Um nothing new, just a little introduction on two characters and somewhat their plans of conspiring. Yeah so it's a bit confusing but I plan to explain more of this later on.

Code
"Talking"
'Thinking'
-Flashback-

Disclaimer: uh yeah I don't own Yugioh so don't sue

Ch 3 Hope's Revelation
"So what are you going to do now?" a man named Bakura asked the teen who pace back and forth. The younger of the two individuals named Marik stopped shortly and turned around to face his friend.

"See mother, I need to see if she is all right."

Bakura brushed away his snowy white hair and yawned, at the same time his brownish black wings unfolded and stretched slightly before they folded behind his back once more.

"She's probably alright, though it would have been better is she had answered Karsh's questions rather than keeping her mouth shut. At least then she wouldn't have gotten in this mess." Bakura replied while Marik looked at him disapprovingly; but he knew that Bakura had a point.

Ishtar should have told Karsh what happened a few days ago, yet she refused. Her disobedience earned her confinement within one of the dungeons that was well below their already underground city(1).

"Father still had no right to hurt our mother, you should have let stop him." Said Marik.

Bakura sighed, "You know that I couldn't do that. Besides what would you gain by having a go at Karsh, sure he is your father but he probably end up beating you up worse than he does the half-breed."

Marik frowned, "the half-breed has a name," he said disapprovingly.

Bakura could tell that Marik was getting defensive over the subject of his other friend a half blooded Etlandi(2) who was the reason that this mess started in the first place. Marik continued to speak.

"The way father reacted when he found out that mother had helped him escape. I've never seen him that way."

"Well you know you're old man was always a bit on the insane side." said Bakura causing Marik to smile slightly but then calmed down.

"There's gotta be a way to end this."

"Yeah if Karsh keeps this up, he'll kill Ishtar." Bakura clenched his fists, "and I'm not about to let that happen. If I challenge his authority I'll just end up in confinement like mother(3)."

"I know, maybe we could rally some of the men to our cause," Marik suggested as a thought; it was unlikely that it would ever happen, yet Bakura found himself agreeing with him.

"I'm among the ranks, I can persuade them to go against Karsh..."

Marik shook his head, "Sounds good, but I doubt that it will work. If word leaks out of what we plan to do?" said Marik as he looked at the walls suspiciously.

"Father would end up crushing the revolt. You know he has a great number of men by his side, not to mention the Rouges. Our only hope would lie in the Peacekeepers for their aid."

Bakura sighed, "Like that will ever happen. The peacekeepers haven't set foot on these grounds for decades those who do die, remember? Besides even if Karsh has the upper hand in the situation, we can't expect to be helped by a bunch of humans what can they do?"

Marik got up and opened the door.

"Where are you going?" Bakura asked.
Marik straightened himself before he looked to his childhood friend. "I'm going to see father and hope to convince him into releasing mother before things get any worse," he said as he left and closed the door.

Bakura leaned against the wall and sighed, "good luck."

---

"...and father said he would let you out of here if you confess to your actions and reveal the location he went to..." Marik said as he shifted uncomfortably. His leg had fallen asleep from all the lack of movement.

He remained seated on the stool he was provided with as he stared across the bars that were between him and his mother Ishtar. However Ishtar remained silent and thoughtful while her son spoke.

"Please mother, I need to know what's going on?" He said but he could tell that his mother worried of the consequences; his father expected that he report to him anything that came about their conversation, but Marik was reluctant on doing this. Yet fearing what would happen if he didn't, he continued to persuade her to at least tell him where and why his friend had gone.

From what Marik knew, his father Karsh was very angry when he discovered that it was Ishtar that had let the half-breed (it was Karsh who first referred the boy by this name) escape. Apparently he had taken a locket which Karsh constantly mentioned when he had Ishtar pinned to the ground.

"What's so important about the locket?" he asked.

Ishtar shuddered slightly when she heard those words but shook her head unwilling to answer; she knew that the locket did not belong to Karsh. It belonged to the human, a young woman named Hope. She was the daughter of two former peacekeepers, and had come from the Outside(4). She never really gave an explanation to why she was there in the first place.

Ishtar had assumed that Hope was merely curious to see what it was like here. Hope made the grave mistake of entering their world that she ended up captured by the Rogues. From there on, Hope became a slave to Karsh, but things would go from bad to worse for her.

It was the rest of Ishtar's kind that preferred to avoid the human, but Ishtar in a sense pitied the younger woman and befriended her. Hope had taken a liking to Ishtar and they became good friends.

She would help Ishtar run the errands and even care for Ishtar's child Marik. The way she took care of the child she assumed that Hope may have had one of her own as well.

But Hope never spoke much of her Outside life, never mentioned her family, her home, nothing, maybe because she was afraid that Ishtar would tell Karsh; would they go after her family?

Then there was a time when Hope mentioned the name of a man named Jonas, Ishtar wondered who this man may have been; but she never got the chance. Hope had left before she could even ask her about the locket or the man, all she ever knew was that is belonged to Hope's mother and it had been passed on to her. but there was more to it...

-"Hope please reconsider what you're doing." Ishtar said as she approached her friend.

Hope shook her head as she packed up what little things she had and placed them in her pocket. She picked up the golden locket and placed it over her neck before she hid it under her blouse. "I can't I must go."

"Surely you've gone insane, there's no way that you can leave this place without getting caught. Especially with the child, you will put him in harm if you do this." Ishtar looked to the infant who slept soundly in the cradle.

Hope was tying her long auburn colored hair back. "If I stay he'll find out. Karsh will find it and he will use it."

"Use what? Hope what are you talking about?"

The young woman went to her bed and pulled out a book from under the mattress. Ishtar recognized it immediately, it was a journal that Hope wrote on, it was one of her most prized possessions that came form the Outside.

"Take this," she said handing her the book. "It will explain everything."

"What do you mean?" Said Ishtar confused.

"I wish I had told you sooner, yet I couldn't I was afraid to tell you the truth about me. Please do not be mad at me when you do, but please I beg of you to promise me that no one else sees it. You mustn't let Master Karsh see this at any costs, if he does it will only make things worse." she said as she picked up the baby boy gently in her arms.-

Ishtar still didn't understand what Hope had meant by those words. She left in the middle of the night before she could ask or even pursue her. She couldn't go after and risk all three of their lives. It wasn't until a day later that Karsh showed up in the middle of the night bringing the infant child to her.

He had told her that Hope had given up the boy and her prized locket to him in exchange for her freedom. He said how Hope didn't want the child because of what he was, but Ishtar knew better, she read what Hope had written down years before she got into this mess.

She learned of how all this time Hope was an Etlandli, she was one of them all along. She loved her child and she would never give him up so easily not even to Karsh.

"You spoke to Karsh? What did he say, what did he want?" She asked.

"I had hoped on convincing him for your release, but he had only agreed on the condition that you reveal whatever knowledge you have on..."

"I can't tell you." Ishtar interrupted.

"But mother, can't you see what this is doing to you? I've been assigned to go to the Outside and bring him back."

Ishtar's eyes widened in shock, "Why?"

"Father wants the locket doesn't he? And he knows that we were good friends. I know he's just using me, but if I just got the locket then there would be no problem, and he'd let you go. I don't want to do this trust me, but please tell me where he went so we can end this…"

He said lowering his head slightly, "I have no other options. He's better off free from this place then treated cruelly by father. but if it means that you have to pay the consequences then I cannot let go on like that. He can stay wherever he is at, but I must bring back the locket,"

"The locket belongs to his mother. Karsh stole it..." This got Marik's' attention.

She knew that she shouldn't say anything but the pressure was starting to get to her. She wanted out, but if she did it would cost the boy his freedom. Ishtar didn't want that, not to the boy that she raised like her own for 14 years. Ishtar sighed she couldn't keep Hope's secret forever, but Ishtar knew that she could trust her son, and that he wouldn't be disloyal to her.

"I promised Hope that I wouldn't tell another living soul her secret, but..." she gestured for Marik to get closer as she whispered into his ear. She told him what she found out in the book and hoped that Marik would not betray her into revealing it to Karsh.

---

Bakura was standing by waiting as Marik entered the room cautiously. He walked in and went straight to the old drawer and pulled out a knapsack to place the articles of clothing he had taken out.

"Well what took you so long?" Said Bakura wanting to hear what Marik had found out.

"I had a talk with my parents." he said as he folded a pair of pants before stuffing them down the bag.

"What happened?" Bakura asked more concerned.

Marik shook his head, "something terrible, but that's not important."

"Hmm...Why not?" Bakura asked.

"Because I have to get my things ready. You should do the same."

"Where are we going?"

"To the Outside, a Rogue is waiting for us," Marik replied.

"The Outside? Rogue? What's going on?"

"Father has instructed us to go out. We're going to Domino; we gotta find Yugi."

Bakura looked at him confused, he scratched his chin slightly, "Domino, where the hell is that?"

---

1) Um it's a place, I still have no name for it
2) Etlandli it's what the people with wings are called,
3) It's what Bakura calls Ishtar, though she is not really his mother
4) Outside is what the Etlandli people call anywhere other than their home

All these should be explained in later chapters though not right now, because I don't have the time to give details on it for this chapter.

To Be Continued
Yeah that sucked, but I had nothing. I write it down on paper, but I changed the original version, because I didn't like the way it came out. As you can see I waited to the last minute to mention the boy's name. Yep I should have picked someone else, but I love Yugi (squeals with joy), some of you are probably mad because of my decision, but yeah that's what I got. So review if you get the chance to (because I need reviews to LIVE! XD )