The Return

Disclaimer: Yu-Gi-Oh! belongs to Kazuki Takahashi.
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Ryou blinked slowly as the darkness at the edges of his eyes began to fade away. Had he been dreaming...?

No. A glance at his soul room let him know the spirit was still in control. Ryou blinked again when he saw that the door to the room was open. It had been triple locked before he fell asleep, right? So what...?

Ryou rubbed the back of his neck as he pushed himselfo a o a sitting position. Was this another test? Was that why the door was open? He couldn't sense anything through the mindlink, so it was impossible to tell.

Ryou pulled his legs up to his chest and continued to stare at the door with his chin on his arms. He didn't want to go out there. Whatever was waiting for him, he didn't want to know. What had the spirit meant by, "You won't be with me much longer"?

Ryou shivered and hugged his legs tighter. The look in his other's eyes when he'd said that...it hadn't just been cold, it had been empty. No disgust, rejection, anger, anything. Like it had already written him off.

Maybe the test was how he would respond to that. Was he supposed to hunt the spirit down? Well, no, it was in control, so he couldn't do that. Was there something else he was supposed to do, or find, or...what?

Ryou wished that he hadn't woken up. He was starting to get a headache.

He continued to stare at the door, waiting for it to shut and lock again. But it didn't. After what felt like a considerable amount time had trickled by--since he could never really register such a thing as time in his room--Ryou stood up. He lingered, brushing off his pants, then took a hesitant step towards the door. Still nothing happened.

Ryou took a few more steps, then stopped at the threshold of the door. When he glanced down the mindcorridor, he saw something utterly different: his other's door was open. It had always been shut before. He leaned against the doorframe, glancing anywhere along the corridor but there.

Everything else looked the same; the walls were still part plaster and part mud brick, the floor was still an odd combination of tile andoleuoleum, and the place was still empty except for him. And the roith ith the door tilted open. It wasn't enough for him to see inside--there was just a crack of darkness, no bigger than his palm, between the frame and the door proper.

So there was nothing in the hallway, and there was nothing in his room, and both of the doors were open....It had to be another test. He just didn't know of what.

Ryou walked slowly up to the spirit's door, half tempted with each step to just run back into his room and shut the door behind him--not that it would do him any good. He'd figured that out quickly enough; there really wasn't anywhere to hide.

He knocked on the door, unobtrusively, but still loud enough to be heard. There was nothing.

Well, of course, Ryou thought. He's not here, he's out there. He stood in the hallway, feeling vaguely uncomfortable in the wider space of the corridor. If he had to be in this place at all, he'd rather be in his room. It might hold bad memories, but it was still somewhat his.

Lacking anything else to do, Ryou knocked again. This time the door moved a fraction. He stared at it, wide-eyed.

Am I supposed to go in? The room had always been forbidden before. He'd never even seen more than a few feet inside, and that was only when his other would open the door and rapidly slam it again.

After another pause, Ryou placed a hand on the smooth wood. A second later he pushed it open, having to brace his feet and shove with both hands to move the heavy weight. He glanced inside, still not daring to cross the threshold.

The room was dark, lit only dimly and in scattered places from light sources that Ryou couldn't see. He pushed the door open further, letting the light from the corridor spill in and brighten the place marginally.

If he only looked for a few seconds, he should be okay. He wouldn't get caught...and if he was lucky, there might be some explanation of what had happened and why the door was open like that in the first place.

Ryou didn't hold out a lot of hope on the latter, but it was better than nothing. He walked further inside, keeping carefully to the outside edge of the light from the doorway.

His other half's soul room was a place of walls and corners. It was full of bricks, doors, mazes, and lots and lots of darkness. Everything looked forbidding and nothing was helpful, so as soon as Ryou reached the end of the light he turned around.

A was was heading back to the door, Ryou noticed a flickering shape that he hadn't seen when he walked in. A wall ran as a partition in places, so the...thing...couldn't be seen unless walking toward the door; or from the maze that the wall was a part of, but Ryou didn't think he'd get more than a few feet through that before becoming utterly lost and probably starving to death. Throwing another glance at the door, Ryou stepped closer to the wall and looked around it.

At first he couldn't make out anything more than a blur in the dim light. He frowned and squinted his eyes, taking another step so he was standing next to the bricks.

The shape was something like a statue, or a wall relief, or a hologram. At first Ryou was so busy trying to give it a definition that he didn't notice what it was. It was his other, of course, looking even more smug and evil than he usually did. Ryou blinked, then looked at the relief's base. There were Millennium Items there, flickering in the light with holographic quality; he recognized the Puzzle, and the Eye, and the Ring, but the rest were strange.

Also, he was sitting at the spirit's feet. Ryou had no idea what to make of that. It looked like him, although there was something wrong with his face....

Ryou crouched slightly, trying to see better in the dimness. The Millennium Items were scattered around the foundation of the statue and he was sitting next to the standing spirit. But there was still something wrong with it all.

The eyes, Ryou realized. The eyes in the picture version of him didn't look like his at all. There was something...ugly in them, he decided.

The faintest sound of footsteps made him jerk around.

Oh, no no no...it was the spirit. He was back! Ryou slid around the corner of the wall, trying to get out of sight, and clapped his hands over his mouth to quiet his breathingis lis legs were shaking as he kept his back against the wall. If he waited long enough, maybe the spirit would wander somewhere away from the door. Or...something. Anything.

Ryou didn't dare try to retake control of his body, on the chance that his other somehow sensed him in the room. So he forced himself to calm his breathing, and waited, and listened.

Ryou wished he had a watch so he could tell how long he was standing there; but he didn't, so instead he waited past what felt like an eternity, and then a little longer for good measure.

Finally, he shifted on his feet and let his hands drop, since they were nearly limp from being held up so long. There was nothing but silence around him. He must have left, or gone to sleep or something. Ryou quietly exhaled, then slid towards the edge of the wall to glance out into the room.

As soon as he looked past the wall, he found himself staring at his other. The spirit had its arms crossed over its chest and was standing at the opposite side, waiting. For a second, Ryou just stared.

When he began to back away, the spirit moved. It grabbed his arm and jerked him forward, making Ryou wince when he crashed into his other. Then he was turned around to face the image again, his back against the spirit's chest.

His other caught Ryou's chin in one hand, forcing him to look at the shifting...whatever it was.

"Do you want this, Bakura?" it asked in a low voice.

Ryou blinked. What did he....He watched the picture again. "What is it?" he asked carefully, not wanting to rile the spirit any more than he already had.

The fingers on his jaw tightened slightly, making Ryou tense up. "An idea," he answered finally. "Of how it will be when you stop this petty struggling against me."

Ryou stared at the image again, barely noticing his other's hand as it fell away from his chin, the arm draping loosely over his shoulder. "But...you hate me. Why would...you don't want me around."

The spirit took a step sideways so he was speaking into Ryou's other ear. "You have assets, boy," he said, idly brushing Ryou's cheek. "It's just that your whining constantly overshadows them. You could be of further use to my plan."

It was so hard to pull his eyes away from the statue-thought thing, that he stopped trying. "But I don't want to be. I don't want any of this," Ryou answered quietly.

"Why not?" asked his other. "Don't you realize what will happen when I hold all seven Items? Everything in the world will be mine, including you. And when you obey, you can have all you need."

It was so surreal. Ryou had expected his other half to do something horrible, and instead he was being as near to gentle as he ever was. That was scarier, really...but Ryou found himself sinking back anyways as his other draped a second arm over his shoulder and clasped them loosely, leaning on him.

The spirit was still speaking quietly. "Do you not understand how well things could go for you when I succeed? Those bully problems of yours will certainly be gone--no one will ever hurt you again."

"Except you," Ryou said softly.

"Except me," his other acknowledged. He brushed his lips briefly across Ryou's ear as he spoke, making Ryou close his eyes. "Is that so bad? You already pay the price of having me; why not enjoy the rewards?" he asked.

His eyes were still shut. "I...no."

"And why not?" the spirit asked in a low voice. "Do you really think your defiance is anything but futile?"

Ryou clenched his fists, but said nothing.

"Haven't you learned yet? You can only succeed with me."

Before Ryou could think of a reply, his other caught his chin again and turned his face, leaning over to kiss him. It started with that same unnerving gentleness that made Ryou immediately part his lips, and the hand on his chin slid up to cup the back of his head. The angle his neck was twisted at was awkward enough that it hurt, but then the spirit turned him around, the hand behind his head pressing him harder against his other.

Okay, this was what Ryou knew. It wasn't better, but at least he recognized it.

There was a vague thought of what was going on outside, but he wasn't sure that it was his. It was scary, being with his other inside his soul room--well, this wasn't his room, but it seemed to have the same rules--because the mindlink was so much stronger that thoughts would bleed over. Sometimes he couldn't figure out what was in his head when that happened, and he hated it. It made him feel like nothing was real, not even himself.

He took a breath, and words followed him when he pulled away slightly. Maybe you aren't, after all. Maybe I locked you in your room as soon as you put on the Ring and now you're delusional, imagining everything that's happened the past year.

Don't do that, please don't talk to me, Ryou asked. He didn't want to go through that confusion again.

Almost to his surprise, his other complied and simply pulled him back into another kiss.

There was another thought about still needing air, and Ryou was pretty sure that that one was his since it was ignored. There was another brief flash of a thought, similar to the statue in that it was visual instead of sound, and he followed after it.

Ryou began to wonder what was wrong with him. Everything he'd done lately, from letting the spirit back in the Ring, to breaking into its soul room, to chasing a thought he was sure wasn't his, was likely to get him hurt. Maybe he had lost his mind.

Is it even your mind to lose anymore?

Was that his thought?

Oh. It wasn't a picture, it was like...one of those things in a play. A scene.

He and Yugi were sitting on a bench at the park--eating barbeque chicken, it looked like.

Okay...Ryou thought. That wasn't exactly what he'd expected to see, even taking into consideration the fact that he never knew what to expect when it came to his other.

Yugi finished off the chicken a lot faster, smearing the sauce over his mouth as he did so, and started looking for a napkin. Grinning, he wiped off his fingers and dubiously offered Yugi the paper towel; but the sauce had made his fingers sticky, so it was torn and stained with teriyaki. Yugi thanked him anyway and tried to clean up, but finally quit. He bit his lip as Yugi wiped his mouth on the back of his hand. After a second, he leaned over and shyly licked some remaining sauce off the side of Yugi's lips.

Ryou just blinked as he watched, vaguely aware that outside his head he had gulped for breath again. What is this?

Yugi had pulled back and was looking at him with a rather startled expression. He waited a moment, then ran his fingers along Yugi's cheek. Yugi blushed and started to say something, but then he leaned over and kissed him. Yugi made a startled motion, so he cupped his hands around the other teenager's face to hold him still.

There was a loud crack, and Yugi slumped in his grasp. He let go of the face and Yugi sank to the ground, head at an impossible angle. His other leaned down from behind Yugi and pulled the Millennium Puzzle off the broken neck, holding it up by the cord. The gold glinted as the Puzzle swung in the light breeze inside the park. The spirit held out a hand and he took it, to be pulled onto his feet and into a fierce kiss.

Oh, God....Ryou saw that the image of him in the scene had the same eyes as the one of him in the statue-picture did. Then he fled the thought, only to find that he was still kissing the spirit.

He shoved as hard as he could, managing to break free and stumble away. The spirit stared at him with unreadable eyes, and Ryou panted as he stared back, unable to speak. Then he looked down at the floor and tried to control his breathing.

When he'd managed to slow it down, Ryou took a shuddering breath, clenched his fists, and forced himself to look back up at the spirit. "No."

The spirit narrowed its eyes. Ryou could feel his heart beating way too fast, like it was trying to get out of his chest and away from his stupidity, but he couldn't back down on this. He'd gotten that teenager in the alley killed--not Yugi as well. He couldn't do that.

After a moment, the spirit grabbed his wrist and jerked hard, pulling him away from the relief. The sudden motion made him almost trip over his feet, so the spirit half-dragged him out into the open area of the room. He had to take double steps to keep up with the spirit's strides.

When he realized they were heading near the shadows on the other side of the room, Ryou panicked. He started clawing at the hand around his wrist, trying to pry it off. Not that, no please no! Let me go!

The spirit froze, then swung him around. It grabbed a fistful of his sweater and jerked him up, so Ryou had to balance on the balls of his feet or risk getting strangled by his clothes.

"You useless trash," his other half hissed. "You know what I can do to you. Don't push me too far."

Ryou hated that he was so frightened he couldn't even say the words out loud. I won't let you hurt him.

The spirit gave him an ugly smile. You can't stop me. It shoved Ryou back, letting go of the sweater. "Now get out!"

Ryou gratefully fled.


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