After-hours

[mehet_weret]

After this and this.

Heru.

It had been a long time since they had been in any way together, down this wheel of controlled and uncontrolled births and deaths and lives and deeds. And it had been even longer since he'd looked at her with his eyes. Since any of them had.

But he was back now. Truly back. And while she didn't know yet how or why he was so... it meant that he would stay around, no matter what, and she was glad about that part.

And yet... the conversation with Set had worried her for Heru, somewhat. Their conflict was of very long standing; so was Heru's position on top of things. Trying to somewhat change both? For the lord of order? Seemed strange. And why now?

And then there was the fact that he was staying close to her. Close enough for her senses to brush past him, the familiar presence warming and dear; and yet... not approaching to talk to her much. It was another reason for curiosity. And possibly concern.

So it was that when she sensed his return nearby, she wrapped up what she was doing (preliminary talks about her starting her doctorate in Linguistics...) and wandered. In the general direction of the heart of his Presence. She didn't even know if he was visible now or not - but she approached anyway. More opening herself to him than actively calling him.

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[har-si-ese.livejournal.com]

He didn't know why he just watched either, if he were to be asked. Perhaps it was because he was afraid she would simply cease, or that she would see what everyone else seemed to see. The breaks that had no please, no reason, but left gaping holes that left his orderly life crumble without any care. The core of Heru was still there, of course. The calm, distant personality that seemed more aloof than passionate.

But he was also more engaged, more like Set.

When Hathor approached he watched quietly, sitting plainly in the open...the sun warming his skin.

"Hello..."

[mehet-weret.livejournal.com]

She couldn't exactly take her eyes off him, when he was looking at her like this. That kind of attention (godly attention, literally) couldn't go unreturned.

Quietly, she drew close, carefully not letting her shadow fall on him. Settling easily, gracefully to sit beside him, dipping her head in an not-fully-proper (and inconspicuous for any casual observers, should there be any) half-nod, half-bow in greeting. (He was her falcon... he was her, everyone's, lord...)

Her lips then drew up, and she returned a greeting, her tone just light enough to make the appropriate salutation both teasing and honestly meant, "well met again."

[har-si-ese.livejournal.com]

Heru was not a creature prone to impulse, but he barely paused between the moment she spoke, to his hand reaching up to brush hair from her cheek. His fingers lingered there a moment, before he smiled softly and leaned in.

"How was your day?" He whispered, barely restraining the urge to simply kiss the woman next to him. His queen, his love.

[mehet-weret.livejournal.com]

Her breath came out softly, and with him this close, a rush of memories flooded her mind and through it in a moment. Her hand rose to his face in turn, cupping his cheek, and her eyes drank on the sight of him, just for an instant. And her smile widened.

First things first. Her voice no louder than his, she answered, "productive and boring... until now."

And then she leaned the rest of the distance between them. Ellen's day only mattered because he inquired. Hathor's wish...

Surprising as the impulse may have been for being an impulse, the kiss wasn't. Surprising. Or rushed.

[har-si-ese.livejournal.com]

Her lips were sweet and gentle, full of the compassion and love Heru had long expected of his wife. And he lingered, absorbing everything about her before he was forced to pull away enough for her to breathe.

The mortal body was so weak compared to his.

"I have found the way," he said softly, brushing his fingers through her hair. "I could make you whole again. It would be so simple as that."

[mehet-weret.livejournal.com]

She would have to remember this.

Never had they met like this, as not-equals. Not that she ever truly wanted to stay away from him (but once...), but his presence like that, when she was like this, was ... overwhelming at moments.

She would have to remember this. Ah... the breathing thing, that is.

She tried to get her breaths back in control, and herself... close, but not seeking it, that kiss, again, not immediately. Always looking at him, though. Mine... Even like this.

"How..." Eyes half closing at the caress, she was almost as bad as to need to grasp at her thoughts, but him here was better than otherwise. Yes. She had missed him. Then, meeting his gaze again, eyes clear. Warm. "How did it happen? It has been so long since any of us have." Soft smile. "Not that I wonder at you being the first to accomplish it."

[har-si-ese.livejournal.com]

"A spell," Heru said simply, leaning back as he smiled at her softly. "A spell that gives you back something you lost...freedom. Independence..." He tilted his head to the side, before laughing just a little.

"Seti is eager to have the spell. And if he's to be a godling, why not you as well?"

[mehet-weret.livejournal.com]

"A spell." That hasn't been exactly how they used to do things. But then... this isn't how exactly they used to be. "I see... what it gives. What does it take?" His laughter was dancing through her body, even if it wasn't quite a merry one. "There is always somewhere that those things have to come from, to be given. Even if given back."

Small sigh, but her attention is not distracted enough to look away from him. "Seti would. Eager and impatient, and chafing." Her fingers on his face smoothed, caressed easily. "You have talked to him?"

If it were anybody else making that offer, she would easily delay, put off. The life of Ellen Anscombe... it brought something, some awareness that people of this age would not trust a god (or goddess) to give them. It wasn't empty or discontent.
But it was Heru. And she wavered, torn between what she wanted. The only impatience caused by the prospect of being held in his arms again. But then... it was quite a good reason.
So she asked questions.

[har-si-ese.livejournal.com]

"Take?" He seemed confused by the idea, giving her a look at spoke of annoyance and pity for a moment, until it simply faded. "It did not take anything, as best I know. Magic was never my game, but that of my mother. It was her...Why she never used it, who can say. But it works, and it is just as well."

He sighed, closing his eyes as he tilted his face into her hand. "I have talked to Seti. And Anubis. One is eager to be returned, the other has become very mortal I fear. No matter...soon enough everything will be set right."

Once he went looking for the spell.

[mehet-weret.livejournal.com]

She almost sighed. There was something that just didn't seem fully right, and if it was the fault of that spell...
But he was still Heru. Still her Heru, and every fiber of her being, physically and deeper, much much deeper, just sang with the joy of that. There was no mistake about it either, even if things were odd.
And she rephrased. "Then what is required for, or by, the spell?"

If he wanted her with him when he did go to retrieve the thing, he might as well use the current opening about that. She'd go, just go with him.

Her fingers didn't leave his face; rather, her palm rested against his skin (not human skin, and yet it was skin too, and she could caress it and give pleasure so, too). "How was Anubis too mortal? How could he be other than what he is, just as the rest of us?" Partly who they were. And yet... very much who they were, too.

"It is your way to restore order to things." Restore and keep. Nourish and enlighten. "My lord of the skies." But the way she said it was not as he was called, by Set and Anubis. It was no pull, no draw, no weight of obligation when spoken by her lips; but instead another kind of caress. Acknowledgment.
Acceptance.

[har-si-ese.livejournal.com]

"I don't remember." He said with a shrug, turning his head to regard someone that passed by. The woman's purple shirt in subtle contract to her gray pants and bright heels. "You could come with me, and see for yourself. The spell is in Washington, D.C." Where a part of him was still sleeping, though it was unbeknown to him.

As for Anubis, he sighed. "He doesn't want to leave what he has. He isn't ready to stop playing the silly role of mortal." And it had very little to do with his title, Horus thought. But he smiled when she called him the Lord of the Skies. She soothed him by simply being there. "Everything will be returned to as it was, of that I have no doubt."

[mehet-weret.livejournal.com]

She inclined her head slowly. Do not remember was something they all learned to say more frequently since they started becoming mortals. "I will come, if you would me with you. Going there is easy for me... as this one. 'My' mother lives there." She was not usually this ... much separating herself from the mortal. Usually, it was only 'I'. "I am curious about what spell could do this. After all this time."

Her head tilted slightly to the side. "Sometimes he might be a fool who leaves a place where he isn't discontent. There may be many reasons for him not to be ready, or willing. It is still a curious thing." She nodded, head remaining slightly bowed at his smile (it pleased her), looking up at him, eyes bright.

"All will be returned to how it should be, as the time comes. So it shall be." It was an agreement. What was stolen should be returned to the rightful owners. What was wrong should be set to rights.

[har-si-ese.livejournal.com]

"A spell put us here, why should it not give us our freedom as well. It took me long to find it, but...I did." Lifetimes of looking, even when he was not aware of himself. Even when the world seemed to wrap him up.

"It is easy enough for me to go as well," he chuckled a little, taking her hand in his to bring it up to his lips. "We could go now...if you wanted. We could go anywhere."

[mehet-weret.livejournal.com]

Slow nod. "And yet we didn't always know the first spell..." or that it was a spell or what it was about... they didn't always know what had happened to them. "But it does stand to reason."

She would have frowned slightly, just the I'm-thinking way, but then he was touching her hand, fingers and lips, and she was smiling instead, curling fingers around him. Nothing seemed important enough to demand her presence here for a bit. "Now is good, if you are ready. I... do want." Because if it was just going there to get it, he could have gone on his own and been back before seeing her.

But he wasn't.

So it was more complicated.

So the sooner started, the sooner done. (Or the sooner they run across the problems...) and the sooner they'd know.

"Unless you need to prepare something... or," her voice was slightly, amusedly teasing for a moment, "you would like to show me something else, yes, now is good."

[har-si-ese.livejournal.com]

"Prepare?" That was a rather novel idea...time to prepare. It wasn't needed, and he only smiled softly at the thought of it before he leaned in close again. "There is always much I wish to show you," he promised her softly, his lips brushing against her cheek. "But that can wait for later.."

And as soon as he had spoken, he was pulling Hathor to her feet, and the landscape around them disappeared in a bright flash. Washington, D.C. was where they were bound.

[mehet-weret.livejournal.com]

"Prepare. Perhaps I have grown too close with this one, and her way is to prepare for things." But then he was leaning close again, lips, breath caressing her skin, and simply melted at that, whispering at that promise simply, "yes." A promise for his promise.

It was a good thing that she was holding on to him for the standing up, when he did it. Not so much the flash, or the disorientation - but the use of his power, this close - with the senses of an immortal and an ephemeral body... it ran through her, and for a moment she actually staggered, almost stumbled. But she was holding on, and after that instant, she steadied, and blinked around herself, recognizing a park that she'd known since she had been a child.

Then she threw her head back and laughed quietly, briefly, before looking up at him, eyes dancing with the laughter still. "I had... forgotten. Thank you."

Yes, he had given her joy. That should be good, right?

[har-si-ese.livejournal.com]

"That power will be yours again." Someday, and sooner rather than later should Horus have his way. He smiled at her though, before summoning a jacket for her to wrap about her limbs. There was no need for her to freeze.

After she'd slipped it on, Horus held out his arm for her, and they turned to walk in the direction of Akana's home. There was a presence, though, in the city. Something that was fractured, and weak...though it did seem to spike occasionally with a stronger presence of power. Though whatever it was, Heru seemed to not pay attention to it as he walked on.

"The world will be ours to make of it as we will. It is time that we, the gods of old, reclaimed what is rightfully ours."

[mehet-weret.livejournal.com]

She inclined her hair, at this promise, and then smiled gratefully for the jacket.

Then she moved in step with him, arm linked with his, following where he was leading. And she could feel that presence too. Possibly somewhat weaker than he could, but... her face turned towards it (and they seemed to be going closer to it), then towards the familiar figure by her side. Then ahead again. She knew that presence, very well indeed. The way she knew the presence by her side. Her king.

Both of them. Him.

"I... Perhaps." She knew... somewhat, the way the minds of mortals worked now, though. And she knew there were much, much greater numbers than there had been, back when. Greater numbers than they had thought of imagining. She had the vague suspicion that it might make a difference, if he and the rest of them tried to force the issue.

After only a little more, the strength of the other presence of him got her worried enough to tighten her hand around his arm and ask. "Heru... this, where we are going. Where the spell is. Who has it?" What was she to expect? He seemed to know what and where; it only make sense that 'who' and 'what like' and maybe even 'how' were known to him too...

[har-si-ese.livejournal.com]

"She has it." He said simply as they crossed one street, and made their way through the bristly city. "She found it, she had it cast, and she hide it before she began to slip away completely."

Though he did so very little to explain who 'she' was, it was more or less simply understood. Whoever she was, 'she' had a connection to Heru that no one else had.

But he gave Hathor a calm smile as they walked. "Do not worry, she'll be no harm to us. She's sleeping."

[mehet-weret.livejournal.com]

Oh dear.

An idea was starting to form in Hathor's mind. Which would explain both the double presence and the odd way in which Heru behaved. She didn't like that idea.

But she did smile back at him. "As you say so, I shall not fear. What is her name?" Softly, "and if she hid it... the spell. Do you know how it used to look, so that if we find it, we may know it?" Or what it felt like, although she had a strong suspicion that it was simply in writing. There had been more involved ways to store spells to be cast... but few of them survived, anymore, and none of them would have been easy to hide. "When did she slip away?" Gentle tone. Coaxing questions. The questions would have been much fewer if it were not for the other presence.

She almost stopped to ask him about it, right then. But he did not seem to be concerned with it--

Maybe it was just a coincidence that they seemed to be growing closer to it.

[har-si-ese.livejournal.com]

"Akana, Akana Bahur." He shrugged, "she put the spell in a book. It must be there somewhere. It is in the old langauge...not so hard to find."

He walked on a ways, though, before he answered the last question, calmly turning to look at Hathor with a mix of disappointment and unconcern. "A few years ago...seven or eight. I do not remember much. She tried very hard not to go until she had finished certain things."

Such as hiding things the others would find useful, or damning. It sort of depended on the point of view.

[mehet-weret.livejournal.com]

The disappointment... she didn't understand it, but if it was with her... She cast her eyes down, after a moment. Quietly, she addressed the first thing. "Bahur. Of you." A bit more time. The presence.. the other presence, feeling yet nearer. "Is that why that..." she waved her free hand lightly, "is also you?"

Too close now to leave any possibility for a mistake open.

[har-si-ese.livejournal.com]

Heru wasn't sure why these things matter so much. He frowned a little, before shaking his head some and turning them into a building. The attendant started toward them, but a simple wave of Heru's hand had the man falling to the floor dumbly.

"She was a part of me." He stated flatly, with a sour, bitter taste in his mouth. It was like discussing a prison that had, had you chained. It was an unwelcome topic.

Still, he hit the button that would take them up, "there will be nurses, I will see to them."

[mehet-weret.livejournal.com]

Hathor just nodded now. No more questions.

The other presence of him... This close, she could feel it was growing frantic. Frenetic. Straining, fighting, but not moving at all. They were coming closer to it, but it wasn't approaching back, nor trying to escape.

While the presence to her side...

Heru wanted away from here. Right now. This, she had enough juice in her to be able to tell.

No, no more questions. Instead, she wrapped both arms around his, and murmured, "we'll just find it and get out of here. And figure things out later. We'll be away in no time at all."

Because it wasn't like him to be impatient. Nor to evade giving information about the order of things. But then, while it was him... she was vividly aware that it wasn't all of him. And limited and mortal as she currently was... She was there. And wasn't leaving his side now.

[har-si-ese.livejournal.com]

Horus closed his eyes for a moment, as the lift opened and they stepped on. He seemed...uncomfortable, with sweat beading slowly on his brow. A hard frown on his lips, he hit the floor button and scowled a little at the doors as they closed.

"Indeed, we shall." He murmured in returned, fingers curling around her arm as shifted and held his head a little higher.

The ride up to the condo was not so long, and as soon as the doors opened, the two nurses that lived in the apartment with Akana turned to look at them oddly...and then promptly fell over.

"The master bedroom," he murmured, eyes narrowing as he gritted his teeth. "A book...and old on....about the history of her family." He tried to push forward without concern, though his eyes narrowed and teeth ground together. The other presence seemed to come more to life, then, latching on...pulling.

[mehet-weret.livejournal.com]

No no no no no this wasn't right. In fact, it was as not-right as something like this could possibly happen.

Hathor was not one to work elaborate magic - she had power, but her domain had always been in the joyful, in the beautiful, in that which worked with what was there and improved it - moods, well-being, heart... soul. But she was but the one to welcome souls, not the ones responsible for them, more of a messenger, that way, than the artisan (Inpu--) - and all she had was instinct. (Not to mention how very, very limited her powers were, inside this mortal body.)

She could but anchor herself into her own vessel, and embrace Heru's essence as firmly as she could, the way her arms went around his body - before it slackened enough to slide to the floor. She had no leverage to pull back, especially not against the will with which the other presence... the other part of him was fighting to be reunited. But it was not leaving it's own anchor. It was trying to pull the living Heru in with it, and that, that did not bode well.

So she retreated. Physically. Step by step, back to the elevator, supporting his weight as best as she could.

She might not been adept to the deepest, strongest mysteries. But she was not ignorant. She knew there was a soul there who was close to needing to be greeted on the other side, and had been teetering on the brink of that for a long time. (Years? Now Heru's comments about her sleeping made more sense.)

If she left him there too long, and they merged, still stuck in that dying body... Perchance it would be what pushed that woman... Akana. Over the brink. (And if Heru died... No, that would not be good. Not with the way they were scattered, limited.)

So she tried to remove who had come with her from the physical proximity of the rest of him. This... this latching. It had not started until they had been this close. Perhaps it would untangle when they were further away again.

And the spell... if this worked, she would somehow come back for it. She could not stay to find it now. At least she didn't judge she could.

[har-si-ese.livejournal.com]

He felt weak as she helped him away, he felt as if something was trying to cling to his hands and feet...pulling at him with every ounce and fiber it had to pull with.

"The spell," he said softly, wishing nothing more than to forget the existence of this place. Wish that neither he nor Hathor would need set foot in it once more. "We must get the spell...."

[mehet-weret.livejournal.com]

"I'll get the spell, my Heru. I will get it and it will be in your hands before the morning. But please... you can get trapped there. There is no danger for me here, but there is for you, such as I cannot unravel." Soothing, coaxing voice. Talking more for using that voice as another anchor rather than persuasion, since his body... for all his words beckoned, his body was not fighting her with any sort of organization or concentrated will. Pulled back, perhaps. But not of his conscious volition.

Hathor's mind was planning. Down the elevator. Out the lobby. Call a taxi. Take him... Fastest, where he could rest without his mind crowded by unknowing strangers while she was away - at her mother's place. Then return quickly, hopefully before what he had done to the people who could hinder them was still in effect; otherwise... she'd come up with something.

[har-si-ese.livejournal.com]

He fell against her completely as the doors to the elevator opened and she pulled him in. His eyes fluttering, and rolling back. If it were possible for a god to grow cold and pale, Hathor would surely be witness to it as Heru faded from consciousness. His face screwed up in a sort of pain, and as the power faded from him...the other...

The one she had only begun to feel while in the city suddenly began to grow stronger.