Time setting: Ancient Egypt, five years before Exodia came.

Salyria was standing just outside and above the entrance to the Ishtar home with no moonlight to reveal her. She was clad in a dark robe with distinctive tears in it, obviously well-used. She held the ornately styled dagger close, a malicious glance as she waited for the father to emerge from the well-lit doorway.
There had been a time when she would think this line of work was not needed, but time had been most unkind to this young woman...

[Flashback!]
The two ran down the alley-ways to their secret hideout. The boy was sweating as the mid-day sun pounded down its heat on the children as they tried to escape to the shade and security of the ruined building that was their hideout.
"C'mon Salyr! We're almost there!" Yami called back to the white-haired girl.
"Not so fast! I'm not as fast as you!" Salyria puffed as she tried to keep up.
By the time they got to the place there was a man in a hooded cloak blocking their way. The man didn't seem to be lost, but in thought as they approached him.
"Hey mister? Whatcha doing here?" Salyria said as she and Yami reached him.
"Just... looking around... shouldn't you two be at home with your mother and father?" The man said as he appeared to look down at the two.
"We're not related, this is Salyria and my name is Yami. Salyria is my best friend." Yami said as he introduced himself and Salyria.
"My... you look to be a leader-type, Yami... how would you like to be heir to the throne?" the man said as he slowly removed his hood to reveal...
Salyria took a step back and gasped. "The Pharaoh!"
"Yes... You see I have no son and came here to think for a while, then you two came and here we are" the Pharaoh said.
"I... would be honoured... But what about Salyria? I can't just give up my friendship with her!" Yami said as he stood by the girl and held onto her hand.
"You wouldn't need to, she can come with you and the two of you would be betrothed to each other." the Pharaoh explained.

Years passed by. Salyria stood on a balcony over-looking the area surrounding the palace.
"This isn't for me..." She thought. "I belong somewhere else..."
Yami came up behind her. "What is wrong, Salyr?"
"I don't think I belong here, I feel out of place and the servants don't look me in the eye anymore..." she explained to him.
"So you're leaving..." He said as he looked down and away... "Remember that I will love you... no matter what..."
She kissed him on the lips passionately before leaving the room to pack her things.
[End of Flashback!]

That was years ago... and now her twin sister held Yami's affections... She clenched her teeth and glared bitterly at the distant palace as tears threatened her vision. The only good-bye present she got was the dagger she held in her hand and the scimitar in its leather sheath. That was all she needed to direct her future into the mercenary business.
A sudden movement came from the doorway. She stood poised for the Father to come out to collect her reward.
It was a merchant who had a bad run-in with Ishtar who wanted his head. It didn't matter to Salyria. Business was business and she could not deny that she needed the money.
It could have been different, she realized, as she waited for her prey. She could have been married to Yami and rule by his side as his queen, then her sister couldn't have stolen away any and all of her chances for the life she missed out on. Fate was always unkind for the adopted daughter of Sekhmet...
She saw Ishtar emerge from the doorway, his sandy-white hair was illuminated from the interior light.
"I'll be home in the morning, don't tell Malik or Ishizu what I'm doing if they wake up. This has gone far too long" the man said to his wife.
But just as he said those words Malik came wandering to by his mother's side, rubbing his eyes to remove the sleep from them.
"Father, where are you going?" Malik asked.
"I'm going to the Pharaoh to clear this merchant-mess up. I can't let this go on for any longer" his father explained.
"Now's my chance!" Salyria thought as she lunged for the older Ishtar, aiming her dagger for his heart.
The man didn't have time to look up, for the next thing he knew there was a hooded figure with a dagger in his heart. His eyes rolled back into his head as he crumpled to the ground, dead upon impact. Salyria cut his head off with an equally-ornate scimitar and leapt away with her prize before Malik and his mother could react.
"How much more of this can I do before I have to go and face Yami again...?" Salyria thought as tears fell down her face after getting to the old, childhood hideout where she said she would meet the merchant.
"Have you got the head of Armahnd Ishtar?" The merchant said as he came from the darker shadows of the ruined building.
"Yes. Now give me the money you promised." she said in a firm and business-like manner.
The merchant threw her a bag the size of a grapefruit. It jingled as it hit the palm of her hand.
"A deal's a deal... There's one more person I want you to kill..." The merchant said.
"Oh...? You know this is going to cost you even more than what you paid for Ishtar's head. I was seen, his wife and son saw me..." Salyria narrowed her sapphire eyes at him.
"This one will be well worth your efforts... I want you to kill the Pharaoh!" the merchant said.
"No..." Salyria refused.
"No...? You have a contract with me, mercenary..." he said to her.
"Then consider it terminated..." she said as she left his presence. Where she went after that, no one knows, but it was rumored she wandered the Shadow Realm for five years until returning to the palace...

-End-