Yu-Gi-Oh! Fan Fiction ❯ Stay In Shadow ❯ Easier to Run ( Chapter 3 )

Chapter 4 - Easier to Run

The agonising screams echoed through the hallways. The sounds would not stop. Blood covered every part of the area, leaving no room or corner untouched. The foul smell of the blood crawling down every wall and the smell of fear spread. Cries of pain were heard every moment in the air, making it toxic to anyone who dared to breathe.

/Now I will tell you what I've done for you,
50, 000 tears I've cried.
Screaming, Deceiving and bleeding for you,
And you still won't hear me./

A body was carelessly thrown across a room, it's walls tinted and stained in blood. The attacker ran over to his victim and roughly kicked its side. The cries were starting to get weaker and almost soundless. The victim couldn't say anymore, the pain being too much. All he could do was wait for the next brutal attack and scream in his mind.

Ryou gripped the carpet tightly. It was happening again and it was worse than ever. Every bone in his body felt like it was smashed and crumbled. There was nothing to do, but wait till the next assault. He blinked, more heavy and stinging tears streaming down his pale face.

He couldn't understand why he had done it. Ryou knew immediately what was going to happen once he spilled to Yugi, but he didn't think Bakura would be so harsh. Give so much pain, when before, he was calm and gentle.

/Don't want your hand this time I'll save myself,
Maybe I'll wake up for once,
Not tormented daily defeated by you,
Just when I thought I'd reach the bottom./

Bakura picked up Ryou by the collar and pulled him close. Ryou closed his eyes and looked away.

"What the hell did you think?!" Bakura yelled, slapping Ryou's face. "That you could tell and get away with it?!" (a/n: I didn't put any really, really bad insults. I wouldn't dare say really mean things to him.)

"P-please Bakura, I d-didn't-"

Another scream was heard from Ryou as a knee was thrust into his stomach. He coughed blood out from his mouth and some of it splattered on Bakura's face. Bakura starred into Ryou's eyes madly, bringing more fear into chocolate brown orbs.

"Don't you DARE try and talk! YOU'VE SAID TOO MUCH ALREADY!!" Bakura bellowed throwing Ryou to the ground.

Ryou fell with a loud thud, lifted his head and he cried out in pain as Bakura shoved his heel into his back. Ryou then dropped his head on the blood soaked carpet. He could move no more. There was nothing.

/I'm dying again./

/I'm going under
Drowning in you
I'm falling forever
I've got to break through
I'm, going under./

Why did it happen? Why? Ryou remembered every moment, every moment that he wanted to forget. But he couldn't. It was permanent in his mind, a memory that could not be forgotten.

It had happened after school as Ryou remembered it. Yugi had met him before he left, and so started the conversation. Yugi told Ryou he knew that something was wrong and as much as Ryou knew that he couldn't tell anyone, he did. It was something that Yugi said that hit him and then came out all the answers. Once Ryou had told, he ran home from Yugi, telling Yugi to never be near him again.

He thought it would be ok. Everything would be fine, but luck was lost and Bakura knew. Somehow he knew and he was going to show no mercy for the mistake Ryou had made. Ryou had pleaded and begged for Bakura not to hurt his friends. He said he didn't care. Didn't care if Ryou told anymore. This confused Ryou, until the point where he understood what Bakura was going to do. Beat him to death. Bakura didn't care what happened to him. If Ryou was to die, it didn't matter. Nothing mattered.

Ryou's body shook. Outside, he shook with the pain. Every cut that poured out blood from his weak body, every bruise that stung and numbed the skin. Ryou's mind shivered with broken emotion. All the parts scattered. All the feelings lost. His eyes grew wide in fear, seeing the man above him, watching him die and enjoying it to the fullest.

/Blurring and stirring the truth and the lies,
(I don't know what's real and what's not)
Always confusing the thoughts in my head,
So I can't trust myself anymore./

Bakura kicked Ryou's mangled body so Ryou was facing him. How pathetic. What a goddam pathetic weakling. He should have killed him from the start. Seeing the pain in his light's eyes hurt a deep part of him. But it was so deep. It could never re-surface. And it wouldn't.

Ryou saw Bakura look calm for a few moments, but it was quickly replaced with even more anger than before. Ryou noticed that Bakura had something behind his back. But it was only a glint of light that reflected off the object that Ryou could see. It reflected death.

"You..." Bakura started closing his eyes. "You could never be trusted. You were worthless. A weakling! I should have killed you from the start! You ran to your little pathetic friends...I was showing mercy to you Ryou! And you threw it away! I can't believe I even let my guard down, and- "

"I'm sorry! I didn't mean to!" Ryou cried, his eyes filling with tears once more.

Bakura growled. "That's not going to work. I have decided your fate! THIS ENDS NOW!"

From behind Bakura flashed a knife. He held it in his hand like he would never let go and starred down at Ryou, who gasped. The tip was aligned with Ryou's aching heart.

"Please Bakura!" Ryou said trying to push himself away.

/I'm dying again./

/I'm going under
Drowning in you
I'm falling forever
I've got to break through./

He couldn't move any further. The wall was against his back. He was trapped again, but this time he was starring at his own death. He knew he couldn't get away. There was no point in trying to. He had met his end. And by the one whom he had even begun to...well, it didn't matter anymore. This was the end of the line. The edge of the cliff.

For one last time, he gazed into Bakura's eyes and looked at Bakura with sympathy and regret. If he could not do anything, but wait until he was killed, then maybe looking at Bakura that way he always had would cheer him up. Forget the pain, forget the hatred, and remember the caring...maybe even...the love.

Bakura drew back the weapon in fury. He was about to plunge it into his hated hikari, when...he stopped. Ryou was looking back at him in a way that Bakura had never expected. The look was innocent, pure and...the fear. The fear was disappearing. For some reason, even though he was enraged in his mind and had beaten Ryou senselessly, he could bring himself to administer the final blow.

Bakura shook his head at his own thoughts and growled. "Go!"

Ryou looked up at Bakura in amazement. Bakura didn't kill him! He starred at Bakura, shocked. He couldn't believe...he had made it! Bakura didn't-but why?

"Get out!"

Ryou finally came to his senses. Bakura wanted him out and if he didn't go, Bakura would show him the hard way to leave. The fastest way.

Ryou managed to stand fairly quickly. He held onto the wall for support and began to walk along the wall and to the door. He was in a lot of pain and the blood loss made him extremely dizzy, but he knew if he stayed, he wouldn't see another day. Ryou looked back at the lonely figure in the room. Bakura turned to him and showed the knife again.

"GET OUT!!"

Ryou hurriedly limped down the hallway, falling a couple times and having to pick himself up again as Bakura came walking very quickly. Ryou finally made it to the door and made it just in time, he slammed the door in Bakura's face and left. He left his home. He left his love. He left the memories behind. He left the fear.

/So go on and scream,
Scream at me so far away.
I won't be broken again,
I've got to breathe,
I can't keep going under./

The cool wind chilled the tortured soul walking down the street. His body was warm, hot with red blood, blood that had been spilled in too many places. But as much as the pain hurt, the pain inside was worse.

Ryou finally had understood what he had felt since the time he had met Bakura. He had a feeling hat spread a happiness through him, but a sadness, for he knew that he could never have it. The truth was that Ryou, deep down in the depths of his heart, loved Bakura. It was a love that tore at his heart because of knowing that he could never show his love to the demon. A show of affection for a slap on the cheek. A hug for a kick to the stomach. That's how it had always been. But no more. It was over.

Ryou knew he had to run away, run far away and never see Bakura again. But how far would he go? In his state he could go almost no where. He did have one place in mind, but he had already dangered his friends. Though he didn't want to hurt them, he knew that he needed some help. Seeing his friends before he would leave would be a good idea.

On the way to Yugi's house, Ryou noticed people staring at him because of his weak and beaten body. He would have given anything to not have anyone see him. But he had no way to hide his pain, except inside. He tried to stand straight and look confident. For most of the time, it worked very well. He was in control.

/I'm dying again./

/I'm going under
Drowning in you
I'm falling forever
I've got to break through./

As he past a couple more people, smiling at them, he felt his head swim more madly than before. He was almost there. Maybe he could make it. He would escape it all. The pain and the sadness. No matter how hard it would be. He would get back up.

Ryou blinked. He saw someone in front of him. Was it a friend? Or was it an enemy? He couldn't tell, but the wanting to be near someone was great. He didn't care who it was, whether it be Yugi or Bakura. He didn't want to be alone again. Ryou reached out with his bloody, shaking hand and tried to reach for the person a few feet away.

Just before he was going to press on further and the person's arms seemed to be in reach, he collapsed to the hard cement. Darkness was eating at his vision and as he faded away. A shadow fell upon his body.

/I'm going under,
Going under,
I'm going under./