Here is the next chapter! But first, I'd like to thank my lovely reviewers!
kate
dr-fanmai-lover
Aqua girl 007
Enjoy!
Chapter 2 Summary: Ten years later, Mana is officially a magician! Everything is going great...until Atem and Anzu have an unexpected surprise. Mana's life goes downhill as she becomes a "second rate daughter". When Jono and Yami come over to visit Mana, all three get another unexpected surprise when the newly appointed Thief King happily crashes the party.
Ten Years Later...
Fifteen year old Mana sat by the fountain outside the palace gates, her head in hers hands. Yesterday had been the worst day ever. Jono and Yami decided to visit her the next day.
"Maaaaanaaaaa!" Jono called.
"Miss Laaaadyyyy!" Yami also called, using Mana's nickname.
Mana barely looked up.
"Good morning, Mana!" Jono said cheerfully. "It's a bright and fresh day for-"
Mana slowly raised her head, and the seventeen year old boys saw a tear-streaked face under a mess of sandy brown hair.
"Mana, what's wrong?" Yami asked, concerned. "You were just announced elite spellcaster yesterday."
"It's not that." Mana whispered.
"Tell us, Mana. If someone's been mistreating ya..." Jono cracked his knuckles.
"No, no, it's nothing like that, Jono. It's something I've done, I guess." Mana sighed.
Jono and Yami looked at each other in surprise.
"You, Mana? It couldn't be." Yami told her.
"It has to be." Mana replied, getting a little frustrated. "Mother and Father are acting so-"
Humming could be heard when Queen Anzu came out from the palace gates. She had a jar on her head, and she began her short journey towards the Nile. She stopped to rub her stomach absentmindedly, and she walked towards the fountain.
Jono and Yami grabbed one of Mana's hands, and hurried away to a more private area: the courtyard. They sat on the grass, surrounded by exotic plants and another fountain, only smaller.
"Now, get on with the details." Jono told her.
"Well," Mana began. "The weirdness started a month ago, but it wasn't really noticeable until yesterday..."
Flashback
Mana hurried out from Mahado's sacred sanctuary, her ten year old scepter clutched in her hand. Her face was shining with happiness.
"Woohoo! I did it!" she shouted, jumping in the air while running.
Mahado had just appointed her from apprentice to elite spellcaster. Her ten years of training paid off at last. Mana decided to share the news with her mother first. Mana spent an hour a day practicing with her Anzu, and she always tested Mana and helped her memorize spells and master magic with her. She couldn't have achieved the elite status without her mother.
Mana ran inside the palace gates, heading towards the bedroom quarters. She saw Atem hurrying along too.
"Hey, Dad! You'll never guess what happened!" Mana cried, trying to catch up with her father.
"Not now, Mana." Atem told her firmly, an unknown look in his eyes.
Mana looked at him confused. She shrugged, figuring that he had a tiring day. She picked up speed and got in front of her father.
"I have some exciting news!" she began. "Mahado just appointed me-"
Atem walked right past Mana and into the bedroom, ignoring her.
"Anzu! Are you alright?" Atem called to his queen.
"Well of course I am. Why wouldn't I be?" Anzu replied, lying in bed.
Atem shut the door in Mana's face. She was taken aback, but he sounded concerned. What was wrong with her mother? Worried, Mana ran into her own room that was built four years ago. It had a conjoining door to her parents' room, so she hurried to her own large room.
Along the way, Mana listened to their conversation.
"Well, I just can't help worrying." Atem explained. "After all, in your condition, alone here all day, practicing magic with that girl!"
Mana had opened the conjoining door when her adopted father said those words. She stood there in complete shock.
End of Flashback
"That girl?" Jono cried, shocked.
"That girl?" Yami repeated, just as surprised.
"He's never called me such an insulting title before." Mana sighed.
Uncle Atem, you stupid idiot. Yami thought to himself.
"Mana, don't worry your hard head about it." Jono said, half-teasing.
"So not funny." Mana said from her hands.
"Anyways," Jono continued. "Your father is human too. He has emotions."
"And hormones!" Yami chimed in.
"Shut up." Jono snapped. He then turned his attention back to Mana. "I mean, not every person in this world is going to be happy every day."
"That's right, Lady." Yami replied. "As my grandfather Aknamkanon used to say, uhhhh, something about the great circle of life-"
"Well," Jono interrupted. "Yami isn't the brightest orange in the basket, so I wouldn't be paying attention to him."
"But I have the Millennium Puzzle Uncle Atem gave to me last year." Yami smirked, holding up the puzzle.
"Too bad you have no idea how to use your jigsaw puzzle." Jono snickered.
"It's the Millennium Puzzle. There's a difference." Yami told him.
"Kind of like the difference between my good looks and yours?" Jono asked.
"No, more like the difference between the number of my girlfriends I've had and the number of girlfriends you haven't." Yami retorted.
"Well, uh, well, you're short." Jono mumbled.
Mana rubbed her temples, and Jono and Yami immediately turned their attention back to her.
"So, it was just Pharaoh Atem, right?" Jono asked.
"No...my mother too." Mana replied.
Flashback
Mana came in her mother's room three hours after the incident with her father. Anzu was sitting in a chair, sewing what looked like a small tunic. It was royal blue and purple.
"Mom! Since I've been appointed elite spellcaster, I need to practice more! Can you help me for an hour?" Mana asked, looking forward to their daily training.
"Not today." Anzu said quickly, never looking up from her sewing.
"Oh..." Mana said, looking towards the ground.
Another idea popped up into her head.
"How about a walk down the Nile? We used to do that when I was younger. It'll be relaxing." Mana suggested.
"No."
"But mother-"
"I said no!" Anzu snapped, irritated.
Mana winced slightly. Then, she spotted a tiny turban sitting on Anzu and Atem's bed. It wasn't finished, since the material was still connected to the clothing, but Mana didn't see it.
"Whoa! This is cool!" Mana smiled, picking up the turban.
The soft cloth began to unravel.
"Mana! Put that down!" Anzu told her fiercely.
Mana didn't hear her, and the turban continued to unravel. "This looks like-"
A loud smack could be heard around the room. Anzu had gotten up and slapped Mana across the face. Shocked, Mana dropped the almost completely unraveled turban.
"Leave immediately!" Anzu shouted.
With tears threatening to fall, Mana ran out, looking down in shame.
End of Flashback
"It didn't really hurt, but mother has never struck me before." Mana finished.
At that moment, Jono and Yami looked at each other knowingly.
"Don't take it so seriously." Jono told her.
"This is a time in the lives of humans where...the stork flies?" Yami looked at Jono.
"What he's trying to say is that Pharaoh and his queen are having a baby." Jono informed Mana.
"A baby? But, why? I'm their child." Mana said, a little hurt.
During that conversation, the nineteen year old thief Bakura was walking around the outside gates of the palace. He's not known as a thief in the palace area, but he is in suburban areas, especially where guards are heavy. When Bakura came across the courtyard, he peeked inside in interest.
"Uncle Atem needs a male to inherit the throne after he is no longer king." Yami explained. "If he didn't have a son, I would become pharaoh. I don't want that. I like my life as it is."
Bakura plopped down at the entrance and continued to listen in, finding their discussion amusing.
"But...why are they acting so hostile towards me?" Mana asked.
"That's just what happens when the females have their hormones-" Jono began, but Yami covered his mouth.
"They get emotional." Yami finished for Jono.
"And," Jono shoved Yami's hand out of his face. "Having a sibling won't be so bad. I have a little sister, Shizuka. She has long moved away, but when she was a baby, she was so sweet and soft, a big bundle of joy."
Bakura couldn't help but laugh, and the attention of the three friends were fixated on the intruder.
"They're a big bundle of trouble." Bakura corrected Jono.
"What?" Jono growled.
"They're annoying, loud when they need their cloths changed, greedy for milk, and obnoxious when they want toys." Bakura listed. "But hey, any person can take that shit. That's not the problem. The problem is what they do to your household."
Bakura got up and walked over to the guys and Mana. He sat down next to Mana, forcing Jono to give up his place.
"They're home wreckers, that's what they are." he continued to Mana.
"Hey!" Jono shouted, getting in Bakura's face. "Who the hell do you think you are barging in here? How dare you talk to the pharaoh's daughter like that?"
"I, Bakura, am the voice of experience, junior." Bakura replied, smirking. He faced Mana once again, eyeing her scepter. "But you're adopted, right?"
Mana looked down.
"Just wait until that baby gets here, kid. You'll get the urge to practice your magic..." Bakura said.
Mana imagined herself in her room with her trusty scepter, casting spells.
"Then," Bakura continued. "Your mother will say "Put that scepter down! You'll bewitch the baby"!" he said in a high-pitched falsetto.
Mana looked up in surprise while Jono rolled his eyes. Yami was rather intrigued.
"You'll start laughing at the poofy blond guy making an idiot of himself out the window," Bakura went on, pointing at Jono.
"It's Jono, you scoundrel." Jono snarled.
Mana imagined herself looking outside at Jono attempting to belly dance...which he tried to do before. They all knew how well that turned out.
"Then she'll say "Stop that racket! You'll wake the baby"!" Bakura said in the same falsetto.
Jono scowled at Bakura while Yami stifled a laugh.
"Then, the pharaoh and his queen will kick you out of the palace and make you live in a hut like Poofy." Bakura continued.
"It's Jono, you fleabag!" Jono snapped. "And I live in a decent home! You probably live in a garbage dump!"
Bakura shook off the insult with a laugh and continued his conversation with Mana.
"Then, you'll remember those decadent dinners in the pharaoh's dining hall with figs, fish, wheat bread, and all sorts of things, but you'll be stuck with the baby eating leftover breast milk."
Mana's face went beet red and Jono was ready to punch Bakura's lights out.
"And that nice bed you have in your room, all cozy and nice...will be replaced with a futon with no blanket."
Mana looked completely scared now. "Oh dear..." she murmured.
Jono plopped next to Mana, blocking Bakura's view of her.
"Now you listen here, Bakura! Out of all the people in the world, the pharaoh and his queen would never be that cruel to anyone, adopted or not!" Jono shouted.
"Besides, Lady." Yami continued. "A king as noble as Uncle Atem is one we can trust with all we have."
Bakura busted with laughter, rolling around.
"I can't believe you all fell for that trick."
"You're the trick." Yami muttered.
Jono cracked his knuckles for the second time that day and stood up. Bakura stood up as well, chuckling.
"We have no need for tramps and their radical ideas. Off with you before you get a good ass-kicking from me!"
"Okay, Mary-Sue." Bakura sniggered.
"It's Jono! Now get out!" Jono shouted.
"Okay, okay, okay!" Bakura smiled.
He faced Mana one last time before leaving. "But remember this, Charmy," he said, giving her that name because "charm" relates to magic. "All humans have only so much room for love and affection. When the youngest child moves in, the oldest moves out."
That struck a major nerve inside Mana as Bakura walked away.
Atem and Anzu were standing in front of their ancient calendar a month later, trying to predict when their baby will arrive. By then, Anzu's stomach was pudgy, and she was rubbing it affectionately.
"Well, I have no idea what day our child will be born, but I know it will be in the spring month. April, as they say in the English speaking countries." Atem was telling his wife.
"That's wonderful." Anzu replied.
"There isn't a way to tell what gender the baby is, is there?" Atem asked.
"Our nephew Yami and priestess Aishizu said that their Millennium Items predicted a boy."
"Oh yes, I forgot the Millennium Puzzle and Necklace could hold answers to the future as well as the past." Atem said, sighing in relief.
Mana looked on from her parent's bed, sighing in sadness. They haven't said a single word to her in three days.
Maybe Bakura was right. Mana thought to herself. I'm being replaced by a baby that's not even born yet...
Three Months Later...
Mana woke up in the middle of the nigh to a noise. It was January, and the winds outside were picking up. She heard the door to her parents' room open and close. Curious, Mana crept outside her bedroom and saw Atem with is royal robe on. That meant that he was leaving the palace.
"Are you sure you want corn?" Atem called back to his pregnant wife.
"Yeah! And some pomegranates!" Anzu replied.
"Pomegranates?" Atem repeated, confused. "Alright then."
He headed out, and Mana followed him. When the guards opened the palace gates, a gust of wind raised the sand. Atem covered his eyes as he headed out on horseback. Unfortunately, the sand got in Mana's face, and she looked like Santa Claus...
Two Months Later...
Anzu was now eight months pregnant. Nobles from all over Africa came to visit the pharaoh and his wife, including the pharaoh's sacred priests. Mana walked around the royal court to the women's side to see what was going on.
"Queen Anzu, you look more radiant than ever!" the wife of a priest in Ethiopia complimented.
The women showered Anzu in gifts, and Mana shuddered from all the sweet talk. All they were doing was kissing up to her mother so they could have Atem in their beds that night.
She walked over to the men's side and observed from sort of a distance. They were drunk, laughing and joking around.
"Hey, pharaoh! I've never seen you look so worse!" one noble was saying.
It was true. Atem's hair was frizzed and unkempt.
"Yeah, and you haven't experience real fatherhood yet!" another added.
The laughter grew louder, and Mana walked away, insulted. Did they not know about her?
One month later...
On an April night, Mana was jolted out of her sleep from a cry. It was coming from Atem and Anzu's room! She hopped out of bed and ran inside their room. A doctor and a midwife were standing next to Anzu's bed. That could mean only one thing. Anzu was having her baby!
"Mother!" Mana cried.
"Stay back." the doctor instructed Mana. "Go get the pharaoh. His wife just had a son."
Mana took a peek at her new brother and nodded, heading out to find her father. She found him talking urgently with a messenger to announce the birth of his child.
"Father!" Mana cried.
Atem looked towards his daughter. "What do we have?"
"We have a baby boy," Mana began. "He has blond, black, and magenta hair like you and crimson eyes."
Atem's eyes brightened as he gave the messenger this information. Mana had never seen him so happy.
Why wasn't he nearly this happy when I was appointed an elite spellcaster? Mana wondered, sighing to herself. Well, at least I have a little brother.
Several weeks went by, and in May, it was Mana's birthday. Officially sixteen, Mana was allowed to marry. Atem had told her when she was younger that she could marry whoever she wanted. However, Mana wasn't ready to marry. One, she hasn't met the right guy. And also, she didn't feel loved much by her own parents.
While Mana sat on her bed, Anzu and Atem were tending to the crying Yugi. Bored, Mana decided to visit her little brother. She entered Atem and Anzu's quarters to find Anzu cuddling Yugi in a bundle of blankets. Anzu looked up and smiled.
"Good afternoon, Mana." she greeted.
"Hey." Mana replied.
Mana got on her knees and laid her chin on her mother's lap, observing little Yugi. He looked exactly like his father, only Yugi had Anzu's adorable eye-shape and her smile. This time, Yugi had fallen asleep after Anzu settled him down.
"Would you like to hold him?" Anzu asked.
Mana nodded slowly. Anzu handed Mana the baby, and she cradled him in his arms. As she looked down at his angelic face, she could never bring herself to hate him. Even if her parents forgot her birthday, she felt proud to have a baby brother as cute as him. Besides, Jono, Yami, and Mahado were having a small celebration for her birthday later on.
Hmmm...I wonder if that Bakura person will turn up again. Mana thought, a miniscule smile on her face.
Lots of drama! The drama will escalate when Isis (Aunt Sarah) and the twins Marik and Melvin (Si and Am) come over when Atem and Anzu have to leave for a business trade in Nigeria. Will Bakura show up at all? You'll find out most likely tomorrow. Ja ne, minasan! :3
PRK
