[ygo - ryuuji/malik/atemu] rapunzel (2/?)
Rapunzel
By: White Rain
Disclaimer: I do not own Yuugiou.
Genre: Cracked out AU where everyone goes insane
Character/Pairing: Ryuuji, Yami no Yuugi in this chapter; Ryuuji/Yami no Yuugi/Malik overall.
Word Count: 1,702
Rating: PG for this chapter, NC-17 overall
Notes: Thanks to fickle_goddess for making this live, editing the chapter, and helping me when I was stuck. And for the cut tag.
Summary: Let's pretend that Otogi won the Dungeon Duel Monsters game with Yuugi back in manga...
Chapter summary: The Pharaoh attempts to adjust.
-
.chapter01
The Pharaoh looked around. "This isn't your room."
Ryuuji didn't look away from his laptop. "I ended the lease to the apartment. We're in a hotel." The Pharaoh walked over to stand behind him. "I would have burned down the place, but I really didn't want to deal with arson charges."
"What about your father?" The Pharaoh could see his reflection on the laptop screen. He still looked like Yuugi. For the first time he could remember, he wished he didn't.
"The coroner pronounced death by misadventure; he broke his neck when he fell down the stairs."
The screen was blank. Ryuuji hadn't turned the laptop on.
The Pharaoh turned away. "What are you going to do?"
"I've booked a flight to England," Ryuuji said. "Do you mind?"
"It's your body," the Pharaoh pointed out.
Ryuuji shut the laptop with a soft click. "Which reminds me, are you going to warn me next time you take over?"
"I took care of Yuugi's murderer," the Pharaoh said. He looked down at the Puzzle he was wearing. "There's nothing left I wish to do."
"What about me?"
"If I held you responsible, you would be worse than dead right now," the Pharaoh told him.
-
There was a new door in the Pharaoh's spirit room. Behind it was the most dangerous room of all. It contained his memories of Yuugi.
The Pharaoh could feel Yuugi's presence as he stood outside of it. Fainter, he could also sense what felt like Anzu, Jounouchi and Kaiba. He wasn't able to sense Honda at all.
He wished he could. He knew Yuugi had loved him dearly. He rather suspected he would have as well if destiny had just given him a little more time.
-
When he'd had enough of staring at Yuugi's door, the Pharaoh stepped out of his Puzzle. He immediately regretted it when the first thing Ryuuji said was, "Why don't you hold me responsible?"
The Pharaoh folded his arms and looked down at Ryuuji, who was sitting down on the bed. His eyes were glued to the floor. "Do you have some sort of death wish?"
"In no way am I innocent in this," Ryuuji said. He still wasn't looking at the Pharaoh. And he hadn't answered the question.
-
The Pharaoh spent most of his time standing in front of Yuugi's door. Usually, he'd cut through Yuugi's presence and focus on one of the other three that he felt. Anzu's presence was the one bound most closely to Yuugi, so focusing on her was the trickiest, because he didn't want to think too much about Yuugi.
Yuugi, the Pharaoh knew, is - was - in love with Anzu. She was his first friend. The person he trusted the most, outside of the Pharaoh himself. She was the one protected Yuugi before he'd solved the Puzzle.
She wanted to dance in America. Her favorite food was chocolate. Her parents were never really around. She generally had good grades in school. She didn't like wearing pants. She liked Disney movies and pretended she didn't like shoujo manga. Her favorite time of the year was summer. Though she knew how to duel, it wasn't something she really enjoyed a lot but she loved to watch her friends play the game.
There was probably no one in the world who had known her better than Yuugi. The Pharaoh knew everything that Yuugi had known about her. Not just facts and figures, but how he felt about her and why he loved her so much. The things that made up a person that didn't have any words.
He liked to think about the memories he'd gotten from Yuugi. He avoided thinking about the memories he'd made with her.
-
"I was starting to think you'd never come out of there." Ryuuji was typing something into his computer. Briefly, the Pharaoh wondered what he was doing before brushing the thought aside.
The Pharaoh moved to stand behind him once again. "If you want to see me, all you have to do is ask."
Ryuuji closed his laptop, and twisted around so that he was facing the Pharaoh. "I was thinking that since I solved the Puzzle, I must have been meant to."
There was nothing the Pharaoh was willing to say about that.
"Obviously," Ryuuji continued, as if he clearly hadn't been waiting for the Pharaoh to respond, "we're not connected - "
"You would not have been able to solve the Puzzle if we were not," the Pharaoh said. He set his hand on the Puzzle and tapped his index finger on the top of it. "It's true that our connection was forged differently. But it's still very much there."
Ryuuji's shoulders stiffened. He lifted his head to look at the Pharaoh, eyes wide and searching. "Want to give me some details on that?"
"No." The Pharaoh walked across the room to sit down on the bed. It was smaller than the one Ryuuji had before. And the bedspread was a different color, though it was still patterned in dice. "There was no connection between us for you to tap into, but you were able to build one and use that to solve the Puzzle."
"How?"
The Pharaoh looked up. There was no window on the ceiling. "By pouring yourself into me."
Ryuuji's voice was off a note or two when he said, "What exactly does that mean?"
"You used Jounouchi in attempts to break the bond we shared, manipulated my partner into a game he didn't know how to play, knowing he would be separated from me before I could step into to protect him, and I've done nothing to punish you for that." He jerked his head forward in order to stare at Ryuuji. "You're not a fool."
It only took a moment for the Pharaoh's words to sink in and for Ryuuji to take off the Puzzle, hand shaking. The Pharaoh hoped that this time when the Puzzle broke, no one would put it back together.
-
To say the Pharaoh was surprised when he found himself standing next to Ryuuji, who had a cardboard box on his desk and was scribbling something on a piece of paper, would have been an understatement.
"I'm going to send you back. Do you have Jounouchi's address?"
The Pharaoh couldn't stop his flinch. "No."
Ryuuji erased something on his paper. "How about Anzu's?"
"No."
Ryuuji erased something again. Then he titled his head to the side to look at the Pharaoh. "Okay, you have got to know Yuugi's address." When the Pharaoh didn't answer, Ryuuji gritted his teeth and opened up his laptop. "Fine, I'll just look it up online."
The Pharaoh moved his hand to cover Ryuuji's. The Puzzle glinted, a warning that the Pharaoh was more than willing to take over if he had to. "You are not sending me back there."
Ryuuji snapped his laptop shut louder than he usually did. "Look, I can't just send you anywhere. There are evil forces that could find the Puzzle and use it."
The Pharaoh knew those words should stir something within him. They didn't. "Feel free to destroy the Puzzle. It would solve both of our problems."
"I would." Ryuuji grabbed the Puzzle in both of his hands. In doing so, his arms moved through the Pharaoh's. It felt like an awkward sort of intimacy. "But I already tried that."
-
The Pharaoh went back to spending most of his time standing in front of Yuugi's door.
Kaiba's presence was easiest to focus on. He wasn't as intertwined with Yuugi as Anzu and Jounouchi were. That didn't make it much easier, because somehow, it felt like Kaiba was part of the past he'd lost.
The past he'd hoped to recover with Yuugi's help.
It helped when he spent most of his time thinking about their first duel and the look in Kaiba's eyes when the Pharaoh broke his heart into millions of little pieces.
-
Ryuuji was lying on his bed and the Pharaoh was standing in the middle of the room. He wasn't sure why he was there, beyond the fact he was getting tired of staring at Yuugi's door and trying not to think of Yuugi.
"Do you miss dueling?" Ryuuji asked. He tossed a die he was holding up in the air and then caught it; the Pharaoh followed the die with his eyes.
"No," the Pharaoh said. It wasn't a lie, and he was surprised by that.
Ryuuji reached over to his nightstand. He grabbed the box where the pieces of the Sennen Puzzle were stored and took off the lid. He took out the card and held it up. The Pharaoh knew what the card was, but that still couldn't prepare him for what it felt like when Ryuuji held it up. To look at the face of his most loyal card.
"You sure about that?" Ryuuji asked. He was smiling, and his eyes were glittering.
"Yes," the Pharaoh said and turned away. He would have asked how Ryuuji felt holding the last gift his father ever gave to him, but he could feel enough of that pain leaking through their bond to know he already knew enough.
-
As he spent more and more time staring at Yuugi's door, Jounouchi's spirit became more and more vivid. He wasn't sure if it was because Jounouchi had to be looking for him or because he knew exactly what Jounouchi would do to him if he found out that the Other Yuugi was giving up.
"Move," Jounouchi would say after he punched him, "and stop being such a fucking coward. Yuugi'd want - "
The Pharaoh never let himself finish that thought, even though he knew he couldn't avoid the end of that sentence forever if he kept standing still.
-
The Pharaoh was sitting on the ground, eyes closed with his back to Yuugi's door, the first time Ryuuji entered his spirit room. "Careful," he said, "it's dangerous in here."
The Pharaoh felt Ryuuji sit down next to him. They were close enough so their shoulders brushed. "Could you make it not dangerous?"
"I'm afraid not," the Pharaoh said.
"That's one plus for my room," Ryuuji said. There was a pause. "And about ten billion points for the coloring. Who decorated in here?"
The Pharaoh opened his eyes and looked around. He found himself smiling, a little. "Me, I suppose." Ryuuji's hair tickled against the Pharaoh's cheek. It was almost like being touched. "Our rooms are a reflection of our souls."
"Well," Ryuuji said, eyes darting around, "that really does explain a lot."
"Yes, it does."
By: White Rain
Disclaimer: I do not own Yuugiou.
Genre: Cracked out AU where everyone goes insane
Character/Pairing: Ryuuji, Yami no Yuugi in this chapter; Ryuuji/Yami no Yuugi/Malik overall.
Word Count: 1,702
Rating: PG for this chapter, NC-17 overall
Notes: Thanks to fickle_goddess for making this live, editing the chapter, and helping me when I was stuck. And for the cut tag.
Summary: Let's pretend that Otogi won the Dungeon Duel Monsters game with Yuugi back in manga...
Chapter summary: The Pharaoh attempts to adjust.
-
.chapter01
The Pharaoh looked around. "This isn't your room."
Ryuuji didn't look away from his laptop. "I ended the lease to the apartment. We're in a hotel." The Pharaoh walked over to stand behind him. "I would have burned down the place, but I really didn't want to deal with arson charges."
"What about your father?" The Pharaoh could see his reflection on the laptop screen. He still looked like Yuugi. For the first time he could remember, he wished he didn't.
"The coroner pronounced death by misadventure; he broke his neck when he fell down the stairs."
The screen was blank. Ryuuji hadn't turned the laptop on.
The Pharaoh turned away. "What are you going to do?"
"I've booked a flight to England," Ryuuji said. "Do you mind?"
"It's your body," the Pharaoh pointed out.
Ryuuji shut the laptop with a soft click. "Which reminds me, are you going to warn me next time you take over?"
"I took care of Yuugi's murderer," the Pharaoh said. He looked down at the Puzzle he was wearing. "There's nothing left I wish to do."
"What about me?"
"If I held you responsible, you would be worse than dead right now," the Pharaoh told him.
-
There was a new door in the Pharaoh's spirit room. Behind it was the most dangerous room of all. It contained his memories of Yuugi.
The Pharaoh could feel Yuugi's presence as he stood outside of it. Fainter, he could also sense what felt like Anzu, Jounouchi and Kaiba. He wasn't able to sense Honda at all.
He wished he could. He knew Yuugi had loved him dearly. He rather suspected he would have as well if destiny had just given him a little more time.
-
When he'd had enough of staring at Yuugi's door, the Pharaoh stepped out of his Puzzle. He immediately regretted it when the first thing Ryuuji said was, "Why don't you hold me responsible?"
The Pharaoh folded his arms and looked down at Ryuuji, who was sitting down on the bed. His eyes were glued to the floor. "Do you have some sort of death wish?"
"In no way am I innocent in this," Ryuuji said. He still wasn't looking at the Pharaoh. And he hadn't answered the question.
-
The Pharaoh spent most of his time standing in front of Yuugi's door. Usually, he'd cut through Yuugi's presence and focus on one of the other three that he felt. Anzu's presence was the one bound most closely to Yuugi, so focusing on her was the trickiest, because he didn't want to think too much about Yuugi.
Yuugi, the Pharaoh knew, is - was - in love with Anzu. She was his first friend. The person he trusted the most, outside of the Pharaoh himself. She was the one protected Yuugi before he'd solved the Puzzle.
She wanted to dance in America. Her favorite food was chocolate. Her parents were never really around. She generally had good grades in school. She didn't like wearing pants. She liked Disney movies and pretended she didn't like shoujo manga. Her favorite time of the year was summer. Though she knew how to duel, it wasn't something she really enjoyed a lot but she loved to watch her friends play the game.
There was probably no one in the world who had known her better than Yuugi. The Pharaoh knew everything that Yuugi had known about her. Not just facts and figures, but how he felt about her and why he loved her so much. The things that made up a person that didn't have any words.
He liked to think about the memories he'd gotten from Yuugi. He avoided thinking about the memories he'd made with her.
-
"I was starting to think you'd never come out of there." Ryuuji was typing something into his computer. Briefly, the Pharaoh wondered what he was doing before brushing the thought aside.
The Pharaoh moved to stand behind him once again. "If you want to see me, all you have to do is ask."
Ryuuji closed his laptop, and twisted around so that he was facing the Pharaoh. "I was thinking that since I solved the Puzzle, I must have been meant to."
There was nothing the Pharaoh was willing to say about that.
"Obviously," Ryuuji continued, as if he clearly hadn't been waiting for the Pharaoh to respond, "we're not connected - "
"You would not have been able to solve the Puzzle if we were not," the Pharaoh said. He set his hand on the Puzzle and tapped his index finger on the top of it. "It's true that our connection was forged differently. But it's still very much there."
Ryuuji's shoulders stiffened. He lifted his head to look at the Pharaoh, eyes wide and searching. "Want to give me some details on that?"
"No." The Pharaoh walked across the room to sit down on the bed. It was smaller than the one Ryuuji had before. And the bedspread was a different color, though it was still patterned in dice. "There was no connection between us for you to tap into, but you were able to build one and use that to solve the Puzzle."
"How?"
The Pharaoh looked up. There was no window on the ceiling. "By pouring yourself into me."
Ryuuji's voice was off a note or two when he said, "What exactly does that mean?"
"You used Jounouchi in attempts to break the bond we shared, manipulated my partner into a game he didn't know how to play, knowing he would be separated from me before I could step into to protect him, and I've done nothing to punish you for that." He jerked his head forward in order to stare at Ryuuji. "You're not a fool."
It only took a moment for the Pharaoh's words to sink in and for Ryuuji to take off the Puzzle, hand shaking. The Pharaoh hoped that this time when the Puzzle broke, no one would put it back together.
-
To say the Pharaoh was surprised when he found himself standing next to Ryuuji, who had a cardboard box on his desk and was scribbling something on a piece of paper, would have been an understatement.
"I'm going to send you back. Do you have Jounouchi's address?"
The Pharaoh couldn't stop his flinch. "No."
Ryuuji erased something on his paper. "How about Anzu's?"
"No."
Ryuuji erased something again. Then he titled his head to the side to look at the Pharaoh. "Okay, you have got to know Yuugi's address." When the Pharaoh didn't answer, Ryuuji gritted his teeth and opened up his laptop. "Fine, I'll just look it up online."
The Pharaoh moved his hand to cover Ryuuji's. The Puzzle glinted, a warning that the Pharaoh was more than willing to take over if he had to. "You are not sending me back there."
Ryuuji snapped his laptop shut louder than he usually did. "Look, I can't just send you anywhere. There are evil forces that could find the Puzzle and use it."
The Pharaoh knew those words should stir something within him. They didn't. "Feel free to destroy the Puzzle. It would solve both of our problems."
"I would." Ryuuji grabbed the Puzzle in both of his hands. In doing so, his arms moved through the Pharaoh's. It felt like an awkward sort of intimacy. "But I already tried that."
-
The Pharaoh went back to spending most of his time standing in front of Yuugi's door.
Kaiba's presence was easiest to focus on. He wasn't as intertwined with Yuugi as Anzu and Jounouchi were. That didn't make it much easier, because somehow, it felt like Kaiba was part of the past he'd lost.
The past he'd hoped to recover with Yuugi's help.
It helped when he spent most of his time thinking about their first duel and the look in Kaiba's eyes when the Pharaoh broke his heart into millions of little pieces.
-
Ryuuji was lying on his bed and the Pharaoh was standing in the middle of the room. He wasn't sure why he was there, beyond the fact he was getting tired of staring at Yuugi's door and trying not to think of Yuugi.
"Do you miss dueling?" Ryuuji asked. He tossed a die he was holding up in the air and then caught it; the Pharaoh followed the die with his eyes.
"No," the Pharaoh said. It wasn't a lie, and he was surprised by that.
Ryuuji reached over to his nightstand. He grabbed the box where the pieces of the Sennen Puzzle were stored and took off the lid. He took out the card and held it up. The Pharaoh knew what the card was, but that still couldn't prepare him for what it felt like when Ryuuji held it up. To look at the face of his most loyal card.
"You sure about that?" Ryuuji asked. He was smiling, and his eyes were glittering.
"Yes," the Pharaoh said and turned away. He would have asked how Ryuuji felt holding the last gift his father ever gave to him, but he could feel enough of that pain leaking through their bond to know he already knew enough.
-
As he spent more and more time staring at Yuugi's door, Jounouchi's spirit became more and more vivid. He wasn't sure if it was because Jounouchi had to be looking for him or because he knew exactly what Jounouchi would do to him if he found out that the Other Yuugi was giving up.
"Move," Jounouchi would say after he punched him, "and stop being such a fucking coward. Yuugi'd want - "
The Pharaoh never let himself finish that thought, even though he knew he couldn't avoid the end of that sentence forever if he kept standing still.
-
The Pharaoh was sitting on the ground, eyes closed with his back to Yuugi's door, the first time Ryuuji entered his spirit room. "Careful," he said, "it's dangerous in here."
The Pharaoh felt Ryuuji sit down next to him. They were close enough so their shoulders brushed. "Could you make it not dangerous?"
"I'm afraid not," the Pharaoh said.
"That's one plus for my room," Ryuuji said. There was a pause. "And about ten billion points for the coloring. Who decorated in here?"
The Pharaoh opened his eyes and looked around. He found himself smiling, a little. "Me, I suppose." Ryuuji's hair tickled against the Pharaoh's cheek. It was almost like being touched. "Our rooms are a reflection of our souls."
"Well," Ryuuji said, eyes darting around, "that really does explain a lot."
"Yes, it does."