Authoress's Note: Okay. By the way, this is my first fic on FF.net. If stuff doesn't turn out right, please give me something constructive that will help me. Thanks. : - )

                        Disclaimer still applies. I don't own "Yu-Gi-Oh!" and probably never will.

            By the way, Pegasus, Yami Bakura, and Bakura are my favorite characters on the show. Just thought you might want to know. Oh, and I also like reading psychology books. I find Pegasus fascinating.

            I hope you like the continuation of this fic. More is on the way. This story is all I can think about. And I have no idea how it will end.

            Pegasus had his back to Bakura. It was dark in the room. All the shades were drawn, and only a think crack of light dared to shine into the room. Pegasus had lit a solitary white candle. He was moving his hands for some reason and standing near one of the curtains. Bakura thought he saw the green leaves of a plant peek out every thirty seconds.

            The silence was deafening.

            After what seemed like forever, Pegasus spoke. His voice was controlled, emotionless, but Bakura could see through him.

            "What have you done?"

            Bakura remained silent, aware of the slight prodding at his mind. He ignored the prodding, knowing that his shields were way above Pegasus's Millennium Eye. Slowly, Pegasus turned around, and Bakura's mental storm of emotions and thoughts intensified. Over all of his thoughts was a small, feeble whisper in his mind. It was not Fallen; it was a thought that had just popped in: I wonder what it would be like to kiss—

            He pushed it away before it could even complete itself.

            "I know you did something to me."

            Gently, Bakura prodded at Pegasus's emotions. The flood that resulted was almost too much for him to bear. He felt Pegasus's pain, confusion, fear, and then the worst thing of all: hunger. He realized that Pegasus had no idea what to do and took a step back. How was he supposed to know what he had done to Pegasus?

            "It's driving me mad," Pegasus said softly.

            "Only hunger," he replied in a whisper. "Nothing more than that."

            "But the food has no substance. The wine has no taste. It doesn't stop it. You know what I need to do."

            "Yes."

            "Then tell me."

            "Bring someone in, preferably someone you are not attached to," Bakura said quietly, wondering if he was doing the right thing.

            Several seconds later, the door opened and closed. A tall man in a suit came in, but what had Bakura expected? He closed his eyes and made his way over to Pegasus's employee. I bit his neck and bled him just enough for the scent of blood to reach Pegasus.

            "Oh Gods…" Pegasus said. He grabbed the curtain with a determination I had never seen in my life. His natural eye was wide. "You don't expect me to—

            I looked at him meaningfully. "Pegasus, it's no different than what you do with that damned Eye."

            "But… at least then the body is still alive!"

            "You have ordered people to be killed before."

            "But…"

            "Just do it. I thought you were supposed to be some maniacal psychopath! After all you've done, you shouldn't even feel guilty!"

            "But—

            Bakura was aware of Fallen laughing at him. It's really nice, isn't it, being on the other side for once? Now you know how I feel when I have to deal with you!

            Deciding that Pegasus's newly developed morals were a pain, Bakura reached out and grabbed Pegasus by the neck with one hand and shoved the dazed guard at him with the other. He turned away, greeted by the smell of fresh blood and a small moan from Pegasus. Listening to that was really disturbing.

            He sat down in a chair and closed his eyes, wishing he were somewhere else, wishing that Fallen hadn't decided to take revenge for what had happened. Yet, despite all his resentment toward his dark half, he felt the lips pressed so gently upon his own and that caring, sensitive whisper that he had to get up. Fallen… cared?

            Over his troubled thoughts, he was aware of someone close by crying.

            Yami wanted blood. Now. When he was Pharaoh, he maimed, killed, tortured… anything to sate his temper for just another few weeks. He hadn't felt that way since he killed Fallen. And Bakura was making him nervous; how could he run that fast? It made no sense at all; could that be Fallen instead of Bakura? It didn't seem unlikely, in fact, it seemed very probable. Fallen knew everything about Bakura, and they were so similar in appearance that you could hardly tell them apart.

            Why had Pegasus taken him?

            "Hey, are you okay there? You're not looking too hot." Joey.

            "I'm fine."

            "Hey, if there's anything you want to talk about, I'm here, right with you every step of the way."

            "Thank you."

            "Téa and Tristan went to go find some food with that book. I mean, we have to eat something. I wonder how good the food is in the dungeon Bakura's probably in. Did you see the look on that creep's face when he started running? I really showed him who's the boss, didn't I, Yugi?"

            Yami sighed. The fact that he wasn't really Yugi was still above Joey. Besides, only Yugi and Bakura knew what he liked to be called, and Yugi was asleep in his soul room at the moment. He had been tired lately, tired and hurt all because of Bakura. Or Fallen. It depended on who you thought was in that head.

            Deep down, Yami knew Bakura had been terrified when he took control. He knew Bakura wouldn't have cringed at Joey; his dark half was merciless and, at times, abusive.

            "I don't know, Joey, I really don't," he replied. "It seems so odd."

            "Yeah, that little creep was pretty darn near crying when we got done with him. We probably put him in his place. He deserves whatever Pegasus is doing to him up in that castle. Isn't that right, Yugi?"

            No response.

            "Yugi?"

            His light side replaced the darker Yami quickly, as Yami didn't trust himself to keep quiet about a few things, and Yugi was just sitting there with his eyes open like some sort of zombie.

            Joey backed away from him. "I guess you need some time to yourself. Yugi, you need some time to accept that not everyone's good. Some people are born rotten."

            Yugi pulled his knees up to his chin and looked at the setting sun. He whispered, "Bakura," to the coming night and buried his head in his hands. Lately, he had just been so tired. He wanted to sleep…

            …And woke up somewhere around two in the morning.

            There was a darkened figure sitting just outside the camp. Yugi got to his feet and ran towards the person, carefully quiet. "Bakura."

            "I'm sorry, Yugi. I let you guys down."

            "Why did you go away? What happened up at Pegasus's castle?"

            "There are some things that you're not ready to know yet, Yugi. I came here to warn you."

            "Warn me of what?" He felt like this had happened before.

            "The world isn't just in black and white. There are shades in between."

            "Bakura, I don't understand."

            "Watch your back. I can't protect you forever, and sooner or later you're going to have to choose."

            "Choose what?"

            Bakura seemed to melt into the shadows. Yugi was, for the first time in his life, terrified. He tried to grab Bakura and save his friend from the darkness; how could someone so beautiful and light fade away so suddenly?

            "Bakura!" he screamed. "Bakura!"

            His screams ripped everyone from really good dreams.

            "Yugi! What are you screaming about?"

            "Bakura was here…"

            Téa and Joey were pale, while Tristan had fallen asleep again, trying to immerse himself back in his dream about Mai.

            "What happened?" Téa, reasonable, faithful Téa.

            Yugi felt a presence in his mind suddenly, not invading, but there all the same. A voice told him to keep quiet.

            "I thought I saw Bakura. He said something to me, but then he disappeared."

            Joey looked at him. "I know you're taking his betrayal really hard, but you don't have to wake us up every time you have a nightmare about him. Face it. Bakura doesn't care about us at all!"

            Yugi thought he saw tears in Joey's eyes, but Joey walked away before he could ask. Téa hugged Yugi and smiled at him.

            "Yugi, I'm really sorry about what happened with Bakura. I know how you feel about him; you can't hide it from me. I don't think he shared the same feelings for you. I think it might be the time to move on. If you keep your mind in the past, you'll miss all the beauty around you."

            "Okay, Téa."

            She smiled at him again and put her lips close to his ear. "Besides, I think Joey is a little jealous." She was whispering so softly that he thought he heard her wrong.

            After she went back to bed, Yugi decided he needed some sleep. He settled down and felt himself nearing sleep. A familiar presence smoothed his hair and laid down beside him. He opened his eyes and looked into the dark eyes set in the pale face, chocolate orbs in a statue carved from vanilla.

            The last words he heard were, "I'm sorry." Then he abandoned himself to dreams.

            Bakura eased himself to his feet, careful not to disturb Yugi. He walked away from their small camp, keeping the memories at bay. Never had he felt so lost and alone; he couldn't face what he had done to Pegasus. He couldn't get close to Yugi.

            "For some reason, I find the mental pain you are putting yourself through very unnecessary."

            "Leave me alone."

            Fallen brushed his hand across Bakura's cheek. "No."

            Bakura felt the hot tears well up in his eyes, and he started to cry. Before he could do much of anything, there was a sharp pain on his cheek. His eyes widened and he saw Fallen's hand poised for another slap. It sent him into the tree.

            "Don't cry. I won't have it."

            He wiped the tears off his light's face. Bakura cringed and smelled hot, sticky blood; there was a wet feeling on the back of his head. Surprisingly, he didn't feel much pain. The more he tried to find where it hurt, the number the area was.

            "Don't hurt me."

            He braced himself for another assault, but instead was hugged. What surprised him even more was that he hugged back.

            They were sitting on the forest floor, hugging, when Pegasus decided it was the perfect time to show up. He felt very embarrassed and tried to hide in the shadows, but when you're as tall and beautiful as he is, it is kind of hard for others not to notice.

            Fallen noticed first. He looked up at Pegasus and growled. "Do you mind?"

            Pegasus's face went beet red. "Um…" he began, and then started blabbering like an idiot. Well, if anyone else had come upon the two snuggling, they would have been blithering idiots, too. "I wasn't… I didn't mean…"

            Bakura looked at him. "If you want to remain on everyone's good side, I advise you to be a good boy and do exactly what he says."

            Pegasus shut his mouth and ran.

            "Now, where were we…" Fallen's voice jarred Bakura back to what was going on. "Ah, yes, I remember…"

            Fallen and Bakura kissed.

            "I wish none of this had ever happened," he said sometime around dawn. "I know it had to happen, but I wish this wasn't…"

            "I know what you're talking about. You really wish it hadn't happened, that it hadn't ended this way?"

            "Yes."

            Fallen looked up and grinned. "We're going to the Shadow Realm."

            Bakura waited silently as his dark half knocked. He knocked three times fast, two times slow, and did five knocks in something that reminded him of syncopation. Bakura almost wet himself when he saw who opened the door.

            It was the Reaper. And it spoke.

            "Hey, Yami Bakura. Oh, that's right! You've assumed the name Fallen!" A girl's voice, southern accent. She took off her hood and the skeleton mask.

            "So, what do you want? I was about ready to get out and reap some cards in the graveyard, but I guess that can wait an hour or two. It's not like they can go anywhere."

            "You're a girl?" Bakura asked.

            "You can't expect me to change gender just because of my job!"

            He felt very, very stupid.

            Fallen decided to mend what he had done. "So, where's your husband at?"

            "Oh, Death's always busy. I swear that he needs some sort of helper in his job. Too much on him. He needs a nice vacation. Pretty soon, our son will go out and help him, but I don't think that's going to be enough. So, what do you want?"

            "You know."

            "Yes, and you know that I can't change it once it happens."

            Fallen nodded. "Erase his memory of this, at least make it seem like a dream, and make things like this had never happened."

            She brought them into the house. "And what does the socially graced vampire have to say about this?"

            "Please."

            "Well, I guess that's good enough."

            She murmured some words. Everything went black.

            They say that Yugi's forehead glowed when the final words were spoken and that a great wave came and tried to crush the island, carrying the hopes and dreams of many with it.

            The author wouldn't end this story without a lot of pain and discovery. Nothing could end like that. But the spell did close the first chapter of Bakura's life.

            Thus, Fallen was no more and was Yami Bakura.

            But the world was far from well off.