-28-

"Gods, that's disturbing." Malik stood in front of the window, hands on his hips.

Bakura walked up behind him. "Yeah."

Now that they both knew the truth, they could see what was really outside the window: darkness, swirling shadows, and prowling demons.

"Well, this might cheer you up," Bakura said. "I had an idea. Come over here."

With that Bakura went over to their TV and knelt in front of it. Malik firmly shut the curtains and followed, sitting down next to him.

"So, nothing in this apartment is really real, right?" Bakura said. "Our TV and our table and our bed and even our clothes...it's all just stuff that was created by our magic."

Malik glanced around. "Yeah, I guess that must be true. Gods, that's so weird to think about."

"Yeah, but listen," Bakura said. "Okay, so...when you make dinner, it's not as if you actually go out and buy groceries, right? There are no stores in the Shadow Realm. You just believe that you went out and got groceries, and then whatever food you wanted to buy appears here."

Malik gave a little shiver. "So creepy!" He grimaced. "I suppose I'm kind of used to it, since it's not much different than when I was losing time due to my other personality, but...I didn't think I'd have to go through that again."

Bakura gave him a sympathetic look. "I know." But then he looked at Malik with excitement and said, "But think about what this means!"

Malik raised an eyebrow. "And what is that?"

"It means that when we're here in the apartment—the magical construct—we can create things just by imagining them," Bakura explained. "Like, last time you came back with cuts and bruises, while we were having sex, I imagined your injuries being gone, and then they disappeared."

"Oh." Malik's eyes widened slightly. "Well, thanks for that."

Bakura nodded. "So, I think I should be able to...well, watch." Bakura closed his eyes. "Touch me." Bakura felt Malik's hand slide underneath the back of his shirt, and he focused on Malik's affectionate touches as he concentrated very hard on what he wanted.

"Hey, cool!" Malik suddenly said.

Bakura opened his eyes to see a copy of Super Mario Maker 2 sitting in front of him on the floor. He smiled, picking up the game and turning it over in his hands. "Awesome."

Malik laughed. "That is pretty neat."

"You should be able to do it, too," Bakura said. "Want to try?"

"I guess." Malik shrugged. "What should I make?"

"Well, I got the idea because I was thinking about that wire wrapped jewelry we were making. I thought I'd gone out and stolen the stuff for it, but obviously I didn't. And now I realize that I never even had an actual memory of going out and stealing it. I don't think my mind is used to making up false memories the way yours is, so that's probably why...and I think that might be the only time I imagined that I left the apartment at all. But that one time...I wanted the stuff to make wire wrapped jewelry, and I guess I just...assumed that I must have gone out and stolen it."

"Feels weird, doesn't it?" Malik asked with a wry smile.

"Yeah," Bakura said. "But my point is...I imagined that I went out and stole it, and then all that gold and silver and all those jewels just appeared here!"

"So, you're saying...I could have all the gold and jewels I want just by thinking about it?"

Bakura gave a vigorous nod. "Try it!"

"Okay, okay." Malik closed his eyes. As he sat there, looking deep in concentration, Bakura suddenly leaned over and surprised him with a kiss. Malik's eyes popped open, and then he smiled against Bakura's mouth before beginning to kiss him back.

A moment later, Malik pulled back, breaking the kiss. "Look!" He gave a little laugh of delight as he held up his arm to Bakura, showing him the new golden bracelet ringed with amethysts that was now on his wrist.

"See? It's easy!" Bakura smiled. "We can have anything we want just by imagining that we've already got it. I can have every new video game the day it comes out...even before it comes out! And every horror movie ever made! And you can have all the clothes and jewelry you want. You don't even have to cook anymore...I can just imagine I've already got a nice rare steak. And...well, I'll imagine a vegetarian dish for you, too."

Malik returned his smile. "I guess that is an unexpected benefit of being trapped in the Shadow Realm. I can't really complain about having all the clothes, jewelry, food and games I want instantly."

"You know, we don't have to leave," Bakura joked. "Sure, we'll need to have sex every hour or two in order to keep either of us from getting taken by the demons, but I think we can make that work." Bakura waggled his eyebrows at Malik, giving him a salacious stare.

Malik laughed. "Not to imply I don't want to have sex with you every two hours...but, okay, I really don't want to have sex with you every two hours." Malik let out a humorless laugh, and then groaned. "I'm fucking exhausted."

Bakura let the smile fall off his face, no longer hiding the tiredness in his eyes. "Yeah," he admitted with a sigh. "Me too."

"I guess it makes sense now why we're always so damn worn out," Malik said. "Even before we started waking up every couple hours to have sex...the demons were taking us while we were asleep. So we weren't getting much real rest."

Bakura nodded. "You know, I keep telling myself I don't really need sleep...I mean, I don't have a body, I'm not even alive, so why should I need sleep? But somehow it doesn't change how fucking tired I feel all the damn time."

"Well sleep is for the mind, too," Malik pointed out. "You know, people literally go insane and start hallucinating and stuff when they don't sleep for a long time."

Bakura gave a bitter laugh. "Tell me about it. I didn't get to sleep for 3,000 years when I was in the Ring."

Malik winced. "That sounds like hell."

"One of the best things about Ryou finding the Ring was that once I was sharing a body with him, I could finally sleep sometimes. Of course I had nightmares a lot, but..."

As Bakura trailed off, Malik said, "I suppose we need to call him, don't we?"

"Yeah. We should probably go ahead and do that."

"I keep putting it off because I'm so fucking tired and the idea of doing it is just...stressful...but I suppose it's not going to get any easier the longer we wait, is it?"

Bakura shook his head. "The Shadows will make you feel averse to doing anything that will help us get the hell out of here. But we have to fight that."

"Well, then...let's just get it over with."

Bakura nodded in assent and reached for his phone. "He's probably getting worried by now, anyways."

Malik smirked. "I'll be sure to mention to him that you care."

Bakura glared at him. "No time for that! Too many important things to discuss!" After a short pause he said, "Hey, Ryou!" He put him on speaker and laid the phone down between himself and Malik.

"Bakura! Hi!" Ryou's voice came from the phone. "Is Malik there? Did you tell him? Because I swear, if this is another—"

"Yes, yes," Bakura cut him off. "Malik knows. We can both hear you."

"Thank the gods," Ryou said. "Malik, how are you? I know it must have been hard for you, finding out...well, you know."

"I'm actually alright," Malik responded. "A lot of things are really...disturbing...when I think about them, but...this was my choice. I chose to stay here. With Bakura. Plus, I think I kind of already knew the truth deep down, even before Bakura told me."

"Well, it's good to hear you're handling it well," Ryou said. "Not that I doubted you could. You've always been a strong person."

"Hey, Ryou," Bakura broke in. "That's nice and all, and I'm sure Malik appreciates your concern, but we're really tired and stressed and we'd actually like to just get this over with."

"Of course, of course, I understand," Ryou said. "Well, the spell isn't quite ready yet, but we're very close. It should be done soon. So would you like me to just go ahead and tell you exactly what you'll need to do on your end?"

"Thanks, Ryou. I think that would be best," Malik said.

"Well, it might be a bit dangerous." They heard Ryou swallow. "But I believe you're both capable. You'll get through this and get yourselves back here."

"Yeah, yeah, danger," Bakura said. "Just tell us what we need to do."

"Alright." Ryou took a breath, and when he spoke again, he sounded professional and detached, like a professor lecturing his students. "You two will have to go out into the Shadows in order to cast the spell. The spell can't be done inside the magical construct; it will only work out in the Shadows. The demons will know this—there's really no way to talk about it without them finding out. So the demons will try to send you back to construct to keep you from doing the spell. So first, you'll need to do a spell which will destroy the construct and temporarily dampen the power of your light magic so that the construct won't be instantly recreated. That way, the demons can't prevent you from doing the spell by sending you back to the construct, because the construct won't exist. Of course, this will be dangerous because, with your light magic less powerful than it usually is, the demons will be less hindered in what they're able to do to you."

"Wait, wait," Malik said. "Destroy the construct? Be out in the Shadows without our light magic protecting us? Are you serious?"

But Ryou was apparently now in his research and teaching mode, one Bakura had become familiar with over the years, and he seemed unphased by Malik's worry. "Well, the good news is that the spell to dampen your light magic will run out on its own after a short while—nothing is capable of permanently impeding your ability to create the light magic. Of course, the demons will try to separate you two before the power of your light magic is restored, since you can't create strong protective magic without interacting with each other. That will be the biggest danger, so you should attempt to stay near each other at all costs."

"Oh, is that all we have to do?" Bakura sneered.

Ryou ignored him and went on. "Now, while your light magic is dampened, you must do another spell—the spell Rishid, Ishizu and I have been working on for you—that's the spell which will get you out. Malik, your siblings and I will also be doing a spell over here on our end which will anchor you and give you a location to come to in the world of the living. By the time that's finished, the spell to dampen the power of your light magic should have run out. So once your ability to create light magic together is fully restored, you must do something to create light magic together—preferably the strongest magic you can. As we've recently discovered, the heka you create together is a personal thing between the two of you, so we'll leave it up to you two to decide how best to create that magic."

"I am not fucking in front of the demons," Malik exclaimed, and Bakura laughed.

"It's up to you to figure out," Ryou said firmly. "Now, once you've created that light magic together, you should be instantly transported back here to Japan, which is where Rishid, Ishizu and I will have done the anchor spell. Do you understand?"

"I think so." Malik scrunched up his face. "So we leave the apartment, walk out into the Shadows, do a spell to destroy the construct and dampen our light magic...then, while the demons are trying to separate us, we stay together and do the spell that will get us back home...and by that time our light magic's power should be restored, so then we create some powerful heka together and...that's it, we're alive again and with you and my siblings in Japan?"

"Oh, sure, that sounds simple and easy," Bakura said sarcastically.

"I have confidence in you both," Ryou said. "You can accomplish this."

Malik looked overwhelmed, but said, "Alright, so...what now?"

"As I mentioned, we don't have your spell quite ready yet," Ryou said. "I'll contact you as soon as we do. Or, if you don't hear from me, you should try to call me. Then, of course, you'll need to let us know exactly when you plan to leave the construct and do the spell, so that we can be doing the spell over on our side at the same time."

"Okay...alright," Malik said. He looked at Bakura with tired, worried eyes, and Bakura reached out to squeeze his hand.

"Well, okay then, Ryou," Bakura said. "Is there anything else we need to know?"

"No, nothing else at the moment," Ryou said. Then, dropping his professional tone and sounding more friendly and sympathetic again, Ryou said, "Are you guys alright? I know what you'll have to do might seem scary, but I truly believe in you both."

"Thanks, Ryou," Malik said, voice dull.

"Are there any questions you have?" Ryou asked. "Or would you just like to talk about any worries you're having?"

"I think we just need some time alone to process all that, Ryou," Malik said, and Bakura gave Malik a nod of agreement.

"Alright, well, don't hesitate to call me if there's anything you'd like to discuss," Ryou said. "Or of course, if you'd just like to talk."

"Yeah, thanks," Malik said.

"I'll let you go, then," Ryou said. "But Malik, if you feel up to it, you should call your brother and sister sometime soon. They'd like to talk with you."

"Alright. Yeah. Tell them I said hello, and we'll see them soon."

"I will," Ryou said. "Remember to call me if you need anything."

"Yeah, okay. Bye, Ryou," Bakura said. He clicked to end the call.

As soon as Bakura set the phone aside, Malik made a little sound of distress. Bakura got up to sit on the couch, pulling Malik along with him, and Malik curled into his side.

"So," Bakura said, putting his arms around Malik and pulling him nearer, "you know that thing I said about just staying in the Shadow Realm?"

Malik barked out a little sarcastic laugh as he squirmed even closer to Bakura.

Bakura gave him a few kisses on his forehead and said, "Do you feel like talking about it right now? Or later?"

"Later," Malik said. "Right now I just want to rest."

"Yeah," Bakura agreed. The phone call had made him feel even more exhausted than he normally did. He was of the same mind as Malik on the subject—at the moment he didn't want to talk about, or even think about, what they were going to have to do in order to escape this place. So he blocked it all out of his mind and instead closed his eyes and concentrated on the feeling of Malik's body warm against his.

They snuggled together, sharing a few short kisses as their hands reached underneath each other's shirts so they could touch bare skin, and before they knew it they had fallen asleep.

-29-

Bakura sat on the couch, alone, his body aching with new injuries as he cursed himself for accidentally allowing himself to fall asleep.

The demons had come after they'd fallen asleep, of course. One of them had beaten up on Bakura a bit, then played its new favorite trick of sending him back to the construct by himself to wait for Malik to return.

Bakura passed the time by telling himself again and again that Malik would be back soon and that he'd be alright.

And he was. It wasn't actually long before Malik walked in the door, and surprisingly he didn't even have any visible injuries. Bakura rushed to him and captured him in a tight hug.

"You alright?" Bakura asked.

"Totally fine," Malik said, returning his embrace. "The demon actually didn't even hurt me. It seemed to just want to talk, if you can believe that."

"Huh," Bakura said. "Actually the same thing happened to me once. The first time one of the demons took me after I'd just found out that we're in the Shadows, the thing just wanted to chat."

"But I guess it didn't just want to chat with you this time," Malik said with bitterness, apparently noticing Bakura's bruised and battered body. "Are you alright?"

"I've had worse," Bakura said, giving him a crooked smile.

They were quiet for a moment, holding each other, then Bakura asked, "So what did the demon say to you, anyways?"

"I'll tell you in a bit if you want." Malik looked down at Bakura. "But don't you want me to heal that for you first?"

"Oh. Yeah."

With that, Bakura walked over to the couch, sitting down, and Malik got on his knees in front of him. Bakura quickly pulled down his jeans and boxers, and Malik didn't hesitate to take his already-hard cock into his mouth.

Malik knew every trick to make Bakura moan and writhe, and it didn't take long before Malik's warm mouth and questing tongue and firm lips had made Bakura forget all about the purported reason they were doing this, forget all about his injuries and the demons and the Shadows, now only able to think about the pleasure Malik was giving him.

Bakura's head spun with all the amazing sensations being inside Malik's mouth brought him, the overwhelming physical pleasure and the heat and the closeness and the knowledge of how much Malik just wanted to make him feel good. He wished he could hold back so it wouldn't be over too quickly, so he could feel this way for longer, but it was all too much and he didn't even notice how bright the lights had gotten and how hot the room had grown until after he'd already cried out Malik's name and finished inside his mouth.

He felt his orgasm throughout his entire body, the pleasure concentrated between his legs but spreading out all the way to the tips of his fingers and toes. Malik sucked until Bakura was totally spent, then he climbed up onto the couch and pulled Bakura close. Bakura kicked his pants the rest of the way off so he could fold his legs up underneath him and curl up next to Malik. He snuggled into Malik's side, content and relaxed in the calm of the afterglow.

Malik tilted Bakura's face up, looking at him intensely. "It worked," Malik finally pronounced. "All gone."

Bakura nodded, smiling, and moved to bury his face in Malik's shoulder. "Thank you."

Malik kissed the top of his head in acknowledgment, then slid a hand into his hair and began scratching his scalp.

Bakura hummed in satisfaction. After a few minutes of calm quiet, Bakura asked, "So what did the demon say to you?"

"Oh, it wanted me to make a deal to leave you here so I could escape," Malik said.

"Oh, yeah. It tried the same thing with me."

"It was trying to scare me and stuff, too," Malik said, "telling me that they didn't bother to try to cut off that last phone call with Ryou because they want us to go through with the plan to get us out, since they think it's bound to fail, that they'll be able to keep us separated from each other while our light magic is blocked and then we'll both be trapped here forever. So it said taking the deal was my only hope of escape."

"Well, if they're so confident in that, that we'll fail and they can have both of us forever, why would they make an offer to let you escape? They must know we're likely to succeed," Bakura assured him.

"Well, the deal is obviously fake," Malik said. "They wouldn't actually let me out if I agreed to leave you here."

"Oh? Are you sure?"

"I mean, not that it matters...of course I wouldn't agree to leave you here even if the deal were real," Malik said. "I refused to agree to it back when I first got here, and I think the deal actually was real back then...or at least I totally believed it was at the time."

"I know."

"But yeah, it's definitely fake now," Malik said. "If I agreed to leave you here, to sacrifice you to save myself, then that would break our bond. And without our bond, our light magic would be gone, and then they'd be able to keep both of us if they wanted. Without our magic protecting us, there would be nothing stopping them from doing anything they wanted to both of us...and it's not like they'd honor the deal just to be nice."

"Oh," Bakura said. "Yeah, that makes sense."

"I think it was real in the beginning, back before we'd first created the light magic together," Malik said. "Back then, they just wanted to get me the hell out of here so I wouldn't interfere. Doesn't really matter either way though, I guess."

"So, did you tell it you knew the deal wasn't real?"

"Nah. Just said if I wouldn't agree to leave you here back then, I certainly wouldn't now." Bakura nodded, and then Malik said, "After that it was just trying to convince me to be a jerk to you, to hurt you and stuff, to...attack you. As if I'd just say, Yeah, sure, I'll get right on that. Oh, and then it took that sun anklet you gave me and chucked it out into the Shadows."

"Funny." Bakura scowled. "It did the same to me—took the moon necklace you made me and threw it into the Shadows."

Malik made a face. "What an asshole."

"Yeah, seriously."

"I can make you another one if you want," Malik said. "I mean, right now, just by thinking about it."

"Oh, sure."

"How do you want it to look? The same as the last one, or different?"

"I want it to look however you want it to look," Bakura said. "Like, if you could make any piece of jewelry for me—which you can—I want it to look like that. You know, something that says it was made by you, something you think is the very best looking piece of jewelry possible."

"Okay." Malik closed his eyes, and Bakura leaned up to trail kisses along his neck until he suddenly felt a slight weight on his chest.

He looked down and saw a new necklace hanging from his neck. This one was still silver and moon-shaped, but was no longer wire wrapped jewelry, instead looking professionally made and like it had come from the most expensive store in the world. The piece really did say Malik.

"Perfect," Bakura said, smiling and kissing him in thanks. "Do you want a new anklet?"

"Yeah, sure."

"Different, or the same?"

"Exactly the same," Malik said, sounding insistent.

Bakura closed his eyes and snuggled closer to Malik, concentrating and feeling Malik's hand stroking his back as Malik's other hand continued to scratch his head, until he heard Malik say, "Thanks."

Bakura looked down at Malik's ankle, examining the jewelry for a bit before deciding he'd done a good job of making the new one look just like the previous one.

After a moment Bakura sighed and said, "So, do you want to...try to decide what we're going to do? I mean when we cast the spell to get out of here. How we're going to create the light magic that will get us back to Ryou and your siblings? And everything else? What our whole plan is going to be?"

Malik frowned, looking tired. "Well...we just had sex. It should be safe to nap for a bit first, right? Maybe I'll feel more like discussing it when I'm more rested."

"Yeah, good idea."

Malik stripped off his pants while Bakura pulled his shirt over his head, and then they both leaned sideways to lie down on the couch together, limbs intertwined. Bakura set his internal alarm to make sure they wouldn't sleep past the time when the magic wore off, and they both closed their eyes. But after several moments of silence, Malik spoke, bringing Bakura back from the edge of sleep.

"Huh," Malik said, and Bakura opened his eyes to see Malik looking thoughtful.

"What?" Bakura asked.

"I just realized something," Malik said. "We're...virgins."

"What?"

"Well...we never did it when you were in Ryou's body."

"Yeah…"

It was true; they hadn't. There had been some kissing and groping, but that was as far as it had gone. Malik had said it would be weird to do it with Ryou's body, and Bakura had to agree that giving away Ryou's virginity to Malik would be crossing a line. Besides, Bakura had been disconnected from his physical senses during that time, likely because he wasn't actually in his own body, so he'd figured sex probably wouldn't be that great under those circumstances anyways.

Besides, they hadn't had much time together. Of course, unlike with Ryou, something about Malik had compelled him to unwittingly let down his defenses and throw his mind totally open to him, and Malik had done the same, and so full access to each other's minds through the mind link had allowed them to know each other better within minutes than two regular people could know each other after a thousand years together.

So they may as well have known each other forever. But as far as chronological time went, they'd only been together for a couple days in Battle City, and then a few weeks in Egypt before the final game.

And...they hadn't seen each other since. Not physically.

"Woah," said Bakura. "We haven't actually been in the same room physically since I was in Ryou's body. And you've never really seen me in my own body."

"Yeah," said Malik. "So...we've only ever fucked in the Shadow Realm. Our bodies…"

"We are virgins." Bakura laughed. "That's actually kind of hilarious."

Malik grabbed Bakura and gave him a quick, firm kiss. "I am going to take your virginity so hard when we get out of here."

Bakura took Malik's face in his hands and rubbed their noses together. "Oh? You're not going to be gentle since it'll be my first time?" he teased.

Malik gave him a secretive smile. "Hm. Maybe."

Bakura laughed. "Well, I look forward to finding out."

Then Malik yawned, making Bakura yawn as well. They wordlessly closed their eyes again, and this time it wasn't long before they both fell asleep.