Standard disclaimer applies.
Warnings: Brief mentions of an O.C., Gem/Tendershipping if you really REALLY want it to be, no character hate, some tragedy, gratuitous commas.
He didn't know why he drew them. In all actuality, he really shouldn't have, it just made everything more real, more tangible. God knew it didn't need to be, HE knew it didn't need to be any more real than it was…he couldn't help himself though. The worst part was, was that the more he drew, the more he saw in his head; with each new image he freed onto the paper, another took its place. It was like he watching an old movie, the film broken. Scenes flashing inside his eyes, choppy and hazy, but at the same time all too clear. And he didn't know why he felt compelled to draw them.
He had always been artistic, you could tell just by looking at him. His thumb, pointer, and middle finger were callused from holding pencils and brushes and charcoal. Large, chocolate colored eyes were always swimming with lines, bursting with shades and color, always capturing images. He assumed it was natural that he drew them, to give them a place in this world…memories that no one had bothered to remember, scenes to troublesome and terrible to be recorded officially anywhere. So he took it upon himself to draw them.
He looked at the half-formed sketch, graphite lines forming the image of a young girl, seven or eight, in a ragged dress, holding a mud doll and smiling. She looked happy, gleeful, even. Her eyes sparkled with naïve pleasure that was only available to children, those who have yet to feel true pain. Pure, blue eyes that reflected the image of a smiling boy with short, ragged white hair. Siblings.
Her name was Naghmeh.
"Naghmeh…" Ryo whispered, letting the word sit on his lips, the sound ringing in his ears with the echoes of another name, "Amane…She was your sister." Of course she was.
Yes.
"She died, was it-"
Yes.
"Oh. I-"
I…had forgotten her eyes, they…you drew them well, Yadunoshi.
"They're my sister's eyes. I saw them, and I saw her, they're so similar…" He could feel the smile, not cruel like it usually was, but sad.
Of course they are, Yadunoshi. The millennium ring chose you for a reason.
"I know…"
Silence weighed both host and spirit down and Ryo continued to sketch the smiling young girl. He had seen other memories with her. Memories where the dark, Egyptian skin and ragged dress had flashed to paleness and a primary school uniform, just for a moment. Memories where the smiling eyes had twinkled and he heard the word "sen", brother, spoken with love and admiration. Memories where the eyes were no longer twinkling, where a little girl's body lay motionless, a hole in her so small torso staining the sand-road-sand with blood, the sound of people screaming, a boy, not much older, crying her name. NaghmehAmaneNaghmeh. The feel of cold flesh, her hair, tears, throat burning, bruised knees, shaking, desperate, wakeup wakeup wakeupwakeupwakeup wake-
Yadunoshi. You should not think such things. You're crying.
Ryo wiped a tear he hadn't noticed from his eyes, images of two different, tangled pasts flashing before his eyes. Two memories, so similar, confused. Two brothers who suddenly no longer were brothers anymore. Two souls connected by loss and a pain and a golden ring.
He felt the spectral hand on his shoulder, felt the red eyes on his face, concerned. He felt the words that were spoken.
Thank you, yadun- Ryo. Thank you for remembering.
"I- you're welcome."
And Ryo knew why he drew them.
A/N: 1) The name Naghmeh is the Middle Eastern equivalent of "Amane" (both meaning "Heavenly sound"). Both the Arabic and Egyptian translations I found didn't sound much like names, plus I just didn't like how they sounded. So I went with Naghmeh.
2) "sen" is the romanization of the hieroglyph for "sn", meaning "brother"
3) If you couldn't tell what was going on, Ryo was having memories of both Akefia's sister's death and Amane's, intertwined.
4) About Ryo being an artist: In the original series, he makes a diorama of all their Monster World characters, plus Yami, fighting monsters. It's pretty impressive, especially considering he was working with a severely injured hand. In the Egypt Arc, he builds a model of an entire ANCIENT EGYPTIAN CITY with IMMACULATE details. That kid is hella talented.
5) I wanted to explore Bakura's character a bit more. Both Kaiba and Yugi had flashes of their past lives, and I felt as though Bakura probably would, too, especially since his Yami mentions that he DOES remember his past. I've always felt sort of bad for the thief king, as well; I mean, if your entire village was brutally and mercilessly slaughtered in front of your eyes when you were a small child, you probably would have been a bit crazy, too. Not to mention the fact that the kid had to raise himself, alone, in peasant Ancient Egypt...it's sort of hard to blame him for wanting revenge on the pharaoh, if you really think about. I believe that this also translates into Ryo's character. If you look at the series, he is never really included into Yugi's friend group, no matter if he ended up saving them before or not (he doesn't even get a thank you..? Come now.) Ootogi and Mai are BOTH considered more their friend than Ryo :( It's all a bit sad.