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duelistkingdom · 1 year

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starring in your bad dreams: chapter two

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Rating: T

Ships: Anzu Mazaki/Yugi Mutou/Atem, Bakura/Thief King

Author’s note: heyyyy here's chapter two. are tag lists still a thing? uhhh let me know if you wanna be tagged in these ig?

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Everything around Anzu was dark. She could barely see the outline of her hands. She spun around, trying to figure out exactly where she was. Her head turned as she realized she must be in her soul room, yet something wasn’t right. It had been bright and fully lit the past few times she’d been here. Her heartbeat pulsed loudly, and she jumped when she heard what sounded like nails on a chalkboard. She blinked, desperate for her eyes to adjust to the dim light around her. The hairs on the back of her neck stood up as the chill settled into her bones.

The air felt like she was breathing in glass. And then the shrieking started. She spun around, her hands reaching out in front of her, desperately trying to find a light switch. Anything so she could see. Anzu felt overwhelmed trying to figure out where she was. She couldn’t make out what was being said by the shrieking, the cacophony of sounds overwhelming her. It sounded like something was banging on the walls. And she collapsed in on herself, shrinking herself in an attempt to hide.

She closed her eyes tight, rocking herself in a vain attempt to soothe. And then everything went quiet. She opened her eyes, and the room around her was lit correctly again. She pushed herself up and glanced around in the mirrors. All around her was just her own image, reflecting her terror back at her. And then a door swung open and closed before she could process it. “I see you’re still awake.”

The spirit of the Ring had kept her appearance, and Anzu was irked about it. It had stolen her face. She didn’t know what to say in response to that. The tentative agreement between the spirit of the Ring and Anzu was that Anzu didn’t ask too many questions about why he needed the body and would cede control of the body for Anzu’s classes. In exchange for Anzu not asking why he needed the body, Anzu asked whatever she wanted of the spirit at night while she slept and expected honest answers. “Why had you trapped all those people in little figurines, anyway?” Anzu was now examining one of the posters on the mirrored wall of her soul room. It was funny how Anzu’s soul room allowed no place for him to hide - she could see every single corner of this room in one mirror. He didn’t like that. “Surely you had to know that wasn’t right.”

The spirit of the Ring shrugged. “I’ve been trapped in this ring for 3,000 years,” he pointed out. “The idea of trapping a soul in an inanimate object doesn’t seem so bad when you’ve been in that position for a while.”

“You know, I haven’t seen your soul room,” Anzu remarked with a frown. “But you’ve seen mine.”

“That wasn’t a question.”

Anzu glanced over at him, her crystal blue eyes piercing through him. Sometimes he felt as if Anzu could see right through him. “I think it’d be nice if I could see your soul room.”

He froze up as he considered it. Allowing Anzu to see where he lived when she controlled the body was not a good idea. In fact, he’d been careful to ensure he was in her soul room already at night and that she was asleep when he left. He’d already deduced that she must not realize where the door in her soul room was, meaning it was safe to keep her here when he took control. “Maybe later,” he said. “It’s a bit of a mess.”

It wouldn’t buy him time for long. Anzu never let up her suspicions of him, but she was willing to hear his side of the story. That meant that, at some point, he’d have to allow her access outside of this one room. “Fine,” she said, dropping it. “I’ve been avoiding this one, but… you knew the other Yugi 3,000 years ago. Do you… Remember what he was like back then?”

The spirit of the Ring shook his head. “I remember he was the one to trap us both in these items,” he said with a shrug. “I do not remember the finer details beyond that.”

“Surely it was for a good reason,” Anzu said, hesitance in her voice. “The other Yugi doesn’t seem like he’d do anything for amoral reasons.”

“Can any of us truly say that we know anyone,” the spirit of the Ring asked casually as he noted the time outside the soul room. “You’re due to wake up soon. Perhaps you should get some actual rest.”

Anzu awoke in her room, still in her practice clothes. She blinked as she looked around, trying to figure out where she was. She breathed a sigh of relief when she realized the spirit of the Ring finally obeyed her wishes and left her in her room at the end of the night. Her parents had been lecturing her about the importance of abstinence, and she was mortified. No amount of explaining that she wasn’t out on dates changed what they seemed to think. Not only that, she couldn’t explain to her friends where she’d been. They had every reason to not trust the spirit of the Ring. How would she explain that maybe he wasn’t as bad as they’d thought?

Regardless, she got up to get ready for school. Despite being put in bed properly, it seemed as if he’d not bothered to brush her hair. Anzu rolled her eyes, biting back yet another argument with the spirit of the Ring. She glanced at the clock and nearly swore. She was running late. Already Yugi was growing more suspicious, and her showing up late might be what pushed him over the edge. Instead, she rushed through the motions of getting into her school uniform and grabbed her bag.

Her mom was waiting downstairs and glanced at her suspiciously. “Anzu, you’re running late,” she said, stepping between Anzu and the door. “Where were you last night?"

Anzu’s heart stuttered as she tried to think of what to say. Instantly she internally screamed at the spirit of Ring. “I thought part of our agreement was that I left your body at your house when I was done, and you don’t yell at me where I was all night.”

The temptation to glare at the spirit of the Ring was overwhelming. How did Yugi do this? Then again, he did openly speak to the spirit of the puzzle without much care for what others thought. On the other hand, Anzu couldn’t find it in herself to open her mouth and ask questions in front of her mother. That was before I was waking up late for classes, Anzu internally screamed. “Uh,” Anzu said out loud, fumbling for an answer. “I was at the dance studio practicing.”

“Again?” Anzu’s mother didn’t look angry, merely confused. “Anzu, I thought we went over this. We agreed to help you out so you wouldn’t need that job, so you wouldn’t be out late.” She sighed, shaking her head. “Your father and I want to have a serious talk with you when you’re done with school. Let that Mutou boy and his delinquent friends know you can’t hang out after school.”

“They’re not delinquents,” Anzu said in a knee-jerk reaction. She knew why her mom might think that about Jonouchi. “Will dad even be home when I’m done with school? I thought he didn’t get home until six.”

“He’ll be here,” her mother said as she stepped aside. “Now hurry up and get to school. You’re late enough as it is.”

Of course, it wasn’t just her mother who was concerned about where Anzu was at all hours of the night. When she got to school, Yugi was waiting for her outside their class with a distraught look. “Anzu,” Yugi said, instantly brightening up. “I was worried about you. It’s not like you to be late for school.”

Anzu forced a grin, attempting to act like nothing was wrong. She wondered if Yugi could see right through her the same way she could see through him. With Yugi, she felt like an open book. “I overslept,” she said as pink colored her cheeks. She hated lying to Yugi. “I stayed up late practicing for the audition for Julliard.”

“Oh, that’s right,” Yugi replied with a bright grin. “My other self had been worried too when you hadn’t shown up on time for class. He’ll be glad to know that it was simply because you were practicing so hard.” He held up some sort of flyer that had a date on it. “They’re releasing the new Dungeon Dice Monsters game exclusively at Black Crown Games!”

“Won’t your grandfather be upset about you wanting to purchase games from the competition,” Anzu asked as she took the flyer, looking it over. The new game did look interesting. “Though… this does look like it’d be fun. Promise to teach me how to play?”

They were distracted from the conversation by Jonouchi yelling, “You cheated!”

Anzu looked over to where Jonouchi’s voice was coming from. She noted the crowd of girls around him and a guy she’d never seen before. She supposed he was rather pretty, but he had nothing on Yugi. “I absolutely did not,” the guy said smugly. The spirit of the Ring stirred as Anzu felt a surge of anger rush through her. “It seems you just have bad luck.”

“What’s going on?” Yugi had already gone over to Jonouchi, standing between Jonouchi and the man. “Jonouchi, what happened?”

“This guy cheated,” Jonouchi said stubbornly, pointing towards him. “I don’t know how, but he’s rigging these cards!”

Yugi glanced at the game briefly, his eyes narrowing as if trying to figure something out. He was muttering under his breath, and Anzu knew instantly he must be talking with the other Yugi. “You lost,” the man said with a glare. “And I fully expect you to uphold your end of the bargain, Jonouchi. From now on, you’re my dog! And you will do as I say… let’s see… My first command will be that you don’t talk to anyone except me! And when your master speaks, I expect you to bark!”

Hot rage filled Anzu, and she felt the world tilt on its axis for a second. Then, finally, Anzu realized what was happening - the spirit of the Ring was attempting to take over. She took a steadying breath, pushing the spirit of the Ring back. She’d missed when the other Yugi took over, anger evident on his face. Anzu glanced over to Jonouchi, who now had a red mark on his cheek. She took a deep breath to keep the rage from spilling over as the other Yugi declared, “You’ve got some nerve messing with my friend in front of me, Ryuji!”

Instead of being able to focus on the other Yugi, Anzu was forced to focus on the spirit of the Ring, attempting to take control. It was like her anger was controlling her. It was like ice in her veins - painful and bone-chilling. The world kept fading in and out. She glanced over at Ryou, wondering how he’d managed this. There had to be more strength hiding under that sweet exterior than she’d previously given him credit for. She was drawn back to earth when she heard Ryuji angrily ask, “Is this some sort of bar bet, Yugi?”

Again, rage longed to control Anzu. Righteous fury seemed to beckon the spirit of the Ring’s control. However, the other Yugi did not seem to care as much about this accusation as Anzu did. “Yugi plays fair,” Anzu said in an attempt to keep control. She focused on the cards in front of them. “And this time is no different.”

Ryuji stared at the cards before sighing. “You’re right,” he admitted, looking frustrated. “Yugi beat me fair and square.”

Out of an attempt to stay grounded, Anzu reached for the other Yugi’s hand. He glanced at her, and Anzu allowed herself to get lost in his gaze. He seemed concerned for a second, and Anzu squeezed his hand. Jonouchi, for his part, did not notice this. Instead, he appeared more rightly indignant that Ryuji had rigged a game against him. Anzu steadied herself, leaning on the other Yugi for support. She felt like the Ring was digging into her skin, and she half expected blood down the front of her school uniform.

For a second, she thought the other Yugi was glaring at her. And then she blinked, and the right side Yugi was back. And she squeezed his hand again, and Yugi glanced up at her in surprise. He squeezed her hand back, and all the rage vanished.

“Just tell your parents you’ll be back later.”

The spirit of the Ring seemed irked that Anzu was refusing to allow access and instead was going to actually meet her parents after school. Anzu pointedly looked away from the spirit as she purposefully strode home. She’d already told Yugi she couldn’t hang out tonight as her parents were upset she’d been out all night.

Anzu refused to even dignify that statement with an answer. “You attempted to take over at school,” Anzu said, irked. “You said that you wouldn’t take over without my consent.”

“You called upon me.”

Anzu stopped, taking a deep breath. Where did this anger come from? She didn’t get angry, not like this. She didn’t feel white-hot rage deep in her bones, as if she wanted to sink her hands into someone’s chest and rip the beating heart from it. “No, I didn’t.”

“Yes, you did,” the spirit of the Ring mocked. “You were angry over your friend’s honor, remember? You wished for righteous justice, and here I am, ready to deliver.”

“I didn’t wish for anything,” Anzu said automatically, though she had a prickling feeling that wasn’t true. She had, in fact, been angry that Ryuji would even accuse the other Yugi of playing unfairly. She had wanted Ryuji Otogi to pay for questioning the ethics of the other Yugi when he rigged the game against Jonouchi. It had been like something took root in her, wanting perhaps a far harsher punishment than Ryuji deserved. “Why would you even care? I was just upset that Ryuji would accuse the other Yugi of playing unfairly.”

“Why, you’re my landlord,” the spirit of the Ring said with a twisted grin upon his mirrored features. Anzu wasn’t sure if she’d ever get used to the stolen face the spirit wore. “Of course I care about your feelings.”

She wanted to believe him. She knew Yugi would be thrilled at the potential of another friend, of someone else that could help piece together the mystery of the Millennium Items. It’s just that it seemed too good to be true. “You didn’t care about my feelings when you’d placed my friends and me in those Monster World figurines.”

The spirit of the Ring shrugged. “Bakura had wanted friends,” he said blandly as if he was discussing whether they should have fish or tofu for dinner tonight. “Did I not apologize to you already for that?”

“Actually, you never did.” Anzu had already started to walk forward, remembering her parents were already upset with her. She glanced over at him, a raised brow. “Should I count this as your apology? It’s not a very good one.”

He rolled his eyes. “Fine,” he said. “Dear landlord, I deeply apologize for putting your soul into a figurine. There? That better?”

“It’s a start,” Anzu said with a shrug as she went up on her home’s front porch. “Now, if you don’t mind: I need to talk to my parents.”

“Yeah, it’s a real bummer,” Anzu said with a shrug as they stood in line for the chance to purchase Dungeon Dice Monsters. While Anzu might not have much interest in the game, it was nice to see Yugi seem so happy about the idea of a new game to learn. “But I mean, most of us don’t have phones anyway, so it doesn’t matter that they took my phone away.”

“You loved your phone, though,” Yugi said with a frown. She had a feeling he knew more than he let on. “Why did they take your phone away?”

Anzu shrugged, not wanting to admit the reason they took her phone as punishment for staying out late. She didn’t want Yugi to jump to the same conclusions her parents had. It was embarrassing enough that her parents believed she’d been going on dates. She didn’t need the guy she actually liked thinking the same thing. “I’ve been distracted in class, I guess,” Anzu lied. “My grades dropped a little bit, and they’re worried I’m spending more time talking to you guys instead of focusing on my grades.”

“Then we should study after this,” Yugi offered, and Anzu couldn’t help but smile. It was a sweet offer, even though Anzu knew Yugi hated studying. When Anzu arched her brow at him, he rolled his eyes. “What? It’d be good for me to study more anyway.”

Chaos set in faster than Anzu realized when the doors to the store finally opened. The crowd surged forward, and Anzu quickly lost track of Yugi. She found Jonouchi and Sugoroku rather quickly. “Did you see where Yugi went to?”

Jonouchi looked concerned. “I thought he came here with you?”

Panic set in, and the next thing Anzu knew, the world went dark.

The spirit of the Ring emerged, glancing between Jonouchi and Yugi’s grandfather. He believed Anzu had said the older man’s name, but the ring spirit didn’t care to remember it. “Of course Yugi came here with me,” the spirit of the Ring said, internally annoyed again at how lithe the borrowed voice was. “I guess I should go find him. You guys should head on; we’ll catch up.”

If he’d known there’d be an issue, he would’ve swiped his host’s cell phone back from her bothersome parents. His previous host hadn’t come with such an annoying family. The fact that Anzu had two authority figures who felt entitled to know where she was at all times was irksome. Now he was forced to figure out where Yugi could have gone. “Alright,” Jonouchi replied, his eyes narrowing at the spirit of the Ring. Surely he couldn’t have figured out there was something wrong with Anzu already… could he? “But if there’s any issue, you let me know. I’ll let Honda know what’s going on.”

For a second, it seemed almost like a threat. But then Jonouchi’s features shifted and assured the spirit of the Ring that he was just as dimwitted as ever. He could relax. “I’ll call when I find Yugi,” the spirit said, again annoyed by Anzu’s high-pitched voice. He couldn’t exactly take out the Ring to use it to locate the puzzle until Jonouchi left. “If something’s wrong, I’ll let you know.”

As soon as Jonouchi turned to leave, the spirit of the Ring took out the Ring, and it started pointing straight toward the back of the Black Crown. Now that was a start. He followed it, his eyes narrowing when he discovered the jacket Yugi had been wearing on a metal chair. But where was the host of the Pharaoh? “Seems again I have to do the king’s dirty work.”

Locating the Pharaoh’s vessel was proving to be irksome. Eventually, he found the room that Yugi was in with none other than Ryuji Otogi. Oh, how interesting. Anzu had some strong feelings about him, but none were good. Surely she wouldn’t mind if the spirit of the Ring dealt with him. “You aren’t going to be able to put together the puzzle,” he noted as he saw what Ryuji was attempting to do. “No one but Yugi can solve the Millennium Puzzle.”

“Anzu?” The trusting look on Yugi’s face was strange to see. From a glimpse over Anzu’s memories (and that was all he could get), he knew that Anzu and Yugi were long-time friends. However, it was clear to him that neither Anzu nor Yugi wanted their arrangement to be just friends. That was none of his business. He figured he was safe from discovery until Yugi’s eyes glanced down at the Ring. “Why do you have the ring?”

“Don’t worry,” he said as soothingly as he could. But, again, Anzu’s voice was irksome to use. “I’m your friend, and that’s all that matters, right?” It was clear Yugi wanted to argue, but it seemed like now wasn’t the time. The spirit of the Ring examined the board in front of him. It seemed like Yugi was at quite a disadvantage. From the game state, he figured that the hearts on each player’s side represented their health. But, more importantly, he saw something vital. “You know, Ryuji, it seems to me that you are going to lose within a few turns.”

Ryuji’s head snapped up to look at the spirit of the Ring clearly for once. “That’s not possible,” he said flatly, still attempting to piece the broken pieces of the puzzle together. “Yugi has no way to dimension and can’t put any more monsters on the board. I have the advantage.”

“Yugi’s good with puzzles,” the spirit of the Ring countered with a sly grin. “I’m sure he’s already seen what I’ve seen.”

For a second, Yugi seemed confused by this. Then the nature of the situation forced Yugi to focus back on the stakes at hand. Surely Yugi had to see what was right there on the board. He had to. No way the Pharaoh would have a vessel that couldn’t see the obvious solution. “It’s no good,” Ryuji muttered as he attempted to clink two pieces together. “They just won’t connect.”

“I already told you,” the spirit of the Ring said as silkily as he could in Anzu’s voice. “You’re making me feel like a broken record here. Otogi, you can’t solve the puzzle. Only Yugi can.”

It was like a key had turned, and Yugi spurred into action. The spirit of the Ring almost felt bad for keeping such a display of bravery from the Pharaoh’s vessel away from Anzu. Ah, well, he could certainly show the image to Anzu later. It would go some way in gaining her trust. “Yugi, what’s the point in rolling summoning crests now,” Ryuji asked, clearly unaware of what made Yugi just so good at games. “You only have one tiny, complicated space left on your side of the board! You don’t have enough room to summon another monster!”

The ring spirit was unsurprised when Yugi fit the dice into the small space. His features twisted up in a smirk. “I’ll say it one more time,” he said calmly, the feeling of triumph taking over. “Only Yugi can solve the puzzle. Do you now see? Yugi solved the Millennium Puzzle. Your little board game is nothing.”

Ryuji began to laugh. “Sorry to rain on your parades here,” he said with an easy-going grin. “But Yugi’s monster has zero attack. It can’t possibly hope to defeat Orgath.”

“How did the puzzle get shattered,” the spirit of the Ring asked, ignoring Ryuji’s statement. “Last I saw, Yugi had it around his neck. Now it’s your hands, shattered.”

The room went quiet except for the clinks of Ryuji trying to piece an impossible puzzle back together. “Otogi’s father….” Yugi finally said quietly. “He shattered the puzzle.”

The spirit of the Ring waited. He counted the clinks the puzzle made. One. Two. Three. Four. When it became clear an explanation was not coming forth, he directed his attention back to the board state. Five, six, seven… and the spirit of the Ring could no longer take it. “Could you stop trying to reassemble the puzzle?” He snapped, glaring at Ryuji. “I already told you. Only Yugi can reassemble it.”

Ryuji seemed stunned, and for a second, the spirit of the Ring couldn’t fathom why. And then he remembered: he was still wearing Anzu’s face. It probably didn’t glare right, he supposed. “Otogi’s right,” Yugi finally said. “I can’t win. There’s no possible way -“

“Enough with that,” the spirit of the Ring snapped as Anzu pressed, attempting to retake control. “I already told you that you can win.”

“But -“

And then the spirit of the Ring was slammed back out of control by a very angry Anzu Mazaki. “Yugi, enough,” she said, and the spirit of the Ring was stunned to note she was actually glaring… no that can’t be right. She couldn’t be glaring at Yugi. No, this was determination. “I know things look bad, but you can’t think like that! You’ve gotten out of way worse situations than this!”

“But that was the other me,” Yugi said, something changing in his demeanor. It was almost as if he could tell there had been a switch. “He’s the one who -"

“Don’t be stupid,” Anzu snapped, shaking her head. “You were good at games way before the other you came along. And you can beat Otogi. Remember when you were showing me that one game… What was it? It was that video game, an RPG. And I was getting so frustrated cause I couldn’t figure out the solution to a puzzle. And you told me I needed to think outside the box for the answer. So that’s what you need to do now, Yugi. You need to think outside the box.”

Yugi glanced back at the board state. “It doesn’t matter,” Ryuji said finally. “It’s my turn.”

“I’ll go let Jounouchi and Honda know where you are,” Anzu said, glaring down at Ryuji. The spirit of the Ring was almost impressed. Anzu had a fierce streak to her that he hadn’t expected. Perhaps being forced to use Anzu’s body was a blessing in disguise. “You make sure to beat this idiot. I’m counting on you, Yugi!”

With that, Anzu left the room. The spirit of the Ring could sense the anger radiating off her. “Well,” he said, hoping to head off her rage first. “You seemed to handle that well.”

“You showed Yugi that I have the ring!” Anzu was now glaring at him. “Last he saw, Bakura had it! Don’t you think he will be suspicious of me now? I was going to tell him myself!”

He honestly couldn’t understand why Anzu was so angry. After all, she’d repeatedly implied that she wanted to be honest with her friends. “Well, landlord, don’t get your panties in a twist,” he huffed. “You made it clear that you wanted your friends to know the truth. So I shared the truth with Yugi. So what difference does it make if it comes from me or you?”

“A huge difference,” Anzu said as she stomped forward. She sure could contain a lot of rage for such a tiny thing. The spirit of the Ring had never imagined that Anzu Mazaki could have such a fire in her. And her strong sense of justice certainly could prove helpful to him. “Yugi might not trust anymore because of this! To say nothing of what the other Yugi might think...” She came to a stop, looking strange. “Do you think the other Yugi won’t like me for keeping this secret?”

Before the spirit of the Ring could answer, alarm bells began ringing in Anzu’s head so loud that he could hear them himself. And through her, he smelled something that awoken an ancient 3,000-year-old memory. Smoke, burning flesh. Yugi was in danger. And this time, Anzu willingly surrendered herself to the spirit of the Ring.

#ring!anzu #encourageshipping #fic: starring in your bad dreams #myfanfic

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