Journey

Joey POV

I really don't understand why Yugi loves his dessert so much since the wind is so hot and dry. When the sun is at it's peak, the air is so hot that you can hardly bear it and there is nothing to offer you any shade. Even the wind isn't refreshing, the air is far to hot and dry for that, and only feels like it's about to burn you.

Yugi managed to talk Seto into taking the short cut to Alexandria and leave the bank of the Nile further away than even the last time. It is harder this way because there is nothing to offer shade around us anymore, and it's a bit more dangerous because the holy river with it's life giving water is out of our reach by more then a day's ride, at least when the kids are with us. The tribe only used this way when they were in a hurry, which wasn't often, but Yugi said that at this time of the year there shouldn't be a problem.

We can take enough water at each waterhole to reach water even if one was dry or poisoned with salt or other minerals. If two were poisoned or dry we will have a problem though, but Yugi was sure that he could find another place where we can find water. Even Seto agreed that it would be our best bet to reach Alexandria in time. There is a small harbor there and if the slaves are sold to a ship they will be lost forever. There is no way to follow them once they're on the water.

We've been on the horses for a few day's now, and so far all the waterholes are fine. The kids are still a handful, but as long as Seto and I take shifts to stay awake everything should be fine. Yugi offered to take a shift too, and I guess he wants to be a help to us because we wouldn't be here if it wasn't for him, but neither Seto nor I want to take that offer. He might know the desert but he has no idea on how to fight, and he is so occupied with missing his Pharaoh Atemu that he might miss something. I feel much safer when Seto or I are keeping an eye on things.

Of course I can't tell Yugi that and only insist that Atemu wouldn't want him to have to stay awake, and that we're here for his protection and not the other way around. A couple of nights Yugi stayed up with me though, unable to sleep anyway and needing a bit of distraction from his thoughts about what Atemu might be doing at the moment.

I can understand it all too well. I had to miss Seto a few times already because Seto was out on a mission while I needed to stay at the palace, and I truly hate those times. I always miss Seto when he is gone and wait for him at the stables when he's due to return. I always want to be the first to welcome him back, and I'm always rewarded with a warm smile and a gentle kiss from my beloved husband.

I'm still sitting at the fire when I have a vision and smile. The waterhole we're headed to for the next night will be dry, but that isn't a problem. It just moved a little and while Yugi is trying to find out where it is someone will show up and tell him that he used to be faster with that. The vision ends and I notice that Yugi is once more joining me at the fire. "Did you notice?" I ask him.

"What do you mean?" Yugi asks.

"Our little shadow?" I ask and smile.

"Yeah," Yugi admits. "But it's too late to send him back, and I fear what Seto will do when he finds out. I don't think he likes Jaden very much."

"I think he does," I say, remembering the look in his eyes. "He just hides such things well, mostly anyway."

"He didn't with you," Yugi says and smiles at me.

"Of course he didn't," I say proudly with a grin. "I'm special." I grin at Yugi, knowing that it is true at least to Seto that I truly am special just like he is too me. "But more importantly, what are we going to do with our little shadow?"

"I don't know," Yugi says. "You think we should tell Seto and let him come with us? He'll follow anyway."

"I bet he will," I say. "We can just wait and pretend not to know anything until he shows up tomorrow."

"He will?" Yugi asks.

"Yeah. The waterhole has moved and you'll need to find it and he'll complain, saying that you got slow and lost some of your ability to find it," I say and see that Yugi doesn't like to hear that. "I think he only uses that to get to talk to us," I add to comfort Yugi. "He must be lonely silently following us all by himself and worrying about his mother the whole time."

"I think he is," Yugi agrees. "But he'd never say it out loud. He's too tough to show weakness."

We both smile and I ask, "So we wait?"

"We wait," Yugi agrees and I look at the tent of the twins, the mystery about their behavior never far from my mind. I love them both dearly; they're part of what little family I have found in this new life of mine after loosing both my beloved mother and father. I eye the tent I share with my husband and have to smile. He would turn into a furious dragon if he ever heard me call them my beloved mother and father. He'll never forgive them for what they did to me, even though I do.

I forgave both, first mother and then father as well. While I fought him I also forgave him. He was cruel and mean to me, and tortured me to the point that I wanted to end my life, but he is still my father and nothing he can do will ever change my love for him no matter how hard that might be to understand to Seto.

"Do you have any idea about the twins yet?" Yugi asks me. "I mean I never thought about it before I saw Mana push her brother into the water, but the way they hugged after that and the way she looked after that I fear that you're right and that something is wrong with her."

"I think it's with both. Aknamkanon is also a little different at times. He is still harmless but he is afraid of his sister. Either he senses when she changes or he changes too."

"He probably senses it," Yugi says. "I mean why should someone bother controlling both and then let one hurt the other?"

"I don't know," I admit. "But it is more than how he acts towards his sister. He also clings more to me whenever he and Mana aren't hugging."

"You think they're controlled when they're like one?" Yugi asked,obviously shocked and getting the point that it would also mean that Mana really wants to hurt her brother.

"No," I say. "I don't think so. The necklace showed them to me like one. It showed me my sister's children, not whatever will harm them in that moment. I wanted to see them and a happy life that I longed for. I think they're like one when they're themselves." At least I really hope so. I don't even want to think about what might happen if Mana truly would want to hurt her brother, but she is just a child and what child truly wants to hurt it's own brother? It just can't be that way, which means that they're both under control when she tries to hurt him. But why hurt the other if the same is controlling them? Are there maybe two persons that somehow control the little ones? But if yes, why are they doing it, and more importantly who is controlling them? And why are they doing it at the same time?

I see the doubt that rises in Yugi's eyes. I saw them older, and who knows, maybe whoever controls them has a tighter grip then and the necklace couldn't show them to me any other way anymore. But I really hope it isn't that way.

The next day is just like I predicted to Yugi. The waterhole is dry when we arrive but after a little breath Yugi says that there still must be a waterhole close by because he can smell it in the air, and I truly wonder if that is true. Is it even possible? But then again, Yugi does know the desert much better than I do, and he hadn't failed Seto or me on this journey so far. I just hope that he or Jaden truly will find the water. I only saw him try to find it and then point us to the right way and Jaden making fun of him for taking so long, but I never saw the water there.

It doesn't take long at all until Yugi say that the water must be just a few meters to the northeast and then I hear the laughter and see Seto turn his hand to the direction of the sound, already touching the hilt of his millenniums rod. "You truly became a little queen, didn't you Yug?" Jaden shouted to us from above a dune, holding his belly and shaking with laughter. I don't need to look to know because I saw that scene in my vision, so I watch Seto's reaction instead and see the anger on his face.

He doesn't like disobedience and I'm rather sure that Mokuba and me are the only ones to ever have gotten away after disobeying him. Well and Yugi, after getting married to Atemu, is getting away with ripping his map and so on but only because Seto's hands are tied. But I also see the concern he probably has for the young boy who followed us so recklessly into the danger, as well as the concern for the rest of us. Now we'll need more water and food supplies and it will be more dangerous. From the distance between the waterholes Yugi had told us about, we can only risk one dry waterhole as it is but with an extra mouth to feed one dry waterhole might already be too much and someone might not survive.

"What are you doing here you insolent child?" Seto asked sounding furious.

"I'm just making sure that you don't mess up saving my mother," the boy answers, unafraid, and I put a hand on my husbands arm to calm him.

"The only one messing up anything here is you!" Seto says and glares at the young child.

"Calm down, please," I say quietly. "He's only a child and afraid to lose his mother. Please try to understand."

"I understand that he wants to help but he isn't helping," Seto says, still angry "He is only endangering us. What if a waterhole is dry or poisoned? We won't have enough supplies for all of us!"

"He is a child Seto," I say, trying to reason with him. "He probably doesn't understand that. He is just afraid and wants to help so badly, and anyway there is no way that we can just leave him behind here and we don't have the time to bring him to a safe place. We have to go on to Alexandria or we'll miss the traders, so there is no point in arguing with the child."

"Why can't we just leave him behind?" Seto asks. "He means nothing to me and is only endangering our mission."

"He is a child, Seto!" I say. "And a friend of Atemu's husband, Yugi, who just happens to be my best friend. We will not leave the boy behind, and that is my last word!"

I see that he doesn't like to hear me talking back, especially since it means risking all our lives, mine included. He glares at me in his anger, which he rarely does. I saw him glare like this towards others, but I can't remember him looking this angry at me. "Don't glare at me just because I won't leave behind an innocent, defenseless child."

"He isn't defenseless," Seto says. "He wanted to cut the cord of your cartouche by throwing a knife."

"You got that right," Jaden says looking upset and angry about something. "I can defend myself and I managed to follow you two, oh so great high priest, without letting you know it and I survived on my own. How do you two idiots think I did that if I can't carry my own water supplies and defend myself? I don't need you. I only needed you to find out where to look for mummy, but I can get to Alexandria on my own."

I watched him turn around and walk away into an, to me, unknown direction. I wasn't sure it was the right direction or if he could really survive on his own, but I still didn't want to leave a child alone in the desert. "But you can't fight the slave traders," I point out, hoping that he'll stay.

"But I might be able to sneak past them," Jaden says. "I'm small, fast, and can open any lock."

"How come you know that?" Seto asks. "How much have you stolen to find that out?"

"I never said I stole," Jaden answers with a cheeky grin. "I only said I can open locks and who's to say that I don't do that as a challenge without stealing? Try to prove the difference."

"Stop fighting, all of you," Yugi says, and I look over to see him look at us with an upset look. "Can't you just all get along? I mean we have the same goal and can all benefit from each other. Seto, please, he really knows the desert well, as good as I and maybe even better because I haven't been in my desert for years. He might know more about the waterholes and where they are now and, Jaden, you are a defenseless child, at least compared to those two. You wouldn't have the slightest hope to win against either one of them, never mind both of them, and you can't win against slave traders that are sure to watch out so that no one will try to steal or free the slaves. You must be able to see that, so stop provoking Seto."

"Fine, as long as he won't cause any problems, he can stay," Seto says and glares at the child.

"Fine, as long as they stop treating me like a baby, I'll stay," Jaden says and walks over to Aknamkanon, who is sitting by the water, and draws little pictures into the sand.

Seto walks away to ready the tents for the night while I start making a fire.

Authors note: Thanks to dancing elf for the review.

And if you haven't read 'Beloved slave' yet, I strongly advise you to do so before you start the next chapter or you might have a hard time understanding the twins secret, and it will be revealed in the next chapter!