Yeosang blinked his eyes open to yet another stone room. This time, upon awakening, he felt rested. Not too agitated, even when he would have preferred his white ceiling to even more strange places. He wanted to go home.

But this time, he wasn't too distraught. Not very haunted or in pain or stressed, like he had been for many weeks now. The clarity in his mind was foreign to him. Like a blank page, ready to be filled with his impressions of the day. 

Somehow, it felt suspicious. 

He turned his head, trying to find clues about where he was and what happened. Did he dream the whole thing of Seonghwa abducting him and turning into a snake? Or was this after?

Before he got a chance to glance around the pillars and hieroglyphs on the walls, a body dashed his way, blocking his view. Yeosang flinched back, thinking he was about to be eaten.

He remembered. The snake, its unhinged jaws, flashing teeth. Those wicked eyes and the scent of blood.

Panic stirred in him. Where was Anubis? What happened to Seth? The fear in Yeosang's veins bubbled back up, but his memories were blurry when he tried to remember how the scene ended.

However, the voice that greeted him wasn't the hiss of a snake. And the arms wrapping around him weren't violent. Yeosang felt himself enclosed in a soft hug and a soft, female chest was squished against his face to vibrate with a purr.

"He's alive! He's back, it worked!" Bastet cried out above him, petting his hair and his red ears as Yeosang shyly tried to regain some polite distance. 

More voices sounded in the back, but the cat was busy coddling him as Yeosang made a helpless noise.

"Oh, Yeosang, I was so worried about you!" San's wide eyes glistened with tears, but otherwise he looked okay. Unhurt. Yeosang hugged him back, since the quivering cat seemed to need support more than he did right now.

But his confusion only grew.

"What happened? I can't remember it all..." His head stung when he dug too far into the crevices of his brain. When he lifted his hand to his temples to ease the pain away, a familiar growl addressed him across Bastet's shoulder.

"Don't try to recall. It's better like this. How do you feel?"

Endless relief flooded Yeosang's heart at Anubis' sight. He stood tall and proud as ever, his body teeming with strength. No wounds were visible on him, no missing limbs. 

Last time Yeosang saw him, he genuinely feared for his life. Saw the mighty jackal god buckle from the poison, his most ferocious ally choking the life out of him. 

The flutter in Yeosang's chest had him pause, marvelling up at the god looking lively as ever. Still alive after picking Yeosang's side and battling the snake. 

But he nodded his snout at Yeosang's body, waiting for an answer. So Yeosang peered down on himself. 

He was dressed in some tunic, his legs bared to the room heated by fire basins. Everything looked to be in place. Yeosang couldn't see anything off, and he didn't have any aches on the inside either. No broken bones.

"I'm fine," he said, before his eyes twitched back to the jackal. "But what about you? I heard your bones break. You were poisoned."

Scandalised, Bastet whipped around, dragging Yeosang across the stone bed when she still held him clutched against her chest. Blazing eyes bore into Anubis.

"You said you were unharmed," she hissed at him, and Anubis lifted his hands, trying to look as innocent as possible. Not too easy, with all those teeth.

"Fine, I lied," he confessed with a shrug, brushing off the wounds that surely would have killed a regular human.

"Where is Seth, that trickster?! He should have told me!" Bastet let go of Yeosang with a last gentle pet on his hair, then she stormed out of the room with fluttering garbs. 

Yeosang couldn't help his smile. It was just like Anubis to shrug off everything, even the end of the world. 

Finally, Yeosang got to sit up and look around properly. He was stretched out on a stone altar similar to the one Apep and Seth trapped him on. This one was surrounded by wooden tables carrying bowls full of water, fresh rags and some scary looking medical utensils. The room was tucked into a private corner, but it bordered onto one of the temples Yeosang knew from their world. Sitting jackal statues with gleaming gems as eyes guarded the area.

Anubis' home and working place.

Yeosang was so curious to look around and explore. It was dark inside aside from the flames, but was it night out or were they in the cave of the underworld? What was Anubis' home like? What did he like to decorate with? Where did he sleep?

Yeosang wanted to know so much about him now. But Bastet sparked more pressing questions.

"Seth is here? What about Apep? Is he...?" They made it out and regrouped. Yeosang was alive, so they must have warded off Apep in some way. Didn't Seth turn on him? Yeosang remembered murky pictures.

Anubis crossed his arms. His hum was thoughtful, blazing eyes studying Yeosang as he tried to tug the short tunic further down over his bare thighs. Not as if Anubis hadn't seen everything already.

Yeosang's face was hot when he glanced away. 

"Apep is no danger to you anymore. Seth can explain it to you once Bastet drags him here. Let's make sure you won't pass out in a minute first," Anubis replied instead. Surprised, Yeosang lifted his hands to show him he could move just fine. And he wanted to jump in joy at the news, but he also didn't understand. Apep couldn't be killed, right? So what did they do with him? Locked him in a jar? He might break out, though.

"Really, I feel good. Is something not right about me? How long did I sleep?" Yeosang said lightly, hoping to soothe Anubis' unrest, but the god paced closer only slowly. As if reluctant to touch Yeosang.

Did he expect him to fall apart at a little nudge?

"You didn't sleep," Anubis told him as he cradled Yeosang's chin in a careful palm, turning his face left and right. Yeosang remembered getting kicked by Hongjoong, but he couldn't feel the bruise anymore. Shy under Anubis' intense stare, Yeosang blinked back at him to show he was functioning fine.

"I didn't? But I just-"

"You died."

Yeosang snapped his mouth shut. His body chilled abruptly.

He died? No, he was awake. Was this the afterlife? The underworld? 

Did the world end after all? Was Yeosang dead?

The panic in his heart was explosive. Made the blood rush through his ears and his sight blur. He tried to talk, but his human, mortal fear choked him up immediately.

Bastet came back in time to spot him gasping for breath on the table.

"Anubis! You promised not to tell him! Humans don't take well to that news!" She yelled at him, rushing back over to cradle Yeosang in her arms. Another figure followed her, the second dog, but he lounged against the wall while Yeosang crawled back into Bastet's warm embrace that smelled of security.

"Not human," Anubis grumbled as he was scolded yet once more. 

Yeosang's breathing was ragged, but Bastet's gentle hands calmed him down. She caressed his back and his hair, cooing over his pitiful human state, and Yeosang was glad for it. Felt safe in her cradle.

"Let's call it a halfway death. You didn't go to the underworld, only as far as to Anubis' work table. Not a permanent end. Easier to bring you back from," Seth described, sounding merry as ever. Yeosang still trembled in Bastet's grip.

"H-How? I remember passing out. What did you do while I was asleep?" Hysterical, Yeosang checked himself once more. He felt fine. Healthy. Alive. How was this possible?

"You got crushed in the cave. We couldn't save you by the time Apep was contained. So you passed over to me so I could embalm your body," Anubis told him, and Yeosang shivered at the cold nonchalance of his words. To him, it was yet another death. One of many.

"What of Ra? If he died, then..." Yeosang didn't dare think about it. With the vessel destroyed, Ra would also die. Then Apep's kingdom came true. All the humans... Wooyoung... Yunho...

"He helped us bring you back," Bastet purred, and she switched over into San's body so there was more familiarity in her grip. Safe against his broad shoulder, Yeosang let himself be held while Anubis told his tale.

"Ra woke when you died. He was sad to lose you. Praised you for doing so well and being such a kind person. He also apologised that he couldn't help and just cursed you. This new life was his gift," Anubis continued, beckoning down to Yeosang's body.

"Gift?" Yeosang echoed, barely trusting his ears. So he was not dead?

"Ra grants life, doesn't he? He created you once more. The same Yeosang, the same soul. And he gave that soul to me. I crafted you a similar body. The same arms, put your skull back together. You can be yourself again. As Yeosang."

Yeosang looked down on himself in disbelief. That was why he felt so odd in his own skin. It was a new body. Didn't adjust to him yet fully.

He had died but also not died. Was never properly dead, only in some limbo in between.

And Anubis' hands put him back together. Tended to him until he woke back up.

Touched and scared all the same, Yeosang wiped at his wet eyes. San's body against his provided warmth.

"W-Where is Ra? Back inside me? Can I thank him?"

"Yes, he slumbers. He felt safest with you and hopes you will bear his soul again in exchange for his protection. But he won't stir until you lived a happy lifetime as a human. Neither will Apep. Another day has dawned," Anubis assured him, while San gently rocked Yeosang in his arms. Having him there with his human appearance helped. 

Yeosang took a shuddering breath. He could do this.

Anubis met his gaze when he peered back up. The awe in Yeosang overwhelmed him, the gratitude. Anubis took care of him this entire time, even now. They arranged with Ra so he could live and wouldn't die from Apep's tyranny.

Yeosang wanted to convey his gratitude, but he couldn't find the right words. So he just looked over at Seth instead, who watched their tearful reunion with a sly grin.

"So Apep is truly gone?"

Seth beckoned with his claw, and the fires danced with the movement.

"It's very difficult to kill a god. He will be back, but thanks to my little gift for him, he's asleep for a few hundred years now, unaware of who he is. By the time he remembers, you won't be Yeosang anymore and another can worry. For now, he slumbers like Ra. Best we could do." He made it sound so easy. As if bringing down gargantuan snake gods was little work.

And to a god, it was.

Yeosang had to smile. He was glad he wasn't alone. Their godly shenanigans were on another level, but they didn't expect him to fight as a human.

Ra, his kind patron, had watched over him the entire time.

"Why would you do that? You helped him get so far," he wondered, even if he didn't question Seth's loyalty anymore. For now, he was on their side.

The hound giggled evilly to himself.

"Oh, because it's fun, isn't it? Apep is such a delight to play with and he always forgets if I betray him. Who knows, I might be on your side again next time, Ra." 

Yeosang wasn't sure if he wanted his allegiance, only to lose it again later.

San patted his head. 

"Do you feel alright now? Do you want to try standing?"

Yeosang nodded carefully. Cosy as this was, he was wary of this current state of his body. Now, he also believed it might crumble into dust.

Anubis held out his palm when he swung his legs over the edge of the table. Yeosang took it, holding on to his much warmer fingers as he carefully stumbled to his feet. For a moment, he needed Anubis to support him, but he found his balance as gravity returned to him.

And he was standing. Whole and fine. 

Anubis made a sound of relief. He kept holding Yeosang's hand just to be sure, proud of the body he and Ra brought to life.

Did this make Yeosang the living mummy?

Seth pretended to wipe a tear.

"Beautiful. Last time I saw your legs, they were red mush on the ground. The wonder of creation."

San scowled at him for ruining the moment.

"Shut it. We'll talk later, so get out."

With more laughter, Seth turned on his heel.

"I'll see you around as Hongjoong, Yeosang. You will have questions," he called before his tail flicked out as if in greeting. He left while Yeosang looked between his two friends and saviours. Smiled back at San's cheerful grin.

"Now what?"

"Now we're going home."