Disclaimer: Severus isn't mine. Don't know how to claim the other characters...but no money is being made off of this.
Warning: Um...some of it is slash. Some is het. Some is impossible to describe!
Dedication: This is for Kerrie and Chrissy, for pissing me off enough to work this out in my head instead of actually doing my job. :-)
Author's Note: Each chapter is one of Severus' lives. I'm going to do a life a chapter, until the end where we discover his soul mate. (I'll give you three guesses as to who it is, and the first two don't count.) Anyway, I hope this turns out good.
The Longest Journey
//This is stupid.// Severus Snape thought to himself, holding the small vial in his hands. //This isn't going to work.// He frowned, small creases appearing around his eyes and lips. //But what have I to lose?// He sighed, and drummed his fingers on the table. The potion he held in his hands was an extremely rar one, one it had taken him months to brew. And now he was doubting even using it. It was used most often by soothsayers and clairvoyants, and now by a curious potions master.
//I still cannot see quite how the Pentliv Potion will allow me to visit my past lives.// And would he even be able to determine his soul mate? That was his intent. To travel to his past lives, in order to find his soulamte in this one. It was a sound theory, and the most common use of the Pentliv Potion.
//Perhaps I should scratch he whole idea, and simply settle for Lupin.//
But that was not exactly a favorable option. So the Pentliv Potion it was, to find that cosmic lover, that one person he was meant to spend his life with. And everyone after. Sighing, he opened the vial and tipped the potion back...
***
The first thing was a sudden lack of sensation. It was as though a fist of ice had hit him hard in the stomach. It was dark and cold, a void of sorts. He wondered what had happened. Had he fallen, or simply remained in the chair?
He had no sense of time, but after the void there was a sudden rush of light and feeling, and he was not where he had started...
***
He was looking on the world through eyes that were not his. His skin was not his, his *body* was not his. He was a woman, he knew that instinctively. He looked down, and saw a slim body clothed in white linen. His skin was dark, the color of dulled bronze. His arms were round and slightly plump, his hands long and smooth. Was this the first? Had he truly been born onto this earth as a woman? He gave little thought to it, and turned his eyes to the world around him.
He was in a marketplace. It was dry and hot where he was, and he could taste sand on the wind. And feel it, beneath his feet. The sandals he wore gave little protection against the elements.
"Sehkani?" The words was unfamiliar, but he turned, not in control of this unfamiliar body.
"I am sorry, Utap." He/she said. "I do not know what came over me."
//So I have no affect over this life...good, I suppose.// He frowned. The language was vaguely familiar. He *understood* it, but more the meaning behind the words then the actual words.
The market place was crowded, full of dark haired-bronze skinned people. //Egypt. I've a feeling I've found myself in Egypt.// He/she glanced over at his/her companion. A tall man, black hair braided and threaded with linen. He wore a hat of some sort, and it looked rather important, with some sort of jackal imagery. He was bare-chested, his linen skirt hemmed in a darker material and woven through with hieroglyphics.. His sandals were the same coarse material that Severus'/Sehkani's were.
"I do not enjoy market." Utap continued. "Find a gift and we shall be gone."
//Is this him?// Severus wondered. Utap, he supposed, was handsome enough. Strong of feature, but with a cruel glint in his black eyes.
"It must be the perfect gift. I would give Pharaoh nothing less."
"Rashidi will care little what you give him." Utap said, with a scoff. //Rashidi? The pharaoh?// Severus was a bit confused. It was difficult to keep things strait in his mind. He was seeing through another's eyes, but thinking his own thoughts. And he knew little of the situation. Simply that he as an Egyptian woman in the time of the Pharaohs. And that the man he was with obviously was close to the pharaoh, to call him by name.
"That is your opinion." Sehkani smiled, Severus could tell. He could feel the corners of her lips move up, feel them forming that small, secretive smile only women could master. He watched the day through her eyes, and little made sense. Utap seemed to hold her in contempt. He scoffed at her gift of expensive perfumed oils for the pharaoh, and hurried her along.
//This must be the most bizarre experience I have ever lived through.// Severus thought. He wondered what his body was doing.
//Good lord, is that the palace?// Textbooks could do the construction of ancient Egypt no justice. The sheer beauty of the pale stone building was overpowering. //This in itself is a gift...// To look, with clear eyes, on the palace of the Kings of Egypt...//The manpower that must have been utilized to create that...//
"Tell Rashidi I wish to speak with him." Utap said shortly, and left Sehkani on the steps of the palace. Two skirted guards stood post, hard and tough looking beneath the desert sun. Sehkani nodded, and tripped lightly through the tiled halls of the palace. It was cool inside, comfortably so. Their were potted plants, and hieroglyphics...they were amazing! He wanted to stop and study them, but Sekhani obviously had a destination in mind. She was moving into a more grandly furbished part of the palace, where guards were stationed at each breeze way. Again, the jackal imagery. What was the jackal god of Egypt? Ah well. The guards seemed not to notice her, allowing her past with hardly a glance. Who was she, to be allowed such free move throughout the palace? A child of the pharaoh, perhaps? Severus felt a swell of pride at that. He would not be the least ashamed to admit that his first incarnation was as royalty.
"Lord Pharoah?" She called, parting gauze curtains and peeking into a lavishly decorated room. There was a long pool in the room, and a purple upholstered divan. Purple! The most expensive dye at this time...
"Come, Sehkani." A deep male voice called, and Sehkani tripped lightly towards it. She moved easily, lightly. Severus imagined her to be very beautiful.
"Rashidi?" Her voice light and pleasant. It had a lilting air to it, and Severus had to wonder at it. She turned a corner, to an open aired chamber. If Severus had a jaw at the moment, it would have dropped. The man that was lounging on the great bed was one of the most beautiful he had ever seen. His hair was long and shone blue it was so black. It fell in rippling waves around him, his skin dark bronze, his eyes deep brown almonds. His features were strong and prominent, and his body was in perfect condition! There was a heiroglyph branded into his chest, below his right shoulder.
"Ah, Sehkani." The man held out his hand, features breaking into a warm smile. //This is more like it!// Severus was in bliss. *This* was who he had traveled back to meet! Was he the pharaoh's wife? "Come here, my desert blossom. I missed you today."
"And I you." Sehkani leapt onto the bed, inhaling the spicy scent of Rashidi.
"I do not like not having my favorite by my side. I want you here, with me."
"And I do not like having Utep at *my* side. He is a man above his station, and he irritates me." There was no mention of the other man wishing to see the pharaoh. Politics, most likely. Severus knew politics too well. It did not surprise him at all that Sehkani was involved in politics.
"But I would trust you to no one less then my vizier." Rashidi wrapped his arms around. "You mean too much to me."
"And you worry. I am able to take care of myself." Sehkani sounded indignant, almost insulted.
"I know." Rashidi kissed her nose. "But it makes me feel better. I do not wish to lose you. And Mafuan would like very much to see you dead."
"I care little for your wife."
//Wife?// Severus groaned silently. //Wonderful. I'm a *concubine*. His favorite, however.//
"You must be more careful." Rashidi frowned. "Mafuan is not a woman to be trifled with. She does not like you. She envies your position in my bed, and my heart. She regrets that you have given me the children she cannot."
"Rashidi, I do not care about Mafuan. She is a fool, and a bitter hen. I don't wish to talk about it any more. Here." She thrust the bottle of oils at Rashidi, and slipped off the bed to gaze out the window. Severus wondered how much of Sehkani he had in him. She seemed a willful young woman, but intelligent and shrewd. He had a liking for her.
"My blossom..." Rashidi's voice held a plaintive note. "I am sorry. I just worry..I must watch my back for Utep, and Mafuan. I love you, and I cannot help but watch for you as well..."
"I will watch for myself!" Sehkani turned, and folded her arms. Severus imagined her eyes were hard and cold, pinning Rashidi beneath her gaze. "I wish now only to celebrate your birthday..." Her hands lifted, untying her linen, and her garments slipped to the floor...
***
Severus felt that feeling in the pit of his stomach, and everything went black. It was cold and senseless, but it would only be for a few more minutes...
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Next chapter, another lifetime...