The silence of the apartment was deafening. A clock on Ryou's fireplace ticked one more second of Yami Bakura's new life away. A cricket chirped from under a nearby chair. The jagged hiss of his yami's ragged breath was enough to make his own heart stop beating.
He ran his hand along Yami Bakura's chest, feeling the unnatural contours of each rib. But he kept stroking, as if his yami could derive at least a little pleasure from human contact.
"Yami… can you hear me?"
The former spirit gave no reply. He was lost, far and deep within the realm of unconsciousness. Ryou hoped the darkness was comforting, after all that his yami had been through in the past day.
"Yami… I… I'm sorry…" Ryou began, no longer caring if his yami could hear him or not. "I'm sorry that I tried to destroy you… I… I guess I'm no better than you… sending my friends into comas when we played Monster World together… I worked so hard to stop you, and now… I did the exact same thing… when I saw an open opportunity… I did the exact same thing…"
He stroked Yami Bakura's chest again, laying his head close by.
"I shouldn't have ever had Isis begin that ritual…" Ryou sighed. "It was wrong… It was wrong to destroy the darkness… even if it was darkness… It's like what Yugi told me about Dartz. He did the same thing… he wanted to destroy the darkness… and where did it get him? He became twisted in the very thing he wanted to destroy…"
A small pool of tears formed on the cushion.
"I'm no better…" Ryou sighed. "I'm no better than you during Duelist Kingdom… or Yami Yugi when he tried to use that wretched Seal of Oricalkos… I'm… I'm sorry for everything, Yami…"
He sighed.
"If there was something I could do… anything… to take it all back, I would. If there were some way I could stop the pain… I would… Yami, please… I would…"
Now, it was Ryou who was pleading.
"Just… please don't leave me, Yami…"
"… ai… aibou…"
Ryou jumped up. His yami was awake again.
"Yami! I'm here!" he shouted, grabbing the former spirit's hand so tightly that some of the tiny bones actually shattered. "Yami… please…stay with me…"
"I… I'm… sor…sorry… for…" Yami Bakura coughed, literally gasping for breath. It was as though he had been saving his energy for the past hour just to attempt one line of speech. "…for… hur…t… hurting… you…"
"It's okay, Yami… really… It's okay…" Ryou cried. "I know you didn't mean it… you were just… angry… with the pharaoh… that's all… I know you didn't…"
"No… I… Isis… right…" He tried to speak, but each word was more painful to form than the last.
"No! Isis is not right!" Ryou shouted. "I won't believe her!"
"Ry…Ryou… I am… the dar…darkness… and…" he fell back into the void of unconsciousness. Ryou shook him gently.
"That's right… Yami! The darkness never dies!" Ryou screamed, still shaking the unmoving form on his sofa. "The darkness never dies, Yami! You can't die! Please… Yami…"
Finally, Ryou stopped shaking him.
"Yami?"
There was no response. Was he still breathing? Ryou couldn't tell.
"The darkness never dies…" Ryou repeated to himself, over and over again. "The darkness… it never dies… oh Yami… please… I don't care how dark you are… You're not supposed to die… the darkness… never dies… please… come back…"