All Yugioh characters belong to Kazuki Takahashi.
Author's Note: Involves a lot of Atem and Mana. Not necessarily fluff but how much Atem cares for Mana. Eh…just read and you'll see what I'm talking about.
A hole is made in the wall when Mana punches it and Atem looks at her with shock. He is usually the one to do that. She drops to her hands in knees, still facing the wall and tears stream down her cheeks, dropping down to the floor. Her breaths turn into short gasps as she struggles for air and Atem bends down beside her, his hands on her shoulders. "Calm yourself," he tells her, feeling one of her anxiety attacks coming on. It is very rare for her to have these since she has been able to calm herself down in hard situations, but he can feel her losing control. And he can tell that she is extremely scared for Cairo's life.
She slowly lies down on her back with both her knees bent and her hands on her stomach as she tries to take deep breaths.
"W-What if…we can't…save her?" she asks between gasps.
"We will save her. We will release her from Bakura's control and she will be safe again," he says, trying to get rid of her doubts and negative talk. As her breathing starts to slow down, he gets up and gets a cool, wet towel from the bathroom before going back down on his knees and placing it on her forehead. She gives one last inhale before sighing heavily, her gaze on him.
"Atem," she says sitting up, the towel falling off her forehead and she wraps her arms around his neck and he around her waist as she buries her head into his shoulder. "I don't want to lose her again."
"We won't Mana. I promise."
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"Poor Cairo. To go through all this at such a young age," says Tea. She sits at the kitchen table with Atem and Yugi. Atem has just got through explaining everything to them over a cup of coffee.
"This all has an effect on Yufi too. She barely talks now," Yugi tells him and Atem frowns. "How's Mana doing?"
"Same as Yufi. It seems that she is more into her magic than ever, constantly practicing in any condition. And it almost got us killed."
Flashback
Atem wakes up one morning to find it dark. He looks outside his window to find it raining hard with a couple of flashes of lightning. He notices an empty space next to him and he hops out of bed, going down the stairs to find no one there. She couldn't have possibly gone out into the pouring rain.
He decides to go to the back window to see if she is in the backyard and sure enough, she is there, sitting on the grass with her legs crossed and her arms crossed over her chest as she holds her wand and meditates. There is another flash of lightning and a roar of thunder and he opens the door.
"Mana! Get in here!" he exclaims, worried for her safety. He knows her being in the middle of an open field is dangerous. She is like a lightning rod ready to get struck down. Mana opens one eye. She can barely see through the pouring rain but she can see Atem's form standing at the back door. Plus she can hear him calling for her to come inside.
"But I need to practice! I won't be strong enough to beat Bakura if I don't!" she yells back and she flinches as a lightning bolt hits the ground not too far from her.
"Come here now!" he shouts again but when he sees that she makes no attempt to move, he dashes out there himself to go get her. Just as he scoops her up, another bolt of lightning hits the ground, nearly touching his foot and he jumps out of the way, tumbling and rolling on the ground a couple of times with Mana in his arms. They both pant heavily, looking into each others eyes and at first they think it is over. That is until Atem looks up to see that they are under a tree and lightning strikes it causing it to fall.
Covered by the leaves of the tree, Mana looks up to see Atem protecting her with his body. "Atem, are you alright?" she asks.
He lifts his head up and replies, "I'm fine." The tree hadn't completely landed on them but it just barely missed them though because they were right in between two large branches containing leaves.
End Flashback
"Whoa, that's intense," says Tea.
"Yeah," Yugi agrees. "But if you need any help finding your daughter, I'll be right there to help you out."
"Thank you Yugi."
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Mana sits down cross legged on her bed with her wand in her hand and her eyes closed. Once again she goes into deep meditation. She has been training non-stop so that she could be prepared for anything that Bakura throws at her. Atem walks in and sighs when he sees her still meditating. She hasn't eaten or talked to him in days.
"Mana please give yourself a break. You're going to pass out from exhaustion."
"Can't. I must continue or--"
"If you were to face Bakura now you would be to exhausted," says Atem and she opens her eyes knowing that he has a point there. She reluctantly puts her wand to the side as he sits by her. "How has it been going anyway?"
"It's harder to master spells at this age. I was so much better when I was older but now it's like I have to start back over. That's why I've been practicing more than usual."
"I understand. Have you been able to pin point where Bakura is?"
"No.
He keeps moving constantly and it's harder for me to keep up and it's
really making me mad. The longer we wait, the longer he has to get
adjusted to Cairo's abilities…"
"And her ka."
"Her ka?"
Atem nods. "Recall the time that I told you about Cairo summoning a powerful monster when she was young."
"Oh right. I almost forgot about that. Bakura will be twice as strong with that monster. I don't even think my Dark Magician Girl would be able to defeat it."
"Maybe not. But keep in mind that we will be working together on this. I would never let you go out and fight Bakura alone." The telephone rings and Mana answers it, bringing it up to her ear.
"Hello…What?...Atem quick! Turn on the news!" Mana exclaims and Atem uses the remote to turn it on. They both gasp when they see a burning building and fire trucks and ambulances on the street. Footage from a cell phone is shown on the live broadcast of a small figure with long black hair running out and turning into an alleyway.
"Bakura," Atem says, narrowing his eyes. "Mana, do you know where that is?"
"I know exactly where that is. Let's go!"
The next chapter will have a lot of action so stay tuned. (Note: Updates will be slightly longer since I need to start studying for tests and my laptop is acting weird). Please review!
