There were few words to describe the room he'd appeared in, but the first one, he decided, was cramped. He might not have been a very big spirit width wise, as that would cause problems,(And he wasn't fat!) he was still very tall. Of course, he cheated a little for his height. After all, the enormous bird-like figure thought to himself as he looked down curiously, bird's legs began halfway down the shins. Which made his 'real' legs so to speak about twice the length of his bird ones. So his height of 5, 6 feet had very quickly increased to about 12.

Ryou looked up at the enormous being before him, turning to look at Malik for a brief moment before running over to him and pulling him out of the way as the creature looked down. It seemed... Familiar almost. The feathers were varied in their colours, though mostly a shade of blue. But the 'bird', as it seemed, did not have a beak as it should. In fact, its entire head was... Human. With a face that bled an ancient and regal tone that both tensed and calmed the hearts of others. It was tanned, almost darker than Malik's if that was possible. Kohl lined his violet eyes, causing them to stand out dramatically. Tear lines as well came down from his eyes, giving the illusion of perpetual sadness. But what stood out the most to him was the hair.

It was long, at least a foot past the 'bird's shoulders. But it was also three colours. And before Ryou could even question this aloud, Malik's hoarse, worn voice was heard with evident agitation. "You... You're not Bakura..." Baku- His Yami? Malik had been trying to bring back his darker self? But how... Why...

As Ryou turned to look up at the 'bird', its face frowned, a childish expression that far betrayed the otherwise regal and almost miserable appearance given by his markings and build. "Bakura? What on earth are you talking about," he said in clear Japanese. The albino jumped slightly, though Malik seemed relatively unaffected as the bird straightened himself out and returned to his full height. He shook his wings slightly, tail swishing as the multitude of feathers cloaked the room. "The last thing I remember is flying in the skies of the Fields of Aaru... I don't even have a clue why you'd think that the King of Thieves would reside in such a place."

Malik merely glared weakly, and just now Ryou noticed how truly weak he seemed. Paler than normal, and shaking like a leaf now that the ritual was over, he slumped against his friend before attempting to respond to the bird. "You... Who are you..?"

The bird smiled, another expression that seemed, to Ryou at least, fairly out of place. "You can't recognize me Malik? I suppose I do look rather different.." He looked himself over in a fit of seeming paranoia before a pair of arms suddenly appeared from beneath the large clump of feathers on his chest. He held them out as though shrugging, before putting his hands on his hips. "I guess it's to be expected. No one ever saw my Ka after all, and I did just spend three thousand years of the afterlife in it."

Impossible... This was... Malik coughed, attempting to sit up as Ryou turned again and attempted to calm the blond down. "Who are-"

"Atem, former pharaoh of Egypt" He chuckled, before looking down at the rather shocked pair. "Though I must ask, how is it that you've managed to pull me out of the fields, I thought the only way to do that was- ...Oh dear."
Him? Atem... The pharaoh? The spirit of Yugi's millennium puzzle was... A... A bird..? He stumbled slightly as Malik collapsed in his arms, taking a shuddering breath before passing out. "What..." He turned back to Atem, swallowing. Wait. Atem was Yugi's other half... If he realized... There was no way Yugi had survived that after all.

But he couldn't lie. Not about this. Never about this. "I..." He bit his lip, turning away slightly as Atem took a few steps forward to look at Malik.

"Is he all right? I don't know much, but the only ritual I know of that can bring the dead to life is fairly suicidal at best... As it is, you need-" He froze, turning as his tail feathers brushed against something. "...A sacrifice."

"I'm so sorry..." Ryou's voice was barely a whisper as he shook, gripping Malik's arm as tears began to form in his eyes. "I'm so so sorry... I should have... I should have done something, but I couldn't move... I couldn't..." No excuse, a nasty part of his mind began to guilt him with. You have no excuse, leaving him to die...

Atem stood frozen as he knelt down by the cold, prone corpse of his partner, his other half. Clawed, bird-like hands picked up the boy as he cradled him in his arms, as though unwilling to accept what had happened. And then, looking over at Malik with a sad and distant expression, he understood. "...He wanted Bakura... But because Bakura never died, the spell latched to the closest thing..." He took steps towards Ryou, the teen flinching as he drew back in fear. "...An equal exchange of souls, with an added payment..." He laid the body down in front of Ryou, who slowly opened his eyes to look up at Atem with a mix of fear, shock, and relief. The expression cracked a small, sad smile on the bird's face. "What- did you think I would punish you for this?" He gave a harsh, choked bird-like sound before kneeling down to look at Ryou sadly. "No... I'm past the days of 'Eye for an Eye' justice, particularly when I can see both sides."

"What.. What do you mean," he choked out. He.. He should have done something, anything to help, and he'd stood there, clinging to the wall in cowardice-! "What do you mean by seeing both sides?" No excuse, no excuse...

He stood up again, turning away briefly before looking back down. "Malik and Bakura... They worked together often, did they not? They were close... Regardless of the parasitic fragment of Zorc that inhabited the Thief's own being, they worked well with one another." His eyes drifted to Malik, and he closed them briefly before continuing. "After the events of my passing, it's not surprising he would want him back. He merely went about it in the wrong way, one of the many ways that would make it impossible."

Ryou frowned, hesitating as he asked the bird his question. "One of.. Many? And why wouldn't this have worked? Does that mean... Does that mean that Yugi died for..." He cut off, tears still running down his face as he choked. Dead. Dead dead dead dead dead Yugi was dead, and he had led him to that grave even with raised suspicions.

"Bakura never died." What? What did he mean he never died, Zorc had been killed hadn't he? That was what Yugi and everyone had told him when he woke up, that both his darker self and some demonic being named 'Zorc Necrophades' had died as a result of the shadow game. "You can never truly kill someone in a game as tied to shadows as it is. There can be fatalities, yes, but only circumstantial. Never by direct, game related attacks so to speak. While Zorc himself is mostly gone, both his fragment of a soul and the Thief King's own are still stuck there, in the endless realm of shadows... Events in the game were only occurring appearance wise. Necrophades, as the creator of those games, would never truly put himself in a position where he could lose, not when he knows of the inescapable consequences... Or so I was told after my passing." He trailed off, continuing to look down with his almost melancholic stare. "...Yes, Malik killed Yugi. And yes, you watched as it happened. But I will not condemn either of you to the same fate, when I can understand the reasoning behind his death, and know that the victim in this situation would never want his soul avenged in that way. I will do something of course... But nothing so terrible as death or torture." He stepped back, almost against the wall of the room as Ryou merely stared confused. "For that reason, Ryou... I leave my fate in your hands."

His eyes widened, and he stared at the bird with frozen shock. "W-What... No... No, I can't! How can I make that kind of decision after all I've done... After all I haven't done..!"

A sad smile was his response. "You can... And you must. It is your choice. Seal me in a stone tablet or card, my form being as tied to the shadows as any duel monster is... Or send my soul into Yugi's body as the ritual intended. It is your choice, and yours alone."

There was a silence for a moment, Ryou shaking his head as though denying everything. "No... I can't... I... I can't..." How did it even work? Sealing him into.. Anything really... What was he supposed to choose? What would Malik choose, his other self choose, Yugi choose... All of them different choices, but which one was right... "How would you do it... Enter Yugi-kun's body?"

The silence continued, and Atem continued to smile sadly before reaching out with a taloned foot to touch the side of the corpse's face. "That, Ryou... Is the easy part. ...But for now, let's get the two of you home."

That sounded really nice... He never got to tell him that however, as in the light that ensued from Atem entering Yugi's body, he found himself loosing consciousness due to all the stress he'd endured... So tired...

"Hn!" Ryou's eyes flung open as he sat up in the bed with a jolt, breathing heavily. It felt as though he'd run a marathon, carrying a camel the entire way; where ever the image of that came from. "Hah... Hah... Hah..." He looked around the room he was in, frowning as he hesitantly stepped out of the bed. "What.." Where... The last he remembered, he'd been in that room, that strange and horrific room beneath the desert with Malik and Yu- He cut his thoughts, biting the inside of his cheek. No... Yugi was... Gone now, wasn't he. In his place, the soul of an ancient pharaoh had come back. Rather, former pharaoh now. The teen numbly changed into some clothes, heading downstairs to make some breakfast. He didn't feel much like doing anything really... But he knew that simply not eating or sleeping properly would be an insult to his friend's memory. What would he say, if he knew that his friends simply wasted away after his death? He would say,

"Hey! Just because I'm dead doesn't mean you have to die too! Besides, I'll always be there!"

He gave a sad, weak smile as he brushed the side of the frying pan he held with that thought. "I'm so sorry, Yugi-kun.. So sorry..."

"...Ryou?" He turned, blinking at the shock of who had entered the room. "...I would ask if you were alright, but something tells me the question would be more than redundant, wouldn't it," he said quietly. The teen who had entered sat at the table, tanned skin made to appear darker with the white room contrasting him. He seemed visibly uncomfortable, to Ryou's surprise. Hadn't the pharaoh, former pharaoh he reminded himself, been the one to influence Yugi's style with so much leather? And yet as Atem sat down, his presence in the body having somehow caused it to change in both height and appearance, a visible wince came as he attempted to adjust the leather pants he was wearing.

The teen stared a moment, before shaking it off. "...Yea... I... I suppose it would be a tad redundant..." He turned back to the counter, grabbing the eggs he'd laid out and setting the pan down to cook them. The man was a distraction he was... His head looked identical to when he had been a 'bird', and the rest of his skin had changed to match. Not to mention, Ryou was fairly certain that Atem could possibly rival Kaiba in height if he was lucky...

As the room fell into silence, the smell of eggs filled the room. Atem seemed to visibly melt with the aroma, to Ryou's slight amusement. Dishing up the eggs onto three plates in case Malik woke up, he passed one to Atem and took a seat himself. "...Do you like eggs at all Atem-san..?" He didn't feel right calling royalty, however dead, with the 'kun' honorific. "If you don't want them, I could make something else for you- Ah?" He blinked as the teen in front of him turned, a fork full of eggs already in his mouth. Atem's expression was fairly comical really, not unlike a child who had just been caught stuffing Halloween candy in his mouth after bedtime.

He pulled the fork out, swallowing. "It's fine; I haven't had eggs for quite some time actually... In the fields, the dead are grouped by a common species; as my Ka, or 'soul' was mostly that of a bird, I stayed with others bearing similar appearance... Most of which would have found this quite cannibalistic, aha..." He trailed off with nervous laughter, Ryou blinking a few times as he wrapped his head around what he'd just heard.

His thoughts were voiced when Malik walked in however, holding his head with a pained expression on his face. "Hngg... Who got the plates from the truck that hit m-" The blond seemed to come back to earth at the sight of Atem, freezing momentarily with a look of shock on his face. He managed to get over this when he spotted the eggs. "I thought you were a giant chicken."

Atem visibly tensed, frowning. "I'm not a chicken, the correct term is, ironically enough, 'Ba'. There's a very, very big difference." He took another forkful of eggs, swallowing as he added, "Also, I'm fairly certain the Ba came from a falcon, and not any form of seed eating fowl."

Ryou covered his mouth, holding back the fit of giggles that was threatening to escape him with that fairly quick defence. Eventually, as Malik grabbed his plate with a smirk ('Yea. Ok, chicken', he said as he sat down), he finally turned to Atem again. "You're... Not quite what I remember from 'Yami Yugi'."

While Atem looked over at Ryou curiously, an expression all to reminiscent of Yugi to the teen's grim notice, Malik nodded in numb agreement. He was apparently expecting something, anything to happen to him as a punishment for what happened. But as Atem shrugged and went back to his eggs, the other two looked at each other and nervously went back to eating. Ryou knew, from what Atem had said the night before, that nothing would happen. And considering that he'd had all the time in the world to be rid of them both while carrying them back to the house (However he'd managed that), it wasn't likely that anything he planned was that bad... But fear and paranoia was still quite evident in Malik's eyes, however much he tried to hide it.

The albino decided to break the silence, taking a glance at Atem before turning to Malik. "Ah... Malik... About Bakura," he said, mentally wincing as he used his own surname to refer to another being.

Malik didn't answer, picking at his food at yet another reminder of his failure.

"Atem... Atem-san said that-"

The blond gritted his teeth, before interrupting Ryou and pulling Atem's attention away from his eggs with a shout. "I know! Of course the 'King of Thieves' wouldn't have been allowed into the Fields! But I had to try... I had to! I didn't mean for the sacrifice to be Yugi... I never said to bring him, just to bring a friend, but I couldn't just ask anyone!" He gripped the table, looking directly at Atem. "But I can always try- Mn!"

Ryou jumped as Malik was smacked off the chair with a rather audible thump, followed by a groan. More shocking was the fairly large wing that had shot out to do so, and was now being pulled back as its owner returned to eating eggs. Malik groaned, pulling himself back on the chair as he and Ryou slowly turned to look at Atem incredulously. Before they could say anything, Atem swallowed his latest fork-full and gave Malik a rather serious stare. "Stop that. Stop that now- first off, as I told Ryou, Bakura never died Malik. He's sealed, in the Shadow realm. And as for my own feelings on what you did that brought me back to this world..." He gave a sad smile, before crossing his arms and shaking his head. "What you went through for that ritual is more than enough I think."

They both looked at him, blinking before the former pharaoh continued. "You're lucky to be alive- and personally, that combined with your current grief is more than enough punishment any day."

Awkward silence settled on the table, and Ryou closed his mouth while Malik blinked a few times. Eventually, it was the latter who spoke. "Ryou was right... You're really different..." He blinked a few times more, before smirking. "...Chicken."

"I am NOT. A chicken!" Ryou rubbed his head as Malik continued smirking, before turning to the blond with a frown.

"...How are you feeling Malik... You don't look well..." Evidently, when Atem had said 'lucky to be alive', he really meant it. The teen still looked sickly pale compared to his usual bronzed complexion, and he'd barely eaten his breakfast. "...Maybe you should go back to bed..."

He shook his head, frowning. "No- ..Atem!" He turned to look at the taller of the three, who looked up from his food with partial confusion.

"Ah- yes?"

Malik's expression became more serious, and he leaned forwards slightly. "You said Bakura wasn't dead... So you know where he is then?"

There was a short nod, and as he went back to eating his food(taking Malik's mostly untouched eggs as well) he answered. "That's right; he's in the shadow realm but-"

There was a slamming noise and a screech as Malik pushed his chair back and stood, causing both Atem and Ryou to look up with slight surprise. "Tell me how to get him out!"

"Er... It's quite simple now that I know how actually..."

"Then tell me, so I can get him out!"

Abruptly, Atem's seemingly taken aback and nervous demeanour switched, eyes narrowing to a more serious expression. "...No."

"What..!"

Ryou blinked, turning to Atem. "What do you mean no? If you told Malik all of this, how could you say that..."

Atem shook his head, before pulling his legs up into a cross-legged position. "I didn't mean 'no, we won't get him'. I meant 'no, we won't get him now'. Look at yourself Malik- I already told you that you're lucky to even be alive right now. To go into the shadow realm in your condition would simply kill you outright." As the Ryou turned to a now growing paler Malik, Atem continued. "Go sleep Malik; when you've recovered, we can go over Bakura's rescue."

As Malik drew back from the table with a fairly torn expression, Ryou stood up to gather the now empty dishes from the table. "You should... You should listen, Malik," he said as he smiled sadly. "all right?"

He didn't say anything, biting his lip as he gave Atem an odd look and turned to leave the room. Maybe they were right... He needed to lie down, think this over... He'd already killed someone hadn't he? He'd killed... Killed a friend of his, someone that while he didn't know well, he knew nonetheless. One of the last few people he knew that had actually trusted him after his other half had... Malik clenched his fists as he entered his room, shutting the door behind him before sitting on the bed, eyes wide as it finally hit him.

"...Yugi..." How... How could he have been so blind..! He'd taken the assumption of those who knew next to nothing about the realm of shadows, assumed that Bakura, the one who had joined with him when he fought against the pharaoh, was dead... Poured his heart and soul into researching those grave and elusive hieroglyphics from the book he'd found... Not even a book really, so much as a tome created to hold records of all the aged and fading papyrus scrolls... He'd assumed and for what?

The pharaoh was here, when his duty had been to make sure he made it to the afterlife safe and sound, a duty that he had effectively reversed. The boy and friend that had been host to that same pharaoh, effectively making him just as important himself, had been killed to do the deed. And all that time, it wouldn't have mattered if it worked or failed because Bakura wasn't dead to begin with. Just rotting away, a soul trapped in the vast and endless expanse of shadows.

Malik held his head in his hands, and for the first time in years, let the tears he had fall freely and silently through his fingers and to the floor.