Author's Note: Howdy people! Just want to say thank you to the few viewers who keep checking back to read! Your interest in my story makes me very happy! Special shout out to my first follower Mustarastas; I've been reading your work as well and I'm impressed-be looking forward to more of your stories. Hope you all enjoyed the little interaction between Pegasus and Kaiba. Anytime I picture them in a room together it's all sass and snarkiness overload. Don't have much else to mention other than let's get on with the show! I do not own Yugioh characters-but this world is ALL MINE! :D Extra long chapter for such a long wait! Enjoy!

Chapter 6: Oh Brother, Wherefore Art Thou?

Brigan was speaking with the Council when he felt the shift in the atmosphere. Not a minute later two servants came tearing into the room summoning him to the Main Hall. They took off running down the hall but he walked swiftly to the other end of the palace. He had a pretty good idea just what the charge he just felt meant, and he hoped the Lady had made it safely back but he wasn't the type to waste energy when there was no danger. As he approached the large stone doors he could hear raised and confused voices. Turning the corner he found out why.

His eyes widened as he took in the state of the room. The normal pristine stonework held signs of charring, as did a couple of the high soliums upon the dais. Long tables closest to the middle of the room had been blown apart leaving linen, wood, glassware and cutlery lay strewn about the floor. There was a faint smell of burnt hair and fabric. He stood still as he tried to think of what could have caused this...explosion? It was as if some kind of electrical or fire based energy blasted the room apart. In the center of the melee stood a small crowd of servants encircling something he couldn't see.

"Master Brigan, what is happening? I felt a strong pull of… Oh my…" A young girl with bright orange hair and eyes came up behind him, her sentence failing as she too gaped at the destruction.

"Kisa, wait here a moment." He strode forward and made his way through the ring of people, calling loudly to silence the room, "What has happened here?"

An older woman on the other side of the ring spoke up, "A Gateway sir! A massive light Gateway just opened in here, but something went wrong. It had no shape and it blew up when they came through. I had just walked in when they fell out and then it just blew the whole room apart! Gave me such a fright I spilt all the pastries I was taking to the nursery.."

Brigan broke into the center and gasped, kneeling down when he recognized the black clad woman laying on the floor. He pulled her into his lap and checked her over for injuries. Her skin felt hot to the touch. Her breathing was normal and he didn't see any open wounds; she must have been knocked out.

"Kisa! Come here, I need your magic!" He called behind him, and the ginger-haired girl rushed over to kneel next to him. She didn't hesitate as she placed a hand over the woman's heart and a warm orange glow traveled through her palm into her chest. When the glow receded she pulled back and glanced worriedly at Brigan.

"Aeva? Lady Aeva? Can you hear me?" He gently shook her, and breathed a sigh of relief when she groaned and started to rouse. He stared down into her bleary eyes.

"Brigan? I made it back then?" She croaked out.

He chuckled lightly, "Yes you did, but I'm confused. You normally travel a little less ostentatiously. You've given half the palace quite a scare."

She cracked a smile and just lay there gathering her bearings before succumbing to sleep again. Brigan felt a tug on his sleeve. Kisa pointed to another figure lying face-down barely a foot away that he completely failed to notice. A dark man with ash blonde hair lay twitching and moaning, one hand clutching a large gaudy book. He nodded to Kisa and she moved over to kneel in front of him. He seemed to be in pain. She gently turned him over and he struggled a bit-too weak to put up much of a fight. His exotic appearance made everyone around them gasp and whisper. The contrast between his sandy blonde hair and his dark skin was shocking. Kisa placed a hand over his eyes and pushed her magic slowly into his body.

"He's burning up, and he seems to be in shock. Coming through the Gateway must have drained them tremendously." She could feel him start to relax and his temperature dropped down a bit. Taking her hand away from him she watched as his lilac-colored eyes zeroed in on hers. 'How pretty...' His eyes grew wide and the pupils dilated and he weakly seized on the floor. She reached for his face and he violently twitched away from her.

"Don't move, your body has been through much. We can help heal you. Please rest now." Pressing two fingers into his temple she pushed a wave of magic into him causing him to sleep. His eyes rolled back and he went limp. She cast a worried glance up at Brigan and he jumped into his role immediately.

His voice boomed through the room, "Everyone clear the hall! Guards, send for the Healers and get this man some attention right away." Everyone scattered at his command and he turned back to the girl, "Kisa, you will follow me to Lady Aeva's chambers after you've fetched Ingrid. Tell her what has happened and that the hall needs to be restored."

She nodded and stood as two guards lifted the stranger and carried him off. A third unwillingly picked up the horrid looking book from the floor and followed them out. It worried her that both of them seemed to be so affected by the Gateway, and wondered what might have caused such an accident to occur. She picked up her skirts and hurried away to the lower level in search of the Ingrid. The old woman caretaker was not going to be pleased with the state of the room.

Brigan lifted the now sleeping Lady into his arms and carried her up several flights of stairs to her chambers. Upon entering the huge room he laid her down on the bed and went to bathroom, returning with a bowl of water and a cloth. He wet it and placed it on her forehead, grabbing a chair and pulling it to her bedside to wait. After several minutes Kisa came in.

"How is she?"

"She sleeps, but seems to be alright. Still I'd feel better if you could heal her again, just to be sure."

She smiled, "Yes, of course!"

He stood up and moved away so she could move next to the Lady. Taking a deep breath she rubbed her hands together and focused her healing magic to the tips of her fingers. Placing both hands over the woman's heart she pushed the warm glow into her body, feeling it flow through her-and reverse any and all damage it came in contact with. Other than a ball of energy close to her heart she found no real injury other that a few bruises... Kisa assumed most of the symptoms were from exhaustion, and the magic eased to just revitalizing her limbs and spirit. Less than a minute passed before Aeva's eyes shot open and she looked over at them both. Brigan and Kisa both breathed a sigh of relief. Their guardian was alive and well.

Aeva slowly sat up and stretched. Her memories were a little fuzzy but they were slowly coming into focus. She was glad to be back and in one piece. Normally the Gateway never acted so volatile-but this trip had almost incinerated them on their way through. The amount of energy it took to encase them in a forcefield all the way back to Avhall had left her spent. 'Wait..They?' Oh yes, she had brought along an uninvited guest. Brigan and Kisa stared at her, waiting with bated breath for her to speak.

"The boy...is he alright?" She asked, swinging her legs over the side of the bed. Brigan stepped forward raising his hands.

"Wait a moment, you've just blown through most of your magic. It would be unwise to tax your body further." She frowned at him but stilled her movements anyway.

Kisa answered, "He is alive but not as well as you I'm afraid. His body shows many signs of stress from gate you took. Lady, what happened? Why was it so unstable?"

"And why did you bring him back with you?" Brigan questioned.

"Bringing him was unintentional, but with how things occurred in his realm I had no choice but to drag him along. As for the gate I'm not sure, when it appeared it was fine but just before we fell through it had fallen apart. I would compare it to flying through a sun flare. I'm quite surprised we made it back in such good form. I need a few days to rest and then I can send him back through a safer gate..." She reached around her neck to touch her pendant, only to find it wasn't there. 'Oh damn it all..' She sighed in frustration.

"Or perhaps not... I have a theory now as to why it was so unstable. My pendant is gone. It must have been ripped from me in our struggle. The separation of my pendant and my power could have been what caused the doorway to act strangely."

"What struggle?" Brigan's tone became hard. If the strange boy meant harm to their cause he would throw him through any Gateway to be rid of him. Any threat to the Lady needed to be dealt with immediately.

"Peace Brigan." Aeva shot him a disapproving look at his defensive tone, "He is no real threat. Though he put up quite an effort to keep me from taking the book. Mostly he was protecting his relatives-they were there when I created a rather destructive distraction-which I now feel remorseful about. He almost succeeded, but I managed to get it and my prize here. Now, where is the book?" She looked at them expectantly, and they stared blankly back. Brigan vaguely remembered seeing a book but had been too distracted with her. He went to apologize for not paying closer attention but Kisa saved him when she gave a small gasp of realization.

"It is in the infirmary with him Lady, he was holding onto it when we found him on the floor."

"Please get it and bring it to me, and let no one see it. Hurry now!" Kisa scurried off and Aeva slid off the bed, walking over to a large ornate cabinet with many drawers.

"Lady please, you should rest-" Brigan frowned when he was cut off with a look.

She continued on, opening a top drawer and pulling out a small ring with a similar pearly stone to the one she wore around her neck. Placing it on her right ring finger she felt a small pulse of magic. It wasn't as powerful or as big as hers but it would do for now till she found hers or attained a new one. Her mother's ring felt unfamiliar on her hand and she practiced tugging on her magic with the tiny jewel. How her mother got anything done with such a small stone she couldn't fathom. Once she felt comfortable with the flow of power through a new conduit she turned back and pulled the crown and cape out of her clothing. Setting them on the bed Brigan wondered how he hadn't noticed she was even carrying anything. Aeva grimaced at the sand within her garments, chafing her on various parts of her body.

"If you wouldn't mind Brigan, give me a moment to change." He moved swiftly out into the hall as she went to a huge closet and pulled clothes more suited to her taste on. After she'd shaken sand off herself and wiped away any dirt from her face she donned a white corset top with sleeves over tight black riding pants, covered with a dark blue floor-length skirt with a slit up the middle for her legs to move freely. Over that she placed a leather belt with an intricate silver buckle around her waist. She put on a matching blue vest with a hood over the corset and pulled her hair back away from her face. Finally she laced up a pair of black boots with a small heel. She thought about putting on her metal chest plates but decided against it. Brigan would say something for sure, but she doubted she'd be stabbed or shot at within the palace walls. His paranoia sometimes became too much to handle at times.

She waved her hand and the door cracked open; Brigan came back followed by Kisa who had shoved the large book into her skirts. The girl shivered as she pulled it out and handed it over to Aeva who placed the book, cloak and crown away in one of the larger drawers in the cabinet.

"I don't like this book, it feels wrong." Kisa whispered as if it could hear her.

"That is because it is full of Dark Magic. It's normal to be put off by it if you're not familiar with the shadows. But this will help us tremendously in the future, thus why I brought it."

Brigan gave a small disbelieving noise, "Lady Aeva, if I may ask, where is the sovereign? Last I checked you were on a mission to bring back a leader yet you've returned with a young man who I doubt is him, a repulsive looking book, an ancient headdress and a cloak?"

'Always so impatient..' Aeva rolled her eyes and ignored his question. "How long was I gone? By Earth realm time I was barely gone two days."

"You've been gone for several days, nine to be exact. Almost as long as you were gone in the Dominion of the Beasts."

She looked surprised at that. Her assumption that their timelines were close had been wrong. Time was a fickle thing that should be respected-you could lose it as quickly as you attempted to steal it. Time passed much quicker in this realm, but the progression of things was tremendously slow. Thus most people lived far longer than they would in other realms. Aeva herself only ever noticed changes within herself when she was absent from Avhall for long periods of time.

"We should make a note of that, I'd hate to have to go back and not be able to return on time when it was necessary. As for your question Brigan, I have brought our new sovereign. Trust me when I say he is safe for now. As I said before, preparations must be made so that he may once again walk among the living. When is the next full moon?" She motioned for them to follow her out of the room.

"In two weeks milady." Kisa said, trotting up to walk beside her. Brigan followed two steps behind.

"I should have enough energy restored by that time, but I fear it may not be enough to do what must be done. We're going to be quite busy these next two weeks. First, let us take care of our accidental guest, shall we?" She led them down a series of stairs and hallways until they came into the infirmary. It was a long hall similar to the throne room but this one was filled with neat rows of white beds, all separated by white curtains. Healers walked up and down treating various people from inside the palace and the surrounding villages. She felt out with her keen senses and came to a door at the back of the hall-it led into another hallway with more white beds, only these were separated by walls for the more severe cases.

An elder nurse walked up to them, "Can I help you milady?"

"Yes, we are looking for the young man who was brought in here earlier. Dark skin with blonde hair." The nurse nodded and led them to the back.

"He is still resting, but we are confident he will make a full recovery. The guards who brought him to us wanted to put him in chains as he bore marks from a fight, but I insisted they wait. I am sure you and Master Brigan will be more than enough to restrain him if need be." Aeva smiled and nodded to the nurse, who left them alone with the sleeping Egyptian.

"Kisa, would you mind going down to the kitchens and bringing up something to eat? I'm rather famished and I have a feeling he will be as well when he wakes."

"Yes Lady." She disappeared around the wall. A few moments later a guard came in.

"Captain, you're needed in the courtyard."

"What am I needed for?" Brigan towered over the guard-over everyone really. His tall muscular frame and permanent scowl intimidated everyone except Aeva herself. She'd known him too long and saw through his tough exterior.

"There's been signs of a riot of some sort out in Dell Vallah. A few of the perpetrators were brought here for questioning." The guard stood up a little taller and smartly avoided Brigan's questioning glare.

Brigan looked over at Aeva and she waved him off, "Go, I will take care of this. Report back to me later on this evening." He and the guard bowed to her before leaving the room. Once alone, she sat down in a chair by the bedside and waited for Kisa to return with something to eat. Looking over the young man's sleeping profile she worried about just how badly he was sure to take the news...


The first thing Marik noticed when he woke is that he wasn't in pain. He vaguely remembered a burning sensation. 'Why was I burning again? I can't remember..' He slowly blinked his eyes open and saw white curtains covering a doorway into the small room he was currently lying in. He found himself lying in a warm bed with white sheets. An empty chair sat next to the bed. Perhaps his brother or sister had just been in here? An odd antiseptic smell permeated the room. 'A hospital? How'd I get here?' His brain felt fuzzy. A white noise-like sensation was buzzing through his body and jumbling his thoughts. He went to sit up when he heard a voice come through the curtain.

"Ah you're awake."

Marik looked up to see a young woman with what he deemed an old-fashioned dress stroll through the curtain in the room. Her long black hair pulled away from her face, giving a full view of her striking silver eyes. Those eyes. He had seen those eyes before.

Silver eyes...and smoke and fire and screaming….a bright light and then he was burning..

He shot up in the bed as the memories came flooding back, his heart rate jacking up as she approached the foot of the bed. He frantically looked around for something to defend himself-nothing stood out unless he attempted to beat her with the pillow. He'd take a measly pillow over having nothing. He faced her again with one hand clenched around the corner of the damn pillowcase.

"WHERE THE HELL AM I? WHAT HAVE YOU DONE WITH ME?!" His building panic fueled his anger as he glared at the woman. She held her hands open in front of her in a sign of surrender.

"Peace, you are no longer in danger."

"Bullshit!" He spat, sitting straight up against the headboard, legs pulled up and feet planted in front of him. If she came at him he'd launch himself out of her reach. Or beat her with the pillow. Whichever he felt like in the moment.

Aeva's eyes slid over him. The young man did a fine job putting up a front-beneath his otherwise calm, angered demeanor she could feel wave after wave of panic and confusion. Slowly dropping her hands she spoke in a softer tone.

"I know you are frightened. Much has happened to you in a very short amount of time. If you'll release the pillowcase I will give you the answers you seek." She raised a brow at him and waited. He stared her down for a few seconds before unclenching-but not letting go-of the fabric. Forcing away a small smile at his ire she nodded her head, "Ask."

"Who are you?"

"I am Aevangeline of Avhall, protector of the realm and Catalyst to the Sovereigns. But you may call me Aeva."

Marik just looked at her blankly. 'A cata-what? What's a Sovereign?' He didn't really care, moving on to something not confusing as hell.

"Where am I?"

"I think you're already aware you are very far away from home." She folded her hands in front of her, her face expressionless.

"How far?"

"Do try not to panic. You are no longer on Earth."

Yup. Still confused as hell...

His eyes widened to an almost comical size, "What? You mean like I'm on a different planet?" Not panic? She expected him not to fucking panic! Marik took several deep breaths.

"Not quite.."

"Not quite? What am I missing here? You just said I'm not on Earth so where the fuck am I?!"

The woman-Aeva-was quiet for a moment before responding. Her sharp eyes never leaving his as she spoke.

"The door made of light. Do you remember it?" He nodded slowly. "That was a Gateway between realms. I opened it in an attempt to get away, and in our struggle I had no choice but to pull you through with me. Now before you start throwing accusations, what happened in Egypt was not what you think. It was not my intention to harm anyone. My mission was supposed to be discreet but as you know the outcome was quite the opposite."

He snorted in disbelief, "Discreet? Setting fire to the whole damn place was discreet? You blew up an ancient Pharaoh's tomb! The whole fucking pyramid! For all we know you could have killed people-innocent people! You attacked us-you attacked my brother and did some freaky mind crap to my sister! You beat the hell outta me! So please tell me how you expect me to believe you weren't purposefully there to hurt people!?"

"I did not and I was not. Whatever damage I caused is temporary. Your brother mistook me for an enemy and I did what I felt was necessary to-"

"Why were you there? What did you come for?"

"That is of no importance to you-"

"Oh spare me that none-of-your-business crap! You show up out of fucking nowhere, destroy my family's work, kick my ass over a goddamn book and then drag me through a tunnel of fire onto another planet-or r-realm, whatever! You almost killed me! I think I'm entitled to know why!" Marik glared at her.

"I saved you!" Her sharp tone took made him flinch. "Understand this, if I had not shielded you from the light you most surely would be dead." She narrowed her eyes and matched his glare. "You're angry. Confused. Frightened. Understandably so, and maybe you are entitled to know why this has happened to you. But you'll find that I am less inclined to offer my help or knowledge to those who do not appreciate my efforts, such as protecting a hostile stranger from a most painful death."

Marik's anger slowly ebbed as the inflection of her words sunk in. He got the feeling that she was telling the truth about saving him. He remembered the scorching heat and vibrations so hard his entire frame felt like he was shaking apart..and then arms pulling him together again and the sensation of being cocooned from the brightness. So far she hadn't tried to hurt him and it looked as if he had been healed...if the absence of pain from where he'd taken some hard hits was any indication. He wasn't able to form words so he just nodded his head in affirmation.

She seemed appeased with this and continued, "First, let me just say that I am truly sorry for the pain I have caused you. It was not my intention to hurt your family or anyone in that valley. The situation spun out of my control and I acknowledge that I may have overcompensated to correct it." Marik cocked an eyebrow and crossed his arms at that, 'You think?' His snide thought didn't go unnoticed.

"I know." Oh shit. " And no, I didn't read your mind, your face says it all." Marik breathed out a relieved sigh, he didn't think he could take any more surprises.

Aeva smirked and came to sit back in the chair next to him. He never took his eyes off her as she slid into the seat. He didn't make a move against her so she continued, "You asked why I was there. Allow me to give you the condensed version." She held her arms up and gestured to where they were, "My home, Avhall, is ruled by seven leaders-we call them Sovereigns. These rulers are selected based upon certain criteria by a Catalyst. Many ages ago this realm was torn apart by war and the Sovereign's seated at the time were either killed or forced into hiding. The Catalyst alive at the time was able to temporarily keep the enemy at bay but at a terrible price. We are currently at peace but a darkness grows within these lands, and only the combined power of the seven Sovereigns will be able to stop it from growing to a point where it can once again wreak havoc on the kingdom."

"You said you're the Catalyst? So you're in charge of finding these Sovereigns?" She nodded, "Okay, and this place...of all?" He stumbled over the name.

"Avhall." She corrected.

"Yeah that...where exactly is here? How far away am I from home?" His heart thumped in his chest when she silently studied him for a moment. He had a feeling he wasn't going to like her answer.

"It is difficult to explain so I must show you.." Aeva's ring began to lightly glow and she waved her hands in front of her producing a sheer black almost glittery curtain before them. Marik leaned away from it instinctively, almost falling off the other side of the bed before the black mass started to shape itself. At first glance he thought it was shadow magic, but when he got a good look at it he knew it was something else. It also gave off a warm, inviting feeling-completely opposite the cold, harsh empty sensation of the shadows. He could barely see through it and it shined as small bright particles caught the light, turning the black into purple or blues hues. He was stunned, it looked as if she was manipulating the night sky. The glittery mass moved like water and shaped out what resembled a large unevenly gnarled tree with several large branches pointing all different directions, with hundreds of tiny branches of light and stars branching off of each one. And the colors...Marik couldn't even name all the colors shimmering through the image she produced.

"What you are seeing is the fabric of the universe as we know it. Made up of countless galaxies, suns and everything in between...These larger ones are what we refer to as realms. Separated by time and space. This one," She pointed to a glowing cluster of stars in one branch towards the bottom of the huge 'tree', " ..is Earth's home realm. And this one," she drew his attention to one higher up from the middle of the it, "..is Avhall's home realm. Each individual realm holds many different planes of existence, however, most do not know that those unseen planes are actually other realms from other galaxies. Similar to a window into another world across the universe. As you've already seen, a door can be summoned-we call them Gateways- to those realms and travelers such as myself can transport themselves between worlds. The entirety of it all is almost too much to comprehend and even the most knowledgeable of persons do not know everything. For example, to your understanding there is life after death, but it is a place out of reach where the veil is almost impossible to breach."

"Yeah, most would call it heaven or the Afterlife or whatever.." Marik breathed out, eyes just roaming over the sparkly illusion she had conjured.

"Correct. But what if I told you that there is a real, tangible realm out there that serves the purpose of what you know the be called heaven? A physical place where if one were so inclined, could open a door..walk through and speak with those who are no longer alive?"

He met her eyes again leaning in to better look at the floating projection, "Th-that's impossible…" What she was implying was huge, and he was having a hard time wrapping his head around it.

"It's very possible but traveling to transparent realms has it drawbacks...a conversation for another time." She waved her hands again and the image dissipated. "Back to the matter at hand; not all chosen rulers come from Avhall. In fact, none of them in history have ever been born and raised in this realm. It is one of the criteria we have for them-another is that they are of royal blood or held a ruling title in their time. Experience without biased opinion. A clean slate, if you will. I have had to travel far and wide to find such individuals. One I recently discovered just happens to be from your home in Egypt."

Marik was a little slow on the uptake. He spaced out just trying to sort out of of this new information. Aeva could have sworn she could see the gears turning in his head.

"So you weren't there for the Millenium Items?" He asked. Now it was her turn to stare blankly.

She went through everything she had learned in her travels to Egypt, sifting through the memories she had stored from all those people-Marik's sister Ishizu's in particular. Fleeting images of blood and darkness passed through her mind. 'How unpleasant..'

"Oh, the Dark Items...no I was not. Nor was I truly after the book, but seeing as it is a very powerful energy source I felt compelled to take it out of harm's way. Dark magic is rare here, not many can stomach the rawness of it. There is little chance magic wielders here will know how to utilize it to harm anyone."

"You weren't there for the items...or the book…" He still didn't get it. No one there was of royal blood as far as he knew and his family came from a long line of Tomb Keepers-about as far from royalty as you can get. So who the hell was she there for cause she obviously didn't find the- "NO FUCKING WAY!" It finally clicked. His loud exclamation made her jump.

Now he felt like an idiot! How did he not see that coming? Marik had watched her as she fought to get past Odion. To get to the pyramid. The Pharaoh's pyramid. An individual of royal blood who had held a throne in his time. Damn him, even in death he was getting himself and others in trouble. Aeva was telling the truth. His stomach twisted at just how quickly things had fallen into place for Professor Hawkins and Ishizu's dig... It couldn't have been a coincidence that Aeva had been there just as they were digging him up.

"It was you. We had been excavating because Ishizu heard that someone had magically found what was left of the structure...you set it up so we'd break into the tomb for you." He breathed, eyes accusing.

She gave him a dumbfounded look, "What? No, this was my first trip to Earth and I was only there for two days. It was lucky happenstance that your family happened to be excavating his resting place. This is what drew me there." She literally pulled a card out of thin air and handed it to him.

Marik gazed at the Sennen Eye staring back at him. If the image wasn't a dead giveaway to just who her intended Sovereign was the inscription definitely was. This was starting to get to be too much-he could feel a headache coming on. He rubbed his temples and tried to sort through the jumbled mess in his head.

"Okay so you flew all the way across the universe for a dead pharaoh because you think he's one of the seven Sovereigns that will save your home?"

Aeva nodded slowly, "In a nutshell.."

"Huh. Alright, you picked a good one I'll give you that but he's kinda….dead?"

"That won't be an issue for much longer, but yes I did." Yikes, that was cryptic. "For what it's worth I deeply regret leaving his original resting place in ruins. If given the chance I will rectify the damage inflicted." She stood and went to walk toward the curtain, "Enough of that for now, you must be hungry. When the nurse deems you ready, I shall have a room readied for your stay. Should you need anything at all I will make sure it is done for you, just ask. I'll leave you to-"

"You could send me home."

He watched as she froze, her back to him. "You opened a door-a Gateway thingy and brought us here. Just open another one and send me back. I understand why you did what you did and I'm grateful that you saved my life and healed up my bruises and all but what I really want is to go home. You can send me home….right?" Marik asked uneasily.

Aeva dropped her gaze to the floor. Guilt seeped into her gut as she turned to face him, smiling gently. "I'm sorry, I didn't catch your name." She already knew it from his sister but he wasn't aware of that.

"Marik..Marik Ishtar." He answered, still watching her carefully and not returning her smile. Again she could feel small flickers of anxiety rolling off of him.

"Yes Marik, I can send you home." He let out a breath and relief flooded his face. This is the part she had been afraid of, "But I'm afraid that will not be possible for awhile. You see, it takes a great deal of power to open a Gateway and my pendant-my conduit through which I can create a doorway-was lost to me in Egypt when we fought. It will take me some time for my power to replenish enough to try again, and even then it could be tricky without my pendant to focus on. Little magics such as what I've shown you is much easier to control without it but something of that magnitude...The last thing I want to do is send you back through another unstable Gateway. I am sorry, but for the time being you cannot leave." Her eyes met his finally and his heart fell down somewhere around his stomach upon hearing the sadness in her voice.

His horrified expression made her feel worse, and he whispered out, "I'm stuck here? For how long?"

"I have no way of knowing for sure."

"But I-I have family and friends back there. They don't know what's happened to me, they probably think I'm dead! I have to get back! I can't be stuck here.." Panic came back full force. He fought hard to keep the tears pricking at his eyes at bay. He wasn't a child dammit, and he wasn't going to cry like one. But he was scared shitless. He was trapped in a realm across the fucking universe with no way back for who knows how long. He thought he could keep it together but this was the proverbial straw breaking the camel's back! 'This is a dream...this is just one big nightmare!' He pulled his knees up and wrapped his arms around them. He wanted to scream. So many questions popped up in his head but he didn't know where to begin. 'Why is this happening?'

Aeva could feel his composure slipping and took pity, talking fast, "Marik, I promise that as soon as I am able I will send you home safely. You have my word on that. There are things that I must attend to in the next few days so I shall not be around, but I shall leave instructions with the nurse and Kisa that your needs are to be met. Again I will do everything in my power to make sure your stay here is comfortable and that no one is to harm you. I must ask you to stay in the palace. You are far safer here than out there amongst strangers. Your looks are bound to attract trouble." She turned to leave but paused at the curtain, "I know this is overwhelming for you, it would be for anyone. Please know that I am truly sorry for what has happened to you. You are here because of me. I hope you will find it within yourself to forgive me." With that, she strode out through the curtain and Marik was alone.

Marik didn't even get two breaths in before a nurse pushed a rolling tray into his room. A large silver platter carrying a variety of fruits, cheeses, bread and meat slices was left with him and the nurse gave him a warm smile before exiting. He gazed forlornly at the overflowing dish, but his hunger had vanished knowing he couldn't go home. He thought about his brother and sister….Were they alright? Were they worried about him? His mind kept replaying the stupid fight they had just before shit hit the fan. He made a silent promise to make things right and apologize the minute he got back. If he ever got back.. 'No! Stop that!' Aeva said she could send him home, so he wasn't stuck here forever. He felt a little better knowing that but he still couldn't shake the fear that she wasn't telling him the whole truth on that matter. What was worse is that he wasn't sure if he even wanted to know just what she may be hiding. Hot tears fell freely down his cheeks and he ducked his head into his arms. As much as he hated Egypt, he'd gladly take those cursed sands over any of this crazy magic crap. Homesickness filled his whole being and he shook with the force of his sobs. He prayed Aeva would keep her promise as he laid back down and fell into a restless sleep.