Yugioh belongs to Kazuki Takahashi.

This chapter centers around Cairo. It explains what happened to her.

Cairo falls back and holds the side of her face as blood drips from the wound. She grits her teeth and slams her foot on the dirt a couple of times to try to overcome the unbearable pain. Her eyes go up to Marik who holds the small knife with a grin. Her blood still stains the blade. "Just think of that as something to remember me by," he says, crouching down to her and she looks at him fearlessly in the eyes although on the inside, she is very frightened at the sight of this man. But she doesn't want to show it. She was taught by her father to never show her fear towards her enemies.

"If you're going to kill me, then go ahead and let's get this over with," says Cairo.

"In a hurry are we? Don't worry, that will soon come in time."

"What do you want with me?"

"Nothing really. Once I let you go and send you back, you will warn them of my coming."

"What?"

"I want them to be prepared. I want a real challenge once we go into battle."

"Battle? But why?"

"Once I take over the palace, I will rule!"

"Wait…that was you and your men that burned down the village wasn't it?"

"The one and only," he replies before picking her up by the shirt and throwing across to the exit of the cave. With her hand still covering her wound, she sits up glaring at him. "You should get going. You don't have much time." She slowly gets up with her eyes still focused on him just in case he would try anything funny. "Run along now princess. You're lucky I spared you. I could've sent them your dead, lifeless body instead." Cairo backs up slowly before breaking off into a run across the desert.

The sand is making her harder to run and it kicks up with each step that she takes. The blood that was once dripping from her wound finally dries up as she runs toward her destination. She breathes a sigh of relief when she sees the palace in the distance and she keeps running as fast as her wobbly legs can take her. The last thing she remembers is meeting Shimon and falling forward onto him before blacking out, hearing her name being called multiple times.

Cairo wakes up and sits up in bed, looking around. She is in her bedroom with only bandages wrapped around her whole body like she is a mummy. Only her face, hands and feet are free. Her dirtied clothes lie in a pile on the floor. "I have to warn them," she says to herself and she runs out of her room. Her injuries sting with every movement that she makes but she knows that she must tell the news of Marik immediately. She turns a corner and sees Mahad walking down the hallway with her back turned to her.

"Mahad!" she calls and he turns around.

"Cairo! C-C-Cairo! Where are your clothes!?" he exclaims, turning his head away, seeing that she only has bandages covering the majority of her body but apparently not enough for Mahad. Cairo looks down before looking back up at him with a questionable look.

"Cairo?" she hears coming from behind her and she turns her head to see her father. He had come to their location after hearing all the yelling from Mahad. He sweat drops and shields his eyes after seeing her.

"Ab?"(Father)

"Cairo!" he yells, still shielding his eyes. Even with him being her father, he still finds the sight of her like that very weird. Maybe when she was a baby it was alright, but she's ten years old!

"What's wrong?"

"Where are you clothes young lady?" he asks, taking off his cape and wrapping it around her. "And what are you doing out of bed?"

"I have something very important to say." Atem looks around uncomfortably as servants go around doing their daily tasks.

"Before you say anything more, let's get you back to your room."

"Yes, that would probably be best," Mahad agrees, still looking away.

YGOYGOYGOYGOYGOYGOYGOYGOYGOYGOYGOYGOYGOYGOYGOYGOYGOYGOYGOYGOYGOYGOYGOYG

Cairo sits on the middle of her bed with her father's cape still wrapped around her while Atem and Mahad stand at the foot of the bed as she explains what happened to her. Atem begins to get more enraged as she goes deeper and deeper into the story. To think that his daughter had to go through all of that. Just the thought of it was unbearable.

"He told me that we should prepare ourselves for battle. He didn't give an exact time as to when he is coming," Cairo tells them and Atem and Mahad look at each other.

"This doesn't sound good at all," says Mahad.

"Yes. Mahad, go warn Mana and the others." Mahad nods and Atem turns back to Cairo, who looks at him as if waiting for his next action. He walks over to the window and looks out over the village. "I may have to take over for Mana."

"You sure? I mean…are you sure you're in condition to—"

"I must Cairo. I don't want to put Mana in any danger."

Cairo lowers her eyes for a brief second before lifting them again. "I want to help fight too."

"No Cairo," he says, turning to look at her. Her hands are clenched and her eyes show determination to help him. "I will not allow it." He starts toward the exit but Cairo gets out of bed and uses the last of her strength to catch him at the door.

"But dad, I'm very good at combat you know that. You've seen me!"

"I said no." Cairo sighs heavily in frustration and turns her head away with narrowed eyes. Atem crouches down to her, placing both of his hands on her shoulders. "You must understand…it is too dangerous."

"It's dangerous for you too. I'll be fine."

"You wouldn't stand a chance, not in your condition."

"I'll be…!" She trails off as her eyes roll back and she falls forward into his arms. Atem closes his eyes and shakes his head. His daughter could be so stubborn sometimes. But who is he kidding? He's just as stubborn as her. As many times as Shimon and Mahad have told him to stay in bed countless times, he's always disobeyed those orders. He lifts her up and gently places her down on her bed, tucking her in. He leans down and places a kiss on her forehead before standing up straight to see Mana standing in the doorway.

"Mana, we need to talk."

End of another chapter. Oh, 'Ab' means father and I just decided to add just a little something different since I've seen other fics use the language like the word ma'at and etc. Did it for fun. ^-^ Please review!