A/N: And here we are! Getting down to the wire. As I said on my Tumblr, I have four more chapters and an epilogue planned. I am so grateful you all have stuck by me through this story and I am proud with what I have done with it. I am touched by all your positive reviews and I couldn't be more happy. And if all goes well I will have some smut for you next chapter. -wink- Do enjoy.

Unreal Truths

Chapter 32: Reunion

Bakura's POV

I couldn't believe that I was actually holding Marik in my arms and that he was really awake. It was too good to be true and I wondered if maybe I was dreaming.

My thoughts were interrupted as I felt myself being tugged away, Marik giving a whine of protest as he held on even tighter.

The doctor gave a huff of disapproval and probably would have said something if he hadn't been hushed by Kaz.

"Now, now, there is no need to start something. Bakura can stay here if he wants. I don't need an audience however, so the rest of you are dismissed." Kaz gave a warm but firm smile and waved the others away.

The doctor who scoffed gave me a dirty look before reluctantly turning and leaving, the others following close behind.

Kaz then turned and gave me a gentle smile, "I won't force you out, but I do need you off the bed, just for right now so I can just check Marik over. He did just wake up. I must say your timing was perfect."

I sighed and looked to Marik before nodding. I could do that much for him.

Moving to the chair beside the bed, Kaz took out a small pen light and began by looking into Marik's gaze, which must have been difficult since the teen kept looking over towards me.

Kaz however only smirked and checked his eyes before sitting on the edge of the bed, asking questions as he checked Marik's wounds, "Can you tell me your name son?"

"M…Marik." The tan teen swallowed, looking a bit confused at the slight stutter.

Kaz frowned, but he didn't seem concerned as he continued down the list of questions as he checked vital signs, "And what year is it Marik?"

Marik frowned and looked to me once more, "2011...W…what's going on?"

"Son, tell me what the last thing you remember is?" Kaz pulled the only other unoccupied chair in the room over and sat down in it, eyes locked on Marik firmly.

Marik licked his lips lightly before looking down at the sheets, seeming to really notice where he was for the first time.

"I…I was…" He looked to me, violet eyes distressed, "Fighting with you…"

Well that really narrowed it down.

"Over what?" I asked quietly, a bit fearful that his last memory was a fight years before.

Marik sighed and reached his hand out and I took it tightly in my own.

"You had m...my journal…" There was a small hint of shame in his tone, and he adverted his gave once more.

"How much do you remember?" I gave Marik's hand a reassuring squeeze and he bit his lip a bit harder.

"I just remember getting a…angry at you and t…then everything b…blurs." He shook his head and looked to Kaz, eyes fiery, "W…what happened? And w…why am I s…stuttering."

I tried hard not to grin. As concerned as I was about Marik's apparent struggle to speak normally, I found it too cute not to smirk just a little bit.

Kaz sat back, pulling out Marik's chart and flipping through it, "Well, you were brought in a week ago when you wrecked your motorcycle."

Marik blinked and looked to the older man, "I w…wrecked?" He growled in frustration at the stutter and clenched the sheets of the bed tightly.

Kaz nodded gently and looked over the papers in his hand once more, "Yes, you came in with multiple injuries, both internal and external. The most serious being in your abdomen and head. We had to operate a few different times-"

"Yeah, because you screwed up the first time." I scoffed and Kaz flinched, sighing as he continued on, "Yes well, we did neglect to catch a bleed on the brain, but it is okay now."

The whole time Kaz was talking, Marik switched between looking at me and the doctor, a confused and slightly overwhelmed look on his face.

I sighed gently and rubbed Marik's hand with my own, giving the fingers a reassuring squeeze.

Marik finally decided to rest his gaze on me, speaking in a low tone of voice, "So what does all this mean for me now?"

Kaz cleared his throat lightly, "Well, we won't know anything definite until we get another CT scan, but from what I already know, I can say that there is minor damage to the parts of the brain that control speech and movement. I won't know for certain however, until we can see the scans."

Marik frowned deeply and I gave his hand another squeeze, "Okay, well, if that is all for now then Marik and I would appreciate some alone time. We have a lot to talk about." Kaz nodded and stood, slipping Marik's chart back into the slot at the end of his bed, "Of course, I will leave you two be. I will be back when it's time for the CT scan."

I nodded and Marik just stared at the bed with an intense gaze. Kaz then turned on his heel and left.

Once we were alone, a rather uncomfortable silence settled in the room, and I found myself actually feeling nervous now, not knowing what to say to Marik now that he was awake.

Had I got so used to the idea that he may not wake up that having him awake now was making me nervous?

I wasn't sure, but I wasn't going to let this damnable silence continue any longer.

"Why did you say you loved me?" The thought had been bothering me ever since Marik said it. He shouldn't be saying that, especially since the last time we saw each other he ran out in a fit of rage because I was looking at his journal. There was no way he could have a change of heart that quickly unless…

"I h…heard you talking to me." Marik looked up, violet eyes pale but alive. "I heard everything y…you, Mariku and R…Ryou said to me over the course of however l…long I was here. A week was it? Anyways, I h…heard everything you said. It was kind of fuzzy but I l…listened. And I heard M…Mariku the clearest, and the things he told me l…let me know that you were sincere in w…what you said."

That definitely shocked me. I hadn't really expected anything I had said to Marik while he was in a coma to register, so it was a nice surprise to know that it actually got through.

"You heard everything?"

Marik nodded and smiled softly, squeezing my hand, "I didn't get a whole l…lot, but I do remember that…I…I felt like I was in some s…sort of l…limbo, everything was f…foggy and there was n…no sense of t…time."

Sounded a lot like the shadow realm to me, but I wasn't going to mention that to Marik.

"Well, you're okay now, nothing more to worry about. I'm here and I don't plan on going anywhere any time soon."

Marik gave a small smile and held my hand tighter, "I just w…wish that we would have r…realized all of this sooner…" He sighed and I shook my head squeezing his hand and giving him a reassuring gaze.

"Don't worry about it Marik, what's done is done and now all we can do is look to the future." I was just happy to have him awake again and in my arms.

Did things really happen for a reason?

If so then fate had an awful cruel way of bringing two people together.

We were content to just enjoy the appreciative silence between us, but of course silence wasn't something you got when dealing with Mariku.

It was just then when said yami came racing into the room with an excited look on his face and literally leapt up and on to Marik's bed, giving an excited squeal of "OMOTE!"

Marik himself gave a surprised yelp but gently wrapped his arms around Mariku when the tan blur latched onto him.

"Hey M…Mariku."

I was surprised to see that Marik didn't bother to push him off either, and my expression was reflected on Ryou's face as he stood in the door.

"I swear, he ran here so fast I would have swore something was wrong." The pale teen shook his head and chuckled, "Guess I was wrong about that."

Mariku gave a contented mewl, sounding much like a cat, he then pulled back and looked into Marik's eyes, his own violet orbs wide with disbelief.

"Omote, you're okay…"

Marik nodded and ruffled Mariku's hair, "Thanks to you g…giving me e…energy through the b… it w…weren't for th…that I would probably h…have died."

I blinked in shock, not thinking that Mariku's energy transfer would really do that much good.

Apparently it had.

"I knew it would Omote! I just knew it would."

Marik chuckled and gave Mariku an approving pat on the back, "Yeah, you d…did good yami."

Mariku seemed absolutely thrilled at being praised and he gave Marik another gentle hug before climbing off the bed.

"Good to see it won't be a fight to get everyone back on good terms." Ryou chuckled and walked into the room and he and Marik hugged, "Good to see you awake again."

Marik nodded and let go of Ryou, leaning back into the pillows, "So…what's the d…damage Ryou."

Ryou smiled softly and sat down by Marik's bed, "Well, according to Kaz, you have some minor brain damage, along with a broken hip and ribs on your left side. You also had internal bleeding, but everything has been fixed up by now. All you need to do is rest and heal."

Marik frowned slightly but nodded regardless, looking around the room at all three of us, "I'm sorry."

I stepped up and stopped him before he could say anything further, kissing my lover full on the lips. I heard Mariku give a delighted squeal in the background and Ryou gave a light chuckle.

"Can't you two keep it to yourself? I know you are very happy to be together again, but you can at least wait until you are alone."

Marik laughed quietly against my lips and gently pushed me off, "Sorry Ryou."

I gave my hikari a dirty look and he crossed his arms and smirked in return.

"Well Ryou, we have a room here, just so happens that we have two intruders."

The white haired Brit groaned and rolled his eyes, "Bakura! He just woke up from a coma! He's hurt, you guys can't possibly…"

Ryou trailed off when he noticed everyone in the room staring at him, including Mariku."We could have a four way", Mariku suggested with a sly grin.

"Mariku! Not helping!"

Marik's laughing brought us all out of our stupor and I turned to look at him, "I'm okay, really."

Ryou gave him a shocked look before looking to the others in the room and realizing he was outnumbered, "Fine, I am taking Mariku and going. Whatever goes on in here, just, keep it to yourselves, lock the door and for the love of God make sure you fix the heart monitor so it doesn't go off."

I stared at Ryou with a look of shock and he gave a small shrug in return, "What, I have learned quite a few things from my studies."

The white haired teen then moved over to the machine that read Marik's vitals and pushed a few buttons, "Okay, when you two are…done…just push this button here and then everything should go back on track."

I looked to see which button he had pointed to, then nodded, "Thank you Landlord, that will be all."

Ryou gave me a dirty look and I gave a smirk in return. The young Britt then threw his hands in the air and groaned, "Okay, whatever, come on Mariku."

"Can we have sex too Fluffy?"

I burst out laughing as Ryou blushed and pulled Mariku out into the hallway, slamming the door behind him.

Once they were gone, I got up out of my chair, grabbing it and twisting it around so the small chair now acted as an impromptu door jam.

Once I was satisfied that no nurse or doctor was going to come through the door, I turned and fixed Marik with a hungry grin.

The Egyptian teen was sitting up, a patient look in his eyes. It was still so odd to see him without all his usual gold adornments and mass of hair, though this new plain look was rather sexy.

"We're not doing anything too crazy understand? And by too crazy I mean…" Trailing off, I pushed the button that Ryou had gestured to earlier, "Nothing that makes your heart rate go up."

Marik growled lightly, "Bakura I'm n…not made of f…fucking g…glass." He then huffed, obviously frustrated by his stuttering and I felt a stab of guilt jolt through me.

"No, but you have several broken bones and a head wound. Oh and did I mention that you just woke up from a coma like, an hour ago? Really Marik, I just want us to have alone time."

Marik sighed heavily, but I could tell my the look in his eyes that he agreed with me.

I closed the distance between us then, climbing up into the hospital bed so I could lay beside him, careful not to dislodge any IV lines or wires.

Marik moved to the side to accommodate me and he gently wrapped his arms around my shoulders.

"So you heard everything huh?" I asked softly.

Marik nodded and let his fingers entangle in my hair, "And I believe you, obviously. We had something special Kura….its not something either of us would just throw away."

I allowed myself a smile at that and pulled him even closer to me, "You're right…You mean more to me than anything Marik…anything." Including millennium items, including controlling the world.

Right now, in this moment, I had everything I would ever need.

And by the way that Marik cuddled further into my embrace, I could tell he agreed.