A weak Yami Bakura crawled under a stone arch. It might have previously been a ceiling, a stairwell, or possibly even a wall. He wasn't sure. He felt as though he had been wandering through this maze for six lifetimes, and nothing made any more sense.

It had been years since he sealed a small sliver of his soul in the puzzle. And it had remained safely unseen up until Ryou had agreed to the purification ritual.

He wasn't sure at what moment he woke up with his entire consciousness in the puzzle. The last thing Yami Bakura could remember was his body collapsing in the light seeping from underneath his soul room door. And he could still hear the Egyptian chant ringing in the back of his mind.

It was almost as terrifying as the footsteps of Yami Yugi's guardian spirits. He had lost the Dark Magician somewhere in the last cave-in. But he knew several others were still close by.

Taking a moment to breathe, he tried to silently gather his thoughts.

No, he could remember something after the ritual, although it was very faint. For a moment, he thought he was in Ryou's body, lying on Ryou's sofa. But perhaps that was merely his mind playing tricks on him. For a moment, he even thought he saw Ryou, placing a wet washcloth on his forehead. That too, he eventually reasoned, must have been a delusion.

Perhaps the ritual was still going on. Perhaps all of these actions were only taking place in his mind.

But if so, he tried to think, how did he end up in the millennium puzzle? And why did he feel so exhausted?

"Stop! Intruder!" a bright voice cut through the stone like a thief's knife. A blast of dark magic shattered the rock above his head.

Yami Bakura narrowly avoided being buried under the rubble as he leapt forward. At least it put a slight obstacle between himself and his pursuer.

"I have to get out of here!" he whispered to himself, trying to regain his feet as the puzzle shifted around again. His tired body fell back against the broken stone, almost burying him all over again. "I… I've got to get back to the ring…"

Another blast of dark magic echoed in a nearby corridor.

"He went this way! Hurry!"

Yami Bakura shook the pain from his head as he pulled himself up again. A crack of light appeared above him.

"I… I… I've got to keep… moving…" he groaned, crawling through the narrow tunnel. He knew they couldn't be far behind. The longer he ran, the less energy he had. Eventually, and it was only a matter of time, the pharaoh's spirits would find him. "I… can't… stop…"

Again the puzzle shook, sending Yami Bakura tumbling backwards into the same pile of rubble he had tried twice already to avoid. Rocks tumbled from the new ceiling, crashing down onto his unprotected body below.

"Ryou!" he screamed, if only out of instinct, as he tried to cover his head with his hands. The stone bricks kept falling, smashing down against his arms and back. The chanting grew louder in his head. "Ryou!"

When the smoke cleared, Yami Bakura realized that he was still in one piece. With any luck, the creatures pursuing him had been killed in the same avalanche. He also realized, unfortunately, that both of his legs were buried in the rocks.

"Oh Ra…" he groaned to himself. He lunged forward, grabbing onto the nearby stones with his free hands. But it was no use. "I… I can't get out…"

"I can feel him this way! Come on!" he heard a voice echo through a corridor below him, or perhaps it was now above him.

"… aibou…" he whispered. "Ra… don't let them find me!"

Another crack appeared on his left side. He reached for it, and it seemed to grow a little.

"If… if I could just get out…"

He fell back, exhausted on the rocks.

"Ryou…" he groaned. "I'll do anything… just… get me out of here…"

Suddenly, a familiar voice rang through his head.

"He's there!"

It sounded like Ryou! Yami Bakura jumped up, looking for his hikari, a living, breathing, desert oasis. But no one was there. He fell back down against the stones.

"I can feel him! Malik! I can feel him!"

He could hear the voice again, more clearly now.

"Ryou…" he whispered, still mindful of the creatures hunting him. "Ryou! Can you hear me?"

"He's in there!" Ryou answered. Yami Bakura couldn't discern if he had been heard or not. But the hikari continued as though he was talking to someone else. "I don't know… I don't know how to pull him out."

Yami Bakura fell back against the stones.

"Figure out a way… please…" he begged, all traces of his egotism gone for the moment. "Please… hurry…"