"So that… that happened", Steven admitted in a small voice. "I… I had been hallucinating my Mum's calls for… forever, I think. And then I found out and… And I was shocked. But things kept happening and I got over it, or at least I thought I did. But it keeps happening. I still have them, these… episodes. Like I'm relapsing. Like that's just the way my brain works. And that scares me, Doc, it scares me so much. I don't want to forget. Even the bad things, even the horrible things, I don't want to forget."
"Forgetting certain things is how you dealt with upsetting events in the past", Samson said with sympathy. "It is your coping mechanism. But it can be overcome. All you need is to build an environment that will remind you of important aspects of your life. You can set yourself reminders for the good that came from the bad, such as your newfound connection to your alters."
Steven looked relieved. "You think I can overcome it? I'm not just… damned to be like this forever?"
"Of course not, Steven", Samson reassured him. "There are ways we can work on this." He hesitated before asking: "Did you tell anyone else about your… condition? Someone who could help remind you? What about Layla? How did she take the news, is she still… with you?" he asked carefully.
Steven's posture relaxed.
"Oh, yes. Yes, Layla's great. Marc was so sure she'd run for the hills, wasn't he? But she never did. She just took one look at us, well two, one at me and one at Jake, and she just kinda shrugged and adopted us all, like we had always been part of the deal. Really, Layla is great. She's…" His smile faltered a bit. "She's the only reason we're still alive."
XxX
Chapter 4 - La Sombra Azul
Jake blinked, suddenly in control again. He stared at the screen of the phone, at that bloody contact info, trying to feel Steven's presence. But there was nothing. He threw the phone at the couch, fuming, and whirled around to face Layla.
"Great, you broke him! That's the second one of my brothers you sent down. Are you trying to fucking get us killed or something!?"
Layla stared at him. "I was just trying to-"
"I need these people and I need them functioning!" Jake exclaimed angrily. "You're bringing down our entire system!"
"I didn't mean to - I didn't know!" Layla defended herself. "I didn't know because you won't ever talk to me!"
"I didn't even know you existed!" Jake shouted back. "I didn't even know Steven existed! I have no idea if Marc does either. Maybe he's just as clueless as Steven! Or maybe he knows about Steven and set up this nice little safe house for him but has no idea about me. Maybe Marc doesn't know anything and there's a fourth one somewhere in our head, or six, or twenty! There's nothing I can be fucking sure about anymore!" Jake threw up his hands and stormed out of the flat.
"Wait - Jake! Where are you going? " Layla called out, running after him.
"I'm going on a good old-fashioned denial spree, before I lose my shit too!" Jake cursed. "I'm going to Germany to go scarab-hunting for a moon god and I swear to Khonshu if one more person calls me crazy today, they'll be getting more than a bloody nose!"
"Oh", Layla made, sounding strangely relieved, "that sounds like a good idea, actually. I'll come with you!"
"The heck you will", Jake made, looking at her strangely. Why was that something she would just accept. "This is dangerous work."
But Layla just chuckled. "Marc and I have been looking for the scarab for months. I checked off a few more places from the list while you were gone but I haven't tried Munich yet. Actually, I feel loads better knowing you have the suit too. Marc made so many enemies working for Khonshu, what if one of them showed up to harass you and Steven?"
Jake stopped and stared at Layla as if she'd grown a second head.
"Seriously!?" he asked. "Marc told you about Khonshu but not about me?"
"...yes?"
"Pendejo! Fucking asshole", Jake cursed and kept walking. "Why did you ever even marry him!?"
"He's not that bad", Layla made.
"Yes, he is! It's a serious question", Jake made, whirling around to face her. "How the fuck did he score someone like you?"
Layla blinked and took a moment to answer, as if she had to actually think about it.
"...He did catch me in a vulnerable state", she admitted. "Helped me get over my father's death. And the whole wedding was actually a cover for a job we were working on together. We just never got around to dissolving it. And then... things just happened and we didn't want to end it. At least that's what I thought..."
"I love Marc like a brother, I really do, but he can be so dense", Jake cursed. "Steven was so damn alone when I found him. Not just alone, alone, but lonely. Marc must've known about him. He must have, Steven doesn't know where to get an ID from and I sure didn't make it for him. But he just... left him here, completely clueless?" Jake raged as he hurried down the stairs. "He could've at least told you about him. Made sure he had some sort of company. Even if he couldn't talk to him, fine, I only just figured out how to do that too, even if he couldn't talk, he could've left written notes or something! Not - not writing postcards in our mother's name, what the fuck is wrong with him?!"
"Do you usually leave written notes for Marc?" Layla asked.
Jake sputtered. "W-Well... no. I usually only front when someone tries to stab us to death. What am I supposed to do, leave messages written in blood? Carve a nice 'JAKE WAS HERE' into a corpse? Yeah, because that would go over so well."
"That's the most casual admittance to murder I've ever heard", Layla muttered. "And to think Marc kept having nightmares about the things he did to Khonshu's targets..."
"He has what!?" Jake asked, piercing Layla with another one of his burning stares.
"That's what he has nightmares about? Shit, don't make me jealous!" Jake made with a disgusted snarl. "Khonshu's targets deserve what's coming for them. And no, before you ask, I'm not taking his word on faith, I'm not stupid. I do perform random background checks now and then to make sure he's not tricking me. So far, he's always delivered."
Layla shook her head incredulously. "What happened to - no, I won't ask. "
"First smart decision you've made all day", Jake grunted. "You can come with me to Munich, if you stay out my way and keep an eye on Steven should he come back. But you will ask no more questions about Steven's weird memory gaps and not a single peep about the Spector family, comprendre?"
"... Alright", Layla agreed after a moment of hesitation. "Anything else is fine though?"
Jake scowled, trying to think of any other landmines she could step on. "Anything else is fine", he decided. "Can't promise you'll like the answer but we do have a long flight ahead and I have a lot of questions for you too."
Jake did not head to the airport directly though. His first stop (after he got himself a new cap, dammit, why did Steven keep throwing his away?) took him to a small internet café that allowed customers to print things.
"What are you doing?" Layla asked.
"If I'm going to borrow the body for a few days, Steven needs an excuse to not go to work. I'm forging a certificate for him", Jake replied absentmindedly as he worked.
"Do you expect to come back here?" she wanted to know skeptically.
"I don't know", Jake replied frustrated. "But I think he'd like the option! Khonshu doesn't care where we have our base. If Steven's happy here, London is as good a place as any."
"You do have a base already. In Cairo, with me", she said, sounding hurt.
"I don't have shit", Jake growled, typing furiously. "For whatever reason, you and Marc didn't work out. Maybe he's allergic to happiness, what the fuck do I know. I can't help him there. But I can help Steven."
"And what about my happiness, Jake? You might not remember me but I lived together with Marc for two years. And he's a part of you, just as much as Steven is, isn't he?"
Jake printed out a very convincing certificate, signing it himself with his most horrible handwriting. Then he slammed it on the desk and turned to glare at Layla.
"What do you want to hear, eh? I have my hands full taking care of the other two! Right now all I see in you is a threat to them!"
Layla looked incredulous at first. Instead of getting angry though, to his surprise she took a deep breath and said calmly.
"Alright, fine. You don't know me and you don't trust me. I'm sorry that I upset Steven. I just wanted to help. I... I love Marc. We had our problems but... They look so small now. If he never wants to see me again, fine, but I need to hear that from himself and I need to understand why."
Jake regarded her closely for a moment, judging her intention warily. Finally, he nodded.
"I can work with that."
She gave him a little smile and offered her hand. "Peace?"
"Ceasefire", he allowed, shaking her hand.
Jake took the certificate to the post office. Layla reminded him that Steven's pet fish would need someone to feed it, which Jake had completely forgotten about. So he went to a pet shop and got an automatic feeder for the little guy. He made one more trip to Marc's storage unit to get enough cash to last him for the trip and then they were off to the airport.
They had to wait three hours for the next flight, during which Layla and Jake went to get Mexican food together. The taste of it seemed to trigger Steven awake, who sleepily mumbled something about mad cow disease.
"Oh look, the paper towel man is back", Jake greeted Steven's reflection in yet another polished, red plastic holder.
"Very funny", Steven grumbled. "Why do you have to keep eating meat?"
"Because I like it", Jake replied simply. To Layla he said: "Steven's vegan. He thinks I'm trying to poison him."
"Really?" Layla smiled a little. "Veganism, a pet fish and a love for poetry - he's really completely different from you and Marc."
"Hm-mh." Jake didn't listen to her, too focused on Steven. "Are you okay, hermanito?"
"... No", Steven admitted. "But I don't want to talk about it."
"That's okay. You can go under for a while if you want. I already told the museum you'll be sick for the rest of the week and I'm doing that trip to Germany I told you about. Might not be a bad idea to get some rest. Or, if you want you can stay for the flight. Layla and I are gonna talk a bit, about Marc and other things. You could chime in if you're curious, or leave if it's too much. "
"You don't have to treat me like I'm made of glass", Steven complained. "I only found out I've been hallucinating my conversations with my Mum for... however long. At least three weeks. It's a small thing, compared to having a bloody carnivore control my body, innit?"
"You make me sound like a velociraptor", Jake said with a grin.
"Sorry", Steven made half-hearted.
"No, I like it. Raptors are cool", Jake made and imitated a saurier claw at the plastic holder. It earned him a small chuckle. Baby steps.
"I want to learn more", Steven said, more serious now. "I want to know who Marc is and what kind of life he's been living."
"You won't like it", Jake warned him. "You have build a life you like here and it's very different to what Marc had. So by definition, you won't like it."
Steven laughed hollowly. "You think I like my life here? I have no friends, none of my colleagues can even remember my name, women look at me with either pity or disgust, I'm constantly broke and everybody ignores me. I hate my life, Jake. I might have hobbies and I might have dreams but I... And I can't believe I'm saying this... I don't think I mind being someone else once in a while. Anybody else. Even a bloody dinosaur."
Jake swallowed thickly. "Funny you should say that... Because I think the rest of us really freaking need some dreams and hobbies, hermanito."
Steven smiled weakly. "I'll trade them for the gorgeous wife?"
Jake laughed. "You have to clear that with Marc. I can offer superpowers though."
"You mean your uncanny ability to shout at folks till they do what you want?" Steven was almost grinning now, remembering how Jake had taught Donna a lesson.
"Something like that", Jake said and winked, not wanting to give away the surprise.
"Now stop talking to yourself and pay some attention to the Lady", Steven said. "It's rude to ignore her."
"Right." Jake lifted his gaze to Layla, who was watching him with a bemused expression. "Steven says I should pay attention to you. Were you saying something?"
She held up her hands. "No, no, don't worry about me. Talk to... yourself as much as you want, if that helps you."
Jake grunted. "I believe you had questions."
"I...yeah", she made slowly. "You said before that you never talked to Marc and only learned about Steven recently. That you usually only come out when there is danger and you're not sure how much Marc knows about you two. I was wondering, how much of Marc is himself and how much of his life is you two? If you completely missed our whole marriage, is it normal for you to have such large gaps or... Or has Marc come out more often lately or something? Do you live a whole life next to him? Do you... Do you have a job or, or a girlfriend or...? " She trailed off, unsure and Jake, who'd been scowling at the start because he told her not to focus on the memory gaps, relaxed a bit as he understood her intention.
"Ah, that's what you're interested in", he made and took a large gulp from his coke. "The answer is no, I wouldn't call what I have a life. I help Marc survive, that's it. Steven too, technically, though I suspect he gets into much less trouble. Often I'm there together with Marc during jobs but I don't interfere unless it's necessary. Before London, it had been months since I last saw the sun. The longest I ever fronted in one piece was about half a year in 2015." He turned to the paper towel holder. "What about you, hermanito? Recent history, everything after my stint - how much were you out while Marc was enjoying married bliss?"
Jake felt a slight pressure in his head and willingly stepped back, allowing Steven to speak for himself.
"I was thinking about that", Steven made subdued, pointedly pushing Jake's plate with the remains of his food away from him. "I never went to college. I remember High School and then I wanted to travel the world. See as much of it as possible. I was taking small jobs here and there. Sometimes my parents would send me money. Though I'm not sure now if it was really them... I... I know I just wanted to do that for a year or two. But I kept going. Woke up in different places, different cities, real beautiful ones at times. I tried to settle down several times... But I would get fired or I couldn't get a visa extension or something else went wrong and I had to leave. At some point, I just... I just lost any hope to ever really make something of myself." Steven was quiet, subdued, not looking at Layla or Jake. "When I woke up and realized I was in London, it felt like I'd come full circle. This is where I grew up. I thought I had finally run out of things to do or money to spend and I just... came home, like a bloody bum, not having archived anything..."
"Steven...", Jake made, pained. "That's bullshit! You're not a loser!" (Steven winced. Nobody could ever accuse Jake of having any tact.)
"It's not your fault that you lost so much time", Layla comforted him, putting her hand on Steven's. "And it's never too late to fulfill your dreams. What would you like to do?"
Steven smiled faintly. He scratched himself behind the ear, scowled when his fingers met the unfamiliar cap and pulled it off. "Well, I like to read a lot. I'm no good at writing but I love telling folks about what I read. The British Museum is such a great place, so full of history. I wanted to be a tour guide there. I know I'm not qualified and the people aren't the nicest... But I was really happy when I got that job in the gift shop. I thought maybe that's my foot in the door, maybe I can build on that. I did city tours before so I have some experience. I can speak French, good enough for the DALF and a bit Arabic. And Spanish, apparently - are you fluent in that, Jake?"
"'Course I am", Jake said proudly.
"'Course he is", Steven said with a faint smile. "Maybe you can teach me sometime."
"That sounds plenty qualified for me", Layla said. "I don't see why we couldn't make that happen, Steven. Maybe working full time will be difficult. But if it's a job you enjoy, and you wouldn't mind leaving London too much, I happen to have a lot of good connections to a lot of museums that would love to have you."
"Y-You do?" Steven asked with wide eyes.
Layla nodded. She looked left and right and then leaned over and whispered: "I do a bit of... repossession, you see. A lot of the ancient tombs and pyramids in Egypt, my home country, were raided by foreigners and its contents stolen and displayed in museums around the world or worse, in private collections. I sometimes... liberate those goods and sell them cheap to Egyptian museums. They love me there, I could easily cash in a favor."
Steven looked shocked for a moment but then, slowly a grin started to bloom on his face.
"That... That sounds bloody amazing. You're like, Robin Hood for historic artifacts or something?"
She returned his grin. "Yeah, something like that."
"I wouldn't mind moving to Egypt! Jake?"
Jake grinned. "Me case e su casa."
"Jake wouldn't mind either!" Steven told her eagerly. But then his face fell a bit as a thought occurred to him. "Oh... But I don't think I'd want to impose like that. I don't know why Marc left but to me it doesn't sound like it had anything to do with you. Maybe it can be fixed? I'm sure he wouldn't want me to butt into his life, dragging him down. He sounds quite a bit more successful than me... "
Layla patted his hand reassuringly. "Forget about Marc and me. Even if it doesn't work out, I'd still help you and I'd still want you happy. Besides, I don't know if I would describe Marc as successful. He's good at what he does but... How did Jake say it? Sometimes it looks like he's resistant to happiness. But if the three of you can be happy for each other, why shouldn't it be enough for you to just be yourself?"
"Listen to the wife, Steven. She's onto something", Jake agreed wholeheartedly.
Steven smiled faintly and started asking Layla questions about Egypt, where she lived and how she'd gotten into that particular profession. Layla was in the middle of telling Steven all about her father's passion about archaeology and his belief that the Egyptian gods were actually real when their plane was called and they headed toward the boarding area.
"Hey don't forget my baseball cap!" Jake complained when Steven was about to leave it there on the table. Steven rolled his eyes but stuffed it into the pocket of his jacket.
On the plane Steven grew increasingly nervous, having never flown before (that he remembered) and switched with Jake again.
"Why do you keep wearing that?" Layla asked when Jake pulled out the baseball cap again.
"I was wondering that too", Steven mused.
"You try living as the shadow of someone else for a dozen years", Jake grumbled to them both. "Steven has his poetry and his veganism. I have my own inane ways of being different from Marc. Besides, having something cover your face is important in my line of work. Reminds me of the hood, too."
Layla regarded him for a moment, not judging or like he was crazy, just thoughtful. "You like the... hood then?" she asked, mindful of the fact that Steven didn't yet know about that particular part of their life.
"It keeps us save", Jake replied with a shrug.
"Arguably, it also puts you in danger", she reminded him.
Jake snorted. "Yeah, no, not any more than we'd be already."
"What is the hood?" Steven asked promptly.
Jake glanced at Steven's reflection in the window - Layla had left the window seat to him. They were lucky, the plane wasn't particularly full and there was nobody else sitting in their row.
"I guess I should tell you what happened in 2015", he mused.
"You don't have to if you don't want to", Layla said gently.
"Oh, I don't mind talking about that. And Steven needs the background." Jake gathered himself, scowling a bit, wondering where to start.
"We were part of the military. Marines - American marines, Steven, we actually have dual citizenship. We were born in Chicago and only moved to Britain when we were 13."
Steven looked stunned. "We... We did? We do? I remember that we moved but... I didn't realize we moved across the pond."
Jake smiled slightly. "I guess it's not a surprise, with your accent, that you'd feel closer to the Brits. But Marc was always more of a Yankee. He joined the Marines right out of High School and for a while, that was fine. I switched with him for a bit here and there when the drills were particularly hard. I think he liked the discipline of the place. He kept folding his clothes and making his bed in the same way long after we left. But that year... something changed."
Steven was listening fascinated and Layla too was hanging onto his lips and nodding along. It seemed thus far at least this was not news to her. It was what came after that Marc had kept quiet about.
"We were on a mission off the coast of Argentina, looking for a missing submarine. I don't know the details or if they ever found it. I just know we had shore leave in Mar de Plata. When I came to I had a broken rib and I could barely see from whatever beating I'd gotten. There were five guys, friends, fellow soldiers that we'd trained with and laughed with and fought besides. And they were in the middle of forcing themselves on two local women."
"Oh my god", Steven made, looking faint.
"Marc tried to stop them", Layla guessed.
"Yeah but he couldn't. He was badly outnumbered and perhaps even conflicted - like I said, those were guys we knew. Or thought we knew."
"What happened then?" Steven asked worried.
Jake looked at the window, right into his alter's eyes.
"I killed them."
Steven's mouth dropped open in shock.
"All five?" Layla asked quietly.
Jake turned back to her. "It's not hard to surprise a man that already has his pants down, cariño."
"I imagine not, no..." she whispered.
"What happened to the women?" Steven wanted to know.
"I took them to their home and told them to forget my face. They weren't too badly hurt, just... traumatized. Not much I could do there. Fortunately they didn't live far away. I went back, got rid of the bodies and the girls didn't say a peep." Jake paused, giving the two of them time to digest his words.
"Was that... was that the first time that Marc, that you... that you killed someone?" Layla asked after a moment.
Jake merely nodded curtly. "That I know of. We'd seen action before but Marc's a pussy, would always aim just a little to the left or something. Could be that some of those bled out later. And me, well, I had no idea what was going on half the time I was thrown in, I'd just focus on getting the hell out of there. Mar de Plata was the first time I did it on purpose."
"F-First time? What do you mean first time?" Steven squeaked.
"Marc didn't return, after", Jake continued. "I had no idea what to do. Going back was out of the question. A whole squad going missing, anyone just assumes you're dead, but one person returning with no convincing story? Yeah, no. So I just... stayed there, in that city. Lived on the streets for a while. I checked up on those girls again, to make sure they were alright. They let me crash on their couch a few nights, taught me my first few words of Spanish. I went out again into the city, looking for work but the only work I got offered was crime stuff. And crime was fucking everywhere in that place. Especially when you didn't have a home to lock. I couldn't go out a single night without running into someone getting mugged or passing an alarm or hear the cry of some poor sod getting stabbed in a back alley. And it made me so fucking angry. I kept getting into fights, trying to make it stop. Eventually people started to recognize me and I had to start wearing a disguise, just to not get ambushed when I slept. But I also helped people. Got a wider selection of couches to crash on. People giving me food, sometimes money. I emptied the lair of some gang and took it for my own. Started to offer other bums a place to crash. It went on like that for months. If you ever visit Mar de Plata, you might still hear the legend of La Sombra Azul."
"The blue shadow? Really?" Layla said, smiling a little.
"Hey, I was only 23, give me a break", Jake replied, grinning.
"S-So you were, like, a vigilante?" Steven asked, eyes wide.
"Something like that. I saw a lot of nasty shit on the streets. Learned to fight dirty. Pretty much became one of the locals." Jake stared down at his hands. If he squinted, he could still see the blood on them. "All my life, all I did was trying to protect Marc. Protect myself. That was the first time I fought for someone other than that. It was a shitty life but I found my calling. Somebody has to take out the trash. There are too many people out there that deserve a bullet between the eyes. I know I barely made a dent but I like to believe that when I die, I'll leave this world a little bit cleaner."
"I... I think I understand", Layla said after a heavy silence. "You were trying to do what you thought was right. How... How did Marc take it?"
Jake scowled. "I have no idea. I just went to bed one day, as normal, and when I woke up again I was in freaking Australia, trying not to get eaten by a crocodile. I don't know how much he even knows of what went on. He couldn't have asked around if he wanted to, he didn't even speak the local language. I thought about letting him know, maybe even asking him to go back but... I didn't know how he'd react. He'd run to the literal other end of the world and I... I didn't want to upset him."
Steven had been quiet for a while and Jake gazed at his reflection worried.
"You okay, hermanito?"
"Huh? Oh... yeah", Steven made not very convincing. "It's... a lot. I don't remember any of that. Dunno if I would've been of much help but... I don't like that you had to do all that alone."
"Yeah", Jake made quietly. "Being alone sucks."
"Do you... Do you still do that?" Steven asked hesitantly. "Vigilante work? Is that your mystery job?"
Jake nodded slowly. "Pretty much. I just do it more professional now."
"And Marc... Marc does too?" Steven continued. Jake nodded and Steven averted his eyes. "So... So I'm the only one that doesn't know how... That can't..."
"By Khonshu's balls, Steven, no!" Jake protested immediately. "Don't you dare go there. Marc's a wreck and I'm a nutcase, you're the only one of us who came out relatively well-adjusted. We should all be dancing to your tune. We need you. If you want to be a part of this, I can show you the ropes and if not, I'll wake you up when we have lunch break. You do what you want. You being there is enough. Just... don't ask me to stop. I don't think I can. I know I don't want to. Mi hermanos will always be first but... I want to be more than just your armor."
"...Alright", Steven said after a moment, smiling a bit. "You deserve a life of your own too. If this is your thing... It's your thing. Just, please don't get me killed. Or imprisoned. Okay?"
Jake felt a wave of relief wash over him. "Okay. I promise."
Jake leaned back into his seat and closed his eyes. He hadn't realized how tense he'd been, how much he'd dreaded Steven's reaction to his true purpose until now. Steven's acceptance felt like a breath of fresh air after being submerged underwater for too long.
Jake didn't notice that he'd slipped back until he heard Steven speak and felt his mouth move without his command.
"Uh, did you... Did you know about that, about Marc and Jake being vigilantes?" he asked Layla uncertain.
Layla smiled and nodded. "Yes I know. Well, I knew about Marc, obviously, not about Jake helping him. We met on a job. The guy whose collection I wanted to rob happened to have quite a few more skeletons in his closet than I would've guessed."
Steven smiled at her softly. "Sounds like quite the exciting romance."
She chuckled. "It really was. The stories I could tell you..."
"Please do!" Steven said quickly, heart racing "I mean... If you don't mind. It's my life, sort of and I... I would like to know more. And Jake too."
"Don't use me as an excuse, casanova", Jake teased him, making Steven blush.
Layla did not seem to mind Steven's awkwardness and launched into a retelling of the first couple of meetings she had with Marc. Jake was listening as well, more amused than anything, especially when Layla mentioned seeing Marc in an all white costume.
"Really? With hood and cape and everything? That's so tacky", Steven made incredulous. "Jake, do you wear that sort of stuff too? Oh, please tell me there's no spandex involved!"
Jake guaffed, surprised once more by the inane details Steven tended to focus on. "No spandex, promise. But come on, the mask is mandatory if you wanna be a real vigilante!"
"I guess, I mean you have to protect your secret identity. Wait, I'm your secret identity. Oh my days, this will take some time to get used to..."
Jake clocked out shortly after the plane landed, wanting to get at least a small nap in before the moon rose. He left it to Layla and Steven to find a hotel to stay in.
He came back to awareness when he heard Steven whisper his name.
It was dark already and him and Layla stood in an abandoned alley. It lead to a bigger road from which the light of street lamps poured down the cobblestones, never quite reaching them.
"Is it time already?" he muttered before he felt himself float upward when Steven made room for him.
"Layla told me you want to finish a job she and Marc have been working together on for a while. Something about a golden scarab? We visited the museum before it closed, amazing really, wonderful Roman exhibit - and she thinks she found what you were looking for. So now we have to, like, steal it and bring it back to Egypt or something? But it's not stealing if it's already stolen, Layla said. I, uh, I'll just watch, if that's okay?" Steven made nervously.
Jake perked up at the news that the scarab was actually here. "Sure thing, hermanito. Today shouldn't be anything dangerous. I probably won't even need the suit but it's as good a time as any to introduce you to el jefe."
Jake took a step back from Layla, spread his arms to either side with a large, shit eating grin on his face. Then his head flew back and moonlight burst from his eyes. Thin bandages in pure white and pitch black started to wrap around his legs, his arms, a white hood and cape settling over his shoulders. Steven let out flustered curses in his mind, then gave one high pitched scream and fell silent when his gaze fell on the moon god that had materialized underneath the cone of a street lamp.
Dramatic as ever, Jake thought with a chuckle.
"Jefe, say hi to Steven, he's riding with me tonight. Steven, meet Khonshu, God of the Moon. He's our patron."
"Uh...nice to meet you?" Steven made, followed shortly by a hissed: "Damn, Jake, you could've warned me! What is this, a shared hallucination? Can he hear me!?"
"I don't know Jefe, can you hear him?" Jake asked good-naturedly.
For a skeleton bird with empty eye sockets, it was quite a remarkable feat to be able to express a gesture eerily similar to an eye roll.
"Quit your posturing, Jake. You have a job to do."
Jake chuckled when Steven screamed again upon hearing the booming voice of the god echo throughout their mind.
"Yes, he's always that loud", he told his alter.
It was really too bad tonight would only be a simple break-in. Jake would've loved to show Steven what he could really do.
XxX
AN: Hi folks, I hope you like the chapter!
Now I'm obviously not a psychiatrist, so everything you read in the flash-forward at the beginning, take that with a grain of salt. I have no idea if Steven's penchant for hallucinating things and fitting them into his narrative is something an alter might actually do/be capable of and if so, if he could relapse into that once the illusion was broken. In my story, this is something that keeps happening to Steven whenever something really upsetting/traumatic is happening, not just to himself but to any of the others. Exactly what that is triggering in this story though, you have to wait to find out.
Side note, this story takes place a few weeks before the events of the TV series. I have no idea how the scarab ended up in some small village in the alps, but I thought it would make much more sense if it was in an museum. Either Harrow stole it from there and went to the village because he has a cult base there which is where Marc found him. Or Marc stole it from the city and then, being chased by a cult so large it can infiltrate institutions like law enforcement, had to flee blindly and ended up in the countryside. But in my story, they arrive earlier and Harrow is not yet on their tail so everything is actually going more smoothly. And Steven can learn about Khonshu without getting traumatized! Yay!
OMAKE
Marc: Jake, you went behind my back to keep working with Khonshu, HOW COULD YOU!?
Jake: Dude, I've always been a vigilante. Khonshu gives me free medi-care and saves me the detective work, it's way too sweet a deal to give up!
Marc: But there's blood on my hands because of you!
Jake: Okay, like, what would you prefer, the blood of 10 criminals or the blood of 1000 innocent victims, huh?! Because who else is gonna save them but me?
Marc: You're the worst hero EVER!
Jake: But I am a hero! *gives his best Jack Sparrow wink*