Yami Bakura had been screaming his hikari's name for what felt like an eternity. With Ryou unconscious, he couldn't sense what was going on outside. But whatever was happening, he knew it probably wasn't good.

"Ra… why won't he wake up?" Bakura shouted at the darkness around him. "It's not like… Wait… that's it!"

He reached into his shirt, and pulled out a replica of the millennium key. That meant Ryou was still wearing it, and that they still had the power to break through mental barriers. It probably didn't have the power to bring Ryou back to consciousness, but it would at least let Bakura into his hikari's soul room to see if he was badly hurt… or worse…

"But how to…" Bakura fiddled with the key for a moment. "How do I get over there if I can't walk…"

The sound of silence did not comfort him.

"Oh, I don't have time for this!" he shouted, trying to pull himself up. Of course, his attempts failed. He fell forward onto the cold stone floor. "Come on, Bakura… one step at a time… what would Ryou do?"

He took a deep breath and started to crawl. Using his hands, he pulled himself along the floor of his soul room. Although it was slowly at first, soon he was able to grip the edges of the stones a little tighter, and then slide a little faster.

It felt like another eternity before he reached the door to his own soul room. He looked up. The torches lined the hallway with an infernal fervor, reminding him of a tomb he had desecrated five thousand years ago. He looked down the hall. Ryou's soul room wasn't much farther.

Again, he crawled, ignoring the sharp stone edges that tore at his clothes and the scratches forming on the palms of his hands. He was exhausted, but kept pulling himself forward, inching closer and closer to Ryou's soul room.

When he reached the door, he pulled himself up to a sitting position, and fell back against the wooden frame. Again fumbling for the millennium key, he fought to catch his breath.

"I don't have time to breathe… Ryou might not have much time…" he chastised himself, pulling out the key and pressing it against the door.

The door opened instantly, and Bakura fell to his side as his support flew out from behind him.

He quickly looked up.

Bakura had never seen Ryou's soul room before. The walls were mostly dry and barren, and the floor splintered in dozens of places. It looked like some kind of prison, a place to be banished when one's wicked other half locks you up. Somehow, although he couldn't discern where it came from, a bright light still managed to blanket the room. The only decoration came from discarded flower petals, a series of photographs depicting what must have been Ryou's deceased family, and of course, the millennium ring.

The sight of the room pained Bakura. It seemed so sad. Was his life really that empty?

Before he could answer that question, he noticed the thin figure of his hikari slumped in the far corner.

"Ryou!" he gasped, pulling himself over the splintered boards until he could touch the white-haired teen.

The hikari was still conscious in here, but just barely.

"Ryou! Ryou, are you all right?" Bakura shouted, putting his one free arm around the boy's chest. "Oh, Ra… I was so worried…"

"Yami… you came looking… for me…" Ryou whispered slowly.

"Thank Ra you're alive…" Bakura squeezed Ryou gently. Tears streamed freely down his cheek, and onto Ryou's striped shirt. "I don't know what I would have done…"

"I can't move my legs, yami…" he interrupted.

"…what?"

"I… I can't feel them… Are you… in control of my body?"

Bakura looked around.

"No." he answered solemnly. "I was in my soul room the whole time…"

"Then it's really me…" Ryou replied softly. His body trembled a little, and a tear rolled down his soft cheek.

Bakura didn't quite know what to say. He pulled himself up to the wall and sat next to Ryou.

"Come on… don't think like that…"

Ryou looked at him with quivering eyes.

"I… I can't go back out there…" he cried. "I… I can't be paralyzed…"

"Ryou…" his yami whispered back, and let the hikari cry on his right shoulder.

"It's not that bad…"

"Yes it is!"

"But after everything you told me…"

"that… that was different…" Ryou attempted to reason.

"Oh, no you don't…" Bakura interrupted. "You stole a millennium item just to come in here and tell me that I couldn't hide in my soul room! You forced me out into your body so I could learn how to move around without my legs! You wouldn't let me give up on myself! And I am not about to just sit here while you hide…"

Bakura shuffled his weight a little.

"Well, okay, I might sit here… but I'm not going to like it!"

The joke made Ryou laugh.

"Now that's the face I know and love…" he sighed.

"I… I'm afraid, yami…"

"I know." Bakura answered. "But whatever happens… we're going to go through it together. You and me."

"Really?" Ryou asked, barely audible.

"One baby step at a time."

"You're the greatest, yami…" Ryou smiled brightly, and threw himself on top of Bakura. The yami blushed a little, and quietly returned the embrace.