Disclaimer: I don't own anything in this fanfic unless I created it myself. Anything that I did create was inspired by something owned by someone else. This is done for fun and entertainment, not for profit.
Fandom: Yu-Gi-Oh GX
Title: Scenes From a Reversal: Bloodpaths: 38-50: By Morning's Light
Character: Marufuji Ryou
Word Count: 657
Genre: Drama, Supernatural||Rated: PG-13
Challenge: 50scenes: Marufuji Ryou: banned
Summary: Fifty scenes from a story unwritten, with one fact reversed: what happens when the Gentle Darkness is not gentle? Ryou has his own dark tale to live in this world.

The sun was almost up. Ryou could sense it in his veins, that damnable sense of get away, the instincts that demanded he find shelter from the burning light. He pushed them aside and forced himself to step farther into the courtyard. He'd watched this spot for days from the shadows, making himself stay up dangerously late after sunrise in order to be certain. Here was where the first light of day always struck in Haou's castle.

Memories flickered through his mind, of uncountable dark nights spent hunting for his sustenance, of friends whose lives ended by his hands…fangs. Your fangs. Animal. Beast. Monster. He wanted to deny it and could no more do so than he could deny the lightening sky to the east. It was what he was.

It was what he was determined never to be again. The rebellion would have to succeed without him. He wasn't of any use to it anymore and hadn't been since the day of his exposure. Better that it ended now and he was no longer a threat to them.

The light strengthened with the rising warmth of summer and he shielded his eyes, knowing it wouldn't be much longer. Peace. Finally.

"Hell Kaiser." No! The only voice he hated more than Camula's, now? His hands flexed into fists and back again for the space of a heartbeat and he whirled, fist plunging straight for Haou's face. He had to do this, he could not let Haou stop him, it had to end!

His knuckles were a scant breath away from the golden-eyed monarch when a single word fell from the other's lips. "Stop."

Ryou froze as if turned to stone. Behind him, the sun crept a breath higher; if Haou only gloated just for a few seconds, then…

"Step inside. Into the shadows." Away from the sunlight. He didn't speak the last words, but Ryou didn't need them spoken. Unable to disobey, he entered the castle once again, hearing the loud boom as the door closed behind him, sealing away the light of morning.

Haou gestured for him to follow and led the way to Ryou's own quarters. The silence and shadows closed around the vampire duelist, Haou making certain to take only the darkest corridors. Neither of them needed light to see their way, a fact Haou appeared intent on impressing on his wayward servant.

A wave of his hand opened Ryou's door and he indicated for Ryou to precede him into the room. He wants no chances I'll run away. Not that Haou couldn't stop him if he tried.

He turned to face Haou and wasn't surprised that the other had already entered and closed the door. Though Ryou was a good six inches taller than Haou was, there was no question on who the master was here.

"Kneel." Through it all, there hadn't been a single shred of emotion in Haou's voice. Ryou sank down to his knees, dropping his head to stare at the floor, sick humiliation surging through him. "You'll stay like that until I return to tell you otherwise."

Ryou's nails scraped on the stone floor and he waited to hear what the rest of his punishment would be. Would he be starved again, then unleashed on an unsuspecting village? Perhaps used to slaughter more of Haou's enemies?

"You can look at the sun as much as you can stand," Haou said after a few quiet, nerve-racking moments. "But you cannot enter it. You can never let it touch you in any way. You cannot suicide, Hell Kaiser. And not just by sunlight." Ryou couldn't look up, but he knew the expression that would be on Haou's face. Sick, twisted pleasure as he chose his words with care. "You cannot let yourself die under any circumstances. You will fight to preserve your…unlife…until I give you permission to end it. No. Matter. What."

Ryou almost wished for the starvation and the slaughter.

The End