Hey all! By the time I get this up I've obviously finished the chapter, so
yay! I'm glad I got at least some reviews... the best inspiration to write
another four pages of material is to see someone say ' I can't wait until
you update this story!' or something like that, so thank youuuuuu!
I've made a few changes to the story, if you haven't already checked the other chapters you should now because it may become important later on. (you just never know)
I am now going to be using faces ( ^_^ :] }:0 ) when I feel they are necessary to convey Raven's feelings at that point.
For future reference, WABS stands for Weirded Out Blank Stare. It's something I made up at school during math class, so give me a break.
{To Chuen: Thank you, somewhat-all-powerful-one. But be warned, I shall kick you hypothetical ass when we do that mental battle to see who gets earth in 105 months. That is all.}
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Domino City is a big place. I live in a small house surrounded on both sides by buildings, and most people I know live in apartments. It's like sweet home New York, without the charming cab drivers and the awesome accents. As we walk through the more run-down part of town I feel a sense of familiarity. I knew this place. I grew up in the slums of the city.
I am paying more attention to what is around me than to what they are saying. The once-tall buildings are dark or have sheets up over the broken windows. There are few people outside, but the ones who are seem to be decent people, though poor. I feel a sudden pang of sympathy towards them, then regret it. They do not want sympathy. They want money, or better jobs, or food for their children. They want luck, not someone saying 'I feel sorry for you.'
A Beastie Boys song is coming from a boom box. A teenage boy that is probably not from around my part of town is next to it, nodding his head with every beat of the bass drum. He watches us walk by, eyeing us but still nodding to the music. The others, except for Ryou and Anzu give him weird looks. He smiles to himself, knowing that they would not understand.
I smile to the boy, in return, though I keep my eyes ahead of me. I know why they turn away, I think to him. I know why they do not, in turn, nod to the beat of the music though they want to.
The boy looks up at me and nods in respect, while smiling softly. He understands.
A flicker runs through my mind. It there and gone again in a second. I am on the verge of realizing something that others don't but once again it slips out of my fingers before I can grasp it.
Hidden Meanings, I think. It has something to do with Hidden Meanings, but there is a word that I am trying to remember and it is not coming.
We pass the guy and the Beastie Boys music fades in the background, but the low vibrations of the bass drum follow us for a ways.
***
I expected the Game Shop to be like an arcade or video game store. When we get there, I am surprised to see that it is actually a...well, game shop. There are puzzles and mah-jhong and other things that I have never seen before. The most displayed items are playing cards with pictures of different monsters and people on them. There is Japanese writing on them, probably describing the monster on it.
Jonouchi and Yugi sit at a square table and take out two decks of brown cards and start shuffling them. Anzu, Honda, and Ryou sit on stools next to a silver counter obviously meant for holding a cash register, but I do not see one. I am the last one in, because I have been lingering behind, looking at all the wonderful things in the neighborhood we passed through, and I get to sit next to the holy white-haired one. :]
"Okay," says Jonouchi. "Yugi, you need to show me that awesome combo you pulled off yesterday."
Yugi laughed. "I'll get to that, Joey. Just play your best and I'm sure you'll get it yourself."
They put down the shuffled decks of cards and took a hand, five cards each.
"What are you playing?" I ask.
Jonouchi and Yugi give me stares, and so do the rest of the gang.
"You mean you've never seen Duel Monsters?" Yugi asked, with a WABS on his face.
"Nooo... what is Duel Monsters?"
"What's Duel Monsters?" Jonouchi shouts. "It's only the coolest thing in the history of nothing!"
"Don't you mean, the history of everything?"
He, too, gives me a WABS. (I thought those were supposed to be mine....)
"Whatever. Anyway. how could you not know about Duel Monsters?"
"Because I don't."
Yugi interrupts us before we could start physically hurting each other.
"Duel Monsters is a card game. You basically use monster cards to attack each other and wipe out their life points. Each monster card has an attack number, and a defense number. If you put a card in attack mode you can attack with it, but if your opponent attacks it and they have more attack points than your card, you subtract your attack points from his and take it from your life points. If you put a monster in defense mode and they are destroyed, you don't get points taken away. If the defense points are higher than the attack points, then the opponent gets that subtracted number out of his life points. Get it?
"Pretty much...." I say. It's just a game of numbers. It doesn't seem so hard.
Yugi gives me a really cute half-smile and turns back to his game. I watch them play for a while, using monster and magic cards and subtracting numbers on a scrap piece of paper. There is talking involved, but mostly I tune it out because I am trying to learn the game.
I don't know why I even care about the stupid card game. It seems strangely interesting and addicting once you start playing it, though because after they were done with the first game (Yugi totally pulverized Joey) they did a rematch. About halfway through the second game I had basically gotten it, so I turned around to face the blank wall for some serious zoning out.
Ryou, of course, is way ahead of me. He is staring at the golden pendant that he wears, which he is now holding in his hand and muttering very softly to it. I feel a horrible urge to wave my hand in front of his face to see if he would snap out of it, but I restrain myself. I hate it when people do that to me, so...
I tear my gaze away from his pendant and stare at a pewter dragon statue. It's eyes are a bright blue, and it is holding an orb. I have seen many statues similar to this, where a dragon of some sort is protecting a spherical object. But this one. this one looks entirely too real.
FLASH
A huge desert is all around me. The only sounds I hear are form the wind and from the scuttling of scorpions. This is good, I want quiet.
I stretch out my large, sleek body on a brown rock that is hot from the sun, but I do not care. The heat does not affect me. I enjoy pain.
I am sadistic, so sue me.
My father and sisters and brothers are probably searching for me, but I don't give a damn. I am fucking tired of my life, of being held at bay when I just want to scream and fight. I don't care whose it is, but I need blood. Now.
I am not afraid of being found or caught. They cannot make me cross the small river that separates me from them unless I do it freely. And I will not go freely. Soon I will move out of this Ra-forsaken desert and go have some real fun in Bubastis, where they worship my sister. That will show those idiots who is the dominant one. Every year IsheI gets a huge ceremony, and what do I get? A couple of priests in a stone temple! Where is my marble, my ever-burning flame? They will learn to respect the Queen of Lions, Sekhmet!
I see a large bird fly down on the ground next to me. Its plumage is quite beautiful, with white and cream with intelligent brown eyes. It is, of course, an ibis.
"Thoth!" I growl. "Go away."
The ibis looks at me and then is no longer an ibis. It is Thoth, in his true, almost-intimidating-if-I-weren't-a-lion-goddess-who-could-tear- his-heart-out-and-feed-it-to-Amnet form. His skin is pale, like his feathers, and his hands are long and slender. His head stays that of an ibis, giving him an eerie look to a mortal. I, however, cannot be fooled. Thoth is the one who seeks knowledge, not fighting. If I had the chance he would be dead in less than a second.
"You must come back," he says calmly. "Everyone is searching for you."
"That is easy for you to say. I need blood, and if I have to I will get it from you! So leave, before I am tempted."
"Your threats are empty, young Sekhmet. If you were to try I would just fly away, as does a bird from a cat. Why do you think Ra gave us wings?"
"To annoy me?" I mutter dryly. I had not moved from my original spot on the rock, I was too comfortable to move.
There was a long silence from Thoth. He shakes his head and sighs.
"Fine, then. I will leave you." Then he turns into an ibis and flies up and away
I watch him until he is invisible in the afternoon sky, then close my eyes.
Time for sleep.
FLASH
I awake to hear the sound of a small child crying, far off in the distance. Opening my yellow eyes I see that it is, indeed a small girl. I get up to investigate.
I pad along silently towards her, but she does not seem to see me. She keeps sobbing, calling for her mother and begging the gods to help her because she is thirsty and scared.
Oh, child. You called for the wrong goddess. I will eat you and let your young blood drip down my lips and I shall rejoice...
She finally sees me and screams, calling to Ra and Horus and Sebek and Bes and Bast and Set and all the other gods I know about and some that I don't. Her shrill cries for help pierce the afternoon air and my ears. I flatten them against my head.
This girl is hurting me! Me, the goddess of war and chaos and blood. I, the lion goddess! She will pay in full.
I crouch, then pounce and my loud roar of joy fills the air, overwhelming her screams! So long have I waited to do this again...
Then, she is not there.
I land on the hard desert earth where she used to be sitting. I roar in frustration and swipe at the space where her dead body should be.
But I only swipe air.
"You are very predictable, Sekhmet," a sly-sounding voice behind me says.
I turn around.
"Thoth." I growl. "Of course."
I realize that in my anxiousness to get the child I have completely overlooked the sacred river I had crossed. I was now in the God's range of dominion, and I could not escape this time. I look at the arrogant bird with rage.
"I will kill you and feed your soul to Amnet for tricking me like this!"
"Yes," said Thoth. "But I must say, it was quite easy."
FLASH
"Raven?"
I look up. Everyone is staring at me like I had passed out or something. Even Ryou has put down his pendant and is looking at me with concern.
"What?"
Jonouchi totally freaks out. "What? What? What do you mean, what?!? You totally spaced out for like, ten minutes! You were staring at the wall and muttering something, then you banged your hand on the table!"
So that explains the pain in my fist," I think.
"Well. I don't know. I was just thinking really hard. Calm down!" I look at their worried faces. "I'm fine... really." Anzu is probably the most scared, she may have felt some of what I had.
Suddenly I feel very stupid, like I had done something very foolish like scream bloody murder at a rat. Well, the rat was gone now and I wanted to go hide my face for a while.
"I should probably get home," I say quietly. I slide off the stool and head for the door, but Ryou stops me.
"Can I walk you home?" he asks. I think he wants to ask me something personal so I nod.
The others say their goodbyes and we head out into the cool evening.
***
We walk silently for about a block. The crescent moon shines brightly, and the dark streets are illuminated with a dim white light. I love nights like these, when all is still and silent.
"What did you see?" he asks suddenly. I look at him, unsurprised at his question.
"I had a vision."
I am surprised, now, but it is because he is not. He is not confused, he is curious.
"Of what?"
We are passing the Music Boy again. He is not listening to music, and his tape player is turned off, but he is still there and he nods slightly when we pass. I nod back, then continue my conversation.
"I'm not exactly sure...." That was a lie. I am very sure of what I saw, I just don't want to say it. Before it was weird, now it is getting freaky.
"I think I had a vision of Sekhmet. You know, one of the Egyptian goddesses? She was being tricked into going back home and she was really pissed off about it, so that's probably why I banged the table."
He shakes his head. "No... I don't know. What is she the goddess of?"
"War, chaos, bloodshed. She was angry because she was not being permitted to kill people so she left and one of the other gods tried to bring her back."
I smile. Ryou is barely understanding what I am telling him about.
"Well, Thoth, the god of knowledge and cunning tricked her into coming back of her own accord by putting out an illusion of a young girl. Sekhmet wanted to kill the girl so badly she crossed the threshold into the god's domain and had to stay there."
"Ah."
I am really talking now. 'The thing is, I've had a vision like this before."
"Of Sekhmet?"
"No, it was of Horus. He was flying over Egypt, and then he was in a tree talking to a dying man named Shadow."
Ryou seems to be getting it.
"Horus is the sky-god, right? A falcon?"
"Yes."
He nods slowly.
"Do you know what these visions mean?"
I shake my head sadly, and I feel tears coming out of my eyes.
"No," I stutter. Why am I crying? I haven't cried in so long... I can't remember when I last did. This wasn't such a big deal, why am I making one?
Ryou looks at me, and I try to wipe the tears away. Unfortunately, it just makes me look even more pathetic. This is not a good day for me.
Suddenly he is embracing me and my full weight is against him. My tears come and I cannot stop them, but he just sways softly and holds me more.
"I understand," he whispers. "It's hard, this kind of thing? You don't know what it means or why you are the one with it but it's there. You just have to deal."
I nod. The tears have slowed down and I have stopped shaking, but he still hugs me. I want to be there forever, if possible.
Then, I figure out exactly what this must look like. I feel very embarrassed again and I let go of him, even though I do not want to. He looks embarrassed, too, like he admitted something he usually didn't talk about.
"I'm sorry," he says softly. "That was kind of weird."
My face is a bright scarlet. "It's okay... I think I needed that."
We walk in silence until we get to my house. The windows are dark and the house is silent. Mom is probably trying to get something at the grocery store and Dad's doing overtime.
And we are alone.
Damn, I want to kiss him so badly but I'm not sure what impression it will make on him, so I just stand there. I'm not sure if I'm trying to build up the courage to kiss him or I'm waiting for him to kiss me or I just can't move.
Something had better happen soon, though, because I need to piss.
Finally, after what seemed like hours (about five seconds in real time) he sighed.
"Well... Ja ne, Raven."
"Goodnight."
He stares at me for another second, then turns away and walks into the darkness. As I watch him leave I am aware of a small brown cat on the trash can across the street. This would not be weird, if it were not for the strange looking bird perched upon the brick wall behind it, like a stork or crane.
"Fuck off," I say to them quietly. The bird looks at me for a couple seconds, then flaps it's huge wings and flies off. The cat jumps off it's trash can and leaves as well, following the ibis.
I unlock the door and go into my silent house.
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Wow.. it sure took a lot longer than I thought it would. This chapter introduces a lot of new things, including a couple of new characters. If any of you don't know who these Egyptian gods/goddesses are, here they are:
Thoth~ God of knowledge and cleverness. It is a recorded legend in which Thoth tricks Sekhmet into coming back from the desert, although I could not remember it to the letter. (sorry) He is usually portrayed as having the head of an ibis, which is a bird that looks a lot like a crane and is native to the area around the Nile river.
Sekhmet~ Goddess of war and blood and chaos. She is (I am almost sure) the sister of Bast. I like to use them as the Ying-Yang relationship seeing as how they are very similar in body but almost opposites in spirit. Sekhmet has the head of a lion and the body of a young woman.
Bast~ One of my personal favorites, Bast is the cat goddess of love and sex. In Egyptain statues of her, she is shown holding a sacred rattle and four kittens at her feet, for she is also the goddess of childbirth. (Or is that Isis?)
Horus~ The ever-popular falcon god of the sky. He is the grandson of Ra, and the son of Ra and Osiris. He will come up later in the story.
Isis~ I'm not sure if we will see her, but if we do she is the goddess of magic. She is usually portrayed as a regular woman with a headdress made of two large cow horns.
Sebek~ Probably won't see him, but he gets mentioned a lot. He is the god of. the Nile? I think. If he isn't he's the god of crocodiles, that I'm sure of. He has the head of (you guessed it) a crocodile.
Another thing. I totally give up. I KNOW that you use those stupid little html codes like u and crap, but they are not working for me. Help please....
Jan ne,
Khani
I've made a few changes to the story, if you haven't already checked the other chapters you should now because it may become important later on. (you just never know)
I am now going to be using faces ( ^_^ :] }:0 ) when I feel they are necessary to convey Raven's feelings at that point.
For future reference, WABS stands for Weirded Out Blank Stare. It's something I made up at school during math class, so give me a break.
{To Chuen: Thank you, somewhat-all-powerful-one. But be warned, I shall kick you hypothetical ass when we do that mental battle to see who gets earth in 105 months. That is all.}
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Domino City is a big place. I live in a small house surrounded on both sides by buildings, and most people I know live in apartments. It's like sweet home New York, without the charming cab drivers and the awesome accents. As we walk through the more run-down part of town I feel a sense of familiarity. I knew this place. I grew up in the slums of the city.
I am paying more attention to what is around me than to what they are saying. The once-tall buildings are dark or have sheets up over the broken windows. There are few people outside, but the ones who are seem to be decent people, though poor. I feel a sudden pang of sympathy towards them, then regret it. They do not want sympathy. They want money, or better jobs, or food for their children. They want luck, not someone saying 'I feel sorry for you.'
A Beastie Boys song is coming from a boom box. A teenage boy that is probably not from around my part of town is next to it, nodding his head with every beat of the bass drum. He watches us walk by, eyeing us but still nodding to the music. The others, except for Ryou and Anzu give him weird looks. He smiles to himself, knowing that they would not understand.
I smile to the boy, in return, though I keep my eyes ahead of me. I know why they turn away, I think to him. I know why they do not, in turn, nod to the beat of the music though they want to.
The boy looks up at me and nods in respect, while smiling softly. He understands.
A flicker runs through my mind. It there and gone again in a second. I am on the verge of realizing something that others don't but once again it slips out of my fingers before I can grasp it.
Hidden Meanings, I think. It has something to do with Hidden Meanings, but there is a word that I am trying to remember and it is not coming.
We pass the guy and the Beastie Boys music fades in the background, but the low vibrations of the bass drum follow us for a ways.
***
I expected the Game Shop to be like an arcade or video game store. When we get there, I am surprised to see that it is actually a...well, game shop. There are puzzles and mah-jhong and other things that I have never seen before. The most displayed items are playing cards with pictures of different monsters and people on them. There is Japanese writing on them, probably describing the monster on it.
Jonouchi and Yugi sit at a square table and take out two decks of brown cards and start shuffling them. Anzu, Honda, and Ryou sit on stools next to a silver counter obviously meant for holding a cash register, but I do not see one. I am the last one in, because I have been lingering behind, looking at all the wonderful things in the neighborhood we passed through, and I get to sit next to the holy white-haired one. :]
"Okay," says Jonouchi. "Yugi, you need to show me that awesome combo you pulled off yesterday."
Yugi laughed. "I'll get to that, Joey. Just play your best and I'm sure you'll get it yourself."
They put down the shuffled decks of cards and took a hand, five cards each.
"What are you playing?" I ask.
Jonouchi and Yugi give me stares, and so do the rest of the gang.
"You mean you've never seen Duel Monsters?" Yugi asked, with a WABS on his face.
"Nooo... what is Duel Monsters?"
"What's Duel Monsters?" Jonouchi shouts. "It's only the coolest thing in the history of nothing!"
"Don't you mean, the history of everything?"
He, too, gives me a WABS. (I thought those were supposed to be mine....)
"Whatever. Anyway. how could you not know about Duel Monsters?"
"Because I don't."
Yugi interrupts us before we could start physically hurting each other.
"Duel Monsters is a card game. You basically use monster cards to attack each other and wipe out their life points. Each monster card has an attack number, and a defense number. If you put a card in attack mode you can attack with it, but if your opponent attacks it and they have more attack points than your card, you subtract your attack points from his and take it from your life points. If you put a monster in defense mode and they are destroyed, you don't get points taken away. If the defense points are higher than the attack points, then the opponent gets that subtracted number out of his life points. Get it?
"Pretty much...." I say. It's just a game of numbers. It doesn't seem so hard.
Yugi gives me a really cute half-smile and turns back to his game. I watch them play for a while, using monster and magic cards and subtracting numbers on a scrap piece of paper. There is talking involved, but mostly I tune it out because I am trying to learn the game.
I don't know why I even care about the stupid card game. It seems strangely interesting and addicting once you start playing it, though because after they were done with the first game (Yugi totally pulverized Joey) they did a rematch. About halfway through the second game I had basically gotten it, so I turned around to face the blank wall for some serious zoning out.
Ryou, of course, is way ahead of me. He is staring at the golden pendant that he wears, which he is now holding in his hand and muttering very softly to it. I feel a horrible urge to wave my hand in front of his face to see if he would snap out of it, but I restrain myself. I hate it when people do that to me, so...
I tear my gaze away from his pendant and stare at a pewter dragon statue. It's eyes are a bright blue, and it is holding an orb. I have seen many statues similar to this, where a dragon of some sort is protecting a spherical object. But this one. this one looks entirely too real.
FLASH
A huge desert is all around me. The only sounds I hear are form the wind and from the scuttling of scorpions. This is good, I want quiet.
I stretch out my large, sleek body on a brown rock that is hot from the sun, but I do not care. The heat does not affect me. I enjoy pain.
I am sadistic, so sue me.
My father and sisters and brothers are probably searching for me, but I don't give a damn. I am fucking tired of my life, of being held at bay when I just want to scream and fight. I don't care whose it is, but I need blood. Now.
I am not afraid of being found or caught. They cannot make me cross the small river that separates me from them unless I do it freely. And I will not go freely. Soon I will move out of this Ra-forsaken desert and go have some real fun in Bubastis, where they worship my sister. That will show those idiots who is the dominant one. Every year IsheI gets a huge ceremony, and what do I get? A couple of priests in a stone temple! Where is my marble, my ever-burning flame? They will learn to respect the Queen of Lions, Sekhmet!
I see a large bird fly down on the ground next to me. Its plumage is quite beautiful, with white and cream with intelligent brown eyes. It is, of course, an ibis.
"Thoth!" I growl. "Go away."
The ibis looks at me and then is no longer an ibis. It is Thoth, in his true, almost-intimidating-if-I-weren't-a-lion-goddess-who-could-tear- his-heart-out-and-feed-it-to-Amnet form. His skin is pale, like his feathers, and his hands are long and slender. His head stays that of an ibis, giving him an eerie look to a mortal. I, however, cannot be fooled. Thoth is the one who seeks knowledge, not fighting. If I had the chance he would be dead in less than a second.
"You must come back," he says calmly. "Everyone is searching for you."
"That is easy for you to say. I need blood, and if I have to I will get it from you! So leave, before I am tempted."
"Your threats are empty, young Sekhmet. If you were to try I would just fly away, as does a bird from a cat. Why do you think Ra gave us wings?"
"To annoy me?" I mutter dryly. I had not moved from my original spot on the rock, I was too comfortable to move.
There was a long silence from Thoth. He shakes his head and sighs.
"Fine, then. I will leave you." Then he turns into an ibis and flies up and away
I watch him until he is invisible in the afternoon sky, then close my eyes.
Time for sleep.
FLASH
I awake to hear the sound of a small child crying, far off in the distance. Opening my yellow eyes I see that it is, indeed a small girl. I get up to investigate.
I pad along silently towards her, but she does not seem to see me. She keeps sobbing, calling for her mother and begging the gods to help her because she is thirsty and scared.
Oh, child. You called for the wrong goddess. I will eat you and let your young blood drip down my lips and I shall rejoice...
She finally sees me and screams, calling to Ra and Horus and Sebek and Bes and Bast and Set and all the other gods I know about and some that I don't. Her shrill cries for help pierce the afternoon air and my ears. I flatten them against my head.
This girl is hurting me! Me, the goddess of war and chaos and blood. I, the lion goddess! She will pay in full.
I crouch, then pounce and my loud roar of joy fills the air, overwhelming her screams! So long have I waited to do this again...
Then, she is not there.
I land on the hard desert earth where she used to be sitting. I roar in frustration and swipe at the space where her dead body should be.
But I only swipe air.
"You are very predictable, Sekhmet," a sly-sounding voice behind me says.
I turn around.
"Thoth." I growl. "Of course."
I realize that in my anxiousness to get the child I have completely overlooked the sacred river I had crossed. I was now in the God's range of dominion, and I could not escape this time. I look at the arrogant bird with rage.
"I will kill you and feed your soul to Amnet for tricking me like this!"
"Yes," said Thoth. "But I must say, it was quite easy."
FLASH
"Raven?"
I look up. Everyone is staring at me like I had passed out or something. Even Ryou has put down his pendant and is looking at me with concern.
"What?"
Jonouchi totally freaks out. "What? What? What do you mean, what?!? You totally spaced out for like, ten minutes! You were staring at the wall and muttering something, then you banged your hand on the table!"
So that explains the pain in my fist," I think.
"Well. I don't know. I was just thinking really hard. Calm down!" I look at their worried faces. "I'm fine... really." Anzu is probably the most scared, she may have felt some of what I had.
Suddenly I feel very stupid, like I had done something very foolish like scream bloody murder at a rat. Well, the rat was gone now and I wanted to go hide my face for a while.
"I should probably get home," I say quietly. I slide off the stool and head for the door, but Ryou stops me.
"Can I walk you home?" he asks. I think he wants to ask me something personal so I nod.
The others say their goodbyes and we head out into the cool evening.
***
We walk silently for about a block. The crescent moon shines brightly, and the dark streets are illuminated with a dim white light. I love nights like these, when all is still and silent.
"What did you see?" he asks suddenly. I look at him, unsurprised at his question.
"I had a vision."
I am surprised, now, but it is because he is not. He is not confused, he is curious.
"Of what?"
We are passing the Music Boy again. He is not listening to music, and his tape player is turned off, but he is still there and he nods slightly when we pass. I nod back, then continue my conversation.
"I'm not exactly sure...." That was a lie. I am very sure of what I saw, I just don't want to say it. Before it was weird, now it is getting freaky.
"I think I had a vision of Sekhmet. You know, one of the Egyptian goddesses? She was being tricked into going back home and she was really pissed off about it, so that's probably why I banged the table."
He shakes his head. "No... I don't know. What is she the goddess of?"
"War, chaos, bloodshed. She was angry because she was not being permitted to kill people so she left and one of the other gods tried to bring her back."
I smile. Ryou is barely understanding what I am telling him about.
"Well, Thoth, the god of knowledge and cunning tricked her into coming back of her own accord by putting out an illusion of a young girl. Sekhmet wanted to kill the girl so badly she crossed the threshold into the god's domain and had to stay there."
"Ah."
I am really talking now. 'The thing is, I've had a vision like this before."
"Of Sekhmet?"
"No, it was of Horus. He was flying over Egypt, and then he was in a tree talking to a dying man named Shadow."
Ryou seems to be getting it.
"Horus is the sky-god, right? A falcon?"
"Yes."
He nods slowly.
"Do you know what these visions mean?"
I shake my head sadly, and I feel tears coming out of my eyes.
"No," I stutter. Why am I crying? I haven't cried in so long... I can't remember when I last did. This wasn't such a big deal, why am I making one?
Ryou looks at me, and I try to wipe the tears away. Unfortunately, it just makes me look even more pathetic. This is not a good day for me.
Suddenly he is embracing me and my full weight is against him. My tears come and I cannot stop them, but he just sways softly and holds me more.
"I understand," he whispers. "It's hard, this kind of thing? You don't know what it means or why you are the one with it but it's there. You just have to deal."
I nod. The tears have slowed down and I have stopped shaking, but he still hugs me. I want to be there forever, if possible.
Then, I figure out exactly what this must look like. I feel very embarrassed again and I let go of him, even though I do not want to. He looks embarrassed, too, like he admitted something he usually didn't talk about.
"I'm sorry," he says softly. "That was kind of weird."
My face is a bright scarlet. "It's okay... I think I needed that."
We walk in silence until we get to my house. The windows are dark and the house is silent. Mom is probably trying to get something at the grocery store and Dad's doing overtime.
And we are alone.
Damn, I want to kiss him so badly but I'm not sure what impression it will make on him, so I just stand there. I'm not sure if I'm trying to build up the courage to kiss him or I'm waiting for him to kiss me or I just can't move.
Something had better happen soon, though, because I need to piss.
Finally, after what seemed like hours (about five seconds in real time) he sighed.
"Well... Ja ne, Raven."
"Goodnight."
He stares at me for another second, then turns away and walks into the darkness. As I watch him leave I am aware of a small brown cat on the trash can across the street. This would not be weird, if it were not for the strange looking bird perched upon the brick wall behind it, like a stork or crane.
"Fuck off," I say to them quietly. The bird looks at me for a couple seconds, then flaps it's huge wings and flies off. The cat jumps off it's trash can and leaves as well, following the ibis.
I unlock the door and go into my silent house.
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Wow.. it sure took a lot longer than I thought it would. This chapter introduces a lot of new things, including a couple of new characters. If any of you don't know who these Egyptian gods/goddesses are, here they are:
Thoth~ God of knowledge and cleverness. It is a recorded legend in which Thoth tricks Sekhmet into coming back from the desert, although I could not remember it to the letter. (sorry) He is usually portrayed as having the head of an ibis, which is a bird that looks a lot like a crane and is native to the area around the Nile river.
Sekhmet~ Goddess of war and blood and chaos. She is (I am almost sure) the sister of Bast. I like to use them as the Ying-Yang relationship seeing as how they are very similar in body but almost opposites in spirit. Sekhmet has the head of a lion and the body of a young woman.
Bast~ One of my personal favorites, Bast is the cat goddess of love and sex. In Egyptain statues of her, she is shown holding a sacred rattle and four kittens at her feet, for she is also the goddess of childbirth. (Or is that Isis?)
Horus~ The ever-popular falcon god of the sky. He is the grandson of Ra, and the son of Ra and Osiris. He will come up later in the story.
Isis~ I'm not sure if we will see her, but if we do she is the goddess of magic. She is usually portrayed as a regular woman with a headdress made of two large cow horns.
Sebek~ Probably won't see him, but he gets mentioned a lot. He is the god of. the Nile? I think. If he isn't he's the god of crocodiles, that I'm sure of. He has the head of (you guessed it) a crocodile.
Another thing. I totally give up. I KNOW that you use those stupid little html codes like u and crap, but they are not working for me. Help please....
Jan ne,
Khani