Bakura turned to face Atem now, his pupils large and dilated in his anger. "I will raise your child to hate Egypt and the very father that helped give him life! When he becomes of age, I will see to it that a little accident originating in his wine will reunite him with you and your Queen in death!" He said fuming.
"And now," He stressed, raising his sword up, "YOU DIE!" He yelled, pushing the blade of the sword in the direction of Atem.
"NOOOOOOOOOOO!" Teana screamed with every ounce of her being. She was falling... falling...and tears clouded her vision. When she wiped them, she saw the scene before her.
Bakura was on the ground with his blade in the air hitting Atem's drawn sword. Atem was alive and standing! He was fighting back! Teana took in a quick and sharp breath of air as her legs gave away and she fell on her butt to the ground. She continued taking quick and sharps breaths as the initial joyous shock mingled in with the fear that continued to reap her heart.
Formerly, when Atem was about to come in contact with the sword, he pulled Bakura's foot and in the Thief King's use of his strength focused on stabbing Atem, he lost his balance and fell to the floor, giving Atem a second to draw his own sword and defend himself from Bakura's second angry attack.
Now it was one-on-one sword combat. The best swordsman would come out victorious. Teana sat their praying, hoping for the best, as Bakura's men stood there, watching with great concentration and excitement. Bakura wanted Atem's death to be all on him.
The loud clank of the swords hitting each other again and again kept sounding every few seconds. Atem had managed to slice Bakura's side and Bakura had managed to cut at Atem's left arm, but it continued to be a stalemate. Both men had finally met their match.
They were going to be here all day! At this rate, both of them would bleed to death by small little cuts they were making at each other! Teana was frustrated and she felt so useless!
Clank.
Clank.
Clank.
"Ooof..."
Clank.
Clank.
"You scoundrel!"
Clank.
"You villain!"
Clank.
Clank.
The clanking of the swords kept sounding as growing insults were heard from both men. For goodness sake-
"AAAHH!" Teana screamed! Immediately, the guards slightly released their hold on Teana as she screamed again. "My WATER IS BREAKING!" Both Atem and Bakura stopped, their swords resting against each other and turned around, eyes widened in surprise. Atem face shown his expression of complete shock and disbelief. Was she this early? Now?! Bakura made an expression of slight disgust and annoyance. He hoped to have at least gotten to the city and gotten some midwives to do the deed. He was just about to kill Atem, did she have to give birth now? Couldn't she keep the kid in for a little while longer? She had him in there for months, surely a while longer wouldn't hurt?
Teana opened her eyes and took a deep breath as her cerulean-blue eyes stared piercingly into Atem's eyes. "The baby is coming! What are you doing?!"
"My. Water. Just. Broke!" She screeched in annoyance.
In an instant, Atem punched Bakura straight in the jaw, knocking him out. Teana quickly punched the guard behind her in the groin and Atem dashed to punch the stomach of the guard in front of her.
Teana breathed heavily, taking longer, deeper breaths now as Atem quickly fought the two pained guards She kept her hands on her knees as she sat, watching him as he did the job.
She gently pushed herself up, steadying herself. She told herself to be strong. The worst was over. Atem finishing his job, turned around and saw his beautiful wife standing there for him. Her long brown hair was wrapped up in an untidy, fallen bun and her white dress was wrinkled, very worn and discolored at the bottom and in patches around her dress. He inhaled sharply and rushed to her, enveloping his lovely wife in his arms as she sobbed onto his shoulder.
Atem created some space between them and proceeded to ever so gently kiss her on her cheeks, her forehead and all over her face. How he missed every part of her! How missed her touch, her voice, her everything. Teana was impatient and drew her hands upward to cup her husband's face to force him to halt his kisses and so that she could kiss him fully on the lips. The brown-haired girl slid down her hands to his shoulders as she tightly held on to them, in fear of him being ripped away from her as she pressed her lips to his again. She was never going to be away from him again, she promised. She would always be by his side. The Queen had learned her lesson, she was never going to risk this again.
Atem's arms wound up tightly and fully wrapped around Teana, being mindful of her pregnant stomach as their lips meshed together. He had her at last. They could go home now, safe and sound. He would never, ever leave her out of his sight again.
They momentarily departed their lips for a moment to stare into each other's eyes. "My water is breaking?" Atem smirked and then chuckled. Teana mischievously smiled, darting her eyes down. When she looked back up, Atem's eyes had lost his humor and all she saw was deep passion. One an impulse, their lips latched out on to each other for a much longer liplock.
They drew apart when lack of oxygen became a problem and ended up just staring into each other's eyes smiling lovingly, before Teana's eyes widened and she let out a high pitched scream "Atem!"
Bakura was coming right behind him with a sword lunging towards Atem's back! Atem pushed her to the floor in a thump and stopped Bakura's attack with a sudden swipe of his sword.
Bakura's eyebrows were squinted and pinched, his face and demeanor more angry and vicious looking than ever. Blood dripped down his chin from the punch Atem had thrown earlier. Atem had forgotten to make sure to it that Bakura would remain unconscious.
Teana felt pain all over from the fall. It was a brutally strong fall and her eyes were watering in ache. Any strength that she had before to stand was gone. She was bruised, weak and tired. She wanted to lay down to the floor and sleep. She couldn't take it anymore. She turned over, laying down on her side and closed her eyes. She was trying so hard to keep them open, but it proved to be too difficult.
Sleep.
Sleep.
That was all her body was telling her.
Sleep.
Sleep.
She opened her eyes, one more time in the blurriness of her vision. They were at it again...her husband and the Thief King. She wanted to cry out loud, but instead silent tears dripped down her face. How she still had enough water inside her to produce such tears, she did not know.
Sleep.
Sleep.
Sleep.
Atem's body ached and blood was dripping down his arm.
He needed to protect his family.
He needed to protect his family.
If he died, they would be die.
If he gave up, they would die.
It was more than just his own life at stake.
Clanking of swords were heard from Atem and Bakura.
Sleep.
Sleep.
They were fighting again. One of them would only hail victorious at the exhaustion of the other. It was impossible to tell who would win. Both were thoroughly engrossed in fighting each other. Everything was on the line. Everything was a blur.
Atem's knees were going weak. He had a huge migraine. Blood was dripping down from the cut Bakura had made on his arm, and that area stung him like crazy. All of Atem's muscles were cramping, his breaths became quick as he fought on, afraid that at any second, his body would fail him and all was lost. If only Atem knew, Bakura was thinking the exact sentiments.
Teana knew things were going to end soon. She used the last smidge of her energy to try to crawl, slide and drag herself forward to the men. She was climbing a mountain. It might of been Mount Everest, because this was one of the most enduring feats she was has to take on. Her condition left her even unable to easily crawl. Her lungs were rapidly expanding and contracting as her body realized the dire need for oxygen to reach her sore and cramped muscles. She had to push her arms forward and then drag her body forward along with her arms. She was only moving a few inches ever so often. The men were so far away. She stopped for a second; it was too much.
Sleep.
Sleep.
Sleep.
Bakura managed to hit Atem's left shoulder now and he flinched in pain. He managed to see the smirk plastered on Bakura's face. Bakura smiled and beamed of confidence that Atem was unable to decode as fake under the immense pressure he was at that very moment.
Would it be too late to reason and compromise?
What was he thinking? Villains don't compromise!
Atem's chest was heaving up and down. Sweat glistened on his forehead. Then he saw her. Behind him.
Atem readied his weapon. Teana forced her arm forward to grasp Thief King Bakura's ankle with the last bit of energy she had and pulled back- hard.
Thief King Bakura lost his balance for a mere moment and Atem surged his sword forward.
The villain groaned and then coughed one more time in his anguish, before the Thief King Bakura was no more.
Atem withdrew his sword and dropped to the floor grabbing Teana his arms. It was over. It was finally over- for real this time. The Thief King was finally dead. That meant that they could go home... They could be together again-
"Atem..." She breathed, with moistened eyes. Her supply of tears were just about used up.
Sleep.
Sleep.
Sleep.
"Teana..."He smiled, tears flowing down his face. He cupped her cheek, badly bruised and swollen. She shakingly reached out her hand to place it above his hand on her cheek.
"I knew you would come for me..." She sniffed. "I never...doubted...it...once."
"I would and will always come for you...no matter what." He promised, staring into her eyes.
"I...I...love you...Atem." She whispered, closing her eyes.
"I love you too Teana." He whispered back, as her hand fell from his cheek and a tear finally slipped from her eye. She had lost consciousness and all Atem could do was begin to sob in far greater anguish than the physical pains tremoring through his body.
Well this took forever to write! Atem was able to avoid the hit and keep fighting. Quick thinking on Teana's part with faking the arrival time of her baby bought Atem some time to knock out the Thief King. Her actions are in reference to Chapter 36 in which Atem was totally ignorant to what women go through in having babies. Teana promised that she would never scream about her water breaking. Unfortunately, Bakura regains consciousness and Teana suffers from a great fall. With Teana's help, Atem is able to stab Bakura and kill him, but Teana is so weak and tired she blanks out. I haven't decided the ending of the fic yet, so we'll see what happens soon enough.
Please review and let me know what you thought!
~Startistica