Memory of Sisters
The boat came up to the small dock. The woman stepped off and Addaya followed her. She walked up stone stairs with red velvet on top of it. The enclosed sedan chair was lowered to the ground. A guard moved the veil to the side. A leg that was wearing a sandal similar to the other woman's stepped out. A woman stepped out. She had black hair that went to her chin and crimson eyes. She was tall and slender. She had a long black skirt that had two slits, one on each side. Her top stopped a few inches about the ribs and was sleeveless. There was barely an back to it. It was red and had gold trim. She had on a long dark violet cape. She had on a snake arm ban. There were also several bracelets on each wrist, all elaborate. She had on a large wide necklace. ((You know, those things that go to there shoulders, those necklaces.)) It was also elaborate. On her skirt, in front there was a ruby oval with golden snakes encircling it. She had on a gold necklace like head ban on top of her head. It had several gems in it. She had a tattoo beside her right eye. It was a curvy I that was slanted and short and the top and bottom were long and swirled a bit. It wasn't more than a two inches big. There were a few dots around the I. She had red painted lips and some kind of blood red powder on her eyelids. Her eyes were outlined. She looked at the woman that had gotten off the boat and smirked.
"Well, well, I didn't think you would be here Ravonia." Her voice was harsh.
"Sister, I wish to speak to you on the matters of protection. But that must wait, right now, father has called us to him and we must see to him first, Neferubity." With that said, she turned her back and walked up the stairs to the large palace in front of them.
Sakura watched with a smirk as a bright light blinded her for a minute. When it was gone, a new woman stood in the black of Raven. She had a different posture. It gave an air of command. Her eyes were more angular and were crimson. She had a small gold triangle that was right under the corner of the far end of each of her eyes. It was a little longer than a centimeter and curved with her check bone. Her skin seemed to change from a pale, creamy color to a healthy looking tan color.
"Neferubity, how dare you show yourself in my presence, you foul snake." She spat. Her voice was deeper, stronger, and much more commanding. Sakura kept her back to the tree. In a quick movement she slide around the tree and was on the other side. She was still leaning against the tree. Except now she looked like she did in the memory. She was truly Neferubity right now.
Yami sat on the fool of his soul room thinking. He was lost in thought when he felt something hit him like a ton of bricks. Yami was on his feet in a moment's notice. He had his eyes closed, trying to find out what that was. Then it became clear to him. Ancient magic. It was so familiar yet . . . he felt like it was nothing that he had ever felt before. It . . . it was slightly older than the magic that the millennium items used. Old enough to almost be a completely different magic.
"Is that how you treat your older sister?" Her voice wasn't even the same. It was deep and harsh. Ravonia glared at her with pure hatred.
"That is how I treat a traitor." Neferubity laughed.
"Oh, come now. I'm not a traitor." Her eyes hardened. "You are." She hissed. "You stole what was mine. You did not deserve to have anything. Not the favor of the gods, not the right to live after my mother died to give you birth, not my father's love, not that choker, not my father's power, and NOT A SON!" She closed her eyes and smirked. She calmed her temper. "I raised him like my own son."
"After you killed me." Ravonia hissed. Neferubity glared at her.
Yugi looked up from the window as Yami came out of the puzzle.
"Yami? Is something wrong?" Yami shook his head.
"No, nothing wrong. I just felt a strange presence in another part of town. It feels old. Older then I am." Yugi looked out the window again.
"Well, whatever it is, I think you should wait. I heard that the storm was gonna get worse." Yami sighed and nodded.
"I taught him things you could never teach him. I taught him-"
"You taught him what?! To love? To be respected? To learn from his mistakes? To understand that he will not always be right? That he might not always be the best? Did you teach him how to treat someone properly? Or how to care for another living creature?!" Ravonia spat. She didn't give her sister, Neferubity, a chance to answer. "No! You taught him to kill! To treat others like dirt! To be feared instead of respected! You taught him death and destruction! You damned him! You never cared! You used him like a damn puppet! Your own nephew! The boy you raised as your own! But then of course, you did kill his mother! Your own sister! And for what?! To get her damn power, of course! And you were willing to kill my son at a moment's notice! Whenever you thought he would not listen to you, you planed to kill him! If he ever stepped out of line, you were waiting with a knife for him! But you never needed to! All you had to say was, 'I understand child, it is your life to live.' A dramatic sigh as you look off into space, with a dreamy look on your face. 'You are so much like my sister. She never listened either.' Then you would shake yourself from the dream and looked at him hard. 'But be careful. You are the light of my life, that alone is the only reason I can stand to look at myself in a mirror after I killed your mother when I saved your life. I don't know what I would do without you!' And then my son would say, 'But Ravonia only gave birth to me. You raised me. You are my mother. And you did not kill her. The gods did that for her sins. What you protected me from was a shell left behind, intent on killing me.' And you would look at him with great love and nodded and smile. Then you would tell him that you loved me. Even though I was only a damned shell you hated killing me. But it was the only way to save him! You would play him for a fool! And you said you loved me! I grew up with you as my role model!" Her eyes had hardened. There were no tears shed, as anyone else would have done. She had her fist clenched. She held her sister in a heated glare. Her voice was no longer yelling. She spoke in a death calmed manner. "And now I know that you are only a snake. You never loved. You never could. You hated me for no reason. You hated me because you hated yourself." Neferubity sneered at Ravonia.
The two sisters stood in front of large stone doors. Neferubity glanced at her sister with a smirk. There were shadows from Ravonia's shoulders up.
"Dearest sister, what do you think father will do?" Ravonia looked at her slightly.
"Father is ill. He can not be predictable when ill. It is a common thing among the sick. But let us hope that this sickness has passed and he called us to tell us that himself." Neferubity laughed.
"You know as well as I do that it was from the gods. Why would they remove their own curse?" Ravonia stared at the doors in front of her.
"Because he was sick does not mean it was a curse from the gods. It could have been a test." Neferubity raised an eyebrow.
"Do you really believe that?" Ravonia looked at the ground for a moment.
"At that moment . . . I do not know." Neferubity chuckled.
"In that case, let us find our answers. They are, after all, on the other side of this door." Ravonia glanced at Neferubity.
"Before we do that, we both must understand that we want to bring father no trouble." Neferubity smirked.
"I have no reason to trouble him." Ravonia sighed.
"I meant that we must not bicker." Neferubity rolled her eyes.
"I am not a fool. I know that." Ravonia looked ahead at the doors.
"Sister, I know that you are not a fool. But even the wisest god can be blinded from the truth. All I am saying is to pick your words carefully around him. You know that he takes things to heart and that he can over react to small things. Which means that we can not mention anything that will upset him." Neferubity glared at her. She pushed the doors open.
"You are one to talk. Know you hate yourself because you trusted me. With all your heart! And I freed you. You had gone mad with all that power. You trusted no one but me. Don't you think it's ironic? Your closest servants were treated harshly. You cut out many tongues so none of you secrets were betrayed. And you wanted only a few that could read or write. You hate yourself! For everything you did! Only after death did you gain back that sanity." Ravonia glared at her.
"The choker took it away, that was part of the price for it. The other part was that it blinded me to the one I trusted most. When I died, then and only then did it gave it back. That was because I became part of the choker. I control it's powers now. They do not control me. So there is no longer such a price for a worthy soul." Neferubity rolled her eyes.
"Oh, come off it! There was never a price for a worthy soul. You were punished by the gods. I just finished the job." Ravonia shook her head, her eyes never leaving her sister.
"No. You only got revenge. And stole my happiness and ruined it. As father did to you."
The two sisters walked through the giant stone doors. Guards were lined up against the wall. They were in a giant throne room. The two walked along the red carpet before them. They finally came to stand in front of a large throne that had stairs leading up to it. The two knelt down on the ground. Ravonia placed the scythe beside her as she kneed and looked down. Neferubity looked up at the man siting on the throne.
"May I be so bold as to ask why we are here?" Ravonia spoke softly as she asked. The man looked down at the two.
"You may." Neferubity spoke before Ravonia did.
"Is there something you need to tell us? Is that why you called us here?" The man stood and sighed. He walked down the steps.
"Please, follow me. I wish to speak to the both of you alone." The two exchanged glances as they stood. Addaya stepped out to Ravonia and she gave him the scythe.
Yugi sighed as he stepped out of the bathroom in his pajamas. He had just gotten out of the shower. Yami was watching the world from the window. Yugi stared at him. Yami was staring very hard at something.
"What are you watching?" Yami looked up at Yugi in surprise.
"Oh, I was just watching the snow. I've never seen anything like it." Yugi laughed mentally. He figured that snow would be new to Yami. After all, the only thing they really knew was that Yami was from Egypt.
Their father stood out on the balcony. He was staring out over the city. Neferubity stood next to her father and Ravonia stood away from them, still in the doorway.
"This land . . . I have done so much so it will become great. I want our people to be remembered for millenniums." Their father told them this. Neferubity smirked.
"It is no question that our land shall be remembered. Father, if done right this land will be remembered forever!" He turned and stared at Ravonia.
"And what do you think?" Ravonia stared out at the land.
"We are merely a civilization. There are many more. For us to be remembered we must have more of a guideline than forever. We must know how we want to be remembered. And who we want to remember us. There are so many factors that must be taken into account." Their father smiled.
"Well then, I want our people to be remembered by the whole world. What do you say to that?"
"We can be remembered with ease. We have our pyramids. They will stand the test of time. There is nothing like them. They hold our kings before us." He nodded.
"I understand this, but I want more than just the pyramids." Ravonia didn't looked from the land.
"As I said before, there are many factors to be taken into account. Do you want us to be remembered as a peaceful land? If so, then we must use our knowledge to make allies with other lands to avoid fighting. Then we must make sure that our people are well fed and live well. Then, the next step is to dedicate our time to other things, such as discovery. Or we could spend our time working on our culture. Be it the libraries or our celebrations." Neferubity sighed.
"Father wants us to be remembered as a great and powerful nation." Ravonia glanced at her sister.
"There are many ways to be great and powerful. If you are referring to power as in war and ruling over many others, than it is possible. The first step is to make allies in other parts of the world. You will learn of that land with ease then. The next step is to make sure that the people are well." Neferubity interrupted her sister.
"How does that do anything? We are talking of war! Not peace."
"An army is made of people. If our people do not take glory in our nation then how can we expect them to fight with everything they have? Now, the third step is to train our people in the ways of war. We can use the knowledge that we have gathered to teach them a large amount of battle skills. After that we must learn which nations would we benefit from if we take them over. And which ones can we win against."
"So what should we do? Only battle those we can win against?"
"Until our army has enough experience to go into a war that will take many years to win, yes. We can not throw away our people's lives. Until they know enough that their fate is in their hands, we would have to battle those that we have a good chance of winning against. Our nation's legs are the people. But no matter which course of action, there is one constant. The people must live well. They are the nation. Pharaohs and Queens can only guide them." Their father smiled.
"You are wise beyond your years my daughter." Neferubity sent a glare at Ravonia.
"Father . . . is something wrong?" Ravonia asked. He was silent as he turned and looked at the city once more. "Father?" He sighed.
"You are the heirs to everything I have. You both have the right to know that I am sick."
"We already know this father." Neferubity spoke to him. He nodded and sighed.
"I am dying. In a matter of days one of you will take my place. You have a right to know which one of you it will be from me. You both are capable to rule this land. But only one of you can. I have had to think long and hard about this. Which one of you would be able to take care of this land the best."
"And?" Neferubity asked. He sighed.
"And I now realize that though you both may be able to take care of the land, only one can be a true leader. I know now that there is only of you that can lead these people to glory, no matter what action is taken." Neferubity smiled.
"Oh father, I know that you have been having a troublesome time with this. But the answer is obvious. We all know who the rightful leader should be." He sent her a faint smile.
"I am thankful that you know this and are willing to accept it. I was worried that there would be trouble." Neferubity laughed.
"Father, both of us are understanding enough to not cause trouble because the other one was chosen." He sighed and gave her a happy smile.
"I am so glad that you understand this. I was a fool to think other wise." Neferubity laughed once more and smiled.
"You are no fool." He sighed as he smiled.
"In some matters yes, after all, I had so little faith in you." He had turn his back as he stared at the city and he didn't see the smile drop from Neferubity's face. She gave him a questioning look. "It was wrong of me to do so. I should have known better. After all, if Ravonia was able to be so wise and understanding, why not you? I am happy that you understand my decision." Neferubity opened her mouth in shock as she realized what was happening. Their father turned and looked at Ravonia. "And I hope that you will do well, Ravonia. I want you to do your best as the new Queen of Egypt."