Chapter four
Chapter three: A trip to Diagon alley
They were back in the room they had gotten permission to sleep and live in until school started. A wizard had come up and set up a ward on the whole house for ghosts, it was not visible. At least not to Bakura, so was on high alert in case a mad psycho ghost would come back. It has been almost a day since they had run away. Hagrid, who was supposed to help them today with getting the stuff they needed, was to come tomorrow instead, since his host and his friends had been exhausted after they had taken the portkey back to the room. They had not been allowed to go before Madam Pomfrey was sure Malik`s legs were alright.
Ryou was still asleep and Bakura was watching him in his sleep. He had faced out. He could not go far from his host, which is why he did like his own body. It was not the only reason, but it would be nice to be able to be where he wanted to be. He was interested in going to Hogwarts, if he got his own body he would not waltz out of Ryou`s life and do whatever. He would follow Ryou to Hogwarts and try to learn magic, he knew shadow magic, but the more magic the better.
He wondered what his own body would look like, would he look exactly like Ryou or perhaps he would look more like himself in his past life.
Convincing Ryou would be hard, but Ryou was under the illusion he would hurt anyone he came across. While he might have done that before, he did not want that now. He did not want to hurt anyone without reason, that was pointless. However he would hurt people who hurt him, and Ryou. His purpose was to protect their body. He would not let anyone hurt them, like those guys tried to do a week ago.
He would have to talk to Ryou and say that it is not his intention.
Ryou looked peaceful in his sleep, like a baby did when it was not screaming and kicking. It was a rare sight, most of the time he was tense trying to be formal and not hurt anyone. Do not make anyone mad. You can not go a lifetime without making anyone mad, that is impossible. Ryou and him took this very differently. Ryou who wanted to make as few mad as possible and Bakura who wanted to go under everyone`s skin - especially Malik and the pharaoh.
Bakura was not a saint and he had accepted that, one who stole things was not really a saint. Debatable a sinner.
Bakura flew over to Ryou. He had to wake him up, they had to talk. Nothing would come of it if Bakura did not try to converse in a conversation with Ryou
“Ryou,” Bakura said and tried to tug at their mental link. Ryou`s face sifted. He tugged some more. Now it was wrinkling up. “Ryou,” Bakura repeated. Ryou seemed to stir.
“Bakura?” he muttered sleepily. “We need to talk,” Bakura explained. Ryou rubbed his eyes. He suddenly jolted up. “What have you done now?!” Ryou shouted.
Bakura looked over to Yugi and Malik. Malik seemed to wrinkle his nose before he went back to sleeping peacefully. Bakura stared for a moment, but snapped back to reality. Yugi seemed to not have noticed anything.
“Shhh… I haven`t done anything, no need to worry,” Bakura soothed. “I just want to talk to you about the ritual,” he explained. To convince you - was left unsaid.
Ryou looked unconvinced and on high alert. Bakura sighed, he was a right bastard, he knew that.
“Okay…” Ryou said cautiously. “Go on.”
“So I am sure we both know I want my own body, but you appear to be not sure if you want to,” Bakura started. It was better to take it slow. Ryou nodded, Bakura knew that Ryou had no idea where this was going.
“It would be good too, you would have to put up with me, we would be two different people and it would be great in general,” Bakura said and winked. Ryou looked bewildered and coughed.
“I don't know, I am unsure of what to do, well you do have points. Then you still can't hurt people,” Ryou stated. Bakura hung his head, this was frustrating. A “I don't know” is more onerous than a simple “no”.
“I won`t hurt people without reason, you know that,” Bakura countered. Ryou nodded, he knew that. “I don't see what`s the reason,” Bakura revealed.
Ryou was silent, his head hung low. Bakura frowned, what was this reaction?
“I am just scared… of the big change it would bring,” Ryou spoke up. Bakura was surprised by this revelation. He had thought Ryou had wanted to get rid of him forever, perhaps that was still the case. He just did not want for change to happen.
“It won`t be that big of a change, I am still going to go to Hogwarts. You will just have privacy back,” Bakura grinned. “Yeah.”
“Just think about or perhaps you would rather follow your heart or something,” Bakura said. Ryou nodded.
---
“I am Hagrid!”
Hagrid was a big man, he towered over Ryou and especially Yugi. Ryou noticed that Yugi stared up at Hagrid with awe in his eyes. Ryou would have to agree. He could practically hear Bakura nod in approval, which - well - rare.
“Where is your pal?” Hagrid asked and looked around with confusion in his eyes. Ryou and Yugi shared a confused look. “What?” they asked in union.
“Well, Dumbledore said there should be four of you,” he said and scratched his head. “Maybe not.”
Ryou made an “oh” face along with Yugi.
“Oh! You mean Kaiba! Well, he is in another room,” Yugi informed. “Well then, better go and fetch him,” Hagrid said. Yugi and Ryou shared a look. Ryou did not know if Kaiba would appreciate that, but he would certainly not be happy if they left him alone.
“No need to fetch me, I am here,” Kaiba said as he emerged from the staircase. This was typical Kaiba, showing up right on time, not before, but not a minute after.
“Awesome kid, I have got the list of the stuff right… here!” Hagrid said, scrambling to find the list. Ryou looked over the huge list of things they needed. There were a lot of books, uniforms, a wand and some other supplies that they needed. He hoped he had enough money for it.
Hagrid followed them to a brick wall.
“Um… isn't this a dead end?” Ryou asked.
“Oh, you are an impatient one,” Hagrid said light-heartedly as he seemed to press some of the bricks on the brick wall. Ryou flushed and looked down.
To Yugi and Ryou`s amazement the bricks started to move and made way for them to go through. On the other side, to both Yugi`s and Ryou`s either amazement or horror the alley from the day before yesterday revealed itself.
“Well, that is nice to know,” Bakura commented.
“First we will go to Gringotte`s wizarding bank to exchange your muggle money to our currency,” Hagrid explained. There was a bunch of people in the alley, it was a very big contrast to how it was that night.
The people moved out of the way when Hagrid made his way forward, however, the ones they were staring at where them, not Hagrid. Ryou and Yugi crumbled uncomfterably under their gazes. Ryou had a lot of girls who admired him back in Japan, but he never quite got used to it. Yugi, however, had not much attention on him before, well, after battle city he got much more attention. Kaiba despite the two walked like he owned the place, ignoring all the staring people.
“How do you do it?” Yugi asked and poked Kaiba on the shoulder. He glared at him.
“Do what?” Kaiba asked. Yugi gestured around them, but Kaiba just raised his eyebrow.
“How do you ignore everyone?” Yugi burst out. Ryou nodded, he also wanted that ability.
“I just do, if I do, people usually leave you alone,” Kaiba huffed.
“Are you coming?!” Hagrid shouted to them already severely steps in front of them. “Yes!” Yugi said and they followed quickly after.
Gringotts wizarding bank was a tall building at a corner, the building itself looked bent. Ryou wondered how this was possible, he had never seen anything like it. The bank had a sign over the door where there stood “Gringotts bank”. The door was flanked by two creatures that Ryou thought could be Goblins.
When they passed the door Ryou could not help, but stare. He was amazed.
“Welcome to Gringotts wizarding bank, probably the safest place to keep your money,” Hagrid informed. They stood in a hall which led to a silver door where a poem seemed to be engraved in the door.
Enter, stranger, but take heed
Of what awaits the sin of greed
For those who take, but do not earn,
Must pay most dearly in their turn.
So if you seek beneath our floors
A treasure that was never yours,
Thief, you have been warned, beware
Of finding more than treasure there.
Ryou could not help, but think of a certain someone who would try to steal from this bank. The curtain someone did not comment on the poem, which Ryou found strange. He could not help it, but snicker a bit to himself.
“I know someone who would have wanted to contradict that,” Ryou whispered to Yugi and Malik. A gleam in Yugi`s eyes told Ryou he also knew someone, it might as well be the same person. Malik snorted, all too familiar with who they were talking about.
They followed Kaiba and Hagrid through the silver door where a long hall appeared; there were high desks lining the hall. Goblins were behind the desks, Hagrid walked up to one of them and had a talk about something Ryou did not understand, neither did Yugi, Malik and Kaiba.
They got to exchange their money for wizarding currency. It was a hard process and it did take some time, but at last they managed to do it
-
“That took a long time,” Malik exclaimed as they walked out of Gringotts bank and out into the streets. Yugi and Ryou nodded and agreed with Malik. The streets were still full of people and Ryou was pretty sure Yugi would have drowned if it were not for them.
“So where should we go next?” Ryou asked. He found the supply list and looked over the long list.
“Well, it doesn't really matter, figure out something and I will show you the way,” Hagrid said.
“I say we go and get those uniforms done, there are so many of them and it just sounds boring,” Malik suggested. Ryou did not have preference of which points of the supply list they went and got done first, so he could deal with that.
“I am going to go and do what needs to be done, we will most likely see each other later if you don't vanish again that is,” Kaiba said and started to walk away.
“Are you sure you will be able to find your way in this alley, it is a big place?” Hagrid asked.
“I will make sure of it,” Kaiba said and vanished in the crowd of people. Hagrid sighed.
“I just hope he will manage,” Hagrid said. “Or I will just have to find him later on.”
“Oh, I am sure he will manage just fine, it is Kaiba after all,” Malik said with an edge in his tone. Malik did not like Kaiba, or Ryou did not know, he had never quite expressed an opinion on him. If he was to depict it he would not be able to picture them as friends. Things might come as a surprise, but Ryou doubted it.
“So where is that uniform shop?” Malik asked.
“Come here, I will show you,” Hagrid said and led them through the crowd who still parted for them and stared at them.
--
“I hate this,” Malik commented. His eyes were glaring forward and his arms were crossed. He had a frown on his face which seemed to be stuck there.
“Well, you were the one who suggested we go here first,” Ryou said and patted him on the shoulder. Malik turned his glare towards Ryou.
They were currently shopping for clothes and had found everything they needed, but had to wait for the shopkeeper to come back with their uniforms.
“Who knew that buying clothes could be so boring,” Malik complained and laid his head on the counter. “Hey, it will be okay, after this we can go and get Hagrid, so we can go to the bookstore,” Yugi soothed.
“Oh yeah, books sound a whole lot better,” Malik`s voice sounded muffled from where his head was still on the counter. “Yeah, I'm excited to see how they will look,” Ryou said and smiled.
“That was sarcasme,” Malik said and got his head off the counter as Madam Malkin came back with their uniforms.
“Here you go,” she said and gave them a bag with their uniforms. “Thank you,” Ryou and Yugi said.
“Thank you,” muttered Malik. They paid and went out into the streets again where Hagrid was and waited for them.
“We are done,” Yugi told Hagrid when they came out. “Where do you want to go next then?” Hagrid asked.
“Books,” Malik said. Ryou and Yugi did not comment. To Malik`s delight.
--
The book store had been pretty unoccupied, so it had been easy to find and buy their books. The only obstacle was that Ryou had been very excited to look at all the books around the store and Yugi had also looked around for a bit, to Maliks dismay who had gone to find his book and went straight out again. He had to wait for a long time before the two came out again.
“Finally, you two spent an eternity in there!” Malik complained. Yugi and Ryou smiled sheepishly, but said nothing as it must have been true. “Sorry,” Ryou said after a while. “But there were so many exciting books in there, did you not see?”
“I saw, but I did rather call them boring,” Malik said.
“Oh, don't be like that, books are rather interesting,” Ryou tried to convert him. “Say you,” Malik said back.
“Well, uhh… what`s next?” Yugi asked and looked at them both.
“We could find the rest of the stuff you need and then get your wands, and if you wanted a pet we could go to the pet store,” Hagrid said. No one objected, so they did that.
--
They had gotten everything on the list except for wands by the time the clock hit four pm. Ryou`s leg aches by having walked around the whole day. Also tired of finding stuff and wanting to go and lie down for a bit.
“Can`t we fix wands another day? The school doesn't start before the first anyway, we have got plenty of time!” Malik exclaimed and slapped his face. Ryou thought that Malik is sick of this boring stuff, he doesn't really find books and stuff like that much interesting. Though Ryou knew he liked to take care of his looks, but as he had exclaimed on their way away from the uniform shop “They all look the same anyway!”
“You could, but you would have to find Ollivander yourself, I have got lots to do the next day, but I am sure you will find this more interesting than those other things,” Hagrid said. Malik huffed, he looked tired.
“I am sure we will be fine, I do think however that we should eat something, we haven't eaten anything since breakfast,” Yugi said and now that he had mentioned it Ryou felt his stomach rumble. Malik seemed to flush too as if his stomach also seemed to rumble.
“Oh yeah, I will show you the shop, so you have it for later, then I can leave it to you, is that fine?” Hagrid asked and gave all of them a smile.
“Yes, thank you so much!” Ryou said and bowed his head and as did Yugi.
---
They all sat around a table and ate some food they had bought at Leaky Cauldron. They had some weird choices, Ryou thought as he had looked over the menu. The table was silent as they ate.
Ryou was deep in thought as the memories from his conversation with Bakura came to surface in his mind. He wanted to go through with it, it felt like the right thing to do. He did not know what Yugi thought of this, but he wanted to ask. He would probably understand if he hinted at it.
“Hey… Yugi, I think I will go through with it,” Ryou said suddenly, he looked down at his food and stared at it intensely. “Hm? What do you mean?” Yugi muffledly asked as he swallowed his food. “I think I will go through with you know what,” Ryou repeated.
Yugi made a face of understanding and nodded. “We will talk about it later, right now I think there are too many people around,” Yugi said and looked cautiously around to see if anyone had overheard. Ryou had taken care not to mention what he was talking about, so it was not like they would know what this “You know what” is.
“Do what you want,” Malik commented.
--
Ryou and Yugi sat in their beds, they had just gotten back from dinner. They had decided to get a wand on a later date and instead talk about the ritual in their room. Malik had however gone out to get his wand mentioning that he would be done with all the shopping, so he did not have to do it later.
“So… you have decided to go through with it?” Yugi asked when they had sat there for a while in silence. Ryou nodded, he did not want to delve on it any longer. It was clear to him that both him and the spirit wanted it, so it would be cruel to do the opposite which would satisfy no one.
“Yeah, how about you? Have you found an answer?” Ryou asked and fiddled with his sock. It would be fine if they did not want it, but it would have been nice to have someone going through the same thing.
“Um… I don't know, it is just that Atem says it is dangerous, but I get the feeling he would actually like to go through with it and is only held back by the fear of something messed up happening to us again,” Yugi explained. That, Ryou thought, was hard. He dealt with pretty much the same fear, but it would be nice with a change as it was harder and harder to keep a spirit a secret from almost everyone.
“Oh, that is indeed hard, but… I don't know what to say. What do you want, Yugi?” Ryou decided to ask as he had only heard of Atem`s opinion.
“I would like to go through with it as Atem also would like to go through with it and it would be easier for the both of us,” Yugi stated. Easier could be debated, but overthinking was worse.
“So what are you going to do?” Ryou asked contentedly. He wanted his best friend to be happy, but then again Yugi and his spirit had a much closer bond than him and his spirit. They were okay now, but before it was a disaster.
“I don't know, I think I will think about it some more,” Yugi said and looked down on his millennium puzzle. “You will have to make a decision soon though, the school starts in two days,” Ryou pointed out. Yugi nodded and let out a shaky breath.
---
The street was buzzing with people still, there might be even more people now. Malik had headed out right after he had been done with eating dinner. Yugi and Ryou had gone to talk about the ritual, but he wanted to get everything on his supply list checked out. He would have forgotten if he did not do it today, he made himself believe, because he would never forget to buy a wand as crazy as that sounded.
He tried to remember where Hagrid had shown them Ollivanders shop. It was hard to see as now he had to sneak in between people to find his way. Hagrid had made everyone make way, because of how big he is, but eleven year old Malik was not that big and therefore had to squeeze himself between people.
When he finally found Ollivanders it was empty or there were a few people going back and forth in front of the store, but inside it was empty except for a man behind the counter. Malik had to stop and stare a bit at all the boxes around the shop, it was full of them. There was almost no room for any people in here, because of how many boxes with what Malik could only assume were wands.
“Hello, you are here to get a wand, right?” Ollivander asked. Malik nodded and took a gook look at the man. He was old and looked kind.
“Well, I will go and find a wand which may suit you,” Ollivander said and vanished behind one of the massive piles of boxes. He soon came out again with a box.
“Twelve inches, unicorn core, maple,” Ollivander said as he opened the box to reveal a long stick, which obviously was a wand. Malik did not know what the unicorn stuff had to do with this, but he was not going to ask right now.
Malik stared at the wand then at Ollivander, what was it he was supposed to do? Is this his wand? “Take it and give it a little flick,” Ollivander explained.
Malik carefully took the wand out of the box and felt the smooth wood under his hand. He waved the little wand and flinched hard when a pile of wand boxes fell down.
“Not that one then,” Ollivander muttered and took the wand from Malik who just looked awestruck at the pile of boxes on the floor. “I am sorry,” Malik said as he felt that it was his fault.
“No, that's normal, the wand chooses the wizard or witch, that wand was clearly not for you,” Ollivander explained as he looked at some wand boxes thoughtfully. “Hm… perhaps this one,” he mumbled to himself and took out a wand box from the pile of fallen boxes.
“Ten inches, phoenix feather, fir,” Ollivander said and handed Malik another wand. This time Malik did not waste any time taking it and gave it a little swing, but this time the lamp went into a million small pieces of glass. “Not that one either hmm…”
Malik tried many wands with different cores and woods and inches, but none fit.
“How about this one then, it is a bit rare, well, very rare. 11 inches, veela hair core, holly,” Ollivander said and gave him a wand. Malik knew this one felt different from the other ones. It felt peaceful in his hand.
Malik gave the wand a flic and some small wind blew up, but not too bad. It was nice.
“Yes, that one it is,” Ollivander said. Malik looked at the wand with awe, this was his wand, the thing he was to cast spells with. Ollivander was also looking at him with awe.
Malik paid him the money and felt peace as he went back to Leaky Cauldron.
--
“I think I also want to go through with the ritual,” Yugi said when all three were in the room. Malik had come back with a wand and told them how long it took to find a wand that suited him, because apparently the wand chooses the wizard or witch. Ryou and Yugi had played a round of duel monster and now it was dawn. All three had been thinking for themselves, Yugi had a long conversation with Atem on the matter who had at last admitted he wanted to go through with the ritual.
“That's great Yugi, we should inform Dumbledore,” Ryou said and smiled widely. Yugi returned the smile as he found the coin Dumbledore had given them. Now what did they do with the coin?
“So what do we do with the coin?” Yugi asked, frowning. Dumbledore had not given them any destruction on how to use the coin to contact him.
“I have no clue,” Malik said from beside him. “Perhaps just throw it around or something,” he suggested. Yugi looked at him sceptically, was it really that easy?
“Could it really be that easy?” Yugi wondered. “Well, only one way to find out,” Malik said and stretched out his hand towards Yugi who gave him it.
Malik flipped the coin, threw it between his hands and just trying to get it to do something. When that did not work he threw the coin across the room, so it went out the window. According to the look on his face that was not his plan.
“Malik!” Ryou shouted and ran towards the window and looked out. Yugi followed suit and took a look out the window. “I didn`t mean it!”
The streets were starting to empty, but there were still some people out and about. Yugi spied for a coin, but saw nothing that could resemble a coin on the ground. The coin was small and thin it would be almost impossible to see it in the dark light.
“What are we going to do now?” Ryou asked, defeated. He seemed to look a bit down, but Yugi knew he was not angry at Malik. Yugi tried to look out the window to see if there was some kind of solution.
“I will go and find it,” Malik spoke up and positioned himself in the window to jump out. A sense of panic hit Yugi, it had just been two days since Malik had hurt himself by jumping out of a window, he could not possibly be thinking of doing it again so soon.
“No Malik, you just hurt yourself by doing that,” Ryou exclaimed and took a hold on Malik`s shoulder to try to get him back in the window.
“No, I am going to do this for you guys, I shouldn`t have thrown that coin in anger,” Malik said and ripped himself out of Ryou`s grip.
He was about to jump when he suddenly came flying back into the room.
“If you are going to go outside please do it by not jumping out the window on the second floor," a voice from the door said.
“Professor!” Ryou said. Yugi was bewildered too, had they managed to contact him?
“Hello Yugi, Ryou, I believe you have an answer?” Dumbledore smiled and turned his gaze to Malik. “If you could leave us alone for a bit, that would be appreciated and please do refrain from jumping out of windows,” Dumbledore said to Malik, who looked down in embarrassment, but nodded. “Yes professor, I will go,” he muttered.
“Now, I wonder,” Dumbledore started and looked expectantly at the two.
“Yes, we have an answer professor,” Yugi said and Ryou nodded in agreement.
“Oh? And what have you concluded with?” he asked.
“We want to go through with it,” they said in unison.
---
Yugi and him stood in their rooms, the clock was seven am. They were to start school tomorrow. Dumbledore had scheduled the ritual to take place the 31st of August, the day before school, because he had an important meeting he had to attend the day prior.
Malik was still asleep, but they had told him that they were going to be away early in the morning, so if he woke up to that no one was there then he should not be worried. He had brushed it off and commented that he would never worry for them and had noted especially for the thief king. Bakura had made an uproar at that and slapped Malik with his transparent form, which of course did not hurt Malik. He had burst out laughing and Bakura had threatened that he would soon have his own physical body, so he had to fear him. Malik had of course taken that by a grain of salt and laughed some more.
Ryou had thought Malik really should not have pissed off the spirit so soon before he got his own body, who knew what he would do? He was not afraid anymore, he was sure whatever the spirit would do Malik would take revenge, that was their relationship.
“Shall we go,” Dumbledore said as he appeared out of nowhere, but Yugi and Ryou had been prepared for that and did not bat an eye and instead nodded. The reason they had to the ritual so early was that Bakura and Atem needed time to get the supplies they needed for school today, plus Yugi and Ryou had put off getting their wands to after the ritual. Dumbledore had explained that the type of wand they got was determined by themselves and their core values or just things that defined them and that could change if they had another spirit inside them. The wand would perhaps not respond well after the spirit had left their body.
Yesterday they went around Diagon alley with Malik while avoiding Knockturn alley like plague. There had been a lot of interesting stuff to see there.
Dumbledore took out what they had learnt to be a portkey. “Hold tight,” Dumbledore said as it began to spin. Ryou and Yugi held hands tightly while also grabbing the shoe to have extra reassurance.
When the portkey had stopped spinning they found themselves in a dark forest. All around them there were big pine trees and the ground was filled with moss. It felt magical, but Ryou could barely see as it was very dark. Mostly shadows surrounded them.
“We have to walk for a bit,” Dumbledore explained as he got up from the ground and Yugi and Ryou followed suit. “To avoid being tracked I placed the location of where the portkey would take us further away from the place we are to perform the ritual. The further the better, so we have to walk for an hour to arrive at our destination.”
“This forest is dangerous, so please be close behind me,” Dumbledore said and started to walk into the dark forest. Yugi and Ryou hurriedly followed.
The forest was very overgrown and both Yugi and Ryou had to be careful where they put their feets as they walked. There were several slings the further they got into the forest.
At one point when they were walking through a swamp Ryou fell over and his face met first with the wet ground. He let out a quiet sound. Yugi had helped him up and smiled. Dumbledore had said they should try to be as quiet as possible.
After it felt like a million years had passed Dumbledore stopped. They had walked up a small mountain side and were currently standing in front of a cave. The cave looked dark inside and a cold feeling came from inside the cave. Ryou felt uneasy, but he told himself he would not let that stop him. It was a bit cool to go inside this cave. He could only imagine what was inside and as that thought developed he felt something close to excitement stir in his chest.
“We are here, we have to go inside this cave,” Dumbledore said and went inside. He vanished as the darkness ate him. Ryou heard Yugi swallow, Ryou smiled at him and reached out a hand which Yugi took. They went into the darkness together.
As the darkness ate them up too, Ryou went blind. He could not see a single thing. He still felt the clam hand of Yugi`s in his as they made their way slowly forward as to not trip over something accidentally and disturb the tension.
“Hey Ryou?” Yugi`s voice came right beside him. Ryou turned to the voice, but still could not see anything.
“Yeah?”
“Do you know where Dumbledore went?” Yugi asked, he sounded a bit nervous. Ryou shook his head, but remembered that Yugi could probably not see him either.
“No, but I am sure he is close by,” Ryou reassured and smiled, but reluctantly remembered Yugi could not see him.
Suddenly a light filled the cave and blinded Ryou so he had to cover his eyes with his free hand. When his eyes had adjusted to the sudden light he saw that Dumbledore only was some paces in front of them. He was not alone either it appeared.
A beast stood there, nothing like Ryou had ever seen. Ryou felt the excitement grow in his chest. The beast was multicoloured and looked like it was built up by a horse, snake and a lion. It appeared to lie in front of a door, it was eyeing them wearily. Yugi looked downright terrified, or not as excited as Ryou who loved these types of stuff.
“Hello guardian of the unknown ritual cave,” Dumbledore greeted the creature and bowed a little. Ryou saw it and also bowed which got Yugi to bow too. The creature eyed them with a judgmental look and turned it`s head. Ryou could not help but stare at the creature. He thought it was very interesting.
'
“Dumbledore, the current headmaster of Hogwarts, what would bring him here?” the creature stated in a question. His voice was one with high status. He spoke like he owed the place, but perhaps he did. Ryou was surprised the creature could speak, but he thought it was more intriguing.
“I would like to perform a ritual with these students,” Dumbledore said. The creature turned it`s eyes to them. He looked them up and down as he was trying to figure something out. Then it`s eyes widened in what Ryou did not know.
“A body ritual? The most unknown ritual for a spirit to get their own body, these are old spirits, but they have a young mind. They would be even younger,” to Ryou it sounded like riddles, but Dumbledore nodded like it made perfect sense. “Perhaps the kindest body ritual of them all,” the creature continued.
“Are they sure?” the creature questioned and narrowed it`s eyes on them. It had a calculating look. Ryou started to sweat a bit under the hard look in the creature`s eyes. Ryou looked at Yugi who had a neutral look placed carefully on his face. It almost looked like Atem`s normal face, but he could see that it was Yugi as his hair was not as spiked as Atem`s and his eyes were bigger than Atem`s, plus he was shorter.
His spirit had been unnaturally quiet since they had entered the cave, while he had complained all the way to the cave, but when they entered he had not uttered a sound.
The silence had developed in the cave, only the sound of the flames which flickered around on the candles placed around the cave to light it up.
Ryou realised the creature had asked them and the silence might be seen as a sign of uncertainty.
“I- yes! I am sure,” Ryou said, breaking the silence. The creature looked at him with it`s calculating look and nodded. Then it turned to Yugi urging him to talk too.
“Yes, I am also sure,” he nodded as he said it. The cave went quiet for a few noticeable seconds, before the creature slapped it`s snake tail in the ground. The snake let out a hiss. The door behind the creature slowly opened and revealed a dark room.
“Well, we have gotten the object of the rituals agreement, then you may find the ritual room at the end of the hall,” the creature said and slowly went and laid beside the open door.
Dumbledore let out a sigh and treaded lightly over the stone floor and gestured for them to follow as he stood in front of the opening. Ryou took light steps across the floor, but they sounded loud compared to Dumbledore`s. The gaze of the creature followed him and Yugi over the floor until they had slightly stepped inside the dark room.
The door shut with a bang behind them and Ryou felt that it almost had hit him and Yugi. They were yet again surrounded by pure darkness. This darkness felt more heavy than the one in the cave, the heaviness of that darkness might have come from this darkness.
“Akhet,” Dumbledore said. The room was lit up by a ball of light, it looked like the sun. “What was that?” Yugi asked. “It was the spell to get light in this sacred hall.” Ryou felt overwhelmed, it was so cool.
They started walking throughout the hall. There were many rooms there which they passed. In each room there stood different names such as “The animal ritual room”, “The cold ritual room” and more. The rooms looked like a prison cell with some papers and books scattered around. There were also symbols written on the floor of the cells. The further down they got in the hall the older the rooms looked.
Dust over everything so you could not see the symbols on the floors and you could barely see what was written on the nameplates of the room because the sign was so rusty. Then the rooms started to have signs of stone where moss had started to grow over the names. The floor they walked on was in the end filled with moss and mould.
Ryou was soon of the belief that the hall was endless and that the guardian had lied to them. That was weird he would think, they had also made it so far without interruption. The guardian had let them pass easily after an acceptance from them. What was that about? Were there some secret monsters here in the hall? All these questions were cycling around Ryou`s mind.
“This place is too sacred for monsters,” Bakura provided out of the blue, so that Ryou almost flinched. “You have been quiet,” Ryou stated, but he hoped the spirit had gathered the unsaid question. “I can feel the sacredness of this place, I wonder why the guardian would let us in when both the pharaoh and I, the tomb robber, are here,” Bakura continued on while he ignored Ryou`s unsaid question.
“Despite the sacred place, there have been many dark rituals performed here,” Bakura explained. It was like he was in some trance, he never shared this much information. Ryou started to feel a bit worried for Bakura.
“Hey, are you okay?” Ryou asked via their mind link. “Uh… yes, I- well, uh, I give up,” Bakura sighed. Ryou thought he acted nervous. He did not believe it, Bakura was not nervous. This must be about something else.
“Just-,” he paused. “Go, your friends are ahead of you,” Bakura told him and Ryou flushed when he realised that Bakura was right. He sprinted after them.
Yugi turned and gaped at him. Ryou did not understand why. A warm breath wind hit his back, it was damp too.
He then understood what Yugi had gaped at as he slowly turned around to see a monster come into the sun`s light. It was big, green and slimy. As much as Ryou would have liked to meet this monster on civil terms, he was confident that this was not on civil terms.
“Oh, I was wondering when he would show up,” Dumbledore commented from behind him. He turned around to see that Dumbledore wore a pleasant smile. It sent shivers down Ryou`s back who turned to Yugi. What was this about? What did this monster have to do with them?
To Ryou`s horror the monster launched at him and would also hit Yugi. Ryou got away by a hair length and he looked over at Yugi to see that he had gotten away as well. Then he turned to Dumbledore who watched and he did not look about to help them. No, he sat on the ground to watch.
“That bastard! I knew he was suspicious!” Bakura shouted in his mind, which was as loud as someone screamed right beside his ears. “Let me take over!” Bakura said and for once Ryou planned to do just that.
He waited for the awaited push back to his soulroom, but after a few seconds the monster launched at Yugi who scarcely got away. Ryou understood that Bakura could not take over his body and neither could Atem for Yugi. That meant that him and Yugi had to defeat the monster themselves, because Dumbledore by the looks of it was just going to sit there.
“I can't take over! That goddamn bastard! I will kill him!” Bakura screamed in his mind, which confirmed Ryou`s suspicion.
A big knot strangled Ryou`s stomach, he shook and he could not get the willpower to stand. “Listen Ryou, I have some instructions for you and I assure that we will kill that fucking monster!” Bakura commanded. Ryou was frozen on the ground and stared at the monster. The slimy thing was huge.
“Ryou!” came Yugi`s voice as he dragged him out of the monster`s attack range just as the monster was about to launch. It snapped Ryou`s out of his frozen state, but he still shook all over. He also felt Yugi`s hand shake. Ryou looked into Yugi's eyes, they were wide, but his lips were shut tight. There was determination in them that Ryou recognised.
“Be brave and jump into it,” Yugi said and Ryou nodded. He clenched his hands tight to stop himself from shaking. It helped a bit.
They dodged another launch smoothly, more prepared this time. They had to separate. They continued to dodge, until the inevitable happened.
When Ryou was about to dodge he slipped over a creeper and fell straight into the moss. He felt the wetness of the ground soak his hair, then he was hit by the monster. Slim drowned him and he gagged. His back hit something and he lost his breath.
“RYOU!” Yugi shouted. He felt two hands grab him by the head and he was dragged out of the way of the monster. He coughed and crumbled over and puked out slime and his breakfast.
A loud clash sounded through the hall and got it to shake something. Ryou tried to get slime out of eyes. Yugi tried to help too, but his hands soon got soaked in slime.
“Are you okay?” Ryou heard a voice say. It sounded far away and reached out to the blurry figure over him. That had to be Yugi, right? Who else had such spiky hair? The world was spinning.
“Snap out of it Ryou!” what he knew was Bakura shouted at him. Ryou convulsed his head and his sight, while blurry, turned more bright. He looked to where he had been and there a monster lied. It appeared to have smashed into some cell bars.
“Ryou!” Yugi shook his shoulder. “I am fine, Yugi,” Ryou muttered, he looked at the monster, then the cell bars…
“We have to get away from the monster before it stands up again!” Yugi said and tugged him upwards to an upright position. Ryou nodded and tried to stand on his legs, a pain corrupted throughout his body, he let out a vince. He pushed further. “You will make it!”
He stood on his shaky legs, they hurt, but he limped towards the other side of the hall. He sometimes stumbled which made his legs agony to stand on. Yugi helped him, he would let out small cries of pain. He signed to Yugi that they should carry on, they had to.
The monster had stirred again. What were they supposed to do? Dumbledore`s to-do list clearly did not include helping them in a crucial situation like this.
Then he remembered the bars.
“The bars, Yugi, the bars!” Ryou shouted. Yugi gave him a look of confusion. “He launched straight into the bars!” Yugi's eyes widened, he understood.
Yugi dragged them over to a cell and placed them in front of it. They waited until the monster had managed to stand up. It launched at them again weakened, but with no less power.
Yugi dragged them out of the way right on time, before the monster hit the bars again and this time looked more damaged. Ryou cried in agony as his legs gave out completely under him. Yugi let go of him by surprise of the sudden new weight.
“Ryou!” Yugi shouted. Ryou coughed some more and to Yugi`s horror blood started to come up.
“We can't keep this up,” Yugi said. “You are seriously hurt!”
Ryou felt fear seeping into him. It felt so strong, but it did not quite feel at home.
“Ryou, you have a knife in your pocket!” Bakura shouted, he sounded like he was on the verge of a panic attack. Ryou reached into his pocket with a shaky hand. There was nothing there, he felt tears spring to his eyes.
“The other pocket!” Bakura provided helpfully. Ryou tried to reach for the other pocket, but his hand failed him by going limp.
“Yugi, help me get the knife in my pocket!” Ryou said. Yugi nodded. Beside them they heard some fuddling, Ryou looked to see the monster stirring again. The tears ran down his face. The panic inside his mind seemed to only rise, it felt wrong. It was not his panic. Who? Who? Bakura? Bakura.
He tried what he had never done before, that the spirit had so many times, he pushed him to his spirit room and locked him there. Now he could not see what would happen and he could not feel Bakura`s feelings in return.
He felt some relief from overcoming the overwhelming panic that Bakura felt. He could not fantome why Bakura felt that way, but he could not think about that now as the monster tried to launch at them.
Yugi dragged them to safety again, the monster stumbled. The crashing to the bars had weakened it, but it had much power left. Ryou strangled his cry of pain in his throat. He did not want to cry anymore.
“Here, your knife!” Yugi showed him the knife, it was small, but looked sharp. Just like Bakura`s taste, Ryou thought.
“We can use it to slash the monster open, kill it,” Ryou managed between ragged breaths. Yugi nodded as the monster launched towards them.
This time Yugi did not drag them to safety, but instead jumped onto the monster with the small knife. As the monster went through them Yugi stuck in it`s body and
a whole form. Disgust was all Ryou could think as slime drowned them both.
Ryou felt tired and let the slime slide him over the moss filled ground. He soon was tangled up in slime and creepers. He did not know where Yugi was, but he was too exhausted to think. He lied there silently.
“Ryou!” the spirit shouted. Ryou scrambled up his face at the loud voice in his mind.
He closed his eyes and immediately felt the sense of sleep fall over. The peacefulness of sleepiness. If he could just take a nap, it was over, right? He could just rest for a while and let the world figure out what to do with him.
Then as if the peace had never been there he stiffened to ice. A gruelling sound of slim. As if someone was handling slime with their hand in a very harsh way. The sound grew, until he had to open his eyes to see his very fate with his eyes. He took back every thought, he never wanted to meet this creature again even if it was on civil terms, never. Never would he choose to meet this monster again.
The monster had resurrected and it looked better and stronger. It looked like it had levelled up, some sick spell card that duel monster players would drool over to get. His stomach twisted in empty agony and the need to throw up the contents that did not exist there anymore. Nausea washed over him.
This was like a nightmare, like a movie with those terrible monsters who resurrected when the hero thought they had defeated them and it turns out the monster had just gotten stronger. The hero then had to have a powerup, Yugi had many of them, but Ryou was not him. Ryou was not a hero, he was the villain. The courtesy of Bakura of course.
A sob turned into a scream as the monster launched at him, he had no clue where Yugi was or if he was going to be okay, but he hoped his friend would survive.
The sun shone bright over him as the slime washed over him for the third time, it shone bright as to mock him. Like this was something to celebrate, something to take joy and perhaps it was?
What had Dumbledore called it, the spell? Something on A. Amen? No. Aket? No, but closer. “Akhet…” he muttered.
The light evaporated and blinded him. It was mocking him, he thought as the light turned into cruel darkness…