Lego: This is for the 100 Themes challenge. Only canon oneshots will be posted. I'm doing this because Tears of a Lotus doesn't want to be written. I've recently been watching subbed episodes, and I had this idea while watching the duel between Bakura and Yami in the Battle City semi-finals.
Disclaimer: The YuGiOh franchise belongs to Kazuki Takahashi. I own only the story.
Dark
Darkness—his only friend. He spent time in the light, of course, most of his days, in fact. But there were times he could not access the light. All he had was darkness.
He had friends in the light, his classmates, and while they didn't hang out a lot, especially lately, they were still his friends. But he'd spent so much time in the darkness, he had no choice but to befriend it so as not to go insane.
At first the darkness scared him, weakened him, but then he grew accustomed to it. Its touch warmed him, welcomed him. He felt at home when he was with it.
He was used to losing his body to the spirit within him. It was frustrating and confusing at first, but he got used to giving it up. Of course, he still didn't particularly like the spirit—would anyone? Losing your body to someone you didn't know or understand was never pleasant.
The creatures in the darkness visited him. They kept him safe from other predators. He liked their friendship; it made him feel loved, even wanted. Not even his friends from the light could make him feel that way.
Sometimes he wondered if those friends cared about him, if they missed him when he was in the darkness. But then the thought would pass. He'd always known he wasn't as close to them as they were to each other, and it wasn't like they weren't his friends at all. He could hear their voices even now.
His arm burned. Something was terribly wrong with it, but he couldn't remember what it was or how it had gotten there. He almost couldn't think past the pain. His other hand went up to grip the injury.
"Someone." His voice was cracked, broken, hoarse. "Please help me."
He tried to force his eyes open, but they wouldn't move. A moan rumbled through his chest and escaped past his lips. He heard his name shouted over and over again, but the voices ran together; he couldn't put any faces or names to them.
He heard someone tell him to try to open his eyes, and he did, but they stayed shut. He suddenly felt dizzy and started leaning toward one side.
"Where am I?" he asked the voices. The words jumbled together, but it sounded like he was in some kind of duel. No, not him. The spirit had been dueling. So why was he out now? That didn't make any sense.
Pain pulsated from his injury, pounding through his blood to his brain. He moaned again and clutched it tighter, as if that would relieve him. It didn't.
The spirit returned and ripped him from the real world again. He felt like he was falling, drifting from reality, until the darkness enveloped him in its warm embrace. He let it consume him because it took away his pain and made him feel safe.