Our Farewell

[A/N: Ok, I've been listening to this song on repeat for about two days. I love it. And it's been screaming at me to write a songfic. I doubt I'll ever finish it, but if I do, I'll post it! And if you're reading this, I probably have! And if my format sucks, it's because I've yet to master this QuickEdit thingie. I'm working on it!]

[Disclaimer: I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh, the characters, or the song "Our Farewell" by Within Temptation. As lovely as the song is, and as much as I would love to get famous from it. Buy the Celtic Circle Cds.]

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Ryou and Yugi screamed as a blast of light from the Tomb Robber made them shield their eyes. When they could look again, Yami was lying on the ground, breathing heavily. "You dirty thief... how dare you-" he started to stutter, but was cut off by a triumphant cackle from Yami Bakura.

"You see, Pharaoh?" he crowed, "Not even you can stop me! And now that I've beaten you at last, I'll take your precious puzzle!" He called, and turned to beam at Ryou, who stared at him, appalled.

In the midst of another Shadow Game, the gloves had come off, and the two Darks had fought violently. Bakura had finally managed to get the upper hand by summoning a dark mist, disappearing, and reappearing behind Yami Yugi, blasting him in the back with a circle of dark energy.

Little Yugi was in tears, and Ryou didn't know what to do. This could not continue, it already seemed to have ended badly.

"Ryou!" called Bakura proudly. The boy didn't know whether or not his Yami expected him to be proud of him, but the small one felt nothing but shock. Suddenly, a light from behind the white-haired boy made Ryou call, "Look out, Bakura!"

By the time Bakura had turned around, it was too late. With Yami Yugi's final bit of energy, he had shot back at Bakura with everything he had, tearing into the Tomb Robber. "Bakura!" Ryou screamed as the older boy flew several yards before crashing to a stop. His eyes were blank and he didn't move.

Ryou ran to him, and Yugi raced to his own still Yami. The tiny boy shook the pharaoh, pleading with him to get up. The Shadow World around them dissolved, leaving them stranded in the park.

"Bakura-kun!" Ryou screamed, shaking his darker half desperately. "Bakura-kun!"

"Yami! Yami Please get up!" Yugi begged, lying on the pharaoh's unmoving back. "Yami, please!"

Both boys broke into their own shouts of dismay as the still figures dissolved into energy and floated into their Millennium items. Yugi lie sobbing on the ground, his face buried in his arms. Ryou sat very still, staring at the spot where his Yami had laid on the ground, as tears flowed freely from his eyes. Slowly, very slowly, he stood.

Still staring at that spot on the ground, he called over, "Yugi-kun," his voice quavering, threatening to break. Soft sobs were his only reply. "Yugi-kun, are they...? They can't be..." he trailed off.

"He's gone," whimpered little Yugi from his spot on the dewy grass, the overcast sky reflecting their dismal feelings.

Ryou was numb; numb to the cold and to the silence in his mind where usually his Yami would have chided him for crying so openly. He tuned and started to walk away, no expression marking his face.

"Ryou," called Yugi, looking up at him now. Ryou looked back at his small friend. Even his innocent face betrayed feelings of resentment. "Ryou, why?"

Ryou understood. He wasn't asking the taller boy why he was leaving, or even why the two had... the boy couldn't bring himself to even think the word 'died.' No, Yugi wanted to know just what he had wondered all along; Why where they even fighting in the first place? Why hadn't they tried to stop them? But Ryou had no answer for him. He couldn't even give him a reassuring glance, like he usually would have. He just turned around, still blank, still seemingly stoic, and walked home as it began to rain.

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Several days later, Yugi was sitting in his room. When he hadn't returned home after it began to rain, his Grandfather had called Jounouchi and Honda, and asked them to find him. They had found the poor boy still on the wet grass in the park, just where Ryou had let him lie. He wouldn't talk, wouldn't even stand up, so Jounouchi picked him up and carried him home. Yugi wouldn't talk to his Grandpa, and wouldn't eat, so they just let him stay in his room, to be by himself.

In my hand a legacy of memories,
I can hear you say my name,
I can almost see your smile,
Feel the warmth of your embrace.

Little Yugi had in his hands a photo album, filled with pictures of his friends, his Yami among them. Some were just him, others were pictures with all or just a few of his other friends. Like Halloween, where they were all dressed up the way they had looked in Egypt; Jounouchi, Honda, and Anzu were peasants, Yugi and Ryou were servants, Bakura was in a remake of the outfit he remembered wearing, and Yami Yugi was dressed as close to a real Pharaoh as they could make.

They had used yards of gold and white fabric, had to buy a lot more jewelry for him to wear, and spent all day on his make-up, but he looked stunning. They had even made a crown for him to wear, fashioned from what pictures they could get out of text books, and made mostly of aluminum foil and cardboard. Anzu did a great deal of the work, she being the most experienced with making clothes, and in the end, he looked amazing.

Only Bakura's own costume could rival it, but only in how authentic it looked, not in grandeur. Yami looked as imposing as he must have 5000 years ago that night, and they never forgot about it.

/Yami?/ Yugi tried to call again for the fourth time that hour. It was slowly starting to sink in that Yami might be dead after all, and with that, a feeling like someone was slowly scooping out his heart with a deep spoon. He felt empty, cold, and very alone.

Still, no answer. He closed the book and placed it on his bedside table, lying back down onto his pillows. Fresh tears threatened to stain his eyes. He hadn't felt this lonely since he completed the puzzle. Always, after that, even when he was lonely, there was always the mind link. He could always have just called out to his darker half, and he'd respond. But now there was only an empty silence.

But there is nothing but silence now
Around the one I love.
Is this our Farewell?

Suddenly, Yugi felt something strange. A sleepy, warm energy started to fill that empty space, and a sound, sweeter and more golden than honey entered his empty mind.

"Sweet Darling, you worry too much
My child, see sadness in your eyes.
You are not alone in life
Although you might think that you are,"

It was more like the pulsing, familiar energy was filling his mind with feeling rather than sound. It was indeed rather sleepy feeling, as if it had just woken up, and it must have. The color his eyes felt was gold, and soft; a feeling of comfort.

"Yami?" Yugi whispered, his eyes opening on his pillow.

That was all it offered, those thoughts and feelings, but when it faded it an edge at the back of his mind, Yugi knew; Nothing would ever be able to separate him from his sweet, overprotective Yami. Ever.

Yugi closed his eyes and slept the deep sleep of the contented.

Ryou opened his eyes to the angry glare of the sun from his window. It had been days since he came home from the park, dripping with rain, and flopped down in bed. Feeling empty and drained, he fell asleep as he was, without even bothering to take off his wet, dirty clothes.

Six days later, nothing had changed. Ryou wouldn't answer the phone, or eat. He didn't answer the door when it rang two days ago for an hour straight, Anzu and Honda calling him from the front porch.

Bakura had always told him, "I cant be there for you forever. One day you're going to wake up and I'll be long gone, and then you'll have to fend for yourself," but Ryou had begged him never to leave him alone again, and his darker side had softened, and told him that he may not have any control over anything. He lived a dangerous lifestyle, sometimes, and it couldn't be helped. But Ryou always felt he would have had longer with him before he would be ripped from his grasp.

Never thought this day would come so soon.
We had no time to say goodbye
How can the world just carry on?
I feel so lost when you're not at my side

/Bakura-kun?/ the boy called again. Every now and then he would send a thought out to wherever he felt his Yami might be, but he never got a response. Only the feeling that something deep was missing from him, like Bakura's part of their soul had dissolved along with his image, and left Ryou an empty shell.

Ryou sat up and looked out the window. The neighbor's children were going off to school. A dog barked down the street. Everything was so painfully normal. The sky was still a bright, cheery blue, the sun glowed warm and yellow, people laughed in the house next door. It made Ryou feel like there should be a little chaos at the loss of a soul. No one was crying for Bakura. No one came to give their condolences, not even any flowers in the living room. There wouldn't be an obituary in the paper, no funeral at the church, not even a body for a wake. He was just Gone, and the world didn't notice.

But there is nothing but silence now
Around the one I loved.
Is this our Farewell?

'I can't stay up here forever,' he thought suddenly. And with that thought came the fear of being truly alone and unprotected. Always before, Bakura had threatened anyone who touched his Hikari, something that mattered to a boy who had been constantly bullied. Now with Bakura gone, Ryou was just another free kill on the street.

Ryou's mind elevated his dilemma until he started to cry again, tears he thought had dried up were replaced from the deep well in his soul where his Yami used to be. 'I'm too afraid to leave now,' he thought sadly. 'Why do I have to be so paranoid?' he wondered.

Somewhere, deep inside him, from the bottom of the emptiness there rose a powerful thrum of energy. Sweet, comforting, strong; like a waking power. It grew until he felt it brush his throat, his sob softening to a quiet whimper.

"Sweet Darling, you worry too much,
My child, see sadness in your eyes.
You are not alone in life
Although you might think that you are,"

He heard a low voice rumble inside his mind, like distant thunder. More of a feeling than a voice, like a strong force had come over him. It was like Bakura's very self was putting feelings into his mind. A dark gold glow, and the feeling one might get after strong arms just left an embrace.

"Bakura?" he asked aloud, hopefully, but the feeling ebbed away to a dull blur at the end of his subconscious. He felt it drawing energy from him, and, although it was still bright morning, after a while, he was again very sleepy.

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So sorry
Your world is
Tumbling down
I'll watch you through these nights.

Rest your head and go to sleep
'Cause my child
This is not
Our Farewell.

My little one,the dark shape thought softly to the sleeping boy on the bed. He felt almost guilt about borrowing his Hikari's energy, but he wanted to get back to having his own body as soon as possible, and that cheap shot from the pharaoh had very nearly killed him. I'm sorry,he sent to him, sitting down next to him and brushing the hair from his face.

He looks like an angel, Bakura thought to himself, smiling weakly. Even this little trip from his soul room was costing him incredibly. He had only a few moments outside left, and the tax on his energy was almost painful after sleeping for nearly a straight week. He had to return to his Hikari's mind again, but not before he leaned over and placed a delicate kiss on his lips, parted in sleep.

I'll never truly leave you, Ryou.

This is not
Our Farewell

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Well, I hope someone liked it. -;;

Ok, I had to repost this because the first time I tried to, the lyrics would never show up in italics. Now, FF.nt had fixed that little buggie (Yay!!!) So I'm fixing it. If they're in quotations or these thingsit means that they're being said (or telepathed). Sorry if I confused anyone.

It was a beautiful song, you truly must, like, download it or something. Maybe if you ask nicely I'll email it to you. I know, the ending probably bit, and I didn't have a Yugi end of the story, but lets just say that Yugi's was similar. And I'm better at and more partial to B/R, so I thought I'd end it sweetly there.

Please R/R, and be gentle, this is the first One-Shot I've posted (I've decided to post it, as you can see ), and the very first thing I've finished in one sitting.

I haven't given up on Christmas Candy, but I need some ideas, people!!! If more people read and review that, and give me ideas, I'll be done that much faster.

As for other stories, I've got a few more in the making, check my profile for summaries on the ones I'm working on or haven't done enough with to post yet. Ok, that's way too long for an A/N, so I'll end it there.