A/N- Sorry, sorry, sorry for the long time with no update! I would have gotten this written and uploaded ages ago if I hadn't been so busy and tied down that I haven't been able to read fanfic, let alone write any! Last week I was suffering from insomnia, so my parents limited my access to a computer and removed my laptop from me. And this week I've been totally busy with school and everything, but now that we've broken up for the Christmas holidays I should have more time to write, and my parents will probably return my laptop.
But please feel free to throw stuff at me, y'know, absolutely anything- bricks, money, Ancient Egyptian artifacts with magical powers, Yugi's phone number... anything! I'll try not to let this happen again! Promise!
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Chapter 9
Chained to a cracked but intricately carved, Roman-style pillar, wreathed in black, misty shadows, the tiny fragment that remained of Yugi's soul looked on with all but hopefulness as the tiny frame of his pale-haired friend was flung mercilessly into a cage, the last vestiges of the portal which bore him there still hanging in the dark. The cage was bathed in a watery twilight, and as Ryou cupped one hand over his elbow, teeth clenched against the pain from the graze across one cheek, he was sent tumbling from his knees onto the hard stone floor as the door to his prison was slammed behind him. Yugi heard the breath hiss from his lips as he crawled wretchedly, an inch at a time, back onto his hands and knees, his apparently injured arm grasping one of the coal-black iron bars for support. Ryou's eyes were barely more than slits, half-closed in pain and despair at his own dejected state. It didn't seem to have sunk into him yet that his feeble body would soon become a vessel for a nightmare whose horror and destruction was on a par with the terrible monstrosities of the shadow realm. Perhaps it was even more terrible.
Yugi strained forwards, towards his friend. Even though his life was all but over, and he had been crushed and broken countless times, until his spirit had all but dissolved into ashes, some tiny part of the ghost that was all the remained of Yugi forced him into this act of compassion towards his desolate friend. But as he leaned out, the chains that gripped his neck and ankles bit into his flesh, seeming to tighten around him as he moved, as if they had a sentient state of their own. They seemed to respond to his movements and counteract him. In shock and fear he struggled harder and harder, until they all but choked the last scraps of life out of him. Yugi gasped in panic and a strangled scream gurgled from his throat. Ryou finally responded to his presence, glancing across from within his isolated cage with dying eyes. His once-bright orbs widened as they saw what was happening to Yugi, and he reached out his battered arm towards his friend.
"Yugi…" he choked out, coughing in effort and being forced to cup his reached-out arm over his mouth as the rattling spasms shook his body. The depths of sharp crimson-red eyes darted around, flickering in irritation as the passed from Ryou's fit to Yugi's struggles. They narrowed at the latter and then returned to the former, who was choking out his friend's name once again.
"Silence!" the figure commanded, whipping around and sending a dagger flying in the direction of Ryou Bakura. Ryou's eyes widened in fear, but he had no time to respond to the impending threat. The knife slashed across his face, slicing open the graze which had been healing over. The blade shot out of the bars on the other side of the prison and tumbled away into the darkness. At first Ryou's eyes widened in sudden pain, and then he gritted his teeth once more and forced them tight shut as a searing agony ripped through him faster than the knife blade had. A shriek of agony erupted from his lips, and he fell backwards onto the ground, his injured arm clutching his face. Blood trickled from between his fingers and dripped slowly onto the ice-cold ground as his nails dug into his flesh. A second whimper drifted from him before he fell quiet, tears joining the scarlet liquid flowing out onto the floor.
"As for you…" the figure snapped his fingers, and the chains that bound Yugi's spirit loosened. For the first time in what seemed like an eternity he was allowed to breathe again. "You should know better than to resist me by now."
Their tormentor turned around again, and resumed his previous activity. After a few moments, during which the only noise was an occasional few muffled sobs from the direction of the cage, the sound of a sinister chant drifted into Yugi's ears. At the mystical noise, even Ryou fell quiet at last, crawling into a kneeling position at the front of the cage, one hand gripping the bars as he peered out to watch the dark ritual. His eyes were moist and glistening with tears, but seemed quietly determined, as if the brunt of the pain had hardened him. His striped shirt was torn where the knife had ripped across his shoulder before cutting his face, and a tiny bead of blood was beginning to form upon the now-revealed skin, but he paid it no heed. A shimmering, swirling, gaping vortex, midnight black, was forming like a pool of water across the ancient symbols glowing into life before the man. The vortex hung in the air about a metre above the ground, the symbols, an eerie luminescent green, now rising up to circle just beneath it.
Yugi looked on at Ryou's expression, at his bravery in the face of hopeless defeat- in the face of death itself, and couldn't help but remember his own arrival in the nightmarish world of this dark god of death…
--
Yugi stood up, reaching his arms out as he wobbled before gaining his balance. He was sure he must be dead. He felt the force of the dragon's blast, felt the agony as he body had been ripped apart and torn into nothing more than ashes…
"I see you have been the first to cross over into the embrace of my hell…"
Yugi whipped around at the sound of the voice to see a man standing a few metres away from him, wreathed in mists. The man felt impossible, his body seemed like it was formed from the inky shadows themselves, and the only colour visible were two burning crimson eyes surrounded and bathed in darkness.
"It seems my efforts were not wasted. It took so much of my energy to bring you and the rest of history's greatest duelists to the Paradox Abyss…" He drifted towards Yugi as he spoke, inky cloak drifted and swaying around him like smoke, until he stood only inches away from the young duelist. "…Albeit with a few, mistakes." He reached one arm up and cupped his hand around Yugi's chin, tilting the boy's head up. Yugi's amethyst eyes burned, and he stepped back, slapping the man's hand away.
"What do you want with me?" Yugi asked, his voice hard but wavering slightly with fear and strain. Despite all his courage, this figure's aura was terrifying, and its sinister depths billowed out from his shadowy form and sunk deep into Yugi's very bones.
"I brought you here to restore my strength. I draw my energy from the souls of the paradoxical dead…"
"You feed off my life force?!" Yugi gasped, taking a step back. His eyes widened with shock, and he shuddered as the truth sunk in. This man was feeding off of him. It felt wrong, perverted, and it sent shivers crawling up Yugi's tiny spine.
"Not your life energy exactly. After all, you are dead. More, the energy of what remains of your soul… what little remains… now it is under my dominion. You are such an important individual, Yugi Mutou… vessel of the great Pharaoh, King of Games, the ultimate Duelist… you have so much energy to provide, and so much servitude to give…"
"Servitude?! You think I'm going to be your slave?! No way!" Yugi's eyes widened in surprise but burned with indignation and anger.
"Oh but you have no choice…" the shadow crooned, and before Yugi could comprehend what was happening, a whip formed from the shadows and cracked across the small space between them, lashing Yugi across the chest and sending him reeling backwards, smashing down into the ground.
"You see," continued the man, steeping over Yugi's reeling body, "You are already my slave…"
--
Yugi had lost track of how many horrors he'd suffered, how many tortures he'd faced before he'd finally given in, before his will was broken. He had the scars riddled across his small frame to prove it, but even now, the faintest glimmers of his will had not yet gone out. It had taken a lot to force him under the figure's command; the man had even admitted himself one time, when the very knife he had just flung at Ryou had been his weapon of choice, that Yugi's will was proving to be the hardest ever to break.
Looking at Ryou now, it seemed like it was happening all over again. His memories of the Pharaoh, of his friends- Joey, Kaiba, Tristan, Téa- and of the friends he'd just met- Yusei, Jack and Jaden- had been what had kept him going, what had kept him fighting. But in the end it had all come to nothing… he had given in eventually. Time passed differently here. What was seconds in the real world, or even in the Paradox Abyss, was like a lifetime of torture here.
Ryou's face was pressed to the bars of his cage as he watched the demonic ritual play out before him and the incomprehensible words wash over his ears. It made no sense to him whatsoever, but he wouldn't give up, he would try to work out what was going on.
"Anak sec khemplar, metsuum ayet rampcar… nebuum mortuum veskem casaar-"
'Mortuum doesn't sound good,' thought Ryou. 'Mort means death…'
"Ryou Bakura…"
Ryou froze, hand still clutching the bars, and his heart skipped a beat. A gasp escaped his lips as his mouth opened wide and his entire body was consumed with horror. Whatever this man was planning, it looked like he would be the victim, or even the sacrifice. But hadn't he said he wanted a body? Ryou's heart went into overdrive, pounding on with a frantic will to live. Unlike Yugi, who was left as little more than a ghost, Ryou was still very much alive- flesh, blood, tears… he still had everything, and the primal desire to remain that way overcame him. Fresh, hot, salty tears welled in his eyes as he realized with a sudden panic that he may well be doomed to die in this god-forsaken, pitch black underworld…
Ring ring… ring ring… ring ring…
Ryou froze once more, as did Yugi, as the sound of the phone in the living boy's pocket filled the air. Slowly, as if in a trance, Ryou reached down and slid out the device, 21st century instincts kicking in as he held in to his ear and pressed the answer button.
"H… hello?" Ryou's voice, barely more than a whisper, trembled as he spoke.
"Is that Bakura? My name's Jaden, I'm a friend of Yugi. Where are you?"
Ryou's gaze whipped around the nightmarish prison as he searched desperately for words to describe the horror of the place he was in. The only word which summed it up perfectly was hell, but how could he be in hell if he was still alive?
And icy chill ran up his spine. What if he'd died on his way here? What if his life had been snuffed out the moment the shadow man had grasped his arm? Although he felt alive, what if he were really…?
His voice, his plea enthused with his sudden terror, came out as a wail, "Help me! Please help me! I think I'm dead!"
Yugi's eyes widened in panic as he saw Ryou's expression. The boy was going to pieces, and now…
Yugi's heart sank as he saw their captor turn around, eyes blazing with anger, and start towards the cage. His stomach felt hollow, and a sickly feeling churned within him as he realized what would, what must, happen next. He missed Jaden's response; his attention was wholly upon the figure and Ryou.
"This man came; he had Yugi's soul on a chain. He told me and Marik to hand over our bodies... then he grabbed me... now I'm stuck in a cage in some other dimension or something... I think he's doing something... it looks like a spell... I think he's going to take my body..."
Ryou's explanation was cut short as he too noticed the wrathful god striding towards him. His face turned white with fear, and his mouth opened in a strangled scream.
"Oh God! He's seen me! He's coming! Please God help meeeeee.....!"
The cry filled the air as the figure wrenched open the door to the cage, bending the bars in the process. His scream continued as the man snatched the phone from him, crushing it within his fist and scattering the fragments to the shadows. Then he grabbed Ryou by the throat and held him aloft in the air, cutting off his breath until he had no more air left with which to give voice to his fear. His eyes were wide with pleading, but he knew he would receive no mercy. He gulped and choked for air like a fish out of water, his hands grabbing at the shadowy fingers gripped tight around his neck.
"Disobey me one more time, and your soul will suffer an even worse fate than your friend's."
With that he released Ryou, allowing the boy to drop to the ground. He lay there, gasping and panting, his own hands now delicately gripping his neck, rubbing it, massaging it, try to stem the bleeding which had now restarted. Coughs racked through his thin frame once more, and when he coughed, blood trickled from the corner of his mouth, dripping from his chin. He seemed on the verge of death, and Yugi thought that it would not take much to send him passing on.
The shadow tormentor strode back across the abyss, and resumed his ancient chant. As he continued, he raised his arms to the heavens, and his voice reached a crescendo as he hit the climax of his ritual. Ryou groggily shuffled around and watched with eyes glazing over as his death approached.
"Mesu callawai carectaar!" A boom of thunder broke the air and Ryou screamed as his body twisted and flipped, spasmed and writhed, totally out of his control. His eyes were clenched tight shut as he called out, screaming for help and mercy, but his pleas fell upon deaf ears.
As he thrashed about, the shadows forming their captor swirled and twisted, arching into a stream which flowed in a high dome, flowing across the space. When they reached Ryou's body they smothered and cocooned him, then melted into his flesh, melding with his very tissues and cells. AT last, when there was no more of their captor left, Ryou's mouth, the screams now smothered out, slid open, and a bright glowing orb drifted from it, floating away a few metres in the air, before billowing out into the shape of Ryou Bakura. His soul had left his body.
Ryou's body slowly wafted back to the ground, where it lay for a few seconds, before the eyes snapped open and it sat up. It looked around and flexed its fingers as if trying itself out for the first time, before it rose to its feet and tested its voice.
"I am Lord Mataar," it announced, screeching the words out into the darkness, "And I live!"
