Author's Note: I neglected to set a time frame the last chapter and I apologize for any confusion. The last chapter takes place approx. 1 year after the final duel. The flashbacks take place directly after the duel. This chapter takes place approx. 1 year after the last one did. Thank you for your patience and enjoy!

Unreal Truths: Unexpected

Ryou's POV

"Shit." I cursed lightly to myself as several eggshells fell into the bowl with my cake mix. Squinting my eyes, I carefully began to pluck the little white flecks out of the batter. This was easier said than done since the shell pieces blended almost seamlessly with the flour in the mix.

"Having issues?"

After about jumping out of my skin, I turned with a glare to see Marik leaning up against the kitchen door frame chuckling lightly.

I grumbled and turned back to my task of plucking eggshells out of my cake, "Real funny Marik."

I heard him move from his spot in the doorway and come up behind me, "What are you doing anyways?"

I smiled in triumph as I nabbed the last egg shard, "I am baking a cake." I turned and shooed him out of the way so I could get to the sugar.

He made a face and moved out of my way, "Why, pray tell, are you making a cake?"

I shrugged and got up on my tip-toes so I could reach the very top shelf, "I was bored."

Marik gave me a disbelieving look, "You bake when you're bored? Who are you, Martha fucking Stewart?"

I gave him a glare and returned to my batter and measured out the right amount of sugar, "Maybe I was hungry."

"For cake?" Marik leaned against the fridge and I gave an exasperated sigh.

"Do you have something against cake Marik?" I put my hands on my hips and faced him, realizing too late that I had gotten flour and cake batter all over my pants in the process.

He put his hands up defensively and shook his head no, "No no, I just…find it odd that when you are bored you bake cakes."

I shook my head and turned back to my cake-in-progress, "Well what do you do when you're bored?"

Marik actually paused for awhile before answering me, "Well…I draw."

I stopped working and gave Marik a long look, "I didn't know you were an artist."

"I wouldn't go as far as to say that." He shuffled his feet and played with his one ring, which I noticed, was one of his nervous habits.

"How come I have never seen you do it?" I watched Marik carefully, judging his reaction. I was always careful when going into unknown territory with him. One time I pushed the subject of what he did when he was little and the result was him going absolutely blank. It took me several moments before I could snap him out of it. I learned my lesson that day. You just didn't push Marik.

Marik shrugged and met my gaze, "I just…never really showed anyone my art. I was too embarrassed."

"Well I am a bit of an artist myself." At Marik's incredulous look I nodded and went back to mixing my cake batter. "I mean it. I don't draw though. I do carvings."

Marik moved to my side and hopped up on the counter beside the sink, "I've never seen you carve anything."

I chuckled lightly, "Well I don't show off my work to just anyone."

Marik squirmed a bit, "How about…you show me your carvings and I will show you my drawings."

I finished mixing the batter and poured it into a cake pan, "I can do that." I slid the pan in the oven and turned up the heat. "Come on, I'll show you now."

Marik slid off the counter and followed me out into the hallway. I gestured for him to come and I lead him to the third bedroom. I always kept the door shut and locked. Ever since the whole Monster World incident with Yugi-tachi I had stopped making figurines. That didn't mean I was so willing to give up my entire collection, it just meant that I wanted a break for a little while. So, when I moved here, I declared the third bedroom off limits and put all of my figurines and the game table inside.

I slowly opened the door and flicked the light on, ushering Marik inside.

I heard him gasp lightly as he looked around at all the shelves housing hundreds of mini figurines. "Ryou…these are amazing! Did you do this all by yourself?"

I felt my cheeks color with a blush and I nodded, "Yeah, every one of them." I walked over to the nearest case and rested my palm against the glass and closed my eyes letting out a sigh.

Marik's POV

I watched as Ryou heaved a heavy sigh and I felt a sinking feeling in my chest. Maybe this wasn't the greatest of ideas after all.

"They are truly amazing Ryou. There is such attention to detail!" I picked up a small figurine that looked remarkably like Ryou himself, "Is this you?"

He turned and looked to see what I was holding. Suddenly he stiffened and I saw his eyes widen slightly.

"Oh…uh…yes." He swallowed hard and turned away again. I did an internal face palm. Way to go Marik.

I decided to try again, "Well really, this is amazing Ryou. I never knew you did stuff like this."

He nodded and turned to look at me, "I haven't made any new ones in years." He picked up another figurine, this one looked like Yugi, "Bakura sort of ruined the whole experience for me." He sighed and set the figure back down, "I know I promised to show you all this, but…" He trailed off and fixed his eyes on a spot on the floor.

"We can go." I smiled at him and walked to the door, "Besides, I have to show you my drawings anyways."

A ghost of a smile appeared on Ryou's face and he looked up at me and nodded, "Alright then." He set the figurine down and walked past me out of the room, "I will leave the door unlocked so that you can go in any time you want."

"Thank you Ryou." I closed the door behind me as we left. Ryou stopped and allowed me past so I could lead him to my bedroom.

He sat down on the bed and I opened up my closet and brought out a decent sized box. I set it down on the bed and pulled out several sketchbooks, making sure to leave a certain blue and white colored one inside.

I set them down beside Ryou and watched as he picked one up and began to skim through it.

Ryou's POV

I picked up one of Marik's sketchbooks and began to thumb through it. I was instantly amazed at his ability to draw and shade. His sketches varied from pictures of his motorbike to full on portraits of Ishizu and Odion. "Have your siblings seen these pictures?"

Marik shook his head no and fidgeted with his ring again, "Oh I could never show them."

"Why not? Marik these are absolutely amazing!" I continued to thumb through each book until I was finished. "I would kill to be able to draw like this!"

A bright flush appeared on Marik's cheeks and he looked at me, "Oh I'm not that good Ryou."

"Yes you are!" I shook one of his sketchbooks for emphasis. "Really Marik, you could make some serious money on these things!"

He laughed and stacked the books carefully back into the box where they had been stored, "I don't think so. It's just a hobby to keep my mind occupied." He gently put the box back into the closet and sat on the bed beside me. "What about you though? You really have an amazing skill set yourself!"

I shook my head, feeling my own cheeks flush, "Thanks Marik but really, I don't do carvings anymore. It's a part of my past now." I tucked a piece of my hair behind my ear and looked at him.

Marik pushed himself off the bed and stretched, "Well I can respect that." He smiled and began walking out of the room, "Now what kind of cake are you making again? I am starting to get hungry!"

I smiled and shook my head, following him out of the room, "Chocolate of course, and I will be damned if you eat it all Marik!" He laughed and walked briskly into the kitchen and I raced after him, chuckling softly myself.

Yugi's POV

Stepping back carefully I looked up to admire my work. In the middle of the game shop I had constructed a tower of game boxes in an elaborate design. I smirked, picked up the step ladder and headed to the supply closet to put it away.

"Ey Yug! There you are!" I turned around to see Joey come running over, having no regard for anything in his way. I held my breath as he barreled past my tower of games and let it out only when he came to a stop in front of me.

He suddenly nabbed me in a headlock and ruffled up my hair, "Hey Yug, we've been lookin' for ya all day!"

I squirmed out of his tight grasp and rubbed the back of my neck, "Its only noon Joey."

Joey seemed to pause for a moment, and then shrugged, "Okay well I was bored and it felt like we were looking for you all day."

I looked around, but there was no one in the game shop aside from me and him, "And who is we?"

He seemed to have just realized he was by himself and he looked around, "Oh well the others walked to the arcade and I decided I would come here and see if ya wanted to come join us."

I had to laugh to myself; Joey was definitely one of a kind. "Actually Joey I was going to go see how Bakura is doing. I haven't seen him since we graduated and I wanted to see what he has been up to."

Joey made a face then and his posture stiffened, "What do you want to go see him for?"

I made an exasperated sound and put up my hands, "Joey I told you guys a million times already. Bakura had a spirit inside him too remember? It wasn't him doing all those things."

Joey still seemed unconvinced, "Yeah? Well why did he stop hanging out with us?"

I gave him a fierce look, "Oh I don't know. Maybe it was because you convinced everyone he was a bad guy and so you guys started to treat him like dirt."

"Yeah well maybe if he woulda done something to defend himself he wouldn't have looked like the bad guy. Seriously Yug, let the kid go. He doesn't want anything to do with us anymore! He even moved remember!"

I held my tongue and sighed heavily. I did indeed remember Bakura moving. I felt extremely bad about what had happened to our friendship with him. It wasn't fair that everyone was treating him like dirt because his darker half had done terrible things.

"Marik's dark half did bad things too, and yet you guys still were nice to him. I don't understand it."

Joey gave me a look, "Oh come on Yug, we don't even talk to Marik anymore! Isn't he back in Egypt anyways?

I was beginning to get very frustrated by this conversation, "Yes Joey, as far as I know, Marik is still in Egypt."

"Well then we don't have anything to worry about with him then do we?" Joey had a triumphant smirk on his face and I admit I was getting a little angry at my best friends reasoning.

"Listen, Joey, I am thankful for the invitation, but I am going to go to Bakura's new place and see how he is doing." I crossed my arms and gave him a look that said my statement was non-negotiable.

Joey finally relented and gave me a shrug, "Alright man, but if he tries to strangle you, don't say I didn't warn ya!"

With those encouraging final words, Joey walked out the front door of the game shop and headed down the street towards the arcade.

Sighing, I picked up my step stool from earlier and carried it to the storage room.

I looked up at Ryou's new address. This one was more like a house than his other place, and I internally wondered whether he was now a homeowner instead of just a tenant.

I nervously shuffled my feet and decided it was either now or never. Taking in a deep breath and squaring my shoulders, I confidently strode up to the front door and knocked firmly.

After a few moments of no answer I figured that Ryou was either not home or didn't want to see me. I had just started to turn when I heard the lock click. Turning back around I watched as the door opened slowly and I was completely shocked to see Marik standing there instead of Ryou. I had to blink several times to make sure I hadn't been hallucinating, but there he stood wearing sweatpants and a ragged T-shirt.

"M…Marik?" I still couldn't believe what I was seeing. I hadn't seen the Egyptian teen since the ceremonial battle between myself and Atem.

He regarded me with careful amethyst eyes that seemed neither friendly nor unfriendly, just ambivalent

"What are you doing here?" This time I could hear a clear cold malice in his voice, and suddenly he looked like the angry kid from Battle City. I subconsciously took a step back and swallowed hard.

"I…uh…came to see Bakura." I watched his face, but the cold expression stayed firm.

"Maybe Ryou doesn't want to see you." His eyes narrowed and he began to close the door.

"Wait!" I whipped my hand out and pushed it lightly against the door to keep him from shutting it. I also slipped my foot in the crack as an extra precaution.

Marik looked at me then at my foot as if he was considering seeing if he could slam the door hard enough to break it off. I didn't know where this intense animosity had come from but I had a sneaking suspicion it had to do with Ryou.

"Please Marik, can I just…talk to him? Please?"

He lifted his head and once again regarded me with a cold expression, "Go home Yugi. We're doing just fine without you."

I couldn't help but feel a little hurt by the statement, but I didn't let it deter me, "Marik, please just let me in. I am not here to cause any trouble."

"And yet trouble seems to follow you like a dark cloud." Marik scowled and decided to test the structural integrity of my foot.

"Ow shit! Marik please! I just came to apologize to Ryou!"

"I'll give him your regards then, now go!"

He pushed the door harder against my foot and I hissed in pain, "Come on Marik! This isn't solving anything!"

He grumbled, "I know, so just-"

"It's okay Marik." I looked up in shock upon hearing Ryou's soft voice. He was standing in the doorway behind Marik.

"You can let him in." Ryou regarded me with curiosity and a little bit of sadness in his eyes.

Marik gave me one final glare before releasing my now throbbing foot.

I resisted the urge to rub my foot and turned my attention to Ryou. He didn't look much different than before. His hair was still long and as white fresh fallen snow, and it fell to about the middle of his back. He was in his bare feet and had on ripped jeans and a T-shirt similar to Marik's. I couldn't help but be a little surprised. I didn't know what I had been expecting but a perfectly fine looking Ryou hadn't been it.

"What are you doing here Yugi?" I looked up and met Ryou's gaze, which had turned as cold as Marik's had earlier, and for a brief moment I wondered if I was looking into Bakura's eyes.

Shaking the thought from my head I met Ryou's eyes with a friendly look, "I wanted to come and see how you were doing."

"As you can see, I am doing just fine thank you." He crossed his arms across his chest and gave me a stern look. "So why now? After all these years, why come and see if I am okay now?"

I suddenly felt rather guilty and looked down at the ground, "I am sorry Ryou. I tried my hardest to make things right but it didn't work out. I never wanted to lose you as a friend. The others don't understand that you and the spirit of the ring were two different people, but I do. Please Bakura, I am sorry, don't let this ruin our friendship." I felt my eyes water slightly as I looked up at Ryou. He was regarding me with an odd look on his face. I took in a deep breath and waited for him to say something, anything.

"Yugi…I do appreciate what your trying to do here. It's a very kind and selfless thing, but I am fine and happy where I am now. Marik and I have a good life here, and we are doing okay."

I looked to Marik, who was still scowling, then back at Ryou and nodded, "Okay Bakura, I understand, I really do. I just want you to know, though, that if you ever need anything at all just let me know."

He glanced at Marik and then stepped out onto the porch, "You were always a good friend to me Yugi, I will always appreciate it, but things change, not everything works out like a fairytale."

I sighed, "I know, but we can fix things right?"

He had an unreadable look on his face, "I guess…"

I nodded and got out a small piece of scrap paper and quickly jotted down my cell number. "Here, I want you to have this, just in case you ever need anything or just want to hang out." I handed out the piece of paper to him and he took it and gave me a small smile.

"Thank you Yugi. I will keep that in mind."

I nodded and began my descent down the porch stairs, "Well you two take it easy okay? I won't stick around, I have work to do." I offered them both a smile and was surprised when Marik gave me a small one in return along with Ryou.

"We will." He nodded his head and gave me a small wave. "Goodbye Yugi."

"Okay, goodbye Ryou, Marik!" I turned and walked back towards my car as I heard the door shut behind me.

Sliding into the driver's side, I slid my key into the ignition and started the car. Ryou really did seem to be doing well, and at least he had company with Marik. I smiled to myself and began driving back to the game shop. Maybe I could get them to come join our circle of friends again and have it be like old times. I liked the sound of that. Maybe things would be good again, with all of us hanging out and no fate of the world clinging to my shoulder.

I continued that line of thought until I got home and walked through the bedroom door. That was when my entire way of thinking was shattered into a million pieces.

I couldn't help it, I screamed and jumped back, falling into my bookshelf and taking it down with me, along with several dozen books.

"YUGI? ARE YOU OKAY?" I heard my grandpa yell from downstairs but I couldn't grace him with a reply.

There, sitting on my bedside table as it had for so many years, was the millennium puzzle.

And that was when I passed out.