Mana shifted closer to the twins as Mahad and Anzu conversed lowly. "She's something else, that's for sure." Her eyes drifted down to the legs that were visible from the tattered dress's skirt. "Couldn't she at least have presented herself a bit better?" Onyx eyes widened as Yugi quickly filled her in on preventing the union between Atem's soulmate and Bakura, the Siren King, then finished with how they had ended up on the beach. "I could smack you both, I'm so upset with you!"

Hands instantly appeared over her mouth, cutting off anything else that she had to say when her volume grew too loud, all holding their breath and listening intently to see if the arguing pair had noticed. "There wasn't enough time to let anyone else know what was going on." Yugi's hands fell to the sand as no indication came that her outburst had been heard, his lavender meeting her onyx. "I'm sorry I kept quiet but you have to believe me when I say I was trying to prevent us from losing anything more than we already have."

"What are you talking about?"

Atem, whose gaze had remained upon Anzu, finally moved to rest upon Mana. "Our kingdom was destroyed, completely obliterated by an unknown force. I searched for answers while upon land but found that the records among the humans were no better than ours; for them, they described an intense natural disaster that swept the coastline without warning and claimed the lives of hundreds of people, including Anzu's parents." His hand rose and rested upon Yugi's shoulder when he gasped. "It was not just the subjects of our kingdom that were affected, the humans were as well, and then we saw the vision of what had transpired, shedding light upon who was responsible behind the catastrophe. It was all the Siren King's doing, he caused it all."

The merwoman expected the younger twin to shed a tear or even throw himself to the ground crying, he had always been the emotional one between the two, but she was taken aback when he instead looked to the human girl with sympathy. So it seemed that not just Atem had matured during his absence but both had become fine mermen indeed. "She must be truly something if you two have grown so much in just a short amount of time knowing her." Her lips lifted into a small smile as the girl suddenly sneezed, sending her a wink when their gazes met briefly. A faint memory surfaced within her mind, one that caused her eyes to narrow then grow wide with realization. "That girl…"

"Our mother was saved by a human, as you know, but were you aware that the woman later gave birth to a girl who was too sickly to survive?" Atem directed Mana's attention back to him and her gaze down to his hip where his thumb lightly brushed against the lighter colored scale. "I followed her that day she went to visit and had offered up my own scale so that the crying infant could get well but mother intervened, offering up her own instead in hopes to repay the debt between them. The human woman followed mother's instructions, using the scale in her child's medicine, and it wasn't long after that we were introduced to the lively toddler who had recovered thanks to her sacrifice."

"We were friends way back then," Yugi absentmindedly scratched the back of his head. "It was just so long ago and we were so young that it was impossible for either of us to remember or recognize her."

Her hand rose, fingers pressing against her lips. She had just been an apprentice at the time but she had once been charged of keeping secret watch over the late queen when she left the palace. The number of times she had followed the merwoman up to the surface to meet the human and her child were lost to her, the visits had been so frequent, but now that she had a closer look of the girl speaking to Mahad the truth was there: Anzu was the child who had played with the twin princes within the tidal pools. The queen had found out about her following them and had offered to introduce them properly but Mana had been raised within the kingdom walls of Atlantis, where all merfolk were raised to fear the humans. Honestly she too had forgotten about the human woman and child. Something was bothering her though. "If she is the child who received Queen Lazuli's scale then how is it that Bakura knew of it?"

A shadow fell over their faces as a soft cry came from Anzu, Mahad quickly offering her a small pill of concentrated herbs that would lessen her pain from one of the many pouches he carried which was gratefully accepted, their gazes flashing crimson for a brief second. "The kingdom falling and shoreline devastation was caused because he wished to feast upon a human child, and he had come upon land to search for the scale that would give him more power than he already possesses. He has even confessed to the past crime as well as the one he wishes to commit: consuming her heart and the scale that gave her life." Atem's hands clenched into fists. "Twice he has targeted Anzu for things she had no choice over and I won't allow a third."

Yugi blinked, expression growing panicked as he tapped his older brother's shoulder. "Speaking of which…"

"Wait, girl, you cannot be serious!" Mahad attempted to reach out, in hopes to stop her, but on land the merfolk were slower than sea slugs and she was already out of his reach. "What you're planning is suicide!"

She came to a halt, her cerulean eyes locking on Mahad. "If it's one thing I've learned and grown sick of is people telling me how I should live my life or that I can't do something." Her gaze drifted across the sand to meet Atem's worried amethyst as his lips parted. "I know I can do this and so can you."

He didn't like the possibilities of where this might be going. Not one bit. "Anzu?"

"Do you trust me?"

"You know I do."

Her lips lifted into a confident smile. "Then prepare to have your mind blown." She glanced once more to Mahad, saying that it was up to him to make sure things started in the way they needed to, then with a salute she stepped out of the rock's shadow so that she was in clear view of the arguing pair and sprinted across the sand, effectively catching their attention as she lead them away from those in hiding.