“They hate you, you know,” Yami spoke as he pulled himself up from the floor. Hands brushing away imaginary dirt from his slacks along the way, eyes to the floor. “You’re only here because of Yugi. He’s the only one willing to lie and think you have changed. The rest of us… well, we just know better.”

“What?” Marik too rose now if only on the defensive as he still had issues trusting the other he was left alone with. Old memories, feelings or events, well, they died hard.

“Don’t play dumb. There is only one way you will ever convince any of us that you are worth anything.” Yami feeling like he had a handle on things moved to collect the popcorn bowls now only filled with the remains of unpopped kernels.

“And what is that?” Marik had to bite. He wanted to be what Yugi claimed to see. That potential of good buried deep inside from the start of existence but it was difficult. No matter what he seemed to do it was just not enough and it felt weird. As if he were trying desperately to fit into a mold not designed to hold him. It hurt but instead of complaining he would just try to contort and find a new angle that might allow him to stay and not break. But it clearly was not working as well as he would have hoped.

“You need to change.”

“Change what?” Marik asked perhaps a little too eagerly. His facial features though showing more annoyance than that tiny spark of hope inside.

Yami moved the bowls more to his left arm and gestured with his now free right. 

“This.”

“You just gestured to all of me.” 

“Exactly! You need to not be… that.” Yami moved his hand up and down towards the other who was now baring his teeth in anger. “But you can’t change what you are, Marik. You are always going to be you and that is why you will never fit in.”

“…Yugi thinks I can,” was all the blonde could retort.

“Please,” Yami snorted. “Yugi sees the good in everyone. Even in people it never existed in. He’s like,” what was a good metaphor? “He is like a child looking up at the night sky. He can see all of us in a good light- but you… The poor boy is looking at a shooting star unable to notice that you are actually the black hole pulling it in. Nothing good can ever come from a thing like you.”

There was a moment of silence as the words seeped into Marik’s mind, echoing over themselves as he seemed to stare down at the floor. Fists clenching as old memories surfaced in mute silence. Hurt faces of his family and those who were in the room not long ago overlapping with one another.

Having expected immediate anger, Yami was surprised but not enough to care or even see what he had done. Instead he moved around the room to put soda cans into the stack of bowls to take downstairs and dispose of in one trip. Only when the other reached the door did Marik seem to come to and move again. 

“So what are you saying? That I should just give up? Stop trying?” Violets watching the other closely now even as a smirk seemed to glide effortlessly onto the pharaoh’s face.

“I think you already know the answer the that.” The old king moving out of the room to leave Marik behind with his own thoughts. The room quiet as he stood in place dealing with the whirlwind of emotions inside that conflicted with his thoughts.

“Maybe…” Maybe he did know. He was still the villain in their eyes, wasn’t he? Maybe…. Maybe that was all he would ever be. Well… If that is what they really wanted then perhaps… That was what he should give them?