Disclaimer: If you've read this far and still, somehow, think that I own Yu-Gi-Oh, you obviously haven't been reading the notes I put at the beginning of each chapter. Naughty, -naughty- readers.

Warnings: Shounen-ai, mild cussing, manipulation of an Ancient Greek myth, ARTISTIC LICENCE TAKEN!!!

Pairings: (main) Bakura/Ryou, Mariku/Malik, (minor) Yami/Yugi, Seto/Jou,

A.N: Oh wow, it hasn't been two years since the last update! Aren't you proud of me? No? Well you should be. pouts I've restarted Uni for the year, so if updates aren't regular, that's likely what's holding them up. Not that I've ever been particular in update times…but let's not talk about that.

Oh yeah, while I think of it: Just letting you know that 'God time' and time on earth moves a little differently…mostly being much faster for the mortals then the gods. Just clearing that up to stop confusion before it starts.

Review tally is: 223. To those of you who were waiting for that last update, thank you so much for keeping this on your alert button and taking the time to review. You give me many happy fuzzles 3 To those who've just started reading, welcome to the long haul of waiting for Osi to update. XD

On with the show!

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As the majority of people like to believe, there are a great deal more good people in the world then there are bad. This little fact was getting a rather large cussing out by Malik as he, and Mariku of course, looked over the Elysian Fields from a large hill on the border. To the god of Harvest's eyes the expanse of paradise seemed never-ending, an estimate which wasn't too far off. How was he meant to find Ryou amongst all this? In a normal scenario, Malik would have just stopped at all of his brother's favorite places, the small brooks and flower glades more specifically, yet just how many of these places would there be down here? He had no idea if the landscape was even permanent, or could be changed at the inhabitant's will. If the latter were the case he was, in a word, screwed. Having been so caught up in his dilemma, Malik hadn't even noticed Mariku jabbering away, as usual.

"It's been ages since Bakura let me visit him! Last time he wouldn't even let me in past the main foyer, something about me breaking things too much. No idea why though, with the amount of vases he breaks, me visiting would hardly make a difference!" Expecting Malik to follow, Mariku placed both hands behind his head, looking up at the 'sky'. "You know, all that blue up there: Totally isn't real. Whoever made the Elysian Fields sure did a good job. But you have to wonder, how'd they get the sun to shine? It can't be real sun, but it really feels like-"

"Oh, would you just shut up? You've been helpful, yes, but all you seem to do it yap, yap, yap! It's enough to drive me insane!" Malik finally snapped, pivoting to send the guardian a heated glare and raising a hand to shush him before he even begun a retort. "No, you're going to listen to me for once. I have no idea why you're following me, harassing me, or why you're bothering me at all really, but I think it's time for us to part ways. Just…point me in the direction of the palace, and be on your way."

Mariku was, surprisingly, silent after Malik's little outburst, just watching the God of Harvest pant quietly – yelling was rather tiring, after all – before making any move. Stepping forward he reached out, cupping Malik's cheek. Despite the shorter man's fierce glare, Mariku leant closer, until their noses almost touched. Looking strangely solemn, he closed his eyes…

… and pulled at Malik's cheek with his thumb and forefinger, distorting his face somewhat and making a 'nyahhhhh!' sound.

"Sunshine, you're so mean!" He cooed, ignoring Malik's angry, and rather colorful, cussing. "If you wanted some space, you should have just said so!"

"I did a thousand times you bloody-"

"No matter!" With this, Mariku abruptly let go of Malik's cheeks, skipping a step backwards and grinning. "They do say that, if you truly love someone, you let them go and they'll come back to you! I see you wish to see if I remain true to you; do not fear, Sunshine. I shall return!" No sooner then this was said, Mariku almost seemed to vanish, he left that quickly.

Well, that hadn't…quiet gone as planned.

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Has Bakura been anyone else, he would have been nervous, blushing, or possibly jumping around in a rather hyper manner at this point in time. Being Bakura, however, God of the Underworld and of all the Dead, he kept these happy-happy-joy-joy thoughts to himself, contenting the bubbly feeling within his lower gut by smirking. A happy smirk, but a smirk none the less. Why was he happy? Ryou was happy, that's why; happy enough that, quite subconsciously, he had slipped his hand into Bakura's own, holding it lightly.

It was enough to make Bakura believe that Christmas, Easter and his birthday had all come at once (1).

While the Elysian Fields were mostly just that – Fields, that is – they were considered paradise. Mixed buildings stood amongst the fertile paradise; a gymnasium, a resting place (though Bakura took the time to explain that, as everyone down here was dead, they didn't really need sleep. Some of them just couldn't shake the habit.), and even a small market of sorts. Woven between these structures were natural beauties rivaling those Ryou and Malik had been creating upon Earth since the dawn of time, lush grass and bubbling brooks, great sweeping trees and more flowers then you could shake a stick at. A tapestry of cross-hatched greens stretched as fast as Ryou's eye could see. There were, however, no farms. No crops, no orchards marred the expanses of green before him. It saddened him; this was paradise, but the simple pleasure of eating was denied to the dead. Well, not denied, but if they ever wanted to return to the world, eating was out of the question. Bakura had described how, after one thousand years, the dead could drink the Waters of Forgetfulness and return to the earth, remembering nothing about their stay, nor their previous lives.

It was depressing. His hand curled within Bakura's palm, tightening its hold. He knew what he was doing, what his hand was doing, but he honestly didn't care. Malik wasn't here to berate him, and Bakura had been nothing but the gentleman throughout Ryou's visit (Well…aside from that trial. Ryou was willing to overlook this; Bakura had just been doing his job, after all). Surely there wouldn't be any harm in…being a little friendly? A little more then friendly? He didn't see Bakura complaining, at any rate, as his host's larger, rougher hand squeezed his in return.

Their moment was shattered, almost literally, when Bakura found himself rather intimately meeting the lush grass that was now beneath his face.

"Baaaaaaaakuraaaaa!"

Bakura had to ignore Ryou's giggles as he squirmed beneath a rather happy, psychotic, spikey-haired excuse for a watchman. "Mariku, get off me this second, so help me, or I'll-"

"I missssssed you, 'Kura! You never let me visit anymore! And I even brought a Pretty-Sunshine this time too! Or…" Mariku, looking quiet happy seated atop Bakura's back, slid a sly look towards Ryou. "Have you already found your own Sunshine, 'Kura?"

"Get off me, you spikey-headed fool!" Seeing that Bakura was moving a few notches above the usual grumpy level, Mariku rolled to the side, and the God of the Dead stood slowly, dusting his tunic off and shooting the Guardian dark looks. "Ryou, this is Mariku, one of the more dimwitted entities you're likely to find down here." Mariku waved, lolling about on his back lazily, and Ryou just…looked at him. Aside from the goofy grin and, rather obvious, slighty mental instability, Mariku bore great likeness to Malik. There were obvious differences of course, the spiky hair and reddish eyes being just two of them, but it was somewhat disconcerting none-the-less.

"You have a guest, you know, 'Kura." Mariku continued, eyeing the two, upside down, silver-haired men in his vision. He vaguely wondered why, if they were upside down, their tunics didn't fall up, before resuming. "Sunshine. He seems pretty unhappy with you, and has one helluva throwing arm." About to show the two the bruises he still sported from Malik's bread-throwing moments, he paused as Bakura tensed, and angry cloud seeming to settle on his brow.

"Damn. He was quicker then I thought." Malik just grinned.

"Course he was! I helped him through, I did, just like a good host should-"

"You helped him?" Quiet conscious that Ryou was still there, listening curiously, Bakura pinched the bridge of his nose before taking a long, deep breath. After this he counted up, then down, to and from ten, before even daring to open his eyes. Funnily enough, he felt strangely calm, almost relieved. Knowing where your enemy was apparently was less stressful then just waiting for them. Silence reigned for a few more moments – Mariku rolling about on the grass happily, while Ryou broke a few split ends off from his hair – before Bakura made his decision. "Mariku, take Ryou back to the palace."

"You don't want to-"

"Mariku, shut up and just…do as I say for once, alright? This is important." Seeing as Mariku was just staring at him blankly, Bakura gritted his teeth in frustration. "Please?"

The world stood still for just a moment.

"Yes, I said please. You can stop staring at me now and just bloody well get on with it!" Bakura's eyes were darkening and, knowing the warning signs and just how much effort it must have taken the other God to have said the P-word, Mariku darted over, hoisted Ryou over his shoulder, and promptly made both him and the younger boy scarce. Following at a much more leisurely, civil pace, Bakura took a few moments to position himself on the path in front of his palace gates - leaning against the railing, one foot against the barrier, arms crossed, sinister smirk in place – before waiting. He wasn't disappointed; no more then five minutes had passed before a blonde head of fury could be seen looming across the nearby hills, preluding the path one very angry Malik would take towards the King of the Dead.

Show down of the century, anyone (2)?

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(1) Not that, you know, there was such a –thing- as Christmas back then. Or Easter. But it's the expression that counts and all, right?

(2) HA! Cliffy! I feel EVIL cackles

AN: I meant to get this up before Easter but…on the day, no so bad, right? It was meant to be longer, really, but I felt I should get it out and leave the fireworks until next chapter. Hope you all enjoyed it!

And review reply time! Huzzah!

Falcona: I'm trying, I'm trying. x.x I just get so distracted.

S2Teennovelist: I'm actually rather afraid that they're all totally out of character x.x Which they probably are, but you never really see these guys in normal situations, so I took advantage of that to make them as...fan-happy as possible XD For my own sake as well as the readers! Thanks for the review.

Jazhira: ; Sorry I took so long, my muse has been...comatose for a little while. eyes it, it still being asleep I'm glad you're still enjoying the story though, and thanks for the review!

JaklynToki: Whoo, thanks for sticking with me! 3 I might be a tad slow in updating now (but wasn't I always?), but I really want to get this thing -finished-. x.x It deserves it.

El loopy: Welcome to the wonderful world of waiting ages for Osi to update. chuckles I'm glad you're enjoying it thus far.

Youko's Kitsune Girl: The story basically is that, if you're not dead, but you eat something from the Underworld, you'll never be able to leave as you've literally taken death into you. Ryou dosn't want that, now. XD

Light: It -is- pretty surprising to see something updated after so long. I hadn't actually forgotten about it I'm just...well...really, really lazy. So hopefully I'll get this finished this year. x.x Then can torture you all with something new.

hershey-kiss: waves frantically Glad you're still with me! And thank youuuu!. The writing style might be kinda different because, well, the first half of that chapter was written two years ago, then the rest this year. Probably makes it a little rough, and the style change more noticeable. x.x Hopefully things will smoothed out a little in this chapter.

XoXSilverDragonXoX: Wow, three reviews! I feel loved. XD Thank you for all three of them. Alright, onto replying to what you said; I know Tarturus is the prison for the Titans but, as far as I'm aware, later on in the Ancient Greek civilisation it also doubled as a hell-esque sort of place. Such as for...gods, I forgot his name, the one who continuously was unable to eat and drink because the foodstuffs kept slipping away from him. x.x Sorry I can't remember the name. As for the Underworld not being hell...aware of this too. I mean...I have kinda, you know, described the three sections of it . . Elysian Fields, Fields of Mourning and Tarturus. Of course, the divisions depend on the time of whatever you're reading. x.x So inconsistent.

As for the Furies, I didn't actually know it was just a mental torment. Well...hm...they can be physical in the Underworld. I claim artistic licence! At any rate, I'm glad you're enjoying the story. XD Hope this chapter is up to scratch!

Mystik Genie, Animehunter08, HappyDevil, Ragna01, Sekre, RosenMaidan, Joe (Your review totally didn't come through XD!), moocow33, chibikuro rose-sama