Disclaimer: Not mine. Has anyone ever been sued for not writing one of these?

Warnings: Gore, horror, character deaths (may or may not be permanent), angst, some stuff later on that's not for delicate people. Depends how well I can write it, really. I'm new-ish at horror. Also, slight crossover with the movie, because you-know-who's in it. You don't have to have seen it, just know who the main bad guy in it was.

Note: Heavy metal made me do it. I've only ever written one horror fic and it was so awful it's not even up any more, so it's about time I had another go. It's really horror mixed with angst, though. I like gore! You were warned!

Couples – Seto/Bakura, Marik/Ryou, Malik/Otogi, Yami/Yugi.

Twist of Cain

Part 1 – Reckoning Day

"Fuck you. Fuck you!" Bakura screamed in rage into the cellphone Seto had given him, throwing it across the room with such force that it hit the far wall and exploded into pieces. Marik watched his friend hiss through clenched teeth and look away from the broken cell angrily, his crimson eyes dark with hurt he'd never admit to anyone.

"What'd he do? Never seen you this pissed at him before." Marik asked, walking across his basement room to where Bakura stood against the counter of the small bar, seething.

"Ignored me for weeks. Chose his work over me. Attempted to ply me with gifts, as though I care for his trinkets!" The smaller yami growled, and Marik could see how upset Bakura was beneath the mask of anger he wore. Bakura was a hard person to read, but Marik had known him as long as he'd existed. He was the person the thief had taken shelter with after his latest fight with Seto Kaiba, after all.

"What's going on? I heard a bang, what've you two broken this time?" Ryou asked, the light seeming to follow him down the stairs into the gloomy basement. Marik sauntered over to the bottom of the stairs and took the angelic hikari in his tanned arms, smiling when Ryou laughed lightly. Bakura just looked away, still trying to get his rage under control and hating that Seto Kaiba could hurt him so easily.

"'Kura broke his cellphone. He's fighting with Kaiba." Marik explained, burying his face in Ryou's soft hair and nuzzling the side of his neck lovingly. He practically worshipped his delicate little lover – he knew he'd do anything for Ryou. All Ryou ever asked for was the occasionally back rub and for him to keep an eye on Bakura, though, which he would have done anyway.

"Are you alright, yami?" The hikari asked gently, looking over at where Bakura was staring angrily across at the remains of his cellphone.

"I am fine." Bakura hissed, turning and looking away again, towards the side of the room. "I will not let that mortal treat me –" Bakura froze suddenly, his eyes wide. Ryou pulled back from Marik, who had also tensed against him.

"What's the matter? Is something wrong? Marik?" Ryou gasped when Marik pulled him against his chest and held him tightly.

"Stay still. Close your eyes and stay still, angel." Marik whispered urgently, feeling a familiar sickening tug at the edges of his soul. Bakura gripped the edge of the bar with white knuckles, snarling as he tried to resist the power pulling him out into the realm of shadows. He knew the feeling as well as Marik did and looked around for anything that could be causing it, seeing nothing but purple and black shadows seeping up through the floor, making inky pools on the ground. They spread and joined together, slowly covering the entire floor and flowing down the stairs Ryou and Marik stood below. Bakura watched the two of them run out of places to stand and saw Ryou cling tightly to Marik as the shadows flowed up and covered them, the yami trying to shield Ryou as best he could. An instant later they were gone, and Bakura staggered back into the last patch of floor he could stand on without touching any of the thick, ink-like darkness. The circle of safe ground he stood on slowly got smaller and smaller, giving him nowhere else to go. Coldness bit into him like a knife as the blackness finally reached him and swarmed up his legs like water, barely giving him time to take a breath before it filled his mouth, eyes, nose and ears. He choked and tried to claw at it, but the thick shadows dragged him down and as it covered him completely his mind slipped into darkness as well.

XxXxX

Yami Yugi opened his eyes and instantly remembered the feeling of blackness crawling over his body and into his mouth, like a million spiders skittering across his skin. He sat up and cried out in shock, eyes wide, and looked down at himself.

The shadows were no longer covering him, just his usual leather and buckled combination of clothes. He knew what the feeling had been – someone or something had dragged him into the Shadow Realm, probably for another shadow game. It had happened many times before, but one never got used to a feeling like that.

Looking around himself as he stood up shakily, Yami felt his blood run cold as he took note of the people slowly waking up on the shining black floor around him. They looked to be in some kind of black marble hall, huge columns of white-veined rock holding up the ceiling that was lost in writhing shadows far above them. The walls of the room were also lost in shadow – too far away to be seen through the fog of purple and black that hung ominously over everything.

"Yugi? Are you alright?" Yami asked, crouching down next to his newly awakened hikari, who was looking around in fear and awe. Around him were the people he'd been with when he'd been sucked into the shadows – Anzu, Jounouchi, Malik and Otogi. A little to one side and steadying himself against one of the dark pillars of marble stood the tall figure of Seto Kaiba, his younger brother Mokuba sitting dazedly on the floor at his feet. To Yami's surprise, another group were pulling themselves up nearby as well – the thief Bakura, his hikari and the tomb keeper's darkness Marik.

"I'm ok, what's going on?" Yugi asked, looking up at his darkness with large, innocent eyes. "Is someone challenging you again?"

"I assume so," Yami replied, then leant a hand to Yugi to help him up. "I'll find out soon enough."

The frown on Yami's face was determined as he strode over to the two people he suspected were behind their unannounced trip to the Shadow Realm, looking every bit the pharaoh he had been.

"Explain yourselves." He demanded, glaring in particular at Bakura, his most ancient adversary and a person he knew only a fool would trust.

"What? You think we did this? Why the hell would we send ourselves to the Shadow Realm? If I wanted to play a shadow game with you I'd wait until I won and then send your self-righteous ass to hell!" Marik growled, angry at being accused so quickly. Ryou gently laid a hand on his chest and looked at Yami, his large, brown eyes incapable of deception.

"Marik and my yami had nothing to do with this, really. We were just trying to cheer Bakura up after his fight with Kaiba." Ryou said softly. At the mention of his name Seto looked over, trying to catch Bakura's eye, but the ghost-like thief refused to look at him and stared down at the smooth marble floor angrily.

"Is this true, thief?" Yami frowned, folding his arms. Bakura raised his head and hissed like a viper, narrowing his wicked eyes.

"I do not appreciate being drawn into your battles, pharaoh." The tomb robber growled, glaring at Yami with murderous crimson eyes. Used to being so utterly hated by Bakura, Yami gave him a glare back and turned, heading back over to where Yugi was now standing with Jounouchi and Anzu.

"So… nobody knows why we're here?" Jou asked, looking around nervously because if there was one thing he hated, it was getting sent to places like this. Anzu was frowning in disapproval of the entire situation, wishing she'd bought her pepperspray with her.

"I know why you're here." A new voice piped up without warning, and Mokuba looked up at his big brother in shock when he realised who it belonged to. The sharp, sour edge to it was easily recognizable, even if the voice had gotten a little deeper.

"Noa." Seto said coldly, striding forward with his white coat sweeping behind him until he stood in the middle of the scattered groups. Out of the shadows in front of him emerged the mint-haired figure of his adoptive brother, although no longer a child. Noa now stood just as tall as Seto, a twisted smirk on his face. He had the same lean, slender frame as Seto but was paler, dark shadows under his blank, computerized eyes.

"Seto. How have we been? Still living my life?" Noa asked with venom, another figure striding regally out of the inky blackness behind him. A chorus of gasps went up and Seto snarled, eyes narrowing.

"You." He hissed, pulling Mokuba behind him. Marik, Ryou and Bakura joined Malik and Otogi, knowing who the new enemy was immediately from what Yugi had told them. Bakura had seen him before briefly, and Anubis turned to him with a sinister smile.

"A familiar face, though much improved. How long it has been, tomb robber." Anubis sneered, standing behind Noa and towering over him. Bakura gave a low growl in his throat, letting it die when Marik put a hand on his shoulder. Anubis just laughed and turned to Yami instead, letting Noa explain their situation.

"You want to know why you're here? You're here to die. Allow me to expand upon how very doomed you are. I am dead, as you know. But, death could be construed as a blessing, from my point of view. As a spirit housed in a machine, is there any greater power than mine? At my disposal I have both the knowledge of the most advanced computer in the world and the magic of the realm of the dead. Your Sennen trinkets are toys in comparison, and with Anubis at my side you stand no hope of leaving here alive." Noa claimed. "You will play a Shadow Game with me – although the word game hardly does it justice. Whichever of you dies here will die in reality if I win, keep that in mind as I tear your friends limb from limb." He laughed.

"I will always defeat you, both of you. I have done it before, I will do it again." Yami said proudly, taking out his deck and shuffling it with as much calm as he could portray to his enemies.

"Oh, I'm sure you would. If we were not working together. And, did you not have to work with Seto. And let us not forget, if you did not have the distractions I am planning on giving you." Noa's twisted smile promised cruelty, and Yami glanced over at Seto, who simply nodded once and drew out his own cards.

"Nothing you could do will distract me from winning this duel. There are people I love at stake, this time your punishment will be permanent." Yami threatened, Seto coming to stand beside him silently as Mokuba ran to join Yugi, Anzu and Jounouchi. The CEO's eyes flickered over to Bakura for an instant once he'd made sure Mokuba was safe, but the thief looked away angrily.

"Then, let us begin. You will both be duelling me." Noa clicked his fingers and a duelling board drew itself into the ground, forming from the white veins in the marble. Old-style duelling disks appeared on their arms and Yami frowned, looking over at Anubis.

"What about him?" He demanded, having expected Anubis to be duelling as well. Noa gave a sickening laugh and drew his first cards, his dead eyes sweeping over to where his counterpart was stalking towards the others.

"He will be…distracting you. As I said, we shall see how long you can keep your minds on the duel."

With that, Noa set his first few cards and watched with an amused expression and Yami and Seto drew theirs.

"I end my turn." The computerized soul grinned darkly.

XxXxX

Anubis looked between the two groups of distractions with a bloodthirsty smile. He watched them all merge together, the tomb robber he remembered from so long ago placing himself in front of the Kaiba child and the pharaoh's light holding the girl's hand, trying to look as brave as he could. It made the sorcerer laugh, how little idea they had of what was coming.

"Which of you would like to die first?" Anubis asked casually, looking into each of their faces. The tomb robber and the other darkness snarled at him, but he decided he would save them for later. Especially the thief – such a treat should be savoured, his pain would be spectacular. Best to start with the minor annoyances, such as the one glaring hotly at him from in front of the pharaoh's light.

"Watch carefully, little ones. This will be a quick death. I would not want him to suffer, after all." The sorcerer laughed horribly, then before anyone could figure out who he meant the huge figure had darted forward and swung his fist down. Shadows swirled around it and his eyes glowed black, forcing power into the blow. Jounouchi threw Yugi back against Anzu and knew he couldn't get out of the way of something that fast, even with his experience in street gangs. Anubis' fist hit him in the chest with inhuman power, not even stopping. Any noise he'd been planning on making became a bloody gurgle and he was dead before he'd finished it, ribs shattered and crushed into his chest. Anubis smiled at the horror in the faces of his audience, letting Jounouchi crumple to the floor without a sound and watching the thick blood drip from his fist as he opened it.

"One down, children." The sorcerer whispered, licking the blood from the side of one finger as the rest of his playthings clung to each other or slid to their knees in disbelief. Looking over at Noa, he smiled and continued to lick off the blood, enjoying the tears overflowing from the pharaoh's wide eyes and the look of utter shock even Seto Kaiba couldn't hide.

This, he decided, was his kind of game.

TBC

No flames, you were warned! If you came into a horror fic and didn't expect to find any horror in here, shame on you. Who's going to bite it next and how're they going to go? And if you think I'm cruel to Jounouchi, I'll give you a spoiler! That was possibly the least disturbing death, in my opinion. Yay for gory deaths!