Sakakku
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Notes: Don't worry, they won't actually say things like this. ::sweatdrop:: I'm so weird.
/You're absolutely insane/ = Ryou talking to Bakura
I know= Bakura talking to Ryou
I'll specify in future chapters if yamis and hikaris talk through the mindlink. (Which they obviously keep)
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Chapter 2
The one-year anniversary of Marik and Bakura's defeat of Yami and Yugi.
xXx
"The Pharaoh is still alive?"
Joey bolted off the shelf he slept on and hit the floor hard. He was up again in a second, rushing to the bars of the cell and shoving on them. "Yugi?" he demanded. Oh, the dreams…
The rat guard who had his deck sneered at him contemptuously. His companion, a shorter, fatter guard, and the man who voiced the question, simply gaped at him.
Rat Guard spit. "Well, if he is, he won't be for long," he threatened. "Masters Marik and Bakura have got guards out combing the desert for the Pharaoh."
"How do they know he's out there?" Pudgy Guard asked.
Rat Guard narrowed his eyes. "Marik and Bakura are feeling some Shadow Magic," he hissed. "Way out in the desert. Powerful Shadow Magic, too. Only the Pharaoh would be stupid enough to use powerful Shadow Magic like that, where anyone with a Millennium Item could sense him."
"It's not those other two magicians, then?" Pudgy Guard asked.
Rat Guard shook his head. "Ishizu Ishtar and Shadi are smarter then that," he said in a low voice. "But I'd bet you my deck-"
My deck, Joey thought, feeling the anger bubble up within him.
"I'd bet you my deck that the Pharaoh doesn't realize that Marik and Bakura can sense him," Rat Guard finished triumphantly.
Joey bit his lip hard enough to draw blood. This was too much to take right now.
"Ah," Pudgy Guard nodded. Then, after a pause: "Did you hear that they're going after Seto Kaiba now?"
Joey sunk to the floor. No… not Kaiba too…
"He is practicing Shadow Magic, then?" Rat Guard asked in interest.
Pudgy Guard nodded his head. "They've been feeling magic coming from his place for ages," he said importantly. "But it was so weak they thought it was nothing. But seems Kaiba's gotten a bit stronger… nothing the Rare Hunters can't handle, of course. They're going over there as we speak."
Rat Guard snorted. "Should I prepare Mr. Wheeler for a roommate?" he asked mockingly, gesturing at the neighboring cell.
Pudgy Guard let out a snicker. "Not this time," he said ominously. "Mr. Kaiba's got himself a one-way ticket to the Shadow Realm."
Joey jumped off the ground, eyes blazing, ready to throw himself at the bars of the cage, anything to get at them, anything to rip their heads off…
But he stopped. The two guards looked at him in alarm, then began snickering at his pitiful attempts to get at them. He didn't care. His attention was focused wholly on the space in between and behind their shoulders.
The Flame Swordsman was hovering there. Transparent, not fully summoned. But he locked his gaze with Joey's.
He held up one finger. He mouthed two words.
Tonight, Master.
xXx
"One whole year of utter domination," Bakura said contentedly, leaning back after his feast. Marik smirked happily as well.
"We are truly Masters," he said, grabbing a small plum and viscously biting half of it off.
Bakura opened his mouth to say something, but an odd expression flickered across his face.
/Bakura/
What do you want, weakling? he snarled, enraged that his hikari would use their mindlink to talk to him like this. Especially when he was celebrating!
A mental sigh. /Bakura, you've sent Rare Hunters after the Pharaoh/
I know damn well what I've done! Why are you disturbing me?
Ryou hesitated. /You can't/ he said finally.
What in the SHADOW REALM are you talking about?
And then it hit. Ryou's mental assault. Shocked, and taken completely by surprise, Bakura howled and fell back in the chair. Dimly, he registered Marik doing the same thing next to him, the plum juices leaking out of his mouth and staining his robe.
Ry…Ryou… what are you…
He couldn't even complete the thought. Where had his hikari learned such power? Ryou was close to permanently crippling him! It was the thought of the humiliation more than anything that made him mentally wrestle back, made him take full control of the two Millennium Rings he and the boy possessed.
He felt Ryou fall back, and for a moment he had a full vision of his hikari lying exhausted on the bed. Next to him sat Malik, obviously at the end of his own mental tolerance.
Bakura stood up and briskly strode over to Marik, dealing him a quick slap on the face. The Egyptian blinked his eyes and shook his head violently.
A scowl crossed over both their faces as their eyes met. As one, they jumped up and raced out of the eating hall.
xXx
"My head," Ryou moaned. Malik stirred beside him.
"We tried, Ryou," he said sadly. "We tried to help Yami and Yugi."
The snow-haired boy rubbed his head, feeling close to tears. "Why?" he burst out.
Malik, knowing exactly what he meant, could do nothing more than shake his head. After a moment, he spoke up. "Should we hide or something?"
Ryou groaned. "They're coming, aren't they?"
Malik nodded, drooping his head. "I'll go into my room, at least," he sighed. "It's probably best if they're not together when we have to face them."
He exited Ryou's chambers and went into the hall leading into his own, stopping to close the door behind them. Ryou watched forelonely, wondering if it was worth it to hide. Bakura would find him, and it would probably just make him angrier, so he settled for burrowing under the blankets on his bed.
Unwillingly, Ryou's body quivered when his yami flung open the door and strode into the room. "Ryou!" he barked, making his way directly to the bed and yanking the sheets off the poor boy. He leaned over maliciously, forcing his hikari to look at him in the eye.
"What was that?" he demanded, though his voice lacked… something. Perhaps he was mentally exhausted, just as Ryou was.
"You're… hurting people," Ryou said, his body collapsing. He rolled over on his back and stared up at his yami pleadingly. There was a chance his pitiful looks and aura of submission would have some effect on Bakura. "Malik and I don't want that to happen."
Bakura snorted. "Since when did Malik go all soft?" he asked rhetorically. "Well, Marik is dealing with him. Listen, Ryou," he said, moving over to the side of the bed suddenly. He placed two strong hands on each of Ryou's arms, and the boy let out a small, frightened noise. Bakura smirked at this, and placed his face very close to his hikari's, baring his unnaturally sharp canines. "You want to worry about yourself first in this world," he breathed dangerously. Mentally exhausted and utterly terrified, Ryou simply nodded yes, closing his eyes in defeat.
Bakura eyed the boy for a moment. His hikari was pitiful… and yet, somehow the sight of the snow-haired boy touched his heart. "You're mine, you know," he whispered, leaning over to speak in the boy's ear. "It's because of me that you're still alive. I own you."
"You… you can't own a person," Ryou managed to whisper, though his eyes were now wide with fear.
I own you, hikari Bakura simply said again, switching to speaking mentally. I can do whatever I want with you
Ryou panicked and tried to flail his arms about, but Bakura's muscular ones were still gripping him tightly.
/Let me go!/ Ryou said wildly.
Bakura rolled his eyes. Maybe the boy had grown some spunk, but he had to say, Ryou was still pathetic. He released one of Ryou's arms, swiftly dodged the frantically moving hand, and dealt his hikari a swift blow across the face.
Ryou didn't move for a while after that. His eyes were squeezed tightly shut. For some odd reason, Bakura felt his heart pounding against his chest as he gazed down on the boy and something flickered inside of him.
But he'd be damned if he apologized to the weakling!
Bakura growled and wheeled around, heading quickly out of the room. At the door, however, he paused and looked back. Ryou had sat up on the bed, looking frightened and nervous and confused and lonely.
"You are mine. I can do whatever I want with you… and that includes killing you slowly and painfully. Do not attempt to cross me again," he hissed before storming away.
xXx
"Mokuba," Seto said somberly, forcing his little brother to look up from eating and pay attention to him.
"What's up, big brother?" the young boy asked, sounding confused and apprehensive, spotting something in Seto's eye.
He exhaled and looked away. "I have to leave," he said bluntly.
Mokuba dropped his fork on the plate with a clatter. "Leave to do what?" he asked immediately.
"Fight."
There was silence for a long time. "I'm coming with you," Mokuba announced firmly.
"No!" Seto said immediately.
"I want to help you!" Mokuba countered, standing up and placing his hands on the table.
"If you want to help me, stay here!" Seto said firmly back, not rising. "I'll know you're safe. And you can throw the Rare Hunters off my trail."
Mokuba hesitated. Seto stared at him intensely for a few minutes, then continued. "You stay here. I'm leaving tonight. Tomorrow morning, you send a letter to Marik and Bakura."
"What?" Mokuba exclaimed, but Seto determinedly pushed on.
"You tell them that I'm a traitor, but you're loyal. If you rat me out soon enough, they'll believe it. You tell them that you think I went after Yami. I believe he is still alive.
"Mokuba, listen. You know the magic I've never believed in? The stories Yami told us on the helicopter that day?" He took a deep breath. "It's true. I've been doing my research. Yami is the spirit of the Millennium Puzzle, Yugi's Other Half, and the rightful Pharaoh.
"You tell Marik and Bakura that I'm looking for Yami to restore him to power, and to bring the two of them down. Tell them that for the last few days, I've been acting strangely, researching the desert, looking at maps of Egypt. I have been, so don't worry about letting them check my library." Books were all he had now, due to the stripping away of most technology.
"But…" Mokuba began, helpless.
"I'm not going after Yami," Seto cut in sharply. "I'm going right to the palace. I have to find that mutt, Wheeler. I'm afraid that they'll use him as bait for Yami, whenever the Pharaoh decides to come out and fight."
"But…" Mokuba continued, staring at Seto with tear-filled eyes. "Big brother… I want you to be safe."
Seto knelt down and gave his little brother a tight hug. "I'll be okay," he whispered to Mokuba. "You just take care of yourself. Call Duke and Tristan if you're in trouble, okay?"
"But you hate them," Mokuba protested, forgetting his worry in disbelief. "Come to think of it, you hate Joey, too!"
"The only ones I hate are Marik and Bakura," Seto said grimly. "Now's not the time to hold petty grudges."
With these words, he swept out the door silently. Mokuba watched him go, tears falling down his cheeks, wondering when his private world had come shattering down.
He came to the realization that it had been exactly one year ago.
xXx
Everything was quiet in the dungeons. Rat Guard, the only Rare Hunter in the dungeon, was asleep. Joey watched him intently… or more specifically, the deck hanging from his side.
He closed his eyes and stretched out a hand. He'd never performed a Shadow Realm summoning before, but hey. There was a first time for everything.
The purple aura surrounding the Flame Swordsman appeared first, and Joey was surprised at how naturally it came to him. Within seconds, the broad figure of the Flame Swordsman materialized in the middle of the room.
Joey would have liked to take a few seconds to bask in triumph, maybe do a private victory dance, but the Swordsman had other plans. Two swift strokes of the sword sent the bars of his cell tumbling to the ground. Joey cringed, realizing the noise they would make when clattering against the stone, but when the bars struck the floor they simply sunk into it. Joey raised his eyebrows. "Neat trick," he whispered.
"Master," the Flame Swordsman said, bowing.
Master… hee hee, that sounded pretty good. A lot better than 'mutt', that was for sure!
…wait. Why was he thinking of Seto Kaiba now? Come to think of it, why was he thinking of Seto Kaiba at all?
"Master, you must leave quickly," the Flame Swordsman said urgently. It was then that Joey realized the monster's lips weren't moving. He winced a little; some things were just too freaky to deal with all at once! "They can sense the Shadow Magic being used here."
The words sunk in to Joey and his eyes grew wide. Quickly, he scrambled out of the cell. He grabbed his deck; and, as an afterthought, the keys to the door from Rat Guard. When he turned around again… the Flame Swordsman was gone.
"I didn't get a chance to thank him," Joey mumbled as he set off down the hall. "Or tell him how sorry I am he has to wear that dress. I remember wearing that… man, an hour was enough for me…"
Being imprisoned for a year did little to quench Joey's spirit.
xXx
In the desert:
Yami's eyes snapped open. As one, he and Yugi jumped up from their sleep by the water. The dreams…
"They're coming," Yugi said, wide-eyed. "Marik and Bakura know we're alive and out here somewhere. We must have let down our guard when we were practicing Shadow Realm Summonings."
Yami nodded somberly. "We cannot hide any longer, Yugi."
xXx
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Notes: My writing can be extremely melodramatic at times. The scene with Bakura and Ryou? Totally lame melodrama. I can't stand it. Rewrote the stupid section five times before giving up.