Yu-Gi-Oh! Fan Fiction ❯ Puppet of Darkness ❯ Puppet of Darkness ( Prologue )

Title: Puppet of Darkness

Author: Fallen Angel -- Angel of Death and Rebirth, Hugger of Cathan-sama and Rapp-chan and Stalker of Cute Psychos

Series: YuGiOh!

Genre: angst

Warnings: insanity, Ryou acting like Bakura, shounen ai, 'nuff said

Plot Bunny: Came to me after reading "Lifeless" [forgotten the author, SORRY!]. When Bakura's abusive ways go to far and Ryou's soul is shattered, will it be too late for Yugi-tachi to do anything for him?

Otogi Muse's Disclaimer: Fallen-sama does not own YuGiOh! It belongs to Kazuki Takahashi and other rich people. She only owns the fic, her muses and her sick, sick little mind.

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It was happening again and yet he didn't feel anything. He knew punches and cold metal was dragging across his skin but he didn't feel it, didn't care. He just stood there, taking the abuse like it was a normal thing in his life. Because it was normal. His eyes barely shined with any life now, unlike the way they had back during Battle City and Duelist Kingdom. The constant abuse made him feel something but he didn't know what it was yet.

And he didn't care.

Bakura came to a stop when he realized something was wrong. His light's eyes were half-open, a spark of pleasure in them. They were lifeless, no longer holding the innocence they had held when the two had first met. Ryou wasn't moving, cowering or screaming, he just stood accepting the abuse his yami dealt him. He felt something crawling in his stomach and realized it was nausea.

~ "So rare, so beautiful......"

"Daddy, please......" The silver-haired child whimpered, backing away into a darkened corner as his father brought out a gleaming dagger that had been used on him all the time and had dried blood across the blade.

The man reached down, smiling cruelly as he cupped the boy's chin. "So pretty......will you scream for me, little one?"

"Daddy.........?"~

Slowly, almost zombie-like, Ryou stood, bracing himself against the wall and eyeing the kitchen knife in Bakura's hands. He wanted to feel it running across his skin, breaking the delicate flesh and creating deep canyons of blood, the blood running down his body like red tears. The feeling was like a drug now. He needed it, craved it. He coughed a little, brown eyes narrowing slightly.

Bakura felt himself beginning to back away. The look in his hikari's eyes was an insane one, a lifeless insanity that he had created. But it hadn't been just him. Ryou had been a bully target at school and on the streets but they had never done to the silver-haired boy what he had done when they were alone.

Ryou was officially a puppet of insanity, a puppet of darkness.

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Yugi felt a slight shiver go down his spine as he sat in class, listening to the teacher drone on about whatever it was she was supposed to tell them about. He let his eyes slide away to Ryou's empty seat. It had been empty for days, weeks even. Close to a month since anyone had actually seen Ryou in school. His gut instinct was telling him something was definitely wrong with his absent friend, he felt slight nausea in his stomach practically every day since Ryou had disappeared. The spiky-haired boy jumped when the bell went and was out the door in a flash, determined to find out where the silver-haired one had been all this time.

It took him only fifteen minutes to round the corner of Ryou's street, his friends only a little while to catch up to him. He could tell Jounouchi was at his side; the telltale flash of blonde hair whipped into his view every now and then. Anzu and Honda were behind them, bringing up the rear.

//I think we may be too late to help him.//

Yugi blinked, recognizing his yami's voice in his head. /What do you mean, Yami?/ The spirit was silent for a minute before emerging from the puzzle and sprinting ahead of the small group.

//I can't believe it happened after so long. Why didn't you stop, you damn tomb robber baka??// Yami heard Bakura's screams inside his mind and shuddered as they finally reached the silver-haired boy's home. The former pharaoh burst through the door, closely followed by the rest of the group. His crimson eyes widened at what he saw, what had finally come to pass. He heard the group's reactions behind him and Yugi's terrified whimper inside his mind.

The whole house was pitch black except for the light that now flooded the doorway. The curtains and shades were drawn, not allowing anybody to look through from the outside. Blood was all over the room, words and pictures painted on the clear white walls. Ryou stood in the centre of it all, holding a rather large kitchen knife in one hand and allowing the crimson liquid to flow down his body. His unique silver hair was dyed partially red from all the blood it had obtained. At his feet laid a horrified, brutally wounded Bakura. The five watched as Ryou kicked his yami across the room, hearing a slight whimper come from the tomb robber's lips when his back hit the next wall.

"Pathetic," was Ryou's whisper, a slightly insane tone in his voice. He took slow, deliberate strides over towards where the former tomb robber was cowering, as if enjoying the fear his other half held. "How could such a whimpering dog have been what I used to hate?" Ryou reached down and picked his darker half up by his hair, enjoying the cry of pain that reached his ears. "This is what you taught me to do, Bakura, you brought this upon yourself. I want you to feel the pain you put me through, the delicious pain you made me feel." He cupped Bakura's face with one hand almost gently before running his tongue along his cheek, collecting the blood that flowed from one of the numerous cuts on his face. Insane brown eyes travelled over to the horrified group on the other side of the den, a small smirk sliding across his lips. "There's nothing any of you can do, so just go."

Yami looked back at his friends, noticing their different reactions to the situation. Anzu had grabbed the nearest person and buried her face in their chest. That person had been Honda, who was blushing slightly at the way the brunette girl was holding him. Jounouchi had his arms wrapped protectively around the former pharaoh's aibou, Yugi's face buried in his stomach since the small one of them only came to his waist, his own small arms wrapped as far as they could go around the blonde's legs.

"Ryou, stop this madness." Yami's voice was deep and commanding as always but it held a slight tremor in it. High pitched, insane laughter reached his ears as Ryou turned to face him, a demonic look on his normally angelic face. Bakura slumped to the ground, wrapping his arms around himself and curling up into a tight ball.

"Or you'll what? There's nobody that can stop this endless cycle, pharaoh. This endless cycle of pain and torment, of insanity and cruelty. Bakura passed it down to me and I intend to keep it going as long as I live." Ryou's voice was oddly calm, the small smirk still on his lips. "In the end, we are all puppets in this game of life, this sadistic circle that shall keep going as long as humans still live."

The Eye of Ra glowed on Yami's forehead and he closed crimson eyes, chanting a spell in his mind. He felt a hand cup his chin almost gently and his eyes flashed open, meeting those cruel ones of chocolate.

"You have beautiful eyes, pharaoh," Ryou whispered, the insane glint returning to his own. "I wish I could have eyes like yours." A demonic grin emerged from the smirk as his hand crawled up his face. "In fact, I think that's rather appropriate for what I'm about to do."

Yami pushed him away, the world around the two growing dark. The only source of light became the Eye of Ra on his forehead. He heard Ryou's insane laughter. "The shadow realm? You're truly stupid enough to send me here? I'll only come back as long as the sennen ring has a holder."

"Ryou Bakura, I sentence you to imprisonment within the ring. SOUL SHATTER!!!"

The last word that flowed from Ryou's lips he could hear.

"Puppet........."

The ring clattered to the ground as Ryou's body disappeared, the Ra eye on the pyramid in the centre glowing for a second. All who had witnessed the boy's insanity at the hands of his yami felt pity for the next one who would come along and take the sennen ring as theirs.

But that wouldn't happen for another hundred and ten years.........

The end......or only just the beginning?

Fallen's EndNotes: This will be continued in a little ficcie of mine I'm calling "Sennen Ring". It deals with Ryou's great-grandniece receiving the Sennen Ring from her mother. As to why she's his niece, according to some websites, he has a sister but we have never seen her. oO So many ideas, such a short lifetime to do them all.

Fallen Angel -- Angel of Death and Rebirth, Hugger of Cathan-sama and Rapp-chan and Stalker of Cute Psychos

bakurassnowangel@hotmail.com/tachikawaichijoujicarmel@yahoo.com