Ryou took control of the body again.
"Are you all right?" Yami Yugi quickly asked, helping the boy stand up. Ryou nodded his head.
"Yeah… I can stand…" he replied softly. "My legs feel a little numb, but I can stand…"
He stood silently for a minute, testing his own weight cautiously.
"But it was strange… when my yami was in control, I couldn't feel them at all. He's not lying, pharaoh. He really can't feel my legs."
"I believe you're right…" Yami Yugi finally admitted. "Perhaps he wasn't lying about that part after all…"
Ryou's expression suddenly drooped. It caught the pharaoh's attention.
"He closed off the mindlink again." Ryou sighed. "Did he tell you anything?"
"No. Nothing except what he shouted when he was in control just a few minutes ago… He can't use you to steal the items anymore. That's why he won't come out. He thinks your body is useless…"
"That's not all he said!" Ryou interrupted.
"No, but that's what he meant."
"Hey!" Ryou suddenly grew angry. "I know you don't like my yami, but that's not all he said! I'm not just some kind of tool to him! When we were in the shadow realm, he protected me!"
"He protected you so that he'd have a body to come back to!" Yami Yugi argued.
"He said he was now useless to me too!" Ryou shouted. "Didn't you hear that!"
"He only has one goal, and that's to steal the millennium items!"
"That's not true!" Ryou protested. "He cares about me!"
"Ryou. You're not being rational." Yami Yugi replied quickly. "You know your yami as well as I do…"
"Pharaoh! Didn't you see him? He's paralyzed!" Ryou shouted. His voice filled with a passionate fervor that the others didn't even know he possessed. "He's lived for five thousand years, and suddenly, he can't feel anything from the waist down! Can you even imagine what that must be like? Can you blame him for feeling angry! Feeling frustrated! I'd feel the same way!"
"Ryou."
"I'd be terrified! And after everything that happened in the shadow realm! Even a yami can't heal that quickly. He must still be in a lot of pain! Right?"
"Yes… his spirit body wasn't in the best shape…" Yami Yugi slowly admitted.
"He's probably scared to death in there!" Ryou continued his verbal assault on the pharaoh. He shivered as he thought of his poor yami, alone and scared in his soul room.
"That tomb robber would never admit to being afraid."
"That doesn't mean he can't feel it."
"Ryou, perhaps this is for the best… he can't hurt you or your friends anymore." Yami Yugi attempted to calm the hikari. "Remember everything that he's done. He stops at nothing to get what he wants! You nearly gave your life trying to stop him! Multiple times!"
"I don't care." Ryou shouted. "He told me he was sorry for all that. And he almost died trying to protect me."
"Ryou… listen to me."
"Why should I? You haven't listened to a word I've said…Not yesterday. And not now." Ryou turned his back on the yami. "He's just a tomb robber to you. But to me, he's the other half of my soul! And he's hurt!"
Yami Yugi stared at Ryou for a minute, not really knowing how to respond. He glanced over to Shadi.
"Perhaps the boy is right, pharaoh…"
"Give me the key." Ryou ordered. Shadi didn't move. "I said… Give me the key. I'm going home."
Shadi looked at the pharaoh, and then took the ankh from around his neck.
"What are you doing?" Yami Yugi grabbed Shadi's arm before he could give the millennium key Ryou. "What if this is some kind of trap?"
"I am not a tomb robber, pharaoh…" Ryou muttered under his breath, and took the key right out of Shadi's hands. He stormed out the door, letting it slam behind him on the way out.
"Shadi…"
"Leave him be, pharaoh." The Egyptian man answered. "I trust his intentions…"
"But…"
"Give him some time. He'll be back. One way or another." Shadi drew a deep breath, and sat indian style on Yugi's bed. He closed his eyes, content on waiting there. After a few minutes, Yami Yugi finally shrugged as well, and sat down beside him.