Two chapters in one week. Don't you all feel special now? With all these reviews I certainly am! ^^ I'd recommend reading the last paragraph of Chapter 4 first before starting because it just sort of *starts*.
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I have an idea though. "Would you let me do something?" I ask in a low voice, already bollixing up a reason for why he should trust me, why I'm 'really' helping him, what I want out of all this, blah-de-bloody-blah.
"Yes."
Huh. That, wasn't quite the response I was expecting. I actually wait a little while for him to expand on that or laugh in my face, but he just jerks his brows at me to remind me that it's my turn to do something. I think this is some form of trust on display here. There's hope yet. Either that or all of this is just him losing his mind and this is another symptom of it. Either way.
A bit of an admittance is going to be necessary here before I can carry on. "I put a bit of myself in the Puzzle a while back. I can get in there, but it'll be easier if you just let me in." Please don't let him ask me why I did that, or go for me as a matter of fact. I don't have the energy for another brawl just yet.
"Go ahead." For a split second I think he's mocking me, but then I actually feel him drop some of his defences. All ripe for the picking and opened up to me. What the Hell is going on here? I think the fact that my eyebrows have disappeared and my eyes are the wrong size gives away my surprise. Yami shrugs a little. "You seem to know what you're doing."
I don't understand him. He insults me, he trusts me. He's tried to kill me off more than once, and now he's letting me swan around his most private and sensitive place. That… sounded wrong. Oh fuck it. I don't know what I'm actually doing; I'm playing a hunch here but I might as well pretend I've got this all planned out in my little head for his sake. Tuh. I care about 'his sake' and it doesn't bother me. Shows how far I've come in the last… what? Ten hours?
Giving up on this very ineffectual train of thought, I ditch my linear form and drift into the Puzzle, taking shape again as a corporeal being. I didn't go straight into his Soul Room; I wouldn't dare right now. That's too private, too personal. But standing here I think I've found something that might have a hand in this Great Change that Yami's undergoing.
The dark, rusted door to Yami's Soul Room is as solid as solid gets in here to my left, and Yugi's is blurry and faded signifying that I couldn't access that if I tried. It's nothing to do with anything Yami's doing; I'm just not compatible with it so I can't go in there. What's caught my attention though is the small white door in front of me. I don't know how Yami hasn't noticed it as it's glowing insanely brightly. Stepping closer, I get the weirdest sense that it's not actually white in colour; just the light it's giving off is that pristine and clean. The door itself, about the right size for crawling through, is actually black. I'm having to get pretty close to it to see that, the beams breaking up around my body in that very cool way that I've seen in films and on a few music videos... Never-mind.
I don't really sense anything menacing about it, although there is a tad of dark energy leaking out from it that is remarkably similar to my own. Even Yami's magic isn't like mine the way this is. Reaching out a hand, I go to touch it and quirk a brow when it crumbles beneath my fingertips. I have to cover my ears from the screeching inside that suddenly wallops into me at noise-pollution volume. Guess this is where it's been coming from the whole time. Just a guess there.
Opening my eyes from where I've clenched them shut, I take a look inside the hole in nothingness. That's actually correct as this 'door' is hovering in the middle of thin-air. Must be trans-dimensional. My hands are still over my ears as I lean in, make no mistake. It's still incredibly noisy. I'm surprised Yami hasn't come in to see what's going on.
What's inside isn't quite what I expected to see, not that I had any preconceptions about that. Heck I didn't even know what I was doing two minutes ago. But still, I've never seen anything like this before. I take a few minutes of just staring at what's inside the portal that I've opened, trying to figure it out. I'm glad that Yami hasn't gotten impatient and started prodding me to get a move on. Actually he's being uncharacteristically patient with me. When did he get so patient with me? Trusting? When I slapped him the other day he went to hit me back instantly. Why the sudden change?
For now I'll just pin it down from him needing something from me; knowledge, expertise, punching bag, something. He doesn't give a damn about me other than that. His saving my life probably wasn't even that; just him working off negative karma or getting influenced by what's happening here. He doesn't care other than that.
But I can worry about all this feely crap later. Right now screechy things are demanding my attention. It's chaotic through this little door, an immeasurable cavern into some other Realm filled with light and something else. The whiteness that fills just over half of this space is dulling slowly, so slowly that it takes me a few minutes of staring at it to actually notice. There are smaller patches of absorbing darkness that are zinging around, puncturing the white, and then a huge mass of blackness shoving itself up against the white as well.
It still isn't making much sense, especially in relation to what's going on with Yami. Is he infected with something that's poisoning his spirit? Making it darker? Dredging up his old maliciousness and bringing it to the fore? I can't puzzle this out in this state. The two states represented here aren't conscious but they're aware, something that I can use. I've dabbled in the Shadow Realm often enough to pick up on its quirks, and the creation of images that mirror solid reality is one of them. A blueprint is needed though.
Bracing myself, I lean myself into the doorway and feel something grab me around about my navel before I'm pulled inside, hoping the whole time that I'm going to be able to get back out again when I'm done here. I float effortlessly with everything happening all around me, something that's fairly interesting to watch although it's a bit intimidating. I can feel nudges against every part of me, testing, exploring, and after a few minutes the two masses of colour start to coalesce into two far smaller things, the screaming around me dying down to silence with it.
This is how the monsters of the Shadow Games took their forms here originally. They were carved first into stone on great tablets, one for every monster, and then someone who had access to the Shadow Realm would bring the memory of the carving inside. No one really knows what exactly takes on the forms of monsters; it may be that there's an ocean of living magical energy just waiting to be given form and purpose.
It's not of any real consequence though, what matters is that the monsters took on the attributes shown in the carvings and grew as powerful as could be allowed. Every now and then though someone slipped up in controlling their growth and the monsters ended up uncontrollable. Obelisk is one example of that kind of slip-up, one that resulted in drastic measures to make the situation safer. With tremendously powerful monsters than no one but a select gifted few could control rampaging the planet, times had gotten dark. But that's all and past now. It could happen again but that isn't an immediate concern of mine.
It takes only seconds for the representations of the light and the dark to complete themselves, not that they're paying attention to me. The two humanoids instantly start going for each other. It isn't a question of hurting each other here; this is all about dominance. Anyone with eyes can see that just from the way they're fighting, working to overpower each other without really exchanging blows.
The two figures in question both resemble Yami I might add. The one who seems to have pulled the short straw in the strength department look more like the Yami who's head I'm currently floating around in, dressed in his usual leather attire. This one has worked from either my memories or Yami's to create this image. This is what Yami is and has been for some time. The other, well, the other is something that I'd personally avoid pissing off.
He's in leather as well but I haven't seen this style in a few thousand years. It's pharaoh garb but it's made out of black cowhide rather than woven cloth and silk, clinging to his legs as he shoves the familiar Yami further down. This one's face is slightly rounder but it certainly does not make him look any more innocent like Yugi. It looks Imp-like and demonic. His irises are closer to the colour of blood too and his hair has a tad more flair to it. Another scream echoes around me, and my eyes widen when I see that it's this 'darker' Yami making the noise. It's not a scream of anguish and despair anymore despite sounding like it. It's a battle cry.
It all clicks in my head and I could laugh at the realisation. This was something I would never have expected, and it could be either very problematic or very fun. It makes sense though; the screaming; the Pharaoh's past; everything. Yami, the whole one, needs to know about this immediately.
Willpower and a bit of Shadow Magic lifts me out of this duelling arena, leaving me standing back in the corridor I had started in. Slipping back out of the Puzzle, I glance around myself when I don't immediately see Yami. He's behind me, removing the evidence of his little tantrum with the Eye of Horus glowing brilliantly on his forehead. He's exploiting the fact that the Shadow Realm is a handy place for dumping bodies and their subsequent messes.
Looking up to me when the last of the organic waste is gone, he tips his head to the side and lets his arms fall slack at his side, the sign of his power fading from his face. "Well? What did you find?"
I'm just going to say this rather than spend wasted minutes figuring out how exactly to word it, what I'll say first to break the ice, etcetera. It's happening too quickly to spend the time. I'll also admit to being a little excited as well; it's not everyday that something like this happens.
"When you were sealed away your spirit was shattered, hence you losing your memories and the fact that it's taking so long to regain even the smallest morsels of them." He knows that much and nods for me to continue, not moving as I step towards him to continue my explanation of my discovery.
"I thought that what was screaming was just a part of you, a darker aspect of your personality – your soul, that wanted recognition. It looks more like that it's something more than that. I think we're made up of light and dark, just like our Hikaris are, thought with us we're more of the dark than of the light. That is that I am and Malik is, but you're something of a contradiction. Yugi's had a lot of influence over you, making you more good and all that bollocks. Now your dark nature is fighting back. When you realised its existence, acknowledged it, you opened a door to warfare."
"No," Yami states, not looking angry but speaking in a firm tone all the same. "You were the one that made me see it. You started this," he corrects me, pointing a finger at me. He doesn't look as angry with me as he should which is slightly unsettling. This transition of quality is happening rapidly, but then it's probably been brewing for years and this is just the final turning point. His brow furrows as he turns over the information now, his eyes dropping whilst he thinks. "So I'm becoming more… evil?"
I have to smile now. "Yes, I'd say so. You'll still be you when this has finished happening, although it didn't look like your light side was winning in there. You'll just be more true to your nature like when your were Pharaoh." You'll be more like me. "What do you think of that?"
Yami doesn't have a chance to answer before the screaming starts up again, louder and more intense than ever before. There's not a rift anywhere so it's safe to say that it's only us that can hear it, although Yugi and Ryou may be picking up on it. I think the dark just won.
The noise continues as I see Yami's form warble, a few flickers funning through him like ripples through water. His head bowed when the screaming started, his hands tensed having been ready to jerk to his head but not having the chance to. His form solidifies again a few moments after the sounds die back down whilst my ears are still ringing, his head lifting to give him a prouder stance, flamboyant hair forming a dark halo. Crimson eyes swimming with malevolence gaze at me as a smirk forms across a slightly more rounded face. There are choice changes through his body too, his lean frame enhanced in musculature but still left graceful.
Striding towards me with more of a predatory gait than before, Yami stands so that we're toe-to-toe, something that would have been menacing if he were a bit taller and I a bit less like I am. "I think it'll be fun," he murmurs in answer to my question, his voice pretty much the same despite practically dripping with sex appeal.
I actually swallow heavily from nerves –something I've never done before- when he brings up a hand, brushing it against my hip, the length of my arm and up my neck into my hair. His fingers moving idly against my scalp as he leans in impossibly closer to me, I feel his breath on my mouth as he speaks. "Thanks."
The word is breathed out and he snaps back and away from me before we come close enough to kiss, not that we were off that by much. Grinning at me and cocking a brow in a challenging manner, he suddenly takes off, sprinting past me without a backwards glance. I stare dumbfounded, feeling the tingling across my lips and through my skin where he'd touched me before grinning myself, spinning on my heel and tearing after him.
It holds true to that saying though; good boys may go to heaven, but the bad boys go everywhere.
****
It's night again now, two days after Yami's darkness won out over the light, and I've only just come home. Yugi's doubtlessly been worried sick and the gang was probably out looking for us after the first 10 hours. Not that either of us had or do care. We were both having far too much fun. I'm taking everything that's happened over the last 48 hours with a pinch of salt though; Yami's behaviour is apparently going to be erratic at best until he gets used to all these 'new' feelings and calms down. That could take a while. I'm not complaining though; I can handle him and he's taken a new interest in me, which I am more than happy about. I had no idea he could be so carnal though.
I wanted some time to myself though despite the pleasures of his company. I wanted to figure something out that's been nagging at my curiosity for a little while now.
Moving into my own Soul Room first, I instantly step out into the corridor between Ryou's and mine. The door's stiff from under-use as I never come here. Why would I? I've never had the desire to go into Ryou's Soul Room and I don't think I'll ever want to. There's just no point. Once I've learnt what I want to know now I'll likely never step into this dividing space again.
Walking the distance down the mental path between our Rooms, further than I thought was possible, I stop when I find my own small door hovering in nothing. This one isn't glowing and isn't a solid black in colour. Instead, it's more like a barred window into a large dark area. Peering inside, I take in what I see before smiling and walking away, going back into my Soul Room to think the events of the last few days over.
Through the bars I could see myself, huddled on what's obviously been established as the floor, worn white robes cascading down around a delicate frame. Large, youthful eyes watch the bars miserably, ignoring the flickering laughter radiating from the darkness surrounding it. It's been this way for a while and it's never going to change. The light's braver now, but it'll never dominate like the dark.
****End****
Anyone guess the song-line and the song of the line I paraphrased from one of MeatLoaf's albums back there? Cookies ands hugs to whoever gets it as well as proof that you have some damn good taste in music.
This is pretty much finished for now so don't checking back for another instalment any time soon. I'm quite happy with how this one's turned out even if it's practically the opposite to what I'd originally expected. Like Blue September pointed out, this has all been a bit of a twist on 'Experiment'.
Everything included about the Shadow Realm and all things of that nature are just speculation on my part, something that I do in just about all my fics, so don't go all fact-ho on me. It's a fanfiction. I'm allowed some creative liberties.
Anyway. Reviews got these two chapters up and are always good for a bit of inspiration, so leave your thoughts, best bits, whatever, in a review and I hope you'll check out my other stuff. Thanks again for reading.
Borath ;p