"It was a ghost of the past. A spirit that was last. A burden be lesser to bear than the fear of uncometh death."
It's blood rushed. The feeling of watching a criminal such as Ushio writhing like a worm made the spirit feel feelings it had never had before. The blood, oh the blood! The gash Ushio had made on the body's cheek bled like a sink trickling water. The spirit sometimes, on its way home, scooped the liquid with its finger and licked the blood off, feeling the metallic taste fill its mouth made the spirit's veins pulse and skin sweat in pure adrenaline.
"Being free… it is amazing…" The spirit whispered to itself on the way back to Yuugi's home, "That feeling..! When I finally hit him.. The feeling of justice!"
The spirit puffed out its chest and looked around the street, locating the game shop instantly due to the bright sign and abnormal architecture. It climbed into the window the best it could and sat, happily, in the boy's bedroom recalling the punishment it had finally granted to someone.
The punishment deserving of anyone who even got near its host.
Sitting still, it pondered to itself, "How is it I get back to the puzzle? Am I stuck this way?"
There had to be some way to grant the body back to its host. The spirit felt uneasy, it fiddled with its hands as it tried to think of what to do. Instead of worrying, the spirit hopped up and brushed off its legs.
" My host's room… it is a mess. "
The spirit knelt down on the ground, picked up some socks and placed them neatly into the washing basket - which contained some stray magazines that the spirit took away and placed on the bed.
"I will respect my host's tastes."
The spirit remarked, taking the magazine and flicking through. It mainly contained women dressed in bikinis, and seemed to be a catalogue for women to decide what to buy. The spirit sighed, the host was still young and the spirit knew he would have a taste for women at this age.
It cleaned up Yuugi's room, putting away clothes, toys and any other item Yuugi had dumped on the floor. It didn't take too long before the room was perfectly cleaned, with nothing out of place. The spirit wanted Yuugi to see that someone was there for him. It took a piece of paper and scribbled, with an old pen found on Yuugi's desk,
"I am the spirit of the puzzle. I will protect you, my light"
It had enough of not being seen. For thousands of years it was hidden from the world! It wanted Yuugi to know it was watching him closely and helping him at every fork in the road! However, after a long moment of staring at the page, the spirit grabbed the note, scrunched it up and stuffed it into the nearest pocket.
It didn't want Yuugi to fear it.
If that happened, the spirit wouldn't be able to live with itself (not that it was alive anyway, the spirit knew that).
The spirit sat cross-legged on the floor and tried its best to will itself back into the puzzle, the real world was tiring. It held the pyramid-shaped pendant in its hands and closed its eyes, feeling its soul leave Yuugi's body. Eventually, after a long while of simply existing in the body-less void, the spirit woke up in its room again, with the stone throne and newly added staircases. It opened the door, simply to see if it'd leave the soul room again, but instead found itself in a new area - a corridor.
Spanning an endless length, the corridor were covered in vines and lichens of many sorts. Thorned brambles hung from the wall where the spirit's door laid, and opposite that door stood another. One slightly opened, allowing golden light to pour through the crack. The spirit peeked inside.
"This must be my light's room." The spirit observed, its shadowy form nudging the door open a little to look inside.
It was bright. Very bright. The spirits golden eyes upturned in order to avoid catching the glare of the brightness. It slid inside, noting all the colours found in the floors and walls. This was the complete opposite of its room, the spirit thought. The spirit felt the world being snatched from its feet as it tripped over a toy car, finding itself on the ground where there appeared to be more toys, puzzles and games than imaginable.
The spirit used one shadowed tendril to grasp the nearest object, a single picture frame with nothing inside of it.
"I wonder what this represents?" the spirit held the frame close before placing it back. It didn't want to disturb the soul, especially not when it was as perfect and innocent as this.
The spirit's shadow form melted into the ground, slithering out of the door like an inky black mess.
It would spend the next few hours doing the same things: checking Yuugi's room; sitting on the stone throne; and climbing the staircases while checking all of the doors in the hopes of finding something. It didn't find anything, just many empty rooms and more staircases.
Once it had hit morning in Yuugi's perspective, the spirit decided to slip into the boy's shadow like it had done for a short while before. It wanted to see more of Yuugi, it wanted to watch every move he made and see every sight he saw.
"Why am I bleeding?"
Yuugi muttered, his hand cupping the cut on his cheek softly.
He then realised that he was still dressed in his school uniform, though he was now wearing a choker and those high-heeled, leather boots that he only wore when going out somewhere where no one from his school would be.
"I could've sworn I…" Yuugi stopped, "Wait, my room is all different! What? What is this?"
He looked around, noticing all the folded clothes and put away items.
"The puzzle.."
Yuugi's mind erratically tried to process what had happened. He solved the puzzle and went to bed, waking up to find everything out of place and him bleeding.
The spirit fell cold. It had the feeling that Yuugi wouldn't be too pleased to find that some random spectre from a magical puzzle had cleaned his room and (practically) attempted to kill his bully.
"Yuugi! Hurry up! Anzu's waiting for you!"
The mother yelled from the bottom floor again. The spirit shifted its shadow form so it could see Yuugi's face clearer. It seemed panicked, scared, in pain. He quickly gathered his things, changed his shoes and removed the choker, and burst out of the room. Yuugi's body fell from the impact of the escape, causing the boy to fall down the stairs and land on his buttocks with force so hard it caused both his grandfather and mother to rush in and see if he was okay.
The spirit knew Yuugi wasn't. It could feel every heartbeat, every sweat drop, every pang of fear the boy had. It felt it ringing in its heart like a drum, echoing endlessly.
For the next month, everyday went as follows; Yuugi woke up, noticed something weird about his room, went to school with Anzu, chatted to Jounouchi, came home, fell asleep.
Every night, the spirit took it upon itself to use Yuugi's body to punish anyone who had been bad to him that day.
Mrs. Chono, Imori, a criminal at Burger World, a thief who stole his friends watch - pretty much anyone who crossed Yuugi's path fell into the darkness.
It was exhilarating.
The spirit stood proudly, looking down at the screaming, squirming mess of one of its victims who had fallen to the shadow games. They screamed for forgiveness, promising to never steal again. The spirit didn't have it. The Millennium Puzzle was capable of creating vivid hallucinations that can torture another, the spirit had instinctively learned this during it's short time with Ushio. This was perfect.
As long as the sinner sins, it can punish it.
The thief, (whose name was Shotarou, the spirit had learned this while listening to one of the man's ear-pleasing screams), would believe that his head were cut off. Eventually the screaming drew thin and the man collapsed from his knees and onto the ground, unmoving, silent.
The spirit licked its lips. It felt its breath grow heavier as it grabbed the man by the legs and dragged him into a visible hallway.
It went home and did its usual routine, reorganising the bedroom, laying down on Yuugi's bed (making sure to place its face on the pillow so it could smell Yuugi's scent, it knew for a fact that the act appeared creepy but the spirit also knew it, in itself, was creepy so it believed to be justified). It always adored coming home to the scent of its host; a scent of butterscotch and sweet sunshine with just a hint of clear sweat and cheap herbal shampoo.
It stood up and looked into the mirror, taking off the boys shirt so it could see the boys form and perfectly soft skin, it's hands stroking Yuugi's shoulder gently.
Why would anyone want to bully this perfect being? The spirit could recall people calling him weird and ugly, but in the spirits eyes none of those things were true.
Why would anyone bully an angel?
A favourite moment in the spectre's time of punishing people was when the boy Imori had passed by Yuugi and sinned.
Yuugi was invited over to play a game of Dragon Block (a game which requires one soul sacrifice to play). He lost the first game, sacrificing his soul while doing so. The spirit, now automatically taking over the body, had eventually defeated the boy and used Imori's soul as sacrifice so it would get Yuugi back.
Imori had a good soul remaining. The soul from before the Dragon Block took him over.
The spirit showed no mercy.
It forced the good part of Imori to a shadow game, making the boy feel like he was stuffed inside a vase. Each limb broken and contorted until it fit inside the container, the base filling with his blood as the bones ripped his skin open with each snap and pierce and contortions. He begged and screamed and shrieked satisfyingly until eventually he stopped breathing.
The spirit put away the dragon block game, went home and did his usual routine with the happisst, calmest, proudest face he could muster (still getting used to facial expressions, the spirit found it very tiring to smile and even open its mouth).
When the boy woke up, on that day, he panicked as usual about the change of clothes, unusual amount of blood and reorganised room.
The boy, as was ordinary, met with Anzu at the front door, both realising they needed to sprint to school to get there on time. All of the way, the spirit watched from its space in the shadow, taking in the gorgeous form of its host. At one point during the journey, the spirit was so distracted by how it viewed it host that it almost slipped into the puzzle accidentally, desperately dragging itself back into its comfortable shadow form as it straightened its mind and rid it of any unpure thoughts.
"Yug's, you seem stranger than usual this morning." The blonde, Jounouchi, commented, resting his arms casually and disrespectfully on the desk. The spirit didn't like Jounouchi. The boy used to pick on Yuugi, only becoming friends with him recently due to a shared hatred of Ushio.
"Did you hear! Did you hear! More people in Domino are being put in the hospital! Miho was shocked!" A girl ran into the classroom, pushing in her yellow ribbon further so as to not let loose her pale purple hair.
"What?!" Anzu gasped.
"Yeah!" Miho came closer to the group, "Apparently they all go crazy and stab themselves!"
Honda (one of Jounouchi and Miho's friends who hangs around Yuugi out of boredom) sat casually next to the group, "I heard about that! It's like a sickness! Don't worry Miho, I would never let that happen to you! I will pro-"
Honda felt the wrath of Anzu's famous 'Shut the hell up' slap.
Jounouchi joined in, "It happened to that brat, Imori, didn't it? The one from our class that no one cared about?"
"Oh god! Did it?" Anzu's hands lifted over her mouth in shock. The spirit didn't understand why humans did such actions as a means of expression.
The conversation faded out of the spirit' s focus as it turned to Yuugi. He sat on his usual seat, hands folded into his lap with a scared expression on his face. A long bead of sweat dripped down his cheek as his mind raced with thoughts the spirit could hear.
'Everythings wrong. My bedrooms' sall different.. I wake up in different clothes.. I'm bleeding for no reason.. People in hospital.. No.. People I know in the hospital.. Imori… I had a blackout after I played a game with him then..Somethings wrong.. I feel off..'
The spirit wanted to hug Yuugi tight to tell him not to fear, even knowing it wasn't allowed...
"Wow! Look how weird Yuu' s shadow looks!"
The purple haired girl's words shocked the spirit. How had her conversation lead up to that realisation? The spirit felt a bizarre feeling, fear.
"Oh yeah!"
The group stared blankly at the shadow until the spirit got nervous and retreated back to the puzzle, returning the shadow to its original state.
It's fine, the spirit thought, it can watch from inside the puzzle. Surely the group wouldn't know that was a spirit and not a weird trick of the light, right?
However, inside the puzzle was terrible. Yuugi's thoughts shrieked in the spirits ears.
'I need to get away. What's happening? I'm scared.. Fuck.. I'll just run away.. My shadow? It felt like it was watching me, like it had eyes, like-'
The spirit checked what Yuugi was doing from the link. He was standing in a school bathroom, staring at himself from the mirror by the sink. Yuugi cupped his cheek with his hand then-
Yuugi vomited into the sink, choking up violently as he yelled to himself.
"Something's wrong, I know it! Everything feels hot..!! It..! I..!"
The spirit could feel Yuugi's breath going off the rails, his chest rushing up and down like a suspension bridge with too much weight.
"Yuugi? You okay?" Jounouchi ran through the door and steadied the boy with his hand, "You just rushed out so suddenly and.. Oh lord, you're a mess! You shouldn't come in if yer ill, yknow."
Yuugi gasped for air, grabbing Jounouchi's jacket with his hands as the world spun from beneath his feet.
"St-stay away!" Yuugi used the grip to push his friend away, "There's something wrong.! There.."
His hand swung back into his pocket, surprised to find something in his pocket. The spirit felt sick. The note. It hadn't thrown it away, had it? It had just put it in the boy's pocket. The spirit wanted to keel over.
Yuugi took it out and blankly stared at it.
"I'm.. Gonna go get a teacher. It looks like yer need help.." Jounouchi backed away, running.
The boy shakily unwrapped the paper, it wasn't supposed to be in his pocket.
"I am the spirit of the puzzle. I will protect you, my light" Yuugi's shaky voice read aloud, "The spirit? It.. No it can't be.. Right..? Like in the book..."
He dropped the note and looked at the puzzle, using his quivering hands to pick it up and stare at it directly in the centerpiece.
"I.. I'm not scared.. I'm not scared.." Yuugi quietly whimpered, "If you're real, come out and face me rather than write creepy notes"
The spirit jumped in shock, this was all moving too quickly. The spirit didn't expect Yuugi to become aware of its being so quickly. This was perfect, not only was it free but it also had a host that saw him. That knew he existed.
The spirit remained seated in the throne, not knowing what to do. It thought to itself, in a way that it hoped Yuugi would hear,
"If you wish to face me, enter the puzzle. I cannot speak with you around so many faces."
To which, to the spectre's extreme happiness, Yuugi replied, "Inside the puzzle? How do I do that? Oh god this is so weird and scary and... Ah.! This has got to be a dream, right?"
"It is not a dream, my light" The spirit replied, "If you will yourself in the puzzle it shall happen. I do not know how it works myself."
There was a long moment of complete silence. The noise of a teacher coming into the bathroom disturbed the spirit, who was hearing the commotion from Yuugi's ears. It took a small chunk of time to look through the link to see what was happening. Yuugi was on the floor, limp with blood dripping from an area the spirit couldn't see. An extreme pain in its head grew larger and larger as it tried to focus. A teacher knelt down and said.. something to Yuugi. No words came throguht though, only the gradually fuzzy syllables being shown on the person's mouth.
All this, before it was snapped out of the link and greeted with something new; the door knocking.
The spirit purred. This was it, after 158,153,372,800 seconds, or 5015 years and 27 days, the spirit finally had a visitor.