While Cerise was sleeping, she had a nightmare.
She was standing in the middle of the oasis in the mountain. Iris and Ra were grazing quietly under the fruit trees. She looked around and the warm desert breeze rustled her hair. She was all alone in the oasis. All she heard was the sound of the birds that came here to drink water and rest before venturing out into the searing sun. She heard the waterfall in the distance, the waterfall that was the reason for this oasis. She bent down and ran her hand through the sapphire coloured clear water. It was cool and invigorating, as always.
She stood up and took off all her clothes, seeing as she was all alone. She dove into the water and came up for air. She closed her eyes, floated on her back and swam a few stokes, but then the water became warmer, and thicker. She figured that she was under the hole in the roof that the sunlight came through, so she swam on.
But then the water became hotter, and hotter. She lifted her hand and saw it was stained with blood. She stood up in terror and saw that the water had turned to blood. Gaspe loudly and she ran for the shore and got out. She looked into the water and then down at her body. She was completely covered with blood from head to toe. She looked around franticly for something to wipe it off with, but there was nothing.
She looked for Iris and Ra so she could go home and wash off the blood, but they were gone. She trained all the horses to go home if they got lost or abandoned in the desert. She ran to where the opening to the oasis was, but it was covered in vines. She pulled them away and saw only a stone wall. She moved to where she thought the opening was, and moved the vines again, but there was no opening. She hit the walls and it was solid stone. She turned around and looked into the empty oasis. The pool of blood had something floating in it. She swallowed deeply, and walked to the edge and saw it was a body, floating upside-down.
"Oh my god." she said cupping her hands over her mouth.
She looked for a stick, found one, and reached in and hooked the clothes of the body with it. She pulled the body closer to the shore. She grabbed the clothes and pulled the body onto the ground.
She saw that the body of this man had been mutilated; he had arrows in him, and stab wounds all over his back. She took a deep breath and turned the body over. When she saw who it was, she was shocked.
"Mahad." She uttered in shock, her voice shaking.
His eyes were open but he was gone, so she ran her hand over them to close them. She looked into the oasis, and there were more bodies. She braced herself and jumped into the blood. She waded to the first body, and turned it over.
"Mana!" she shouted.
She felt for a pulse with trembling hands, but her throat had been slit. She too was dead.
"Oh dear gods, no." she said, looking at the next body floating nearby.
She waded to it and turned it over. It was her father.
"No!" she shouted, tears streaming down her face.
By now she was crying like no one was watching. All the bodies she had turned over so far had the same wounds; stab wounds, slit throat, arrows in their backs. She saw many more bodies, and knew she had to see who they were, even if she didn't want to. The Pharaoh was the next one she turned over.
She went to the next one and turned it over, it was Joey, the Joey from 2006, then Tristan, and Duke, and Amber.
They had all been killed in the same way. She also turned over their Egyptian equivalents, everyone was there but Kaiba and Mokuba, and Set. She screamed when she realized it was every one she knew, all her friends and family. But someone was missing. The most important person.
"Atemu..." she said, looking around the oasis for another body. But there was none.
"Where is he?" she looked around the oasis and he was nowhere.
She pulled each body to the shore and said a prayer by each one, closing their eyes and sending them off to meet the gods.
Then there was as shadow in the hole in the roof of the mountain.
"Hello!" she shouted up.
"Throw him in here." Someone said.
Another body fell through the hole and hit into the lake, its blood missing with the splashed up water. She looked around, and realized there was only one more person left to kill. She got into the bloodstained water and waded out to the body as quickly as she could. He was wearing a black robe, so she didn't recognize him. She turned him over and her worse fear was confirmed.
"Atemu!" she uttered through already sore and swollen lips.
She lifted his head up out of the water and saw the scarlet stream flowing from his throat.
"No." she shook her head, grabbing his throat with her free hand to try to stem the bleeding, but his blood flowed out and over her shaking hands.
"Noooo!" she shouted at the top of her voice.
She looked back down at him and his eyes were open, and he was looking right at her.
"Hi." He said.
"You're alive!" she whispered to him.
He lifted his hand and felt the slimy blood around his neck.
"Not for long." He said.
"Don't say that. I'm going to help you." She carried him to the shore, and placed him on the edge of the oasis. She jumped up and out and looked for something to stop the bleeding.
"Hold my hand." he couched, blood bubbling out of his mouth.
She ran to him, and knelt next to him. She grasped his hand with hers, trembling with shock, and adrenaline.
"You know I can't stay." He whispered.
"No, no." she shook her head, with renewed tears flowing over her cheeks.
"I just want to say, that…" a little stream of dark red blood ran out of the corner of his mouth.
His lung had been pierced and he was drowning in his own blood.
"Don't say anything." She said.
"No, I have to. All I wanted to say was, I love you and I'm not afraid." He muttered, barely audible.
"I love you too, don't die, please dear GODS, don't let him die." She shouted up into the air.
"Kiss me." he asked.
She leant forward and kissed him. She tasted the warm metallic taste of his blood on her tongue and she whimpered when she knew for sure he was dying. She felt him relax and breathe out. She lifted her head and saw that his eyes were open. But there were no lights in them, no anymore. He was gone.
"Atemu?" she said softly.
He didn't say anything. She put her hands on his shoulder and gently shook him.
"Atemu." She said louder and still nothing.
She shook him harder.
"Atemu! Can you hear me?" she shouted at him, and his head swayed and fell onto one shoulder.
She let go of him, fell back from her haunches and cupped her hands around her mouth.
"He's gone." She said softly.
She leant forward and ran her hand over his eyes to close them. She cupped her trembling hands around his face, and kissed him one last time. She stood up and walked away from the bodies. Went she found an area where she could vent, and screamed like she was the only person on earth.
"Atemu!" she shouted at full volume.
"I told you I would get my revenge." Someone said from the hole in the roof.
"Who's there?" she shouted with new anger.
"Don't you recognize me, my Queen?" he said.
"Set? Is that you?" she shouted, covering her eyes from the sharp light.
"The one and only." He said.
"Get me out of here." She shouted.
"And leave your husband here. No, I think I'll leave you here too." He walked away.
"Don't leave me here, you snake." She shouted.
She heard him laughing, and then it was silent again.
"Set!" she shouted again.
There was no answer.
"Noooo!" she shouted and fell to her knees.
"Come back!" she shouted when she woke up.
She looked around and saw that she was in her room.
"Atemu." She said, throwing her blanket aside.
She grabbed a lamp and lit it. She opened the door slowly and saw that Mana's door was closed. She sneaked past her room and up the first few stairs and when she was clear, she ran up the stairs and it died on the floor.
"Sorry." She said, reaching for the lamp.
"I heard you scream, where are you going?" the man asked.
"I'm going to check on Prince Atemu, I had a bad nightmare," she explained.
"I'm fine." He said.
"Atemu?" she said, looking up at his face in the almost full moon.
He took her around her waist and she gasped, but then she recognized his touch and she knew it was him.
"It is you." She threw her arms around him and hugged him as hard as she could.
"Okay, I'm glad that you're happy to see me." he said, prying her from his neck.
"It was Set, Set killed you." She said franticly to him.
"Set. But I'm still here." He tried to reason with her, but she was frantic.
"In my nightmare. He killed you and your dad and my dad, and Amber, and everyone else." She rambled on.
"Cerise." He hugged her close.
He felt her breathing become slower and her muscles relax. Then he held her at arm's length.
"It was just a nightmare. I'm alive and everything is okay." He said slowly.
"But the blood," she lifted her hands to her face.
"A dream." He said. She sighed and looked at him, healthy and happy in front of her.
"Okay." She relaxed and hugged him again.
"Don't ever leave me." she said to him.
"I'm not going anywhere." He whispered into her ear.
She was so warm on this night, which was particularly chilly. Only after hugging her for a while, did he realize she wasn't wearing anything over her chest. She must have jumped right out of bed to come here.
She only had her under dress on and so was he. He ran his hands up her back, and felt if he was right. He was, and she shuddered with pleasure from his hands running over her back. She lifted her head off of his shoulder and arched her neck backwards to look at him, not that it helped, because the only light was that of the moon through the window. She saw his bare chest gleaming in the moonlight. His low rise under dress sat just below his love handles, and the light fell delicately over the bulges of them. For the first time, she took a step back and admired the body he had moulded. His body was sculpted and idyllic. He had definition in his abdomen, but not too much, his arms were chiselled and well developed, his chest was wide and powerful, from the archery lessons with Duke. She saw every little bulge and swell of his body gleaming in the dim light of the moon.
"What?" he asked, seeing her dreamy eyed expression.
"You're so," she shook her head.
"So, what?" he asked again.
"Handsome." She said finally.
It was his turn to admire her. Her body had every curve and swell in the right place. Her hips were rounded and the outline of them was smooth. Her waist was modest and shapely, with abs but also a little bulge just below her belly button. Her chest was full and couldn't be missed. The soft light rounded them off, only enough for him to see their contour, rounded and full. He reached out to her and she took his hands. They drew each other closer and pressed their bodies together. Her soft chest, pressed against his hard torso.
"We shouldn't do this." He said softly in a calm voice.
"I know." She said, drawing him closer to her lips.
He lent forward and down to kiss her. She pulled him closer to her, and he pushed her into the wall slowly.
This time, it wasn't as rushed as before, more relaxed and peaceful but before they knew it, their bodies were clammy and damp. He reached down and undid her under dress, and pulled it off. It fell to the ground and she didn't even flinch. Now she was completely nude. She reached down for his strings and found the knot. He was kissing her down her neck, when she pushed him away a little.
"It's only a week." She said.
"I can't stop now." He breathed.
"Only a week." She repeated.
"I can't wait that long," he said, undoing the knot of his under dress himself.
It fell to the floor, and now they were both nude.
"No one has to know." He said.
"We'll know." She said, putting her hands on his chest.
He didn't listen and kissed her again, more impatiently than before. He slid his hand down to her thigh and started to pull it up.
"No." she uttered.
He didn't stop.
"Atemu, no!" she said again.
He still didn't stop, and now she was almost off the floor. Soon she would have to leverage to stop him. He was pushing her up the wall so he could get to her easily. All he had to do was lift her up, and push her thighs apart.
"I said no." she pushed him as hard as she could and he fell back onto the floor. She fell back to the floor and stumbled slightly, before she looked up to see him on the ground too.
"Oh god." She crawled to him.
"Are you okay?" she asked, helping him up.
He pulled away from her angrily.
"I'm fine." He said with a tinge of anger in his voice.
"I'm sorry." She said. He sighed and looked at her.
"I'm sorry. I shouldn't push you." He said.
"I think, that maybe, I should leave the palace, just until the ritual." She said, picking up the lamp.
"No. Stay." He bent down to help her with it.
"This is your home." He said, looking at her.
"I know, but I have to." She said, looking at him.
"We just, have to stay away from each other for a while." She added.
"You don't need to leave, I'll try, and control myself." He said, planting a kiss on her puffy lips.
"Okay." She stood up and kissed him goodnight.
They picked up their clothes.
"Sleep tight." He said, walking upstairs to his room.
She went down to her room, and fell asleep after tossing and turning for a while.
