AN: Don't worry – I haven't given up on Light With the Sharpened Edge, this just came up, and when ya got a plot bunny, ya got a plot bunny.
Not really much to say here, other than this is very, very different to what I usually write. I wanted to do something a little more serious for once, and the idea of getting into Yami Marik's head seemed too good to miss :) Although I liked this as a one-shot, I'm going to do this in three or four parts altogether.
Warnings – Character death, violence, mentions of yaoi later on, confusing narrative.
A quick note – Yami Marik will be referred to as Mariku, the other Marik as Malik (Or 'hikari' as Mariku will call him) Yami Bakura is Bakura (Duh XD or 'thief') and Ryou Bakura is Ryou ('thief's hikari') This is also set after the Memory World arc, with Bakura back and with his own body. *shrugs* Don't ask why or how, I don't know. Also, with Mariku back from the shadows, he's not exactly sane (Well, even less sane than before, but you see my point XD) so he may be a tiny bit OOC. Sorry for that :)
Blah – Mariku's internal monologue. Used for both speech and thoughts.
Blah – Actual events, no POV.
And now: On with the show!
Whispers in the Shadows
Part One - Psychosis
I don't understand it.
On the one hand I don't want to, I don't want to know what this is that hikari's feeling. That weird thing that I can sense, feel, see, even; but I can't quite touch. Like there's some kind of wall in the way stopping me.
There's never been a wall before.
The wall confuses me, and that's why I guess I want to know.
Che. I don't like being confused. I wasn't made to be confused, I know that and hikari knows that, even if he doesn't realize it.
I am only what hikari made after all.
You say something from where you're standing; you look nervous and you have a right to be.
I wasn't created to be confused, or to understand, or learn. I wasn't made to be any of these things, so it's strange that I'm something other than hate. Even if only for a minute.
I am, don't you go saying otherwise. I was created from his anger and pain, from the agonies that he went through to become a Tombkeeper. I was made from pain, and made to enjoy pain. Other's pain, my own – it doesn't really matter does it.
I remember that night, the night I was born. You probably don't, but then what do I know of the ordinary? What do I know of normal?
You can surely see it, I'm not a normal person. I was created by the torturing of a child. A ten year old child. Hm. How old does that make me?
Do I have an age?
It's pathetic really, when you look at it.
I know I don't have a name. You know what that's like, thief took your name and made it his own.
Am I even a person? I'm looking up at the walls of the alley we're sitting in. The water's started falling from the clouds again.
That's rain, isn't it?
You nod, white hair flitting about your pale face. I want to touch it – a random urge that comes out of nowhere and takes me by surprise. Soft...
Ngh. Stop it. Now.
I'm looking away from you. It's strange how I can feel you moving closer to sit nearer to me. Don't.
He's back, isn't he? You shake slightly as you nod again. You still don't say much. Did you ever? I don't know. I didn't know you.
Thief's like me in that way. We're both born of dark. Both dark.
That feeling's back again, like a memory from hikari left over. Never happened before. Usually I take. I took a lot of things from him I think.
Hm. Still confused – why am I thinking? I'm not made to-
What is this? My own question surprises me.
I'm not the only confused one now. The words come out easily as the, water, the, r, r...rain? That's it – you said rain, didn't you?
You're looking at me as you ask what I mean, so I tell you about the wall, the wall that's been confusing me, stopping me from working properly. Why am I telling?
You're doing that smiling thing again. Weird.
Attachment? What does that have to do with the wall? What does it – heart?
My head hurts. You're not good at this, I can tell.
There's something about something you call 'love'? And feelings? And a heart? Why do you need that for?
You're laughing – I think you are anyway. It sounds strange.
I don't have a heart. Hikari told me that once. He was mad. He gets mad often, that's why I'm back.
Of course I do? Why?
You have a heart.
I could kill you right now. I'm surprised at myself, and hikari would be too. If he could see me, he'd be surprised.
I haven't done it yet.
Why?
I'm only a voice in his head. I can't change that.
I wish I had a heart.
Can I love? I don't know about that, but maybe it would be...nice?
I choke on the thought. It's suffocating.
Do I even know what that means?
I could kill you so easily right now. I hold the Rod in my hand and turn it over. Gold glint in the orange lights. It would only take a second. I'd have a heart.
Wait, what did you say?
The white-haired boy sitting next to the morose blond turns his head to look at him and smiles widely, the small notion seeming to light up his whole face.
"I know you won't hurt me. People may think you're a bad person, but people can change. I guess it sounds kind of clichéd, but it is true. You have the ability to be a good person, I can see it in you." He laughs, slightly nervous, and rubs the back of his neck with a pale hand. "This probably isn't helping, is it? I'm not really that good at this kind of thing...Well, I'd better go now – my yami will be worried as to where I am." He stands up and turns to leave, turning back to the other. "You should probably go back too, or Malik's going to wonder why he's in the middle of a dark alley when you switch back."
Neither says anything for an almost uncomfortable minute, and as the whitette turns down the edge of the alley around the corner, the other teen speaks up.
"Don't go." The look in the vague violet eyes is pleading, almost making the blonde look like an overgrown child. He still hasn't moved from the position he was in for the last half hour, arms wrapped around his knees with his head resting on them.
The other boy cocks his head to the side. "Why don't you want me to leave?"
The taller boy unfolds himself and stretches, standing up with a yawn. "Because there's still something I don't understand...about...about what you said..." The light changes in the lavender orbs, but the whitette doesn't see.
Ryou looks at the ground for a second, then nods. "I guess my yami can wait a little longer- I am almost eighteen after all. I've learned how to look after myself since then. What else do you want me to tell you?" He takes a step closer to the Egyptian.
***
Short seconds after the question leaves the teen's mouth, it changes to an agonized scream that rips through the once-still night air, and again, again until it shudders down into pained sobs, struggling breaths that bubble in the boy's throat, his own blood in the way of his breathing. Then nothing.
A tall figure moves out of the edge of the alley after a few languid minutes, staring down at the object in his hand with his head cocked to the side in a parody of the whitette. The blood on his hands is congealing now, but some still drips determinedly onto the pavement.
Drip.
You said you needed one of these to l-l-lo...ve something, but,
Drip.
nothing's changed. I don't
Drip.
feel any different from before maybe
Dr-
there's something else you need too?
-ip.
Maybe I can't 'love'? I don't
Dr-
know. Or maybe you lied to me, it wouldn't surprise me.
-ip.
You always tended to lie, especially when he was around. Then again, maybe
Dr-
you didn't have a choice?
-ip.
I know I never did.
Dri-
I am only what hikari made me after all.
Thop.
The heart splats onto the still rain-soaked ground with a near-audible noise, sitting there obscenely in its blatant redness. The blond teen stands staring at it for a short while in genuine confusion, before turning his attention to the still figure lying in the alley; the once-white hair now stained with the same shade as the organ on the floor and the steady downpour of the relentless rain which mixes into a watery pink, almost red again in the orange glow of the streetlamps above.
...I still don't understand...
'What now?' he seems to ask himself with a barely visible shrug while he turns away once again. Mariku didn't know 'What now.' He was still confused.
And hikari's going to be mad about thief's hikari...
A sudden grin breaks across the psychopath's face, almost splitting it in half. Spinning on his heel with renewed energy, the blonde yami nearly struts back to the empty shell of the teenager he left.
Malik would be mad, because he was going to be the one who discovered the body.
Mariku lets loose a short giggle, which shatters out into a fully-fledged insane laugh before it fades away as he retreats once more into Malik's subconscious so that the screaming could begin again...
End Chapter
AN: I hope that wasn't too confusing for you!
*Goes and hides in a nuclear bunker* I have not a single clue why Ryou was killed off – I feel really bad for doing it, he's one of my fave characters – please don't kill me!
So, what did you guys think? Does this style work at all for me? Or does it fail epically? Either way, drop in with a review if you want to!
Peace, love and Mariku plushies for all!
Lantu over and out ;-P