Okay, I read a couple fics where they call Thief King Bakura "Akefia," so that's what I'll call him here. Just so that you aren't confused.
If I wrote something that isn't historically correct for Ancient Egypt, let me know.
Also, this ties in to my other Yu-Gi-Oh story. If you want to check it out, it's called, "The Bakura Siblings." This kinda has spoilers for later in the story. So it may not make sense now, but it will when I finish the story. Which probably will take a while.
WARNING: Until the end of the oneshot, Thief King Bakura is known as Akefia. Bakura is his father.
"You destroyed my homeland, took away my family and left me with nothing!"
"Akefia! Amane(0)! Dinnertime!"
A tall, tired woman stood in the doorway of an adobe building, calling for her wayward children.
"Coming, Mother!" chorused two young voiced. A moment later, a ten-year-old boy and seven-year-old girl,one pale-haired and the other blue(1), appeared around the corner, skipping in the fading sunlight.
The woman noted the sand clinging to the children's hair, clothing, and bare feet.
"Have you been wrestling with the other children, again?" she inquired, though the answer was clear, judging by the tired, happy faces of her children.
"No." Akefia stared at his sandy, dusty feet to avoid meeting his mother's sapphire gaze.
Amane, on the other hand, deigned to tell their mother the truth, seeing as it was already obvious from their appearances.
"Yes, but we were bored! And nobody got hurt," she paused," badly."
The mother groaned. Ra forbid her children play tag or hide-and-seek, instead of rolling around, kicking, hitting, and occasionally biting the other children of Kul Elna. But then again, it was a thieves' village. Here, you had a rough childhood, or you didn't live to see your childhood. She considered her children lucky to be counted among the former, rather than the other one.
"I hope you finished your chores."
They nodded.
"Did you remember to bring in water from the stream?" Another nod.
"Herded the sheep inside?"
"They didn't exactly seem happy about it." Amane grinned.
"They never are." The mother continued, "Did you chase the egrets away from the wheat plants?"
"Yup!" Akefia and Amane said together.
"And did you pray to the Gods this morning?"
"Uh-huh." This answer was accompanied by yet another nod.
"Come inside, then. Your father's waiting."
The children dashed in, eager to see their father, the Thief King. He'd been away for weeks, stealing from the nobles in the large cities all over Egypt.
"Papa, Papa!" As soon as they spotted him staring out the north-facing window, they immediately latched onto his legs.
The white-haired man turned his gaze down to Akefia and Amane.
"Masika(1), who are these children?" he asked his wife." Surely my son and daughter can't be this big already?"
"Papa, you haven't been gone that long!" Akefia piped up.
"Whether you know it or not, Bakura, those are your children," Masika answered. "Now, are you three going to help me set the table, or do I have to do it myself?
(Line here)
Dinner was a somewhat loud affair, filled with tales of rich nobles' homes and the treasures they contained.
"The guy didn't realize I'd been in and out until morning. But I'm sure he won't miss this." Itja reached a tanned hand into his pocket and produced a golden ankh on a silver chain. The symbol was encrusted with miniscule bits of emerald and malachite.
"It's pretty," squeaked Amane.
"It's shiny," Akefia stated.
"It's going to be put away until you finish your vegetables," Masika said, putting an end to the gawking. At least until dinner was over. She shot her husband a warning glance. "Right, Bakura?"
The Thief King immediately placed the ankh back in his pocket, not wanting to invoke the wrath of his significant other.
"Well," he started, "you heard your mother, children. Veggies first, storytime second."
"But it's radish, Mother," Akefia complained. "It doesn't taste good."
"Yeah," Amane agreed, poking the vegetable with her fork. An idea sprung up in her mind, and she voiced it.
"Can I get some spices from the garden to put on it?" she asked, giving Bakura and Masika the best puppy-dog face she could muster.
"Alright," Masika faltered under those big eyes. She reached over the table and ruffled Amane's blue hair. "But be careful. I heard Shabew's hog broke loose, and you know how much that pig loves those spices."
"I know." the young girl slipped off of her chair and ran to the door. She pulled aside the curtain that Bakura and Masika always hung up after dark in an attempt to keep wild animals out, and walked around the house to the square of herbs growing in the sand and earth.
"Now what would taste good on a radish," she mused, striding past the coriander and turmeric.
An unfamiliar voice rang out across the night, bringing Amane out of her search. She looked up. There, on a cliff overlooking Kul Elna, were at least thirty men on horseback, their steeds pawing the dirt uncertainly. A man in dark attire atop atop the horse at the front of the group was the one speaking.
"...before the evil village of Kul Elna. The inhabitants are possessed with the darkest spirits known to man. That's why they have been raiding our royal tombs and stealing our riches for years!"
Amane frowned. She must have heard the stranger wrong. Her village was full of thieves but that didn't mean they were possessed. They just did what they had to in order to make it through the hard winter. So what if they took some gold and the odd ruby here and there; they only did it to feed the village. What she heard next made her blood run cold with sudden fear.
"But tonight we shall put an end to their evil ways! Capture those spirits, men!"
"Yeah!" came a chorus of many soldiers, before they spurred their horses into charging down the sandy slope.
Forgetting the spices, Amane dashed back inside. In her haste, she tangled herself in the door curtain.
"Amane!" Bakura laughed at the sight of her, wrapped haphazardly in the cloth. "What's wrong? Were you frightened by the scarecrow again?"
Amane burst into tears, upset that Bakura didn't see the scariness of the situation.
"There are strange men outside," she wailed. "And I heard one saying Kul Elna was evil! And then he told the rest of them to... to capture spirits! And they're coming into the village right now!"
Bakura stiffened and his eyes narrowed, laughter gone from both. The men had to be part of the Pharaoh's army. But why would they want to capture spirits here? Scratch that; why did they want to capture spirits, period?
"Masika," he said, drawing her attention. "Remember when I told you the Pharaoh might send soldiers after the thieves in this village? Remember what I told you to do when that happened?"
Masika nodded. She was to take the children and flee.
"Get to Cairo if you can. Hide among the townspeople. Deny you lived in Kul Elna until I can find you." He pulled both both Akefia and Amane into a reasuring hug. "Stay hidden, stay safe. I'll come find you, I promise."
"But what about you, Papa?" The boy's voice shook and he clung to the Thief King. "What will happen to you?"
"Don't worry about me, my son. Worry about your mother and sister." Bakura gently pried Akefia's fingers from his clothes.
Masika took both children's hands. "We've wasted too much time. We need to go now."
Bakura looked to the window he looked out of earlier that day. Only that afternoon, he saw sand and sky as far as the horizon. Now, in the dark, he saw people running from armed men with blades and spears.
"You're right. Take the back door and run," he ordered, gesturing to the back of the house. When they were out, he pointed them down an abandoned street, while he ran back into the house to retrieve a weapon of his own. He opened the closet in his and Masika's room and pulled out a gleaming sword. Stroking the blade his father had given him and his father's father had once used in raids on the royal tombs, he almost smiled at the thought of finally having a use for it. Until he remembered what was going on and heard the screams of his fellow thieves. He mentally vowed to keep his family safe from the intruders. From the Pharaoh.
"Hurry, Amane!" Masika beckoned. The buildings around them were deserted, though they seemed to press in on them all the same, threatening to give away their presence to the soldiers. "Akefia, come!"
"We are," Akefia replied, glancing over his shoulder yet again. Each time hoping to see his father following, and at the same time praying to see it empty of the intruders. "What's going to happen, Mother?" he asked, fear making his voice quieter than it usually was. "Is Papa going to be okay?"
"Of course he is. He promised," Amane answered before Masika could, having full confidence in Bakura. "Papa's alway's okay."
Before long the street opened up into the tiny market of Kul Elna. Or rather what had been the market until a few minutes ago. Now it was filled with the yells of the soldiers and the screams and begs of the villagers as they were rounded up like cattle.
"Relinquish your spirits!"
"Please! Spare my children! They've done nothing!"
"This is an outrage!"
"Your spirits are ours!"
A stout, muscular soldier noticed Masika and the children, and motioned for four others to capture the group of three.
"Quick, we must go the other way!" Masika tugged on Akefia and Amane's arms, pulling them with her as she fled in the way they'd just come.
As they ran along another street, Akefia spotted a tiny alley, filled with broken pots and garbage. Pulling on his mother's arm, he pointed it out.
"They went this way!" the soldier's voice rang out around the corner like a warning bell. Masika quickly pushed the children into the alley.
"Don't move until I get back. I'll try to lead them away." Before either could protest, Masika straightened and retreated from the alley.
"Over here!" she yelled, waving her arms as the soldiers sprinted around the corner. "Come and get me, numbskulls!" She turned to run before realizing she'd reached a dead end.
"Looks like we've got ourselves a fiesty one, boys," one joked to his companions before advancing on the woman.
"Now, just come quietly and we won't cut your tongue out, lady," he said, raising a sword threateningly.
Before anyone could react, Amane burst out of the alley and ran to her mother, unwilling to stay hidden if she'd lose a parent in the process. She was out of the alley before Akefia could pull her back. Peeking around the corner, he witnessed what happened next with shock.
"Amane, I told you to stay there!" Masika reprimanded, but embraced her daughter nonetheless. She threw a desperate glance at the alley, silently begging Akefia to stay put.
"Guys, look at the girl's hair." The soldiers froze in their tracks upon seeing Amane.
"It's as blue as the day's sky, Inet."
"Just shut up and grab them, Repyt," Inet barked.
Before they could, a figure leaped down from the closest rooftop. Whoever it was stumbled, obviously exhausted. Lifting their head, the figure was revealed to be the King of Thieves. He was covered in scratches and a cut on his shoulder bled freely.
"You'll do no such thing," Bakura growled, brandishing his father's blade with difficulty.
"The Thief King!"
"Who else could I be?"
"You'll be easy enough to take down," Inet laughed.
"Let's find out," the Thief King ground out, before charging.
In his fatigued state, Bakura was no match for four of the Pharaoh's best soldiers. Within minutes, he was wrestled to the dirty ground. The soldiers chuckled. Masika, still attempting to hide Amane, watched, frozen with terror. Akefia stared around the corner of the alley he was still hidden in, every bit as frightened as his mother and sister.
"Get up, Thief King," Repyt laughed as he kicked the fallen man. Groaning, Bakura tried, but hit the ground again when his arms were kicked out from under him by Inet.
Inet ordered the other soldiers to seize him and the two females. Amane, however, refused to let go of her mother's skirt, and the soldiers eventually allowed her to cling to Masika.
The guards pushed their prisoners along, back to the market square. As they neared it, Bakura glanced back. Akefia was halfway out of the alley, following the group. Upon seeing the look his father threw him, he stopped. Bakura's face said, Don't move. If you do, then who will carry on the Thief King Legacy?
"Move, filth," ordered a soldier, jabbing his spear shaft into Bakura's back.
"Time to put these spirits to good use, boys," Repyt grinned as he herded what he thought was the Thief King's family. He didn't know there was a survivor.
That was the last Akefia ever saw of his family. Hours after they'd been gone, he ventured out of his hiding place, and wandered everywhere in Kul Elna, searching for anyone who'd been left behind. It was a total ghost town. He entered a couple of the houses, only to find broken furniture and shattered dishes. Unfortunately, Akefia didn't notice the shards until they were embedded in his feet, but the pain didn't register as much as it should have, seeing as how he was still in shock.
He yelled himself hoarse, calling for his lost loved ones.
"Papa! Mother! Amane!"
But they didn't answer. How could they, while they were being death-marched accross the sand dunes.
In the east, Ra was rising quickly, as if to reveal the damage that had been done in the night.
Sometime later-judging by Ra's position in the sky, it was late afternoon-he found himself again in the street his family had been taken. His father's bloody sword still lay there, attracting flies like moths to a torch.
A single tear slipped down his tanned cheek as he attempted to pick the sword up from the dust by the red-coated hilt. It was practically a family heirloom, so that meant he had to use it now, right? It wasn't like his father could. Not anymore.
Akefia's tries were to no avail. The gleaming blade dropped from his hands before he could lift both ends from the ground.
A sob tore itself from his throat as he threw his head back, looking at the sky but not seeing it at all for the tears came gushing now.
How could the gods let this happen? Was Kul Elna not included in their protection? Had the thieves' village not been important enough to spare? Why his home? Why not someplace else?
These questions bounced around in his skull as he tried to heave the sword from the dirt again. But it might as well have been part of the ground for all the progress he was making. Akefia kicked a nearby rock in hopeless frustation. Yelping, he fell on the ground, clutching his now-in-pain foot.
Akefia realized what had happened; the Pharaoh's army had taken everything. His family, his friends, all gone.
That day, he took his father's name. That day, he vowed to avenge all he'd lost.
That day, the darkness and hate in his heart was born.
(0) Told you I'd fit her into the story. I think this kind of counts.
(1) Wasn't sure what she looked like, but I read a couple oneshots where Amane was mentioned, and it described her as having blue hair, so that's what I'm going with.
(2) Looked up female names, found this one, decided to use it. Masika means "born during rain."