Safe.

Joey's POV

"Seto, please say something." I can't stand this a second longer. Since I spoke about my worries today he hasn't said a word to me. He only said that it might not be bad to take the twins and that they'll be safe and be ready tomorrow morning, but that was to Atemu and he hasn't been saying anything else since that time.

"You really think she would hurt Aknamkanon on purpose?" he asks, and I know that he is upset. Maybe he disagrees with that assumption and possibly likes her more then I thought. She is his niece after all.

"Seto... I love her too," I say and try to cuddle against him, but he isn't holding me like he usually does. His arms are fixed in place and tight like he is trying very hard to control himself. "And I didn't say that she isn't a good girl or that she is evil. I just think that something could be wrong with her. Seto you have to admit that it's strange how often she endangers Aknamkanon by accident."

"But that's what those are," he says still sounding slightly hopeful, but I'm sure he is doubting his own words. "They're accidents and nothing else."

"But what if something else is trying to control her like you can with the millennium staff?" I'm not sure if that is the case but it would explain the different way of behaving, from endangering his life to holding Aknamkanon's hand, but the fact that both change when not holding each others hands doesn't seem to fit with that theory since both would need to be controlled when they change; just Aknamkanon gets more shy while Mana gets wilder. "And I'm not even saying that it's just her. You said yourself that they're strange sometimes like they change suddenly. Aknamkanon too, and I worry that when that happens something makes her try to hurt him. I just don't know what it is." I still don't feel his arms around me and wonder what I need to do to stop him from being angry with me.

"We need to pack and then we should rest," he simply says and starts packing. He is still mad with me. All I can do is hope that he'll forgive me once I find out what's wrong and can help Mana and Aknamkanon.

I pack my stuff and watch him get ready for bed. I walk outside and watch the sun disappear at the horizon. I lift my hand with the ring of Isis and hold my other hand around it while I pray to her. 'Dear Isis,perfect mother,I beg you to help me save my sister's children and heal them from whatever it is that makes them act the way they do. I beg of you.I love my family and I want to protect them. Give me the strength I need to save them.' Next I touch my cartouche and pray, 'Anubis,guide my way to find the answers need. Let me find the source for Mana's unusual acts. Also guide us all safely through the desert and let us find Yugi's Gramps,and keep his path straight and safe. Do not guide him to the underworld before Yugi can see him. He needs to at least say goodbye,even though I hope to save him. But most of all, don't let me lose my sun. Let me find a way to make Seto understand and forgive me.'

I stay outside for awhile and watch the sky turn darker while one star after the other appears. The moon is full tonight and the night is not very dark, but it will get darker every night now that we'll be travelling. I just hope it won't be a bad sign. I don't want to walk back into the dark… I still know the feelings I had when living in total darkness with my father, and when I was hiding in shadows while Seto tried to bring some light back into my life. A light that I didn't dare to trust back at that time, and due to that I used to fear the light even more than the darkness.

I feel one arm around me and hope that it is a sign.

"Come to bed Joey," I hear him say and his voice is less strained than before.

"Are you still mad?" I ask. I need to know if he'll forgive me before we leave, for I fear to lose him more then anything else.

"I never truly was."

Yeah right like I believe that one.

"I'm worried, that's all."

"You were mad," I say but turn around and cuddle against him again "And I know that you still are, but I really don't mean anything bad for Mana. It's just the way she looks in my visions when Aknamkanon is in danger. I don't think that the way they are when holding each other's hands it could really be the same girl. I worry about her Seto, but I don't think that it's safe to have them away from me."

"I'm sorry I made you feel like I was mad at you." He holds me closer again. "I'm worried, that is all, and I know that you might be right. I just worry if that will put you in danger as well."

"Me?" I look up into his eyes and truly can see worry there. "Why would it put me in danger?"

He smiles a little, "I don't know, but I was close to losing you a grand total of three times. Let's not try for four and be careful okay? Don't be alone with Mana too often."

I stare at him, "Is that why you're so upset? Because I want to keep Mana close?" I can't believe this! She is his niece too. "She needs us as much as Aknamkanon does. If she hurts him she'll be upset too, at least at those times where she would hold his hand. We can't let that happen and that is more important then anything else."

"No it isn't."

I stare at him, unable to believe my own ears. I know that he is overprotective and worries about me way too much, but he can't be worried about me because of a four year old and put my safety over theirs!

"You are more important to me then anyone else, and I hate to see you endanger yourself to protect others. You always put everything else over yourself and I don't want to see you dying again. When I pulled you out of the Nile you didn't breathe, Joey. Do you even know how close you were to death that day? And then when I found you lying in your own blood after the attack from you mother… I thought I already lost you for a moment and yet you still love her! You love your father even though he wanted to kill you, Joey, and you just stick around to make sure he won't hurt your sister. I don't get it. I don't get how you can just walk out now and risk your life."

I feel him let go of me again and turn around. His arms shiver at his sides like they always do when he thinks of how easy my parents got away, at least in his opinion. I know that he longs to truly punish them, and that he still has nightmares about losing me at times, and I sort of understand; I couldn't bare losing him either. I depend on him more than I want to admit.

"My parents are dead," I say as calm as I can. I don't want to show him that it still saddens me that I'll never be able to make up with them, that I can never make them love me. They didn't have it easy either; they were both born as slaves and never got out of that life.

Father hated the hard work on the pyramid and couldn't deal with it, and that was the only reason that he treated me the way he did. I don't think that he was a bad man in general even though I know that Seto disagrees with me, like most others do as well. And mother was hurt by father, and with my attempts to help her I only made it worse, and I look like father which had to make it even harder for her to show me any sympathy. She must have been terrified when she saw me in the palace after all those years of running from her past and her memories, but all of this isn't the fault of the twins.

"And Mana and Aknamkanon are four year old children. Honestly what kind of danger can they be?"

"I don't know, but I see your worry when you look at her and I see her hate for you. I like her too, she is my nice after all, but still I can't bare to see her look at you like that. I won't let her hurt you. I won't let anyone hurt you ever again."

"Seto," I say and try to calm him with a smile. "Are you worried about two four year olds hurting ME? I mean honestly think about it. I'm not a child anymore and I'm a high priest; a sacred guardian of pharaoh Atemu and I have a lot of strong shadow monsters at my disposal, including two mighty dragons…"I can't finish that sentence since he interrupts me.

"The second doesn't count since you refuse to use it. I don't get why you had to save that bloody plate if you don't even use the dammed monster."

"Would you?" I ask him. "If you had another that is like your dragon, would you use it? Mine is as strong and, unlike father's, I can make mine even stronger."

"I still don't like you having that shadow monster, and I like it even less that you once more put someone else's life over yours." He looks down to the ground, his arms tightly under control at his sides again.

I take one of his hands and pull him to the bed and push him on it just to crawl on top of him, straddling him under me. "You really think I need to put my life over hers?" I ask him and start to nibble on his neck. "Do I look that weak to you, because I really will have to prove my strength to you then." I like to hear him moan a little and feel him relax a bit under me. I'm so happy that he isn't going to leave me, and that he isn't mad at me because I said something against Mana. He simply is worrying about me because he still loves me, and I thank Anubis that he showed me the way to see this. I'm sure Anubis helped me again, like always.

I feel Seto throw me over and giggle. I already know his next words, and of course I'm proven right when he says, "I'm still stronger."

"Maybe I'm just smarter and let you win." I smile up at him and see him think about that possibility for just a second.

"I don't think so," he says to me grinning back. "But you can always try to prove me wrong."

I let him kiss me for a long time and wait for the right moment. I know that he is stronger than me, but not by much, and when I can surprise him I can throw him over; I'm sure of it.

I wait until we're both undressed and his hands keep moving over my body. I wait till his fingers are in me to prepare me for his, not so little dragon; by which I don't mean the one in the stone tablet in his temple, but rather the one he's hiding beneath his clothing. He is just about to enter me when I throw him over with one quick, fluent movement. The second I have a very surprised dragon under me I start riding him and enjoy being on top for once.

At first he's too astonished to even consider to throw me over again, and after that passes he is much too pleasured by my movements to do anything but enjoy the feeling just like I do.

It doesn't take long until I come all over him and soon after I feel him fill me with his seed. I lie down on his chest, breathing heavily, and mumble, "You might be stronger, but I'm tricky. Have a little faith in me. I'll keep myself safe. You won't loose me anytime soon."

I feel his arms move around me and hold me tight as his lips move over my hair. "I hope you're right… Because I can't bare to lose you, Joey."

Authors Note: Thanks to Leviathan of the Sea for the review.

Next chapter you'll learn more about the twins again and you'll get to listen to a bed time story which is a old Egyptian legend about Osiris, Isis, Anubis and Set.