Warnshipping (Yami no Bakura x Ishizu x Ryo)
Ishizu hurried down the darkened street. She was grateful for her speed – it made hiding her trembling that much easier.
She turned the corner, coming out into a little bit busier of a neighborhood. The street lamps were on, and people walked back and forth, some leisurely, and some at a fast clip, which was often even faster than Ishizu. She wondered vaguely what these people could possibly have to do at this hour that would force them to go at such speeds. She doubted that they all had woken up from a terrible vision and were running to warn the people involved.
Looking both ways cautiously, in case some drivers had forgotten to turn their lights on, she stepped out into the street and hurried across, to the apartment complex on the other side. She might just be overreacting, she reasoned. After all, Battle City had been taken care of a while ago, and without the Millennium Tauk, a dream was probably just a dream. Still, it had bothered her so much that she had asked Rishid and Marik to wait a few more hours before they set off for Egypt again. Marik had wanted to come with her, but Ishizu had refused. She had just gotten her brothers back – she wasn't going to lose them on what might just be a fool's errand.
She climbed the stairs, searching for the number she had seen in the dream. A shudder fled through her again – that was the reason she was so terrified, she realized. She had never had a dream so real since she had owned the Millennium Tauk.
There it was: 219.
She hesitated, wondering – and hoping – that she had made a mistake, and when the door opened, it would just be a sleepy, confused college student that she had never seen before. She raised her hand, paused, and knocked softly.
Biting her lip, she waited. Nothing. No sound, no footsteps coming to the door, nothing at all. Ishizu let out her breath. Nothing was wrong. She was so glad –
The door creaked open slowly and Ishizu's breath caught halfway out of her throat. No one stood at the frame – the door had opened seemingly by herself.
The dream was coming true.
Quickly now, Ishizu stepped through the open doorway, careful to leave it open behind her. She had seen the end of the dream as well, and was determined not to let it end that way. Cautiously, she stepped into the hallway, not even bothering to take off her shoes as Japanese culture required.
"Bakura?" she called softly. "Ryo? Are you here?"
Please let me be wrong, she thought.
And then glass shattered. Ishizu could not stop her cry, and once she got over the shock, she raced towards the source of the sound.
The kitchen light was on, but flickering. Just like in her dream. Ishizu peered cautiously into the room, afraid of what she might see. Ryo Bakura knelt on the ground, clutching at his hand. Blood dripped onto the floor, staining the pieces of glass on the ground. It could have just been an ordinary slip of the hand – a broken glass and a cut hand. But his face was contorted with unnatural pain, as though a blinding headache had shot through him.
"Bakura!" Ishizu said. "Oh gods – I had hoped to get her before this happened!"
Ryo looked up, wincing as he did so. He squinted, as though it was hard for him to see her.
"Ishizu-san?" he said, voice faint. "What – what are you doing here?"
Ishizu picked her way around the glass, even though her shoes would mostly protect her from cuts.
"I had an awful vision – even though I don't have the Tauk anymore, I was worried. I came to warn you."
Ryo blinked a few times, and then squeezed them shut.
"Ishizu," he said through gritted teeth. "You shouldn't have –"
Then his voice dropped an octave, and a harsh edge sharpened the tone.
"Warn me, Ishizu? Of what, I might ask? What could a disgraced former owner of a Millennium Item have to warn me about?"
Ishizu drew in a breath – Yami no Bakura? But Ryo's face softened again and he winced.
"Ishizu, he's getting stronger," he said, desperation tingeing his voice. "I made a mistake – Marik's mind control hadn't completely worn off, and I put the Millennium Ring back on –"
Ishizu dropped to her knees beside him, grabbing his shoulders.
"You have to be strong," she said. "You can fight him off – that's why I'm here. I think I can help."
"Ishizu – please – you have to go. He'll try to kill you –"
"I know. I saw it in my vision. But if you'll just let me explain what I saw, I can help!"
Ryo's green eyes melted into deep purple, and Ishizu suddenly realized that she might already be too late. Yami no Bakura's fingers flicked expertly upwards, driving into her throat and crushing any words she might have said. She tried to stumble backwards, away from the dark spirit, but Bakura had already hit two other pressure points, making it nearly impossible to move except to collapse to the floor.
"A valiant effort, to be sure," Bakura said softly, standing up. He was apparently in no pain from the cut on his palm. "But I'm afraid you're a tad too late already."
He leaned down towards the paralyzed Ishizu, considering her. Ishizu gasped for breath. If she could just reach a piece of the glass on the floor…she could still avert the end result of the vision…
Bakura laughed softly.
"Oh, Ishizu, Ishizu," he said softly. "Did you think you came here by accident? People without Millennium Items don't have visions for no good reason."
Ishizu froze. Was he insinuating…
"I sent that vision, Ishizu," Bakura said. "Yes, I can do that. Three thousand years of experience with shadow magic can lend one a bit of an edge. Though I took a few liberties with the ending. Just to make you a little more nervous."
She went back to trying to reach for a weapon. No matter where the vision had come from, that didn't change the fact that she was in serious danger.
Bakura grabbed her wrist inches away from grabbing a piece of glass. He yanked her upwards, twisting her wrist in the process. Ishizu exhaled sharply with pain.
"Don't worry, Ishizu. I don't actually intend to kill my host. I need him for a little while longer, anyway."
His eyes flashed green, and his grip loosened. The feeling was starting to come back to Ishizu's legs, and she managed to yank away from him. But the eyes turned to purple again, and soon she was pinned against the wall by her throat.
"You needn't worry about anything at all, actually," Bakura said, his voice even quieter. "For I don't intend to kill you, either. That would draw too much attention to myself. After all, the others still think I'm lost in the shadows of a Penalty Game, don't they?"
Ishizu glared at him, furious to have been tricked so easily. What did he want? Why had he gone to the trouble of sending her a vision in order to lure her in?
"This won't hurt," Bakura said, moving two fingers to touch her forehead.
"What are you doing?" Ishizu said.
Bakura smiled maliciously.
"I need to take down the pharaoh. To do that, I need to know the exact location of the pharaoh's tomb – more importantly, the tablet of the pharaoh's memories. Your memories should do quite nicely for that."
Ishizu struggled harder, but it was useless. She could attack him, but she knew that would only hurt Ryo, in the end. The dark spirit felt little of his host's pain – she didn't want to hurt Ryo!
"Even with the location, you won't be able to defeat the pharaoh," Ishizu said hoarsely. "You need more knowledge than that – even I don't know some of the things about the pharaoh and his past."
"There are ways to remedy that," Bakura said, as a sudden piecing pain shot through Ishizu's head. "Haven't you ever heard of an RPG? I hear that immersing yourself in a character can reveal many interesting things about oneself."
His laugh was the last thing she heard. And it was the only thing she remembered when she woke up an hour later, only blocks away from the harbor where Rishid and Marik waited.
What was I just doing? She thought.
Only the fragments of a nightmare remained.
A/N: Kind of a dark and scary one, and Ryo faded a bit. It's had to work with the characters that are in the same body. :( Next will be Wallshipping (Rishid x Shizuka). Oh, and one little thing that's kind of a pet peeve of mine: I enjoy reviews and comments, but if you're just going to say "cool" or "awesome" and not say anything specific or anything critiquing, please don't bother. It's nice to know that you liked it, but I get all excited when I see there's a new review, and then I deflate when I see that all it says is "cool."
