"A power the Dark Lord knows not…" may or may not have been shorthand for "a power the Dark Lord tried to control, which backfired miserably and slapped him in the face before leaving in a fit of rage." Yeah, "knows not" is definitely shorter.

Soul magic had always been one of Tom Riddle's great loves. Something about the dark, forbidden nature of what made a person a person attracted him like a moth to a flame. So, when he found a chapter in an ancient magical text about the Shadow Mages of far-off Egypt, his curiosity was peaked to almost unendurable levels.

Magic that could rip apart the soul with surgical precision, sending one part to the afterlife while leaving the rest to serve its master eternally as nothing more than a monster, or convert the raw power contained in a soul to create a seal powerful enough to hold a spirit of destruction… Tom Riddle wanted that magic.

After his second birth, Lord Voldemort decided he still desired it. The only problem was that Shadow Mages had been extinct for well over three thousand years. No schools for their kind for him to terrorize, no higher authority for him to infiltrate, no sign of the dreadful dark magic he craved. He grew more irritable by the day (though the fruitless search was only one of many troubles that caused his bad temper), raging inside as he wanted down to the edges of his tattered bit of soul.

Until, finally, word reached his ears.

Rumors of soulless victims followed one person, a Ryou Bakura. On the surface a polite, rule-following Muggle boy, son of a Squib mother and raised ignorant of his heritage. Below that… Those who haunted the midnight streets spoke with fear of a white-haired mage with maniacal laughter and a complete disregard for human life, stealing as he pleased from who he pleased. He carried no wand but worked dark, terrible magics; leaving those in his wake screaming and begging as they writhed in mental prisons of their own making. The Dark Lord doubted these rumors, somewhat. How could one tiny squib-descendent child, raised ignorant of magic, possibly control the dark power that Shadow Magic was rumored to be?

Nevertheless, it was the only word he had received in months. He would arrange to meet this… Ryou… and see if the tales were true.

Living alone was normally considered lonely. And it usually was, unless, like Ryou Bakura, you weren't actually living alone.

Ryou scanned his small apartment out of habit.

Dinner simmering on the stove? Check.

Floors vacuumed, sheets washed, laundry folded and put away? Check.

Ancient Egyptian spirit sprawled out on his couch watching a crime drama show? ...Check.

Semi-transparent and invisible to normal eyes, the spirit reclining on smooth white leather and occasionally shouting obscenities at the TV or muttering about inaccurate blood spatter was far from most people's perceptions of a Thief King. Somewhere along their crazy life the two had worked out an almost peaceful coexistence.

"Yadonoushi! I need the body tonight. Think I'll show these idiotic producers what a REAL crime scene looks like…"

… Like he said, almost peaceful.

"Is that the only reason you want to kill someone?" His therapist would shit bricks if she heard this conversation, but ignoring Bakura like she suggested had never done him any good. He had always ended up waking up in some compromising position, with his pockets full of stolen goods and a cackling thief in the back of his head. Talking to him was better.

Bakura scowled at his other half as Ryou sat down by his head and absentmindedly relocated a drink to a coaster.

"The blood spatter was all WRONG! And you could SO tell the autopsy was fake, blood doesn't flow like that after twenty-four hours congealing! So, obviously, they need to see what a real dead body looks like. Tell me Yadonoushi, where can I find the producers that created that awful show?"

"I believe that show was American. You'd have to go to Hollywood for that, and I don't think even you could manage to make it there in one night. Remember our agreement?" Bakura huffed irritably and shoved Ryou off the couch. (He didn't squeak at that. Really!)

"Fine. I'll just go…" Ryou looked at his other half, concerned. Bakura didn't usually stop like that mid-rant…

The weird cold-but-hot sensation of his yami returning to the Ring and reinforcing their bond flowed through him at the same time a sharp knock came at his door.

/Tread carefully, hikari./

Ryou swallowed as he went to answer the door.

"Can I help you-"

"Stupefy!"

The world went dark, and the last thing Ryou remembered was Bakura swearing and snarling as he tried to break the magic's hold.

Lord Voldemort stared disdainfully at the small body slumped in the hold of two of his Death Eaters. This was the Shadow Mage he had spent months searching for? The reports hadn't done him justice. Far from an intimidating figure, the slender, almost femininely beautiful boy didn't look capable of intimidating a butterfly; much less ripping a soul into pieces. Well, maybe it was a mistake…

The boy's eyes snapped open.

Both Death Eaters fell back with choked screams, clutching their heads as magic darker than anything Lord Voldemort had ever felt lashed out at them. The boy stood to his full height, swiping a hand across the corner of his mouth.

Blood-red eyes met blood-red eyes and the Dark Lord's reptilian blood ran cold. Ages of hate and anger lingered behind those eyes. Dark tendrils of pure shadow rose from the floor to circle the boy's feet lovingly, and the Dark Lord practically salivated as he rose from his seat.

"Shadow mage, it is an honor to welcome you to our circle." The young man gave a sharp laugh, eyes darting to the wizards surrounding them.

"Somehow, I am not feeling the welcome." He hissed in a voice much darker and raspier than expected. One pale, slender hand came up to grip the golden ring hanging on a leather thong around his neck. That curious, Egyptian-styled ornament had burnt the hands of his Death Eaters when they tried to remove it.

"Ah, yes… I apologize for my agent's actions. They were unnecessarily rough, but I'm sure you understand, we could not take chances with a mage of your power and… reputation." The white-haired boy bared his teeth in a parody of a grin and spread his hands.

"Afraid I would rip your souls from your body and give you, screaming and begging for mercy, to the Dark?" Several uneasy shifts from his minions. He would have to reeducate them on who controlled their fate later.

"We did not wish for you to incapacitate us before you heard our… proposal." He descended from his dais and approached to stand closer to the mage. In this range he could feel the magic that radiated off of the boy, touching every bit of darkness in the room and extending past his senses, to the fabled other realm the Mages touched in legend. A delighted shiver stroked its way down his spine. A white eyebrow lifted as the mage gave him a look that spoke without words. The boy added them anyways.

"And now that you have harmed my… me… you seriously expect me to be more cooperative?"

"You have barely even tasted our power. It would do you well to cooperate with us, young mage."

He threw his head back and laughed.

"YOUNG?" The boy began a slow stalk around the Dark Lord, forcing him to continuously turn or else let the boy have free access to his back. "You snake-faced idiot, I am over three thousand years old. I have seen more evil than you will see in your pathetic lifetime. I have seen an entire village cursed down by the darkest magic known to mankind. I have faced Ammit while my torn soul was judged unready to be weighed and cast adrift to time, forever seeking its other half. I have sent thousands to the Shadows, screaming for mercy and granting it to not one. I revel in the blood of the innocent. What, in the name of all the gods, could you possibly do to scare me?"

By this point they were nose-to-nose. The entire room held its breath. Red eyes under white eyebrows narrowed.

"I can feel your soul, darkling." He hissed softly. "Every torn edge, ragged and screaming. Every thread that should bind you together broken apart. Be careful that you don't break too many."

Voldemort took a step back. The mage smirked.

"I'm glad you now know the seriousness of your transgression. But, you must understand… I cannot let this impudence go unpunished. Now the only question is, how, exactly, should I enact my vengeance?" The mage's tongue flicked over razor-sharp canines. His Death Eaters retreated backwards, many raising their wands defensively.

Mad laughter bubbled from the mage's chest. "Ah, I know. You who have ripped your soul apart… Would you wish to feel it whole again? To sew the ragged edges back together?" As he spoke, shadows began to wind up Voldemort's feet. A strange feeling began in his chest, something that burned like suffocation and salt in a fresh wound. Something just beyond his reach, dearly desired but always just beyond his fingertips.

"As much as you might desire to be whole again, the Millennium Ring has no such power. The ring can only find, and drive you in the direction of what you seek." A cruel smile curved Bakura's lips. "For as long as your soul remains separate, the magic of the Shadows will remind you of what you have lost. This… is your Penalty Game."

The white-haired man began to fade into dark mist.

"Trouble me again, and I will not be so lenient."

Feeling the pain of his ripped soul renewed with every breath, and losing the promise of dark power he had desired for so long, finally broke the Dark Lord's mind. He screamed, a terrible inhuman sound, before drawing his wand and lashing out blindly at his followers. Senseless with rage he cursed them with every dark punishment he knew. Every other disappointment paled beneath this wrath, because now…

He would never have what he wanted.

Outtake! (Inspired by Bakura's habit of leaving Ryou to wake up in compromising positions…)

Consciousness returned slowly to Ryou, the morning sun shining into his eyes. Well aware of Bakura's lack of self-preservation instincts, Ryou gently moved each limb to check for injuries before attempting to rise. Nothing felt broken, no new cuts that he could feel, just the general burn of hard exercise and the soreness of a few fresh bruises. An easy night then.

With a sigh he turned over and snuggled into the pillow, wanting to savor the quiet for a little longer. The thief was surprisingly silent in the back of his head. The bed was soft and surprisingly… warm? What was going on?

He opened his eyes and promptly sat upright with a yelp… startling the young man next to him into wakefulness. The blond-haired African man sat up, utterly unashamed of his nakedness and giving him a sultry smile.

"Good morning, Beautiful."

Ryou scrambled backwards and promptly fell off the bed. Bakura was laughing hysterically in his soul room, and the hikari cursed him with all of his limited profane vocabulary, letting his head thump to the floor helplessly.

He just HAD to have a yami with a sick sense of humor…

Author's Notes:

Okay, it's almost 2:30 in the morning so I'll try to keep this short. (Please excuse typos and plotholes. This bunny has been chewing me for a while and I wanted to get it written.)

The feeling Ryou gets when Bakura returns to the ring... if you're like me, and prone to passing out when you get overheated, you'll understand this. For me, there's a few moments right before I faint where I feel both hot and cold- mostly, my forehead and cheeks feel hot while every other part of me breaks out in chills. That's what I imagine that sensation to feel like.

Moldy-wart throwing a temper tantrum (egged on by magic essentially making him live with chronic pain, without relief, for the rest of his life) is no fun at all. (Unless you're Bakura and are snickering at him.)

The outtake... yeah. No, they didn't actually have sex! My thought process is that Bakura paid someone to sleep next to his Hikari, just so they could wake up together and he could make Ryou panic. Also, the young man I had in mind?... Shamelessly, Fire Emblem from Tiger and Bunny. (Younger, and blonde, and not superpowered, but that attitude.)

Feel free to PM me or leave a review with any questions you might have. Hope you enjoyed!