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This is the story of two lost souls. One who had everything, yet thought he had nothing. And one who began with nothing and was meant to have nothing. Fate can be very tricky sometimes. Someone once said 'Something good can always come out of something bad'. That's the way things work for the one who had nothing. Fate can seem confusing at times as well. But no matter what fate has in store for us, it is always unexpected …

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Atem Darkling was a young man at the age of twenty – five. For being as young as he was, he made a great deal amount of money as a Game Designer for Nintendo. He came up with ideas and illustrated the characters for the games' stories. Because he made so much money, he worked at home most of the time. Other times, he had to go down to Nintendo Headquarters to drop off his latest ideas. That was what he had to do today … and he was not in a good mood. It was a very rainy day. It had rained showers all day, and now those showers had turned to thunderstorms. Atem had driven his car to the office just like he always did. But today was a deadline day and Atem had gotten there very late. His boss told him that if it happened again, he would be fired. As if that wasn't enough, he parked in a 'No Parking' zone; so his car was towed. That meant he had to walk in the thunderstorm. Not to mention that he had just gotten a phone call from the police station, telling him that his oldest brother, Marik was in jail again for reasons he didn't even want to know. He knew his younger brother, Bakura would bail Marik out just like his always did, do Atem didn't think too much of it. No, today was not a good day for the Darkling Clan.

Atem wrapped his arms around himself. His overcoat didn't have a hood attached to it to protect him from the rain, so he had to find some other ways to get warm. Thunder rolled loudly past him. It sounded really close. He shivered, mostly being soaked to the bone. "Luck is just not on my side today …" He said to himself as he continued to walk. When he stopped at a cross walk, a speeding car raced past him, spraying a deep puddle of water all over him. Atem yelled to the heavens as loud as he could. "Could today possibly get any worse, I HATE MY LIFE!"

Suddenly, there was a high pitched screaming noise. Atem looked around, but he saw no one. His wet hair emitted droplets as his head moved from left to right. "Where is that noise coming from?" He listened carefully. It sounded as if the noise was coming from the ally right behind him. Atem ran down the ally and noticed a trail of blood on the ground. It had turned a pink color due to the rain. But it was still thick enough to give off the scent of blood. Suddenly, the screaming cry became louder. Atem carefully walked down the rest of the ally until he came to a dead end. He still heard the scream. It sounded like a baby crying. He tossed a few boxes out of the way until he found the source of the sound. When he did, he gasped out loud. "A baby!" Not only was the crying coming from an infant, but the infant had a full head of fuzz that looked like it was growing in the same tri – colored way his was. The child had five yellow bangs right alone his hair line and some fuzz growing out of his head that was tipped with the color magenta. The child was even smaller then Atem's lower arm. He looked as if he were suffering as well. He was extremely blue, wrapped in nothing but soggy newspaper. He kept taking in short breaths like he was choking. Atem looked around he couldn't find anyone who looked like parents that had just lost a child. But as he took a closer look, he could tell that the way the child's placenta wasn't attached and how he was wrapped in newspaper, that the child had been abandoned. "Oh no, what do I do!" Atem asked himself. The child screamed even more, trying to get his point across that he needed help. Atem bent down and took the tiny infant into his arms with the soggy newspaper wrapped around him. "Don't worry, I'll help you!" Atem ran as fast as he could to the nearest doctor's office or hospital. Unfortunately, the nearest hospital was five blocks away. Atem feared that the child would die by the time he reached the hospital. He looked down at the tiny bundle in his arms. The child looked to be dead, but Atem wouldn't take that chance. He ran even faster.

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St. John's Mercy Emergency Room was unusually quiet tonight. Usually, they would be packed with patients. But not today. One nurse sighed just as the automatic doors flew open with a man carrying something in his arms. Both the man and the bundle were soaking wet and dripping all over the place. The nurse gave them a glare. "No running in the hospital, please." She said. Atem panted.

"This is an emergency!" The nurse took one look at the unhealthy, tiny baby in Atem's arms and immediately called for assistance to the front desk. Before Atem could even form a single thought, he was surrounded by surgeons and nurses who grabbed the child from Atem's arms and started doing tests on him and wheeled him down the hall. Atem wanted to follow, but the nurse behind the desk grabbed his arm.

"Sir, you need to fill out these papers so we can reach you if your son needs you." Atem stared at her when she said the word 'son'.

" … He … he's not … my son …" The nurse cocked her head.

"Then how …?"

"I found him in an ally … but I will pay to have this child examined and helped." The young game maker took the clip board offered to him and filled out the paperwork. There were questions such as his name, address, phone number, and insurance. There was one blank space for the patient's name. Atem was stumped; the baby probably didn't even have a name … at least not yet. Hours passed before he finished the paperwork. After about four hours, he didn't even try to finish the paperwork. He just sat there, crewing on the pen he'd been using, thinking of how terrible that baby looked. Suddenly, someone called his name.

"Mr. … Darkling?" Atem stood up with the clip board in his hand. He and the doctor shook hands before the conversation of the child began.

"How is he, Doctor?" The doctor sighed. The two started to slowly walk down the hall.

"Well, only time will tell us."

"What do you mean?"

"Mr. Darkling, I understand that you said this child wasn't your son?" Atem nodded.

"Yes, that's correct."

"Well, did you know that this child is three months premature?" Ruby eyes widened. He couldn't believe it.

"Three months!"

"Yes," The doctor looked at the clip board that he had taken from Atem, "It says here that you found him in an ally … wrapped in newspaper?" Atem nodded again.

"Is he sick?"

"More like dying …"

"What!"

"We're trying to stabilize him as well as we can. He couldn't have been more then an hour old before you found him."

"Why was he so blue?"

"He was freezing. It seems that this baby was forced to be born. Not only that, but a bit of brain damage has been done to him. He has bruises all over him and his underdeveloped lungs are very tight, trying to keep him breathing. It's my theory that the mother of this child both smoked and drank while she was pregnant with him." Atem looked away with wide eyes and a hand over his mouth. "Also, she might have abused him physically by repeatedly beating her abdomen over and over again; we think that's where his bruises came from. Most of his organs are still underdeveloped so we put him in incubator and hooked him up to a respirator because of his weak breathing."

"That's terrible!"

"Yes, I know. You said the baby was wrapped in newspaper?"

"Yes, which is why I'm sure the parents meant to abandon their baby. They wanted him to be born, yet didn't want to take care of him." The Doctor nodded.

"I believe you are right." Atem swallowed the lump in his throat, causing his Adam's apple to quiver a little.

"What are his chances?" The Doctor closed his eyes and looked away.

"Ten percent." A gasp came from the ruby eyed young man.

"Can't you do something to increase his chances?"

"Mr. Darkling, we're doing everything we can; all we can do is treat him. The rest is up to his abilities." Atem took in a deep breath to calm his nerves and nodded.

"Can I see him?" The doctor was about to protest, but the look in Atem's eyes was very desperate.

"Sure."

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In a special nursery, the tiny baby lay on his back with dozens of machines hooked up to him. He was so tiny, that you could mistake him for not even being there. Atem had to wear a blue scrub gown when he entered the special nursery. "My God …" Atem whispered. He couldn't imagine someone suffering this much at the dawn of life. The baby was still a very pale blue color, but looked a little warmer then he previously had. He had to focus his eyes on his belly just to see the child's stomach rise and fall. The poor thing was wheezing even with the respirator. The child's fingers were the tiniest Atem had ever seen before. He smiled to himself, thinking that it was impossible to have bones that were that small. Every once in a while, the baby would inhale a deep breath in his sleep. Atem's eyes began to water and he couldn't stop the tears that fell down his face. The doctor had told Atem that they would perform a genetics test to see if they could find the baby's parents. But would Atem let the biological parents see their child? This child had done nothing wrong, and his parents decided he wasn't worth taking care of. How could someone do this to their child? He reached into one of the holes in the incubator and placed his finger into the tiny, soft palm of the child. What was even more adorable was when the baby wrapped his teeny, tiny fingers around Atem's own finger. He smiled to himself and made a promise that he would make sure the hospital did everything to make sure this child lived to see his first birthday. "Don't worry, Little One. I promise I'll be here for you …" He let his thumb caress the tiny fingers. His warm and fuzzy moment was interrupted when someone cleared their throat. Atem looked behind him to see the doctor filling out some papers.

"Mr. Darkling, could we ask you a favor and come up with a name for him?"

"Me?"

"Yes; we can't keep calling him 'Baby John Doe' forever. And did you want him to take on your last name for a while?" Atem's eyes never left the baby's tiny form, fighting to stay alive.

"I take it that you didn't find his parents." Once again, the doctor sighed.

"I'm sorry, but we don't have any records of anyone in his bloodline in our files." This time, it was Atem's turn to sigh.

"Yes, let him take my last name; and his first name … is Yugi." The doctor smiled.

"Okay, then … 'Yugi Darkling'." Atem smiled. And, if one were to look very, very closely, you could almost see the faintest smile on Little Baby Yugi's face.

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End of Chapter.