Chapter Seventeen:

Another Piece to the Puzzle

"So, did you give your quick good bye, little brother?"

Malik lifted his head from the kitchen table, half-alert gaze focusing on Rishid, scowling when he found the older Egyptian already dressed. "You're that disgusting breed of mutants known as morning people aren't you?" he grumbled, practically hugging his coffee cup.

Rishid chuckled and took a seat across from the youngest Ishtar, eyeing him. "You still have the Ring, so it's obvious that things didn't go as planned."

"The little brat threw a squid at me!" Malik growled, shuttering at the memory of the evil little creature attaching itself to his face. "But, he showed me these excellent little snacks called creampuffs! Oh, andhesaidthatheforgivesme!"

A fond smile quirked Rishid's lips. "This means that you will be seeing Ryou again?"

Malik, not really in his right mind, nodded enthusiastically. "I'll give him the Ring back once those Village Idiots figure out how to reanimate Ryou." The teenager ruffled his already messy blond hair. "I need to pick my bike up today," he mumbled before downing his coffee in a gulp.

"Good morning, guys," Ishizu muttered as she shuffled into the kitchen with all the bounce of a cadaver. "How long have you been up?"

"The evil morning person just made his grand entrance and I've been up since six," Malik replied, frowing at his empty cup. Might as well be a good little brother. "Ishizu, I want more coffee!" he whined, holding with mug out.

A slender ebony eyebrow arched as Ishizu turned to regard the other Egyptian. "You're how old, Malik? Get your own coffee," she replied.

"Fine, be that way," Malik huffed, pouting childishly. "Anyway, things didn't go quite as planned, but I think Ryou's thinking more seriously about getting his body back."

"Really?" asked Ishizu as she sat next to the blond. "What happened."

Noticing Rishid's slight smile and his own, semi-conscious confessions, Malik crossed his arms with a huff. "Ryou forgives me for killing him and knows I won't give the Ring back until he regains his old body."

"And are you helping in this venture?" Ishizu pressed.

"No."

"Why not?"

Malik shrugged, yawning widely. "I have to watch from afar." Lilac eyes turned down toward the table, a scowl darkening the teenager's handsome features. "Ryou and Bakura are smart. They'll figure out a way."

"And if they don't?" Rishid questioned.

Malik sighed, resting his chin on his fist. "Then Marik'll set them straight."

* * * * *

"THIS IS IMPOSSIBLE!"

Three pairs of startled eyes turned toward Bakura, who was now furiously slamming against the door leading to the Ring.

"'The door's always open, Kas. Just walk through' he says! But noooo, THE DAMN THING'S LOCKED UP TIGHT!" Bakura ranted. "I've seen tombs less guarded then this! I've been burnt, zapped, fried, jolted, jostled, shaken, stirred-"

"Hey, the tomb robber's a drink!" Yugi muttered under his breath.

"-Shocked, pinched, and bitten. Marik possessed this gods damned door knowing one of us would try to get through!" Bakura finished, kicking at the sealed door savagely.

The initial plan, after much deliberation, had been to ask Marik just what he had meant with his riddle about the "Puzzle and Ring being able to take down walls and put them right back up". Bakura insisted he went first incase there was some sort of trap.

Obviously, the ancient thief couldn't even get past the door, leaving Yugi, Ryou, and Yami to watched in bored fascination as Bakura had a very one-sided fight with said entrance.

"Why don't we just call it a night?" Yami suggested, knowing that Bakura would soon be on to blasting down the entire wall. "It's been a long day and-"

"I'm not moving until I drag an answer from that spike-headed nutcase!" Bakura finished, trying for the knob again only to be zapped with a little arch of red energy. "Bastard."

Ryou sighed and got up. "Yami, give it a rest. We're all tired and that door isn't going to budge," he said softly, resting his hand over Bakura's.

"It will move!" the Ring guardian shot back, giving the knob another savage twist. This time, it swung open with no resistance whatsoever.

"Okay, my mistake?" Ryou murmured, poking his head in the door and looking both ways. "Looks deserted to me. You two coming?" he asked Yami and Yugi.

"I'm staying as far away from the Rod as possible," Yugi replied.

"I'll go," Yami answered, striding forward and pushing Bakura into his former soul room. But, as soon as he went to follow, he was thrown back into the opposing wall.

"Are you all right?" Ryou questioned, going over the the Pharaoh and helping him back up. "I wonder what caused that?"

"Undoubtedly a trick of Marik's," Bakura growled. "I guess this means its just you and me, Ry."

Ryou nodded, squashing his fear and trailing after his dark side, yelping when the door slammed shut of its own accord. His chocolate eyes wandered around the area, widening substantially when he saw that there was nothing left to half of the room. "What happened?!"

Bakura was silent, his sharp eyes focused on the darker half of his soul room. "The debris reeks of Shadow magic," he growled. "I have no doubt that this is Marik's doing."

"You think?"

"Next to never, but when he does, it's a monumental occasion."

Ryou yelped and spun on his heel. For a second, he thought he was facing Malik, but realized by the malovalent aura it was Marik. "How did you know we were here?"

"My Item, your Item, we can all sense each other." Marik smirked congenially. "Unless of course you don't want to be detected."

Bakura's dark was dark with a deep scowl as he stepped up beside Ryou. "We just entered. How could you know-"

"Tsk, tsk, tsk, you should be nicer," Marik berated the thief, wagging his finger. "Remember, now you're defenseless. The both of you."

Ryou shoved Bakura out of the way, but not so much that he would be out of reach if something happened. "Enough of the games. I heard you and Bakura talking and I want to know-"

"Just what my silly little riddles were?" Marik finished, circling around the snow haired hikari like a vulture now. "If I tell you, there's so many things that could go wrong."

"Like what?" Ryou asked, bravado wavering under the weight of Marik's unwavering gaze.

Marik leaned close to the Ring holder's ear, whispering, "Re-write what's already written, and you never know what could happen."

Bakura stepped forward and claimed Marik's cloak in his fist, jerking the spike haired fiend away from his other half. "Speak up. I couldn't hear you."

Marik smiled almost dotingly at the other ancient, wrapping himself in his cloak to draw closer to Bakura. "We've undone the past before, can't we do it again?" he asked in a light tone, making it apparent that he was handing out more riddles and not an invitation.

Bakura snarled and pushed Marik away from him, crossing his arms. "Is it impossible for you to speak like the rest of us?"

Marik shrugged and draped himself over Ryou's shoulders. "You and Malik make such a lovely couple. Really, you do. Silly little Priest and silly little thief looked very nice together." The unhinged Rod guardian glared hard at Bakura, his mood starting to shift again. "But look where that got me."

Ryou moved away, knowing he was going to walk out of this encounter with little sanity left to talk about. "What are you talking about?" Yeah, play the ignorant fool. If that doesn't win him over, nothing will.

"Me, Bakura, Priest, thief... It's all the same thing!" Marik stood upright sweeping his cape over his shoulder with a bit of flair. "You, Malik, Marik, Bakura, we're all the same people dancing the same dance! The only difference is what's been done can be undone."

"You've gone mad," Bakura growled, overshadowing Ryou like an overprotective guard dog.

Marik traipsed over to the Ring Spirit, throwing himself into his unprepared arms. "Be warned, my little thief, if Ryou hurts my Malik like you hurt the Priest, I shall hurt you."

"We've been down this road," Bakura stated savagely, dropping Marik onto his ass unceremoniously.

Marik tripped Bakura with a swift strike of his leg, bringing the other Egyptian down into his lap. He poked Bakura's chest, where his heart would lay, with a deathly smirk on his lips. "I know you can kill me. It's obvious that I can kill you."

The next move could never have been predicted. The Millennium Rod appeared seemingly from thin air, the dagger falling away from its sheath the same time Ryou slammed into a semi-erect wall. Bakura tried to get to his feet, but found his arm trapped in Marik's grip. The same time he jerked away, the dagger descended on his face, digging a deep wound.

Bleeding something between silver and red, Bakura was allowed to his feet, but not given a chance to counter-attack; he was frozen in the spot. "You bastard," he raved.

Marik smirked, rising gracefully to his feet. "You're not immortal, Kasirika."

"H-How did you-"

Marik ran a finger down Bakura's wounded face, smearing the strange pseudo-blood down the thief's clean cheek. "Even in your own soul room, even in your afterlife, you can be hurt," he sneered. His dusty lilac eyes turned over towards the door linking the Ring to the Puzzle. He had less then a second to duck the irrate Pharaoh flying at him.

Unfortunately, before Yami could land a blow, he was thrown to the floor and kept there under the influence of the Millennium Rod. "I don't know what you're really after, but you've gone too far."

"My Morning Star, looking better then ever."

"Keep him out of this," Bakura snarled under his breath.

"I pray you've been tending to my little thief well these past few years," Marik continued, wiping Bakura's blood off his hand.

Yami glared hard at the Spirit before him, searching the endless depths of his maddened eyes. "I do not know what your motives are for 'helping' us, but-"

"Pharaoh, Pharoah, Pharaoh, you always trusted me before." Marik shook his head, clicking his tongue against his teeth. "I implore you to find it in your dead heart to trust an old comrade. If not, I may have you teach you and your brat the same lesson I taught those two."

"Don't you dare," Bakura growled.

"All threats and no talk." With a wave of his hand, Marik sent Yami, Bakura, and Ryou flying toward the door, ending them up in an irrate heap. A bundle of scrolls appeared in his hand and he tossed them into the tangle of limbs. "History does repeat itself, Kasirika. But, at the same time, it cna be re-written to suit our whims. 'Tis the real potential of the Thousand Year Items, isn't it, Morning Star?"

Before a single word in retaliation for yet another riddle, the door slammed shut and locked itself with a resounding click.

* * * * *

Only the sound of heavy breathing sounded through the Millennium Puzzle at the moment, Yami, Ryou, and Bakura not having bothered to move from their spots. The latter was still bleeding, fingers tracing the marks with some satisfaction. At least they didn't feel that bad.

"Yami... Guys, what happened?! Why's Bakura bleeding?" Yugi blurted out as he emerged from the shadows of the Obliesk tablet, having been shoved there by Yami before he entered the Ring.

"Marik," Ryou growled.

"Oh." Yugi hauled his other half out of the tangle, freeing Ryou and Bakura in the process. His wide amethyst eyes studied the tomb robber's injury as he took his jacket off and knelt down, dabbing the blood away carefully. "This doesn't look normal-"

"It's a direct wound to my spirit," Bakura grumbled.

Yugi winced. "Is that bad?"

"Not really. It just hurts like a bitch," the Egyptian replied, tone still low.

Yami knelt down next to his former lover, moving Yugi's jacket from the thief's face. When he saw the shape of the cuts, he swallowed a gasp and potent curse. How could Marik know...?

"You gonna stare at me all day or insult the condition of my face?" Bakura demanded, trying to lighten his demeanor some. "What's it look like?"

Ryou rolled over on his side when Yami didn't reply. "A vertical cut right under your eye with two horizontal cuts across it."

"What?!" Bakura turned to look directly as his hikari. "You're serious?"

Ryou nodded, tracing the pattern on the ground. "Why? Is it a curse or something?" Wouldn't that be wonderful to get rid of?

"Yes and no," Yami replied, shaking his thoughts loose.

"What's it mean then?" Yugi asked.

"That, unfortunately, Marik knows a great deal more then we do," Bakura answered. His brows knit together and he looked to his other side, spotting the scrolls he felt hit him before Marik slammed the door shut. "Speaking of which..." The thief grabbed the rolls of papyrus and sat up.

"Present from Marik?"

Yami looked at Yugi with a sour look, nodding. "Another unfortunate."

Bakura opened the first scroll he'd grabbed for, scanning it quickly. About halfway down, he paused and looked up at Yami.

"What is it?" the former Pharaoh asked.

"Many things. A recount of a duel, a ceremony, and written in the Shadow script with your seal on it," Bakura replied.

"That's not funny."

Bakura rolled his eyes and started reading, "The third thief, once a traitor and my consort, was bonded to the Ring he had stolen from the Priest in a failed attempt on my life, his spirit doomed to the confines of the Thousand Year Ring when he was slain. The night fell and the third duel commenced, lasting the span of two days. In the end, the two thieves fell one final time, though doomed to return to life if the Games returned to this world. The Priest was forcefully bonded to the Thousand Year Rod and destroyed, sealing his spirit away until a great anger would release it-"

"Wait! Wait, wait, wait!" Ryou looked a little paler then usual. "A great anger would release that Priest, right?"

Bakura nodded slowly. "That's what this says."

"I remember Malik telling me he thought Marik was another personality he had created from the strain of the ceremony-"

"The markings on his back?" Yami broke in.

"Yes. If I remember, he first thought that Marik was something his mind created, like he personified his own hate." Ryou worried his lip for a second. "His family was the clan that protected the Rod-"

"So you think that Marik is the Priest that was sealed into the Rod?" Yugi spoke up.

"Pretty much." Ryou looked at Bakura apologetically. "Continue, yami. Sorry."

Bakura nodded and continued reading. "The end is near for myself and the remaining thief. As I pen this, he mourns over the loss of his thieving companions and friends. It also saddens my heart to know he silently cries out for having to destroy his first love. My time now draws to a close as do the Games of Shadow. It is my wish for the gods to keep them hidden for the rest of time, so they may never plague the people like they have again; if not, I know that the Thousand Year Thieves will protect them for us. The sun is rising now and my time is over. By my hand, Khasekhemwy."

When Bakura's voice faded, Yami looked up from a scroll he had snitched. He already knew the first question to be asked would be, "Who are the thieves you were talking about?" and had an answer prepared. "According to this, the Thousand Year Thieves were a group of three bandits who went for high profile robberies and the Millennium Items."

"Any mention of who they are?" Yugi asked, the only one not in some sort of shock. All of this was curious, but had no real weight on the Puzzle holder.

Yami scanned the papyrus, realizing something when he reached the end. "There's only mention of Bakura in here. The other two remain nameless."

"I'm mentioned? Let me see!" Bakura snatched the scroll from Yami, reading over the writing. "I'm mentioned twice. Once as Bakura and once as Kasirika. Whoever wrote this knew I had two lives."

Ryou, who was now lying on his back again, sighed. "This is all fine and dandy, but how is this supposed to help us get me back to normal?"

"Well, I did see something about two of the thieves being reanimated. One would play guard if the Games were invoked and the other would be a key of sorts to close them," Bakura replied.

Yami looked up. "Bakura, what if those thieves are Kavala and Antaios?"

"What are you talking about?"

"Remember the dream I was telling you about earlier?"

A look of recognition, followed closely by muted shock dawned on Bakura's face. "You don't think that those two are Kavala and Antaios... do you?"

Yami shrugged. "It makes a twisted sort of sense. You said one of the thieves carries the instructions on how to close the Shadow Games and we've never really seen the inscriptions on Malik's back."

"Would you to care to clue me in?" Ryou quipped, now interested with the mention of "Malik" and "reanimation" in the same dialogue. But, he went unanswered.

"But, who's who then? I mean, sure we can match the past and present, but that doesn't give us a name," Bakura grumbled.

"Would this help?" Yugi asked, holding up a scroll he was reading.

"Wait, you can read that?" Ryou asked.

"Yeah, just fine," Yugi replied.

"Read it then," Bakura prodded.

"It was written by one of the High Priests, if I'm translating this correctly. 'As I learned in a letter from Kasirika, Khasekhemwy has now chosen to use his faithful pet and his companions to finally try and end the Games of Shadow. Kasirika himself will guard the Ring he was set up to steal from me, Antaios will be the key, and Kavala the Shadow guardian'."

Yami sighed. "That answers that question."

"Who wrote that?" Ryou asked, eyes dark. The only thing he hated more was being dead was clueless.

"Um..." Yugi scanned over the rest of the text. "Says something about a former captain of the guard and Item holder."

"Helpful." Ryou sighed deeply, resting his arm over his eyes. "So, how does this help us? We're learning a lot of useless information and chasing our tails."

"Not really," Yami disagreed. "If I'm putting this together, you've died a total of three times."

Ryou glared over at the Pharaoh, half tempted to hit him. "Don't start with the Marik-themed riddles, Yami no Yugi. I'm not in the mood."

"According to what we've read, the guard of the Games, died once and was reanimated to finish his duties..."

"And you think that guard is me?" Ryou demanded. He let out a short bark of a laugh, shaking his head. "That's rich."

"In all seriousness, I do believe that you are the guardian of the Shadow Games," Yami replied solemnly. "Which means, we've brought you back to life before."

Ryou snorted, now not knowing whether to laugh, cry, or go crazy. "Well that's all fine and good, but there' s just one, tiny, little problem."

"What's that?" Bakura dared to ask.

"How in the Hell did you do it?!"

This. Is. A Headache. To Write. [pants and glares at screen] If you think it's confusing to read, imagine what I've gone through trying to get it all straight, start to finish. [flops over keyboard] Whadda nightmare. Aaaanyway, sorry this chapter's so short and I posted the last one in the middle of the night. -___-U I'll try to avoid doing both in the future.

Akuro: I bet you're even more confused now, ain't 'cha? [insert Bakura grin here] Maybe, just maybe, a little bit of the plot was cleared up with this chapter. But yeah, it is confusing; don't feel bad. [grins] Mokuba's a load of fun to write! Heh… Next two chapter's are gonna be a ball! Imagine Malik, Seto, and Joey in the same area trying to be civil to one another.

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Chapter Eighteen Trailer:

Malik eyed the wallet the other duelist was holding. "Isn't that the midget's?"

Ryou's smiled just widened. "Technically, I am Yugi at the moment, so it's technically mine."

Shaking his head, the older Egyptian got off his precious bike and grabbed the keys. "You've been hanging around Bakura for too long."

Ryou just shrugged and headed into the arcade. His eyes wondered around the rooms, not quite knowing where to go first or if Malik even knew how to play the games. "Um, where do you wanna go first?" he asked.

The Egyptian's eyes were trained on the large crowd gathered around a formerly discreet corner of the arcade. "Let's see what's going on over there."

Ryou nodded and led the other teenager to the throng of people, grinning as they wormed their way to the front. The game that had the people's attention was a dancing game the Americans had titled Dance Dance Revolution. He loved to watch the people play, but prayed to God that Malik didn't do something stupid. Like get him to try it, for example.

"Man, how in the Hell can they keep up?" Malik muttered, watching the two dancers move in time to the music and arrows on the screen. He looked rather disinterested on the outside, but his inner child was ogling and bouncing up and down at the sight of the game. "When they're done, can we try?"

Ryou looked over at the Egyptian pleadingly. "I'm not that good. Can we just kinda watch and not touch?" he asked lamely.

Malik pouted, hitting Ryou back with the dreaded puppy eyes. "I just want to try. I haven't seen anything like this before and I want to try!"

So much for avoiding the game.