Okay, here's a change of pace: in this one, Atem and Yugi are brothers! I know I don't ususally do this because I hate doing it, and while writing this, I remembered exactly why, I just thought that I'd try something new. Plus, just the way Yugi pronounces Atem's name was just too cute to not put up; but don't expect me to make them brothers again for a good long time! I don't like it! But, here it is anyway.

---

Pharaoh Aknonkonan held his ten-year-old son, Atem close. His wife, Queen Mira, had just died from blood loss. She was carrying their second child. Unfortunately, the Queen had died before she was able to give birth to the baby. Aknonkonan's most trusted priests were now trying to remove the baby from the dead woman's body. Both father and son were very depressed and worried. Prince Atem was very close to his mother, and when she and his father told him that he was going to be a big brother, he could not wait to have a younger sibling to play with.

"Father, what's going to happen to the baby?" Aknonkonan gazed at his son with sadness in his eyes.

"I have no idea, my son." He just held Atem tighter as both shed tears of sorrow. Suddenly, Priest Mahad appeared in front of them, hanging his head.

"Your Majesties, I have some good news and some bad news." Aknonkonan looked at the priest with hopeful eyes.

"What is it?"

"The good news is that the child survived; congratulations, Your Highness, you have another son." Relief washed over both Atem and his father. Atem was so happy. He had a little brother to play with. "The bad news is that he was born with an illness." The wave of relief that the two royals felt soon lifted.

"How sick?" Atem asked. Mahad hung his head yet again.

"It may be fatal." Both of them gasped. Atem had just lost his mother; he was not sure that he could handle another loss. And neither could his father.

"Can we see him, Mahad?" The priest nodded and gestured to them to follow him. Once inside the room where the baby was being kept, the Pharaoh and the Prince both walked up to Priestess Isis, who was currently holding the small bundle of job in her arms. Atem listened carefully to the uncomfortable cooing of his newborn baby brother. Isis turned around with a sad smile on her face.

"My Pharaoh and Prince … would you like to see the newest member of your family?" Aknonkonan smiled and held out his arms. Isis slowly and carefully gave the bundle in the blanket to the king. Aknonkonan felt happy and sad at the same time. The child had his mother's eyes, and had hair that looked as if it would grow out to look like his older brother's. However, the baby's eyes held tiredness and pain in them. The Pharaoh felt so sad for his small son. The baby was, in fact, very small; probably only the size of his forearm.

"Father, may I hold him?" Atem asked. Aknonkonan shifted his gaze from his oldest son to his youngest. The baby seemed to take in slow, deep breaths. His eyes were half-lidded and he hardly moved.

"Of course, Atem; just be very careful with him." Atem nodded as the father allowed his two sons to meet for the first time. Atem looked at those adorable, pain-filled eyes and could not stop a tear from falling down his cheek.

"Hi there, I'm your big brother." The Prince whispered. He leaned down and gave a kiss to the infant's forehead. Suddenly, the child's mouth formed a small smile as those large, soft, purple eyes landed on Atem's red ones. Both brothers looked at each other until the baby smiled, causing Atem to smile as well. While his sons were becoming acquainted with each other, the Pharaoh could not stand to look at another member of his family slowly fade away. Without saying a word, he began to walk away. "Father, where are you going?" Aknonkonan stopped at hearing Atem's voice, but did not turn around.

"I am going to bed now. Make sure you do not drop him." Atem did not understand why his father refused to stay with him and make sure that the baby was going to be alright.

"What about giving him a name?"

"I will leave that to you." Then he was gone. Atem sighed. He looked at the baby in his arms when he heard a small, but loose cough that sounded very painful.

"Don't worry, I promise that I'll take care of you … Heba … yeah, that'll be your name … Heba." The older sibling gave his younger sibling another kiss on the forehead before Isis came back and took the baby from him.

"You may go to bed now, my Prince." Atem smiled and shook his head.

"No, I promised him that I would take care of him, so I'm staying." Isis smiled and allowed him to stay. The ten-year-old Prince did not leave his baby brother's side at all.

---

Seven months passed since the birth of Prince Heba, and things were spiraling downward for the royal family. The Pharaoh hardly spent any time with his boys. In fact, he began to yell a lot more and seemed to always be on edge. Atem kept the promise to Heba and always took care of the small child. The two were closer then close. Heba's young mind saw Atem as the role of his father more then his brother. He knew what Atem's role was, but the older sibling was raising him more then their own father. As for the baby's health, it had its ups and downs. He would come down with a strange and painful illness, and then gradually get better. However, with each illness that he contracted, they seemed to last longer and longer. Atem was always there for his brother, always there to care and comfort the baby. It almost became a patterned, but Atem was always worried.

"Ti-ti pay?" Heba's little voice asked. The baby sat in his room on the floor, wearing nothing but a diaper. He needed to stay in his room because he was recovering from another illness. The child led up a block with his small, chubby arms, asking his older brother to play with him. Atem smiled.

"Sure, I'll play with you." The older joined his brother on the floor and played with the blocks. "Having fun, Heba?" Heba giggled a little.

"Ti-ti pay!" Atem had to laugh at the way his brother could not pronounce his name.

"That's not my name, my name's 'Atem'. Can you say 'Atem'?"

"Ti-ti!" Heba continued to say while clapping his hands. Atem shrugged. He knew Heba would learn how to say his name soon. Heck, he could barely say his own name; he called himself 'Ba-ba'. He only heard the 'ba' part in his name, so that's what he called himself. The two brothers continued to play with Heba's blocks for a few minutes. Every once in a while, Heba would have a coughing fit and scare the crap out of Atem. Heba looked at Atem with pained eyes.

"Owie …" The older smiled in sympathy.

"I know, I know it hurts, Little One." He reached over and brought the child into his lap, wrapping the baby's favorite blanket around him. He began to rock his younger brother to sleep. It was soon that the baby drifted into dreamland. As he did, Atem laid Heba in his crib, surrounding him with many blankets. Even though it was always so hot and try in Thebes, Egypt, Heba always seemed to be cold. Atem smiled and brushed a few bangs out of Heba's face.

"ATEM!" Said Prince cringed when he heard that constantly angry voice call his name.

"Uh oh …" He dreaded hearing that voice. It meant that either he or his brother was going to get hurt. He just hopped that their arrogant father would not wake the sick child up. Suddenly, the door to Heba's nursery slammed open. Atem wanted to stand strong for his brother, but on the inside, he was downright terrified.

"You were supposed to be downstairs getting ready for tonight's ball!" Atem cringed again.

"I was, Father, but Heba needed me." Excuses just made Aknonkonan even angrier. He raised his hand back and loud slapping sound was heard as his hand came in contact with Atem's face. The harsh impact caused the Prince to lose his balance a bit and leave a deep red mark on his cheek.

"No excuses! What that boy needs is for you to stop babying him!"

"But Father, he is a baby …" The Pharaoh slapped his son's other cheek this time and caused Atem to fully fall onto the ground. In his crib, Heba pretended to be asleep. As scared of their father as Atem was, Heba was twice as horrified. Heba never knew the gentle side of their father like Atem did. The day their mother died was when Aknonkonan began to take his anger out on his sons. He spanked and slapped Heba all the time, but Atem would always get the harsher punishment because he did not want Heba to suffer what he did. Atem received another beating for speaking out of line. Heba whimpered as he tried to cover his ears.

"I do not want to hear any more of your excuses! Get back to your duties this instant!" The Pharaoh left, slamming the door on his way out. Atem spat up a bit of blood as he tried to pick himself up.

"Ti-ti …?" He heard a small voice whisper weakly. He looked over to see that Heba was awake and reaching for him.

"Heba, what are you doing awake? You need to get some sleep."

"Eh!" Heba whined and would not stop until Atem had picked him up. Atem smiled, even though it hurt doing so.

"Sorry, Squirt, I need to go get ready for tonight's dinner. There are a lot of important people coming tonight." All Heba did was blink his adorably large eyes. "You don't understand a word I'm saying, do you?" Heba reached out for Atem again.

"Up, up!" It pained Atem to leave his brother so soon, but he had to go get ready for the dinner since he did not want to be beat again. As he left and closed the door, Heba continued to call to him, wanting his big brother to come back. "Ti-ti!" Atem walked away from the nursery with tears in his eyes. He could not stand the sad tone in the baby's voice. That, and he had no desire whatsoever to go to this dinner. Sure, there were going to be a lot of people there, but those people were all snobs, and their kids were too. Atem was forced to socialize with them, but he never realty wanted to. To him, they were all snobs and could use some of the treatments that his father gave to him and Heba. Speaking of the baby, Atem was hoping that his little brother was not too upset about his leaving.

---

In the nursery, Heba cried to himself for a few minutes. Why had Ti-ti left him? He always spent that time with him. "Ti-ti …" He mumbled to himself. Wobbly, he picked himself up from the floor and wobbled over toward his bed. He was too small to reach the bed itself. "Ehh!" He whined. After a few minutes of trying, the small seven-month-old pouted and then started a coughing fit. This one was beginning to really hurt. And so was his head. "Owwie …" His tiny body began to feel random pains all over. This happened a lot, but that did not make it any easier on him each time they happened. Heba was in pain … and lonely. He wanted his brother, and by Ra, he would see his brother!

Placing both hands on the floor, he lifted his bottom and then stood his upper body up before beginning to waddle slowly over to the door. However, he was too short to reach the knob. Taking the small tub he used for his baths, he turned it over and placed it by the door. It hurt to step on the tub, but it worked. He was able to reach the knob and turned it. Finally achieving his little goal, he climbed down from the tub and waddled his way down toward the main hall of the palace.

---

Down in the main hall of the palace, a quiet banquet was going on. There were people from all over the world attending it. Some from Rome, some from Greece, even some as distant as from China, Japan, and even the Celtic lands. (Hey, it's a story; it's not supposed to be geographically or historically correct, so get over my mistakes!) Anyway, Prince Atem found himself gazing at the unique designs on the walls of his home, trying desperately to ignore the chitter-chattering of the other Princes sitting at his table. The tallest boy had brunette hair with brown eyes. He was the Prince of Greece, Hector. Another was another brown haired boy named Augustus, Prince of Rome. There were two Asian boys as well, but Atem could not tell which one was from China and which one was from Japan. He really wanted nothing to do with these boys, but he had a choice: it was either put up with them, or get a beating.

"And then I told him to take it back, because he didn't get my order exactly right!" Augustus said. The other boys agreed with him.

"I would have done the same thing; Mother and Father always say that the best things in life are meant for me." Hector added. Atem rolled his eyes. The phrase 'spoiled rotten brats' kept running through his head.

"So, Atem, what have you been up to?" Atem opened his mouth and was about to tell these brats off when a small voice interrupted him.

"Ti-ti!" Atem and the rest of the boys looked behind them and saw little Heba, trying to hide behind a pillar. Atem gasped and got up to help his little brother.

"Heba, what are you doing here?" Heba quickly wrapped his arms around Atem's neck and simply refused to let go.

"Ti-ti!" Atem could not do anything but hug his brother back.

"You know you're not supposed to be down here …"

"Owwie …"

"I know you're sick, that's why you can't come down here." Heba was not listening. He just continued to hold onto Atem's tunic in a tight grasp.

"What's with the wimp?" A voice from behind the two brothers asked. Atem turned to see that the rest of the boys at his table were making fun of his younger brother.

"Yeah, why don't you go back to beddy-bye land." Laughter was heard, and Atem's glare deepened.

"I hear he's diseased, so don't get too close to him." Atem was really getting angry now. No one talked about his little brother that way. Heba hid his face in Atem's tunic.

"He's so disgusting!"

"Yeah, he'll never be a real prince!" The boys all started to laugh. Atem's blood was boiling.

"ENOUGH!" The boys all quit talking at that moment. Heba looked up with those impossibly large amethyst eyes and tilted his head a bit, wondering why 'Ti-ti' was so upset. "How dare you say that about my brother, in his own house!" Atem's fellow princes were at a loss for words; that is until Augustus spoke up.

"Why are you so concerned about that brat?" Atem's ruby eyes nearly jumped out of their sockets.

"He's the brat?! Better take a good look at yourselves! Just so you know, you're the brats around here! Thinking that everything should be made for you … pathetic!"

"Hey, we were just messing around!" Atem glared at the other boys and picked his brother up.

"It's not funny when only one person is laughing. Say what you will about my, but do not insult Heba." And with that, He walked off, not caring about what his father will do once he figured out that he had left the dinner. Heba took this time to stick his tongue out at the other boys before they disappeared behind the wall.

---

Atem was still a little uneasy while waiting for his father to figure out that he was nowhere near the dinner, but he decided to enjoy this time that he spent with Heba. He helped Heba take a bath, which Atem ended up taking too since the baby loved to splash his older brother all the time. He laughed along with the small child. Heba always had a smile on his face; no matter how terrible he was feeling.

"Hey, the water is supposed to stay in the tub, Heba!" Heba giggled and splashed Atem again, who splashed Heba in return. Heba waved his tiny arms, causing even more splashing.

"Ti-ti wet!" Atem laughed.

"Ti-ti wet because you splashed him." Heba splashed around in the tub again.

"Wet, wet!" Heba continued to giggle right before he started a coughing fit that had Atem reaching his hand up to the baby's forehead to check his temperature. Heba's temperature was very warm, even if the child did not show it. So, as much fun as Atem was having, he had had enough of being soaked for one day. He took his shirt off so that it could dry, and wrapped a blanket around his brother, drying him off.

"Well, now that we're clean, how about we get to bed, hmm?" Heba, with his head wrapped in the blanket like a hood, looked up at his older brother and whined.

"No bed ..." Atem smiled; he was expecting that. Heba always said that about going to bed. He spent most of his days in bed because of his illnesses, and had he was usually wide awake when it came time to go to sleep.

"Yes, bed. Don't worry, I'll lay down with you until you fall sleep." Heba rubbed his eyes with his small fist. He was more tired then he realized. He began to cough again, and this time, a drop of red liquid dribbled its way down the baby's lower lip. That did not go unnoticed by Atem, who began to panic when Heba started to bleed. However, the baby paid no attention to the blood, he curled up into Atem's chest and began to fall victim to the sandman. "Heba, do you want to go see Isis before you go to bed?" Heba did not answer, he was sound asleep. Atem could hear the baby's heavy breathing, and it sounded as if the child was having a little difficulty. The older brother walked down the long hallway, carrying his brother in his arms.

Once he finally reached Isis' room, she began to yell at Atem about how vital it was for Heba to stay in bed, but Atem was not listening. All he wanted was for his brother to feel better.

"My Prince, why did you remove him from his room in the first place?"

"I didn't, he left." Isis put her hands on her hips, looking at the older prince as if she did not believe him.

"I find that a bit impossible since he is too small to reach the door handle." Atem sighed.

"I don't care if you don't believe me; I just want you to make him feel better!" Isis held out her arms and Atem gave Heba to her. The High Priestess lay the baby prince on her bed and felt his forehead.

"His temperature has risen a bit." Atem bit his lip from worry.

"What do we do?"

"First, we relax; this worry is not going to help Heba get any better any faster." Hearing this, Atem took in a deep breath and tried to calm down. "Good, now go get me a bowl of water along with a damp cloth." Atem nodded and did as he was told. He came back with a small clay bowl and a small cloth soaking in it. Isis took the cloth and dabbed Heba's forehead with it.

"Isn't there some kind of medicine you can give him?" Isis shook her head.

"No, Atem. I just gave him some herbs earlier today. They could take a while to start their effect; you just have to be patient."

"What if Heba doesn't have time for me to be patient?"

"Have faith, Atem." After that, Atem said no more. He just let Isis do her job and watched over the baby. He ran his fingers through Heba's hair and smiled at him.

"… Ti-ti …?"

"Yeah, I'm right here, Heba …" Heba's red face formed a smile. The small baby reached up and held his brother's hand.

"… My Ti-ti …" Atem lied down on the bed next to his brother and began to rub his cheek.

"My Heba …"

---

The next morning, Atem was rudely awakened from a nice, peaceful sleep when he felt something, quite large, flop down on his stomach, admitting an 'oomph!' sound from him. "Hey, what the--?!" When he looked up, he saw Heba, smiling and sitting on his stomach.

"Ti-ti!" Atem sat up, causing Heba to slide off of him, down to the bed.

"Heba, are you okay?" Heba giggled and clapped his hands together. Atem checked his brother's temperature, and it seemed to be fine right now.

"I guess that medicine that Isis gave you worked after all." Heba smiled and sniffled. That surprised the older a bit, but he guessed it was just what was left over from Heba's illness.

"Ti-ti pay!"

"Heba, you still need to take it easy, why don't we go play in your room?" It was just when he said this that he realized that they were still in Isis' room. Heba jumped up from the bed and waddled over to the door, jumping up and down like a dog begging to go outside.

"It's so good to have you back, Squirt!" Heba continued to jump up and down.

"Pay, pay!"

"Okay, okay, we'll go play." Atem opened the door and Heba waddled out of the room. His tiny feet moved very fast as he made his way down to his own room. Atem was so glad that his brother was no longer sick, but he knew it would not be too long before then next one. He also knew that no matter how sick Heba became, he would always look out for his little brother.