Malik
Sitting on his couch watching the sun come up, he had just been feeling tired enough to slip back in bed when the phone rang. Cursing softly he picked it up and heard Ryou speaking in a hurried tone. "Malik."
"Ryou? What now?"
"Listen…" Ryou interrupted him angrily, Malik tensed.
"What?" He questioned testily as he picked at a spot on the chair he was currently occupying.
"He came here… he's back…"
"What the fucking hell are you on about no-"
"No, SHUT UP! I'm not messing you. Please he came here."
"Are you alright?" The higher pitched tone of Ryou's voice was making him worry, making it hard to think.
"No I'm fine… but I hit him… I-"
"Wait, wait, wait!" Malik yelled into the phone, feeling a cold sense of dread fill this entire body. "Who the hell is him? You can't possibly mean… not Bakura?"
"YES of course him is Bakura!" Ryou shouted at him. "Who the hell else would I hit?"
Malik felt an odd giggle rising in his throat, he pushed it down.
"What does this mean? What do we do?"
"I need you to go find him Malik." Ryou's tone was soft now.
"What? Why?" Malik was completely confused… was this a dream?
"He's hurt… I think I broke his face…" Ryou mumbled.
"Wait, why do you care if-"
"PLEASE. Just go see if he's alive…" Ryou hung up.
Malik sat with the phone clutched in one hand and the glass cereal bowl clutched in another.
If Bakura is back… what if others are back… what if they all came back…
The sound of shattering glass and the pain in his hand brought him painfully back from the terrifying thought. He glared down at the broken bowl and his bleeding hand. He had classes and work and he was going to go and replace his broken bottles for his plants and herbs today. He had a paper to write and- and Ryou wanted him to go outside and FIND the crazy man who had almost killed him and whoever else happened to be wandering around Domino…
"I can't leave. I won't leave this apartment until-"
Until what? He comes here and finds you? Bakura found Ryou…
Bakura found Ryou… and Marik would find him. If they weren't already together hunting him down.
No, he shook himself mentally, They wouldn't be together. They hate each other. Really the only person Bakura ever worked with was-
He stood up and walked out of his door, absolutely determined to find Bakura… because if he was going to have to face that lunatic again, he at least wanted a lunatic on his side.
Marik
The only thing he registered was heat. Oppressive, burning heat and sand. His fingers sank into the sand around him as he pushed himself up. His skin felt like it may burst into flames. After the dark, cold and dreary world he'd been living in, this desert felt as though it was blinding him and cooking him alive. He looked left, then right. Seemingly, he stood in the middle of an empty deserted area of the hot desert, but he knew better. He walked 10 steps forward and then walked to the left for about 10 minutes. Small stones came into view… followed by a large stone path leading to what looked like an old pyramid with no top, just a dark, dank entryway down into the sand. He stood over it, taking in the spider webs and obvious snake holes, the crumbling stone and weather beaten ropes and pulleys that served to open and shut this door when there had been inhabitants beneath it… when he had been an inhabitant beneath it…
He straightened. Obviously no one was there.
"Where are you?" His voice came out cracked, strained and rasping. "Where have you gone?"
Malik
Bakura walked out of the apartment building and started off aimlessly, staring at his bloody hand all the while. Then abruptly, he bumped off of something… someone as it turned out.
"Ah, little Tombkeeper." He said, gaze going in and out but taking in the familiar blonde and bronzed features long enough to recognize the man in front of him.
"You look like you've just been run over by a truck." He commented lightly.
He felt on edge, looking around and over his shoulder for a sign of blonde spikes and red eyes. "If you want some help from me, you're going to have to come to my place." Malik turned on his heel and made to walk away, but Bakura stood obstinately frozen.
"Need help from you? I need nothing."
He began to walk in the opposite direction.
"Damn it you, just come with me, don't be stupid."
"No."
He watched as the foolish fool turned behind a brick wall and immediately sprinted towards another, slipping behind it in a matter of seconds. Sighing, he pretended not to notice where he had gone. He turned and walked away from the street, intending to come up on the other end of the alley Bakura had headed down.
"You crazy son of a bitch… I swear if you keep me out here long enough to get mauled by-" he cut his grumbling short when he rounded a corner to find Bakura passed out behind a dumpster down the alleyway.
"Idiot."
He tore a piece of his shirt off, exposing his midriff slightly, and wrapped the cloth around his cut hand. "People are going to call the police watching me drag your sorry ass down the street." He pulled Bakura up, draped a limp arm around his own shoulder and began dragging him towards the apartment, determinedly not looking left or right until he was inside the building.
He flopped Bakura onto the floor the second he walked through his door and locked it, sliding the deadbolt for good measure.
He gazed down at the wilting form that so resembled his friend. "Shit Ryou… you're becoming as crazy as I was…" He pulled out the first aid kit, definitely a good choice… teach Ryou to tease me about my hobbies… and began applying copious amounts of the alcohol based cleaning solution to Bakura's wounds.
"Hope that still stings even when you're out cold…"
When he was finished, he cleaned his own cut and picked up the glass from his bowl. Then he turned and considered the slumped over Thief. Bakura, or whatever his name actually was, wasn't above making trouble. He was teetering between two decisions:
Put him in the hallway… or tie him up?
He may not even remember meeting me, definitely has a concussion. What harm would it be to him if he woke up bandaged and ready to face the world (as long as he stayed the hell away from Ryou) in the hallway? He'd stumble out and be fine… surely? It's not my problem if he has nowhere to go and no one to relate to… well not no one.
The concern gripped at his insides once again as he considered the possibility that Marik could show up at any second.
Tie him up then. What's he going to do tied up? And if Marik comes… I can untie Bakura and they can battle or whatever crazy demons do…
Malik frowned deeply and reached for the first aid bandages. He pulled Bakura towards the pillar that separated the kitchen and living room in his small apartment and brought both his hands around it. He carefully wrapped him from his wrists to just above his elbows and left him slumped over. Malik crouched down in front of him and looked at his bruising face carefully.
What's different about you Tombrobber?
He reached out and opened a single eyelid, revealing a poisonously green orb.
You used to look a lot more intimidating…
He let Bakura's head drop, backed up a step, dropped into a cross-legged position and pulled his hood up to cover his hair and threw his face into shadows. He had always had a flair for theatrics.
It felt like hours he had to sit there but he had a lot of patience, cultivated during his time underground. Then, Bakura stirred, made a slight sound, seemed to notice he was tied up and froze… feigning unconsciousness.
"How's your head? I'm actually a little concerned. You definitely sustained a concussion."
Bakura remained frozen for another second, and then lifted his head and shrugged.
"It hurts like hell." Bakura said, sitting up. He had bruises down his arms and chest and his head was wrapped in a bandage. His face throbbed and he winced.
"That broken nose isn't going to turn any heads for a while, but I've reset it. I have to say I kind of enjoyed doing it, though I debated waiting until you were awake."
"So you're still an insane psychopath are you?"
"Actually not." Malik adopted a very serious expression, "But its you who has explaining to do, not me."
"Nothing to explain…" Bakura mumbled. "Back."
"Uh yeah, Stupid, I get that… think Ryou does too now you mention-" He broke off at the dark look on Bakura's face.
"Why did you bring me here? What the hell were you doing in front of his apartment anyway? And not in Egypt anymore?"
Malik, making a split second decision not to tell Bakura that Ryou asked him to go looking for him, shrugged a little too casually. "Fancied a stroll."
Bakura glared at him blankly.
"Fine. Just untie me Tombkeeper and-"
"Malik."
"What?" Bakura looked him full in the face and lifted a long gray-blue eyebrow at him.
Malik fought down a shiver. "My name is not Tombkeeper… nor is it my profession now it comes up." He replied icily. "You can call me Malik or you can call me nothing. Not Tombkeeper."
Bakura looked at him so long he thought he truly had some form of brain damage. It became clear he wasn't going to say anything… opting for nothing as it appears… giant Ass… Malik scowled.
"What did he do to you anyway?"
"How do you know he did anything?"
Malik tensed but replied quickly, "Who else?"
He watched Bakura slowly relax, his back leaning against the pillar, his eyes moving from Malik's face to a spot on the floor as he systematically began moving muscles in his arms and making small movements with his shoulders. Malik almost let a sigh of relief pass through his lips, that stare had been making him increasingly nervous.
"He smashed some kind of torch over my head…"
"Pfft- a lamp. He broke a lamp over you?" Malik let out a derisive laugh.
Bakura glared. "I wasn't exactly expecting him to be so different."
Malik shrugged, "Shows all you know about what you did to him for all those years."
Bakura stopped his jerking movements and stared calmly at him.
"Tell me something. Where's your dear friend? Not arrived yet?" Malik must have visibly paled. Bakura smirked. "Ah- I see, not so happy with him either? But you're fine with me?"
"I'm not fine with you. Does it look like I'm fine with you?" Malik spat. Then he looked Bakura in the eye. "We made a deal once… and I was hoping to make another one. But I don't have the patience to keep you to your word so…" He leaned towards Bakura who visibly flinched. "Calm down." Malik murmured as he reached for Bakura's binds. He froze. Bakura's pinky fingers were hooked nonchalantly behind the pillar, all of the bandages hung loosely, completely undone. He turned his head, his face was inches from the Thief's.
"Ancient Egyptian Tombrobber remember?" Bakura smirked, "I've gotten out of chains wrapped around ankles and feet before… you should see it… quite a skill actually. Picked it up after the palace guards caught me stealing a truly beautiful black porcelain horse sculpture with rubies for eyes. Absolutely priceless and doing absolutely no good locked up in the pala-"
"Why are you still sitting here?"
Bakura blinked, a mask of utter boredom slipping over his features. "Nowhere better to be."
Malik let himself fall back to his knees and then stood up and walked over to the armchair whose back faced the Thief. He flopped down over it and let his arms dangle over the top, resting his chin on the tufted green fabric. "How long have you just been sitting there letting me laugh in your face?"
Bakura shrugged, "Wrappings like this… takes about ten seconds for me to loosen them…so however long ago that was-"
"Why don't you jump me? Break my neck, tear out my throat. I know you know how. I know you're a murdering psycho-"
"No. I never killed unless I was in a situation where I had to."
"What?"
"Before Zorc… I never did."
Malik straightened his back and leaned out quirking his head to the side and cupping his ear. "What was that you just said? Before Zorc?"
Bakura scowled. "Well, he was this insane demon monster right? And I wanted to destroy the Pharaoh. And we thought we would do that together. So I made a deal-"
"Yes. Yes I know all of that." Malik sighed.
"Well he made me a little different… as one would expect…" Bakura shrugged. "How were you when you were harboring an evil demon?"
"So you're not looking to murder anyone?" Malik questioned.
"Uh- not at the moment but I am getting close."
"End the world?"
Bakura shook his head.
"Win a card game?"
Bakura's expression somehow descended into an even more bored state. "Gosh I hope not…"
"And you- during the whole time we knew you- weren't really you?"
"Eh- I guess a little. But not really. My personality. My actions. My skills. My body… well not my body but…you know I decided to do everything-"
Malik considered him, sitting on the floor casually against a pillar he'd been dragged to and tied to after being beaten… Malik let himself fall against the back of the chair again.
"I'm too tired for this. I need to go to bed. You-" He looked at Bakura who tore his gaze from the fish tank in the corner "may sleep here… on this couch" he pointed at the couch and then circled it in mid air just to solidify the point "here only. For now. If you want."
Bakura chuckled. "And why would you let me stay here?"
Malik made his way over to the window and drew the blind and curtain, pitching the room into near darkness.
"No where better to be right?" He looked over his shoulder to surprise a slightly relieved look on Bakura's face, who scowled when he noticed the eyes on him.
"Right…"
"Also," Malik added as he flopped himself down on his mattress in the corner of his cozy studio apartment, "sleep is good for a damaged brain…"
He slumped down into his pillows fully clothed and immediately gave into his exhaustion, not bothering to make sure the Thief was actually on the couch.
There you have it. Chapters 1 and 2, my intros to Ryou, Malik, Bakura and a little bit Marik. …can you tell I'm partial to Malik and Bakura… just a little…?
Chapter 3 will be much longer and some of the mystery will start to make itself known and many questions will be explored!
What exactly is it that Ryou does?
Why is Ryou shaky and out of breath all the time… what are these chest pains?
All of this and more may be revealed… if I find the time.
Review!? It would help me write just a little-insy-winsy bit faster.