The brunette apprentice mage screamed as a soldier laughed while tugging at her hair. A different soldier was trying to tug of her dress, but the struggling girl wouldn't allow that. She tried using every spell she knew of and could remember in her panic to save herself from getting raped. She had been idly walking around the temple that was her home while her best friend as being antagonized by both Priests and Priestess, as well as different servants and other people.

It was close to that time of the year, when the Nile flooded their lands and gave life to the otherwise dead land. As such, her friend had a lot of preparations at hand, seeing this was the last year she would spend as a child. The next year, Egypt could finally be free, but for now their activities have to stay secret. Romans would without doubt try and kill her if they learned of who she really was.

Mana, the girl trying to escape, was hoping that her brother would hear her and come to her rescue, but she feared that she was too far away from the entrance of the temple for anyone to hear her. She prayed to Isis, the goddess of magic, to save her when she saw a flash of gold. It was followed by the soldier's scream of agony as death took him to Hades, or whatever god the Romans believed in. Mana didn't care as she wrenched herself free from his dead grip and she looked up to see that her rescuer was none other than the infamous Thief King, Akefia, just back from a raid of the nearby roman temple as well as, probably, a roman nobleman's house. He was dressed in the red robes he had stole from some tomb since his days as a Tomb Robber, with the same gold jewelery and headdress he wore since then. He also had on a small kilt and some slippers he took from an unfortunate soldier. In his right tanned hand was a dagger, and in the other was a bag of gold coins that the Romans took from Egyptians as taxes, and around his neck was a gold necklace in the shape of a ring with five pointers and a pyramid plate with the Eye Of Ra in the center.

Mana bristled at the thought that the Thief had once again fooled her brother and master and took the Millennium Ring, but she knew that the Item accepted Akefia as well as it accepted Mahad, if not better. She let it go for the moment as she pressed her back to the criminal's and they stood there, surrounded by Roman soldiers as their attackers got ready to kill them.

Akefia grit his teeth, knowing this was an extremely bad situation and that they couldn't get out of it without the use of Egypt's strongest magic. But they couldn't. It would draw too much unwanted attention to the temple where she was peacefully protected in.

Two of the many soldiers made a grab for them, and Akefia used his dagger to slit one of their throats while Mana hit the other with her staff. However, the hit wasn't strong enough to knock him unconscious and the man almost stabbed the two teens. Akefia was thrown off balance as he realized that a man was coming up from behind Mana and he had to twist his body to save the emerald eyed girl. Mana squeaked as the soldier fell dead at her feet and realized that the Thief no longer had any weapons. Acting without thinking, Mana summoned washing pots and let them fall on the two soldiers heads as they held the Thief back so one of the remaining ones could bring a sword down through his chest. The two were almost killed by the impact of the heavy pots, but Akefia was free and he knocked the other man down and twisted his head.

Jumping back up onto his feet, Mana and Akefia realized that they could no longer fight. Mana didn't know powerful enough spells and Akefia had no more weapons to protect them. Akefia managed to evade one more attack and killed a soldier with his bare fist as he punched the guy in the nose and broke it, the shards of the bone piercing his brain. Mana also kicked on guy on the head then in the stomach with her staff, but he grabbed it as she tried for his head again and wrenched it out of her grasp.

''No!'' Mana yelled and the remaining men laughed. They were going to enjoy torturing the Thief and then have their fun with the fiery little girl, but before they could even do something, the guy that had tried to sneak up behind the apprentice let out a ear-splitting scream and fell to the ground, dead in a moments from the pain. All turned around, looking first at their fallen comrade/attacker and seeing that someone had efficiently detached his male pride and that he was now lifelessly bleeding. With angry and horrified eyes, the Romans looked up at the girl that stood next to their fallen fellow soldier, only to freeze at the rubies that glared at them.

The young girl before them was lethally beautiful. She had waist long, heavily layered and spiked tricolored hair. Long, goldenrod, lighting shaped bangs ran upwards through her slightly gravity defying, ebony hair tipped with crimson. A few locks framed her usually sweet, heart-shaped that has now hardened at these fools' stupidity of trying to harm her friends. She had full lips, high cheekbones, full lips and sharp, almond-shaped eyes the color of fresh blood that both scared and fascinated all who saw them. Her posture was regal and worth of royalty, something Romans had only ever seen in their eldest prince. Her waist was slim and her limbs were long and graceful. Her chest was well defined and her neck was long and swan-like. In her petite hands was one of the most beautiful and probably the most expensive gold swords in existence, with a delicate curve and a brown, leather handle. She was dressed in a white tunic and kilt, held together by a gold waist band from which hung a blue cloth. She had gold bands around her wrists, upper arms and calves. On her right hand, which was ready to draw a black sword that was obviously not of an Egyptian craftsmen's work and was tied around her waist, had three rings on her long fingers. Across her shoulders and chest was a golden chest plate and a strap of the gold sword's holder. Hanging from her ears were gold ankh earrings and around her neck was a gold chocker. Hanging around her neck were three necklaces, although one was made of stone, one of gold and one of white gold or silver. That one was definitely on a silver chain, while the other two were on leather cords. The smallest one was barely bigger than the pad of a human thumb and it looked like an upside down pyramid with an eye etched in the center. The stone one was a rectangle on which a falcon with the Red and White crown of Egypt on its head etched deep into it and clearly colored. There was nothing on her feet as she stood, ready for a fight.

A soldier got over his shock and he laughed at what he thought was bravado and he started towards the girl, only for the crimson-eyed beauty to cut his head clean off without a second thought. Everyone chocked at the ease with which she had killed him with, but then another soldier charged towards her and she drew the second sword, bringing them both across the man's chest in a perfect X. His eyes rolled back into his head as he took his final, ragging breath and fell to the ground.

''Wh- who are you?!'' The head of the soldiers stuttered as he watched her casually step over one of the world's best soldiers. That's what everyone thought, since Rome has expended to such a point that people had started wondering if it were even possible to defeat the empire's warriors.

The daughter of Aknamakanon, the only Spartan who had ever received an Egyptian name and had legally accepted both the Egyptian and Spartan religion, and Alexia, the only left descendant of the long bloodline of the Nameless Pharaoh and the only Egyptian woman to have ever given a Spartan a child, Athena started moving towards her country's unworthy 'masters'. She had been born in the time Gozaboro had still been pretty new at being the lone emperor, but now the man was as cruel as cruel can come. He used Egypt as the only source of food, since he forced all men to join his armies and Athena was sick of dealing with these greedy men coming to her homeland. Her mother had died protecting her from a drunken senator who had come to experience Egypt for the first time, when she was still only three years old and ever since then she had been witness as her country's priestess were violated right in front of the temples. It made her angry to think about, and she had to calm down. But that wasn't all. A Roman senator had killed the man she had called uncle, since he was very close to her mother and they had grown up together, when he finally went to Rome in search of the son his Roman wife took away from him. Then, while she was spending time in her father's country, one of the priests she lived with in Egypt was beaten to death and barely managed to reach Sparta to inform her of Aknadin's, her mother's childhood friend and the man she called uncle, death. Shada's last wish had been to see her before he joined his ancestors. His son, Shadi, died trying to help her return to Egypt safely two years later and from what Mahad told her, their best seer and holder of the Millennium Necklace was also kidnapped from the temple she had been hiding in just a few days after Athena was born. Karim, Shada's half brother, had died on his trip from Thebes to Memphis about a year ago, and now the Romans were trying to take away her last few friends.

She had been the one to return Akefia to a good boy he had been before the Romans had burned down his entire village and made him watch his sister, mother and father die. The Thief had barely managed to save his little brother, Ryou, when he had broken his own arm in order to free himself from his captor and he had took the man's sword, first killing him than the man who was about to slit Ryou's throat. The two had lived in the empty village up until five years ago, when Athena had defeated the self-trained Thief in a sword duel and he had accepted to live with them in the temple as long as he was allowed to raid Romans.

Mahad and Mana's mother had also been killed by Roma soldiers when she had given herself to them in order for her kids to survive. They had made Mahad and Mana, only at the age of 13 and 3, to watch as they raped their mother and than killed her in front of their very eyes. Mahad had snapped when they reached for Mana and had released a huge wave of magical energy, killing them instantly. The boy then took his sister and ran for the nearest temple, where a two and a half year old Athena ushered them in. Mahad had never before felt so accepted as the little girl smiled up at him and he remembered being there when she was first born. He had then learned that Isis, the girl he was supposed to get married to one day, was taken by the same men that had killed his mother. To this day, Mahad always felt anger when he thought of Roman soldiers and a hatred he wasn't proud of. However, he was surprised that Athena didn't hate them, since even her father had been killed when he had tried to free Spartan lands when she was six. Athena always said they weren't worth it to darken their souls with such feelings, and everyone felt ashamed at how they were acting when they realized she was right.

Now, Mahad stood just behind the girl who was supposed to become Egypt's legal Pharaoh just next year at the time of the Nile's flooding, since she would then be 16. Athena was the direct descendant and possibly reincarnation of the almighty Pharaoh Atem, known as the Nameless Pharaoh to almost everyone. That is from where her name came from. Both Sparta and Egypt approved of the name, since it can both be from Athena, the Greek goddess of war, and from Aten (Aton), the creator, giver of life, and nurturing spirit of the world. It suited the girl greatly, since she was both their hope, savor and the creator of a new world where Egypt and Sparta could be free. Her name could also come from Atum (Atem or Tem) from whom her incarnate got his name. Atum's name is thought to be derived from the word tem which means to complete or finish. Thus he has been interpreted as being the 'complete one' and also the finisher of the world, which he returns to watery chaos at the end of the creative cycle. As creator he was seen as the underlying substance of the world, the deities and all things being made of his flesh or alternatively being his Ka. Athena had the strongest Kas in existence, who can even merge and become even stronger. Mahad knew that the girl was destined for great things, but he feared that they would lead to an early death.

''Who I am has little to no consequence to you for what you have done will be punished.'' She said in perfect Latin, surprising the Romans as she spoke their language. They knew that there were a lot more educated people in Egypt, due to some temples actively acting as schools for centuries now, but they doubted any priest would teach their language. ''Now, what's going on here?''

The commander of the group of soldiers stepped in front of his men, for some reason feeling like he should kneel before this girl, an urge he found rather silly. ''By the order of emperor Gozaboro Kaiba, we were ordered to take 10 slaves per city, from each country. We were just fulfilling orders.''

Athena barked a laugh that had the commander bristling.

''No, you weren't fulfilling orders. You were abusing your positions and I will not allow that in my home country.''

A soldier snorted. ''And what could you, a weak measly girl, possibly do to us, who were trained in combat?''

At the raised eyebrow and the feral grin on the female's face, the soldiers' blood ran cold as they remembered with which ease she killed their two men. ''If you wish to know, I'll more than gladly show you.'' Athena offers. ''But under one condition.''

''What? That I don't hit you in the face?'' The same man taunts with fake, forced bravery.

She saw right through it and snorted to herself. And to think these people called themselves the bravest soldiers in the world. They'd never understand what either of her countries men would have done for their king and homeland. No Spartan would dare even thinking of leaving the battlefield, and the Egyptians would never leave their Pharaoh behind. Romans, with all their fake oaths, run every man for himself the second their commander dies in battle. Those closer to him carry him back so he could have a decent funeral, but that was it. Egypt mourns their commanders' deaths, especially a Pharaoh's, despite knowing that they are probably at peace in the Afterlife. Spartans have a few days of peace in their towns when a Basilius dies. Romans take 'revenge' and burn their opponents houses down.

''No.'' Athena said as she drew to her full hight. ''If I win, then I will act as all the slaves that you should have taken from Egypt. No one else is to be from Egypt, or else I swear that you will be begging for death.'' There was no sign of it being a threat. It was a promise that the girl intended to keep, and that's what scared them all. Mahad was ready to protest, but Athena stopped him with a raised hand. ''No one will stop me from doing this, so you might as well save your breath.''

''But-''

''That's enough, Mahad!''

The mage bowed his head, although he wanted to say a lot more. He had been assigned the girl's safety since she was born, and he really took it to heart after her mother's death. Mahad had failed so much, even having Athena once sucking out the venom from a snake that had tried to attack her and Mana, yet the Princess of Egypt never called him a failure. She kept insisting that Mahad's been doing a great job ever since he started, and the brunet didn't know how someone could be so gentle hearted.

''Thats a bit interesting. And if I win?'' Said the man.

Athena held her head high. ''If I am disgraced with a loss, I will allow you to do with me whatever you wish.''

''NO!'' The three Egyptians yelled out as they stared, horrified, at the back of Egypt's and Sparta's last hope.

The soldiers laughed. This was a rather interesting girl, making a bet like that. Though, they had to give her some credit.

''Well, I like the sound of that.'' Said the man as he took off his cape so he could move more freely. He took out his sword and pointed the tip at Athena. ''I'm going to enjoy claiming my prize!''

Athena arched an annoyed eyebrow as she gave Mahad her black Spartan sword. She hated people thinking that just because she was a girl, or so petite,that she couldn't hold her own against larger, stronger-looking men. ''Then we have a deal.'' She positioned her slightly curved sword and got ready in her homeland's cross fighting stance she had unknowingly created after many years of practicing both countries' fighting style.

''Yes, so let's begin!'' Yelled a man as he charged at Athena.

''Duel!'' She yelled as she raised her sword.

00000

''Princess, you really are a noble fool.'' Mahad said in a whisper as he, Mana and Ryou stood before the ship that was about to take away Egypt's last royal to Rome, at the biggest harbor in the world in Alexandria. Akefia stood beside the girl, both of them only having a bit gold on and their clothes, along with a linen bag and two water-skins each. Across Athena's back rested her gold sword, dubbed Sword of Horus since only a Pharaoh was worthy of wielding it, and at her hip was tied her black Spartan sword, that had belonged to her father and, before him, Leonidas I. In her bag, she only had a cloak, a change of clothes and some golden coins should she need them. Of course, there were a few books of magic that no one but High Priests would understand, so she knew she was safe. In Akefia's bag, however, were tons of weapons and gold. A thief will forever be a thief and he was used to always wearing the same thing. He did, however, take a blanket with him, knowing that they will probably need it.

After the sword duel had started, Athena had easily outmaneuvered her opponent and secured a victory without even killing the man. Now, instead of hundreds of Egyptian slaves, two people were getting ready to willingly leave as a replacement. Akefia had refused to let Athena leave alone, but when Mahad insisted that he leave with her, Akefia reasoned with the overprotective man that he would have to keep everything in order while she was away and that he has to finish Mana and Ryou's training as a mage and healer respectively. ''Besides,'' He had said, ''I'm a thief. I'll be better in helping her get back than a priest ever could.'' And they all knew he was right.

''I know, Mahad. I know.'' Athena chuckles, but she had to admit that she was a bit worried. She had to be here this time next year, and she wasn't sure how she was going to accomplish that. But not only did she need to be in Egypt at that time, but she also needed to make a side trip to Sparta to claim her right as her father's successor. When she turns 16, she will be a Pharaoh and the first female Basilius, leading both Egypt and Sparta into a fight for freedom. That's her destiny.

''Don't worry, priest. I will look after her.'' Akefia put in as he patted the man on the shoulder. The two might not always get along, but they were still rather close friends. Mahad nodded with a sad smile as he reached around his neck.

''I know. Which is why I'm giving you this.'' He said as he put the necklace he usually wore around his neck and put it around the Tomb Robber's. Mana, Ryou and Akefia gawked at him like he had grown a second head as the Millennium Ring gleamed with a new light. ''Do no be so surprised, Akefia. I know that I can trust you with her life, just like you trust me with Ryou's now. Besides, the Ring had long ago chosen you as its wielder. I was just holding on to it until you would really need it.''

Athena smiled at her friend. ''It is true. It is why the Ring always came back to you.''

Akefia looked down at the Item he had always longed to bond with on such a level. ''I-I don't know what to say. Thank you, Mahad. I promise I will keep it safe, just as safe as I keep the pr-aa (A/N:pharaoh in ancient Egyptian; Akefia/Bakura will be using this term for Athena/Yuna all the time).''

''Good.'' Mahad decided with a nod.

''Alright, you two! Get in!'' The commander yelled at them with a grumble. The two hugged their friends one last time before boarding the ship that would take them away far from their home.

The whole of Alexandria was full of native Egyptians as they watched the girl that willingly gave away her freedom for them leave. Priestess sang prayers as Priests placed charms around that would bring them luck in the future Pharaoh journey back home. Ordinary people waved and yelled wishes of luck and safe return to the departing youths while kids threw rice imported from China as the last farewell sign. Mahad released the falcon that has been Athena's from the day it was born and he flew overhead, crying for its master. Mana and Ryou still waved with tears puring down their faces as fear overtook their hearts.

Sure, Akefia and Athena left willingly, but will they were come back?

Only time could tell.