[Ryou lets Atem get his thoughts out, and it's...kind of funny, isn't it? Not ha-ha funny, but a little sad, because Atem's experience with the hydra may not be a scene-for-scene, but he's definitely confiding in the right guy for a situation in which you're told that this is a friend, someone to help.
He doesn't let go of his friend. There is no attempt to escape the hug. In fact, Ryou tightens it, not painfully of course. Enough to keep Atem grounded, to help him understand that Ryou wasn't going anywhere. This is now his time to share, and Ryou won't begrudge him that.]
It made you feel as if it only had yours and their best interests at heart. You just wanted to bring all of us together, so that we could be as one, forever. You could have your friends with you always. That's admirable, Atem. It really is.
I could never fault you for believing it when you were put in a situation in which you could not think otherwise without being suppressed.
[Ryou Bakura can never, ever judge anyone for that. He, the bearer of the Ring, could never judge someone for being fed pretty words and made to comply through them. He stole back the Ring after Battle City because he was so convinced that it was his, he could control it. It was nothing he couldn't deal with, honest. He empathizes with Atem's feelings here, because he's felt them.
Most importantly, he empathizes with being pushed down into the background. Silence and blackness and not knowing what happens when you come back because someone else is driving and they're out to harm your friends, not help them.
The shade gently presses his face against Atem's--they're hugging and so close, it's almost like a nuzzle, but stronger. Fiercely protective, in a way that maybe a friend shouldn't be. Too close, too involved, too emotional.
Of all the words he's spoken, these are the quietest and gentlest.]
There's a space that was empty, that no one else could fill but Yugi. Do you...maybe think that it is a weakness?
No, Atem. That is the strength of your bond. That is a unity past anything you could ever have with anyone else here, because you shared thoughts, actions, and feelings. The hydra would never understand that. It co-opted those feelings and rewrote them to suit its hivemind mentality. Do you understand?
Anything bad...came from the hydra. To believe that being bothered at being alone in your mind is your fault is to misrepresent what friendship and camaraderie in its truest form represents.
cw; manipulation and mind control
He doesn't let go of his friend. There is no attempt to escape the hug. In fact, Ryou tightens it, not painfully of course. Enough to keep Atem grounded, to help him understand that Ryou wasn't going anywhere. This is now his time to share, and Ryou won't begrudge him that.]
It made you feel as if it only had yours and their best interests at heart. You just wanted to bring all of us together, so that we could be as one, forever. You could have your friends with you always. That's admirable, Atem. It really is.
I could never fault you for believing it when you were put in a situation in which you could not think otherwise without being suppressed.
[Ryou Bakura can never, ever judge anyone for that. He, the bearer of the Ring, could never judge someone for being fed pretty words and made to comply through them. He stole back the Ring after Battle City because he was so convinced that it was his, he could control it. It was nothing he couldn't deal with, honest. He empathizes with Atem's feelings here, because he's felt them.
Most importantly, he empathizes with being pushed down into the background. Silence and blackness and not knowing what happens when you come back because someone else is driving and they're out to harm your friends, not help them.
The shade gently presses his face against Atem's--they're hugging and so close, it's almost like a nuzzle, but stronger. Fiercely protective, in a way that maybe a friend shouldn't be. Too close, too involved, too emotional.
Of all the words he's spoken, these are the quietest and gentlest.]
There's a space that was empty, that no one else could fill but Yugi. Do you...maybe think that it is a weakness?
No, Atem. That is the strength of your bond. That is a unity past anything you could ever have with anyone else here, because you shared thoughts, actions, and feelings. The hydra would never understand that. It co-opted those feelings and rewrote them to suit its hivemind mentality. Do you understand?
Anything bad...came from the hydra. To believe that being bothered at being alone in your mind is your fault is to misrepresent what friendship and camaraderie in its truest form represents.