"With every day, and from both sides of my intelligence, the moral and the intellectual, I thus drew steadily nearer to the truth, by whose partial discovery I have been doomed to such a dreadful shipwreck: that man is not truly one, but truly two."
~ Robert Louis Stevenson, The Mysterious Case of Doctor Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
That night there was a terrible storm. It was the kind that could not be ignored, much less slept through. The thunder was like the sound of hundreds of glasses breaking throughout an echoing room. The lightning ripped horrible holes in the cloaks of night, shrieking its waves against the window like a dying banshee. The rain shredded the glass with its relentless pounding of millions of tiny fists against the roof and walls.
If Ryou Bakura got any sleep, Destiny didn't see.
He sat on the couch; facing the TV (although he watched nothing), wrapped in a thick blanket as dark as the surrounding empty apartment.
He breathed heavily and jumped every time there was a thunder clap or a lightning strike.
Destiny perched on the arm of his pale blue sofa; her eyes didn't waver from his handsome face the entire night.
Nor did the Millennium Ring ever leave Ryou Bakura's neck.
It was no surprise that Ryou was half asleep on his short walk to school the following morning. Destiny felt kind of bad about stifling a laugh when he walked into a telephone poll.
However, when they reached the school; Destiny's attention wavered from Ryou for a short moment so as to read the name of the school he and Yugi were attending since she had missed it the day before. There was sign mounted on the school's outside wall and it read Domino High.
Destiny's lips curled upward.
She knew this school; it wasn't but two blocks from Kaiba Corporation. As a matter of fact, she'd passed by it on both of the occasions she'd gone to visit Kaiba and Mokuba.
How ironic she was passing two Item Wielders and being completely oblivious the whole time.
"Bakura, good morning!" a sweet little voice suddenly sang out, causing both Ryou and Destiny to jump quite a distance in surprise.
More Destiny then Ryou, really; he actually buckled over again, his hands clawing at his shirt (he'd left his jacket unbuttoned today.)
"Bakura?" Yugi asked, moving to stand in front of his new friend.
Ryou quickly straightened up.
"Yugi, you startled me" Ryou exclaimed, giving the young Puzzle Wielder a forced smile.
"Oh, sorry about that" Yugi apologized with a laugh.
Destiny smiled in spite of herself.
What was it about this kid that just made you suddenly feel good all over?
"S'up Bakura" Joey called; walking over with his book bag slung over one shoulder in a 'cool' fashion.
"Good morning, Bakura" Teá said sweetly and Tristan greeted Ryou too.
Ryou gave them all a nod of acknowledgment.
"So, are you adjusting to this school alright?" Yugi asked, gripping the straps of his backpack.
Ryou looked as though he was about to respond but he suddenly let out a gasp and his hand wavered across his chest yet again.
"Are you okay?" Yugi asked with noticeable concern as Ryou's face drained to an even paler white.
"Excuse me, I have to go" was Ryou's only response before he turned and sprinted into the building, once again leaving his confused friends in his wake.
Destiny followed close behind, although she faltered slightly when Ryou ran into the boy's bathroom.
Oh, screw it; Destiny thought as she slipped through the door, nobody can see me anyways.
Ryou rushed over to the sink, clutching at his chest and gasping heavily.
"W-what is this?" he cried "this sharp pain? Ah!" Ryou suddenly screamed as he tore open his shirt to reveal the Millennium Ring, which was definitely glowing with a seemingly simmering heat.
Ryou screamed again and his hands flew to the cord holding the Ring in place in an attempt to remove the cursed Item but the Ring may as well have been made of lead for it wouldn't budge.
Ryou squeezed his eyes shut.
And then…a sudden deep, cold, piercing laugh ripped through the silence of the grimy bathroom. Far worse, far more penetrating, and far more frightening then any voice Destiny had ever heard before in her life.
She gasped in shock and whipped her head about; scanning the room, but Ryou appeared to be alone in the bathroom.
Ryou's eyes snapped open and he spun around.
"Who's there?" he demanded.
I am…you, was the only response before yet another laugh and then a slicing pain that cut Ryou's entire form but especially his head.
He buckled as though he'd been struck by a heavy object and slowly sank to the floor, screeching in agony.
"Ah! In my head, in my head" he screamed, gripping at his ears.
"Good God! What's going on?!" Destiny asked as she watched the whole display in pure horror.
Ryou voiced her question aloud.
"What is happening to my body?" he desperately demanded.
Unlike Ryou, Destiny did have some clue though.
The echoing laugh was the same horrific laugh of Ryou's living reflection four years ago.
Destiny barely paid attention the entirety of Ryou's morning classes. Her mind was far off, replaying the incident in the bathroom over and over again in her mind.
Not much could be drawn from the experience she had secretly shared with Ryou but one thing was certain: the Millennium Ring.
There was something very wrong with it.
The question was: what?
Hopefully, Destiny would find out soon. After all, her Visions were usually to show her something important; a milestone in the life of an Item Wielder.
Yes, whatever this was it had to be important.
Oh crap!
Ryou was leaving for gym class.
Boy, did Destiny feel like a whore crouching behind a stall in the boy's bathroom so as to avoid any inappropriate sights.
She almost missed Ryou's leaving.
It was an unusually warm day for mid-winter so the gym class was being taught outside on the track and football field.
Everyone else was already outside, running laps around the track while the gym teacher; a huge, beefy man with thick black eyebrows, shouted orders at them.
"Come on, you worms! My grandmother could run faster than you!" he hollered at his students.
Destiny drew up short behind Ryou.
"Oh, so he's that kind of gym teacher" she muttered.
"Hey, new student!" the gym teacher suddenly hollered at Ryou, who had been attempting to slip into the running crowd unnoticed. "You have some nerve showing up late to my gym class."
Ryou's cheeks pinked and he hung his head.
"I'm sorry…I wasn't feeling well this morning" he muttered to his sneakers.
"Don't give me that crap" the gym teacher sneered. "I bet you were off with a flock of girls. That's right; I see them following you around. So you're a player now, eh?"
"That's not it!" Ryou cried in desperation.
"Keep your damn mouth shut, you will not address your superior in such a manner" the teacher interrupted, wagging his fist in the poor boy's face.
"Hold on" a sudden voice called "if he says he's not feeling well; then he's not."
Ryou turned, startled to see Joey walking over.
"What's this?" the gym teacher asked in mock surprise, turning to see Joey, Tristan, and Yugi who had all jumped to their new friend's aid.
"And he really wasn't feeling well" Yugi added.
Destiny smiled.
"Good job, guys" she whispered.
Ryou seemed relieved as well, if not also a little surprised.
"Yugi….guys" he whispered.
"Oh, so this is your friend then?" the gym teacher snorted "what a load of smucks."
"Stop being a jerk, Mr. Karita" Joey cried bravely.
"Whatever, it's your funereal" the teacher said smugly. "Don't you know bad things happen to the kids that are friend with this guy?" he asked, jabbing his thumb in Ryou's direction.
Ryou gasped.
"Ha! That's right. I used to teach at one of the school's he previously attended and every one of his friends wound up lying in the hospital comatose or even dead."
"That's just a coincidence" Tristan protested.
The teacher shrugged.
"Maybe it is all just a coincidence" he said. "Right, new student?" he added, turning to Ryou.
"Don't mind him, Bakura; he's just being a jerk" Yugi said.
But Ryou simply shook his head.
"No, it's true" he whispered "that's why I had to keep changing schools. All of my old friends became comatose or died. Every one."
Yugi, Joey, and Tristan all stared at Ryou in shock; surprised that he'd admit to such a horrible accusation.
Ryou gave them a sad smile.
"Yugi, you guys would be better off if you avoided me" he then turned to the gym teacher. "I'll go run now" he added before jogging off.
"Hey, Bakura" Joey tried to stop him but it was no use.
Destiny watched Ryou run off, not bothering to follow him.
Absentmindedly, she brushed away the bit of wet that had brimmed in the corner of her eyes.
Destiny followed Yugi around the remainder of the day in a kind of trance. She couldn't stop thinking about Ryou. His face seemed to be etched on the inside of her mind, as well as the last words he'd spoken to Yugi and his friends seemed to be stuck on repeat in her ears.
"Yugi, you guys would be better off if you avoided me"
"What?" Teá cried, startling Destiny from her depressing musings, "Mr. Karita said that?"
Destiny had been so wrapped up in her thoughts about Ryou that she hadn't noticed that Joey, Tristan, and Teá had all gathered around Yugi's desk and that the day was almost over.
"Yeah, Bakura didn't take it well, either" Joey replied solemnly.
"And Bakura really wasn't feeling well" Yugi added. "He went home during lunch."
Destiny turned to Yugi with a look of intent.
Ryou had left?
"Well, that seems important" Destiny said to herself. "I better go check on him."
She slowly drifted to her feet from her position hovering crossed-legged above Yugi's head.
"Now, I have to get to Ryou's apartment" Destiny whispered, now ignoring Yugi and his friend's conversation "but I don't know whether I'm connected to Yugi's soul or Ryou's soul…"
Destiny closed her eyes and focused on tuning out the rest of the world. She fumbled throughout her mind and shifted a 'mind hand' designated for Ryou.
It twitched and raised its head slightly.
Destiny's brow furrowed.
Come on.
The hand cracked like a whip and Destiny tugged harder and harder.
It came loose!
Destiny smiled as she pulled the hand from herself and wound it throughout the city like a worm winding through a tunnel.
Ryou…she felt the glimmer of his soul.
It was faint…and it was…in pain.
Destiny's eyes snapped open.
She was no longer in Domino High and Yugi and his friends were nowhere in sight.
She was back in Ryou's apartment.
She was in his bedroom and the lights were turned down so the room was glazed in gloom; save the desk, which was just below the open window so that sunlight stained the wooded surface and illuminated Ryou's snowy white hair.
Destiny slowly walked over to him.
Her hand wavered over his shoulder.
She wanted so badly to comfort him.
It was strange, she'd never had the desire to communicate with any of her other Vision hosts before but Ryou was different.
Ryou had his hands clutching tightly at his hair and was breathing heavily.
"I-I have to change school's again" he gasped, squeezing his eyes shut "Yugi and his friends are so nice, I don't want to hurt them. I can't stay at Domino High."
That would be a problem for me, Ryou gasped and Destiny screamed slightly.
Ryou whirled around for the source of the voice but, aside from Destiny, he was alone in his room.
"W-who's there? Who are you?" Ryou cried.
Destiny knew that voice.
It was the reflection's voice and the laugh that had echoed throughout the bathroom earlier that day.
I have finally found the Millennium Puzzle, after all, the voice continued.
Then Destiny really did scream for the Millennium Ring started to glow brighter than it had ever glowed before.
It burned hot like an oven and Ryou screamed in pain and wrestled with the rope, trying desperately to remove it.
Then, from the Ring, a pale black mist suddenly blew up; it drifted into the middle of the room, shifting as though it was being disturbed by a wind.
Ryou gasped as the mist grew and stretched, shifted and changed.
It took the shape of Ryou.
But it wasn't Ryou.
This one's face was still handsome, but cold, hard, cruel, and seemingly older. He seemed taller, his long white hair wilder, his eyes a bright scarlet color.
Eyes the color of freshly spilled blood.
It was the reflection that Ryou's had become the day he'd received the Millennium Ring. Although, now it stood before him as a translucent Spirit.
Ryou screamed and staggered backward, tripping over his shoes and falling onto his back.
The Ring Spirit laughed, his laugh was truly terrible.
"W-what are you?" Ryou tried to sound brave, but his voice was trembling uncontrollably.
"Me?" the Spirit asked with a mocking smile. "I am the other part of you that was hidden away…within the Millennium Ring."
"The Millennium Ring?" Ryou cried as his hands flew to the buttons of his dress shirt
He tore them open and upon doing so the Ring glowed still brighter.
"I-if you're in the Ring then I'll take it off!" Ryou cried, but he was cut short when the Ring stopped glowing, all but the five tassels that dangled from its bottom.
The tassels rose, as though they were being drawn by a magnet, swiftly turned around and plunged deep into Ryou's chest.
Ryou screamed as he grabbed the Ring and attempted to pull it from his chest but the tassels merely sank deeper and, as he struggled, they tore at the rim of their perfect holes, shredding the corners of his ripped flesh.
Blood was everywhere.
It flowed like a river from the five perfect holes, trailing horrible streams down Ryou's white middle and staining the belt of his dark blue pants, coating his hands in dry stains the same color of Destiny's wide, horrified eyes.
The Spirit continued to laugh, apparently amused at Ryou's struggling.
"Now you shall never be able to take it off" he declared with a malicious smile.
Ryou let out a groan of pain as he sank to his knees and grasped at his bleeding chest.
"I have decided, my dear Host, to stay inside you forever!"
"N-no!" Ryou cried with an attempt at defiance. "Get out…Ah! Get out of me! Get out-" Ryou was cut short as he screamed again and his hands grasped the Ring as the tassels twisted within their holes.
"How cold" the Spirit said with mock hurt "and I have been granting you wishes all this time too."
"I don't remember such a thing!" Ryou snapped back.
The Spirit chuckled.
"Figures, your memory has not been the best these last few years. If that is the case, then allow me to enlighten you. I heard your wish one day when you were playing that Monster World game with your friends. You wished that your friends could stay with you forever. And I made that happen, Host! You would play with your friends, then I would take them and place them within their game pieces" as he spoke the Spirit gestured to the cabinets in the corner of the room were what seemed like hundreds of little wooden medieval game pieces were lined up on the shelves.
"I made homes for your little friends" the Spirit continued, his red eyes gleaming "I made each one look like them and then I placed their souls within them so now you will always have them!"
Ryou's brown eyes brimmed with tears.
"So it was you!" he screamed. "It was always you; you were the reason I had lapses in my memories, during that time you were torturing my friends and trapping them within a game piece! Why would you do that?"
The Spirit arched an eyebrow.
"Because it was your selfish wish, Host" he replied.
"No!" Ryou cried, then he paused to take a deep breath. "What do you even mean by Host?"
"As I said, you are my host. You see, five thousand years ago two souls were sealed away within two Millennium Items, a Ring and a Puzzle. Although they were the same, they were still very different. One was a guardian and the other was a thief."
"So Yugi's Puzzle holds the guardian and you…you are the thief!" Ryou cried.
The Spirit laughed.
Destiny wished he'd stop laughing.
"So that is what you think? Well, it does not matter; I have spent the last five thousand years asleep within the Ring and now that our Item has a new Wielder" he took a step towards Ryou. "I have a body to take me to the Millennium Puzzle."
"No!" Ryou cried, attempting to swing at the Spirit but his arms passed clean through. "S-Stay away from me!"
"Now the Puzzle and your little friend are within my grasp" the Spirit hissed taking another step.
"Stop it!" Ryou cried desperately. "Don't you lay a finger on Yugi or anyone else."
"Because he's your friend?" the Spirit asked with a horrid smile. "Well then, I'll make a nice new place for him."
He placed his hand upon the Ring and Ryou screamed and writhed.
"But first" the Spirit whispered. "I must deal with the one that insulted us, my Host."
The Millennium Ring glowed still brighter.
"What are you doing?" Ryou cried.
"Sleep for a little while" the Spirit purred.
Stop it!" Ryou screamed as the Spirit moved even closer so that their noses were practically touching and then went into his body, passing clean through.
Destiny screamed long and loud, it was the only thing she could do as she helplessly watched and felt as Ryou's soul was seized roughly and flung deep down into the dark while, at the same time, a new, pitch black soul slithered like a snake to take his place.
The Ring ceased its glow and Ryou ceased his struggling.
His body fell limp and his eyes dropped closed.
He stood completely still for almost a full minute.
Destiny slowly removed her hand from its position clapped across her mouth.
"Ryou?" she cautiously whispered.
Ryou's eyes snapped open.
They were red.
He wasn't Ryou anymore.
An icy smirk slithered across Ryou's pale lips.
The Spirit then turned the possessed body stiffly around and began a slow stride towards the door and out of the apartment.
Destiny followed at least ten feet behind, just barely out of the Spirit's sights.
She didn't know if, being a spirit, he was able to see her or not and she didn't want to take her chances.
She followed the possessed body back to the school.
It was late now; school was out and the windows were dark.
Destiny suspected that most of the teacher's had gone home by now.
Except one.
The Spirit led Ryou's body into the back of the school to the gym area.
Destiny's heart leapt into her throat.
No.
No, no, no he can't do this!
Destiny rushed forward and attempted to grab Ryou's shoulders, but her hands passed clean through and the Spirit did not cease his purposeful stride.
"Stop…Stop it!" Destiny screamed, but her voice vanished into the eerie wind that curled around Ryou's possessed form, twinning invisible fingers through his now wild, white hair.
The Spirit paused at the door leading to a shed that stored soccer balls, lacrosse sticks, and other things of that sort.
The door was partially ajar.
Through the thin sliver of light that was all that remained of the waning twilight Destiny could see a thick, broad shouldered man with bushy eyebrows scrubbing the grim from the bottom of a pair of cleats.
The Spirit chuckled darkly.
Ryou's gym teacher heard it and spun around.
His eyes widened in surprise for a brief moment before the turned to their usual smug glare.
"New student" he barked. "What do you think you're doing here? It's well past hours."
The Spirit's crimson eyes flashed.
A horrid realization crossed the teacher's cold grey eyes.
"Y-you're not…Who are you?" he demanded.
The Spirit laughed.
He raised his finger and pointed it at the terrified teacher.
"Punishment game!"
The teacher screamed.
Ryou's eyes snapped open, back to their usual chocolate brown.
"What?" he cried. "I have another memory lapse."
Then, the laugh.
"I have finished my little chore, Host" the Spirit announced.
Ryou's eyes flashed in fear.
"What have you done!" he screamed at the ceiling, beating his clenched fists against his forehead as though attempting to get at the Spirit. "What did you make me do?"
"It does not matter, now" the Spirit replied coolly "the Millennium Puzzle is approaching."
"Yugi" Ryou cried weakly before he screamed when the Millennium Ring tassels, which had been dangling inanimately against his body, leapt up and plunged deep into his chest again.
Ryou's hand clapped to his mouth of its own accord.
"Shhh" the Spirit whispered.
The doorbell rang.
"Bakura, are you home?" Yugi's voice could be heard calling through the keyhole "my friends and I came to see if you're okay."
"No, Yugi" Ryou cried, squeezing his eyes shut.
"Struggling is pointless" the Spirit hissed.
Of its own accord, Ryou's body began moving slowly towards the doorway, clutching at his bleeding chest while his hands fumbled across the buttons quickly doing them up.
"Stop it" he whispered weakly. "Leave them alone."
"There is nothing you could say or do to stop me, Host." the Spirit replied. Do not worry, with my help, little Yugi will be with you forever and ever!"
He made it to the door.
"Bakura?" Yugi could be heard on the other side. It sounded like Joey, Tristan, and Teá were with him too.
Ryou's hand fumbled for the doorknob, a physical sign of his inward struggle for control.
The door swung open to reveal Yugi accompanied by his three friends.
"Hey, Bakura" Yugi said with a grin. "We came by to check on you. I hope that's alright."
"Yes, it's fine" Ryou replied coldly.
His eyes opened to reveal bright scarlet
A/N: Squeeeee! Sorry, but I love Bakura so much. I hope he was to everyone's liking as there was a lot of buildup to him. Also, poor Ryou, he's so abused. Well, I used a lot of the Season 0 dialogue so for those of you who have seen it or read the manga, you've got a pretty good idea of what's coming next. For those of you who haven't seen Season 0 or read the manga: What are you still doing here? Go and read/watch it!
Don't forget to review
