***Random disclaimers: mild violence (mostly Ryou killing fiends, so nothing that bad), but Kek does loose an eye in the Shadow Realm (hate to spoil that, but I'd rather add the disclaimer in case it'd bother someone). Also, there's a headless blow job in a later chapter, but that's specifically illusion magic, so it's not that bad, uh, right?***

Ryou lay on his bed. He had a little dragon made of light flying around his room. Each time his creation turned, there was a tinkle, like chimes in a soft breeze. Ryou remembered the first time he had summoned the little illusion out of lamplight and magic. He'd squealed in delight, clapping and laughing as he made the little dragon fly around. It couldn't move on its own, though. It wasn't alive, only a shape that moved and seemed to live as long as Ryou focused on it, like the dwarves from the Silmarillion. Ryou sighed and allowed the dragon to vanish in a burst of soft light.

He was bored.

He studied every type of magic that he could find. Most of it was preventing plague, or drought, or keeping negative people away, but once in awhile he found a spell that was fun to cast- like creating his little friend. He could make a cat, or a ferret, or a bird, any animal he could imagine, and he'd played with several, but the trick was old now, and he wanted something new to fill the sleepless hours that stretched long and lonely during the night.

Ryou jumped up and grabbed his salt pouch. He started drawing a circle. Then he used ash to draw specific symbols, and words, and designs that could make a grown man weep at the sight of them- but they didn't phase Ryou. Nothing phased Ryou anymore. He'd harbored a demon in his soul. No, not the thief whose ba had moved on with the other spirits of Kul Elna after the Pharaoh returned to the afterlife, but something worse. Although it was true that the thief had possessed his body, that wasn't nearly as bad as the evil emanating from the Ring itself. It had taken everything, everything Ryou had to keep that darkness from corrupting him as it had done the thief, and by the time Yugi fought the Ceremonial Duel, Ryou knew for a fact that nothing would ever scare him again, and nothing would ever hurt him again, because there was nothing worse than Zorc Necrophades in all the world that could try.

He opened a portal to the Shadow Realm.

He wasn't supposed to know the magic. He'd stolen a book from the tomb during the Ceremonial Duel and kept it, deciphering the hieratic and learning everything he could from the Shadow Alchemy inside. It was in that book that Ryou had discovered the truth behind the Items, the blood and soul sacrifices required to create them, the reason for the thief's rage. He also learned how to create demons and obtain immeasurable power, but just like with the Items, everything had its blood cost. The only spell Ryou considered "safe" to use was opening a rip into the Shadows themselves, and even that was questionable. If he didn't keep the salt intact he could enable fiends and monsters to enter the regular world, killing anyone too weak to fight them- and almost everyone was too weak to fight them.

Except Ryou.

He'd studied every branch of magic there was, mastered it all, and he needed something to do. The Shadow Realm wasn't a theme park; it wasn't meant for entertainment. Ryou knew that, and yet, and yet, he needed something new to fill the sleepless hours that stretched long and lonely during the night.

He stepped into the darkness. He surrounded himself with light, summoning it up from his inner heka, and went to explore the Shadows. At first Ryou saw nothing, and his heart sank. If there was nothing in the darkness for him to fight then there was nothing for him to do, and he yearned for activity, anything to distract him.

And he remembered things in the Shadows when he was sent there during Battle City, fiends, ghouls, unspeakable horrors that had delighted and thrilled him. He'd used up too much energy fighting them back then, near starved himself, but he was stronger now. He could play for hours before returning to his realm to recharge, a living hack and slash video game for him to explore.

Then fire caught Ryou's eye. Smoldering, red light surrounding graying flesh, and heat, and stench, and a wet, feral growl that stretched out into the void of the Shadow Realm. Ryou recognized Flamvell Fiend, gold chains clinking at the creature's hips. Ryou smiled. He thought of ice, and frigid air, and used heka to pull the sensation into his hand. He flung a spear of ice into the fiend's chest and watched it sink into the dark around them.

"That was too easy," Ryou spoke to himself just to hear a voice.

He'd been doing that more and more, talking to himself just to hear a voice. It was never the same with his friends after everything happened. His old friends remembered cursed tabletop games and comas, Yugi and the others remembered an angry thief in Ryou's body. He didn't really blame them. Nor did he blame the thief, not after learning that it took 99 sacrifices to create the Items, and remembering building the ruins of a small village for Bakura's final game against Atem. He didn't blame any of them, but they had still left him alone.

A Korot attacked Ryou with his trident, and Ryou dissolved the creature in a burst of light, as easy as he'd removed the dragon illusion when he'd tired of playing with it. They were too easy, even the monsters of the Shadow Realm were too easy now that Ryou knew how to fight them. There was nothing for Ryou to do. He thought about laying in the darkness and letting it have him, even dropped to his knees, feeling numb and empty.

A scream of rage caught Ryou's ears. He looked for the sound. It was, if nothing else, a distraction. Hearing it again, Ryou pushed back up to his feet and wandered deeper into the darkness. Another scream had him running, not with fear but excitement. There was something in the scream, the helplessness, the rage, the will to live despite the impossibility of it, that enticed Ryou. It was everything he could no longer feel hammered into a single, desperate sound.

And of all the dark, forsaken creatures he could find in the Shadows, it was Marik's other half that Ryou saw. Blood streamed down his limbs, his clothes were rags, and one eye was a gouged out pit, but Marik's doppleganger stood and fought and screamed with everything he had, and it was no meager battle. Ryou recognized an Ultimate Obedient Fiend, Darkness Neosphere, Raviel, Lord of Phantasms, and Hiquzin, the Supreme Fiend Lord- all amazing cards and all amazing demons to have to fight.

With a staff of light Ryou charged. His hair fluttered behind him as he ran. He caught the Ultimate Obedient Fiend in the throat, killing him quickly, but had to dodge and roll to avoid Neosphere's claws. Ryou started to laugh, bell-like and musical. It'd been too long since he felt his blood pump, since he had felt any true joy.

He killed Neosphere and Raviel, but saved Hiquzin for last, toying with him for a moment before dissolving him into dead shadow. Sweating and panting Ryou grinned, wiping droplets from his brow. Only then did he look at Marik's other half, who stood on his own two feet but swayed as if drunk.

"Ba … kura?" He asked, knees buckling.

He fought to keep upright, but he was running low on ba. His skin and hair were dim, as if the Shadows had leeched all the color from his physical form the way the sunlight will bleach an old photograph.

"I'm not the Ring Spirit, if that's what you mean."

"H-how? Why, are you…?"

Ryou shrugged, looking around. "I'm bored."

Marik's alter ego laughed, but it wasn't sweet or musical like Ryou's laughter. It was mad.

"Stay a little longer. Never boring here. There's always a fight."

"I'm sorry, but it is boring here. Those monsters hardly took any of my energy."

"Huh." The not-Marik collapsed to the ground. "I'm not sure how long it's been, but I think they've finally managed to take all of mine."

Ryou did some math. "It's been over five years."

"Well, at least I existed five more years," Marik's alter ego whispered, the lilac of his eye growing dull.

Ryou knelt in front of him. "You're dying."

"It's hard … to fight for five years. Tired now. Can't … can't anymore."

Something stirred in Ryou. From what he had heard, Marik's other half was nothing more than Raviel or Hiquzin, just another powerful fiend, but it didn't seem that way, not to Ryou. He brushed a stray hair out of the alter ego's face.

"If you could, would you want to live?"

"Pfff, of course you asshole. Everything I ever did was because I wanted to live."

"Even if you're stuck here? Even if you'd just die in another five years?"

"Yes." The alter ego growled. "Even in this dark, painful place I want to live as long as I can. I have a right to exist too!"

Ryou pulled heka into his hands. This time it was life and not ice that he summoned. He smoothed his hands through the other Marik's mane of hair.

"What are you doing?" He jerked away from Ryou's touch.

"Healing you."

"Why?"

Ryou slipped his hand back into his hair, massaging the alter ego's scalp, trying to heal both his crown chakra and his physical wounds.

"Because you wanted to live, so why not? Fighting is dull. I might as well use my magic for this."

"That … tingles."

Ryou nodded, giving the alter ego a deep scalp massage.

"It should feel like spearmint does on the tongue."

"Never tasted spearmint."

"Oh. Would you like me to bring you some? I grow just about every herb for rituals."

"You'd … come back? For me?" He looked at Ryou, his remaining eye still dull and fading.

"Yeah, I don't see why not? It'll give me something to look forward to. Want anything else?"

"Food!" He shouted, licking his lips with a long, dagger-like tongue. "Any kind. I'm always hungry here."

"Yeah, I remember feeling the same." Ryou nodded, lowering his hands to the other Marik's temples.

"That feels good." The alter ego half lidded his eye and his mouth grew slack.

"Oh good, that means the magic is working."

Ryou worked on his forehead and then dropped down to his neck and shoulders. The alter ego started to pant a little, and grip Ryou's shoulders as if for balance.

"It doesn't hurt, does it?"

"I thought existing meant hurting. This is the only real pleasure I've ever known . But this … is …"

Ryou reached the wings on the other Marik's back and he screamed in ecstasy, flinging his arms around Ryou and shuddering. Ryou let go, blushing and confused. He didn't think he'd done anything for that sort of response, and he felt strangely aroused by the sight of the alter ego's messy hair, flushed cheeks, and panting, rosy lips. Not only that, but the sound he'd made, and the feel of him grabbing Ryou and shuddering, sweet gods and fiends it felt nice. Ryou had never thought about dating before, never daydreamed about kisses or physical intimacy, so the fact that Marik's other half's reaction was causing Ryou's dick to swell was a little frightening for Ryou.

For once in his life he didn't know what to do. What was the best strategy? If he left, The other Marik would die. Ryou had to keep healing, but the thought of touching him again made Ryou feel hot, and aching, and tight in his belly and pants.

"Was it too much?" Ryou asked.

"It was amazing," he whispered.

"Not, um, awkward or, uh, n-not uncomfortable?"

"I could feel light. Inside me, for the first time." A tear rolled down his cheek from his good eye.

"Please don't cry." Ryou held his cheek and thumbed away the tear. "Here, let me see what I can do about your eye."

Ryou placed both palms over the other Marik's missing eye and starting concentrating his energy. The wound felt contaminated, infected with darkness. Ryou's hands burned as he tried to repair the damage.

It hurt. It hurt like searing darkness and screams and agony, but Ryou soldiered through the pain and kept healing.

"What happened? Why does this injury feel wrong?" Ryou gasped.

"The whole time I've been here I was never afraid … until today." he whispered as Ryou worked.

"Go on."

"I saw him, the true god of this place. I thought I was part of the darkness. I thought I wanted to serve it, but when I saw Zorc … I ran … I ran."

"It's okay," Ryou whispered, but he shuddered because he remembered what that presence felt like."

"He moves with the Shadows. Couldn't escape so I fought, but he only laughed and toyed with me. He took my eye and … ate it. Right in front of me, and left me to die. The others were coming to scavenge what was left. That's when you appeared."

"I'm sorry," Ryou kissed his palms as they rested over the other Marik's eye, adding empathy to his spell and making the magic stronger because of it. "I can restore your energy and repair what's damaged, but I can't create an eye."

"You're saving my life." He held both Ryou's wrists with his hands. "I'm not going to complain."

Ryou lowered his hands, slipping them into the other Marik's grip and looking at his face.

His sole, lavender eye was gleaming, the first signs of life seeping back into his body, but the other eye was a smooth, pink scar.

"I'm sorry." Ryou started to cry.

"Because I'm ugly?"

"No." Ryou held his face. "Because I couldn't fix everything."

"That doesn't make any sense." His face twisted in confusion.

"I thought I was better than everyone, that I could fix everything" Ryou confessed.

Loud cackling echoed in the darkness around them. Marik's other self held his stomach as he laughed.

"Why is it funny?" Ryou asked.

"Because everyone thinks you're a sweet little kitten, but you're a vain asshole like the rest of us."

"Oh." Ryou grinned, drying his tears. "I guess I am. The only difference is I don't want to hurt anyone."

"Have you tried it? You might like it." The alter ego grinned, reminding Ryou that he was indeed more creature than human.

But for some reason that didn't bother Ryou. Maybe it was because Ryou had spent so much time with the Ring that he hardly felt human himself anymore, so who was he to judge another creature? This monster in the Shadows was more like Ryou than any of the people he knew.

"You have other wounds," Ryou said, placing his hands on the other Marik's chest. His tank top was in tatters, so Ryou slid the rags away so he could focus on the cuts and gashes criss crossing all over the other Marik's chest.

"I'll try to heal it enough so that there aren't any scars when I'm done." Ryou looked up to the other Marik's face. "Except your eye, sorry, that was the best I could do."

He reached up and touched the mass of scar tissue where his left eye should be.

"I'm not Marik."

"I know."

He shook his head. "I used to think I was Marik. I was the real Marik and my other personality was a weakling that didn't deserve his own body, but we've been apart for too long. I don't feel like I'm him anymore." Another monstrous grin. "And I like scars."

"You'll like me, then." Ryou snorted, showing off his scarred hand.

The other Marik grabbed the hand, pulled it a little closer so he could see the salmon colored scar rising above otherwise white, white flesh.

"It's beautiful. Look…" he traced the lines. "It's almost like a star exploding before it dies."

"It's ugly." Ryou pulled his hand away, going back to healing the other Marik's torso.

"You said my face wasn't ugly."

"The scar looks painful, but your face is handsome." Ryou blushed as soon as he realized what he said.

"Do you say that to all the monsters lurking around the Shadows?"

"Oh my god, did you just make a joke?"

"I'm cruel, not humorless." He shrugged.

"Tall, dark, handsome, and has a good sense of humor. Wow, you're like a dream date." Ryou started laughing.

"Pfff, hell yeah I am. I can show you all the best sites the Shadows have to offer. Like that dark patch over there, and that other dark patch over there."

Ryou started to laugh. The happiness he felt welled up inside of him and leached into the healing spell. Ryou slipped his hands down to the other Marik's belly, avoiding his back for the time being. Nonetheless, pressing his hands to the bare, hard muscles in the other Marik's stomach didn't really help the flush in Ryou's cheeks.

"I'll bring the picnic lunch," Ryou tried to joke to take his mind off of the other Marik's body.

"Are you really going to bring me food?" he asked, licking his lips again at the thought.

"I said I would." Ryou nodded. "I promise."

"Then I won't try to kill you when I see you- since you're bringing me food."

"You couldn't hurt me even if you wanted to." Ryou laughed.

"Yeah, I saw how you took the others out …" his sentence trailed off, his expression lost in thought.

"I'm going to try heal the cuts on your back again. If it hurts, or feels too overwhelming, let me know."

"Okay." He nodded.

Ryou slid his hands back to the other Marik's shoulders. The other Marik gasped again, and held onto Ryou again as Ryou's fingers traced over his rough scars.

"Should I stop?" Ryou asked.

"I never want this to stop," the other Marik sighed, relaxing against Ryou's body.

Ryou's face burned, and he honestly didn't want to stop either. He liked the way the other Marik held him, and how their bodies felt when pressed together.

"Why your back?"

"Ahhh …" the other Marik sighed.

Ryou started to experiment, curiosity getting the better of him. If he smoothed his fingers over the soft, whole skin between scars, the other Marik settled down, but if he lifted his fingers up to the scars, the other started to writhe.

"It's only when I touch your scars."

"It feels like the sun's on my back," he muttered, sighing again and arching a little into Ryou's hold. "Also … like …"

"Like we should have gone on a few dates first?" Ryou tried laughing, but he was too nervous, and he hadn't had the guts to use the word erotic.

The other Marik was silent for a long time. He pulled back just enough to look at Ryou, blinking his good eye as he thought.

"Do you mean, this is what sex feels like?"

"I'm not sure, exactly, but from the way you're reacting … I think it's similar if not the same." Ryou's face burned even more at the direct question, and at having to answer it.

"Oh … I want to have sex, then."

"That's a little sudden!"

"I didn't mean right now!"

Ryou felt a little better the the other Marik looked as flustered and embarrassed as Ryou felt. He looked away.

"I meant in general. I… never liked the idea before because Marik never liked the idea, but … if that's how it feels, I wouldn't mind trying it some time."

"Well, if you go around killing people, you're going to have a hard time finding someone to sleep with."

"It's not like I'm ever getting out of the Shadows." The other Marik's face fell. "I'll never get to try anything. I'll never get to even try to live like a human- I'm stuck as a monster in the darkness."

Ryou combed the other Marik's hair with his fingers. He bumped their noses together to get the other Marik's attention.

"Hey."

"Hey what?"

"Want to go out on a real date?"

"I just told you-"

"But we really could have a picnic. I'll bring a ton of food, and a blanket, hmmm ..." Ryou paused in thought. "I'm not sure electronics will work in the Shadow Realm, but I could see if my laptop works? I could bring a movie and we can watch it together."

"You'd … want to? With me?"

Ryou smiled and nodded.

"But I'm a monster! I'd tear you to shreds if I was strong enough."

"But you're not." Ryou winked, then grew serious. "Would you really? Even now?"

The other Marik blushed. "Well not now. You're going to bring me food."

Ryou laughed. "Yeah, that's right. Don't bite the hand that feeds you."

The other Marik snapped his teeth near Ryou's hand, and they both started laughing. Ryou realized their faces had drawn close in the process, perfect kissing distance.

"You still have a few more injuries," Ryou said, staring at the other Marik's thick lips.

"You don't have to." He fidgeted with his own fingers to avoid looking at Ryou. "If it feels … like that, and you don't want to …"

"Actually, I like watching you." Ryou stared at the other Marik's fingers to avoid looking at him too. "It just seems rude."

"It doesn't bother me." He looked back up, Ryou could feel his stare on him. "Actually, if you like watching … that makes it better."

Ryou slowly lifted up his head to match the other Marik's gaze. They were both blushing and unsure of how to act, and Ryou thought this can't be the same alter ego that everyone was afraid of. He's a kitten. But then he remembered that the other Marik had referred to Ryou as a kitten, too.

"Would you like me to finish?"

He nodded, and Ryou held him for a moment, feeling like he needed to before he made the other Marik squirm and call out again.

"Fucking gods this is good," he sighed and buried himself deeper into Ryou's hold.

"I'm only hugging you."

"But it's as good as the other feeling."

That made Ryou's heart light up, and somehow turned him on even more. He could have stayed there for an hour, sitting in the darkness and holding its forsaken child, but Ryou was starting to feel the strain of the place on his soul. He'd spent a good amount of energy restoring the other Marik's ba and healing his wounds, and he'd have to go back to his room soon to eat and sleep and recover his own energy.

But before he left, he finished healing the last of the other Marik's injuries, keeping one hand on the ankh on the other Marik's back, while using the other to smooth down his legs until his lacerations were completely healed.

Then Ryou reached up and traced the rest of the other Marik's scars, enjoying the way he arched and moaned. Ryou keep tracing, not realizing what he was doing until the other Marik's moans settled down to heavy breathing and there were only mild, smooth lines instead of thick, harsh ridges left for Ryou's fingers.

"Oh!" Ryou shouted, dropping his hands away. "Oh, I'm sorry. I'm sorry, I didn't mean to-"

"Ryou, I told you I didn't mind." The other Marik sighed against his neck.

Ryou shivered at the sensation, still hyper-aroused from their experience.

"You're scars are almost gone."

"What? Is that why my back doesn't hurt?" He sat up and reached behind him, trying to feel his own back the best he can.

"I'm sorry. You said you liked scars. I had no right-"

The other Marik held Ryou's face and kissed him. Ryou acted on instinct, kissing back and deepening the kiss and starting a second one when the first ended.

"I'm not angry," he whispered next to Ryou's lips.

"Good." Ryou exhaled in relief.

"I mean at all." The other Marik looked at his hands, and arms, and legs, like he was expecting to see something. "I feel … things. Lots of things, but not angry."

"I-I was trying to heal your ba and chakras as well as the cuts. I figured you'd live longer that way."

"I don't feel deranged anymore, I don't feel-" a few tears slipped from his eye. "I killed people."

"I'm sorry." Ryou closed his eyes, feeling like he'd ruined the alter ego somehow, made him into something different without meaning to- like when Schmendrick turned the unicorn into a human, although in this case it was more like turning the Red Bull intro a human.

"Oh Ra, for the first time … I feel bad for what I did."

"I'm sorry," Ryou said yet again.

"I need to think." The other Marik buried his face in his hand. "I need to be alone for a while."

"Y-yeah, of course. I'm sorry."

"Stop." He looked up at Ryou. "Don't apologize."

"Sorry- I mean, okay. I won't."

"You're coming back, right? After I've sorted things out?"

"I'll be back tomorrow." Ryou nodded. "I'll bring so much food."

"And a movie?"

"Yes."

"Is it still a date?" He gave Ryou a shy smile.

"If you want it to be, but if you're mad, I'll just give you the food and lea-"

He kissed Ryou again, this time quick and desperate. Their lips pulled at each other, sucking, and Ryou felt some of his energy return to him from the act.

"I want it to be a date, so bring the movie."

Ryou smiled. "I'll bring two."