Yu-Gi-Oh! Fan Fiction ❯ End Line ❯ Chapter 1

[ Y - Young Adult: Not suitable for readers under 16 ]
Welcome, Mad Tea Party! (g)

Disclaimer:
(attacks the approaching hoard of lawyers with a spork, steals their money, and runs away)

A/N: Ah... hmm... er... Yeah, this fic is kinda trippy. At least I think so. But wait, aren't all my fics kinda trippy? Yeah, but this one's extra-kinda-trippy. (nervous grin) Should it have been rated R? I don't know, but I did it anyway. Some people might not think so, but ff dot net probably would, and I don't have any kind of death wish whatsoever, so it's gonna be rated R whether you like it or not. So there. Ha ha. Heh. R&R onegai? Okay, I'm done now.

XooooooooooooooooXXoooooooooooEnd LineoooooooooooXXooooooooooooooooX

It was all because of last night.

Well, maybe it started even earlier than that, when you really thought about it.

If only he hadn't asked her...

If only she hadn't said 'yes', overflowing with startled happiness...

If only he'd never seen her...

If only he'd never put on the Ring? If only he'd never been born? Yes, you could keep going back and back. He supposed it didn't really matter.

He came home late, drenched just during the walk from the car to the house, pleasantly alive. To meet with screamed interrogations and fists to be dodged. Yes, Officer, this has happened before. Yes, Officer, he does this often. If only.

Perhaps it was her. For once he had the energy to resist the physical assaults, though the spirit did manage to get out of him where he'd been. The spirit knocked him down; he got up again. Somehow they were rolling on the floor. Somehow, now, there was accidental contact. He had frozen up in shock. Perhaps it was rage, or just to see his expression, but Bakura kissed him roughly. He cried out, tried to push him away, failed. Hands all over him, stealing his energy. Now he was kissing him again, possessive, totally dominant. Now he was inside him, ripping him apart and filling him up...

Tears fell faster onto thin, sharp strips of metal.

XoooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooX

Up here at night there was another world. It was an under-lit world, a forest of buildings. The wind howling between them was its single inhabitant, up until now. What strange, secret spaces humanity had created in his absence.

He stared at the little cars some unknown number of stories down, and sighed. His absence - lucky humanity.

He was a real rat, wasn't he? But he couldn't help it if that boy pissed him off. He looked so much like himself, but he was so weak that he could have crushed him with a finger. Sometimes he really wanted to. No one who looked like him deserved to be so weak. But this time he'd gone too far.

He could sense death running through the boy's veins. It had been there before from time to time, but only to visit. He ought to be stopping him. If his host died, he would return to the Ring again until someone else suitable came along. In the Ring, both death and life were impossible. He didn't want to go back there, no way. But he had just discovered an interesting new alternative.

This time he'd gone too far. It wasn't as if he exactly hated the boy. He just pissed him off. But he was his host. He didn't want him to die or anything. He just didn't like having to live with such a total weakling. He didn't understand why he'd done what he had done.

That girl...

He wasn't supposed to...

...pay attention to anyone else...

So, why was he up here again? When you thought about, there was really only one possibility. He was too weak (weak!) to sort out his feelings and face up to his actions. And so he was going to run away, or die trying.

XoooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooX

It didn't hurt at all. Ryou was so amazed that he just sat there staring for some time, until he remembered himself and quickly stuck his hand in the water in the sink. He didn't know if he actually believed that it could clot up fast enough to save him, but better safe than sorry he supposed.

Ah... he'd gotten blood all over the rug... He laughed out loud. Oh well, it wasn't like he was going to have to wash it. What a relief.

He was surprised that he didn't feel sick at the sight of all this blood. Actually, he was feeling really relaxed. This was nice. He wondered if there really was some kind of afterlife. He also wondered, absentmindedly, what Bakura was doing right now. Why wasn't he trying to stop him? Ha! See, he wasn't so scared after all...

XoooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooX

Hmm... His hikari appeared to be dying. He could sense the shadow of Anubis over him, waiting hungrily. Well... Hmm.

What was this 'sorting out his feelings' crap, anyway? Since when did the King of Thieves 'feel' anything, especially for a little brat like his host? Perhaps he was desirable, but so were plenty of other people. He had every right to feel possessive, too. The boy was his only weakness, since killing Ryou would seal him away again, and since he couldn't do anything about it he had to protect him. If the boy was going to make it difficult for him, then he deserved to be punished.

So if that was all true, why was he up here?

No...

No...!

He wouldn't admit, he wouldn't...

XoooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooX

Even with how peaceful he was feeling right now, thinking about Bakura still made him feel a little sad. Why was he still not trying to stop him? Did he really not care? Wouldn't him dying send Bakura back to the Ring or something? Did he want him gone that bad?

He felt suddenly dizzy, and when he could see straight again, he was lying on the floor. He breathed out, shallowly, and the noise seemed to take on a physical form and dance in front of his eyes. Ah... the colors were so strange. He looked over, and found that he was lying in a puddle of deep, dark purple blood.

And then came the nausea, and the panic. Oh, God... He was dying. Tomorrow morning everybody else would go to school, but he wouldn't. He would never see his dad again. He'd never even thought to leave a note. Dear God...

He ought to call someone, call 911. But when he sat up, it was as if someone infinitely stronger than him shoved him back down. There was simply nothing he could do. He closed his eyes against the blood, and couldn't seem to remember how to open them again. He was going to die...

Help me...

XoooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooX

He loved Ryou Bakura. The feelings had rooted in through his subconscious by way of his dependence and possessiveness and desire to help make him a stronger person that he just didn't know how to fulfill, and now he'd actually gone and fallen in love.

Pff, yeah, right. That was what he was supposed to be thinking right now. He could list a million and one reasons why that was impossible. He had never loved anyone before. Why was this any different than the other people he had had, back when he was the great King of Thieves?

Ryou was slipping in and out of consciousness now, he sensed. He would die quite soon if someone didn't stop the bleeding and call for help. He'd have been able to save him with shadow magic, of course, if he'd ever bothered to master any healing spells, but as it was Ryou would probably have to go to a hospital.

He refused to return to the Ring again, dammit! He eyed the drop. You'd think he would have made his mind up by now. If he saved him, what would he do? Would things continue as they used to be, or in the direction they had turned when he'd added rape to the ways he could control him, or... Could he even picture a world where he treated someone gently and with compassion? If he lived, could he really do anything else?

Anubis was no longer a shadow, but a slobbering jackal's head and a clawed hand reaching out. Bakura disappeared from the rooftop with a single thought in mind: Mine!

XoooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooX

When he regained consciousness, there were blurred lights and sounds all around him that seemed completely beyond his comprehension. He caught snatches of conversations marveling over a mystery caller and someone who had applied a tourniquet but could not be found. There was only one thing that he could really understand, however. Over a medic's shoulder, clear against the blurriness of everything else, his yami was watching him.

His first instinct was fear. But then he noticed his expression. He seemed pained, and not at all like himself. And then he gave him a small smile.

Well, he was frankly shocked by that. As real as he seemed, he must obviously be an illusion. It was nice, genuine, non-threatening smile. Crazy. As if sensing his feelings, Bakura scoffed, and started to fade away. Somehow he found that he didn't want him to go - this strangely smiling Bakura - so he gave a smile of his own in return, but then he had to close his eyes again...

Bakura made a face. But secretly, he supposed it wasn't so bad.

Owari