Yami Bakura hadn't planned for Ryou's life to fall apart, that had been an unexpected bonus. The primary downside to those events was Ryou's subsequent dullness that made tormenting him no longer entertaining. Well, he didn't need such entertainment now that this body was finally his. He could smoke and drink as much as he wanted without Ryou begging and pleading him not to.

It also meant that all the barriers separating him from Marik were gone. Their lives became much better in the months following Ryou's crisis. Life was good, in the baddest way, and that was how they liked it. Sure, Amaya—that pesky ex-fiance of Ryou's—had texted yadonushi dozens of times and tried calling him dozens more than that, but they didn't care: they let his phone battery die, never caring to touch it. They had better things to do. They soon forgot about her entirely, caught up in the excitement of finally getting their wish of living together unrestrainedly.

Until one day, Amaya was at their door, looking mournfully guilty. Marik opened the door and let her in, and she stepped inside tentatively. Marik closed the door, and she turned, coming face to face with Yami Bakura and his menacing smile.

"I-I want to talk to Ryou," she stammered nervously. Looking around the apartment, she could tell that the place had gotten worse since she'd last seen it.

"Well, he doesn't want to talk to you," Bakura snorted derisively, crossing his arms as he glared at her. "I suppose I should thank you, though. Now that he's given up on life, I finally get the full control I always wanted."

"Given up?" she echoed faintly, eyes growing wide.

"Yes, you ungrateful bitch, he's given up on everything. It's wonderful, really. He turned over all his money to us, and I'm allowed to do whatever I want. He'll even still do the chores for us now and then, when we force him to."

"Ungrateful…?" May repeated, confused and disturbed by all that she was hearing.

Yami Bakura turned to face Marik, who joined him at his side, clinging to him in a way that made May uncomfortable. "What do you think, should I tell her?"

Marik nodded, his expression inscrutable.

"I throttled him, and he let me do it because we'd made a deal: if he let me practice my strangulation skills on him that one time, it would buy you three whole years of being safe from any direct or indirect harm from me. He let that happen to protect you."

As May reeled with this knowledge, Bakura grinned in a way that disturbed her, and took a step forward, leaving Marik behind. She stepped backwards as he continued advancing, her back soon bumping up against the door. She was trapped.

"These days, he doesn't care about anything anymore. I bet he wouldn't even notice if I violated our agreement." He leaned forward, and she lifted her hands to shove him away, but he grabbed her by the wrists and pinned her hands above her head. He squashed her body between his own and the door so that she couldn't struggle. She stared up at him with such horror and panic in her gaze that Yami Bakura couldn't help but revel in a sadistic laugh.

"Where's your Ryou now, hm? Oh that's right, you drove him away and you'll never see him again. Nobody ever will but Marik and I. The worst part for you is that he wants to stay buried in the shadows and the darkness. If I were holding him prisoner, you could go crawling back to Yugi and beg him to come over here and beat me in a duel to earn his freedom. But he's not a prisoner; he wants to be there, because of you."

He watched realization, guilt, and pain sweep across Amaya's features in rapid succession, and felt that familiar sadistic pleasure that he used to feel when tormenting Ryou. He increased the pressure in his grasp, and watched her writhe in panic and fear.

"Stop, let me go!" she gasped. This was more than she'd bargained for. It was only her second direct interaction with Yami Bakura, for Ryou had done his best to keep the evil spirit out of reach of Amaya, and though he'd warned her that the spirit was sadistic and evil, and she'd seen the evidence for herself, she'd never anticipated finding herself in the position of being his victim, especially not after beating him in a shadow game.

"I don't take orders from little girls," he crooned, his fingernails digging into her skin as he brought one hand to his mouth and bit into her finger, making her yelp with pain. "Hmm, too bad you'd be missed if we tried keeping you down here," he remarked casually, and May's knees turned to jelly, her stomach churning at the prospect.

"Please, can you try to call him?" she begged. "I need to talk to him immediately about something very important." She had missed Ryou terribly in the past half-year. She would wonder what he was doing, how he was getting along, if he was taking care of himself. She'd wonder if his yami was still hurting him, or if the cruel torture were being withheld from him, now that his association with Amaya had ended. If Bakura told the truth, however, it would mean that Ryou was worse than he'd ever been before. And it was her fault. After all, she was the one who'd been selfish: simply because she wasn't sure if she could handle the vicarious pain she experienced when he was hurt, she doomed him to more of the emotional and physical pain that he'd feared and hated most.

"Why should I? It wouldn't do any good; I doubt there's anything I could do to force him out of there now. It's almost as if he's banished his own soul to the Shadow Realm. Ironic, isn't it? After all of the times I tried to banish his soul from this realm and all the times he managed to hold his grip on life, he's finally chosen to relinquish it all on his own." Yami Bakura chuckled darkly into her hair, leering at her creepily. He bent his head, making as if to bite her neck, when he halted, almost flinching. He felt a stirring in his chest, a strong protest from his long-dormant host. He growled, then bit down hard on Amaya's neck, making her cry out. He'd bitten her hard enough to draw blood, and as he licked at the mark greedily, he felt Ryou suddenly seize control. It was such a surprise that his concentration slipped for a moment.

"No! You promised you wouldn't touch her!" Ryou yelled, clutching at his head as he stepped back, Yami Bakura fighting to regain control. He fell to his names as he shivered and struggled, the two souls locked in a furious battle inside their shared body.

"You should respect me more!" Bakura growled, furious with himself for letting his host surprise him and subvert his control. He was doing everything he could to maintain a handhold of power in the situation. He hadn't expected Ryou to be this strong after letting his soul waste away in limbo for so long.

"Get out of my head!" Ryou screamed, his body shaking in terror as his hands gripped his head desperately. He looked like he was in pain, and it was all Amaya could do to keep herself from bursting into tears. It was at this time that she briefly registered Marik's absence from the room. She didn't know when he'd left or where he'd gone, but she didn't really care. Ryou was her only concern.

His body had relaxed into a small, crouched ball on the floor, still shaking, but the storm was past, for the moment at least. She tentatively walked closer and knelt beside him, her mind scrambling for something appropriate to say at a time like this.

"You should leave, before he comes back," Ryou choked out, almost inaudibly. He was crying, and she hadn't even realized it before. She threw her arms around him, pulling Ryou's weak form into a tight embrace.

"I love you, Ryou. I can't bear to leave you again," she whispered, finally starting to cry herself. "I'm so sorry about what happened. I-I shouldn't have..." She couldn't bring herself to continue, but that was alright. They both still remembered all too clearly the day that Amaya had broken off her engagement with Ryou.

"It's not safe for you here," he insisted faintly. "He has too much power, and I gave it to him." He shuddered as he sighed, his arms finally wrapping around her in return. "If I were stronger, I wouldn't have let him have his way. I wouldn't have given up, and you wouldn't be in danger now..." He gasped suddenly, jerking away from her as his hands flew to his aching chest. The Millennium ring was there now, but it hadn't been before. It was impaling his chest, the indifferent prongs piercing his shirt as well.

Amaya cried out in panic and rushed forward to help him, only to be knocked back by a sudden blow that left her sprawled on her back on the floor. In the moment that it took her to get her grips on what was happening, Bakura had stood and approached her, smiling triumphantly down at her with a chilling glare.

"Looks like I win," he observed, then let out a malicious laugh. "Now get out, while I'm still feeling generous, or you'll never see daylight again."