Yu-Gi-Oh! Fan Fiction ❯ Fallen Angel, Risen Demon ❯ The End Of Eternity ( Chapter 1 )

Priestess: I got this idea from listening to a bunch of Evanescence songs. It's Bakura/Atemu. There may be other pairings, but I'm not promising that.

This is based on the comics, so if you don't know about the whole Memory World thing it might be a problem. Then again, it might not.

Yami's name is Atemu, Bakura is back, Atemu has his memories, Bakura was the King of Thieves who robbed Atemu's father's throne, he wanted revenge for his village being slaughtered for the creation of the Millennium Items, yada-yada-yada

Warnings: Insanity, suicide

***

A white-haired man sat slumped on a couch, his hands clasped in his lap, merely thinking.

The Pharaoh didn't know he was here, didn't know he still lived. He had tried so long and hard to kill him, did he truly believe it was over that easily?

The Pharaoh wanted justice. That was what he claimed.

But no one knew the borders between good and evil, between right and wrong, between light and dark, between justice and cruelty. The Pharaoh was a yami, was he not? He claimed he wanted justice, but what he wanted was revenge.

Was that real justice?

Bakura wanted revenge for his village being slaughtered.

Atemu wanted revenge for his father's tomb being robbed.

Which was true justice?

So many ages...so much time gone by...the cause didn't matter anymore. They would always be enemies, bound to this world, bound to each other, bound to eternity in a kind of living hell.

He was so tired of being stuck here. Didn't Atemu ever feel the same way? Didn't he ever wish he could just move on, forget all the pain?

All the pain...

He just wanted it to end. He just wanted peace...

But he would never get peace, neither of them would ever get peace. Were they truly destined to wander forever, watching all die, watching the world change, watching all they loved and cared for leave them behind?

Did Atemu never wish for death?

Real death.

Idiotic humans...why did they fear death so much? They couldn't see what a beautiful blessing humanity truly was. Life was overrated.

Pharaohs were considered god, Atemu had been expected to have eternal life. Well, he had it, and Bakura would bet all the gold in Tutankhamen's tomb that he wished he weren't given that "gift."

And wasn't it ironic, that that man who would be thrown to the crocodiles when life was done with him, he too was given this curse called "life."

Opposite as could be, they remained stuck in the same predicament.

It would be amusing if it weren't so tragic.

He didn't deserve this; living on forever and ever, wishing nothing more than to die, but never being able to.

No crime deserved this punishment.

No crime deserved this curse.

So he kept conspiring, scheming, and striving, but it wasn't the same.

His cause, Atemu's cause, they were all in the past.

Dead and gone, as they should be.

Should be...

It would be fitting, Bakura thought grimly, to die today. The 3523rd anniversary of the day his people were slaughtered, their bleeding corpses flung into a cauldron and their bones melted into the gold around his neck as well as around the Pharaoh's. Yes, it would be a good day to die.

He just had one thing left to do.

***

A young boy yawned and rubbed his eyes sleepily. "Water," he mumbled, getting off the bed and walking down the stairs, only to see a familiar white-haired figure placing something on his counter.

"Bakura?" He asked; not truly meaning Bakura, but rather Ryou Bakura. But this was not Ryou.

"Let me speak to the Pharaoh."

Yugi tripped back in fear, but in an instant the Millennium Puzzle lit up. His air spiked, his purple eyes turned claret and fixed Bakura with a furious glare.

"What do you want, Tomb Robber? How did you survive this time?" The deep rich voice, usually so warm, was practically gushing with venom and enmity.

"I just want to tell you it's over."

Atemu looked befuddled, but his expression quickly returned to hatred. "What are you trying to pull this time, Soul Thief?"

To his immense surprise, Bakura actually smiled. "You still resent me...good..." He turned to exit, when Atemu snarled, "What trickery is this, Tomb Robber?"

Bakura shook his head in puzzling amusement, unlocking the door. "Still your irritatingly distrustful self. I just meant to say that, after 3507 years of fighting, I've grown rather attached. Glad the feeling isn't mutual. I've caused you enough grief already, I suppose."

With that stunning, bemusing revelation; he exited, before turning one last time.

"I will miss you, though."

Then he shut the door.

And this time it stayed shut.

***

With a light snarl, Bakura reached up and ripped off the Millennium Ring.

He had practiced this enough that he could remain in Ryou's body, but the Millennium Ring was immediately turned fragile as glass.

He picked up a rock which fit perfectly in his hand as he kneeled by the Millennium Ring and took a deep breath, gazing up at the stars.

The stars...The stars had always been his friends, even if they were so much different here than they were in Egypt. Stars had guided him on many a desert journey.

Do you know how magnificent it is, on a night in the Sahara when it's gotten so cold that the sand is snapping with frost, to look up and see a huge dome of nothing but black eternity and a million diamonds of light?

Stars had always been his favorite treasure, not because they were beautiful, because they didn't leave him.

Not just his treasures, not just his guides, his hope. Every star was someone he'd seen die.

They were all waiting for him. Most of them probably wanted his head, wanted him dead, but do you see that cluster of stars just over the eastern horizon? If you followed those stars, over land and sea, they'd lead you to Egypt.

Those there, which seem to shine more brightly? His people. Kuru Eruna in the sky. The ones that would welcome him with open arms.

They would be the only ones.

But they would make it all worth it.

Rain was beginning to fall, pounding against him unmercifully. He didn't care. It was now or never.

He smashed the rock against the Millennium Ring.

Blood poured from it immediately, the blood of his family and friends. The blood splattered his skin, his hair, his clothes, his lips. He ran his tongue over his lips, tasting the blood before the rain washed it away. His lips felt ice cold. The life was leaving him quickly.

Encouraged, he smashed the rock down again and again. Blood and gold flew everywhere, but he didn't feel the bits that hit him. His pain, his hostility, his misery, his evil, burning up, rising to the surface, begging him to end it, end everything, let himself die...

He fell, the last piece of the Ring in slivers, his stare creepily empty. His fist shut over a bit of gold, frigid. But warmer than his skin.

Farewell, Pharaoh. I wasn't lying when I said I would miss you.

Despite the dramatic ending, there was no last dramatic moment where he breather his last breath. The life had already left his body.

Well, now it was Ryou's body again.

***

"Yugi! Yugi! Open up! Please open up!"

Yugi yawned as he opened the door. "Bakura? It's late. And raining."

"The Millennium Ring is broken!"

All his senses went on high alert, and Atemu was out in a moment.

Ryou's eyes were haunted, his cheekbones gaunt, his skin paler than usual. Blood stained his hair, shirt, face, and even his lips. "Come here!" he cried, pleading, looking like death. "Come here, please! Help me!"

Atemu sprinted after him through the rain, not understanding his utter terror.

They bounded a corner, and Atemu gasped.

Blood was everywhere. Shards of gold lay in puddles. There was a fist-sized, blood-stained rock which had probably cracked the Ring into bits. The chain of the Ring had been snapped, and there was no piece of gold bigger than a centimeter long.

Atemu fell to his knees, clawing through the dirt and the gold until his fingers bled.

"Damn you..." he snarled. "This is what you wanted, isn't it? You wanted me to suffer..." Ryou backed away as tears spilled from Atemu's eyes. "Well, I'm suffering!" he shouted. The thunder overhead echoed his endless frustration and inner anguish.

"I bet you're laughing from the depths of Necropolis! You selfish bastard! Now I have to spend eternity alone! How could you leave me?! How could you leave me with these mortals? You're the only thing I thought I could never lose!"

He flung back his head, tears pouring from the garnets of his eyes, and yelled at the sky.

Over the lightning and thunder, a single anguished shriek filled the air, a single endless cry filled with anguish and regret and loss.

"BAKURAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"