Title: A Persistent Shadow (Chapter 9)
Pairing: Ryou Bakura x Yami Bakura, possible others
Rating: M
Summary: The Pharaoh uses a spell to force Yami Bakura out of Ryou's body, but unfortunately for Ryou it doesn't work quite as well as intended.
A/N: Special thanks to everyone who's been leaving reviews. I've never written anything even nearly this long before and they've been a huge motivation to keep me going :)

Ryou couldn't have been more relieved when the Pharaoh told him what had happened wasn't his fault. He didn't know what he'd do if that thing had nearly come to life because he'd spoken the words incorrectly or made some other catastrophic mistake. A lack of disagreement from the spirit only solidified his confidence that it had to be something else.

And then Marik had said that the ring only contained a fragment of the monstrous entity, with the rest being somewhere else. "What do you mean? Where's the rest of it?" Ryou actually wished the spirit would chime in with information, since he'd already claimed to know what the thing was, but after Marik's words he'd gone quiet. He didn't seem to be paying attention to the conversation anymore.

Marik held up his hands. "I don't know. I think we'd notice if it were free in our world, though. The Shadow Realm, maybe?"

A thought occurred to Ryou based on something the spirit had said earlier that day. "What if there are other pieces in the other items?" He glanced at the puzzle. The spirit had claimed that there was a dark presence ninety-nine times stronger than the ring's inside the puzzle, an oddly specific figure. Had he been talking about that thing? Of course, the spirit was also claiming that the entity shouldn't have been in the ring at all, so for all Ryou knew he'd meant something else entirely.

The spirit made no move to confirm or deny anything he'd thought.

The Pharaoh shook his head. "I'm certain there isn't anything in the puzzle, though perhaps in the other items."

The spirit had no idea that thing was in the ring. Would the Pharaoh really have any way of knowing either? Ryou was horribly torn. He wanted to say something, but he couldn't very well use that reasoning on the Pharaoh. "Are you sure you would know? Is there a way to check without risking..." Ryou trailed off, not knowing a good way to finish that question. 'The end of the world' seemed too melodramatic.

"We could use the spell we did yesterday," Marik pointed out. "It would at least tell us whether there's a presence within the items we have. It didn't trigger anything when we used it on the ring."

"My presence in the puzzle may give mixed results," the Pharaoh replied. "Testing the other items we have available is not necessarily a bad idea, however." The Pharaoh walked over to Yugi's bed and pulled out a box from underneath. He opened the box to reveal the Millennium Rod and the Millennium Necklace, then placed it on the bed.

"We can do the test a little later," Marik said, going over to the wall to pick up the broken pieces of the bowl. "There's something about that... thing... that I'm still wondering about."

Ryou rushed over to help him pick up the pieces. He'd been the one to break it, after all. "What is it?"

Marik picked up a cloth bag off of Yugi's desk that was roughly the size the bowl had been. Ryou wondered if that's what it had been kept in when it was still whole. Marik slid the pieces inside. "While that thing was taking over the room, I had this weird vision. I'm sure it was in Egypt. People were being killed and... not just in normal ways," he said.

Ryou followed suit, placing his pieces in the bag as well. "I think I had the same vision," he said, shivering. "And there was this horrible cauldron thing with all the dead bodies..." He closed his eyes for a moment and was assaulted by the memory of what he'd seen.

Stop thinking about that!

Ryou's eyes flew open at the spirit's angry words. What was it? Why do you care if I think about it? If anything, he'd have thought the spirit would love to see him plagued by horrifying mental images.

The spirit walked away from him, plopping himself down on the bed and refusing to look at him. It's none of your business. That's what it is.

Ryou turned his attention back to the others.

"I saw something like a cauldron, too," Marik said, "but it was mostly people being slaughtered by soldiers."

"I had my own vision, as well, and it was similar to what you're both describing," the Pharaoh said.

"Maybe it was a threat," Ryou speculated. "To show us what it intended to do when it got free..."

"But wouldn't the thing have been in the vision, then?" Marik asked. "It was horrible, but those were human soldiers. Not modern ones, either. I think it was a vision of the past."

Ryou had to agree that the soldiers didn't look modern. They were using swords, he remembered, more clearly than he wanted to. Ryou looked at the Pharaoh. "Could it have been from the time of the Millennium Items?"

"Perhaps it was a vision of my past," the Pharaoh said. "Those may have been my people being attacked in that village."

The spirit began to laugh. It was very soft at first, softer than Ryou had ever heard the spirit laugh, but it quickly grew louder, more delirious, until Ryou was half-convinced that the spirit had finally gone well and truly insane. Ryou wanted to know what had set him off, but was too afraid to ask.

Oh, you want to know what's so funny about all this? The spirit left his position on the bed and made Ryou even more apprehensive by standing directly in front of the Pharaoh.

Ryou couldn't have been more grateful that the two couldn't physically interact at that moment.

Don't worry, Landlord, the spirit assured him darkly, even if I could, I would never do anything so simple... or so obvious. The spirit was no longer laughing, only glaring at the Pharaoh with a furious, deranged expression on his face. I merely find it amusing that the Pharaoh can no longer even recognize the uniform worn by his own men.

W-what? Ryou couldn't possibly be hearing that right.

The spirit gave him a disgusted look. You heard me just fine, he said, stalking back over to the other side of the room.

Ryou didn't know what to think. The spirit lied to him all the time, about anyone and anything he wanted to. But... Ryou had never seen him react that strongly to anything. He glanced at the Pharaoh, who seemed to be contemplating his Millennium Puzzle. Ryou paused, summoning the courage to ask the question he knew he needed to ask. "Who do you think the soldiers were?"

The Pharaoh frowned. "I don't know. They may have simply been bandits."

Yes, bandits always dress up in identical uniforms and use equally distributed matching weapons, the spirit said sarcastically.

Thankfully, Marik spoke up then, giving Ryou a way out of having to repeat the unsettlingly valid point the spirit had just made. "They didn't really look like bandits to me. I don't think they were stealing anything, just... killing all those people. And bandits wouldn't have any reason to put the bodies in a cauldron."

The Pharaoh nodded slowly. "I suppose you're right."

"Who were they, then?" Ryou couldn't let this go. If the spirit was telling the truth...

"I think it had to be an army," Marik replied. "There were lots of invading armies around that time."

"Is there any way to tell who they were from the clothes they were wearing?" If the spirit could really do it so easily, surely they could manage it somehow.

"We can try. I'll ask Ishizu. I'll have to tell her what happened to this, anyway." Marik held up the bag containing the shattered bowl.

"That was yours?" Ryou felt guilty again. "I--"

Marik put his free hand over Ryou's mouth. "Don't apologize. As far as I'm concerned, you saved us all from certain doom." He gave Ryou a pat on the shoulder before dropping his hand. He went to put the bag over with his school things.

The Pharaoh picked up the Millennium Rod. "We should begin our tests on the other items."

"Now's as good a time as any," Marik agreed. He sat on the floor off to the side and gestured Ryou over.

Ryou sat down next to him, glad not to be the one in the middle of the spell this time. He held his breath when the Pharaoh held the rod out in front of him and began to speak in Ancient Egyptian, fearing that another monster would materialize in front of them. Fortunately, all that actually appeared was a faint black aura surrounding the rod. It faded shortly after the Pharaoh stopped speaking.

The Pharaoh seemed perplexed. Ryou looked at Marik and saw a similar expression on his face. "Um. It turned black, so does that mean there's another piece of that thing in there?"

Marik shook his head. "If there is, it's not anywhere near as strong as the other one. The ring was practically oozing black smoke all over the place." Marik rubbed his face. "I don't know which I like less: the idea that there's another tiny piece of that thing in the Millennium Rod or the idea that we have another, as yet entirely unknown dark force to deal with."

The Pharaoh put the rod back in the box. "The dark presence is too faint to be a serious threat. It may be nothing more than a residue left over from when you were still using it for ill purposes."

Marik winced at the Pharaoh's words, but quickly recovered. "You might be right."

"Testing the necklace will tell us for certain." The Pharaoh picked up the necklace and held it out in front of him, speaking the same words he had with the rod. The necklace emitted the same dim black aura the rod had.

"I know Ishizu couldn't have done anything to cause that," Marik said adamantly.

"I agree," the Pharaoh replied. "This raises many questions."

"What if the darkness is just a part of the items themselves?" Ryou asked, remembering what the spirit had told him earlier. "Something that's always been there, I mean." He fidgeted uncomfortably when both the Pharaoh and Marik turned to stare at him.

"It's possible, but that would make the items..." Marik trailed off.

Ryou opened his mouth to ask exactly what it made the items, but the Pharaoh spoke first. "That could only be the case if the items were created in darkness." The doubt was clear in his tone. "It is far more likely that they became tainted in whatever incident resulted in my memories being sealed away."

The spirit laughed bitterly. Yes, you keep telling yourself that.

Ryou didn't know who to believe. The spirit clearly knew more about the items, but even he hadn't been expecting what had happened earlier. Then again, the Pharaoh hadn't either, and he didn't seem to have any clear reason for asserting that the items had been tainted sometime after their creation other than wanting to believe it was the case. For all Ryou knew, they were all making completely baseless claims about the items.

The spirit seemed oddly pleased about that thought. Heh. Perhaps you're finally learning not to trust every little thing your friends want you to believe.

I still don't trust you either, Ryou thought back. And thinking they might be wrong about something isn't the same as thinking they're lying.

What does it matter? You still suspect them of giving you incorrect information.

It matters because it means I can still trust their intentions, Ryou replied firmly. And their friendship.

You already know their friendship cannot be counted on.

What do you mean? Ryou asked, though he was certain it was just the spirit making wild, paranoid accusations again.

If you truly thought you could count on them, you would have revealed our current situation to them the instant you discovered it. If your friends would stick by you no matter what, why even bother keeping it a secret? The spirit didn't sound the slightest bit worried that Ryou might actually challenge his assertion by telling his friends everything.

Because I don't want to worry them. Ryou knew it was a lie, and a weak one at that, but he couldn't face his true fears at the moment. He'd already had more than enough for one day just from the monster they'd summoned.

Fortunately, Marik started talking just then, saving Ryou from further depressing conversation with the spirit. "If that's all we're doing today, I really have to get going." He eyed his bookbag with a pained look on his face. "I have a lot of homework to catch up on."

The Pharaoh agreed. "Our next move shouldn't be taken without careful consideration." And with that, the Pharaoh abruptly disappeared, leaving Yugi standing in his place.

"Hi, guys," Yugi said cheerfully. His expression turned perplexed as he felt his wet hair. "Why am I--" he cut off, eyes focused off to his side.

"I think the Pharaoh can explain it better than we can," Marik said.

Yugi nodded absently. "I'll see you guys at school tomorrow," he replied, mind clearly somewhere else.

"See you later." Ryou picked up his things and left with Marik.

Ryou started walking in the direction of his apartment. The spirit wandered off to the side, seeming lost in thought.

Marik followed Ryou along the street. "The library is around here somewhere, right?"

"Yeah, it's over that way," Ryou said, pointing in the general direction of the library. "Going there to study?" He couldn't really imagine Marik as the studious type.

"Ugh. More like going there to learn 10 years worth of information I'm already supposed to know."

It took Ryou a moment to figure out what he meant. "Because you weren't in school before this?" Suddenly all the trouble Ryou had had from switching schools all the time and regularly blacking out seemed minor in comparison. At least some of his time in school had been spent learning what he was supposed to.

Marik looked away from Ryou. "My family had somewhat different ideas about what I needed to learn," he said quietly. His normal tone was back a moment later. "And when I left I had way more interesting things to learn about than math."

Ryou tried to imagine what he'd do if he were suddenly let loose on the world after being trapped underground for all of childhood. It was too much for him to contemplate all at once, but he had to agree that things like algebra and trigonometry probably wouldn't even be among the first few thousand things he'd want to learn about. "Which subjects do you need to catch up on?"

Marik started counting them off on his fingers. "Well, first there's math, like I said. I need to learn pretty much everything between arithmetic and... uh... whatever it is we're doing right now. I do know some geometry, since it's important in setting up certain rituals. I don't know any science aside from what I've seen on TV..."

Ryou cringed a little. "Um. You might have unlearn some of that."

"Oh." Marik blinked. "Well, from what I saw today, it won't matter until I learn the math, anyway. I'm fine with technology, at least."

"And languages," Ryou added, trying to look on the bright side. "If I didn't know any better, I'd assume you lived here all your life." Ryou had tried to rid himself of his own accent before, hoping to fit in better by being less noticeable, but his few attempts hadn't been very successful.

Marik smiled at the compliment. "Thanks. At least spending all that time studying ancient texts gave me some useful skills. Picking up modern languages isn't that hard, especially with TV around." He continued counting off the subjects on his fingers. "And then there's history. I can tell you anything you want to know about Ancient Egypt... and only Ancient Egypt. I don't even know that much about Egyptian history past the time of the Pharaoh, let alone the history of other countries. Well, other than what I've picked up from movies." He paused. "Am I going to have to unlearn that, too?"

"Maybe," Ryou agreed. "But at least it gave you a vague outline to work with."

"I guess." Marik sighed softly, though he was still smiling.

Ryou felt bad for him. He knew what it was like to be behind, but even he'd never gotten that far behind. "I could help you get caught up. I-If you want." Ryou knew he didn't have any good reason to be nervous saying it, but having friends was still a new experience for him. Even though Marik had been nothing but kind to him so far, there was still a part of him that expected any friendly overture he made to be met with a cruel and hateful response.

"That would be lifesaving," Marik said, "but only if it won't take you away from anything you need to do."

"I'm a little ahead at the moment," Ryou replied. "I switched schools so often that I got used to learning on my own. I still have problems paying attention in class sometimes." Of course, that was more due to the spirit pestering him than anything else, but Marik didn't have to know that. It would be good to have the excuse of being generally inattentive if it happened again in the future.

He glanced at the spirit out of the corner of his eye, expecting some comment about him actively plotting to conceal things from his friends, but the spirit still didn't seem to be giving him a single thought at the moment.

Marik, however, was giving him the same odd look he had that morning. "Yeah, I saw you during class today. What got you so..." Marik seemed to struggle for the right word. "Um... distracted?"

Ryou felt a blush coming on. "N-nothing in particular," he stammered. "The teacher just wasn't very interesting, s-so I started daydreaming."

Marik snickered a little. "It's okay. It's not like I was really paying attention either." He had a small, amused smile on his face.

"R-right." Ryou would rather have been talking about almost anything else right about then. "L-look, there's the library!" he declared, a little too excitedly. He ran over to the library steps.

Marik jogged after him. "So, what do you think we should start with?" he asked.

"Probably math," Ryou replied, glad Marik had apparently decided to go along with his abrupt change of topic. "You'll need it before you can start on science and it shouldn't be as hard to get basically caught up on history, so..."

The two chatted happily as they walked into the library.