A/N: Thank you everyone who had been reviewing and subscribing in my absence. I've been quite busy since I've last updated this with some real-life stuff. I could go into detail but details about such things would take a chapter on its own. Some notes to heed before we get started (all this is on my LiveJournal, by the way): I am sad to Why do you ask? Although I've enjoyed writing it (it HAS been quite thrilling to write at times), there's only so much I can milk from it. In the time setting from the actual series, Marik never actually held Téa captive for very long so that doesn't really give me much- in the sense of setting- to work with. Furthermore, I feel, as I am writing this, it's coming to a close.

A few notes to be considered, Deceived's ending may or may not hold that feeling of finality as most endings tend to have. The reason is, well, its ending is not the actual end. Deceived was originally written for filler, not AU purposes. The ending chapter of this does not constitue the ending chapter for Marik, Téa, or Marik and Téa as a single pairing because, if you'll remember correctly, there were times in the Battle City finals, in Season Three, where Marik used Téa's body as a means to communicate since his own was being controlled by his darker force. And, there was even a time in Season two where he used Téa's body to get to Bakura.

As far as the Phantom of the Opera elements go- as one reviewer has already mentioned, I do have quite an obsession with Phantom of the Opera (which, the flames were only fanned even more from since the time I've met TDH, my beta). And, to those of you who've read "Half Mask of Blood," my Phantom Fic, you might notice some more parallel themes along with some Phantom references (with the corresponding fanfic) that are more vague than the blatant previous ones.

Beta: The Duelist's Heiress

Warnings: Probable typos. And, I suggest rereading the previous chapter so the beginning and running theme of this isn't so confusing.

"Who was that shape in the shadows? Whose was the face in the mask?"
-Christine, The Phantom of the Opera

Chapter Seven: A Shadowy Shape

"Yes," Marik reaffirmed. "I believe I will do just that."

It had been silent for several long minutes that Téa had expected the conversation to finished. After informing her that they were currently inside of his conscious mind, neither spoke a word to the other, therefore dropping conversation altogether. If he didn't feel any inclination to speak, Téa felt that she had no obligation to do so either. But now, he was musing to himself and about what, Téa had no idea.

"Do what?" she asked, breaking across his thoughts. He looked up at her, only moving his lavender eyes as they flickered up to her, a finger that had previously been touching his chin thoughtfully remained stationary, Millennium Rod poised within his grasp.

"I will give you a reason to respect me," he said simply. "I will show you who I am and what has made me who I am now." Téa's glance shifted apprehensively toward the rod he held in his hand and she looked back up to his face.

"And how will you do this?" she asked, tone wary. Marik smirked, easing from his pose as his arms fell to his sides, still clutching the Millennium Rod.

"Have you forgotten that you are still in my mind? Any concept or illusion I decide to conjure would be made possible at the slightest of whims." He lifted his Millennium Rod up to eye level and Téa initially shied away from it, taking a few steps back and turning her head away from.

"Do not be afraid, Téa," she heard his voice rang imperiously throughout the caverns of his mind. "I do not plan to harm you. Remember that photograph you found of me and my siblings? Remember the curiosity invoked by it? Some of that shall be satiated now…"

Téa closed her eyes as she felt a large gust of wind blowing past her. A bright light penetrated the thin membrane of her eyelids. So bright, she had to turn her head away from its source and hid it behind her thrown-up forearms. After a brief moment, however, the commotion ceased and left nothing but silence and stillness in its wake. She opened her eyes in response to the calmness. And what she saw made her gasp, thereby clamping a hand over her agape mouth.

Marik with the Millennium Rod was no longer there but, rather, there was a boyish version of him, shorter with the same hair color and style. He was sitting upright on a bed and his torso was covered in bandages. Téa only gazed at Marik's younger counterpart with solemn eyes, only able to wonder at what had happened.

"Pitiful isn't it?" asked an older voice from behind her. She turned to see the older Marik standing just a short distance away. Téa turned herself fully toward him.

"I thought the objective was to not pity," she pointed out. Marik shrugged and walked up to her, eyes trained on his younger self.

"That's not what I meant," he said quietly. "I was simply referring to the state I was in not necessarily how I wanted you to react to it." He sighed, turning away from her. "Perhaps a different tactic," he contemplated.

And, from his words, everything turned as black as pitch as Téa felt her consciousness no more.

---

"Yugi? Yugi?"

Téa heard a voice call. Her voice. She blinked, realizing she was somewhere else than she thought she had been placed. But, upon some reflection, she realized that she didn't remember where she was supposed to be at in the first place or what had occurred before this.

At the moment, she found herself wandering what seemed to be in an aimless fashion in the city of Domino on quite a foggy day. She spun around, taking in where she was at in large city and discovered that she was standing before the Mutou game shop. But why she was calling for Yugi, she had no idea. Though, she did have a feeling of suspicion seeded in the pit of her stomach. A feeling that told her that Yugi was in danger. Perhaps they were all in danger but she needed to find Yugi. Téa stepped up to the front door.

"Yugi!" she yelled desperately, banging on the door with a clenched fist. There was no answer. She made a groaning sigh at the lack of the game stop's response. Was Yugi's grandpa not even home?

She turned around and frantically shifted her head this way and that, trying to overcome the feeling of hopelessness building up inside of her as she tried to catch sight of some sort of hint that pointed the direction of the whereabouts of her friend. Just then, a loud and terrible roar filled the empty silence and Téa's eyes shifted to where she thought the source to be.

Toward the inner depths of the city, on top of one of its enormous sky scrapers, Téa saw what would be the form of a large dragon. A white dragon, perhaps the Blue Eyes White Dragon. Kaiba?

"Why would Kaiba be dueling on top of a building?" Téa asked herself, filling the silent void of the eerily quiet city. Maybe Kaiba would be her only shot at finding Yugi. Didn't he have that fancy tracking system installed into his new duel disks? She could find out where Yugi was at.

Téa ran, bolting suddenly toward the direction of where she thought Kaiba would be. To her surprise and slight anxiety, she passed no one else on the streets or sidewalks. Not a car, not even a single soul. And, from what she could tell, all the shops and stores she passed were closed. She became even more desperate to reach Kaiba if only for human interaction.

Eventually, Téa caught a human figure from the corner of her eye as she passed by a narrow alleyway. She stopped immediately and backtracked to see who it was. The silhouette had its back turned to her. It was a slight frame, thin. But, after a moment of staring, the figure stirred, turning to face her. And, once it turned, Téa gasped for the light caught on his face and she saw who it was.

"Bakura?" she called hesitantly. The white-haired boy's face was calm, placid, but when she spoke out to him, his features changed, becoming sharper as a smirk touched his face. And Téa knew it wasn't just Bakura, it was the evil spirit of the Millennium Ring. Téa gasped, instinctively taking a step back from her possessed friend.

"What wrong, Téa?" he asked mockingly. "Surprised to see me?"

"Uhm," was all she managed to get out as she carefully edged her way further and further away from the alleyway. Her attempt at escaping didn't avoid his notice. He stepped toward her.

"And where do you think you're going?" Téa frowned at him, her brow furrowing.

"Where does it look like I'm going?" she asked boldly. "Away from you."

And, with that, she bolted. Téa ran as fast as she could, down the streets, coming closer to Kaiba and his dragon as it grew larger in sight. Bakura, meanwhile, frowned to himself, going after Téa at a slow pace; there was no need to run, she wasn't going anywhere.

All the while, he grumbled, "I hope you know what you're doing, Marik."

Somewhere, Marik smirked.

---

She was going in circles. She had to be. She wasn't getting any closer to that damned dragon or to that building the dragon was on. Téa wasn't sure she even remembered which direction it was; she had lost sight of it a while ago, for some reason it being eclipsed behind the surrounding buildings. And still, there was no one in sight, not a single soul.

She stopped moving, an ache was beginning to form in her calves which she thought was odd because, as a dancer, Téa was able to maintain an incredible amount of stamina. Maybe she'd been running around so much. At least, she seemed to have lost the evil Bakura behind. Still, was that really worth anything considering her current predicament?

She spotted a nearby bus bench and decided to sit on it as she thought of what to do. And to calm herself down.

Just where was everyone? The Battle City Tournament was going on; the city should be sprawling with duelists! Now, it seemed to be a ghost city. She knew she was Domino. At least, she thought she was. Maybe this was the work of all that Millennium magic everyone was going on about. Maybe this was just a trick of her mind. Maybe she was dreaming. Téa pinched herself, hard, but to no avail. She was still awake, alone, and now her arm was slightly sore. She sighed. What could she do?

It was then that she heard a shuffle in the distance, the shuffling of feet on pavement that is. Téa quickly rose to her feet, should she need to dash away again, and waited. Soon, two people came into sight, two males. One was supporting the other; the one needing to be supported seemed to be quite injured. As the two came closer in sight, Téa saw that the one who was doing the supporting had platinum blond hair, tanned skin, a hooded purple top showing his midriff, and dark cargo pants. And though she had never seen this boy before, he looked shockingly familiar, as if she was supposed to know him. But, for some reason, there was no substantial memory that suggested as such.

Even so, it was no doubt that the boy he was supporting was indeed familiar, with his wild mane of white hair and striped, short-sleeved shirt that exposed his extremely pale skin. Besides, she had only seen him minutes before: Bakura. Only this time, his upper left arm was bandaged and, as blood seeped through the bandages, bleeding. Téa gasped at his wound and looked around her, subconsciously expecting Joey to be there for some reason. But, when she saw that he was not, she rushed over to the pair.

"What happened?" Téa asked, looking to the stranger for answers.

"I dunno. I found him like this," said the tanned stranger.

"Who are you?"

"My name is Namu." And Téa believed him. She placed a tentative hand on Bakura's shoulder.

"We need to find him a hospital."

"He doesn't need one," Namu said. Téa looked up at him, raising an eyebrow.

"What do mean? Of course he does." Namu shook his head.

"What is he to you?" Téa straightened up, removing her hand from the shoulder.

"He's a friend," Téa said defensively. "That's more than you are." She stared dead straight into his violet eyes, his strangely vivid purple eyes. He didn't shy away from her gaze.

"Are you sure your trust isn't misplaced?" Téa stared in disbelief at his audacity.

"Who are you?" she asked. Namu smirked.

"Don't you know the answer to that?" She noticed his hand was behind his back and it moved slightly. With the movement, it felt as though a curtain was lifted from her memories. She stared blankly at Namu's face.

Only, she knew it wasn't Namu now.

"What are you talking about, Marik?" she snapped at him angrily. "I would trust my friend before I would trust you."

"Do you not remember when you saw him earlier? He wasn't your 'friend' then, was he?" Marik stopped supporting Bakura and, to Téa's surprise, he was able to stand on his own. In fact, he rose to his full height and his face was sharper than ever before. And, he was smirking just like he was earlier. He really was the evil Bakura.

"What are you wanting, Marik?" Téa snapped to him.

"I'm trying to get you to trust me," Marik said, moving toward her. "Remember this incident earlier with your other friend, Joey, and Yugi's grandpa? You thought that Bakura was injured by a random stranger. When, that was not truly the case. Bakura injured himself."

Bakura's eyes were trained carefully on Marik as he was speaking, his smirk quickly disappearing as it was replaced by a frown.

"Marik," Bakura growled in a warning tone. "What do you think you're doing?" Marik turned to him.

"I'm exposing you for what you are Bakura," Marik said. Téa watched as Bakura continued to contemplate Marik carefully, his brown eyes thinking. She knew that there was more to this. Why else would Marik bring back up this whole situation? What importance was Bakura? And why would Marik bring an evil spirit here to her just prove that Marik could be trusted? It didn't make any sense; none at all.

The close is upon us, within a few chapters, that is. Please review!

-NuitSongeur