Adina blinked at the pale hand reaching down to her from above, and she stared at it, her heart thundering with fear and anxiety.
A very pretty human hand!
Who was this?!
And why did they want a handshake?
Was this a game? Or a way to communicate?
Young lady, what is taking you so long?!
The dolphin's voice echoed from afar, and Adina ducked her head deeper underwater, hating everything. Contact with humans was forbidden!
Contact with humans is forbidden!
Kaiba heard this and blinked rapidly, forcing himself to remain very still.
Okay.
Whoever in the water had seen his hand and didn't want to talk.
It was not a messenger, but a merperson.
I'm swimming over there! The dolphin said firmly, and Adina shook her head furiously, shooting her arm upwards to grab the stranger's hand, thinking it was better to be found dead than caught in the middle of a lie.
She wrapped her hand tightly around three slender fingers and thought rapidly, 'Please help me! You have to pretend to be my father because I'm in trouble, and I swam too far away from home!'
Kaiba stared down at the pale arm attached to the tiny, chubby hand that was hanging onto three of his fingers, nearly cutting off circulation, and his heart leapt into his throat.
Wow.
A baby.
No, maybe a mer-child around the age of…four? Or maybe she was five.
Whatever. It was a merbaby…who was in trouble?
"You got it champ," Kaiba said sarcastically, wishing the child would let go because his arm was burning so much, it felt like it was going to fall off, and his stomach was churning strangely.
The arm slowly disappeared back into the water, and Adina clutched her own hand to her chest, leaning against the cold rock and panting heavily. Her palm was burning and stinging with a strange feeling, and she wanted to…shake the human's hand again for some reason.
It felt nice. Her heart was warm.
Kaiba stared at the dark waves, searching intently for any sign of the child, but it seemed he or she had vanished. Did he have to jump down and freeze?
The child didn't specify.
Ah dammit. Noah was still in the house.
He couldn't leave Noah unattended with that suspicious, robotic manservant, Kemo.
Although he had a sneaking suspicion that the kid was probably inside enjoying the air conditioning and sneaking a few minutes on the TV.
Adina pushed off the rock and swam towards the dolphin who clicked impatiently at her.
Well? The mother asked sternly, and Adina couldn't stop her cheeks from burning as she nodded.
"He's coming," Adina replied nervously.
Or maybe not.
Please…maybe not.
It was a human, not anyone actually related to her.
Kaiba climbed atop the rock, cursing as he kicked off his shoes and stripped off his shirt.
Fuck this kid.
He was going to lecture the fuck out of them for getting in trouble…right after bailing them out of trouble. Was this place like a rest stop now?
Because it fucking wasn't.
It was private property, dammit.
Deciding he'd think about it later, Kaiba took aim and dove down into the water with a practiced jump, instantly shivering as the water seeped into his ears and nose.
He gathered his bearings and treaded water carefully.
After holding his breath for more than a minute, he saw a tiny pair of fins floating in the distance.
This would be his first time encountering a mer-baby.
Maybe this was fate.
Swimming steadily closer, Kaiba received a slight shock when a grey dolphin came zooming into his face and began lecturing him rapidly.
How dare you! Your child almost died! The dolphin's words mixed in strangely with clicking and merspeak, but Kaiba realized he could understand it perfectly, and that was startling him even more as the dolphin continued to yell at him.
Did you know I had to yank her down to avoid a passing boat? A propeller nearly took her head off! And you call yourself a parent! What is your name and status? I'm going to remember it and tell everyone to make sure they know!
Stunned speechless, Kaiba opened and closed his mouth, seeing the mer-baby up close for the first time.
Her plumes of dark hair were floating around her, covering a rounded face, and a pair of angular blue eyes stared right back at him, blinking imploringly as if to say, 'Lie for me!'.
She almost looked like a girl version of Mokuba.
It was uncanny.
Yeah, totally…my bad, Kaiba said, making sure he was speaking the right language inside his head. You don't need my name and rank. It won't happen again.
Oh I think I do, the dolphin raged, pointing a fin at the toddler-sized girl who was shrinking away behind her curtains of messy black hair. She is a baby! She's barely weaned, and you're letting her swim out here alone? There are boats! And nets! I'm reporting you to the Council for improper parenting.
Wow, really? You're gonna do that? Kaiba raised his eyebrows threateningly, feeling slightly offended. He wasn't this kid's parent but being called a bad parent was…hurtful.
You bet I am, the dolphin replied icily. Name and rank.
Right, Kaiba seethed, noticing that the kid was about to cry. I'm King of…none of your damn business, from the colony of Leave My Kid Alone. I parent my kid, and you parent yours, got it? Now, fuck off before you get caught in someone's net and become dinner.
Adina's mouth dropped open and she raised her head to stare at the stranger for the first time through her curtains of hair.
He was a young man, with threatening, narrow eyes, sharp cheekbones, and light brown hair that sparkled in the sunlight.
A…prince! From the stories!
But he spoke like a villain.
H-How dare you, the dolphin sputtered, waving her fins in anger. I'm patrolling this shore from now on. You can bet your fins on that! Good day and good riddance.
It turned around in a huff and swam off quickly.
Yeah? Well I know a fisherman who likes dolphin meat! Kaiba called after the dolphin's gray tail which was already several yards away. Stay off my property!
He waited until the dolphin was out of sight before he pulled himself up to the surface of the water to take a breath.
Coughing lightly, the saltwater stung his nose when he surfaced. The child jetted forward underwater in a blur and threw her arms around him, hugging him tightly.
Thank you, thank you Mister! Adina cried, growing wonderfully happy all over as she continued to hug the merman with legs.
"Ow…yeah, you are in trouble, so don't thank me yet," Kaiba growled, prying the child's arms off his waist and swimming back to the rock. "Go home, or I'll talk to your parents, and you won't like what I have to say."
Adina blinked and swam quickly after the human man, listening to the strange sounds dropping from his mouth.
Another language!
A shore language!
But which one?
"I no understand," Adina said firmly in English. "Merspeak please."
"You don't understand," Kaiba corrected, grabbing onto the rock hanging onto it to steady himself, changing tongues with fluidity. "Name and rank, now."
"W-What?" Adina squeaked, her heat sinking rapidly again. "But you saved me!"
"And if you were my kid, your ass would also be grass," Kaiba said, reminding himself to stop speaking Japanese. "You are in trouble. With everyone. Where do you live? I'll get someone to swim you back, right the fuck now."
"Oo, you said a bad word," Adina whispered, pressing a hand to her mouth. "The eff word."
Kaiba ground his teeth and gave the child a long stare.
She floated in front of him excitedly, beaming.
Golden bracelets decorated both her tiny arms, and her skin was very pale, complimenting her fins which were a magnificent, bright blue…very similar to Seth's…color….
No…
It couldn't be….
No.
Impossible.
He'd heard news of his egg hatching barely two years ago.
This little girl looked to be older than Noah…so it couldn't be her….
"Who else lives here?" The child asked impertinently, bobbing up and down as another wave came washing towards them.
No one, Kaiba replied in his head, realizing his voice had died, and his lungs were screaming for air, but he forced himself to stay submerged so he could continue staring into her wonderful…. beautiful…delicate face. Her cheekbones were high and rounded…like Atem's….
And her eyes were angular and large…like Atem's….
"You know my dad?" The girl asked instantly, and Kaiba blinked, realizing his mind was being openly read.
Kaiba felt faint, and he let himself float upwards so he could gasp for air.
His heart thundered in his ears, and his entire body seared with a strange, magnificent fire.
Holy fuck.
Holy fuck.
Atem was her dad…!
Holy fuck.
That meant…
Holy fuck.
"What's wrong!" Adina cried, circling the man's waist anxiously as he clung onto the rock with one hand. "Stop saying the bad word! Are you suffo…. Suffo-Crating?"
Suffo…cating… Kaiba choked, taking a deep inhale and sinking beneath the water again, resisting the urge to pull the child into a tight embrace. She clearly…didn't know who he was, and he didn't know what lies Atem's people had been spouting about him, so he had to tread carefully.
"Suffo-cating. I said that," Adina protested, frowning. "Tell me your name and rank, and I'll tell you mine."
Oh, I already know, Kaiba managed a warm smile. Princess of Snootyville, queen of all that you survey. Something like that, right?
"You think I'm snooty?" The child repeated incredulously, and a few strands of her hair whipped Kaiba across his cheek when she tossed it over her shoulder haughtily. "You're mean. Just like those bullies at school!"
Whoa, wait. You're being bullied at school? Kaiba sobered up and felt an alien rage surge through his chest. Does Atem know this? Who are they and where do they live? I'll kill them all.
"No, you don't have to do that…they're my friends. They just say mean things sometimes," Adina said, smoothing her bracelets down her arms. "And it's not about me."
Then they're not your friends, Kaiba growled. What do they say if it's not about you?
"They say things like, 'your father abandoned you', or 'King Atem found you because your dad didn't want you,'" Adina recited in monotone. "But I don't believe them which is why I came here."
"To do what?" Kaiba asked, unable to stop himself from talking, or staring.
She was…fascinating.
She even sounded like himself when he was fed up with people.
Genetics were scary.
"To see my birthplace," Adina said plainly, pointing at the cliffside in the distance. "Mana showed me in a memory. Somewhere over there."
"What happens when you go over there and realize it's just a bunch of rock?" Kaiba let his breath out slowly, seeing a stream of bubbles escape his lips, and he rose to the surface for more air before sinking down again.
To his rising horror, he realized she had vanished.
She was already halfway to the cliffside, her bright blue fins flashing in the distance.
"Fuck, my fucking—" Kaiba grit his teeth and kicked off the rock to follow her closely.
She was so tiny! Barely the length of his arm.
The dolphin had been right to shout at him.
Would she be okay going back down by herself?!
How could he contact someone to get her back down safely?
According to the bitchy dolphin, she'd almost been netted and or killed by a propeller.
He floated to a stop and watched her dig around the stalks of kelp, looking satisfied, and his heart wrenched painfully.
He couldn't take it anymore.
He had to tell her.
…And say what?
That he was the slimy shore-loving father who supposedly abandoned her?
"So this place…was not a lie, but everything else…was," Adina said slowly, feeling tears well up behind her eyes, and she couldn't bring herself to turn around, because she could feel the presence of the warrior merman floating behind her, watching her cry.
"How do you know you're being lied to?" Kaiba asked, carefully reaching out to her, wondering if she would willingly hold his hand again. "Maybe, whatever they're saying…is for your own good."
"Because," Adina folded her arms and flashed the handsome merman a glare. "Nobody says his name. Or talks about what he looks like. Just how I'll know 'when I'm older', and I'm sick of it cuz I wanna know now!"
In his mind's eye, Kaiba almost saw her stamp her foot…if she had a foot.
Oh boy. Tantrum time.
"A-And now I'm i-in…so much t-trouble…because…a s-stupid dolphin guardian caught me!" Adina shrieked, feeling tears well up behind her eyes and sting her lower lids. "Y-You can't e-even help me find my daddy…on land…c-cuz you're suffo-crating! And you made the dolphin mad! We're b-both in trouble now!"
Kaiba set his jaw and said nothing, letting her cry it out.
He was pretty angry himself, given all the news he was learning about how no one spoke his name, but it seemed to be causing her a different kind of pain, so he set aside his own anger to listen to her yell.
"And I'm lossssst," Adina whined, pressing her hands to her face, bawling. "I d-dunno how to get back!"
She leaned against the cliffside and began to sob bitterly, and Kaiba watched as bright, pearly tears flowed from her eyes and sank down into the darkness beneath them.
He wanted to pull her into a hug so badly, but he noticed that her claws were extremely sharp and untrimmed. One swipe across his face, and it could scar him.
His lungs were also burning for air.
He bobbed his head up and took a deep breath before sinking down again, hearing Noah shouting in his head.
SETO! WHERE ARE YOU?!
Ugh, Kaiba palmed his face and didn't answer, but the princess heard this and perked up, brushing her tears away excitedly.
"A boy!" She cried, gazing up at the sparking water above their heads, and Kaiba's eyelid twitched.
This was not happening.
He was not going to let Noah see a mermaid and have that ruin his little life too.
Also, would they be considered cousins?
Shit shit shit….
"Oh, there you are! Hey, I'm going to watch TV, okay? I'm hot, and I'm bored."
Kaiba froze and glanced around, narrowing his eyes at the bright blue fins swishing back and forth underneath the water by the rock, and he realized Seth was playing the part for him.
Oh fuckkkk….
"DADDY!" Adina shrieked, kicking off the cliff and zooming towards Seth, but Kaiba caught her by the arm just in time, keeping her underwater.
"Wh—LET GO OF ME YOU WEIRDO!" She struggled and kicked mightily, but Kaiba hung on with equal strength and determination.
"That's not your dad!" Kaiba whispered, pressing a finger to his lips and leaning against the cliff, his entire body shaking with unwanted adrenaline. "Stop screaming, or the boy on shore will hear you, and then you're really dead meat, you got that?"
"Let go…!" The princess whimpered, staring down at the large, pale hand wrapped around her wrist, and her arm burned with a strange fire at the man's touch. "I don't believe you! You're meanie-liar-liar-fins-on-fire! He has the same color as me, and no one has the same color as me back at home! That's my daddy! You're a liar! Let go!"
Adina swallowed thinly and craned her neck at the faceless merman who was floating by the rock, still talking to the boy on shore. That had to be her dad.
He was showing his face to a human!
"Go ahead and watch the TV," Seth said, trying to sound like Seto, but he wasn't sure how Seto sounded when talking to this child, so he took a guess.
"You sound weird," Noah said perceptively, inching around the rock to get a better look at Seto, but he couldn't see around it.
"What? No, you're weird," Seth said, trying to mimic Seto's coldness, but his voice shook slightly. "Go away now, you're being annoying. I said you could watch the TV already."
"Um, I didn't even do anything to be annoying! What's wrong with you?" Noah's voice sounded faint, and Adina struggled furiously against Kaiba's grip, gathering her spit behind her teeth.
She could feel it burning her tongue, so she whipped her head around to shoot it at the merman, who, to her rising horror, angled his head to the side and dodged her with terrifying precision.
Instead, her acidic saliva hit the rock over his shoulder, melting a chunk of it off the cliff.
Did you just…spit at me, you little brat?! Kaiba fumed, wondering if Atem had raised her to be this spunky or if it was purely genetics at fault. Who taught you how to do that? You are so grounded!
Leggo, leggo! Or I'mma scratch you! The princess screamed, already clawing at Kaiba's arm and drawing streams of blood, which was clouding the water around them, but Kaiba hung on tightly, bearing through the pain and refusing to let go.
She could claw his arm to the bone and he'd still hold on.
He'd be damned if he let Noah see her without an explanation.
There was silence behind the rock, so Noah rolled his eyes and stomped back towards the house, faintly recalling mom and dad having a whispered conversation about how Uncle Seto was a bad example, but he was family…so they had to be understanding of his…condition.
What condition? Noah grumbled, marching back up the boardwalk and sliding the glass door open, kicking his shoes off at the bevel. Didn't matter. At least he got permission to be inside with the TV.
Seth breathed a sigh of relief and dipped back down under the water, seeing a cloud of blood floating in the distance, and his stomach tightened with fear and dread.
Was Seto bleeding?! It sure smelled like it.
What a way to welcome a brother home.
Seto! I'm coming! Seth cried, powering through the water towards the cloud of blood, and he heard a young girl's voice shout back at him.
Daddy! Help me! This bad man won't let me go!
Oh… Seth floated to a halt and fanned the bloody water away with his fin, seeing a disheveled Kaiba wrestling with a tiny hatchling who was putting up a magnificent fight, leaving deep scratches all down Kaiba's bare chest and upper arms as he tried to restrain her from swimming upwards.
A kidnapping?! Seth cried, and Kaiba finally let go, feeling a tail whip him in the chest so hard, it knocked the air out of him, and thick bubbles exploded from his nose and mouth as he coughed.
"DADDY! You didn't abandon me!" Adina cried, and she threw her arms around Seth's waist, feeling the man stiffen, and her body grew so cold, it made her heart clench strangely.
W-What? D-Did this man not recognize her?!
But the fins were the same color!
Adina stared down into the water at the tips of their bright blue fins waving to and fro in the soft waves, her confusion and disappointment rising. She had come all this way…to meet a stranger…who only shared the color of her fins, and nothing else.
Speechless, Seth gave the child a few awkward pats on her back while Seto coughed violently, slowly gathering his bearings and cursing fluently in Japanese.
"Ah…Princess Adina, we meet at last," Seth said warmly, reaching down to pry away the little arm's from around his waist, but the child clung onto him stubbornly, sounding close to tears.
"You don't recognize me?!" She cried tearfully, squishing her cheek against his bare stomach and desperately wishing for warmth. "But you're my daddy! How could you hate me?! How could you leave me here in the middle of nowhere?! I'm so mad at you, you stinky sea urchin!"
Language! Seth admonished, now struggling to pull the girl off of him, but she had an iron grip. I haven't gone down to see you because…your father…didn't want you to get us confused. You see, Seto? This only made it worse. You shouldn't have kept me away from her!
Taking deep gulps of saltwater, Kaiba shut his eyes and hung onto the cliff, willing the bloody gashes on his arm to heal, but all they did was sting terribly.
Did that little brat use a poisonous scratch?! Holy hell.
He had a little demon spawn on his hands.
"I hate you! I hate you!" Adina choked, crushing Seth's ribs as she squeezed tighter. "Give me answers, you slime ball!"
"Where did you learn words like that?!" Seth cried, bobbing up and down in an oncoming wave as he felt sharp claws dig into his back and begin to draw blood. "Ow! That hurts, you little—let go of me! Seto, help! I am not your father!"
"YES YOU ARE! NO MORE LYING!" Adina shouted, unable to see anything through the horrible blur of her tears.
Strong arms scooped her up from behind, prying her off the merman, so Adina kicked and screamed stubbornly, her claws dragging down Seth's sides as she attempted to cling onto him.
Seth let out a pained yell and doubled over in agony, clutching his sides as Seto finally managed to detangle him from the hatchling, and he watched through the hazy, bloody water as Seto hefted the little girl on his shoulder and swam to the beach.
Gasping for breath, Seth shut his eyes and began to heal rapidly, hating how the wounds stung with poison. What a fighter. Thankfully, he was immune to her because they were family, but if someone else's child had clawed him like this, he would need several moons of detoxification in a healing pod.
This kid needed discipline!
Was Atem letting her do whatever she wanted? It sure seemed like it.
This was not future queen behavior.
And this whole time, he'd thought that it was better that Seto didn't parent her.
Letting a wave push him to shore, Seth saw Kaiba drag the hatchling onto the wet sand and stand over her, looking beside himself with fury and distress.
Adina gazed up at the tall human fearfully. His shadow panned over her fins, causing terror to sear through her chest as he towered over her, blocking out the sun while he planted his feet down on either side of her body.
With blood dripping down his toned, shirtless body, he looked positively evil, almost like…he was going to kill…something.
"So," Kaiba said shrewdly, fully aware that he was terrifying the kid, but he didn't care. He needed to make a point. "You swam all this way, nearly got yourself killed, just so you can scratch a couple strangers to death. Is that what you want? Where are your manners? You can't expect to accomplish anything like this if you kill everyone you meet."
"S-Sorry-y…?" Adina squeaked, unable to tear her gaze away from the horrible scratches she'd made across the man's pale chest. His blood was a deep, emerald green. Like a merperson's.
But he had legs.
Was this scary man her real daddy?
He looked exactly like the other merman, but…he had legs!
"Sorry for what?" Kaiba challenged, folding his arms across his bloody chest, glaring down at her and feeling his heart thump furiously. "Apologize properly."
"Sorry for…almost getting killed…and for scratching a couple of strangers to death," Adina repeated boldly, inching up in the sand, trying to get away from the two legs planted down on either side of her, but Seto caught onto this and tensed.
She felt him tense, and she froze, swallowing thinly when she saw the other merman ride a shallow wave and roll onto the sand beside them, shaking his long, wet hair out of his face.
"You're scaring her," Seth breathed, nursing the three gashes on his arm that was slowly healing. "That'll make for a bad imprint. She apologized already. Don't be too hard on her."
"Apologize directly to Uncle Seth," Kaiba said coldly, seeing the girl brush a clump of black hair away from her cheek and shoot him a defiant glare with a pair of the clearest, most striking blue eyes he'd ever seen.
Do my eyes look like that? Kaiba wondered faintly while the little girl glanced half-heartedly at Seth and said, "sorry uncle Seth. You're not my uncle. I don't know you."
"You still don't get it?" Kaiba cried, on the brink of losing it. "Look at me! Apologize for spitting at my face. You never ever spit in people's faces. You will blind them, you understand?!"
Adina's lower lip trembled, and she realized she was actually being yelled at. For real.
No one at home ever yelled at her like this.
Not even Atem, or granddaddy.
This man was mean!
"Atem or granddaddy," Seth echoed incredulously, wringing out his hair as it began to dry in the sun. "Yikes. She calls Atem by his name. Did they even bond? This could explain why—"
"Seth, shut up," Kaiba raged, staring down at the tiny girl, and his mind raced, wondering what the hell he ought to do.
This was her!
This was really her!
She had…swam all this way, just to see him!
But he needed to hold off on the tearful reunion because she was apparently growing up to be a tiny monster. It had only been three and half years by his count, and according to their colony's Medic, the child should still be an infant, in the nursing stage of life.
This little girl lying on the beach in front of him looked like a disheveled, bratty three-year old.
Did merbabies age this fast?
Atem's messengers were usually unhelpful updates about her development, saying things like, 'she's thinking about you quite a lot', but apparently…she thought about it enough to act on it.
"I'm sorry! Please don't kill me, or an army will come to kill you!" Adina cried, pressing her hands to her face to cry loudly. "Let me go, or I'll scream! I'll scream really loud and you'll have to swim me back home!"
Kaiba unfolded his arms and the corners of his mouth twitched upwards into a smile, feeling a surge of pride. Nice threats.
"Oh, no…. Don't scream, please, please," Seth muttered, already covering his ears. "Seto, do something. Don't just stand there."
Finally, Kaiba relented and stepped aside to kneel in the soft sand beside her.
He leaned forward and pulled her into a tight hug, tucking his chin over the top of her wet hair, feeling his heart ache with relief.
Just this once, he'd let her make those threats, but if he let it continue unchecked, she'd keep getting her way with no discipline.
"Don't…touch me…" The princess hiccupped as a wonderful blanket of warmth enveloped her, and made her eyes begin to sting with tears. "…Y-You weirdo."
The human didn't let up, and instead, the arms tightened reassuringly around her body, and she could feel his deep, resounding heartbeat thumping in synch with her own.
Adina blinked, and slowly raised her arms to lock around the mystery merman's neck, and the blood rushed to head too fast, making her dizzy with happiness.
Hugging this man felt good!
It only felt half this good when hugging Atem, or Mana….
Pulling away slowly, Kaiba's body seared with relief and joy as he gazed into her rounded face, gently brushing aside a strand of black hair that stuck to her damp cheek.
Adorable. She had the shape of Atem's large eyes, which were framed beautifully with dark lashes.
"You are my daddy?" Adina whispered, reaching a chubby hand out to touch the top of the handsome man's head, feeling his light brown hair bunching underneath her fist.
"Then…Ambassador Shadi lied to me. I've seen pictures of sixty-year-old humans, and you don't look like any of them," Adina said curiously, her ears ringing with a strange sound as she gazed into the man's clear blue eyes that were the same color as her own. "Why do you have brown hair? Why do I have black hair? Why does Uncle Seth look exactly like you? When can you come home? Are you done with Under Work yet?"
"Yeah…I'm…almost…done with work," Kaiba choked, brushing the backs of his knuckles tenderly against her perfectly rounded cheeks, his heart soaring with love. "Do you really think I'm a slimy sea urchin? You think I abandoned you? Who the hell told you that?"
"Language," Seth muttered, but he was ignored.
"I hear people say it," Adina replied, throwing herself forward to wrap her arms around Kaiba's neck, squeezing him so tightly, he saw green spots in his eyes. "Now I know Mana was telling the truth. She said you're trapped in a human body!"
Kaiba found that he couldn't say anything, so he contented himself with hugging her back.
He didn't want to let go. She was a warm bundle of joy clinging onto him for support, and he was a shitty person for not being there for her the moment she was born.
"Very nice," Seth commented, rolling onto his stomach to prop his head up on his hands, watching Seto hug his daughter. "She's inherited your inquisitive mind, your fighting spirit, and your stubbornness."
"Do I ask too many questions?" Adina continued, pulling away to gaze tearfully into Seto's face and taking in his pale skin, his clear blue eyes, and his sharp cheekbones which dipped down into a sculpted jaw. "You look like…a prince from my storybook. Are those stories based on real events? Why does everyone keep lying to me about you? You don't look like a bad man."
"Is that what they're saying about me?" Kaiba asked gently, moving to sit beside her, using his shadow to shield her from the sun, which was hanging low in the sky, but it was still quite hot.
"Not telling is the same as lying," the princess said stubbornly, crossing her bracelet adorned arms across her chest. "I'm not going home anymore! Everyone there is a liar!"
"Oh boy," Seth muttered, throwing Kaiba a nervous glance, but his twin was fixated on his child.
"When was the last time someone trimmed these for you?" Kaiba asked, glossing over her questions and splaying her tiny hand out in his. "These are horrible, and they hurt people. Get them cut."
"I don't wanna," she shot back, curling her fingers warmly into his hand. "I don't like it when Priestess Isis does it for me. Mana takes too long, and Atem also takes too long. I get bored."
"And when was the last time someone properly did your hair?" Seth chimed in, reaching forward to lift a piece of her clumpy hair off her damp shoulder. "You're a princess for Helios' sake. Look like one, please."
"I'm prettier than everyone. Isn't that enough?" Adina asked curiously, and Kaiba bit the tip of his tongue, feeling a laugh climbing up his chest. He had never seen other merchildren before, so he assumed they were probably just as pretty as other merpeople, but he sure admired her ego.
"Stay here, I'll get some supplies," Kaiba said, rising to his feet and scanning the beach for his shirt. "Seth, watch her. I'll be right back."
"Understood," Seth replied blithely, patting the sand beside him. "Come sit next to me, Princess. Tell me all about school and what you're learning about our history."
Kaiba threw one last look over his shoulder, his heart warming happily as he took large strides across the beach. He found his shirt discarded on a dry log, and he threw it around his neck, glancing down at himself to make sure he wasn't still bleeding.
The wounds had shrunk, but the gashes were now dark scabs, still in the stages of healing.
Letting out a huff of pride, Kaiba strode up the boardwalk and into the house, sneaking past the couch behind Noah, whose eyes were glued to the screen while a superhero in a robot suit flew through the air.
A bowl of ice cream was melting in his lap, and the spoon was hanging loosely off his fingers.
Cute.
Edging into the hallway, Kaiba ran nose-first into Kemo, and the manservant towered over him, his eyes hidden by the dark glasses he always wore on his face.
"Master Kaiba," the man said, unfazed by the gashes on his bare chest. "Do you need a first-aid kit?"
"No. Stay out of my way and tell Noah to eat the ice cream before it melts," Kaiba growled, pushing past the man and shutting himself in his room.
Man, fuck that guy.
He was seriously suspicious, and there was nothing Kaiba could do about it until Kemo actually did something wrong.
Approaching his desk, he shoved his hands into the lowest drawer, searching for the nail file and clippers he kept there, along with a dosage of liquified slugs, and the jewelry box with Atem's earrings.
Atem's earrings.
Did she have her ears pierced? Time to check.
He hastened to open the safe in the closet too, making sure to slip a necklace and bracelet into his pocket. He'd had these made for her, unsure of when she would need them, and he was glad she was clearly intelligent enough to swim up here to see him, so he had to shower her with all the gifts he'd saved up over the years.
Stopping inside the bathroom, he made sure to pick up a brush for hair and a clean shoe brush he kept in the same drawer due to his weird, new grooming instincts.
He now understood why he'd been doing that.
It had all been for this very moment.
Hurrying out of the room, Kaiba glared one last time at Kemo, who was putting the ice cream back in the refrigerator before he stepped out of the house and raced down the boardwalk, back to where Seth and Adina were sitting in the shadow of the large rock, fanning their fins in the waves.
"Welcome back, Daddy!" Adina sang happily, holding her hands out to him as if asking for another hug. "Don't cut my nails. I don't like it."
Kaiba bent down and pulled her into a tight hug, feeling his head rush wonderfully with happiness again, and he buried his nose into her damp hair, letting her unique scent wash over him comfortingly.
She hugged him back with equal vigor, her laugh ringing wonderfully in his ears.
He really felt a connection with her.
It was…hard to explain.
"Oh, good, a brush! Now…hair, is my specialty," Seth winked, and he snatched the hairbrush away from Kaiba. "We need some pretty kelp, so I'm going to dive for some. I'll be right back."
"Bye," Adina waved her chubby hand at Seth, who waved back energetically and disappeared into an oncoming wave.
"Hand," Kaiba said stiffly, already reaching for her hand, and she didn't fight him. She waved her fins against a wave and giggled happily, enjoying the way her fins sparkled clear blue under the light.
"Daddy, does the sun hurt?" She asked, and Kaiba bent his head down, getting to work on her pinky nail first, because holy shit, it was fucking sharp.
"It hurts if you stay in it too long," Kaiba answered, clipping the tip with practiced ease and running the file down against it. "Sunburn will happen, and your skin will turn grey and shed a gross film. You'll burn after 720 heartbeats, so start counting if the sun hurts when it touches your skin."
"Oh, okay," she said plainly, her eyes darting left and right across the beach, taking all the sights in at once. "Is the sun always up here? How come I can't see this light when I'm at home?"
"You're too deep," Kaiba replied instantly, working on her forefinger and filing it down with steady strokes. "'One sunlit day' as merpeople call it, is 1200 heartbeats. That's twelve human hours, and depending on your colony, the sun isn't always shining the entire time. Get Atem to let you visit a surface colony and we'll get to spend more time together. I can't go down to that depth without suffering a headache, but Seth can bring you up here to visit."
"Will I get burned if I stay in a surface colony?" She asked, tilting her head curiously to the side and wiggling her fingers happily in Kaiba's grasp.
"Don't move—and no," Kaiba said quietly, his heart warming at all the wonderful questions she was spouting. "The UV is significantly weaker, and you'd be indoors. But hey, yes, you would still get burned if you spent way too much time outside."
"What's UV?" She asked, keeping her fingers extremely stiff, making it easier for him to drag the file down on each of her nails. "I like that you tell me the truth, Daddy. The only one I can trust is you and Uncle Seth."
"Ultraviolet rays," Kaiba replied gently, turning her hand over to inspect her palm, making sure her nails were all the same length. "That's what the rays from the sun are called. That is what burns you."
"Is that what humans call it, or is that what everyone calls it?" Adina asked perceptively, and Kaiba smiled, giving her a pat on the head after finishing her one hand.
"Everyone calls it that," Kaiba replied, his heat swelling with joy when she smiled at him and examined her manicured hand happily.
"Fine, maybe it's a little better like this," she said, nodding, and she jumped in fright when Seth rolled onto shore riding a wave with bunches of kelp covering his arms and shoulders.
Adina shrunk back and clung onto Kaiba's arm, crying out, "EW! YUCK!"
"Be quiet, you don't want to be heard," Kaiba said automatically, instantly reminding himself of Mahad. "Seth, what the hell."
"That's not how you say, 'thank you,' Princess," Seth protested, untangling the kelp from his neck and arms. "Trust the process. It looks odd now, but I promise it'll look good."
The little girl crossed her arms and glared apprehensively at the colorful wet kelp. Everyone was always trying to do stuff with her hair, and Uncle Seth was apparently no different. Maybe it was okay because Uncle Seth looked exactly like Daddy, and they probably shared the same thoughts.
"First, we lay these out to check the length of each one," Seth said, talking to himself, and Adina turned back to Kaiba, wiggling her other, untrimmed hand.
"This one now," she said happily, and Seth looked surprised.
"What happened to, 'I hate being trimmed'?"
"I like it when Daddy does it," she replied, pouting cutely. "I'm not bored, and he go very fast."
"Speed is the key," Kaiba said blithely, smiling to himself as he reached for her other hand. "Pinky first. Hold it out for me."
Adina stuck out her pale hand and let her father clip the tip of her pinky nail down and apply the file to it vigorously.
Uncle Seth was approaching her with the hairbrush, looking like an evil manta ray with a shadow covering his face as he loomed over her excitedly.
"Don't touch my hair! I'll bite you," Adina bared her fangs, and received an annoyed hiss from Kaiba at her side.
"Be nice. Let Uncle Seth fix your hair unless you want to look like a peasant," Kaiba snapped, wondering why he suddenly sounded so pretentious. "If you're royalty, you better look the part, and act the part, or you'll make us all look bad. Do you want the Council to think that we're incompetent?"
"No," Adina said plainly, and Seth chuckled in amusement.
"Seto, you sound exactly like those irritating dolphins," Seth grinned, and he gently placed the brush atop Adina's head, struggling to pull it through. "Wow, Princess. Do you never let anyone brush your hair? Why keep it this long if it's going to be tangled and messy?"
"I said I'll bite you!" Adina cried, and she received another irritated hiss from her father.
"Let him do it one time, and if you hate it, we'll cut your hair," Kaiba said simply, running the nail file over her thumb which stiffened significantly at his words.
"Cut my hair?! Noooo!" She whined. "Ow, Uncle, that hurts! OW! Stop pulling so hard!"
Seth rolled his eyes and continued to work at detangling her hair. Her bad temperament explained why no one could touch her or even get near her.
"The key is to do it every day or put it in braids, so it won't get everywhere," Seth lectured, beginning to also feel like a mother dolphin. "You look like a demon with all this hair everywhere. If you had brushed your hair daily, or let Mana help, this wouldn't be an issue."
"Mana is a liar!" The princess pouted, shrinking her hand away from Kaiba and examining her nails with interest.
"Don't call people names," Seth muttered, finally working free of a knot and dragging the brush all the way through her hair. "There we go. It'll be less painful now."
The princess winced and said nothing.
It was oddly nice being tended to like this.
It felt different from when Mana and Atem tried to do her hair and nails.
It also felt different from that one time she had been taken to a salon where three ladies were floating around her head, fussing over her hair, fins, and hands.
After throwing a screaming tantrum and scratching at least two of the hairdressers, Adina remembered being rushed back into the palace by a red-faced Atem and a tearful Mana.
"I'm bored," she announced loudly, and to her rising curiosity, Kaiba picked up a different brush and knelt at the end of her fins to begin running it down the side of her hip.
"That…tickles," Adina giggled, waving her fins at Kaiba, and a pale hand rested on the base of her tail.
"Stay still. Looks like no one has ever cleaned you here either," Kaiba privately fumed, dragging the brush down her side again and hearing her giggle excitedly.
"It tickles! It tickles!" followed quickly by, "Ow, Uncle Seth, that still hurts! You liar!"
"People aren't all liars," Kaiba said instantly, wanting to nip this blame-intensive language in the bud.
"True, they could be saying it to protect you," Seth added, lifting up sections of her black hair and laying the kelp at the very top, letting it drape down the sides of her face. "Red is a good color in your hair."
"EW…. Get it off my face…Daaaaddyyy," Adina's lower lip trembled and Kaiba raised his head to give her a reassuring smile.
"We wouldn't have to do it all at once if you weren't so difficult," Kaiba said firmly, scaping the stray scales off his palms in disgust and laying them in a large pile in the sand. "No more fighting with people who want to help you, even if they don't tell you what you want to hear. You'll always find out anyway, right? Like today."
"Yeah," Adina nodded vehemently, agreeing. "Like today—ow! Uncle Seth—!"
"Brush one-hundred strokes every time you wake up, and this won't be a painful endeavor," Seth said, setting his jaw firmly and combing out another section of hair to braid in a strand of red kelp.
"Done," Kaiba announced proudly, pointing at the grey stack of dead scales in the sand, and the princess wrinkled her nose at it.
"Yuck. Why is everything so yucky?"
"Because you are a dirty and you've never let anyone groom you properly!" Seth cried, plaiting another thick strand of hair down the princess's shoulder. "I need to have a little talk with Mana and Atem about this."
"Don't blame them, blame me," Kaiba said simply, moving to sit beside Adina and resting his hand over hers in the sand. "…For not being there to take care of her myself."
Adina gazed into her father's face with shining eyes, and she moved to throw her arms around him in a hug, but a firm tug from a braid on the left side of her head made her eyes water, so she stayed still.
"How do I make people believe me?" Adina asked, her voice growing hoarse with emotion as she clung onto Kaiba's arm and gave him a tight squeeze. "You do love me, and you didn't abandon me!"
"People will believe what they want to believe," Seth said gently, finishing the last braid and setting it gently down onto her shoulder. "Just know that right now, your father and I are working very hard to find a Chrysalis so he can come home. Now, are you hungry or thirsty? It's almost time to go back. We've been out here for too long, and it's a hot day today."
"Wh-What? I'm n-not leaving!" She blubbered, clinging onto Kaiba's arm tearfully and gazing up at him with misty eyes. "Daddy, I wanna live up here with you! Are you mad at Atem? Why don't you ever come down to see me? And why does he never come here to see you?!"
There was a long silence, and Seth looked away quickly to avoid eye contact with her.
Kaiba's heart clenched with guilt, so he drew her into a warm hug, trying to summarize the situation as simply as possible, "A bad pact was made that keeps Atem underwater. It will expire in a hundred years, and I'm stuck up here because I can't access a Chrysalis to grow fins."
"A hundred years?!" Adina echoed incredulously, her eyes glowing with unshed tears. "That's too long!"
"It's been in effect for a while now, so there's about fifty years left, don't worry," Kaiba said lightly, realizing how bad this sounded when he finally said it aloud. "Uncle Seth will bring you up here to visit me as much as you want."
"Why have I never met Uncle Seth before?!" Adina raged, her face turning pink with frustration. "Did you hide from me? I hear people saying Uncle Seth is in hiding!"
"Now that's a bad rumor," Seth said darkly, his eyes gleaming with anger. "I've been travelling as a Merchant, and I have a sales team to do that now. No one is hiding from anyone. I've never met you because Seto and I discussed how you'd get us confused, and look, that's exactly what happened."
"Yes, but I know you're not my daddy," Adina said impertinently, turning her nose in the air. "No tricks. I can't be tricked."
"Definitely not," Kaiba smiled proudly, patting her head and appreciating the way her braids felt under his palm. "Seth, thank you. It looks really good, don't you think so, kid?"
"Maybe," Adina grumbled, crossing her arms irritably and flopping her fins against a swirling wave that lapped against the sand. "I don't wanna go home, and you can't make me!"
Kaiba tensed and felt an oncoming tantrum, and it seemed Seth did as well.
"Yes, you want to go home…to show everyone how pretty you look," Seth said encouragingly, throwing Kaiba a panicked look over her head that said, 'What now?!'.
The three of them sat together in tense silence, watching a couple waves come and go before Kaiba turned and gave the child a small smile.
"How about a present?" He suggested, reaching into his pocket for the jewelry. "A very special present, because I owe you tons of them."
Adina brightened up instantly and clapped her hands, nodding, "Yes! Daddy owes me a lot of presents!"
Seth sagged against the sand, looking exhausted, and Kaiba smirked, slipping out a thin golden necklace with diamonds strung evenly along the lengthy chain, and her eyes widened.
"Give!" She squealed, holding her hands out happily for it, and Kaiba swung it back on his fingers, just out of her reach.
"This goes…in your hair," he said cleverly, eyeing Seth over her head. "You can only wear this if you keep your hair brushed."
"Okay! Yes! I will do that!" She cried, patting her head regally with her tiny palms. "Put it here now! I wanna look pretty!"
"Thank…god," Seth breathed, accepting the delicate golden chain from Seto and used another strand of kelp to tuck it into the princess's neatly braided hair. "Wow, look at that! It suits you!"
Kaiba leaned back to admire Seth's handiwork, feeling another affectionate surge of pride.
She looked absolutely stunning.
Her ears were still in the shape of fins, so they stuck out adorably from the sides of her rounded cheeks, and the golden chain complimented her dark hair wonderfully while tear-drop diamonds decorated her forehead in a thin, glittering circle.
"Now you look like a princess," Kaiba said warmly, giving her cheek a soft pat.
They were so soft and irresistible.
She needed to stay this size forever.
"I know," she puffed proudly, patting the golden chain in her hair and holding out one chubby hand in the air. "Next present please!"
"Wh-Wh—this child is unbelievable!" Seth gasped, but Kaiba was prepared for this.
He slipped the tiny bracelet out of his pocket and let her snatch it out of his hands to admire the glittering gems in the sunlight.
Pretty, pretty…. So pretty! She chanted in her head and began to clumsily fasten it onto her own arm.
Pale hands slid into her view and helped adjust the bracelet onto her wrist, and she threw her arm up towards the sky, watching tiny rainbows dance and sparkle off the surface of the white gems, her heart soaring with happiness.
This beat granddaddy's presents.
This was better than everyone's presents, ever!
"Uncle Seth will have a present for you next time," Seth said hopefully, and the princess barely acknowledged him with glance, answering simply with, "Sure!"
Kaba snickered and reached into his other pocket for the box containing Atem's earrings before stopping himself when he realized her ears weren't even formed yet.
Seth noticed this odd movement and threw him a wide-eyed glance, "Another present?!"
"YAY! Daddy is the best!" Adina shouted, pulling Kaiba into a crushing hug and squealing happily.
"Well, this is definitely for when your ears have lobes," Kaiba said warmly, pulling out the box and showing it to her. "So you have to keep visiting me to show me those ears, okay?"
"I'm visiting you every day!" She cried, and Kaiba's heart wrenched painfully.
Yeah, she could dream.
They could all dream about that.
He had a feeling that once she returned to Atem, an army would be rising to shore to murder him for kidnapping, or something ridiculous like that.
"Daddy? What's wrong?" She was perceptive, and patted his cheek gently with a sand-covered hand. "Don't worry. I will like it no matter what."
Seth sat awkwardly beside them in silence, watching this with bated breath.
"These actually came from…your grandmother," Kaiba said, now desperately wishing Atem could be here to see this. "Open it gently to see…"
She picked up the box carefully with two hands and lifted the cover, staring at the wing-shaped earrings sporting the stones with the sparkling blue cores sitting in the satin folds, and she smiled happily.
"Ear jewelry!" She cried excitedly, accidentally splashing Seth with her tail as she waved it too hard against a foamy wave that lapped at the tips of their fins. "This is a big-girl present! I'm not big enough to wear this yet."
"So now you know," Kaiba said carefully, ignoring the panicked looks from Seth. "…That even if the piercings hurt, you'll get to wear these."
"Mana says it don't hurt," Adina said stubbornly, gazing longingly down into the box. "Atem says it don't hurt too."
"Doesn't hurt," Kaiba corrected. "And don't call him by his first name. He's your dad too."
"Alright, we should be getting back," Seth said anxiously, eyeing the setting sun. "I'm drying out, so I imagine you must be dry too, princess. Everyone will be wondering where you are. You can't tell them you were up here with us, okay? It has to be a secret."
"I like keeping secrets," Adina said happily, letting her father take the box away from her and set it aside in the sand. "I won't tell anybody! Promise!"
"Well, you can tell Atem, but make sure no one is around when you do," Kaiba instructed, wondering if he was ruining the kid by making her savvy to deception at such a young age.
"Come now, let's swim back carefully so we don't ruin that hair we worked so hard to fix," Seth said warmly, holding his hand out for her to grab, and she shook her head vehemently.
"NO! No. Not…going…home!"
A muscle jumped in Seth's cheek, and he looked to his twin for help.
Kaiba was prepared for this moment too.
He patted his pocket to make sure he had the dosage of slugs inside the syringe before he rose to his feet and picked her up gently, carrying her into the water.
"Yay, Daddy is coming with me," she said happily, looping he arms around his neck, and Kaiba grit his teeth silently, deciding it was best not to answer.
He felt Seth brush him by as he dove in ahead of them, and Kaiba eased her into a shallow wave, feeling her kick off against his forearms strongly for momentum.
Taking a deep breath, he dove in after her and found that she was waiting for him in shallow waters, darting back and forth with energy underneath the waves, her jewelry gleaming in the orange sunlight shining down from the sunset above.
"This way, this way!" She called happily, and Seth appeared on her other side, flanking her safely.
I thought you didn't know the way back, Kaiba thought to her, and she laughed devilishly in response.
Hehe! I know some of the way back, she grinned, and Kaiba caught a dark look from Seth over the top of her head.
Yes, he knew this was a dirty trick, but how else were they going to get her home without a fight?
Damn. His lungs were already burning for air and it hadn't even been three whole minutes. The water pressure was compressing around his head so tightly, it was making him dizzy. Fuck.
Seth…I can't go any deeper, Kaiba thought weakly, and his twin gave the child a bright smile to distract her.
Want to see where I live? Seth asked, and predictably, the child nodded happily.
Hey…I need some air. I'll be right back, Kaiba said as casually as he could muster, and to his relief, Adina waved at him with a chubby, bracelet-adorned hand, "Okay Daddy."
How about a hug, Kaiba suggested before he could stop himself, and he received another panicked glare from Seth.
He was already fooling her.
Couldn't he get just one damn hug?!
She zoomed at him through the water and tackled him into a lung-crushing hug, her black braids floating in the water around them, and Kaiba pressed her tightly to his chest, wishing he could never let go, but…he had to.
She pulled away first and swam happily back to hold Seth's hand.
Her innocence and trust in him was heartbreaking.
"Okay, Princess. Ready for an adventure to see your daddy's kingdom?" Seth asked warmly, and Kaiba felt tears build annoyingly behind his lids as his lungs steadily screamed for air, but he held out, to keep up appearances.
"Come back soon, Daddy," she called over her shoulder, and she turned to chat happily with Seth.
Yep… Kaiba thought weakly, and he watched both of their glittering blue tails disappear in the distance before he kicked upwards through the water, desperate for air.
Bursting through the surface of the water, Kaiba coughed violently and hated how tears were annoyingly stuck to his lower lids.
Fuck, fuck…she was going to hate him so much for this when she found out they had tricked her.
His stomach churned with nausea and guilt as he swam steadily back to shore, feeling like the biggest villain on earth.
Author's note:
ofokgilhfsekudjhdsukjkjhsdekhusde
seth and seto bonding time with adina! And a heartbreaking departure!
P.S. if anyone is wondering where the idea for this character came from, its here: (link to ygo wiki) princess adena
its the girl version of mokuba that kaiba made in the virtual world arc :D (and i couldn't think of any other reason why she'd have purple eyes other than: it's kaiba's gay subconscious telling him to make him and Atem's lovechild in virtual reality :thumbsup:)