Mari's POV:

I stared at Nashwa in shock and anger. "He's manipulating me?" I didn't mean to, but it came out as a snarl. Nashwa drew back, surprised.

"Mari…I'm really sorry about this…" she began, but I cut her off with a little shove.

"The pathetic fool," I sneered coldly. "He doesn't know who he's playing with. Well, if he wants to play dirty, I'm going to play even dirtier. I'll make sure that he loses at his own game. And I'll make sure that he feels pain." My throat tightened up again, but my voice was still cold and sneering. "I'll make sure that he feels the same pain that he has caused me, and even more. I'll make him bow down before me, and beg for mercy!"

Nashwa stared at me, shock and confusion clear on her face. "Mari, what's happened to you? You have changed…" she whispered. "You've changed so much. I can't find that little Mari who used to be my best friend in you. You…you're like a totally different person." When I stared at her coolly, Nashwa bowed her head, and murmured, "Take care." Then she ran off.

I turned, and gasped. Atem was standing behind me, his arms folded across his chest. He raised his eyebrows when I stepped back a bit. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to eavesdrop, but I did. So that was your friend?"

I bristled. "No, that girl isn't my friend." I stared at the retreating figure of Nashwa, way in the distance now. "She was my friend. Now she is just another everyday girl to me."

"And what was that about you associating with the tomb robber Bakura?" I whirled around, my anger lashing out at him.

"It's none of your business! Just leave me alone!" I snarled. "Why is it any of your concern?"

Atem just stood there and stared at me with an emotionless face. Finally he replied, "Mari, one of the servants reported that he saw you talking to Bakura last night. Do you deny it?"

I felt as if my heart had dropped from the balcony. 'He knows!'

Atem continued in the same emotionless voice, "He also reported that you were working for Bakura as a secret agent, as a spy, to pass information about the palace to him. And about me. He told me that if you did your duty and satisfied Bakura, Bakura had promised you freedom, and great wealth."

I felt frozen. 'Ra, no….' I looked down, wondering what the punishment was for spies.

Atem stepped a bit closer to me. "And he also told me…that you refused to tell Bakura anything."

I looked up, and saw to my great relief that Atem was smiling at me. "I am quite grateful for that, Mari," he whispered. "Thank you, but why? I thought freedom and wealth meant everything to you."

To my own surprise, I felt myself smiling back at him. "I was getting sick of that tomb robber ordering me about. Besides, you'd never harmed me. I didn't want to harm someone for no reason."

Before I realized what was happening, Atem had embraced me. I felt my body stiffen at first, but I soon relaxed in his arms. It was a new, warm feeling. It made feel like someone cared about me. The only person who had ever hugged me was Nashwa.

'Nashwa…' I felt uncomfortable about what I had told her a few minutes ago. 'I didn't mean to be so harsh… After all, he is her older brother. Her family. She still cares about him…'

Atem seemed to be thinking the same thing. "Mari… that girl, Nashwa… I think you showed her a bit of your ice queen side."

I nodded. "I just sort of snapped when she told me I was being manipulated…again. I had been manipulated and tricked so many times… You'd think that after so much I've went through, I would be used to this sort of stuff…but I'm not. Every time, it hurts a bit more than the last time. The pain doesn't go away. It just keeps building up… I used to tell myself that pain is nothing since it's the only emotion I've ever felt, but I was lying to myself…" I closed my eyes, and felt Atem caress my hair.

"Mari, you don't need to go through all this pain by yourself," he murmured. "No one can endure pain by themselves… I'll stand by you, help you, pull you through."

I smiled at him. "I just realized that I remembered how to smile. All those years as a slave, laboring under horrible mistresses, I thought I had forgotten. And I think I did, for many years. After all, it's easy to frown, but not so easy to smile. But you helped me remember. Thank you…"

Atem gave me a soft kiss on the forehead, and I didn't pull away. "It should be me who's thanking you. Before you came, I was always lonely. I always felt forgotten…like no one cared about me. You've helped relieve that loneliness. You can be good…when you don't have that ice queen attitude surrounding you." He grinned, and I smiled back.

It feels good to smile.

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Nashwa's POV:

'I can't believe this…' I thought as I rushed back to the thieves' hideout. 'I expected that slavery would change her a bit, but not as much as this… The Mari I knew is gone from her… And she plans to harm my brother… I know he's cruel and all, but he's still my brother, and I know he does care about me. Should I warn him?'

But a small voice inside me whispered, 'But Mari… She's cold and changed and everything, but she's still your closest friend ever since childhood. You're going to let your brother torment her? Maybe even kill her?'

'I don't know what to do… I have to choose between my brother and my best friend… I would have chosen Mari, but now that I've seen her like this…'

Shuddering, Nashwa snuck back to the thieves' cave. 'Maybe they'll forget that I snuck off by tomorrow… Ra, please don't let anyone…'

I felt a strong arm grab my waist, and a hand was roughly clapped over my mouth.

"Welcome back," sneered a familiar voice. "Your brother was so worried about you."

The arm spun me around, and I faced Malik.

'I guess I prayed too late.'

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SHD: This is the shortest chap I've ever written, but plz bear with us. We're going on a vacation to San Francisco, and I wanted to update real quick before we left.

Sunae: Plz review and tell us what you think! We'll be back in less than a week!