I own my deck of dueling cards. Not Yu-Gi-Oh itself.

At Last

The group of archaeologists left, much to my disappointment. It may have had something to do with the fact that I'd sort of accidentally sealed off almost all of the access at that end of the tombs.

Not too long later, I discovered that that wasn't the only side effect of my temper.

There was a hole to the surface. The Ishtars were crawling around, searching for such holes, but they were on the other side of a large rock fall from it. It would take them days to reach it. With luck, someone would notice the large cloud of dust, and explore closely enough to find the crack. Someone small enough to fit…

Days passed, and they were dangerously close to my part of the catacombs.

And finally, for the first time in centuries, some luck came my way. In the form of the youngest daughter in a family of sons, searching for a place to hide for a game. And, because being the youngest, smallest, and only girl, she got picked on a little. Maybe not so little. From the little bits and pieces floating innocently on top of her mind, I found that even I thought them cruel. Perfect.

She didn't even need any prompting to find the crack. I made sure it was stable, then lightly encouraged her to come deeper. This girl is painfully lonely. She felt my presence in her mind the moment she reached the hallway of the catacombs, and eagerly searched me out. I could have been anything, anyone. A vengeful spirit, leftover Shadow summoning, or something more mundane, like a pimp or pedophile. Somehow, I doubt those had changed much over the years.

Luckily for her, I wasn't anything of the kind. Well, maybe I was a vengeful spirit, but not towards innocent children. Just the Pharaoh. –Hello,- I said.

"Hello," she replied in a quiet, sweet voice. "What's your name?"

My name… It had been a very long time since I'd had cause to think of it. –My name is Bakhra.-

"Bakura? That's a funny name." Hmm, interesting. Apparently a language shift had occurred since I last spoke out loud. I don't remember using that particular letter. "Why can't I see you?"

-I can be invisible when I want to. In fact, I usually am. I'll try and show you who I am, I've been invisible a long time and I've forgotten how to be seen.-

She giggled. "That's funny. I don't know anyone who's invisible."

-Well, now you do.- It really had been a long time since I'd tried to manifest a visible form, and it took a fair bit of energy to maintain one. I concentrated now, on what my face looked like, the shade of my eyes and hair… and I settled on basic, shapeless Bedouin robes. A lot easier that trying something more complex or fitted. –Can you see me yet?-

"Yep! Why do you have white hair? My grandpa has white hair. Are you somebody's grandpa?"

"Slow down," I laughed, using an audible voice for the first time in millennia past. "I don't have any grandchildren, or children at all. I'm a spirit, and I've been alive a really long time."

"Really? How long?" Her eyes got absolutely gigantic. I was vaguely worried they would fall right out if she opened them anymore.

"You know the pyramids?"

"Yes,"

"I saw the first of them being built." Not entirely right, but close enough for a five year old.

"Oooooh!" I swear she managed to put five full O's in that word.

"So, what's your name?" I could delve into her mind, of course, but it didn't take too much longer to be nice and ask.

"Maya," she said shyly.

"Well, Maya," I said, kneeling, "Do you think you could do me a favor?"

"What's the favor?"

"I need to get to the city. Could you do that?"

"Maybe. We go to the city on rest days. But, why don't you just walk on your own?"

"Well, I don't really have a body of my own. I live in that gold ring," I said, pointing to the Ring, sitting serenely on the sarcophagus.

"You live in a ring?" She almost fell down laughing at that statement.

"Yes, I do. And if you could carry it to the town for me, that would be a big help."

She looked up at the great slab of stone, chewing her lip. "My brothers would try to take it, if it's gold and shiny. Cause, I'm just a little girl. And they're bigger."

"That won't be a problem. I'll make sure they leave you alone, okay?"

"Really?" In all my years on this planet, I don't think I've ever seen anyone so happy. "You could?"

"I most certainly could. Now, see if you can't reach up here and get this necklace down, okay?"

Cheerfully, she skipped into the center of the room and scrambled up onto the dais. For one horrific moment, I thought she wouldn't be able to reach it, then her questing fingertips touched the outermost point. YES!

As elated as I was, I was very, very cautious as I entered her mind, taking care to only inhabit a tiny portion. ­–Good job! I've been waiting a very long time to find someone to help me out of here. Thank you.-

"So, now you want to get to the city?"

-Yes. As soon as possible. Actually, we had better leave now.- I'd just heard the Ishtars breaking through the rubble. They would be here in less than a half hour.

"Okay!"

Outside, hidden in a little alcove of rocks, Maya used her hair ribbon to put the Ring back on as a necklace. The leather cord I'd used last time I'd found a bearer had long ago disintegrated. She'd just put it on when her brothers finally caught up with her.

"We looked here already!" one of the older ones said, in a whiny voice that I'm sure got him anything he wanted from his father.

"No, I've been right here!"

"It's not like you could tell directions anyway, Kial," the tallest one said, sneering at the first brother. –Ryssa,- Maya told me silently.

"I can too!" Kial pouted, "It's all her fault!"

"Yeah," said a third boy, coming out from behind another pile of rocks. –Bek-

"Why do you always have to mess up our games, Maya?"

"Hey, where did she get that?" Kial said, pointing at my Ring.

"I bet she stole it! I think we ought to teach her a lesson!" Ryssa said, cracking his knuckles. Involuntarily, Maya shrunk back, and squeaked as she came up against her fourth brother. –Tkal!- she mind-shrieked, panicked. Ryssa might have been the ringleader, but Tkal was the biggest. The hands he clamped on Maya's tiny shoulders could have easily encompassed her head.

-My turn,- I said. Kial moved in, hand raised to hit her, when I took over completely. Our head snapped up, and our eyes glowed dark. His fist, which would have hurt such a small person a fair bit, bounced harmlessly off Mirror Force, throwing him back. "You should not pick on your little sister so much, Kial," we said, Maya's small, light voice sounding very odd with my deeper, harsh tones coming through.

Kial obligingly scurried back, looking as if he'd just about stepped on a scorpion. Tkal's hands only tightened of course, and Ryssa stalked forward. "What do you think you're doing, Maya? We're your older brothers, you can't treat us this way!"

"On the contrary, I think I can." We said, looking coolly up at his face. "After all, you've treated me this way for as long as I can remember. But I don't think you will anymore."

Tkal lessened his grip, trembling slightly. Apparently, he had no clue what to do when someone stood up to them. Of course, the fact that we were glowing slightly might have had something to do with it. Now, to make sure they stayed properly cowed. "I found this Ring," Maya said, in her own voice. "And inside is a spirit who happens to like me. So, you aren't going to be mean to me anymore, or he'll be ten times as mean back."

"I… I don't believe you!" Ryssa shouted, as if the louder he said it, the truer it was.

"Really?" we asked, walking forward. I reached out and put our hand on his forehead, quite a stretch, really. And I simply downloaded some… ideas into his mind. Sufficed to say, by the time I finished, he would never touch another girl, child, or just about anyone else again.

Just to finish it off, I took over our voice completely. "Now, I'm going on a journey. But, be sure that if Maya ever needs my help, I will be there in a heartbeat to do whatever she needs. Now," I said, letting a little of the Shadow aura fade and some of Maya come back into our voice, "I'm going to the city. I think it would be best if you didn't tell anyone about our little meeting, hmm?"

A chorus of silent nods followed. Inside our head, Maya did a little happy dance to see her brothers be so obedient. –Are you really gonna come help me if I need you?-

-If I can,- I replied. –I might not be able to though. So, what I'll do, is give you a shield to use. The same one we used on Kial, it's called mirror force. If you're in trouble, just think really hard about the shield, and it'll come. It will also make you look like I'm back in your head, so it'll scare your brothers. Okay?-

-Okay!- came her cheerful reply. Aah, how much I've missed having company.