"Marik." He woke up to the sound of a woman's voice and sunlight burning through his eyelids. He opened his eyes to see Ishizu leaning over him as he rested in her lap, her brows creased in concern. She relaxed substantially on seeing him awake and asked, "Are you alright?"

Marik groaned, blinking up at his sister. "Where…"

"I found you in that basement," Ishizu explained, stroking his hair in an attempt to soothe him. "You texted us. Rishid's on his way."

The basement. Marik struggled to sit up, saying, "Is he still down there? There was a man - he attacked me, but -" He saw a flash of Zorc pinning the man to the wall, something red and pulsing in its claws, and he nearly passed out again, a wave of nausea making his stomach roll.

"You were the only one down there, Marik," Ishizu said, pulling him back down. "Someone attacked you?"

"Osiris," Marik mumbled, closing his eyes and wishing desperately for the world to stop spinning.

Before Ishizu could pry further, the sound of echoed footsteps caught both of their attention. "Rishid," Ishizu called, and the footsteps came to a stop at Marik's side. "He said someone attacked him. Marik, what do you mean, 'Osiris'?"

Marik sat upright, holding his head. "Ugh… I…" If there was a way to explain what had happened in a way that sounded in the realm of reality, he couldn't think of it now. So instead, he said, "Take me home, please. I'll explain everything, I promise."

Ishizu and Rishid helped him to his feet and brought him to Ishizu's car. The drive back to his apartment was tensely quiet, as Marik spent most of it with his head in his hands, trying to process what had happened in that basement. He couldn't get his assailant's tearful blue eyes out of his head - he hadn't wanted to kill Marik, he just thought he had to. And now he was dead. He had to have been. But where had he gone?

He blinked back into reality as the car pulled to a stop, and he led Ishizu up to his apartment, Rishid pulling up to follow closely behind. He took a seat on the couch, his shoulder burning. Right, that was the whole reason he'd been going home today. "I, um… Saif…" Marik started, swallowing hard. Start from the beginning. "So when we got robbed, Saif told you he ran, right? Well… he ran into that basement."

"Marik," Ishizu said softly, taking a deep breath. "This has to do with that shrine, doesn't it?"

Marik glanced at her with only a flicker of surprise. If she'd gone into the basement, obviously, she would have seen the shrine. "Yeah. Saif… summoned something from it." Marik felt something crawling along his back and towards his shoulder - Zorc was still with him. He'd figured as much. "Saif bound it to us on accident."

"Osiris?"

"No. Osiris is the one that attacked us today. The thing attached to us…" Marik sighed. "It calls itself Zorc, but it also used to be called Apep."

Ishizu's eyes widened, and Rishid sat upright, posture stiff and defensive. "You've… you've bound yourselves to Apep? The Apep?"

"I didn't know that until this morning. It just goes by Zorc now." Marik paused, turning his head to address Zorc, who he assumed had hidden on his body. "Want to say hi? I'm assuming you're back there."

Sure enough, he could feel something crawling up his back, and he winced, reaching out his arm. Ishizu and Rishid watched, expressions twisted in a mixture of horror and shock, taking each others' hands as Zorc started to reform itself. "For what it's worth," it said, a menacing shape of smoke that slowly solidified in the middle of the living room. "I haven't gone by Apep in millennia."

"Marik," Ishizu whispered in disbelief but said nothing else.

Marik stared down at his hands, feeling rather embarrassed about it all. "So, when I texted you the other day… We're hoping to find a way to undo this. We haven't had any luck looking here in Luxor."

"Why didn't you say anything?" Rishid asked, tearing his gaze away from the now-solid draconic demon to look at his brother.

"Most likely because he and Saif have a little too much pride," Zorc chimed in, resting against the back of Marik's chair. "They think they can do it all themselves."

Marik flushed slightly and said, "To be fair, we didn't exactly think we'd be getting attacked by other gods."

"I didn't, either. It's rare for someone to be devout enough to catch a god's attention; even more rare for them to agree to binding."

"Wait," Ishizu interrupted, holding up her hands. "Start from the beginning, please. How did this happen?"

Zorc spoke before Marik could even open his mouth. "Saif stumbled upon my altar running from those men that attacked him. I killed them and, in return, asked him to free me." Zorc rolled its eyes. "He decided to try and bind me further - an attempt to make sure I wouldn't cause any trouble, I'm sure - but he did the wrong ritual and bound me to himself instead."

"That's sounds like Saif," Rishid said, pinching the bridge of his nose. "He means well, but he tends to be… short-sighted." He looked back up, shaking his head. "However we can help fix this, we will."

Marik stood from the chair to wrap his siblings in a hug. "I know I should've just told you. I wasn't… I thought it was going to be easier. I wanted to prove I can take care of myself."

Rishid gently rubbed his back, and Ishizu rested her chin on Marik's shoulder, silent for a moment before she looked up to Zorc. "Will there be more people trying to kill you and Marik?"

Zorc crossed its arms and thought for a moment. "Maybe. I think Osiris' host was a fluke - we just happened to cross paths. No doubt other entities sensed when I entered this world, but they can't pinpoint my location unless they're close by. That being said, the sooner we get this fixed, the better."

"Alright." Rishid pulled away, nodding to Ishizu. "Well, I can take off whatever time I need. What should our first move be?"

"You mentioned Alexandria," Marik said, nestling between his siblings on the sofa. "It'd be easiest to fly there, right?"

"Yes. Luckily, we've been meaning to outreach to the Coptic Museum anyway, so I can say I'm traveling for work." Ishizu nodded to Marik. "We can go whenever you're up to it."

Marik stood up to go check the calendar next to the front door. "I hurt my shoulder working today, so… I could probably get away with asking for tomorrow off to recuperate. Do you think we could get this done in one day?"

"Certainly, but…" Ishizu looked at Zorc again with a small frown. "I don't know how we can explain… you."

"Luckily, I have good news on that front." Zorc smiled and, in an instant, shifted again. Its claws dulled and lightened, taking the shape of regular hands, and its extremities retracted, leaving it looking entirely human… and entirely naked. Thankfully, it was positioned behind the chair for modesty. "Consuming a god-bound heart gave me a nice boost - enough to let me completely glamour myself." It looked over its shoulder at Marik, its eyes light red and utterly normal. "So now you don't have to look like you're having entire conversations with yourself."

"Oh!" Marik exclaimed, averting his eyes out of politeness. Unfortunately, in going to check the calendar, there wasn't anything in his path that could censor Zorc's naked back. But the awkwardness of the situation only distracted him for a moment as the gravity of what Zorc had just said settled on him.

Rishid had caught it, as well. "Consuming a god-bound heart?" he asked, voicing Marik's exact thoughts. "What does that mean?"

"Well, the only way to kill a god is to kill its bound host. And being imbued with that kind of power… it makes you into a particularly satisfying meal for something like me."

"You tore out his heart," Marik muttered, flashes of the basement coming back to him and leaving him feeling queasy again. "And you… ate it."

"Sit down before you pass out again, Ishtar. So squeamish, honestly," Zorc said with a little laugh. "Don't worry. It's common in people who are bound to gods. I don't think Osiris would've done the same, but then again, Osiris is kind of a prude."

Marik obeyed, sitting back down in the chair and taking a deep breath. "…Is? But you killed it."

"No. I killed a fragment of it. Do you really think a god would give someone its entire essence?" Zorc rolled its eyes again and huffed. "That man only had a fraction of Osiris' power, and you only have a fraction of mine. Or, you would have, if I wasn't bound to this form. What I did was probably just a blow to his ego, nothing more."

"And the body?"

"Incinerated." Zorc tilted its head slightly. "You can't help me if you're worried about a body count."

Marik lowered his eyes with a frown. That didn't make him feel any better - the man's tearful blue eyes settled uneasily in his head. "He didn't want to kill me." Rishid reached over to hug him again.

"Hey." Zorc snapped its fingers from behind the chair. "Focus. He knew what he was getting into - the god-bound rarely die peacefully. Once you unbind me, we won't have to worry about this anymore."

"Right." Marik sat upright, clearing his throat. "Let's head out early tomorrow, then. Although… you're going to need clothes if you're going to look like that."

Zorc looked down at itself. "Right. A naked person would draw just as much attention as a demonic entity."

"We can go shopping. I need to get on my bike anyway."

"Alright. I can book the tickets," Ishizu said before rising.

She and Rishid wrapped Marik in one last group hug before departing, and Marik rested his head against the door as it closed behind them. "I guess… you can try on some of my clothes," he said, still facing away from Zorc. "It'll give us an idea on where to start for you."

"Alright." Marik could hear Zorc moving, shuffling into the bedroom, and eventually followed with a sigh.

Zorc was a bit smaller than Marik, its body somewhat frail-looking compared to his. Marik couldn't help but frown - it almost looked malnourished. But it tried on a couple of Marik's clean t-shirts and spare jeans, and Marik was a bit flustered. With its unnatural elements hidden away, aside from black scales creeping up from between its legs almost modestly, Zorc looked like a normal person who couldn't have been any older than him. "Okay. I think I have a good idea of what to look for," Marik said, trying to sound normal. "Let's go. We have a little time before the shops start to close."

"Very well." Zorc dropped the glamour and re-attached itself to Marik, settling on his arm versus his back. Marik grabbed his bag and his helmet before heading out to the parking lot.

Despite himself, his heart rate spiked in excitement as he saw his bike still safely tented under a tarp. He pulled the tarp back to reveal the red-painted, rather old-fashioned-looking motorcycle, the metal chrome gleaming splendidly, and let pride bubble up in his chest. "Zorc, let me introduce you to my baby," he said quietly, pulling his helmet over his head and taking a seat.

"Your… baby?" Zorc asked, confused, as Marik flipped the kickstand and started walking it backward. "Ah. I assume this is the 'bike' Saif mentioned."

Marik smiled to himself. Of course, Saif had told Zorc about his bike. "I won't be able to hear you once we get going. I hope you don't get carsick." With that, he kicked on the engine, joy buzzing through his body as it roared to life, and peeled out of the parking lot and onto the street. The wind whipping around him was a comforting sensation as he drove, and his mind emptied of any thoughts beyond the road. It was with mild reluctance that he pulled to a stop outside of a clothing store. "Just like… poke me if you see anything you like."

With Zorc's approval, Marik was able to pick up a couple of basic outfits and get out just a few minutes before the store closed. It hadn't picked out anything special, although its style veered dark, but it looked passably human, and… kind of cute. If Marik hadn't known any better, he would have assumed Zorc was just a foreign tourist. "Hm. A bit restrictive," Zorc commented, frowning down at its jeans.

"Good thing it's temporary." Marik had stopped at the grocery store on the way home and picked up some microwave meals for the night. After nearly dying, he didn't have the energy to cook. He sat down with a meal on the couch and watched some late-night TV - Zorc went without dinner, though, sitting down next to him to watch the evening news. "You're not hungry?"

"Osiris' host will hold me over for a day or two."

Marik frowned to himself, but an incoming text from Ishizu pulled his attention to his phone. "We're going to be leaving pretty early," he told Zorc as he read her message. "She has our tickets - only three, though. I figure you can hitchhike for the flight and glamour once we land, so I can pack your clothes in my luggage."

"That's fine," Zorc said, tilting its head and huffing as the news talked about a disturbance earlier downtown. "For your sake, let's hope this trip won't be as eventful as today was."

"Yeah, I'd rather not be electrocuted or incinerated or whatever other ways the gods might want to kill you. And… I'd rather not have to watch you kill anyone else, either."

"Your aversion to the cycle of life and death is so frustratingly… human." Zorc stood, cracking its neck. "Well, I'm going to bed. Try not to need anything from me."

"Duly noted. Let me grab something quick." Marik quickly grabbed his journal and a pen before returning to the living room to write out some thoughts and a quick summary of the plan to Saif just in case. As he turned off the TV and settled into his makeshift couch-bed, he couldn't get Osiris' host out of his head. He wished that he'd had anything to identify him with; if he had a family, they deserved to know. Zorc had mentioned the Field of Reeds - if that was true, at the very least, Osiris' host was at peace.

It took a long while for him to fall asleep, and his sleep was, thankfully, dreamless.