CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
With so many deities present, Zane and Olivia's house was starting to feel a little bit crowded. Panya couldn't help but be overwhelmed, and Dean, Ryan, and the others hadn't returned yet. She slipped away to try to calm herself, assuming no one would notice.

Recent events replayed in her mind. She could feel Djer touching her and hear him taunting her as she gave himself to him just to protect Alyxx and Jonathan. He told her she was weak and pathetic for that choice. Panya tried to ignore him, but he continued mocking her, a booming voice in her head that refused to be quiet.

You should not be alive, he taunted her. You exist only to serve me! No matter where or when you run to, you will never escape that fate. You are nothing, Daughter. You are worthless unless fulfilling my needs.

"Stop it," she whispered.

You belong to me.

"Stop..." She felt tears streaming down her cheeks.

You do not deserve to live.

"Stop!" She sobbed. Everything in her was screaming at her to give up her life. She was meant to serve Djer, in both life and death. Before she even realized she was moving, she grabbed a knife. She didn't know how it had gotten into her room, but it didn't matter. She had to use it. She had to spill her blood and finally head to the Afterlife where she belonged. She pressed the knife to her throat.

Suddenly, someone grabbed her hand to try to remove the knife. Panya panicked and struggled against him. She held the knife with everything she had.

"Panya, stop!" Dean cried as he continued trying to pry the knife from her hands. "What are you doing?"

"I must join Djer on his journey through the Duat," she replied firmly.

"Panya-"

"It is my purpose." She tried to slash her throat again. Dean ripped the knife away from her and pinned her down in a way that would prevent her from harming herself.

Panya began to panic. "No! Please... I must offer my life in service to my Pharaoh! I must follow him into the Afterlife and serve my purpose."

"Panya, listen to me. Djer reincarnated, remember? He's alive, so you dying wouldn't serve any sort of purpose. Do you understand?" Dean asked.

"Let go of me," she sobbed.

"I can't. You're trying to hurt yourself."

"Release me... Please... Do not hurt me... I am sorry. I will do as I am meant to... Please do not touch me..."

Her words were in her native tongue now as she panicked that she was going to be forced to endure further violation. She was pinned beneath him and she couldn't remember who he was. On some level, she knew she should recognize him, but nothing made sense except that a man was restraining her.

"Dean, let her go," Ryan said firmly.

"She'll hurt herself," Dean protested.

"She's having a PTSD episode. You need to stop restraining her. It's only making it worse."

"I know that, Ryan. I'm a soldier! I've seen PTSD up close and personal. What the hell do you know about it? Besides, I can't just let her hurt herself."

Ryan tried to pull Dean away from Panya by force. "She's not a soldier, Dean. She's a terrified teenager who is being restrained by someone a lot stronger than her. Let her go already!"

"I won't hurt her! She knows that!"

"Panya doesn't know anything right now except that she's being restrained."

"Panya, baby, you know me. You know I won't hurt you," Dean said soothingly. "Right?"

"Release me! Please! I... I am sorry..." Panya whimpered.

Dean sighed as he seemed to realize Ryan was right. "I can't let her go and risk her hurting herself. Get the knife out of here and go get Zane and Janna," he told Ryan.

"I'm not leaving you alone with her right now," Ryan protested.

Panya began to struggle harder. She was rambling in Ancient Egyptian, repeating the things Djer had drilled into her mind. As Dean continued restraining her, her volume rose.

"What the bloody hell is going on in here?" Alyxx demanded. Mark and Jonathan stood beside her looking concerned.

"Get Zane and Janna," Dean repeated to the new arrivals. "And get that knife out of here."

Jonathan immediately grabbed the knife. "What happened?" He asked.

"She was trying to hurt herself when I came in," Dean replied. "She's having a bad PTSD attack. I had to restrain her."

"She's disarmed now," Alyxx replied. "Jonathan, get help. Mark, get the boys out of here. I've got her."

"Alyxx-" Mark began to protest.

"I've got her, luv. Really. I can keep her safe and calm her down."

Jonathan rushed from the room. Dean reluctantly released Panya, who sank to the floor and curled up in a fetal position sobbing. Mark practically dragged Dean and Ryan away.

Alyxx knelt beside her. "It's alright, luv," she said soothingly. "No one's going to harm you."

"I must give my life in service to Djer..." Panya whispered.

"No, luv," Alyxx replied. "You owe him nothing."

"I am nothing."

Alyxx sighed and gently began stroking Panya's hair. She tensed at first, but as Alyxx began singing to her softly, she relaxed slightly.

Zane and Janna reached the door, but it was Shannon who entered the room. She cautiously pulled Panya from Alyxx's arms and held her, rocking her slowly and singing in Ancient Egyptian.

"Rest now, my sweet daughter," Shannon said soothingly. "We will sort this out later."

Panya soon fell asleep in her arms, her mind falling blessedly silent.

*

"What happened?" Zane asked patiently.

"From what I can sense, Djer reinforced several obsessive thoughts in Panya's mind," Janna replied. "It's a bit like the kind of programming you find in cults. Her subconscious is telling her to harm herself."

"How do we fix her?" Dean asked.

"It's not easy to break programming," Ryan replied. "It can take decades to fully shatter. I studied cult psychology last semester."

"You would think they'd save that for later in your education," Julian said thoughtfully.

"It was independent work. I was curious."

"So you could figure out how to recruit followers of your own?" Dean asked harshly.

"First of all, Egyptian cults weren't brainwashed, you idiot; they were just devout. And my soul has plenty of followers, but I have no interest in working with them."

"Ryan, do you know anything about breaking this sort of programming?" Zane asked.

"A little, but I'm not qualified to do it. I'm barely in my second year of college."

"I've had experience with it," Julian replied casually.

"Why does that not surprise me?" Ryan asked.

"I once met a young woman who was raised in a cult. At nineteen years old, she left them, and she needed help to undo a lifetime of brainwashing. She was a delightful girl... Kind, highly intelligent, and emotionally strong, but the programming made her believe she was weak and worthless. Her mind insisted she had to die. She tried to end her life three times before we met."

"Were you able to help her?" Zane asked.

"Yes, I was. It took quite a while, but ultimately, she no longer had such destructive thoughts."

"We don't have much time, Julian."

"I will see what I can do. I'll keep Shannon with us at first, since her presence soothes Panya. Considering they only had her for a limited amount of time, I am hoping I can break their hold quickly."

"Djer had her for her entire life," Ryan said. "It's not just what happened recently that she's dealing with."

"I was hoping to introduce Aziza to Panya, but it will have to wait," Zane decided.

"Actually, meeting Aziza might help her," Ryan replied as he looked over to the couch Aziza had passed out on as soon as Dean set her down. "She fights harder if there is someone to protect other than herself."

"He's right," Olivia said. "Once they're both aware and calm enough, we should introduce them. I think it will help them both."

Jonathan was pacing. Dean finally seemed to notice. "Are you okay, Confederate?" He asked.

"I hate this," Jonathan replied. "That girl went through hell trying to keep me and Alyxx safe, and now she's trying to kill herself because of that monster. I just... I can't sit back and watch and not be able to help her."

"You did help," Mark said. "You got the knife out of the room, and you sent people to try and calm her down."

"It isn't enough... I should have protected her. I should have been able to keep her safe. He's her father! How can he hurt her?"

"Jonathan," Dean said gently, as if he suddenly understood all too well what was going on. Jonathan turned to look at him. "Panya isn't Anne, and what happened to both of them is not your fault."

"Who's Anne?" Jamal asked.

"My younger sister," Jonathan replied softly. "My father killed her after I ended up here. I should have been there to protect her. And now, I can't protect Panya from her father, and I just hate feeling so powerless." He shook his head. "Fathers are not meant to harm their daughters."

Josie looked heartbroken as she said, "I'm sorry... I should have just told you guys to kill him when Dean and Ryan got him to Julian. Now he's escaped, and he tortured three of my friends, and Panya's broken, and Jonathan's broken, and it's entirely my dad's fault!"

"Josie, that's not an easy decision to make," Zane said soothingly. "No one expected you to just casually tell us it was okay to kill your father for what he did. Besides, he'd only come back as a new incarnation and we'd have no idea who he was. Keeping him imprisoned was the right call. This isn't your fault."

"Seriously, you all need to stop blaming yourselves for what the bad guys do, because at the end of the day, it's their fault," Trish added. "Dwelling on what you could have done doesn't help anyone. So suck it up, and take all of that aggression out on the bastards who deserve it!"

"Yeah, and maybe we can stop fighting amongst ourselves and focus on the bigger picture, too," Donnie added. "Trish and I brought everyone here to stand united, but honestly, our training has been a complete shit show so far. If we can't put our differences aside and work together, then we're already dead, and personally, I didn't come here to die. Christian already did that, and I'm not into repeating history."

"Those are wise words indeed, my son," Osiris said.

Donnie was visibly surprised by the acknowledgment of his soul's bloodline. "Um... Thank you," he said awkwardly.

"We must put aside petty personal differences. This battle is more important."

"Petty? My other incarnation did the teamwork thing!" Kim protested. "She could have betrayed you to save herself, but she was loyal! Do you know what that got her? Dead! Dead at twenty! I'm seventeen, I'm a cheerleader, I'm a shoe-in for Prom Queen, and most importantly, I'm too pretty to die, so why should I risk all of that for total strangers?"

"You need our protection, Kim," Trish pointed out. "You have to learn to control your powers."

"I didn't even have powers until Alison died, and then her abilities suddenly woke up in me! Do you know how freaked out I was when I woke up and realized I was surrounded by scorpions?"

"Kim, I know that must have been difficult for you, but-" Zane began.

"But nothing! I didn't sign up for this, Zane! I'm still in high school! This shouldn't be my problem!"

"I'm even younger than you, but you don't see me throwing a tantrum," Josie pointed out.

"Yeah, well, you're a freak, Josie. I'm popular. This world of battles against giant evil snakes is not for me. I'm not even supposed to be here! And if Alison hadn't gone and gotten herself killed for that meek little mouse, I wouldn't be!"

"Now, I understand you're upset, Miss Kim, and I would never lay my hands on a lady, but you're truly testing my limits with your words right now," Jonathan said. "Panya was devastated when Alison died. She still blames herself and it wasn't even her fault. She's my friend, and I won't let you attack her. And Josie-"

"Is your jailbait girlfriend?" Kim cut him off.

Josie glared at her. As they heard the familiar sound of croaking, Janna pulled Josie out of the room before she could send a swarm of furious frogs at Kim.

"Seriously, are you sleeping with her? That might have been okay in your time, but when an eighteen-year-old sleeps with a fourteen-year-old here-" Kim began.

"Josie's fifteen, making their three year age gap legal," Mark pointed out. "And you just like stirring up trouble. Anyone who has ever met Jonathan knows he's no creep, and Josie's not running around having sex with anyone anyway. Now drop it, before I drop you into a bottomless pit until your high school reunion." He paused before adding, "I know a guy."

This effectively shut Kim up. Osiris sighed and turned toward Zane. "I see we have our work cut out for us," he said.

Zane nodded. "We certainly do," he replied. "For now, let's get back to training. Tomorrow, we can start working on uniting everyone."

"Come on, Kim," Richie said with a bright smile. "I'll be your sparring partner."

Kim looked like she wanted to protest, but it was hard to say no to Richie. He smiled even brighter and she sighed. "Alright, fine," she agreed. "Let's see if you can keep me entertained."

Richie led her back to the designated training area. Zane looked at everyone else. "Go on," he said. "We have work to do."