Disclaimer: I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh!

Hello Guys! I'm back! watches all the readers scream and run away Nightlight5: O.o" Guys? They must've had to go to the bathroom. shrugs shoulders Anyway, as you probably already guessed, this is my newest fic called "The World". This fic is kinda a .hack/SIGN Yu-Gi-Oh parody but not at the same time. I using some of the main story lines from .hack/SIGN but I'm changing it up a bit to suit with the Yu-Gi-Oh characters. But... Any way you cut it I own neither Yu-Gi-Oh nor .hack/SIGN, boy, these disclaimers sure do make you feel low don't they. -.-' Anyways, I hope you enjoy this new fic! I'm hoping that these long promised fic will tide you guys over until I can get the next chapter of 'Test of Friendship' up. Sorry about the long wait on it, it's a long story that has to do with my computer repair man leaving town and taking my laptop with him. Oh Yeah! And also I made Yugi and Yami brothers in this fic, so they are separated in this fic.

"Blah" means Talking

'blah' means Thinking

The World

Chapter 1: The Game of Life

The Domino City Super Mall was alive with the sound of fast moving customers heading to and from the many shops that laced the sides of the building. The sounds of their constant chatter carried itself on an imaginary current that flowed all around the mall causing many different conversations to be heard all at once. Needless to say, by the time it reached anyone's ears, all it sounded like was a bunch of mumbled noises. Especially to a young boy named Yugi Muto, who sat at a circular table in the food court reading the back of a new game he had just purchased. The game was called "The World". The World was the latest in video game technology, courtesy of Kaiba Corporations. This game allowed you to hook to the internet and enter into a whole new world, a virtual world that allows your mind to leave the comfort of it's own home and enter a realist second world where you become the character you play. Yugi, being a big RPG fan, couldn't wait to purchase the game once he heard of its release. It had taken him months to save up enough money to be able to buy it, and today he was finally able to get it. He was really excited about it, so excited that while he was so deep into reading the contents of the "player's guide" he couldn't hear his big brother, Yami, who sat across from him at the table, trying to get his attention.

"Yugi?" Yami asked once again. It had been the third time he had called Yugi's name only to get no response. He couldn't help but to smile at the mesmerized look on Yugi's face as he stared endlessly at the game. Yami knew how much getting this game had meant to Yugi, after all, Yugi had practically begged him to take him to the mall once he gotten the money to buy the game. But still, Yami couldn't pass up the opportunity to pick on his younger sibling, besides, what kind of big brother would he be if he didn't?

Yami looked down at the contents of his plate and noticed he still had one or two fries leftover from his lunch. Reaching his hand down to the plate, he picked up one of the fries and twirled it between his fingers, carefully making sure that Yugi wasn't watching. Once he was sure that Yugi was still off in 'Lala Land' he caught the fry between his thumb and index finger. Almost without effort, Yami thumped the fry out of his hand causing it to connect with the tip of Yugi's nose, startling him quiet a bit.

Yugi jumped back and drop the "player's guide" onto the table. He began to look around to see where the fry had come from, only for his eyes to land on a very smug looking Yami. The likeness between the two brothers were uncanny. Even though Yami was two years older than Yugi, there were only a few things that set them apart from one another. Yugi, being the younger brother, came to the shoulder on Yami. They both had the same black spiky hair lined with red, yellow highlighted bangs, and deep amethyst eyes. However, Yugi's eyes were larger, showing of pure innocents while Yami's eyes were rougher, showing a slightly tougher side. Yami also had more highlights in his hair resembling lighting bolts. Yugi gave Yami the best smirk he could muster. "You call that a smirk?" Yami asked. Yugi simply ignored the question and came up with his own.

"What was that for?"

"What was what for?"

"You know what I mean." He said as he brushed the remaining salt pebbles from his nose.

"Oh that," Yami stated, "I was only trying to save you from whatever world you were caught in."

"What are you talking about?" Yugi asked as he placed his "player's guide" back into his bag. "I wasn't caught in another world."

"Yugi, you hadn't blinked in the past ten minutes."

Yugi blushed for a second. "So."

Yami smiled and stood up from the table. "Come on Yugi, we have to be getting home."

Yugi nodded and followed suit close behind his brother.

"So Yugi, what's so good about that "thing" you just had to have." Yami asked as they made their way to the mall exit.

"Thing? Oh, you mean my game. What do you mean what's so good about it?

"Well, why is it you had to have it? What makes it special?"

"What makes it special! Yami, this is the first virtual RPG ever made that hooks straight into the net. It's an RPGer's dream come true!" Yugi stated matter-of-factly.

"Hmm...", Yami said scratching the top of his head, "I must be behind on my geekology."

"Yami!" Yugi whined as he shot his brother an annoyed look, "Besides it says that you can interact with other online players. You can talk and trade with them, and they say this game is great for making friends."

Yami's eyes shot over to Yugi, who was now staring at the floor. "Yugi, we've been through this..."

"I know Yami, but..."

"Look Yugi, we don't need any friends, not any of those jerks at school, and not any from that game. We're just fine being friends with each other." Yami's attitude had changed when he had heard Yugi mention having friends. It's not that Yami didn't want Yugi to have any friends, it's just that all the people at there school weren't very friendly and seemed to not want to be friends with them. They were rude and seemed to talk down to them, especially to Yugi. They figured Yugi to be weak since he was the smallest kid in his grade. So they pushed him around and never included him in anything. Yugi had never told Yami about any of their teasing or making fun of him until one day when Yami caught a few of the boys at school messing with him. Needless to say, Yami was none to pleased with this and put an end to there teasing immediately. After that, Yami had become uninterested in making friends with any of those jerks and had forbid Yugi from making friends with them either.

"I know," Yugi said with his head held low, looking at his game, "but, wouldn't you like to have some other friends besides me? I know it must be tiring just having me and grandpa to talk to all the time."

"No, I don't mind just having you and grandpa to talk with all the time."

Yugi keep his head down as they slowly neared the exit door, 'I'm sorry, Yami. If it wasn't for me, you'd have friends. But instead you're always having to look after me. That's not being fair to you.'

Yami looked down at Yugi's depressed looking face and frowned for a second. He knew how bad Yugi wanted friends, but... he wasn't going to let someone be friends with Yugi that pushed him around. Yami put on a half smile and stopped Yugi. He grabbed Yugi and put him in a half head lock/half hug and ruffled his hair. "Don't worry bro, we'll be just fine." Yugi smiled and pulled away from Yami, who was now making a considerable mess out of his hair. Yami smiled at Yugi and began to head for the exit. 'We'll be just fine.'

Yugi tried his best to fix his hair as he and Yami made their way out the exit of the mall. He looked up at the dark puffy clouds that were slowly making their way around the sky. 'Hmm, looks like rain.'

The car doors shut with a bang as the engine of the vehicle roared to life and the small blue truck made its way out of the parking lot and into the street. Yugi stuck his game into the glove compartment and had wiggled his way back into his seat. Dark clouds had begun to swirl in the sky and started to slowly rain, each drop growing larger and falling more rapidly as they rode along. By that time Yugi had realized he hadn't been wearing his seatbelt and quietly reached back for it. When his hand grasped the buckle, he began to pull it forward not realizing that at that point the belt had snapped away from the buckle. Yugi continued to fasten his seatbelt, putting the buckle into the latch and sitting back once again.

Yami turned his windshield wipers on to clear his vision of the rain. He liked driving in the rain. It was peaceful and calm and quiet, at least until he heard the familiar click of a seatbelt, signaling that Yugi had finally decided to put his seatbelt on. Yami glanced over at Yugi and then back at the road, but took a double-take when he saw what Yugi considered as a seatbelt. Yami chuckled inwards which drew Yugi attention.

"What's so funny?" Yugi asked.

"...Your idea of a seatbelt."

"Huh?" Yugi looked down at his seatbelt and noticed that there was none. He peered over to his latch and saw that the buckle of the belt was latched but there was no belt on it. He undid the buckle and held it out in front of him. He blushed slightly under the gaze of his brother and also because of an incredible feeling of stupidity.

"Ha... must not, have noticed." Yugi blushed while fiddling with the buckle in his hands.

"Uh huh, sure", Yami said sarcastically, "Don't worry Yugi, I'll drive slowly."

Yugi sat up in his seat and looked out the front window. Through the rain drops he could faintly see a pair of headlights coming closer. They seemed to be coming at a fast pace and swerving on and off their side of the road. Yugi looked over too Yami to see if he was watching the other car, but he wasn't. He was to busy fiddling with the radio to notice the other car.

"Umm, Yami", Yugi stated but was cut off by Yami.

"Just a second Yugi... Why won't this dumb radio work?"

Yugi looked back up to see that the car was closer than he had expected it to be and it was still swerving around on the road.

"Yami, I really think you should..."

"Just a second Yugi...I"

Yugi could now see that the car was close enough for the headlights of the other car to reflect off his big amethyst eyes. He couldn't take this anymore. He had to get Yami's attention.

"Yami!"

"What?" Yami said, finally giving up on the radio and looking up at Yugi.

"Car!" That was the only thing Yugi could get out before the two cars impacted in a screech of rubber and crash of metal. The other car wasn't affected directly. It had jerked off to the side and had skidded to a stop on the other side of the road, which incidentally was his own side in the first place. On the other hand Yugi and Yami weren't so lucky. Their truck had been hit pretty hard and was thrown off the road and into a nearby tree, crumpling the front of the small truck.

The scene was quiet for a moment. Peaceful in fact, as if nothing had ever happened, but it didn't last. Yami shivered for a moment as the cold drops of rain fell in through the broken window and hit the cut on the side of his face. He was very much aware of what had just happened, but he found that it was hard for him to open his eyes. He had a sharp pain in his head and could feel a pulse of pain behind his eyes every time his heart beat. The adrenalin that was pumping through his body sent his mind into a tizzy and clouded his thoughts. He had no problem remembering the crash, but what happened before it? Was there something important he should be worrying about right now, or maybe it was someone? That's when his memory hit him like a ton of bricks. It was Yugi. Yugi was the one he had been worrying about in the back of his mind and he was also worried about the fact that Yugi hadn't been wearing a seatbelt at the time of the accident.

Yami slit open his right eye to get a look at the passenger's seat, while still keeping his left eye tightly closed. Yami looked on in horror, at the sight that greeted his freshly opened eye. Yugi was laying lifelessly against the dashboard of the truck with his head smashed into the windshield. The windshield was cracked and had a small hole the size of a quarter in it from the impact of Yugi's head. The rain leaked in through the hole, licking at the steadily growing bruise on his forehead and meshing with the blood that flowed freely from it.

"Yu...gi" Yami said as he reached out to his smaller brother, but soon discovered that that was a big mistake. He winced at the pain that his brain had zapped through his body. He knew his body was telling him not to move so that he could recover, but he had to make sure Yugi was okay first. Unfortunately his body had other plans for him. If Yami wasn't going to obey the warnings his body was sending him, then his body would just have to shutdown. Yami felt a wave of dizziness come over him as he struggled to remain conscious, but to no luck. He soon felt the peace and helplessness of fading into what seemed like everlasting blackness. The last thing he remembered seeing was the crushing sight of Yugi's beater and bruised young face.

"We're going to need to change his bandages soon," came the sound of a female voice.

"I'll run go get some from the supple room," replied another female voice.

Yami could hear the voices coming to him, soft at first and then slowly getting louder. He gritted his teeth and squished his eyelids tighter together before letting a small groan slipped through his lips.

"Ah, Joan, he's waking up!" exclaimed the first female voice.

Yami slowly opened his eyes. He could just barely see two fuzz forms looming over him.

"So he is", replied Joan, "how do you feel?"

"...Where am I? What happened?" Yami asked as he tried to lean up, but was promptly pushed back down.

"Oh no, you can't get up, not yet, you just came out of a nasty wreck!" The other girl screeched as Joan pushed him back down.

Every part of Yami's body stiffened as he slowly relived the horrors of the wreck.

"You're in the hospital, Mr. Muto", the other girl informed him, "you really scared us there for a minute. You're lucky to be alive."

"...wreck..." Yami whispered almost inaudible. His eyes were widen as the pictures of the wreck flashed before his eyes. He could see the cars impacted, he could hear the sound of the tires squealing against the damp road, and he could still feel the pain in his head as he sat in the driver's seat shivering from the incoming rain. But the image that came last and stood out the must in his mind was the image of his little brother, Yugi, lying lifelessly on the dashboard of the truck.

"Mr. Muto?" Joan called, "Mr. Muto, are you okay?"

Yami bolted upwards and grabbed onto the sides of his hospital bed scaring the heck out of the two nurses. "Yugi! Where is he!" Yami asked looking wide eyed from one nurse to another.

"Mr. Muto! Please lay down, you need time to heal!" One of the nurses called trying to restrain Yami, but Yami quickly pushed her away. "Sherry, please go get Mr. Motou's grandfather, maybe he can calm him down!" Sherry ran out of the room and the door shut promptly behind her.

"Please Mr. Muto, calm down."

Yami was getting frustrated; he didn't want to calm down. He wanted to see Yugi.

"Where's my little brother? Just tell me if he's okay."

At that time Sherry came running back in the room followed by his grandpa and a doctor.

"Yami, you're awake!" His grandpa exclaimed grabbing a hold of the sides of Yami's arms. "But you shouldn't be up. You need rest."

"How are you feeling Yami?" the doctor asked while taking the pen from his chart and waiting for him to answer so he could write down his response.

"I'm fine, just tell me how Yugi is!" Yami yelled. He was tired of being interrogated by everyone in the room.

Grandpa frowned at Yami for a second and then turned back to the doctor who was also frowning.

"Dr. Hales", Grandpa started, "how is my grandson?"

Dr. Hales frowned deeper and turn to the nurses. "Sherry? Joan? Would you please begin Yami's checkup while I talk to Mr. Muto outside."

"Yes sir", they both said in unison, as grandpa and Dr. Hales left the room.

Yami gazed at the door as it shut with a click. 'This is bad.'

Dr. Hales and Mr. Muto walked down the white painted hallways. Nurses passed them taking down notes and wheeling patients to and from their rooms. Mr. Muto silently walked along waiting for the doctor to speak, but to his displeasure he never did.

Dr. Hales finally stopped in front of a patient's room. Sighing deeply and rubbing the back of his neck, he looked down into the eyes of the worried old man. After all the years of his medical training, after all the heart procedures and even simply procedures, this was always the hardest part of his job.

"Dr. Hales? How is my grandson?"

Dr. Hales sighed one last time before, having to give the diagnosis.

"Mr. Muto, as a doctor I'm obligated to tell you the true, so I wouldn't sugar coat this. You understand that the wreck your two grandsons were in was very serious and it's a miracle that Yami came out with as few injures as he did. Unfortunately, Yugi is a different case."

"I understand Doctor." Mr. Muto said, "just please... tell me how my grandson is."

"Mr. Muto, your grandson's in a coma."

Grandpa took a staggering breath in trying to take in the news.

"You can see him if you'd like." Dr. Hales said gesturing to the door behind them.

Grandpa nodded and followed the doctor into the room.

The room was dimly light. One lamp glowed softly, barely lighting up the soft features of Yugi's young face. The room fit the mood of the moment perfectly... dreary and hopeless. Grandpa walked slowly up to the bed and examined his youngest grandson. A small breathing mask laid over his mouth and nose helping him to breathe. The soft beeping of the heart monitor pinged rhythmically as he followed the IV line all the way down until it connected to Yugi's arm. Grandpa reached out his old and weathered hand incasing it around Yugi's small pale one. He stroked small circles on the back on Yugi's hand as the sight of his motionless grandson brought tears to his eyes.

"At this time, we have him on life support." Dr. Hales said grimily, "He wasn't breathing properly when he was brought in and we didn't want to take any chances."

Grandpa didn't look at Dr. Hales. He just kept staring at Yugi, as if he would disappear if he looked away. A single tear ran down his face and fell upon the unconscious boys cheek, making it look as if he were crying. This didn't help at all. Grandpa tore his glaze away from Yugi's face and stared down at the end of the bed.

"Is... there anything," Grandpa stopped for a moment to clear his throat and then continued, "that we can do for him."

"At this point we've done all we can do for him. The only thing we can do for him right now is pray, and hopefully he will pull out of this."

Grandpa nodded his head and looked back at his grandson.

"However," Grandpa looked up to the doctor with high hopes, "the chances of Yugi actually pulling out of the coma is .1, meaning the chances of him not waking up is 99.9. The odds are impossible, you should just... I won't worry Yami with this. Not at his age."

Grandpa unconsciously squeezed Yugi's hand, reeling at the odds. "What are you suggesting?" Grandpa asked.

"I'm only saying that since Yami is the only other family Yugi has, I wouldn't worry him, what with him being as young as he is."

Grandpa jerked his head towards the doctor in shock. "Are you suggesting I tell Yami that..."

"I'm not suggesting anything," The doctor cut it, "I'm only saying that I have seen cases like this before. I have seen cases were two siblings come in from a car wreck, one coming out just fine and the other one being placed in a coma. The one that makes it out fine always blames themselves for the others misfortune, always coming back day after to day to visit. It's heartbreaking, to see that young person come in everyday, and everyday and every visit they make seems to always take away from them, almost like there driving themselves to insanity. And in other cases, I found that when the other doesn't make it out at all, the other sibling only seems to have trouble at first, but seems to heal better in the long run."

Grandpa still held his shocked face, but he also looked as if he were considering what the doctor had said.

"I'm sorry Mr. Muto, but I must good check on my other patients. I'm sure that my nurses are done with Yami. You may go check on him whenever you want." Dr. Hales strode to the door and stopped before he exited completed. "Oh and Mr. Muto, I hope you seriously consider what I have told you. At least, for Yami's sake." And with that, the Doctor left the room with a soft click.

Grandpa listened for the click of the door as the room fell back into almost complete darkness. Pulling up the chair to the side of the bed, Grandpa sat silently holding Yugi's hand.

"Yugi?" Grandpa spoke to the non-responding form, "Can you hear me?"

Grandpa silently paused waiting for an answer that would never come. Instead, only the reliable beeps of the heart monitor broke the silences.

Grandpa's face screwed up with fear and sadness. Finally, as if a dam had broken, the tears came. "I'm sorry Yugi, I'm sorry that it has to be this way. I wish it was me instead of you that have to suffer, but I can't change what has already happened anymore than I can change the heavens and earth."

Grandpa pressed the small boy's limp hand against his face as a tear rolled down upon it. "I don't know what to do anymore Yugi. I can't help you anymore, and what am I to tell Yami? You were the best thing that ever happened to him, even if the two of you were at each others throats... which happened quiet often." He smiled a little at the last comment, but it was short lived. But soon after the smile had faded, it was placed with determination. "I can't save you Yugi, only you can save yourself now, but at least I know I can still save one person today." Grandpa released Yugi's hand, letting it fall to the bed. He leaned over and kissed him on the forehead before quietly making his way to the door. Hand on the door knob, he stopped and spoke again. "I know that if you could have a say in this, you would want me to do this." Grandpa then wiped the last of his tears away and left the room.

"And there you go Yami, you're all fixed up and ready to go." Sherry smiled

Yami nodded in thanks and inspected his bandages. None of them seemed to serious, only minor cuts on his arms and legs and the one gash on his forehead that was now wrapped with a long white cloth.

"Now," Joan started, "all your grandfather has to do is sign these papers and you'll be ready to leave."

"Not without Yugi." Yami whispered sliding off the examination table and to his feet. He winced slightly at the pain that rushed through his body but refused to take any help from the nurses.

"Well, if you're okay, then I'll go get your grandfather." Nurse Joan said as she strode to the door and opened it to reveal a very surprised looking Grandpa.

"Oh, there you are Mr. Muto. I was just about to come and find you so you could sign these papers." She smiled handing the papers to him.

Yami leaned against the table for support as he studied his grandfather's face. He could clearly see that he had been crying and was trying hard to hold back tears at that very moment. His mouth was held and curved in a downward fashion showing not the least bit of happiest.

Grandpa began to sign the last paper when he heard a low growl emit over by the table.

"Enough with the papers! You can sign them later. Just please... tell me how he is." Yami snapped.

"Not one for patience, are you?" Sherry asked

"Well, that's the last of the papers anyway, so we'll leave you and your grandson alone to talk." Joan said collecting the papers and heading out the door while waving for Sherry to follow her.

"Thank you," Grandpa replied as he watched the two ladies exit the room.

Grandpa turned around and approached Yami. They were now only three feet appear from each other. Grandpa was looking at the floor hoping against hope that the doctors would run in and say that everything was alright and that he wouldn't have to lie to his grandson and that they could all just go home. But even he knew that was too much to ask for. Large tears started to form in his eyes as he tried to blink them away. He couldn't breakdown right now. He had to be strong for himself and for Yami, but the idea of it all was so hard and he didn't think he could do it.

"Grandpa...?"

Grandpa looked up and saw all the fear, all the worry that had collected in his eyes over the last few hours. At this point, he wished that he were anywhere else but here. He stepped up closer to Yami and pulled him into a hug.

Yami hissed a little at the pain that surged through his back as he was pulled into a hug. He couldn't help but feel as if he were being hugged by a larger form of Yugi, since Yugi and his grandpa were about the same height. Yami's thoughts were cut off by a short sob.

"I'm sorry Yami," Grandpa hiccupped, "I'm so sorry. I never wanted to have to tell you something like this, not while you were so young."

"Grandpa, what are you talking about, I'm..." Yami cut off when he realized what his grandfather was trying to tell him. Yami squeezed Solomon tighter pushing away the tears that were forming in his eyes. "No... no it can't be."

Chapter end...

A/N: Well? What do you think? Any good? Let me know if you would like me to continue. Hope you enjoyed.

Nightlight5