"I can feel him! Malik! I can feel him!" Ryou shouted, ecstatic. In his hands, the puzzle had stopped vibrating for a moment. The visible cracks had stopped widening. "He's in there!"
"Are you sure?" Isis asked.
"Of course he's sure…" Malik answered for Ryou. "He'd know the other half of his own soul… the important question is… can you get him out of there?"
"I don't know… I don't know how to pull him out…" Ryou sighed. He let go of the puzzle. It started to shake again.
"Can the millennium ring do anything like that?" Malik asked.
"I don't know!" Ryou cried. "I don't know how to use it! I've only seen my yami use it!"
"What did he do?" Malik kept questioning the white haired boy, giving him no time at all to think.
"He used it to seal souls into objects. I… I don't know how he did it… he just did it…"
"Can you try it?"
Before Ryou could answer, Isis intervened.
"I don't think that would be wise, brother." She interrupted. "The ring was purified during the ritual, and to seal a soul is to use the power of the darkness!"
"I don't care!" Ryou shouted. "And you said yourself, if we sit here and do nothing, we may loose all the souls inside!"
"And Ryou, a soul needs a vessel! Even if you could capture the soul, where would you send it?"
"There's always the soulless body on the couch over there." Malik chirped in.
"We have to try!" Ryou shouted.
"Unless there's another part of the ritual that can be performed, something that can undo everything that's already been done, sister… I suggest we let Ryou try!" Malik finally put his foot down.
Isis stared down at the pharaoh's lifeless body, and then glanced at the form of Yami Bakura.
She drew a deep breath, and let out a long sigh. She couldn't hide the truth from them anymore. She wanted to, but the voices in her mind would not let the subject rest.
"The text on the ritual… it… it wasn't complete." She finally admitted.
"What?" Malik asked sharply.
"When the papyrus scrolls were excavated, part of the scroll… a large portion of the scroll… was damaged… it couldn't be read…" Isis sighed. "The purification ritual was complete… but there was something else there… I… I don't know what it said… but whatever it was… it might have helped…"
"You performed the ritual on me… without knowing if it was even complete!" Malik shouted, standing up abruptly. He glared at his sister with a wicked stare. Ryou simply watched aghast.
"It was complete enough to destroy the evil in your soul!" she countered. "I had to act!"
"You could have killed me!" he shouted back, clenching his fists in rage. "You killed Bakura's yami…and you might have just killed the pharaoh!"
"I had to destroy the darkness!"
"Sister… I… I don't see any darkness here!" Malik finally stuttered. "Except for what you just caused…"
"I…" Isis froze. She couldn't believe what her own brother was saying. "You would have let the tomb robber roam free?"
"I think I'm finally starting to agree with Ryou." Malik countered quickly.
"I had to do what I could to save the world!" she countered. "I rescued you from your dark side!"
"But at what cost, sister?" he cried.
She looked around the room again. Another crack spread down the puzzle, nearly cutting it in two.
"Could you make out any of the text? Do you know anything else about the purification ritual?" Ryou finally intervened. Time was running out.
"Just a few phrases…" Isis sighed. Tears had formed deep within her eyes, but she refused to let them show.
"Tell us." Malik demanded. "Now."
"That the spells would not work on the creator of the ritual…" Isis sighed. "That's all! I swear on the Western Kingdom."
Malik sighed. That wasn't helpful. The room fell silent again.
"I… I'm… sorry…" Isis finally broke the uneasy calm. "I…"
"Like I told Ryou… We don't have time for that now!" Malik silenced her. "We have to try something, anything, or this puzzle is going to burst!"
He turned to Ryou, who had since been pulling the spikes of the millennium ring out of his chest. The boy gave a pained expression as he freed the last gold dagger from his skin. Blood ran freely from the open wounds.
"Ryou, I know you haven't done this before, but I want you to concentrate." Malik instructed. He knew how to work the millennium rod. He only hoped the ring functioned in a similar manner. "Concentrate all your energy on the soul trapped inside the puzzle. Picture yourself drawing it out, and then putting it in something else."
Ryou nodded meekly.
"I… I'll try…" he whispered, clutching the ring. The blood on the gold was sticky in the evening heat. "I'll draw him out… and put him in Yami Bakura's body… for now…"
Malik nodded. It sounded like a good plan. Isis sat silently with the pharaoh, guilt chipping away at the inside of her heart.
"Please hurry…" she finally whispered. "I don't want to lose the pharaoh… or anyone else."
"I'll try my best…" Ryou smiled weakly, and held the ring next to the puzzle. He closed his eyes. The puzzle calmed its quaking when the millennium ring was brought near.
"Look for him. Can you see him?" Malik asked.
"No… not yet."
"Take your time."
"I am… I don't know where to look…" Ryou sighed. "But I feel him there… somewhere…"