Dreams & Nightmares

Chapter 6: Dawn

Rating: R

Disclaimer:  I still do not own Mummies Alive!  The mummies themselves must be quite celebratory on this count.

I'm so sorry this took so long to appear.  Things went odd in real life and I just couldn't find the time or the desire to transfer this from paper to screen.  I hope you all are not too upset with me and I hope this meets with whatever your expectations were.

            Reluctantly hovering on the verge of wakefulness, Nefertina did not want to leave this cocoon of warmth and safety, certain there was something dark and terrible in the waking world that would crash around her like a river that had burst its dam.  In sleep there was forgetfulness and the void of safe ignorance but the nightmarish memories of the night were waking up and, try as she might to return to sleep and ignore them, they forced her into an unwanted waking.

            But waking could be a fuzzy affair for the exhausted of body and soul, as the charioteer found when the memories that drove her to it faded with the realization that her warm and safe cocoon was alive, breathing deeply, and had its chin resting upon the top of her head.  Who…?

            Opening her grey eyes brought the broad plane of a man's powerful chest into slow focus.  It was puzzling to her mind, who would be holding her against him?  Who would want to? 

            It was then she spotted the amulet, the falcon amulet, and picked it up gingerly― pushing away with little success the horrible memory of when Scarab had done the same to hers― and stared at it uncomprehendingly for several seconds until she felt him move and shift in his sitting position.

            "Is my amulet so riveting then?"  There was soft amusement in his gentle voice; it was there in the slight chuckle and in ever word.  And when she raised her head to look at his face in the dawn light, it was there as well, shining brightly in his beautiful blue eyes.

            Bastet help her, she fell in love with him all over again.

            The next instant, however, found him in all seriousness and concern, the amusement gone like it had never been as he looked at her.  She suddenly felt very small and weak under his sharp gaze and cradled in his arms like a helpless babe.  Perhaps she was helpless and weak, last night had been a proving point on that, one in which she could not ignore, could not forget.  Gods how she wanted to forget…

            She closed her eyes tightly against the wave of nausea, shame, and the sheer, overwhelming panic that suddenly threatened to engulf her in its blinding glare of agony.  Scarab… he― he used her.  He raped her.  Rejuvenating himself, sucking her amulet's energies and leaving her half-dead, his powers were tenfold now… and it was all her fault.  If not for her, he would not have been able to get so powerful or become younger. 

            And Jakal knew, she had told him everything in a flood of tears.  Oh gods, he knew.  He knew.

            What would he do to her?  This was practically a betrayal to the team; she was a traitor, if an unwilling one, to have let this happen at all. 

            Feeling a hand on her cheek, urging her face up but being to weak to truly fight it, she resigned herself to the shame of letting him see more tears in her eyes.  "Nefertina?" He was staring at her in rapt concern; his cerulean gaze boring into her own storm clouded ones, "Are you alright?  Are you… still in pain?"  She couldn't miss the swallow of― was that fear or disgust? ― that moved his Adam's apple jerkily up and down.

            This was all her fault.  Everything was her fault.  What have I done?  "Dear gods, what have I done?"  She nearly wailed and tried, failing miserably at even this task, to stem the gush of new tears already coursing down her face.  He had seen her cry far too often of late that surely he must think her a useless excuse for a guardian… but he had been so kind to her, showing none of the disdain she was expecting and should have received.  Was he so good of an actor that he could hide his disgust in her?

            Unexpectedly, Jakal pulled her back into the warm safety of his arms and began to try and comfort her he had before, gently cradling her against his chest and murmuring softly into her hair, "You've done nothing, Nefertina.  It is not your fault.  None of this is your fault.  What Scarab did to you… it- it was the most craven, despicable… it was the foulest act that son of a bitch could have done and he will pay for it."  He was angry, she could feel it in the trembling of his limbs, the tightness with which he held her and she could hear in the low growl of his voice.

            Nefertina wanted to believe him with every fibre of her being and nearly found herself doing so but for a stray thought now running through her mind and giving her no peace… Scarab had chosen her for a reason. He must have.

            "Yes it is.  It has to be my fault. It has to be.  Why else would he have― I- He― Gods, why did he do this!?"

            Jakal pulled her closer, whispering something in her ear that she could not understand as she broke into bitterly painful tears and clung to him much as she had last night.  He had no idea how much he meant to her, how much he was there for her when she really needed him.  He was a pillar of strength to her that she had always found herself lacking whether he knew this or not.  As he held her closer than she had ever been held before and gently rubbed his hand along her back in small circles, it was truer than ever before.

            But she still hurt, aching in places she before had barely known existed.  At the moment all she wanted was to stay in the safety of Jakal's arms until she could feel relatively normal once more.  If such a thing was possible after such a horrible experience, right now it seemed a dubious happening.

            Would she ever feel remotely like her old self?  It certainly doesn't feel like it now, she thought to herself in angry despair.

            All she was certain of feeling as she sobbed onto his chest was that she felt vaguely ill, and rather wanted to go home to shut herself away in her sarcophagus for an indefinite period of time.  Outside of that, the only safe haven she could think of was holding her already.

            His arms were truly the only asylum she wanted right now, the only one she could imagine in the pain and misery that swamped her higher brain functions into a fuzzy, foggy shell. It shamed her how she was acting before him, shamed her more so for her near complete inability to control the emotions she had once been so successful at hiding.  How weak he must think her, how useless.  How right he was.

            Despite her whirling thoughts, Jakal continued whispering softly in her ear, "It will be alright, Nefertina, I swear it.  Nothing was your fault.  There was nothing any of us could have done but he will pay for it.  Scarab will pay for what he did, I promise you.  When I get my hands on him, I'll kill him."