A/N: This idea popped into my head when the river in my hometown flooded due to three straight days of pouring rain awhile ago. Naturally, I had to write it.

Disclaimer: I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh. No matter how much I want to.

Marik Ishtar's life was full of floods. Floods of blood, of pain, of hatred, of anger...of love.

Floods of blood when his own father carved that wretched symbol into his back,

Floods of mental and physical pain when his darker self killed his father and then tried to kill his sister and brother.

Floods of hatred when he was forced into a life he had never wanted by his family.

Floods of anger when the Pharaoh and his friends conceived him, Marik Ishtar, as evil. It wasn't entirely his fault.

Floods of love when he witnessed the kindness in his sister's eyes when she forgave him for all he had done. Floods of love when he traveled back to Egypt with his siblings; a family once more.

...

Floods of frustration when he was with the spirit of the Millennium Ring. Floods of anger when he was with the spirit of the Ring. ... Floods of love when he was with the spirit of the Ring.

The way their conversations usually went was something like this: Marik would say something. Bakura would laugh and scoff at it. Marik would get angry when Bakura explained - slowly - what an idiotic idea it was. Marik would keep getting angrier until he was yelling at Bakura. At this point, Bakura would silence Marik, usually with a kiss, and make Marik forget why he was so angry in the first place.

Marik loved Bakura, but did Bakura loves him back? Who knows. Could a spirit love? Who cares. Marik didn't. He had no idea if Bakura truly loved him or not, but he didn't care. He had never actually known true love, so what did it matter? He just wanted someone to at least pretend that hey loved him. He could care less if Bakura actually meant all that he said.

...

Yeah, right.

Marik loved Bakura, loved him with every ounce of his heart, body, and soul. He wanted Bakura to love him back, but he could never be certain. And now he would never know.

It had been two years since the Pharaoh had returned to the afterlife. Two years since Bakura had been defeated. Two years since Marik had seen his beautiful thief.

As the months had gone by, Marik had, unaware, grown thinner, weaker, slipping more and more into depression with each passing day.

Moving back to Japan, more specifically, to Domino City, had not helped matters in the slightest. When Ishizu announced one day that she was taking a job that she had been offered at Domino Museum, Marik had gone straight to his room and wept. It was foolish to cry over something so silly, but he did, and he felt disgusted. Crying wouldn't prevent them from moving, wouldn't destroy the memories, wouldn't bring Bakura back. Crying did nothing.

The worst part about living in Domino wasn't being forced to go to the same school as Yugi and his friends. The worst part wasn't all the stupid girls who would constantly flirt with him. The worst part was that, of all people, he went to school with Ryou, Bakura's vessel.

They looked identical, and every time Ryou greeted Marik with a bright "Good morning!" and a cheerful smile, it drove the knife a bit deeper into Marik's aching heart, giving him a new flood of pain each day.

Then, one day, Marik witnessed another flood.

"Hey, guys, the river's flooded!" Joey Wheeler came bursting into the classroom, yelling excitedly and waving his arms for emphasis. "All the rain we got for the past three days totally flooded the river!"

"Cool!" Tristan Taylor grinned. "I heard about that on the news this morning."

"We should all go check it out after school," Yugi suggested. "You wanna come, Marik?"

Marik blinked. He had scarcely been paying attention. "Um..."

"Aw, sure he does!" Joey flung his arm over Marik's shoulders. "Marik's our pal, 'course he'll come with us!" Marik hesitated.

"...Yeah. I'll go see the river with you guys."

After school, the small group went to Domino River, along with half of the school. They stood on the bridge and stared down at the rushing, crashing river. A few kids from their school were leaning over the railing, attempting to get a closer look.

"I heard that they banned swimming and fishing until the water goes down," Téa Gardener said.

"Well, I don't blame them," Yugi said. "It's probably really dangerous!"

"Eh, we've been through stuff way more dangerous than a stinkin' old river!" Joey boasted. "And we ended up awright. I bet I could jump in an' not get a scratch on me!"

"Big talk, why don't you try it?" Tristan shoved Joey until the blond-haired boy was bent double over the railing.

"Whoa! Hey, Tristan, stop goofing around!" Yugi cried. "He could fall!"

"Is that necessarily a bad thing?" Tristan joked, grabbing Joey's arms and yanking him away from the railing. Joey wrenched free of Tristan's grip and whirled around to face him.

"'Ey, what was dat for?" he demanded. "Ya coulda killed me!"

"You're the one who was bragging about how you could jump in and not get hurt, stupid!"

"Nyeh? Why, I oughta - Hey, Marik, where ya goin'?"

Marik stopped. "I...just wanted to see how bad the river was. My sister will be expecting me, so I'd better get going. I'll see you all tomorrow."

"Okay! See you, Marik!" Yugi called brightly. "Hey, Joey, Tristan, stop before one of you gets hurt!"

Marik walked away listening Téa complaining about what idiots Joey and Tristan were. He almost wanted to turn around and go back, to hang out with them like they said they wanted him to. But...he just didn't belong. No matter how much they tried to include him in their group, he was and always would be and outsider. He would never fit in.

"Marik? Is that you?"

"Yeah." Ishizu came into the front hall, where Marik was closing the front door.

"You're home a bit later than usual." There was a question in that statement. Marik sighed.

"I went to see the river with Yugi and the others," he explained. "Then I came home."

"You could have stayed longer if you wanted to."

"I didn't want to," Marik said, walking towards his bedroom. "I knew that you were expecting me to come home, so I did as soon as I saw the river."

"I would have understood if you were hanging out with your friends."

Friends? The word stung Marik.

"They aren't my friends, Ishizu," he said through gritted teeth. "They can't be."

"Marik," Ishizu sighed. "I wish you would stop with this nonsense. It doesn't matter what happened in the past. They've forgiven you. They want to be your friends, but you keep pushing them away."

Snowy white hair and crimson-tinged eyes flashed through Marik's mind's eye. He squeezed his eyes shut. They've forgiven me. I can't forgive them.

"It's...complicated," he finally said.

"Marik, this wouldn't have anything to do with our past as tombkeepers, would it? I know that you used to blame the Pharaoh for everything that happened to our family, but that's over now." that was so far from the truth, Marik couldn't help but laugh.

"If you think that's what this is about, you don't know me at all, sister!"

"If you would just tell me why you refuse to except Yugi as your friend-"

"I don't need friends!" This conversation was making the dull ache in Marik's heart grow sharper and sharper. "I need people who don't just act nice towards me because they feel sorry for me!"

"Marik, you know that's not true."

"Yes it is, sister! It's painfully obvious and I cannot believe that you of all people can't see it!" With that, Marik ran into him bedroom, slamming the door behind him. He threw himself on his bed, burying his face in the pillow. He flinched as his shirt rubbed against the scars on his back.

"The past is over, but the scars still remain," he thought bitterly. He heard Ishizu knocking on his bedroom door, but he ignored it.

"Marik, I'm sorry. Please come out." He didn't move. "Marik." Nothing. "I didn't mean to make you angry, Marik. Come out when you're feeling better." Ishizu's retreating footsteps told Marik that she was going to leave him alone for the time being.

"Good," he thought. "What could she possibly understand? Nothing, that's what!"

Marik wasn't sure how long he stayed in his room. He expected to feel better the longer he isolated himself, but he just felt worse and worse. At 10:00 pm, he finally decided that he had to get away from his house. He felt as though the walls were suffocating him, squeezing every last breath out of him. Not wanted to face Ishizu or Odion, who was surely home from work by now, he stole out his bedroom window, careful not to make any noise.

He ran along the silent street. It had started raining again, and the rumble of distant thunder told the youngest Ishtar that a storm was approaching fast, but he didn't care. He ran past the game shop and almost stopped but instead continued on to wherever it was he was going. Yugi wouldn't want to see him, anyway.

Marik ran past Joey's house, Tristan's house, Téa's house. He felt nothing. But when he ran past Ryou's house, his heart screamed in anguish. It was raining harder now, and his tears mixed with the rainwater slipping down his cheeks until he couldn't even tell which was which. He finally stopped running a little later. He looked around him and immediately knew where he was.

Domino River. He was standing on the very bridge that he had stood on earlier that day.

Marik walked over to the railing and looked down at the flooded river. He didn't realize he was climbing over the railing until he was standing on the very edge of the bridge, gripping the railing behind him.

The storm was in full force now. The wind whipped through the air and flung Marik's hair all over. Thunder roared and the sky was alight with lightning as Marik stared down at the icy, black torrent of water. It seemed to hold a magnetic attraction to him. Dimly, he wondered if he could finally be with Bakura. With everything Bakura did, he would surely be in Hell. But then, suicide was considered a sin to some religions, wasn't it? Wouldn't that mean that he would go to Hell, too?

Marik closed his eyes and let go of the railing. He didn't know what the fall would feel like, but he definitely didn't expect it t feel like someone grabbing his arms and yanking him backwards.

Wait...

Marik's eyes wrenched open as his feet made contact with solid pavement. He wasn't in the river. He was...safe? Someone had actually cared enough to save him? Why? Who? He soon got his answer.

"What were you thinking?" someone yelled in his ear. That voice...out of all people, why him?

"Let go of me, Ryou!" Marik said, trying to pull free, but Ryou's grip was like a vice.

"Not until you explain why you were about to kill yourself!"

"What do you care? What does anyone care? Only one person ever bothered to care about me and thanks to the Pharaoh, he's dead!" Ryou's grip loosened, probably from surprise, and Marik jerked free. He spun around to face the white-haired boy, chest heaving and tears cascading down his face. Ryou stared at him; he had never seen Marik like this.

"Marik," he said, stepping forward slightly.

"Just stay away from me, Ryou!" Marik yelled. "Don't come any closer!"

"Marik," Ryou said again, more firmly. "What do you mean, no one cares about you? Lots of people care. Your brother and sister care, I care, Yugi cares-"

"Shut up."

"We've noticed the way you've been acting Marik. We're all really worried about you."

"Shut up."

"I don't know where you got the idea that no one cares, but it's not true."

"Shut up!" Marik screamed. "Just shut up!" He sank to his knees, sobbing. Ryou knelt next to him and tentatively placed on hand on Marik's shaking shoulder. The Egyptian looked up at him, as if seeing him for the first time.

"You look just like him," he whispered.

"Like who?" Ryou responded carefully, unsre of what would set the boy off again.

"Bakura..."

"Oh. Now I see."

Marik buried his face in his hands, a fresh wave of tears flooding out of his eyes.

"I-I loved him, Ryou. I loved him and now he's gone forever. I'll never see him again." Marik clung to Ryou, sobbing. "I loved him!"

"So did I." Marik felt a jolt at these words. He stared up at Ryou.

"W-what...?"

Ryou nodded. "It's true. Obviously, it was just a one-sided thing. I was his host, not his lover. I knew that he loved you, not me. But I couldn't help it." Ryou smiled gently. "I'm hurting, too, Marik. I feel empty without him. So what do you say you and I try and help each other through this, okay?"

Marik hesitated. Was Ryou being sincere? Did he really want to help Marik? Or was he Egyptian just going to be let down again? Ryou was Bakura's hikari, but he wasn't Bakura. What if Bakura was watching them right now, from wherever he was, and thought that he was being replaced? Ryou had just admitted that he loved Bakura, too, so why would he want to help Marik? What could he gain by helping Marik? Was he just trying to help himself? That was selfish. Was it? Was wanting to forget, move on and live really selfish?

"Okay."

Maybe...it was time to move on and forget the floods.

R&R, please!