"I can't believe this is happening…" Malik paced across Ryou's living room. On one side of his vision, Yami Bakura's corpse remained on the couch, untouched by anyone except for Ryou. On the other, the unconscious body of Yami Yugi lay propped up against a wall. Isis sat with him, deep in meditation, hoping she could find an answer to the puzzle's sudden disruptions.

So far, she had found nothing.

"Malik…" Ryou finally interrupted the steady rhythm of his gait.

The tomb keeper looked up momentarily.

"I… I'm sorry about before…" he whispered, his eyes tracing lines in the carpet. "I shouldn't have yelled…"

"Forget that. It doesn't matter now." Malik answered abruptly, and returned to pacing. "All that matters is that we figure out a way to save the pharaoh, and possibly Yugi, before that puzzle shatters. We can go back to worrying about how to find the tomb robber's soul later!"

Ryou was stunned.

"What about my yami's soul?" he interjected, more forcefully this time.

Malik stopped, and turned around.

"While you were comforting the tomb robber, we were sitting in your game room, talking about Monster World." Malik attempted to explain. "And we realized that maybe… if he had already sealed a part of his soul in something else, a part of him could… but don't get your hopes too high… could still be alive."

Ryou's eyes expanded with unbridled anticipation. A large grin spun out of his somber scowl.

"You mean!"

"If part of his soul was sealed in something else, it couldn't have been cleansed in the ritual." Isis sighed, coming out of her meditation. "I did not know your yami possessed such a power. Your millennium ring is still alien to me."

"But where?"

"I don't know." She replied quickly. "But as my brother just said… that is not our main concern. He's getting worse."

Malik and Ryou knelt next to the pharaoh.

"The puzzle is starting to fall apart." She continued. "And judging from the body, both Yugi and his yami were somehow pulled inside of it."

"If it breaks while no one is in control of the body…"

"We may never get them back!" Isis answered, stroking the pharaoh's hair.

Ryou glanced down at the puzzle. With each beat of his heart, it pulsated, vibrating against the chain with an ugly dissonance. Large cracks ran through the gold, new fissures forming with every passing minute.

He reached out, and picked up the golden pyramid.

"I wish we could…"

He froze.

"Ryou?" Isis turned to him, concerned.

His left eye twitched, his hand stuck to the puzzle. Beams of white lightning ran through his fingers, visibly arching the hairs on his left arm.

"Ryou?" Malik shouted, trying to pull the puzzle from his hand.

The white haired teen's back arched, and he fell back with a dull thump. His hand, still twitching with static, fell to the side.

"Ryou!" Isis jumped up, abandoning the pharaoh momentarily to the wall. "Ryou, are you all right? What happened? The ring!"

There was no motion from Ryou. He appeared to be unconscious. But the points of the millennium ring had embedded themselves deep in Ryou's shirt, puncturing his chest.

Malik picked the boy up, and shook him gently. Thankfully, he was still breathing.

"Ryou?" Malik shouted, "Ryou, please. Wake up!"

Within a minute of his insistence, Ryou finally came to, much to the relief of the two tomb keepers.

"Ryou, what happened?" Malik asked quickly.

The young man tried to sit up, but suddenly found his chest constricting. He fell back down into Malik's open lap.

"I… I don't know… I just…" he felt his chest with the movable hand. "The ring! What's wrong with my ring?"

He looked up at Isis, frightened.

"I thought it was powerless! It only did this when…" Ryou blinked a couple of times. "When my yami was trying to take control… the puzzle!"

Ryou jumped forward, pulling his tired body to Yami Yugi's side.

"That's it!" he shouted, reaching for the millennium puzzle again. "He's in the puzzle!"

"What?"

"The piece of my yami's soul you didn't destroy! Malik was right!" Ryou shouted toward Isis in particular. "It has to be there! I… I could almost feel him!"

"That's impossible!" Isis tried to argue, but Ryou would have none of it.

"No, it is!" Malik agreed with his friend. "I think it is!"

"I know it is!" Ryou added. "It's like he was trying to tell me! The darkness never dies!"

He grabbed the puzzle again, this time with both hands. He closed his eyes, and let the waves of electricity course through his veins.