.:.Hellfire.:.
Summary: Yami no Malik and Yami no Bakura have been sent to Hell. And they're about to drag their hikaris down with them.
Chapter 4: To Kill a Fire Spirit.
"Really?" Mariku asked, eyes lighting up. Bakura managed to ignore the ache in his side from the force constricting his lungs, eagerly following the girl, who seemed mildly amused by their appearance.
"Yeah, wha'dya want him for?" she asked.
"We're gonna kill 'im!" Mariku announced happily.
"We're taking over Hell." Bakura added.
"Really now?" she asked. "Good for you. How you planning to kill him?"
Mariku grinned happily and pulled the hidden knife out of the Millennium Rod. Bakura flipped a hand knife up and caught it neatly.
"Mm. Excellent for torture, but you can't kill a fire spirit that way."
Mariku paused.
"... Then how do you?"
"Mmm... cold, mostly. Water works, but only on the weakest.
"... You mean like him?" he asked. She laughed out loud, a humorous but not enjoyable sound.
"No, unfortunately, not like him. While not the strongest anymore, he's still probably mid-range." She laughed again. "Don't tell the populace that."
"So..." Bakura stated, leaning against the wall and flipping the blade nonchalantly. "How cold is 'cold'?"
A feral grin appeared.
"Negative 200 degrees or more."
Mariku thought that over.
"Shadow Realm?" he asked, turning to Bakura.
"The North sector or the under-sector should do it." he said. "Or just to be sure, the North under-sector."
Mariku nodded. "I wish hikari was here. Mariku misses hikari-kin."
Bakura blinked. Maybe that was the constricting feeling around his ribs. Did he... actually miss Ryou?
The whirling images of soft chocolate eyes, snowy hair, and porcelain skin, of hesitant smiles and startled laughter, convinced him.
"Damn." he muttered. He missed his hikari as well.
The girl was looking at them oddly. In a sudden movement she laid her hands on their chests, eyes closed. Mariku gasped and pulled away violently.
"You two are incomplete souls, aren't you?" she asked, turning accusing black eyes on them.
"Maybe?" Bakura suggested.
Mariku blinked at the revelation of why his insides were burning to a crisp. Not only did it burn to move, it felt like something vital collapsed when she touched him. He figured it hadn't actually, but it felt that way. Because their hikaris were somewhere else? It made sense... he thought.
"You mean hikari?" he asked.
She rolled her eyes. "Figures."
"Mariku misses hikari-pretty."
"Gimmee names an' I'll go get them." she offered. Mariku's eyes lit up.
"Really?"
"Sure. It's more amusing than sitting here wondering when I get to eat next."
"You're not going to eat them, are you?" Bakura asked suspiciously. She blinked at him.
"No. Why would I?"
"Yeah, silver-thief, that's something you would do." Mariku said, sniggering. Unfortunately, this made something else inside implode, and he actually winced this time, caught off guard.
"I'm Bakura; the hikaris are Ryou and Malik." Bakura supplied.
"Right." she said with a fanged grin, and disappeared like a flame being blown out.
Lucifer, inside the broom closet, was cursing to himself. This was a potential, 'Bad, Very Bad,'situation.
Damn girl. Who could expect the daughter of the emotionless Filora and even more emotionless Zangan to actually feel empathy or even pity? Cruel twists of fate was what he should have expected when he decided to hide here.
He had worked himself up into a state of (quiet) frenzy and had been reduced to biting his sleeve when he caught the bit about incomplete souls.
They weren't even complete souls? Then their power must have been gravely reduced by now. They couldn't have been separated for long, or they would already not be functioning.
Heheheheh. So he might have a chance after all. Incomplete, HUMAN souls could not stand against the Lord of Hell.
Lucifer stood up and put his hand on the knob, only to find it yanked open and firelight spilling in.
Two demons were outlined in the eerie, flickering outside-runoff. Silver hair, pale skin, blonde hair, golden skin, swirling blue and black cloth, and two freakily riveting, eye-emblazoned gold things were bathed in flowing blood. Twin pairs of eyes, alighted with blood-lust and insanity, respectively, focused on him. Fangs appeared in predator's grins.
Oh shit. He was screwed.
"Hello, Lucifer."
"How would you like to play a little game with us?"
"Malik? Are you okay?" Ryou asked. The slight burn had increased its intensity, spreading all over his body and flaring whenever he moved. The physical discomfort had grown over the three and a half hours since it had first hit, yes, but it hadn't yet reached unbearable.
More of a problem was the fact that Malik had been supposed to go home three hours ago.
"I can't... breathe. Does that sound... okay... to you?" the Egyptian demanded, panting, lavender eyes wild.
"That was Rishid. On the phone a minute ago."
"Oh Ra!" Malik cried, sitting up from where Ryou had situated him on the couch. "He can't know I'm–" He cut off, wheezing, "ra... damn... it... all..."
"I told him that I was making dinner and would it be okay if you stayed the night? He said yes. But to call him next time."
"Oh, good..." Malik responded. "Now I know... how asthmatics feel." he muttered.
Ryou sighed, worried, and, ignoring the searing pain that movement caused, went to see if anything in the medicine cabinet could help.
It was on his way back that something shimmered into being in front of him. He dropped the bottles in shock as a girl, barefoot, with a short skirt and tank top, uncurled from a catlike position in front of him.
Ryou stared. She was taller than him and was so skinny there was no way she wasn't an anorexic.
She looked at him with cold black eyes framed by messy fire-colored hair. Ryou blinked, trying not to stare and not succeeding. She extended one arm and placed a hand flat against his chest. It burned like fire, making him yelp.
"Incomplete soul. Where's the other one?"
Other one? Incomplete soul? Wha– could she mean Malik? And perhaps because Yami had banished Mariku and Bakura? And who on Earth could she be?
"Other one? You mean Malik?" he asked, pointing to the room he'd been about to return to. "And who on Earth are you?"
She smiled, a fanged expression all too reminiscent of Bakura at his most evil.
"It would be more appropriate to ask, "Who in Hell are you." And with that she grabbed his wrist and towed him over to Malik.
"Hey-! Ow, stop it!" he protested. It wasn't just the pain ignited by the pressure- he could feel his skin blistering from the heat of her hand.
"Here you are." she said, pressing a hand to Malik's chest. Malik gasped and sputtered something unintelligible- and probably Arabic- at her.
"Doesn't matter." she told them. "You're about to be transformed into spirits anyway."
"What the hell–?" Ryou asked.
"Yes, Hell. I'm taking you to Hell, good observation." she said, the note of amusement in her voice revealing the evil pleasure she took in her distress.
"What do you mean?" Malik asked breathlessly.
"I'm reuniting a couple of incomplete souls. It's that simple. Happy?"
"Wait, reuniting? You mean–"
"There is one Bakura and one Mariku waiting for you in Hell. Ready?"
"NO!" Malik said, mirroring Ryou's emotions exactly.
"You may say good by to Earth for now. Three. Two."
Ryou's world froze for a second, dissolved around him, then reappeared in a flurry of flames.
"One."
"Hikari-kin!" Ryou's eyes cleared to reveal Malik having been tackled to the ground by an over exuberant Mariku.
"What in hell!"
"You, yadonushi." a familiar, if slightly breathy, voice remarked from behind him. Ryou whirled around and stared for a moment. Forgetting about the pain that quick movements and contact caused, he threw himself at the pale, black-clad spirit of the Ring.
"I didn't even realize how much I missed you! I- Hey. I don't hurt anymore." he exclaimed. Bakura blinked at him, taking a deep breath as if it was his first in a while.
"Incomplete souls." the strange girl who had brought them here stated. Remembering her presence in the room, all four turned to face her. She was standing in the middle of the room, lounging against nothing and examining her nails.
"Incomplete souls," she stated again, "cannot function on the solid levels unless both parts are nearby."
"Solid levels?" Malik asked, no longer breathless, but sounding rather squashed as Mariku had yet to get off him.
"Hell and Earth. Though your form is technically a 'spirit' form, due to the (rather fatally, to human bodies) high temperature of Hell, you're still physical. Reikai, the spirit world, is insubstantial, but does require soul completion. Nonexistence, and, I'm supposing, wherever it is you sent Lucifer-"
"The Shadow Realm!" Mariku interjected.
"Are the places that do not require complete souls." she finished.
"Wow." Ryou said, unable to think of anything else to say while still taking all this in.
"So who the hell are you, anyway?" Bakura asked.
Her smile was a spine-chilling combination of the worst of Bakura and Mariku- the kind of thing that Yami had mind-crushed out of them.
"Me? I'm Shinryakuteki Kazan, commonly referred to as Shinrya. Congratulations on taking over Hell, by the way. You've inspired me to hurry up on my lifelong dream."
"What's that?" Malik asked.
"I'm going to take over Earth."
Notes this time:
Hikari-kin: 'Kin' is the word for 'gold' or 'metal' in Japanese. Since Malik gets described as 'golden,' all the time, I figured Mariku substituting 'kin' for a suffix would work.
Yadonushi- I don't know the exact definition: I will admit to it being one of those things I saw in other fanfics and used. It means something along the lines of "landlord," though.
Reikai: The spirit world. Yes, this is a concept that I took from Yu Yu Hakusho.
Spirits and Souls:
If I failed my job as a writer and you still don't get the 'spirit' and 'soul' thing, here's the rundown:
Spirits: A solid, physical form, used in Hell.
Souls: Insubstantial, 'other plane of existence' type form. The kind that Bakura and Mariku inhabited before they were banished.
Physical Planes: Earth, Hell, and Nonexistence.
Insubstantial Planes: Reikai, Shadow Realm.
Complete Planes: Earth, Hell, Reikai.
Incomplete Planes: Nonexistence, Shadow Realm
