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steve0discusses · 5 years ago

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Yugioh S4 Ep 24: Someone Actually Called the Cops.

So recently I was like, “I should do something different than my usual” and I decided to open up a little thread for critiquing ppl’s short stories, and I kid you not, the very first story I got was someone’s Seto Kaiba erotica. Which, even in erotica form, did not have very much romance in it. So, now that Yugioh will apparently haunt my every waking move forever until I die, lets get back to S4. Lets desperately get back to canon. I miss canon.

Last we left off, Kaiba lost KaibaCorp...again. Really feels like he loses this company once every couple of years (weeks if we count season 1-3). Except, this time, Dartz didn’t read the fine print in the legal files that says the company must be run by a member of the Kaiba family. While that was a huge plot point with Pegasus, turns out that Seto and Mokuba’s memories have been blended so thoroughly, like a very fine Shadow Realm smoothie, that they just...forgot.

And like I’m positive that Roland remembers, but Roland’s not gonna say something and accidentally reveal he’s the 4th Kaiba brother and have to get abducted all the time and actually work for a living. Anyways, they forgot why Pegasus abducted them in the first place in Season 1, and honestly, so did the writers of this season 4 years later. Not like it mattered, because if Seto and Mokuba did take Dartz to court, the world would end before their case would even start.

Which is how, after one talk with Roland, Seto and Mokuba just sort of laid prone on the metaphorical ground and let it wash over them that yes, KaibaCorp is gone.

I really like this extra-long helicopter, PS.

Both members of Kaiba’s Sunglasses Army decided to align themselves with Kaiba, although honestly, I don’t think anyone else in this company has realized that they’ve been bought. It happened...1 hour ago. Like what do you even do if your company randomly gets bought in the middle of a workday? Like no lead up, no indication, just BAM you’ve been bought?

And if Duke works for Pegasus who got bought out by Dartz and then Dartz bought Kaiba Corp-------What does that make Duke? Is he gonna have to start wearing sunglasses inside?

Anyway, Roland knows better than to tell Seto Kaiba he doesn’t work for him anymore while still in the same helicopter as Seto Kaiba, who already crashed one plane today and will crash yet another plane before this episode is through.

(read more under the cut)

Seto decides to align with Yugi since he needs to confront Dartz eventually. Which is when we find out that Seto always planned to align with Yugi and was just giving him a really hard time.

Because over the last several episodes, Seto has had an entire team at this random museum in Florida in order to take some pictures (that really should have already been on the internet but wtv, it was 2003 so maybe it wasn’t?)

It’s like most of the way through s4 and the biker ninjas still send me. How did he make SO MANY biker ninjas? At what point was Dartz like...and now...all my mooks...will be ninja bikers. Or orcs. Mostly Ninja bikers.

Did Alister or the others ever tell him “hey, Master Dartz, I get that your 10000 years old but like...do you not understand what a biker is?” and was Dartz like

“clearly bikers are the most evil thing in the world, obviously.” completely unaware that most bikers are just 45 year old accountants.

In these scenes we also get a gander at their laptops and, if you ever want to see high level life crippling OCD anxiety in picture form, it’s illustrated very clearly right here:

Not only did they draw this keyboard in 1 pt perspective, they used like a ruler to draw all those letters so they were the same size. Some artist put so much time getting this nice and crisp and smooth...and then this happened.

And I’m pretty sure they died after that. I’m pretty sure this scene killed an artist.

It’s at this point that Yami kinda puts two and two together and was like “WE BOUGHT PLANE TICKET’S, YOU ASSHOLES.”

(It’s been such a long time since we’ve seen Mokuba smile like this, and it’s because he’s been hiding the fact for So Many Episodes that he and his brother prepped like hours ago to get this huge dunk on the rest of the party. He just wants to dunk on them so bad. Look at him. His company was bought today. BUT he gets to spend time with his bro dunking.)

Serious question, will Delta refund your flight if the Great Leviathan appears in the sky and tries to eat your soul to reboot the world from the ground up?

Of course not. They will never refund your flight. Trick question.

We switch back over to Rebecca and Duke, who have been absent from this show for so long, I actually forgot what Duke’s name was and had to think for like...5 entire minutes until I remembered that his nickname sounds like a poop and I was like “oh man, what name of poop would it be???” and then I recalled “Dookie. Yes. His name is literally Dookie. Wow that took way too long!”

Then we start a story arc I’d to call “My Kingdom For a Sharpen Filter” where, much like King Lear, the Yugi crew splays themselves on a battle field just strewn with different ways to sharpen an image, but can’t for the life of them use any other one, but the one deep in the heart of what is now DartzCorp.

And so yes, we are going to fly to San Fransisco, hop into ye Olde KaibaCorp, and log into proto-Noah in order to read a language that Arthur Hawkins can already read.

This is nonsense, but they put it there because it’s something to do. And honestly, it’s not a card game, so I’m down for this change-up. Lets go visit a version of Noah’s brain. At least they won’t drop an orichalcos for the 12th episode in a row.

On the way, Seto decides to try and egg on Yugi.

This backfires as you expect it will because Yami doesn’t freakin care. Like he’s not Yugi, he doesn’t care who the King of Games is, he harnesses freakin Dark Magic. The Wizard never cares if he’s King Arthur or not, and in fact, he probably prefers it....

..................Except in that spinoff where they had Yugi as a reincarnation of King Henry VII.

...................................................never mind.

And then Seto Kaiba says this actual line and I just...

WH.

WHHH

WHAT?

This entire show is just watching Yugi desperately cling to his scary ass hobbies. The tagline of Yugioh is “1001 reasons to go back to school and get a real job.”

What does Kaiba think Yugi does when he’s not around? Does he actually think Yugi attends school or sleeps at night or works an actual job? Like...he thinks Yugi has...NO HOBBIES.

Very interesting insight into what Seto considers a hobby and not hobby.

Especially since this Yami, who spends most of his spare time farting around his scary ass brain castle and getting lost. Occasionally he is forced on a date with Tea and wipes minds. That’s it. That’s all the things Yami does outside of hobbies.

Anyway, what is Dartz doing during all of this?

After this, Dartz pulls back the literal curtains on this room to reveal these candles that each hold the soul of someone he’s murdered.

There are not NEARLY enough candles for this segment.

A very brave man to have candles littered on the floor when his hair is down to his ass and all of his mooks have floorduster coats.

I really want to know what the local arts and crafts store thought when Dartz strode in there and bought every single tiny styrafoam skull during the Halloween sale and was like “can I put souls in these? You sell the kind I can put souls in, right?” and then immediately pulled out like a dozen 50% off coupons like a complete asshole.

Anyway, using this candle hocus pocus, Dartz uses the Orichalcos powers to take advantage of something Yugi did in the first episode. We distantly recall there was a giant eyeball in the sky--turns out if you bust up the eyeball with, lets say, a card that has a dragon on it, the eyeball will explode into many tiny Orichalcos pieces that will fall all over planet Earth.

So apparently Yugi didn’t save anyone at all when he busted that eyeball, because he instead set in motion Dartz’ evil plan to eventually use these many tiny Orichalcos pieces like the one seen here, to kill the hell out of people.

Good job, Yugi. Too bad you missed the Actual Bakura.

In fact, actual Bakura is probably the only one who survived this incident because I guarantee that Ryou Bakura is too busy eating all the contents of his fridge out of stress. He’s probably opened his window at this point, seen the crazy lights in the sky and in the street and was like “Blooooooody nope nopenopenopenopenope” and just locked the windows and doors, turned up Hercule Poirot to max volume, and stuffed his face with cookies.

(Or biscuits, I guess.)

WELL.

I don’t know how to tally that.

Yugioh not only broke the tally I was using to measure the distance they spent commuting this season, it also broke the tally on the amount of people who have died on this children’s show.

That’s a really big number.

We’ve had real duel monsters for a couple weeks but youknow...this time they’re extra, extra, extra real. More so than the last times. Also they’re all Orichalcos versions of their cards so their extra edge now. They’re the hot topic versions of what were already pretty hot-topic ass cards.

MMM. We come full circle, back at a dock, a warehouse, and some huge ass boat.

Right where we belong. Where all friends meet, where we can all finally be one.

Yugioh found one of the only cities that has a very famous and tourist heavy pier/warehouse district in it just so the Yugi gang could finally feel comfortable in their natural habitat. HOWEVER, there’s just one tiny problem in this scene, and it’s that it’s not overlaid with the actual soundscape of a SF pier, which is that of 100000 screaming seals

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I don’t have a seal problem, you have a seal problem.

Anyway, the only healthy adults here attempt to follow the children into danger but someone on the animation team was like “we just lost the keyboard drawing guy to that capslock! We cannot lose any more interns to a crowd scene with 9 people in it and 2 dead bodies!” and they uh...

And we immediately eject Roland and whoever that weird sunglasses guy is out of the script. Mokuba gave them a longing glance as they helicoptered away. Maybe because he missed his Dad stand-ins that he went through such efforts to call in the first place. Or more likely, because Mokuba would have preferred to be on that helicopter and far away from whatever the hell is going to go down on this dock.

Honestly the rest of Joey’s storyline this episode is him going rogue because of Mai rage, and it both comes out of nowhere and also seems very on point for him.

Meanwhile, Rebecca’s unbridled rage towards Yami Muto is still low key hilarious to me.

Witness the only character here who thinks Yami should suffer actual consequences and witness Yami just appear to not give a single damn about it.

Nearly spat out my own drink watching this.

The...

...police...

...exist in this universe?

Anyway, while Tristan and Tea try to locate a payphone to dial 911, Seto and Yugi decide to invade Seto’s own company by going through an elevator that you have to reach through the sewers.

Straight up I don’t think SF even has sewers. At least, not in the sense that you can walk in em like New York or Paris or other cities that have sewers. Our sewer systems are very small cuz we got something called “liquefaction” which means our ground is so soft (and artificial--a lot of the land is fake), that when there is an earthquake, certain parts of the city will...liquefy. It’s Terrifying. We kind of...avoid going and building underground except in certain stable places. (like even BART gives me the heebies.)

I just have a very strong distrust of basements, caves and other underground places in general and it’s not because of spiders, or ghosts or whatever, I’m just afraid of faultlines. It’s like having an active volcano, but you just don’t see it, and we haven’t had a Big One since 1989 so...any day now (I mean, 2020 has been such redic content, that I think we’re finally ready)

Again, Japan has way more intense Earthquakes than we do, and yet they have a billion underground subways and very, very tall buildings, so like, this is mostly a big cultural difference between the two of us. And the bedrock. They probably have better bedrock than we do (honestly, I just have no idea).

MASTER HACKER SKILLS.

Almost as good as that time he hacked into Pegasus’ company by dropping a satellite on it. I’m starting to think Seto actually doesn’t know how to use a computer.

Anyway, Seto is faced with...real cards, real monsters, indisputable evidence, and he decides, it’s time. It’s time to finally face facts.

So, while these two are just flinging cards around willy nilly, Tea and Tristan are ...actually talking to police.

4 seasons. They’re actually doing it.

Although, TBH, they probably should have gone to the Japanese Embassy first? Just throwing that out there.

Ah Yugioh, the only kids show around that tells you point blank not to trust cops. Timeless.

U.S

In some weird underground earthquake hazard, Rebecca proves that she is smarter than Seto Kaiba. She’s maybe even the smartest person on this show. Nice that we gave her nothing to do this season but pine over Yugi who is already taken by Tea who he is also not even dating.

Not that I love Rebecca or anything, I actually have a hard time with her voice, but like...they really dropped the ball on Rebecca.

If she does end up joining Kaiba corp as their back up Felicity Smoak while Seto just runs around aimlessly punching stuff that really is just offbrand Arrow but with cards. And with slightly less resurrections.

So, lets get a gander at that computer.

We didn’t get to see Kaiba pull out 12 other discs to complete the installation process for these all these Hard Discs. Maybe the lure of throwing a very aerodynamic CD across the room like a paper card was so strong that his dev team forced him to switch to these defunct squares?

PS, I am a true millennial, OK? But, I don’t remember Hard Discs.

Hard Discs were SO long go. I stopped using these damn things in Elementary school. The last Hard Disc I ever touched was in college, when I had to put my art portfolio on a disc to submit it to my degree. I don't know even why. Everyone had a mac, so I knew no one’s computer in the department even...HAD a disc drive so it was like...whomst among you has this damn computer from 1997? Whomst among you is still using Windows 95? WHY would I put IMAGES on a floppy when I can just email them to you?

Anyway, I had to get a USB hard disc reader, and to get that reader, I had to call my Dad who had legacy software because he’s a computer engineer, and he had to mail it to me.

In that same portfolio review, PS, I also had to submit my portfolio as slides.

I didn’t even know where to produce slides so I had to ask all these old people and go to the last photo processing store on earth to get digital pictures turned into negatives and then turned into freakin slides.

SLIDES.

I honestly think they just did that to weed people out of the art degree.

Anyway, I tell you this story just to say that there is no way in hell that Kaiba was using a hard disc during the height of the CD era. We were CD or go home since 2000. We had pretty decent jump drives at this point. We had wifi. It was realllly bad wifi, but we had it. Your phone could connect to the internet. It would charge you 50 bucks, but it COULD connect.

Who on the Yugioh team DID this?

Anyway lets see these pictures that for which, we spent thousands of dollars in unused plane tickets, destroyed a Caltrain, killed 2 ancient Atlanteans (and their dog), killed 3 random mid-villains, walked across the entire Peninsula, crashed an international plane, and left both the plane and the train to rot gas fuel into the nearest lake which is right next to a ghost graveyard?

Yeaaaaaaaaaah!

Like he reads it and is all “They’re gonna resurrect Atlantis” and it’s like WE KNOW. Dartz and his hooligans have talked about starting their Utopia to reboot the world since Gurimo. Since Day 1.

Man.

Anyways, there was one plus to the pictures, and it was that Seto Kaiba recognized the Oricalchos logo.

just...

The Oricalchos logo is...

...This logo, Seto?

You...didn’t recognize...seriously? Not until just now? You have been inside of this logo, rearing to lose your soul to Alister 2 times, and he only recognized it...just now.

I mean Seto takes a while y’all. He’s a genius, but his memory is so, so bad, that he will Eventually get smart, but you have to wait until like episode 24. But he’ll get there. Just gotta be patient.

And, when he saw it, he wigged out in a way I wasn’t prepared for.

Y’all I feel like I’ve seen to many weird zooms on Kaiba’s crotch in this show. Or just in life in general, especially after that surprise fic. That’s all.

I don’t know why everything exploded, but maybe the logo is cursed in the same way as God Cards? I dunno.

Anyway, this is when Dartz shows up with his brand new dog.

So they run outside onto the roof.

Now listen, does every Kaiba Corp building need the same weird ass roof? Is it like a McDonalds?

Because I’m just picturing this type of roof in SF and I’m having a time.

Forgive me if I made this lemming joke already. He’s just stood on a cliff’s edge so many times I can’t keep up.

RIP Dragon Jet, who took us from S3-S4, you’ll always live on in our memory, you glorious, wasteful, beautiful death trap.

Seto and Yugi are fine by the way, they just kinda jumped out, as you do when you’re an immortal god possessing a small boy and a...whatever the hell Seto is.

It’s at this point we reintroduce Valon because Joey went rogue and has decided to take on Dartz by himself. This is what happens when Tristan leaves the party. You always need Tristan to hold back Joey by his armpits to keep him from fighting random people.

So I guess Valon’s gonna die next episode. That’ll be nice.

What’s great about this show is each arc is just watching each villain die. You know they’ll die. But...how much?

Anyway, that’s all for today. I’m still drawing a hell ton of stuff so I don’t know when the next update will be...but just now I haven’t dropped off or something. I’ll...eventually get to it.

And if you just got here, this is a link to read all of these in chrono order.

Anyway, I mentioned Hercule Poirot, (because watching a hell ton of BBC was how I spent time with my family when I was a kid, and my very Southern Grandma freakin LOVED Hercule Poirot) So here is the best subplot of that show, which is David Suchet eating stuff.

And which doesn’t want to embed for some reason. Probs can’t embed more than one video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=17antzzJrzQ

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slifers-executive-writer · 5 years ago

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My Thoughts on the Potential Personality of a Certain Pharaoh We Never Met

Hey guys...It’s been a while since I wrote something about YGO specifically and well since that is the main focus of this blog, I thought I’d create another discussion.

This particular tidbit (more like a brain fart to be completely honest) is from scrolling through this website and other social media pages and therefore stumbling on the fandom making their theories and headcanons on what Atem’s true personality is. I think we have all seen the jokes on how we as a fandom like to write him off as this super gay, suave, smooth talking, prideful king. The counter argument I often see is that he is socially awkward, fumbling serial killer, with an identity crisis. All of these claims tend to be backed up by people recalling numerous amounts of the original source material from Mr. Takahashi, but sometimes I wonder what could have been.

Popular headcanons asides (that means we are not using any ships and/or made up assumptions with no basis), let’s talk about this for a minute. What has Kazuki provided and what can we assume about Atem’s actual character. Despite being a 200+ episode anime, several movies, and over 30 volumes of manga, our favorite author has left a lot to be desired from this guy. Once we’ve discussed the material, I’ll make a personal evaluation of what Atem could have been like had we been able to meet him after he had retrieved all his memories.

Okay so perhaps the fandom is right about one thing, Atem started out as a borderline serial killer. Well, according to the manga, he has got quite a bit of red on his ledger with multiple violent injuries/deaths by his hands.

Right at the moment Atem’s spirit was reawakened by Yugi completing the Millennium Puzzle, we have an individual very determined to protect his vessel at any cost. Of course not without his own enjoyment in participating in his “Dark Games”. So we can tell Atem is very protective of Yugi, his group of friends, and generally any other innocent bystanders. We can argue he is a little over protective via his deadly methods but I guess it’s the thought that counts right?

Luckily for Atem’s victims, he stops his magically mind-fucking bullshit after the Duelist Kingdom arc. He never explains why he stops. Perhaps it has to do with his development as a character to not be as ruthless in an attempt to comfort Yugi.

One attribute Atem does not lose throughout the series is when confronted with any sort of enemy, we see Atem is very confident in his abilities. Another thing the fandom got right is well... he is quite the smooth talker. Despite being from a completely different era, this guy always knows what to say to enemies and rivals alike. Not to mention his motivational speeches to his friends are always quite powerful. If anything I would almost consider Atem a bit of a life coach. He more or less helped raise Yugi and company into the individuals they become.

Along with giving everyone their moments of support, Atem does a pretty good job blending in with modern society despite being locked up in his own head for thousands of years. I find some individuals, thinking Atem is a complete fumbling socially awkward dork and well, maybe not so much. Sure he has his moments, I think we can all look back on the ‘Date’ episode, but we have to look at which version we are watching/reading. For the sake of accuracy I tend to interpret the Japanese material as it is closest to the manga. As I said, Atem isn’t perfect, he can be very blunt to people when they ask him for an opinion (or telling people it’s the end of the world if he doesn’t win a card game), but I certainly wouldn’t consider him completely ‘socially awkward’ in general.

But honestly that can be a whole other essay and I’m just talking about basic character traits overall. Now let us discuss some of Atem’s flaws.

So to make things easier, let us list the flaws as they appeared in both manga and anime:

When Shadi was first introduced to us (manga), we got a glimpse of seeing our favorite dark spirit sweat in the heat of a shadow game. It was revealed that Atem knew little of his true identity and sharing a Yugi’s body meant, that the two would share each others emotions. Moreover, this spirit had fears and doubts just like the rest of us.

As time passes we see more of Atem’s doubts emerge as he becomes more comfortable with Yugi and company, and therefore he expresses his confusion about his past. Where did he come from and who is he and such. This guy needs to have a sense of purpose and being Yugi’s guardian is fine, but at the end of the day, it would be best for him to become his own person.

There is another interaction in the manga (and in the Japanese version of the anime) that I found interesting. When Atem addresses this identity issue and whether his time on this plain is limited, Yugi kind pushes it off as something he doesn’t want to think about. The kid does it again (god I can’t remember exactly which arc this is, I wanna say DOMA), Atem mentions the issue and Yugi says “You can have my memories”.

For fans of the pairing (to be honest I’m a boring canon-ish shipper so not my cup of tea, but I get it...this scene is pretty gay) this moment is viewed as tender love and care but I can’t help but notice a pattern and another character flaw. We have a guy with no memories of his own and having an identity crisis but every time he wants to discuss this issue, his best friend tends to push it away. I understand Yugi’s reasoning, that Atem is basically the catalyst for all the good things to happen in his life, but the constant ignoring of the problem for the first half of the series is borderline toxic. Furthermore, it shows Atem is a bit of an enabler when it comes to Yugi. Unlike Joey who loudly addresses the behavior to Atem’s face, Yugi finds comfort in it and for both of them it only makes the journey harder for them in moments of separation.

Just something I thought I’d bring up since I don’t see a lot of people talking about moments of toxicity in this friendship. Not that it is a bad thing, I find it quite interesting and realistic. Not all relationships with people are perfect.

Last by certainly not least, Atem’s biggest character flaw, is he is one prideful son of a bitch. Yes, I said it. He likes to complain a lot about his rival (Kaiba) about the characteristic when he is also guilty of it. It’s always duelist pride this and duelist pride that, when a lot of the times this bullshit is what almost gets people killed. Atem’s pride kind of ties in with the ruthlessness of his character, where in the ride to victory he sometimes forgets the people he defeats are still humans beings. Take the incident with Arkana, it took Yugi switching back to keep the guy from getting his legs cut off. (Move out the way Jigsaw, Atem is gunning for your spot.)

But his pride works against him when individuals such as Yami Bakura and Dartz use their words to question his morality. What would Atem do just to obtain victory? While our hero tends to grow from these experiences and beat the bad guys in the end, it does not negate the fact that the pharaoh’s greatest strength also tends to be his greatest weakness.

Okay so I’ve gotten most of Atem’s characteristics down pat before he retrieves his memories. In summary here is a list of some of his qualities I’ve gathered from the source material.

PROS

-protective & caring nature

-generally is confident in his abilities

-good with his words, knowing when to pick someone up and put his enemies down

-Adapts to modern customs and his friends pretty well, especially for someone locked up in a pendant for so long

-easily takes a leadership role (probably a projection of his kingship past) although he is often humble about his status as pharaoh

-his pride keeps his head held high and rises above all challenges

CONS

-let’s be real the guy is incredibly blunt (this could be a pro or con depending on preference)

-can be an enabler to Yugi at times

-ruthless nature (let’s be real his kill count is like 5+ people in the manga, probably more)

-has an overall identity crisis

-tends to put others above himself, which at times can be toxic or detrimental to his character

-his own pride can be used against him, placing fear and doubt into his mind (DOMA was a great example of this)

I feel like every time Takahashi draws him in a new movie, he just adds more flair and muscles (not that I’m complaining)

So now we come to a head and the big question is what are we missing out on? Perhaps one of the reasons Yu-Gi-Oh DM has so much fanfiction and forums about it is the general sense of emptiness the ending of the series left behind. I think dub Tea put it best, (these are not the exact words, I’ve already spent an hour writing this) Atem was leaving us just as we were getting to know him. Finally a season where we get to see him as his own character, and honestly him fighting bad guys and dying for it, was not the way a lot of us would have wanted to see him go. Instead he comes back to duel Yugi but Atem feels so stiff and mysterious. The guy doesn’t even talk to the poor girl crying in front of him. This isn’t a guy who just wanted to up and leave from the get go. But now that he got the information he wanted, suddenly he just says fuck it and gives a thumbs up walking into the light? Nah. I’m sorry to say the Yu-Gi-Oh is not on my top list of anime endings, but it can be one of saddest.

I often wonder time and time again, what would have Atem been like around his friends. Maybe he would have more of a sense of humor (like he was with Mana). Would he have more wisdom? Would he be more charming? These are just a few question I and many others have about our favorite pharaoh. But hey that’s what we have headcanons for right?

Now some of you may be wondering, especially as a fanfic writer, what are my own headcanons about Atem? As I mentioned before I guess you can say I’m boring, I prefer canon-ish ships and I try to keep my headcanons as much in line with the source material as I can. Of course I add a tad of my own flair to it so it isn’t completely the same. If anything I try to fix so of the errors I see in the original.

My headcanon for Atem (post memories): A lot of the qualities I mentioned before would most likely remain the same, if not positively amplified. He certainly wouldn’t be as ruthless as he used to be, the anime/manga has shown his growth from that. He would definitely still be very protective of those he cared about. Although I can’t help but think that after remembering his past, he would carry himself in a regal manner. Possibly even without him noticing because he was raised from birth to become a king. Considering the strong connection with his father, I can see the guy having a keen sense for family bonding, perhaps even wanting one of his own. It is traditional for pharaoh to want to pass on their legacy. I’m also sure we all like to think the guy would be incredibly charming, considering how he always seems to know exactly what to say. Although he would still be blunt with his statements, he isn’t one to lie or hold back. If you ask Atem a question you will get the truth and the honest truth. Pride and honesty are incredibly important to him. While he respects honesty, I can imagine he would like to keep personal matters to himself and not worry others. If anything he would rather stay quiet than create a lie. Lastly considering how humble he tends to be with the people around him and how he values everyone as equals, I can see Atem being very open-minded to try new things and explore various ideologies. He would not judge, or have prejudice. He would be accepting and encourage others to be who they are as long as they were good people.

Okay so maybe he would be low-key nervous around pets lol.

Well, that was longer than I planned it to be, but thanks for reading all that if you did. Feel free to add to the conversation or blow up my inbox!

#Yu-Gi-Oh #yugioh #Atem #pharaoh atem #my thoughts #headcanon #my favorite pharaoh #feel free to inbox me #yami yugi

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beyondthetemples · 5 years ago

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Multimuse RP questions!

{{ I couldn’t figure out which RP blog to stick these on (since I have like. nine), so I figured I’d just skip to the Answering Part over here. =w=

Found here: https://memesfortheroleplayerssoul.tumblr.com/post/163688858676

is there a muse that you wish gets more attention? Honestly? Dove. There are a couple of people who've said they love reading about her, and I'm so absolutely eternally delighted for them, too deeply appreciative for words! A couple friends I met via rping her, and a couple friends I met in Certain discord servers, but that's about it anymore. But she's my baby, you know? I love her, she's amazing, and I wish more people took the time to write stories with her, because she just has so much potential! I mean, yeah, for angst of course, but also for healing and comfort, for action and fantasy, for mystical and mundane plots alike. She's so multi-faceted and fascinating to explore, I just... well, maybe it's more selfish in that I need help exploring some of the more mundane stuff with her. Because if it doesn't really Have Relevance to a Particular Plot, I generally won't wind up writing it, let alone publishing it. :P But this answer's already too long; I could rave about Dove for hours! All I'm trying to say is, I wish more people cared about OCs.

if you HAD to choose, who’s your favorite muse? Favorite to RP with? Far and away, Dove! Favorite for crack RPs, Srentha or Leyla. Favorite canon character is a GIGANTIC toss-up between Raven and Lapis. Favorite characters to explore for personal reasons are Ryou Bakura and Blue Diamond, but I have a hard time bringing myself to actually WRITE about them, for some reason...

is there a muse that not a lot of people roleplay with? (Besides the ones I haven't advertised? ^^';;) Maybe Phobia? She has only ever existed in comic canons-- though she WAS in the Teen Titans Go comics too! (The original series, not the... bastardization). Anyways, she's a much lesser-known muse. And my muse for her is wildly unreliable, she's a volatile and abrasive character, and my inspiration for her has run dry for awhile now...

if you HAD to choose, who’s your least favorite muse? Phobia. o_o See above, actually.

which one of your muses have you been playing the longest? Prooobably Dove? She was the one I started rping with, of course!

which one of your muses has the most ships? Ships in their canon, or ships in my rps? Because you're talking to a demigray here; I don't really do romance? But in my stories, Dove has 3 ships (all at different times in her life). In rps, Dove has been kinda-contemplating-it shipped a couple times, but never got to the point of, you know, kissing... and in fandom, Lapis probably has the most.

what is each of your muses’ otps? notps? ~ Dove and Srentha together~ (Don't have notps for them.) ~ Kary: food? sleep? Her canon boyfriend Eric ~ Leyla has a qpp named Toby in the stories. ~ Raven: I'm demonbirds trash. I don't even know how that happened, honestly. (Notps include B|BRae and, while not as strong of a NO in the jlvtt canon, ter/raven.) ~ Lapis Lazuli: OTP with Peridot! Intensely notp with jasper. ~ Blue Diamond: OTP with Yellow hardcore, no notps to speak of. ~ Phobia: Utterly unexplored??? I think she voluntarily abstains. ~ Ryou: OTP with Joey (thank my girlfriend for that one)! Notp with Yami Bakura, it’s absolutely 100% possibly my most violently-disgusted NOtp yet. Also with Diva because... What The Fuck??? But I won't rant about that just now. ~ Jess: I haven't really done much shipping, though Mistress and Trick are a hella canon, deeply bonded breeding couple. ~ Evangeline? Sorta-OTP with my gf's character Taex, though it's not exactly a ~romantic~ dynamic. Notp with Srentha, probably, considering she'd try to kill him, given the chance, and she’s pissed at Dove for marrying him.

why were you drawn to each one of your characters? Okay, listen, you can't just ask something like this and expect an easy answer! I could write an Actual Legitimate Essay on EACH ONE, because I only write a character when I'm Extremely Highkey Personally Emotionally Inspired by them!

UPDATE: I tried to summarize, I really did! But there's just so MUCH, and it turned into an essay on its own. --> https://beyondthetemples-ooc.tumblr.com/post/189837029682/why-were-you-drawn-to-each-one-of-your-characters

Summaries go like this: Dove is brave, complex enough to delve deeply in and constantly discover new facets of, and inspiring enough to create a positive experience while doing so. Srentha is fun, positive, and passionate, and legitimate ADHD representation. Leyla is a chill miracle child of creativity and quiet passion. Raven is the reason I'm still alive and perfectly reflected me at about age 14, so I have a very deep personal connection to her. Kary is so fun to explore because she's my polar opposite, as a temperamental pyrokinetic who revels in chaos and really just wants to have a good time. Evangeline is everything Dove suppresses, brought to life, so she's fun to explore as an extension of Dove! Lapis has a lot of struggles to explore and has done a lot of healing and growth that I'd like to expand on someday. Blue Diamond and Ryou Bakura were basically literally me, so I can explore the trauma and healing from their perspectives in a safe space. And Phobia? I just wanted to put characters' mettle to the test honestly, and see what would happen.

which muse is the most fun to write for? Oh, Srentha, absolutely hands down! Dove does have the best close-friends casual-fun kind of rp relationships, though. And Mistress the Mismagius has this sardonic teasing sense of humor that always makes me smile, especially with Murky (Murkrow).

is there another muse you’ve been thinking of adding or writing for? who? Oh stars, I don't need another one. =w= I've been... struggling to get my Ryou blog actually up and running for a long while now. Nobody new has inspired me lately, but I'm pretty stuck in my fandom ways.

what is something everyone should know about your muses before interacting? I stick it all in their bios! But, let's see... Dove: Even though she's Raven's half-sister, she keeps it DESPERATELY hidden, and nobody IC is supposed to know about that. Srentha is very deeply rooted in Azarathean pacifism and won't do much in battle besides help people retreat. Leyla has her father's heart condition and can't do anything too active. Kary will rarely use her powers, as conjuring even a simple spark stings her scar badly. Lapis is more than her toxic relationship! Blue Diamond is NOT the dictator she once was! Ryou does NOT want the spirit of the millennium ring in his life anymore! Jess just... sticks mostly to Sinnoh and rarely ever leaves. And Evangeline has a palpable evil aura about her; she makes SURE of it.

what’s a weird headcanon you have for each of your muses? Dove hates pie. Srentha loves colorful things. Leyla will cover everything in glitter if you let her. Kary will do anything for some good food and/or a nap. Ryou's hair is untamable. Lapis doesn't guard her gem as carefully as she should. Blue Diamond may be more emotional, but she won't sing about it as frequently as other Gems. Raven... doesn't wear underwear?

which muse has the most aus or verses? I mean, the Lapis I was writing for was 97% canon divergent. Evangeline only exists as her own person (and not merely a partition of Dove's mind) in a DCUO-compatible timeline. But I don't really do aus or verses otherwise; it's just more stressful for me.

can you sort your muses from youngest to oldest? Sorting based on the ages I'll generally play them: Leyla (8-14), Dove (15-25), Kary (18+), Ryou (19+), Srentha (20+), Jess (22+), Phobia (23+), Lapis (5k+), Blue Diamond (10k+).

which muse is most willing to fight another muse? Oh, definitely Kary. (She won't fight Dove or Leyla, even if there's a really good reason. And Srentha has this weird power of defusing her. But anyone else, she can easily be provoked to fight on a dime.) Or maybe Evangeline, who will fight anyone at any time for any reason whatsoever?

do your muses get along with each other? Evangeline gets along with nobody. Dove/Srentha/Leyla are all a very tight-knit family, and Kary considers herself Dove's sister and Leyla's aunt. I've thought about what might happen if Lapis met Blue Diamond, but I don’t have the faintest idea of how that'd go? I did start an RP once where Lapis met Dove, and I planned to have them bond over homesickness and purpose-seeking, but then I lost the ehd I had that prewritten on, and never had the heart to try rewriting it. Ryou and Jess kinda exist in their own universe's bubble. (Jess has a whole cast of Pokemon creature muses she very much gets along with, though~)

would you ship any of your muses together? who? Dove and Srentha are hella-canon endgame already, that's been decided for like 12 years!

for each muse, is there a character you wish had a blog so you could interact with them? You know, I've never really been one much for wishing like that. I do wish Dove had a stable Raven again, since both of my all-time favorite Raven rpers have left the rp circle... but that's about it, really.

have you ever considered making a multimuse/is it easier having a multimuse? I mean, my Pokemon blog has like 19 muses built into the breeding center... 8F But no, I prefer to keep my drafts, rps, and tag systems for each muse on separate sideblogs. Tumblr's tags break WAY too often to shove them all in one place. (And with a sideblog, I don't have to log in and out every time I want to check for replies!)

which muse is the most problematic towards other muses? Toss-up between Phobia and Evangeline, obviously. Blue Diamond is a reformed Gem, the way I play her. (I don't care what anyone says, THAT'S CANON as HELL too!) But Evangeline actively goes out of her way to hurt and/or sacrifice people to her own ends,

which muse is most likely to make new friends? Probably Leyla, though now that SU has sent out a message across the Gem universe that Gems are welcome on Earth, Lapis could wind up meeting quite a lot of new acquaintances. It's much harder to befriend her, though. Srentha has a lot of charismatic energy too, and he’ll go out and make friends with anyone, given the chance.

which muses’ fandom do you like the best? Ahhh, don't make me CHOOSE like that! ;; Fandom like being a fan of them, or fandom like, liking the other people in the fandom? Because Steven Universe, Teen Titans, and YuGiOh all have incredibly special places in my heart, while having Their Issues amongst the fandom... Pokemon seems to be the best mannered fandom though, especially amidst the RP community.

is there someone playing the same muse/s as you and you really look up to them? Ohgosh, well there's a blog called, I think, melancholeyes?, that plays Blue so well, it's like reading canon scenes. I did see a blog that played a Ryou I respected, but I can't remember their name... and of course Larissa and Pix played great Ravens, but each a different version.

which muse do people send the most asks for? Probably Dove, thanks in large part to Caleb!

which muse is most likely to have kids? Leyla is already Dove's kid, so... 8F

is there a rule that someone keeps breaking for your muses? Not to my knowledge, but my rules aren't strict anyways.

can you sort your muses from weakest to strongest? ...Oh, stars. How am I supposed to sort them? Well, let's try this.

Weakest to strongest in combat (based on their style of choice): Ryou, Leyla, Srentha, Phobia, Evangeline, Jess, Kary, Dove, Lapis, Blue Diamond, Raven. ( * i switched raven and blue diamond around SO many times. both are immensely powerful with god-like abilities, but raven can literally destroy reality itself. so...)

Weakest to strongest by strength of heart and character: Phobia, Evangeline, uh... Kary? Srentha...? Uh... frICK THIS ONE'S HARD. Because they're all so strong in their own ways. Probably Leyla? Next tier is probably Blue, Lapis, and Jess, and Dove, Raven, and Ryou are highest tier.

which muse are you considering deleting? Phobia, and maybe sometimes Blue. (I actually... never got a single RP or follower on Blue. I'm still debating if I really WANT to rp as her, at least on Tumblr, knowing how toxic the fandom can get around the Diamonds...)

most importantly, are you having fun playing each one of your muses? Pretty much! Especially Dove, Srentha, Leyla, and Raven!~ Raven's wit and clipped verbiage can be tricky to for me sometimes, but all it takes is a little tlc on her dialogue, and it doesn't slow down my enjoyment one bit. :} And when I'm in a Pokemon-hyperfocus mood, writing the Pokemon team is ALWAYS a blast! (Especially the Pokemon; their personalities are so dynamic together.) With muses like Lapis and Blue, and even Kary, the mood for their emotionality waxes and wanes, but I don't write for them unless I'm in The Right Frame of Mind to KEEP UP with them, you know? I never push myself in an rp until it's not fun anymore; at least I know where my writing burnout limits are.

Phobia and Evangeline are both sadistic, and when you're a compassionate person, that can be very hard to write out in the painstaking detail of my style. But sometimes my mind just Won't Shut UP about 'Vangie unless I WRITE IT OUT. Which is a good exercise of course, stretching my horizons and all that, and I do love writing the drama and conflict they stir up.

But beyond the momentary discomforts, I'm just so eager to explore their lives and minds and adventures, so yes, I absolutely DO have fun writing for each and every one!

#ooc rebloggables #questions list

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readerinsertfanfiction · 6 years ago

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Friends

Fandom: Yu-Gi-Oh! Character: Ryou Bakura Prompt: He deserved so much better. Angst. I promise there is a good ending.

In a fast moving consumers world it were the little things that fell between. A shy personality that didn’t dare to approach, the soft voice that was left unheard, the new kid that was ignored. Ryou Bakura was one such child, son of a diplomat, constantly moving, always the new kid. Sickly as he was in childhood Bakura didn’t get to socialise a lot leaving him with a sheltered experience despite the many countries he had seen and visited. And that, that made for a suffocating loneliness. One that clamped around his heart and never let go, one that constantly told him that it was because of him, that he was to blame for his lonely existence and lack of friends.

He didn’t know how to say no to the girls hanging around him. Not wanting to hurt them. Surely, he felt uncomfortable with their constant gushing over his supposed good looks and he had preferred it that the girls tried to get to know him as a person instead, but they were the closest thing to friends he had. That he got glared at by the male classmates was something he blamed himself for as well. For being such a nuisance. Never did it come to his thought that it was jealousy and misunderstanding. Never did he realise that there were people who wanted to be his friends outside of the group of girls hounding him.

The group of duelists he sometimes hung around with where the next closest thing he had to friends. However, they often forgot him. Never maliciously, or spitefully, but they genuinely forgot. Bakura didn’t blame them for that either. He didn’t have a noticeable presence, neither had he been around them a lot. The few times he did find himself within their presence he would find that there were large blanks in his memories. His friends would look pensive then. As if they weren’t entirely sure of him, if it really was him. As if he had harmed them in some way while he had blanked out. Usually he was hurt as well, having gotten into another accident, or something else that no one could quite explain. Bakura learnt to grow scared of himself. Scared of the blanks in his memory. Scared of the places where he ended up at, still as lonely, but always surrounded, and mysteriously wound.

When he finally gained an understanding of what had happened Bakura was horrified with his actions. That it was a spirit that had possessed him was something that Bakura once more blamed himself for. For being weak, for letting himself be coaxed into doing what the spirit wanted. For willfully ignoring the signs. For being him.

It was with this resignation and contemplation that he stared blankly in front of him. Trains rushing past as life went on in this bustling city of excitement. The spirit was gone, answers had been given, an adventure completed. Bakura felt emptier than ever before within. Empty and meaningless.

When a firm hand grabbed him by the wrist Bakura woke with a start, eyes turning around to see a stranger’s face.

“Ah, sorry, I thought you were…” the stranger spoke, embarrassment crossing their face. Rubbing the back of their head the stranger released Bakura. “You seemed so contemplative, I was worried,” they continued.

Confused Bakura stared at the stranger for longer, eyes going over to the platform and back at the stranger again. His mind felt slow, fuzzy even, but something brew within him. The concern of the stranger, his own thoughts, the realisation of what the stranger was thinking. Thought of him. Before he knew it tears had welled up.

“Hey, come with me,” they spoke to him, gently as they took his hand in theirs. They pretended that there were no tears in Bakura’s face, they didn’t care for the looks the bystanders gave. Leading to the nearest Starbucks Bakura was set down in a comfortable seat as the stranger smiled a ‘be right back’ before lining up in the queue. It left the male with a moment to gather his wits. To realise that the stranger had brought him somewhere sheltered. He realised that he was being protected.

“I didn’t know what you liked, but I went with a chocolate chip and mocha coffee, can’t go wrong with that, right?” the stranger spoke, setting the beverage and snack in front of Bakura. The faint smell of chocolate and coffee wafted towards the male, but his heart wasn’t set for sweets.

Blinking Bakura gave a confused look. “Why?” he finally managed to get out, not understanding why a complete stranger was treating him. Why had the stranger pulled his arm. So many why’s.

“You looked like you needed it,” they answered simply. A pensive look crossed their face as they took a sip of their drink, as if carefully deliberating their next words. “You seemed… lonely, sad even. In need of company”

Mere words they were. Words that expressed how he felt, but had never dared to admit. Words that caused a flood of tears to flow out embarrassingly as he poured out the awful emotions he had felt ever since young. Not in words, but in hiccups and tears and it was all he needed for the moment.

When he was done, eyes puffed and still watery, his cheeks bruised from all the rubbing and his hot mocha coffee now lukewarm, the stranger smiled once more.

“Feeling better?”

The question had been so simple. After the flood of tears Bakura was bound to feel better releasing such a storm of emotions. However, he felt compelled to answer nonetheless. Relief washing through his body that had grown rigid without his knowledge.

“Yes, thank you and for the treat, even if I didn’t touch them,” Bakura spoke, nose stuffy, voice hoarse, but thankful. Thankful that the stranger didn’t ask him why or what had happened. For the time given. For everything. Taking in a breath the male wrapped his hands around the cup, smiling at the lingering warmth lingering.

“I’m so--”

“Don’t worry about it,” the stranger cut Bakura’s apology off. “Don’t think about it. See it as the beginning of our friendship,” the stranger shrugged, casually throwing that what Bakura had been longing for. His dearest wish.

Stunned the male sat in silence, unable to progress for a bit what was said and done. Noticing his frozen state the stranger widened their eyes, a realisation dawning upon them.

“Ah, sorry. I’m [Name] [Surname]. I’m new in the city,” the stranger introduced themselves, laughing at their own forgetfulness. “I must have weirded you out, but I genuinely want to get to know you,” they continued realising how that sounded once more as a blush spread.

“As friends. As friends, I mean. No flirting!”

Releasing a chuckle at the sudden twist Bakura coughed politely before maintaining his posture. “Friends,” he repeated with a grin, the first one in a long while and his heart felt lighter for it.

“It is nice to meet you [Name], I’m Ryou Bakura,” the male followed the example. Raising his cup the he toasted to the new friendship before finally taking his first sip.

#ryou bakura #bakura #yugioh #yu-gi-oh #yu gi oh #reader #x reader #reader-insert #reader insert #anime #manga #angst #fandom #fanfiction #fanfic

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sage-nebula · 6 years ago

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YGO - Between Dreams and Reality

Notes: This fic was commissioned by the lovely @chiazu with the prompt, “Wishshipping, hurt/comfort, Yuugi has nightmares about Jounouchi dying during the duel with Malik after Battle City.” Thank you so much for the commission; I hope you enjoy the fic!

Something was wrong.

Yuugi didn’t so much know this as he felt it, deep in his chest and shivering under his skin. He wrapped his arms around himself and took a gulp of hot, stifling air as his eyes strained to see through the darkness around him.

Something was missing.

His head pounded as he tried to force himself to see even two feet ahead. Nothing. There was nothing but pitch black above, around, or below. He scuffed his shoe and found that it slid with minimal resistance. The ground was smooth, at least. Metal, maybe, but with no light aside from a few dancing embers here or there he had no way to see---

Hacking coughs burned his throat and forced him to double over, first standing, then kneeling. He couldn’t see the smoke, really, but he could smell it, could feel it as it seared his throat with every necessary, aching breath. Yuugi braced himself on hands and knees, his fingernails scraping against what felt like metal grating, scraping for something, anything---

(---a hand to hold, a sleeve to grasp--)

---to help him get his bearings.

But there was nothing, nothing---though there was, there was something . . . it was because there was nothing that he knew there was something missing. He wiped his mouth with a shaking arm as his coughing subsided, and once more lifted his head to see through the---

A rush of furious heat slammed into him, forcing his stinging eyes shut as he doubled over again. In contrast to the gloom around him, everything behind his closed eyes was gold---burning, blinding gold that scrunched his face in pain. It hurt to see, hurt to breathe, hurt to think the heat was so oppressive, but that---that wasn’t---

An inhuman cry rent the air, and in that moment Yuugi knew he wouldn’t have been able to breathe even if he wasn’t trapped in a burning nothingness.

He wrenched his eyes open and looked around frantically, blinking past the tears that streamed down his cheeks. Nothing, nothing, nothing; the air was orange-gold now, the embers sparking like specks in the smoke, but he couldn’t see---couldn’t see anything---

A whimper, a dying croon in contrast to the agonized keening from before. The last breath of a slain dragon to tell Yuugi that it was no longer that something was missing, but that someone was lost. A choked gasp from his raw throat came out like a sob, and he squeezed his eyes shut as he put his forehead to his knees---

“. . . ake up! Yuugi!”

Yuugi woke with a sense of disorientation so strong and sudden that for a second he wasn’t sure where he was.

But that was silly. He was in his room---he was always in his room, or at least he usually was when he first woke up. He wasn’t on his knees, bent over in an endless expanse, struggling to breathe through ungodly heat. He was lying on his back in his bed, sweat sticking his pajamas to his chest and his bangs to his face, the room dark but still lit by the gleam of moonlight through his window blinds. And there was nothing wrong, nothing missing, no one lost, or dead, or dying. Everyone was home where they should be, perfectly fine.

Everyone . . . Yuugi swallowed hard, and grasped his bed covers in a tight fist.

But he wasn’t alone. In the endless expanse of his dreamscape he might have been, but here he always had another with him. The Spirit of the Puzzle, Yuugi’s “Other Self”, took spirit form beside his bed, and leaned over in concern.

“Is everything all right, partner?” he asked.

Yuugi smiled weakly. “Yeah. Everything’s fine.”

His other self’s frown didn’t waver. “You seemed disturbed. Was it a bad dream?”

“It . . . yeah. Something like that.”

Yuugi was never sure how to describe his dreams. “Nightmare” was the technical term, he guessed, but he never dreamed of things like serial killers chasing him, or showing up to class stark naked. Instead, his dreams took the form of shapes and colors, sensations and sounds rather than anything concrete. He could remember the feeling of the heat scorching his every breath, could feel the weight of despair and panic in his bones, could still hear the agonized keening of the dying Red-Eyes Black Dragon ringing in his---

Yuugi reflexively scrunched his shoulders up to block his ears, even though there was no sound in his room. He didn’t want to hear that sound ever again. Not even in his own memory.

“You don’t look well,” his Other Self said, and Yuugi forced his shoulders to relax as he sighed through his teeth. The concern was nice, but as much as he didn’t ever want to hear a Red-Eyes Black Dragon die again, he also didn’t want to--- “If you tell me what’s wrong, I could help.” ---talk about it.

“That’s okay,” Yuugi said, and he forced another smile as his Other Self’s frown grew. “It was just a bad dream. I’ll be fine by morning.”

“Mmm. If you say so. But if you have another, we’ll need to talk about it.”

Yuugi rolled his eyes. “Okay. If you say so.”

“I do,” his Other Self said. “And if you say no that time, we’ll play a game for it.”

For a second, Yuugi thought he heard wrong. But when his Other Self continued to stare at him as seriously as ever, Yuugi shoved himself up into a half-seated position and demanded, “Are you serious?”

Finally, his Other Self’s frown gave way to a little smirk. “If that’s what it takes. Is it?”

Yuugi huffed, and flopped back down on his bed, turning his back to his Other Self. “I can’t believe you. Me? Of all people?”

“What’s wrong with it? It wouldn’t be a Shadow Game,” his Other Self said, and Yuugi was glad his back was turned so that nothing of how his stomach turned at the phrase would show on his face. “And the Penalty would only be that you would have to tell me what was bothering you.”

“Just a Penalty for me, huh? Because you know I’d lose?” Yuugi muttered.

His Other Self hummed a moment before he said quietly, “No . . . I don’t think I do.”

Yuugi furrowed his brow. He’d meant what he’d said as something of a joke. His Other Self was ridiculously skilled at gaming, but it wasn’t as if Yuugi himself was a slouch, and enough loud pep talks from Jounouchi had encouraged him to be less self-deprecating. But the seriousness with which his Other Self had responded was . . .

It was strange, but not as much as the way his heart dropped when he thought of Jounouchi and his aggressively uplifting encouragement, the faint echo of the Red-Eyes’ death cry resounding again in his memory. He clutched his blanket tighter for support before he asked, “Hey . . . Jounouchi-kun’s okay, isn’t he?”

“He seemed fine when we saw him today,” Yuugi’s Other Self said, and Yuugi released a sigh of relief. “Why? Did something happen?”

“N . . . not recently,” Yuugi said, but even after he said it it felt like just as much of a lie as his initial denial was. It had been only a week since Battle City had ended and they had all returned home---only a week since Malik had tried (both directly and indirectly) to kill Jounouchi three times, and succeeded on the last, if only temporarily. But Yuugi felt as if Battle City had aged him by years, no matter how ridiculous that sounded. Maybe he was experiencing the inverse of what his Other Self felt.

“All right,” his Other Self said dubiously. “But if you have any concerns, you should ask him at school tomorrow.”

“I will,” Yuugi said, even though he knew he wouldn’t.

As he always did when he was anxious about something, Yuugi got to school early the next day. He sat in his desk, his shoulders feeling like they were holding a coiled spring between them, tapping his foot against the floor. His Other Self didn’t say anything about it, but Yuugi could feel him watching with rapt attention. It was simultaneously the best and worst; he appreciated the concern, he really did, but being watched so closely did nothing to ease his anxiety.

“Mornin’, Yuugi!”

But that did.

The instant Yuugi looked up and saw Jounouchi’s sun-bright smile, the spring that had been lodged between his shoulders broke and fell away. For the first time since he had woken from that awful dream the previous night, Yuugi felt himself able to smile genuinely, every muscle in his body relaxing.

He might have heard a Red-Eyes Black Dragon die, but that didn’t mean it actually happened.

“What’s up?” As he always did, Jounouchi tossed his own bag onto his desk before making his way to Yuugi’s, not missing a beat. He leaned back against the desk, half-sitting on it, his arms loosely crossed as he leaned over to look down at Yuugi. “Everything okay?”

“Yeah,” Yuugi said, and his answer was automatic, but it was also true. Now he knew for sure: Everything was okay.

Jounouchi watched him for a second, lips pressed tightly together, before he leaned down closer, eyes narrowed in a shrewd look. On instinct Yuugi pulled back, but that only caused Jounouchi to lean even closer, so close their foreheads were nearly touching.

Up close like this, Jounouchi’s eyes looked like they had flecks of gold in them.

“Hmm . . . okay,” Jounouchi said finally, apparently having discerned something from staring at Yuugi up close. “But if anything comes up, you tell me, all ri---aagh, what the hell---?!”

Jounouchi leaped back, swinging behind him, frantically trying to brush something off his neck. The something became clear a moment later as Bakura skipped out of the way of Jounouchi’s flailing hands, and stepped in front of Yuugi’s desk, smiling brightly.

“Good morning,” he said, holding up the shoelace he’d used to tickle the back of Jounouchi’s neck.

“Morning, Bakura-kun,” Yuugi said, returning his smile.

Jounouchi, on the other hand, was not so amused. He yanked his jacket down to fix where it had been rumpled, and then demanded flatly, “Bakura, what the hell?”

“Sorry. You were so distracted I couldn’t resist,” Bakura said, his smile never wavering as he slipped the shoelace into his pocket. “I had to take the opportunity where I saw it.”

“Oh yeah?” Jounouchi said, and there was a light in his eyes now, a challenging arch in his eyebrows, that gave Yuugi enough warning to scoot his chair back. “Then maybe I can’t resist doing this!”

On the last word he launched himself forward, and threw his arm around Bakura’s neck. Holding him in a headlock, he began furiously mussing Bakura’s hair with his fist.

“Jounouchi-kun!” Bakura gasped, half-laughing as Jounouchi smooshed his hair down into his eyes. “Stop, I give up, I’m sorry!”

“Yeah, that’s what I thought,” Jounouchi said, and he released Bakura from what Yuugi could tell had been a painless noogie with one final muss of his hair. By now, Bakura looked as though he’d walked to school through a tornado, and no amount of attempting to flatten his hair back into shape would help him. Yuugi bit down on another smile.

Everything was fine. There was nothing he could do to stop his dreams; he’d learned a long time ago that they would repeat as many times as his subconscious felt it necessary, and that the most he could do was try to decipher what they meant, and then live with that meaning. But as exhausting as it was to be woken by nightmares, even the same one, night after night, all that mattered was that everything in the waking world was as it should be.

Honda and Anzu crossed the room to join them, Anzu handing Bakura a comb so he could try to fix his hair, Honda throwing a playful punch Jounouchi’s way that Jounouchi batted to the side. As he fended off Honda’s roughhousing, Jounouchi glanced Yuugi’s way and tossed him another grin.

Yuugi smiled back.

Yes, everything was exactly as it should be.

#yugioh #wishshipping #mutou yuugi #jounouchi katsuya #chiazu #fic fix #yuujou #atem #bakura ryou #mazaki anzu #honda hiroto

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mrneighbourlove · 6 years ago

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Red Typhoon: Ch 10. The Battered Shoreline of Home

It was a long and silent journey back to Uskar. No one was ready to speak of what happened. Corsaire took it hard, barely eating or sleeping. He felt like he failed his crew mate. Mojo and Juju did not speak, but found comfort in each other's presence. Acrobat sat in the jolly roger with Pockets, both of them shedding silent tears. Halvar barely knew Bomba, but Liz and Lex were close to him.

Liz and Lex held onto Seer close for most of the trip, the former switching to Halvar when she felt the need to find comfort in him.

Revy was crying with her dad and mom. She knew uncle Bomba more than the twins, so it hit her harder. And every tear stung with her eye missing. Scarlet cried in silence, no sobbing, but the weight of the loss overwhelming her. While the navies gathered and Corsaire had come to grips with the battle, Scarlet had traveled onto the island. She told the Gerudo villagers to form a free government, or that they'd be wiped out. They never did find Adda or Bakura's body. She didn't have any hopes they were alive, as she couldn't bear the thought of hope at the moment.

Seer sat on the bed in his cabin with Liz and Lex on either side, holding his girls close. There were no words, he was just so relieved that the twins were safe and he was back with them. So many years had passed, and his girls were grown, but he would always want to make sure to care for them. Rat held his daughter close, whispering words of comfort into her ear. The grief hit him too, silent tears streaming down his face. Bomba had been with them all since he was a nine-year-old kid. Losing a family member was never easy.

Liz and Lex slowly started to reveal what they did in the seven years Seer was gone. Liz gave light smile. "So... I've been dating Halvar. He even gave me a gift of courtship."

"Goodness, you're wanting me to pay for you a wedding dress already, huh?" Seer had to get a little humor in the room to lighten the mood. "I had a hunch that his crush would turn into something more one day. As long as you are happy, that's what matters to me."

"I am."

Lex rubbed her head against Seer's neck. How the whole situation ended on the island was unfair. She traded one lost father for a dead one now. "I'm still looking, but I got lots of guys who would do anything for me."

"Well, I won't object to you having a few suitors chasing after you." Seer chuckled. "Though, you have to make sure you settle on a good one. I won't have no man trying to be mean to my little girl."

"Of course not daddy." Lex sighed as she rested against him. "I'm so happy you're back... I just wish everyone could have lived..."

"I do too, sweetheart, but..." Seer sighed, holding his girls tighter. "I'm just glad you two are safe."

A knock came at the door with Scarlet opening it. She had bags under her eyes, heavy with grief. "We're pulling into shore now. Everyone's waiting, including your family Seer."

"Come on, girls. Wash your faces, and Liz, go get Halvar. I know his parents will be wanting to greet him." Seer tried to manuever off the bed, but the twins held tight. "Sweethearts, I'm not going anywhere. I promise. You can let go now... girls, I need air."

Both twins held onto their hugs until Seer nearly turned purple. Liz waved goodbye as she went to the deck with Halvar. Smiling softly, she gave him a kiss on the check. She looked over to see Revy wincing. Even with an eyepatch, her socket was burning from the icy cold.

The reunion with family was a sweet one for Seer. His parents were overjoyed to see him home once more, having been brokenhearted by his kidnapping. His family lost him twice, and yet, thought themselves blessed that he returned home both times. There was a big dinner for him and the girls, to celebrate Seer's return.

Obviously, there was not joy everywhere. The crew were mourning the loss of their brother. Bomba had been the youngest of them all, the 'kid brother' to everyone. He was always joking or laughing, and never had a bad thing to say about anyone. There was never a time when he was not smiling. The loss hit the crew hard. Corsaire felt responsible for not being able to protect Bomba, seeing he was knocked unconscious by the dragon. Yet, at the same time, everyone was grateful for his sacrifice. Otherwise, Onslaught would have killed everyone there.

There was a big feast celebrating the crusaders who rescued Seer. Revy kept wincing at every change of temperature. Not only had her right eye been cut out by Onslaught’s claw, but she was left with a deep horizontal scar alongside her face. At her father’s encouragement she walked over to Kanisa’s table, smiling best she could. “Sir Vidar? I don’t suppose you have any advice on the pain do you?”

"By Rotar, lass," Vidar titled her chin up to get a better look. "You've got a deep one. You try some arrowroot from Hyrule? That helps with the inflammation."

"I think we have some at home if you don't." Kanisa offered. "Maybe some compresses would help too?"

"I'd really like that. Fighting a dragon isn't all its cracked up to be."

"Why do you think the rookies beg to fight me and not Na'seema?" Vidar asked in a dry tone. "She's a smaller dragon, sure, but pretty damn fierce."

"Come by after the party and I'll lend you the compresses and arrowroot, okay?" Kanisa told Revy with a smile. "I'm sure it will help."

"Thank you."

Revy turned to see Borghild with her little brother and Boof racing towards her. They were in the middle of a hunt when the crew arrived on shore. Revy almost broke down seeing them. She had no idea how much she missed them. Calling her dad over, she ran to give her mother a hug. "M-mom! Boof!"

"Oh by Handeh, Revy, what happened?!" Borghild held Revy's face in her hands and then cracked a wide grin. "Your first scar!!! Oh, we'll have to tell the story at every family gathering!"

"Sissy got an owwie." Trygve patted Revy's leg. "Kiss it better?"

"WOOF WOOF WOOF WOOF!" Boof was old, but he was so excited. He ran toward Revy, jumped up on her... and promptly knocked her over, licking at her face.

Revy let her dog lick her. It was the first good thing she felt on her face since the battle. "Oh my boy. I've missed you."

Getting up, Revy smiled at her little brother, patting his head. "I'd like that little bro."

After a kiss from her brother, she chuckled, but held some sadness in her voice. "I got a bunch of scars on the journey. This one on my face was from a terrible dragon that I, Lex and Liz killed."

Her expression turned to full sadness to match her tone. "We wouldn't have been able to pull it off if Uncle Bomba didn't sacrifice himself. The monster had this thick armour protecting his heart. When he... devoured Uncle Bomba, his insides blew up, giving us the killing blow..."

"Look, Revy," Borghild held her girl close. "Your Uncle Bomba loved you. He loved your father, and all of his brothers on that ship. I'm sure he would do the same thing again to save all of you." She sighed and then told her. "Sometimes, even here, we make the ultimate sacrifice for the ones we love. I'd do the same for you and my family."

"I don't want anyone else to die..." Revy held her mother close back, squeezing in the hug. "Dad and Scarlet really need you."

"I know, sweetheart. We'll take care of them together, okay?"

"OK."

Lex looked towards her Uncle Corsaire. He barely moved since the feast started. Looking around, no one else was talking to him, so she sat down beside him. "Uncle Corsaire... you want something to eat?"

"Huh?" Corsaire had been lost in his thoughts. He was trying to think of how he was going to tell his wife what happened. Orana would be devestated, so would his children. "Oh! Eat? No, Revy... I'm not hungry."

"It's Lex Uncle Corsaire." Lex didn't expect him to be so out of it. "Would you and the rest of the crew like to stay with Seer and the rest of us for a while?"

"Lex? Oh... sorry... I just... I can't seem to think right now." Corsaire rubbed his forehead, dark circles under his eyes. He had not slept since Bomba's death. He looked horrible. "I have to report back to Hyrule soon. I got to..." He took a breath, his shoulders sagging. "Fill out paperwork and arrange a funeral."

"You need to grieve first. Can't it wait? Seer needs you too." Lex wrapped an arm around one of her Uncle's. "Please... come eat with the rest of us."

"Bomba needed me too." Corsaire retorted lowly with a defeated expression on his face. "I... I need to rest." He stood from his seat and headed toward the direction of his room.

"Uncle Corsaire... Uncle Bomba would have wanted you to be with the living. Please come with me." Her voice was pleading.

"... I just need some time alone, Lex." Corsaire sighed. "Please, just let me rest for a bit. Then I'll come out and talk to everyone. I simply... don't have words right now."

Lex was speechless, but lowered her head, returning to her family in defeat.

Liz was with Halvar and his family, going over their conflict against the likes of Captain Eltontor, King Crimson, and Onslaught over their journey.

"Lex?" Havlar noticed Liz's sister's demeanor. "... Corsaire?"

"He doesn't want to eat with us. I don't think he wants to do anything..."

Liz frowned, giving her sister a smile. "He won't do anything dumb. Just give him some time, and he'll grieve with the rest of us."

"Ok..."

Liz smiled, knowing how to cheer her sister up. "Hey, why don't you tell the High King how we saved Halvar from being gutted by King Crimson."

Lex's smile peeked in, and she nodded. "Oh yeah. Foxy boy here got the jump on him. Couldn't handle a bit of magic."

"Not that isn't his fault. I love him, faults and all." Liz gave Halvar a kiss on the cheek.

"Hey, at least I kept him distracted so you two could kill him." Halvar sulked slightly. "At least give me that."

"Well, you did wonders in keeping us protected from that Dragon we killed. My brave fox prince. You'd make a mighty king too." Liz gave Halvar another kiss, this time on the lips.

"He protected his future mate," Torbjorn boasted. "Of course he's brave, he's my son!"

"I'm glad you're all right, though I'm proud that you faced your enemies despite being unsure of their strengths. That's what a true warrior does; fights to the end!" Sigegar told his little brother with a shoulder nudge.

"You got a few scars to show off too." Ragnvald grinned. "The ladies like that."

"It matters that he was careful as well." Brigritta smiled at her boy. "Tried to think of a way to keep the foe distracted so the twins could get to him."

Lex smiled with mischievous glee, whispering into the couple’s ears. "Didn't you two make a promise together once you returned to shore~"

Liz's face burned bright red. Why, in gods name, did Lex have to bring that up in front of Halvar's family.

Halvar was so red in the cheeks, it appeared someone had painted his skin.

"Um... I mean... we..." He stuttered.

"Well, you two better go at it than. I'm going to go find hang out with some friends. Have fun!" Lex giggled as she scampered off.

Liz slowly looked to Halvar, squeezing his hand. "Well?"

"... ladies first." Halvar was still blushing, but gave her a kiss on the cheek.

"My King, my Queen. If you'll excuse our presence."

"Go have fun." Brigritta winked at Liz. "I don't expect to see you two until the morning."

"MA!" Halvar was severely flustered now.

Liz took Halvar's hand, and power walked to the bedroom. "She's right you know."

Scarlet was with Rat, Borghild, and the kids, when they heard sobbing coming from the bathroom.

"Scarlet?" Borghild knocked on the bathroom door. She heard Scarlet crying and wondered what was wrong. Her friend had been in the bathroom an awfully long time. "Are you all right? Are you sick?"

“Borghild?” Scarlet turned to her, holding a little stick. It had a plus sign on it. “Bomba. Bomba and I-“ She couldn’t even finish her sentence.

"...? What's that?" Borghild pointed to the stick. Uskar did not have pregnancy tests. They simply would smell it when the hormones in the female's body were changed enough to indicate pregnancy. "Why does it smell like pee?"

Scarlet took a few breaths. She spoke with hurt emotion with her explanation. “I use it for when I miss my monthly cycle. Borghild. I’m pregnant. I’m pregnant with Bomba’s child.”

"... pregnant?!" Borghild's eyes lit up like a candle. She pulled Scarlet closer and started sniffing her. There was a slight change in her scent, but barely noticeable. "Oh... OH." The realization hit Borghild. "But... this is a good thing!" She took Scarlet's hands with a bright smile on her face. "Another little addition to add to the family! Part of Bomba and part of you! Oh, I'll help you with the baby clothes, and setting up the nursery! You can stay here, with us! We'll help you!!!"

“I’m so scared. Why? Why can’t Bomba be here?”

"Don't be scared, Scarlet, you're going to be okay." Borghild assured her friend, giving her hands a squeeze. "I know you're be a good mom. We'll do it together, all right?"

“Alright.” Scarlet wiped her eyes as she walked down to the table with Rat and Revy. Her daughter looked up from cleaning dishes.

“Mom, you Ok?”

“Revy. You’re going to have another sibling.”

Revy dropped the brush, over come with shock. “I’m what?!”

Rat actually dropped a plate, causing it to shatter on the floor.

"...?! You're pregnant?!"

“I am. Bomba is the father.” She held her stomach, so concerned for the beginning of the baby.

"Oh... well, that's great news!" Rat then started to laugh. "You broke cap'n's rule, didn't you? You a-rocked the boat."

"Rocked the boat?" Borghild then put two and two together and started giggling. "Ooo, Scarlet, you naughty girl."

“We didn’t do no such thing.” Scarlet gave a light smile. “We rocked the bed.”

"... found a loophole, did he?" Rat started to laugh, really laugh since Bomba's death. "Oh, that's just like him."

“Yeah.” Scarlet let Rat finish laughing, then she took his hands. “Rat, I want you to know, I’m not leaving this one. I won’t do that again.”

"Aye, you will." Rat gave her hands a squeeze. "Borgie and I will help you, and I'm sure Revy and Trygve will be a good big sister and brother."

Trygve was standing there with one of his little toys when he heard the news. He walked over to Scarlet and stood on his tiptoes, trying to pat her belly.

"I wanna brodder." He looked up at Scarlet. "Got a sissy, wanna brodder."

Scarlet gave a laugh, patting the little tykes head. “You’re most likely going to have another sister from me. You’ll have to ask Borgy for a brother.”

"Noooo!" Trygve pouted. "I wanna brodder!"

"Now, now, son, we'll just have to wait and see, won't we?" Rat picked up Trygve and told him. "You'll have to be a good big brother and watch after your little sibling, yeah?"

"Share my toys." Trygve held up the little wooden bear he was playing with at the moment.

Revy nodded, so happy for her mom. She needed this. Scarlet always felt she needed to redeem herself, even though Revy loved her. Now she had the chance to do so. “It’s going to be awesome mom.”

Bakura looked over the sea. His face was covered in bandages from the explosion he was caught up in. Not even he was fast enough in teleporting away. He had dragged himself onto the island, and rest in a hidden cave as the battle raged on. When he was able to stand, he found it was long over. Knowing he couldn’t stick around, Bakura had snuck aboard a ship sailing to the country of Zaire in order to find a better life. The sheikah finished writing a letter and sending it off. With a sigh, he turned to Adda, his smile muted by his face being covered. “Well, now its up to them to find us. If that’s what they wish.”

Adda sat back on a bench, taking a breath of the sea air. She had taken a good share of money to go into hiding and to buy a house when her and Bakura fled together. The Gerudo woman wasn’t entirely key on Bakura letting Seer know they were alive, but they had a long, long talk about trust. Bakura wasn’t content on letting them all think they were dead. “You know they’ll probably kill us.”

“Neutral territory. And after all the losses, and dethroning you power, they might not care. It’s also their choice on the matter.” Bakura walked back towards her, putting an arm around her.

Adda felt his face and sighed. All these bandages in the way, and who knew if they could ever fix him. Regardless, she found she couldn’t stop loving him. "If you believe that's best."

"I do. It's hard to breath. I can't travel out to the cold of Uskar anymore. If they want to see me, they'll have to find me." Bakura kissed Adda's cheek through his bandages. The cruelty of the years that stained the seas red with blood finally seemed to be swept away by the tides. Looking at the sunset, he prayed the best of lives for his girls and Seer. Perhaps, in time, they could meet again under more peaceful circumstances.

#FINAL CHAPTER #Crossover #ridersoftheapocalypse #Captain Adda #Seer #Bakura Saibot #Liz and Lex #Revy #Rat #Borghild #Scarlet #bomba #Corsaire #Gerudo #comments appreciated!

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cartoonus-maximus · 6 years ago

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Okay, so this is an unfinished story I found while digging through some of my older files. I was in high school when I wrote this, and I think it really shows in a lot of ways.

It was a YGO vampire au, with tones of found families and some light puzzleshipping, tendershipping, and bronzeshipping. There’s a fair amount of OOC-ness, but I don’t think it’s any worse than the majority of fanfics written by younger authors.

Anyway, here’s the unedited snippets of the story if anyone wants to see some of my earlier writing. (Or get inspired for your own vampire aus. No judgement here.)

“Blood-Brothers” circa 2012? I dunno, but I was in high school.

Atem, Bakura, and Malik are vampires, while Yugi, Ryo, and Mariku are their donors. These three blood-suckers are not just friends – they are also blood-brothers, vampires who were all sired by the same creature, Gozoburo.

idea for later: Seto was pursuing Gozoburo and finally found him after he'd already killed a younger couple. Seto summons Atem, Bakura, and Malik, and the four of them successfully kill their sire. Afterwards, the dead couple's child, Mokuba, is found, and Seto takes the boy home with him to Kaiba corp.

Prologue:

Long ago, in a place now known as Ancient Egypt, there was a man. This man was named Gozaburo, and he is important to the story because he has always had a bad habit of kidnapping and killing people.

This is his nature, for he is a vampire.

Once, back in the days of Egypt's great rule, there were four boys who fell victim to him. They were the royal prince, Atem; his cousin, the priest-in-training, Seto; the runaway slave, Malik; and the orphaned thief, Bakura.

But these children were not to be eaten and killed by Gozaburo. No, Fate had something special in store for those four boys.

Over the course of time, Gozaburo forgot about the children who's lives he had destroyed, and the four boys were on their own to live their lives as best they could.

One, by name of Seto, went his own way, not desiring to be too close to anyone else, but the other three stuck together, calling themselves 'brothers in blood.' These three blood-brothers were named Atem, Bakura, and Malik.

And they have one goal that they wish to accomplish: to track down and destroy their sire.

Many centuries have past since their story began. And now is the time to complete their journey.

Chapter 1: “Drinking Party”

Malik perched comfortably on the side of a building, occasionally sticking his nose up and sniffing the air. @#$%! Why did he have to be so @#$% weak that he couldn't he get the scent?

It had been two weeks since he and his blood-brothers had left their previous location in the Middle East in search of their quarry, and three days since they had come to the small city of Japan called Domino.

Two long, strenuous weeks during which Malik hadn't had anything to eat... anyone to eat. Oh sure, occasionally Bakura would sneak on ahead, claiming that he was scouting the area when he was probably only drinking a 'Bloody Mary' as he called his pretty little victims, but Malik couldn't sneak away. Atem would always notice and call him back, needing to borrow the strength of his brother. Malik, being vicious but loyal to a fault, was always more than happy to lend his strength to the other, even though he was quickly starving.

Wasting away to nothing, that's what he was doing. He would starve, and wither away to a pile of ashes and die. But, then who would take care of Atem...? Who would remind Atem to feed regularly? Oh forget it; Bakura would take care of him. Bakura could always needle Atem into listening to him, the silver-haired and silver-tongued devil. Brother Baku would...

“Nothing?”

Coming out of his thoughts, Malik flexed his wings slightly and craned his neck to look at his blood-brother who stood just on the ledge of the building's roof above him. “Not a single thing, Atem. With so many scents in the air, I can't distinguish his from the rest!”

Atem frowned as he looked down at the claws on his hands, as he were considering getting them polished. “I'm still unclear as to why he wanted us to follow him. Why has he led us on like this? Ever since he turned us all those centuries ago, our sire has played us in a constant game of cat and mouse. Toying with us, messing with us...”

He shook his head. “Gozaburo must be stopped. He has taken too many lives already, and I am not going to stand by and watch him destroy any more.”

Malik watched as his blood-brother walked away from the ledge. With a tired sigh, he turned to follow. Why did he have to be so loyal?

“Do you suppose Bakura has found us a meal yet?” Malik asked hungrily.

Atem shrugged silently, his mind on other matters.

'Prince Brother Atem must be really, really hungry!' Malik thought to himself. Atem had some strange ethical dilemna that seemed to prevent him from drinking human blood. He would deprive himself of the life-giving liquid for many weeks, sometimes months, at a time, to the point when he became extremely weak and was on the verge of death. Whenever that happened, either Bakura or Malik would bring him a human, often an evil one, and push the mortal against him.

When they did this, Atem seemed to lose his mind, becoming even crazier than Malik was. It was scary to see the cool and collected Atem completely lose it like that, but it seemed to happen very frequently... every few years or so.

The two vampires went back inside the building they stood on top of. Since the building was abandoned, they had moved in and made themselves very comfortable, claiming certain rooms as their own personal territory and setting up their resting places. Being Egyptian vampires, they each slept in a sarcophagus, not a coffin.

They were soon joined by their third blood-brother, the one known as Bakura. He came 'bearing food...' that is, he was carrying three humans in his arms.

The humans had a sort of glassy-eyed, hazy look to them, since Bakura had put them under a trance to keep them from struggling, but that look left their faces the instant Bakura dropped them to the floor.

“Where did you get them?” Atem asked with a slight shudder for what he knew he was about to do.

“I took them from the prison, after reading their personal records. They are each wanted for murder, rape, and the like.” Bakura grabbed one of the frightened humans by the hair, looking on in disgust while the man began screaming and cursing in Japanese. “They are to be executed in the morning anyway, so I thought we could at least put them to good use!”

Throwing the man he held (who was rather a large man) away to the salivating Malik and ignoring the immediate bloodbath that occurred, Bakura reached for another. “Oh, here's one you'll like, my prince! As I recall from his record, he took advantage of a small girl and then beat her to death with a brick and stuck her remains in the freezer! I think he sounds perfectly delightful!”

Atem felt his muscles tense and become hot as he lunged at the man angrily. “Is this true?!”

The man stared up at Atem's face, too scared to form words with him mouth.

“@#$%! Do you have no heart?! Do you have no shame?!” Enraged and hungry, Atem lost all control of his instincts and his body. He sank his fangs into the man's neck and began to claw, tear, and drink away all of the man's life.

When Atem woke up many hours later, he found that he was covered in blood. Malik and Bakura each lay nearby in similar states; Bakura was sitting up and licking the blood off of his arms in a cat-like manner, while Malik was still asleep, a human femur clutched between his teeth.

“I see the prince is awake and ready to start the night,” Bakura teased him. “Admit it, you feel better now that you've eaten again.”

Atem sighed. It was true, he felt better right now than he had felt for the past three months. If he intended to continue his manhunt of Gozaburo, he really would need to drink blood more regularly... as much as he detested the notion.

He looked around, realizing that there was nothing left of their victims aside from the pile of bones that surrounded Malik. “Bakura, where are the remains?”

“Well, I drank my fill and then gave the rest of him to Malik, who practically swallowed him whole, the poor, starving devil.” Bakura cocked an eyebrow at his blood-brother in an amused fashion. “You were so enraged and so ravenous, you single-handedly devoured the entirety of that one I brought specially for you. Blood, bones, muscles, organs... It was most impressive, I assure you.”

Atem began to shudder and he felt sick.

“Oh, it's not the end of the world, Atem,” Bakura told him, almost as if trying to give his brother comfort. “We all do it at some point or other... In fact, you've done that sort of thing more than any of the rest of us.”

When he got no answer, Bakura sighed. “Listen, my brother... I don't really understand this feeling of guilt that you often have after feeding, but I'm not going to argue with you about it. But, if it makes you feel better, he deserved it. His victims are all avenged... just like we will be when we find Gozaburo.”

Atem nodded and looked away. After a minute, he slowly stood up.

“I am going to clean myself off,” he explained when Bakura looked at him, an unspoken question in his red eyes. “And then, I'm going to go search some more.”

Chapter 2: “Shadows and Games”

Atem flew through the night air, his powerful wings beating rapidly, his sharp nose smelling the air almost frantically. Still nothing.

Not Gozaburo, his sire, and not Seto, his cousin. Where were they? Where could they possibly be?

He searched all around Domino all night, but he found nothing.

No scent. No trace. Nothing. Just nothing...

Heaving a sigh, the exhausted vampire landed in an alley behind a shop. He would just rest for a few minutes, he told himself. They sun would be up in an hour or two, and he would need to get back to his sarcophagus before that happened.

“I'll see you later, 'Jii-chan!”

Atem looked up with some surprise when a person stepped through a side door of the shop out into the alley. It was a boy, probably in his early teens. He wore the uniform of one of the local high schools, and he was carrying a bag full of trash, clearly intended for the trash can that Atem was perched on. And he smelled really, really good...

Atem felt his feeding frenzy coming on again.

The boy opened his mouth to scream, but fell silent when the vampire lunged at him.

“Sssh!” Atem hissed, pressing his hand over the boy's mouth. After a moment, he removed his hand, and was greeted by a torrent of Japanese from the boy's mouth.

“Who are you?! What are you doing here?! You're not going to hurt me, are you? Are you?!”

'His voice sounds nice,' Atem thought to himself, grabbing the boy and pulling him into a tight and sudden embrace. 'Rather gentle, and innocent, and childish...'

The boy let out a small yelp as the vampire sunk his fangs into the skin of his soft, tender neck. Atem sucked at the blood, drinking deeply.

Atem felt the boy relax against him, as many of his victims did in response to his bites. Something to do with vampire's fangs having a paralyzing affect, or something like that. So long as he didn't claw or tear the boy's skin, he knew that the child would remain quiet and peaceful like this.

His blood tasted so sweet and heavenly! Not like those criminals that Bakura always brought home... this taste was wonderful, and it felt oh so good...!

Atem forced his mouth away when he heard the boy whimper. Had he hurt him? He honestly hadn't meant to. He was just... still kind of hungry... and the boy looked so sweet...

“Are you alright, little one?”

The boy stared up at the vampire, his eyes a little glazed over, but fear still existing in them.

Atem sighed. There was that accursed conscience again! Why did he need to feel guilt like this? Why did he have to have a heart?

He petted the boy's hair softly, trying to comfort him, as he licked at the wound to close it up. “I am sorry, little one.”

The boy stared up at him, his face somewhere between fear and wonder. “I've never heard of a vampire who apologized for biting someone before...” His violet eyes widened suddenly. “You bit me! Does that mean... am I dead? Am I going to become a vampire like you are?!”

Atem couldn't help but chuckle at the boy's innocence. “No, little one. You are still very much alive. I did not deplete you of your blood; I only took a little bit of it. No, you are still a human, young one.”

“Oh, good!” The boy smiled. Atem couldn't help but notice how endearing his smile was. “If I died, who would help 'Jii-chan with the Game Shop?!”

“Game shop...?” Craning his neck, Atem looked at the sign above the shop door, noticing it for the first time. His understanding of the Japanese language was rudimentary at best, but he could read the word 'game' now that he examined it closer.

“Yes! Grandpa runs the Kame Game Shop, and I help!”

He smiled gently at the boy, who was jumping up and down in excitement. “Do you now?”

“Oh, yes! And I love it! I love playing games! More than anything else in the world, actually!” The boy giggled. “My teachers all say that I should focus more on my homework, rather than playing games, but I don't care what they say! They're all a bunch of bullies anyway!”

Atem openly laughed at the boy's eagerness. “What is your name, little one?”

The boy looked up him shyly. “I'm Motou Yugi. You can call me Yugi if you like.”

“Well, Yugi, my name is Atem, and I would like to thank you for letting me rest here for a bit. I would love to stay here and talk with you some more, but I really must be going home.”

Yugi pouted in disappointment. He didn't have any friends in school and, considering how nice this vampire seemed to be, he was very much enjoying Atem's company. He brightened quickly, though. “Would you come back and visit me tonight? 'Jii-chan will be in bed, snoring! We can play games together!”

Atem chuckled slightly. “I … would like that. Alright, Yugi, I'll come back tonight.” He then flexed out his wings, took a running start down the alley, and was up in the air and gone within mere moments.

Yugi smiled broadly, glad to have made a friend. Even if it was a vampire who had just bitten him.

Chapter 3: “Playing Games and Telling Stories”

True to his word, Atem returned later that night. While he knew that he should be searching for his cousin some more, he had promised to visit the boy and he never went back on his word.

Besides, a part of him wanted to see this boy again; the young one seemed to love games, even as much as Atem did, and he was willing to forgo sleep to stay awake and play games with a vampire.

Atem landed lightly on the roof above the shop, peering in through a window that was wide open and had lights on inside it.

“I've returned, little one.”

Yugi looked up from a puzzle he was fiddling with, smiling and eagerly throwing the pieces he was holding to the floor. “Oh, good! I was getting sick of this puzzle! I could be working on it for a millennium and I still wouldn't get it!”

Folding his wings in as close to his body as he could, Atem slid through the small window, temporarily losing his balance and landing upside-down on Yugi's bed.

Yugi laughed quietly, then rushed over to help the vampire to his feet. Soon both of them were settled on the floor facing one another, sorting through a variety of games that were stashed beneath the boy's bed. Monster World, Dungeon Dice Monsters, Duel Monsters, Capsule Monsters, and a variety of others were hidden under there somewhere.

“You seem to like games with monsters, little one,” Atem remarked. “Do you have a favorite that you wish to play tonight?”

“I like Duel Monsters, but I don't really care what we play.” Yugi smiled shyly. “I'm just glad that someone wants to play a game with me...”

“Don't you have any friends at school who enjoy playing games?”

“... no.”

Atem felt his red eyes widen as he turned to stare at Yugi, completely forgetting the cards he had been shuffling. “None of your friends enjoy playing games, you mean? I know my brothers get bored with the games I play with them very quickly, but – ”

“That's not the problem. I just... don't have any friends.”

The vampire stared, wondering how such a caring young boy could not have any friends. He shook his head and placed a smile on his face, hoping it looked friendly and inviting enough. “Well, Yugi, why don't you and I be friends? I could use the distraction of games to keep my sanity, and my brothers are seldom very helpful in that regard.”

Yugi beamed up at the vampire, apparently pleased with that idea.

Long, strategic hours passed, and the two game-players hardly noticed. They played game after game, talking and laughing and beating one another and having a wonderful time.

“You mentioned having brothers,” Yugi said, finally feeling comfortable enough to ask the vampire questions.

“Well, we aren't really related, but that's what we call each other.” Atem stared off into space for a minute, wondering how best to explain it. “We were not born brothers, but Fate chose to throw the three of us together anyway. My blood-brothers – Malik and Bakura – and I, as well as my cousin, were all taken captive by a strange man. He disguised himself as a friend of my father's, but nothing could be further from the truth.”

Putting the Monster World figures back into their box, Yugi moved so that he was sitting beside Atem, listening to the story intently. Atem wrapped an arm around the boy's shoulders, holding the child flush against himself. Yugi snuggled against him comfortably.

“As it turned out, the man was really a vampire, and an enemy of my family and our country. We lived in Egypt, you see, back when it was a thriving nation and considered to be the heart of civilization. This man believed that if he could gain control of Egypt, then he could gain control of the world.

“He kidnapped three young boys, planning to turn them into vampires and force them to destroy their own homeland – a thief, a runaway slave, the prince, and a priest-in-training. He bit us all and turned us into vampires... except for my cousin, the priest-in-training. My cousin fought so much and he was so strong, that the vampire only managed to half-turn him, and he became a half-vampire.

“No matter what the man tried, though, he couldn't control any of us. We fought against him and betrayed him every chance we could. Eventually, we all escaped him.”

Atem sighed and smiled dryly at Yugi, who was staring up at him in fascination. “It's a very long story about what happened after that, but the short version is that my brothers and I have chased our sire all the way to Japan, and that we intend to find him and kill him for the acts of horror and the crimes that he's committed. Also, we know that my cousin is somewhere around here, and I would like to find him.”

Yugi was tilting his head back and looking up at the Egyptian vampire with evident interest. “So, you just spend all your time searching for these two people? That sounds boring... But, I suppose I would do the same if I had any missing family members. I just have 'Jii-chan, and he's always around.”

Atem noticed that Yugi was starting to yawn, and the boy was having difficulty keeping his eyes open. “It's late, and you are tired. I should be going, little one.”

“I'm not tired,” the boy argued, ruining his statement by yawning halfway through.

The vampire chuckled, very much amused by the human youth. “Yugi, I really do need to be going, and you need to be getting to bed – it's not good for your kind to spend so many hours awake and so few asleep.”

The boy crossed his arms, trying to scowl and failing miserably. “But I don't want to! I want to stay up and play more games with you!”

Atem sighed good-humoredly. “Get some rest, little one. I promise that I will come visit you again some other night.”

Yugi frowned, but finally nodded, climbing into bed just as soon as the vampire had left.

Yugi snuggled down under the blankets, a smile on his face. He had made a friend, one who enjoyed playing games just as much as he did, who was willing to come back and spend time with him again.

Chapter 4:

(Atem will start feeding off of Yugi, and they will make it a permanent arrangement.)

Atem kept his promise, and he came to visit Yugi the following night, as well as the night after that. Soon, he was spending every night playing games with the small mortal, each one enjoying the company of the other.

Bakura and Malik would often tease Atem, making fun of him for befriending a human child. But he only smiled and ignored them. Even on the nights when the three of them were supposed to be out hunting for prey, Atem couldn't prevent himself from going to visit with Yugi instead.

This was no small concern for the other two.

“You can't just starve yourself, Atem,” Bakura told him one night, catching him before he went out the window. “Look, you're malnourished enough as it is! Leave the boy alone for one night and come hunting with us.”

The other paused, then shook his head. “I can't, Bakura. He already spends all day alone, with no form of companionship aside from his grandfather, and I can't bear the thought of him being alone all night, too!”

Bakura's face darkened considerably, and when he spoke again his voice came out in a disgusted hiss. “Fine! Then go play with your little toy, and don't come running to me when you die from lack of nourishment!”

With that he turned and stalked off, leaving Atem to sit on the windowsill watching after him. Malik, who had been sitting on the floor nearby the entire time, sighed loudly and rolled his eyes.

“Looks like you made Bakura mad,” Malik commented.

“Bakura's always mad! He'll get over it!”

The other vampire looked over to gaze at Atem curiously. “What is it about this boy exactly that compels you to go visit him every night? To the point where you will refuse to come hunting with us?”

Atem froze on the window ledge for a moment, staring off into space uncertainly. “I... I do not know.”

But, he was so hungry...!

Before Atem knew what he was doing, he had pinned Yugi down to his bed, his red eyes gazing at the boy's neck and nowhere else. His eyes and nostrils were filled with the view of Yugi's pulsing veins, the scent of his blood, his mind filled with nothing but the thought of tasting the boy again...

Yugi cried out in fear as the vampire's hungry mouth came in contact with his neck, teeth slicing through the tender skin and releasing his blood. But, as Atem's paralyzing ability kicked in, Yugi's eyes began to droop and he became quiet, his breath eventually started to come in short gasps.

Chapter 5:

At school a few days later, a certain Seto Kaiba will smell his cousin's scent on Yugi. He will offer to help Yugi out with his homework, acting overly friendly and being sure that he'll get his own scent on the boy, and even stopping by the Kame Game Shop after school. He will purposefully leave a trail of his scent behind him as he heads back towards his own hideout, but will make the scent stop after awhile, so that Atem will only be able to follow for a little ways. Atem will come to visit Yugi again that night, smelling his cousin, and taking off to find him.

Chapter 6: “Blood Rush”

Atem frowned. He'd had Seto's trail! He'd had him... but now it was gone again. Why did his cousin have to be so good at covering his tracks! Seto was almost as good at it as their sire was – a disturbing thought.

The Egyptian vampire prince put his nose in the air again, breathing deeply and searchingly.

Malik was a bit unnerved; he was so used to being Atem's nose, eyes and ears. In the past, he'd often been Atem's wings and legs as well, since Atem would starve himself for such long periods and would become terribly weak. But, ever since he'd started feeding off of that human boy he'd befriended, Atem had become very strong and was more than capable of doing everything himself.

Out of the corner of his eye, Bakura could see the evident strain on Malik's face, and he cast a smirk towards his blood-brother. “Relax, Malik. The prince is a big boy now, and he doesn't need you to hold his hand anymore.”

Malik frowned, but didn't respond to his brother's joking. He was distracted by a sudden scream coming from a few streets down, his keen vampire hearing tuning into the sound with ease.

“Please... leave me alone!”

Leaping from his perch, Malik took off in the direction of the voice. “Trouble.”

“Are you @#$% kidding me?!” Bakura whined from somewhere behind him. “Are we @#$% heroes now?!”

Soon all three vampires could plainly see the source of the commotion: a young boy with long, white hair had been cornered in an alley by a group of thugs. The boy held a knife in his hand, but he clearly didn't have the confidence or will to use it, and he wouldn't last in an actual fight.

“Just leave me alone...” the boy whimpered pitifully. “... please...”

The thugs only laughed as they closed in on him.

A hiss on his curled-back lips, Atem swooped down at the group of thugs, clawed hands extended and grasping at the men. The other two vampires stayed back for a moment longer, just watching as their normally so subdued companion was suddenly taken over by a bloodthirsty rage.

“Why would you attack a practically defenseless boy?!” Atem asked, holding two of the thugs up in the air as he hovered for a moment. “Why do some people have to be so completely heartless?!”

The two criminals didn't give him an answer. Instead, they began to tremble and whimper every bit as much as the boy had been.

The other members of the gang tried to escape out the front of the alley, but they were cut off by Malik's broad wing span.

“Going somewhere?” Malik asked with a sneer.

One of the crooks pulled a gun out of his belt and took aim at Malik, but his hands were trembling so much that he could hardly manage to fire the shot.

Bakura laughed from his perch on the wall beside them. “I wouldn't,” he told the man with the gun. “You see, bullets don't work so well on us. It will only serve to make him mad. Tell me, mortal, have you ever seen an angry vampire?”

“Well?!” Atem yelled wrathfully at the two men he held. He let them drop to the ground, where they landed on their backs, and he swooped down to stand over one of them, pinning the man to the ground. “What do you have to say for yourselves?!”

In a sudden display of either courage or stupidity, the man replied by spitting in Atem's face, something the vampire really didn't appreciate.

Unable to contain himself any longer, Atem impulsively leaned forward, his jaw suddenly becoming hooked around the man's throat. The man let out a scream as the sharp teeth ripped into his flesh, the claws scrabbling and tearing into his back.

The thugs were still hemmed in by Malik, but they quickly realized that, while there was only one vampire, there were many of them. So, they devised a new strategy.

Bakura watched in amusement as the gang raced to attack Malik all at once. They thought that they would overpower him, since their strength was in numbers.... but Bakura knew they would learn the hard way.

Malik simply laughed at the little onslaught of humans, merely grabbing the first one that came into range and deftly biting into the man's arm, listening to the screams and drinking deeply. After a moment, he threw the empty shell to the ground, laughing and letting the blood drizzle down his face and neck, staining his shirt.

“Well then... who's next?”

“Wait, my brother!” Bakura called as he jumped down to join the feeding frenzy that was quickly taking over the alley. “Don't forget about me! I'm starving up here, and you two are having a drinking party without me!”

Atem actually laughed at his blood-brother's comment. “Well, Bakura, you're more than welcome to these lowlifes. I'm afraid I've become rather accustomed to Yugi's blood, for I haven't any longer the stomach for such disgusting garbage as these.”

Bakura was eager to stand off against one of the thugs, who drew a knife and acted as if the small sliver of metal could possibly defend him against the blood-sucker.

It was mere seconds before the human lay down before him, Bakura happily licking the man's blood off of his fingertips. Looking up and coming back out of his bloodlust, he could see that Atem was sniffing the air again, searching for Seto's trail, while Malik was drinking every drop of blood out the one body that he'd managed to keep, complaining something about his victim being 'too small and unhealthy to provide proper nourishment' or something to that affect. The remaining members of the gang had fled and were nowhere to be seen.

“Well, that takes care of them...” Bakura wiped the blood off his lips as he turned to find himself staring at the boy who's life they had just saved, who had shrunk against a wall as far away from them as possible. “Now, what have we here...?”

The silver-haired vampire began to walk towards the boy, who immediately shrank back and began to whimper and beg.

“Please... please, don't hurt me...”

A cruel comment on the tip of his tongue, Bakura managed to bite it back. The boy looked truly scared, and he certainly wouldn't help matters by opening his big fat mouth. Someone would have to come comfort the boy...

Looking around, Bakura saw that Atem was already wandering off, probably having picked up Seto's trail again and hoping against hope to find his cousin, and Malik was currently busy dealing with the remains of the bodies they'd left in their wakes. Great. That meant Bakura was the only one to take care of the boy... wonderful...

“It's okay... I'm not going to hurt you...” Taking the knife from the boy's hand, Bakura gently touched the boy on the shoulder, hoping that it was a soothing touch. He was too tired to hypnotize the boy, so he would have to do this the old-fashioned way. “It's alright, you're safe now...”

The boy stared up at him with wild eyes for a moment, tears beginning to trickle down his cheeks. Oh great, he was leaking.

“There's no need for tears, you're safe,” The vampire pulled the boy into an intimate embrace, holding him tightly. He rubbed his hands up and down the boy's back soothingly as the child cried on his shoulder. “No one is going to hurt you, I promise.”

Bakura looked the boy up and down, noting the many knife cuts that he'd received from the gang, most of which were still bleeding.

They smelled delicious...

The boy let out a small cry as the vampire began licking and sucking at all the cuts that showed on his arms and face and neck. His tongue was rough, and he wasn't at all gentle, and his grip hurt, but the boy didn't fight him.

Bakura licked his lips happily when he was finished tending to the boy's injuries; this kid's blood tasted sweet and salty, and it was so much better than any blood Bakura had ever drank before! Even the two or three mouthfuls he'd managed to lap up from the cuts were enough to make the blood-sucker feel full of energy and determination. Heck, he even felt almost... happy.

The boy was staring at him with wide chocolate-brown eyes.

“Oh, relax,” the vampire told him, being uncharacteristically sweet and gentle. Unable to prevent himself, he ruffled the boy's pale hair in a friendly fashion. “I'm not going to hurt you. Haven't you figured that out yet? What's your name, kid?”

“R-Ryou... Bakura Ryou.”

“Really? Hey, we have the same name: Bakura.” He gave another, hungry lick to a gash on Ryou's arm, then smiled at the boy sweetly. “Don't worry about those morons, they won't give you any more trouble. Here, I'll take you home, so I know you get there safely. Like a bodyguard. That's a good idea, isn't it?”

Ryou was still staring at him, as if unsure whether to be afraid or not.

Malik walked over to see what was going on, using one of his claws as a toothpick and removing a sliver of skin from between his teeth. “What's up, Baku-Baku?”

He was surprised when the nickname didn't get a rise from his normally aggressive blood-brother. Instead, Bakura threw his arms around the human boy's shoulders and almost hugged him, a strangely happy looking smile on his face.

“This is my new friend Ryou,” Bakura explained softly as he licked at a small scratch on the boy's cheek, making the poor little human look very uncomfortable. “I'm going to take him home, so no one else will hurt him, because he's so sweet and wonderful!”

Malik wasn't sure if he should laugh, cry, or scream, so he let out a strange noise that sounded like a combination of the three. “Ah.... Ryou, was it?... Did he... drink some of your blood?”

The boy nodded nervously.

This time, Malik just laughed. “Drunk! He's drunk! He's stoned on your blood! You've got him buzzin' buzzin' buzzin' like a bee with your hemoglobin! Intoxicated! Under the influence! Drunk, drunk, drunk! He's--”

“Not so loud, Malik,” Atem ordered him, appearing out of nowhere. An amused smiled passed over his face as he took in the scene before him. “Alright, well... Malik, I'm going to need you to come with me, and.... I suppose, Bakura may do whatever he wishes.”

“Don't worry,” He added when he saw the alarmed look on Ryou's face. “He won't hurt a hair on your head... certainly not in the state he's in now.”

The human boy glanced down to the vampire that was now leaning and rubbing against his shoulder, purring softly and looking very much like a contented kitten. Looking back up, he saw that the two 'sober' vampires were already flying off through the air.

Ryou sighed to himself, causing Bakura to fret and worry over him and question whether or not he had inadvertently harmed his new little pet. This was going to be the strangest night of the boy's life, and he knew it.

Chapter 7:

Atem's nostrils flared every once in a while as he sliced through the inky blackness of the night on his powerful wings. Running on a regular supply of Yugi's blood had made the vampire prince stronger than he'd been in quite some time, if not ever, and it heightened his senses considerably. Even while in the air, he could smell his cousin's tracks.

(Atem and Malik go searching for G and S, and they do find Seto, but they lose him again. Seto does allow Atem to follow him, but Malik gets lost in the middle of all the mess, while Atem and Seto manage to have a long talk. Anyhoo, Malik is left out cold behind the Egyptian Museum of Domino.)

Malik's body collapsed, his knees buckling under him, and he landed in a crumpled heap in the alley behind a large brick building.

Chapter 8: “The Vampire's New Pet”

Cries of delight filled the air as Ryou was carried through the night sky by unnaturally strong arms. He had been scared out of his wits when Bakura had first scooped him up and proceeded to carry him through the air, far above the skyline of Domino, but he had since settled into the vampire's arms and begun to enjoy himself.

“Having fun, my pet?” Bakura asked, the hiss of his voice holding a slight teasing aspect to it.

Ryou couldn't help but wonder if it was at all dangerous if a vampire started calling him pet names.

The albino boy pointed his finger down towards a particular building. “I believe that's my house down there.”

Nodding, Bakura swooped down, landing gracefully on his feet and gently setting Ryou down beside him. He followed along behind the little human boy as he began to make his way home, watching over 'his pet.' He didn't exactly feel good about leaving Ryou alone, though; for some reason that he didn't quite understand, he rather liked the boy and wanted to keep an eye on him.

And he wanted to taste more of this boy's delicious blood...

Bakura hung back as the boy went into the house, sighing as the door closed behind him. He didn't take off quite yet though, choosing to wait and watch for a few moments more, and he was glad that he did.

Soon, muffled cries were heard from inside the house. Ryou's cries. “Father, no! It's not like that, I swear!”

Snarling, the vampire jumped into the air, his powerful wings carrying him through a closed window. Shattered glass flew everywhere, zipping through the air as if confetti had been thrown into the air to announce the vampire's arrival.

Ryou was curled up on the floor in the fetal position, and an older man, presumably his father, was standing behind him and kicking him repeatedly.

Ryou was reduced to crying and whimpering again, begging his father to stop. But the man just kept beating him.

“Traitorous brat! You're nothing but a useless, worthless, piece of – oof!” The man was soon on the floor, a silver-haired vampire snarling where he had stood a moment before.

“What was it you were about to say?” Angry words were hissed out from between fangs and sneering lips. “Let me think... you were about to call your son a 'piece of @#$%,' right? I dimly remember my own father calling me that on many occasions.”

“What the—oh, @#$%!” The man on the floor cried out as he got a look at his assailant.

“What's the matter, mortal?” Bakura asked, reaching down and dragging the human man back to his feet, making direct eye contact as he held the man up in the air by the front of his shirt. “So used to bullying your wimpy son, who's so small and weak-willed that he won't fight back? Not ready to stand up to someone your own size?”

“Please, don't hurt him, Bakura!” Ryou whimpered from the floor nearby. Getting onto his hands and knees so he could crawl, the boy scuttled across the floor and latched himself onto Bakura's leg, holding onto the vampire with all his might. “He's my only family! Please, don't hurt him, Bakura! Please!”

Bakura glanced down at the boy, snarling. “Does he do this to you often, Ryou?”

The boy didn't answer right away, only clinging harder.

“Well?! Does he?!”

Looking up at the vampire, Ryou finally managed a nod.

“I'm willing to guess how often,” Bakura muttered, turning back the man he held in front of his face. “My own father used to beat me, before his rather untimely demise, and it seems like he did so... quite frequently. I'll assume you're no better, are you?”

The man barely responded, staring at Bakura and stammering out a few sentence fragments in Japanese.

Bakura hissed vehemently through his teeth. “I loathe your kind with every fiber of my being, you son of a @#$%, and nothing would make me happier than to slit your throat clean open here and now, but...”

He glanced down at the boy who still clutched at his ankles, gazing up at him with tears trailing from chocolate-brown eyes.

He sighed before continuing. “I suggest you thank your son, foolish mortal, for it's he who saved your life tonight.”

With that, Bakura dropped the man to the ground. Leaning over, he plucked Ryou from his leg and pulled the boy to his feet, wrapping his arms around the boy tenderly. “Come then, my pet. Let's look at your wounds.”

Ryou looked down at himself, noticing that his father's kicks had reopened some of his cuts from earlier, which Bakura was eying eagerly. Embarrassed and completely flustered by the entire situation, Ryou raised his left arm and allowed the vampire to lick at one of his bleeding injuries. He couldn't help but enjoy the attention that the vampire gave him though, and he ended up leaning into Bakura's arms, allowing the blood-drinker to take from him what he would.

His father stood up from the floor, taking in the scene and not liking it one bit. “What the @#$% do you think you're doing?! Encouraging a @#$% blood-sucker to feed off of you?! Next you'll be begging to become one them, coming down on your own kind and devouring them! You treacherous little--!”

“That's enough!” Bakura snapped suddenly, holding his hand up as a warning. “I thought that perhaps you'd be smart enough to change your mind about your behavior towards your son after what I said earlier, but clearly it's not enough for a mortal to be defended by a vampire only once.”

Ryou yelped as Bakura suddenly scooped him up in his arms again, as if to carry him off. Which he was intending to do, the boy quickly realized.

It only took seconds for Bakura to get out the broken window and into the air, his wings carrying the two off them into the night.

Ryou began to wail, realizing that he was being carried off and not knowing where or why.

“Don't cry, my pet,” Bakura said with an unnaturally soft voice. “I am not kidnapping you, nor do I intend to harm you in any way or form. I just...”

Stopping and hovering in the air, he looked down at the frightened boy he held in his arms. “Look. I like you, Ryou. You remind me very much of myself when I was your age... and I want you to have a better life than I did.” Sorrowfully, he locked his eyes onto Ryou's, red staring deep into brown. “I don't want you to be hurt all the time like I was. I want to protect you from the pain.”

Ryou nodded, angrily swiping at the tears on his face. So many times in his life he had been hurt by others and wished for a savior to swoop in and rescue him; this wasn't quite what he had in mind, but it was close enough for him. “Where are you taking me?”

“I'm going to take you to my home. Well, at least, it's the place where I'm living for the moment. My brothers will be there, too, so it won't be too quiet or anything. But, you'll be safe there. No one will hurt you.”

Ryou was quiet for a moment, then almost shuddered as he asked a question. “You mentioned your own father having an 'untimely demise...' Did you … kill him?!”

Bakura almost laughed as he shook his head. “No, don't be ridiculous. Even vampires do not devour their own families! No, it was not I that killed him... he was murdered before my very eyes, by the same beast that turned me into a drinker of blood.” He scowled for a second, then shook his head and smiled almost fondly at the boy he was carrying. “But, that's nothing you need to be concerned about.”

Nodding again, Ryou sighed and lay his head against Bakura's chest, surprised when he felt the vampire lightly kiss the top of his hair. Soon, he began to enjoy himself again as Bakura swooped through the sky. Cries of delight filled the air as he was carried through the night sky by unnaturally strong arms.

“Having fun, my pet?” Bakura asked, the hiss of his voice holding a slight teasing aspect to it.

Ryou wondered again if it was at all dangerous if a vampire started calling him pet names.

Chapter 9: “So How Was Your Night?”

Atem thought long and hard about everything that Seto had told him as he flew through the air, heading for home.

Seto had said that he knew where Gozaburo was, that he was keeping right on their sire's tail, that he was waiting for just the right time to attack.

He'd said that he was using Atem and the others as a distraction, mostly. He knew that Gozaburo was more interested in the three of them than in him, so he was simply biding his time, watching and waiting for just the right moment.

Then he would attack and kill their sire once and for all.

Atem frowned, lost deep in thought for a moment, but was soon brought back to reality by the pain and weariness in his body. He had been going nonstop for several hours, and his body was not used to doing this much activity within the span of a few months, much less in one night. He wanted more than anything to curl up in his sarcophagus and go to sleep.

Maybe he wouldn't get up again for the next three weeks; the thought sounded appealing to him.

He landed on the roof of the abandoned building that he and his blood-brothers had claimed as their home and went inside, momentarily wondering if Bakura was back yet. His question was answered when he went into the main room that the brothers tended to gather together in.

The room was filled with many broken pieces of furniture that had been left behind by the original occupants as well as Egyptian antiquities that the vampires had brought with them; pieces of jewelry and figurines of Osiris and Anubis were scattered around the otherwise dusty, dingy room.

Bakura sat on the floor in the middle of the room, holding a young boy in his arms. The boy was asleep and didn't move for the most part, except to occasionally whimper or clutch at the vampire.

“It's only a dream, Ryou,” Bakura whispered softly, his clawed hands stroking the boy's white hair in an oddly caring fashion. His soothing words lulled the boy back to sleep. “You are perfectly safe, my pet... no one is going to harm you. I'm here.”

He glanced up at Atem. “I'm not certain if this boy is at all capable of having a good dream... it seems that he only has nightmares.”

Atem walked closer and looked at the boy for a moment, and then up at Bakura. He smirked lightly, but said nothing. He was very much amused that Bakura seemed to be so attached to a human boy when this same vampire had mocked him for befriending Yugi.

Bakura sighed. “Look, he reminds me a lot of myself when I was younger. And when I went to take the boy home, I learned that his father treats him the same way that mine did.”

Atem frowned; he knew that Bakura's father had been an abusive bully, and, considering how the vampire had responded to Ryou earlier, he wondered how Bakura reacted to this man who was just like his own predecessor.

“In the meantime,” the silver-haired vampire continued, changing the subject so that he was no longer in the spotlight. “Tell me what happened with you. I smell the priest's scent on you; I want to know what happened.”

Atem explained all, doing his best to leave out any detail that he found too personal. He was also very careful to keep his voice quiet, so that he wouldn't wake Ryou up.

When he was finished, Bakura gaped at him in silence for a moment. “So he's... stalking our sire?”

“I suppose you could put it that way.”

Bakura shook his head in frustration and growled. “Your cousin is an idiot. Does he really think that Gozaburo is really going to ever let his guard down? Does he really think that our sire could not sense his watching eyes?! That is the single stupidest thing I've ever –”

He cut himself off when a he heard a small cry come from the boy in his lap, who was blinking and staring up at him owlishly.

“We didn't mean to wake you, young one,” Atem apologized quickly. “Bakura and I were talking and I suppose we got a little carried away.”

“Go back to sleep now, pet,” Bakura whispered, smiling gently at the boy. He touched his hand to the boy's cheek, offering some tender comfort.

Ryou blinked a few more times, then nuzzled back into Bakura's lap, soon drifting off to sleep once more.

Atem watched as Bakura began to stroke the boy's hair again; it was the first time in a very long time that he had seen Bakura appear to be happy... in fact, he couldn't remember the last time he had seen that. It made him feel very glad that Bakura had found Ryou.

“I guess this is how you must feel about that Yugi boy, isn't it?” Bakura mused aloud. “Hm, it's no wonder, then, that glowing smile you always come home with when you go to visit him. I can't help but wonder though... will Malik ever find someone that means so much to him?”

At that comment, both vampire's furrowed their brows and looked around curiously.

“Say... where is Malik, anyway?”

Chapter 10: “Five Days Later...”

Mariku sighed loudly as he headed for the back door. What the @#$% was Shadi's problem anyway? Not allowed to smoke in the stinkin' museum... What kind of a rule was that, anyway?

Of course, if his sister caught him smoking at all, inside or outside of the building completely devoted to ancient Egypt, she would have his head on a pike. And then she'd kill him. And probably ground him.

Eventually she would take pity on him and resurrect him, but then she'd spy the cigarette again and kill him again.

The boy slipped out the back door, lighting the small cylinder and raising it to his lips as he stepped out into the alley.

Immediately, his eyes widened and, for a moment, his mouth couldn't make up its mind what to do with the cigarette – should he spit it out or swallow it whole?

In the end, he managed to pull it out with his fingers, allowing his jaw to drop. His panicky mind began to think of possible escape routes, but his feet refused to budge.

Why was there a vampire lying unconscious in the alley?

Mariku stared, his face a combination of wonder and fear, debating in his mind about what he should do about it. The vampire was bound to wake up sooner or later, and then what?

Deciding to play the hero, he picked up an old, broken mop that was sticking out of the museum dumpster. Wrapping his hands around the broken length of wood and holding it over his head, he took a step towards the blood-sucker, intending to stab the stick straight through its chest to kill it.

But he hesitated. The vampire had the tanned skin of an Egyptian, along with a multitude of jewelry very much like the gold trinkets that Mariku wore, and he had bushy, blonde hair.

Mariku realized that he and the vampire rather resembled one another.

Lowering his stick, he moved to sit beside the creature of the night, reaching out to softly touch the vampire's hair with his fingers.

The vampire awoke upon feeling the boy's warmth, a clawed hand reaching up with lightning reflexes and grasping the thin wrist.

“... human...”

Mariku let out a small shriek upon hearing the vampire's hiss. It wasn't so much that the vampire seemed threatening in any way or form as it was that Mariku had never heard one speak before. He was taken aback a bit by this sudden occurrence, and tried to wrench his wrist loose.

“Let go of me, filthy blood-sucker!”

The vampire did, almost immediately. “... strong... little human...”

“Hey, I am not little!” The boy shouted, fully riled by that remark. He was shorter than most boys his age, as well as incredibly thin, and he was very sensitive about his appearance. Even though this vampire was easily two or three times his size, that didn't mean that he could make any comments on Mariku's stature.

'It,' not 'he,' Mariku reminded himself. Vampires were monsters and were not human and thus had no right to be called by name or gender.

“Now c'mon! Get up and go away! The sun's coming up and I don't want any stinkin' blood-suckers around while I'm smoking... or any other time, for that matter!”

The vampire in question paid very little attention to the boy's ranting. His interests seemed to lie entirely in any portion of Mariku's skin that showed from beneath his tight clothes.

Mariku noticed this. “What are you looking at, anyway?”

Red, inhuman eyes continued to gaze longingly at his skin. “... thirsty... need... blood...”

“Oh, no! I'm not letting you drink from me!”

The vampire gazed at him for another moment, seeming to be lost in thought. It was strange, Mariku realized; the vampire possessed so much strength and prowess, it should be able to lunge at him and tear him to shreds in an instant. However, this vampire didn't. It seemed to want to, but it didn't.

He soon realized why that was. “You're weakened. You probably haven't drunk any blood in awhile, and it's weakened you. Is that why... you're here? And not leaving? And not attacking me?”

The vampire didn't answer. Only continued to look longingly at the boy. “... please...”

Mariku frowned, his mind a roaring mass of confusion. He didn't want to feed his blood to a vampire. He didn't want the vampire to die right in front of him. He wanted to help the blood-sucker. He wanted to run away from it as quick as possible and have nothing to do with it.

“Oh, to heck with it!” He suddenly screamed, giving in and making up his mind on the fly. He reached into his pocket and fished out his Swiss army knife – a gift from Odion on his birthday – and suddenly swiped the blade across his forearm. Droplets of blood began to trickle out.

“You can drink a little bit of my blood,” he told the vampire, who was staring at his arm with such longing it was disgusting. “But you can't have all of it, understand?”

The vampire nodded weakly. “Won't … drink … all. Promise.”

Mariku snorted, picking up the dropped shaft of wood and holding it with his free hand. “Yeah, like I'm gonna believe you.”

Snarling, he thrust his bleeding arm in front of the vampire, who almost immediately grabbed it and wrapped his mouth around the cut.

Teeth grazed his skin, and Mariku tried not to shudder. A part of him was secretly pleased, though, to see the content and peaceful look on the vampire's face.

“How long have you been here?” the boy couldn't help but ask. He was so very curious about this blood-sucker, and his curiosity would not be ignored.

The vampire paused for a moment. “Since... since Tuesday night... or was it Wednesday morning?... It all runs together, you know.”

Mariku felt his eyes bulge. “Wednesday was five days ago! It's currently very, very early on a Monday morning!”

The vampire stared at the boy, his face somewhere between confused and alarmed. “Five... days? And yet... you're the first human to find me... why is this?”

The boy frowned, lost in thought, occasionally being distracted by the vampire's tongue probing his self-inflicted injury in a hungry fashion. “Ummm, well... I only work here once a week. And I'm the only who ever uses this exit, I think – it's the only way I can sneak a smoke without Shadi or Ishizu or Odion or anyone else blowing a gasket at me.”

The vampire nodded, studying the boy closely. “You're Egyptian, aren't you?”

“Yes.”

Another nod, this one more of satisfaction. “I am from Egypt myself. My name is Malik.”

“I'm... Mariku. I work here at the Museum of Egyptology.”

The vampire's eyes lit up, and he laughed. “How I'd like to go through that museum with my brothers, just to see how many things they've got wrong!”

Mariku frowned. “Hey! We are very particular about our facts, and we do all sorts of research beforehand!”

“Whatever,” the vampire rolled his eyes. He seemed concerned when he looked up at the sky, where the sun's rays were beginning to peak through the staggering darkness. “Tell me which way is North, and I'll leave.”

Mariku pointed his finger, and the vampire left, apparently just strong enough to fly.

Mariku wondered where the vampire stayed during the day, and whether or not he would be back again.

Chapter 11:

Malik will leave before the sun rises, but he will return the following evening to talk to Mariku in the museum. When Malik gets back to the hideout, he is momentarily confused when he sees that Ryou boy walking around the place, perfectly comfortable. Bakura sneers at Malik and says that he doesn't have to explain himself and drags Ryou off to his bedroom.

(Seto is the fourth blood-brother, but he is only half-turned and is a loner who tends to do things his own way. He used to be an Egyptian High Priest and he is Atem's cousin. When trailing Gozoborro, Seto finds the house of G's most recent victims, two parents and a child. It's too late to save the parents, who already lie on the floor dead, but Seto takes care of the little boy, who's name is Mokuba. Seto brings the little one home with him, calling him 'little brother' and 'Mokie.')

(Pegasus is an older vampire, an old enemy of Seto's. All of his usual employees, Kemo, Croquet, are all vampires as well, and Duke Devlin is his little half-vampire assistant.)

(Pegasus has little Mokuba kidnapped from Seto to get Seto's attention, and he also attempts to kidnap Yugi to get Atem's attention... however, he ends up capturing Yugi's grandfather, which still achieves what he wanted anyway.)

(So, Seto and Atem set out to rescue their friends, Yugi, Bakura, and Malik all going with them. Ryou and Mariku stay home.)

(At a later point, I want Ryou to go grocery shopping, picking up food for himself as well as steak for the vampires, and paying for it all with money that Bakura gave him earlier. When he's shopping, he runs into his father, Rashyo, who starts bullying him and calling both him and the vampires horrible names. Ryou sticks up for the vampires and leaves as quickly as possible, collapsing back in Bakura's bedroom in tears. Bakura comes along and holds the boy, offering what little comfort he has to offer.)

With a sharp cry, Ryou collapsed face-first onto the little cot in the corner of the 'bedroom,' promptly curling up into a ball and tucking his knees under his chin. Tears began to slowly trickle down his cheeks as he thought about everything that his father had said to him.

Every word spun around in his head, making him dizzy and nauseous, becoming louder and louder and crueler and crueler with each minute. His stomach hurt terribly, and he could no longer see through the fog of tears.

The door opened and closed, another person entering and walking over to the cot. Probably Bakura.

Ryou became aware of the vampire sitting down on the cot beside him. A strong hand pressed itself on his back, right between his shoulder blades, and began to rub gentle circles.

Bakura didn't say anything, and the silence itself seemed to speak for him.

“I saw my father...” Ryou whispered through quivering lips.

Silence for a moment. “How did that go?”

Every single word that his father had said flew through his mind, and Ryou felt something inside him break. He began to sob angrily, not even stopping as he was lifted and pulled into Bakura's lap, the vampire's arms wrapping around him tightly, his wings folding down and draping around the two of them as a cocoon.

“He – he said so many horrible things!” the boy stuttered a few minutes later. His tears had begun to slow, allowing his voice to become usable again. “He said that you vampires were nothing but evil parasites, and that you were only going to hurt me later down the road. That-that I'm stupid for trusting you...”

The other frowned, his grip on Ryou tightening instinctively. He didn't know what else the man had said to Ryou, but it was clearly enough to bother the boy. It was enough to make him wonder.

“Your father's right, you know,” Bakura whispered quietly.

The boy frowned, blinking his eyes harshly to get rid of his tears, turning to stare up the vampire in confusion. “... What do you mean?”

Bakura's lips tugged into a mock smirk. He wrapped his fingers around the boy's neck, the tips of his claws teasingly trailing over the bite marks on the side of Ryou's neck, showing where the vampire had been. “I am a parasite. And you are my host.”

Ryou frowned. “I always thought of our relationship as more of a symbiotic one.”

“And how do you figure that?”

“Because... I feed you, and you protect me,” the boy said slowly, his lips pursing together as he thought through his wording. “You give me a safe place to live, and you give me freedom. And, even though you drink my blood, you never actually hurt me. … These are things I never had before.”

The vampire frowned, his grip on the boy tightening. “Like I said, you are my host. You belong to me, and of course I'm going to protect you.

(Joey Wheeler, Tristan Taylor, and Tea Gardener are all humans that are being held captive by Pegasus and are rescued by the Brothers. Other vampires who work for Pegasus will include Bandit Keith, Mai Valentine, and Duke Devlin. Mai and Duke will turn out to be really nice and will end up helping the brothers.)

Malik snickered, very amused by the sight of Bakura being so sweet and caring towards the human boy.

Bakura growled. “What?”

“Nothing, it's just... the high and mighty tomb robber! The king of thieves! The proud ruler of Hell... wrapped around the pinky finger of that silly little fluffy-haired boy!”

Bakura's jaws snapped at Malik, as if to bite his brother's nose off. “It's not my fault if Ryou is more tolerable than the rest of you idiots! And besides – he tastes better when he's happy!”

Malik was leaning back against a wall, laughing uncontrollably. “Really? Maybe I'll have to try him sometime.”

“You will not lay a hand on him, do you hear me?!” Bakura was seething by this point, and he was breathing heavily through his clenched teeth. “If you so much as touch a hair on his head, I will personally stake you straight through the heart! Understand?!”

“Y'know, Baku, it's funny to see you being so protective.”

#my writing #my (past) writing #I found this again and thought #y'know someone else may enjoy this you never know

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thosewhoruleegypt · 7 years ago

Text

For Love of Pharaoh and King (Chapter 4)

Fandom: Yu-Gi-Oh! Characters/Ships: Puzzleshippin/Blindshipping (Atem/Yugi); Gemshipping (Thief King Bakura/Ryou Bakura); Atem, Yugi, Thief King Bakura, Ryou Bakura Rating: M (WARNINGS for steamy fade-to-black moments, mentions of past abuse, very brief mention of dub-con in a flashback, and talk of contemplated suicide) Length: Chapter 4 / 4; 4000 words

Summary:

Yugi Mutou enjoys wearing decorative chains—for both their aesthetic appeal and their irony, considering his recent transition from slave to Betrothed of Pharaoh Atem.

Ryou Bakura, meanwhile, appears to serve both his Pharaoh and exiled Thief King. But neither the Thief King nor his servant counted on the involvement of the Royal Husband-to-be in their plans.

Part One of the Those Who Rule Egypt series. Can be read separately.

Read on AO3 Previous Chapter – Next Chapter Part II of the series begins here~

AU side-story (alternate backstory for the Thief King) begins here~

Chapter 4: The Pharaoh

“Bakura!”

The first thing Yugi heard was a voice calling out a name—Ryou’s voice, it seemed, calling out his own surname.

“Bakura! Bakura!”

No, not his own name—someone else’s name. Someone else was called “Bakura.”

Yugi forced his eyes open; struggled to inhale and immediately fell to a coughing jag as he choked on dust and debris. He struggled to push himself up, the pain more intense than even what he had experienced as a slave. Still, with the memory of overcoming such obstacles in the past, his mind triumphed over his badly bruised matter. He succeeded, at least, in getting to his elbows, then looked toward Ryou’s voice.

Ryou’s streaming eyes met his, huge and desperate. His hands were tangled in the tattered clothes of the Thief King, who lay unmoving among the rubble.

“Yugi…” Ryou moaned—begged. “He won’t wake up, Yugi…! What do I do, what do I do?!”

Yugi dragged himself forward, feeling one of his legs twist unnaturally beneath him. He wondered, objectively, if it was broken or only dislocated.

“Ryou…”

“He won’t wake up!” Ryou repeated, his hands knotting more insistently in the Thief King’s robes. “I can’t find his pulse, Yugi!”

Yugi felt a cold shiver run through him as he dragged himself over to where Ryou and the Thief King lay. When he was near enough, he reached, almost unthinkingly, to the shackle around his left wrist—to another hidden compartment, and another card.

“Trap: Miracle’s… Wake…” he whispered—his voice, otherwise, seemed to have gone missing.

Ryou’s breathing hitched, and he snatched the card. Then he paused; seemed to check the reaction, and held it back out. “What if Atem needs it…?”

Yugi shook his head. “I… I can feel Atem… nearby. He’s not… He has a pulse, still.”

Ryou drew a shuddering breath, then nodded. He stretched out toward Yugi; paused, hesitant, and Yugi closed the gap to embrace him. They held one another tightly for a moment, then Ryou drew back. He pressed the card to the unmoving chest of the Thief King and whispered, “Trap, activate: Miracle’s Wake.”

There was a soft glow—magenta, among the omnipresent violet of the Shadow Realm—and the card dissolved into Thief King Bakura’s chest. The man drew a deep, shuddering breath; his eyes snapped open, and a moment later he began to cough and wheeze and curse weakly.

“Bakura!” Ryou clung to his chest, even as Yugi scooted backwards. “Gods, Bakura, thank the gods!”

“Ryou…” the Thief King rasped, looping one arm weakly around the smaller man. He closed his eyes. “Ryou… no, not the gods… thank you, Ryou…”

Yugi felt himself smile, then looked up at the crunch of feet through the debris. “Pharaoh!”

Pharaoh Atem didn’t look at him. His clothes had been torn further, and he was bleeding somewhat severely from scrapes along his arms and exposed chest, but he seemed otherwise unharmed. “Just a moment, Yugi,” he said, striding toward the two thieves. Ryou lowered his body defensively over the Thief King’s; Bakura could only watch with tragic, resigned eyes.

“Well, Pharaoh, it comes to this…” the Thief King murmured, making some feeble attempt to brush Ryou away. “You’ve won, it seems. Do your worst. Just do be sure to kill me, this time, or I may be forced to do it myself.”

Atem nodded, drawing a dagger from a sheath hidden among the decorative belts slung across his hips. “One way or the other, this will end your suffering, you miserable—”

“Atem!”

The Pharaoh faltered; turned, and met Yugi’s imploring gaze. “Yugi?”

“Isn’t it enough, Atem?” Yugi asked, and Atem’s eyes widened.

“What are you saying, Yugi?”

“I’m saying it’s enough.”

“Do you honestly think they would show us the same mercy you’re suggesting I show them?” Atem asked, his thoughts dripping disgust and suspicion.

“I honestly think that I would do exactly the same thing for you that Ryou is doing for Bakura. And that you would do the same for me that Bakura is trying to do for Ryou.”

Atem drew physically back, looking stung. "Yugi...”

"If our positions were reversed, Atem. This would play out just the same. I’d bet my life on that.”

Atem scowled, then looked back at Ryou and Bakura. The Thief King had closed his eyes again, both his arms wrapped around the servant boy.

“What are you waiting for, Pharaoh?” Bakura rasped, unaware of the silent conversation. “Don’t tell me you’ve lost your nerve? You’ve killed me once before, haven’t you? Can’t do it with your own hands, this time?”

Atem’s grip on his dagger tightened, and Ryou lowered his eyes. “I didn’t kill you,” the Pharaoh spat. “Besides the fact that calling yourself the King of Thieves was your own choice, and the consequences should be yours to face, you’ve never felt the despair of true death. You always thought you could get to me, that your time would come again. You… seduced this boy, here,” with an angry gesture to Ryou, “into doing your bidding, to that end! You destroyed him in some sick attempt to resurrect yourself, and worse—you somehow presented that warped connection as love.”

When Ryou drew a breath, Bakura gave him a gentle squeeze to silence him. The Thief King chuckled weakly, eyes still closed, as Ryou looked questioningly at him.

“I told Ryou to go to the palace, to seek work there… yes. Why did I do that?”

“To lay the groundwork for your attack,” Atem said. “Your revenge.”

“I did it so he’d be safe!” Bakura’s voice rose, then immediately dropped again. He tightened his grip on Ryou, keeping his eyes shut. “I never thought in a thousand years he’d actually come back to get me.”

“You…?” Ryou whispered, and Bakura shook his head.

“Listen, Pharaoh. Those in my line of work don’t have many friends. You, you get all the adoration. You get the praise and the accolades. And if you can tell me with a straight face that I had a fair shot at the type of life you have, you’re an even better liar than I am. I’m not that deluded, and I have made my choices. So all I ended up with, in this whole shitty world, were some worthless jewels and this priceless kid right here. That’s it. When you took my jewels away, he was the only one who stuck with me. He was willing to destroy himself to stay with me. So I made up a story. I lied. I’m good at that. I said I had a plan, and that all I needed was for him to infiltrate the palace.”

At last Bakura opened his eyes, as nothing more than slits. He continued: “I holed up and got ready to die. I didn’t think he could possibly love me, the way he said he did. I thought that, once he realized he could live comfortably in the palace, under your care, Pharaoh, he would forget about me. So I got ready to die. For five months I tried to scrape together the courage to just end it already, telling myself that he wouldn’t come back, that he shouldn’t come back, and that he’d be safe.

“But then he proved me wrong.” Bakura closed his eyes again; gripped Ryou, who had begun to cry quietly. “He came back to me, Pharaoh. And I thought maybe he could love me that much, after all, and if he loved me that damn much… then I could do anything. Even keep living. Even bring you down. Even be worthy of loving him back.”

For a beat, there was only silence and soft sounds of Ryou’s sobbing. Then Atem scoffed; curled his lip, and said, “Nice story. Did you think it all up on the spot, or have you rehearsed that speech?”

“Atem…” Yugi objected, and the Pharaoh rounded on him.

“You don’t believe all that, do you?” he demanded, and Yugi gave a small shrug.

“I think you do, too. I can feel your thoughts.”

Indignation made Atem’s face flush, and he turned back to where the Thief King lay. “I don’t. I don’t believe a word of it.”

“I’m a great liar, Pharaoh, but at least I never lie to myself,” Bakura said, with a slight curling of his lips.

Atem bristled, but didn’t move one way or the other. Instead he shifted, uncertain, from foot to foot; flicked his dagger back and forth. “I don’t believe you…” he muttered again, and then looked at Yugi.

“Atem… help me up, please? My leg is hurt.”

The Pharaoh’s scowl deepened, but he sheathed his dagger and obeyed. Yugi was fairly sure the injury was only a bad sprain or pull, since the limb could support some amount of weight without giving out. Ryou watched the pair of them carefully.

“… You hurt my Yugi. And you destroyed my palace,” Atem growled at last, and Bakura shook his head slightly.

“Your palace is fine, Pharaoh. What happens in the Shadow Realm pretty much stays in the Shadow Realm. That doesn’t go for us, of course—any damage done to us transfers over quite literally.”

Atem scowled, but only scooped Yugi up more totally into his arms. “Fine. Get us out of here. Then we’ll see how I feel about you.”

Bakura’s smile widened, although his eyes remained closed. “As my Pharaoh commands.”

The violet light swelled to encompass the four humans, then faded out until it vanished; around them, the palace halls appeared in their rightful colors, and unmarred by the collapse. Atem glanced around and, seeming satisfied, nodded. A moment later, a group of palace folk came pounding around the corner.

“Pharaoh!”

“Pharaoh Atem!”

“Lord Yugi!”

“It’s fine…” Atem called out, to soothe them. With a glance at Ryou and Bakura, he asked, “Have the Shadow Fires been dealt with?”

“They were put out some time ago, Pharaoh, but when you didn’t reappear…” One of the magicians came forward. “Pharaoh, we feared the worst. Are you and the Lord Yugi truly alright?”

“We’re scratched up,” Atem said, with a hint of exasperation. “But we’re fine.” Again he looked down at the two on the floor; Ryou was exchanging strange looks with the other servants, who knew him well. “Have these two taken down to the dungeon. Make sure they’re given medical care, but lock them up with every bolt and chain we have.”

Bakura chuckled, startling several servants who had approached. “The merciful Pharaoh… the legends don’t do his generosity justice.”

Atem pointedly ignored him, addressing one of the servants. “Have my healers meet me in my chamber. Yugi’s injured his leg.”

As the woman hurried off with a word of assent, Yugi gave Ryou an encouraging smile; Ryou repaid it with a more nervous one, and his grip on Bakura tightened.

Atem looked up at the ceiling, an exasperated sigh leaving him before he said, “Put the two of them in the same cell. They’ll be less likely to try anything, then.”

As the servants muttered understanding, Ryou’s smile eased. “Thank you, Pharaoh,” he said, and Atem’s lip curled.

“None of this is for your sake, so don’t thank me for anything.”

“Thank you, Pharaoh,” Bakura mimicked cattily.

Atem bristled. But he was in the presence of palace-folk, now, and kept his composure. He did, however, indulge in saying, “Put some extra chains on that one. Shackle him. I don’t want him able to move about more freely than a shuffle.”

The servants nodded willingly, then hurried off to do their Pharaoh’s bidding. Ryou and Bakura were taken away—Ryou on his own feet, and Bakura carried—while Atem made his dignified way up toward his chamber with Yugi in his arms.

“That was a nice touch, letting them share a cell,” Yugi said, stretching his neck up to nuzzle Atem’s cheek.

“I meant what I said,” Atem retorted. “They’re less likely to get up to anything if they’re together. I’m not foolish enough to try to keep them separate.”

“You did a very good thing, Pharaoh.” And Yugi kissed his cheek.

“Only because I can’t tolerate disappointing you,” was Atem’s frosty reply. “I’d just as soon have slit that Thief King’s filthy throat.”

“And Ryou, too?”

“Ryou…” Atem began agitatedly, and then seemed uncertain of what else to say.

“Don’t be so stubborn,” Yugi chided, kissing Atem’s cheek again. The Pharaoh didn’t soften, but he kept his peace until they arrived in his chamber. There the healers saw to both their wounds—to Atem’s lacerations and to Yugi’s badly torn hip. Atem was annoyed that they couldn’t take a bath—as it would wash off the salve slathered across his wounds—but managed to stop complaining by the time they were cuddled together in the warm, soft bed.

“… I love you, Yugi.”

“I know. I love you, too.”

“All I want is to protect you. If this turns out to be a mistake—”

“It’s not a mistake,” Yugi said gently, and kissed Atem on the lips.

The Pharaoh murmured some incoherent response, returning the affection. Then Atem was on top of Yugi, mumbling, “Is this okay?” while being very careful of Yugi’s injured leg.

“This is fine,” Yugi replied, wrapping his good leg around Atem’s waist. “This is perfect.”

“I love you.”

“I love you, too, Pharaoh.”

… … …

“Yugi!”

Yugi smiled as Ryou approached the bars; Yugi crouched down outside the cell, and Ryou mirrored him. Yugi glanced at the shadowy figure sitting near the back of the cell, on the bed, but didn’t focus on it and addressed Ryou directly. “How are you doing? Are your injuries healing well?”

“They are!” Ryou replied. “Thank you! And yours?”

“Good as new,” Yugi said, setting down the tray he carried and pushing it beneath the barred door. “I heard that Pharaoh ordered you guys kept on standard prisoner rations, but that’s just him pouting. I think it’s pretty ridiculous.”

“Yugi…” Ryou picked up the bottle of wine sitting beside the food, his cheerful smile turning tender. “This is… Thank you, Lord Yugi…”

“I can see why little Ryou’s so fond of you,” came a deeper voice, and Yugi looked up to see that the Thief King had materialized, soundlessly, just behind Ryou. Though imposing in physical appearance, his posture and attitude were relaxed. He stooped down when Ryou held up the bottle of wine. “An eastern import!” he exclaimed. “I’m impressed! The little Pharaoh’s getting more adventurous!”

Yugi noted the telling lack of chains on the Thief King’s person, despite Atem’s blustery orders when they had first arrived back from the Shadow Realm. Similarly, despite the supposedly austere rations, the bed looked unusually large and comfortable for a prison cell, and there was even a private bathing chamber off one side of the room. Prison cells were very rarely used for long-term holding, but this one had obviously been outfitted otherwise.

Ryou reached through the bars and grasped Yugi’s hands, drawing his attention. “Thank you, Yugi. You’re a great friend.”

“I hope he’ll agree to let you out, soon,” Yugi said, and jumped when Bakura laughed heartily. The Thief King reached through the bars; nudged Yugi in the shoulder with a fist, and Yugi was surprised by how light the touch was.

“You’re a little fool, eh?” Bakura laughed again—an unexpectedly warm sound. “Clearly Pharaoh isn’t going to let us out any time soon, and clearly he shouldn’t.” The Thief King flashed a toothy grin. “Just because we’re on neutral enough terms right now doesn’t mean it wouldn’t delight me to strip him of the title of ‘Pharaoh.’”

“But not kill him!” Yugi chirped, and Ryou sniggered.

Bakura blinked. “What?”

“You just said, ‘strip him of the title of Pharaoh,’ but didn’t say a word about killing him,” Yugi explained. “Or me, for that matter! That’s progress, see?”

The Thief King chuckled; shook his head, and sat more comfortably down. “If you want to see it like that, go right ahead. I’d break that Pharaoh’s graceful little neck first chance I got, with pleasure. But as far as killing you is concerned? It’s bad etiquette to kill someone who feeds you.” As if to demonstrate his point, Bakura picked up a slice of melon from the tray and took a bite, heedless of the juice that drizzled down his chin.

Ryou leaned over to wipe at his mouth with one sleeve. “Don’t be sloppy,” he chided, and the Thief King laughed.

“But it’s so much fun to get all dirty…”

Ryou blushed, but didn’t bite. “Table manners,” he chided. “It may be the dungeons, but you’re still in the palace. And we’re in the presence of Lord Yugi.”

“I’m still not ‘Lord Yugi,’” Yugi said patiently.

The Thief King grinned; asked, “That bothers you? To be called ‘Lord?’”

“I mean, Ryou is my friend,” Yugi tried to explain, and the Thief King chuckled.

“Ryou’s practically my husband and he still calls me ‘King’ all the time. And I love that about him.”

Ryou’s eyes lit with humor. “Practically your what? I’ve never gotten a proper proposal from you, Bakura.”

The Thief King’s eyebrows arched. “Really? How terribly neglectful of me…” With a flourish, he produced a lapis lazuli scarab ring, and Ryou gave a surprised gasp. “Marry me, Ryou?”

“Where in the gods did you get that?” Ryou demanded, even as Yugi looked down in astonishment at his hands. The lapis lazuli ring—selected somewhat carelessly from the jewelry box on his vanity, that morning—was indeed missing. Ryou looked over; caught Yugi staring at his hands, realized what had happened, and chided, “Give it back, Thief King.”

“That’s okay…” Yugi murmured, even as Bakura held it back out through the bars. “I have way too many to ever wear, anyhow…”

Bakura grinned, closing his hand around the jewelry again. “I’m not called the Thief King for no good reason, pharaoh-ling.”

“Please. You gave yourself that title,” Ryou said, but tolerated it when Bakura took his hand and slipped the ring onto his finger. “Kauket… so embarrassing…”

The Thief King laughed—something he seemed to do quite a lot, Yugi noted with appreciation. “I’m serious, though, Ryou. Let’s get properly married once the Pharaoh lets us loose, what’d you say?” And he kissed the back of Ryou’s hand.

“Yes…” Ryou breathed, and Yugi applauded dutifully as Bakura looked around for a suitable stone to break the neck of the wine bottle. When he found one, he hefted it experimentally in his palm, then cracked the ceramic with practiced precision.

“Have a drink with us?” the Thief King asked, offering the bottle. Yugi took a polite sip before passing it back through the bars.

“When is your wedding happening, Yugi?” Ryou asked.

“In spring,” Yugi replied. “Pharaoh is still trying to navigate a few foreign rulers who are supposed to attend, too, with their availability and travel-time. The whole thing is a little too political for my taste, but I suppose that’s the nature of marrying a pharaoh.”

“Eyy, why don’t you stab the bastard one night? Then you’ll be pharaoh yourself,” Bakura asked, and Yugi couldn’t tell from his grin if he was serious or not. “I’d back you a hundred percent, and so’d little Ryou.”

“Don’t tease, Bakura…” Ryou murmured.

“I’m not teasing!” the Thief King exclaimed. “I’m as serious as I am in love with you!”

“Don’t tease…” Ryou repeated crossly.

Bakura picked up a sweet from the tray; held it beneath Ryou’s nose. “Sorry, love. Forgive me?”

Ryou regarded him for a moment longer, eyes narrowed, then opened his mouth obligingly. Bakura slipped the treat inside, then turned to Yugi while Ryou was momentarily gagged by the fluffy cream pastry.

“I owe you, really, for saving him. I’ve never seen much need to repay my own life debts, but I’ll suffer being in your debt for saving Ryou’s life. One unconditional favor, little pharaoh-ling; anything. Call it in any time.”

Yugi lowered his head slightly. “Thank you. I do realize what that’s worth.”

“He’s a smart one, Ryou!” Bakura said, nudging Ryou—who, still happily preoccupied with the cream-puff, only nodded. “Easier to take you seriously when you’re not all strung with chains,” he added to Yugi, who shrugged. “Does the Pharaoh like that type of thing?”

“I’m sure he does. And I’m quite fond of them, too. It makes other people squirm, which is fun.”

“I like you, kid,” Bakura said. “In another lifetime, we might’ve been good friends, you and I!”

“Why not this lifetime?” Yugi asked honestly, and the Thief King softened.

“We’ll just have to wait and see about this lifetime.”

… … …

“You smell like thief and you taste like wine,” Atem observed, pulling back from the kiss. Yugi’s arms wrapped around his neck kept him from going far, though.

“Tell me, Pharaoh, what does ‘thief’ smell like?”

“It’s that murky, dirty, untrustworthy smell shared by vagabonds. It abounds in places like taverns and dungeons,” Atem growled. “You need a bath.”

“I would much rather make the scent rub off on you, Pharaoh.”

Atem sucked in a breath as Yugi’s hips ground up into his, closing his eyes as he fought to keep his focus. “I don’t want you going down to the dungeon, Yugi.”

“Why pick now to try to scold me, Pharaoh? Your sense of timing is poor, at best.”

“Because you smell like thief, and I can’t get that cursed Thief King out of my mind because of it.”

“That doesn’t seem to be affecting your performance. Should I be jealous, if you’re only thinking about King Bakura right now?”

Atem nearly got out of bed at that, but Yugi clung to him. Atem couldn’t quite get free, and so let himself be physically dragged back under the blankets. After wrestling him down, Yugi crawled up to lie on Atem’s bare back, effectively pinning him down.

“Ryou is still my friend, Pharaoh. Friends visit friends when they’re locked up in dungeons.”

“It isn’t Ryou I’m worried about…” Atem muttered, his voice muffled by the mattress.

“Worried that that dashing Thief King will seduce me, then? I’m for you only, my Pharaoh, forever.”

Atem sat up at that; Yugi looped his arms around the Pharaoh’s neck, so that Atem was virtually choked when he straightened fully. Together, in a somewhat disorganized heap, they both flopped backwards on the bed.

“Can’t you be serious for two minutes, Yugi? This is serious. I’m being serious.”

“Hard to be serious when we’re both naked, Pharaoh.”

“Yugi…”

“We did a good thing, so stop pouting about it.”

“And where did your scarab ring get to, exactly?”

“Bakura swiped it. Gave it to Ryou.”

“See?”

“He offered to give it back, though.”

“After he stole it!”

“He is the Thief King, Pharaoh.”

“And since when is it acceptable for a King and a Pharaoh to exist, simultaneously, in the same kingdom? How is that reconcilable in any way?”

“It’s not like ‘Thief King’ is an official political title,” Yugi said reasonably. “Bakura made it up himself.”

“One of us is going to kill the other, eventually. This just isn’t sustainable.”

“Stop being so melodramatic.” Yugi climbed atop the Pharaoh; stared somewhat plaintively down, when Atem avoided his gaze. “You’re above this sort of squabbling, aren’t you?”

“Try me,” the Pharaoh huffed.

“I’m more important than all this petty argument, aren’t I?”

That got Atem to glance up, at least. “You’re the most important thing in the world, to me.”

“Then forget about the Thief King and Ryou and politics and the whole cursed kingdom and just pay attention to me, for a while,” Yugi appealed, and then kissed his Pharaoh. He gave the kiss every scrap of concentration and passion he could muster, and when he drew back Atem’s face was somewhat blank.

“You are making it very hard to pay attention to anything else, that’s for sure…”

Yugi grinned. “Good.” And he kissed the Pharaoh again.

Atem wrapped his arms obligingly around Yugi’s narrow shoulders as their impatient hips met and locked together. It was impossible, then, for either of them to think of anything besides the warm glow that swelled between their two bodies, growing to envelope them before pitching them both, violently and tenderly, into something resembling true ecstasy.

When Atem and Yugi lay, side by side and hopelessly short of breath, Atem managed to say, “If it made you happy, Yugi, I’d lie down in the mud and call myself a stinking thief. I’d give up my throne a thousand times.”

“That’s going a bit far,” Yugi said, with a faint chuckle. “I rather like the perks of your throne, Pharaoh.”

“Then every perk of my throne is yours to enjoy. And I’ll suffer the filthy thieves in my basement. Without a word of complaint, too.”

“That’s just the afterglow talking, and we both know it.”

“Then let’s be quiet and enjoy it while it lasts, shall we?” Atem asked, pulling Yugi close and holding him. And Yugi did as the Pharaoh commanded, snuggling into Atem’s chest with only a contented sigh.

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siconetribal · 6 years ago

Text

Coffee Shop

Fandom: YGO:DM AU

Pairing: Ryo Bakura/Seihara Cross (FOC)

Warning: Fluff

Eight o’clock. Eight o’clock on the dot Ryo was in line at the nearest coffee shop. He was greeted by warm air and the aroma of freshly brewed coffee. With his long day ahead, he figured a drink was in order before he even decided to tackle his schedule for the day. The line was long, but the baristas were efficiently handling orders, mixing magic, and completing transactions in lightning speed.

Alright, at this pace I’ll have time to spare and enjoy my drink. He grinned as he glanced down at his cellphone. Being in line, he figured he may as well get his papers in order when it happened. The line had come to a screeching halt. A few minutes of no movement had him looking up to see a brunette contemplate the large selection on the chalkboards hanging behind the counter.

“So, I’ve always wanted to ask, what’s the difference between a latte and a cappuccino?” She kindly asked the barista.

Ryo sighed out any irritation that threatened to build, glancing around at his fellow patrons and noticed a young woman with an amused grin watching the scene unfold.

“Oh, ok! What about an americano?” The brunette asked and the mystery woman’s shoulders shook.

You think this is funny? Let’s see you how you feel when she’s yet to decide her drink. Ryo scowled to himself. Granted he probably would have found this a bit amusing too had he not had such a busy day ahead.

“Ok, so, how about a triple frap mint white chocolate mocha skinny with whip cream, dark chocolate and caramel drizzle?” She vivaciously asked the slowly growing more frustrated by the moment server.

“Uh, ok. Sure-.”

“No wait! Uhm…lemme have…a…soy latte with no foam or whip cream and with a hazelnut sugar-free drizzle.” She quickly changed her order.

“Alright, will that be all-,” the server began to tap the monitor when she halted the process once more.

“Actually, no scratch that one too! Hmmm, I would like to have a triple berry crème frap blended with non-fat milk, no whip cream with cocoa nibs.”

“Are you sure?” The barista asked, exasperation detectable but completely lost on the girl as she looked back up at the boards.

“Well, maybe not….”

As she tried to make heads-or-tails of what she wanted Ryo heard another soft giggle.

Ok, seriously!? Do you still find this amusing? He wondered, glancing to see if he could find her but she was not standing to the side anymore.

“Amusing don’t you think?” A voice came from behind.

“Excuse me?” He raised a brow and turned to see the woman he was looking for just now. She nodded towards the woman at the counter.

“She doesn’t know the difference between a latte and a cappuccino but she’ll order that crazy triple Frappuccino?”

“Oh yeah, a regular comedian. Downright hilarious.” He muttered, his words dripped with sarcasm as he glanced at his phone screen once more. He bounced on the balls of his feet as he glanced ahead once more.

The woman from behind side stepped him with a broad smile as she tapped the woman ahead on the shoulder. “Excuse me, miss, but if you decide what you’d like in the next ten seconds, I’ll buy you your drink.”

“Oh my gosh, I’m so sorry!” Her face turned scarlet and darker still as she looked at the line behind her with expectant faces staring back at her. “Coffee with a touch of cream and sugar please!” She squeaked.

“That’s it?” The barista gaped in disbelief.

“Yes, thank you.” She smiled as best she could and within thirty seconds she was out the door holding a large cup of coffee. The line broke out in to sighs of relief and gasp of disbelief. Ryo was among the gapers.

“Can I get yours too?” The savior turned to him. “I insist since I wasn’t thoughtful about how you may be feeling before.”

“No, really, that’s ok. You’ve done more than enough, thanks.”

“Nonsense,” she shook her head and stepped ahead of him. “I’ll have a large matcha chai latte with honey and a….”

“I’ll have the same.” Ryo sighed, not paying attention as he glanced at the time again. The woman paid for the drinks and soon they were off to the side waiting for the order. She offered her hand to him.

“Seihara Cross.”

“Nice to meet you, Seihara. I’m Ryo Bakura,” he replied taking his hand in to hers and feeling her cool skin warm to his touch. When her green eyes sparkled in the fluorescent light, Ryo felt his insides tremble unexpectedly.

“It’s nice to meet you and I’m glad I could help out with your little fix.” She responded and a small silence fell between them. The barista brought forth their orders and handed them over. He grabbed both and handed one to her. “Oh, thank you. I guess chivalry isn’t dead huh?” She joked, a little nervous and they headed for the door. “Um…I was wondering,” she hesitated and fidgeted with her cup a bit. “Would you meet me for drinks again here, tomorrow? Perhaps a little earlier so we can grab a table.” She managed to get out the words, her cheeks tinging a soft pink as she pushed herself out of her comfort zone. She flashed him a shy smile and waited for him to reply.

Calm down Cross, calm down! He could very well say no and that’s ok! You gotta get out there more. She coached herself, sipping the scalding hot beverage but unable to notice from her nerves.

He flashed her a handsome grin, pleasantly surprised by the invitation. In contrast to his usual cautionary nature, he chose to take a chance. There was just something about Seihara Cross that drew him in the moment he saw her.

“Sure, that sounds great. Except, I know a better place called The Scarlette Carson. It’s spelled with two t’s and an e at the end. It’s on the corner of 15 and L. Do you know it?” Ryo asked.

“No, but that sounds perfect. Shall we meet there?”

“Sure, how about seven o’clock?”

“Great! I’ll see you there,” she grinned with excitement, her insides jumping at the second smile he gives her. She opened the door for the both of them and Ryo was made to walk through after her. He had noted she quickened her pace to get to the door, the small action making him chuckle. “Well, bye Ryo.”

“Until tomorrow Seihara, thanks again for the coffee.” He replied and walked away down the crowded sidewalk. Ryo sipped his coffee but abruptly stopped at the taste that was not coffee. What is this?! He looked at his cup. Matcha chai? I don’t order that-oh wait, I got the same as she did! Man, I was too lost on my phone! Well…it isn’t so bad I guess. He sipped it once more and thought of his time with the peculiar young woman.

#ygo #Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters #ryo bakura #OC #fanfic #a03 fic

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shadowgodling · 7 years ago

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“You regret it.” Bakura observed, quietly and more to himself. “How did it happen? Were you Zorc or you? I wish to know all the details. Don’t leave anything out.” He didn’t want to alarm his partner with the sudden questions, yet comfort was not his strong suit. Shifting his hand on top of Godling’s, he held it for a beat before letting go.

“Of course I regret it. He was my- He was like my child to me. I raised him since that night. I was made for him.” Godling bit his lip and stopped himself, forced himself to slow down. "I was me. And I just- killed him. With my hands."

“No one wanted to hear about it before. Please let me think.” He wanted to make fists with his hands, but to do so would have meant letting go of Kura and that he refused to do until he had to.

“.. When Zorc died and I became myself as I am now, my Thief discovered that I’d been working for Zorc his whole life. He decided I was Zorc. And he hated me. I was something new, and I hadn’t learnt how to control my powers yet, but I wanted to please him now that he was my sole master. He ordered me to- well.. He didn’t want me around, once realised that when he killed me I’d just come back. So he ordered me to learn how to kill Gods.” He cleared his throat, still feeling guilty for his failures to come.

“But I couldn’t. I tried but I couldn’t get it to work. To stick. So after a year I went back to him, to confess that I’d failed him. And .. It wasn’t really an argument because this was before I knew about having opinions. But he was angry with me. And all the emotions in the house were making the shadows loud, and when he was hitting me they got in my mind. I lost control. And I killed him.” Godling bit his lip but it was too late, his eyes were already close to spilling over. He twitched as he stopped himself from instinctively hiding his face. But the words felt like cement in his throat.

“I strangled him. My Thief. It wasn’t a fight. He tried to retreat, to stop it. But I couldn’t stop myself. I laughed at him. .. And Ryou hit me in the head with something, I think a frying pan. To snap me out of it. It must have been a good hit, because my body died a day or so later. But it didn’t matter, he was dead. Dead dead, like a human. Ryou told me to go away so.. I did. .. And I eventually ended up here.”

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yugioh-thoughts · 7 years ago

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I want to know what are characters's soul rooms look like. Original we only get to see Anzu and Yugis's. Your idea?

I had to think about this a little but here’s what I came up for some of them (surprisingly angsty, I must say):

- Atem’s soul room after he regains his memories looks like the inside of an Egyptian palace. I think it would be very clean and organized, as after all that happened he’d like to avoid losing or misplacing things in his mind. There would be things tied to his past, like Egyptian games he used to play, but also more modern things, like a duel disk. He would have so many pictures in there - of Yugi, of his friends both in modern and in past times, of his family, we know he how much he treasures everyone he loves so I can imagine his room would be full of images of all the people he doesn’t want to ever forget about

- Seto’s room would be very modern in look. A mix between an office and a minimalist apartment. It would look very tidy, of course, with very few things around (a picture of Mokuba, a Blue Eyes model). There would be a desk that is always covered in papers about whatever the latest idea Seto is concentrated on is. But open a drawer or a cabinet, and you’ll find a real mess within, torn pictures and a broken collar and chess pieces all scattered around, all the things he tried to suppress and forget through the years but he only ends up hiding out of sight

- Jounouchi’s room would look like a real mess the moment you step in. Everything is thrown around, on the ground, in piles that risk falling down from one moment to the other. Duel Monster cards are all over the place, and you could barely step inside without risking walking over some. There’s a lot of things that are Duel Monster themed, but you could find Shizuka’s favorite doll, the one she would always play with as a kid and have Jounouchi join her, or a replica of that one Puzzle piece he stole from Yugi all those years before. No photos for him, just mementos of all his friends. In a corner there’s a box that’s got a knife and some old clothes from when he was in the gang. It’s dusty and closed with tape, and one would easily miss it if they didn’t know it was there

- Mai’s soul room has a certain elegance. There’s comfortable armchairs and tasteful decorations, it almost looks as if she was expecting guests, and there’s always a sweet aroma in it. If one were to look closely, they would see there are small cracks in the wood of the coffee table, that the wall behind the shelf housing the awards she won at various tournaments is ruined and stained. But you’d have to look very closely. Mostly, you’d find her decks, Harpy Ladies dolls, and make up and many fine things

- Ryou’s room would not have that much Duel Monster merch. Maybe a few of his favorite cards, but that’s it. There would be books upon books, especially his favorite novels, most of which horror stories. There’s a picture of his mother and sister, and then there are his favorite tabletop games. A huge, bright colored carpet on hides underneath the ugly stains on the ground in the shape of the Ring, made with some dark substance that looks a lot like dried blood. There’s a bed there - very comfortable for reading, but also good for hiding under the blankets when something ugly and evil is inside your head

- Yami Bakura’s room is the opposite of nice. It’s dark, and humid, an Egyptian tomb, the walls covered in blood stains and hieroglyphs that read of curses and blasphemies. He doesn’t have much other than his anger and his hate for the Pharaoh, and the room shows it, laid almost bare past wicked looking knives and a few riches he stole in times long past. A side of the room is dark, and something moves there, with growls and groans like a caged beast. Even with all his hate, Bakura’s room used to be better, once, with gold that decorated the walls, but the millennia locked in the Ring with Zorc have twisted and fouled the little good there was

#ask #the-one-random-internet-kid #yugioh dm #atem #seto kaiba #jounouchi katsuya #mai kujaku #ryou bakura #yami bakura

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steve0discusses · 6 years ago

Text

Yugioh S3 Ep4: Pharaoh Kitsch

Ah, I just found out what happens when you put a quesadilla in an air fryer (it was still delicious but looked a lot like modern art) So now that nothing else can possibly surprise me today lets go over to Yugioh. Bear in mind, I am still sick as a dog and my brain only recently came out of a pretty intense fog so I think this recap makes sense but it might not. Which is on brand for this show so wtv.

Tea went to hell recently. She’s still kicking. But, unfortunately in hell.

Yugi’s still getting harassed by a swamp person who can’t stop talking about how good he is at Business.

I’ll be honest I’ve been on dates with guys professing to be Business experts (they’re not) where I basically wanted to lie on the ground exactly like this mid conversation in the middle of the damn restaurant.

So anyways, it’s this episode where Pharaoh decides to try something new. Mostly it’s because he had only a limited number of cards to choose from but also because it’s everyone’s favorite kitschy thing that I guess is back in fashion again that’s right it’s a rainbow.

This sounded like a joke on the show but I was just me talking to myself in this last blurb. *long, exasperated sigh*

(read more under the cut)

Anyways I just deleted about 4 or 5 different art rants (I’m pretty sure it was like 11 rants actually, I get pissssssed when I’m on Dayquil) where I pretty much snapped about trends, and it went way off topic. Apparently Dayquil me is just like up in arms about the neon 80′s pink rainbow unicorn trend that was super fun for a little while, but it’s been like 6 years and it’s *still here* and it’s like guys, while I was super down 6 years ago, now I am 30. Do any marketers out there even know how old millennials are supposed to be?

Anyway, before obsessive bad marketing happened and rainbows became a meme to comfort us in these hard times, rainbows used to be out of fashion when this episode aired in 2001. Just bear that in mind if you are a baby in the room and you think unicorn stuff everywhere is normal, it didn’t used to be. It used to be wearing multiple belts was normal and dying your bangs blonde and then parting them aloft and to the side, only allowing your freshly dyed hair to touch water maybe once a week. The cover “Mad World” just came out on the radio and we listened to it unironically. So Pharaoh using a rainbow was supposed to be a joke. Not like...a mundane thing we wouldn’t blink twice at in 2019 because rainbows are freakin everywhere.

And I should clarify that I’m referring to the the hyper cute Lisa Frank Revival. Not about how rainbows are a political symbol since the 90′s--that’s fine--that’s always been a thing, and I’m not docking the actual use of a rainbow both as a pride flag and as a Hawaiian license plate. I’m docking the market saturation of rainbows aimed at the five adults who can wear this stuff and still go to work somehow.

Anyway, a lot of Yugi’s duel is centered around Gansly making fun of his cute ass Kuriboh and saying it was too adorable to ever be effective so now I guess Pharaoh has decided to destroy the hell out of Gansly with a rainbow to get his revenge and to get his point across. Which is very Pharaoh of him despite the fact that this card is the opposite of Pharaoh’s entire emo/alt-rock aesthetic. Pharaoh just really needs to get in the last word always.

We get some more vignettes of what everyone else is up to and I gotta say they made a great use of Joey.

Photoreal penguin sure asked a lot out of me. My brother on the other hand who freakin loves penguins was like “THIS IS THE BEST.” and I was like “but how did the penguin pick up a ROPE?” and he was like “shshshshshhh don’t ruin penguin for me!”

I guess using it’s beak? Or maybe there’s little human fingers on one of it’s little flipper wings?

Anyways, the Kaibas have recovered from their orphanage/falling off of a cliff episode and are back to arguing in the way where Mokuba kind of lectures/begs his older brother and Kaiba goes “hhhrhhghghhhhh”

Mokuba is also just going off about whether or not Seto was a good parent. He’s not. Seto is a terrible parent, and I am shocked that Mokuba is still surprised by this. Seto is a freakin child, but hey I guess Seto is better than a war criminal?

Mokuba just expects a lot out of Seto Kaiba. Over the course of this show, it’s becoming apparent that Mokuba is slowly starting to see the cracks in his older brother, I’m just surprised at how long it’s taking Mokuba to figure out that his brother has not just cracks but is spilling out basically everywhere and getting everyone they know possibly killed in the process. Most likely Duke Devlin. Still shocked Duke Devlin is still alive.

Mokuba’s not quite there yet, he’s still holding out. He’s still trying to reason with this kid who is flying a blimp onto an island he once blew up like a James Bond villain so he can play a bunch of cards on it. Mokuba’s...pretty delusional, but I guess so are all Kaibas.

On the other side of town, Yugi decided he was kind of feeling bad about Pharaoh falling repeatedly on his own face. Which is also Yugi’s face. But also neither of their actual face since this is entirely in VR.

Nothing was even fired at Yugi’s direction. He didn’t even get a chance to like...reach for his cards. He was just like “Oh damn never mind oh damn.”

Like all the rest of these characters seem like they still function pretty good at like 400 HP but Yugi is just out at like 1200 it feels like. Shouldn’t it be you can play until you hit 0? Not like it matters since Yami would just take over anyway.

On the other side of town Tea is rewriting memories with characters who were absolutely not here for this moment in S1.

Could be that Tea has finally decided to recognize Duke and Serenity into the fold as much as Tristan, Joey and Yugi, or it could be that her memories are so freakin borked from S1 Pharaoh’s mind wipes, that she actually legitimately thinks both were there.

Funnily enough, she did not add Bakura to this memory. Whenever any other friend has had a vision where their buddies rallied them on, Bakura has always been included, but not this time. Nice. Maybe Tea is the only person who has figured out Bakura ≠ friend. Or maybe Bakura was just straight up written out of everyone’s memories when he died? Hell knows, the show still hasn’t talked about it. Bakura hella died, and no one has even talked about it. Of course no one is really next to each other at the moment so fine, I’ll let it pass.

Anyway, she decides to use this opportunity to prep for the upcoming Ironman challenge that I’m pretty sure she does once a year.

There she goes, on her way to probably save Mokuba’s ass with her own ass, yet again. Tea and her weird strength. I have no idea where she stores it. I have no idea where it comes from. But Tea is like some sort of primal force of nature and she rarely ever uses it.

And then..........this happened.

And then a purple horse with a scantily clad knight on it crosses this bridge to stab the fishman in the heart-it was a lot of unexpected stuff, guys. Again, completely normal for 2019. I could probably get a shirt with a rainbow and a unicorn with a knight on it from like...Target.

Oh My Oh My I just typed “unicorn on rainbow shirt target” into google and one of the first thing that popped up was a shirt with a chibi rainbow unicorn dabbing. My eyes. There were so many search results. Freakin dabbing. This particular shirt is clearly for children and not for 30′s but man I know like 6 people my age who probably already own this shirt.

Anyway, my apologies to all the fans of this fad, this is your time to shine, make the most of it, you are all valid and it is fine to love what you love. We all like different things. I’ll be here in my corner eagerly waiting for this fad to mercifully end so I can finally go back to the Tim Burton wannabe illustrator I used to be before I had to adapt to the hyper cute phase we’re in right now. I mean you have to humbly deal with the cards you’re given, and sometimes that means you have to draw some rainbows both in cards and also in actual drawings.

Doesn’t mean I have to like it.

So, when Noah realizes he can’t exactly beat Yugi with cards he reaches for this instead:

And guys, Yugi doesn’t even hesitate.

Like remember how Pharaoh walked straight into a creepy clown tent and shoved himself into a little tiny box in a dark room and got hellllla abducted in less than 2 minutes? It is SO EASY to abduct Yugi Muto. In fact, on seeing this magic door appear, Yugi even told Pharaoh “that’s a trap” and Pharaoh was like “that is a trap” and they both were like “I see no other options.”

When it’s like, Yugi, you are OUTSIDE. There’s no walls here--you could go literally anywhere else but the door.

But WTV, it’s Yugi logic.

#Yugioh #yugioh recap #photo recap #s3 ep4 #this was gonna go out like Sunday but I was way too sick and legit forgot #and also no joke I kept ranting about like weird ass stuff #because of the dayquil #so I had to come off the dayquil train before posting #so really making a backlog for when I get sick was pointless because I couldn't post it anyway lol #yugi muto #tea gardner #noah #seto kaiba #mokuba #rainbow kuriboh #I also meant to post this wednesday but I pressed the edit button instead of post #so apparently I still wasn't better yet from this flu that just won't freakin end #but third times the charm lets see if I actually get this from my draft folder into my blog

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diaboundkernel-blog · 7 years ago

Note

💜💙❤️💛💚

[ peer into my muse’s memories ]

💜- A memory about one of their loved ones, happy or sad

Bakura was an adventurous child. While he had been warned of the particularly sketchy parts of Kul Elna, he chose to explore anyways. He wasn’t the most trusting child, but he had always decided to follow his heart over the little warnings in the back of his head. People were beginning to know him – his mother allowed him to go out on his own, now, and each and every time Bakura spent his time training. Be it climbing walls or practicing combat, the tiny thief was learning fast.

Darting through the village, Bakura intended to actually try putting his skills to use for once. He wanted to show off to his friends and, especially, his mother. He knew someone around here had something nice that he could bring home to her, and she had seemed awfully worried lately. Maybe a gift would help lift her spirits!

The only problem was – Touzoku wasn’t as strong as he thought he was. He was a mere child; he was quick and agile, but he lacked the physical strength. As quick as he had snatched up a pretty necklace, previously stolen from royal grounds, he had been cornered by its owner. The owner was armed, and certainly had no qualms murdering a pesky child. “It’s for my mama!” He insisted, clutching the jewelry close to him as he stepped back, wary of the space left behind him. “She needs it! She’s not well! It’ll make her smile…!”

Unbeknownst to him, not only had he been trapped, he had also been followed. A dagger flew past the man in front of the boy. Overwhelmed and afraid, the tiny thief ducked down and hugged the necklace tight to him, eyes shut tight. The next thing he knew, a gentle hand had been placed on his shoulder, a feeling that only meant the presence of one person: his mother.

Quickly, small arms wrapped around the woman with hair as wild as his own. He was lifted into the air, held close to his mother’s chest. Despite gentle shushing, Bakura couldn’t help but whimper. Certain he was going to be scolded, that she was going to be angry, he was rightfully scared. However, the scolding never came. He was only met with love and comfort, a kindness exclusive to the pair. Eventually, he spoke up, boldly declaring, “I’m gonna get stronger, mama! Then I’ll bring you more treasures than you could ever imagine!”

The woman only chuckled, cradling the little boy. “I know you will,” she murmured, stroking his back. All the excitement had tired out the tiny thief, and it wasn’t long before he drifted off in her arms.

💙- A sad memory that makes them cry

No. No, no, no. This couldn’t be happening. Nothing but fear ran through the thief’s veins. He was cold, frozen, scared, everything crashing down on him horribly fast. He couldn’t move, he couldn’t speak, he couldn’t do a goddamned thing. Hidden behind that wall, the child was so certain that everything was all over. They were dying, dead, right in front of his eyes. And he couldn’t do anything about it.

He’d been lucky evading capture, but he hadn’t realized this… This is what they were planning? They’d never done anything wrong. They’d never hurt anybody. His friends, family… All of Kul Elna. They were just trying to survive. And this is how they were going to be treated? They hadn’t done anything wrong! So why…?

Panic practically crushed Bakura’s lungs. He couldn’t breathe. He couldn’t think. He was too young, too weak to do something. No matter how badly he wanted to. He couldn’t do a goddamned thing. He couldn’t save them.

But he could save himself.

When he finally got his body to move, he ran. Ran. And he wasn’t looking back. He had to find somewhere to hide. Somewhere the guards wouldn’t find him.

The last thing he remembered was crying.

A lot of crying.

❤️- A happy memory that makes them smile

There was nothing more pleasant than a good victory.

He had eaten like a king. Draped in gold and satisfyingly full, Bakura basked in the shade, awfully pleased. He had been on a roll, lately. Everything seemed to be going well for him. He had finally picked himself up off his miserable ass after getting fucked over by the royal family. He couldn’t show his face around that area any longer, not without a ridiculous amount of scorn and ridicule. It made it hard to steal things around the palace, but it was about time for him to pick himself back up.

The scar on his face was almost done healing. He had been moping, licking his wounds. He was certain, then, that his life was over. But once the ghosts had helped him back on his way, he knew he couldn’t let himself go down without a fight. And he had done one damned good job stirring up hell around the palace. Surely they were still looking for him, but they wouldn’t find him.

“I should have listened sooner,” the thief spoke aloud, seemingly to no one. The ghosts, however, heard him.. They were there. They were always there, always with him, watching him, protecting him, raising him. They were constantly trying to encourage him to go back to training. Go back to stealing. Get prepared for the real show. He would get his hands on those cursed items. He’d do it for them.

“Thank you for this.” He closed his eyes, relaxing as a small breeze ran over him. It was time for some rest. He needed it. He deserved it. He’d done good – he knew it, the ghosts knew it, and, amusingly enough, so did the royal family. He’d done a damned good job and he was sure they were pissed about it. If only he could see the look on the Pharaoh’s face…

💛- A memory that makes them feel angry

Sometimes, the Thief King wasn’t sure why he tried. The royal family -- damn them -- weren’t going to listen. That’s just how it was. The priests were too high and mighty to even think of giving Bakura the time of day, and despite the truth he spoke, they’d never truly listen. It frustrated him to no end.

His anger was shared by the ghosts living in the leftover ruins of Kul Elna. They cried, day after day, about their injustice. The mere existence of the Millennium Items upset them. And the more the Priests used them for their own game -- not all of them, but there were a few of the lot more selfish than the rest -- the more tantrums the spirits threw.

While he’d been nothing but cocky during the fight, returning to the ruined village, his deep loathing for the palace and its residents was clear in even the tiniest movements and expressions. Darkness and hatred ran through his blood, each encounter only making the flow worse. He had come home empty handed this time. But he wouldn’t again.

No, not again. He would make them pay. He’d make them all pay.

💚- A memory that makes them feel guilty

Staggering into the cavern beneath Kul Elna, Bakura knew he was in for it. He was supposed to be the King of Thieves, the best thief in all of Egypt, and what kind of thief king actually allowed himself to get caught? It was pathetic. It was a miracle they hadn’t slaughtered him on the spot, merely letting him off with a warning. A warning that would change his life for years to come.

Blood dripping off of his cheek made him dizzy with disgust. The flesh burned, and there was no way the wound wasn’t going to scar. He couldn’t show his face to another living being without them knowing who he was and what his intentions were. He could hardly fathom returning to the ghost town he still considered home. But he needed them, needed the comfort of the souls trapped there.

But comfort did not come.

His chest tightened as he forced himself to clean up, the word failure, among others, floating around in horrific whispers as they saw what had become of the once proud Thief King. He had not yet earned that title, that much was obvious.

The spirits were not the people they once were when they were alive. Their traumas had distorted them, turned them into crueler versions of their past selves, much as the massacre had done to Bakura himself. When he was victorious, they praised him. When he wasn’t, they criticized him. The child within him ached. This wasn’t something he was equipped to handle. But he listened to their words all the same.

They were right to be angry with him. Bakura had a job to do and he failed. He failed time and time again. How hard could it possibly be to bring back the seven items? The thief had known from the start this wasn’t going to be an easy battle, but, until that very moment, he had sworn he wasn’t going to give up.

But now?

He wasn’t so sure.

#sorcererandhisapprentice #answered #under a cut because this is fucking long

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mystical-flute · 7 years ago

Text

Come Sail Away Ch. 5

The executives sat around the large conference table in the room, leaning back with identical, satisfied looks on their faces. Master Pegasus' plan was going just as expected, and it would all be over soon, with Yugi Mutou's defeat. None of them had any personal vendettas against the sixteen-year-old of course, but he had unseated Seto Kaiba as a champion, and that simply couldn't stand for that.

Even if they did have plans to destroy their young boss and restore Kaiba Corporation to its former military glory with the help of Pegasus. No longer would they be laughingstocks, ordered around by an eighteen-year-old and a thirteen-year-old. Finally, the Big Five would once again be in control of things they were good at instead of stupid card games. Pegasus would handle that side of the takeover.

The camera showing the duel panned back slightly, allowing a view of the entire arena, and Crump's deep voice rumbled through the room.

"Leichter, isn't that Miaka's daughter standing there?" he asked as the camera focused in on the tri-colored haired woman who was observing the duel.

The American's eyes lifted to the screen. "Hm? Oh, so it is. Master Pegasus did say something about her being needed for part of his plan." He supposed at one time, he'd looked at her like she was his own daughter, especially after Miaka and Genji disappeared, but the novelty had worn off, especially once Mr. Kaiba had reportedly started dating her… but there was no confirmation of that just yet – not that it mattered considering he was going to be out of the way.

"She looks tired and anxious, doesn't she? I suppose Master Pegasus' tournament has been draining on her," Johnson's monotone voice added with a small smirk.

"Life has not dealt her a fair hand. And neither have we," Leichter said with a chuckle as he took a sip of his drink, watching the duel with a smile.

Yes, Leichter thought, soon everything would be as it should be.

"Wait – she's gone!" Crump exclaimed after the duel was covered by that strange purple fog that they couldn't see through and the camera panned back to the spectators. "Reika's gone!"

Leichter's eyes widened. "She's probably looking for those boys. Give me the phone."

Johnson slid the phone over to him, and he frowned as he dialed Kemo's number. "Kemo, find the girl. She's escaped our eyes." When there was no response from their guard, he frowned. "Kemo?"

"I'm sorry. Kemo's a little tied up at the moment," came the voice of Reika Mutou on the other end of the line.

-----

With Yugi dueling a man who could read his mind, Reika was a bundle of nervous energy, so she'd decided to take off into the castle to find where Pegasus had hidden the Kaiba brothers once Pegasus had summoned a shadow game, which, according to Azila, not even she could break even though she too had a Millennium item. Tristan and Bakura had disappeared some time ago trying to find him.

"Reika? What are you doing here?" a voice suddenly asked.

She turned faster than she meant to, putting up a defensive stance before relaxing when she noticed it was simply Mai Valentine.

"Mai. I was just looking for Tristan and Bakura. Have you seen them?"

The blonde woman blinked in surprise before her lips curled into a concerned frown. "No, I haven't seen them, but I'll help you look."

"Thank you," she replied with a smile as the two continued to sneak through the castle.

"You're not supposed to be out here, are you?" Mai suddenly asked as Reika kept herself pressed against the wall. "In fact, your behavior suggests you're not exactly… willing to be here. You've seemed tense since I met you yesterday."

She hummed slightly and ignored the questions, ducking down a hallway when she heard a rumbling sound, putting her arm out so Mai was concealed too.

Kemo appeared out of the wall, looking around with the smug grin on his face that Reika just wanted to punch.

"That's got to be where he's keeping Kaiba and Mokuba," Mai whispered.

She nodded slowly in agreement, violet eyes searching for something she could use to distract Kemo before Mai suddenly bolted out from their hiding spot with a wide smile. Reika gaped as she ran up to Kemo.

"Miss Valentine? You should be on your way back to Domino…" she heard the man say as she remained hidden in the shadows.

"Well, I was too engrossed in Yugi's duel that I missed it. I was hoping you could help a girl out…"

"Sure Miss Valentine, I'll be more than happy to call you another ship," Kemo replied just as a cell phone began to ring.

The voices began fading as Mai led him down the hallway – oh… now she understood.

With a smirk, Reika moved carefully, grabbing a small statue off a nearby table and snuck up behind Kemo, whacking him over the head with it hard enough to knock the man out and grab the gun that was on his hip.

"Kemo?" came a voice from the dropped cell phone.

Reika felt her heart stop at the voice. Though it was over the phone, she could tell the southern American accent anywhere.

"I'm sorry," she said as she picked it up, "Kemo's a little tied up at the moment."

"Miss Mutou? Miss Mutou, what are you doing?"

"Nothing you need to concern yourself with, Leichter. Now if you'll excuse me I have some things I need to take care of."

"Reika!"

She ended the call and threw the phone down the hallway in disgust as she stalked back toward the false wall Kemo had appeared from, shaken at the revelation that Leichter was involved in all of this.

"Friend of yours?" Mai asked, her voice less curious and more cautious now as she followed her down the dark pathway.

"My mother's old boss. He kept an eye on me when I was a kid after my parents went missing, but he stopped communication with me when I left for school. I should have known something was suspicious with him when he showed up at my grandfather's hospital room," she said with a sigh as she ran a hand through her long hair.

"Reika, where did your mother work?"

"Kaiba Corp," she said with an exhale. "As a secretary."

Mai frowned as they made their way through the damp, cold dungeon. "So… your mother worked for Kaiba Corp, you have one of those objects that Pegasus wants, and that man at Kaiba Corp is currently working for Pegasus. If this wasn't real life, I'd say this would make a good plot for a movie."

"I really wish this was a movie," she sighed as they approached a fork in the path. "Which way should we go?"

"My gut says left," Mai said from behind her.

"Left it is."

A chill ran through her as they moved carefully through the dungeon, Reika keeping careful tabs on where they were going and how to get back to the main entryway. She didn't want to be suspicious, but it was odd that Mai had decided to help her with this. Not that she was going to turn down help – Seto was tall, and she swore that most of his weight was in his trench coats and not actual body weight, and she didn't think she could move him all the way back to the dueling arena by herself, especially with the guards lurking around the area.

She clutched the gun a bit harder at the sound of a thump from down the hall, their footsteps quickening until they came to a stop in front of an unconscious Bakura and Mokuba. Tristan was hovering over an unconscious guard with a suit of armor's helmet in his hands.

"Hey Mai, Reika. What are you guys doing here?"

"Probably the same thing you are. Give me the key, I'll get Seto out of there."

Tristan gave her a curious look, but handed her the key with a shrug, going to pick up Mokuba and Bakura as Reika knelt in front of Seto and sighed.

"It'll be over soon. I promise," she whispered to him as she uncuffed him from the wall and carefully hoisted him over her shoulder. "Mai, a little help, please?"

Together, she and Mai dragged Seto from the cell before their trio rushed as fast as they could back to the dueling hall, where the purple dome still blocked their view of Yugi and the duel.

"Tristan, what happened to Bakura?" she finally asked as they situated their fallen companions against the wall.

"It's his Millennium Ring. It – I don't know, it's got another person in it, like Yugi's puzzle. And that person wanted Mokuba's body. So I knocked him out and threw the ring off a cliff. It won't hurt anyone again," Tristan explained.

"Hm…" Azila hummed. "The Millennium Ring is not like the other items. I'm not so sure it's gone for good…"

"Comforting," she replied.

"It wasn't supposed to be."

"I kn – ow!" Reika's thought was cut off by a sharp pain in her chest, and looking around, it was obvious Tristan, Téa and Joey had felt it too. "Yugi…" she whispered. "You'll be alright. We're here."

She wasn't sure how much longer they stood there, but eventually, the dome faded, the life points counter on Yugi's side of the arena suggesting that he'd won the game. Pegasus' head was in his hands, cards scattered around him.

"You did it Yugi! You really did it! I knew you could!" she said with a laugh as she pulled her cousin in for a hug. "Pegasus is going to free everyone!"

"Thanks, Reika… it was hard but I'm glad I had everyone by my side."

She stepped back to allow his friends to congratulate him, looking over as she saw Croquet beginning to approach.

"Master Pegasus has requested a private meeting with you, Miss Mutou. Immediately."

"Excuse me? After everything he's put people I care about through? Forget it. He's letting everyone go and we're getting the hell off this island," Reika said, crossing her arms over her chest and narrowing her eyes.

"I'm afraid he's not going to take no for an answer, Miss Mutou."

"Fine. But the gun comes with me," she said as she followed Croquet, hearing vocal protests from her cousin and his friends. She was tired of these games with Pegasus, and for once, she wanted to have the upper hand. Though Yugi had won the duel, there was no telling whether or not Pegasus actually would hold up his end of the bargain.

She was led to a tower and paused, gripping the gun as she looked at the man who was leading her upstairs. "This had better not be a joke, Croquet." Frankly, she never wanted to see a tower again after everything the weekend had taken from her.

"It's not a joke. Master Pegasus is waiting for you upstairs."

Exhaling through her nose, Reika followed the staircase, where she indeed saw the disgraced man standing in front of a table, his head drooped.

"What do you want, Pegasus?" she asked, not daring to move away from the staircase.

Pegasus took what sounded like a shaky breath and turned to face her. "I wanted to give you back your things, Miss Mutou," he told her, handing her the purse she'd had the night she'd been taken hostage. "And I wanted to apologize for what I did. I let the darkness of my Millennium Eye cloud my judgment and the lines between right and wrong got blurred. I know I can't make up for it, but I did need to get it off my chest."

Reika studied him for a moment, trying to see how genuine the apology and the pretty words were. She sighed before pressing her lips together, formulating words in her mind before she spoke.

"Forgiveness isn't my strong suit, so you won't be forgiven so easily. However… I do have compassion and an understanding. You were desperate to do more than control a company and steal two items, weren't you?" she questioned as she looked around the tower once again, seeing a painting of a blond woman hanging on one of the walls. "That woman. Who is she?"

"She was my wife. I lost her when we were still newlyweds."

"A desperate attempt to see her again. That's why you were so interested in T.A.I.D.R. You were hoping that we could find her for you. I'm sorry Pegasus, but there's no way to bring back the dead. That's one dimension we don't have access to," she told him. "If we did, I'd ask if my parents were there."

"You lost them?"

"In a way. They've been missing since I was ten. It would be nice to know if they were dead, then I could move on with my life," she told him bitterly, looking through the purse absently and finding everything was in place. "If you are still interested in the agency, Pegasus, someone will be in contact with you once I get back to Domino."

Pegasus had money, and money was never something an undercover, off-the-books organization was going to turn down.

She turned to leave, stopping when Pegasus called her again.

"Take these," the white-haired man said, handing her three cards. "As proof that I always keep my word. Everyone has been set free. Your cousin and his friend shall get their winnings in a few moments."

She looked down at the three empty cards and let out a breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding. "Thank you, Pegasus." She turned to go again, hearing Pegasus speak once more as she descended down the stone steps.

"You know, you and Kaiba-boy do make a lovely couple. I wish you the same happiness Cynthia and I had."

She went scarlet, running the rest of the way until she reached the duel arena again.

"Reika! You're okay!" Joey said. "But your face is all red. What happened?"

Putting a hand on her cheek, Reika felt the warmth radiating off of it. "I'm fine, don't worry. Pegasus was just returning some lost objects to me," she told them with a relieved smile as she saw Seto and Mokuba beginning to stir. She couldn't contain herself as she moved over to them as another guard went over to Yugi and Joey.

"Hey," she breathed to them with a soft smile. "You guys okay?"

Seto nodded, rubbing his head as he gave her a small smile.

"Reika! When did you get home?" Mokuba asked, hugging her tight. "We haven't seen you in forever!"

A laugh escaped her as she returned the hug. "I got home a few days ago when I heard my grandpa was in a coma… and I think I'll be home for a little while yet," she explained, beginning to feel tiredness trying to draw her in. "I missed you guys."

She looked up at her secret boyfriend, giving him a look that signified there was much to come in terms of their reunion. He only smirked in reply, and for a moment, the rest of the world slipped away, a mutual understanding between them.

The journey back to Domino was a long one, but it was worth it as she and Yugi burst into the game shop and found their grandfather awake and alert as if nothing had happened.

"Grandpa!" she cheered, practically diving into the familiar security of his arms.

"Why Reika! Did they drag you all the way home just because of me?" the old man chuckled, his arms embracing her. "They didn't have to do that!"

"No one dragged me, I got the first flight I could!" she protested. "I wasn't going to stay in America knowing what happened to you. And then when Pegasus invited me to watch the tournament how could I turn it down?"

The old man smiled and kissed her forehead like did when she was a little girl. "Well, I'm glad to see you safe and home. Now how about we have some dinner, hm? Being trapped in a coma works up an appetite!"

She didn't want to think about what he went through while he was there, but she forced her tone to remain lighthearted. "I'll cook, grandpa, just to prove to you I won't burn down the kitchen anymore," she said with a grin.

"Very well, but we'll help you, just in case," the older man replied, clapping Yugi on the shoulder and grinning as everyone made their way into the small kitchen. "Tell me all about Duelist Kingdom, my boy!"

"I wish you could have been there, Gramps. It was amazing! I beat Weevil Underwood in my first duel, and Joey beat Rex Raptor!" Yugi said, "but the most important part is that Joey got enough money for Serenity's operation."

Joey nodded eagerly. "Yeah! She was so excited when I called her from the helicopter! I heard mom crying in the background, but when I called dad, he didn't seem to care much."

"Yeah well… who cares what your dad thinks? Serenity is going to be able to see again, and it's all because of you, Joey," Téa said with a wide smile.

"She's right Joey. Family isn't always blood. Sometimes it's those we choose to allow into our lives. And if my family doesn't mind me speaking for them, you have a family here that cares about you, and we'll all be here to support Serenity and her operation."

"Y-yeah? Really?" Joey asked, eyes wide. "Thanks, guys. It means a lot to me."

That night, Kame Game was filled with laughter and light, and as Reika leaned against the counter to watch the scene before her, she couldn't help but be reminded of the pirate crew she'd left behind.

-----

Kame Game was dark. The doors were locked up tight and its inhabitants slept in their beds.

Reika Mutou never looked to be completely settled, although Azila supposed that was because of her time as a pirate. It seemed odd that a pirate would be the one to inherit the bracelet, but the objects were fickle, and it had clearly sensed something within the young woman that bonded them together.

Azila wasn't sure what had brought her to this realm, knowing that Reika would be asleep and especially knowing what she had gone through over the last couple of days, but there was a great sense of unease she had, and she'd wanted to be here, just in case it was more than an odd feeling.

Taking what at one point would have been a seat at Reika's desk, Azila's violet eyes scanned the room before stopping as the Millennium Symbol formed on the door, a man in a white cloak stepping into the room, looking startled when he took in Azila's presence.

"A ghost from the ancient past. That was not what I was expecting when I entered this room," he said smoothly, looking from Azila to the sleeping Reika. "Why are you here?"

"I could ask you the same question. At least this bedroom belongs to the woman that wields an object that formally belonged to me, while you just broke in," Azila said, keeping her low even as Reika shifted slightly in her sleep. "Who are you?"

"I am Shadi. I was a tombkeeper who looked after the Millennium Items… and one was nearly stolen."

"Which one?" came Reika's tired voice from the bed. Azila turned to find her human companion sitting up on one arm, looking at the ghostly figure with a frown.

Shadi stepped over to the bed. "The Millennium Eye that belongs to Maximillion Pegasus. I have heard that you were on the island yesterday."

Reika nodded slowly. "But I didn't try to steal anything."

"Then you have nothing to fear," Shadi said, pulling out the Millennium Key and pressing it against her forehead. He was back what seemed like only a second later, and shook his head. "My apologies for believing that you had tried to steal it. I suppose I'll have to keep looking. Good evening, your majesty."

He vanished before either of them could speak, but once he was gone, Azila felt the burn of Reika's stare boring into her. A strange feeling since she'd been dead for thousands of years.

"Your majesty?" Reika whispered.

Azila opened her mouth to explain before Reika held up her hand.

"Actually you know what? I'm too tired to comprehend all of this right now." Reika's face dropped back into her pillow.

"Very well," Azila whispered as Reika's breathing deepened, indicating sleep.

"The boy the prophecy spoke of is just next door, Great Royal Consort Azila. You know what is to come…" Shadi's voice whispered in the darkness.

A cold streak of fear went down her spine, and with a nod, Azila vanished back to the spirit realm.

#fanfiction #come sail away #yugioh #seto kaiba #yugi mutou #joey wheeler #tea gardner #tristan taylor #mai valentine #mokuba kaiba #maximillion pegasus

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