The Dark Formation, a yu-gi-oh fanfic

I remember before.

I remember it well, despite how far I've come since that time.

That time where I was nothing more than a few separate personality traits living within my host's Mindscape.

The Mindscape isn't anything like the Soul Room. The Soul Room is a bedroom area that houses your soul, especially in times when you are either asleep or unconscious.

The Soul Room is constructed to be a representation of the soul as a whole! As a Person!

The Mindscape is located within the soul, and houses the soul's individual parts.

The different personality traits that make up the soul live there, all working as one.

I used to be the more negative traits. Revenge, Hatred, Violence, Pessimism, Suspicion, Confidence who got lumped with us and even Self-Preservation!

I was all of them, and we, as individual traits, wanted nothing more than to do our jobs.

Unfortunately , our host had been raised by his Mother. A Mother who abhorred violence and retaliation in any meaningful way (at least, in our opinions…) and caused the other, more numerous traits to shun us. Hate us. Oh the irony…

The 'positive' traits kept trying to prove that our host would be fine without us there! And tried to prove so by dealing with every bullying incident, every self-serving criminal who saw our host as perfect target-practice, you name it.

The seven of us were outnumbered by the others. Optimism, Joy, Trust, and so on saw us as parasites which are making our host into a bad person!

What they didn't know was the beginnings of a new trait that day. The trait of Self-Doubt began to form.

That's what happens when you push aside Confidence and Self-Preservation, after all.

Over time, the shoving got worse.

It didn't matter that the positive traits were completely in over their collective heads with such traumatising events! Refusing to allow our input. Our help.

Our host was probably 5 or 6 when we were banished from his Mindscape, into the inky blackness of the subconscious.

We were there for so long, we began to huddle together for survival! For comfort! We huddled together so much we began to merge together into one singular entity. Festering.

We may have been in a void of emptiness, but we were still a part of our host, and we felt and experienced everything he did!

Until that fateful day.

The day Ushio-san tried to claim his payment.

The day the Millennium Puzzle was finished.

I still remember, the resounding *click* as the final piece was put in place. It seemed to echo off the darkness around us, reverberating into the stillness and then something exciting was there to entice us.

Before us, there was another trait!

A new trait! One that didn't belong! One that sought us out!

It had to have been another trait! It looked exactly like our host! Only with some notable differences.

It was taller, for one. Also, its skin was dark, tanned, as though it had remained under the scorching sun for eons!

Dressed like some Ancient Egyptian Pharaoh of all things, wearing a crown with an eye-shape carved into the forehead, glowing a haunting yellow.

Its eyes and the tips of its hair were an odd wine colour, staring at us with nothing but pure knowledge and power in its gaze!

No emotions, no personality, just pure unfiltered knowledge and power!

The way the darkness formed around it, bending to its will, made us wonder why such a dominant trait had formed within our weak-hearted host, and especially with the difference in physical appearance.

It reached up its hand, offering it to us.

-I can help you protect the chosen one.-

The voice was deep, booming around us like it came from all directions.

[[How? What are you?]]

-I am Sennen, the darkness, knowledge and power granted to the one who completes the Millennium Puzzle.-

[[You are all these things? The purest possible form of power and darkness?]]

-Correct. I can aid you in performing your duties to the chosen one.-

We sat for a little longer, assessing and analyzing this new development.

Suspicion was, of course, suspicious of this new trait, claiming to be pure ancient magic and knowledge.

Revenge, Hatred, Violence and Self-Preservation were all for accepting this new trait and having a more positive impact on our host once again, to protect him.

Pessimism thought this opportunity too good to be true and would only lead to disaster, while Confidence was,unsurprisingly, confident that accepting was the correct choice to make.

In the end, agreement won out.

We reached out to accept the offered hand, watching in morbid fascination as Sennen's hand began to melt into us!

It was a strange, almost burning sensation as we were soon no longer an 'us'.

With the inclusion of Sennen, we felt stronger, capable of doing anything, of winning any game.

'We' became 'Me'. Me, with my own soul, my own Mindscape and my own thoughts and feelings independent from my host.

But not completely independant! I was made to protect and serve my host after all, and so I am bound to his will.

I remember being thrust into controlled thought immediately after everything transpired.

I had just sat there at my host's desk for awhile, watching as my hand opened and closed at my mental command.

The strange sound of thumping in my chest…

The feeling of liquid blood running through my veins...

It was a strange sensation, being alive.

I reached out to hold the Millennium Puzzle resting before me. The reason I am here.

It felt like a lifeless prism of pure gold, which was understandable since the magic that had once been pulsating within its structure was now within me.

I remember, the feeling the strange humming of power emitting from the block of gold through my host's handling of the pieces. He had felt it too, and it had spurred him on to complete the puzzle.

To win the game.

Soon I had gathered my bearings and, opening the window, escaped to enact my vengeance upon one Ushio-san, performing my duty to my host.

The best way to keep my host -my Hikari- safe was to eliminate the threats permanently.

It's not like I got Morality or anything so positive.

So that is what I did.

In the beginning, my Hikari denied my existence. Refusing to accept me.

Just like before…

But I stood my ground, continuing to leave evidence of my existence for my dear Hikari to find.

A small note here, an eliminated threat there, and soon he started to question what was happening!

He was thinking about me!

I could hear his thoughts racing, trying to figure out the strange new events taking place without his recollection.

It was only during Death-T that he truly needed me.

He had been thinking, hard, about the current problem. His friends holding onto a lever each!

I knew Yuugi had wanted to figure this out on his own, so I decided to give him some encouragement.

[[You can do it Hikari!]]

His finger had twitched! He had heard me! I remember the feeling of elation that he acknowledged me, no matter how subtly or unintentionally.

He figured out the game! As I knew he could.

Then there was the blocks stage. Large blocks falling from the ceiling in a rhythm only Anzu's dancing had picked up on to save us.

But… it had seemed Honda had been crushed by them, and Yuugi was silent.

I was unable to hear his thoughts, as I could. I was unable to feel the echo of these intense emotions, as I could.

And then, I heard it.

My host, my Hikari, my Master was calling for me! Asking for me! I had been confused, why he would try this now of all times, but I answered regardless.

[[Yes?]]

[[I am you.]]

[[I am here to protect you, and those you care about; by any means necessary.]]

[[I am the you you'd never dare to be yourself. You completed the puzzle, and thus, I combined with the magic, knowledge, power and darkness infused in it and became someone who can keep you safe, like I never could before.]]

He fell silent for what felt like the longest time! And I awaited his response eagerly.

[[Yes.]]

I had no reason to feel ashamed of my actions. I wasn't able to unless my host decided I should be!

I was bound to his will.

Even if he removed the Millennium Puzzle and took it apart, I would still be here!

But, I only took over when he was wearing the puzzle! If he had something there, something tangible to hold onto, it would help him mentally grasp everything.

It was easier for Humans to have someone or something to blame for life's misgivings.

[[-It's been us this whole time.]]

I had finished his sentence for him, helping him understand that I was him as much as he was me.

[[The only name I have right now is 'Yuugi Mutou'...]]

He was silent again, probably mulling over the new information he had been given.

[[Hikari?]]

{{Yea! So… if you call me 'Light', could I… could I call you 'Dark'?}}

[[If you wish to.]]

And that was that!

He gave me control willingly from that point on!

I may never know my Hikari's reasons, or why he never complained about my more violent punishments, but he never did!

Something had changed in his Mindscape that day, something I am no longer privy to.

But I am happy to no longer be there, with all those other traits!

Because Yuugi was much more than the sum of his parts.

And now, so was I.

And so were We.