Owen Massri (Osiris) (cut_to_pieces) wrote in forgotten_past, @ 2010-04-06 09:21:00 |
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Entry tags: | osiris |
Drowning Lessons Osiris couldn’t breathe. That had never seemed important before. He could hold his breath for hours, he could run without stopping for days. Air had never been a concern even once, and now his body was screaming for it. He was going to breathe in. He didn’t have a choice. Then water would choke him, flowing black and burning into his lungs, and he’d drown. He’d have laughed if he was able, the irony of it all almost hilarious. He was going to drown in the Nile, drown in the river that was so integral to Egypt that the two were inseparable. His Nile. His kingdom. It was going to kill him. No. No, it wouldn’t be the Nile that was responsible for his death, not really. It was Set. Just thinking the name sent rage crashing through him, his vision going red, his lips curling back. Set the traitor, the backstabber, the murderous- -his own brother- -lying, bastard. He’d done this to him, closed the sarcophagus lid over him with a laugh of vicious, vicious triumph. Sealed it up, ignoring Osiris’ shouts- -his little brother- -and thrown it into the Nile. The water had leaked in slowly as the sarcophagus drifted, almost hesitantly, almost apologetic. But it had leaked in all the same. Osiris had held his head above water for as long as he could, clawing at the top of the sarcophagus until his fingernails cracked straight down the middle and blood was running down his hands in warm ribbons. It didn’t matter. He couldn’t get out, and the water was flowing in, and there wasn’t a single breath of air left for him. He was going to breathe in. Osiris bit his lip hard, more blood mixing in the water, and let one hand fall from the lid of the sarcophagus to pinch his nose closed, trying to stave off that desperate instinct to inhale. He had to get out of here. He couldn’t panic. He had never panicked once in his entire existence. But if you have to start, whispered a stray thought in a voice that sounded remarkably like Set’s, now would be a good time. The worst part, worse than the growing panic and the raw wound that was Set’s betrayal, was not knowing what had happened to his family. Set had closed him in a box and drowned him (not dead yet, I’ll get out of this, I’ll find a way). What about Isis? What about Nephthys and Anubis? What about the rest of the Netjeru, his friends and family that had no way of knowing what Set had done? Were they all in danger? What if Set wasn’t content with just fratricide? The image of Isis with Set’s hands around her throat and Nephthys bleeding out onto the sand flashed through his mind, sudden and terrible. The thought of Set laying his hands on their sisters was enough to make Osiris choke, clawing at the roof of the sarcophagus again despite the pain. He had to get out, he had to warn them. If Isis knew Set was coming, she could prepare and defeat him, since there was nothing Isis couldn’t do. But she’d have no way of knowing. He was going to breathe in. Or maybe she would know. She had warned him that Set seemed restless, edgy, even less trustworthy than usual, and he had ignored it. He’d refused to believe it. It couldn’t be true, because for all that they bickered, Set was his brother and Osiris loved the annoying little brat. He had been sure Set felt the same. Family didn’t hurt each other. He’d been so, so stupid. Osiris felt a bone in his hand crack as he slammed his fists against the lid. He wondered when it happened, when it first occurred to Set that destroying Osiris was something he was willing and able to do. Had it been when the truth about Anubis’ parentage had come out? (He could remember Set’s eyes blazing. Nephthys had spent the night with Isis and Osiris afterwards, and he could still remember the sound of her small feet pacing.) Had it been when Osiris was crowned pharaoh? (Set had kneeled with the rest of them, but had his shoulder been stiffer, his smile sharp-edged?) Had it been the first time they’d ever fought? (Osiris couldn’t even remember it, the argument silly and childish and lost to the sands of time.) Or was it just something within Set, something Osiris had never been able to understand and had willfully ignored? He was going to breathe in. Osiris was crying, and it felt like his lungs were actually on fire, clenched and crackling with pain. If he could have spoken, he’d have begged. Osiris had never begged, never been beaten enough to try, but he’d be willing now. He’d beg Set not to hurt the rest of their family, beg him to reconsider all of it. Beg him to open the sarcophagus and let Osiris go. He could have Egypt, have the throne, have it all, Osiris didn’t care, just… I don’t want to die. But Set had thrown him in the river and was long gone by now. His body convulsed, and the reality of it hit Osiris and crushed him. Set would not save him. Isis wouldn’t know he was in danger. He was going to die. He had no idea what happened when gods passed on. Duat had only ever been a place for mortals. Osiris might disappear entirely, body unburied and soul without anywhere to go. The thought sent a lightning bolt of panic through him, the worst one yet. He’d be gone. Osiris would never feel the sands and waves of the Nile beneath his feet again, never see Egypt stretched out before him, the safest and most beautiful home he’d ever known. He’d never hear Isis laugh, never make Nephthys smile, never talk with Anubis, never snort at Set’s jokes ever again. He breathed in. The water felt like it was full of glass shards, his nose and throat burning as it rushed down into his lungs. He shuddered, spasmed, his body unable to believe that there was no air to be found. He gasped again and again, lungs collapsing as they filled with water. It took a half hour for him to drown, body resilient and powerful right until the end, when not even supposed immortality could hold out against the crush of water. His last thought was of Isis, of the first time they’d ever swum in the Nile. And then Osiris was gone.
Who: Osiris [Closed narrative]
What: Even gods can die
Where: Somewhere along the Nile
When: Ancient Egypt, after Set sealed him in his sarcophagus and tossed him into the Nile
Warnings: Fairly graphic description of someone drowning and trying to claw his way out of a coffin