A/N: …hm…more people should read OliverxJohnny…they're as good as OliverxEnrique anyway…but then I have to admit I like the latter more than the former…here's the next installment of TPD! Enjoy!xD
The Pharaoh's Daughter
Chapter Six
"Oli?" Johnny said weakly. "It's…you…"
Oliver stared at him, wondering if he was dreaming, before coming to and grabbing his jar of water.
"C'mon, drink…" he coaxed, raising the rim of the jar to Johnny's lips, letting him drink deeply.
The redhead coughed. a number of times when he was satisfied.
Oliver was supporting him, seeing that the other boy was weak. "Johnny can you stand?"
He nodded roughly as the petite princess heaved his body on his back and carried him inside the house. Johnny groaned as the younger boy (are they still teens?) seated him on his bed.
"Shit…what happened to you?" the host asked as he beheld Johnny's half-dressed body under the light.
"Nothing much…" he grinned, before his face twisted into an expression of excruciating pain.
"Nothing much?" Oliver asked incredulously. Johnny was bleeding! Every inch of that once beautiful creamy skin was covered in scars, weals and whiplashes. Some lesions even held maggots due to the delay of medical attention. "Come on…on my back. The Nile isn't far away."
Deep-sea violet eyes widened. "What! Your back? The Nile? Why?"
"Your wounds need cleaning." said the younger. "Your immune system'll be overwhelmed by infection…" and with surprising ease and gentleness, Princess Oli heaved the tomb robber onto his delicate back again and carried him to the bank.
Johnny groaned in pain. "Ow…Ra damnit, Oli…" he hissed as the boy carefully laid him in the shallow waters.
"What happened to your Shadow Magic?" the greenette asked, healing Johnny's wounds methodically.
"Our magic is made to inflict wounds…" said the redhead. "Not heal…"
Oliver fell silent, his fingertips dancing lightly on the garish open tissue. Salty tears fell on the newly healed skin; he could only imagine what his lover underwent.
"Please don't cry…" came Johnny's soft request. Shining lavender eyes met ocean blue.
The red-haired tomb robber cupped his cheek gently and Oli leaned into the touch he thought he had forever lost in time.
"When I left you were crying. Now I'm back you're crying again…"
The princess smiled and sniffed. "I'm sorry…it's just that I've missed you so much…"
He hugged him and Johnny winced. Oliver pulled back hurriedly and examined his back.
"Holy Ra!" he swore again and cleaned it. "What happened?" the green-haired boy asked once more, trying to heal the deep gashed caused by gods-know-what. "Were you whipped or stabbed? I can't heal it…Let's go back to the house and get it bandaged."
Johnny was looking fairly well now…except for his open and bleeding back.
When they reached Oliver's house, the younger boy carefully dressed the Thief King's wound tight but loose enough to let him breath comfortably. Then he bustled about gathering bread and a bowl of soup he had for supper as the redhead sat on the bed.
"Eat…" he told Johnny and sat beside him. He waited if ever the older boy wanted to share his experiences, though he was aching to know.
"I'm surprised at you…" the tomb robber told the princess after he had finished eating. "I thought you wanted to know what happened…"
He blinked. "I was waiting for you to tell me…" he replied respectfully.
Johnny smiled, his lover had not changed indeed.
"All right…" the greenette said, eyeing the redhead's bandages warily. "What happened?"
"Starting from?"
"…the day you left…"
Johnny shrugged. "Nothing much…"
Oliver frowned. "That's an understatement…"
The other boy raised an eyebrow and smiled. "I'm being honest; nothing happened…" the lavender gaze persisted.
"Well…" he continued, unable to contain his laughter. "Tala and the boys found me a couple of weeks later and we were on the run again."
The princess nodded, happy. "Julia, I suppose, left me to find you guys on Raul's call. She said you were having mild trouble."
"Ah…" the tomb robber's expression hardened. "That was much later, but it WAS the next important thing that happened. Julia met us when we were raiding Memphis. The Pharaoh's army finally hooked us and we had prices on our heads. She helped us escape and get out of the mess." he chuckled reminiscently. "Oh Ra, you should've seen her wield a sword. She looked just like Raul because she dyed her hair red and cut it so that the soldiers wouldn't recognize her. I take it you two were summoned to the palace?"
They younger boy nodded. "It was a close call…"
"If we weren't being hunted, I'd rip those priests from limb to limb just like how they ripped off your clothes!" Johnny snarled.
"We got off anyway…" Oliver said. "And where are the guys? I still don't understand what happened to you."
The tomb robber fell silent and smiled a bittersweet smile. "Well…we struck at the tombs again…"
The princess looked away, remembering the first time he had met the red-haired raider. They had his mother bound to a horse and dragged.
"We raided the old pharaoh's tomb…"
A grass-colored eyebrow rose. "I didn't know father was dead…"
"Hn. Where have you been?"
Oliver smiled weakly and seated the redhead between his legs so that he could try and heal his back.
"Our deed was supposed to be discreet." Johnny continued. "That's when we found a leak…."
"What!" The greenette asked in disbelief. "How? Who?"
"Pharaoh Enrique got pissed I suppose. He's always been on the edge ever since he was given the throne. The Pharaoh's foot-soldiers got us before we even got a chance to touch the gold so we could buy even a bit of bread to eat." the body in Oliver's arms shook involuntarily.
"Johnny!" he gasped in astonishment as he pulled the crying elder into a comforting hug.
"We put up a fight…and what a fight we put up…" the tomb robber tried to stem the tears and let out a shuddering breath. "We were outnumbered. Tala noticed Brooklyn wasn't doing anything…a split second later, he was commanding legions against us…one by one we fell…that bastard of a traitor…" he trailed off, unable to go on.
"…B-brooklyn?" Oliver was overwhelmed at the information. "You trusted him, I trusted him, all of us have for so long…how could he do this?"
"Looks to me like he's been at it ever since he first joined us." Johnny hiccuped. "He's the inside man of someone…" the he shook his head vigorously. "It's hard to trust anyone nowadays…I don't want to think about it…"
The princess consoled his lover. "And then what happened?" he asked.
"I ordered a retreat…" Johnny continued. "The others were physically and emotionally weak…we fled from the tombs but still the Pharaoh's army pursued us. Julia, Raul and Michael weren't able to take it…their hands were chopped off so that they wouldn't be able to use magic. That's when they were…" he left the sentence hanging, fighting another wave of tears.
Oliver was unable to speak. "Y-you and Tala?" he inquired after a while.
"We escaped and were lucky to pass a day…after that his body gave way…"
This was followed by a long silence, broken only by hiccups in between silent tears.
"Oli…" Johnny whispered as he turned around to hug the princess and cry his frustration out on the boy's shirt.
--
The red-haired tomb robber frowned as rays of sunlight hit his face yet the warmth of Princess Oli's body gone from his side.
"Oli?" Johnny roughly sat up, wincing at the pain in his back.
He wandered about the small stone house and farm, wondering in mild panic where his lover was. And then he spotted the princess's unmistakable hair by the river. He smiled to himself and decided to watch the spectacle.
Oliver was looking at his fake breasts with an odd expression on his face. Then without warning and much to Johnny's horror, the greenette tugged and tugged at them till they were at a ripping point. The princess seemed unhurt. The he took a dagger and sliced the boobs off. The detached as easily as rubber and Johnny could not believe his eyes. The skin underneath was perfectly smooth…and manly flat.
On the whole, Princess Oli looked very much like a boy.
It was as if what happened to Johnny was happening all over again…
Pain. Hurt.
Betrayal.
Lies.
…Lies…
True enough it was hard to trust anyone nowadays.
Johnny fell forward, dizzy and nauseous. In his shock he forgot he was hiding and lost grip on what he was leaning on.
Oliver jumped and wheeled around.
"Johnny?" he hurried to help him up, half-dressed and boobless. "Johnny?"
The tomb robber didn't answer as he was shakily leaned against a scrawny tree.
"Johnny?" Oliver asked once more as he saw his lover's eyes shut tight. It was then he realized that the redhead's callused palm was resting on his flat chest. He gasped and pulled away. Johnny retched and threw up the meager contents of his stomach into the nearest dry bush.
The green-haired boy was staring at the barren soil beneath his feet.
"Father decided to hide that fact that I'm gay ever since I assaulted him when I was seven. Everyone except Pharaoh Enrique, father and the old council of High Priests knew this. I lived with it ever since. Lately I wanted to tell you but you weren't there…" he was immobile. "I'm sorry…"
Oliver only felt wind as Johnny ran away into the desert. He had always been prepared for such a reaction. But now he felt devastated and all he could do was collapse on where he was and cry.
TBCA/N: that was a big booboo…oh and if you're wondering about the Brooklyn bit. You see when he was small, eensy small, his village was ravaged by Johnny's older brothers. His mother's dying wish was to avenge the whole village and so when Johnny followed his brothers' legacy, Brookie joined as an inside man and eventually catch them when the time was right…on a personal note, I still can't get over the time he almost killed Kai and made Tala cry…so I still hold it against him…sorry Brook…anyway…review! and enjoy!xD Ciao!