"Darken the Light"

written on 12/17/2019

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Rated: T
Characters: Yugi Muto, Ryou Bakura, Marik Ishtar
Genre: Horror
Word Count: 2,843
Warnings: references to religious cult worship, cult ritual, murder, Zorc worship, three teenagers are murdered and their bodies are possessed

Summary: Yugi, Ryou, and Marik have an idea for how to give their Spirit Partners their own bodies, but their idea involves kidnapping people and performing a ritual sacrifice. Referenced puzzleshipping, tendershipping, and bronzeshipping/ecclipseshipping.

Author's preface:

This one is a little different from the usual stuff, but I wanted to play around a bit with evil hikaris.

I was also half-asleep when I wrote it, if that helps any.

While there are references to religious cult behaviors, Satan worshiping, and cult rituals, none of it is directly based off of anything from real life. I don't know about this stuff in real life, and I don't want to know about this stuff in real life. This is purely a work of (fan)fiction, and any passing resemblance it makes to real people or scenarios is purely coincidental.

And, as always, I make no claim of ownership to any of the characters I used in this story, I claim no control over canon based on my story, and I make no money off of writing or posting this story. I'm just here for fun.

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"Should we really be doing this?" Yugi wondered aloud. His voice was quiet, intentionally kept low and somber, but the largely empty warehouse he and the others had snuck into managed to make his voice sound louder.

Four feet in front of him, Marik turned back around, fuschia eyes narrowing at his former enemy and newfound accomplice. When he spoke, his words were callous and disdainful, and said with that sneer that never seemed to leave his face.

"What's the matter, little king?" The Egyptian asked, upper lip curling. "Having second thoughts?"

"No! I'm just..." Yugi frowned. He glanced down at the dolly he was dragging, and the sizeable bag that rode on it. "I'm just worried is all. I've never killed anyone before, you know?"

He looked back up at Marik, wide eyed. "What if someone hears us? What if someone finds out? Or calls the police?! What will we do, then?"

"We'll cross that bridge when we come to it, Yugi-kun," Ryou intervened. His entire demeanor was calm and collected, and he carried a large satchel over his shoulder. Yugi didn't know exactly what everything in the satchel was, but he knew it was materials for the ritual they had planned.

Their Items were in the satchel, too. The Puzzle, the Ring, and the Rod. Carefully and quietly tucked away, so the spirits inside couldn't involve themselves in the ritual.

Yugi couldn't remember the last time he wasn't wearing the Puzzle around his neck. He felt a little naked without it, and his head felt very lonely without the Pharaoh to talk to.

But, that's why they were here, after all. Because the three of them had grown accustomed to their respective spiritual partners, and because they wanted to do more than talk.

If all went according to plan, this ritual would allow them to do much more than just talk with their partners.

If all went according to plan, the spirits would inhabit their own bodies within the hour.

But, like all physical matter, the human body doesn't just come from nowhere. And like a recipe, the ritual called for specific ingredients, such as a few existing, pre-used and slightly worn human bodies to house the spirits in.

Hence the body-shaped sack that Yugi was lugging around, and the other two that Marik had just finished transporting.

Marik stepped closer to Yugi, and the smaller boy became afraid that the Egyptian was going to strike him in some way. Instead, Marik smiled, reaching a comforting arm around Yugi's shoulders.

"Hey, relax," Marik said, his voice softer than usual. "I remember how nervous I was when I did my first crime. But don't worry, this warehouse is pretty out of the way, and the folks around here are pretty unsavory. Trust me, the only people who might possibly know something's happening in here aren't the kind of people who are going to report anything to police.

"Besides," he added after a moment's thought. "What would they report? Three people went into the warehouse, but then six came back out? That just makes it sound like some teenagers got together to smoke or buy drugs or something, and trust me, little king – that's barely a crime worth telling anyone about!"

Yugi nodded, feeling himself begin to relax a little bit, Marik's hand on his shoulder all but squeezing the tension out of him.

Everything would be fine. They just had to finish up in here, and then no one would be any the wiser. It wasn't even like the boys they were about to sacrifice would go completely missing or anything like that.

"And really, little king," Marik continued, a cruel laugh lacing his voice. "No one looks at either of you-" he gestured between Yugi and Ryou with a sweeping motion, "-and even considers the possibility of you committing a crime! You've both got faces that could get away with murder!"

This brought a sharp bark of laughter out of Ryou, a boy whose face and demeanor, Yugi realized, had already gotten away with murder in the past. "Good. Because that's exactly the kind of faces we need. And if experience is anything to go by, hiding in plain sight is one of our greatest assets."

His remark reminded Yugi of Ushio's fate, and how no one had ever stopped to suspect him, even though he had been the last person known to interact with the man before he'd been found.

Oh, gods... Marik was right.

He could get away with murder.

The very thought filled him with eager anticipation, and he stood up straighter, throwing his shoulders back and pushing the dolly with more confidence. "Let's do this, then!"

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Arranging everything for the ritual turned out to be more time-consuming than Yugi had thought it would be. First, they had to draw symbols in a certain pattern on the ground.

Ryou was good at drawing the symbols, and he set to work, the calligraphy brush in his hand moving the paint methodically over the concrete floor. Yugi came along behind him, filling in the spaces between symbols with the crushed stone powder that Marik had acquired somewhere. When they were finished, they'd made a large circular shape on the floor, with four big gaps in the design – three gaps that fanned out on each side, like flower petals, and one gap in the center, big enough for three people to kneel in.

Marik opened the canvas bags, and, one by one, the bodies were arranged, each one carefully lowered into the three flower petal gaps.

Their names were Bonz Kotsuzuka, Sid Takaido, and Zygor Satake. Yugi had encountered them once, sometime last year. He didn't really remember much about them.

But they had been nearby, and had been convenient people to grab when he and Ryou and Marik had begun to plan this. Luring them to an abandoned building with the promise of a duel had been easy, as had been knocking them out and tying them up.

Yugi carefully arranged Bonz in place, and couldn't resist smiling to himself. Bonz wasn't all that bad looking, underneath the zombie getup, and Yugi was sure that the Pharaoh's spirit entering the body would only improve it.

He kept Bonz' hands and feet tied, touching his wrists only briefly to feel for his pulse. An alternative ritual that Marik had found in the Tomes of the Tomb Keepers called for bodies of those who were already dead, which allowed the spirits to be transferred directly into the bodies with no need to empty the bodies first, but also transformed the new individual into a living corpse. The version that Marik, Yugi, and Ryou had decided on doing called for live sacrifices, which added more steps to the process but ensured that their spirit partners wouldn't be trapped as zombies for the next several decades.

Carefully, Yugi knelt over Bonz' face with Ryou's calligraphy brush.

"I'd feel better about this if you were doing it, Ryou-kun," he muttered. "I'm not as good with brushes and detail work as you are."

"You'll do fine," Ryou assured him from where he was carefully arranging Sid's thin, gangly form. "It doesn't have to be perfect – it just has to be personal."

"Personal. Right." Biting his tongue in concentration, Yugi carefully began to write over Bonz' face, drawing every word or phrase or doodle he could think of that made him think of the Pharaoh. 'The other me,' was one, and so was 'Game King,' and 'Pharaoh,' and 'the King With No Name.' He drew images of the Puzzle, and the Eye of Wdjat, and Kuriboh and Osiris the Sky-Dragon, and the Dark Magician's hat.

He was so engrossed in his work, he didn't even notice when Bonz began to stir underneath him, until the other boy's eyes flew open, staring around groggily.

Bonz' eyes landed on Yugi at the same time he tried to move his arms, and Yugi could see the realization breaking in the other boy's eyes.

"H-HEY! WHERE AM I?! WHY AM I TIED UP?! WHAT ARE YOU-?!"

Marik was fast, much faster than Yugi, and had a ball of cloth stuffed neatly into Bonz' mouth before he could continue screaming. A second later, and the only sound Bonz could manage was muffled indignation.

"That sedative wore off faster than I thought it would," Marik said. He snarled. "I knew I couldn't trust Keith to get me the good stuff!"

Yugi was a little rattled by Bonz' outburst, and he didn't like the accusing way the other boy was glaring up at him, but he shook his head after a moment, deciding to ignore it. Going right back to work, he drew ankhs on each of Bonz' wrists, ignoring the struggling and wriggling that Bonz had started to do.

Sid and Zygor woke up, too, and they were also silenced by Marik stuffing their mouths with cloth, effectively gagging them.

Once each of the sacrifices had been appropriately decorated, candles were placed at their feet, the names of the sacrifices carved into the wax.

Marik grinned at Zygor with half-lidded eyes as he set the 'ZYGOR' candle down next to the boy's feet. "I hope you like this candle, because it's going to be your new home soon. Not for long, hopefully, but yours all the same."

This earned him a questioning look from the three captives, but he didn't bother elaborating. Instead, he moved to stand over Ryou's satchel, reaching in and pulling out the Puzzle.

"Are you ready for the Puzzle's placement, Yugi?"

At Yugi's nod of assent, Marik approached Bonz, sliding the Puzzle chain around the captive's neck and placing the Puzzle firmly between his hands. Ryou did the same with the Rod, tucking it into Zygor's hands, and Yugi with the Ring, putting it around Sid's neck and under his arms.

They couldn't touch their own Items. Not yet. They couldn't talk to their partners until after the ritual was complete. And it was making Yugi feel anxious.

After the Items had been placed, Yugi moved into the center gap of the circle, along with Ryou and Marik, and took his place kneeling behind Bonz' head. He placed his hands on either side of Bonz' head, holding him in place by the temples. Marik and Ryou did the same to Zygor and Sid.

"We were vessels," Marik began, his words mingling with a prayer of some kind, invoking the name of Zorc. "But now we wish to offer new vessels. Hear me, O Lord of Darkness, and empty these bodies that we offer, so that they may be filled by the shadows that dwell within us and within the Sennon Items."

Ryou repeated Marik's words, but changed them slightly, speaking the second part of the prayer-based spell. "We are vessels no more, for we have brought new vessels before you, mighty Zorc. We beseech you to empty them of their light, so that your children may live within them, and that they may no longer be constrained to their current prisons."

And then it was Yugi's turn, and the words flowed from him as easily as water from a pitcher. "We have become your dark children, just as our partners are, and we humbly offer these sacrifices before you. Souls whose light may quench your hunger, and bodies whose flesh and substance may serve the needs of your children. We beg you, Our Lord and Father, hear us and answer."

In the silence that followed, the already dim light of the warehouse seemed to grow darker still, and Yugi thought he could hear a humming in his ear.

Marik leaned over Zygor, and whispered simply, "Good-bye, Zygor Satake."

The muscular boy looked up at the Egyptian in confusion, but then Yugi could see his whole body seize up. His limbs convulsed, and his muscles spasmed, and a scream ripped from his lungs, muffled by the cloth gag. After exactly three seconds, his whole body went limp, as his soul was forced out of his body.

The candle that rested at his feet lit up, a small flame appearing from nowhere on the wick.

"Good-bye, Sid Takaido," Ryou whispered, and the whole process repeated over again. Exactly three seconds later, and Sid's body stopped moving, and the candle at his feet lit up.

Bonz' eyes stared up at Yugi, full of fear and horror and silent begging for mercy, but Yugi had come too far to stop now.

"Good-bye, Bonz Kotsuzuka," he whispered, and held Bonz as he effectively died, his spirit forcefully separated from his body. And then the third and final candle lit up, signaling the end of it.

"We thank you, Great Lord," Marik whispered, and he kissed the forehead of the boy who had once been Zygor. "Awaken and arise anew, my other self of the Sennon Rod."

Every word and drawing Marik had covered Zygor's body with began to disappear, melting into his skin. With each one, the body began to return to life, until every word was gone and the new person opened his eyes, revealing a malicious purple where there had once been Zygor's indifferent brown.

"We thank you, Mighty One," Ryou repeated, kissing the forehead of Sid's body in turn. "Awaken and arise anew, my other self of the Sennon Ring."

Every word and drawing he had applied to Sid melted away, and the eyes that had once been Sid's snapped open to reveal a hardened brown with flecks of gold.

"We thank you, O Ruler of Darkness. Awaken and arise anew, my other self of the Sennon Puzzle," Yugi whispered when his turn came, and with a kiss to what had been Bonz' forehead, he watched as every one of his words and doodles melted away, and soon he was staring into the cruel red eyes that he'd come to know so well.

Quickly, the three former vessels set to work freeing their captives. Bindings were cut, and gags were removed, and soon they had all risen to standing positions, adjusting to their newfound freedom.

"What clever little lights we have," the former Spirit of the Ring praised. His new long, thin arms were wrapped around Ryou's equally thin shoulders, and he stood tall over his former host in the body that used to be Sid's.

The former Spirit of the Rod chuckled, his voice still that low, sinister sound that Yugi remembered it as, and gave Marik an amused, fond look. "Not so light anymore though, are they?"

"I suppose not," the former Spirit of the Puzzle relented. In Bonz' body, he stood at the same height as Yugi, and when he slipped an arm around Yugi's waist and pulled him closer, it filled the other boy with a delight he'd never known before.

The Pharaoh tapped Yugi's nose teasingly, an easy grin on his face. "I always knew you had some darkness in you, my partner."

"Now for the final step," Marik said. Wrestling away from his yami's grabbing hands, he picked up the 'ZYGOR' candle. He held it up to his yami. "Their souls became the flames, and you have to snuff them out if you don't want to share your bodies with them."

The Thief chuckled. "That could be fun, though." He grinned at Ryou. "Just think: you, me, and another imprisoned soul to torture!"

"We have too many imprisoned souls at home already, Bakura," Ryou answered patiently. "You don't need another one."

"But this one's special because you gave him to me!"

Ryou became less patient, and shoved the 'SID' candle into his yami's face. "Please, just finish this. I'm tired and want to go home."

At the prompting of their former vessels, the former spirits each took the soul candles, and, one by one, the souls of Bonz, Sid, and Zygor were snuffed out, their deaths completed, and the warehouse left in darkness.

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Yugi giggled as he and the Pharaoh were snuggled together in bed later that night. It hadn't taken the Pharaoh long to get used to his new body, as close as it was in size to Yugi's own, and he had already changed large portions of its appearance. Some of Yugi's spare clothes now adorned the slight frame, and the hair has been washed and restyled, now resembling his usual lightning bolt style more than the shaggy mop it had been before.

"You are my perfect partner," the Pharaoh murmured into Yugi's ear, making the boy's cheek turn red and his knees feel weak. "You are light when I need you to be light, and you are dark when I need you to be dark. Zorc couldn't have arranged a better partner for me!"

Yugi willingly succumbed to his partner's affections, and he couldn't remember why he had ever thought that the ritual was a bad idea.