So I found this unfinished fic in my OneDrive story folder yesterday (apparently I abandoned it about 520 words in) and decided to finish it. Takes place directly during Season 6's final case.
Replies to Reviews:
Charra Loon - Thanks for the reply! I'm also glad to be still writing.
DaleJr.88 - That could definitely be fun. I'm planning to rewrite Martine's dialogue for her MoP appearances when she appears in this series (rewriting due to something confirmed in Case #13 of the newest Season), I'm sure I can work that into a fic somewhere.
JFiniti Productions - You left two Reviews so I'll just respond to them both here instead of doing separate replies :) 1) Having Martine and Cedric run into each other definitely sounds promising. Once I make it to the events of the Paris season, I'll see what I can do. 2) Ooh, I really do love this idea. Having Amy confront her brother is a fun idea for a fic, and I'll definitely do something with that idea.
Disclaimer - I don't own Criminal Case. Never have, never will.
"But I swear to you... that object holds an evil inside of it! And only someone evil could have harnessed its power!"
I watched the priestess of Ra closely as she spoke, my mind working overtime to try and make sense of what had happened over the past few hours. Nebet… Nefertiti… was dead. Or at least her past self, the version of herself that she had been before she and Ammon had sabotaged our time machine, was dead. Ammon had been killed too, killed inside our time machine where we had him in custody, found dead in the same manner as we'd found the princess herself. Both versions of Ammon were dead now. I supposed at least that meant one threat to our goal of repairing the timeline had been dealt with. My partner nodded, looking over at me. "That's all for now, O Priestess. We'll return if we have any further questions".
As I was about to follow my partner from the temple, I paused. Something wasn't adding up about the priestess, and I'd finally figured out what. "Zara".
"Yeah, Josh?"
"You go ahead. I've got a couple of further questions that I want to ask the Priestess, then I'll meet you back at Cleopatra's garden, okay?"
Zara nodded. "Alright, partner, I'll see you there".
As my partner jogged off in the direction of the palace once again, I turned and stepped back through the doors of the great temple. The priestess was busying herself with a shrine at the far side of the room, but she looked up and in my direction as I gave a quiet cough. "What can I do for you, my child?"
I smiled slightly. "Why did you do it?"
"I'm not sure I understand what you're asking me"
"Please don't insult my intelligence, 'Great Priestess'. I knew who you were from the moment I saw you. I never forget a face, even one that's been aged as yours has. After all, it's pretty darn hard to forget the face of a traitor… ".
The priestess glared at me. "I am no traitor. I am Takhat Wabet, the Great Priestess of Ra!"
I folded my arms, staring coolly back at her. "You are Princess Nefertiti, former heir to the Ptolemy Dynasty of New Cairo, who killed your own father by pouring molten gold over him. You are Nebet, Cleopatra's favourite slave girl turned crime-fighting T.I.M.E agent, who secretly plotted with your ally Ammon Bast to destroy this timeline and leave my team and I stranded, adrift in time, forever. You are a traitor whether you admit to it or not. So kindly stop insulting my intelligence by denying what we both know, 'Priestess', and for once in your life be honest with someone other than yourself".
"I see. I guess there's no point in denying it any further, is there? Yes, you're right about who I am. I guess the question is, what are you going to do about it?"
"As much as I would like to arrest you right now, I can't. I can't prove that you've done anything wrong, at least not yet. And if I'm entirely honest, you've done a very good thing for my timeline by taking out your past self. Besides, with your past self having been murdered (by you yourself, as the case happens to be) and your plans for the rise of the Ptolemy Dynasty ruined you've sealed your own fate, so any punishment you receive is going to be utterly useless in the long run".
She shrugged. "A valid point. So, is there anything else you wanted before you go and inevitably find the last few clues you need to arrest me?"
"One question. Why did you do it? Why risk the utter collapse of the entire universe by changing the timeline in the first place?"
My former partner sighed sadly. "A mix of being hungry for power and a desire to give my parents the life I believed that we deserved, I suppose. My family wasn't exactly the most powerful or influential back in 2029 New York, before I came back and changed things. My parents were ambitious though, and I guess I looked at the situation and thought 'Okay, maybe if I go back in time and change things, sabotage the timeline a bit and shake things up, that will give my family the power and life they richly deserve'. I just wanted a better life for my family, Josh. I just didn't expect that having power would make them so obsessed with it".
"Power tends to corrupt, Nebet. And absolute power corrupts absolutely" I said simply.
She smiled ruefully. "Yes, I see that now. John Dalberg-Acton was an incredibly wise man indeed. Anyway, I guess you've kept Zara waiting for long enough now. You should go and find the rest of the evidence you need to arrest me for what you and I both already know that I did".
I nodded. "I suppose I should. I guess we'll see you soon then. Don't go anywhere before we find the evidence we need, okay?"
She laughed. "I won't. I want to get this over with as much as you do. Even if it means not existing any more…"
She held up one hand, and I could see the fingers on it were standing to turn ever-so-slightly transparent. "I'd wish you good luck, but… well, we both know that that's not exactly necessary. So, I'll just say… see you soon. And I promise I'll explain everything then".
-Roughly fifteen hours later-
Zara stared at the priestess in shock. "Takhat Wabet? YOU killed Nebet and Ammon?! But... why? How?!"
Takhat nodded. "Ah, so you figured it all out. I should have known..."
She lifted her hand, revealing that her arm had almost completely vanished. "Wait, are you... you're fading! Josh, the priestess is fading, just like Theo did! What is going on here? Who ARE you, Takhat Wabet?!"
"Don't you understand yet, Zara? I'm Nebet. A bit older than when you knew me, I admit! I've come from the year 2060".
Zara gasped. "You're... Nebet? Old Nebet? So... you're fading because... because your younger version is dead... which means she never got old and you can't exist... But if you're Nebet... why would you kill yourself? And why would you kill Ammon? He was your accomplice!"
I could practically see the cogs turning in my partner's mind as she tried to figure out exactly what we'd just been told by the priestess. The priestess sighed. "Because they wouldn't listen to reason! Do you remember how my mother exiled me from New Cairo, in 2029?"
"Of course, we do! Justice was served for you killing your father!" Zara yelled
Nebet… Takhat… glared at her. "I killed my father because I couldn't bear to see what he'd become! And the long years I spent in exile just convinced me even more that I was right! I should have killed my mother, too, and rid the world of the Ptolemys once and for all! I realized all of you had been right all along. The drive for power had turned my whole family into heartless tyrants! That wasn't what I'd wanted when I set out to change history for them! In my exile, I also realized the only time I was happy was when I was fighting for justice by your side. I realized I'd been wrong all along."
Zara raised an eyebrow. "So, what, you decided to go back in time and give your younger self a stern talking to?"
Takhat nodded. "Yes... But my younger self wouldn't listen! I used to be so selfish! Such delusions of entitlement! And Ammon wasn't any better! It was clear: the only way I could save the timeline from the Ptolemys was to kill them both!"
"How did you even enter our time machine to kill Ammon in his cell?" my partner wondered.
"I spotted Amy in the gardens, then I saw her drop her access badge... It'd been an exceptionally long time, but I still remembered the layout of the machine like the back of my hand! I went to see Ammon in his cell... the fool thought I was there to save him! But I cut out his heart, just like I had done to my younger self!"
"But if you did this to save the timeline, why did you deny both murders when you knew we were investigating? You could've told us it was you!" Zara exclaimed.
"I couldn't bear to be a disappointment to any of you once again. I knew you wouldn't approve of my... methods. I hoped I would fade away before you caught up to me! But then Josh figured it out earlier…"
I nodded, feeling Zara's eyes on me as I did so. "It'd been bugging me since we first met this version of you, Nebet, but I hadn't yet put the pieces together until we confronted you about the pyramid".
"That was why you stayed behind to talk to her instead of heading back to Cleopatra's garden with me…" Zara said simply, to which I nodded.
"But enough talk. I can tell my time has come. I have many regrets, Josh, but meeting all of you is not one of them. I hope what I did has salvaged your timeline. Please forgive me for everything else... goodbye, Josh…"
And with those words, my former partner was gone, vanished into thin air. "I don't know how to feel now that it's over. I trusted her as Nebet, then absolutely despised her after we discovered that she'd been working with our enemies all along, and now I just feel bad for her…" I said, before sighing and turning away, gesturing to my partner.
"C'mon, partner, we've still got a job to finish".