The Alternative

Chapter Twenty Nine

It's dark here.

Lonely. Cold...exhausting.

I don't want to be tired anymore.

But at least I'm numb.

Even in this emptiness,

I don't feel so bad.

It beats suffrage any day.

And I sure do prefer it over rage...

Although it's frigid and secluded,

I will accept this isolation with welcoming arms of embrace,

Because something tells me it will be worth it...

If I simply hold on.

()()()()()()()()()()()()

"Mana! Soak a rag in hot salt water and place it in his mouth!"

"Yes, Master!"

"Shada, tighten the leather straps around his body!"

"Yes, Priest Mahad!

"Seto, use your rod to control his ka!"

"At your will."

Screams blistered through the sorcery suite like death hanging in the wind. Bakura's body jerked uncontrollably amongst the stone tablet where he was strapped. He screeched until his throat cracked and his lips bled. The priests and members of the councils couldn't do much except attempt to ease his body, which was reacting to his inner ripping of souls.

"He's in so much pain..." Yugi whimpered at the sight.

"He is at the gods disposal now," Atem stated dryly, worry in his eyes.

"He's going to be okay, right?" Yugi looked up at Atem, frightened as could be.

Atem looked at Yugi's soft eyes, unable to react with a supportive smile or nod. Instead, he looked out to the chaos of the council running around in attempt to ease a thwarting body.

"Of course, the gods know what they are doing," he explained.

As long as they don't kill his body in the process.

()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()

"I never told anyone that story," Kaiba muttered, not knowing if his attempt at suppressing his shivers was actually working. "I tried to report him to faculty, but there was nothing they would do."

"But he poisoned you!" Yugi called out.

"He did, but there was no proof of it. I woke up in my bed. No one heard or saw me that night. I even had doctors that I hired run a drug test on me...there was nothing."

"Oh my God..."

"Sometimes, I don't think it even happened."

Kaiba intertwined his fingers, looking down at the ground while attempting to piece things together. Here was this kid, Yugi, who looked uncannily like the beast that made Kaiba's life a living hell, and yet he cared more than anyone did. Despite the fact that Kaiba was kind of an asshole, Yugi still cared to listen.

Now he was involved. A target of Yami, just as Kaiba was.

Someone's gotta put a stop to this thing; we need to make an alliance.

"Yugi..."

"Hm?"

"I don't know what happened to you tonight," Kaiba stated, looking down at his hands. "But somehow, you came out alive, with memory of the situation, and now you have a witness."