A/N: Thank you so much for all of the reviews. A lot of you make me laugh when I get them. As per the request from someone, I was able to fit in some R/B and M/M in this chapter. Amazingly, I realized after the fact that there was no Y/Y, but it was necessary in order to bring everyone together. This chapter is where the real action starts... and it only took me what, eight chapters? Enjoy!

Feeling downcast as he tried his best not to think about his father or Samira, Ryou silently trailed behind Bakura as the taller boy strode down the sidewalk. Unlike most people, Bakura didn't even have to worry about whether or not someone would move. Strangers, male and female alike, took one look at the sour, pissed off expression on his face and leaped out of his way. Most of them also treated Ryou to a sympathetic look when they realized that he was actually following Bakura, which was sweet, but as much as Ryou appreciated the gesture, it wasn't doing anything to help with the headache that was threatening to turn into a full-on migraine. He couldn't understand it. Normally he experienced a migraine once or twice a month, but having two in just a few days was nearly unheard of.

Gingerly, he touched the Ring that was still hanging around his neck, wondering if that had something to do with it. The metal was cool to the touch and failed to warm even under the pressure of his fingertips – definitely not normal. Although he was confused by everything that had happened in the past hour, he didn't dare ask Bakura any questions. Not when the older boy looked like he would attack the first person who had the nerve to speak to him. Knowing that it was safer to remain silent, Ryou sighed and lowered his head, putting all of his focus on putting one foot in front of the other when all he really wanted to do was lie down on the sidewalk and fall asleep. He was so preoccupied with walking that he failed to notice that Bakura had stopped and was looking around.

Bakura swore under his breath when Ryou crashed into him and spun quickly, fully intending to tear a strip off of the younger boy. Ryou stumbled backwards and managed to catch his balance before he fell on his ass. One glance at the expression of impending doom on Bakura's face and he quickly looked down, wincing as he waited to be scolded for not paying more attention to where he was going. He was completely unprepared for the firm fingers that grasped his chin and pulled his head up, forcing their eyes to meet. Blinking, he squinted in Bakura's direction, trying to see the past the dark spots that danced in front of his eyes.

"When was the last time you ate?" Bakura asked finally.

"What?" It was a struggle to focus long enough to listen to Bakura impatiently repeat his question. He rubbed one of his eyes and shrugged, trying hard to think. Honestly, he hadn't slept very well the night before, but he didn't understand why missing one night's sleep would make him so exhausted. When was the last time he'd eaten? Yuugi's grandfather had served them dinner the night before, but Ryou had mostly picked through it without eating, so... "Um, I don't know. Yesterday morning, maybe?"

Heaving an annoyed sigh, Bakura released Ryou's chin to grip his wrist instead. "Come on, Rabbit. If you faint on me, I swear I'm going to leave you in the middle of the street. Got it?"

"Yes," Ryou mumbled, falling into step beside him. He couldn't help noticing that Bakura seemed to be walking more slowly, though he had to wonder whether that was just a hallucination. Bakura led him to the nearest cafe that had an outdoor eating area set up and shoved him into a chair. It felt good to sit down, and Ryou went a step further by resting his head on the table and closing his eyes. It had a very long day, and it wasn't even 3:00pm yet.

"Here." The sharp word was accompanied by something being slammed down on the table. Ryou forced his eyes open and found himself staring at a tall glass filled with a bright red liquid as Bakura slid into the seat across from him with a drink of his own. "Drink that. It will help you."

Ryou could have argued, but that would have taken more energy than he had to spare at the moment. Weakly, he craned his head up just enough so that he could sip from the straw. The strong taste of strawberries and sugar flooded his tongue, accompanied by something bitter that he couldn't quite identify. It worked, though. Little by little, he felt his strength slowly beginning to return as the headache receded. He wasn't normally much of a sugar person - he was much more interested in salty treats - but he had to admit that it was helping. By the time the glass was half empty, he was able to lift his head off of the table and sit up straight without feeling too dizzy. Only then did he notice that his hair had narrowly missed landing in a splotch of tomato sauce and he made a face as he grabbed the ends of his white hair, quickly inspecting it for any sign of orange sauce.

"You're such a girl," Bakura said. His voice wasn't cruel, though. More amazed. "I can't believe that you're my hikari."

"Hikari?" Dropping his hair, Ryou gave Bakura his full attention when he realized that he was finally going to get some answers. "What do you mean?"

"You've spoken to your little friend, haven't you?" he replied, leaning back in the chair. "I'm sure you must have, and no doubt he's given you every detail of what happened. All Yami's been able to talk about for the past week is that little shrimp. From what I hear, you guys are like this." He crossed his fingers.

"Well, yes, I did talk to Yuugi," Ryou said uncertainly. The situation had been bizarre enough when Yuugi was the only one who had encountered it. Now it was just getting outright creepy, and he couldn't help wondering how Malik was fairing. Hopefully better than he was. "He mentioned a talk that he'd had with Tenno-san. Something about the Millennium items and a Pharaoh who couldn't use his power without the other half of his soul... his light..."

"You got it." Bakura gave a sharp nod and tossed back the remaining amber liquid that had been in his glass. "Three thousand years ago, I was a Tomb Robber, the greatest in Egypt, and I stole the Millennium Ring. It bonded to me, which meant that I was its destined owner. Unfortunately, I still couldn't access all of its power." He gritted his teeth. "My soul was missing the balance. The shadows would have corrupted me and stolen my mind. And what fun is achieving world domination if you're too insane to enjoy it? So when the Pharaoh approached me, I agreed to allow myself to be sacrificed on the grounds that when I was reborn, I would be in a time and place where I could find the other half of my soul. The lighter half, my hikari, who would ground me when I used the power of the shadows." A smirk crossed his face. "Congratulations, Rabbit. You've won the jackpot."

"My name is Ryou," Ryou mumbled, too dazed to say anything else. "Not Rabbit."

"What makes you think I care?" Bakura shot back, rolling his eyes. "I have a lot of other names I could call you if you'd prefer one of those."

"No, I'm good," Ryou said hastily, finishing off the last of the red drink. He could only imagine what sorts of names that Bakura would be capable of coming up with. When all was said and done, there were a lot worse nicknames than "Rabbit". "What if I don't want to be your hikari?"

"Too bad. It's not something that you get to choose. Believe me, I tried," said Bakura. He eyed the Millennium Ring around Ryou's neck as a smirk flashed across his face. "The Millennium Ring has been waiting for you for three thousand years. Now that it's found you, it won't be letting go anytime soon. It technically belongs to you now, and as long as you wear it, I can access all of its powers."

For some reason, the idea of Bakura having so much power made Ryou nervous. "So all I would have to do is take it off and you wouldn't be able to use it?" he asked.

The older boy sat up straight and scowled. "Don't ever take the Ring off," he warned. "If I catch you without it, you'll be sorry, understand? And besides, that's not how it works. We're two halves of one soul, Rabbit. A bond was forged between the two of us when you – the hikari – slipped the Ring on and it summoned me – your yami – to your side. That bond will only get stronger the more time we spend together, which means that I'll have access to more of the Millennium Ring's power." He rolled his eyes again. "It's never going to go away, even if I left you right now and never spoke to you again. Which, believe me, I am considering."

"Wait." A look of horror had crossed Ryou's face. "You mean... I'm stuck with you? Forever?"

Bakura smirked. "For better or worse, Rabbit. You're mine."

GMA

Feeling as though he had somehow stumbled into an alternate universe, Malik watched in stunned amazement as Yamada Mariku's hand slowly tightened on Hafiz's throat, deliberately crushing his windpipe. Hafiz sputtered and choked, his legs kicking out as his fingers weakly grasped at Mariku's hand in an effort to escape. Dark eyes glittering with poorly concealed amusement, Mariku smirked and leaned forward, forcing Hafiz to his knees. It seemed as though he was going to kill Hafiz, until Malik managed to push himself into a sitting position. Only then did Mariku glance down at the younger boy, roll his eyes, and reluctantly release Hafiz, who crumpled onto his side and gasped for breath as he glowered hatefully up at Mariku. Fortunately, he lacked the ability to speak, which was likely the only thing that saved his life at that moment.

"What the... where the fuck did you come from?" Malik demanded, finally snapping out of his daze when Mariku looked at him. Warily, never taking his eyes off of Mariku, he got his arms underneath his body and started to rise. Halfway up, he froze, caught off guard by a blinding pain that flashed through his left side. His knees buckled. A strong arm wrapped around his shoulders and kept him from falling back to the floor. With a gentleness he didn't know Mariku could possess, the older boy pulled him to his feet and kept him standing, all the while levelling a dangerous look in Hafiz's direction.

"You're hurt?" he asked, trailing one hand down Malik's spine.

"I'm fine," said Malik, fighting back a shiver and forcing himself to move a couple steps away from Mariku. The pain in his side had dulled to a mostly manageable level, though he dreaded the thought of having to bend over or sit. He looked at his father but made no move to help the man up as he spoke to Mariku. "What are you doing here?" he repeated.

"You called me," said Mariku, as though it was perfectly obvious. "You're my hikari. I'm your yami. You touched the Millennium Rod. It summoned me to your side."

The Millennium Rod. Like someone had flipped a switch on in his brain, suddenly, Malik could remember where he had seen that symbol before. He staggered back a step, eyes wide as he stared down at the Rod. To be perfectly honest, for most of his life, Malik hadn't even been aware of what it was his clan was protecting. The only thing that he knew for sure was that the items were incredibly valuable and dangerous because they had belonged to the lost Pharaoh, and for that reason, only tomb keepers who had reached a certain age were permitted to know exactly what they were guarding. His family had been kicked out before Malik had gotten old enough for the ceremony. Being that she was several years old, Ishizu had known, but she'd done her best to keep that part of their life away from Malik.

As a result, he hadn't realized that these were the Millennium items; the very items that his clan had once been connected to. He could vividly recall seeing that eye symbol on a piece of parchment that Ishizu was working with when they were younger, and her scolding him for asking about its origins. She had looked so nervous and worried at the time, and she'd been furious when he replicated the symbol in a bit of sand a few weeks later, to the point where she had forbidden him from ever asking about the Millennium items again. Her genuine fear had been enough for him to forget about them, because Ishizu had never steered him wrong. For the first time, as he glanced from Mariku to the Rod, it occurred to him that what Ishizu had kept a secret might not have been solely for his benefit.

A weak sound distracted him from his thoughts. It took him a moment to place the weird noise, and then he realized that his father was chuckling weakly, the sound ragged because of his wounded throat. Mariku stepped forward, eyes narrowing threateningly as Hafiz got to his feet. The man was still smiling broadly, though he was no longer laughing. With his right hand, he held up a strange, flat gold disc about the size of a small dinner plate. The symbol of the eye on it was stencilled across the front. Malik didn't recognize the disc, but he knew that it couldn't be good, and it wasn't. As Hafiz moved the disc so that it his face and whispered something, Malik took a step backwards, intending to run. Instantly, however, the eye lit up with a black light, and a piercing pain exploded in his head as Mariku began to yell. He dropped the Rod and collapsed to his knees, one hand clutching at his head and the other supporting his ribs. Pain was familiar to him, but nothing like this.

A hand gripped the wrist holding his head and he forced his eyes open. Mariku was staring at him, head inclined in a way that meant he was definitely in pain as well, his lips moving as he struggled to make Malik understand something. Malik couldn't hear anything over the ringing in his ears and he shook his head. Scowling, Mariku grabbed the Millennium Rod off of the floor and forced it into Malik's hand, then pushed his hand into the air. Instantly, the second the Rod was between them and Hafiz, the dreadful pain stopped. Breathing harshly, Malik looked up and saw that Hafiz was no longer smiling. If anything, he seemed pissed.

"You little bastard, I knew I should have drowned you in the river when you were born," he declared, glowering at Malik. "You've been nothing but a thorn in my side for years. And now I find out you're consorting with the shadows?" His eyes flicked towards Mariku. "Disgusting."

"You're one to talk," said Mariku scornfully. "I can feel the taint all over you. Who are you?"

"That is none of your concern," snapped Hafiz. "I am beyond the likes of you. Once our mission is finished... Oh, you will see, it is far too late for you." His eyes glittered as a smirk stole over his face, and he sneered at Malik. "Far too late. Enjoy the time you have with your yami, you little fucker. I'll delight in sliding a knife between your ribs and watching you die slowly and painfully all too soon."

Before either of them could react, the eye symbol lit up with black light again. Malik flinched, but the pain in his head didn't return. Instead, clouds of dark purple smoke began to ooze out of the flat gold disc. In the span of seconds, the clouds had begun to surround Hafiz's body. The man laughed began to laugh as his body was completely enclosed. His voice cut off abruptly as the clouds dissipated, showing that there was nothing left behind. Shocked, Malik forgot the pain in his body and stepped forward, sweeping his hand through the remainder of the clouds. Had Hafiz played some kind of trick? But no, he was really gone.

"What the fuck...?" he muttered, bewildered, and turned to look at Mariku. "How the hell did he do that?"

Mariku had been looking around the room with an intent look. "We should leave," he said suddenly, ignoring Malik's questions entirely. "It's not safe to be here anymore. I can sense something dangerous approaching."

Malik's fists clenched. If there was one thing he hated, it was being ignored. "Why the fuck would I go anywhere with you?" he yelled, not bothering to keep his voice down. "I don't even know you, you crazy asshole. You barge into my apartment and threaten my father, and - " Whatever else he was going to say came out angry and muffled, as Mariku took two steps forward and clamped his hand over Malik's mouth, pushing the boy back against the wall.

"Look, hikari, you were the one who summoned me here," he told the younger boy. "It's unfortunate that you did so before you really understood what was going on, but that's just the way it turned out to be. Let's not make this a big deal, yes? I threatened your father because he was beating you, and no one touches what belongs to me." His dark violet eyes took on an unhealthy glow that made Malik swallow hard and stop squirming. "That bastard deserved more than what he got, but I could tell that I was upsetting you, so I stopped. I should have just killed him, but since we let him go, we're going to have to pay the price, which is headed here right now. If you're going to keep bitching, I'll sling you over my shoulder and carry you out." A lazy smirk crossed his face, and his free hand wandered around to slide suggestively down Malik's lower back. "If that's really what you'd prefer, consider it done, my pretty little light."

Making a sound that could only be considered a squeak, Malik managed to jerk free and slide sideways, out of Mariku's grip. He fought back a blush as he said quickly, "I can walk. I don't need your help."

"Then let's go," Mariku said calmly, gesturing to the door. "Make sure you've got the Millennium Rod. It belongs to you now."

Surprisingly, the Rod was still in his hand. Malik glanced down at it, realizing that he hadn't even considered letting go. It felt comforting and right to hold onto it, to feel the smooth, cool gold between his fingers. A frown crossed his face and he scowled at Mariku for good measure before reluctantly walking over to the door. Screw going back for clothing; it wasn't even worth it anymore. There was no way he was going to be stupid enough to let Mariku into his bedroom where there was a bed. Not after the pervert had just groped him. He tried not to think about the fact that standing in front of Mariku meant that Mariku's eyes were likely glued to his ass and opened the door, relieved for the chance to get some fresh air.

But their adventure was not over yet. As the door swung open, a tall figure dressed in an expensive black suit with dark sunglasses was revealed. Malik looked up at him blankly, unsure of who the man was or what he wanted. Then his eyes fell on the gun in the man's hand, and he realized that whatever the man wanted, it couldn't be good. Seconds after Malik registered the gun, Mariku reacted. He grabbed the Millennium Rod out of Malik's hand and quickly did something to the end of it. Malik's jaw dropped when he saw the wicked looking blade that now extended out of the end of the Rod. Without hesitating, Mariku leapt forward, blade extended and eyes flashing. The man never even got the chance to lift his gun. One quick, educated slash and he was on the floor, blood streaming from a gash in his throat. His death was quick, likely before he even fully realized what had happened.

"You... You just..." Malik's eyes were huge. Though he was no stranger to violence, and he'd been in his share of fights in school, weapons were rarely involved. He'd used a knife once or twice, but never for anything more than issuing warnings or scaring the shit out of boys bigger than he was. Seeing someone being killed right in front of him was a first... and on the one hand, it was completely disturbing. But on the other hand, he found himself looking at Mariku with a lot more respect than before. Apparently the guy wasn't just a pervert after all. Mariku tossed him a grin like he knew what Malik was thinking.

"Let's go, pretty hikari!" he yelled, grabbing Malik's wrist and yanking him along. The two of them ran down the hall and headed for the stairs, which they took down to the third floor before they encountered another obstacle. Mariku easily took care of another dark-suited man who had been trying to bar their way, then changed direction. Malik tried not to look at the body or the blood as he followed Mariku out of the staircase and towards the very end of the hall. He only fully realized Mariku's plan when the older boy busted out the window with a well aimed blow from the Rod and helped Malik out onto the fire escape.

Moving slowly to keep silent, the two of them made their way down the escape and walked calmly out of the alley, strolling over to where Mariku's motorcycle had been parked at the curb. Three more dark-suited men were swarming out of a limo and into the building, but they didn't appear to notice the two boys. Smirking, Mariku tossed his helmet at Malik and climbed onto the motorcycle. He only handed the Millennium Rod back once Malik was perched behind him. Malik held onto it with one hand and sat up straight as Mariku started the motorcycle to keep as much distance between them as possible, but he soon realized that the pain in his side meant that there was no way he was going to be able to spend the whole drive without any support. Slowly, reluctantly, he leaned forward, wrapped his arms loosely around Mariku's waist. He refused to lay his head against Mariku's shoulder, though, but the position seemed to be enough for Mariku. His foot kicked down hard and the motorcycle roared away from the curb just as the door to the building burst open and the three men spilled out, shouting after them with guns waving.

GMA

Pegasus Crawford stared out the window of his mansion, gazing down below at the field of pink, violet, and yellow wildflowers that led to a golden, sandy beach. There was a round, full moon in the sky, surrounded by hundreds of blazing silvery stars that made the scene look positively picturesque. This was the kind of idyllic place that he... no, that they had always dreamed of. Between the mingled scent of the brine and flowers and the rhythmic sound of the waves washing up against the shore, he was in heaven. Smiling broadly, he closed his eye and took a slow, deep breath, knowing that if he concentrated hard enough, he would almost be able to hear the sound of his beloved's adoring laughter.

"Cynthia..." The taste of her name, sweet and candy-like, lingered on his lips.

Dark, purplish gray clouds materialized, blending in almost perfectly with the shadows. A heavy hand dropped onto his shoulder. "It won't be much longer, hikari."

Slowly Pegasus nodded, his glazed eye focused on the ocean. "My Cynthia..."

Hafiz smiled.

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