~VIII~
It was dark, but she did not care. The streets were not so crowded, and the dangerous folk were swarming inns and backstreets. She had walked through the city and had headed for a bare area near the Nile, where she sat doing something that no child her age would normally do.
She was attempting to summon her Ka.
It was something only the High Priests and the Pharaoh should do, but, being a spellcaster, Nefertari had a wand. Wands, much like the Millennium Items, were magical objects. Not as powerful, of course, and useless to those who were not born as spellcasters (with the exception of few who trained hard since childhood despite their non-spellcaster status), but the wand was still very capable of summoning the Ka.
The girl with light blue hair exhaled as she held her wand tightly, holding it by her side as her eyes closed for a moment. She had to find her Ka inside her. She had to feel everything it felt. She had to know it and understand it.
Nefertari's eyes closed as she slowly lifted her wand, trying to focus on the darkness she now saw. Somewhere she would find her Ka. It was in here somewhere.
A hiss could be heard, like that of a snake. Nefertari's eyes snapped open and she jumped, worried that perhaps an asp had slithered towards her, but the hissing stopped and she saw no snake. That drew her to the conclusion that the hissing came from within her, and that it must have belonged to her Ka.
Once more, Nefertari closed her eyes. The hissing could be heard again, echoing through her head. It almost frightened her, and she could feel herself becoming nauseous. She was shaking ever so slightly. What if she could not control her Ka? What if it got the better of her and attacked her?
Well, that was why she had come out here and didn't just stay in the courtyard of the palace. At least here she could run or let damage be done without it being too serious.
A pair of yellow eyes stared at her in the darkness. Reptilian, yellow eyes. Her eyes closed tighter, for a moment forgetting that they were not open at all in the first place, but the girl calmed herself.
From the darkness slithered a snake. It was dark with red stripes, and sharp razor-like fins down its back. It came closer and closer, until its eyes aligned with her own, and her lids opened up to see the creature there before her. It was a small beast, but she didn't care. She was a child; she was just impressed that she was able to summon something, and it was interesting to see what kind of creature resided within her soul. A snake was more pleasant than something horrific.
Nefertari crouched down and hesitantly reached her hand out towards the hissing reptile, with a small, not-so-confident smile on her face. "Hello," she greeted quietly. "So… you must be my Ka."
As she had expected, the snake did not respond with words. But it did stop hissing at her, and instead it flicked its tongue in some strange way of greeting. Nefertari giggled a little and tickled it under its chin, no longer afraid of the reflection her soul created.
"You're not as scary as I thought you'd be," Nefertari continued thoughtfully, still wearing her smile as her head tilted to the side. "I wonder if you'll grow any bigger…"
Just then, she heard a distant yet somehow familiar voice – it didn't sound too different to an angry child grumbling to himself in a bad mood. Nefertari arose to her full height and turned her head, and further down the sandy bank of the river, she spotted the white-haired boy who had helped her before. Bakura. That was his name. She almost felt a smile trying to form as she hurried over to him, which resulted in him jumping into a defensive position to protect himself. Upon seeing that this was the same girl he had met before, he let down his guard.
"Nefertari," he recalled. "Isn't it past your bedtime?" It was an attempt at a joke, but it sounded like a serious and concerned comment. He never expected to see Nefertari so soon. But, before he could even give Nefertari the chance to answer, his eyes went down to the strange snake which had followed her. "Whoa! That's not like any snake I've ever seen! Stand back!"
"Don't worry," Nefertari soothed. "It's… mine." The response only made Bakura look more confused.
"Eh?" he reacted. "That weird snake thing is yours? How?" His eyes then went wide. "Is it a spirit creature?"
"Kinda," Nefertari answered. "It's my Ka. It's a creature that reflects my soul." Bakura couldn't help but laugh a little.
"Heh, your spirit's a little snake," he snickered. Nefertari folded her arms.
"Oh, yeah? Well, what's yours?" she asked him. Bakura shrugged.
"I dunno," he replied. "I guess I can only find out with one of these." He held up a wand, much to Nefertari's confusion, until the blue-haired girl noticed that the wand in her hand was missing. The smug grin on Bakura's face told her everything she needed to know, and in response to his theft she puffed out her cheeks with frustration.
"Give that back," she demanded, holding out her hand. "You can't do magic. You're not a spellcaster."
"Aw, so I can't see my own Ka?" Bakura pouted, examining the wand until Nefertari snatched it from him. "That's a real shame, princess. I bet it's better than yours, anyway." The boy knelt down and admired Nefertari's striped snake, and he showed no fear of it at all as he even reached out to pet it.
"They get stronger," Nefertari then pointed out. "When I get bigger, I bet my Ka will be something amazing."
"Didn't you say it reflects your soul or something?" Bakura queried, looking up at her with a raised eyebrow.
"Uh-huh," Nefertari nodded proudly.
"Then yours will never be amazing," Bakura smirked.
"Hey!" Nefertari snapped as Bakura stood up. "Well, yours probably isn't going to be good, either! My mentor taught me that Ka are sometimes really bad in horrible people, and right now you're being a horrible person!"
"He didn't say they were weak, then?" Bakura added, leaving Nefertari somewhat speechless. He had a point, and she knew that. "I think he meant to say that people who aren't good have strong Ka."
"But evil," Nefertari reminded him. Bakura shrugged.
"Good, evil… strength is strength, princess."
Nefertari shook her head. "Why are you here?" she then questioned him. "It's late for you, too. And you sounded pretty grumpy before I came over here."
Bakura scratched his head awkwardly with a grin. "I'm not grumpy," he said to her. "Besides, I don't have a bedtime like you do. I go to bed whenever I want."
"That's just unhealthy," Nefertari murmured.
"Anyway, princess, why are you here?" Bakura shot back at her. "You went back safely to the palace with your rich friends. What made you run out this time?"
Nefertari could only look down sadly before sitting on the ground by the river, with her Ka slithering to curl up beside her. "I don't wanna talk about it," she said quietly.
"Your dad died, huh?" Bakura assumed, which caused Nefertari to flinched and then throw some sand at him.
"Don't talk about it!" she commanded.
"At least you already saw it coming," Bakura pointed out. "I didn't know my dad was gonna be killed and turned into gold for your fancy priests to wear."
There it was. The gold thing. Nefertari still wasn't going to believe it.
"My father is dead," she growled tearfully, with her snake now hissing beside her. "Can you really only talk about that stupid gold story?!"
"Yeah," Bakura answered simply. More sand was thrown at him.
"Why did I bother coming over here?!" she shouted. "You're still so rude!"
"Whatever," Bakura shrugged, finally passing Nefertari's wand back to her. "Kinda hard to be nice when ya have to steal to live, princess. If I'm nice to people, they won't treat me any differently because I'm a street rat." He hopped down into a sitting position by the Nile and stared at his own reflection. "I bet all the royals teach you to be nice because they don't wanna look bad. People care more if you guys are bad." The young boy grinned to himself. "Heh. At least nobody really cares about what I do."
"Yeah, well, when you're a grown up, you can't be bad," Nefertari countered as she folded her arms firmly. "You'll be arrested by the city guards, and you'll never be trusted by anyone."
"So?" Bakura responded quickly, looking up at her. "I don't need people to trust me if I'm gonna be on my own. And even if I am a bad grown-up, there'll be other bad guys to hang out with." He thought about Darius, Caspar and Rashan – his three Persian mentors – and then thought back to the village of Kul Elna. Everyone there was a thief, or closely associated with one. Everyone in that village admired his father, and that was something that he chose to mention under his breath. "I'm gonna grow up to be like my dad."
Nefertari looked at him oddly and almost felt the urge to speak up in anger, but then calmed herself as she tilted her head thoughtfully. He had lost his father, just like she had done, but his recollection of the event sounded much more brutal than a simple death in bed. The young priestess sat herself down beside the boy, with her spirit snake now dormant.
"Tell me about your dad," she said quietly, staring at her own reflection in the river water. Bakura narrowed his eyes at her suspiciously.
"Why?" he asked. "So you can make fun of me to feel better about your own dad dying?"
"No," Nefertari answered, shaking her head. "I want to know about him. I want to know why you want to be like him."
Bakura simply shrugged his shoulders. "Everyone wants to be like their dad," he commented. "Don't you wanna be a High Priestess like your dad, princess?"
"I'm not a princess," Nefertari shut down, still not liking the nickname, but his words did stick in her head. He did in fact have a valid point; she did want to be like her father and be as great as he was, and Mahad also wanted to be like his father. The young Atem also seemed to admire Aknamkanon, so it was definitely a noticeable trend.
But Nefertari was starting to feel something… weird. Something strange as she thought about her father.
Doubt.
She was doubting herself.
Was she doubting whether or not she could fill his shoes?
…No. Not at all.
She was doubting if she wanted to be like him at all.
"…The Millennium Items," the aqua-haired girl spoke up after a small silence. "You keep telling me they were made from… people. Your people."
"They were," Bakura answered, his expression now darker and serious. "I watched them drop them into the pot of liquid gold. I watched them shape the items and I ran away. They would've turned me into gold, too."
"Maybe they wouldn't have…" Nefertari doubted. "Maybe they only turned the criminals into items… the grown-ups…"
"Ha ha, you're funny," Bakura snickered. "No, princess. They killed the grown-up ladies like my mother. They killed my friends. Nobody was left when I woke up the next day. The whole village was a ghost town."
This was the most he had ever really talked to anyone about what had happened, and there was a good reason for that: Nefertari, once convinced by his story, would have to inspect the items for herself, and maybe even bring them to him. She might even betray the royal family. Nefertari, the trainee spellcaster who was already capable of summoning her Ka. Nefertari, the future holder of one of the Millennium Items and future High Priestess. She would be a powerful ally. It really would be better to keep her on his side.
"…I'm sorry," Nefertari said after a quiet sigh – a sigh that was both saddened and somewhat stubborn. "I… I don't understand why that would be allowed… I thought my family and friends would want to help people, not hurt them…"
"Oh, they help people," Bakura agreed, "but they hurt others to do that. And because they're rich and powerful, they can get away with it. If people like my guardians do anything wrong, they get killed, but your royals get praised."
Nefertari had nothing to say to that. Perhaps it really was true. Perhaps this little thief boy, despite his rudeness, was telling the truth her family would never tell her.
But maybe something else would also tell her…
The young girl stood up. "I need to go," she announced. "My friends will be worried about me. I think your guardians will be worried about you, too."
"Nah, they don't care if I'm out late," Bakura assured her, waving his hand passively, but he then arose to his feet and held his hand out with a wide grin on his dark face. "How about I walk ya home, princess? It's dark now, and your little snake probably won't do much against big scary night guys."
Nefertari stared at him, awkwardly taking his hand. She hadn't really thought about what to do to get home, and she did now understand that the streets were dangerous – night time would definitely be much worse than the day.
Bakura started dragging her, his grip tighter than it should be, as he wound his way through small alleys to avoid crowds of drunks and other rough-looking men. But, only half-way to the palace, a single well-dressed child could be seen awkwardly yet frantically searching the main street. Bakura didn't seem to care much for him, but Nefertari recognised him just by his robes.
"Mahad!" she whispered to Bakura. "That's Mahad! My friend!"
"Oh," Bakura tutted, rolling his eyes before smirking. "Should we sneak past him and leave him to get lost in the dark?"
"No!" Nefertari whispered again in a hiss, slapping Bakura's arm a few times. He didn't even react to the pathetic attack and simply laughed.
"Fine, I'll take ya to your prince boyfriend," he taunted, dragging Nefertari out of the alleyway.
"He's just my friend!" Nefertari growled.
Mahad spotted the duo once he noticed the two were approaching him, and his eyes went wide. "Neffy!" he called out somewhat quietly, hurrying over as fast as he could.
"Neffy?" Bakura chuckled to himself. "He calls you Neffy?"
Nefertari just shot a glare at him, but then smiled when Mahad approached and even managed to pull her dainty hand from Bakura's tight grasp.
"Mahad," the young girl greeted with a smile. "I'm so happy to see you…"
Mahad immediately hugged her tightly. "I was worried about you!" he told her. "Haku was also worried… We didn't know what you were going to do, or… or…"
"I'm fine, Mahad, I promise…" Nefertari soothed. "I just… I… I was really confused and… I wanted to be alone, I don't know…"
"You've gotta stop scaring us like this," Mahad said with concern. "One day you might get hurt…"
"I'm sorry," Nefertari apologized. She turned her head, prepared to say her farewells to Bakura so that she could return to the palace with Mahad, but she saw that he was gone. "…Huh…"
"Oh, that boy…" Mahad recalled. "He was with you a moment ago… Who is he?"
Nefertari was silent for a moment as she tried to spot Bakura, but after seeing no sign of him, she decided to smile once more. "He's a friend," she answered. Mahad only looked concerned.
"I suppose he did help you," the young spellcaster commented, holding Nefertari's hand. "Come on, Neffy. Let's just go home before the High Priests send out a search party."
"Right," Nefertari agreed with a nod, and the pair returned home.
But Nefertari would not be settled in her room for long, as she could not sleep. Something was on her mind.
The Millennium Ring.
That item was going to be hers, which meant she had every right to touch it if she pleased. It was destined to her. She would wield it as she grew older.
Maybe, if the Millennium Items truly were magic, she could see something within the ring. The truth, perhaps, or something that could be useful to her.
The adults were asleep, as were Mahad and Haku, so once more she silently made her way through the palace and towards…
Her father's room.
He was no longer there, which Nefertari confirmed as she wandered hesitantly into the chamber, but the item was. It was right by his bedside, where he had always kept it in the past if it wasn't around his neck.
The golden glow of the Millennium Ring reflected in Nefertari's purple eyes as she approached, slowly extending her hands forwards as she reached out for it.
Her dark hands found the item…
She grabbed it.
It was not as simple as she thought it would be, or as painless. Immediately her hands started to burn, almost as if the Millennium Ring had become molten metal, but she couldn't let go. Her eyes went up in flames, as did her throat, and she couldn't even find the energy to scream.
In her state of painful blindness, Nefertari was beginning to see something. She could see a village of people running for their lives as they were massacred, and their dying screams and cries could be heard.
Was this Kul Elna, the village Bakura claimed to come from?
She saw a man with messy white hair trying to hold off some soldiers – Egyptian soldiers – while his wife and strangely familiar child ran.
Bakura.
The child was Bakura, so the man she could see must have been his father.
The images were flashing, and her body began to heat up more and more, as if she were being melted in the pot of liquid gold which appeared in her quick hallucinations.
But before the pain could become to unbearable, something pulled her away from the Millennium Ring, though she completely blacked out before she had any time to react.
~End of Chapter~
