Author's Note:

Hi guys! I borrowed this phrase from Bakura's version of the events in the beginning of the story, which was featured in Misfits and What Ifs. My only excuse for the length between updates is because this chapter was a monster to write. It's not my longest chapter, but it might be the hardest to write so far. I've spent a lot of time writing and rewriting it in hopes that I can get it as close to perfection as I am able. Also, I have a couple of pieces that I am working on for Misfits and What Ifs, so if you want to know what happened to different characters prior to Bakura's escape from the shadow realm you should keep an eye out.

Thanks to all of my reviewers, especially angiembabe and lalalei. Your reviews are always encouraging and useful. Much of the time your guesses come close, and even if they aren't they're still interesting to read!

-TheEagerScribbler

Trigger warning: This chapter features disturbing scenes, including blood and death. If you are someone who does not want to read something like that skip down to Yugi's point of view.

Chapter 23: Painted in red

Aiko pov.

Aiko found herself staring at the platform game with apprehension. There had to be some sort of catch. Games were what she knew best and she could easily predict what a platform style game would be like. She saw balconies, cars, and random floating platforms in the air and crates on the ground that she knew would hold items to help her defend herself. If there were platforms and items then there would have to be enemies. Who were they? Were they her own creatures like Midori or would they be duel monsters, which Bakura seemed to favor? There was only one way to find out...

She took a running start and jumped onto the first platform. Aiko jumped from platform to platform like a character in some retro style 8 bit game. She was less tired tired than she thought she'd be from all of the exertion. Only moments before the queen's challenge she remembered feeling exhausted from the burden of the shadows and physical activity but now she was strangely calm. Before all of this magic nonsense she always felt this calm confidence even under pressure. Deadlines were no big deal and she thrived on competition. Somehow she had allowed the pressure, fear, and uncertainty to turn her into a teary-eyed child. That had to end. If she won it would be because of her own brain and determination, and if she lost then it was because she had met a superior opponent and would deserve the consequences.

A loud crack rang in the air and she realized what it was without looking. It seemed that Aiko's instinct had been right-Bakura was playing dirty, as if she expected anything less from someone who took such pleasure in tormenting them. Someone had a gun. Aiko avoided looking back for fear that she would make herself vulnerable to someone else, but she listened carefully to the footsteps. Whoever was chasing her was wearing heels, so it was clearly human, or at least an excellent reproduction of one. Instead of turning around she jumped onto the balcony of some apartment buildings and surveyed her surroundings. The path that she was supposed to follow seemed endless-it was just building after building for what seemed like miles. Below the platform Aiko's best friend Melissa was guarding a box. Melissa was small and frail looking- her big brown eyes and round face made her look younger than she really was. Seeing her with a gun was bizarre because she couldn't even bring herself to kill a bug. Maybe it was just another layer of illusion. He was just trying to psych her out.

Aiko did the only thing that she could-she ran. Avoiding the bullets made her feel nervous but also alive. Something about the way she moved was instinctual. She had no idea how long she would have until she reached her destination and no idea how she had even managed to stay alive. Staying alert and keeping an eye out for enemies was all she could do to protect herself. After running for a while Aiko had managed to not realize that she had crossed the street. She could only focus on moving forward. The box didn't take much effort to open. She only had to tear off the tape and reach inside in order to reach the gun and ammo. The sight made her queasy. Of course she understood the mechanics of operating a firearm-she had seen enough movies to get the gist of it all, but how was she supposed to bring herself to pull the trigger? "Not real. Not real." She muttered to herself. "None of this is real." But when a bullet landed an inch from her head it felt very real.

She spun around to face her so called friend. Her friend pointed the gun at her. "How could you do this?" Melissa cried. "I trusted more than anyone. I'm only shooting you because you'd shoot me first." Melissa was the face of innocence as tears streamed down her cheeks. "You're a traitor. Don't you see? You're the one making me do this!" She babbled on like that for a few more seconds but Aiko quit listening. None of it made any sense. She had never done anything wrong! It was all a trick, just a clever mind game created by an evil spirit. Melissa raised the gun and aimed it at her head. Unfortunately for her Aiko was faster.

Aiko had read somewhere that you should never point a gun at somebody unless you're ready to kill them, but how could anybody possibly be prepared for this? She could feel the force of the shot but she couldn't hear it-all she could hear was the sound of her own heart beating. Melissa fell to the ground almost instantly after a horrifying moment that was just long enough for her to realize what was happening. Blood poured out of her head and had splattered both Aiko and the grey asphalt that she was standing on.

"Oh my god." Was all that Aiko could manage to say. She stared at the body in front of her. "Oh my god. Melissa." Tears streamed down her face. She had shot someone wearing her best friend's face. For all that she was supposedly just a phantom created from the shadows and her memories Aiko was certain that there was no way that warmth and revolting smell of the blood could have come from her imagination. There was no way that even an imagination as creative as hers could conjure such horrifying images. The smell made her gag-she thought she was going to throw up.

The tell tale crack of a gunshot rang out and barely missed her. There was no time to mourn taking a life that never existed. She had to live if only to make Bakura pay for putting her through this. Dodge. Drop. Roll. Run. Jump. She was suddenly aware that she had just become a character in Bakura's twisted game. She could just see him sitting in front of a computer screen directing all of his pawns. How had he even managed to create such an elaborate illusion that seemed to extend for miles any way?

"Why are you doing this?" She shouted to Bakura. He wasn't present but she knew that he could hear her.

"Because I can," a voice said through speakers. "Here's a word of advice girl, If I were you I wouldn't spend too much time chatting. Your friends don't look happy to you!"

She didn't want to waste the time looking backwards so she looked at the reflection on buildings. She was being pursued by Kat, her oldest and closest friend. Kat was holding a machine gun and clearly wanted to use it to kill her. "Oh come on! Really, a machine gun? That's like killing a spider with a flamethrower- it's entirely unnecessary! Wouldn't something smaller do the trick?" She said as she dove behind and abandoned vehicle for cover.

"But this will be infinitely more entertaining!" was Bakura's only explanation.

Bullet after bullet punctured the car. Aiko hoped that it wouldn't cause an explosion. Could she dodge bullets and an explosion? She ran harder and faster than before. Maybe she could make it there by outrunning everyone! Her hands were still stained with blood and she couldn't bring herself to even look at the cold hunk of metal in her hands much less use it, even for self defense a second time.

There was one major flaw in her plans, something so ridiculously simple that she could hardly believe that she forgot to take it into account. She was tired. She had begun to feel it seep into her a while ago but didn't pay attention. What was the point? Giving into her exhaustion meant surrender and she'd rather die than admit defeat.

With every run, dodge, and jump she could feel the sweat dripping down her brow. She had to finish this. She hopped onto the next platform and onto the one after that. She had to make it. Her friend leapt in front of her and nearly knocked her off. A bullet came within a quarter of an inch from her chest.

The whole time she ran her heart was in her throat thumping as wildly and loudly as a drum solo. Her heart was the only thing that she could despite the deafening echoes of gunshots and screams. Someone with her best friend's face had tried to kill her. Now another friend was chasing after her with a gun as well. Kat was no more physically intimidating than Melissa but she was faster and more agile. She forced Aiko to take full advantage of the platforms, balconies, and cars that surrounded the street. Meanwhile Aiko was preparing herself to point her gun at someone wearing her friend's face. The absurdity of the situation was not lost on Aiko.

"It's not her. It's just a fake. Like solid vision, only really solid." She reminded herself. Reluctantly she raised her arm to shoot. Aiko took a breath and aimed. It was simple physics. She could do that, right? She shot again. She didn't quite hit where she was aiming for, but the look alike feel to the ground with a thud and a face frozen in permanent shock. She wished that she could unsee that face. Something warm and coppery splashed onto her skin and she willed herself to not look at it. She didn't have the stomach for it but she couldn't look away. This body didn't disappear like Melissa's. The corpse remained on the ground with eyes wide open staring up at the purple sky.

"Tick tock." Bakura's voice sang through a speaker. It was enough to shake her out her horror induced trance. They weren't real. If she didn't start moving now she would never see the real versions of them again. She had to keep going until she was beaten. The price of failure was just too high.

She jumped onto a balcony and then jumped onto the top of a truck before taking a running start to the next platform, but she just barely missed and found herself surrounded by people with guns. Her mother, her father, and Seto Kaiba were all there pointing ridiculously over powered guns at her chest. Somehow she couldn't help but laugh. What was she, an anime character? Dodging school girls with guns and now her own parents and her idol, it seemed more like an episode of some absurd television show than her own life.

For some reason they were waiting for her to shoot first.. She held her gun in her trembling hands but her finger froze on the trigger. No matter how angry she would sometimes get at him he was her Dad. He was the one who would tuck her into bed at night and tell her stories. She couldn't shoot anything with his face. The illusion of her mother put down the gun and held out her arms. Aiko was cold, exhausted, scared, and covered in blood. There was no way out for her. She looked over her 'father's shoulder at the path and saw that it didn't seem to end. She looked into the eyes of the woman in front of her and only saw emptiness. They would not help her, and they would also not kill her without some sort of was stuck with no way out. If she were to try to attack one of them they would overwhelm her with sheer numbers, and if she didn't then she would be forever stuck in the shadow realm. What was the point to continuing on? He could just make her walk forever, slaughtering people with the faces of her loved ones. There was no winning this terrible game of shadows that Bakura engineered. There was only pain. Aiko did the only thing that she could to end it-she walked to the woman with her mother's face and wrapped her arms around her, signaling her surrender.


Yugi pov.

Yugi wanted to jump right into the shadow game and end it and he had to stop Tea from acting on the same impulse. He knew that she was thinking the same thing-when they looked at her they saw their daughter. "She'll be fine," Tea tried to reassure him. "We have to believe that she'll be fine."

"You're right. It's just that she's so young."

"So were we," she pointed out.

"I had already been running a multi-million dollar corporation for several years by the time I was her age," Seto said flatly. "If she can stand on her own two feet she'll walk out of there soon enough."

"Um...guys…" Mokuba pointed to the swirling shadows "I think something's happening."

Yugi squinted his eyes to try to make out what was happening. The shadows were lifting. His eyes searched frantically for the silhouette of the girl but found nothing. He swallowed and then turned to his wife, putting a hand on her shoulder. "Tea...she's gone."

Mokuba's eyes widened. "You mean…?"

Yugi nodded. "Yes."

Bakura emerged from the Darkness carrying her body. He practically threw it in Kaiba's arms. "Only five left. I expected better."

Roland snuck up behind Bakura and pointed a gun at his head. Bakura smirked and Yugi realized that Bakura somehow sensed his presence. "Go ahead, shoot. I'm already dead, but my host isn't."Roland's hand began to waver but his finger remained on the trigger.

Suddenly Bakura's demeanor shifted and features softened. Somehow Ryou had managed to suppress the spirit long enough to beg. "Do it! He won't be gone for good but it'll buy you some time!" It wasn't fear that shone in his eyes, it was steely resolve.

"No! There has to be another way!" Tea cried.

"She's right! We'll try to beat him without killing you!"

"You don't have a choice unless-" Ryou's eyes went wide and his features began to shift again. "I won't give you the chance!"

"Shadow Ghoul, shroud me in shadows!" He walked into a shadow and then disappeared.

All attention turned back to Aiko. "Is she alive?" Akari asked hesitantly from behind Yugi.

Tea walked over to Akari and asked with a hand on her hip,"What are you doing here? You're supposed to be at home!"

Yugi simply raised an eyebrow. He wasn't happy with her but he would have done the same thing.

Akari's eyes were pinned to the ground. "I couldn't just stay home while you and Dad were here risking your lives. You would have done the same thing!

"We'll talk about this later," Yugi said sternly. "For now we have other things to take care of."

"Is she alive?" Akari repeated.

"She's breathing," was Seto's succinct response. For once Yugi agreed with Seto's assessment of the situation. "She's breathing" was the most optimistic thing that he could think of because the truth was that she wasn't alright. She had just lost her soul after undergoing psychological torture. The only way that she could be any less fine was for her heart to stop beating altogether.

Yugi drew his daughter close close and tried to reassure her. "Her soul is gone, but we can still get it back." They had done it with Mai and Joey, so it theory she could still be saved. It would only work if they defeated him soon, and there was no telling how long that would take. A traitorous voice in the back of his warned him that they might not make it in time.

"Sir, what will we do with the girl for now?" Roland asked, phone at the ready, waiting for his employer's next order.

"Take her to the hospital-just say that she suddenly fainted. When you're done call her parents."

"Yes sir!" He took the body from Seto. "Should I make a pit stop for you?"

"That won't be necessary, we're close enough to the office." Seto waved him away and looked at his watch. "If Mokuba and I hurry we might make our next meeting." Seto turned and began to walk away. Yugi wondered how Seto could just walk away and attend to daily business as though nothing had happened.

Mokuba shrugged and turned to Yugi. "We'll think of something, I just know it. For now I probably should attend this meeting. If the world doesn't end we'll really need these investors."

"We understand Mokuba, just be safe okay?" Tea cautioned.

"Will do!"


Later that day

Yugi and Tea clung to their daughter tighter than usual when they returned home.

"You're okay!"

"Yeah, no worries Mom."

"What were you thinking! You could have been killed!" Tea raised her voice, but she still clung to their daughter. "I thought you were smarter than that!"

Akari was silent for a minute, before quietly saying in a cracking voice, "We're never really safe are we?"

How had she become ensnared in all of this? When he and Tea decided to try for a baby they had thought that the most danger she would ever be in was from favoritism brought by her father's reputation and associating with the Kaiba family. They had truly believed that the shadow games had been sealed away with the millennium items. If they could be sealed away once, they could be resealed away. "That's not true. Right now things might look scary, but they won't always be that way. You've just-" Yugi was interrupted

Akari sighed, "...gotta have faith, I know."

"Am I really that predictable?" Yugi smiled tiredly.

"Yep."

"Well, it's good advice," Tea said in his defense. "Faith can be a weapon more powerful that the millennium items. You wouldn't believe how often it's saved us."

Akari looked at them skeptically. "It wasn't enough for her."

"Sweetheart, it doesn't mean that bad things will never happen to you. It means believing that you can still pull through even when things get hard. It's remembering to never stop fighting. Aiko is a strong person and she fought as hard as she could, but she's inexperienced in a way that the rest of us aren't."

The girl nodded but remained silent. Yugi suspected that she was only silent because the only other alternative was to cry-he couldn't blame her. His daughter was fierce, but she was still human. "We'll get her back. Have faith in me Kari,"

This time she was the one who held on tighter. "Okay."


Akari fell asleep earlier than usual, which meant that for the first time in a while the night was theirs. Both of them tried to pretend that things were normal. They made small talk about their day and tried to absorb themselves in some tv show that neither of them cared about. Somehow they ended up curled up against each other on the couch, speaking in hushed tones about their past and fears for the future.

"Yugi?" She had asked.

"Hm?"

"Do remember that day when Pegasus took your grandfather's soul?"

He wasn't entirely sure where she was going with that question."Yeah. What about it?"

"Did it ever occur to any of us that we were in way over our heads?" She asked in a small voice.

That was a good question. Truthfully he felt like there was never a choice so he tried not to think about it. At that point Yugi was still a young, inexperienced, bullied teenager. He almost always felt like he was in over head, but duelist kingdom was something else entirely. He had never had to deal with having someone else's life on the line. "I don't know about you guys, but I was so anxious that night that I could hardly sleep, and then there was that shadow game with Bakura where we were all game pieces-that was the first time that I realized how much danger we were all in. I knew that Pegasus had Grandpa's soul, but I had never come so close to losing my own soul before."

"How did we ever live this long with you, Joey, and Tristan dragging us into trouble head first? If their fists didn't get them into trouble it was their big mouths, and you...at least you had him."

"You seem to think that you were completely innocent in all of this. You, my dear, were just as bad as the three of us."

"Nope." She argued, " I was nowhere near as bad as Joey and Tristan. I knew when to keep my mouth shut."

"That's true, but you did stow away on a ship at Duelist Kingdom. How long do you think we'd ground Akari for that?"

Tea snorted. "She'd be grounded until she's thirty."

"Yep, that sounds about right," He casually agreed. "I think the only reason I was never punished was because Grandpa knew enough about Ancient Egypt to understand what I needed to do."

"You're so lucky that Grandpa used to be an archeologist!" Tea agreed. "I got into a lot of trouble when we got back.

Yugi smiled and looked down at the puzzle hanging around his neck. Everytime he looked at the gleaming metal and the eye of wdjat he remembered the promise inscribed on the puzzle: "The one who solves me shall gain the powers and knowledge of darkness..." They were true. The puzzle allowed for him to do extraordinary things and had exposed him to dark truths that had changed how Yugi saw the world.

After a moment of brief silence Yugi finally said, "After Battle City I used to wonder what kind of world our children would live in. There are some things that you just can't forget, not even when you try to drown yourself in work or get so drunk that hardly even remember your own name. The shadow games might be gone but I have a hard time believing that the shadow games are it." Tea knew all of this. Everytime something bad or unexplainable happened there was always a suspicion in the back of his mind that it wasn't mundane.

Tea herself had had nightmares at one point. Sometimes they were of shadow games, but other times they featured Dartz. One night when he held her after a nightmare she had confessed to him that she had never come so close to losing him, and that was why she considered them her worst nightmares."That's why Bakura does what he does. He makes sure that they powerful artifacts don't fall into the wrong hands so that no one else has to risk their life in situations like that." Tea paused to try to summon the strength to think about her friend who was currently at the mercy of a monster. "Yugi…" her voice began to falter. "What if we can't get rid of the spirit without…"

Yugi had no answer for that and drew her closer. He once again found himself looking at the puzzle contemplatively, as though a spirit who had all of the answers still resided in its maze like corridors.

Author's Note:

I hope that you've enjoyed this chapter. Despite it's length it's dark and intense. I'm not going to lie, writing these kinds of chapters makes me nervous, but it's been a learning experience. Hopefully it's turned out okay. I promise that soon you'll have a break from doom and gloom. Please leave me a review telling me what you think!

-TheEagerScribbler