Sinkshipping (Atem x Amane)
"I think I'm sinking," she whispered. "I'm afraid to sink."
Atem awoke with a start. Had he been dreaming? It was hard to tell.
He lay still on his bed, staring at the faraway stone ceiling. Something had bothered him. Feelings like these should not be taken lightly.
Cautiously, so as not to alert the guards outside his doors to his alertness, he sat up and slid his bare feet around to touch the cold stone floor. He padded, soft as thought, to the balcony. As he stepped out, a cool desert breeze tickled his far. Far away stars twinkled in an otherwise black sky, seeming distant and cold to his own warm, sandy world.
The buildings below him were lost in shadow. It was hard to tell where the desert ended and the sky began, so complete was the darkness.
He let out a long, slow breath. It was time to pinpoint the source of his worry. What had awakened him? Perhaps the spirits were walking tonight. He could only hope the answer was so simple.
Barely had the thought finished in his mind when he heard a soft sniffle. He glanced towards the sound, somewhere in the corner of the balcony. No one was there. Atem, however, knew better than to leave it at that. Spirits walked the nights of his kingdom of Kemet, and they should not be ignored. Even kindly spirits could become angered.
He knelt, gathering the essence of the night around him. He called silently on Ra, to lighten his eyes, and Horus, to allow him to see what others overlooked. Very slowly, the magic began to work. Slowly, the outlines of the wandering spirit began to appear.
She was a tiny thing, no older than ten, with strangely fair skin and long, glistening white hair. Her face was buried between her knees, and her shoulders shook. Atem cleared his throat softly. The girl had not realized he was there. She must have died recently, then.
"Little one," he said.
Her face jerked upwards. Brown eyes glittered in the moonlight, wide and fearful like an animal. When they saw him, she quieted inexplicably.
"Hello," she said shyly, hunching in on herself.
"Hello," he greeted back. "What is your name, little one?"
She swallowed.
"Amane," she said. "I'm Amane Bakura."
The name sounded foreign to Atem's ears. Where had she come from? Certainly not his own country.
"Where did you come from?" he said. "Why are you here?"
She ducked her head.
"I'm lost," she said. "I...I'm not supposed to be here, but I came anyway. Cause...cause I don't want to sink..."
Atem blinked.
"Sink?"
A slow shudder shook the girl's frame. Atem found his heart jump. What had happened to this spirit? Had she failed the tests of the Duat, and now pursued by its demons?
"I wasn't...supposed to die, I think," she said into her knees, not looking at him. "But he...he killed me...and tried to swallow me up...but I ran away into his memories, to here, so that I wouldn't sink."
She looked up, eyes glistening with tears.
"Don't let him swallow me," she said, throat tight. "Please? Don't let me sink."
She trembled so badly that Atem was surprised she hadn't fallen apart already. It was against all the rules of his people, he knew, but he could not help himself. He came forward and pulled the tiny girl against him. She stiffened, and then sank against his chest, sighing.
"It's all right," he said. "You will be fine."
"He's going to chase me," she whispered. "He wants me to sink."
"I won't let you sink," Atem said. "I promise."
He did not know who this he was. He didn't know who chased the girl. But he intended to find out.
"Amane," he said, testing out the strange name. "May I look at your memories?"
"Will it hurt?" she asked.
"No."
"Then go ahead."
Atem nodded slightly, though she couldn't look at him to see the motion. He reached with his mind for the Puzzle, sifting through its pieces to the magic he was looking for. Then he let it slide through him, settle like dust upon Amane.
And then for a single, blinding moment, he was assaulted by a rush of colors and motion.
He stood in the heat of Kemet, at a bazaar where – the Millennium Ring was sitting for sale? He was holding it, begging someone – his father, or rather her father? – to buy it for Ryo, because it was perfect for him – then he was in some form of metal, horseless chariot and he could feel the edge of dark magic all around him. The illusion of some creature leapt in front of the chariot, but Amane and the woman beside her thought it was real, and the chariot swerved from the road and crashed. Then he was laying sideways, staring at a terrified, white haired boy that begged him – or Amane – to keep talking, to keep his eyes open, to do anything but die –
And finally, the spirit was detaching from the body, whirling towards the afterlife – but dark, sticky magic leapt up and dragged at Amane, pulling her down, trying to drown her in darkness. She and Atem were one being for a single moment, as they fought and screamed against the inky blackness, and a terrible, all-too familiar face laughed as she was dragged down, down, down, to be kept just in case he needed something extra to use against...someone...
Atem tore free of the vision, gasping. Amane trembled against his chest. Her tiny fingers dug into his tunic, and he doubted he could have made her let go even if she had wanted to. He held the girl close to him, dumbfounded.
That had been Bakura. Bakura had killed her, and tried to keep her spirit to use again...someone. But yet...that hadn't happened yet. How had she gotten here? Through Bakura himself, Atem realized. The spirit was not attached to a particular time and plane.
He looked down at the tiny girl in his arms. She must have been one of great power, or at least of some potential to be able to use Bakura's own magic and memories to pull herself through to a place where he could not reach her.
The blackness still felt to be all around him, trying to trap him. He felt uneasy, as though he had seen things he should not have seen. Sinking, indeed.
Amane shifted.
"Is it over? Did you see anything?" she asked.
"Yes," he breathed.
They sat silently for a long time.
"Will he come to get me again?"
"No, I don't think so...not here, anyway. But you, little one, are far from where you must be. If you stay here too long, you will become a ba forever, and never attain the afterlife."
She shuddered. He could tell he didn't really understand, but she caught the feeling of his words.
"I want to go to mommy," she whispered.
Atem nodded.
"I can send you there," he said. "I can...guide the way, at least, to where you must go."
Amane pushed back, so that she could look at him with her large, brown eyes.
"I've seen a lot of people, and been a lot of places already," she said. "I don't want to travel while I'm dead anymore."
Atem nodded.
"I'll send you on your way, then."
She looked terribly teary-eyed, but she rubbed them away. She nodded, trying to look strong.
He touched his palm to her forehead, gently.
"Wait," she said. "What's your name?"
He smiled gently at her.
"I am Atem."
She nodded.
"Thank you...Atemu..." she said, adding a strange extra vowel to the word. He nodded in response, and started to speak the words that would allow her to find her way.
"Re-pat, nekh to khewew iret," he whispered. "Sedjet, mesneh. Khakh tjaw, a'nen."
The words had barely finished leaving him, before Amane faded from sight. A tiny light was left before, no bigger than his pinky nail, but it, too, fizzled from sight.
He sat beneath the stars for a long, long time.
Damn you, Bakura, he said. So, you will take lives even beyond my time, will you? Well, then I promise to be there, whenever you appear. I will protect everyone. For as long as I must.
A/N: And I finally got to use some more Egyptian words that I've been hoarding for a while. :3 I love Amane, I wish she had shown up in the actual series. It would have been a cool plot point. Part of me wonders, though: if she only appeared as a mention in a letter Ryo was writing, how on earth did anyone ever figure out who she was and what her story was? :/ Coming up is Silvershipping (Sugoroku x Pegasus).
