Sasami: After far too long, I bring you the next chappie of Reality. *^^

Nijuu:  Ohohohohoho! I'm back! Miss me much? As is standard procedure…the disclaimer!

If we owned Yuugiou, would it have been allowed to be dubbed? o.O

Sasami: Thankies! *^^ I'll thank all of you reviewers at the bottom! And now onto the chappie brought to you by none other than:

Yami no Malik.

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Reality

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How wrong you are.

How wrong you all are.

I have felt it clawing at me, forcing itself upon me, staking its claim over my mind. Have you ever been so fortunate? My nature has never changed, but suddenly, death and destruction and violence and hate make me insane. Only in your eyes mortal fools. I could have drowned the world in blood you would have never noticed, except that now I have threatened you.

Fear it! Quiver in terror and let your screams hang in the air, cloying and delicious as the reddened wine you poured for me. Insanity is it? Who was it that begged for redemption when facing a demon? Who is insane now? Your life has become mine, and I have gladly emptied your glass.

He likes me better this way. Stained and high on tainted euphoria, painting the floor with your indispensable life, the taste of copper transferred to his lips. He's as hungry as I am for your destruction. But he calls it love.

Lust and passion and violent attraction, but love? I cannot know what you have not given to me.

How confused you are. You call me a spirit, tell me you love me, and yet you do not comprehend this thing. You don't realize what it is yet that ties us down to this Ra forsaken place. I am not a spirit, not like those weak fools who seek to destroy us; I am a part of you, your darkest parts. Hate and violence and despair and longing and loneliness. Love was never a part of that equation, yet you expect me to understand it.

We are beyond power struggles and contempt for one another, so why are we still buying our time here? It's like a painting. Our dreams in red. I've been substituting colors all this time, because you are the only one with the proper shade…but I'm not ready for it yet.

You hold our trump card though. If we want out of this, all I need is that paint…but you are not ready to give it either. You aren't ready to give up on the power scarred in your flesh [1] any more than I am. So we'll lay here in lust, entangled in our future, biding our time until we can reach the ultimate means to our end.

We don't have a chance. We'll lose. We already have, and yet we keep trying despite ourselves. I've offered you a taste of our dreams, crimson and beating and flowing metallic and rich. In the end, isn't that why we are still floundering here in existence? In the end, isn't that the raison d'être [2] for these silent contemplations? Isn't it? There is nothing left here for us, and yet we linger in the shadows. Couldn't we just hide here? Forever in the shadows where we belong. Waiting. Always waiting.

Dreams of red and dreams of nothingness haunt me. Here we are, trapped in this masterpiece of crimson upon ruby upon scarlet, ever painting to keep the canvas moist, always awaiting another coat. Each hue different than the next. Every tone, thousands upon thousands of them, varied from the last subordinate shade. It's incomplete you know, and you are the only one who can finish it. But not yet, not until we've reached the last page of this haunting story. Not until you've submitted to defeat. Not until the strains of eternity drag us back to our darkness. Not until you've found the power you seek, until we've sated our desires. Then I'll find us a corner of shadows, beyond the red in an perpetual void. Darkness where we can sleep. Silence where we can hide. Nothingness where we can be undisturbed for the remainder of time. A place where you can finally rest your head and clear your mind of this troubled existence. Anti climatic perhaps, but it is all that we have ever needed.

You call it love, this thing that keeps us here. I think it might be ambition that keeps us and not love at all. A mutual strive for a mutual goal. But then again, I do not know of love, so perhaps you are correct. Perhaps your love is not an unfathomable concept when all is said and done. Perhaps it is our reality.

But when you have been blinded by something you have never seen, what is reality?

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Authoress notes:

[1]- refers to Malik's back, where the secret of the power of the pharaoh was tattooed…or something to that effect

[2]- underlying principle, justification [at least that's what the thesaurus says]…French I think, also the name of a Chobits song

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No beta reader for this story, so I apologize if there are questionable parts in my writing.

Thank you:

shitsumon: *huggles* That did make me all happy! Mmmm…Story #1 is now titled, Case Study, but it is still quite far from finished. *^^ I'm hoping to have it out before the end of the year.

SoulDreamer: I did continue…see! And there is more yet to come! *^^

yuu: I am thinking about doing Yami no Bakura and Ryou chappies, but they haven't quite come together yet. I'm glad everyone seems in character, I can never tell. *grin*

crazytomboy1: I swear I didn't forget them!!! I love-s those two, the muses just haven't deemed a chappie 'inspire worthy' yet. I did do a Y/YY chappie, sort of. The first chappie is Yuugi's, and my story Sins of a Shadow is Yami no Yuugi's equivalent. *plugged story* Nyaha! *^^

TresTriste: It's kosher if you don't like a chappie based on a character, but thank you for the input on the characterization. Mmmm…thankies. I do get a clever line or two every once in a while.

Rae: I promise I'll write more…more often too maybe. *^^ I am a sucker for fluffy/angsty stories…

Neko-baka-chan-chan-sensei: *glomp* Thankies! *uber happy that you reviewed* This chappie is another fun one. *^^

Twilight Dreams: aren't they though? I like them too. *^^ Yeaness!

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That be all for now folk-les! ßpronounced like Popples…anyone else remember those things?