(Edit: I know the Latin is dodgy. Don't harass me)
I know I really ought to be writing more of We Were Young, but this idea has been distracting me for a while.
More Tendershipping, but it's pretty dark, and set in some kind of vaguely steampunk-ish AU.
WARNINGS: self-mutilation, character death, and overall weirdness.
If you don't like sad stories, I'd advise you not to read this.
Disclaimer: I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh or any of the characters mentioned. If I did, I wouldn't be writing fanfiction, would I?
HOMINUM ET MACHINAS
Ryo Bakura is one of the most sought-after bachelors in the city of Domino, by both men and women alike. His distinctive long, flowing white hair and almost feminine beauty, combined with his inherited wealth and polite demeanour, have attracted him a great following of admirers. Despite their attempts to court him; Ryo, an introvert by nature, is content to stay locked up in his room with his inventions for company.
Ryo is something of a genius with machines. His nimble, delicate fingers enable him to manipulate even the smallest, most intricate mechanisms; and he has a patience with clockwork that he never had with humans. He loves to hear the steady ticking of an age-worn grandfather clock, and the whirring of cogs is like music to his ears.
But his favourites by far are the automatons. Soulless and automatic, they move with a jerky, mechanical grace that captivates him.
Ryo's only living companion is the spirit of the Millennium Ring, an ancient artefact from a far distant land and brought back to him in his father's airship. The spirit, who goes by the name of Bakura, is both Ryo's greatest blessing, and his darkest curse.
They share an emotional bond stronger than anything Ryo has ever seen. They complete each other like night and day, yin and yang, dark and light. The love they share is so intense, so dizzyingly magnificently beautiful, it renders him speechless.
But there is one problem, a flaw in the plan that renders the whole thing useless.
Bakura is an ancient spirit who lacks a physical form. They can communicate, but that is all. Tired of never being able to feel his love's embraces or kiss his lips, Ryo solves the problem in the way he knows best.
He builds Bakura a body, out of clockwork and metal scraps.
It takes several sleepless months, but Ryo finally finishes it. The spirit inhabits it, and is able to use his power to manipulate its limbs. When they kiss for the first time, it is dizzying passion and cold steel and love. It's not ideal, but it suffices when Ryo wakes up screaming in the middle of the night and needs someone to hold him as he sobs into Bakura's hard, shiny shoulder.
Two years on, and Ryo is sat at the kitchen table, tinkering with an old broken watch. Bakura watches him from the seat opposite, out of blind glass eyes. He smiles, showing pointed metal teeth before extending an arm, joints whirring, and cupping Ryo's face in his hands. When Bakura kisses him it is a machine's kiss, and leaves a lingering taste of rust in his mouth.
Then Ryo has to go and weld Bakura's left leg back on after it comes loose and falls to the floor with a clatter.
Bakura hasn't always taken good care of his new body, and the damage is beginning to show. Rust is spotted across his face and body, his chest is dented, and a trickle of oil is running down his neck.
That evening, Ryo watches his creation with a sad little smile, as he limps around on a newly mended leg.
"Someday..." he whispers, more to himself than Bakura. "Someday, I'll make you human."
Months pass, then years, and Ryo loses track of the passing of time. He stops leaving the house, staying home with Bakura all day long. He stops paying attention to his own wellbeing, and becomes frail and razor-thin, instead focusing all his care on his love's automaton body. In accordance to his promise to restore the spirit's humanity, he starts giving him gifts of his own body. It starts off as little things, a lock of his own hair stuck here and there to Bakura's metal scalp; a patch of his skin, tanned and leathery, stretched across a limb. But before long, Bakura is the proud owner of one of Ryo's eyes, four of his fingers and one of his legs; which he replaces on his own body with mechanical versions. Both of them are completely unrecognisable. Whatever they are both becoming, it definitely isn't human.
It still isn't enough. Bakura's soul may be able to feel emotion, but his body, a mixture of cold metal and dead limbs, is devoid of nerves and feeling. Bakura's mechanical body makes it impossible for them to make love; and although now they are sharing more than they ever, Ryo knows in his heart that, as long as they both live, they will never truly be together.
Living doesn't matter to him anymore. He has lost contact with the outside world, and his only friend is something like himself, lonely and tired, their love the only thing keeping them going.
All of a sudden his path is clear, as if someone has switched on a light inside his brain. Without hesitation he picks up a box of matches, strikes one, and drops it onto the carpet. He watches numbly the fire spreads across the room, a smile slowly spreading across his face. Bakura bursts into the room.
"What the hell are you doing?" he yells. Ryo walks calmly over to him, and wraps his arms around the metal body. Soon enough, the house would be burnt to the ground along with everything in it, including them. Free from their earthly restraints, they would finally be together after so long.
"I'm sorry," he whispers, still smiling as the searing flames begin to lick at their legs. "I couldn't wait any longer."
They hold each other tight at the centre of the inferno as the walls come crashing down around them. They stay standing until the last moment, burning like a beacon of love as Bakura's metal casing begins to melt, merging onto Ryo's charred body. Eventually there is nothing left of either of them but a pile of dust, their ashes mixed together like a deathly embrace, as their spirits fly on silver wings high out of the fire, out of the house, out of the world to whatever afterlife awaited them, crying angelic tears of joy as they were finally free to love each other.
Well, that was it. I know, it was pretty weird. Kudos to any smarticle particles who understood the title.
Please review, I want to know if anyone actually liked this.