Speak Softly
Irrevocably Human

1935: Ardeth Bay is resurrected from the dead. He awakens to a world vastly different, to familiar faces changing and to the knowledge that he is Egypt's final hope for freedom.

He also finds out just how far love and despair can take him.

~~~~~~~

Little snowflakes were tickling her face, but right now the strength to open her eyes failed her. Any type of movement seemed unlikely, for her whole body ached unlike anything she had ever felt before in her life. Nothing she had been through had been anything like this. Nothing.

Evelyn was finding it hard to breathe just now, her chest congested and rattling as she wheezed for air. The cold was so startlingly depressing and rough that she felt she would have almost done anything to escape it, even some of the vilest things Imhotep may have asked. A moan escaped her lips and even that sent aching through her chest. No, she couldn't move. Maybe if she stayed still she would die soon.

Yet something called to her from nearby and she knew that to remain like this and leave him would be selfish. She had done enough selfish things to this man already without having to abandon him. Just what had she been thinking, trying to seduce him in her bathhouse? Was she no longer even a lady? She would be the death of him now, if she hadn't before.

He was soundless, not moving, not groaning and for all she knew, not breathing. Evy had to get to him. Blinking back the snow that had fallen on her, she forced her eyes to open, but her cradled arms just would not move. "Please," she whimpered in the shadows, knowing she needed to find the strength to untangle her limbs and sit up. Tears pooled in her dark eyes as she thought about just what had befallen them and what sort of death awaited. She wasn't an expert on frostbite or dying by it, so she had no idea what steps their bodies would take in shutting down, but it wasn't going to be pleasant. Would they smother from congestion? Fall unconscious and let life slip away?

Her jaw shivered as she forced her arms apart and to the concrete beneath her. Both it and her back were so cold she had trouble telling where her body left off and the floor began. It hurt, moving. Small places where her skin had collected and saved up heat from flesh meeting flesh were now assaulted by the freezing air and it stung like a knife slicing into her skin. "Ah," she cried loudly, drawing in precious, shuddering breaths that echoed as she somehow managed to sit up. The cold sailed over her bare skin and made her want to sink back down.

Ardeth was a few feet away, his eyes closed and his body still. His head was pillowed on an arm as he lay on his side and he looked like he could have merely been asleep, except for the blood shining darkly against the whitened floor and the snow covering him. Through pain Evy crawled in the darkness to where he lay and rested a cold hand onto his cheek. Little warmth was given through the touch and more tears assailed her as she looked him over.

Imhotep had left him his fair share of wounds, but they were nothing compared to the temperature. Snowflakes blanketed the left side of his body, little twinkles flickering upon his lashes and lips with her movement. Evy coughed and brushed the white from his dark brown hair. He did not rouse and she wondered if he were even alive. But a part of her didn't want to know, so she made no move to check. She was with him now and felt safe enough to die here.

Eternal Sorrow, with its purple haze, shone through the window and she gazed at it numbly through a broken window in this tomb, watching the clouds move as she lay down, folding her arms on his side and arranging their bodies like a cross. Her panting filled the air, back-dropped by the world's continuous exhale outside. It wouldn't be long now. Honestly, she wasn't sure of that, but Evy kept telling herself that, willing it to be true. Against him she began to grow comfortable, a twisted version of it, but a position she felt willing to let go in. Evy caressed her hand down his stomach, wishing the night had played out differently.

Countless moments passed as she waited for unconsciousness to fall again, but it was no use. She was painfully alert and hurting everywhere. Evelyn was thankful Ardeth slept through this. Slowly it began filtering to her senses that he did, in fact, draw breath, shallow and quick. This was something she would never wish on anyone except the man that put them here. Her hatred of him gave her the will to close her eyes to escape.

But a cough from below drew her attention and the sound of it made her shudder. Ardeth coughed again, a deep rasping sound that betrayed both his suffering and that he was now awake to feel it. Evy quickly pulled herself off his aching body and rested beside him, drawing him into her arms. He gratefully wrapped his own around her and rubbed his cheek across hers, coughing a few more times and offering no words. Evy could feel him shivering uncontrollably and it made her want to cry.

When he finally stopped coughing enough to settle for a moment, he limply held to her and pet her with icy hands. "I'm so sorry," she whispered to him, unable to bring her voice any louder.

"Mm mmm," he hummed negatively, tightening his hold as much as he could and exhaling raggedly. "Do not say it." He coughed a few more times and pulled his face back to look at her softly. "We have to get away from this window."

Fighting the urge to ask him what the use was, Evy nodded. She would not begrudge him any hope he had, no matter how worthless. Now more used to the cold, if one could call it that, she was the first to rise and for that she was thankful in that she could offer him the help he may have given her if he had been first to awaken into this frozen hell. A weak grip found her hand and she did her best to pull him up, draping his arm across her shoulder and aiding him to his knees. But he was too weak and fell almost immediately, pulling her down with him and turning so he took the brunt of the fall. She collapsed onto his chest and felt tempted to stay there. "Too much blood," he whispered almost reflectively and she sighed and sat up to tend him. A new darkness on her dress caught her eyes sharply and without considering the volume, she moaned in despair at the red wetness on the front of her.

He wasn't going anywhere and he knew it well enough not to try and foolishly waste energy. Ardeth relaxed against the freezing, stone floor and looked Evelyn over as she struggled with stiff fingers to pull her dress back up. He couldn't let her go on that way; couldn't do so rightly and feel good about it. So with equal struggle he lifted his heavy seeming arms and began trying to unbutton his shirt. Her eyes widened. "Don't you dare!" she hissed, then coughed and he kept on anyway. Her chill hands slapped his from his shirt and he wondered if she wouldn't just win this argument. His strength was failing him rapidly and death wouldn't be too far away from either of them.

But she would die first. Life buzzing around them soaked into his changed body, prolonging life and giving him the blessing of being with her until the very last. Then perhaps he too would find an end. He brought his fingers back to the still closed shirt and she again stopped him from giving her what little he could offer. "Evelyn," he pleaded in a voice that barely worked, wanting to help her, but knowing she had the advantage over him right now. She wouldn't help him. Evy pinned his arms beside him weakly, but it was enough to keep him from moving. "I won't take it off," he promised, searching through his mind for a compromise. "Just open it and take warmth from my body. And do not argue with me over it."

She looked a little wary about that request, but honored it, fumbling with his buttons and inviting a cool breeze into his shirt momentarily. Ardeth shivered and watched her turn her dress around so the open zipper was in front, offering him the same warmth he wanted to give, and a wan smile found his lips. Then she lay down beside him and pulled him to his side again, hugging him into her warmth. He could feel a cold slickness pass from his bare flesh to hers and knew it for what it was, his blood. His wounds ached in the freezing air.

For a little while they stayed that way and he found himself drifting off, forgetting his stinging slashes and bruised up back, until she interrupted the quiet and he opened his eyes. "I've just realized something," she whispered, caressing her cheek against his collar. "I never told you I loved you. You've said it to me a few times, but I've never returned it."

Ardeth shook his head and pet her gently. "It's all right, Evelyn. I know that you love me."

"No," she retorted, pulling herself back to gaze into his face. "It's not all right." Cold fingers brushed against his bottom lip as dark eyes looked him over. "I love you, Ardeth."

Her goodbye. If life's story had a rhythm it would see her dead after such a statement, he thought idly, reaching to trace her cheeks with shaking hands. "I love you, too," he told her, watching her struggle and wishing he could take it away from her. Evy embraced him again and he wondered what ages would pass them by here in this little tomb. Rick and Jonathan would likely never know what had befallen them.

At least they were together, but he would gladly suffer death alone if the priest would only have mercy on her. Let her live somewhere, taken care of and without having to fear him. And it was within Imhotep's heart to do such a thing, too. For all the evils he had just done, Ardeth could sense his resolve to hatred failing. Necromancer's words rushed back over the Med-Jai, the warnings of what a shared life meant and now he was beginning to see the evidence in the other. The dreams had shown him the curse, now Imhotep's feelings were showing him the blessing.

Right now the priest was fighting the light threatening to push him over the edge, calling to him to take back what he had just done. He was mourning the revelation of who he was now and who he could have been. Despite everything Ardeth understood him and it gave him no joy to feel such despair in his enemy. Imhotep would never be merciful to him, but perhaps that light could be swayed to her even still. He decided to try something he had never thought of before now.

Imhotep, he tested mentally, not sure what to wait for or if this sort of communication would be possible. Ardeth sighed when he received no distinguishable reply and closed his eyes, not wanting to let go of the desire to save her. He could see no hope, but he wasn't ready to give in. He had survived the dungeons, Necromancer and death by jackals. It couldn't end here. Not for her. Please, let her live. I know you have the desire to find yourself again. I don't ask for my life, only hers. Do not allow her to choose this. Even if the priest didn't hear his thoughts, perhaps heaven would somehow. Evelyn was becoming still against him, fading away and he could do nothing.

It came without warning, sounding through his mind loudly, coupled with longing and rage. You know nothing of my desires, Med-Jai! the voice of his enemy snapped and Ardeth's eyes flew open to be certain that he was not standing at the opening of their tomb. He must have jerked, for it caught Evy's attention as well. "What's wrong?" she asked in a sleepy voice, not bothering to rise up.

"Nothing," Ardeth replied quickly, unnerved, but searching for the voice again. It found him, cynical and filled with hate. You think you understand, but you do not. You know love, Med-Jai. You know light and yourself, but you do not know me. Die in your lover's arms and leave me be.

Absently the Med-Jai glared ahead, rubbing Evy's back in despair to see her live through this. Imhotep's refusal angered him. You spoiled child! he flared naturally, almost able to forget where this argument was being waged. You kill us and demand peace? You will never find it, Imhotep, even after we are gone. You know as well as I that the time for that has passed. Forever your guilt will consume you and you will never find fulfillment in anything you do, not because the curse keeps it from you, but because you deny it to yourself! You have the means to…

If you are wise, you will hold your thoughts from me, Med-Jai. I warn you, I will… the king tried to interrupt, but Ardeth wasn't going to let this go. Evelyn's fading warmth against him strengthened his resolve.

Do as you will, priest, but you will hear me and this is one place you cannot hide. For that I thank you for the gift you gave, for now I can tell you everything you need to hear and there is nothing you can do but come and end my life yourself! He could feel himself panting in cold air and that finally prompted his companion to tilt her head so she could see what was wrong. Her lips parted, but Bay shook his head and gave her a squeeze. "Wait." He couldn't afford to stop the battle now.

Your second chance will pass you by with her death. Forget your pride for once in your unlife and do what is right. Do what you believe in, for make no mistake I know you know what you're allowing is wrong, and let mercy back into your heart. Not because it will manipulate her and not because it will further your interests, but because you have the means. Time will fade and with that, her anger and pain. Give her a chance at the future she denies herself.

The mental fight was exhausting in his present state and even with Evy watching with worried eyes, he had to give up the tense way he was holding himself. Aching, sick and dying, he laid his head against the floor and unintentionally went limp in her arms, too tired to fight back his weariness. "Ardeth?" she questioned sharply and he groaned a response he thought had been clear enough to convey that he was all right. But he wasn't, he knew, even if he wanted her to believe so. It wouldn't be long now. He could feel every ounce of his strength seeping away, bleeding from his open wounds and it seemed so easy to let go. Just fade away and forget the fight, the world and the duty that would never be fulfilled.

But Evy settled against him again, reminding him that he was not alone. There was still duty before him and that was to her, to see her through this and wait for her to die before giving in to the calling dark. So he forced himself to open his eyes and accept the world again, to muster up enough strength to touch her face. Weak fingers rubbed Evelyn's soft cheek until he could no longer tell if they were moving or not, so numb they were from the unending cold. Countless moments passed away giving no sign that Imhotep would have mercy on her. In the end he would pay for that and for everything else.

Dazedly, he watched snow begin to fall outside, his eyelids becoming heavier and his body stiff. He watched until finally his sight gave way as well, but just as he began to surrender to sleep, something interrupted him. Somewhere in the haze he could hear a concrete scrape and with a little effort he realized it sounded like the door swinging open. There were voices as well, but too muffled for him to understand.

A sensation, barely felt and just on the edge of his failing perception suggested Evelyn had been removed from his body and he let relief spread through him. Perhaps there was still time to save her and give her back Rick and Jonathan. He would have watched her leave, but for the second time since his return he simply couldn't move. Thankfully this would be the final time. He would find the brink of death and pass it.

Or so he would have thought if his hurting limbs hadn't surged with pain as hands pulled him up from his place on the floor. Immediately he fell and those rough hands found him again, yanking him up to make him walk. He didn't know how many guards helped brace him, but when the freezing wind hit full force he knew they had managed to get him outside.

Ardeth opened his eyes and tried to see ahead, but the guards blocked his vision and the dizzy nausea kept his attention unfocussed as they pulled him along. How his legs worked he could not guess and even so he could not think clearly enough to care. Not until they opened the palace doors and ushered him through. The heat ripped at his flesh worse than the knives of the jackals and Ardeth cried out, again falling away from the hold of his captors. It burned so much that he entertained perhaps he had died after all and been sent to the underworld.

The stress of the pain brought more coughing, which threatened to smother him, but death had fled. Somehow he knew that, though he could not place why. Once more the men surrounded him, not allowing him to fight back the pain and he gasped when they forced him to stand. It hit him then that Evy was not crying out, screaming or anything. That frightened him. Had she died? Surely pain that made him give voice to it would demand the same of her.

Ardeth batted weakly at the hands circling his arms and tried to find her in the maze of guards. He called her name, or thought he did, but in reality the prayer had only been in his mind. It was enough. A command to stop came and at the head of the line Imhotep turned, carrying her limp form in his arms. He had heard his enemy's needful call and was willing to answer at least to where she was. Whether or not she lived, Ardeth did not know. In all appearances she appeared dead and the priest's expression was neutral, laced with melancholy. "No," the Med-Jai whispered, unable to take his eyes from her. Necromancer had said she would die. Was this it?

Imhotep looked at him coolly, then shifted his eyes to the ones holding him up. "Take him back to his cell. If he dies, inform me, but have an effort made to see him sustained until I may speak with him."

"Yes, your Majesty," answered a voice, that of the guard that had slapped Evelyn. Rafe was right beside Ardeth, one of those holding him close. He had little hope of being kept alive if this man were to be in charge of him.

They were not gentle as they yanked him through the hall and away from Evelyn. He barely felt the trip down into the dungeon below the castle and considered almost every step of the way there that he would not make it until the cell door was scraped open and he was dropped onto the wooden cot inside.

Queasy and hot, he eased himself to his side and worried for Evelyn, but even that could not last under his exhaustion. A mouse could have faced him down and he would have had to consider himself lucky if he were able to muster up a glare. Again the temptation to assure himself that it would not be long assailed him, but now he truly wasn't so sure. The blessing on him kept him alive well beyond what he thought he could have handled before. Perhaps he would live to see why Imhotep had allowed it.

~~~~~~~

Terrible visions of blood and brutality intruded upon her blessed escape from the cold. Her dark eyes snapped open and for a moment Evelyn struggled against the hands on her flesh, disoriented and frightened. But the other was stronger than she and determined to keep her subdued until she could bring herself back to reality. What was life doing to her, throwing her against what she had faced outside, only to have her expectation become untrue? Where was she now?

Evy backed against the porcelain bathtub she was in, she and her husbands in their private chambers, and remained still beneath Imhotep's watchful, dark eyes. They were shadowy and firm, offering little of his intentions as he regarded her. When he said nothing, she ventured to examine her situation more closely, aware that if she broke the silence he may hurt her in his potentially vengeful mindset.

The water surrounding her was just this side of warm and the tips of her hair drenched. Beside her he sat on a stool with his white sleeves pushed back and a rag in his hand, washing softly over her shoulder and arm. Imhotep had bathed with her here only a few nights ago as they spoke of the future to come, a future where she would help him learn the ways of this new world and govern it properly. A wife, not a slave. That had been a promise made through such deceptively caring eyes. Her jaw set as she realized just where she was and what her future would consist of now with this immortal being. She couldn't be here. Not back here, trapped with him again. She would rather die.

He remained quiet while she kept her eyes averted and tried to maintain calm, and for that she was thankful, but soon he spoke and the simple command jarred her enough to make her want to curl up and pretend he had never come into her life. "Stand up," he whispered gently and she obeyed, not sure she had the strength to fight anymore. A large towel was given her to dry with and she accepted quickly and without speaking. "You are very quiet," he observed, watching her set to drying her body with as little flesh shown as possible. "Have you nothing to say to me? Or do you cease to care?"

"What do you want to hear?" she breathed in a voice weakened by pain, a small sound that drew a mild cough. Evy sniffled and kept her eyes cast down.

Imhotep brought her chin up so she would look into his mild expression. "You are my wife," he told her, those fingers holding her face steady as she tried to look away. "So you shall remain and you will obey me. The games are over." He gave her arm a meaningful squeeze, then swept her up and carried her into their bedroom.

Her husband drew back the wealth of silk sheets and coverings, and when she sank into the comfort, Evy gave a soft sigh in guilty thankfulness that she was not cold anymore. It made her sick to her stomach. How could she rightly enjoy this? Ardeth was probably dead in that little tomb, having frozen to death without her warmth to keep him comforted. Alone and hopeless. The survival imposed upon her filled her eyes with tears and she rolled to her side as Imhotep tended the fireplace across from the bed.

And then he stopped. She had watched him through watery eyes almost in bitter-absent fascination at the way her life was turning out, but when his hands replaced the poker and his dark eyes hit hers, she could not look at him. Not with that confused, lost look on his face. He would tell her he reacted harshly, that he had not meant to let his rash emotions take over so drastically, or that he was sorry or that she deserved it for betraying his heart. There would be some foolish justification, something that would ask her to forgive again and let him back into her good graces. Never again. Not if her life depended on it. As far as she herself was concerned, she was nothing but a slave to him. She didn't care what he did anymore, but she would be no wife, no friend and no ally.

So she closed her eyes and rubbed her cheek against the softness of her pillow. Her master exhaled and the rustle of his pants told her he was standing. She knew full well what would come next. The lesson of submission to a being stronger than she, the assertion of her place in his life as slave. One thing about her husband was he never let her down when she assumed the worst. Imhotep came close to her slowly with none of that suggestiveness before in his stance and when he sat on the bed, she stiffened on impulse, but searched herself for composure again. It didn't matter. Whatever he did, it was nothing new. He took an inward breath, held it a moment, then spoke what she did not think she would hear. "He lives."

More tears slid down onto her pillow for what that could mean for her love. She hugged it to her head and retorted, "So you can let him taste death another way? So you can let him hope for escape and crush it again and again? Or maybe this time you intend on letting him live so that I'll forgive you again. What will it be this time?"

"He asked me for mercy and I will give it." Imhotep's tone was hard, as cold as the outside hell she had been brought in from. "I gave him a warning, Nefertiri, that he did not obey. And so shall he get his just reward."

She almost choked on that. "Just reward?" issued through grit teeth and a sudden, hard stare to match his. "You don't know what he's done for this world! He deserves to die peacefully and go back to his just reward! And you? You deserve the curse I gave to you after you murdered my father!"

It had been the wrong thing to say and she knew that full well as she had let the words pass her lips. She wanted to goad him, wanted him to beat her until she died even, for in that would be escape and penance for all she had done in raising him and raising Ardeth. Imhotep's fingers locked roughly around her flesh as he forced her to her back and held her arms down to her sides. His dark eyes flared in anger as he leaned close to her ear. Under his immortal strength there was nothing she could do but endure as best she could. "You wish to know what the Hom-Dai is, Nefertiri? You spiteful, evil woman, do you not understand? I give him compassion by sending him to the gods! I give him time with you that was never given me with Ancksunamun! Compassion that has never and will never be shown me! Do you not see?"

He looked down on her angrily, daring her to spit hateful words at him or make a demand. Which in turn raised her own anger at him, at this world and herself for allowing this to happen. "Compassion," she hissed, trying to twist her wrists from his grip. "No, I don't see! And I don't want to see! You're nothing but evil! A wolf trying to wear sheep's clothing, but it won't work anymore! I hate you!"

"You will hate, but you will see," Imhotep breathed just as darkly, his eyes ever seeking for a reason he should strip them of whatever mercy he thought he was giving. "Your Ardeth Bay will suffer pain, but it will not last. He has the affection of the gods, of you and your companions and the hope of reincarnation or rest. I have no hope of these things, not in this year or in the years and ages to come. Do you know what it is to spend 3,000 years alone? Do you understand what it is to have every shred of who you are violated by darkness whether you wish it or not? Do you understand hating yourself and knowing that this will always be so? ALWAYS, NEFERTIRI!"

His shout caused her to jerk and shift beneath him, glaring at him for his darkness, but he would not be stayed by anger or fear. The king continued on in hostile tones. "In ten thousand years, no matter what good I do now to redeem myself, I shall still be untouched by change, by love and by hope! You know what it is to fear for your life, but you do not know what it is to fear for your eternity, to know you have no choice, that there is nothing you may do to take yourself from the nightmare that never ends!"

Imhotep held to her another moment, then pulled away and Evelyn sat up against the headboard to remove as much proximity to him as she could. His tone evened and became weary as he glared. "Merciless am I? Deserving of eternal damnation? I have done evil, vile things, Nefertiri, but I save your love from my fate, a thing I could so easily do, just as you did to me. Your father killed wicked servants that dared his anger, killed innocent Hebrew children for fear of losing his power. He violated countless female slaves and if you could have seen the shameful wounds Ancksunamun bore…" Imhotep trailed off, but kept his hot glare on her, spilling forth bitterness she had never seen so clearly before. "Think on the most humiliating, hopeless and pain filled vision of what could be done to you, Nefertiri, and imagine knowing you could never escape it even in death, while life and love and richness surround you, forever untouchable. That, my beloved wife, is the Hom-Dai!"

She pulled her sheet up around her as he stood and headed for the door, trying to somehow make sense of all he had given her to absorb and to calm her frayed nerves. There was nothing she could say, no words she could even think to say to him or to soothe herself with. Her husband watched her struggle with comfort wearing cool eyes that neither asked for forgiveness, nor offered any for what he felt she had done. She didn't even know what she wanted him to say or do right now, or whether to be grateful to him that he seemed unwilling to perform this terrible curse on Ardeth. But she couldn't get past the frozen image of Ardeth on the floor, dying in a pool of his blood and snow, or the truth of what she was and would be for the remainder of her life. His words slapped her in the face with what his intentions were.

"You stole an eternity from me, Nefertiri. For that you will pay the price I have set, the price of a lifetime at my side, living as my concubine. You will never love me, but that will not stop me from enjoying you while you are mine to have!"

The door slammed shut when he exited, jarring the walls and gifting the floor with the sudden fall of a vase of imported roses. Water from the shattered vase colored the floor darker and the flowers scattered, compelling her to her feet as if nothing were wrong. Maybe if she pretended that were so it would help her get through this. Still, her hands shook when she opened the top drawer of her dresser to retrieve a nightgown. She avoided the roses.

~~~~~~~

Disclaimer: No infringement intended. Ahamad, Nashean, Mayadeh, Sajul/Necromancer, Arya, Layla, Sania and Reyhanen (and a few less significant originals) belong to me.

A/N: Henceforth I will be replying to people who flame with movie quotes to keep myself entertained. :-D

A/A/N: I've tagged a thank-you to reviewers of When The World Ends down there, or if you reviewed last chapter of Speak Softly as well, it will be in your usual place below. :-D

To Reviewers:

Marxbros – Hey! Wow, Bolivia, eh? What do you do that lets you travel like that??? Where I can sign up? ;-) Thanks! I hadn't expected to see you for another few weeks, so this was a very pleasant surprise. Thank you very much! I'm pleased you liked it! :-D

Mommints – Hate me? :-O What does "merde" mean?? Hehehe. Anyhoo, thanks for dropping by and offering your thoughts! Glad you're enjoying! :-D Glad you've got some stuff cooking for us to read as well! :-D Also, thank you for reviewing When The World Ends. I guess I find those two ideas somewhat daunting because they require a good amount of choreography, so to speak. I'm not an expert of fighting, nor sex so I can but hope to get it all right.

Well Duh – Hehehe..aye, issues. ;-) Thanks! :-D

Zarah – Wow! I never knew anyone had the name Celestine for real? Does she pronounce it "Selestine" or "Kelestine"? I'm going to assume with an "s" so maybe so you won't associate the names I'll tell you I usually think of my character as "Kelestine", after the way the Elves pronounce the prefix "Cele" on LOTR. ;-) But then, maybe that's how yer friend does…so now yer all, "Doh!" ;-) At any rate, thanks for the review and the email! I'm very happy you're enjoying, my friend! Anyway, thanks also for reviewing When The World Ends…glad you liked that…I might try something again in the future. Hmm.

Lady of Light – I'd like to share a revelation that I've had, during my time here. It came to me when I tried to classify your species. I realized that you're not actually mammals. Every mammal on this planet instinctively develops a natural equilibrium with the surrounding environment, but you humans do not. You move to an area, and you multiply, and multiply, until every natural resource is consumed. The only way you can survive is to spread to another area. There is another organism on this planet that follows the same pattern. A virus. Human beings are a disease, a cancer of this planet, you are a plague, and we are the cure.

Dead-Girls-Watch – Thanks! I'm happy you like! :-D Congrats on finishing The Unfortunate Amulet! That was a great story! :-D

Serena – Hmm…we'll have to see on that trial thing being for naught. ;-) Thanks for taking the time to review!

Marcher – Hehehe...good, I like making people feel bad for Immy even when he's being a complete jerk. :-D Muahahaha! Thanks for the review on this and on When The World Ends…glad you liked both. ;-) WTWE didn't come from a dream, unfortunately…just my imagination. Lol. Would that I could dream like that. ;-) Woo!

Deana – Hehehe…cold bad. ;-) Thanks for reviewing this and When The World Ends, my friend! Glad you're enjoying! :-D Means a bunch!

When The World Ends reviewers not above: please note, Tolkien Freak and I have since come to somewhat of an understanding via email, she explained her reasons and I explained mine, so that's all water under the bridge. No worries here, nor there I think. :-\

Aiyana Torres – Thanks, my friend! Glad you liked this piece. :-D You're very kind to say so. :-D You rock as well, so I'm looking forward always to more of your Voyager stories!! ;-) Maybe someday in a galaxy far far away your alternate universe persona will write a Mummy piece about Ancksunamun? ;-)

Bachy A – Thanks! I appreciate the support! Glad you could read even if it wasn't one of your favored pairings. :-)

Imhoteps Lover – Thank you as well for your support, it means a bunch! I'm sorry you got flamed, but I'm glad you're back. Some people have reasons for their mean words and some people are just braindead. Bleh. Keep writing!

Tolkien Freak – Thanks anyway for your time and for being able to talk with me over email.

Patty – Thanks!! :-D I may or may not continue with WTWE. :-\ hmmm. I have a plot idea…but just not sure I'll have the time yet. Hmm. Thanks!

Kathy – Thankie! Glad you liked it. I'd love to lose to Ardeth that way myself. ;-) Thanks for the review!