Not Guilty {Yu-Gi-Oh! Fanfiction}

Prologue

Robberies weren't really Marik's style. Yet here he was, in a bathroom stall on ground floor of the Museum of Egyptian Antiquities, hiding himself away as he waited for the clock to tick over to ten past seven.

He'd spent the day at the museum, taking in the hundreds of artefacts on display, wandering through dozens of spacious, well-lit rooms, which all smelled a little like dust and wet stone. Statues, masks, ancient hieroglyphs — he'd poured over them, getting lost in the past, a pastime that he didn't usually enjoy all that much, but today was an exception. Usually, he was quite averse to staring at ancient Egyptian artefacts for long periods of time — it tended to elicit unwanted memories. But he rarely went to Cairo, and being up close to such impressive monuments and relics was undeniably awe-inspiring.

The artefacts back home, further south, certainly inspired something, but awe wasn't it.

As much as he'd enjoyed the museum during the day, he hadn't come just to look. There was something here that really didn't belong in this museum, or any museum, for that matter. Sure, it was ancient, and Egyptian, and very impressive. (Specifically, it was very shiny.) In that regard, it was absolutely ideal for display in a museum such as this. But Marik saw a problem with keeping it in a museum that had escaped the notice of the museum curators — it was far too dangerous. Or, more accurately, they were dangerous. He was here for the Millennium Items.

Marik had mixed feelings about the Millennium Items. To him, they were like old friends, but the kind of old friend that you don't like very much, and you only keep around because they're useful, and you've both been through so much shit together that they're kind of your responsibility. He'd been perfectly content to leave them buried deep in the earth, where they belonged, but someone had gone and excavated them, and they'd ended up behind a glass case. More than anything, Marik was skeptical about how secure they were. He doubted a glass case, some alarms, and some sprinklers, would be enough to keep someone from stealing them. He was here to test that theory, before someone else did.

The museum's Sunday hours were 9am-7pm. He sat cross-legged on a toilet seat, with the lid down, bouncing his foot as he eyed his watch. If he'd been stealing anything else, he would have waited until much later, into the next morning, but he felt confident. Nervous, but confident. He stood up, peering through the crack in the side of the door to check no one else was in the bathroom. He opened the door and stepped out, taking a couple of seconds to fix his thick strands of blonde hair in the mirror. If he was going to steal the Millennium Items, he may as well look good while doing it.

He opened the bathroom door, slipping carefully down the corridor, his eyes narrowing as he focused, leaning against the wall, taking a deep breath. This was the only point where he might be vulnerable —when he was sneaking around without the Millennium Items on him. One he had them, he could use shadow magic to get away, but right now, if someone saw him, he couldn't brainwash them, or make himself invisible with the Millennium Key.

He peered out from behind the wall. The Millennium Items, being pretty and shiny, were the centrepiece of a new installation, hanging on the back wall of one of the main rooms. There was no doubt he'd set off one alarm or another once he got close to them, but that was fine. Once he was close, it would be too late. He took another moment or two to breathe, his heart pounding in his ears, he moved quietly into the open, throwing a quick glance over each shoulder to check that he didn't have company. Satisfied that he was alone for the time being, his gaze darted to the seven golden artefacts at the far end of the room, behind a sheet of glass. He strode purposefully towards them, activating his duel disk, which had been lying dormant on his right arm. He figured smashing the glass shouldn't be too difficult — it was designed to be non-reflective, and to protect the artefacts from UV rays, rather than actually shielding the objects behind it. Finally reaching the items, he drove the sharp point of the duel disk into the glass, jumping back as it shattered, his face lighting up slightly as most of the glass collapsed completely, as though it were made of porcelain.