Chapter explanations:

-The goddess Isis, the mother of Horus, was constantly taking care of him when he was a child because she knew he was promised a great destiny.

-Zerzura is a legendary oasis often cited in the eastern tales of North Africa.

One week. Seven days. Seven nights. To watch the sun rises beyond the sand dunes. To admire the moon setting behind the golden horizon that hid the Nile.

Long days filled with games, laughter, and revealed secrets. A long impatience too, while anxiously waiting for any manifestation of his parents.

And a void, deep and painful, that was struggling to close. An injury, made of abandonment, guilt and grief, healing as slowly as it was possible to die of hunger.

Heba rushed his head out of the water, leaning his back against the edge of the basin filled with lotus petals. Closing his eyelids, he let himself be lulled by the backwash, created by the other young man occupying the place and having fun beating small waves with a slight movement of the hand against the surface.

"How long did the trip last before you arrived at Khemet? "

"I don't know. Maybe eight or ten days... "

"In this case, the emissaries should have reached your village by now. If we imagine that you haven't made a detour to get other slaves back... "

"I guess so… "

"We will soon hear from your family. "

Straightening up suddenly, the teenager plunged his amethyst look into the purple one of his alter ego at the other end of the bath, frowning worriedly while asking:

"And what am I supposed to say to the ones of Jouno's and Teana's? "

"I… "

Nibbling his bottom lip, Atem looked away, embarrassed. Of course, he did not have the answer to that question. What was his double supposed to say exactly? How could he reasonably explain that he was the only survivor of unscrupulous slave traders?

"All things considered, I should better never go back to the village... "

Raising his head quickly, the Pharaoh frowned in his turn, trying to ignore the beating of his heart that had accelerated to the idea that the boy could stay with him forever.

"You shouldn't say that. We all have a place to go back. Yours is waiting for you too. "

"But I would be so ashamed... and then everyone will blame me... "

"But you are not responsible! "

"For the others, it's all the same! "

Exclaiming angrily, Heba turned back against the edge, turning his back to the sovereign who finally joined him, gently catching his face in his hands for them to face each other.

"Fine, so be it... let them hate you if it makes them happy. I would love to have your family here, in town. Thus, we would not be separated. "

Thin tears forming at the corners of his eyes, Heba nodded slowly, smiling softly as the young king caressed his cheeks with his thumbs.

Since the arrest of the two assassins who had entered the palace to kill the Pharaoh, the two young boys had become considerably closer.

Everything had obviously contributed to it. Their disturbing resemblance of which they were not thinking about anymore, their common passions, the fact that they have the same likes... the only thing that could really differentiate them being their deeply opposed personality. Heba, sweet and shy. Atem, confident and inflexible.

However, there were still some grey areas... Indeed, the teenager having been not saying anything to the sovereign about the fact of having attended the millennium trial even though he shouldn't have. And the latter stubbornly staying silent when it came to the affairs of the kingdom.

Not that he wanted to know everything... but far from being stupid, Heba knew that a bloodbath was going to be shed in Kerma, the small Nubian country incurring the wrath of great Egypt led by the powerful Pharaoh protected by the three Egyptian Gods.

He was slightly worried that a new war was brewing between the two regions, which had been in conflict for centuries now.

Sometimes he wanted the hours he spent playing with Atem to last forever.

"What if we did another game? My jackals have not said their last word yet! I will manage to counter your strategy this time! " declared the young king, narrowing his eyes mischievously.

"I can't wait to see that! " the boy replied with a larger smile, preferring to forget his concerns for the moment.

##########

The scent of the little cumin loaves of bread placed on the ivory table floated in the air lightly, enveloping the sovereign's apartments with a family warmth as one rarely felt in such a grand palace.

Grabbing the dish with one hand while putting a grape of the bunch between his lips, the young king cut it in two equal parts, offering the other half to his game partner before settling on the reed chair,

half turning it over to keep an eye on the boy, this one sitting at the table, while he was working distractedly.

Thus lunching calmly, Atem began to think on the next step. He had no room for error, as much for his good as for that of his people.

Since the Queen of Kerma had struck first, it was legitimate for him to retaliate in the same way. However, it could also mean the beginning of a confrontation whose stakes would be much greater.

For how many centuries had Egypt escaped the invasion of the Nubians? If these reprisals became the beginning of an upcoming war, then he was glad that Heba would soon have to go home.

To know that he was in safety, far away from the battlefields and any direct threat, was enough to make him happy despite his heart pounding in his chest and his wet pupils.

And even if there was no conflict, he had no reason to be sad... He knew, no matter how far apart they were, that he would never feel alone again.

And if ever, one day, he was to lose everything he had, he also knew that he would have at least one thing left, one thing that fate could not take away from him.

Heba was the light that had saved him from his own darkness. He was the joy against his grief, the courage against his fear, the strength against his weaknesses.

He foolishly thought he had been saved, when in truth he was the one who saved the Pharaoh from himself.

And in return, like Isis who had taken care of Horus as a child, Atem had done the same with the teenager, making him his most sacred treasure, his most precious good.

Like the Zerzura oasis, lost in the middle of legends, he was a gift sent by the Gods that the young king would protect at the risk of his life if necessary.

A shy chuckle echoed in the room, cutting him off sharply into his thoughts, and he turned to the boy, widening his eyes in seeing the latter kneeled on the floor, having fun in making a cat drink a cup filled with a white liquid that he supposed to be milk.

"I see you met Sekhmet. " he said with a smile, getting up to take the feline, wearing a gold necklace, between his arms.

Caressing his grege fur with the tips of his fingers, the Pharaoh moved in the room until he reached his bed, on which he laid the demi-god, the latter instantly closing his olive eyes when it entered in contact with the mattress while stretching lazily.

"It had been missing for a few days, I wondered where it had gone. "

Heba shook his head at this thought, laughing.

"There are so many cats hanging around in this palace, how can you realise the disappearance of only one of them? " he questioned as he advanced to his "other me," tenderly scratching the animal's ear.

"It's easy, Sekhmet is the only one who comes in here. You'd think that all the others avoid the royal apartments. " Atem said, pouting.

"What do you mean? "

"I don't know. The doors could be wide open, and all the cats gathered in the hallway, that they wouldn't step at least one paw on the threshold. Sekhmet is the only one who has ever behaved differently. " explained the Pharaoh, shrugging his shoulders, himself puzzled.

"Maybe he wanted you to have some company. " the boy whispered, however too low for the sovereign to hear.

A guard posted outside entered suddenly after announcing himself, warning the young king that the council was waiting for him, and Atem offered a smile to his double before disappearing, promising with enthusiasm to return soon enough so that they could play a little before going to sleep.

Heba sighed slowly as the doors closed on the silhouette of the sovereign, letting himself fall nonchalantly against the bed and comforting the cat which had been afraid of a caress along its length.

Provided that this night at least, he does not have a nightmare...

##########

Glittering gleams in the dark sky, the silver stars lit his way through the cold stone paths, making the darkness around him less frightening despite his insistence on refraining himself from breathing too hard for fear of being caught.

One step at a time, he moved forward, making as little noise as possible as his hand ran along the frozen wall in the hope of not getting lost in the maze of corridors of the palace.

There reigned a gloomy silence that deeply anguished him. As if all the inhabitants of the palace had suddenly ceased to exist. No sound was heard anymore. The maids did not go back and forth between their rooms and those of their masters, the high dignitaries did not feast in the dining room with the courtesans, there weren't even guards patrolling here and there, protecting the court and the Pharaoh.

At last, the burning lights of the torches placed at the entrance of the great gates appeared suddenly in the distance, and he smiled, looking relieved.

Accelerating the pace, he hurried to reach the surrounding wall on which he leaned with all his weight, before craning slightly forward to try to see the soldiers supposed to keep the gate.

But once again, they seemed to have vanished in the desert, leaving the heavy doors ajar, as if to facilitate his escape.

He frowned, uncertain. It was way too easy as if it was a frame-up. Taking a deep breath, he stepped forward a bit and froze abruptly, hesitating. Then, determined, he crossed the remaining few meters, overtaking the symbolic border that separated him from the city.

Turning over quickly, in fear of being found, he breathed when he saw that nobody was pursuing him, and with a new impetus of courage, resumed his race towards freedom...

"I found you! "

The cry echoed loudly above him, and he let out a disappointed sigh as he raised his head to the ramparts of the palace, offering an amused smirk to the young king leaning casually on the latter, laughing.

"Yet we'd said, in the enclosure of the palace only! I didn't know you were such a poor loser! "

"It's already the fourth game I'm losing! How do you want me to have a chance to win if I have to hide in a place you know by heart! "

"All I retain from this pathetic speech, Heba, is that you're only a cheater! "

Bursting with laughter, the boy preferred to shrug his shoulders with offhandedness in the direction of his alter ego as a simple answer to his provocation.

He leaned negligently on the doorframe and looked away at the exciting town, already awake despite the early hour.

Khepri was slowly appearing behind the houses, the warmth of its rays coming to lighten the surrounding landscape, and chasing away the remains of the darkness of the eve.

Somewhere in this city, and perhaps even beyond it, Jouno and Teana were now just pale copies of what they used to be. For, if their hearts continued tirelessly to beat in their breasts, their souls, now, could only be a memory fading away as time passed.

He, who was here, with people for whom he counted, belonging to this group who had helped him without asking anything in return, having fun, playing, living, breathing...

Wasn't he selfish? Wasn't he a monster?

In truth, he would have deserved all the insults the villagers would hurl to him back to Aldawminu. He, who strutted in cloths of silk and adorned himself with gold ornaments that could be enough to feed his village for ten years.

A warm hand suddenly came to rest on his shoulder and he jumped in turning toward its owner, blinking to chase the tears that had accumulated in the corner of his eyes, and which now flowed freely on his cheeks.

Going up along his neck, its darker colour contrasting with his caramel skin, the delicate hand made its way between his blond locks to caress them with tenderness, chasing them away from his field of vision.

"You were still thinking about them, didn't you? "

Shaking his head, Heba looked at the palm trees lining along the surrounding walls on each side of the big doors, feeling stupid to appear so fragile.

"I know I told you there was no way we could find them. After all, the people who engage in this kind of business are never native to the city where they do their affairs so as not to have any problems with the authorities... "

Atem stopped in his explanations, feeling that the boy's attention escaped to him as he sank a little deeper into his depression.

"But... " he said, grabbing his chin between his fingers, raising his face to towards his own. "It did not stop me from looking anyway. "

The amethyst pupils of his double began to shine with a new radiance, and he continued on his impetus:

"That said, for the moment, I have no news to give you. "

"I'm grateful to you anyway for trying. " Heba muttered, his lips hardly stretching into a thin smile.

Again, the Pharaoh's hand slid against his lukewarm skin, his nails gently touching the outline of his jaw before moving away, making him shiver on the spot, to finally catching his palm against his, pressing it tightly as he began to walk slowly.

"Come on, let's go. I'm sure you must be hungry after running for hours through the entire palace. "

"You the one who proposed a hide and seek game even though it was still the night. "

"And it was you who couldn't go back to sleep after having another nightmare. I just wanted to take your mind off things. "

Heba bit his lip at these words while staring at the ground, embarrassed. It wasn't as if he, either, did not want these bad dreams to stop, if only to offer the Pharaoh a single night of respite.

But far from blaming him, the latter remained inexorably at his side, spending most of the night comforting him to the point of forgetting to sleep.

He felt guilty. To deprive the young king of sleep, of being so pathetically weak... Even if leaving meant never to meet again, then he was happy to no longer be such a nuisance for him.

"Don't worry too much about that. "

"Huh? "

As if reading his thoughts, the sovereign turned to the boy, a soft smile on his face. Squeezing his palm more firmly against his, he added:

"Do not worry about me. After what you've experienced, it doesn't surprise me that you make bad dreams every night. "

"How?! " Heba gasped, surprised.

"I don't know. You had that look... this glare in your eyes... the one that you have every time you reproach yourself something, so... The rest is just a simple deduction. " Atem explained, resuming his walk, crossing the hallways successively as the palace awoke with agitation.

"I shouldn't bother you that way. Maybe by assigning me another room... " replied the teenager, trying to look strong although the idea did not please him.

"Don't be ridiculous, I have no problem with you. And then, I have the impression that my presence appeases you, right? Well... it's just an assumption... "

Heba tilted his head to the side, curious; the sovereign suddenly forcing himself to look elsewhere, his cheeks flushed under the embarrassment, as if he were not in the habit to pronounce this kind of thing.

Chuckling without being able to stop himself, he put his hand to his mouth in a vain attempt to hide his giggle, both reassured and delighted.

"What's so funny?! " the Pharaoh said with annoyance, the discomfort making his tanned cheeks blushing a little more.

"N-Nothing at all! " the boy stammered with difficulty, unable to stop.

Finally, he could well enjoy these moments of joy, soon they would be nothing more than mirages in the amber sand of the Sahara...