"How can this be?!" The goddess seethed, lifting the unconscious form of Bakura from the rubble with great care. He was covered in several burns, a few chunks of his platinum hair were burned away, and the wound in his chest had reopened. The slow heartbeat within his chest assured her that he was alive but it would take a while for him to heal. As an immortal, even if a healing spell was cast, he would be immobile for a while. "How dare she harm my son!" She tucked him within the elaborate headdress she wore, ensuring that he would not fall in case she were to engage in battle, and turned her blazing eyes upon the nearby sandy beach as her control over the eldest prince was completely broken. "Now, human child, you shall die by my hands alone!"

. . . .

Seto's sapphire eyes widened as the monstrous beast rose farther out of the water. It was easily five times the size of Burj Khalifa in Dubai! For a moment he was awestruck by its oddly familiar appearance, mentally giving kudos to the creators of the popular FFXV game that he had once played during his free time with Anzu napping upon the couch. The monster within the game had been large, considerably smaller now compared to the one before him, but their overall coloring and shape were breathtaking; deep dark indigo scales, dragon like head, eyes so vivid they would surely burn themselves into the memory of any whose gaze it met, large fins that looked more like wings that could possibly cover the entire sky if stretched out fully. This beast, this monster, was Leviathan?

He came to a stop within the kitchen doorway while glancing at the clicking clock on the wall. Here she was with her nose buried in a book practically sitting in the dark with her plate of now cold food laying forgotten upon the counter next to her. This was the third dinner she's missed and no amount of scolding from him or the counselors resulted in her cleaning the plate. "Are you still reading those old fairy tales?"

"So what if I am," she huffed, moving the book to the side as he reached to take it, her dulled eyes never leaving the page as her monotone voice echoed off the cold marble counters and tile. "I'll go to bed when I finish reading this chapter."

So she was avoiding not just the food but also her room. She'd been doing that a lot lately, ever since they had come back from the custody hearing from a distant relative attempting to claim and separate them. The so called relative had been anything but kind to her whenever his back was turned and court quickly ruled against them once he had showcased the security footage. "You've read that book a thousand times already, Anzu, and it's getting late."

"I've already read the parts I like, now its just time for the scariest one of them all." His brow rose when she turned the page and pointed to an illustrated drawing of a sea serpent with fangs. "See that? The greatest being in all the oceans is that right there: Leviathan. Some say its as old as the planet itself while others think it is the transformed lover of the Sea Goddess."

"A sea snake like that with a goddess?" Damn his curiosity...

She raised a finger, nearly stabbing him in the nose with how close they were. Her eyes were glittering and he knew what that meant: he was about to get a lesson. It has been too long since she's looked this excited about anything so he was willing to listen and settled upon one of the stools. "Lots of people think the same way as you but there are others who say otherwise." A whimsical expression crossed her features. "Can you just imagine being the sole member of your species, wandering through the ocean currents with no one to share the passage of time with? I think he shed his scales and fins to walk on land in hopes that he could find someone."

His gaze rose up to the ceiling. "Are you sure you're not just mixing up things? That sounds like one of your romance novels."

"It would explain a lot of things if you really think about it." She rested her head against her hand, staring down at the drawing of what the goddess, Aquarius, may have looked like. "It could have been that he had completely forgotten who he was, truly thinking he was a human after living amongst them for so long that when the ship he was destroyed by a terrible storm he very well could have drowned if she hadn't saved him. It would further explain why the humans reacted with jealousy and strove to protect him when they discovered how she was attempting to lure hi with her song. It's a tragic love story, one that no one knows the true answer to. Who's to say what's right and what's wrong though?"

He had ridiculed her at the time, saying that magic never existed in the first place so the stories she always read were false. The sirens in particular had always frightened her most, with their pale coloration and nightmarish appearances, but she had been robbed of sleep for weeks after reading about the Leviathan. Now he understood her fear of the creature. It was terrifying to behold. His hold upon the leather seat he sat upon tightened when its piercing gaze rose up, feeling as though it was searching his very soul for something, and cursed lowly when its maw opened.