Author's Notes: I decided to update a day early since I got ahead on my chapter writings. Next update should be Friday if not earlier. Do enjoy!

Unreal Truths

Chapter 3: Resurfacing

Mariku's POV

I watched with a bored expression as Bakura laughed in triumph, "We did it Mariku! The millennium items have been returned to their rightful owners!" He smirked and turned to me, "And you know what that means, our ticket to being out of here has been secured!"

I rolled my eyes and played with a bit of swirling black and purple shadow. Being banished to the shadow realm had not been on my to-do list when I challenged the Pharaoh however long ago. Time passed differently here in the shadows and I never really knew the difference in days. The other thing I hadn't expected was that once I had been banished was to find Bakura awhile later.

I was wandering aimlessly through an endless maze of shadows. Nothing changed here, and there was no one around to keep me company.

Grumbling quietly, I allowed myself to just float aimlessly amongst the shadows.

I jerked upright as I felt something smack against my face. Looking to the side where the object came from, my eyes widened in disbelief as I saw an Egyptian male standing with his arms crossed. He was dressed in nothing but a dark colored kilt and a bright red robe that flowed out behind him. His eyes were a stark amethyst that matched mine and his hair was a grayish white that just touched his shoulders.

He smirked and I noticed a triple scar underneath his right eye. I took a few steps towards him warily, "Who are you?"

He chuckled darkly and tilted his head to the one side, "Don't you recognize me Marik?"

I froze to the spot when I heard his voice, that voice. "…Bakura?"

He nodded once and chuckled at my disbelieving look.

"You…can't be…" I took another step towards him, "You look different."

"You didn't think I would stay in my host's body forever did you?" He took a few steps forward.

I thought about that for a moment. He was right. Of course he wouldn't look like Ryou Bakura, he had a human body of his own once.

I eyed him up once again, "What are you doing here anyways? I thought you had this foolproof plan to defeat the Pharaoh?"

Bakura scowled briefly before giving me a sly smirk, "I could say the same of you Marik."

Narrowing my eyes I walked the rest of the way to him, "Call me Mariku, I will not be called by Omote's name any longer."

He gave an indifferent shrug, "Whatever you want."

"So what happened? Pharaoh kick your sorry ass again?" I couldn't help my grin and crossed my arms across my chest.

He grumbled, "Not as much as he kicked yours."

"Oh I beg to differ." I began circling him, "I recall that duel quite well, and if it hadn't been for Omote, I would have won that battle."

He snorted and countered my circling by beginning to pace, "And I would have won if it hadn't been for the Pharaoh's brat."

"You were beat by that midget?" I laughed out loud.

"Yes well you were beat by your own light. My landlord, however, was shown that it was a mistake to ever defy me. He didn't make that mistake twice." He smirked in triumph.

Rolling my eyes, I ceased my circling and fixed Bakura with a dark look, "Listen here thief. Your presence here annoys me. So why are you here bothering me?"

He continued to pace, his eyes tracing my body, "It gets lonely in the shadow realm. I thought we could use each other's company." He stopped his movements and gave me a dirty leer. I turned on my heel and began walking.

"I am not interested in your dirty thoughts thief."

"That's too bad…Since I know a way in which we can get out of here and in our own bodies no less."

I stopped walking and slowly turned. He remained standing where I left him and he still had that damn smirk on his face.

"What did you say?"

He tilted his head briefly to the side, "I think you heard me perfectly well tomb keeper."

I mulled the thought over in my head. Bakura could be lying, but what did it matter? I knew full well how lonely the shadow realm could be. Frowning I walked back over to where Bakura was standing, "Fine. What's the plan?"

Bakura moved in front of me and gave me one of his grins. He only ever used this particular grin when he had sex on the mind.

"Oh Bakura not nowww." I made a whiny noise but we both knew better than that. I wanted it as bad as he did.

He chuckled and wrapped tan arms around my waist and whispered in my ear, "One last fuck before we go try to conquer the world?"

I laughed and reached around to squeeze his ass, "Okay. But just one!"

We both laughed as the shadows swirled around us; We could never do it just once.

Ishizu's POV

I took in a long deep breath and let it out slowly. Marik would not answer any of my calls and I was beginning to get worried. Granted, he had left me a note, but I still felt anxious.

Hanging up the phone for the umpteenth time that day, I rubbed my temples and stood up. I couldn't understand why Marik would choose to up and leave instead of coming to Odion and I and talking to us.

I moved through the house which I now shared with Odion and Marik; at least when Marik had still been here.

Walking into the kitchen, I headed to the fridge and got out some milk. I poured myself a glass and turned to go see if I could find Odion.

My eyes widened and the glass of milk slipped through my fingers, shattering against the kitchen floor. I couldn't believe my eyes.

Sitting on the kitchen table, right in the middle, was the millennium necklace, and it wasn't alone. Laying beside it was the millennium key and the millennium scales.

"ODION!" I stumbled backwards and rubbed my eyes, "ODION GET IN HERE!"

I heared heavy footfalls as my adoptive brother approached, "Ishizu what is going on?" He instantly froze when he reached the kitchen, his eyes going wide at the sight of what was sitting on our kitchen table.

"Ishizu…." He looked at me, his face lost in confusion.

"I don't know Odion…I don't know, but I think we need to get hold of Marik before…"

He met my eyes and we thought the same thing; the rod.

Pegasus's POV

I found myself staring at the small golden object on my desk yet again. It couldn't be…it just couldn't.

The millennium eye sat on my desk as if it had never left my side. It appeared to be taunting me, begging me to use it once again.

I reached out and snatched it off my desk and shoved it roughly into my pocket. There was no way I was going through that ordeal again. I was getting rid of this thing once and for all.

I walked down the hall and headed towards the vault. If I couldn't do anything else with it, I was going to at least shut the damn thing away so I never had to see it again.

Suddenly the hall got a lot darker. I looked up at the lights to see if maybe one had burnt out, but they were all lit up brightly.

I wrinkled my nose and walked a little quicker, maybe it was just cloud cover from outside the windows.

I continued walking towards my destination but unfortunately the darkness just got heavier. I paused as I saw something out of the corner of my eye. I turned to look, expecting to see nothing, but I was sorely disappointed.

There, coming from the windows, was a black and purple smoky fog.

My eyes widened, I knew that fog. It was shadow magic. I swallowed hard and took off running only to be stopped abruptly as I ran into something.

I looked up slowly and cried out as I saw a tall male figure with wild hair dressed in a purple cloak. I scuttled backwards until my back hit something else solid; another person as I found out.

The person behind me, another male figure, this time in a red cloak with white hair, pulled me up and slammed me into the wall.

"The millennium eye, I want it, and it would be in your best interests to just hand it over to me right now."

I swallowed hard in recognition; I thought I recognized that voice. "T…Take it! I don't want it anymore! Just don't hurt me!"

The male with the wildly spiked hair walked over and stared me in the eye, "Where?"

"In my pocket! Just take it!" I shook my head and the purple cloaked male snatched the eye out of my pocket.

The white haired male chuckled and dropped me to the floor, "Good, and now, in thanks for your cooperation, we will let you live."

My shoulders sank in relief as the two figures walked away from me and were consumed by the shadows.

I rested my head against the wall, my heart nearly pounding out of my chest.

It was official. I was getting too old for this.

Marik's POV

I was sitting on the couch, completely consumed by the book I was reading. Every so often I would let my concentration break and think about Yugi's visit earlier in the week. I just could not understand why he seemed to come out of the blue and ask for an apology from Ryou.

I closed my book and wrinkled my forehead in thought. I just did not understand Yugi. He was such a good guy despite everything. Like Ryou had said, he was way too nice for his own good, but I couldn't find anything else wrong with him.

I sighed and opened my book back up, at this rate it would take me forever to finish it.

I heard the door open and close as Ryou came home from getting groceries. Smiling to myself, I thought about how well I got along with Bakura's former host. Ryou was kind like Yugi, but he was selective in his kindness. He also had a backbone, which surprised me. I loved him like a brother and I realized then that I would do anything for him that I could. It made me smile because I knew he would do the same for me.

"MARIK!" I heard a loud crash from the kitchen and Ryou screamed at the top of his lungs.

I dropped my book and raced to where he was as quickly as possible, "Ryou whats wrong!"

Ryou was on the floor with his head buried in his hands, "No no no FUCK!" He gave a moaning cry and his whole body shuddered.

"Ryou whats wrong?" I went over to him and he pointed frantically at the countertop.

It was then that I saw what made Ryou freak out, and now it was my turn.

Sitting on the kitchen counter were the millennium ring and rod, resting against each other like some sort of twisted statue.

I felt my eyes widen and my legs nearly gave out. It had to be some sort of joke right?

Swallowing hard I walked over to the two items and gently picked up the millennium rod.

Oh yes, it was the real deal alright. I took a shaky breath and pulled the rods hidden dagger from the bottom sheath.

I was hit hard unexpectedly with a flashback from the tomb keeper's initiation and I dropped both pieces of the rod. This time my legs did give out and I hit the floor hard. I started to shake badly and suddenly I felt as if my back was on fire. I bit back a scream and gripped my head. Not this shit again.

Ryou's POV

I heard Marik give out a strangled cry and I looked up to see him on the floor clutching his head.

I got up instantly and rushed to his side, forgetting the items for the moment. "Marik!" I shook his shoulders gently and repeated his name. This wasn't the first time this had happened to him and I knew the only way to get through to him was to be calm and collected.

"Marik, it's okay. It's Ryou, you're going to be just fine." I pulled him into a hug and ran my fingers through his hair. "I'm here and I won't leave you."

Slowly his breathing returned to normal and I felt him stop shaking. I quickly ran to the freezer and grabbed a cold pack and walked back over to Marik.

"I got some ice Marik, I am going to put it on your neck okay?" He nodded slightly and I gently eased the cold pack onto the back of his neck.

After several minutes I heard him exhale deeply and I moved the ice pack from his neck to his back. I gently ran the cool cloth up and down his back in a soothing circular pattern.

Finally he relaxed and sat up slowly to look at me, "Thanks Ryou. I wasn't expecting that."

We both looked warily at the rod. Marik reached out, picked it up and slid the two pieces back together.

He looked to me and I swallowed back the rising bile in my throat.

I stood shaking and reached out, grasping the millennium ring in my hands.

"I guess we aren't hallucinating huh?"

Marik shook his head no and stood clutching the rod, "I guess not."

I looked down at the ring and it glinted mockingly at me, "What does this mean Marik?"

"I don't know Ryou. I am almost afraid to know." He stared at the rod, as if it would tell him why it had suddenly decided to return.

I looked at the ring and silently asked that very question. 'Why are you here? Why now? Why didn't you stay buried?'

"I don't want you back!" I suddenly screamed in anger, "I finally got my life back! I finally have it right! Now you come along to fuck my perfect life up again! WHY?"

It, of course, did not answer me. I growled in frustration and looked to Marik.

He was giving me a strange look and I sighed, "Sorry…lost it a little bit there for a second."

He smirked, "I noticed. So, what are we going to do with them?"

I frowned down at the ring, "If we try to get rid of them they will just come back."

Marik nodded, "You think we should call Yugi?"

I chewed the inside of my lip, "We probably should, at least see if the other items are back as well."

Marik hooked the rod into the belt of his pants as if it was second nature and he moved towards the phone, "That's a good idea, I'll just-"

He was cut off as something loud banged against the front door of our rental home.

I froze and looked at Marik. He looked like a deer caught in the headlights of an oncoming car.

There was silence for a bit then another loud bang.

Marik seemed to wake up and he grabbed the rod and held it out. I looked at him and he nodded. We slowly began to make our way to the living room.

There were no more bangs against the door once we reached the room in question. Marik looked at the door and cautiously began to move towards it.

Suddenly there was a final bang and the door flew open and a voice chuckled darkly. "Landlord, I'm home!"

Bakura.