Dark silk-clad legs slid around his waist. One slipped under the man's left leg, sliding along his groan, eliciting a deep moan from his throat. A firm body pressed against his back and a mewling voice resonated in his drums, soft petal lips brushing against his ear chastely.

            "Fancy seeing you here."

            'Oh please,' he would have said normally, 'that's so overused.' But he remained silent as he could sense a strange tension rising from the body behind him. He sat frozen as a statue and awaited the next change. A few fingers rose slowly, brushing away some of his platinum bangs. They traced the contours of his other ear before slickly sliding along his jaw, down his cheekbones, and meeting his lips.

            "Maybe the world has stopped."

            They ended their journey at his chin, pulling it to the side so he was now looking at the too-close face shrouded in shadows.

            "I must be dreaming."

            They began moving again and laced into the mess of hair, tugging him to the waiting lips. Another hand rose from the darkness and trailed to the umber shirt he wore, sliding under the material. Cold marble skin brushed against his tan velvet, causing his stomach to contract from the frosty touch. A deep, mistral sigh resounded in the cavities of his mouth as the lips ravished his hungrily, with deepest longing. He could feel a wet coolness against his face and murmured into the other's mouth. "Why are you crying?"

            The sinewy hand tightened, legs closing in and pulling a rumbling moan as the friction startled his sensitive member. "I'm not." The trembling voice retorted falsely.

            "Shh… It's ok, baby."

            "I'm…" a sob tore from the milky throat. "Not…" a silent, choked scream of agony flew from his tongue. "Crying!" He screamed in angry, lost despair. The blond extracted himself, limb by limb, from the other spirit, focusing his gaze on the boy. "Don't…" Muffles tears dripped painfully. "Don't look at me…"

            He reached out to the other boy, hand meeting nothing but air as the pale boy backed away. "Shh… Bakura…"

            "DON'T LOOK AT ME!"

            Hard breathing filled the void as the blond stared in shock. "Bak-"

            "Please…" He sobbed. "Just… don't…" He took a deep gulp of air to calm himself, "don't look at me…" Staring at the emptiness that couldn't quite classify as a floor, he huddled into a little ball.

            The tan spirit approached him slowly, sliding his arms around the shaking body in a tight hug. Sighing heavily, he buried his nose in the crisp, snowy hair. "Baby, just tell me what's wrong."

            The pale tomb robber allowed crystal tears to run down his cheeks, nuzzling his nose under the hem of Marik's shirt, hesitantly curling his arms around the comforting figure. "I…" He sighed deeply, trying to ignore the insistent throbbing that pounded through his heart along with sharp fear and the stifling darkness pressing on all sides or the lost couple, "I failed. Gomen… gomen nasai, I did everything I could! I-" He sobbed again, clinging to the other spirit. "They've banished me for good. We'll… we'll never get out of here. And it's my fault… it's my… IT'S ALL MY FAULT!" He screamed guiltily.

            Desperation gripped the tan spirit. He was already stuck in darkness forever. He couldn't lose all he loved to the pressing void that threatened to suck up everything that mattered to him, plunge them both into the deepest, darkest insanity they could reach. He crushed their lips together once more, hoping beyond hope that somehow, the could make it through together.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

            Ryou sighed blissfully, head resting against the sweat-slicked stomach of his lover. He felt fingers brush down his back.

"Feels good, doesn't it?"

            He laughed, the sound trickling lightly from his throat. "Which part? The releasing or the lovemaking?" He raised his head to watch Malik pull a face.

            "I meant your Yami being gone, but that works too."

            Ryou laughed again, purring contentedly. A comfortable silence passed between them before he answered. "Feels astonishing."

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            And far away, in another dimension, in a world where nothing ever changed and the darkness was unwavering, where finding something was impossible once it was lost, two broken spirits held each other and cried.