He was eight, when he first heard the voice of the spirit.

He was twenty one, when he thought he was free.
He was twenty three, when at last he was free once more.

Two years later, the Spirit had haunted his mind, tormented his soul. Yet he was free, once again to live the life he wanted. To go outside, to carry on. To live, to love, to laugh, to cry.

However, he felt so empty inside, so alone, without a voice in his head, telling him what to do. Without Akefia, to protect him from the nightmares, that interrupted his sleep, and caused him so much suffering. Atemu had tried to keep them all safe, but in the end, it was Akefia that had sacrificed himself, had given up everything. Was it to prove to Yami? Atemu? He had no idea, but the sacrifice had made Yuugi happy, had made the others happy. Yami was back, and had apologized so much for what had been said.

It was Malik. They said with certainty. He was the one that was manipulating Yami, Yami would never say that. Never want you to be hurt.

However, after those words. After how cruel Yami had been, he couldn't forgive, not really. He was polite to his face, calm and smiling. But deep down he couldn't trust Yami again, not really, not like he could trust the others.

Maybe he was over exaggerating? Maybe it was right, Malik had so much power when he controlled the Rod, manipulating Yami was rather easy. But the certainty he had heard in the others voice, of course some doubt lingered in the back of his mind, and out of all of them, he was sure Yami noticed his uncertainty. The way he looked at him, the way he was always polite, always patient, having changed from those cold hearted words.

He could only smile back, faking innocence, faking happiness. They didn't need to know of his suffering. They would blame the demons again, the ones that walked his nightmares. The touch of Malik, the purr of Bakura. Oh how they used mind control, on trustworthy, loyal, Yami. If there was one flaw with Yuugi, it was the fact he was far too loyal, especially to those he was close to.

Life had slowly started to go back to normal however. Yuugi had been forced to uphold the promise to Seto, and left for America for a month. Both Yami and Atemu begged to follow their light half, but it was a business trip for one, and Yuugi didn't want to half to pay for a further two plane tickets.

Ryou had picked up his job again, however with Atemu spending a lot more time with him, dropping him off at work and picking him up from work. Ryou had insisted there was no need, but Atemu wouldn't take no for an answer.

When Atemu was not walking Ryou back and forward from work, he was helping Ishizu with the Museum. He was happy to keep an eye on the Millennium Items, as well as explain to tourists about the Nameless Egyptian Pharaoh that was laid to rest in the sarcophagus, excitedly explaining details about his past life to groups of children, who listened in fascination about the adventures of the Nameless Pharaoh.

Things were rather relaxing back at home, and when Yuugi returned, life definitely returned to normal. Ryou couldn't complain, not really. He was surrounded by good friends, he had a good job with nice co-workers. The nightmares weren't as frequent as they used to be.

The only real problem was Marik. He was locked away in the room they had given to him when he had first returned. Yells from nightmares shook the house, at all hours of the day. He had hot flushes, and quite a few sleepless nights. However he refused to see anyone but Ryou and Yuugi. He even hid from Ishizu, though she still made regular visits to see her brother.

He kept going on, and on about how Malik was going to punish him, that he shouldn't be away from Malik. Even though the connection was well and truly broken, the muttering and nightmares wouldn't stop, unless Ryou or Yuugi sat with him. He seemed to calm down then, sitting as close to either of the lights as possible, hiding behind them or sleeping against them in some situations.

It was strange how he only felt safe around them, so Yuugi and Ryou had started taking shifts, so the other in the house could at least try and get a full nights sleep. Ryou had taken to work in the evenings, and Yuugi during the day, just so they could swap over. No one could think of a solution, they had tried everything from medicines and ancient Egyptian texts, to doctors and psychiatrists in the city. Yuugi had even gotten Kaiba's best to have a look at Marik, but no one could figure out what was wrong with the young man.

It was during one of the rare occasions, when both Yuugi and Ryou were off work at the same time, that they managed to talk a bit more about it, sitting either side of Marik as he slept soundly.

"Maybe he's still connected to the Rod? I mean the connection with Malik is gone, but the darkness that created Malik, came from inside of him? And manifested itself inside the Millennium Rod. I know we sort of cancelled out that theory, but it is the only thing we really haven't tried" Yuugi muttered, head against the wall as he closed his eyes. Ryou could only shrug, absolutely exhausted himself from working too many nights.

"We need to find something, we can't keep doing this. Marik is never going to get better if we just sit with him all day. He refuses to leave this room." Yuugi nodded in agreement, pushing himself up, causing Marik to shift closer to Ryou, opening one eye warily to make sure they wouldn't leave him.

"I'm just going to go get some water Marik, Ryou will stay with you" Yuugi said with a smile, and Marik nodded, closing his eyes once more.

I am going to talk to Atemu, see if there is a spell he knows Yuugi mouthed, and Ryou gave a nod, before watching the other leave the room. Was this how he had been like? When Bakura had first left him? Sleepless nights, screaming, he could remember that period of time. But it had never seemed as bad as what Marik was going through. He could never imagine having to go through the suffering Marik had, especially when his scars were still healing.

-x-

Atemu did know of a spell that had a chance of working. But it only had a chance of working if he could get close enough to Marik to say the incantation. Considering Marik refused to be left alone with Atemu, or even in the same room as Atemu when Ryou or Yuugi were there, this was easier said than done. It was only when Marik had worn himself out, and couldn't help but fall asleep, that Atemu had the chance of casting the spell. The dark tendrils of Shadow Magic that had scarred his skin when he had sent Malik and Bakura back to the Shadow Realm, still covered his arms, though they were far fainter than they had been previously. Yuugi really hated Atemu using Shadow Magic, but as of right now, this seemed to be the only way to help Marik.

Atemu held the Millennium Rod up to Marik, before muttering quietly in a language Ryou and Yuugi had only heard before, neither of them could understand it. With a flash of Arcane Energy, the power cut, and everything electrical in the street turned off, causing Atemu to curse to himself.

"What does that mean?" Yuugi frowned, before hitting his knee against the side of a drawer and hissing in pain, gripping outwards to find a light source, glad when he found his phone, and using it as a torch. The signal had went dead, but at least it was still on.

"It means that whatever is haunting Marik is not connected to the Rod" Atemu sighed, walking over to Yuugi.

"He just seems to be suffering mentally. Usually if it was something related to Shadow Magic, that flash of Energy we saw before the power went out, would have turned a deep purple and pulled whatever it was out of the Rod, cutting the connection. However, this is not the case, and if it was linked to another item, the energy would have turned a deep red, so at least then I would have been able to work something out. This however, happens when the energy has nowhere to go. In Ancient Egypt it would have just discharged and been done, but the modern era is so full of...technical items that it just cut everything."

"So there is nothing we can do?" Ryou sighed, and Atemu shook his head.

"We're just going to need to let this ride out. You got better, Malik will get better. We just need him to know that Malik is no longer around, and that he can't hurt him any more. Marik is strong, he will pull through. We all just need to have a little faith."

-x-

Marik did slowly get better, coming to terms that Malik was not around to haunt him. He didn't need to rely on Yuugi and Ryou as much, which was relaxing for the pair of them. He even started to get better at leaving his room, though whenever he saw any one he slipped back in and closed the door.

But eventually even that passed as well. He got close to Tristan fairly quickly, considering their love for motorbikes. Even Atemu and him started a slow friendship, Atemu leaving books of Ancient Egypt outside his door for him to read, soon allowing Marik to read in his office, when he started to feel comfortable around him.

Ryou started to come around to Yami as well, eventually. Though he wouldn't say he could trust him yet, he spoke to him every so often, and would smile if he was joking with Yuugi or the others.

Life had gotten back to normal, though it took a better part of two years before Marik was relaxed enough to step outside on his own, to ride his own bike and go see his family. However it was nice, and it was peaceful. Everyone seemed more relaxed, though Ryou couldn't help but feel upset that Akefia was still gone. That Akefia's place had been taken instead of Yami's, considering he had been doing so well, he had helped out so much, and he was gone. The others didn't seem to notice, or care.

But no matter, he started to go back to University, to relax and enjoy life once more. There was a glow to his eye, and a spring in his step. Nothing could stop him now, with the horrible Spirit out of his life for good. He could take the chance to actually explore and enjoy life.

And that was all he had ever wished for.

Fin

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