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fembuckTitle: Fear Not For the Wind
Author: Janine
Fandom: The Mummy
Pairing: Evie/Anuk Su Namun
Rating: PG
Disclaimer: I don't own them.
Summary: Sequel to "A Princess's Tale". What would happen if Anuk Su Namun got her soul back?
Curses I've come to realize don't mean what they used to. In the old days, when someone damned your soul, it stayed that way. There was no two thousands years of ignorant bliss then an Ooops' and some shrugging of the shoulders. Curses are suppose to last, that's the whole point of them, it's why the darkest magic is needed to cast them, it's why people fear them more than death. So, what? What could be more powerful than that? Love, it seems, does conquer all. Imhotep – He whose name I shall never mention again – believed that love was the most powerful thing of all things, of course his idea of love was kidnapping someone and damning them to spend eternity with him so I think that I shan't take to heart his definition. However, Nefertiri, my beautiful Nefertiri, also believed in love above all other things. Nefertiri, who gently holding my hand whispered to me that love, was the most powerful thing of all. Nefertiri, who despite it all, who in spite of it all, loved me until my dying day. Yes, Nefertiri also believed in the all-powerful properties of love and she was right. Her love was everything his was not, pure, selfless, soft, and beautiful and it was her love that conquered all, that freed my soul and damned it all over again.
I can see her pain every time I close my eyes. The suffering that I caused her making my heart bleed with every shuddering breath I take. Sometimes the images in my mind seem so clear, so real that I believe I can reach out and wipe her tears away, stroke away the devastation that I etched onto her beautiful face. The knowledge that she loved me still even as the thing I became stood over her basking in her pain tearing me apart inside. The idea that even after her father had taken me and made my body his temple, and He had taken my soul and so much more, the idea that after all of that she could still love me making me want to weep, to kill myself all over again for what I put her through.
When He awoke me in this modern world I was as pleased to see him as He had programmed me to be, and for him that had been enough. But the first time that I was actually glad to be back was I when I spotted her in the distance as we approached the temple. He had seen her too and I saw the smirk he had been wearing since we entered the jungle disappear. He told me to kill her, to make her blood run freely, that it would please him to finally see her die. I always did what pleased him, yet as I felt her blood coating my hands as I yanked the knife out of her gut, as her shocked eyes – different yet the same – looked up at me I felt no pleasure though I smiled for him. For even in that state, even under his curse there had been something between us, something so pure that even all of his evil could not mask it completely.
Later, when I heard the boy reading and I realized what he was up to I think that I felt a surge of excitement, the first true emotion I had felt since our match in Seti's court. My foil would return, and we would spare and trade insults as we had before in an age when things were golden. And to make sure that she would dance with me I was going to kill the fool in the white suit, for her anger pleased me.
I had been ready to stab the man, Jonathon, my sai raised already coated in blood when I felt a hand grasp my wrist and push me away.
"Why don't you pick on someone your own size?" Nefertiri, though I suppose I should be calling her Evelyn, asked as she grasped the sai's from a statutes hand and twirled them around in her own. A strange expression considering the fact that I was taller than she was, and therefore not her own size, but I paid little attention. It was time for us to dance.
"You have remembered the old ways Nefertiri?" I snarled at her as I pressed her against the cool surface of the cave wall, delighting in the fact that at the moment she seemed to be more Nefertiri than that sniveling librarian.
"I do," she responded her eyes meeting mine; her expression equal parts steely and sad. "And I shall say goodbye to you for her before I kill you," she continued, her voice deadly serious. I think I smiled at her when she said that, the deadpan arrogance of the statement calling to the darkness inside of me. I quickly stopped smiling however when she pressed her lips against mine, harshly at first then with a gentleness that I could only remember as a distant ache.
I recall her pulling back from me when she was done, the tenderness the kiss had produced on her face quickly disappearing as she shoved me off of her and I stumbled to the ground meters away from her.
I sat there where I had fallen staring up at her, confused and scared. My mind was in a state of chaos, images and feelings bombarding me ruthlessly, taking my breath away. I had always known of our past together, the curse He put me under not having taken away my memories, only my ability to feel for anyone other than him. Yet as I sat there on the cool, damp earth I felt for her. I felt so much for her I thought that I would cease to breathe from the intensity of it all. I stood up, backing away from her like a wounded animal as she slowly approached me. I didn't want this; I didn't like these feelings that were bubbling inside of me. I ran convinced that when I got back to him everything would return to normal, that everything would be as it should be.
I stood there pressed to a pillar as the room around us crumbled and the earth shook angrily. He and the man they called Rick were dangling on the edge of a pit that led straight to hell, fighting to hold on. Rick was yelling to Nefertiri, telling her to take their son and leave, to get out. She didn't mind him however, and I watched with a detached fascination as she precariously made her way to him, pulling him out of the pit. He watched this too, and then turned to me with fear in his eyes, calling to me, begging me to help. I stared back at him, the unthinking devotion I had had for him nowhere in sight. I had died for him once; I wasn't going to do it again. I turned and for the second time that day I ran from my past into an uncertain future.
I blinked as the harsh rays of the sun assaulted my eyes, turning my head away. I believe I had been trying to determine which way to go when I got down from the temple steps, if it even mattered which way I went when I felt it. A blinding pain exploding in my head. It felt like something had burst inside of my mind and I fell down onto the stone steps howling in pain as the light washed over me in wave after wave.
I could hear voices, but they seemed distant to me as I looked up at the sun, which was the only thing I still recognized. I felt hands on my shoulders, grasping them roughly and hauling me to my feet. But I was still dizzy, my body uncertain and I fell back down.
"I owe you suffering," I heard the voice say, and I looked up immediately.
"Nefertiri?" I asked in a choked voice, blinking up at her through the tears that stung my eyes and ran down my cheeks. "Nefertiri?" I asked again my heart beating wildly as I gazed at my love for the first time in what felt like centuries. I felt her pulling me to my feet again and this time I stayed up. I didn't understand why I was in the clothes I was in, or know where I was or why my head hurt so much and my heart ached, but I didn't need to know these things because Nefertiri was there, and she was drawing me into her body, holding me close to her. And soon, my head was nestled in that spot between her shoulder and her neck that I loved so much and I showered her with tears I did not understand the origin of but knew I had to shed.
The moment was soon interrupted by a horrible rumbling sound, and the events which followed are hazy in my mind, perhaps not even memories so much as delusions. I remember the temple, something was happening to the temple and we were running upwards, then some kind of mechanical sack picking us up and flying off with us into the clouds.
"She's awake," he yelled still staring at me. "And she looks kinda weird," he added leaning forward to get a better look at me, yet not far enough forward that I could've touched him if I'd had the energy.
"Okay, do you want to tell me why I just hauled this bitches ass up five flights of stairs after she stabbed you?" It was the tall man who asked this, the one they called Rick. The words that were coming out of his mouth were strange to me, like the boys, but somehow I could understand what he was saying nonetheless. I did not know what he was talking about however for I did not remember stabbing anyone or being carried up anything. My head was aching terribly and I was barley able to hear what they were saying as images started to rush into my brain, distracting me from their conversation.
"It's not her it's the real Anuk Su Namun."
"Yeah, Imhotep brought her back she stabbed you, then you two bonded and I had to carry her up FIVE flights of stairs!"
"No, Imhotep cursed the real Anuk Su Namun, damned her to love him for eternity and that's the Anuk Su Namun he brought back. When he fell into the pit and died the curse must have been lifted and the real, pre-cursed Anuk Su Namun returned."
"So she was only evil because of the curse, and now the curse has been lifted so she's… what? Good now?"
"Basically."
"I'm going need a little more exposition Evie."
"Anuk Su Namun was Nefertiri's lov…uh, closest friend."
"And Nefertiri is the woman who's memories you've got?"
"Yes. And the real Anuk Su Namun was a good, gentle woman completely devoted to me… to Nefertiri, devoted to Nefertiri. But, then that bald headed freak became obsessed with her and cursed her, and that's…"
"When she became evil?"
"Exactly."
"Well how do we know she's really the good Anuk Su Namun and not the evil one trying really, really hard not get her ass kicked by me?"
"Because she is."
"Come again?"
"Because she is."
"Back to the how do you know that?"
"Because I just do. Trust me."
"If this is a trick, she's…"
"It's not a trick. I know her; I can remember everything about her. It's her Rick, I promise."
She was sitting by the side of the bed when I awoke again. The room was dimly lit and as I looked over at her I knew that she wasn't aware that I had awoken, her attention focused on something in the distance. I remembered it all now, everything that had happened between us in the past and in this future. I remembered what He had done to me, and what I had done to her, and looking at this woman who was so much like my love I felt like I was going to die.
"Do I look much like her?" she asked as I watched her. I blinked in surprise; I guess she had been aware of when I had awoken. I was surprised, yet pleased to hear her speak. She spoke in the old language unlike the other two which I preferred not having had time to acclimate myself to the language I had inherited from Meela. Hopefully the only thing I had inherited from Meela if my memories of her were at all correct.
"Exactly," I responded honestly, turning away from her and directing my eyes up wards towards the ceiling. It was strange being in her company, I found that I did not know what to say, it was almost like the first time we had met, the first time Nefertiri and I had met.
"I'm not her," she said softly. There was no malice in her voice; she was merely stating a fact.
"You are a little," I responded. And we both knew that it was true. After all, what are we but our memories, and flesh and bone? She may have been Evelyn wife to Rick and mother to Alex, but she was also Nefertiri, Princess of Egypt and lover to me.
"A little," she agreed her eyes raking over me as she flexed her hands, a small little smile appearing on her face.
"Why don't you just say it?" she continued a moment later. She had said nothing more after she agreed with me, and had returned to her inspection of whatever it was beyond me that seemed to fascinate her so. And as she had done this, I had turned to look at her again. I considered her question and the appropriateness of telling her what I had been thinking, yet I could not decide so I remained silent. "Readily and freely," she murmured in a lower tone, when I continued to look at her silently. I smiled; apparently this situation was reminding her of the first time we had met as well.
"The way you kiss hasn't changed in two thousand years," I answered watching as her cheeks slowly coloured and she averted her eyes. I was slightly surprised to see her blush, for I had never seen Nefertiri do it, at least not in reference to anything like I had just said. No, this woman, this Evie wasn't Nefertiri; she was only enough like her to break my heart.
"Is that a good thing?" she asked finally turning back towards me yet not looking me in the eye. I wondered at the question, if she really desired to know the answer and I thought for a moment that I would not answer her. But I did, it seemed that there was enough of Nefertiri in her for her to weaken my resolve as she did in the past.
"I always thought so, I would go so far as to say inspired," was my sighed response.
"Why are you doing this?" I asked a moment later. My mood had turned brooding as I was flooded with memories from the past, memories of a time when she was mine and we were happy, memories that would not let me rest. I knew that it was as confusing for her having me here as it was for me to be here with her, and I couldn't understand why she would put herself through the torture, how she could stand the sight of me.
"What?" she asked looking down at me genuinely confused, looking at me with candid eyes.
"I tried to kill you," I said turning from her once more, unable to look at her as I detailed my sins. "I kidnapped your son then threatened to put snakes in his bed. I helped revive an ancient warrior that wanted to take over the world, and I broke her heart. Why, with everything that I've done are you helping me now?"
"Because she loved you," she responded without a moment's hesitation as she leaned forward so that our faces were only inches apart. "Because there's enough of her in me that I can't not care about you, and because it wasn't you at all who did those things," she continued in a soft voice. "Because you've suffered enough in this life or any other, and I couldn't bare to see you in anymore pain. But mostly," she said sighing, "because she loved you."
"It's hard for me to separate the two of you, to know where you begin and she ends," I said looking at her bowed head. "To stop myself from wanting you." She hadn't moved from the position she was in when she was speaking, and I could almost feel the intake of her breath as she gasped at my words.
"It's hard for me too," she responded, and I could see in her eyes the struggle that was going on within in whether to move closer towards me or to pull away from me. "While you were sleeping, I kept wanting to hold you. I actually nearly climbed in once…or twice."
"I often used to find you next to me when I awoke from afternoon naps," I told her. "I could never figure out how you did it without waking me," I continued as my mind drifted into the past.
It had been hot that day, hotter than usual and to make matters worse the market had been horribly crowded. It was a holiday the next day, for those privileged enough to take them and people were preparing to feast. Cyrene and I had been held up at least an hour longer than usual downtown, and as I entered my chamber and fell down onto my bed I fell into a peaceful slumber immediately.
I blinked, my eyes slowly adjusting to the sunlight shining in my eyes as I awoke from my slumber. Almost immediately I became aware of a slight weight over my waist that hadn't been there when I fell asleep and I was suddenly very awake, and smiling very wide. Carefully turning around, I positioned myself so that Nefertiri and I were now face to face, her arm still draped over my waist, and I watched her sleep. By the gods she was beautiful. I loved her so much that at times like that when I watched her, so peaceful, so serene I felt as if my heart would explode from being so full.
"I know you're awake, I can see you smiling," I told her when her lips curved into a smile but her eyes remained closed.
"That always gives me away," she responded opening her eyes and tilting her head up so that we were nose to nose.
"Hasn't anyone ever told you it's against the law to molest the unconscious?" I asked snuggling closer to her as her hand began to move along the side of my body.
"I'll have to look into changing that," she responded dipping her head down so that her lips were at my temple. "It's too much fun to be illegal," she continued before pressing her lips against my skin, smiling into me as I allowed my lips to start exploring her neck.
"Don't you have guests to prepare for?" I asked her as my hand slipped under her tunic nonetheless.
"I did, but Phaiki kicked me out. It seems that I was getting in the way," she replied sighing and shifting back, giving me more access to her body. "It's almost like I had someone better to be doing with my time," she continued as my hands drifted up her abdomen slowly.
"I caught that," I told her before placing my lips over hers and rolling her onto her back covering her body with my own as her hands trailing up my back to tangle in my hair. "You know," I commented as her lips found their way to my collarbone and began to move downwards, "I'm not sure which is better, waking up with you or going to sleep with you."
And that was the last either one of us was able to say for next little while.
"Your stomach." I looked up and over at her as her voice tore me from my thoughts. Gone was the brightly lit room of the place I had come to call home, I was now surrounded by the dark hues of a strange room, in a strange time, with a stranger who wasn't a stranger at all.
"Excuse me?" I asked blinking at her, trying to clear my mind of the images that had just filled it.
"That's how she used to slip into your bed without you knowing," Evie explained, a smile tugging at her lips. "She knew that rubbing your stomach used to send you to sleep, and one day when she came to visit you and found you asleep she decided that she wanted to lay with you, but didn't want to wake you. She tried to get in a couple of times, but you would moan and start to turn around, and then it struck her. You always used to sigh when she first touched you, but once she started to move her hand you calmed down and she was able to slip in beside you," she finished her eyes darting away from mine as they had so many times during her narrative.
When she finished speaking, I smiled and lay back resting my head comfortably on the pillow. "I see," I responded. "How ingenious."
"I…I mean she certainly thought so," Evie responded resettling in her chair uncomfortably. "How are you feeling?" she asked a moment later, seemingly more comfortable now that she had changed the subject. "I don't like how pale you've gotten."
"I've gotten pale?" I asked looking down at my hands trying to see if I had gotten pale but unable to due to the lack of lighting.
"Yes, and you've fainted twice since we found you outside the temple," she told me leaning forward once more. "How are you feeling? And don't lie to me, I know you, I'll be able to tell."
"Weak," I told her, trying not show how much her previous statement amused me. "I do not have much energy."
"You always have energy," she said leaning back into her chair with a frown on her face. I said nothing however, because I did not have any energy now even though it was true I always had in the past. "When was the last time you ate?"
"I can't remember," I responded. "The," I paused, "on the train?" I said, my words coming out haltingly. There was no word in my language for the mode of transportation they'd used to shuttle us around so I spoke in English for the first time. "Is that what it's called?" I asked her having seen her smile as the word fell from my lips.
"Yes, that's what it's called. They're not bad huh, much faster than camels and I know that for a fact," she responded smiling, before pouting a bit when she mentioned the camels. I didn't know what she was talking about for neither Meela nor I had seen her near any camels, but I found her expression charming nonetheless.
"I'll go get you something to eat," she said standing up. "And tomorrow," she continued before pausing for a moment looking at me hesitantly, "the doctor will be by to take a look at you."
"I would prefer not to…" I started to say, but she interrupted me before I could go any further.
"I know you would prefer not to," she responded, "but you will. I think that you're sick and I can't mend it with some herbs and a bandage this time. I'll be in the room when he's here, I promise you'll be perfectly safe," she continued picking up my hand and holding it in hers, squeezing softly as she said the last part.
"If you think it best," I responded softly, my eyes focused on our clasped hands. She was stroking the skin on the back of my hand lightly with her thumb, something Nefertiri used to do when we sat quietly watching the stars or I was upset or not feeling well. And when I felt her lips gently press against the inside of my wrist, I bit my lip to stop myself from saying anything that could interrupt this sweet, precious moment.
"I do," she said finally her voice almost inaudible as she released my hand. She was silent for a moment after that, simply looking down at me. I could tell that she was a bit surprised by what she had just done, but she did not seem alarmed or disturbed by it. Then in a swift motion she leaned down and brushed her lips against my forehead before saying, "I'll be back." With that she straightened up and headed for the door.
To be continued ...
Author: Janine
Fandom: The Mummy
Pairing: Evie/Anuk Su Namun
Rating: PG
Disclaimer: I don't own them.
Summary: Sequel to "A Princess's Tale". What would happen if Anuk Su Namun got her soul back?
Part 1
Curses I've come to realize don't mean what they used to. In the old days, when someone damned your soul, it stayed that way. There was no two thousands years of ignorant bliss then an Ooops' and some shrugging of the shoulders. Curses are suppose to last, that's the whole point of them, it's why the darkest magic is needed to cast them, it's why people fear them more than death. So, what? What could be more powerful than that? Love, it seems, does conquer all. Imhotep – He whose name I shall never mention again – believed that love was the most powerful thing of all things, of course his idea of love was kidnapping someone and damning them to spend eternity with him so I think that I shan't take to heart his definition. However, Nefertiri, my beautiful Nefertiri, also believed in love above all other things. Nefertiri, who gently holding my hand whispered to me that love, was the most powerful thing of all. Nefertiri, who despite it all, who in spite of it all, loved me until my dying day. Yes, Nefertiri also believed in the all-powerful properties of love and she was right. Her love was everything his was not, pure, selfless, soft, and beautiful and it was her love that conquered all, that freed my soul and damned it all over again.
I can see her pain every time I close my eyes. The suffering that I caused her making my heart bleed with every shuddering breath I take. Sometimes the images in my mind seem so clear, so real that I believe I can reach out and wipe her tears away, stroke away the devastation that I etched onto her beautiful face. The knowledge that she loved me still even as the thing I became stood over her basking in her pain tearing me apart inside. The idea that even after her father had taken me and made my body his temple, and He had taken my soul and so much more, the idea that after all of that she could still love me making me want to weep, to kill myself all over again for what I put her through.
When He awoke me in this modern world I was as pleased to see him as He had programmed me to be, and for him that had been enough. But the first time that I was actually glad to be back was I when I spotted her in the distance as we approached the temple. He had seen her too and I saw the smirk he had been wearing since we entered the jungle disappear. He told me to kill her, to make her blood run freely, that it would please him to finally see her die. I always did what pleased him, yet as I felt her blood coating my hands as I yanked the knife out of her gut, as her shocked eyes – different yet the same – looked up at me I felt no pleasure though I smiled for him. For even in that state, even under his curse there had been something between us, something so pure that even all of his evil could not mask it completely.
Later, when I heard the boy reading and I realized what he was up to I think that I felt a surge of excitement, the first true emotion I had felt since our match in Seti's court. My foil would return, and we would spare and trade insults as we had before in an age when things were golden. And to make sure that she would dance with me I was going to kill the fool in the white suit, for her anger pleased me.
I had been ready to stab the man, Jonathon, my sai raised already coated in blood when I felt a hand grasp my wrist and push me away.
"Why don't you pick on someone your own size?" Nefertiri, though I suppose I should be calling her Evelyn, asked as she grasped the sai's from a statutes hand and twirled them around in her own. A strange expression considering the fact that I was taller than she was, and therefore not her own size, but I paid little attention. It was time for us to dance.
"You have remembered the old ways Nefertiri?" I snarled at her as I pressed her against the cool surface of the cave wall, delighting in the fact that at the moment she seemed to be more Nefertiri than that sniveling librarian.
"I do," she responded her eyes meeting mine; her expression equal parts steely and sad. "And I shall say goodbye to you for her before I kill you," she continued, her voice deadly serious. I think I smiled at her when she said that, the deadpan arrogance of the statement calling to the darkness inside of me. I quickly stopped smiling however when she pressed her lips against mine, harshly at first then with a gentleness that I could only remember as a distant ache.
I recall her pulling back from me when she was done, the tenderness the kiss had produced on her face quickly disappearing as she shoved me off of her and I stumbled to the ground meters away from her.
I sat there where I had fallen staring up at her, confused and scared. My mind was in a state of chaos, images and feelings bombarding me ruthlessly, taking my breath away. I had always known of our past together, the curse He put me under not having taken away my memories, only my ability to feel for anyone other than him. Yet as I sat there on the cool, damp earth I felt for her. I felt so much for her I thought that I would cease to breathe from the intensity of it all. I stood up, backing away from her like a wounded animal as she slowly approached me. I didn't want this; I didn't like these feelings that were bubbling inside of me. I ran convinced that when I got back to him everything would return to normal, that everything would be as it should be.
I stood there pressed to a pillar as the room around us crumbled and the earth shook angrily. He and the man they called Rick were dangling on the edge of a pit that led straight to hell, fighting to hold on. Rick was yelling to Nefertiri, telling her to take their son and leave, to get out. She didn't mind him however, and I watched with a detached fascination as she precariously made her way to him, pulling him out of the pit. He watched this too, and then turned to me with fear in his eyes, calling to me, begging me to help. I stared back at him, the unthinking devotion I had had for him nowhere in sight. I had died for him once; I wasn't going to do it again. I turned and for the second time that day I ran from my past into an uncertain future.
I blinked as the harsh rays of the sun assaulted my eyes, turning my head away. I believe I had been trying to determine which way to go when I got down from the temple steps, if it even mattered which way I went when I felt it. A blinding pain exploding in my head. It felt like something had burst inside of my mind and I fell down onto the stone steps howling in pain as the light washed over me in wave after wave.
I could hear voices, but they seemed distant to me as I looked up at the sun, which was the only thing I still recognized. I felt hands on my shoulders, grasping them roughly and hauling me to my feet. But I was still dizzy, my body uncertain and I fell back down.
"I owe you suffering," I heard the voice say, and I looked up immediately.
"Nefertiri?" I asked in a choked voice, blinking up at her through the tears that stung my eyes and ran down my cheeks. "Nefertiri?" I asked again my heart beating wildly as I gazed at my love for the first time in what felt like centuries. I felt her pulling me to my feet again and this time I stayed up. I didn't understand why I was in the clothes I was in, or know where I was or why my head hurt so much and my heart ached, but I didn't need to know these things because Nefertiri was there, and she was drawing me into her body, holding me close to her. And soon, my head was nestled in that spot between her shoulder and her neck that I loved so much and I showered her with tears I did not understand the origin of but knew I had to shed.
The moment was soon interrupted by a horrible rumbling sound, and the events which followed are hazy in my mind, perhaps not even memories so much as delusions. I remember the temple, something was happening to the temple and we were running upwards, then some kind of mechanical sack picking us up and flying off with us into the clouds.
Part 2
I must have fainted because I remember waking to see a little blond boy in strange clothes putting a damp towel on my head then jumping backwards looking fascinated and slightly scared as my eyes opened and I looked at him."She's awake," he yelled still staring at me. "And she looks kinda weird," he added leaning forward to get a better look at me, yet not far enough forward that I could've touched him if I'd had the energy.
"Okay, do you want to tell me why I just hauled this bitches ass up five flights of stairs after she stabbed you?" It was the tall man who asked this, the one they called Rick. The words that were coming out of his mouth were strange to me, like the boys, but somehow I could understand what he was saying nonetheless. I did not know what he was talking about however for I did not remember stabbing anyone or being carried up anything. My head was aching terribly and I was barley able to hear what they were saying as images started to rush into my brain, distracting me from their conversation.
"It's not her it's the real Anuk Su Namun."
"Yeah, Imhotep brought her back she stabbed you, then you two bonded and I had to carry her up FIVE flights of stairs!"
"No, Imhotep cursed the real Anuk Su Namun, damned her to love him for eternity and that's the Anuk Su Namun he brought back. When he fell into the pit and died the curse must have been lifted and the real, pre-cursed Anuk Su Namun returned."
"So she was only evil because of the curse, and now the curse has been lifted so she's… what? Good now?"
"Basically."
"I'm going need a little more exposition Evie."
"Anuk Su Namun was Nefertiri's lov…uh, closest friend."
"And Nefertiri is the woman who's memories you've got?"
"Yes. And the real Anuk Su Namun was a good, gentle woman completely devoted to me… to Nefertiri, devoted to Nefertiri. But, then that bald headed freak became obsessed with her and cursed her, and that's…"
"When she became evil?"
"Exactly."
"Well how do we know she's really the good Anuk Su Namun and not the evil one trying really, really hard not get her ass kicked by me?"
"Because she is."
"Come again?"
"Because she is."
"Back to the how do you know that?"
"Because I just do. Trust me."
"If this is a trick, she's…"
"It's not a trick. I know her; I can remember everything about her. It's her Rick, I promise."
She was sitting by the side of the bed when I awoke again. The room was dimly lit and as I looked over at her I knew that she wasn't aware that I had awoken, her attention focused on something in the distance. I remembered it all now, everything that had happened between us in the past and in this future. I remembered what He had done to me, and what I had done to her, and looking at this woman who was so much like my love I felt like I was going to die.
"Do I look much like her?" she asked as I watched her. I blinked in surprise; I guess she had been aware of when I had awoken. I was surprised, yet pleased to hear her speak. She spoke in the old language unlike the other two which I preferred not having had time to acclimate myself to the language I had inherited from Meela. Hopefully the only thing I had inherited from Meela if my memories of her were at all correct.
"Exactly," I responded honestly, turning away from her and directing my eyes up wards towards the ceiling. It was strange being in her company, I found that I did not know what to say, it was almost like the first time we had met, the first time Nefertiri and I had met.
"I'm not her," she said softly. There was no malice in her voice; she was merely stating a fact.
"You are a little," I responded. And we both knew that it was true. After all, what are we but our memories, and flesh and bone? She may have been Evelyn wife to Rick and mother to Alex, but she was also Nefertiri, Princess of Egypt and lover to me.
"A little," she agreed her eyes raking over me as she flexed her hands, a small little smile appearing on her face.
"Why don't you just say it?" she continued a moment later. She had said nothing more after she agreed with me, and had returned to her inspection of whatever it was beyond me that seemed to fascinate her so. And as she had done this, I had turned to look at her again. I considered her question and the appropriateness of telling her what I had been thinking, yet I could not decide so I remained silent. "Readily and freely," she murmured in a lower tone, when I continued to look at her silently. I smiled; apparently this situation was reminding her of the first time we had met as well.
"The way you kiss hasn't changed in two thousand years," I answered watching as her cheeks slowly coloured and she averted her eyes. I was slightly surprised to see her blush, for I had never seen Nefertiri do it, at least not in reference to anything like I had just said. No, this woman, this Evie wasn't Nefertiri; she was only enough like her to break my heart.
"Is that a good thing?" she asked finally turning back towards me yet not looking me in the eye. I wondered at the question, if she really desired to know the answer and I thought for a moment that I would not answer her. But I did, it seemed that there was enough of Nefertiri in her for her to weaken my resolve as she did in the past.
"I always thought so, I would go so far as to say inspired," was my sighed response.
"Why are you doing this?" I asked a moment later. My mood had turned brooding as I was flooded with memories from the past, memories of a time when she was mine and we were happy, memories that would not let me rest. I knew that it was as confusing for her having me here as it was for me to be here with her, and I couldn't understand why she would put herself through the torture, how she could stand the sight of me.
"What?" she asked looking down at me genuinely confused, looking at me with candid eyes.
"I tried to kill you," I said turning from her once more, unable to look at her as I detailed my sins. "I kidnapped your son then threatened to put snakes in his bed. I helped revive an ancient warrior that wanted to take over the world, and I broke her heart. Why, with everything that I've done are you helping me now?"
"Because she loved you," she responded without a moment's hesitation as she leaned forward so that our faces were only inches apart. "Because there's enough of her in me that I can't not care about you, and because it wasn't you at all who did those things," she continued in a soft voice. "Because you've suffered enough in this life or any other, and I couldn't bare to see you in anymore pain. But mostly," she said sighing, "because she loved you."
"It's hard for me to separate the two of you, to know where you begin and she ends," I said looking at her bowed head. "To stop myself from wanting you." She hadn't moved from the position she was in when she was speaking, and I could almost feel the intake of her breath as she gasped at my words.
"It's hard for me too," she responded, and I could see in her eyes the struggle that was going on within in whether to move closer towards me or to pull away from me. "While you were sleeping, I kept wanting to hold you. I actually nearly climbed in once…or twice."
"I often used to find you next to me when I awoke from afternoon naps," I told her. "I could never figure out how you did it without waking me," I continued as my mind drifted into the past.
It had been hot that day, hotter than usual and to make matters worse the market had been horribly crowded. It was a holiday the next day, for those privileged enough to take them and people were preparing to feast. Cyrene and I had been held up at least an hour longer than usual downtown, and as I entered my chamber and fell down onto my bed I fell into a peaceful slumber immediately.
I blinked, my eyes slowly adjusting to the sunlight shining in my eyes as I awoke from my slumber. Almost immediately I became aware of a slight weight over my waist that hadn't been there when I fell asleep and I was suddenly very awake, and smiling very wide. Carefully turning around, I positioned myself so that Nefertiri and I were now face to face, her arm still draped over my waist, and I watched her sleep. By the gods she was beautiful. I loved her so much that at times like that when I watched her, so peaceful, so serene I felt as if my heart would explode from being so full.
"I know you're awake, I can see you smiling," I told her when her lips curved into a smile but her eyes remained closed.
"That always gives me away," she responded opening her eyes and tilting her head up so that we were nose to nose.
"Hasn't anyone ever told you it's against the law to molest the unconscious?" I asked snuggling closer to her as her hand began to move along the side of my body.
"I'll have to look into changing that," she responded dipping her head down so that her lips were at my temple. "It's too much fun to be illegal," she continued before pressing her lips against my skin, smiling into me as I allowed my lips to start exploring her neck.
"Don't you have guests to prepare for?" I asked her as my hand slipped under her tunic nonetheless.
"I did, but Phaiki kicked me out. It seems that I was getting in the way," she replied sighing and shifting back, giving me more access to her body. "It's almost like I had someone better to be doing with my time," she continued as my hands drifted up her abdomen slowly.
"I caught that," I told her before placing my lips over hers and rolling her onto her back covering her body with my own as her hands trailing up my back to tangle in my hair. "You know," I commented as her lips found their way to my collarbone and began to move downwards, "I'm not sure which is better, waking up with you or going to sleep with you."
And that was the last either one of us was able to say for next little while.
"Your stomach." I looked up and over at her as her voice tore me from my thoughts. Gone was the brightly lit room of the place I had come to call home, I was now surrounded by the dark hues of a strange room, in a strange time, with a stranger who wasn't a stranger at all.
"Excuse me?" I asked blinking at her, trying to clear my mind of the images that had just filled it.
"That's how she used to slip into your bed without you knowing," Evie explained, a smile tugging at her lips. "She knew that rubbing your stomach used to send you to sleep, and one day when she came to visit you and found you asleep she decided that she wanted to lay with you, but didn't want to wake you. She tried to get in a couple of times, but you would moan and start to turn around, and then it struck her. You always used to sigh when she first touched you, but once she started to move her hand you calmed down and she was able to slip in beside you," she finished her eyes darting away from mine as they had so many times during her narrative.
When she finished speaking, I smiled and lay back resting my head comfortably on the pillow. "I see," I responded. "How ingenious."
"I…I mean she certainly thought so," Evie responded resettling in her chair uncomfortably. "How are you feeling?" she asked a moment later, seemingly more comfortable now that she had changed the subject. "I don't like how pale you've gotten."
"I've gotten pale?" I asked looking down at my hands trying to see if I had gotten pale but unable to due to the lack of lighting.
"Yes, and you've fainted twice since we found you outside the temple," she told me leaning forward once more. "How are you feeling? And don't lie to me, I know you, I'll be able to tell."
"Weak," I told her, trying not show how much her previous statement amused me. "I do not have much energy."
"You always have energy," she said leaning back into her chair with a frown on her face. I said nothing however, because I did not have any energy now even though it was true I always had in the past. "When was the last time you ate?"
"I can't remember," I responded. "The," I paused, "on the train?" I said, my words coming out haltingly. There was no word in my language for the mode of transportation they'd used to shuttle us around so I spoke in English for the first time. "Is that what it's called?" I asked her having seen her smile as the word fell from my lips.
"Yes, that's what it's called. They're not bad huh, much faster than camels and I know that for a fact," she responded smiling, before pouting a bit when she mentioned the camels. I didn't know what she was talking about for neither Meela nor I had seen her near any camels, but I found her expression charming nonetheless.
"I'll go get you something to eat," she said standing up. "And tomorrow," she continued before pausing for a moment looking at me hesitantly, "the doctor will be by to take a look at you."
"I would prefer not to…" I started to say, but she interrupted me before I could go any further.
"I know you would prefer not to," she responded, "but you will. I think that you're sick and I can't mend it with some herbs and a bandage this time. I'll be in the room when he's here, I promise you'll be perfectly safe," she continued picking up my hand and holding it in hers, squeezing softly as she said the last part.
"If you think it best," I responded softly, my eyes focused on our clasped hands. She was stroking the skin on the back of my hand lightly with her thumb, something Nefertiri used to do when we sat quietly watching the stars or I was upset or not feeling well. And when I felt her lips gently press against the inside of my wrist, I bit my lip to stop myself from saying anything that could interrupt this sweet, precious moment.
"I do," she said finally her voice almost inaudible as she released my hand. She was silent for a moment after that, simply looking down at me. I could tell that she was a bit surprised by what she had just done, but she did not seem alarmed or disturbed by it. Then in a swift motion she leaned down and brushed her lips against my forehead before saying, "I'll be back." With that she straightened up and headed for the door.
To be continued ...
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Date: 2008-06-30 04:39 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-06-30 04:58 am (UTC)and then i started stalking you on LJ ;-)
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Date: 2008-06-30 08:29 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-07-01 01:58 am (UTC)