Destined to be Yours

Chapter 57: On the Way

After his encounter with Akia, Marik was very confused about everything. He felt so conflicted when Rishid took her away. He sat down on the chair she was sitting on and buried his face in his hands. He steadied his breathing and his resolve. He had to get back on track. He could not be distracted away from his purpose. He needed to enact his vengeance on the pharaoh for all the suffering him and his clan had to go through. He focused and started probing into a certain person's consciousness.

The Spirit of the Ring, feeling a disturbance in Bakura's unconscious soul, went to investigate.

"Finally made it through," Marik said.

"Why are you in my host?" The Spirit was annoyed to see Marik. Marik's very existence annoyed him. He then thought back to the time Bakura was injured and realized what Marik had done. "So it was then..."

"That's right. I implanted a part of me into Bakura, your host," the Egyptian young man answered.

The Ring's Spirit scoffed, pissed off that Marik did that behind his back. "You'll suffer a horrible death someday. What happened to our promise, you bastard? I helped you with your plan to kill Yugi. You're supposed to hand me your Millennium Rod and stay away from Akia."

"I didn't expect things to go this way. A certain curveball was thrown at me, derailing my plans..." Marik was debating whether to divulge the fact that he had an encounter with Akia. He knew Bakura wouldn't be happy about that, but he also knew it could be an extra motivation for him to join the Finals to be close to Akia and prevent any advances.

"What kind of excuse do you have for this?" Yami Bakura sarcastically inquired.

"Akia came to see me," Marik simply replied.

Bakura was silent for a moment at the mention of Akia. He felt a rage bubbling up inside of him. "You better have not even touched a strand of her hair or I will cut all of your fingers off the next time I see you."

Marik decided not to tell him that he did in fact touch her hair. And her face. It would not have been wise. "She didn't even see me, but I was so caught off guard that I lost focus for a bit."

Bakura scoffed. He could not let Marik and Akia get any closer. He knew how much she cared for that man that she only met once when she was young. He still did not understand why, but he had an inkling that it probably had something to do with their past lives.

"Also, if you want this Millennium Rod, you'll also have to join the Finals," Marik informed him.

"Fine, I'll join. I'll be joining to keep your filthy hands away from my woman and to get that Millennium Rod," The Spirit of the Ring spat out.

Marik wanted to talk back so badly to Bakura about how Akia probably didn't see herself as Bakura's or anyone else's for that matter, but he decided not to provoke him any further to ensure his cooperation. The Spirit of the Ring then heard Sugoroku calling out for him to wake up. Bakura finally got up, surprising Sugoroku who was waiting beside him at the hospital.

"Oh! Bakura-kun, you're awake! Thank goodness. You were moaning in your sleep."

"Yeah, I had a nightmare..."

"That's a relief. I wanted to tell you that Yugi, Jounouchi, and Akia made it to the Finals! I didn't doubt Yugi and Akia, but Jounouchi really has outdone himself this time."

"Do you know where the Finals are held?"

"I actually forgot about that..."

Bakura let out a displeased sound. He really had to get into the tournament and get all the locator cards in a short amount of time to qualify for the Finals. As he got up, Sugoroku tried to stop him. "Where are you going?"

"I need to go find them."

"You can't! You still need to rest and recover!"

Bakura frowned. "I have no time for you, old man," The Evil Spirit of the Ring muttered as he knocked Yugi and Akia's grandfather out with the power of his Millennium item. He then left the hospital in search of a prey.

The Spirit controlling Bakura's body found a duelist who he beat up and stole his duel disk and one locator card. He then wandered around in search of other duelists. As he was walking, he heard a group of guys talking about the tournament. They did not have a duel disk, but he wanted to get more information out of them. As they were talking, he put a hand on one of the guys' shoulder and pulled him roughly. "Hey, tell me where to find a Duelist around here."

The guy pushed Bakura's hand away. "Who the hell are you?!"

"Just answer me."

The other guys joined up against Bakura. "What? You wana fight?!"

The Spirit of the Ring, not the least bit intimidated, held one of them by the collar, looking at him menacingly in the eyes.

"Answer me." His voice was so threatening that they all shook in fear. He gave them the feeling like he would not hesitate to kill them if he wanted to.

"I-I heard there were some duelists wandering the cemetery," the guy stuttered from how scared he felt.

"Cemetery, huh." Bakura let go of him and went on his way to the cemetery. There, he found a group of three people who were scaring duelists and taking their puzzle cards. After their latest prey, they were discussing how they only needed one more puzzle card. They attempted to scare Bakura as he approached, but he was unfazed.

They then recognized him as being one of Yugi's friends. It turned out those three had worked with Keith Howard in Duelist Kingdom. They had attempted to beat Jounouchi, but were defeated by him. They were then later betrayed by Keith.

Fully underestimating Bakura, they agreed to duel him for his one Puzzle card since they needed it fast as well as him. Little did they know that the Spirit of the Ring had initiated a Dark Game, bringing them in the World of Darkness. He easily defeated them, sending them to Hell as a result, feeling no remorse as they yelled out in terror. Finally getting all that he needed, he headed to the Finals' location.

The sun was setting as the group made their way to the location of the Battle City Finals. The four girls of the group were walking behind the guys, chichatting with each other about a lot of different things.

"Mai-san and Akia-san, both of you are wearing the same lipstick?" Shizuka asked them.

"Yes! She actually recommended I try it since I like it on her so much," Akia answered.

"Maybe I should try it too, since it looks so nice on both of you, but I'm not much into makeup in general," Anzu contemplated.

"I can give you some tips and tricks if you're interested," Mai suggested.

"I am!" The red-eyed girl eagerly exclaimed. They all laughed at Akia's enthusiasm. She was always so happy around Mai. She really adored and admired the older woman. She remembered how they couldn't stand each other at first, but now, it was the complete opposite. The same went for Mai. She was really fond of Akia.

The group went to Mai's car to get to the Battle City Finals faster. Akia went straight for the front passenger seat, not giving anyone the chance to steal the spot before her. It being a five seater, Jounouchi, Otogi and Honda placed themselves anywhere where they had a strong grip. They spotted Kaiba's helicopter getting ahead of them.

"Hey! He just passed us!"Jounouchi complained.

"You can't compare a helicopter to a car, you idiot!" Mai retorted.

"Race! Race! Race!" Akia yelled out jokingly as everyone else either laughed or cheered. They were on their way to the Finals to get things settled once and for all.