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Chapter Three: Kaiba's Mistake
The storm lasted three days. Three dark, tedious, restless days. The power had failed some time while I had been in my room. After suppressing the feelings of impending doom that had welled up within me enough to at least live my life, however short it may be, I walked (Or tripped rather, over my own feet...) downstairs to the livingroom. But before I could even get to a flashlight, or any light for that matter, something rammed into my side with the force of a flying cinderblock.
"What the hell...?"
I was flat on my back, stunned, with someone lying on top of me...sobbing into my chest...it took me a few moments to realize who it was...
"Izumi...?"
She looked up at me fearfully, her eyes filled with tears, and nearly choked me to death as she threw her arms around me in a desperate, frightened hug. I pulled her into a tight embrace and rubbed her back comfortingly.
"What is it, Bur Hemt?" I said softly as she put her chin on my shoulder, calming down a bit now that she was with me, "What's got you so upset...?"
"Malik-sama.....it.....it tried to kill me....."
About 20 things flashed through my mind at once, none of them very comforting for neither me nor her. But I kept my cool, kept my mouth shut. I felt her shivering against me, but she continued nonetheless.
"This thing......this shadowy thing....it said it was going to kill me...said it was going to stab me in my sleep.....that I'd never know..."
It was like someone had stabbed a dagger of pure ice into my stomach. My evil half...it had to be...
"What...did this thing do...?"
She sniffed and looked up at me. I could see the same cold fear in her eyes that had been in my own in that knife...she gripped the back of my shirt, and with great difficulty, almost like something was holding back the words, she whispered slowly...
"It...just stood there...with this...glowing eye on it's head..."
There was no denying it. Yami Marik was after her. Seeing the look of astonishment on my face at her description, she burst into tears again.
"I don't wanna die...I don't wanna die!!!!" she sobbed, throwing her arms around me again. I hugged her tightly...I wouldn't let him get to her...
"I won't let him..." I promised her, holding back tears of my own, "I won't let him take you away..."
The darkness seemed to swallow all reality as we held each other for what seemed an eternity, not wanting to let go, not wanting to risk losing each other to the shadows...
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We spent the next two days playing Duel Monsters and walking around outside as the storms died down, and the nights curled up in my bed, me still pondering when the "Eye of Ra" would shine, and Izumi sleeping soundly at the fact that I was there to prevent her being stabbed during the night.
Around noon on the third day, just as my Dark Magician killed her Summoned Skull, the lights flickered back on. And no less than two seconds after that, there was a knock at the front door...
The knocking turned to violent banging as I got up, blinking the sudden flow of light from my eyes, and opened the door.
"Marik!!!! Long time no see, bud!!!!"
Joey Wheeler stood beaming at me on the porch. I blinked.
"Joey...? What are you doing here...?" I asked slowly, not able to think of any reason he'd have showed up without calling first. But my question was answered no sooner had I thought it. A tall, dark-haired someone wearing a white jacket appeared at his shoulder and shoved him out of the way indignantly.
"Get out of my way, Wheeler, I have business to take care of." snarled Seto Kaiba, turning and glaring at me.
"What do you want with me, Kaiba?" I asked, staring up at him curiously. He scoffed.
"It's not that I want anything to do with you...but I've come to invite you to my next tournament, to be held in a remote location that will remain undisclosed until all acceptable duelists arrive at the port. Yes, we'll be taking a boat, Wheeler..." Kaiba shifted his glare to a surprised looking Joey at his feet.
"And what does this have to do with me...?"
I held out a hand to help Joey up, then leaned casually on the doorway once he had scrambled to his feet.
"Only the Battle City finalists are invited, Marik." a younger voice said from around the proximity of my waist, making me jump. I looked down to see Mokuba smiling up at me, carrying Kaiba's huge metal suitcase. I smiled back, glad that he hadn't been corrupted by Kaiba's antisocial nature, and then offered to help him with his load. He shook his head politely.
"It's okay...Seto doesn't want me letting anyone else carry it..."
"Mokuba, don't let your guard down...deranged, two-sided mental cases like him aren't to be trusted..."
It took everything in me not to let a string of curses out at him. I wanted to know what he was inviting me to; I couldn't blow it with one violent outburst...
"Shut yer snobby face, Kaiba! He ain't dat kinda person no more..." Joey said defensively. I gave him a thankful look. I couldn't get mad...I had to stay cool...
"Joey," Kaiba drawled,"...he controlled your mind and turned you against your friends...and you're going to trust him??"
Mokuba bobbed on his heels uncomfortably. I could tell he was afraid to say anything against his brother's opinion...which is why I was surprised when he spoke up.
"Seto," he said, giving his brother the big puppy eyes that even someone as cold-hearted as Kaiba couldn't resist, "Stop bringing that stuff up...you're hurting Marik..."
"Ha!! That's a laugh...us hurting Marik...?? Do you know how many people he's hurt in his life??"
"But Seto...!"
Mokuba looked desperate, grasping for words he couldn't find.
"Look," Kaiba snarled, pointing an accusing finger in my face, "This slime is not worthy of even walking the earth! He has committed such unspeakable crimes that even his own father would have hated him! If Marik hadn't killed him, that is...but who's to say the old man wasn't just as as loony..."
I gritted my teeth angrily. He was going too far now...
"Shut up, Kaiba...shut up if you know what's good for you..."
He shot me a withering look over his shoulder, then turned to face me, an evil smirk spreading across his face as an idea dawned on him.
"What's wrong, Marik?" he taunted,” Think your daddy might come back to haunt you...?"
I shut my eyes tightly, my fingernails digging deep into my palms. The anger was becoming unbearable...my head was screaming with curses right now...my body shook with rage...
"Shut up, Kaiba...just shut up...."
But he persisted.
"And what are you going to do to me...? Run to your mommy? Oh wait, you can't, she's dead too!! You murdered her too, I suppose...? Didn't want her in your way while you dominated the world, pushing away all your insecurity, hiding all the shame of being born into such a family of bloodthirsty, sadistic freaks??"
My body moved on its own. In a blur of motion, I felt my fist collide with Kaiba's face with a sickening crack, and when he stumbled back, seeing the opening, I leapt forward and wrapped my hands around his throat. He turned pale, the life slowly starting to drain out of his eyes; he groped vainly at my enraged grip, but I was not about to let go, not for anything. I felt warm blood drip down my hands. I had made him bleed....it was a start...
"No one insults my family and lives to tell about it...," I hissed, watching in horrible pleasure as he began to lose consciousness before me, "...drill that into your head, you unworthy imbecile..."
"Big Brother, NO!!!!!"
Mokuba bounded forward and tried to break my hold on Kaiba. Joey just stood there, frozen in shock, looking like he was terrified to even move.
"Please, please let my brother go, Marik...” Mokuba pleaded, tears filling his huge eyes and dripping down his face as he flinched and held back a sob, "I don't want him to die!!"
If it weren't for that single plead for mercy, I probably would have killed Kaiba. But as I glared at his little brother, who was sitting in the dirt before me, crying uncontrollably, I was suddenly shoved back into reality, as if someone had taken a great big stick and hit me over the head. All the rage left me. I let go of Kaiba.
He gasped and fell to his knees, clutching at his chest and staring at the ground in shock. I backed off. What had I just done...?
You almost killed him, Marik...said a voice in my mind, and at the time I didn't realize what it was, but you couldn't do it, could you...? Could you...? Could you...?
I jammed my hands over my ears again as the voice grew louder...stronger...
You were so close...but you couldn't do it...you were too weak...
"Shut up," I muttered, "Leave me alone..."
It was just like before...exactly like before...the blazing pain returned twice as horrible as last time...I knew what was coming next...
Weak...weak...WEAK...
"Leave me alone...!"
Weak...just like your father...and just like your will...
"Shut up...shut up and get out of my head...!!!!"
I was too distressed to notice Joey and Mokuba's frightened looks, and Kaiba's suspicious glare. Too distressed...and too frightened myself...
You're weak, Marik...stop lying to yourself...you'll see once I finally emerge again...after all this time...
I looked up for about a millisecond. All three were staring at me, watching me shake horribly, watching me trying to will myself to die, watching me go insane before them...I had to tell them to get away...to get as far away as possible...
But just as I opened my mouth to warn them, my hand went numb...then my shoulder...then my entire arm...
...you'll never warn them in time...you'll never stop me now...there's nothing to stop me now...
"Shut up," I moaned, digging my nails into my scalp, firmly believing that it would somehow make the pain stop, "...shut up...shut up....SHUT UP!!!!"
But I heard the voice still. And this time, it was as if it were whispering in my ear, standing right next to me...and I felt the cold hand of his touch my shoulder...
...it's my turn...say goodbye to your friends...and say goodbye to your life.
That was it. If I didn't do something now, everything I knew would be gone...and if I did somehow manage to regain my body...what would I have to live for...?
What could I do? I did the only thing I could do. I ran.
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