Yami Yugi froze. Was that true? He watched the light bounce off Ryou's deep brown eyes, and knew it had to be true. But if so, how did Ryou survive three days there?

"Ryou, how did you…" he finally spoke.

"It was because of Bakura…" Ryou sighed, staring at his ring. "He protected me."

"From…"

"From everything."

Ryou massaged the ring as he continued to speak, hoping that his yami could hear him from inside the soul room.

"He bent down beside me, and wrapped his arms around me. At first, I thought he was going to strangle me or break my neck. I thought he was going to attack me for somehow costing him the duel… but he didn't. He just held me. I was so scared, I couldn't move even if my body would have allowed it…"

Yami Yugi leaned back again.

"Breathe slowly' he whispered, very sternly. 'The air is thin, but it won't kill you if you relax…" Ryou repeated what he could remember. "And the pain… just try to ignore it.' He added, knowing that it wouldn't really help anything. But he still wanted to acknowledge it."

Ryou didn't know how long Bakura held him. But eventually, he felt himself being picked up.

"I looked down, and saw that we were floating through the mist. He must have seen me open my eyes… He told me, 'We have to keep moving…' I asked him why. And he answered, 'do you want to die?' It didn't take long to realize that he was running away from something. A lot of somethings, actually…"

The pharaoh wasn't too surprised at Bakura's actions. He knew the tomb robber would obviously be concerned about his host. If Ryou's body were destroyed, he'd have nowhere to go. And he would be trapped in the shadow realm for eternity. But he was still a little surprised about how Ryou was reacting. After all, it wasn't as though the spirit actually cared for him.

"I don't know how long we ran, but eventually, Bakura realized that running was a lost cause…" Ryou sighed. "He was exhausted. And I could hear strange noises all around us… I opened my eyes… and I could see them coming… hundreds, maybe thousands of terrible monsters. Far more frightening than I've ever seen in Bakura's occult deck, and far more psychotic looking than I've ever seen Bakura…"

The description shook Yami Yugi's train of thought off its track.

"They were driven, not by thoughts, but by bloodlust, or so Bakura said… He said they wanted to rip my flesh from my bones, and quite frankly, I somehow suspected that." Ryou continued. "As they came closer, I felt my body slump to the ground. I thought for a minute that it was all over. That I was going to die… that my yami had decided to abandon me there. But then I saw him… He stood over my body. He told me to curl up tightly, to make myself as small as I could… that if they wanted me… they would have to go through him…"

Ryou smiled at that thought. Even though he remembered being so terrified as he was wrapping his arms around his Yami's feet, the thought of Bakura protecting him against such immense odds made him happy.

"He protected me, pharaoh…" Ryou smiled again. "He fought them. One by one. He fought them for what felt like days… and they just kept coming… so many monsters… of all shapes, smells, and sizes… But he kept attacking, even though he was completely exhausted…"

"But that doesn't explain why he won't come out…" Yami Yugi attempted to insert.

"Pharaoh… even my yami can't fight forever…" Ryou sighed. His smiled drooped down his chin. "Eventually, his strength started to waver… and that's when the monsters got the upper hand."

Yami Yugi was silenced again by Ryou's story.

"They just kept attacking. I looked up every now and then, and watched the creatures drive their fangs and claws at my yami. I could feel his blood splatter across my body. And I could feel his legs shaking each time he was struck by another attack. And then… I heard something far worse than the creatures' shrieks." Ryou let his ring fall from his hands. "A terrible cracking noise rang through my head… and the next thing I felt was Bakura's body landing squarely on top of mine."

"What happened?"

"One of the monsters… It sounded like it was actually made of stone… it struck Bakura directly in the back… and it looked like it literally broke him in two…" Ryou fought back tears as he tried to talk to Yami Yugi. "His face was right above mine…I could see the pain in his eyes. And I felt him try to get back up, only to realize that he couldn't…"

The pharaoh, for the first time, felt a wince of concern for Bakura's sake. He knew how real the shadow realm was. The physical toll those attacks took on Bakura must have been great.

"And for the first time… he cried… Pharaoh… he cried…" Ryou gasped. "He didn't know what else to do… All the protection he could muster was to wrap his arms around me, and hold me underneath him. His cheeks were pressed against mine, his chest against my chest… and he cried… he said… 'I'm sorry… I'm sorry for everything, aibou… I'm sorry I couldn't protect you…"

At this point, Ryou couldn't hold his own tears back any longer, and a few escaped down the side of his cheeks. He quickly pushed them away.

The pharaoh was bewildered. Had Bakura really meant that? He found it difficult to believe, but somehow he could vaguely imagine that such a traumatic circumstance could bring out an evil spirit's heart. And Ryou certainly seemed to think that he did.

"He just held me… A few moments later… I found myself awake on Kaiba's blimp."

"That was when I won the duel…" Yami Yugi replied.

"Not a moment too soon…" Ryou nodded, grateful to the pharaoh for that. "A few seconds more, and I probably wouldn't have been worth rescuing. As Bakura said… 'What happens in the shadow realm carries over into this realm…"

"And what happened to Bakura when the duel ended?"

"That's when he sealed himself in his soul room." He sighed again. "The last thing he said to me was 'I'm sorry…' and then he disappeared inside. I've tried to reach him… but I can't… he won't let me inside. And he won't take over my body."

"And that troubles you?"

"Pharaoh… it's just… I'm worried about him… I know I always hated it when he took over. Sometimes I was missing entire weeks in my mental calendar. But… this… this just isn't right… something must really be wrong with Bakura for him to act this way…"

Yami Yugi nodded. Maybe Ryou was right.

"And… that's why I called you over… I don't know what to do… but if anyone could get into his soul room, it's you."

Yami Yugi stood up slowly, and walked over to where Ryou was sitting. He lovingly put his arm around the boy.

"Don't worry, Ryou. Yugi and I will help." He smiled. Ryou was overjoyed. "But we can't do it alone. My millennium puzzle doesn't have the power to enter your mind. But Shadi's millennium key does."

Ryou nodded.

"Meet me at the game shop tomorrow morning. I assure you, he will assist me if I ask him." Yami Yugi hugged Ryou gently. "He can pull you into your mind along with Bakura… and then you can go inside his soul room and find out why he sealed himself there."

"Pull me in there?" Ryou suddenly asked defensively. "I can't go in there!"

"Why not? I thought you were curious about what happened to…"

"I can't! He was upset enough about what happened to me! If he even sees me coming, I don't know what he'll do… What if he never wants to see me again?"

The outburst struck Yami Yugi by surprise. Why should Ryou be so concerned?

"Ryou, he's your yami…"

"What if he hates me? What if he blames me for whatever happened?" Ryou was almost hysterical. "Please, pharaoh! You go in and talk to him! Please?"

"Ryou… The key wasn't meant to work like…"

"Please! I don't care! I don't want to hurt him any more than I already have! It's because of me that those things came after us in the shadow realm. If I weren't there, he wouldn't have been hurt! And then he wouldn't have locked himself in his soul room!" Ryou refused to relent. "Please, pharaoh! He might listen to you!"

Finally, Yami Yugi agreed to go. He could see there was no convincing Ryou, and that something certainly had to be done.

"But Ryou, I'm warning you now. I don't know how long we'll be able to stay inside your mind. And we might not be able to wake you afterwards if something goes wrong…"

"I don't care… I just have to know if he's all right."

"Very well…" Yami Yugi replied. "I'll see you tomorrow morning."