O.O OMG. I never imagined I'd get so many reviews in 2 days! That's
amazing!
Wai! Finland! I represented them for the mock League of Nations at my high school! They invented the Sauna. ^.^ We were out of character though. We signed a peace treaty with the Russians, and that was out of character for 1914 Finland, so we lost some marks cause of it.
That's just too cool. Anyone else live in Europe?
Heero: -_- you better not tell her. She's crash over at your house when she goes to tour Europe after University.
Bat: Nooo! Don't reveal my Master Plan!
Heero: I thought you knew that Master Plans never work.
Bat: All right, it's my Servant Plan then.
Heero: ...
Chapter 11 - Creo*
Yami paced in front of Kaiba's office, almost crushing the small black disk in his hand.
'What a horrible failure. What if Kaiba decided to terminate me for this?'
The thought brought chills to Yami's spine. Why wouldn't Kaiba terminate him? After all, Kaiba didn't seem to mind getting rid of people. Yami was the one who killed all those associated with the Lacuna project. One by one, he got rid of the people whose names were listed on that black disk. It was frighteningly systematic.
Kaiba had given him all the information he could possibly want about his victims. That black disk gave him not only their names, but also their annual income, their crime records, the names of everyone in their family...
It was sickening.
And that night, he was supposed to assassinate Mr Bakura.
The poor man, according to the black disk, was one of Kaiba Corp's most productive workers. His only crime was receiving a certain 'Millennium Ring' and unwittingly letting one of the failed cyborgs, number 3223 stay at his house.
Unlike all his previous victims, this man wasn't money, or power hungry. He hadn't stolen money from Kaiba Corp funds. He hadn't killed others, hadn't threatened anyone.
Yami could force himself to kill without a second thought, but to kill an innocent man... one with a family, that was asking too much.
The names on the list after Mr. Bakura were men and women that were equally without a tangible crime.
'I cant do this. I cant be the god of death.'
Everyone associated with the Lacuna Project are destined to die at his hand. Kaiba would let Yami walk through a sea of blood while keeping his own hands clean.
And what about those amethyst eyes? Those same eyes that constantly haunted his dreams. Would he need to see those eyes close forever?
The thought made his stomach churn.
One of Kaiba's secretaries effectively brought him out of his reverie by telling him that Kaiba was willing to see him now.
A sense of dread overwhelmed Yami.
'Please, whatever gods that are out there... I don't want to kill anyone else. Please send me an angel to take me away from this hell.'
Yami steeled himself and entered the office, sickened by the blood red carpets.
Jounouchi was sitting in a chair across from Kaiba and was looking somewhat flushed. Yami raised a mental eyebrow. What were they doing before he entered the room?
Kaiba cleared his throat. "Give your report."
Yami scowled mentally but kept his face perfectly blank.
"Mission a failure. The victim was not 'taken care of', and there were witnesses."
Kaiba raised an eyebrow and Jou looked at him hopefully.
"Did you let them get away?" Jou asked.
Seto shot him a look that had 'shut up' written all over it.
"I was faced with unforeseen difficulties. Bakura Ryou was home." Yami said as dispassionately as he could manage.
Jou's eyes widened and he angrily slammed his fists into Kaiba's desk. "RYOU?! WHAT THE FUCK KAIBA, YOU TOLD ME YOU WERE GOING TO LEAVE MY FRIENDS ALONE!"
Kaiba looked startled by Jou's anger, but with a deep breath, those ice blue eyes forced themselves away from Jou's pained face.
"It was necessary. Continue Yami."
Yami stared ahead, avoiding Jou's angry eyes. If he looked into them, chances were that he'd loose his nerve and break down.
'But that would be suicidal. Kaiba will decide that he doesn't need a failure and get rid of me like all the others. I can't show any emotions. Even if I want to scream that I'm sorry, I cant. I don't want to be thrown away like a piece of scrap. I want to see those amethyst eyes again. I want to live.'
Yami dispassionately began to recount what happened at Ryou's house, how Bakura had fought back, and how his sword had been abandoned in that bedroom. He carefully avoided narrating any of his personal emotions.
Kaiba had an odd look on his face. It was as though he was happy that Yami had failed.
'I'm so confused now...' Yami thought to himself with a groan. 'I can't figure this asshole out.'
Jou looked ready to strangle Yami though. Yami smirked mentally. 'At least one of those two is predictable.'
"Kaiba, you promised you wouldn't hurt Yugi!" Jou screamed out.
Kaiba's half masked amusement gave way to a sigh as he rubbed his temples.
"Yami, your assignment was a failure. I expect better results next time." Seto stated. Yami didn't miss the veiled hope in his voice.
'What does he really want from me?' Yami thought as he gave Kaiba a curt nod.
Yami swivelled around and stalked out of the office before Jou and Kaiba started arguing.
Once in the safety of the empty hallway, Yami leaned his head against the wall and gave a small sigh of relief.
"At least he didn't ask me to complete what I didn't finish. There's no way I could go back and try to hurt those people again." Yami murmured to himself.
He pushed himself away from the wall and began to walk towards the labs.
'But now I know what his name is.'
He smiled softly to himself.
'Yugi. Why do you haunt my dreams?'
Yami looked at his right hand where the little black disk was embedded into his skin. He felt his heart sink as he looked at the little wires sticking out of his flesh that read the information on the disk.
'You're not even human Yami. Stop dreaming.'
* * * * * * *
The blonde scientist grinned.
"So. I guess you're not too happy about the modifications."
Malik was laughing heartily Yugi and his grandfather tried to hold Ryou back. The white haired boy had already tried twice to kill Malik.
"Ryou! Calm down! He's here to help!" Sugoroku cried out.
Ryou broke free from their grasp and lunged towards Malik.
Malik sidestepped at the last minute, causing Ryou to lose his balance and trip.
With a growl, Ryou got up and glared at Malik.
"Listen, I swear it was Ishtar that wanted me to do that to him. I'll fix everything if you just stop trying to kill me for a few minutes." Malik stated blandly.
"Why should I believe you? You might only be here to mess him up more!" Ryou stated accusingly.
Malik sighed and rubbed his scalp. "Listen. When Sugoroku asked me to come over here, he was asking me a personal favour. I wouldn't betray my friend's trust."
"I know you have your doubts about Malik, but he's the only person who can help us Ryou." Sugoroku said mildly. Ryou ignored him and stalked up the stairs.
Bakura was still sprawled on the floor of Yugi's room at the same place as before, save that his position had changed and he was now on his back.
Ryou re-entered the room and sat down next to him. He sighed and stroked Bakura's soft hair gently, trying to ignore Bakura's open, unseeing eyes.
Malik peered into the room and sat down next to Ryou.
"You really care about him, don't you?" Malik asked gently.
Ryou nodded.
Malik smiled. "I can understand that."
Ryou looked at him disbelievingly. "Can you really, or are you just saying that?"
"I assure you I'm not lying. Ishtar and I are exactly like you and 'Bakura'. I care about him a lot, but he sometimes seems to resent me. I think its because I look so much like him, but I never had his problems."
Ryou's eyes widened. "That's exactly how Bakura and I were before."
"I'm not surprised. Ishtar and Bakura might hate each other, but they have a lot in common." Malik grinned.
Ryou observed him calmly. Then he sighed. "Why did you do that to Bakura then? Can't you understand my pain?"
"Yes." Malik murmured. "And I'm sorry. My double wanted revenge on his former partner, and I wanted to test my skills."
Ryou smiled. "Well, I have to admit that your skills are pretty amazing. Bakura is flawless now."
Malik frowned as he observed Bakura's damaged arm. "Not anymore. He was in a fight?"
Ryou nodded. "He tried to stop Yami from killing my father."
Malik's eyes widened. He observed the wound more closely. "It's a sword wound. The wires are severed rather neatly. When Yami did this, he could have easily sliced Bakura's arm off, but Bakura was fortunate enough not to be human. "
Ryou shivered as Malik continued. "My colleagues have been falling like flies. Each of them was killed by a sword."
"Why would Yami do that?" A small voice asked sadly.
Malik and Ryou looked to the door to see Yugi leaning against the frame.
Malik groaned inwardly. 'This wasn't in my job description. As a scientist, I'm supposed to follow orders, not worry about how my actions are going to affect other. I sure hope the Lacuna project is worth all this.'
"Your Yami is doing all this because Kaiba programmed him to be an assassin. He's getting rid of everyone associated with the Lacuna project." Malik answered truthfully.
"The Lacuna project?" Ryou murmured.
"Yeah. Listen, I'm not allowed to tell you anything else, otherwise it's going to be MY pretty little neck under that blade."
Yugi sat down next to Ryou. "Can't you at least tell me how you know my grandfather?"
Malik began to fix Bakura's arm. "Sure. Your grandfather works for a branch of Kaiba Corp that does archaeological digs. Sugoroku finds the mummies, then he gives them to me."
"And you clone them?" Ryou asked.
"Sorta. You see, when people die, part of their DNA decomposes. The DNA that's still there is the DNA that says 'put two eyes here, a mouth there, two legs, two arms, etc.' The part that decomposes is what makes us who we are."
"I don't get it." Yugi murmured.
Malik groaned. "Ok, let me try again. When you die, the DNA that's left makes you human, but it doesn't say WHO you are. It doesn't say if you had black or white hair when you were alive, if you were short or tall, if you had brown or blue or even red eyes. That just disappears. Pouf! No more personality or individuality."
Ryou nodded. "So what you're trying to say is that we can't clone someone who is dead."
Malik nodded. "Exactly! And that's where H.E.L.L. steps in. Kaiba figured out a way to find that missing information."
"And so you make clones of the corpses my grandfather gives you." Yugi murmured.
"Yeah. It's not that simple though. It took us a long time to figure out how to get that missing information. Sleepy here," Malik motioned to the unmoving Bakura, "was clone number 3223. He was an accident, we didn't know what we did to create him."
Malik clipped the tip of some of the wires from Bakura's arm and meticulously placed them back together.
"Our next success was the pharaoh. Your Yami was perfect, but like Bakura, we had to put wires inside him to keep his body working."
"Bakura once told me that there were more wires in his body then in the wall of a room." Ryou murmured absently.
Malik nodded. "He wasn't exaggerating. I fixed that a little bit when I toyed with him, but he'll always have a bunch of metal inside him. Ishtar and Yami have the same problem. Even the Lacuna project still needs wires to sustain his body."
Malik eyed the ring around Ryou's neck and the golden pyramid Yugi had placed on his dresser.
"Those are the Millennium Items that were found in the pharaoh's tomb along with the corpses." Malik stated. "We 'downloaded' their memories from their previous life onto those things."
"I know. Bakura got his memories back last time with this thing. I can understand why you took away their memories though. It can't be pleasant to remember your own death." Ryou murmured.
Malik laughed good-naturedly. "Bakura is tough. He can handle it, just like Ishtar. I didn't take away any of HIS memories."
He paused then scratched the back of his head. "Then again, that might have been a mistake."
Yugi and Ryou looked at him with raised eyebrows, but said nothing.
After a few moments of silence, Ryou looked at Malik gravely. "Why are you helping us?"
Malik didn't look up from his work. There was no smile on his lips.
'He looks really serious.' Yugi thought to himself.
"Look, I agree that helping others isn't in character for me. But Sugoroku is pulling in a personal favour. I owe your grandfather a lot Yugi. Without him, I never would have found Ishtar... and Ishtar is all that's important for me."
Ryou gave a friendly grin. "We know how you feel."
Malik smiled back. "You should. After all, we have a very important point in common. We're the reincarnations of these cyborgs."
He gave a small sigh as he cut an incision in Bakura's arm and pulled out a connector.
"Look, after fixing the tomb raider over here, I cant do all that much for you. Kaiba messed up the pharaoh by himself, and I don't have the slightest clue what he did. But if you can somehow get him NOT to kill me, I'll try my best to fix him."
Yugi nodded. "Thank you."
Malik motioned for Ryou's Millennium Ring. "If you give me that ring, I'll give Bakura his memories back."
Ryou stared for a moment then pulled the ring off from around his neck and handed it to Malik.
"Both of the Millenium Items in one room must have caused him to short circuit. He died trying to get those things you know. It must feel a kind of love-hate towards those things, and the feelings must have been super deep to cause this kind of reaction." Malik offered.
Malik connected the ring to the wire and got up, winking at Yugi and Ryou as he walked out the bedroom door.
"I'm leaving. There's no way in hell I'm staying to get pummelled when he wakes up. Ja bye-bye!"
Yugi got up did the same, giving Ryou a sly look. "I'm sure you two will have lots to talk about."
"Sure, if he doesn't try to kill me!" Ryou shot back, his cheeks noticeably flushed. Yugi ignored his response and could be heard bounding down the stairs.
Bakura's blank eye closed and reopened slowly to reveal a scowl.
"What happened?" Bakura grunted weakly, attempting to sit up.
Ryou quickly reached out to help him and was surprised to see that Bakura didn't swat his hands away, but rather took one of them and smirked.
"I'll bet you have a few questions of your own?" He asked, grinning.
Ryou was startled then smiled shyly. "I'm kind of wondering why you're not trying to kill me like last time."
Bakura leaned so close to Ryou's face that Ryou couldn't help but shiver.
"It just so happens that when I downloaded my memory from the ring the first time, I left a backup copy of my memory on the ring. That means that I remember everything about H.E.L.L. AND my previous life. I remember taking the ring from you and downloading my memories, but I cant remember what I did after that."
"Oh." Ryou breathed, hypnotized by the unhidden affection he saw in Bakura's eyes.
"But..." Bakura smirked.
"But?" Ryou asked, urging Bakura to finish what he wanted to say. As long as he could concentrate on his words, he didn't have to think about their closeness.
"But, I remember being a 'doll'. I remember everything that happened AFTER Malik whipped out my memories." Bakura grinned.
"You mean..." Ryou flushed to a shade of crimson.
Bakura remembered everything that happened since Ryou found him in that alley.
Including the bath.
And the 'don't leave me speech'.
And the fight with Yami.
And the little affectionate moments after that.
Bakura laughed and took advantage of Ryou's bewilderment to crush his lips to his.
"You're mine" Bakura whispered in between a kiss.
* * * * * * * *
*Create
(Blush blush) Well, that was interesting to write.
Heero: Don't act so modest. You read romance all the time.
Bat: But it's not the same as WRITING it.
Heero: Hn.
Bat: Wow, I made Bakura rather sexy, didn't I? (grins)
This is to thank everyone for those 20 some reviews! It's a rather long chapter isn't it? But all the explanations that Malik gives about the cyborgs are important. Or at least I think so. If you can guess what the Lacuna project is thanks to all those hints I've been trying to give, email me. ^.^ Don't say anything Ruby.
Tell me if you like it. I'm aiming for 200 reviews within the next 2 chapters! I'd be thrilled if you even only wrote that you liked the story, so please don't be shy!
REVIEW!
Wai! Finland! I represented them for the mock League of Nations at my high school! They invented the Sauna. ^.^ We were out of character though. We signed a peace treaty with the Russians, and that was out of character for 1914 Finland, so we lost some marks cause of it.
That's just too cool. Anyone else live in Europe?
Heero: -_- you better not tell her. She's crash over at your house when she goes to tour Europe after University.
Bat: Nooo! Don't reveal my Master Plan!
Heero: I thought you knew that Master Plans never work.
Bat: All right, it's my Servant Plan then.
Heero: ...
Chapter 11 - Creo*
Yami paced in front of Kaiba's office, almost crushing the small black disk in his hand.
'What a horrible failure. What if Kaiba decided to terminate me for this?'
The thought brought chills to Yami's spine. Why wouldn't Kaiba terminate him? After all, Kaiba didn't seem to mind getting rid of people. Yami was the one who killed all those associated with the Lacuna project. One by one, he got rid of the people whose names were listed on that black disk. It was frighteningly systematic.
Kaiba had given him all the information he could possibly want about his victims. That black disk gave him not only their names, but also their annual income, their crime records, the names of everyone in their family...
It was sickening.
And that night, he was supposed to assassinate Mr Bakura.
The poor man, according to the black disk, was one of Kaiba Corp's most productive workers. His only crime was receiving a certain 'Millennium Ring' and unwittingly letting one of the failed cyborgs, number 3223 stay at his house.
Unlike all his previous victims, this man wasn't money, or power hungry. He hadn't stolen money from Kaiba Corp funds. He hadn't killed others, hadn't threatened anyone.
Yami could force himself to kill without a second thought, but to kill an innocent man... one with a family, that was asking too much.
The names on the list after Mr. Bakura were men and women that were equally without a tangible crime.
'I cant do this. I cant be the god of death.'
Everyone associated with the Lacuna Project are destined to die at his hand. Kaiba would let Yami walk through a sea of blood while keeping his own hands clean.
And what about those amethyst eyes? Those same eyes that constantly haunted his dreams. Would he need to see those eyes close forever?
The thought made his stomach churn.
One of Kaiba's secretaries effectively brought him out of his reverie by telling him that Kaiba was willing to see him now.
A sense of dread overwhelmed Yami.
'Please, whatever gods that are out there... I don't want to kill anyone else. Please send me an angel to take me away from this hell.'
Yami steeled himself and entered the office, sickened by the blood red carpets.
Jounouchi was sitting in a chair across from Kaiba and was looking somewhat flushed. Yami raised a mental eyebrow. What were they doing before he entered the room?
Kaiba cleared his throat. "Give your report."
Yami scowled mentally but kept his face perfectly blank.
"Mission a failure. The victim was not 'taken care of', and there were witnesses."
Kaiba raised an eyebrow and Jou looked at him hopefully.
"Did you let them get away?" Jou asked.
Seto shot him a look that had 'shut up' written all over it.
"I was faced with unforeseen difficulties. Bakura Ryou was home." Yami said as dispassionately as he could manage.
Jou's eyes widened and he angrily slammed his fists into Kaiba's desk. "RYOU?! WHAT THE FUCK KAIBA, YOU TOLD ME YOU WERE GOING TO LEAVE MY FRIENDS ALONE!"
Kaiba looked startled by Jou's anger, but with a deep breath, those ice blue eyes forced themselves away from Jou's pained face.
"It was necessary. Continue Yami."
Yami stared ahead, avoiding Jou's angry eyes. If he looked into them, chances were that he'd loose his nerve and break down.
'But that would be suicidal. Kaiba will decide that he doesn't need a failure and get rid of me like all the others. I can't show any emotions. Even if I want to scream that I'm sorry, I cant. I don't want to be thrown away like a piece of scrap. I want to see those amethyst eyes again. I want to live.'
Yami dispassionately began to recount what happened at Ryou's house, how Bakura had fought back, and how his sword had been abandoned in that bedroom. He carefully avoided narrating any of his personal emotions.
Kaiba had an odd look on his face. It was as though he was happy that Yami had failed.
'I'm so confused now...' Yami thought to himself with a groan. 'I can't figure this asshole out.'
Jou looked ready to strangle Yami though. Yami smirked mentally. 'At least one of those two is predictable.'
"Kaiba, you promised you wouldn't hurt Yugi!" Jou screamed out.
Kaiba's half masked amusement gave way to a sigh as he rubbed his temples.
"Yami, your assignment was a failure. I expect better results next time." Seto stated. Yami didn't miss the veiled hope in his voice.
'What does he really want from me?' Yami thought as he gave Kaiba a curt nod.
Yami swivelled around and stalked out of the office before Jou and Kaiba started arguing.
Once in the safety of the empty hallway, Yami leaned his head against the wall and gave a small sigh of relief.
"At least he didn't ask me to complete what I didn't finish. There's no way I could go back and try to hurt those people again." Yami murmured to himself.
He pushed himself away from the wall and began to walk towards the labs.
'But now I know what his name is.'
He smiled softly to himself.
'Yugi. Why do you haunt my dreams?'
Yami looked at his right hand where the little black disk was embedded into his skin. He felt his heart sink as he looked at the little wires sticking out of his flesh that read the information on the disk.
'You're not even human Yami. Stop dreaming.'
* * * * * * *
The blonde scientist grinned.
"So. I guess you're not too happy about the modifications."
Malik was laughing heartily Yugi and his grandfather tried to hold Ryou back. The white haired boy had already tried twice to kill Malik.
"Ryou! Calm down! He's here to help!" Sugoroku cried out.
Ryou broke free from their grasp and lunged towards Malik.
Malik sidestepped at the last minute, causing Ryou to lose his balance and trip.
With a growl, Ryou got up and glared at Malik.
"Listen, I swear it was Ishtar that wanted me to do that to him. I'll fix everything if you just stop trying to kill me for a few minutes." Malik stated blandly.
"Why should I believe you? You might only be here to mess him up more!" Ryou stated accusingly.
Malik sighed and rubbed his scalp. "Listen. When Sugoroku asked me to come over here, he was asking me a personal favour. I wouldn't betray my friend's trust."
"I know you have your doubts about Malik, but he's the only person who can help us Ryou." Sugoroku said mildly. Ryou ignored him and stalked up the stairs.
Bakura was still sprawled on the floor of Yugi's room at the same place as before, save that his position had changed and he was now on his back.
Ryou re-entered the room and sat down next to him. He sighed and stroked Bakura's soft hair gently, trying to ignore Bakura's open, unseeing eyes.
Malik peered into the room and sat down next to Ryou.
"You really care about him, don't you?" Malik asked gently.
Ryou nodded.
Malik smiled. "I can understand that."
Ryou looked at him disbelievingly. "Can you really, or are you just saying that?"
"I assure you I'm not lying. Ishtar and I are exactly like you and 'Bakura'. I care about him a lot, but he sometimes seems to resent me. I think its because I look so much like him, but I never had his problems."
Ryou's eyes widened. "That's exactly how Bakura and I were before."
"I'm not surprised. Ishtar and Bakura might hate each other, but they have a lot in common." Malik grinned.
Ryou observed him calmly. Then he sighed. "Why did you do that to Bakura then? Can't you understand my pain?"
"Yes." Malik murmured. "And I'm sorry. My double wanted revenge on his former partner, and I wanted to test my skills."
Ryou smiled. "Well, I have to admit that your skills are pretty amazing. Bakura is flawless now."
Malik frowned as he observed Bakura's damaged arm. "Not anymore. He was in a fight?"
Ryou nodded. "He tried to stop Yami from killing my father."
Malik's eyes widened. He observed the wound more closely. "It's a sword wound. The wires are severed rather neatly. When Yami did this, he could have easily sliced Bakura's arm off, but Bakura was fortunate enough not to be human. "
Ryou shivered as Malik continued. "My colleagues have been falling like flies. Each of them was killed by a sword."
"Why would Yami do that?" A small voice asked sadly.
Malik and Ryou looked to the door to see Yugi leaning against the frame.
Malik groaned inwardly. 'This wasn't in my job description. As a scientist, I'm supposed to follow orders, not worry about how my actions are going to affect other. I sure hope the Lacuna project is worth all this.'
"Your Yami is doing all this because Kaiba programmed him to be an assassin. He's getting rid of everyone associated with the Lacuna project." Malik answered truthfully.
"The Lacuna project?" Ryou murmured.
"Yeah. Listen, I'm not allowed to tell you anything else, otherwise it's going to be MY pretty little neck under that blade."
Yugi sat down next to Ryou. "Can't you at least tell me how you know my grandfather?"
Malik began to fix Bakura's arm. "Sure. Your grandfather works for a branch of Kaiba Corp that does archaeological digs. Sugoroku finds the mummies, then he gives them to me."
"And you clone them?" Ryou asked.
"Sorta. You see, when people die, part of their DNA decomposes. The DNA that's still there is the DNA that says 'put two eyes here, a mouth there, two legs, two arms, etc.' The part that decomposes is what makes us who we are."
"I don't get it." Yugi murmured.
Malik groaned. "Ok, let me try again. When you die, the DNA that's left makes you human, but it doesn't say WHO you are. It doesn't say if you had black or white hair when you were alive, if you were short or tall, if you had brown or blue or even red eyes. That just disappears. Pouf! No more personality or individuality."
Ryou nodded. "So what you're trying to say is that we can't clone someone who is dead."
Malik nodded. "Exactly! And that's where H.E.L.L. steps in. Kaiba figured out a way to find that missing information."
"And so you make clones of the corpses my grandfather gives you." Yugi murmured.
"Yeah. It's not that simple though. It took us a long time to figure out how to get that missing information. Sleepy here," Malik motioned to the unmoving Bakura, "was clone number 3223. He was an accident, we didn't know what we did to create him."
Malik clipped the tip of some of the wires from Bakura's arm and meticulously placed them back together.
"Our next success was the pharaoh. Your Yami was perfect, but like Bakura, we had to put wires inside him to keep his body working."
"Bakura once told me that there were more wires in his body then in the wall of a room." Ryou murmured absently.
Malik nodded. "He wasn't exaggerating. I fixed that a little bit when I toyed with him, but he'll always have a bunch of metal inside him. Ishtar and Yami have the same problem. Even the Lacuna project still needs wires to sustain his body."
Malik eyed the ring around Ryou's neck and the golden pyramid Yugi had placed on his dresser.
"Those are the Millennium Items that were found in the pharaoh's tomb along with the corpses." Malik stated. "We 'downloaded' their memories from their previous life onto those things."
"I know. Bakura got his memories back last time with this thing. I can understand why you took away their memories though. It can't be pleasant to remember your own death." Ryou murmured.
Malik laughed good-naturedly. "Bakura is tough. He can handle it, just like Ishtar. I didn't take away any of HIS memories."
He paused then scratched the back of his head. "Then again, that might have been a mistake."
Yugi and Ryou looked at him with raised eyebrows, but said nothing.
After a few moments of silence, Ryou looked at Malik gravely. "Why are you helping us?"
Malik didn't look up from his work. There was no smile on his lips.
'He looks really serious.' Yugi thought to himself.
"Look, I agree that helping others isn't in character for me. But Sugoroku is pulling in a personal favour. I owe your grandfather a lot Yugi. Without him, I never would have found Ishtar... and Ishtar is all that's important for me."
Ryou gave a friendly grin. "We know how you feel."
Malik smiled back. "You should. After all, we have a very important point in common. We're the reincarnations of these cyborgs."
He gave a small sigh as he cut an incision in Bakura's arm and pulled out a connector.
"Look, after fixing the tomb raider over here, I cant do all that much for you. Kaiba messed up the pharaoh by himself, and I don't have the slightest clue what he did. But if you can somehow get him NOT to kill me, I'll try my best to fix him."
Yugi nodded. "Thank you."
Malik motioned for Ryou's Millennium Ring. "If you give me that ring, I'll give Bakura his memories back."
Ryou stared for a moment then pulled the ring off from around his neck and handed it to Malik.
"Both of the Millenium Items in one room must have caused him to short circuit. He died trying to get those things you know. It must feel a kind of love-hate towards those things, and the feelings must have been super deep to cause this kind of reaction." Malik offered.
Malik connected the ring to the wire and got up, winking at Yugi and Ryou as he walked out the bedroom door.
"I'm leaving. There's no way in hell I'm staying to get pummelled when he wakes up. Ja bye-bye!"
Yugi got up did the same, giving Ryou a sly look. "I'm sure you two will have lots to talk about."
"Sure, if he doesn't try to kill me!" Ryou shot back, his cheeks noticeably flushed. Yugi ignored his response and could be heard bounding down the stairs.
Bakura's blank eye closed and reopened slowly to reveal a scowl.
"What happened?" Bakura grunted weakly, attempting to sit up.
Ryou quickly reached out to help him and was surprised to see that Bakura didn't swat his hands away, but rather took one of them and smirked.
"I'll bet you have a few questions of your own?" He asked, grinning.
Ryou was startled then smiled shyly. "I'm kind of wondering why you're not trying to kill me like last time."
Bakura leaned so close to Ryou's face that Ryou couldn't help but shiver.
"It just so happens that when I downloaded my memory from the ring the first time, I left a backup copy of my memory on the ring. That means that I remember everything about H.E.L.L. AND my previous life. I remember taking the ring from you and downloading my memories, but I cant remember what I did after that."
"Oh." Ryou breathed, hypnotized by the unhidden affection he saw in Bakura's eyes.
"But..." Bakura smirked.
"But?" Ryou asked, urging Bakura to finish what he wanted to say. As long as he could concentrate on his words, he didn't have to think about their closeness.
"But, I remember being a 'doll'. I remember everything that happened AFTER Malik whipped out my memories." Bakura grinned.
"You mean..." Ryou flushed to a shade of crimson.
Bakura remembered everything that happened since Ryou found him in that alley.
Including the bath.
And the 'don't leave me speech'.
And the fight with Yami.
And the little affectionate moments after that.
Bakura laughed and took advantage of Ryou's bewilderment to crush his lips to his.
"You're mine" Bakura whispered in between a kiss.
* * * * * * * *
*Create
(Blush blush) Well, that was interesting to write.
Heero: Don't act so modest. You read romance all the time.
Bat: But it's not the same as WRITING it.
Heero: Hn.
Bat: Wow, I made Bakura rather sexy, didn't I? (grins)
This is to thank everyone for those 20 some reviews! It's a rather long chapter isn't it? But all the explanations that Malik gives about the cyborgs are important. Or at least I think so. If you can guess what the Lacuna project is thanks to all those hints I've been trying to give, email me. ^.^ Don't say anything Ruby.
Tell me if you like it. I'm aiming for 200 reviews within the next 2 chapters! I'd be thrilled if you even only wrote that you liked the story, so please don't be shy!
REVIEW!