Reprise

Chapter 8: Point of View





The next morning at the breakfast table was especially lively. Mostly people were excited about Marik finally being able to come out of the medical bay, and also about the chance to eat some fresh fruit. While everyone tucked into their fruit salads, Joey’s mind wandered to the thoughts of last night, where he discovered an apple in his bed/sofa. From what he could piece together from his day at the Market, getting hold of an apple wasn’t easy, and the only grower of them was a particular sleazebag named Boalbzoa. Had Ryou really sold his body to give Joey a peace offering?



Looking across the table, Ryou seemed his normal self, engrossed in his books while Anzu tried to tempt him into eating. There seemed to be no emotional turmoil bubbling under the surface. Rather than mentioning it, Joey decided that it was in everyone’s best interests that he keep it a secret. Whether or not Ryou knew what he had done was far from normal, he resigned the notion that Ryou had went the extra mile to do something nice for him, and telling him that he didn’t have to go so far would probably only distress him more.



“Can you tell us what happened that night, Marik?” Asked Yugi suddenly, Ishizu widened her eyes in warning at Yugi, though he noticed everyone suddenly went silent, obviously hoping Marik would share what he saw. Marik toyed with a pear for a while before nodding.



“I guess I should let you guys know, though I don’t really remember much myself.” said Marik. Reclining back in his chair he closed his eyes for a moment before beginning his story.





*****



Marik clutched the Millennium Rod in his fingers tightly, he knew the mission they were going on this time was especially dangerous. Mako and Seto seemed to give off an aura of confidence Marik wished he could replicate, though truth be told he was terrified. They had left early in the morning, as soon as it was light enough, in order to give themselves as much time as possible. Today they were investigating Rarroghena Site, or as it used to be known before the Shadow-kin came, Domino Prison. Rarroghena Site was the name people gave it after all the inmates were taken over by the Shadow-kin.



Domino Prison was the first place to be fully taken of by the Shadow-kin, the inmates trapped, helpless in their cells, were no match for the rapidly increasing Shadow-kin population. It was seen as a place of pure evil by many people, and Marik can’t blame them. As it came into view, Marik felt the same feeling he always felt when looking at the towering citadel. Fear. The place seemed locked in a perpetual darkness, with thick storm clouds constantly encasing its grey stone, even during the day. With its high walls, complete with barbed wire and guard towers, it was not unlike the evil lairs that TV villains resided in.



Seto had his precious gun, Blue Eyes, ready for any signs of trouble. He was always so diligent. Mako, however seemed more relaxed and talkative, with his Ocean’s Keeper spear resting lazily against his shoulder. Though Marik’s Millennium Rod allowed him to use Duel Cards more often, expending less of his life energy, it wasn’t as effective at causing melee damage, so he was given the supply bag to carry, which held torches, some batteries, some bread and bottles of water.



“Rarroghena never fails to send shivers down my spine.” Commented Mako, “It’s like it knows we are coming.”



“If it knows we are coming, we may as well turn back now. I hate the thought of Yugi in my kitchen trying to bake a cake, anyway. .” Said Seto, his eye twitching slightly at the memory of his kitchen being covered in chocolate residue. They all laughed.



Once they reached the outer walls of the ex-prison-turned-demonic-playground, they were constantly on the look out for Shadow-kin. If anything this was a pure reconnaissance mission, gather information without being spotted and leave as soon as possible. With the Shadow-kin though, nothing was ever so simple.



“How do we get in?” Asked Marik, noting that the walls were too high to climb, and even if they could, there was barbed wire lining the top. Not to mention the solid steel entrance was locked tight, and nothing short of a large explosive would make it be otherwise.



Mako inspected the walls looking for weak-spots, but there was no such luck. As Mako was doing that, Seto reached into his pocket for his cards, sifting through them looking for a solution.



“Should we be using the cards so early?” Asked Marik, knowing that Seto would be at half strength after using the Summoning Crystal attached to his gun.



“I don’t see any other choice, and besides, if all goes well we will be out of here in no time.” Replied Seto, never looking up from his cards. He continued this until he made a noise of elation.



“A-ha! This should do.” Said Seto, holding up the card “Interdimentional Matter Transporter” for Marik and Mako to see. “This should open a ‘gate’ for us to travel through, it will only last twenty minutes though, so we better be quick about this.”



Marik and Mako nodded in agreement, while Seto held the card up to his gun, the Summoning Crystal reacted and began emitting an ethereal glow. Pools of red light gathered around the barrel of his gun and when Seto pulled the trigger, the red light shot towards the wall before expanding into an archway. Within the archway was pure darkness.



“Okay, let’s move!” Said Mako, and he bolted towards the ‘gate’, taking it in a run. Seto followed second, walking calmly into the darkness. Marik followed apprehensively, closing his eyes as he also ran into the archway.



When Marik opened his eyes he was in a dark room, he fumbled for the torch in his bag, he flicked the switch. The room lit up suddenly, making Seto and Mako jump in fright when everything became a little clearer. Glancing around without making a noise, the team kept on the lookout for Shadow-kin, when satisfied that they were alone, they confirmed the mission.



“Okay, got it.” Whispered Mako, “I suggest we split up, the faster we do this the fast we can get back here. The reason we are here is because Shadow-kin have been increasingly flocking to the area at night, so obviously we all need to keep our guard up.” Seto and Marik nodded in agreement, though it must have shown on Marik’s face that he was nervous about going alone because Mako shot him a comforting smile and patted his shoulder.



“Don’t worry,” he said, “If anything happens, I’ll come to your rescue.”



Marik smiled, feeling a little better.



Marik had opted to take the first floor, which is where the archway took them. Seto took the ground floor and Mako took the second. The first floor seemed to be just empty cells with iron bars, most were left open. There was haunting evidence of the Shadow-kin’s presence everywhere. Beds were slashed, and dried blood pools often occupied the floor of some. Other cells had small scratch marks leaving a trail in the concrete where out of desperation inmates had sunk their fingernails in, trying to keep from being dragged away.



The question he dared not think about, however, was if there are supposedly so many Shadow-kin here, why does the place seem to be completely empty? Walking past the first row of cells showed nothing out of the ordinary, however as he approached the second row, he heard a low humming noise coming from the elevator shaft in-between. As he got closer and put his ear up against the cold metal doors, he realised that it wasn’t a humming. It was the sound of many people chanting, the same incomprehensible phrases over and over again. Although his body trembled, he knew he had to be brave and he slid his fingers in the grooves of the doors, and gently, as to not make a sound, slid them open. The drop down was larger than Marik had thought. There was clearly a secret underground level, far below even the basement, that was not shown on any of the building plans of Rarroghena, and the chanting he heard was echoing through the elevator shaft.



He took a deep breath and held his Millennium Rod tightly in his hands, praying softly for protection. Once he finished his prayer, he looked around the shaft, searching for the emergency ladders, and when he found them he took one step forward. When he took the first step towards the shaft, trying to get close enough for his arms to reach the ladder, he heard a soft click. It was then immediately followed by a loud bang, and a shock-wave which knocked him off his feet. As he fell, his Rod slid from his hands and rolled away down the corridor, teetering precariously between the solid ground, and the elevator shaft.



When he sat up, Marik could only see smoke and fire. He must have triggered a trap, he had to get back to the others immediately. As he tried to stand up, he was almost knocked off his feet again when another loud bang came from the floor below, followed by another from above which caused the ceiling to cave in, creating a vacuum of fire. Coughing and sputtering, Mark groped around for his Millennium Rod - upon finding it just before it almost fell to its demise, Marik heard the clanging of metal. He realised the sound was footsteps on the metal ladder. They were coming.



Jumping back onto his feet, Marik bolted past the flames, trying to dodge pieces of flaming rubble that dropped from above. Smoke was filling his lungs, and he could feel the presence of the Shadow-kin pouring out from the open elevator shaft. He was almost back at the storage room they had come out of, and where the archway was when he heard Seto’s voice calling his name.



“I’m here Seto! Get back to the gate! They’re coming!” Marik yelled as loud as he could, bursting past another lot of falling debris, but just as Seto came into sight, with Mako running down from the nearby staircase, he was grasped firmly by his arm. He immediately tried to shake it off, but it’s cold clench was unyielding. Marik could see Seto trying to aim his gun, but he clearly couldn’t get a good shot. Marik knew he was a goner.



“Go! Get OUT of here! I’ll be fine! Please, leave!” Marik found a surprising amount of conviction in his voice, his desire to protect his friends outweighed his own fears as he struggled with the increasing amount of hands pulling him back. Seto and Mako looked quite prepared to ignore what he just said completely, until a loud cry for help came from the second storage room. Locking eyes with Seto, Marik nodded. They shared an understanding together, just before Marik lost his footing, he saw Seto pulling Mako backwards, into the storage room the voice had come from.



Marik struggled helplessly as they Shadow-kin pulled him away silently. It always disturbed him how they never made a sound. He felt them trying to get his Millennium Rod out of his hand, but he refused to go down that easily, with his free hand he reached into his pocket and pulled out the first card he touched, raising it in front of the rods crimson crystal eye. He blindly prayed that he had picked something useful.



Suddenly, the ground beneath him started to quake so hard that it started to crack and give way under him, he screamed as he fell through the hole in the floor, the Shadow-kin - trying to grasp onto the solid ground - had let go of Marik momentarily, but they couldn’t get a hold of anything either and fell to their doom. Though as Marik fell, a golden rope came from nowhere and like a snake, wrapped its way around his wrist and pulled him back up to the 1st floor. When he managed to pull himself out of the hole, twisting his head around searching for Shadow-kin, he was relived to find the oncoming hoards were trapped at the other side of the collapsed corridor.

The smoke was so thick that he could barely breath, but he staggered towards the direction of the archway, anyway. Pushing open the door his heart sank. The archway had gone. Running the the next room just to make sure he hadn’t gotten mixed up, he was disappointed to note that there was no archway here either. He paced back and forth quickly for a few seconds, trying to think of a way out of this. Though no answer was forthcoming. The smoke was only getting thicker, so he decided to go to the ground floor where the air was hopefully cleaner. At the far end of the corridor, directly under the hole from above, was the abyss conjured by his spell card.



He felt the same tingling sensation as before, meaning the Shadow-kin were drawing closer, probably using the elevator shaft again. Running to a wall he was sure would lead directly into the sunlight, he sifted through his cards until he found what he was looking for. Raising his Millennium Rod, he held the spell card “Hinotama” in front of the rods crystal. It glowed softly before finally, and with great force, blasted through the wall by shooting multiple fireballs from the tip. Sunlight filtered in through the dust as it settled.



****



“And that’s all I remember, really.” Said Marik, opening his eyes and looking around at the others. “I had to use my rod to blast my way through the outer walls. So I was beyond exhausted. Somehow I managed to find my way to an abandoned building, and climbed up onto the roof. I stayed there for almost four days, my limbs were too weak to go any further.”



Everyone sat silently around the table, most had stopped eating their breakfast. Even Ryou had put down his book to listen. Ishizu held her head in her hands, quite obviously near tears. Anzu sat idly stroking Mako’s arm.



“I’m sorry we left you, Marik.” Said Seto, his eyes locked with Marik’s. Marik shook his head in reply.



“Don’t be, you did what you had to. Besides, it all worked out for the best.” Marik turned his head to Mako and said. “Thanks…I guess you really did come to my rescue.”







A/N: I hope I didn’t leave any plot holes writing that chapter, I think that is my worst fears about it. That I mentioned something contradictory to the facts presented in an earlier chapter. Please, write and let me know if you spot one.



CJ: I’m sincerely flattered that you are reading both of my stories! It means a lot, you made my night. I’m happy with the reviews I’ve received, though they may not come in massive amounts, it is more than I have ever received before. The other story I’m writing, “Obedience Is A Virtue” will be my first smut fic. Evar. I’m more nervous about how that one
will turn out than I am this one. It is definitely kinky, stay tuned for chapter 2 - things get a little…spicy.

EDIT: If anyone cares, the card Marik used was "Rope of Life"