The Tomb Keepers' Secret
The first round of the Battle City finals had come to an end and there was enough dueling for tonight. The rest of the finals would be played off once the blimp would reach its destination. It was good to know that there would be no more duels in the sky. Many of the passengers were feeling sick because of the altitude.
Before retiring to their rooms to bed, Yugi and the rest of his friends decided to rejoin Serenity and check on Max. On their way, they met up with Ishizu. "Yugi, Princess, I'm sorry about what happened to your friend. May I pay her a visit with you?"
"Yes, of course," they both answered.
They all walked inside and saw that nothing had changed. Max was still suffering as Serenity remained at her bedside. It continued to torture Joey inside. "I'm sorry I let you down, Max," he whispered. "But mark my words, I promise you'll get your revenge against Marik."
"No, Joey," Serenity immediately said. "Can't you see that anger and revenge will only make things worse? That's how Max got to be like this. Marik is full of so much anger that he gains pleasure in watching people suffer." Hearing that, Joey agrees that things don't need to be harder than they already are. "When I took my bandages off, this was not what I wanted to see," the auburn girl said, crying.
"Serenity, it'll be okay," Téa promises, placing her hand on her shoulder.
"There is hope ahead," said Ishizu. "For where there is evil, there is also good." Everyone turns around to listen to her. "Marik was good once. He began life as an innocent child like everyone does. But that innocence disappeared, leaving a dark hole in my brother's heart. This happened on the night Marik received the tomb keeper's initiation and inherited the task of protecting the pharaoh's tomb; a task he always resented. Now this dark presence has taken over my brother's body."
Yugi takes a step forward. "Ishizu, what happens if there's no way to save your brother?" He didn't want something like that to be possible, but after all the damage that's been done, it seemed like it was already too late to save Marik. "I know you said it was my destiny to save the world from destruction, but I didn't think it would mean saving your brother. I thought it meant defeating him and ending his plan."
Joey agrees. "Yugi's got a good point, Ishizu. What if it's already too late to save your brother from the evil within? I mean, you've got to admit, the guy's about as nasty as they come."
"It's hard to imagine someone like him ever being nice," said Téa.
Ishizu understood their concerns, but she knew her brother better than anyone else did. That was why she was asking everyone to believe her. "There's still much you don't understand. It wasn't that long ago when my brother began to lose his way and turn towards the darkness. For generations, my family has lived in secrecy, deep beneath the desert sands watching over the tomb of the pharaoh. For five thousand years, an Ishtar has stood guard waiting for his return. As the firstborn Ishtar son, Marik was required to bear the pharaoh's secret on his back and forbidden to ever leave the tomb."
But Marik would not let go of his wish for freedom. He often thought about running away and beginning a whole new life. A few days after receiving the initiation, Marik decided to change his life forever. He wanted to see the world with his own eyes and live his moment of freedom. He tried to escape into the world, but Ishizu stopped him. It was still nightfall, so their father was still sleeping. But Ishizu didn't want to take any chances.
Ishizu was a tomb keeper as well, but she had more knowledge of the outside world and its wonders despite never spending a day in it. So Marik asked his elder sister to come with him. "You promised you would take me outside someday, so why can't we go now? I want to see the outside world," Marik begged.
"The outside world is off-limits to us," Ishizu reminded her brother. If their father knew they had wandered the desert or interacted with the surface dwellers, they would face severe consequences.
But Marik wasn't worried. "Relax, Sis. Odion will cover for us and Father will never suspect a thing. Come on, Ishizu, I want to live like a normal person for once. Please? Just this one time. Aren't you a little curious?"
Odion already agreed to help Marik achieve his dream. "I promise I'll take care of everything," he promised Ishizu. It was his duty to ensure Marik's safety, but he also had to carry out his wishes even if it was against Master Ishtar's orders. That was one of Ishizu's darkest worries. Odion would be the one to pay for their troubles because of that matter.
Finally, she gave in to her brother's begging. "Okay, Marik. If it's that important to you-," but her little brother wrapped his arms around her in excitement. "But promise me this: after one hour, we return home and never speak of this again."
Marik promised. Even if his freedom would only last for a little while, it would be enough to be thankful for. So the two siblings passed through the corridors, leaving Odion to make the room a little convincing for their father that they were still in bed.
Ishizu knew the dangers she and her brother would face for violating their clan's code, but she also knew that Marik deserved a chance to feel the light of the open world. Little did she know that the light would also awaken the darkness within her brother.
They came to the town marketplace and explored in excitement. Marik did, anyway. Ishizu could not ease up or forget her worries. She had to keep telling her brother to slow down, not to touch anything, not to speak to anyone, and not to get too attached to anything.
But Marik was having too much fun to heed his sister's words of caution; especially when he noticed a magazine on the ground being stepped on by passersby. "This isn't right," Marik said, picking it up and dusting it. "Books should never be just thrown away." He looked through the pages and saw lots of interesting pictures. "Hey, this isn't like my scriptures at all. This is fun!" But what really interested him was a picture of a man riding a motorcycle. Then at the nearby stand, he saw a television and heard a strange voice. He approached it and saw a man bidding his girl goodbye and riding away on his own motorcycle.
The shopkeeper noticed that Marik was watching in awe, making him wonder if he had never seen a television before in his life. He even said that out loud to Marik. When Ishizu heard the shopkeeper ask Marik that, she began pulling her brother away.
Marik's curiosity continued to get the better of him and he had to ask his questions. "Ishizu, what was that in that glass box?"
"It's a TV," she corrected.
"Ah, TV," Marik echoed. "But what was that strange machine inside the TV?"
"A motorcycle," she answered.
"I want to ride one. I just have to." Then Marik remembered, "But as long as I'm a tomb keeper, I'll never be able to watch a TV or ride a motorcycle."
Ishizu finally stopped. She knew that Marik had seen too much and she needed to get him home immediately. "Marik, our time is up. We have to go home."
"Not now!"
"You promised you would obey," she reminded him.
Marik remembers his promise and agrees to go home. "Before we go, can I bring home the picture of this motorcycle?" Ishizu wouldn't allow it. If their father discovered they had brought home a souvenir, he would know that they had been in the marketplace. But Marik promised he would hide it carefully. "Please? It's just one picture."
Ishizu gave in to her brother's pleading once more. "Okay, you can take it, but promise me that you'll hide it." Happy to hear that, Marik carefully rips the page from the magazine. They were on their way home until their path was blocked by a mysterious man. It was Shadi.
"The pharaoh and princess will soon return to this world," he told the young siblings. "Prepare for them. Ready yourselves, for your lives and destinies depend upon it. But I warn you, if you reject your sacred duty, your future will bring nothing but tragedy."
"Who are you?" Ishizu asked, but the stranger was already leaving. "Don't go! How do you know so much?" Ishizu was beginning to realize that she had made a mistake for seeing the world when she knew she and her brother were forbidden and now she was about to pay the price for her actions. Exposing Marik to a world in which he didn't belong caused him to reject their family and the evil within him was slowly growing stronger.
But she didn't spend a lot of time thinking about that. She and Marik continued to pass through the market in hopes of finding Shadi. "What did this stranger mean when he warned us?" Marik asked his sister. "Where did that guy come from and how did he know we were waiting for the pharaoh and looking for the princess?"
"Marik," Ishizu softly snapped, "you mustn't speak of the pharaoh or the princess right now!" Then she began regretting ever making a dangerous promise. "We never should have come here. Just forget about that stranger. Forget about everything and let's go home," she pleaded. But she knew it would already be impossible for Marik to forget. He didn't want to as much as she did. He didn't want to go home.
"Why do we have to go back down into the darkness?" he complained, though he knew the answer.
"Marik, it's just not our choice," she reminded him once more. They left the market and made it to the gate.
But Marik wanted to spend his last moment of freedom with a great memory and a great hope. He sat on a piece of rubble, pretending to be riding a motorcycle on the open road and feeling the wind. Someday I'll ride one of these, he thought, looking at his picture. I'll ride right out of the darkness below. I'll ride away forever and no one will be able to stop me. Not my father, not some stupid pharaoh or princess, no one. I'll finally be free and control my own destiny. Finally, he got off the rubble and followed his sister, imitating the noises of a motorcycle.
As they passed through the gate and began descending down the stairs, Marik noticed something front of them. "What's that right there?" Ishizu saw it too and realized it was an alarm and had gone off. She quickly ran down the stairs. Marik followed after her, demanding to know what was wrong. "Ishizu, what's going on? Is Father going to be angry with us?"
They ran through the corridors and stopped at their room. It had been thoroughly ransacked with the blankets and books scattered all over the floor. Their father knew they had escaped into the world. What was worse was that Odion was in danger. Marik and Ishizu went to Master Ishtar's study and saw their father beating him.
"Odion, you were supposed to protect Marik!" Master Ishtar yelled. "I want you to leave us and never return!" Finally, he noticed his children's presence. "Marik, Ishizu, how dare you! You know you are forbidden to walk among the outsiders and now Odion must pay for your disobedience and leave us forever! That decision is final!"
Marik tried to approach Odion, but felt a pain in his head like something was trying to break free. Malik had now taken over and chuckled in a sinister manner.
"Stop laughing right now!" Master Ishtar ordered.
"You don't scare me anymore," Malik said, approaching the Millennium Items. "From now on, these Items are mine."
"You shall inherit those when the time is right and no sooner," said Master Ishtar.
"Why don't you keep quiet, old man," Malik asked, gripping the Millennium Rod. "I'm making my own rules now."
"I order you to put that down now!" Master Ishtar yelled. "Marik, drop it!" But Malik used its power to pin him to the wall. "My son," Master Ishtar groaned.
"Marik, stop this right now!" Ishizu pleaded.
"This doesn't concern you, Ishizu," Malik says, pinning her as well.
"You're not Marik," she groaned, finally realizing it.
"Very perceptive," said Malik. He approaches Master Ishtar and banishes his mind to the Shadow Realm. After that, he decides to do the same thing to Odion.
"No, Master," Odion groans. "You need me to protect you."
Seeing him like this, Marik quickly regains control. "Oh, what have I done?" he gasps, getting on his knees and crying. He actually didn't know what just happened because it wasn't his doing. Though his hands are bound, Odion manages to place his arms over Marik to console him.
Then Shadi appears, scaring Marik. "Marik, you have taken your first step on a dangerous path of ultimate darkness. Now you must turn back before it's too late. Soon the pharaoh and his daughter will return. Turn back," he said again and disappeared.
Ishizu finally finished her story by saying that was the first time she met the darkness and realized it was born out of her brother's anger and jealousy. The others still weren't too sure that they should feel sad for Marik for being who he is today because of that.
"Ishizu, your brother trapped Max's mind in the Shadow Realm and she's living in her worst nightmares," Joey tells her. "And I'm gonna make sure he pays," he silently vows.
"It is possible to destroy the evil within my brother without destroying the good," she tells everyone. "I realize now that destinies can be changed. And Yugi has the power to do it with the help of the pharaoh."
Then they heard the announcement that it would be time for everyone to return to their rooms in fifteen minutes. Many of the guys wanted to stay in Joey's room because it was big enough to fit ten people inside. The problem was there was only one bed and some of the chairs wouldn't provide much comfort. Emily decided to stay in Yugi's room. She wouldn't mind sleeping in a chair and letting Yugi use the bed. He was the one who needed his rest for the conclusion of the finals tomorrow.
Emily was on her way to the room with Yugi until Ishizu stopped her. "Wait, Princess. I must speak with you for a while."
"Go on," Yugi told her. "I'll wait for you."
"Okay then," Emily says and follows Ishizu back into her room. They both sit down near the window. "What did you want to talk about?"
"I think you already know this, Princess, but the Millennium Star shard I gave you has also been in my family's protection for generations," Ishizu tells her. "We've been safeguarding for you in hopes of one day returning it to you." While the Ishtars had been protecting the pharaoh's tomb, only a few individuals were chosen to search for the princess. The task was not very easy, however. The only hope they had of finding her was for the Millennium Star shard to make some sort of resonation. In her younger years, Ishizu had seen the shard shimmer and glow. Her father said it meant that the princess was somewhere out there. Many of his subjects had come across hundreds of girls all over the country and the shard would not react to any of them. Because of their limits, they could not expand their search.
Since it was Marik's heritage to guard the pharaoh's tomb, Ishizu was decided to be the one to protect the Millennium Star shard. Until her time would come, her father taught her all she would need to know. It was actually because of this that Marik wanted his freedom. He actually learned about the Millennium Star and the princess before he received the tomb keeper's initiation. That made him decide that he would rather explore the world as well as search for the princess than live in the darkness protecting the pharaoh's tomb.
Ishizu left her father's study after whispering her prayers to the Great Goddess. Sitting on Master Ishtar's desk were the Millennium Rod and Necklace. The Millennium Star shard was there too, bottled inside a small jar. Marik saw her and asked her, "Hey, Sister. What are you doing in here?"
Hearing her brother's voice snapped her out of it. "Oh, nothing," she lied. "Just praying."
"Oh, sorry if I disturbed your thoughts," he apologized.
"No, it's all right," Ishizu says, dusting herself.
Marik notices something in her hands. "What have you got there?"
She follows his gaze and places her hands behind her back. "Come here and I'll tell you." She felt like Marik had a right to know what this was about and he wasn't the only one with an important role for the family. Marik had been inside Master Ishtar's study before and was curious to know what that strange object was in the jar.
Looking at it, Marik realizes, "Oh, it's that strange light Father keeps on his desk."
"This is actually a shard of the Millennium Star," Ishizu clarifies.
"A shard?" Marik echoes. "Where's the rest of it?"
"It's in the possession of the pharaoh's daughter," she answered.
"I didn't know he had a daughter," Marik said.
"Well, it's true," Ishizu tells him. "I don't know much about her except that her name is Emily."
"I've never heard a name like that," said Marik. "It's kind of weird, but it also sounds pretty."
Ishizu smiled in agreement. "Anyway, just like it's our duty to protect the pharaoh's tomb, it's also our duty to protect the Millennium Star shard so that we can return it to the princess and help her claim her destiny."
"But she could be anywhere," said Marik. "How can we find her?"
"Have you noticed how the shard sometimes shimmers and glows?" Ishizu asks Marik. "That's because it's resonating to her presence. It's true that she's somewhere out there, but this shard will help us find her."
Listening to what his sister is telling him, Marik wonders if this princess is a beautiful young girl and what kinds of powers the Millennium Star will give her. "Ishizu, do you think we'll ever get to meet the princess?"
"I'm not sure, Marik," she answered in honesty. "But I hope we do someday."
"Me too," said Marik. "I want to meet her. I just have to." From that day, all Marik could ever think about was searching the ends of the world to find and meet the princess. He wondered what kind of person she would be once he would meet her. He wanted to find the princess more than he wanted to be a tomb keeper.
Hearing Ishizu's story, Emily assumes, "So Marik was in love with me when he heard about me?"
"You could say that," Ishizu answers. "He wondered what you would be like when he would meet you. Now that he has, I guess you're all he expected."
"His feelings and thoughts seemed pure, but I guess they got dark when his other personality came along." Thinking about that made Emily remember the times Marik shared his thoughts on making her his queen.
"Yes, you're right," said Ishizu. "And it was because of Marik's dark side that I took it upon myself to find you and protect you." Fearful that Malik would return, Ishizu continued to protect the Millennium Star shard and keep her brother from getting it. She also feared that if he found the princess and tried to claim her power, destruction would follow. But Marik did find Emily first, before she even knew she was a princess. She didn't know who she was until after Ishizu gave her the Star shard.
"I'm afraid I can't protect you from Marik's dark side," Ishizu apologized. "And I'm sorry to have to ask for so much from you and Yugi."
"I understand, Ishizu, and it's really okay. You said it was our destiny to stop him and we have the power to do it. I may still be understanding my own power, but I think I can use it to save your brother."
"I would be forever grateful," said Ishizu.
"I need to thank you too," said Emily. "For telling me more about you and Marik. I feel like my feelings towards him are beginning to change. I feel like he really is a friend who needs to be rescued. And also, thank you for helping me and Yugi start to face our destinies. There are still many mysteries about the ancient past that we are unsure of and need to unlock, but I'm sure we'll find what we're looking for."
Ishizu smiles at Emily. "It is an honor, my princess. I'll never be able to thank you enough for your kind words and caring heart. All I can do is wish you and Yugi well on your journey."
Emily smiles back. "That's all we can ask." She stands up and says, "I'd better get back to Yugi."
"Before you go, I have something I must give to you."
"Thanks, but what is it?"
"It is a powerful object that I no longer have any use for." Ishizu removes the Millennium Necklace and secures it around Emily's neck.
"But I don't understand."
"Fate chose me to wear the Millennium Necklace, but it is time I passed it to the once who is destined to rescue the world from darkness and despair," Ishizu tells her. "You see, it no longer shows me the future. I have carried out my task and now it is your turn, Princess. I understand that you and Yugi are working together to fulfill the same task. Besides, it will be safer in your hands."
Emily places her hand over the Necklace. Ishizu was putting a lot of faith in her and Yugi. Ishizu walked Emily back to Yugi's room, but Emily stopped before entering. "Ishizu, I have a question. If Yugi and Yami manage to defeat the dark force controlling your brother, then does that mean that the world will be safe from danger? What if there's another force of evil out there?"
Ishizu couldn't provide an answer. All she could say was, "I'm not sure, but you and Yugi have the power to discover these answers." Then Ishizu walked her back to her own room. "Good evening, Princess Emily."
Yugi left the door to his room unlocked so Emily would be able to enter. When he saw her come in, he asked, "So what did Ishizu have to tell you?"
"She gave me the Millennium Necklace," she tells him. "Now we have two Millennium Items. We'll need all the help we can get from Millennia to put an end to Marik's plan."
"I agree." He notices a distressed look on her face and asks, "What's wrong?"
"I'm scared, Yugi," she answers in honesty. "I don't think I'll be able to sleep tonight."
Yugi sighs and looks away. "I know how you feel."
"It's natural for you two to feel frightened," Yami tells them. "But we can do this if we stay together."
"But things have gotten way out of hand," Emily says, sitting at the bedside. "Just when I think I've got Marik figured out, it's like the evil within him increases tenfold. Don't get me wrong, I still think we have a chance of stopping him, but my fear is making me feel unsure. You saw what happened to Max. Marik's insane and we're the ones he's really after." She sighs and wonders, "Let me guess: as long as you and Yugi trust in the Heart of the Cards, you can defeat Marik. But this is so much more than just a game and I don't want to lose any more friends," she says, lowering her head and crying on the sheets. "This madness has to stop!" To try and put her at ease, Yugi softly rubs her back. He didn't care if the blankets were getting wet or how long she would need to cry. He wanted to do the same thing.