victory_road | ANOMALY DETECTED

I'm sure he wasn't to all those who he sent to their deaths during his life. So don't waste your time apologizing to canvas and paint!

[Bakura's voice echoes dryly out from somewhere at the other end of the room. If Ryou turns around he will find a near carbon copy of his own body lounging on a seat at the end of the table, perfectly the same except for the mind that resides within it and the fact that Bakura has opted for his favored black coat over Ryou's casual clothes again.

In the halfshadows behind his seat, a Hisuian Zoroark with a slate body and purple markings in its white mane smirks at the new target of its owner.

Giving the youth in front of him a once-over, Bakura inclines his head and smirks cruelly.]

Missed me? Landlord~

[Ryou whips around at that voice, eyes wide as he spots the 'twin' of him at the table.]

You-

[He fumbles for one of his Pokéballs, his left hand (once impaled and mostly healed, but still left a bit stiff from the injury) fumbling a bit on one of them before he gets a grip and releases a Hisuian Zorua. Banshee bristles on sight of the Zoroark, trying to look threatening despite being unevolved and having very little that can actually touch her fellow Normal/Ghost type.]

When did you get here, Spirit? [If the spirit isn't going to call him by name, then Ryou won't call him by name either.

But then again, Ryou isn't sure if the spirit's name is Bakura or Zorc, all things considered.]

[He raises a mocking eyebrow at what? Is that supposed to be a show of strength? Defiance, maybe? Whatever it is his host is trying to pull, it's clearly not working.]

Is that really the question you should be asking? And please, put that thing away. We both know that it'll only get hurt if it tries to attack me.

[His Zoroark places its hands on the backrest of his seat, looking like its hoping the other will ignore its master's words and gift him that fight.]

.....Quite strange, getting to look at each other like this for once, isn't it? I bet you don't like what you see. [He shrugs.] You look like you're doing well.

[Ryou stares at the spirit for a moment longer before turning his focus to Banshee.]

Banshee, no. He's dangerous, stay here.

[Banshee huffs and continues to watch the Zoroark in hopes of a fight, but stays put beside Ryou. Relieved that his Pokémon will hopefully stay out of danger, Ryou returns his focus to the spirit, trying not to let his fear show.]

I'm doing pretty well now that I'm not being possessed half the time. Speaking of, looks like you got to keep using my body when you came here.

[It's kind of unsettling to see the spirit in a copy of his own body, knowing that it isn't the spirit's at all.]

Banshee? What a cute name~

[His voice and smile are pure mocking.

Bakura pushes himself up from his seat and saunters over so he can properly face Ryou, his unnamed Zoroark following on his heels. The thief's smile widens into a smirk.]

...And you're getting to the good questions, too! What an amazing progress~ [Baring his teeth, he lets his eyes narrow.] What other body should I have appeared with?

[Banshee growls, but continues to stay beside her trainer and not attack. It seems she doesn't like having her name mocked much.

Ryou, meanwhile, tries to stand his ground as the spirit approaches, but can't help but back up a step or two away from him.]

...I don't know. [The spirit has no body of his own, that's why he needed Ryou as a host body.] I kind of thought you wouldn't be able to come here, since you don't have a body of your own.

[And he was supposed to be gone, not back to torment him again.]

Yet he could, couldn't he? You should know that all that's within the Pharaoh's power is also within my own.

[His smug expression falls into a scowl.]

...although I'd have preferred a copy of my own body as well, believe me. This one is rather scrawny when compared.

[Darn it, he's right. If Atem could show up here, why can't the spirit? The key difference, of course, is that Ryou is happy to see Atem around, but much less happy to see the spirit here in front of him.

The scrawny comment gets a frown out of Ryou, considering that's technically his body being insulted, but he doesn't comment on that. No, he's more hung up on what the spirit wants from him at this point.]

What do you want? You have a body, you don't need me as your 'landlord' anymore. [The disgust with the idea of being his landlord is really not well disguised.]

Me? I want a lot, landlord, starting with revenge and justice! But from you? Nothing, really.

Just consider this a courtesy visit, to check in how you're doing. I did grow somewhat fond of you while we were stuck together, after all. Not much could bear the burden that is the Ring for that long.

Revenge. I won't let you hurt my friends, if you're still going after Atem.

[Ryou had heard about the Thief King and his past. He knows what revenge likely means in this case, as long as Atem is around to go after. In any case, Ryou won't let the spirit hurt his friends anymore, not here.

Then the topic turns to the Ring and Ryou blinks confused, not sure what to do with being complimented by the spirit of all people.]

...I was lucky. I could have been rejected like everyone else who tried to claim it.

[He is not thinking about why he, specifically, was claimed as the bearer.]

Oh yeah? And I wont just let him continue to hurt my loved ones, just because he's the Pharaoh and that makes him somehow so goddamn good!

[He is snarling now, mind going blank with rage as he remembers all those damned souls and for inhumanely long they had been forced to be the fuel for the royal family's ~good~ deeds!]

You weren't. 'Lucky' is a fluke, you can't be and stay 'just' lucky over several years!

Atem didn't have them killed! [Ryou shoots back, firmly on the side of his friends.] What happened to Kul Elna was wrong and shouldn't have happened, but Atem didn't order it!

[Atem benefited from it as the Pharaoh, yes, but he didn't order it.

Meanwhile, Banshee bristles and growls at the sight of the spirit, not liking his rage. Ironic, considering that Banshee, as a Hisuian Zorua, is also a vengeful spirit.]

Right. I wasn't lucky, I was suitable. Someone who could wear the Ring without being instantly rejected.

Edited 2022-11-30 05:13 (UTC)

Yeah, he just knew they were there, suffering, and he chose to do NOTHING! They all chose to do nothing, because that'd have meant giving up some of their previous power!!

They didn't even have the decency to admit the truth!!

[That one probably smarted the most. It was one thing to slaughter a whole village, but to desecrate each and every inhabitant of it even in death and in the afterlife?! Having the guts to spit into his face by claiming that each and every one had deserved such a fate?!]

There were good people there! Sick ones! Old ones! Gentle ones! Newborn babes! What did any of those do to deserve to be killed like that and have their souls locked in a fucking limbo of eternal suffering?! WHY DIDN'T HE HELP THEM if he was such a -good- king?! You know what?!

[Taking a deep breath, he spills a secret he's never shared before. His utter shame. But Ryou has been his host for forever, so he can have that particularly knowledge as a reward and suffocate on it for all Bakura cares!

Leaning forward, Bakura hisses into Ryou's face, lips pulled back like an animal's and eyes wide and alight with raw emotions. Bakursa might be frothing, but it's the pain and rage of a cornered beast, not that of a simple madman.]

Sometimes I don't care that they sacrificed me to the Items too! That the only reason they let me live for that long was because my soul was a goddamn suitable key! So don't come me with being used, as if I never knew how that feels like!! They merged me to the Items and the evil god they themselves summoned!!

[Behind him, his Zoroark has raised his arms in helpless gesture. Zoroark's eyes are wide and the smirk wiped off his face as he wants to aid his master but knows better than to get too close at the moment.]

[Ryou's terrified as the spirit yells at him, too scared to turn his back and run for fear of what he'll do. Banshee's scared too, her eyes wide as she bushes and growls in fear from beside Ryou.

Then he stops yelling and just hisses his biggest secret right in his face, and Ryou helplessly takes a couple steps back from the spirit just to get some space.]

I-I told you what happened to Kul Elna was wrong! They shouldn't have been slaughtered and used like that! I just...you know I didn't get to go help uncover Atem's name, I don't know what happened exactly!

[Ryou was the only one of his group of friends who got left out, deemed too evil by the Scales and unable to join them. He's the only one who had to rely on being told what happened afterwards.

In any case, he's scared of what the spirit might do and just wants him to get out of his face.]

Yet you still decided to take everything you heard at face-value and immediately cast me in the wrong.

[His rage seems to flow out of him as quickly as it has come, a geyser of spite that's retreated back into the depths after unleashing its tempest overflow.

Shaking his head, Bakura returns back to the table and sits on it. His Zoroark immediately crawls half into his lap and he pets it absentmindedly. For once he looks weary rather than fed up and ready to jump into action.]

You can't blame me for the scales. They never were able to get a read on and judge me - trust me, they tried. [He laughs under his breath, remembering the disbelieving faces of Atem and his henchmen when one of their favorite tools had failed to just write him off as simply evil like they'd assumed. The scales had just kept swinging up and down, up and down, jumping from extremely evil to extremely good and back in a continuous dance. Of course the same could probably not be said for Zorc, but he prefers to be seen as his own entity as long as he has an awareness of his own.] If I were you I'd be finding myself some better friends. They just shrugged and went on with their merry way when some queer bastard singled you out and declared you 'evil' right in front of them.

What kind of 'good friend' tolerates shit like that?

[Ryou's very quiet now, not sure what to say for fear of setting the spirit off again. He lets the spirit speak, then finally responds, still hesitant but unwilling to let his friends get called out like this.]

...They helped me, when I barely knew what was happening with you and the Ring. And I...I was okay with staying back, if it meant they could go.

[If his crying as he ran away that day was any indication, no, he wasn't okay with being left out. Ryou has a habit of self sacrificing for others, sacrificing his happiness, even his very soul during that Monster World game, to help those he cares about.

And really, considering how lonely he was by the time he found out just why all his previous friends were comatose, was it any surprise he latched onto his current group of friends after they helped to free him that day?]

Were you?

[He raises an eyebrow, lips quirking in a way that says that he remembers those tears exactly.]

They helped you because the Puzzle awoke me, and I didn't leave them much of a choice in response. [He shrugs his shoulders.] I collected those other souls for you, you know?

[Not his best day (or even century) to have an idea like that, but you try to stay in forced solitary confinement for that long and then lets see how good your head still works.]

I wanted friends, not souls trapped in miniature figures! [He bites back, still upset about that.] I didn't even know what was happening, I just knew anyone I tried to play Monster World with ended up in comas! I had to transfer schools a few times because no one wanted to be near me!

[Yes, he gets that the very extended isolation probably wasn't good for the spirit and they couldn't talk before encountering Yugi and the Puzzle, but that had been a very confusing and frightening time for Ryou, one he doesn't want to go back to.]

Besides, we were all in a rush to go after Atem. We couldn't hang around arguing with Bobasa about if I should have gone.

[He's doing it again, setting aside what he wanted in order to support others, this time to justify why he alone was left out. There wasn't really that much time pressure, Ryou just can't or won't admit he was wronged that day.]

You wished you could keep on playing forever with everyone! [He scowls, brows pulling together in a way that says that Ryou's toeing the line to making him angry again. Bakura doesn't mind the truth being called out. He just doesn't like when he's being attacked like this. As if he were some 2D incompetent.... ! His lips pull back to flash Ryou some teeth before he reins himself in and shakes his head.] I'm not saying that I didn't mess up.

[Letting the air that he's already sucked in to shout at the silly creampuff out with a huff, the thief swings a leg in a way that's very much kicking the air. His voice is low and almost sounds embarrassed as he continues.]

I'm a bastard, but I do know better than not to care for what's mine. I might've been too messed up in the head to realize my mistakes, but I did try to help out sometimes, landlord.!

[Which is even true. It's hard not to get attached in some way when you share the life of somebody for so long and intimately as they did. Ryou had only been a little brat, too. With his sanity already fraying and his soul little more than a half-conscious shambling construct made up from way more chunks of Necrophades, the darkness he was constantly drenched in and way too much yarn and duct tape most of the time, Bakura had easily fallen into that trap. The boy had been important to him. So it had only made sense that he saw to it that the kid was fed, protected from attackers and otherwise taken care of. If it worked with owning a horse, then a human host shouldn't have been all that different? Most living things wanted the same basic things.

Fuck, he doesn't even know why he did what he did himself anymore! One more thing to blame the Pharaoh for.

Of course, all those half-baked notions of responsibility and care-taking had gone right out of the window when the ping of the Puzzle being nearby had kickstarted his full mind again.]

Why?

[Ryou freezes, not expecting the spirit to admit he messed up by doing that.]

You- [He clamps his mouth shut, not wanting to upset him again, but it's clear he kind of viewed the spirit as just that: an evil vengeful spirit who had used Ryou as his host. One who was justifiably upset about the destruction of Kul Elna, yes, but still an evil spirit.

That stunned quiet doesn't last long though, and Ryou is startled into explaining just why he couldn't have gone with his friends to help Atem out when he'd so badly wanted to help.]

Why? I...I didn't want to hold everyone up, and I'm sure they would have argued for me if I'd tried to stay...

[Even as he says this, something in the back of Ryou's mind points out that they hadn't tried to stop him from leaving when he did, no one tried to go after him or insist that he stay or argue for him beyond the initial shock of him being read as 'Evil'.]

I didn't mean that. I want to know why you keep doing that - you keep standing up for everybody but yourself, except if it's against me. Why?

[Even though Bakura should be the one Ryou ought to be fearing facing off against the most. Yet it's only against him that he's willing to show his spine.]

Take your apology to that picture, for example.

What?

[Isn't it obvious?]

I want to help them, that's all. [Except his help is coming at the cost of Ryou's own well being. Isolating himself to stop the comas, giving up on uncovering Atem's name despite wanting to help, apologizing to the painting of a long dead man despite what happened not being his fault, it's all coming out of Ryou's inability to stand up for himself unless the spirit gets involved.]

What am I supposed to do, not apologize for what happened? [Considering Shadi's death wasn't Ryou's fault, he shouldn't have to apologize.]

Helping others shouldn't be on the cost of your own. Are you sure you aren't trying to make up for something? Or trying to bribe them to stay with you?

[It's the most classic motives, and Bakura's trying to find the chinks in Ryou's self-sacrifing armor.]

Do you truly remember what happened when you met him? That man knew what the Items do to those that aren't worthy if somebody tries to wear them. They kill them! But did he try to stop your father? Did he try to stop you?! How old were you when you first put on the Ring, right in front of your very parent?

[Barking a short, derisive laugh, Bakura gives Ryou a look that betrays exactly what HE is thinking about that priest.]

Shadi would have seen you burn, body and soul completely destroyed, that day! And trust me, he wouldn't have felt guilty at all! You're apologizing to the portrait of your would-be murderer!

[Ryou flinches. It seems the spirit hit something there with just why he's so self sacrificing.]

It's not that, I just... [He wants them to know he's not evil, he's not like the spirit, try and counter all the stuff the spirit did in his body.

Then the spirit explains exactly what would have happened had the Ring rejected Ryou, and he stares wide eyed, glancing up at the Shadi painting again before looking back at the spirit.]

He didn't know I was there until I ran in to check on my dad, there wasn't time... [But the spirit's right, of course. Shadi had let his father try on the Ring. He had let a ten year old kid grab the Ring, he had let so many people try the Items knowing full well what would happen. Ryou only remembers what happened because Aigami had forced him to remember, and Aigami had blamed him personally for what happened.]

There wasn't time.... To do what?

[Narrowing his eyes, he lets his narrow. Seems like his host remembers exactly what happened now.]

No time to silence both of you effective- and conveniently, maybe?

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sorry for the late reply! my keyboard literally broke and fixing it was an trial T-T

you're fine!

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