Yu-Gi-Oh! Fan Fiction ❯ Fallen Angel, Risen Demon ❯ The Garden ( Chapter 5 )

Priestess: *Sigh* Another short-ish chapter. Longer than it might have been, I guess. And I did get two reviews on Mediaminer.org, one on Fanfiction.net, and was given an average vote of five stars on Adultfanfiction.net.

I have the most reviews on Mediaminer.org-most being four. Fanfiction.net and Adultfanfiction.net are tied at 3. On both all three of them two reviews came from the same person.

More people read my story on Adultfanfiction.net than Mediaminer.org, but Fanfiction.net doesn't say how many people read the story.

On Adultfanfiction.net I have a rating of 5/5, on Mediaminer.org 10/10, so that's even.

More simply-Fanfiction.net readers are slacking! Of course, they only have one chance to win out of three...

All right, enough statistics.

Now, this chapter tells quite a bit about Bakura's afterlife. I think he's suffered enough that he doesn't need to commit suicide just to end up in infinite suffering.

Oh, and there's some stuff about hair.

What else...one of my reviewers asked which song inspired this fanfiction. Eighteen did. Some make sense, some may not-yet. I mentioned they were Evanescence, right? And they are:

Away From Me (Bakura)

Before The Dawn (Both)

Bring Me To Life (Both)

Even In Death (Atemu)

Exodus (Bakura)

Field Of Innocence (Both)

Going Under (Both)

Haunted (Both)

Hello (Atemu)

Imaginary (Atemu)

Lies (Bakura)

My Immortal (Atemu-first line also Bakura)

My Last Breath (Bakura)

Taking Over Me (Atemu)

Tourniquet (Bakura)

Where Will You Go (Both)

Whisper (Both)

Get it?

I also got inspiration from a story I wrote where Bakura broke the Millennium Ring to keep himself from killing Malik.

Now, once and for all, these are the pairings.

Atemu/Bakura (Uke/Seme)

Kisara/Kaiba (Uke/Seme)

Isis/Mariku (Uke/Seme)

Yugi/Yami (One-sided)

Mai/Joey

Ryuuji/Honda

The last two are unlikely to even be mentioned, the first two are definite, and the middle two are hinted.

Last (I just realized this was my longest author note ever): Atemu is not completely re-sane-itized again, as is hinted several times in this chapter if you're sane. He still has memory lapses and unnatural feelings. After all, if he were really normal again, I think he would die before letting Bakura kiss him.

***

Bakura experienced this terrible...sinking...sensation, as if the last drops of blood were being drained from him. He heard a buzzing and continued sinking until the thought (the Farewell Pharaoh thing) passed through his head.

Then he felt a surge of energy. It was nearly as if he felt a release, and his spirit was pulled upward. His first impression was that he was free. There was nothing unnatural about the experience. He drifted over Ryou's still figure, filled with limitless lack of restrictions. He could see all directions and dimensions at once, his spirit body weightless and extremely flexible, and felt a sudden unrelenting urge to leave this mortal plane.

As soon as he thought this Bakura was drawn up into a great, whirling, black mass. He sensed the gathering of a powerful and unrelenting energy as a rushing, rumbling sound filled the air.

It was like being drawn into a tornado. He could see nothing but the dense, almost tangible darkness.

He felt the deepest imaginable tranquility as he surged through. The speed became so incredible he felt that light years couldn't measure it, but the tranquility merely increased. He felt that he could have remained in this wonderful state infinitely.

Other beings traveled with him, but distantly. None of them were connected in any way, so presently he lost awareness of them. Some lingered, either not desiring to continue or not knowing how. But there was no fear, just blissful tranquility and therapeutic security.

Is this what death is like? he wondered dreamily. He had more expected some sort of hideous abyss or...well, actually, he hadn't expected anything. Just end. An ending. He was finished with life. Finished with eternity.

***

Bakura leaned against a building that hadn't been there a moment before, his head tilted upwards. As soon as he had come, the village children had poured questions onto him.

The dead didn't communicate in words. They communicated much more rapidly and knowledgeably, through pure knowledge. No language, simply feelings and intelligence. He could glance at a book and understand ever detail, every nuance, inside and out.

Because of this, everybody in the entire village knew immediately that he wished to be alone with his thoughts.

His thoughts had never been as clear as they were in death-after all; being stuck in either the Shadow Realm or the Millennium Ring didn't count as death, simply imprisonment-because he was freed of all negativity. Evil, dislike, fear, spite, cruelty, selfishness, greed, despair...nothing was there to muddle his judgment.

He was unpermitted to divulge the true secrets of the afterlife; though he had told Atemu no lies, he hadn't told him about many things.

For example, the large room that was a library of the mind. By simply reflecting on a topic, all knowledge about it filled his mind in full detail. No knowledge was kept from him: it was impossible to misunderstand any angle, any possible perception, any particle of intelligence.

He rose up, fluidly and effortlessly. Sitting was dull. He couldn't get any positive thinking done that way, and he no longer had to stand sitting for long periods of time and being miserable. He was dead, after all. Misery was a thing of the past.

***

"Hi, Atemu," said Anzu with flirtatious coyness. She ran a hand through her twisting curls.

Atemu gazed at her, bemused. "Have we met?"

Katsuya and Honda cracked up. Anzu had let her hair grow out, and every night she had pinned it in tight drenched little coils against her skull so all day it would spiral to her waist in shiny brunette rings. But this hairstyle change had occurred while Atemu was insane, for lack of better word, and he didn't even remember remembering her before.

Yugi perceived this (he's innocent, but he isn't stupid...I think). Hmm...Maybe his yami wasn't fully cured.

But it was a start.

***

Kisara watched the three beautiful, mysterious strangers cautiously. Her thick splendid blue-white hair had been tinted and highlighted until every single little hair was light, light blonde. Though dyeing so much hair while still keeping it silkily luxurious was expensive and time-consuming, Kaiba insisted upon it. It was true such a slim, civil girl with such blue eyes and such white skin was conspicuously striking enough without blue hair. But Kisara couldn't help but think that if her hair was green, her skin plum, her height a minimum of eight feet, and her eyes silver, she still wouldn't be nearly so striking as these three.

"Well, if it isn't the superstitious sages," sneered Kaiba as he got up and stood in front of his desk. "To what do I owe this displeasure? I'm sure it isn't a social visit or you're even crazier than I thought!"

Mariku and Malik looked perfectly ready to murder him, and Mariku barked, "in the name of Hathor, you spent three years in America! Haven't you figured it out yet?"

"How?!" shouted Kaiba, forgetting his promise never to let any Ishtar realize he had accepted magic. "How, when between the dub butchering everything and the comics taking forever to come out and sites making mistakes, can I be expected to figure out anything?! Just when I think I'm sure of something, some new fact changes everything! Three years, three fucking years, and I still can't be sure of much!"

Kaiba gripped Isis by the shoulders, shaking her hard, furious and unable to think strait. "Why can you remember?!" he yelled. "Why haven't you lost the memories of your life before?!"

He immediately knew he had gone too far, since Mariku got there before Malik.

"Let go of her!" His voice was harsh and murderous, and he flung Kaiba away with inhuman strength.

Surprised as he slammed against his desk, Kaiba unintentionally let free a burst of blue lightning as the desk tipped over. Papers flew everywhere, light blazed out, Kisara and the chair crashed against the walls. But Mariku, Isis, and Malik didn't seem to feel the white fire which licked their skin.

Due to Kisara's unconscious state, the Blue Eyes White Dragon immediately filled the room (the spirit creature is...slightly...larger than the holographic creature), twining protectively around Kaiba, who was struggling to rise.

"In reply to your question, Kaiba," said Isis calmly, as if her brother's dark side hadn't just crashed him into a desk, "all three of us are gods."

"Now," snarled Mariku. "We're going to ask you once, and only once."

Malik finished, "take us to the Pharaoh."

***

Bakura felt himself smile in spite of himself as he entered the same garden he had transported Atemu to a very little while ago. His spiritual eyes could see great distances; and all around there were tall mountains, spectacular valleys, and clear rivers. The garden was filled with trees and flowers and plants, and Bakura could experience its full beauty unencumbered by the presence of others-regardless of whether or not there were others present.

The vivid green grass felt alive under his bare feet, though he'd had shoes on twinklings before. To describe the intense colors there would be impossible, as we have nothing like them.

When light strikes an item on Earth, the light reflects a certain hue. Thousands are possible. Light in the afterlife comes from within, and seems to be a living essence. Thus the hues are in millions, even billions, and indescribable for us.

The flowers, for example, were so brilliantly luminous they didn't seem to be solid. Each plant's aura of light makes it difficult to perceive the beginning and end of each petal. Every microscopic particle was filled with its own life and could be rearranged by a thought. But every minute particle was utterly perfect, and even a ghoul wouldn't change it.

A beautiful river streamed through the garden not far from him, and Bakura turned his attention to it.

A large cascading waterfall of the purest waters fed the river, and the river fed into a pond. Every drop of the water dazzled with lucidity and life.

A tune of majestic beauty carried from the waterfall and filled the garden, merging with other tunes. Each drop produced its own tone which mingled with every other. The overall effect was beyond the ability of any symphony or composer on Earth. In comparison, our best music would be worse than nails on a blackboard.

Bakura noticed a rose which seemed to stand out from the others, and he examined it. Its beauty was breathtaking, especially since he could see every minuscule detail. It gently swayed to the music, singing with sweet trills of its own. Bakura could actually see it growing, and Bakura suddenly wondered what it would be like to experience its life and feel its spirit.

As soon as this musing entered his mind, he felt himself enter the flower. As if it was his own experience, he felt the rose swaying to the music of the other flowers and making its own, a tune which perfectly harmonized with thousands of others. Every individual note was perfect and tuneful, each filled with either tranquility or wisdom or happiness.

Back in his own form, he smiled at the flower and went over to the pool.

He had shoes on again-or rather white slippers-and was wearing a white robe and cloak of a very soft material. He didn't seem to find it in the least unusual that he had been wearing jeans and a blue turtleneck moments before.

A graceful ivory swan floated past, its reflection glistening black on the winking surface.

Atemu, he thought, gazing dreamily at his reflection. It didn't show him as he looked now, but him as he had looked as a Tomb Robber-the difference was quite striking. Show me Atemu. I want to see my love.

***

"Is it really that important that no one sees us?" muttered Kaiba as he very, very carefully used his electricity to open the back door to the Turtle Game Shop. Since it was the dead of the night, he was lucky that the electricity gave off light. "Yes," Mariku hissed, jabbing him in the spine with the tip of the Millennium Rod. Kisara and Isis were waiting quietly, and Malik was...he was being quiet, too, though he didn't seem as content. He seemed slightly cold, which was no surprise seeing as how he still had his hooded tank and his coat was open. Both his hair and the coat flaps were being blown by the wind.

There wasn't even a creak as the door opened, and the five Egyptians slipped through.

***

Atemu lay awake on the mattress. Yugi and Grandpa Mutou had promised to buy him a bed the next day (buying all the clothes he wanted was to time-consuming to do anything else) but it wouldn't help. He could practically feel nightmares creeping up, prepared to strike the moment he slept. Yugi had said once that he was paranoid, but then they realized...He didn't remember, but he knew it was something bad when he thought of what he had said then:

"Sometimes, dear Yugi, being paranoid is just an insulting term for being right."

This was a bit rich from a guy always urging Yugi to be brave, but honestly. Who cared?

He really wanted to see Bakura right now...

With a sigh, he got up and walked downstairs.

***

"Now what?" whispered Kaiba, though it came out sounding more like a hiss. "If we just go up and get him, we'll wake Yugi, and we'll have snuck in for nothing!"

"And why did you sneak in?"

They jumped and turned to see none other than Atemu.

Atemu continued coolly (having made a decision that he would never again exhibit any hostility to any Egyptian duelist who snuck in while Yugi was sleeping unless they exhibited hostility first), "if you didn't want to wake anybody up, you should have waited until morning."

Mariku and Malik exchanged glances which said quite clearly, why isn't he hurting anybody?

"We had to speak to you in private, Pharaoh," Isis replied mildly. "It is quite urgent."

Atemu scowled, forgetting the decision he'd been acting upon moments before. "Thanks, but I've had enough drama for several thousand lifetimes."

He turned to leave when Isis added calmly, "It's about Bakura."

In spite of himself, Atemu turned. "I don't know if you've heard, but Bakura's-"

"Dead?" replied Mariku matter-of-factly. The word, still so raw after all these months, made Atemu flinch before nodding.

"And the Millennium Ring has been destroyed?" Malik inquired, to which Atemu nodded again. He also nodded when Mariku inquired if the spirits of Kuru Eruna (Kru Elna) had been freed. He didn't speak again until Isis inquired if he knew whom Zork Necrophadisu was.

"Um...vaguely. I compiled maybe a billion possibilities in my mind."

"Ha! Amateur!" cried Kaiba. "I've compiled precisely 351, 827, 906.4 possibilities!"

Malik blinked. "Nine hundred six and four tenths? How can you have nine hundred six and four tenths?"

Isis continued speaking, placid as ever. "Yes, there are many different versions of him. The Zork Necrophadisu I speak of is the King of Darkness with whom a contract was made to create the Millennium Items, and the exclusive cause for every Millennium Item holder to have either became evil or met with despair or both. He is the reason Kuru Eruna was murdered, for he feeds upon the souls of the sacrificed. The contract was very simple-we get seven Millennium Items, he gets ninety-nine souls to feed upon. Because both Mariku and Malik have Millennium Rods, and the Millennium Ring was destroyed, there are now seven Millennium Items. And no souls to feed upon."

"And?" replied Atemu stupidly.

"Just tell us where Bakura is!" barked Mariku.

"How? He's dead."

Malik rolled his eyes impatiently. "Have you or have you not seen him today."

"Umm..." Atemu felt a bit backed into a corner here. He didn't want to lie (didn't seem like it would work anyway) but Bakura had never mentioned if he wanted Atemu to tell anybody about meeting him, and he was no longer a man who wouldn't care. At last, he admitted quietly, "yeah."

"Malik, Mariku, and I are gods," Isis said, as if discussing the weather. "But being as we are, that is to say alive, we are bound by a mortal plane and not invincible against gods who are not. Kaiba is a god as well, though he currently refuses to believe it even though he had his skull cracked and cured in less than a minute. You are as well, but due to the...ah, circumstances your abilities are useless. Thus Bakura is the only one who can defeat Necrophadisu, as he is a god with his abilities and no longer alive."

Now irritated as well as awkward, Atemu said, "be that as it may, I can't communicate with dead people. Bakura came here. Well, out there," he pointed out the door. "But that isn't the point! He can come here. I can't go...wherever he is!"

Of course you can, thought Bakura, who had been watching the entire time-he was just invisible. You just need to walk a few more steps...

But the others didn't realize this, and Kaiba finally said, "Due to Mokuba and Malik doing sickeningly cute sad eyes and Mariku having a knife and Isis fixing my skull, I let the Ishtars stay at my place. Meet us in the park. 10:15. Don't be late."

Atemu nodded without nitpicking as he once might have and watched as they exited, before sighing deeply and returning to his room.

***

Bakura kneeled beside Atemu, whose eyes were shut though he certainly wasn't sleeping, and simply thought.

So...

His past had come back to haunt him. He shouldn't be surprised, he supposed, and truthfully he wasn't.

Really, he couldn't keep his mind on anything.

Well, except Atemu. He could keep his mind on Atemu-couldn't keep it off him, really.

He looked so helpless there, even the blankets drawn up to his shoulders and hiding his slim frame. It was lucky he had grown, because somehow he seemed to have lost some of his grace and confidence. It seemed like Bakura could have just reached out and snapped him in half, though he knew from experience that his slightness was no account for his strength.

Bakura could still have killed him right then, actually. All he had to do is move his hands up to your neck and squeeze. Atemu'd barely even struggle as Bakura slowly strangled the life out of him, but he wouldn't do that and he knew it.

Even if he didn't love Atemu, there was little fun in attacking an enemy when his back is turned. It's much more amusing to see the expressions dance across his face instead, to see the shock and the fear and the pain all merging into one hideous, twisted emotion.

But he couldn't feel gleeful over murder anyway. Freed from his Ring and his flesh and his grief and his eternity, he was also freed from his sadistic feelings. He didn't feel any hostility tow the stuck-up, self-righteous, biased spirit who had been standing in his way for millenniums.

His fingers moved of their own accord, timidly stroking Atemu's forehead.

Atemu's eyes immediately snapped open, but he relaxed as soon as he saw who it was.

"Bakura," he whispered, his voice hoarse. It still did that sometimes. One day wasn't enough to get his yappy mouth used to yapping again.

"There's something I have to tell-" "Shh," interrupted Bakura gently. "I know. Just rest."

He touched Atemu's forehead with his knuckle, and Atemu immediately drifted into deep restful sleep.