Summary: Post YGOTAS Timeline; Ryou has been sent to a faraway boarding school, only to find that the entire school is being experimented on by some government group. Just as he's about to give into despair that his life is ruined, he makes an unlikely partnership with the last person he ever expected to see.
WARNING: This story is rated M for mature themes involving scientific experimentation, sexual themes, sensual biting, violence, adventure, suspense, humor, plot development, and steamy lemons. Not all at once, and not over the top, but definitely in there. Please read with discretion.
Disclaimer: Yu-Gi-Oh! and all of its characters © Kazuki Takahashi. This is a fan fiction, and no money is being made off of this story. Please support the original artist.
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Chapter Seven
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Three days. That was how long it took for Ryou's throat to heal well enough that he could speak again, and by some stroke of luck, the teachers never called on him in class to answer questions during that time. Or perhaps, he reasoned, the teachers knew just as well as the scientists what had happened to his throat, and avoided calling on him in light of it. Whatever their reasoning may be, he was grateful to be given the chance to heal.
Several times he went by Melvin's door in those three days, knocking until his hands were numb and wishing he could call out for him, but no matter how long he stayed there knocking, kicking, or attempting to call out, Melvin never opened it. Perhaps he wasn't there at all. Memories of the woman's words returned to him on the third failed attempt to see him, and he wondered if they were carefully monitoring their "experiment" as they kept calling him, and were not letting Ryou interact with him until his tests came back clean.
It was the only explanation he could come up with that gave him some semblance of hope. As soon as he started to think that Melvin was avoiding him because he didn't want him to come around, he felt sick to his stomach with despair.
He sat down on his favorite spot in the windowsill after one such unsuccessful attempt at visiting Melvin's locked and empty room, leaning against the glass and soaking up what warmth he could from the rays of the sun. With the school so high up in the mountains, it was always cold, and even the light of the sun did not give him as much warmth as he craved. He was feeling particularly down today.
"I hate this place," he murmured toward the window, drawing his knees up to his chest and wrapping his arms around them. He was thin enough to be able to do so, even now that their show was finished, the ancient spirit Bakura was gone, and he was getting three meals a day. It seemed a few weeks of steady meals was not enough to undo nearly a decade of malnourishment.
"You and me both," someone said. He had not expected to get a response to his comment, so when one came, Ryou squeaked in surprise and shrank back against the window, looking up to see one of his classmates. They smirked at him, arms crossed loosely over their chest. "Are you that surprised to be spoken to?" he asked, one eyebrow arched at Ryou's reaction.
Ryou hesitated, staring at the other student warily, before deciding he didn't seem dangerous. He lowered his legs and sat on the edge of the windowsill, scooting to give his classmate room if wanted to sit too. "I am," he admitted, his voice still hoarse from being unused. "To be honest, I thought everyone at this school secretly hated me. No one talks to me except…" he stopped. Except that one time, that first experiment, when… Ryou's face darkened with anger.
"Say no more," the student standing in front of him sighed, his own face twisting into a look of understanding. He took the offered spot beside Ryou on the windowsill, his arms still crossed over his chest. "And anyway, most of us aren't like that. We're just as much victims as you are. And we aren't easy to trust anyone."
"Gee, I can't imagine why," Ryou replied overly cheerfully.
The student beside him blinked, as if wondering if he was serious, but when he saw the wry smirk on Ryou's face, he chuckled. "Wow, you even have a sense of humor? Guess they haven't broken you yet."
"Yes well, I've had some practice dealing with not being in control of my own life," Ryou said, offering a sigh of his own. It was nice though, talking to someone about all this. "What about you, how long have you been here….?" He let his question trail off, waiting for the other to offer his name.
"Zeke," the student smiled. "I've been here ever since the debut of Duel Links. You know, that new phone app?" He sighed, running a hand through his punk-styled black hair. "I was supposed to be one of the NPCs for that. But I wouldn't obey the dumb rules, so they got rid of me."
"It can't be as simple as that," Ryou exclaimed. He had heard of the app, of course he had! It had been his one hope of getting out of coming to this school. But no, of course, no one wanted to duel Ryou Bakura. They wanted to duel Yami Bakura. "Bloody wanker," he muttered under his breath. "He gets to run around making people give him dice and send them to the Shadow Realm when they lose, and what do I get?" he spread his arms outward toward the school, exasperated. "Bollocks, that's what."
Zeke laughed, a quiet, nervous-sounding laugh that he seemed afraid to let carry. "You know, for your reputation, you're not all that bad."
Ryou frowned, looking at him. "What do you mean, my reputation? What reputation is that?" He stopped himself, held up a hand, and shook his head. "No, wait. I got this. I'm the 'limey British kid with too many fangirls and no personality, who's only liked by the fanbase because he has white hair and harbors a sexy evil villain ghost in his body.' How am I doing?"
The snicker Zeke provided as a reply was all Ryou needed. "You missed the part about being an attention-seeking asshole who thinks he's better than everyone."
"How could I forget that," Ryou lamented sarcastically. He couldn't help smiling in reply. "So is that why everyone has been avoiding me this whole time?"
Zeke nodded. "Well, that and the fact you're practically a main character. The rest of us? We were probably only on the show for a brief second in the background. We're here because we tried to rebel against the rules. Steal more screen time, try to ruin the show, that sort of thing. I wasn't even in the show, I was just almost in the app."
"I'm not a main character," Ryou said, and there was a bit more bitterness in his voice than he wished to reveal. "I should have been, but…" he sighed. "Never mind, you're right. Compared to most people here, I was lucky to have the screentime I did. I'm sorry." He didn't know what compelled him to apologize for something he had literally no control over, but there was a relief in doing so.
"Not your fault," Zeke said softly, though he seemed pacified by the apology. "Anyway, yeah that's the main reason we haven't talked to you much. We had to see how you would act, you know? You may be some of those things, but you don't seem that much of a loser. Not any more than the rest of us."
"Thanks, I think?" Ryou laughed lightly, idly rubbing his throat. He was using it a lot more than he had in weeks, and after his injuries it was a bit much to get used to. "But thanks. For talking to me, I mean. It gets pretty lonely here."
"And the experiments suck," Zeke added. He nodded at Ryou's hand, still touching his throat. "Things like that happen all the time. I remember this one time, they gassed the whole school with something that made everyone so angry we all began attacking one another. If they hadn't also drugged the air with something that made us lethargic, we'd probably have murdered each other without even understanding why we were doing it."
"That's horrible!" Ryou gaped. He shuddered at the thought, wondering what possessed the scientists to even test something like that. Chemical warfare is what it sounds like. They've moved on from testing animals to testing humans, and who knows what they're going to use it for.
"It's not even the worst thing they've done. About two months before you got here, they tested everybody like we were diseased. Took samples of everything. Blood, urine, spit, even spinal fluid. They gave us all like ten shots. And if anyone got sick, we were put under quarantine immediately. That was a pretty miserable time for everyone." He groaned, leaning back against the window. "We never figured out what that was about."
After what had happened to him just three days ago, Ryou was pretty sure he knew what it was about. It was probably around the time Melvin got here. Somehow though, he didn't know if bringing up Melvin was such a good idea.
Then again….
"So, speaking of almost main characters… you wouldn't happen to know anything about a certain villain character running around the school, would you?" Ryou looked at his new friend, attempting to act casual, and hoping his desperation wasn't showing. I want to see Melvin. Maybe… Zeke has seen him?
The student blinked, looking at Ryou like he was crazy. "Which one?" he asked, rolling his eyes. "Zombie Boy? Scud? Rex and Weevil? All the nameless ones in the background?"
Ryou raised his eyebrows. "So many? I mean.. I guess I can see that but… Wait, Rex and Weevil are here?" He looked down at the floor, contemplating. If so many characters from their show and various spin offs were here, how come he had yet to see any of them? Were they being purposefully isolated from each other? Just how big is this place?
"Oh they're here," Zeke nodded, turning his head to look out the window over his shoulder, as if distracted. "We don't talk to them though, they make a point of making us all feel bad for how insignificant we are, and how we should worship the ground they walk on. They're probably just talking big to keep people away because it sucks being here."
"I guess I'm not surprised, but still. Who are all these other students, then? I haven't seen anyone that I know, no one except…" He paused, watching Zeke's face to see his reaction. "...except Melvin."
"Oh. Ugh… THAT guy." Zeke groaned, reaching out and patting Ryou's shoulder sympathetically. "I'm sorry you had to run into that guy. It's like Silent Hill when he shows up."
Ryou looked at him, head tilted sideways curiously at that remark. He happened to be a fan of Silent Hill, the games and the movies, so hearing a comment like that did nothing to make him less interested in Melvin. "Why do you say that?" he asked. He was desperate to hear anything, anything, about him.
"It's like the night time in Silent Hill, you know?" Zeke said, using his hands in large movements as he talked, as if it explained things better. "The night falls, and all the dark and creepy stuff comes out. But there's that chance that Pyramid Head might show up and just fuck your life. That's what it's like here. Experiment time, all the worst of the worst crawl around trying to see what they can get away with. And if you're really unlucky, that guy shows up and just fucks you up."
"It is like that, isn't it," Ryou mumbled, smiling at the analogy. "What does he do when he finds you?"
"You know. Chase you down like a maniac asking for a hug, and then stab you, cut you, beat you, tie you up and leave you, all sorts of things. If you get caught by him during an experiment, it's like the experiment itself means nothing. You're just fucked." He shook his head, shivering faintly. "I got caught by him once, and after three days recovering in the scientists' medical lab, I never EVER want to get caught by that guy again. He's no joke, Ryou. And if you want to keep things like that happening," he pointed at the hand-shaped bruise on Ryou's neck, "then you'll stay far away from him and pray to God he never notices you."
Ryou said nothing, his face carefully blank as he thought about Zeke's words. But he knew that it was already too late. It didn't matter what Melvin did or didn't do, had or hadn't done. It didn't matter what the scientist were going to do either. Ryou wanted to see Melvin, and nothing was going to stop him.
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Ryou may be a sharp tool in the tool box, but he doesn't have very high self preservation, does he?
Thanks for your patience, as you all know, life happens. Next chapter we'll get to see Melvin again, I promise.
To be continued...
