Guardianshipping (Ishizu Ishtar/Raphael)

. . .

There wasn't a way to escape it in the end, was there?

Raphael stood awkwardly in the middle of the Egyptian exhibit, trying not to look too hard at the steles on the other wall—afraid of what he might see. He was drawing stares, he knew, with his hat pulled low over his head, his sunglasses that he hadn't yet removed, and his hands shoved into the pockets of his long coat. He wasn't exactly the kind of person that people wanted to see inside a museum exhibit. That security guard was giving him a stink eye, too. They probably thought he was here to shove old pottery down his coat or something.

He sighed, moving over towards a display of papyrus scrolls and tablets detailing the economic structure of ancient Egypt. It was in the corner and there weren't many people there so he could pretend he was alone…

Even in the middle of New York, he couldn't get away from it. The need to search him out…

He's gone, he told himself fiercely. He left already. You didn't like him until the end anyway.

And yet, standing in the middle of the artifacts, the pieces of a world long gone, the life that he had been a part of…was he trying to get close to him, somehow? The pharaoh he had fought against, hated, and then…trusted and believed in?

There's no point to this, he told himself, almost desperate to leave and yet desperate to stay. There's no…point…what am I even looking for?

He almost didn't hear the sound of her heels clicking towards him until she came to a stop beside him. He jumped a little when he glanced over to find the woman at his side. Her face was reflected in the glass of the display, blue eyes trained on the description of a tablet detailing metal imports. Her hair was gathered in a bun at the base of her neck, and she was dressed like maybe she was a professor or something, in a black blazer and long skirt.

For a second, he thought, she must just be here to look at the same display as him. He started to shift his weight to move away.

Then her eyes rose up to meet his through his sunglasses, and he saw…something there. Something that made him pause.

After a beat, she opened her mouth to speak.

"People like you always find their way to my exhibits eventually," she said, her English faintly accented with something Middle Eastern. "You knew him, didn't you…you knew Atem."

The name sent a shudder down Raphael's spine. He had only learned of the pharaoh's true name by accident—a tiny news article about a recently discovered tomb that finally confirmed the mysterious nameless pharaoh's name. A dig that had been led by up and coming archaeologist Mutou Yugi.

He swallowed.

"How could you tell?" he said.

She half smiled, a sadness coloring her eyes.

"I've met enough people who knew him," she said. "They all act the same, surrounded by the pieces of his world…uncertain, and lost."

She tilted her head, some of her hair freeing from her bun to slide around her face.

"I'm Ishizu Ishtar," she said. "I was once a guardian of his tomb."

He hesitated before providing his own name.

"Raphael," he said. "I was…his enemy. Once."

She didn't seem surprised by this, her smile only growing a little sadder. She reached out to briefly touch his shoulder.

"I guess you didn't get to know him for very long."

He ducked his head. She didn't bring any attention to his, only letting her hand fall back to her side. After a beat, he reached up to pull his sunglasses off.

"I don't know what to do about it, I guess," he said. "I feel…lost. I don't know what I'm looking for."

He stared down at her, the woman with the raven hair that smiled up at him, wondering if she could see the desperation in his eyes.

"How well did you know him?" he whispered.

She smiled as she reached out to squeeze his wrist briefly.

"Let's talk somewhere else," she said. "Somewhere we won't distract anyone. There's a nice coffee shop just across the street. What do you think?"

He actually found himself smiling—there was something…gentle about this woman. Something reassuring. As though maybe, this search of his had meant to be leading to her.

"That sounds great," he said.

Maybe he could find what he was looking for, finally.

. . .

A/N: More interesting of a pair than I anticipated, actually. Next is Guardshipping (Isono x Kaiba).