Summary: Ryou has been doomed to a mental facility for actions committed by his yami, including the murder of his best friend, Yugi. Will the young albino teen forever rot in his padded room, harboring guilt for things he didn't do, or does Bakura have other, more wicked plans? AU yaoi BakuraXMarik, RyouXSerenity
AN: This is story one of a VERY long, already written out saga. Luckily I wrote this last year, when I was still shy about lemons, so it shouldn't be taken off anytime soon for explicitness, and there's even some strait action in here! Something that, as most of my seasoned fans know, is extremely rare, if ever seen in my fics. What can I say? I'm a favoritist. Please, enjoy and review! Even if you don't enjoy, review! I'm an attention junkie.
Prologue- Ryou's POV
I can't stop him. He's in my head and I can't control him. All day, every minute, telling me to do things…to deceive and hurt. I try to fight him off…try to stay the pounding migraines and bouts of blackness, but soon I find myself awake again and afraid. In a situation not of my own making…like holding a knife to throat of a stranger or in an attic room with jewels in my hands and the police at my back.
Nobody believes me. My father denies me. They think I'm insane…a despicable criminal who doesn't know better and is best kept locked away…never spoken of or mentioned again. Then it happened. That awful day when he came to visit me in juvenile hall. His puppy dog violet eyes had been wide with concern and understanding. He had put his hand on my chest, feeling the ring there.
" It's okay Ryou. I know what's happening, and I'm gonna help you."
I had stood. I told him to leave before…but, he'd heard. He'd seen the golden around his neck, and was practically screaming in my ears…roaring…shouting at me to…to…
The next thing I know he lay dead in my arms, his tender little neck snapped cleanly and the puzzle in my free right hand. The CO's were beating me and yelling at one another to call an ambulance, and the cops, but all I could do was stare down at the boy in horror. He who had been my dearest friend. Well, my only friend, really. The only one who understood and who knew what I was going through. My fellow secret-keeper.
Poor, poor Yugi Motou. You should've left me alone. Now you're just another name in the libraries of my guilty mind…another grave.
I am here now. In the inevitable white room, windowless, yes, padded too. Many times I have tried to kill myself…to rid the world of Him and to give myself some peace! My God, hell would be better than this! At least I'd have a choice, a purpose in my suffering!
I can't move my arms. The blasted jacket is too tight. They took the puzzle from me; the ring too.
But it always comes back. He, always returns to torture me. Even now I feel him tugging, dulling my awareness, quickening my heart with dread and panic. Somebody help me!
Chapter One- Perpetual
Ryou let out a moan as the fat nurse undid him from the straitjacket and forced his mouth open.
" Come on now, Ryou. It's time for your meds."
Ryou closed his eyes tight, clenching his fists as he drank down the water and anti-psychotics.
/ Come on. Just beat her. You're strong enough, and she's too big and slow to escape you./
/ No! Let me alone! Please! She's nice to me. I like her, and if we kill her I'll get the nasty old orderly who'll keep me wrapped up forever/
/ Oh, fine. But I'll only allow your repenting to go on for so long. We have things to do and have to get out of here. I want to live life in this era and have some fun! Not sit here and rot so that you can feel better about yourself./
Ryou rubbed his raw red eyes and sniffled. It seemed he never stopped crying.
/ You think I want to stay here! It's the only way to make up for…for…/
/ Oh, shut up, Host. Look, just stop fighting me and I promise I won't get you caught again. I don't want the millenium items anymore. When I killed Yugi, I killed the only host for the power. My goal, essentially. If I can't rule the earth, nobody will. Now it is time for living! I can get you all that you desire! Money, power, what about those gorgeous young men you dream about? We're no eyesore, you know. All of that is easily attainable./
" Stop! Just…stop."
The nurse jumped back in surprise. Ryou watched sadly with a half-maddened gaze as she rolled the cart out of the room. He was too weak to stand. His slender body pained at even the slightest exertion, the bruises and welts made by the police's clubs still burning bright on his unnaturally pale skin.
One week. That's how long he'd been staring at the crème-colored fabric of this blasted chamber. It might as well have been an eternity. With intense effort Ryou held his hand up, begging for her to stay.
" Wait!" he whispered. " Please. Tell me…how long must I stay here? I, miss my father…though he doesn't miss me…"
The nurse's eyes filled with pity. " Dontchya remember, Ryou? Because of yer behavior durin' the trial, the Parliament has sentanced ya ta…life, in here. You can't see yer father. You can' see…anyone."
Ryou let out a quiet sob and rested his head on the floor.
" No, I don't remember. I don't remember, anything. It's him. He knows. You think I'm daft. But-he-knows…ah!"
Ryou cried out as Bakura pushed at him again.
" Can't you stay with me?" he asked feebly. " I'm so lonely. There's nobody to talk to. Nobody except he, and all he does is taunt me. Please, just stay!"
The nurse shuffled uncomfortably, then reached into her pocket and pulled something out.
" I can't I have my rounds. But here, we're not supposed to give the inmates anything, but I noticed a wrapper fall out of your pocket when you came in so,…um…bye."
With that she turned and ran out, locking the door six times behind her. Ryou looked down despondently at what she'd thrust at him.
It was a bar of Flake, slightly mushed from being in the apron so long. It made him sick to see it. He was a citizen of the United Kingdom, not a beast! True, he was thought to be mentally unstable, but that didn't mean that throwing food at him would make him calm, like some sort of wild bear.
The tears stung his eyes, and he thought he must look almost Asian from how puffy they'd become.
/ I hate you, Spirit! I hate you/
/ Stifle. My name is Bakura, and you are ticking me off. Eat the chocolate already! I'm hungry/
/ Go to hell./
/ Been there./
/ Stay there./
/ Not a chance./
Ryou swore despairingly, then after contemplating new methods of suicide with the candy wrapper and finding none, stuffed the sustenance in his mouth. The sugary treat was wasted on him as Bakura grumbled.
/ Gods dammit, Ryou. Stop resisting. You're just making it harder on yourself./
/ GET OUT OF MY HEAD/
/ Believe me, I would, but fate has stuck us with eachother, and I'm not about to waste the rest of your days in this filthy Sanitarium with a WIMP/
Ryou drew his knees up and commenced compulsive rocking. " I can't stay here forever." He mused quietly. / I'm only seventeen. I won't die here! None of this is my fault! I'M A GOOD PERSON/
The outburst was too much. It only took him minutes to weep himself to sleep.
Bakura took over easily as Ryou slumbered. He'd had enough. He was hoping that the guilty mortal bit had been a phase, but it was obvious his host was going to need a shove in the right direction. He flinched as the muscles of the vessel tightened when he stood. He really had to get over his masochism. It was beginning to take its toll.
So, though he hated to admit it, was his host's opposition. If it hadn't been for his bad habit of pushing free of possession at a crucial moment, they would never have been apprehended for their crimes.
" Good. Now I can concentrate." He murmured to himself as the millenium Ring appeared around his neck.
He slapped himself mentally for playing along with the host for so long. There really wasn't any point. With ease he conjured his shadow powers, feeling the warmth and energy course through him. He laughed quietly as with a flick of his wrist, a purple mist engulfed the opposite wall. Wind was heard, and then, just like that it subsided, leaving a gaping hole where the wall had been.
" Hmmm. I haven't lost my touch. I wonder how my pervious Shadow Realm victims will react to having cinder block dropped on their heads in their own personal hells."
With another chuckle he sidled into the basement room the forced entrance led to.
" They really do like to keep us tucked away, don't they Ryou?"
He whispered to his sleeping host as he climbed some stairs.
The orderlies stopped dead in their tracks when they saw him. The same nurse who had given him the chocolate dropped her tray of medicine, but unlike the others, did not scream.
Bakura's chest quivered with an eerie chortling, and he threw his arms out.
" Hello, everyone! Did you miss me! I do believe a few of you were a bit rude to my host when you stuck him in that white closet of a chamber. I'm afraid I don't approve of anyone hurting my Light, no matter how much of a prat he is. Forgive me if this hurts. I just haven't killed in so long!"
Bakura ducked an orderly who lunged at him, syringe of Gods knew what in hand, and let him crash into a two-way mirror. The blood splattered, and everyone else ran except the stout nurse, who walked slowly towards him, her hands held out defensively.
" Easy there, Ryou…did you throw up your pills? You're very sick. We have to get you back to your room. I'm not gonna hert ya, just, come with me and we'll get you all strapped up…"
Bakura smiled maliciously and strode over so that he was in arms length of her.
" Hmmm. Innocent mortal. You were nice to us…nice as a zoo-goer is nice to the tiger. Unfortunately, the tiger has escaped his cage, and doesn't feel like showing mercy."
Bakura cut off the woman's shriek with his hand, covering her mouth and seizing her in such a way that it was impossible to move. Icily he watched as her face turned a deep purple shade. Her eyes popped out as she convulsed, until finally they rolled back grotesquely in their sockets, and her struggling ceased.
Bakura sighed as he removed her uniform jacket.
" I do so hate clean deaths." He pouted as he put the drab garment on, then reached up and jammed a fist into the incandescent light above him.
He shook his head as the electric shock wen through him, the volts burning themselves out in a moment as they came into contact with the ectoplasm of his long-dead spirit. He watched as the lights along the hallway flickered and died, then listened with relish at the panicked screams of others as everyone was plunged in darkness.
With ease he navigated the maze of hallways, the red emergency bulb and siren doing absolutely nothing to assist in his location. Rather, they seemed to put the dimwitted humans into a frenzy. Nobody even noticed him as he sidled out the front door.
England. The kingdom of tall building and rainy days; of snobs in suits and stifling monarchies, of spectacular views and more history in it's front doors than some countries had in their entire beings. The moon was yellow behind the misty clouds as the 5000-year-old spirit used his power to bend a rather handsome looking Chevy to his will.
For he knew also, that England, or Britannia s it had once been called, was a kingdom of news and gossip. The images of newspapers and anchorpersons flashing before his shared mind told him so. He couldn't stay here. He had to go where…where it was easy to blend in. Somewhere that could care less about the UK and was all but isolated in its advancement. Somewhere with lots of people.
He sifted through his host's thoughts and memories like a book. America…too arrogant… Ireland…too drunk…Prague…who the hell knew where Prague was! Then he found it. Not only was it out of the way, but it seemed his host had been studying the language for some time now. Could it be? Was this a life-long dream he sensed?
" This may be just the thing to win him over." The Spirit said to himself, then tapped into Ryou's driver's ed lessons and eased the vehicle out of the parking space. He wondered how long the flight to Japan would be.
TBC
AN: I looovveee this story! I hope you do too! Please tell me so in numerous reviews!