AN

Ch 3

...

Night time was so lonely in the hospital. It was late enough most of the staff were hanging around the desks and doing occasional rounds about the halls. Beyond that it was quiet. The nurses had urged Odion and Ishizu to head home after visiting hours and come back again tomorrow. But all three Egyptians had objected. Ishizu made it clear there would be no one else to contact if Marik needed someone, and Marik insisted he didn't want to be alone without his family nearby. He went on to say his closest friend was in terrbile condition with no family of his own to visit him, and Marik needed the support of his siblings. It took a little bickering, but the nurses finally dropped the matter, only after giving their speech about the importance of quiet and bedrest.

Marik was grateful to have his brother and sister with him, but at the moment it was a bit of a bother. Walking was hard enough as it was with his hurt leg, trying to do it while wheeling an I.V. stand across linolium in the middle of the night without waking them was just irritating. Marik paused every so often to take a careful breath, wondering if he'd even have the strength to make it far outside the room. But he had to, he told himself. He couldn't bare just sitting here anymore.

He reached the door and took hold of the handle, but he'd miscalculated the width of the stand's base and the wheels hit the wall with a clack. Marik winced and scowled as he heard footsteps behind him. The stand was pulled back a bit and Marik turned to his sister to protest. To his surprise, Ishizu placed a finger to her lips with a soft "Shh" and took hold of the doorknob, opening it for him and taking a good hold of the stand. She gave him a sad smirk and held out her other hand, palm down. He considered her a moment, then gave an appreciative smile before placing his own hand atop her wrist and allowing himself to be slowly escorted from the room.

They made their way in silence, taking their time as Marik used the hall banister for additional support. Luckily they only passed a single nurse who, after a brief nod at Ishizu, continued on her way. No doubt she assumed they were merely out to stretch Marik's legs. They reached Ryou's room and paused outside the window; everything inside looking just as it had before. Marik moved his hand to his sister's shoulder, giving it a pat in silent request.

"I'll be right here," she whispered, moving the stand for him to take. She resisted the powerful urge to tell him 'be careful'. She knew he knew. After looking around, she quietly opened the door for her brother before taking her place back at the window.

Inside, the beeping of the heart monitor blending with the noise of the ventilator sounded horrible. The rhythmic hiss of the machine was so precise it didn't sound natural at all. Marik gripped his own I.V. stand in both hands, eyes glued to the familiar figure in the bed as he made his way closer. He saw the rise and fall of the other boy's chest in time with each hiss. It was almost scary, knowing Ryou wasn't doing that on his own. Marik's chest ached with empathy and he swallowed the lump in his throat, trying to keep his own breath steady. His eyes moved up and down the bed, taking in all of the equipment. It looked awful to see so many tubes coming and going between the bed and their designated machines. With a shaking hand, the blonde reached out and took a nearby chair, bringing it to the bed's side and setting himself down.

"Ryou..." he murmured sadly. That awful hissing sound was all he got as a response. What Marik had mistaken for bandages on Ryou's neck, he now saw was a kind of thin brace supporting the British boy's head against the slope of his pillow. The gauze on his chin had been removed and the wounds visibly cleaned and coated with some form of liquid stitches. Marik was horrified to see a full bite mark along his jaw.

He reached out, wanting to touch that injured face. Wanting to give some display of gentleness to make up for the clearly violent beating he'd bestowed upon his friend. But he couldn't. He retracted his hand with heavy guilt. As far as he was concerned, he had no right to lay a hand on Ryou ever again.

"I..." There was so much he wanted to say, and not one of the different languages he knew had the right words for any of it. Marik brought both hands in front of his mouth. "I know I'm probably the last person you'd ever want to be alone in a room with..." his own voice sounded choked and small. "But I also know your father isn't available to you. I... just couldn't stand the thought of you alone in here with no one to see you." His eyes landed on the spot beneath Ryou's hospital sleeve, to the scar from the day they'd first met. It was bigger than Marik had imagined. But then again, Bakura was never afraid to use large blades. Marik felt an additional pang of guilt. This wound had been his doing as well. He had made amends with Ryou for it since then, but he did not forget how much it had really hurt the boy. No matter how he tried to be, Ryou just wasn't as strong as his spiritual counterpart. To be fair, Marik reminded himself, Bakura's tolerance for pain may not be due to strength so much as numbness caused by much deeper anguish. And neither he nor Ryou had ever proven to be weak, not in all the time Marik had known them. He wondered what the doctors thought about that scar on his arm. Or any of them for that matter. Ryou had been stabbed numerous times by his own past incarnate over the years; through his hand, all over his chest. A perfect half circle of scars from puncture wounds remained from when the Millennium Ring had embedded itself in his skin. And now Marik knew the boy would have surgical scarring on top of it. He shook his head.

"You didn't deserve this. You didn't deserve any of it." Visions of Ryou's kind smile flashed in his mind again and again, before giving way to what lay under the pale bed light now. "You've been nothing but good to me, even after I used you. I've never known you to be anything but kind to everyone. And all you get in return is ignored and injured... and always left unconscious." Moisture built up in the Egyptian's eyes and he tried to force it back. "It's like this life is trying so hard to destroy you. And you don't deserve any of it."

...

Bakura turned his head at the muffled voice coming through the soul room.

"Listen," he said.

Ryou sat up and looked around. The voice came again, not too clear but a little louder. It sounded distraught. They both looked toward the floor where a dream-like image of their body lay comatose in a hospital bed. A certain blonde sat hunched beside it, head in his hands.

Bakura got up and moved closer, trying to focus through the mental fog and hear better. Ryou stayed put.

"I'm glad," Marik's voice came again. "I'm glad Bakura stopped me. That he didn't back down. I'm glad Odion came when he did. That he was able to bring you here ... in time- " Suddenly he broke down and his hands covered his head.

Bakura watched as the tanned teen wept beside the pale, lifeless hand of his host. The Spirit turned to see Ryou looking sadly at the image, his thoughts unheard. Bakura looked at Marik again; the first he'd seen of his old partner since he'd been severed from his evil side.

"I can't-" Marik sobbed, "I'm not asking to be forgiven. You have every right to retribution. But please..." His grimaced and fisted his hands in his hair. "Please get better. You have to."

Ryou took a shaky breath as he watched, hunching his shoulders a bit.

"You can't die this way. Not like this... Not by me. Please..."

Bakura looked back at his hikari, the latter giving an almost imperceptible shake of his head.

"I won't pretend to comprehend what you've gone through. Any of it." Marik wiped at his eyes. "But you can't let this break you." He looked over the bruised face. "Your body's badly damaged, I know. But don't let your spirit be as well. Don't let this change you." He closed his eyes and bowed his head again. "Don't ever change, Ryou. Please don't."

Ryou hugged himself, gazing woefully at his feet on the shadowy floor.

Bakura remained focused on the blonde. Marik had said exactly what he had been thinking before. And he decided right then and there to do whatever necessary to keep Ryou from cracking up. The trouble was - he wasn't sure what exactly needed to be done.

"Bakura," Marik's voice came again, "If you can hear me... Please believe that I never, ever wanted this." He brought his hands together and closed his eyes tight as if in prayer. "Not for one-single-second did I plan for this or even imagine it would happen." His mouth hung open for a minute then his voice became a whisper. "I would do anything... anything to undo what I've done... to both of you."

The Spirit sighed. He almost wished he could inhabit his host's body just long enough to send a sign, a gesture that they could hear him. But that would require some form of consciousness. And even if he weren't dissuaded by the idea of choking on that tube, Ryou's body was still trying desperately to heal itself. He wasn't going to risk any change to that. He wasn't even sure what he would say if he could. Marik would just have to cope on his own for now.

...

The next day Marik kept asking if there were any changes in Ryou's condition. It took multiple times before they seemed to understand that there was no one other than the Ishtars to tell. After that Marik made it clear he would be covering his friend's fees, which seemed to make them more cooperative. Ishizu tried to reason with her brother, but Marik remained stubborn.

"I'm the cause of this, whether it was on purpose or not. He'll have enough to work through without adding hospital debt to the list."

"And how do you intend to cover it? It will hardly be cheap, you know. The equipment alone will be a huge bill even before adding the cost of both surgeries. Not to mention he'll need to stay in the hospital and receive treatment longer than you will."

"It's the very least I can do, Ishizu. I can handle it."

"With what money?"

Marik shifted guiltily, exchanging a quick glance with Odion before looking at the floor.

Ishizu gave a vexed sigh, "Marik."

"I've got plenty left."

"You said you got rid of it."

"Well I lied. And good thing too, it can do some real good now."

"You're not still working with those rare hunters, are you?"

"Of course not. I just held onto the funds we collected, that's all. You never know what life will throw at y-" he cut himself off, pursing his lips together in self-loathing.

Ishizu held up her hands in defeat. "So be it then. I don't want to argue. I just want you both to get better."

Later, they learned that the doctors were going to try weaning Ryou off of the ventilator, and promised to let Marik know of any changes.

...

"Is there any way to speed this up?" Bakura grumbled, watching from the soul room as the doctors and nurses worked the adjustments and took measurements from all of the equipment.

"It's called 'weaning' for a reason," Ryou muttered. "It's a gradual transition."

"I don't like it at all. These people sound like they have no idea what they're doing."

"They're doctors, Bakura. They do know what they're doing. You're just uneasy because it's all foreign to you. Be patient and let them do their work."

"Hmph," Bakura stood up straight and began pacing around. "They're not exactly dealing with regular circumstances."

"They deal with coma patients."

"Not like this, they don't. You're not fighting to get back to consciousness, you're just sitting here waiting for your body to do all of the healing for you."

Ryou made a face. "That's how it works."

"It would work better if you enforced some will power."

"Then what?" he gestured to the image of himself before them. "I'd have to go right back to sleep afterward to get any better. I'd rather wait until the worst of those tubes are taken out."

"That's my point!" Bakura snapped. He was tired of being cooped up in this tiny excuse for a soul room with his host. The Ring was still nearby but they'd been separated long enough that Bakura couldn't use it to manifest anything himself without leaving his host. "If we can be conscious long enough to just breathe on our own, they'd take that thing away and we could work on getting better from there."

"You do it then, if you're so eager," Ryou said bitterly. "Take over my body, feel free."

Bakura shot him a look, "You intend to just hide out here?"

"We can't both take control at once. And I've dealt with enough pain in all this. I'm more than willing to wait until those injuries have healed."

"Fine."

Bakura knelt thoughtfully by the image again. He watched as the doctors adjusted the settings and reported the results back and forth. The Spirit brushed his thumb over his lip, hesitantly. Maybe... he could wait a little longer. At least until the evening when they'd had the chance to make some progress.

...

AN