Princess Adina hung onto Mahad's shoulders, her head tilting heavily to the side as she dozed off, exhausted from the constant pressure change and the earlier tantrums.

Seth paused and gave Mahad a firm salute, quietly sending him a thought.

Thank you for your service. I'll be on my way now. This is about halfway between my colony and yours.

Oh no you don't! Mahad growled, shaking his head stiffly. You're coming down here with me to deal with her when she wakes up!

Seth grit his teeth and contemplated shaking his head.

I'm exhausted, he said, and Mahad interrupted him angrily.

The entire kingdom is exhausted. She'll listen to you more than anyone else, so come with me, Mahad tilted his head in the direction of the depths. I'm asking nicely. Please.

Floating to a stop, Seth frowned and recalled a short conversation he'd had with Seto a couple moons ago. It was something about how if he showed he could live for a few days, or even a few months in Atem's colony, he would never be able to leave, so he had to hold back.

The key was showing Adina that they were two distinct colonies, with no lines blurred.

That was why he had never visited her since her hatching.
She had to discover for herself that there was another world waiting for her above.

I hear your plea, and I kindly reject it, Seth said formally, bowing his head. This is something I've discussed with Seto. I cannot stay in your palace. She needs to know that we are two different kinds of people.

No, we are not! Mahad protested, but Seth was already swimming away, his long brown hair streaming behind him in the distance. What do I tell her when she wakes up crying for you?!

You tell her that Uncle Seth is working on building a goddamn army to protect her second birthright colony! Seth called back, eager to get back home. Good day, Warrior Mahad. She is in good hands with you!

Swallowing nervously and feeling terribly unqualified, Mahad held her closer to her chest and swam into deeper waters, wondering what expression he should make when debriefing the royal court about her visiting Kaiba on shore.

Kaiba was in trouble.

He was sitting alone on one side of the living room while Mokuba, Ayame, and Noah sat on the couch across from him, giving him steely, suspicious looks.

"Where did you go so suddenly during brunch?" Mokuba asked, his tone kind, but Kaiba could hear the venom underneath. "That was embarrassing. We were in public. If you keep doing stuff like that, we will never have a meal together again."

Noah panicked at this news, throwing his dad a frantic look. Wh-Why?

"You're scaring the kid," Kaiba said calmly, and Ayame clenched her fingers so tightly over her knees, her knuckles whitened.

"Last chance to tell us where you went and what you did," Mokuba said stonily, crossing his arms. "Or you're not ever babysitting Noah again. Kemo told me you went swimming for three hours while he watched TV."

"Not true!" Noah argued, lying loyally for Seto. "I was outside. I even got sunburned."

"You can get sunburned in twenty minutes," Ayame said quietly. "That doesn't prove anything…only that you weren't wearing sun blocking cream."

Noah huffed and crossed his arms angrily.
Why did mom and dad have to be so mean to Uncle Seto? So what if he liked to swim a lot?
Who even cares? No one got hurt when he ran out of the restaurant, and maybe he just really had to pee, and then didn't come back because brunch was super boring, and the food was yucky.

Kaiba listened to Noah's thoughts carefully and realized that it had been silent the entire time. Everyone was waiting for him to speak. Fine.
He would tell the goddamn truth and never be believed.

"My daughter was calling me," Kaiba said, and he saw Ayame's eyes widen with interest.

"Let's meet her," Mokuba said casually, sounding unconvinced. "But I didn't hear your phone ring."

"Does that mean she's my sister?!" Noah cried excitedly, and he received an embarrassed glare from his mother.

"Cousin," she corrected. "Seto is not your father, why would she be your sister?"

"Well, okay then," Noah grumbled, sinking back into the couch cushions. "Just wondering."

There was another long silence and Kaiba folded his arms, waiting for someone to speak, but to his annoyance, everyone kept staring at him, expecting him to say something.

"What?" He said defensively. "You want a photo next time? I'll get one. But don't freak out, because her ears haven't fully developed yet, so there will be a pair of fins sticking out the side of her head."

Ayame blinked rapidly, trying to understand, and Mokuba looked positively furious, but Noah was interested.

"Fins for ears? Like RaeWoman? From my TV show?" He asked excitedly, bouncing up and down on the cushion. "Can she shoot lasers out of her eyes too?"

"This is unhealthy," Ayame said instantly, resting a hand on Noah's shoulder. "Uncle Seto is joking, Noah."

"He's…not joking…" Noah said slowly, studying Kaiba's face with wide eyes. "R-Right, Seto? You never lie to me."

"Correct—"

"Incorrect," Mokuba interrupted, his cheeks turning pink with frustration. "Noah, go to your room."

"Whaaaaaaaaat?!" The child cried, jumping to his feet and stomping one foot. "What'd I do?! I wanna stay here! Why is Seto in trouble?! He didn't do anything!"

"Five…four…" Mokuba counted, keeping his eyes nailed to Seto's face.

"BUT I DIDN'T DO ANYTHING!" Noah cried, balling his fists at his sides while his father kept counting.

"Three…two… One more second until no TV for the rest of the day. You'll miss an episode."

"FINE!" Noah turned in a huff and stormed out of the living room, leaving an awkward silence behind him in the living room.

Kaiba said nothing and examined his nails, noting that they were once again growing out into a point, because he hadn't filed them down in a week. Why did it do that? It was so strange. Did it have something to do with the shape of his nail bed?

"Seto, please," Mokuba said stiffly, inching forward on the couch to gaze imploringly at his older brother. "You can tell us the truth. We won't judge you. Am I going to have to make you roll up your sleeves?"

Kaiba ground his teeth furiously, hearing Ayame's worried thoughts floating through his head.

D-Drugs? I mean I've never seen proof of it, and I sure hope he isn't doing it in front of Noah….

Growling, Kaiba opened his mouth to say, "It's mermaid scales," but his throat constricted so much, he couldn't breathe.

Hiccupping strangely, Kaiba bent over in his seat, patting his chest angrily, wondering why he was suffocating.

"Oh god!" Ayame cried, leaping to her feet and pulling out her phone. "Call an ambulance!"

No! No! I'm fine! Kaiba held up a hand as the feeling subsided and air flowed into his lungs again.

Coughing weakly, he looked Mokuba in the eye, taking in his brother's startled expression while his heart pounded in his ears.

"Ask me…where I get supplies to make the serum…we're currently…selling," Kaiba breathed, gripping the edge of the couch as the blood rushed horribly to his head, and he wondered if this was the voodoo pact at work. Ayame was present, so maybe that's why he was being suffocated. He usually never had an issue talking about mermaids in front of Mokuba.

"Where do you get the serum?" Ayame asked curiously, and Mokuba shot her look, but she ignored him.

Kaiba sat up straight and opened his mouth to answer, intending to say, 'mermaid scales,' but again, his chest began to constrict with a terrible pain, causing his eyes to water.

Doubling over in his seat, Kaiba wheezed, and cursed angrily in his mind.
Fuck.
Fuck!
It was the pact.
Here he'd been thinking he had bested it…but apparently not.

He really couldn't say anything about mermaids in front of Ayame.

"Okay, that's it," Mokuba rose to his feet worriedly. "I'm calling a doctor."

"I'm not…sick," Kaiba managed through gritted teeth as his head spun wildly at the lack of oxygen. "Just…can't breathe."

Mokuba wasn't listening. He already had the phone to his ear and was talking rapidly into it.

Kaiba eyed the hallway leading to the front door and contemplated making a run for it before two men in suits blocked his exit. One of the men was Kemo, looking intimidating as usual in his dark glasses.

"Are you serious?!" Kaiba hissed, feeling spit gathering behind his teeth. "Kid, I'm telling the truth!"

"Funny, how you're calling me a kid when you're behaving like one," Mokuba answered coldly, slipping his phone back into his pocket and giving Seto a heartbroken frown. "Wait here for the doctor. We'll all wait with you for the results. I'm not angry, Seto. I know you tried your hardest."

Grinding his teeth in fury, Kaiba decided it was best not to fight, so he sat back down and crossed his limbs tightly.

When the doctor arrived to take his vitals, he'd realize everything was fine.
Better than fine.
He was in tip top health, dammit.

Adina woke up slowly, finding herself encased in a milky green pod, and she closed her eyes again, feeling floaty and drowsy.

She could hear Father and granddaddy having a hushed argument with everyone else, and the words they used made her heart hurt.

"…You let her get sunburned even though you had her with you the entire time?" Solomon whispered angrily. "That means you took her up to shore…willingly! How can I trust you ever again, Warrior Mahad?"

"I did it because we promised her she could see her father!" Mahad growled back, his cheeks burning with a strange fire as he defended Seth and the princess. "Prince Seth's tactics worked. She came down quietly, and look, her hair, nails and fins have all been cleaned. If anything, we should send her up there more often."

"Agree," Atem said emptily, resting a hand atop the green pod when he thought he saw a movement. "I can't believe she swam all the way up there by herself. I'm just glad she's back safely. Thank you, Mahad."

Mahad threw the king a grateful look in return, but he received a cold glare from Rishid and Isis.

"All hatchlings attempt to swim up to shore every once in a while," Rishid said, trying to diffuse the situation. The scripture tattooed on the side of his face wrinkling as he grimaced. "They have pure curiosity. It just so happens she is one of the few hatchlings this millennia to have made it up there and back without perishing."

Adina stared up at Father's hand outlined against the edge of the pod and she reached out to poke him tentatively with her finger, seeing the hand withdraw, and a spiky silhouette hovered over her face, clouded by the milky membrane.

"You're awake!" Atem smiled with relief. "How do you feel? You got quite a burn on your shoulders."

Adina blinked and nodded slowly, trying to say something but her throat was incredibly scratchy, and her mouth was dry.

"Let her rest," the Medic's voice floated down from somewhere far away. "She's a little shore sick having spent so much time up there. It really took a toll on her little body."

But I counted! Adina cried in her head, reaching her hand out to press it against the edge of the pod, searching for Father's silhouette again. Daddy said, 1200 heartbeats! I counted!

"It's probably different for you, because you're so small," Atem said warmly, and he heard a disgruntled hiss behind him from someone. He didn't care to check. He had stopped caring about winning approval from his staff.

All that mattered was that his child was happy and safe.
She got to see Kaiba, twice in one week, so he was quite jealous of her.

"You're in big trouble, little lady," Mana's voice sounded somewhere to the left of the pod, and Adina hiccupped, feeling tears welling up beneath her eyelids.

"Yes, what if something had happened to you, my dear?" Solomon added, floating closer to the pod. "Do you know how worried granddaddy was? You made me cry, you bad girl! Think about what you did while you heal."

"Stop it!" Atem fumed, pushing his grandfather out of the way to hover protectively over her. "She's not 'bad' for wanting to see Kaiba. She has every right to spend time with him."

"Yes, when she's old enough," Shada said, already floating towards the door, sounding uninterested. "Going up there when she's barely a decade old is unheard of. I'm surprised she's alive. Good day, all."

"I am old enough!" Adina cried, and she was ignored because granddaddy was talking with Warrior Mahad about new security measures.

The Medic swam forward and ushered everyone out of the wing, "Out! Everyone out except for Mana, who will help her apply the ointment—"

"No! I don't want Mana!" Adina screamed from inside the pod, and she could see the blobs outside freeze and listen to her. "I WANT FATHER TO HELP ME WITH THE POINTI-MENT!"

Atem blinked in surprise and floated back into the room quietly, throwing Mana an apologetic grimace, but to his surprise, she didn't even look at him, and hurried out of the room with everyone else.

The Medic also seemed eager to leave.
She pressed the tiny jar in his hands and said, "a thick coating, and then she goes right back inside. Call me when it's finished," before rushing out of the wing and slamming the doors with a bang.

Adina listened quietly, noting that no one else was in the infirmary with them.

"Where's everybody?" Adina asked curiously, and the leaves of the pod were gently pried open by a pair of tan hands wearing many rings. "Where's the other sick people?"

She gazed steadily into her father's face, her heart skipping a guilty beat when he smiled shakily at her and helped her out of the pod.

"Not many people are sick right now, because the sun is out on this side of the equator," Atem answered simply, pulling her to sit beside him on one of the empty beds. "Want to tell me why you don't want Mana to help you with this?"

"Because…Father is better than Mana," the princess said, pouting. "Daddy said you have King Stories to tell me, and I think it's no fair that you told him first!"

Atem blinked rapidly in surprise, the jar of ointment growing heavy in his hands as he stared into her rounded face, noticing that for once, she was looking straight at him with her clear, blue eyes.

'Daddy' must be…Kaiba, right?

"Why is my name not 'daddy'?" Atem asked, slightly disgruntled, and he uncapped the jar to dip three fingers into the thick liquid. "Turn around. Shoulders facing me."

"Because you are Father, and Seto is Daddy," Adina said wearily, getting tired of repeating herself.

She crossed her arms in a huff and did as she was told, feeling a cooling sensation cover her skin as Atem gently patted the medicine on her back. It felt…nice—just as nice as daddy brushing her fins and Uncle Seth braiding her hair.

"Did you see lots of…cool fish while you were up there?" Atem asked, making sure to use what little shore-lingo he knew, hoping this would get her to talk, because she was being eerily quiet.

Adina lit up at the word and turned to face Atem with shining eyes.

"It was so cool!" She gushed, wrapping her tiny arms around Atem's stomach to pull him into a tight hug. "Did you know that Daddy's colony is made of rainbows? There's rainbows in the sky, and they put rainbows in my hair!"

"I see that," Atem said warmly, his heart leaping with joy as she continued to hug him. "What did Seto say about me?"

"…That you are lonely," she said, her eyes drooping slightly as she recalled the entire conversation word-for-word. "How do you feel if your father and I were up here without you? It's a bad feeling, right? That's what he said, so I had to come back down and give you a hug and a kiss."

Speechless, Atem nearly dropped the jar, so he capped it quickly and set it aside, gently reaching down to pull her into a gentle embrace, carefully avoiding the patchy pink spots on her neck and shoulders.

"He also said..." Adina hiccupped, her throat turning scratchy and dry in an instant, suddenly making it hard to breathe.

"Back inside!" Atem cried, scooping her up and setting her gently into the folds of the pod's blankets before hastily bending the leaves over her face to cocoon her inside again.

No more talking, Atem thought to her, breaking out into a worried sweat. Tell me inside your head. I'm here. Breathe slowly…

Taking deep, shuddering breaths, Adina hugged her tail to her chest, feeling her skin burn with a strange fire as she stared at Father's silhouette outside the pod, her heart growing warm.

She never realized how much she loved both her daddies, and after spending time with Seto, she understood that Atem was the nicer daddy by far…and that was why the tantrums worked here!

I figured it out! Adina celebrated furiously inside her head. Seto really is a mean daddy.

What? Atem frowned, his heart racing when he heard this. He was mean to you?

No, you're nicer than him, Adina said cleverly, trying to keep this discovery private.

Oh…I see, Atem blushed furiously and he smiled at her in the pod. I'm glad you think so. Now, keep telling me what he said. I miss him very much too, you know?

Me too! I just saw him, and I miss him too! Adina cried, patting her hair frantically to make sure the golden chain was still in her hair, and when she felt that it was, she let out a sigh of relief.

Are you tired? I'll go now, Atem said anxiously, and to his surprise, she pressed her hand against the membrane and cried out again, "no! Don't leave me alone! Stay and tell me King's Stories!"

Smiling, Atem sat down beside the pod and leaned against the edge gently, quickly thinking of an easy story to tell her.

"One time, I was just like you, and swam all the way up without telling anybody where I was going," Atem began, and he saw her stiffen excitedly in the pod, so he chose to go with the more exciting story to keep her entertained.

"…I was stupid and thought that blood pacts didn't affect me, so as I got closer to the surface, I started suffocating—"

You suffocrated too?! She cried, turning over to stare at him through the milky membrane, and Atem gave her a gentle nod, correcting her.

"Suffo-cated, yes. I ended up nearly bleeding to death after scratching myself too deeply. It took three moons to heal. If Warrior Mahad hadn't caught me, I'd be dead," Atem said plainly, recalling the horrific incident with ease. "So the moral is: don't make bad pacts. You have to learn words very carefully to make good pacts. The word is…suff-o-ca-ted."

"Yeah, I know its suffo-cated. That's what I said," Adina said, sounding snobby. "I also know you made a bad pact for one hundred years! That's why you can't go up to see Daddy…right?"

"R-Right…" Atem nodded awkwardly, feeling oddly put on the spot. "Who told you that? …Ah, never mind. Of course…"

"Did you know Daddy can speak three languages?" Adina continued, eager to keep talking about Seto. "Can you speak three languages?"

"I can…" Atem was thrown by the sudden questions, and he felt another twinge of envy. He didn't know Kaiba could speak three languages. Which three?!

"Ha…! Daddy says you need to find someone to teach me three languages, so I can be like him," Adina said fluidly, smiling to herself. "He says I can pick, but Japanese has to be one of them. Can you speak Japanese, Father?"

"Yes, I can," Atem answered roundly, trying to match up to Kaiba in her eyes. "I speak Mer, English, and Arabic as well. I can also read Japanese. Did you know that?"

"What? You actually know four languages? Can you teach me?" She whined, rolling over in the pod visibly again. "I'm bored in here!"

Atem beamed at her and nodded. "Stay still. I'll get a picture book."

"Daddy says I have to read it, not hear it!" She cried, wiggling in the pod furiously. "Give it to me now!"

"Yes, one moment…be patient," Atem said, giving the pod a pat. "Count your heartbeats. I'll be back in less than a hundred beats."

There was a brief silence, and Atem hovered over the pod, expecting an answer, but was worried when he didn't receive one.

"Princess?" He asked quietly, and to his horror, she was sniffling inside the pod, trying to hide the fact that she was crying. "What is it? What's wrong?!"

"Bw-bw-…BWAAAAAAAAAAAA!" She bawled, pressing her tiny fists to her eyes to keep the tears from flowing out, but they did anyway. "I-I…BAWAAAAHhh….! D-Daddy s-said…h-he..w-was gon-na…c-c-come…b-ba-ack-k-k….buh-buh…h-he didn't-t-h-h!"

Shocked by the sudden waterworks and feeling mildly helpless, Atem stayed beside the pod and rested his hand on top of the leaves, seeing it glow strangely in response as she continued to silently hiccup and cry for Seto.

It was breaking his heart, and the only thing he could do to help was to sit beside her and listen.

There was really nothing he could say to make her feel better.
After all, he felt the same way.

Kaiba sat on the bed, listening to the doctor give the results of his exam to Mokuba, and he sighed tiredly, leaning back onto the mattress to stare at the chandelier above his head, feeling like a stranger in his own home.
What the hell was he thinking?
He was a stranger, and this wasn't his home anymore.
This room used to be his office and bedroom.
Now it had been turned into a second library and study-room for Noah.

"He's a little dehydrated, but that's all," the doctor finished, bowing stiffly at Mokuba and his wife. "Blood and urine tests all came back clean. I would suggest he watch his magnesium intake, but no one is perfect. All Japanese really love to eat sea food…"

Kaiba bolted upright after hearing this, his heart thundering with a feeling that usually accompanied…an epiphany.
What the fuck did the doctor just say?!

"My blood is high in magnesium?" Kaiba repeated, his ears ringing with a strange sound. "Blood and urine?"

"And in the hair sample too," the doctor offered helpfully. "Too much of a healthy thing can be bad, Mr. Kaiba. Please consider widening your diet to include other nutritional…"

Kaiba shut him out, lowering his head to gaze at his knees while his mind raced.

Wait a fucking minute.

This could explain why he could hear thoughts.

This could explain why only merpeople, fish, and other sea creatures could hear and communicate through their thoughts.

Thought waves…could be transmitted through the air as magnetic waves due to the high amount of magnesium in their blood! It was a shallow theory, but it was the only fucking thing that made a modicum amount of sense.

Because it wasn't…magic.

It was magnets.

That was why the steel cuffs could block thoughts so easily. It was a disruptor!

That also explained why the other samples of steel he had first used didn't work, because some types of steel were fucking magnetic!

Holy fuck, holy fuck. And…since merpeople lived so deep, they must be close to the Earth's core, which was…extremely magnetic.

"Holy shit! I've figured it out!" Kaiba leapt to his feet, breathless with excitement, and he began to pace the room like a madman, unaware that Mokuba, Ayame, and the doctor were all gaping at him.

Damn, how deep is the ocean? Kaiba wondered, and he slowly sat back down on the bed, shaking from head to toe.

"Um…thanks for your time, Doctor," Mokuba dismissed the man without a glance, and the man hurried out of the room, eager to get away.

Ayame and Mokuba stared at Kaiba sitting motionless on the bed for a long moment before Ayame decided to escape too.

"I'll go check on our baby," she said hastily, edging towards the door and easing it shut behind her, leaving Mokuba standing miles away from Kaiba inside the room.

"Seto…please…" Mokuba's voice cracked with emotion and his angry stance broke.

Kaiba said nothing and stared emptily into his brother's eyes, not registering a word he said until….

"That's it. I'm cutting you off."

Kaiba blinked, feeling as if he was floating out of his body. W-What?!

"You think I care?" Kaiba whispered, wondering what had gotten into Mokuba. "You think this is about…money? You think I—"

"I think you'll run out of money real soon given the way you're spending it," Mokuba said, his eyes shining with unshed tears of frustration. "I get the account notifications, Seto. You're bankrupting yourself again. This isn't healthy behavior I want Noah to see, so…you're cut off until you start showing me you know how to handle yourself."

"Are you…babysitting me?!" Kaiba cried incredulously, rising to his feet to argue with Mokuba. He tried to push his way into Mokuba's mind to read what he was thinking, but to his utter surprise, he encountered a strong mental wall.

"I want Noah to grow up with the Seto I grew up with!" Mokuba whispered tearfully, folding his arms again stiffly. "Everyone can see when your mood changes drastically. You're clearly…not yourself!"

Kaiba glared coldly at Mokuba for a moment before he gave up trying to argue and strode to the door, resting his hand on the silver doorknob.

"Cutting me off won't accomplish anything," he said emotionlessly, talking at the door. "Have fun setting restrictions on everything to keep me out."

There was a horrible silence in the room, so Kaiba yanked the door open and strode out into the hallway, eager to leave.

He was no longer welcome in his own home.

That was fine. Mokuba was subjecting him to invasive doctor's examinations and then cutting him off when the results showed he was clean? Fine! Whatever!

At least Mokuba didn't impose restrictions on the time he usually spent with Noah on Thursdays and Saturdays, because that was what really mattered. Mokuba could fucking have the goddamn money, the entire mansion, his car collection in the garage, his personalized lab, the remodeled basement pool, and the house staff, which he had personally reorganized after Isono's death.

His side of the business that he managed—the jewelry line, was more than enough.

Mokuba wanted to cut him off? Fine!

He could have the shitty cosmetics line.
Besides, what would happen when the scale deliveries stopped coming in?

Kaiba stormed out onto the driveway and hated how he didn't have a car waiting for him.

He stopped dead in his tracks, his blood running cold when he realized…Mokuba wouldn't know where or when to receive the scale deliveries.

Sure, there was a stock of it, frozen in cubes at the warehouses, but that was only good for six months before they began to "expire" and lose their regenerative potency. Years of test-freezing scales had taught him this, and it had resulted in at least two recalled batches of the serum.

Of course, Mokuba wouldn't know that because…he had been in college at the time.

Well, fuck. Then Mokuba would just run out of scales.

Well, that's what happens when you cut me off, Kaiba thought blithely, seeing a black limousine pulling around the fountain, and he was in such a spiteful mood that he briefly considered taking a cab back to the beach property before he reconsidered.

Being vengeful against his younger brother who misunderstood him greatly was…not healthy.

He didn't hate Mokuba, and he didn't want to ruin a company he'd built up from the ground when they virtually had nothing.

He had to tell Mokuba where to get the scales…except…the pact might activate.

He could openly speak to Mokuba about mermaids, but…could he show him where the scales really came from? What if…it triggered a latent curse that wouldn't roll into effect until Noah grew up and took over the company?!

SHIT!

Noah was going to grow up and take over the company!
He'd have to know where the serum's 'secret ingredient' came from!
Fuck. And there was no way he could tell Noah without the pact activating and suffocating him on the spot, or, as Adina would say, "suffo-crating"…how fucking cute….

"Master Kaiba?" Kemo stood by the open door of the vehicle, waiting for him to get in, and Kaiba held up a hand, pressing it to his forehead, reeling.

Shit. Shit. Shit.
No. No shit. This was dangerous territory.
It was a good thing Mokuba was going to try to 'cut him off'.
This would be the perfect time to test the limitations of the pact.

Atem had sworn him to secrecy, but he had used vague wording. Would it save him now, almost thirty years later?! If he remembered correctly, he had made a leeway for himself by saying, "I promise not to tell anyone about mermaids, but I can't help it if they already know…"

There it was.
He could do something with that phrase there and amend the pact somehow.
But would unseen side effects hurt…Atem?

Something deep down told him that pacts strengthened over time, and Kaiba grit his teeth, turning away from Kemo and pacing in front of the fountain, not caring that he was full view of the windows from the upper floors.

He needed to figure this shit out before he left the mansion 'for good'.

If Mokuba was serious about cutting him off, it meant…everything was gone: the limo rides, the nice brunches, the small group of staff that showed up to clean the beach house…and the chefs…goddammit. He'd really miss the two chefs….

Fuck…fuck….

And what if something did happen to me, and Noah couldn't access the scales to keep the company afloat?! Kaiba wondered faintly, hearing the front door open, and he ignored it, still buried in his thoughts. Can I make a second or third pact with Noah to counteract the pact I have with Atem?

"Seto…I'm sorry," Mokuba apologizing hastily, rushing down the steps and carefully approaching his older brother. "Please don't…lose it. I didn't really mean it—"

"No, you meant it," Kaiba said, not sounding angry at all. "Now you've just created a whole new problem for us, and you don't even realize how much you don't know about the serum."

"I—what….? What do you mean?" Mokuba cried, and he dismissed Kemo with a wave just in case. "What problem?!"

Kaiba watched the burly bodyguard stride around the house and disappear through the garden gate before he spoke.

"Do you know what the serum is made out of?"

"Yeah, jelly," Mokuba answered haughtily, his ears reddening with embarrassment he was trying to hide. "And glycerin, or other shit I don't really care about, because that's the lab's job. I move the product in large volumes. I'm a good manager—"

"How can you sell something you don't know anything about?" Kaiba asked, genuinely curious. "Did you know that the lab will eventually run out of the… 'glycerin'?"

"Then we'll buy more or make more," Mokuba answered bluntly, and Kaiba blinked, deciding to try speaking about mermaids again now that no one was around.

"They're mermaid scales," Kaiba said easily, and he breathed a tight sigh of relief.

At least he could still talk about all things related to mermaids…was it because Mokuba had seen a mermaid?

Then…maybe, the way to…extend the pact was to… "accidentally" show Noah a mermaid.

Problem solved!

Mokuba stopped talking and realized Kaiba was no longer mentally present. His head was lowered, and his lips were moving softly as he talked to himself.

God… Did Seto know he looked this crazy?! And so what if the serum was mermaid scales?
The warehouses had hundreds of blocks of it, frozen and ready to go.

"You're still getting Noah on Thursdays and Saturdays," Mokuba said tiredly, rubbing his temples. "Noah would be devastated if he suddenly stopped spending time with you so…that's your last chance. Don't fuck things up with him."

"Yeah, thanks, you're so generous," Kaiba said emptily, turning to face the car and feeling the sun drying the skin across his cheeks horribly.

Time to devise a way to preserve the family company…again.
He hadn't really thought about the situation in this way before.

He wasn't going to be around on land forever, so he had to make sure Noah could properly take the wheel when he and Mokuba were gone.

The serum's key ingredient was now a giant family secret that had to be divulged carefully.

If anything were to go sour, it might even end up hurting Adina, so he had to tread carefully.

Adina showed a great change in her behavior over the past few moons, and everyone seemed to have noticed, except for the princess herself.

She stayed plastered to Atem's side, never wanting to leave him alone, and when she wasn't chatting about the latest fact she'd learned, she was talking incessantly about Seto, so much that Ambassadors Shadi, Shada, and Rishid would immediate evacuate the room once they heard the words, "Daddy told me…"

Mealtimes were pleasant in the royal hall for the first time in years, as she happily ate everything put in front of her, even if it was a new type of fish.

Atem would only have to give her a stern nod, and she would dip her head down dutifully to eat it up, all while neatly using her utensils.

She was also willingly sleeping for days at a time, giving everyone in the palace sweet, quiet relief. She even refused Night-Night stories, opting instead to painstakingly read a chapter aloud to Atem until she couldn't keep her eyes open anymore and would eventually fall asleep in his arms.

After witnessing her intense motivation and extremely high intelligence, Atem pulled her out of school against Isis's and Solomon's wishes. Then, he hired a variety of tutors into the palace so she could study from the comfort of their own library.

Seto had said something about this through her, so Atem decided he would listen.
After all, if a few moments on shore with him had managed to calm her down this drastically, then further listening to Seto's advice wouldn't hurt.

Mana was the only one who didn't have anything to say about his parenting, because she had been relieved of her job as Night-Night Story Time Reader, so she tried to help Atem with whatever he needed for—mostly involving the princess's hair and nails, which Adina never let anyone touch.

Seth's handiwork was coming apart steadily day by day, and Mana's panic about it was apparent.

"Nobody touches my hair except for Daddy and Uncle Seth!" She cried during a screaming tantrum. Thankfully, no one had been scratched, but her hair continued to come undone and her nails continued to grow longer by each passing week.

Mana swam to Mahad on the brink of tears, asking him to send a Messenger to Seth for help, and the octopus had come back after two days with a jar of fish eggs and a note, saying, "I will gladly fix her hair for two garnets and one amethyst. That is the going rate of hair salons here in my colony. Family discount: she gets to stay in the resort for free while she visits her father on shore. Write back soon before she claws one of you to death. Seto says he is free Thursdays and Saturdays. Make it work."

Mahad had rushed the note to Atem, and this was their current dilemma.

The entire court was debating it, with no one being the victor.

How long would they allow the princess to stay in Seth's colony?
How long until she got sick?
Hatchlings subjected to too much stress would suffer trauma and advanced aging, which she was already experiencing due to the angst of her missing Seto so dearly.

Would this accelerate her growth in an unprecedented way?

Would it decelerate her growth?

Hatchlings that lived in surface colonies had already adapted to the pressure of the water above from the moment of their birth.

Adina would experience shore sickness symptoms after three or four days with Seth.

Would it still be safe to send her up there?

"Yes, yes it would," Atem said loudly, hoping he would be heard. He left the note lying in his lap as he eyed everyone surrounding him in the throne room.

There was a silence while everyone stared at him listlessly.

"You saw what one visit did," the merking said loftily, glad that no one was arguing with him. "She's calculating building heights and water depth every time we take her on an outing. She's nearly read the whole library at this rate, and she's getting bored. She has the right to see Seto, and we need to let her expand her horizons as much as she wants."

"But…she'll age!" Solomon sputtered, his cheeks growing pink with frustration. "Do you remember your traumatic growth spurt? I don't want her to experience that at all!"

"She won't …if you let her see Seto more regularly," Atem said steadily, growing tired of repeating himself. "She'll keep behaving herself if she knows she can keep seeing him. That's all she ever talks about if she's not eating, sleeping, or studying. We're all tired of hearing about it. Let her go."

Adina floated behind the kelp curtain in the hallway, eavesdropping.

Her head soared with joy when she heard Father stick up for her, and she leaned against the pillar, trying to calm her thumping heart.

Yay! Yay! Daddy was going to give her the biggest hug when he found out how much Japanese she could speak now!

Author's note:

awwwwwwwwwwwww …adina behaves now!
and..seto is being "cut off" the way rich people try to "discipline" their kids. Poor mokuba can't really put his foot down, and it really shows.

But heyyy seto might have figured out how thought(permeation?) works?

And a new problem has come up!

How tf is he gonna keep the company afloat if noah / mokuba don't know how to get the mermaid scales fresh?
Amending the pact too many times is badddddddd

what will happen to atem?! He doesn't know this is happening and he already tried not to amend it on his side, so KAIBA STOP IT vklnsdkjfskjdfh

ALSO a lovely reader named batcheeks PM'ed me this LOVELY FANART of adina!

ITS SO DETAILED AND PRETTY jkdfnjhsdgfjhsg 3 3 thank you SO much for drawing this batcheeks!

(this site wont show it, so find me on AO3 as prettiugli as well!)

new chapter coming next week, wednesday july 29, around 10 pm PST

hugs,
Ugli