[Ryou almost, almost reaches a hand out, just out of reflex, to try and comfort Atem. But before he can get too close, he freezes in place, remembers this miserable, terrible month where he'd been discarded, and slowly pulls it back.

Not...not yet. It hurts, but not yet.

He just lets Atem keep talking, and there's a twist of icy discomfort in his belly, because he can tell already, this won't go right. He's afraid that he won't do it right again...that all he can do is screw things up--

No.

No, that's not true. He did good during the haze, didn't he? Once he got saved...he was able to help others! He made a difference...

He has to have faith in who he is, and what he can do, in case that...they really aren't going to fix anything here. He has to be okay.

Except that when Atem asks him about Felfri, and his powers, Ryou feels a chill up his spine, his tail flashing a fearful white for one long second.]

...No, when I was still...with Her, that power was available to me. It just...it...

[Now it's Ryou's turn to wrap his arms around himself, looking anywhere but Atem.]

If it hurt AM, then it didn't hurt him enough. H-he was...l-like a city. What I did, it wasn't enough to make him let me go. Maybe it's...powers he's got.

I'm sorry. I'm sorry if that's not right, Atem. It doesn't mean that the powers weren't important, to me, they've always been important!