The Beast Underneath: A Yu-Gi-Oh! Fanfiction

Chapter Forty-Three: Flying

She shifted, groggily moving her lead-like head back and forth. It hurt; it damn well hurt, but eventually the pain faded and she was left with feeling nothing as usual. Izira pushed herself up onto her hands and knees, blinking blearily. Beneath her palms stretched a black, deep, bottomless abyss. The plink of a falling water droplet was the only noise she heard in the silence.

"Where... where the hell am I?" she groaned, wobbling up onto her knees. Her eyes focused on the ceiling, or rather, lack of ceiling; another black abyss stretched above her. Her brain already complained, thinking about how this place seemed to possess no end.

A cute, girly giggle perforated the silence and the water-drip. Izira sprang to her feet instantly and shifted around, trying to find the source. Nothing. Nada. All there was was that annoying plip-plop-plip-plop of the water.

Another giggle, this time fully sorrowful. She spun around again, coming face to face with a floating mirror that reflected the abyss behind her. But instead of the spirit's own reflection, another girl stood within.

She looked maybe eleven to thirteen, with long black hair and mahogany-red eyes flecked with brown. Her skin was tan, deep and smooth with a faint earthy red tint, and she was obviously a little pretty. Still had her flaws, though, and she was a little skinny for her age. Not starved-skinny, but narrow most definitely could describe her.

Her mouth moved, the soft voice of the giggle making her words bounce and overlap over and over as she said them. "Do you remember me?"

"Who the hell are you?" Izira spat, narrowing her eyes at the girl. She mocked her, the mysterious child also narrowing her eyes and leaning slightly forward to peer at her. Her mouth moved again.

"You've been a bad person."

"What on Earth makes you say that?"

"You've been mean to other people, Aku###o-chan. You've been abusing your power." The middle of the name, whatever it was, was blocked out by static. Izira would recognize those letters anywhere, though; Aku-o, her name. This person knew her full name, had said it, but the static blocked the rest.

"What's my name?! Tell me, you little bitch!" Izira sprang forward and smacked her fist against the glass. The girl tutted, shaking her head back and forth.

"Bad, bad, Aku###o-chan. You know better. Or do you? You're crazy. I'm crazy. We're crazy." The girl transformed into Izira, an identical copy; tall, flat black hair with blue tips that feathered outward slightly, sharp gold eyes and the Cheshire Cat grin with two sharp canines.

"Screw off! You're playing games with me!"

"We're crazy! We've gone completely nuts! We've lost sight of who we are! Tell me, Aku###o-chan, how do you expect to remember yourself when you're so lost you've lost sight of who you really are? Even if you regain your memories, you'll never be the same again. Your memories are pointless, because you have changed."

"Shut up!" Izira screeched as the words 'you have changed' echoed over and over and over again. She covered her ears, tried to block it out, ground her teeth and mashed her eyes shut just to avoid it all. The little bitch was lying, and when she nabbed her she'd-

When Izira opened her eyes, she was panting on her side within her Soul Room. But it was different; there was no door, and fire crept slowly towards her.

Izira screamed, remembering her death by burning, and hating every minute of it. Her head began to throb, to ache, as the fire turned into brief flashes of people she could barely remember. Why did she know Akefia? Who was Akefia again? Time recycled back and back and back, until Izira stood in the middle of a desert village with her feet firmly planted among the sand, feeling the grit between her toes. A set of charred bones lay partially submerged.