fluffydeathdealer | [CAMPUS/IC] II

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.

[Malik makes no effort to move when Harriet leans against him. It doesn't help much, but it's something, and it seems he's able to make himself just tangible enough where she's touching him that she doesn't fall through. After a minute, he calms a bit and lowers his hands.]

I don't want to move. I can't do anything like this anyway... How am I supposed to stop him?

All right, never mind.

[She just keeps leaning then.]

... I just wish I could remember what happened. Maybe there was a clue in all of that.

... [Yeah, he's not looking at them.]

The fact that you don't remember is a little strange. I could try to rifle through your memories, but I doubt you want that. Maybe they'll come back on their own, anyway.

[Even if moving was useless, even dangerous, it didn't feel right for him to just let Bakura deal with his other half alone. But at the same time, it was his fault Harriet was in a coma. He didn't want to leave her to stew here in her soul room alone.

...There wasn't much of him left. Splitting his soul any further could kill him.]

Hey, Bakura... Come here.

Um. Let's wait and see. [It's one thing to have him in her soul room. She definitely doesn't need him going through her memories too, though she would allow it if she thought it was necessary to wake up. There isn't much Harriet wouldn't do to achieve her goals.

She looks over curiously at the fragment, though. What's he doing?]

[Bakura blinks over at the fragment, coming closer. What's he up to? The fragment isn't really of much use now anyway. Unless it remembered something. But he doubts that's the case. Surely it would have just said it, if it was?]

What is it?

[Malik gestures for Bakura to lean over as well, holding out the palm of his hand. At the center, a transparent ball of dull light circulates and grows larger in proportion to Malik's own fading presence. He looks tired as he holds it out.]

I want you to take a part of my soul with you. Just don't put it in the Ring.

Wha- you can still do that?

[Bakura stares at him. How the hell did a soul fragment manage to split itself? Though considering the form it's taken, it can't be more than the tiniest piece of Malik. He reaches out his hand to take it, slowly, then stops.]

[Malik's soul is surely at its' limit. The main Malik is too prone to breaking himself apart... and this fragment, can he truly survive if he starts doing it too?]

No, Malik... you should keep it.

[His voice is quiet.]

The amount of damage your soul has taken is phenomenal. There can't be much left of the main soul. And you yourself are only a fragment. If you split apart... you might disappear too.

[Harriet rolls her eyes, just letting them do their thing. She is so done with all of this soul shit. Though, she looks back over at that, raising an eyebrow.]

Oy, when he says that, he means the dark side doesn't do all this splitting up right?

In that case, you might want to keep as much of yourself in tact as you can. Just a thought.

... [Malik pulls his hand back, that dull light pulling back into his palm and restoring him to his slightly more visible state.

As long as he achieved his goals, he never cared about how much he was hurting himself. After all, he could still function. It never seemed to hurt except when one of his ghouls died.

But that was a frightening thought that Harriet brought up... Was his dark side able to take over because he'd split himself up like this? If it was true, then he doomed himself.

What a fool he's been. He didn't want it to end like this. What about the future? Everything he had planned...

Malik slumps forward in his misery.]

...

Even with all my experience, I've never run into a case like Malik before. If the other Malik's right, then they're not separate souls. The trouble is, how much of the soul is 'owned' by each personality is impossible to tell. It might be that Malik's has been worn down, and that it's easier to take over as a result... but then again, it might be unaffected by that at all. Or it may be that the soul division is weakening you to the point where the darkness within the Rod is slipping in to feed him.

Regardless, I agree with Harriet... There's too much of your soul that's completely gone now. If the 'main you' doesn't cut it out, I'm going to have to take drastic measures.

[Still, seeing Malik like that is rather saddening. He pats it on its' intangible shoulder and sits back.]

...still. This place is reassuring. There doesn't seem to be any real damage to Harriet.

[Harriet eyes her tape, then back at Bakura. She thinks being completely immobilized is real damage. He's probably saying that to make Malik feel better, but for him to say that makes her wonder.]

Um. What were you expecting?

[He gives her a surprisingly honest response, looking over at her with a serious expression.]

...Remember that the soul room reflects your state of being. I wasn't expecting to be able to speak to you at all, let alone to have you be aware and not in pain, or suffering beyond indignation.

I half-expected you to be suffocating in an ocean of darkness. The other Malik did that to me, once. If my soul wasn't bound to the Ring, it'd probably have died.

I see - 'Ocean of darkness' does sound more in-character for the other Malik.

In that case, maybe this was the best he could do. There must be a reason... wait.

[Thinking about this, she's remembering something.]

[scrambling for the memories, they're not quite there, but there is one thing that she's suddenly sure of. Whatever it is, it makes a sly grin appear on her face.]

.... I know what it was. I won.

[Had he really thrown away that much of himself? He'd only been doing what he needed to do. For his family, for Rishid and Ishizu... He'd let them all down, and now he might never get his body back, let alone see them again.

Malik was too lost in his own thoughts to even bother listening to them. His chest was tight and his breath--as unreal as it may be--felt cold.]

...you won, and yet you still ended up in a coma?

[Bakura sounds surprised... and slightly offended. Talk about breaking the rules, Malik! Your other half is a bit of a dick!]

Yeah - real load of shit, that. I guess he's a sore loser.

[it's not that surprising though... except one thing.]

Still, I'm not sure how he managed it. By that point the game would be over... something's wrong with this.

[thinking...]

Have you seen my deck leaders?

Their cards are in the pavilion... but I haven't seen the actual spirits.

[It's surprising to him. Talk about a fucking cheater.]

Hmm... [she doesn't really know if that's out of the ordinary or not, having no experience with soul rooms. And Bakura had never met any war duelists before this, so he wouldn't know either.]

Well, at least they aren't in boxes. But maybe I should try to chat with em'...

I get the hint, already.

[Oh fine. He gets up in a lazy manner, reaching out to pick her up again. He doesn't actually mind it, it being better than the recent solitude that happens otherwise, but it's still tedious.]

Malik, come on if you're coming.

... [Malik slowly rises to his feet and trails behind the two of them.]

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