Shattered Mirrors
Chapter 2


300 Years Earlier

Smack, his mother's hand came down hard on the little boy's cheek. She was screaming at him frantically. Today it was found out that there had been a mistake, he was the oldest and was the choosen one and his beloved brother was youngest and had no special destiny. "I wish you would never have been born! You worthless and you are good for nothing but a beating. I am ashamed to be your Mother. You are nothing you hear me! You are not the choosen one you aren't even worth enough to lick the dirt from my shoes. If I ever hear you say that you should be the choosen one again I will beat you to death!"
Nefear Cen lived in his brother's shadow all his life.. When Anubis was bad he was beaten instead of Anubis. All Anubis had to do was watch the beating which he found amusing, "Come on Nefy, you are crying like a girl! Father said that real men can put up with any pain. You are such a baby!"
Then it became known that Nefear was the oldest and chaos came to the villege. His parents were horrified that their son who could do no right would have to replace the son that could do no wrong. The villege hated Nefear almost as much as his parents so they banished him from the region. He was only six years old. Then a month later the old priest from his villege found him naked and starving on the side of the road. The Priest took pity on Nefear and ordered that the villege bring him back. Nefear's parents refused to take him back so the Priest raised him. "I will take this boy in," the Priest said.
"You will not," the Father said, "he is not worthy. . ."
"Who are you to tell me how much this boy is worth? No parent would leave their child starving on a side of the road," he said then turned to Anubis, "and no self resecpting brother would either."
Anubis answered, "Nefear is a weakling and I am strong. He had it coming."
"Why do you say this?"
"It was what my parents taught me," Anubis said as he shrugged his shoulders then he laughed, "and he cries when he's beaten."
The crowd that surrounded this gathering laughed just as hard as Anubis. The Priest was horrified by this, "You are not a savior; you will be the death of this region!"

15 Years Later

Nefear was raised by the old Priest and now was taking care of the dying man. He came and went through the villege for medicine quietly and unnoticed. He did not dress like a priest for he had no religous calling. He found out the Priest was part European and spent most of his life in a place called Egypt. He raised Nefear as if they lived in Ancient Egypt. Nefear's clothes and his fighting style was different then the other boys in the villege. When it came time for Nefear to join the army he refused. He stayed away from his family and brother and ignored most of the people in the villege. They hated him still and made fun of his dress not that Nefear really cared.
His usual calf length skirt with slits in the sides with tight pants underneath was quite scandalous. The fact that he rarely wore a shirt made it worse.
Even though he was an outcast his fated meeting with his brother finally happened. Anubis, like usual, was drunk at the time. He followed Nefear out into the street calling his name, "Nefy, oh Nefy will you not talk to your brother?"
Nefear turned around, "I have nothing to say to you."
"Poor jealous Nefy," he laughed, "you want my life, don't you? You always wanted to be me."
"Why do you care what I think?"
"I'm about to go into battle again."
"And I should care?"
"I could die."
"We all die sometime."
"Admit it, you are jealous, that's why I drew up this little contract."
"Anubis, you are drunker than a dog. Go sleep it off and prepare for you glorious battle," Nefear spat as he turned away.
"This contract says that the first one of us to die they other can have his life, everything, his children, his riches and his wife and his consorts. Come on, Nefy, this is a chance in a lifetime. If I die today you can be me."
"If I die first then you are me."
"I, of course, would choose not to be you. I am about to get married to Lady Fukua and Lord Ryodo as chosen a consort for me. I have everything."
"I do not want your life."
"Then you could ruin it. I know you hate me as much as I hate you this is a chance in a lifetime."
Anubis walked over to Nefear and handed him two contracts; one for each of them. Anubis had already signed both contracts, the fool. Nefear cut his thumb on his knife and signed his name in his blood. He handed Anubis his contract. "You have made a great error, Anubis," Nefear said.

Screaming through the villege at night, Anubis's mother woke the villege. "Demon's have taken my son, demon's have taken my Anubis. Their King Talpa took Anubis and made him a demon. I have lost my son, I have lost everything."
Nefear peeked his head out of the door as the villege went into chaos. "What do we do now?" one villeger screamed.
"We are all doomed."
The villegers screamed and moaned. Nefear yawned as the old man came up behind him. "They will come to you now, my son."
"No, they would rather die."
"They will and what will you do? Will you help them?"
"No," Nefear said, "I will not help them. Only their choosen one can help them and I am not he."
"Your brother has ruined the villege as I foretold and now through this Demon King he will destroy the world."
"Anubis couldn't lead his way out of a garden maze I doubt he could destroy the world."
"He is demon now."
"He's always been a hell spawn."
"Nefear," the Priest coughed, "you must be the one to stop your brother. In the end I think only you can."
"No, Anubis will destroy himself; in the end he will take his own life."
"I wish I was as confident as you."
"I know him well."
"Hai," the Priest nodded, "but this Demon King you do not. You're brother has been granted immortal life so serve his dark master. You must become immortal as well."
"Immortal?" Nefear laughed, "I have no desire to live forever."
"You must, you must live until your brother dies," the Priest said coughing most violently.
"If that is your wish," Nefear said as he hugged the Priest as he died.

Present

"Good morning," Mia said as Anubis opened his eyes. His arms were around her, hugging her to his side.
"Hai, it is a good morning. I've never felt so good in my life," he said as he playfully slapped Mia's hip.
Mia laughed, "I'm glad to see you are in a good mood."
"I was a fool last time and trust me it'll never happen again. I used to let things get to me, things in the past, but not anymore. The past is dead and my love for you is very alive."
"Oh I love you too," she said as she kissed him.
"We shall be together forever," he promised pulling her tigher against him, "and if that lil Wildfire thinks that he can just waltz in and take you from me he's got another thing. . ."
"Ryo cannot take your place," Mia said, "especially now."
"Why now?" he asked as he cocked his eyebrow.
"You've lightened up a lot," she sighed, "you don't hold yourself back the way you used to. I always felt like I was competing with ghosts for your affection."
"There are no more ghosts to keep us apart. My. . . resurrection has handled them."
"Are you still hurting so much?"
"No," he smiled, "you please me so much you have driven out the hurt."
"Really?" Mia asked as turned to face him.
"Hai," he whispered, "you have taken it all away. I never thought anyone could until now."
Tears formed in Mia's eyes, "I'm so glad; I don't want you to feel anything but happiness."
Anubis wiped the tears away, "You are the first person whose wanted me like this, Mia, the only person who has cared for me like this. If anyone dares to try to take you away I will kill them with my bare hands."
Mia held him, "I will do the same; I will do the same."
He snuggled into her, "Come on, love, you must be hungry. Lets go down and get something to eat, everyone has a hang over and we'll be taking care of them. I still can't believe they let Yuli drink."
"Yuli took sips from their cans and glasses but Cale had vodka and that did him in."
"I saw Cale and White Blaze stare at him. Sometimes I think Cale is more animal than human but then again he was raised by wolves."
"Cale was raised by wolves?"
"Explains a lot, doesn't it?"he said as he kissed her on the nose and started to get up.
"Must we get up now?" Mia asked as she gently pushed him back into the bed and climbed on top of him.
He laughed huskly, "It's rude for a man to wake up aroused like this and I didn't want to make you feel obligated. . ."
"Making love to you isn't an obligation it's a pleasure. The most intense pleasure I've ever known. You were so wonderful last night you weren't cold and mechicanical like you were before. . ."
With that Anubis froze, Mia realized her mistake and whispered, "Anubis. . .?"
"Rape? I didn't rape you. . ."
"No, of course not, you were just distant like you wanted it over with before we had even begun. . ."
"Ohmigod," he whispered, "Mia, love, I didn't know. I can't believe I was that big of a fool. You were the best I had ever had . . ."
"You've changed a lot, Anubis; you don't remember much of what happened, do you?"
"I've been trying to piece everything together, Mia, my mind is clouded with thoughts and images," he breathed, "I can't believe how much of a monster I was to you."
"You were hurting, Anubis, I know you didn't mean it. You've always had these inner demons you had to face. . ."
"That's no excuse for what I did," he said as he sat up grabbing ahold of her arms so she wouldn't fall, "I have no right to be in this bed with you now or even to look upon your prefect body."
Mia threw her arms around him, "You said everything was all right now."
"It is . . ."
"Then forget about the past," she said as she put his head on her breasts, "that's were it belongs in the past. I'm sorry I even brought this up."
"I don't understand myself. . ."
"I do."
"Explain myself to me, Mia."
"You were haunted, you've done something that you are ashamed of and you were afraid to trust me. It's over with and you are a new man now. Lets start anew and forget the past."
"How can you be so understanding?"
"I know what it's like to be haunted by personal demons," she said as she kissed his hair.
He picked his head up and looked straight into her eyes, "I love you," he said, "I love everything about you. I'll make it up to you, I'll make up for all the bad times. I came back for you because I knew you were mine but I fell in love with you all over again last night."
Mia kissed him and in return he kissed her back. Then they heard the sound of someone throwing up in the bathroom across the hall. It sounded as if someone was throwing up a lung. "That would be Cale," Anubis shook his head, "he makes himself throw up to get the drink out of his system then he drinks five cups of tea and before you know it he's sober again."
"Anubis?" Mia asked.
"Yes," he said.
"I love you now more than ever."
"Why because I can tell who is vomitting? It's not the nicest of gifts."
"It's your sense of humor and your lightheartedness. I love the way you've changed. Please never change back."
"I promise," he said, "for you anything."