Chapter 38
Disputes

"How do you know this creature resides in Kul Elna?" Seto asked. They were all gathered in the throne room, including Mana it was her first time actually being allowed to come in the room. This time the Pharaoh intended to enlighten them on his plan as he needed their help for it. While previously he only needed his Puzzle to cast the spell and the one other Item to receive the spell. The spell he needed to use now required all the items.

"Do you trust me, Seto?" Atem answered his question with another question.

"Of course, your Highness."

"Then do not ask." The Pharaoh replied. "I do not like the idea of going without leaving anyone behind, but with one of the guardians gone I am going to need all of you, including you Shimon." Atem walked over to the elder and reached out his hand and nodded with a smile, showing the Pharaoh he was not worried. He may have been old, but he still had a good bit of fight left in him. He took the Pharaoh's hand and was surprised when something was given to him.

Shimon looked at the object and found that the Pharaoh had given him the Millennium Eye.

"All of the Items are needed for this spell to work, it does not matter if you have not been chosen by that particular Item." Atem told them all before returning his attention to the vizier. "I am sorry, I wish I did not need to involve you..." the Pharaoh trailed off. Looking away and giving a sigh.

"I think I can handle myself pretty well." Shimon's confidence had the desired effect on the young king. Atem nodded and gave him a small smile before turning back to the others.

"Above all else no matter what the dark creature does we need to get to the resting place of the Millennium Items. That is the opening of the rift between our world and the world of shadows where it resides. We must seal back it in that world." Atem told them.

"How though? Will we give back the Items?" Karim asked, not happy about the thought, but willing nonetheless. He was quite fond of the Key's power.

"No, I was able to find a spell that would seal him, but as I said, all the Items are required for it to work."

"Sure, I understand why we are needed." Seto began. "But what I cannot figure out is what she is doing here." He pointed his thumb at Mana who blew him a raspberry in retaliation. He simply rolled his eyes as though she had just proved his point.

"I am allowed to help too, you know!" She argued, she hated being treated like a little girl.

"She is coming because if I did not take her with us she would follow us on her own and get herself killed. She has been helpful this far and I think she would kill me if I forced her to stay... Pharaoh or not." Atem answered with a slight smile on his face.

"Yes I would." She agreed to everything he said. Mahad gave a small laugh.

"Seto, you ask that every time we leave the palace. You might as well get over it." The elder magician gave him a light smirk.

"It applies every time we leave the palace." Seto gave an attempt at an argument, though he knew it was no hope.

"What exactly must we do when we locate the Item's resting place?" Isis asked, returning the topic to a more useful subject. The things she'd seen in her Millennium Item made her uneasy and she was not eager for precious time to be wasted.

"You have to do nothing. You simply need to place yourselves in a circle around the tablet and leave the rest to me. The spell requires you to be present, nothing more." Atem answered, rather glad she had changed the topic. He wanted Mana coming with them about as much as Seto did, though for entirely different reasons.

"And what exactly will you be doing?" Mahad asked, he thought the Pharaoh was being a little to vague about the spell for his liking.

"Mahad, calm down. It is little more than what we did to Bakura, though on a much larger scale, if all goes as planned the worst that will happen is exhaustion."

"Nothing ever goes as planned." Shada added, with no desire to comment further.

The Pharaoh gave a small smile. "And yet we have all survived thus far."

Shada grinned back at him.

"Is there anything else before we leave?"

"Are you sure we cannot leave the brat behind?" Seto asked, only to receive a glare from everyone but the Pharaoh. "Alright, alright, I will drop it." The priest continued to sulk as they headed for the stables and prepared their horses.

As Mana moved to get her horse she felt a hand close around her wrist and turned back to look at the Pharaoh. He wasn't looking at her at first but his eyes moved up to hers.

"Ride with me?" He asked gently as if to tell her that she could refuse. She looked surprised for a moment, she could find no reason he couldn't ride on his own, he wasn't ill or injured, and it wasn't like they didn't have enough horses to go around. Perhaps he felt nervous and though riding with someone would help calm him.

Yes, that was definitely the reason.

She nodded and he smiled before leading her to his horse and helping her on. He couldn't help but notice Mahad's sad attempt to hold back a smile as he climbed on beside her. He glared at his friend and mouthed a 'shut up' at him causing Mahad to turn his gaze forward and lose the fight to grin. Atem sighed and Mana looked over his shoulder at him.

"What is wrong?" She asked.

"Oh, nothing. Your master is merely provoking me to strangling him, that is all." He replied and she and Mahad both laughed.

"What else is new?" She asked.

"Hey now, I do not do it that often." Mahad defended. They began their ride as he spoke.

"You do it to me every day." Mana retaliated placing her arms around Atem to secure herself as the horse ran. The Pharaoh forced himself to keep his gaze forward.

"If you would work harder in your lessons I would not have to." He jabbed back, but couldn't help but smile at the sight of the two of them, despite his irritation at her.

"I work hard! I just get distracted easy."

"That is if you decide to even show up."

"I do not skip that much. You are just a perfectionist."

Mahad let out a sigh. He knew that was more than likely true. She was doing better then most Magicians her age, most of her spells that didn't work didn't work simply because she got distracted or started messing around, rather than any lack of knowledge or skill. And she had gotten better about skipping lessons.

"You have got to stop messing around if you are ever going to be able to take my place some day. The Pharaoh can not afford to have a guardian whose spells blow up in her face more often then not." He told her.

"I can do it when I need to!"

"That is not the point, Mana. If your magic must be reliable in and out of danger. You could seriously injure him anytime you need conjure a book!"

She looked away from him and tightened her arms around the Pharaoh. She'd never really thought about it like that, it was funny when Mahad was the one on the receiving end of one of her screw ups. He could bounce back from almost anything she did to him, that is if he actually let her hit him. The Pharaoh couldn't shield himself from an rogue book, or use a mystic box spell to transport himself back if she accidentally stranded him in the desert.

She looked up when Atem's body moved in front of her and saw him peering at her with concern on his face. She buried her face into his back he turned to Mahad who sighed and tried to keep his gaze ahead. It was so difficult to truly rebuke her for anything. Sure he could tell her off for a screw up or two, but beyond that it was a wonder he'd managed to keep her in line as much as he had. It didn't help that she looked up to him so much that the thought of her failing her master seemed to break her heart. But he had to get it through to her that she needed to take her studies more seriously.

Atem wanted to comfort her, to tell her he thought she was doing fine. But to do so would demean Mahad's authority as her master and her guardian. Mahad was right after all.

So instead he put his arm over the ones she had wrapped around him. "Do not worry, he said gently. You will get it right, you just need to work at it, that is all. I know you can do it. I trust you." He told her with a smile.

"Thanks." She said smiling softly at him before leaning her forehead into his back.

The long trip to Kul Elna continued without much event, there was a small argument between Seto and Mahad about where and when to stop for the day that the Pharaoh resolved by ignoring the both of them and stopping somewhere completely different, causing Shimon to decide that elders should not spend copious amounts of time with young men and women for their own health and sanity of mind. But other then that the anxiety over their task kept the trip rather uneventful.

Once they reached Kul Elna, they could only wish for the same.

A/N) I am uploading this one a little early because there isn't a whole lot of important things that happen, just them getting to Kul Elna. It has been way to long since I've really focused on the characters rather then the story, which is okay, because at this point the story is important while at the beginning the characters were more important, but I've been wanting to do a chapter that focuses on the characters more then the story lately. I am really happy with the way this chapter turned out. The previous two kinda irritated me, I'm glad I'm over that bit of writer's block.

Thanks for reading. Please place all questions, comments, and concerns in the box and I'll see you next time. ^_^