Disclaimers: Yu-Gi-Oh! Belongs to Kazuki Takahashi. I am only here to fill it with my perverted fandom *shot*

Credits: Thanks to the WONDERFUL (I can't stress this enough) Usagi-Squared for writing our roleplay into this wonderful story *showers love on her*

There was something to be said about travelling in the Shadow Realm. Mostly how boring it was. It was easy to forget the reason for being there as they walked, defying gravity as they followed the arrow from stone to stone. Easier still to voice this impatience... Though for the most part Malik had managed to hold back.

So far. Malik held his hands behind his head, stifling a yawn as he and Atem walked in silence. How long had it been now? Minutes, hours? Days even? When he'd asked earlier about time, the bird had simply shrugged. 'Time doesn't really pass in the Shadow Realm so to speak,' he'd said. 'Rather, the only things it can effect are those that live by it.'

Yea. Because that made so much sense. He frowned, eventually throwing his arms down and looking up at the bird in agitation. They hadn't found any trace of Ryou or Bakura yet, and so far it didn't look like they would any time soon. "Are we there yet..?" He half asked out of spite, irritation more than evident in the bored tone he used.

Atem, who had stopped walking and taken to gliding and flying beside the former tomb guardian, continued to stare ahead at the compass. Without even blinking, he turned to follow the needle as it veered to the side, before shaking his head. "No."

"...Hn..." Malik sighed, before gaining a conniving smirk. "How about now?" If they were stuck wandering through some unknown wasteland, he mind as well get a bit of fun out of it. "How about now?"

There was another turn, and the two continued off towards a fairly large looking set of 'islands' with tops that disappeared into the clouds above. "No. Stop asking."

The smirk grew into a grin, and Malik jogged up to stand beneath the bird. "Are we there now?"

"...NO." Atem tensed, eyes narrowing as he focused on moving ahead. He refused to snap back at Malik just because he was annoyed... But it was very very tempting after all that had gone on. He opted to resist however, seeing how he'd likely end up gouging his feet on the blades attached to Malik's arms.

The pair continued on, the large 'islands' soon shaping up to be one large one. Tall cliffs stood at each side, with jagged and seemingly uniform shards of stone jutting out from the sides. Malik looked up and squinted into the clouds, frowning lightly. You couldn't quite see it, but the top of the sides seemed to meet in the middle, forming a cave. The more interesting thing about it was that the top almost seemed to have a shape... "Is that it," he said as he pointed towards it, the arrow doing the same.

Atem blinked, looking down as he alighted beside the teen in mid-air. "Quite possibly. The compass is pointing towards it after all..." He frowned, crossing his arms. "We cannot be too certain though, as the compass can't approximate distance. We won't know for sure until we either see Bakura ourselves, or the needle begins to spin."

"Huh." Malik returned to leaning his head back against his arms, still walking beside the bird as silence fell over the two again. "...Are we there ye- OW!" He stumbled as Atem's wing clipped him across the back, before turning to glare at the bird.

Said bird, still holding an agitated twitch in his frown, abruptly stopped to turn his head towards their right.

Malik in the meantime, decided to take that opportunity to shout up at the former pharaoh. "Hey! Do you get a kick out of sending me across the ground with those?"

"Quiet!" The blond blinked at Atem's sudden sternness, frowning as he continued. "...Did you hear something just now?"

He continued frowning, crossing his arms. "You mean besides the 'thump' of your wings hitting my back? No." The teen paused briefly, before looking up at Atem curiously. "...Why?"

"I could have sworn I heard..." The pair blinked as what Atem heard began to reach their ears more clearly.

"Bloody moronic jackal and his pain in the arse riddles..."

Malik grinned as the familiar voice of Ryou echoed through the area, Atem merely blinking as the English cursing flew right over his head. "Ryou!" He waved his arms above his head, narrowly missing Atem's wings as he made an odd squawking noise.

"Malik! Be careful with those!"

"Eh, I wouldn't have hit you..."

In the distance, Ryou's robed figure could be made out, the agitation fairly clear even from afar. The teen's fists were held at his side as he occasionally kicked at the air, still shouting at no one in particular. "'I don't really have a name, I don't suppose you remember it'? Bollocks! Complete bo-" He blinked, the sound of Malik and Atem's arguing finally reaching him. "Guys?" The albino quickly switched back to Japanese, running towards the two figures in the distance with a cry of relief. "Malik! Atem-san!"

The pair turned, Atem breaking into a grin as he waved a wing and an arm at the teen. "Ah! Ryou!" He stepped back as Ryou skidded to a stop on the rock that he and Malik stood on, the latter tapping the teen's shoulder.

"Hey, you alright? You look pissed..." Ryou turned to Malik, blinking as he regained his usual innocent stare and shaking his head.

He was a little red from the pent up agitation at that Jackal; it'd hounded him for what seemed to be hours before finally letting up really, and it was ticking him off to no end. "I'm fine..." He crossed his arms, sighing as he turned to look at where he'd come from with a frown. "I just didn't have the best entry is all... It's nothing, Malik."

Malik scratched his head, while Atem looked down at the teen in disbelief. "I don't know," the blond said, shaking his head. "The last time I saw you this red was... Never really. Plus you've been clenching your fists since you arrived."

Beside him, Atem nodded. "You should probably stop before you cut your hands.."

"Ah..." Ryou blinked, looking down at his hands as they unclenched. There were fairly evident welts where his nails had dug into the skin there, and he laughed nervously. "...I guess that jackal had me more buggered than I thought," he muttered in English.

"Pardon?"

Malik rolled his eyes. "He said something about a jackal annoying him. Oi, Ryou, try sticking to Japanese so I don't have to play translator ok?"

He nodded, smiling nervously as he turned to look up at Atem. "Sorry about that..."

The bird merely shook his head, also smiling. "It's fine. Just where were you anyways?"

Ryou quickly regained a slight frown, crossing his arms again. "Right... I don't really know where, but there was something... Else there."

"Something else?" Malik frowned; hadn't Atem said that it was normally empty at entry?

The teen nodded. "That's right. A white jackal of sorts...Oooog..." He scowled, huffing in a very 'un-Ryou'-like manner. "I could murder that beast if I didn't know it was impossible!"

The others blinked, sharing nervous glances as Ryou continued, ignoring the pair of 'excuse me?' 'what the hell..?' related comments coming his way. "It... Ate some sort of shadowy child, and apparently decided that it had nothing better to do than float around me spouting off nonsense, going in circles!" His hair bristled, a rather intresting sight with the hat in its way. Somehow, Ryou managed to forget that the reason he'd run so fast to get away from the jackal was because he was so afraid of it... But really, it was his story, and he was all too ticked to admit that just yet.

"Going on and on, saying things that made no sense..."

While Ryou grumbled on about this, Malik attempted to tap the boy again. "You know, this would be a lot easier to figure out if you made sense yourself." Atem nodded in agreement, and the albino sighed.

Taking a more relaxed, not to mention 'normal' pose for himself, he turned to face Malik. "Sorry... He was just so... Irritating. I asked him his name at one point, and he turned it into a bloody circle of 'Who am I? That's the question isn't it? I'm me, but I'm not me', and he kept going on and on..." He trailed off, shaking his head with a sigh. "It made no sense what so ever, and he wouldn't stop hounding me for at least two hours!"

Atem chose not to comment on the laws of time within the Shadow Realm, instead blinking at Ryou's description of the jackal. Sharing a glance with Malik briefly, he turned back to the albino to shake his head. "If not for the circles I'd say that was normal... As it is, since I can't tell what's in something's nature without seeing them myself, I can't really be sure..."

As the bird trailed off, Malik shook his head. "Right... Well, Ryou's back with us, so we can focus on getting Bakura back now, right?" He looked up at Atem expectantly, and the other looked down before nodding.

"Good idea- the sooner we find Bakura, the better." As they turned to walk into the cave however, Atem jumped, the compass needle abruptly turning to face almost directly upwards.

"Rrrrnnnnnnnnnnggg..."

Blood drained from his face as he took a small step back, the others following suit. A shiver ran down his spine as the bird's feathers stood on end with involuntary fear, and he slowly looked up to see the source of the low and echoing growl that sounded around them.

"Atem..." Malik swallowed as Ryou shrank back, both boys following the bird's gaze nervously. "What was that..."

An audible gulp as Atem's wings spread to shield them both from view. "We may be a little later than we hoped..."

"GROAAAAAAAAAAAOOOOO!" The sides of the cave began to move, the three frozen in place as the clouds began to clear above them. What was thought to be walls littered with shattered stone soon revealed itself to be massive, thickly furred legs, and the massive masked face turned to open with a roar. "GARAOOOOOOOO!" Pieces of rock littered the ground, falling seemingly from nowhere as a mane of snakes moved to strike from the beast's neck.

"Hold on tight!"

"Eh?"

"What!"

Atem lept backwards, ignoring the pain he got from clutching Malik's armor with his feet as he pulled the two up into the air. The shock of being pulled into the air was quickly beat out by the horrific image of the beast before them, Ryou rendered silent as Malik's eyes widened. "WHAT THE FUCK IS THAT!"

"GROOOOOOO!" The sound of thunder appeared to clap around them each time the beast moved, it's massive head turning to face them as it reared up on its hind legs. The bird dodged a swipe from the beast, knocking the wind out of the two teens as he came to rest on a slab of stone behind the creature. "ROAAAAAAAAAAOOOOOOO!" It's roar sounded almost like a moan, loud yet pathetic as it searched for it's prey, before the disgusting, snakelike tail at it's rear hissed a warning of sorts and turned to face them.

"Behind youuuuu..." They froze as a hissing, piercing screech of a voice exited the tail's mouth. It was a chilling tone, and for the two armored teens it seemed to fit the tail all to well. A dark, almost black scaled creature with a draconic head bearing eyes as red as hot coals...

A head that Atem recognized all to well. "That's..." He picked the two up again, ducking beneath the tail and body as it twisted around to face them. Finding solace behind a large fallen stone, Atem took a cautionary glance at the beast before turning to the others. "That is what happens when the 'Ib', the 'Heart' of a person is twisted too far. In ordinary circumstances, the Ka, or body of a being begins as a basic, mostly undetermined vessel, to be shaped and form by the emotions created by the Ib." He took another look, continuing as the two boys beside him followed his gaze in fear-induced awe. "In this case however, there is no Ka. It appears Zorc's power here is stronger than I thought possible without a body... Rather than finding Bakura's Ka, he's merged his Ib with the surroundings and twisted it into another image. ...Look out!" Before the others could respond, they were picked up once again, the rock they'd hidden behind shattering beneath the weight of the beast's paw.

Clutched safely in the bird's talons as he flew around them, Malik turned his head down to look at the beast. "But how is Bakura's soul in pieces? He was whole wasn't he?"

"It's likely an effect of being used as a pawn in the Millennium 'World' game that Zorc created," Atem shouted through the growls and roars around him. "Zorc killed Bakura once, and Bakura himself was near death when possessed during the 'game'- the effect could easily cause his soul to fragment into pieces! It's what it does in normal circumstances after all; divide into pieces and merge back together in the afterlife. But the Shadow Realm is acting as a prison. He can't escape, and his soul cannot merge until within direct contact with all the pieces."

Ryou's face blanched with realization, while Malik's merely went red with anger. "Then what the hell do we do! Zorc has at least a part of his soul right? Woah!" He shuddered as his body lurched with the dive that Atem had just taken, before being dropped on what was left of the cliffs before hand.

"We fight," he said with a severe and determined expression, "We target the tail, the manifestation of Zorc in Bakura's fragmented soul, and we destroy it. After that, we merely find the rest of him." He turned, abruptly throwing a card up as the 'chimera' as it appeared to be attempted to strike once more. "MIRROR FORCE!" Turning back to the others while the beast was momentarily distracted, the bird frowned slightly. "Both of your armors come with weapons of sorts. Your blades for one Malik, and an innate magic ability for you, Ryou. I will attempt to take most of the fighting away, and finish it as quick as possible... But I need you to cover me!"

They nodded, Ryou looking fairly nervous while Malik merely clenched his fists in rage. "Okay!" Malik turned to Atem, before unclenching his fists.

"Atem... Take me to him!" The bird blinked, but nodded in agreement before taking off with the teen in his grasp. Ryou shouted briefly as he threw up a shield in an instinctual response to the attack the others barely avoided.

"Please hurry everyone!" He tensed, flinching as his shield began to shatter. Next time he was choosing a stronger monster...

Malik turned back as Atem continued towards the tail, nodding as much as he could without slicing the bird with the blades on his helmet. "Hang in there Ryou!"

His only answer was a rather loud shout in English, before he himself was dropped on the rump of the beast. Looking up, he suppressed a nervous gulp; this tail... Zorc rather, was alot bigger up close. He flinched as it began to speak, mentally adding 'louder' to the list of things it was up close as well. "YOU THINK YOU CAN FACE ME..?" There was a chilling laugh and Malik backed away slightly, spotting Atem in the corner of his eye as the bird swooped around the side to lunge at the beast. "HAHAHAHAHA..." Malik watched, frozen for a moment as Atem dove and missed the snake-like parasite, an avian screech released as the bird dodged Zorc's strke as well.

Shaking his fear off, he charged the snake, striking the base before the beast turned his ugly head down on him. "TRYING THAT ARE WE? IT LOOKS LIKE YOU NEED A LITTLE DISTRACTION!" Distract-

"Ung!" He quickly sliced off the numerous snakes that had appeared to ensnare his arms, before more sprouted around his legs to do the same. "Shit!" Effectively distracted, he winced as Zorc turned back to face Atem with a menacing laugh.

"STILL THINK YOU'LL BE ABLE TO DEFEAT ME AGAIN? I, WHO COULD ONLY BE SEALED AWAY IN FRAGMENTS AT MOST?" He laughed, swerving to the side as Atem barreled past again. "DON'T BE SO NAIVE PHARAOH!"

The bird gritted his teeth as the head of a falcon appeared around his own, a protective helm of shadows created from his soul. "Naive? I think not, Zorc!" With an ear piercing screech, he dove not at Zorc's head, but at the beast's base, Zorc himself freezing as Ryou sent a spell hurtling his way. So when Atem had flown around the first time..!

"NO!"

Atem grinned wryly, the helmet tearing through all that connected Zorc to Bakura's Ib. "And need I remind you Zorc," he shouted as the chimera vanished in an unearthly moan of pain, "My reign as Pharaoh has been over for over 3000 years- You're behind the times!"

"A-ATEM! HEY!" The bird blinked, his helm vanishing before he turned to look at Malik's now falling form. Paling, he darted down to snatch the teen out of mid air. "About time!"

He chuckled nervously, flying past Ryou and grabbing him as well. "Sorry... I was so focused on getting Zorc away from Ib..."

Ryou shook his head as Malik fumed, the pair being dropped off on the ground. "At least it's all over now though. We can focus on-" He jumped as the cold voice of Zorc echoed from behind them, the three turning to face it with a jolt.

"RAHAHAHAHAAA! DON'T THINK THAT I NEED ANOTHER'S SOUL TO HOLD A FORM PHARAOH... THIS IS MY DOMAIN, AND I HAVE PLENTY OF ENERGY TO SUSTAIN MYSEL- UNGK!" There was a flash of light between the eyes of Zorc's flailing body, and to the surprise of the others, the demon stopped speaking. Instead, his body fell to the side in two even halves, vanishing into shadows as another voice was heard.

"Hnhnhnhnhn..." Ryou tensed as a familiar chuckle pierced the air, a white fog being pulled from the clean slice made in Zorc's body. "I believe that you have something of mine..." The fog formed into the body of a white jackal, its back turned to the three as he pawed towards it still chuckling. "You won't mind if I take it back, will you?"

Malik recognized the voice immediately. "Ba... Bakura!" The others blinked, glancing from Malik to the jackal curiously.

The jackal himself also turned, raising an unseen eyebrow with a smirk. "Oh, is that what I'm called?" He turned back to the demon, who was now twisting and writhing from the cloud of shadows to reform into the snake he'd been before. "I wouldn't know, this WORM seems to think the name belongs to him!" A growl escaped him, as he prepared to attack. "It would seem I need to remind him otherwise!" As the others stared at the scene, the Jackal leapt forwards, tackling Zorc into a white and invisible fog.

The others turned to Atem, silently asking for an explanation as the bird coughed. "Ryou... That was the jackal you saw earlier wasn't it..."

The albino nodded, before turning back to look at the fog. "Y-Yes... But he didn't act anything like that before..."

He nodded, crossing his arms as he squinted into the fog. At the moment, all he could really see going on was constant lunges and strikes at each other... It was impossible to tell who was winning. "What you met earlier was two pieces of his soul then... His Ka, of course, and his 'Akh'."

Malik blinked, frowning. "The Akh? That counts as part of the soul?"

Another nod. "Of course; it's the first part to separate from the body during death, the logic and cunning of a person. Without a personality, it becomes rather curious, often cycling through its own questions and answers in a cryptic manner... But it normally meets with the body and spirit shortly after death as well, so no one sees this." He frowned, continuing. "The Ib, which contains the emotions and personality of a person is never seen without the spirit, the Ba. It represents a being's life energy, as well as an acting vessel for those with no body. When we separated Zorc..."

Ryou blinked, nodding as he understood what Atem was getting at. "That jackal... Bakura. He must have followed me out here... And then run into the other pieces of his soul when you separated Zorc from it..."

"Hn..." Malik blinked, but grinned, nodding as well. "Either way, that's most of Bakura found; he's alright now!" He turned to the fog, about to charge in. "Now lets go he-" He scowled, looking up at Atem as the bird shook his head, clawed hands gripping his shoulders. "Hey!"

He sighed, shaking his head. "We need to rest; Bakura is a powerful fighter. He'll be able to handle himself... But going in there now will only cause more problems than solutions right now."

The teen continued to glare, growling slightly. Nonetheless, he crossed his arms and conceded. Atem, in the meantime, turned back to squint through the fog. What was happening now...

What Atem could not see from the silhouettes of the two battling behind the fog, was the condition of the pair. The jackal was panting heavily, his white fur stained with both the demon's black, aqueous fluids and his own red blood. He glared at Zorc, somehow holding a crazed grin as he spoke. "So your name is 'Zorc' is it?" He gave a harsh, barking laugh as the worm gave no answer. The jackal stumbled forwards, grin widening as what few memories he could glean from his shadow came to mind. "Well then, 'ZORC'... Consider this the last time you even CONSIDER using me, the KING of THIEVES, as a pawn!" With a shout, he leaped at Zorc, teeth bared as the worm gave a howling cry. The jackal's teeth sunk into it's throat, before pulling back a chunk of the beast's throat. The howling screech from Zorc filled the entire realm as it burned, flames billowing away from the wound as his killer jumped away in silence. The jackal watched, the demon slowly vanishing into the nonexistent wind as ashes, before finally, the fog around them cleared to reveal a tall stone tablet. A tablet with only a few large hieroglphys carved into it... His name.

Ryou blinked, staring at the sight of the battle worn jackal before swallowing nervously. "Is... Is it over..?"

Malik nodded, while Atem merely stared. "...I believe so..."

The jackal ignored the three, instead walking towards the tablet with a bloodied grin. "At last..." He looked up at the stone, reading the name with wide eyes. "With this, I will truly be myself again... And not some puppet for a demonic worm! AHAHAHHA- K-Kah... Kuh..." His laughter was cut short with a hacking cough, blood splaying across the ground before he placed a paw on the tablet. "Now then... To get my 'Ren' back."

A blinding light seared through the carved lines, before flooding into the tablet itself. As it spread along the stone, the light intensified, bathing the room in such a bright light that Atem was forced to cover everyone's eyes with a wing. He squinted, while the others shielded their eyes from the light that still poured through his wing with their arms.

Gradually, it dimmed. And just as slowly, the bird lowered his wing, pulling it back and opening his eyes one at a time. "...Bakura..?" Atem looked down at Malik briefly, before following the blond's gaze.

It was indeed Bakura, or at least the Bakura of the 'past' so to speak. It wasn't surprising that both of the teens beside Atem were staring, out of confusion and awe both. It was obvious who it was of course; for Malik simply because of the voice and the carved hieroglyphs they'd seen before, and for Ryou, the mere feeling of his former 'darker half'. But aside from the color of his hair, the Thief King looked very little like his 'modern day' counterpart. He was tanned for one, as much so as Atem and Malik themselves. Though he was mostly turned away from them, they could see a rather large scar, running from his eye downwards. There were two others, perpendicular to this, running across it, though these were not nearly as long.

Even his robes were the same familiar garb of the Thief King from his memories. But there were differences, Atem noted with slightly narrowed eyes. Definitely differences. Subtle ones; clumps of hair pointed upwards in the shape of the 'Jackal's ears, black, slightly lengthened fingernails that were likely claws...

The Thief King turned, his own eyes narrowed with slight suspicion as he turned to face the trio. There was a silence... And then, Malik stepped forwards to break the silence with a shocked expression before he broke into a grin. "Ba... Bakura!"

The ensuing charge involved a briefly shocked expression on Bakura's face before he was summarily tackled to the ground. "Fool," he wheezed out. "My ribs are mostly broken!"

"Ah- Sh-Shit! 'Kura!"

Atem rubbed his head at the scene, while Ryou stared confused. He should probably explain the negative effects of what would happen when they got back (not to mention that Bakura still wouldn't have a body), but for now, it was probably best to let the two have their fun.

Even if one of them had broken ribs now.

AN: I'm totally going to ruin this ending by going "D'AAAWWWWWWWW" *heart*

Sooo, weirdly enough, as the chapters go along, there seems to be more and more of the f-bomb being dropped... along with more cursing, but that's because it seems everyone in yu-gi-oh are just angry people. Especially Marik. WHO WILL SHOW UP. N HIS AMAZING-NESS *spoil spoil spoil*

I've said to much! *hides*

R&R *heart*