Merry (late) Christmas and a Happy New Year to you all!

Title: Haunted

Fandom: Yu-Gi-Oh!

Characters: Yami no Malik, Ryou Bakura

Prompt: #82 If

Word Count: 744

Chapter: 4/100

Rating: T for ethical content

Summary: If you have to choose between going mad and causing the apocalypse, what will your choice be?

Author's Notes: Warnings: dark, AU, shonen-ai, Yami no Malik will be referred to as "Marik" here.

This was inspired by Phate Phoenix's "The Difference Between Shadows and Darkness" and is thus dedicated to her.

Disclaimer: Yu-Gi-Oh! belongs to Kazuki Takahashi and anyone else who holds some rights, excluding me. I also make no money with this.

It was dark outside, darker than usual on a new moon night. An owl cried and the wind whispered lowly. The young man standing at the window turned around and glanced at his companion.

"If you had to, would you choose madness?"

Ryou just stared at him confusedly, not believing his ears. "What?"

"If you have to choose between going mad and causing the apocalypse, what will your choice be?"

Shuffling his feet, Ryou looked away uncomfortably. His blond companion kept looking at him. "I-I don't know. Maybe."

"It seems so easy at first, doesn't it?" the blond man's voice was barely a whisper, sounding so haunted, it made Ryou shiver. "At first, it is so simple. Just go mad and thus save the world."

The blond man turned back to the window, staring into the dark night. He chuckled humorlessly as he saw nothing but darkness. The small lamp in the corner of the room their only source of light and it highlighted his bronze coloured skin eerily, when he he looked at Ryou again.

"But it's never that easy, is it?"

He turned back around, glaring out at the dark night. Ryou's head busted with questions and gathering his courage, he softly inquired a few of them. However, he got no answer. Frustrated, he whirled around and went to the door, but a small voice stopped him from parting.

"What if going mad doesn't solve the problem?"

Standing a step away from the door, his hand already reaching out to the knob, he looked back over his shoulder at his strange friend. He kept quiet, patiently waiting for the other to continue. After all, he didn't seem to answer his questions at all... Perhaps he just wanted to confuse him?

Shaking his head and turning halfway around, so he could face the other, Ryou stemmed his hands on his hips. "Marik, what's wrong?" he inquired sternly, however, he didn't get a reply, again. The silver-haired boy sighed, his arms going slack at his sides. Whatever bothered his friend – apparently, it was serious.

Marik had been staring at the floor, but now he lifted his head to look the other in the eye. What Ryou saw in the other's lilac oceans scared him to the bone. They looked so... haunted. The image in itself wasn't right. The fingertips on the window glass, how he lowered his head ever so slightly, the slumped shoulders. Something was wrong, definitely wrong.

"What if going mad makes you the apocalypse? What if your powers are too strong for anyone else to control, if you are left with the weapon to start the apocalypse – and are mad enough to do so?"

Ryou shivered involuntarily as he tried to imagine that. Owning that much power would surely drive anyone mad, if not turning them into a megalomaniac. The implications of his friend's talk left him feeling helpless. He had a nagging feeling that Marik wasn't just speaking hypothetically – that wasn't like him. He shuddered at the thought, that perhaps, this young man may have the power he spoke of.

"What if I told you that I love you?"

The question took Ryou by surprise and he turned fully around to stare at the other. He had moved into the middle of the room – when did he do that? – and looked at him with a calm, serious expression. He couldn't be joking – did he really imply? – he hadn't said it - he couldn't mean it like that – he was certainly just teasing – he wouldn't – he didn't – he couldn't – did he...?

Ryou took a few uncertain steps forward, slowly, but steadily, approaching his friend. Their eyes stayed locked all along, and he tried to read in those purple pools of emotion. They stood only inches away, while Ryou mustered him intently. He couldn't read his expression, didn't know what to expect, hope rising from the depth of his mind.

"What if I love you?"

They stared into each other's eyes, and Ryou felt his heart beating rapidly. Slowly, he slung his arms around the other, who cautiously return the hug. He gazed upwards at his friend, taking in the serious expression, the depth of his violet eyes, the small wrinkles on his forehead and the perfect colour of his lips. As if in trance, he stood on his tip-toes, coming closer, their lips nearly touching, even closer-

"What would you choose?"

He didn't know.

And then they kissed.