The Last Goodbye
Bakura woke up the next morning with Marik wrapped in his
arms. The fire had burned out during the night.
Bakura yawned and shook his lover awake gently.
“Ishtar, wake up. We have to see if the sandstorm is done.”
Marik yawned and rubbed his eyes. “Is it morning?”
Bakura shrugged. “I don’t know.”
Bakura and Marik dressed and packed their belongings. Marik gripped the Millennium Rod as he lead his horse out of the pyramid. The sandstorm had abated. Only the calm sunrise greeted them as they
left the safety of the pyramid and mounted their horses.
They looked into the distance and heard a roar.
“Is that….thunder?” Marik asked looking nervously at Bakura.
Bakura slowly turned his head to the right and his heart
sank. He gripped Marik’s arm tightly.
“That’s not thunder.”
Marik looked where Bakura was gazing and froze along with his
partner.
About one hundred men were riding their way…with Anubis at the lead.
“RIDE, MARIK!”
“GODS!”
Bakura and Marik gave their horse’s hindquarters a slap,
making them race off.
Marik and Bakura raced away, looking behind him. Marik gasped
seeing his son beside Anubis.
“BAKURA! How are we going to get out of this
mess?”
Bakura looked around in panic. “I don’t know! I’m thinking!”
The army gained on them.
“READY!” Anubis cried out.
The entire army prepared their arrows.
“AIM!”
Marik heard Aten give a painful squeal.
“No, I don’t want to kill my father! Please, Anubis!”
“You WILL kill him or I will boil you alive, you insolent
little dog!”
Bakura and Marik exchanged glances. Bakura reached out and
took Marik’s hand.
“I love you, Itemri.”
“I love you, Ishtar.”
“FIRE!”
The army fired the arrows.
Marik fell forward on his horse as Bakura grabbed him. An arrow was sticking out from Marik’s back.
“Ba…….Kura……”
Bakura’s eyes watered with tears as Marik’s face wore a mask
of pain.
“HA! WE GOT ONE!” Anubis cheered.
“Marik, stay awake,” Bakura pleaded. “Please, gods, stay
awake!”
Marik’s eyes clenched in pain. “Itemri….save yourself.”
Bakura shook his head. “No! I am not going to leave you,
Marik! I love you too much.”
“TIME TO BRING HIM DOWN!” Anubis
growled as Aten screamed in protest.
“FATHER!”
Marik arched his back as a dagger implanted itself under
Marik’s shoulder blade. Marik screamed in agony and fell off the horse. Bakura
stopped his horse and ran to his fallen lover.
“Marik!” Bakura cried as he cradled Marik’s
body in his arms.
Marik’s breaths were shallow, his body twitching with the
first signs of his impending death.
Bakura cradled Marik to his chest, sobbing. “Marik, don’t die
on me. Please…I need you.”
The army surrounded them and aimed their weapons at them.
Bakura looked up at Anubis angrily.
Anubis grinned triumphantly. “I told you I
would get you some day, tomb robber.”
Bakura looked down at Marik as a trail of red seeped from the
corner of his mouth.
“Itemri…..,”
Marik wheezed as blood filled his lungs. “Love…you.”
Bakura placed his head against Marik’s cooling cheek. “Let me
give him some medical attention, Anubis!”
The army laughed. “He won’t need a doctor where he’s
going. It’s too late for him.”
Marik weakly raised an arm to Bakura’s cheek, his body
shaking involuntarily. “Itemri…one….last…..kiss.”
Bakura sobbed as he held his dying friend. “Don’t leave me, Ishtar….Please don’t leave
me.”
Marik’s teeth clenched as his breathing hastened.
“Please……gods…”
Bakura pressed his lips to Marik’s icy lips. Marik opened his eyes to see a tear falling
from Bakura’s eyes.
Bakura pulled back. “Marik….I love you with every beat of my
heart.”
Marik’s body convulsed as he gasped. “Love you…Item……ri.”
Marik’s body went limp.
Bakura clutched Marik’s dead body to his chest.
“Gods…Ishtar….I love you,” Bakura sobbed.
Anubis rode around and looked at the arrow
sticking out of Marik’s back. “Aten, boy! You struck
your father dead!” Anubis pulled the arrow from
Marik’s back.
Aten dropped his arrows and sobbed into his hands. “I killed
my daddy! I didn’t mean to do it!”
“The pharaoh will be proud of you, son!” Anubis
grabbed his dagger and pulled it out of Marik’s body.
“My lover is dead,” Bakura sobbed.
Anubis laughed. “And now you belong to us,
Bakura!”
Two soldiers grabbed Bakura and pulled him off of Marik’s
body. Anubis
took his sword and cut the clothes off of Marik’s body. Bakura watched behind teary eyes as Anubis stripped the body and spitting on the corpse.
Anubis held the clothes in the air
laughing. “Strip him, too!” Anubis laughed, pointing to Bakura.
The guards cut Bakura’s clothes off with their daggers,
leaving him naked in the early morning sun.
Anubis looked down at Marik’s lifeless body
and kicked it. Bakura growled and tried to attack Anubis,
but the soldiers grabbed him and punched him in the stomach.
“Now, now!
Our prisoner cannot bury his friend if he is in too much pain!” Bakura
looked up at Anubis from his knees. “You are going to
bury Marik.”
Aten sobbed from his horse. “It’s all my
fault! I killed my daddy! I’m a bad kid!
I killed my daddy!”
Anubis spat on the body again and threw
Bakura on top of the cold corpse. “Bury it!
Face down!”
Bakura started to dig a large ditch with his hands. Anubis watched and
laughed as Bakura dug the ditch.
Aten whispered from his horse, “Daddy, forgive me.”
Bakura folded Marik’s arms on his chest. He brushed back Marik’s hair. “I really did
love you, Marik. I’m going to miss you.” Bakura kissed the stone-cold cheek and
let out another sob.
“Quit your whining!
Bury that empty shell!”
Bakura lowered Marik into the ditch and made sure his arms
were crossed under his body. Bakura
looked at the body of his friend face down in the sand and wept.
Anubis punched Bakura on the side. “I said
no crying! Bury that THING! NOW!”
Bakura covered Marik’s body with the sand.
“Goodbye…..Ishtar.”
Anubis kicked Bakura in the leg, sending him
down. The general bound Bakura’s wrists
and put his wrists behind Bakura’s neck. Anubis bound
the wrists to Bakura’s neck.
“Now, my trophy, it’s time to meet your king…and I know he’ll
be very…excited….to see you again.”
**********************
They lead Bakura naked through the streets of
Seth was outside with Aria when they saw the soldiers
arrive. Aria gasped.
“Seth, that’s my daddy!”
Seth’s attention was more drawn towards Aten’s thin form
which was obviously still subjected to abuse and neglect.
Seth approached Anubis angrily. “Anubis, what is the meaning of this?!”
Anubis smiled. “I caught Itemri! I caught the thief and killed the other!”
Aria gasped. “You…killed…..Marik?”
Anubis smiled. “His body is food for the
jackals now!”
Seth looked at Aten. “Aten, come here, please.”
Aten approached Seth with his head lowered and his hands
folded.
“Yes, sir,” the boy whimpered.
Seth looked at the child’s unkempt hair and body covered in
bruises. The child trembled where he stood. “This child goes to my harem. My women will care for him.”
Anubis narrowed his eyes. “But, sir---.”
Aten started crying in his hands again. “I killed my father!
I didn’t want to! I killed my daddy!”
Seto pulled Aten to his side. “I suggest you do not question
my orders! Aria, take Aten to your
mother. I will handle this!”
Aten fell to his knees at Seto’s feet. “Thank you,” Aten said
falling over nearly unconscious.
“When did this boy eat last?”
Anubis grabbed the rope angrily. “Four days
ago.”
Seth growled and shook in suppressed rage. “I should have you
hung, drawn, and quartered for the abuse of this child!”
Aria picked up Aten and held him in her arms. “It’s okay, Aten. Come with me and I will give you food and
water.”
Aten held onto the girl weakly as she helped him.
“Aria, wait for me with your mother.”
“Yes, my Seth.” Aria helped Aten walk away.
Anubis grasped the rope again. “I must go
give the pharaoh his toy back,” he grinned as he brushed past Seth.
*************************
Bakura gave another yelp as the pharaoh’s foot kicked his
hip. Yami chuckled as Bakura fell on his side.
“So, the King of Thieves is once again my guest! It’s been what? Five years since I saw you
last?”
Seth watched helplessly as the father of his servant girl
gasped for breath, his arms tied behind him helplessly.
Yami laughed again. “The elusive…..King of Thieves…now….my
prisoner.”
Yami kneeled down beside the bleeding, panting, bound
man. Yami’s hand felt cold against his
warm, bloody cheek. “Welcome home….my pet.”
Bakura clenched his eyes tightly as Yami turned to Anubis.
“Where is the other one?”
“Aten killed his father. The arrow had his purple and red
colors.”
Yami grinned. “Where did you leave the body?”
“I stripped it and this one buried it face down.”
Yami grinned. “Your partner will never again see the light of
the heavens above!”
Anubis picked Bakura up by the hair. “He also
admitted relations with the other male, sir!”
Yami gasped and slapped Bakura’s face. “You let someone else
touch you! You let someone else touch what is mine!”
Bakura whimpered. “I don’t belong to you!”
Yami slapped Bakura’s other cheek. “Your lover is dead! I
have you all to myself now! And I permit
Anubis to have fun with you whenever he pleases and
however he pleases! You are to pleasure him just as you pleasure me without
questioning!”
A lump formed in Bakura’s throat as the visions of Marik’s
dead body flooded his memory.
“Now it’s time to take you to your new home, Bakura Osiris Itemri.”
Seth watched as they dragged the prisoner from the room, the
only reminder of his presence was a trail of blood leading to the door.
********************************
Seth entered his harem and found the women still bathing
Aten. The women cleaned the boy’s
bruised skin gently. Rayna rubbed the
boy’s injuries with oil and they removed him from the water.
Aten collapsed to the ground barely breathing.
“Ra, protect this boy,” Seth prayed as he picked up Aten’s
twitching body and laid him on a bed of soft linen.
Aria and the other children gathered food for Aten and water
for him to drink.
“Aten, please don’t die on me!” Aria pleaded. “You’re my
friend!”
Aten opened a weak eye and reached out for Seth. “High
Priest…..”
Seth took the thin child’s hand. The boy’s eyes weakly blinked as he gathered
the strength to speak. Seth fought back
the tears as he was reminded of one of his daughters who looked as sickly as
Aten on her deathbed. Aten was the same
age his daughter had been when she died of a high fever which would not break.
“What is it, Aten?”
Aten brought Seth’s hand to his lips and he kissed it. “Thank
you…for….taking me away from him.”
Seth turned the boy’s hand over to look at his wrists. Tiny
red scars speckled his wrists. Seth
could almost swear he could see Aten’s blood run through his veins.
Rayna walked up to Seth.
“Seth…is it true that Marik is dead?”
Aten whimpered. “I didn’t mean to kill my daddy! I was forced to do it!”
Rayna put a hand on Seth’s shoulder. “Is it true that Bakura was captured?”
Seth nodded. “Yes.”
“Can you release him?”
Seth stood up. “No.”
Seth watched as the women fed Aten. The boy had grown too weak to feed
himself. His thin body struggled enough
to breathe let alone feed.
Aria walked up to Seth and kneeled in front of him. “My Seth?”
“Yes, Aria?”
Aria looked up with her large brown eyes filed with tears,
her lower lip trembling. “Is my father going to die?”
Seth sighed. “Well…”
“I want to know, Seth! Is my daddy going to die?”
Seth looked down at her. “It is a possibility.”
Aria looked down sadly and let out a little whimper. “I don’t
want my daddy to die, Seth.”
Seth brought the chibi into his arms, knowing he could not
stop the pharaoh and his desire for blood and torture.
Note: This story does not end here. More coming soon.