I don't own Azeneth, Cleopatra, Leo or Delilah. I only own Tenionia and her family. Italics is a flashback
Azeneth groaned as her eyes fluttered open. Sunlight was streaming through the cave's entrance, signaling it was morning. Azeneth picked herself up to find that Tenionia was still sleeping peacefully on the ground. She managed a small smile at the older princess. Tenionia looked so worry free as she slept. Azeneth felt a twinge of sorrow for her after what she revealed last night. Azeneth may have lost her mother at someone else's hands, but losing your mother to your own sister would most likely be more painful. Tenionia groaned and her eyes opened. The older woman sat up.
"Good morning, Azeneth."
"Morning Princess." Tenionia frowned when she saw the distant look in the younger girl's eyes.
"What's wrong?"
"I just keep thinking of what you told me last night. How could she do such a crime?" Tenionia smiled.
"As I told last night, the bitterness and hatred she had seized control." Tenionia patted Azeneth's head.
"Don't worry about it, Azeneth."
"You said she's gone, where did she go?"
"To the Shadow Realm." Azeneth blinked.
"The what?"
"It's the abyss where nothing black and shadows are seen for miles. There she couldn't harm anyone."
"Wow..." Tenionia stand and peered out.
"Come, we have to visit somewhere before we go to the Capital."
"Where are we going?"
"You will see." Tenionia whistled and Abyss trotted up. She smiled as she stroked the horse's stout.
"Hello Abyss." Tenionia lifted Azeneth onto Abyss' back and lead him away from the cave on foot.
Delilah frowned as she sat in a dip in the carved rock of a sanded stone. She glanced over when she heard the steady trot of horse hooves. The Greek woman looked to see a black horse with a young girl riding it and an older woman leading it. Delilah smirked. She recognized the woman as Princess Tenionia, the famous magician princess, but the girl on the horse's back Delilah didn't recognize. She vaguely noted that she bare a resemblance to the dead Pharaoh. Delilah moved from her spot on the sand stone and moved closer, using the shadows as cover.
"I was wondering Azeneth." Tenionia was saying to the girl.
"Why was your mother killed for having you?" Azeneth was silent. Tenionia looked back at the girl.
"Azeneth, you don't have to tell me if you don't want to." Azeneth remained quiet.
"I'm not ready to tell." Tenionia nodded.
"I'm sorry for asking."
"It's fine." Delilah lifted an eyebrow. What was that girl hiding? She couldn't help but wonder.
Azeneth looked to see that they were entering the valley of the Kings. Azeneth looked around with wide eyes, feeling like she was intruding on sacred ground.
"What are we doing here, Princess?"
"I've been visiting his tomb ever since that woman killed him." Azeneth noted the bitterness in her voice.
"Who are you talking about?" Tenionia tied Abyss in the shade and lifted Azeneth out of the saddle.
"I'll show you." Tenionia took her hand and gently pulled her into an open tomb.
The pair walked down the dark corridor for what seemed like a hour. Tenionia was staring grimly forward. Soon the pair entered a room with a gold and deep blue sarcophagus on a raised platform. Tenionia let go of Azeneth's hand and stared at the face of the sarcophagus with a look of regret and pain.
"Princess? Who is this?" Tenionia sighed.
"His name was Seto, and he was originally the keeper of the Millennium rod. He was your father's cousin and he ruled the kingdom for a short time after your father."
"What happened to him?" Tenionia sighed again. Anger and sorrow burned in her gut.
"That woman, Cleopatra happened..."
Tenionia stood off to the side as she watched Seto straighten his robe in the mirror. She was aware that he was about to marry that woman Cleopatra.
"I still don't like this. That woman is not worthy of being queen, she's not even royal!"
"I know princess, I dislike the idea of marrying her just as much as you do." He told her, looking in the mirror. Since the fall of Atem, Seto and Tenionia made peace with one another, but he didn't trust her completely. In fact, they were the only two of the original Guardians that weren't killed in battle.
"But I have to do it for political reasons, you understand this."
"Unfortunately, I do." She replied. Seto turned to the princess.
"Besides, Cleopatra is a shameless flirt, I can understand why the Pharaoh turned her down." She chuckled. Seto smirked, winking.
"And my heart belongs to Kisara, and always will. She may try to win my heart, but it wouldn't work." Tenionia smiled, resting a hand on his shoulder. Even though he towered over her and the top of her head only made it just below his shoulder.
"May she and the others find their way to Paradise." The pair sighed sadly at the thought of their dearly departed friends and their Pharaoh. Tenionia turned and picked up the blue battle crown he wore and placed it on his head as he knelt.
"May as well go through with it."
"I suppose so." Tenionia left the room before Seto and stood by his side as he married the new queen. Cleopatra shot a smug smirk in her direction and Tenionia frowned lightly. That woman was up to something, and she knew it. Then it was only a few days later, that she heard the news that Cleopatra had killed Seto as he slept. That both enraged Tenionia and hurt her deeply. Not only was that woman in charge, but now Tenionia was the last Guardian standing.
Tenionia sighed, closing her eyes.
"I hope you are with Kisara in Paradise, Seto..." She murmured and Azeneth was quiet. Tenionia turned to the child.
"Cleopatra murdered him just so she could gain control of the throne. Now do you understand why this is so important? As Atem child, you have the power to dethrone her." Azeneth bowed her head.
"I don't think I can."
"Why child?" Azeneth looked up and Tenionia was startled to see tears in her eyes.
"I-I am not fully Egyptian. I'm half Egyptian and half Hebrew." Tenionia's eyes widened. She knew of the dark rocky history between the Egyptian people and the Hebrew people.
"M-My mother was killed because she gave birth to a half blood." Azeneth sniffled. Tenionia knelt and let her cry into her shoulder. The older princess gently hushed her.
"Azeneth, it's alright." She knelt and touched the girl's cheeks so she looked Tenionia in the eyes. Tenionia offered a gentle smile.
"Azeneth, I've learned that your birthplace or your family doesn't and can't define you as a person. It is the actions that you take that define who you are."
"How do you know this?" Tenionia smiled.
"Because I've been in that place before. I was born to a father that was planning to take over Egypt." Azeneth blinked.
"What do you mean?" Tenionia stood.
"I'll explain on the way." With that, the pair left the tomb. As they left, Tenionia glanced back at Seto's sarcophagus.
'I promise I will fix this.' She silently vowed. It may have been a trick of the light, but Tenionia thought she saw Seto hovering over his sarcophagus with a neutral expression on his face.
'In the name of the Pharaoh...' He whispered and vanished.
Back in the palace, Mana, who was sitting in the gardens looked to see her student, Leo jump into a bush as Cleopatra walked by. Mana chuckled lightly to herself. Leo was a young fifteen year old boy with dark brown hair cut in a mushroom cut and soft dark brown eyes. Leo unfortunately was the chosen victim of the queen's shameless flirting. Mana couldn't help but think that Leo had a similar personality to her teacher Mahad. Leo poked his head out from within the green.
"Is she gone, Teacher?" Mana chuckled.
"Yes, she is gone." Leo sighed in relief and stepped from the bush, brushing the leaves off his robes. Mana smiled as she stood.
"Leo, it seems that I am in need of some supplies."
"Can I come with you, Teacher?" Mana giggled at her student's enthusiasm.
"I thought you would never ask." She winked with a smile.
Azeneth gasped in awe at how large the city and how it glittered in the sunlight. Tenionia looked back at the girl and smiled.
"It's beautiful isn't?"
"It is." Azeneth agreed. Tenionia mounted behind her and galloped down to the city.
Leo was trailing behind Mana as she looked at herbs in the shop stall. Leo looked around to see two woman with a black stallion coming down the street. Leo recognized the older woman leading the horse as Princess Tenionia, but he didn't recognize the girl on the horse. He was taken by her beauty. Her hair was black like ebony and her bangs were gold. Her eyes were what caught him, there were like a pair of sapphires. Mana looked up and smiled.
"Tenionia! How are you, my friend?" Tenionia smiled when she saw her good friend.
"Mana! I am good." The two woman hugged.
"Who is this, Mana?" Mana looked at Leo and slapped her forehead. Leo chuckled at his teacher.
"I'm Leo, Mana's student." He bowed and Tenionia chuckled.
"Well, it is lovely to meet you, Leo." Tenionia turned to the girl and lifted her off Abyss.
"This is Azeneth, she is a street child I've taken in." Azeneth looked up at the older princess and Tenionia gave her a soft but stern look to not say anything. Mana chuckled.
"Tenionia, you and your big heart."
"Of course, Mana." The two woman laughed. Leo offered a smile to the shy girl.
"I'm Leo." He said, offering his hand.
"I'm Azeneth."
What the group didn't know was that Cleopatra was watching from the balcony of the palace. She marveled at how that small fourteen year old girl could be more beautiful then her. She was also irritated that Tenionia took a street child into her care.
"She looks rather familiar." She mutttered.