PART FOUR! AND IT'S NOT THE END!

Me: Yay! Cheesy abridged jokes! Although it might only be one... I'm going to save the others, just cause I CAN! ^^

Yami: Have you ever considered seeking professional help?

Me: *Growl*

Yami: *defensively* I'm just saying.

Me: Enjoy part four of this multiple part series. =) ... Now Yami I believe we need to have a little chat MWAHAHAHAHA!

Last Time: With a strange heavy weight in his chest Malik snapped the computer closed, dragged his shoes back on and slowly trudged back to school. Maybe sport would actually kill him today, instead of just being a pain in his ass...

The boys change room stank of sweat, mould and excessive amounts of deodorant; tiles of green, cream and gray clung halfheartedly to the walls and the floor stopped being tiles long ago, instead taking on the appearance of the ground outside, ruffly ten inches of dirt, grime and grass clippings were piled over the tiles there. Tugging on the official sport shirt, coloured blue and white, Malik exited the miasmic bathroom and tried not to scowl at the teacher grinning freakishly at the base of the oval.

"Come on everyone! Today you're going to be doing a cross-country trials!" shouted the teacher, a groan sweeping through the student body as they mulled around him in tiny groups. "My pink sweatshirt doesn't care whether or not you want to do this! We will be reading in the teachers lounge! Come find us when you are finished!" and with a blithe wave he jogged off towards the main building.

Taking a deep breath Malik made the first move, grabbing a map from the bucket, he gave his head a shake before starting off at a slow jog just as others began to move towards the bucket and away from their social groups. Ignoring the shouts of his friends Malik kept jogging and plugged his headphones into his ears, turning whatever music that was playing up loud enough to drown out all outside noise - now it was just him, his heartbeat and the strange stylings of Coldplay.

The course wasn't that difficult, it was just stupidly long and complex - taking twists and turns at any and every opportunity. What made it even worse was that insane sports freak had decided he would keep all the students off the assigned path and instead lead them through ruff and unstable ground, full of hidden snags and holes. Malik growled loudly every time he caught his ankle and almost fell. He was almost done just another two kilometers and he could finally leave everyone, this stupid cross country race would be finished and he could go home to mope about his own stupidity.

'Come on mopey lift those skinny little legs and get out of that big grey cloud your swimming in.'

'Marik you're confusing metaphors.' the light chuckled, jumping over another hole in his path.

'Really? or am I just creating a whole new metaphor which describes this hurt girlfriend behavior?'

'Marik drop that idea of the girlfriend thing, and shut up, I'm trying not to trip.' Marik just laughed as the other boy stumbled after his words almost came crashing to the ground. Regaining his footing he tried to act cool about his stumble but his foot just slipped down another hole and his ankle twisted round as his body yanked forwards and a tanned cheek collided with the dusty dirt and shards of rock.

'Shit! Malik! pain!' Marik screamed from inside Malik's mind, the hikari groaned dragging his arms under his chest, attempting to push himself back into some sort of vertical position.

'Marik, I'm in fucking control of this fucking body! You got only one fucking fifth of the fucking pain! How the fucking hell do you think I'm fucking feeling!' Malik felt his yami wince as he swore through the mind link, yes his darker side swore like a red neck with a stubbed toe; but never Malik, he only did that when he was in excruciating pain. Hauling himself into a more comfortable position Malik managed to slowly heave himself off to the side of the path and into some bush cover.

'So what's the damage?' Marik asked as Malik moved the injured ankle to his lap, slowly rotating the foot to assess the harm; and with everyone of these small movements a pain that burned hot up his spine shot through his body.

'Broken, the ankles broken Marik.' both boys shuddered at this knowledge, they'd never broken anything - except once and that was when they'd got into a fight and Marik in his blind rage had slammed their arm into the wall fracturing it, it was stupid and they had a cast on it for two months. But this was bad, bad because they couldn't even limp the rest of the track without pain; and bad because Malik/Marik -both of them- had such an ego problem that they couldn't ask anyone else for help, they where just too stubborn.

Laying his head back Malik closed his eyes and tried to steady his breathing, flashes of sunlight glimmered down through the leaves of the tree making kaleidoscope like patterns across the soft tanned flesh of his face. Marik's 'ghost' appeared before the boy and began pacing with worry, the broken ankle not affecting the spirit - even though they shared the same physical form. Malik tried to relax as his yami gently ran his fingers over the swollen ankle, with a breathy sigh he sank down to the ground and let sleep overtake him.

His dream was troubling, stuck in a forest similar to this one - rain pattered against his face and he was under a tree, body curled into a ball. 'Friends' jogged around him, round and round like vultures closing in on their prey, closer and closer until they where upon him; claws teared at his skin as he shrieked in pain, he was being ripped in two by those he thought closest to him. And just as he thought he'd die in a dream, out of the darkness stalked a figure, a figure of glowing light - so bright it illuminated the darkness that was swirling round him; hair of pure silver rose from shoulders and billowed round an angelic face in a wind that wasn't felt. The creatures that had stolen the form of his friends shrieked and ran from the pulsing light, Malik's head rose carefully but his body had no strength and he fell back to the ground - a smooth velvet like hand caught him and moved him to a warm chest.

"MARIK!" The cry was ear piercing and rung through the boy's head, hands where clinging to his shoulders and shaking him hard. "Marik wake up!" the voice called again, bleary eyed Malik groggily opened them to see an angel kneeling over him - worry laced through the godly face. "Marik thank God your awake." the angel cried almost hugging the boy.

"Oh no, I'm dead... I must be dead... There wouldn't be an angel here otherwise..." Malik incoherently murmured, eyes fluttering and finally fully opening. The realization of who was above him froze the older, Ryo was leaning over him and he'd just called the other boy an angel... If he wasn't dead now, he would be soon...

Me: I'm sorry if anyone took offense to the statement in paragraph 11, I don't mean to offend anyone...

Marik: Except me

Me: Exactly ^^... Oh, I hope you don't mind Marik

Marik: No *walks off - sob*

Me: *sigh* I better go talk to him, review.