Note: This is part 1 in the Tears of Light and Dark trilogy. Originally, I had made each one a month apart and each one was a single chapter. But that's changing now because I'm separating each of them into 2 chapters at the climax. I will not make another AN for each part where it splits (meaning the first chapter of each will be missing an EndingAN and each 2nd chapter will be missing an OpeningAN) because I am literally taking the chapters exactly as they are and splitting them in half, no edits (except for spelling and punctuation errors, but that's it). Story cover for the whole series is "Yami Face-off" by Jryitoo on DeviantArt.
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Hello, everyone!
While I'm waiting to update my other two YGO fanfics, I thought I'd let this little (actually it's going to be long) one-shot idea be born. An interesting and scary and sad little (again, not small) meeting between our four favorite Yamis and hikaris.
Includes one-sided tendershipping, possibly suggested angstshipping (if you want to look at it that way), very MINOR abridged personalities, references to Marik's back story, and Season 2 references.
This is my first one-shot, so let me know how I did! This is going to be a long one because it just didn't feel right to cut it in the middle.
Story cover is "Yami Face-off" by Jryitoo on DeviantArt.
Anyway...
ENJOY~!
Ryou screeched to a stop when he reached the street of his destination. He dismounted his bicycle and walked it down the block, stopping in front of a building.
He checked his watch. It read 9:30. Right on time.
Ryou secured his bike in the bike stand and looked up at the building in front of him. He looked over at Marik's window and smiled.
Marik, I'm here! he thought as he entered and began to walk up to Marik's apartment.
Meanwhile~.
Marik was just getting ready for Ryou to arrive, but his mind was preoccupied with what had happened that morning.
He had woken up and remembered the dream he had that night. It was the same dream: the flashback. But this time it was worse.
This time, the eyes had seemed colder and more hateful. This time, he had felt more helpless and scared. This time, he had seen more blood. This time, it had felt more painful.
And to make matters worse, he appeared to have been attacked.
By mosquitoes.
"Frig those stupid insect-vampires," he had said as he went to the bathroom to apply itch cream to the three or four bites on his back. On the way there, he had scratched one of them absent-mindedly, inevitably rubbing against the marks.
As he rubbed the cream on the bites, he had rubbed against the marks more, wincing every time he felt a groove.
He was remembering again, something he didn't want to do. And all because of a few frigging mosquito bites. The dreams were bad enough. But those stupid vampires had to force him to feel the scars again. Just because they were hungry.
He snapped out of flashback and began getting ready. As he cleared a table, he saw the Millenium Rod lying there, out of place. He quickly decided to move it so Ryou wouldn't be alarmed by it. Ryou knew about the hidden blade in it, and always became nervous and uneasy around it. Not to mention scared of the powers of mind control it had. He had once said, "I don't really feel comfortable about involuntary mind control. I've dealt with enough of that in my life."
Marik knew he was referring to Bakura. And he knew how Ryou felt about him. So he always hid it when Ryou came over.
He was doing this now as he took the Rod to his room and began to place it on a high shelf.
He had been holding the Rod upright as he lifted it up. Then, somehow, the handle of the Millenium Rod slipped off the bottom and fell to the floor. Marik froze in shock as the sharp point of the hidden blade was revealed.
He had tried to not connect the Rod's being on the table to the dream and the bite incident that had occurred earlier. But now that the sharp point that was the cause of his nightmares was right in his face, he couldn't help it.
Memories flooded his thoughts. His mind became a panful and scary place.
He heart raced as he struggled to push them out. He tried to cheer up and remember Ryou's visit today, but he just couldn't fight it.
His heart sank in agony, and continued to sink.
Untill a voice in his head spoke to him. "Let me," it said. "I'll take the memories for you. Let me take the pain."
Oh, how Marik was tempted to comply, but he didn't want to do the thing necessary to make it happen. It was too dangerous. He looked at the clock. 9:30. Ryou would be here any minute.
"Marik... Let me..."
"No!" Marik shouted. He held his hands against the side of his head, dropping the Rod in the process. It fell the floor and became impaled in the carpet. "Frigging dammit! Shut up!"
"Maaaaaariiiiik..."
Marik fought the darkness, but his heart was too sad and heavy to win. He eventually faded out of conciousness.
But his body still stood. His hair was now sticking up in all directions in the back.
Melvin smiled evilly as he removed the Millenium Rod from the carpet and hid the blade in its sheath again.
"See Marik," he said aloud. "I'm the one controlling the body, controlling the brain, and having the physical pain. You really should trust me more. Now let's see..."
He briefly scanned Marik's short term memory and discovered that Bakura's host, Ryou, would be arriving soon.
"Aw. How nice. A little play date! I could really use a hug."
"The mosquitoes want blood, eh? Well so do I..."
Ryou arrived in front of Marik's door. He rang the door bell and knocked. "Marik!" he shouted. "I'm here!"
Ryou heard a click. Then he heard a voice from inside that seemed far away from the door.
"Door's open. Come in!"
Ryou smiled cheerfully. He turned the knob and entered the apartment. "Hey, Marik how's it going?" He looked around for Marik and froze when he saw the person standing there. He had the same front hair and skin tone and eye color as Marik, but looked completely different.
Before Ryou had arrived, Melvin had changed out of Marik's favorite midriff-revealing clothes and into his own more appropriate outfit. He now wore a black T-shirt and khaki pants.
Ryou had never seen Marik wearing those clothes before, and this person was slightly taller that Marik and had a different facial expression, so he assumed it was someone completely different who just happened to have the same hair and skin as Marik.
Ryou had never met Melvin before.
After the overall confusion and shock (and slight fear because the other guy looked a bit intimidating) wore off, Ryou found his voice. "Um, hi. I'm Ryou. Who are you? Is Marik here? We were supposed to hang out today."
But Melvin had seen Ryou before.
"Oh so you're Ryou. Marik mentioned you. He said he didn't feel well so he's 'asleep' right now. I'm Melvin."
"Er..." Ryou was taken aback by Melvin's voice. "That's a shame. If Marik is feeling bad, I should probably go see him..." Ryou started off to Marik's room.
Melvin ran in front of his path. Ryou stopped three feet from him. "Not so fast. Marik said no visitors. However, he did say he wouldn't mind me hanging out with you while he's feeling down for today."
"Uh... Well..." Ryou didn't exactly feel comfortable about this guy, but he saw no reason not to trust him. "I guess that would be okay. What did Marik have planned for us to do today?"
Melvin smiled evilly, but Ryou took it as a devious look and assumed that Melvin had planned some sort of prank or secret adventure for them to do.
"Well I'll tell you in a minute. But before we begin I have just one question..."
Why does that line familiar? Ryou wondered.
Melvin stretched out his arms wide. "Could I get a hug?"
What? Not what Ryou had expected. Again, that particular line sounded familiar. Maybe it was déjà vu. "Um, well okay. I don't see why not..."
Melvin smiled even more evilly on the inside. Suddenly he heard a voice in his head. "No! Run Ryou! Run!"
"Shut up in there!" Melvin replied.
Marik watched helplessly through his body's eyes as Melvin attempted to convince Ryou to hug him. "No! Melvin, no! You don't know what a hug is! You don't know how to hug people! Look it up in the dictionary for once in your friggin life! Hug means 'embrace', not 'stab'. Dammit why don't you go get a friggin dictionary?!"
"Shut up!" Melvin yelled at him, restricting Marik even more.
Somehow, Ryou hadn't noticed that Melvin held the Millenium Rod in his right hand. From Marik's memories, Melvin knew that Ryou felt very uncomfortable about it. Understandable. After all, it had the ability to both control and torment bodies and souls.
But thankfully for him, Ryou hadn't noticed it.
Poor ignorant little boy, he thought.
But someone else had noticed it.
Ryou had come here without the Millenium Ring. But now, Melvin suddenly noticed it materializing around his neck.
What the hell is this?!
Ryou had just opened his arms and started to take a step towards Melvin when he heard a familiar voice in his head.
"Ryou. Get away from him right now if you value your life."
Ryou froze in shock and fear. No! No, I left it at home! He looked down and saw the Millenium Ring hanging from his neck. "No! How?!"
"Ryou, don't be a little idiot again," Bakura said to him. "You know can't escape me. And you know I can teleport the Ring. Now if you want to live then get the hell away from him."
Ryou's fear turned to anger. He began yelling aloud at Bakura, knowing the spirit could hear. "No! I'm tired of you threatening me and torturing me! I can do what I want and you have no right to stop me! I can hug whoever I want!"
Bakura appeared next to Ryou in spirit form. He looked either worried or angry. Ryou couldn't tell. "I am not threatening you. I am warning you! Get the hell out of here! Run now!"
Melvin finally spoke up. "Don't listen to him Ryou, he's just trying to control you again."
"Shut up, Melvin! You're trying to kill him! And me too! In fact, that's what this is all about, isn't it?! You want to kill me, so you're going after him! Well stay away from my host!"
"I don't know what you're talking about, Florence!" Melvin said unconvincingly. "I just want to give the boy a hug..."
"No hug!"
"Shut up, Bakura!" Ryou screamed. "It's my body and I'm taking control of it! You just don't want me to feel free and in control, you want all the power for yourself! Well NOT ANY MORE!" Ryou hated how Bakura always used his body to hurt others and gain power and trick people. He hated it. Now it was his turn to be in control. He turned to Melvin and walked closer.
"NO!" Bakura became tangible and violently pulled Ryou back a few feet. "I'm not trying to hurt you! I'm trying to save you and protect you!"
"Stop it!" Ryou squirmed. "Let me go!"
"Stop fighting me! Stop being so ignorant! He has the Rod, Ryou! He's holding the bloody Millenium Rod!"
Ryou's face transformed from rage to confusion and surprise. He looked over at Melvin. He was holding the Rod. But Ryou was too upset to care.
"I don't care!" he yelled to Bakura. His eyes teared up.
Bakura's face showed a mix of emotions that Ryou had never seen on him. Slight fear, sadness, and caring.
But again, Ryou was too upset to care.
He broke out of Bakura's grasp and ran over towards Melvin. He ran into Melvin's arms and squeezed him in a hug.
Melvin smiled evilly at Bakura and wrapped his arms around Ryou. "There, there, it's all over now. Don't cry," he cooed. Then his left hand moved toward the Millenium Rod and unsheathed the blade.
Bakura's eyes widened in fear for his host as Melvin prepared to strike. He acted quickly.
As Melvin's right hand moved the Rod toward Ryou's back, aiming for the heart, Bakura thrust himself into Ryou's body, grabbed his soul, shoved him into his soul room, and locked the door from the outside.
"NO! Let me out! Not again! Please!" Ryou shouted as he banged his fists against the door. Bakura looked at the door with as sad expression on his face. He kissed his palm and put it against the door, then took over the body.
The Rod stabbed Ryou in the back.
Blood splattered.
Melvin waited for Ryou to go limp in his arms, but didn't feel it. He actually felt Ryou stand up straighter. Ryou wasn't slouching anymore, but was still hugging Melvin.
Melvin looked at him in confusion. Then he noticed that Ryou's hair was a bit crazier than it had been a second ago.
Wait, that's not Ryou's hair... he realized.
"Bakura?" asked a voice in his head.
Melvin knew Marik was right, and didn't bother telling him to shut up. Bakura had taken over Ryou's body.
Bakura felt a sharp object painfully pierce his body. But pain was good. Pain meant feeling. Pain meant life.
Like with Melvin and Marik, Bakura was taller than Ryou. So the Rod had missed its mark by about six inches. More than enough distance between the center of his heart and the point of the Rod.
Bakura made a pained noise as Melvin removed the Rod; it seemed that Melvin had realized that Bakura had taken over and had survived because he was taller now. Bakura took three steps away from him.
He bent over in pain and held his chest, in the front even thought the injury was in the back. He stayed on his feet and hid his pain with a smug smile directed towards Melvin.
"Well I guess you missed, now didn't you?" he said. "I told you that you'll never kill me."
Melvin laughed at Bakura. He was weak now. Though he had missed the heart, Bakura was still injured and weak. It would be easy to kill him now.
.
Marik looked on in horror, both unable to take over again or move from his front row seat of the action. Being a friend of both, he feared for Ryou and Bakura. At least he wasn't thinking about that stuff anymore. But did that really matter?
.
Ryou sat in his soul room, sad and scared and weak, thinking of Bakura. He had felt a tiny amount of pain in his chest, and interpreted it as painfully negative emotions, not knowing that it was an indication of what had happened to his body.
Bakura looked at Melvin and stood up straight. He ignored the pain, hoping that since he was controlling the body, the injury would heal faster than if Ryou had been stabbed. He just had to stall for time.
He hoped Ryou wouldn't straighten himself out and try to break out. Again. An annoying habit to have when Bakura was trying to keep him in.
Melvin laughed at him again. "Well, Florence. Here we are again, you versus me. But this time, there are no weak hikaris to help you out. Which is a shame because you probably feel just as physically weak now as they are all the time."
"You're not going to win again, Melvin. I won't let you." As he said this, he started leaning backwards, almost falling but still standing.
Melvin finished the job and pushed Bakura over. Bakura fell to the floor, more blood splattering as he landed.
Melvin walked over and knelt over him. "I sent you to the Shadow Realm once. And I can do it again. But I think it would be easier and much more satisfying to just send your soul to the literal graveyard." He grasped the Millenium Rod and aimed it towards Bakura's left arm, the one that wasn't holding his chest in pain.
As Melvin brought the Rod closer, Bakura shot into action. He had been faking half of the pain. Melvin should've realized that he wouldn't go down that easily.
He punched Melvin in the face with his left hand. As he did, the Rod scratched him anyway. When Melvin recoiled slightly from the blow, Bakura managed to wrestle the Millenium Rod from his grasp. He slashed Melvin's leg deeply, and his blood added to the red on the floor. Then he dropped the Rod.
Melvin was stong against physical pain. He recovered quickly. Noticing Bakura release the Rod, he grabbed it and prepared to strike again.
However, in the two seconds that Melvin had spent recovering and grabbing the Rod again, Bakura had taken off the Millenium Ring and was holding it up. He used his connection to it to make the prongs stand up straight and sturdy.
He held it out towards Melvin as a weapon. Melvin made another attempt to stab Bakura, but Bakura dogged and slashed him across the back with all five prongs.
Melvin cried out in pain and shock. It hurt him more than a weapon usually would. It was probably because it was an injury induced by an active Millenium item that wasn't the Rod.
But again, he recovered quickly. But he took less time to recover than he had taken to get past the pain itself.
He felt slightly weaker than before due to the blood loss.
Slightly. Barely.
Melvin turned around and faced Bakura.
Bakura stood up straight and faced Melvin.
The two stood there for a few seconds, staring at each other hatefully.
Though Melvin had several more injuries than Bakura did, Bakura's one stab wound was slighty more critical than all of Melvin's wounds combined. At the moment, they were both injured at about the same level. But that didn't mean that they were still physically equal.
The look in their eyes indicated that they both knew one of them was going to win in the next five minutes.
Meaning that in the next five minutes, one of them was going to die.
Both the Yamis stood face to face, preparing for the worst.
Both the hikaris sat trapped and alone, feeling the worst.
.
However, Ryou was starting to calm down and relax himself. He dried his tears and looked at the locked door. Somehow, even though it was Ryou's soul room, Bakura was able to lock it from the outside. He had never seen the key Bakura used, though.
Ryou was no stranger to this situation. He began to further calm himself down before he would begin pick the lock and break out again.
.
Marik had stopped paying attention to things. He could still see everything, but he focused on nothing. He waited for it to all be over.
He knew these two. They wouldn't stop untill one of them succeeded in stopping the other. Forever.
.
Everything was still.