AN: Holy crap! An Update! Yes, your eyes didn't fail you. xD I really managed it to update this story. Sorry for the long wait, but work and life got me busy - besides that I focused on Shady Origins (the sequel to OMR and this story).

But I hope this update was worth the wait. So enjoy! :D

CHAPTER VI
Losing Control

Also days later that evening tied up my mind and kept me awake until late at night. His words ghosted through my head again and again during these last days. It's been a long time since he said something so honest to me. Since that whole Rare Hunter thing came up he became so distant; hearing those words from him and feeling my hand so gently held by his surprised and disturbed me at the same time.

"Maybe because after all you are the only good that ever happened to me."

My lips formed into a shy smile when I thought back to that line. But obviously it changed a lot between both of us. Since then he somehow tried to avoid us being alone with each other. He also treated me somehow differently. It felt awkward. Every time our patch crossed in the headquarter my cheeks blushed while his expression stayed stern and cold as ice. I had no idea why he tried to keep his distance to me. Did I do anything wrong? Did he regret what he said to me?

Maybe it would have been better if I never asked.

It was another day which was mainly just about finding out about the whereabouts of the other god cards - besides running the criminal business. Marik was nowhere to be seen as I entered the big hall that we used for his organisation meetings. There was another one planned for the morning and several of his servants were already waiting for it to begin. All of them were dressed in their usual deep purple attire - so was I.

"Good morning." Odion said softly as I approached him.

I nodded and shot him a gentle smile. "Good morning, Odion. Do you know what this meeting is about?"

"Lumis and Ambra are back from their card hunt in southern Europe and Master Marik wants to see if they've found something adequate." He answered and looked down at me with his warm olive eyes. Since the two joined Marik's organisation I never knew what he expected of them. In my opinion they somehow didn't fit into it - they were a bit chaotic and somehow weird. And I was sure he thought the same. Because of that I was surprised that Marik ordered them to go on a card hunting trip.

"And…" I hesitated a second as I formed the question in my head and hoped that it wouldn't sound too weird for Odion, but I really needed to know. "…how is Marik today?"

With those words spoked Odion arched a brow at me. "Why don't you ask him yourself? You are closer to him than everybody else here."

I let out a sigh. I didn't told Odion about what happened between us on that evening. Maybe because I didn't know what happened between us either and why Marik tried to give me a wide berth. "Odion, I…" But before my tongue was able to form a sentence to explain it to him I caught Marik's sandy blonde hair from the corner of my eyes. Within a second the words were literally stuck in my throat as he passed by and sat down in his golden throne. He crossed his legs elegantly and his piano thin fingers held the millennium rod in his lap.

"Where are Lumis and Ambra?" Marik said cooly as his icy lavender eyes wandered over the several Rare Hunters. My heart skipped a beat when his eyes reached mine - they locked for a second before he broke eye-contact again.

"Master Marik." The voices of Lumis and Ambra echoed through the room in unison as they entered the hall and kneeled down in front of the throne. "We are back."

Marik kept his unreadable straight face as he stared down at them. "I hope you found something useful. Let me see what you got." He commanded.

Ambra stood up and withdrew a pack of cards from his cloak's pocket. Carefully he approached the throne and handed them over to his Master. My eyes anxiously observed the scene. Whatever the two collected on their hunt it would decide if it was a good day or a bad.

Marik took a careful look at every card without any change in his expression. Lumis and Ambra swallowed hard when they watched their Master examining their prey. Everyone held their breaths as his lavender irises looked at one card after the other. When he was finished he calmly put them down on the golden armrest and stood up.

The silence was overwhelming. Until then.

"How dare you to come back with a bunch of useless crap!?" Marik bursted out and everyone cringed at his harsh words. I knew this meant trouble.

"B-but Master Marik." Lumis stuttered nervously. "T-these cards are all very rare a-and they were hard t-to get."

"You fool! These cards and the price we can sell them for won't even cover the costs of your trip! They are not even special enough to use them for my servant's decks!" Marik snapped furiously and stepped down the platform of his throne. With calculated footsteps he drew closer to Lumis and Ambra, who were already shivering in fear. Obviously they didn't expect that reaction from Marik.

"B-but…" Ambra tried to say something in defence, but Marik cut him off immediately. His face was dangerously close to him as he packed him roughly by his cloak's collar.

"You both are useless idiots! If you dare to disappoint me once more I will send both of your incompetent asses to the shadows! And now go out of my eyes!" Marik hissed and stared over to Odion beside me. "Odion, prepare that crap for online sale and I expect the best profit we could get for them. And I expect Jesara to assist you. I won't accept failures. Is that understood?"

He never looked at me - he did it again. Marik tried to avoid any kind of contact with me. I swallowed with my lips pressed into a small line and nodded. "Sure." I said under my breath. Just a few days ago he was concerned about me after I got attacked in the Valley of the Kings, he took me out for dinner and for the first time in literally ages he acted just so normal. I mean just so normal like Marik could be nowadays. I didn't see a lot of his kind side since we left the tomb - our home. And since our little dinner that probably cost him five fortunes he treats me just like one of his servants. What was wrong with him? Or me?

xx

I did how Marik said and assisted Odion to scan, photograph and enter them into our organisation's dark web shop. Some of the cards Lumis and Ambra stole in southern Europe weren't that bad at all, some of them were really rare but obviously not rare or special enough. Each of them would sell for more than 100 US-Dollars, some of them were also worth 500 bugs.

I scanned one card after the other, checked their condition and authenticity while Odion typed in the descriptions and prices into the web shop interface. Jazar, one of Marik's other servants helped to catalogue and pack them safely until they will be ordered and shipped. That whole dark web thing was somehow fascinating. It was so easy and felt so normal, everyone around the world was able to purchase stolen cards in the online black market. No one would find out were they come from or which organisation was behind it. Thanks to dozens of proxy-servers we stayed anonymous and unable to find. It was highly illegal, but Marik earned a fortune on the black market… with gaming cards. But that money made it possible for Marik to chase after the god cards - no matter what it would cost him.

It got late in the evening, but after what felt like an eternity we finished our work. Jazar left the after all the cards were packed and his job was done. Then it was only me and Odion in the computer room.

"Why did you ask me how Marik is doing earlier?" His low, but soft voice interrupted the silence. Immediately my attention snapped back at him behind me while I packed away the scanner, camera and lightning equipment.

A sigh escaped my throat as my eyes met his olive gaze. "I didn't get to talk or see him a lot during the last days. That's all." I said ordinary and bit my bottom lip lightly.

"You mean since you two have been out for celebrating. Am I right?" Odion asked and leaned back in the dark brown office chair. Why did he always know when something tied up my mind? He knew me so well - even without the ability to read one's mind.

I nodded without saying a word and focused back on packing away all the stuff, hoping he won't start to ask questions about it. I wouldn't even know what to say.

"I'm not blind, Jesara. What's bothering you?" Odion asked softly. His intense gaze left me no other choice than to tell him the truth.

I sat down on the table that was now empty and cleaned. "I don't know why, but he ignores me and it seems like he wants to steer clear from me. I'm not sure if he's doing that on purpose or what I did wrong. I'm confused."

Odion let out a sigh and stood up from the comfy office chair, then he made two steps towards me. His eyes never broke contact with mine. "Did anything happen between Master Marik and you?"

"It sounds so awkward when you call him Master." I said using air quotes for emphasis. "And to answer your question: yes and no. I just asked him why he still calls me his wife although he broke with every single of our ancient traditions."

He said nothing, but mentioned for me to go on. I took in a deep breath. "Marik said that it might be because I'm probably the only good thing that ever happened to him. I don't know if I did anything wrong. He didn't talk to me since then."

"You didn't do anything wrong, Jesara." Odion murmured and sat down on the table beside me. Our shoulders touched while he stared at me and deep inside my soul. I arched a curious brow at him, waiting for him to speak on. "Marik is like a mussel in many ways. He opens up when he feels save and knows he's in control, but as soon as something gets too close to him he hides himself behind his shell. I guess that Marik thinks he said too much and that he let you too close to him."

"Are you telling me he's scared?" I asked awkwardly and blinked at him in surprise.

"If you want to call if that." He shrugged. "I would say that he crossed the line of his comfort zone by telling you that. He knows he can't control it and that's confusing for him. That's what I think."

I stared at him in puzzlement as the silence became louder between us again. "It?"

"You should go and get some sleep, Jesara. Everything will be fine soon enough. That's how control freaks act when they loose control." Odion said wisely and stood up from his spot beside me.

I watched him carefully as he went over to the door to leave. "Thank you, Odion." I murmured and shot him a gentle, thankful smile. He glanced back at me and smiled. "You're welcome." With that he left and closed the door behind him carefully. I needed a few seconds to let his words sink in, there definitely was something true to what he said to me. His explanation made sense to me. Although Odion's comparison of Marik and a mussel was awkward as well.

After switching off the lights I closed and locked the door of the computer room behind me. I yawned when I felt how tiredness hit me somehow out of the blue. It was definitely time to get some sleep and hopefully I would get to talk to Marik tomorrow - if he wanted to talk to me.

Slowly I wandered down the corridors to my quarters while Odion's wise words repeated over and over again in my mind. I chuckled lightly as I imagined Marik as a mussel. But after all Odion's words eased my nerves a bit and now I was certain that I didn't do anything wrong.

But then I suddenly cringed when footsteps behind me caught my attention and I stopped to turn around to see who was behind me. Marik? Before my eyes could get a glimpse of the one who followed me I felt a hand pressed on my mouth and another one pressing me against the wall behind me. My eyes widened in shock as I stared into deep, chocolate coloured eyes. Ilias!? It was the one of Marik's Rare Hunters who was with us in the Valley of the Kings to find The Winged Dragon Of Ra. My heart picked up pace and pounded wildly against my chest.

"Don't even try to utter just one single word." Ilias hissed under his breath while he pinned me against the wall with all his body weigh. I started to panic. "I know that you want it to."

I blinked at him in puzzlement, his face got closer to mine. Too close. I tried to mutter something and squirmed under his grasp, but to no avail. 'What in Ra's sake is he talking about?' I thought to myself. His palm on my mouth slowly lifted, allowing me to speak. But I couldn't manage to press out anything else than a weak whisper.

"Ilias, w- what do you mean?" I stuttered nervously.

"I realised how you looked at me all the time during our little trip to the Valley of the Kinds, Jesara. Don't panic, I felt that excitement between us too." Ilias whispered and a sly grin played on his thin lips.

My body tensed at his words, I could imagine all too well what he was probably up to. Goosebumps invaded every centimetre of my body. "Ilias, I don't know what you are talking about. I'm afraid you misunderstood something. I'm sorry, but-"

He cut me off. "No no, I understood very well." Suddenly he buried his face in my neck, grabbed my wrists with his coarse hands and pinned my arms against the wall, making me unable to defence myself.

"Ilias, stop that. Please." I muttered, my body tensed and trembled uncontrollably as I felt his tongue brushing over the skin of my neck in playful circles. His voluptuous smacking disgusted me to the bone. But he ignored my plea and didn't stop, instead his tongue wandered up to my chin and cheeks. "Don't. No." I begged him again - but to no avail.

"I know it's what you want." Ilias whispered again. I pressed my eyes shut and thought nervously about how to get out of that.

Suddenly a bright, golden light filled the dark corridor like a thunderbolt. It was so bright I wasn't able to see what in Ra's sake happened. I felt how Ilias' grip on my wrists and the pressure of his body against mine lifted slowly and then - without him saying just another word - he fell to the ground like a lifeless puppet. My shocked eyes stared down to him as he didn't move. "Ilias?" I asked under my breath.

"The fool is now a slave of the shadows." A familiar voice said with calm anger. My head snapped back to where the voice came from and locked with piercing lavender eyes.

"Marik…" I stuttered in surprise.

Silence surrounded us for a few moments, but they felt like a never-ending eternity.

"Are you okay?" He asked sternly and examined me from head to toe, his gaze still cold as ice. I learned that Marik is most dangerous when he's calm - just like now. His blood was boiling, I could sense it from miles away.

I nodded wordlessly as my eyes wandered down to the lifeless Ilias beneath my feet. "I guess…" I heard how his calculated, slow steps came closer to me and again every little hair on my body rose.

"Did he hurt you?" Marik asked again, but much softer than just a second before. I looked up at him and stared into his violet irises, shock still evident in my expression. My lungs inhaled and exhaled the cold air still faster than normal. Just by now I realised how much this encounter with Ilias scared me.

I shook my head at his question. "I don't think so… He just…" I paused and swallowed. "…scared me."

"He won't be able to touch you just one more time, Jesara. That fool will roast in the shadow realm for eternity." Marik was now standing close beside me and glared down to Ilias' body.

"Thank you. B-but do you mean he is…d-dead?" I stuttered and started to tremble again. This time my own words and suggestion threatened me.

Marik nodded, his triangular golden earrings jingled gently beside his jawline when his eyes met mine again. "No one is supposed to lay a hand on you." He paused for a second and our eye-contact intensified.

"Except of me."

AN: Hope you enjoyed that new, but awfully late chapter of A Distant Embrace. Sorry again for the very long wait here! But since there isn't feedback or reviews to this story I didn't have the motivation to update. So please take the time and leave one if you like. :-)