Disclaimer: I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh!.
Disclaimer 2: Do not read if you're allergic to morbidity.
It's time for another sad one-shot story. About death. I hope you can read about death, because I sure liked writing about it. I swear I am a happy person and I enjoy life very much. I swear.
Basically, Tea dies and I pit Yami through hell, because... well... you'll know once you read.
Have I mentioned that this one-shot is very sad? And morbid? Oh here's a good word for it: tragic. Read if you want a good cry.
Again, mistakes, will fix them. Bed first. You know the routine.
One more thing: I may have made Bakura slightly out-of-character sort of symphathetic maybe? It doesn't change the fact that he's the antagonist of the story, but, yeah. Read.
She was dead.
Not bleeding, bruised, or strangled – just dead. Cold, lifeless, and dead.
No gaping wound to quell the blood, no broken bones to mend.
Her skin was slowly paling, beyond comparison to any other phenomena Yami had ever witnessed. It was most disconcerting to watch. It was pure agony to witness. Just seeing it made him want to vomit.
The white-haired thief, in possession of six of the seven Millennium Items, had clearly unlocked many new, dark powers – some of which, as he recalled, were Forbidden and hidden away for many millennia, for good reason. He had just recently learned the most Forbidden of all – the power to instantly take a person's life. Only the darkest, most evil individuals would even have the gall.
The events of the previous few minutes passed through the young pharaoh's mind in a rushed blur. He saw it all, he watched it happen – Bakura's filthy white hand thrust into the air, and suddenly the air became tight and restricting on the pharaoh's body, as if it were preparing to crush him. But he had to endure it; he did, for he could not ignore the choked cry and the consequent fall of the young brunette beside him.
Yami forced to regain his senses as quickly as possible before rushing to her side and catching her before she hit the floor, ready to speak softly to her, to beg her to hang on, to not leave him – when he was startled by the dead weight in his arms. It was like lead – none of her muscles supported her, no reflexes to catch her, and not even instinctual posture so that she'd fall gracefully. Her brown hair swished in the air as her neck collided onto Yami's arm. There was no life in her eyes, no beat in her heart.
"T-Tea..." murmured Yami, realizing that his entire body was shaking beyond his control. He held Tea in his arms, supporting her heavy head with his forearm, staring into the empty half-lidded gaze of the unresponsive young woman. Her eyes were ethereally grey, silver almost, having lost its brilliant cerulean hue. The eyes that reminded him so much of sapphire gems and the sparkling surface of the ocean had now iced over and become eerily dull. Surely dead humans' eyes didn't take on this effect when suffering mortal deaths...
There were no blubbering goodbyes, no words of encouragement, no pleas for fighting to stay in this world. And foremost, there were no final kisses or whispers of love – for it was Tea, and only Tea, that truly captured the pharaoh's heart, and held it in her delicate and loving hands. It was her soft skin that brought instant warmth to him as she touched him – whether it was to reassure him with a hand on his shoulder, or playfully shove him, or even hold his hand when either of them needed comfort. And it was her smile that illuminated the path that led him from the darkest swallowing pit of his heart during the most painful trials of his life.
He stared at her lips – sickly pale now, but he remembered them full, light pink, and dreadfully inviting. He remembered wanting to kiss them so badly on too many occasions to count. And shortly after, he would tell her that he had always loved her, and humbly asked for her to be his. Yes, it was all planned out – he was going to tell her how he had felt about her all this time, and they would spend the rest of eternity together with their fingers entwined, and their hearts melded into one.
"Tea..." Yami said again, his entire body was now racking with quaking sobs. Warm tears finally loosed themselves from his eyes, and he felt like he was near death himself. He buried his head in the crook of her neck, noticing with dismay the cold skin that he touched, in comparison to the hotness of his face. Her hair tickled his nose, but that was one thing in the midst of his lament that he didn't seem to notice too much.
It suddenly dawned on him – one of the most prominent elements of this tragedy. The pharaoh briefly glanced down at the pyramid-shaped pendant hanging heavily from his neck, and realized with a jolt that if he had just handed over the Millennium Puzzle, or even tried to come up with a strategy around it, then no harm would have befallen Tea. Had he known Tea's life was in the balance, he would have given up the golden artifact without thought or consideration.
Yami's stubbornness had caused her downfall.
He could have saved her.
The grieving pain was unbearable, so much that the pharaoh no longer cared what happened to him, what he'd have to suffer. The will to carry on was dwindling away as he further and further realized that the girl in his arms would never come back to him.
He gripped Tea's blouse in his fingers, not even having enough strength to make a strong fist. Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed Bakura still standing there, watching him. He quickly wiped his tears away and drew in a shaky breath.
The thief stared at the pharaoh and the dead girl with an uncharacteristically softened gaze. Bakura would have spared her life if Yami had just adhered to his commands. He recalled that threatening to rip his soul to shreds and disperse them throughout the farthest corners of the Shadow Realm failed to daunt the pharaoh. 'Protecting the world from what evil you would bring upon it is worth my soul and so much more,' he had claimed.
Then that girl showed up. The one that Yami told to stay outside, but returned because she didn't want to 'leave his side', as she put it. Tea was her name, was it? She was the annoying one, with all those friendship quacks coming out of her big mouth.
'Then I suppose saving the world is also worth the soul of your loved ones, am I right?' the tomb robber had jested. 'Let's test out that theory!'
And before he knew it, Bakura was chanting the dark text – or mumbling under his breath, more like it, as the ancient language resembled that of many different consonant sounds muddled together – the most forbidden spell of all the Forbidden Spells. Bakura could remember faintly hearing Yami shouting threats to him with the Eye of Horus gleaming on his forehead, telling him that he will not harm her, or he will be sorry.
Bakura also recalled those threats not the least bit intimidating – he had six Millennium Items, Yami had one.
The room had become colder and thinner, as he expected, and his hands tingled with sinister magic. It was enough to take the life of a young adult mortal.
Without further hesitation, he cast the spell (invisible to the human eye) directly towards the brunette girl, striking her square in the chest and freezing her in midair for a fraction of a second. The magical power of this spell was so great that it had actually blinded the tomb robber momentarily; he did not see Tea fall, but he had heard her choked cry followed by the distressed whimpering of the pharaoh as he ran to catch her.
"I didn't want to kill her, you know," Bakura admitted, his raspy voice echoing in the empty chamber. "You could have avoided this."
Yami finally brought up his tear-stained face to meet the eyes of the tomb robber, who was indubitably surprised at the raw anger radiating from them. Despite all the duels, the shadow games, the kidnapping of friends and alliance with the enemy, Bakura had never seen the pharaoh emit this kind of murderous rage.
"You monster." The pharaoh's voice was low and dark with malice. He gingerly placed the deceased girl on the ground and took a step towards the faltering tomb robber, furious eyes always fixed on him.
"You should have already known that I'm not afraid to get my hands dirty," Bakura reasoned. "If you had just done all I asked, she wouldn't be d–"
"SHUT UP!" The pharaoh lashed out at him, hands reaching outwards to grasp the tomb robber's throat. Surprised, Bakura did the only thing he could think of to do in such a quick heated situation.
He chanted a few quick syllables, threw his hand outwards, and released an attack-spell from his palm, forcing Yami to catch himself on his wobbly knees while a grunt of pain escaped from his throat.
Yami felt much weaker now, as if the spell had knocked a considerable amount of energy from his body. Nevertheless, he refused to give in and straightened himself once again. He pressed on, steadfast and focused, internally swearing to avenge his fallen friend – a friend that had much promise to be beyond that, but never had the chance to be. The love for her that he always had burned inside his heart like liquid fire.
"Stop," Bakura commanded. "Just stop and give me your Item. Tea is already dead. You're only hurting yourself, now."
"No," grunted Yami. He found his strength and determinedly lunged again, only to be struck by another spell, this time sending him to the floor. He fell on his hands and knees, gasping for breath and biting back an anguished cry. The entire length of his body suffered in indescribable pain, and his heart felt as though it would explode from the excruciatingly crushing force upon it.
No, he had to get up; he had to fight – for Tea.
"I would be disgracing Tea if I were to give up now."
Even with substantial energy lost, Yami somehow found enough to push himself back on his feet, though he was barely able to keep upright. His legs threatened to give out at any second, but he still continued forward, even after realizing the fact that he almost certainly lacked enough energy to inflict any damage at all. His breath seemed to fail to come back to him as he continued to wheeze painfully.
Meanwhile, with the time that had passed, Bakura had been inwardly chanting a few more syllables. If he had to attack, this more powerful attack-spell could possibly end his life, depending on Yami's strength. The tingling feeling returned to his hands, only much stronger now. He watched curiously as Yami lifted the golden Puzzle from his neck, the sound of rattling of the chain magnified by the empty silence. He held the chain in his hand and, with a smirk on his face, held it out to his right.
"So, you've decided to relinquish your Item to me now, pharaoh?" Bakura sneered.
Yami's smirk stayed in place, in spite of his incessant panting, worrying the tomb robber. "Oh, I'm giving you the Puzzle, alright."
Bakura's face suddenly changed to that of dismay as he finally understood the pharaoh's plan. He watched in horror as the silver chain slid from the pharaoh's grip, causing the golden Puzzle to fall. On contact with the stone floor, the Puzzle shattered, scattering the small pieces askew. One of them bounced off of Bakura's ankle.
"It took Yugi eight years to solve that Puzzle for the first time," Yami explained. "Let's see how long it will take you. Though, probably not much shorter – he's a bright kid, you know."
Bakura abruptly lost all control over himself, as the hatred erupted inside of him. In a fit of rage, he pushed his palm in the air, freeing the attack fueled by the long-accumulated energy. The spell hit Yami in the center of his stomach, forcing a pained scream from his mouth followed by a futile attempt to inhale. Doubling over, the pharaoh quickly lost his balance and finally collapsed to the floor, landing on his side and his head smacked the ground, hard.
Specks of color flickered in his vision, and his head pounded furiously. He was almost too weak to breathe. With difficulty, he turned his throbbing head in the direction of Tea's body lying on the ground a few feet away from him. He shifted his eyes above him to meet the livid gaze of the tomb robber.
"I should kill you right now, pest," Bakura snarled. "You just love to get in my way, don't you?" He was no longer jesting; he was seething. He kicked Yami until he rolled over on his back. He grabbed the pharaoh by the collar and held him to eye level. Their faces were merely inches apart.
"You just had to go and ruin everything!" he roared. "Solve it! Solve it now!"
Yami's face remained unwavering as his eyes met Bakura's. Staring into the face of the robber, he muttered, "Piss off."
Both were silent for a moment, with the exception of heavy wheezing. Yami prepared himself for the worst, imagining a torture-spell being prepared in Bakura's mind, when Bakura unexpectedly dropped him back into the floor. Yami hissed in pain.
"I'm not going to kill you," Bakura declared, his tone even and unemotional, "Instead I'm going to leave you here to die. I've rendered you so weak that you won't last long. Your friends are looking for you, I reckon, but you'll probably be dead before they even find you. And even if they find you alive, they can't help you. You're going to die anyway. Pathetic."
He gave the pharaoh one last taunting kick to his rib, eliciting a soft groan, before gathering his Millennium Items in his burlap sack. With the swoosh of his cape, Bakura took his leave, ignoring the Puzzle fragments on the floor. He paused before exiting the chamber door entirely, glancing down at the corpse near him.
"At least you'll be together soon." With a final, almost remorseful sigh, he disappeared from sight.
Yami soon realized the gravity of his condition. Bakura was right; he wouldn't last much longer. He felt weaker and weaker as time passed, and it wouldn't be long before his life met its dismal end. He reached deep into his core and summoned the last bit of strength he could muster, and slowly crawled towards Tea, dragging his torso and unresponsive legs with his arms, until he finally reached her side. He grabbed her hand, still cold and ghostly pale, and let his other arm give out entirely with the rest of his body.
"Tea, I love you so very much. I will be there shortly to join you, and then we can be... together..."
At last Yami's body permitted him no more strength, and his body fell limp, while his spirit rocketed skyward towards the clouds where Tea's glowing face awaited him.
He couldn't wait to tell her that he loved her.
-THE END-