Soul Battle

Chapter One – Dream Friend

Disclaimer: I don't own anything from Yu-Gi-Oh, and I'm not making any money from this fic

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Kyla sat on her bed with her knees drawn up to her chest, staring at the new bruises on her arms with a kind of morbid fascination.

I guess I should be grateful that I can easily hide the bruises, Kyla thought to herself with an inaudible sigh.

Kyla's foster father had had a hard day working at the bank, so he had beaten Kyla quite badly. At least he hadn't taken a knife to her this time, though.

Kyla leaned back on her bed to stare up at the ceiling, ignoring the stab of pain through her back. As usual, she couldn't find any tears inside her. She'd become what she was called at school – the ice queen. But she hadn't chosen to encase her heart in ice... It had been forced onto her. If she hadn't become like ice, then the torture she was going through all the time would destroy her.

Kyla's eyes tracked towards the picture on her dressing table – the picture of Ryou. Her outward expression didn't change, but, inwardly, she flinched.

Ryou was Kyla's boyfriend, if you could call him that. Kyla had never particularly wanted a boyfriend... But she had always sort of liked Ryou. And when he had asked her to date him, she had said yes.

Kyla wasn't compromising on her reputation as the ice queen, though. Usually, she didn't treat Ryou very well. But though she was exceedingly cold and sometimes cruel to him, Ryou bore it patiently, and didn't even think about breaking up with Kyla.

In a way, that might have made things even worse between Ryou and Kyla. The problem was that Ryou was so gentle. He would never shout at Kyla or argue with her or protest her treatment of him. In a way, Kyla had lost her ability to feel. What she needed was a sharp shock to unlock her feelings again.

Kyla glanced up as she head footsteps outside her room. Luckily, though, they continued on past her door.

Despite her best efforts to remain awake, Kyla soon slipped into sleep.

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Kyla was standing in a strangely-shaped room. Unlike other rooms, this one had five corners to it. In some ways, its shape was similar to a star.

The whole room was golden, and glowed with a soft pale light. The whole effect was amazingly beautiful.

Suddenly, Kyla realised that she wasn't alone in the room. Standing almost directly in front of her was a slightly older, darker-looking version of Kyla.

"Who are you?" Kyla demanded rudely, taking a slight step back.

"My name is Nareen," the other Kyla answered, her eyes firmly fixed on Kyla's face. "I am your yami."

"My... yami?" Kyla repeated. Nareen nodded. "Your darker half," she explained. "I am a spirit from Ancient Egypt, and I've been trapped here for a few thousand years."

Kyla looked around. "Where is here?" she wanted to know.

Nareen smiled, and it took Kyla by surprise. She hadn't smiled in so long...

"I don't think you're ready to hear that," Nareen answered. "It would mean believing something that anyone would have trouble believing."

"But why?" Kyla asked. "I mean... This is only a dream... isn't it?"

Again, Nareen smiled. "Well, it's your decision what you believe and what you don't," she replied. "Although if you choose to believe that this is only a dream... You might find that your opinion is drastically changed."

Kyla lifted her chin. "I hardly think that is likely to happen," she said coolly.

Nareen laughed, and Kyla woke up.

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Kyla woke up feeling... strange. It took her a while to work out exactly what was different, and, when she realised, her eyes got very wide.

She no longer hurt.

Kyla looked down at her arms, and her brow wrinkled in confusion as she saw that the bruises were still there. Running a finger tentatively over them, she was surprised to find that they really did no longer hurt. Then, she shrugged. Oh, well. She wasn't about to look a gift horse in the mouth.

Feeling better, even if only slightly, Kyla slipped into sleep again, this time a dreamless one.

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