Shadow: I have a headache… (grumbles) More babble from me at the bottom?
Important notes: The following chapters take place in three different areas of time/space: Then, Now, and Now. They're all marked below, so pay attention to what happens in each. They all tie together as to what happened, and what's happening now because of it.
Yugi and Yami were separate last chapter. They aren't in some of this. Why? Because they're not separated yet. Hence the whole Then, Now and Now thing applying.
Meltdown
Chapter 3: Mirror of me
Then
"You will help them split."
"I bloody well will not!"
"You'll help Yami get a body of his own or I give him the Ring!"
Bakura's eyes narrowed. "You wouldn't dare."
Ryou crossed his arms over his chest, his expression stony. "Watch me."
So was the conversation of one Ryou Bakura and his yami, both white-haired young men – though the adjective was debatable in the case of one of them – sitting on a couch in the Mouto's living room, Yami and Yugi having left them to go get changed into some proper clothes. (It was rather hard to retain some dignity while wearing sky-blue pyjamas with mini Kuribohs printed on them.) Ryou had long since drawn an explanation out of his darker half on Bakura's whereabouts for the previous week, and on the exact way in which the former tomb-robber had gained a corporeal form of his own.
And then promptly demanded Bakura help Yami do the same.
"The Ring is mine!" Bakura was angry. "I stole the damn thing – it rightfully belongs to me! Whoever you give it to – it will always return to its true owner!"
"That may have been true once, Bakura…" Yami had re-entered the room, clad in his usual leathers, "but no longer anymore. Ryou is the owner of the Millennium Ring in this time; the Item chose him to bear it. You were merely the parasite that tagged alongside within the gold. Now you have a body of your own…" A slight pause as the pharaoh's gaze travelled across Bakura's form thoughtfully, "the Ring's is solely Ryou's. It will obey his wishes, and accept being given away if that is his true intent."
A snarl from the white-haired thief. "Ryou cannot wield the Ring! He does not know how to use it!"
"And whose fault is that?" Yami snapped suddenly. "You should not have closed your hikari's mind whilst working magic! Have you taught him anything about the Ring?"
"I can find things." Ryou's voice was soft. "Without Bakura's aid. The darker aspects to the Item though – the stealing of souls, the placing of those souls in inanimate objects…" The Brit trailed off, looking to the pharaoh pleadingly. "I never wanted to know. I still don't."
"If you are now the sole bearer of the Ring, a knowledge of everything your Item is capable of would be extremely beneficial to your health and state of mind, Ryou." Yami smiled soothingly, sitting beside the light. "Such knowledge would give you control over your Item – you need never use it aggressively like others." He shot a pointed look at Bakura. "Magic is safer to all when it is tamed."
Bakura hissed, bristling at both being so casually ignored and rebuffed. "You take it for granted I will willingly give up the Ring, pharaoh."
"You have no choice in the matter." Crimson eyes were hard. "Ryou is the bearer of the Ring now. Just try taking it off him."
A poisonous glare had the tomb-robber stalking forwards, reaching out to snatch the Ring from about his hikari's neck-
And promptly being blasted back a few feet as magic shot out of the Ring, flinging Bakura back to thud into a nearby wall.
"Ow…" Dark brown eyes were slightly unfocused as Bakura stood up, sharpening in sudden annoyance. "What bloody well happened?"
Yami looked bored, tucking his legs under his body on the seat and leaning back into his chair. "You tried to take the Millennium Ring from its rightful owner; the Ring retaliated."
"How come it never did that when someone attempted to take the Ring from me?!"
"You were a thief." A careless shrug from the pharaoh. "You stole the Ring from its true possessor. You expect it to defend one who took it by unfair means? True, you laid some claim to it – they do say possession is nine-tenths of the law -, but it will always obey a true inheritor above you." Yami smirked suddenly, stretching languidly in his seat. "The Ring is Ryou's, tomb-robber, and there is absolutely nothing you can do about it."
Bakura hissed angrily, glaring venomously at the one who had once ruled Egypt. But…there was nothing he could do…His gaze shifted to Ryou, who promptly laid a protective hand on the Item about his neck.
"Well, yami? You know I have no qualms about giving up the Ring. Would you rather I kept it and you help Yami to gain a body of his own, or shall I just give it to Yugi now?"
The low growl emitted from the former tomb-robber's throat was murderous. His glare's intensity seemed to have doubled, and then doubled again, sliding from the golden Ring around Ryou's throat to the narrowed cat-like eyes of the pharaoh.
Ruby eyes were taunting, Yami knowing he'd won yet again.
Damn them both!
"Fine!" Bakura spat the word out, internally vowing revenge. "I will assist pharaoh in getting a body of his own, but the Ring is never to leave your sight." This was aimed at Ryou. "As long as that Item is 'yours', omote, you keep it." There was no way in hell Yami was ever going to get his hands on it.
"Deal." Ryou nodded.
Yami smiled, satisfied, sliding off his seat and to his feet. "Good…I'll tell Yugi."
Now
Yami had a visitor. He had absolutely no idea what the person looked like, what they sounded like…but he knew he had a visitor. He could hear them breathing quietly, and his senses told him that they were standing at the foot of his bed, watching him 'sleep'.
Yami had recently taken to pretending to be asleep whenever he woke up. His sleeping pattern was all over the place, and his days and nights were all disjointed due to his 'coma'. Pretending to be asleep stopped the doctors from questioning him, testing him, his 'parents' being forced upon him. They all left after a little while, either too bored or too busy to wait for Yami to wake up.
Except this one visitor…
"I know you're awake."
The voice startled Yami, causing him to jump slightly and thoroughly ruin his already ruined acting. Inwardly cursing Yami opened his eyes, sitting up in his bed and glaring at his guest.
"Who are you and what do you want?" His voice was less than friendly.
A pretty girl looking to be about his own (physical) age gazed back at him. She had long, waist-length black hair streaked with red, and she looked…familiar…
"My name is Ciara, and I've been told to talk to you."
"And if I don't want to talk to you?" Yami was still hostile.
The girl's voice was matter-of-fact. "Then I shall oh-so-pleasantly sit here and stare at you. I can stare for quite long you know, and I've been told it can be quite annoying. It's no difference to me whether you're unfriendly or not; I'm used to it."
Yami scowled. "You think you're going to get me to talk to you by staring at me?"
A bright smile. "Why would I need to stare? We're having a conversation now, are we not?"
"Stop being aggravating."
"Stop being antisocial."
"Stop – agh!" Yami flung his hands up in the air. "Who are you?"
"I told you." The girl sat on the end of his bed, smiling at him. "My name's Ciara. Surely you remember that? I told you barely two minutes ago."
"I know your name is Ciara; I meant – oh, Ra, I don't know what I meant!" Yami drew his legs up to his chest, wrapping his arms around them and resting his head on his knees. His voice was tired when he spoke again. "What are you doing here? You said you had been told to talk to me…but all the doctors know I'm not talking to anyone. My so-called 'parents' know I'm refusing to even be in the same room as them while I'm 'awake' – what are you here for?"
"I'm supposed to ask you stuff." Ciara mimicked her companion's actions, brushing messy hair out of her eyes as well. "They hoped you might remember things and speak to me. I told them 'no, if Yami's being stubborn he won't talk to anyone' but nooo…" She sighed. "The teachers gave me some time off school to come see you specially; I'm missing Double Maths right about now."
"Why did they give you the time off school to come see me 'specially'?" The former pharaoh's voice was quiet.
"I should really be the one asking you questions." Ciara looked slightly uncomfortable, glancing down at her hands, at anywhere in the room but Yami. "The doctor told me to."
Yami snorted. "The man's an idiot; feel free to ignore him. I know I do."
A smile twitched at the corner of the girl's lips, her voice a tad drier when she spoke again. "He said." Uncertainly, violet eyes looked Yami's way, meeting his gaze for the first time since she'd entered the room. "He didn't sound very happy about it."
Violet…
Yami found himself staring at Ciara, suddenly unable to speak. The girl had the clearest violet eyes he had ever seen, friendly and open and approachable, tinged with a wisdom and humour only years could bring.
Ciara, Yami had to wryly observe, could be Yugi's older sister. Which explained why she looked so familiar. It was almost like looking in a mirror, except Ciara didn't have her hair spiked, or blonde bangs about her face. Oh, and she had slightly more feminine features.
"Ciara, please answer my question." Yami's voice was calm. "Why did your teachers give you the time off school to come see me 'specially'?"
His companion bit her lip, looking away guiltily. "I'm not supposed to say. You'll lose your temper and get angry and throw me out of the room."
"And I will be sedated, fall asleep, and have a new guest chucked in this room to help me 'remember' my past." Yami's voice was sarcastic. "It would just start this vicious cycle all over again…there'd be no point to it."
A whisper. "I still can't say."
"Then I'll tell you. You-"
"I'm your sister." Ciara blurted the words out, cutting off Yami mid-sentence. "Yami, please don't be angry! You've been in a coma so long – we didn't think you'd wake up! When mum and dad came home and said you were awake I was so happy – you stupid, stupid boy! You worried us, and you're still worrying us, and Yami why won't you recognise me?!" The girl was practically in tears. "It's just not fair. It was a stupid accident, and Lucas got expelled for it, and I'm not supposed to be saying any of this and I don't care! It's not fair – it's not! How can you not recognise me, Yami?! I'm your sister! I'm your twin!"
Now
Kaiba cursed as he lost his balance for the god-knows-what time, smacking into the wall of the hospital corridor. Continuously banging oneself off solid brick and plaster is never the most beneficial of activities, and the bruises were beginning to build up quite nicely on the brunette's arm. Reluctantly the CEO had to admit perhaps maybe he wasn't quite as 'fine' as he'd said he was. But he'd be damned before he asked for assistance of any kind.
"Seto…" Kaiba could see his little brother was dying to ask if he was alright again, but Mokuba restrained himself, motioning down the hospital corridor to the left. "They're this way."
He cheerfully seemed oblivious to the fact he hadn't actually informed his nii-san of just who they were. Not that his older sibling didn't have a sneaking suspicion of course.
A clump of dread Kaiba would never admit to possessing formed in his stomach.
Kami-sama, not them…
"In here…" Mokuba tugged on his brother's arm (the non-bruised one), pulling him into a curtained ward. As soon as they entered there was a scuffle of attention, brown orbs staring at him wide-eyed.
"Kaiba!"
Ryou was clearly startled to see him, but Kaiba ignored him, blue gaze sweeping past the albino and to the two visible occupants of the room.
Ryou quickly interrupted him before he could say anything. "I-they put them all together, Kaiba-san, because they were all suffering immense energy drain and injuries of the same type… It made it easier to watch them…You were put somewhere else because of your status - I would've come to check on you but Mokuba said-" The boy faltered and fell silent for a few seconds, watching the brunette worriedly. "Kaiba-san, did the doctor even say you could be up? You were hit rather badly and even Yami's-"
"Where is he?" Kaiba's head was bent, his voice lowered.
"I-what? Kaiba-san, I really think you should-"
"Where. Is. He?" Little more than a hiss.
Ryou raised a hesitant hand to point to the curtained cubicle at the end of the ward.
Then
The Shadow Realm.
It came as no surprise to Yami really, that Bakura had led him here. The thief had always been obsessed with the Shadow Realm and its hidden strengths, determined to find them all and wield them, become the ultimate master of the Darkness. Yugi had been left behind in the normal world with Ryou, Bakura present in the Shadow Realm as himself, Yami as a spirit.
The pull of the Shadows…
Yami stretched out a hand, frowning when a tendril of the darkness about them wrapped about the outstretched limb.
It feels…thin…
The currents swirling about his form in the Realm were stronger than usual, as if being sucked away by some greater power, the Shadows stretched to cover space that would otherwise be left empty.
"If you've quite finished petting your kittens." Bakura's voice was sour. He didn't want to be here, he definitely disliked being forced to be here, and he really didn't see why it was the pharaoh he had to help, of all people.
"I'm coming, I'm coming…" Yami sighed, dispersing the Shadows gathered in his hand and following off the other spirit. The thinness of his Realm he put to one side in his mind, to be gone over again later. It was probably just a natural fluctuation of the Shadows or something…but he'd still have to check.
They were going to the deepest, darkest part of the Realm – that they'd managed to uncover so far - where the Shadows were strongest; Bakura claiming they needed the sheer power and pressure there to slice the bond between yami and hikari, yami and Item. The former bond was easily reparable, but it needed to broken all the same so as to create a new body for Yami. The pharaoh himself didn't even really want to think about the awesome amount of power it would take to shatter a bond between a soul and an Item, never mind two souls…
Bonds shared between people were perhaps some of the most strong in existence. When hearts were tied together, the world was but a blip on the radar of the terrifying strength that could be released. When souls, the deepest, most personal part of a mortal, were wound around each other, merged, and then broken…what kind of power would be released?
"You know…" Yami couldn't help but let out a mutter as he trailed Bakura, "we're unlucky you didn't kill yourself."
"Can it, pharaoh." Bakura still in a non-too pleasant mood. He stopped suddenly, and Yami not really paying all that much attention, walked straight into him. Bakura glared. "Can't you watch where the bloody hell you're going, baka?" He didn't give the other spirit a chance to reply, pointing roughly downwards – to the…er…'floor' part of the Shadows. "We're here. Sit."
Yami bristled at the command. "Why should I?"
A roll of amber eyes. "Because if you don't, baka no pharaoh,after you've split from both Yugi and the Puzzle, you will fall over. Hard. And I refuse to be blamed for you arriving back to your hikari with a gigantic bruise covering your annoying little face."
"It's simply touching, tomb-robber, how much you care." Yami followed the other's brusque advice, taking a seat. "You can hear the kindness oozing from your voice."
"Your sarcasm wounds me." Bakura was off, drawing a rough circle around Yami in a trail of flashing bronze, red and gold.
The pharaoh followed his movements with a curious gaze. "What're you doing now?"
The thief didn't answer, merely halting and stretching a hand out to the other. "Give me your Puzzle."
"What?! No way!" Protective hands were laid on the golden Item.
"Give me the damn Puzzle, pharaoh." Bakura was getting annoyed again. "I'm not going to steal it! What use would it be to me? You left the real one with Yugi, remember? The one you wear is but a shadow of the blood-gold."
Yami was still suspicious. "What are you going to do with it?"
"I am going to take it, dump it on whatever constitutes as the ground here approximately two metres away from you, and draw another sparkly circle around it with my magic." Bakura glared again. "Now give me the frickin' Puzzle!"
Extremely reluctantly, Yami handed over his Item, watching all the while as Bakura did what he'd said he would, and stepped back. Now Yami and his Puzzle were in two separate circles. The thief gave another order:
"Reinforce my circles with you own magic, and then do it again with the Shadows."
White noise seemed to fill the space inside the circle Yami sat in as he did as he was commanded, static crackling about him and making his skin tingle. The magic buzzed, the Millennium Puzzle flashing brightly in its own ring in response. As Yami continued to increase the strength of the magic surrounding himself and the Puzzle his Item flared brilliantly, shooting out a single beam that smacked straight into the circle around Yami, the two barriers connected together by a beam of golden-white light and magic.
Bakura watched, fascinated despite himself. When he'd done that with the Shadow-Ring, the bond between the Item and himself hadn't even been half as bright… He quickly shook his head, erecting a quick magical defence about himself and calling out to the other spirit loudly, knowing fine well it would be difficult for Yami to hear over the crackling buzz his barrier would be producing. "Break the beam!"
"What?" Ruby eyes looked at him, confused.
"Break the beam!" Bakura pointed at the light that connected Yami and the Shadow-Puzzle. "Use the Shadows as a knife to cut the beam!"
Again, Yami did as he was told, calling to the Shadows with his mind and forming it into a keen blade that hovered over the light beam. The darkness was only too willing to do as he ordered, and a knife deadlier than any mortal-crafted blade was born from the Shadows. It waited, poised, as Yami smoothed it with his will, then when its master commanded, sliced down.
Out in the normal world, Yugi Mouto cried out in pain as Yami's soul was torn from the body they once shared.
Now
Yami stared nonplussed at the crying girl sitting at the foot of his bed. Ciara was obviously heartbroken – if she wasn't, she was a damn good actor – and the former pharaoh had no idea how to comfort her. Every instinct in him screamed against him saying he had a sister, even if it was to ease the girl's crying. Besides, if he did that, he'd be lying to himself as well as her, and that would hurt more in the long-run.
"Ciara…" Hopeless violet looked at him, and Yami had to avert his gaze. "Ciara, I'm sorry I can't tell you what you want to hear; I truly am."
"It's…" A hiccup, Ciara drying her eyes and trying to compose herself. "It's okay." Her voice was husky, cracked, her face flushed and eyes still bright. Tear-tracks stained her cheeks. "Do you have a tissue?"
Yami tossed her a wad from the dispenser on his bedside cabinet – all the wards had them, and they were handy for sniffling guests. He should know…the cleaner had had to refresh his store three times – that he had been conscious for – because of the one who claimed she was his mother. The one who would be Ciara's mother…
Like mother, like daughter…
The girl dried her eyes, brushing her long hair back off of her face and generally tidying herself up. "I'm sorry about that…" She licked her lips again, slightly nervous. "Are you going to throw me out now?"
Yami looked at how quietly for a few seconds, then gave a nonchalant shrug, leaning back against the metal rungs of his bed's headboard. "You break the monotony; if I don't talk to you I either stare at the wall all day or sleep."
His 'sister' smiled faintly. "Glad to know I'm so much appreciated."
"Hn…"
An awkward silence fell over the two teens.
After a few minutes, Ciara broke it again. "So…what's it like in here?"
Yami smiled bitterly. "They think you're mad."
"…Oh…"
The awkward silence fell again.
Bored, Yami began to rifle through his bedside cabinet, searching for some sweets that had arrived for him a few days beforehand, the nurse merely saying they were from a girl called Salena. Talking of which…
"Do you know anyone called Salena?" Yami leant back on his haunches, resting his hands on his knees. "She sent me some chocolates."
"Salena?" Ciara glanced up. "She's our little cousin -" The girl winced when Yami snorted, but continued regardless, "- she's Seth's little sister."
"How old's she?"
"Um…she's twelve on July the seventh."
"Right…" Yami went back to his rummaging, frowning as the chocolates continued to elude him. There was all manner of strange things kept in this cabinet – 'personal items' his 'parents' had brought him – and he recognised none of it. A deck of ordinary playing cards tumbled down from where they'd been perched on top of a pile of worn books, a familiar tingle racing through his nerves as his hand brushed them.
That's strange…
Slightly hesitant, Yami stretched out a hand and picked the deck up, sliding the cards out of the box and flipping through the four suits absent-mindedly. Idly he shuffled them, selecting four cards at random and laying them face-down on his bed. After neatly placing the remaining cards beside them he turned the four over, not in the least surprised to find four aces looking straight back up at him.
Ciara let out a soft breath, awed. "Wow…"
Yami merely sighed, sliding the aces back into the deck and shuffling the pile again. He glanced up at the one who had said she was his sister.
"Hey….are you any good at games?"
Notes on Ciara: Lord…this girl has gone through too many name changes before this got updated. Eventually I appealed to my friends, threw them a list, and said 'pick one!' Ciara can be either pronounced kee-ARR-ah or see-ARR-ah – I'm working with the latter pronunciation. It's of Irish/Gaelic origin, and means 'black'. It can also be traced back to the Italian Chiara, which means 'light'.
Notes on Salena: sah-LEE-nah. It's apparently of Hindi origin, and is a variant of the Greek Selena, which means 'the moon'. Salena's birthday…(grins) If anyone picks up on what I was hinting at with it, let me know.
Shadow: The only parts I like out of this entire chapter are the very beginning and the very end. (claps hand to forehead) I still have a mother-of-all-headaches headache, and I'm supposed to be doing Art and Product Design coursework, due in Monday and Wednesday respectively. (groans) I'm not going to get it done now though…I'm off to go sleep. On thing though...are these chapters okay in length? After writing WAWOTW, these chapters seem uncommonly short to me. But then...it may just be me. Or WAWOTW could be too long. Or something...(mutters) This isn't helping my head.