Depth Perception
"Do you believe in ghosts, Ryou?"
He stared past his father's arm, down the street at the bakery, where there stood a little girl peering eagerly into the storefront. Her fingers pressed against the glass, and she tilted her head back at them, waving an arm and shouting, "Look, big brother, cream puffs!"
"You can't see her, can you?" He whispered brokenly, clinging on tightly to his father's hand. The older man frowned, and ran the fingers of his other hand through his hair in some stress.
The light turned, and he was tugged along, feet tripping against nothing. His father gave him a disappointed sigh. "Listen, son. Ghosts don't exist, okay? Your sister is gone now. It's a very sad thing, but you have to let go of those beliefs you have, because they're not going to serve you very well in life. It's only going to chain you down. And I care about you, so I don't want that to happen."
They walked past the bakery, with the little girl pointing determinedly at the display of goods. "Get this one, Ryou. And share with me, okay?" Ryou stared with wide eyes, hesitantly glancing up at his father, and then back at her. They were leaving the bakery behind. "Hey, I want one!" She shrieked with some irritation, not liking how she was not getting her way. Ryou's hands started to sweat. "Hey, where are you going?" Came another angry shriek. His sister always had been needy for attention. Had always been used to bossing others around.
"Can I—" Ryou stammered out, tugging uncertainly at his father's hand, who looked down with some surprise, then noticed the bakery they had just passed.
"Want to go in?"
Ryou swallowed, and said more calmly, "Please?"
So they turned around, and the little girl seemed pleased. She joined Ryou's side, blathering in his ear about how she didn't like how he'd ignored her, and he tried to shoot her an apologetic look.
"I'm sorry," said Ryou, as his father went up to the counter to order.
Translucent arms wrapped around his shoulders. "I'll forgive you just this once," she murmured back delicately. Ryou breathed in diesel fuel and burnt rubber, wondering where it was coming from. "But don't ignore me again, okay, big brother? We have to stick together, after all. No one understands us better than each other, right?"
His father returned, looking down at the very pale face of his son with a frown. Anxiety and nervousness were hastily removed from Ryou's features and a smile was offered instead. "I'm sorry," said Ryou again.
I'm sorry. I'm sorry.
xXx
"Why don't you ever teach me how to play?" Demanded a little girl, scarcely taller than his knees.
Cards were laid out in neat rows on the bedspread, and he ran through their order, casually flicking through the deck in his hands and picking through the selection on the sheets in front of him. His shoulders rolled back, and he cast an irritated look at the see-through figure of the girl standing by the bed. She had her arms crossed firmly over her chest.
"This is not the best time for that," he returned smoothly. The bedside clock rather backed him up on this point, displaying a time late at night, when most people would be asleep. But he was dressed in day clothes, which suggested he had no plans for sleep.
She stamped her transparent foot on the ground. "But I want to learn!"
A subtle crinkle of his brows suggested he was in no mood for entertaining her interests, but his voice betrayed none of that. "Another time. Shouldn't children your age be in bed by now?"
Distracted by his question, for a moment she looked flustered, like she hadn't thought of that and was scrambling for an excuse. Finally, after a moment of staring at each other, she blurted out, "Well, you're not in bed either!"
"No? Then what am I sitting on, exactly?" He mocked back, going back to his cards, fairly bored with her presence.
There was some silence before she muttered, "You're no fun anymore, Ryou. Ever since Dad left for Egypt."
The teen on the bed, as a matter of fact, was not the teen she named, but he was not interested in correcting her. Explaining what he was would probably do nothing more than waste his breath, for she was rather young and stubborn and would likely refuse to believe him. As far as she was concerned, he could be no one else but her brother, however cold and uncaring he acted. No matter what he did to suggest otherwise.
Absently checking the time on the clock, he made a suggestion to attempt to get her away from him. "All right, forget sleep. This is a big castle, who knows, maybe it has a few secrets. It seems like it'd be an interesting place to explore, no? Why don't you wander around for a few hours?" Anything for some peace and quiet. The child was incredibly attention-grabbing sometimes.
Her face brightened instantly. "You really mean it? You wouldn't mind?"
Slinking off the side of the bed, the Ring spirit dropped to her level and attempted a smile rather than a smirk. Years of practice made the gesture only all too easy. "Of course not, Amane. Just don't get lost, okay? I wouldn't even know where to begin if I had to go out looking for you," he responded gently.
"I'll be back in time for the matches tomorrow morning," she promised quickly, before turning around and dashing out through the door before he could change his mind.
Bakura watched the vestiges of her ectoplasmic form slide through the wood of the door, leaving a white stain behind barely perceptible to his eyes. At long last, he breathed a sigh.
"Really, landlord," he muttered aloud, "I don't know why you permit her to stay."
xXx
Amane was thoroughly enjoying herself, wandering through the castle grounds. She wasn't a child who was afraid of the dark —that had been Ryou— and so it didn't bother her that many halls were dark or were only dimly lit, to allow guards to pass through them without bumping into walls. She glided into many rooms that had no trace of ever being touched by visitors: bedrooms upon bedrooms of repeating décor and the same layout. This bored her somewhat, so Amane left that portion of the castle for another, taking a brief walk outside before coming to the walls of the castle again.
It was to her delight to find that this portion of the castle varied widely from one room to the next, and she walked into a few studies and offices before finding a much larger space. Slipping through a kitchen area, passing rows of ovens and industrial sized sinks, she came out into another hallway and paused, where in front of her were a set of double doors. Intrigued, Amane wondered what luxurious furniture awaited her within, and whether she could find a secret passageway into some laboratory beyond, just like in some of the role-plays that Ryou had designed. With a mad scientist and everything.
Giggling slightly, Amane darted across the hall to pop her head through the wood of the door, where she took in deep darkness and long stacks of shelving.
It was a library.
Shaking the rest of her form through the wood, Amane waited for her ectoplasm to smack back together, and smoothed out her dress before moving forward. Beyond her, the ceiling stretched high overhead, allowing for multiple floors with rolling ladders to reach the higher levels. She wondered if it would be too childish to swing from the railings and try to land on the tops of the stacks.
Something shimmered behind one of the end stacks, like white entrails of some recently mutilated animal. Amane ran up to the stack, ducking down before attempting to peer through volumes of books to see what had been shimmering.
It occurred to her that it was hair; long, blonde, beautiful flowing hair. For a second Amane was jealous, and her hands came up to her own short locks, which had been cut by an overzealous hairdresser one afternoon. She wondered if the owner of the beautiful hair ever cut it short like hers.
Deciding to ask, she stuck her head through the books and said, "Hello!"
The glowing, white, shimmering woman that the hair was attached to gave a start, looking up from her study of a painting to see Amane's disembodied head. Bringing her hand up to her chest and crying out in surprise, she fell to the floor and stared with wide eyes.
Amane stared back at the woman and could only feel more jealousy. Not only was her hair beautiful, but the rest of her was too. She was dressed in a lengthy gown, exquisite in design, which flowed across the floor from where she sat. Amane looked down through the books at her own short dress, settling just below her knees, and frowned. Then, with only a few more seconds of hesitation, she faded through the stack of books. "Hello," she said more firmly, thinking that the woman was a bit rude for staring and not responding immediately.
"H-hello," stuttered the woman.
"Why are you up so late?" Amane asked curiously.
Regaining some of her composure, the woman returned with fluttering eyelids —her eyelashes were long too, Amane noticed with another frown— and a slight tensing of her body, "I...I live here."
Blinking, Amane nodded. That made sense. People could do what they liked in their own home. "My brother said I could wander around," Amane informed the woman, deciding to save her the trouble of asking why she too was up so late. She sat down on the floor, leaning back against the book stack. "You have a very big house. Isn't there just two of you here?"
Now the woman lowered her hand to her lap, and ceased blinking at her. Tentatively, she said, "And my husband's employees."
"You're his wife?" Amane asked curiously. Her curiosity soon turned to skepticism, however. "Pegasus never mentioned you."
"Well, I'm..." the woman paused in confusion. She gestured at Amane. "I'm...like you. So, of course he wouldn't."
Working that reasoning out in her head, Amane suddenly felt she understood and gave her a sad look. "Yeah," she agreed, "my big brother doesn't mention me to anyone else either."
The woman reached out to the hem of her dress, pulling it up somewhat in order to tuck her feet daintily underneath her. At this point, she looked much calmer, though there was a look in her eyes of amazement. Amane wondered if she just hadn't met many children who were so conversational before. "Your brother is one of the duelists that's participating in the tournament?" The woman asked for confirmation, and the hope that she could steer the conversation in a direction not directly involving her.
A shake of her head only confused the woman, but Amane was prepared to explain. "Well, not exactly. He duels, but he's not in the tournament. He's cheering on Yuugi and Joey."
"Oh," she returned. A quiet smile was offered. "I hope they all do okay."
There was something in that smile that bothered Amane, but she was far too young to understand a face of deception. To know that more than anything, the woman longed for just the opposite. "Don't worry," Amane assured her, "Yuugi is unbeatable and Joey is really, really lucky."
"Your brother is...?" The woman hedged.
"Ryou." There was a pause. Then Amane realized, "Oh. But everyone else calls him Bakura." Her mind left the subject of her brother and turned back to the person at hand, and she gave a start. Annoyed, she said suddenly, "Hey, I never got your name."
Another small smile appeared on the woman's face. "Cecelia. I never got yours, either."
"Amane," she nodded. Things were okay again. Scooting forward, Amane reached one hand up and ran her fingers boldly through Cecelia's blonde hair. It was incredibly soft, and tangle-free. "I wanted to grow mine long, but my mom wouldn't let me," Amane told her pointedly.
Catching Amane's hand before it pulled away, Cecelia said kindly, "Your hair is just fine the way it is, Amane."
Feeling considerably better, Amane jumped to her feet and clamped her other hand around Cecelia's fingers, who looked up at her with interest. "You're going to show me around," the child told the woman with an air of expectation. After a moment of wondering whether she should, Cecelia opted to entertain her wishes. It had been so long since she'd talked to someone, after all. And so long since she'd been able to touch another human being. But with Amane's condition being the same as hers, that wasn't something she needed to concern herself over. Touch was suddenly as easy as sight and sound.
Squeezing the girl's hand, Cecelia picked herself up off of the ground and said softly, "I'll show you what I can." Amane didn't hear the words unspoken in that statement; that there were things she couldn't be shown. Instead she continued walking forward, practically bouncing on the balls of her feet in interest.
"There's secret halls and stuff, isn't there?" Amane questioned, leading the way. Her hands gripped firmly around Cecelia's.
A peal of laughter left Cecelia's throat. Her mood had picked up too with Amane's enthusiasm, and now she grinned more widely as the little girl pulled her back to the library's doors. "Yes. This place is like something out of a movie, I sometimes think. When I was a little girl like you...I always wanted to live in a castle."
"And now you are!" Amane declared with delight.
"And now I am..." Cecelia murmured back, as they slipped through the doors.
The castle of her dreams, built to her and her husband's liking. So that they could live out a fantasy found only in comic books and fairytales. Of course...it was only him now, enjoying their dreams.
She was no longer living.
xXx
Amane stood quietly, to the very best of her ability, watching the proceedings in the dueling box with a quickly fading interest. The holographic monsters Yuugi and Mai were summoning had been entertaining at first, but soon she found the technologic marvels a bit repetitive. The creatures with the bigger weapons tended to win, so far as she could tell, and being able to make a crude guess at the outcomes of the battles made her rather irritated. By her side, her brother stood relaxed, acting much more like himself than the night before. He and the others exchanged remarks and cheered on the duelists, and she was bothered that the duel seemed to so fully capture his attention that he was no longer paying any mind to her.
Trying to distract herself so that she wouldn't unduly bother her brother, Amane peered over the dueling field to where Pegasus sat in his throne —at least, she thought it was a throne, and she couldn't blame him for wanting one in a castle— with his wife by his side. She'd been thinking that it was odd the way they acted with each other. She watched Cecelia perch herself on the armrest, eyes only for her husband. The poor woman was probably just as disinterested in the game as Amane was. But Pegasus was not even acknowledging her existence.
Cecelia ran her fingers through her husband's hair, not touching it, but imagining the sensation nonetheless. It was likely unnoticed by everyone else in the room, but she could see a faint clenching of his jaw, and a slight tensing of his shoulders, that informed her of how anxious he was. Everything depended on his acquisition of Yuugi's pendant. Everything depended on Pegasus defeating him in a duel. Cecelia wished desperately for the teen's victory over the woman, so that he could face her husband in the final match. For her revival. So that they could be together...once more...
Some movement from across the room made her glance up to see a cheerful waving of the young ghost of the girl she'd met the night before, standing beside her brother. Cecelia's heart clenched, just a little. Someone so innocent did not deserve to observe what was going to happen. Someone obviously well-loved, to have enough of an attachment to stay in the living world. Cecelia's eyes glanced over the girl to the brother she stood beside, who was fully focussed on the duel. But just for one instant, she thought she saw him shift his gaze to where she sat, as though he knew of her sitting there. Her fingers sunk further into her husband's hair unconsciously.
"I don't think Pegasus can see her," Amane whispered in stunned amazement.
Eyes narrowing at the disturbance, Bakura glanced down at her and offered no response, as he needed to act as normal as possible in public. Doing anything more than looking at her could bring unwanted attention to himself. And besides, he had a duel to concentrate on. This was giving him an amazing opportunity to observe his enemy's abilities, and his weaknesses...
"Why's she here, if she can't be seen, big brother—" Amane cut off her sentence at the withering look Bakura was giving her, though his eyes immediately flicked back to the duel once he was sure she had gotten the message.
It had been a long time since Amane had felt anything close to concern for someone else, as she had been concentrating on her own problems for so long that it hadn't occurred to her that she could have had it worse. Now as she looked at the longing painted so clearly on Cecelia's face, as she leaned ever closer to the man not even looking at her, Amane felt something akin to a twinge in her heart. A sudden sadness came over her. She wondered what Cecelia was doing there, when she had no interaction with anyone around her. She wondered what attachment could be powerful enough to keep someone like her in the living world, when she did not exist to anyone else. When she was so clearly alone.
xXx
The man was extraordinarily pleased that he seemed to have passed the Item's test, and proceeded to give Pegasus an explanation just vague enough to leave him confused and at a loss. "Now your eyes will be opened to dimensions beyond the here-and-now. Like having a sixth sense, capable of seeing worlds and times outside our own."
There was such a bright light shining from above. Warm against his skin. Pegasus leaned back on his legs and stared upwards with one wide eye, the other having been destroyed by the golden object he now possessed.
Above him, descending from the light, was a sight so wonderful that Pegasus was not sure if he was awake or dreaming. "Cecelia..." He choked out, hands reaching upwards. Pleading in his heart for it to be true.
"Maximillion," she cried out in joy. For a moment he stopped breathing, enjoying the sight and the sound of her voice. "It's really you," she said in delight. Her golden hair, drenched in the light, fluttered about the blue dress she'd always loved. He was enraptured by the vision.
He encased her in his arms, heart filling at long last, dispelling all of the emptiness he'd had to endure for years. Dispelling his depression, the darkness that had chained him down for so long. For that moment, all he could think about was how much he adored her. "Cecelia. I've found you, my darling. We're reunited at long last."
But the vision did not last. In another moment she'd vanished from his arms, so abruptly, taking with her the light that had been shining so brightly. Pegasus lost his breath again, and all at once his heart let in the darkness so recently dispelled. How he yearned for that feeling of love once again!
"But be warned..." the Egyptian was saying, so calmly, "seeing is not the same as touching...that is beyond the power of this Millennium Item..."
Pegasus dropped his hands to the ground, so upset at having glimpsed the prospect of happiness once again.
And there above him floated Cecelia. "No!" She cried out helplessly. The love of her life did not acknowledge her. To the side, the Egyptian observed her cries thoughtfully. "No, don't despair! I'm right here! I haven't left!" She screamed desperately; tugging, tugging at his clothing. But her hands went straight through. Sobbing, she tried to mimic the embrace he'd given her moments earlier. "Don't give up hope! Can't you believe in your heart that I wouldn't have left you? Can't you?" The tears kept pouring down her face. She couldn't stop.
But though her cries echoed in the room, and the Egyptian watched her display of emotion, her husband did not move from his position on the floor.
And he began to plot to see her once more.
xXx
Amane was proud of how stealthily she'd managed to leave her brother's side. It had taken barely seconds, some stepping backwards, and a quick duck through the floor and out a wall in order to get away. With curiosity still present in her mind, she crept along the hall on tip toes, imagining herself as some super spy, ready for action. The fact that almost no one could see her anyway did not deter this fantasy. So she left her brother and his celebrating friends behind, not caring too much for Yuugi's victory over Mai. It was all just a card game in the end, anyway. Nothing important.
What had captured her attention more than the duel was Cecelia, of course; Cecelia and her desperately clinging hands that passed right through her husband on his throne. Amane did not know many other ghosts, so Cecelia was rather an anomaly in and of herself, regardless of her situation. But Pegasus could not see either of them, and this concerned Amane for the simple fact that she did not know how that was possible. Her brother was what had kept her chained to the living world, and Amane was not sure that she'd remain if she could not interact with him. Why stay in a world where the people you care about aren't even aware of you? It didn't make any sense.
So she'd left her brother's side, and wandered off to find Cecelia, who with her husband had left the dueling room for the moment while Joey hunted for some card requirement or something or other. She did not have to wander far, in fact, and spotted the two of them walking down an intersecting hall just ahead. She broke into a run. "Hello!" She called to Cecelia, no longer playacting as a spy.
Cecelia had looped one arm through her husband's, an action made somewhat normal by the way he'd stuck his hands in his pant pockets. For a moment she faltered at hearing Amane's voice, however, and her arm faded partially through his before she corrected the motion. "Congratulations," she told Amane politely when she'd reached their side. Amane looked confused. "Your brother's friend won the first duel," Cecelia pointed out, "aren't you happy for him?"
Grinning smugly, Amane replied, "I knew he would. I told you he was unbeatable, didn't I?"
Jaw clenching, Cecelia jerked her head sideways to look at Pegasus, letting her hair fall off her shoulder to hide her anxiety. Amane's words repeated in her head. Unbeatable. Unbeatable. Unbeatable.
"Everyone loses eventually," Cecelia tried for a light-hearted tone and managed one, and Amane returned the statement with a laugh.
"Not Yuugi. Everyone says so." Amane had to take two paces for every pace Cecelia and Pegasus took, so for a moment she was caught up in matching footsteps with them, which allowed Cecelia some time to recover and plaster a gentle smile on her face. Abruptly, Amane switched subjects. "What's keeping you here?"
It was a vague enough question to make it acceptable for Cecelia to deliberately misunderstand. "I live here."
"I meant," Amane ground out in annoyance, not liking that she hadn't gotten her question across the first time around, "no one can see you. So what's the point in staying? Aren't you lonely?"
This time Cecelia faltered enough in her steps to have Pegasus leave her side completely, and it would have taken several steps to catch up to him, so instead she stopped in her tracks and gave the little girl at her side a frown. "Didn't your brother ever teach you not to be nosey, Amane?"
Amane feigned ignorance. "Huh?"
Sighing, Cecelia gave up trying to feel bothered at her inquisitiveness. She was only a girl, after all, and certainly had no bad intentions towards her. Cecelia thought that her curiosity shouldn't be trampled on, just because the questions had struck her right in her heart. And a part of her wanted so intensely to have someone to talk to. "I love my husband very much," Cecelia said firmly, "just like you love your brother."
Sticking out her tongue, Amane scrunched up her face and said, "I don't love him, don't be gross."
The words were so startling that Cecelia's voice cracked. "Well...then...what are you doing here?" She mumbled.
"I'm waiting for him so we can go together," Amane whispered to her, leaning in like she was revealing some great secret. Cecelia stared. "Because I didn't wait for him before. We were waiting in the car for him to come with us. But I lied," Amane said very seriously.
A part of Cecelia's heart broke for the girl. "What was the lie?"
"I told Mom Ryou didn't want to come with us, and that we should leave without him," Amane said sadly, "so we left him behind. Because she was always paying more attention to him, you know. Ryou this, Ryou that. Ryou was always so much better at everything. I was so sick of it! Was it so bad for me to want one day to myself?" Amane's voice had risen slightly in anger, but it then dissipated like a popped balloon, and soon she was looking sad again. Haltingly, she went on, "And that's why I have to wait for him this time, you see. Because it's my fault he didn't get to come last time."
There was some silence between them. "And you died in that car...?" Cecelia murmured.
Amane said nothing.
"You saved his life," Cecelia whispered.
"I never said sorry," Amane admitted with some guilt on her face.
Cecelia reached down to her and patted her shoulder, sincerely sad for her. "Your brother's lucky to have such a wonderful sister," she told her softly.
A smug smile appeared on Amane's face. "I know," she said instantly. Her chin rose in confidence. "I'm the most loyal wonderful caring person he's ever met. He never says so, but I know it." This had Cecelia laughing slightly, and she raised a hand to her mouth to muffle it politely. Amane brightened up again. "You must be a pretty nice person too, to hang around people who can't see you all the time."
"Soon," Cecelia said aloud, ignoring the vague notion in her mind that told her to be quiet, "soon I won't have to ever be invisible again. My husband will make sure of it. I believe in him."
"That's nice," said Amane politely.
"He promised," Cecelia whispered, "to never leave me. And I promised to never leave him. So until we're truly together once again...here I will remain. For just a little longer...soon, all his plans will draw to a close...!"
Amane frowned, not knowing where she was going with her babbling. Cecelia was no longer looking at her, and had instead raised her eyes to stare at the disappearing figure of her husband walking down the hall. Her face was filled with a hundred emotions Amane did not know the words for to name. Her hands were clenched tightly against her chest. "Soon..." Cecelia muttered to herself.
Inching away, Amane left the woman's side for her brother's instead. Irritated at Cecelia's rudeness, and not interested in staying near her when she was now talking to herself rather than to the girl at her side, Amane returned to the dueling room.
The spirit of the Ring noticed her entering through the wall, and offered a twist of his host's features to ease her need for attention. Amane returned his smile.
"Cecelia is convinced Pegasus will be able to see her soon," Amane informed him thoughtfully.
Bakura just smirked.
xXx
"Do you believe in ghosts, Ryou?"
"Yes."
"Do you really?"
"Yes."
"Don't play games. This isn't funny, okay? So do you seriously believe in ghosts?"
"...No."
xXx
Frantic scribbling, all down the page. Paint splattered all down the antique desk; dark splotches of it on the carpet. With long white hair drawn back into a quick tie, he painted and planned and scribbled furiously away, and his whole body shook with the thoughts flashing through his mind. Colour photographs of Kaiba Corporation holograms littered the desk. "Soon...soon I'll be with you again!" He babbled to himself.
Cecelia wrapped her arms around his neck from behind his chair, and took his words to heart. "It's a vow, then," she murmured back to unhearing ears.
xXx
She was sobbing. Amane had never heard such a sound. It was like hiccupping, coughing, wailing, and everything in-between. And it was loud. It echoed in the room, and she flinched at each change in pitch, not knowing what to do about it. Should she leave? Try to console the woman?
She'd stayed behind as the others had left the dueling room, rejoicing in Yuugi's final victory. Amane didn't know why the couple had been so broken up over it —the woman especially, hadn't she told her that Yuugi was unbeatable? had she not believed Amane?— because in the end it was just a card game. She didn't understand why any of the duelists, really, had taken everything so seriously. Maybe she should push her brother further to teach her how to play. Maybe then she'd understand.
Pegasus sat with his head on the dueling table, cards strewn all across the table and floor. His attendant Croquet had already left earlier along with his guards, to grant him some peace, and so it was just him in the room with Cecelia and Amane. Cecelia had collapsed on the ground by him, face buried in her hands as she cried and cried. Amane shifted uncertainly on her feet.
"Dear sister," said a silky voice she recognized in a low volume, "I would appreciate it if you would wait outside."
She turned, and titled her head up to meet her brother's eyes, which were tinted an odd colour in the florescent lighting. Red, maybe. Or purple. "Are you going to make her stop crying?" Amane asked hopefully, still flinching with each hiccupping sob.
Bakura couldn't quite stop his lips quirking up at her sad tone, and so he smoothed the near-smirk into a grin, and said, "Yes...I believe I will."
Relieved, Amane left the room to sit out in the hall, waiting as patiently as possible. But as it was, she was too bothered by the sobbing in the room, and couldn't help but leave the hall for the outdoors instead. Her fingers picked idly at flowers and leaves of the plants growing neatly on the grounds, and she watched the white of her form slide through the bright colours, leaving behind stains. The flowers drooped where she'd touched them.
So she wasn't in the vicinity to hear the sobs turn to screams, or for the noise to cut out completely. As Amane wandered through the plants, drifting through and around the scenery, she waited with some exasperation for her brother to come out and couldn't help but wish for everything to get better for the woman she'd met. She'd seemed so nice...
She was interrupted in her musings when there appeared Cecelia among the foliage, face drying of tears and eyes shining with a quiet acceptance. "I wanted to say good-bye," she told Amane.
"Are you still sad?" Amane wondered, curious about what her brother could have possibly said to cheer her up.
Slowly, Cecelia shook her head. "No...because...my wish has finally been fulfilled. In a way I didn't expect, but...I can't help this selfish gratefulness. Now I can finally be with my husband." She said warmly.
Amane approached her, only then just noticing that one of her hands was attached to another's, and her eyes widened at seeing Pegasus standing there, somewhat hidden by a tree trunk. His wife was pulling him forward. "You died," Amane finally said, after some staring.
Pegasus shrugged his shoulders absently, and eyed his wife with unfettered joy. A wide smile was on his face. "So you must be the one my darling mentioned," he teased, ignoring Amane's comment.
"You...mentioned me...?"
Leaning forward, Cecilia pulled Amane forward into a brief, light hug. Her lips brushed across Amane's forehead gently. A look reminiscent of the way Amane's mother used to look at her daughter appeared on Cecelia's face. Warm. Kind.
"I always..." Cecelia broke off shyly, and her husband chuckled in the brief pause, making her go on with a sudden boldness, "I always wanted a daughter. Curious and playful like you, Amane. I can't have that dream now, but I want you to know that your devotion to your...brother..." her voice slowed to a halt as she stared at Amane, and for a moment a flash of concern or slight fear overcame her, before a squeeze of her hand from her husband distracted her and made her features mould into excitement and delight once more, "it made me realize something. I have so much more to live for. For my husband. He's the only thing I'll ever need. And now I won't ever have to feel lonely ever again!" With that declaration, she twirled into her husband's arms, planting a kiss on his cheek and making Amane frown at the display of affection.
She tried to break in and settle her bewilderment at seeing Pegasus as a ghost. "But...how..."
Cecelia and Pegasus heard nothing. All thoughts on Amane, and the teen known as Bakura, had flown from their heads, as they drowned themselves in cheerful emotions and the feeling of touching each other. So single-minded were they in their thinking that not even uneasiness over an innocent child following the Ring spirit around entered their minds.
"Hey!"
But they were fading, not even caring about her presence anymore, so completely wrapped up in each other's arms that for all intensive purposes the world around them did not exist. Amane watched in awe as they vanished from her sight completely.
Gone. For good, probably.
"Amane."
Her brother was calling for her.
Ducking her head through the leaves, she caught sight of him turning a corner, and he noticed her. But she still waved nonetheless. "I'm coming!" Her confusion at seeing Pegasus as a ghost was forgotten at the sight of her brother's clear impatience.
Bakura paused at the corner, waiting for her to disentangle herself from the greenery and join him. Inside the depths of his mind, the nervous worrying of his host ceased, and their shared body relaxed.
It would not due to leave the girl behind. Though she did not know it, she was one of the only chains keeping his host from fighting against his control. Were he to make even the slightest suggestion of a threat to her, Ryou's defiance would be crushed, and that was an advantage he had no intention of losing. So he offered a smile and a greeting as she approached, ever the brother she knew, not giving her any clue that he could be otherwise. Keeping her near, so that Ryou would be easier to control...
"If our places were switched," Amane said suddenly, "and it was me alive instead of you, you'd stay behind, wouldn't you?" She did not look unsure, but seemed to ask only because she wanted to hear the words.
Bakura pretended to look startled. "Do you even need to ask?"
She stuck her tongue out. "Just say you'd stay, okay?"
A cool tone, melted to sound like it was Ryou's voice. Pitch and timbre matched perfectly.
"Of course I would, Amane."
The End.