Shinkanshipping (Priest Akhenaden x Priest Karim x Priest Mahad x Priest Set x Priest Shada x Priestess Isis)
It was a necessary relationship. It wasn't always an easy relationship, but its necessity forged bonds between the six of them. After all, they were all there for one reason, one motivation: they all wanted to protect the pharaoh. And when people share feelings as strong as that one, unbreakable friendships are quickly born.
Akhenaden had always been there first. He was the king's brother, after all. But everyone had been rather suspicious of where he had found the Millennium Items in the first place, and anyone who had gouged out his own eye to replace it with a magical artifact was someone to watch your step around. He was the first one to swear himself in as a Guardian – he started the whole idea of it, actually. The Millennium Items would always surround the pharaoh, and protect him and Kemet until the end of the ages, he had said. No one knew why he had stepped down from his high position as the pharaoh's brother to become subservient to his nephew. But there was always an air of sadness around the old man. Perhaps some mistake in his past hung over him, and he wanted to atone by protecting his young nephew. No one could ever be sure.
No one else was brave enough to take the other Items after the first few Guardians started to pass away. As the old pharaoh started to grow weak, and the Millennium Pendant passed down to his young son, Atem, Akhenaden started to become uneasy. The Millennium Items had to be passed down, but no one was willing to attempt the rumored deadly test that went along with it.
Karim came next. No one was quite sure where he came from, actually. He was a strange, quiet man, with no family relations still living but for a young sister, and no status. He probably had nowhere else to go when he walked into the chambers of the palace and announced his intent to become a Guardian. His motivation came from a chance encounter with the then ten-year-old Atem. Karim's sister had been dying, and Atem had given Karim one of his earrings. It had been enough to pay for the medicine to save Karim's sister, and Karim was keen to repay the favor. Akhenaden might have turned him away a long time ago due to his low status, but he was getting desperate. Everyone was surprised when Karim easily won over the Millennium Scales. His sense of justice was unwavering. Despite his lack of high blood, he and Akhenaden started to grow used to each other.
Then there was Mahad. No one had expected the extremely talented apprentice of the Court Magician to attempt the tests. After all, he already had enough magic to spare without the Items, and he was already devoted to protecting the pharaoh since he was young and had saved the pharaoh from a snake bite. But Mahad was devoted to his friend and charge Atem, and wanted to grow strong enough to always be able to protect him. The Millennium Ring accepted him without question. His magic was strong enough for that.
Shada came after Mahad. He had trained in the palace in the ways of a scribe, destined to become the head scribe of the palace affairs. During his time in training, he too, had met with the future pharaoh's strength and kindness. He had broken his stylus, the last one he had, and he feared a beating from his master. It had happened before. But the young Atem had passed by as the stylus broke, and he had run back to his own room, taken his own stylus, and come back to present it to Shada. After Shada had become the head scribe, he took on the challenge of the Millennium Items. This future pharaoh would be a strong and kind leader, he felt, and he wanted to make sure that he would be there to rule. The Key accepted his sharp mind and his ability to read others.
Isis appeared next. She was even more mysterious than Karim, a quiet, unassuming figure with a mind so strong and a heart so passionate that she found it difficult to fit in with other women of her time. She had a talent for the magic, and a past known to no one when she came before the pharaoh to become a Guardian. Where did her motivation come from? Isis never told. But there was always a gentleness in the way she talked to the young Atem, and everyone knew that she, too, had seen his kindness. A few whispered that she was the goddess Isis in disguise, who was pleased with the power and nobility of Atem and wished to come down and protect him. Of course, this was just a tale, for Isis was as human as everyone else. But it was uncanny to be around a woman who could see the future with the Millennium Tauk, and so the rumors continued.
Set was the last one. Also from a low status, born and raised in a small town that had been ravaged by bandits, Set could not really explain to anyone why he was so committed to protecting the pharaoh, even though it was obvious that of all of them, he was the most devoted to the path he had chosen. There was just something in his heart, he knew, something that was important. Something that made protecting Atem the most important thing in the world. That was the path he had chosen, and he would never deviate from it. He was too stubborn. His youth was something of a barrier in most people's eyes, and most worried that he would fail the tests of the final Millennium Item, said to be the most deadly and dark of them all. But the Millennium Rod read something there that even Set could not put a name to, and it accepted him with ease.
They were all so different. They came from different places, different families, different times in their lives. But they shared a single thought and motivation. They believed in the pharaoh and his kindness, and his strength. He would rule well. They all knew it.
So they would be there for him until the end.
A/N: Hm. I could have done better with this. I didn't know how to put them all into a scene together and devote enough time to each of them equally, so I just went and did some omniscient storytelling thing, like someone from ancient Egypt was telling their kids about the guardians. Next is Shimmershipping (Mokuba x Otogi).
