Title: A Persistent Shadow (Chapter 26)
Pairing
: Ryou Bakura x Yami Bakura
Rating
: M
Summary
: The Pharaoh uses a spell to force Yami Bakura out of Ryou's body, but unfortunately for Ryou it doesn't work quite as well as intended.


Pain flooded through the spirit's whole form. He fell to his knees, screaming in absolute agony. The pain, sadness, and loneliness hit him all at once, overwhelming the wall of anger and hatred he'd built to keep them at bay.

Memories he'd long since forced himself to forget assaulted his mind: his brother showing him how to play a game, his mother fussing over his hair, his grandfather telling him a story...

Get out! Leave me alone!

...his father hugging him when he returned from a trip, his grandmother teaching him about the plants found around the village...

The spirit tore at his hair. I don't need to see any of this!

...seeing his brother's ghost form and reaching out to him, only to be met with a horrifying vision of his death; cowering in his hiding space, only to be forced out by the ghosts of the village...

I'm not that weak anymore!

...wandering around aimlessly, hoping for someone, anyone to help him and feeling devastated when no one gave him a second glance...

No! I didn't want their help! I didn't need their help!

...cowering in his hiding space, only to be rescued by someone kind...

It didn't even happen that way!

...being comforted and protected from the ghosts, feeling a rush of hope when the kind person said he'd take him home and keep him safe...

No! The spirit clawed at his own face. I don't need anyone's help!

A pair of hands grabbed his wrists, stopping him before he did any damage to himself. The spirit struggled automatically. "Let go of me, you fool!" He caught a glimpse of his landlord's concerned face and immediately averted his gaze, scowling at the floor as he intensified his attempt to get away.

Unfortunately, the memories flashing through his mind prevented him from giving it his full attention, and the spirit soon found himself caught in a tight embrace.


Ryou hugged the spirit as close as he could. He still had no idea what was going on, other that the boy was gone and the spirit was in obvious distress. Ryou didn't know if being hugged would really help, but at least it would stop the spirit from hurting himself.

Though maybe not from hurting me, Ryou thought as the spirit attempted to push him off again, hitting him squarely in the stomach. Ryou winced, tightening the embrace even further to force the spirit's arms out from between them. The spirit pounded on his back instead, though the hits quickly grew weaker and soon stopped. The spirit rested his hands on Ryou's back, almost – but not quite – returning the hug.

Ryou didn't know whether to be relieved or concerned. He rubbed the spirit's back, hoping to comfort him a little.

The spirit twitched, then buried his head in Ryou's shoulder like he was trying to hide. "Get away from me, you idiot," he said irritably, clinging to Ryou in spite of his words.

'No,' Ryou said, pushing the word out through his aching throat.

"Idiot," the spirit repeated softly.

Ryou felt his neck become slightly wet. He pressed the spirit's head closer to him, petting his hair soothingly. The spirit made an indignant noise, but allowed it.

Ryou heard a clatter to his side and looked to see Marik awkwardly cutting his bonds with the discarded sword. "Um. I couldn't wait for you to finish," he said quietly.

Ryou nodded, feeling a little bad for leaving him tied up. The spirit said nothing.

After Marik freed himself, he picked up the sword and used it to free Yugi's hands. He turned Yugi onto his back, then gently shook his shoulder. "Yugi?"

Yugi's eyes blinked open. "Huh?" he said groggily. "What's going on?"

"Er... What do you remember last?" Marik asked.

Yugi sat up and rubbed his eyes. "Well, there were... ghosts, I think? And then..." Yugi shivered, looking disgusted. "Then I was with a bunch of dead bodies being put into a..." He caught sight of the cauldron in the middle of the room, eyes wide with shock. "That didn't actually happen, did it?" he asked, voice a little high-pitched.

"Not to you, no," Marik assured him. "It was just a vision."

"Oh," Yugi said, still looking a little ill.

"Yugi," the Pharaoh said, "I'm glad you're alright."

"Really?" Yugi asked, sounding hurt and angry. "Why do you care now, when you didn't care at all before?"

The Pharaoh winced as though he'd been struck. "Yugi..."

"No," Yugi said, standing up and pointing himself in the Pharaoh's direction. "You can't just-"

"Wait," Marik said, pulling Yugi back before he could get any closer. "We still can't be sure it's really him."

"What?" Yugi asked, clearly bewildered. Ryou realized that Zorc must have simply left him believing it was the Pharaoh holding him hostage, probably to torment the real Pharaoh further.

"Well..." Marik gave a quick explanation of the situation.

"But he was still the one who took over my body for a month," Yugi said afterward, arms crossed. "And broke into Bakura's apartment..."

"Yes," the spirit replied, lifting his head from Ryou's shoulder to look at Yugi. Ryou couldn't see his face, but he could tell the spirit was smirking as he spoke. "It was your precious Pharaoh who did all that."

Ryou was almost happy to hear the spirit make the comment, just because it meant the spirit was probably okay, but at the same time he wished the spirit wouldn't kick people when they were down. He poked the spirit in the side.

Yugi didn't seem that affected, however. "Why are you hugging each other?" he asked, as though he'd just noticed.

"That's really none of your business," the spirit replied. Ryou felt a little relieved by his own inability to speak right then, though he knew he'd probably need to give Yugi some kind of explanation later.

"Um. I guess not," Yugi said. He shook his head, turning back to Marik. "What are we going to do about him?" he asked, gesturing at the Pharaoh. "And how are we going to get out of here?"

"I don't know," Marik said. "We can't untie him yet, though. Clearly Zorc still has some kind of power or we probably wouldn't even be here anymore." He scanned the room, eyes settling on the book, still lying on the ground where the boy had dropped it. He walked over to it and picked it up, opening it and flipping through the pages.

"Look for a means of destroying the items," the spirit told him. "They're the source of Zorc's power in the world."

Marik nodded. "I know there's a spell in here for destroying cursed objects, but I don't know if it will work on the items..."

"You're trusting his advice?" the Pharaoh asked dubiously. "He just tried to kill me."

"His advice matches with what we already know," Marik said, not taking his eyes off the book as he flipped through it.

"At least I didn't actually kill anyone," the spirit added maliciously. "Unlike someone else I could name."

Ryou's heart nearly stopped when he realized what the spirit was talking about. The memory of Shadi fading away right in front of them filled his mind. He'd practically forgotten about it in the midst of everything else that had happened.

The Pharaoh was silent for several moments. "...I didn't intend to kill him. We had a confrontation and it ended badly."

"What happened?" Yugi asked, sounding distrustful.

"I demanded that Shadi give me the two items he carried," the Pharaoh said. "He refused. He held up the scale to show me the darkness in my heart, but I didn't listen. I tried to take the scale from him, but he was able to keep it out of my reach, so I went after the key." The Pharaoh closed his eyes. "I was very angry. When I ripped the key off his neck, a dark force shot out of me, and Shadi went flying backwards."

"How did he get away?" Marik asked, momentarily looking away from the book.

The Pharaoh sighed. "It wasn't the first time that kind of power had come out of me, but it was the first time it happened without any specific intention on my part. I was too shocked to follow him at first."

Ryou didn't know whether to believe him or not. It sounded plausible, especially considering that Shadi had managed to get away for a period – if it had been an intentional murder, he hadn't done it the most efficient way possible. But he wasn't ready to start trusting the Pharaoh again just yet. The story he'd told was bad enough in its own right, and even if it was true, they still had no way of knowing if they were talking to the Pharaoh or Zorc at that moment.

From the looks on Yugi and Marik's faces, they felt the same way. Marik turned a few more pages in the book then stopped. "Whoa... You guys have to see this." He brought the book over to them, kneeling down to show the page he was looking at.

Ryou reluctantly pulled away from the spirit, rubbing his shoulder to keep some connection between them. The spirit tilted his chin at Ryou, as though to say he was still above needing to be fussed over, but he didn't pull away as they turned to look at the book.

Ryou made a surprised noise when he saw what Marik was talking about. The page had indecipherable writing at the top of the page, with pictures along the bottom and sides, just like any other page in the book – except this time, the pictures were somewhat more familiar.

"Those are the items," Yugi said, leaning over Marik to see what they were talking about.

"'To make items of indescribable power.' This is the spell for creating them," Marik said. "And the next page describes how to 'unmake' them. These two pages were burned out of my copy of the book."

"No doubt the High Priest trying to cover his tracks," the spirit said.

"Yeah..." Marik said, skimming the page. "'Ingredients: Ninety-nine humans.'" Marik shivered. "I can see him not wanting anyone to know about that part. He probably wouldn't have wanted anyone to know how to destroy the items, either."

"How do you destroy the items?" Yugi asked.

"Er... that looks a little difficult in its own right," Marik said, reading over the spell.

Ryou noticed that the destruction spell page had more text on it than the creation spell and hoped it didn't require more ingredients. Or more horrifying ingredients, for that matter.

"Okay," Marik said. "The original spell worked by separating ninety-nine people from their bodies in a violent murder, dividing their souls, and binding them to the earth by melting their flesh with gold."

"That's horrible..." Yugi whispered.

"What do you mean 'dividing their souls'?" the spirit asked, sounding like he was about to get angry again. Ryou reached down and took his hand. A mixture of emotions flickered across the spirit's face, before he settled on a scowl, pointedly not looking at Ryou at all, though he made no move to take his hand away. Ryou looked at Marik, just as interested in the explanation as everyone else.

"The ghosts out there aren't really the people who died here, not entirely," Marik said softly. "Most of what made them, well, themselves is inside the items."

"I see," the spirit said blankly.

"Right..." Marik said. "So, um, if we can get all the ghosts into the items, it should weaken them enough that they could be destroyed by normal fire."

"Well, we have the fire," Yugi said, looking at the torches along the wall. He reached up to try and grab one, but was too short to lift it out of its holder.

Marik set the book down and walked over to pull the torch off the wall. "I don't know how we'll convince the ghosts to go back into the items, though," he said, handing the torch to Yugi. "They don't seem to want to come down here. Not that I can really blame them for that..."

"Maybe we could just tell them what we want to do," Yugi suggested. "Wouldn't they want the items to be destroyed? They can't be very happy the way they are right now."

"They don't want the items destroyed until they've had their revenge," the spirit said. "So telling them will only prompt them to stay even farther away."

"What would make them come down here?" Yugi asked.

Ryou looked around the room, eyes stopping on the Pharaoh. They met each other's gaze, the Pharaoh seeming to understand what had just occurred to him. Ryou felt guilty for even thinking it – whatever the Pharaoh had done, Ryou still wouldn't want to be responsible for something happening to him. Ryou quickly looked away, hoping no one had noticed his idea.

Unfortunately, he wasn't that lucky. "Good idea, Landlord," the spirit said, rubbing his hands together gleefully. "We'll tell them to come down and take all the revenge they could want." He jumped to his feet.

Ryou quickly stood as well, shaking his head frantically. No! He looked to the others for support.

"Wouldn't they kill him?" Yugi asked. However angry he may have been at what the Pharaoh had done, he still sounded upset by the possibility.

"I don't think so," Marik said thoughtfully. "All we've seen them do is give people visions, like they did with you."

Yugi fiddled with the torch in his hands. "That was still-"

"Do it," the Pharaoh said.

"Eager for the opportunity to martyr yourself, are you?" the spirit asked disdainfully.

"It's my fault we're even here," the Pharaoh replied, using obvious effort to avoid getting into an argument. "If that's what it takes, then so be it."

"I'll just summon them down, then," the spirit said, walking speedily to the stairs. Ryou ran after him, catching his arm a few steps from the bottom. The spirit barely paused. "He's agreed, Landlord. If you don't like it, take it up with him."

Ryou didn't let go.

The spirit peeled Ryou's hand off his arm. "I suggest you get out of the stairs before I send them down here," he said. "And you might want to get your friends away from the Pharaoh." He squeezed Ryou's hand lightly, though his expression didn't change.

He did agree, Ryou thought reluctantly. He wished he'd never thought of the idea, though he knew the spirit would likely have thought of it anyway. He nodded slowly, dropping his arm to his side and returning to the others. The spirit vanished out of sight.

Ryou grabbed another torch off the wall, just to be extra prepared. Marik followed suit, and the three of them stood at different points in the room, giving the area around the Pharaoh a wide berth.

"At least this will tell us if it's really him," Marik said.

Ryou blinked, then remembered that the ghosts hadn't had any effect on Zorc. It wasn't much of a comfort, really.

They stood in silence for several moments before they heard a whooshing sound come from the stairway. A stream of ghosts rushed violently into the room, mobbing the Pharaoh one after the other.

The Pharaoh screamed in agony, his whole body writhing atop the stone. He strained involuntarily against his bonds, instinctively trying to escape the assault coming from every direction. His scream grew louder and louder, before he abruptly went silent, his entire body going slack.

The ghosts poured into him, disappearing into the stone beneath him. The surface of the stone began to blacken, only slightly at first, growing ever darker as more and more ghosts went into it. By the time the final ghost disappeared, the stone was like a black hole, sucking all light in the room into it. A dull hum drowned out all other sound.

Ryou walked toward the stone as fast as he could without tripping over anything, barely able to make out even the torch in front of him. Can fire by itself really stop this? Ryou asked himself fearfully, hoping they hadn't just made a terrible, terrible mistake.

Ryou reached the Pharaoh before any of the others. He hesitated for only a moment before rolling the Pharaoh off the stone, doing his best to ensure he didn't have too hard a landing on the ground. He took a deep breath, completely inaudible beneath the oppressive noise, and brought the torch down on the stone, setting the inky black liquid in each of the seven slots on fire.

At first the fire died down, nearly going out completely, but it quickly recovered, burning up the black liquid and letting more and more light back into the room. Ryou dimly saw Marik and Yugi, standing not far from the stone themselves, and he saw the spirit as well, standing in the doorway.

The fire changed colors as it burned, going from a dull red to a bright red to an orange before finally glowing a dazzling white, forcing Ryou to shield his eyes and take a step back to get away from the heat. He took another step back when a spiritual form emerged from the flames, looking fully human, yet transparent, very close to how the spirit appeared in the real world.

The figure – an adult man, neither young nor old – flew at the spirit, who stood there unmoving, looking more stunned than Ryou had ever seen him. Ryou held his breath when the figure reached out and touched the spirit on the shoulder, but the touch didn't seem to cause the spirit any physical pain. The figure smiled at the spirit, then faded away, leaving the spirit staring at the place where he'd been, one hand pressed to his shoulder where the figure had touched him.

The figure had only been gone a few seconds when more figures poured out of the flames and flew at the spirit. Women, men, and children swarmed around him, touching his arms, hands, or shoulders before disappearing. The last figure – a woman – lingered a while after the others had gone, giving the spirit a kiss on the forehead before she disappeared herself.

The spirit looked completely at a loss for what to do next.

Ryou was about to run over to him when he noticed the light was dying down. He looked at the stone and saw the fires burning out one by one, leaving behind several misshapen gold lumps. He barely had time to ponder whether this meant they'd succeeded or not when the world suddenly faded around him.