OBS:This chapter is not meant to be a mockery on the catholic religion.
1991
Ryou smiled as he dropped a blanket over his father's sleeping body.
His parents split up a few years ago but stayed on good terms. He lived with his mother and sister in Japan during the school year, but his favorite time of the year was the summer vacation, when he went to live with his father. His father lived in England, but they barely spent time in the country as he was an archaeologist specialized in ancient artifacts and always took Ryou to see the world with him.
Last year, his father took him to Italy to study ancient roman ruins, in the previous one, he took Ryou to study aztec ruins in Mexico. This year, he took Ryou to study the Valley of the Kings in Egypt.
He wished that his sister would come with them, but the girl's fear of flying made it impossible, he wondered what trinket he would be able to find for her.
Ryou turned the hotel's room lights off and got ready to sleep. He kneeled in front of his bed, folded his hands and prayed.
"Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name; thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. Amen."
Catholicism wasn't common in Japan, but the Bakura family followed the religion nonetheless. Ryou never forgot to thank the Lord for all the great things in his life like his wonderful family, the food that he never lacked and all the travels and adventures that he had with his father.
He lay down in his bed and closed his eyes, tomorrow his father was going to look for something called the Millennium Ring. Ryou was excited for a new adventure.
"W-Why? Dad, you always take me with you! We're a team!" Ryou was confused, why was this trip different from the others?
"No, Ryou. This is something I have to do by myself, stay at the hotel. You brought some books with you, right? Just read them, I'll be back for dinner! I heard about a dish called 'Ful Medames', it looks delicious!" His father finished packing his bag and left.
Ryou waited for his father to leave, put on his shoes and tailed him.
His tiny legs hurt, his father walked for hours! Not even minutes, hours! He walked from their hotel in Luxor to the Valley of the Kings, why didn't he take a cab? Ryou had no idea. His father stopped in front of an inconspicuous house in a tiny village.
"This is the place, it has to be!" He said before entering the building.
Ryou waited a few seconds and followed his father. As he walked down the stairs, he heard his father's voice, he was talking to someone.
"Please! You need to give the Ring to me! I'll pay as much as you want!" His father screamed desperately.
"I do not want your money, the Millennium Ring's monetary value is irrelevant. You are free to take it, you just need to pass the test." The other man was a mysterious bald egyptian.
"Then I'll do it! Give me the test!"
The man approached a large rock that looked like the lid of a sarcophagus. He took a strange golden object, it was a ring with a pyramid in the center, from the bottom of the ring there were five golden spikes dangling.
"This must be the ring!" Ryou tried his best to not make any noise.
His father took the ring and wore it like a necklace, "I did it! The Ring is mine!" He laughed like a madman, but then stopped suddenly and held his chest in pain.
"You are unworthy." The Egyptian man said as the spikes punctured the man's chest.
"Dad!" Ryou screamed and ran to his wounded father, "Dad, please! I'll get help! Don't leave me!" His protests fell in deaf ears when the older man burst into flames, making Ryou stumble back on instinct, "Dad!" He screamed.
"You were unwise to follow your father, child. Now, the only way to leave is to be approved by an Item." The Egyptian man approached Ryou as the boy crawled back in fear.
"Get away!" Ryou screamed but the man ignored him, he took the Ring from the corpse and grabbed Ryou with a firm hand.
"I do not take pleasure in this, child. But this is my obligation." He put the Ring on Ryou, the boy braced himself, but the pain never came.
Dark tendrils of ancient magic exploded from his body, but Ryou felt no pain. He prayed, but his Lord had abandoned him.
Shadi frowned, this wasn't supposed to happen! The Ring was different from the other Millennium Items, it had an evil presence on it, no mortal should be able to use it! Yet, this kid survived!
"Well, Shadi! I finally found the perfect host!" The thing wearing the kid's skin laughed.
"So you are the presence that I felt…" Shadi grabbed his Millennium Scale and held the Key in his other hand, he had to beat this thing before it could escape.
"Obvious! For someone so wise, you're not very smart, are you?" The creature mocked him.
Shadi tried to use his magic, but it didn't work, "I can not activate a shadow game! Why?" He gritted his teeth.
"What? Can't use your tricks? Sorry, but your power doesn't come even close to mine! Now, your time has come! Rest in pieces, Shadi!" The dark being shot a wave of pure magic at Shadi, killing him instantly.
The creature left, laughing all the way out. Unbeknownst to it, even in death, Shadi still had a duty to do.
Ryou woke up in a hospital room. That wasn't right, was it? He was in Egypt with his father, right? Did he collapse?
"Ryou, thank God!" The boy looked towards the voice, surprised to see his mother.
"Mom? What happened? Why are you here? Where's dad?"
"Ryou…Your father…he disappeared, they found you passed out in your hotel room holding this thing," she gave him the Millennium Ring, it was his, right? His father gave it to him, "I got here yesterday, you were unconscious for 3 days already."
"Disappeared? How?" The white-haired boy was confused, when he went to sleep, his father was sleeping in the chair at the hotel's desk! When did he disappear?
"No one knows, they saw him leave the hotel in the morning…and he was never seen again." His mother opened her arms and Ryou jumped on them.
The boy cried for hours, did his father abandon him? Was he kidnapped? Was he even alive?
What happened?
Ryou returned home 2 days later, still depressed about his father but without energy to cry more. He just wanted his own bed.
"Onii-chan!" His little sister, Amane, jumped on his arms as soon as he opened the door. Their grandmother, who was watching over her, came right after
"Hey, Amane. Hey, grandma." He didn't want to be a jerk with them, but he didn't want to deal with this now.
"D-do you want to watch a movie with me?" Amane asked nervously, "Oh, so they did tell her." Ryou thought to himself. He was afraid that his mother wouldn't tell her about their father and leave it for him to explain.
"Not now, I'm tired, okay? We can play later." Ryou gently pushed his sister aside and headed to his room.
"Annoying brat…" Ryou froze, where did that thought come from? His sister wasn't annoying, she was just concerned!
Ryou was going crazy, wasn't he?
In the next few weeks, Ryou kept getting dark thoughts. Why is this happening? And if the strange thoughts weren't enough, he was having memory gaps! Sometimes he would blink and suddenly appear in another place 10 minutes later, sometimes he would lose 30 minutes of memory, on some rare occasions he would lose hours of memory!
He didn't tell anything to his family, he only prayed and hoped that this would end soon.
"Onii-chan! We bought ice cream! Want some?" His sister knocked on his door, back from shopping with their mother.
"I'll be there in a second!"
"I should put bleach in that brat's milk." No! Where are those thoughts coming from? Ryou knelt in front of his bed.
"Father, why is this happening to me? Please, I beg you! Free this servant from those wicked thoughts, please! Amen."
Ryou hoped that God would help him.
"I doubt my imaginary friend will help me." No, if someone could free him from those thoughts, it was the Lord.
Maybe ice cream would calm his mind?
1993
Ryou cried, it wasn't fair!
One week ago, his mother and sister got into a fatal car accident. A drunk driver hit their car in an intersection.
All involved died on the spot.
First he lost his father, now he lost the rest of his family too?
"Good riddance." NO! He would never think that…would he?
Ryou went to the bathroom to wash his face, but he was still hearing the voice.
"Father, please! Free me from those…satanic thoughts! What's wrong with me?"
"Nothing is wrong with me, I've never felt better."
Ryou's eyes snapped open, he looked into the mirror and what he saw would haunt his nightmares.
His reflection stared right back at him, its eyes had a malicious glint on them and his hair looked like demon horns.
The reflection grinned, Ryou blinked and his reflection turned back to normal.
After his mother's death, Ryou went to live with his grandmother. He loved the old lady, but nothing could fill the emptiness inside him.
Ryou was still afraid to talk with anyone about the voice, not even the priests of the church he attended.
He also lost all his friends, every kid that he played with would eventually fall into a coma.
"Why am I talking like that's a bad thing? Who needs those useless brats?" He really missed his friends.
"Ryou, dear. Can you go to the market for me?" His grandmother handed him her purse.
"Of course, grandma."
"This shitty hag is really starting to piss me off, who does she think she is to order me around?" Ryou put his shoes on and left the house.
"Grandma is really kind to me, the minimum I can do is these fucking tasks unworthy of me!" He shook his head, sometimes the voice would interfere with his actual thoughts, but he was learning to ignore them.
1994
It happened again.
His grandmother was found in a coma on her bed, no one knows what happened. Ryou had enough, he decided to get exorcized, this demon inside him had to go!
He went to the church and talked with the priest about his possession, he quickly prepared the ritual and performed the exorcism.
It didn't work.
On the next day, the voice returned and mocked him, but this was not what disturbed him the most.
The simple fact that the voice talked like they were him disturbed Ryou far more, the demon was not only mocking his existence but also pretending to be his actual conscience.
Ryou took advantage of the fact that he was now living alone in his grandmother's house and fell deep in the occult, he bought many books about dozens of different religions and different types of paganism, if his God couldn't help him, he would find something that could.
He would find something, even if it was the last thing he ever did.
"Why am I even doing this? It's just my own thoughts, who cares if I'm a little nuts?" Ryou frowned, the voice wouldn't influence him! He was stronger than this!
1996
One day, the voice stopped.
Maybe the demon was just tired of Ryou? Maybe he got so good at ignoring it that the demon lost its influence?
Ryou laughed, he never laughed so much in the last few years.
He was free! He was finally free!
Ryou looked into the mirror, smiling to himself when the reflection didn't change.
He turned the lights off and went to bed, ignorant of the malicious grin in his own face.
I find the fact that Yami Bakura literally had no plan besides 'making the normal Bakura's life miserable' until the Duelist Kingdom hilarious, and even after that his plans were just 'go with the flow and see what I can do'.
But his 'striped t-shirt with The Matrix trench coat' look is still iconic.