AN: In the author's note in the last chapter, I mentioned that I'd sometimes be writing in detail about canon events, and I explained the reasons why. To give credit where it's due, starting from this chapter onwards, when I write about canon conversations between Marik and Bakura, the dialogue will come directly from the canon- mostly the sub and the manga, but occasionally from the dub. It's pretty much a mix of what works best for the fic, and some of the lines are slightly reworked to make them flow better, but the basic meaning is the same; I didn't want any of the canon scenes between them here to go against the actual canon. Also, like I mentioned before, I wanted to explore the thoughts and feelings the characters were having during canon events, and also write about what may have went on before, after, and between the canon events. So obviously, not all of the dialogue is going to come from the canon- there's also dialogue of my own invention that could have happened after their canon conversations, or during times when the canon cut away from their scenes together.

"I held you tight against the dark and said that I would always come for you. Maybe you don't remember my promise. But I meant every word. I hope you're not afraid, wherever you are. You don't need to be. I'm not. I will find you."- "Find You," from xkcd by Randall Munroe

Through the power of the Millennium Ring, Bakura felt a familiar presence.

Of course, he immediately wondered if it could be Mahes. Could this feeling of familiarity mean that the Ring had finally led him to his partner? He wanted that to be the case, but...that didn't quite fit. He felt that he'd been near this presence very recently. No; that wasn't quite right, either. Not long ago, he'd encountered something much like this presence, but it hadn't been whole; it hadn't been in its natural form.

And yet, at the same time, his familiarity with this presence felt absolutely ancient. He wasn't sure what to think.

One thing he could be sure of, however, was that the Ring had alerted him to the fact that another Millennium item was nearby. And that was, he reminded himself, what truly mattered. So he followed where the Ring led him.

Eventually, the Ring led him to an alleyway. And then Bakura saw him. The one he'd been seeking- the one who must be holding another of the Millennium items- was speeding towards him, riding on one of the things that people in this age used for transport.

Bakura still had not gotten used to this- the fact that people in this time rode upon un-alive things. If he were being totally honest with himself, he would say that it unsettled him that people were riding these- he groped for the word- machines.

Yet he stood before this person, arms out, somehow trusting that the rider would stop the machine before it hit him, that this person wouldn't run him down and kill his landlord, sending him back to the solitude of the Ring. Even as he did it, he wondered if it was a stupid mistake to trust that this stranger would stop for him. He wondered if it was only his vague sense- or possibly hope- that this person was Mahes that made him take such a risk.

But he needn't have worried. The boy- he could see now that the person was male- executed a maneuver that caused his machine to turn sideways and stop with a screeching halt, just short of hitting Bakura.

"Who are you?" the boy asked him, looking indignant as he removed his helmet.

And now Bakura could see the boy more clearly. He was obviously around Ryou's age. And he even looked somewhat like Mahes, all blonde hair and dark skin and purple eyes, though he was more muscular than Mahes had been, and his eyes seemed somehow harder.

Instead of answering the question the blonde had asked, Bakura simply opened Ryou's blue shirt to reveal the Millennium Ring. If this person was Mahes, as he hoped he was, then maybe that would be enough to make Mahes recognize him...

"Ah, you have the Millennium Ring," said the teen, and for a moment, Bakura was glad that the other had recognized the Ring, thinking that maybe it meant...

But the boy surprised Bakura by looking him directly in the eye and commanding: "You will work with me, or you will die."

Bakura was completely taken aback, though he struggled not to show it. He'd been wrong. This could not be Mahes- Mahes would never make threats like that, especially not against someone he'd just met. That just wasn't in Mahes's nature. Bakura had been mislead by his own stupid desires, his useless emotions, and now he desperately needed to regain control of the situation.

He could attack the kid and try to take the item outright, but something inside Bakura- something he didn't understand, something he didn't even try to understand in that short moment- made him decide to give the unknown teen a chance to hand over his item peacefully.

"If you try to stop me in my quest for the Millennium Items, you're the one who will die," Bakura said. "Give me your item and I'll let you live."

Bakura could now see the Millennium item that the blonde possessed- it was the Rod, and he was brandishing it openly, tauntingly.

"So, you want me to give you my Millennium item," said the other. "What is it that you want with the Millennium items?"

For some reason that Bakura couldn't fathom, he was compelled to answer this question honestly, even though he knew that the truth was more likely to harm him than to help him in his goal to get the other boy to give him the Millennium Rod.

"Obviously, if I can place the seven Millennium items on the Pharaoh's tablet, the dark door will be opened," Bakura told him. "I need the power that is sealed behind that door. It is vital to my purposes."

There was a pause, and then the blonde suddenly introduced himself. "I am Marik."

"I'm Bakura," Bakura responded without thinking.

"Bakura, I'm not interested in the Millennium items," Marik said. "I am only interested getting my revenge against the Pharaoh by taking his life. Once that is done, the Millennium Rod will be nothing to me."

Bakura scowled at him. How could this child treat the Millennium items as if they were meaningless?

But Marik ignored Bakura's obvious hostility towards him, not even seeming to care.

"Let's make a deal," said Marik. "If you help me, I'll give you the Millennium Rod when it's all over."

Bakura couldn't believe that Marik was actually asking for his help, as if he had any chance of getting it. The brat had been threatening him and making demands on him from the moment they met! Why would Bakura ever be willing to help this insolent child?

"You're bargaining with me?" asked Bakura sardonically. Bakura was the one who should be making demands- not this pathetic kid. "I told you to give me the Rod."

But Marik was undeterred by Bakura's words. "You should be sympathetic to me," he said. "I need the Rod in order to defeat Yugi. Before I do that, I can't give it to you."

Marik wanted him to be sympathetic? After having threatened to kill him? That had to be a joke.

But on the other hand, the kid had a lot of nerve; Bakura had to give him that. Also, this boy wanted to kill the Pharaoh, which was certainly a worthy goal- Bakura had almost ignored that fact in the face of the child's flippant attitude towards the Millennium items. Bakura briefly wondered what the Pharaoh had done to the teen to make him so vengeful. Was it as bad as what the Pharaoh had done- but Bakura cut off that thought and forced himself to focus on the present.

And to that end, Bakura decided that maybe Marik- an apparently bold kid who wanted to kill the Pharaoh- at least deserved a fair fight. So Bakura turned his attention to the situation at hand and responded to the teen.

"How about this, then?" Bakura asked. "Let's use the Millennium Rod against the Millennium Ring. The dark force that prevails will decide the winner."

"Fine with me," said Marik. "In fact, that's exactly what I want."

Yes, the kid definitely got points for bravery, as much as Bakura hated to admit it to himself- Marik clearly wasn't afraid of a fight. And Bakura could certainly give him one.

So Bakura released the power of the Ring, and somehow Marik unleashed the power of the Rod at exactly the same instant, the two mysteriously and perfectly in sync with each other.

The power of the items flowed out, and a spectral glow surrounded both of them as their respective forces collided, unearthly blue light slamming into red and meeting equidistant between them.

As it always was when Bakura directed the power of the Ring towards someone, his ka and his ba automatically reached out along with it, touching the soul of his opponent. He could feel Marik's soul and-

And it was, it was, it was Mahes, he had no doubts, he didn't know how he knew-

I will always know you

but he knew, and he didn't understand how this ruthless person could be Mahes, but it was and he had to stop before he hurt him, even if it meant that he had to endanger himself-

So he abruptly stopped attacking with the Ring, and for some reason, at that exact moment Marik stopped attacking with the Rod, failing to take the advantage that he could have had when Bakura had suddenly stopped the battle.

Bakura turned away from Marik, not wanting the other to see his smile. He'd found him...

"I quit, I quit," Bakura said as he turned around, holding his hands up in surrender and laughing a bit, still smiling despite himself. He tilted his head towards Marik, his eyes shifting sideways to catch a glimpse of the boy.

"What's wrong?" asked Marik.

Bakura tried to collect himself. Once he felt he had regained some control of himself, he turned to face Marik.

"I don't think I would lose against you," said Bakura. "I could defeat you easily. But we have the same goal, don't we? So we might as well work together."

And of course, there was no one else in the world that Bakura would have agreed to work with- if it had been anyone else opposing him, he would have continued fighting. But this was Mahes- Marik- and that was different. For them to work together again-

"You're very smart," said Marik. "You've made a wise decision."

"Of course I'm smart," said Bakura. "And I know the best way to defeat Yugi- we can use his own friends against him. I've been waiting for the chance to do so."

"That's exactly what I was planning to do," said Marik. "I can use the power of the Millennium Rod to accomplish it."

"You don't understand how strong their friendships are. It won't be easy to tear them apart," said Bakura. "But I can help you. My landlord, Ryou, is friends with Yugi and the others, and I can easily control Ryou."

Easily control Ryou? That might have been a bit of an overstatement on Bakura's part, but Bakura wanted Mahes- Marik- to be convinced that he needed Bakura to help him with his plan.

"Landlord? What do you mean by that?" asked Marik. "It sounds interesting."

"My spirit is housed inside of my landlord, Ryou. I myself once lived in the ancient past, and now my soul has returned for the purpose of collecting the Millennium items," Bakura said.

Bakura was testing the waters, attempting to see if Marik would believe him. He knew that the truth would sound crazy to most people. But Marik was not most people, and he didn't seem perturbed, so Bakura forged ahead with a reasonably innocuous question.

"Would it surprise you to know that I've had experience in dark games?"

"It doesn't surprise me," said Marik.

Bakura felt a slight sense of relief. So, this incarnation of Mahes knew of otherworldly things and believed in them- well, of course he would, being the possessor of a Millennium item. So maybe he'd understand when Bakura told him- Bakura started to speak before he himself was even aware that he was going to do it.

"Mah- Marik, when I said that I lived in the past, it's because I needed to explain to you-"

But Marik was caught up in his own scheming and wasn't even listening.

"It's good to know that you've been in dark games," said Marik, as if there had been no interruption by Bakura. "It may make you useful to me in the future."

For the moment, Bakura was so focused on his own agenda that he barely noticed that Marik was still speaking. And Marik went on, unaware-

"But for now, I only need the use of your landlord. I've already thought of a brilliant way that I can use Ryou against Yugi and his friends."

And at the mention of his landlord- of using his landlord- Bakura's ears perked up, and it was then that he realized that he'd been interrupted. Not just interrupted, but ignored.

"Will you shut up for one second and listen to me, you little brat?" Bakura snapped.

And Bakura half-expected the blonde to look at him with a mixture of hurt and defiance, as Mahes would have done in his previous life when Bakura angrily insulted him. But instead, Bakura only received a look that was a strange mixture of smugness and confusion. At that, Bakura wondered if he should even continue on and tell the boy what he'd been meaning to say, but soon Bakura was speaking again, seemingly without any conscious decision to do so.

"I was trying to tell you something," said Bakura. He was truly attempting to be patient, but he wasn't quite managing to mask the irritation in his voice. "Mah- Marik- I lived in Egypt long ago, and you did, too, and we knew each other, we worked together-"

Marik laughed derisively, and the piercing sound cut off Bakura's words.

"You don't need to make up stories, my friend," said Marik. "You've already got my assurance that I'll help you if you help me."

Marik saw the look of shocked dismay on Bakura's face before he could hide it.

"Or maybe you're crazy and you actually believe what you're saying," said Marik. He shrugged as if it didn't really matter either way. "Don't worry; I don't mind a little crazy. I know crazy."

Marik shook his head quickly, as if he hadn't meant to say that out loud.

Bakura opened his mouth as if to speak, but Marik continued before he had the chance.

"As I've been trying to tell you all this time, I have a plan," said Marik. "I want you to seriously injure yourself- your landlord, I mean. Then, I'll take him to Yugi's friends, and I'll pretend that I found him- Ryou?- hurt, and that I saved him. It's the perfect way for me to infiltrate their group. And once I'm close to them, I'll kill the Pharaoh."

"You want me to hurt myself- hurt Ryou-"

"If you do that, then I can trust you. I'll believe that you'll give me what I want. And then I'll give you what you want. We'll be partners."

Marik's words sent a jolt through Bakura that started in his borrowed body and then seemed to go much deeper.

"Marik-" he started, knowing it was useless, hating himself for trying, but unable to help himself, "I really did know you-"

And of course, Marik was uninterested, barely seeming to hear him, speaking over top of him. "I told you when I first met you- you can work with me or die. Time's up. What is your answer?"

And Bakura was shocked again that this- this- could be Mahes, demanding such a thing of him, wanting him to hurt himself, threatening to kill him if he didn't, and Bakura wondered briefly what horrible things had happened to Mahes in this life to make him this way. But that didn't matter right now, because he knew that it was Mahes- that knowledge, that recognition, burned throughout the very essence of his being. And he understood then there was no more time now, because Mahes- Marik- had given him a deadline, and this was it, and he felt ashamed that he wanted to give in, felt even more ashamed at the sympathy he was feeling from Ryou, Ryou telling him that it was alright, and he tried to resist all of it because he didn't want to submit. But now he was all out of time and if he wanted to work with this boy, to be his partner, to have any chance at all-

Bakura made a snap decision and pulled out the knife that he always carried with him.

"This is my answer!" Bakura said, and a maniacal glint was in his eyes as he plunged the knife into his own arm, and he laughed madly as he stabbed himself, because this was all insane- he was insane for agreeing to this plan, Marik was insane for proposing it, and Ryou was insane for agreeing to go along with it.

And none of that mattered because maybe Marik's plan would work- Marik's idea was clever, Bakura had to give Marik that, at least, because otherwise Bakura wouldn't be participating in this crazy scheme. Maybe Marik really could kill the Pharaoh if Bakura did what Marik wanted him to do, and that was all that Bakura cared about, that was the only reason he did what the blonde asked of him- it certainly wasn't because he cared about this boy who called himself Marik, because that boy wasn't really Mahes anymore, and even if he was, it didn't matter to Bakura, because his only purpose was to kill the Pharaoh and free the souls of his people, that was all that had ever mattered to him, and that was his only reason for giving in to what Marik demanded. And those were his last thoughts before he collapsed onto the ground.

And if he whispered, "Mah- Marik- Mahes- I-" just before passing out, he didn't remember saying it, and his voice must have been much too quiet for anyone else to hear, for there was no external response, only a sympathetic surge of emotion from Ryou, and then Bakura's consciousness drained away along with the blood flowing from his arm and all became dark.

AN: Thanks so much to everyone who has reviewed so far! I apologize for the fact that I haven't responded personally to most of the reviews that I've gotten over the last few months, but I did read and appreciate all of them! Please review this chapter and let me know what you think!

As always, I'd also like to thank my awesome beta, Individually Packaged, who has been my beta for every chapter since the beginning of this fic. I'd also like to thank the beautiful Lady Blackwell, who has been my second beta for both this chapter and the last one.