If You Feel Better

Chapter 66

Aya clung desperately to the remainder of her sanity as her senses slowly started to blend into one another inseparably. Objects outlines blurred when she moved her gaze even a little, dragging their colors and shapes with the rest of her vision. Every breath she took drowned out the other sounds around her, deafening in her ears, matching the rhythmic pounding of her heart that threatened to burst.

She fought vigorously to focus, but she was losing her grip on reality quickly. She wriggled her entire body to loosen the restraints around each limb, the ability to individually control them lost. She could see Ptahbis standing over her, his features no longer discernible from the rest of his face. She was still able to perceive that she was in a dangerous situation, perpetrated by the horrible man looming over her helpless form, but her muscles felt sluggish, straining with the mildest of efforts.

"I'm giving you one chance to let me go now," she said through her panicked breaths, staring at him intensely to give the illusion that the herbs weren't working.

Ptahbis tenderly sat down on the bed next to her, caressing the back of his hand against her cheek, trailing down her chest to her clothed body. She felt the bed dip when he sat and she jolted in disgust at his touch, which felt more pronounced in her hallucinogenic state. "And what are you going to do if I don't?" he asked, his voice sounding far away, echoing in almost a whisper-like aspect against the walls.

He pulled at her dress, drawing it back as far as possible to reveal as much of her skin as he could. Aya could feel herself losing control the more she panicked, knowing that he would take advantage of her soon and there wasn't a thing she could do about it. She played her last card, praying that he would believe her. "I am the princess!" she yelled at him. His hands froze where they were, an inch away from the crook of her neck. "Remember when Bastmet told you I had the same name as the princess?! That's because I am the princess! If you do what you're about to do, you will not be spared!"

Ptahbis paused to think for a moment, looking down at her susceptible form. If she truly was the princess, she was already tied to his bed, drugged to the heavens, and his intentions already made abundantly clear. It was already too late to turn back. After another moment's hesitation, he resumed his touching, climbing on top of her to continue his torment. "Even if that is true, I have already come this far," he reasoned. "If I were to stop now, I would still be beheaded just the same as if I continued. So, I might as well go all the way." With a smirk, he pressed his lips to her cheek in a kiss, relishing the soft skin that lay beneath. "But it's sweet of you to look out for me."

Suddenly the weight of Ptahbis was ripped off of her: one second there, the next second gone. Incapable of understanding what was happening, she used this opportunity to thrash as hard as she could against her ropes. "Let me go!" she screeched, repeatedly jerking her limbs to the point of near-dislocation.

Before Ptahbis even knew what was going on, a knife was lodged into his neck, tearing down to his shoulder. He gagged and twitched for a moment before going limp, his life sputtering out in less than an instant. Bakura extracted his knife and threw his body to the floor all in one motion, wishing he had more time to give the weasel the grislier death he deserved. He sneered at the body in anger, turning his attention to the incoherent girl on his bed, screaming, thrashing, and delusional. He actually couldn't believe it. After weeks of searching, asking, putting up posters, and getting nowhere, she was in front of him again. She hadn't died in the desert. She was there. She was with him again. "Aya!" he said, quickly slicing the cord holding all four of her limbs.

Her mind almost fully gone, she saw a flash of red run over her and a blur of white hair. And that voice. It sounded further away than the walls of the room, but she knew that voice. Bakura, she thought. Suddenly free from her restraints, she jumped up and hugged him as hard as she could, shaking and crying soundlessly from what had nearly happened to her. He was evil, he was awful, but he had still stopped the horrible actions Ptahbis had almost committed against her with only seconds to spare. And for that she was so thankful.