A/N: Well, here we are - the official posting of the rewrite. I wasn't really expecting much from the people who read the original, so imagine my delight when someone was actually excited about the repost. Old readers, enjoy the much better, rewritten story! New readers, I'd suggest you don't read the old version. It's really not in your best interests.

A lot of things have changed in this rewrite, and there are too many to list out without taking up far too much of your time, so without further ado... Enjoy, my Sweetlings.

Prologue: Two Years Time

Yugi sat with his legs crossed on the floor of the tomb where the Ceremonial Duel had taken place only moments before. The island shook threateningly. He was, for the most part, unfazed.

"Uh, Yug'..." Joey sounded worried. "I think we should blow this popsicle stand!" He said from mere feet away. He was holding tight to the wall, one foot already on the stairs.

Yugi didn't move. The island shook again; Joey bolted up the stairs with a great deal of pep in his step. Yugi swallowed hard, his eyes still squeezed shut to hold back tears. He didn't have time to cry. For a moment he seriously considered remaining seated there - letting the roof collapse on top of him and crush him.

But he knew that wasn't the answer to his current problem.

Despite that, it was with no rush at all that he rose from the floor and began to climb the stairs. His eyes were open now - directed solely at the ground.

As he emerged from the tomb and began to make his way to the ship, he heard the roof of the tomb cave in. He sped his steps a bit and got aboard the ship.

Almost immediately, they set sail, and Yugi watched helplessly as the rest of the tomb, and eventually the the island as well, crumbled to pieces and was consumed by the waves. He gave a soft sigh and directed his attention briefly to Tea - who had somehow found a reason to give Tristan and Joey one of her infamous friendship speeches.

Probably because they didn't drag me out of the tomb by my arms… Yugi thought, and then sighed again. He shook his head, spiked hair swaying slightly.

It seemed that his sighs had drawn Ryou's attention. The pale boy approached him quietly. "Are you okay?"

Yugi deeply considered his answer for a moment before he slowly nodded. "I'm… Honestly, Ryou… I'm more worried about Atem."

"What?" Ryou's attempt at a teasing smile was weak, to say the least. "Worried the afterlife's not good enough for him?"

"A little," Yugi admitted with a sad smile, "And I swear, if it isn't… I will literally fight Osiris. And Anubis, if need be. At the same time."

"This coming from the boy who once said violence was not the answer." He chuckled softly, though to Yugi it seemed more bitter than amused. "... He was like family to you, wasn't he?" He asked after a moment.

Yugi nodded. "An older brother."

It was Ryou who sighed this time, casting his gaze toward the floor of the boat. He was silent for a long time. It was this silence, for whatever reason, that caught Tea's attention. She paused mid-sentence, watching Yugi and Ryou.

Yugi was leaned forward against the rails, staring at the now setting sun with a sad expression. Ryou, too, leaned on the rails, but he was not facing them as Yugi was. He slowly lifted his head and stared into the slowly darkening sky. They continued to stare in two separate directions, never seeming to acknowledge each other.

Joey and Tristan took Tea's moment of distraction as their cue to skedaddle someplace else. "Someplace else" happened to be below the deck of the ship, specifically the staircase, where they watched warily to see if Tea would pursue them. Sure, neither of them minded her speeches much, but for a girl who had spent the vast majority of the Ceremonial Duel hoping Yugi, her dear friend, would lose, she really had no room to talk at the moment. What kind of friend would do something like that?

Tea did turn back to where they had previously been, but was entirely unsurprised to find them no longer there. They never stuck around for her lectures if they found a chance to leave. It was just their nature. So instead of being offended, she walked herself to the front of the ship and stared out at the water, not thinking how much she was copying Yugi at the moment. It didn't really matter, anyway.

Yugi took a deep breath. The wind was burning his eyes - or so he tried to tell himself - bringing back the tears he had tried so hard to get rid of. At least these would be more easily vanquished. He wiped his eyes stubbornly.

A quiet, bitter laugh caught his attention - he knew where it was coming from, but he couldn't help being surprised by the sad yet spiteful smile on Ryou's face.

"Gods dammit." He uttered. "Even after…" A somewhat more hysterical laugh - still bitter - escaped him, "Even after everything… All the shit he made me do… All the shit he fucking put me through…" His smile widened into more of a disbelieving grin, "I'm going to miss him."

Yugi had no response prepared for that.

"Wow, I'm a bloody dunce…" He didn't seem to be able to control the laughter. "He made my life a living hell, even before I knew he existed and yet I'm going to miss him! I already do!" He closed his fists so tightly his knuckles became completely white. The grin faded from his face along with any trace of his hysterical mirth.

"... He was like a brother to you too, wasn't he?" Yugi eventually asked, although it was difficult to ask calmly as the fact that he had sworn sunk in. Ryou didn't swear - only Bakura did. For a moment, Yugi had the horrifying thought that Bakura was still in there somewhere.

It took what felt like an eternity for Ryou to reply, and when he did it was so quietly, so sadly, that all Yugi's doubts about Bakura left him immediately.

"Yeah…" He swallowed, "He was." A twitch of his lips. "A sadistic, psychotic, bloodthirsty, asshole of a brother… But, yeah." The smile that formed on Ryou's face this time was completely genuine. It took him a moment to register his own words, but as each profanity was finally acknowledged, his smile began to grow. He chuckled - Yugi almost considered the fact that it was only amused a miracle. "I guess Bakura was right when he said he was rubbing off on me." He chuckled again, "I'm… Not sure how I feel about that, honestly."

Yugi smiled a little. "I think it might end up being a good thing." He admitted, "You could do with having the amount of confidence he had."

Ryou snorted. "I could use the confidence? This coming from you?"

He laughed. "Well, of course. As someone with almost no confidence myself I can tell that you could use a little too."

Both of them went quiet again. Yugi fell into his thoughts, and, moments later, found himself chuckling. Ryou gave him an odd look. "Think of something funny?"

After considering it for a moment, Yugi replied, "I just realized something," He said, "And it's not so much funny as something to make you think a little bit." At Ryou's silently curious expression, he continued, "You and me, two weak and shy high school students, with no obvious relation to each other, are the direct descendants and/or reincarnations of the great Nameless Pharaoh and the Thief King Bakura. And not only that, they lived inside us for quite some time."

Ryou paused to let that soak in.

"And let's not forget," Yugi added, "Bakura and Atem despised each other and we're actually pretty good friends." He stopped, "Or rather, Bakura despised Atem and Atem only disliked him because he was a genocidal psychopath… Either way."

After a moment, he chuckled softly. Ryou joined him; they got a little louder. They weren't sure why they ended up laughing as hard as they did, or for as long as they did. One could speculate that the reason they laughed so much and for such a long time was not amusement - perhaps it was because they were relieved that their journey was over. Perhaps they were finally becoming hysterical, after all the time spent being unable to panic. Or, perhaps, relief and hysteria had nothing to do with it at all.

In truth, neither of them could retain any measure of control over their emotions at that time. Yugi was so overwhelmed by the sudden wave of sadness and loneliness he was experiencing that laughter was the only viable option. And Ryou could not fathom the idea of never hearing Bakura's voice in his head again.

Truly, laughter was the best course of action… All the others were better suited for someone like Bakura or Marik to perform.

They laughed until their sides were sore, unable to stop themselves. Both were unable to breathe, faces aching because the muscles couldn't handle so much use. They kept laughing for what felt like hours… Until Yugi's laughter began to transform into sobs. Ryou stopped laughing entirely, whole body trembling. Tears rolled down his face with no sound to warn that they were coming.

He slowly slid down the wall below the rails, letting his knees bump into his chest before burying his face in his hands and shook silently. Yugi soon turned and joined him on the floor, crossing his arms over his knees. He let his head fall into the cradle of his folded arms and began to sob louder. He couldn't comprehend this sudden, all-consuming despair he felt.

He knew, prior to the Ceremonial Duel, that he was going to miss Atem if he won. It was obvious, after all they had gone through together. Atem was a part of him, his best friend. His partner. With him gone, Yugi expected to miss him. It would have been stupid to think otherwise… But he didn't expect it to begin so quickly or be such a powerful feeling.

Ryou stopped crying long before Yugi, lifting his head slowly from his hands and staring into the sky as the last tears rolled down his face. He didn't understand. He had thought Bakura being gone would be a relief. He'd thought he would feel better… It didn't make sense to him. Why should he miss the spirit who had caused him so much pain? Who had tormented him ever since his father had given him the Millennium Ring all those years ago. For the past few months it had been like he'd accidentally jumped onto the Zorc Necrophades bandwagon and ridden straight to Hell - courtesy of his driver, the Thief King Bakura.

And let's not forget the constant free trips to the Shadow Realm when Bakura had control of my body…

He sighed. He could feel the tears drying on his face - they had long since stopped flowing. He opened his eyes - although he had no recollection of closing them - and looked to Yugi. The smaller boy was still sobbing quietly, shoulders trembling. He looked so weak… Bakura had noticed that he often appeared that way, as had Ryou. It seemed that Atem really had been the source of the majority of Yugi's confidence and strength. With him inside the puzzle, it had all disappeared… And with him gone, all of Yugi's willpower was probably completely obliterated.

After a little bit of deep consideration, Ryou wrapped an arm loosely around Yugi's shoulders. For a reason he couldn't discern, he attempted to appear aloof while doing so.

"You're gonna be okay, Yugi."

Two Years Later…

Yugi frowned disapprovingly as Ryou pick pocketed one person after another as he walked. Aforementioned pale-skinned thief was unfazed by Yugi's disapproval and continued happily on his undetected crime spree. No one ever noticed Ryou, and if they did they didn't suspect him of stealing anything from them.

His innocent facade fooled everyone he came into contact with. And, of course, he was careful not to shatter this facade - it was all that kept him one step ahead of the law. Due to his carefully orchestrated personality, not a single person in Domino City - sans those who knew his true nature - suspected Ryou Bakura of being behind the sudden rise in crime.

To keep up his act, the boy even went out of his way to pick up things that passerby dropped and return them to their owners. His ruse worked so well that, usually, while he was handing the item he'd picked up for them back, he could pull something of much greater value from their person and they never noticed.

And by the time they did notice… He was usually long gone.

"Thief." Yugi stated blandly to Ryou after he pulled off his little scheme yet again.

Ryou looked indignant, "Hey, that's only part of my title."

Yugi rolled his eyes, "Oh, I'm so sorry," He snorted and bowed mockingly, "Oh great Thief King."

Ryou giggled and relieved a passerby of her beautiful diamond necklace. "Much better."

Yugi couldn't keep the smile off his face. "Of course." He shook his head. "But if you're the Thief King, then I'm the god damned King of Egypt."

Ryou grinned widely and bowed to him. It wasn't mocking in any way. "As you wish, my Pharaoh."

Yugi did his best not to laugh… But ended up failing miserably. "Let's get to school before we're late, Thief."

"Alright." Ryou found he was now in a much better mood, and Yugi appeared to be too. "Malik's probably waiting for us, Your Majesty."

As they continued on, Ryou mused to himself about Yugi's rather bipolar attitude. One moment he could be the most evil person in Domino City, and the next he'd be making jokes about past lives.

Oh well, he thought, At least the chances of something seriously pissing him off this week are next to nothing… He's been surprisingly chipper recently.

… End Prologue…