NOTE: The chapters may not come as quickly as they have been, sorry. Also, the Christmas Special may be a little late, but I'm still going to do one; firstly, because I have a perfect idea for it, and secondly, because I freaking love Christmas.

I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh!

Chapter 17: Pegasus' Island

When Marik and Bakura saw Pegasus' island, they were in complete awe. The island just looked so beautiful, like a perfect vacation spot. It had trees of all kinds, some small mountains and some valleys, and a few meadows filled with an assortment of flowers of all shapes and colors. Marik wished he could spend a little more time here, he would really like to just relax for a while in the meadows. And not only was the nature impressive, there was also a magnificent Renaissance styled castle in the middle of the island. It had many pillars and everything was done in a gray stone. Bakura kept insisting that they check out the dungeon if they got the chance, and Marik wanted to see how many armored knights there were along the halls. He was guessing at least a hundred.

As they got closer to the castle, Bakura turned into a cat, and Marik immediately picked him up.

Not that Bakura minded, but still.

Anyways, the boat glided along the water until it reached the island. There was a dock, but they weren't sure if they should go inside it or not. This predicament was solved when a guy wearing a black tux and sunglasses with an earpiece came outside and waved them in. He seemed really surprised when he saw Marik alone with just a cat.

"You came by yourself?" the guard asked in English.

Marik smiled at him, "Yup!" he said back in perfect English, sounding exactly like a crazed fan, "I just had to meet Pegasus, I'm a huge fan!" Bakura couldn't help but feel just a little impressed with Marik's acting skills, apparently he wasn't the only one who could lie through his teeth when necessary. "But I'm not alone," Marik continued, "I brought my pet cat with me, see?" he said, holding out Bakura. Bakura glared at him, he was taking the 'pet' thing a little too far, but Marik just smirked.

The tuxedo-guard just shook his head, muttering something about crazed fans and how they were all going to end up killing themselves eventually. "Well," he finally said after getting over the craziness of fans, "Come down and follow me, I'll get you inside Pegasus' castle."

"Thanks!" Marik said as he climbed down the ladder, still holding Bakura, "I think the castle is a nice touch by the way."

"Really?" the guard seemed surprised, "I thought it was a bit much… but that's Pegasus for you." the guard turned around and started walking, Marik followed. The guard led them through a tree-lined path up to the black front gates. The gates were intricately carved and crafted into swirling patterns, assuring that not even the skinniest of people could get through. Although, it was perfect for a fluffy white cat.

"Mr. Pegasus," the guard spoke into the intercom, "There is a fan here to see you."

"Wonderful!"(1), Pegasus said in an incredibly drawled voice, "Bring him in!" There was a beep, and the gates opened up. Tuxedo-man walked briskly inside, not even bothering to look at the beautiful multi-colored birds among all of the bird fountains, bird houses, and bird feeders in the inside lawn. He probably saw them already anyways, but Marik hadn't, he tried to look at everything while keeping up with the guard. Keeping up with him was easy, but he wanted to take a closer look at those bird fountains when he got the chance.

The guard led them inside through the tall front doors, and inside there was a luscious red carpet that went all through the halls, which there were a lot of. Marik hoped they wouldn't get lost. The walls were painted some light shade of yellow, and the windows all had dark green curtains. Marik noticed there were some knights in random places along the walls, and that made him smile.

Eventually, the guard led them into a sort of waiting room. Inside there were a few fancy chairs, two green couches, and bookshelves lined the walls inside, filled with many thick books of all sorts. Mr. Pegasus was seated at a throne-like chair, with the red cushioned seat, the padded arm rests, and the straight back with the fancy pattern designed into it. He was wearing something extremely close to the picture Marik and Bakura had seen him in before, which made them wonder if he just had a closet full of that outfit. His silver-ish hair covered the left side of his face, and Marik knew that's where the eye was hidden.

"Please," Pegasus said, "Sit down, it's always an honor to meet a fan!"

"I'm the one that's honored!" Marik said as he sat down on one of the green couches.

"So tell me," Pegasus said, "on a scale of one to ten, how big of a fan are you?"

"Hm, a definite ten!" Bakura snickered in his cat form, it was fun to watch Marik be so excited about something he knew nothing about.

"And may I ask who this little guy is?" Pegasus said, referring to Bakura.

"This is my pet cat," Marik said with a smile, "'Kura, short for Bakura." Bakura glared at Marik, which sent him into fits of silent laughter, imagine the cutest cat in the world glaring at you?

Pegasus stood up and walked over to Bakura. Then he picked him up and put him high into the air and started twirling him around with a huge smile. "You have such a cute cat!" he said animatedly, "Tell me, where did you find such an adorable little kitty?" He held Bakura like a baby, and Bakura's eye started to twitch slightly.

"Um… You might want to put him down…" Marik said.

"Why?"

"He's a biter."

"That's no big deal, I like biters."

Marik sweat dropped, "A-anyway Pegasus! I'm a big fan of Duelmonsters!"

"Really?" Pegasus feigned surprise, "I thought only a few people knew of my game, I'm glad some people like it so much! I'm so happy!" he started cuddling Bakura, who tried to get out of his grasp, and Marik didn't really like that… He stepped forward and took Bakura from Pegasus, "Uh, I'd like my cat back please…"

"Of course, of course! Completely understandable, but when was the last time you played with him?" Marik opened his mouth to answer, but then Pegasus said, "Guards! Get some string for Bakura to play with!" the guards said "Yes Pegasus," and left to do his bidding. Pegasus took his seat again. "Now, my scale-of-ten fan," Pegasus said, "What is your name?"

"Marik Ishtar."

"Well Marik-kun," Pegasus said, he liked the Japanese honorifics, "Where do you come from?"

"Japan."

"Japan?" Pegasus said, feigning surprise again, "Ah, my game is popular in a place like Japan? Wonderful!" The guards came in with some string which they handed to Marik. Marik was going to just toss it to the side, but out of the corner of his eyes, he saw Bakura staring at the string, his cat instincts had taken over and they wanted the string. Marik's face slowly turned into a smile, and he held the string out in front of Bakura. He batted it, then Marik started dragging it, and Bakura followed it. Marik laughed, and this jolted Bakura out of his cat instincts. He growled, but when Marik placed the string right in front of his face, and he batted it again. He cursed himself.

"I take it you haven't played with your cat in a long time?" Pegasus asked.

"Not really, we- I've been busy," Marik tossed Bakura the string who started to bite at it.

Pegasus nodded, "I understand. So, what exactly do you like about Duelmonsters?"

"I like all the monsters!" Marik said without a moments hesitation, for he had decided before that this was his favorite part, "I like how certain attacks affect only certain monsters, and how whether or not a monster attacks depends on many different things."

"Ah yes, that's actually why most people think it's confusing. What's you're favorite monster?"

"Oh, that's a hard one," Marik said, trying to stall for time because he had no idea what to say, "There's just so many… I can't decide!"

"Ah, I know what you mean," Pegasus said with a happy smile, "I also find it hard to choose! Could I maybe see your deck?"

"Um… well, I would show you if I could… but all of my cards got swept away by the wind into the ocean…"

Pegasus was shocked, "Ah! That's terrible! How long did it take you to collect them all?"

"A pretty long time… But I'll just have to start over again I guess!"

"If you like, I could give you some card of mine."

"Would you really? That'd be great! Cards from Pegasus, in my deck!" Marik pretended to be super excited. Pegasus laughed, and got up from his seat. Marik followed, and Bakura got up and walked with them too. Pegasus led them to his room, but they weren't expecting what they saw inside. There was a red canopy bed inside, with red carpet and rose-colored wall paper. Marik stared at it in shock, What the hell? he thought, What man has a canopy bed? Bakura was also surprised, but he tried to hide it, considering he was a cat and all, and he jumped up on top of the canopy bed and laid down. Pegasus walked towards his bedside table and pulled some cards out of the drawer. He handed them to Marik. "Here you are, I hope they'll help you" he said in Japanese. However, Marik didn't notice the quick transition, and replied back in Japanese, "Yeah! They're great!" he sat down on the bed next to Bakura and started looking through the cards. Pegasus looked at him.

And now I must tell you, that Marik and Bakura's plan was a great one, they were pretty good at lying and Pegasus was a sucker for his fans, but over the years, Pegasus had learned to be cautious, and so, when Marik had switched from English to Japanese so quickly and easily, he began to get suspicious. And that's when Marik and Bakura's plan started to crumble amongst their feet. For at that moment, when Marik was looking through the cards (as if he had a clue what the heck the card descriptions were talking about), Pegasus used the power of his Millennium Eye and did a 'mind scan' on him.

And he saw all of their plans. Not only that, but he saw the boat trip, and through that, he also saw Bakura, and he knew that Bakura had changed into a cat. And with his knowledge, he came to know that Bakura was a vampire, for you see, he had heard of vampires before, but he'd never seen one, especially not in cat form!

But anyway, now Pegasus knew that they were lying about being his fans, and that they only wanted the Millennium Eye (although he didn't know why they wanted it), and he would not let that happen. But he wanted to test one thing first.

He sat down next to Marik. "Yes, this card is good to have, especially with this one," he placed his hand on Marik's shoulder, and Bakura's cat ears stood up. Marik smiled at Pegasus, "Thanks! I really appreciate this!" He didn't really care about Pegasus' hand on his shoulder, but Bakura cared. He closed his eyes, trying to stop acting this way.

Pegasus laughed, "It's no trouble at all, but I do wonder," he said, "You speak English and Japanese so fluently, and with the appropriate accent too! How do you do it?"

"Ah," Marik began, finally realizing his slip-up, "I want to teach English to Japanese people."

"Wonderful! I always admired teachers!" Bakura's cat ears heard a faint rustle, and he opened one eye. Pegasus' face was just a little too close to Marik's for his liking…

He jumped up like he was struck by lightning and slashed the hand that was on Marik's shoulder. Pegasus immediately took his hand away and started cradling it, Marik just looked in shock. "Ah!" he said, "I'm sorry! I didn't know he'd do that!" He turned to Bakura and glared, "Bad kitty!" Bakura hissed.

"Ah, that's all right," Pegasus said, for Bakura's actions had just confirmed his thoughts, "I know pets can be unpredictable, and some pets can be just a little overprotective, though," Pegasus glanced at Bakura, which made him think that Pegasus knew something. "I'll just go take care of this," Pegasus said as he stood up and walked through the door. As soon as his footsteps died away, Marik turned to Bakura, "What the hell Bakura?" he whispered, "Why'd you do that?"

"Marik," Bakura whispered back, "Did you honestly not notice his hand on your shoulder?"

Marik shrugged, "I noticed, just didn't care. I've seen Americans do weirder things, and don't even get me started on what some French dude did…"(2) he shuddered remembering his first experience of a French greeting. Bakura laid back down on the bed, but his attention was quickly diverted when he saw string dangle in front of his face again. Bakura stared at it, and barely noticed his body move into a pouncing position. When he was all ready, he pounced at the string, but Marik moved it out of the way just before he could get at it. Marik started laughing, and then Marik thought of something, "Hey Bakura?" he said with a smirk, "Why would you care if Pegasus put his hand on my shoulder?"

"Um," the question had caught Bakura off guard, "Well, if you get kidnapped or something it's inconvenient for me 'cause then I have to save your ass."

"Hmm, I see," Marik wasn't that convinced, and for some reason, he felt all warm inside, though he didn't know why. He turned to Bakura, "You should probably go look around the castle for exits and stuff."

Bakura tilted his head since he didn't have an eyebrow to raise, "Stuff?"

"You know, something that we should be wary of."

"Wow."

"Wow what?"

"Wow, I'm surprised you know a word as complex as 'wary.'"

Marik rolled his eyes, "Just go look around already!"

Bakura stretched, "All right, but then I'm checking out the dungeon." He leaped off the bed, ran through the door, and ran down the hallway, narrowly avoiding Pegasus on his way back to the room. He found it much easier to run on all fours than on two legs, although he knew if he tried to run on all fours as a human it wouldn't be the same, but he couldn't help but think it.

Anyway, Pegasus walked back into the room, "Where's your cat going?"

"I yelled at him and then he ran off."

"Ah, you didn't have to yell at him, my hand is fine! See?" His hand had a bandage around it and there appeared to be blood under the bandage.

Marik wasn't going to say anything, but then remembered that he was supposed to be a super fan, so he said, "Ah! I'm so sorry! My cat caused you to bleed!" like he was really worried.

Pegasus laughed it off, "Don't worry, really! I've had worse wounds than this!" he sat down next to Marik again, "Now, I hope these cards will be useful to you."

"They will! Thanks!"

Pegasus laughed softly, "I know you must be tired from your long trip over here, how about you stay for dinner? And while your at it, stay the night!"

"Really? That'd be great!" Marik smiled his biggest smile ever and Pegasus smiled as well.

"I'll show you to your room now, this way." He stood up and walked out with Marik following behind, still holding the cards.

Bakura was walking down the halls looking for exits and "stuff," when he heard a conversation between two guards.

"I tell you Jimmy," the guard they had met earlier was saying in English (it still seemed weird to Bakrua that he could understand it), "These fans are getting crazier and crazier! Another fan came in today and he came on a boat by himself! He could've died out there!" Bakura snickered, they didn't know the half of it.

"Really?" Jimmy asked in disbelief, "That's insane! He was all alone?"

"Well, he had a cat with him, but hell be damned if a cat could do anything in a crisis." Bakura ran in front of them, making them take a step back. He meowed innocently. Jimmy picked him up. "Is this the cat?"

"No, Mr. Pegasus bought a new cat. Of course it's the cat idiot!"

"Ralph, I don't like the look he's giving us…" Bakrua was glaring at the guards at the moment, mainly to see how they would react, but partly because he wanted to get down, and he wasn't sure if he could fit his mouth around this guys fat wrist.

"What look can he give us? It's a cat! Just drop the dang thing and let's get back to work."

"Yeah, you're right," he set Bakura down, and then the white cat ran off to go find some 'stuff.'

Bakrua ran down the halls, wondering why he wasn't meeting anyone else. This thing was too huge to just be so empty like this! He must have run through at least ten hallways and not one of them had a person inside. Which was weird, because all the rooms were sparklingly cleaned, and he had trouble finding even a speck of dirt or dust on them. Which was pretty hard to do, considering his vampire eyesight. Of course, was that diminished as a cat? Or was it stronger… Bakura jumped up onto the windowsill and looked outside at the trees. They looked about the same as they always had. He jumped back down and walked inside the door across the hall.

Most of these rooms were empty, and some only had one chair and a table inside. There was one room full of nothing but clocks. That must get annoying every hour, Bakura thought.

Then Bakura came to a weird room. The door to the room had been closed, but it was a shocking shade of blue, which was in contrast to the color scheme of this castle, and the letter "C" was engraved on the door surrounded by intricately carved flowers and fairies. Bakura looked at it curiously. Whatever was inside must be incredibly important. He jumped up to try and turn the handle, because he was pretty sure there were cameras somewhere around here and it would look kind of weird if a cat turned into a person. However, the door was locked. He stared at the door for a minute longer, but then walked on, telling himself he'd get in later. However, just then he saw a vent that appeared to lead into the mysterious room…

And the vent was open, probably for cleaning purposes.

He walked inside, trying to make it look like he was just a curious little kitten wandering into places he shouldn't be, but of course, he was curious, he was a kitten, and he probably wasn't supposed to go into the room, so this wasn't that hard.

Anyway, Bakura followed the vents passage way, and it ended into one room that was dark, so he supposed this was the blue door room. One look at the door with his vampire and night-vision confirmed this. He looked at the rest of the room. There was a canopy bed in here too, (What is it with Pegasus and canopy beds?) and there was a table next to it. It looked just like a regular room that a person would live in. However, the vent on this side was locked, so he couldn't get inside. He cursed himself, but then he caught a scent of something. Rust. He tried to push the vent down, and he could feel it starting to give. He would have smiled if he wasn't a cat, and he was glad this was rusty, otherwise he would've had to go back without finding out what was in here.

Eventually, the door gave way, and Bakura stumbled in. He looked around. There wasn't anything really special about this place, it looked like it used to belong to a young lady… Bakura walked towards the door, and jumped up to hit the light switch. The lights turned on, revealing a giant picture of a girl with blonde curly hair wearing a beautiful purple dress. He looked up at it, wondering who it was. But then he got distracted by the bookcase. It was filled with a lot of dark-labeled books, and they appeared to be mainly about things supernatural, especially ghosts. There were a lot of books with the word 'ghost' in the title. There was even a book called, "Raising the Dead." Bakura wondered why all these books were inside here, but then something else caught his eye.

It was the bed, it was a pink canopy bed with roses sewn into the fabric. But that wasn't what was weird.

What was weird was that there was something - or someone - under the covers.

Bakura's heart almost pounded out of his chest, that had surprised him. He walked over to the bed and jumped on top of it, being careful not to bump into the lump in the bed, and walked around it. It appeared to be a person, but they were lying too still, and why would their covers go over their head? Bakura gently bit the end of the sheet and walked back. When he thought he brought it back enough where he could see the face, he let go and looked. He gasped, it was the lady in the picture, dressed in the same outfit. And, she also smelled like the dead. Normal humans probably wouldn't have caught the scent, but he was a cat and a vampire, so he could tell by sight and smell. He got off the bed and walked to the bookshelf again. He looked at the book entitled, "Raising the Dead," again, and it all seemed to make sense now. Pegasus was trying to resurrect this young woman.

Bakura sighed, Great, now I find out Pegasus is crazy, all the more reason to get out of here. He jumped back up on the bed and put the cover back over her head. Then he jumped back down to look at the bookcase again. He stared up at the book "Raising of the Dead" curiously. He was thinking about turning into a human quick and reading a few passages from it, when a particular label on a certain red and gold book caught his attention. The title was, A Vampire Story. Bakura felt anger well up inside him, Why does this thing keep popping up everywhere? he thought furiously. Then he realized something. If this book was here, Pegasus probably read it, so he knew about vampires, but did he believe in them? Probably not… he hoped not.

Bakura's eyes widened in remembrance of something. "…and some pets can be just a little overprotective, though." Bakura took a few steps back, He knows! He knows I'm a vampire! But, how? his eyes widened again, His Eye! Of course, how did we forget? He must have read Marik's mind and saw… I have to warn Marik! Bakura high-tailed it out of there faster than if his tail was on fire

Pegasus had shown Marik his room, and had said that one of his guards would go get his luggage from the boat, so now they were having tea in the dining hall. They were talking animatedly about an assortment of things. Their interests, their hobbies; at one point, Marik asked how Pegasus had come up with the idea for Duelmonsters just because he had no idea what else to ask. To his relief, Pegasus had went on a tirade about how he had visited Egypt and had gotten the idea from ancient hieroglyphics. Marik vaguely wondered if he had seen the glyphs before, he probably had, just didn't remember.

After Pegasus was done telling about how after the years he had started developing cards of his own, he began asking about Marik's "pet" cat.

"When did you get him?"

"Um, a few years ago," Marik lied.

"Ah, he's such a darling! Don't you think so?"

"Yeah, I guess…"

"And he's so cute!" Pegasus said with his eyes closed and with a creepily happy smile.

Marik shifted a little uncomfortably, "Yeah, he's pretty cute…" 'But in what form?' his mind shot at him. Shut up!

"Oh, you're so lucky you found a cat like him, I wish I had a little kitty-cat around here!"

"Haha…" Marik laughed nervously before he drank more of his tea.

"Do you think if he ever has kittens I could have one?"

Marik's tea shot out of his mouth (thought Pegasus didn't seem to care) and he started coughing hysterically. "I-I don't think so, sorry."

"Oh darn, I would have liked to have a little white kitten… ah well, I'll find one on my own I guess."

"Right," Marik took a cautious sip of his tea, but then Pegasus decided to ask:

"Have you ever thought about marriage?"

Marik only choked on his tea this time, so none go ton the floor, but he still started to cough again. "I-I've thought about it… Heh, haven't we all?" he laughed nervously again.

Pegasus leaned back in his chair, "I remember when I was your age, I had girls falling all over me, it got annoying sometimes, has that happened to you?"

"Um… not really, no," Marik hadn't really been to school (he was home-schooled), and with all his traveling, he hadn't really had time to develop a social life.

"Ah, oh well, maybe the girls were just shy."

"Yeah, I'm sure that's it…"

"Of course, by then I had met the love of my life…" his eyes got a faraway look in them, as if remembering a sweet memory, which, he was. He was remembering the first time he had met his true love, Cyndia. It had been as children, at his father's work gathering, she had looked so beautiful in her innocent white dress. He smiled softly, and then his attention was brought back to reality. "Ah, I'm sorry, I have a habit of daydreaming."

"It's cool, don't worry about it." Just then, Bakura came running in like he was hopped up on catnip. He jumped on Marik's lap and started pawing at him. He would have spoken if Pegasus wasn't there, because if there was even the slightest chance that he didn't think he was a vampire, then he didn't want to blow it. Marik looked at him curiously and picked him up, "What's wrong 'Kura?"

Bakura felt like he could have clawed Marik's eyes out at that time, What do you think you idiot? I NEED TO TELL YOU SOMETHING! He glared at Marik, and tried to make his eyes say, "We need to talk - now!"

"Maybe your pet is just in a playful mood right now?" Pegasus suggested. Bakura glared at him.

"Hm… maybe," he stared at Bakura curiously, and then set him down.

"Or perhaps one of my guards scared him, if that's the case, I apologize."

"No, it's okay," Marik was still looking at Bakura, who appeared to be in a very angry mood, his eye was even twitching - have you seen a cats eye twitch?

"Well!" Pegasus said, "Maybe some food will help him calm down, how about we eat lunch?"

Marik turned to Pegasus reluctantly and smiled, "Sure, that sound great."

Pegasus left to go into the kitchen calling, "Is lunch ready yet?" to the chefs in his kitchen. Bakura waited a little bit before whispering, "I found something! Something to be wary of!"

"What did you find?" Marik asked, kneeling down to Bakura's cat height.

"I found A Vampire Story in this one room with a dead girl -"

"Dead girl?" Marik interrupted.

"Yes, a dead girl," Bakura answered impatiently, "I think Pegasus is trying to resurrect her or something… That's not important!"

"That's important!" Marik interrupted, "You can't resurrect people, if you do-" Marik shut up and started petting Bakura when he saw Pegasus walk in holding some appetizers. "The other food is just about done," he said as he set the plate down on the dining room table.

Marik mouthed, "We'll talk later," at Bakura before standing up and smiling. "Great! I'm starving!" Bakura's eye started twitching again, but then Pegasus put a bowl of milk in front of him, and he figured he should drink it to appear more cat-like.

Pegasus sat down, and exactly when he did that, waiters came in and started placing food down on the table. It looked like a feast for at least five people, but Marik was pretty hungry, so he ate a lot. "My my, you were hungry!" Pegasus commented.

"Yeah," Marik said after hurriedly swallowing his food. He thought it tasted a little funny, but then again, that just might be how the chefs made it.

"It looks like your cat was hungry as well," he said peering down at Bakura, who had drank the whole bowl and was now liking his paws and whiskers. He was trying to get out of there fast so he could tell Marik what he had found, and the milk had left a bad taste in his mouth. But Marik didn't know what the big hurry was, so he ate at normal speed, which was pissing Bakura off. Hurry up damn it!

When Marik was finally done eating, he stood up and stretched, "Thanks for the meal Pegasus! It was wonderful -" Bakura meowed an irritated meow. Marik picked him up, "I think someone needs to go to bed, mind if I sleep now?"

"Of course not!" Pegasus responded, "You must be tired from your journey, you remember the way to your room right?"

"Yep, good night," Marik said with a smile and a wave. Bakura exhaled in relief as Marik started walking to his room. With their footsteps echoing in the giant house, neither of them heard Pegasus murmur, "Sweet dreams boys," under his breath in a sinister voice.

As soon as they were in the room Marik looked at Bakura, "Now, what were you saying?"

"Pegasus knows I'm a vampire!" Bakura whispered hurriedly, he didn't want anyone to overhear a new voice and come to investigate.

"What?" Marik asked in surprise, "How? Oh crap -"

"The Millennium Eye!" the both said. Marik face palmed himself, "I forgot! But why did he read my mind anyway?"

"Who knows and who cares? We need to be more careful!"

"But why hasn't he done anything yet? He's acting like he doesn't know a thing!"

"I don't know why he hasn't thrown us out yet, maybe he wants to kill us or something, maybe he thinks that will resurrect that girl -"

"Killing us won't resurrect that girl."

"What?"

"You can't resurrect people, it's against the rules of life. If you do resurrect someone, the consequences are hardly worth it."

"What are the consequences?"

"You die to take their place." Bakura was silent. "And then the person you resurrect is given the rest of your lifespan."

Bakura didn't speak for a minute, then he said, "Then what's the point of resurrecting the person? Obviously the person was important to you if you want to bring them back, so if you just die..."

"That's the point, you shouldn't resurrect people, because when their time comes, their time comes. We all have to die eventually. Besides, you would have to be a magic-user to even say the spell to bring the person back to life."

"Magic user?"

"Yeah. You know, magicians, wizards, witches, even vampires are magic users. Ever wonder where your vampire powers come from?"

"… I guess it crossed my mind…"

"I'd be surprised if it didn't considering how curious you are about everything."

"For the last time, I'm not that curious!"

"Then how did you even find the room with the dead girl in it?"

"Well, the door was locked, and -"

"You were curious to see what was inside?" Marik said with a smirk.

Bakura sighed, "Look, whatever Pegasus is planning, we need to be careful! Maybe he is a magic user -"

"If he's a magic user, we're in trouble," Marik said.

"Why?"

"Because there are certain spells that can effect vampires like they're humans."

"What?" Bakura said exasperated (and kind of annoyed that Marik kept interrupting him).

"I know it's hard to believe, but it's true. So if he is a magic user, he might be planning to make us do something, and that's why he hasn't kicked us out yet."

"Maybe he thinks the spell will work if he gets one of us to die for him or something…?"

"Could be possible… But surely he would have done something by now… Let's not take any chances, we're leaving - tonight."

"But we need to get the Eye first."

"Exactly! So, at midnight, we sneak off and go take the Eye from him in his sleep, and then hightail it out of here."

Bakura thought about it, "Sounds like a plan." Marik nodded, and then got some pajamas from his duffel bag and went to go change inside his room's bathroom. Bakura jumped onto the bedside table and set the alarm clock to go off at midnight. When Marik came out he hopped in his white-sheeted bed and turned off his table light. Bakura jumped up on the bed and settled down on one of the bed's corners. He felt Marik shift, and then felt himself being picked up. It was Marik, he picked Bakura up and brought him to his chest. One arm draped over his soft fur, he whispered into Bakura's ear, "Night 'Kura." The soft words tickled his ears and made his hair stand on end, and if he wasn't a cat at that time, he would have blushed.

Bakura was saying words that were barely distinguishable. He appeared to be saying them with difficulty, and he looked like he might have cried, if he was the type to do that. There were bars in front of him, no, they were surrounding him, there were bars surrounding the vision as well. The sight saw tan hands reach out and grab the bars, then there were other words, "No! Stop!" they were saying. But whoever the voice was talking to was ignoring him, cause he kept shouting, and there was hysteria and fear in the voice, along with sadness, oh so much sadness and despair, why didn't the person just stop?

Suddenly, Bakura stopped speaking, and he fell to the floor like he was dead. The words that were saying stop were now filled with even more hysteria and emotion, only now they were saying, "No! Stand up! You can't die!"

The sight turned to a shadowed figure as laughter filled the air, "It's too late Marik, Bakura is dead."

Marik sat up in a cold sweat. He was breathing heavily, but then he sighed and closed his eyes. "It was just a dream," he said as his breathing calmed down, but when he opened his eyes again, he noticed something different about his surroundings.

For one thing, he wasn't in the bed he was in before, he was just laying on a blanket, and Bakura wasn't with him. And when he looked around, there were two black brick walls instead of yellow plaster walls, and where the other walls should have been there were bars. Bars like the one he had seen in his dream. What's going on? Marik thought in a panic before he heard laughter just like he had heard in his nightmare.

"So glad to see you're awake, let's see how long it takes Bakura to wake up," the voice from his nightmare said.

"Show yourself!" Marik cried.

"As you wish," the voice said right before someone emerged from the shadows. "Surprised?" he said with a smile, "You shouldn't be, especially after your 'pet' warned you that I knew what he was."

(1): If you've ever heard Pegasus' Japanese voice, you'll know what this sounds like.

(2): Again, I mean no offense, but if someone French greeted me, I'd give them some funny looks.

Hope you liked the chapter =) First time leaving a major cliff-hanger, it feels weird…

~~~{REVIEW REPLIES}~~~

Bec: I know Ryou is a very conflicted character, but I guess that's what happens when you run out of ideas and just write what comes to you.
I also love when Bakura and Marik interact, it's very fun to write =)
As for how Ryou got the Ring… I'm thinking about it, sorry I can't give you a more definite answer than that.
And thanks for sticking up for me on 'irritated' =) I appreciate that.

That's What Cheese Said: Lols, thanks for the cookies! And I love Ryou too =)
Also, I love matches ^-^ Don't ask why.

Neon:OMGosh, I laughed so hard at your random comments XD And I didn't even notice the three month thing, it seems much longer than that. I'm not going to give up this story anytime soon! I have too many plans for it ^^
And, you seriously thought Marik was lying on the couch naked? That made me laugh so much, but that probably won't happen.
And yeah, my bar scene is different, and I'm proud of it! I had actually thought of a naughty scenario, but I didn't like it.
Yeah, I have a lot more mysteries up my sleeve =) And I can see why you thought this would be a simple story.
Glad you like it! =)

Irritated: I just said that for a joke. Sorry you were offended, but no one else said anything, and I'm not changing it.