The moment Bakura had returned, Malik lept from the couch he was on and leaped at the thief, wrapping his arms around him as the other stumbled slightly. The thief, in question, returned the embrace, but nonetheless turned to Kaiba when the CEO mentioned Joey. The look in his eyes... Malik broke from the hug, watching as Seto slowly picked up the card from the ground, unable to think of anything to say.

Ra be damned... Bakura's expression shifted, a knowing stare coming over him as Atem came into the room from behind him. "I didn't know," he said under his breath, before falling silent again. Not a clue that the 'mutt' would end up turned into a 'card' when he returned.

As Atem came in and looked past the two, he initially held a weak, but partially cheery expression on his face. "Kaib-" He froze however, the smile quickly faded as he spotted the card. "Oh dear Ra," he muttered under his breath. A wave of guilt came over him as he recalled the ritual that he would have used had he caught the poisoning in time. It would have been simple, something that could have prevented all of this...

But as he walked over, he knew full well that had he attempted that during the time that the others left for the Shadow Realm, the preparations would have taken too long and Joey would have died. As he moved, he attempted to ignore the glare that Kaiba was sending him, instead listening as the CEO turned to hand him the card. "So... You're Atem," he said with an expression of sorrow hidden beneath his usual cold 'poker face'. As Atem took the card with wide eyes, Kaiba narrowed his and continued. "A few years ago," he began, "This would have all been some twisted, nightmare-ish hallucination in my opinion. A sick dream that I wasn't waking up out of." He clenched his fists, watching as the teen that was, from what he could tell, eye to eye with him in terms of height stared at the card. "Something tells me you're the only one capable of this other than him," he said as Bakura briefly tensed. "But you WILL do it. Summon him, 'Pharaoh'," he said with a sneer. "And now."

He became silent, eyes drifting towards Bakura and Malik as the tomb robber merely looked back with the same expression he'd gained when he saw the card. "You should do as he says, Pharaoh." The teen continued to remain silent as Bakura pulled his partner close, staring at the card with a look not unlike someone who had failed a dear friend. Finally, turning the card to a clear space on the ground, he steeled himself and regained a stern expression. "IW," he called in Egyptian, his voice as powerful as it had been as a pharaoh 3000 years before, "CANIS WARRIOR, LV0!" He winced as the card vanished in a blinding light, appearing to crumble in his hands as 'something' shot to the floor. He grabbed his arm, holding it steady as he bit his lip; this needed to be a permanent summon, he told himself. Long lasting, enough that the only thing sending him back to that place would be a fatal wound!

The light faded as Joey's form was revealed, looking around with a raised eyebrow as the taller collapsed to the ground in exhaustion. "Nyeh..." He blinked, turning to each of the others before frowning slightly. "Was... There a delay in th' door 'r somethin'? It took a while tah get here..."

"Katsuya..." Kaiba stared, before regaining his composure and usual 'stare' with a blink. It had worked, he thought to himself with a mental shake of the head. It had gone against all known laws of science and logic, and yet it had still worked.

He was pulled from these thoughts when the dog decided to yell at him for his efforts. "Hey! I told yah not teh call me that!"

"Whatever, Mutt," he said with a snort. Things never changed, it would seem. The CEO crossed his arms, watching as Malik moved to pull the passed out form of Atem to a couch as he glared at Joey.

"Pssht!" The dog turned, Malik dropping his voice to a cautious whisper. "Joey, you're gonna wake up everyone in the house!" As he adjusted Atem's fairly heavy 'dead weight', he turned to the pair with a smirk. "Just skip the bickering and make out already, that or go to sleep!"

Bakura smirked, leaning over to Malik as it grew into a grin. "Making out..? That gives me an idea..." A few seconds later, he was smacked over the head by the teen, wincing, but still smirking as he moved to take a seat in a nearby chair.

While this was going on, Kaiba merely rolled his eyes, before looking at Malik in a way that made it seem as if he was willing him to die on the spot. "Actually, I intend to leave home in the next hour," he said, seemingly unaffected by the standard exhaustion that came with traveling in the Shadow Realm. "Provided someone agrees to come," he added, giving a glance at Joey as he moved on. "After all, I doubt that an exchange can really be possible after all of... This," he finished, distaste clear in his voice.

"Hn..." The dog frowned, taking a seat on the couch before removing his helmet to scratch his head. What was under it was essentially a dog's head with his hair on it- though his ears, which would ordinarily point upwards, seemed to fold over slightly due to the helmet he'd been wearing. His frown deepened as he set the helmet down on his lap, pondering Kaiba's words; he had a point after all. The exchange was... Pretty much impossible now, wasn't it? Unless... He looked up, a look of dawning realization on his face as he was about to ask Bakura something. At least, he was, before Kaiba's words made him frown yet again, as well as duck down when the teen messily ruffled his hair.

Bakura had been looking at the dog since the helmet came off, smirking as Kaiba did this. "Nice ears Mutt," the CEO said, ignoring the squawk-like sounding complaints as he stopped ruffling the dog's hair.

The thief guessed what Joey had been about to ask, shrugging as he stood up and headed for the stairs. "If you want a human body soon enough, we'll need a few thousand dollars and the pharaoh awake," he said as he glanced over to Kaiba. "However," he added, frowning at the ex-pharaoh's slumbering form, "Something tells me that won't be for a while."

From the couch, Seto scoffed. "Hmp. So long as it's possible, I can wait a few hours. And money is no problem... Provided I get something in return," he added as an after thought. It was almost a cover in fact, and he seemed to deliberately be avoiding Joey's gaze as he said this.

Joey in question rubbed his head. "What he said."

"Well... In the meantime, try this on for size." Bakura smirked, pulling out a deck of cards and searching through it a moment. A few seconds later, he tossed one to Joey, the dog looking at it curiously.

"Spellcaster Illusion..?" He frowned, pointing at the card as he spoke. "What th' heck is this for?"

He rolled his eyes, before explaining. "It's an illusion, you moron. Picture yourself as, to be blunt, 'yourself' for a moment. And make sure to focus your energy into it," he added, watching as Kaiba observed with skepticism.

Joey shrugged, gripping the card tight as he leaned back on the couch. "Alrigh', alrigh'... Whatever works, but this better not hurt as much as it did in the Shadow Realm!" As he said this, Kaiba appeared to tense a brief moment before returning to his usual stare. For a few seconds, nothing happened, Joey shutting his eyes. However, just as he asked if anything had happened, it glowed slightly, before a 'wave' of light rippled over him. "...Incredible," Kaiba found himself saying as the card did its work.

The others in the room stared for a few moments, but in the end, the conscious Egyptians decided, nothing would ever likely be as incredible as the look on Kaiba's face when the illusion from the card successfully re-created a solid form of Joey's human body. Bakura smirked, before moving to leave for some sleep. "Now then," he said as he walked, "Keep that thing on you at all times, and the illusion will stay." As the dog attempted to keep the flurry of 'thank-yous' he was shouting to a reasonable volume, the thief merely laughed. "As long as you don't hug me Mutt, I'll refrain from stealing that card back."

"Tch," he said with a frown, "Like I'd do somethin' like THAT." While he 'pocketed' the card, Kaiba merely snorted before remaining silent. There wasn't really much to say right now- and that being the case, he thought as the dog continued, he mind as well just not say anything at all. "Heh heh... Looks like I'm stayin' after all," the teen said with a grin, before looking back to Kaiba. "Sorry if yah thought you were takin' me back, 'rich-boy'... Business calls, righ'?"

As Kaiba ignored the next comment from Malik ('Now you can go make out, or whatever else you guys do!'), he shook his head. "As if 'business' is restricted to Japan, Mutt." He moved to leave the room, arms at his sides as he continued. "I can do plenty using the computer. Which reminds me," he added with a frown, moving past Bakura to the hall before turning back. "I need to contact Mokuba before he starts digging through Japan with a steamroller for me." He smirked, leveling a gaze at Joey as the blond paled. "You, Mutt, can bring the rest of my bags to my room."

For a moment, it looked like he was going to respond rudely, but, again for a moment, the dog blinked as he caught a certain 'look' in the billionaire's eye. Inwardly grinning as he realized the intent behind the comment, he quickly returned to his usual practice of bantering. "Hey! I ain't here teh carry your luggage!" Joey hopped off the couch, running after the CEO as he turned and headed upstairs. "Get back here!"

As the pair took off, Bakura sent a smirk to Malik, before walking back to where the boy was standing. "Well," he said as he pulled the teen close, eliciting a wide-eyed look of shock for a brief moment as he chuckled. "Now that we're alone..."

"Oh-ho..! No no no no no. No," he said, as he nodded over at the thief. "What are you going to do if he wakes up, tell him tha- Mn!" He flinched briefly as Bakura roughly pressed his lips against Malik's, the teen on the couch not even moving an inch. "Mnng..." He struggled a moment, before soon melting into the kiss and breaking away for air. "Gods and Goddesses 'Kura," he said with a smirk. "I swear it, if I didn't love you I'd have to beat the ever loving crap out of you..."

The thief laughed, before leaning over the teen slightly with a soft grin. "I don't know about 'ever loving'... But I'm sure you would have." He kissed the former tomb-keeper's forehead, before smirking. "Now, I can either take you here, on top of the pharaoh, or we can go to your room..." As he said this, he frowned, drawing back as Malik gave him a glare. "What?"

Malik merely pointed to the couch, the thief blinking as he turned to see a fully awake Atem, the teen blinking at them as he rubbed his eyes with a yawn. "Did I miss anything," he said with a smile- it was actually a fairly creepy expression, Bakura thought to himself, unsure if he should congratulate the ex-pharaoh for the achievement or simply treat him as he normally would. Nonetheless, as Malik turned a bright shade of red, the thief simply laughed.

"Actually," he said with a grin, "We were about to- Ghn!" He frowned as a hand was slapped over his mouth, its owner growing even more red as the teen frowned.

Atem merely chuckled, before pulling his legs in to sit cross-legged. "It's fine... Not a problem. Although," he said as he smiled, this time sincerely, "Next time, you should probably get to the bedroom before starting."

If it was possible, Malik flushed even more, before ducking away from his partner as the thief ruffled his hair. "See," he said with a frown, ignoring Bakura's chuckling, "I told you!"

He rolled his eyes, smirking as he kissed the blond's head again. "So you did, but did it really change anything? I need to talk to the pharaoh- go upstairs, and I'll meet you in a few minutes." Malik blinked, still red as he smirked knowingly and left the room, Atem's laughter growing a little louder as the blond left.

After Malik was out of audible range however, he grew serious again, turning to face Bakura in silence. Eventually, he spoke, a look of disbelief on his face as he shook his head. "What in the name of Ra led you to the conclusion that the Shadow Realm was the answer to Shadow Sickness..?" It was ironic really- at the time of diagnosis, Bakura's split second and likely exasperation induced decision was actually the best one.

The thief sat down, frowning as he crossed his legs and arms. "Hn! If I waited for you pharaoh, he really would have died. And you see," he added with a light smirk, "As much as I enjoy seeing you squirm, I'd rather not resort to something so petty as 'death by shadows'. Besides, no doubt that any other plan would have taken twice as long..." He trailed off, before his smirk grew. "So really, you should in fact be thanking me for making the decision."

"No, no..." Atem shook his head, a smile on his face. "No, I wasn't berating you... If anything, that was the best solution." He paused momentarily, before explaining. "You see, the ritual that would have forced his 'Ka' back into his soul would have taken hours to prepare, and given how soon you were forced to leave after diagnosing the disease..." The teen sighed, smile vanishing as he turned away. "I owe you far more than a simple 'thanks', for what you did Bakura. You caught something that I should have spotted hours ago... And for that, Ra only knows how much I owe you."

Bakura smirked, before leaning back on the couch. "Damn straight, 'you owe me'. Don't think I did this for him, Atem," he said with an attempt at his usual air of sarcasm and detachment. "I only did this so that you wouldn't have another hissy fit."

The smile returned, and after a light chuckle, Atem also leaned back. "Whatever your intentions were, I still thank you." Turning his head to look at the ceiling, he continued with a sigh. "Rest assure Bakura, one day, I will repay you for this." Bakura blinked, giving the teen an odd look as he caught the severity in his tone. Just slightly awkward, he decided as he turned back to look at the ceiling as well. Just... A little. The thief blinked as Atem continued. "I just hope he doesn't hate me for how late I was," he added, voice scarcely more than a mutter as he spoke. "Now that his body is entirely made of shadows, a flesh body is impossible... All it would essentially do is re-create his Ka at this point..."

"Hn," he said with a frown. "So you can't do the pounds of chemicals ritual for him then." He scoffed, rolling his eyes. "It would figure that it wasn't that easy..."

Atem nodded, sitting up again. "No, I can't... You were a spirit. True, your 'Ka' was still considered a body, but because it wasn't 'physical' by this world's standards, and because you had already died, you were still technically a ghost. Regardless of residing in the Shadow Realm. Joey however," he said with another sigh, slumping slightly from the guilt. "Is completely shadow. 'Shadow Sickness', you see, is a disease that kills its victims by turning them into, as the name implies, shadows. However," he said, turning to look at Bakura with a more severe expression, "It is not the shadows that do this directly. Rather, the loss of physical organs, and other necessary tissues, that have already evaporated into shadows that kills them. It strikes the brain first, moving slowly before completing the conversion of the head and moving down. It's an extremely slow process, that would normally take days, or months even, to complete. But," he said, frowning slightly, "If one were to expose the victim to shadows, the process would speed up. As time sits at a standstill there, and shadows themselves are obviously tied to it, the disease would be able to move rapidly enough for the lack of a brain, heart, or any other organ that is converted, to affect the still human body. In a sense," he finished, "You can accurately say that rather than dying and likely being devoured by Ammit when the shadows weigh the heart down, the body would be completely converted into Shadows, not be killed, and thus become a 'Duel Monster' in the most basic of terms."

The thief frowned. "Meaning that his body is just as solid as our own... Hn! It would figure." As Atem moved to head upstairs, Bakura pulled him back, frowning. "One more thing- while in the Shadow Realm, the Mutt's 'Ka' came with a 'protector', something that called the mongrel his 'charge'." He pressed on, leaning against the couch again. "I don't suppose that the one who served time in the afterlife with 'Thoth, God of Wisdom' would know the answer to that, now would he," he asked sarcastically.

"A 'protector'?" Atem blinked, ignoring the comment on Thoth (Quite honestly, the god was a bit of a stiff). Taking his seat again and bringing a hand to his chin, he gave the thief a curious glance. "Could you describe him?"

He blinked, before frowning. "How to describe him... I suppose you could say he was entirely made out of smoke. Claimed to be called Grim, or 'grimmy' or something..."

Atem blinked. "A shadow made out of smoke..." Come to think of it, the teen thought, there had been a shadow or sorts emanating from Joey's sword when he'd been in his 'card form'. He thought back, mind drifting to memories of the 'Fields'. "Now that I think about it," he said with a light, searching frown as he recalled a 'bird' he'd met, "There was someone who had a partner similar to that in the area I resided in at Aaru." He turned back from where he'd been staring at the wall in thought, continuing. "He took the form of a large toothed bird, apparently from an 'archtype' known as 'The Fabled; in fact, he was required to meet with any others of that 'archytype' each week." The teen coughed, before getting back on subject. "'Rubyruda' as he called himself, or 'Ruda' rather, had with him a small imp who called himself his 'Protector'. He was quite small however, only about two feet tall..." He rubbed his head, laughing a few moments as he went on. "And to top it off, for all that he tried to keep Ruda from doing anything potentially dangerous, he failed miserably for it. He was quite paranoid."

Before Bakura could say anything on this, the ex-pharaoh spoke still more, now frowning. "From what I gathered, 'Ruby' as the imp was called, had been always present within Ruda's soul, as a separate, almost pre-programed entity so to speak. In fact," he added, a look of dawning coming over him as he leaned back against the couch, "He mentioned that occasionally in life, he'd managed to communicate with his partner a few times... When he was young he thought the voice an imaginary friend but..." He trailed off, finishing off as he looked to Bakura with wide eyes. "But later in life thought himself insane..."

"Oh ho ho!" Beside him, the thief grinned. "That sounds like someone I know... Which means that Marik," he said, possibly to himself more than to Atem, "Is Malik's protector rather than a personality..." He appeared to be forgetting about the fact that Marik had been completely insane and psychopathic for the moment, possibly in lieu of the looks that Ryou had constantly sent himself and Malik when they were in the same room. Or rather, the looks he sent to Malik himself.

Atem frowned, biting his lip. "I wouldn't be too sure of that..." Crossing his arms, he attempted to find a way to explain this without possibly having the thief come after him for raising false hopes... He only had one outfit after all, what happened if he decided to steal his clothes in retaliation or something? "True," he finally began, "It could be that, but DID is more often than not an issue of personality rather than split souls; there were many people in the Fields who had DID in life, and the condition either persisted or simply vanished- and they did not have protectors or chargers. I mean," he added, turning away nervously. "There IS a way to check but..."

He sighed. "I know it's not likely Atem," Bakura said, idly smirking as the ex-pharaoh jumped with his use of the teen's given name. "But the fact is, as crazy as he was in the end, Marik was also the closest thing that Malik had for a friend as a child." The thief leaned forward, scoffing. "Look at how low I've sunk, I'm 'caring' for another human being. Pathetic..."

Holding back a concerned smile, Atem nodded slightly. "If you like... We can go through with the test. It's actually quite simple but..." He paused, frowning before he went on. "I'm worried about the process... You recal how Malik, Ryou, and myself entered the Shadow Realm to seek you out?"

There was a nod. "It's not something you easily forget."

Atem also nodded, continuing at a slower pace, as though hoping that he wouldn't be slapped in the face for what he was going to suggest. However, it really WAS the only test they could use; so it was truly all or nothing. "Essentially, we will do the same thing with Malik. Except within his soul, in his body." Before Bakura could question further, the teen clarified. "Normally when you enter a soul room, there are no visible doors; there is one, however, if you look hard enough, that leads to a hall of sorts within it. We would be placing ourselves just outside this door, moving past the hall to find the room containing his Ka." He took a breath, moving on with the details. "If there is more than one presence," he stated with a calm tone, "Then you are right about Marik being Malik's protector. If not..." A sigh. "Then you are quite wrong.

"...And how will this affect Malik," the thief said, a look of doubt clearly across his face. He would need to talk to Malik about this... While he was fairly certain that the Egyptian would be more than willing, he himself was still reluctant.

He shook his head. "No, of course not. The problem is, the less aware he is of our presence, the better. Otherwise," he warned, "Provided there is in fact a protector, and it is Marik, he's more than likely to set a trap in the soul for us." As Bakura made to argue, he shook his head more roughly. "Invasion of the soul, however easy, is never a welcome act for a second entity within it, and never taken lightly. You and I both know this, more than most could possibly guess, as I'm sure you know." He sighed as Bakura frowned, clearly against it. "I know you don't want to do this without his permission," the teen began, looking at the thief sadly. "But the fact is, if either of us were to die inside Malik's soul, it would have horrific effects on it upon his own death. As I said," he continued, "The process is simple. But very, very dangerous."

There was silence, before Bakura sighed, turning to the ex-pharaoh with a narrowed gaze. "...Are you well rested," he finally said after a few moments of silence. "From what I can tell of this, the best time would be while he's asleep."

"Of course." Atem nodded, before smiling lightly. "From what I can tell, I've been unconscious for a majority of the evening."

Bakura nodded, before grinning. "Right. And by now, I can almost guarantee that the priest and his mutt are moving about as much as rabbits up there..." He trailed off, holding back a laugh as Atem blinked.

"Ahh, so you did use that card..." He appeared to disappear into his thoughts again, staring at the ceiling. "I hope it doesn't fall off half way through," he muttered to himself as Bakura held back a snicker at the words. "That would be... Terrible..." Having spent just over 3000 years of 'afterlife' on an island filled with likely very 'extra-pair' oriented, sex driven birds, this wasn't really strange any more.

He still wasn't looking though. Beside him, Bakura burst into a fit of laughter. "OH! I could just imagine that happening too!"

Atem rubbed his head. "Aha... Yea..." Shaking his head, he pulled out the spell cards he'd gathered prior Bakura's 'rescue'. "In any case... How long do you think Bakura will be asleep?"

He shrugged. "I'll go upstairs and check... Either he fell asleep, or he's still awake and waiting for me. Hopefully the former." As the ex-pharaoh nodded and sorted through the cards for what they'd need, Bakura slipped upstairs and into Malik's room. Silently approaching the teen, he quietly put a hand on him. Not tensing as Malik muttered something, he kissed his forehead. "Shhh," he whispered softly, "Go back to sleep..." Leaving the room and returning to the basement as Atem was placing cards on the table, he gave the ex-pharaoh a curt nod. "He's not waking up for a few hours."

"Good..." The teen nodded, before muttering something in Egyptian as placed a hand on the first of three cards he'd put on the table. "Contact Soul," he said, Bakura raising an eyebrow as nothing apparently happened. Atem then took a second card, placing it on the first. "Soul Rope," he muttered, again, no visible reaction happening. Lastly, he took the third card and placed it over top. "Different Dimension Gate." Finally, something happened; from the three cards, a small, door-like portal appeared, and Atem turned to Bakura with a stern nod. "We will need to enter body and all- that way, our souls will remain relatively undetectable from anything inside."

The thief nodded, walking towards the portal. "Alright then." Not bothering to look back at the ex-pharaoh beside him, he jumped in, soon finding himself in a relatively dark, stone hall. It didn't take long before he was joined by Atem, the teen whispering quietly as he looked around.

He first motioned to the door behind them, voice kept as low as possible. "That's the door to the Ren, Ba, and Ib, the main portions of his soul," he said before pointing down the hall. "Malik's Sheut, like all others, is constantly present in his shadow... His Akh is what binds the soul together, and is thereby inaccessible, and his Ka," he finished, "Is down this hall in a separate room. However..." Atem brought his hand back to his side, turning to Bakura. "I have a feeling that there are already multiple defenses in place, not unlike the tombs you yourself are so familiar with."

Bakura scoffed, though the sound was kept relatively silent. "Hn... So then," he said as he moved to squint down the hall, "How are we supposed to find this second presence?" There appeared to be a few torches lining the hall, and if he looked closely, hieroglyphs and pictures carved into the wall.

"That's the simple part," Atem told him, keeping his spell cards close. "At the end of the hall, we'll find a door bearing the image of the Ka on it. What we need to do," the teen said as he turned, facing Bakura, "Is open that, and look inside the room- any others existing in Malik's soul will be inside that room. Though... If you don't mind..." He scratched his cheek, turning away. "This is probably going to be simpler for you than me..."

He snorted. "The pharaoh doesn't know how to break into a tomb, how 'surprising'," he said as he rolled his eyes. "I'll go first... Follow me." As he began to make his way down the 'ancient', tomb-like halls, Atem merely followed, careful not to make a sound.

Deep within the bowels of Malik's soul, a contented sigh could be heard by only one being; and that was the one giving it. True, he reminded himself bitterly, he had been thrown back so roughly during Battle City that the door he'd been using to take over for Malik was sealed tight. Rather, sealed to tightly for him to leave... But still, Marik though as he sipped from an illusionary glass of wine in an equally illusionary golden throne, he grinned. Give it time, he told himself. His charge would need him again someday... Until then, even without the incredible ability to truly feel pleasure and pain, he would attempt to re-create it in his 'room' as best he could.

While the target of Bakura and Atem's sneaking enjoyed the false tastes of red, oddly blood-like wine, they themselves were still traveling down the nostalgia inducing halls to the 'Ka Room'. It felt, Bakura thought to himself, as though he was in Egypt of 3000 years prior once more, breaking into the pharaoh's tomb to get a hold of priceless treasures inside. Ironically enough, he thought to himself as he looked back at the silently following ex-pharaoh, it was Atem's tomb he'd been caught robbing when he was sealed in the ring- Apparently the apprentice of the priest he'd bested once before had been doing more than just mourning his death during the years he'd been gone.

Looking at the walls, it didn't take long to realize what the images and texts were detailing. Although the ability to read was not common knowledge for 'thieves' 3000 years ago, it had been something he'd taught himself. It made things much more interesting, he decided, when robbing tombs, as it meant he could laugh at the inaccuracies that were made about his soon to be robbed victim's life. Depicted on the walls were carvings of Malik, it seemed. Specifically however, they were tales of his childhood, his past. Even as the ground and ceiling became rough, the walls remained as smooth and cared for as a stone that had been carved that very moment.

The thief slowed down slightly, the lights dimming occasionally as they walked. Though they had made it this far, he was fairly certain, given the images depicted on the walls, that they weren't anywhere near the door just yet. And while they hadn't come across any traps just yet, they had no way of knowing what they could find up ahead.

As Bakura slowed down, Atem found himself reading snippets of Malik's past with grim, if not unintentional curiosity. So far, what he read was... Alright he supposed. Not the best life by far, given that it was completely lived out underground, but alright nonetheless, if not filled with a sort of neutrality that the ex-pharaoh felt was reflected by the soft, glowing light around them.

And then, from what he could tell from the 'date' carved above the image in a signature like fashion, the light had almost gone black. Malik was ten years old at the time... And as Atem bit his lip and turned away, he tried not to think too hard about the pain that the walls depicted him in. He needed to steel his mind, and stop letting it wander- if he wasn't careful, he reminded himself as he followed behind Bakura, whatever existed here could catch him.

Suddenly, Bakura stopped, putting an arm out to prevent the ex-pharaoh from moving any further. "Stop- look down," he said with a harsh whisper, pointing to a small 'slit' in the floor. "There's a trigger nearby- that hole is where the trap will either come from, or end up." He slowly moved his arm back down, before taking cautious steps forwards. "Follow my exact footing, understand? And whatever you do, do NOT touch the walls..."

"Understood," he said with a whisper, nodding as he followed the thief step for step. He had a nasty feeling about these traps- regardless of whether or not 'Marik' was a separate entity or a personality, it was highly likely that the defenses had been made when he was in control. And knowing that Marik and Malik both used a card deck centered entirely around physical torture... He swallowed, focusing on the task at hand rather than pondering the pain any traps would likely inflict.

As the hall became darker, Bakura abruptly 'stumbled', tripping uncharacteristically before converting the fall into a light-weighted somersault and landing a few feet a way, kneeling. The teen became completely silent, sitting there for a few moments before standing up. Behind him, Atem had also frozen. The thief wasn't saying anything, but all the same, it would be essentially impossible for him to recreate that stunt; if something happened-

"Shit..." Bakura tensed, ears faintly detecting a click-click-click-click-cli- His eyes widened, before he charged over to Atem and grabbed the teen's arm. "If there was ever a time to run pharaoh, now is it! Move!" Atem nodded, numbly being pulled along as the thief bolted down the hall. As they ran, he hazarded a glance behind him only to find himself running quicker; as a short, ear-splitting sound cracked behind them they finally stopped, catching their breath as they watched rain of needles fall to the ground harmlessly.

Atem swallowed, an audible gulp escaping him as he turned to look at Bakura. "What.. What was that," he finally rasped out, the sound coming out as a half shout, half whisper. "Tombs don't have anything resembling incendiaries let alone explosives..." Before he could be told off for calling a hail of needles a 'bomb', he continued. "That sound... That was NOT the sound of needles being released..."

The thief scowled, before giving his own answer. "It wasn't a ticking bomb you heard Atem, it was gears clicking!" He slumped against the wall, the light far brighter here than it had been before. "And to answer your question, 'I don't know'. Probably something Marik did," he said with a growl. "Knowing the maniac, he figured that if a poisoned rain of needles didn't kill any intruders, then whatever triggered it would."

"Gears..." He winced, looking to Bakura before continuing. "If gears were moving..." The teen looked around, careful not to touch the walls before sighing. "I triggered something, didn't I..." If that had happened, would the supposed 'second being' in Malik's soul now be aware of them? He didn't doubt that the trap had been triggered by himself at least. After all- this was Bakura's main element. A tomb, and a soul, two very key ingredients to the Thief King's former 'career'.

Bakura bit his lip, frowning. "Actually... I have to admit that the trap was my fault..." The thief turned away, eyes drifting over the scenes depicting Malik's time before arriving in Tokyo; specifically, the days he was above ground. From the looks of the one beside him however, bearing a plane, they were coming close to 'Battle City'. "I was... Distracted," he said quietly, "By the hieroglyphs..."

The teen blinked, thinking back to what had been on the walls near the trap. It had been dark... But the scenes they'd seen were quite clearly from when... Atem's eyes widened slightly, biting the inside of his cheek. It was bad enough to come across the scenes of Malik's 'initiation' really; but to come over the scenes where Marik first took full control... "Ah..." He nodded slightly, silently wondering what he was supposed to say. "Those ones..."

He stood up, brushing some dust from his robes with a blank, but slightly grim expression on his face. "Malik never told me about the initiation, nor the events after he first returned from the surface so..." He ran a hand over the walls, idly noting that they'd become tiled rather than solid stone. "We're getting closer..."

Atem nodded. "Indeed," he said with a whisper, "From what I can tell, this is directly before the Battle City preliminaries..." Calculating the times in his head, he nodded again, as though to himself. "That should mean we're only two, three 'years' from the door.

As the pair looked down the hall, they both frowned. From what they could tell, there was still a lot of darkness in it- it didn't take much to figure out that the light in the halls corresponded to the mood during each memory. As Bakura gave an odd look to him, the teen nodded again. "You've noticed the lighting I assume," he said, before turning to face the hall. "And if your thoughts on the matter are similar to mine..."

"Then we both want a light at the end of the tunnel," the thief finished. With that, they continued on, treading lightly as they returned to the silent trek in Malik's soul.