Chapter 76: A Romantic Scenario

                                    

                                          
Akia was screaming the whole way they were falling down the hole, while Marik was gripping onto her arm tightly. They finally landed in what looked like the remains of some ancient ruins with some sparse greenery spread about.
Marik got up and roughly pulled Akia up by her arm.
"Ow, try to be gentler," the red-eyed girl mumbled.
"Gentle? You're lucky to still be alive," the young man chuckled.
"Yeah, yeah," Akia said, "you don't scare me. I'm tougher than you think."
"Coming from the girl who was screaming like a child and clinging onto me for dear life earlier," Marik scoffed. 
"...Whatever! I'll get far away from you then!" the red-eyed girl retorted, suddenly feeling flustered at how she had acted earlier.
Akia started wandering further, with Marik following her and sighing at the mess he'd landed into just because he wanted to be around this troublesome girl. After walking around for a bit, they both came across a strange distortion that was showing up in between two pillars.
"What's this?" Akia asked. She then picked up a rock and threw it at the strange phenomenon. To her and Marik's surprise, the rock disappeared inside. "Huh?! Is it a portal maybe?"
Not waiting for the young man to reply, Akia stuck her hand through the distortion and pulled it out after a few seconds with it unharmed.
"Do you ever think before you act? What if you had lost your hand?" Marik sighed.
"Then I won't be able to duel as well," Akia joked. "Don't you want me gone anyways?"
The Egyptian man shrugged. He didn't really have a concrete answer for that question and didn't care enough to explain it to her. Seeing no reaction from him, she sighed and walked through the portal without warning. Marik quickly tried to reach for her to stop her, but she had already fully gone through. Left with no choice, he went through as well, ending up in a completely different scenery from the previous one.
They were now in what seemed like the courtyard of a castle. The gardens looked like they were well maintained. Then again, it was a Virtual World, so they probably never actually grew out. Akia was so in awe of how pretty everything was that she ran from one place to the other like an overly excited kid. Marik was getting irritated with following her around, but he still made sure not to be too far behind.
Eventually, Akia ran back to him, satisfied with her exploring of the area. "Should we try to head inside the castle?"
Marik grabbed her by the wrist, "I'll be leading the way this time around. You're way too hyperactive for anyone to follow you."
"Fine," Akia pouted and let herself be led around by the Egyptian young man. His grip on her wrist was a bit tight, but Akia kept imagining it being Marik's dominant personality holding her, which made her smile at the thought. This man that was pulling her along, was a split personality created by Marik to cope with his suffering. Akia wished that, someday, she could help him heal from what had happened to him. First, they needed to get out of the Virtual World, then she would find any possible way to save Marik from himself.
They looked a little around the castle, but there were no visible entrances. "Ha... What do we do now?" Akia inquired, "I'm getting tired of walking around."
"Maybe if you didn't run around earlier like a headless chicken, you'd be less tired," Marik reprimanded.
"What kind of analogy is that?!" The black-haired girl retorted. "...You can let go of my arm, it's okay, I won't run off somewhere."
The young man sighed and finally let her go. As soon as she was free, Akia walked a little ahead, but made sure not to overdo it either with her frolicking. They reached what seemed to be the castle gardens. There was a small white ornate bridge arching over a stream of water that went all across the garden. Seeing the beautiful view, Akia couldn't help but stop in her tracks, staring at the peaceful scenery. Marik looked at her strangely, not getting why she was standing still. He followed her gaze and saw her looking at the bridge.
"What's the hold-up? Don't tell me you're fantasizing about some cheesy romantic scenario just because of this boring view?" Marik mocked her.
To his surprise, though, she didn't snap back at him, "actually, yeah... I am having some cheesy romantic fantasy..." She said with a far off melancholic gaze. Akia was thinking of how there are so many beautiful things out there that she would love to share with Marik, once his dominant personality takes back control.
The man standing beside her, felt something compelling him to fulfill her wish. The more he fought the urge to please her, the more intense it became that he eventually gave into his strange desires. He walked ahead and roughly pulled her by her arm, leading her to the bridge.
"Ow...! One day you're going to actually dislocate my arm!" Akia complained.
"Stop whining," Marik retorted, but loosened his grip a little and pulled her less hard. When they reached the middle of the bridge, he let her go and turned to face her.
"What is it...?" The red-eyed girl asked, confused by what he was trying to do.
"I'm giving you your romantic scenario," he replied.
Akia's face became beet red, "w-w-w-what are you saying...?!"
Before she could say any more, a pair of warm lips shut her up. Marik was kissing her roughly and hungrily. Once she got over the initial shock, Akia let herself be swept away. She interlaced her arms around his neck and he put his around her legs, lifting her up and wrapping them around his waist. They were both fighting for dominance with their tongues, biting each other's lips and licking all over the inside of each other's mouths. Akia had never had such an intense and passionate kiss before. Her body recognized and knew that Marik was the only one for her. She could never feel this kind of chemistry with anyone else but him. The young man then brought her to the bridge's railing and sat her down on it, moving his arms to her waist, not breaking away from the kiss. His body was acting on its own, not caring about anything but feeling good right there and now with Akia. After a few more minutes, they finally pulled away from each other, breathing heavily from the excitement and the effort that it took to kiss that intensely for that long. Marik carried her down from the bridge's railing, keeping a firm grip on her arm once she was standing on the floor to make sure she was steady on her feet.
Noah had been watching all of the people who had landed in the Virtual World and, knowing about Akia defeating the Big Five all by herself, he allowed more than one of them to challenge her at once. This seemed like it was the only way they could stand a chance against the Queen of Games. Even though he was not too fond of the idea, he was interested in seeing what she was capable of doing. Yugi had already defeated Oshita Konosuke using Kuriboh as his deck master, but Noah couldn't care less. All he wanted was to get revenge on Seto. The rest of them could live or die and it wouldn't have mattered. Noah was going to fulfill what he set out to do no matter how many people he had to sacrifice along the way.