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Chapter 11

Realizing

"Rick?" Evelyn's voice shook as she slowly stood. Ardeth had to hold her back. "It is not him," he told the trembling Evelyn. "The Creature has possessed him." Ardeth reached for his gun again, but Rick swung his aim to Ardeth and the movement stopped. They stood frozen in that morbid tableau for a moment, time seeming to stop with a sickening crunch as Evelyn realized what was happening.

"What poetic justice," Rick growled. "The princess dying at the hands of her beloved Medjai."

"What?" Jonathan asked. "Medjai? You mean Ardeth?"

Rick was in there somewhere, Evelyn knew it. A man with her lover's face was holding a gun to her head, but she wouldn't believe it. It couldn't end like this, not after everything they'd gone through. She could get through to him, she had to.

"Rick," she tried again. "Look at me, it's Evelyn. Please, just look at me!"

Evelyn? Evelyn, where are you?...

"With your death, Anck-su-namun shall live!" The unfamiliar words came out of Rick's mouth; it was Rick's voice. But the icy edge of his words betrayed his identity. Rick's hands trembled slightly as the gun moved once again to Evelyn. He didn't pull the trigger.

"Rick!" Evelyn cried, growing desperate. "Rick, please, no...You can't kill me, Rick, you can't. Please, where are you?"

Evelyn! Evelyn, answer me! Is that you?

His finger tightened around the trigger as Evelyn's eyes began to well up. She closed her eyes. She couldn't watch him do it. "I love you, Rick," she whispered.

He tumbled endlessly through an indigo fog, grasping at sounds he couldn't quite hear. Everything seemed to be at the very edge of his consciousness. He could feel cold steel just barely pressed against his fingertips, vibrating, just waiting to explode in a brilliant mass of color and light. If only he could move his limbs...

But then, another sensation. Panic, horror, desolation, they came rushing in all at once and paralyzed his trigger finger. She was dying, and he couldn't reach her. He willed his lips to move, to call out, but the terror froze his voice. Everything was maddeningly out of focus. He knew she was there, he could feel her as if she were a extension of him, but every time he blinked, the fog invaded his eyes and muddled his sight.

Something else was there, too. Its essence penetrated the indigo fog and repelled the light that gently floated around their bodies. It wrapped its lifeless form around his hands, ripping from him what little control he still had over himself. It was going to kill her. It was sucking the life out of her, and it was using him to do it. He was going to kill her.

No!!! Get away from her, you-

Rick suddenly clutched his head as if in pain, and Ardeth seized the opportunity. He launched himself across the room and into Rick's side, sending them both to the floor and the gun skittering out the door. Ardeth got in a few punches before Rick seemed to regain control and shoved Ardeth off him, scrambling four-legged across the floor toward the gun. With no thought in his head except to protect his sister, Jonathan threw himself on top of Rick, soon regretting it when he found himself tossed haphazardly across the room like a rag doll. "I'm never doing you another favor, O'Connell," he muttered as he picked himself up.

The slight distraction of Jonathan, however, was enough, and soon Rick found himself backed up against the wall with Ardeth's scimitar held dangerously close to his throat. "Go ahead, Medjai," he growled fiercely. "You would kill your own brother? I commend you for your courage."

"You would kill your own brother," Evy interpreted. "What does he mean?"

Her translation was enough to cause Ardeth to hesitate momentarily. Mistake! Rick took the split second of indecision and seized Ardeth's arm. They struggled for a moment, but Imhotep's paranormal muscle quickly overcame the warrior and he found himself shoved against the far wall, sending him tumbling into Evy and Jonathan.

"Rick!!!" Evy called desperately. She had to try one last time. "Rick, where are you?!"

A tiny pinprick of light, piercing the indigo fog. He grabbed at it blindly.

As they cowered there in the corner, Rick paused in his stride and shook his head slightly.

Suddenly he yanked the ring off his finger and flung it aside. He looked up, again, into Evelyn's eyes. It was him! It was him!

"Evy, no!" Jonathan protested as she struggled out of his grip. "It's him, it's Rick!" she insisted. "Let me go!"

Rick, still a little dazed, barely managed to keep his balance as Evelyn flew into his arms. "What--what happened?" he stammered, still disoriented. "Did I hurt you? I heard you, I heard you calling me..."

"You heard me?" Evy asked. "I didn't think I was getting through to you!"

"I just knew you were in danger. I knew he was trying to hurt you. It was almost too much, he...God, Evy, I'm sorry I tried to kill you. Forgive me?" Rick asked.

"Always," she said with a smile.

"Excuse me for interrupting," said Ardeth, "but I think we should focus on the Creature!"

"He's nuts," Rick said, struggling to remember. "He's gone over the edge."

"You think?" Ardeth snapped sarcastically.

"I mean, he's not thinking straight. I could hear him, I...He thinks that killing Evelyn will bring that broad back somehow."

"He can't do that now," Evy interrupted. "Right? He needs the Book to do that!"

They all turned expectantly to Ardeth. "Don't look at me!" he cried. "I'm not the one who keeps raising the dead!"

"Well, it wasn't me!" said Evy. This earned her a few looks as well. "This time, at least," she finished quietly.

"I suppose he could just kill Evy and harvest her organs to take back to Hamunaptra so he can perform the ritual again," Jonathan offered.*

A full minute passed in which the other three just stared at Jonathan. "Sorry," he mumbled. "Just trying to be helpful."

"Maybe he just wants revenge," Evy offered. "Or-"

"I think revenge is too simple a term for it, Princess," Dr. Miller interrupted.

They stared at the disheveled man who stood in the door frame, their eyes locked on the forgotten gun that he held in his right hand. But Evelyn was focused on his other hand, hanging loosely at his side...

He wore the ring.

----

*I think I remember reading that the reason Imhotep needed a human sacrifice was for the organs, so that's where Jonathan's suggestion comes from. I don't know, maybe Jonathan's wrong, he's just trying to be helpful:) I love Jonathan. John Hannah is hot!!! Just so you know, he rocks in 'Sliding Doors.' "No one expects the Spanish Inquisition"!!! Okay, I'm done with my John Hannah tangent. Sorry about that. Hee hee:)

Do I even have to say it? Review, please:)))

Some quick answers to questions and comments made by some of my fabulous, lovely reviewers:

No worries, Lady Foxfire, I don't make idle hints. The fanfic I was alluding to does indeed exist, tentatively titled "The Cost of a Glance"...in fact, in this chapter I made a few past-life references that will show up in that story...something to look forward to:)...

LOL, Tigerwolf...Glad to know someone out there is getting the Buffy jokes (i.e., the entire running gag of the bunnies:) Honestly, when I wrote "Bloody Hell" and the flooding the basement thing, I wasn't referencing Buffy, but now that you bring it up...I think my subconscious knew exactly what it was doing;)

Craklyn...wow...I've been threatened by a fan...my career has been validated!!! love ya!!!

MBooker (appreciate your reviews so so much, thank you thank you thank you) and anyone else who was wondering...in the TMR director's commentary, they talk about how Ardeth went from pretty sparse dialogue in TM to non-stop exposition in the sequel...it's true, he suddenly gets very talkative:) Dang, Oded Fehr is hot too...and Arnold Vosloo...and Brendan Fraser...I'd like to thank the casting director:)