Young Writers Society

Maahes is an explorer. He's traveled to countless planets, encountered countless cultures, and has been through his fair share of strange things - the most notable being the time he was brought to a strange house with equally strange doors. But he's managed to catergorize that as just one of those weird experiences, and, for the most part, forgotten about it entirely. The only reason he hasn't forgotten is because his mind keeps wandering back to a woman named Auryon, and how he was unable to help her break her deal with a devil named Apophis.

The devil herself had never left her vessel, and "The Viper" still walks Earth as two souls within a single body, doing what she's always done - killing. She's changed very little over the years. She hasn't even aged a day. She has, however, fallen further into Apophis' clutches, and as she has, her only trusted ally has been called back to face his own demons. Her only trusted ally, that is, until she runs into Maahes - the figure she met several years ago in that twisted labyrinth of a house. He was the first one in a long time to take pity on her plight instead of hating her for all she'd done, all she'd been forced to do.

Now stuck in a reality that's not his own thanks to some technological mishaps, Maahes has to help Auryon close the gates of hell. And, just maybe, help her deal with the ghosts of her past.

It should have been common sense, but Maahes should have never trusted that Goa'uld. Now he was standing in the middle of a snowy street, lit only by the streetlamps lining it, and standing near what looked like a vaguely familiar building.

It had just meant to be a meeting. They would discuss the state of affairs now that the SGC had wiped out a decent portion of the Goa'uld, and trade various artifacts and goods as a means to show good will. That was what they had been doing before he had ended up here - wherever here was. He had been handed a device taken from a long since forgotten world, and had been in the middle of casually investigating it when he was suddenly enveloped by a flash of bright white light. Now he was standing in this street, still dressed as the Scarlet Lord, with no such device in his sight.

He let out a frustrated sigh.

At least he hadn't been using The Lotus to get to the meeting; now all he had to do was find this planet's stargate, and he could put that troublesome encounter behind him. Even better was the fact that he recognized the building nearby. If he just figured out where he had seen it-

Wait.

He narrowed his eyes and looked more closely at the building. It couldn't be, could it? Why would it send him to Berlin? As he tried to deny what he knew had to be the truth, he caught sight of a sign out of the corner of his eye.

And it was written in German.

Yup, this was definitely Berlin.

But why had it brought him here? Better yet, how was he supposed to get back now? He'd have to sneak into the SGC, and get through their stargate. Maybe go to a decoy planet so they couldn't trace him? He groaned and ran his fingers through his hair. Before he could do that, he would have to get to the United States, and he didn't even know how he was supposed to do it when he had no German currency on him.

Thunk. The curved, black dagger hit the ceiling.
Thunk. It was followed by its white counterpart.
Chck, chck, they both flew from the ceiling and into their awaiting mistress' hands.
All in all, Auryon Blackthorne was very, very bored. She couldn't speak a lick of German and neither did Apophis, which left them all but useless while in Berlin. As a result, Kratzer had gone to do what needed to be done, and had left Auryon and Apophis to "wait for Diamond."
As if an assassin of her caliber had nothing better to do than wait for some apprentice.
Thunk, thunk. The weapons met the ceiling once more. . .

BANG! A gunshot resounded through the nocturnal city as the Silver Fox took to the backstreets, a brown-masked assassin on his tail and a sniper somewhere in the city that he couldn't locate. The bullet landed in the building next to him, grazing his shoulder as he bolted. He darted around a corner and stood there for a minute, panting. There was no telling where Taipan was now.

He checked his gun. Only two bullets left, and no extra ammunition to reload. He was gefick if he didn't manage to get back to base before Taipan or Sieben got him.

Kratzer broke into a sprint as he crossed the street and another resounding bang followed him. He darted around a corner and skidded to a stop in the snow as he came face-to-face with a very peculiar figure: a dark-skinned man wearing silks and golden bangles, his long, scarlet hair back in a ponytail and kohl around his eyes.

Though he couldn't have possibly known it, his thoughts mirrored those of the masked man who had suddenly appeared in front of him. He was taken by surprise, and found himself taking a step back in his shock. He was already preoccupied with being suddenly brought to Earth; having to figure out what was going with this man was an entirely different can of worms he didn't want to deal with.

But seeing that this strange man was in front of him, and was currently staring at his far-from-normal appearance, it looked like he would have to.

"Hello?" he hesitantly said.

"Who the Hölle are you?" the man demanded in German, Maahes' scent searing his nostrils. This wasn't a human.

Unfortunately, getting preoccupied with another figure while escaping from a sniper in the middle of a city was a very, very bad idea, and when the bang from Sieben's gun echoed once more through Berlin, it hit its mark. Kratzer fell back and uttered a startled exclamation of pain as the bullet went through his chest, blood staining his ebon attire.

He stared at the blood blossoming from what had to have been a gunshot. It was impossible to tell if it had gone through the entirety of the man's body or not, but it was clear that it had hit his chest. Maahes wildly glanced around for where the shot had come from. But it was too hard to make out the location of the sniper - that was what he had to have been shot by - to figure out where the shots were coming from. His zat'nik'tel was useless right now.

He admittedly had no idea if the man who had just been shot was a decent person, but he wasn't going to question it. People getting shot was no laughing matter, and he was the only who could possibly help this man. He crouched down beside the man, remaining alert in case the shooter decided to fire again. "I want to help you," he said. "Is there anyway I can? I could call an ambulance-"

Wait. He couldn't. He didn't have a phone, and he didn't even know what number to call if he wanted to get an ambulance.

"Uh, maybe not that last bit," he corrected. He looked around as he spoke. "But I can try to get you somewhere else."

He hesitated, then ducked as there was another bang. Sieben wasn't going to stop until he was down, and no doubt Taipan was right behind him. They were probably going to go after this rando, too, considering his...oddities.

God damn. They were fucked if they didn't start fleeing, and soon. "Run! Just fickin' run, and stick close!" he snapped, breaking into a headlong sprint despite what should've been a likely mortal injury.

He knew he should have been questioning what was going, but he had apparently interrupted a battle of some sort. He was just going to have to follow what the man said until they were in a less dangerous situation.

He hurried after him, marveling at the fact that the man's sprint suggested his injury wasn't affecting him in the slightest. When he had finally reached the man's side - and pulled a little bit ahead, because he was a spirit, after all - he couldn't help but address the elephant in the room. "How are you running with a wound like that?"

He waggled his fingers. "Magic." His short reply was punctuated by yet another bang.

He knew that the best thing for them to do would be to continue running but, at the sound of the sudden bang, he just had to look back and see if he could spot the attacker. No matter how hard he searched - though it was only for a handful of seconds - he was unable to find the shooter.

Which was more than a little worrisome, considering that it meant they were dealing with some highly skilled. And if the shooter was highly skilled, that meant the man Maahes was currently running alongside had to be someone important.

Or someone very, very dangerous.

He looked back ahead and continued to run.

He sprinted through the city, darting through the backstreets with the ease of a man who knew Berlin like the back of his hand. The alleyways offered more shelter than the wider roads did and didn't offer the sniper a clear shot. He slowed as they reached a rundown hotel. He hunched over to hide his wound as he walked up the stairs and opened one of the rooms, and, assuming Maahes would follow, stepped inside.

A copper-haired woman was laying on the bed inside, throwing twin, curved blades at the ceiling. Next to her sat a white-haired figure with piercing blue eyes and three, round stones that looked like blue diamonds but were a full few inches in diameter.

"Who the Hell is he?!" Auryon snapped as they walked in, on her feet instantly. Her daggers ripped themselves out of the ceiling and returned to her fingers as her gaze turned to Maahes, not recognizing him.

He came to an abrupt stop in the doorway to the room.

It hadn't been all that long since he had seen her last; he still remembered the time they had spent in that strange house, and everything that had transpired between the two of them during the time there. He remembered constantly keeping an eye on her, hoping that the demon wouldn't take control again, hoping that he could devise some solution to solve her plight. But even as he stood before her now, he still hadn't come up with any answers. He didn't know how to help her, but he was here with her now, and that was all that mattered.

He entered the room, softly closing the door behind him.

"Auryon?" he said, his voice incredulous and his following words in German. "I-I can't believe you're here. I thought I'd never see you again!" He went to bridge the gap between the two of them and possibly give her a hug, but then he remembered that she was holding two daggers and was currently demanding to know he was.

He hurriedly added, "Please don't attack me? We met back in the house, remember? I tried fighting Apophis and it didn't go so well, but then we kept talking after you gained control again and could you maybe put the knives down? They're kind of hurting me. I mean, I can deal with it, but it's not a good feeling to have in my essence."

She thought she'd never see him again. After all that time, she'd thoroughly believed that Maahes was never coming back. How could he? The knives hit the ground instantly and she returned the embrace, grinning.

"Holy shit, I thought I'd never see you again, buddy," she beamed.

"You know him?!" Kratzer said, shocked.

"No, I just hug strangers," she rolled her eyes. "What's up with the new look, Maahes?"

A grin immediately began to spread across his face when he felt Auryon wrap her arms around him. He had thought about her and that strange house a lot during his recent travels, and there was just something incredibly satisfying about holding her now instead of reminiscing on the time that they spent together.

"I was doing some, uh..." He hesitated, not quite sure to describe what he had been up to prior to arriving her. He especially didn't want to explain in the company of someone who knew absolutely nothing about him. "I was talking to someone important, so I decided to, um, look a little more presentable?"

She blinked. "I see you haven't gotten any better at cryptic answers and lies, but practice makes perfect I suppose. Maahes, this is Kratzer, my, uh, comrade, and his sister Diamond."

"Pleasure to meet you," Diamond greeted, the ghost of a Russian accent evident in her voice. "Didn't know Vipes had any friends."

"Well, I've got Silberfuchs, haven't I?" Auryon shot back.

"He's like a t-"

"If we could get this bullet out of my chest instead of bickering like schoolgirls, that would be great," Kratzer suggested as he pulled off his mask. "I'd rather not regenerate over it. Again."