A/N: The ending that landed in first place was... pancakes! I'm not going to tell you what ending it is, though. You're going to have to read the chapter! *cackles* /shot
Disclaimer: If I owned YuGiOh, nobody would have been allowed to vote! I would have just killed everyone tragically! Then for the series finale, I'd read all my hate mail and put a bullet through my head. Ta-da~!
Dedication: This entire fic is hereby dedicated to DarkspiritYami, who went through my entire list of fanfics and reviewed every single one, regardless of whether or not she was interested in the fandom it was about. You should all clap for her. *sharpens knife, smiling*
Shoutouts!: My other reviewers deserve love too, amirite? Ciloron, HarvestDragon, SerenePanic, Serendipital, fan of this fic, MyFalseTruth, Shadowclanwarrior, sassysisters9294, NightmareTroubador, ChicaOfDOOM, fee, ExplodiaTheUnescapable, Guest, Crazy-Queen-of-Games-in-Secret - you've all motivated me to keep on writing this story, and indeed, keep writing on . You all win $50 all-purpose gift cards!
"Hey, this thing expired yesterday!"
"SORRY I CAN'T HEAR YOU I'M TOO BUSY RUNNING AWAY."
.
Yugi stared, horrified, at Ryou's unresponsive form.
"... Ryou?"
No response.
"RYOU!"
"Ayeha!" Ryou jerked suddenly and spun to face Yugi, teacup slipping out of his hand and shattering on the floor. Shards flew every which way, the hot drink in question rolling across the floor.
The two occupants of the kitchen stared numbly at the mess that had defiled the white marble.
"Uhm..."
There was an awkward silence, and Ryou turned around again under the pretense of getting a kitchen towel.
"Are you okay?"
Ryou mocked him silently as he mopped up the mess, ignoring the twinges of guilt he felt.
Yugi had asked that question at least fifty times since he had first shown up. Ryou didn't have time for this. He needed to get started! Anxious, he checked his watch, cursing when he saw that their strained, idle chatter had gone on for an entire twenty-five minutes.
Tick tock, yadonushi~
Shut up!
Heheh.
The frown that had creased said host's face intensified when Bakura failed to punish him. For what seemed like the billionth time, Ryou cursed the unfair stakes of this game. If the human loses, yeah, sure, something unimaginably horrible happens. If the villain loses, no biggie, try again tomorrow.
Your sarcastic commentary amuses me. Shouldn't you be putting your plan into action?
"Maybe I will," he muttered under his breath, ignoring the slightly scandalized look Yugi threw him as he misinterpreted the comment. Straightening up, he tugged at the back of his head, blushing.
"Oh no, no! I was just talking to myself! Heheh!"
I should have become an actor, Ryou thought, as Yugi's accusing gaze softened considerably.
"So..." Ryou said, continuing his act by shifting his weight anxiously. "Do you want to go up to my room? Like, and..." He searched for something that would keep the boy's attention. "Play a game of Duel Monsters?"
Even before the words had left his lips the other was nodding. "Of course," he said, the reply made even more childish with his barely restrained glee. He guestured for Ryou to leave the way, so the host - (Bakura sniggered at the double meaning) - in question lifted up the abandoned kitchen towel with one hand, scratchy white material bunched up in his palm. "Let me clean this up first," he said carefully. "You can go and set up, if you'd like."
A polite nod was thrown his way as the Duel King headed up the stairs.
Ryou checked to make sure that nobody was watching him before grabbing the handle of the nearest kitchen drawer. Sliding it open carefully, he picked up the sharpest knife in there, laying it on the counter in front of him as he slowly re-closed the drawer.
His heart slamming against his chest with a frightening inconsistancy, Ryou closed his trembling hands around the pitch-black hilt before checking his watch. Another five minutes had gone by, that left thirty.
The albino licked his suddenly dry lips as he started towards his innocent-looking stove, blade raised in one hand, only to stop when he caught sight of himself in the reflective glass.
Deja-vu, he thought, but still, he paused and took in the sight.
The blade was twinkling in the reflection, a tight smile on the terrified projection's lips.
No matter how much he searched, Ryou could not find himself in that picture.
Do you still doubt the madness?
If Ryou wasn't so mentally unstable right now, he would have sworn he saw a few shadow tendrils snaking out from around his feet. But once he blinked, they were gone, and so he lunged forwards so as not to lose even more confidence in himself.
He still couldn't do it. He caught himself on the edge of the oven, knife pressed up against the green, blinking numbers. He had to be quiet, and he had to be fast, before Yugi or whoever the hell it was now came back downstairs-
Two quick slices and the numbers stopped flashing.
Like a heartbeat, Bakura mused, the analogy most unwanted as Ryou slinked silently down the hallways, searching for his desktop.
"Ryou?"
If he had a dime for every time his lucky stars went on vacation, he'd probably be able to go with them!
"Are you coming?"
Think fast, Ryou thought, the uncomfortable dryness spreading down his throat. "Yeah, I just left my deck down in the basement... I'm going to go get it."
A pause, and Ryou prayed to whatever gods were listening that the excuse would be accepted and Yugi would not, not, not come back down.
"Okay."
Yes! Ryou walked faster now, hurrying into his living room and checking to see if it was off. It was.
Small mercies.
"Two down and two to - no, not now-!"
.
Sinking to his knees, Ryou clutched at his ears and shook as wild, manical laughter overtook his entire body, racking it with internal spasms.
Ahahah! Ahaha! AHAHAHAHAHA!
"Stoppit! Stoppit!" Ryou whined-slash-whimpered, falling onto his back and writhing for a few, incredibly precious and incredibly wasted moments as he waited for his command to be heeded.
By default, of course, not by any choice of the Spirit's.
Blood dribbled out of one corner of Ryou's mouth, perfect drops splattering next to his head and staining the carpet. Snarling out of pure exertion, Ryou pushed himself up back into a sitting position and clambered into a standing one. Game this might be to certain people, he was not going to lose, not when he had come so far. He could feel Bakura yanking at his concious almost desperately, and it was threatening to send him spiraling into the blackness.
So saying, he half-ran over to the clock on the wall and took it down, tearing open the compartment in the back and tossing the batteries haphazardly over his back before checking his watch once more. 1:33. Smirking as he stumble-rose once more, he locked eyes with the invisible ones of the clock on the opposite side of the room. This was it. This was it.
Almost reverently, Ryou lifted the clock and turned it over, hands scrabbling at the metal in newfound excitement. He pulled open the hatch and popped the batteries out, watching with glee as they joined the others.
Slowly, they rolled, before sliding to a complete stop.
Bakura stopped pounding at the sides of his head.
"Did I... Did I win?" The sides of his face threatened to split with joy when Bakura gave no answer, instead choosing to curl into some corner of his mind, the perfect picture of defeat.
Well... That was easy. Too easy, in fact. The disturbing thought liquified his grin and it slipped off of his face. He had overlooked something. But what?
"Ryou! Hurry up!" A voice shouted from upstairs.
He'd have to figure it out upstairs, then.
"You don't look happy," Yugi commented as Ryou strode in.
Ryou waved his concern aside. "Only agitated, it took me a while to find my deck."
"Ah well, you have it now, so shall we start?"
"Of course."
Something was wrong. He could feel it.
It had started as a tingling in the back of his neck, an unwillingness to sit down, but had soon evolved into a full-time twitching fest. Yugi was eyeing him oddly, but Ryou couldn't seem to stop fidgeting. He had forgotten something.
"Excuse me," Ryou heard the words leaving his mouth but didn't quite feel as if he were the one speaking them, "But I think that perhaps I would calm down some if I went to get a drink of water."
"Okay. I'll wait."
Gods bless Yugi; he was so patient. And to hell with lying, that glass of water would be divine right now.
Heart in his mouth, the albino slowly padded downstairs, checking off his mental checklist as the stairs disappeared underneath him.
That heart in your mouth is pulsing~
Shaking his head rapidly to clear it of all distractions, he restarted his list and ticked each clock off of his fingers.
Pusling, pulsing, pulsing,
"Eh... Computer. Check."
one
"Stove. Check."
two
"Electric clocks. Check."
three
"Alarm. Check."
four
"Watches - watches -"
Five.
Eyes bulging, Ryou turned and slammed up the stairs, not caring as they rattled frantically underneath him. He wasn't going to make it! HE WASN'T GOING TO MAKE IT HE HAD TO MAKE IT THIS WAS IMPOSSIBLE HE HAD -
"NonononononoNONONONO!" He screamed, tearing open the door to his room. Barely aware of the pain in his hands and the ghoulish expression frozen on his face, he darted past a shell-shocked Yugi and into the most secluded corner of his room. Breath rattling through his teeth in time with the mad laughter in his head -
Mine or not mine?
- he slapped his hands on either side of a flowery and antiquated jewlery box. The wooden, hand-carved lid all but exploded underneath his scrabbling fingers, which then wormed their way like maggots through dead flesh in search of - of
A white, ticking watch.
White, ticking, flesh.
1:59, it read, quite cheerily.
"YOU WON'T BEAT ME THAT EASILY, BAKURA!"
When did your name become my own, little Ryou?
Yugi had finally gotten over his secondhand terror. "Ryou! What - NO! DON'T!"
For Ryou had raised the smirking thing to his face and snapped it, quite brutally, in half, laughing like a man deranged.
He was still laughing when he sank to his knees, the blood from his hands dribbling down snow-white palms, an ocean of death in a teacup of sanity.
Yugi, who was now hyperventilating in his own way, had backed against the wall, speaking rapidly to himself in his own little way, pulling at the space where his Puzzle used to be.
Ryou had stopped laughing at that, waving a hand in front of his own item-less person.
For a single moment, doubt coiled in his belly like a snake. Surely Bakura couldn't actually be here. Maybe Ryou was merely stressed, depressed, traumatized, anything.
And then he fingered his bruised cheek, remembering, and watched the doubt fade.
He turned and surveyed the damage he had dealt, planning to use it as both a dose of reality and a distraction. There was a chipped door for sure, and a dented wall right behind that. And the - the jewlery box...
Splintered and snapped, all over the floor, fine gems and precious metal strewn about in a strangely depressing vignette.
It had used to belong to his mother...
Tears slicked his cheeks as much as the blood did, now, and he fell face-forwards, letting it all blur against the cream-colored mass that was his carpet.
"Nn..."
Bakura was silent, shocked himself, at once, at his last lifeline being discovered, or maybe..
Yugi had managed to push himself up and off the wall and had, albeit tentatively, taken a few steps towards his 'friend'.
"Ryou?"
"Hm?" Ryou sat up, eyes now still and as polite - blank - as ever. "I apologize."
Or maybe...
"Can we forget everything that happened here and start over? I promise that I am well now."
And he was. It was past 2:00 by now, had to be. Game over. He would live.
So when Yugi nodded, he was neither terribly surprised nor relieved. Instead, he let himself fall limp, back against the floor, left had falling over two dejected cards and the right massaging his forehead.
or maybe im still counting
He would forget the 'or maybe'. It didn't matter anymore. Time up, on everything.
"Talk to me."
Yugi looked at him curiously before settling back down in front of his duel mat. Obviously, he was going to choose Duel Monsters as his own distraction, win, leave, and then never come back to this mad, mad houes, full of broken wood and splintered metal and unfinished games.
oh no. this game will finish... trust me...
If Ryou had been able to hear the whispered, coiling words caress the insides of his mind, he would have snapped right then and there at the barely constrained, breathing rage that ghosted through every twist and turn of those blasted words.
"How about this? It's your move," the shorter male said quickly, lying for the sake of their meager conversation.
Ryou sat up, a weak smile bubbling up on his face. "It is? I forfeit, then," he said lightly. "You win..."
The faux-smile turned into a beaming, genuine one as he recalled how he had won at a game far more important than this, and a weight evaporated from his shoulders. He even laughed a little.
six
"Aw, don't be like that, Ryou!" Yugi shifted over so he was sitting next to Ryou, smiling a little now too.
seven
"I have to be! I can't win against you!"
Yugi gave Ryou a mock shove. "You have to at least try!"
"I am trying!"
They were both laughing loudly now, as if their subconsciences were somehow aware that a great tragedy had been averted. Ryou found himself warming up to Yugi by extension. He wasn't half bad, once you got past his guilt-inducing selflessness.
"Try harder, then!" Yugi called him back to the present with his mocking words, and the-
Yes, why don't you try harder, yadonushi~?
eight
Ryou froze.
His smile melted.
And he slowly - ever so slowly - twisted his body towards the now frightened Yugi.
He's scared of you now, you know that? You and your insanity.
"Please tell me that this is some kind of joke."
Wet, desperate, barely whispered words.
nine
"W-what is a joke, Ryou? I-I don't know what you're talking about..."
The words were dry on his lips and crumbled as the fell, blowing away like sand in the deserts his Other Self knew so well.
Ten.
The alarm on his bedside table fell forwards of its own accord, and Ryou's mouth fell open in a horrified 'O' of understanding - one that matched the two blood-red zeros now reflected back at him.
12:00
1/2:00
(1)/2:00.
2:00.
And then everything was black.
.
heehee
.
.
.
.
*awkwardly searches for way to end the story without killing mood*
*can't find one*
/shotandbrickedsoflippinghard
A/N: Well - I'm really sad about closing this story, but I suppose it has to end somewhere... Thanks for sticking with me for so long! This was super fun to write and I hope you all felt that my ending was worth waiting for. Drop a review, please! I don't care if it's ten seconds or ten years after I posted this, reviews will all get replied to with such exuberance that I think you may melt from the sheer power of my squealing.
Once again, thank you for picking Soul Storylines! Drop your reviews in the box over there *points directly below these words*, and do watch your step on the way out!
"Wait... why...?"
"Bakura's been hiding under the exit staircase lately... something about angry Tendershipping fangirls..."
~FIN~