Bakura’s body lay in a comatose state in the hospital. He had been found lying on the floor of his apartment two days ago, and his condition hadn’t changed since then. Yugi had come to see him, and so had Joey, Honda, and Téa. As the nurse showed them in, they saw Shadi standing at the foot of the bed. “Hey,” Joey demanded, “whatcha doin’ here?”
“Waiting,” Shadi replied, "for you."
The group blinked in surprise. “Why?” Yugi asked.
“His soul has left this fading body. I want to look for it and for that I need your help,” Shadi replied, his eyes never leaving the barely breathing body.
The gang looked at each other. “Well,” Honda said, “why not?”
“Yea,” Téa said. “I want to see Bakura again.”
“What do you think, Joey?” Yugi asked.
“I dunno guys, I don’t trust him,” he replied nervously. “I mean he made a zombie chase me once!”
“But still he’s the only chance for us to get Bakura back,” Téa murmured worriedly.
Yugi looked at Shadi. “We accept your offer.”
Shadi nodded slightly. With one hand he grasped his Millennium Key and he held out the other. “We shall do this as we did when we entered the Pharaoh’s soul room in Egypt.”
They all joined hands, a bit reluctantly in Joey’s case. Shadi bent his head, gripped the Key, and concentrated.
---
Once again, they found themselves in a soul room, this time Bakura’s. Quite surprisingly, it was totally empty!
“Is it just me, or is this totally not normal?” Honda said nervously. Joey began to eye Shadi suspiciously.
“I wonder what could’ve happened.” Téa wondered, quite worried.
“Awright, mister! What did you do to our friend Bakura?” demanded Joey, whipping around and jabbing a finger at Shadi, who was walking the edges of the room.
“Nothing,” he answered.
“Of course not,” said a strange voice.
“We did!” A second unknown voice laughed.
To the sound of metal hitting metal, a third mysterious voice said, “Shut up, little brother. To them, this is serious!”
The group looked at the corner where the voices were coming from. There were three people there. They looked like metal statues, except they moved! One, colored bronze, was pouting and rubbing his cheek. Another, the shortest and silver colored, was glaring at them, hands on her hips. The third, gold tinted, was frowning at an open book in his hands. “Rule one,” he said, “no leaving. Rule two, no visitors.” He snapped the book shut. His was the first voice.
“Rules for what?” Téa asked.
“Bakura’s new… residence.”
“That’s harsh,” Joey remarked.
“And just what are you guys?” Honda demanded.
“Oh, we’re animated statues. Statue people if you will,” said the bronze one cheerfully in the second voice they had heard.
The short one stalked up to them and yanked off her helmet, letting long hair fall downward. She harrumphed and stalked back.
“Let me explain,” said the gold one with an ahem. “Bakura, having lost all desire to live in your world, almost committed suicide. Before he could do that, we gave him an offer. A chance to leave your world behind, without the uncertainty of the afterlife. A new life, so to speak. A sanctuary from the pressures that people inadvertently create. He asked if he could sleep on it, and we told him that it was now or never. After considering, he accepted. We told him the rules and brought him to the Soul Sanctuary. He gave us this to give to you.” The statue man held out a piece of paper. Téa took it.
“My friends,” she read, “I am sorry to have to do this. I’m leaving, and you can’t do anything to stop me. You aren’t allowed to visit me anyway. That evil spirit won’t bother me here, and perhaps I can be happy. I will miss you, and don’t forget me. I will remember you. Sincerely, Bakura. P.S. do with my Millennium Ring what you will.” They looked at each other.
Yugi told the statue people, “Tell Bakura that we’ll miss him too.”
“Will do,” said the silver one and they disappeared in a puff of smoke.
---
The group found themselves back in the hospital room. They let each others’ hands drop.
“I’ll miss him,” Téa said, wiping away tears. Honda, Joey, and Yugi nodded sadly.
“What will we do with his Ring?” wondered Yugi.
“I’ll take it,” Shadi said, slipping it from around Bakura’s still neck. He walked out.
“Good bye, Bakura,” said Yugi to Bakura’s body.
As they left, they didn’t see Bakura’s mouth smile slightly. In the hours after their departure, his life signs dwindled. They slowly diminished until midnight exactly that night. With the full moon over the hospital, and with a small, happy smile on his face, Bakura’s body died.
