Title: Gasoline
Author: Baka Neko Molly-chan
Disclaimer: 3y3 don't 0wnz YGO. The song "Gasoline" is by seether. Yeah.
Summary: He sees the untouchable beauty queen, sees her shield herself from the world, layer by layer. Well, guess what? It's time for the great unmasking.
Rating: PG-13
Notes:
Whoo, me third YGO one-shot songfic in a row! I'm really cranking these babies out, ne? o-O To specify something useless, at the time of this fic I'd say the sand in the hourglass-thing is about up to Mai's waist...yeah. o.o
Be sure to read the other two Yami MalikxMai fics. They're both in my favorites; "Cynical World: China Doll" and "Cacophony", by Akumuness and Nez, respectively. Both of them kick serious butt, and must be read immedietly and with much haste. Thank ye.

Edit 9-26-04: ...especially worship Akumuness, without whose helpful review I probably would never have realized I forgot to spellcheck this thing. o-o

Edit 5/2 – Because FFn is a bunch of fucktards, the song lyrics have been removed from this fic. I hope they're happy about taking away yet another aspect of creativity in writing.

At the sound of his heavy footsteps, Mai's grip on her arms tightened, her nails leaving little half-moons in the flesh. Of course. She should have known he'd be back to torment her some more. He never did stay away. Especially now, as sand weighed down her legs and lay heavily against her stomach, limiting her range of movement.

"Back so soon, I see." She probably should have remained silent. But it was too late, the damage had been done, might as well cause some more. "Don't you ever get bored?" The footsteps drew nearer, seconds later coming to a halt just outside the glass prison.

"Still got some fight left in you, hmm?" Mai looked up toward the speaker, her tormenter, the bastard who had put her here in the first place. "I'll say, I'm impressed, Mai-chan. I'd expected you to crack long before now. Not that I believe it'll last much longer, but still. Congratulations, Mai-chan" He crouched down, meeting her gaze, violet boring into violent; hers steadily wilting, his long-since dead. "Why is it you hang on so desperately? Is it that you feel that something in this world is still worth hanging on to sanity for?" There was silence. Of course, of course, a shriek of laughter just had to float up from below at just that moment.

"Then again," He angled his face rather pointedly in the direction of the laughing people below; the ones who were little more them nameless faces to Mai at this point, but whose presence continued to bother her for reasons long since forgotten. "Perhaps not. After all, they certainly don't seem to give a damn about what happens to you."

Deep within her, Mai felt something snap.

"You coward." She snarled, pounding a fist uselessly against the glass. "You certainly like to hear yourself talk, don't you? Just so long as the ground's uneven! What's wrong? Too scared to face me!"

Next instant, the sand around Mai's lower body shifted, pouring away from the body that had materialized in the hourglass.

For a moment Mai was struck dumb, capable only of gaping open-mouthed at the khaki-covered limbs that now filled her vision. She could hear loud breathing directly above her, but it was not until she heard a harsh laugh that the spell broke. Cautiously, she looked up; a demon smirked down at her.

"Didn't your mother ever tell you not to threaten people, Mai-chan?"

This obviously had not been an anticipated outcome. He hadn't been supposed to actually take on the challenge. But he had, and now he was towering over her, his hair catching most of the flow of sand so the fine grains filtered down through those blond spikes and, God, that couldn't be a very comfortable position in which he was standing, his spine bent at unnatural angles so his tall form could fit into the small space.

"So, how about you, Mai-chan." He crooned, and she noted that he still wore that deranged grin he did so well. "Where are your confident words, now that there is no longer a barrier separating us?"

"Go away." He laughed.

"Go away?" Mai gritted her teeth at his seductive, falsely innocent tone. "Ah, but if I do recall, Mai-chan, it was you who invited me in here."

"Go to hell!" The man above her rolled his eyes.

"'Go away', 'Go to hell', it seems all you're doing is tell me to go somewhere. What's wrong, Mai-chan?" That insane spark ignited in his eyes, and he leaned forward further - how, how, how could he possibly bend his spine like that! "Cat got your tongue?"

"Just, leave me alone." He grinned wider, all the more deranged, and shifted his body to allow him to reach forward and cup her face. She jerked away from the contact, but he tightened his grip, to the point where it was painful. Hissing at the biting sensation, she began to struggle. This only served to widen his grin.

"Now, now, now, Mai-chan." He purred, tenderly stroking his thumb along her cheekbone, despite his bruising grip. "Let's not be feisty." She shivered, but went still. His hand moved so his palm lay against her cheek, thumb resting just under the lashes of her eye, right at the inner corner. Slowly, he dragged the digit along the edge of her eye, all the way to the other corner, and his hands were so cold, but Mai couldn't have moved if she'd tried.

The hand withdrew, for a moment hovering in the space between them, and seeing how intently he was staring at it, Mai, too, had a look.

The skin of his thumb was smudged with black.

"Well, well, well...what do we have here?" And now he grabbed her chin with his second hand, dragging the fingers of the first none-too-gently across her cheeks, under her eyes, along her lips. Mai squirmed in his grasp, but he held her firmly, the whole time chuckling to himself.

"It seems Mai-chan hides behind a mask more so then one might immediately think." He continued to wipe away her makeup, switching to the back of his hand when his fingers became too full. "Not only does she put up a wall around her heart to block her emotions, but at the same time she hides her face from all who look upon it." He released her at long last, wiggling his makeup-coated fingers tauntingly. "But now, Mai-chan has been unmasked. Left bare and naked to the world. And now it's time for a little..." He trailed off, expression changing, his long tongue darting out to wet his lips. "...fun."

He descended upon her without warning, mouth devouring hers in a vicious kiss, tearing at her lips, causing coppery blood to fill her mouth. Mai gagged, trying to push him away, but her fingers were already tangling in his wild hair, her mind dimly registering that the grit caught among the jagged locks was digging painfully under her nails. She felt starved, like the caged animal she was, deprived of human contact for too long. She was beyond caring that this person with whom she was franticly kissing was the very one who had put her in this situation. She had a hunger that demanded to be satisfied; and here was her satisfaction.

They tore their mouth apart simultaneously, gasping for air, faces flushed. He dropped to his knees, the movement blunted by the sand; sand which he ground his knees through with ease until Mai felt his hips settle heavily against her own. She knew she should try to escape, to get away from him. But she was too far shoved into the corner already; there was nowhere to go. And besides; did she really even want to escape?

He chuckled, roughly seizing her chin, twisting her face to the side. The makeup he had rubbed away moments before now returned to her skin, littering dark streaks along her jaw. With nowhere else to look, Mai's violet eyes locked upon the figures below. They were still down there. Still laughing. Still enjoying themselves.

Still unaware of lonely Mai hovering above them, watching them, hardly knowing who they were anymore. But longing for them, nonetheless.

"Look at them, Mai-chan." She felt wild blond bangs scratching her face, felt his hot breath against her cheek as he dragged his tongue along the sweaty skin. Mai prayed he got a tongueful of foundation. If he had, however, he made no mention of it.

"Do you even remember their names, my dear?" She gave her head the tiniest of shakes. "Of course you don't. But you remember that you liked them, hmm?" A small nod. "And they have forsaken you?" She started to nod, but switched to a shake halfway through. "But they have made you suffer." Definite nod. Then silence, save for the breathing of the two intertwined figures in the hourglass. Then;

"Do you want them to die?" This time, she did not answer. But it seemed she wasn't required to.

The beach below exploded into flames.

The fire spread rapidly, catching alight anything it touched. Those without names cried out as the sand ignited all around them. They ran into the ocean for safety, but no, the water was burning, too. The waves were crested with flame, tossing embers and hot ash onto the very ones who sought shelter within them as they broke. Terrified, tortured screams rose from the hellish inferno below, but they soon died away, dissolved into ashes like everything else below.

And it was beautiful.

Mai stared, transfixed by the flames that engulfed the beach, blind to anything else. She never noticed when the extra weight was removed from atop her body, when the breath stopped washing over her face, when the sand shifted again, this time to accommodate the sudden increase in available space.

It was many hours before she realized that she was, again, alone.