Blah. Hi. So this, for once, is assuming that TSS actually took place—it's somewhere in between visiting Osiris and leaving on the hunt for the illegal magic stash, and this is mostly nonsensical but I don't care because I really needed to write some fluffy Zarter, especially since Tori made me almost-kill Zia in a minific the other day. Plus I got a dog and I wanted to write something with animals.
Anyway, any other chapters in this story relating to TSS will be identified as such in the AN. Otherwise, assume it's following the convoluted plot that you've seen in previous chapters.
Enjoy!
O-o-O
Carter had been camping in a lot of different places—rainforests, deserts, mountaintops, you name it and he'd probably slept there. Although the Land of the Dead had never been on his list of top ten places to visit, however, he had to admit that it wasn't bad—as long as you could get over the smell of sulfur. It was pleasantly warm, thanks to the lava lake, and the Hall of Judgment had Although the Land of the Dead had never been on his list of top ten places to visit, he had to admit that it wasn't bad—as long as you could get over the smell of sulfur. It was pleasantly warm, thanks to the lava lake, and the Hall of Judgment had a wraparound porch—that probably wasn't the correct term, but Carter couldn't think of what else to call it—with views as good as you could get in the Duat.
Despite the warmth, he could see Walt shivering, huddled up in his sleeping bag and with a jacket on. Sadie had a piece of hair stuck to her bottom lip, and she was kicking out in her sleep every few minutes.
Zia seemed to be the only one who felt at home next to a lake of fire. She was curled up on top of her sleeping bag, her head pillowed on her arm. Her bare toes were taped, he'd noticed, like she'd broken some of them. He frowned when he realized just how beat up she was; he could see a bandage peeking out of the strap of her tank top, and one of her hands had a brace on it.
Funny—when she was asleep, it was obvious how tiny she was. How breakable. She couldn't be more than five-three, he realized with a start. He'd always felt like she'd towered over him, with her head and shoulders thrown back in defiance at the world, her chin raised in scorn. Now she seemed to have shrunk, curled in on herself; even her muscles seemed to have vanished, since they weren't straining in rage or anticipation.
Carter heard a clicking sound, and Ammit rounded the corner, sniffing the ground with his crocodile snout to the floor. He paused and gave Walt a thorough inspection, before nosing Sadie happily; she grunted in her sleep and flung her arm out wildly. Then he trotted (with his front half, anyway; his hippo rear did more of a waddle) over to Zia, gave her a good sniff, and licked her face.
"Ack!" she yelled, and started to sit up, but Ammit put his paws on her shoulder.
"He won't bite," Carter said, and Zia jumped again at his voice; evidently she hadn't noticed that he was awake.
She didn't respond. Instead, she wiped her cheek where Ammit had licked her, and said, dazedly, "It's slimy."
Her expression was such a perfectly balanced mixture of shock and disgust that Carter had to bite his knuckles to keep from laughing too loud. "Do you bite?" he asked, suddenly, without thinking, and flushed as soon as the words left his mouth.
"Only on Tuesdays," she said, sounding so serious that his jaw actually dropped, and then it was her turn to laugh at him. Ammit, apparently disgruntled by the lack of attention, nosed his way under Zia's palm, and yipped quietly, like he was saying, Down here!
Zia, hesitantly, scratched his little lion's mane with one finger. Ammit wagged his stump of a tail and flopped on the ground, rolling over to expose his belly, which Zia rubbed. Carter thought Ammit was going to faint from happiness.
"C'mere, Ammit," he said, clicking his fingers. "Leave Zia alone."
The monster whimpered, but rolled over and gave Zia's hand a farewell lick before he waddled over to Carter and curled up next to his sleeping bag. Carter lay down and scratched Ammit's ears, and when he looked up Zia had curled up again on her own sleeping bag. She smiled at him before she rolled over to face the lava lake—as she did so her tank top slid up to expose a good half inch of her bare back, but she didn't appear to have any intention of fixing that.
"This is gonna work, you know," he said, quietly. "We'll find the shadow."
He thought he saw Zia sigh, although it was hard to tell, since her silhouette flickered in the flames. She mumbled something that Carter didn't catch.
He closed his eyes and eventually drifted off into an exhausted, dreamless sleep.
O-o-O
For the record, I have no idea of crocodile tongues are actually slimy. I tried Googling it but all I got was a bunch of James and the Giant Peach quotes.
Oh well.