A/N: This is for anyone who happens to be a Family Guy fan – coincidentally, I just finished watching the episode where Stewie sticks his hand into Meg's chest and pulls out her heart, chanting "Kali Ma!" (which is a parody of an Indiana Jones movie). I couldn't get that scene out of my head while writing this. Haha. Oh well, onwards!
Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters :(
Chapter 12: Verdict
Thud-thud. Thud-thud.
Matt opened his mouth to scream but no sound came out.
Thud-thud. Thud-thud.
Nestled in the centre of Ma'at's divine palm was a wet lump of veiny muscle that was Near's heart: crimson, glistening, pulsating. A mixture of fascination and disgust welled up inside him. Matt couldn't help but think that the bright, rich color didn't suit Near. He had always thought of him as a walking, talking mass of thin bones, grandpa hair and white blood cells – a medical anomaly.
Thud-thud. Thud-thud.
No matter how hard the horrified redhead tried, he was unable to tune out the dull thumping of Near's heart. Mello, on the other hand, was staring at the bloody thing as though hypnotized.
Ma'at smiled kindly at the two remaining Wammy alumni. Do not worry. As you are already aware, the undead cannot feel physical pain.
Thud-thud.
Near had stumbled backwards into the death god's waiting arms; Anubis was cradling him like a swooned damsel. The SPK leader's face was blissfully blank, and there was a faint pearly light radiating from his skin where Ma'at arm had reemerged from.
Ammut, Anubis crooned, and suddenly a terrible creature was at his side, prowling the stage impatiently and snapping its scaly jaws at whoever dared to meet its eyes. Yellow fangs gleamed in the low light provided by the clumps of motionless fireflies that filled the amphitheatric courtroom.
Beautiful, is she not?
Ammut growled at Mello first, and then Matt. Her breath stank of rotten flesh. The doomed hearts of King Tut's priests, perhaps?
Matt tore his gaze away from the strings of slobber stretching between the demon's mouth and the floor. "She" was one of the most hideous things he had ever seen in his life. The paintings that he had seen earlier in King Tut's hall didn't do the Eater of Hearts enough justice. There was nothing attractive about the way a bloated hippopotamus's bottom was awkwardly jutting out of a feline torso, nor was there anything elegant about the coppery strands of a lion's mane pouring from a puke-green reptilian head. Wicked cool, maybe, in a twisted Frankenstein's monster sort of way.
But beautiful?
"Fuck, no," Mello spat out at the same time Matt said, "Beauty is subjective."
Quite true, the jackal-headed god announced. Shall we proceed with the judgments? Ammut is getting restless and hungry.
Anubis, if I did not know any better, I would say that you are enjoying yourself entirely too much.
With a snap of her fingers, Ma'at summoned another one of the invisible deities. A human-avian hybrid materialized at the goddess's side, holding a stone tablet in one hand and a massive set of scales in the other. He placed the two-panned instrument down by Ma'at's feet.
Thank you, Thoth.
Thoth withdrew a slim pen from the folds of his bottom garments and held it poised above the slab of stone. The bird-headed scribe blinked his beady eyes as his celestial wife. Name?
Nate River, Ma'at replied.
Thoth scribbled away on his tablet. He shifted uncomfortably and turned his attention to the golden scales, asking the question that everyone in the vicinity – god, goddess, human or heart-devouring demon – had been waiting for from the very start.
Verdict?
Ma'at placed a single feather in one of the measuring plates, and dropped Near's beating heart into its counterpart. The organ landed with a sickening splat and began to throb even faster.
The balance bar swayed.
Thud-thud.
Mello's eyes darted back and forth as he tracked the scale's jerky movements. Matt watched with bated breath. Near had been certain that he would be "judged" successfully, yet even the high priests that the Grand Vizier had purposely thrown to the dogs had failed. There was no way Near, the arrogant and manipulative prick that he could be, was purer than a priest. Or was there?
There was a loud screech as the balance beam tilted, and the weighing pan containing the feather of truth lowered itself just inches above the floor.
Mello's eyes bulged in shock.
The air whooshed out of Matt's lungs.
Pass, Ma'at confirmed.
Thoth nodded and jotted down the result. If the ibis-headed man was surprised, he didn't show it.
The invisible audience of gods and goddesses were abuzz with both confusion and excitement. Angry curses, smug jeers and delighted laughs assaulted Matt's mind.
What is going on?
Preposterous!
The scale must be broken. There is no other explanation.
Ma'at is losing her touch!
Said goddess ignored this. Instead, she proceeded to transfer Near's heart back into his body. The small teenager's pale chest swallowed the steadily pumping organ, and the luminescent sheen vanished from his skin. Near's glassy-eyed look was instantly replaced by a shrewd and triumphant expression. He wrenched himself from Anubis's apparently offending grasp and shuffled back to Matt's side.
"Are you alright?" Matt exclaimed.
The pale youth brushed an imaginary speck off his shoulder. "Never been better," he intoned.
Ma'at beckoned for Mello to step forward. The blond hesitated, apprehension written all over his face.
"Is it my turn?"
No.
"Huh?"
Amusement was etched into Ma'at's soft but strict features. Why did you not tell us you had been in contact with the Shinigami?
A/N: Trivia – the ancient Egyptians believed that the brain had no purpose, and that it was the heart that was the true source of human wisdom, emotions, memories and personality.
Well, Merry Christmas (or Happy Holidays)! :D
Special thanks to the latest readers and reviewers: TheCatchingLightAlchemist, Kira the Wolf, TeamDeanWinchester4Ever, Sarapsys, akatsukifan (lol little Near is safe for now xD), Kishimojin, Friday, bffs4evaMattandMello, OhMyGeePinkSucksAss, CharizardCyndi~
*Jingle bells, Batman smells, Robin laid an egg* ^_^