Big thanks to HermioneSakuraGardner07 for beta reading this story and for being a great help!

I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh

The Art Of Getting By

Hush, little baby, don't say a word,
Papa's gonna buy you a mockingbird.

If that mockingbird won't sing,
Papa's gonna buy you a diamond ring.

If that diamond ring turns brass,
Papa's gonna buy you a looking glass.

If that looking glass gets broke,
Papa's gonna buy you a billy goat.

If that billy goat won't pull,
Papa's gonna buy you a cart and bull.

If that cart and bull turn over,
Papa's gonna buy you a dog named Rover.

If that dog named Rover won't bark,
Papa's gonna buy you a horse and cart.

If that horse and cart fall down,
You'll still be the prettiest girl in town...

Breathe.

Blue eyes followed black clothed men through the house, one of them pressed her against the fridge, her back against his chest. His rough hand was clamped over her mouth, her eyes wide open as she held her breath. She gave up struggling a while ago since he was way too strong for her.

Breathe in.

"ANZU!"

Breathe.

The brown haired girl bravely lifted her head up as high as possible to where her mothers voice sounded from. "Mommy?" she whispered quietly, frightened, as her voice became muffled by the hand clamped over her mouth. She dared to look up, saw the door on the other side off the hallway. She heard footsteps. A heartbeat that wasn't hers was thumping in her ears.

Breathe Out.

They ambled down the staircase..the kitchen..There must have been at least six of them.

They had her daddy with them and her mom shut away, she heard them crying and screaming behind doors.

Anzu whimpered again quietly as the large hand above her mouth pressed harder, signalling his annoyance.

"Hush little girl" the monster whispered in her ear. She stiffened but he held her even closer. She didn't know how for how long the terror went on already, it was just too dark and the air was too thick and she was just too tired to fight anything.

The blinds were closed, shielding the whole house away from the outside world.

There has been rummaging a while ago, upstairs, and words were exchanged between the men, something Anzu couldn't understand due to their accent.

Then suddenly, she opened her eyes without even knowing that she had closed them.

It was quiet now. And the man who held her down before was gone. She was alone on the cold hard ground. She pushed herself up from the floor, tumbling a little. She had a bad headache.

Tears welled up in her eyes immediately as she whimpered in the darkness. Trying to find the door in the darkness.

"Mommy?"

She wondered if everything was only a dream.

But the peace and quiet only lingered for so long. Suddenly, Anzu heard her mother screaming again from upstairs.

„Anzu!" for a second she poked her head through the half open door, the men however shut it quickly and her screaming increased, only muffled by the door between living room and kitchen, making Anzu shrink in the arms of the foreign men. „Let my daughter go!" her mother screamed, then there was a crack, like a head slammed against something hard and the house went quiet again.

Anzu closed her eyes and began shaking, trembling from terror. Then, suddenly, the men from upstairs came running down and talked in harsh voices.

Anzu froze in her spot as tears flowed freely. Then, cold hard eyes met hers.

XxX

Anzu didn't remember much of that night. Only little fragments like the shadowed faces of the men, their voices shushing her, their sound of footsteps on the wooden floor, where she learned walking not more than three years ago. Where she fell down so many times and cried of headache.

And the heartbeat. She would never forget that heartbeat and the sound of pulsating blood, running through the veins of her kidnapper. A cruel man who was now living with a bunch of money, whereas her parents were never found. The house was empty at the end of the night. And Anzu had been all alone, unconsicious.

She was found by on of her neighbours and brought to the hospital right away.

She didn't know how the days passed in hospital. Every morining she woke up silently, pain killers and other pills that kept her from screaming and running pulsated in her blood. It kept her still. She didn't speak and she wouldn't eat and her little body soon was close to the edge. But they managed to coddle her up again and again.

Not once did she ask for her parents.

Sometimes she would turn on the TV. The nurses let her watch a few shows on children channel, but she switched them from time to time to other channels only to find pictures shown in the news of her parents and her home. The snow white's house she would never see again. She just wished her parents would come back soon and get her back home.

A half year later she was taken to a house where letters were printed above the front door. 'Game shop' it mean or so she was told. They also told her that an old couple lived here with their grandson who lost his parents when he was a baby. They would care for her now.

xXx

"Hey Anzu, look what I made." Atem announced proudly and lifted Anzu in his arms so that she was tall enough to see what was build on the kitchen table. Atem was way bigger than her, and she always felt so small next to him. Even in her kindergarten group she was the smallest. But since her parents were missing no one ever dared to tease her again.

It was like the world around Anzu was enchanted, but not in the fairy dust way, rather like a blanket that lay above everything and dulling all sounds and senses.

On the table stood a giant house of cards, and Anzu drew in a quick breath of fascination when she saw it.

"It looks like a castle for princesses." she said mesmerized and pulled out her hand to touch it.

"Don't" Atem warned, suddenly pulling her hand back, "if you touch it, it will break. It's a house of cards, you know? It can break very easy."

"Oh" Anzu whispered and her blue eyes grew even wider with amazement as she stared at the castle of cards for a while longer. In the meantime, Atem went upstairs to call his grandpa and show him what he had created.

But Anzu accidentally took in a breath too deep and when she let it out, the cards flew around her head and finally settled down on the floor in a mess.

Immediately she bent down and began to pick them up and rebuild it so that Atem wouldn't be angry with her.

But she wasn't able to fix it.