Adina's milestone /Noah on land


"NOAH? Where are you?!" Mokuba waded off the beach and into the freezing ocean water, his eyes and nose stinging when a giant wave caught him off guard, causing him to lose his footing on the sandy ground beneath him. Treading water and shivering, he felt something cold and slimy curling around his ankle, and he withdrew violently, cursing.

A tiny, squeaky voice invaded his mind before he could brace himself. It was talking fast in a series of clicks and whines, similar to the language the dolphins used, but different, because he couldn't understand this octopus at all. The only consolation was that it sounded like Seto's voice talking to him… but then again, it could be Seth.

Another wave came rushing at him, and Mokuba struggled to keep his head above water, coughing and sputtering when more salt water invaded his nostrils.
Wow, this really sucked.

Ever since Noah grew fins every month to visit Adina, he became obsessed with swimming fast, so much that the swim instructor recommended he be put on trials for competitive swimming. He also insisted on swimming at least thirty minutes in the ocean once a week, to "get stronger", trying to withstand the freezing temperatures, and nothing he or his wife said made a difference. Noah was incredibly stubborn, almost as if he learned it from Seto.

Growling to himself, Mokuba held his breath and sank under the water, the murkiness clouding his vision as the orange octopus bobbed up and down in front of him, it's tentacles pointing every which way while it talked, then it stilled, obviously waiting for him to reply.

Uh, I can't understand you! Speak Japanese! Mokuba snarled, and the octopus did an anxious twirl in the water, repeating itself and letting out a tiny squirt of ink in distress. And as if this stressor wasn't enough, two dolphins zoomed through the water and floated to a stop in front of him, bobbing up and down with a furious Noah between them.

They clicked and whistled angrily, raging at him, and to Mokuba's extreme displeasure, he could understand them perfectly because they spoke a combination of Mer and Japanese.

"Are you the royals of Helios inhabiting Kaiba's Private Rock?" The dolphin on the left snapped, waving its fin at the towering rock behind Mokuba's head. "You must be Prince Seth's half-brother, Mokuba! We are having a word with you about this child here! We found him too far out from land, and he has a pair of legs! Unacceptable!"

Noah treaded water and grit his teeth, shivering and saying nothing.

"He is so tiny! How dare you let him out of your sight!" The other dolphin clicked, shaking her head disapprovingly. "If we find this child beyond the hemisphere markers again, we will report you to the Council for bad parenting! This is the second warning I've had to issue at Kaiba's Private Rock this century! You are very close to a violation if I find you being negligent for a third time!"

"This century?!" Mokuba cried, reacting to the wrong thing, and Noah's face grew redder as the dolphin gave him a firm push towards his father.

"Be well, Prince Noah. Do not cross the markers again! We are being serious, and we report directly to Elder Gamma!" The dolphins turned and swam off side-by-side, and Mokuba took this chance to round on Noah.

"Who told you to go out that far?!"

"I didn't know that we're being guarded now!" Noah shouted back loudly, his teeth chattering from the cold. "I wasn't even out that far!"

"You were out far enough for those two to drag you back to scream at me, so yeah, I think you were out too far! You're grounded! C'mere!" Mokuba hissed, grabbing Noah by the arm and dragging him back to shore, his feet slipping on the wet sand beneath him as they waded out of the waves.

"Ahh! Wait Dad, wait! I felt something!" Noah cried, and he twisted around, thinking he saw a purple head of an octopus following them before it disappeared underneath another wave.

"No. I'm not falling for that again!" Mokuba growled, grinding his teeth in fury. Noah's ocean obsession was clearly Seto's fault. He couldn't have a normal kid because Seto was too big of an influence, even now when they'd agreed to live 'separate lives' while Seto was sleeping off the nausea in the past few months.

"It was a messenger! I swear!" Noah cried, on the verge of furious tears as he kicked and lashed out at his father, spraying sand all down the backs of Mokuba's pant legs. "Please Dad, lemme get him! I'm not crazy, I swear! You're the worst! I hate you!"

Frozen with shock at these words, Mokuba's grip loosened, and Noah took this chance to go racing back into the ocean water, diving into an oncoming wave with precision and reappearing with a squealing purple octopus in his grip. He waved it triumphantly over his head and disappeared under the water to listen to it, his heart thundering with resentment at his dad.

The octopus did a twirl in the water and cleared its throat importantly before it launched into a rapid-fire speech, sounding just like Adina.

"Noah, it's me, Adina! Guess what? Both my daddies are awake! Come down here to see them as soon as you can! Also, when is summer vacation? You keep talking about it, but you never told me the exact dates. Reply soon! Love you! Oh! And bring me some chocolate…and those fizzy drinks! Please and thanks!"

Uncle Seto's awake! Noah celebrated privately, his mood brightening instantly.

The octopus did an odd bow and said something in the mermaid language, and Noah could only understand three words it said. He waited for the octopus to stop moving before he nodded and replied in his head, "Hey Adina! That's awesome! I'll tell my dad right now, and hey, do you think you can teach me more mermaid speak? I can barely understand these messengers when they talk. Thanks! Oh, and summer vacation is month seven until month eight of this year! See you soon? Love ya too! Wait! P.S! I got in trouble with two dolphin guardians. Did you know that there are hemisphere markers around here now? What the heck does that mean? End message."

The octopus bobbed up and down in the water briefly before it gave Noah a salute and zipped off into the water.

"NOAH! COME UP HERE…NOW!" Mokuba roared, his feet sinking into the sand as he stood on the beach, feeling like he was losing his grip.
Deep down, he was heartbroken. Noah wasn't even a teenager yet and he was saying stuff like, "I hate you!" and, "you're the worst!"
What prompted this nasty language?

Grumbling to himself, Noah waded to the edge of the beach and climbed out of the water, his teeth chattering furiously as he wondered if his grounded punishment was going to involve 'no more swimming' for an entire week. If he remembered anything from when he was 5, his dad would say stuff like this to Uncle Seto too, and he turned out to be a whole fish.
Dad was unfair like that.
Mom would usually interject these arguments with, "let Noah do what he likes if he's good at it," and Dad would say, "yeah, and have him turn out like Seto?" Like it was a bad thing to be like Uncle Seto.

"Stand here. Look me in the eye and say it to my face," Mokuba insisted, pointing at the spot in front of him, not caring that they were both frozen to the core from the icy water.

"Sorry for swimming out too far," Noah rolled his eyes and bit the inside of his cheek, willing himself not to cry. He was ten. Ten-year-olds cried less, and if he cried now, it meant he was being a baby in front of Dad, and he didn't want to be embarrassing.

"No, the other thing!" Mokuba growled, crossing his arms and hearing his wife's footsteps coming down from the boardwalk, and he ignored it.

"What? What other thing?" Noah cried, also crossing his arms, intent on facing off with his Dad fair and square. "I told you there was a messenger! I got him and he said Uncle Seto and Atem are awake! Adina says we should go see him!"

"You said you hate me and that I'm the worst!" Mokuba ranted, glaring down his son and fixating on how they had the same high cheekbones. "Apologize to me! That's not how you talk to me, I'm your dad for f—'s sake…f—"

"Darlings! Dinner time!" Ayame rested her hand on her husband's shoulder and gave him a gentle smile, and Mokuba tensed, a muscle jumping in his cheek.

Noah relaxed slightly when Mom came to save him from another full-blown argument with Dad, and he ran into the towel she was holding for him, wrapping it around himself, still shivering from the cold.

"I don't hate you," Noah mumbled, but his voice was lost in the loud crashing of the waves and rushing of the wind.

"We need to have a talk with Seto about setting boundaries between land and sea," Mokuba growled, accepting the towel from his wife's other hand and thanking her with a kiss on the cheek.

She nodded and wrapped her hands protectively around Noah's tiny shoulders, guiding back to the house, listening to him rant about how he'd caught Adina's messenger and that Seto was awake.
They had a few eventful months ahead of them, and Ayame immensely enjoyed the trips down to the magical mermaid world with Noah even though she knew Mokuba hated it, so she said a small prayer of thanks to Seto Kaiba for spicing up their otherwise, quiet, normal lives.


Kaiba swam into his bedroom tiredly, aching for some peace and quiet.

He thought since he'd expelled the egg while in a medicated sleep, he'd finally be free to visit Seth at the surface, but those plans didn't work out. He ended up having to send a messenger instead so they could begin planning Adina's First Procession, which he learned was a giant party where the entire kingdom could come into the palace to gawk at Adina's beauty while she floated around to hear people's problems. This was the way she could greet everyone she would eventually be ruling over.
In short, exhausting shit.

Throwing himself down on the bed, Kaiba glared at the black kelp sheets, wondering if he could ever catch a break. His life on land as a CEO wasn't this hectic, and that's because he could do it all from behind a screen. Here? It all had to be…face-to-face.

Commands, orders, and plans had to come out of his mouth, because royalty and pacts and some shit.

He sought the solace of his dark room to catch a break from Atem, because Atem's mind was filled with decoration planning, putting in orders with the Alchemist for new sets of jewelry, and seating arrangements for Joey and his entire pod… All for Adina, who wasn't even interested in anything going on. She seemed preoccupied with something, and kept hiding her thoughts around him, which disturbed him even more until he decided to give up trying to figure out what was wrong.
If she wanted to tell him, she would…eventually.
That's just how it would be.
Mahad was right. She was a tiny covert warrior in the making.

Sitting up slowly, Kaiba glanced around the barren room, hating the rocky walls and the mixed, black sand beneath his fins. He couldn't believe he was admitting this to himself, but he missed his own colony….

Rising from the bed, he dove into the treasury, thinking he would send a few diamonds up to Mokuba and Ayame, just to make sure they haven't forgotten about him, because the messenger he'd sent to Mokuba hadn't come back yet, and by his count, it had been two weeks.

Flitting his fingers over the bowls overflowing with gems, Kaiba brushed over something soft that felt like skin, and he recoiled hastily, wondering what had died behind one of the larger bowls. He inched it aside, not really registering what he was looking at.
It was flat, and green, but the color had faded, indicating it was old.
It was fin-shaped, looking very much like… an ear.
A baby's ear.

ADINA'S EAR?! Kaiba reeled, gingerly picking it up and wrinkling his nose in disgust as he stared at the transparent webs in the fin. O-Oh…. Holy shit. This was why she was acting weird.

She normally enjoyed attention and she wasn't excited for the party because one of her ears was missing! And this explained why she had even refused to visit Seth last week, insisting she was 'trying something new' with her hair… which was just a way for her to conceal the sides of her face!

Oh god, how do I deal with this? Kaiba drifted back to the bed and stared at the tiny ear in his palm, his chest swirling strangely. This was new. He'd been preparing himself for the "girl talks" about reproductive health, sex, and the mer-version of periods, which he had to re-learn through extensive reading while bedridden with nausea. Mai and Anzu assured him they had it covered, so…now…. it was this.
She was actually going out of her way to hide the fact that she'd lost one of her ears.
She definitely didn't leave it there as a grotesque present for him.
It had been intentionally hidden.
Was this normal behavior?!
He didn't know, and there was no one to ask… aside from maybe the Medic, who was their all-in-one doctor.

Grimacing with worry, Kaiba tucked the ear back into the space behind the bowl and tried not to cringe as he swam out of his room, making his way to the infirmary. He swam down the familiar halls, thinking he could do this with his eyes closed, and he was about to try that when Atem came zooming out of another hallway and ran right into him, his angular eyes bright.

"Did you pick out what you're going to wear?" Atem asked for the millionth time, and Kaiba mustered up the kindest smile he could and said, "yes, Seth is picking it out because I don't know what's appropriate."

"You two are wearing the same thing?" Atem cried, misunderstanding completely, and his face fell with disappointment.

Kaiba shook his head with a grimace and contemplated telling Atem about Adina losing her ear and decided to wait. The king was already frazzled, and if he added more stressful news, his original, carefree Atem might never come back. They hadn't even had time to take a breath together and have a proper make-out session since their egg-extraction.
That's how much this Procession stuff sucked.

"Are you going to be like this when you want to plan a wedding?" Kaiba mused out loud and regretted it instantly when Atem's eyebrows raised with curiosity.

"What's a wedding? Wait, I think I know a little…. Mai told me something about it…" Atem frowned and struggled to recall, but instead remembered that he forgot to tell someone about adding colored streamers to the pillars by the dining hall… Unless Mana already told someone to do that? He gave Kaiba a squeeze on his forearm and darted away breathlessly.

Watching Atem's red fins disappear around a pillar in the distance, Kaiba shook his head tiredly and made his way to the infirmary without running into anyone else asking him another question.

"Prince…!" The Medic left the pod she was attending to and swam over to bow and grab his hands, running his vitals rapidly. Kaiba felt his body heat up automatically and tingle strangely as she analyzed him for a quiet minute before letting go and saying, "all good. Please eat something. You and Warrior Mahad are always missing a few meals. What can I do for you?"

"It's about Adina… Can we talk somewhere private?" Kaiba asked, already floating towards a bed with a curtain, and she followed him, looking concerned.

The curtain was drawn around them with a swish and the Medic hovered politely in front of him, gazing at him expectantly.

"She's hiding the fact that she lost an ear," Kaiba said nervously, feeling like he was betraying her trust by telling someone. "The left one. I found it behind one of the bowls in my treasury and I want to know if this is concerning behavior. I haven't told her that I know. What's the correct course of action here?"

The color left the medic's face and Kaiba bit the inside of his cheek.
Great…. This probably meant she was a psychopathic mermaid or something.

"W-Well, normally, this is supposed to be a-a…celebratory moment," the Medic said, stammering through her fear. "As we know, she is aging fast due to trauma which she still carries, no one can tell her otherwise. Even though you have returned from shore service, your absence in her early years may have caused this…type of…denial in her milestones. I don't know for sure until we've talked to her about it."

Kaiba frowned and crossed his arms, his mind racing for a solution.

"Yeah, she's not going to open up about it if she's hiding it. She's been hiding it," Kaiba said testily, feeling his eyes heat up strangely. Fuck. Why was he going to cry about this? Was it because he was hurt that she didn't immediately come tell him that her ear came off?
Was it the secrecy in her behavior?

"You as her father know more than I do about what she's feeling," the Medic continued gently, giving Prince Seto a sympathetic pat on his arm when she saw the sorrowful expression passing across his handsome face. "Your bond with her is strong. In this case, you know best. I can't advise you any further, I'm sorry."

Kaiba nodded stiffly and watched her swim away, trying to stem the dark feeling rising up in his chest. He needed to confront Adina about this but wasn't sure how.

I'll just suck it up and ask, Kaiba thought glumly, swimming out of the infirmary to find her, seeing Atem whizzing by him again with three planners in tow. They were whispering fervently to each other and disappeared at the end of the hall.

He couldn't take much more of this.
Kaiba darted into the women's wing, even though he knew it was out of bounds to him as a man, and he knocked on her door, listening and waiting for her to answer.

Adina was inspecting herself in the mirror when she heard someone knock, so she quickly brushed her hair forward to cover her ears before she answered the door, thinking it was Mana, and was unable to hide her shock when she saw her father hovering magnificently in her doorway.

"Oh, it's you d-daddy… Come in," she squeaked, pulling the door back to let him in.

Kaiba floated in and bent down to give her a hug, but to his dismay, she dodged him nimbly and sat on the bed, laughing nervously while keeping her hair floating around her face, expertly concealing her ears. She was so conscious of the water, she managed to move in the direction of the waves to keep her hair where she wanted it to be.

Kaiba felt a surge of pride and moved to sit down beside her on her bed, reaching out to hold her warm hands in his.

She gazed lovingly into his face and smiled shakily, "w-what's wrong, daddy? Tired of planning my procession? It's okay, Papa's got it all taken care of."

"Yeah it's boring isn't it?" Kaiba wrinkled his nose and enjoyed her laughter in his ears.

"No, it's important!" She corrected him, giving his hands a squeeze. "I'm gonna be meeting everyone I'm gonna be Queening over! And I'm excited to see Noah! I can't wait to show him this new cave I found."

"Well if you're so excited, why aren't you out there picking pillar decorations with everyone else?" Kaiba asked, knowing the answer immediately, and she replied just as he expected.

"I'm only excited when I get to tell people to do stuff immediately," she said brattily. "Planning stuff is boring. I have to wait for the streamers to be dyed. I have to wait for them to gather all the shells that I want. I already told Papa the ones that I want, so he's doing it for me."

"You're wearing him out. Maybe slow down," Kaiba muttered, and Adina gave him an apologetic smile.

"Papa likes doing it? He said so himself," She offered guiltily, and Kaiba spared her a smile, his heart racing as he wondered where to even start.
'Hey, your ear fell off. Want it back?' seemed crass, and 'Why are you hiding the fact that your ear is fully-formed' sounded accusatory.

So they sat there in pleasant silence.

Adina fidgeted nervously, peeking at her handsome father through her curtains of hair, instantly reminded of when she'd first met him on the rock, begging him to lie for her after being yelled at by the dolphin guardian.

He'd been understanding then…which meant he'd be more than understanding about this.

"U-Um… Dad?" Adina said shakily, trying out the short form of 'Daddy' as she'd heard Noah say many times.

Caught off guard by the sudden change in title, Kaiba gave her his full attention, gazing in her face, taking in her soft, rounded cheeks and her eyes which were just as angular as Atem's.
So cute… So pretty… She could do no wrong in his eyes.

"What's up?" Kaiba tried to sound as casual as possible. He could feel her anxiety emanating from her in powerful waves and he reminded himself to keep his tone kind.

"W-Wanna see something super gross?" She asked nervously, rocking back and forth on the edge of her bed, and Kaiba shook his head playfully.

"No? Who does?" He said with a small smile, and this seemed to give her the confidence she needed.

"It is suuuuper gross and it's ugly, so don't freak out, okay?" Adina said timidly, and Kaiba nodded, expecting her to tuck her hair behind her ear, but instead, she got up and swam out of the room so fast, she left a trail of white bubbles behind her.

Oh, she's…going to get it, Kaiba thought dazedly, quite pleased with how this was turning out. Thank god. Maybe she wasn't completely fucked up because of him.

She came zooming back in breathlessly, not bothering to hide her ears while her hair streamed behind her, and she held her ear husk out to her father in the palm of her hand.

"Oh! GOD!" Kaiba recoiled and made sure to reenact exactly how he felt when he first saw her discarded ear behind his treasury bowls, so he threw out a few frantic thoughts to sell the act.

A warning, please! That's disgusting!

The princess threw her head back and laughed heartily, shoving the ear closer to her father's face, grinning.

"It didn't hurt at all," she mused, swimming over to the mirror to show off her one, fully formed ear, seeing her father hovering happily behind her, giving her a beaming smile. "But now this side of my face is yucky… I never knew how yucky it was until now, because I have a pretty side, and an ugly side," she continued to preen, and Kaiba realized she had hidden the ear out of sheer vanity.
Holy…fuck.
This was some real Princess-shit right here.

And she worked herself up into a rage while staring at her reflection in the mirror. "I can't do the Procession like this! People can't see me for the first time and remember this forever! It's hideous! I'm half-half! Daddy… HELP! Auntie Medic says ears need to fall off naturally but I wanna rip it off so baaad! NOW!"

"You can't! It's still forming underneath!" Kaiba protested, his chest tight with a mixture of laughter and fear at her boldness. "If you tear it off now, it'll really come out lopsided. Bet you don't want that."

"Nooo…!" Adina clapped her hand to her finned ear and turned her head to the side, practicing a regal wave that made Kaiba laugh out loud.

She whirled around to glare at him, fuming, "Stop laughing at me! I'm being serious, Pa—I mean, Dad!"

"Papa? Did you tell Atem before you told me?" Kaiba caught on perceptively and saw her shake her head vehemently, still keeping one hand clapped over her fin-side ear.

"I told you first, but now I regret it cuz you laughed at me," she said icily, and Kaiba sobered up quickly, drawing her into a tight hug.

"Give it to me. I'll keep it somewhere safe," Kaiba said warmly, and she shoved the husk in his palm unceremoniously with a shrug.

"Gross. Suit yourself," she sniffed, practicing another wave in the mirror with her hand covering her ear.

Kaiba watched her for a second longer before he couldn't take it anymore and said, "if you're willing to tell Uncle Seth about this issue, he could do a hairstyle that goes off to the side to hide that ear. How about that? I'll even find some pretty pictures in a magazine for you to look at."

"Okay! Yes!" She cried, throwing herself forward to give him a lung-crushing hug.

They embraced for a moment before Kaiba decided it was safe to ask, "Can I tell Papa about this? I'm really happy that one of your ears is fully-formed."

"O-Only if he won't laugh at me like you did," she pouted, and Kaiba was quick to defend himself. "I didn't laugh at your ear. I was laughing at your wave."

"What's wrong with my wave?!" She shrieked, and Kaiba winced, immediately regretting having said anything.

"It's cute," Kaiba assured her, patting her back and seeing her whip around to face her reflection again. "It was an 'I love you' laugh."

"I love you too Daddy," she said carefully, still obsessed with her reflection. "You're dismissed now. Please go and tell Papa about my ugly ear."

Wow, brat, Kaiba thought cheerily, exiting the room with an excited swish of his fins. Time to yell about this at the top of his lungs to the entire kingdom, because his little girl just formed an ear! Maybe they could pierce it in time for her Procession so she could wear one of Atem's earrings. That would really make him proud.

Atem sank into bed, exhausted and drained from the day's activities.

He remembered all this hustle and bustle for his own procession and was determined to give Adina the same treatment. She needed to know that this was an important turning point in her life. Maybe she would stop being so bratty if she realized there were real people who needed her help and guidance in the future. Being Queen wasn't all about having the same kind of shells for everyone at the table. It was a vain detail, but Atem secretly appreciated it.

Kaiba barged into his room without knocking, and Atem didn't have the energy to respond.

"Brought you something to eat because I bet you forgot," Kaiba said blithely, tossing a jar of eggs he'd stashed from Seth onto the bed. These were his favorite and honestly tasted the closest to anything he had on land, so he hoarded them secretly because Adina would steal them from the kitchens. Nothing was sacred because she was in charge.

"You sound so happy," Atem said dully, his fins aching from swimming back and forth through the entire palace multiple times. "You have so much energy. You could help, but your help is detrimental."

"Aw…thanks," Kaiba grinned, and grabbed Atem's arms, pulling him into a sitting position and pressing a quick kiss to his cheek, seeing the king's face redden slightly, but he still wore a tired expression.

"Guess what. I have a surprise," Kaiba said, and Atem gave him a weak smile.

"Please just tell me what it is."

Kaiba nodded slowly and held his hand out, showing Atem the husk of Adina's ear, waiting for an extreme reaction.

Atem blinked, and blinked again, his mind churning as he registered what he was looking at. A tiny…baby's ear. No… it couldn't be…
Adina's ear?!

"WHEN?!" Atem gasped, the energy coming back in a furious spurt as he snatched the ear from Kaiba's hand and held it up to the light, marveling at it.

"It's gross, right?" Kaiba offered unhelpfully, because he didn't know exactly. Just that Adina had been hiding it for a while. A day, a week? Hell, maybe even a month?

"Oh my goodness…" Atem breathed, cradling the ear while tears gathered behind his eyes. "This is incredible! I missed the moment it happened! She didn't tell me?! She told you! Mana says sometimes ears could catch on the edge of a comb and come off in our hands, and we could—"

"Yeah, so…. She hid it in my treasury," Kaiba said loudly, cutting off Atem's fantasizing. "I found it just lying there behind some bowls and I had to consult the Medic about bringing it up to her because it isn't normal for kids to hide their ears when they lose them apparently."

"She…did… what?!" Atem looked faint, and Kaiba reached a hand out to steady the king, feeling a bubble of guilt rise in his chest. "W-Was she ashamed? Why wasn't she happy?!" Atem cried, tears falling from his eyes for real this time, and Kaiba caught them expertly with a swipe of his hand, his palms burning from the tiny gems.

"Get this," Kaiba said, looking deeply into Atem's violent eyes. "She thought the other ear was ugly. And said that she didn't want everyone seeing her at the Procession with mis-matched ears and remembering her like that forever."

"She was embarrassed?!" Atem shook his head with disbelief.
This type of behavior was unheard of! He'd never heard of a hatchling being this self-conscious!
A lost ear was to be celebrated with singing, dancing, and festivities!

"She's vain!" Kaiba cried, exasperated, and to his relief, Atem cracked a smile.

"O-Of course," Atem said shakily, and he gazed down at the ear in his palm, feeling a rush of affection for Adina. It sounded like the princess knew exactly how important the Procession was, and that made his heart swell with pride.

They sat together in silence, holding hands and enjoying each other's company.

Atem broke the silence first with an idea. "I think I know how to make her feel better. Let's decorate the one ear she has, so she'll be extremely happy, she'll forget that her other ear hasn't formed."

"Yeah, I don't think she's easily fooled," Kaiba grinned handsomely, and Atem leaned playfully into him with a wink.

"You'd be surprised," Atem said warmly, remembering the time he'd lost only one of his ears at a time as well. "If we celebrate the one ear, she'll be excited about it too. We'll make her look pretty with the one ear she has. It worked for me, and I was fully aware of my other unformed ear, but since everyone acted like they didn't care, it helped me get over it."

Kaiba rolled his eyes and bit back a groan. Suuuure.


Author's note:

new chapter posting next week!