Shattered Mirrors
Chapter 4


"So basically what you are saying is both of these men claim to be Anubis?" Kento said holding an ice pack to his head. Cale woke up the whole household and sent them down stairs. Their double takes were priceless. "Yes, Kento," Mia said, "that's exactly it."
"Why would both of you claim to be Anubis?"
"My brother wants Mia," the twins mumbled in unison.
"Mia," Kayura said, "do you have a clue who is who?"
Mia shook her head, "It's amazing how similar they are."
"Yes, it is," Kayura nodded.
Mia jumped up, "Oh this is so stupid. Why do the both of you insist on playing this out?"
"Easy, it has to do with a contract. We made a pact 285 years ago that the first brother to die would assume the others identity. I was resurrected before my brother could claim my place and now he's just being a baby," the Anubis in normal clothes claimed.
"Ohmigod, I forgot about that damn contract. Is that what this is really about?"
"You're just ticked because I beat you."
"Of course," the monk exclaimed, "I'm such a fool."
"Er . . ." Kayura said, "explain."
"I got drunk one night and drew up two contracts. We swore that whoever would be the first to die would leave everything to the other. That's why you aren't giving up, Nefear, you gave your word of honor to me . . ."
"Great," Mia sighed, "now I'm a door prize. This is doing so much for my ego."
"I'm not giving up because I want my woman."
"Wait," Cye said, "the Anubis in monk clothes calls the other Nefear but the other Anubis doesn't call his brother anything. I think the monk is Anubis."
"Torrent, the reason I do not call my brother by his name is out of respect. If he wishes to play this game then I cannot stop him but I will play by the rules."
"You know," Mia said, "this is going to get confusing soon. We'll get the pair of you messed up and we'll never figure out who is whom. I say until we get this mess straightened out both of you get nick names."
"Mia," Kento said, "what will keep them from switching back and forth?"
"Easy, the Monk Anubis claimed that the other was doing this as a word of honor. All we need is for them to swear on their honors to keep to their names."
"But what if, like Cye said, we have in mind who is the real Anubis?" Dais asked.
"Easy," Mia said, "they each get changed then come down and I'll assign them a name. No one will have a clue which one is which."
"I'm willing to try it," the Monk said, "Brother?"
The other nodded, "Sure, why not?"
With that Dais and Cale took both Anubis's up stairs and gave them something to wear. Meanwhile Kayura promptly took over the situation. "Mia, if you weren't such a whore," Kayura said, "we wouldn't have these problems."
"Excuse me," Mia said as she got right in Kayura's face, "Anubis asked me to marry him right before..."
"Excuse for sex," Kayura laughed, "and you fell for it. You are so stupid, of course most whores are."
"Kayura," an Anubis call came from up stairs, "we can hear you, talk about stupid. If you call my woman a whore again I'll wring you fucking neck. Do you understand?"
"You don't have to threaten her," Mia said lightly, "she's just jealous and I really don't blame her."
"You could've had two brothers..."
"Kayura," Cale said, "for godsake shut up, you're giving me a headache!"
Mia walked over and looked out a piece of paper and pen out of the drawer, usually used to write down messages from the answering machine. She wrote down two names, one at the top and one at the bottom of the page and ripped the paper in the middle as she finished the twins came down the stairs in jeans and t-shirts. The one of the left wore a plain white t-shirt and the one of the right wore a blue one with the words "In Every Great Man There is a Little Bit of a Mad Man" written in white.
Mia walked over to them, shuffled the paper then handed each a piece. Anubis on the left read the paper, "Kenji."
"Marcellus," the other said.
"Do you agree to stick to these names no matter what? Swear on your honors," Mia said.
"I swear," they said in unison.
"There," Kenji said, "that will end the confusion."
"Yes, it must've been very confusing," Marcellus agreed.
Cye stood up and looked each of them over carefully, "It's amazing how did your parents tell you apart."
The twins turned towards one another and played "rock, paper, scissors". Kenji won, "You can tell them."
"Rock, paper, scissors?" Kento asked.
"Yes," Marcellus added, "we decided every time you asked a question we'd leave it to Fate for who would answer."
"Oh," Kento said.
"Anyway, he continued, "how are parents told us apart was easy: Anubis dressed well and Nefear was in rags."
"Why Anubis?" Dais asked.
"The Chosen One," they said together in monotone.
"Your turn,.... Kenji," Marcellus said.
"The twins were destined for two different things. The youngest to save the providence our village was in and the oldest was to be normal."
"But Anubis served Talpa and destroyed his village," Sekhmet said.
"They named the youngest Anubis and the eldest Nefear..."Kenji continued.
"But the twins were switched. The names meant nothing," Marcellus chipped in, "it was the order of birth."
"Our parents hated Nefear because he wasn't special. He had no obvious talents unlike the rest of the family."
"They kicked him out of the house when he was still a child and he was raised by the village priest and it was with them he learned to fight."
"Have the pair of you ever fought," Rowen asked.
"No," Kenji said, "Anubis was kidnaped when they were twenty-one."
"The village forbid it anyway."

Mia sat taking this all in. Neither of them looked at her but she couldn't take her eyes off them. They looked like they made a truce but how long would it last. There was so much bad blood between them.
Marcellus turned to Mia and looked at her wistfully but turned away quickly; her heart skipped a beat. This wasn't fair, she would have both of them in her house and could be with none. The man she had last night was a talented lover but now she realized he wasn't Anubis.
She knew which one was which but why did she start this game. Mia gained nothing but heart ache and a cold bed.
Mia Koji gained nothing but the Cen Twins did.
Look at them a new moments ago; they were at each others throats and now there were getting along fine. Maybe now, in trying to prove themselves to us they would prove themselves to each other.