Marik watched as Yugi and his friends bade them farewell and ran into the airport to make their flight. They were all happily laughing, despite losing their friend Pharaoh Atem. How could they be so at peace with everything?

Marik had to be glad for them, too. The Pharaoh that his family had served for millennia had now returned to his resting place. Their mission was over, and it was time to rest. He could finally experience all he wanted to do with his life to its fullest.

Except he couldn't really, not without that person he cared for the most—the one they had banished for all eternity.

Ryou Bakura was the slowest of the gang. He'd fallen behind and had only just caught up. He was dragging more luggage than he could handle himself. Marik suffered watching that innocent shell of a person get stuck lugging everyone else's bags, simply because he was too polite to refuse.

In his rush, the wheel of the bottom roller bag caught on a stone just as he passed where Marik stood. The tower toppled over and Ryou looked with panic as the automatic sliding doors closed just ten feet ahead. His friends had left him behind, and it wasn't the first time. Desperately, his fragile hands began to stack the bags up again as quickly as possible. It wasn't any good. He was too nervous and to panicked to stack them so they stayed stable. His head turned once again to the airport door. His friends were no longer visible.

Marik couldn't watch it anymore. It was sad. He and stepped towards him. He picked up the larger bags and began to place them on the bottom roller first. Ryou looked up from the ground and watched Marik restore the luggage tower to it's former stability.

The last bag was a small pink one, belonging to Tea. Beginning to feel the pressure of his uselessness, Ryou reached out to grab it, trying to offer help. But Marik's hand had come around the handle first, and their fingers touched. Marik froze in his bent over position, his blonde bangs casting a shadow over the upper half of his face.

The touch was empty. He could feel his world sinking into emptiness. He really had lost his dear friend.
His dropped the bag into Ryou's hands and straightened himself. "You should hurry," said a voice that sounded like his own. "You'll miss your flight."

Ryou stood up and bowed a thank you. Then he went to continue into the building of the airport, the only sign of modern civilization for miles. He only turned back once before the door closed to make sure all the bags were there. Then he continued his helpless rushing, and the doors shut on a nothing.b
That was it? It was over? Marik held his breath, trying to cling on to that memory, because even if it wasn't really him, that was the closest to a proper goodbye he would ever get. He turned slowly back around to his brother and sister.

Ishizu and Odeon smiled at him, and he had to return with his own smile. He had caused them enough pain, and he would not ruin this moment of accomplishment for them. "Let's go home then," he said, remaining outwardly enthusiastic.

Ishizu nodded, turning to her younger brother with pride. "And to think after all these years, you were the tomb keeper meant to complete our family's purpose."

He blinked. "Was that our only purpose?"

She was taken aback by his question. Her long but thin eyelashes butterflied as her eyelids adjusted to her surprise. "Of course not," she replied.

He wanted to ask, "Then what else?" But her visible excitement at the possibilities silenced him. Instead, he answered, "I'm sure we have full lives ahead of us."

Lies. Everything from now on would have to be a lie. Outside of this city lay the vast desert of Egypt. You could disappear in a desert like that, he thought. It would be so easy. Just pick a direction and walk straight on ahead, never to be seen again, like having never existed.