Author's Note: This story is a sort of holiday special that I'm writing and the first one I do. I didn't mean to have it so soon after Because of Your Ka, but since I delayed that story a bit too much, I gave this one five days so I could finish working on it and alos work on chapter 2. Since this is just a holiday special, I'm not sure about the genre so I'm just putting Family/Humor. There won't be heavy humor as I'm not that good but hopefully something light. Finally, I'm don't entirely like the story title, so I might change it, if I think of something better, or I might leave it be.

Yu-Gi-Oh! Desert Frost-Time
Chapter 1: Snow in the Desert?

Atem sat on his throne, deeply in thoughts. It was a hot morning day in Egypt, and the sun beat mercilessly down on the palace just as much as it did on the town around it. The young pharaoh currently had nothing to do because of the situation caused by the heat. The sun was killing off all the farm crops around Egypt and the Nile ran at an all time low, leaving the kingdom in a dangerous drought. Thus there had been a crash of trades and the economy was in the dumps. While he wished to check things out for himself, the priests had decided to do so themselves, leaving him with nothing to do until they had fully analyzed the situation. Atem shifted uncomfortably on the throne. It was soooo boring. Little did he know what was about to unfold. As he sat trying to find interest in the patterns decorating the walls, the doors suddenly burst open and in ran Mana chased by an angry chicken that was trying to peck at her heels. Atem stared in shock, blinking to make sure he wasn't seeing things.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry!" Mana cried as she ran.

"What in the name of Slifer…" Said Atem. Before he could ask what was going on, Mana leapt at him, placing her arms around his neck and pulling her legs up over the side of the throne. The chicken stopped before the throne, hopping mad and making a ruckus.

"Uh…hi." Said Mana blushing, as she seemed to notice the young pharaoh for the first time. Atem looked her straight in the eyes.

"Do I even want to know?"

"Um, maybe not." Mana smiled nervously. "But it was an accident!"

"What was?" Atem asked but was interrupted by the squawking fowl at his feet. He looked down at it. "Oh no…" He said noticing something around its neck. A medallion that looked very familiar. Despite everything, Atem found a smile tugging at his mouth. "Seto?"

"Bawk-awk!"

"I swear it was an accident!" Said Mana. Atem tried to look sternly at her, but the mirth in his eyes gave him away.

"Can you change him back?" He asked.

"I think so." Mana replied as she made her spell book appear out of thin air.

"Then please do it before he lays an egg on my rug."

"Squawk!" Came the indignant remark from the fowl. Mana muttered an incantation from her book and before their eyes appeared Seto. The priest looked furious to say the least. He grabbed Mana by the scruff of her shirt and lifted her in the air.

"What goes on in your head? Do you have nothing in there?" Seto yelled. "Every time you do something stupid and cause problems! You never learn and you're more trouble than your worth!" Atem frowned. Yes, he understood Seto's anger, but there was no need to be rude and he was quickly going too far. Mana looked terrified and on the verge of tears.

"Seto, that's enough." Came Atem's stern voice.

"But sire…" Seto cut himself off as he saw the unwavering resolve in the pharaoh's face. "Yes your majesty." He said putting the girl down. Immediately the pharaoh's face softened.

"Careful Seto." Atem warned cheerfully and a bit absentmindedly. "You never know; someday she may become Princess of Egypt." Seto raised an eyebrow at his ruler as Mana turned her head away to hide her blush. Atem, however, didn't seem to realize the implication of his words. Seto bowed and walked out. As he left, the young pharaoh turned to his best friend.

"What happened?" Though Atem's voice was demanding, it was also gentle and supporting.

"I was walking along the corridors, practicing my magic and Seto accidently got affected when I bumped into him." Atem tried to keep a straight face, but soon he was pressing his lips together and before long he was snickering, just barely containing himself. This was a relief to Mana and she smiled a little.

"Seriously, transfiguration?" He asked. Mana nodded embarrassed. Atem shook his head.

"What are we going to do with you?" While everyone tolerated Mana and liked her, few had the patience to put up with her. Of those who served the palace, only her teacher Mahad, who Atem thought must have patience to spare for the whole kingdom, could ever truly put up with her. Aside from him, it was only Atem himself. He loved being around Mana; she made everything fun and there was never a dull moment with her. Even if he had a chance, he'd long since decided that he wouldn't change anything in her.

"Um, Pharaoh?" Came Mana's voice, interrupting his thoughts. Atem looked up curiously. "I, um… I was going to the market and, uh, I thought… well, would, would you like to… to come with me?" Atem smiled.

"Of course. I have to see how the people are doing anyway." Yes that was true given the current situation with the economy. But even if there wasn't that problem, he'd still go if she asked.

Atem and Mana walked silently through the bazaar, looking at each shop they passed. Most were barren with scarcely any items and many of the stands were shoddily erected as if set up in a hurry.

"Wow. Things are pretty bad." Thought Atem. "The priests haven't been telling me nearly half of what's been going on." As they continued on, Atem was so deep in his thoughts, he didn't notice Mana had halted.

"Oh!" Said Mana as Atem accidently walked into her. She had stopped before a stand offering a collection of necklaces, and was staring intently at one in particular with great interest.

"Sorry." Atem said.

"That's okay." Mana said waving it off kindly before turning to look at the necklace. He followed her gaze to see that she was admiring a golden necklace with a ruby in the center. Atem looked up when he heard Mana sigh and saw her begin to walk away.

"Wait!" He called. Mana stopped and turned to look at him. "If you like it so much, buy it." His friend smiled at him, sadly.

"I can't afford it." Atem stopped in his tracks.

"Gee, the crash of trades was really worse than I thought." He thought to himself. "Not even Mana, who gets paid as palace magician, can afford something?"

The rest of their stay in the bazaar was uneventful. They'd examined more shops, none of which were in any better condition than the first few they'd seen, and that only served to worry Atem even more about the economy of his kingdom. The two friends returned to the palace when it was around midday and the sun was at its peak, making it impossible to stay out. At first they had sought shelter inside the palace, but the air was so stuffy that it made it hard to breathe. So at that point they had retreated to one of the courtyards and taken cover under a plum tree. They sat on the dead and slightly burnt grass, both sweating up a swimming pool. It would of course get a bit cooler at night; maybe a nice breeze would come in and refresh them a little. Right now though, Atem felt as if the heat was getting to him. He couldn't concentrate and it felt as if it was only a matter of time before he could cook breakfast on his forehead.

"I wish it was colder already!" Atem all but shouted as he wiped the sweat from his brows. "Seriously, this is getting ridiculous, everything is going to dry up soon!"

"Pharaoh…" Began Mana.

"I'm just not sure whether we'll all starve or dehydrate to death." Atem continued ranting.

"I can make it colder." It was whispered so low that Atem almost missed it. He turned to Mana to make sure he wasn't mistaken.

"What?" He asked.

"I can make it colder. I can make it snow." Mana replied tentatively.

"You can?" Atem asked in surprise. He had heard about snow, yet he'd never seen it before. He knew it was possible, but never in his memory had there ever been snow in Egypt.

"Yes, it's not too difficult." Atem noticed that there was a nervous edge to her voice. She still remembered the events from earlier that day. Atem took her hand, hoping to restore her confidence in herself.

"Mana if you can do it, please go ahead. Egypt needs a reprieve, badly." She looked into his eyes and saw the begging desperation in them. He honestly didn't know what more he could do. Slowly she nodded.

"Alright." Mana said. Atem smiled, stepping back and watching her pull out her spell book. She flipped through the pages until she found the correct spell and began to read aloud. As Mana read the incantation, the air started to become rather chilly and gray clouds started to close in around the sky. Soon it was cold enough that Atem let out an involuntary shiver.

"Brr." He said.

"There! It's done." Mana announced.

"Did it work?"

"I think so." As they looked up to the sky, a small white something, landed on the pharaoh's nose. As it did, it instantly turned to water.

"Frozen water?" Asked Atem. Mana grinned happily.

"Snow!" She said jumping happily, joyful that it had worked. It was indeed snowing and it was picking up. In a manner of minutes, the ground was all white and it just kept piling as time went by. Mana cheerfully skipped around the garden as Atem looked around bewildered, taking in the changing sight.

"It's snowing. In the Egyptian desert. During the summer heat." Atem muttered to himself, almost laughing. He was so preoccupied that he didn't hear the new footsteps or see Mana stop mid-skip, when she heard who it was.

"Uh-oh." Mana turned and her smile faded. Atem followed her gaze to see Mahad and Seto walking out of the palace. Seto gaped and Mahad froze, eye twitching. The magician immediately knew exactly who was responsible for this.

"MANA!"