Yami Bakura

What an opportunity! Being able to set all the rules and consequences for a dark game was an unbelievable advantage. I could plan the whole thing around Yami Yugi’s weaknesses. Besides, I thought I had found a flaw in his little plan…

“So your terms are that we separate from our hosts, and I stay in the shadow realm if you win? And in exchange, you’re letting me choose the game and the rules and consequences, as well as offering up your puzzle if I win? Is this correct?”

“Yes,” he replied. “These are the terms I agree to.” I had him!

“Very well. Agreed. These will be the conditions of our game.” We shook hands, sealing the terms. Now I had to think of what would be in my favor for the game. Yami Yugi was a strategist. One of the best. So whatever I chose should have nothing to do with strategy. It couldn’t be physical, seeing as neither of us was good at that, so I didn’t know whose favor that would be in. The game should be a matter of luck. That way, at least there would be no real advantage on either side. Besides, I had a plan…

“The game shall be a game of chance,” I told the dark Yugi. “We will each use our Duel Monsters deck. We will shuffle and draw, playing one on one against the opponent’s card. The monster with higher attack points wins. Magic cards automatically lose. Trap cards automatically win. If it is a tie, then the match is void. Each card, win or lose, is used once and then discarded and a new one is drawn. Lose ten matches and you lose the game entirely, and your opponent claims victory.”

Yami Yugi nodded. “Fine. Now to prepare. Separate from your other.”

I smirked back at him. “Of course…” After all, they were part of my plan.
 
 

Yami Yugi

Yami Bakura was up to something. He was being sneaky. But I didn’t know what it was. He had chosen a game of chance as our shadow game. He was playing against my strategic abilities by making them obsolete. But there was something else. He had yet to mention the game’s consequences.

We both separated from our others. Yugi and Bakura seemed equally confused. I briefed them on the goings on, telling them about the game and the stakes. They understood and started to back off. Yami Bakura motioned them to stop.

“What is it?” I questioned.

“Just wait,” he said. “Let me finish setting up the game.” The shadow realm produced a surface for us to play on. Seeing as neither of us had much power, and this was a condition of the game, the shadow realm would enforce the rules. The shadow realm was created for the sole purpose of housing the dark games, and it had the power necessary to be an unbiased enforcer of the conditions.

Yami Bakura and I positioned ourselves at the game, each producing a deck. “Now,” he said smirking, “the consequences.” He glanced at Yugi and Bakura. “I think an energy cage would do nicely. But, seeing as we must play the game, we will need stand-ins.”

The shadow realm then produced the energy boxes, one around Bakura and one around Yugi. “B-but the conditions of the game…” I stammered.

“…mentioned nothing about not involving them at all,” he completed. “You only said that we would not play the game in their bodies.”

“You dirty, underhanded cheater!” I said, shaking with rage.

“The shadow realm does not allow cheating. It would not enforce my rules if they went against the terms. This is entirely by what you said.”

I had messed up. I had given up a lot to spare Yugi and Bakura the dangers of the shadow game, and now it was for nothing because the soul stealer had found a way around it. I had never been this angry with myself. Yami Bakura laughed at my predicament. “You have seriously slipped up,” he said with relish. “All that for nothing. The energy cage that holds your other will shrink with every match you lose. Touching the walls of the cage would result in a very painful, not to mention fatal, shock. At the tenth loss, and so the loss of the game, the cage that holds the host of the loser will shrink to nothing from all sides, passing over the body of unfortunate individual, and killing him. Lose the game, and your precious Yugi loses his life. But then, of course, if you manage to beat me, it will be Ryou to suffer instead.”

How could I have let this happen? I had allowed this dark spirit to manipulate me. He had intentionally led me into this, by twisting words around and now there was no way around it. One of the hosts would die…
 
 

Yugi

I had never seen Yami so upset. He wasn’t used to failing. The one thing he was trying to do was keep me and Bakura out of this match, and he had been unable. It troubled him greatly. Judging from the look on his face, this duel was not going to have a pretty outcome, no matter who won.

The energy cage around me crackled with what seemed to be electricity. It surrounded me completely, about ten feet in every direction, but I could see through it. Bakura had one just like mine around him. He seemed to feel very guilty. He thought this was all his fault. I wished that I could tell him that it wasn’t, but he wouldn’t be able to hear me with the noise the cage was making. I myself couldn’t even hear what was being said by Yami Yugi and Yami Bakura. How dangerous was this cage? I picked a pebble out of the bottom of my shoe and through it at the wall. Sparks shot from where it hit and the rock flew back and landed on the ground next to me. It didn’t seem to be burnt, but a rock shouldn’t have been affected by electricity anyway, should it? That had been some strange reaction. I had never seen anything like it.

<Yugi!> came the voice of Yami Yugi. Even thought he was separate from me, there was still a mind link. <Don’t touch those walls! That is magical energy! Touching it is fatal!>

<Then…this duel isn’t going to end well, is it?>

< I’m afraid not Yugi,> was his reply. <I cannot protect both of you.>

<You can’t just give up, Yami!> I said desperately. <You can’t just let one us die.>

<My first loyalty is to you, Yugi. If I cannot spare Bakura, I will not sacrifice you for him. I am sorry. I will do what I can, but I do not see a way out of this.> He closed off the link. This couldn’t be happening. Was there really no way out?
 
 

Yami Bakura

The game was to start. Yami Yugi was obviously troubled by his failure to protect the innocent. That was my goal all along. Even in a game of luck, the participants must be able to keep their wits. Yami Yugi was already shaken up and the game had not even started.

“Are you not going to warn your other,” he asked.

“No, I don’t think so. He can figure it out on his own.” He narrowed his eyes at me but said no more. We shuffled our decks and placed them in front of us.

“Now, we begin!” I said.

I turned my first card to reveal a morphing jar. Not an especially strong one. Since we didn’t have magic ourselves, the cards did not come to life. It was not important to the duel, so the shadow realm didn’t bring them to life either. Yami Yugi turned his card to reveal Multiply, a magic card.

“Oh, tough luck. An automatic loss,” I said, smiling. He turned to watch in horror as the energy cage shrank around Yugi, the small boy backing away from the walls and into the center. He saw his yami watching and tried not to seem scared, but he wasn’t hiding it well.

This game was going to get interesting…
 

Ryou

This was all my fault. This whole mess. It was because of me. I watched as the energy cages closed in around me and Yugi, growing smaller as the shadow game between my yami and Yugi’s continued. Yugi’s was noticeably smaller than mine. Yami Yugi was losing. I looked in their direction and caught Yami Yugi looking at me. He WAS holding out because of me… He was torn between the thought of killing me and the thought of allowing Yugi to perish. The look of torment in his face, so like the face of Yugi, was genuine. I saw Yugi’s little experiment with the cage wall. I knew what the shrinking cages meant. If my dark side won this duel, I would never be able to live with myself, knowing that someone else had died so that I could live. I was preventing Yami Yugi from going all out. I had to put a stop to this…

I would have to do it now, for I may not have been able to find the courage again. I backed up to one side of the cage, preparing for a running start. I took a final look around. Yami Bakura was too involved with his current lead in the game to pay attention to me, but Yami Yugi and Yugi noticed my movement and both yelled at me. I could not hear them. With the attention drawn to me, Yami Bakura looked in my direction, too. He yelled as well, but he yelled in rage. I was ruining his plans, but I didn’t care. I hoped that what I was preparing to do would help. I began running, fast enough so that I would not be able to back out, straight towards the opposite cage wall…
 
 

Yami Yugi

The consequences of both winning and losing this duel were plaguing my thoughts. I couldn’t focus. Even when I shadow game is based on luck, you need to keep your wits about you, and I was failing miserably. I looked towards Yugi and then towards Bakura, who returned my gaze. I returned to the game. I had four losses left. Yami Bakura had seven.

When next I looked up after another loss (I now had three left), I saw Bakura backing up to the wall behind him. He looked around like it would be the last time. What was he doing? I saw him bunch up, as if preparing to run. But where would he run? The cage prevented him from going any where. What…? And then I realized. He was going to run straight into the energy wall! That was suicide!

“BAKURA, NO!” I screamed, but it was too late. He charged head-first towards his death.
 
 

Yami Bakura

I looked up to see the fool preparing to run. He was trying to ruin the advantage I had over Yami Yugi by ending his life now so that Yami Yugi wouldn’t have to do it for him. “STOP IT YOU FOOL!” I called, but it was useless. He could not hear me and there was no stopping him. The look of contempt he had on his face as he looked at me moments before starting into his run told me that he was doing this to spite me every bit as much as he was doing it to help Yami Yugi. So, perhaps he wasn’t so weak after all…but a wasted life is a wasted life. Shame. He might have been of further use. Well, if I won, it would be no problem. With three millennium items, I would have more than enough power to remain in a false form permanently. Seeing as the puzzle would be mine, Yami Yugi wouldn’t be a threat. I could get by very well without Ryou. I would simply claim the items from his body, and live very contentedly as I search for the rest. Let him die. I didn’t need him…
 
 

Bakura

The pain of the impact was tremendous. It sent a wave of energy through my body that threw me onto my back, unable to move. It surprisingly did not burn. It was a different pain. It seemed to go all the way from my skin to inside my bones. I hurt throughout, but it would not last long. I could feel my body systems shutting down. The pain was slowly easing. My struggled breathing slowed and relaxed. I was dying.

I saw Yugi through my half open eye. He looked so sorry for me. Don’t be sorry, my friend, I thought. I have helped cause enough suffering, now maybe, in dying, I can help someone live. I was tired of being a pawn in this game of millennium chess. I didn’t want to continue. I was tired of everything.

I vaguely wondered what would become of the others. What were they thinking now? I felt the warm glow on my face, one of the last things I remember. For the first time, the eye told me only what I wanted to know. I heard the simultaneous thoughts of Yugi and Yami Yugi.

{Farewell, Bakura…}

I closed my real eye. Finally, I could sleep…
 
 

Yugi

“BAKURA, DON’T!” I yelled at the top of my lungs, hoping to reach him before he did something rash. He either didn’t hear me, or didn’t listen, because he took off running towards the opposite wall. He impacted in a shower of sparks. If he screamed, I didn’t hear it. He was blown backwards and landed on his back in the center of his cage. He remained flat on the floor, struggling for breath. His eye was half open. I wanted to comfort him, but I couldn’t get close. <There is nothing we can do…> Yami said. <We can only say our good-bys> Farewell, Bakura, I thought, knowing Yami was doing the same thing. The millennium eye glowed faintly. At least he would suffer no more. I watched as Bakura’s eye closed and his breathing slowed and then stopped.

Bakura was dead…
 
 

Authors note:   WHAAAAAAAA! What a sad ending to the chapter! *ducks as all the Ryou fans throw stuff at her* RELAX! The story’s not over! Wait before you kill me, or worse, flame me!