I was planning on a one-shot, but this got way out of hand…
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Bakura Gets Proactive
(This is a very bad idea)
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Everyone and everything has a breaking point. Push hard enough and find out, but do so at your own peril, because cornered beasts are the most dangerous sort.
Bakura has reached his breaking point and succumbed to it too, mostly. As things turns out however, watching all those he'd ever known getting sacrificed had not been enough to completely rob him of his sanity. Granted, it had left a sizeable crack; the events that had followed had widened it. Spending a few millennia sealed in the Ring ought to have done the trick, given that he had been forced to endure his stay mostly fused with Zorc Necrophadis.
Considering all that, the Thief King had emerged from the ordeal surprisingly sane, if more than just a tad unstable. Granted, this was only comparatively speaking; by the standards of most people, he was sociopathic at best, bat shit crazy at worst. Not that it mattered or anything.
Despite the millennia of Zorc's warping influence and the near complete fusion of their souls, Bakura had managed to cling to his own memories, refusing to discard those last few shreds of his identity. Bakura retaining his memories had mattered little to Zorc after all, so long as their interest aligned in terms of dealing with the Pharaoh and his cohorts.
And their interests did align, yes, but only as far as the issue of the Pharaoh went; as for the fate of world and all that, Bakura hadn't really given it a thought.
At first, Bakura had been almost entirely consumed by his desire for revenge: for Kul Elna and for the millennia spent sealed away with only a mad god as company. Then, after emerging from the tedious torture of his combined exile and house arrest, the Thief King had gradually begun paying more and more attention to things other than his burning desire for vengeance. Granted, he still longed for the latter and possessed no intention of giving up on it, but there were a few things in the mortal world that had warranted his prolonged interest. His landlord, the aptly named Bakura Ryou, happened to be one of them.
Over the years, the Thief King had rejected multiple other applicants; they had been weak and thereby unsuited to become a vessel for his soul. As far as Bakura himself could recall, one of the stronger fools had sought to pawn the Ring off to some pale-faced foreigner, as though it had been some mere trinket. Bakura had been greatly intrigued though; not so much by the man himself but by the possibility of seeing new lands. Granted, the name of the man had surprised him, but it had been a lesser surprise compared to the surge he had felt when a child's fingertips had first brushed against the Ring.
There had been power there; Bakura had known that much from the very start, and he had been quick to learn that the boy, Ryou, knew next to nothing of his own potential. Well, Bakura had not seen much of a reason to change that; he had only needed a decent vessel after all, not a servant.
Of course, in the end, Bakura had needed more than just a vessel; he had also needed information, primarily on the current whereabouts of the rest of the Millennium Items. Even though he had survived his enforced house arrest with most, if not all, of his memories intact, positively ancient intelligence could only get one so far after all. Ultimately, Bakura had not needed to worry all that much as far as that went though. Even so, it seldom hurt to be prepared.
For one thing, Bakura had discovered the existence of Duel Monsters and noted the uncanny resemblance between certain monsters and the Ka spirits wielded by certain priests. Ergo, there had to be someone else out there with at least some knowledge, and quite possibly also someone with a Millennium Item in their possession.
Bakura had researched, or nudged his host to look into the matter; Ryou had already held an interest in games, so it had not been too difficult to steer him towards Duel Monsters. Granted, Bakura had still been forced to suffer through quite a bit of Monster World, Ryou's favourite RPG. That alone would have been relatively tolerable, had it not been for the annoying fools his host insisted on making friends with; Bakura had neither use nor desire for friends, and the people Ryou associated with were either weak-minded fools or people ultimately looking to torment or exploit him.
Bakura had observed for a while, fully intent on not getting involved. Mere weeks into it however, he had already been at his wit's end. As it turned out, he could steal people's souls. Bakura had deemed it a useful skill, even if he did not get to practice it very often after what little still remained of Ryou's former social circle had come to avoid him like the plague.
Bakura might have felt something then; the slightest twinge of guilt perhaps. It was gone quickly though, replaced by some degree of satisfaction as Ryou moved away from Monster World and most of his past and firmly into Duel Monsters territory. His host still wrote letters though, all of them addressed to the younger sister who had died along with his mother. It was a pointless waste of time, but Bakura let him have it. It was perfectly harmless after all.
Over the years, Ryou had transferred schools multiple times; some of them due to his father's work and some of them due to Bakura's. Bakura had been less thrilled about the move to Domino City, initially. Then, after Ryou had transferred into the class of one Muto Yugi, Bakura had been morbidly delighted.
The Millennium Puzzle, neatly assembled and hanging from the neck of one oblivious classmate.
Jackpot.
Granted, Bakura did have to use quite a bit of self-control not to do anything stupid right then and there. After all, as he had learned from Zorc, they needed to collect all seven Millennium Items. Ergo, there was really no point in attacking the spirit of the now Nameless Pharaoh now; not beyond achieving some short-lived satisfaction, at any rate, since the Pharaoh had lost all his memories too; there was really no point in extracting bloody vengeance from someone that oblivious.
In other words, Bakura would not only have to collect all seven items but also help that prat regain his memories, all for the sake of them continuing the aborted high-stakes game they had started back when they were both still alive. "Well, fuck."
To say that Bakura had been unhappy was a severe understatement. Still‒ "You mean to say that Pegasus J. Crawford stole your grandpa's soul, Yugi?" ‒no clouds are without silver lining, right?
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In hindsight, getting involved had been a big mistake. It had been a big mistake. All of it. Mostly. Bakura really should've let the fools deal with the mess without sticking his own neck into it. He really should've thrown out the invitation that soon arrived for Ryou, but oh no, he had been entirely too giddy about finally seeing some action. Naturally, he had also been somewhat giddy about getting his paws on the Millennium Eye, which was apparently in this Pegasus' guy's possession. Of course, the latter had not exactly come as a surprise to Bakura; given that Pegasus had created Duel Monsters, it had only made sense for Bakura to assume that there had to be at least one Millennium Item in the man's general vicinity, and voila, there it was, the Millennium Eye.
Yugi and the gang had seemed pretty anxious about the whole thing, mind-reading and soul-stealing and all. Ryou had been understandably cautious when he too had received a package from Industrial Illusions in the mail. He didn't need to worry though, and Bakura had actually told him so.
"Who's there?!"
Though evidently startled, Ryou takes it all surprisingly well. Furthermore, he easily gives in to a few of Bakura's demands in exchange for a promise to return the souls he has stolen in the past. Bakura easily agrees, because the latter are largely irrelevant. Now there is an even bigger prize in his sights, and he will participate in that farce of a tournament in order to attain it. He doesn't need to win the tournament either; he merely needs to get close enough.
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