Ennead || Unseen

To fill your belly full of food

A man was following him. He stayed calm and steady with his walking, trying to lose him amongst the houses but he kept up. Horus paused as he finally stood at a dead end. He turned around to look at the man, hands outstretched and grinning.

"There you are... you're Isis' brat, aren't you? Come with me and show me where your mommy is at." He raised his hand closer. Horus took a stance towards him, holding a stick to ward him off. The man just laughed.

"Cmon, a stick? Really? Say, you're a brave boy..." his eyes went up and down the boy's form before reaching to grab him. "Maybe you'd want to be really brave and let me-"

Before the man could touch him though, his neck suddenly snapped. A pair of teeth and lips had closed around it and crunched. The man fell to the ground, head popping off and rolling towards Horus. He couldn't look at it, only staring as a smaller figure rose off of the dead man's back.

She stared at him and tried to smile, blood dripping down her smile.

She walked off and towards him, feet splatting the ground with his blood, making red prints. She came up to him and took him in her arms again as he glared at her.

His face was red. They were about the same height now but... His stomach felt tight and his head felt airy... he didn't like it. He didn't like feeling helpless... and relying on her. He's supposed to be king someday, shouldn't he be strong enough to protect himself? He looked up at her, mouth set in a line. Shouldn't he be strong enough to protect her?

He could tell by the many scars on her that she was used to 'the wild', as she put it.

"I can protect myself" he mutters as he pushes her away. She blinks as she's pushed off, eyes an eerie silver in the shadows of the alley.

Ever since that weird... moment, at Seth's temple, she's been following him like a dog. Like a guard dog, wanting to protect him. It's creepy, it's annoying, it's reminding him of his mother for some reason and it needs to stop.

"If you keep protecting me, how will I get strong and protect myself?" He says, a little more anger in his voice than he means. She blinks again before tilting her head to the side.

"Strong? You're strong." She blurts out, red spittle hitting the ground as blood seeps out of her lips. He makes a face.

"But I'm not."

Her own face scrunches up and she grabs his hand, raising it up.

"You're strong. Here."

She starts pulling him towards the still warm body, making him place his hand on the dead man's chest.

"Take out the heart."

He immediately yanks his hand away. "What!?"

She just stares at him.

"Eat the heart, Horus. Show me you're strong."

He shakes his head, taking several steps back.

"No, no way. This is why I don't like you, stop following me."

Her face suddenly shifts, dropping... before growling at him, animalistic in all terms of the word. She stalks towards him, making him step even more back, all the way until his back is against the wall.

A second goes by before her glare drops, a flash of... regret? Runs through her expression before she turns away from him.

"You're lucky I don't eat friends." She spits out, voice more emotional than he expected before she climbs up the wall.

He slides down, huffing as he realized he let her scare him again. He glances towards the dead body, still revolted at her suggestion.

Why did she want him to eat the heart?

———

You ate angrily, hot tears rolling down your face as you ripped into the cold meat. A new wave of pain goes through you, making you snarl and chomp through the bone. You jump in place as a hand settles on your head.

"Are you... okay?"

You look up to see Anubis once again. His dark eyes shone like obsidian, worry clouding them as he looked down at you. You paused your carnage, staring up at him. You go back to eating, slowly this time.

He starts petting you.

"You know... I used to have a cat." He spoke, softly. "You remind me of her."

You squint at him for a second but he continues.

"She loved to eat what I got her and she'd bring me dead animals. Kinda like how you do except, yknow." He glances at the arm you're holding.

You've stopped eating, staring at him.

"I guess the major difference is that you can talk and tell me what's wrong. So... what's wrong?" He asks.

You look down.

"Lonely."

He doesn't say anything for a moment.

"I know the feeling."

He looks away... before looking at you, determined.

"But I always had a way to cope. Wanna see?" He stretches out a hand to you.

You squint at him again, searching for any sign of deceit. For any sign of malice. None. None at all.
You take his hand. He guides you through the temple, taking you through corridors and rooms until finally he brings you to his. He brings you in and closes the door.

"I don't do it too often, it kinda hurts to think of him but... sometimes I just like to lay down and imagine that he's really there." He explains as he sits you down in the middle of the room before snuffing out all the lights and closing his window a bit.

Only a lone ray of moonlight comes into his room.

He takes out the shiny thing you've seen before. Immediately your eyes are hooked on it. He notices.

"You... you're letting me see it?" You asked, surprised. He smiles sheepishly.

"It's been a couple years... I think I trust you now."

You can't even feel surprise from that sentence before he puts the shiny thing on the ground, letting the moonlight hit it. It snaps open and starts shining brightly. You have to rub your eyes before looking up and seeing...

A man? Woman? Bird?

A person stands before you, a phantom taking form. They're huge, standing over you. Their form was built and sun blessed, their clothes elegant and refined yet obviously made to be combat ready, their face obscured by a headdress...

One that looks familiar.

Their black painted lips suddenly smile and then they kneel directly before you.

"Hey there, how's it been? I know life's been hard but chin up! It'll get better, I promise." The apparently kind and jacked stranger says to you. You're taken aback completely.

"This... was my uncle." Anubis says behind the stranger.

"...was?" You look to him, highly confused. Isn't he standing right in front of you?

Anubis walks forward and shoves his hand through the stranger. The stranger's form shifts around his hand like smoke, unveiling the magic. Anubis stares at you, the most heart wrenching expression you've seen on him.

"My uncle is dead."

Your heart drops as you stare at the face of a dead man.

"My father killed him."