Disclaimer: I do not own YGO… Some people aren't that lucky…
K would like to thank: Sage Kaley for the info about Ryou's past and all the reviewers
A/N: … - means conversation through mind link…
Ryou is being haunted by the untimely death of his sister and a long been hidden family secret that is about to be awaken…
- BLOOD BOUND -
by Hunter K
(is also the former GW)
Chapter 2:
+ Rousing Darkness +
December 18, Transylvanian Alps, Romania
The wintry wind was embracing the old castle ruins at the base of the towering Transylvanian Mountains that makes it arduous to dig for the archeologists. Taka Bakura, a man of late thirties with brown hair and stands about six feet or higher, was one of them. He was busy studying the architectural designs and floor plans of the old fortress when his cellular phone rang. Quickly, he picked the phone on the table, pressed the button and asked, "Hello?"
"Dad?" came Ryou's upset voice. He hadn't managed to sleep after his dream so he decided to tell his uncle that he's going to his Dad before the purifying ceremony. "Can you tell me where on Romania you are digging? I wanna go there…"
Taka was surprised; he hadn't heard Ryou so worried before, maybe because he didn't talked to his son that much. "What's wrong?"
Taka heard his son sob before he said, "Dad, it-it's Amane… she visits me on my dreams again…"
"Take it easy…" Taka tried to calm his son, "Just try to catch a plane to Bucharest and I'll pick you there"
-.+.+.+.+.-
It sounds easy but when Ryou reached Bucharest, it's nothing like what he thought of. All people sounded like they came from another planet. Maybe because he's not used to hearing their language or their English doesn't sound like 'his' English or so…
To prevent being bored, he sat on a table outside a café. He thought that if he'd flee from those people hanging at the airport lobby he won't hear those unfamiliar sound they make but he didn't notice someone approaching him. His eyes narrowed when he heard that weird sound again from behind him.
I think he's asking for your orders… Yami Bakura said, seating at the chair opposite his Hikari's, Most waiter's do…
What if he's just greeting me?
Heh, answer him in Japanese or Arabic, he might understand! the spirit spat bitterly.
Ryou chuckled at his Yami's remarks heheh, that's not a bad idea!
"Uhum," Ryou coughed, "Omae…" OO "Dad?"
The man who was mistaken for a waiter smiled. "And who told you to answer Romanian with Japanese, young man?"
"Eheh,…" Ryou smiled illicitly as he turned his eyes to his Yami who started the waiter talk earlier.
The spirit looked away, I thought he's a waiter… then smirked, He looked like one!
-.+.+.+.+.-
Ryou leaned against an old pillar, quietly observing the Transylvanian terrains around the ruins of the undersized castle. Nothing seems peculiar except that everything looks familiar to him. As if he had really been there. But that was just a dream, he assured himself. He stared at the cliff where he saw Amane in his dream, and was glad she wasn't there.
"Ryou!" Taka shouted from the cellar of the castle. "Go down, it's warmer in here!"
"Coming!", Ryou answered. He still glanced one more time at the cliff before heading down the basement. The ring of wisdom clanked as the white-haired lad made his way down the stairs leading to the basement. The chime of the millennium item grew louder, echoing on the narrow stairway as Ryou went deeper the cellar. Its noise is comfort to him. The sound informs him that he's not alone, that he's with another soul…
But the echoes of his companion suddenly stopped, leaving him alone with silence. Ryou paused and checked why his cohort stopped singing for him and found that the millennium ring is resonating… pointing all of its spikes at the wall to his left.
Spirit, what is this? Ryou asked his Yami. The ring is resonating… like, like when we found the millennium eye…
The former King of Thieves appeared beside his vessel, I'm not sure if it's a millennium item…, the spirit placed his hand on the surface of the wall, But I think something's calling me inside…
But how do we get inside… that is a wall!
Well, I'm a spirit… the thief smirked at his Hikari.
Ryou slapped his left hand lightly on his forehead, this is solid wall, listen…, Ryou knocked the wall of the three thousand-year old architecture. Toktoktok. Toktoktok. see?
It sounds hollow…
Ryou didn't want to believe but it really sounded hollow, as if the wall was just about five inches thick, unlike the other wall which ranges from a foot thick or thicker. The teen knocked once more, to make sure if his ears didn't betray him. Toktoktok. Toktoktok. The sound was still the same. The wall was hollow.
-.+.+.+.+.-
Taka grew worried for his son so he decided to go up to see his son when his mobile phone rang. He picked it up and answered, "Yes?"
"Is Ryou already there?"
"Yeah, do you wanna talk to him?"
"No, just remind him to be back here before the 22nd… and his cousins just arrived here…"
"I will. I'm sorry I cannot come."
"It's okay. I already told father and he said it's just fine as long as Ryou's here."
"Thanks. Bye!" Taka placed the phone back at the top of the table and went up to see Ryou.
-.+.+.+.+.-
Bakura has taken control of his lighter half's body, with Ryou's permission of course. They were both curious what's on the other side of the wall. And since Ryou's so frail, he let Bakura do all the serious works. The Yami started to carve at the ridge of the said hollow wall with his pocketknife. He tried to bore the knife deeper, hopeful to part the two solid blocks that make up the wall.
A small amount of dust builds up right below where Bakura was digging. He had carved a good two or three inches deep in just a few minutes since the wall was so old and tenuous. One hard stab and the dagger went all the way though the wall. One thing… he can't pull the dagger out.
The former thief king forced the dagger out, his right feet kicking against the wall. But it didn't budge, as if something at the other side was clutching at it firmly. But who or what is going to grab hold a sharp blade? Bakura started making sounds, mostly groans, due to frustration.
He held the hilt with both hands, pushing his full weight to the wall by putting both his feet up. "Arg… Let go… of this… This is my favorite knife!", he said beneath clenched teeth. "Damn you wall!"
Ryou sweat-dropped. Seeing his Yami talking to inanimate things sure amazes him, but he still thinks it stupid to do such things.
"Meh? Challenging the Thief King, huh?" Bakura smirked, "Wait 'till I send you to the dark realms!" He then burst out laughing that made Ryou sweat-drop more, even if it's extremely cold. And between Bakura's dialogues, the damned wall really gave up! Probably got pissed at Bakura's prying or it got afraid of being sent to the dark realm, like what the thief believed.
With the crosspiece of the hilt an inch above the wall surface, Bakura knew it would be easier to pull it now. Too engrossed in pulling the dagger, Bakura didn't notice that somebody was coming. Until his Hikari told him.
"Yami, Yami, someone's approaching!", Ryou gestured to his Yami, trying to pat the other's shoulder with his immaterial hands.
"Why didn't you tell me earlier? What are we going to do with this?", he said, still pulling the said dagger.
"I don't know!", Ryou shrugged.
Desperate enough, the thief started to pull the dagger bellow the hilt, holding the cold blade of the knife with his bare palm.
Surprisingly, the dagger slid out, slightly but smoothly, as if it he had used a lubricant.
It is when the dagger was halfway out that he noticed that his palm was already bleeding. But the blood didn't drip down. It's not because of the cold atmosphere. His blood didn't agglutinate. It flowed languidly like a river. But it defied gravity. It just flowed along the cold, steel blade of the dagger, leaving trails of red for a while but departs later. The blood moved, like mercury being touched by a kid. But the blood is not being touched, it moves as if it was alive! No! It's as if someone was sipping it through an invisible straw! The ancient thief watched his blood ooze with amazement. His eyes followed as the crimson flowed and seeped through the crack he made on the wall!
"Thief… Make it fast!"
One harder tug and the knife gave in; sliding lithely like it was stuck in a cake. Just in time to slide the switchblade in his pocket and play innocent in front of Taka Bakura. But instead of dealing with the man, he let the Hikari do the talking. He must learn to lie for himself sometimes, he reasoned out.
Ryou stood in front of the crevice, which his Yami dug, to cover it from his father's view. He planted both his hands in his coat's pouch, concealing his still bleeding hand. He plastered a smile when he saw his father ascend from the solid stair.
The archeologist stared at his son. The boy's soft feature reminds him a lot of his wife. He himself wondered how the boy reminds him of Laurene, Amane looks much like their mother than him. 'Maybe because of his smile' Taka thought, as he got absorbed on his son's smile, visualizing Laurene instead.
"Dad?"
Taka shivered, "It's cold up here… Let's go down."
Ryou just nodded and followed, not daring to look back at what his Yami made, so that his father won't notice.
-.+.+.+.+.-
Taka stared at Ryou while the kid was sipping his hot chocolate. He felt somewhat guilty for letting his son live by himself. His business is just an alibi. He does have time, but he preferred to spend it in other things than seeing Ryou. He sees Ryou as a living memory of Laurene, only there to remind him of his wife, and it pains him just to see his son.
"Dad, what is it?", he saw that smile again, so pure and innocent. His eyes seal in a curve whenever he smiles, letting all his guards down, as if trusting everyone around him.
"You look like your Mom…" Taka said absentmindedly.
The lad gazed in astonishment, a blush forming on his cheeks. "Of course I look like Mom 'cause I'm her son!" Ryou chuckled.
He had imagined Ryou bursting out his feelings at him, calling him coward. But the kid didn't. He hadn't felt any grief or irritation from the kid, just pure longing for a father that is long absent. At that moment, he felt guilty. It's never Ryou's fault to be like his mother in so many ways… never…
-.+.+.+.+.-
Yami Bakura stared intently at the snuggling Hikari by his side. The lighter one was deeply asleep, unaware of the storm that kept his Yami wide-awake at midnight. The Egyptian climate does lie on extremities, awfully hot at daytime and extremely cold during the night. The thief king should be used to weather changes. But now he continuously snarled at the foul weather. The storm gives him shivers and reminds him much of what happened earlier.
The spirit tried as much not to think about what happened on that wall, his blood flowing as if it is being summoned to the other side. He shook his head. Fighting his curiosity made his interest go stronger, twice as much as before. After thinking, he decided to give in since he can't control his instincts anymore. It's not that he thinks there were treasure hidden in there… there's more…
Yami no Bakura made his way to the said wall, stealthily jumping from step to step of every stairs like a wild cat. When he reached the place, he held one palm, the one that's not bandaged, to touch where he had carved.
Eeeekk… A long creepy sound was heard. The wall moved with a single touch, as if it had a hinge. Bakura stepped in the dark small room, stench filling his nose. He reached for the lighter in his pocket to see what's in the room.
He flicked the lighter expertly. He'd been accustomed to using a lighter since he made it his pastime, yeah flicking lighters, that bothers Ryou pretty much since he almost burned the apartment down, twice.
The light shone dimly, lighting the room scantily. But before he can adjust to the dimness of the room, the flame of the lighter flickered and died.
"It must be the wind…" Bakura muttered to himself. He pulled the wall close to minimize the wind in the room and flicked the lighter again.
The room looked like a small corridor; the ceiling hitting his head and the walls was just as broad as his shoulders. If it wasn't extended, he might mistake it for a coffin especially made for him.
The thief groaned. Walking in the undersized corridor made him uncomfortable. He reached a place partially slanted downwards, almost about 25 degrees. The tomb robber tried to alter his position so to prevent himself from sliding while still holding the lighter.
The stainless handle of the lighter is growing hot. The thief flicked it off for a while, letting it cool, then flicked it on again. He inched his way down the poorly lighted foyer, studying the bizarre inscriptions on the walls. A part of him says he knows what they mean, but he cant perceive. He touched one with his right palm deeply thinking where he saw the same kind of lexis. It's not a hieroglyph of the kind they use in ancient Egypt, he knew that too well. It's different… but he cant tell…
He stopped musing and resumed his path down the antechamber. The lower he gets, the higher the angle of the slope goes. He tried as much not to slide. He repositioned himself in an almost sitting position, but still he slithered.
The lighter died. He can see nothing but darkness. The place was damp, cold and acrid like the shadow realm. Bakura soon realized that he had bumped into a wall. He tried to flick the lighter once more, only to see the wall he bumped on had a very peculiar sign on it.
On the wall, which seems more a gate to Bakura, had a huge Celtic cross engraved with other signs like those seen on the walls. On the center of the cross was an opening, same shape of that of the millennium ring.
The tomb robber ripped opened the light blue pajama top he was wearing, revealing a ring of gold with five spikes clinging at each of its nodes and a triangle possessing the eye of Anubis at the center. It was the so-called millennium ring or ring of wisdom to others. The ring that took ninety-nine innocent lives to make, the ring that kept him sealed for 3,000 years.
He took the millennium ring in on hand and placed it on the slot. What he was doing was unclear to him. As if another force was driving him, a force from deep inside him that is trying to be awaken.
The ring flashed once, and spread it's light on the etches of the wall, making it glow for a while before it totally lost its brightness. After the dramatic radiance, the millennium ring fell on the ground with a tinkle.
Soon, the wall gave an abrading sound against the floor and the other walls. The ground began to shake. Yami no Bakura tried his best to stay in place while attempting to get hold of the ring. When he got the ring, he noticed that the platform he was sitting at was reeling, moving in a circular motion along with the wall. It was taking him to the other side…
K: Kawaita! Sakebi ga! Hm…. Hmm… Darenimo! Dasenai!... Kotae ga, … Naka ni Aru! (Sings while listening to Kawaita Sakebi)
AHHHH! Field Of View Rocks! (Drools) not to mention I liked 'Hitori Janai' as well,
Ehm, guys… I've been looking for "Butterfly Kiss" by Yonekura Chihiro…
If you got them you're always free to attach them in an e-mail, I'll be truly grateful!
Oh, my e-mail? (just our secret huh?)
Songs are my only company when I write fics… maybe I'll update earlier if I got more songs to play while writing n.n
I know it took me so long to update.. anyway, review nn;