That night was restless. Susy ended up manually washing her clothes and hung them up to dry, then went to bed early in hopes of high-energy and a clear head for the next day; but her effort was in vain. Her sleep was full of hellish nightmares. One thing they all had in common was Marik getting in her face and talking down to her like trash, then sending her to the shadow realm. Each time she would wake up in a cold sweat and force herself to calm down.

By about the fifth waking, she decided to stay awake. It was 6AM and she still had a couple of hours until breakfast. This time would be used for preparation.

Susy climbed out of bed and made her way to the bathroom. She hopped into the shower and felt the depression take hold. She didn't really have to do this. Maybe she could just act like nothing happened and go on enjoying being with Marik.

No, that wasn't an option. Living under false pretenses with him would just turn ugly. She shook her head then focused on pushing aside her self-pity and instead firing up her urge for revenge. The strong emotion strangely took some digging to find, but she grabbed it. Thoughts of how he did her wrong were going to be her fire's fuel from there on out. Nothing was going to stand in her way.

After about thirty minutes she got out of the shower. Her clothes had thankfully dried overnight and felt nice and clean. She happily pulled them on. It was relieving to feel clean again. The happy feeling gave her confidence.

For the next hour and a half she came up with a plan. Well not exactly a plan. Her luck with plans in the past has more than proved that it just wasn't her thing. Instead, she came up with a generalized idea of what-to-do-when. That way there was plenty of room for error yet she still had something to work with. She felt confident that her idea would work. If it didn't, well she would have been doomed anyway.

Right on cue, around 8AM, Steve came and got her. She still put on the tough-act, because it would be suspicious if she didn't. When they got to the dining hall however, she pulled him aside for a second.

"Hey Steve, I got a question."

He responded with a grunt.

"About how long does clean-up take?" She pointed toward the door.

"I dunno…about an hour? Now go away." He left through the doorway.

Susy frowned then shrugged. She found her usual spot but took her time eating. In fact, she stretched out her meal to until there were only a few Steves here and there. Time to start.

She got up and walked over to Marik. She had kept an eye on him the whole breakfast, making sure he didn't go anywhere. He had seemed in an upbeat mood, which kinda irked her. When she got up to him, he was talking to one of the Steves.

She stopped with her hands in her pockets. "Marik."

He turned his attention to her and grinned, shooing off his servant. "Well if it isn't little Miss Moody. What do you want?"

"I want to help with clean-up."

Marik looked surprised. "You want to help clean up after these slobs?"

She crossed her arms. "Yeah, for today."

"Why?" He asked suspiciously.

"Well let's see, I'm locked up in my cell all day with absolutely nothing to do. Doing this would be better than doing nothing." She sneered, hoping that sounded believable.

Marik cocked an eyebrow and grinned. "I could give you something to do."

Susy shrugged off an oncoming blush. She didn't know if she should accept. Her plan was to stay there until he leaved, then ditch to follow him. Then again, this might save her that trouble.

She returned the expression. "And what would that be?"

He smirked and got up. "Follow."

She sighed and followed. They walked out into the hallways then Marik lead them. Susy watched the Rod in his hand with intent. That object was the key to her success. The Rod seemed to suddenly let off a light glow. She leaned forward to see if it was when-.

"You're awfully quiet."

Susy jumped back and tried to look normal. "I'm thinking." She grinned, "Sorry, I know it's a foreign concept to you."

He just chuckled back. "Thinking stupidly, yes. My thoughts are only those of the wise."

'You mean the dumb.' She kept to herself, then walked up beside him. "All jokes aside, I got a question."

"Why should I listen?"

"Because it's something even you would understand."

He once again raised an eyebrow. "Ok, what is it?"

"Can I have a couple more outfits?" She asked, pointing to her shirt.

"Why?"

"Because I keep getting sweaty and they get sticky and stink. I would just really appreciate it." Susy was being genuinely sincere in asking. She really wanted something new, and if her plan failed at least she would fail clean.

Marik was surprised at the lack of harshness in her voice. "Um…sure, I'll have them delivered to your room." He responded with awkward niceness.

Susy couldn't help but laugh at both his awkwardness and how she couldn't believe that wasn't real. Her depression once again began to take hold. She fell back and hugged herself. "Thanks."

The rest of the walk was silent. At the end they were at the throne room. She was confused on why they were there, but she really hoped it didn't have to do with outside.

"Why are we here?"

"Because I need someone to go through some paperwork for me, and Steve can't do it."

She glared and pointed toward the floor. "Ok, again, why are we HERE?"

"I want to keep an eye on you while you do it, and I need to be in here. That good enough for you?"

Susy sighed. "Yeah, I guess. So where's this paperwork?"

"I'll have someone fetch it." He waved the rod and a Steve left to get it. Then he went up to his throne and sat down.

She stood in front of the stairs. "Where am I doing it? Table, floor, what?"

"I can get you a table." He ordered another servant to get that as well.

While they were waiting Susy sat on the stairs. She still hadn't managed to get her blood boiling again. Honestly, she didn't think she'd be able to do it until the time came. The sadness would be too strong around him.

Soon both Steves returned. They ended up setting up the folding-table next to Marik's throne, still on the raised platform, upon Susy's request. She figured that she would need to ask a lot so it seemed easier. She sat down in the chair then Steve dropped the papers down.

Her mouth dropped at the stack. It was pretty tall and she foresaw paper-cuts a plenty in her near future. She slumped and broke it down into smaller piles. With a click of her pen she got to work.

"So how come you're having me do this?" Susy asked, attempting to make small talk.

"Like I said, I need someone with a working mind to do it."

She wasn't sure how to take that. "Too lazy to do it yourself?"

"Yup."

"Spoken like a true teen." She laughed. "How does a thief like you acquire paperwork in the first place?"

"Hey, I'm not all bad. I wasn't lying when I said all of the artifacts make their way to a museum eventually. And with selling comes deals, and with deals comes paperwork." He explained.

Susy was a little impressed. "So who usually does this for you?"

"I do it myself."

"Whoa, you actually do work?" She mocked surprise.

He faced her and wiggled his eyebrows. "I think you got that answer for yourself yesterday, Miss Jaw-drop."

She laughed. "Like you have room to talk?"

"I have all the room I want!"

"Suuure." She rolled her eyes and focused on the papers. It was clear he wasn't lying, because almost all of the documents had to do with museums. Problem was that there were a lot of different museums in the stack; of course she recognized none of them. Eventually Susy felt claustrophobic and moved to the floor. With more room she began to sort the papers by museum.

The whole time Marik just sat in his throne doing nothing. He sat crossways, so his feet were hanging over the side. All he appeared to be doing was thinking.

'He came here to think?' Susy thought, looking up at him. 'He has got to be sick or something…' she frowned, 'or he's just thinking of how to manipulate you more.'

The next ten minutes were silent except for the shuffling papers. She filled out all the forms, mostly with educated guesses, except for the ones that needed his signature. He still looked deep in thought, and Susy didn't feel like getting up.

"Marik."

"Yeah?"

"Can I forge your signature?"

"How-…Frigg it go ahead." He sighed and got up. "I think you've got it from here. I'm going to go do other important leader things. When you need help back, ask a servant." With that he walked out the door.

Susy was now alone in the room; except for a few motionless Steves. She checked her watch. No way was she staying there any longer. She got up and placed the stacks on the table, then made her way to the door. A Steve stepped in front of her.

"Where are you going?"

"Back to my room, duh." Before he could ask any more questions, she pushed past him and out the door.

The halls were quiet…unbearably quiet. Without any distractions, Susy was left to her depressing thoughts. Funny how emotions can fluctuate so quickly. Sadness to rage, then rage to sadness. It's so dreadful, because you're not sure which feeling to act upon.

Her hand traced the wall as she walked. The stone felt rough under her fingertips. Dirt rubbed off on her skin and she wiped it off. She picked up her pace and made it to her room.

She went inside and was greeted with folded clothes on her bed. Happily she went over to inspect them. It was about the same clothes as last time, except the fabric felt thinner; this rose suspicion.

'Could he have possibly…no, it's just a coincidence.' Susy shook her head and went to the bathroom to change. No way would he have purposely given her lighter clothing because of her complaint. Selfish manipulative bastards didn't do that.

She came out and felt ten times better. Something good actually happening for a change. Her depression once again lifted and was replaced by a sense of dignity and pride. A smirk met her lips as she let out a laugh. Feeling this good no way could she fail. That lying little fool would pay.

Her want for revenge now boiling again she grabbed her cloak then left and went in search of Marik. She was almost certain of where he was. The walls passed by as she took turn after turn, adjusting the purple cloak so it covered her whole body. The whole time she was going over what she would do. It hadn't really come to her what she would do once she had the Rod, but she figured it would come to her when the time came.

Eventually, she started passing the familiar rooms. An uneasy feeling filled her chest as she got closer to her target. It wasn't too late to turn back. She could live in a peaceful lie and never think twice. But that wasn't her style. Ignorance is bliss…she didn't have that luxury.

Noises and an occasional voice met her ears. She was close. Turning a corner she saw her target: Marik's office. With stealth, Susy tip-toed up to the door. Putting her ear up to it she listened; nothing.

Peering through the keyhole, she saw him sitting in his chair appearing to be writing stuff down. Nobody else was in the room and he was alone. Just what she wanted. Now how to get in?

Susy kneeled there in contemplation for a few seconds then had a light-bulb moment. She scurried to the door down the hall. With a deep breath she opened it then slammed it, causing a loud BOOM to resonate throughout the hall. Quickly she ran back and held herself against the wall next to Marik's door.

Marik's muffled curse could be heard from the room. "Steve? Is that you?" He was met with only silence. His footsteps vibrated the floor and then one of his doors opened. Hastily, he moved into the hall and walked toward the only door in the hall.

Susy, who was in the opposite direction, scrambled through the open door. Once again she hid against the wall next to the door. While she was waiting for him to return, she took time to look at the room clearly.

It was simple and semi-organized. However, there were tools she never thought of Marik using. On a wall was a huge bulletin-board with a map tacked to it, and all over the map were red tacks. Surrounding the map were little notes and cards. The words were too small to make out from that distance, but they seemed important. In short, the room looked a lot more intellectual than what would be expected from him.

After about a minute, Marik trudged back into the room. He closed the door behind him, and without thought returned to his seat. Only after he sat down did he see the fully-cloaked Susy.

He jumped and sighed. "Steve, what do you want?"

Susy remained silent.

Marik groaned and got up, walking over to her. "Steve, what are you doing?"

She said nothing, only watched as his feet came into view of her lowered head.

He rolled his eyes and took out the Millennium Rod then pointed it toward her. "I command you to tell me what you are doing here!"

Susy could feel something tugging at her mind, causing a slight pain. She had to do it now. This was it. She could get her revenge. This will end the hurt. Moving with lightning speed she swiped the rod from his hand then sidestepped to the middle of the room and turned away.

Marik was flabbergasted. He stood there in shock and stared at the thief. Anger started to run through him. "What do you think you're doing Steve!? I COMMAND you to hand that over!"

Whatever shock Marik was in didn't compare to the shock that was coursing through Susy at that moment. She gazed at the golden artifact in her hand. Something was wrong. It shot throbs of pain to her head. Not physical pain either…more like an attack on the recesses of her mind. Her body cringed and the center of her forehead burned.

This wasn't supposed to happen…she was supposed to be safe! Her whole security for this job was that when she had picked up the rod before, nothing happened. No dark shadow magic, no instant knock-out, the rod had done nothing! Yet here she was now, holding the object just like before but this time it was attacking her from the inside. What was different?!

Susy wanted to brace her head in agony, but she couldn't bring herself to. Loads of different sensations flooded her mind, growing more and more intense. She thought that she would explode but then…it stopped.

The throbbing ceased and was replaced by a dark-mellowness. Clarity and anger were now the only things she felt. A deep chuckle escaped her lips and she dipped her head back. The hood fell off then she turned to Marik, a dangerous look in her eyes.

She smirked. "Oh Mar-Mar, my little moronic-monkey," She flung the robe off to the side, "You'll soon be wishing I was just a Steve."

Marik saw the recklessness in her eyes, and looked unnaturally worried. He spoke in a calm voice, "Susy, what are doing?"

"What does it look like you idiot?! I'm taking away all of your precious power!" The Rod let off a soft glow as it swung with her wild hand movements.

"Ok, but why?"

Susy let out another hearty laugh then glared at him. "Oh don't act so innocent! I know about the bastard you are!"

A look of genuine confusion spread across Marik's face. "What do you mean?"

She huffed, "What do I mean? WHAT DO I MEAN?! I'm not falling for your clueless act again you selfish jerk!" The Rod was now starting to glow even brighter…and so were her eyes.

"Okay, well how about this. I'll take full responsibility for whatever my actions were and you can beat me to a pulp if you just give me back the Rod." He tentatively held out his hand.

"HA!" She hits his hand away with the Rod. "You only wish. Using a girl then expecting her to be easily fooled is a huge mistake!"

Marik hissed and held his hand. "Susy, can you at least explain what I did!?"

Susy rolled her eyes and began to advance towards him. "You are so sick. Do you really find that much fun out of this?"

Marik begins to back away from her and stays silent.

She growls fiercely and the Rod is now at a moderate progressing glow. "Fine, you deserve to hear your evil!" She swallowed a forming lump in her throat, the sadness creeping again. "You used me; a poor, innocent girl. Brainwashing and manipulating me right to my face!"

Marik was now against the wall with only a couple feet separating them. He didn't dare try to attack with the Rod in her grasp. Once again, he didn't say anything.

The Rod was now glowing brightly, and a matching glowing eye was appearing on her forehead. Susy continued, using hand gestures to emphasize. "Still nothing?! For god's sake Marik, I heard your damn conversation!"

"What conver-?"

"The one with you and Janice!" She bit her lip and her voice slightly dropped. "I heard you…You said that I was just an easy-idiotic bitch whose only purpose is to be your stupid disposable pawn!" She swallowed the lump again, trying to repress a croak. "This whole time, our jokes…our fun…our rivalry…" The Rod burst with light as she sliced it down through the air, "All just a lie!"

The light from the rod bounced off the walls and died out, but the artifact itself was still shining. Shadows began to swirl around Susy's body and emotions raged to an unbearable extent. A mix between a sob and a growl came from her throat and she glared at Marik with a burning fury.

She shoved him against the wall with one hand and pointed the Rod at him with the other. "You are just scum. A no good rotten jerk!" Susy pushes the Millennium Rod against his chin. "And I will NOT take being used like that sitting down. I am going to make you pay. You crazy-manipulative bas-!"

Her rant stopped in its tracks when Marik started chuckling. That then turned into full-blown laughter. He didn't stop laughing and his giggles bellowed in the room. Susy was smacked right out of crazy-mode and back into her confused state. A pout formed at her lips. "Stop that! Why in the world are you laughing?!"

His laughs continued to mock her. She backed off and watched him hunch over, gasping for air. The Rod dimmed and the eye disappeared. At least for the moment this insensible taunt was all she cared about.

Susy furrowed her brow. "I was about to give you hell with the Millennium Rod and everything! How are you laughing!?"

Marik slowly calmed himself to the point where he could talk. His back straightened and he leaned against the wall. "Because there is no way you would attack me!"

She rushed him into the wall again. "Oh really? I'll show-!"

"Not because of that! You're too self-respectful to back out with that much aggression." He chuckled, "I'm laughing because your grounds for that aggression is completely fake!"

Susy was now seriously confused. She backed up again and cocked her head at him. "What do you mean "fake"?"

He rose from against the wall. "That 'conversation' you heard between Janice and I wasn't all about truth, I mean come-on, we're thieves!" He grinned, "I had to tell her SOMETHING to reverse your trick and make you sound bad!"

"But why-?"

"Use your brain Susy! You're ability to make a good impression made her trust you! How do you destroy trust? Make the person sound untrustworthy! By telling her that you were equal to useless trash, I was able to get my deal back easy and quickly return things to normal!"

Susy was dumbfounded. She just stood there with her arms dangling and a gaping mouth. "But-But you sounded so serious! You even said you would frigging sell me!"

"I was thinking on my toes! Come on, I'm evil, but sure as Ra not that evil!" Marik went up to her and placed his hands on her shoulders. "You were never meant to hear that conversation. I was just doing my job."

She looked up at him with hopeful eyes. "So you didn't mean any of it?"

He pulled her a little closer. "No, I didn't. You are special, an intriguing different, and I have a lot still to figure out about you. Like for example, I have no clue how the Rod did that to you. Usually it wouldn't do anything, but with you….I don't know what it did…"

His eyes drifted to the golden band still on Susy's arm. He lifted her arm to look at it closely. "For all I know, maybe you were reacting to the band." He paused. "Are your emotions usually that high?"

She paused as well. "Um, I get mood swings pretty easy…but I wouldn't be able to tell if my furious anger and depression would be from the band or just being a girl…"

Marik raised an eyebrow. "Depression?"

"…Yeah."

He grinned a little. "I'd be just mad if I found out what you did. Why would you be depressed?

A blush started to spread across her cheeks and she looked away. "Well…I didn't want to believe it was true. I mean you're a pretty cool guy, and I enjoy our wits and fun. Honestly I believed we were starting to become a little more closer…I guess I was sad that our frienemy-ship was just enemy-..ship." She explained awkwardly, trying to not reveal that the other reason was that well, when you're a fangirl and you find out the guy you fangirl over and love thinks you're shit, you get really down.

Marik felt awkward too. "Oh…well that makes sense…I didn't think you saw it that way as we-" He stopped, blushed, then chuckled. "I know, just think of this whole thing my payback. We're even now."

Susy caught was he was about to say, and felt happy again. She wrapped him in a hug. "Ok Marik, whatever you say." She looked up at him. "But don't think this means anything. We are still going back to biting each other's butts."

"But my butt is the greatest of all butts!" He jokingly rolled his eyes and wrapped his arms around her too. "Alright Ms. Moody, fine by me." He pouted. "You are a Ms., right?"

She laughed and smirked. "Yes Marik, I'm single. Why do you want to know?"

"Because Steve gets EVER so lonely."

"Aww, poor him."

"Yeah, you should see him on Fridays. He just stays home and eats ice-cream all day."

She smiled. "You sure we're not talking about you?"

"Don't be absurd." He laughed. "I only eat ice-cream on Saturdays."

Susy laughed and took in the feel of his hands on her back one last time, then held up the Rod. "You probably are going to need this."

He backed up and took it. "Yeah thanks…although I am still very curious about the relationship between you and my Rod." He wiggled his eyebrows at the innuendo and chuckled.

"Your Rod? Please!" She gripped the head and smirked. "Your Rod is mine."

Marik grinned. "Don't worry, you'll get to see my Rod probably soon. I want to see why you can connect with it, and ride the waves of darkness."

"I could probably swallow the darkness back and replace it with..uh..whiteness..if I wanted to."

"Don't get cocky about my Rod. It is very difficult to control. Your lady-anger probably was just enough to awaken it."

"So I'm good enough to awaken the beast?"

"If that's what you want to call it…or it's just the band…" He smirked. "But I will find out. Your secrets won't be secrets for long." He tapped her nose. "I'll somehow unravel you and figure it out..eventually."

Susy rolled her eyes. "Suuure, good luck with that."

"I don't need luck!" He flexed his muscles and gave her a toothy grin. "I has skills!"

She laughed at the cute action and started toward the door. "Will you use those 'skills' to bring me back to my room?"

He crossed his arms. "Why should I?"

"Because I am just that good."

Marik shrugged. "Fair enough, come on"

She grabbed her cloak and followed him out the door. "You know, I can't believe how real you actually sounded."

"What can I say, I has some skills in everything."

Susy laughed. "Yes, yes you do. And how is that?"

He stayed silent for a moment and looked at her. Then he flipped his hair and strutted. "Because I am just so Fab-u-lous!"

"Is that how you act smart?"

Marik pouted. "Meany."

The two kept on. With the hoax now forgotten, the bad feelings between them were only for the good. Now there were more mysteries surrounding Susy, and Marik is now determined to find out why. Things would become complicated, and although they wouldn't say it out loud, they knew one thing. For now, they were best frienemies.

PLOT TWIST KILLED BY ANOTHER PLOT TWIST! XD Lol that turned out so long! !...Speaking of innuendos, I REGRET NOTHING! XD Actually in seriousness, I don't know where those jokes came from :P Anyway, Sorry it took awhile, I have been busy with other stuff, so I haven't been up to writing this. Plus at first, I was really second-guessing myself on how I was portraying Marik and the overall feel, but then I just decided to go with it. So I hope you guys liked it, I feel that it's scrambled in some places, but over all okay. Thanks again SOO much for the comments and support, they push me and remind me "Hey, You have wonderful people waiting for you! Get your butt in gear!" XD Lol, but I think that's it for now so LOOK AT MY SEXY BUTT, wait wrong catchphrase, PEACE OUT!