Summary: One-shot. In another world, a world where Japan is no longer Japan, and Duel Monsters never came to exist, Ryou lost everything. Now he seeks revenge. Crossover/Fusion with Code Geass.
Disclaimer: I do not own Yugioh or Code Geass.
A/N: I wrote this for a pan-fandom meme over at livejournal, which is why it's so short. I've been thinking about writing something like it for a while, because I find it very entertaining to think on how certain characters would interact with the world of Code Geass. It's interesting to consider how characters from the United States, like Buffy Summers and Kim Possible and a number of other superhero types, would all be Britannian, and their 'justice' would be influenced by Britannian propaganda and values. Likewise, Japanese heroes (and not-so-heroes) would have to deal with oppression, and the humiliation and tragedy that goes with being a people conquered by force. How would heroic characters like Ranma Saotome, Tsunayoshi Sawada, and Yugi Motou deal with this? Or more ambiguous characters, like Ryou Bakura, Kurama Minanimo, and Kyouya Ootori? I would like to explore this more; hopefully, this ficlet will be the first of many.
Mirror, Mirror
The hatred has a bitter aftertaste that never seems to leave him. Knightmares (nightmares, monsters, demons) haunt him even in his sleep. He can still hear the screaming (real or imagined, he can never tell; maybe it was never their screams that he heard, but his own), can see the bloodstains on the ground, bits of mashed-up flesh and broken bone and the strewn remains of what had once been limbs, once belonged to the people he cherished most.
Mother, Father...Amane.
And in the back of his mind, a voice that's not-quite-his is chuckling. Some things really never change, it says. Like always, it's fuzzy, half-remembered. You've always had such dreadful luck, haven't you, Landlord?
The hatred is familiar, reminds him of hazy dreams about gold being forged from melted flesh.
Britannia must pay.
Perhaps revenge, he thinks, will silence the screaming in his dreams.
Revenge is all that's left, now.
And the world goes white as the amulet (Father's last gift before he became a smear, a rotting carcass) grows warm against his chest.
"Why are you here?" asks a boy, when Ryou is once again himself. He has light hair and tainted, violet eyes.
"To join the Black Knights."
The boy's gun gleams silver in the artificial light. "How did you manage to infiltrate this base?" he asks.
"I don't know," Ryou replies, honestly.
"You expect me to believe that?" His mouth is set in a grim line, and Ryou wonders if he's going to shoot.
But then a voice shouts "Rolo! Lower the gun!" and the boy's expression shifts to one of confusion. He obeys.
"Zero," says Ryou, when he catches sight of the telltale mask.
"You wish to join the Black Knights?"
"I do."
"Well," says Zero. "You have certainly demonstrated your prowess by infiltrating this base. I was watching you on the monitor. Tell me: how was it that you knocked those students unconscious without so much as tapping them?"
Ryou does not remember anything but the whiteness. "I don't know," he says again.
"You're lying," says Zero, and Ryou can detect an edge to his voice, like he's worried about something.
The voice that is not-quite-his chuckles once more. Beware, Landlord, it says. This one has the Power of Kings.
"It's the truth," says Ryou.
"We shall see," replies Zero, opening his mask. And for a moment, Ryou's vision is swallowed by a pair of burning, crimson wings. Zero says something that Ryou does not understand, and his lips move of their own volition. He does not know what is being said.
And then, silence.
"Do you know how to pilot a Knightmare frame?" asks Zero.
"I can learn," replies Ryou.
"Good," he says. "Welcome, Ryou Bakura. You are officially a member of the Black Knights."
And Ryou smirks, wide and deranged with something that should have been triumph. But he feels nothing, nothing but the burning ache of loss, the aftertaste of hatred still bitter on his tongue. Revenge, perhaps, will fill the hollowness.
Britannia will pay.
The voice that is not-quite-his cackles loudly, and it echoes through his mind like static.
We shall see, Landlord, it says, using the muscles of Ryou's mouth to widen his smirk. We shall see.