Courage
# CW: Yo, people! Sorry my last fanfic wasn't 2 good. It was just a practice. I still ain't got paragraphs right (I'm on MW), so please bear with me if it looks a bit long and tedious. Hope u enjoy it! #
Bakura watched intently as Tristan cracked open the can, tilted back his head and threw the strong contents down his throat in a few gulps.
'Tristan, I don't think you should be drinking that so fast...' he warned.
'Whadda you know about it?' demanded Tristan, 'Why, I bet you never touched a drop in your life! You're practically toeteetal!'
Their five friends looked up at him blankly from around the TV set, but Joey, a tall, lean and muscular blonde, took this moment of distraction to sneak several handfuls of popcorn into his mouth before doing so.
'I think you'll find the word is teetotal.' Grinned Téa, a slim and athletic brown-haired girl, sipping civilly at her can.
Everyone here had a drink in their hand, thought Bakura, looking around, even little Yugi.
The spiky-haired, puppy-eyed half-pint sat grinning jovially and chatting to his best buddy Joey-the-Popcorn-Annihilator.
Mai, a stunning blonde girl with a secret liking for Joey, was on her second can with not a hint of being worse for wear.
Serenity, thank heavens, was in bed already. Bakura would have a thing or two to say if Joey's younger sister were allowed a beer.
And it hadn't gone perfectly anyway.
Duke Devlin, the 'Almighty (or high-and-mighty) Creator of Dungeon Dice Monsters' and all out pretty boy of the group, had purposefully picked a fight with Tristan and received a black eye in return.
He was now sitting between the two girls (due to the lack of Serenity) and laughing, but every now and then, he'd shoot a dark look at his 'friend'.
Bakura stared shamefully at his sallow hands, but at the same time, he felt a funny sense of pride.
He hadn't given in to temptation like the others.
Or so he thought.
'Come on, Bakura!' Yugi turned to him, 'I think Tristan's partially right. Learn to have some fun!'
Mai shoved a cold can into his hand. 'Get this down you, matey!' she grinned, in an accurate impression of Bakura's English accent.
Yes, weak mortal. Drink! You'll be easier to control when your will is corrupted!
Bakura sighed under the spirit's pressure.
He couldn't fight.
Heaven knows what the presence in his Millennium Ring could do to him if he didn't obey.
Numbly, he snapped the ring pull off the top and swigged at the bitter, amber liquid.
Soon he was warm and dizzy, enjoying this more than he had expected.
'This is boring.' Grumbled Téa, slightly pink in the face, switching off the TV.
'What can we do to pass the time, then?' asked Yugi, 'Grandpa's not back until the day after tomorrow. Pity he trusts me so much.'
'I know a funny story!' exclaimed Bakura dazedly.
'Go on then.' Prompted Mai.
And Bakura launched into an unplanned plotless account of something he had once done that he couldn't possibly remember as his friends stared vacantly at him.
'...and you could hear it at the other end of the street!' he finished, laughing.
'Well, that was original.' Admitted Téa, 'You kinda started off with something about Mrs Next-door's venus flytrap plants and kinda ran smoothly into the thing about the ostrich, leaving us utterly bewildered somewhere in between.'
'And then there was that about the purple turtle, you know, that you couldn't pronounce,' added Duke, 'Then some sort of gobbledygook about pixies and finally that puzzling yet amusing story about the bagpipes.'
'Oh?' Bakura felt bewildered, 'Did I say that?'
His head felt very strange indeed, like a sort of flooded indoor swimming pool.
'Well, you sort of sang a little bit.' Said Yugi, 'The bit with the pixies. You know: 'I wish them not too loud to shout, for they will scare the pixies out?' There was much more, but I can't remember it all.'
'Never heard it before in my life.' Bakura was blushing. Oh, what have you got me into, Tristan? He thought.
Mai laughed. 'Oh, I remember some! 'And they will whisper 'til I'm dead, these little pixies, in my head!' Quite disturbing, huh?'
'Oh, please don't laugh at me!' whimpered Bakura.
'Bakura, you're just sooo wimpy!' laughed Tristan manically. Bakura could tell that Tristan was by the far the worst off in the group, 'I mean you can't handle your drink, you sing stupid songs about pixies and you whinge and whine when people laugh at you!'
'I'm not wimpy!' protested Bakura, standing up, 'I assure you, tonight I'm going to do something really brave!'
'Like what?' laughed Duke, 'Ask Mai for a date?'
The blonde thumped him hard.
'See what I mean?' he grinned.
'I'm going to er... I'm going to go into the old place with the iron gate that we go past to get to school!' he announced.
'Bakura, that's not brave, it's just stupid!' said Téa.
'Well, I'm doing it whether you like it or not!' pouted Bakura, knowing that he, for one, would not like it at all.
'Fine.' Sighed Tristan, 'Go if you want to.'
'Well, I'll see you folks later!' Bakura dragged himself dizzily from his seat and wandered aimlessly out of the room, cold-shouldering the doorframe as he went.
'You think he's actually going to do it?' asked Duke uneasily.
'I don't think he'll get down the road without coming back and saying he's too scared.' Said Mai, sitting back, 'We shouldn't be worried.'
'Well, I'm going after him.' Said Yugi, 'Just in case.'
'Count me in, buddy.' Joey leapt to his feet, 'Two heads are better 'n one!'
'Fine, but don't make too much racket.' Said Yugi, pulling on his jacket.
'You got it.' Joey followed him obediently, 'Not a sound. Zip the kisser, absolute silence. Not a single peep will pass my lips, buddy, I assure you...'
His voice faded off into the distance, as he and his best buddy left the house and wandered off in the direction of Domino High School.
Bakura stood in front of the wrought iron gates, wondering vaguely how to get in.
He didn't want to, but he had completely lost control of his conscience, thanks to Tristan and his beer.
Giving up on the gates, he wandered around the high wall that surrounded the mansion's grounds.
Thinking as quickly as he could, Bakura scrambled clumsily up a young tree that stood beside the wall.
From there, he could grab the edge and haul himself on top, which he did now.
Finally, his conscience managed to take over, and he decided that the top of the wall was quite far enough.
Slowly and carefully, he turned to the tree and made to grab hold of its branches.
But his unstable legs didn't want to hold him.
With a startled cry, Bakura's feet slipped, both at the same time, and he tumbled through the air, landing hard on the grass on the inside of the wall.
'Oh bugger.' He said to himself, 'This isn't looking too bright at all.'
He hauled himself painfully to a sitting position. He knew he wasn't badly hurt, just dizzy.
He slowly turned his head this way and that, taking in the little that could be seen of the gardens in the dark.
The small, neat shrubs looked pale and skeletal in the icy moonlight, and the pruned flower-borders looked like endless black pits over which hovered the neat, delicate plants.
The great Georgian manor stood some way away, leering out of the darkness, the huge white floodlights casting an eerie glow over its archaic face.
But what frightened Bakura most was what was moving towards him through the sweeping grounds, away from the mansion, its shapeless form pure white beneath the starry heavens.
Bakura sat, watching it, unable to drag himself up.
He felt very ill.
# CW: Yo, people! Sorry my last fanfic wasn't 2 good. It was just a practice. I still ain't got paragraphs right (I'm on MW), so please bear with me if it looks a bit long and tedious. Hope u enjoy it! #
Bakura watched intently as Tristan cracked open the can, tilted back his head and threw the strong contents down his throat in a few gulps.
'Tristan, I don't think you should be drinking that so fast...' he warned.
'Whadda you know about it?' demanded Tristan, 'Why, I bet you never touched a drop in your life! You're practically toeteetal!'
Their five friends looked up at him blankly from around the TV set, but Joey, a tall, lean and muscular blonde, took this moment of distraction to sneak several handfuls of popcorn into his mouth before doing so.
'I think you'll find the word is teetotal.' Grinned Téa, a slim and athletic brown-haired girl, sipping civilly at her can.
Everyone here had a drink in their hand, thought Bakura, looking around, even little Yugi.
The spiky-haired, puppy-eyed half-pint sat grinning jovially and chatting to his best buddy Joey-the-Popcorn-Annihilator.
Mai, a stunning blonde girl with a secret liking for Joey, was on her second can with not a hint of being worse for wear.
Serenity, thank heavens, was in bed already. Bakura would have a thing or two to say if Joey's younger sister were allowed a beer.
And it hadn't gone perfectly anyway.
Duke Devlin, the 'Almighty (or high-and-mighty) Creator of Dungeon Dice Monsters' and all out pretty boy of the group, had purposefully picked a fight with Tristan and received a black eye in return.
He was now sitting between the two girls (due to the lack of Serenity) and laughing, but every now and then, he'd shoot a dark look at his 'friend'.
Bakura stared shamefully at his sallow hands, but at the same time, he felt a funny sense of pride.
He hadn't given in to temptation like the others.
Or so he thought.
'Come on, Bakura!' Yugi turned to him, 'I think Tristan's partially right. Learn to have some fun!'
Mai shoved a cold can into his hand. 'Get this down you, matey!' she grinned, in an accurate impression of Bakura's English accent.
Yes, weak mortal. Drink! You'll be easier to control when your will is corrupted!
Bakura sighed under the spirit's pressure.
He couldn't fight.
Heaven knows what the presence in his Millennium Ring could do to him if he didn't obey.
Numbly, he snapped the ring pull off the top and swigged at the bitter, amber liquid.
Soon he was warm and dizzy, enjoying this more than he had expected.
'This is boring.' Grumbled Téa, slightly pink in the face, switching off the TV.
'What can we do to pass the time, then?' asked Yugi, 'Grandpa's not back until the day after tomorrow. Pity he trusts me so much.'
'I know a funny story!' exclaimed Bakura dazedly.
'Go on then.' Prompted Mai.
And Bakura launched into an unplanned plotless account of something he had once done that he couldn't possibly remember as his friends stared vacantly at him.
'...and you could hear it at the other end of the street!' he finished, laughing.
'Well, that was original.' Admitted Téa, 'You kinda started off with something about Mrs Next-door's venus flytrap plants and kinda ran smoothly into the thing about the ostrich, leaving us utterly bewildered somewhere in between.'
'And then there was that about the purple turtle, you know, that you couldn't pronounce,' added Duke, 'Then some sort of gobbledygook about pixies and finally that puzzling yet amusing story about the bagpipes.'
'Oh?' Bakura felt bewildered, 'Did I say that?'
His head felt very strange indeed, like a sort of flooded indoor swimming pool.
'Well, you sort of sang a little bit.' Said Yugi, 'The bit with the pixies. You know: 'I wish them not too loud to shout, for they will scare the pixies out?' There was much more, but I can't remember it all.'
'Never heard it before in my life.' Bakura was blushing. Oh, what have you got me into, Tristan? He thought.
Mai laughed. 'Oh, I remember some! 'And they will whisper 'til I'm dead, these little pixies, in my head!' Quite disturbing, huh?'
'Oh, please don't laugh at me!' whimpered Bakura.
'Bakura, you're just sooo wimpy!' laughed Tristan manically. Bakura could tell that Tristan was by the far the worst off in the group, 'I mean you can't handle your drink, you sing stupid songs about pixies and you whinge and whine when people laugh at you!'
'I'm not wimpy!' protested Bakura, standing up, 'I assure you, tonight I'm going to do something really brave!'
'Like what?' laughed Duke, 'Ask Mai for a date?'
The blonde thumped him hard.
'See what I mean?' he grinned.
'I'm going to er... I'm going to go into the old place with the iron gate that we go past to get to school!' he announced.
'Bakura, that's not brave, it's just stupid!' said Téa.
'Well, I'm doing it whether you like it or not!' pouted Bakura, knowing that he, for one, would not like it at all.
'Fine.' Sighed Tristan, 'Go if you want to.'
'Well, I'll see you folks later!' Bakura dragged himself dizzily from his seat and wandered aimlessly out of the room, cold-shouldering the doorframe as he went.
'You think he's actually going to do it?' asked Duke uneasily.
'I don't think he'll get down the road without coming back and saying he's too scared.' Said Mai, sitting back, 'We shouldn't be worried.'
'Well, I'm going after him.' Said Yugi, 'Just in case.'
'Count me in, buddy.' Joey leapt to his feet, 'Two heads are better 'n one!'
'Fine, but don't make too much racket.' Said Yugi, pulling on his jacket.
'You got it.' Joey followed him obediently, 'Not a sound. Zip the kisser, absolute silence. Not a single peep will pass my lips, buddy, I assure you...'
His voice faded off into the distance, as he and his best buddy left the house and wandered off in the direction of Domino High School.
Bakura stood in front of the wrought iron gates, wondering vaguely how to get in.
He didn't want to, but he had completely lost control of his conscience, thanks to Tristan and his beer.
Giving up on the gates, he wandered around the high wall that surrounded the mansion's grounds.
Thinking as quickly as he could, Bakura scrambled clumsily up a young tree that stood beside the wall.
From there, he could grab the edge and haul himself on top, which he did now.
Finally, his conscience managed to take over, and he decided that the top of the wall was quite far enough.
Slowly and carefully, he turned to the tree and made to grab hold of its branches.
But his unstable legs didn't want to hold him.
With a startled cry, Bakura's feet slipped, both at the same time, and he tumbled through the air, landing hard on the grass on the inside of the wall.
'Oh bugger.' He said to himself, 'This isn't looking too bright at all.'
He hauled himself painfully to a sitting position. He knew he wasn't badly hurt, just dizzy.
He slowly turned his head this way and that, taking in the little that could be seen of the gardens in the dark.
The small, neat shrubs looked pale and skeletal in the icy moonlight, and the pruned flower-borders looked like endless black pits over which hovered the neat, delicate plants.
The great Georgian manor stood some way away, leering out of the darkness, the huge white floodlights casting an eerie glow over its archaic face.
But what frightened Bakura most was what was moving towards him through the sweeping grounds, away from the mansion, its shapeless form pure white beneath the starry heavens.
Bakura sat, watching it, unable to drag himself up.
He felt very ill.