Yu-Gi-Oh! OC week - interest check

“I can’t believe we’ve been going to the same school this whole time and never met,” Arisa says, offering Miho some of faer lunch in the break room. “I’ve seen you, of course, but…”

Miho would be offended if fae hadn’t, but the assurance placates her and she smiles. “At least we know neither of us will tell on each other.”

Arisa smiles, eying Miho for a long moment. “That makes me your little secret, huh?” fae hums.

Because the job is a secret and Arisa and Miho never had much cause to talk at school, Arisa ends up watching the friend group from afar. Arisa doesn’t have friends at school. Fae keeps to faeself, playing solitaire games with faer hanafuda deck. The cards catch Yugi’s eyes sometimes and Arisa thinks he might approach fae, but after he beat Seto Kaiba in Death-T, Yugi seems reluctant to reach out to new people.

One might think that he’d be more triumphant about his very public victory over the greatest Duelist in the world. Arisa would be.

But Kaiba Land temporarily closes while Kaiba is in a coma. There’s a valiant effort to keep it open, but the biggest appeal of Seto Kaiba was that he was unbeatable. There simply weren’t as many people interested in coming to the amusement part. Mokuba Kaiba had his own share of fans, but the vice president’s focus was divided. He didn’t have time for the dog and pony show it would take to draw a large crowd.

The most unfortunate thing about it for Arisa was that it meant fae lost faer job. Oh sure, they promised faes that when the park reopened, fae would be rehired, but who knows when that would be? Arisa could find another after school job, but it wouldn’t be a secret shared with Miho anymore.

Originally I picked the Hibiscus for Fuschia because it has a loud appearance just like him, but then I found out it represents fame, glory and riches?? Perfect for mr get that bread (he also likes the edible kind)

also apparently you can use it to denote if you're married or not in Hawaii well he sure is a househusband thumbs up emoji

With their dignified and noble appearance, I immediately looked towards white Chrysanthemums for Viol! They require lots of water, and this boy can pack so much ocean-related imagery

White chrysanthemums in particular also symbolise mourning and are used in many parts of the world at funerals, and he's had to deal with two major losses in his life (one before and one during the war).

According to this one Japanese blog I found, the name (kiku) comes from the word for dead end because it's the "last flower to bloom in the year" and that's very funny so apt to me because it symbolises the fate of those from the Fusion Dimension that crossed his path during the war (except for one little guy)

Jackie was another character where I assigned a flower to her out of vibes and then when I checked its symbolism it was a match made in heaven yippee

Camellias are bold, beautiful, and being winter bloomers, tough and resilient. As an orphan that climbed her way up the social ladder in the Synchro Dimension through years of shady side-jobs, that alone would have cinched the assignation, but on top of that, camellias also represent eternal love and long-lasting devotion as the petals and calyx fall together when the flower withers.

Jackie is a very social creature, and here, she's holding (slowly letting go of) yellow camellias, which represent friendship, highlighting what's most important to her...

The Ghost Orchid has no cool symbolism or flower language associated with it (yet, anyway) but it has plenty of characteristics to derive meaning from!

Inhabiting swamps and forests and blooming once a year or sometimes even none at all, it's an extremely rare specimen.

It's largely leafless, and relies on its roots rather than photosynthesis for nutrients. Likewise, instead of relying on others like how plants require sunlight, Fleur sets up her spider web throughout the Synchro Dimension to accomplish her goals.

Also, both she and the plant have the same little scarf!! (Another happy coincidence)

Yuval hadn’t expected much to come of zir innovations on Dueling. When ze shared it with the commune on the next asteroid over, it was because it was something that would help them, not something ze wanted recognition for. But then Yuval got a message from the System Authority that zir new Duel style–the Level Ramp–was perfect for the infrastructure project on the nearest planet.

The planet was large and the terraforming projects were going very slowly, so there were several cities and enclaves scattered about the planet, but traversing between them was impossible. Yuval’s Level Ramping could change that by making it possible to build railways connecting the cities. It was surreal. It felt like ze had won a competition that ze hadn’t entered in.

And that was before Yuval found out that there had been a contest, pitching solutions for this problem. Zir work was submitted on zir behalf and Level Ramping had won. Yuval would be more excited by that if it weren't for the harsh looks ze received when meeting the rest of the group.

“The thing is,” one of them was nice enough to explain, “when we submitted ours, we were also training to go on this expedition. It's pretty annoying that someone from a farming asteroid gets to come along without enough knowing what you're doing.”

————————

Soft beeps filled the hospital room. Kalin Kessler had fallen asleep on his knees, his hand in Rain Orichalcum’s; she lay comatose on the bed. Z-ONE appeared in the visitation seats in a green flash wearing a blank expression.

“Again. Again,” Z-ONE whispered. “How many times have I been here?”

A swirl of violet flames birthed the figure of a Dark Signer, Ccapac Apu wearing Rain’s skin. Its black robes lined with blue drank in the noonday sunshine. Its drawn hood casted shadows over its dark eyes, but its grin was free and bright. “If it isn’t the worthless machine back again! What are we at now? Should I be celebrating three thousand?”

“When you are snuffed out,” Z-ONE said, “those taunts will vanish with you along with all the anguish you have woven into the universe.”

“Little old me?” It feigned surprise. “But I was happy to eat up one timeline! Here you are creating ever more for me to feast. Tell me, rusty bucket of bolts, do you ever consider how those timelines end up? Ever had one stick in the old brain?”

“What? No. It doesn’t… matter.”

“Oh, but it does. A tree fallen in the forest may go unheard by humanity yet makes sound enough to scatter the birds, and a timeline abandoned by your sorry self continues to spiral until ending up in my wondrous arms. Or are you a depressed solipsist?”

Z-ONE stared. “I go on. It is what I do.”

“The weight of it all must eat you up.” The wicked god hovered over Z-ONE, spittle flying with its words. “The decisions you’ve made and the sheer agony they’ve resulted in. I know you lie to me. They’re lodged in your brain as much as I continue to experience them—every timeline continuing on, every light for me to consume! You should try godhood sometime, but oh, no machine could process it. You would fall to pieces. I suppose it wouldn’t matter, since you’re already a heap of junk!”

Z-ONE’s fists balled. “I am no god. Nor am I a machine. The probability exists. I merely have to find its branch. Your days have been numbered from the start. As for the other branches…”

Z-ONE stood. “A god such as you exists simultaneously on every timeline, and so you will be eradicated everywhere; everywhen.”

“Eradicated!” The wicked god laughed and slapped its knee. “Funny! You aaare funny. You don’t like to talk about them, but I have my favorites! Timelines you’ve screwed up, that is.”

“I’m done talking.” Z-ONE’s bracelet shone emerald. “I defy your ending.”

The wicked god rolled its eyes. “Whatever, whatever, see you next time around.” It cleaned beneath its grimy fingernails and studied Kalin and Rain.

Its smile curled up.

/\/\/\/\/\/

One thousand three hundred and seventy-seven.

Z-ONE tampered with the game of gods by defeating Roman Godwin, possessed by Earthbound Immortal Uru. Uru had snatched Rain Orichalcum’s memories. She was left as a complacent girl with childlike naïvete. A chance run-in with Kalin Kessler netted her an opportunity to join Team Satisfaction and survive in the post-fallout wasteland known as the Satellite, an island used as garbage disposal for the nearby New Domino City.

The Rain Orichalcum who had her memories returned before any such meeting took place, before growing close to humans who showed her kindness and empathy, was a very different person indeed.

Smog intermingled with the gray clouds blanketing the overcast sky. Kalin Kessler strolled the grimy Satellite streets whistling a tune. He kicked a can as he went and periodically glanced up at the rooftops. He passed a pair of stray dogs fighting over a scrap of rotten food and tossed them a fresh granola bar. 

The hairs on the back of his neck lifted. Wind swept through the streets, carrying litter and brushing the collar of his Team Satisfaction vest against his cheek. He spun on his heel, his focus locked on the rooftop of the building behind him.

A pale woman with long, black hair and blue eyes glared down at him. Her legs dangled over the building's edge. Kalin said, "Heyo, it's just the girl I'm looking for!"

She thinned her eyes.

"Oh, how I enjoy our long and eventful conversations. You know, they've started calling you the shadow. I don't think it fits so much. What about something more creative, like, Raven!"

She rolled her eyes. 

"Not your name, then." He sighed and made a show of slumping sadly. "One of these days, I'll find it out! Eh, I have a more, uh, pressing priority today. You got a hard number on how many Securities you've killed?"

Her head tilted, expression unchanging. She held up both hands and lifted one finger, two fingers, all the way to ten. Then she curled her fingers and shrugged. 

"So many you don't know?" 

She confirmed with a nod. 

"See! That's a problem for us. You, too. They're hiking up their numbers in the Satellite and making it worse for every one of us. It goes pretty counter to what I'm trying to do around here, which is to stay on the low to keep Security out of our hair. S'long as we got a nice, united Satellite, Security's the only fuckheads. Make sense?"

She stared.

"Come on. There's gotta be something I can do to convince you to leave them alone. Anything you want? I'll find it. Anything you wanna do to me? Hell, murder me instead for all I care. The rest of my team can take it from there."

"Your logic is flawed," she said, and he jumped. Words! From her mouth! "Every human is a fuckhead."

He couldn't help it; he laughed. "Ah, you got me there! Hey, you duel? How about a bet?"

"I'll take a bet," she said, "but we'll play my game."

"What game's that?"

She smiled in a very unpleasant way. "Drinking. You pass out first, and you never acknowledge my existence again. I pass out first, and you get your wish. I'll leave the guys in gray alone."

Very many a thought raced through Kalin's mind. If this was her game, she was surely better prepared than him. On the other hand, he had biology on his side considering his size over her. "You got yourself a deal."

She dropped onto the street before him, her boots stirring dust. Her loose-fitting black shirt, one arm missing the fabric, swayed with her stride. He followed her without word and with a wide berth. He'd heard enough stories to know even a perceived slight could end his life.

Yet there he went, following the Satellite's infamous murderer to who-knows-where. If he survived, Yusei and Crow would kill him. Jack would shoot him one of his more judgmental looks.

Perhaps he should rethink this.

Nahh. It was for the good of them all, so he had to. Plus, free drinks. They might end up being straight up poison, buuut-

"Here," she said.

Gray waves splashed up the high, craggy shoreline. Across the inlet, New Domino City caught rays of sunshine. The smog in this part of the Satellite, so close to the factories, blocked out the sun. She stood inside a control building connected to a now-defunct hydropower plant. The steel dam still stood, and trash floated on the disgusting green water behind it. 

Kalin followed her inside. She wound down a steel staircase. Their clanging footsteps echoed, testaments to how deep the plant stretched. She stopped three stories down. The emergency generators kept on the lights, and select rations lay scattered on the many control panels. In the corner lay a sleeping bag, an unlit lantern, and scattered bottles. 

She struck a match and lit the lantern. He studied the place. A few cockroach corpses rested here and there but nothing serious. He said, "Must stay pretty warm way down here in the winter."

She yanked down a large switch on the wall, and the humming overhead lights shut off. Screens and buttons provided minimal bright blue lighting. Most came from her lantern, a buttery orange glow. "Do you feel colder now?"

"Huh? Not really."

"The electricity here keeps the heat going," she said. "Since I don't need it, well. There it goes."

He kept a straight face, but it wasn't the greatest news to hear. They hadn't reached the snowy part of the year but the chill was enough to wake him up in the middle of the night. He'd worn only his typical red t-shirt, jeans, vest, and boots. His socks had more holes than he could count, so the cold found his feet first. "Not many places still get heat. How'd you find this?"

"I'm not here for small talk." She picked up two glass bottles of clear liquid and dropped into a rotating chair. I took the one beside her. The pair of tall bottles rested between various knobs and dials, and the lantern sat on the floor between us. The upward casting of shadows darkened her eyes and the hollows of his cheeks. She said, "Truth or dare's the game. If you pick truth, you drink."

The thought of what she might dare him to do skyrocketed his pulse. He said, "You should drink first. Y'know, so I'm sure you're not poisoning me."

She rolled her eyes and took a deep swig. "Guess I'm truth first."

"Your name!" he said. Uh. Surely there were better options, and yet.

"Rain," she answered. "Rain Orichalcum."

"Wow," he whispered. "Rain…"

"Don't- say it like that."

"Like what?"

She shook her head. "Your turn. Pick."

"Truth." He smelled the bottle. Fuck was it strong. He took a swig and coughed. Stuff almost came back up as vomit but he hit his fist against his chest and kept it down. The strength of it flooded his sinuses and lingered there. "Ugh, what the hell?"

She was laughing. He was too stunned to speak. She swiftly recovered her composure and swiped the bottle from him. "All the other stuff isn't strong enough."

"So you drink fucking rubbing alcohol?"

"Yes."

His brows shot up, and he studied the stuff with renewed interest. It'd hit him within seconds and he felt the urge to laugh even though nothing had happened. He rubbed his mouth and said, "Uh, your question?"

"What are you trying to do to this island? Conquer it?"

He blinked. "Kind of. I don't know. That doesn't sound like the right word. We're trying to, like- unite! Thaaat's the word. Yeah, so, right now it's split into a whole bunch of territories run by different gangs. They make life hell for anyone who's not in their gang, and lots of times, members of the gangs act like slaves to whoever the gang leader is. We're not like that. We wanna take them down and let everybody be free. We can make the Satellite as good a place to live as the City that way."

"Why do you believe that?" she said.

"Ha! I'm not drunk enough to fall for that. You gotta ask me next time."

"Fine." She drank. "Truth."

"Why do you keep killing people?"

She squinted and cleaned out her ear with a pinkie. "Do fuckheads deserve the lives they've been given if they use it only to abuse others? Take these other gangs, for example. Clearly you have a case of an individual with power who abuses it and takes advantage of those beneath the leader. Why should they continue to exist?"

He snorted. "Yeah, okay, they suck. Why does that mean you get to kill 'em? Like, why do you get to decide that?"

"I answered my question."

"Ugggh. How many in are we?"

"You've had two shots," she said. 

"What? No. I'm gonna fall out of the fucking chair! Whatever. I'll take a dare!"

Rain struck a match. A single strip of smoke rose up between them. "Your tongue. Five seconds."

"What the fuck?"

She arched an eyebrow. Psycho. Kalin opened his mouth. The heat started at the tip and slowly moved back inside his mouth, her fingers touching his lips. "One. Two. Three."

He shut his eyes tight against the searing pain. He smelled something burning. She dragged out her vowels: "Fooour…"

He clamped down his teeth, snatching the match and smothering it with his tongue. Her fingers came away wet, and she gaped at them. He grinned with the blackened match as his toothpick. "Five!"

She scowled and took a swig. "Truth."

"So boring!" A corner of his mouth quirked up. "How many shots does it take to get you to pass out?"

"To be determined."

He threw up his hands. The fact it didn't throw off his center of gravity was a good sign insofar. "Lemme ask a real one since you can't answer that. It's only fair." She nodded, so he said, "Why d'you hate people so much?"

A corner of her lip jumped with her snarl. "Because of what they did to me."

Hangups, eh. He considered the bottle. "Meh, do your worst. Dare again."

She giggled. He about fell into the floor hearing it. He deeefinitely had the lead. She said, "Really?"

"Yeah, really! What's the torture gonna be this time?"

She leveled an even stare at him. "Take off your shirt."

He busted out a laugh. Her expression didn't change. He said, "Oh, so I've caught the shadow's eye, huh?"

The chair spun behind Rain as she shot to her feet and gripped a fistful of his shirt. He grinned and held up his empty hands. She dropped him and sniffed. "I hope you freeze to death."

"Mhmm, that's it." He was too far gone to fear her snarl. He tossed off his vest and peeled off his shirt, stretching to leave his broad shoulders. She sat with the chair backwards, her chin resting on its cushioned back. The bottle dangled from her fingers. She kept her eyes locked with his. The cold raised bumps on his skin but the thundering pump of his blood kept him plenty warm. He smiled, saying, "I can tell you're trying sooo hard to keep your eyes up there."

Her expression soured. She downed three massive gulps, finishing the bottle, and tossed it aside. "Truth."

"Do I get three?"

"I'll ssstab you," she said. 

Her blinks were getting uneven, too. That with the slurring meant very good things for him. He nabbed the next bottle. "Are you really gonna follow through on our bet?"

She let her arms dangle over the chair, and her cheek pressed against the chair. "Mmm. I would still defend myshelf."

The lantern flickered yet the light was bright in his eyes–electric. "Myshelf?" 

"Shut up. You take three. You slowed down too fast for it to be fun."

He swallowed a trio of the nasty stuff. He stumbled and had to find his chair with a probing hand. "That answer works for me. I get a truth now, right?"

"Yeah." She stood up and swayed. A firm hand on the chair kept her upright. "What the hell is with your interest in me? You're always talking to me and wanted my name and- you've heard about me. You know what I've done."

There was a tremble to her that could've come from any number of things. Kalin chalked it up to the alcohol. "Suuure. I've got connections. I know the witnesses. Funny thing about all the stories is how all those kills were for the purpose of protecting a victim. Crazy stuff! There's always someone who was in danger and got away."

"That's not true," she hissed.

"Okay, take your sip and lemme ask you for the truth."

She grit her teeth and growled. "Dare."

"I get mine now? Finally!" He crossed his arms over the back of his chair. "Shirt off."

"What?" 

"Come on. You can't act that way when you made me do it."

Her inhale was sharp. Her focus rolled down his bare arms and abdomen. Her frown was a tight little thing as she threw off her black shirt. Loose gauze bound her chest. The lantern light caught on the light hairs surrounding her navel and trailing up her flat stomach to the white wrappings, the topmost loop of which was juuust open enough-

"Stop," she snapped.

"Yeah, yeah. The hell do I do? I think if I have another sip I'll, like, die." 

There was also the curve of her hips, how the lantern's flicker played its soft and warm light over her skin disappearing into her waistband-

"Dare," he managed.

"I dare you to claw out your own fucking eyes."

He blinked and stared at his hands. "Shit."

Rain doubled over laughing. She stumbled, hit the floor, and lay on her back still busting a gut. He started in with her. She said, "Dumbass."

"How'd you know the nickname my friends gave me?"

They broke down into a new fit. 

"I dare you to drink more," she said.

"Huh? That's gotta be against the rules!"

"Fuck your rules."

"Can't argue with that," he said, and he drank. He couldn't taste it anymore. Probably he was dying or something, but what a way to go. "Your turn."

She pushed up off the floor. "Dare."

The lantern was low and sputtering. He leaned into the dark and said, "Touch me."

Her eyes widened, the reflected spot of orange like a sunburst sky. He laughed and ran his hand through his hair. "No, that was stupid, I-"

But she was approaching him, cautious like a feral animal attracted to proffered food. He stood stock still. She studied him from his ice-blue locks long enough to fall in his face to his warm hazel eyes to his bare chest. Her fingertip pressed onto his sternum and traveled down, tracing the outline of his abs, leaving a hot touch in every trench. He realized he was hearing her breaths, loud and echoing, and he was holding his own without meaning to. She pressed her hand to his stomach, and he gasped, the incredible warmth of her enticing a shiver throughout all of him.

"You know," she whispered, her fingertips glancing up his chest to land on his shoulder, "I think it's your turn."

He could only remain upright and breathe.

"Kalin?" she said.

A shaky exhale left him. He laughed a little, and she squeezed his shoulder. "This is the greatest day of my life."

"Huh?"

"You said my name," he murmured, staring up at the ceiling. "And I've never heard it said better."

She clicked her tongue and turned away. "I can tell I'm drunk because that one kind of worked."

His arm looped around her waist. "How much?"

She shook him off, and he stepped back. She said, "Drink or don't. I'm still gonna win."

He took a swig. His vision went blurry for a few seconds but he managed to blink it away. "Ask away."

She met his eyes and said, "What do you want to do to me?"

His brows lifted and he had absolutely zero control over his stare landing on her chest, on the gauze-wrapped curves swelling and retreating with the rhythm of her breaths. She inched closer to him, licked her lips, and said, "Dare."

He pinched the end of the gauze above her cleavage and waited, the question in his eyes. Her fingers curled around his wrist and the smallest part of him, the still sober bit, expected his bones to snap. But she guided his hand to unwind the binding and free her bare skin. The white strips fell and curled around her feet. He stared at her and she at him, their exhales long and intermingling, the world silent outside the thrumming beats of their hearts.

She snuffed out the light with her bare fingertips and pressed her body to his. She kissed him and he tasted like bonfire smoke. He couldn't think beyond the need to be consumed by her heat like the damn match, left a burnt and useless nothing, and he didn't care. Her dark hair was silk through his fingers and he had to hold her ever closer. They fell onto the sleeping bag. The glow of the LED screens turned her eyes electric blue, and he grasped her face to brush his thumbs beneath them. She kissed him again and her fingers found his waistband. 

It's dark outside–a seemingly abrupt state but one that occurred gradually, the sunset a fleeting and dying beauty to behold.

/\/\/\/\/\/

"We can't keep running forever. What do we do?" Kalin slammed his fist into the alley wall, and his knuckles bled. The pouring rain filled the open wounds. "I don't know what the fuck to do!"

Rain sat slumped on the opposite side. The white roots of her hair showed on the crown of her head. The drizzle dripped down her face like stray tears. Blood mixed in the liquid from the cut on her cheek, the graze of a bullet. "The clothes factory?"

"Fucking Security knows about it, and about your power plant. The hideout, too. Shit. That explosion got you away from the firing squad but brought more of those fuckers out of the woodworks. Where do we go?"

"If I turn myself in-"

"Don't give me that shit. We go down, we go down together."

"I wouldn't be anybody without you!" she said. "You have to keep going, even if I-"

He took her hand between his. "You're everything, whether I'm there or not. Let's get going. Hard to hear with the rain, so we gotta stay on the move."

They climbed the rooftops. Flashlights attached to assault rifles cut through the storm. Shouts rang out but the downpour drowned them. Rain and Kalin ran from building to building, offering minimal exposure. Bullets fired. Glass shattered by them. They hit the deck and scrambled outside the back exit.

A horde of Securities awaited them. A pair filtered in from behind and jabbed them forward with their barrels. Rain followed Kalin's lead by holding up her empty hands. The Securities surrounding them were all poised and ready to fire their uncountable weapons. 

A voice crackled over their comms. The Security wearing a scarf clicked his radio, saying, "Roger."

All fronts fired at once. Rain screamed but the bullets whizzed past her and tore Kalin apart. The onslaught ceased. She dove to his side and gathered him in her arms but he was gone, gone. She roared and threw out her deck, touching every card. An army of monsters filled the sky. Dragons blasted Securities and blades stabbed clean through bulletproof vests. A panicked Security fired wildly, automatic weapon churning out bullet after bullet. Several Securities fell yet the attack of the enraged monsters did not end.

Scarlet blossomed from Rain's chest. She collapsed in a splash of water. The endless gray sky brought her back to that day so long ago it felt like decades past rather than months.

How love slows time.

Her breaths weakened, and her heartbeat slowed.

It doesn't have to end like this.

Violet blazed from both Rain and Kalin's forearms. The mark of the Giant glowed, and fuchsia flames ate away at their bodies until nothing remained.

----------------------

(reminder I’m just a writer, artist credit in alt text!)

Songs (they play like animatics in my head)

A Guy That I’d Kinda Be Into

The whole song is spent as Ravyn watches the relationship.

In the first verse is her listening in on Aoi trying to imply that she likes someone.

Ravyn also hears Asher confides in Cyrus about this who tells him that she’s definitely into him.

Aoi and Asher start dating and grow closer and closer.

The end of the song is split between Ravyn and Asher after the event of him forgetting her birthday.

Ravyn sits alone in the darkened apartment while Asher is at a fair with Aoi.

Asher’s the guy Ravyn likes while Asher simultaneously tells Aoi he likes her.

Upgrade

It starts out with Ravyn talking to Ryoken , which switches into Spectre coaxing her. She’s hesitant about it though.

While in Link VRAINS, she spots Asher and Aoi talking and being in love.

Spectre directs her attention back to him, tempting her with the fact that if she goes along with his plan, she could be with Asher.

Adira confronts Ravyn about her change in behavior, worried about what’s happened to her friend.

Ravyn thinks about why she ran away and how painful it’s been for her living with Asher.

She uses her scythe to forcibly log Adira out of Link VRAINS.

The Play

Spectre’s plan to spread his virus to everyone is now in motion. People are starting to become like zombies.

Ravyn starts fighting against him.

Adira steps in with a flash drive that will dispel the virus (she got it from Playmaker). The zombies manage to snag it from her though.

She and Ravyn use their ace monsters to fight them.

Ravyn gets her hands on the flash drive and is about to insert it into her duel disk when Spectre confronts her with Asher who has been infected already.

He controls Asher to act like he’s in love with her. Ravyn tries to fight it, knowing it’s not real even if she wants it to be.

“I love you.” Ravyn sheds a few tears. That’s all she ever wanted to hear from him. It didn’t matter if it was romantically or platonically, she just wanted to be by his side and know that he cares about her.

Sanura's Fate

Sanura lived at the palace for just about eight years total. Six of those years were spent married to Mahaad. In that time she served as the courtier of the royal wives and became a nanny to their children, as well as receiving training to be a sort of 'last line of defense' for them. It was work that she loved, and she loved the people she looked after in return. For five or so years everything was fine. Great, even. But there were rumblings outside the palace walls of discontent among the population. Loud enough to catch the attention of the Sacred Court but quiet enough to not be labelled much of a true threat.

That was a mistake.

In a devastating, bloody evening one of the royal wives was killed, along with the crown prince. It was an inside job. The ranks of the royal guard had been infiltrated by those who wished to see the bloodline ended. Sanura stumbled upon them in the act and was nearly killed herself but was rescued by loyal guards and the Sacred Court, alerted by the Ring and Necklace. The loss of her best friend and one of the children she loved took a heavy toll on her. That toll paled in the face of that taken on Atem. The murders of his wife and son planted some of the seeds that would one day blossom into darkness in the distant future.

But life and the passing of time marched on. While Sanura never fully got over such tragic losses she found a new normal in day to day life. Her family needed her, and she could not let herself dwell in the pain forever. She and Teana and the other palace mothers guided their children through their grief and slowly they all moved on.

Late the next year, Sanura gave birth to a second son named Bakari. If they had known that someone with a similar name would cause so much ruin and heartache they may have chosen a different name. Regardless, Bakari was a much loved and welcomed addition to their family.

Unfortunately, their happiness would be short lived. Bakari was only two months old when Bakura attacked the palace. Two days later Mahaad was gone. In the immediate aftermath Sanura shut down. Numbed by shock she carried on as if nothing was wrong, but she was mechanical and quiet as she cared for her sons and went about her work. It would be three weeks before she finally cracked under the weight of losing her husband.

This time, while she managed to pull herself back together, she never succeeded in escaping the heartbreak. Perhaps in time she might have. She had always proven herself to be resilient in the end. But time was not something given to her. Another assassination attempt was made on the royal family while security was spread thin because of Bakura. The attack was directed at the nursery. Sanura fought the assassin and held them off until guards could react, but made the ultimate sacrifice in doing so. She died protecting the children, including her own sons.

Minkah was only seven, and Bakari an infant, when they became the first orphans of the war.

Sanura was reunited with T'Kai and Rami in the Afterlife where the three of them waited to greet their loved ones when their time came. It took several thousand years for Sanura to be reunited with Mahaad.

Minkah

Minkah is the oldest son of Sanura and Mahaad. He was a quiet and shy child that took a while to warm up to new faces. The only one to really pull him out of his shell was Rami, Atem's oldest child. Together the two of them led the gaggle of other palace children on many an adventure (under their mothers' watchful eye, of course). The loss of Rami destroyed his childhood innocence but he stepped into the void his best friend left behind. At six years old he did his best to guide the other children and keep their spirits up. It was a hint of the person he would grow to be.

The following three years saw him growing up faster than any child should. The loss of his parents and most of the adults in his life as a war raged around them stole any chance at a 'normal' adolescence. He and his brother were adopted by priest, now Pharaoh, Seth in the end, as were all of the other children of the Sacred Court members who lost their lives in the battle against Zorc.

His teen years were marred with uncertainty. His brother knew Seth and his wife as his parents. As a result, Bakari pushed back against Minkah's attempts to tell him about Mahaad and Sanura. It led to a messy rift between the brothers that would take years to mend. With his brother refusing to listen, Minkah felt isolated with the pressure of keeping his parents' memories alive. Eventually he was reassured by Seth, Mana, Isis and Teana that he was not alone in the responsibility. The show of support helped him find balance between the trauma of his past and the regular challenges of being a teenager.

He eventually grew into a stable and well rounded adult. While he had none of his father's magical abilities and was passed over by the Ring, he nonetheless found a place among Seth's court as a vizier. In his early twenties he married Iseret, the daughter of Isis and Karim. The two of them would go on to become part of the first generation of tomb keepers. The modern day Ishtar siblings are some of their descendants.

Bakari

Minkah's younger brother. He was an infant when the brothers were orphaned. Understandably, he had no memories of either parent. He grew up with their ghosts instead. It grated at him. As far as he was concerned his parents were Seth and his wife and any instance otherwise was met with anger. Bakari hated living in the shadow of Mahaad's legacy and did not care to hear about Sanura's sacrifice. His brother's persistence in trying to teach him about the parents he had never known led to a nasty argument between them. They would be adults before they reconciled.

Unlike Minkah, Bakari did possess magical abilities. They were not as strong as Mahaad's but they were decently impressive. Bakari chose to ignore them when they first manifested. This proved to be a bad idea, however. He became Mana's apprentice in his mid-teens when it became clear that he needed to learn how to control his magic.

As an adult he served as a royal magician. He never fully outgrew his reactive temperament but did learn how to control his outbursts. He and Minkah settled matters and grew close, though rarely saw each other after Minkah became part of the tomb keepers.

T'Kai and Rami

Atem's second wife and oldest child (shown here as an adult, if he had lived that long). T'Kai was the one who brought Sanura to the palace. Her marriage to Atem was purely political at the start, but eventually the two of them and Teana would become a powerhouse threesome. T'Kai had two children: Rami, and a daughter named Khaiya. Teana's son Atemu was born between the two.