Chapter 9

'He's not going if I don't,' Drake was firm, 'I mean, look at him,' he indicated towards his zoned out lover, 'he's not coping with this as well as you have Lus. It's like they're fighting for control in there and neither one of them is winning.'

'Fine,' Lus almost reluctantly gave in, 'you can come, but only because…' his voice trailed off.

'Only because what?'

'You'll see soon enough,' he shifted his gaze away, 'I wouldn't want to ruin the surprise.'

Edgily Drake exchanged a look with Arados, who just shrugged and stared past him towards Taylor.

'Is he always that bad?'

Turning his attention towards his zoned out lover, Drake couldn't help but sigh.

'No, not always. It seems to flicker between something almost normal and this most of the time. What I don't get is why he's this bad, when Lus…'

'She was unstable,' Lus cut him off, 'so was Annu. They could go through patches of near madness, almost appearing normal, but not quite right at the same time. That's why they did what they did together.'

'What did they do,' Drake studied him.

'I don't know,' Lus squeezed his eyes shut and shook Lilly's control from his head, 'she wouldn't tell me.'

'Or you just wouldn't let her,' he couldn't help but pout.

'Look we don't have time for this now. Can we please…?'

'Okay,' Arados nodded.

'Fine,' Drake huffed moodily, 'but I promise you, if you're keeping something from us…'

'Don't be so paranoid Drake,' Lus rolled his eyes, 'it doesn't suit you.'

'I could say exactly the same to you about being secretive,' he narrowed his gaze. 'Now where are you taking us again and why?'

'We're going to the Mistresses chambers,' he sighed heavily, 'and you'll see why when we get there.'

'Fine,' Drake huffed some more, 'let's go then.'

At that he took a hold of Taylor and Jumped them both up. For a moment it snapped his lover back to reality, but only for a moment. As the other two arrived beside him, he waited to see what was going to happen next.

'This place feels almost endless,' a voice Drake half recognised sounded from behind him, 'I could almost believe this is what you claimed it to be.'

With a slow kind of sickness, Drake turned round to face the guy stood behind him. He was looking a number of years older than when he'd first encountered him, but unlike with Anubis he hadn't forgotten his face.

'Seti.'

'Nicolie?'

'Wait,' Lus frowned, 'you know who that is Drake?'

'Drake,' Seti frowned, 'you mean he's not Nicolie.'

'In a former existence he was,' Lus agreed, 'but now he's Drake.'

'And he remembers me?'

'I went to your time once, when I was younger,' Drake gritted his teeth. 'I met you there briefly amid the grief of everything else that was going on.'

'I don't recall…'

'You wouldn't, I was trapped inside Nicolie's body at the time. I would have been him to you.'

'I see…'

'And here was me assuming you barely met anyone on your time travel,' Lus rolled his eyes. 'What I should have been asking was who from that time you didn't meet.'

'I don't remember meeting Anubis…'

'That doesn't surprise me,' Seti smiled strangely, 'my foster brother could be allusive at the best of times; especially if you're referring to the point in time I think you are. Round about the time Talma's parents died, right?'

'How did…'

'It was the first time I met Nicolie and… He was acting more than a little strangely at the time. If that's because he was you it seems to make a little more sense.'

'Wow,' Arados breathed in amazement, 'you worked that all out from such a tiny clue. You must be like… so smart.'

'Annu,' Seti's strange smile turned more affectionate, 'or should I say the not-Annu. You are male too, right?'

'Can't you see that for yourself?'

'His vision isn't exactly like ours anymore Ara,' Lus pulled a face, 'so no, he doesn't see that for himself.'

'I'm sorry,' his voice toned sadly, 'I didn't know.'

Glancing across Drake couldn't help but groan at the love sick look in Arados's eyes. There didn't seem to be a male in existence completely off of Arados's type list. As if worried she was being forgotten about, Princess suddenly started making some odd gurgling noises. Instantly Arados and Seti's attentions went down towards her.

'Shouldn't you have left her with her mother,' there was something in his voice fishing for information.

'Err… well I'm the mother,' Arados blushed slightly, 'it's complicated, but…'

'You don't need to explain it to me; I've seen a woman father another woman's child and this somehow seems so much more… fitting.'

'Fitting how,' Arados blinked innocently up at him.

'My Annu was a mother too.'

Internally Drake's groaning became louder. Trust Arados to draw the affections of a blind man. But then again, you'd need to be a blind man to fall for Arados in the first place. Almost instantly he felt bad for his train of thoughts; especially because he knew Arados was more than physically attractive. But he couldn't help it. He still viewed him as competition and his bad instincts were stronger than he would have liked.

'What's the name,' Seti moved himself closer to Arados and the baby.

'Princess.'

'Princess,' Seti repeated calmly, 'what a lovely name.'

'You think so,' Arados sounded almost gaga, 'because everyone else has always told me it wasn't…'

Seti held up his hand to silence him.

'Princess is a lovely name Ara; you have no reason to be ashamed.'