The next morning, Atem was brutally woken by a flustered and beyond comprehending Jono as he scurried about the room like the energizer bunny. "Wake up! Yugi is outside and needs your help!" They bolted from the room, his legs burning as he sprinted across the ground towards the shoreline, and fell to his knees heavily when he came across a figure slumped against a rock. There were lacerations across his entire body, some still oozing blood while others had already formed scabs, but each radiated with lingering magic that spoke of a battle. Lavender eyes cracked open at the sudden noise, relief filling him when his lavender eyes met the dark amethyst that were his older brother's. "You won't believe this."

The Siren King's lips lifted into a sneer as the human woman slowly succumbed to his spell, turning so that they were facing the ocean. He had donned the appearance of that loathsome merprince to strengthen the illusion to lure her to the beach and within his grasp. "Now, my dear, how shall we better make use of you?" A flash of bronze was his only warning but even he wasn't quick enough to prevent a collision that sent him reeling with a shout.

Lavender sparked brightly, his hands grasping her shoulders so that her head stayed above the water's surface as he moved them away from the seething siren. That also meant that he was drifting farther out away from the safety of the shore. If she were to remain unconscious and his grip would fail, she would surely drown. "I knew something was off when I spotted your minion in that cove!" He carefully shifted her onto his back, moving the belt that was around his waist to enclose around them both so his hands were free.

"Hand her over, guppy, you do not wish to sour my mood." The sneer almost fell but it intensified when she stirred. It had been for a split second but he had felt the faint traces of power within those hot blooded land dwellers and had managed to swipe the scale that was around her neck, hiding it within one of his tentacles. "So this is the young human who the merprince had formed an Ainma Vinculum with. Well, it seems that the little prince has the catch of the day."

One of Yugi's brows rose in confusion then grunted when arms wrapped around his neck from behind in a choke hold. "H-hold on! Wait a minute!" Her grip intensified and a glance over his shoulder brought enraged sapphire into view. She was awake but there were still hints within them that the illusion spell was still at work. That means he had only one option: to break it before she strangled him to death. "You better take a breath now cause I'm not coming back up until you let go." he muttered just low enough that only she could hear and dove beneath the waves.

It was as if she were waking from a horrible nightmare as the cold water nipped her skin, her arms moving to cling to the figure who sliced through the water as if it were made of butter. The air in her lungs burned for relief as they came to a stop, the momentum nearly carrying her farther than the mystery being but she had caught a glimpse of a metallic tail that subtly glistened in the minimal moonlight and the silhouette of while hair that stood upright. Her arms instantly wrapped around their waist as hey held a hand out to her and they shot upwards to the surface. A hand was instantly placed against her eyes but it wasn't necessary; her eyes were already closed as she coughed and gasped.

"Are you awake now?"

She froze as alarms blared loudly within her ears. This wasn't him!

"Easy now, don't go freaking out on me yet! I'm not here to hurt you, I'm here to do the opposite." Yugi's hand slipped from covering her eyes to place itself against her lips as they parted. The itch in his scales promised that the Siren King was still nearby so they had to be extremely quiet if they were going to get out of this mess. Her struggles ceased almost immediately and though she kept her eyes closed, she raised her hands and lightly traced his facial features. He wondered if this was some weird thing humans did but held still until her hands fell back to his shoulders. "Are we good now?"

"You're the voice I heard in the cove," her brows furrowed while keeping her voice barely above a whisper. "But you have a similar face shape to Yami. And you have a tail."

Now it was his brows turn to furrow. Who the heck was "Yami"? The mention of a tail though made him uneasy and cove. Had she seen Atem afterall? "I…" He blinked as her hands drifted down over his tunic and heat flooded his face when her fingers brushed against the scales near his waist. His hands instantly grasped her own and moved them as far away from his tail as possible. "Hasn't anyone ever taught you to not touch a merman's scales?!" He could have slapped himself as her breath hitched. "Oh crap…"

"I knew it!" Her eyes shot open, revealing victory filled sapphires that glittered with awe as they darted across his being.

"Hey, its rude to stare."

Fair cheeks burned with embarrassment. "I'm sorry, but can you really blame me? Anyone else would be freaking out and causing a huge uproar with the media about you!"

He was taken aback by her sudden outburst. "It's not like I'm anything special, especially not compared to my older brother."

She heard the underlying disdain and self loath behind his words, something had heard in her own voice several times. "It may feel like you're stuck in their shadow but believe you me there are things that even they can't do but you can." Her brows furrowed in concentration, unbeknownst to her that his lavender eyes had widened. "We each are our own beings, we are who we are. Only we can overcome the obstacles that try to block us from achieving our goals. It's okay to have help every once in a while, there's nothing wrong with that, but being completely dependable upon other's only hurts yourself in the long run because you don't develop your own strengths and sense of self." She raised her head so that their gazes met, her lips rising to form a smile. "But you don't want to do everything all by yourself. Take it from me, it gets kind of lonely when you don't have someone next to you."

Yugi was speechless. This human, this girl, was speaking as if she too had gone through what he had. There were several valid points to what she had said and each word dripped with heartfelt emotion that it was impossible for him not to be moved. His hand rose, carefully shifting a few of the wet tresses that stuck to her face behind her ear. "You're strange," he offered a smile back. "But I like you. I can see why my brother likes you so much now."

"So you do know Yami!"

"I promise, I don't know anyone by that name, but my name is Yugi."

A hiss drew their attention to the left and Yugi quickly shifted her onto his back as the eel woman rose from the water. "You have stolen something from my master, little minnow, I suggest you return it now before things get worse." Cerulean and lavender widened as she lunged, causing them to flinch backwards and into deeper water. The moon came out from behind a cloud and a scream threatened to rise from her throat if it hadn't been for the water that closed over her head and cut it off. She had never seen something so horrifying! This thing had a woman's upper torso but it looked as though there was a twelve foot eel that had had attempted to swallow her yet couldn't then merged with her! The duo rows of teeth between her parted lips were frightening and the pale hue of her skin showed what was contained within when she pursued them. "Give her to me now!"

Bubbles slipped from between her lips as she clung to the one thing that had promised he wasn't a threat and prayed with every fiber of her being that they would somehow make it out of this alive. Pair erupted through the pair as the eel siren entwined herself around them, her quills and scales scratching against them, and broke the surface with chorused agony filled cries as electrical currents coursed through them.

"I don't know what happened after that," he grunted, reaching up to brush his fingers against the bright red bite mark on his shoulder. "But that's not all." He explained that he had followed the shadow from the cove back to a Leviathan corpse so far within the Mariana Trench that even he had struggled to keep the minion in view. They had caught sight of him and it had taken him all night to lose them before coming to the surface. He had been in time to witness something that confirmed what he and Mana had previously discovered but now things were in motion that if action wasn't taken then not only the marine world but the human world could be affected. "They altered your contract by adding a time limit. By sunset tonight you're going to turn back into a merman and be their slave for all eternity! They want to use you as a bartering chip to get their hands on grandfather Solomon's trident!"

Atem's heart would have cracked if it weren't for the seething anger in his chest. How dare they! His thoughts turned to the girl he had come to care for and hung his head. Things had been going so well, they were growing closer with each passing day at a comfortable pace, but now this. He would surely have to return to the ocean before she could witness his transformation and the thought of breaking her heart by his departure made his own chest feel as though a humpback whale was sitting on it. Was he okay with sacrificing their budding relationship if it meant to save his grandfather's kingdom? To most the answer would have been obvious but he could not bring himself to muster the resolve to harm her.

Yugi's heart fell as his brother turned away and walked back towards the mansion, the feeling that the worst to come weighed heavily on his young mind. He had only met the human girl for a brief time but there was a memory coming in through the haze in his head…

"Y-you want me so bad?" Trembling hands were clutching his shoulders, keeping him upright as sand crunched beneath and rough rock met his back as the hands disappeared. "Then come and get me!" His eyes cracked open in time to see her take a protective stance in front of him just in time to take the force of a tail that swung in their direction but she was quick enough to hop over it and sprint down the beach, effectively leading the eel siren away from where he was hidden but there was a telltale scream followed by a splash.

She had saved him…the human girl had sacrificed herself to lead the siren away. He grunted, shifting across the sand so the waves crashing upon the beach could reach him. There's only one place that the eel siren would go and he could only hope that he was in time to save her.