Hello everyone and happy February! Thank you for reading this far.

A special thanks to ShindaHinata-chan for favoring and following the story!

I know that story has started out a bit slow, but it will be kicking along more smoothly after this chapter. Please review and let me know what you think. Happy reading!

Chapter 4

Free

Marik laid in his bed fuming in anger. He was really upset that Ishizu had forbid him from seeing Mimiki. He spent a good time in deep thought about the situation. His frustration led him to fall asleep again and he prayed that he would feel better in the morning. Ishizu returned to her room to think things over. She regretted taking Marik to the surface. He became too attached to that world, but she never expected him to make a friend so quickly and to make things worse, it was a girl. Marik hadn't had much contact with other girls aside for a couple of girls that their father had arranged for him to meet from other clans for marriage purposes, but Marik never showed any interest in them. They only reminded him of the life he had to live as a tomb keeper.

Ishizu was determined to protect her baby brother, so she decided to watch him closely. She decided to retire again for the night. She wanted to get up early in case if Marik tried to sneak out again.

The next morning arrived quickly, but to Marik, it seemed like an eternity, as he was restless all night. Marik quickly jumped out of bed and got ready for the day. The corridors were quiet, so he assumed that Odion and Ishizu were still asleep. He scurried to the entrance with no trouble. As soon as he started to climb those stairs, he felt a pair of eyes staring at him.

"And just where do you think you're going?" a familiar voice asked.

He turned around to be greeted by Ishizu's evil eye. She still had dark circles under her eyes. She had a feeling that Marik would try to sneak out again and kept waking up multiple times during the night until she decided to stay up for the rest of the day. Marik swallowed in fear as his heart dropped. 'And my escape goes straight down the Nile!' he thought.

"Good morning big sister!" he said cheerfully.

Once again, Ishizu didn't accept his fake greeting. Marik knew he was in trouble now.

"I was just going to sit out enjoy the morning sun, sister. I remembered that it felt good on my skin so I wanted to relax at the entrance." he said smiling.

Ishizu's facial expression didn't change not one bit. Marik sighed in defeat.

"Go back to bed." she commanded as she pointed him back down the hall.

Marik turned back around and went back into his room. He grunted loudly as he wrapped himself in his sheets and felt like there was no chance of escaping now. He would have to find another opportunity to leave.

Later that night, Marik tried to sneak out again. He managed to get to the entrance again. He looked to see if Ishizu was around again. Luckily for him, she was nowhere in sight. Marik smiled and quickly walked up the stairs.

'Hopefully Mimiki will be at the oasis again.'

Soon after he lifted the door, he heard a strange clinking sound accompanied with a loud thud. 'Crap!'

"Marik Ishtar!" Ishizu's voice rang from afar.

'Not again…' he groaned.

Ishizu appeared in the same spot that he saw her in that morning. There were no words he could say. He felt stupid for being caught twice in the same day and she wasn't in the mood to argue with him.

'She's getting better with these traps…'

Ishizu pointed her finger back towards his room. Marik walked defeated back to his room.

'This is going to be harder than I thought…' they both thought.

He looked back to the entrance, seeing his freedom disappearing with every footstep. Ishizu saw the look on his face, feeling a little guilty about his sadness. Now that both of their parents had died, she felt fully responsible for her little brother.

'Mother and father always knew what was best for us and this is best for Marik. I ' am doing the right thing...right?'

Two weeks passed by since the two had met each other under the moonlight. Marik attempted to sneak out many more times, but was caught by Ishizu. Marik was growing tired of his failed attempts and decided to give up. He sat in his room alone while skimming through his scriptures. At times, he would lose his concentration and forget where he left off, and tried starting over from the beginning. Soon, everything would jumble together and it sparked a bad headache. He grunted as he wrapped one arm around his head to suppress the pain and tossed the book to the corner of his desk. Odion watched him from the other side of the wall. He noticed that Marik's hair started to levitate upwards slightly, but returned to its normal state after a short time. Flashbacks from that awful day started to flood his mind and filled him with concern. He had to talk to Ishizu at once about this.

Back in the city, Mimiki was growing worried about Marik. She had become more lonely as the days went by and was looking forward to spending more time with him if given the chance. Her parents had gotten her several books about Egyptian culture and such, but no book could teach you like a native could. He was her first friend that she made since she had moved there. Sure, there were other kids at her new school, but Marik captured her interest in a way she couldn't explain. She sat at her window, resting her arms and head on the windowsill, staring out to the horizon while an ugly thought crawled into her head.

'Did he forget about me? I hope not...'

She closed her eyes sadly and sighed as she thought back to the time when she would return from school and go to the market to see if she could find the young tomb keeper, but of course her efforts were fruitless. A light breeze washed over her she and took a deep breath. After a few moments, she decided to draw. Art was her refuge and it always made her feel better. As she sat on her bed with her supplies, she wished to see Marik again. She let her pencil and her thoughts take over to begin a new masterpiece.

The moon once again graced the warm Egyptian sky. Marik still sat in his room like the previous nights. He tried to read his scriptures, but was having a hard time focusing. His headache from earlier had subsided, but left a dull ache on his frontal lobe. Marik decided to take a break. He placed the book down and grabbed his most prized possession — the ripped magazine page he found on his trip to the surface. He stared at it in sadness. His wish was to see the world...her world. Marik felt like his freedom was truly out of reach. He buried his head in his arms.

'It's all over…' he thought.

Odion continued to observe Marik's behavior again. His observations proved disappointing, as the young teen was very unhappy. He could see that Marik's behavior was worse now than before he had the pharaoh's secret burned onto his back. Marik was more irritable and would isolate himself at times, but eventually he'd break down in tears. Odion felt like history was repeating itself again, not to mention this newfound darkness that had emerged...that was another problem within itself. He realized that he was the key to keeping it sealed away, but he knew that he could only protect Marik for so long.

He stood outside Marik's door and peeked inside. Marik was hunched over on his desk with his head buried in his arms. At first, Odion thought that Marik had fallen asleep while studying, but Odion's heart ached for Marik once he heard sniffling coming from the boy. Odion's eyes widened as Marik's hair started to rise a bit. He quickly stepped into the room unnoticed and rubbed his back. His hair returned to normal and Marik quickly looked up to him with his tear strained face.

"Odion…" Marik quickly wiped his tears away. "How are you? Are you feeling better? Shouldn't you still be in bed resting?" he managed to ask with a weak smile.

Odion was still covered in bandages and had some pain that was severe at times, but otherwise he was on the road to a smooth recovery. His wounds had finally started to heal on the surface fairly quickly thanks to Ishizu administering homemade medicines that had been passed down for generations. The Ishtar women were skilled in healing others. The young man returned his smile as he took a seat on the bed.

"Yes Master Marik, I'm recovering just fine. I was feeling stiff, so I decided to take a walk. You know that Miss Ishizu's been assisting me with my recovery."

Marik rolled his eyes at hearing his sister's name. He was still upset with her and avoided most conversation with her.

"Oh...well I'm glad that you're feeling better." he said trying to hide his sadness.

"Master Marik, what is troubling you? If it's concerning my injuries, please don't worry. I'm alright."

Marik shook his head. "No, it's not that! I mean...I'm happy that you're okay now. But…" Marik looked down at the desk and stayed silent until Odion began to pry.

"You know that you can talk to me about anything, Master Marik." he assured him as he placed a hand on the young boy's shoulder.

Marik looked up to him and spilled his thoughts. "Do you remember that girl from the surface?" Odion nodded.

"Well, just when I thought I had a friend, Ishizu won't let me see her anymore. Ishizu thinks that she knows too much about our clan, but I feel like I can trust her. She also won't let me go the surface anymore. It's not fair, Odion!"

Marik curled into a ball and buried his head in his knees. He rubbed Marik's shoulder gently. "Don't worry, Master Marik. I believe that everything will turn out just fine."

Marik looked up to him with a glimpse of hope. Odion smiled and exited the room to go find Ishizu. He walked to Ishizu's room in hopes of convincing her to change her mind, but she wasn't in her room. Odion continued to walk around the compound. After a few minutes, he found Ishizu sitting alone on a slab of stone in the middle of a dark room with her lamp and the moonlight from a skyline keeping her company. She looked up to the skyline as if the moon had her under its spell. He could see that she desired to be apart of that world just as much as Marik did.

'Hopefully I can make her see the light and fast. I must do this for Master Marik's sake.'

Odion cleared his throat to break the silence. Ishizu jumped quickly, letting a shriek escape her lips and turned to him. "Odion! You scared me! I didn't expect to see you here. Are you alright? Did you need help with your bandages or need more medication?"

"Thank you for your concern Miss Ishizu, but I'm fine. May I join you?"

Ishizu motioned for him to sit down next to her. Odion tried to make himself comfortable and got straight to the point.

"Miss Ishizu, I saw that you were staring off into the moon's light."

She looked up to the skyline again and invited the moon to dance in her eyes again. "Yes. The moon is beautiful tonight. Don't you agree?"

He looked up to the moon and nodded. "Yes, yes it is. I bet it would be more beautiful if we could go sit elsewhere, like the surface."

Ishizu looked at him unfavorably with narrowed eyes. She knew where this was going. Irritation was starting to make camp quickly in her mind as she groaned. "What are you trying to convey, Odion?"

"I wish that you would allow Master Marik to go to the surface again, to let him be free. He's experienced something he's never had and it's impossible to keep him away from something he's so interested in."

Ishizu sat in silence. He did have a point, but she wanted to protect her brother.

"I know that the girl was an unexpected factor in his experience, but from my observation, she might be a key to keeping his dark side at bay. While he was reading, I noticed that he was in pain and his appearance altered a bit before returning to normal. He hasn't behaved like this until you banned him from the surface."

Ishizu's heart skipped a beat. He had a good point. She didn't want a repeat of him going insane again. Her heart was just floating around in a violent storm.

"Also Miss Ishizu, don't you think that keeping him away from that now, especially after what happened, you're acting just like Master Ishtar? Keeping him chained in the darkness?"

Ishizu's heart sank instantly as a lump formed in her throat. He was right. She was acting just like their late father. She saw what caused their pain and she helped to push it along. She had been taught all of her life that they didn't belong on the surface and with its people; that it was evil and dangerous. Ishizu then saw that her father's teachings were partially incorrect. Yes, it was dangerous due to their lack of knowledge and experiences, but no one from the market had brought harm upon them. Marik even found a friend who welcomed him into her life. Ishizu then felt it was her duty to right her wrongs; she didn't want to become like the man that their father was. She quietly stood up and walked away.

"Miss Ishizu? Miss Ishizu!" he called out to her.

Ishizu continued to walk as he called her name. She made her way to Marik's room to find him sitting up in bed fiddling with his fingers again. Marik noticed her presence and turned away from her before she quickly sat on his bed.

"Marik." Marik didn't want to talk to her at the moment, so he closed his eyes.

"Marik." she called again, stressing his name a bit. The young boy continued to ignore her as his eyes were shut tighter than a sealed tomb.

"Marik, I know that you're upset with me."

'Isn't that the understatement of the century…' he thought.

"I apologize. I know that you've wanted to see the surface world, and I did too...I still do. I've thought about it and it wasn't fair for me to show you something you've been dreaming of for so long and not let it be apart of your life, especially when you've found something of great value."

Marik turned his head to her in confusion. He hoped that she was going to say what he wanted to hear, but he didn't want to get his hopes up so quickly for them to be shot down. "What are you saying, sister?"

Ishizu sighed and gave him a smile. "I'm saying that I'm granting you the freedom to experience the surface world."

Marik's face lit up brighter than the sun itself. "Really sister? I can? You're not playing a trick on me, are you?"

Ishizu nodded. "I'm telling the truth, little brother."

Marik jumped up and hugged her tightly. "Thank you sister!"

Ishizu returned the hug with a tight one, praying that she made the right choice. She loved her little brother dearly and didn't want any harm to befall him.

"Have fun, but please promise to be careful. I know that you desire friends, but let's start very slowly with just the young girl. She's the only one who knows about us and I'd like to keep it that way until we can figure something out, alright? Promise me?"

"I promise!" he said , giving her one last squeeze.

Marik jumped up quickly and ran off to the oasis. Odion listened until Marik ran out of the room, his presence at the door gone unnoticed by Marik. He had never seen the boy run so fast before, not since he tried to run away from his father to avoid his initiation. Odion enjoyed seeing him happy again. He joined Ishizu by her side and startled her again once he placed his hand on her shoulder.

"You did the right thing." he assured her.

She looked up to her older brother with worry. "I hope you're right. These recent events has become so overwhelming. I wish I had all of the answers."

"I know, but this can be a blessing. All of us can figure this out together and start anew as a family, correct?"

Ishizu smiled as their hearts felt light and free.

"Yes...that would be nice."

Mimiki decided to go to the oasis again. She drew a picture of the night she when to the oasis for the first time. She added two people in it as well, reminding her how she met her first friend under the light of the moon. When she arrived, she looked around in hopes of seeing Marik. A smile crawled onto her face when she saw him in the same spot they met up at two weeks ago.

"Marik!" she yelled as she ran up to him. He quickly turned around and smiled widely.

"Mimiki!"

The two hugged each other tightly.

"Where have you been? I thought that you had forgotten about me…" she asked with a worried expression. Marik's heart felt light as he noted her expression. It was nice to have a friend to worry about your well being. He quickly gave her a smile.

"I'm sorry Mimiki. Everything is okay now. I could never forget about you."

Mimiki smiled and the two sat down. They enjoyed a night of stargazing and enjoying each other's company as Mimiki taught him about constellations.

For the first time in his life, Marik finally felt free.