Princess: Hhhheeeerrrreee'sssss JOHNNY!... I mean Princess... Oh my God... chapter 8... Is this real life?

Pie: Uh-huh, it is real life. AND I gave Shadow a new body!

Shadow the Cat: It's gonna be really hard to get rid of me.

Princess: Oh God...

Pie: Don't worry, I made it so she could only appear twice per chapter. Whaddya think Shadow?

Shadow the Cat: You're not gonna be able to catch me in that trap... Oh for the love of crap.

Pie: Yep. That's the last time Shadow will be able to appear in this chapter!

Princess: I love you so much.

Pie: *Duke Devlin voice* Yah, I know.

Atem POV

8 Hours 23 Minutes

Life is hard. Death is easy. But being in between is the worst kind of torture. I know that I'm going back to that place in... eight hours and twenty-two minutes. And knowing that it won't be enough... makes me feel like crap.

Nothing is ever enough.

It just makes me wanna punch a baby seal in the face. (A/N okay... random...)

It's just not fair.

But the world isn't ruled by fairness.

I learned that when my girlfriend from Egypt broke up with me.

Her name was Akenia (A/N just made that up right now XD) and I was head over heels for her.

The galaxy revolved around her, I made sure of that.

Her long, curly, light brown hair always fell perfectly on her hips, her tan eyes like the sand itself. Her sun kissed skin, it all used to be the thing I always wanted, the thing I compared all other women to.

And then Yugi came into the picture, and all feelings for her were immediately lost.

When Akenia broke up with me, she said that there was too much of a difference. In everything.

I put on an emotionless mask, and watched as she walked out the doors. But as soon as she was out of sight, I broke down.

My family had weird ways of trying to make me feel better. I specifically remember my older, eighteen-year-old – and two years my senior - sister Baset saying to me, months after Akenia broke up with me, "Ya know Ahhtemieee? She had a very man-like ass."

I always hated how she would pronounce that. (A/N I can totally relate! I have about, ah, three trillion nicknames, all pronounced as stupidly as possible just to annoy the everloving crap outta me)

I gave Baset my death glare, but, of course, the one person who I actually want to bow down and worship me is completely immune to my glares. Why Ra? Why?

I let out a short laugh, wondering who I would have been if I had never had Baset's unwavering love.

I mean, I hate her for putting me through seventeen years of torture, but she's my sister, I love her, I'd die for her in a heartbeat.

Ha, I guess I did.

"Now what?" Kaiba snapped me from my thoughts, Joey still cupped in his chest.

Yugi looked at me, and from the position he was in, he had to look up at me, the hurtful thing was, in the position he was in, he looked like a slapped puppy.

"Can we go back to the Game Shop? Maybe we could have a good game of Duel Monsters or something." he asked, and I smiled encouragingly down at him.

"I would like that a lot." I happily stated, and Marik started driving again. A new song started on the CD.

You're so good to me, baby, baby... I wanna lock you up in my closet, when no one's around. I wanna put you're hand in my pocket, because you're allowed. I wanna drive you into the corner, and kiss you without a sound. I wanna stay this way forever, I'll say it loud. Now you're in, and you can't get out! You make me so HOT make me wanna DROP you're so ridiculous, I can barely stop. I can hardly BREATHE YOU MAKE ME WANNA SCREAM! You're so fabulous, you're so good to me, baby, baby! You're so good to me, baby baby. I can make you feel all better, just take it in. I can show you all the places, you've never been. And I can make you say everything, that you've never said. And I will let you do anything, again and again. Now you're in, and you can't get out. You make me so HOT make me wanna DROP you're so ridiculous, I can barely stop. I can hardly BREATHE YOU MAKE ME WANNA SCREAM! You're so fabulous, you're so good to me, baby, baby! You're so good to me, baby baby. Kiss me gently. Always, I know. Hold me, love me, don't ever go... YOU MAKE ME SO HOT make me wanna drop YOU'RE SO RIDICULOUS, I CAN BARELY STOP I CAN HARDLY BREATH YOU MAKE ME WANNA SCREAM you're so fabulous, you're so GOOD to ME. You make me so hot, make me wanna drop you're so ridiculous, I can barely STOP I can hardly BREATHE you make me wanna SCREAM you're so good to ME. Baby baby you're so good to me, baby baby, you're so good. (A/N lot to read there, ah champ? Hot by Avril Lavigne)

I blushed cherry red at the song; I could see it in the mirror.

Yugi probed my eyes, in the process, probing my soul.

I can barely take this anymore! Why does he torture me so? And then I noticed the car pull to a halt, and we were there. Marik turned the car off, and the silence was deafening, now that there was no longer the constant purr of the engine to protect me from the quiet that welcomed new threats.

"Here we are," Kaiba said nonchalantly, opening the door and stepping out, Joey in toe.

Yugi opened the door, then clutched me tighter.

He wanted me to carry him into the shop.

So I did.

And as Marik pushed open the door, Gramps damn near had a heart attack.

"... Yami...?"

Nanu POV

8 Hours 16 Minutes

He's thinking about Akenia.

She was a sweetheart, but the problem was she wasn't Atemu's sweetheart.

She ended up marrying a peasant's son, and they lived happily ever after with three children.

This boy is Atemu's 'peasant's son'.

But what they don't understand is you can't have a Happily Ever After without potholes that seemed more like the face of the moon. But once you got into that bowl-like hole, and put in a whole lot of elbow grease and a whole lot of love, it becomes that small pothole that you can hop over in a fluid movement.

That's all it takes.

But it's harder than it seems. Knowing you love the person is only lowering yourself down the crest, and the both of them are already lost.

Yugi POV

8 Hours 16 Minutes

"Yeah it's me," Yami responded to Grampa's inquiry. "Long story short, I'll be on Earth for..." he checked his watch, "eight more hours and only my friends can see me."

Grampa wasn't new to the whole Egyptian magical-whatever thing, so he really didn't have a problem with this.

"OK," he mumbled, going back to work putting up Black Luster Soldier posters.

"Let's go," I whispered to Yami, my hand snaking into his. "Hey, can you guys pick us up when we call?" I didn't even turn to look at them, I just said it.

"Ahkay," Marik answered, ushering Joey and Kaiba out. "See ya soon,"

I led Yami up the stairs to the room he had passed through night after countless night, comforting me after a particularly hard battle.

I looked around the room with brand new eyes (A/N Paramore reference FTW), seeing where I sat one terrible night, crying my eyes out.

Yami had come over to me from across the room; he was translucent, I couldn't feel him at all, but I could hold him if I ever wanted to. But he was still the most calming thing in the world to me. He'd put his hand on my shoulder, staring into my eyes.

"Yugi," he'd said in that confident voice I wished I owned, "don't think what you're thinking. We did an amazing job out there today. Don't let what that retard get you down." that had immediately cheered me, for the reason I don't know.

I sat down on my bed, thinking again about all the crap we'd been through together, never leaving each other's minds.

Yami sat down on the floor, looking around my room. I could see it in his eyes, he was reminiscing about the times here too.

Yami looked into my eyes, and I knew then that no matter how many layers I put on, his ruby eyes will always see right though me.

That's the last thing I remember before I drifted off to sleep.

Princess: I know, it's a really sucky way to cut hours off of this fanfic, but I don't want to look back at this on chapter 32 and think, 'oh for the love of crap. I could've cut down on this so easily.'

Pie: Yeah... and there will be some invasion of privacy in the next chapter! ;D

Princess: And stuff...

Pie: WITH PONIES! If you're wondering why me and Princess do that, it's because of YGOTAS.

Princess: *nodding* Episode 51: The Death Of Tristan Taylor. "You will enter a world of unending pain and torment! And uhh, ponies." So whenever anyone says 'and stuff' we say 'with ponies'.

Pie & Princess: And that's where that came from. And stuff. WITH PONIES. *start laughing their sexy asses off*