I'M BACK BABIES!

I know its been a hot second since i posted anything knew...or even touched this story but rest assured I am DETERMINED to finish this series in its entirety!

The last three months have just been very tough, but now that I'm finally in my own place and able to get organized, inspiration for this story is coming back!
I started this chap a few weeks ago and would've finished it last night had I not had to work Saturday...
That said..First update since Christmas!
Woohoo!

Special shout out to CosmicxAngel (GoddessRouge on Deviantart) for her lovely comments which really inspired me and for her fantastic Malik in Love comic that inspired the concept of Marik falling in love with Yugi at first sight! You rock girl!

Disclaimer: Much of Marik's backstory dialogue is taken directly from the Manga Volume 12 Duel 106 because there was really no better way to describe it.


The Price Of Memory

A gleeful grin split Marik's face. Giddy with triumph, the promise of victory brightened his eyes and curled his laughter.

That fool, Pandora, had spared no expense in his duel against the parasite and Marik could already envision its outcome: the parasite would lose, Pandora would take the puzzle—for him, of course. He would be one step closer to claiming the three Gods and claiming his rightful title of King.

And, most significantly, Yugi would be his. More than that, his lover would be free: free from the corruptive shadow that wore his body like an expensive coat and used him just as carelessly.

It was with a small sense of regret that he could not view the duel himself, the Rod's power would allow him to look through his vessel's eyes and control their minds, but it was taxing and he would need his full strength in the trials to come.

The door opened quietly, but Marik did not stir from his musings.

Only one person had the privilege⎯and the courage⎯to enter his quarters unannounced.

"Master Marik," Rishad bowed low, his baritone submissive as he spoke. "We will arrive in Domino City Pier shortly."

Marik chortled. "Well done, Rishad. And the status?"

"Our systems show Yugi Mouto has already tracked back to the card shop and is currently engaged in a duel with Pandora. It is commencing as we speak."

Marik's smile curled into a triumphant smirk and he burst out laughing. "Good, Rishad! Very good!" Oh, Ra help him, he couldn't stop laughing. "Soon I will have everything I need to claim my rightful title⎯including my future Queen!"

The laughter was less maniacal than normal, Rishad noticed, and he could venture a guess as to why. Still…

"Master Marik if I may," he paused and waited for permission. the action one of loyalty rather than caution.

Marik paused in his fun and spun to the man, his brows arched in curious annoyance. "Yes, Rishad?" He demanded making no effort to scoff the annoyance in his voice. Under different circumstances, he would punish such in suppordance, but he loved his brother dearly and his loyalty and commitment was as unwavering as it was unquestionable⎯as was his sense of duty. If Rishad felt the need to question him, it would not be over something trivial.

"With all do respect, my Lord, are you not…" he chose his next words carefully. "Concerned?"

Marik's brows arched higher, then knitted together. "About?"

"Yugi Mouto's safety?"

All thoughts of humor died in Marik's throat. "Explain yourself, Rishad." Came the sharp, almost desperate demand.

Rishad paused, considered his phrasing, then spoke. "While it is true that Yugi Mouto is the vessel of the Millenium Puzzle's spirit, and that he used the boy's form to exist in our world…" he spoke quickly, taking sharp note of the vein bulging in Marik's forehead at the mention of the spirit and the boy he loved being referred to as a "vessel". "All that said, the spirit is possessing Yugi Mouto's flesh. They share the body. It exists between them both."

"The point, Rishad?" Marik barked, sharp and callous, his fingers writhing in fury and frustration at his hands and clenched his fists so tightly, Rishad spotted discoloration on his knuckles.

"Are you not concerned that, if the spirit of the puzzle is harmed at all during his duel with Pandora⎯or any of the Rare Hunters for that matter⎯of Yugi Mouto behind hurt in the process?"

Marik's entire expression shattered.

Rishad did not see the way his smile dropped with a strangled line or the way his eyes bulged in absolute terror, or the way his cheeks became sunken as he sucked in air and his forehead crinkled.

He did not have to.

"I…" Marik's voice broke for the barest fraction of a section, so quick only someone who knew him well enough would catch it. And Rishad knew him too well. "Will take into consideration." The boy arched his nose proudly and dismissed him with a wave of his hand. "You may go, Rishad. I have much to do before we arrive."

"As you wish," Rishad nodded and left.

Only when Marik heard the door click behind him did he allow the full force of his terror to overcome him.

"Fuckfuckfuckfuckfuckfuckfuck. FUCK!" He screeched, wrenching at his hair and pulling so hard, it was a miracle clumps did not tear out. He tore the Rod free from his belt nearly, tearing open his pants in the process, and bent over the Rod in such hurried panic, he slid to his knees, overwhelmed by the multitude of sights and cacophony of sounds as he slipped into the minds and ears of all his servants at once. It was like being a spider: forced to take in everything at once and forced to cipher it out in eight different directions for some form of control and clarity among the chaos amongst the chaos and muck. His brain was an explosion of sights and sounds, and he felt a headache far worse than the one he'd first experienced when he'd awoken with the Rod in his hands, but he was far stronger now than he was then and instead of passing out, he shifted and filtered his way through the much and the crime, through the onslaught of disgusting memories and past sins and present greeds and desires⎯he'd chosen his Rare Hunter scum for a reason after all...all the easier to dispose of them when they all eventually failed him, and all the better to rid the world of them now on his stepping stone to becoming king.

Once he accomplished that, and was more in his own mind, with only his own memories and griefs, deeply hidden where they could never again hurt him, he pilfered through the sights and sounds of the city-the chaos of crowds and people, the discordant of honking cars, screaming tourists and wailing sirens that had driven him to the brink of anxiety when he'd first left the tombs and Egypt, even Cario, was nowhere nears as dissonant and claustrophobic as Tokyo was. Still, he had purservered.

And once again, cataloging and organizing them, he finally managed to filter out the rest and found himself in the dark room of Pandora's basement with its hanging marrionates and occult symbols and the bloody pentagram on the floor⎯and wait?

What was?

Was that?

A saw? A GIANT razor-toothed SAW!

Lavender eyes widened in terrified horror as they followed the disgusting hum of the and saw the track of its trajectory, the life point counter, and how once they hit zero, those those monstrous metal teeth would slice right through his beloved's tendons, severing his feet from his legs and causing him to bleed out in a gorgeous bath of his own blood.

Marik swallowed his own screams.

Fire and fury consumed him and he rose, Rod in hand, ready to slaughter Pandora himself for such a trap⎯he wanted the false kind defeated not bloody fucking murdered ! Only he had the right to kill the man.

Only he, the last of the Ishtar Clan and the Tombkeepers had the right to spill his blood in righteous vengeance for the millennia of injustice done upon his family, not this greedy, selfish, pompous, arrogant wannabe magician whose own selfishness and self pity cost him everything he'd ever held dear and had the sheer audacity to think the world owed him something.

Fucking pompous, entitled, ass.

And now he was about to jeopardize his beloved's beautiful body all because that parasitic bastard needed a host like a fungus mercilessly digested and devoured the still living flesh of an insect who had wandered too close.

Marik would not allow that to happen! He raised the Rod, ready to banish Pandora himself, when the arrogant oaf explained the rules: the life point boxes, the keys inside, how the only way to open them was for someone to win and the other to die.

The Rod nearly slipped from Marik's fingers.

He couldn't believe this…

That meant…

In order for his beloved to return to safety, the Parasite had too...had too…

Win?

Shit. Shit! SHIT!

Marik was definitely going to kill Pandora for this!

X X X

Marik had never been so happy and so disgusted in all his life as was when Pandora's life points hit zero.

Ugh, rooting for the Parasite's victory left a taste in his mouth so bitter and foul he wanted nothing more than to wash it out with chlorine soup and industrial strength disinfectant.

But the revelation that Yugi had won, that he was safe...iled Mark with a joy and hope so pure and real he had not felt it since he was a small child, innocent of his destiny and not yet burdened with the knowledge of his duty.

By God, he truly was in love with his boy wasn't he? That the very thought of him being hurt filled with a dread so fierce and terrible, he could not bear it.

It only fired his determination to succeed...and his fury at Pandora for even daring to put such a pure-hearted creature's life in jeopardy into a screaming beast hungry for vengeance.

His anger was a living thing inside of him, and it was with a sick satisfaction that he watched the man scream in terror, pulling uselessly at his ankles when the Dark Magician girl's final attack left him helpless and all but crumbled into a heap, and even more when the metal teeth of the saw inched ever close, chopping away like the maw of a massive monster demanding its dinner.

Marik smiled wolflishly.

Then frowned when with a dramatic swoon Pandora fished a spare key from his coat sleeve.

Shock expanded Marik's eyes and rounded his lips to an O of realization. Anger dilated his pupils and curled his lips in a snarl that showed teeth.

He had...the whole time…

And he was going to let Yugi…

Rage exploded in Marik's heart and mind becoming a living thing inside of him and ceasing the Rod he stole away into Pandora's mind like a rebel soldier breaking into the home of a corrupted government official. A rage and a hunger that would not be satisfied with anything less than blood.

A wolfish smile curled at his lips when he felt Pandora's terror, heard the man choke on his name.

Marik let all his anger and disgust bleed into his voice "Didn't you lose this duel?" he hissed, throwing the man's own words back at him. "Then you must pay the price."

It was so easy to manipulate this one's memory that there was almost no sport in it. And oh, how he begged and pleaded, but all it took was a single snap, and the key that would save his life had been completely wiped from Pandora's memory.

"Ha!" Marik laughed, a vicious bark of sound. Unable to see or feel the key in his own hand, it was almost amusing watching this terrible, cowardly human being writhe and howl in terror and then all but scream the saw began to eat at his leg.

A flash of fire and night whirled across the dueling stage, catching Marik off guard. When the image cleared and the saw stopped he saw Pandora on the floor, unharmed but for a bleeding leg that wasn't that deep, and pushing on his back, sitting besides him after courageously using his own Key to save his worthless life...was Yugi.

Not the parasite that stole his body but Yugi, his Yugi.

Yugi had...saved him...he had just saved this worthless, pathetic excuse of a human being who had been willing to let him die a horrible death while he attempted to leave scott free, and Yugi had saved him!

"No game is worth dying for," Yugi scolded the man unconscious on the floor. "That's just...that's just... sick !" The authoritative power in his voice, the passion of his command, the sense of justice, not righteousness, thar dominated his conviction…if Marik was not in love with Yugi before, he certainly was now.

Yugi, his Yugi, who without question or hesitation had just risked his life to save the most undeserving of all his followers despite all he had done to try and hurt him: was a true Queen.

"Now why'd you do that?" Marik asked with Pandora's mouth before he'd realized he'd spoken the question aloud.

And only did so when he saw the shocked expression on Yugi's face.

"Who are you?" Yugi demanded, no doubt catching the change in Pandora's voice, no longer that annoying high-pitched shriek of a madman performer, but Marik's own melodious sulto.

"That's right…"Marik muttered, his fingers shaking. It was not lost on him that this was their first meeting...the first time Yugi was speaking to him, to him ! The first time they were speaking to each other : no flowers, no letters, no loving words of encouragement between them.

Marik cursed his ill luck.

Cursed the Parasite for putting Yugi in danger in the first place, and cursed Pandora for making this absolutely not what he had wanted or imagined for their first meeting.

Alright, Marik, compose yourself . He scolded himself. He still doesn't know your Khasamaa. Or what you like, or who you are really...you can salvage this.

And perhaps, a thought occurred to him then, like a bolt of fireworks exploding into colorful clarity. Perhaps, he could even convince Yugi of the truth.

It was worth the risk, he decided. Yugi was worth any risk.

Composing himself, nearly forgetting who he was supposed to be in the stunning, miraculous, angelic beauty that was Yugi's beautiful smile and bright eyes and pale pink cheeks, and the determined fire burning those deep violet eyes amethyst, like the rarest and most beautiful of all of Egypt's ancient jewels-the jewels of the Queen.

Oh, how appropriate, the Gods truly could not have been more clear in their presentation.

Steeling himself, Marik hardened his voice "I haven't introduced myself to the vessel , have I?" His heart hammered when Yugi's fiery eyes met his through Pandora's: their determination and sheer will, oh Ra and all the Gods, MArik wanted to melt into a puddle.

"My name is Marik," he introduces, softened his voice to a deep baritone.

"Marik?"

He didn't like the horrified realization that overtook Yugi's features as he stared at Pandora's puppet. Was he disgusted by it?

Marik did not blame him, but he certainly did not Yugi's first impression of him to be of some corpse puppeteer. "I'm controlling this fool, Pandora, from a distance," he explained, softening the explanation as best he could. "I control his mind and his senses...his sight and his hearing. That is how I am able to see and hear you…" He swallowed behind the Rod. "To talk to you, too…"

To his relief, Yugi no longer looked disgusted.

To his disgruntlement, Yugi's entire being transformed, this time with righteous determination.

"Why Marik!" Yugi demanded, eyes burning fearlessly. "Why do you want to kill us!? Tell me!"

Oh, Marik could've fallen in love with him all over again for that fearless courage.

"It doesn't concern you ," Marik explained sinking, severity into that word, and it was true. Even before, he'd laid eyes on this stunning little angel, he'd never had any bad blood with the host of the Parasite who dared call himself King. In truth, he thought just as everyone else had of the host: a mere vessel and nothing more.

Those thoughts more than any other, disgusted Marik, now. It was a mistake he would not make again.

"However," his voice hardened without his realizing, unable to keep his hate and disgust for the creature out of his voice. "I have business with the soul you contain...and my business is revenge."

Yugi's expression did not soften from either empathy or fear, but curiosity curved his mouth and slanted his eyes. He wanted to know more...to know the truth...to understand why someone, how someone could possibly hate the man he'd come to call friend?

A true QueenI, Marik smiled again, but did not let it play on Pandora's face.

Perhaps there was hope after all?

"I am the heir to the Clan of the Tomb Keepers who, for three. Thousand. Years have lived in the darkness guarding the secrets of the Pharaoh's tomb..." he indulged his beloved, allowing all his pain and anguish to puncture in each and every word. "And I will avenge them!"

X X X

Yugi listened to Marik's story with a mixture of apprehension and bewilderment.

Revenge…clan of the tomb keepers ...the words rose like ghosts to haunt him, teasing and tantalizing him with a truth he could not see but knew of. Where had he heard that before?

Marik continued his tale, anger and anguish lacing each word with venom and vehement regret. "In the most remote parts of Egypt, near the tombs of the kings, we Tomb Keepers have lived apart from the world, hiding in the shadows, passing the take from mother to daughter and father to son...to protect the seven secrets...to protect the lost memories of the Pharaoh...so that one day the King will rise again.

Yugi's eyes shot wide. Seven secrets...lost memories... what had Bakura, the dark Bakura, said to him during his match with Otogi all those months ago?

Only one person on earth can solve the Millennium Puzzle. Only one person is chosen for the duty of awakening the king's memories. That person is you .

"Hold on!" Yugi cut him off. "Do you mean the millennium items? The seven items that are supposed to fit into the tabet of the pharaoh's memories?"

Marik was taken aback. So Yugi did know something about the ancient scriptures and the prophecy of the past? But how? who told him? He doubted it was Ishizu, she was duty bound to only share that information with the suspected king himself, not his chosen vessel?

It did not matter, he decided. " I hold one of the seven items," Marik explained. "I must guard it, even if it means my life, until I present it to King's soul. That's what I was taught as a child."

He spoke those words with such pain, such bitterness, such discipline and regret and rage and remorse that it broke Yugi's heart and for a moment, he tried to imagine what that kind of life must've been like...trapped, alone in the dark, cut off from the world and no one but your family and your duty: no friends, no games, no days out with Grandpa or trips to the park, or the arcade or going to school and studying for tests...no life of any kind...and found he could not.

For when he did, his empathic heart felt only sadness.

"It says of the King You will know him by the Three God Cards he wields ." Marik continued, almost robotically, though his voice had not lost that reluctant discipline, that made it all too clear this was not a life he had chosen for himself, but one that had been forced upon him. "The only clue is written in the original hieroglyphic text of the Pert Em Hru, the Book of the Dead. The problem is finding the King's soul."

Only one person on earth can solve the Millennium Puzzle. Only one person is chosen for the duty of awakening the king's memories. That person is you .

Again Bakura's words rang in Yugi's mind, a dark prophecy for a chosen one who wanted nothing more than to live his life. Was that who Yugi was? Was that the purpose behind his friendship with Yami, when all the spirit wanted was to stay with him, with their friends, to enjoy the new life he'd been given? Was it not his choice to decide? Did either of them have one...any more than Marik had?

It twisted Yugi's stomach into knots.

"In other words.." Marik continued, his voice fired with a determination that twisted Pandora's expression to one of might and rebellion so fierce, Yugi stepped back. "The one who collects the three God Cards will be crowned King and regain the Millennium items and his lost memories."

Realization struck Yugi like a slap. "That's why…" the words were barely a whisper in his mind: the final piece fitting into place and the puzzle's image clear. I knew Yami wouldn't enter this tournament for a few rare cards...he's fighting and seeking his lost memories.

Dread squeezed Yugi's heart but he did not have time to process it as Marik roared again "For countless generations, my family has protected the millennium items at the cost of suffering and pain…" Anguished venom laced each word, squeezing Yugi's heart and caused his fists to clench.

A long pause, heavy with powerful promise then harsh determination bled into his words. "I will put an end to our curse, but not by welcoming the king we have waited for, but by defeating him." His voice seethed with absolute conviction. "I will kill him a second time and take our revenge! and if the Prophecy says the King will wield the three God Cards then I will fulfill that prophecy and become the new king!"

For a single moment, Yugi saw through Pandora's eyes, saw into this man who called himself Marik, this man who was their enemy and yet, Yugi was finding it harder and harder to hate him, and saw not the tyrannical madman he had pictures, but someone driven by grief and pain so strong it bordered on madness.

"I formed the Rare Hunters, the Ghouls, to find the three God cards…" Marik explained, his voice softening. "I have two already, and the last one is in this town...in Battle City!"

And there it was, the confirmation of all of Yugi's worst fears...the truth behind his other self's desire to enter this tournament, the reason Kaiba threw it in the first place...the catalyst for what he knew had to happen though he fought so desperately to deny it…

as if sensing his distress, Marik waited for him before speaking again, and this time when he spoke, there was so rage, no anguish, only determined resignation. "I will find all three God cards, prepare yourself… Yugi ," he spat the name in such a way that Yugi knew it was not him, he was speaking to, but the spirit. "When I kill him, I will be free from my family's fate, and the world will be mine."

Yugi barely heard that bold declaration, too lost in his own swimming thoughts: truths he did not wish to acknowledge, desires he knew were selfish, and decisions he knew he had to make, and the consequences of them all.

The Three Gods Cards…

Those were the catalyst, the Key to restoring his Other Self's lost memories... Yami' s lost memories. the memories that if restored could have only one true outcome, and as much as Yugi wished and wanted to deny it, he knew exactly what that outcome was.

But ...the thought came unbidden to him, selfish and secret and yet it was his deepest desire. If I don't find the God Cards, then the Other Me will never get his memories back… and...he can...he could...stay with me...forever.

It was cruel and it was selfish and Yugi knew that, and yet even as he thought of it, the idea of Yami, his other self, his friend trapped with no memories of who he was filled him with a heartache so fierce he couldn't stand it.

He knew, knew Yami wanted to know who he was...what his Fate is. Even if he was content to share Yugi's memories, to never get his own back, he had lived a whole other life before Yugi, one that he remembered nothing of.

Yugi hated this.

Hated that both he and the one he loved most were being pushed toward this uncertain future, propelled by the memories of the past...and yet…

yugi knew all too well how hard it was to put the pains of the past behind you, to accept it and let it make you stronger, or how cathartic it was to finally become to find closure for the pains and struggles that held you back for so long.

He couldn't take that away from Yami.

He couldn't let Yami suffer like that, trapped in the past, unable to change, stuck the same way forever.

There was nothing sadder than that.

Yugi clenched the chain of the puzzle tightly but not the puzzle itself. Tight fingers whitening as they squeezed, fearful the item would disappear. And Yugi knew it just might.

Even if remembering means we have to be separated... Yugi clenched the puzzle tighter, a new wave of determination filling him. There are some things you just have to let go.

Emboldened by that belief, Yugi's eyes flashed with fire and met Marik's.

X X X

Yugi was quiet, far quieter than Marik had expected after his impassioned rants. He'd tried to curb his anger as he spoke, as he explained, but nothing could dampen the flames of anguish and anxiety that had buried themself so deep in his heart they had sunk their claws deep and taken root.

Instead, he waited patiently for Yugi's answer. Observed his downcast eyes, his fisted hands, the way his knuckles tightened in thought. Watched as Yugi's hands squeezed the chain of his puzzle, as if he'd meant to take it off.

Marik's heart leapt into his throat.

Was he? Was Yugi going to? Did this mean...did he believe him? Was Yugi going to help him? Rid himself of the parasite right here and now?

Yugi lifted his face: determination fired his exuberant eyes until they glowed like amethysts and his face was one of unyielding resolve. "Marik, I won't let you kill my partner! We will fight you!"

Marik was taken aback. He knew the reaction should have surprised him-or stung-as much as it did.

"You are merely the vessel…" Marik replied making it clear, it was the Parasite, and not Yugi himself, who Marik needed to defeat. "If you continue to fight me then when the time comes, you too, might die." Was this escapade not proof of that? Of the risks Yugi knew he would be taking if he continued to stay by the parasitic spirit's side?

Yugi glared at him, all fierce fire and unshaking valor.

Like a true Queen.

Oh Yugi, sweet, naive, little Yugi…You have no idea what I'm capable of and yet you hold such hope...such certainty... Marik swooned and it was a miracle of his will he managed to maintain enough control that Pandora did not do the same. And it's one of your most magnificent qualities! Such strength, such valor such...resolve! You truly are a Queen, my darling.

Though disappointed by Yugi's choice, Marik could only adore him all the more for it. He would rise to the challenge, he would show Yugi that the pesky spirit was nothing but an interloper, unworthy of his kindness and devotion. He would prove to his beloved that only he was worthy of the chance to court him and win his beautiful heart.

And he would earn it.

I will never understand how everything you do stirs these feelings within me Yugi, but I swear I will make you mine!

But first… "Very well...it will still take me a while to get to Domino, but in the meantime…"

He certainly didn't want the parasite to get comfortable in the meantime. Or get bored, let him see that Marik was a threat. Let him know that Marik was coming…normally he'd leave the parasite to rot, but for his sweet little Yugi...he could give the bastard a chance.

"A Rare Hunter with a God card is already in town. A man with Slifer the Sky Dragon."

Yugi gasped, and Marik felt a slight sense of giddiness that he made the other surprised. Oh, how Marik wanted to swoon. "You'll see him before you expect it," he teased. "Remember this...Beware the Silent Doll."

Yugi's fiery eyes hardened again, bright and bold and beautiful like amethysts shimmering with defiance. Oh Ra, how Marik loved those eyes!

Remembering, he was still in that fool Pandora's body, Marik stole through the network of the man's mind until he found what he was looking for.

Time to tie up loose ends. This worthless scum didn't deserve to live after what he tried to do to his beloved Yugi, but he'd be damned if he'd let his beloved's sacrifice be in vain, so he would give the man a chance...he would bring up his darkest memories, fill him with those impulses and if he was strong enough to overcome him, well good for him. If not, let him do his own dirty work.

Satisfied, Marik readied himself to leave, but not before one last word with his beloved "I'll see you again, Yugi."

Just before he vacated Pandora's mind, the moron slumping into unconsciousness on the floor, Yugi declared "Marik! We won't give up! We'll get back those memories!"

X X X

Marik once more found himself on the hull of Rishad's yacht, where the city of Domino unfolded in front of him: buildings and skyscrapers rising like silver towers.

A smile split his face and he all but exploded with giddiness.

He'd met Yugi...in person. Granted it wasn't how he'd hoped they'd meet but it was a start! They'd had a conversation! Sure, it was most about the false pharaoh and his traumatic origins but it still counted! And he hadn't failed to notice the empathy in Yugi's reactions. Strong, bold and humble, Gods above, could he be more perfect.

He was so close…

Now all he had to do was defeat that pesky pharaoh! And with Slifer and his Doll and his unbeatable strategy he would!

"Wait for me, Yugi." He grinned. "I will bury that spirit in darkness along with the past."

He didn't notice the sinister shadow glowing in the Millennium Rod's single eyes.


Despite the struggle to actually START this was a super fun chapter to write: Marik is really so much fun and easy to write, his POV just absolutely shines through when ever Yugi is involved and I had a lot of fun thinking of this section through his perspective, but also surprisingly was Yugi's. Yugi always struck me as an empathic person and here you really see his struggle between understanding Marik but also his struggled with how to help Yami, knowing full well what him regaining his memories might mean, and I really loved exploring their duel perspectives with this chapter...

Any guesses what that little cliffhanger is supposed to mean?

I also want to say this fic or rather this Arc will be coming to a close soon...I was estimating about 4 chapters, depending on whether or not the Slifer Duel, which I am VERY excited about because a certain someone will be making their long overdo appearance...but also because that's when we will really start to see a shift in tone in this story...
That said since, once I broke it down there is still a lot that needs to be covered, I'm estimating this story will end between 20 and 25 chapters...
Can't end it without having Bakura doing what he does best and stirring things up ;)

Anyway I'm just gonna chuck this chap and that grenade of a cliffhanger up here and let you all have fun ;) Please feel free to share theories, I absolutely love them!