Four of a Kind, Part Fourteen

Chapter Fourteen

You shook your head in disbelief, for the whole idea was just too strange to consider... let alone accept! You didn't know this man and he wasn't part of your family, that much you knew... there had to be another explanation for this.

"N-No." You managed to finally say, "My father is dead. He died with the rest of my family in a car accident..."

He took a moment to respond, "...Your adoptive family died that day, not your birth family."

"This... this is impossible. You must be mistaken...?"

"There is no mistake, ________."

"B-But... maybe this IS all some big mistake. Maybe you're mixing up my dad with another man you knew... I'm sure there are plenty others with the name ++++++?"

Slowly, he shook his head in silence... then he turned his stare to meet yours and you frowned to find that those tears you thought you had seen before were gone. Slowly, he placed his hand on your shoulder, "You desired the truth... an act in itself which is very brave." Then his hand fell away and he stood, leaving you sitting on the couch in a daze, "I will give you some time to think. I leave it up to you whether or not you wish to look at me as your father... whatever path brings you joy, I will honor your choice." Then he turned and swiftly left the room.

((Time to think...?)) You groaned with eyes dropping to your hands clutched in your lap, ((...What if I don't want to think anymore?))

• Damn right... thinking hurts.
• *giggle* Thinking gives you wrinkles! *giggle* (Me: Okay, somebody watches the Simpsons! )
• ...Uh huh... Shadi will never be my dad.
• Okay then...

When Shadi joined the others, Mariku was the first to open his mouth, "How is she?"

The Keeper didn't meet eye-contact, "Distressed, confused, scared... I'm letting her think things over." Then he turned for the door. He had just put his hand on the doorknob when the same voice came again.

"Where the Hell do you think you're going? When she's done 'thinking' she's going to want to see you!"

Shadi didn't respond for a moment, "...Stay here and protect her. I'm going to try to find Marik." Then, before anyone else could say a word, he was out the door. Silently walking into the early morning light, the Keeper added another comment mentally, ((Besides, I need some time to think.))

• No kidding
• This is just getting weird (Me: Only just? I thought I'd crossed that boarder a long time ago. XD)

You sat alone on the couch desperately trying to sort out the mess that was quickly becoming your life. Everything had been so much simpler when you were alone. Ever since you had moved to this place... Domino City... nothing was normal anymore. You had come here to get away from the painful memories of your family... only to have them brought back to the surface again. You were through crying over their deaths, but those kinds of wounds never do heal completely - there is always a sting left to them each time they're pressured. Anyone who has lost someone dear to them knows this.

You didn't even know why, in all the places in the world, you had picked this God-forsaken place... or maybe you did know. You had known about the Duel Monster tournaments around this area... and you had wanted to participate at least once. That had been your pointless reason for coming here: to be a little wannabe Duelist that would have probably lost in the first Duel anyway. Now, you wished you had never even heard of the pointless card game.

Now, here you sat... a victim of life, a victim of rape... and a victim of a family secret. So many lies... so much deception... it made you boil with rage and weep with sorrow at the same time... and the combination made you surprisingly calm. No, not calm... detached. You felt almost like you were floating, drifting back and forth between the lines of existing and not. If you tried, you could even picture yourself on the couch tonight... your dead stare, your trembling hands... your dried tears.

It was all too much to take... too exhausting to think about...

Closing your eyes, you leaned back into the couch and pinched the bridge of your nose at the beginnings of a headache. Then, just as long as it took for your hand to move from your face to your lap... you were claimed by a restless sleep.

• I have such a sucky life. (Me: Well, wait til you read what Yami goes through next.)
• The more people you know... the more confusing your life becomes.

"Grandpa? Yugi? I'm home." Yami called as he entered the Game Shop at around seven in the morning, flipping the keys on their hook on the wall as he did. "Hello? Anyone here?"

He heard Grandpa's voice from the kitchen, "In here, Yami."

A frown beset the teen's features, "...Okay..."
Following the voice, he crossed the room and took one step into the kitchen expecting to find Grandpa seated with a cup of tea waiting to give a rant - oops, sorry - a lecture, that's what he called them. However, that was not what he saw... and what he did made him stop dead in his tracks.

Seated around the table in the kitchen was Yugi, a woman, and a man... and Grandpa was serving coffee to them. Yami's tired eyes darkened in rage as he easily recognized the faces of those he couldn't possibly care any less for... his red-head of a mother who looked more like a frazzled squirrel than anything else and his dark-haired father who resembled more a grizzly-bear.

The man rose a satisfied stare to the elder teen frozen at the doorway, his lips curled up in a mocking smile, "Hello, boy."

The woman turned around in her seat to see the tri-haired teen, her eyes emerald and nervous in appearance, "Yami?" She looked like she was going to cry, "...You've changed."

It took a moment for the teen to find his words, but once he did he didn't miss a beat, "What the Hell is going on? What are you doing here? What do you want?"

The woman gave a slightly nervous laugh, "We've come to see our boys."

"Your...? YOUR boys?!" Yami snarled darkly, his voice holding a bite with each word it formed, "You have to be parents to have boys, ANNA, and to be parents you have to give a fuck about yourself and your family! You've done neither so I'm guessing you're a little off on your reasoning."

Yugi and Grandpa exchanged worried glances.

The man stood from his seat at the end of the table, his brown orbs matching those of the elder teen, "You mind yourself, boy."

"Fuck you!" Yami snapped, "You're a drunkard and an abusive piece of shit. I can't believe you actually had the balls to show up here!"

The tri-haired teen expected Grandpa to interject at this point, but all he did was take his seat and begin to sip his coffee, completely oblivious to everything. Yugi just looked nervous.

Anna rose and stepped forward, her hands reaching to touch the angry teen's shoulders, "Yami..."

"DON'T TOUCH ME!" He jerked away, eyes like hammers on the frail woman, "Don't ever touch me or Yugi. I won't have you around making Yugi's life a living Hell! ...Or mine, for that matter. I want you BOTH out of here!"

"That is not your call, boy!" The man yelled back, only to then smugly reclaim his seat, "Your mum and I are staying for a while... get used to it."
"What? Did you gamble away all of Anna’s money AGAIN, Hector?" Yami snapped back and, not waiting for a reply, turned to his younger sibling, "Yugi, get your stuff, we're going."

The younger boy frown, "B-But..."

"Yugi! Now!"

"No!" Anna cried and wrapped her arms around the small boy as he got to his feet, "I won't let you take him away from me!"

"All these years..." The elder of the two growled, "AND NOW YOU CARE?"

"Shut your mouth, you little prick!" The man snarled as he once again rose from his seat, only this time he stormed over towards the elder teenager. He got right up in the boy's face, like he was staring him down or something, and Yami did go to take a retreating step back to put SOME space between them... but the collar of his shirt was too soon seized in an iron fist. "You talk big, so why you trying to get away?" The man sneered, "Don't you want to show me how grown up you've become?"

Yami shoved him back harshly, "Get off me!"

Wrong move, because with a harsh swing of the forearm, Yami was knocked sideways against the wall before the same forearm was pressed against his neck, pinning him and choking him at the same time.

"Yami!" Grandpa gasped as he abruptly rose to his feet, "Hector! That's enough! Not in my house, you don't!"

It was obvious he wasn't going to stop, so Yami used his boot's heel to stomp on the man's foot good and hard, causing him to yelp and stagger back to tend to his toes. The elder teen moved to rush to Yugi's side, only for his wrist to be seized in an iron grasp and, when he got whipped back around, he turned right into a hard fist to his gut. Yami collapsed to the floor with one arm around his stomach and the other supporting himself up off the floor as he coughed and cringed in pain... but he fell the rest of the way to the floor as he was kicked hard in the ribs.

"Yami!" In a flash, Grandpa was at the boy's side crouched down beside him, "Are you alright?"

Named teen continued to cough and cough even as he pushed past the pain to rise up onto his hands and knees, "H-How... could I... possibly... be okay?" Yami managed through heavy breathing as he tried to catch his breath, then he rose his glare to his Grandpa, "How could you... let him back here?"

The old man gave the teen a rather tired stare, "It's not like he gave me much of a choice."

"Come now, don't you want to be a family again?" Hector smirked with crossed arms as he glared down at the two, "Just like old times?"

"'Old times'..." Yami repeated slowly as he began to get back to his feet with a little aid from his Grandpa, "You mean when you would beat the crap out of Anna because supper was cold, even though it had been you that had been over an hour late because you were off screwing some hooker? Or do you mean how you used to lock Grandpa in the closet for DAYS because he was 'nagging too much'? Or do you mean how Yugi used to hide under his bed when you came home drunk? How you used to insist in a drunken delusion that he needed a bath and half-drown him in the freezing-cold water? IS THAT WHAT YOU MEAN BY 'OLD TIMES'?"

Hector just looked pissed at this point, "Fucker! How the Hell do you know about ANY of that? You weren't here!"

"I shared a mind with him for YEARS, you drunken bastard! His memories are mine as well even if he did his best to suppress them!" The words flew out before Yami had even thought them through, then he wondered why the Hell he had brought up such a... touchy subject. "...Just go away, Hector." Yami continued after a few seconds, "Nobody wants you here, alright?"

"NOT alright!"

"TOO BAD!"

"That's enough out of you two." Grandpa suddenly cut in, "Yami, you and Yugi go up to your room, I'll be up in a moment. Hector, SIT DOWN."

The large man glared at his father, "Don't think you can order me around, old fart."

Yami growled with fists clenched tight at his side. "Don't talk to him like that!"

"What are you going to do about it, maggot-shit?"

The tri-haired teen growled, "Plenty." And, in a flash, the Millennium Puzzle sparked to life.

There was a quick move of Hector's arm and the next thing Yami knew he was staring down the barrel of a handgun. The man's eyes narrowed, "Tisk, task, boy. The second I feel any kinda magic shit I'm pulling this trigger..." He redirected where he was aiming it... and aimed it straight at Grandpa, "And sending a chunk of lead into the old man's brain"

Yami's eyes went wide, "You wouldn't..."

"Oh?" Hector smirked and cocked the gun, "I'm the drunken bastard, right? Who knows what I'll do spur of the moment."

Grandpa swallowed hard, "Hector... listen to me..."

"SHUT UP!"

As quickly as it came, the light from the Puzzle vanished, "...There. Now put the gun away before someone gets hurt."

"No way." He smirked, "Not as long as you have that damn magical whatzit around your neck. Did you really think I’d forgotten what you pulled on me two years ago?” A creepy smile came to his lips as he gestured slightly with his gun, “Neh, this time, I came more prepared.”

“WHAT?!” Yugi and Grandpa echoed at the same time as they both turned to the older teen, but it was Solomon who continued, “Yami? What is he talking about?”

“Ah, so you never told them.” His grin grew, “Why the big secret, YAMI?”

The teen’s crimson eyes narrowed on the man challengingly even as he spoke to answer his Grandpa’s question, "...You had gone out on errands... Yugi had gone to Joey’s directly after school... and Hector was already here when I came home from school. He must have broken in because I know that you lock-up the Shop when you leave. In any case, I knew immediately who he was... and he thought I was Yugi at first. I wasted no time in corrected him and then I promptly displayed why he should stay the HELL away from here.” His stare finally turned from the gun to flicker between the two others he cared for more than anything else, “I didn’t want to bring up the pain again... and I didn’t see the harm in not telling you. I thought it would be okay... I thought I had scared him off.”

“Humph, I could have shit myself with your magic-crap.” Hector’s glare narrowed, “But that was before I knew of what kind of freak-show I was dealing with. This time, I’m not taking any chances. Give me your magical-whatzit. Now.”

Yami snarled, but he didn't even have to think about it. The Puzzle over his Grandpa's life... it was no comparison. So, with daggers in his eyes, Yami slipped the chain off over his head and held the Item out. With no small amount of smugness, Hector snatched the Puzzle away from the teen... then his grin returned.

"Good boy... here's your reward." He then redirected the gun back to Yami and pulled the trigger without a second thought. A loud BANG deafened those in the room, but it was followed by a slight cry of agony through gritted teeth... and Yami falling back again the wall before sliding down to the floor, leaving a smear of blood as he went. Yugi and Grandpa shouted as they made a move to help the other, but the gun was soon pointed their way to stop their protests. Anna was just rocking herself in her chair at this point.

"This used to be Yugi's, you know. I saw it on him on TV during those card tournaments." Turning back to Yami, Hector looked over the golden Puzzle in his grasp, then his eyes went to Yami's snarling face. "If this is where that damn 'power' of yours come from... well, then that just ain't fightin' fair." He pulled his arm back.

Yami's eyes flew wide in horror as he clutched his shoulder painfully. "NO!"

"DAD!"

"HECTOR!"

Then, in a flash, the Puzzle whipped right across the room, hit the wall and shattered into the thousands of pieces it had once been in.

Immediately, Yami let loose a wild scream of agony as pain stabbed at his very soul, his other wound forgotten like one would forget a mosquito bite. It was so unbearable, so sharp, that Yami barely noticed himself get dragged up to his feet by a firm hand on his collar before he got dragged across the room. He heard shouts from the others as he was shoved forward, not really being conscious as to where he was as he clutched his chest in pain, then he heard a door close and lock.

Yami forced an eye open to see where he was standing... only to find the familiar sight of the storage room enclosing him. There wasn't even a window in this damn room, just the door and shelves worth of gaming treasure and junk.

((Dammit!)) Yami growled, ((M-My Puzzle... no!)) He went to take a step towards the door, only for his knees to shake as the pain intensified throughout his form, leaving him practically paralyzed. ((It... I-It hurts...!)) He reached to one side with his good arm and let himself use a cabinet to prop himself up as he attempted to cover up the traces of agony that bombarded his small form.

He could hear voices rising in volume on the other side of the door. Yami couldn't even focus enough to listen to what they were saying... it was just a blur of voices.

The teen cringed and went down on one knee clutching at the shirt over his chest. It felt as though a blade that had lay hidden in his heart all these years was suddenly being pulled to the surface. He felt hot and cold at the same time, sweat amounting over his brow while his body shivered time and time again. His face - a face that could hold a million thoughts and any emotion from an enemy - was drawn into a tired snarl with every labored breath.

Yami heard Grandpa yell something... then there was a crash and Yugi was crying.

((No... how could this be happening again? How could I stay in here and let this happen?! I have to do something!)) Yami shook his head as his vision blurred, then cleared, then blurred again, ((Why did Grandpa even let him... in the house?)) He wondered. The Puzzle... the Puzzle was dragging him down, punishing him for not protecting it... taking back the given gift so, now, he couldn't protect anyone! ((I... need... t-the key... the key... for the... door...)) His skin began to itch as though crawling with millions of insects, all intent on eating flesh from bone. ((...Flesh eaters... scarabs... oh, Anubis... have mercy... get him instead!))

He tried to push himself back to his feet... he really tried... but he couldn't do it. His muscles wouldn’t support him anymore, they just couldn't handle his weight. Defeated and overcome by agony, Yami let himself fall the rest of the way to the floor with a THUMP. His hot flesh against the cold concrete soothed him a little, letting his mind go numb, as parts of his skin began to take on a gray tinge...

• HOLY SHIT!!! O_O
• ...Daddy's home.
• His skin is turning GRAY????

You awoke with a jolt that sent your heart racing and beads of sweat dripping from your brow. Staring straight ahead of you, you felt like you were still half-way gone... still not-quite awake... then you suddenly noticed another person near you that made you jump. At first, you could have sworn it to be Bakura... but then you recognized it to be Mariku and that eased your heartbeat just a little.

He was sitting on the coffee table with his elbows resting on his knees and he didn't even seem to notice you had suddenly woken up... he just stared at his hands.

That was when the oddest thought sparked in your mind and you voiced it without even thinking on it, "You knew."

He lifted his eyes to you, an intense frown furrowed across his brow. However, he seemed to catch on what you were talking about, "...Ya." His eyes went back to his hands, "Ya, I knew."

"Since when?"

"A few days before you arrived."

Suddenly, you felt VERY angry, "Why the Hell didn't you tell me?!"

His eyes locked on yours, stern and cold, "_______, it's not like you would have believe me even if I HAD told you and, aside from that, it wasn’t for me to tell anyway."

RRRRIIIINNNGGG!

You jumped at the sound of the phone, only to then feel like a complete idiot.

With a sigh of irritation to the mechanical device that was torturing his already-pissy headache, Mariku suddenly stood and left the room without another word. Not being able to stand all the questions buzzing in your head, you quickly followed after him. When you entered the kitchen, the eldest Ishtar was already on the phone.

"...Woah, woah, hold up a sec, who the Hell is this? ...Speak up, moron, I can't hear a word you're saying." He paused and a frown furrowed across his brow, "Yugi? This is a first... if you're looking for Marik he's not..." His eyes darkened, "WHAT?! You want me to do what?! What the Hell is going...? ...Yugi? Yugi?" He snarled, "Come on, runt, this isn't funny! YUGI?!" With a growl, he slammed the phone on the receiver, "DAMMIT!"

You frowned, arms wrapped around yourself for comfort, "Mariku? What's going on?"

He turned to you, a look of uncertainty across his face, "That was Yugi..." He replied slowly, "Something's going on at the Muto's... I don't know what...” He suddenly snarled, talking almost to himself, "It has to be Bakura... what else would it be?"

You bit your lip, "B-Bakura? What about him?"

He shot a glance back to you, as though suddenly remembering your presence, "...Forget it. Look, I have to head over to the Muto's for a few minutes, will you be okay here?" He inquired as he began his walk to the front of the house, "I won't be long and I could set the alarm for you...?"

"That's... fine." You replied, kinda confused, "What's the matter? Where is everyone?"

"Everyone's out looking for Marik." He said shortly, "He didn't come home last night and now Shadi, Ishizu, and Odion are out looking for him. I was left to watch you but I'm fairly certain something's wrong over at Yami’s place... and I'm pretty damn sure I'm needed there." He sighed and looked at you - for the first time this morning, he actually gave you his full attention. "I know this is bad timing, but I need to go... if you don't want to stay here alone I could probably drop you off at Duke's or someone's for company...?"

Forcing a small smile to your face, you shook your head, "No, I'll be fine."

"Okay, all the numbers you could possibly want are listed by the phone... don't hesitate to call, alright?" Grabbing his coat, he threw it on over - what you just noticed - the same clothes he had on yesterday. "I'll be back." Then, setting the alarm on, he gave you one last smile before rushing out the door. A second later, you watched through the window as he spun his motorcycle around and drove off towards the Muto's place.

As you watched him turn a corner and leave your sight, your stomach began to twist up inside you with nervousness. Biting your lip, you glanced back into the empty house around you, completely quiet in every way... and you decided that it was too quite. Feeling every bite as jumpy as you looked, you went through the house and turned on all the TVs and radios you could find in an attempt to make yourself feel less alone... and it kinda worked. Though you still felt like you were being watched, you decided that paranoia was reeking havoc with your mind and to just ignore it. After all, the alarm was on... and Mariku would be back in a few minutes... what could possibly happen?