Submission

Chapter 7

It was starting to get difficult to see now and Yami wondered lightly how he was still conscious. He had been led here for a good few minutes, the blood on his arms starting to dry and crust in places now around the initial wounds.

Hanging on the edge of oblivion Yami jerked to realization and the mere thought of it made him groan aloud in despair, frustration and anger.

The Puzzle.

It was maintaining his existence. He wasn’t *allowed* to die when he still had Yugi to guide and protect. It was unspeakably unfair. ‘I can’t even die by my own means let alone defend myself. What have I become?’ It was a nightmare; hanging on the edge of the precipice desperately wanting to go over but being held in place by a force that was not his own.

The sounds of scuffling and shouting outside now, dim and distant in his roaring ears. Not that they were any of his concern right then. But when he heard the quiet, ominous click of the lock releasing on the door it violently *became* his concern. Run, hide, anything to get away from that monstrosity, particularly now that he had lost his last line of defense and could do little more than lie here waiting like a whore.

With strength born of fear Yami managed to roll his weight sideways off of the edge of the bed, lying in a bloodied, crumpled heap on the floor now breathing hard from the energy that simple movement had cost him. Bringing his knees a little bit closer to the rest of his body so that he was hidden by the bed from the doorway, he closed his eyes again and listened, breath coming in shallow pants through clenched teeth.

There was the sound of voices before the slight creak when the door opened. Cautious footsteps into the room and loud gasps when the mess on the bed and floor came into clear view. Sprinting then and Joey’s face was in his line of sight when Yami dared to open his eyes a crack, curious as to why nothing was touching his body yet.

He was sure that the frantic teen hadn’t seen the movement though, large blue eyes turning away from his face within milliseconds to the open wounds running up his forearms. Face a few shades paler now the blond teen bit his lip hard and dropped to his knees, hands hovering over his form.

Yugi appeared at his side, kneeling in his Dark’s blood weeping silently whilst asking Joey what he could do. Kaiba was the last to appear, standing to the side of his legs looking uncomfortable and holding what looked like a pistol. They had obviously thought him dead at first but the rise and fall of his chest dispelled those fears. Now they believed him to be unconscious, blissfully ignorant of his situation and damage, which he most certainly wasn’t.

Yami groaned when someone applied pressure to his right arm, causing a splinter of fire to run up the limb and into his spine. Yugi shouted his name and small hands gripped his shoulders, large violet eyes appearing above his own dark, slitted ones as he repeated the word over and over.

Opening his eyes a little wider Yami tried to raise his own hands, wanting to reassure his Light. He only succeeded in twitching his fingers marginally, blood-loss stripping him of his strength as well as his dignity. ‘This is unbelievably unfair.’

“Come on. We have ta get him ta a hospital,” Joey announced trying to take charge, hands working beneath Yami to prepare to lift him.

Kaiba rolled his eyes and used the barrel of the gun as a pointer. “And how are we going to explain how he isn’t dead right now? With the amount of blood on the floor alone he should be a corpse.”

Yugi opened his mouth to protest such crude words but they died on his tongue and he frowned. A thought flittered across his mind and he reached a hand for Yami’s Puzzle, mildly surprised to feel it warm and practically throbbing with power. Immense relief filled him; he wasn’t going to die.

“Fine. We take him back home,” Joey conceded, not entirely happy with that course of action but smart enough to see that it was the only one that was going to work. The hospital asking questions would be the last thing that they needed. They would probably ve tve the Puzzle too during the examination, which would most likely bring about Yami’s demise.

“I’ll meet you at the car. I have a first-aid box in the back somewhere and a couple of blankets. The guards won’t be a problem,” the billionaire stated flatly before turning on his heel and leaving the room.

Staring after him for a moment Joey shook his head slightly before shifting his arms for a better grip and rising to his feet. Yami allowed his head to roll against the shoulder of the teen holding him, assessing that the body holding him was a source of warmth and protection where he felt overwhelmingly cold and defenseless.

Yugi trailed them both out, pausing for a second at the doorway and taking a deep breath. Closing his eyes, he braced himself for the echo of pain he was going to undoubtedly feel through Yami when he dropped his shields. He needed to hear him though, despite the agony that his voice would bring with it.

White fire laced up his arms and buzzed around his skull when he lowered the barrier, opening his eyes and walking on if anything for a distraction from it as he sent his mental voice out into the silent, static-filled void.

//Yami? You’re going to be alright. You just need to stay awake and keep your hopes up.//

There was a long pause before a reply, that period of silence scaring Yugi more than seeing his yami in such a condition had. //I’ll stay awake.//

Smiling a little Yugi sensed the waves of exhaustion lapping at him from his Dark and sent a wave of love and reassurance through the bond before raising his shields again. Joey had already reached the car and gotten inside when Yugi finally caught up, sliding in next to him opposite the pair on the soft leather seats. Yami’s head and shoulders were resting in his lap, an awkward position for Joey to give aid in but infinitely more comfortable for Yami.

Joey had partially wrapped Yami’s left arm, the more severe injury of the pair as the blade had bitten a few millimeters deeper than on the right. The blood was beginning to clot properly, the wounds drying a little aided by the pressure the teen was applying and the magic throbbing through his veins from the Puzzle.

Yami was still damning the thing to an eternity in the fires of Hell.

“I don’t think we need to worry too much about these,” Joey mumbled to Yugi without taking his eyes up from his work, securing the stark bandage at the top of Yami’s elbow before opening another packet of gauze.

Yugi nodded slightly before curling up in the seat and wrapping his arms around himself. He understood what Joey was saying. They didn’t need to worry about the physical injuries for they would heal without any real assistance on their part. The mental ones were going to be a bitch though and their help would probably be refused on account of Yami’s pride, something that was going to be extremely bruised now.

The Game King’s eyes were still half-lidded, shadowed eyes staring up at nothing, or possibly something that only he could see. His face was blank, lines of tension finally gone now but leaving something cold and dead in its place. He wasn’t unconscious though; Yugi would be able to detect that and hopefully prevent it. He wasn’t entirely sure how much the Puzzle was doing or capable of doing so they couldn’t take any risks.

Both arms now bandaged, the entire process accomplished without so much as a hiss of pain from Yami, Joey wiped his hands clean on one of the blankets bundled up by his hip and leant back against the seat tiredly. Sifting through the soft woolen items for a clean one, he unrolled it and draped it across the still form before tucking it in and placing an arm across Yami’s chest, fingers moving in slow, methodical circles over his collarbone.

Yugi was still trying to figure out their relationship, which seemed undefined on all sides as no one had said anything. What he could see made him happy though; he knew Yami was going to need this kind of support now more than ever.

****

Yami figured that he must’ve drifted off at some point because he seemed to blink for an exceptionally long period of time before finding himself in Yugi’s bed, the sheets pulled up to his chest and his arms lying over the blankets at his sides. The healing wounds there itched and stung, the material of the bandages scratching over them when he moved them eliciting a hiss of pain.

Alone now, the room was dim where the sun’s rays could barely penetrate the drawn curtains to offer illumination, but he was happier in the darkness. He shuddered when the last events came to the forefront of his mind, a brutal reminder of why there were crimson stains on the wrappings on his arms.

That knot that had been slowly easing now doubled in size and sat heavy and uncomfortable in his gut again, a tightness in his chest and a shadow looming over hisrit.rit. One of the perks of death would be not having to face the people who knew him, something that was utterly unavoidable now.

‘What the hell am I going to say to Yugi now? I gave up again, but I shouldn’t have to be alive to feel bad about it. Fucking Puzzle.’

Brooding wasn’t going to get him anywhere, that he had learned on his own, but it was still a wonderfully tempting use of time compared to facing his Hikari and Joey. ‘Oh Ra, Kaiba was there too. This is not my year.’

//Yami? Is it okay to come in?//

Quirking a brow at the soft, hesitant voice in his head Yami sent back an affirmative reply before shoving himself up into a sitting position against the wall. He felt something tear beneath the bandages on his right arm but paid it no bother. It would stop soon. The Puzzle would see to that.

He was glad to see that Yugi entered alone, his tri-colored head poking around the door first before he approached the bed slowly. Yami mentally cursed himself when he saw this. ‘Damn it all, I’ve frightened him. What must he think of me?’

Shifting his right arm back to make room he extended his left hand out as an invitation before Yugi had reached the bed. He found it in himself to smile thinly when Yugi grinned in delight and ran at him, crawling onto the bed mindful of his arms and curling up against his chest. Memories of when he had confessed the events that had transpired during his meeting with Kresha to his Light assaulted Yami’s mind but he shoved them aside. Now simply wasn’t the time for that.

“I thought I’d lost you,” Yugi mumbled into his shirt, a hand coming up against his shoulder to curl into the material, as if he feared that he would bolt if he wasn’t held.

“You did,” Yami replied flatly, honestly. At the frightened confusion he saw in Yugi’s face when he pulled back to regard him he smiled soothingly and ran a hand through the scraggy mop of hair adorning his head. “I lost me.”

“But you’re better now, right? You’re not going to do anything like that again?” his Hikari asked urgently, desperately wanting to hear an assurance to those words.

“I won’t try that again,” Yami said slowly and evenly, his hand cupping the round cheek as he spoke. ‘There’s no point. The Puzzle wouldn’t let me leave this world no matter how much I wished it.’

Yugi smiled again and nodded slightly, moving back against his chest and attempting to keep the fact that he was crying secret. The dampness against Yami’s skin didn’t help to hide that very well though.

“How did you get to me?” he asked suddenly, the thought just occurring to him and no feasible explanation coming to mind. He hated having blocks of information like that missing. Hated not knowing.

“Oh,” Yugi sniffled, glad to have a change from the slightly uneasy silence that had fallen. “The guards weren’t loyal. They didn’t like what Kresha was doing and most of them just let us through. Kaiba shot the rest; he didn’t kill them. Just shot them.”

“I figure Kaiba for the sort who would carry a gun,” Yami murmured absently, more to himself than Yugi. He always saw Kaiba as predatory, evident in how cool and collected, stealthy and sure of himself he was. He didn’t see him as a murderer, just someone who would protect themselves and their loved ones by more forceful means than others.

“I’m glad he did,” Yugi muttered with malice, an alien tone in his voice that made Yami frown slightly. “Kresha’s dead.”

There was no response that Yami could give to that statement so he merely waited for Yugi to continue. “When we got to him he was carrying something. Kaiba’s smart. He figured it out. Said that he deserveath ath a thousand times over and then...”

Yami nodded mutely, bringing his arms closer around his Hikari’s form and merely holding him. Kresha was dead. He couldn’t come back for him. Could never touch him. But he hadn’t seen it. Couldn’t confirm it. He would have to search Yugi’s memories later for that image; he needed that reassurance if he was ever going to be able to sleep again.

“You’re bleeding,” Yugi stated with worry, pulling back and gingerly holding Yami’s right arm out, fingers gently probing the spreading crimson streak.

“It’s nothing to worry about. It’ll heal. Is Joey around? I’d like to thank him,” he asked, knowing that the blond was undoubtedly in the house somewhere, likely preparing a speech for his actions. ‘Can’t wait to hear *that*.’

Yugi smirked in amusement. “You really thought he would leave? It took me forever just to get him to leave you alone in this room to sleep! He’s really worried about you.”

“And I know you are too. But you don’t have to be. I’m alright. I just need a bit of time to sort myself out and then everything will be back to normal.” He snorted in amusement at that, eyes going distant for a moment. “I’ve forgotten what that’s like.”

“What what’s like?”

“Normal,” Yami replied with a wistful note, unwinding his arms from around Yugi entirely and allowing him to stand at the side of the bed before leaving the room to hunt down Joey.

Silence again. A shadow of doom hung over the bed so thick that it was almost tangible and Yami squirmed beneath it. Not only was he ashamed that he had tried to take his own life but he was infuriated by the fact that he had failed miserably. It wasn’t the fact that he was still alive that angered him, but that he had been denied the choice. He didn’t even have a say in whether he existed or not.

What the Puzzle was doing to him wasn’t any different to what Kresha had done.

Joey entered with a lot less trepidation that Yugi had shown, coming to the side of the bed in long strides before standing and merely looking down at him. Yugi hovered at the threshold for a few seconds before disappearing from sight, probably fearing a confrontation as much as Yami was.

Rather than shout at him or at the very least glare, Joey merely shook his head as if he was at a loss as to *what* he could do and dropped down onto the edge of the bed, turning his eyes to Yami’s with his mouth a diagonal line. “I’m not mad at ya.”

‘Well. That was the *last* thing I expected to come out of his mouth.’ Yami blinked before frowning slightly in confusion, mouth partially opened to form a response but finding that he had no words to form one.

“I mean, ya scared the hell outta me and Yuug back there so I’m a little pissed about that. Gave me a heart attack when I saw ya bleedin’ that bad. But, I get why you did it, so I can’t really be mad at ya,” he explained haltingly, a partially shrug accompanying the end of that speech. He tried to force a reassuring smile but it came out rather weak and obviously false.

Yami nodded slightly. “Are you are disappointed in me instead of being angry then?”

It was Joey’s turn to frown now as he thought about that, choosing to answer honestly rather than limit himself to only saying what he believed Yami wanted to hear. He wasn’t a child. Anything but the truth would be an insult to him. “I’m disappointed that you would even consider doing that to Yugi,” he replied carefully.

The Game King rolled his eyes. “Why is this all about Yugi? I’m my own person and if I wanted to do something selfish like killing myself why should I even consider his reaction? Don’t you think that I saw it as the last straw? I didn’t believe for a second that either of you would be able to come for me so that left me on my own against Kresha. And there was no way in Hell I was going to hand myself over without a fight. It was *my* decision. I mad pea peace with Yugi and the rest of the universe and then I went ahead with it. I shouldn’t even be having to worry about how all this has affected him because I should be in the Afterlife.”

He was ranting. He knew it. He also needed it. Needed a release. Too many damned thoughts and feelings were banging around in his head and spirit for him to cope with. The wall had already begun to crack because of the pressure.

Joey honestly looked like he wanted to punch Yami for that, and a part of him wished that he had. Pain would help him snap out of this torrent that he was drowning himself in.

Instead the teen took a few measure breaths before speaking again in tight tones. “You know you’re lucky that some part of you wanted ta live strong enough for the Puzzle ta keep you alive. This way ya can apologise ta Yuug. I think if you’d really died back there you would’ve taken him wit’ you.”

With that he abruptly stood and strode back out the room, closing the door behind him silently without a backwards glance. Yami remained staring furiously at the panel of wood for long moments as his mind repeated that back to him. Then he growled in frustration.

‘They think some fucking *desire* in the corner of my spirit kept me alive? Fine. Let them think that I have my freedom. Let them think that some part of me wanted me to stay alive back there.’

****

“How did it go?” Yugi asked from where he sat at the kitchen table, looking up and seeing the troubled expression on Joey’s face when he had entered. He looked to be hovering somewhere between despaired, angry and lost, a curious mixture of emotions that was undoubtedly bringing with it an impressive headache.

“Not good. He’s just pissed off at everything and everyone right now. Hopefully it’ll pass but I’ve never handled summut like this before so I don’t...” he trailed off, a hand waving vaguely as he failed to express the uselessness he felt in words.

“He didn’t seem angry with me,” Yugi stated, hands knotting on the smooth wooden surface distractedly.

Joey shook his head at that and dropped into the seat opposite him. “Nhe whe wouldn’t be. He’s too guilty to be angry at you. Me on the other hand... I think we should just leave him be for a little while until he calms down. He didn’t exactly think that he would have to deal with us after-he’s just upset. Kaiba left?”

“Um, yeah. Had to pick up Mokuba, or so he says. I think Yami freaked him out too much for him to be able to hang around.”

“It’ll get better.”

“I really hope so. When I went up there he was acting so differently; it was like he really *had* died.”

“I think a part of him did.”

****

‘Oh holy fuck what have I done?’

Anger had passed now, as it always does, and all that was left to fill that void was the freezing feeling of guilt. There was still that burning feeling of anger that the Puzzle was still imprisoning him, as it had for five thousand years alone in the dark, but it was merely a flicker of a thing now, overshadowed by guilt and concern.

Thinking back on Joey’s words he had slowly, agonizingly, come to the realization that he was right. Yugi could well have followed him into the Afterlife if he had succeeded in taking his own life; he knew that he would surely die if Yugi was taken from him in such a manner.

He needed to apologize, that he knew, but doing it with his pride standing in the way was going to be hard and painful. It was worth it though. He had let his Light down yet again, but mercifully this time he had a bit more of an excuse to hide behind on sleepless nights when his mind would undoubtedly go over it all again and again.

Yami couldn’t wait for Yugi to come to him. He had to swallow his pride and get up, go downstairs, apologize and swear by every God that had ever passed through the Heavens that now that Kresha was gone he wasn’t going to leave him, or even try to, ever again. No. Not promise. *Reassure*.

Decision made, he rose unsteadily, a hand going to his head when a nauseating feeling invaded his senses and made the room pitch and swerve until it passed. When he felt a little more sure of himself he started for the door, moving down the hallway as silently as a wraith and taking the stairs one at a time. He sensed his Hikari’s presence in the kitchen and entered that room slowly, hesitantly.

He felt Joey’s eyes on him rather than saw them, his attention focussed entirely on his Aibou. Exhaling slowly, he lowered himself slowly to his knees, a grimace crossing his features when his leg muscles warned him that they did *not* approve of that movement.

Yami concentrated and sent what he said through his mind as well, wanting to make his words as clear as possible. Their bond would relay some of his emotions asl, bl, but not all of them. He didn’t want his Little Light overwhelmed like he almost was at the moment.

//“Aibou, I am *so* sorry for what I’ve done to you. I... I won’t...”//

‘Oh yes. Bloody marvelous. Loose the ability to speak trying to get one of the most important things you’ve ever had to say in your entire life out,’ a scathing voice in the back of his mind berated.

//It’s alright. I know that you wouldn’t unless have unless you were desperate.//

‘Understatement.’

//I’m just so sorry that you had to get to that stage. Don’t apologize to me. Just get better and don’t do that to me again.//

//I swear.//

Grinning now with eyes brimming Yugi jumped down from the chair and threw himself into Yami’s outstretched arms. On the verge of tears also, his, like Yugi’s, of relief, Yami cast his gaze to Joey curiously. Smiling a little wider when he saw a grin on the other’s face he then buried his face into his Hikari’s hair. Joey may not have known what had been said but it was obvious enough what the end result was.

****

It was dark now. Raindrops splattering against the glass of the windows as the storm raged and the wind howled through the roofing tiles, neither of which Yami paid any attention to. Yugi was tucked up in bed, sound asleep despite the fact that Yami had slipped out of the covers over an hour ago. Exhaustion was the only thing that preventing Yugi from realizing that his Dark’s presence was missing and waking as a result of it.

His Dark was once again in the kitchen, a long-forgotten cup of coffee stood to the left of his hands, crimson eyes fixed on the wall opposite of him. Guilt lessening and anger remaining, he was now utterly at a loss as to what to feel. He hated being confused, which was exactly what he was now. He had no idea what he was really feeling, nor what he *should* be feeling given the circumstances.

Hurt was the only thing that he could actually identify, but the causes for that feeling were multiple. Hurt because of the knowledge that the Puzzle bound him to existence, hurt that he was self-centered enough to see that as a bad thing, hurt that he hadn’t killed Kresha himself, hurt that he had caused Yugi a hell of a lot of mental and emotional damage in just one day. It was all so... Confusing.

He needed a release from all of this. Oneng cng came to mind but was dismissed faster than it had become a thought. He had promised himself that he would stop doing that. Perhaps not overnight, but he would stop. If anything for Yugi’s sake. And for Joey as well.

Joey. He had been nothing but surprising over the last few months; a pillar of strength when he had threatened to crumble under his own emotions. Yugi supported him in his own way but Joey was the more direct kind of comfort, someone to talk to without fear of frightening them too much over his mental state.

Mental state. What exactly the state of his mind was right now was probably most elusive to him. All he did know was that he was unbalanced enough to decide that rather than staring pointlessly at the ceiling all night he was going to think. And probably pace. He needed... He did know what he needed.

There was a firm knock on the door, the sharp sound tearing him out of his thoughts and bringing him to his feet. Frowning as he passed the window and saw that the enormous thunderstorm was making its presence known even more fiercely now, he opened the door and stepped back to let whoever was there in from the harsh elements.

Yami actually looked at the visitor when no one entered the warmth of the kitchen, fine brows jumping up into his hairline when he recognized the Tomb Raider beneath the traveler’s cloak. ‘Why does he always have to visit when it’s raining?’

“Are you going to come in?” he asked, allowing a note of boredom to lace his tone. He was, in fact, intrigued in a dangerous way as to why someone he considered a borderline enemy was calling at his door at this hour.

“’Are you gonna come out’ is the real question Pharaoh,” Bakura countered smoothly, tipping his head to the side and regarding the shorter teen with cool eyes.

Not knowing exactly where this was going Yami mentally checked that Yugi was firmly asleep before stepping outside and closing the door behind him. Almost speaking out in surprise when Bakura slipped off the cloak and tossed it aside, his attention was called away by the fist that came at his jaw.

Head snapping back with the force of the blow, his furious eyes returned to Bakura only to find him standing with his hands at his sides, hooded eyes watching his every move intently. Snarling when he apparently didn’t see something he liked he came at him again, this time with a muddy shoe aimed at his ribs. Yami spun against it though and retaliated with a fist to the gut, avoiding the limb neatly and landing his own blow solidly.

Stepping back a pace, Bakura grunted out something that sounded like ‘good’ before raising his fists again, not holding back now that he had Yami’s attention and, more importantly, his participation. The Game King seemed to be relishing this also, lashing out brutally at every given opportunity and taking the blows that landed on him in his stride, barely registering the pain.

There was no finesse in this battle. This was simply a primal, brutal scrap that burned off energy and anger, evident with a mere glance into either of the combatant’s eyes. It continued this way for several minutes until both chests were soaked with sweat and rain, heaving as they forced air into screaming lungs.

The agreement that that was enough was unspoken; both dropping down to the soggy ground next to each other. Yami rested his hands on his knees and turned his face to the sky against the rain, Bakura watching the action with apparent interest as he sat cross-legged with his arms in his lap.

“Thank you,” Yami spoke finally, opening his eyes after a few moments and facing the boy, now seeing him in a new light. It was strange but he felt like he could say anything to the Tomb Raider at this moment. He didn’t hold his opinion close to heart so whatever he judged wouldn’t concern him if it was negative, and they shared a similar position on some levels.

Bakura shook his head at that, platinum bangs slapping against his face and clinging to his throat as rivulets of water wound down them and beneath his sodden shirt. “We should do it again.”

An affirmative nod before they fell into silence, Yami probing the soaked bandages on his arms to check how much damage he had done. The wounds were open again but the flow of blood wasn’t anything to be concerned about.

A few more minutes passed before Yami smiled softly and broke into gentle, mirthless laughter. “You know what the biggest bitch about all of this is?”

When Bakura did nothing but continue to stare at him levelly Yami answered his own question, still smiling humorlessly. “I realized that I’m a slave. So are you and any spirit that was trapped inside an Item actually. We’re all slaves.”

Bakura’s eyes narrowed slightly as he considered that statement. “How’d you figure that?” he asked softly, no trace of malice in his voice; simply an inquiring tone. A hand moved to his forehead absently to rub at a large bump forming there, caused by his combatant’s elbow.

Yami tipped his head to the side, some part of him pleased that he had asked, that he actually wanted to understand his point of view. “Slaves have freedom stripped of them. The Items do the same. I *wanted* to die, it’s as simply as that, but the le wle wouldn’t let me. Instead, it made me hang suspended between this world and the next for either my friends to find me or Kresha to come for me.”

“Wasn’t your slash-happy session just an attempt for an escape though, something that you did anyway without losing your life? Or do you still feel like that?”

He sighed now, the smile fading entirely as his eyes turned to his hands, studying the scars littering his knuckles and the water sneaking in between his fingers. “I wanted to join my family in the Afterlife. Escape wasn’t the only reason. Looking back on it now I believe that I wanted to join my family, but at the time I think I was just intent on getting away from Kresha.

“I don’t think I was thinking too clearly at the time. It’s funny because I thought I could understand the universe whilst I was doing it; everything just seemed crystal.”

“False clarity. Happens when you’re pissed too. I suggest *that* if you want to feel that way again,” Bakura replied, turning his face up against the rain momentarily before bringing his eyes back to the troubled soul next to him.

“Don’t you want to leave all this sometimes?” Yami asked seriously, twisting his body so that he was sat facing Bakura now. An impressive bruise was forming on the left side of Yami’s face, extending from his eye-socket down to his jaw, a delicious sort of ache throbbing through the ruptured veins there.

Bakura caught himself before he could instinctively reply ‘no’ to that, actually pondering the question before answering. “Sometimes. I think it’s something that everyone does at some point in their life but’s too freaked to admit. I don’t think I’d try it though ‘cause I *know* I’m going *straight* to Hades.”

“Oh, I wouldn’t count on that. You’re changing. I don’t think you like to admit it but you are.”

More silence, but this was a comfortable one between two people who were starting out on what looked to be a rather peculiar friendship. It would likely turn out to be one of the strongest, but the foundations and elements were always going to be a little different compared to the others.

“Why did you come tonight?”

Bakura glanced up from where he had been examining the grass, the rain finally beginning to let up now so that it was falling in perceptible droplets rather than thick sheets. “I figured you needed this.”

A pause. “Did you need this too?”

“Yeah. I reckon I did. I’ll kill you if you tell that to *anyone* though, you know that, right?” he finished firmly, pointing a warning finger at Yami’s chest. He got an indulging smile but an assuring nod accompanied it so he was happy.

“Closure?” Yami offered, trying to find a word that would sum up this scrap that, admittedly, left him feeling a whole lot better about himself. He didn’t feel like his spirit was rotting inside a prison anymore.

“Closure,’ Bakura agreed with a firm nod and a smile.

Above their heads the tumultuous battle of the elements finally fell silent, the grey clouds calming their voices and allowing themselves to be ushered away by the winds which too were beginning to dissolve into breezes. The last of the rain dropped through the air leaving the space between earth and sky clear, the ground hissing and groaning as the soil strained to absorb the volume.

Yami quirked a brow as they watched the clouds begin to thin, the first evidence of stars appearing a few minutes later and the moon gracing the inky blackness after that. “Today was rather eventful,” he stated, not really knowing that he had spoken out loud and not knowing why he had chosen those words either.

Bakura snorted next to him, reclining so that he was lying in the sodden grass with his eyes on the stars above. “Understatement of the Millennium.”

“Stupid Tomb Raider.”

“Idiot Pharaoh.”


****The End****


I feel that I should why I wrote this fiction now. This was sort of like my ‘therapy-fic’, you know, expressing myself through my writing? I’m not telling you this as some lame method of getting reviews; it’s just that I’ve shared everything else with you lot so I might as well tell you why I’m writing this.

A couple of months ago my very close friend developed an eating disorder and then it moved onto self-harm. A lot of other stuff was happe in in my life even before I found out about it and I don’t handle stress well at all so I slipped into the deep end as well. I wrote this fiction inputting some of my thoughts, feelings and actions but I keep the story different enough so that I do not feel uncomfortable writing it. Just thought I’d explain myself here as some of you are being quite open with me. My sympathies to anyone who has suffered depression like this and I hope I’ve explained it well enough for those of you who have been spared such an ordeal to understand.

And as strange as it sounds, I actually enjoyed writing this. It helped with some things a lot and I hope I’ve shown some people out there that you’re not alone with some of this stuff. You think and do things that, when you look back on them, seem really stupid and you start to question your sanity. I don’t have all the answers, nor do I pretend to. I just hope I provided some help and understanding to some people and a bit of ‘deep’ entertainment to others.

The beginnings of the sequel 'Domination' are posted now, so go and check it out. Please give me credit for my efforts by leaving a comment. Thanks.

Borath ;p