Aweshipping (Ishizu Ishtar/Mahad)

. . .

Sometimes, she talked to the jars. They had people inside them, after all, so maybe they'd listen, unlike her father or the other elders.

Not a boy, they always whispered when they thought she couldn't hear. No good. We'll have to keep waiting and hope that she has another child, or else we'll have that adopted boy inherit.

Rishid always pretended he didn't hear them talking about them, so he wouldn't talk to her about it either. She just wanted to scream. But that was not befitting a lady of the Ishtar clan, so even though she was a girl and she was "too useless" to inherit, she had to walk nicely and talk nicely and smile nicely. Some days, she wished that Rishid would do more than smile apologetically when she had a chance to vent with him—even he would tell her that she shouldn't kick or punch things when she was upset.

So she talked to the jars. Because the jars could only listen, and they couldn't tell her that she was being rude or unladylike.

Ishizu sat on the steps underneath the alcove where the jars sat. There were a lot of these, but this one was her favorite. She wasn't sure why. It just was. The jars all had animal heads: jackal, ibis, falcon. She knew each one held a different organ, but she couldn't remember which was which. No one would listen to her, so she wouldn't listen to her lessons, she had decided.

"I'm just mad," she said, her thin voice echoing off the walls of the catacombs that she wasn't supposed to be in. "Mother told me that I was being unreasonable again when I told her I didn't want to read the scrolls. What's the point? I'm not allowed to do anything. I just have to…I don't know. Stand around and look pretty."

She kicked her leg especially viciously across the dust.

Sometimes, when she was feeling really down, she'd imagine that someone was sitting next to her. The man who was in the jars, probably. But she didn't know who it was, so she couldn't tell one way or another. It was just her imagination after all.

"That's really terrible," he said, her imaginary vision pushing his long hair from his face. "I know you can do a lot more than just look pretty."

"Exactly!" Ishizu said, throwing her tiny arms into the air. "I'm smart! I'm tough! I can do things! Why is it so bad if I become even half of the clan leader? Me and Rishid can do it together."

"You've always been much better at leading than anyone thought you were."

"Thank you," Ishizu said, folding her arms and nodding self-importantly. "I can do things if people would just trust me."

Her imaginary vision put his hand on her shoulder. For a moment, Ishizu realized that…could she actually feel it?

"Hang in there," he said. "You're very capable. You always have been. I know you'll have a chance to prove yourself. I just hope that it's a good chance, and not one you end up hating."

"I won't hate a chance," she said, pouting. "I'm part of the clan too…I just want to be treated like it."

Her imaginary friend squeezed her shoulder. And briefly, she felt his hair brush her skin, and his lips touch her forehead—wait. That was real. Was this real?

But he was gone as soon as she thought of it, with only the burning sensation from where he had kissed her forehead left behind. She put her palm on the spot, pressing down on it. Had that happened? Was she talking to a ghost after all?

"You're strong, Isis. You always have been. Hang in there."

. . .

A/N: Idk? Tiny Ishizu and ghost Mahad lol. Next is Awareshipping (Otogi x Marik x Ryo).