AnimeKiwi369: I'm sad...And happy.

Copper: That makes no sense.

AnimeKiwi369: Well, I only got seven reviews for the last two chapters and before that, I had double-digits.

Copper: And you're happy because.

AnimeKiwi369: I got an early Christmas gift.

Copper: Which was what?

AnimeKiwi369: Droid Incredible.

Copper: Lucky. What's the chapter about?

AnimeKiwi369: Yusei finding out. But it focuses on you mainly. Oh, and Raven, John, and Lane are back at the end.

Copper: All right. When will you start using others in conversations?

AnimeKiwi369: Probably at the end of this chapter. And sorry in advance if any characters are out of character. I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's or its characters. I only own the storyline and my own characters.

Chapter 4

Holding Family Close

Yusei's golden voice startled the two psychics as the door to the garage shut. The two females had been so wrapped up in thought they hadn't heard the dark-haired Signer's car pull in. Both Akiza and Copper hadn't even noticed the time fly by them. The dark-haired man looked at both his wife and daughter with almost an amused look in his eyes. The young girl looked at her father.

She got up, grabbing the picture, and wrapped her arms around his neck. She buried her head in his chest. The lead Signer didn't know why his daughter was giving him such affection now. But he liked it. He felt her start shaking. Was she crying? If so, why? What had happened to her? Yusei wrapped his arms around her, confused.

"Dad…" Copper whispered into his shirt, "You know we—mom and I and everyone—love you more than anything, right?"

"Of course I do." He responded, "But what brought this up, Copper?"

"I saw something that you're not going to believe at first." She told him a bit cryptically and pulled back from her, "I think we need to sit down."

The dark-haired girl pulled on her father's gloved hand and led him into the living room. She sat down on the couch, placing the photograph in her lap, and pulled her father down next to her. Her mother came in within a few seconds and sat on the opposite side of Yusei. Copper put her head on the Dragon Head Signer's shoulder, wrapping her arms around his waist lightly from the side. The girl felt her mother's arms wrap around her father's neck.

"I saw something a bit unbelievable today when Raven and I were visiting East at the hospital today." She showed the picture to him.

"Why do you have the picture of my parents and me before Zero Reverse?" Yusei asked curiously.

The dark-haired girl pointed to her father's mother, "I saw…saw your…your mother, dad. I'd recognize her anywhere from this photo. I…I think she might be…be in a…a coma." She looked at her father. He was staring at the picture, shocked as she and her mother had been. Copper felt her father tense up a little bit.

"You…really…saw…her?" he inquired in a tone the dark-haired girl hadn't ever heard before. Maybe Akiza had though. The blue-indigo-eyed girl nodded, "My…mother's…alive." Yusei whispered quietly, his voice full of emotion.

The young psychic hugged him tightly, feeling for him. This had to be hard on him. Finding out that someone he had thought deceased for so many years had to be tough. She wished she could do more than just hug him. She wished she could do something. Anything.

Akiza wished she could do something for Yusei as well. But what could she do? There wasn't anything she could think of anything. She loved him so much. She hated seeing him in that kind of pain. She wanted to help him no matter what.

Yusei was silent for the longest time. He couldn't find the words to express how he felt. He almost absently stared at the image of his mother. How is she still alive after all these years? He wondered, How is it even possible to be in a coma for that long?

"Take me." He finally said quietly, hiding his eyes as he looked down.

"What?" Copper inquired, unsure of what he meant.

"I want to see her. I want to see my mother." He told her.

"Yusei…" the female Signer trailed off, "You really want to?"

"Yes." He answered.

"All right, but I'm going to drive. I don't think it'd be safe for you to drive while you're like this." His wife replied. He nodded numbly and the three got up, going to one of cars. The ride was silent again. Mainly because Yusei was so shaken up that the two psychics didn't think it'd be wise to try to start a conversation.

When they got to the hospital, Copper led her parents to the dark-haired man's mother's room. The young girl stood near the wall, as her father approached his mother's bed. She saw him begin to shake a little. The moment couldn't be described and shock didn't come even close to describing how it felt in that hospital room. The dark-haired psychic could feel so many different emotions were suffocating the room.

The young, new Signer wanted so much to help him. Her mother wanted to as well. But what could they do at this moment? She felt like crying for her father. In fact, she did feel tears in her eyes. Akiza noticed and put her arm around her shoulders.

"I wish there was something we could do?" she whispered to her mother.

"I know, Copper." Her mother whispered back, "I know."

Over at the bedside, Yusei stared down at the figure of his mother. He couldn't believe it. She was actually alive. He didn't know how he knew, but he knew with all his heart that this was his mother. This was…was so…so incredibly…incredibly amazing and…and wonderful. But it was also saddening. Saddening because his mother had been alive his entire life and he was just now finding out about this. He was thirty-eight! And he had never known his mother was still alive! It almost angered him from not having known this until that evening. And his daughter—his mother's only grandchild—had been the one to tell him, too! At least she had told him and not some stranger or something along those lines.

She could've been there for everything he went through! She could've seen him grow up. His mother could've been there when he first fell in love; she could've helped him through some of the rough times, like when Kalin yelled at him and called him a traitor on the Enforcer's final night. His mother could've been there for everything. His wedding, the day his child was born, everything...

"Mom..." he said quietly. Yusei took a deep breath and began to leave. Both Akiza and Copper followed him closely behind. They both noticed his head down as he walked to the car they had taken. He shook silently and violently, his breath becoming ragged.

The dark-haired girl watched her father intently as he stayed silent for the rest of the evening. It was just like a couple of weeks ago when Zigzix had sent that e-mail. She felt tense as the night dragged on. She had tried to go to bed early, but couldn't and tossed and turned for a couple hours. Copper eventually gave up trying to fall sleep and went downstairs, to get something that might help her sleep.

She wasn't much surprised to her father still up. It wasn't very late. He was staring into the empty fireplace as he often did when he needed to clear his head. He didn't seem to hear her come down the stairs. She went up behind him quietly. Yusei still didn't notice her.

"D-Dad…?" the mostly blue-indigo-eyed girl asked tentatively. The dark-haired Signer was startled a little and looked to see his daughter behind him.

"Copper…I didn't hear you." He commented, "Didn't you go to bed?"

"Sorry. I had trouble sleeping." She told him, going around to him, "Are you, um, all right, dad?" she asked, though she knew he wasn't. But she didn't know what else to say.

Yusei pulled her down onto the couch and held her close. He put his head on top of hers. He was still shaking. The dark-haired Signer needed to hold her; he couldn't imagine what his mother had gone through. Thinking she had lost her child in Zero Reverse. He couldn't imagine it. The Satellite-raised man just couldn't imagine life without his daughter. He felt for his mother; her heart must've been broken when she thought she had lost him and his father. Or did she even know?

Copper felt so bad for her dad and let him keep her close. She put her head on his chest and wrapped her arms around him. He was in shock and upset. Yusei had always helped her and her mother; the dark-haired girl wanted to do the same. She had a couple of times, but this was much bigger than those other times.

"Dad," she started, "I wish I could do something more for you. I wish I could help you out of your shock."

"I can't imagine what she's been through, sweetie. Thinking I've lost my child, I would be so broken. I can't imagine life without you. I wish I could talk to her; I want to show her that she hasn't lost everything." He whispered, tightening his grip on his daughter.

"I know, daddy." She whispered.

Yusei didn't let go of Copper for they didn't know how long. His grip tightened a little whenever he shook. The dark-haired girl suppressed a cry of pain as her father's grip kept getting a little tighter. She felt like crying again for what he was going through. She couldn't believe how quickly a day could be switched around from a normal to so…so sad.

Copper tried to resist a yawn, but failed. She closed her eyes and listened to her father's heartbeat, like she was little. It was so calming. It was too bad he couldn't listen himself. Maybe that would calm him… It had always calmed her. The sound of his heart beating got fainter and fainter as she failed at trying to stay awake.

The dark-haired Signer felt his daughter's body go a bit limp as she fell asleep. He loosened his grip on her and looked at the clock. Almost midnight. Yusei sighed and got up, carrying his daughter to her room, like a few weeks ago when she had been upset. He sat next to her for a few minutes, stroking her hair after getting her back in bed. Copper had always been a peaceful sleeper. Even as a baby.

Yusei wished his mother was all right. He wished he could know what she had been through. He sighed again and went to his and Akiza's room. The light on the psychic's bedside table was one. His wife was sitting up in their bed, reading. She looked at him with concerned eyes.

"Can't sleep?" he asked in a monotone voice. She nodded as he changed for bed and lied down next to her, "It's…so hard…to believe." He said slowly.

"I know." She agreed quietly as she set her book down and turned the light off. Akiza lied down before rolling on top of her husband's chest.

"I…I know it's great and everything, but I…I never thought that this would happen, Akiza." he went on, looking away a little, "I've always known my mother to be…dead. And the only mother-figure I've ever had is Martha. I just…don't know what to think about all of this."

"Yusei, do you need my 'help'?" she asked softly, bringing her head close to his and put her hands on his face. The dark-haired Signer nodded slowly and a bit numbly as the psychic began to kiss him slowly and softly.

The Next Day—Late Morning

Copper looked through the drawers in the upstairs study for the logbook she had found in the past and then showed her father when she had gotten back. Both her parents were at work. She found a note on the kitchen counter saying that they had left. She had woken up after they had left, though she hadn't remembered falling asleep though. She had showered and heated up some leftovers for breakfast before figure out what she was going to do. She hoped her father was all right.

She finally found the logbook that had belonged to Professor Fudo during the time the Enerdy Reactor had been working. She was hoping she would find something she might have missed before. The dark-haired girl heard the sound of the doorbell and slowly went downstairs. She looked through the peephole in the door and saw her friends. The young psychic opened the door.

"We just heard." John told her with sympathy he got from Carly. It really was a strange combination with him. Atlas arrogance and Carmine kindness, as she and the others called it. That really bugged the blonde, "So you dad's mom is really back?"

Copper nodded as her friends came in and she closed the door. She went to the living room, where the three had settled comfortably. Raven and Lane sat across from the one John was on. She sat next to eldest of the Atlas children, who was looking at the logbook.

"And what is this?" he demanded.

"My grandfather's logbook." She responded snatching it carefully from him, "I told you this a couple weeks ago. Can't you retain that info for even a few weeks?"

"I remember now." He responded nonchalantly, "I just forgot."

"Whatever." She replied.

"Copper, are you all right? Do you need to talk about anything?" Lane asked caringly. She smiled a little at him, not feeling a blush…thankfully.

"Yeah? Do you need to tell some certain people?" Raven pressed, trying to lighten the mood, "You know? A certain three people? In this room? Two across from you and one next? More specifically…us!"

The dark-haired girl smiled at her other friend and nodded again, "I'm just…still surprised. Ya know? It's just weird seeing my dad's mom in the flesh for the first time. I mean, we all thought she's been dead, but she's really been in the hospital. I wish she was awake."

"I'm sure we'd act the same if we ever saw our dad's parents still alive." Lane commented, "I think we'd be shocked if we saw them at all."

Raven and John nodded in agreement.

The daughter of two Signers looked at each of her friends, smiling. She felt privileged to have them as her friends. Even if all of them were complete opposites in so many ways, she loved having them around for things like this. She had really missed them when she had gone to the past.

An idea started to form in her head as she began to wonder about her friend's dad's parents. As well as her own father's parents.

"Guys," she started, "I think I have an idea."

"Which would be…?" John pressed.

"Well," she began again, "it requires four turbo duelists riding their runners to the building Mina works in and getting some information about some missing links and pasts of our family."

"This idea, I like." Raven grinned impishly.

"Ditto." The ice-blue-haired boy agreed.

"As do I…For once." The blonde said.

"You'll pay for that last bit in our next duel, blondie." She threatened in a menacing yet playful tone.

"And you'll pay for that, Elizabeth."

"Oh, you're going to get it big time!" Copper laughed, "Now let's get going."

Later

The four teens waited for Mina to return with the files they had asked for. It felt like forever, though. But then again, the files on their father's parents probably hadn't been even brought up in years. So they were probably buried somewhere. Copper wondered what they others' grandparents on their father's side were like. She didn't like how quiet it was, though.

"I wonder what they were like. Our grandparents, I mean." Raven voiced what the dark-haired was thinking aloud.

"My dad and I often wonder if the cancer he had in his throat is hereditary." Lane commented, "And if Mikaylan, Gabe, and I will get it, like he did."

"But remember, the doctors found it early, so they were able to get rid of it." Copper commented; she often wondered that, too.

Her parents had told her that when they were younger and Kalin was ready to propose to Misty, he had lost his voice and put it off. And when it hadn't come back, he had gone to the doctor's, where it was discovered that the cause was a rare form of throat cancer. Luckily, it was spotted early, so it treatable with a simple surgery. After the surgery, it had been recommended that the ice-blue-haired man not speak for a few days. He had ended up proposing by writing it out, after becoming impatient.

That was what the dark-haired girl thought was so romantic; as romantic as how her father proposed or as romantic as when Crow proposed to Dove. Although, it had been taken care of a while back, the Kesslers were tentative when either Kalin or their kids got a sore throat or laryngitis.

"My dad never even thinks about what his parents were like. And I never really did either, until now." John commented in a very un-John-like way.

"Really?" the ginger asked and the blonde nodded, "That's kinda sad. My parents are always wondering what my papa's parents were like. We also kinda wonder if recklessness is a Hogan family trait goes longer than my papa and mom."

"Yeah," Lane agreed, "Gabe's been especially curious. Although we told him about the Signer-Dark Signer war, we haven't told him what happened to my mom's brother and to my dad's parents."

"Ever since my parents told me about the war, I've been curious on who they were. What might've been and all that. But I never thought I would actually see my dad's mom." Copper said quietly, almost silently, staring at the floor, "I never thought I'd see the day…" she whispered.

Another silence befell upon the four. The dark-haired girl was just about used to it. She really did wish that she knew. After a few minutes, they heard the door to the office open and they looked to see Mina with a few folders.

"Did you find what we asked for?" John asked impatiently.

"I did, John." She addressed informally and began to hand them the folders, "I was able to find all that you asked for of your father's parents. Images, names, information, medical history, everything. I made copies for you to take."

"Thank you Mina." Copper said, taking the folder, but not opening it yet. "C'mon guys, let's look at these back at my house."

The others nodded in agreement.

AnimeKiwi369: So that's it. The next chapter's going to be a bit hilarious.

John: I don't like the sound of that.

Raven: Loosen up John.

Lane: Yeah. I'm sure it won't be that bad.

Copper: You guys don't know AnimeKiwi369 as much as I do.

AnimeKiwi369: Gee, you guys are supportive.

Copper: We've read your other works.

AnimeKiwi369: To my readers, do you think I should start giving previews of the next chapters?

Copper: Maybe.

AnimeKiwi369: Please don't forget to vote on my newest poll regarding 'Phantom of the Opera'. I really want Kalin to win, but he's trailing by one vote.

Copper: And don't forget to review! We'd really like at least-how many AnimeKiwi369?

AnimeKiwi369: I'd like at least ten. If that's all right. So please be kind and please review. And thanks to those reviewing so far. Next chapter may or may not be up soon. And in case I don't review until after the New Year, MERRY CHRISTMAS! Please review.