A/N: Okay, some of you are asking what the 'World' actually is. The 'World' is an on-line RPG where players from all around the world can play with other players on-line. I'm taking this from the anime .hack/SIGN. In short, it's a virtual reality game. It makes you feel like you are in the game but you're really only sitting at your computer desk. So while you think you that you are physically there, you're mind is only in the game. In saying this, it is also impossible for a normal person playing the game to feel pain.

I hope that answers everybody's questions, but if not feel free to ask by review or e-mail, I'll be glad to try and explain farther.

"Blah" meansTalking

'Blah'meansThinking

The World

Chapter: Log In

The bell on the Game Shop door dinged as Grandpa entered in first with Yami lagging slightly behind. Yami didn't bother to stop at the doorway and remove his soaked jacket or squeaky wet shoes. It was still raining outside. The weather had remained the same since the wreck, on the account that it had only happened a few hours ago. He simply continued on his way up the stairs.

Grandpa cleared his throat before trying to speak. "Would you like me to get you something, Yami?"

Yami stopped only briefly to answer before moving on. "You can't give me anything that would help me right now."

Once at the top of the stairs, he made his way to his room and opened the door. On opening the door, he found himself standing in the middle of not his room, but Yugi's. He wasn't sure if he had meant to go in, or if he was just somehow drawn to this room. Everything was as it was before they left. The bed was neatly made while different sets of outfits lay scattered across it and the floor. Yugi had obviously had a hard time deciding what to wear before they had gone to the mall and had no time to put things back in order; not that he would do it if he had the time too anyway.

Yami picked up Yugi's white school shirt and walked over to the dresser. The white shirt lay lonely in the empty drawer as he slammed the drawer shout knocking off a picture frame. The picture frame fell to the floor with a clatter and shattered it into thousands of tiny pieces. Yami mentally kicked himself and gave a bitter frown as he bent over and picked up the frame. Being careful not to come in contact with any of the broken glass, he examined the picture.

It was a picture from a scene Yami remembered all too well. It was the first day Yugi went to kindergarten. Yami was shaking a smiling Yugi's hand while Yami, only being seven at the time, still wore his trademark smirkish smile on his face. He would never forget that day as long as he lived. It was the first time he had ever made a real promise to Yugi.

FLASHBACK

Grandpa tailed behind his two almost identically grandsons as they finally made it to the Domino City Elementary school grounds. Yugi was clamped to the back off Yami's jacket hiding himself from everyone else. Yami looked back over his shoulder and smirked.

"Yugi," Yami said while prying his little brother off his back, "Unless you plan on being my new backpack for the day, you're going to have to go to class."

"B-but..." Yugi trailed off.

"But what?"

"But, I'm afraid to go," Yugi said hanging his head low, "I can't go by myself; I'm not as brave as you are."

"You're plenty brave bro. Besides, it's not that bad and I'm sure you'll make lots of new friends. Going to kindergarten is like going to summer camp."

"I hated summer camp." Yugi pouted

"Well, it's like summer camp that you don't have to spend the night at."

"That wouldn't be so bad."

"Plus," Yami smiled patting Yugi on the shoulder, "It's not like we wouldn't see each other all day. We have the same recess together."

"Really?"

"Yeah, so when your teacher tells you to go to recess, then I'll meet you..." Yami paused and looked around at the playground for a good spot to meet at. "Over there, by those two swings."

"You promise?" Yugi asked

"I promise bro" Yami said extending his hand out to Yugi. "I promise I'll always be there for you, no matter what."

Yugi smiled as his eyes gave off an innocent sparkle. He sprung forward and took Yami's hand. "It's a deal then!"

Grandpa smiled as he removed a camera from his pocket and knelt down to take a picture. Aiming it, he snapped the picture that would forever capture the moment.

Flash

END FLASHBACK

Yami smiled as a tear ran down his cheek and fell onto the cracked glass in the picture frame that now barely covered the photo. "It's my fault," He sniffed, "It's my fault that your gone. It should have been me."

"Knock knock," Grandpa said because the door was already open, "I just wanted to make sure you were okay."

"Okay..." Yami asked in disbelief, "How could you ask if I was okay?"

"Look, I know that this is hard..."

"Hard?" Yami growled and turned to face his grandfather, "My only brother... my little brother, the brother that I made a promise too, a promise that I would always be there for him just died and you only think that's hard!"

Yami's clutch on the picture frame tighten as he finally failed to suppress the tears that had beaten at the back of his eyes for so long. "This was never hard. I can't even think of a word that's bad enough to describe this situation."

"I know this is bad Yami," Grandpa stated calmly, "But you're acting as if you're the only one who lost somebody."

Yami looked up at Grandpa. His eyes sparkled with tears, but he also noticed that his grandfather's did too.

"I know that Yugi was your brother, but he was also my grandson. We both have a right to grieve in our own way; but also, if we want to get through this, we are going to have to rely on each other for support. And I know how much it pains you to have to rely on others for help, but in this case, we need each other." Grandpa paused for a second to make sure Yami was listening and then continued, "So you have to stop blaming yourself for what happened. Yugi wouldn't want you to blame yourself."

Yami looked away, hoping to escape his grandfather's glaze, but he could still feel him staring at him. He hated for his grandfather to see him like this. He didn't like to show his weak side. Really, the only person who had ever seen it was Yugi. Hoping to get away from his grandfather's eyes, he crossed the room and sat on the bed with his back facing his grandfather.

"How would you know what Yugi wants; after all, he's not here to tell us anymore. Besides, I don't want to get through this... I want for this to have never happened; I want this all to be just a bad dream."

"Because I know Yugi, and so do you." Grandpa said stepping up to the other side of the bed, "And you know Yugi well enough to know that he wouldn't want you to blame yourself. And as for having this all be just a bad dream. I wish it were too. But we can't stop and rewind our day to help the dead. Things of that nature only happen on TV."

"Please grandpa," Yami begging, "I just want to be alone right now."

Grandpa frowned and nodded his head. "I'll respect your wishes, but before I go... here." Grandpa slide a medium sized white bag across the bed to Yami. "The people that came and got your truck, left this with the doctor, it's all of your belongs from out of your truck."

After that Grandpa left the room closing the door behind him.

Yami sat on the side of the bed for a bit longer before peering over his shoulder to look at the white bag. Unmoving, he slid his hand behind him and pulled the object to his side. He fully pulled himself on to the bed and peered down into the bag. In the very center of the bag was a large box and different things such as his Driver's License, sunglasses, and an old can of coke from at least two months ago. He seemed uninterested by any of the other items but the box, so he slipped the box out of the bag and pushed the bag of items off the bed and unto the floor.

Yami examined the box carefully making sure no detail went unnoticed. Finally, stopping on the front, he began to read the description.

"The World, the first interactive on-line game. You can talk to different people, level your player up, form parties, and makes lots of new friends from all over. This game is a must have for any RPG fan."

When all the text was read, Yami smiled to himself remembering the previous conversation he and Yugi had had.

FLASHBACK

"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 viral 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."

END FLASHBACK

A crystal clear tear fell in slow motion hitting the box and splashing before soaking into the card board. Yami gritted his teeth and squeezed his eyes closed. "All he wanted was to play this... and make friends he never had. But now he'll never get that chance, and it's all my fault." He covered his head with his hands when suddenly Yami heard Yugi's voice replaying something he had heard Yugi say not to long ago.

"It's not fair that you only have me and Grandpa to be friends with..., and you say that we're all you need but, everybody needs friends there own age Yami, even if you don't want them. I...I want you to have friends."

Yami's eyes shot open and looked around as if he expected to find Yugi peeking over his shoulder like he always did, but unfortunately he found nothing. His fingers slid gently over the box, tracing the letters and pictures until they found their way to the side of the box. Poking one finger under the lid, he pried the box open. Now he was staring at a headset, a controller, a cd-rom game, and a player's guide. He lifted the headset out of the box causing the cd-rom to fall out with it. Yami, letting curiosity get the best of him, slid the headset on. The headset was built so that at the sides two round headphones covered his ears and in the front a rounded strip was covering his eyes completely. Yami didn't like being deprived of two of his senses and quickly removed the headset before looking over the other items. Everything else looked pretty much standard, even the controller looked like a simple Nintendo 64 controller. Yami eyed the computer that sat across from Yugi's bed and then back down at the game.

'Should I try it?'

Yami sat at the computer after finally getting everything hooked up.

"Well, I think that about does it. Now, the manual says that I have to pick a character custom and enter my first name or a made up name."

Yami looked up at the computer and clicked on the icon of "The World". In seconds the game buzzed to life and the air was filled with a strange voice.

"Welcome to The World. Please enter your character name here." The voice instructed.

Yami blinked at the screen for a moment before typing... Y a m i.

"Welcome to The World, Yami. Now, please pick a character custom form the following."

Yami shifted through the many customs, hoping to find the perfect one. Finally he came to one that struck his fancy. The custom was a close resemblance to what an Ancient Egyptian Pharaoh would wear. Yami wasn't sure why he choose that particular custom, but it just seemed to suit him. The custom consisted of, a pair of white pants, and white shirt. Around the neck it had a large golden band that extended to the tops of his shoulders and right above his chest. A purple cape was then attached to the golden band around the neck. Along with just the basic clothing the custom came with many other golden bands that would be fastened around each wrist and around the upper part of the arm. And last but not least, there was a golden band that sat on the forehead region and would tuck behind his ears and disappear behind his hair. In the middle of the golden band rest the eye of Horus.

Once Yami had entered his custom, he waited for the next question.

"Now, you must choose what type of warrior you shall be. Please choose from the following."

Yami eyed the options and quickly choose. He only had three things to choose from in this category: Heavy Blader, Twin Blader, or a type of magic welder. He had chosen Heavy Blader. He didn't want any kind of magic, because he wanted to be able to fight a battle use contact and not staying back and casting spells. So he figured instead of having to carry two swords around, he would just carry on big one.

"You have completed your registration. Please place your headset on and log in using the 'Log In' button at this time if you wish to enter the game. Also, you may visit the message board to read about what the other players are doing in The World. We hope you enjoy in The World."

The lady finally cut off and left Yami to the rest. He fit the headset around his head, adjusting the necessary scraps to make it fit and took the controller into his hands.

"Well," Yami said, "here goes nothing. I'll play this game for you, Yugi."

And with that said, he clicked the 'Log In' button and left his body and the real world behind.

IMPORTANT A/N: I am sooo sorry that this took so long! I didn't intend to be so late on the update, but I also didn't intend for Hurricane Katrina to come through and wipe us out. I've just recently gotten power back. Two weeks without power is not fun! Plus we lost almost all our trees! One even fell on our house and another fell on our dog kennels. Ugh! I'm telling you guys, it a complete mess down here. Everything is just chaos. Now they're trying to figure out today how we are going to make-up all our messed college classes because we were out for two weeks. Also, to anyone who reads my other fanfic 'Test of Friendship' I apologize for the wait, but like I said, the hurricane took us by surprise. So I ask that you please be patience with me a little bit longer and I promise to have it up as soon as possible. Never fear, I would never abandon one of my fics. Hurricane Katrina may have knocked me back, but she's not going to keep me down! Anyways, I hoped you liked the chapter. R&R!