Yugi: So what inspired this?

Listening to 'Hands of Time', 'Leave Out all the Rest', and a few other sad songs on my playlist.

Ryou: Oh. Hopefully your readers will enjoy it.

Yeah.

"Momma, are we gonna see Atem at his school," a tiny boy asked from his car seat.

"Yeah, baby. He'll be happy to see you and Heba in the outfits that he bought for you boys" she replied as they headed to the college campus to visit their oldest son for the weekend.

Everything in the next two minutes fell apart with a jolt and the sound of crushing metal and shattering glass.

Atem sat next to a hospital bed, holding its occupant's tiny hand. His baby brother was in a coma and had been for two weeks all thanks to the idiot who had been texting and driving. She had driven into the lane his family had been in. The crash wound up as a five car accident and ten lives taken, including their parents. Four-year-old Yugi and twelve-month-old Baby Heba were critically injured.

Atem looked at the tiny child and wished that he would wake and return to the happy four-year-old who refused to sit still for more than ten minutes. The doctors had all but given up on the boy as his tiny heart had stopped when he was removed from the vehicle. The paramedic managed to get him back but he had been injured pretty badly. Atem was furious at the seventeen-year-old for her actions.

If his baby brother were to wake there were a number of things Atem worried about. He worried about whether or not he would remember him, walk, talk, see, or if he would ever wake up. Atem silently cursed the person who created the means to text and the girl responsible for all this.

"Please wake up, Yugi," Atem whispered as he tenderly kissed the boy's forehead, being mindful of the stitches. "I'll never leave you alone. I'll be right here."

Atem stood next to the tiny grave next to those of his parents. He tried not to cry as he watched the tiny casket sink lower into the hole. Heba had passed away after his weakened heart gave out five days earlier. He had fought to keep the baby alive but Heba was too hurt to survive. All he had left was Yugi and he wasn't going to let him go easily.

Atem left as soon as Heba's casket was buried next to their parents' graves. He headed back to the hospital and Yugi's bedside.

Atem was sound asleep when Yugi stirred for the first time in five weeks. The four-year-old awoke to strange surroundings and began screaming in terror. Atem jerked awake and sat up to try and soothe his little brother. "MOMMA! PAPA! NOOOOO!" Yugi broke down sobbing as Atem carefully pulled him closer.

"Shh," Atem soothed. "I'm here, Yugi. Atem's here."

Yugi hadn't spoken much since he woke from his coma. Atem watched as he silently played with the toys in the therapy room. A girl wheeled herself next to him. "Which one is yours?"

Atem pointed out the silent and withdrawn boy, "He's my brother."

"The little one with the brown hair is my sister. I'm Anzu." She pointed out a little girl with light brown hair wearing a pink dress and black tights. "Tea likes to visit her friend here."

"Atem. Yugi's my brother."

"He's so adorable."

Atem sighed, "Yeah."

"What's wrong, Atem?"

"Yugi hasn't recovered from an accident he was in and now I don't know how to break it to him that Mom, Dad, and our baby brother aren't coming home anymore."

Anzu sighed, "I know how you feel. Tea thought that I'd be able to walk again, but I had to explain to her that I can't feel my legs anymore and that she'll have to walk and dance for me."

Atem punched the wall and headed in to collect his baby brother from the room.

Atem answered the phone he kept nearby and was surprised to hear the voice of his grandfather on the other end. "Hi Grandfather."

"Atem, I am so sorry that I haven't kept in touch. Reception out in the field is horrible at best. How is everyone?"

Atem sighed, "Yugi and I are as well as can be under the circumstances. Mom, Dad, and Heba are gone, Grandfather. There was an accident and Mom and Dad were killed instantly. Heba passed away a couple of weeks after that. We nearly lost Yugi as well. I-I-I had to drop out of college to take care of Yugi. He's become withdrawn and just doesn't want to do much or even say more than a few words."

"I'm coming home, Atem. I need to be there for you boys."

Atem examined the puzzle pieces that Solomon had brought home with him. "Supposedly one of our ancestors held this puzzle as a symbol of their rule over Egypt," Solomon explained.

Atem coughed harshly. He hated this cold and refused to acknowledge that he was under the weather. Yugi looked up at him with a hint of worry in his amethyst eyes. "I'm fine, Yugi."

Yugi looked back to the puzzle he was working on. "Atem, head to bed and rest." Solomon stood up, "I'll take care of Yugi until you wake."

Atem headed to his room, taking the puzzle with him. He figured he'd try and figure it out before giving the puzzle to Yugi.

Yugi stared at the golden pieces and then looked at his grandfather. "May I take this? I'll be careful not to lose any of the pieces, Grandpa."

Solomon caved, knowing that they had to move and that meant selling off most of Atem's things. He still didn't know what happened to his eldest grandson that day that he was under the weather and had taken the Puzzle to his room to work on. Atem had vanished into thin air that day.

Yugi picked ten things that he wanted from Atem's room that he treasured before boxing up the remainder of said items for keeping safe. The rest would be sold off later that week.

Yugi winced as he tenderly touched the bruise just under his left eye. He wished that he had friends who would never leave him as he slid the last piece of the Millennium Puzzle into place. This was the start of Yugi's new life of adventure and the unknown.

Yugi finished placing the Items into their proper places on the stone and stepped before the large door. Three shadows appeared on the floor beneath Yugi, with his own in the middle. Everyone gasped when two of those shadows became two separate people, both looking like older versions of Yugi.

Yugi looked at the two, more confused than ever before. "Yami? What's going on? Why are there two of you," Yugi asked.

The darker Yami looked at Yugi, "This is your test, aibou."

The lighter Yami continued, "You must pick one of us. One is your brother while the other is the Pharaoh."

"What happens if I chose wrong?"

"Then we both go into the light." They answered together.

Yugi looked up at the pair with tears in his eyes, "But you're both my brothers! You've looked out for me since I finished the Puzzle, protected me, and even saved me when we were separated! I can't let either of you go! Yami, Pharaoh, Atem, or Atemu, I don't care what your names are! I can't pick one over the other! I can't," Yugi began sobbing as he collapsed on the ground. "I've lost too much and can't bear to lose any more! I'd die if I lost you two!"

The two felt awful for trying to make Yugi guess which of them was his true brother. Now the poor kid was falling apart before them. Yugi looked up at them with tears streaming down his cheeks and whispered, "I'd give up almost anything if it meant keeping you both here with me. I should have lost instead."

The ground shook beneath them, scaring all but the three copies out of the underground chamber. Three familiar forms appeared before them. They took on near-human forms and sat in thrones that formed out of the sand. Ra spoke, "Yugi, why do you cry so?"

"Be-because I d-d-don't want to lose my brothers," Yugi whimpered as he tried to stop crying.

"Little one, that is no reason to wail as you are," Obelisk scolded him. "One of them does not belong to this time."

Yugi sniffled, "But I don't want to say goodbye to either of them if I chose wrong."

Slifer sighed, "Why is this?"

"Because I love them both equally and they protected me from the first day I finished the Puzzle," he hiccupped.

"What would you sacrifice if we were to grant them both mortal lives to be with you as brothers," Ra asked Yugi.

Atem and Atemu both cried out, "Yugi don't do it!"

Yugi ignored them and answered, "My sight or the chance to ever walk again. I'd give up my hearing but to be locked in silence is unbearable when I can't hear those I care for."

Ra stood from his throne, "Your sight will be acceptable enough as it should have been lost long ago."

As Ra spoke, Yugi's eyes darkened and lost their light. The two former spirits cried out as Yugi collapsed. Slifer looked at the two, "Take care of the little one as he is in greater need of the pair of you."

Yugi pushed himself up into a seating position, "Atem, Atemu? Where are you?"

Yugi had accepted his blindness quickly and adapted to it easily. Yami, once known as Atem, had admitted to Yugi that he was his real brother on the way to the hospital the day that Yugi's world went black forever. Yugi had merely smiled and said he knew but hadn't wanted to lose either of his brothers.

Yugi pulled on the clothes that Yami had left out for him on his bed after waking him up. Atemu waited by the door to help Yugi down the stairs as usual. Yugi sniffed the air and smiled, "Good morning Atemu. Did you tell Yami that I wanted waffles this morning?"

"Actually, he insisted on French toast," Atemu admitted.

Yami had sat Yugi down and asked him what he remembered from his childhood one night. Yugi shrugged but answered. "I made friends with a girl named Tea after she moved across the street from us. Her sister Anzu wound up going to jail for some massive accident that killed about ten people that day and a few others who died from their injuries. Tea's against people texting and driving because of her sister's harsh lesson. But the rest is pretty hazy…why?"

Yami sighed, "Yugi can you tell me what happened to Mom and Dad?"

"They died a long time ago, Yami," Yugi replied sadly. "Grandpa told me that we were in that accident and that Mom and Dad didn't make it. I was in a coma for almost two months. Grandpa never takes me to the cemetery to see them."

"Did you know that we had a baby brother?"

"No," Yugi answered.

"He didn't make it either. He passed away two weeks after the accident. I'm so sorry we never told you about it."

Yugi hugged Yami, "I forgive you, Yami. You came home and brought me another brother."

Yami smiled but sighed, "But we also cost you your sight."

"I don't mind. I still hear you, I can still talk to you, hug you both, and walk. Besides, I knew my vision was going and felt that it was best if it were traded to keep both of you here with me. The doctors said that I only had a few months before I was completely blind before we went to Egypt."

"No wonder Ra was quick to take the offer," Atemu stated as he had overheard their conversation.

"Now I have two of the greatest brothers in the world," Yugi beamed, his sightless eyes hidden behind amethyst lenses of the sunglasses he now wore.

End

Updates may be a bit sporadic, but I'll still try to have something ready for my faithful readers between Sunday and Tuesday of each week. Just keep an eye on my profile page for weekly updates. I'm going to be super busy for a while.

Ryou: So please be patient.

Yugi: We thank everyone in advance for their understanding.

Next's weeks update will be 'Sisters'.