Hello everyone! Thanks for taking the time to read the first chapter. Please review and tell me what you think!

Also a special thanks to Milkyway02 for following the story!

Until next time! :)

Chapter 2

Fear

Mimiki carefully followed Marik and Ishizu back to their home. As Ishizu quietly opened the doors, Marik stared out into the horizon. He was sad that his experience on the surface was so short. Everything was better than he imagined. He walked towards a nearby short stone wall slab and sat on it as if he imagined riding that motorcycle in the wind, seeing the world, trying new and exciting things. He'd ride forever out of the darkness with no one to control him; not his father, not the tomb keeper's legacy and definitely not some dumb pharaoh. He also didn't expect to meet someone else that he would immediately become smitten with and blushed again as he thought about her.

He had seen all of these wonderful things and now he had to forget them all? His heart started to feel heavy again. 'What a horrible life we have to live...'

"Okay Marik, let's hurry and get inside." Ishizu instructed.

Marik didn't hear her as he was still staring towards the market. He looked around to other parts of the desert. 'No matter how long I live, as long as I'm a tomb keeper, I'll never be able to be free and ride out of this darkness with my only light of lamps and candles…and I'll never see her again either...' he thought sadly.

"Marik!" she said, trying her best not to scream his name. He turned to her quickly. "Let's go!" she stressed as she pointed underground.

He quickly joined her and started walking down the stairs. Before Ishizu could close the doors, Marik looked up and saw something strange. "Hey Ishizu, what's that? That thing hanging on the wall?"

Ishizu looked up and gasped. Her body started to shake in fear. 'No, no, no, no, no, no!'

She panicked and ran down the stairs quickly, leaving Marik behind.

"Sister where are you going?! Wait for me! Is father going to be angry with us?"

Marik hurried and ran after her, forgetting to close the doors behind him. Mimiki quickly ran up to the entrance and looked down inside. It was pretty dark and quiet. After gathering her nerves, quickly pulled out her cell phone and used it as a flashlight. She took a deep breath and descended underground.

Ishizu ran quickly to everyone's bedrooms, finding them all in shambles. She cursed inwardly and instantly regretted their trip. Her thoughts were interrupted by Odion's agonizing screams. She then ran to another part of the compound where their family treasures were stored. Marik caught up with her to find Odion tied up with burn and whip marks all over his back. Blood stained his clothing and at that point, he had been beaten severely. Once Marik had finally caught up with her, his eyes widened in horror and he felt sick to his stomach. He never meant for this to happen to his older brother.

"Odion!" Marik screamed.

The father Ishtar finally noticed his children in the doorway. His grip on his knife tightened at the sight of them. He'd be sure to teach them all a lesson. He was elated that he now had a reason to kill Odion. He hated him since the day his wife brought him into the Ishtar family as an infant and only allowed him to stay to appease his late wife, but now that she was dead and he went against his duty to protect Marik, all bets were off.

"Ishizu! Marik! How nice of you to finally join us! You thought you could sneak out, huh?" he said as he placed his knife into the nearby fire pit. He smiled as the dagger's blade turned red.

"Because of what you've done, Odion has to leave...permanently!" he said, happily stressing the last word. "I will kill this unworthy man first...and I'll punish you both later! You'll never have another thought of the surface world to cross your minds ever again!"

Odion was weak from his injuries, but he gathered enough strength to look at Marik. His eyes held a look of sadness and failure. "I'm sorry Master Marik...I'm sorry that I couldn't protect you...or let you carry out your wish in peace..."

The father Ishtar quickly cut him again with those words. Odion screamed again as the two siblings gasped. "Marik! Ishizu! How dare you!" he roared. "You know it's forbidden to go the outside world! You've broken the law of the Ishtar clan! You're not apart of that world and you will never be! Now because of your insolence, Odion has to die! You'll never leave here again! That decision is final!"

Then he turned to Odion and sliced into him again. Odion screamed in agony as the onslaught continued and looked weakly at the elder Ishtar as he grabbed him by the collar of his torn and bloody clothing.

"Have you forgotten that we saved you from the streets?! Have you forgotten your place?! You're just a mere servant, you piece of shit! You're supposed to serve and protect them and you can't even do that right! You shall die for your sins!"

Marik's body started shaking. Many emotions rushed in him - fear, anger, despair, hopelessness. He couldn't take it anymore. He felt like a trapped bird. The darkness was closing in on him quickly as he cried. "ODION!" he screamed. He tried to stop his father, but he overpowered him and shoved him away. Ishizu ran over to him to check on him.

Mimiki gasped when she heard Marik's cry. She followed his cry and the screams until she reached the chamber. She peaked in and gasped in horror at the site before her. Her body instantly froze when their father heard her gasp as he looked at her. His blood boiled even more as she clearly wasn't a part of any clan that they associated with. Her clothes and her facial features were a dead giveaway of that. "So you brought a friend, huh?"

Marik and Ishizu turned to find Mimiki still frozen in fear. Now they feared for her.

"How dare you bring an outsider into our home! You've shown her too much! Now she must die!" he said as he placed his knife into the fire again before turning to Marik. "Then it's your turn Marik! You'll never disobey me again!"

He started to head towards Mimiki with a rushed pace. Mimiki was still frozen in fear and screamed as Marik turned to his father. 'I never should've came down here!'

"I'm sorry! I'll leave! Please don't hurt me! I promise that I'll forget everything I just saw!" she cried.

Her words fell on deaf ears as he pointed the hot knife at her. She quickly dodged out of his way when he lunged at her. "Come here, you insolent brat!"

"Don't you dare hurt her!" Marik screamed in protest.

The scene of horror before him started to resonate in his soul and the straw broke the camel's back. Suddenly Marik started hold his head in pain and started breathing heavily. Ishizu tried to tend to him until she heard a low chuckle. She noticed that his hair now spiked upwards and pointed in all directions as he stood up. His eyes were blank and his lips curled up into a wicked smile. On the other side of the room, Mimiki was quickly caught by Mr. Ishtar by her arm.

"Please! Let me go!" she cried. He didn't respond as he almost plunged the dagger into her chest. Mimiki closed her eyes and screamed and waited for the impact that never came.

Before he knew it, Mr. Ishtar found himself on the ground. His dagger flew across the room into an empty corner. He looked around him to find Marik standing before him with his hands balled into a fist. Mimiki opened her eyes and stared at Marik in relief. She thought that she was out of the woods, but she had a feeling that something was wrong due to his appearance.

"Thank you for saving me." she said quietly. "I'll leave now since that is what this man wants. I'm sorry!"

Before she could make one step, Marik's cold laugh filled the chamber as everyone stared in disbelief. Mr. Ishtar grew irritated at his son's attempt to stop him.

"Stop laughing right now! This isn't funny! Do you not know what crime you've committed today Marik?! You brought an outsider down here and you attempted to stop me?! I'll skin your ass, boy!" he threatened.

"I'm done…" the young Ishtar said.

"What did you say boy?!" his father asked with narrowed eyes.

Marik shot him a look of defiance. "I'm done with you...I'm done with this life! I'm not afraid of you anymore! Not one bit! But thanks for killing Odion father! I feel great now!"

Everyone stared at him in confusion. His voice also sounded more cruel. "What? Marik are you okay? What's wrong with you?!" Ishizu asked.

Everyone had wondering the same thing. He ignored her and walked towards a table. They held two golden items that were adorned with the eye of Anubis on it, a rod with wing like appendages and a necklace.

"Marik don't touch the millennium items! You will inherit them when the time is right!" his father shouted.

Marik ignore him and grabbed the rod. The eye shined and appeared on his forehead. He chuckled as he felt the power of the rod surge within him. He finally turned to his father without an ounce of fear in his eyes.

"What are you going to do? Kill me?! Ha! That's a laugh!" he said. "From now on, this belongs to me! You need to shut the hell up you old bastard! I'm making my own rules."

"Marik! I order you to put that back down! Immediately!"

Marik looked at him in disgust. Who in the hell did this man think he was? He had enough of his barking. "And if I don't?"

Mr. Ishtar felt like he was going insane. Marik never disobeyed him until today and he had no idea where he got the gall to do so. He would regain control of the situation if it was the last thing he'd ever do. "Marik, drop it now!"

Marik gnashed his teeth and pointed the rod towards his father. "Didn't I tell you to shut the hell up?!"

The magic from the rod sent his father flying across the room and a yellow aura pinned him to the wall. Dull pain flooded his body as he looked up weakly. "My son...what has become of you…?"

Ishizu then tried to intervene, although she was scared. "Marik stop this at once! Don't you see what you're doing?"

"This doesn't concern you Ishizu!" Marik turned the rod on her as well and sent her flying into the wall just like their father. Ishizu tried to free herself in vain before she lost consciousness.

"You're...not Marik…" she muttered as he smiled. "Very perceptive."

He started to walk to his father, unsheathing the bottom half of the millennium rod, exposing its sharp six inch dagger. "Father...you'll be the first to die by my hand! You will no longer have any control over me! Go to hell!"

Marik then proceeded to stab his father relentlessly. Mimiki screamed in horror. How could a simple day at the market turn into her witnessing an assault and a murder? What happened to that nice yet clueless boy she met not too long ago? Everything was overwhelming her as hot tears flowed rapidly from her eyes. After he felt like the job was finished, Marik turned to Mimiki and smiled at her, taking in her fear. He could taste it on his lips and smiled evilly.

"Hmm...I forgot that quickly that you were here. You'll be joining my father too!"

Mimiki screamed again and tried to run away. Before she could turn the corner out of the room, Marik quickly used the power of the rod to bring her back into the room and examined her closely, cupping her chin and moving it from side to side with his free hand.

"Hmm...you're a pretty girl...but like my father said, you've seen too much and that means you have to die!"

"Please, no! Stop!" Mimiki pleaded, stinging tears continuing to fall quickly.

Marik used the rod again and slammed her against the wall. Her body made a hard thud against the wall and she passed out. He walked slowly towards her, smiling at the the thought of his next kill. But then he remembered something — the one thing that was keeping him from living. He turned to Odion's motionless, bloodied body and turned back to Mimiki.

'I'll kill her after he's been disposed of!' He walked over to Odion and held the dagger over his head and smiled.

"Enjoy Hell Odion!" he said laughing loudly. Unbeknownst to him, Odion was regaining consciousness and opened his eyes.

"DIE!" he screamed. Before he could kill him, Odion regained full consciousness.

"Master Marik...! NO!"

Marik dropped the rod and fell to the ground. Ishizu and Mimiki also fell to the floor with a hard thud and his hair returned to normal. Marik looked around in confusion. "Wh-what happened?"

Odion gathered enough strength and jumped up quickly and tried to shield Marik from the bloody scene. "Master Marik! Don't look!"

Marik questioned Odion's request and quickly turned around to find his father dead. "FATHER!" he screamed. He broke out of Odion's hold and ran over to him with tears in his eyes. He hugged him as his blood stained his clothes and he sobbed heavily. "FATHER! FATHER! Father…!"

Odion couldn't watch as Marik mourned over his father's death. Ishizu woke up immediately after falling to the ground and took in her surroundings. She couldn't believe what had happened. She saw Mimiki was still unconscious on the ground and ran to her side. Ishizu let out a sigh of relief when she saw the young girl's chest move up and down. 'Good...she's still alive.'

Ishizu then looked at her brother and father and guilt overcame her. Once again, the mysterious man from before appeared before them and everyone focused their attention on him.

"I warned you tomb guardians that your sin would bring great tragedy upon your family. The thing that brought death to your father is the pharaoh's spirit…" he said as he disappeared quickly after.

'The pharaoh's spirit?' Marik thought.

Marik clinched his father's lifeless body. He would avenge his death. He laid him down and went to Odion's side after retrieving the dagger. He quickly cut the ropes that bound his hands.

"Are you alright, Odion?"

Odion smiled and rubbed his wrists. "Yes Master Marik, but the young girl…" he said looking over to the girls. "What girl?"

Marik turned to find Ishizu holding Mimiki. "It's that girl from the surface! How did she get down here?! I had forgotten that she was here!" he said as he ran over to them.

"She must've followed us Marik. She saw what happened. I believe that she passed out from the shock." Ishizu replied.

Marik looked down at her and pushed her spiky bangs away from her eyes. as she slept soundly. He thought back to the market when he first met her and how beautiful she was. He began to blush again. Soon afterwards, she started groaning.

"She's waking up!" Marik said.

Mimiki's eyes shot open and she jumped up quickly. She looked around and fear began to take over again, her body started shaking uncontrollably.

"Are you okay?" Marik asked.

Mimiki quickly remembered what happened. She saw the blood that stained his clothes and backed away from him. "Stay away from me! Leave me alone!" she commanded. She placed her arms and out the front of her to shield herself.

Marik was taken aback by her behavior towards his offer to help her. "Please let me help you." he said as he reached out for her. She quickly swatted his hand away and gave him an intense expression of anger. She didn't want him to know how scared she really was.

"I told you to stay away from me!" She shoved him and ran for her life. Marik looked at her fleeting form sadly.

'What happened? Now she's afraid of me…I didn't do anything wrong...' Marik's thoughts soon shifted to anger as he came to a conclusion. 'It's the pharaoh's fault! He took my father away from me and now because of his death, I'll never see him or that girl ever again! Why did my family pledge to serve him?!'

Marik lowered his head in anger. Then something shiny caught his eye. He picked it up and examined it further. "A necklace…where have I seen this before?" He quickly smiled. Maybe he'll see her again after all.

Mimiki quickly ran from the tomb and back to the market, slipping and tripping in the sand along the way. She stopped to catch her breath next to a stall. She became really sick and confused. Luckily for her, her mother found her minutes later and took her home. She quickly took refuge in her room and let sleep envelope her, locking away the events that she witnessed that day.