In case you don't know, senet is some Ancient Egyptian board game. Not entirely sure how it works but it serves its purpose here. Holy crap I actually did research for a story! *pats self on back*

And yes I did get this idea from Game of Thrones. That's how I know what an arakh is too. It's a curved sword thing just in case you don't know.

Disclaimer: I don't own YuGiOh. I'm not making any money. Nuff said.

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HIKARI STRONG

Chapter Twelve

Tristan, though he had been told several times it would do no good, had figured out a way to make sure Joey, Yugi and Ryou didn't end up by themselves. The other friends took shifts, switching out who watched out for who. No one dared mention their intentions while around Joey. The blonde was proud, and now even more so as a girl. She was determined to prove she could protect herself, not to mention others.

Many things made the week more stressful besides the attacks. The first was that there were still some guys who were trying to hit on her even at the Game Shop. One had even gone as far to say they had known Joey was a girl all along, because she was so feminine. He ended up with a black eye. Joey was glad school was out until further notice. Maybe once it started up again everyone would be over her being a girl.

Seto was another thing that was grinding on her nerves. Not the person himself - well, he did that anyway - but he hadn't been kidding when he said he would be working a lot. He came home very late, usually after Joey and Mokuba were already asleep, and then was gone before Joey and Mokuba left for school. Sure he went to class here and there, but he spent almost all his time at work. It annoyed Joey because it worried her. She wondered if he was even getting enough to eat or sleep. She wondered how the boy could even function on the schedule he was on.

The last thing that had Joey mentally banging her head against a wall was the dreams she was having. Most seemed pointless. There was one that showed the attack on Juno that the Thief King Akefia had rescued her from. It showed they're interaction afterward. It was interesting. There had been a certain camaraderie between them, especially since the thief had figured out the real reason the Roman girl was in Egypt. He called them both cons. Joey had found that decidely unhelpful. There were more with Juno and Set, some sweet and tender, others hot and rough. As...pleasant as those dreams were, they weren't helpful either.

However, none of them compared to the dream that haunted her Thursday night...

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Juno sat on a chair, a cushion under her to make her more comfortable, her belly slightly swollen, as she and Set played a game of senet. Suddenly Juno squeaked, and touched her stomach.

"What's it?" Set asked, looking worried. "Juno is the baby-,"

"Calm down, Set," Juno said, amused. "Come here."

Set did so, kneeling beside the mother of his child. Juno suddenly took Set's hand and place it on her abdomen, smiling. His blue eyes widened and a silly grin appeared on his face. "He's strong," he said proudly.

"Honestly, what will you do if we have a girl?" Juno asked.

Set shrugged. "I shall love her all the same," he replied, his never leaving her stomach. "Besides, if that's a girl in there she'll be a force to reckon with." His face became thoughtful. "We really should think of names."

Juno smiled. "I like Alexandra," she said wistfully.

Set snorted. "Of course you do. It's a silly Roman name."

"It's Greek, actually," Juno corrected.

"Same difference," Set teased.

Juno narrowed her eyes but could not help her smile. "Alright then what do you have in mind?"

Set stared at he abdomen fondly. "Atem," he said quietly.

Juno rose a brow. "Really?"

Set sighed. "The Pharaoh and I do not always see eye to eye, but he is my cousin regardless." A devilish smirk appeared as he leant down and kissed Juno's belly. "And with the way he is going, it seems he'll never have an heir. Imagine if our Atem became Pharaoh." He closed his eyes, laying his head on Juno's stomach.

Juno laughed. "You are hopeless, my love." she told the priest, trailing her hand over his chestnut hair. Her face fell as she looked out the window. "He will be coming soon," she said, her voice breaking.

Set shot up. He didn't like being reminded about this. "He won't have you," he promised. "Either of you."

"He's powerful, Set," Juno told him. "He had already stolen several hikaris before he set his sights on me. Not to mention how many he may have taken in his journey here."

"And the Pharaoh has the gods on his side," Set reassured. He took the blonde's face in his hands and kissed her forehead. "He won't have you," he repeated.

Juno lent into the priest and he put his arms around her, holding her tight. She silently prayed that the gods of Egypt could outmatch Victarion's power.

Time passed. It passed far too quickly. Victarion arrived with a vengeance. There were fires in the streets of Egypt, and people were screaming and running. Shadow creatures ran rampant. A pregnant blonde and several of her servants ran from the chaos, trying to find any means of escape.

A large beast that appeared to be a cross between an ox and an eagle jumped in front of Juno, blocking her path. She made to summon her Red Eyes, but another dragon shoved the beast down with a murderous cry. The Blue Eyes White Dragon tore the beast to shreds before standing before Juno, lowering her head. It could only mean one thing. Set was in danger.

Juno climbed aboard, summoning Red Eyes, and they flew back toward the palace. Juno knew Set would be furious, but she would not leave him behind. They crashed into the courtyard where Juno's unfortunate betrothed held Set hostage.

The man with blue hair and dark eyes laughed as the pregnant Roman brandished an arakh, unafraid of a fight.

"Well, look at you," the man said, liking his lips. "I must say I was not expecting you to be with child."

"Let him go, Victarion," Juno demanded. The dragon's roared.

"Why are you here?!" Set shouted. "Run!" A foot connected with the priest's gut. Victarion cackled.

"You two are so entertaining," he said in a mocking tone. "To think , a High Priest and a runaway bride." He cackled again. "I don't think I see you doing much here, my dear."

Juno dodged an attack from on of Victarion's guards, before slashing his throat ina swift swipe of the arakh. "Never underestimate a dragon, Victarion."

It became a flurry from there. Set managed to escaped his binding and steal a sword, joining the fray. The dragons took on most of the guards, burning them with fire, striking them with lightning, even just tearing them apart.

"Set!" Juno screamed as a guard made to surprise the priest.

"Juno! NO!"

She hadn't been fast enough. The sword stabbed clean through her and the hot blood seeped out her. The world slowed as strong arms caught her. Slifer and Ra appeared, followed by Obelisk. Set held Juno desperately, calling her name over and over.

And then Juno's world went black.

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Joey awoke gasping again, but this time for more horrifying reasons. She struggled to catch her breath, remembering how vividly Juno's bleeding had been. She then froze, feeling something warm and foreign between her legs. She turned on the light and lifted the covers slowly.

Red. There was red everywhere. It coated her inner thighs and had soak into the sheets. At first she panicked, shaky hands reaching to touch the crimson substance. She then remembered a time when Tea had forced her to come with her to buy items for this very reason.

"Shit," Joey swore. She hadn't been expecting this, and suddenly she hated being a girl all over again. Without another thought, she grabbed her new cell phone and dialed Tea's number. It rang a few times before a sleepy voice answered. "Hello?"

"Tea!" Joey said, frazzled. "Hey, sorry I woke ya but somethin' just happened and I know you said you wanted me ta call ya for midnight chats and-,"

"Joey, it's three in the morning," Tea said groggily. "What happened?"

Joey took a breath. "I'm havin' a...female problem. A very messy female problem."

"Oh. Oh!" That seemed to wake the brunette up. "I'll see what I can do. Just try to clean up as best you can. Wrap toilet paper around the inside of your clean underwear when you change them. I'll get there as soon as I can." Then she hung up.

Joey got up from the bed and began stripping it, already cursing that when Seto found out he would probably kill her for getting blood all over his fancy sheets. Joey took off everything but the pillows, throwing them into a pile to be dealt with later. She then waddled her way to her bathroom, running into several objects in her sleepy stupor. She closed the door behind her a little harder than she had planned, but ignored it for now. She found a wash cloth and turned on the faucet in the tub, before carefully removing her sleep shorts and underwear. They were soaked in blood and Joey swore again, stepping into the tub to start cleaning herself off.

"Pup?" called Seto's muffled voice from the other side of the bathroom door. Joey groaned. "Wheeler where are you?"

"Hold on a sec," Joey called out. Please just go away, she thought.

There was a pounding at the door. Joey debated drowning herself in the tub. "Wheeler what the hell is going on? Why is there blood all over these sheets in here?"

Joey closed her eyes, praying that this be a dream. A hallucination. Anything but terrible reality. "Joey?!"

"I started my fucking period, okay?!" Joey snapped.

There was a dreadful silence for a moment, one which had Joey feeling beyond embarrassed. How did girls deal with this? How were they not dead?

"Oh," came Seto's reply. He cleared his throat a couple times. "Are...are you okay?"

Joey rolled her eyes as she turned the water off, rinsing and ringing out the wash cloth. The sudden awkwardness in Seto's tone would have amused her if the situation weren't so horribly awkward.

"I'm fine, Kaiba," she told him. She sighed, realizing she had forgotten her change of underwear and pajama bottoms. "Would ya mind bringin' me anotha' pair o' shorts and...um...some unda'wear."

There was a paus before Seto answered "Sure." Joey heard a bit of rummaging about in the bedroom before Seto knocked on the bathroom door again. Joey blocked her bottom half with the door as she opened. Seto was raising a brow as he handed her the clothes.

"Why do you have a pair of black silk underwear?" he asked. Joey growled.

"Because my friends are perverts," Joey spat, slamming the door in Seto's face. She began to dress, taking Tea's advice and wrapping toilet paper around the inside of her underwear, before pulling them up with her shorts.

When Joey emerged from the bathroom she awkwardly tossed her bloody clothes in the pile with the bedding. "Sorry about yer sheets," she told Seto.

Seto just blinked. "Well..it's not your fault." He looked at Joey. "Are you sure you okay? That's... a lot of blood."

"I'm as surprised as you are," Joey replied. "Tell ya one thing I gotta whole new respect for girls now."

Seto nodded. "I believe I do as well." He watched Joey leave the room. "Where are you going?"

Joey continued walking, heading for the living room. "I called Tea. She's...supposed ta be helpin' me out."

Seto gave another nod and shifted again, "Are you sure-,"

"Kaiba, if ya ask me if I'm okay one more time I swear I'll knock ya out."

The brunet rolled his eyes. "Whatever, Pup."

"Whaddya doin' up anyway?" Joey asked.

Seto shrugged. "Work," he replied, not looking at Joey.

Joey sighed, knowing the CEO was lying. "Ya had a nightmare, didn't ya?" When Seto merely narrowed his eyes Joey sighed. "Don' worry I did, too."

Seto opened his mouth to say something when the door bell rang. "That's probably Tea," Joey said, heading for the door. When she opened it the other girl yawned.

"Your body is so inconvenient," Tea said, handing a bag to Joey. "If you're not hungry every hour you're starting your period at three A.M."

"And with that I'm going back to bed," Seto said, heading back upstairs. "I'll have one of the maid get you new sheets, Pup." he added over his shoulder.

"Sorry, Kaiba," Joey called after him. She turned back to Tea. "And I'm sorry to you, too."

"No biggie," Tea said. Even when she looked sleepy she remained bright.

Joey sighed. "Look, how about ya just stay here tonight. You're probably gonna wanna play dress up with me tomorra' anyway."

Tea lifted up a small duffel bag, grinning. "I thought you'd never ask."

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Yeah. I'm a jerk. Poor awkward Seto. And poor Joey XD