Manipulator of Dreams




Ryou's Dream




Ryou's POV


I opened his eyes and found himself in my bed. I was no longer a teenager, but a chibi of only two years old. Wow! I'm a kid again! The clock said it was early afternoon. She put a clock in my room to teach me how to tell the time. Luckily for me at that time, it was a digital clock. Mother must have just put me down for my nap.


Suddenly I heard my mother's light footsteps climb the stairs. Sometimes when she came in, I faked sleep just so I could play with my coloring books and my plastic army soldiers. Daddy wouldn't let me have anything he considered "feminine" and he felt that army soldiers were more appropriate than other toys.


I wanted to play with her this time. I hid under my covers figuring this was the perfect place to hide. She would never find me under the covers! Giggling to myself I covered my mouth hoping to hide the laughter.


I heard the door open and once again heard her soft, comforting voice. No doubt she already knew where I was. It was hard to hide under covers when all you could do was laugh.


"Hmmm…I thought Ryou was sleeping in here. Where could he be?"


I heard her moving around the room and opening my closet door, moving my desk chair, and I could feel her leaning on the bed to look under it.


"I guess my baby left. Or maybe…."


She lifted up the covers and grabbed my sides tickling me so hard tears ran down my eyes. My white hair flailed all around as I tried to wiggle from her grasp. It was hard to breathe I was laughing so hard. "Mommy! That tickles!"


"I knew I'd find you here, Ryou!"


I finally rolled off the bed and ran out of the bedroom laughing as she chased me down the hall. My little chibi legs couldn't possibly outrun her, but it was fun to think that I could. I ran into the bathroom and she stood at the door. I ran between her legs out of the door squealing I was laughing so hard.


"Mommy can't catch me!! HAHAHAHA!!!"


I came to the top of the steps and saw how steep the steps were. I grabbed the posts and slowly climbed down the steps. It took forever to get to the bottom of the steps. When I did, I ran into my dad in the living room. I ran behind his legs.


"Ryou, what are you doing?"


"I'm hiding…Shhh…Daddy, don't tell mommy where I am!"


Mommy came down the steps and my dad turned around to me. "Ryou, you know better than to go off running in the house. If you have to run, go out to the yard."


"Now, Steven, he's only two years old. Let him be a little boy."


"He may be a little boy, but I don't need him making noise in the house. Children are supposed to be seen and not heard."


I ignored my father's comments and called to my mommy. "You can't catch me, mommy!"


I ran to the kitchen door, but I couldn't reach the knob. I jumped to try to reach the knob, but my mother turned the knob. Running out the door, I still chanted "You can't catch me! You can't catch me!" She chased me around the garden and around my favorite swing. My mom must have become tired because she sat on the picnic bench. I ran over to her and struggled to get onto the bench. She picked me up and put her against her chest.


"My little boy have a good sleep?"


My chibi hands grasped onto my mother's shirt and I nuzzled my cheek into her shoulder happily.




********Meanwhile in the Shadow Realm…….********


Normal POV


"I cannot manipulate Ryou's dream. There is a force not of this world protecting this dream. There is something powerful……generous….loving….devotion…protecting his dream from my influence," Anubis said as he tried to pry his way into Ryou's dream.


Anubis watched as Bakura slipped into bed beside Ryou. Ryou smiled in his sleep and draped his arm over Bakura. Anubis had seen Ryou's outburst in the living room and knew Bakura was still worried about her. Bakura was not only concerned about Ryou, but the trial and his own memories of ancient Egypt.


"There is no such force protecting Bakura's mind from my influence. It's time to take advantage of your fears, Bakura. It is time to prey on your fears and your anxiety."


***********************************


Bakura's Dream


Bakura's POV


I felt hands shake me awake desperately. I opened my eyes to see sand beneath me and feel heat above me.


"Bakura! Bakura, wake up! Yami's soldiers! They found us again!"


In the distance, the sound of horses gallop. The sound roused me from my bed in the hot Egyptian sands.


"The pharaoh??!! How could he find us all the way out here? We covered our tracks!"


Marik was pulling desperately on my white robe. "We have to scram! Come on!" Marik mounted his brown horse decorated with some gold relics we found from our robberies of royal tombs. His most prized possession was a gold Rod adorned with a single eye. It was to his amazement one day that he found it hid a dagger in the handle.


I mounted my black horse and I grabbed the one bag of stolen goods from the tomb of King Yami's father. The soldiers were getting closer and to our horror, they began to pull out their weapons. We begged our horses to run faster as the projectile weapons were hitting closer to us. The Ring around my neck jingled and clanged against my chest.


"Stop you thieves or we shall shoot you dead!" Yami's general called to us.


Marik beside me was praying as he prodded our horses faster. The general turned to one of his soldiers, a boy of no older than fifteen with white hair with blonde streaks.


"Shoot the scoundrels down! Take the one on the brown horse first."


"I can't kill my father! I can't do that!"


The general pulled out his weapon. "You will do as you are told, you insolent little runt!"


Marik looked over his shoulder. "What? Father?"


I kept my eyes focused on a means of escape. What refuge was in an open desert? We exchanged glances.


"Bakura?"


"Marik?"


"We're done for."


Marik screamed and leaned forward on his horse. I grabbed onto Marik so he wouldn't fall off the horse. The soldier hit Marik with an arrow in the back.


"Marik? Marik! Don't fall!"


"'Kura….," Marik groaned weakly.


I felt a stabbing pain in my shoulder and our horses slowed down.


My former lover screamed again and I saw the general's dagger in Marik's back, along with the arrow. Marik slid off his horse and onto the sand gasping for breath. I stopped. I couldn't leave my friend and my lover to die alone, especially in the custody of Yami's army. I left my horse and staggered over to my fallen lover in the sand.


When he was turned over, Marik's face was contorted with pain. A trickle of red fell from his mouth and his chest heaved with every struggling breath. Cradling him in my arms, knowing he was dying, there was nothing I could do to save him. His body was shaking with the pain of every breath. Both of us could feel his heart slow to a dying crawl.


The royal army rode up to us and surrounded us, weapons poised to strike both of us down. Nothing else mattered to me at that time. Not the army. Not their weapons. Only my lover, my Marik."


"Marik, you can't leave me. You're going to be alright, love. I'll get a doctor for you somehow."


"No doctor will save him. We will make sure of that," Yami's general said sternly.


"My father……I killed him….," the soldier said dropping his weapons.


Marik looked up at me, his eyes glassy and slowly closing. "I love you, Bakura. Until we….meet again…."


"Don't leave me, Marik," I cried like I have never cried before in my life. How I loved him! To see him in my arms like this, gasping his life away with a piece of iron in his lungs, was the most painful feeling I had known in my mortal life.


"You will pay for your crimes, tomb robber. Just like your friend is paying for it with his life," the general said sneering at me.


"Hold me tighter, Bakura. I never knew love….or friendship…..until I found you."


I placed my head to his chest. "I can't live without you, Marik. How can I go on living without you by my side?"


"Ra….I'm so….tired." Marik's eyes closed and his eyes fell back. When Marik died, a part of me died with him. I clutched him tightly to my chest, his heart now still.


In fury, I turned to the general. "You son of a bitch. You killed him."


"His death his nothing compared to what yours will be, you thief." Three soldiers grabbed me and three guards grabbed Marik's body tearing the clothing to shreds. They stripped me completely and punched me until I fell to the ground panting.


"You will bury him. The scorpions can find him just as easy underground." The general left his horse and pulled his bloody dagger out of Marik's back. That damned general…..he kicked Marik's body laughing as he watched me struggle.


It took a long time to bury Marik. The sand was hot and the sun made my sad duty of burying my lover even harder. They ordered me to bury Marik face-down since they told me he didn't deserve to look into Heaven for eternity. When the act was done, I collapsed on the sand from exhaustion. The guards didn't even let me mourn. They bound my hands with rope and dragged me back to Cairo.


They took me to the palace dungeon with open bars allowing the air from outside to enter the cell. At night, I knew this place would become a freezer. I would most likely freeze to death.


It wasn't long before that pharaoh showed himself in front of the cell. All I did was huddle in the corner. We looked each other in the eye. "You robbed my father's tomb. The artifacts on your horse belonged to my father."


"How else was I supposed to get money to eat? I'm a thief. That is my job."


"We have ways of dealing with thieves. But that is not my job. That is my general's job."


"Is that why you came to see me? To tell me that you are too weak to punish me yourself?"


Yami shook his head. "No. I came to look at the robber of my father's tomb at least one time….before you meet the same fate as your accomplice."


Yami left and the general unlocked my cell and grabbed my throat. "You are mine, you little street-rat!"


************************


Normal POV


Bakura woke up sharply from his sleep and saw Ryou sleeping quietly beside him. He wiped his forehead gleaming with sweat. It was dawn. Bakura jumped out of bed and put his robe on. He ran to Marik and Malik's room. Inside the room, Malik was sleeping against Marik's chest. Marik was quietly snoring. His chest rose and fall with each of the spirit's breaths. Bakura sighed and shut the door.


"It was only a dream….somehow…..it seemed real."