Kat Pov this chapter.
Kat viewed the city of Domino from where she sat with her legs dangling over the edge of a city skyscraper. The people down below appeared as tiny skittering insects as they mindlessly went about their day, oblivious to the fact that they were being watched from high above.
A tall figure approached beside her, arms folded across his chest as he looked down, taking in the same view.
"You called for me?" Malik questioned.
"You already know what I'm going to ask of you," Kat stated without emotion.
Malik sighed heavily. "If it were any other day, I would ask why you enjoy tormenting me so much."
"I don't want him there when I return. I'll call for the two of you after I've cleaned up."
"How long do you intend to hide it from him?"
"I don't. I offered to talk about it later tonight after I've returned."
"You know how he feels about that part of your nature. Are you prepared to handle his reaction when you explain where you were?"
Kat hesitated before answering. "Not entirely, no. But I like to hope that he will be understanding, just like with everything else so far."
Malik briefly nodded in understanding. "Safe hunting, ka-ib. If you have not called for me by the time the sun has set, I will come searching."
Kat nodded in agreement. "I expect nothing less."
Malik vanished from beside her, leaving Kat to continue looking down upon the city on her own.
Several minutes later, a different figure appeared beside her, seating himself casually with one leg hanging over the edge.
"What are you doing here? This is not your domain," Kat asked sharply, her eyes narrowing as she refused to look at the figure beside her.
"Is a father not permitted to visit his daughter?" asked Anubis, who appeared in his human visage with extremely dark skin and his long dreadlocks pulled back into a ponytail.
"You sired me, that does not make you my 'father'," Kat spat harshly.
Anubis sighed heavily. "How many times must we go through this? I had my responsibilities in Duat. I visited when I could."
Kat opened her mouth to speak again, but Anubis held up his hand to stop her.
"I did not come here to renew the same repetitive arguments between us. I only wish to ask a few questions."
"And what makes you think I want to answer them?" Kat asked bitterly.
"I have concerns about this 'boyfriend' that has suddenly appeared…and the fact that he is of Ra's lineage."
Kat rolled her eyes. "Great. 'Daddy' doesn't like who I'm dating. Why am I not surprised?" she said sarcastically.
Anubis shook his head in exasperation. "Will you cast aside your hostility towards me, just this once?"
"No." Kat stated sharply.
Anubis sighed heavily again. "Very well. At least answer me this: What is your fascination with Ra's unintended bloodline?"
Kat opened her mouth to spew more bitterness, but found she couldn't. Anubis had asked a valid question. It was one that lingered quietly in the back of her mind, but she refused to explore it because she wasn't certain she really wanted an answer.
"I don't know," she replied quietly. "I'm not certain I want to know. Malik and Bakura are my friends…and Marik is good to me. I don't know if I could handle finding out that there is some manipulative reason behind why I enjoy being in their company."
Anubis sat quietly for a moment before speaking. "So it is more of a 'compulsion', and not a 'reason', that has led you to being with Ra's descendant?"
Kat hesitated before nodding.
"I see. That is somewhat concerning," Anubis stated, speaking to himself.
Kat continued to stare at the people below.
"Adda…there's something you're not telling me. That no one is telling me. Why?"
Anubis stared in shock. "Adda? You have only called me that a handful of times since I revealed the truth to you. While I am happy to hear it, it also worries me." He cast his gaze to the people below. "To answer your question: No one will tell you because they are not permitted to. Your creation is part of an old bargain. Like you, I have come to regret what I agreed to…but I am bound and can do nothing about it. I can only wait. I pray you will someday forgive me for what I have done."
Kat looked up at her sire with a questioning gaze. "If you know what it's like to regret a bargain, then why did you place me in the same predicament?"
"It is…complicated."
Kat hung her head. "Everything is 'complicated'. I wish it weren't."
"As do I…but we are not simple and straigth-forward beings like mortals. Our very existence is complicated."
This prompted a chuckle out of Kat. "You don't understand mortals, do you? I assure you, they are not 'simple and straight-forward'."
Anubis lifted his head as if studying the sky. "I would not know. My interactions with them in the Realm of the Living have always been limited. I know them mostly from my role as their guide in Duat."
"Which is why you do not see what I see in them." Kat stated. "You have seen the countless lives ended too soon, and the young hearts that have been corrupted. You blame those whose hearts are filled with Chaos. You see only one option to cure this problem. I see another."
"You mean by what you are doing by spending your time here and slowly doing away with those whose hearts are consumed by the Chaos? Eradicating humanity and starting anew is far easier and less time consuming."
"Why does it matter if my method is the more difficult and time consuming option? It's not like I have anything better to do, aside from bringing about the End. Once that's done, then what? I just wait around for another few millennia until the gods decide 'Whoops! Screwed up with humanity again. Now where did we put that reset button'?"
Anubis opened his mouth to argue against her statement, but quickly closed it once he realized she wasn't wrong.
"See? You didn't think of that, did you?"
"I won't claim that we thought that far ahead," Anubis replied sheepishly.
"Of course not. You and…I haven't the slightest clue who else…made some kind of weird bargain about…I have no idea what…to create an immortal girl to bring about the end of humanity."
"It sounds stupid when you say it like that," Anubis stated with an irritated scowl.
"Because it is…" Kat said in a drawn out sarcastic manner.
Anubis groaned irritably. "Fine. It was stupid. I'm not Thoth."
"Understatement of the past five millennia…"
Anubis pretended to ignore the remark as he stood and stretched, once again casting his gaze over the city below.
"I cannot undo what has been done…but honestly, as much as I regret the bargain made, I wouldn't want to. Though you and I do not see things eye-to-eye, you are still my daughter…and that is something I will never regret."
Kat lifted her gaze to look up at Anubis. "I know exactly what you mean by those words," she stated earnestly.
Anubis smiled lightly. "I am glad to hear that. Perhaps one day you will find in your heart to forgive this foolish God for siring you."
"Hey now, I only said that I understood what you meant. That doesn't mean I'm going to stop baring my fangs at you."
Anubis chuckled. "I wouldn't expect anything less of you, Sanura. You are my little kitten, and a fierce one at that. I would become worried if you suddenly stopped baring your fangs towards me."
"Okay, now you're just making things weird…"
Anubis walked over and placed a clawed hand on top of Kat's head while smiling softly. "Goodbye, Sanura. I hope we can have more of these 'peaceful' conversations in the future."
Before Kat could reply, Anubis vanished in a billowing cloud of dark smoke that quickly dispersed itself.
Kat groaned in annoyance. "I should have at least made the effort to scratch out an eye or something. Now he thinks we're 'getting along'..." she said aloud to no one but herself.
Would just like to point out that Adda isn't Kemetic, it's Akkadian. If you recall from chapter 11 during Marik and Kat's 'not-a-date', Kat mentioned that in her youth she was led to believe that her father was a mercenary. Anubis used this, and had her refer to him by the Akkadian word for 'father/dad', as part of his ruse to keep her from knowing the truth about her lineage before her Awakening.
If it isn't obvious, Kat has 'daddy issues'. Anubis keeping the truth hidden broke a lot of trust. When she discovered that her own father was Anubis himself, her first reaction was to ask why he didn't save her mother. This alone has created a huge rift between them, with Kat becoming extremely distrustful of him (and most gods in general).
Would like to add that since last week I've published a new Gemshipping fic called 'Returned' and the first chapter of 'The Lion and the Mouse'!
'Returned' is about TKB catching a cold after he comes back from the Afterlife and Ryou has to deal with it.
'The Lion and the Mouse' is the backstory to how Malik met Marik's mom (like 'White Lady' for Bakura meeting Ryou's mom). Here on FFN it can be found under 'Tangled Web of Fate: Backstories', and starts at chapter 2. The next two chapters will be published across the next two weeks. There are TW at the start of each chapter (nothing worse than what you've already encountered here).