Rating: PG13 prolly eventually
Author: Angel - http://www.geocities.com/saturnfiction
Summary: The ending of the Scorpion King changed and expanded upon. The O'Connells meet up with some strange people that look very familiar. Almost too familiar.
Disclaimer: I don't own The Mummy or it's characters. But I would give a whole heck of a bunch to own Imhotep and Ardeth. ;-)
*
The early morning sunlight was beautiful, very peaceful in it's quiet dimness. It was almost like the only things that found existence were Rick and the earth - together alone, greeting each other with the usual warmth and friendship. At least that's how it seemed to him. Rick had always liked waking early to a pretty sunrise, while Evy was a creature of the night. And the night suited her, caressed her pale skin in just the right tones to set his emotions ablaze no matter how he'd felt previously.
He sighed, thinking on the events from the night before. It had been anything but lovely. The sounds of the SUV crashing still echoed through his mind bringing with it the painful realization that Ardeth was gravely injured and Jonathan still unconscious. And with that came the task of figuring out exactly what to do about it. They were going to need medical attention, but where would they receive it out here?
He didn't have time to contemplate that too thoroughly. A gasp from behind him drew him away from such thoughts. Rick turned, seeing Michael sit up from the place he'd made his bed. His dark eyes darted in confusion. "O'Connell?"
Yawning, Rick nodded and tossed some sand absently. "Morning. I thought I'd let you sleep since you stayed up with Ardeth pretty late." His new friend looked a little disoriented. "You okay?"
A groan from the SUV stopped Michael from replying. "Ugh. I don't feel good. I never wanna go through that again." Jonathan. Jonathan was awake!
Rick scrambled to his knees and crawled over, peering inside. "Jonathan! You...you're awake! How?" He reached in and grabbed Jonathan's jacket.
"Take it easy," his brother-in-law growled, rubbing at his head. "Michael? Ardeth?"
Michael's brow was furrowed in thought. Moving out of the SUV to get him, Rick watched as the psychologist crawled to Ardeth and shook him. The Med-Jai woke with a groan like Jonathan's and sat up--without much trouble. Rick was floored. Ardeth's clothes were different, too. Black and non-descript--much like Michael's had been. Had been? He looked at the other two, confirming the same. "What's going on?"
Before anyone could say anything Izzy stumbled around the fallen vehicle, clutching his head and cursing. "Well, that was one hell of a ride. Where are we?"
"The past," Michael replied, looking at his counterpart. His eyes were on Ardeth's chest. "The morning Rick set out for Alannah and Evy."
Ardeth shared a look with Michael, then started unbuttoning his shirt. He stopped when his chest was bared. "The scar. It's there, yet the moment we've appeared in..."
By now Rick had had just about enough of this. He didn't know what was going on, but if someone didn't start explaining soon, he was going to get really vocal. His eyes brushed over Jonathan and Ardeth again, thankful but suspicious now. "Okay, would someone tell me what's going on? I'm obviously the only one that has absolutely no idea what you four are talking about."
Michael gave him a confused but reassuring look. "Sorry, O'Connell. We...were in the future."
O'Connell put on a dubious expression. Just what did they take him for? "The future. And what did you see in the future? Little green men?"
It was Ardeth that shook his head. "Believe him, Rick. We four went to the future so that Jonathan and I could get medical attention. Then we came back to continue the fight. Why we came to this moment in time, I do not know, my friend, but you must believe me." He turned his eyes on his double.
"I know why it was this moment," he replied, though uncertainty clouded his eyes. "It was the moment I was thinking of. I had been concentrating on just after we left, but my mind wandered to waking up and sending Rick to get Alannah."
They remained quiet a moment, each man puzzling through the situation as best he could with what understanding they had. None of them seemed able to come up with an explanation until Jonathan spoke up. "Makes perfect sense."
Rick narrowed his brow at him, wishing to see why that was. "Care to let us in on why?" This would be good he hoped. Time travel didn't agree with him.
Jonathan shook his head and shrugged. "I said it makes perfect sense and in some cosmic way it probably does. I didn't say I understood it." He grinned.
Rolling his eyes, Rick looked at the psychologist and Med-Jai. Whatever happened really didn't matter right now, not with the Scorpion King on the prowl. "Wouldn't you have gone back to your own future? What do we do now?"
The doctor shook his head. "If the Scorpion King had never come back from our time to yours, it would have remained the same. But we changed the time line by coming back." He exchanged questioning looks with Ardeth, holding some mental conversation Rick certainly wasn't in on. Finally Michael gazed back with a slightly worried expression. "As for what to do, we don't know. Whatever you tried before didn't work. The future became the Scorpion King's."
Another meaningful silence came of that little admission and Rick hissed in a breath, irritated by all this. It was a lot to take in. One moment he'd been worried beyond worried that Evy would come to find a nearly dead brother and his friend would be well on the way, and now this. Now they were fine and bearing bad news. He shook his head and looked up. "Look, I don't know as much as you do about whatever happened. I don't understand all this at all and am having a rough time believing it, but my gut tells me not to start second guessing myself. We can do whatever you think is best, but if we walk this problem won't go away."
"The question is; what is best?" Ardeth breathed, absently buttoning his shirt again. Rick glanced at the black clothing he was wearing. His friend certainly had the symptoms of time passing. His chest had not been damaged last night, there had been no scar when they checked him for wounds. It looked healed over. They wouldn't lie, either.
Rick shrugged his shoulders. "What happened, exactly? I mean I assume the story is big and long and we don't have time, but is there a short version?" He grasped some sand and started piling it.
It was the psychologist that answered, his face a little uncertain. That expression on that face could never mean anything other than badness to come. "We don't know what happened exactly. Only that you went to fight the Scorpion King one night and you and the others were killed. The Scorpion King took over and by 2002 ruled practically the world."
The ex-Legionnaire frowned and rubbed the back of his neck. The sky was getting brighter and it felt like time was running out. "So, fighting's basically out. What else? Is there a spell?"
Michael deferred to Ardeth this time, trusting that answer to someone more versed in ancient Egypt. The Med-Jai didn't look too hopeful. "To be honest, Rick, I do not know. None that I am aware of. Certainly none we could learn in time to stop the Scorpion King."
Rick pointed out towards the oasis. "What about the Med-Jai? Any of them know?"
"Perhaps," Ardeth replied, his dark eyes cast down in thought. He looked at his friend. "It's entirely possible. We should head that way."
The psychologist shook his head at that. "No. I think we should get there quickly, yes, but I believe waiting for Imhotep and the others would be our best bet. They have a car and once they come here, can pick us up. If we leave here and they run onto the SUV, they may stop and wonder what happened to us. We should stay..." he trailed off, eyeing Rick thoughtfully. "No, wait. Perhaps we should do as we did before. Last time Rick, you walked on towards where Alannah and Evelyn had made camp. You met them about halfway in Imhotep's car. Would you be opposed to doing that again--if only to make sure they come here and not elsewhere?"
Holding his hand up, trying to get all these facts and what they meant straight in his head, Rick shook his head. "Wait a second. Imhotep's car? He has a car now? Is there any reason I should want to ride in something he's driving?" The idea was a little unsettling.
*
It was evening time. The air was cooling and the sky was dimmer. Egypt was quite breathtaking at night, even from the view of a very crowded car. Evy inhaled deeply and glanced at the fallen vehicle that Rick claimed Jonathan and Ardeth had received grave injuries in. Michael had told her gently that last time she came it had been quite different and much sadder. She was quite thankful that it had been spared her. The last thing she needed right now was more worry piled onto an already tough situation.
Not that she would have gotten her wish of that completely. No, now they had a failure to deal with. The others were still talking about it even now. Rick had failed, Rick had failed. So the first idea that had come to Rick's mind had been dismissed until Jonathan spoke up, asking them what would happen if that's what had been done the first time. What if the failure had been Rick's second plan? That made them stop and talk about it more.
Evy sighed, wiggling a little. She loved Rick dearly and loved being near him, but having his hot, bath needing body shoved up against her left while her right was squished into a hard car door was not exactly romantic or pleasant. He was blowing on her hair just now, likely because her head was turned and he wanted attention.
"What are we going to do?" she breathed, leaning her head back against his shoulder. They were going to have to do something against the Scorpion King, but what?
Rick sighed at that and pinched at her thigh, his arm being pinned between them. She grabbed the top of his and squeezed, making him jump. "I just don't know. I mean I think if I was left to make the choice...I hate to say it, but I think I'd have gone and fought him directly--man to man." He grunted. "Like an idiot."
She elbowed his side and smiled. "It's good you know yourself enough to admit that. But I don't think it makes you an idiot, Rick. It makes you brave."
He laughed and that and kissed her cheek. "Brave, huh? Brave enough to make you giggle and blush when I smile?"
From the front, Alex turned in his seat to the discomfort of the others there and stuck his finger down his throat, making gagging sounds. Evy batted at her son and watched him roll his eyes. It made her think of how precious these moments were, even in the midst of a crisis.
The day was wearing on and the pyramid nearing swiftly. The battle would be very soon and the fate of them all decided. Over a sand dune something became apparent in the distance. Blackness swallowed the color of the desert ahead, the evidence of another battle being waged. One between the Med-Jai and the Jackals of Anubis. Evy heard Ardeth's breath catch.
"We will succeed," the elder Imhotep breathed, his dark eyes intent on the path that lay before them. If only she herself could believe that. She thought about how Rick had failed, about the fact that in some timeline he had been killed by the Scorpion King. That could very well happen today if they failed to do the right thing.
The came upon the Med-Jai and within seconds of stopping Ardeth's door was open. Michael gripped his shirt, holding him back. "Will you die here?"
Ardeth turned back to his counterpart with considering eyes. He breathed out and clasped the man's arm. "I cannot let them die, Michael. Not without me by their sides. They are my people." He looked inside the car at the others. "It must be decided now, my friends. Will you fight with me?" Final good-byes would be made now. It felt terrible.
Evy watched as the psychologist in the front looked down at his own hands, then the face of his lover. Bending over to kiss her, he whispered, "I will fight with Ardeth because his people are my people too. Live, okay? Promise me that you will survive this and have a good life with Imhotep."
A quiet moment passed in the car and Rick leaned his head on Evy's shoulder. Whether it be this incarnation or the next, she suspected he didn't like seeing her in pain. Alannah's lips trembled as she looked into Michael's eyes. "You live, Michael. You live for me."
With a soft expression, Michael got out from the car and joined his counterpart, his eyes begging a promise from Imhotep which Evy could see the priest meant to keep. There in the back seat a door opened and the younger Imhotep got out. "Where are you going?" she asked him in his own tongue and he bent down.
"You people," he sneered with a roll of his eyes as he looked at the battle around. "I cannot fight you people and win. You have taken all that I have worked for and ruined it. But I see now you can give it back and help me give it back. I may as well die here fighting with you instead of against."
Widening her eyes, Evy grinned and Rick asked her what was going on. When she explained he grunted and sighed. His expression made her stomach clench in worry. "Evy, honey," he began in a thick voice. They both knew if he left now this could be the last time they ever looked upon one another. His fingers found her hair and he looked her face over. "Evy, I failed last time. I should stay behind because I...I don't want to fail you again. I don't wanna go. I don't want everything to end here."
The older Imhotep turned back to face them, shaking his head. "Come with us, O'Connell. It is your destiny to kill the Scorpion King."
Rick shook his head. "I failed last time."
"That never happened," the priest replied stubbornly with a grim smile. "I want you fighting with me. It is your destiny to kill him."
Evy smiled at her husband when he rolled his eyes. He kissed her lips and held her gaze. "What should I do?"
Going with her heart, Evelyn kissed her husband's lips with as much passion as she could gather, laughing when their son began grumbling about assorted mushiness. "Since we met we've never fought apart, Rick. Why start now?" He smiled and rubbed his forehead against hers.
"Then it is decided," Imhotep stated when the final door was closed.
Michael leaned against the window and looked to the other man who loved Alannah. They shared another long gaze of promises and wants, regrets and other things Evy was not privy too. She wondered what life with them was like for the woman who sat between them. "What will you do now?" Michael finally asked, his pain at having to part from her apparent. Worry was etched on his face, but strangely enough a trust had shown up for the priest.
Imhotep looked ahead and pointed. "We will make for the pyramid. There we shall find the Scorpion King and fight him until the death."
Nodding his head and looking within the car, Michael exhaled. "Then I wish you all luck. God be with you." He straightened and they watched.
The priest pressed the gas pedal and the car began forward slowly. Evy watched out the window as they left their friends behind for a battle of their own. Rick took her hand and squeezed it, wanting to offer her comfort when he himself carried the weight of worry. Ahead of them lay the Pyramid of the Scorpion King. Ahead lay death and a future filled with despair if they failed.
Evy looked at her son's face as he sat draped over the seat, talking to Jonathan. So innocent and beautiful and full of promise he was. They could not fail this time. They just couldn't.
*
Hey guys!!! Thanks for the reviews before...it's been a little time since I came back to this, but I figured I couldn't leave it hanging as it was. :O "Passion" (which I also thank you for reading and reviewing) just swept up all my creativity...lol. And still calls to me. Funny where inspiration takes you...it's about to take me downstairs to get some pop in a minute. ;) Anyhow, Karri, Marcher, Deana, Lula, Pol and everyone else, thank you so much for reading and reviewing!!! :D Hope this continues to please.