Author's Notes: Hello all, and welcome to my new story, Second Chances. Heh, heh...the plot bunnies attacked me this morning with this new idea. Enjoy! :)

Chapter One: The Voice

Bakura opened his eyes to a bright light, surrounding him in a magnificent glow. There was not a trace of darkness anywhere, not a shadow to be seen.

It was a bit too bright; it burned at Bakura's eyes, causing him to squint as he looked around.

"Where am I?" the spirit wondered aloud.

"Location should not concern you, as long as you are not residing in the shadow realm, I think," a deep, mysterious, but pleasant-sounding voice answered back.

Bakura jumped up, surprised, and grimaced. Oh joy, it seems like he had company.

"Who are you?" Bakura called out coldly, looking around. He was rather unnerved when he saw no one, though he was determined not to show his discomfort through his actions, fighting to maintain his stoic expression.

The voice did not respond to this particular question.

Fine. Bakura had not really expected it answer him, anyways.

After a few minutes full of uneasy silence, Bakura decided to re-phrase his question. "Why am I here?"

"I have decided to give you, Thief King, another chance at life," the voice replied quickly. He thought he detected a hint of amusement in the strange tone.

"Why?" Bakura asked, stunned. "I should be in the shadow realm, shouldn't I?" he said sourly, "after all, the great pharaoh defeated me, didn't he?" he retorted, bitter from his loss. All of the plotting he had done, worthless. The mighty Atemu had still walked away from their fight for power, unscathed...

"Because," the voice explained, so sweet sounding it caused Bakura to feel rather ill, "after reviewing your case, I have decided that you did have some righteous reasoning behind your vicious actions."

"Some righteous reason!" called Bakura, outraged, and sounding quite insane at the same time, "Aknamkanon, the pharaoh's father, had Kul Elna destroyed, sacrificed all its inhabitants for the creation of Millennium Items, and leaving me, a mere boy, as the-"

"-the only living survivor, yes, as I have told you, I am aware of your story, Thief King," called the voice.

Bakura shook with anger...no one dare cut the Thief King off when he was talking! "And yet," said Bakura, with a deathly forced calm voice, "I only have some righteous reason for my revenge?"

"I am not denying that you shouldn't be angry," answered the voice that he oh-so-disliked now, "but you have been directing your anger at the wrong people-yes, the pharaoh's father did give consent for the making of the Items, but he was unaware of your home's slaughter...as was Atemu, the young one you have been giving such a hard time. Your anger should have been directed at Aknadin, the father's brother..." called the voice once more.

The voice sounded a little sad...did it pity him? He didn't need, nor want, any sympathy.

"Impossible," Bakura snorted, disbelieving, "the pharaoh ordered that attack on Kul Elna!"

"Silence!" the voice commanded, sounding angry and intimidating. Bakura shivered involuntarily. He tried to yell back, but could not seem to find the right words to use.

"I can see that you will not be reasoned with on the matter..."

Bakura felt the sudden urge to stab something...or someone...if only the voice belonged to a body...

"...You said something about giving me another shot at life?" Bakura reminded the voice after a minute's stillness.

"Yes, if you are willing to accept it after I give you the conditions, my dear Thief King."

"Conditions?" Bakura repeated dully, rather unhappy. He followed his own rules, just like any other thief. Besides, what kind of ridiculous demands would he be subject to?

"First of all, you will not be allowed to exact your revenge on the pharaoh or anyone else. There will be absolutely no murdering of anyone."

Bakura's jaw dropped and he crossed his arms. He looked remarkably like a child who had just had his favorite toys taken away for bad behavior.

"But...!" he began to state, but was cut off again by an annoyed sigh.

"Do you accept or not? You can always be sent to the shadow realm instead, if you decide against it..."

Bakura scoffed. "I'm sure I would escape."

"Are you really?" the voice replied, sounding irritated.

Bakura glanced around hatefully for a few seconds. Finally, his shoulders slumped and his head bowed. "Fine," he whispered, giving in.

"I can't hear you, little Thief King..." the voice called, laughing.

"I said FINE!"

"Very good. You must also try not to steal or lie."

Bakura snapped up and he smirked. "Why only order me to try, oh great Voice?"

"Expecting you to completely quit would be foolish of me. At least, this way, I can hope that you will do the right thing and make some good choices."

Bakura's smirk became even smugger. "That's very...wise...of you."

"Yes, well, are you ready to hear the task you must complete in order to maintain your new life?"

Bakura blinked in shock, smug smirk disappearing quickly from his face. "What, dare I ask, must I accomplish?"

The voice became stern, sounding more powerful than ever before. "You must make the one named Ryou happy again."

"Ryou?" Bakura called, eyes wide, incredulous, "Why must I make my former host happy?" The only person the Thief King pleased was himself!

"Because, Bakura, you have wronged this boy much more so than you have anyone else! You have taken his own body from him, suppressing him completely mentally, without even a spare thought to how it has affected him!"

There was a intake of breathe, and then the voice continued-

"This is what I meant about having some righteous anger behind you wicked ways! This child had done nothing against you, yet look at all the harm you have caused him!" the voice yelled, clearly frustrated.

For once, in over three thousand years, Bakura felt slightly ashamed of himself, if only for a moment.

"I suppose I could look into it..." Bakura said weakly, shocked that he had actually felt guilty...

"I suppose you will, Thief King," called the voice coldly. "You'll know if you don't..."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

The voice did something unexpected-it chuckled.

"Care to inform me about what do you find so amusing?"

"Only the fact that you, Thief King, are beginning to act a little like a human being again...though I suppose it is because Zorc's influence has been completely removed from your will...," the voice mused.

"What?"

"Oh, yes, Zorc was sent to the shadows, unlike you...in other words, your soul is completely your own again, you're just the Thief King..."

With that said, the voice began to sound fainter and fainter until it was entirely faded...

Just as Bakura was about to lose consciousness, he thought he heard the mere hint of a whisper. "Don't forget the conditions...and be sure to enjoy your life this time..."

Author's Notes: Well, I hope you liked it. Constructive criticism would be greatly appreciated, as would all reviews! Will be updated soon! Sorry if it was a little confusing...Yu-Gi-Oh! wikia was my best buddy while writing this...*sweatdrop*... Remember, this is a BXR fic!