"… Poor Ryou…" Tea whispered, suppressing tears.

Having left Ryou Bakura's private room in the Critical Care Unit, the three friends returned to the waiting room. The number of people had thinned out a little, but not much.

"I didn't realize he was that sick…" Joey added. "Or I woulda done somethin' sooner 'bout it."

"I know." Tristan continued. They had all seen Ryou at school the past few weeks, but hardly anyone questioned his illness. Even their teachers had let the matter slide. "And the doctors have been arguing since before we went in to see him."

They looked up, suddenly spotting Yugi, or was it was his yami in control, entering the waiting room. He was about to walk over to the nurse's station to ask directions when he caught a glimpse of his friends out of the corner of his eye.

"Yug!" Joey shouted, waving him over. Yugi, already looking a bit lost, was relieved to see his friends coming out of the double doors.

"I'm glad I finally found you." He smiled. "I've been wandering around this hospital for half an hour. I… I think I took a wrong turn at pediatrics."

"It's okay. You found us." Joey smiled back, forgetting for a brief moment the sad circumstances of their visit.

"How's… how's Ryou?" he whispered, turning to Tristan and Tea. They had less comforting looks on their faces. "My yami… my yami says something is really wrong…"

Tristan's expression drooped.

"Something is really wrong…" he replied slowly.

"Yugi, you're right. Ryou's really sick." Tea continued, taking her cue from Tristan's silence. "The… the doctors don't know what's wrong with him. And… and he's… Yugi, he's in really bad shape…"

Yugi glanced up at Joey, who had been smiling before. He wasn't smiling now.

"They're right, Yug… He's… he looks awful."

"They have him on all these machines… and medicines. And the doctors are still arguing over whether or not those will even work." Tea added. "They… it's… it's horrible…"

Finally loosing the composure she had kept for so long, Tea let a line of tears run down her face. She buried her cheeks in Tristan's jacket. He simply held her as she started to cry.

"It's awful… He… he can barely breathe. He looks like he hasn't eaten anything in weeks, and when he threw up… it… it was mostly all blood."

As he spoke, Tea cried harder.

"He… he says he thinks he caught it… in the shadow realm…"

As if on cue, Yugi's yami took control of the body.

"He did." The pharaoh answered. "And we don't have much time if we want to save his life."

Tristan and Joey leaned in closer. Tea finally turned around

"What do you mean?"

Yami Yugi's voice quieted to a whisper.

"… We need to talk."

He turned around, and motioned for someone to come in. A guilt-laden Malik, followed by his elder sister, walked slowly around the corner.

Tristan, Tea, and Joey, having not seen Malik since Battle City, were a bit frightened when they saw him walk in. They simply knew him as their nemesis, gifted with the mind controlling powers of the millennium rod.

"Yug… if you're not thinkin' straight… That's the guy that sent Ryou to the shadow realm in the first place!" Joey exclaimed. Tristan jabbed him in the ribs before he could actually shout anything about shadow magic.

"I know, Joey…" The pharaoh attempted to reply.

"I'm sorry…" Malik bowed his head regretfully. "I really am. I… I couldn't control my darker side. But… I'm here… I… I want to help."

Joey was reluctant to accept help from the person that not only hurt Ryou, but also hurt Mai, and controlled his mind for a short period of time. Tristan and Tea, on the other hand, were more than willing to forget the past if there was a chance Ryou would recover.

"What… what do we need to do?" she whispered, drying her eyes.

"I will let Isis fill you in." Yami Yugi answered. "But right now, I need to make one more phone call."

"To who?"

"Kaiba Corporation." Yami Yugi continued, his face stoic. "I need to find Seto Kaiba."

They exchanged confused glances.

The pharaoh walked quickly out of the waiting room, leaving Isis and Malik with the three other teens.

"Please, sit…" Isis began, motioning them towards a set of chairs in the nearby corner. "I believe we have some important matters to discuss."

They nodded, and sat down, listening intently as she relayed everything she and the pharaoh had discussed earlier that day.