Martyr: *bows* Gomen nasai. I can finally get back to this! *breathless* Enjoy!
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The sound of a door splintering and breaking rang in Ryou's ears, causing him to run faster as he realized that the Man Eaters had burst through. He could only hope he could outrun them, or at least be able to escape into another room.
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Ryou's heart was pounding against his rib cage as he ran, angry clicks and growls echoing after him.
Oh God, oh God, why did I come in here? Why? Door…there has GOT to be a door here somewhere.
What happened next was quite stupid actually. The soft-spoken hikari was so stricken he hadn't seen the lead of rope stretched across the walkway. Of course, being the hikari he was, he tripped over it.
"Oof." And landed flat on his face. He scrambled to his feet, just barely avoiding a pair of gnashing claws hooking around his ankle.
"N-No! Get away! Get away from me!" Ryou screamed, kicking away another Man Eater. He was backing away, slowly, socked feet sliding occasionally. His hand brushed against something solid…and round.
A knob?
A Man Eater leapt at him, tackling the teen to the ground.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH! NO! GET-GET OFF, YOU BASTARD!" Ryou kicked and screamed, punching the monster on the side of its head. Angered, the Man Eater sunk its teeth into his arm.
"GAAAHHHAAAAHHHAAAAAAAAAAAHHHAAAAAAAAAA!!" Pain like no other shot up each and every one of his nerves. It was like someone had set fire to his veins, and it was slowly crawling all over his body, so that his entire being was aching. A strange pins and needles sensation washed over his arm, the rest of him still burning.
Blood was spurting from the wound under the Man Eaters teeth. Ryou finally managed to knock the Man Eater off, and struggled to his feet, a trembling hand wrapping around the knob and jerking it.
The hikari ducked into the room, slamming the door shut. Pain engulfed him as he leaned against the wall, panting. Hot blood continued to trickle out of the wound. Ryou whimpered and fell to his knees, holding his arm and rocking back and forth, his body burning.
"Help…someone…please," he whispered, squeezing his eyes shut.
* * * (scene change…just in case you forgot)
Pain. The kind of pain that meant only one thing. Bakura's eyes shot open as he sat bolt upright.
"WHAT THE HELL?" The former tomb robber tried to scramble out of bed. The black sheets were tangled around his limbs from sleep, causing him to fall.
"Ow," Bakura groaned, sitting up, his hand rubbing the back of his head. He remembered the pain and terror he felt through the link and got to his feet, looking around to make sure no one had witnessed his error. Opening his soul room door and crossing the hallway, he threw open Ryou's door without knocking to find…nothing. The hikari wasn't in it. And the body was unconscious.
And that meant only one thing. Bakura's eye twitched as he stalked back into his own soul room, slamming the door shut.
He glared at the only other door in the room, which he could see perfectly.
Angrily, the yami threw it open, completely forgetting that he was only dressed in his black pajama bottoms.
"Ra damn it Ryou…I told you not to come in here!" the former tomb robber
growled, stalking down the corridor. It seemed that the walls were too afraid to play their tricks, as Bakura was at the split in no time. Another wave of pain washed over him.
The former tomb robber grimaced.
"The left…he went left," the walls whispered. Without a word, the yami took off down the left corridor. He knew he couldn't reach Ryou's thoughts and tell him he was coming…one of those stupid things about being in soul rooms. Apparently, if both sides were in their rooms, there was no need to use mind speech. Just one of those annoying quirks.
Don't worry Ryou…I'm coming.
* * *
THUD. THUD. CRACK. THUD.
Ryou bit his lip. The Man Eater's were persistent, he'd give them that much.
I can't stay here forever. I have to move, before those things break the door down.
Shakily, the hikari got to his feet, right hand clutching his left arm…the arm that Man Eater hat bitten. Also ironically the one injured during Battle City.
Ryou's body was shaking as he made his way across the room, leaning against the wall, panting slightly.
"Oh thank God." There was a door in the corner. Ryou reached out to grasp the bar to pull it open. The metal was scalding hot. The teen yelped and snatched his hand away, skin pink where it had made contact with the metal.
It's the only way out. I have to.
Bracing himself, Ryou raised his hand again. He bit his lip and took hold of the handle. His skin sizzled, the pain mixing in with the tingling twinge left from the Man Eating Bug's bite. Ryou whimpered and tugged, letting go of the handle as soon as it opened.
The room was only lit with five torches, which wasn't much, as the room was immense. And filled with treasure. Everything that might have been made in ancient Egypt. The room seemed to be made of gold and jewels itself, there was so much in it.
The pain from the burning door handle seemed to have helped his body, as it was no longer tingling from the Man Eater's bite. He could feel his left arm again, and noticed that the bleeding had stopped completely.
The room looked beautiful. It would have been perfect, if not for the thing in the center of the room.
Ryou covered his mouth in horror as his brown eyes took in the lake of blood surrounding a golden stand, crimson rivulets streaming down the sides of the stands itself. The source for all the blood was displayed upon the stand, like a grotesque trophy.
A head.
Yami's head. The unmistakable plume of red, black, and blonde hair was the only thing that distinguished whose it was, as the head itself was rotting away slowly. Chunks of flesh lay on the stand. The flesh on the left cheekbone, part of the chin, part of the forehead, and even some of the cartilage of the nose had rotted away to reveal white bone.
Maggots crawled around the face. The squirming, white bodies glistening in mucus brushed against one another, slowly eating away the flesh. Several disappeared into the nose. An eyeball was hanging out of the right eye socket, clinging to it by a few threads of muscle and tissue, the crimson iris barely visible under a grayish cataract. The left eye was covered in a film of blood, the eyeball itself bloated slightly. It looked like it might burst any moment.
Morbid fascination held Ryou in his spot near the door, although his stomach churned in disgust.
Yami's head. Wh-why?!
"God help me," Ryou whispered, managing to tear his eyes away, instead scanning the wall for a way out. And there it was, right next to Yami's head. How it was possible for a door to be in the middle of the room, the hikari knew not.
Ryou gulped, forcing his stomach to settle. Weak-kneed he approached.
"It's just a h-h-head, Ryou. Just ignore it and get out of here," he told himself. He was almost there. His fingers just brushed the knob…when the head turned to stare at him.
"Be careful, Ryou. You don't know what else may be in here," the head said, it's jaw moving up and down as it spoke, jostling a few maggots, causing them to fall out of his mouth. Russet eyes widened.
Something was moving on his arm. Ryou looked down to see a humongous maggot crawling up it, leaving a trail of blood behind. It squirmed.
"GAH!" The teen shook his arm in disgust, dislodging the creature. Only to see his skin rotting under the trail of blood. More little maggots poked out through the skin, wiggling in the air. Their small bodies glistening with blood. His blood. Ryou screamed and clawed at his arm, ripping the maggots out of his skin. They landing with small plops into the lake of blood.
He clapped a hand over his mouth, thrusting the door open and running inside, slamming it shut behind him.
The hikari bent over and vomited, his body shaking violently. Once he had emptied his stomach, Ryou straightened. He examined his trembling right arm. It wasn't rotting. The flesh had reappeared, as if maggots had never burst out of it.
A cool breeze brushed against the hikari's face. He looked up, startled as he viewed his surroundings.
Ryou was standing on a sand hill, overlooking a small village.
"…Egypt?!"
Martyr: And that…is where I will end the chapter. Thank you all so much for waiting so long. I'm sorry to have made you all wait…I didn't do it on purpose, I swear. It's just…what with certain circumstances…*sighs* I REALLY hate life. Anyways…I promise the wait for the next chapter will be a helluva lot less than this one was. And you'll see why one of the genres is angst in the next chapter. ^.^ Make sure to put those puke buckets away and have tissues ready for the next one. Ah, and I apologize if the descriptions made anyone nauseous…I myself started feeling a bit queasy when I read it over a bit. Ah, yes, replies to reviews:
hyper katana 49737: Ne, to lazy to log in, K-chan? ^.^ Sheesh…now I KNOW I haven't updated in a while. Shit, you wrote this before the dance. Oh and *smacks you* No need to gloat, Missy. It's not OUR faults we're not so smart as to go to high school for some classes. -.-
Evil Talking Dog: Haha…another lazy one. Tsk, tsk. Lol, I'm lazy too. Yep, Bakura sleeps like a log. Or maybe he was too into the wet dreams about Ryou O.O lol.
Death T-2: O.O YOU TOO? I know I hate slimy socks. ^.^ Thank you. I'm glad you liked it. ^_________^
lotus re-incarnate: Ah, thank you for understanding. Yes, it is better to get the personal problems done first, and thanks for the support. I'm not one to hold my own life above obligations like updating a fic…usually. Because ya see…^.^() I have no life, really. And thank you for the compliment. ^.^ I'm happy so many people think so highly of my work.
SecretSoul: Ah, you too. *bows* I'm glad I have such supportive reviwers. ^____^ And such complimentary ones too. *blush* Sheesh…so many compliments…at this rate, I'm going to start getting cocky when I try to get my first book publish and expect to have the first book company I go to publish it.
crystal crittenden: *bows again* Thank you so much. *points* See, look? I updated!
Martyr: O.O Wow….you guys…*teary eyes* Thank you all for the compliments. O.O Wow……I've never gotten a single flame for any of my fics. O.O Wow….. . Again. *huggles all reviewers* ARIGATO GOZAIMAS, MINNA-SAN! And don't worry, I'll update soon. Promise! ^.~ Ah, and if you're reading this, be a dearie and review. Pwease?!