In the end, of course, Marik found out what Bakura truly was.

Not a teenager, not a man, not even human. The details were fuzzy and how much did it really matter? It had to be some kind of sick joke. He had seemed so… real.

So human.

It wasn't as if the spirit had ever lied about his past or identity, Marik had simply never asked. Marik hadn't been totally blind to the darkness within his partner, but chose to ignore it. They were both broken and flawed, whether they wore their scars inside or out was of no consequence.

But Marik wasn't angry, no, not even resentful. In some strange way he could empathize with the spirit, understand him. It wasn't all that hard to understand how the past lead to his current actions. Marik himself had felt the same need for revenge, directed towards the same person, the same, the same. They were so much alike.

The only thing Marik questioned was the time Bakura had spent with him. Had it all been a lie, a brilliant façade put on in order to fool everyone? If so, he had certainly fooled Marik.

Marik woke up in a panic, jolting out of sleep to face the dark bedroom. He had long been accustomed to uncontrollable nightmares, but this time it was different. He dreamt that Bakura was gone and had left silently in the night without a word. And now Marik was awake in an empty room and the other half of the bed was cold. He couldn't believe that Bakura would just abandon him, but doubt and fear tend to trump reason. Marik's chest heaved with ragged breaths, his lips dry. Where was Bakura?

The white haired boy walked into the bedroom. He looked like he had just come from the shower down the hall, his hair still dripping wet. "Marik, what…" He froze when he saw Marik kneeling on the bed, looking at him with wild eyes on the verge of tears.

"Bakura… had a dream that you left in the middle of the night.

The spirit sighed and wrapped his arms around Marik. "I'm not going to leave you." He kissed Marik softly, and held him tighter.

"Promise?"

"I swear. I may be a villain and a thief, but I'm not a liar."

What a lie that had been. Bakura had thrown it all away on a chance for revenge and lost.

Despite everything, Marik wouldn't have changed the choices he made. He wouldn't have taken back the time he spent with Bakura even if he had been given the chance.

Even if it was all a lie.

Even if his feelings had been one-sided.

Even if Bakura had been some kind of monster.

Even if…

Because he'd loved Bakura. Nothing else mattered.

The Bakura he'd know had felt emotion; pleasure and pain, misery and happiness, hate and… perhaps even love. All those lovely intangibles that make up a person. And yet, they called him a fiend, a monster, a demon.

So what did it mean to be human?

A/N: If I completely leave my Abridged Series influence out if it, I don't think Thiefshipping would ever work. 3,000-year-old demon possessing a teenager's body and hellbent on revenge meets sheltered teenage boy with a personality disorder and a screwed up family life who is also out for revenge... I just can't see it working out. Bakura dying kind of puts a kibosh on it anyway. It makes me a bit depressed thinking about it, honestly. If you have a different opinion though, I'd love to hear it!