Summary: Yugi, Malik and Ryou say their nightly prayers.

The first prayer (the first four lines) is a prayer everyone knows and it doesn't belong to me.

The second prayer (the last four lines) however, does belong to me!

I know this is kind of a religious fic, I mean, not really, but it is a prayer to God but it's not something big. I'm not really sure what I wanted to say, I just don't want anyone telling me that I sinned - because I don't really care. ^^;;;

- - -

Please

- - -

+ Now I lay me down to sleep +

Yugi Motou grinned sleepily as he trudged into his bedroom, his big fuzzy bunny slippers bounced gently with each step. The occupant who received the grin smiled back as he watched his young charge slowly get down on his knees beside his bed. The small boy clasped his hands together and silently he began to pray.

+ I pray the Lord my soul to keep +

"Watch over my grandpa and my friends: Yami, Joey and Tristan, Tea and Mai, Duke, Serenity and even Seto. Please give Mokuba good dreams tonight." Yugi closed his eyes, "Please protect Ryou and even Malik on this night, please keep them all from harm." He whispered, "Please show Bakura and Marik what they've done, thank you, Amen." With that Yugi slipped out of his slippers and jumped into bed. "Good night Yami."

"Good night Yugi." The ancient spirit replied, turning out the light.

+ If I should die before I wake +

Across the city Malik Ishtar was also on his knees in the darkness of his bedroom, praying to whatever gods listening to hear his pleas. A sob escaped his bruised lips as the cold laughter echoed harshly around him. He shivered violently from the coldness in his room, it didn't help that he'd been stripped of his clothes and had lost a fair about of blood.

"Do you really think any god would listen to your pitiful cries?" The darkness around him seemed to hiss. "They've all turned their backs on you."

"P-please Azamah!" Malik whimpered.

+ I give the Lord my soul to take +

"P-please Azamah, what Malik?" A figure emerged from the blackness, directly in front of the Egyptian boy, who huddled in fear in the middle of the almost empty room. Long thing fingers gently trailed through Malik's red tinted blonde hair. Malik shuttered, then gave a sharp cry as the deceivingly strong digits grabbed a handful of Malik's hair and yanked roughly. Malik was hauled to his feet and held at eye level to eyes that mirrored his own. "Please Azamah? Spare my life?"

+ Now I lay me down to rest +

Brown eyes shot open as a creak sounded throughout the room. The figure - a small boy - began to breathe faster, the panic and fear seizing his mind. He could feel it - there was someone else in the room. Closing his eyes, Ryou Bakura tried to calm himself. For the darkness could smell his fear. He should have known! He should have known that it had been a trick! The fiend had told him to go to sleep - and not to forget his prayers.

Ryou whimpered. It had been a horrible assessment - one that he had failed miserably at.

+ I fear I've failed his final test +

A strong hand wrapped around Ryou's thin neck and plucked him right from his bed. "Bakura! Please!" He choked as he clung to the fiend's hand.

"Please what Ryou? Please what?" The ancient tomb robber asked calmly, as if they were casually speaking, "Please don't kill you? Please spare your pathetic existence?" Bakura questioned, as if a curious child. "Why?" He wondered, tilting his head with childlike innocence.

Ryou knew the innocence was a lie. "B-because!" He stuttered as he was pushed on his back so he was lying across his bed. The spirit straddled his waist and both hands met at the young boy's throat. "I'm a part of you! If I die, then you do too!" He whimpered.

Bakura paused for a moment and his hands loosened, just enough for Ryou to breathe. Then, to the pale boy's absolute horror, the fiend shrugged, "So?"

+ As I watch my star's dying light +

Malik cried out as he was pinned to the floor. He knew he deserved some punishment - but this was too much! He had done some pretty cruel things in his life, but he would have never done anything like this! At least when he killed someone - it was swift and without much torment.

He was always the first to admit that he was not an innocent, but that didn't mean he was completely corrupted. He had kept some purity and he could slowly feel that fading away as the darkness knelt by him.

"Kill me." Malik puffed, his energy completely drained. He didn't know how long he'd been struggling, how long he'd been afraid. But it was too long and he had given up, "Please Azamah.Marik.just kill me." He whispered, unable to find his voice.

Cold eyes watched the boy lay limply across the floor, the body - even in the dark was turning black and blue, and that sparkle, that sparkle that he hated so much, was finally beginning to dim. Victory! Darkness had crushed the light!

With a final careless shrug, the darkness smirked, "Okay."

+ I know my life will end tonight +

"Yami!" Yugi Motou cried out in his sleep, sitting up in his bed. The spirit of the ancient pharaoh sat on the side of the bed, cradling the small boy until he fell asleep once more. Sighing to himself, the spirit gazed out the window at the starlit sky, his eyes resting on twin stars shining brightly against the blackness side by side.

As crimson watched, they slowly began to fade, until finally, they had burnt out.

- - - The End

- - -

Azamah - Majesty, greatness

- - -

Yeah, yeah, I always say how much I hate it when Bakura beats up on Ryou, yeah well I was in a bad mood and needed to torture someone, so why not Ryou AND Malik?

Oh, and about Malik being naked, it might have been rape and it might not have been, personally, I didn't actually think Marik had done anything to him, I just wanted Makkykins naked. *shrugs*