Not Ancient Egypt (Part Two)

DIMENSION: ANIME (The One That Pays to Save the Day)

"I'm not a fan of when you grab me and drag me around, Téa." What did she need? Téa had not been so aggressive since she was a teen. Even then, she usually didn't get that bad.

"Yeah, I know." Téa gave him a strange look. "It's easier getting through things, if I can just stay aggressive about them," she revealed to him. "This is hard enough, last thing I should do is cry on someone. So, unless you want me crying all over you, then you just have to deal with it!"

Right. She was going through some interesting steps to get through her life troubles right now. "What is it you need, Téa?"

"I need you to do me a favor. I am not letting Masika keep this up," Téa said. "You have to talk to her."

Talk to her? "She is conscious again? That is good. What do I need to talk to her about?"

"Something really personal." Téa looked around her. She looked back down the stairs. "Let's take yours and Yugi's room."

It was something she didn't want Yugi to overhear. He went to his room with Téa and closed the door for extra privacy. "What is it?"

"Look." A little aggressive. "Just?" She stuck her hair behind her ear. "I have to do something, I can't let it go this way between you two. I'll regret it."

"Like the Bakuras?" Atem was already understanding something important. "I understand that you are scared, Téa. No one can guarantee your safety, and no one is making any new deals. I understand that fear. You are trying to make sure if the worse does happen, that you have no regrets at all. That everything will still tick normally," he explained. "The world will continue to tick with or without you. You should be living for yourself, and keeping up hope for yourself that you can make it through."

"Shut up." She didn't want to hear that. "I'm just doing things the way I need to do things, and fixing you and Masika is important."

"Even those words. Fix," Atem warned her. "We aren't broken."

"You aren't, but I was!" Téa's voice rose too high and she covered her mouth. She opened the door, left the room, and looked back downstairs. "Sorry for yelling. Everything's fine. Just talking to Atem."

Everything wasn't fine. Atem watched her come back to the room and close the door.

"Masika wants to stay in her room and not see you, or Bakura. For the rest of her time living, I think she just wants to see Silhouette and me," Téa explained.

"She doesn't want to see the Bandit King?" Now, that actually meant something different. "Why?"

Téa was starting to tear up. She shook her head and tried to hide it. The more she covered it up, the worse she got. "The past was really, really, really bad. So, she has a lot of really, really bad memories of her masters which were her master husbands. The only time she wasn't owned was when we were really really small, just a small kid."

Atem noticed more than her sentence structure getting lost, she was going from she into we again. He listened closely.

"You and Bakura both have a child with her. Her best friend, that pulled her out of harm's way all the time from our- her - stupid masters, is actually the master. So are you."

No. "I am not her master," Atem said.

"Exactly! You aren't, that isn't the way it runs today. Even if you were Pharaoh, you don't own anyone. So? Can you please go and tell her that?" Téa asked. "That no matter what, you won't claim her as yours or anything?"

Oh! ///Atem: That is what Téa wanted./// "I understand, Téa." He never even thought about it. He was more focused on figuring out how to get through this payment, how to pull everyone out of danger's way, it never even hit his mind. "I will go see her and quench any fear she has about it."

"Thank you. Thank you, really!" Such a simple gesture, yet Téa looked like she might start crying. "Okay, let's go then." She backed away quickly.

///Atem: Yugi, you need to take some personal time with Téa. It's important./// He continued on his way to Masika's room.

Téa knocked on the door briefly and came in. "Hey? So? Atem wants to see how you are doing."

Masika didn't give her very cheery looks, and Atem could see a certain amount of fear in Masika's facial expression. As if all the good will he had tried to build up never existed. No, he had to take care of this before things got worse.

"Thank you, Téa. I think Yugi wants to talk to you for a bit." Atem watched her leave quickly and looked back toward Masika. "I am glad to see you are feeling better."

"I . . . am . . .?"

"Atem," he encouraged her. "Yes, I know that we share a child together, and I certainly should be putting some claim on you as my wife. That will not happen," he assured her. "I would never do such a thing unless there was a drastic need for it." She didn't look any better about that either. "We are friends. Just because we share a little goddess doesn't mean anything else."

"Oh." That still didn't sound good. "Okay, fine. That's fine and good."

Fine and good? "That doesn't seem fine and good, what is wrong?" Atem asked.

"Nothing. Um? I was hoping I would get some sway as your wife as to not piss you off later with an action I needed to take with the Bandit Thief King," she said slowly.

Ah. "Bandit King is going to try and make the millennium items, isn't he?" Atem could tell. "You want to help him so you and Téa stay safe."

"I can't let anything . . ." She didn't know how to continue. "I'm sorry, but I must protect her. I can tell there is no time, and there is no other deal coming. I will help my new master husband, and after the deed is done, we will take Silhouette away. I'm sorry," she apologized oddly. "I must be the villain to save Téa, but it's not the first time I've killed someone obviously."

Uh? This was not what he was expecting. "You can't do that."

"I know, it's evil, and I am an evil person underneath it all I guess, but I will sacrifice 99 people to save our skin." She tried to look at Atem's eyes. "This is just the way it must be, I am sure Sekhmet will help once we discuss our willingness."

What? "No, I . . .?" Atem gestured out the door. "If you put together the millennium items with Bakura, I can't cast judgment against that. I would still be friends with you. But? You can't just take Silhouette away."

She looked confused. "I don't understand? You aren't casting yourself as the master husband, ergo I must live with my master husband and the child."

"I?" Oh, this was a tough spot to be in. "I am not very good yet with Silhouette, but she is my own blood, and I do not want her taken away."

"You want us to visit the Game Shop?" Masika was still confused.

"Not just visit." Oh, this was infuriating. "It is true, I make no claim for you, but Silhouette is also mine."

"You lay no claim on me, but you are laying claim on Silhouette?" Masika asked. "Truly, a Pharoah wants . . .?" She paused. "Nevermind. Everyone is different, I have learned at least that much."

"You also do not have to have a master husband at all," Atem reminded her. "You don't have to go to him at all." Something. He saw something shine in her eyes for just a second. He remembered Téa's words. Owned since she was young. "A child gives no one claim to another."