Mou Hitori no Boku: True Darkness
Pan: I have received new inspiration for this! Woohoo!
S. Chensu and Luff: Ah, the idea for the whole underwater thingy came from a cross between the Zora Tunic of Legend of Zelda, which allowed Link to breathe underwater, and the Gillyweed in Harry Potter. Seasoned with a small bit of my own demented imagination.
Two reviewers said something about Seto being afraid of frogs... well, it just seemed an unusual thing to be afraid of! I mean, everyone was probably afraid of the crocodiles and whatnot, and it just seemed funny. Heh.
And 'Under The Sea' was theonly song I could think of at 11pm that night.
~
Yugi found a new joy in being a kind of human-fish. He had managed to grasp the technique in swimming with his unusual pair of legs and he kicked them swim great speed. Several times, the others called him to slow down, so that they could catch up.
Seto was enjoying it least of all. He swam quite slowly, his logical mind unable to comprehend the peculiar method. Ryou was very unsure of being in the water, but swam diligently, with a decent amount of speed. Yami, however, was having nearly as much fun as his slightly hyperactive aibou. Having never been able to swim before, and having some very nasty encounters with water, he was happy to be able to move about so freely under the water. Even happier when Yugi called for his help.
"Hey! Get off of me! Shoo! YAMI, HELP!" Yugi yelled. As Yami caught up with the distressed boy, he laughed to see a group of Enchanting Mermaids floating around Yugi, examining him from all angles. The pink-tailed females giggled at what they saw to be a funny froggy-fish-boy. For five whole minutes, Yami watched the Mermaids poke Yugi around with great amusement, all the while Yugi shouting. "Don't you float there and laugh, Yami! OW! Come help me! Onegai! GET OFF!"
But, in the end, Yami swam up to them. "Go away." he said simply. The Mermaids looked at him, and giggled, recognising him as Pharaoh, but finding his appearence quite humorous. "I said go away." Yami repeated. The Enchanting Mermaids smiled, and kissed Yugi on the cheeks, one by one, and swimming away into the dark depths. Yugi blushed, the green-blue of his skin changing to a very strange colour indeed.
"Alright, aibou?" Yami asked with a smirk. "Yes..." Yugi answered slyly. "No 'fun' for a week for you though." Yami pouted. "Aww, so not fair!" he complained. "I'm sorry, koi! Really sorry! Please forgive me!" Yugi shook his head. "Nope!" Yami continued pleading until the other two caught up to them, at which point, he promptly stopped.
"We must be nearly there..." Ryou said. The Millennium Ring was glowing intensely. "You idiots are blind!" Seto exclaimed. "Look over there!" He raised a hand to point, but ended up waving it in the general direction of what he meant. It is not easy to point with webbed fingers. They all looked where he directed.
There was a large, white marble palace suspended in the water. It glowed with an eerie light, shining so brightly that Yami and Yugi wondered why they had not noticed it before. The doors were flung wide open, inviting them to enter. They swam towards it, slowly and cautiously. Yami was the first to pass through the door - he landed with a painful thump just inside, on the floor. He frowned, confused, but hastened to pull off his Umi tunic. He got up, and turned to the others. "There's some kind of forcefield to keep the water out." he called. His voice sounded distant to Yugi, as it had to pass through water to reach his ears. He tumbled through the doorway next, the dry air a sudden shock to him. Yami helped him up, and pulled the blue tunic off of his aibou. Yugi took a deep breath, relieved to be able to breathe normally again. As he recovered he looked up at Yami, and burst out laughing.
"What's so funny?" Yami asked. Yugi grinned. "You're still blue!" he giggled. Yami glanced down at his hands. It was beginning to return to its normal colour, but, as Yugi said, it was still blue. Ryou and Seto landed more carefully inside the door. "Glad that's over..." Seto muttered, taking off his tunic and throwing it to one side.
"Bakura?" Ryou called. "Bakura, are you here?" His voice echoed back to him, but no reply accompanied it. The quiet boy frowned in frustration. "He's here, Ryou." Yami told him quietly. "You can sense him out." Ryou nodded, and looked at the Millennium Ring. For a moment, nothing happened. Then, the pointers began to spin, until all five pointed up the grand flight of stairs before him.
"Bakura!" Ryou cried, sprinting ahead of the others. "Ryou, wait!" Yami shouted. "Fuck you." Ryou muttered, and kept running forward. Yami frowned. "Please, Ryou, just hang on a moment!" he said, shocked that he had heard such foul words comes from Ryou's mouth. Ryou turned, and shouted back. "You've never been away from your other half like this! You've been split up before, but your minds were still connected! I can't even feel Bakura in my mind, and you expect me to wait?!"
Yami's eyes widened. "This Realm... is... Envy..." he said quietly. Yugi looked at Ryou. "Please, Ryou, what Yami means is that it could be dangerous..." he said pleadingly. "Sure, sure, you don't understand how this feels..." Ryou said sarcastically. "You've never had to be away from Yami..."
Before anyone knew what had happened, Yugi had run up to Ryou, and was holding the albino boy by the collar. "Look, Ryou," he hissed angrily. "Sure, I've never had to be away from Yami. So what? At least Bakura could remember who he was! I've gone through so much with my-mou-hitori-no-boku, just so he can remember his real name. Do you envy me now, Ryou?!" Yugi's eyes narrowed almost enough to resemble Yami's. "Answer me! Do you envy me for having to face off against Pegasus, with my soul on the line? Do you envy me for having to stare down Ra himself? Do you envy me for being beaten, bruised, battered, insulted, hurt, scared, threatened, and all manner of other things, just to find out that Yami's name is Atemu? Hmm?"
Yugi suddenly let go of Ryou. "I-I'm sorry..." he stammered quietly. "Thank you..." Ryou murmured back. "I should be the one apologizing."
"It's great that you guys are being friendly and all, but I for one would like to get home as soon as possible. Can we please get a move on?" Seto said in his ever sarcastically polite voice. Yami rolled his eyes. "Whatever." he muttered. Seto followed him as they walked towards the stairs after the two hikaris.
The flight of stairs was not particulary high, nor did it take them long to climb it. As they reached the top, all the lights in the building turned off, except for the one right in front of them. It was a blue glow, and didn't give an immense amount of light.
Before them was a glass box, twice Yami's height, with a door cut out of the front. It was from within this that the light came. On its back wall, the form of Bakura hung unconcious by chains shackled about his wrists. His head fell forward onto his chest, long white hair falling unruly over his face. His arms were stained with rivulets of blood coursing down from his wrists, where the manacles had dug into the skin almost to the bone. His black shirt hung limply over his form, slashed and torn.
"Ahh!" Ryou ran towards the door. "STOP!" Yami shouted, a second too late. Ryou was thrown backwards by an unseen force guarding the door. "Wh-what?" Ryou said, getting slowly to his feet.
"Ryou Bakura." a female voice said. A girl, just like the other Guardians jumped down from the top of the box. She wore an aqua-blue jacket, and had white-blond hair, but her eyes were blank - she was being possessed. Yami growled darkly, turning his eyes to where his own darker was standing atop the box. "Yugiou..." he said. "What do you want this time?"
Yugiou smirked. "Only your aibou, Pharaoh." he said. Yami's eyes widened, and he instinctively pulled Yugi closer to him. "You won't take him away from me!" the young Pharaoh said calmly. "I don't intend to take him." Yugiou said, mildly amused. "I intend to win him. If Ryou Bakura cannot complete the Challenge that my little puppet, Mayi, will set, I will win Yugi." Yami's eyes narrowed in anger. "You can't bargain for my Yugi!" he shouted. "You will never have him!"
Yugiou glanced at Yugi, his dark heart melting in sight of those glimmering amethyst eyes. For a brief moment, every emotion he felt towards the young Light was displayed openly on his face. Only a brief moment, but enough for Yami to see. "You... you love Yugi, don't you?" he said in blantant disbelief. Yugiou looked away irefully. Yugi looked up at him. "Admit it if you do." he said quietly. Yami looked down at him in surprise. "Yugi, I thought..."
"I do, I do, Yami! I just need to know..." Yugi smiled softly. Yugiou glared at the short boy. "FINE then. Listen: I love you! Are you happy?" he yelled. "Very much so." Yugi said brightly. Yami pouted in jealousy. Yugi was HIS koi...
"Just set me the Challenge, Yugiou..." Ryou said slowly. "Mayi!" Yugiou said, without looking at Ryou. The aqua-clothed girl spoke. "Ryou Bakura... In your own Realm, you are well known for your gentle nature." Ryou frowned in confusion - this was not like the other Challenges. Mayi continued. "So there is no reason for you to prove to me your Charity trait. Envy is not a trait to be proven, so simply answer me this." She paused. "Why are you worthy of the Ring Realm prize?"
"Er... er..." Ryou stammered. Yugi looked at him, and opened his mouth to say something, but his voice was gone.
"Please answer quickly." Mayi said in her dull voice.
Ryou's mouth hung open for a second, before he spoke quietly. "I cannot answer. I do not know if I am worthy, let alone why."
The Millennium Ring glowed brightly around his neck. Inside the glass box, the chains disappeared, and Bakura fell to the floor. "You have passed." Mayi said. She blinked, and looked around. "Where am I?"
Yugiou jumped down, and stalked over to face Yami. "I still hold all the cards..." he said harshly. Yami smirked. "All except one." he replied, holding Yugi close to him. Yugiou narrowed his eyes. "Prepare yourself for the Puzzle Realm. I will be waiting. Waiting to kill you." His form dissolved, leaving Yugi to hug Yami tightly.
Mayi bowed deeply to Yami, and then to Ryou. "Thank you for freeing me. All I remember is the True Guardian returning, locked away in ice, and then nothing until now." she said politely. "True Guardian?" Ryou said curiously.
"Me." Bakura stood up shakily, and walked towards the door that led out of his glass box prison. "Something Yami never bothered to mention. Mayi is only a temporary Guardian; I'm the real one." He looked around at them all. "Pharaoh..." he murmured, his eyes half closed. "Care to explain why you are blue?" Yami's eyes opened wide. "Still?!" he said in surprise. Yugi looked up. "Yep! Blue, blue, blue."
Yami sighed. "Ryou, you need no longer stay in these Realms; I can send you home now, if you wish." he said. "I don't want you in danger because of us." Ryou frowned slightly. "I trust that I will be allowed home after I've returned this stupid thing to Malik?" Seto asked, holding up the Millennium Rod. Yami nodded. "Yes, yes, Kaiba, but you need to visit the Rod Realm first. Ryou, Bakura, do you wish to return home?" he said quickly.
"Can't let you have all the glory, Pharaoh." Bakura said slowly. "I'm staying. Besides, you may need more help in the magical department. Ryou, you go home." Ryou's chocolate coloured eyes widened. "I'm staying if you're staying, Bakura!" he objected. "I'm not going to sit and worry about you all at home!" "Fine." Yami flicked his bangs out of his eyes. "You all stay."
"Hold on!" Mayi said. A flick of her wrist, and a card bearing the Millennium Ring appeared in her hand. She bowed again as she presented it to Ryou. Ryou blushed, and studied the card. "Thank you..." he murmured.
The temporary Guardian straightened up. "You must be prepared to fight in the Rod Realm." she said. "For it's darker influence is Anger. But... your enemies will not always be outsiders." The glass box dissolved into a pool of water. "Jump in, and restore the realms! Ra's blessings on you all!" she smiled brightly. Bakura and Ryou jumped in first, followed by a reluctant Seto. Mayi stopped Yami as he was about to follow them. "Good luck, Pharaoh." she said. "Never lose faith in the light."
Yami smiled gently. "Thank you." he said quietly, feeling for Yugi's hand. "Ready?" he asked his young aibou. "Always." Yugi replied. The pair lept into the water.
"The light is all that can stop the dark." Mayi said sadly.
Pan: I have received new inspiration for this! Woohoo!
S. Chensu and Luff: Ah, the idea for the whole underwater thingy came from a cross between the Zora Tunic of Legend of Zelda, which allowed Link to breathe underwater, and the Gillyweed in Harry Potter. Seasoned with a small bit of my own demented imagination.
Two reviewers said something about Seto being afraid of frogs... well, it just seemed an unusual thing to be afraid of! I mean, everyone was probably afraid of the crocodiles and whatnot, and it just seemed funny. Heh.
And 'Under The Sea' was theonly song I could think of at 11pm that night.
~
Yugi found a new joy in being a kind of human-fish. He had managed to grasp the technique in swimming with his unusual pair of legs and he kicked them swim great speed. Several times, the others called him to slow down, so that they could catch up.
Seto was enjoying it least of all. He swam quite slowly, his logical mind unable to comprehend the peculiar method. Ryou was very unsure of being in the water, but swam diligently, with a decent amount of speed. Yami, however, was having nearly as much fun as his slightly hyperactive aibou. Having never been able to swim before, and having some very nasty encounters with water, he was happy to be able to move about so freely under the water. Even happier when Yugi called for his help.
"Hey! Get off of me! Shoo! YAMI, HELP!" Yugi yelled. As Yami caught up with the distressed boy, he laughed to see a group of Enchanting Mermaids floating around Yugi, examining him from all angles. The pink-tailed females giggled at what they saw to be a funny froggy-fish-boy. For five whole minutes, Yami watched the Mermaids poke Yugi around with great amusement, all the while Yugi shouting. "Don't you float there and laugh, Yami! OW! Come help me! Onegai! GET OFF!"
But, in the end, Yami swam up to them. "Go away." he said simply. The Mermaids looked at him, and giggled, recognising him as Pharaoh, but finding his appearence quite humorous. "I said go away." Yami repeated. The Enchanting Mermaids smiled, and kissed Yugi on the cheeks, one by one, and swimming away into the dark depths. Yugi blushed, the green-blue of his skin changing to a very strange colour indeed.
"Alright, aibou?" Yami asked with a smirk. "Yes..." Yugi answered slyly. "No 'fun' for a week for you though." Yami pouted. "Aww, so not fair!" he complained. "I'm sorry, koi! Really sorry! Please forgive me!" Yugi shook his head. "Nope!" Yami continued pleading until the other two caught up to them, at which point, he promptly stopped.
"We must be nearly there..." Ryou said. The Millennium Ring was glowing intensely. "You idiots are blind!" Seto exclaimed. "Look over there!" He raised a hand to point, but ended up waving it in the general direction of what he meant. It is not easy to point with webbed fingers. They all looked where he directed.
There was a large, white marble palace suspended in the water. It glowed with an eerie light, shining so brightly that Yami and Yugi wondered why they had not noticed it before. The doors were flung wide open, inviting them to enter. They swam towards it, slowly and cautiously. Yami was the first to pass through the door - he landed with a painful thump just inside, on the floor. He frowned, confused, but hastened to pull off his Umi tunic. He got up, and turned to the others. "There's some kind of forcefield to keep the water out." he called. His voice sounded distant to Yugi, as it had to pass through water to reach his ears. He tumbled through the doorway next, the dry air a sudden shock to him. Yami helped him up, and pulled the blue tunic off of his aibou. Yugi took a deep breath, relieved to be able to breathe normally again. As he recovered he looked up at Yami, and burst out laughing.
"What's so funny?" Yami asked. Yugi grinned. "You're still blue!" he giggled. Yami glanced down at his hands. It was beginning to return to its normal colour, but, as Yugi said, it was still blue. Ryou and Seto landed more carefully inside the door. "Glad that's over..." Seto muttered, taking off his tunic and throwing it to one side.
"Bakura?" Ryou called. "Bakura, are you here?" His voice echoed back to him, but no reply accompanied it. The quiet boy frowned in frustration. "He's here, Ryou." Yami told him quietly. "You can sense him out." Ryou nodded, and looked at the Millennium Ring. For a moment, nothing happened. Then, the pointers began to spin, until all five pointed up the grand flight of stairs before him.
"Bakura!" Ryou cried, sprinting ahead of the others. "Ryou, wait!" Yami shouted. "Fuck you." Ryou muttered, and kept running forward. Yami frowned. "Please, Ryou, just hang on a moment!" he said, shocked that he had heard such foul words comes from Ryou's mouth. Ryou turned, and shouted back. "You've never been away from your other half like this! You've been split up before, but your minds were still connected! I can't even feel Bakura in my mind, and you expect me to wait?!"
Yami's eyes widened. "This Realm... is... Envy..." he said quietly. Yugi looked at Ryou. "Please, Ryou, what Yami means is that it could be dangerous..." he said pleadingly. "Sure, sure, you don't understand how this feels..." Ryou said sarcastically. "You've never had to be away from Yami..."
Before anyone knew what had happened, Yugi had run up to Ryou, and was holding the albino boy by the collar. "Look, Ryou," he hissed angrily. "Sure, I've never had to be away from Yami. So what? At least Bakura could remember who he was! I've gone through so much with my-mou-hitori-no-boku, just so he can remember his real name. Do you envy me now, Ryou?!" Yugi's eyes narrowed almost enough to resemble Yami's. "Answer me! Do you envy me for having to face off against Pegasus, with my soul on the line? Do you envy me for having to stare down Ra himself? Do you envy me for being beaten, bruised, battered, insulted, hurt, scared, threatened, and all manner of other things, just to find out that Yami's name is Atemu? Hmm?"
Yugi suddenly let go of Ryou. "I-I'm sorry..." he stammered quietly. "Thank you..." Ryou murmured back. "I should be the one apologizing."
"It's great that you guys are being friendly and all, but I for one would like to get home as soon as possible. Can we please get a move on?" Seto said in his ever sarcastically polite voice. Yami rolled his eyes. "Whatever." he muttered. Seto followed him as they walked towards the stairs after the two hikaris.
The flight of stairs was not particulary high, nor did it take them long to climb it. As they reached the top, all the lights in the building turned off, except for the one right in front of them. It was a blue glow, and didn't give an immense amount of light.
Before them was a glass box, twice Yami's height, with a door cut out of the front. It was from within this that the light came. On its back wall, the form of Bakura hung unconcious by chains shackled about his wrists. His head fell forward onto his chest, long white hair falling unruly over his face. His arms were stained with rivulets of blood coursing down from his wrists, where the manacles had dug into the skin almost to the bone. His black shirt hung limply over his form, slashed and torn.
"Ahh!" Ryou ran towards the door. "STOP!" Yami shouted, a second too late. Ryou was thrown backwards by an unseen force guarding the door. "Wh-what?" Ryou said, getting slowly to his feet.
"Ryou Bakura." a female voice said. A girl, just like the other Guardians jumped down from the top of the box. She wore an aqua-blue jacket, and had white-blond hair, but her eyes were blank - she was being possessed. Yami growled darkly, turning his eyes to where his own darker was standing atop the box. "Yugiou..." he said. "What do you want this time?"
Yugiou smirked. "Only your aibou, Pharaoh." he said. Yami's eyes widened, and he instinctively pulled Yugi closer to him. "You won't take him away from me!" the young Pharaoh said calmly. "I don't intend to take him." Yugiou said, mildly amused. "I intend to win him. If Ryou Bakura cannot complete the Challenge that my little puppet, Mayi, will set, I will win Yugi." Yami's eyes narrowed in anger. "You can't bargain for my Yugi!" he shouted. "You will never have him!"
Yugiou glanced at Yugi, his dark heart melting in sight of those glimmering amethyst eyes. For a brief moment, every emotion he felt towards the young Light was displayed openly on his face. Only a brief moment, but enough for Yami to see. "You... you love Yugi, don't you?" he said in blantant disbelief. Yugiou looked away irefully. Yugi looked up at him. "Admit it if you do." he said quietly. Yami looked down at him in surprise. "Yugi, I thought..."
"I do, I do, Yami! I just need to know..." Yugi smiled softly. Yugiou glared at the short boy. "FINE then. Listen: I love you! Are you happy?" he yelled. "Very much so." Yugi said brightly. Yami pouted in jealousy. Yugi was HIS koi...
"Just set me the Challenge, Yugiou..." Ryou said slowly. "Mayi!" Yugiou said, without looking at Ryou. The aqua-clothed girl spoke. "Ryou Bakura... In your own Realm, you are well known for your gentle nature." Ryou frowned in confusion - this was not like the other Challenges. Mayi continued. "So there is no reason for you to prove to me your Charity trait. Envy is not a trait to be proven, so simply answer me this." She paused. "Why are you worthy of the Ring Realm prize?"
"Er... er..." Ryou stammered. Yugi looked at him, and opened his mouth to say something, but his voice was gone.
"Please answer quickly." Mayi said in her dull voice.
Ryou's mouth hung open for a second, before he spoke quietly. "I cannot answer. I do not know if I am worthy, let alone why."
The Millennium Ring glowed brightly around his neck. Inside the glass box, the chains disappeared, and Bakura fell to the floor. "You have passed." Mayi said. She blinked, and looked around. "Where am I?"
Yugiou jumped down, and stalked over to face Yami. "I still hold all the cards..." he said harshly. Yami smirked. "All except one." he replied, holding Yugi close to him. Yugiou narrowed his eyes. "Prepare yourself for the Puzzle Realm. I will be waiting. Waiting to kill you." His form dissolved, leaving Yugi to hug Yami tightly.
Mayi bowed deeply to Yami, and then to Ryou. "Thank you for freeing me. All I remember is the True Guardian returning, locked away in ice, and then nothing until now." she said politely. "True Guardian?" Ryou said curiously.
"Me." Bakura stood up shakily, and walked towards the door that led out of his glass box prison. "Something Yami never bothered to mention. Mayi is only a temporary Guardian; I'm the real one." He looked around at them all. "Pharaoh..." he murmured, his eyes half closed. "Care to explain why you are blue?" Yami's eyes opened wide. "Still?!" he said in surprise. Yugi looked up. "Yep! Blue, blue, blue."
Yami sighed. "Ryou, you need no longer stay in these Realms; I can send you home now, if you wish." he said. "I don't want you in danger because of us." Ryou frowned slightly. "I trust that I will be allowed home after I've returned this stupid thing to Malik?" Seto asked, holding up the Millennium Rod. Yami nodded. "Yes, yes, Kaiba, but you need to visit the Rod Realm first. Ryou, Bakura, do you wish to return home?" he said quickly.
"Can't let you have all the glory, Pharaoh." Bakura said slowly. "I'm staying. Besides, you may need more help in the magical department. Ryou, you go home." Ryou's chocolate coloured eyes widened. "I'm staying if you're staying, Bakura!" he objected. "I'm not going to sit and worry about you all at home!" "Fine." Yami flicked his bangs out of his eyes. "You all stay."
"Hold on!" Mayi said. A flick of her wrist, and a card bearing the Millennium Ring appeared in her hand. She bowed again as she presented it to Ryou. Ryou blushed, and studied the card. "Thank you..." he murmured.
The temporary Guardian straightened up. "You must be prepared to fight in the Rod Realm." she said. "For it's darker influence is Anger. But... your enemies will not always be outsiders." The glass box dissolved into a pool of water. "Jump in, and restore the realms! Ra's blessings on you all!" she smiled brightly. Bakura and Ryou jumped in first, followed by a reluctant Seto. Mayi stopped Yami as he was about to follow them. "Good luck, Pharaoh." she said. "Never lose faith in the light."
Yami smiled gently. "Thank you." he said quietly, feeling for Yugi's hand. "Ready?" he asked his young aibou. "Always." Yugi replied. The pair lept into the water.
"The light is all that can stop the dark." Mayi said sadly.