Just a quick oneshot. I appreciate reviews, all the same.
Summary: A year later, Bakura returns from Memory World. But something has changed.
It began about four years ago, when I met Yugi. My life changed, for better or for worse, I don't know.
But Yugi helped me to see the true me, inside. The murderer. The psycho. The thief.
Was it the real me? I don't know. Yugi banished him, many times, but he still returned…
When Yugi helped his other self to break free from this world, my other self went with him. I was overjoyed, then… I thought I'd finally rid myself of his tyranny, that he would never return.
But he did.
I should have anticipated it. But a year after they left, both Yugi's and my Yami returned.
There it is again. Most days I am weighed down by the darkness of my other self, but when I return home I feel like the weight has been lifted.
And then I hear it.
A silent sob…
And then it's gone, whisked away into the past.
What is wrong, I whisper into the darkness. What has happened for you to cry so?
Even though he is evil, a murderer, I still care for him as if he were I. I can't help it; it's my nature.
It breaks my heart to hear him cry, when he thinks I'm not listening. It hurts that I can't help him. And when I do hear, he stops, and growls I don't need your sympathy.
I shiver in the cold. I've only been here once before – this is the manifestation, the 'room' of my other self's soul.
I push open the door and walk in.
He kneels on the ground, in front of a large statue. I'm puzzled – that wasn't there before, when I was last here.
The statue itself is of four people. Two adults – A woman with long hair, and a man with shoulder-length hair. Two children, also – a girl and a boy. The girl looks strikingly like her mother, and the boy…
I give an involuntary gasp. The boy is me… He looks almost exactly the same as I did when I was twelve.
The kneeling man in front of me whips his head around, his white hair in disarray and his cheeks wet with tears.
Tears?
I don't need you here. Leave. He shouts this with all his ferocity, but I see behind the hatred.
He is in pain…
He advances upon me, his hand outstretched to push me back, out of his private space.
I simply stand there, looking at him. He stops, and his lavender eyes close as he shivers.
Another quiet sob. From me, now. How can I bear to see him like this?
He falls to his knees, his chest heaving with uncontrollable sobs. I can't help it – I drop into a crouch and embrace him. Everyone needs a hug sometimes.
He cries into my shoulder as I hold him.
I killed them, Hikari… They died because of me…
I shush him. I don't know what he's talking about, but I comfort him all the same. No, Yami…
This new Yami is slightly unsettling. He must have experienced such horrible things when he returned to Memory World…
But I console myself that I will always be here for him.
Who cares if he's evil? Who cares if blood stains his hands?
Everyone needs a helping hand sometimes.
Forgive and forget.
Do unto others…