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not_hathorcoffeecat33 brings ALL the meme's to my LJ!
*snerk* Sorry, Jeff! looks like you're pulling double duty this time around!
And on another note, things are really looking, shall we say, interesting in my AU YGO/Torchwood zone.... Capt. Jack and the Ring Spirit got into an argument and a delirious Ryou had to lay the smack-down on BOTH of them... heh heh heh.....
ETA: Aw, what the heck..... This is SO "Out of Sequence", it's off the map!
Dragonwrangler, dear, once again, this is YOUR fault!
It was late in the evening, visitors gone and those remaining either asleep or tending to their various duties when Jack slipped silently into the room. One last visit, before he returned to Cardiff, and his life at Torchwood. He was relieved, but not surprised to note that the youth in the hospital bed was resting reasonably comfortably now and breathing on his own with only a standard oxygen cannulae hooked under his nose and ubiquitous anti-biotic IV tube taped to one thin wrist. Jack closed the door quietly, and leaned wearily against a wall. It had been a long twenty-four hours, even for him; between dodging doctors, relatives that might recognize an errant and supposedly deceased family member, and what seemed to be a veritable horde of concerned friends and acquaintances, he'd been on his feet almost constantly since his arrival.
He'd been lucky, though, to spend a precious ten minutes chatting with the younger Kaiba in the cafeteria. The boy had been worried almost sick about his older friend, and had both answered Jack's questions and raised new ones...
“You've certainly surrounded yourself with an odd lot, Ryou-bach,” he mused. “Not that I'm one to talk....chip off the old block, hey?”
His pocket beeped, and Jack sighed. Time and the Rift waited for no man, not even him. He pushed off from the wall and stepped carefully around the various machinery and cables to the side of the bed. For a long moment he studied the pale face of his last living relative, then leaned over and pressed his lips against Ryou's brow in a chaste, avuncular kiss.
Live and grow strong, little selkie, my Kotick, my own. Maybe some day....
His hand was on the door latch when a nearly soundless murmur reached his ear.
“Uncle?”
Jack froze in place, denial couched in the broadest American accent he could vocalize congealing within his throat. From behind his back came the soft whisper of a sheet being laboriously shoved aside and the slipping thud of bare feet hitting the tiled floor.
“Uncle Jamie--?”
Sorry kid, you got the wrong guy. The lie trembled unspoken on his lips as he turned, looked into the wide brown eyes of his lost British star, their son and granddaughter, and her precious children, and was lost. Two quick strides, to fill arms and heart with longed-for comfort.
“Ryou..”
His cheek rested against feathery soft hair, marveling anew at how much the boy had grown in only a few years as he recalled the light weight of his nine (almost ten)-year-old great grandson in his arms that night off the shores of Crete, in what had turned out to be Jamieson Harper's last public appearance in the lives of Tadeao and Ryou Bakura. They'd watched dolphins together that evening, the agile sea mammals leaping across the water chasing the remnants of daylight as they swam towards the West. That night he'd bid boy and his father farewell, uttering half-promises to visit once Tadeao's Egyptian project was finished and they were back in Japan. For a while they'd kept in touch, letters written and sent, received and answered; but then --
“They told us....were dead,” came a muffled half-accusation.
Jack shivered. No more lies. “I was.” He inhaled, let the breathe out shakily. Ryou leaned back slightly without letting go and gave him a questioning look, to which he responded with a cocky grin, “I got better?”
Ryou snorted and let his head fall forward against Jack's chest. “Pining for the fjords? Oh, please.”
“Better than being turned into a newt, ” he countered, then made an effort and swept the startled invalid off his unsteady feet and sat them both down upon the recently vacated bed. “Ryou. Look at me. Listen to me. There's not much time.”
The boy blinked, then a sad expression crept across his face. “You're still dead, aren't you. This ...this is a fever dream, and you....uncle, don't go away again. Please? Mou hitori no boku, don't let him leave. Not without me.... I can be dead too; I've been there before, I'm not afraid.....”
“No!” Jack blurted, alarmed and convulsively clutching at the lad, pulled him into another desperately protective embrace. Still feverish, though no longer dangerously so, but clearly somewhere between asleep and delirious. “No! Ryou-bach, don't even think that! Don't...” He shuddered, old dark memories rising in his thoughts. “Don't... I can't lose you too... You.. . You're all that's left... I...”
“....miss you, uncle... Miss mum and 'Mannie... Dad's away so much.....”
“Sshhhhh.... hush now, little selkie.... I know....” Ryou relaxed again his torso, sleepily trusting and obedient. “I know. I'm sorry, my own, so sorry. I didn't want to, but it's safer this way; for you and your dad....”
“Don' want safe. Want you ...” came the slurred protest. “'Sides, koe pr'tects me...”
I try, yadounoushi. But there isn't much I can do if you don't wear the Ring.
Narrowing his eyes at an errant patch of moonlight, he could almost see the shadow of –something. “What are you, then? Some kind of guardian daemon?”
I am the Darkness, a thief and a stealer of souls....
“Get stuffed, mate! Better yet, go away and leave my boy alone...because as far as I can make out of all this, you're the cause of at least half of the misery in his life right now!”
You dare --!
“Between you and that teen-aged megalomaniac...”
“Stop – stop it!” Ryou squirmed loose, landing on unsteady feet between man and malevolent spirit, trembling arms wide spread in defiance. “Please.... stop. Uncle, I chose to help Kaiba-kun rescue Mokuba; it's not his fault I wasn't strong or quick enough to... to... And, koe, don't you even think about calling a yami no game on my uncle! Or I swear... I ... I'll tell Himura-sensei to sutra your ass so hard and fast you won't wake again for another three thousand years... if ever!”
He glared at the shadow, panting for breath, but with all the ferocity of a righteously angry kitten facing down a malevolently amused wolf. The wolf stared unblinking at the kitten, then began chuckling darkly.
Is that a threat, yadounoushi?
“I'd take him seriously, if I were you,” Jack cautioned. “I didn't nickname him 'Kotick' just for his hair and love of swimming. Ryou may be small, but he's fierce when the mood strikes him.”
Not so small any more, but fierce indeed. The spirit's tone was almost affectionate.
Going to bed now! Weird dreams, all.....
*snerk* Sorry, Jeff! looks like you're pulling double duty this time around!
And on another note, things are really looking, shall we say, interesting in my AU YGO/Torchwood zone.... Capt. Jack and the Ring Spirit got into an argument and a delirious Ryou had to lay the smack-down on BOTH of them... heh heh heh.....
ETA: Aw, what the heck..... This is SO "Out of Sequence", it's off the map!
Dragonwrangler, dear, once again, this is YOUR fault!
It was late in the evening, visitors gone and those remaining either asleep or tending to their various duties when Jack slipped silently into the room. One last visit, before he returned to Cardiff, and his life at Torchwood. He was relieved, but not surprised to note that the youth in the hospital bed was resting reasonably comfortably now and breathing on his own with only a standard oxygen cannulae hooked under his nose and ubiquitous anti-biotic IV tube taped to one thin wrist. Jack closed the door quietly, and leaned wearily against a wall. It had been a long twenty-four hours, even for him; between dodging doctors, relatives that might recognize an errant and supposedly deceased family member, and what seemed to be a veritable horde of concerned friends and acquaintances, he'd been on his feet almost constantly since his arrival.
He'd been lucky, though, to spend a precious ten minutes chatting with the younger Kaiba in the cafeteria. The boy had been worried almost sick about his older friend, and had both answered Jack's questions and raised new ones...
“You've certainly surrounded yourself with an odd lot, Ryou-bach,” he mused. “Not that I'm one to talk....chip off the old block, hey?”
His pocket beeped, and Jack sighed. Time and the Rift waited for no man, not even him. He pushed off from the wall and stepped carefully around the various machinery and cables to the side of the bed. For a long moment he studied the pale face of his last living relative, then leaned over and pressed his lips against Ryou's brow in a chaste, avuncular kiss.
Live and grow strong, little selkie, my Kotick, my own. Maybe some day....
His hand was on the door latch when a nearly soundless murmur reached his ear.
“Uncle?”
Jack froze in place, denial couched in the broadest American accent he could vocalize congealing within his throat. From behind his back came the soft whisper of a sheet being laboriously shoved aside and the slipping thud of bare feet hitting the tiled floor.
“Uncle Jamie--?”
Sorry kid, you got the wrong guy. The lie trembled unspoken on his lips as he turned, looked into the wide brown eyes of his lost British star, their son and granddaughter, and her precious children, and was lost. Two quick strides, to fill arms and heart with longed-for comfort.
“Ryou..”
His cheek rested against feathery soft hair, marveling anew at how much the boy had grown in only a few years as he recalled the light weight of his nine (almost ten)-year-old great grandson in his arms that night off the shores of Crete, in what had turned out to be Jamieson Harper's last public appearance in the lives of Tadeao and Ryou Bakura. They'd watched dolphins together that evening, the agile sea mammals leaping across the water chasing the remnants of daylight as they swam towards the West. That night he'd bid boy and his father farewell, uttering half-promises to visit once Tadeao's Egyptian project was finished and they were back in Japan. For a while they'd kept in touch, letters written and sent, received and answered; but then --
“They told us....were dead,” came a muffled half-accusation.
Jack shivered. No more lies. “I was.” He inhaled, let the breathe out shakily. Ryou leaned back slightly without letting go and gave him a questioning look, to which he responded with a cocky grin, “I got better?”
Ryou snorted and let his head fall forward against Jack's chest. “Pining for the fjords? Oh, please.”
“Better than being turned into a newt, ” he countered, then made an effort and swept the startled invalid off his unsteady feet and sat them both down upon the recently vacated bed. “Ryou. Look at me. Listen to me. There's not much time.”
The boy blinked, then a sad expression crept across his face. “You're still dead, aren't you. This ...this is a fever dream, and you....uncle, don't go away again. Please? Mou hitori no boku, don't let him leave. Not without me.... I can be dead too; I've been there before, I'm not afraid.....”
“No!” Jack blurted, alarmed and convulsively clutching at the lad, pulled him into another desperately protective embrace. Still feverish, though no longer dangerously so, but clearly somewhere between asleep and delirious. “No! Ryou-bach, don't even think that! Don't...” He shuddered, old dark memories rising in his thoughts. “Don't... I can't lose you too... You.. . You're all that's left... I...”
“....miss you, uncle... Miss mum and 'Mannie... Dad's away so much.....”
“Sshhhhh.... hush now, little selkie.... I know....” Ryou relaxed again his torso, sleepily trusting and obedient. “I know. I'm sorry, my own, so sorry. I didn't want to, but it's safer this way; for you and your dad....”
“Don' want safe. Want you ...” came the slurred protest. “'Sides, koe pr'tects me...”
I try, yadounoushi. But there isn't much I can do if you don't wear the Ring.
Narrowing his eyes at an errant patch of moonlight, he could almost see the shadow of –something. “What are you, then? Some kind of guardian daemon?”
I am the Darkness, a thief and a stealer of souls....
“Get stuffed, mate! Better yet, go away and leave my boy alone...because as far as I can make out of all this, you're the cause of at least half of the misery in his life right now!”
You dare --!
“Between you and that teen-aged megalomaniac...”
“Stop – stop it!” Ryou squirmed loose, landing on unsteady feet between man and malevolent spirit, trembling arms wide spread in defiance. “Please.... stop. Uncle, I chose to help Kaiba-kun rescue Mokuba; it's not his fault I wasn't strong or quick enough to... to... And, koe, don't you even think about calling a yami no game on my uncle! Or I swear... I ... I'll tell Himura-sensei to sutra your ass so hard and fast you won't wake again for another three thousand years... if ever!”
He glared at the shadow, panting for breath, but with all the ferocity of a righteously angry kitten facing down a malevolently amused wolf. The wolf stared unblinking at the kitten, then began chuckling darkly.
Is that a threat, yadounoushi?
“I'd take him seriously, if I were you,” Jack cautioned. “I didn't nickname him 'Kotick' just for his hair and love of swimming. Ryou may be small, but he's fierce when the mood strikes him.”
Not so small any more, but fierce indeed. The spirit's tone was almost affectionate.
Going to bed now! Weird dreams, all.....
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no subject
Date: 2008-06-29 02:32 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-06-29 05:26 pm (UTC)Actually, I think I've finally got a handle on Chap. 3 of "Paths".... maybe by the weekend?
- Mary
no subject
Date: 2008-06-30 02:27 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-07-02 02:43 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-06-29 02:37 pm (UTC)Looking forward to more!
no subject
Date: 2008-06-29 05:03 pm (UTC)I was watching Monty Python on PBS as early as the late '70's -- I think that must have been a bonding experience between Ryou and Uncle (mayhap even Grand-dad!) when Grandmother Pwyll wasn't around! Can't imagine she would have approved of MP's Flying Circus -- MUCH too vulgar, you know!
Oh I am so mean to my boys! And yes, I rather conveniently skipped several vital chapters during which Bakura-Spirit started pushing the boundaries of the Seal, showing up in people's (mostly Ryou's) dreams and such. Even 'helping' with the rescue... but at this point he really can't do anything unless Ryou's wearing the Ring...which he isn't (but only because the doctors took it off him because it interfered with the monitoring equipment).
*smirks*