"I am the Great Cat which dwelleth in the Seat of Truth.
I am the Lion-god who cometh forth with long strides.
I am the Eye of Horus."
- The Book of the Dead

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4
Harsiesis, Plus Harakhte, Equals Horus
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"You are the key."

Kyou looked at Harakhte doubtfully. "What do you mean by that?"

Harakhte smiled, a tight, wild expression. "What do you know about my people?" he asked in return.

Kyou snorted. "I don't even know where the hell we are or who your damn people are! How am I supposed to know anything about them?"

Harakhte nodded, still smiling that tight smile that make his head look like a skull. "Very well, I will begin at the beginning. Please, take a seat. This may take awhile."

Shooting a guarded glance at his erstwhile host, Kyou complied. Once seated on the smooth stone of the floor, he took an annoyed look around the room. Harakhte called it a temple. Kyou supposed it was. There was an enormous statue in the middle of the room. Harakte had mentioned earlier that his people worshiped cats. It was at that point that Kyou knew the man was a psycho. Not that the idea wasn't appealing… No. It didn't matter. It was outside. Whatever Harakhte said, this world of his was outside of Kyou's.

"Once there was the lady Isis and her husband Osiris," began Harakhte as if telling a bedtime story. "and they lived happily together. But Osiris' brother, Seth, was jealous of his brother's power and conspired to kill him. He succeeded." Harakhte paused, his eyes distant as if he was himself reliving the events he was describing. "Isis was heart-broken. She beseeched the other gods for aid in resurrecting her fallen husband. Many came forward. But foremost among them was Horus." Harakhte's strange golden eyes were fixed on Kyou's; the hair on the back of the cat's neck was standing on end.

"Horus," Kyou echoed. Something in the back of his head stirred in recognition, but he squashed it viciously. No. He was not going to play this stranger's game. But a shiver ran all over his body with that thought, and Harakhte's golden gaze held him almost spellbound.

"Horus is two people, really," Harakhte continued, in a more conversational vein. "He is the sun that journeys across the sky, and he is the warrior of Osiris; the God of Destruction and Rebirth, and then the God of Vengeance." Harakhte smirked. "I thought the role fit you well. Akito, the fool, does not see what he has made."

Akito? Made? "Tell me what on earth you are talking about you psycho, or I am getting the hell out of here!" Kyou's eyes were round and his lip was curled in distaste as he tried to pull away from Harakhte but found himself drawn to the strange man.

Harakhte made a calming gesture but his eyes were still faraway in time. "Do you not see? It started when our land was overrun, the fracturing. When the invaders would not let us practice the rituals. They believed they did not need the guardian." Harakhte sneered at the memory; this could not have happened in Harakhte's lifetime, Kyou was certain, so why did the man remember it as if he had been there?

"The guardian spirit watches the doorway to the world of the gods. It connects with a human, the worthy one, who is chosen to be the vessel of the guardian. But for many years, there was no vessel." His eyes were so faraway, the years heavy upon him, and Kyou felt himself drawn into the past with the words. "There was no guardian. Each year grew worse than the one before it, without the guardian at the door. Seth was no longer barred from this world, and so little by little he came more boldly into it. Each year things became more… splintered. Until finally…" Harakhte's distant eyes suddenly locked on Kyou, and it was not Harakhte that looked out of them at the cat but something else. Something… familiar, in such a strange way that he could not have said how he knew it. "It broke. The bonds that held Seth bound, the bonds that held Horus as guardian… everything broke."

"It was chaos," Kyou said, his voice chanting the words as if there were from some history he had memorized, though he would have sworn he had never heard them before. "With Seth free and released into the world and Horus unable to oppose him, there was chaos. The others did what they could, but… They needed the guardian." His eyes glazed over as he continued, and that stirring at the back of his mind stirred again, more strongly this time. "And Horus was broken into pieces. The sun stayed, but the warrior of vengeance was drawn away… pulled to another. And he made his home elsewhere."

Harakhte's eyes glowed with golden light. "Harsiesis," he breathed.

Kyou's eyes seemed to glow in return. "Harakhte," he replied in a voice of recognition.

"Welcome," Harakhte said, a wide smile on his face. He held out his hand to Kyou.

Kyou reached out as if to take it, but snatched his hand back at the last second. Shaking his head violently, he snarled at Harakhte, "What the hell! What did you do to me!"

A look of disappointment flashed over Harakhte's features to be quickly replaced by a look of patience. "You can try to fight it," he said, "but the ceremony is already in play."

"I don't give a shit about your damn ceremony!" Kyou jumped up to stand over Harakhte threateningly. "I just want to know why the hell you brought us here, and then I want you to send us home! I…" He stopped. "The ceremony..." He met Harakhte's eyes. "You mean…"

"Osiris is fallen. You must complete the resurrection or he will remain among the dead."

Absolute fury washed over Kyou's face. "Don't fucking talk about Osiris! His name is Yuki!" Not that he really gave a shit about that damn rat, but if anybody was going to kill him it was going to be Kyou. Kill him… Seth. Kyou froze. "Seth…" The color washed from his face. "Ayame. What did you make him do?" Maybe they didn't get along, but Ayame loved his brother. He wouldn't… "What did you make him do!" Kyou yelled.

Harakhte smirked.

His hot fury suddenly changed to cold rage in the pit of his stomach, Kyou turned and left.

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Tohru was dreaming again. That cat was still there, but now he was talking to a bird. It was a large bird, a falcon, with a cruel curved beak and sharp claws that gripped harshly at the branch it stood on. In her dream, the cat's name was Harsiesis and the bird's name was Harakhte. The bird's eyes were like the sun, shining brilliantly, and the cat's were like the moon. They were talking. Something was broken. It had something to do with the sun and the moon. The moon had been misplaced. Harsiesis had to put it back where it was supposed to go, but something was stopping him. She frowned. He shouldn't stop, they needed to fix this! Reaching out, she took the moon from the cat gently. It glowed in her hand. Looking up she saw that the cat and the bird had disappeared and instead a man stood before her. He had the sun in one eye, like the statue in the temple, and the other eye was empty. An idea occurred to her. She held out the moon to him. Taking it, he put it in his eye.

"Ah, thank you," he said. "That feels much better."

"You're welcome!" She smiled, glad to be able to help.

He touched her cheek. "Little Isis, with your aid I will be whole again. When this happens, then you will return to your home. I am sorry to have involved you, but it cannot be helped." He turned to leave. "Horus will fly again."

Horus…

She woke with that strange name lingering in her mind and on her lips. What an odd dream. She frowned. There was no one else in the room, which worried her slightly. Also, she had a strange nagging feeling that something was very very wrong, but she could not have said what. Standing up, she went out in search of the others.

The sun was setting, painting the sky a million shades of a thousand colors. She paused a moment to look at it; she certainly never saw anything like that at home. The emptiness of the horizon made the sky huge. Tohru shivered. It was slightly unnerving. She would be glad when they went home.

Then you will return to your home…

She blinked as she remembered part of her dream. It had been decidedly odd… She glanced up and saw Kyou walking toward her.

"Kyou-kun!" she exclaimed, glad to see him. Harakhte trailed after him, watching both of them intently.

"Yeah," Kyou replied. He looked angry about something, and she was about to ask him about it when Harakhte spoke.

"What did you dream about Honda-san?"

She jumped slightly, and the look Kyou shot toward the man was pure malice. "Ah… I… How did you know I… I mean…" she stuttered, "Ah, Harakhte-san, I…" She blushed; it was such a stupid dream. "I dreamed about a cat…"

Was it just her imagining, or did Harakhte's eyes start to glow?

The smile that spread over his face was no figment of her imagination. It was, she thought with surprise, a smile of relief. He laughed lightly, his laughter also tinged with relief. "Ah, Honda-san. Thank you."

"You're welcome," she returned automatically, slightly confused.

He laughed again, and then glanced at Kyou, who was standing there glaring death at Harakhte. "In Egypt," he breathed the name of his homeland as if the very word was holy, "to dream of a cat is considered a sign of good fortune." He looked at Tohru. "There are good things in your future, Honda-san."

She blushed and looked away. Kyou was flushed too, she noticed, but she couldn't tell if it was from embarrassment or anger. He turned away from them abruptly, facing out toward the desert, arms folded over his chest.

"Good fortune?" Kyou's voice was so bitter it was hardly recognizable. "How can you say that?" He whirled around and practically snarled at Harakhte, "What good fortune when, from what you've said, they're all here, going through all this shit because of me! How can you stand there and say there is anything good about the future?"

Tohru watched, wide-eyed, as Kyou turned and walked a few steps away to try and control his temper. She still had that feeling in the pit of her stomach that something bad had happened that she didn't know about yet. Harakhte stood still, apparently unaffected by Kyou's tirade. After a few moments, he spoke.

"Do you think that I like this?" Harakhte's voice was almost a whisper, but it was fierce and determined, a full reverse from his attitude of just moments before. "Do you think that it pleases me to hunt down people, abduct them, and destroy their lives? I cannot help it that this is what must be done." His voice grew stronger, changing again, almost hysterical now with emotion. "I was chosen, do you think I asked for this life? I have lived now for more than twenty years feeling as if half of my soul was gone. As if it had been ripped away from me, torn from my chest." His eyes were hard and gold. "I feel it, as if it happened yesterday. And I remember the others, those who came before me. Their lives are as my own. Have you ever woken up one morning and you can't remember what century it is, much less what year or day? That I can remember my name every morning is only because our names are all the same. The name is passed down, with the curse. Perhaps it is a help, remembering them." His voice grew sardonic and slightly philosophical. "At least when the realization is full upon me that I am only half a person, I have the halves of others to keep me company." His eyes rested on Kyou, who still stood with his back to the other man. "I have been searching for you for more than a thousand years. I searched the length and breadth of Egypt, and sought out all of the descendants of my clan. I have traveled to many foreign lands, hunted through countless ruins of other's religions, and explored endless clues and leads. I… Sometimes I cannot believe that I have truly found you. At last, the end to my curse."

When Harakhte finished, the three of them stood for a long moment in silence, the desert night darkening around them.

Kyou twitched in recognition of Harakhte's words. He turned to look at the other man. "I suppose we all know something about curses," he said grudgingly.

Harakhte nodded.

"Kyou-kun," came a voice from behind them.

Kyou turned. Kagura was there, watching them. With her were Haru and Momiji. They must have come up while Harakhte had been talking; Kyou frowned when he mentally calculated who was missing. Kagura and Haru stood flanking Momiji. The rabbit had the strangest look on his face and Kyou froze when he noticed his eyes. "Momiji?" he called hesitantly.

Harakhte shook his head; he was smirking again, with his usual combination of arrogance and insanity. "He cannot hear you." He met Kyou's eyes. "Harsiesis."

Kyou bristled, but nodded. He took a deep breath and gritted out, "Thoth." Momiji turned and fixed glowing eyes on Harakhte and then Kyou.

"I can hear you just fine, Kyou-kun," Momiji said, amused. "Thoth is very obliging, and I do think we have a great deal in common." Momiji's glowing eyes drifted past Kyou to Tohru. He walked to her and took her hand. Turning, he looked at Kyou and Harakhte. "Horus," he said, his voice unnaturally solemn. "You must overcome your differences," his eyes seemed to settle on Kyou, then drifted to Harakhte. "Horus must become one again. In order to defeat Seth, you must be as one; to truly become one, you must defeat Seth." Harakhte nodded; Kyou scowled, but nodded as well.

Momiji turned back to Tohru and smiled. "Shall we go along and watch?" She nodded, wide-eyed. That voice in the back of her head was louder now, more persistent, and the feeling in the pit of her stomach had intensified as well.

"Something is not right," she murmured.

Momiji grinned darkly. "There's not a whole lot that is right now, Tohru-kun."

"No…" She shivered. "It's…" She knew. She really did. But she didn't want to admit it to herself. It was… "Souma-kun," she murmured and gripped Momiji's arm harder. He turned empathetic eyes on her face and squeezed her arm reassuringly. She tried to smile at him but a darkness had settled over her. It was hard to breathe. Osiris, her mind whispered. My love… Seth would pay for this! If she had to call down Ra from heaven, he would pay! Horus was with her, and all of the others, and together they could…

"Tohru."

She blinked. Looking up she met Momiji's eyes. "I'm sorry," she said. "Thank you." She squeezed his arm and tried to stop herself from trembling. He smiled at her.

"Let's go then."

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