fluffydeathdealer | [CAMPUS/IC] II

...

[He'll be happy just seeing him. Though fixing this would be the best option. At the least, Malik might have a clue how to fix Harriet.]

I came from over there, so we might as well go this way...

[Though if Malik gets the wrong idea when he sees them, Bakura's going to be very freaking amused. Either way, he's heading off through the soul forest.]

Be good and stop me if anything catches your attention, won't you?

As if I'd want this to go on any longer than it has to...

[she's a little grumpy. She looks around while he navigates through the forest - even if he's now doing it while holding a person so it should really be harder, it seems to have actually gotten easier to get around now that she's there. Imagine that.

For a while, there's nothing too strange. But then she sees what appears to be another box through the trees.]

Oy, look there!

[Interesting... she's helping him whether she knows it or not. He's glad for it, at least.]

And it's not even Christmas...

[Going over to the box, he sets her down beside it and checks it out. Jeez... what the hell kind of weird mind does she have, sticking people in boxes? One was weird, but if this is Malik, that's even weirder.

Well, time to open it.]

[Just like Harriet, at the bottom of the box lies Malik's semi-transparent form, sleeping deeply and bondage-free as it may be. Although "sleeping" may not be the right word for it. Without Malik's external input, the fragment appears lifeless for the moment.]

[Sitting up, Harriet looks over the side and... oh sweet jesus. dead ghost malik in a box.]

Malik...?

Tch... thought it wouldn't be that easy. The one I had is gone. I'm surprised he let this one live at all.

[Maybe he thought it wouldn't be able to do anything anyway. Bakura reaches out a hand slowly to see if it's tangible. If it is, he can pull the fragment out and maybe shake it awake...]

[When touched, Bakura's hand is able to go through, and while there is some magnet like resistance to the touch, it's not enough to move Malik.]

Um. It is alive though, yeah? It looks kinda...

When souls die, they tend to disappear. The fact that he's here at all means he's alive.

Or as alive as a tiny piece of a man's soul that's been sliced off and stuck in someone else can get.

OI, MALIK! Wake up, already!

[The fragment's eyes shoot open in alarm, but his body remains unmoving. His focus snaps to the two people looking over at him, but he doesn't relax.

Something was missing... His connection to his main soul. Right now all he had were residual thoughts; one last burst of panic before the connection had fallen into silence.]

...How long have I been asleep?!

... Good question. [Harriet's not sure how long she's been asleep either. She looks to Bakura.]

If it's the same as Harriet, then just under a week. That is, if you fell asleep around the time your connection to your 'main self' snapped.

[Despite the look on his face, Bakura's words are serious, holding none of his usual humour.]

...I don't remember.

[He sits up, still seated in the box as he looks over at the other two. This severance from the rest of his soul was certainly disturbing. He felt isolated...alone. After a moment he simply phases out of the box and gravitates to Harriet's side, having grown comfortable being so close to her soul.

It's about then that a thought occurs to him.]

...Wait. What do you mean "the same as Harriet"?

[So he doesn't remember either. Harriet frowns slightly - and it's weird seeing him go through the box, but after all, he is just a fragment. For that matter, it's not even a real box. She looks over curiously as he sits beside her... to think this is what it looked like. She hadn't really thought of it as a person, but it's just see-through Malik.

It doesn't surprise her that he doesn't know either. But already having to tell people, she looks a bit grim.]

I'm apparently in a coma right now. Hence the bondage, [she jokes darkly.]

[Wow, rude, Malik. He just told you he hasn't seen you in a week and you're hanging around Harriet? Selfish kid... For a moment, he remembers the vision the other Malik had shown him and has to fight not to let his annoyance show on his face. Instead, he keeps an expressionless look, concealing it as best he can - for now, at least.]

Tch... the other you got to her. It's alright. I'm keeping her safe.

[Moving swiftly on before either of them question that...]

I was kind of hoping you'd have an idea how to wake her up, but it looks like you're wandering blind too. I can interrupt the Rod's activation, but it won't work after the fact. Do you remember anything like this happening in the past?

[Drawing his knees up and wrapping his arms around them, Malik rests his head. His hair drapes forward to cover most of his face from this angle. So Harriet was in a coma because of him; the pit in his stomach could only grow from here.

But Bakura was keeping her safe from his other half. That was good. He's pretty sure he couldn't forgive himself if anything happened to either of them on his behalf.]

...No, nothing like that. But I don't think I have all the memories of my main self. Did you try asking the fragment in the sheath? He might know something.

Edited 2014-04-02 02:28 (UTC)

You don't remember what happened any better than I do, huh?

[Harriet's disappointed. It was her idea to ask it, after all... but it turned out to be no use. ~~And just when she thought a creepy thing like a soul fragment could have come in handy.~~

She has no idea what this sheath business is about though, so she'll just look back to Bakura a bit listlessly.]

...

That fragment... has been destroyed.

[It's hard to say. Acknowledging his failures isn't something he does a lot of. It's usually easy to dismiss failures. "I let you win". "This wasn't something I was trying too hard to do". "Something meaningless like this doesn't matter". Things like that were easy to say. But not in regards to this. There's no way to rewrite the truth in a way that won't reflect badly on him.

Joining them on the ground, he stares off into space.]

I lost a duel against him. He destroyed the fragment... and let me go, because it would be more painful to me than dying would.

Edited 2014-04-02 03:38 (UTC)

...I see. So I'm the only one left? Besides my main self.

[The despair was almost overwhelming. The hopelessness that Malik felt. His very existence seemed to flicker before them, that magnetic nature of his soul and his visibility fading.]

And that guy...is the only way to destroy him by death?!

[Harriet's slightly alarmed by the flickering. She also didn't know that Bakura and Dark Malik had dueled, but of course he would go after him. It seems they were all in pretty bad shape.

As for killing him to put down his other half... that's what Harriet had agreed to do if necessary. But that wasn't something she could do like this, nor was it a solution she particularly liked.]

That can't be right. We'll think of something... Bakura, you should check in with us when you can until I wake up.

[Although it bothers her to wonder how he got into her soul room in the first place, but it seems to be the best tool they have right now.]

Edited 2014-04-02 04:37 (UTC)

[Don't you dare die on him too, soul fragment. Don't you dare.]

I don't think dying is the best option. But the longer he's out, the more in danger the normal you is. But his determination to destroy the things Malik finds important... I wonder if it's got more meaning to it than it seems at first.

Maybe Malik's more inclined to stay alive in there while he has something to hold on to.

[Though the fact that the other Malik let him live also implies he means less to Malik than Harriet does. Tch... these damnable human feelings.]

We'll figure something out. Don't lose hope.

[He nods at Harriet.]

I was already planning to drop in sometimes, so it fits in.

Don't lose hope...? [He already sounds hopeless.]

That side of myself is going to destroy everything I care about! And I can't do anything about it! My own body isn't even my own, why do I have to share it with that psychopath?!

Aahhh...! [He curls his fingers up in his hair.]

Maybe you're right, and as long as we're all still struggling together, he can't truly win...

[Still, Malik is freaking out. She wishes she could hug him or something... Harriet twists a bit trying to get free, before she realizes that one, she still can't, and two, even if she could, he's intangible. He's already stayed close, so she leans on his shoulder to at least offer some comfort. It's his ghosty not!body so it probably doesn't do anything, but fuck it. It's her soul room, she does what she wants.

Besides, she's already feeling incredibly low herself. It really sucks being in a coma and tied up in the middle of a mind forest.]

But it's true that neither of us can do anything when I'm like this.

[she sighs, and mutters in exasperation,]

Bakura, can't you just smuggle him out?

...? [Bakura stares at her.]

You mean the fragment? I could take him out, but I'd need to figure out what - or who - to put him in. But he seems pretty comfortable hanging around with you. There's no point.

[And back to Malik.]

Malik, I told you. I'm keeping us safe. If there's someone else you're worried about, I'll look after them too. That guy won't win.

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