Note: This is part 3 in the Tears of Light and Dark trilogy. Originally, I had made each one a month apart and each one was a single chapter. But that's changing now because I'm separating each of them into 2 chapters at the climax. I will not make another AN for each part where it splits (meaning the first chapter of each will be missing an EndingAN and each 2nd chapter will be missing an OpeningAN) because I am litterally taking the chapers exactly as they are and splitting them in half, no edits (except for spelling errors, but that's it).


Summary: Ryou and Marik thought that Bakura and Melvin were gone forever. They had long since stopped grieving about their losses and experiences. But are their darker halves really as forever gone as they thought? Ryou finds out that the answer just might have been 'no'. A sequel to "The Light Cries Again", which is the sequel to "When The Dark Dies, The Light Cries". The final part of the Tears of Light and Dark trilogy.

Rating: T

Characters: R. Bakura & Yami Bakura.

Genre: Hurt/Comfort/Romance


HELLOOOOOO! It has been another month since I posted WDDTLC, and it has been one month since I have posted The Light Cries Again. I didn't really consider doing a third one, but the thought just came to me when I realized something about the Millenium Ring. So here it is. A finale to the Tears of Light and Dark trilogy (that's what I'm calling it now). I suggest you read the first and second parts first.

This is about how Ryou and Marik realize that their yamis may not be as dead as they thought. But who is coming back? The main pairing here is (onesided ish on Bakura's part) tendershipping. However, the first two parts may seem to have a sort of minor touch of angstshipping in them, but it was unintentional.

Again, MINOR abridged personalities and names. (Ex: Joey says 'nyeh' and Marik says 'frig', but Tristan isn't a random idiot and Tea isn't a horny slut.) Yami Marik is Melvin, Hikari Marik is Marik. Bakura is sometimes Florence.

I pretty much worked on this mostly all of three days, but spent two more typing it. This is going to be another REALLY long story, so sit tight and grab some spare time and popcorn!

R&R

ENJOY~!


"Ryou... I'm still here."

"Bakura? You're back?"

"How many times do I have to tell you? Yes, I am. Why do you never believe me?"

"Because this dream is too good to be true."

"It's not a dream."

"Then why-?"

The images flashed into his mind again. He knew that some of them were his and some of them were Bakura's. They were flashbacks from that day. These things had already been described to him by Marik about a week after it had happened, months ago. And now he was seeing it again first hand. And he didn't like it at all. He felt every scratch that his yami had felt, every sharp pain, every stab. The physical pain was almost as agonizing as the mental torment of reliving it all.

"Now do you believe me?"

Ryou temporarily shook off the mental pain and torment to respond and smile. "I wish I could. Thank you again."

"Please, wear the Ring today. Wear it all day. Just do it."

"I can't... It's too sad."

"Just do it!"

"I-"

BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP!

"AH!" Ryou fell out of bed all tangled up in the bed sheets. His head hit the floor and he was dazed for a few seconds. But at least he was awake.

He sat up, untangled himself from the blankets, and looked around. Then he unbuttoned his nightshirt and picked up the pendant around his neck: the Millenium Ring.

"Another dream of Bakura..." he whispered.

For the past week, Ryou had been wearing the Millenium Ring under his shirt every night when he slept. But he had been having these same dreams. His yami had come back and told him stuff. He always asked him to wear the Ring all day and to believe that this wasn't a dream. But Ryou wouldn't even dare to let himself hope that his abusive and controlling, yet loving darker side was alive and well. And although he had put his heart at ease just a week ago with the retelling of the story, wearing the Ring still brought him sadness and memories, both good and bad, that he didn't want to corrupt the peace in his heart.

So how could he believe that Bakura was still existing in the world of the living?

He couldn't. That was the thing.

He removed the Ring from around his neck and set it on the nightstand next to his bed.

He got off the floor, fixed his bed, then left his room to get ready for the day and have breakfast.


Ryou wasn't really planning on doing much that day. School was out for the time being, so he decided to work on some extra credit today since he had nothing better to do. He returned to his room and turned on the computer.

As it was starting up, he randomly glanced over to the Millenium Ring on the nightstand. He stared at it. It gleamed in the light coming through the window, almost calling out to him. After a few moments, he decided to just wear it for today. After all, how bad could it possibly be to wear it for one day?

He walked over to the Ring, picked it up, then walked over to his computer chair and sat back down. The log in screen loaded up and he slipped the string around his neck again. He held it in one hand. It felt cool and smooth. Yet, at the same time, it felt warm. Somehow.

He let go and logged in. He began the extra credit and also decided to study.


~Exactly 11.99 hours later~


Later in the day, Ryou had finished the extra credit and studying. He had also re-read a chapter of a book for school. Now, he had some free time to do whatever he wanted. As it turned out, wearing the Ring hadn't been distracting at all. At the moment, he was playing a card game against the computer and he was winning too.

~Exactly 00.01 hours later~

He was about to win for about the fifth time. But suddenly, he felt a strange presence in his mind. Then a voice. It spoke one word, but the sound faded to fast for him to recognize who's it belonged to.

"Hello."

The first two people who came to mind were Marik and Bakura, in that order. He pushed the latter of the two out of his thoughts, even though he should have already considered Marik an unreasonable option first because Marik didn't even have mental contacts with him. Yet, the thought that Bakura was back was even more unreasonable.

He held this idea now, even as he slowly faded out of conciousness. His last words before his senses blackened out were, "What's happening?"

His control slipped away and his head hit the keyboard.

When his head hit the keyboard, he accidentally hit "Enter". The wrong card was selected and on the computer's next turn "Ryou" lost the game.

.

After a moment he woke up, stood up, and looked around, making sure that nothing was amiss and that everything was just the way it was last time he saw it.

"Good," he said content. He walked over to the phone and dialed a friend of his.


At Marik's apartment, the phone rang three times before someone picked it up.

"I got it, sis!" he shouted to his visiting sister who was sitting on the couch. He ran into the living room and picked it up after looking at the caller ID. "Hello, Ryou. What's up?"

["Hello again, Marik. How are you?"} That was strange. Ryou's voice sounded a bit strained and forced. Was he feeling alright?

"I'm fine. What's wrong with your voice? Are you sick or something?"

{"No. I feel better than ever actually. Do me a favor and get your ass over here now."}

"What?!" Marik asked confusedly. Since when did Ryou talk like that? He was usually so polite and kind, and almost never had an attitude. "Are you feeling okay? Since when do you talk like that?"

{"Just do it, Ishtar."} Then Ryou hung up.

Marik stared at the phone, even more confused. But if Ryou was desperate enough to talk the way he just did, then something important must have happened. He wasted no time in getting ready to go over there.

As he was about to run out the door, Ishizu's voice stopped him. "Marik?" she asked. "Where are you going in such a hurry?"

"Over to Ryou's house," he answered. "See you later," he said, and he rushed out the door, locking it behind him.

Ishizu stared at the closed door for a few seconds, then turned back to what she was doing before and said, "I hope Bakura is doing alright."

(AN: She said "Bakura", but she was referring to Ryou since it is his last name.)


~Meanwhile~


After he hung up, he tiredly fell to the floor.

.

Ryou woke up and sat up. He looked around. To his surprise, he found himself back in his soul room.

"Oh my... Why am I here?" he wondered aloud. "I haven't been in here in months." Being in his soul room was always a bit unnerving because he knew that it was a visual representation of his state of mind and heart. He sometimes hid his emotions and thoughts so that others wouldn't worry. He had gotten so good at it that he sometimes forgot himself what he was feeling. But here, nothing was hiding, and he was forced to face the truth about himself. And now, he saw his true feelings on what had happened to Bakura. He could literally feel the sadness on his skin.

His heart sped up and he began breathing hard. He didn't want to deal with this right now. He had to get out of here.

He ran over to the door and opened it, not surprised that is was unlocked.

He stepped out into his soul hallway. But why was there a hallway here? There was only one room in it.

But then he looked across the hallway... And gasped at what he saw.

He would have investigated more, but he was abruptly pulled out of the hallway.

.

Ryou woke up staring at the ceiling. He sat up and looked around, making sure nothing was amiss. Nothing was.

He sighed in relief and stood up. He noticed that he was next to the phone. He picked it up and hit redial to see what would show up. Marik's name and home number came up, along with the time of the last call which was about five minutes ago. Ryou quickly hung up before the call could go through. Then he looked at the computer screen and saw that he had lost the game he had been playing. "Aw..." he said sadly. "Oh well." He started a new game and tried to remember what happened as he played.

He could recal hearing a voice, which he still hadn't placed, saying "Hello" and then falling asleep at the computer. But that was it.

"OH! ANOTHER MEMORY LAPSE!" he shouted. Now he had two, or maybe three, hints. But he still didn't believe any of them. He couldn't let himself believe it. The last thing he wanted was false hope and so far his mind was giving him nothing but that.

He kept playing the game for about fifteen more minutes. Suddenly, the door bell rang.

"Who could that be?" Ryou asked aloud. He got up and walked to the front door. He tiptoed to look out the peephole. To his surprise, Marik was there.

"Marik?" He stepped away from the peephole and opened the door. Marik looked up when he heard the door open.

"Hey, Ryou."

"Hi, Marik. What are you doing here?"

Marik gave him a confused look. "Why do you think I'm here? You called me over about twenty minutes ago. What did you want to tell me?"

"I-" Ryou was about to say 'didn't call you', but he remembered that the last call made from his house phone was to Marik. But who made it...

No... It couldn't be...

"Ryou?" Marik asked in a concerned voice. "You okay?" Ryou had zoned out. Marik looked down and saw that Ryou was wearing the Millenium Ring, a first for that particular week. "Hey, you're wearing the Ring again. Nice."

At the word 'Ring', Ryou zoned back in and groaned a bit. "This can't be happening..." he whispered as he turned away from his visitor and headed back to his room. Before he disappeared though, he motioned for Marik to come inside. He did so and closed the door behind him.

"Wait... What do you mean by that? What can't be happening?"

When Marik entered Ryou's room, he found the white-haired teen lying on his bed, staring at the ceiling and holding the Millenium Ring with one hand. "I just don't want to believe it."

"Believe what?" Marik sat on the computer chair. "What's been bothering you? Tell me."

Ryou sighed and sat up. "I... You did receive a call from here, but I have no memory of calling you myself."

"What? That doesn't make any sense! Unless you have someone here that called me and faked your voice. That would explain why you sounded a bit strange over the phone. You said, and I quote, 'Do me a favor and get your ass over here. Just do it, Ishtar'. I was thinking to myself 'What the frig is wrong with him today?'... So what did happen?"

"I..." How to explain this? Just straight out tell him? "Well, you know I keep having weird dreams about my yami, right?"

"Right..." Ryou had told him about it a few days ago.

"And the same happened last night. He kept telling me to wear the Ring, and that he was back. But I just couldn't believe it. I knew it wasn't real. I decided to study a bit and do some of the extra credit..."

"Oh, me too," Marik interrupted. "You mind helping me with the extra credit later?"

"Sure, anyway..." Ryou returned to the subject of his yami. "Before I started, I decided to wear the Millenium Ring for a while, just because I was home and not really doing much. So I did. A few hours later, after I had finished the extra credit and did some studying, I was playing a game. I was winning, too. Then I lost consciousness out of nowhere."

"Wha- Really?" Marik asked. He knew that something like that was rare for Ryou, especially nowadays. So why did it happen? "Keep going. When did you wake up?"

"I'm not sure about the timing, but I woke up in my soul room."

"Your soul room? But how would that happen? You shouldn't end up in there unless someone put you there or you purposely went there. So does that mean..."

Ryou held up a hand to stop his friend. "I'm getting there... So I um... left the room and I saw..." he trailed off, unable to continue.

"What? What did you see?" When Ryou didn't answer, Marik frowned and moved from where he was and sat next to him on the bed. He gently shook his shoulder. "Come on..." No answer. "Frig dammit, Ryou! Keep talking. I want to know what happened!"

Ryou sighed sadly. He was still in denial. He still didn't want to believe it. It was too much to hope for. And even if it was true, he didn't want it to be true. Despite how badly he wished Bakura was back, he still feared the ancient spirit's rage and control. It scared him. So, it was all but reasonable that Ryou didn't want to believe that he was back. "Well... I was probably dreaming, maybe even hallucination, but I thought I saw the door to Bakura's soul room."

Marik shot up and shouted, "OH MY HOLY FRIGGING RA! WHAT?!" His voice was so loud and his movements so sudden that Ryou flinched.

"I thought I saw it. I didn't have time to make sure. For all I know, I was simply looking in a mirror and I saw my own door in the reflection. I can't be certain."

"Are you kidding me?! It's totally obvious! Bakura is ba-"

Ryou quickly stood up, grabbed Marik, and put a hand over his mouth. Marik struggled against it and tried to free himself. "No! That just isn't possible. Don't even suggest it!"

Marik succeeded in freeing himself from Ryou's hold. "Why the hell not? Are you seriously doubting tha-" Marik stopped himself when he noticed the sad expression on Ryou's face. "What is wrong with you today?"

"I just can't... I don't want to believe it's true. I don't want it to be true!"

"Why not?"

"You know why..."

"No I d-" Wait... he did. He knew that Ryou missed Bakura. But he also knew that he still feared and hated Bakura. The torture and restriction and manipulation that he suffered at the hands of his yami were still a factor. Ryou missed, but feared, Bakura. So his response is to be in denial of his return? "Why?" he asked. "Why can't you believe that he's alive after all this time? I want to believe it as well."

"You don't get it. I'm not just denying it. I know it. I've worn and held the Millenium Ring several times in the past, and he didn't speak up or try to take over our- my- body again. And how could he be back after so many months? In what way could he possibly return? There's no way. He sacrificed his life for me. He is dead and gone. How could he be back?"

Every word that Ryou uttered made Marik angrier and angrier. And sadder, too. How could Ryou be so stupid about this?

"It's so frigging obvious! He talks to you in your dreams and has been for the past week that you've been wearing it again, even if it is only at night. You made a call to me, but don't remember it. You woke up in your soul room. You lost consciousness randomly. It's all pointing to one thing: BAKURA IS BACK!"

"If Bakura can come back, then wouldn't that mean that Melvin can too? Have you been hearing him?"

"I-" Now Marik wondered... Ryou had a point. If Bakura was back, why not Melvin? But he wanted to believe that Ryou's yami and not his yami was back, just as badly as Ryou wanted to believe he wasn't. "I... Because..."

Ryou smirked. And he wasn't one to smirk often, so it looked strange to see such a smile on such an innocent face as his. "See, Marik? You can't think of an explanation. I can. He's not back. This all makes no sense. I'm done with the strange dreams." He turned away from Marik. "I don't want to keep being reminded of it." He reached for the string around his neck to remove the Millenium Ring. "I have come to terms with it, but that doesn't mean I don't still shed a tear about it. And I don't want to anymo-" He stopped talking in the middle of the word when he felt something strange going on in his head. He had just wrapped his hands around the string that held up the Millenium Ring.

Then, he felt a sharp pain in his chest. It felt like someone was stabbing him. He cried out in pain. "AAAAAAAAAAAHHHH! HELP!"

Marik ran over to him and put a hand on his shoulder. "Ryou! What happened?!"

"I...it...the..." He couldn't speak properly at the moment. He sank to his knees and bent over in pain. His hands let go of the string. His left hand moved to the floor to hold him up; his right hand moved to his chest, holding it in pain.

The sharp stabbing pain was growing by the second instead of fading away as one might expect. "Help...again...it's..."

Marik knelt down next to him and put one hand on Ryou's back, the other on the hand pressed against his chest. "What happened? Are you having a heart attack?! Should I call-"

"NO! IT'S NOT...I know...the...my skin...five...but...promise..." Ryou continued speaking nonsense, his mind preoccupied on the agonizing stabbing feelings in his chest.

Marik moved his hand away from Ryou's with the idea of calling for help. But he stopped and stared at his hand. It had blood on it. But it couldn't be his because he hadn't ben cut or anything like that. So it was Ryou's? He looked over at the boy on the floor, still in the same position.

Ryou knew exactly what had happened. Now, there was no more doubt in his mind of the truth. He had felt this same type of pains before and after a time had become familiar with how it felt. But that didn't mean he had ever grown used to it or overcame the pain of it. As best as he could manage, he turned to Marik and moved his hand away.

Marik gasped loudly at what he saw. Underneath Ryou's hand was the Millenium Ring, which was glowing slightly. And all five points were tearing though his shirt and impaled his chest.

"How...?"

"Bakura...is...back."