This is a somewhat older story of mine, originally written in 2015 in preparation for writing "Stealer of Souls," and edited a little before publication.
Speak.
"My name is Ryou Bakura, I am under the control of an evil spirit." My mouth does not even move.
The Ring burns cold against my chest.
Where am I? What am I doing in a forest? At night? What's going on? What has the spirit of the Ring done this time?
My mouth opens but no sound comes out, the questions bursting in my mind remain firmly stuck in my throat.
Yugi! My heart skips a beat. I would recognize that pointed mane and short stature anywhere! Anyone in our class would. What are Yugi and his friends doing here - in the woods, at night? That question doesn't reach my ears either.
Say hello.
I shudder, but my body remains frozen still.
"What are you doing way out here, Bakura?" Yugi's best friend, Joey, asks.
What am I doing here? Where has the spirit of the Ring taken me? I don't suppose I can answer that I don't know - the spirit wouldn't like that.
"Same as you guys, I guess." my mouth forms the words of its own accord and I hear my voice echo them, eerily calm.
If you obeyed me I wouldn't have to speak for you. Challenge him to a duel.
"You gave us a scare sneaking around in those bushes." Tristan says.
"Yeah, for a minute there we thought we had something to worry about." Joey says, as if it's a joke.
You have something to worry about!
Act natural.
The spirit orders, as if in response to my thoughts. It is no question that he knows my every thought, but still it unsettles me.
I feel my lips begin to twist into a smile and I instinctively obey the unspoken order, completing the expression as a small genuine sort of smile, one that would be if I hadn't just "woken up" lost in the woods under the Ring's control. Maybe Yugi can help me. I don't know how he would be able to, if I didn't know better - which I don't - I would guess the spirit gave me the thought to ensure my cooperation, but still I can hope, right? This persistent, irrational hope is unsettling.
Stop talking to yourself. Talk to him.
And so I do. I chatter with my "friends" as if everything were normal, as if I was on this island - according to Yugi and his friends, we are on Pegasus's island, where he is hosting a Duel Monsters tournament - of my own volition. As if we were friends.
I wish we were friends. Does that count?
No! That's going along with the spirit.
Yugi was also forced to come here. With that puzzle of his, I wonder if Pegasus isn't the only one pulling his strings. I am not allowed to ask.
Something dark and deep inside of me wants that puzzle, is willing to do anything to get it.
Soon...
No! Yugi does not deserve whatever fate the spirit of the Ring has in store for him! None of them do!
Speak.
The spirit has found its opening.
"Well if you were, which card would you want to be, Joey?" the words escape my mouth despite my every effort to stop them.
They go around listing their favorite cards, falling so easily into the Ring's trap, whatever the end of it may be, until the only one left is Yugi.
"Tell me which one you identify with, Yugi." the words are inevitable, as is his answer, so cheerful, so trusting.
Don't smile at me! I'm not your friend! Run away from me and never look back or I will be the end of you!
"So which card do you care about most, Bakura?" Yugi asks.
My hands flip through my deck, to my surprise it is up to me when they stop.
"This one is my favorite." I say.
Inhuman laughter.
I know it is too subtle a hint.
"Isn't that the Change of Heart card?" Of course Yugi thinks nothing of it, he just smiles at me. Trusts me.
"If you want to see how it works, we could have a duel right now, not for star chips, just for a little fun…" my mouth moves by a will that is not my own, the words sound foreign, distant, "How about you guys each put your favorite cards into Yugi's deck, so it's like we're all playing."
"Great, but I should warn you, with this all star group of cards I will be tough to beat." Yugi says so confidently, and seals his fate.
The world vanishes from before my eyes and I return to the darkness from whence I came.
"Then protect him against this!"
I hear the Ring's voice, a perversion of my own, not in my mind, but in my ears.
"Yugi!" I hear the others shout.
What is the spirit of the Ring doing to him?
"Bakura!" It's Yugi!
Is he alright? Is he screaming in pain?
I peer through the blinding light surrounding me. Yugi is there, dressed like the Dark Magician. What has the Ring done? He's looking at me. What have I done?
"It's Bakura!" I recognize Tristan as the Cyber Commander, beside Joey as the Flame Swordsman.
And there's Tea as the Magician of Faith. "The real Bakura!"
"Bakura!" Yugi yells to me, "So your soul was sealed into your favorite card too!"
Suddenly I am aware of the weight that is gone from my mind, I am alone in here at last. The spirit of the Ring wants me to take over one of the others, but I'm not a parasite living on the minds of the innocent, I want to help, but we must act quickly.
Somehow my will is strong enough to compel me into the body of the Lady of Faith.
"I've taken over one of his cards instead of yours," I say and the words materialize, "I'll control her while you attack me, you can win against the evil Bakura!"
"I can't, I'd be destroying you, sending you to the graveyard," Yugi shouts.
Somehow, despite all of this, he is still concerned for me.
"I don't care! It's better than being enslaved by an evil spirit. Do it!"
"Be quiet!"
I wince at the sound of my own voice under the spirit's control.
"I have a better idea!" the voice is Yugi's, but not Yugi's, just like my evil counterpart - but somehow his is not evil? - "If the power of Bakura's Millennium Ring can pull souls from people, perhaps the power of my Millennium Puzzle can put souls back!"
I can feel my soul being ripped from the body I temporarily inhabited-
My eyes slowly open of my accord. My body is my own… I look down upon the board as a giant, across from the giant spirit in Yugi's puzzle. Below me stand the others in costumes, all staring open mouthed at the figure with its back to me, the evil me. Its screams - that still sound like my own - echo in my ears. But I am not screaming.
"This can't be!" he shouts, my mouth remains still, his voice is puny as mine once was.
"Now listen closely to me, Yugi," the spirit of Yugi's puzzle booms, "Use the power of the Dark Magician to send him to the graveyard, now!"
"You got it!" Yugi exclaims, "Dark Magic Attack!"
An inhuman scream follows in a voice that is and is not my own. It echoes in my ears as the darkness fades until it's just Yugi and I. Our Millennium Items hang around our necks, but we are the ones in control.
"Are you okay, Bakura?" Yugi's voice is full of concern.
I should be the one asking that question, I'm the one who almost killed everyone- No, not me, the evil me, the spirit of the Ring.
The Ring does not prompt me to speak or inhibit the words I can say. My voice is my own.
"I am now, thanks to you," I give Yugi the first genuine smile I have had in a long time, it is well deserved.
"Where did you get your Millennium Ring?" He is not angry, just curious.
I am free to tell the story.
By the time I am done the others are beginning to awake. I should check on them. Do they remember what I- no, the Ring - did?
"Sleep well guys?" I smile and keep my words vague out of habit, though I belatedly remember that I don't have to.
They are terrified of me. But no one makes any mention of what I- the spirit of the Ring did before we hear a scream.
Is it the spirit? Has it come to claim its vengeance for being sent to the graveyard already?
No, it would return to my body. I still have the Ring.
Yugi thinks there's someone who needs to be saved. If there is - or even if there isn't - I am right behind him.