I stepped through the doorway of light, right behind Atem, taking only a brief moment to glance back at Marik, the man whom I had called my lover since the Battle City Finals. The Egyptian smiled sadly, as if he could see my spirit fading into the afterlife.
I stepped into the light and came out in a beautiful garden courtyard. Before me, the Pharaoh was happily greeting his friends. Never before had I felt so out of place. At no point in my 5,000/3,000 -plus years had I expected to see anything like this. I'd been told my whole life that I was damned and guaranteed to have my soul devoured by Ammut.
Unsure of what to do, I turned back to the door I'd just passed through. From this side, it just looked like a solid stone tablet. I pressed my palm to the surface and watched my hand disappear.
"You shouldn't go back." A deep voice warned me. I turned to face the voice, finding Atem standing beside me. Never before had I seen the Pharaoh's face so calm and relaxed.
"I wasn't…" I began to reply, but stopped myself.
"I don't belong here. I have to go back." I explained, giving a longing glance to the door, but Atem only smiled.
"This is paradise. The afterlife we all look forward to. You belong here. Not in the world of the living." He patted me on the shoulder and walked back to his friends. It was easy for him to say that, with his friends and family here to be with him, but the only ones I'd ever loved were either trapped in the Millennium Items or still living in Egypt and Domino City.
"I'm not done living." I sighed, walking away from the doorway and deeper into the garden. Atem was right, of course, about this being paradise. Flowers of every breed and color imaginable were in full bloom all around me. Fountains flowing with pure, cold water were everywhere. It was a considerable change compared to first the deserts of ancient Egypt and then a modern city like Domino.
Except, no matter how hard I tried to convince myself that I belonged here, a certain teen's voice would sound in my head and tell me otherwise.
"Shut up Marik!" I snapped. Great. Now I'm yelling at someone who isn't even here. I simply couldn't understand why, when I was surrounded by light and warmth, all I wanted was to hear that annoyingly thick Egyptian accent and kiss his soft lips once more.
I walked to one of the fountains and looked into the shimmering water. My reflection surprised me, for since I'd become Ryou's Yami, I'd seen only the boy's reflection. Now I gazed down into the face of a distant memory. He had the same unnaturally white hair as Ryou, but instead of a soft brown, his eyes were a dull purple color. The usually white skin was replaced by a golden tan and there was a thick scar under his right eye.
"The Thief King once again." He murmured, touching the surface of the water. The reflection rippled and shifted into a much more familiar face, though it was not mine.
Lavender eyes stared up at me from the water, spilling over with tears. It took me a moment to realize that Marik wasn't actually looking at me, but holding a conversation with Ryou.
"He can't actually be gone Ryou! Maybe he's just stuck inside the Millennium Ring again." Ryou sighed and shook his head.
"He's not, Marik. He's gone." He tried to explain. The distraught Egyptian crumpled to the floor and covered his face with his hands. Ryou kneeled beside him and tried to comfort him as the image began to fade.
"Perhaps you really don't belong here…" said another familiar voice. I turned to face Priest Mahado.
"I knew that much. But how do I get back? It's not like I have a body to return to."
"What about Ryou? Isn't he your host?" the older man asked, leaning against the fountain.
"Not a willing host."
"Are you so sure? Perhaps he's more willing than you think." I quirked my eyebrow as Mahado waved his hand over the fountain and another image appeared.
"… I would Marik, really, but he's not here, so I can't. How can I be a host to a soul that isn't here? If he'd come back, I would gladly be his host again. I feel so strange without him…" The image faded again.
"You just have to walk back through that door. It's been almost a year in the world of the living, but your ties to Ryou are still quite strong. Go back now and be with them, where you belong."
"A year? But I just got here." Mahado shrugged.
"Time passes differently here. I could swear that I've only been here a few years, but in their world, it's been over 5,000/3,000." I looked at the ground for a moment.
"If I leave, will I ever be able to come back when it's my time?" Though I knew I needed to go back to Marik, I didn't want to be stuck in limbo when Marik went to the afterlife.
"That's for the gods to decide. I suggest you go before too much time passes and they forget about you." With that warning, I didn't even stop to consider my decision any more. I jogged back to the doorway. There was no one in the courtyard, which was probably a good thing.
I ran through the doorway without pause, bursting into the ancient tomb I'd nearly just left. It looked exactly the same as it had, though it had been over a year since I'd been there. It took me a moment to adjust to the change, but when I did, I heard a soft whimpering coming from the back of the dark room. I walked over, expecting to find an animal that had been abandoned, but instead, found just he person I longed to see.
"Marik?" I asked, kneeling beside him. He looked up, tears staining his face. When our eyes met, a look of pure anguish passed over his. I reached out to comfort him, but remembered that I was only a spirit.
"You're not real. Bakura's gone. Forever." He sobbed. He could see me! And he thought I was a hallucination…
"Marik, it's me. I'm really here." I tried to tell him, but he only cried harder and cradled a black object to his chest. Looking closer, I realized that it was my black trench coat.
"You really kept it. After the entire year I was gone." I whispered, reaching out and cupping his cheek. Though he was shivering, he skin was hot, almost as though he had a fever. His face was wet from tears and more spilled over my fingers as I caressed his soft skin. He reached up and covered my hand with his.
Wait a minute… I was touching him. I could feel him under my hands. And what as more, he could feel me. I had a body!
Realizing this, I threw my arms around him and cradled him to my chest as his sobs became louder. His whole body was shivering. His hands untangled from my coat and wrapped tentatively around my chest. When he realized that I wouldn't dematerialize when he held me, he tightened his hold to a death grip. I could hardly breath, but I didn't care.
I was alive, whole and finally back to my dearest love.
A/N:
Thanks, ChaosRocket, for telling me it was all in bold. I didn't know, as I posted it at some ungoldy hour of the night and didn't pay tons of attention.
Also, They are so OOC because:
1. Bakura has passed into the afterlife, thus ridding him of all evil or vengful feelings. I've always understood that to be the way that whole afterlife thing works...
2. Marik struck me as someone who was heavily ruled by emotion, (Hence him wanting revenge on a dead person and having an insane Yami). I decided that he would be totally lost without the one person he loved.
And as for the 3,000/5,000 years thing, I went with the english version, since that one is the widly accepted version. But for all of you who watched the accurate version, I've edited it a bit. ^^