Title: Never Knew
Fandom: Yu-gi-oh
Pairing: Yami Malik(Marik)/Ryou Bakura, Malik/Yami Bakura
Categories: Angst, Hurt/Comfort, Pre-slash, Romance, Sad Stories, Virgin
Length: epic (90,000)
Warnings: Character Death, Violence


Author on LJ: artemislawrence 
Website: Fanfiction.net Archive

Resources: Battle City Overview

Summary: Sidealong story with the Battle City Plotline. Strange how Ryou Bakura is never seen in Battle City. Strange how often Marik has the chance to pop into visitors rooms. When they meet, how will fate change for them?

Review: This is one of the best courtship fics I've ever read, as it is romantic, fluffy and heart-wrenching by turns. The story starts out with a rather dramatic first meeting, when Marik rescues Ryou from the shadow realm and then follows Ryou as he comes to trust and love Marik. Marik is of course a typical bad-boy with a habit of being overly forceful, obsessed with getting what he wants and yet devoted enough to Ryou that he plans elaborate moonlight dances and romantic dates.

I love how Artemis uses fanfiction to expand on canon while making the character seem even more real than they are in canon. The characters gets a bit melodramatic in places but the plot is sound and the details she weaves into the story are amazing.

Unfortunately, there is no happy ending as this isn't a fix it fic and Marik is banished to the shadow realm at the end of the Battle City Arc, but the story is hopeful and beautiful despite or perhaps because of that fact.

Never Knew