"What I wanted?" The laugh is cruel and with a touch of insanity; the child had not come out of that trauma unscathed. It takes a cruel life to make a cruel man and the thief has known nothing of kindness since this very night.

The ground is hard under his knees, the rock and sand warm from the day and from the fires, but he doesn't care. What matters is the Pharaoh, that detestable presence who looks up at him with such deep eyes. Why is he even here? To taunt the thief? To feel the emotions that Bakura has long since blocked out of himself? To be a beautiful little sacrifice, offering himself up when he knows it'll do no good?

"And let you ascend to the afterlife?" The words are growled out, angry and bitter. "A paradise my people will never know?"