Chapter 5
She woke up in a straight jacket.
A padded room with nothing but herself, she sat with her back against the corner, making sure to keep the door within her gaze. She glared at it, waiting. She had a feeling she knew someone would come through it soon enough and they did.
It was one of Harrow's lackeys, wearing a nurse's outfit as they came in.
"You calm now?" He asked.
"I will be when—" She struggled against the jacket, trying to push outwards but she was trapped in it. "You get me out of this!"
"Not until Harrow gives the orders, you know the rules," He walked over, careful to miss her kicking legs.
Dabria tried a new technique. Maybe if she pretended to be calm, they would let her out of it?
Something was calling her out of the room and she needed to get out there, to find the source.
"Fine," She said, slumping.
Another nurse brought in a wheelchair for her as the man stood up.
"Come on," He said, gesturing. "You know how it goes, Dabria."
"Yeah, yeah," She stood on instinct, sitting down on the wheelchair as her ankles were strapped down and then her thighs and hips. Another strap went through the back of the straight jacket, keeping her there securely. "What's happening now?"
"You've got a session," He wheeled her out.
Dabria found herself sitting before Doctor Arthur Harrow, tilting her head at him as she observed her surroundings. Too many things were familiar, like her mind was playing tricks on her.
There was one thing about being the Avatar of Anubis that benefited her right now, she could see through illusions of her shared mindset. She knew this wasn't real but she played along… for now.
"Afternoon, Doc," She greeted, letting a feral grin onto her face.
"Hello, Dabria," He said. "How was your timeout? I hope it helped calmed you down some."
She shrugged as best she could, "Eh. Bit boring but nothing I can't handle."
"I'm glad."
It was silent.
"Ask me."
He pinched his eyebrows together, "Excuse me?"
"You're the doctor," She said. "Ask me what you want. You must want to know something,"
"Alright then." He took a moment to consider his words. "You've been seen interacting with Marc and Steven. What's your opinion of them?"
"That's not very professional, now is it?"
He clasped his hands together in front of him, "Alright then. Tell me about Anubis. After all, you've been seeing hallucinations of him since you've come here."
"Hallucinations?" She laughed lowly, letting it erupt from her chest suddenly. "He's not a hallucination. He's a god. He's my god!"
Dabria pulled at the straightjacket, getting her arms above her head before she could get them loose enough to rip the seam. Harrow didn't touch her as he watched her struggle through it but eventually got herself free enough to get the leg restraints off too.
)(-)(
She ran from the nurses/lackeys of Harrow, going down the bleak corridors as she searched for the beacon of whatever was guiding her.
It took her hiding into several, small patient rooms to get to something that was part of the beacon she was trying to find. A dark red sarcophagus sat in the room, whatever was inside was rattling it to get out, thumping against the edges.
She took pity, opening it and letting the person fall out. He scrambled to stand up again, scanning his environment quickly before he laid eyes on her.
Dabria's first instinct was to flinch and hide since she thought he was going to attack her, but no, instead, he hugged her. He hugged her tight and firmly, keeping her close to him.
"Where are we?" He asked, pulling away from her but keeping his hands on her shoulders.
"I don—don't know," She said, scanning his eyes for something, anything that could tell her the truth. "You're—You're the other alter, aren't you?"
Her eyes dropped to his lips where a little stubble was left over. He looked a little rougher than both Marc and Steven, probably used to having some sort of facial hair compared to the other two. It was still attractive, especially the way his lip poked to the side in a leering smile.
"Yeah, yeah, I am," He said, his Brooklyn drawl coming in thick. "Jake Lockley, at your service, ma'am."
"Okay, okay," She muttered to herself, nodding. "I have a feeling I know where we are."
"What?"
"Marc's dead, the body is dead. I was touching his body and using my powers as Harrow shot me in the head," She frowned, rubbing her crown. "Being shot in the head isn't as painless as you think. Damn, it stings."
"Get to the point," He said, crossing his arms over the black sweatshirt.
She popped her head out of the door, "The lights are swaying. We're in the Duat."
"The what now?"
"The Egyptian afterlife," She cleared up, "Oh my god, I see Marc. Marc!"
Jake pulled her back into the room, covering her mouth with his hands. He glared at her, half anger, half concern, "He can't know."
"Know about what?" She asked after he dropped his hand. "About you?"
"Yeah. He can't know. Do you really think he's alright with having Steven? He'll go mental if he knew about me," He said, quaking a familiar eyebrow in an unfamiliar way. "Got it?"
"Yeah," She let out a breath slowly, "I understand. No telly Marc and Steveny. Alright."
Jake went quiet, listening to something while Dabria shivered.
"Marc found Steven," He said, opening the door for her. "They're a couple rooms down. Remember, they can't know."
She didn't even acknowledge it, running out of the room. She went to each and every room, quickly working her way through it until she opened a door and found two familiar figures.
"What's the last thing you remember?" Marc asked Steven, both dressed in similar outfits like Jake and her but they were in off white and grey.
"Harrow shot us," Steven lifted a hand to gesture.
"Correction," Dabria said, coming into the room. "He shot all of us. Layla's alive still so there still th—"
She grunted as they both lept towards her, developing her in a steady hug that was just as tight as Jake's. She knew to keep him quiet now, understanding the implications of soul-searching and how it could affect the way the scales would balance.
She was here to see them through it.
"Alright, alright," She patted them on their backs.
She wasn't used to all of these hugs and platonic signs of affection. She didn't even get it from her own parents, and after the age of sixteen and the fire, she didn't get it at all. There were moments when she missed this, this closeness with no need of sexuality or lust, but for only comfort and affection.
Since she was still a little shocked, she could only pat them on the back.
Marc raised his eyes from where his face was in her neck, looking at her through his dark lashes. They held a tone of longing, of having found something lost as he warned her, "Dabria…"
"Fine," She linked her arms around them, bringing them closer to her in a proper hug as she allowed herself the comfort of a hug. Her hand ran up and down their backs in an old way of bringing them comfort too. "Better?"
"Much," Marc nodded, slowly unwrapping himself from her but Steven didn't. He held tight and didn't let go, searching for her warmth and familiar touch. "Steven!"
"Leave me alone," He mumbled into the shoulder of her sweatshirt, moving until he was solely hugging her tight to him. His words were jumbled but still understandable, "We were all shot."
"Layla's alive," She tried to say but it came out as a mumble too as she put her lips to Steven's forehead, much like Anubis did to her in times of distress. Her hands rubbed his shoulders now, tucking him close to her without meaning to.
He nodded into her neck, "Yeah, yeah. Good."
"And as much as I love hospitals," Her voice was dripping with sarcasm, making Steven laugh a little, his chest rumbling with it. "I wanna get out of here."
"Oh, fine," Steven unwrapped himself like a snake around its prey, slowly, surely until he was completely loose. He looked around, "Where even are we?"
"The Duat."
"Oh no," He mumbled before shaking his head and then bringing his hands up. "Oh, that isn't good."
"You think?" She bit the inside of her cheek gently, letting herself think for a moment.
Opening the door again, she scrambled out of the room. Her shoes could barely grip onto the floor with how fast she left, flinging each of the doors open to try and find the way. She opened them all, but when she was in a certain corridor, she instantly knew it was the last door in the hall.
Marc and Steven followed right behind her, unsure of what or who she was trying to find.
When she pulled out that door, both men screamed in fear at seeing the hippocampus while Dabria's lip curled up in anger at not finding what she wanted.
"Where is he?" She demanded, half glaring at the goddess and half at the men screaming.
"Oh, Dabria…"
"HIPPO!"
"Oh, for fucks sake," Dabria growled, quickly turning to the retreating men and grabbing them by their sleeves. She pulled them closer, realising that as soon as she touched them, they quietened. "Marc, Steven, meet Taweret, goddess of children and women. Taweret, meet Marc and Steven. They're a DID system, meaning more than one soul occupying the same body. We're all dead, okay?"
"Oh, that's sad to hear," Taweret pouted, her left ear twitching. "But I guess it cannot be helped. I don't know where Anubis is, Dabria. I know that is something you're wondering. It's actually something all the gods are wondering."
"Yeah, I've not felt him for a couple weeks," She said, sighing as she let go of both of the sleeves. "Come on, let's get this over with. I want to head back to Earth."
"Earth?" Steven said. "But you're dead too."
"Anubis left me with just enough of his power that I can survive one death," She said. "I only let myself be killed now so I could help you both get to the afterlife. The psych ward was not something I was expecting though. Could have done without Doc Harrow and his almighty moustache."
"You— You what?" Marc turned to her, anger evident on his face. "God, you're an idiot. Why would you let yourself be killed for me, for us?"
"Sorry for fucking caring, Marc!" She huffed. "Besides, I needed to know if Anubis was stuck in the afterlife or not."
Steven fidgeted with his sleeve, lifting one finger up, "I think it's actually quite sweet, Marc. Romeo and Juliet style, a little."
Dabria looked at her fingertips, seeing her skin becoming a little transparent until it looked like shadows, dark but see seethrough as she glanced at her fingerbones through it. They glowed in her hands, dark and beautiful as her hands turned black until they hit her wrists where it faded back into her normal skin.
"Welcome, gentle traveller… travellers," Taweret started but Dabria glanced at the men and almost laughed at Marc's fed-up look. "To the realm of the Duat."
"If this is the Duat, why does it look like a hospital?" Marc asked.
"Because the Duat is too complex for the human mind to comprehend," Dabria stated, crossing her arms tightly against her chest. "Even I've never seen it. I doubted I'd ever even see what my mind could have brought up as my own Duat."
Shoving another door open, she walked onto the ship's surface, surprising both Marc and Steven as they followed.
Oh, gods, it was beautiful. The ship was huge and decorated well enough for even a pharaoh. The sand dunes were high and rolling as the ship swam through the hills, making its way across the desert with ease as it swayed.
)(-)(
Dabria blinked and she was back in the hospital, sitting with a couple others as they were having group therapy. She calmly sat in the chair, her hands clutching the armrests as she looked around.
Jake, she knew by his posture alone, was sitting a couple seats away from her in the circle.
She took a deep breath, calming down instantly as she tried to reassess her circumstances.
"You dissociated, Dabria," Harrow said, his voice kind but condescending. "Are you back with us?"
"Yeah," She said with a nod. "I'm back. Sorry about that," She smiled comfortingly and shifted in her seat. "What were we talking about?"
"We were just discussing Crawley's bingo skills again," He laughed lightly. "He is pretty good, isn't he?"
"Yeah, yeah, he is," She agreed, really not wanting to be there.
"Let's turn to you, Dabria," He said. "Is there anything you wish to discuss with the group? We've already spoken of Crawley's past, perhaps it is your turn to divulge?"
She shook her head, "I would rather not."
"I know you wouldn't but it will help you,"
"No."
It was not a question.
"What about your fire then?" He suggested. "It might help you process it better then."
"Fuck off!" She snapped, sending her chair flying as she suddenly stood up. "I refuse to speak about that!"
"Or your fathe—"
She kicked her chair, scaring some of the patients as it flew across the floor. She gestured at him, "You have no fucking right to speak of that shit to me, Harrow. Not when you killed me!"
"Kill you?" He laughed, quietening down when Jake stood up too, coming over to her before she could launch herself at Harrow.
Jake held her back, his arms locked around her waist as she kicked and clawed the air like an animal.
"If you don't calm down, Dabria," Harrow warned, slowly standing until he came up to her. "I will have to put you in time out again."
She sneered, spitting in his face.
Jake pulled her away more, moving until they were on the other side of the room as the nurses looked at them.
"You need to calm down," He said, glancing down at her with dark eyes. "As much as I'd love to jam something down his throat, now's not the time. Hey, Doc? Can I take her back to her room? I think she needs to calm down some more."
"Of course, Marc. Please."
Jake nudged her towards the door, hand on the small of her back as they both sent cold glances towards Harrow's turned back.
They appeared into the empty corridors of their Duat.
"For fucks sake, we're back here again," Jake mumbled something in Spanish under his breath before speaking up again. "How'd we leave it?"
"We don't," She glanced at him and then at the doors. "We have to wait until the hearts balance, and since someone doesn't want the others to know, it never wi—"
He heard footsteps, grabbing her hand and pulling her into a random room.
Dabria's face fell, "No. Not here."
