πJackal and Hide!π
"A relic from my time as Khonshu's Knight."
"What?!" cried Steven.
"What?!" echoed Layla. But they had heard her.
"AH!" She didn't answer, instead plunged the blade forward. Finally, Steven stopped thrashing. "Did I get it?!" They just continued to stare back. "Well?!"
"There's the other one!" Steven cried, snapping back into action.
The fight was taking them out of the alley behind the cult's building and into the street where Londoners were starting to amass, watching the scene - well, only part of it with the jackal not visible to them.
"You reckon he's having a seizure?" asked one elderly lady.
"Nah, I think he's just a fancy drunk," answered her friend as they watched Steven flail around.
"Get out of here!" Eva cried, trying to usher all the civilians away.
Steven took over the fight again, the jackal seeming the most interested in him.
"Floating like a butterfly, stinging like a bee - my name is Steven with a 'V'!" He began to chant in an adorable manner, throwing punches and kicks.
"Hey, hey! Layla! Eva! Did you see that?!" he cheered. Eva couldn't help but chuckle at how excited he was.
The victory didn't last long however. Right after, he was tossed into a bus.
He regained his footing and as he did, the suit changed - this time to Khonshu's ceremonial armour.
"He's back," said Layla. "Get it out of here!"
Steven wasted no time - using the curved blades from the chest of the suit, he climbed up the wall of the nearest building, the jackal seemingly following.
"Good," said Eva. "That'll at least keep it away from the civilians." But when she turned back around, Layla was gone.
π π π
You did this, this is all your fault, cried Steven from the inside. Oh God, and now poor Eva's involved-
"Trust me, she was involved long ago. Before either of us ever were."
Oh God-
"Hey, don't worry. I'll make sure nothing happens to her," Marc promised. "You're not the only one who cares about Eva."
"Steven!" Speaking of, there she was, running towards him. "Steven!"
"Steven's gone," a different voice said. Coming from Steven's body, but not his voice.
She drew to a halt. "What?"
"Sorry, not really gone. For now, I'm in control. I'm Marc."
"Marc - you're who Layla mentioned."
"Yeah. Steven and I, we share a body."
"Okay..." She didn't really know what this meant, but she went along with it. "Is Steven still there? Can he hear me?"
"Yes, he can."
"Good, I want him to hear this: My real name is Evelyn Herbert - daughter of George Herbert, Lord Carnarvon, 5th Earl of Carnarvon, of the Tutankhamun expedition alongside Howard Carter."
"1922."
"Yes - it's coming up to a hundred years since the discovery."
"Yeah, I know this."
"But does Steven?" She continued. "It wasn't only King Tut's tomb we uncovered that time, we came into contact with Khonshu as well. He wanted my father to be his avatar, a wealthy nobleman, good influence, but it made my father weak, so I volunteered to be the avatar instead. But the damage was already done: my father died shortly after. That's when talk of the 'curses of the Pharaoh's' started brewing. More like 'curses of the gods'. And my debt was already in motion, I had to be of service to Khonshu as his knight, his avatar. And I was, for several years. Long enough, I suppose, that I'm still here. So that's it, that's my story." She turned to Marc. "You said you already knew that?"
"Yeah, part of my last job, I started doing some digging, against Khonshu's wishes-"
"Of course."
"Yeah. That's how I ended up in London and Steven took over shortly after."
"Ah." She nodded slowly. So their meeting hadn't been so much by chance as she'd originally thought. This saddened her, however, her quick attraction with Steven clearly hadn't been part of that plan. "So what happens now?"
"Now I finish what I started."
"And that is?"
"Stopping Harrow and his ritual to bring Ammit back. But, Steven lost the scarab-"
"Don't blame Steven-"
"Well he was the last one who had it."
"You're being childish."
"You don't know what's at stake here!"
"Maybe not for this specific job, but remember, I've been in your place." She looked over his shoulder and waved cheekily. "Hi Khonshu."
"You can see him?"
"No, not anymore. Not for a long time. But I know how he loves to lurk in the shadows - don't you, Bird Brain?"
A sharp gust of wind swept past them in response.
"Not much he can do about it now."
"I wouldn't do that if I were you," said Marc.
"Well you're not me. And you're not Steven. You're Marc." She eyed him. "I've told you my story, now will you tell me yours?"
Do you like the historical Downton Abbey connection? ;)
Thank you so much for reading and I hope you enjoyed as always! :) See you after tomorrow's episode!