In case anyone cares, which I sincerely doubt, this was originally in Ryou's perspective. And I don't own stuff…that I don't own.

The Sanity of it All

"Yami! Yami stop! Please!" my hikari screams. But no way am I stopping. Not now. Not ever. Never again will I have to bet and wager my way into getting the things I desire. I will simply take what I want, when I want, how I want it.

I turn to my next victim. Ah…the pharaoh's brat. This is one I will enjoy immensely.

"No! Yami please!" Ryou yells, jumping between the midget and myself.

"Move. Now." I am trying to keep a lid on my temper, for if this boy dies, so will I. But Ryou does so test the limits of my patience. He is such a woman, I swear.

Anyway, I have finally done it. I have forged a body of my own from all the sacred Millennium Items. It was almost too easy. All that I needed to do was steal, one of my greatest skills. It was too simple to wait for each item holder to fall asleep or get injured, and then attack them in my host's body. They would never strike out at poor defenseless Ryou, stuck in his soul room while his evil yami manipulates his body to his will. I was able to get past the 'you-must-win-the-items-in-a-duel-for-rightful-possesion-to-them-and-the-power-to-actually-use-them-you-moron' rule because I don't actually want to use the items themselves…and it was a simple task to drain their power.

The only real obstacle was my hikari. I have never before been able to do this becausehe would fight me. He is surprisingly strong, but apparently not strong enough. Once he broke, the only real hurdle to my ultimate success had been cleared.

Still, he now stands in front of me with knowledge that we are linked, he and I, for all eternity. I have bound him to this accursed world for as long as I live, and I will live until the end of time, unless killed. The same goes for him. He dies, I die. He knows I cannot kill him.

I turn the Rod on him, blasting him to the side. I can strike him and feel no pain, as long as it is not fatal.

Already knowing he is far too late to stop me,Ryou sobs out a feeble"No!"as I use the pharaoh's mind crush on his spiky-haired 'aibou.'

Aibou. Friend. Pft.

The little Yugi child did not put up a fight. At all. How boring. I suppose he 'lost the will to live' as so many mortals do.

I smirk at my now-sobbing little Ryou before briefly surveying my surroundings.

Looking around, I realize that I am done. Everyone is gone now. The brat was the last. Pity, I would have thought even with no willpower he'd put up more of a resistance. He wasthe pharaoh's vessel, after all.

What a dissapointment.

I stare around the deserted city. Bodies litter the streets and sidewalks, some sent to the Shadow Realm to wander for all eternity, and some simply, more humanely, knifed to death.

A body impacts with my side, causing me to slip on the ice under my feet and fall to the ground. It is winter, and the slippery cold surface under me does not feel nice. Still, at least I have a body of my own to feel with, however unpleasant certain sensations may be.

With ease I push my pathetic excuse for an alter ego off of me and get to my feet. It is snowing, and soon the bodies will all be covered with a layer of frost. It isfitting in a city of death.

Ryou attempts to stand but cannot. He does not possess my grace, and so slips and ends up on his rear. I step behind him and pull his waist to me. I grab his left arm and quickly twist it behind his back, rendering him (mostly) immobile. I wonder how this utter weakling managed to stand up to me for so long.

I bring my ear close to his mouth, and raise my eyebrows. Probably in mock-interest, butI am a bit curious to hear what he's got to say. I always love hearing my victims speak to me when they realize they haven't got a prayer, andhe looks as if he is trying to say something. He isn't talking though, so I turn my head slightly to see his profile.

He is crying. I let his arm fall to his side and unwrap my arm from around him, turning him to face me in the same motion. He will not look into my face. He keeps his head down, looking at the ground as small rivulets trail down his cheek to land inaudibly on the iced-over tarmac at his feet.

Excuse me, but I am having a short little spasm of glee, for this is how it should be. He should always be the submissive one. He should realize that it is I who is in control. It gives me great satisfaction that he is a few inches shorter than I am.

"What." Iutter the command with complete unfeeling. It is a command, not a question. He will answer. I know it, and he knows it.

But he is taking too long for my liking. I grab his shoulders roughly, shaking him.

"What is it?" We are standing in the alley where I killed the star-headed boy,with an apartment building beside us. I slam him up against the side of the building. His head snaps back against the wall, and he winces.

I like the nicethump sounds his head makesagainst the bricks. The must've hurt. A little.

"Well?" Patience has never been one of my virtues. Not that I have any others.

He looks up at me. He is angry. Tears flow freely down his face and he opens his mouth to speak, but no words come out. He tries again.

"How…how could you? All those people…Yugi, Jounouchi and his sister, Honda, Mai…even Kaiba and his little brother! Even Otogi! I don't think he ever even said a single word to you! Why! Whatcan you possibly hope to accomplish! Isn't there any other way you could have gotten what you wanted!"

He seems to have nothing more to say, but his tears refuse to stop. They arebothering me. Boys shouldn't cry…if Ryou is even truly a guy. Been having doubts about that…

So I smirk and say, "I noticed you didn't include Anzu in your little speech. Any particular reason for that?"

He sniffs and looks at the ground. He is shuffling his feet a bit. It is a most annoyinghabit that appears whenever he is feeling guilty or embarrassed. I am pretty sure he thought I would just ignore everything he said. This boy needs to grow a backbone.

"Well," he mumbles, "I…I never really liked her much…"

I smirk.

"I see some of my sadist tendencies are rubbing off on you." I lift his chin with one finger, and am surprised to see he is still crying, even though I am making an attempt at sarcastic humor. I should have realized that it would be wasted on him. Oh well. I had better make the most of him, since he is the only company I've got.

"No." the look of sheepish embarrassment leaves his face, replaced by pure anger. It does not look nice on my innocent hikari. "I…I may not have liked her, but I never…never wanted to see her dead. Never." He is almost whispering now. Why does Ryou have to be so sentimental? Crap. I have to be stuck with a sissy forever…

"Look, Ryou," I am being less formal now. After all, I should have some semblance of…no. I will not say the word. That word is more evil than I am. That stupidflake had it in all of her ridiculous speeches. I am sure even Ryou is glad he will never have to hear another one of those. I am very glad I killed her instead of sending her to the Shadow Realm. She'd probably escape…somehow…and come back with a million more of those slow tortures. What else would she do in limbo for eons other than concoct more of those…those things?

I continue, saying, "Those people would havetried to get in my way. I will have absolute power and domination. I will. And no one will stop me."

Ryou straightens and tries to draw himself up to my height. It is so funny. He is still at least four inches shorter than me. It takes all of my self-control not to burst out laughing. I still have him held up against a wall, to boot.

"I'll stop you."

I can't hold it any longer.

"BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" I clutch my stomach and double over, my hands leaving his shoulders. But I can't help it. He thinks he can compare to me, now that I have my own body? He looks confused, and a few tears still trickle down his face.

"You…you honestly believe you have a chance of standing up to me? That's a good one."

He seems less confident now. I don't think that was the response he was expecting. But really, what did he think I'd do? Am I supposed to be scared? Of him? AHAHAHAHA!

"I…I will."

My laughter is dying away, as the joke is now dead. I wipe a few tears of mirth from my eyes.

"Ryou. What I tell you is the truth. You have no hope. So for both our sakes, just drop it," I say matter-of-factly, because he really does have no hope. He knows it too.

"Well…I will stop you! Or…or at least I'll…try to…" he muttered that last part, but I still heard it. This is getting so boring. Can't he come up with anything better than that?

And with that type of self-assurance, he'll be lucky if he can even muster up the courage to insult me. Apparently, my hikari is one of those fools who believe that good always triumphs over evil. I think I'll inform him that this is real life. He seems to have forgotten.

"Oh yeah?" I abruptly stop laughing at Ryou's complete lack of confidence, and take a stride forward to him by the front of his shirt, lifting him off the ground. He is scared now.

"And just how are you planning to do that?" I sneer into his face, shoving him back up against the wall. His head makes that 'thunk' sound against the brick again. That boy is going to have permanent brain damage if I can't learn to control myself. "I am the yami, you are the hikari. I am in control of my destiny, and yours. And you…are not."

He looks confused. And somehow, still sad. The tears are ebbing, but they're still there. I set him down and pat his head.

"There now, that was easy," I tell him, "Just succumb to the fact that I now rule the world, peon. That means you too." I lead him away from the wall, turn and slap his butt to get him moving. "I want you to go get whatever you need to live. We're leaving."

He turns back around.

"No," he tells me evenly, his body frozen, stock-still. Somehow he has discovered, in the past five minutes, the ability to make himself look immovable…despite the fact that I could probably pick up his less-than-one-hundred-fifteen-pounds frame and run around with him flung over my back without breaking a sweat.

Still, now only anger is etched into the crevices of his face. It's kind of amusing.

"Don't touch me."

And now it isn't.

He takes a step back, then another, then another. "Ever."

I snort and say, "You are going to tell me what to do? I can do whatever I like." I leer at him, and the anger is washed from his face in an instant, leaving only pure fear in its wake. It's funny, really, how fast his resolve crumbles.

"No…" he whispers before turning and breaking into an all-out, adrenaline-fueled run. I think…I think he might be trying to get away from me…but I could be wrong. I know my hikari isn't that stupid. I know he isn't such an idiot that he could possibly think he could outrun me.

But apparently I don't know my little girlie-Ryou well at all. Oh well.

I sigh and go after him. It takes me but a few seconds to catch up to him at a relaxed jog. I reach out as if to grab his belt…when he…slips…

Curse my hikari's clumsiness! I miss his belt and stumble a bit before finally regaining my balance. Ha. I smirk. I am so graceful.

I indulge in a moment of self-praise.

Then I look over at my hikari and freeze.

He is lying flat on his back. Around his head is a pool of red liquid, spreading easily over the wet ice. He is smiling.

I frown, confused, and stagger a bit. I clutch my head. It suddenly feels as if it is splitting.

I drop to my knees beside my dear little idiot. He closes his eyes, still smiling a bit.

"Looks like," he whispers, "I can control your destiny too." He laughs a little, and turns his head to one side, facing away from me.

"Ryou, you moron…"

My last sight is my hikari's pure-white, bloodstained hair.