Oh my...how long has it been? It's been over a decade since I've posted any fanfics. Honestly, I deleted almost all of my old stories because I don't even recognize any of them or the writing in them. But I've had ideas off and on for years. I've decided to post the first chapter to this story and see what kind of response it generates.

Usual disclaimers apply. I don't have any ownership of the Yu-Gi-Oh franchise, nor any other brands that might pop up in this story.

Let's get to it, then!

Yugi was helping out in the Kame Game Shop when he got the call. As much as he and all of his friends wanted to spend all of their time at the hospital, they couldn't put a halt on their lives while they waited. The shop still had customers and business that needed tending to, and Solomon wasn't getting any younger, despite the fact that he seemed to have more energy than the group combined some days.

After helping a young boy pick out a series of booster packs to buy, he picked up the ringing phone of the shop. "Hello, Kame Game Shop." He said in his best business voice.

"YUGI!" The voice of Mokuba Kaiba exclaimed on the other end. "HE'S AWAKE!"

For just a moment, Yugi felt his breath stop. "He is…?! When?!"

"Just now! I'm calling everyone else! Get down here now!" Mokuba exclaimed before hanging up.

Yugi started rushing around the store when Solomon walked into the room. "Goodness, Yugi, what's all of the comotion…?"

Yugi didn't stop moving as he rushed around the room. "He's awake, Grandpa, and I gotta get down to the hospital, YAMI GET DOWNSTAIRS! WE NEED TO GET TO THE HOSPITAL! I already called a taxi, where's my wallet?!" he fired off each statement before he flicked the sign on the door to 'CLOSED' and rushed out the door.

Solomon stood in the wake of the boy's rush, a very relieved and tired smile on his face. They'd waited so long…

IIIIIIIIII

Yugi, Yami, Serenity, Tea, Tristan, Duke, Mokuba, and Ryo had all dropped everything immediately to rush to their friend's side, sitting in the visiting room, waiting for clearance from the nurses. Bakura didn't have anything better to do, and came at Ryo's insistence. "Might as well. Going to a coma ward; I can't think of a better way to pep up a slow day." he'd said.

"For god's sake, why is it taking so long?!" Tristan exclaimed, his knee nervously bouncing in his seat.

"The nurses have to take him off the medicine they used to make sure he didn't freak out when they realized he was waking up." Mokuba explained. "How'd you like to wake up with a catheter and half a dozen monitors hooked up to you?"

"Besides," Ryo said with a very light chuckle. "It's been three months, I think we can wait a few more minutes."

Before anyone could say anything more, a woman in a floral set of nurse's scrubs came into the room. "Who here is the party for Joseph Wheeler?" She asked, looking at her clipboard.

The entire group stood up.

"Oh my." She silently counted the group. "I'm afraid I can only take three people back at a time. There's only so much space in the room." She explained.

"Yugi, Serenity, Mokuba, you should all go." Yami said.

"What? Yami, I want you to be there when we see him too!" Yugi exclaimed, his large purple eyes looking saddened.

Yami just smiled gently. "I'll be in right after you. Go already."

Yugi quietly huffed, but he nodded. "Alright. Let's go."

The three of them walked down the hall quickly, trying their best not to break out into a run and all came into the room they all knew very well.

Joey Wheeler was laid back in a hospital bed, dozens of "Get Well" cards in the room, and Red Eyes merchandise for when he woke up. He seemed so much thinner and less healthy, but then that's what sitting in a bed for three months will do to a person. He looked up at the door and his expression broke into a wide grin.

"Hey, Yug! For a sec I was thinkin you were another nurse come to stick somethin in me!" He joked.

Serenity and Yugi both had tears in their eyes and immediately hugged their friend. "JOEY!" they exclaimed together.

Mokuba hurried around to the other side of the bed and clung to the boy's other side.

"ACK!" Joey coughed. "Alright! Alright! I'm happy to see you guys too!" He said with a laugh.

"God, Joey, you have no idea," Serenity had to stifle a sob, "No idea how happy we are! What did the nurses tell you?"

Once his friends let him move again, Joey scratched his head. "Well, I've been in a coma for three months and I was in an accident. Fuckin' sucks, but your big bro's a lot tougher than he looks!" He jabbed a thumb at himself and grinned crookedly at Serenity. It just made her cry and hug her brother again.

"We've been visiting you in shifts." Yugi explained. "We never really knew if you could hear us, but we always hoped."

Joey shrugged. "I don't remember much of anything now. I don't even remember the accident." He said casually. "And who is this guy right here?!" He exclaimed happily, looking at Mokuba. "You got so much bigger than I remember!"

The young teen blushed and scratched his head, embarrassed. "Sorry that my brother couldn't be here, Joey, but he happened to be in the middle of a merger meeting, so his phone was silenced. I'm positive as soon as he can he'll come bursting through the door to see you!"

Joey scoffed a bit. "Wow, even ol' Moneybags came to see me? Shit, I must've been in even worse shape than I thought if he's come down from his glorious ivory tower to see a mere mortal like me." He laughed, but then he realized that nobody else was laughing.

Serenity had stiffened and looked up at her brother. Yugi stared at him like he'd grown a second head and Mokuba slowly covered his mouth like he'd realized something horrible.

"What?" Joey asked them all, looking very confused. "Why the hell are you guys looking at me like I'm dying again?"

"Joey," Yugi asked carefully, "What year is it?"

Joey blinked, not seeming to understand the purpose of the question. "It's 2003, duh. Though if I've been out of it for three months, I guess that means it's May by now?"

All tree of his friends looked at each other silently.

"For God's sake, will someone please tell me what is going on?!" Joey asked desperately.

Mokuba didn't answer and immediately left the room.

"Joey, it's January of 2005." Serenity answered.

Joey's eyes just about fell out of his head. "WHAT?!" he exclaimed. "You said I was just out for three months!"

Yugi put a hand on his chin thoughtfully. "I guess when you were in the accident, you must have lost some of your memories. What's the last major event you remember happening, Joey?" the smaller teen asked urgently.

Joey scratched his head "Battle City just ended. You trounced that stuck-up asshole, Kaiba, and got all three of the God Cards!"

"Well, yeah, that happened, but…" Yugi trailed off.

"It was two years ago." Joey said. "Wow." He sat back in his bed and looked completely stunned.

"There's...there's a LOT that we need to get you up to date with, big bro." Serenity said. "But...right now, let's just enjoy the fact that you aren't in a coma anymore! Can you move around? The doctor said you might have some brain damage after being in a coma for so long."

Joey wiggled his legs around. "Yeah, I can feel my legs and my arms, but they kinda don't wanna move." He laughed. "Guess they got used to being on vacation."

He made his sister and best friend laugh, but underneath it all, there was a growing sense of dread regarding Joey and his lost memories.

IIIIIIIIII

Just as Mokuba had predicted, Seto had stormed out of the office the second he received word that Joey was awake, threatening to fire every single employee that knew before him and didn't stop the meeting immediately. He ordered his driver to get to the hospital, even if he had to break every law of the road to get there.

He practically clawed through the doors of the building as if he owned the place, wearing a black trench coat with a deep red high-collared shirt underneath and his black slacks. Mokuba met him at the elevator. "Big Bro!" He exclaimed, hugging him.

"Is it true, Mokuba?" Seto said in a quiet voice. "Is he awake?"

"Seto, you can't go in there right now!" Mokuba exclaimed.

"Like hell I can't!" He exclaimed, grabbing Mokuba's shoulder and trying to urge him to move, but the younger teen stood fast.

"Listen, Seto, Joey's memory isn't all there right now." He tried to say.

"I don't care." Seto growled, walking past him. "I've waited too long; I need to see him!"

"He called you 'Moneybags!'" Mokuba exclaimed.

Seto stopped in his tracks. "What…?" He hadn't heard that nickname in a very, very long time.

Mokuba shook his head like he didn't believe it himself. "He called you 'Moneybags,' and then said something about you coming down from your ivory tower to see him, a mere mortal."

Seto's right hand reflexively went to his left and fiddled with one of the rings he was wearing. "He hasn't said something like that about me since…" he trailed off.

Mokuba nodded. "Since Battle City. When you two acted like you hated each other." He let out a heavy sigh.

Seto felt faint. He stumbled over to one of the chairs in the hall by the elevators, ignoring the concerned glances of other people coming and going.

His hands were shaking and his eyes were stinging like he might cry at any moment. He looked at his left hand. More specifically, the ring on his ring finger. It was black metal, polished so perfectly he could see his reflection in it. A diamond sat in the center, with two beautiful rubies on either side of it. He'd had it custom made 3 months ago, before the accident.

"So what you're saying is," Seto said in a dead voice, "That my fiance hates me."

Mokuba came up and hugged his brother. "Seto, I am so so sorry. I don't know what in the world I can do to make any of this better."

Seto gently brought his arms up to hug his brother and let out a shaky sigh, closing his eyes. Despite the CEO's attempts to hide how distraught he was, his mouth pulled into a deep frown against his will and he felt a tear escape his eye. He inhaled again and let out a shuddering breath. It felt like the world was starting to collapse all around him. He hadn't felt this way since the day of the accident when he saw Joey in the ICU for the first time on a respirator.

Mokuba sat down next to him, studying his expression. Seto slowly tented his fingers over his mouth and stared intensely at nothing in particular, like he was thinking very very hard about a unique problem he'd never encountered before. "What are we gonna do?" Mokuba couldn't help but wonder.

Seto didn't say anything for a while before he let out a huff through his nose.

"It will be fine." He said, though the way he said it, it seemed like he was trying to convince himself more than say it to Mokuba. "He's still my fiance, even if he doesn't remember. I remember everything about these last two years." He looked at the ring again. "I got my puppy to fall in love with me once." Seto very lightly smiled as he felt more tears coming on. "I just have to do it again." He had a very determined fire in his eye and nodded, standing up.

"Seto?" Mokuba looked up at his brother.

"I just need to act like I did two years ago, right?" Kaiba asked, adjusting his outfit. "Then let's go see that dumb mutt that got himself run over." He said it in the same icy tone he usually reserved for scolding his employees, but Mokuba saw him fiddling with his ring as he said it.

This was going to be a long uphill battle, but everyone hoped that it would all be worth it.

Author's Notes: I have no idea when the timeline of the second series is supposed to take place, but the Battle City arc ended in February of 2003 in Japan's airing, so I made that the final period Joey could remember for this story.

Also, yes, I shall be using the Dub names. The reason is, I grew up with the dub. It might have its problems, but I can never think of the characters names as their Japanese names because of that. I didn't start watching the subbed anime until 5D's.