Walking up to the huge red and white tent, Mana looks upward toward the highest peak with her hands in the pockets of her grey hoodie. It is early in the morning, with the sun barely rising and practically no signs of life on the sidewalks. Yawning loudly, she finally steps inside. It is quiet and somewhat dark as she walks deeper within the tent until she stands in the middle. Looking around, she surprisingly doesn't see Arcana at all, causing her to wonder if she got the time wrong.

"I'm here!" she announces loud enough for her voice to sound through the area.

"About time," a familiar voice answers, coming through one of the many entrances. Even with it being extremely early, Arcana is fully dressed in his regular get up.

Mana raises an eyebrow. "What do you mean 'about time'?" she asks. "I got here on time."

"Being on time is late."

She cuts her eyes at him with disbelief. "Oh…you're one of those…" she mutters before getting serious, clasping her hands together. "So what first? I was thinking we could work on magical blasts or levitating spells. I'm a little rusty on those and…"

"Running."

"…I was hoping you could help me fix my— RUNNING?" she repeats, her eyes going big. "You can't be serious."

"I'm very serious, Mana."

"But I don't need help with running. I run just fine."

"Prove it."

She finds herself standing outside in the middle of the empty street alongside Arcana. "You're gonna run in a suit?" she asks him.

"Beat me and we'll skip right through the running portion of our training and straight to the hardcore stuff."

"Oh I'll win," she replies with confidence, though a part of her wonders what he means by 'hardcore.'

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Atem lounges on the couch with his hands crossed behind his head and his feet kicked up. The television softly plays in front of him, but loud enough for him to hear every word and the lights are off in the living room. An old interview that first aired yesterday shows Kaiba talking about the reopening of his theme park in the coming weeks. He is optimistic that things will go smoothly, showing no hint of doubt at all.

"Unbelievable," Atem says under his breath lowly. With how Kaiba's big events have been going, he really hopes that his cousin is only putting up a huge front and actually implementing more measures to ensure things will go without incident.

He looks down when a light grunt escapes the lips of his daughter who rests peacefully on his chest, curled up on her tummy and her rump tooted to the air. He lightly caresses her hair and looks back up to view the rest of the interview. He ponders on what Mana's plan will be. Whatever it is, she seems very confident that it will work.

A loud vibrating noise coming from his phone that is sitting on the table startles Cairo awake and she begins to whimper. He pats her back soothingly as he reaches over to see who it is. Of course, it is none other than Kaiba, and he's sure that his cousin isn't calling him to have a friendly chat. More than likely, Kaiba wants him to do something, even after granting him paternity leave. It was a decision that wouldn't have been final had it not been for Kisara giving Kaiba hell for even considering not giving Atem paternity leave to begin with.

Ultimately, he decides to ignore Kaiba, turning the phone over to lay on its face. The only thing he does intend on doing is going to the reopening. Any other requests from Kaiba will just have to wait. Cairo lifts her head a little, squirming and becoming restless.

"Let's start our day, shall we?" he says, smiling down at her.

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Kisara raises her cup of tea to her lips, her eyebrow raised as she sits across from Mana who chows down on her food with a sense of urgency. Even though she is wearing a hoodie, a few of her injuries are still visible from her training with Arcana.

"I take it training is going well?" Kisara asks, setting her cup down. Mana pauses briefly to shoot a glare at her blue haired friend before continuing to eat. She doesn't have much time. Surprisingly, Arcana is allowing her to get a quick bite to eat before resuming strenuous training. "You know we're barely halfway through the day and you look like crap."

"Thanks for noticing," Mana says sarcastically, putting down her fork and using the back of her sleeve to wipe her mouth. "I knew Arcana's trainings would be hard, but not this hard. It's like an accelerated training to get me back to my old self but at quicker rate. Once I master one thing, he's on to the next. I feel like I'm gonna die." She slouches back on her chair with a groan.

"What's all this training for anyway?"

"I need to make sure I'm in the best of shape once we finally catch Ziegfried in the act and stop his madness once and for all."

Kisara's eyes go wide. "So you have a plan then?"

"I do." She sits up straight before jumping to her feet. "Should probably get back."

"Hold on! What's the plan?!"

"You'll know soon!" Mana exclaims, running off before Kisara can press her any further. Kisara sighs heavily and shakes her head, watching her friend dash down the street.

"You're late," Arcana says, standing in the middle of the tent with his arms folded.

"By like one minute!" Mana snaps.

"Late." He turns his back and Mana sticks her tongue out while he isn't looking before pouting. "So now that you've gotten that out of your system…" Mana jumps slightly, gritting her teeth. Did he see that somehow? "I want you to come at me with everything you've got."

Mana blinks. "Huh? But…" She looks down at her injuries. She still hasn't managed to heal herself just yet. Relearning some of her magic has been somewhat difficult. It's like relearning a skill you've worked years to master. Once you stop using it, it's almost like starting all over again.

"You've come a long way since we started today and I'm not surprised. But you still haven't mastered a few things and the only way you will, is if we go full out. We won't get everything accomplished if we're still in training mode," he says and she clenches her teeth. "Come now."

She takes a deep breath. "Okay…" Outstretching her hand, she shoots a ball of energy in his direction, but he stands perfectly still as it whooshes by him. Then she shoots another, only for it to have the same outcome. He narrows his eyes as her multiple attempts end in what he believes to be failure.

"Focus, Mana! Or have my trainings been moving too fast for you?" he asks.

"Nope." Mana grins to his surprise and that's when he looks up. All of the magical balls that she shot at him were now surrounding him on all sides. She must have missed intentionally. She raises her hands before dropping them down with much force, causing all of the magical spheres to collide into Arcana at once in a huge explosion. "Heh. I'm a quick learner, little does he know," she mutters.

Before the smoke has a chance to clear, Arcana launches a few blasts of his own, catching her off guard. She narrowly dodges each one until she trips over her own feet, causing one of his magical spheres to be a direct hit. She goes flying, hitting the bleacher area inside the tent and she grunts when her back hits the wooden surface.

"Ugh…I don't think I can take anymore…" she says to herself, but loud enough for Arcana to hear.

"Giving up already?" he asks. "Or are you holding back?"

She spits out blood and wipes her mouth before looking down at the back of her hand that is stained red. Her energy is beginning to run low, but no matter how much she tries, she still can't manage to heal herself. That spell used to be second nature to her. But the weaker she is, the harder the spell becomes.

Seeing the presence of a shadow right on top of her, she gasps, quickly looking up, only to meet the palm of Arcana's hand as it begins to glow. "You let your guard down," he says, blasting her with another direct hit and she cries out in pain, this time, being blown right through the bleachers.

Coughing, she struggles to get to her feet. There are holes through her thick hoodie, and cuts, bruises and blood practically covering her body. She finally stumbles to stand up straight, glaring at Arcana. She knew his trainings would be no joke, but she also didn't think she would have to fight for her life either.

"Looks like you still have some fight left," he says walking up to her. "Let's take it up a notch."

Her eyes widen in horror. How far can he possibly take this? She watches as he snaps his fingers and she suddenly finds herself on top of a high rise building located downtown. The wind blows through her hair and she struggles to keep her balance.

"What are we doing up here?" she asks with a confused expression. He replies by walking up to her and she begins to take some steps back. But quickly she finds that she is running out of flat surface to stand on and soon, she is standing on the edge of the roof. She holds out her hands. "Wait! I still don't think I can fly yet! We went over it briefly but—"

"Time's up. So I guess you'd better learn now," he says, using his index finger to nudge her back. She waves her arms frantically, trying to stay upright, but when she takes another step back, she begins to fall. Luckily for her quick reflexes, she grabs the edge of the building with both of her hands. But soon she realizes that pulling herself up may be impossible in her current state.

"Arcana!" she yells, struggling to hold on. "Arcana! This isn't funny!"

He only looks down at her with an emotionless expression. Many may think his methods of training is extreme, but Mana has made a lot of progress. He believes this will finally get Mana back to her old self once and for all. "I'll see you at the bottom. One way or another." He snaps his fingers again, disappearing and leaving her up there alone.

Atem pushes Cairo in her stroller, taking her out for some fresh air in the downtown area. After feeding her, giving her a fresh diaper and some gentle rocking, she has drifted to sleep in her stroller, despite the loud noises of the cars whooshing past her and the talking pedestrians. Up ahead, he sees Arcana standing at a distance with his arms folded.

"That's strange…" he says raising an eyebrow. "I thought he and Mana were training."

Hearing footsteps close in on him, Arcana turns his head, seeing Atem approaching. "Hello Atem. Didn't expect to see you here." He looks down to Atem's sleeping daughter and smiles. "How's fatherhood?"

"It's…going well, thank you," he replies. "…Where's—"

"Mana? She's in the middle of a training," Arcana replies, his eyes slowly looking up.

"I thought you two were training toge—" Atem's eyes follow Arcana's gaze and a look of shock appears on his face, seeing Mana hold on for dear life. He knows Mana mentioned Arcana's trainings were probably going to be tough, but he didn't think it would be like this and he has a good feeling that Mana didn't either.

"It's alright. No need to make a scene." He looks back down at Atem who hasn't looked away from the sight of Mana hanging off the side of building. "She has some things she needs to work out."

"What do you mean?" Atem asks, finally looking at the tall magician.

Mana grits her teeth as she struggles to hang on. She can feel her arms beginning to shake after many attempts to pull herself up. But she just doesn't have enough strength.

'It's either fly or die,' she says in her head. 'But why can't I get out of my head? Just do it, Mana!'

She growls in frustration. "COME ON!" she yells at the top of her lungs, her grip beginning to slip until only the tips of her fingers are latched on. "You did everything else just fine! Come on! Why are you overthinking this?! Why now?!" Her nails slide against the concrete of the roof until she feels herself going into a free fall.

Her voice escapes her, not being able to scream from the amount of shock her body is going through as she plummets toward the ground. She waves her arms and kicks her feet in attempt to get herself to fly and she ends up accidentally maneuvering herself so that she is now falling head first.

Arcana places an arm in front of Atem when he attempts to step forward. "Wait for it," Arcana says with confidence.

As she falls, she catches glimpse of Atem and the stroller containing her baby. There's no way she can go out like this. Not like this. Not when she has so much to live for. She can feel her body quickly approaching the ground and she shuts her eyes, clenching her fists in a last minute attempt to focus her energy.

Atem and Arcana watch as a pink aura appears around her and body finally stops midair, unbeknowst to her. Atem sighs with relief. "She did it." Arcana only nods with a smirk.

Mana slowly opens her eyes and looks up. A gasp emits from her lips when she realizes that not only has she managed to keep herself from falling, but how close the pavement is from the top of her head. She rotates so that she is floating upright before landing on her feet.

"Good work," Arcana compliments as she stumbles in their direction, her eyes narrowed and staring forward. Her body continues to glow as she begins healing herself with each step that she takes. "I had no doubt that you could do it once we took things up a notch and made the training more realistic. Life and death situations tend to bring out—"

SLAP.

Atem tugs at his shirt as a drop of sweat goes down his temple, witnessing Mana hit Arcana across the face. Standing directly beside Arcana after that blow, she stares forward with a look of agitation. Her body is fully healed, but she still feels exhausted. Before she can say anything, she collapses forward and Arcana holds up her limp body using his arm and his free hand holding his red cheek with a surprised expression.

He looks over to Atem who looks away awkwardly.

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Groaning lightly, Mana finally opens up her eyes. Somehow she is back in her bedroom and it is now evening. Holding her head, she sits up and gets out of bed, walking over to the mirror. Surprisingly she is out of her training clothes and wearing pjs instead. Looking at the choice of pjs that Atem presumably picked out, she frowns. The shorts are fine, but not the top. She quickly digs into Atem's side of the dresser, getting out one of his t-shirts and she swaps it.

Atem walks in, closing the door behind him just as she puts her right arm through the sleeve. "Oh you're up. I put already put Cairo to sleep and…" Mana looks at him from over her shoulder, slowly putting her left arm through the other sleeve and she grins. Atem dims his eyes at her. "Really?"

"Oh hey! You like my shirt?" Mana asks, grinning from ear to ear.

"Sleep with one eye open tonight," Atem replies in a dry tone, side eyeing her as he walks to the bathroom.

Mana chuckles, following after him. "Can you believe I'm still tired? Geez, that training really did a number on me."

"You weren't lying when you said it might be extreme. Almost summoned Mahad to catch you," Atem says before cleaning his face and wiping it with a dry towel.

"Oh that really ticked me off," Mana grumbles. "It worked. But it still ticked me off nonetheless." She picks up her toothbrush and reaches for her toothpaste.

Atem smirks. "I could tell. If it wasn't for his own healing abilities, that slap you gave him would've left a lasting bruise."

Mana giggles, beginning to brush her teeth and Atem looks at her through the reflection in the mirror. "So are you really not going to relay to me your plan? I really have to wait until this meeting with Kaiba?" He hears a muffled chuckle from her as she points to the toothbrush in her mouth in attempt to get her out of saying anything at this very moment. He grunts, folding his arms stubbornly as he watches her rinse out her mouth. Then he smirks mischievously.

"Don't be so impatient Atem. Why can't you just wait?" she scolds him. "I'd rather not have to repeat myself a hundred times."

"Because I'm your husband and I deserve special treatment," he replies, snaking an arm around her waist and bringing her to him so that she is standing directly in front of him. A blush appears on her cheeks as he rests his chin on her shoulder.

"Whatever you're planning to do, isn't gonna—" She stops when he begins planting kisses along the length of her neck, giving her occasional nips here and there. Her heart begins to race and her legs start to feel weak. She tries to resist the urge to melt into him right now, but she is failing miserably. A moan escapes her lips when he starts caressing her thigh.

Smirking against her neck, he places one more kiss on her chin before pulling away, causing her to whimper lightly at the loss of his touch. "Why'd you stop?" she whines and he raises both eyebrows at her. Sighing heavily, she finally gives in.

"Fine. So here's what I was thinking," she starts off. "We know that Ziegfried likes to ruin things in front of a huge audience and then make his get away."

"Right," Atem agrees. "He seems to have a tendency of summoning his monsters from a different nearby location and once they're done wrecking their havoc, they run away."

"And did you ever notice how they always leave a trail of light when they return to Ziegfried?" Mana points out.

"And he still manages to escape."

Mana grins. "But I'm gonna make sure there's no possible way for him to escape this time."

"You're not going to be doing any type of dark magic are you?"

"Hm? Of course not," Mana chuckles. "That sort of thing is pretty ancient and can only be accomplished—"

"With certain items. I'm aware. That's shadow magic that you're referring to. But the things that magicians are capable of…"

"Oh we definitely have our ways and we can definitely do some pretty twisted things with our magic. But nothing on the scale of what you're referring to, obviously."

"Continue."

"Anyway, my plan is rather simple. There's going to be a magical barrier formed around the whole park so he won't be able to escape. We just need to make sure we're on our a-game if a huge battle happens."

Atem's eyes widen. "As simple as that sounds, it just may work. But if a showdown occurs, how are you going to make a barrier that huge and fight at the same time?"

Mana smiles. "I have another magician on standby."

"Okay. But how are you going to convince Kaiba to go through with this? He's rebuilding his park. If we cause anymore damage or put anyone in harm's way…"

"Look, don't worry, alright? I've got that covered too," she replies confidently. There's more she has in store if push comes to shove, but she decides to keep her explanation short and sweet.

"If you say so."

"Okay, I gave you the deets." She wants him to initiate his 'attack' on her neck that he had started a few minutes ago.

"Thanks." He walks out of the bathroom and her face drops with disappointment and then forms to disbelief. She folds her arms and turns her back, pouting.

"That Atem…he—EEP!" She feels her body being picked up and slung over his shoulder with ease.

"What was that?" he asks, smirking as he carries her to the room and she giggles.

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Eesh. Will her plan go over well with Kaiba considering last time? Stay tuned.