AUTHOR'S NOTE: Ryou begins this chappie completely unaware of what's going on. The [….] are voices outside of Ryou's consciousness. Basically, he is barely conscious until the medics sedate him, then he's in a dream state. You'll catch on.

A Journey Only You and I Can Take

Ryou's POV

I opened my eyes. I don't know where I was, but it was out of focus. Bakura sounded angry beside me. That's all I could tell. Something about my daddy smiling. Why would he smile?

[I'm telling you, his father gave him poison instead of medicine! Why won't you listen to me? I have proof!]

I blinked my eyes. Poison? Who? Why couldn't I follow this conversation? All I know is that my stomach is killing me. Really hurts.

[Ryou, stay with me! Oh, Ra, please don't leave me!]

I wouldn't leave, Bakura. Never. After all we've been through, I wouldn't leave you for anything! I love you too much to leave you.

[We have to stabilize him.]

I felt a pair of hands hold my arm and a sharp sting of a needle. I never liked needles. Whatever they gave me, it began to work. Maybe it was to put me to sleep. Bakura's voice was close to me. I could feel his breath as I closed my eyes.

Something was wrong, but I couldn't tell him. I couldn't even move my arm to hold him let alone speak to him.

[What kind of poison do you claim he ingested?]

Again with the poison? I must be delerious! I can't understand a word they are saying! I hear the words, but cannot comprehend them.

[What drug did you just give him?]

[An antitoxin. It will stabilize his vital signs until we can get him to the hospital. Please sit back, sir, and let us do our job.]

Someone put a mask on my face. It made my breathing much more easier. Every part of me hurt and I tried to tell them where it hurt, but I couldn't open my eyes and I couldn't find the strength to speak.

[Heart rate is dropping.]

[Ryou!]

What's going on?

[Ryou! Fight it!]

Fight what?

I tried to open my eyes, but I couldn't. I soon felt very tired. My muscles completely relaxed and I could feel myself falling asleep.

[RYOU!!!!!!!!!!]

******Ryou's Dream*******

I woke up in my own bed. Everything looked so much taller than me! I looked beside me to see my favorite teddy bear lying next to me. That was my favorite toy as a kid! It was a little tan teddy bear with a white bow.

"Ryou! Come down for breakfast!" my father called to me.

"Be right there!" I threw off the covers and hopped off the bed. I wasn't much taller than the bed. I'm a kid again! Nothing concerned me more than eating breakfast and running out back to play with my swings! I grabbed my teddy bear and stopped at the stairs. There were so many! I tried to reach for the banister and slowly made my way downstairs.

I ran into the kitchen and saw my dad standing there with the spatula in his hand. "Good morning, son!

I hope you're hungry!"

I put my teddy bear on the table and struggled to get into the chair, but couldn't pull myself up. I felt a pair of hands on my hips. When seated on the chair, I looked up to see my mother. It had been too long since I had seen her!

"How are you, my sweet little angel?"

[Pulse is decreasing!]

"I'm fine, mommy. I miss you."

She caressed my cheek with her hand. "We are going somewhere today, sweetheart. Would you like to come with mommy?"

[RYOU! DON'T GO! PLEASE!]

"Where are we going?"

"We're going to the park, Ryou. Just you and me. Daddy has to stay here. Would you like to come with mommy? You're daddy won't mind."

"Daddy, you don't want to go?"

My mommy picked me up into her arms and hugged me tightly. "Daddy wants to stay here, Ryou. This is a journey that only you and I can take alone."

[He's gone…..]

[RYOU!!!]

"Why can't daddy come with us?"

My mommy kissed my cheek and my father disappeared. All that was present was a black void. It was just her and me in this black empty space.

[RYOU! RA! DO SOMETHING, YOU IDIOTS! I DON'T THINK A FLAT LINE IS GOOD!]

Mommy kneeled down to me. "I am sorry, Ryou. I'm sorry you had to discover the truth about my death."

I looked down at myself. I was myself again…dressed in black.

I looked at her eyes, her large chocolate brown eyes and remembered how Cinetti's knife felt as it grazed my lungs ready to stab me. I was terrified. I ran into my mother's arms holding her close. The tears fell as I remembered that fateful night. Being young had not blurred the images in my brain.

[BREATHE, RYOU! BREATHE, DAMN YOU![

My mother held me closer. "I'm sorry for putting you through this, Ryou. I never wanted to see you harmed. You mean everything to me, Ryou. And I know there is someone else who needs you."

[Ryou…….please come back. I love you.]

[Release him, sir.]

[No! He can't be gone! He won't leave my arms!]

My mother looked at me happily. "I can't take you with me yet, Ryou. This is not your time. There's no way I can take this all away from you, Ryou. I cannot give you another father, one who loves you and who wants to care for you. You must believe me when I say, my darling boy, that I love you. You are not an accident. You are not an embaressment. You are my child, the one whom I loved, the one whom I carried close to my heart and there you shall remain."

My mother loved me. My father may not love me, may not care for me, he may never change. That didn't matter to me. All that mattered was the love of my mother.

"Does this mean you are going to leave me? Mother, I have no one to go to! All I have is Bakura!"

Beautiful music surrounded us. Once again, my mother clutched me to her chest. "Do you hear that music, Ryou? That aria? That beautiful music? This is why I cannot take you away yet. You are destined to do more things in this life, Ryou. From your love with Bakura, more things shall come your way. Bakura needs you and you need him. To take you, to rip you away from him, would be more cruel than Steven could ever be." She kissed my head lovingly. I wanted to go with her. I missed her and I loved her. But I could not leave Bakura. I didn't want to leave him. I love him too much to leave him.

For a moment, we looked into each other eyes, my face buried into her shoulders. "I'm sorry, mommy. You don't know how happy it makes me to know that you love me."

[The monitor!]

"I will always love you, my son. No matter if the world is against you and you have no one else to turn to, I will be there for you watching you grow up. Though I cannot be there to hold your hand, I will always be there to hold your spirit and your heart close to me."

[His heart……beating again! How? How is that possible?]

Smiling down at me, she gently rubbed my cheek with her hand. "When the time comes for you to come take that journey with me, Ryou, we will walk together side by side. Then, we shall never be apart again. We shall be together for all eternity and I can spend eternity singing the same songs to you when you were a child sitting on my lap. I can hold you close to me as if we never parted. Then we will be together again...just you and me……together forever."

I looked up at my mother. That was what our wedding rings read…"Until death do us part….Together Forever."

[Ryou! Wake up!]

[Wait in the waiting room, sir.]

I felt a kiss on my cheek. Bakura kissed me.

"You will always be special to me, Ryou." My mother kissed me on the same cheek. "My little boy."

[Blood tests reveal high concentration of toxins. The patient's companion gave us a bottle of what the father claimed was medicine.]

"Mother, I'm scared."

"I know you are, Ryou. Don't forget, I will always be by your side. I love you. I will stay right here with you until you are ready."

[The tests came back positive.]

[Damn! We'll have to keep him here.]

[His heart seems really weak right now.]

"Mother, what are they talking about?"

"They are here to help you, Ryou. Don't fight them."

"But, mother, I…."

"I must go, my sweetheart."

I gripped onto her. "I don't want you to go, mommy!"

She kissed me again and whispered into my ear, "I love you, my little boy, my treasure."

[Give him an IV. Monitor that heart rate, if it falls too low, we'll have to resort to cardiac stimulation.]

I tried to block out the voices. I didn't want to hear how bad I was. I knew I was bad, but I didn't want to know how bad.

*****end of dream *

Ryou's POV

It was a long time before the doctors were done. [This damage may be irreparable, but he will live.]

What was irreparable? What couldn't they do for me?

[The toxins did slight damage to the heart's left ventricle. Luckily for the little guy, the damage isn't too bad.]

I heard a new voice enter the room. It was the voice of the same woman who came to see me as last time. I recognized her voice.

[This is a second offense and I am here by order of the police precinct 154 to investigate this problem further.]

[We found minute amounts of poisons in his system. As a result, his heart has been weakened. There are some residual toxins in his system which we are attempting to remove from his system. We have a suspicion from the patient's companion that the father is responsible. The child is still dangerously malnourished. We have him on IV sedation now.]

[Will he live?]

[Yeah. He will live. We have to keep him overnight at least. He should be fine tomorrow.]

I couldn't open my eyes, but I could feel myself being pushed. People's voices flew by me as I was wheeled down the corridor. I couldn't open my eyes. My father did this to me? My father tried to poison me? My hearing had returned and I could understand something of what they had said. I will live!

My eyes remained closed, but my body wanted to run to Bakura.

I was alone. Scared. I didn't know where I was besides a hospital. I couldn't find the strength to open my eyes. I suddenly felt a pair of soft warm hands on my own. The right hand had wore a wedding band. Bakura…..My Bakura was beside me. My Bakura…my love…I could feel a cascade of tear drops fall onto my skin. In no time at all I felt his warm breath against my cheek. With a whimper from him, I felt his lips press onto mine. He gripped my right hand and traced my jaw with his left.

"Welcome back to me, my beloved Ryou."

Next Chappie: Ryou is released from the hospital.