AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh! (collapses)

This is it! O.O...I...I'm about to finish my first fic...(technically it's not done cause there's a sequel...but still...) This is just freaky...

Sorry I didn't post this right after Cry of the Wicked. My mom made me get off the internet. -.-;

Joey-lover: What's this? A new reviewer! Yay! (huggles) Awesome. Just wonderful! Sorry dear, I can't make Kura come back. He's determined. (dodges punches) Ooookay then...You're a Joey fan, eh? Yay! You'll like the sequel, I do believe! he gets a bigger part...at least, I'm planning on him having a bigger part. I only just finished chappie two! (faints) Someone help me. I need some divine intervention or something. Yesss that'd be helpful right about now. Please review again! On to the sequel! (marches off wearily)

Satra: Can't answer a lot of those questions, dearie. You'll see what's at the heart of Yami's guilt in this chappie. (sobs) Sooo SAD! (huggles Yami) You poor thing! (huggles Kura) YOU POOR DEAR!...(satra: o.o)...(sobs against Satra) This is it, isn't it? Our first fic together! (huggles Satra) Honey, I'd like to take this moment to say: I LOVE YOU! Review again. I'll try to get more of a head-start on the sequel so I can post it soon! Love ya!

DreamingChild: Argh! You're squeezing Kura to death in one fic and smacking him in the other. Am I'm going to have to put a restraining order on you or are you going to behave? (Dream: Mishchievious smile) O.o...oooh boy. Review a final time for this fic! I love you dear! See you later in Cry of the Wicked and Beyond Tomorrow, Before Today!

Capricious Purple Clarity: Yes, eveyone is angry at Kura. He's COPING! (everyone: GLARE) Hmm...It's good to know how things happen in the real Yugioh story...but I'm changing a lot, as you find out in this chappie. (laughs) Honey, it takes all my will power and my siblings holding me back from the keyboard to keep me from updating before a week!...although I fear you guys will have to wait a little while on the sequel. (mutters about school and parents) You're not going to die, so stop whining. (smiles fondly) Love ya!

dragonlady222: Ah, one of my first reviewers EVER. I LOVE YOU DEARIE! (huggles tightly) Yes, our yamis are both feeling guilty. (smirk) Think Yami's gonna run, do you? Review again, love!

Freak in the Shadows: OMG! You've GOT to REVIEW! (huggles) Love ya!

blackalbino: Of course miserable Kura makes people sad! He's so...so...(can't think of word) Hmm...scratch that, I'll get back to you on that one. (smiles) I'm glad you don't want to smacksmacksmack Yami as much. Love ya!

Bluegrass Elf: You LIED to me! LIES! It hasnot been a year since Domination was updated. Redemption, yes. Domination, no. Humph. Borath's extremely slow to update (by my standards. -.-;) What a coincidence! I have no life either! Yay!

Silver Mirror: Cried again, did you? Oh dear.Yes, I can tell you enjoyed this chappie. Happy readings! see you at the end! (o.O...that sounded weird...)

Scarlet Moon: Haha! I love cliffies! Don't you love cliffies? (Scarlet: >. ) Hmm. Oh dear. You don't like Honda do you? (smirk) I mean, I'm not sure. There was this vibe I was feeling from your last review...(snickers) Ow! Where'd the red button come from? Why have I not heard about this and WHY am I connected to it? -.o...help...me...

Wish-full Thinker: (laughs) It would have been damn hilarious if Yami had stumbled upon his mummified corpse. However, you see why it didn't work. I've changed the story line. Yami didn't do the things to Kura that I say he did in the real Yugioh. I've made some...modifications...(evil grin) I just felt that Kura wouldn't hold a grudge that deep against someone who had no control over the creation of the Millennium items. I wanted him to have another reason for hating Yami. (smirks) Review the final chappie, love!

You're all so AWESOME! I can't pick one to dedicate it to! ONWARD! (sobs)

NOTE: You get to meet my new character who will also be in parts of the sequel. He's damn awesome, that's what! Booya!

This is one of my first poems I've written after a loooong break in my writing. It's simple yet I think it fits the end of this story so well.

Wings

Fly away from all despair

Rise up above the trees

Higher and higher without a care,

Drift away as far as you please.

Forget your troubles, forget your woes,

They'll never find you out here.

You're safe and secure from all your foes

Dive and soar with nothing to fear.

You can slice through the misty clouds

And scatter flocks of birds.

There is not need to speak aloud

Or try to think up words.

And when the light begins to fade

And the birds no longer sing

Fly onward, do not be afraid,

Through stars on feathered wings.

Chapter 23: The Road Ahead

"How are you feeling, Yami man?" Jou asked that morning upon entering the game shop.

The pharaoh sat behind the counter alone.

"I…not so great."

"Where're Yug and gramps?" Jou asked, sliding behind the counter and leaning against it.

"Shopping."

"Ah…" An awkward silence followed. Jou took at hard look at the yami. He sighed.

"All right, tell me everything."

Yami looked up in confusion. "What?"

"Get it off your chest. Talk to me."

"You…wouldn't understand," Yami murmured, covering his face with his hands.

"Or so you think," Jou said softly. Yami looked up in uncertainty. "That's right, man. I understand…a bit anyway."

"How? How could you possibly understand what I'm going through?" the monarch responded desolately.

"You forget, Bakura and I's minds were linked."

Yami sighed in frustration. "I don't see what that has to do with any of this."

"Cause you're not letting me finish," Jou grinned causing Yami to smile.

"My apologies, Jou. Please continue."

"Dat's more like it. All right, let me tell you somethin'. I didn't just wake up in there an' the two of us had a nice tea party or anythin'. That would've been a better alternative but that ain't what happened." The blonde's eyes grew dark.

Yami was listening attentively now. "What…what happened?"

Jou looked grimly at the pharaoh. "I saw pieces of his past. Came very close to getting' diced up by some insane guys on horses, actually…" He shuddered.

"Who were they? What did you see from his past?" Yami whispered eyes wide.

Jou shook his head. "I'm not gonna answer that. That's not what matters. The point is, Bakura's goin' through a lot of grief too right now. It sounds like you've both got a lot of things to come to terms with."

"You don't know the half of it," Yami muttered.

Jou looked over in interest. "What?"

Yami sighed, eyes downcast. "I did something horrible to him, Jou."

The blonde opened his mouth and shut it again, unable to find any words. Yami waited for a response but finally continued.

"It was right after my father had been murdered. I'd just been crowned Pharaoh. Bakura broke into the palace, demanding an audience with me." He broke off, taking a shaky breath. "I agreed, deciding it must be fairly important, but had my priests and guards ready just to be cautious. He was allowed into the throne room. He even knelt down," Yami smiled slightly when he caught the look of complete wonder on the blonde's face.

"No way," Jou grinned, although he could feel a sense of dread in the pit of his stomach for what was to come.

"Oh yes. He then got right to the point…He asked that the Millennium Items be destroyed." Jou looked at him in shock. "I know, not the average request from a lowly commoner. The priests adamantly refused; one of them, my uncle, asking my permission to further question him. I agreed and dismissed him and Bakura. About an hour later my uncle returned to tell me that Bakura was a spy, plotting to weaken Egypt so our enemies could cut us down. He requested more information be tortured out of him, something I was not keen on doing…" Yami broke off, voice quivering. "But I did. I allowed it, for what I thought was the sake of my people…"

Yami stopped talking at this point, looking away. Jou gently placed a hand on his shoulder. Yami looked over gratefully before continuing.

"He escaped after a few months of it…and the next time I saw him was in my throne room once again….powerful…the King of Thieves…no longer requesting anything but ordering it…threatening to destroy the entire city that lay right outside my palace if we didn't hand over the items. I created the monster he became…if not, I certainly finished whatever someone else had started." Yami buried his face in his trembling hands. "I can't believe I did that. I didn't even question him myself…and it only gets worse."

Jou started. "Worse?"

Yami smiled grimly. "My uncle was plotting against me the entire time, keen on erecting his own son to the throne. He was the bastard, willing to murder half of Egypt in order to raise an army of Shadow monsters against me…and do you know what tops it all? Whatever Bakura's reasons were, they threatened my uncle, scared him out of his wits…and I never bothered to ask…I just blindly trusted my priests, throwing all caution to the wind." They sat for what felt like hours in silence, just staring at the duel monster cards under the glass casing of the countertop.

When Jou finally spoke his voice was hoarse. "Did you ever…find out why Bakura wanted the items destroyed?"

Yami dolefully shook his head. "No."

Jou sighed. "Well…at least…he finally got what he wanted….he destroyed the items."

Yami nodded. "Yes, but at what cost? Now no one is in control of the Shadows. What if the Realm breaks loose, erupting into utter chaos?"

Jou smirked as he stood and stretched. "Then we'll just have to be ready to fight back wit' everythin' we've got." Yami stared in wonder at the blonde. "Get some rest, man. Stop being so hard on yourself. It's time to move on." Jou ambled out of the shop, turning in the window to give Yami thumbs up.

Yami smiled and shook his head. 'It's time to move on.'

Bakura sat on a stool in a small coffee shop one early morning after a long night driving without stopping. His blinked hard to keep his eyes open, taking out a cigarette and lighting it up. A large, burly middle-aged man with receding black hair came up behind the counter, wiping a cup with his apron.

"Drink? Looks like you could use one," the man observed.

"Coffee. Black." Bakura mumbled, rubbing his eyes with his finger.

He sat back, the only customer in the shop as the man scrounged about behind the counter.

"Traveling alone?" The man grunted as he poured some coffee beans into a grinder.

The thief nodded, staring at his bandaged hands on the counter, the cigarette between two scuffed-up fingers.

"What'd you do to yourself? Looks like you got in quite a fight," the man mused. "Well, you need to keep on your toes around here. Not the most friendliest place in the world."

"I can take care of myself," Bakura mumbled absentmindedly, inhaling a whiff of smoke.

The man smirked. "Sure. So where you headed?"

The thief shrugged. "Wherever. Haven't decided yet."

The man scowled. "That's a waste of time, don't you think? Have any money?"

"It comes by and by," Bakura grinned, exhaling a thin stream of smoke.

The man caught the gleam in the thief's eye. "Do you even have damn a job?"

"Good Ra you're nosey!" Bakura growled, letting the ash from his cigarette fall to the countertop.

The man grinned cunningly. "An' you're fixing to end up in some ditch with all yer teeth knocked out with that cocky attitude of yours."

Bakura narrowed his eyes in disbelief. "Are you threatening me?"

The man leaned in so their noses were only inches apart. "The question is: do you consider me a threat?"

"Hell no, I could whip your ass in a second," Bakura grinned.

"Like to back that up?"

"With pleasure." Before the man could react Bakura had landed a fist to his jaw.

He staggered back as the thief jumped onto the counter. Bakura smirked only to have his eyes widen as the man went for his legs, knocking the yami flat on his back. Bakura rolled off the counter so he and the man were face to face and swung as the man came at him. They both growled in frustration as their fists met, strength about equal. They shoved at one another, knocking each other back to opposite sides of the counter.

"What's all this, Earl?" A policeman in the doorway asked, reaching for his gun. "This guy causing you trouble?"

The two paused, staring first at the officer than at one another. Their eyes met.

"This here is my new employee. He's gonna be working here for a while," Earl smiled, walking over to the panting thief and holding out a hand. "Ain't that right?"

Bakura grinned deviously accepting the outstretched hand. "Exactly."

Yami sighed, looking down at the note he'd written. It fully explained that he needed to be alone a while; needed to sort some things out. He looked over at Mr. Mutou and Yugi who were both asleep on the couch, having dozed off during a movie they'd rented. Yami gently placed the note on his hikari's hand.

"Don't be too angry with me," he whispered, tiptoeing out of the room with his suitcase.

"You ready?" Honda asked from atop his motorcycle outside the game shop.

"Yes."

Honda glanced back at the shop after he'd helped Yami on. "You sure you wanna do this?"

"I need to," Yami replied, attempting to hold onto the brunette and his suitcase.

Honda sighed. "So, where to then?"

"The bus stop."

The brunette looked back. "Where will you go?"

"I'm not sure yet. I'll figure it out," Yami answered.

"Don't stay away too long or I will come hunt you down myself," Honda said threateningly, the hint of a smile on his face.

Yami chuckled. "I promise."

"All right then, let's get going," Honda grinned, starting up his bike.

"Thank you, Honda," Yami replied as they started off down the road, leaving the sleeping hikari behind.

"So where'd you come from anyway?" Earl asked as he scrubbed a coffee cup in the back after closing time that evening.

"Domino," Bakura shrugged, throwing away some trash a customer had left on a table. The thief had unwaveringly refused to wear an apron, much to Earl's amusement.

Earl whistled. "That's a long ways there. Why'd ya leave?"

"Hey, what'd we say about prying?" Bakura smirked from up front.

"Fine fine," the man grumbled. He held out a cigarette to the yami who gladly accepted. They sat in front of the counter in silence, smoking. Perhaps it was their clash of attitudes that made them get on so well…which is a strange remark in itself…

"Hungry?" Earl asked, standing and going around the counter.

"Hell yeah," Bakura nodded, laying his head on the counter in exhaustion.

"Well let's see what we've got…" There was the sound of scrounging around. "We've got a few donuts left."

Bakura sat up and suddenly burst into a fit of laughter, thinking of the blonde. Earl came out with a befuddled look on his face.

"Didn't know donuts were so damn funny," he muttered.

"S'not that…" the yami chuckled, waving his hand.

"Kids these days," Earl muttered. "What kind do you want?"

"Of kids? I don't want kids," Bakura scowled.

"Donuts you nut job," Earl rolled his eyes, grinning.

"Oh…uh…I don't know. What'd you have?" Bakura shrugged.

He turned and stared out the front window where there was a clear view of the red sun setting as he waited for a reply. So much had happened in the past few weeks: he'd discovered Yami had no recollection of the past; Marik had been poisoned by that damn golden book; Bakura'd been turned into his past self; gotten taken care of by none other that Jou (and had ended up in the shower with the blonde, which was still disturbing to the yami); gone back to the country he'd sworn he'd never return to; Yami'd gotten his memories back; and Bakura had finally fulfilled his pledge to his people after all these long millennia. Now it was time to start anew. But how was he going to decide where to go? The present moment was taken care of, but the future was unclear. What if he made the wrong choices again? How could he go on? The yami suddenly sat up at that thought.

"Let's see…we've got strawberry…"

"Actually, don't tell me. Just pick one," Bakura interrupted Earl quickly.

The man peeked out from the back. "But…I don't know what you like…"

"Exactly." Bakura smirked. He leaned back against the counter. "Surprise me."

Aieeeeeeeeee! It's over! (THUD) OhmygoodnessI'vebarelystartedthesequel!...(readers: O.o)

Sorry sorry. My goodness, let me tell you guys, you're all damn amazing, that's what! I'd like to holler out a special thanks to Joey-lover who began reviewing even though it was the second-to-last chappie! (I'm expecting a final review for this first half, dear! ) I've finished chapter two and am now on page three or four of chapter three of the sequel! Yay!

I don't have much homework this weekend so I will dedicate myself to Beyond Tomorrow, Before Today (the sequel) and Cry of the Wicked as much as possible. My mom's complaining that I'm spending too much time on the computer. O.O...No! I must type! The public needs me!...so yes, I'll do my best.

Review! (huggles)