Trapshipping (Yami no Yugi x Yugi x Yami no Bakura x Ryou)

(this should be fun. :3)

Where could he go? Where could he run, hide, get away from this monster? Was there a way to escape from his own mind?

All the street lights were out as he pushed himself harder and faster down the street – was this his doing? Where was everyone? There should be people here, even at night – it was the entertainment district, wasn't it? But the neon signs of the karaoke bars and pubs were out, and the cafes were silent. It seemed as though even the stars had been put out: the only light that remained was the eerie half light of the crescent moon, hanging almost sideways in the sky.

Where could he go? Where could he hide?

Could he hide?

Tall spires rose up before him, as though to pierce the sky. The moonlight glinted across stained glass stories, and something rose up within him – hope? Could this sacred place possibly deter the thing that pursued him?

He had no other options, shoving against the hard, heavy wood. It took him a precious minute to realize that the door opened outwards, and he fumbled for the cold metal handle, yanking the door open and practically falling inside.

And just inside the sacred ways he lay, breathing heavily, trying to ignore the pounding in his head that was not his heart, but the sounds of him.

He had not escaped. He could never escape. His laugh shook through him, sending waves of terror and pain through his blood.

He could hear the footsteps, coming from deeper within the church: slow, confident, in no hurry. He knew that he was in control. Ryo Bakura could do nothing to stop him.

He dared to crack open his eyes. There: leaning against the altar, lounging with his arms folded, irreverent as always, black coat falling around him like Death's robe.

"Thought you could run, Ryo?" he said, softly, but his voice rang in the emptiness. "How cute."

Ryo closed his eyes.

It was already over.

But the footsteps froze.

"Well, well, well," he said softly. "How did you get in here?"

"Stay away from Ryo-kun," said a soft, but strong voice.

Ryo's eyes flew open. Yugi? What was Yugi doing here?

"As irreverent as always, I see," said another voice, this one deep and sharp. "What gives you the right to do your dirty work in church?"

Ryo pushed himself up. Yami no Bakura shrugged.

"You don't believe in any of this, any more than I do, pharaoh," Yami no Bakura said. "We both know that the Egyptian gods are all that exist."

"And I would no more tolerate your blatant sacrilege in a temple as I would here," said the sharp, angry voice of Yami no Yugi. "Temples and churches are sacred places, Bakura. You have no right to be within one."

Yugi appeared beside Ryo.

"Can you stand up?" Yugi said.

"Y-Yugi?" Ryo said. "What's going on?"

"You're dreaming," Yugi said, slipping his arm under Ryo's and helping him up. "The pharaoh and I came over, and we found you unconscious. The pharaoh brought us into your mindscape."

"This – this isn't real?"

"It's a dream, but it's definitely real," Yugi said, sounding almost nervous.

Ryo could understand why. If this was really a dream, then Yami no Bakura would be able to manipulate it to his own liking.

Yugi pulled Ryo back, back behind the sharp silhouette of Yami no Yugi. The ancient spirit's red eyes flashed in the half light of the candles in every corner of the church. Yami no Bakura grinned.

"This is perfect. So perfect! I have all three of you in one place. You fool, pharaoh. This will be your downfall."

"You are not the only one with shadow powers, Bakura," Yami no Yugi said, eyes narrow. "I am just as skilled in the art of mindscapes as you are."

Yami no Bakura laughed – a high, cold sound that sent a terrible shudder down Ryo's spine. Yugi squeezed Ryo's hand.

"You are the pharaoh, yes," Bakura said with a malicious grin. "But I am the shadows. And the shadows are more likely to side with their own."

Instantly, the illusion of the church dissipated. Yami no Yugi's arms dropped from their folded position, shadows gathering at the palms.

Next thing Ryo knew, Domino City had been replaced with a land of shifting sands, with dark pyramids in the distance that looked more like monsters in the warped, hazy air.

Yami no Bakura snapped his fingers, and the sand lifted itself up, forming into several ghost monsters that Ryo recognized from the deck he had created. Yami no Yugi blinked once, and the Dark Magician formed from sand. Ryo's head throbbed – the power of the beings inside his mindscape hurt.

He could feel his Yami half's mind swirling beside his own, always attached, always connected – no escape, and Ryo often wondered if it would just be easier to sink beneath its dark depths. Sometimes, he couldn't bring himself to care whether he vanished or not.

But he could feel Yami no Yugi's mind too, a blaze, like a two-story bonfire that refused to be quenched. His mind was a fire that refused to let the darkness consume it.

Yugi squeezed his hand, his mind like soft, trickling water flowing around Ryo, the sound of the calm eye of a storm.

What did his own mind sound like, he wondered? Would it be out of place, surrounded by this powerful minds of darkness, fire, and water?

Yugi squeezed Ryo's hand even harder.

"Breathe," he said. "We won't let you be alone."

And Ryo's mind felt soft, air-like, a breeze that could be so easily swayed – but he melded with the three powerful minds around him, drawing on their power, whipping his breeze into a mighty storm, a whirlwind that buffeted everything away, keeping him safe.

He wondered if something was wrong with him, thinking the way he was thinking. Perhaps it was the intoxicating, swirling landscape of his own mindscape, twisted by his Yami half.

But his wind was strong, he realized, and he was not alone.

Darkness, Fire, Water, Air.

Fire, Water, Air.

Water, Air.

Air.

A/N: Gah. I had much higher hopes for this one. It got WAY abstract. Next is Tragicshipping (Pegasus x Cyndia x Keith).