Hello, I was re-watching YGO with a friend and this scene randomly came to mind. Sorry it's written in a different POV than the earlier chapters, I wrote it completely on a whim when I had some free time and didn't even think about whether I was gonna upload it or not. It's also not my best writing, I'm rusty af and wrote this for fun, apologies lol.

I watched with not too much shock from the side of the arena as Jounouchi fell to the ground, his friends rushing to his side, desperate to wake him up. Which was, needless to say, virtually impossible to happen.

My arms were crossed over my chest, but when I saw the blonde bastard nearly puke then fall to his knees, something in me acted by itself. I couldn't help it, I instinctively knew it was my friend's body, I didn't like it, but I couldn't help immediately feeling worried about him.

Fighting my hesitation and disgust, I hurried to him, crouching on a knee as he was panting heavily.

"I hate to say this.. but.. are you alright?" the spite in my voice was more than obvious, almost speaking between my gritted teeth as I carefully watched him for any sign of a serious issue.

"Ooh?.." the way Marik spoke and his smirk returned to his wicked face immediately made me regret that question, but it was too late now, and my feelings didn't change the fact that he was inhabiting my friend's body that I intended to protect "Why do you care? Catching feelings, my-"

My scowl deepened when he was interrupted by a cough then spat on the ground in front of him, coincidentally or not, in the direction of Jounouchi and his friends. I only made a relieved mental note that there was no blood in that spit.

"Shut up, I have to help you, not because of you but because of my friend Marik. I can't let something bad happen to his body. Come to the med-bay with me, you almost lost a shadow game, I don't want to risk there being consequences."

In response, he only laughed as I pulled his arm, trying to get him to stand up, but then hesitantly complied and stood up on somewhat wobbly legs when another cough interrupted him. Against everything in me, I put his arm over my shoulder and my arm on his back, beginning to walk with him towards the elevator.

"If that's what you have to tell yourself to make yourself feel better, plaything."

I wanted to snap at everything that came out of his wretched mouth, especially the clearly amused chuckle, but then seeing the way Yugi and his friends turned and looked at me made me want to disappear in shame.

"Penelope?.." Anzu's voice was barely audible, confusion and disbelief written on her face with furrowed brows.

I loudly defended myself immediately.

"I-I'm sorry guys, I know it looks horrible, but this bastard is inhabiting my friend's body, I can't let him damage his body, I need to keep it safe for when he returns, I have to make sure nearly losing a shadow game didn't hurt Marik's body!"

Fortunately, most of the gazes I got in return were of hesitant and painful understanding along with a few nods.

"'When' she says, heh…" Marik started commenting, and I did my best to ignore him as I tapped elevator buttons "Ever the optimist, my dear… He's not coming back, I'll ensure of that, just you wait." his voice was hoarser than usual, before he cleared his throat.

"Tsk." I planned to ignore him, but already failed, and failed to suppress my angry tone too, already wishing as I spoke that I wasn't pushing him too far "Ensure of it how, by almost losing another shadow game? You play too much, Marik, you were close to being beaten by some loser who relies on nothing but luck and his friends to win! Just because you wanted to make him suffer instead of playing properly and winning the damn duel normally, sadistic bastard…" admittedly, I spoke the last part well under my breath, but no doubt he had heard it.

The silence as the elevator went down was already making my heart thump heavier, and when he spoke, it was a relief, the very brief chuckle that left him didn't sound very amused.

"Keh.. Of that, perhaps you're right, plaything."

"Stop freaking calling me that-" I barely got out the complaint before he raised his arm and trapped me in a choke hold, fortunately not too tight, just tight enough to express his disapproval. Or to mess with me, at this point, I knew that with him, either possibilities were equally likely.

"Why, that is what you are, keheh." he spoke too close to my ear, the sensation of his breath on the sensitive skin raising some hairs on the back of my neck, even more so as he leaned some of his weight on my back.

I bit my tongue to not say something and risk provoking him more, only let out a whine as I put my hand near the elevator panel and watched the lights on the buttons go down, too slowly.

"Ooh, I missed hearing those little sounds. I was thinking when our next fun encounter might be, is this it? Med-bay? How risque."

At that, my eyes just shut as I tried to compose myself, and felt ever so slightly relieved when he got off of me, removed his arm, and much to my chagrin, wobbled a little as he took a step back.

"I.. hate to say this.. but tell me how you feel."

"My head's spinning, keheh."

My brows furrowed as I watched him cross his eyes on purpose and spin his index finger next to his ear. Hesitantly, I grabbed his arm again and placed it over my shoulder as the elevator doors finally opened and we walked out.

This guy… It's like I'm in a fever dream. He replaced my lifelong friend, murdered people, raped me, and… randomly acts like a child. While finding something to laugh about every other minute. Ridiculous.

A deeper expression of fear and apprehension grew on my face as I reflected on his recent words. It was true, being alone in the med-bay with Marik was a bad idea, but what was I to do, I didn't want to let his body suffer God-knew what side effects of nearly losing a shadow game, if my friend were to ever come back, I wanted to make sure he'd have a healthy body to return to.

By the time we reached the med-bay, I didn't even realize I was almost dragging my feet, the feeling of defeat being too strong.

As the door opened, we found it the large room to be only half lit, and most importantly, devoid of people. At that point, with Marik here, I didn't know if that was a good or bad thing.

For the sake of others… I guess it's a good thing.

"Lie down, I'll take a blood sample and the machines will do some scans…" I spoke almost under my breath, but fortunately, Marik sat on the nearest medical chair, which was more like a mix between a table and a recliner.

I felt like I could breathe again as soon as I stepped away to gather some medical supplies, but when I pushed a tray of them towards his chair, he was sitting with his head in his hand, rubbing his forehead.

I paused for a second, before exhaling and hesitantly pushing his shoulders.

"You have to lie down.."

Fortunately, he didn't put up a fight, resting his back on the recliner, but I hated the way he pinned me with his gaze and refused to remove it as I prepared the supplies to get a blood sample.

As I was unpacking the blood extractor device, all I could think was hope that he doesn't open his mouth again and make this even harder than it already was for me.

I cleared my throat and tapped a button to raise the chair to my level so that I could extract some blood.

Before that, with great hesitation, I reached a hand over and placed it on his forehead.

"No fever.. Okay then, this will be just a small prick, won't be long.." as I rubbed his skin with alcohol, I couldn't stop the thought.

Not that I care about your pain, sadistic bastard…

"I'll give you a big prick again tonight, keheh- ow-"

It was the slightest satisfaction to hear his sick comment and chuckle be interrupted by the needle going into his vein, I let the device do its job while I prepared the scanner and its computer.

"Yes… rape threats, how predictable…" I mumbled under my breath, but it didn't stop him from continuing

"Rape? Is that what it was, while you were moaning like a bitch in heat under me? Digging your nails into my back while you were coming on my dick? Chanting my name, oooh, I'm getting hard just remembering it again!" he straight up laughed in delight while I covered my ears halfway through that, failing to block out the horrible words.

"Shut up! Shut the fuck up, I'm trying to help y.. I'm.. Fuck!" I slammed my hands against the computer's keyboard out of frustration and immediately regretted it, quickly having to fix it the messed up commands. The combination was horrific, not just his vulgar words, but worse, the fact that he wasn't wrong, and much worse, the way I felt my insides twitch in response to hearing them.

I damn near wanted to puke myself.

My eyes began to water as I pressed buttons to bring the scanner in position, but I quickly suppressed it and wiped the moisture away, smudging some eyeshadow down my face in the process.

The smirk on his face and fixed gaze didn't surprise me when I finally had to approach him again, I did my best to completely and instantly ignore him as soon as my eyes landed on his crotch for half a second and I saw the shape at half-mast. Trying to suppress the panic and hope he wasn't going to try anything, I just removed the blood container and placed it in the hematology analyzer.

When I stood next to him and tapped a button on the scanner above him, though, a sudden realization made my stomach sink. I didn't want to say it, it was one of the last things I wanted to say, but I had to, it wouldn't work otherwise.

Hesitating more, I raised my hand to rub the bridge of my nose, expecting nothing good, before I finally gave in and pushed myself to speak up.

"Marik.. you have to.. remove that.. for the scan.." I barely nodded my head towards his shirt and millennium ring.

"Ooh? Do what now? I can't hear you, plaything, speak up!" he exaggeratedly cupped his hand to his ear while leaning towards me, and I let out another defeated deep exhale.

"You need to remove your shirt for the scan to work… Probably same for the Millennium Rod and Ring, to be safe…" I forced myself to speak in a louder, emotionless voice, although it was far from perfect.

The fact that I expected his chuckle didn't make it any more bearable, but at least he complied. I quickly looked anywhere but at him when he lifted the shirt over his head, which I almost wish I didn't, since he just threw it on my face."

A short squeal escaped me, just out of surprise seeing a black thing fly towards me, before I pulled it down and glared at him with embarrassment while he laughed, then again quickly averted my eyes from his bare chest.

To some relief, I didn't have to tell him again, he pushed the Ring away so it hanged on the side of the chair, and held the Rod in his hand which he stretched towards my side of it.

I flinched at the feeling of the cold gold touching my bare leg, then started the scanning procedure and quickly took the chance to pull a rolling stool under me and sit down as the machine did its job.

What the heck am I doing… My head slowly fell into my hands as the soft whirring of the machine began. I'm making sure this twisted bastard is alright… After he just killed another person… And did what he did to me... Just because he's occupying my friend's body… God, it almost feels like a sick joke… Like I'm some kind of hostage…

It was lucky that my hair was obscuring my face, since a few tears made their way to the surface, which I quickly smudged again. They weren't just out of sadness, but also of frustration and disbelief at what was happening.

It took a couple of minutes until the scan was fully complete, and then another until the results were analyzed and displayed, and then another more until the blood machine finished its job as well. Minutes in which Marik felt the need to yap, focusing on what he thought was fun teasing, while to me, his words just made me hate myself all the more for not trying hard to prevent him from getting away with what he did to me and others.

I didn't even bother getting up, I felt somehow weak as I pushed the rolling stool towards the computer console and read the results of both scans.

I swallowed, not too surprised, not too concerned, hardly able to focus on anything but the storm of emotions.

"It's.. uh.." I cleared my throat and tried to clear my head too "It's nothing, unfortunately slash fortunately… You're just dehydrated, which causes headaches.. whether any or both are related to the shadow game, I don't know, but drink some damn water regardless and you'll be fine… And clearly nauseated, since you damn nearly vomited at the end… I'll bring you a painkiller to take for the headache..."

Now what the heck is he laughing about?!

I felt a pang of anger at his sudden chuckle as I fetched the pill and placed it on the table and he spoke up as he raised himself on his elbows.

"The funniest part is that I nearly puked when I thought about the fact that Jounouchi almost defeated me. The thought by itself made me sick, keheheh!"

I rolled my eyes as he chuckled again, I was too tired and scared for this shit, now that I knew he was fine, I just wanted to leave.

That's what you get for playing like shit on purpose just to cause your opponent pain..

Before I got up, though, he did so too, sitting up on the elevated chair and looking down at me with a predictable smirk. The Millennium Ring was hanging behind his shoulder, and before I could rip my eyes away from his chest, a thought crossed my mind. A thought that did arise before, during that one night, when I had far more important things to worry about.

"See something you like, plaything?" he was clearly amused and happy to take advantage that my gaze lingered on him too long.

I quickly shook my head, stood up and went to the computer to clean up and reset files.

"Come on, you can tell me, you know we've grown close." he chuckled at his own comment, and despite hating it, I really felt the urge to ask him, mainly because I couldn't possibly think of any rational explanation.

A deep sigh left me as I braced myself.

"I can't believe I'm asking this, but it's so bizarre and unexplainable that I have to even ask you. I don't.. get it.. I mean.. I know Marik. My whole life. W-when you.. ugh.." I had to re-compose myself, not even wanting to look at him and see the usual shit-eating grin on his face, just forced myself to speak "W-when you replaced him, it's liked you.. gained weight, s-somehow. That's what I don't understand, it shouldn't be physically possible, but it's.. kinda obvious.." I hated myself for saying it as it was, I sure as hell didn't want to say what I really meant, that he inexplicably looked more muscular, I already felt some warmth in my cheeks just by saying that little. And it certainly wasn't helped when I turned to him when I saw him move in the corner of my eye, only to see him put his hands behind his head and flex his arms and chest.

Immediately it made me look away, and, predictably, he found it highly amusing while I put my head down and pretended that I had something else to do at the computer.

Until my body started tensing worse and worse with each step I heard him take until he was right behind me.

"See, I knew I was right." when he leaned over me, wrapping a hand around my waist and resting some of his weight on my back, I felt I could collapse, doubly so when I felt him move my hair just so he could place his lips on the side of my neck, I had to bite my tongue not to make a sound.

"A-answer my question, if you even know! How can it be?"

"Who knows…" He sounded completely uninterested, before I felt a smirk against my skin "I guess I call him my weaker counterpart for multiple reasons."

"O-ok, we're done here, you'll be fine, just drink some damn water, take the painkiller and you'll be ready to continue terrorizing us and making me hate myself more for not being able to stop you.."

After I made it clear that it was time to go, I tried to move, but his grip wouldn't budge.

"Aren't you forgetting something?" he spoke up casually, and I made the mistake of turning to look at him in confusion, quickly turning away once my eyes met his, inches away.

"W-what are you talking abou-"
"May I have my shirt back, plaything? Or would you prefer me to go around like this?"

Only then did I realize I had been holding his shirt in the crook of my elbow the entire damn time, I felt just confused and embarrassed as I tried to throw it to him roughly.

As he took it, he finally began to remove his arm, but not without first moving his hand over a breast and giving it a squeeze.

I nearly failed to suppress my yelp as I snaked out of his grasp, but not fully yet, caught by the wrist at the last second.

I only glared at him for a second as he looked at me and spoke shamelessly

"I like those black streaks going down your face. Do me a favor and pretty up those colors for tonight, I wanna make them run down your face all by myself. Gotta celebrate my victory, after all, eeh?"

My jaw dropped at the blunt insinuation, I just wanted to get out of this room and walk away as fast as possible. Shaking my wrist to break free did nothing at first, quite the opposite.

He watched me struggle, amused, for a few seconds, before roughly yanking me close. Before I could react, he grabbed my head and jaw and forced a kiss. As soon as I could feel his tongue invade my mouth, I could also feel tears begin to build up again. My hands pushed against his bare chest and I poked my finger in one of the sharp points of the Ring as he tried to deepen the kiss. He only started to laugh in my mouth at my struggle, the laughter becoming much more audible when he suddenly let me go and I nearly fell on my ass as I pulled back.

"You-" my voice started almost as loud as a yell, then completely died out as I just watched him for a bit, standing slightly hunched over, purple cape covering one bare shoulder, Rod in one hand, Ring over his chest, all the gold on him gleaming in the half-lit room, while he licked his lips and quietly chuckled, eyes transfixed on my horrified gaze.

A strange silence overcame my mind, almost like all the emotions and thoughts were too much to bear anymore, and my inner self just gave up. I didn't know what to think, or say, or do anymore, it all just felt completely pointless and not worth the effort.

I turned and quietly left the room, not even in a rush, telling myself I should just be content that I made sure Marik's body is not hurt after what happened, and not even begin to think whether or not I'm in danger tonight. It felt too exhausting to even think anymore.