Running.
He was being chased down that alleyway.
This dream again.
How many times did he have this annoying dream?
He already knew how it ended. He wasn't going to get caught, that's not how it happened in real life after all.
He had heard from someone that bad events ended up as dreams later in life. What they called ‚trauma'.
So annoying.
How many times did this event have to bother his sleep?
He wasn't going to forget it anyway. How could he?
It wrecked his brain every damn day. Every day for the past 10 years...
He just wanted to sleep, dammit!
Sleep and bother with it in the morning.
But the face of his dying mother wouldn't let him. Her horrified, screaming, pain-filled face as she looked straight at him in that moment...
„Ryou! Breakfast is almost ready!" I said as I passed by his room.
Breakfast wasn't the right word for it.
I let him sleep in this morning since he looked so sickly last night, but he needed to eat. It was almost 11 and he was still in bed.
I made some herbal tea and I was working on a nice vitamin-rich salad to help him recover his strength.
He was lucky it was a Saturday. If I wasn't here, he'd just let his cold stew until it degenerated into a pneumonia again.
He didn't say a thing and I backtracked and knocked on his cracked door. He had his back to me, his white hair the only thing poking out from the thick covers.
„Breakfast!" I repeated to him.
He groaned loudly and pulled the covers over his head.
I pouted and left. Sometimes I wondered what he was thinking.
...
Shut up, will you!
He squirmed in bed like an eel, not finding his place.
Why is it so damn hot?
His hands grabbed the fabric of his covers.
This blanket is so thick! Who the hell uses blankets this thick during this time of year?
Pause. Realization.
His eyes shot open.
Bed? Why was he in a bed?
He sprung up and threw the covers off of himself like they were filled with poison.
Quick rundown of last night, his mind churning fast. Eyes darted around the room. This place...
He shouldn't be here. He didn't fall asleep in a bed last night. Nowhere close. In fact, after getting the ring...
He checked. It was still hanging from his neck. In fact, everything he had on him was still there, even his shoes.
He slumped back in bed, sighing. He couldn't believe he actually fell asleep last night. He had been so agitated these past few weeks, he hadn't rested almost at all. It was inevitable that he'd eventually collapse, but still...
„Ryou! I can hear you awake in there! Come on over!"
Only one voice. Best case scenario.
He quickly picked himself up, grabbed what he could and opened the window. The cool air was refreshing and helped him think, but this location wasn't good at all. Not only was he in a completely unfamiliar place, but this house was taller than he'd taken it for. Over 5 stories above ground, by his calculations. Looking at the walls, he didn't have much to grab on to in order to climb down and jumping was out of the question unless he wanted all his bones broken.
Well, he could always use...
Shit!
Why...why wasn't it working?! Why now?
He grit his teeth. There was more afoot than he initially thought.
He'd have to get a lot of things sorted out once he got out of here.
Sadly, he'd have to do it the old fashioned way, and also without alerting...her...
I heard him fumble with the keys by the front door.
Come on! Come on!
What was he doing there?
„Seriously, Ryou! How many times do I have to call you before..."
My voice trailed off as I left the kitchen to get him, only to run into...
Into...
I froze, my eyes locked onto his. His look of surprise and confusion showed that he didn't expect me to catch him like this. The overwhelming fear in my eyes made him crack a nervous smile.
This...this person...was...
This rag-wearing foreigner with various goods, jewelry, books and some of Ryou's clothing stuffed in a bed sheet over his shoulder...
„A THIEF!" I shrieked off the top of my lungs as he bolted out the door and into the hallway.
It took me a few seconds to come to my senses before I realized what was going on. When did this person get into our house? Where was Ryou?
He had the ring around his neck...Ryou's ring! This guy stole it! Along with everything we owned!
I unfroze and ran after him immediately. He had taken the stairs and was already 2 stories below me. Luckily we lived on the 7th floor. I took the elevator and caught up to him right as he reached the ground floor.
Even though he had ran with a heavy load on his back at such a high speed, he wasn't breathing hard at all. How many times had he done this?
He stared at me in shock when I came out of the elevator like I did something incredible.
„You! Stop right there!" I pointed at him accusingly as I came out. I tried to look confident, but my voice was trembling. He looked like he could bash me into the ground with ease. His mannerisms showed he was aware of that as well.
He gestured for me to lower my volume but it only made me scream even louder.
„Give back what you stole right now!" I insisted.
He rolled his eyes at me like I was a nuisance and kept going, only to get blocked by the front entrance. He pulled on the knob a few times, but the metal door wouldn't budge. How did he even get in if he didn't know about the lock?
I didn't even get to finish that thought before he rammed me into a wall. His elbow kept me in place as his feral eyes scanned me over. My nose scrunched as his foul stench hit me. I'd never been this close to a dirty tramp before, it was quite disgusting.
It didn't take long for him to find the keys in my back-pocket. He pulled them out and stared at them for a second, as if he was seeing keys for the first time.
Actually, his every action was done as if it was the first time he ran into that situation. It made no sense.
He let go as he headed for the door, but was stopped in his tracks as I fiercely jumped to grab his leg. He tried to shake me off like a parasite but I wasn't dettered.
„Let go, human!" he growled at me. His voice was harsh, but somewhat familiar. Why...why was that?
„Not until you give back our things!"
I held on as tightly as I could even as he was dragging me across the floor.
„Give back the ring!" I repeated.
He yanked me off of himself and lifted me to look him in the eye.
„What do you know about the ring?" he spat in a low, demanding voice.
„It's my brother's ring! He'll be really upset if it's stolen!" I tried to gain his empathy.
Where is Ryou...
„I don't care what dead people want from me" he scoffed.
My heart stopped in my throat. What did he just say?
„N-no...you...you're lying...you...YOU MURDERER!" I screamed the last part as loudly as I could. So loud, he had to cover his ears to try to drown out the sound.
Loud enough to convince a neighbor to come out, umbrella gripped tightly with both hands.
„What's going on here?" the old man roared, pointing his makeshift weapon at us.
He didn't need too long to assess the situation. The unknown invader had me by my shirt and was shaking me intently, a makeshift sack of obviously stolen goods hanging over his back.
„Honey, call the police!" he yelled over his shoulder as he tried to hold his ground inside the door frame.
I was sa-
An arm hoisted me off the ground by my waist and before I even realized I had been kidnapped, we were already out in the street.
This guy had no pattern to his behavior.
He had frozen in place for a few moments once he got out, as if he didn't know where to go, then he bolted across the alley until he reached the park. Zig-zagging along pathways, jumping over debris, knocking people aside as he went. Completely chaotic.
I shrieked when my butt hit the ground after getting thrown in a bush and I scooted away instantly as he jumped next to me, bag in tow.
I heard the park patrol searching for us. This was my chance. I tried to get his attention but the thief's hand immediately covered my mouth and he shot me an aggressive glare to get me to stop. I squirmed around and bit his hand as hard as I could.
He didn't let go. He only winced a little before shoving his open hand down my throat, making me gag. I had to let go as I started choking.
Once the security guard was out of range he loosened up and turned me around to look at him. Tears had formed in the corner of my eyes. Was he telling the truth earlier? Was Ryou really...?
„I'm going to let go of you. And you are going to stop hollering. Got it?"
He waited on a nod from me, but it wasn't coming.
He slowly removed his hand from my mouth and I let out a loud wail. He groaned in frustration and covered it back up, then dragged me to the most remote corner of the park he could find.
„W-who are you?" I managed once my heart had settled down enough.
„You seriously don't know who I am?" he looked at me incredulously. „Then why are you standing in my way like this?"
„B-because...you robbed us blind!"
„Payback for trying to imprison me."
„I didn't bring you to my home! You broke in!"
„Shrew, if I had broken in, I would've known how to leave! This place looks nothing like anywhere I've ever been before!"
Is that why he was so disorientated?
„Why are you in Domino City then?"
„Domino city, huh...how far is that from Akhetaten?" he mused, tapping his chin.
„What's that?"
He rubbed his temples in frustration.
„Behdet? Abdju?... EAST or WEST of Waset?" he gestured, drawing a line in the air to show where that was.
„Gesundheit to you too." I mocked him.
He grabbed my shoulders and tried to shake the stupid out of me.
„Shrieking harpy, where in Egypt am I?"
„You're not in Egypt."
He dropped me, a look of worry spreading across his face. He fell into deep thought for a moment then he turned back to me.
„You know about my ring. What do you know about it?"
„Well, first of all, it's not yours, it's my brother's..."
„You look too pale to be Mahaad's relative."
„First of all, I don't know who that is. Secondly, I'll have you know my skin tone is perfectly normal by Japan's standards. You're the one who's too dark!"
He mused it over.
„Japan...Where is that in relation to Egypt?"
„I don't know, around 10.000 km east"
He looked like he had been shot. A long agonizing silence fell between us.
„What did you do to Ryou?" I finally managed to bring up again.
„Who?"
„My little brother! The one I've been talking about all this time!"
I pulled out a photo of us from my pocket and showed it to him. A photo of us smiling after my college acceptance ceremony. Ryou was already being bullied at Kaminari High, yet he smiled so serenely. He always tried to look happy for other's sake. This photo was painful to look at in retrospect.
He stared at it for a moment as if he was trying to process it, trying to understand what he was looking at.
„Who's this other girl?"
„That's him!"
The thief scrunched his face in sheer disgust and threw the picture away.
„Most definitely never seen him before"
„You were in his room just now!"
„I never ran into anybody."
„W-what do you mean? I left him asleep in his bed last night and the front door was locked with his keys! There's no way he could've left..."
„Well that's too bad then. He wasn't there this morning."
„Then why are you wearing his talisman?"
He held it defiantly.
„This thing is mine. It has rightfully been mine since the very beginning."
„That's not true! My brother got it yesterday as a birthday present!"
He seemed lost. An idea flickered in his mind.
„What year is this?"
What kind of question was that? Was he out of it?
„How have you been functioning if you don't know it's Heisei 8?"
He crossed his arms.
„Judging by your absurd system, it seems I've been displaced for a while"
„Judging by your clothes, you've been living under a bridge for far too long!"
„Hey! This is fine Assyrian silk, you peasant! It's worth more than your entire kin on the slave market!" he held up the crimson robe to give me a better view of my failure as a fashion critic.
„Not that someone like you would even make for a good slave, given your attitude..." he growled in a low voice.
„You talk like a barbarian."
„You talk like you've never been put in your place" he retorted.
„Is that a threat? I'll have you know my dad is pretty famous, you won't get away with harming someone from the Bakura family!"
His eyes widened at that and he shook his head as if he was hearing things.
„What did you just say..."
„You won't get away-" he gestured for me to jump past that „-the...Bakura family..?" he raised his hand for me to stop there.
„Why do you carry my name?"
It was my turn to stare at him. Bakura wasn't a common last name, but surely we weren't the only ones in Japan with this name. This guy clearly wasn't Japanese though. Considering how much he valued it, it probably meant something more here than I initially thought.
„What do you mean? We've always had this name. We've had it for generations. What does it matter to you?"
A wide grin spread across his face. So wide, it threatened to swallow it whole. It turned into a fit of insane laughter, louder and louder, until it was echoing through the trees. If nobody heard him at this point, they had to be deaf.
He threw his arms in the air, his bloodshot eyes filled with glee.
„THIS IS IT! I WON! YOU HEAR ME!? ALL OF YOU! I WON!"
Was he talking to the sky?
I stared as he roared on like a madman. I needed to get away from this weirdo as quickly as possible. I tried to crawl away but he grabbed me and pulled me close to his face. I covered my mouth as his smelly breath hit me.
„This is a most glorious turn of events!" he said between chuckles, barely containing himself. He eyed me like a predator, the purple hue of his irises giving off a sinister glow in the trees shade.
He yanked me off the ground to his level and spun me around a few times before dropping me like a trash bag.
„Ah, this is wonderful! This feels amazing!"
„I don't understand...what are you getting at?"
I was so confused.
„Don't you know what this means?! The fact that you exist, the fact that I'm here right now...it means I won! I beat the pharaoh and his ilk! I defeated the Gods!...this place..this world...is the proof of my victory!"
He scratched his chin in thought. „it doesn't look that terrible for a post-apocalyptic setting, but it's fine nonetheless." he whispered to himself.
What did he mean by that?
„I still don't get it. What does any of this have to do with anything?" I insisted.
He bonked me on the head hard enough to make me wince.
„The name ‚Bakura'. Why do you think you have this name? It's because it came from me. You brother owns the Millennium Ring now, right? The same one I have on me."
I nodded.
„That means you share the same blood as me. Why do you think he has white hair? This is NOT a coincidence. Even if my blood thinned out considerably, you ARE my descendants, all of you. You can see me as your great grandfather."
Bullshit.
„You look pretty young to be a grandfather" I pointed out.
„Use your brain, sow! I'm not talking literally. I defied time to be here!"
„Stop insulting me, you caveman! Who even are you, anyway?"
„How can you be this ignorant? This is the future that I created! You should recognize me from history books! From statues raised in my honor! Admire my legacy as the one who ended the 18th Pharaoh Dynasty! The Great Thief King Bakura!" he gloated.
„I have no idea who you claim to be, but ‚pharaohs' stopped existing thousands of years ago"
„Great-great-great grandfather then" he pointed out unfettered.
This guy was just plain crazy. A wandering lunatic that I had the misfortune to get kidnapped by. Thankfully, my luck was turning around as the guard from before heard him and was running over to save me.
„You don't believe me." he frowned.
I nodded. Of course I didn't.
„Come here" he pulled my arm as the security officer stopped next to us and yelled for my captor to lift his hands in the air.
„Don't let go."
A bright light and then the world around us stopped. No sound, no movement. Time itself had frozen into place for everything and everyone except the two of us. The guard was stuck in an awkward position, bent over with his hand on his gun as he was about to pull it out.
My captor walked hand in hand with me up to the guy, his surprised expression staring back at us as he probably only managed to register the bright light before going numb.
He made me touch the guard's skin with my other hand to prove to me it was real. The man felt cold, like a statue in the rain.
He picked up a pebble off the ground and turned it around with his fingers, analyzing its shape. He sneered wickedly at the guard then pointed the pebble at him.
„Punishment time"
The ring started rattling, the spikes raising to point at the guard's heart as if they were singling him out. It glowed again, basking the world around us in a golden hue that suddenly turned into a dark void.
I stared in horror as all the color drained from the man's face and he fell to the ground, completely limp.
Everything returned to normal in an instant.
„W-what happened to him?" I managed after a long pause.
„Nothing yet" the thief chuckled, playing with the pebble in his palm. He tossed it up and down a couple of times, then flung it as far as it would go.
„NOW, though, he's in trouble" he laughed, pushing the body out of view with his foot.
Is...is he dead?
Feared creeped back into my heart. What is going on? What is this? Magic?
„W-what happened to my brother then?"
„I can't say for sure, but I'm here, he must be there" he pondered.
„Over...there?"
„To put it in terms even you would understand, we switched places."
„Why would..? Didn't you say you time skipped or...something?"
„The items don't manipulate time and space. They manipulate souls. I don't know the extent to which they can spread their effect, but if it brought me here, it means it put another soul in my place."
„Are you certain?"
„The ring is our common thread. You said your brother put the ring on for the first time yesterday, right? So did I. We can assume we both got the ring around the same time. He probably did something to trigger this effect."
„The...wish." I said meekly.
„What?"
„My brother made a wish when he put the ring on last night"
That wish was the trigger?
„That's impossible, the items don't grant wishes. But if he did manage to activate it somehow, even without realizing it, it might've been enough"
„So Ryou is stuck in Ancient Egypt? H-how do I get him back?"
„By helping me get all the items together"
„All...?"
„Listen carefully. There are seven Millennium Items like the one I'm wearing right now. If this one's here, the others have to be close by."
Yugi's puzzle...
„Why do you need all of them? Isn't one enough?"
„Right now, I don't have the ability to do whatever he did with just the ring. I need time to master it. Time we don't have much OF." he insisted in all seriousness.
„Judging by that painting you showed me, he doesn't stand much of a chance in my world. Given his pale skin and unusual race, all the human traffickers will want to get a hold of him to sell him off to the highest bidder. Your kind is very valuable as collector's items"
My eyes widened in shock.
„And if he's truly unlucky and he ended up taking my place, then he's already doomed. I doubt he knows his way around the Mafkat desert. Considering his spindly constitution, I give him until sundown tomorrow before he gets eaten by a hungry jackal."
„No! You can't leave Ryou in the desert! He gets serious sunburns without cream and he tends to trip and bury himself in the sand whenever he goes to the beach!" I waved my arms around in panic.
The thief narrowed his eyes at me.
„Make that noon sharp and a particularly angry dung beetle"
I felt faint.
...
It was awkward, to say the least.
The police officer was talking to the old man out by the front entrance as he was giving him details about the incident. I can only imagine their confusion as we serenely walked past them together as if we were a couple, the strange Egyptian man still carrying the stuffed bag over his shoulder. He even saluted the officer and smiled as we made our way to the elevator.