Toli: I'm back! And I'm all revived now! Welcome to yet another chapter!

Mena/Masami/Damion: Hey readers! (wave)

Jesselda: Leave me out of it.

Toli: I have a special announcement! For the last chapter, we received 15 reviews! The most we've ever gotten! Yay! (confetti flies down) Anyway, as a reward for so many people reviewing and giving us encouragement, we're doing two things. One, this chapter is extra-long!

Others: Yay!

Toli: And two, we decided to do something very strange. We're having a Reviewer's Choice Awards at the end of this story! It's something really odd we thought up. We'll have a little one-shot side story at the end of Home And Not Alone. The categories and nominees are at the end of this chapter, after the review responses. You, as the reviewers, will vote for one person under each category. Now, this will only work if you all participate. If nobody wants to participate, that's fine too. But come on! We like doing things that include the readers! Remember, the awards will be after this story ends, so we can (hopefully) obtain plenty of votes! (stops to breathe)

Damion: That sounds like fun!

Masami: ..."He says while looking at his girlfriend."

(Mena and Damion are still hugging)

Jesselda: WDOY.

Toli: Enjoy!


SEVENTEEN: THE DISCOVERIES

Joey paced back and forth in the hallway. He moved so fast that he kicked up a little wind. Near him, Tristan, Tea, and Serenity sat in chairs lined up against the wall. Distanced from the group, Kaiba leaned against another wall.

The hall was quiet, serving to add to the tension they all felt. The only constant sound besides' everyone's breathing and the clock on the wall ticking was Joey's pacing noises--footsteps, with an occasional grunt or sigh.

"What happened to him?" Kaiba suddenly asked.

Three of the four people glared at him; Serenity didn't glare because she was too busy trying not to cry. "I don't think dat's any o' yer business, Kaiba," Joe snarled, as defensive as a guard dog.

Kaiba turned to face him. "Look," he said, "you all shamed me--yes, you shamed me--into giving you a ride so you could get Yugi here. I at least deserve to know how he got into the state of needing to be hospitalized."

"Someone's been trying to murder him," Serenity answered quietly before Joey could retort to Kaiba.

Seto's eyes widened. "Who?"

"A girl named Nona," Tea said. "She was trying to break some spell, and she had to kill everyone who had owned the Puzzle. Yugi was last on her list. We don't know where she is now."

Kaiba looked like he was trying to remember something. "What did she look like?" he asked.

"If you must know," Joey growled, "we got told that she had long black hair and blue eyes and pale skin--"

"Then she's dead," Kaiba stated matter-of-factly.

Everyone stared at him. "How the heck do you know?" Tristan demanded.

"My former new limo driver ran over a girl matching that description in the limo," Kaiba said. "She actually stepped out into the street to get herself killed. She said some ridiculous things about it being her time, and her mission was complete."

There was more silence as Yugi's friends let that information sink in. If Yugi made it through, then he would be safe; but was it a good thing to be happy that someone had committed suicide?

"Joey? Tea? Guys? What are you doing here?"

They all looked up and saw Ryou standing at the beginning of the short hall. He looked surprised to see them. Kaiba rolled his eyes, as if to say "Yet another member of the mindless party."

"Ryou!" Tea said. "Are you all right?"

Ryou nodded. "I was coming back from my last checkup when I saw you guys. What's going on?" Then his face paled. "Does this have something to do with Yugi?"

Tea nodded, feeling tears spring to her eyes. "Yug's in da hospital," Joey said grimly.

All the remaining color flooded out of Ryou's face. "Oh no! What happened?" he cried, quickly coming over. Tristan explained it to him as Tea wiped the tears from her eyes before they could fall.

"So now we're waitin' for da doc t' come out and tell us how he is," Joey said.

Ryou was slowly shaking his head. "This is terrible...poor Yugi..."

Just then, the doctor they were all waiting for opened the door and stepped out with an expressionless face. Joey, Tristan, Tea, Serenity, and Ryou all jumped up and crowded around her. "Well, doc? What's the diagnosis?" Joey asked, hoping there was some good news.

The doctor lifted the chart to her eyes and skimmed it. She looked up with a sigh. "Am I to assume you are all his immediate family? One of you needs to be."

"I'm his sister," Tea jumped in quickly. "Please, tell us how he is."

The doctor eyed her suspiciously, but when she saw the fear mixed with hope and desperation in their eyes, she relented, whether or not she believed Tea. "Well, he's still breathing, and his heartbeat is stable." There was a collective sigh of relief. "But he isn't conscious." The fear rose again to the point where you could have pulled some from the air. "It's like he's simply asleep, but he won't wake up, despite the stimulants we've used. There doesn't seem to be any physical injury or brain damage, but he'll need to stay here until he wakes up."

"Does this mean he's in a coma?" Serenity dared to ask the question on everyone's mind.

"It is a comalike state, but with comas, there is usually at least some brain activity. With him there is not." Their hopes sank farther.

"Doc..." Joey managed to say. "Isn't thea anything you can do for 'im?"

"We'll do all we can, of course, but there is a chance he will never wake up again," the doctor told them.

"I--I see." Tea swallowed. "Can we see him?"

"Not all of you at the same time," the doctor said. "You can go in in pairs of two. But don't stay very long. We're going to run some more tests on him soon." She turned and walked down the hall.

Joey, with some effort, swallowed. He was trembling visibly. "O-Okay den, da girls can go in first, and den...me'n Tristan'll go in. Ryou, we can--"

"I don't want to go in," Ryou said quietly, making them all look at him. "I-I just couldn't bear to see him like that."

They all felt the same way he did. "Come on, Serenity," Tea said after a few moments. They held hands for moral support and bravely opened the door.

The room was small and white. Curtains were half-covering the wide window on the left. Two or three chairs were up against the right wall. But the girls noticed this in about .39 seconds. Their attention was focused on the bed with its head against the wall opposite the door. Lying in it, hooked up to several strange machines, was Yugi.

Serenity's hands went to her mouth as the door swung shut behind them. "Oh, no..." was all she could say.

Tea bravely approached the bed, careful not to bump into the machines. There was an IV, which was attached to his arm, what looked like a heart--or maybe brain--monitoring machine, and a few others which she wasn't sure the purpose was. In the bed, surrounded by a bunch of beeping machines, Yugi looked so small and frail. His eyes were closed, and his chest was going up and down--the only sign he was still alive.

Slowly, Tea sank onto a low stool beside the bed. "Oh...Yugi..." she whispered. Tears brimmed in her eyes and she put her head down, her hair hanging in her face. Serenity, who had worked up the courage to come and stand beside her, put a comforting arm around her shoulders.


Yugi lay on his side. He had just been asleep, hadn't he? He now stared blankly in front of him, not really seeing anything. His mind was clouded--was there some place he was supposed to be?

"Yugi?"

Yugi sat up. "Is someone there?" he called out.

There was a giggle. "Yes, silly, it's only me." A girl with log black hair wearing a gray poncho over a shirt and denim skirt knelt down in front of him, her blue eyes twinkling. "You've been asleep for an awfully long time, Yugi."

Yugi blinked. "Do I--know you?"

The girl laughed again. "You silly!" she chirped, wrapping her arms around his neck and squeezing him. "I'm Nona! Your best friend! Don't tell me you forgot!"

Yugi tried to smile. "I'm sorry, but I did," he admitted.

"Then I'll refresh your memory," Nona said, releasing him and helping him stand up. "You and I are the two best friends in the whole universe! And we've been friends since the beginning of time."

"Oh," Yugi said. He looked around. He and Nona were sitting on a cliff that jutted out over a beach. Off over the horizon, the sun was shining down onto the mostly calm water. "And where are we?"

"We're in home!" Nona told him. "This is where we live." She looked worried. "Don't you remember anything at all?"

Yugi knitted his eyebrows as he tried to dig through the haze of his brain and find some memories. For a split second, his mind's eye saw the face of someone familiar...but he couldn't place who she was. "I think I just saw a girl with brown hair and blue eyes. Is a girl like that here?"

Nona's face twisted. "Oh, no. She's from your past life."

"What?"

Nona sighed. "Yugi, listen. You used to live on Earth, but then you were killed by a psycho murderess. Something weird happened, and you were sent here to live for all eternity. We've been friends for ages!" She looked unhappy. "Don't you remember?"

Yugi shook his head.

"Then I'll just have to help you remember," Nona said. "I promise that things'll be back to the way they were." She gave him a warm smile. It reminded him of someone else's smile...but he didn't know who...

I wonder what caused me to lost my memory, Yugi thought. Whatever had happened, for now he would trust Nona to help him. After all, she said they were friends and she wanted to help.

What reason would she have to lie to him?


Ryou sat away from the group of Yugi's friends, turned away from them, his head in his hands. He felt awful about not going in to see Yugi, but he felt like he just couldn't take that. Yugi was his friend, and Ryou didn't want to see him like this.

Ryou saw a gold flash come from beneath his line of vision, and Bakura's transparent form stood beside him, arms crossed. "So, you don't want to look at the runt on his death bed, eh?" Bakura said to start the conversation.

"Bakura, please...if you could just shut up and leave me alone, it would be great," Ryou said into his hands.

Bakura frowned. "Well, fine then. I was going to tell you a little something I know of the finishing spell used on Shorty, but if you want me to leave..." He turned as if to walk away.

"What?" Ryou looked up. "You know about it?"

Bakura cast a side glance over his shoulder. "I do. Between listening to the Pharaoh's posse of idiots talk about the girl and my own personal knowledge, I know quite a bit about this Nona," he said. "And I've used a finishing spell many times."

"What do you know about it?" Ryou asked. "What does it do? How does it work? Can it be reversed?"

Bakura smiled a self-important smile. "Not so fast, Ryou," he said. "Why should I tell you anything?"

Tears were threatening to spill. "Bakura, please. Yugi is my friend and I want to help him."

Bakura sighed. "Oh, all right, just don't give me that pitiful look." He plopped down in a chair next to his light side as Ryou waited eagerly. "The finishing spell is quite simple--it's like the magic equivalent to poison. It attacks the body's vital organ and shuts them down in a way that causes excruciating pain to the victim. However, if something happens to deter the spell, like a shield of magic, then it won't work properly. My guess is the Pharaoh used magic as a last resort to shield Little Yugi, and that's why that boy isn't dead."

"So, is there still hope?" Ryou asked.

Bakura shrugged transparent shoulders. "Maybe. Maybe not. The thing about that spell is that it had a backup plan, in case it doesn't work as planned. It creates a sort of field distortion inside the victim to keep them from waking up, then enters their unconscious mind and uses a ploy to try and get them to kill themself. I have never had the pleasure of seeing this firsthand, but I know about it."

"What if the ploy doesn't work?" Ryou asked hopefully.

"If it doesn't work, I believe the distortion field is destroyed and the person is revived. But I don't know for sure." Bakura scowled, as if unhappy that he hadn't gotten to keep that information to himself.

Ryou sat in his seat and thought. So, there was still a chance for Yugi to make it. But would he actually make it?

Or would he be tricked by the finishing spell's ploy?


Solomon Moto hummed happily as he drove his car home. It had been an exciting two weeks in Egypt, but he was glad to be back in the good old city instead of a hotel in the middle of the desert. He smiled, thinking of the questions Yugi would be bombarding him with the second he walked into the door. That was another reason he was glad to be back--he missed his grandson. A woman who had been on the excursion with him had convinced him not to call Yugi every day, and he wasn't very surprised Yugi hadn't called any, either. The teenager had probably wanted to prove how responsible he could be. Solomon wasn't doubting his son's responsibility, but everyone who's taken care of a child knows what the word "overprotective" means.

Solomon parked the car around the back of his house and got out. He opened the door to the backseat to retrieve his suitcase, only slightly surprised Yugi wasn't already outside to greet him. He held his suitcase with one hand as he walked around to the side door and opened it.

"Yugi? I'm home!" Solomon shouted. He didn't hear a response. Must be out with his friends, he thought with a smile. He lugged his suitcase to the family room and put it down beside the sofa. My stamina sure isn't what it used to be! he thought cheerfully as he went into the kitchen for something to eat. Plane food doesn't count as "food".

Solomon stopped when he saw he note attached to the phone. He pulled it off and read it.

Mr. Moto,

Please meet us at Domino City Hospital.

Joey, Tea, Tristan, and Serenity

Solomon dropped the note. The hospital? What had happened to Yugi?

He was out the door as quickly as he could go.


END CHAPTER

Toli: Nice, was it not?

Mena: Yeah, he--I mean, it--was very nice.

Masami: Damion, it's about time you let go of Mena.

Damion: I don't want to.

Toli: I have The Crowbar! (lightning flashes)

Mena/Damion: O.O AAAAAH! DON'T SEPARATE US!!!


REVIEW RESPONSES
Silver Moon Phoenix

Mena: Ooh! If you hit Kaiba with a frying pan, I wanna watch!

Toli: Yep, we thought "idiot brigade" was genius. And very Kaibaesque. Hey, did you notice the new insult? "Mindless party". He's just mean sometimes. But funny. Thanks for reviewing! Hope you participate in the vote.


Kameeko

Mena: Oh no, are you guys placing bets too? Oh, geez...

Toli: Yeah, I think I like OC bad guys better too...like Nona...she's an OC...but she's never coming back, of course. I don't want to spoil--well, yes I do--but Kamoray's right, you guys. Yugi's gonna have a few problems. Nona's trying to brainwash him, did you see? Anyway, thanks for reviewing. Hope you participate in the vote.


Millenniumgrl126

Toli: Poor Yugi. We just keep torturing him and his friends...oh well! Makes the story exciting!

Mena: O.O Killer scares me, sister...(hides behind Toli)

Toli: Killer won't attack if everything turns out okay. Or at least, that's what I'm led to believe (gives Killer a meaningful look) Anyway, thank you for reviewing. Hope you participate in the vote.


Elizabeth Aiken

Mena: Ooh! Aiken twins! Awesome! Hi Ashley! I didn't know you were a twin, Elizabeth. That's so cool, since I'm a twin too! Isn't twinning fun?

Toli: "twinning"? You say it like it's some hobby. Anyway, thanks for reviewing, both of you. Hope you participate in the vote.

Mena: Now that the response is done, time for SUGAR!

Toli: Here we go. -.-;


Phoenix727

Toli: Hey, you guys. Glad you could join us again.

Mena: Hey, don't call Serenity an idiot! She was only trying to help Yugi when she threw herself in front of the incredibly heavy, speeding limo which had a driver that had already run over a girl...okay, never mind.

Toli: Glad I made your Who Doesn't Need To Be Killed list. I happen to enjoy life. And yes, Nona's body is dead and deader. But, that doesn't mean she isn't still just as dangerous. Anyway, thanks for reviewing. Hope you participate in the vote.


dragon shadows

Mena: Hey, Jess! Yes, what Toli is doing to Yugi is awful...

Toli: (smacks Mena on the side of the head) I'm right here!

Mena: (holds head) Ow! Anyway, more exciting things are coming up to stay tuned! And I hope you participate in the vote!


ShebyTheDogDemoness

Toli: Yeah, Kaiba being nice happens once in a blush pink moon. But, hey, he said they shamed him. I didn't know all that about Mera and Sinya...wow. So, what is being like a half-demon like?

Mena: Is it like being a half-vampire?

Toli: I doubt it. You got dog ears, Mera? Anyway, we're currently experiencing Writer's Block with New Life. Sorry. But this one is updated! Thanks for the review, all three of you. Hope you participate in the vote.


SPUW Commander, Ruler of the eastern hemisphere, whatever!!!!

Mena: You have such a long and funny name! Where'd you come up with it? Anyway, thanks for reviewing. I didn't know Kaiba's antics were funny, I just thought he was being cruel as usual. Anyway, hope you participate in the vote!


Marshmellow13Dragon

Toli: Yeah, they jumped in! They could do that since they don't feel pain. Kaiba IS a meanie, but at least he gave them a ride. He almost didn't.

Mena: But they shamed him, like he said! And Yugi's not quite okay yet. He's still got a way to go before he can regain consciousness. But at least he's not in his subconscious anymore!

Toli: Yep. Thanks for reviewing. Hope you participate in the vote.


anime-ruthless v.1

Mena: Hey! Glad we hooked you! Hope you enjoyed this chappie! Thanks for reviewing and hope you participate in the vote!


sugarpony

Mena: Hey! Welcome! Yeah, I'm a Seto fan, too, and I wish he were nicer sometimes.

Toli: We all do, sister, at one time or another!

Mena: Anyway, thanks for the great compliments and hope you participate in the vote!


Erckie

Toli: Hey you guys!

Mena: Hmm...Hey, Toli, their fight looks a lot like ours usually do!

Toli: Hmmm...you're right. Probably because you're sugar high. And yep, you'll see the Subconscious Duo again! Thanks for reviewing! Hope you participate in the vote.


Dark mage of sea 13

Toli: Okay, see you then, Torru.

Mena: (rolls eyes) Yeah, we're all glad he's helping out, for once. He needs to try it more often! Anyway, thanks for reviewing and hope you participate in the vote!


Ayamari

Mena: Yeah, at least he's alive! But he isn't conscious. Hmmm...a problem for the gang to tackle. Well, thanks for reviewing! Hope you participate in the vote!


Reviewer's Choice Awards

(Note: Each person may have one vote. If you have more than one person/personality/spirit reviewing with you, each can have a vote. Example: if Toli, Jesselda, and I were reviewing, we would each get one vote, resulting three votes from the penname Meant2Live. And please don't come up with your own nominee unless specified to do so)

Category: Most Heroic Character
Nominees: Yugi; Yami; Joey

Category: Most Villainous Character
Nominees: Seto; Bakura; Pegasus; Marik

Category: Most Annoying Character
Nominees: Tea; Tristan; Joey; Bakura; Mokuba

Category: Best Dressed
Nominees: Seto; Yami; Pegasus; Mai; Duke

Category: Most Important Male
Nominees: Yugi; Yami; Seto; Joey

Category: Most Important Female
Nominees: Mai; Ishizu; Tea; Serenity

Category: Cutest Character
Nominees: Yugi; Mokuba; Serenity; Rebecca

Category: Best Secondary Character
Nominees: Mokuba; Grandpa; Rebecca; Duke

Category: Best Character Of All
Nominees: your choice