Disclaimer: Don't own YGO, but this idea is all mine.

Shadows Rise, Circle End

Raising his hands to shield his face, Bakura looked up into the blue sky without a thought in mind. After a few minutes, or maybe hours, thought trickled back into the white-burned nothingness his brain had become for a moment and he grinned fiercely.

This was it.

Now he would finally create the instrument for his revenge.

From a simple sack made out of cloth that hung over one shoulder and down on his opposite hip, Bakura picked up a wrapped item, slowly unwinding the cloth to reveal gold to the sun's rays. Trailing a finger along the pendant and its Eye in the middle, Bakura gripped it decisively and whirled around, stalking down the stairs of the ruined house behind him and into the cellar-shrine below. Since his back was turned, he failed to notice the cloud of dust that rose on the horizon, but even if he'd had seen it, it could just have been taken for a forming sandstorm.

The book he'd been working on for so long lay on the floor beside the simple tablet, with its single depression to hold an item. Heavy, if somewhat beautiful, hieroglyphs covered the pages, surprising the young man each time he saw them. For someone who actually didn't know how to write, it looked rather good. That wasn't what was on Bakura's mind right now though, only what was written. Of course, he still couldn't read, but the knowledge was burned into his brain, and had just needed a little 'help' as it were to be called up. Kneeling by the book and flipping the pages until he found the accurate section (more on a feeling of "this was it" than actually being able to read it), Bakura nodded to himself, face grim but eyes gleaming with an unholy sort of anticipatory glee at what this would result in.

The shrine was soon filled with soft incantations, Bakura's deep voice filling every crevice and teasing the shadows into life. As the knife stuck into the belt of his loincloth was withdrawn, the light from the torches sparingly spread out in the room flashed over the blade, and the corners seemed to turn darker, the shadows twisting and stretching outwards, towards the young man in the middle. Bakura's voice rose with the strengthening of the incantations.

The knife fell, surrounded by shadow and as if in slow motion, light reflected like water in the blade. Dark brown flesh parted and the required blood gushed forth, first dripping and then running down the length of his arm and fingers, falling the distance between Bakura's fingers and the tablet soundlessly, and visibly being sucked in by the Pendant. The Shadows were now taking up more than half the shrine, purple-black tentacles caressing Bakura's own shadow playfully, possessively. He was beginning to get lightheaded, but he only narrowed pale, blue eyes, face set in a determined scowl.

It wasn't enough, just... a... little... more...

The Shadows suddenly reared back, retreating into the corners and crevices, almost hissing against the stone, as steps echoed down the short stairwell and into the shrine. Bakura was too occupied by the ceremony to take heed, or even notice the heavy thumps as they filled up the shrine, forcing the Shadows back with their mere presence. Swaying on his feet, Bakura nodded to himself, grin triumphant. That would do it. The Pendant flared, bright like the sun hitting something reflective for an eternal moment, Bakura gripped the wound on his arm, rather surprised at the weakness of his grip, he must have lost more blood than he thought...

"Shoot him!" The voice stabbed right through the light-drenched darkness in the shrine and Bakura's mind, his red red-brown robe swirled around his feet like seaweed caught in an underwater current in the Nile, slow and excruciating. The arrows, three of them, thunked into his back like shards of freezing metal. He coughed wetly, swayed on his feet yet again, more from the force of the arrows hitting him than anything, and then collapsed to his knees. He felt his upper body slam into the tablet and slowly, too slowly, he couldn't be that weak, he would have his vengeance, Bakura raised one arm, scrabbling for the Pendant.

The robe was turning wet, sticking to his back due to the blood it was soaking up, and finally he found the cord, followed it down and touched gold, warm and slick. Fighting to keep his vision straight, it didn't want to obey, he tried to get a grip on the Pendant, but there was so much blood. Blood everywhere, but he would not be thwarted!

He would...

WOULD have his...

... his thoughts trailed away, like the last blood from his body, no matter how he tried to keep them all inside. He coughed again, blood spraying out of his mouth and then the blue eyes dimmed, unseeing. Shadows and light flared from the Pendant, surrounding the dead thief for a moment, and then they melted away.

The scene started to fade out in a shiver of gold and red, shimmering and twisting. Whirling around to face Bakura, Ryou shook his head, white strands flying dizzily in this swirling maelstrom of dissolving memories.

"Wait! What happened after that? That's not it!" His cry was like a slash of violet among the colors, seemingly halting everything for a second.

"... I died, my memories end here." Bakura sneered, obviously not comfortable with admitting that he didn't know anything more. Malik shook his head.

"Isn't this enough? We know what happened now."

"No! That wasn't all. It doesn't explain how that Priest Akunadin got the book, or anything..." the colors started to swirl faster, and they could definitely see what looked like the age-worn edges of the cellar-shrine in-between the colors. It was the real shrine. Ryou narrowed his eyes, not looking angry or upset, only determined, as he grabbed the pendant lying on his chest.

"Wait! Show us what happened!" And the colors froze like paint that had dried, then faded into a picture again, showing the shrine... But not the real shrine in modern day, but still the one that had been before, the memory one. Bakura and Malik stared, startled, at Ryou, who was turning back to the scene. It wasn't as sharp as before, the edges were fuzzy, unfocused, but everything else was crisp and clear enough.

There were three guards surrounding the priests and the pharaoh, and more standing on the stairs, the shrine being too small for that many people. Atemu nodded, grim-faced as he stalked up to the thief to make sure he was dead. But three arrows to the back would down anyone, especially since the thief had apparently wounded himself and let his blood flow, for whatever reason.

Atemu stared down at the sightlessly staring thief, arms crossed. Something had been going on in here, the darkness, figuratively of course, even if the shadows in the corners seemed a little strange and oppressive. Atemu whirled around, satisfied with that mess being over. He wanted to leave, to get out of here and leave this place.

It unsettled him.

Pausing for a moment, he cut off a lock of white hair, needing some proof pf the thief's death to his people, but he wasn't going to burden any of his guards with the infuriating and disgusting thief. He could damn well rot down here. A flash of gold caught his eyes when he turned around again, and Atemu kneeled down, picking up the book that had been half-hidden by the fallen thief's robe. His fingers tingled unpleasantly as he held the book, and he stalked off the dais, thrusting the book into the waiting hands of an aged priest with a goatee.

"Get rid of it. No. Destroy it! I want to be sure that whatever happened here can't happen again!" Atemu's voice carried the weight of someone used to being obeyed, and no one noticed the minute shake of his hands. He'd briefly seen what had been contained within the book, felt the light tug of temptation.

Power.

All the power he could wish, if he would only...

Atemu snarled at nothing, and stormed out of the shrine, relieved this was over and done with. Now his subjects would calm down again, and hopefully the gods would be satisfied with the sacrifice of the unclean one. Atemu shook his shoulders and raised his head to the sunlight outside, shaking off the happenings in the shrine below.

He had a country to run and his priests better hurry up!

Down in the shrine, the old priest that had been given the book waited patiently for the last of the guards and his fellow priests to leave. He ran one reverent hand over the cover of the book, his single intact eye (the other lost long ago) gleaming in anticipation. But he knew it would be foolish of him to use the book and its rituals so close to these happenings. He would do better to wait... hide the book, hope he could get the chance to use it... and if not this time, maybe another. He would give no one, other than himself, the chance for the power of darkness. For this man, the tingles weren't unpleasant, merely a promise. A tight smile lighted up his face briefly, and then he hid the book in his robe and left the shrine and its lone occupant that would forever be held here.

Stumbling in disorientation, Ryou and Malik looked around, unsure if they should feel relieved or something else at being back in the "now", in reality.

"That was... quite a trip." Malik said in a subdued voice, his face blank. Ryou nodded, glancing unsure over at the spirit beside them, who looked ready to rip something up. Pale fingers danced along the Pendant, and Ryou wasn't sure how he was supposed to help Bakura get his revenge. His other was dead after all, still only present in spirit form due to somehow, most probably, having left a piece of himself imprinted on the Pendant, and Atemu... And Atemu, Yuugi's other, had already left for the afterlife.

How do you help in a mess like this? Ryou wasn't aware that he was clutching the Pendant as if his life depended on it as he thought, but a bright flare of light, the gold going warm beneath his fingers distracted him from his thoughts. The light emanated from the Eye in the middle of the Pendant, and lanced out from it, hitting the "door" on the opposite side of the dais. There was no sound as the door slowly opened, a white-yellow light filling the doorway. Bakura whirled to face his host, livid anger brightly.

"What the hell do you think you're doing! Now I won't have my chance!" Impotent rage in his voice and face, and Ryou was about to apologize, because he wanted to help, even with all the trouble and danger Bakura had posed for his friends when a soft whisper in his ear, like a feather caressed over the shell, made him pause. In the doorway, three shapes were briefly outlined... Ra, Osiris and Obelisk. Ryou nodded, acknowledging the gods. They would give Bakura his rightful chance for vengeance, but how he used it...

The light in the doorway pulsed, the shadow outline of the gods disappearing and another appearing, the shape of a man.

"Bakura? Malik? What is going on?" Atemu's deep, cultured voice rang in the dusty air of the shrine, bewildered. Then he caught sight of the spirit of the tomb robber he'd been fighting for so long. "BAKURA!" Snarling, Atemu's compassionate red eyes turned hard and angry. "What is going on?"

"You like repeating things, don't you, nisu? But, if this place isn't enough to remind you of your place in our mutual vendetta, maybe this will jog your memory?" Bakura was smug and confident now that he hadn't had to leave the mortal plane, and apparently been granted his chance for vengeance. Smirking, Bakura ignored Atemu's jerk as he looked around the shrine, a faint and quick guilty look flittering over his face (not enough), and instead started to shimmer again, form twisting back into his original one, the one who vaguely looked like a meld between his host and the body he'd had when he'd worn the Ring.

"What! Malik, Bakura..." Atemu looked over at the two young men, both who shook their heads, Malik grim-faced, while Ryou looked faintly apologetic.

"I'm sorry, Atemu-san."

"What do you think you're doing, Bakura? It's the tomb robber's fault we had to go through so much trouble, how could you have let him back here!" Atemu was angry, but also concerned for Ryou. Had the tomb robber somehow lured the young man to let him back? But how could that have happened without the Ring..? Then he spotted the golden Pendant hanging around Ryou's neck, faintly realizing what it must be, what the ceremony that had been held in this place before his guards had killed the thief had been.

"It isn't my host who's the important thing here, nisu. It's between you and me. You, me and your crimes."

Atemu glared viciously at Bakura, and then turned back to Malik and Ryou.

"I'm doing what's right, Atemu-san. We saw... what happened." Ryou shrugged and Atemu grimaced. He could remember, but he still thought he was right. It was his right, as king and representative of the Gods. Bakura snarled as if he had caught on to what Atemu was thinking.

"Don't think you're the victim here, nisu. Your decision to make me a scapegoat had a hand in making me listen to the one we know as Zorc Necrophadisu. Your decision to kill my family, my village, my life, had a part in making me look for vengeance. You are partly responsible for allowing the dark god into the world and letting the Shadows taint the mortal plane. You had a part in it!" Bakura's voice was vicious, acid on snow and his blue eyes narrowed in anger.

He had first thought of a hundred, a million other ways to exact his vengeance. But no blood spilt would be as satisfying as crushing the pharaoh's spirit, making Atemu realize he was not the hero, that he was as tainted as the "villains".

That he wasn't innocent.

Hell, anyone could see that the real innocence and righteousness had been passed on to Yuugi, and not his other. Atemu sputtered, and then glowered, banishing the quick flitter of horrified realization.

"That's not true, Bakura. Your words mean nothing."

Bakura just grinned smugly, keeping his laughter in.

"Don't make me laugh, nisu. You know I am right. You may not have seen it before, but now, with your precious partner giving you a wider line of sight, you can see the real right and wrong. And you know what you did back then was wrong. You know it, and because of your actions, it made me look for revenge, it allowed Zorc Necrophadisu into the world. You had a hand in creating the monster!" Bakura sneered, satisfaction blooming as Atemu staggered as if physically hit.

"Think on that in the afterlife! Now it doesn't matter where I go, nisu. I've finally gotten my vengeance on your soul!"

"This isn't over Bakura! Just you wait!" Atemu shouted, angry beyond belief, but nothing could hide the earlier horrified realization, and the pharaoh's voice held more personal anger than any real righteousness in it as he was drawn back into the light in the doorway, Bakura's laugh chasing after him, nasty and satisfied.

The shrine was silent, but there was a giant presence of anticipation in the air, and the door was still open. Ryou stared at the spot where Atemu had stood, then up at the empty, and glowing doorway.

"I guess... that was it." Ryou shook his head, caught Malik's encouraging nod and with a deep breath turned towards his other.

"Does the door lead to afterlife?" Ryou knew it was stupid to hope, his other had hardly been a pleasant person, for whatever reasons he'd done it. But he hoped that the gods would actually see the reasons they were done for, even if... even if the means doesn't justify the ends, and vengeance isn't really a nice thing to want. Bakura shrugged, not looking very concerned.

"It leads where it leads." Bakura threw them both a twisted grin. "Behave yourself Malik, I wouldn't want to have to share my space in hell with you and your uglier half."

"Oh, shut up, you miserable fuck." Malik snarled half-heartedly, ignoring Bakura's cackle.

Then the shrine was silent again, but the air seemed heavier than before... and had the light in the doorway gotten stronger? Ryou shifted his weight, then straightened his back and fully faced Bakura. The spirit glowered for a moment, and then glanced down at the Pendant.

"Take care of it... my own. It's-"

"Important, I know." Ryou grinned and waved a hand, secretly treasuring the glow his other's words had called up. Bakura grinned, and then laughed, turned around and left, letting the light take him where it would. It didn't matter now anyway. He'd gotten what he wanted.

"Ugh!" Ryou jerked off the cord, holding the Pendant away from him as blood suddenly started to fall off it. From the Eye, from the gold itself, from all over the blood trickled out and fell into the air, landing in large splotches onto the floor. It seemed to take forever, but finally there seemed to be no more blood. Looking up, they realized the door had closed, and the air just seemed dusty and abandoned now. Ryou looked warily down at the pendant, but as it seemed to have stopped its spontaneous bleeding, he put it on again.

"You think..?" Malik indicated the pendant with a nod.

"Yes... it must have been my other's blood. It doesn't feel... it doesn't feel special anymore. Before the pendant felt like the Ring had. Now it's just..."

"A piece of gold." Malik nodded and then they turned as one towards the exit, not running, but certainly not dallying either. The sun was still up, burning bright and hard above their heads. Ryou looked around the ruins, amazed. Like the shrine below, the ruins of the village didn't feel oppressive anymore. There was no dark, painful shadow lingering; only the endless desert for miles around, the air, and golden sunlight. The ruins and the tragedy had finally been turned over to history. This was only an abandoned ruin now; even with what they knew had happened here.

So long ago, now.

"Let's get back, Ryou. Maybe we can even convince my sister and Rishid nothing has happened, and we just forgot the time!"

Ryou laughed and raced Malik to his bike, feeling lighter. The pendant hanging on its cord from around the white-haired young man's neck glimmered in the sunlight, no more than another archaic trinket.

And that, people, is the end. Revenge was had, no extra Items lying around, the spirits left... So ends my version of the beginning of the story told in Yu-Gi-Oh!

Had fun? I hope so.