"Mana? What are you doing here?"
Mana jumped, and whirled around to look for who had called out to her, alarmed that someone had recognized her while she was in disguise. She was relieved when she saw that it was only Atem, but then felt mildly annoyed.
"Hey! Don't sneak up on me! And don't call me by name, can't you see I'm in costume right now? It's 'Black Magician Girl'. I'm just lucky no one else is around to overhear…"
"Oh. Right. Sorry," Atem said. He shrugged. "Secret identities seem like a waste of time when you have to be constantly worrying about someone finding out who you are."
"You only say that because it'd be pointless for you because of your hair. Everybody'd recognize you anyway."
"Well, I suppose that is one reason. But you never answered my question – what are you doing here?"
"Tracking some petty criminal," Mana scowled. "I'm not a big name hero like you, I don't get to go after the big bad guys. Maybe I should be the one asking why you're here – don't you have an evil organization to take down or something? Petty criminals are a little below your league."
Atem frowned.
"It takes time, M…sorry. I just meant…well, I started small too when I first started. In fact, if you're tracking who I think you are – I've dealt with him in the past plenty of times. Haga, right?"
"Yeah," Mana said. Well, if Atem had dealt with this guy before, then at least she didn't feel so bad about it.
"I thought so. You might not be on such a small case, after all."
"What do you mean?"
"I'm tracking him too. This isn't his usual pattern – something's up. I suspect that he may have gotten involved with DOMA…"
"Really? Awesome! I get to help you take down an evil organization!" Mana fist-pumped the air, and nearly laughed at Atem's befuddled expression.
"It's…not really something to celebrate…"
"This could be my big break, though!"
"It's dangerous! I'd really rather not involve you or anyone else in this…"
"I can take care of myself!" Mana said, pouting.
"I know that, but going up against a powerful evil organization is about the opposite of 'taking care of yourself'."
"Then why are you doing it?"
"Because I don't take care of myself?"
"Well, maybe you should! And stop bothering about me just doing what you and Mahaado have been doing all this time," Mana huffed.
"I know it must be frustrating for you since you're younger than us and developed your powers only recently, but Mahaado and I have just been doing this longer. We have more experience, we're more accustomed to the risk. You'll learn too with time, you'll have your chance…"
"You keep treating me like a child! You're only a few years older than me, you…"
Mana was cut off as the ground rocked as the sounds of an explosion resonated in the air.
"Shit!" Atem said, taking off running in the direction of the explosion. Mana pulled herself together and quickly flew after him. They reached the site together, the remains of the building still burning, but not much left of it besides. And the perpetrator long gone.
"We're too late…damn it!" Atem said. He closed his eyes, concentrating. "At least, if my sense is correct, there wasn't anyone in there…but why did DOMA want this place destroyed…?"
"I…I'm sorry. If I hadn't been arguing with you, you could have stopped him. I'm…I…I just want to be a hero like you. But I can't…I'll never be a hero, I'm just playing at it."
"Mana…" Atem put his hand on her shoulder. "You are a hero. You've already helped a lot of people – small acts are no less important."
"But I'm not like you! People ask me all the time what it's like to be friends with great heroes but no one even knows about 'Black Magician Girl'! I'm nobody! I might help someone here and there – but you save the world! You're a great hero!"
"I'm not a great hero. I'm no hero at all, really," Atem said softly.
"What are you talking about?" Mana scoffed. "Of course you are. It comes so easily to you, you help people without even trying!"
"I'm…not. Trust me…you are far more of a hero compared with how I was when I first got my powers."
"Again, what are you talking about? I remember when you first started being a superhero! You were all flashy and dramatic about how you were gonna avenge Seto even though he wasn't even dead or even all that injured…hey, what's wrong? You usually smile at that…"
"That wasn't…when I first used my powers. I'd had them for several months…nearly a year before that."
"I didn't know about that," Mana said, thinking back. "But you must not have gone out crime-fighting then, I would have remembered."
"No…because I had a secret identity."
"No way! You? I thought you thought secret identities were stupid. How did you hide that hair? And what was it?"
"We shouldn't stay here. We should start heading home."
"Okay," Mana said, and they set off away from the destruction. "But you didn't answer my questions."
"My hair isn't that bad, you know. I can wear hats and stuff over it."
"Okay, fine," Mana said, sticking her tongue out at him. "But what was your secret identity? Come on, you can tell me."
"…I'm not proud of it."
"It can't be worse than Seto's."
"I don't mean that the name was embarrassing. I mean that…I am not proud of what I did. As I said…I am not a hero."
"What do you mean?" Mana tilted her head in confusion as they walked. She couldn't imagine what he meant by that. "Would I have heard of you?"
"Most definitely…that's why I'm afraid to tell you. You'd hate me, and have good reason to."
"No, I wouldn't. I wouldn't hate you no matter what. You can tell me."
"At that time…I was called the Nameless Pharaoh." He did not look her in the eyes.
"What?!" Mana couldn't believe it. Of course she had heard of that, such a controversial figure had been well known, but to think that was Atem… "the…the one that drove people insane? The one that…"
"…broke nearly every rule of conduct for superheroes, except "do not harm innocents"? The one that thought he had the right to be judge, jury, and executioner of every damn criminal in this city? The one that drove a rift in the superhero community, the one that nearly turned the city against us all? Yes. I did that. I told you…I'm not a hero. What I'm doing now…isn't heroism, it's atonement."
"I don't believe you," Mana declared confidently. Still, there was sincerity in his voice…it was obvious that guilt weighed on him heavily.
"I wouldn't lie to you about this. Eventually I realized that my righteous crusade was anything but. And that's when I decided that I would never again take on a secret identity – so that I would always be held accountable for my actions."
"Well…then you did the right thing, right? You're not like that anymore. So you're a hero," Mana said.
"It's not that simple, Mana. I still did those things. And though I have refused to use those powers since then, I…I still could. If something…ever happened to you…I…"
"Then I won't let anything happen to me. Problem solved. You don't have to worry about anything like that."
"Mana, while I admire your optimism…"
"Nothing's gonna happen to me. And even if something did, I think you'd be fine. I trust you. You're not a bad person. And there's been plenty of people that did way worse things than you, and they're heroes now too – so it's silly for you to say that you aren't one too. I've seen the good you've done for everyone."
Atem stopped and turned to her. Finally, he smiled softly.
"Mana…thank you."
Mana smiled back.