A/N: Second part of the most intense part of the fic, horror wise anyways...not romance wise ;) Again, warning, overuse of very foul language!
Disclaimer: Not Mine!
"It is done," he announced gravelly and she felt the spell removing itself from her, releasing first her upper limbs, then her torso and finally her legs. She was trembling now that she had full control of her body. Across the room Marik gasped a little and she assumed he had also been released.
The Egyptian quickly gained control of his body, stumbling over to where the man lay to peer down at him apprehensively.
"Is his mind trapped in the shadow realm?" He asked in a shaky but still curious voice. Anzu had never heard him even a little bit frightened and it only made her feel more miserable.
"Fucking bastard," Yami spat, glaring at the only other standing male left in the room. Marik looked as taken aback as Anzu felt. Why was he mad at him?
"You didn't do a thing to protect her. I trusted you to take care of her and you didn't do a Ra-damned thing until I showed up," he said bitterly, and she noticed for the first time that he was trembling violently.
"Yami," she said raising a hand towards him in a frightened way to restrain him from hurting anyone else in his rage but Marik just shook his head at her quietly. After all, he had a point, he hadn't done anything, had he?
Suddenly the dark energy Yami was emitting, cooling the very temperature of the room with his anger seemed to falter, and he gave a loud moan, shutting his eyes.
"Yami!" She exclaimed as he staggered slightly, the eye of Horus glowing blindingly bright for a minute then disappearing suddenly like someone flicked off the light switch.
He groaned again sounding almost like he was going to be sick then crumpled to the floor, hitting the ground with a stomach-churning crunch.
"Oh my God, Yami!" She screamed, dropping down beside him as he tried to raise himself on his side, elbow and hand planted on the floor. His face was a mask of pain as his forehead furrowed; eyes squeezed shut and jaw locked against it.
"What's happening to him? What is wrong with him?" Anzu demanded in a hysterical voice to the only other person in the room who was mentally aware, Marik, who was mumbling to himself with a frown on his face.
"Yami no game...darkness game...penalty game...shadow game? Is it like the shadow games? But how is that possible?" He asked no one in particular as he levelled his violet gaze on the man in Anzu's arms who was now convulsing slightly, gripping his chest with tortured sounds like an animal being beaten.
"Ah...ah! It hurts!" He cried, his hands pressed to the left side of chest just over where his heart was. "Get it out of me!" He begged though Anzu had no idea what he was feeling, what was wrong with him or what 'it' was.
The panic inside of her swelled up and she began to sob, terrified as she looked between her confused Egyptian dance partner, the tailor man who was still twitched on the floor though he'd fallen silent, eyes glazed over in horror, and Yami, who was now curling inwards, trying to staunch whatever psychological pain that was afflicting him.
"Anzu, does he have a millennium item?" Marik blurted suddenly and she blinked tear filled eyes, trying to control herself for Yami's sake but feeling everything falling apart beneath her.
"S-sort of," she said, sniffing loudly. "H-he used to...and still kind of...h-has the millennium...p-puzzle," she managed and Marik swore loudly, moving across the room quickly to his bag where he began searching through immediately.
"Ra-fucking puzzle, I should have known it," he growled, grasping what appeared to be a long golden rod with a sphere on top and two wings protruding from it. "Nothing else causes this many Ra-damned problems," he muttered, stomping back across the room to point his sceptre down at Yami threateningly.
"W-what do you think you're doing?" Anzu cried, putting herself between Marik and her lover, curling her body around him protectively.
"Release him," Marik said calmly, gripping the golden rod tighter in his hand as a faded look came over his lavender eyes almost as if he too were possessed. She thought bitterly that it was probably the millennium item in his hand, marked by the eye of Horus on the spherical part.
Those things brought nothing but problems. The thought shattered her heart a little as she remembered what Yami had said: that he had become the millennium puzzle in essence. It was the temple that hosted his soul, merely converted from a golden pyramid to a solid body.
The eye that marked all millennium items occasionally presented itself on his forehead when it possessed him.
"Release him or he will die," Marik ordered and she flinched back as the wing of the staff swung towards her face. He pushed her none too gently off of Yami, pointing the rod straight at his chest as he cried out again in pain, breathing laboured.
The rod shook in his hand, light emanating from the eye creating a beam straight to Yami's chest. He began to shake even harder, taking one last gasp of air then falling silent, his lips parted in a silent scream.
After what felt like ages but was no more than thirty seconds the light faded away and Yami began breathing again, taking shaking gasps of air though he no longer clutched his chest with pain. The rod fell from Marik's shaking hand with a clatter as he to collapsed with a sigh to the ground though he braced himself with his hands.
"Sometimes I really hate Egyptians," he muttered darkly to himself, blinking his eyes until they returned to their normal sharp lavender.
"Are you even going to tell me what happened?" Anzu demanded, eyes still dark with fright as she glanced between Marik and Yami, the latter whose breathing slowly returned to normal, trying to sit up again.
She quickly tried to circle her arms around him for support but he just brushed her off, a bad move on his part. Sitting back on her knees, Anzu curled her fists where they lay on her thighs, bowing her head to hide her expression from them.
"Hurts like the jaws of Ammut, every time," Yami grunted in slight agreement, as he took a shuddering breath then hopped to his feet, wincing in pain, touching his chest gingerly.
"How the hell did you use the puzzle without actually wearing it?" Marik demanded, not to be outdone as he too jumped to his feet. Yami offered a casual hand to Anzu. She took it hesitantly but the second she was standing he released it, turning to face Marik instead.
"Long story short, I'm not the owner of the millennium puzzle I'm the spirit of it. I'm sure you've had some run ins with the spirit of your rod? Well that's me. My body is the puzzle, my mind is the spirit," Yami explained in quick dark sentences. Marik looked shock, pushing back his hair as he stared at the man in front of him with disbelief.
"You're the spirit of the ancient pharaoh? You're the millennium puzzle come to life? Using the Rod must have warped my brain somehow, that's impossible," he muttered still tugging at his hair fretfully.
"I thought it was impossible to until I separated from Yuugi. Without his mind though, the judgment games are much harder to control since I don't have a hikari to balance my powers. Sometimes the shadow magic seeps into my body if I wield it for too long. Since it's really just an illusion created by the puzzle it's rather weak," Yami replied a little bitterly.
They both fell silent, though it was obvious Marik had more questions, he could hear the rattle of Yami's breathing in his chest and lungs as he tried to get his strength back. The rod had saved him from the shadow poisoning his heart but that didn't mean he was ready to run any marathons.
After all, two minutes ago he was almost a dead man.
It took a moment for Marik to remember the third person in the room. He thought it was strange that Yami hadn't turned to her yet, but he was rather distracted. Glancing at her out of the corner of his eye he was alarmed to see a hardening glare on her face.
The tears had dried up and she looked pissed enough to gouge out his eyes.
"Um, Yami," Marik said, a little nervous for the second time in so many minutes. "I think you might want to..." he trailed off doubtfully, edging away from Anzu and he gestured in her direction. Yami turned to look at her curiously.
"Are you alright, Anzu?" He asked sweetly and Marik could almost hear her thinly held patience snapping. He winced and opened his mouth to warn Yami when –
SMACK!
Yami cursed loudly, eyes wide with shock. Her hand had whipped out and slapped him harder than he would have believed she could. The expression on his face read how dare you so well that Marik snorted slightly, tempted to laugh aloud. A red mark was already forming on the other mans pale cheeks.
SMACK!
Marik eyes stung with tears as she lashed out at him to.
"You think this is funny? How –dare –you!" She shouted with outrage, hands now in fists at her sides. "Both of you! Treating this like it's some sort of commonplace...joke! There is a man lying at our feet comatose and you nearly died," she stressed, turning to Yami who blinked at her in confusion.
Marik almost felt badly for him. He obviously didn't realize that she didn't understand a word they had said about the millennium items or their powers.
"The bastard deserved it," he said firmly, giving the man a cruel look but then –
SMACK!
He squeezed his eyes shut against the pain and Marik winced as she slapped her 'lover' with a sharp sound across the same cheek. That was definitely going to leave a mark. Yami looked like he was resisting the urge to hit her and Marik vaguely wondered if he would if she kept this up.
She turned to Marik himself with fierce glare and he quickly backed away, keeping his eyes warily on her as he raised his hands defensively. He didn't want to get slapped again either, there was nothing even remotely funny about that.
"You...you two are..." she shook with rage as she tried to find the words, her cheeks flushed with pent up anger. "You might as well have killed him," she said jabbing her finger in the tailor's direction where he rolled on the floor moaning quietly.
"We both know he'll never be able to make anything out of himself now! Using me for your sadistic pass time that you call a game and then when you nearly kill yourself and I try to help you, you come over and shove me out of the way to use more of your damned black magic," she accused, pointing at Marik who shrunk back further.
He had never seen her fly so out of control before. She'd been angry and upset with him but never lost it like she was now! Shame crossed Yami's face at her words and he flinched when she spun back to face both of them at once.
"You...deserve each other. Stay here with him, and make sure he gets help. I won't sink to your level. You both...you both disgust me!" She spat in a broken voice then rushed out of the room and slammed the door behind her.
The air rang with silence now that she was gone and Marik sighed to himself. It was going to take a hell of a lot of flowers to get her to forgive him now. It was selfish but mostly he was thinking about how close the final performances were and how this would affect their partnership.
Alright so maybe he was a little concerned about their friendship as well. Not that he'd ever admit that out loud.
Looking at Yami he was startled to see that the man had sunk back to his knees, face completely ashen. His blood red eyes were wide with fear and misery.
"Dear Ra what have I done," he mumbled, raising one hand to his bright red cheek where she had smacked him down like the hand of Ra himself -twice.
"Well get up," Marik snapped, feeling a little guilty but knowing this was the only way he was going to get Mutou-san back on his feet.
"What did you say?" He hissed back dangerously, narrowing grief stricken eyes at him.
"I said get up! You think sitting there like a pathetic fool will help things?" Marik asked cruelly. Suddenly Mutou-san was on his feet and his hand was curled around the Egyptian's collar tightly.
"You think I don't know that?" He asked in a fit of rage and despair. "If you had just done something before I got here none of this would have happened. You even had your Ra-damned rod!" He shouted and Marik glared back straight into his eyes.
He knew this was more grief than true anger like it had been before. The man would have already decked him if he had really lost it.
"Don't blame this on me," he responded, shoving him away and straightening his shirt coldly. Mutou-san staggered once but didn't go after him again, instead staring at the floor in misery.
"I know...I apologize..." he murmured, manners not lost despite it all. "She's not going to understand," he moaned, gripping his head as though it were about to split open. It certainly felt like it anyways.
"She'll understand less if you don't go out there and find her," Marik said with a shrug.
"How will I even find her to explain?" Marik rolled his eyes at the pathetic moping of the man. Had he really been a terrifying spirit with the power of darkness five minutes ago?
"You really think she made it far? I'll bet you any amount of money that she didn't make it all the way down the hall before collapsing in a heap of tears and guilt. Anzu is not as strong as she wants you to believe," he advised strictly but wisely.
Yami took a deep breath, shaking his head quickly then squared his shoulders and walked towards the door. He hesitated only when his hand curled around the handle.
"Did you tell Ryou about your millennium item?" He asked aloud, using the mirrors to look at Marik's reaction which was slightly ashamed.
"No," he struggled to say with nonchalance.
"You should," Yami said firmly. "He would be...comforted to know that you have some experience with them. Ryou is stronger then you give him credit for and he's experienced more than you might suspect," he said casually then swung the door open, walking out into the hallway.
Marik almost called after him, half raising a hand, but knew he couldn't hold him back from making amends with Anzu. Truthfully he hoped he'd put in a good word for him as well. Now his own mind was swarming with questions.
Why did Yami call him Ryou?
How close were they exactly?
And how did Ryou even know about millennium items?
Did he have one?
Had he come in contact with them?
Marik's mind buzzed he sighed loudly. This day just kept getting more and more complicated.
Leaving him to his ponderings in his own way of thanks, Yami stepped out in the hallway, quickly searching it. His ears were assaulted by the muffled sound of sobbing and just as Marik had predicted only a little over half way down the hall from where he stood Anzu was sitting curled up by the wall with her arms wrapped around her knees, face hidden from him as she made those mournful sounds.
His heart gave a twist a million times more painful in some ways than the shadow poisoning. Moving towards her quickly he was almost immediately at her side, dropping to the floor.
"Go away," she said through her tears, not even looking up to see who it was.
"No," he said firmly, putting his arms around her small body. She began to slap at him desperately, fighting him off, but he was careful not to allow her to get a foot in and her arms were at such an angle that he only collected a few elbows to his chest which barely made him wince.
She struggled a bit as he put his back to the wall, holding her like a baby in his lap, tight against his chest, but she soon gave in, throwing her arms around him so that she could sob against his shirt.
She's not as strong as she wants you to think...Marik's words echoed cruelly in his mind.
How could he have been so stupid? Of course she was upset! She had just witnessed in the matter of a few minutes what no woman wanted to her boyfriend involved with. Fighting, death, pain, possession, near fatal accidents...it made him shudder to think about.
She quickly stifled her tears, spine rigid beneath his hands. She was holding back, he realized, still trying to be strong.
"It's okay," he whispered soothingly in her ear, stroking her hair gently after pulling it free of its ponytail, "Just let it all out." She took a deep shuddering breath, tears still sliding down her face.
"I was so scared," she said in such a quiet voice that he wouldn't have heard her at all had they not been so close together.
"Yami I was so scared...I thought you were going to...going to...I shouldn't have reacted that way, it was just a lot to try and understand all at once and then with Marik getting involved to...and that poor man..." her voice was almost dazed, forehead pressed to his chest as she loosened the tight grip on his neck just a little.
"Poor man?" He said automatically, balking at the idea of any pity for that bastard who would dare to treat his woman in such a way. "He was a disgusting" –he started then cut himself off. This was what upset her in the first place and his cheek was still throbbing painfully, though he ignored it to keep his pride intact.
"He was disgusting and a jerk towards me but you can't go condemning people to the mental asylum just because they're rude to me!" She exclaimed, looking up at him mostly with worry on her face.
"Seeing you get in that way...and then destroying his soul like it was nothing...it terrifies me," she admitted in a quiet voice, staring deep into his eyes while she unconsciously tightened her grip on his shoulders, as though afraid he'd leave her.
She didn't connect the Yami she was with now to the Yami that came out when he lost his temper. That Yami was truly dark even if he was just, while this one was simply her human lover.
"You don't understand, Anzu-chan," he said softly, wrapping his arm around her waist in a reassuring hold while still running his hands through her hair.
"Then tell me so I can at least try," she whispered back passionately and his heart fluttered with appreciation for her strength. Marik was wrong; even if she wasn't strong in the way he expected she was incredibly strong in other ways, the same as Ryou.
He could only hope Marik would come to see that the way he had.
"This is not something I can avoid doing. True, its worse when I lose my temper, but part of my purpose is to lose my temper when I see such things. If it makes you feel any better...had it been any other girl I saw him speaking to in such a way he would have been dealt with in the same way, although perhaps more subtly. It's harder to control without Yuugi as my hikari but it's still my purpose in this era as the spirit of the millennium puzzle come alive to judge those who are unworthy," he said in hesitant sentences as though afraid to tell her.
She was glad he did, but the thought made her unhappy. It wasn't really his fault since he didn't seem to even have a choice in the matter, and it was a small price to pay, persecuting bad guys for a body and mind in this time. For that at least she was grateful.
"Don't mistake that for me enjoying it though. When I lose myself to the impulse...I enjoy the tension of the games and time passes with a blur where I am barely in control of myself, such is the nature of a judgment game...but looking back...I do not enjoy it at all," he promised through gritted teeth against the raw emotion that shone through in jagged breaks of his voice.
Bowing his head he pressed his forehead to the side of hers. Pressing his lips to her temple he simply sat in that position, struggling with the horror inside of him. It was true that with his power to judge those that his judgements were always just, but that didn't necessarily mean they were right or good.
The people always deserved it, there could be no doubt about that, but it was still awful in the end. He sometimes hated himself for it. Great bouts of depression would overwhelm him, forcing him into other equally loathsome habits.
How she could still wish to remain with him at all amazed him. Even now she remained perfectly still, allowing him to gain control of his emotions the same way she had on that day by the beach only a couple of weeks ago.
The pain inside him was dulled by her presence, better than any alcohol could. She couldn't have moved if she wanted to, heart crying out to him as she even saw a couple tears slide down his cheeks as he laid down his pride, mourning in his own way for the corrupted souls he was forced to damn.
"Do you know what my last question was going to be if tailor-san got the answer right to your question?" She asked quietly and he pulled away a little, shaking his head once no as he looked at her. She turned to face him, cupping his face in her hands and she looked into his eyes shyly.
"Who do I love most in the world?" She whispered suggestively, breath warm against his lips and his eyes widened right before she leaned in, kissing him passionately while he revelled in the shock of her announcement.
Love? She was implying that she loved him most in the world. What?
"We shouldn't," he mumbled, pushing her back a bit but she pressed forward anyways, impatiently.
"I know but...I don't really care..." she replied between kisses, sucking on his lower lip seductively. He shuddered, kissing her back romantically for many long seconds before he came back to himself again.
Her hands were stroking his chest and ironically it was the erotic sensations that it caused that reminded him why they were supposed to not be doing this.
"No," he said firmly, pulling her away effortlessly. "We can't," he told her, guiding her hand to the part of his body that told her exactly why they couldn't. She turned red, pulling her hand away with embarrassment.
"A-ah, I'm sorry," she stammered, standing up quickly and turning her back to him, arms folded tightly around her middle. He collected himself for a moment then stood up after her with a small grin, sneaking up behind to wrap his arms around her waist tightly.
"Hey Anzu-chan?" He whispered in her ear, kissing her neck slyly.
"Y-Yami," she stammered, trying to pull away with alarm but he held tight. He could control his masculine instincts when he was given some advanced warning, and he was confident of his ability now.
"The person I love most in the world? It's you, Anzu."
A/N: So I tried to make the ending sweet since that was all pretty dark and hefty and depressing. Ugh, well, it was kind of interesting to write all the same, I hope it came out alright!
Here's a preview for the next chapter:
"Good," Marik said with a relieved sigh. "Now, I have something for you," he said with a small grin as Ryou's eyes shone, widening excitedly. One of the things he had learned about Ryou: He loved presents.
It didn't matter how big or small or expensive it was, anything given to him along with the word 'present' shot his mood into the 'above the rainbow' zone, as Marik had dubbed it. Ryou clasped his hands together eagerly and smiled hugely at Marik.
Next chapter is major fluffyyy angstshipping! I hope that makes at least one other person as happy as it makes me...if not...sorry I guess?