Ardeth raced down the stairs searching every room for Rick and Evy till he found them. By that time he was out of breath, and starting to worry sick about Heather. They stared at him, his heavy breathing an odd occasion. Evy and Rick wondered what was wrong, and Ardeth could only shake his head. He was partially ashamed that Imhotep had taken Heather from her own house. She had been guarded by Ardeth, and nothing bad should have happened to her. Still, Rick and Evy would know that it wasn't his fault. Imhotep had risen from the grave more powerful than before. Nothing would stop him, and no mortal could stand in his way on their own now. Heather's only hope was that her trip to Egypt took a little longer than expected.
Ardeth looked at the floor for the first time quite ashamed of his fate along with Heather's, before speaking. "He took her. She went with him because she had no choice. We must go after them, at least try to help her in some way." At first they could only stand there looking at Ardeth as if shocked. Before when Imhotep made entrances into towns it was well known, and he always drew attention to himself. Now however Imhotep had come and gone without them even knowing, and that worried them more than most things. Things apparently hadn't changed much from the last time for Rick, Evy, and Ardeth. They still had dealt with tomb robbers in Egypt, and evil seemed to never truly sleep in Egypt.
They made their way to the collection of weapons inside the house. It was locked up, but they still had swords in every room. Evy had thought the idea stupid, until a group broke into their own home. However sharp a sword was, it still wasn't going to kill Imhotep. Rick had no problem getting the biggest guns, largest collection of bullets, and even the most simplistic of weapons. If they were heading to Egypt, the weapons couldn't stick out to other people. Rick remembered his first bag of weapons he carried. It had held knives, guns, and bullets of every shape, size, and accuracy. That had been the first time he almost lost Evy, because the boat had caught on fire. His weapons had come in handy, and no one thought much of how many he had.
Heather was a relative, family, and that meant it wasn't a simple person to rescue. They looked at the weapons and picked out their own, before running upstairs to grab a few clothes. The gesture didn't appeal to any of them, but it was necessary. A group carrying weapons but no clothes to another country drew unwanted attention, and that would slow them down. Time was never on their side with these things. They roughly had a day at most, it was more likely that Heather and Imhotep would be there before the sunset. Knowing that time wasn't on their side Rick and Evy began to gather their things shoving them into bags quickly. They didn't even bother to register what clothes they packed or to even fold them.
Rick began to ask questions, as they got into the car driving to the station. Flying seemed more convenient, but a train allowed their weapons to be carried easier. It also allowed for them to have their own personal train car, and that meant less attention. Once onboard the train, Rick began to ask more steady questions, the first one being more obvious."Where is he taking her?" Evy and Ardeth answered at the same time, they knew the routine better than he did. Perhaps it was because their families had grown up close to Egypt all their lives. Evy spoke softer than Ardeth did, however he heard both voices clear enough to get the gist of it. "He's taking her to The Valley of the Dead, in order to resurrect her spirit."
Rick slammed his first on the edge of the seat; he now knew how dire the situation was. He was frustrated, and couldn't voice it enough. "That place again? How many times is this going to happen? Why won't Imhotep just stay dead?" Ardeth looked out the train window, he sighed softly to himself before answering. "The Valley of the Dead is a special place in Egypt. It's a link between the Underworld and the living. Only a priest of Anubis can access the link between both worlds. Imhotep knows it's a safe place to be for him, and not for us. That is why we repeatedly have to go there." Rick looked at Ardeth knowing this wasn't easy for him; it was the first time Ardeth had shown any clear emotions.
Heather looked out at the view from her train window, simply too worried to speak. On the outside she looked calm and collected, but inside she had her doubts. She noticed very few people traveled on the whole train, if anyone was she couldn't see it. Imhotep had unlimited resources, even besides his brute force. Thinking of Imhotep made Heather wonder about Ardeth, and if the others were okay. They would risk their own lives to rescue her own, and that was hard to accept. Sure they were her own family, but that didn't mean she wante them to die to rescue her. There was no set outcome, and Ardeth's words came back to her. He had told her how fate was sometimes out of our control.
Homesickness began to make itself known to her, and she stared at Imhotep. He sat across from her, and she wasn't sure why. He either wanted to watch over her, or he wished she wanted him around. Right now, Heather couldn't think of which one she wanted either. They had time to kill on the train, and Heather took the opportunity to get some much needed answers. There had been one thing bugging her since she had the dream about Ardeth, and she needed the right answer. Heather thought about how to word the question correctly, and for a moment she froze. She stared at Imhotep, her heart filled with a mixture of love and hate for him. Part of her didn't want to wreck what she had, but her destiny was wrecked already.
Finally, she got the courage to ask the question that was eating at her. "Why did you care so much for her…for me?" At first her question simply hung in the air, as if it was an unwanted recognition of what was going on between them. However Imhotep looked at her and smiled, before her answered her question. "The gods control who we love not ourselves. I fell in love with you…with her, and that is always meant to be. It didn't matter that the pharaoh loved her, because she loved me too. Don't you feel that deep down?" Heather looked down, and then asked the question her dreams had never answered. "I feel her spirit inside my heart even now, and it does still love you. I need to know though, how…how did I die?"
Imhotep looked down at the table they were seated at; he was suddenly lost thinking back to it all. How could he tell her she had died for him? That he had failed to resurrect her once in life, and was trying to do so again. How could he ever really truly explain that it had been a mistake gone wrong? That if he hadn't been so driven to share a simple kiss with her, she'd have continued her life. No, Imhotep truly didn't want to tell her that she had died violently. He certainly didn't want to tell her that he had interrupted her life in the Underworld, only to send her back to it quickly. Imhotep looked at Heather studying her eyes deeply; he wanted to see Ancksunamun within them.
He was able to see her expression, a few of her memories, and a little bit of her spirit within. His voice was soft as he dared to tell her the bitter reality of her death. "I made a mistake, and it cost you your life. I killed the pharaoh, and his guards dragged us apart. You were to go with him in the Afterlife, but you refused. You plunged a ceremonial sword into your stomach in front of the pharaoh's personal guards." Heather looked at Imhotep sitting there stunned at the true reality of her death. A few of her dreams now made sense to her, and that perhaps hurt the worst of all. She knew that everything was as it should be to prepare her. Gently she replied back to Imhotep, trying not to give her feelings away. "I understand everything so clearly now, thank you."
Rick got out of the car and looked at Ardeth; he had never seen Ardeth so determined before as he was now. "How could I let her just go with him? I've sentenced her to the end of life as she knows it." Rick put a hand on Ardeth's shoulder, wishing he could do more. "You didn't have a choice. You simply did what you could to spare her as much pain as possible." Ardeth nodded, and then looked up into the sky knowing somewhere Heather saw the same sky as well. He couldn't help but wonder how much time they had until she was resurrected, and then lost to them forever. He couldn't imagine their souls having to meet like that again. Ardeth didn't want to wait for another lifetime again.
Imhotep grasped Heather's hand, as the train came to a stop. He spoke softly, yet was truly happy to be home. "We're at our next stop along your journey." Heather looked out the window seeing only sand before going to the door. Imhotep pulled the door open and the blinding sun caused Heather to shield her eyes. Heather looked out to see a beautiful temple, and then looked at Imhotep. "This…this isn't a tomb…where are we?" Imhotep smiled seeing her knowledge was increasing. "We're at the temple for you to recognize your memories." Heather looked down for a moment. "I thought I had them already." Imhotep raised her gaze to look at him. "You have so many memories to remember, and now you shall truly have them all again.
Ardeth looked out the window on the train wondering how long it'd take them to get to The Valley of the Dead. They were already behind he could feel it deep within his soul, and that feeling couldn't be ignored. There was no way he could stop Heather from gaining her past life memories, but he could perhaps manage to stop her transformation completely. All he could do now while sitting on the train playing cards with Rick and Evy to pass the time, he was secretly praying to the gods that things would work out. Evy sat trying to remember the last time they had been to the Valley of the Dead, and tried not to anymore. There was nothing dead about it, and the mummies could be awakened at once with so much as a single spell from Imhotep.
Heather sat at the pool inside the temple on her knees; she was ready for the spell to begin. The temple was so beautiful that she tried to picture it without time's mark. Imhotep sat beside her and placed his hands gently on hers, before opening the book he held. Heather began to panic slightly knowing what it was. She had heard of it many times, but had never seen it. Her voice softly told her thoughts without meaning to. "The Book of the Dead…." Imhotep looked at her not surprised she knew what he held. "Yes the Book of the Dead, it will help bring back your memories, along with who you once were." Heather nodded trying to calm herself a little, being nervous wasn't going to help her. She needed to focus on the task at hand, if she wished to survive the journey. "Very well I guess it's about time that I know who I was…who we were together."