Bakura sits on the edge of Ryou's bed in ethereal form. His host is sleeping and taking deep breaths, probably dreaming of something peaceful and trivial. Bakura watches him nightly when he lets the teen have control of their shared body. He stays silent and unmoving only watching the spirits of the night roaming the earth.

Occasionally a spirit will drift through the window and Bakura will test the being, using his card's in a tarot fashion; the same way he played with Pegasus years ago. If the cards displayed no malicious intent, he would permit the spirit to enter Ryou's mind knowing that they were most likely sent from Serapis* for peaceful dreams.

However, there are spirits sent to cause harm. These souls would attack the mind while a person slept, covering their victims' thoughts in darkness and manifesting themselves as a person's fear visually. Though the sun vanquished the spirits from the mind every morning, the effects of a troubled and dark sleep often lingers with the person they had possessed.

Bakura had let one slip into his host's mind only once and didn't like the outcome. Ryou began having fits in his sleep, kicking and tossing, trying to fight the dark the soul had manifested himself as. The thief had watched as the teen started calling out for people that would never respond and after one more aggravated kick, woke up covered in a cold sweat. This is when Bakura took control of the body, sending his host to his soul room and wiping the memory.

Now when the dark beings approached, Bakura would send them to the Shadow Realm where, if they didn't figure out how to leave that particular realm, they would meet Anubis** to have their hearts weighed. One of these souls had questioned him on to why he protected the boy and received in response that Ryou was a vessel and allowing darkness to contaminate his mind would make him harder to control. Bakura didn't allow for anymore questions and sent the spirit away.

Bakura doubted that Ma'at***, the very goddess he was going shatter, would even be able to tell him why he felt so protective over the sleeping boy. Bakura would always insist that it was because Ryou was his vessel but he wasn't so sure anymore. He felt a connection to his host and would rather carry the pain, like Osiris's attack on the Battle City Blimp, although, like then, he couldn't rationalize to himself why he had taken such action.

The thief stares out the window noting that the sun will rise soon and all of Serapis's spirits will return to the god. By the end of the day, Bakura will be back in control of his host's body and his plan to resurrect the darkness will have begun.

He stares at Ryou who is still in a deep sleep and won't awake for a few hours. The boy Bakura has been using as his own would not make it through the destruction. Shai**** had decided so if the thief's plan were to work.

Bakura had tried to bargain with the god but Shai refused. If his plan to were to succeed, fate and the gods dead had already decided who were going survive the attack. Ryou was not on the list and the gods had sent him away no interested in his plea.

"I'm sorry that I couldn't protect you landlord." Bakura whispers to the boy knowing that his protection, and thus Ryou's life when the darkness rules, would soon be at an end.


A/N: *-Serapis is the Egyptian God of dreams

**-Anubis: One of the Egyptian God's of the dead. He weighs your heart in the afterlife.

***-Ma'at: Egyptian Goddess of Truth, Balance and Order

****-Shai: Egyptian God of Fate and Destiny

So, I wanted to work on something with not as much dialogue and I came up with this! I came up with it during a migraine attack which forces me to lay in the dark for hours at time. I usually sleep but this was swimming in my head instead.

Why is Bakura referring to various Egyptian Gods? I dunno, the religion seems to be the Truth in YGO world so it is here too and how did he talk to a god? He is a spirit right. He has access to those spiritual planes.

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed. Reviews are always welcome and feel free to ask any questions.