Yu-Gi-Oh! Fan Fiction ❯ Change of Heart ❯ Little Bird ( Chapter 1 )
[ P - Pre-Teen ]
By: sterlingsylver 
Yami Bakura wakes up in a strange desert, with no memory as to how he got there.
Anime/Manga: Yu-Gi-Oh! Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Adventure | Type: Other | Uploaded On: 06.24.2002 | Updated On: 06.27.2002 | Pages: 3 | Words: 2.0K | Visits: 455 | Status: Work In Progress
Yami Bakura wakes up in a strange desert, with no memory as to how he got there.
Anime/Manga: Yu-Gi-Oh! Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Adventure | Type: Other | Uploaded On: 06.24.2002 | Updated On: 06.27.2002 | Pages: 3 | Words: 2.0K | Visits: 455 | Status: Work In Progress
Title: Change of Heart
Author: Britani Gael
Okay, so this is my story, an attempt to make Yami Bakura into a kinda good guy. Most of the time I see him in fics as just maliciously beating up on everyone in sight. A kinda good guy, though, not a nice guy. He's still a bastard, he's just on the good guys' side, for once. The bird was kind of inspired by the crow in "The Chronicles of Amber," that tormented Corwin. If you've read it, you know who I mean.
* * *
Walking across a featureless desert for several hours, with no food or water, was no small feat in itself.
Walking across the desert, hauling someone almost as big as you ... well, it was a pain in the ass, to say the least.
Yami Bakura stopped again, for the third time in the last half hour. He had been experimenting with several ways of carrying the boy, the easiest one had been tossing him over his shoulder. Bakura didn't want to be still, though. He shifted around, and muttered in his sleep in a most irritating way.
Yami had almost left him behind twice.
The first time he had just considered it.
The second time he had dropped Bakura on the sand, and started off without him. He walked forward about five minutes, and spent the next five minutes walking back.
He was in an unknown situation, and that meant he needed to take advantage of every opportunity offered to him. Bakura might end up being a resource, and that meant that Yami might need him.
Once he knew for sure that he couldn't use Bakura, then he could drop him.
So he spent the time pondering his loss of memories.
He had no way of knowing how much of his memories had been erased. It could have been two hours, it could have been two days. Two months, possibly two years. He doubted that, though. Bakura didn't look any older than Yami remembered him being.
He wondered if Bakura's memories had been erased. That was a possible use for him, if he could ever wake him up. And if he decided to help.
Yami snorted. This was the kid who had wanted to DIE to get away from him. He doubted that Bakura would want to be of much help.
The sky was still the unchanging shade of gray, there didn't seem to be a distinction of day and night here, wherever they were. Maybe time wasn't passing at all. He didn't know.
What he knew of the Shadow Realm was the dark place where the games were played, and this place was certainly nothing like that. But if they weren't in the Shadow Realm, where could they possibly be?
Well, if someone had indeed brought them here, there had to be a reason for it. Unless someone with a lot of power and not all his marbles had a hobby of randomly trapping people in other dimensions. Good for laughs, huh?
Yami Bakura thought he saw something in the distance. He froze.
He narrowed his eyes. It seemed like something was sticking up from the ground. It was tall, thin, with branches ...
A tree?
Strange and stranger.
He picked up his pace, walking briskly towards the tree. The sooner he figured out what the hell was going on, the sooner he could out of here.
* * *
Ouch. Pain.
Colors, feelings. Blasts of emotions.
Bakura didn't think he could take it all.
He tried to draw back, tried to shake his head and clear his mind.
That's when he discovered that he had no body. Crap.
It wasn't as disturbing as it sounded, once you got used to the idea.
But he didn't want to get used to the idea. He wanted out. Now.
He squirmed in his mind, he looked in every direct that wasn't. There was no way out.
He was forced to endure the colors. The sounds. And the pain.
* * *
Something was bothering Yami Bakura about that tree.
It wasn't getting any closer.
He had been walking for fifteen minutes, hoping to see the little scrap of a tree in greater detail, but no such luck. He had walked faster. No change at all. What the hell was this? Alice in Wonderland?
He broke out into a run. He couldn't keep it up for long, he knew, but he had to at least try. That tree was the only thing in this place, besides the two of them. It had to mean something. Didn't it?
He kicked up sand as he ran, and Bakura was sure getting heavy. The stick in the sand still showed no greater detail, it hadn't grown in size on the horizon. This was pointless. Maybe it was a mirage.
Yami felt his legs start to give out. He slowed down to a jog, and tried to catch his breath. Maybe he was loosing it. Maybe --
Bam!
He ran face first into the tree, the rough bark scraped across his face. Yami dropped Bakura, who sprawled out on the sand at the base of the tree.
What the hell? He'd only blinked! How could he have --
"Ah, you get used to it, in time."
Yami spun around, looking for the source of the voice. No one.
He looked back at the tree. It looked like your standard oak tree, except that it was stark white, with little leaves that were colored a dull black. A network of roots were poking out of the sand, Bakura had curled up beside one.
"Up here, nimrod."
Yami looked up. There was a complex network of branches, all reaching up to the sky. He couldn't see the top from where, he was. He took a step back, and tripped on a tree root. He fell flat on his back.
He winced from the pain that shot up his spine, but now he could see the top. The branches got thinner and thinner as they rose, until at last there was only a small stick of a branch at top. On it was perched a falcon. It cocked its head.
Yami scowled.
"Amazing what can creep up on you when you aren't paying attention," it said, and it chuckled as best it could, for a bird. It swooped down quickly, and landed on Yami's chest. Before he could move, it had pecked his nose.
"Ouch!" One hand moved to his injured nose, the other to swipe at the bird. It was too quick for him, though, and it had flown off again, this time to land on the lowest branch of the tree.
The bird laughed. A really horrid sound, a cross between screeching and screaming.
"What do you want?" snapped Yami, sitting up and rubbing his nose.
"Ah, I'm just a spectator," it said.
"Ow ... stop."
Both Yami's and the bird's gaze darted to Bakura. He started thrashing violently. "Please ... stop ... stop ..." he whispered, though it was clearly audible in the dead silence. Yami Bakura watched him for a moment, until he had stopped moving.
The bird cocked his head. "Concerned?"
Yami glared daggers. "No," he said flatly.
The falcon hopped to another branch. "No," it said. "I suppose you aren't." It paused. "Should be, but you aren't."
Yami paused. "Why?"
"Because," it said. "Your friend is in a great deal of trouble. So are you, you're probably not all right in the head yourself. He's got it worse, though."
Okay. Okay. A talking bird in a materializing tree seemed to know all the answers. Vague answers, but answers. Okay. Good. No, great. He could handle this.
Maybe.
"Why are we here?" he demanded.
The bird hopped to another branch. "Well, I would assume she brought you here. Though I'd give quite a lot to know how she managed that."
"Who is she?"
"No idea." It braced itself, like it was going to jump to yet another branch, when it froze.
"What?"
"Take the young one and leave here," the bird said suddenly. "Go. Now."
"And here I thought you were just a spectator," he said.
"This is for your good. Not mine. Leave!" It leapt of the branch and took to flight, screeching loudly all the way.
That was strange. But as Yami was about to shrug it off, the shaking started.
Little grains of sand jumped off the ground, the branches of the tree shook, and a few leaves drifted to the ground. A rumbling sound could be heard.
Time to leave.
Yami Bakura stood up and took a step towards Bakura, but the earthquake grew stronger, bringing him to his knees. There was a loud schlucking noise then, and the roots of the tree started pulling themselves out of the ground to stand up in the air. Then the tree started to sink into the ground like it was quicksand, taking its roots with it.
Shit, shit shit.
A root snarled itself around Yami's wrist, and he felt himself get yanked to the ground. The wood twisted painfully around his skin. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw another, thicker root wrap itself around Bakura, and they were both being dragged to the center, where the tree was rapidly disappearing.
Yami tried to use his feet to drag himself to a stop, and the fingers of his hands worked to try to remove the root from his wrist. It was too strong. In desperation, he dug his fingernails deep into the wood.
The root jerked away, immediately, as if in pain. Yami Bakura backpedaled from the scene, trying to get as far away as possible from that crazy tree.
Oh, yeah. Bakura.
He looked back, and saw Bakura getting dragged away. He was thrashing again, though that was probably some nightmare induced fit, not caused by the knowledge that he was in any real danger.
Yami Bakura darted between the flailing roots, and caught Bakura by the legs in a effort to stop his movement towards the gaping black hole that was now in the sand. But the tree root was too strong.
He tried to pry it off, but he couldn't get his fingers around in. He found himself getting angry. Dangerously angry.
He stood up and gave the root a sharp kick. It jerked, but didn't let Bakura go. He kicked it again, harder. The root released Bakura, and slithered away.
Yami Bakura picked up the still thrashing Bakura up in his arms like a child, and took a few running steps from the roots, who were now trying to whip them instead of grabbing them. Yami got hit several times on the back, and once across the cheek. Bakura wasn't helping either, he was still having a fit, and hit Yami once in the eye and twice in the nose.
When he knew they were out of range of the tree, he dropped Bakura unceremoniously to the ground, where he continued to whine and whimper and moan.
Yami felt blood slide down his cheek, and his nose was dripping blood as well. He probably had a black eye, his wrist was badly cut, and the tips of his fingers were rubbed raw from trying to pry off the possessed roots.
At his feet, Bakura calmed down, and fell back into his peaceful slumber. He was, of course, unharmed.
The remaining roots slid the rest of the way into the ground, and the nearby sand shifted down to fill in the hole. In a few seconds, you couldn't tell there had been a tree at all.
Yami looked around for the bird, but it seemed to have disappeared. If it was still screeching, it was to far away from him to hear it.
Damn. The bird could have been useful, and there was no way of knowing what kind of information they might need, that the bird could have provided.
And, anyway, if all else failed, they could have eaten it.
* * *
Wow. Already got another chapter out. This is the most fun I've had writing a story in a long time, Y. Bakura is a blast to write for. Next chapter should be up shortly. Pretty quick, actually, if I keep going at this rate.
Author: Britani Gael
Okay, so this is my story, an attempt to make Yami Bakura into a kinda good guy. Most of the time I see him in fics as just maliciously beating up on everyone in sight. A kinda good guy, though, not a nice guy. He's still a bastard, he's just on the good guys' side, for once. The bird was kind of inspired by the crow in "The Chronicles of Amber," that tormented Corwin. If you've read it, you know who I mean.
* * *
Walking across a featureless desert for several hours, with no food or water, was no small feat in itself.
Walking across the desert, hauling someone almost as big as you ... well, it was a pain in the ass, to say the least.
Yami Bakura stopped again, for the third time in the last half hour. He had been experimenting with several ways of carrying the boy, the easiest one had been tossing him over his shoulder. Bakura didn't want to be still, though. He shifted around, and muttered in his sleep in a most irritating way.
Yami had almost left him behind twice.
The first time he had just considered it.
The second time he had dropped Bakura on the sand, and started off without him. He walked forward about five minutes, and spent the next five minutes walking back.
He was in an unknown situation, and that meant he needed to take advantage of every opportunity offered to him. Bakura might end up being a resource, and that meant that Yami might need him.
Once he knew for sure that he couldn't use Bakura, then he could drop him.
So he spent the time pondering his loss of memories.
He had no way of knowing how much of his memories had been erased. It could have been two hours, it could have been two days. Two months, possibly two years. He doubted that, though. Bakura didn't look any older than Yami remembered him being.
He wondered if Bakura's memories had been erased. That was a possible use for him, if he could ever wake him up. And if he decided to help.
Yami snorted. This was the kid who had wanted to DIE to get away from him. He doubted that Bakura would want to be of much help.
The sky was still the unchanging shade of gray, there didn't seem to be a distinction of day and night here, wherever they were. Maybe time wasn't passing at all. He didn't know.
What he knew of the Shadow Realm was the dark place where the games were played, and this place was certainly nothing like that. But if they weren't in the Shadow Realm, where could they possibly be?
Well, if someone had indeed brought them here, there had to be a reason for it. Unless someone with a lot of power and not all his marbles had a hobby of randomly trapping people in other dimensions. Good for laughs, huh?
Yami Bakura thought he saw something in the distance. He froze.
He narrowed his eyes. It seemed like something was sticking up from the ground. It was tall, thin, with branches ...
A tree?
Strange and stranger.
He picked up his pace, walking briskly towards the tree. The sooner he figured out what the hell was going on, the sooner he could out of here.
* * *
Ouch. Pain.
Colors, feelings. Blasts of emotions.
Bakura didn't think he could take it all.
He tried to draw back, tried to shake his head and clear his mind.
That's when he discovered that he had no body. Crap.
It wasn't as disturbing as it sounded, once you got used to the idea.
But he didn't want to get used to the idea. He wanted out. Now.
He squirmed in his mind, he looked in every direct that wasn't. There was no way out.
He was forced to endure the colors. The sounds. And the pain.
* * *
Something was bothering Yami Bakura about that tree.
It wasn't getting any closer.
He had been walking for fifteen minutes, hoping to see the little scrap of a tree in greater detail, but no such luck. He had walked faster. No change at all. What the hell was this? Alice in Wonderland?
He broke out into a run. He couldn't keep it up for long, he knew, but he had to at least try. That tree was the only thing in this place, besides the two of them. It had to mean something. Didn't it?
He kicked up sand as he ran, and Bakura was sure getting heavy. The stick in the sand still showed no greater detail, it hadn't grown in size on the horizon. This was pointless. Maybe it was a mirage.
Yami felt his legs start to give out. He slowed down to a jog, and tried to catch his breath. Maybe he was loosing it. Maybe --
Bam!
He ran face first into the tree, the rough bark scraped across his face. Yami dropped Bakura, who sprawled out on the sand at the base of the tree.
What the hell? He'd only blinked! How could he have --
"Ah, you get used to it, in time."
Yami spun around, looking for the source of the voice. No one.
He looked back at the tree. It looked like your standard oak tree, except that it was stark white, with little leaves that were colored a dull black. A network of roots were poking out of the sand, Bakura had curled up beside one.
"Up here, nimrod."
Yami looked up. There was a complex network of branches, all reaching up to the sky. He couldn't see the top from where, he was. He took a step back, and tripped on a tree root. He fell flat on his back.
He winced from the pain that shot up his spine, but now he could see the top. The branches got thinner and thinner as they rose, until at last there was only a small stick of a branch at top. On it was perched a falcon. It cocked its head.
Yami scowled.
"Amazing what can creep up on you when you aren't paying attention," it said, and it chuckled as best it could, for a bird. It swooped down quickly, and landed on Yami's chest. Before he could move, it had pecked his nose.
"Ouch!" One hand moved to his injured nose, the other to swipe at the bird. It was too quick for him, though, and it had flown off again, this time to land on the lowest branch of the tree.
The bird laughed. A really horrid sound, a cross between screeching and screaming.
"What do you want?" snapped Yami, sitting up and rubbing his nose.
"Ah, I'm just a spectator," it said.
"Ow ... stop."
Both Yami's and the bird's gaze darted to Bakura. He started thrashing violently. "Please ... stop ... stop ..." he whispered, though it was clearly audible in the dead silence. Yami Bakura watched him for a moment, until he had stopped moving.
The bird cocked his head. "Concerned?"
Yami glared daggers. "No," he said flatly.
The falcon hopped to another branch. "No," it said. "I suppose you aren't." It paused. "Should be, but you aren't."
Yami paused. "Why?"
"Because," it said. "Your friend is in a great deal of trouble. So are you, you're probably not all right in the head yourself. He's got it worse, though."
Okay. Okay. A talking bird in a materializing tree seemed to know all the answers. Vague answers, but answers. Okay. Good. No, great. He could handle this.
Maybe.
"Why are we here?" he demanded.
The bird hopped to another branch. "Well, I would assume she brought you here. Though I'd give quite a lot to know how she managed that."
"Who is she?"
"No idea." It braced itself, like it was going to jump to yet another branch, when it froze.
"What?"
"Take the young one and leave here," the bird said suddenly. "Go. Now."
"And here I thought you were just a spectator," he said.
"This is for your good. Not mine. Leave!" It leapt of the branch and took to flight, screeching loudly all the way.
That was strange. But as Yami was about to shrug it off, the shaking started.
Little grains of sand jumped off the ground, the branches of the tree shook, and a few leaves drifted to the ground. A rumbling sound could be heard.
Time to leave.
Yami Bakura stood up and took a step towards Bakura, but the earthquake grew stronger, bringing him to his knees. There was a loud schlucking noise then, and the roots of the tree started pulling themselves out of the ground to stand up in the air. Then the tree started to sink into the ground like it was quicksand, taking its roots with it.
Shit, shit shit.
A root snarled itself around Yami's wrist, and he felt himself get yanked to the ground. The wood twisted painfully around his skin. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw another, thicker root wrap itself around Bakura, and they were both being dragged to the center, where the tree was rapidly disappearing.
Yami tried to use his feet to drag himself to a stop, and the fingers of his hands worked to try to remove the root from his wrist. It was too strong. In desperation, he dug his fingernails deep into the wood.
The root jerked away, immediately, as if in pain. Yami Bakura backpedaled from the scene, trying to get as far away as possible from that crazy tree.
Oh, yeah. Bakura.
He looked back, and saw Bakura getting dragged away. He was thrashing again, though that was probably some nightmare induced fit, not caused by the knowledge that he was in any real danger.
Yami Bakura darted between the flailing roots, and caught Bakura by the legs in a effort to stop his movement towards the gaping black hole that was now in the sand. But the tree root was too strong.
He tried to pry it off, but he couldn't get his fingers around in. He found himself getting angry. Dangerously angry.
He stood up and gave the root a sharp kick. It jerked, but didn't let Bakura go. He kicked it again, harder. The root released Bakura, and slithered away.
Yami Bakura picked up the still thrashing Bakura up in his arms like a child, and took a few running steps from the roots, who were now trying to whip them instead of grabbing them. Yami got hit several times on the back, and once across the cheek. Bakura wasn't helping either, he was still having a fit, and hit Yami once in the eye and twice in the nose.
When he knew they were out of range of the tree, he dropped Bakura unceremoniously to the ground, where he continued to whine and whimper and moan.
Yami felt blood slide down his cheek, and his nose was dripping blood as well. He probably had a black eye, his wrist was badly cut, and the tips of his fingers were rubbed raw from trying to pry off the possessed roots.
At his feet, Bakura calmed down, and fell back into his peaceful slumber. He was, of course, unharmed.
The remaining roots slid the rest of the way into the ground, and the nearby sand shifted down to fill in the hole. In a few seconds, you couldn't tell there had been a tree at all.
Yami looked around for the bird, but it seemed to have disappeared. If it was still screeching, it was to far away from him to hear it.
Damn. The bird could have been useful, and there was no way of knowing what kind of information they might need, that the bird could have provided.
And, anyway, if all else failed, they could have eaten it.
* * *
Wow. Already got another chapter out. This is the most fun I've had writing a story in a long time, Y. Bakura is a blast to write for. Next chapter should be up shortly. Pretty quick, actually, if I keep going at this rate.