Pharaohess: The next chapter.what will happen?

Yami: You'll be dead by the end of the chapter?

Yugi: I'll die?

Yali: My darling brother will be locked in a closet?

Pharaohess: Ok.Yami - NO! Yugi - can't tell you. Yali - You can if you want.I don't mind.

*Yali grins and tackles Yami, who yells and fights back*

Yugi: Ohhhh man, this should be interesting. *Grins*

Pharaohess: On with the reviews!

sonicgirl12 - If I told you before hand, I'd have to kill you. Anyway, here's the next chapter!

yugiohfan - continue and finish? That I can do. Don't make Yugi die? No promises.

Lily of the Shadow - Yeah, I've been told the ting about the card, but I'm pretending it never took place.hmmmm, press? Never thought of it, but I guess the hospital won't allow them in. oh, and you don't have to necessarily, lay of sugar.sugar is good! ^___^

Pooka - yeah, I love writing. Continue I can.

rox - Thank you! ^___^

*Yali is gaining the upper hand in the fight with Yami*

Pharaohess: Phew! Now those are over, here's the next instalment.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~*Yugi POV*~

I felt myself waking again. This time, my eyes put up no fight to open, and I slid them open to find myself in a hospital ward, my friends and my grandfather nowhere in sight. I could hear voices out in the corridor. One I recognised as Grandpa's, one Yami's, one sounded like Seto, and there was another I didn't recognise. I guessed it was a medic.

My deck was on the bedside table. I noticed the top card had blood on it, and it took me a moment to realise that it was my blood. When I did, I was suddenly aware of pain in my chest.

//Hey! You're awake! Lie back, Yugi. Relax it. It will help//

I obeyed, and the pain did lessen. /Are you out in the corridor?/

//Hang on//

Yami appeared in the doorway, with Seto, Grandpa and the Doctor with him.

"How are you feeling?" asked Yami.

"Fine," I answered, "if not in pain. What about you? Did anyone get hurt at all?"

Seto shook his head. "No. Everyone else is fine." I looked out my window, watching a bird fly across the sky, fiddling with the Millennium puzzle. There was dried blood on it, which I rubbed off with my finger.

"Where are the others?"

Seto smiled. "I'll go get them." He left the room.

"Yugi, I've been talking with the doctor. He says." Grandpa faltered, if he was unsure to continue.

"Yes?" I persisted, wanting to know the truth.

"He says you are to have an operation to get the bullet out of your chest."

I sighed, relieved. An operation! That was ok.

"But Yugi," the doctor started, "its not just any operation. This certain operation is life threatening. There is a high chance it could go wrong. There is, however, the same chance it could go right."

I lay back, thinking. So there was an even chance? And it was just up to fate?

//Yes// said Yami, who had been listening to my thoughts. //But don't keep thinking about the chance of death. You must remember there is the same chance of life//

"When?" I asked the doctor.

He sighed. "If we leave you for, say, another two days, the bullet might cause even more trouble. We would need to do it tonight."

I choked. "Tonight?"

The doctor smiled sadly. "Yes, tonight. At about 7pm, probably. You would be heavily dosed with an anaesthetic, and would not wake until the mid- morning."

"If I wake at all." I mumbled under my breath. Only Yami heard me.

//What did I tell you about thinking like that?// was his response, as I looked at his slightly grinning face.

Seto's footsteps, accompanied by five more sets, could be heard pounding down the hall. The six of them burst into my room, Joey grinning like there was no tomorrow.

'Hmm', I thought. 'He must be pleased to see me'. Yami laughed out loud, and I heard *cough-underestimation-cough* muttered.

"Yugi! Thank Kami you're awake!"

"Hi, Joey. Hi All."

"Hey, how do you feel?"

"Fine. Painful, but otherwise ok."

"That's good."

"Yeah. Listen, I have some news."

"Like what?"

//Just tell them, Yugi//

/I can't/

"Yugi?"

I took a breath. "I have to have an operation. The bullet is lodged in my chest, and if we don't get it out, it could be fatal." I fiddled with one of the tubes coming out of my arm. "I could die. Or, I could live. It's an even chance either way. It up to fate, I guess."

"Fate's a good thing, right? I mean, it's on our side?" asked Joey.

I laughed a little. "Fate's on no one's side, Joey. Its an even chance."

I watched my friends closely. All of them had a thoughtful-sort-of look on their faces. I felt almost guilty, telling them, making them go through all of this. I bowed my head, these thoughts in my mind.

"Yugi?"

I looked up again, finding everyone else watching closely.

"When?"

"Tonight.and before I go in, I want to talk to everyone, separately." I anyone had any strange questions or anything to say to my statement, they kept them to themselves. Yami nodded.

"Who do you want to start with?"

I shrugged. "Anyone."

In the end, it was Seto who decided to stay first.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Pharaohess: Yay! Done!

Yami: *is locked in closet* LET ME OUT!

Yali: *Dusting off her hands* No.its detention.

Yami: Detention for what?!?!

Yali: Threatening of my hikari. It's got a penalty of being in a closet for a chapter!

Yami: Yali, you are dead when I get out!

Pharaohess: Quit threatening my yami! *To Yugi* You don't mind? If he's locked in the closet?

Yugi: *Shrugs* Not really.

Yali: Hey guys! REVIEW!