A/N: Urga... I'm running out of ideas ;.; Must.. brainstorm!!
Wah! A lot of reviews ^___^ I'm happy. We passed the 100 mark! *joyous* Congrats to Elli the Ghostie for being the 100th reviewer! *throws confetti* *ahem* well..now that THAT'S over..
...Here's the eighth chapter! This chapter may be somewhat dark. It has some of Ryou's memories, none too pleasant.
Disclaimer:
Don't you just HATE writing this every chapter? *takes in air* I DON'T OWN YUGIOH! NOW LEAVE ME ALONE YOU NASTY LAWYER BUGS!
Nasty Lawyer 'bugs': o.o *blown away*
*grins happily*
Of Angels and Demons
Chapter 8: Alone and Grieving
By: Nadako-Mika
"What?... You mean he's...gone?"
Malik and Mariku had their ears firmly pressed against the patient's door. Bother eager to hear what the lady had to say to their friends. They both frowned when they heard Ryou's voice. He sounded so hurt and weak, stuttering ever so often on words. The tragic news that sprung up on him probably didn't help the situation.
Malik turned to his yami, tears brimming his eyes. "Poor Ryou..."
----------------------------------
"H-how? Why? He can't have died!" Ryou wouldn't believe it. His only living family member wasn't living anymore.
"They said the digging site collapsed on him, they don't know how. It just.. caved. I'm sorry about the bad news," the nurse explained before heading to leave the room. She sighed heavily before exiting, hating what she had just done.
Ryou lay back on the firm hospital bed. His mind totally void of any emotion. 'Father.. You can't leave..'
The doors opened again, letting in the two Egyptians. They both hurried to Ryou's side, sympathy clearly drawn on their faces.
Malik was speachless. "Ryou..."
Ryou only turned away, unable to look into those lavender orbs so full of concern. He didn't want any pity, he just wanted to be left alone. "I'm fine.." he said in a small whisper, barely audible.
'Why me?' Ryou thought. 'Why am I the one who goes through the pain. Why can't I share the pain?' Tears slowly lined his vision, bluring his sight slightly.
Why, indeed? He could have broken a mirror and then walked under a ladder, but the bad luck would never have equaled the luck he was having now.
'First it was Mother, then Amane... Now Father. Why do I keep losing everyone?'
~
The warm summer breeze blew by him, but no matter how warm it was he seemed to stay cold and empty. Of course, he didn't know why he felt so lonely. He was only four.
They were burrying her.
Ryou stared as the workmen lowered a wooden coffin down into a deep hole dug in the ground. He wondered why. Why did they have to burry her? Father had said that she had gone up to Heaven, but that still didn't explain why they had to burry Mother's body.
Why did they have to wear black too? It just made everything look sad. Ryou took a peak around. There were a few relatives here. They were all weeping and sniffling, drying their tears with one of those fancy hankerchiefs. Father was standing beside him, holding little Amane tight in his arms, and ignoring the tears cascading down his face.
Ryou frowned. Father never cried. This must have hurt him deeply. He turned his attention back to the coffin which held the body of his mother. He would miss her.
"Ryou?" his father called in a soft voice, "Come on. We have to go."
Ryou took his father's free hand and walked down the cemetary. He took one last peak at the gravesite, they were filling it in now. "Goodbye, Mother," he whispered back.
~~
It had only been half a year since his mother's death, and now he was close to losing his little sister. It was late december, the harsh weather took it's toll on the little girl. She had caught ill and had to be hospitalized.
Ryou walked into Amane's room. The child was sleeping, her short breaths laboured and her pale skin covered in a cold sweat. Ryou sniffed as he took off his winter scarf and jacket. He silently pushed a chair to the side of her bed, then climbed onto it. He was too short to just stand by the bed, seeing as he was only as tall as the bedpost.
Amane stirred awake as Ryou watched her, blinking every so often. Soft hazel eyes met the boy's deep chocolate orbs. Amane looked around.
"Where's daddy?" she asked in a whisper.
"He went to go get something," Ryou answered.
"Onii-san?"
"Hm?"
"What does it feel like when you die?" Amane asked innocently.
Ryou looked at her with a shocked expression. "I-I don't know. Why do you want to know?"
His sister frowned. "They said I would die soon. They said I would go and see mommy in heaven too."
Ryou sniffed again and pulled his little sister into a small hug. "At least you'll see mom, right? Let's not think about that right now. Here," he pulled out a small, carefully wrapped gifted from his pocket, "I have your christmas gift."
Amane's frown immediately evaporated, and was replaced by a broad smile. "Thank you, Onii-san!" she said before she began to hastily unwrap the gift.
"Aren't you going to wait until Christmas?"
She shook her head. "Nope! I want to open it right now!" she said, causing Ryou to smile.
Amane opened the small box and gasped as she saw the gift. It was a beautiful golden locket, strung on golden thread. A few colorful jewels were encrusted on the surface. "This is so pretty! Thank you Onii-san!"
"Merry Christmas," Ryou said with a wide grin, "It's from both Dad and me. I'm going to get something to drink, do you want something, Amane?"
"No thanks, I'm fine. I think I'm just going to go to sleep," Amane said, trying to stiffle a yawn. She cuddled back into the bed, closing her eyes.
Ryou was heading out the door when a sudden tone met his ears. He turned around and stared at his sister. What was making that noise? Maybe it was from one of those machines. Almost immediately several doctors and nurses rushed into the room. They seemed panicked. One of the nurses noticed him and made him sit in a chair, telling him everything was going to be alright. He had no idea what was wrong though.
They were shouting at each other. Ordering each other around. One of the doctors put some sort of panel over Amane's chest. Ryou gasped with fright as Amane twitched under the pulse. After what seemed like hours, one of the doctors turned off the beeping machine and frowned. He seemed to notice Ryou then, walking towards the boy. He said something that shocked Ryou to the bitter core.
He had watched his sister die.
~
'You chose a great time to leave, Father.' Ryou thought bitterly as he rested his eyes.
The room was silent, but he wasn't alone. Malik and Mariku were still there, sitting silently by his side. The two were probably chatting via mind link. As for Bakura? Ryou had no clue. The yami had made no effort to speak, he didn't make a single sound. He might have already left. But Ryou didn't care. He didn't care about anything anymore.
'Maybe I was meant to be alone.' he thought. He had good reason to think that way. Everyone he held dear had left him.
His mother had died when he was young, his younger sister following shortly. Now his father had left him to join the other two. Were they expecting him to do the same? And just recently, Bakura left him. Although he was probably sitting in the corner as of this moment, he still left. He ran out that day, just left with no explanation. Leaving Ryou to feel empty and cold again.
A sudden voice brought him from his thoughts, "Ryou?"
He turned his head and saw his yami and the two other Egyptians getting up to leave.
"We have to go," Malik said mournfully, "We'll be back tomorrow, alright?"
Ryou didn't say anything. He just nodded to show that he understood. When the door closed he fell back against the pillow. Small streams of tears trickling down his face. So he was alone once again...
The poor boy cried himself into a deep sleep.
----------------------------------
Malik and Mariku had dragged Bakura to the hospital again. "You as a Yami should look after your Hikari! Not abandon him!" Malik had scolded. However, when they got there, they saw that the Pharaoh and his Hikari had arrived first.
Yami wore a grim expression, while little Yuugi just sat in one of the chairs, sniffling and sobbing every once in a while. They had good reason too. Ryou was laying in the bed, nothing seemed wrong though. He just seemed asleep. But attatched to his arm were various wires and tubes, all leading to the bunch of hospital equipment by the bed. He didn't have these things on the last time they visited.
Malik frowned and turned to Yami, "What happened?"
"The doctor said he fell into a coma," the Pharaoh explained, "They said he has a good chance of never waking. They don't know how it came to this though. It just.. happened."
Bakura sat down in the corner again. He seemed unphased by the sudden news. Yami even glared at his attitude, thinking how cruel he was to not even show the least bit of apathy towards his own Hikari. Little did the other's now, he worried. Somewhere in that heart of stone, Bakura worried about his Hikari.
'How could it come to this? I've done all I could to prevent harming him further. Stupid dreams. Ryou would have been better off if I didn't change. At least he would have had a better chance to stay alive.'
Would he have? Would Ryou have had a better chance to stay alive, even with his yami's ruthless beatings? Bakura sighed mentally. He doubted there was any chance that he could change this all. It had probably already gone too far.
"Bakura.."
The sudden voice startled him, resounding in his mind. He looked around, but no one seemed to be paying any attention to him.
"Why?"
That voice again. It sounded so familiar to him...
"Why did you have to hurt me?..."
Bakura snapped his head towards the bed, occupied by his hikari. 'Could it be?...'
"What's that?" Yuugi asked, his voice sliced through the thick silence.
Everyone followed his gaze, and were surprised to see a soft, white feather floating down slowly. It seemed to glow dimly, whilst falling onto Ryou's chest.
Yami picked it up with the greatest care. He examined it, front to back, confusion clearly etched into his features. "How could this get here? I see no bird, and it would have to be a rather large one to bare such a large feather," he said.
Malik took the feather from Yami's hands. He looked up at his yami and they both frowned. Everyone else looked at them in confusion. They knew something about this.
"What is it? Where did it come from?" Yuugi asked.
The two Ishtars said nothing. They slowly turned their gaze to the sleeping form of Ryou, still frowning.
Bakura got quite fed up with all this mysterious acting. "Well? Are you going to answer the shrimp's questions?" he asked, quite rudely.
"It's Ryou's," was all Malik said.
"Bull! How could that feather come from Ryou?" Bakura demanded, "I don't recall him having any-...wings..." His eyes suddenly softened, surprising everyone in the room, and turned to his Hikari. The dreams were all coming back to him.
It was right after a rather cruel beating, where this woman invaded his sleep.
~
She had come completely adorned in white, her equally white hair stuck to her tear-stained face. Her bright gray eyes so full of anger and depression. She cradled in her arms an hourglass. It seemed the sands were newly turned, for there was little grains at the bottom.
"Please stop," she had called out to him softly.
Bakura had only turned his head arrogantly, before replying, "Stop what?"
"Please," she said again, "Don't hurt him."
He had a good idea of what she was talking about. "I'll damn hurt him as much as I want," he replied cruely.
"You'll kill him!"
"Your point is?"
Anger flared in the woman's eyes. "You can't live without him! Are you that dense? He's you own Hikari, and you torture him like a poor kitten! If you keep this up, he won't have long to live."
Bakura huffed. "I'll be careful then. It's not like I'm going to puncture his organs."
"That's not what I meant. If he loses his wings then you'll have Hell to pay," she scolded.
"Wings? What wings? Last time I checked he was human."
She glared at the Yami, choosing to ignore his comment. "If he loses his last feathers, he'll die. He'll also drag you along with him."
~
Is that what she had meant? That Ryou was dying because he was losing feathers? It still didn't make sense to him though. Bakura still didn't know HOW Ryou had wings, and why he couldn't see them.
Yami's head snapped up. "Wings?" he asked. That word had triggered his memory. "I remember something. It's like a prophecy that came along with the Sennen Items. It had something to do with us Yamis and our hikaris."
"It's about angels and demons, isn't it?" Malik asked. He had a good idea where this was leading.
"How did you-"
Malik cleared his throat and shot a glance towards his Yami. "We've been through it.."
Yami frowned, "Oh.. right.."
"Yami? What's the prophecy?" Yuugi asked.
"Yes, Pharaoh. Enlighten us," Bakura said.
Yami met Malik and Mariku's gaze, only to continue with his explanation with the approval of the two. "Well, the blacksmith who had created these items of ours had said something interesting to me..
"He seemed to know what was instore for these items in the future. The far future.. to this present day. He had said that the Hikari's would have timed lives. This confused me back then, because I had no idea that I was going to be trapped in the item myself, and that we Yamis would have so called 'Hikaris'.
"He said the Hikari's would lead lives of angels. They would be pure, innocent, and void of any sins. Living the life of an angel did not mean they would have immortality. They could die of natural causes, but they would never live forever. The blacksmith explained that living a life of an angel meant that there were other causes of death. Besides fatal wounds and diseases, they would be quite vulnerable to mental abuse.
"Each time a Hikari was hurt deeply, they would lose a single feather. If they were hurt enough, they would lose all their feathers, losing their wings in the process. That's when death greats them. 'An angel without wings is an angel no more.'
"He also said that we Yamis were the only ones who would be able to hurt our Hikaris in such a way. And if we were foolish enough to kill our Hikaris in such a way, we would die along side our Hikari, but we would then part and be dragged down into the depths of Hell. If you think about it, it's like a rule that keeps us in check." Yami's explanation finished off, leaving the room deathly silent.
"Is that true, Yami?" Yuugi asked. He recieved a nodd. "Poor Ryou." Yuugi suddenly turned to Bakura, anger flaring in his eyes. "You did this then, didn't you?! He might just die because of you! I'm just glad that you'll find yourself in Hell!" he screamed at the startled Tomb Robber.
When Bakura had recovered from that sudden outburst, he growled and turned to exit the room. 'Stupid fools.' he thought bitterly before running out of the hospital.
"Mariku. I think you better go try and talk to him," Yami suggested, "You've been through his situation, haven't you?"
The spirit of the Sennen Rod nodded stiffly. He hated being reminded of that event. But he obeyed and ran after Bakura, hoping the Tomb Robber hadn't already killed some innocent bystanders.
"Ryou's not going to leave us, is he?" Yuugi asked sadly, tears sprung from his eyes.
Yami made a move to try and comfort his Hikari. "I dont' know Yuugi. It's all up to Bakura," he answered honestly, but only caused Yuugi to cry harder.
Malik turned away from the pair and focused on the pale boy lying in bed. 'Please Ryou,' he thought, 'Just stay with us a bit longer... I'm sure Bakura will come to his senses soon.'
--------------------------------------------------
Nadako: Oh gosh.. I'm going to be burned alive!
Bakura: Why?
Nadako: Ryou's dying! EEP! The readers won't be happy about that! *can immagine herself being burned and ripped up by fellow Ryou fans*
Bakura: Bwuahahahaha....
Nadako: *squeaks* Please don't kill me yet!!!
Bakura: YET.
Nadako: Ryou won't die! I promise! What's a good Shounen Ai ending without shounen ai between the two bishies?! DON'T KILL ME!!! *hides*
Bakura: XD Here are the reviewers! Unfortunately, Nadako-chan can only respond to reviews with questions. If she responded to everyone.. it would take up too much room @.@
Responses:
Sdrive - No I don't think a you reading shounen ai is bad. I think your very open minded if you do. It's not everyday you see a guy reading it ^^;;. And to italicize your work (bold, underline, center as well) you should open up Notepad and use HTML codes. Email me if you want to know the codes.
vixinkitusne - What?! What do you mean he kills himself (by accident)?! ;_; Where did you find that?! If you still have the link, do you think you could give it to me? ;.; Poor Ryou.. Damn right, Takahashi's got to bring back Ryou...T.T
Thanks also to: Piggu-Bru, Mooncinder aka Dreamy-eyes1, Mina-chan AMD, Aurora of the Moon, person6, Saturn Imp, darkshadow-23, Kurama no Miko2003, Crimson-Eyed-Angel99, Elli the Ghostie, DcSolstice, koosei, Windswift, Hedi Dracona, DaLizzie, Nezumi & Lylli Riddle, fatlazikat, Maruken, crystal-chan