- Here we go, the last chapter.

"BAKURA!" He shouted, and proceeded to shout his name several times before collapsing onto his bed sobbing furiously.

"WHAT HAVE I DONE?" He cried, finding it unbearable to live with himself anymore knowing that he had just murdered his lover. The one person he cared about, ripped away from him accidentally. Intense echoed laughter filled the room. The chill breeze was stronger than ever, and the fog thickened.

"Hahahahaa! So what do you think, Marik?" The echoed voice asked. Marik, still furious with himself, jolted upright, alert.

"WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?!" He yelled, anger fuming.

"Hahaha! What have I done? It was all YOU, Marik! It was all….YOU…" The voice said. Everything seemed to slow to Marik; the air grew heavy and his heart skipped a beat. He felt himself grow hot and then extremely cold. He had murdered his one true love… The only person that he ever really cared about, and the only person that truly cared about him. They were supposed to be perfect for each other… They were supposed to live a great life together, share great memories and have many adventures together… And now it was all cut off. There was brutal flashing of a white strobe light in the room and a cloud of smoke forming right in front of Marik. From this smoke appeared a figure, unrecognizable due to the intense haze. When the smoke cleared, Marik recognized the figure right from the bat as Melvin.

"You motherfucker!" Marik screamed at his face. Melvin cracked a grin, almost as if he took it as a compliment.

"Oh my naïve Marik… Do you realize what I've been able to do? Think about it for a second… Take a look at me, and then look at yourself…" Melvin smirked. Marik did so, and suddenly horror struck across his face.

"You…have your own body now?!" He cried.

"HAHAHAH! Correctamundo!" Melvin laughed.

"But…how?!"

"I've been working on a way to channel all of my energy and spirit self and forming it into an actual solid form. I've been concentrating all of your pain, hatred and anger that you left and now it's led to me getting my own body!" Melvin explained.

"Wh-what?" Marik asked, confused.

"Marik! Have you not noticed you have become the happiest you have been your entire life just these past couple of days? All of your anger has been pushed out and your pain and hatred followed! And if you have forgotten… I AM YOUR PAIN AND HATRED… You've pushed me out of your very soul and body, Marik… Your happiness led to my leaving and gaining access to my own form. You fool! Love has led to your demise!" Melvin broke into a maniacal sinister laugh.

"You lie! None of this is real! This is just a dream!" Marik shouted, tears rolling down his face.

"If this was a dream… Could I do… This?" Melvin said and grabbed Marik by the throat, before punching him in the stomach with his free hand. Marik soon realized it was not in fact a dream. It was real.

"B-Bakura…" Marik sobbed, his abdominal cavity on fire.

"Bakura is dead!" Melvin laughed, pointing to the ceiling and releasing Marik by throwing him onto the bed. Marik looked up in a sense of hope, for he had just realized something.

"No he's not! His host is dead, but not Bakura! Bakura's a soul, he can't die! Ryou is the dead one," Marik explained, a sense of relief beginning to calm him.

"Wrong…" Melvin replied.

"What? Why?"

"You've forgotten one of the most beneficial uses of the Millennium Rod, haven't you? It has the power to trap souls into bodies…so when I killed Ryou, I also destroyed Bakura.."

"No!" Marik cried, now his short-lived glimmer of hope vanished. Then he realized something else. "You…You said "When I killed Ryou"! So it was YOU who killed Bakura, not me! You liar!" Marik added, becoming furious. He wanted to lash out and beat him to death with his own two hands.

"I haven't killed anyone, Marik….yet.." Melvin smirked, a psychotic look flashing in his eyes.

"What are you talking about?" Marik demanded.

"How do you know if this is all just a hallucination? A mere…trick of the mind..?" Melvin raised one eyebrow, his grin widening.

"You're going to make me go fucking insane!" Marik shouted, bringing a hand up to his forehead, which was pulsing in pain from all of the stress. Melvin simply pointed a finger up at the ceiling towards where Bakura hung. Marik painstakingly turned, wincing, and looked. His eyes widened, for Bakura was gone. All of the blood stains were gone as well.

"You've been fooled this whole time, Marik.. Bakura isn't dead..yet… I'm not done toying with you yet.." Melvin explained.

"Wh-what? You bastard! You've been making me see things!" Marik cursed, now understanding that Melvin had the ability to tweak the atmosphere, make things appear and seem real, even when they were not actually there. It was a part of his grand scheme, to toy with his victim's mind and literally make him reach right on the edge of insanity, which was one of his signature torture methods. Now that Melvin had his own body, who knew the amount of power he had.

"Where is Bakura? WHERE IS HE?!" Marik's fury grew to dangerous amounts.

"That's for you to find out! And we're also going to play a little game… Find Bakura and kill him…using this.." Melvin ordered, shoving the Millennium Rod into Marik's arms.

"What? No! Are you insane?" Marik growled.

"You WILL kill him… Or I will.. in the most torturous and violent way I can come up with…" Melvin laughed. Marik, disgusted and in complete horror, threw back his arm, aiming the dagger for Melvin's chest. Melvin, his reaction time quick, grabbed Marik's arm before it swung down enough to meet with him. He grabbed Marik's shoulder, whipped him around and forcefully kicked his back to make him lunge forward.

"Now go find him!" He ordered and suddenly disappeared. Marik didn't know what to do. After standing there for a few seconds he started to wonder if this was all just another illusion.. Another one of his tricks. Marik groaned, for he could not tell what was real or not anymore. He could never kill Bakura, not in a million years. Yet he still needed to find him to ensure he was okay. He ventured out of his room and entered the hallway. It was now nearly pitch dark, and the hallway seemed to have grown much wider and longer. It seemed to go on endlessly, into dark nothingness. Marik could hardly see anything more than 10 feet away from him.

"Bakura, where are you?" Marik called, feeling hopeless. A chill breeze made him shudder. He looked down at the Millennium Rod in his hand and had a gruesome flashback of the image of Bakura dead, pinned to the ceiling and the Rod shoved deep into his chest. He wanted to drop it or throw it in disgust and horror. Suddenly there was the sound of a door being slammed shut far down the hall. It echoed, sending chills down Marik's spine.

"H-hello?" He called out into the darkness. He waited for a response, and not soon after he spoke he heard fast footsteps running right past him. He whipped around, but there was no one there. An eerie presence invaded the room like a dark storm cloud rolling in. As Marik began to back up, facing the direction he had heard the footsteps, directly behind him he heard loud whispers of no particular words. He screamed and turned back around, bracing himself to see someone there. Once again, there was no one.

"WHAT'S GOING ON?" Marik cried, shaking tremendously. A door nearby swung open like it was in a horrible hurricane, and a rush of cold fog rolled out. On the door Marik saw a shadow in a familiar shape. The shadow was in the form of Bakura. He couldn't mistake those 'ears' for anything.

"Bakura!" Marik shouted happily, rushing towards the room he appeared to be in. He entered the room and saw a dark figure in the same shape as the shadow, standing in the middle of the floor. Marik smiled and ran up to it, wrapping his arms around to give it a hug. However, as his arms touched the figure, his skin burned like it he had just touched a stove burner.

"Ouch!" He drew back his arms and stepped back, watching in terror as the shadow melted away, revealing a very bloody and eyeless Bakura. His heart had been ripped out of his body, and only an empty dark hole remained.

"Marik…" The entity posing as Bakura hissed, before it spouted smoke out of its skin and dissolved away into nothingness. Frightened and scarred, Marik ran out of the room and back into the endless hall.

"B-Bakura... Please… Where are you?.." He talked to himself, starting to feel his body getting weak and heavy. No, he couldn't pass out now. He just couldn't. He had to keep going. As he trudged down the hall to where he did not know, he noticed the walls leaking a thick black sludge. From this sludge, dark grotesque appendages formed, each long and appearing to be alive. One of the appendages wrapped around Marik's leg and jerked, causing him to fall onto the ground. While he was down, another member shot from the wall and wrapped around his right wrist, pinning it down. Unable to move because of the brute force and strength of these strange beings, Marik squeezed his eyes shut, just wanting it all to be over with. The visions, the feeling of stress, the constant fear… He just wanted to end it all. Suddenly the appendages released him. Relieved, he picked himself back up and kept going. He was determined to find Bakura. He opened a door to the right and entered it. It was pitch dark and he didn't see anything in it, so he decided to turn around and head back out. Just as he was about to turn around, something shot out from the darkness and grabbed onto him and gripped him tight. Marik screamed, squeezing his eyes shut in fear. Whatever it was that grabbed him, he feared for the worst and braced himself.

"Marik!" An all too familiar voice said in a hushed tone. Marik shot open his eyes, finding that it was Bakura who was holding onto him.

"BAKUR-!" Marik started to shout but was silenced by Bakura's hand being shoved up to his mouth.

"Shh!" He hissed, before adding, "I've been hiding out in this dark room. Something strange is going on here.. I sense that we are in the Shadow Realm.." The Shadow Realm. So that was the reason behind all of the spirits and strange paranormal activity.

"Bakura, it's Melvin… He's stronger than ever now… He has his own body now," Marik explained quietly. Then he took a deep breath, realizing what had to be done. He handed the Millennium Rod to Bakura. Bakura looked at it and back to Marik in confusion.

"…Kill me, Bakura…" Marik said in a deep tone. Bakura was shocked and dismayed.

"Wh-what?" He gasped, not sure if he had heard him correctly.

"I said kill me…"

"But why?"

"Melvin wants me… That's all he's ever wanted, was to torture me. That's why all of this is happening. And besides, he is a part of me. If I die, so does he… Everything will go back to normal…" Marik explained, realizing it was the only way.

"No! There must be some other way!" Bakura said.

"No.. There's not… This is the only way to permanently destroy Melvin… He may have his own body, but he needs me to be alive in order to survive. After all, I created him… Face it, the world is better off without me…" Marik said.

"Marik, no! Don't say that!" Bakura cried, throwing the Millennium Rod off to the side and onto the ground, and grabbed Marik's shoulders. Tears streamed down Bakura's face as he shook him.

"I'm not killing you! I love you!" He choked.

"Do it…" Marik said.

"I'm not! You can get through this! There's still hope!"

"What hope, Bakura? Melvin's in control, he's got us by our balls here. He's going to win if we don't destroy him first.. Please… I can't take this anymore… Please… kill me…" Marik pleaded, looking into Bakura's eyes.

"Marik, we can get through this together… We've gotten through your episodes before, and I'm sure we can do it again.." Bakura tried to give him strength. Marik sighed.

"Bakura… I-.." He started before being interrupted by Bakura smashing his lips to his in a very intense kiss. Suddenly, the feeling of his lips on his own washed out all of the evil that was present in that room. Marik felt a relief of pressure and stress, and allowed the loving energy to wrap around him.

"I love you…" Bakura breathed.

"I love you too…" Marik answered.

"Let our love conquer this.." Bakura said, kissing him again. "We can fight this together," he added. Marik closed his eyes and focused on the emotion of true love. Maybe by cancelling out this dark energy, it would destroy Melvin. There was only one way to find out. Marik thought back to a few days ago and how he was so nervous and confused about loving Bakura. He didn't know what to do with himself. After realizing that he could not even go a single day without talking or interacting with him, Marik knew it was love. Throughout the last couple days, their love grew to tremendous amounts. They had known each other for so long, and were just now allowing their love for one another to be expressed. Now their love was so strong, nothing could break it apart. That was right… Nothing… Absolutely nothing. And Marik wasn't about to let some creep ruin their lives. He realized that he couldn't die… He couldn't do that to poor Bakura.. To have someone you loved be ripped from you so suddenly and brutally.. He just wouldn't let it happen. He was going to fight this. And he was going to win. Marik opened his eyes and saw the room back in its normal lighting. He looked at Bakura and saw him smiling at him.

"Did-did I do it?" Marik asked, happiness starting to flood him.

"Yep.." Bakura nodded, before adding, " I knew you could do it.." Marik beamed.

"I'm so happy," he said, hugging Bakura tight.

"I am too.." Bakura replied, relieved that it was all over.

"Mm I don't want to sleep alone tonight," Marik said, gripping onto his lover even tighter. Bakura stroked his hair soothingly.

"Then don't," he smiled at him and walked with him to his bedroom. Both of them crawled into bed and snuggled up with each other. It was all over, there was nothing left to be worried about. And now it was time to relax and pick their lives back up.

"I love you, Kura.." Marik said quietly, starting to doze off already. He was simply exhausted.

"I love you too, Marik.." Bakura answered, starting to fall asleep himself. Suddenly a shot of sharp pain pulsed into Marik's forehead. He gasped in pain.

"Are you okay?" Bakura gripped onto him tight in worry. Soon the pain died, and Marik sighed in relaxation.

"Yeah.. Just a little headache from all of what happened I guess, heh," he replied and closed his eyes. He was sleeping soundly and deeply most of the night, along with Bakura. Their bodies needed the rest. It was early in the morning, around 3 that Marik was awaken by another short headache. He groaned, deciding to head to the kitchen to get a glass of water. Through Marik's shuffling out of bed, Bakura woke as well.

"Mm Marik?" He groaned, half asleep.

"Going to get a glass of water… I don't feel too good," he said. Bakura got out of bed as well.

"I'm coming with you," he said groggily. The journey to the kitchen woke both of them up fully. Marik got himself a glass of tap water and drank it quickly. The pain in his head just wouldn't go away. Something shiny caught his eye, and he turned to see what it was. On the kitchen counter laid the Millennium Rod. Confused on how it got there, but deciding it was probably just nothing, Marik turned to Bakura. His extreme bed hair caused him to giggle.

"Hehe… Bakura.. I love you so much," he grinned.

"Whaaat, what's so bloody funny?" Bakura said, starting to blush.

"Oh nothing.. You know.. We've become so much more than just partners in crime.." Marik said, extremely happy. He was the happiest he had felt in his life. Everything was going to be perfect for them.

"Exactly," Bakura agreed. Suddenly Marik felt the eerie presence come back. The chilling air gave him goosebumps.

"Bakura! Do you feel that?" He shouted, frightened. Bakura shook his head.

"No, I don't. What's wrong?" He asked, but it was too late. Marik's head throbbed with pain. The headache was now worse than ever.

"Marik… I'm back… You can't get rid of me that easily…" The distorted voice stated.

"Aghhh Bakura! He's b-baack!" Marik shouted in pain. His evil spirit was trying to tap into his mind.

"You have failed me, Marik… You've foiled my plans… Now I'm going to do what I should have done a long time ago.." The spirit said and with one forceful blow to his mind, he was able to take control of Marik. The possessed Marik grabbed the Millennium Rod off of the counter.

"Marik! What are you doing?" Bakura shouted, alarmed. Marik looked up at him with dull, loveless eyes that screamed hatred. He cracked a huge grin and chuckled.

"Say goodbye to your lover…" He said and Bakura watched as Marik brought the dagger up to his own throat and slashed it open. Blood spraying and spilling everywhere, the Rod was released from his grip and fell onto the floor, soon followed by Marik. The spirit left him and left Marik bleeding out on the floor. Bakura screamed and rushed toward him, picking him up and placing a hand up to Marik's throat, which was bleeding in too large amounts to be able to help him.

"MARIK! MARIK!" Bakura cried, sobbing harder than he had ever in his whole life. Marik slowly opened his eyes halfway and looked at Bakura. The sight of him put him at ease. He knew he was going to die, and the thought of dying in Bakura's arms made it seem peaceful. He looked into Bakura's tear-filled eyes, and felt one of his own slide down his cheek. He tried to speak, but was unable to due to the severe pain his throat was in. He felt his own blood pour down his skin. He wanted to tell Bakura he loved him one last time, but couldn't.

"MARIK! DON'T LEAVE ME! PLEASE!" Bakura sobbed, holding onto Marik with all of his might. He never left eye contact with him.

"MARIK I LOVE YOU! I LOVE YOU! DON'T LEAVE ME!" Bakura continued to shout and spill his tears all over his face. His hands and most of his body was covered in his lover's blood now. Marik felt himself slipping under Death's grip, but struggled with all of his might to stay with Bakura. Using the last bit of his strength, he was able to take his hand and wipe away some of Bakura's tears. Bakura watched as the shimmering, glistening light of life in his glowing lavender eyes dimmed and went out. He bit his bottom lip and felt a sickening twist in his stomach grasp onto him like a clenched fist. He felt a piece of him die; he felt as if his other half had just vanished from him. He felt incomplete now. His companion, his partner, his soul mate was now gone. His heart was shattered, broken.

"No… Marik… I love you.. I can't live without you…" Bakura said softly. He then did the unimaginable; something he never thought he would ever do. He brought his hand up to his Millennium Ring that was hanging around his neck and touched it. Using its powers, he activated it, causing it to glow bright gold.

"I'm fusing my soul with your body for good, Ryou… I'm sorry…" Bakura said and locked his soul away permanently in Ryou's body with the help of the Millennium Rod that he had picked up, covered in Marik's blood. He was now no longer to leave Ryou's body. He was stuck for good. Bakura, not wanting to live in any world, no matter if it was another 5,000 years from now, without Marik, he brought the dagger end of the Rod to his chest. His heart was already stabbed through when he saw Marik die in his arms. He figured this would cause much less pain than that one moment did. Taking one last look at Marik, he squeezed his eyes shut and braced himself.

"We're more than just partners in crime…" He said, then with a forceful jerk, stabbed his own chest with the same weapon that had caused Marik's death. As he stabbed himself, he collapsed onto Marik's lifeless body, causing the dagger to push deeper into his chest. The sharp metal pierced his heart, causing him to instantly black out and see no more.

- So, what did you think? Please leave your reviews!