MISSING YOU
Overview/Disclaimer: This will start off immediately following Yugi's duel with Yami Bakura aboard Kaiba Craft 3, during the Battle City Arc. There will be slashy/yaoi (probably just fluff, as is my modus operandi), tendershipping (yami bakura x bakura/ryou) and thiefshipping (yami bakura x marik). And just like in my other fanfics, suggestions and ideas for the story pertaining to anything from a character's personality to potentially pairings are always welcome.
Chapter One
Ryou sat up from his bed, uncomfortably. Coughing and moaning as he struggled to sit up and stay in that position, he shook his head in disbelief.
"The spirit has," he grimaced in pain, "the spirit, he's never done something like this before… I've, I've never felt… So, ugh-"
Yugi and the others were huddled around the boy's bed aboard Seto's airship, motioning for him to remain still.
"Ryou, don't move," Yugi said.
"Yeah," Téa started, "you were really hurt."
"I, ah-" Ryou winced as he lost his strength to support himself and fell back onto his pillow, clutching his once more bleeding arm. "I don't understand." He gasped.
The room was silent as the groups' collective gaze shifted to Yugi, the only one who seemed to actually have any idea what had happened. "We had to duel, but it was actually the evil spirit from your Ring that I was dueling," the boy started, "but Marik said he was controlling you and the spirit and freed you from the control to try and make me forfeit our duel."
"Wha-?" Ryou was shaking in pain, "Di-, did you f-forfeit?"
"No." Yugi said looking down, "The spirit from you Millennium Ring stepped in at the last minute of our duel, he must have been afraid that I would have attacked you anyway…"
"B-but, why?"
A short pause hit the conversation and an eerie silence, broken only by Ryou's uneasy breathing, filled the room for a moment. "I, I am not sure, Ryou." Yugi admitted. "He must have feared that you would have been killed. If that happened, he would be without a link to the physical world."
"A host," Ryou wheezed, "you mean…" And with that the weakened teen fell into unconsciousness; transported into the depths of his mind, transported into the Millennium Ring itself.
Feeling the raging darkness – that made the deepest depths of the Ring its home – engulf his mind, body and soul, Ryou shuttered. Coming through his episode, the boy quickly sat up, shaking and filled with panic, "Wh-where am I?" He let out in a frightened whisper to himself.
Holding his arms as if in an embrace with himself, Ryou stood up and attempted to make out any objects or figures in the pitch blackness surrounding him. Straining his eyes for a moment he frowned realizing that he was trapped in this impenetrable darkness for the time being; however, this terror was interrupted once he noticed the pain that had riddled his body, at least last he recalled, had dissipated from his being.
Rubbing where his bandages around his arm had previously been he felt just his skin and the hem of his shirt. 'What is going on?' Ryou thought to himself.
Just then a series of torches spontaneously burst into flames, a seemingly endless double-row of lights flooded the walls of an equally seemingly endless hallway.
"Ah." The teen gasped in awe as he watched each torch mysteriously light itself, set by set, down the wrapping corridor. "Not here, please no. Anywhere, but here…" He let out in a weary sigh, beginning to shake once more.
He stood there for a moment in the now-illuminated ancient, stone halls of the Millennium Ring's innards, wondering if he could simply remain where he was until he awoke. Unfortunately, as that thought crossed his mind, the lit torches nearest him began to extinguish themselves one set at a time – just as they had lit themselves, though much slower.
Ryou let out a sigh and took a step forward, 'Guess not…' he frowned as he meekly kept moving along with the vanishing lights – attempting to stay within the light and out of the chilling emptiness that seemed to accompany the silence of the darkness within the Ring.
Though he understood that the Ring was intentionally leading him somewhere, Ryou didn't know where or why… He didn't want to think of the possibilities to either. Having only been trapped within the ancient object once before he had the feeling that there was much about the mysticism behind its functions that he didn't understand and probably never would – especially given that it seemed to only allow him to do what it wanted him to do.
Continuing on down the infinite corridor, wrapping endlessly in a never changing, yet never ending, circle – which Ryou could only assume was the 'Ring' itself – he finally neared a door on the curved walls. He looked around cautiously and questioningly, was he meant to use this door or continue on?
"Only one way to find out, I guess." Ryou squirmed in place as he stood in front of the door, the lights continuing to extinguish – though he was a safe enough distance ahead of them to remain in the light. He reached out and turned the handle of the door and slowly pulled it open.
A surge of white light flooded the hallway from this mysterious room. Ryou had to shield his eyes from the intensity and surprise of it. Taking one last look up and down the corridor, he took a step into the room, gingerly.
The door ominously and quietly closed behind Ryou, who didn't bother to flinch at the anomaly as he recognized it as just another fact of the wretched Ring. He turned to face into the room that he had nervously entered. The room was sheer, pristine white. No features were discernible within it, no wall or ceiling fixtures, no furniture, no people. It was simply whiteness.
Ryou blinked. Either from still trying to adjust to the brightness of the room, or in a vain attempt to snap himself out of this… whatever this was.
Just then he felt as if he was suddenly being watched, being observed; more so than he had decided was probably the usual when one was within the Ring. He shifted uneasily to examine the area around him, though there was no sign of anyone or anything that could potentially be watching him. But then he heard frightened cries coming from somewhere deeper within this room within the Ring.
He nervously took a step farther into the room and the crying seemed to intensify, if only slightly. These tears sounded familiar to him and he began to lose any fear of the room as his curiosity and concern for the unseen individual, who was apparently crying, grew.
Carrying on through the white room, Ryou realized he wasn't sure if the room was a room or simply another hallway, it was just so white he couldn't tell what was wall, what was expanse or what was even there. For all he knew he could have been on the ceiling and been unaware of the fact.
The crying became louder and more audible and a figure far off in the distance came into the British teen's line of sight. He picked up his pace, slowly at first.
"Hello!" He called out to the tearful individual, "Are you okay?"
His concerns went unmet though as he neared the mystery person, his pace slowed and his heart beat quickened. Who was this…?
The person was in a crouching position with its knees pulled up to its chest, its face buried into its thighs and clearly sobbing.
"H-hello…?" He stammered out. "Are y-you hurt?"
"No." It sniffled in a childish voice.
Ryou paused for a moment, "Do you need help?"
"No." It sniffled once more.
"Are you lost?" Ryou began to feel a bit more at ease and knelt down in front of what seemed to be a small and frightened child.
This small, delicate creature had moderately long, blonde hair and was in what appeared to be blue pajamas with white clouds printed in a rather obvious and simple pattern. This had to be a child. But… Ryou shook his head slightly.
"No." It sniffled again.
"Why are you crying then, little fella'?" Ryou asked the tiny figure before him.
It sniffled, terrified.
"It's okay, you can talk to me." He smiled at the child even though they could not see each other's faces.
After a moment of more tear-clogged sniffling, the child finally answered Ryou's previous question. "I'm all alone… I think?"
"You think? Do you not remember?" Ryou asked more rhetorically than actually expecting an answer, "Anyway, you're not alone now, I am here with you." He smiled again at the child.
"No." It said pointedly.
"What do you mean, 'no'?"
"I'm alone." It said, sounding to get a little offended.
"But-" Ryou started before the child interrupted him.
"No!" It growled out in a low and menacing voice.
Ryou was taken aback by the response and fell back on his rump.
"I am alone!" It shot its head up from its guarded, hiding position. This child was clearly a young boy and had very clearly been crying… Blood stained tear streaks ran down his cheeks. The boy stood up, standing viciously over the Ring's owner, who was still on the floor.
Ryou gasped. The boy's pajamas were torn with what appeared to be claw marks and his body was beaten and bloody, deep cuts and old scars covered his body. But that was not what set Ryou over the edge, what had done it was the fact that this child bore a striking resemblance to Ryou himself, no… This was Ryou.
"I am alone!" It growled one last time before raising a clawed hand, ready to strike.
The platinum blonde teens eyes grew wide with panic and fear for his life as he jolted himself up and made a mad dash for the white room's door, but where had it gone?! The fiendish powers of the Millennium Ring had either led or allowed its owner and supposed master to fall into what appeared to be a trap and seemed to show no interest in rescuing him from it.
"Fine!" Ryou screamed as he ran for his life, "Fine! Fine! You're alone!" His voice was filled with frightened panic as the beast-child version of himself raced after him with unnatural speed and ferocity. He saw the door, a small speck far off in the distance. The Ring was playing games, with the boy, he knew he hadn't come this far into the white room and yet he somehow had.
To the teen's astonishment, the child transformed into a tremendous snarling beast, as the two of them raced – one for the door and the other for the trespasser.
Finally, Ryou had reached the door and burst through it, back into the ancient main-corridor of the Millennium Ring. The hallway filled with the piercing white-light of the room once more and then, as Ryou slammed the door shut with all his might, the halls fell into empty darkness once more. The torches at the door had gone out and the boy was once again enveloped in shadow.
He clasped his thighs with his hands as he bent over, trying to catch his breath. Pressing his buttocks against the door into the white room he shook with adrenalin.
"W-why-y ah-am I h-ere…?" He stuttered out, still gasping for air after his race with one of the many monsters of the Millennium Ring. Finally beginning to catch his breath, Ryou stood up, leaning against the door, wearily, and mumbled, "Why do I even bother…" before kicking off and running down the endless hallway of darkness, attempting to catch back up with the lit torches that were, no doubt, far ahead of him now.
After running for what seemed like days – though in the wrapped reality of the Ring, was probably more like half an hour – Ryou finally came back into the light and, as chance, fate, dumb luck, what have you, would have it, another door. Though the boy couldn't help but wonder just how many doors he had passed on his run to catch back up with the torches…
'Did I already pass the door the Ring wanted me to use…?' He thought, nervously rubbing the back of his neck, 'Lord I hope not…' He spoke his own response, as he pushed his way into the room behind this most recent door.
Once his eyes had adjusted to the bright surge of light again, he sighed. It was the academy. He was back at the academy – or at least a replica of the academy the Ring had made from his memories. While this illusion may have fooled the boy the first time he had entered the Ring where it presented to him, he wasn't as easily deceived as he may have once been. He had grown only a little wiser as to the nature of the Millennium items, with Yugi and his Puzzle's help, but he was well aware of the trickery and malice that lurked within his own item.
He frowned as he walked into the Ring's mirage and saw his schoolmates and teachers excitedly leaving the grounds for the day. It was always a happy occasion for everyone in the real world. Though Ryou had a feeling as to where he was meant to go during this, Millennium Ring-induced, trip down memory lane.
He moved through the crowded campus and the empty halls of the Academy like a phantom, unseen by these particular figments of the Ring's construct. The lanky teen could only imagine that the Ring wanted him to experience this rather than participate.
Once he had arrived at where he imagined was his destination he peered into his classroom, there he was, well not he personally, but the Ryou the Ring had created to live within this room, sitting alone at his desk, working on homework with a kick-me sign taped to his back.
The real Ryou shuttered as he felt a group of people scatter through his spectral form and into the classroom. It was Yugi, Tristan, Joey and Téa. He blinked, following them into the classroom, curious as to what memory this could possibly be.
"Come on Ryou!" Téa said cheerfully, "Class is over!"
"Yeah, haven't you done enough studying for today?" Yugi asked with a wide smile.
"I can't leave just yet, guys." The Ring's duplicate Ryou answered, "I've got too much going on to just up and leave."
"What exactly is going on?" Joey asked.
The real Ryou crept into the room, closer to the group – wondering what exactly the other him in this room was doing.
"It's very important stuff." He answered.
"What could be more important that enjoyed such a nice day?" Tristan asked, opening one of the classroom's windows. A cool breeze blew into the room.
Ryou did not recall any of this ever happening. This couldn't have been a memory… Then what was it? And why was the Ring showing him?
"You'll see soon enough." The Ryou-clone said with a smile as he went to return to his project before him.
"Suit yourself." Tristan responded.
The British teen neared his doppelganger and peered over his shoulder. He gasped. This definitely wasn't a memory – at least not one of his own.
Before the Ring's construct, on the school desk, in his notebook, was an intricate and detailed diagram of how he was planning to murder his friends… Yugi, Téa, Tristan and Joey…
Just then the room shifted and altered around him, Ryou became dizzy from the sudden blur of colors and came back to the Academy-based room the Ring had made with a wave of nausea.
He held his head meekly, but felt something off; he removed his hands from his temples and gazed at them. They were covered in blood. Ryou looked out before him, the classroom's walls were smeared with bloody handprints and Egyptian hieroglyphs written in blood were all over the room. And at his feet… at the boys feet were his friends' mangled and mutilated corpses.
Ryou gasped and began to shake uncontrollably. He fell to his hands and knees, glazed over and lifeless eyes all around him watching his every move.
"W-what h-h-ave I d-done…?" He stammered out, examining his bloodied hands.
A quiet gurgling came from one of the bodies, feet away from him. He looked up, horrified to see Yugi raising a hand for aid and crawling weakly toward him.
"H-help m-" He let out just before he collapsed into a puddle of blood beneath him.
Ryou's eyes were wide with fear. He felt like he were about to throw up.
"I…" He started, "I didn't, I didn't do this… I didn't…"
"You did this." A voice gargled through the air from an unknown source.
The frightened boy stood up and backed himself against the wall; feeling the now-cool blood pressing against his backside, he knew that he himself had smeared it all around the room moments earlier.
"I-it wasn't me… I-it was an accident, I- I didn't mean to…" He was shaking uncontrollably, terrified so much that he had truly done this.
'I-is this real life…?' He thought to himself in terror.
Just then the bodies of his friends began to rise from their bloody bath.
"You did this." Téa gurgled out from her slit throat, blood spilling from her mouth.
"I- I di-" Ryou started to stutter out before he was interrupted.
"Why did you do this to us?" Joey asked hopping on one leg, carrying the other and his arm in the crook of his other arm.
"B-but, I d-d-didn't." The teen shook his head, attempting to erase the images and self-doubt from his mind.
"You did this to us." Tristan bubbled out as blood dripped from his head, dangling from a broken neck.
"I d-didn't…"
"Why do you hate us?" Yugi asked moaning as he dragged himself across the floor, his lower body completely missing.
"I d-don't, I love you g-guys." He pleaded, tears now streaming from his eyes. "P-p-please, st-stop this…" He fell to his knees in the corner of the classroom, unable to stand any longer; his dismembered and undead friends slowly nearing him, repeating their haunting and torturous mantras over and over again.
"Please, stop!" He let out in a sobbing shout, demanding that the Ring end this, whatever this was.
Just then, the room was quiet once more. Ryou looked up; tears and fright had stained his cheeks red and wet. Removing his hands from clutching the sides of his head from trying to cover his ears and prevent the seething lies from hurting him too deeply, he glanced around the room nervously. It looked as though it did before that horrifying episode.
Then the duplicate Ryou formed from thin air at his desk and the door swung open.
"Come on Ryou!" Téa said cheerfully, "Class is over!"
"Yeah, haven't you done enough studying for today?" Yugi asked with a wide smile.
"Oh no." The real Ryou said getting up quickly, "Not again." He said to himself as he quickly ran out of the classroom, out of the Academy and out of the Ring's room.
Slamming the door shut behind him, he wiped the tears from his cheeks that had begun to pour out once more as he was leaving the Room, hearing his friends' screams for mercy from within the Academy.
The hall of the main-corridor was dark once more, causing the boy to let out an uneasy sigh.
"The next door I come to in the light better be where you want me to be or I'm sitting in the buggery dark!" He shouted down the dark hallway he once again found himself in.
After taking a moment to collect himself, Ryou once more set off at a run. Running toward where the lights would most likely be in the never ending circular hallway of the Millennium Ring.
Notes: Well this was freaky. What a way to start a fic, right?
-I hope at least some of you enjoyed it and I hope you will follow it to show your love and support.
-This is my third fan fiction I've started (though none of them are completed yet), so I'll have quite a bit to work on and this just sort of came to me so I wanted to get it down on paper.
-I work every day until next Tuesday so I can't guarantee anything new for any of my stories, unfortunately. I hope you'll all forgive me!
-Reviews, follows, favorites, etc., are all very much appreciated and pretty much motivate me to write more ;)
-Leave your thoughts and suggestions in either a review or a personal message to me, if you so choose! I look forward to hearing from anyone and everyone ^_^