The uncrowned queen

Just a slight backward glance of Scorned Lady's epilogue

"Pharoah, I have a favour to ask you." Timeous stated, "Now that Mana is freed and the black reptile destroyed, she cannot live in the dominion of the beasts anymore. Will you be so kind as to take her in and take care of her?"

"Of course, Timeous" Yami responded...

Yami looked down at Mana and thought: 'I don't know what happened between us that might have caused you to dislike me or my people, but know this, Mana, I will do my utmost best to become your friend again and discover what caused your anger back then. I will also find out why it hurt my heart so much when I saw you on that tablet in my vision and why I feel envious every time when you look at others and barely spare me a glance. I won't rest until I have found the answers I am looking for.'

…"we will send you and the Pharaoh back to ancient Egypt and allow you to change the timeline with the knowledge you have gained while you were a statuette in the spirit world instead of just letting the Pharaoh relive his memories." Ra explained

"I can go and save all of them?" Mana asked…

"What's the catch?" Mana asked suspiciously…

"You are, as always, very astute, Mana." Obelisk answered the ex-magician apprentice. "Ifyou are able to complete this "mission" successfully, you are to come back here, to this era and live life until the day you die. In other words, after saving your ancient companions, you are to leave them behind and come back here and live here. Also, you won't be able to commit suicide, as then we will let everything you worked for go to waste."

"Definitely a great sacrifice." Mana muttered to herself, looking down.

"Now, daughter, you aren't forced to do this, only if you want to." Slifer reminded the girl with a supportive smile.

"When do we start?" Mana asked…

Now, on with the story

Prologue

As the sun shone down merrily, we re-join our friends where they were enjoying a well-deserved vacation over at Mr. and Mrs. Pearson's caravan park.

Joey, Tristan, and Duke were still sleeping, when their slumber was interrupted in the worst way possible: Rebecca and Teá banging metal pans and ladles together.

"What's the big deal, girls?" Joey grumbled.

"All you ever do is eat and sleep." Teá answered with a knowing smile.

"Don't you understand the term 'vacation'?" Tristan asked. "If not, let me explain it to you: a vacation means eating, sleeping, playing and doing whatever you want to do, whenever and however you want to.

"I agree with Tristan." Duke muttered, covering his eyes with one of his hands. "Go do your blasted shopping without us. As far as I remember, we aren't your pack animals, so in other words, if you want someone to carry your bags, ask some of the idiot boys on jet-ski's down by the lake."

"Morning, boys," Mai greeted, entering the boys' caravan, "Is Yugi here? I wanted to ask him if he might know where Mana has disappeared to."

"No, it looks like he has pulled a disappearing act as well. I hate it when he does that." Tristan answered, pulling out fresh clothes for the day and shuffled to the makeshift bathroom.

"Morning, Mai." Joey greeted his girlfriend, pecking her on the cheek as he came out of the aforementioned bathroom. "Why are you looking for Mana so early in the morning? Did she have a nightmare again?" he asked quietly, so that the others couldn't hear what they were talking about.

"I think so." Mai confirmed. Mai, who has been sharing a cottage with Mana while Teá was sharing another one with Rebecca, has confided with Joey that Mana was constantly plagued with nightmares. "She's been having nightmares ever since we arrived, but last night's nightmare must have been worse than the previous ones. I thought that she might feel better if she talked to someone about it."

"Well, Yugi left earlier for a morning walk." Joey said aloud before whispering to her so that the other girls couldn't hear, "He said something about walking along the shore of the lake."

"Maybe Mana went to the lake." Mai said out loud, winking at Joey who gave her a sly grin. "I'll go there and look for her."

"No, don't worry, Mai." Rebecca interrupted her enthusiastically, "I'll go. Maybe my Yugi is down there too." and started walking towards the lake.

"Not without me, squirt." Teá said enviously, "And as far as I remember, Yugi isn't yours."

The two girls continued bickering as they walked down the path towards the lake, completely missing Mai and the boys' grins.

"You're the best girlfriend one could ever ask for." Joey said, giving Mai a loving hug.

"My pleasure." Mai responded before addressing the rest of the boys, "Tristan, Duke, you two are responsible for lunch and dinner as well as last night's dishes which you two o-so-conveniently have forgotten. I'll advise you to get started, because by the time you smarty-pants are done with the dishes, it'll be time for lunch." gaining a groan from the two boys.

"Meanwhile," Mai continued, "I still need to find Mana." and turned to walk away before calling over her shoulder, "Do you want to help me, Joey? Or do you want to be boycotted into helping the others."

"Oh no, I am not going to fall for that trick a second time." Joey answered and jogged up to his girlfriend, ignoring the boys' protests and pleas.

Meanwhile

With Yugi and Yami

Yugi was taking a nice stroll down to the lake, taking in the surroundings and listening to the bird's morning song. Upon reaching the lake, he lazily stretched himself out and mused to himself: "Finally, some peace and quiet for a change."

Yami, having appeared next to him said, "We needed this."

"Yes, we did." Yugi confirmed, turning his face towards his friend. Upon seeing the Pharaoh's thoughtful gaze, he asked: "Is something on your mind?"

"As a matter of fact, yes, Yugi." Yami answered while staring over the lake. "It seems that every time we restore peace to the world, a greater evil is waiting for us. Another thing that has been bugging me is that Mana has been avoiding me like the plague. With the others, and even with you, she is her normal self, but whenever she feels my presence or I am in control and try to approach her, she makes herself scarce."

"Yeah, I know what you mean about our challenges. Each time they just grow tougher and tougher. But look on the bright side, each battle we fight together, brings us closer to the secrets of your past. Maybe that is why Mana has been avoiding you as well. If that vision and dream you told me about of the events during and after her sacrifice are true, it might be that she knows what happened and is not at liberty to tell you yet." Yugi said in an effort to cheer his friend up.

"It might also be that she is still angry at me for something that happened in the past. Or did you forget what she yelled at Dartz when we were fighting leviathan?" Yami contradicted.

Flashback

"…BECAUSE OF YOUR REPTILE AND THOSE BLOODY EGYPTIANS, I WAS FORCED TO GIVE UP THE PLACE I CALLED HOME 5000 YEARS AGO!" Mana shouted with rage, shocking everyone apart from the Atlantian knights, especially Yami.

End Flashback

Yugi stayed silent for a moment, trying to find an answer that might eaze his friend from all of the questions that has been hounding the poor ruler ever since they met, but before he could say anything he was cut off.

"There he is!" Yugi heard Rebecca shout.

Turning around, Yugi and Yami saw Rebecca and Teá walking down the path.

"I was worried about you Teá admonished Yugi sternly.

Rebecca ran ahead, fully intent on giving her "boyfriend" a hug but came to an adrupt halt. Yugi had lit up and when the light faded away, Mana stood in his place.

"Looks like my power is finally returning." Mana said with a cheerful grin.

"What have you done?" Rebecca demanded. "Where has my Yugi gone?"

"I am sorry but I haven't seen him since last night." Mana said with a straight face before explaining, "I was simply practicing my magic by performing simple spells. Sending all of Dartz's captives back to their respective times and wiping their memories of the event was very taxing. So, each day I come here and try to perform simple apprentice spells to see whether my magic is strengthening, and as you can see, I was finally able to perform a spell successfully."

"I understand." Teá answered, "But do you know where he might have gone?" she asked.

"Try the gaming shop at the park's entrance. I would reckon the King of Games would have gone there to see what duelling cards they have." Mana advised.

"Thank you, Mana." Teá replied. "Do you want to continue practicing or do you want to come with us?" she asked.

"You guys go on ahead." Mana answered, "I want to see if I can perform a few more spells before it's time for lunch.

"Alright, Mana, see you later." Teá answered. Turning around, she saw that Rebecca had sneaked off and had already gained some distance.

"That brat. Can't she just leave the poor guy alone?" Teá muttered before running off to catch up with Rebecca.

Mana waited for a while before calling out loudly: "Alright, Yugi, you can come out now. It's safe."

Less than two metres from Mana, a head peeked from behind a tree. Stumbling up to Mana Yugi's questions tied his tongue, "What the-? How the-? Why?"

Laughing, Mana said: "Deep breaths, Yugi. And I guess you want to know what happened?"

Still tongue-tied, Yugi only nodded, not even aware of Yami appearing next to him in spirit form, equally stunned.

"Force of habit, I guess." Mana answered. Upon seeing Yugi's frown, she decided to explain. "I saw that fangirl-fear look in your eyes when the girls found you and I acted out of instinct and swapped the places where we were standing. Fangirls really are a nightmare, aren't they?"

"And how." Yugi groaned with sagging shoulders.

"Well, if it's of any consolation," Mana said with a bell-like laugh, "the Pharaoh had exactly the same problem."

"Really?" Yugi asked, his eyes big growing even wider. Yami, who Yugi had noticed standing next to him, eyes grew as well.

"Uh-huh," Mana confirmed, "In fact, he had it even worse than you. Each noble or princess who showed up at the palace did their utmost best to become the new queen of Egypt."

"Really, now?" Yugi asked amused, silently turning his eyes to his royal friend, who was steadily growing a pink glow on his cheeks.

"Oh no, please!" Yami whispered with an embarrassed look on his face.

"That's right, and he always came to me, so that I could help him escape. In fact, he came to me so often that I could barely focus on anything else. So, I threatened him." Mana said with a mischievous smile.

"What did you do?" Yugi asked, bursting from curiosity. Sneaking a glance to the Pharaoh, he almost burst out laughing when he saw the red shade of Yami's face.

"I told him directly, that, if he was going to pester me again because he couldn't say 'no' and run to me for help, I wasn't going to be held responsible for my actions." She said with reminiscence. "And it worked too, until this certain princess showed up. Apparently, at first glance, princess Becca decided that the Pharaoh was hers. And no matter how the Pharaoh tried to tell her he wasn't interested, she wouldn't relent. And so, he came to me again."

"What did you do?" Yugi asked, bursting with curiosity.

"I wasn't in a good mood that day. But he was desperate. He was actually so desperate that he said I could even turn him into a cat if that meant that I would help him."

"What did you do then?" Yugi asked eagerly, sparing a glance to Yami, who was already cherry-red.

Mana looked at Yugi as if it was the most obvious answer imaginable and said, "He asked me to turn him into a cat, so I did."

Yugi, who was barely able to keep his laughter, looked at Yami, who, by now was tamato-red, and couldn't keep his laughter in anymore: "BWA-HA-HA-HA! Did you really do that?"

"Uh-huh. But don't worry, I kept him closeby to make sure he is safe. In fact, I think I made a sketching of him." She said and waved her wand. In her hand appeared a book, which she opened and showed Yugi.

Yugi took a single look at it and burst out laughing again. "You didn't tell me you turned him into a kitten!"

"Yugi!" Yami said, red with embarrassment, taking a glance at the picture.

"Ok! Ok! Joke's over, but did it work? Did the princess leave him alone from then on out? Did he marry someone else?" Yugi huffed out, trying to regain his breath.

"Yes, it did." Mana confirmed. "The Pharaoh was thankful, but my teacher wasn't pleased with what I did at all. Things started to go downhill from then on. Princess Becca was the last suitor I saw before I left the palace to fight that worm. I am not sure whether he ever married, though. I was unconscious in the dominion of the beasts for quite a while after my sacrifice. "

After a moment's silence, Yugi decided to distract both the Pharaoh and Mana, who were both caught in their own thoughts, by suggesting them to go back to the campsite.

Just as they entered the campsite, they saw a KC helicopter landing at the heli-pad. Instantly, Yugi knew that, whatever events which were sure to come in the near future, he and Yami were somehow involved and their newest adventure has already begun.