Mark of the Damned

Steven opened his eyes to see Bakura and Ryou's friends standing around Rhea's grave. By Bakura's side stood Marik holding onto his crying hikari. By his side grabbing onto his pants leg a little girl stood. She looked around three years old with white hair which looked pointy like Bakura and her crystal blue eyes which remained fixed on the coffin. Yugi stood beside Yami holding lilies. Yami looked up from his book to look at Steven walk to the grave.

"What is this all about? Get away from my wife's grave!"

The little girl looked up to Steven and walked up to him. In her hand she clutched a tan teddy bear with a white bow. She looked up at him with wide eyes tugging on his leg.

"Why did you take my mommy away?"

Steven scowled at the little girl. "I knew you were a girl, Ryou, but trying to grab my pity will not work! Try harder!"

Bakura took a step forward to the coffin and kneeled before it. "Aria? Come here."

The little girl pointed to Steven. "You are a very bad man!" Aria returned beside Bakura, who took her in his arms. "Say goodnight, Aria."

"Goodnight, mommy. I love you." She wrapped her arm over the coffin and ran to Malik who brought her into his arms and kissing her pale cheek. Bakura buried his face on the oak finish and brushed his fingers over the gold engraving reading, "Until death do us part….together forever."

"Goodnight, my sweet little Ryou." Malik put his head on Marik's shoulder.

Steven heard the crunch of leaves behind him and turned quickly.

Rhea stood directly behind him. Steven smiled and wrapped his arm around his wife. "It's just you and me now, Rhea! We can start a new life together! I did this for you!"

Rhea backhanded Steven sending him to the ground. "It's not enough you kill me. You sealed your son's fate and I hope you are satisfied."

"I did it to prove how much I love you!"

"Steven," she said walking to Malik and taking the little girl from his arms, "that makes no sense at all and you know it." The toddler squeezed her teddy bear tightly hugging it.

"You are a killer, Steven."

Steven stood off of the ground. "I don't know what you are talking about!"

"You smiled….watching your son…our child….die. You see nothing wrong with that?"

Steven pointed to the coffin. "I did what I had to to protect him from himself! His behavior would destroy him slowly! I figured I would prevent him from suffering!"

Aria wrapped her arms around Rhea's neck and kissed her neck tenderly.

"I know everyone else here, but who is this?"

Rhea turned to look at the little child with pointy white hair smiling at her. "No one you care about, Steven, nor will you ever care about her. She is special to me, Steven. She is my new little girl," Rhea kissed Aria's cheek as she squealed with delight in her arms.

Steven laughed. "We never had a girl, Rhea! Oh! Wait! We did have a girl, but in a boy's body! My son is this little girl isn't he?"

Rhea grit her teeth and threw him into a maple tree nearby dislocating his shoulder. Steven gripped his shoulder screaming. Rhea carried the girl up to Steven. "This child means more to me than your worthless body! You are cruel, callous. You signed your own child's death sentence and like the cold hearted bastard that you are, you can't even shed a Ra-damned tear!" Aria wiped a tear from Rhea's face. "You never loved me. You are nothing to me. You said to me once that Ryou was an accident…you meant that, didn't you, Steven? You were my accident. I curse the day I met you and I despise the day we were married."

Steven hung his head. "Don't say that, Rhea! I did love you………once."

"Yes. You did love me once. Only once. Ryou was the result of that one time. After that, you never loved me. I was nothing but a trophy for you to flaunt and show me around like I was some prized animal! I am just grateful that you failed to take Ryou to the slaughterhouse like you did to me! You became bored of me! Admit it!"

Rhea advanced to Steven pinning him to the tree. "Admit it, Steven! You became bored of me and bored with Ryou, so you tried to get rid of us both!"

Aria squirmed out of Rhea's grasp and slapped Steven's knee. "You are a very very very bad man!" Aria ran back to Malik who happily brought her into his arms kissing and hugging her.

Rhea pulled up Steven's hair to reveal the scar made by Bakura's dagger. Her hands drifted down to his neck when Steven cried out in pain. When she removed her hand, the smell of burned flesh hung in the air.

"What did you do to me?"

"I marked you. On your neck is the mark of Anubis. When you die, you will go see him. you are now forbidden to come with Ryou and I into the heavens. You are doomed, Steven. Eternal damnation is your reward for trying to murder your own child, your flesh and blood."

"Gimme another chance!"

"You don't deserve half a chance! For your lies and deception, you are damned. Ryou and I will not look back when you cry out in torment from the underworld. You will be alone. I will take my son hen the time is right. You will never join us."

Steven staggered to the coffin followed by Rhea. Malik and Aria's eyes remained fastened on the casket. Marik and Bakura growled angrily at Steven. Steven looked at them and sneered, "I regret nothing."

Bakura jumped onto Steven's back and sank his teeth into the mark of Anubis. Steven fell to the ground as Bakura gnawed on the skin making it bleed. The little girl squirmed in Malik's grasp trying to get down. Malik grabbed Marik's shirt.

"Let go, Malik! He killed Ryou!"

"This is Bakura's battle to fight! Let Bakura handle this! We'll get him next!"

Aria slipped from Malik's grasp. "Daddy! Daddy!"

Steven reached around Bakura and pulled at Bakura's hair. Bakura grabbed Steven's skin leaving deep clawmarks on his arm. Aria ran to Steven and bit his hand. Steven raised a hand to slap the child when Marik ripped himself away from his hikari. Marik jumped in front of the little girl and grabbed Steven's wrist tightly.

"Rhea, help!"

Rhea raised her hand and the attackers retreated.

Bakura grabbed Aria wiping her mouth. "That's daddy's little girl!" Bakura kissed the spiky white-haired child.

Steven laid on the ground holding his neck looking up at Rhea. "You can't fight me yourself, you need your dogs to fight me instead?"

Rhea chuckled. "Actually, it only took Bakura and a small child to bring you down. Marik was doing his job and guarding Aria."

It was then that the area surrounding them became a void. Ryou appeared beside his mother thin and pale. Steven looked wide-eyed at the boy. "I thought you were dead, Ryou!"

"I'm not dead, daddy."

"This is just an extension of Ryou's soul. You can see how your betrayal has hurt him. his body is very much alive, but his trust in his father is broken. He wants to say something to you."

Steven crossed his arms and shifted his weight. He raised his chin with pride. "Oh, and what would that be?"

Ryou coughed and staggered to his father, nearly breathless. He wrapped his arms around his father and laid his head on Steven's chest. He took a deep of a breath as he could and stayed there feeling his father's warmth. "I just wanted to say something to you for one last time. "I love you………daddy. I love you."

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Steven's POV

I woke up quickly to find myself surrounded by cops and doctors. I looked at my hand. There was no marks where that brat bit me. I wiped my face and felt a bandage on my neck.

"Doctor! What is this?"

"You suffered a minor burn. It's nothing major."

The cops turned to me and two women entered the room. One of them, dressed like one of the officers came up to me and showed me her badge. "Steven Bakura, you are under srrest for the attempted murder of your son Ryou Thomas Bakura and for the murder of your wife Rhea Bakura. You have the right to remain silent."

I couldn't be arrested again! I can't believe this! "Those boys kidnapped my son!"

"Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law."

The other woman stepped forward with a form with a seal. "Steven Bakura, I need you to sign on the dotted line."

"I'm not signing anything without my attorney!"

"You are required to sign this."

"What for?"

The woman removed her eyeglasses. "Frankly, Mr. Bakura, you are going to go to prison for a long time. Your son, Ryou Bakura, is only seventeen. As a minor, he is placed under the care of the state until he reaches eighteen years of age. Does he have any family members who could take care of him?"

"I never kept in touch with either of our families."

"He is no longer under your custody. He will be placed in either a children's home or an orphanage until either he turns eighteen or we can find someone who can care for him."

I signed the paper quickly and laid my head back on the pillow. "Take the little bastard!"

As I laid back, my son's voice echoed in my head……'I love you, daddy.'

Next Chappie: Who will take me home? (Ryou gets released from the hospital next chappie)