Tea is the first to wake. While she tries to muster the energy to move, her blurry gaze aimlessly wanders the room. It finally settles on Miho, who is sleeping comfortably on her mound of bedding. Aches in Tea's shoulders and back cause her to wince. Two pillows and a blanket are not enough for sleeping on the floor. Tea looks away from Miho in annoyance although the annoyance disappears when she recalls the reasons behind her night on the floor.
The girl pushes herself up. As she stands, a dull ache travels through her muscles, but she ignores that to check on Ryo in his bed.
The bed is empty.
Tea's breath catches, and she almost shouts out. However, she is distracted when the door to the bedroom clicks then opens. The dancer takes several steps back. A tall bulky figure stands in the doorway. Tea breathes hard and fast as she backs against the wall. Because the adrenaline kicks in, the last of the blurriness fades from Tea's eyes. The shadowed shape of the man comes into focus as Tea opens her mouth to shout her friends awake. Instead, she visibly relaxes.
Alister stands in the doorway. He looks at her with sharp eyes but then softens his gaze when he focuses on the sleeping boy in his arms. Alister enters the room and walks towards Tea. The calm Tea felt at realizing that it was not a complete stranger dissipates when Alister brings Ryo closer. The dark circles under his eyes are so pronounced, and he is paler than ever before.
When Alister nears her, Tea moves out of his way to the bed. As Alister steps over Miho and lays Ryo on the bed, Tea almost touches Ryo in a comforting gesture. However, when she thinks about accidently waking the exhausted boy, the urge vanishes.
Alister steps away and walks out of the room. A brief hesitation occurs before Tea follows him out of the room. They walk to the kitchen where Alister sits back down at the table and continues looking at his cards.
As she turns the main light on and switches off the stove light, Tea says nothing. The girl walks over to the fridge and starts rifling through the freezer and fridge compartments. Ordinarily, the few bags of frozen vegetables, the TV dinners, and the lack of raw ingredients in the fridge would bother her, yet she feels nothing as she takes stock of her options. After a few minutes, she moves her search to the cabinets and cupboards. She takes a few items out, and places them on the counter.
"Thank you." Her voice is clear and moderate in volume. When Alister looks at her, she has placed a kettle, with melting butter in it, on the stove and is cutting up the only unfrozen vegetable- a single onion- in the house. Alister is silent.
"Thank you for helping him so far. If you hadn't he would not be here right now." Her voice trembles near the end of the sentence. Her cutting remains steady. Alister considers his next words.
"Don't thank me. Any decent human being would have done the same." He does not go back to his cards quite yet. There is a long silence until Tea dumps the onion into the pan.
"How was he last night when the rest of us were sleeping?" She avoids any personal questions.
"More nightmares." Alister pauses. "He's the only one who should tell you about them. However, I can say that he did talk about normal things, too. He is trying not to have a repeat of yesterday."
Plastic bags tear and frozen peas and corn mix are tossed into the pan. Time crawls. It is only when it is time to dump instant noodles into boiling water that Tea speaks.
"Are you going to be staying here for long?"
Alister picks up his cards and responds.
"All of you have school, so yes." He stands up and snatches his trench coat from over the back of the chair. He turns to leave.
"Where are you going?" Tea takes her eyes off the food to watch Alister.
"My hotel. I need to pick up my stuff before I'm checked out." He disappears before she can respond.
Joey and Tristan decide to skip school and going home. For a moment, Tea feels jealousy at them for their capability to stay. For varying reasons, Miho, Yugi, and her cannot. Yugi's grandpa is probably quite concerned. Death-T is still fresh in his mind, so any disappearance of his grandson could be caused by a vengeful Kaiba. After he explains the situation to his grandpa, Yugi is certain that he will be back within a few hours.
It is almost guaranteed that Miho's mother has already called the school. When Tea asks, Miho admits that she does not know when she will return. However, the look in her violet eyes says that she will be back before the end of the day. Tea herself promises she will not stay out for long.
As he mechanically eats his lightly cheesed noodle dish, Ryo remains silent for most of the conversation. The boy only speaks when he is handing Yugi his school bag that he almost forgot in his haste. The look in her ailing friend's eyes causes Tea to vow to only take an hour away from Ryo. She can easily call her parents from Yugi's place. A simple half truth about an ill friend should be enough to allow her to skip school for the day.
Silence reigns on most of the walk to the Game Shop.
It is not that I don't want to ask Yugi about how he is taking Ryo's…situation. It is just that...Yugi is the type of person to feel everything his friends are feeling, so he is certainly not taking the situation well. If only I could comfort him, talk to him. However, I don't want it to look like I am concentrating more on Yugi than Ryo lest Yugi might feel guilty that he is being comforted instead of his friend who suffers more. I guess it is just safer to stay silent. If Yugi wants to talk, he will.
"Do you trust Alister?"
Tea's thoughts come to a halt while Yugi's quiet yet stable voice travels through the air. She had not thought Yugi would ask that question, and her surprise causes her to hesitate for a minute.
"Tea?" Yugi looks from the sidewalk to her for the first time this walk. His eyes are purple instead of the red she would have associated with a question of that nature.
"Oh yeah, I guess." Tea winces at her own unsure tone and tries again.
"I mean, I do believe that Alister does not want to harm Ryo and that he does not want him to die. He did dive off of a bridge to save him." Tea swallows but then walks with more confidence. "I am not saying that I trust him at everything. He could be a car thief while being someone who values human life. Also, he is not the best at conversations, but he might just be angry at us for letting Ryo fall that far."
After she finishes, Yugi stays silent until the Game Shop comes into view.
"I wouldn't blame him if he is." His voice grows quieter.
"It isn't your fault." Tea almost stops Yugi to comfort him in some way, but his next words cause her to hesitate until they are already through the Game Shop door.
"In some ways it is not, but it is in others. We should have been paying more attention to Ryo. We should have known. But complaining and regretting it now won't do anything. We have to put our efforts into helping him." His tone is strong. His eyes are determined.
Nothing Tea can say would be an adequate response to that, so she stays silent.
The small tricolored hair boy tries to open the shop's door quietly, but the bell above the door jiggles. Both Tea and Yugi freeze and strain their ears to listen. Judging from the lack of footsteps coming down the stairs or a voice echoing from behind the counter, Mr. Muto was probably still asleep. As Tea sneaks past the shelves to the phone by the counter, Yugi breathes a sigh of relief. Perhaps his grandpa fell asleep before it got too late, and Yugi could pretend he had been at home for the night.
The adolescent steps forward.
"Well there, young man, do you want to explain yourself?" A short ominous figure appears from the shadows of a shelf just behind Tea. With a shriek, she spins around and stumbles back. Yugi merely squeaks in surprise. With amethyst eyes focused solely on his grandson and with lips set in a hard, thin line, Solomon Muto waits for Yugi to speak.
"Well, Grandpa, I was…"
Solomon loses patience with Yugi's stammering.
"Mr. Muto, I do not think you fully realize the gravity of your late night expedition."
"Grandpa-" Yugi pales.
"Now, what sort of punishment is fit for this?" Solomon claps his hands together. Yugi flinches.
"I know. How about you tell me all about your adventures with your friends." The sternness evaporates to be replaced by a goofy grin and an excited voice. It is only when his grandpa chuckles heartily that Yugi realizes that the old man was messing with him.
"Grandpa! That wasn't funny." Yugi flushes a deep red. As her heart rate decreases, Tea sighs in exasperation and rolls her eyes.
"Ho, ho, ho, on the contrary, it rather is."
Yugi looks down. Instead of eventually grinning and laughing like he normally would during these jokes, he frowns and says. "Grandpa, that wasn't funny."
Solomon stops laughing and studies his grandson through knitted eyebrows. "Yugi, what's the matter?"
Yugi does not look up. Tea frowns, and the mix of frustration and amusement at the joke evaporates.
"Something really bad happened last night and I don't know what to do."
Solomon immediately steps forward and tries to look into his grandson's eyes.
"Did something happen to Joey, Tristan, or Miho?" Mr. Muto's eyes gain a sharper edge. "Was it Kaiba again?"
"No, it was Ryo Bakura. He is a recent transfer student."
"Did he bully-"
"No, it's…" Yugi only trails off once before he tells his grandpa everything, starting from his and Ryo's first meeting weeks ago to the events of Monster World to the horrifying truths so recently discovered. For most of the conversation, Yugi's voice remains steady, but it quavers when he tells about the deaths that Ryo had just remembered. The adolescent trembles at the end of his words. His grandfather's eyes are shadowed and a frown has appeared on his face. In the background, Tea barely stops herself from crying.
"After that, he tried to…he nearly died, Grandpa. Even though the spirit is gone, I don't know how to fix-"
"Do you have it?"
Yugi looks up in confusion.
"The Ring. I assume that you removed it from the poor boy's house."
Yugi blinks away the tears that were forming and responds. "Yeah. I have it in my bag here." He reaches to grab his school bag from the floor.
"May I see it?"
"Why is Grandpa's voice so detached?"
As Yugi opens and rifles through his bag, he feels confusion at the thoughts of the puzzle spirit.
"Umm, it's somewhere in here. I thought it was near the top. Just a minute." Yugi rifles through his bag a bit more. He does not notice his grandfather get up and leave. However, Tea gets a glimpse of his expression as he walks past her and into the back room. A shiver goes up her spine at the look that lurks in amethyst eyes. When Yugi's search grows frantic, Tea walks over to help him look. Before they finish searching, Solomon returns with a single sheet of paper.
"Yugi, it is not in your bag." Yugi does not look up from his search. Tea does and regrets it. The haunted look in Solomon's eyes makes her think of the feeling of dread she gets when she reads a tragic tale that she can predict the unhappy ending of. The girl shivers when Solomon's eyes meet hers. He shakes his head slightly and the look in his eyes changes to simple seriousness.
"Yes it is. I put it in here myself."
Solomon steps closer.
"Did this Bakura boy have your bag at any point?"
Yugi stops searching and looks up. "Yes, but what does that have to do with-"
"Then he most likely took it before you left."
Yugi's eyes grow wide.
"Ryo wouldn't do something like that." Yugi's high-toned voice echoes through the room. His grandpa only reacts by holding up the piece of paper. Yugi and Tea stare at it. An illustration of the Millennium Ring stares back.
"That's the Ring, Grandpa. How did you already know what it looks like?"
Solomon folds the paper and slides it into a pocket before answering
"The Millennium Ring is legendary among certain circles of archeologists. It is an object that has shown up throughout history. One that has become known in folklore for certain traits that it has consistently possessed. However, the manifestation of these traits varies with each host." Solomon settles into his chair by the counter.
"One of these traits being that, until the death of its current owner, the Ring is never separated for long from its owners. Fate or the actions of the owners themselves always draw the two back together again."
Yugi and Tea just stare until the girl gathers enough of herself to speak.
"Are you saying that Ryo can't get rid of the ring?"
Solomon's frown deepens. "The boy probably does not even want to give up the Ring. No matter what misfortune followed them, there have been none known to simply relinquish ownership."
"Misfortune?" asks Yugi.
"Injury, the deaths of friends and family, wars. Those are just a few examples of the horrors that confirmed and speculated owners have faced."
Yugi and Tea stand in stunned silence.
"That is not the only trait it possesses. Any time that it has surfaced in the dark corners of history, some major catastrophe has occurred. Oftentimes, the owner is at the center of it."
Yugi snaps out of his trance.
"You mean that it has done this before?" The boy's question lingers in the air as his grandfather nods.
"The odd personality changes to your friend Bakura are common amongst the others. It is often described as if some demon is possessing them and conjuring that person's darker nature."
Yugi leans forward. "But we banished whatever was in the Ring." The boy's voice wavers with uncertainty.
A calculative glint appears in Solomon's eyes, and he hesitates before continuing.
"That is possible. With the power of the Puzzle involved, your friend might have become the first one to escape the cycle." A darker look clouds Solomon's features. "However, be wary. Like the Puzzle, the Ring is rumored to possess similar great, dark powers."
"So, 'he' might still be lurking within the depths of the Ring…We need to get back now."
Yugi's heart jolts at the urgency in his darker half's voice, and he shoots to his feet. Tea starts at the sudden movement.
"If the Ring Spirit is still there and strong enough to steal back the Ring, then Joey and Tristan are right now without any protection against him."
As the darker one's thoughts echo through Yugi's head, he turns and zips out the door. Tea begins to leave. However, a question catches in her mind, and she turns towards Solomon.
"Mr. Muto, will… can Ryo be saved from the Ring?" Her voice is small.
The old man simply stares at her for a moment. The turmoil of his thoughts shows in amethyst eyes.
"Perhaps. I can guarantee this: one game will not be enough to destroy the Ring's hold. Weaken it, yes. Stall for time, of course. However, there is a long road ahead of all of you."
The silence stretches until Tea nods once and disappears through the door after Yugi.
Solomon Muto merely stares after them before opening up his shop.
As Ryo turns on the shower, the Ring feels cold against his chest. It had been too easy to convince Joey and Tristan to leave him alone. Just the mere mention of a shower eliminated all suspicion.
As he locks the door, Ryo feels a pang in his chest. That lie had been necessary though. He needs to be alone for this. The boy checks the water to see if it is cold. Breathing the steam of a hot shower makes his thoughts hazy, so it is not welcome when he requires a clear mind.
You were clearly not thinking right when you stole the Ring back from Yugi.
Ryo winces at his own thoughts. The pangs of guilt in his chest intensify. He had not wanted to betray Yugi like that, but he needed this. Needed answers about his life and hidden memories. Ryo turns to look at the mirror. Empty, dark green eyes stare back. The dark circles under his eyes look atrocious, and his skin appears as pale as chalk. Ryo closes his eyes. Hopefully, Yugi and the others will understand once he can explain it to them.
Ryo pushes away his thoughts and concentrates on the Ring. Its iciness spreads through his chest, and a ringing sound starts in both ears. His last thoughts before he crashes to the floor are wonder and disturbed feelings at how easy it is to follow the Ring's bounds to his soul. It is almost like he has done this many times before.
Ryo opens his eyes to see the door to his soulroom in front of him. So it worked. He made it. Ryo looks around for the dark iron door that appeared in his recently gained memories. That door has to lead to the Spirit's room. Why else would he end up there after Ryo had taken over before?
When Ryo turns around, he sees it. The door looms over him, and the boy takes a large breath before approaching the opposing door. As he walks closer, Ryo notices that the dark iron door is tinged with many spots of dark red rust across the intricate patterns that cover its surface. Ryo reaches out. As his hand hovers over the doorknob, it trembles. With a quick intake of breath, the boy grasps the knob and opens the way to his inner darkness.
It is too cold. That is the first thought of Ryo's. The room is too cold. He has not even stepped through the doorway yet, but his breath still comes out as mist. As shivers travels up his spine, a twinge of doubt echoes within Ryo. Does he really want to-
No, I will not hesitate.
The boy steps through the door and onto the darkness. At first, there is no feeling on the soles of his feet. A breath later, sharp cold shoots up his leg, and he bites his lip to hold in a cry. Ryo only takes five steps into the room before he starts shaking. His whole self vibrates, and Ryo wraps both arms around himself. His blue t-shirt and thin brown pants do nothing to protect him. The toes on his bare feet are already turning blue.
The boy glances back and sees only the empty doorway behind him. With longings of warmth in his head, Ryo stiffens and turns forward again. He then takes one step and then another.
I will not quit now. I deserve to know what happened to my sister, to my family
Near the beginning, he calls for the Spirit, even trying the name "Bakura," which still tastes odd on his tongue. However, moments consisting of seconds or minutes or hours pass (it does not matter here), and he eventually stops to save his breath for the trek. Each step Ryo takes causes the cold to shoot through him, causes his toes and fingers and lips to turn blue, causes his breath to come out as mist.
The look in Amane's eyes when she scolded the Spirit propels him forward through the frozen darkness. Green eyes dull from cold scan Ryo's surroundings. The Spirit has to be here somewhere. There is only so much space that could be in this room, after all. Only so far to walk.
When Ryo tries calling out again, his voice has no echo. The boy has a strong feeling that it is somehow being muffled by the darkness. When Ryo decides to cease calling out, there is a flicker to his right, and the darkness shifts to a purple tint. While jumping to the left, Ryo nearly looses his balance. While he stumbles left, the purple pulsates and then darkens back to the blackness around him. Green eyes are wide and clear, and breaths come in sharp, shallow gasps. As the purple vanishes, he takes a few more steps backwards.
His right heel hits a solid object, and his momentum causes him to fall back. His back and head hit the hard ground. The iciness that courses through him causes Ryo to push himself up. Eyes bleary from the pain focus on what tripped him.
A sight of wild, white hair meets saucer-like eyes. Icy cold radiates off of the chest under Ryo's lower legs. A gasp escapes Ryo as he moves himself off of the Spirit. An automatic apology is the only words Ryo can say before nervousness and fear stifle other words.
There is no response.
A fearful gaze fixes upon the Spirit. A heartbeat of time passes and then another, but still the Spirit will not respond. The fearfulness directed at his own safety extinguishes when Ryo notices something. There is too much stillness. When Ryo removed himself from on top of the Spirit before, the other had not even so much as twitched, and now… His chest does not even rise like he has breath.
A soft, yet quick hand grabs a shock of white hair and holds it while another hand checks the pulse in the now exposed neck.
There is none.
Ryo's breathing speeds up once he feels this. Ryo moves closer to the Spirit's side to look better at his face and sees a chalk white visage with purplish blue lips and dark circles surrounding closed eyes.
No.
Ryo shifts and presses his ear against the Spirits chest. The first second, there is no heartbeat, and Ryo's own almost stops. The fourth second, Ryo cannot tell whether or not his mind plays tricks on him when he hears a faint beat. The first full minute, he knows that there is a faint beat, several of them in fact.
"Spir-" Amane and Mother's name for the Spirit comes to mind.
"Bakura, wake up." Now, Ryo's eyes are focused on the slack face. Ryo's hands are gripping the Spirit's shoulders.
"Wake up, please." The Spirit's head lolls to the side as Ryo pulls him up and holds him awkwardly.
"I need you to wake up." There is no response from the cold one. Ryo holds him closer as though to give him heat. The coldness of the other seeps through his clothing and skin.
"You have to… I need you to tell me about Amane." Ryo no longer looks at the face of the Spirit, instead he stares at the dark entity's hair as he holds the unconscious spirit even closer. Amber eyes stare off into the distance at first and then focus once Amane's name registers.
"I need to know what happened to…" The boy trails off and his breaths become shorter. The nightmarish images he saw on the bridge flash through his mind. Amber eyes look sideways towards the boy's shoulder. As the warmth of Landlord seeps in, Bakura breathes deeply.
The warmth is both a curse and a blessing to Bakura. Landlord's energy does make him stronger with the passing of time- an occurrence that will allow him to recover relatively quickly. But, the weakness he feels… Increased awareness brings his current state to mind. His limbs are heavy and almost numb. Also, his power is drained to the point that it can hardly be sensed. He hates this. Hates relying on Landlord, whom he will probably have to pay rent to later.
Landlord stiffens. Fear, which does not belong to Bakura, courses through his own body. He knows in that moment that the boy can sense his emotions of hatred. Bakura does not have the strength to stop his source of energy and warmth from moving away. Although, his fingers twitch and a bit of panic travels through him. The cold and complete numbness returns to the parts of Bakura's body that are no longer touching Landlord's.
Sensing emotions of panic, Landlord hesitates and moves back to his former position. In the name of self-preservation, Bakura forces the feelings of hatred at his weakness to minimal levels as the warmth starts to strengthen him again. Weakness, of course, is always preferable to being trapped in this place.
As amber eyes shut, Bakura concentrates on a memory suitable for payment. It was not exactly what Landlord asked for. However, it should satisfactory enough for the boy's curiosity for now. Besides, any other would not guarantee the formation of a bond of sorts.
Ryo Bakura is six. He knows this from the candles on the cake that Mother made and from the gift that he plays with as he waits. Wooden figurines clitter, clatter across Ryo's table as green eyes glance at the front door every minute or so.
"Ryo."
The boy glances towards his mother who stands in the kitchen's doorway.
"He will be home soon, okay." As she speaks, Mother wipes her hands on her apron. Ryo's frown is slow to leave, but he smiles at her eventually.
"I know." The child continues to move his figurines as he speaks. Mother opens her mouth to respond, but a squeal of a little girl making a mess in the kitchen and a crashing of dishes cause her to retreat back through the doorway. After she disappears, Ryo glances at the front door again.
The moment stretches and bends, and during that time, Ryo sees something that causes his heart to pound and his mouth to dry. But then he blinks, and Father stands a few feet in front of him. The boy jumps up and runs over to his father. A true smile emerges, and thin arms embrace the far taller adult.
"Father!" While Ryo looks up, eyes light with excitement. "You're home."
The man places a hand on top his son's head. He smiles a caring smile, yet…his brown eyes are different somehow. They do not match the smile.
"Yes, Ryo, I am home." With his free hand, the man holds up a brown paper bag.
"I brought you a present for…" His father glances at the near finished cake piece on the table. "Your birthday." As he kneels next to Ryo, the man's voice is full of warmth. Ryo's already bright smile grows, and the only voice that escapes him is an excited gasp. Delicate fingers snatch the bag out of the man's hand. After opening the bag, Ryo reaches in. Fingertips brush against smooth, cool surfaces. The sensation distracts Ryo from his father's hand, which has become rather warm, on his head. Ryo's left hand grasps the object and his right hand pulls the bag away. Gold reflects off of Ryo's eyes.
The object is a dinner-plate-size piece of jewelry. Its shape captivates Ryo as he studies the triangular gold spikes that hang from it. Then, his gaze travels the circular outer piece before settling on the gold pyramid in the object's interior. The dark eye in the very center stares back at him.
"It's called the Millennium Ring. And you should be very honored to have it, as short as that time may be."
The words and darker tone do not register in the boy's mind for the item's heat is too distracting. It seeps into Ryo's hands, up his arms, and into his core. There is a murmuring from his father that Ryo fails to hear, but then the moment bends back onto itself and the words become clear.
"Usually the Ring rejects a prospective owner by this point." The man's grip tightens, and Ryo's father forces the boy's gaze to himself.
Green eyes stare wide and uncertain. Ryo's lips are parted. He feels weird. Strange warmth fills him, and there is a tickling sensation throughout his body. It feels like someone is dancing their fingers underneath his skin.
"Congratulation, child, you passed the test." The man's smile matches his cold eyes. Ryo returns the man's smile albeit the boy's is far warmer.
"A test, Father?" The boy hugs the Ring close. His arms nearly cover its surface.
The man frowns at the boy's warm smile.
"Unfortunately, harder tests are yet to come, so let me make this easier for you." The man's other hand wraps around the side of Ryo's head. Both grips grow painfully tight.
Confusion clouds Ryo's expression.
"Fath-" A word said with wavering voice is cut short by the increased heat from his father's hands.
"Let me rid you of weakness."
Time bends and twists again. Although this time, the past few hours seem to dance around Ryo. Inside the child, something creaks and cracks. The boy blinks (or the world darkens) and then he sees a strange golden light drift across his vision. Wonder fills him until the light finds that crack and pulls. The room grows cold, then hot, then cold again. A growing, blinding pain fills Ryo's head. The light pulls again, and the crack grows larger until something tears and breaks. The light pulls the broken pieces apart. Though, Ryo does not know why or how there are broken pieces, but they must be there because everything feels so jagged. Why does he fell like he is being torn apart?
The boy blinks. A crack longer than him stares down from the ceiling.
Why is the ceiling cracked?
The boy tries to sit up; he really does, yet the blood rushing to his head and trickling out his ears dictates that he lay back down. He complies. However, enough energy is mustered so that he can move his hand and touch his throat. Inside, it feels odd, and rough. The world darkens again and, when his sight returns, the boy finds himself in a dark hallway with a stone floor. There are two doors. One made of cedar and the other dark iron. The cedar is cracked to the point that it looks as if it will break apart. However, the cracks are not dark like one would expect. Instead, whiteness fills each and every one. The iron door, unblemished yet dark, is open.
Before the boy can explore either room, he finds himself opening his eyes to the sight of the cracked ceiling. A murmuring fills one ear, and he looks toward the source. His mother, who has a bruise on a part of her forehead, grabs his arm. She appears to be speaking to him or yelling. Her face does look quite tense. She leans in closer and touches one of the spots that Father had.
It does not hurt, but the crawling sensation brings discomfort.
The white-haired boy twitches and than snarls at her while he pushes himself away. The dizziness almost makes him fall over again, but he forces himself to stay steady. His hand trembles as he runs it through the areas that his mother dares touch.
The hair feels different. A moment of exploration reveals that two clumps of it have adopted pointed and distinct designs.
"Ryo?"
The boy looks up at his mother. He does not want to speak yet because he is still annoyed at her. However, in order to get what he wants, he has to talk.
"Where is Father?" The tone is clipped and the amber-eyed glare is harsh. His mother does not respond. Instead, her eyes tear up and she embraces the child before he can pull away. At first, the boy struggles, but a thought occurs that causes him to pause.
He feels cold. The embrace does not warm him like it should, does not comfort or calm him. Something is missing. The feeling of breaking apart comes to the forefront of his mind. He does not know how he knows, but somehow he senses that something has been taken from him. The boy, Bakura as he will eventually be known as, slackens in his mother's embrace. Eyes stare wildly into nothingness as he attempts to comprehend what happened. As that knowledge eludes him, he clenches the Millennium Ring with one hand.
Back within the soulroom of his darker half, Ryo finds himself holding the sleeping spirit tight. It is almost like he is trying to reabsorb the half of him that broke off.
This is not possible. This should not be possible.
Ryo trembles and tights his grip on the Millennium Ring, wait… That does not make sense. He holds Bakura not the Ring. While his ears ring, Ryo's vision swims and the boy gasps. The spirit, who was supposed to be sleeping, chuckles.
"Well, Landlord, looks like someone calls you back."
Ryo's eyes widen, and he finds that no matter how hard his grip becomes, the fabric Bakura wears feels like it is slipping from his fingers.
"No, I am not ready. You haven't told me everything."
Bakura continues over Ryo's words.
"Most likely your friends. I wonder what they will think of your actions." The tone is more mocking than curious.
What will they think of Ryo going to the Spirit?
Ryo's heart gives a start, and his vision darkens. He can no longer feel Bakura, but his arms are not empty. Within their grasp is the Millennium Ring.
"Hey, kid, wake up."
As he opens his eyes, the boy gasps ragged breaths. He feels cold, but unlike the soulroom, the cold numbs. When his vision clears, Ryo sees Alister's face above his.