For hours he sat by Ryou's bedside, watching the labored rise and fall of his hikari's chest. The doctors had come by several times, and said many things that he didn't understand. All he took away from the conversation was that Ryou didn't have much of a chance, despite their efforts. He made a mental note to let Yugi and the rest of Ryou's friends talk with the doctors.

They connected Ryou to various machines, and those strange noises made Bakura uneasy. Wires and tubes protruded from various locations, in a process that seemed more like mummification than medicine to the former spirit of the millennium ring.

"Ryou…" he finally whispered, rubbing his light's delicate hands. "Why the hell did you do this to give me a body?"

He received no answer from the unconscious boy.

"Why was this so important to you, anyway!" he squeezed Ryou's hand. "Why the hell won't you answer me!"

The rest of the group could hear Bakura's outbursts through the door, although they didn't want to intrude just yet. There was no way to predict the former spirit's actions, and even though he couldn't send them to the shadow realm, he could still hurt them, or worse...

Yugi at least pointed out that the spirit had been using considerable constraint already.

"Why?" Bakura shouted again. "Why?"

Slowly, Ryou managed to open his eyes. They were unfocused at best, but he could still see the faint outline of Bakura against the light.

"…Kura…" he whispered, barely able to speak.

"Don't give me any of that shit…" Bakura stared straight into his eyes. "I want some straight answers! Stop passing out on me!"

Ryou just smiled.

"You're free, Yami…"

"Stop saying that!" he shouted again. "What were you trying to do? What did you hope to gain out of this!"

"I… I just wanted you… to be happy, Yami…" he struggled to speak. "Now you… you can start over… I know… how hard your life was… I know how unfair… You've suffered enough…"

Waves upon waves of ancient memories stung Bakura's heart. Each one of his fellow villagers slaughtered, brutally murdered, their bodies melted to form the millennium items. His soul, imprisoned in the very thing that he despised most. The unending darkness that surrounded him for what seemed like countless millennia. How could the boy really know? Had he sensed it all through the mindlink?

"That's not an answer! What did you do to yourself!" With each of those thoughts lunging at him, he finally lost control, slamming the chair across the room.

"A spell… that I learned when we… when we went to Egypt…" he finally replied. "It… it was the only way to save you…"

"Save me! Save me from what!"

"Death…" Ryou replied, trembling. The strange device above him released a few more droplets of clear liquid.

"I'm already dead. Nothing can kill me, idiot." Bakura finally replied, after what seemed like a painful eternity to Ryou.

"Not that kind of death…"

"What, then…" Bakura dropped to his knees next to the bed. "What are you…"

"They're going to destroy the items, Yami… When the pharaoh passes to the afterlife… on their next trip to Egypt…" Ryou's breaths were as scattered as his words. "You'd go with him…"

Bakura was silenced. Somehow, that thought had never occurred to him. As a spirit, he could still die. If the millennium ring were truly rendered powerless, he would die right along with it. And that would mean…

"I couldn't let that happen…" Ryou coughed, and curled up in a painful spasm. Again, the machines shrieked. The sound was driving Bakura mad.

"So you did what!"

"You're alive now… that's all that matters…" he coughed again. "Now you won't die… You won't be destroyed… And we can be together forever…"

Bakura wasn't sure how to react to that. He stared, mystified into Ryou's dark eyes. They rolled back, and he passed out again.