant than when a door had been standing between them. "Ma-ik? Ar- you fe—ing alright?" Her voice was being eaten up by the void again. He was falling into the darkness again…

Marik looked between his sister and his brother. Had Rishid been standing beside her the entire time? Marik didn't know. All he could register in his mind right now was the fact that they looked incredibly scared but he didn't know why.

There was laughter again from his darker half. He cringed. His nailed scraped into the doorframe, of which he had been using as support to stand. His siblings' mouths moved but no sound reached his ears. He could only hear cruel laughter and soon a high-pitched ringing as well.

He knew the void was eating him up again. His vision was spotted with black and things started to blur together.

"Ishi-Ishizu…Rishid…I don't-" Marik was trying his hardest to stay awake. But he couldn't resist the call of the void any longer.

He returned to the arms of the darkness once again.

Ishizu sat at Marik's bedside. She dipped a washcloth in a bowl of cool water, rung it out, and brought it to her brother's forehead. Rishid was straightening things up in Marik's room.

"What brought this on, Rishid?" Ishizu asked her older brother but didn't turn away from the youngest of them all.

Rishid simply shook his head solemnly.

"What happened…"

Rishid sighed and turned towards his sister. "It started with him muttering to himself. I could barely hear it through the wall and at first I thought he was talking on his phone or something…" His eyes went downcast. "But then I heard things crashing and breaking – being thrown around. The weird thing was…he was laughing…"

"This fever…it seemed to come out of nowhere…but I knew this morning that something was wrong…" Ishizu pushed a loose strand of blond hair away from Marik's face. She could feel the intense heat radiating off of him. "You don't think that…that monster would or could come back, do you?"

Ishizu looked over at Rishid hoping for a very specific answer but instead Rishid gave none at all. She looked back at her younger brother and wondered what thing could be eating away at his soul. She quickly lost time while in her thoughts.

"Get away…from me…go away…" Marik mumbled his eyes still closed. He looked terrified – face scrunched, sweating – he started to toss and turn. "Stop…"

Ishizu went to comfort Marik assuming he was having a nightmare but he struggled against her then pulled away even though he was still unconscious. "Shh…it's alright, Marik. Your brother and sister are here with you…"

Her comfort didn't help and he only struggled more than before. "Stop. Get away…"

At this point, Marik had started lashing out in his fevered sleep. Rishid approached his bedside and stood next to where Ishizu was sitting. Fearful that Marik would accidently hurt himself or their sister, Rishid pinned Marik's arms down onto the bed as he continued to thrash about.

"Stop! Get away! You're not me!" Marik's voice rose.

"Marik! Stop! It's just a nightmare." Ishizu continued her attempts at comfort but they did nothing to help him. "What do we do, Rishid?"

Rishid had little trouble holding his brother down but now he worried he would be the one to hurt someone on accident…and it would probably be Marik…

"Marik! Listen to us! You're dreaming!" Rishid told his little brother. He could feel Marik trying to escape from his firm hold. His face was contorted and sweat beaded up on his brow.

"Not me!" Marik yelled again.

Panic arose in Rishid. "Marik, wake up!"

Suddenly, Marik's eyes shot open and, as Rishid was caught off guard, he bolted upright nearly head-butting the oldest sibling. Marik panted, his eyes jolting back and forth as if the boy was unable to focus on any one thing – as if he was still half in the nightmare.

None of the siblings said anything and Marik wasn't even aware of their presence.

"…Marik?" Ishizu broke the silence.

"Huh?" Marik turned to his sister and brother, a dumbfounded expression painted on his features. Suddenly Ishizu's arms were around him in an embrace. "What's wrong?" Ishizu's body shook. "Are you crying? What happened?"

Marik looked over Ishizu's shoulder at their older brother.

"Did I do something?" Marik asked.

Rishid didn't answer.

Marik snuck out the next morning to go to school. Rishid and Ishizu had watched over him the whole night until they succumbed to sleep around five o'clock. Marik had pretended to be sleeping most of the time they had been awake. He assumed they knew something was wrong with him. Marik knew something was wrong with himself too but he wasn't sure quite what it was yet. Or maybe he was in denial. Maybe he didn't want to admit that he knew what was going on. It couldn't be true, afterall. It couldn't be true.

"It's true alright. Still trying to live in a fantasy, eh my Little Light?" His Darker Half snickered.

"Go away." Marik wasn't sure if he had said that out loud. He hoped he hadn't because he didn't want to be labeled the neighborhood crazy.

"But you are the neighborhood crazy. Kekeke!" His Darker Half sneered.

Marik continued on towards the school, trying to ignore him. "I'm not crazy. I'm not…" It sounded so pitiful even Marik had trouble believing his own words.

"Come on!" the other Marik purred, "Let me out!"

"Get lost." He said.

"Oh…I'm sorry…I didn't know I was bothering you…" a timid voice came from behind him.

Marik turned to see who it was. "Ryou…" The Egyptian shook his head awake. "No, I wasn't talking to you."

Ryou stared blankly at the newest edition to his compilation of friends. "Oh. Alright." Ryou shifted his school bag to his other hand and awkwardly stood before the other boy. Ryou's eyes were shifting from Marik to the floor and visa versa.

"What?"

Ryou shook his head. "Nothing."

"Oh? So he's back too. Kekeke!" Marik's Darker Half said. "We can all have so much fun again together! It'll be like old times!"

Marik dropped his own school bag and went to cover his ears with the palms of his hands. "Will you shut up already? I don't want to hear you!"

When Marik came to his senses. Ryou still stood awkwardly in front of Marik, this time his eyes looking away.

"I didn't mean you, Ryou!" Marik tried to say out loud but could not for a reason unknown to him.

Marik scrunched his eyes shut but then felt a hand on his shoulder forcing him to open them again. "Hey, let's get going or we'll be late for class." Ryou said through a big grin. The Egyptian nodded and allowed Ryou to guide him towards the school.

"Kekeke! Enjoy this day, my Little Light." His Darker Half's voice chuckled again. "There won't be many more of times like these…you'll see."

Marik would have fought back, said something, done anything to show his Other Side that he was wrong. But how could he when he couldn't even believe it himself?

To be continued…

Author Note: Hey peeps, I know I've been slow at updating. Please bear with me…I'm working on five billion things at once…Just keep reviewing and telling me to update. It pushes me to get my butt in gear!

Thanks!

~reedleonn