The Thief and the King (Rei no Kaado)

[Firebreath Fishslap]

((OOC: Considering the fact that this topic is about a sadistic demon king looking to go get some quick kicks by taking a knife and carving a new scar into poor Bakura to make him look even more like his past self, it probably goes without saying that the contents of this topic will likely be disturbing.))

Abel had been wandering the back alleys of Void City for a couple hours now. He really didn't care that he wasn't really coming across too many people this way. Maybe if he ditched the cape and looked like a normal person, he might be able to catch someone more easily... no, that wasn't the only thing. There weren't too many people wandering around. News had spread that someone had been beaten to death nearby here. Normal people were avoiding the area. The not so normal ones were still hanging around, but even Abel was smart enough to not go after someone who would put up too much of a struggle. He didn't want to kill anyone, after all.

This is a stupid idea, he thought to himself, but he pushed the thought away. Another dissenting thought came quickly enough. What the hell am I doing? I'm purposefully out looking for someone to torture and drain of magatsuhi, for... oh, what the hell do I care.

He tossed the knife in the air a couple times, deftly catching it by the handle each time. Even though he technically didn't need one of these, it could be useful if he ever needed to do this again.

If I ever need to do this again, Abel thought to himself. He shook the dissenting thoughts away. Where the hell were these thoughts coming from? He was as demonic as... humanly possible right now. He scowled as he realized. Obviously the Magatsuhi hadn't completely surpressed his other half.

Abel looked up as he thought he saw a flash of something white in a nearby alley. Didn't Nyarlathotep say that the person Adachi had taken in had white hair? And Abel's brothers had met up with that same person in these same alleys earlier that day too. Abel looked back down at his cloak, and finally unclipped it, letting it drop to the ground. He slipped the dagger into his pants, and slowly approached where he saw the movement from. Well, this could be fun.

[mugenginga]

The "flash of something white" was, as Abel suspected, the person his brothers had run into earlier. It was only partially true that it was the person Adachi had taken in. Anpu had stopped within seconds of Abel dropping his cloak and trailing him. His plans were to draw the person in further. If they were foolish enough to think they could mug him, that was their problem.

However, as those thoughts went through his mind, something else became aware of Abel's presence. A sound like windchimes was made as the prongs of the Ring levitated and pointed in the direction Abel was hiding. Anpu narrowed his eyes and lifted up the Ring. He knew the power of the Ring from Ancient Egypt, of course, but even on this Island little was enough to make the prongs react more than what could easily be passed off as wind. There were only two things that could make it react as such.

"Alright, show yourself!" Anpu commanded, turning towards where both he and the Ring knew his pursuer was hiding.

What Abel would realize was something about the Ring itself. Now that he was the King of Bel, he'd know about the darkness of the Millenium Items. He'd know something else about them as well. While the bodies and souls of an entire village had been sacrificed to create the items, they were at their most basic demonic artifacts. After all, their creation had been directly tied into a demon that had almost destroyed that world... twice. And while Zorc was dead, the effects of his connection to the Items would never fade.

The Ring also held another presence. It was very suppressed and unaware of the situation around it. Like an item housing a soul, so to speak. Nyarlathotep had mentioned Bakura and a "spirit", so whatever had ordered Abel to come out was one or the other...

[Firebreath Fishslap]

Abel had felt the Millenium Ring before he saw it. He more than felt it. It had the same kind of energy around it that Yuugi's Puzzle had. It felt demonic. He could also very faintly sense another presence within. Well, that fit. Nyarlathotep had said that there was a spirit dwelling within the Ring.

He looked up as he heard someone call for him to show himself. If this was the same situation as Yuugi's... then it was probably the spirit that dwelled within the Ring. It was just a guess based on prior experiences; Abel had no way of knowing he was right.

He stepped out from behind a corner with his hands raised over his head. He was looking right at Anpu and was still smirking. Abel's eyes had been locked into the slitted pupils since he'd drained Cain's magatsuhi. Couple that with the smirk he still had on his face... it probably looked more than a tad creepy.

"Alright, alright, you caught me," Abel said. His hands were still raised over his head. He wasn't going to go for the knife yet. Only once he was sure he'd restrained Anpu... and that he could get a sufficient fear response from him.

[mugenginga]

Anpu's gaze narrowed even further as he saw the slits. That was not human. If it was trying to be human, it was doing a pisspoor job at it. Anpu wasn't frightened, just cautious. His pulse was going at a normal pace. He willed the prongs of the Ring down and let it drop back onto the outside of his chest. He crossed his arms, maintaining his locked gaze with the person before him.

What created a problem here was the person before him looked damn similar to the person who had been with Cain before. His expression, slits aside, was like Cain's had been. The scars weren't there, so he didn't think it was a case of possession. The response of the Ring combined with the slitted eyes didn't leave much to be guessed as to what the 'teenager' was. After all, Anpu had dealt with demons before.

"Don't tell me Cain contracted you to kill me?"

[Firebreath Fishslap]

Abel let his arms drop as he let out a chuckle. He looked back toward Anpu again. The man wasn't frightened in the least, obviously. But Abel had a feeling he, or at least that spirit inside the Ring, would be by the time things were over. After all, Abel had a hunger that needed to be satiated. And what could this mere human do anyways?

"Cain? No, Cain's currently lying unconcious in his hotel room, most likely. I'm his brother, Abel," Abel stated. "And in truth, you just ended up being the lucky person I met first." He finally pulled the dagger from his pants. "Lucky you."

He took a step forward. "Don't worry. I'm not going to kill you."

[mugenginga]

Okay, that tripped Anpu up a bit. As a kid, before the whole mess with his village, he'd listened to some of the stories the Hebrew people had told. Sometimes some of the more trusted ones would get sent on trips. And Kul Elna had not been unknown for haboring a few escaped slaves every now and then. Abel was the one Cain had killed in Hebrew legend. Anpu found himself having problems with that. Not that Abel was alive. Why not? Cain was. But that Abel was a demon and Cain hadn't been.

All those thoughts were pushed away as Abel pulled out his dagger. No fear had risen yet, but Anpu had gotten more ready for a fight. He didn't have a weapon on him. It would be stupid act of desperation to try and use the prongs of the Ring. The corner of his lip raised in a smirk. All this demon had going for him was a pair of slitted eyes... then again, he seemed rather confident. There was probably some skill he'd kept hidden. Not killing him but making a point of the dagger really only left one option. Torture.

Anpu took a few steps to the side. It was a bit cliche at the moment, the two opponents circling each other. He saw what could be an opening and took a step in a different direction. He picked up speed as soon as he felt he'd moved out of the demon's peripheal vision. His plan was to disarm Abel. That plan had to major flaws. One, Abel was way to fast for that move. Two, Abel could sense exactly where Anpu was... it would be the first time the Ring served as a hindrance for the Thief King of Ancient Egypt.

[Firebreath Fishslap]

Abel had been keeping an eye on Anpu as he moved. He could tell where Anpu was going thanks to his own keen eyes and the Ring. Heh, stupid piece of cursed jewelry was like a beacon to Abel's demonic senses. The moment Anpu changed directions, Abel rushed Anpu and pressed him up against the wall of the alley. He had the knife pressed up against Anpu's throat, but not close enough that it was cutting into the skin quite yet. Abel's other hand was on Anpu's chest, keeping him pressed up against the wall.

"Sorry, but I'm faster," Abel said. He lifted the knife from Anpu's throat and pressed it up against Anpu's right cheek. This time it did cut into the skin, leaving a horizontal cut.

"Now let's see... anything goes as long as you're still alive," Abel said. He pressed the knife further into Anpu's skin. "Hey, let me tell you a secret, whoever you are.

"I once was a human like you, but I decided that some things are better than your own humanity. So I became a demon. Right now, that demon wants blood," Abel leaned closer toward Anpu. "There are so many things I could do... Let's see... could always just bring you back for certain uses. Sure it would be an extra mouth to feed, another hostage to keep... but it's not like you'd be able to resist. If you did, I could just crush you."

Abel's smirk grew wider. He was enjoying this. He pulled the knife from where he had it cutting into Anpu's cheek to having the point of it right under Anpu's chin, lifting it just a bit.

"Hey... where's that spirit hiding in your pendant? I want to meet him too," Abel took the hand he had Anpu pressed up against the wall with and placed one finger on the Ring. "Go ahead and bring him out. I told you didn't I? I'm not going to kill you... as long as you listen to me."

[mugenginga]

Anpu's eyes widened at the speed in which Abel shifted directions. He'd known the demon had tricks up its sleeve. He'd gambled on what those tricks were. As his back impacted the wall, but his body wasn't allowed to react due to the way Abel had his hand on his chest, he knew he'd lost that gamble. He didn't wince as Abel placed the side of the dagger against an all to familiar part of his face, although as it sank in a bit he did hiss.

Even had he not wanted to he couldn't have looked away from Abel. The demon was stronger than him, he could feel by the pressure on his chest. The demon had more than shown he was faster than him. As Abel continued to taunt, a bit of the blood welled up and rolled down his cheek. He heard Abel threaten to take him captive and narrowed his gaze. He'd force Bakura out at the instant of death to escape, sealing him in the Ring for another chance.

His chin lifted in response to the pressure from the blade. He could have pushed down, but the soft area below his chin would have been cut. His glare intensified as he "requested" to meet Ryou. The demon put his finger on the Ring and made his suggestion again. By this time Anpu's pulse had picked up by a bit, and a fear reaction was growing. The man was only human, after all. Still, forcing Bakura out could prove an advantage. It meant that if the demon changed his mind, he'd remain in the Ring.

Bakura felt himself practically yanked out of the stasis he was in. He'd stirred a bit at the reaction Anpu was having to the situation, but he wasn't truly aware. More a reaction to a strong and unfamiliar from Anpu emotion. However, the switch was similar to being picked up and thrown. And the first thing that surfaced in Bakura's mind was the pain. Abel was applying a bit more pressure to the chin. Bakura went very tense as his understanding of the situation changed, and the pulse went from slightly raised to through the roof.

Bakura's eyes widened enough that it looked like they were going to bulge out. An almost strangled noise escaped his lips. He seemed to be trying to melt into the wall behind him. His palms, which had been hanging at his side when Anpu was in control flattened against the building and his feet moved as if pushing with them would allow him to sink into the wall. He'd been almost fully suppressed, just to wake up to this.

"Anpu!?" He thought desperately with his mind. He received no reply.

[Firebreath Fishslap]

The fear reaction Abel had finally managed to get from Anpu excited him. In thrilled him. It was the whole reason he'd come out here, for that sadistic pleasure. He went from a demonic smirk to a full out grin as the shift occurred and the feeling Abel was getting from this person shot through the roof. The boy was terrified. This was the kind of rush Abel desired.

"You're Bakura, aren't you? The original host... so that means the person in your pendant is some sort of other you..." Abel said. He was having to keep himself from springing on this boy right away, but he wanted to play with him a bit more. He took the knife from its position under Bakura's chin and used it to wipe the blood slowly dripping down Bakura's cheek off, and then Abel raised the knife's blade up to his mouth and licked off the blood before putting the knife up against Bakura's cheek again. The placement seemed more than a bit more intentional this time.

Truth was, Abel could remember a couple things from his human life. A few things Atsuro had shown him once or twice. Things he had only hardly remembered now. He remembered being told about a "Thief King Bakura" who had lived in Egypt while the Other Yuugi was Pharoah. And this Thief King was who this Bakura was supposedly the reincarnation of. This Thief King had a rather distinctive scar, too. Wouldn't that be a nice gift for Yuugi when he saw Bakura again?

Abel lifted the dagger from Bakura's cheek. "I wonder how Atem will feel when he sees you again? By the way, you might want to close your eyes."

And at that moment, Abel pressed the dagger into Bakura's face, this time vertically and crossing the two horizontal cuts he'd previously made. It was deep, but it avoided damaging the eye while still cutting into the eyelid.

"...heh," Abel chuckled. This fear he was feeling from Bakura, he couldn't resist it anymore. He tossed the dagger behind him, stepped closer to Bakura, and placed one hand on his chest, the other on his forehead.

"Don't worry. I said I wouldn't kill you," Abel said. He concentrated, and pulled his hand back, pulling out Bakura's Magatsuhi with it.

[mugenginga]

Bakura swallowed hard as the person who had apparently put Anpu up against the wall addressed him. By name, who knew how much Anpu had told him? Had his mind been in a better state, he might have remembered that he'd started stirring because of Anpu's fear response. That wasn't the case, though. He was too terrified to think of much beyond if he was going to survive.

The words about Anpu being an "other him" were met with an extra wince. He could feel how tense the teenager before him was. He'd seen him before, he was pretty sure in what little rational thought was in his mind. He couldn't pull the teenager's name out of his memory. He could pull that something was very different about him now than before. The eyes made his pulse raise even more as he focused a bit on them. Slits, like some kind of demon.

The teenager pulled the knife away from his throat. When Bakura had swallowed, he'd felt the pressure just from the muscle action it took to swallow. Bakura tensed up even more as Abel wiped his dagger against his face. He could hear his heart pounding in his ears, every pulse. He was going to die here. The teenager brought the knife to his mouth and licked the blood off, and Bakura just wanted to pass out. The demon, he couldn't think of Abel as anything else after the action with the knife, was playing with him and then he was going to kill him.

The demon slit his cheek again, and Bakura drew in a sharp breath from the pain. He found himself wondering how close Abel had gotten to bone with that. He tried to turn his face away as Abel lifted the dagger, but he found a hand on his chin. The dagger was held between fingers, but the demon had grabbed his chin. The hand was only removed when Bakura stopped pulling.

His breaths were short, and Bakura was fast reaching the point of hyperventilation. It wasn't that he was too easily scared. Had he had warning, he might have handled this better. But Anpu had just thrown him out and was ignoring his attempts to reach the Thief King. The demon spoke again, and what little color Bakura had left in his face drained when he mentioned Atem. What was the demon going to do to him that would concern Atem!? The demon told him to close his eyes and he found himself obeying without thought.

He hadn't expected the side of the blade to drive into his skin. Had he been coherent, he would have remembered that the now three slices on his face were identical to the scarring Anpu's spirit presence had. But he wasn't in his coherent mind, and it took every ounce of rational control he had to not thrash as the dagger sunk all the way to bone.

He let out a scream without being aware of it at that point as the slice was pulled up. His eyes were clenched shut and tears were rolling down his face. His body wasn't shaking, it had enough sense to know his eye was in danger and a jerk could cause him to lose it. He doubted it would be any large problem for the demon. He felt the dagger pulling out by just a bit as it came to his eyelid. The skill in which it flicked up to sever the eyelid into two sides without damaging the eye was phenomenal. The leaking tears stung the open and badly bleeding wound. His scream had faded and his voice was no that of choked sobs.

It was probably the scream that had done it. It wasn't a scream of pure fear, although it had added fuel to it. The pain of the injury had been enough to incite the reaction. Bakura kept his eyes closed, but he heard the thunk of something hitting the ground quite a ways in front of him. He felt his chest get pressed on again, and he could feel Abel's breath as the demon spoke. A hand covered his forehead, just enough of it hanging down that Abel's wrist would have Bakura's blood on it when he pulled back.

Somewhere Bakura heard the demon say he wouldn't kill him. That he'd already said that. Bakura was far too panicked to put together that the demon assumed he and Anpu shared experiences. Even had he been able to think that, any chance of it was gone as he felt a pain worse than the slice had caused. As the energy flowed up from the white haired teenager, he lout out a far more pained scream than before. Of course, this would just add fuel to Abel's excitement.

Bakura's body thrashed as Abel pulled his hand back. The blood that had gotten on his wrist from Bakura trailed down a bit. Bakura felt his consciousness slipping away. The tiny fraction of rationality could only be glad. Abel got a final spike of fear as Bakura was able to think about the worse case scenario. What if the demon kidnapped him, just so he could do this again? It was then the teenager's body fell limp, and only then that the scream had stopped. The only thing keeping him upright was Abel's oppressing pressure on his chest with his free hand. The flow would continue for as long as Abel pulled, and if he didn't stop soon, he would kill Bakura.

[Firebreath Fishslap]

Abel's grin grew wider as he continued the pull. So much fear. The boy had been so terrified of him, it was like a feast. And it just kept coming. Abel didn't want to stop. He didn't release the pull, even as he felt the boy in front of him's life force start to slip. If he didn't stop, he might kill him after all. But would Abel really care if someone else died for him?

If I don't stop, I'll kill him!

Another dissenting thought. Abel pushed it away. He didn't need such human cares like that. So what if he killed him after all?

I promised that I wouldn't kill him! Dammit, I have to stop this!

Abel scowled and pulled one hand away. It wasn't the one pulling the magatsuhi from Bakura's body, but it allowed Bakura to drop to the ground.

I'm not going to kill more humans than I have to! I took the Throne to help humanity, dammit!

Abel finally clenched his hand into a fist, cutting off the flow. That had to be more than enough magatsuhi to support him for a while. He looked down at Bakura, specifically at the cuts on his face. Well, now Bakura looked like a non-tanned clone of the person he was a reincarnation of. That would be a nice gift for Atem when he saw Bakura again. Abel smirked once more, and turned to leave, picking the dagger back up again as he left. He got what he wanted. Not that he was going back to his hotel room anytime soon. There were other ways to kill time besides torture, after all.

Even so, he had to wonder why so many human thoughts kept coming up. Even with it being the half moon right now, they should have been completely surpressed based on the amount of magatsuhi he'd absorbed from Bakura alone, plus the fact that Seth wasn't anywhere nearby. What was wrong with him today?

[mugenginga]

Yuugi had lost track of where he was going on the way back from the Mall. There had been a lot of cards he didn't recognize. Just by the text on some of them he could tell the rules had changed from what he knew. Atem wouldn't have any problems with it, the former Pharaoh was the one who had won a game he knew nothing about against Ryuuji, after all. He'd only bought a few, and was looking them over. It wasn't enough for him and Atem to have forty cards each, but that could happen later.

Then again, he did have to head back. As that thought reared into the surface, Yuugi felt his gut tighten. He wasn't good at this kind of thing. It wasn't that Atem was male. Granted, maybe that had something to do with it but it wasn't the big part. He just wasn't good at... relationsihps. Atsuro had seemed almost grateful for the message on the COMP. Yuugi wondered if he could talk to Souji before Atem. If he was at his apartment, it wouldn't serve a problem. Souji's floor was below his and Atem's. It would be stupid to not head home if Souji wasn't there though.

He was pulled out of his thoughts as he heard a loud scream. He jerked his head up and turned towards the noise. That voice had sounded familiar. He hesitated when he realized it had come from the back alleys. He dug into his pocked and pulled out the deck. The cards he'd gotten probably couldn't summon ka the way the ones from his world could, just like Atem suspected. He had gathered a few that didn't need tributes when he heard the scream again... and it was worse this time.

He was also sure now. That was Bakura. Making sure his cards were ready, he broke into a run down the alley. Despite the way it twisted, Yuugi had enough sense of where the noise had come from that he wasn't getting sidetracked. He'd be there shortly.

----------

Bakura's unconscious body crumpled as Abel released it. There was really no other word to describe it. It didn't slide down or fall forward, it just... crumpled. The twitching had cut down after Bakura passed out, but it continued in a minor form until Abel cut off the flow. The teenager's breathing was shallow, Abel really had cut it close. However, it wasn't anything rest wouldn't fix. Anpu was still aware, but he couldn't force dominance with the body being out. Not that he would have even had he could.

Abel would feel Yuugi getting close. The Pendant/Puzzle put off its own version of that signature energy. Unless he wanted to meet the short teenager, he needed to hurry up with his leaving. Bakura's face was smeared with the blood from the wound, and while the flow had lessened it was still seeping. Abel had done a good job in inflicting the wound in a manner to leave a scar, that was for sure.

[Firebreath Fishslap]

Abel looked down at Bakura's crumpled body again after he recovered his cape. He really had cut it close; Bakura's breathing was shallow. He looked down at the Ring. Another one of those Egyptian demonic artifacts, of course. Probably would be doing Bakura a favor if it was gone. Of course, that would be helping the person he'd just nearly killed, wouldn't it?

Abel bent down and slipped the dagger out of his pants pocket again (which probably wasn't the best place to keep it in the least, especially considering the dagger's size, but there really wasn't much of a place to put it) before slipping it under the rope the Ring hung from. He had only made a small cut in the rope before he sensed a similar energy to the one the Ring had coming his way, and stood up again.

"...Yuugi," Abel said. He looked down at Bakura again, decided he didn't need another confrontation, and ran down the alley. By the time Yuugi showed up, he would be long gone.

--------------------

Souji had been making a coffee run for Izanagi. Why? Because Souji had very carelessly forgotten to buy some coffee at the store. And Izanagi apparently required coffee to function. Stupid gods and their coffee addictions.

However, plans changed when Souji heard a scream nearby to where he was walking. And then a much more pained one followed soon after. He changed directions and started heading toward the maze of alleys. Yuugi would get there much sooner than he would.

[mugenginga]

Yuugi reached the area a few minutes later. His worry about Bakura had faded to a different kind of worry. He'd realized it would be almost impossible to find his way out. It didn't occur to the short teenager to summon a flying monster from his deck, but in his defense the usage of ka wasn't thing that happened in the modern world. Besides that, he wouldn't have wanted to start any kind of panic. His running had faded to fast walking when he turned a corner and saw Bakura.

"Bakura-kun!"

Yuugi ran forward, going into a crouching position even before he was there. Had the situation not been so tense, it might have looked humorous. His knees hit the ground close to Bakura and he caught a good look at the wound on Bakura's face. He let out a gasp and shook his head. Now wasn't the time to worry about that wound. He knew that the precision meant whoever had inflicted it had known what Anpu looked like in Ancient Egypt, but that still wasn't the point! He grabbed Bakura's shoulders and brought the other teenager into an upright position.

The cut Abel had made in the old rope meant the jerk caused it to snap in two. It fell onto the ground with a series of chimes and Yuugi nearly jumped out of his skin. He lifted one arm from Bakura's shoulders and pushed it away a bit before. His eyes remained on Bakura's closed ones, although they tried to be further distracted by the cut. Yuugi shook Bakura.

"Bakura-kun! Bakura-kun, wake up!"

He held a hand in front of Bakura's mouth. For a terrifying moment he thought Bakura wasn't breathing, but finally a bit of warmth hit his hand. Yuugi wished he could feel relieved. His friend probably needed medical help. For the wound if nothing else. On that note, why was Bakura in such a poor condition? Had he passed out from the pain?

"Can anyone hear me!? We need help!"

Yelling in an area such as this probably wasn't the smartest move. But Yuugi couldn't think of anything else to do. The cards he'd been carrying had fallen out of his hands as he reached for Bakura, they lay scattered on the ground near the Ring. The few that were visible were Holy Elf, Queen's Knight, and Kuriboh. Two more were there, but their backs were facing up so the pictures weren't visible. Yuugi wiped at Bakura's face with his sleeve and glanced towards the area he had come. What were the odds anyone would hear him...?

[Firebreath Fishslap]

Souji had been running through the alleys for a few minutes before he heard Yuugi's call. Immediately he changed directions. Yuugi was down there too, and Souji doubted Yuugi could help whoever was down there who needed help too well. He made it to the entrance to that particular alley quickly enough.

He took a step back as he saw Bakura. There was a rather nasty cut on his face, and he seemed to be in bad condition. Souji ran over to Yuugi.

"Yuugi! What happened to him?" Souji asked. This already seemed suspicious, what with the fact he'd already seen Bakura (or rather, Anpu) earlier today. And Souji found himself doubting Anpu would carve a wound like that into Bakura's face.