NOT REALLY A POST, I JUST DON'T KNOW WHERE ELSE TO POST THIS

[nerf_rogues]

thistle and nerf play good cop, bad cop with the supernatural child. takes place after this thread

Nerf frowned as the pregnant bride left in a hurry, but he knew better than to follow.

Instead, he turned his attention to the other person in the room.

The black haired boy was still clutching the door frame. Nerf’s frown deepened.

“Here… why don’t you sit down?”

Nerf went to gently take the much smaller boy’s shoulder, but he was quickly shrugged off as the boy withdrew on his own. He managed to make it back to the bed.

“S-sorry…. Do you want me to get you anything?”

Tempest made a noncommittal sound as he wrapped himself in a layer of blankets.

Nerf rubbed the back of his head, unsure. Part of him wanted to leave when he was plainly unwelcome, but he could tell the other boy was in distress and something about him set off his big brother instincts.

“Um… hey, wait here a second.” Nerf knew the request was futile since the boy seemed fairly committed to his bed. He made his way down the hall, to the luxuriant kitchen. A quick rifle through the cabinets gave him all the ingredients he needed, and in a few minutes he was headed back the boy’s room with a tray and two cups of milky chamomile tea.

Nerf set the tray down on the bedside table and eased the door closed. The boy lifted his head when Nerf sat down in a chair opposite the bed with his cup.

“Wha…?”

“You looked like you had a headache. That always helped me,” Nerf smiled sheepishly, then caught himself. “S-sorry, I’ve been rude. Um, I’m Ryou Bakura.”

“...Manjoume,” the boy answered after a long pause, sitting up slowly and regarding Nerf with a kind of timid suspicion. Well, it’s not as if he wasn’t used to standoffish types. Manjoume was far more visibly upset than Thistle would ever allow herself to be, though.

He still had a bit of black gunk in the corner of his eye, which he pawed at with his sleeve absently before he took his own cup of tea. He sipped it politely.

Nerf allowed him a long period of quiet contemplation. He seemed to recover as the minutes passed, something which Nerf attributed to his own bedside manner.

“Do… you know that lady? I’m afraid I didn’t get her name.” Nerf set down his cup.

“N… no…. Just that she’s Ed Phoenix. I think,” Manjoume answered quietly, staring into his mug.

“I see… Well, I have met another Ed already, but… mmm.” Nerf frowned slightly, hesitant, “She didn’t do anything to you, did she? ...Someone I know is convinced she’s dangerous.”

Tempest shook his head. “It’s not her fault. Saiou… did something to her. And I…”

He trailed off, shrugging and drawing his knees up into this chest.

Nerf waited patiently, but Tempest shook his head.

“I can’t explain it. It sounds crazy.”

“You’d be surprised what I believe,” Nerf smiled distantly, staring into his own mug, “I’ve had my share of run-ins with… the supernatural.”

Tempest blinked and looked up at him.

Nerf tried not to be quietly offended that this teenager didn’t somehow recognize him - no - he was grateful, really. “How much do you know about the Millennium Items?”

It was Tempest’s turn to frown. Nerf’s name sounded distantly familiar to him, and now he knew where he had heard it. “You…. you were one of Yugi’s friends? I only know what they taught us in Duel History class, and what Daitokuji-sensei’s stories…”

Nerf shrugged self-consciously. “That’s me. I’m surprised I’m even a footnote in history, to be honest. It’s still hard to realize that Yugi is famous or that people know about… the things we went through.”

“Battle City was the second major duel tournament held, so we spent a unit on it… You were a finalist, right?”

Nerf turned his gaze to the wall. “In a matter of speaking. But… it wasn’t really me.”

Tempest watched him, curious, and Nerf sighed and waved his hand.

“I’m not really used to telling people yet, but… I was… possessed for almost all of Battle City. All I know is what people have told me. I know that sounds crazy.”

Tempest watched him uncertainly, but then he shook his head. “No… I’ve seen people possessed before. What was it…?”

“The Millennium Ring. There was…a…. spirit inside of it,” Nerf shifted uncomfortably. This is where it always got weird. “It… he…. took me over to fight against the Phar-- er, Yugi. He wanted to take the Puzzle and the rest of the Items. He would take me over, use my body, and… he was the one doing all the dueling and qualifying, not me.”

“Daitokuji-sensei said that there was an evil force that wanted to steal all the Items. It fought Yugi a lot, didn’t it?”

“W-well, I’m not sure if stealing is quite the right term -- from his perspective -- ah….” Nerf shook his head. “...yeah. That’s him.”

Nerf glanced down at his scarred hand, then held it up slightly. “That’s how I got this. I… defied him, once, when he had my body.”

Tempest eyed the scar. It was impressive, a twisted knot of unsettled flesh that ran ragged across the back of the older boy’s hand. “What happened…?”

“He was… well, we weren’t even dueling. We were playing Monster World, which is an old table top RPG. But he’d made it into a Shadow Game, and trapped my friends’ souls in the game figures… and he almost won, but… I managed to get control of this hand, fudged a dice roll, and, well,” Nerf ‘s face darkened at the memory, “The game has some really pointy set pieces.”

Tempest was quiet for a while, unsure how to react. It did seem strange to talk about, but there was a strange camaraderie too. “...I’ve got a scar too.”

Nerf lifted his head, listening. Tempest hesitated, then rolled up his coat sleeve - then the turtleneck sleeve beneath that. He held up his wrist and Nerf squinted.

“I don’t know what it means,” Tempest grimaced at the faint outlines of strange alchemical writing carved into his forearm, “Daitokuji -- he was our alchemy teacher, and one night he…. I don’t know if he went crazy or if he was always evil, but he kidnapped me and took me to some s-stupid creepy hidden lab.”

Tempest withdrew his arm and shuffled his sleeves back down. “He had me strapped down and he was… p-putting that on me. With a. Knife.”

Nerf grimaced. “What on earth?!”

“I still don’t know what he wanted with me, he was… rambling. He kept saying he would fix me and ‘realize his perfect creature’, whatever the h-hell that means.” Tempest hugged his knees, hunching his shoulders defensively at the memory.

Nerf frowned in deep sympathy. “That... that’s awful!”

“He said… he needed to fix me because Light and Darkness were coming to destroy the world. And now whenever I’m near people with Light in them, I… get this black stuff…” Tempest looked down at his hands, trailing off.

“Light…?”

Nerf and Tempest spend the evening confiding in each other their various occult tragedies. Both being shy and isolated, it was rare that they got a chance to speak at length to anyone who really understood.

“Um…” Tempest rubbed the back of his head, picking up Nerf’s nervous tick, “I guess it’s getting late… T… thank you for the tea, Bakura-san.”

“Please, call me Ryou,” Nerf waved his hand, “I don’t mind. Just don’t think you’re alone here. I mean… you don’t have to be.”

“Indeed.”

Both boys blinked at the voice. There was some scuffling sounds from under the bed, and Thistle emerged. The cobwebs sticking to her dampened her the impact of her entrance, but Tempest still cowered away from her.

“B-bakura?! How long have you been there?!”

“I was investigating when I heard you lot coming,” Thistle brushed off her coat. “Relax, boy.”

She turned her attention to Tempest, picking some dustbunnies out of her hair. “I believe we got off on the wrong foot. I realize I was a bit harsh. It’s been a while since I had to deal with this manner of nonsense.” She waved vaguely and sat on the bed.

“W… who are you?” Tempest shied away from her, and Nerf grimaced.

“This is-- uh, well--”

“You know me quite well already.” Thistle’s face darkened with a wicked grin. “I am the spirit of the Ring.”

Tempest paled even more, and Nerf shake his head.

“She was, and she wasn’t even that, she’s just -- she’s Bakura. She won’t hurt you,” Nerf glanced at Thistle as he said this, though, just to be sure.

“I’ve no interest in harming you. In fact, I believe I could help you out.” Thistle turned her head slightly, regarding the skittish boy. “Aren’t you tired of always being afraid?”

“W-wha…?”

“Fear radiates from you like a cornered mouse, child,” Thistle snorted, folding her arms. “There is some kind of power dormant within you. Your teacher knew it, and these Saious seem to know it as well. Left to their own devices, they and who knows what other forces will constantly conspire to use you for their own ends.”

Her tone darkened slightly. “I say use whatever you’ve been gifted with to control your own fate.”

“But.. I…I’m just--” Tempest shook his head, hugging his knees tightly. Thistle cut him off sharply.

“Just nothing. Do you think I don’t know what it means to be small and weak? This body is not my natural form, boy. I lack all of the power I had before, as either a spirit or the King of Thieves, and I’ve been left with nothing but my wits and talent. You have more.”

Tempest withered slightly.

“I just… want to be normal.”

Thistle withdrew for a moment and paused in her diatribe, sighing.

“I understand that as well, but it isn’t a luxury all of us have.” She glanced to the side, then an idea struck her and she regained her intensity. “You have been deprived of normalcy, by either fate or the world or your mad teacher. It has been taken from you. How you choose to react to that injustice will define your destiny. Will you cower in fear and self pity, or will you get angry?”

Tempest swallowed and looked over at her.

“Think of all that has been denied you! The crimes against you! Think of what your teacher did - of that cult leader and his goons chasing you into hiding - think about it. Remember it. How helpless you were made to feel, how they made you out to be some sort of freak of nature. Recognize that everything they did was out of their own fear. Their fear of you.”

Tempest shifted uncertainly, but Thistle could be quite persuasive. “I don’t… want people to be afraid of me…”

“People are always afraid. Humans spend their lives cringing away from those who are different and trying to crush them. You, me, even him --” Thistle gestured over at Nerf, who was wisely staying out of the conversation and merely observing with a worried face -- “We have all been cast out of the ranks of the normal and acceptable. They will never let us in. So damn them! If they are to be afraid of you anyway, child… Give them something to fear.”

But she couldn’t tell if her pitch was resonating with the boy; he was too curled up to even properly read his expression.

“...I have an idea,” Nerf finally spoke up, standing to join Thistle on the side of the bed. Thistle raised an eyebrow.

“Think of it this way,” Nerf started, “You felt like… Juudai always had to save you, right? Well… Maybe… there’s a way you can protect people instead. I know… I always felt like my friends were saving me, or even Bakura was, but I… I don’t just want to be helpless either, you know? It feels good to be able to help.”

Tempest was quiet for a long moment, then lifted his head fractionally.

“Do you really think I could protect anyone…?”

“Yeah! Like she said… I think you must be more powerful than you realize. If this Saiou guy’s here, and he’s afraid of you… You might be the only one that can save us.”

Tempest went quiet again, but finally sat fully upright with a somewhat inscrutable expression. “...How.”

Thistle smirked.

“I’ve got a few ideas.”

.