"Happiness corrupts the heart of the darker soul, bringing their life closer to a close. Nay, their destiny forces them to live in peril."
"Eh… ugh… ah… my head…" Yuugi groaned, rubbing his eyes as he woke up. He pushed himself up, his head hanging low as his throbbing headache slowly dispersed. He looked upwards, with shaky vision, noticing a figure sitting next to him with a calm look.
"Good morning, my host." Yami smiled. The spirit played with its hair as it casually floated upwards, "I hope your rest was decent."
"I see you got used to your form quickly." Yuugi groggily observed, Yami adjusting his position to a more comfortable float-sit.
"I stayed with you all night." Yami said, "I did not want anything happening to you."
"Nothing would happen to me" Yuugi sighed, standing up and wobbling to his bedroom door. "How long did I even sleep for, anyway? You really don't have to-"
"29088 seconds."
"What?"
"You slept for 29088 seconds." Yami approached closer, "With a mild interruption at the 17080-second mark thanks to a large grouping of motorized vehicles."
"You really didn't have to wait there for me like that." Yuugi yawned, looking back at the spirit with slightly tired, slightly bored, eyes, "Bordering onto the creepy, here."
"I sincerely apologize, my Light."
Yuugi groaned loudly. He covered his eyes with his palms and rubbed his forehead with his fingers as he mumbled complaints to himself. "I hate you having to see this, I am not a morning person…"
"It does not affect my judgement of you, my host."
Yuugi looked back at Yami's floating form and gritted his teeth, "Call me Yuugi. Please. I'm begging here."
"My apologies, Yuugi Mutou."
"Ugh."
Yuugi rolled his eyes and stumbled to the bathroom, Yami casually floating through his bedroom wall to follow him. It peeked its head through the wall and casually smiled.
"Do you have to go to that weird building today?"
"What weird building?" Yuugi turned on the tap, gazing into the mirror and seeing both his and Yami's reflection, "You have to be more specific, Yami."
"Sc... Schoo... School?" Yami tried to put its finger on the word, eventually getting it. Yuugi smiled.
"It's a weekend. I don't have to."
"What is it like, going there?"
"Boring as hell." Yuugi ran his hands under the cold water, shivering a little as he rubbed some soap into them and rinsed them off. "If I didn't have to go, I never would."
"Maybe I could fill in for you." Yami suggested, "I could use your body and-"
Yuugi turned around and turned on the tap for the shower, waiting for the water to heat up. Yami had its cue to not look, a habit that the spirit questioned, as it had many opportunities to see Yuugi's isolated body whenever it used the boy's body already - it just didn't care enough to-so in the spirit's eyes Yuugi shouldn't have been embarrassed by it.
"Do you even know how to write? Do you even know what science or history or Literature is?" Yuugi began removing each article of clothing one by one, "You didn't know what anything was 21 days ago."
"I would watch you from inside the puzzle!" Yami proudly declared, "I have been to as many lessons as you have been to whenever you have brought the puzzle with you."
"What about writing?" Yuugi hopped into the shower and closed off the tub with the cheap shower curtain hanging from the tacky metal rails above. Yami finally was able to turn around, on the promise that he didn't phase through the curtain to 'peek'.
Yami smiled brightly, "I can write! I used to write with…Uh… Yeah. I can write."
"Huh. I'm surprised." Yuugi grabbed a loofah and smothered it in sweet shower gel. Yami could smell the scent of gentle yet sweet and heavenly herbs mixed into the gel as Yuugi lathered it all over his soft skin and-
"Yami."
"Yes, my host?"
"I can hear your thoughts. I know my shower gel smells nice, but you don't need to focus on it."
Yuugi reached his hand up and grabbed the running shower head, letting the water rinse off as quickly as possible.
"Sorry. I just like the scent, it has nice notes to it."
Yami sighed and turned around, Yuugi stepping out of the shower and drying himself off with a towel.
Yuugi and Yami fell silent. Yuugi grabbed his clean clothes that he always prepared the night before and slipped them on, only allowing Yami to turn around after he was fully dressed.
Yuugi stepped out of the bathroom while being followed closely by Yami's floating figure, making his way downstairs with the grace of a falling piano and sitting in the living room while waiting for his mother to make breakfast. Instead of the usual chaos of his mother dumping eggs into a frying pan (Yami had just recently learned what a frying pan was, it was fascinated by how it worked), Yuugi instead got a singular note on the table.
'Gone out. Will be back at 8PM.
Love, mum.'
"What the hell?" Yuugi sighed loudly, placing the note back down and scavenging for something to eat.
"Keh, how rude, she didn't even give further notice." Yami scoffed, it floated down and poked its head through the cupboards one by one, trying to find something. Occasionally, it would point a box out and ask Yuugi, "Is this food?" to which Yuugi would blankly respond, "No, that's bleach. You're in the cleaning cupboard."
Yuugi watched, partially entertained, as Yami named all of the objects it saw in the cupboards. One by one, it listed them off. Eventually the spirit was interrupted by the sound of Yuugi's phone buzzing, which the boy checked immediately.
A text.
A text from Anzu.
'Hey, I'm nearby. Want to hang?'
Yuugi's eyes shone, he excitedly typed into his phone; 'Yes! Sure!'
Yami felt something settle in its chest. A feeling of anger, almost like a knife piercing its chest. Yami tightened its lips, turning away and glancing anxiously at its host with an awkwardly tense expression.
"Yami?" Yuugi looked upwards, noticing the grown on Yami's face, "What's with the scary face?"
"Hm.? Nothing…" Yami scoffed, "Enjoy your time with Anzu."
Yami's face softened to another smile, Yuugi giving a gentle grin back and returning to his phone to message Anzu where they should meet. The boy ran upstairs to get dressed, leaving the spirit all alone in the kitchen.
Alone.
What was this feeling? The feeling of a knot wound up in the spirits chest with each mention of his host's terrible friend? She didn't deserve to hang out with its host, no, she didn't even deserve to be called a friend of Mutou Yuugi.
Yuugi was innocent. In the spirit's eyes, he was a perfect human with nothing wrong to his name. Anzu, however, never helped him with bullies, never seemed to be there when Yuugi needed her and always had this weird scent that the spirit hated (it internally gagged whenever she was near).
Yuugi stood at the bottom of the stairs, fully dressed in his small leather vest and pants and belt-esque accessories. As if by magic, and without Yami realising, its clothes had changed too.
"I think it's time you and Anzu met each other." Yuugi hopped down the last step and strolled over to Yami's ghostly form, "I don't feel right keeping you from her, and if you ever want or need to substitute with me for school she could help."
Yami frowned. He shook his head and sighed, "Whatever you wish for, my host."
"We're gonna meet by the closest bus stop and walk from there!" Yuugi grinned, grabbing his bag and slipping the millennium puzzle around his neck with the attached rope.
After Yuugi finally finished getting ready, he skipped out of the door, leading the spirit to follow him with a bored scowl. The town was pleasant. Yami glanced at the view of a graffiti artist's signature, staining a perfectly fine wall with what the spirit perceived as a blend of ignorance and arrogance. The spirit moved on, instead watching Yuugi's happy face shift from left to right as he eargerly looked out for his brunette friend.
As he glanced around his eyes landed on a small store. He quietly explained to Yami from within his mind that he would buy a cola before meeting Anzu, before making his way inside.
The store was basic. It had a drinks dispenser behind the lengthy counter top where a tired-looking employee stood. Some shelves held what Yami considered to be garbage.
"What can I help you with?" The man at the counter groaned.
"Could I get a cola from the machine?"
"Ugh. Sure."
The man rolled his eyes and took Yuugi's money, grabbing a cup and pressing it against the dispenser lever. He filled the cup and lazily smacked a lid on.
"Here, kid." He grunted, "Anything else?"
"Nope! Thank you!"
Yuugi scooped the cup into his hands and slipped out of the door, swinging it behind him loudly.
The streets stretched long, filled to the brim with cars of all colours and sizes, buses and people living their lives as they always have been. Yami phased through a random plastic bottle that had been dumped on the ground with a sigh, suddenly stopping as his host did.
"Yuugi!" the call of a feminine voice echoed in the street. The owner of the void was Masaki Anzu, her chestnut brown hair flowing in the breeze as she waved excitedly at the boy. Yuugi ran down the street and jumped, being caught by her strong arms and buried into a calm cuddle.
"Anzu!" Yuugi finally reciprocated, releasing himself from her grip and looking up at her.
Yami tingled with a content feeling. Seeing how short it's host was in comparison to the average-ly sized Masaki Anzu made the spirit very happy. 'The best things come in small packages'... The spirit had remembered hearing that phrase from inside the puzzle, yes… Yami agreed happily with that statement.
"Where do you want to go?" Anzu smiled, "The arcade? Browse some shops? OR! Do you want to go to a certain fast food restaurant who's willing to give me a discount~?"
"Burger World!" Yuugi exclaimed, checking his watch and accepting the 12 o'clock time as a perfect time to eat burgers. He held onto Anzu's hand tightly and feeling fear creep up his spine; tingling under his skin were the sensation of thick, palpable anxiety as he tried to find the words he wanted to say. Anzu started walking, the boy following closely.
"If I said something… would you promise not to think I'm crazy?" Yuugi finally blurted out.
The spirit twitched while listening to those words. It turned its focus from the idea of burgers being aten so early to the sudden wave of anxiety that washed over its host, running down their spine like a waterfall of unnecessary fear.
"Of course. What's up?" Anzu slipped her spare hand into her skirt pocket and kept walking, giving the boy a quick glance with her dull Hazel eyes.
"Uh.. Uhm.. I.. I.. Want you to meet something- no - someone." Yuugi fumbled with his words. Anzu tilted her head.
"Oh? Who?"
"A… a ghost. A ghost who lives in the puzzle." Yuugi grasped the puzzle with his small hands, Yami felt a warm tingling sensation as the boy did so. "He's nice… uh… and he's taking host in my body and.. Oh god I'm actually crazy I-"
Anzu let go of Yuugi's hand and placed here's on his shoulder gently, "I'm not going to judge you. I care about you, but being honest that does sound a bit unbelievable. Can I.. Meet this ghost?"
Yami could sense a disingenuinity behind those kind eyes.
"Sure."
The spirit felt a sudden falling sensation. Its soul tore into two, morphing in a twisting and disgusting manner as both hearts exchanged themselves with their places.
Yami opened its eyes. The crusty floor beneath its host's body felt even closer now that it was grounded by physical feet.
Anzu stood in silence. The flickering of the Millennium puzzle faded from a bright yellowish-orange glow to a dark nothing. Yami gazes at Anzu, its blood red eyes staring into her soul.
"Your eyes… they changed colour."
"Correct."
Yami lifted up the cup of cola and sipped the drink from the straw, internally gagging at the awful taste.
"Who.. Who are you?"
Anzu stopped walking. The wind blew awkwardly; the world felt as if there were a wall between the two people.
Yami yawned, "The spirit from within the confines of the Millennium Puzzle. Did you not listen to my host? How can my host have such imbicilic friends?"
"Hey! That's mean!" Anzu yelled, "Yuugi, what's up with you lately, you-"
A child running down the street ran into the spirit, the world became swiped from its feet for a long, painful moment. Yami had to do something quick, before the body fell and left Yuugi with a bruise on his perfect skin. In a moment of panic, the spirit conjured up three long, slithering, shadow tendrils, wrapping them around its body, the cola it had dropped and the child, who was also moments away from falling. Each tendril sprouted up from Yami's own, dripping with oozing darkness; a gross, soggy, shadowy mess that coated the skin as it touched the surface.
Yami stared into the girl's eyes.
"I am not Yuugi." It sternly growled, "For you, I do not have a name, nor are you permitted to learn it."
"I-Yes.. Okay.." Anzu took a shaky breath in. Yami released the tendrils, them sinking back into its shadow and allowing the boy, itself and the cola to fall. It caught the cola and stood up, ignoring the terrified wail of the child as he raced back to his mother.
"My host wanted you to recognise that I and him are seperate beings." Yami sipped the cola, "So if I must take his place in his body for whatever reason, you could assist me in acting human."
"So you really are a ghost?"
"That's a silly question."
"I know.." Anzu sighed, "I mean I saw those… creepy tentacle things. Its just hard to believe."
Yami scoffed, "I can imagine that you cannot comprehend a lot, considering your limited intellectual capability."
"Okay, just because you're a ghost, it doesn't mean you can make jabs at my intelligence." Anzu snapped, "Switch back to Yuugi! He's not a jerk, unlike you!"
"With pleasure, I do not want to see much more of you." Yami smiled, the smile dropping immediately as it faced its hosts friend with a scowl. "Let me tell you one thing."
"What's that?"
Yami lifted its elbow up and rammed it against Anzu's neck, pinning her against a wall, "Hurt Yuugi and I will tear off each one of your fingers one by one."
"Why would I ever hurt him?!" Anzu gasped, her hands quivering as she tried to get the spirit to release its grip on her neck. Yami let go, the girl dropping to her knees.
"Tell Yuugi what I told you and you'll wake up without limbs." Yami spat, closing its eyes and retreating quickly into the puzzle.
Anzu looked at the body with fear in her eyes, backing up anxiously as Yuugi opened his eyes and smiled.
'She is non-compliant.' Yami huffed from inside Yuugi's mind, 'I do not see what you see in her, my host.'
"Hey! Anzu's smart, cute and funny… I see a lot in her!" Yuugi retaliated, covering his mouth as soon as he realised that he was speaking aloud, "Sorry…" he muttered.
'I would not call her any of those things.' Yami shrugged, slipping back into its ghostly, transparent form with a casual demeanour, 'I have no ill intent when I speak of this, but you ought to be better at finding friends. And romantic interests, she is-'
"Oi. Play nice Yami. And it's not like I-"
Yuugi stopped and glanced at Anzu, her face still coated in the paint of fear. He sighed and, from his mind, questioned;
"What did you do?"
' I did nothing? '
"She seems upset - what did you say to her?"
Yami slowly sank into the puzzle, its mind racing as it searched for what to say. Saying that it was just protecting its host was not an answer, yet telling Yuugi that the spirit threatened to cut off her limbs wasn't an acceptable response either.
"Yami? What did you say?"
'Nothing. I simply introduced myself.'
It could feel the retaliation building up inside Yuugis's mind. Yami quickly retracted inside the puzzle and hid in its room before Yuugi could question anything.
It slid to the center of its room and curled up on the stone throne. Scratched indents of rock made the spirit uncomfortable as it sat - the sofas and the beds in Yuugi's home were much more comfortable. It closed its eyes, feeling its fake skin prickle with a meddling mix of anxiety, anger and an indescribable emotion it couldn't name. Its chest heaved, forced laughter bubbled up, Yami's unhinged laughs causing it to clutch its chest and fall over onto the stone below.
Something felt different.
The world felt dark, even just for a moment. Its head pounded violently, eyebrows furrowed as it squeezed its eyes shut for a moment.
With a sudden sharp pain and ringing of the ears, ruby eyes glanced up with a bizarre physical weakness as it moved, the mirror in the soul room was… Cracked? Small, reflective segments laid spread across the ground, some sitting tilted inside an indent from the separation of stone tiles on the ground. Yami, with the light amount of strength he could muster, crawled to the mirror with his arms. What was this sensation? It felt as if its body has a massive weight pulling it down, trying to keep it as close to the ground as possible.
On the floor, by the mirror shards, scratched in messages said:
'Do you remember that world outside your chains?'
'Hate her. Hate her. Hate her. Hate her. Hate HER. HATE HER. HATE-'
'Do you regret murder?'
'My name is _. My name is _. My name is _. "
'NOT LONELY. NOT SAD.'
Yami scooted backwards. This was definitely its own handwriting, written with a mix of bricks and blood, like most messages scraped into its walls. The spirit glanced at its hands, there were markings from where it obviously scratched itself with these bricks by accident, but had no direct recollection of doing so. It flipped its hands to look at the backside of its palms, the knuckles on its left hand stung with blood, little shards of glass stuck through the opening in its wound.
It closed its eyes and tried to remember, when did this happen? Just now, when things went dark? Did it black out?
Yami shook its head, no. No… It didn't. Right?
'Yami? Are you alright?'
Yuugi's voice echoed through the link between their minds, Yami panicked. If he saw these messages… Oh, what would he think of it? What if Yuugi left the spirit, thrown it away for eternity, because of these insane messages? Yami stumbled up, hand slamming against the mirror to support itself, (some glass may have got inside its palm, that didn't matter, now did it?) and muttered through the link.
"I am alright. How are things with you and Anzu?"
'Great. We are going to a museum, come out of the puzzle, you can learn a lot in these places!'
"Whatever…you wish, my host."
Yami tripped over. It tried to pick itself up again, reaching for the doorhandle. Hanging onto it tightly with its hands, Yami stood up finally and opened the door, retreating the puzzle and floating, in its semi-transparent form, beside Yuugi with its injured hand behind its back.
The building in front of it was large and almost a daunting. Lined with fancy pillars, the architecture was in a stunning, classic form. Anzu and Yuugi were holding hands as they walked casually into the building and showed the receptionist their school passes. Yami stifled any growls, feeling the strong, unbearable urge to gnaw at its skin as it watched Yuugi and Anzu happily chat and giggle with each other,
No… Anzu was not the right person for its host; Anzu seemed too self-centred, too dim, too uncaring towards Yuugi. Yami glared as the grip between the two's hands tightened. This - Yuugi clearly being manipulated by that…succubus - was way more needing of Yami's brain power than on what it had concluded was a blackout that just happened moments ago.
"Where should we look?"
"Oh! The Ancient Egypt exhibit! That's where my puzzle is from!"
"Hah.. Yeah… Your puzzle is great." Anzu smiled awkwardly, Yami could tell that she was being facetious, as if it was Yami's fault for wanting to protect Yuugi from harm that she clearly was capable of doing. They walked, close together, down the aisles to the exhibit. There, many artefacts laid on display. Mummies, Stone tablets, jewels, They looked through everything. Eventually, they found an aisle with a piece of stone on display with the same symbol the puzzle had carved into it. Yami looked closely, finally a break from worrying about the host and his ridiculous friend.
"I'm going to go to the bathroom." Anzu smiled, "I'll catch up with you."
"Okay."
Yuugi grinned, waving goodbye to her and turning around, taking small glances at the exhibition. Yami tried following behind, the wound on its hand aching and stinging.
"Yami? You seem off."
Yuugi gave Yami a quick glance, his sparkling violet eyes lowering with concern as Yami quickly hid his semi transparent hand behind his back.
'I am fine. Tired. This form is exhausting.'
"Well… You have been up all night."
'May I return to the puzzle?'
"Yeah, sure. Go ahead."
Yami gave its host a nod, melting into a shadow and eventually retreating into the puzzle where it sat, in its throne once again, with its eyes closed, watching its host from within the confines of the millennium puzzle.
It could feel Yuugi's gentle breaths, the heartbeat in his eyelids as he blinked, the clear beads of sweat rolling down his perfect, glowing skin as the fluorescent lights above made him hot. Yuugi walked down the exhibition, stopping to look at one of the mummies on display. He read the note carefully, amazed by the vivid history.
That's when a man walked by, standing close, with a turban wrapped on his head. The man started at Yuugi, his eyebrows furrowed once his eyes met the millennium puzzle. A shiver shot up Yami's spine, this man carried a scale and a golden key of some sorts.
"Boy." He said, "That item around your neck..."
"This?" Yuugi grabbed the puzzle defensively, "It's the Millennium Puzzle."
"Did you solve it?"
"Hm?" Yuugi tilted his head, "Yeah. I- What are you doing?"
The man lifted the key and pressed it against Yuugi's forehead, in an instant Yami's link to Yuugi's eyes was disconnected. Yami jumped out of its seat and rushed to the door. The man, he was with it.
The door creaked open.
Yami lifted its chin up, try to exert confidence, it said to itself.
"Hello."
"Yo." Yami slipped its hands inside its fake pockets. "What might you be doing here?"
"I saw your host from the entrance of this museum." The man walked in, Yami scowled at him, racing over to stand in front of the shattered mirror. "I have been searching for the Millennium Puzzle, to learn of its power."
"I'm not giving you that." Yami crossed its arms, "Not without a price."
"Of course, haha, of course." The man stood by the throne, adjusting his turban with a sturdy hand, "What would you like in return for my answers?"
"Answer my questions." Yami pushed the man away and sat comfortably on its throne, "Who are you? How did you get in here?"
"I am Shadi. I entered using this, my Millennium Key. It is like your puzzle."
"I cannot see through my link to my host. What is going on outside?"
"Your host is okay. Do not fear."
Yami scoffed. It stood up and melted into the ground, one shadow covered arm lifted out of the ground, its hand clicking loudly. It slipped into the ground as the ceiling of the room disappeared. There, the man was shown the endless corridors and doors that even Yami wasn't accustomed to.
"It's time for a game. A shadow game." Its voice echoed in nothingness, Shadi nodded and called out;
"What must I do?"
"This area… it is endless. One of these rooms, however, is the true room - resembling the one you were just in. Find it, and you'll discover what you seek."
Shadi gave another, confident nod, and smirked, "Are there any other stakes?"
"A time limit. Ten minutes. And a… Punishment, for any fumbles. Now, go."
The man started walking, climbing each step, heavy footed. He opened the first door and was greeted with masses of flames.
"See? A punishment."
Yami peeked through the floor, by Shadi's feet with a large smirk on its face as Shadi panickingly patted the flames out.
"I see." Shadi stood himself up and continued walking, occasionally checking a door and getting attacked by a myriad of different traps.
"You know, puzzle spirit." Shadi continued walking while he spoke, Yami tailed behind him discreetly. "Soul rooms are a mirror of the heart. They let me see who the person is, their dreams, friends, everything."
"I am aware. I have been here for a while." Yami stated through the floor.
"I see a lot of paintings of your host. What do you see in such a weak vessel?"
Yami stayed quiet. Anger bubbled up inside of it, the soul roon grew hotter and hotter as its emotions slowly took control.
"My light is not a weak vessel." Yami yelled, "How dare yo-"
"Letting your emotions control you isn't a good habit, spirit."
"I am not-"
Shadi lifted his golden key up and closed his eyes, "This key will show me where the goal is."
The key lit up, a large beam of light curving around the thousands of staircases and eventually pointing to a conspicuous door at the end of one of the floating corridors.
"Some would argue this is cheating." Yami's smooth voice echoed, "And I am inclined to agree."
"You never said I couldn't do this."
Shadi opened the door, looking into the room with a slight caution. There sat Yami's indescribable mass of shadow, perched up on its throne.
"If you do not enter, you won't be able to get your answers."
A cloudy hand gesture for the man to step in. As he did so, with an unsure foot, the floor crumbled beneath him. Shadi grabbed the edge of the hole with a desperate look.
"If I fall I will be-"
"I would usually save you." Yami purred. Its body morphed into the slightly uncanny humanoid form, "But you called my host weak."
Yami stomped on Shadi's hand with its high heeled boot, making sure to kick his face one last time before he fell into the unknown.
Yami, now standing next to its host with a happy face, watched intently as the man in the real world choked, screamed, begged and eventually collapsed in front of Yuugi.
Yuugi looked at his spirit, not knowing what to do, but all he saw was the face of a murderer.