First I want to say sorry for the long awaited update, I've been busy with some other writing projects. But I finally got around to it and wrote the next chapter for this story. So... here you.

Chapter 8: My not so secret crush on the God of Toilet paper

Sadie POV.

"Whoa, whoa, back up here, rewind for a moment! What the heck do you guys mean that she's his wife?" I exclaimed, still in slight shock at the news.

I glared up at Anubis, my hands on my hips with both Zia and Carter standing at my side. But the jerk was ignoring me and was only concern with Mattie and Thoth at the moment. I didn't press to hard, even though I was really starting to get impatient with him here.

Thoth summoned a small roll away bed out of nowhere and place Mattie on it, once he finished checking her over, and then left the office. Now it was just the four of us standing around an unconscious Mattie, who manage to get a little color back in her face.

"What's going on, Dead Boy?" I demanded with a growl.

"I would like to know myself." Carter said beside me.

Anubis looked over Mattie once before he sighed and turned back to us. "It's complicated."

I snorted. "Oh please, my life and my brother's life has been nothing but complicated, with our mother dead, our dad dead too, and that the world will come to an end any moment now and it might be our fault! So don't start with me about complications."

"What Sadie means is we have time for you to explain." Carter butted in.

"No I didn't!"

With a snap from his fingers, Anubis summoned four chairs across the room to us and sat down in one of them. With a huff from me, I sat down in my chair as Carter and Zia sat in their. Once we were all seated and comfortable, Anubis began.

"Mattie's name isn't Mattie; it's a name she's just using to hide behind in the mortal world, a name that Ra has been calling her in his… condition. She's also not a mortal either, as I'm sure you all can tell. She is a goddess."

"We kind of figured that." Carter looked over to Mattie on the bed. "That or she was a magician."

Zia studied Mattie's face trying to figure out which goddess she was.

"So I assumed you and bird brain know her by the way you two were freaking out over her." I said.

He nodded, casting nervous looks at Mattie. "I do, I've known her for a very long time actually. Her name, her real name is actually Ma'at."

Zia beside me let out a sharp gasp, while my brother stiffens beside me. Without looking at either of them I could tell that something got them worked up, something that Anubis said that I didn't understand.

"The principal?" I asked, still a little lost to what the big deal was. "Why would someone be named after a principal?"

"Because she is the principal." Carter blurted out.

"Huh?" I turned to my brother.

Once Carter seemed a little more out of his shock, he rolled his eyes at me and went into a history lesson. Yay. "Ma'at wasn't just a principal but also a goddess, too. She was the goddess of truth, justice, order, law, and balance. It was said that she was the daughter of Ra when he created her and put her before the pharaohs of Egypt and said 'live on Ma'at', meaning to follow the ways of Ma'at, which what lead to the principal of Ma'at. There was also a very popular myth that not only did Anubis saw over the weighing of the dead with Osiris, but so did Ma'at. She would take her feather from the top of her and place it on the scale while Anubis placed the heart on the other end."

"Very good Carter." said Anubis. "You know you're history well."

"So," I casted a quick glance at Mattie, I mean, Ma'at, "Ma'at is a goddess. But what's up with the fake name? Isn't that kind of lying on her part, when she's the goddess of truth?"

"I'm wondering the same thing a little." said Carter.

"Well, Mattie is the name that Ra has been… referring to her lately when he sees her. And since he is her father and named her before, she's use the fake name because in a way it's another name for her." Anubis explains.

I crossed my arms. "Sneaky."

"But why is she here and not in the Duat, let alone hiding in a courthouse?" Zia was the one that asked the most important question.

"A courthouse? You mean that' where she's been hiding all this time? Stupid!" Anubis smacked himself in the face. "Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. I should have figured that's where she would be."

"Toilet paper dude, answer the question already." I wanted hear the answer to this, too, if he focused long enough to answer.

"Right, sorry." he bit his bottom lip, looking nervous again. "It's… kind of all complicated. The story goes back a very long time, a thousand years actually. But I'll tell you the more recent events and what would matter to all of you.

"All three of you were well aware of the reaction from the gods when you brought Ra back, the effect of his return would have. When he first left us, Ma'at took it pretty hard and she cried for days when he was gone. So when he came back in the state he was in, it was not what she expected to see from her father. And it just really hit home for her when he didn't even remember her name or who she was. And after celebration of Ra's return, she ran. Disappeared.

"We've looked for Ma'at everywhere, in the Duat and the mortal world, but found no traces of her anywhere. And since she is the holder of the Feather of Truth, it went with her when she left us. So it was even more important to find her, for we can't do the weighing of the soul without her. And when we can't aloud the dead in, well… Sadie you saw the shape the Hall of Judgment was in."

Oh I remember, that place looked like a war zone and was in worse shape when my brother and I first saw the Hall.

"What about Thoth, how does he fit into all of this?" I asked when the question suddenly popped into my head. He said that Mattie, I mean Ma'at was his wife. But wasn't Seshat his wife though?

"That's where the real problems lay there, children."

Thoth rejoined us, coming back from gods know where, looking much better now. His clothes were clean and fresh, his hair wasn't greasy anymore and in its usual messing style, and there was no sign of barbecue sauce stained anywhere on him. Overall he cleaned up pretty good compared to what he looked like before.

"Sorry I had to leave like that, couldn't standing being in my own filth like anymore, especially in front of company." He apologized, moving over to Ma'at and kneeled before her. "Has she awakened at all while I was gone?"

Anubis answered. "No, not yet."

"Oh good, we can approach her better with the two of us when she awakens." Said Thoth.

"What are you two blabbering about?" I asked.

"I'll explain," Thoth answered. "I'm sure that you all know, at least Carter and Zia know," I glared at him, "that Ma'at is my wife. Wisdom cannot exist without order, and order cannot exist without wisdom, a perfect balance. It's because of this balance we've become husband and wife, standing at Ra's side every night as he sailed across the skies, keeping the balance in order.

"Ma'at was given to me as my charge by Ra, keeping her safe against the forces of chaos back then. Back then she was still very young and very venerable. So there was an arrange marriage between us. I wasn't very please back then by it then but I knew my duties and knew that I must keep order, to keep balance. I wasn't called the Lord of Ma'at for nothing after all. But since we were married our relationship has been… shaky, always have been." His tone took a sadder turn. "Sometimes I wonder if our relationship is just doom to end in misery."

"If you are in charge of Ma'at's keeping, and you are her husband, why was she hidden from you and the other gods?" Zia asked curiously.

Thoth didn't turn to face us when he stood up. "And that's where the problem is."

I still didn't follow but knew there was still quite a bit more here than both of the gods were willing to give out yet. But I was getting tired of getting only half the facts here from them and wanted to know what the heck Thoth meant by that.

Irritated, I opened my mouth to demand some straight answers when a groan interrupted me.

Ma'at began to stir on the small bed Thoth summoned, catching everyone's attention in the room. Gathering around the bed, Ma'at let out a low groan, slowly open her brown eyes, blinking a few times before she looked up at all of us weakly. At first, she seems to be totally out of it, not completely registering that there were a bunch of people hovering over her. But when she started to come to a little more, she quickly realized where she was now when her eyes landed on Thoth.

"You!" She yelled, immediately trying to back away from us to only tumble off the bed.

"Now Ma'at," Thoth started, slowly approaching Ma'at as if she was a scared animal, "we need to talk."

"There is nothing to talk about!" she exclaimed already on her feet and on the other side of the room.

"Ma'at," Thoth's voice was a little sterner now and yet still a little gentle. "you are not well. You need to stop running away from me, you have been for the last nine hundred years."

"I'm fine!" she was at his desk now, putting the table between us and her. "I don't need you to protect me! I can take care of myself!"

"Ma'at…"

"And you!" she pointed to Anubis. "How could you bring me here, to him? You should know better, you know how I feel about him!"

Anubis looked guilty, "Ma'at, I only did it for your own good. You're weak and it's not wise for you to be running off alone, not with Apophis free now."

"I'm fine! I don't need you, or him," she pointed from Anubis to Thoth. "or anyone else, I can take care of myself."

"But-"

"Leave me alone!" She then charged out of the office, and down the hall of the university.

Anubis made a move to go after her, but Thoth held him back, shaking her head. "Let her be. She needs time to think."

"What if she takes off?" he asked.

"My baboons will keep an eye on her, and if she does leave they'll stop her and inform me." The bird brain sighed, removing his glasses to rub his eyes, looking tired.

Anubis didn't seem so sure, looking towards where Ma'at left with sad eyes. I felt something twist in my stomach when I saw that look, a look that I wish he would look a me with instead of her. I then realize the feeling I felt was jealousy. (and nausea.)

"Is it okay for her to go off?" Carter finally spoke up, looking to both gods.

Thoth sighed again, placing his glasses back on. "Yeah, she'd just probably went out to get some fresh air to clear her mind. If either of us follows her we'll just push her even further from us. When she's ready to talk she'll come back."

"You mean like last time." Anubis scowled.

A gloom look and sad smile passed over Thoth's face. "Yeah… like last time." He then turned his back on us and went to his large chalkboard, most likely to continue with his work.

Anubis shot a small glare at his treating back before rolling his eyes and turned back to us. The glare was gone, replaced with a look of pure concern when he looked to me. "Sadie, I need you to go after her for me, talk to her."

Didn't expect that. "Me? Why?"

"I thought Thoth said not to go after her?" Zia asked, just as confuse as I was.

"He said for neither of us to go after her, he didn't say anything about you three. She knows all of you, maybe she'll even listen to you if you talk to her."

I wasn't so sure. "I don't know, Anubis. Maybe she'll come back like Thoth said."

"I don't want to take that chance." He said it a little harsh; eyes narrowed a bit before they soften. "Please Sadie; I'm sure she'll listen to you. Please."

Truth was I really didn't want to talk to her, not after seeing that look he gave her. But then again, how can I refuse someone when they give me those big brown puppy dog eyes. Damn it! Curse him for being a stupid cute dog; those eyes really are hard to refuse.

I growled. "Fine, I'll go talk to her. But I'm not making any promises of bring her back here."

Anubis smiled at me that made me warm inside. "Thank you, Sadie. That's all I ask."

(B R E A K)

Stupid big brown eyes, stupid charming smile, stupid… dog! What was I thinking agree to this? What am I supposed to say to her, a goddess no less, a goddess of order!

I really don't know why I'm doing this. It obviously that Anubis likes this girl, perhaps a little too much from the way he kept looking at her. And the way she reacted to him when he betrayed her too, I can tell that feeling was mutual. Great, now I feel like one of those girls from a drama tv series that is hopelessly in love with a boy but already has loving girlfriend. I will be not like that, I will not that pathetic.

But I am.

Growling, I shoved my hand into my pockets, pushed the front entrance door open with my shoulder and looked around outside. Ma'at shouldn't have gone to far if she didn't open a portal yet. And it seems Thoth's baboons were nowhere in sight since the basketball court was empty their ball laid forgotten. They must have followed after her as soon as she left the university, keeping an eye on her like Thoth said they would.

I headed towards the river, figuring that's where I would go if I want to think alone. Not to mention get away from dumb dumbs like my brother. Approaching the river, I could hear growls, screeches, and howling of baboons when I reached the shore. And, yep there she was, throwing rocks into the river where there were baboons everywhere. It didn't take very long for one of them to spot me, their howling went up a notch and they were jumping around, crowding around me. One of them was brave enough to step forward, towards me, sniffing my knee before he cried something to the others. Whatever he said to them, they seem to calm down and run off to do… whatever baboons do when they're not playing basketball. Now that I was given the okay, they parted away from me and me allowed threw.

Ma'at paid no attention to the baboons when they howled earlier of my arrival. It was either that she didn't really care that's someone's walking up behind her, or she was going death with all the blasted noise these stupid monkeys make. I know I would.

I stood behind the goddess, watching her skip a stone across the water surface, creating ripples on the river. "The mutt sent you out here? To keep an eye on me?" she asked me, keeping her back at me as she skipped another stone.

I raised an eyebrow. "Mutt?"

Another stone hit the river before she turned to me with an irritated expression, still a little steam from inside the university. "Anubis."

"Oh… Yeah, but just to check up on you is all."

"And to be sure I'm not a flight risk."

If I was anyone else but yours truly, I would have flinched a little at her harsh comment. "Yeah… that, too."

She scuffed. "Figures he would, doesn't trust me not to take off again. But then why should I trust him, not when he brought me here, to my husband." She spat the last word out like it was poison.

"You really don't like Thoth, do you?"

Throwing the last stone into the water, Ma'at turned to fully face me now. "My relationship with me husband is not a normal marriage. I never chose him to be my husband; my marriage was arranged by my father, in order to help 'protect' me as he said."

I made a face. "Can't blame you there, anyone that marries Thoth has to be force into it."

She frowned at that. "It's not like that. Thoth's a good man, he treats me well."

"So what's the problem?" I moved a little close, once I was sure she wasn't going to strike me down out of anger form this conversation. "Is it because of that party?"

I must have hit a nerve when her form suddenly tensed for a second there.

"It's… part of the reason but that's not it."

"So what is it then?"

Ma'at didn't answer me, frowning, turning away and stared out to the river. Slowly I came up to stand beside her and stared out to the rushing water with her. Watching the river was strangely soothing, listening to the rushing water, birds chirping in the trees, and swear I heard a frog croaking too.

"We have different out looks on things." She said. "At least I do when I got older. I guess things started to go downhill for us when my father left and Osiris took the throne. Don't get me wrong, Osiris is a good man but I felt so betrayed when I learned that my father was gone, forever…

"I was young, confuse, and didn't understand anything at the time, just that I knew that my father was gone and so was my sister, Bast. But I put on a brave face and pushed onward like always, especially when Set murdered Osiris and took the throne, forcing Isis to flee with Horus." She smiled a little bit. "During that whole fiasco, Thoth protected me from Set in case he ever tried something against me, which I doubt it. And the ironic thing about it, things were actually pretty steady for us, other than whole Set takeover the throne thing."

"I'm not really seeing the whole 'where your marriage with Thoth fell apart' here." I said.

"I'm getting to that. It was actually when Horus came to age and ready to fight against Set to claim the throne. The first time Horus went to face Set it didn't go so well. Horus was injured and furious at Set and wanted to go facing him again. Of course Isis wouldn't let him until he regained his strength, and then… well I'm sure you heard the whole story about how Isis got her head cut off."

Sadly I did remember that story. "Kind of hard to forget when I was her host."

"Well, let's say that was kind of the last straw with me." She sighed heavily. "I felt… I felt betrayed by Thoth, when he helped that witch that forced my father away and cause Bast to be trapped with Apophis forever. I was anger that he did all that with no care of my feelings, he never did.

"It wasn't long after Isis was healed and Horus defeated Set that I ran away from Thoth, from us. So I ran to the Land of the Dead, to Osiris and Anubis and stayed there with them for the last nine hundred years. And I never saw Thoth again until two weeks ago, and… well, here we are."

When she finished, I kind of felt sorry for her. I knew Thoth was jerk and all that, and that what he did was always the good for the balance, the order of Ma'at. (not the Ma'at in front of me, the principal) But did he ever really think of what he did would he a betrayal to his wife, to her family? Sure I bonded with Isis's when I was her host but that still didn't stop me from feeling a little disgusted by her past actions and her greed for power. The only reason we are all in this mess is because of her when she forced Ra to leave. I would be angry to if someone close to me would betrayed me by helping the one person that hurt my dad the worse, like Isis did to Ra.

"Well, I can see why you're angry at your husband, I would be to. Actually I would have kicked his ass for everything he did to me." I said to her.

She smiled a little. "Maybe I should sick you on Thoth."

I grinned. "Just give me the word and I'm on it."

She snorted, trying to hold back her laugh. "You sound just like Anubis, that's something he would totally say to me."

My cheeks heated up, looking away from Ma'at.

Ma'at giggled with a slyly smile. "You like Anubis, don't you?

I think I chocked on my own spit when she asked me that. "W-What?"

Her smile turned into a smirk. "And don't try to lie to me, goddess of truth, remember."

I just kind of stared at her in horror, that she so easily trapped me in like that. Who does that? (okay maybe me but that's beside the point.)

"I-I-"

She giggled at me, making me feel even more uncomfortable and angrier. "You can tell me, Sadie. I can keep a secret."

My cheeks started to heat up again, looking away from her. "Well… it's just that…"

"Just what?"

Oh gods, this was not what I was planning on when I agreed to come out here and talk to her. How is someone to admit they like the guy that they're already involved with someone else?

I sighed. "I… do like, Anubis. A lot."

"That's wonderful."

I looked up to her, surprised. "It is?"

She grinned, nodding. "Yeah, because I know he feels the same way, too."

"He does?"

"Of course." She said. "I thought it seem kind of obvious, both of you are pretty obvious. You actually sound very surprise by this."

"It's just that I didn't think he felt that way about me, even though he kissed me on my birthday." I mumbled the last part.

"What was?" she asked.

"Nothing important!" I quickly told her, kicking myself for letting that slip. Which wasn't a lie by the way, the kiss wasn't really important that I need to tell her.

She raised an eyebrow but didn't push it. "Is there something else you're not telling me about him, about you and Anubis?"

Here comes the embarrassing part, I could feel my cheeks heating up again. "I thought he liked someon else, a lot. I thought he and…"

Thankfully I didn't have to finish that sentience since Ma'at seemed to quickly catch on. "You thought Anubis and I..?" she then burst out laughing.

"Why are you laughing at me?" I glared at her, I don't like being laughed at without knowing why I'm being laughed at.

Her laugher dwindled to a soft giggle. "I'm sorry," a few more giggles slipped out, "it's just the thought of me, and Anubis." She laughed again.

I stared at her. "So, you and Anubis are not..."

"Oh gods no." she whipped her eyes dry. "We're just friends, best friends actually. We practically grew up in The Hall of Judgment together in the Land of The Dead, helping Osiris weighing the souls that come to the Duat. And since we were the only two kids in that gloomy palace we spend a lot of time playing together.

Well if I thought I was embarrassed before I sure was now.

She giggled again. "That is nothing for you to worry about, Sadie. We are just best friends, nothing else."

I nodded, puffing up as I stared at down at the river. I feared if I open my mouth I'll say something else I'll regret later.

"Sadie, Sadie, Saide," she shook her head, coming up next to me to wrap an arm around my shoulder and pulled me towards her. "I'm sorry if we didn't make our relationship clear to you and the others. I guess we're just use to everyone knowing our close friendship we have that we never really bothered telling anyone. Word gets around the Duat fast, no really both to tell anyone."

I huffed, turning my head away from her to hide the red on my cheeks. "It's alright, I guess."

She grinned at me once more before he started to cough violently into her fist, pulling away from me.

"Ma'at?"

She didn't answer me (even if she could) still coughing so much that I thought she was about to drop to her knees. After a few more coughing fits she finally stopped and stood up straight, not looking so well. Her face looked flushed, pale as the moon almost, as there were some dark bags already forming under her eyes. Her form was also shaking a bit with her arms wrapped around her, hugging herself, as if you stop shaking.

She looked pretty sickly.

And it seems that I wasn't the only ones that took notice to this either. The baboons heard her violent coughs too and swarmed around us to see what was wrong. But she waved them off, telling them she was fine before they backed away and went back to what they were doing before.

"Ma'at, are you okay?" I asked her again.

She cleared her throating, dropping one hand to her side as the other hand rubbed up and down her other arm. "I'm fine, for now."

"You don't look so well."

She smiled weakly. "I don't feel so great either."

"Maybe we should go back to the University?" I suggested.

She immediately frowned at that idea. "I rather not.

"But you know it's the right thing to do." I said to her. "Look, clearly you are not feeling well and are in no shape to defend yourself if a demon attacks you. Thoth married you so he could protect you, remember. And this is clearly one of those times that you need his protection."

Ma'at didn't look so convinced at first, pouting a bit, looking back to the river.

"You don't have to like Thoth, just put up with him until Apophis is taken care of."

She didn't waver at first, still pouting before she did finally answered. "Fine, let's go back."

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