Mother and Son

Saint-Domingue, Cayes-Jacmel

Fort Quintus

Within Atem's Reality Marble- Ipet-isut Ma'at: The Most Selected of Temples of Ma'at

October 18, 1798

A Beautiful clear sky and a gleaming sun, that is what she awakes to. She awakes to a peacefully silent sunset devoid of her enslavers and enforcers. She awakes on a warm desert sand with the shed from where she usually sleeps as a slave nowhere to be found, and broken chains that once shackled her nowhere to be found. She awakes as a sun, one bigger than any that she is used to, shines its final light onto the golden sand of the desert. She wakes up to repaired bones, a healed back devoid of scars, and free from any other physical ailments and pains that she accumulated from her time as a slave. She awakes to a new day, a new status, and a new reality; the massive plantation that belongs to the Quintus family is nowhere to be found.

Instead of staring up at the ceiling of the shed she sleeps in, she finds herself looking up at a sky that is filled with the beautiful purple and orange hues of dusk while a sun, bigger than the one Atem is used to, shines its final light onto the golden sand of the desert, making it comfortably warm. Rather than waking up on the uncomfortable cot that acts as a bed for the slaves, she finds herself waking up on the comfortable, warm, and golden sand of a desert that stretches as far as the eye can see.

Looking around the desert, she finds no trace of the gaudy castle that belongs to the Quintus family nor does she find herself surrounded by massive walls that serve to keep her and her fellow slaves within the plantation; instead she finds herself looking at a white and gold throne situated on a raised dais with a flight of stairs leading up to it. As she admires the beautiful throne, a voice calls out from behind her.

"Danna!" happily exclaims the familiar voice of Atem as Adanna finds herself enveloped in a tight hug. "You're finally awake." says the voice of her child as she turns her head to look at him.

"Little Atem? Is that really you?" asks Adanna as she looks at the smiling face of her son as two small tears fall down his face, barely recognising the dazzling violet eyes that look at her. Unlike the beautiful innocent eyes that she remembers from her time raising him, her son's eyes now have a harder look to them. Gone is the innocence from his smiling face, rather it is now replaced with wisdom and suffering that no child should ever possess.

"Oh my dear boy, what have they done to you?" she asks as she turns around and pulls Atem into a tight hug of her own. "What suffering did you have to endure while in that monster's hand?" she says as she gently caresses his hair.

"I'm okay now. You're awake, so everything is fine now." reassures Atem as he nestles in his mother's comforting arms. For a while the two remain sitting on the sand while enjoying each other's presence.

Finally, after four years they are finally reunited. Four years of suffering, four years of not knowing whether the other was doing ok or not, four years of doubting whether they would ever be reunited, and four years of dreading the other's condition. In the end it all paid off however, they are within each other's arms and no else will ever separate them. This Atem swears to himself internally; anyone who even attempts to separate Adanna from him will suffer a fate worse than Basilius'.

"Let me look at you." says Adanna as she separates from the hug while standing up and pulling him to his feet. "You have grown so much, look how tall you are now." she says as she realises that he now reaches up to her shoulder and that is muscles are starting to become quite defined. "And your hair, it's so long that I'm going to need to style it." she observes as she takes strand of his hair and uncurls it, causing it to reach down his neck.

"Really? I think that it's fine for now." answers Atem as he brushes his hair with his hand.

"For now, besides…" she begins to say before abruptly stopping. "What… What happened to your eye?" she asks as she reaches out towards his left eye, only for his hand to come up and stop her.

"What do you mean?" asks Atem as he gently pulls her hand down away from his face.

"Your eye, it doesn't look right." she answers with a frown. "What are you hiding from me?" she asks him with a concerned look on her face.

"You noticed." says Atem as he covers his left eye with his hand. "Of course you notice." he whispers to himself as he uncovers his eye, showing the Millennium Eye that now replaces his eye to her. With wide eyes that stare horrified at his missing eye, Adanna slowly reaches over and gently caresses the Millennium Item turned mystic eyes. With his ascension as a Campione his eye had healed and merged with the Millennium Eye in order to become what it currently is, a normal eye with a golden pupil as opposed to his natural violet ones.

"What happened?" she asks quietly.

"I almost lost my first battle." admits Atem. "I would have lost had it not been for you." he says.

"And you tried to hide this from me?" she asks.

"It seems that my skills at illusionary magic is still as horrible now as it was when I first learned." jokes Atem before once again becoming serious as he realises that Adanna did not appreciate it. "Then again, perhaps I subconsciously made sure that the illusion was poorly made in the hopes that you would notice. It never felt right trying to hide something from you, especially something as important as this." he says with a rueful smile on his lips.

"Yes, you never could hide anything from me." replies Adanna as she ruffles his hair before she makes her way towards the stairs that lead to the throne and takes a seat. "Come, tell me about these past four years. Maybe you can also tell me where we are." she says as taps the place next to her and beckons him over to sit.

With a smile on his face, Atem makes his way to the stairs and sits next to Adanna.

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Memphis, Egypt

Temple of Ptah and Sekhmet of Rameses II

October 18, 1798

Located far to the eastern side of Memphis, and near to the great colossus of Rameses, lies a small temple that has been dedicated to Ptah and his divine consort Sekhmet, as well as a deified Rameses II. Its ruins are not as well preserved as other nearby temples with its limestone foundations having been quarried after the abandonment of the city in late antiquity. In front of the building's facade, which opened up to the west, one can find two giant statues depicting the Pharaoh standing in the attitude of the march, wearing the Hedjet, the white crown of Upper Egypt.

Standing in front of the temple, enshrouded by the darkness of the clouded night sky, are three middle aged men dressed in identical clothing who seem to be waiting for something or someone. The first of the men can be found leaning against one of the temple's walls with his arms crossed over his chest and his eyes closed. His face is quite pale, weathered, and full of scars that one would only receive through battle or torture. Standing not too far from him is a younger man with green eyes and blond hair who is observing his cane; a black cane with a slightly curved handle and a red gem on top of the handle.

"Tch, where is this bloody woman." says the final man irritatedly. He is the youngest of the trio, possessing the same blond hair as the other two and is currently pacing in front of the temple while purposely kicking up dust with his black boots.

"Be patient Jack." admonishes the oldest. "She will be here eventually."

"She had better." says Jack. "I don't fancy spending more time in this blasted country than I have to, especially with the shifting temperatures." he says as he huddles into his long-skirted coat and blows out a breath onto his gloved hands.

"As soon as she arrives with the artifacts we'll be done here. Until then, be patient. I don't want to explain to Lady Barthomeloi that we came back empty handed because you were impatient."

"Why the bloody hell are those artifacts important anyway. It's not like this country has any magus worth noting other than Ozymandias, and even he wasn't exactly a mage who could create powerful artifacts. Not one worthy of the Barthomeloi's family notice anyway." speaks the second oldest man for the first time.

"We don't ask questions, you know this already." replies the oldest.

"Well considering the amount of trouble we're going through for these artifacts I'm starting to think that we should rethink that policy. An entire magical organisation was wiped out because of these damn artifacts, and we almost died hundreds of times in these last few years." says the second as he unconsciously traces a wide scar that is quite close to one of his carotid arteries.

"Ha, good one Will. And who's gonna be the one to ask Leilani fucking Barthomeloi to divulge whatever secret her family's stumbled on?" asks Jack with a sneer. "I'm not suicidal enough to be the one to do it." he adds.

"No, but you certainly seem suicidal enough to use her full name." responds Will, causing Jack's eyes to widen.

"Shit." whispers Jack. "Let's hope that she's not having someone scry our mission to keep tabs on us." he says, causing his brothers to snicker at him and his paranoia.

As the trio once again fall silent, the sounds of footsteps can be heard as a figure approaches the trio, causing their attention to turn to the newcomer.

"It's about damn time that you got here." says Jack as a sliver of moonlight makes it through the clouds and reveals the figure to be none other than Zahra, mother of Isis and Marik.

"My apologies, it was difficult leaving my husband's sight without arousing suspicion." says Zahra.

"Yea, whatever. Do you have them?" asks Jack.

"No, but I can guide you to them." answers Zahra as she walks past the brothers and makes her way towards the temple's entrance before stopping in front of one of the giant statues. Whispering a few kemetic terms, she presses the stand on which the statue stands on, causing a set of hieroglyphs to appear and glow before disappearing just as the wall of the stand turns into a doorway which reveals a staircase that leads down.

Looking back at the brothers, Zahra beckons them to follow before making her way down the stairs.

"What is this place?" asks Will as he and his brothers follow Zahra just as the door closes behind them.

"This is an underground temple of Sekhmet built by King Ozymandias to house the Millennium Items, the artifacts that you seek." explains Zahra as the group finds themselves in a dark corridor that is quickly lit up with torches as soon as they arrive.

"What do these mean?" asks Will as he points to the hieroglyphs adorning the walls of the corridor.

"These hieroglyphs depict the history of the Millennium Items and the many times that they have been used to smite Egypt's enemies." explains Zahra as she continues down the corridor without bothering to look at the hieroglyphs.

"Wait, aren't places like these cursed in case of intruders?" questions Jack.

"Normally yes, however since you followed me in and I willingly lead you here of my own free will you have nothing to fear." reassures their guide.

As they reach the end of the corridor, the group of four finds themselves within a massive room filled with statues and hieroglyphs depicting Sekhmet and a few other goddesses. At the end of the room one can find a massive stone carving of a pharaoh with place holders for seven items with five of the items missing. The only remaining items are a circlet that is around the pharaoh's head, along with a rod which the pharaoh holds in one of his hands.

"There they are, the Millennium Necklace and the Millennium Rod." says Zahra as she begins to make her way towards the stone carving.

Before she can make it far however, a shadow erupts from the floor and appears in front of the stone carving before quickly the form of Marik.

"Mother. I see that my worries were not as unfounded as I'd hoped." says Marik as he mournfully looks at his mother.

"Marik?! What are you doing here and does your father know that you left the base?" exclaims a wide eyed Zahra as she fearfully looks behind her towards the three mages.

"As the heir of this family of protectors I have every right to be here. The question is however, what are you doing here? I know that father did not give you access to the temple just for you to betray his trust." answers Marik. "Did you know that despite Isis and I warning him that he refused to believe that you would betray us? He was steadfast in his trust in you."

"You don't understand, this must be done if we're going to survive. We have to give the Barthomeloi family what they want if we want to live." she tells her son as she slowly approaches him. "We can't just die for some artifacts just because some king assigned your ancestors to protect them."

"My ancestors? Don't you mean OUR ancestors?" questions Marik. "After all, your family was also a family of protectors."

"You know what I mean." she answers. "We have to look out for ourselves now, the reign of the Egyptian kings is over. We have to change with the times."

"Do you hear yourself? You're asking us to abandon our duty and to invalidate the sacrifices of our ancestors. Not only is this outrageous, but the timing couldn't be any worse. What do you plan to do when Pharaoh Atem comes to us for the Millennium Items in our possession?" asks Marik. "Are you planning on telling our Pharaoh that you gave the Millennium Items, artifacts that are his birthright, that we gave them to outsiders in order to save our lives? Do you honestly believe that such an excuse would be acceptable to the Pharaoh, and not just any Pharaoh, but a Campione one at that?!" screams out Marik.

Zahra winces at his question before answering, "We'll worry about him if he ever comes. We must focus on the current danger which is the Barthomeloi family."

Behind Zahra, the brothers quickly pale as Marik reveals that they are stealing from a Campione. Swallowing nervously, the oldest of the trio subtly gestures for his brothers to follow him out of the temple. They may be some of the greatest enforcers under employ by the Barthomeloi family, but even they would rather face a pissed off Lady Barthomeloi as opposed to a Campione. Campiones tend to live for hundreds of years and the majority of them are quite vengeful and cruel. It would be better to die at the hands of Lady Barthomeloi as opposed to suffering a fate worse than death at the hands of a Campione. And not just any Campione, judging by the conversation of the mother and son duo, this new Campione is most likely Egyptian which means that he wouldn't be a stranger to curses that make its victims suffer.

Before they can make it to the corridor however, a closes the opening between the room and the corridor.

"Where exactly do you think you're going?" asks Marik as he looks at the trio.

"Listen man, we don't want any trouble. We didn't know that we were stealing from a Campione, so we'll just bugger off and you won't have to worry about us anymore." says Jack with a nervous chuckle.

Raising an eyebrow, Marik looks at the three brothers before his lips curve into a cold smile and his light violet eyes turn a dark purple, almost black, color. "Is that so, and how exactly do you plan to atone for all of the lives you have taken when you destroyed The House of Life? You must know that every member of The House of Life was a subject of the Pharaoh." says Marik.

"Enough Marik!" commands Zahra. "Move aside and let them take the Millennium Items, the time of this family serving the Pharaoh's is over." she screams.

Hearing her words, a shadowy aura surrounds Mariks body, his previously straight silver hair becomes a dark gray and spikes up in the air before a glowing Eye of Ra appears on his forehead.

"Truly you are a lost cause. You would incur the Pharaoh's wrath and endanger this family because of your petty hatred of the supernatural world and the Pharaoh." says Marik with a deeper voice and a chilling chuckle. "Marik tried to save you, but like all those who do not want to be saved, you can't be saved." with that said, Marik claps his hands and black smoke gathers in front of him.

"Adeukum, hami alzalam, Summoned Skull." chants Marik, causing the black smoke to swirl before erupting into a massive pillar. From the pillar of smoke a gust of power erupts that extinguishes the torches, bathing the room in darkness before a roar comes from the pillar and it explodes outwards, enshrouding the room in smoke.

Shielding themselves from the wind that resulted from the summoning, the group of thieves turn to look at what Marik has summoned only for their eyes to be met by the gaze of a pair of sickly green eyes that glow.

"Prepare for battle." commands the eldest brother as he activates his magic circuits and attempts to summon a flame to improve his visibility, only for the spell to fail completely.

"What the hell." says Jack as his spell also fails.

"Did you honestly believe that there were no defenses in this temple? Did you truly think that just because a member of The House of Life allowed you to enter of their free will that there would be no consequences?" questions Marik with a dark chuckle that makes their skin crawl. "You fools, only a direct descendant of the Pharaoh's bloodline or a protector can use magic in this temple." he says.

"Marik stop this." commands Zahra. As she looks around the dark room in search of her son. "Do you truly plan on killing me, your very own mother?" she questions.

"Oh you poor deluded fool, Marik is no longer the one that you are talking to. After he deemed you beyond saving he seceded control over to me, and unlike him I have no quarrel with disposing of family members in the name of self-interest. Now do this family a favor and die." says the being within Marik's body as three massive claws spear through Zahra's torso and her body is charred beyond recognition by a bolt of lightning that strikes the three brothers behind her, killing them before they can even release a scream.

With his targets dead, the creature that Marik summoned, a massive skeletal beast with rippling muscles, two massive bat-like wings and three claws on each hand, retreats back into the darkness before disappearing along with the smoke leaving Marik alone with the burned corpses of his mother and the thieves.

After Summoned Skulls retreat, the being that made use of Marik's body retreats back into the dark corners of Marik's soul and returns him control over his body.

"You should have listened." whispers Marik to his mother's corpse as tears trail down his face. "You should have listened." he repeats with a louder voice and a sniffle before wiping his tears and making his way to the stone carvings where he retrieves the Millennium Item.

With the items in his grasp Marik is enshrouded in a shadow and disappears from the temple; reappearing in his room back in the headquarters of The House of Life.

"Marik." calls out his father's voice from behind him.

"Father." replies Marik as he turns to face his father with tears streaming down his face. "She didn't listen." he says as his father steps into the room.

"It's ok son. You did the right thing." says Abasi as he tightly hugs his son. "We'll find the Pharaoh and everything will be ok.

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AN: Here's the latest chapter. It was a bit difficult getting the emotions just right tbh. And even with all the constant changes I'm still not sure how good this chapter is. Tell me what you guys think and don't be afraid to comment on your theories.