Yu-Gi-Oh! Fan Fiction ❯ Memories I've Forgotten ❯ Chapter One ( Chapter 1 )

Priestess: And now I'm writing an Antagoshipping (Seto Kaiba/Yami no Bakura) fanfiction, and thus Corruptshipping (Priest Seth/Touzoku Ou.) So sue me. This fanfiction contains major spoilers for the Ancient Egyptian arc, so don't say I didn't warn you!

***

The sky was dark and angry, roiling clouds blocking off the sun. He was surrounded by the clouds, floating in a void of dark nothingness. Words split through, but he couldn't make sense of them. They seemed to be bits and pieces of a fierce argument.

"Release…soul…your evil grasp…shall end… lives."

"Presumptuous wretch!…Humph…I see…you really wish…die."

A scream of pain.

"You were…best ever…more powerful…a god…could have had…all. Why…to betray…me?"

"I know…truth…destroyed…Eruna."

"Can't believe…everything…told."

Another scream, and loud cruel laughter.

"Should never…listened…you. Should have…"

A bark of laughter.

"Should have…what? I…you in. I made…what you are."

"I hate…am. I…been…living…lie."

"Then I suppose…only fit punishment…your betrayal…be what you are…forever."

A horrified scream.

So many words he didn't understand…so many things he couldn't make sense of. He knew those voices, but he couldn't place them. He only knew that they filled him with unbearable fear and the inexplicable need to warn one of those voices, the one who had screamed three times and said he should never have listened to somebody, of…what? He didn't know. He only knew that whoever it may be was about to die.

Or worse.

***

Seto Kaiba jerked out of bed, gasping for air. Stupid…nightmares…he thought dizzily.

They had been keeping him up at night, so often that he hardly ever bothered to sleep anymore. Not that he had slept much before, but now he was waking at two in the morning-and he only went to bed at midnight!

He sighed and got out of bed, stretching. May as well get to work, he thought, aware that he wouldn't be able to get back to sleep. It isn't as if there's anything better to do. The last thing I need is another nightmare.

At this rate, he was going to die of exhaustion.

***

Bzz…bzz…

Kaiba blinked at the buzzing sound and touched the little button which allowed the door to open. It did, revealing a pale slender boy in a cream-colored sweatshirt and blue jeans with long rather untidy white hair. Kaiba blinked. "Ryou Bakura?"

Ryou nodded. "Please…" he murmured. His expression was anxious, his emerald eyes filled with fearful worry. "Please, can you help Bakura?"

"Can I help…you're Bakura."

"No," he replied pleadingly. He seemed almost too earnest. If it weren't for his next words, Kaiba might have gone against everything he believed in and gotten up. "Not me Bakura, Spirit of the Millennium Ring Bakura."

Kaiba snorted, though he felt slightly apprehensive at the words 'Spirit of the Millennium.' "That Millennium Item crap again? Didn't I say I wanted no part in it? Get out before I call security."

"But…" Ryou gazed at him beseechingly. "He has this new card that can defeat the Egyptian God Cards, and he seems upset for some reason. I don't know what do to, and Yugi said you helped the Spirit of the Millennium Puzzle."

"By yelling at him, insulting his pride, and calling him a coward," Kaiba replied, but he could resist the lure of a card that could defeat the Egyptian Gods. Some things never change, he mused ruefully, grabbing his coat. "All right, then. Let's go."

***

"So, where's 'Bakura?'" Kaiba asked, and snickered softly.

"In there," Ryou replied, and pointed to a small door. It was painted with a beautiful midnight scene, black and dark blue, sprinkled with silver stars, the doorknob painted into a pale silver full moon.

Tentative suddenly, Kaiba pushed the door open, and gasped at what he saw.

It was a lovely room, no doubt about that, painted with scenes of nights in the ancient Egyptian desert. Midnight blue curtains, midnight blue carpeting, deep blue comforters and pillows and pale blue sheets. There was a desk with a fine writing set, sheet after sheet of fine white paper written on in ancient Egyptian, and more papers folded in origami shapes. There was an easel, and there was a work-in-progress painting of a village on fire.

But that wasn't what made him gasp. It wasn't what was in the room, but who.

The Spirit stood up and turned around, hands on his hips. There were dried tears on his pale cheeks, but his chocolate-brown eyes were dry and narrowed. "What are you doing here? Oh, let me guess, my hikari sent you."

Through his astonishment and disbelief, Kaiba noticed for the first time that Ryou Bakura's body was in fact quite attractive. The Spirit's confident posture emphasized the beauty of the slim, well-formed body and his black tee revealed contours usually hidden by oversized sweatshirts. Even his jeans seemed to fit more appealingly on the Spirit.

Shocked by his own thoughts, Kaiba pushed them to the back of his mind and replied, "If by 'hikari,' you mean Ryou Bakura, then yes he did."

'Bakura' sneered. "And I suppose he told you about Diabaundo?"

"Who?" Kaiba replied cluelessly, feeling a tickle at the back of his head that signified he had heard of this creature before. Had he been thinking strait, he would have realized that Diabaundo would have to be the creature stronger than the Egyptian Gods, but he wasn't thinking strait. As soon as he saw the Spirit, all thoughts of the card had gone out of his mind.

Bakura raised a hand to show Kaiba the card he was gripping. Kaiba's eyes widened, and a million memories surged through his head so fast he couldn't make sense of any of them. He saw faces, heard voices…among which was the voice in his dreams night after night, a voice he had needed to warn of something…

"What did he expect you to do, sing me a song?" Bakura sneered. "Diabaundo will only obey me. It changed from rock to paper just so it could serve me." He sighed. "But I doubt it could help me now."

"That was your kaa creature in Ancient Egypt," he said without thinking. "So powerful it killed Osiris…"

Bakura lifted an eyebrow, hands still on his seductively-cocked hips. "Yes. Yes it was. I thought you didn't have any memories?"

Kaiba shrugged. "I have some," he replied ambiguously. The last thing he needed was for anybody to know about the images he was being bombarded with day and night. "I know you're after the seven Millennium Items…and I know you were known as Touzoku Ou-the King of Thieves."

Bakura sighed bitterly. "I'm not after them anymore. I don't know what I'm after, but for now gaining the Items is a lost cause. Catch."

He tossed a small golden orb at him, and Kaiba caught it reflexively. His eyes widened as he realized just what he was holding. "The Millennium Eye!"

"Take it," Bakura spat, suddenly and inexplicably angry. "Maybe it can help you recover your lost memories. Thoth knows it isn't recovering mine."

Kaiba blinked. "But…You have all your memories…Don't you?"

Bakura glared at him. "Get. Out."

Kaiba did get out. He left, taking the Eye with him, and went back to his mansion. But from then on, he could never get his mind off of the mysterious Spirit of the Millennium Ring.