Yu-Gi-Oh! Fan Fiction ❯ Return To Paradise ❯ The Fall of Steven Bakura ( Chapter 46 )

[ X - Adult: No readers under 18. Contains Graphic Adult Themes/Extreme violence. ]

The Fall of Steven Bakura

Ryou wrapped his arms around Bakura’s waist as the Winged Dragon of Ra carried them to the Castle of Dark Illusions. Dark Necrofear had managed to call onto the dragon for help.
The dragon landed on the Castle of Dark Illusions with alight enough of a landing as permissible. Ra lowered his head and Bakura slid off. He raised his hands and helped Ryou onto the ground. “Wait here. We shall return.”
The dragon nodded. “Be careful, Lord Bakura.”
He placed a protective wing over Bakura. “I pray the gods give you strength for the battle ahead of you.”
Bakura bowed his head. “Thank you, Ra. Osiris won’t let me down. I know the God of the Dead watches over me. Let’s go, Ryou.”
Ryou swallowed hard as he followed Bakura towards a wooden door. The metal clamp on the door shook, making Ryou gasp and run behind Bakura for protection.
The door slowly swung open as Bakura drew his dagger. The yami tensed as the door creaked steadily. Ryou looked from behind Bakura and sighed in relief when nothing emerged from the door.
“He knows we’re here,” Bakura said, walking towards the door slowly.
“Do you think he knows that you are dead?”
Bakura nodded. “He knew that Aten had died, according to Marik.”
“Marik claimed that he saw Steven torturing Aten. Do you think that could have been real? Do you think he tortured Aten during his journey through the Underworld?”
Bakura entered the dark hallway and took the Millennium Ring in his free hand. “Light my path.” The Millennium Ring glowed with a bright light, illuminating the passage in front of him. “Remember when Aten was resurrected, he mentioned something about a nightmare.”
“Yeah, Marik told him his nightmare was over. He said that Aten was being tormented.”
“He said he was going to save Aten from a castle.” Bakura stopped and turned to Ryou, worry clear on his face.
Ryou looked forward into the darkness. “I don’t know. Maybe not. Aten’s black candle was burned out. He couldn’t make it through the Underworld.”
Bakura bit his lip as he looked into the darkness. Ryou’s hands gripped onto him tightly and suddenly as he heard a malicious laugh emanating from the darkness.
“Welcome, Bakura Osiris Itemri. Welcome, my son. I have waited for you.”
Ryou swallowed hard as he held onto Bakura. “That was him! He knows we’re here!”
Bakura glared as he took Ryou’s hand. “That’s the way I like it. I want him to get nervous because when I see him, I will tear him apart.”
Bakura stopped as he heard growling in front of him. He handed Ryou a dagger hidden in the back of his jeans. “Use this.”
Bakura watched as a zombie staggered down the hallway in front of them. He wore the gear of a soldier. A metal helmet decorated his head, a sword was carried in his right hand, a shield in his left. His mummified face stared at Bakura through the helmet.
Bakura gripped the handle of his dagger tightly.
“What is your business here?”
Ryou looked at the monster. “The Decayed Commander? This was one of Robbie’s cards. Why is he here?”
“I served Master Robert Morgan. I also serve The Unfaithful Guardian. I am loyal to no one. Leave this place. The Unfaithful Guardian will bathe in your blood if you fail to heed my warning.”
“If you are loyal to nobody, why are you protecting this place?”
The zombie smiled, the bits of flesh that were connected, stretched to accommodate the decayed-toothed grin. “Because I love conflict and I know you will not turn back.”
“You got that right!” Bakura said, charging at the zombie. The soldier held up his shield in defense as Bakura stabbed the wood. “Where is he?”
“You will die for your insolence!”
The zombie stabbed forward as Bakura jumped back, pulling his dagger free from the shield. The zombie swung his sword to the right as Bakura blocked the strike. The yami kicked the shield with a furious grunt, knocking the zombie off-balance.
Bakura grinned. “I am here to destroy the Unfaithful Guardian!”
The soldier grabbed another sword, having thrown down his shield. The zombie grinned as he sliced the air in front of him with both swords simultaneously.
“Bakura!” Ryou exclaimed. “Be careful!”
The zombie charged at Bakura, slicing towards his target. Bakura growled at the confined space and grabbed another dagger tied to his other hip. He blocked both blades and pushed the zombie back.
“I can put you to your death here, Bakura Osiris. Allow me to sever your head from your body.”
Ryou ran beside Bakura and blocked a blade aiming for Bakura’s head. “I won’t let you slay him!”
“I can slay you just as easily as Bakura!”
The zombie slashed a second dagger at Ryou as Bakura lunged a dagger into the zombie’s neck. The zombie gave a cry and dropped one of the swords. Ryou raised his dagger to sever the zombie’s head as Bakura blocked the second dagger from stabbing Ryou in the shoulder.
Ryou’s blade slashed through the zombie’s throat, making it shatter into pieces before their eyes. Ryou wiped his sweaty brow as he looked at Bakura kneeling on the ground.
“Bakura? Are you alright?”
Bakura pulled Ryou into a slow, deep kiss. The yami wrapped his arms around Ryou and kissed Ryou deeply, moaning into the kiss.
Ryou nodded. “I’m concerned about you.”
Bakura cupped Ryou’s face in his hands. “I know. We’ll be alright. The gods will protect us.”
Bakura looked ahead and saw a man standing before him. “Dakarai?”
“What makes you think the gods will protect you? You know they condemned you to serve the pharaoh before.” The man glared at Bakura. “The blood runs from your hands in rivers.”
“Baby, who is this?”
Bakura glared at the man. “Ryou, this is my father.”
Ryou squeezed Bakura’s hand. “That is your father?”
“That is very ironic coming from a man who banished his own son from his home with nowhere to go. What sins stain your hands, father?”
The man approached Bakura looking him in the eye. “I never should have planted you in your mother’s womb.”
Bakura narrowed his eyes at his father. “You would rather have me dead?”
“I saw the pharaoh raping you in the afterlife, my son. I remember standing by your bedside. Cursing the day you emerged from your mother’s womb!”
Bakura growled. “I never wanted to be the father you were to me!”
“I am ashamed to have brought you life. That is why I can never rest, Bakura Osiris.”
Ryou stepped in front of Bakura. “Why do you hate your son? What has he done to shame you?”
“I heard what he had done on the streets of Heliopolis. I heard he pleasured the mistresses and masters of the night.”
“How else was I to eat?” Bakura asked. “How else was I to find shelter from the desert storms?”
Ryou turned to Bakura. “Now I understand why you had problems with Steven even before he knew about our relationship.”
Bakura clenched his fists. “Dakarai was never much of a father to me.”
“How dare you use my name! The family name which you have soiled with your filth of an existence!”
“My husband is not filth!” Ryou exclaimed loudly. “I love your son.  He has brought joy into my life. You are a monster for failing in your duties as a parent!”
Bakura growled and lunged at his father. “I’m not holding back anymore!”
Bakura’s father removed a sword from his side.  “I never back down from a fight.”
“That’s something we both have in common, father.”
“Yami! Bakura, be careful!”
“Stay out of this, Ryou! He’s mine!” Bakura growled as he locked swords with Dakarai.
Dakarai pulled back and brought his sword over Bakura’s head. Bakura blocked the strike, kicking his father in the stomach. He lunged, stabbing his father in the arm with his dagger.
The man gave a cry of pain and punched Bakura in the side of the head. The yami groaned as the man removed the dagger from his arm.
Dakarai raised the dagger over Bakura’s back, but Ryou quickly blocked the strike.
“I’m not letting you hurt Bakura!”
“Ryou! Back!” Bakura growled.
Bakura elbowed Dakarai in the stomach, making the man double over. Bakura turned quickly and quickly struck Dakarai in the nose with his open palm. The man stumbled back holding his nose. Bakura stabbed his father in the stomach with a quick snarl. Ryou saw venom in the eyes of the panting, dying yami.
Dakarai let out a scream and fell as Bakura twisted and removed the dagger.
Dakarai’s body shattered like glass in front of Bakura. The yami panted heavily holding his chest as he looked into the darkness.  
“Bakura, are you okay?”
“Yes, let us continue.”
Bakura lead Ryou down the hallway. They turned down the hall and came to a fork in the road. They looked down either hallway.
“Which way?”
Bakura looked down the different hallways and narrowed his eyes. “Either one will take us to Steven. He wants to be found.”
Bakura saw an archway down the hall to the left and began to walk slowly. Above the archway he saw a skull with horns and demon wings.
“Bakura, I have a bad feeling about this.”
Bakura nodded. “Me, too. Stay close to me.”
Bakura entered a large room slowly. Great torches lined an empty room. A black door stood at the opposite side of the room. The flames from the torches flickered relentlessly against the gray stone walls.
Ryou followed Bakura holding his breath nervously. His eyes perused the room quickly, waiting for anything to jump from the shadows surrounding them. He covered his mouth and nose as a great stench hit his face.
“Bakura, was that you?”
Bakura shook his head as he heard a deep, fierce growl nearby. “That wasn’t me.”
“Go, my Berserk Dead Dragon! Rend them asunder!” the voice laughed.
Ryou and Bakura looked up as the torch lights intensified greatly, illuminating a skeleton dragon in front of them. Ryou’s eyes widened in horror as he saw the large skeleton growling angrily. “Bakura? Any ideas?”
A loud, metal bang sounded behind them. Ryou turned and saw an iron gate close them into the room. “We’re trapped!”
Bakura growled. “Shit. That door at the other end of the room is our only chance. Go, Ryou! I’ll distract the beast!”
“And just how do you plan on distracting a dead dragon?”
“Just go!” Bakura said, focusing his attention on the walking skeleton of a beast in front of him. The dragon growled and snapped at Bakura threateningly.
“Use him as your chew toy, my pet!”
The dragon quickly brought his head down and snapped at Bakura. The yami jumped backwards as the dragon snapped closer to him each time. Bakura swung his dagger and broke two of the beast’s teeth.
Ryou ran around the creature and stopped. He looked back at Bakura and saw the yami cut away three more teeth. Ryou ducked as the dragon’s tail swayed. Ryou grabbed the handle to the door and pulled. “It’s stuck, ‘Kura!”
“Ra-damn it all!” Bakura growled as he jumped to the side and slammed his dagger into the creature’s bony snout. The creature roared as if in pain and reached out its claws to Bakura.
“Bakura! Watch out!” Ryou exclaimed in alarm as the claws landed on either side of the yami.
Bakura stabbed between the creature’s claws and it roared in ultimate annoyance. “Take that, bastard!”
“Bakura!” Ryou cried out as the dragon opened his jaws to consume Bakura. Bakura stabbed the roof of the monster’s mouth and kept his feet planted firmly on the bottom of the creature’s mouth.
Ryou used his dagger to stab the creature’s tail to distract him from Bakura. The creature turned around and Ryou saw something moving in the creature’s skeletal chest.
“The Egyptians left the heart in after mummification! Bakura! We have to stab the heart!”
Bakura looked into the creature’s throat. “Stab it, then! I’m a little busy!”
Ryou glared at the beating heart. A lucky throw would bypass the bones and stab the creature.  He aimed for the creature as Bakura struggled to remain standing in the creature’s mouth fifty feet off of the ground.
“Throw it!”
Ryou narrowed his eyes and tossed the weapon. The blade hit the dragon’s breastbone and fell to the floor.
“Come on, Ryou! Kill the thing, would you? Aim!” Bakura growled as the creature’s jaws were threatening to pierce him.
Ryou ran for the blade, dodging the creature’s claws. He grabbed the dagger and threw it. The dragon gave a deafening roar of pain and began to tumble to the ground. The bones split apart and fell to the ground, making Bakura tumble from high above.
Ryou ran to Bakura, who had fallen on top of the pile of bones. “Bakura? Speak to me.”
Bakura opened his eyes slowly and looked up at Ryou. “Is it dead?”
Ryou nodded. “Yes, it’s dead.”
“Swell,” the yami whimpered as he sat up.
“Be careful, Bakura.”
Bakura rubbed his back. “I’m gonna feel that in the morning.”
Ryou wrapped his arms around Bakura and kissed his cheek. “I’m glad you’re okay.”
"I have ways of making you regret that you have ever dropped out of your mother's womb." Bakura heard his old voice talking to Ryou.
Bakura sighed, lowering his head. “I was an asshole.  I regret saying so much, Ryou. You loved me and I treated you like garbage.”
Ryou looked into Bakura’s eyes. “I have forgiven you, Bakura. Let’s continue our journey, alright?”
Ryou gasped as the walls were set ablaze. He clutched onto Bakura tightly as the heat from the fire made his skin sweat. The fire reached close to them, making Ryou smell burning flesh. Bakura growled as the skin on his back burned from the inferno’s intensity.  Ryou heard The Unfaithful Guardian laugh as the flames began to flicker out slowly. The floor stopped shaking. The area around him and Bakura had dimmed.
“Welcome to my Realm,” a deep, sinister voice said.
Ryou opened his eyes and saw he and Bakura were on top of a stone staircase. Two stairs lined against the wall in a half-circle. Below, they saw Steven standing in front of a blazing fireplace. An oriental rug laid in front of the fire.  Two statues of Seth flanked the fireplace.
Bakura turned his head and stood up, looking down at his prey. “So this is where you have been hiding all these years.”
Ryou looked at an altar in one corner of the room. Leather straps for feet and hands graced the top of the marble.  Candles stood at four corners. Blood saturated the top of the altar.
“Well, if it isn’t my boy and his boyfriend, Bakura Osiris Itemri. Do you like my altar, Ryou? That is where Aten became my servant…until he was torn from me.”
“My son is out of your hands forever now, Steven. You will have no more victims.”
Ryou stood beside Bakura and glared at The Unfaithful Guardian. “It is you who will be destroyed!”
Steven chuckled. “My boy, I sense something different from you. I see your mortal candle has been extinguished and now your veins burn with a different fire….the fire of immortality.”
“I have come to punish you for all that you have done,” Ryou said angrily. “You tried to kill me and you have made my son suffer for all your hatred.  I will make certain that his afterlife is one of peace and you will no longer torture him.”
Steven laughed. “That is why you are here! Aten was not even your son.”
“Aten was still my son, even if he did not come from me. He was Ryou’s son and that’s all that mattered to me,” Bakura said.
The Unfaithful Guardian laughed. “I watched your passing, you know.”
Ryou swallowed nervously. “My mother kept me safe from your slimy claws.”
The monster smiled and nodded as the barbed wire crept along the ground. “I watched him pass here, but that boy prevented me from getting to him, along with his mother.”
Bakura’s eyes widened. “Rhea? Rhea and Aten came for you, Ryou?”
Ryou nodded. “My mother and Aten guided me safely into death.”
Ryou ran down the steps to Bakura. “Aten and I will be able to enjoy eternity! But you won’t!”
Steven smiled as the barbed wire snaked close to Bakura and Ryou. “I will destroy both of you!”
Bakura held the dagger in front of him. “The only one who will die today is you, Steven. Permanently.”
“I think not, my dear Bakura,” Steven said as the strands of barbed wire encasing his body rose off of the ground and waved in the air menacingly.
“Bakura, how do you expect to fight him?”
Bakura narrowed his eyes. “I don’t know.”
Steven chuckled. “I will send your soul to Hell for your sin, both of you!”
Bakura charged for Steven, gripping the hilt of his dagger tightly.
Steven laughed and raised his hands. The barbed wire shot from his body towards the approaching yami. Bakura jumped to avoid the stinging barbs. His dagger impacted one of the barbs which swayed at him. “You won’t be able to avoid me for long!”
Several barbs snaked towards Bakura’s leg. Ryou ran towards Bakura, warning him of the approach of the barbed wire. Two strands of wire circled him from the back and wrapped around his ankles. Ryou watched as Bakura dangled helplessly in the air.
“I should cook you over my fire, Bakura. Or maybe I should slice you.”
Ryou watched as the barbed wire struck Bakura on his face, arms and exposed stomach. The sound of tearing material accompanied Bakura’s threats and screams. Ryou charged at Steven, his dagger slipping between two barbs of wire. The Unfaithful Guardian let out a scream and dropped Bakura from the air. Ryou watched as blood trickled between the wire. The barbed wire quickly covered the injury as Steven smiled at Ryou, his decayed teeth showing between his lips.
“So my son wishes to strike his father down!”
“I won’t let you hurt Bakura,” Ryou said, his dagger slicing through the wire snaking towards him.
Bakura looked up from the ground, rubbing the back of his head. With a gasp of alarm, he called out to Ryou. “Ryou, get back!” The yami rose to his feet and cut two wires circling around Ryou from behind. Ryou jumped to the side, stabbing the dagger towards Steven’s neck. The barbed wire prevented the penetration of the blade into Steven’s skin.
The creature laughed heartily. “You cannot harm me where I am protected! I can harm you, though, my boy!”
Steven turned his head and backslapped Ryou across the cheek, sending the hikari flying near the fireplace. “Learn your place, boy!”
Bakura ran to Ryou’s side and saw Ryou wincing at the new pain in his cheek, now dotted by puncture wounds from the wire. Bakura tore a piece of his shirt and placed it against Ryou’s cheek. “That will stop the bleeding.” Bakura turned to Steven and saw the creature standing watching them.
“Bakura, we can’t destroy him! He can change the position of his barbed wire at will!”
Bakura held his right side as he felt a sharp pain shoot through him. “There has to be a weakness,” Bakura whispered quietly to Ryou. “What is his weakness?”
Ryou held the cloth to his wounded cheek. “What more can we do?”
“I’m not leaving without destroying him.”
Bakura looked Ryou in his purple eyes. “Only when we destroy him can you and Aten truly know eternal rest.” Bakura’s eyes widened. His jaw dropped. “Aten’s card.”
“Bakura?”
Bakura looked at Ryou. Bakura’s chocolate brown eyes grew dim as they focused on his lover. “Hide.”
“What do you have up your sleeve?”
Bakura grinned. “Many things,” Bakura said, pulling a card from his shirt. He showed it to Ryou, who’s eyes widened. “Bakura, no.”
“Hide. Now.” Bakura reached up and touched Ryou’s cheek lovingly. “The best way to fight a dream is to end it abruptly. It is the same with illusion. Destroy the mirror of illusion and nothing remains.”
Bakura stood up and faced the decayed creature whose body was wrapped in barbed wire and whose presence reeked of death. Ryou looked around for a place to hide. Ryou ran back up the stairs and into the entryway.
Steven laughed as he saw the Egyptian flee. “Looks like your support has fled. He looks afraid…as he should be.”
“You were the one responsible to give us the Yami Virus, Steven. Well, I think I should return the favor,” the yami grinned. “There is one card that you cannot resist any more than I. If the Shadow Realm is purgatory for the souls of the dead, you are about to be expelled to some place worse.”
Steven grinned as he saw Bakura sway on his feet. The yami fell to one knee. “I don’t see why you don’t just let me decapitate you. I would make your death painless and swift.”
Bakura looked up at Steven, his face and body covered in perspiration. Bakura raised a trembling hand. “I play…’Eternal Rest’!”
Ryou looked up as he heard the loud roar of thunder above him. He gripped onto the side of the stone entrance as the ground began to shake under him. The cups on the wooden table began to tip over. The stone altar cracked in half.
Steven looked around in panic. “What are you doing, Bakura?”
“Giving you a permanent death,” the yami growled, his eyes becoming dark and his hair spiking sharp. His canines grew and he licked his lips with a smile. “I have been cursed to a life of undeath, but you, Steven…have a much more grim future to face.”
A dark vortex appeared over Bakura and Steven. Ryou covered his eyes as lightening struck around them. “Bakura, get out of there!”
“You will not be reborn for your crimes against my beloved Ryou and my innocent nephew, Akhenaten.”
Ryou heard growling and vicious snarling coming from a vortex which had formed on the floor. “Bakura! Get up here!”
“The Eternal Rest known by my ancestors is the one you will face, Steven Bakura.”
Ryou gasped as he saw a familiar creature step out of the vortex. “Oh my! That’s Ammut!”
Steven’s eyes widened in fear at the crocodile-creature. He backed away slowly. “Call him back! Call him back!”
Bakura chuckled low in his throat as he fell on his knees. “There is only one whom Ammut follows.”
Ryou covered his mouth when he saw a person step out of the vortex behind Ammut.
“All glory to Osiris, whose name shall endure forever,” Yami Bakura Osiris Itemri said, bowing his head in reverence on his hands and knees.
“Marik and Malik are never going to believe this,” Ryou said, his eyes wide and agape.
Steven backed against the stone altar. “Leave me, Ammut!”
Bakura grinned. “You do not know the sacred prayer, do you, Steven?”
Steven’s barbed wire whipped at Ammut, whose jaws snapped through the wire.
Bakura lowered his head. “Great Osiris, your loyal servant….”
Ryou watched as Osiris stepped up to Bakura. The god placed his hand on the back of Bakura’s head. Behind Osiris stepped Anubis with the scales and feather.
“Marik is REALLY not going to believe this!” Ryou gasped.
Osiris looked at Steven. “Ammut wishes to devour your soul. Do you know the chant?”
Steven looked at Osiris and the crocodile-like creature with confusion. “What chant?”
Osiris glared at Steven. “You know of our sacred texts, yet you do not know the appropriate chant? How is it that a thief, a beggar, the child of poverty can recite the text by memory and you do not even prostrate and bow before me?”
Anubis held the scales in his hand and raised it into the air. “Your heart is not humble before the gods. You do not worship us and I have seen that you do not even recognize us. Your heart is ignorant.”
“I have not spoken falsehoods to my neighbors. I have cared for the sick. I have given food to the hungry,” Bakura whispered as Osiris touched his head.
Ryou watched as a heart appeared on the empty scale. He saw the scales tip and the heart burst into flames.
“Steven Bakura, your soul is doomed and shall be consumed by Ammut, where it shall be destroyed for all eternity.”
Ryou watched Ammut’s jaws snap around Steven’s leg. The creature bit through the wire and into Steven’s flesh. The sharp teeth sliced through the flesh. Steven cried out in pain as the barbed wire struck Ammut to no effect on the creature. Steven narrowed his eyes at Bakura.
“You’re coming with me, Bakura!”
Ryou watched as the barbed wire wrapped around Bakura. The yami grabbed the wire wrapping around his neck and gagged. “Bakura, here I come!”
Ryou ran down the stairs as Osiris severed the wire with the snap of his fingers. Ryou watched as Ammut tore Steven’s leg off and devoured it. Ammut grabbed the other leg and severed it with a quick crunch.
Ryou ran to Bakura, grabbing the attention of Osiris and Anubis. Ryou stopped suddenly and swallowed hard.
Ryou bowed before the gods beside his husband.
Steven cried out in pain as the creature snapped his hips and crunched on them, sending black blood and flesh to the ground.
The two looked at Steven on the ground.
“Save me, Osiris!” Steven cried out. “Mercy!”
“There is no mercy for beings such as yourself, Steven Bakura.  Ammut will give you the eternal rest you deserve. That is your reward for your life of selfishness and vile acts.”
Bakura and Ryou watched as Ammut’s jaws snapped around Steven’s head.
“What say you, Bakura Osiris Itemri? You have taken a mortal from my lands.”
Bakura looked up at Osiris. “Great Osiris, I have longed to dwell within the Land of the Dead.  I cannot express my sorrow at the loss of Ryou. I love him, my lord.  I bear you no ill for condemning me to Yami’s punishment.  I have treated my lover wrong. Despite the pains I have suffered, not once have I cursed your name. I have cursed the person I had once been.”
Osiris looked down at the couple. “Marik Ishtar renounced his faith. You, even when you have been tested, remained faithful to your belief in us. Why? Why have you not damned us?”
Bakura looked up at Osiris. “Because I still remain faithful that you will not turn your back on your faithful servants. Only one with true faith may look upon the faces of the gods. In Yami’s cell, I prayed to you for deliverance from my pain. You heard my prayers and blessed me with my first death. I did not fight nor could I fight. I was too weak. I let Yami’s captain slaughter me and you granted me salvation.”
Osiris lifted his hand. “Bakura Osiris, you are free to wander the mortal plane.”
Bakura bowed his head to Osiris. “Thank you, your Grace.”
Osiris, Anubis, and Ammut disappeared into the void.  Bakura relaxed against Ryou, his eyes half-open.  “Ishtar…we need to go to Yami’s temple. We have to make certain that Yami doesn’t bring me or anyone else back from the dead again.”
“But, Bakura, you can hardly move.”
Bakura grinned at Ryou as he struggled to his feet. “I have to make certain Yami is no longer a threat.”
Ryou whistled as the Winged Dragon of Ra busted through the roof and lowered his tail. The dragon scooped Ryou and then Bakura onto his back. “Is your business here concluded, Lord Bakura?”
“Take us to Yami’s Temple.”
The dragon growled. “Why do you wish to go there?”
“Yami also poses a threat to our son. We must make sure Yami cannot harm anyone again,” Bakura said.
The Winged Dragon of Ra landed in front of Yami’s temple. Bakura slid off of Ra’s head and looked up the steps. His nose wrinkled as he bit his lip. “Blood. Lots of it.”
Ryou slowly approached the steps and looked at the ground. “There’s blood drops here.”
“Pharaoh?” Ryou called up the steps.
Bakura grinned. “There’s death nearby. I smell blood.”
“Is it human?”
Bakura shook his head. “No…this is blood of the dead. Yami is hurt. I smell his blood.”
Ryou ran up the steps with Bakura. The white-haired yami ran quickly as he grabbed the hilt of his dagger.
The two men stood in the entrance to the temple and looked at the devastation within. Blood covered the walls.  
“It was a bloodbath in here! Who could have done this?”
Bakura smiled. “Ishtar…..I smell his blood here. It’s strong…and sweet like honey.”
Ryou looked on the ground and saw a golden piece of the Millennium Puzzle laying in a pool of Ishtar blood.  He walked to the piece and picked it up. He examined it and turned to Bakura. “The Millennium Puzzle was shattered? What happened to Yami?”
“My guess,” Bakura said as he rubbed his nipple with his fingers, “My guess is that Ishtar came here looking for the Millennium Puzzle for his ritual to resurrect Aten. I haven’t seen the pompous jackass for a while so I wondered what happened to him.”
“If he broke the Puzzle, where are the other pieces? How was he able to tap into the power of an incomplete Millennium Item? That shouldn’t be possible!”
Bakura moaned. “I guess we have to ask him.”
************************
Bakura and Ryou went downstairs, both still shivering from the cold of the Shadow Realm. Marik was licking a plastic spoon as Malik was retrieving a batch of blueberry muffins from the oven.
“Morning, you two! It’s almost noon! Where have you been all morning?” Malik asked.
Bakura took Ryou’s hand. “We slept late.”
“Ishtar, I’m glad you’re here.”
“Do you want to take a lick of my spoon, Itemri?” Marik asked with a grin.
“Ishtar, I need to see you in the other room.”
Marik grinned. “A bedroom upstairs?”
“Living Room will suffice.”
Marik handed the spoon to Ryou. “You can finish it, sexy.” Marik kissed Ryou’s cheek and followed Bakura into the Living Room.
“What did you do to the pharaoh?”
Marik reached up and pet Bakura’s hair. “I stabbed him, took his Puzzle, shattered it, and spread the pieces around so it can never be assembled again.”
Bakura blinked in amazement. “You what?”
“I shattered the Puzzle. I went to the Shadow Realm one night and found Yami in his temple. I confronted him after Aten’s death and I beat the shit out of him. He’ll spend an eternity in the Shadow Realm until it is assembled again.”
“Did you discuss this with Yugi?”
Marik nodded. “He will know the same fate we did. Searching endlessly and waiting an eternity to return to the living world.”
“Where did you scatter the pieces?”
Marik grinned. “Every continent has at least two pieces. They are hidden well. I placed one piece in a volcano, so most likely the piece has been melted. The Puzzle can never be completed. Yami is doomed to wander alone for eternity.”
Bakura reached up and caressed Marik’s cheek. “And you are sure Yugi is alright with this?”
“He’s happy with Glenn.”
Bakura leaned up and kissed Marik tenderly on the lips. Bakura buried his fingers in Marik’s blond hair. Bakura deepened the kiss as he pressed himself against Marik.
Marik moaned into the kiss, holding his lover against him. Bakura kissed Marik’s jaw down the side of his neck. He backed Marik against the door and kissed Marik’s collarbone.
Bakura kissed the center of Marik’s throat and down the front of his chest. The white-haired yami lifted Marik’s shirt and kissed down Marik’s stomach slowly. Bakura kneeled in front of Marik and looked up at his lover.
Marik reached down and caressed Bakura’s cheek. “Itemri…”
Bakura kissed Marik’s belly button, circling it with lightly peppered kisses.
“Baby….”
Bakura looked up at Marik, his eyes sparkling as his hands lightly touched Marik’s stomach and the front of his jeans. “I love you, Ishtar.”
Marik swallowed hard as he looked down at his dying lover. “I love you, too, Itemri.”
Bakura kissed the front of Marik’s pants as his hands set to unfastening the button.  Marik moaned as he felt Bakura’s lips through the material. A chill went up his spine as he felt Bakura’s lips wrap around his manhood.  He put his hand gently on Bakura’s head and slowly bucked his hips into Bakura’s warmth. Marik reached down and pulled Bakura’s shirt over his head.
Marik saw Bakura’s back covered in scars from Yami’s whip.  He gently let his hand glide over the back.
Malik squealed in the kitchen. “Ryou, you’re cold as ice! Let me make you some tea before you catch your death of cold.”
The blond watched as Bakura rested his forehead against Marik’s stomach. He heard wheezing coming from the kneeling figure in front of him. He slowly slipped to his knees and tipped Bakura’s head to face him.
“Why did you want to know about Yami, ‘Kura?”
Bakura gripped onto Marik’s shoulders to keep him kneeling. “I went to the temple. I saw blood….so much blood.”
“You saw what I did and you wanted to track me down for that singular purpose?”
Bakura shook his head. “No, that is not the only reason why I wanted to find you.”
Marik cupped Bakura’s cheek in his hand. “Why do you have those cuts on your face and hands?”
Bakura closed his eyes and put his head on Marik’s shoulders. He wrapped his arms around the blond yami, who held him close. “I killed Steven.”
Marik gasped and grabbed Bakura’s arms. He held the other yami in front of him. “You what?!”
“Steven is destroyed…and…there’s something else.”
Marik saw the other yami hesitate. “Well? What is it?”
“What if I told you that I saw Aten in the Underworld?”
Marik lowered his head and rubbed his hands together nervously. “He probably hates his father.”
Bakura put his hand on Marik’s shoulder. “On the contrary, Ishtar, he does not and I have a way to bring him back.”
Marik turned to Bakura and swallowed nervously. “What did my boy say?”
“He does not hate you for killing him.  He wants to return to this world with Robbie.”
“Miranda and Daniel come from a different world than us, Itemri. They may not want this.”
“You have seen Miranda mourning Robbie.  Don’t you want to see your son return happy and free of pain?”
Marik nodded slowly. “I do.”
“Let us use the scroll. Isis gave the scroll of immortality. We can do this.”
Marik lowered his head. “Does Aten wish this life?”
“Robbie was all for it. Where Robbie goes, Aten is not far behind.”
Marik snickered. “Those boys have been inseparable. If they are not adverse to it, and if everyone is alright, and nobody comes back with an evil yami we have to destroy, I don’t see the harm in it. I’ll tell Malik.”
“Ryou already knows.”
“Ryou, have you been sleeping on ice cubes? You’re cold!” Malik exclaimed again.
“Did you keep the window open last night, Itemri?”
“No, Ryou pushed the covers off himself in the middle of the night.”
“We’ll have to remove the boys from their graves,” Marik said.
“We should discuss this with Miranda and Daniel. They can see our magic first-hand.”
Bakura and Marik stepped into the kitchen and saw Ryou licking the spoon free of blueberry muffin batter. A hot cup of tea sat before Ryou.
Bakura went behind Ryou and wrapped his arm around his husband.
//Baby, I love you.//
Ryou watched Malik bending over to retreive another batch of muffins from the oven. /Do you think we should tell Malik?/
//I don’t know. I’m enjoying the view.// Bakura said as he watched the Egyptian hikari bend over the stove.

Author’s Note: I haven’t finished the next chapter yet. I’ll try to work on it and have it posted as soon as I can.


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