By: Virtual Maiden and Ruriko Minamino
Disclaimer = In short, we don't own YGO!
Full Summary = Yami, Bakura, and Marik have achieved their goal – world domination. But at what price? The death of the three most important people in the world to them. Will they see the error of their ways? Or will their lives forever loose their light?
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Chapter 1: The World
Crimson eyes scanned through the vast darkness. A tri-color-haired teen wandered through the endless path that lay before him, searching for even a speck of light. He was alone. It was so very cold. Frantically, he searched. There must be something… But where? Oh! There must be something!
Suddenly, as if his prayers were answered, a flash of light appeared and destroyed the darkness. Yami stood completely in awe as a figure suddenly approached him; someone the teen knew, a very familiar face. Yes, it was the closest and most important person in his life, the person with same tri-colored hair but with soft, loving amethyst eyes. The person gently smiled at the teen, but the moment quickly faded away when the teen tried to hold this person. The person backed away and the teen was confused as he heard the person cry.
Upon closer inspection…the tears that was supposed to look like sparkling crystals were red rivulets flowing down his cheeks – the person was crying tears of bright red blood.
The teen backed away, sheer horror visible in his features.
"Y-Yugi? Aibou?" the teen whispered in confusion.
"Why did you kill me?", the person, indeed Yugi, asked in between his sobs, bloody tears still running down his face, his clothes which were before of the purest of white were now also stained with blood. He slowly walked up to the teen with both hands stretched out. The teen froze on the spot and stared in shock and horror at the once beautiful person of pure innocence, now entirely covered in blood. Once again, the apparition spoke, asking the same question as before.
"Yugi, NO!!!!" Yami cried out as hi beloved became brighter and brighter and began to disappear.
"Why… Yami…. Why?"
~*~*~*~*~*~
Crimson eyes shot open. Pharaoh Yami, ruler of the Middle Continent, woke in a cold sweat, panting hard, but still clutching his pillow fiercely. He wasn't in a dark void. He was in his palace bedroom, in Egypt, quite safe, but alone.
'It was that dream again,' he thought, releasing the pillow and burying his face in his hands as his heartbeat slowly returned to normal.
The sun had yet to rise and so it was still dark outside. As Yami's breathing finally evened out, he remembered, or was actually being reminded of, what he had given up three years ago, what he had destroyed without a second thought, all for the sake of the ultimate power. He clenched his fists and gritted his teeth. He couldn't hold back any longer the tears that were threatening to fall. He missed his light, his aibou, his tenchi, his love, his world, his hikari, his everything… But there was nothing he could do. What was done was done.
He laid back in his bed and cried himself to sleep….
Later that morning, there was a loud continuous knocking on the chamber's doors, and Yami knew of only one person bold enough to knock that loudly and disturb his slumber. He sighed and yelled out as loud as he could.
"I'm up, I'm up! YOU CAN COME IN, JOEY!"
At that command, the doors burst open with a soft thud and revealed a blonde-haired boy dressed in a blue cape and green armor. He slowly walked up to the bed (which was on the other, far end of the room) and stopped a the bottom. Yami was about to ask why he was being bothered so early in the morning, but Joey Wheeler, his close friend and one of the Royal Naval Commanders, beat him and was first to speak.
"Good mornin', Pharaoh Yami –"
"Joey…don't call me that. We're alone right now. Just call me Yami and cut the formalities," Yami smirked. "You know, if you were anyone else, I'd have sent you to the Shadow Realm for bothering me this early."
Joey winced, then seeing that his friend was kidding, he laughed and continued. "Sorry, Yami. Anyway, ya paperwork's pilin' up again in ya study an' Seto sent me 're ta remind ya."
Yami let out a long sigh. "Doesn't that man take a break? Now I know why Bakura, Marik, and I made him our chief advisor. Wonder if he even stops when he's tired or – "
"Ya don't know how much time 'e spends in bed – eep!" Joey covered his mouth. "Did I jus' say tha' ou' loud?"
Yami's huge grin was enough of an answer for him. The Pharaoh knew the two had something going for a while now, but until he saw Joey turn red as a tomato right in front of him, he didn't know just how far they'd gone.
"Err…um, we-well, I better get back ta work. There's a, uh new battle ship I gotta check out back in Australia. S-see ya later, yer Majesty!" Joey stuttered, trying to make a light ending to the conversation. He knew Yami hated being addressed thus, so he used it to tease the Pharaoh often.
"Wait, Joey!" Yami called, sliding out of bed, slipping the Millennium Puzzle over his neck and grabbing the Millennium Scale and Millennium Ankh, slipping the two Items onto his waist.
"Huh? What is it, Yami?" Joey asked, eyeing the Items apprehensively.
Yami noticed the look and raised an eyebrow. "Aren't you going to stay for the games?"
"Games? What 'bou yer paper work – ?"
"It's okay." Yami shrugged and walked over to a divan, where his clothes for the day were laid out. "Seto can shove those papers down his ass – No offense taken, I hope."
Joey snickered. "None taken. He can be an ass summa th' time…" He blushed scarlet again.
Yami laughed and pointed imperiously at the door. "Great. Just wait outside. I'll follow in a few minutes."
"Uh…sure…" Joey walked out, muttering something that sounded suspiciously like 'Seto's gonna kill me'.
When the door closed, Yami laugh softly to himself again, then sighed. He kinda envied those two – Joey and Seto. He wanted someone to be with and to love, someone who would love him back. Sure he would occasionally sleep with one of his whores, who all adored him and fawned over him anyway, but nobody would really take the place of his lost light.
He swiped away the clothes that had been left out for him. 'Remind me to send my valet to the Shadow Realm for this. His taste is disgusting!' He yawned lazily and went to his wardrobe. 'Now these are clothes!' Inside his humongous wardrobe, there was about a ton of leather, heap upon heap of buckles and collars, belts by the hundred and much more. Picking out something suitable for the day (and generally messing and ransacking the entire closet in the process) he got dressed and went outside to find a still waiting Joey pacing around in his room's antechamber.
"Sorry if I kept you waiting," Yami said, stepping out onto the marble floors, his boots tapping sharp staccatos on the floor as he went to the Commander's side.
"Uh. Sure. No prob," Joey replied, shrugging as the two started down the hall. "Whatcha wanna do? Ya ain't eaten yet, right?"
"I'm not much of a breakfast person. I'd rather start my day with a good game." Yami's eyes were lost in thought, already thinking of what he would order to be played for his amusement. Perhaps, if it got interesting, he would join in the games as well. Maybe order to card duel. He hadn't played that game in a few months. The losers, save for the best of the lot, would of course be sent into the Shadow Realm as punishment.
"Pharaoh! I thought I'd find you here," a very familiar voice floated in from the hall behind them. Yami and Joey turned to face a tall brunette with piercing blue eyes and a serious expression. He wore a business suit underneath a long, billowy black robe, and carried a staff in one hand, while holding a small laptop in the other.
"Seto," Yami greeted his Chief Advisor cordially. 'Damn! Caught!' "I didn't expect to find you here so early in the day."
"I've been up since the puppy left our manor in Brazil at dawn," Seto Kaiba replied, turning his eyes from Yami to regard his blonde lover. The blonde met his eye and turned slightly red before Seto continued. "I don't suppose you've forgotten the way to your office, have you? As I recall, it's down the East wing, and this, Pharaoh Yami, is the West wing, where your private game arenas are." A slight smirk crossed Seto's serious features.
Yami groaned. "No, I haven't forgotten. I'm not as bad as Marik!"
Joey patted him on his back. "Sorry pal. Nothin' seems ta escape Seto these days."
"Speaking of which, I decided to drop you off in Australia before I go check on the Emperor," Seto said to Joey, rolling his eyes as he said 'Emperor'.
"Oh! Fine by me. Yami?" Joey and Seto turned to the Pharaoh, by way of asking for dismissal.
"Whatever. Like Seto said, I have paperwork to do," Yami said with a sigh, adjusting the cord of the Millennium Scales and rubbing at his temples. "You checking on the King later too? If you are, tell him he owes me a duel."
"I will," Seto promised, starting to turn. "You will finish that paperwork, won't you?"
"Yeah, sure."
"Very well. The next World Meeting will be this coming Friday, by the way." Seto peered into his laptop.
"Just go already. I don't want to think about those two Ra-forsaken idiots until the actual day!" Yami burst out.
Seto and Joey nodded, the former stone-cold sober, the latter smirking. They half-bowed and walked off down the corridor back the way they'd came.
Yami smirked when they'd disappeared from view. 'Well, Joey won't be here, but who said I'd have to cancel the games? I'm the Pharaoh, after all!' He started off again in the direction of the arenas. Bakura had the feared torture zone, and insane Marik handled the casinos, but Yami stuck to his old hobby, games of the mind and body. Why not? He was, after all, the Game King. Suddenly, the image of amethyst eyes crying rivers of blood crossed his mind. He frowned and shook his head. 'What's done is done. I can't… won't reverse the past.' He held his head high and squared his shoulders with newfound resolve.
'But sometimes, I wish otherwise…'
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He knew this place, the silvery-haired teen thought. It is, or had once been, his home – the home of the one he'd loved. Time seemed to speed forward and he was standing in a familiar bedroom. He turned, hearing a quiet sobbing in a corner.
There was another boy, one with the same silvery locks, but with softer, deep brown eyes, on the ground, completely naked, his pale skin covered in bloody bruises. The silvery haired teen knew that he himself had inflicted these wounds. He moved closer, but the boy on the floor whimpered and huddled closer to the wall, afraid.
Bakura resisted the urge to hold his hikari in his arms. Lost in thought he didn't notice his hikari cry once again. He was angry at his hikari's weakness, and, snarling in annoyance, half-raised his hand to hit the smaller boy. But something stopped him. Brown eyes began to spout a fountain of blood. Bakura was shocked and slowly put his hand down. He felt do guilty. He knew it was his fault that his beloved one feared him so. He had wounded, emotionally, physically, and mentally, the most pure and beautiful creature he had ever known.
He wanted to hold his hikari; he wanted to love and be loved, but he hide this because love seemed to him a weakness, something he never wanted to possess. But looking once more at the fearful creature before him, he threw all thoughts from his mind. Just once, he wanted to know how it felt , and so he inched closer to his beloved Ryou. He tried to touch his loved one's shoulder and his eyes widen as his hand went through his weeping light's body. His hikari was fading from view.
"Ryou?!…Ryou, no!" the silvery-haired yami cried out, reaching, trying to grasp his hikari, begging for him to become solid again.
"Why, 'Kura? Why'd you kill me?" Ryou asked, only his face left in view.
The room had dissolved in darkness. All Bakura could see were his hikari's bloody eyes. He heard just one more word before his hikari faded away completely.
"Why?"
~*~*~*~*~*~
Emperor Bakura of the Eastern Continent awoke, clutching at his chest. His hand trembled as he turned to look around. He'd fallen off his bed in the middle of the night, a goblet of wine rolling away. He'd been dinking in bed again and apparently, he had had too much.
'Not again… Ra-damnable dream… Not again…' he thought, heaving himself unsteadily into bed. Yes, he was just probably drunk. He was quite fine and comfortable in his palace in Japan. Yes, there was nothing upsetting him. Who was he kidding? He'd felt something. Regret? Or was it something else? He didn't know that. All he knew was that he missed his little tenchi a lot. By Set! He'd gotten what he'd wanted, right? He had power, much more than he'd ever dreamed. It didn't matter that he had to share. He had more than he could have handled by himself anyway. But there was something missing…
He slammed his head into his pillows and let out a frustrated snarl, shedding a few silent tears as he willed himself to sleep….
Hours later, he felt someone enter his room silently. It wasn't one of Bakura's whores – they made too much noise in their excitement to 'surprise' their master. The person was good, if he could move without making a sound. But not good enough. Bakura was, after all, a well-trained tomb robber. As the figure approached his bed, Bakura leapt up and within seconds, he had his dagger pressed to the throat of the invader.
"Easy there, your Majesty! Chill, Bakura!" the 'disturbance', a tall teen with dark brown hair facing a weird angle and wearing a red cape and black armor with a sword strapped to his waist said, sweat forming on his brow.
Bakura moaned and released him, settling back onto his bed. He had a hang-over. "Why did I agree to letting you become a Field Marshal again, Tristan?"
Tristan Tailor, one of the Royal Army Commanders, breathed a sigh of relief and sat down in one of Bakura's many lounging chairs. "I don't know what you, Yami, and Marik were thinking, but as far as I know, I came to wake you up. None of your servants were willing to do that and since I was in the country…"
"You took it upon yourself to do that," Bakura finished. "Mind grabbing the aspirins on the dresser? My head is killing me!" He lay down on the bed again, rubbing his head.
"Sure thing," Tristan replied, getting up and retrieving the said medicine. "It would be better for you though, if you didn't drink so much!"
"Don't say that! You're starting to sound like the damned Pharaoh!" Bakura groaned, taking the pill and downing them in one gulp. "What time is it?"
"Almost noon, your Majesty," Tristan replied. He regarded the pale, suffering ruler with a sympathetic face. "You've got about half an hour before your Chief Advisor gets here and hauls you off to do paperwork."
Bakura got up and pulled on the Millennium Eye and Millennium Ring, which had previously been hanging above his headboard. He basically ignored Tristan as he shuffle over to his closet and shrugged into some day clothes, basically silks and leather.
"What did you do to your valet?" Tristan asked finally. "Isn't he supposed to get out your clothes for you."
"What else? The usual."
Tristan gulped as Bakura walked towards the door and beckoned for him to follow. He knew quite well that 'the usual' either meant the Shadow Realm, or Bakura's personal torture chamber. The pair walked out of Bakura's rooms in silence. Tristan once again wondered why he was the one stuck baby-sitting Emperor Bakura. Joey was luckier. He got Yami. Even Tristan's lover, Ryuuji was doing better with Marik.
"Anyone to torture today?" Bakura asked, pulling Tristan from his thoughts.
"No."
"Anyone to feed to the lions?" They passed the elevators heading for the dungeons.
"Nope."
"Any uprising to squash?" They walked past the military chambers.
"None at the moment."
""Any new whores around?" Bakura looked at Tristan slyly.
"N – Bakura!!!!! How would I know?" Tristan blushed scarlet.
"Hmmm…. Still seeing Ryuuji, huh?" Bakura noted, tapping into the Millennium Eye's powers.
Before Tristan could stutter out a reply, Seto walked out into the hall with a frown.
"First Yami, now you. Isn't there at least one of you blasted yami's who's going to do their work?" Seto asked in vexation.
Bakura smirked, taking out his favorite knife and testing it on his finger. "Hello, Seto. What brings you here today?"
"The mere fact that I have to be here is enough to spoil my mood." Seto had his laptop out again and had deftly passed Tristan his staff. "I arrived early and passed by your office, which happens not to have been visited in the last few days."
"Hey, Marik hasn't used his in over a month," Bakura returned. 'Ra-damned Advisor! If he wasn't so useful, I'd send him to the Shadow Realm – Mad Yami, or no mad Yami!' They'd entered a small (if there was anything small in that palace) tearoom and Bakura snapped his fingers for a servant to bring over refreshments.
Seto declined to sit down as sake and rice cakes were served. "Just get your paperwork done before Friday."
"Meeting Day?"
"Yes. There's a small uprising near Scandinavia to be discussed. As well as the plans for the next year." Seto was busily typing on his laptop.
Bakura turned on Tristan and hurled his knife, barely missing his cheek. "You said there was nothing going on!"
"I didn't know about that stuff! Joey was supposed to be looking at things up there, not me!" Tristan retorted, rubbing the side of his face.
"Then there's also the rebellion in Mexico to quell and – I will just tell you on Friday," Seto concluded, seeing that Bakura looked ready to kill. Sighing, he left the tearoom and went back to the transport bay to begin his trip to the Americas to check upon 'King' Marik.
Bakura was glad he was gone. Besides, it was more fun to have a riled up Tristan around any day. As the upset Field Marshal flopped back down to pout, Bakura chanced to glance into his sake cup. For a moment, what he beheld was not his own face, with its agate hard purplish brown eyes, but a face with eyes of a softer brown, tears of blood seeming to taint the cup of clear liquor. 'Ryou…' His eyes softened in regret at the memory, then he turned back to Tristan with a renewed smirk on his face.
'Wish he were here, though…'
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Partying up a storm, oh yeah! This was definitely his idea of a good time. Platinum blonde hair swayed around in time to the beat. Clubbing was definitely one of the best things in the modern world. Well… except for the numerous opportunities for world domination. Yeah, that was right.
Deep lavender eyes scanned the crowds, landing on a flash of blonde hair as bright as his own.
Swearing Egyptian curses, he caught up to the person and tackled him to the ground, just as everything dissolved into darkness.
"What was that for? Why'd you chase me?" Marik's eyes widened to see that the boy he'd been chasing, Malik, was covered in bloody wounds. "What's the matter? Is the brave Marik too scared to speak?"
"Ra be damn if I was ever afraid! What happened to you, you little minx?" Malik snarled, but his voice was tinged with worry.
Inexplicably, he wanted to go to his hikari's side and just hold him. He drew near. Malik did not back away. Marik's hand reached his hikari's tanned skin and expected to feel warmth. But there was only an icy chill. Without warning, Malik's arm broke off, showering blood everywhere. Marik gasped.
"Why'd you kill me?" Even as he spoke, the smaller of the two blondes was breaking apart, piece by piece breaking of from his body. Suddenly, he burst apart and only his face remained, floating in nothingness. His lavender eyes shed silent tears.
Marik couldn't speak. The eyes continued to stare at him and shed tears.
"Answer the question. Why?"
~*~*~*~*~*~
It was very comfortable, where Marik was at the moment. To say the least, he wasn't too happy when he jolted out of his dream and opened his eyes. It was dark, like I the dream, but it wasn't cold, and he was most certainly more comfortable. He was lying in his bed in the White House, in the United States, an arms wrapped around two luscious-looking blonde wenches. 'Gotta love the Americas!'
Suddenly, the memory of his dream returned. He sat up in bed and the girls stirred. "What is it, master?" one of them purred, moving closer.
"Leave. I need to be alone," Marik said. It was funny to hear him say that, but knowing his temper all too well, the girls departed. 'Why'd I have to dream about that again? I'm not Bakura or Yami! I don't regret anything I do!' he thought. "FUCK IT ALL!!!!" he yelled at the top of his voice. Seemingly exhausted, he collapsed back onto the bed and finally allowed a single tear to fall down his cheeks. He fell asleep again, this time, no dreams disturbing his repose…
The next morning, there was a loud bickering outside his doors. He opened his eyes and noticed that the two blonde girls were back, cuddling against his hard body. 'I must've rang for them again in the middle of the night,' he thought, sitting up slightly. By Sekhmet, they were noisy! Marik reached over one of the blondes and retrieved the Millennium Rod and Millennium Tauk from under his pillow, tapping on the girls with the Rod, commanding them to go on sleeping, but come closer.
"Do you really want to walk in on him like that?! Last time, I almost lost my leg!" the unmistakable voice of Air Force Commander Ryuuji Otogi argued loudly.
"If it's what'll wake him up, yes!" another familiar voice said. It was Seto this time. "It's already 2 PM and he still has paperwork to do!"
"I'm warning you… It's your life you're endangering if he's in a bad mood!"
"Fine! Stand back!" With that, the doors opened and Seto Kaiba burst in, an angry look on his face. He stopped short when he saw exactly what Marik was doing on the bed. "Oh, shit!"
Ryuuji poked his head in the room and immediately dragged Seto out, banging the door behind them.
"Damn, Marik! You're a king, show some decency!" Seto's voice snarled, once outside the rooms again.
"It's my life! I'll do what I want!" Marik bellowed in reply. "I can do your paperwork some other time!" He smiled sardonically. 'That'll teach him to stop barging in on me!'
"Oh, fine!" Seto called out in defeat. "Just don't forget, you have a meeting with Yami and Bakura on Friday!"
Marik didn't reply. Hearing footsteps receding down the hall, he sighed. 'I wish Malik could have seen that…' But really, it was too late for such wishes. Marik didn't have his hikari anymore, and nothing could be done about that. He could wish and pray (he would've, if he believed in prayer), but nothing would change the past. Shrugging, he tapped on the girls again. 'A good fuck will fix me.'
But deep inside, he knew nothing would.
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End of Chapter!!!!
V. Maiden: I'm evil… I can't believe I did this…
Ruriko: I can believe it… I helped, remember? (smirks and goes over script)
V. Maiden: (glares daggers and throws Tea plushie at Ruriko) You don't have to rub it in! And I don't want this devil-incarnate plushie coming back….
Ruriko: (ducks and hits Tea plushie with Bakura plushie like in baseball) I don't want it, either…
Seto: Please excuse the two morons…. (Tea plushie hits him on the head)
V. Maiden: Uh… oh…
Ruriko: We are soooo dead.. (backs out of room with V. Maiden) Peace OFFERRING!!!!! (shoves Joey plushie at Seto's chest)
Seto: Fine, you're forgiven… FOR NOW.
V. Maiden: Back to the topic… What's my line again?
Ruriko: (hits V. Maiden on head with Yami plushie) Remember now?
V. Maiden: … NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO… Wait. I remember a small… Itsie-bitsie detail. It's gonna get better…But why should I tell you?
Ruriko: (rolls eyes) You don't have to tell me, idiot! We went over it earlier.
V. Maiden: Oh, yeah. NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!
Seto: Knock it off with the 'no's already. (throws laptop at V. Maiden's head to shut her up)
V. Maiden (runs out with laptop, looking at images): Naughty mind, Seto! Oooooooo….. What's Joey doing in his birthday suite?
Seto: Give that back!!!!!!!!!!!! (promptly chases V. Maiden across town)
Ruriko: Censoring what they're yelling… damn, I have to finish this on my own… In the next chapter, Isis and Shadi step into the picture and Joey and the rest try to figure out what's the matter with the three yamis.
V. Maiden: (coming back, panting, still holding laptop) AND WE WILL NOT KEEP THE HIKARI'S DEAD TOO LONG!!!!! We love them too much. (runs off again when she sees Seto coming)
Ruriko: Okay… Bye for now!!!
V. Maiden: x_x
Ruriko: -_-;;;