OOCness for Bakura and Mariku is intentional. There are reasons for their change in demeanor which the story will reveal. Any other lapses in character traits however are completely my fault, and I apologize.
Warning- yaoi, rape, abuse, foul language, violence, blah, blah, blah
Disclaimer- Yugioh is owned by Kazuki Takahashi not myself. However the story's plot is all my own.
OF PROMISES AND BROKEN DARKNESS
Chapter 1- Revival of the Thief King
The February air was frigid at best, and as Ryou walked down the deserted streets of Domino City he couldn't help but shiver. Despite living in England for a time, he had never really become very accustomed to the cold. The boy let out an inaudible sigh. He'd be home soon, home and far away from the chill winds of winter. Still, Ryou wasn't as happy about this as he could have been. 'Who wants to come home to an empty house anyway?' It had been over three months since his father's last visit, Amane was long dead, and as far as Bakura was concerned...well perhaps it was best not to dwell too much on Bakura. But then Ryou couldn't help feeling a bit lonely. Even his sadistic yami was better than no one at all.
"Stop thinking about him so much, will you," the Brit muttered to himself. Bakura was gone, and there was nothing Ryou or anyone else could do about it. Condemned to darkness for all eternity, the cruel-hearted thief would never again rise from the Land of Shadow. Yami and the rest of the Yugi-tachi had made sure of that.
As he approached his house, the teen couldn't seem to push either the tombrobber or the former pharaoh from his mind. They ran circles around him and, like just about everything else in the boy's life, left him feeling utterly useless and confused. Ryou knew that by banishing Bakura to the Shadow Realm Yami had only been trying to protect him, but then why did he feel so empty now that his darker half was gone? 'What am I thinking? After all he put me through could I really...'
"Hey Ryou!"
Turning in astonishment, the angel-haired boy blinked a few times before cracking a smile and waving in reply. After the latest incident involving Bakura, most of Ryou's friends had taken to avoiding him whenever possible. Not that he could really blame them for feeling uncomfortable. Still, it was with much happiness and surprise that the boy stepped aside to let Yugi Motou enter his house.
"Hello Yugi. How've you been?"
The shorter teen smiled brightly at his soft-spoken friend, who sat across the coffee table from him in a rather large, floral-patterned armchair. "I couldn't be better, Ryou. Things at the Game Shop are going great, and Yami says that the Shadow Realm has been relatively quiet lately." Yug paused for a moment to get a better look at the other boy. Ryou really did look awful. His skin was paler than usual, and the bags under the teen's eyes made it look as though he hadn't had a full night's sleep in ages. Then again, after all Bakura had done to him, it wasn't surprising that the boy rarely slept.
After this brief silence the violet-eyed hikari continued. "Actually the reason I really came over here was to make sure that you were alright as well. You haven't been yourself lately, Ryou. Ever since Bakura..." Yugi's voice broke off abruptly. He was obviously having second thoughts about bringing up such a touchy subject.
Ryou, sensing his friend's discomfort, tried to ease the tension up a bit. "Really, Yugi, there's no need to worry about me. I hardly even think about him anymore." Anyone could tell by the look on the boy's face that this was an outright lie, but the smaller teen couldn't find a reason to argue otherwise. Reluctantly he began to give in.
"Well as long as you're..."
"What do you MEAN you hardly think about him anymore? BAKURA RAPED YOU RYOU!"
Spinning around to see who had interrupted Yugi, said boy's heart seemed to skip a beat. Standing in the doorway was the former pharaoh, crimson eyes fixed on him in both confusion and disbelief.
"Yami! Why do you always do this? I told you I was going to visit Ryou on my own!"
Striding over to his disgruntled hikari, the former pharaoh managed to give him the ghost of a smile. "Forgive me Yugi, but I too wished to speak with Ryou."
"Oh, it's alright I guess. I really shouldn't have lost my temper like that, but you should keep your promises next time." Yugi's face was once again the perfect picture of youthful innocence.
A sudden jolt of envy rocked Ryou to the core. Why couldn't he be like that? After all Yugi had been through, all the responsibilities he had been forced to bear, how could he still smile? How could he find any joy at all? 'Then again', Ryou thought. 'Maybe its just me. Maybe I'm just too weak to even deserve happiness.'
"Ryou?" The white-haired teen snapped out of his revery as Yami spoke his name.
"What is it?" The boy's chestnut tinted eyes were slightly narrower than usual.
Taken aback by the Brit's uncharacteristicly insolent reply, the former Pharaoh stumbled back onto the sofa next to his light. He hadn't expected Ryou to take it quite this badly. After all, it had been monthes since Bakura's banishment. Shouldn't the boy be ready to talk about it by now? 'It's too late to back out I suppose.' Still, Yami was beginning to have second thoughts about his little escapade. Taking a deep breath, he pushed these thoughts aside and continued.
"Listen Ryou. I'm fully aware of how hard it must be to speak of what Bakura did to you, but eventually you will have to come to terms with it. There's no use denying what the Thie..."
"Maybe we should continue this after Ryou has a chance to change out of his school things." It was a lame excuse, but Yugi could tell by the tears building up in his friend's eyes that the other needed a moment to collect his thoughts." Yami opened his mouth to object but quickly fell silent as the shorter boy gave him a pointed glare.
"Yes...I suppose...I suppose that might be best." Though it was clear the Spirit felt differently, he figured that it would do no good to argue. Besides, Ryou did look a bit paler than usual.
Flashing a grateful smile at Yugi, Ryou excused himself, rushing upstairs so his friends would not see the tears beginning to pour down his face. "Pathetic," he murmured to himself. "No wonder he hated me."
Searching about his room for something else to wear, the Brit's gaze fell upon something gold lying across his nightstand. Strange, he had thought the Sennen Ring was still tucked away in the box beneath his bed. 'I would have remembered getting it out, wouldn't I?' Well he had been rather forgetful lately. Ryou laughed shakily, trying to convince himself that the item's sudden reappearance was of no concern to him. However, looking the the Ring made him feel slightly queasy. The eye at it's center caught the light in such a way that it seemed to be staring him down. Grabbing some jeans and a button-up shirt, the teen escaped into the bathroom.
Running away from a hunk of metal? Bakura would have been disgusted! Hastily pulling on the new clothing, Ryou turned to the sink to wash the tears from his cheeks. Reaching for a washcloth, the boy accidentally caught a glimpse of his reflection in the mirror. For one agonizing instant he could have sworn it was his yami he saw instead of himself. They did ...had... looked strikingly similar. Still, no matter how much he narrowed his eyes or messed with his hair, Ryou would never be like Bakura. The tombrobber had been more than a bandit and stealer of souls. He had been a human being and maybe, long ago, he'd had a heart as well. Ryou felt a strange sort of grief, realizing that he would never know the secrets of the spirit's dark yet undeniably existant soul.
"Hey Ryou!" How was it that Yugi's voice could sound both impatient and concerned all at once? "Are you alright up there?"
Looking up at the clock, the Brit gave a yelp of surprise. He'd been up here for nearly twenty minutes. "Yeah, I'll be down in a second!" Turning to leave, Ryou threw the mirror a final glance. 'Who were you Bakura?'
Yami was feeling increasingly agitated. He paced back and forth, cracking his knuckles and glaring about darkly. Yugi couldn't help but smile. The Pharaoh's love for the white-haired boy was so great it might have been mistaken for obsession. Ever since they had learned what Bakura was doing to him, Yami had looked after Ryou like a watchdog. As the darker boy's hikari, Yugi had quickly figured out that his ministrations weren't merely that of a concerned friend. Yami's feelings for the boy carried far past those of a crush. He truly cared for him.
"Umm...Yami?"
Roused from his musings, the King of Games forced his voice to seem calm. "Yes, little Light?"
"Ryou's back."
The crimson eyed boy whipped around. Sure enough, there he stood in the doorway, a little worse for wear perhaps but no less beautiful. If anything Ryou appeared even more lovely, for behind his weary and defeated features there was a translucent, almost celestial sort of light that only angels ought to bear. 'Then again,' the Pharaoh mused. 'I'm not so convinced he isn't an angel myself.'
"You wanted to speak with me Yami? About Bakura?" Ryou sunk down once more into his flowered chair and stared across the living room towards the other boy.
Yami nodded. Still standing, he addressed the angel. "It's not just about your darkness, Ryou. It's about you... and how you've been behaving since he left."
"Since you sent him to the Shadow Realm you mean." There was no anger in the Brit's voice. In fact he sounded as polite as ever, but Yami got the message. He was starting to feel slightly irritated with the other teen.
"You say that as if I did you an injustice by getting rid of Bakura! Damn it Ryou, if I hadn't got there when I did who knows what that sick bastard would have done to you! He could have KILLED you!"
"YAMI!" Yugi leapt to his feet, appalled and slightly frightened by his darker half's sudden outburst. He laid a hand on the other boy's shoulder, and when he'd visibly calmed down, tried to speak again. "You really shouldn't..."
"It's okay Yugi. There's no need to keep him from expressing his oppinion, but I swear Yami if you ever call him a bastard again I'll..."
"THERE YOU GO AGAIN! Protecting that worthless, parasitic, useless excuse for a human being as if he were worth one TENTH of the gold he stole! Why are you defending him, Ryou? It's almost like you MISS Bakura, that thieving, evil..."
"STOP IT!" Ryou's voice cracked violently, echoing off the mostly bare walls of his home. Never before had he felt so angry. The boy could almost understand why his darkness hated all of that self-rightous shit. "Yes he used me, Yami! Yes he manipulated, beat, and raped me, but Bakura was as much a part of my life as Yugi is yours! Would it really kill you to at least be a little empathetic?" The boy's words had gone from enraged to hopelessly sad. "Bakura may have been ruthless, but he couldn't have always been so evil. I refuse to believe that anyone is born that way."
The boy's outburst was followed by complete silence. Yami looked thunderstruck and Yugi close to tears. Both were too shocked to speak, and the sorrow in Ryou's eyes seemed to reflect the only true light in the entire room. It was only when the grandfather clock by the coatrack began to chime that the boys were brought back to their senses. Yugi was the first to speak.
"Well Ryou, I don't really understand it all myself, but if..." The short, star-haired teen was cut off however, for at that moment a tremendous shudder wracked the entire house. It lasted only seconds, but the shaking bit deep, so deep in fact that it seemed to rattle their very souls. When it stopped, Yami, Yugi, and Ryou were once more left in silence. It was not a normal quiet, but a loud one, filled with uncertain shrillness. It seemed the world was hovering over an endless precipice. At any moment it might fall.
It felt as if hours were passing as they stood their at the invisible brink separating that which is known from that which has yet to be determined. Then the screaming began. It started low, no more than a whisper in the stagnant air, but quickly escalated until it was a full out wail. Yugi fell to the floor. Even Yami couldn't help but flinch, and both had to cover their ears. It was Ryou alone who stood his ground. Weak, little Ryou who couldn't throw a punch to save his life was the only one capable of withstanding the strange, soulless cry which seemed to be coming from... his bedroom? With a start he leapt forward and sprinted madly towards the stairs.
"RYOU! Where are you..." The rest of Yami's words were lost to the boy as he mounted the top step and turned down the hall. His ears were practically burning now, but somehow Ryou knew he had to get to what lay beyond that door. Things were about to change, but for once he was not afraid. In place of uncertainty the Brit felt a inexplicably wild and unhinged joy. Reaching his bedroom door, Ryou hesitated just a moment before pushing it wide open. The second his hand touched the doorknob the screaming stopped, leaving behind nothing but a faint buzzing in his ears.
What Ryou saw caused his heart to suddenly constrict. His room was generally kept very clean. It now looked as if a tornado had been through it. Drawers were open, clothes and papers blown askew. Even the sheets on his bed had become all twisted and gnarled and...
Someone was laying in his bed. What Ryou had mistaken for a fold in his cream colored sheets was the curve of a back. That rumpled pillow was a mass of silver hair. The Brit wouldn't have noticed at all if it weren't for the blood. Thick streams of it slid from the base of the thing's neck and across the pale skin, dying it's hair as well as the mass of blankets surrounding it a ruddy sort of crimson brown. Ryou's eyes widened. It couldn't be! Fate was never so cruel...
"Ba-Bakura?"
The thing on the bed gasped sharply and scrambled around so that it faced the other boy. Yes, it was indeed Ryou's yami. He was thin now, frighteningly so. Each rib and vertabrae was clearly defined. His face was gaunt like that of a bloody skeleton, bloody because of the horrible gash that dominated the right side of his head from jaw to brow. However these were not the most unnerving of the changes the malignant spirit had undergone. It was the look in Bakura's eyes that made Ryou tremble. All traces of defiance and mad courage had disappeared. In their place was fear, fear and insanity blended together to form something that reminded him distinctly of a shattered vase.
"Ryou..." The Thief King whispered his name just loud enough for the boy to hear. It was all he had strength for. Still, the light understood. How could he not? Bakura's voice was filled with such pleading despair it was enough to drive him to tears.
"Shh...its okay. I'm coming." Gently Ryou slipped a hand around his yami's waist and flipped him over so he could hold him in his arms. Bakura let out a sharp cry of pain. Arching his spine, the spirit began to struggle, unwilling to let his hikari see his bare chest.
"Bakura! Bakura, hold still! I'm not going to hurt you." The boy hadn't really meant it to be a command, but when he heard it the darkness went completely limp. Sighing, Ryou rolled him over onto his back.
"Oh God..."
It seemed the cut on Bakura's face was not his only injury. A huge tattoo now marred his once smooth flesh. It was in the shape of the Sennen Ring, points sticking straight out, and covered the majority of the thief's upper torso. The mark was only partially healed. In fact it appeared to have been seared into the skin, for the cuts were scabbed over with charred and cracking scabs. Ryou was at once reminded of the tombkeeper's insignia on Malik Ishtar's back. Had it looked even worse on the flesh of a ten year-old child?
"Please..." Bakura was too weak to finish speaking. Instead Ryou was forced to read his eyes. The Thief King was begging for mercy, begging for aid. The cut on his face was bleeding profusely. If he didn't get help soon the spirit would die and be left to the shadows forever.
"YAMI! YUGI! HELP!"
-TOT (I hope you liked ch.1!)