"Honestly. I'm fine." Yuugi had regained consciousness easily, but he still looked awful: His skin was pale, his eyes were sunken, and his whole body shook. "I'm sure you are," Anzu said sweetly, "but I think Mahado might get worried if you stay out any longer. Yuugi nodded and allowed Anzu to carry him piggyback to his room.
Malik stared at Ryou, thoughts swirling around his head. "You know, it's getting late. You should go to bed." Yami said, clapping a hand on Malik's shoulder before leaving. "I should…" Malik said to himself. Then he stalked over to the full-size bookshelf and grabbed an armload of old, musty books. Opening one carefully, he looked over the notes he had taken while talking to Yami, taking out a large notebook. Something didn't add up, and he was going to get to the bottom of it. Fast.
A tentative knock tapped at the door. Seto sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. "Come in." He growled. The door pushed in, revealing a small black-haired boy with blue-green eyes. "Brother…" Mokuba rubbed his eyes tiredly. "Brother, you haven't slept in a long time! You're not getting any closer to getting the Millennium Items, so just come on and sleep!"
Seto shook his head. "I need to find the weaknesses of the Items. If I don't make major headway, Marik will take control of my gang. I will not allow that." He growled, clenching his fists. "Please!" Mokuba begged. "Enough!" Seto slammed to his feet. "I don't-! What are you doing here Marik?" Mokuba whirled. He hadn't even heard the man enter the room.
"I was walking by, and I heard a ruckus. I do love a good ruckus." He said, examining his fingernails. Seto growled and sat mechanically, fingers dancing over the keyboard. Marik pouted dramatically. "Now you're being no fun." He turned to leave. "By the way, I'm not trying to steal your pathetic little gang. They follow who they want to. I can't stop them from following a powerful mage." His snickers echoed down the hall, fading with his retreating footsteps.
Bright light flooded across Ryou's closed lids. He groaned, flinging an arm across his eyes. Peeling a bleary eye open, he sat up drowsily, forgetting that he was in a lower bunk. "Ow…" He sat up more carefully, rubbing his head. "Malik…?" He murmured. The blonde boy was seated in the desk, flopped across piles of paper and dusty books. A little bit of drool hung from the corner of his mouth.
Ryou got to his feet and shut off the light. He glanced down at the volumes of archaic, yellowing grimoires. What did Malik see in all this rubbish? A sudden, harsh beep jerked his attention to his watch. 5:00 a.m. Mai would be starting breakfast now. Slipping out the door, he padded down the hallway, footsteps barely echoing down the darkened hallway.
When he pushed open the kitchen doors, Mai was already whipping up pancake batter. She didn't even glance up as she tossed Ryou a chef's hat. "Heat up and grease the griddle, hon." Ryou stuffed his hair underneath the hat and followed Mai's orders.
By 8:00, Mai decided they had made enough food, and if anyone else was still hungry, they should have enough gumption to come down here and make their food themselves. Ryou took the sausage off the heat and dumped it in the serving dish. "Hon, if you clean these pots up, I'll get the trays outside." Mai didn't even wait for Ryou's response as she clacked out the door. Ryou sighed and gathered all the dirty dishes in the sink and let the hot water rip.
He waited patiently as the steaming water enveloped the dirty bowls and pots and pans. Ryou was carefully scrubbing a particularly nasty bowl when he heard the door burst open. He peered out from behind the alcove the sink and dishwasher was shoved against, but his sight was blocked by the giant refrigerator. Whatever. It was probably just-
"Mai! Mai! Have you seen Ryou?!" Malik's panicked voiced echoed around the kitchen. Ryou peeked out further. "I don't know about Mai, but I've seen Ryou." Ryou replied with a grin. Malik's jaw dropped and he launched himself at Ryou. Ryou misbalanced and fell back, whacking his head against the wall.
"Ow! What's the big idea?" Ryou asked, rubbing the back of his head. Malik sat back, fingering the hem of his shirt anxiously. "I-I saw the-the…your empty bed, and I thought-well, I didn't think… I just-!" "Malik." Ryou grabbed Malik's shoulders. "I'm fine." He said seriously.
Malik grinned sheepishly, furiously hugging Ryou. "Am I interrupting something?" A mocking voice asked. Mai was balancing a stack of about twenty trays on one hand, a stack twice that size shoved against her voluptuous hip. Malik glared at her and got to his feet. "I was just worried about him." He said. Turning to Ryou, he grabbed the boy's wrist. "Come on, we have to go see Yuugi."
"What for?" Ryou demanded as he was pulled out of the mess hall and through hallways he still hadn't memorized. "Why do I have to go see him?" Ryou asked again. "Because he wants to see you. You don't ask why." Malik replied. Ryou sighed and trotted to keep his arm from being ripped off by Malik's excited grip.
"Let me through!" A vaguely familiar voice cried from a nearby stairwell that led to the outside. Ryou stopped short, pulling a protesting Malik up the long, arduous staircase as the cries continued. "Seriously! I'm on your side!" Ryou and Malik finally got to the top of the staircase and carefully lifted the trap door that led to the "abandoned parking garage".
A brunette boy was arguing with an increasingly annoyed guard. "Seto?" Ryou asked incredulously, stepping into the conversation. Seto whirled at the sound of his name. "You! …You're name's Ryou, correct?" Ryou nodded, eyes narrowing. Last time, this man had tried to kill Yami. "Please! I need to get in. I-" Seto was cut off when Malik lunged forward, grabbing a fistful of Seto's jacket.
"You've got a lot of nerve coming over here, Seto." Malik growled, sparks flitting around his clenched hand. Seto nodded, clutching his little brother closer to his side. "I know. But I have something you might want." Seto replied steadily. Malik snorted. "And what might that be?" Seto drew a slim golden stick with a strange bobble on the top from his jacket and held it up. "The Millennium Rod?"
* * Earlier that day * *
Seto burst into the meeting hall. "What is the meaning of this?" He demanded. The large, arched room was nearly full with people from his gang, and even more people he didn't recognize.
Marik stepped out of the sea of faces, purple cloak fluttering behind him. "Seto, there's been a change of plans." He said conversationally. Seto growled, steeling himself for a bombshell. "You see, many people here, myself included, feel as if we're losing momentum. You had the chance to kill a major member of the Yuugitachi, or at least torture him for information, and you failed. So we're kindly and respectfully asking you to step down." Aaaand boom…. Seto thought wryly.
"And who would take over, might I ask?" He asked, calculating answers and replies to those answers, as well as any effects they might have.
"Me." The answer was quick and precise. He was confident. Maybe too confident… He wasn't even trying to appear uninterested.
"And this is a majority vote?" There had to be some loophole, some way-
"Yes."
Dammit.
"Now, Seto, be a dear and hand over the sign of your authority. Marik grinned evilly, holding out an expectant hand. Seto cursed and drew the Millennium Rod from a special hook inside his jacket, shoving it into Marik's eager hand. Seto momentarily entertained the idea of revealing the Rod's hidden knife and continually stabbing the aggravating mage right in his smirking face. But that might complicate matters. So Seto whirled on his heel and stormed out the door, new plots streaming through his head.
"Seto?" His younger brother interrupted one of his more colorful schemes. "What happened? You have your evil face on." Mokuba stared hard at his brother's eyes, which barely concealed the myriad ideas that flew before them.
Seto sighed. So no one told Mokuba. Seto internally debated when or if he should tell Mokuba. "Mokuba. Pack necessities in a backpack and be ready to leave in a moment's notice." That was enough to let his younger brother know the seriousness, without actually telling him anything. Perfect.
The next time the two siblings saw each other, Seto was so deeply consumed in his thoughts that he slammed right into Mokuba. "Sorry." Seto mumbled as they straightened each other out. "Seto! I-" Mokuba started, but Seto brushed past him without a word. That was when Mokuba noticed a small paper wedged in his jeans pockets
In the safety of his room, Mokuba unfolded the note. Scrawled in his brothers chicken scratch was a heart-pounding note:
We need to leave. Get out of here now. Make any excuse you want, just leave. Make sure you're not spotted. Just run until you get to the border of our land with the Yuugitachi. Hide, and hide well. I will come for you later. Leave NOW!
Mokuba gulped and grabbed his backpack. His fingers hesitated centimeters from the knob. It was so late. It was too dark. Somebody would stop him. No! Seto told him to run, so he would run with blind faith. Mokuba gripped the knob and strode down the hallway as if he owned the place. He managed to get all the way to the security guards before anyone really noticed him. "Where are you going at this hour?" One of the security guards asked curiously. Mokuba made up some story about running errands for his big brother. They let him go without another thought.
Mokuba strolled at a leisurely pace until the end of the block, where he turned around a corner and started sprinting. He never noticed how eerie the night can be until you're sprinting for your life through it. The street lamps didn't do their jobs very well, so there were periods of time where Mokuba couldn't see his hand in front of his face. This fear of the unknown and being unable to repress his emotions slammed his heart into overdrive. He ran faster.
Whatever had happened back home- there. Not home anymore- was serious. If Seto had been worried enough to be this secretive, something bad was happening. Mokuba glanced around. The boundary between the two gang's land was getting close. Leaning against a lamp pole for a breather, he went over the route in his head. Along Joshinko, there was a grove of cherry blossoms in full bloom. They could hide him for a night while Seto did…whatever.
The normally empty hallways of the Kaibatachi were alive and colorful, filled with pleasant, happy chatter.
He hated it.
"Why, Seto! I half expected you to be running to little Yuugi with your tail between your legs!" A falsely cheerful voice called, and a callused hand clamped his shoulder. Marik was there, Millennium Rod dangling in one loosely clenched fist. Seto smiled falsely back, delicately peeling Marik's hand off his shoulder.
"I want to win. Any way to do that, I will follow gratefully." He said sincerely. Marik made a "hm!" face, which grew into a pleasantly surprised smile. "And if I told you that washing my feet and peeling grapes for me would help you win?" He asked playfully. Seto smirked. "I would ask how."
Marik grinned and pulled Seto along into a completely empty corridor. As if he arranged it... "I'm truly sorry about taking over. I just felt it's better not to create dissention among the ranks. You'll also notice that I brought in a good deal of new faces. It's best to have as many soldiers as possible, I find." Marik said, ticking off points in his head.
"Soldiers? These are kids, Marik." Seto said pointedly. Marik smirked. "Kids fighting a war." He replied. "This is your problem! You can't see the magnitude of what you fight for! A simple rivalry with Yuugi turns into this, a war over the Millennium Items! You think that because there is no governmental interference, no formal armies, 'Oh, it's not a war, it's just a gang battle that goes on for a really long time!' Newsflash: These "kids" make up your army!" Marik heaved heavy breaths, eyes brimming with bloodlust.
"You scum!" Seto lunged forward, his fist cracking into Marik's cheekbone. Before Marik could react, Seto wrenched the Millennium Rod out of Marik's hand. He whirled on his heel and dashed away. There was a snapping sound, and Seto froze, his body unable to move. Should have knocked him out when I had the chance... Seto thought wistfully.
"Now now Seto..." Marik purred, a playfully appalled look painted across his face. "I believe you have something of mine?" He smirked, reaching for the magical item clenched in Seto's vise-like grip. Why was no one around now that he needed them?
"Get back!" Seto tapped into the magic of the Millennium Rod in order to free himself from Marik's spell. Marik's eyes widened in surprise. "So the Rod allows nonmagic users to tap into it's supply of magic? Interesting. Thanks for the note. I'll be sure to write it down right after I kill you. Maybe I'll even write it in your blood! What do you thin of that idea?" Marik growled, reaching for his paintbrush wand. "Don't!" Seto warned, waving the Rod. Marik smirked, drew his wand and started chanting. Suddenly, the Rod started heating up and glowing.
The spell Marik was painting froze in midair, turning from a shimmering gold to a murky black. Then the same murky black gas flew out of Marik's body: Ears, nose, and mouth. Marik fell to the ground with a scream, convulsing in pain.
Seto stepped back in disgust as the odorless gas seeped out of Marik's body and hugged the floor. By the time Marik finally stopped moving, the entire hallway (and probably more, Seto guessed) was flooded with the dark gas. The Rod finally stopped glowing, settling into a comfortably cool lukewarmness.
What the hell had just happened?
Footsteps echoed down the adjacent hallway, and murmurs drifted towards him. "It came from down here." A heavyset man with black hair gelled forward turned around the corner and locked eyes with Seto. Before the man could say a word, Seto had found his way out of the headquarters and into the inky night.
"So he is using demon magic!" Yuugi hissed, pounding a fist into his bed. "I knew there was something evil about it!"
On the other side of Yuugi's room, Yami, Ryou, Malik, and Mahado stood against the wall. Ryou leaning into Malik's ear. "Demon magic?" He inquired. Staring straight ahead, Malik nodded once. "It's a stronger form of magic. That in and of itself isn't bad," Malik replied fiddling with his ring, "it just corrupts the body and twists the mind. I-it's like a drug." Malik finished. Ryou nodded. From the look on Malik's face, he had firsthand experience.
"I'm giving this to you as a sign of my loyalty!" Seto cried. "Please believe me!" Ryou snapped back to the teenager on his knees. "It's not that I don't trust you. I do. Others won't, and I won't risk a rebellion now. We'd die for sure." Yuugi said with a cute, childish smile. How could anyone say no to that face?
Apparently, Seto can. "But I can fight!" Seto yelled. "As can everyone in this compound." Yuugi relied. "While I appreciate your loyalty and cannot even begin to thank you for your contribution, it would not be appropriate for you to fight among us." Yuugi patted Seto's shoulder. He opened his mouth to say more, but Seto didn't see.
"Fine." Seto shoved himself to his feet, nearly clipping Yuugi on the chin. "Fine! To hell with all of you! You don't know what Marik's capable of!" Seto turned to leave when Yuugi's hand shot out and grabbed his wrist. "Listen to me. It would be inappropriate for you to fight with us, but you are not a natural fighter. You are a natural planner, and that's what I need. Rebecca is currently our only strategist, and she's only eight. Granted, she's a certifiable genius, but nuance." Yuugi pulled Seto through one of the many doors in his room.
A few minutes later, Yuugi opened the door, beckoned Yami forward, spoke a few words, and shut the door abruptly. Yami stalked past Ryou, Malik, and Mahado, lips set in a grim line. "What's wrong? Malik asked as Yami passed him "Get a good night's sleep." Yami advised, "We're going to war in the morning."
Marik paused. The guards at the entrance of Yuugi's little hidey-hole were about to change sentries and he needed to be ready. He glanced down at his body, making sure every inch of it was invisible. Of course, it was flawless (he, of course, was flawless.), but it was something to pass the time.
"You ready?" Marik's head snapped up. He hadn't even heard the trap door open. He got up and stealthily ran past the guards who were exchanging reports. He suppressed the urge to experiment on them. Now wasn't the time. The demon master had sent him inside the Yuugitachi to break them up from the inside. Each member would find themselves peacefully murdered in their sleep.
But no! That's not what he wanted. Stop this war with as little blood as possible, but as much pain as possible He knew where he had to go. But how to get there? This compound was a frigging maze. Did everyone know where to go? Did anyone ever get lost? Did people die down here?
Suddenly, a thought occurred to him. The dragon boy! He could track his past spell to the sleeping quarters and find Yuugi that way. So with a quick chant and flick of his wrist, he was following a golden wisp of magic. A friend of his had once told him a story, where a Greek dude used gold thread to get through some impossible maze. Aridale's thread or something...
His footsteps barely sounded on the cool concrete floor as he followed the magic strand (he wasn't girly enough to call his thread.) through twists and turns he didn't even see. At last, he found himself in a long hallway that curved to the right, the end out of sight. Wooden doors lined the walls at regular intervals. Sleeping quarters, no doubt.
When the strand (not thread, strand) finally turned into a door, Marik paused for dramatic effect before reaching for the doorknob. He was scared out of his wits when the door swung open, and a tall teenage boy with pale skin and long, fair hair walked by, yawning profusely. The dragon boy! The dragon boy walked across the hallway into a communal bathroom, leaving his bedroom door wide open.
It was a simple room: bunk beds shoved against the far wall, a desk shoved to the left wall, a bookcase full of old magic books filled the right. On the top bunk, something caught his attention. The tanned boy sleeping there had his arm hanging over the edge of the bed (how that was comfortable, Marik didn't know). On one hand, a simple ring sparkled. But not due to outside light. Marik came closer.
The small amethyst that sat in the center of the ring gave off a very faint, purplish glow. Demon magic, Marik realized. This boy hosts demon magic? No. It's gone now. But the ring was still there, remnants of mistakes made. No doubt the demon master made sure it was never going to be taken off.
Back in the hallway, Marik's head throbbed. The demon master was impatient. Relax, relax. All in good time. He growled. The little angel halfling was nearby. Just down the hall if the gag-worthy aura was any indication. His head throbbed, and he walked down the hallway. The regularly-spaced doors gave way to grey-green concrete as he penetrated deeper into the heart of the Yuugitachi headquarters.
I spy with my little eye, something beginning with "Bingo". Marik chanted a spell to allow him to walk through walls. He hoped they weren't too thick. This spell wouldn't last long. He took a deep breath, gathered his cloak tighter around him, and slipped through the giant wooden doors. Good. He wasn't stuck inside one of them. Because that could be embarrassing.
A few feet to the left of the door was a white-robed man, sitting very still, eyes boring into the opposite wall. He tensed up as Marik passed him, looking around, but Marik knew no one, not even the demon master himself, would sense or see him now. Calmly and quietly, Marik re-cast the atomic restructure spell and slid through the pale blue door that lead to the halfling's resting place.
The little boy was curled up in the bed, illuminated by a nightlight. So even angels are afraid of the dark... Marik muttered to himself, unable to stop amusement from bubbling up. Hurry! Do it! Marik growled. The only downside to acquiring demon magic was having this guy's voice in your head. It wouldn't be so bad if he spoke Japanese, but no. He has to speak Arabic. Even English would be better. That, at least, was easier to understand than the demon master's slop of a language.
Do it! The demon master roared, ignoring the jibe at his Egyptian heritage. Marik sighed and drew the knife. It was no fun to rush these parts, but he raised his had high above his head, grinning at the wild anticipation he knew the demon master felt. Suddenly, the little halfling stirred and opened his eyes lazily. Before Yuugi could so much as blink, Marik stabbed down with all his strength.
Yami wrapped up the council meeting with a call to follow their battle plans. Most people shifted uncomfortably at talk of wars, battles, and death. Others cheered as if it was what they were waiting for. Ryou managed to remain stone-faced, despite the sickening joy he felt. Finally, he would be useful to someone, even if it meant feeling flesh, blood, and bone beneath his dragonesque claws.
Malik groaned and rested his head against the nearest wall. "Why do we need to go to war? Can't we just, I don't know, steal the Ring?" Malik asked imploringly to himself. "The Ring? Is that the fourth? Are there only four?" Ryou didn't know why his curiosity was suddenly perked. It just sounded so... intriguing.
"There are seven, but we have six of them. ...Sort of." Ryou whirled as a woman with long, wavy blonde hair and a familiar face clacked up to them. "Mai!" Ryou's jaw dropped, never having seen Mai's hair. "Don't swallow any flies" She smirked. "I...I just always thought you had brown hair." Ryou replied sheepishly. Mai laughed, ruffling Ryou's hair fondly despite their equal size.
"I don't know if you noticed, but we're in a war here!" Malik yelled frantically. Mai giggled, patting Malik's head. "Jealous?" She asked teasingly. "Hardly." Malik retorted. "What are you going to do? Just hide in your kitchen?" He crossed his arms over his chest and smirked. Mai glared at him, striding into the kitchen and returning with a butcher's knife and a giant skillet.
"The best weapons are found in the kitchen." Mai smirked, tapping Malik playfully on the head with the bottom of the skillet. Malik stood, uncertain how to react to a sassy blonde woman with a butcher's knife.
"Malik!" A little girl with pigtails and a teddy bear hopped in front of the group. "Yami says if you don't get your butt into gear, he'll put you on the front lines." The girl bounced away to where Yami showed her to the control room. "Sometimes I really hate that kid..." Malik grumbled, turning on his heel and stomping away with a group of people.
"So where are you stationed?" Mai asked, hefting her skillet in a strong hand. "Along Joshinko block." Ryou replied absentmindedly. Yami had pointed at some other kid when mentioning Ryou's positioning. Was it that one? "What?!" Mai whirled him around to face her, waving the butcher's knife in his face. "They have you on the front lines? B-But you're just a boy!" She spluttered.
"And a dragon." Ryou added absentmindedly. Maybe that kid was the one Yami had pointed to. Why did everyone look so similar? A clattering of metal on stone jerked his attention back to Mai, who was retrieving the items she had dropped in shock.
"You're a dragon?" She asked incredulously. Ryou stared at her, eyes wide. "Yeah. I thought everyone knew." He said. Mai shook her head. I'm only the cook. No one tells me anything. I didn't even realize that you had been hurt until I was cleaning up for lunch." She replied nonchalantly, but there was hurt buried inside her eyes. "Mai..." Ryou said comfortingly as he laid a calm hand of her shoulder.
"Now, now lovebirds!" Yami waltzed up behind them, waaaay to happy to be leading a group of teenagers to war. "fly away. Back to your posts. Shoo! Go-ohhh..." Yami backed away from his playful demeanor and even more playful smirk as Mai advance, knife held high. "I'll just leave you two alone, then." Yami regained his smirk and darted away. The two fighters looked around. Without them noticing, the whole mess hall had cleared out.
As Ryou hurried off in the direction he supposed was Joshinko block, Mai called out, "Hey, if you die during this battle, I'm gonna kill you!" She said with a wink. Ryou stopped dead. "Are you hitting on me? You're twice my age!" He said, look of disgust on his face. Mai scoffed.
"You're just the only person around here worth talking to! I'd hate to see a good kid like you go before your time." Ryou nodded uncertainly and rushed towards the nearest stairwell.
"You know," Mai said, "The stairs on the other side will lead right to where you wanna go.." Ryou blushed and changed direction. "I knew that..."
A/N: I guess you could see some Vigilshipping in this... I meant it as a mentor/mentee. Take it whatever way you want...