Hey! It's Tari Sirfalas! I'm really excited about this one. I love when I get the inspiration to write darker fanfics. Hopefully this will be short though. Don't want this to drag on longer than it should. So enjoy!
"History doesn't repeat itself, but it does rhyme." -Mark Twain
"Steve, I'm going to the bank down the street," Yugi told the cashier as he passed by the counter on the way to the front of the game shop. Taking the black suede coat off its hook near the door, he added, "Take care of any customers that come in, okay?"
The bright-eyed teenager nodded eagerly, puffing out his chest a bit. "You've got it, Mr. Mutou!" he proclaimed. Yugi chuckled as he opened the door. The disturbance caused the bell at the top to laugh merrily with him. "Won't be long!" he called. He waved his hand once and crossed the threshold into the bitter October wind.
He had only walked one block when he heard a rumble in the air and a torrent of rain started to fall. "I should have brought the umbrella," he thought to himself as he turned his collar up and began to jog down the street. There was a dry spot at the entrance to a narrow alley between two buildings where a store's awning hung out at the side. Yugi leaned against the brick wall at the corner and blew on his fingers to warm them. "The rain has to let up sooner or later…"
As the minutes passed, he found himself staring into the shadows of the alley. Rain rattled on the tops of metal dumpsters and collected in puddles on the asphalt, causing mirrors of the cloudy sky to appear on the ground. There was a flash of light as a car on the other side of the alley passed by and a sudden memory appeared in Yugi's mind. He had seen this alley before, many years ago when he was a teenager. "Back when I had the Pharaoh…" He could almost see Rex and Weevil's wet, limp bodies on the ground as a pale, evil face leered at him from the shadows. A bone-chilling laugh seemed to reverberate across the dripping brick walls of the alley. Yugi shivered.
These memories were pushed into the back of his mind as dark silhouettes entered the alley from the other side. Instinctively, Yugi slunk back to the street side of the corner. After a minute or so, he leaned his head to the side just enough to peek one eye into the darkness. He could make out three figures huddling in the dead center of the alley. Two of them held an umbrella between them while the other wore a jacket with the hood raised up. In the darkness of the shadows, the alley resembled a scene from an old fashioned black-and-white movie. The three men seemed to be talking quietly with each other and Yugi realized that there must be some kind of drug deal going on. The man with the hood didn't seem to belong with the other two. He looked nervous and fidgety. Silently, Yugi crouched down and started to creep towards the men. He had the sudden idea that if he could get a good look at their faces, he could help turn them in for the police. There were a few tense minutes as he silently made his way toward the men. Finally stopping behind a rusty dumpster, he could make out what they were saying at last.
"…growing impatient, Tom," said the shorter of the two men under the umbrella. His thin, rat-like face sneered at the hooded figure. "Where's the goods you promised to deliver to us last week?"
"I-I've already told you," the man sputtered, his hands clinched together pleadingly. "The sh-shipment was delayed because of a customs mishap. The next time it's safe to deliver your order is next m-month."
"That's a shame, Tom," mocked the taller man, shaking his head slowly. "But you know the boss. He needs the goods now." He emphasized the last word by gripping the umbrella's handle tighter. This man's face looked more like a rhino, square-set and ugly.
"P-please don't do this to us!" the hooded man pleaded. "If we risk a shipment now, we're liable to lose men. Can't you just wait another month so the suspicion clears up?"
"I'm getting tired of your sniveling," said the rat man. He elbowed his taller accomplice, who was quick to grab the pleading man by the jacket and jerk him into the air. His hood flew off at that moment and Yugi got a look at his face for the first time. He was an aging man, with a balding head of gray hair and an unkempt moustache. Suddenly, there was a small click and a flash of light.
"Please…please!" the old man whispered hoarsely, fighting to keep his voice down.
"Shut up," the rat-faced man spat threateningly, pressing the small knife closer to his victim's throat. "Now, I'm gonna make this simple, Tom. You make sure that shipment is sent to us, or your little 'company' will need to look for another supervisor, got that?"
At that moment, a cat, its coat covered in grime, scampered across the alley, knocking over a couple glass bottles near the dumpster that Yugi was hiding behind. The two thugs immediately whipped their heads to where the sound originated and with a sickening feeling, Yugi realized he hadn't hidden himself as well as he had thought. His tall, spiky hair stuck out from the side of the dumpster.
"Show yourself!" demanded the man with the knife, brandishing it in his direction. Slowly, Yugi got into a standing position and put his hands up in a gesture of surrender. "That's it. Now, walk this way," Rat-face ordered him. As Yugi started to shuffle his way toward the group, Rhino lowered Tom back to his feet, but continued to hold him by the front of his jacket.
"You a cop?" Rat-face asked when Yugi was close enough. He shook his head vigorously. "Search 'em." Rhino shoved the old man to the ground roughly and began to search inside Yugi's jacket. "Stay right there, Tom," said Ratface, putting a wet boot on top of his victim's chest.
"No gun," checked off Rhino. "No badge." He took out Yugi's wallet from an inside pocket of his jacket and leafed through it. "Heh, baby pictures…so you're Yugi Mutou, eh? Hey, ain't you the guy that owns the game shop down the street?" Yugi nodded silently. Rhino turned his head to look at his friend. "What should we do with him? He's obviously seen too much. Should we off him?"
"And let the cops track us down when they find his body? Nah, we'll take 'em with us and let the boss decide what to do with 'em." Rat-face knelt down, his boot still digging into Tom's chest. "As for you, Tom, you're a lucky man. Because of this guy showin' up, you get another chance. Set that shipment up, or we'll have to schedule another 'meeting.'" He took his boot off and kicked him lightly. Tom got up from the ground and scurried away, glancing back at Yugi for a second before hurrying out of sight.
"Hold 'em still," Rat-face said, getting an old rag out of his coat pocket. Suddenly, Yugi's arms were thrust together behind his back and the rag shoved in his face.
"Sweet dreams," he heard Rhino murmur into his ear. Yugi caught a glimpse of the rainy sky before it faded to black. One last rain drop landed on his cheek and then…nothing.
He woke to the sound of laughter and a boot in his face. Slowly, his senses regained awareness and began to register his surroundings. He was lying on the floor, possibly in a warehouse, judging by the wooden crates around him. The laughter was coming from a group of men standing in a small circle, talking lively with each other. One of them was standing directly in front of Yugi's face, his back turned away from him. The back of his boot was caked in dust and mud. Quickly, Yugi closes his eyes, afraid the men would notice he was awake. From the constriction in his wrists and ankles, he realized he had been tied up and his mouth had been gagged. Just as he was about to begin to think about a way to escape his bindings, the man in front of him stepped back just an inch as he laughed obnoxiously. It was just enough for his heel to collide with Yugi's nose and send shockwaves of pain to his brain. He involuntarily cried out through his gag and jerked his head backwards on the floor to escape another hit. "Stupid reflexes!" he thought to himself.
"Whoops!" the man chuckled, bending over to leer at him. "Well, look who's up?" One of the other men grabbed him roughly by the back of his jacket and pulled him to his feet. He produced a knife from his pocket and cut the bindings around his ankles.
"Come with us," he ordered Yugi, shoving him lightly in the direction of an open doorway. As he walked, Yugi tried to assess where he was. "It's definitely a warehouse…Damn, it's cold!" He was led through the door and into a dark, metal hallway. A cold breeze came from a large fan in the wall at the end of it, causing a chill to ride up his spine and the back of his neck to prickle uncomfortably. Not that he wasn't uncomfortable already. The rope around his wrists were starting to chafe, rubbing his skin raw. The man in front of him turned abruptly to his left and entered another room. Obediently, Yugi followed. He caught a glimpse of snow white hair, and his breath caught in the chilly air.
The man was sitting leisurely in a high-backed armchair against the opposite wall, his fingers steepled before his lips as though he were deep in thought. On the floor beside sat a scandaly-clad woman, leaning against the chair in a practiced seductive pose. Yugi could see the metal chain that ran from the collar around her neck to a leg of the chair. She looked up at her 'master' with a look mixed with fear and lust. When she adjusted her silky white legs he caught a glimpse of the bottom of her feet. Scars crisscrossed across each one, freshly carved. Boxes upon boxes were stacked around the small room and rain water dripped from the mildew-ridden ceiling, but by the way the man in the chair carried his shoulders, this modest setting seemed like a luxurious throne room. His piercing stare was focused on Yugi, who gawked at him in return, his mouth hung open slightly in a momentary stupor. The link was broken when the thug behind Yugi shoved him into the room in order to come in himself. Yugi was guided to another smaller armchair in front of the other. As soon as he was seated, one of the men took out a knife and released his mouth gag and his wrists from the rope. Yugi thankfully rubbed them between his hands, but his awe-struck attention was still on the powerful man in front of him.
"Leave us," the man ordered, speaking in a deep, eloquent voice. Yugi's shoulders shook involuntarily as he spoke, and the man smirked. Both thugs filed out of the room and quickly shut the rot-eaten door. "Hello, Yugi," he greeted, lowering his hands to his lap and smiling wickedly.
"Bakura…" Yugi breathed the word, feeling the familiarity of it. His old enemy smiled slyly, his dark brown eyes glinting with malice. His face was just as pale as the last time he had seen him. One feature captured his attention in particular. Several wide scars criss-crossed his right cheek, even whiter than his skin. Yugi's mind raced with wild possibilities. "But how did you survive the battle with the Pharaoh? We thought you were destroyed!"
Bakura laughed, a loud carrying laugh that reverberated across the metal walls. "I'm not the spirit of the ring, you fool!" Yugi opened his mouth in astonishment. "That's right, Yugi. I'm your old pal Ryou!" Bakura chuckled darkly again.
"But you look like-"
"Him?" Bakura finished amusedly. "Have you looked at yourself in the mirror lately, Mr. Mutou? I must say that you look quite a bit like your old friend, the Pharaoh. Sound like him too. Did you honestly believe that you were the only one who was the reincarnation of someone from ancient Egypt? My voice does come in handy sometimes." Bakura grinned wickedly.
"What happened to you?" Yugi asked, unable to keep the shock and pity from his voice. "Last thing we heard you'd disappeared almost fifteen years ago after…after…"
"After assaulting my neighbor in the middle of the night?" Bakura added. He smiled darkly. "I believe that's how the paper chose to describe it." Bakura paused to look musingly down at the woman chained to his armchair. He took a few locks of her dark hair in his hand and twirled them between his thin fingers. He continued to do this for several moments, staring unseeing into the floor beside Yugi's chair.
"Tell me, Yugi," Bakura said at last, looking back at his face and removing his fingers from the woman's hair. "When you and the Pharaoh separated all those years ago, how did you feel afterwards?"
"Well," Yugi answered, taken aback by the question. "I felt like I had lost a very good friend, but at the same time I knew that he had rubbed off on me, giving me courage and strength, so that he hadn't really been taken from me." Yugi seemed embarrassed after he said this. Clearly it was odd to tell such personal bits of information to your supposed captor.
Bakura steepled his fingers again. "Do you know what I felt when I was free from the spirit of the ring? Empty. Dirty. I felt like my innocence had been taken away from me and my soul had a dark hole in the center. I didn't know why at first, oh no. But I pieced together my tortured story over time." His hands became fists as the memory crossed his mind. He didn't seem to see Yugi anymore.
"What happened to you?" Yugi asked again softly. After a moment, Bakura smirked mischievously at him.
"I filled my soul back up."