Incest/Taboo Pharaoh’s Curse

"The beginning of the restoration of Egypt back to the days were she was a great power," Andrew said in an alien voice.

"But what does that mean, Andrew?" Alex asked in a concerned voice.

"Means reclaiming the lands that once flew the banner of Egypt," Andrew said factually.

"Andy, you're talking about war?!"

"I am; Egypt was founded on a war, and its rebirth will require the same sacrifice." The two argued for the rest of the hour, only to have Alex blow out a breath in frustration when she couldn't make that alien voice see reason. That making war just to extend the boarders of Egypt was a bad thing.

"We've gotten off track," Alex said, rubbing her temple.

"You're the one who was arguing with Gods, not I," Andrew stated vaguely, seeing how that clearly shocked his mother.

"Then... then... that was..."

"Ra," Andrew spoke in an authoritative voice as he nodded.

"Ugh!" Alex exclaimed as her back bounced against the back of the couch. "You know Andy, I'm glad it's you that has to deal with them and not me," she said, peering up at the ceiling of her apartment.

"Hey!" He certainly didn't want to deal with them either, yet he had no choice in the matter. "Don't make me advocate my throne, then they'll turn their eyes onto you," Andrew said jokingly.

"Don't you dare!" Alex hissed, pointing her finger at her son.

"Why not? You would so get to delve into all this knowledge that's floating around inside my head," Andrew taunted, "and I can resume my life in New York just being little ol' me."

"Nah-uh," Alex said, shaking her head and crossing her arms below her breasts. "What would Bast say about it, hmm? Surely, your godly wife would have some very strong words about it," she uttered, turning her head when she saw the shadow of a cat arching its back and playing along the surface of her coffee table. Only to see Bast sitting in her cat form on the sill of her window, cleaning her right paw while her green eyes peered intently at her son.

"Don't you look at me like that," Andrew huffed and grumbled as he folded his arms while Bast spoke into his mind.

"Well, is it true? Are you going to give up your crown?" Bast asked testily.

"Not like I could, regardless if I wanted to or not," Andrew stated angrily.

"True, you can't; you are Pharaoh. It's time you learned to accept it and that we, the Gods, have great things in store for you."

"Uh-huh, sure, and I bet you're not even going to tell me, are you?" Andrew asked heatedly, glaring at Bast. Who didn't utter a word to his question, only to swish her tail and proceeded to clean her other paw. "So, shall we continue, or are you done with your questions?" he spoke, turning his attention back to his mother, rolling his eyes at the amusement that flooded his mind when Bast was laughing in his head.

"Of course not!" Alex stated with a wide smile on her lips. "We have so much to go over. But let's skip ahead, shall we, and go right to Den," she said; ever since their trip to Atlantis and Andrew telling her the first pyramid they saw there was built by Den, she's wondered how Den even got to the island in the first place.

"So skipping Djet and Merneith, I see," Andrew mused.

"I'm sure we'll get back to them in time," Alex said, nearly wiggling in her seat. "Explain to me how Den even got to Atlantis in the first place?"

"Umm..." Scratching his head, racking his brain to find the answer to his mother's question. "They visited Egypt first; I mean before it sank and wherever it now resides."

"But why would they build a pyramid there when the first one wasn't built until Djoser had the Step Pyramid built," Alex said, trying to understand it all.

"You wouldn't believe me if I told you," Andrew said plainly.

"Son, we went to freaking Atlantis of all places; you've found tombs that no one else has found in the one and a half centuries of Egyptology; we've met beings that shouldn't, in all honesty, exist, yet they do," Alex said, slyly glancing over at Bast. "Baby, trust me when I say this, I do believe you. It might take me a bit to wrap my head around it, but I do believe you."

"They were built as teleporters in layman's terms, so you can understand," Andrew said, knowing his mother would never ever grasp the concept of magic. Hell, even he couldn't wrap his head around it either; it seems too damn... farfetched if you asked him. Yet, he had the memories of it in action, so he knew it worked, nor could he simply brush off what had happened when he climbed the steps of that one pyramid and sent them all to Punt. When his mind had cleared enough, if he thought back to it, he could still feel the magic that was stored in that monument tingling his skin. His eyes glanced down to his fingertips as he rubbed them together, feeling his divine spark itching to be let loose.

"Please, please don't tell me you're going to say aliens did it?" Alex bemoaned, knowing she's heard far too much of that floating around, namely in her classroom, thanks to the Ancient Aliens show. Arching an eyebrow when she heard her son snort at her, frowning when Andrew was fighting back from bursting out in laughter. "What's so funny?!" she huffed, slapping her hands on her thighs, causing her breasts to jiggle as she did.

"She's laughing at you," Andrew said with the straightest face that he could as he pointed over to Bast.

"Then tell me how people who had no advanced technology could move stones over one hundred tons, miles from where they were quarried," Alex said combatively.

"Magic." Was the only word Andrew spoke, seeing the disbelieving look in his mother's eyes. "Do you think torches burn blue?" he asked, referencing when he fell down into the hidden chamber in Amkhakha. "Do you academics honestly think thousands of slaves could pull, much less move a two-ton block of stone, up a ramp no less? The Pharaohs of old thought it a waste to squander such a resource when they had other means. How do you think they were going to move that obelisk five hundred miles away from here, which even your experts claimed was a hundred tons or so, with sheer manpower?" he asked, casting his mother a look.

"Okay, mister hotshot, if magic is real, then why isn't it around today, hmm?" Alex retorted, thinking she had asked a 'gotcha' question.

"Because people stopped believing in it," Andrew said factually.

"So, you're saying all I have to do is believe, and magic will just happen?" Alex asked in disbelief. Her eyes followed her son's hand as he reached across her coffee table and took one of her notebooks and a pen. Leaning forward, curious to see what her son was writing as he scribbled down quickly in hieroglyphics on the sheet of paper he had torn from her notebook. Her eyes glanced over to Bast, who was watching on with interest as Andrew folded up the piece of paper - Into what? - she couldn't say, yet it had a familiar shape to it as he gently set it on the table when he was done. Her ears burned as she listened to his incantation as he prayed to Thoth to make her see. Nearly leaping out of her seat when the origami-shaped animal sprung to life and started to amble around her tabletop. That was before Bast leaped through the air and landed on it, squishing it flat.

"It's not polite to make other Gods' images before the one that watches over you, My Pharaoh," Bast grumbled in Andrew's mind as she sat on the very likeness of the Set animal. Sensing Set's displeasure of her defilement of his animal, giving her butt a good wiggle for good measure, then whipped Andrew's face with her tail before springing back to her spot on the window sill.

"Andrew, what was that?!" Alex asked in mystified wonder.

"The Set animal, or Sha as you might know it," Andrew said offhandedly with a shrug of his shoulders.

"Can anyone do what you just did?" Alex inquired, knowing she had access to the vast stores of ancient Egyptian spell tomes that they never made public. Only those that have worked or are working at the museum would know about them where they were stored in climate-controlled containers to keep them from disintegrating any further than what they had already had.

"Sure, don't see why not," Andrew muttered after a few moments of thought. "I mean, if I can do it," waving to the flattened image of Sha on the table, "don't see why anyone else can't," he said, wondering if that was a good idea to allow people to just go around and cast spells willy-nilly without regard to those affected by it. "But for now, we'll keep it between us, alright?"

"Andrew, don't you have any faith in people?" Alex asked, a little hurt that her son would want to lock this knowledge away.

"Have you seen the state of the world? Mankind is a selfish race; they squander what they're given and bicker and fight over what their neighbors have. They blame others for deeds that they themselves have undertaken or for those long past. No, as man is to this day, they aren't ready for this. They would abuse it just to get what they wanted and damn the consequences of their actions. No matter if it might bring about the end of the world just so long as they get the instant gratification they so covet."

"That's a little harsh, don't you think, son?" Alex asked in a motherly voice.

"Yeah, maybe, but you don't have untold thousands of years of memories jammed into your head. People back then to today have not changed. Sure, society might have advanced, ending many of the ills that had taken place throughout all of time. Yet deep down, in the core of man, the group, not the individual, they are still the greedy, self-centered, scared beings they were six thousand years ago," Andrew said in a monotone voice. "Let me put it in a simpler way, would you allow some joker off the street access to the nuclear arsenal? No, of course, you wouldn't; no one is that stupid, I would hope. You want that kind of power controlled and contained by those that know how to handle that kind of responsibility. It's the same with magic. Untold calamity could ensue if one isn't careful of what they're doing with it."

"So, what you're saying is magic will be under the control of the priests and priestesses of the temples once Egypt has returned to its ancient ways?" Alex asked, noting the curious look in her son's eyes.

"It might."

"Then tell me, son, just how did you learn it in the first place?" Alex inquired in a teacherly voice.

"Where do you think I learned it from?" Andrew countered.

"Don't tell me Thoth taught you personally?" Alex was flabbergasted when Andrew simply nodded his head at her question. Her mouth opened to speak some more, yet was stopped when two distinct knocks sounded on her door. Turning her head, wondering just who could be at her door at that time of the morning. Her eyes glanced over to Andrew as he rose off the floor and sauntered over to the door.

"Andy!" Anta and Carla greeted cheerfully once Andrew had answered the door, throwing their arms around him once the door was wide enough to do so.

"You know, since we are in your Royal Harem, shouldn't we just stay with you from now on?" Carla asked coyly as her index finger played lightly along Andrew's left pectoral muscle.

"Mmmhmm, we should; just think of all those nights with me wrapped around you," Anta purred, snuggling her body tightly against his. Then she released a squeal of joy at the sight of Bast on the sill. "Bast!" she shouted excitedly as she quickly rushed over to where the polymorphed goddess sat. Who allowed Anta to scoop her up in her arms, knowing she would get the attention she craved. She was a cat goddess, after all.

"Morning, Alex," Carla greeted after getting her morning kiss in, listening to the door closing behind her.

"Hello, Carla," Alex returned the greeting, keeping her annoyance from her voice, hoping to get more time with her son.

"I take it something was about to happen?" Carla asked, her eyes pointing at Alex's discarded garments.

"No... well, maybe, if Andrew was better behaved," Alex said, teasing her son mercilessly.

"I was so behaved; you dare taunt your Pharaoh?!" Andrew joked.

"Then why is she topless?" Anta countered, getting a beaming smile out of Alex.

"She wanted something; I only saw it fair I get compensation for it," Andrew stated, turning his nose up at them.

"But why topless?" Carla intoned as she walked over to where Anta stood to bask in Bast's cuteness.

"What, I like boobs," Andrew said plainly like that was common knowledge.

"So, what brings the two of you here so early in the morning?" Alex asked, blowing her son a kiss, not bothering to cover up since they had all seen each other naked numerous times.

"Well, Andy and I..."

"The three of us," Carla corrected; she wasn't about to miss out on spending time with Andrew when it didn't involve some dead King or a museum. Smiling widely when Anta just puffed out her cheeks at her, knowing she, too, was thinking along those lines.

"Were thinking," continuing on like she hadn't been interrupted, "of going and visiting my parents," Anta said, getting rather bashful since she's never brought a boy home to meet her parents before. They knew she was dating; that was a given; they just didn't get the chance to meet any of them due to them living in Helwan and her father working so much to make her college payments. Her face grew redder by the second when Alex's eyes grew wide and then lit up.

"Oh, I see; you two have gotten that far into your relationship, hmm?" Alex mused in a teasing voice, causing Anta to instantly drop her chin down to her chest. "I think I must..." Alex's head snapped over when her phone went off, glaring angrily at where her phone lay, knowing full well who was calling her. Surging off out of her chair, noticing her son's eyes following the bounce of her breasts as she stomped towards her room. "Yes? I'm on... oh, what's this about?" Walking over to the doorway and slowly slid it closed when it appeared to be serious, seeing Andrew shrugging his shoulders when Anta and Carla looked at him before the doors closed her in.

"They do know we're coming, right?" Andrew asked, ignoring the soft tone of his mother's muffled voice from her room.

"Talked to Mom last night when you dropped me off; they're eager to meet the man that's swept their daughter off her feet," Anta said, batting her eyelashes at him.

"Good, would hate to pull up in..." Instantly, his attention centered on Bast as she spoke into his mind while enjoying how Anta was softly rubbing her right ear. "There's no..." His voice died in his throat when those green eyes pierced his soul. "Then you best know how to get there because no way in hell I'm aimlessly walking around Cairo for it," Andrew grumbled, having to be content with a nod of her head, knowing full well he couldn't rightly go against a goddess. That was just asking to be turned into atoms and cast throughout the cosmos in her anger. Not a fate Andrew was determined to undergo.

"Andy, what did she say?" Carla asked, lightly resting her hand on his upper right arm.

"We're taking a boat," Andrew sighed when their eyes cut hard into him. "Yes, that boat," he said when they gave him that questioning look of theirs.

"You mean it? We're going to journey on the solar barge like those of the past?" Anta asked with excitement in her voice.

"Seems so," Andrew admitted. He just hoped this didn't bring too much attention to him. That was the last thing he needed at the moment if the news caught wind of it.

"And as your Queen consorts, we'll be treated accordingly, won't we, husband?" Carla cooed, rocking forward and backward on her feet with her hands behind her back with a devious smile on her lips.

"Ugh!" Andrew moaned, tossing his head back at the fact they were getting more enjoyment out of this than even he was.

"Don't be like that, Andy," Anta said sweetly as she rested her hand on his chest. "It's bound to happen sooner or later. Plus, don't you want your people to know you have two very hot and desirable women by your side?" she asked, matching Carla's smile. All turned when Alex's bedroom doors quickly rolled open, and out she stepped, clothed with a garment bag along with a small overnight one in her hands.

"As much as I would like to join you on your day trip, it seems the board thought to change up the whole setup we had decided on at the last minute, so I have to run to the museum and see if I can't work things out before the big event tonight," Alex informed them with disappointment in her voice as she stepped up to Andrew and placed a kiss on his cheek then a very long one on his lips. "Remember, be there at seven, no later, okay?" she spoke softly, knowing this would have been a perfect day to spend with her son, maybe even reenact the memory she had when she was in New York.

"What if..."

"Nah-uh, you promised; you are a man of your word, aren't you? What kind of Pharaoh would you be if your word can't be trusted?" Biting her lower lip as she saw the scowl forming on her son's face. "Girls, make sure he's on time tonight, and have fun. I'm sorry I can't be there to meet your parents. It's not every day you tell them you're marrying into Egyptian royalty. Be safe, honey," she whispered before heading out the door.

"Andy, can we take Bast along with us? I would hate to leave her here all alone," Anta said in a cute little tone.

"Why? She was alone for thousands of years in that chamber..." Taking a step back when Bast hissed angrily at him and not in a teasing way. "Alright, alright, she's coming," Andrew stated, retreating to fetch his shoes.

"Bast, I know you're just going to love my house, especially my room," Anta chatted with Bast, ignoring the looks she was getting from the passersby as they walked to where their boat had been docked since early that morning. "So, Andy, Carla, and I have been discussing about last night and what Halima had said to you. Did you purposely leave a God out or something?"

"No," Andrew replied, noting the extra swish to Bast's tail as he glanced over at her.

"Are you going to tell us?" Carla asked, eager to know what he was thinking.

"In time when I know it can be done," Andrew said as they waited for the light to turn.

"But when you do, will you?" Carla asked again, slipping her hand into his right, flashing him a smile when Andrew nodded. Looking down when Andrew's cellphone went off in his pocket. Placing a kiss on his cheek and scurried to Anta's left side to give him some privacy knowing just who was calling him.

"Hey, Dad, how's it going?" Andrew answered happily. Due to the hectic nature of the tour, they didn't get all that much time to talk like he had hoped they would.

"Oh, you know, work, work, not like you, gallivanting around the world with pretty ladies, staying in fancy hotels, eating some good food," Julián said, teasing his son.

"What can I say, Dad? It's a curse," Andrew retorted with a smile on his lips. "How's Mom doing?"

"She's fine; sad that we couldn't come to see you in Paris for Christmas; it wasn't the same without you here."

"I know; it was the same for me, too," Andrew said, recounting the holidays they had spent together when Wilma came into their lives.

"Just know, we'll be thinking about you and worrying to no end until you're back home and safe in your room."

"Yeah, it's going to sound delightful after spending months in the dessert," Andrew jested, glancing at Bast, knowing that wasn't going to happen any time soon. Not if the feeling he was getting from her was any indication of future events. "How was her last check-up?"

"She and the baby are healthy; no need to worry about them; you just keep your mind focused on what you have to do to come home as quickly as possible and safely. I don't want to get a call from whoever saying something happened to you, you hear?"

"Yes, Dad, I'll be my usual self."

"That's what I'm afraid of." Andrew felt the warmth spreading through his heart at the sound of his father's chuckle. "Shoot, I have to go."

"I understand, tell Wilma I'll call her tomorrow when I'm free and if it's not too late over there," Andrew said, hearing his father's work phone ringing over the line.

"I will; I know she'll be happy to hear from you. You better be taking care of Carla and Anta while you're there. No telling if you'll ever get to see them again when you come home."

"I am."

"That's my boy; love you, son."

"Love you too, Dad, don't work too hard," Andrew said before they ended their call.

"Don't you look so down, Andy; I already told you, you would see them soon," Anta uttered in a caring tone as she lightly bumped her shoulder against his. She wasn't about to let Andrew go missing the people that he cared so much about. They had cared for him for the past five years before she and Carla came into his life. She was going to show him that she would be the best wife he could possibly hope to have. If that meant they had to fly back and forth when Andrew had time from his kingly duties. "What's going on?" she asked aloud when there was a large crowd surrounding the dock. Sharing a look with Carla when she noted the local news vans and even the local CNN, BBC, and MSNBC outlets. The reporter's voices filled the air in a mix of Arabic, English, and French, asking questions upon questions that seemed to be going unanswered by whoever continued to remain quiet. However, shouts soon replaced their questions as the three of them saw movement within the crowd. Only to come face to face with the very people Andrew had freed from Ba'al's imprisonment when she was cast down from Heaven. The news crews bucked against the backs of the men who lined the lane they had formed to keep them from approaching their Pharaoh. A man they would always honor for what he had done for them.

"My Lord!" shouted the old man in ancient Egyptian who had his arms raised in praise as he walked towards the three of them. "We were told by the Gods that your grace was returning and in need of a proper vessel to transverse the Nile. So, with the guidance of the Gods, we built this ship for you, our Pharaoh," he said, turning his body just so, so that Andrew could get a proper look at the craft that would carry him safely up the river and back.

Andrew glanced over at Bast, seeing how she had taken on a more regal pose than she could in her cat form. Wondering just what she was playing at. He wasn't even ready for the world to know who he was. He didn't think that time would ever come, and he hoped it wouldn't. Nevertheless, he doubted the Gods would simply let him stay in the shadows. Sighing in his mind, putting on a smile to hide how he so wasn't ready to step into the limelight; then again, he was sure none of the other Pharaohs were ready either to lead a nation.

"Does it please you, oh Lord?" the man asked, hoping that Andrew was indeed pleased with the work his people had tirelessly put into crafting it.

"It does," Andrew spoke in ancient Egyptian, noting how the onlookers were eyeing them and filming their exchange. "Now please, escort us on board," he directed, unsure what they were seeing being outside of the city where he had transplanted them after they were freed from Ba'al's control. Pondering if they were seeing the world as it was in 2000 B.C. He knew they couldn't see the modern world, for he knew it would only scare them to death, and no one could say what a scared populace would do.

"Of course, of course, right this way, we mustn't keep his lordship from his travels," the man said joyously as he turned on his heel and led the way to Andrew's solar barge.

Andrew looked oddly at Carla and Anta, who held their heads high and walked with grace as future Queens towards the ship. He tried to ignore the questions the reporters were peppering him with as he walked past the men that were guarding the lane who wheeled in behind him when he passed. Coming to a halt when a middle-aged man stuck his arm out and took hold of his right bicep. Holding up his hand to keep the men behind him from detaching the man from his body. He didn't need that plastered on the news.

"Young man, what in the world is going on?" the man asked in a thick Welsh accent before sticking a microphone in Andrew's face.

"The world is about to come into a great awakening, and I will be the one to usher it in, for I am Pharaoh," Andrew stated, the blue light of his divinity burning in his pupils. Scowling when those around him other than those he had helped freed, Carla and Anta burst out in laughter, thinking he was only messing with them. "Believe what you want, yet if you deny what's in front of your very noses, you will be sorely mistaken," he said, forcibly removing the man's hand from his arm. Noting, the man behind him pushed the reporter back into the crowd, turning his attention over to Carla when she took hold of his shirt sleeve.

"They can't understand right now, but soon they will know the truth," Carla uttered low, slipping her hand into his and leading him towards his barge.

The moment they stepped onto it, they were surrounded by five women wearing very thin linen dresses while the men were bare-chested and wore kilts. Anta and Carla glared at Andrew when the sun did little to hide their bodies from his sight as they held copper trays lined with fruit, bread, and salted, thin-shaven meats. Who led the three of them to a lounge area covered with an awning while the men set out to slip the moorings to get them underway. Listening to their voices as they gave praise to Sobek, Hapi, the Elephantine Triad, and Shu, making offerings over the side of the barge as they got underway while they fanned incense into the air for their offering to Shu. Andrew looked up when the sail became taut as Shu filled it with the wind it would need to speed them on their journey.

Andrew felt their ire when the ladies fawned over him as they knelt before him, offering anything to sate his desire. Even themselves if Andrew so desired; however, he wasn't that stupid to take them up on their offer with Carla and Anta sitting right beside him. Bast was enjoying the lavish praise she was getting as she laid regally on an overstuffed pillow like she had done for thousands of years during the reign of the Pharaohs. As the barge sailed smoothly up the Nile, Andrew hoped that what had happened on the dock didn't make it onto the news that evening. He so didn't need his father calling him demanding to know what was going on and such. With the Gods' help, they made it to Helwan in less than an hour, when it usually took longer to get there by sail and due to the traffic on the Nile. Anta carefully took Bast into her arms when they neared a dock that was free that was near her own father's boat which he used to haul goods and the like up and down the Nile. Waving to her older brother, who was aboard their boat getting things ready for their trip up the Nile to the third cataract where they would be taking on a shipment of grain that would be sold off in Alexandria. Seeing the confusion in her brother's eyes when he saw her on Andrew's solar barge and noted the fanciness of it. Thanking the men who laid out the gangplank onto the dock after the ship was safely moored.

"Come, Andy, we can't keep them waiting," Anta said in a loving tone as she held out her hand to him. Feeling her heart flutter the moment his filled her hand. Hearing him tell those on the ship to wait for them, which they wholeheartedly agreed they wouldn't leave until they were back onboard. "Abubakar!" she exclaimed as her brother walked down the dock to greet them.

"Hello, sis, that's a fancy ship you show up in," Abubaker teased, hugging his sister the best he could with Bast in her arms while slyly eyeing Andrew, who stood to Anta's right. "Hello, Carla, nice to see you again," he greeted in a thick English accent.

"How's work going, Abu?" Carla asked in a friendly manner with a smile to go with it.

"Not bad; work has been picking up here lately, so Anta, who's this?" Abubakar asked, gesturing to Andrew.

"Abu," using her brother's nickname he's had since they were kids, "I like you to meet Andrew McCain; Andy, this is my older brother Abubaker," Anta said, introducing the two of them. Watching something coming over her brother, given how he normally didn't like outsiders, namely those of other countries, she had thought her brother would be ruder and whatnot, not smiling and joyously talking to Andrew like he's known him forever.

"Abu!" Came a sweet female voice as the front door of her childhood home opened, and there in the door stood Heba. "Anta!" she shouted at the sight of her sister-in-law, getting the attention of the others within the house.

"Go on, she's been worried about you since you went on that tour," Abubaker said in a brotherly tone nodding toward his wife. "So, Andrew, what do you do for a living?" he asked when Anta went to greet Heba.

"Umm... kind of in Politics," Andrew admitted; he didn't think telling Anta's brother he was Pharaoh would go well with Abubaker.

"Oh? Like working for your government?" Abubaker asked, listening to his sister and his wife chatting away about her time abroad.

"Something like that," Andrew answered vaguely.

"Anta!" her mother Nour rushed out and wrapped her daughter in her arms, causing Bast to leap out of Anta's arms and scurried over to Andrew, who stood on her hind legs and dug her claws into the skin of his left leg. Bast's green eyes glinted in evilness when Andrew looked down as he hissed in pain. "Did you bring home another cat?" Nour asked, watching the young man her daughter brought home, bending down and plucking the feline off the ground.

"Who Bast? Oh, no, she's Andrew's companion," Anta said, peering back at her husband; she had stopped calling him her boyfriend for some time now. Since when he takes his throne, the whole world will know she is his wife. She knew Carla felt the same way.

"So, a cat person, eh?" Abubaker joked.

"Not willingly," Andrew muttered, earning him a swat across his right cheek from Bast.

"I take it he is this Andrew you had spoken about when you called home on your trip?" Nour asked in that motherly tone that carried hints of worry and happiness in her voice.

"Mmmhmm," Anta hummed, "Andy, come and say hello to my Mum," waving him over to her side, wondering what the two of them were communicating, given the look Andrew was giving Bast.

"Hello, Mrs. Ali; Anta has told me a lot about you, Andrew McCain," he said, holding out his hand to her.

"I know who you are; I've seen you on the telly," Nour stated, shaking Andrew's hand. A curious look appeared in her eyes as a strange pomegranate smell filled her nostrils. "Well, come in, and you can tell her father and me how you met our daughter," she said, welcoming Andrew into her home while giving her daughter a teasing look when Anta had a rather bashful look on her face. Not something she normally saw on her daughter's face; it was rather intriguing, to say the least. "Good morning Carla; I do hope my daughter isn't getting you into too much trouble," Nour greeted as Carla entered after Andrew, who was being led by his hand towards a seat by Anta.

"Heavens, no," Carla chuckled, getting a hug from Nour, who acted like a surrogate mother to her since hers couldn't get out to Egypt due to the cost it would take to fly out from the States.

"Bennu, come and say hello to your sister and her friends!" Nour called out as Heba and Abubaker filed in and closed the door behind him. While she pulled out her cheap cell phone and texted her husband to come to the house. Grumbling could be heard from the other side of the house as the person who belonged to it ambled down the hallway.

"Watch your tone, Bennu," Anta hissed when her youngest brother made a slur when he saw Andrew sitting beside her. "Have a care on how you speak to Andrew," she said sternly. Noting her mother's studying look as she peered at her while she was dressing down her brother.

"Is there something more to the two of you than what you've told your father and me?" Nour asked as Bennu slinked over to her side to hide from his sister's fiery gaze.

"He's going to be my husband," Anta stated proudly, laying her hand over Andrew's. "I wanted to wait until it was the right time to tell the two of you, but Andrew and I will be getting married when he makes his announcement to the world."

"You're getting a little ahead of yourself," Andrew whispered into Anta's ear.

"I am not; you know what you have to do; why hide it?" Anta shot back, with Bast nodding along in Andrew's lap.

"You have far too much to do than getting married, Anta," Nour chided, keeping her shock from her face at her daughter's revelation.

"Nope, I can still do all that; Andy's going to be with me anyway, so why shouldn't I be at his side like he will be at mine. That is what a Queen consort does; she stands by her King," Anta said proudly, getting a light groan out of Andrew. "Hush," she cooed, lightly slapping his hand. "They would find out eventually; why not learn it from me instead of the television."

"Queen?! King?!" her family said as one in stunned shock as all eyes stared at Andrew and then at Anta, wondering what in Sam hill was going on. Only to have the commotion come to a cease when Jahi, Anta's father, came storming into their house, cursing up a storm in Arabic at the phone in his hand. He had just learned his license to operate his ship and business had just been revoked by the greedy government official who wanted a portion of his profits to keep him in business, which Jahi was not about to do.

"Papa, what's wrong?" Anta asked, quickly getting up from her seat to go to her father's side and give him some comfort like he had done all her life. Seeing her father's face brighten up at the sight of her before he pulled her into a warm fatherly hug.

"Nothing you need to worry about," Jahi said in Arabic. Only to take note of the strange man sitting in his living room beside his daughter's friend.

"Jahi, come sit; your daughter has something very strange to tell you," Nour stated, still not believing she was sitting across from royalty.

"What's this about?" Jahi asked, keeping to Arabic since that's the only language he knew. He understood English. He just couldn't speak it. "What!" he roared when his wife whispered into his ear once he had set down beside her. "I forbid it, Anta!" Jahi stated in a protective fatherly tone.

"Well, that's too bad, Papa, my King has asked for my hand, and I intend to marry Andrew," Anta said plainly as she retook her seat beside Andrew.

"He looks American! Americans don't have royalty, Anta! He's deceiving you," Jahi spoke, trying to get his daughter to see reason.

"Andy, please, show them for me?" Anta pleaded when she turned to look at him and placed her hands on his left forearm. "I know you don't like doing it, but they won't understand until you show them who you really are." Pressing her lips together when a sigh escaped his lips as his chin lowered.

"You know, if you weren't so cute, I wouldn't even consider this," Andrew said, not having to look at Anta to know she was grinning like mad as Bast moved off his lap to rest in Carla's.

"I know, but that's what you love about me," Anta chirped happily, her face burned red hot when the word 'True' escaped his lips.

Andrew rose to his feet, feeling the ankh ring on his right hand growing hot as he tapped into its magic. Years upon years of knowledge flooded his mind as the Pharaohs of old divulged their experience to him. Raising his arm, extending his right hand towards Anta's father, "I am Pharaoh Menes II, the ruler of Egypt," Andrew stated; his Nemes shimmered into view as his divinity burned in his pupils.

"There is..."

"I. Am. Pharaoh," Andrew said sternly, his gaze burnt into Bennu's form when he cut the young man off from voicing his descent. "I know how it sounds, trust me, yet I am the ruler of the two lands," he said, referring to upper and lower Egypt.

"Well, shake my future husband's hand, Papa," Anta bemoaned when her father just stared in shock at what he and the rest of them had just witnessed.

"Just wait a second," Abubaker cut in, "just how can you be Pharaoh when there hasn't been one in thousands of years?"

"I am one of the last living descendants of Pharaoh Pepi II, the last ruler of the Sixth Dynasty. Yes, I know, I was skeptical too; trust me, you think I want all this weird shit that being Pharaoh entails? Hardly, yet even if I wanted to back out, there are things that won't allow me to, no matter how much I want to go back to New York."

"But how?" Nour asked, very confused.

"You wouldn't believe me if I told you," Andrew said sincerely.

"How long have you known about this Anta?" Jahi asked, peering around Andrew's body.

"For some time now, Papa, you remember when the Nile waters were pouring over the dam? Andy's the one that stopped it from destroying everything. He is Egypt, and Egypt is him, don't ask me to explain; I honestly don't understand most of it, yet what I have seen cannot be denied," Anta said, knowing this was how it would have gone when she told her family who she was marrying.

"This man is making a fool out of you all!" Bennu sneered in disgust only to feel the heat burning his skin as Andrew's crook materialized in his left hand and pointed it at his throat.

"You doubt my power? You doubt the will of Egypt, then you stand against the man that will end this stagnation and bring about the restoration of this land back to its rightful place as a leader in the world," Andrew said with the authority of a King. "Now kneel before your Pharaoh," he commanded, wondering if Ra's blessing would work like that. Which it did, given how Bennu quickly got to his knees, who looked very confused by what had just happened. "Now, doubt me all you want, yet you cannot say I am not the Pharaoh of this land. I understand your concern for your daughter's welfare; it isn't my intention to allow harm to come to her; what kind of King would I be if I allowed harm to come to my future wife?" Andrew asked, peering down at Anta's parents, feeling Anta's huge grin burning into his back as he stood before them. Noting how Bennu was trying to stand, yet his body wouldn't heed his command as Andrew returned the crook back to its owner.

"See, I'm perfectly in good hands, Papa and Mum," Anta stated, sitting regally in her seat. "Next time you insult my husband, you won't get off so easily," she hissed at her little brother.

"Anta, are you sure this is what you want?" Nour asked in a worried motherly tone, thinking her daughter didn't know what she was getting herself into.

"Mmmhmm," Anta nodded as she hummed. "You won't believe the things I've seen or the things Andy has done. I know this isn't what you thought I'd be doing when I went off to college; however, I just feel I need to be by his side," she sighed happily as she rested her head on Andrew's left shoulder when he retook his seat between Carla and herself. Anta turned her gaze towards her little brother when he leapt to his feet once he was no longer under Andrew's compulsion, only to rush into their kitchen. The sounds of metal clanged about as Bennu sought a weapon to use against the man who had hoodwinked his sister.​