AN:// BIG Thanks to Riku-Chan for giving me advice and possible pointers. Thanks to the people who commented on Chapter 2! its nice to have someone notice my work :]

I'm on a role today. Posting Chapter 4 in 2 hours, halfway through it already! XD Anyways. Thankies and keep commenting, LOVE to hear opinoins and pointers. Thanks

xxx

Bleep! Bleep! Bleep! My phone bleeped angrily. God I ached all over. I sat up. I realized the scent of the room, the familiar comfort and warmth. My bedroom. What was I doing in here? I thought I was walking home with Yugi.

Wait.

YUGI! Was he alright? Was he ok? I jumped out of bed. I had no shirt on. How did I get into my bedroom and on my bed with no shirt on. I racked my brain for answers. The last thing I remembered, I arrived on our doorstep and Yugi. My phone bleeped angrily once more and I seized it. The time was eight thirty three in the morning. I must have slept all night. For once. I looked at the phone again.

Joey was calling. I pressed the accept button and put the phone to my ear.

"Hello?" I asked, as if I didn't already know who it was and why they was probably ringing me at this time in the morning. "Hey man, finally you pick up the damn phone!" Joey cried. "Well excuse me for sleeping," I snapped. "Hey chill man, hey Ryou told me about what went down after school yesterday. Thanks Man, you know if I was there I would have killed that fat son of a bitch," Joey said.

"Me too!" I heard Duke yell from the other end of the phone.

Ahh Duke, Duke Devlin. A cool guy, notorious womanizer. He pretty much took a like to every girl on the planet. Well most girls as long as they had great legs and great boobs. He dated them, most likely made out and then dumped them. Every girl I have met so far has at least made out with Duke at least once, even Tea. Black hair and wore just about anything he got his hands on with black and red diamonds on it, he even wore a black and white dice earring on his right ear, but he was a great fighter and an even better friend. Wonderful guy, perfect for helping you out, only he can be slightly annoying at times.

"Well Duke has this girl," Joey started. I rolled my eyes and sighed deeply. "What?!" Joey persisted. "Joey, I have told you. No girls, I'm off them for a while now," I said scratching my head. He laughed. "Hey Duke! Atem has gone gay!" Joey yelled in a laugh. I was gonna shout back when I heard Duke interrupt me. He was laughing heavily. "Yeah when you kiss Kiaba will be the day Atem goes gay, but if he really has tell him if he touches me in any way OTHER than a friend, I'll give his ass a royal ass-kicking!" Duke laughed. I had to laugh at that.

"Ok sure whatever, well are you coming to the Café? It's still nice to show your face once in a while man, what do you say?" Joey asked. "Alright, but I am not in the mood to be prodded about my breakup," I warned. "You got it, but bring Yugi too," He said. "I was planning to, even if you hadn't have said," I replied to him. He chuckled. "Alright Atem, I'll see you in about an hour," he said. "Yep," I replied and he put the phone down. I placed my mobile back on my bedside desk. I looked in my mirror above my desk.

It was lined with pictures of my family, that Bakura gave me, he remembers everything about my Pharaoh days and he has pictures from when he held a grudge against me about five thousand years ago. My mother, long brown hair a beautiful woman and so kind, she died when I was young. My father, previous Pharaoh before me, a kind man. He was strict but very fair. And Mana, my best friend. A beautiful girl, spiky brown hair and was my friend before I was Pharaoh.

I turned away, blinking away a tear, how I missed them so much. I have come this far, five thousand years past and it still feels as painful as yesterday as to when I left them.

When I ruled over Egypt.

Now I'm alone, all alone in the future. I blinked away another tear and it was then I noticed another picture, actually on my desk. I picked up the picture. It was one of me and Yugi. With the millennium puzzle. God I missed that nice big object hanging from my neck. I looked down on my chest and smiled. I carried the picture over to my bed where I sat down. I then placed the picture on my bed and felt the familiar small string from my neck down to the defined objects again. The smooth edges.

I looked at them both.

Wait a minute, I'm not alone. I have Yugi, and Grandpa. They are my family now and mean just as much to me. I have nearly lost Yugi so many times and sometimes I did, and I was lost without him. He meant the world to me and so did Grandpa. I smiled gently at the objects that laid flat against my chest. I'll never lose Yugi and Grandpa, I'm staying here with them, I thought. I remember when I lost Yugi, because of my own selfish acts. I was angry and lost control, I dueled, with anger and stupidity. I played the seal of Orichalcos. I lost the duel and that meant I was to lose my soul. It was a fitting price to pay for letting my darker side take control. As the seal started to swallow me, Yugi pushed me out of the way and let the seal take him instead of me.

Yugi paid the price for my stupid mistakes and couldn't live with myself for doing that. Then I managed to meet with his spirit and again I found my little friend and boy was I glad to see his spiky head. But he wanted to duel me, he played the seal, just like I did to banish him.

I won, Just.

He said that it was the only way to rid me of my darker side. And again I was alone, all alone in the huge world. I felt as low as the dirt beneath my feet. I collapsed in the dirt. From then on I fought my way into getting him back. I eventually defeated Dartz and set Yugi free. But I promised myself I would never lose Yugi again to such a selfish act. When I was released from the Puzzle. Yugi beat me in a duel to set me free. But boy was he upset to see me go. I walked through the doors.

Yugi burst into tears.

It was then that I made the biggest decision of my life. I had to choose between my familiar old life as Pharaoh in the past and I'd die many years before meeting up with Yugi, but at least I'd see all my old family, my friends. Or I had to give all that up to live with the boy who I had come to love so much. I had to choose between my new and old family and it was the biggest decision of my life. I decided however, that Egypt turned out fine without me, I mean look at it now. This boy needed me, I was his other half of his personality that he lacked and he needed me. So I decided to force myself to walk back through the light and return to the current present time. But I missed my real family so.

I looked at the photo again. Yugi and Grandpa was my life now. And speaking of Yugi, I needed to see if he was ok. I broke my trip down memory lane and put a clean shirt on. I opened my bedroom door. Then I walked downstairs and into the kitchen. "Ah my boy, you're awake finally. Thank you for helping little Yugi yesterday," Grandpa said to me. "Its fine Grandpa, where is Yugi, is he alright?" I asked. "I'm fine," Yugi said from behind me. I turned around and he was behind me.

I noticed two bruises on his arms. I was gonna kill them assholes.

"Sit down both of you, enjoy some breakfast," Grandpa said. We both sat down. Grandpa fetched the toast and orange juice. As I was eating in silence, I couldn't stop staring at those bruises on his arms. I hated myself, I could have stopped this, I felt powerless, useless, angry and empty. The most I felt was a huge amount of guilt. Would he ever forgive me for not being there sooner? God why was I so wrapped up in my stuff yesterday, I could have stopped it, I could have just walked him home, not a single scratch on him, but no. I was so selfishly wrapped up in my own problems I left him to be hurt. God I was an asshole, he'd never smile at me again, but I had to try.

Try to put things right.

"So are you boys doing anything this weekend?" Grandpa asked. Yugi looked at me. "It is such a fine day," Grandpa added. "Well how about we go upstairs and get fully dressed and then we can go and find the gang, maybe go to the arcade or café for a bite to eat?" I said with a small smile at Yugi. He smiled back, a full big smile. The one I was looking for, this cheered me up. "Okay," He said cheerily. After that smile I began to feel my warm glow come back.

That was the Yugi I knew, always cheerful and kind, the person to find good in even the most darkest of hearts. We smiled at each other before heading upstairs and getting dressed, saying goodbye to Grandpa and leaving the Game Shop. We walked up the streets towards the café. I had my hands in my pockets and we both were silent until Yugi made the effort of conversation. "Atem?" he asked. "What's up?" I asked looking at him. "I, er. Thanks for helping me yesterday," He said with a smile. I smiled back, but he saw right through me, I was still angry at myself for not being there. "No really, thanks," he said. "Its fine Yug, I'm sorry I wasn't there sooner. It's my fault if I wasn't so wrapped up in my own problems I would have been there to-" he cut me off. "Don't be so hard on yourself, seriously, I'm thankful you showed up when you did, otherwise I'd have more bruises on me now," he said with a smile.

I shook my head.

"I should have been there," I retorted. "Atem, don't say that, I'm glad you showed up, don't think any more of it, if it wasn't for you, I'd be black and blue," Yugi said with a chuckle. "If they do it again Yug, you come straight to me. If they ever say anything to you, tell me and I'll skin them alive," I spat angrily. "Ok, I promise. But now we're meeting friends so calm down," he said calmly. I nodded and smiled at him. "Thank you Yugi. I promise, when we get home. I need to talk to you, tell you something," I said. The least I could do was to tell him how I felt, tell him I was ready to kick anyone's ass if they picked on him. I needed to give him the feeling of security. I owed him that twice more now. He smiled and nodded. We crossed the road and walked into the café. I calmed down.

"Hey there you are!" Joey cried from a table in the Café. "I'll get the drinks," Yugi said. "You sure?" I asked."Yeah, I'll be back in a moment," He said and left my side. I watched him approach the counter and order our drinks. I walked over to Joey. At the table sat Tea, Tristan, Joey, Ryou, Bakura and Duke. The boys all smiled as I approached the table and sat next to Duke. Tea frowned and turned away, I ignored her gestures. "So about this girl," Joey started. I frowned as bad as Tea did. "Joey I said no girls," I replied. "Listen man, she's got great legs and is really easy going," Joey started to describe her. Tea tuned in and frowned even more. Not that it had anything to do with her. "You need to get over Tea man," Joey started. That pushed my wrong button, I stood up, well more like jumped up.

"Oh so, yesterday I'm harsh and now I need to get over it, listen. I don't go through girls like I do milkshakes thank you very much," I snapped. "Yeah right," Tea replied with a sniff. "You can shut up as well," I snapped harshly. She looked surprised, then she sniffed, crossed her arms and turned her head once again. "Calm down Atem, let's change the subject," Ryou started. Joey raised both his hands. "You know what man, whatever, forget it," he said. "I agree with Ryou, this is not the time nor place to be arguing," Tristan added.

Bakura nodded.

So I chilled and returned to my seat. Yugi wandered over. "Here, you need to relax," Yugi said with a smile. I forced one back, after all he didn't do anything. "Thanks," I replied and began sipping at the cold chocolate milkshake with ice-cream inside. For the next hour they chatted and I paid no attention to anything they said. "So Atem what do you think?" Tristan asked. Everyone looked at me. I looked for help, but nothing. "What?" I asked eventually. My fingers wound tightly round a half full milkshake glass, on Ryou's money this time, god I wished they'd let me buy my own drinks.

"What's with you today man?" Joey asked. "Yeah, why you so wound up for Pharaoh?" Bakura insisted. Ryou put his hand on Bakura's shoulder for him to let it go and he then smiled at me. "Just let us in, so we can help you," Ryou said gently. I was outnumbered. Even Yugi stared at me as if he didn't know who I was and that hurt. Joey shrugged. "He's way to tense today," Joey said. "No m'not," I replied defensively. "Calm down already," Tea soothed. Which annoyed me, she was half the reason I was annoyed in the first place, Stupid girl.

"Yeah relax," Ryou soothed gently. "Dude, chill out," Duke said with a smile. Duke knew what I was feeling, he often broke up, only he usually found another girl to make out with by the day was done so he wasn't annoyed for long. "Yeah chill already," Joey added. Tea sneered at me. "Hmm, he needs to chill out and get a life," she said, how dare she say that we wasn't together and she still bossed me around. I hated being put into a corner. I wigged out. "Stop telling me how to live my fucking life!" I yelled at her. My tightly gripped milkshake glass shattered in my hands, the milkshake streamed down my fingers. It was cold but it was then that the reality of what I had just done hit me. I was just as shocked as everyone else, I didn't mean to blow my top like that, I just lost control.

Shock overcome my face. I fidgeted as the tiny shattered pieces of glass spiked into my fingers like needles.

"I, I am. I'm sorry I, I didn't mean to, I'm just gonna go," I stuttered. I had to go, they'd hate me for this. Even Yugi, he'd hate me for being horrible to his friends, I couldn't take him hating me. I got up and ran as fast as I could out of the café. Yugi got up and followed after me. I needed to go somewhere, somewhere to be alone.

A place where I wouldn't be disturbed. I knew exactly where to go and even though I heard protesting cries from Yugi behind me, I just kept on running. I had to get to that place, I needed some time to chill out and I knew exactly where to go and I intended on getting there immediately…