Pardon the OC Toby. He's just going to be present for this chapter and the purposes it serves. Also, I had to make up a given name for Doctor Bakura. Since he does not have one in canon. (He's also not a doctor in canon, but SCREW THE RULES, I'M A FANFICTION AUTHOR)

"Make me believe I'm human...

Make me believe I'm not the voice in my mind...

I don't believe all the wrong I've done is forgiven…"

- The Devil Inside, Like A Storm

Chapter Five: The Devil Inside

Toby squeezed the phone between his ear and shoulder. His hands were occupied with furious typing. The ringtone on the other end trilled ceaselessly. He rolled his eyes. Things were just becoming functional again on this end, but… it seems as though things were still not going well for Field Team Alpha. Or not. It was hard to tell when they weren't answering their damn satellite phone.

Toby finished the sentence on the email and slammed the phone down into its cradle. He lifted it up immediately and dialed.

The process repeated for forty-five minutes.

Someone had to be at the campsite, or at least in earshot of the damn satellite phone.

Finally - "What?"

"Hello, is this Doctor Reiji Bakura?" Toby asked, exasperated already. Whoever was on the other end seemed to be in a peachy mood.

A pause. "Yes."

"Well, this is Toby Purthing from Project Management," Toby explained. "I'm sorry to inform you, but the funding for your expedition has been retracted. Headquarters wants you and your team in Cairo and on the next flight back to Domino by the end of next week."

"Really?"

Toby furrowed his brows. That wasn't quite the reaction he was expecting. "Yes. After a… complication with Field Team Beta's subject, Seto Kaiba recalled your team. Of course, Gozaburo Kaiba tried to reverse the decision, but he has been classified as functionally incapacitated."

"Complication?"

Toby shrugged a shoulder. "Let's just say the jack-in-the-box wasn't quite what we expected."

A pause on the other end.

"Doctor Bakura?"

A hum. "I'll return in the allotted time."

"You and the rest of the team will still be compensated in full for your time-"

"The rest of the team is gone."

"What-"

A hollow tone cut him off. Doctor Reiji Bakura had hung up.

Toby frowned. Things definitely went south for Field Team Beta. Toby opened an email and began typing.

To: Seto Kaiba

Subject: Field Team Alpha (Complications?)

The wind tore by. Power surged through his veins in heady, cold waves. Across rooftops in mere seconds, before bounding onto others.

He was an apex predator in a jungle of concrete.

He launched himself from one building. The next one over was too tall to simply jump to its top. He slammed into the brick, huge clawed fingers sinking into the surface with brute force. He loped up the wall, leaving punctured and crumbling brick in his wake.

Up, up, up. The sky was the limit.

He landed crouched upon the roof, and he slunk over to perch on the raised edge of the building. He stared out over the city, bright as a star even in the dark of night.

What a strange new world. It had changed much in his absence.

He felt the fluttering under the surface. His host was trying to break back through. For such a small, weak human, Yugi had the determination to rival an army.

The beast receded.

When Yugi could finally control his own body again, he nearly fell to his death. He scrambled against the hard ledge of the rooftop, and just barely managed to throw himself back onto his ass. He panted hard, heart fluttering in his chest like a frightened bird.

"Ohmygod-" he gasped, hand over his mouth. "I just bit a dude's head off."

But it wasn't him.

Red eyes flashed in his memory. Cold surged at his shoulder, and he nearly shrieked. A black, undulating form extended from his body. At the end, a rounded, oblong head hovered. A webby crown of tentacles wavered about, and red, pupil-less opaque eyes stared unblinking. An off-yellow symbol of an eye glowed faintly from the center of its watery forehead. Rows and rows of jagged teeth grinned at him.

"Hello, Yugi." The alien motion of teeth and lips and tongue.

Black feathered the edge of Yugi's vision, and he could feel his eyes rolling back when a sharp flash of cold jolted through bim.

"I shall have none of that now."

"You… you murdered that man!" Yugi whispered.

"He was but a blemish on the face of society. He deserved to be exterminated." The angular red eyes narrowed and the paper thin lips curled away into a snarl.

"That's not for you to decide," Yugi hissed. "You are not the judge, not the jury, and not the executioner!" The hovering head recoiled that those words. "We have a system for that."

"Your system clearly failed," it rumbled back.

Yugi couldn't believe it. He was having a debate over ethics with a talking head. He jolted. "You are the reason I've been sick today!"

"Our metabolism was acclimating to sustaining two beings."

"Our metabolism!? You mean my metabolism, Yugi's metabolism!" Aghast, he stared at the creature. "Get out of my body, you parasite!"

It titled its head, as if in contemplation. "No. And I'm not a parasite. Not in this instance."

"No?! Like hell you aren't a parasite!" Yugi exclaimed.

"I am in no way harming your body. In fact, you will only gain from my occupation. I gain a body that can successfully sustain me, and you gain power and strength beyond your wildest imaginings. By definition, our relationship is mutualistic, not parasitic."

Yugi's brows ached from being furrowed so hard. "I don't care! Get out of my body!"

That gash-like mouth and those jagged teeth curled into a chilling smirk. "Make me."

Yugi hissed, latched onto the neck protruding from above his clavicle. Cold, wet, webby. He grimaced, tugged. His hand only slipped awkwardly along the surface. The cold permeated his fingers.

It had moved to his hand. He growled in frustration, grabbed at it with his other hand.

It did it again.

Yugi screamed, clawed at it.

It would not leave. He could not get it out.

"As amused as I am by this entire thing, if you do not cease this nonsense, I will take control of our body again."

"My body!" Yugi hissed.

If the talking head could roll its eyes, it seemed like it would have at that moment. "As demonstrated, I will not be leaving so soon. At least try to get used to sharing."

Yugi continued his relentless digging.

"I warned you," it intoned.

The creature dissolved into his skin, and the cold rush overtook him again. He watched the black bloom across his body through paralyzed eyes. Once again, Yugi was towering, on the move, leaping from rooftop to rooftop. The entire time, he screamed internally.

The tallest building in this area of the city loomed closer and closer. Industrial Illusions.

Higher. I want to see it all.

The thought echoed through Yugi's brain, and he realized with a jolt that it wasn't his own.

A leap, Yugi felt like his breath would have been caught in his throat. Hurtling through the air at at the speed of a bullet. Black blossomed out from each limb, cushioned the blow, and the webby forms solidified into claws. They curled hard, fractured the concrete of the building, and then they were going up.

Yugi could still feel. The wind rushing by. The power crashing through his body.

As exhilarating as it was, it was frightening.

… Just what was this thing capable of?

"You cannot imagine."

They were nearing the top. It had only been the barest handful of seconds. Claws wrapped around the edge, and tension rippled through all of their muscles. The beast launched them up, and rolled gracefully across the surface upon which they landed. The roof of Industrial Illusions was a giant helipad, and Yugi was thankful that it wasn't in use at the time. From what he could see, there were no surveillance cameras.

The beast moved them close to the edge again. They perched upon the precipice, and the beast looked down upon the twinkling city. Yugi could all but taste its wonder.

"This world I find myself in…" it started, "is strangely beautiful."

Yugi agreed silently. He'd always been entranced by the eerie beauty of the city at night, too.

"Yugi, you are a fool if you believe that I will give up this chance. I've been kept in the dark for far too long."

His head lowered, filmy lips twitching and jagged teeth clicking together.

"No one will keep me from the light of day. Not anymore."

The woman entered the hospital room.

Gozaburo gazed emptily at her. His eyes were a little clearer, his expression a little more lucid. "What is the news on Field Team Alpha?"

Her jaw was set tight, red-painted lips in a thin line. "Seto retracted their funds. They are scheduled to return to Cairo by the end of next week."

Gozaburo's right hand tightly fisted into the blanket. His face flushed hot red. "What?"

The woman took a deep breath. "He's convinced the Board and the rest of the company that you are functionally incapacitated and unable to make executive decisions. Your say on the matter has been shut down and ignored."

Teeth sneered clearly from behind a graying mustache. "What a fucking ungrateful brat," he spat. He breathed deeply, raggedly, furious, and the woman, still with a blank expression, took a quick step back and to the side, just in time to avoid a styrofoam cup flying toward her head. "At least tell me you know where the fucking creature is!"

"We don't know his actual whereabouts now, but an informant working under Seto knows its new host's name."

"Well, what is it!?"

She blinked. "Yugi Muto, sir."

"Find him as soon as possible and capture him. I don't fucking care how many men it takes."

Travel by rooftop-leaping seemed to be the beast's favorite mode of transportation. For Yugi, the initial terror had faded away, and now he found himself settling into the rhythm, the feeling of freedom, almost like flight, he imagined. After some beseeching, he'd managed to convince the creature to bring them back to the apartment. He had class tomorrow, and he couldn't afford to stay out any later than they were.

And so they were, bounding across alleyways and sometimes entire streets. Their whole body began to vibrate. The beast stopped in its tracks, crouched on all fours in alarm and confusion as they rippled.

"What the hell is that?"

Yugi was just as confused for a moment. My phone! It's ringing!

"The speaking device."

Yes! Let me answer it! It's probably Joey or Grandpa!

The beast grunted in displeasure, but receded back into Yugi's body. Shrugging off the lingering cold, Yugi dug into his pocket.

Joey (Joseph Wheeler)

"Hey, Joey," Yugi breathlessly answered.

"Yug'! Where the hell are ya? I was gettin' worried!" Joey immediately hollered.

"I'm on my way now. I got a little distracted by some… stuff," he finished lamely.

"Stuff?" Joey questioned.

"Uh… Yeah."

"Listen, just get your scrawny ass back over here, okay? Gramps already called me, worried out of his mind that you hadn't called yet. You're gonna give that man a heart attack at this rate, pipsqueak."

"Okay. If he calls again, tell him to just call me. I'm not in the subway right now. Also, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to worry you."

"It's okay, Yug'. You know how I feel about the subway system in this damn city."

"Yeah." Yugi picked at his shirt. "I'm hanging up. See you in a few."

"Okay. See ya."

Click

"You've caused nothing but trouble," Yugi muttered. He could feel the creature's shrug, and then the cold was surging over him again.

"Let's get going, then."

The man looked truly haggard. His long, dark hair, was a frayed mess, and his body was caked with sand and sunburns. Dark shadows contoured his face, and the vessels of his eyes were swollen. Airport security blinked at him, but he remained in the lobby.

Dark brows furrowed, and he fumbled with the satellite phone unit. He pushed a few buttons, lifted the receiver to his ear.

"Doctor Bakura!" the man on the other end gasped. Toby.

"I've arrived at the airport in Cairo. Please make arrangements for my return to Domino City," he growled into the receiver.

"Um, you weren't due back until next week -"

"I know, and I don't care. I want back now," he hissed.

"O-Okay. I'm sure I can wrangle up a flight for you."

"Good."

"Listen, what you said about the other team members-"

"I said just what I needed to say. They are gone. End of discussion."

Click

He slammed the receiver down.

He glared at the people staring at him. They quickly looked away.

END PART

Wow, sorry about the short chapter. I covered all the things that needed to be covered much more quickly than I thought I would. Anyways, I hope you enjoyed this chapter! See ya next time!