Mana groans lightly and slowly sits up in her bed the next morning. She stretches her arms over her head and sighs with a smile. After that bath she had last night, it made her sleep extremely well. She feels refreshed, full of energy and ready to take on the world.
"What time is it?" she mumbles to herself, rubbing her eyes before looking over to the nearby clock that reads 10 am.
"Whoa, I really slept in didn't I?" That's when realization sets in. It is well into the morning and no baby. Atem should be close to home at this point. They are totally in the clear. Even if she were to go into labor soon, at least Atem would be there.
She leaps out of bed, raising her hands up in triumph. "Success!" she exclaims happily. But a warm sensation trickling down her leg causes the smile to drop from her face. She blinks a few times before looking down.
"Someone's finally up," Téa says walking in the bedroom. "It's about time you—" Her eyes slowly go down and her eyes nearly pop out of its sockets.
Mana blushes and waves her hands in front of her. "It's not pee, I swear!"
Atem stomps on the gas after receiving the phone call from Téa that Mana's water has just broke. Luckily, they were already ten minutes into their drive back home, but that doesn't make him go any slower. He grips the wheel, zig zagging through traffic and running red lights while Yugi holds onto the door for dear life.
"Atem! We need to get there alive!" he reminds his brother, but his attempts of trying to get Atem to slow down end in failure.
"Hey Téa, what should I take to the hospital?" Mana asks, going through her clothes.
"How am I supposed to know?! I've never been pregnant before!" Téa replies. Why does it appear that she is the only one freaking out, but Mana isn't? The fact that Mana is taking her sweet time to pack a bag that should have already been packed doesn't surprise her, but she wishes that she would at least show some sort of urgency.
"Ooh! I can't forget the baby's clothes too!"
"Uh…yeah. That's definitely important." Téa slaps her forehead. "You're entirely too calm for me right now."
Finally pulling up, Atem hops out of the car and bursts through the house, calling out Mana's name.
"We're in the bedroom!" Téa calls back.
He sprints up the stairs, running down the hall until he reaches the room. Mana is just putting the last of her things in a bag and she places her hands on her hips. "Mana!"
Mana turns around and smiles. "You made it!"
Her cheerful attitude throws him off a little. He was expecting to come in the house to complete chaos and screaming. Instead, she is calm and shows no signs of distress, nor is she rushing to get out the door. "Are you alright?" he asks, going to her side. "Do you need to sit down for a minute to catch your breath?"
At this moment, Yugi has just made it into the room and he is equally shocked at the tranquil atmosphere. "I'm fine. But I'm so hungry," she replies and on cue, her stomach begins to growl.
"Well you better eat now. They're not gonna allow you to eat once you get in the hospital," Téa tells her. "At least, not until after the baby is born."
Mana's eyes go wide in horror. "Seriously?! No way!"
"Yes way."
"I can't believe this is what you're thinking about at a time like this," Atem says, placing a hand up to his forehead, though a huge part of him is relieved that he got there in time. After getting everything squared away and allowing Mana to indulge in her favorite meal, they make their way to the hospital.
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Yugi and Téa sit in the waiting area of the hospital, wanting to give Atem and Mana this time alone as they welcome their newborn child. The lights in the room Mana is in are dim and calm music plays in the background. Atem holds onto Mana's hand as she sits up in bed, breathing through every contraction. He is amazed at how calm she is during this moment of what he believes to be intense pain. He has seen plenty of movies where the woman is screaming and crying out, squeezing their partner's hand while yelling at the doctors. But this is the opposite of what he expected.
Her eyes are closed as if in deep meditation, blocking out any outside distractions. There are moments where her face may scrunch up from an intense contraction, but then it returns to normal, resuming her normal breathing. Whenever pearls of sweat forms on her forehead, he immediately gets up to get a cold towel to wipe her face, whispering to her softly on how she's doing a great job.
He admires her strength, the sacrifices she's made, everything that she has had to go through with this pregnancy. He doesn't take it lightly.
The midwife comes in wearing all of her gear, ready to deliver the baby at last. She instructs Mana on when to push and she obliges. Atem looks on, watching as Mana uses all of her strength to bear down.
"Here comes the head," the midwife says. "Just a little bit more!"
Mana continues to push on command, the only thing on her mind is pushing the tiny human out that she nurtured within her own body.
"Here she comes!" The head and part of the shoulders are visible. "Do you want to take a feel?"
Mana opens her eyes for the first time in awhile, and she reaches both hands down there, first feeling on the head as it gradually begins to slide out on its own until…
The midwife and Atem's eyes widen in surprise. "Ma'am?"
As Mana continues to push, without thinking she gently grabs hold on the baby that is now halfway out, and she pulls her out on her own before resting her on her chest. The midwife, taken slightly aback by this motion, snaps out of her trance and she and the nurse grab towels to clean the baby up, removing any fluid from her nose and mouth as the baby cries out for the first time. They instruct Atem on how to cut the cord before he joins Mana back at her side.
Immediately, her motherly instincts kick in and she comforts the baby, holding her closely. She nuzzles her nose into the baby's cheek. Nearly nine months of carrying her, wondering what she will look like and she's finally here, laying in her arms. No words can express the amount of unconditional love she feels for a tiny human that she has only known for a few minutes. Atem leans in, pecking a kiss on Mana's forehead before taking a look at his newborn daughter. She has a head full of black hair and her skin at the moment is pale.
"Congratulations you two," the midwife says with a smile. "I can't believe you pulled your own baby out, Mana."
Mana chuckles weakly. "Sorry. My body just kinda did a thing on its own, I guess." She looks down at her daughter with a smile. "She's beautiful."
"Yes she is," Atem agrees, a warm smile appearing on his lips. He can't believe his daughter has finally made her entrance into this world. What he is feeling in this very moment is indescribable. He is happy that he was able to experience this special moment, watching his wife give birth to their newborn daughter.
Noticing eyes on her, Mana turns her head, giving Atem her signature grin. He can't help but smile and he presses his forehead against hers. "I love you," he says, kissing her on the lips and she kisses back.
Their gaze returns to their daughter, whose eyes finally open, briefly revealing an amethyst color that matches her father's until she closes them again. "Did we ever decide on her name?" Mana asks.
"We decided to name her where both of our roots originate from," Atem reminds her.
"Oh yeah," Mana giggles.
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"She is so adorable!" Téa gushes as Atem holds on to his daughter. After getting all cleaned up, Mana and Atem have opened up their room for visitors. Yugi looks on with a smile. "Look Kisara!" She puts the camera on her cellphone on the baby and Kisara squeals.
"SO CUTE! Ugh! I wish I were there right now! I'll be there as soon as I can! Stupid traffic!" Kisara yells before blowing her horn and gripping the wheel impatiently. "Get a move on!"
"I'm so proud of you guys," Yugi says, placing a hand on Atem's shoulder and looking over to Mana who stuffs her face with food after hours of labor. "What's her name?"
Mana answers with a mouth full of food, making it hard for everyone to understand and causing Téa and Yugi to raise an eyebrow. "It's Cairo," Atem answers for Mana who nods with a smile before continuing to eat.
"Awww, I love that," Téa says, clasping her hands together, finding it hard not take her eyes off the baby.
Mana groans loudly. The hospital food that she is eating is leaving her very much unsatisfied still. She attempts to get up, just as a nurse walks in. "I gotta get some real food!"
"Mana, you shouldn't be trying to stand on your own," the nurse advises.
"I'll be fine!" Mana practically leaps out of bed, to the nurse's surprise.
"How are you able to…But you just had a…"
Téa slaps her forehead. "You magicians are like a totally different species."
Mana rolls her neck and stretches her arms over her head, side eyeing her friend with a pout. "Hey! Don't refer to me as if I'm some sort of alien!"
"Well you're definitely not normal," Téa replies with a shrug and a smirk.
"The nurse is right," Atem intervenes. "You need to take it slow."
Mana sighs heavily and hops back in bed, pulling out her phone. "Well since I can't go anywhere, I'm having Kisara stop off and get me something along the way," she grumbles and Atem shakes his head, smiling. He looks back down to his daughter who now sleeps peacefully. Thoughts run through his head ranging from who will she end up looking like further down the line or how he and Mana are going to handle this drastic change in terms of getting sleep. This is all new territory for the both of them, but regardless, he knows he and Mana will work together to be the best parents they can be.
He vows to love and protect his daughter, and to guide her as best as he knows how through this thing called life.
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Sitting crossed legged on the middle of the bed, Mana observes her broken wand as she feeds Cairo who is wrapped in a blanket. About two weeks have passed since giving birth to her daughter. Letting out a long yawn, she rubs her tired eyes. Sleep has practically been nonexistent with a newborn baby, but it's to be expected. Luckily, her and Atem have come up with their own routine in this short period of time of being home, making things slightly easier.
She outstretches her hand, causing her broken wand to levitate in the air and her eyes begin to glow pink. Atem walks in the room as she is chanting a spell in one of many attempts to fix her wand. Between the gap of the two broken pieces, static electricity forms and it appears that she will be successful in fixing it this time around. But once again, things go haywire, and the two pieces fly in different directions, bouncing off a wall and the other narrowly missing Atem's head as he ducks just in time.
"Sorry," Mana apologizes.
"Maybe you shouldn't do that around the baby," Atem says, bringing the two pieces to her and setting it back on the bed.
"Noted." She looks down to Cairo who is finished eating and she pulls down her shirt before putting her over her shoulder and patting her on the back.
"What exactly happened that night?" Atem asks, referring to her run in with Ziegfried.
"After leaving the convenience store, I was face to face with one of his Valkyrie's. When it tried to slice me, without thinking, I pulled out my wand to block it and here's the end result," she explains. A huge part of her believes that simple motion is probably what kicked off her contractions. "Arcana saved me and followed the Valkyrie when it tried to escape. He confirmed that it was in fact Ziegfriend."
Atem folds his arms. "Too bad we don't have any proof."
"Not yet," Mana says with a smirk. She lays Cairo on her lap, making funny faces at her and playing with her hands in a circular motion.
"What are you planning?"
"Well I'd have to make sure it's okay with Seto first. But maybe we can catch him at the reopening of KaibaLand."
"Are you sure that's a good idea? There's bound to be people there and we'd be potentially putting them in harm's way."
"The more the merrier!" Mana exclaims to Atem's surprise. "Ziegfried seems to be drawn to ruining events that have huge crowds anyway."
"You can't be serious, Mana. What's really going through that head of yours?" he asks suspiciously. "You're being vague."
"Let's discuss it further with Seto," she says, bringing Cairo into her arms and briefly nuzzling her nose against hers.
Atem sucks his teeth, feeling slightly agitated. After Kaiba went off on them about interfering and how he didn't need anyone's help, he really isn't enthusiastic on having a meeting with him, especially since he still hasn't apologized or changed his attitude. At the same time, Ziegfried also seems to have an obsession with Mana, Kisara and Téa. He doesn't want them to get hurt. He's ready to deal with Ziegfried once and for all.
"You know, she really does have your eyes," Mana says, taking him out of his thoughts and he looks down at Cairo who stares up at him curiously. Her chocolate skin matches her parents and she has a lot of black hair for a newborn.
Atem smirks. "Maybe she'll at least have your sense of humor since it appears she's going to end up looking like me," he jokes.
"Oh hush! That's remains to be seen!"
"On another note," he says, going back to the Ziegfried subject. Mana passes Cairo over to him and she stands up, doing a few stretches. "Not that I'm asking you to delve much deeper into your plan since it's clear that you're not going to tell me at the moment…but if this does involve some sort of face-off, are you sure you'd be ready for that?"
"Of course!" Mana says confidently. She jumps in the air, attempting to fly. She grunts, trying to keep herself balanced until she drops on her rear with a thud. "Okay, maybe not. I guess I'm rusty for going so long without using my abilities."
"Perhaps you should pay Arcana a visit before having your meeting," Atem suggests. "There's still a few weeks left before the grand reopening."
"Yeah, I think you're right," she chuckles. "But I'm a little nervous at the thought of him training me."
"Hm? Why's that?"
"I mean come on. He's got his baby flying already. There's no way I could ever think about doing that to Cairo," Mana says looking at her. "I can only imagine what he's going to put me through to whip me back in shape."
"Need I remind you that Mahad wasn't very easy on you either," he brings up, remembering the intense training their old friend put her through. She'd have to hide the bruises and scrapes when she went to school and was tired all of the time. But his trainings along with those of her own and countless battles have made her into the magician that she is currently. "If you made it through that, then you'll be fine."
Mana groans. "Hope you're right." She falls back, laying flat on the floor and raising her phone above her so that she can text Arcana. "Maybe he can help me fix my wand too." She presses send after writing a short message. Almost instantly, she gets a text back from him, inviting her to come for training first thing tomorrow morning.
She sighs heavily. "Great." She looks over at Atem. "What about you? Going back to work?"
"I am in no rush to get back to work and seeing Kaiba's face."
"I was actually pleasantly surprised that he sent flowers to the hospital. Guess he isn't that bad, huh?" she says with a grin to which Atem rolls his eyes.
She places the phone on her chest, closing her eyes and inhaling deeply before exhaling, mentally preparing herself for the day she is about to have tomorrow morning. She's dreading it, but she knows its necessary. There's no way she can go against Ziegfried in her current condition. So tomorrow will be the start of her training to get her back in shape. And she has no choice but to be ready for what's to come.
'I can do this.'
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Hope you guys enjoyed this chapter! And thanks for the reviews!