"Thereupon shall come Thoth,
who is equipped with words of power in great abundance,
and he shall untie the fetters,
even the fetters of the god Seth which are over my mouth."
-The Book of the Dead

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8
River of Oblivion
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It was darkness. All around him, like walls of stone surrounding him, though it was only water…

Only water? The waters of the river Lethe could never be called only water.

It was like ice on his skin, ice in his veins, ice in his brain… Not cold so much as… sharp. Painful. And definitely not something he'd planned on experiencing.

Momiji, working in concert with Thoth, had determined there was something particularly strange about the way Apep was acting. Thoth had said that if he could get his hands on the dragon, he could figure out more about what it was precisely. Momiji had been game; again, falling into the river had never been part of the plan.

Especially if such pain was his reward. It was so painful, in such an unexpected manner- there shouldn't be pain in water, in simple water- that it made him wish he could forget. Just forget it. Yes… that was it! He could just forget all about it…

Pain faded, as his consciousness faded, and everything turned dull and soft. His eyes wandered underneath his closed lids, and a blurry picture formed. It was a scene, in a child's bedroom; everything felt warm, gentle. There was a woman, sitting beside a bassinet, rocking it slowly. She was singing softly, and he approached her and took her hand. She turned and smiled at him, her face only a blur as she dropped his hand and put her arm around his shoulders with a soft laugh. Something snapped, or perhaps just clicked, inside Momiji, and he suddenly and furiously dismissed the scene. He fought his way back to the surface of his mind and whatever waited for him there.

Cold.

Everthing was cold, and that simple word couldn't seem to quite describe the feeling. The water was all around him, drowning him again. Where the strange, sharp pain hadn't worked, it would try the freezing cold to drag him to oblivion. He bared his teeth in a silent snarl of defiance as he struggled wildly- though against what exactly, he had no idea. Something grabbed him, jabbed him sharply- this pain was blunt and warm; so unlike the rocky blackness of the water that wanted to drive him insane. He came back to himself fully and, thrusting upwards, he broke the surface of the water, and warmth and sound exploded in on him.

Tohru was calling his name. Harakhte was arguing with Kyou, holding the cat back from jumping in after Momiji. But as soon as they saw him they stopped, and stared, their eyes searching, waiting to see…

He opened his mouth, to speak, when a hand grabbed him by the ankle and pulled him back under.

He breathed water and almost succumbed again to the welcoming nothingness that waited. But he couldn't. Tohru and Kyou were depending on him, and Hatori…

He couldn't let it be Hatori. He could feel Apep's slender fingers wrapped around his ankle and he struck out, trying to free himself. He was failing rather miserably, Apep working his grip up the rabbit's body until those fingers wrapped themselves around his neck, when Thoth nudged at the back of his mind.

I have discerned the source of Apep's inconsistency, the god said unhurriedly.

Is that so? Momiji responded, his vision flickering as the presence of water in his lungs, rather than oxygen, started to get to him and the pressure on his neck slowed the already insufficient blood flowing to his brain. Mind filling me in?

There is no time. Give me your body.

Momiji would have rolled his eyes if he hadn't been underwater; if he actually had time to do anything but weakly nod in assent to Thoth.

Gods didn't need to breathe. And they didn't think nearly as slowly as humans did. Thoth reached out his hands and grabbed Apep by the upper arms, where the thin gold serpents twined, almost before Momiji could gather enough thought to relinquish control. Thoth's eyes glowed as he focused power into his palms, throwing the raw heat at Apep.

It happened so fast that Momiji didn't even have time to pass out before he broke the surface of the water again. He fell on the bank and breathed in air with one breath and choked out water with the next. Kyou, Tohru, and Harakhte crowded around him. He dimly saw Apep rising out of the water on the other bank, the snake charms around his arms melted away.

Momiji reached out blindly and grabbed Kyou's sleeve. "Be careful," he whispered, shivering. "He was bound to Seth. I…" He broke out in a fit of coughing, his throat raw from the icy water. "I broke that binding, but he still hates you." Momiji shivered again, closing his eyes and shudders raked his entire body. He was so cold, inside and out.

So cold…

…He could forget how cold he was.

It was easy. If he just forgot… forgot what cold even was, he could be warm again…

Momiji shook his head firmly in denial. "No," he murmured. "Ha'ri." He held on to the name, branding it on his mind. He was not going to forget. "Ha'ri," he murmured, his eyes meeting Apep's across the river, then fluttering closed as his body was wracked with shudders.

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"Come on Momiji. Stay with us." Kyou shook the rabbit's shoulder worriedly. Momiji was shivering violently, there was no way to get him warm, and he looked dangerously close to passing out.

Apep grinned, the expression looking strangely out of place on his face. "Well." They all jumped slightly to hear him speak for the first time. He cocked his head and peered at Momiji intently. "You risked muck to free me, recognizing that your gesture would not save your lives." He sounded slightly perplexed, as if he could not grasp the reasoning behind such an action- and was still debating whether or not he actually cared.

"What the hell?" Kyou mumbled. He looked at Momiji, but the shivering rabbit barely seemed to acknowledge his presence. "What's he talking about?"

It was Harakhte who answered him, comprehension dawning on his face. "Seth bound Apep to him, to force him to fight for him, and Thoth freed him from Seth." He frowned. "But why would Seth act in such a way? Apep would fight us in any case." He glanced over at the dragon who narrowed his eyes and glared back causing Harakhte to shiver nervously.

"Because, you incompetent bird," Apep said, folding his arms across his chest. He seemed no worse the wear for his dump in the river. "Seth likes to be in charge, and," his eyes seemed to narrow further as he sneered, "I answer to no one." Harakhte shrunk away from his adversary, shivering.

"Oh yeah?" Kyou stepped up to the side of the river, glaring down his opponent on the other bank. "That's a load of bullshit."

Apep's eyes flared with cold fire as he settled his gaze approvingly on Kyou. "You have spirit, outlander." He sniffed deeply, then regarded Kyou again. "Harsiesis? Found at last? Well, well." A predatory gleam appeared in his eyes. "Perhaps this song and dance is not for naught. Maybe Seth does have reason to fear." His expression belied his words; to him at least, they were not counted much of a threat. Harakhte moved to stand by Kyou.

"Be careful," Harakhte warned. "He lives to kill us. You are not strong." Kyou snarled at him silently, not pleased at the reminder but recognizing its truth. He still ached all over from when Apep had thrown him against the wall earlier.

"No, he is not," Apep agreed with Harakhte's assessment, seeming strangely sad about the fact. He cocked his head as an idea seemed to occur to him. "Perhaps I can kill two birds with one stone, as it were." He grinned darkly at Harakhte's apprehension at his choice of words and started walking forward. He walked across the surface of the river as if it were stone even steadier than the cavern that surrounded them.

Harakhte and Kyou tensed as he came toward them, taking up defensive positions in front of where Momiji lay shivering on the ground, Tohru crouched beside him. Apep lifted a finger almost carelessly, and the pair of guards lifted off their feet to hang limply suspended in the air. Kyou winced; he really hoped he wasn't about to get thrown into a wall again.

But for all his hatred, which still rolled off him toward Kyou in an almost palpable wave, Apep walked right by the two incarnations of Horus as if they weren't there. He knelt beside Momiji. Tohru stared at him, frightened but unwilling to retreat. Apep looked deeply into her eyes. She stared back, mesmerized, until something she saw there made her cry out suddenly in fear and pain. Kyou growled at Apep, almost reflexively, and the dragon turned to smile at him. "So tense," he chided in dark humor, but he released Tohru from whatever held her. She blinked rapidly and looked away, but did not move away from Momiji. The dragon reached out a hand and placed it on Momiji's forehead.

The rabbit was still shivering, muttering occasionally, "Ha'ri." But as soon as Apep touched him he went still, his eyes flying open wide. After a moment, Apep removed his hand, then stood and retreated across the river to seat himself on a rock. As he passed them he flicked a hand, and Kyou and Harakhte dropped from where they had hung frozen.

Kyou jumped up and went to Tohru and Momiji. "What did he…" But he stopped asking, because the answer was clear.

Momiji blinked up at him. "Kyou?" He wrinkled his nose. "What…" but he looked around, and perhaps Thoth was talking to him, and he remembered what had happened. He looked over at Apep. "You…"

"I reversed the effect of the river." The dragon flicked a hand in their direction noncommittally. "It is my domain; I have mastery."

Kyou's face was a mask of confusion as he looked over at Apep. "But… why? You don't want to kill us?"

"Oh, I wouldn't say that. Not at all." Apep's eyes glinted with a strange light, and he smirked. "But I am severely vexed with Seth. And you, little cat, are most certainly not worth my time at the moment." Kyou snarled at the insult, but Momiji placed a warning hand on his arm.

"So you will let us pass on to Seth?" Harakhte's voice was disbelieving.

"Yes. Perhaps he'll learn not to attempt to deceive me." Apep frowned. "Though it is doubtful. Seven thousand years, and he hasn't learned anything yet. In either case, he will kill you or you will kill him, and I will destroy whoever survives." He shrugged. "Unless I become bored. In which case I might not wait, and just destroy all of you before you've had a chance to settle your differences with each other." His eyes flashed with malice, and a feeling of power washed over Kyou; a greater power than any he had ever felt before. He actually shivered this time. He figured it would be a good idea if they left before Apep changed his mind, and he turned to Momiji.

"Which way?" he asked the rabbit, but Momiji's eyes were still on Apep.

"I cannot guide you any longer," the rabbit replied, and Kyou wondered whether it was Momiji or Thoth who was speaking. The younger boy turned to him and it certainly seemed like Momiji when he said, "I… cannot leave him." His eyes were sad. "Anyway, you don't need me." He looked over at Tohru and smiled. "You have already a greater guide than I."

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