Chapter Text
Despite everything that the Spirit of the Ring had put him and his friends through before, Ryou Bakura couldn’t help but feel intrigued by his existence now that he knew about it.
Every ounce of sense in his body and all of his natural instincts were screaming at him to let the matter drop, to discard the Ring (or, at the very least, store it somewhere it couldn’t hurt him or anyone else) and never look back. Despite these feelings, there was an almost unnatural magnetic quality he felt whenever he looked at the Ring, or even so much as thought of it. It felt as though he was meant to have it.
So, after doing his best to disregard the strange sensations he felt when he thought about it too much and failing, he settled for carrying it around with him instead. And that was fine, for the first few days it was enough. But there was something strange about the silence which occupied the space in his mind that the spirit had possessed, even if only for the duration of a couple of days. The lack of noise and the quiet exuding from the Millennium Ring was somehow loud on its own and Ryou found it harder and harder to ignore. Rather, as time went on, it seemed that the silence was near deafening though he could not for the life of him figure out why.
The spirit had trapped his friends in Monster World miniatures. He had, as Ryou now knew, caused Ryou to be isolated and lonely at his previous schools by cursing the few friends he had made to be comatose and branded him a freak - someone dangerous who was to be avoided by those who knew better.
Ryou had no illusions about the Spirit of the Millennium Ring. He knew that his actions and decisions had been more harmful and disruptive than anything else. Even so, despite all the pain and suffering he caused, the spirit had in a strange and definitely roundabout way been… Not nice, but not quite evil either? He couldn’t shake the feeling that there was more to the spirit than trapping people in figurines and toying with them.
Despite not being entirely coherent during the time he was possessed, Ryou did remember bits and pieces of his time as a passenger in his own body. He remembered the end of his time as the spirit’s vessel the best, the moments leading up to Yugi and the others appearing at his door step and the final moments he had as he broke the Mind Dice with what little freewill he could muster, but he remembered bits and pieces of the times before more and more now that he was aware of the spirit’s existence. It was as though the spirit’s own memories in Ryou’s body were finally becoming available now that his influence was gone, though most of it was still incredibly hazy and left Ryou feeling dizzy if he attempted to focus on them for too long.
He could remember the looks of horror on his friends’ faces as they were condemned to a life in Monster World, bound to the dolls he’d made specifically for them – which made him sick in another kind of way (he’d wanted the figures to be perfect so his friends would be impressed and come over again to play more, he’d never expected his wishful fervor to become so twisted). But moreover, he could now remember how the spirit felt when he enacted his “Penalty Game” on Karita-sensei, the teacher who had picked on Ryou for being too effeminate.
The spirit had felt… Vindictive, but also oddly protective in a way that Ryou was having a difficult time coming to terms with and grasping. He remembered the spirit almost mockingly stating that he needed to “pay his rent” and confronting Karita as a means of doing so, but he hadn’t really processed or felt the emotions surging through his body properly at the time, too overwhelmed by the sensation of being overtaken by another force beyond his control. Now that he’d had some time to reflect he could remember it clearly and found it odd.
Why would the spirit go through all that trouble? Why go through the trouble of dealing with Karita? Why allow Ryou to ever come back to surface in his consciousness at all? While granted, Ryou had fought the spirit tooth and nail once he realized what had been happening to him each time he’d blacked out in the past, it was in the tiny moments of consciousness allowed by the spirit that Ryou was able to figure out and plan how to regain even the slightest bit control over his own body. Had he simply continued to force Ryou into the strange semi-state of sleep he entered while out of control of his body, he could have done whatever he liked for as long as he wanted.
Even if it had been a matter of it taking too much energy to properly maintain control of his body, there were too many questions unanswered for Ryou to feel satisfied with maybes and “what if”s.
So, about a week after he presented the diorama of the battle they’d had in Monster World to his newly found friends, Ryou Bakura cut class and walked to the nearest bookstore.
--
After carefully reading through his latest purchases and going out to get a few last minute items, Ryou cleared the floor in his living room as best as he could. For once, he was thankful that his father had forced him to live apart from him, because there was no way that he would be able to explain what he was about to do to him.
He set his books to the side and set about lining the floor lightly in chalk. Though his marks would not be identical to those depicted in the books he’d purchased, he found himself thinking that adapting them to suit his own beliefs and needs was likely for the best (or at least he hoped it would be). He adapted a design from several renditions of the Seals of Solomon depicted in the books, replacing the Hebrew words surrounding the seal with his own written in carefully scripted Japanese (“Protection” “Friendship” “Insight” “Sentience” “Wisdom” “God”). He then went over his design again with the chalk, darkening and thickening it accordingly.
Ryou rose, standing to take a step back to examine his work and smiled to himself, pleased.
He then set about making a thick circle around the seal with salt, leaving a small opening at the top for the time being. Once he finished, he checked his work for any kind of sloppiness and was pleased to find his markings and salt seemed to be set appropriately and neatly.
With that, he walked into his room, grabbed his schoolbag and retrieved the ring.
Ryou entered through the break in the salt and carefully placed the Millennium Ring into the center of the seal, then properly sealed the circle with what remained of his salt. That done, he stepped back into the circle and picked up the Ring, laughing nervously to himself as he sat down in the center. He raised the leather thong necklace which was secured to the Ring over his head and took a deep breath.
“Alright, Spirit of the Millennium Ring… We had a rocky start but… I’d like to talk to you. If you’re still here and willing, that is.”
At first, Ryou was met with the same familiar silence which often accompanied the Ring these days, but eventually he heard a dark chuckle in the back of his mind from the same part he’d heard the spirit’s voice coming from before and let out a sigh of relief.
“How interesting. I thought after all that I put you and your “friends” through that you were done with this thing. I’m surprised you put it back on. Ready to relinquish control over to me, Ryou Bakura?”
“I took precautions this time, spirit. You can’t take over me and cross the salt line threshold. If you want out—"
“Yes, yes. I can tell. You’ve been quite busy since we last chatted, hmm? Where did you learn to make seals like this?”
“I read about it.”
“Ha!”
“What’s so funny?”
“You say that like it means nothing. Seals like these are half knowledge, half talent.”
“Is it that impressive?” Ryou asked, sincerely curious. The spirit had sounded impressed, despite himself, Ryou couldn’t help but wonder exactly how strong his homemade seal was.
“Why did you summon me here, landlord?” The spirit’s voice demanded, ignoring the question. In the back of his mind, Ryou could sense irritation that wasn’t his own. “There must be some reason.”
“There is, I already told you. I want to chat.” Ryou scowled as a loud guffaw echoed through his head. “I’m serious!! I want to talk to you!”
“Now, why on earth would you want that?”
“Well, Yugi and the Spirit of the Millennium Puzzle seem to be communicating now and… I don’t know. I guess I just wanted to.” Ryou admitted, not really having a particularly good reason for engaging such a dangerous entity now that he really thought about it. “I guess I just wanted to know more about you.”
“Ha! You’re a strange kid, Ryou Bakura.”
“Well, are you up to chat?”
“Isn’t that what we’re doing now?” Despite himself, the spirit sounded a bit amused. “I don’t suppose if we do that I could convince you to keep wearing that Ring, could I?”
“Not if you’re going to hurt my friends.” Ryou stated seriously, an air of finality in his statement which he could feel the spirit bristle at. He tried to relax a bit before continuing. “We may be able to work something out, but if you hurt my friends again I’m not just going to sit patiently in the backseat while you do as you please.”
“Oh? And how do you intend to stop me?”
“I stopped you once, I’d stop you again. But that’s not why we’re talking right now. I didn’t ask if you wanted to argue; I asked if you wanted to chat. So, do you?”
“.....”
“Spirit?”
“Heh, I’ll humor you this once.” A shadow shifted in the corner of Ryou’s eye, when he turned his head a transparent copy of himself appeared before him, a devious grin on his face as he sat cross-legged inside the circle directly across from him. "Alright, Ryou Bakura, let’s chat.”