If It's In My Mind, It's On My Face
By SMYGO4EVA
Yugi only saw nothing.
Absolutely nothing.
He felt a pounding headache while blood seeped from an unknown wound upon him. He saw nothing, but he felt pain everywhere. He was submerged into darkness while pain consumed him.
It wasn't fair.
Couldn't he just die in peace?
No.
He couldn't.
He was alive, not dead.
Why?
Why is that?
He could open his eyes now.
Slowly regain consciousness, just slowly.
He stopped short when he heard a dark chuckle awaken him from the black haze. Yugi winced in pain and fear, feeling his arms and legs stiffen, as if they were held to something and that he couldn't move at all.
"I hope you can hear me, Yugi, so that we can both hear you scream when the time is right."
His eyes opened.
No words could describe how familiar that voice was to him.
That mellifluous voice.
The one that cackled and screamed terror and fear in his ears.
The one that chided and stabbed at him.
That voice that cost him everything he had.
It was not fair.
Why did it have to be him?
WHY did it have to be him?
WHY did it have to be HIM?
WHY DID IT HAVE TO BE HIM?
Yugi let his eyes explore his surroundings, unknowingly shaking in terror, and he didn't know where he was. He found himself on a table, metal cuffs ensnaring his wrists and ankles to the very board. Dark and grey colors of the room had no inch of sunlight bringing salvation to him.
He was trapped.
Footsteps warned him of the ominous presence he felt earlier. He just knew it was HIM, it had to be. There was no mistaking it.
Bakura walked over to Yugi and only smirked. The smile was as menacing and taunting just as it always was. He delighted in the boy's pain and confusion, as a demon would beam when a human would be killed at the hands of itself. The Millennium Ring was around his neck and shining luminously of malevolence.
He was a demon. The cold and dark eyes screamed wickedness and calculation. His snow white hair accompanied with the supposed horns marked the fact that he wasn't human at all. The demon that possessed his friend Ryou wasn't human at all.
"You're awake. I hope that you're well rested, since what is to come would be of no use if you're unconscious…or dead."
Yugi only shivered at the sight of him, forcing himself to stare at the former Thief King. "Who are you, and why am I here?"
The Thief King only threw his head abruptly and laughed a cruel and twisted sound that momentarily stopped Yugi's heart in fear, as if the boy's question was the most stupid thing he had ever heard.
His head then snapped back down and his lips curled deviously. "I'm Ryou Bakura. You should know that by now. Since when do you forget names, little Yugi?"
"You can't possibly be Ryou." Yugi spoke defiantly, which surprised him since he was in a compromising position, but he knew Ryou well enough that he wasn't callous and malicious as Bakura.
"Oh? Then who am I, exactly?" Bakura asked condescendingly.
"You're a demon. You took Ryou's body against his will and you want to build the world in death and destruction." The boy eyed Bakura carefully, as if studying him would provide answers for his entrapment.
The aforesaid demon chuckled at his supposed title as a creature beyond a human. "And I suppose you wonder as to why you are here instead of the outside world." He counteracted, closing his eyes a bit before he stared into Yugi's amethysts. "I brought you here. You're simply in the way of your destiny and mine." He said matter-of-factly.
"My destiny? What are you talking about?"
Then it hit him.
"You mean the Pharaoh's." He looked down and saw that his Millennium Puzzle was nowhere around his neck and that it was on the cold, dank floor, tossed aside as if it meant nothing to anyone.
"How right you are, little Yugi. The Pharaoh is the one responsible for destiny and you're just a replica of his fantasy, his shell waiting for freedom from his fate."
Bakura then decided to sit on the table, looking down at Yugi, his eyes a little more unhinged from before. This act made the boy even more nervous. "You're here because that the Pharaoh needs you, but no one else does, especially me."
He kept close eye contact with the boy as he pulled out a dagger from his back pocket, silver and gleaming with Yugi's reflection upon the very weapon. Amethyst eyes widened and he shut his eyes tightly, waiting for the searing pain to come.
Bakura pulled back for a second, furthering the objective to kill the boy, but he stopped.
Yugi winched and opened one eye. Bakura was hesitating, as if uneasy thinking tried to knock him to his senses.
Or was it Ryou?
"I…I don't understand…" His body was tense, holding the knife above Yugi and the look on his face was evident of both confusion and madness. "W-Why am I hesitating?" He slowly lowered the dagger onto the table, next to Yugi, and he leaned in carefully, the Millennium Ring now on Yugi's chest.
His dark eyes roved over the confused boy. "You're trying something here, my dear Yugi. Well, it's not going to work with me. I've got you right where I want you, Yugi, so you better think about what you should say or do."
Yugi was surprised at the proximity of Bakura and himself, but he managed to pull himself together. "Well…I…I want you to make three promises."
Bakura leaned back at his proposal, genuinely shocked for a moment, but an amused look overpowered the surprise. "This is a surprise, Yugi. Go ahead; make my day."
The boy thought for a moment, and then he spoke. "First, I want you to forgive Ryou of anything he might have held you back for. Second, set him free from your grasp and leave the ring to me and the Pharaoh."
"I'm surprised at what I'm hearing, Yugi. Your life is at risk now and you think of others instead of you. You should be begging for mercy right now." Bakura then giggled at the boy's sudden bravery before he grinned.
Yugi suddenly smiled. "Well, in that case, here is the third promise: please don't kill me." He said in a mocking tone.
Bakura grinned, revealing his white-sharp incisors in the process. "You've given me a lot to think about, but since I control this body and the ring, the chances of fulfilling the first two promises are pretty slim. And since I have you right here and now, I can do whatever I want with you."
Yugi narrowed his eyes, amethyst reminiscent of deep purple. "Why do you think that, Bakura?"
Bakura leaned in once again, this time to brush his lips against the boy's own, to the surprise of the captive. "You'll see. Everyone will see." He spoke against Yugi's lips, as if to render the boy of his sanity. "You can never save Ryou; he's a lost cause, like you are. You are both prisoners of the hosts that chose you as shells."
He pulled away for a moment, studying the boy very carefully, and smiled darkly. "The Pharaoh chose you as his husk, so you are the same position as Ryou." While he spoke, he let a lone finger trail down Yugi's cheek and endearingly traced the finger on his lips.
Yugi shivered at the touch.
"You'll be back just the way you are right now, and Ryou will be back soon." He leaned in to whisper in Yugi's ear for one response, feeling the boy shiver. "Just so you know, I'm not sorry for defiling you or Ryou. You should've realized that by now."
Yugi bit his lip. "Do what you want, but remember this, Bakura: Ryou is my friend, and you won't get your hands on either of us again."
The Thief King froze, but chuckled heartlessly, pulling away from the boy to stare at him one last time. "Such words from you, little Yugi. Know this, you can never become God and neither will the Pharaoh. The abyss of darkness will be obsidian again."
Then Bakura leaned in for the last time to kiss Yugi in an eternity of silence.
Yugi saw and felt nothing once again. The feeling of numbness was in his mind, and was on his face.
:End: