Cleo drops to her knees, landing on the soft and scorching sand of the Egyptian desert, finding herself on the outside of the tomb as the sun beats down on her armor. Her lips are slightly parted, and her eyes appear dazed and out of focus.

The truth showed itself to her, giving her the impression that she and Marc and Steven were meant to be, but it could never have been.

Star-crossed lovers that will never end up together.

For no matter what feelings Cleo holds in her heart, the men are dead. She watched them die, that much she knows to be true, but what she doesn't know is that they're fighting their way out of the underworld at this very moment. Desperately crawling back to the land of the living.

But upon revealing that bit of truth to his other half, Marc finds himself wrestling with Steven in the hall once more as the Brit is forced to come to terms with who he really is.

A stress ball that Marc created when he was just a child.

Steven punches his other half in the jaw and holds onto his fist as he feels the pain searing through his skin.

" All this time I thought I was the original, but I'm just something you made up," Steven pants as his jaw trembles.

" You got to live a happy, simple, normal life. You understand?" Marc questions.

" But it was all a lie, wasn't it?"

" So what? What? You wanna remember the truth? That you had a mother that beats you? That hated you? That made your life a living hell?"

" You're lying. You're just trying to upset me."

" But you've gotten to live thinking that she loved you. That she was kind. That she's still alive!"

Steven's eyes widen as his stance softens.

It has to be a lie.

It has to be.

He's been calling his mother for as long as he can remember.

He's been receiving her postcards.

No.. she has to be alive. She has to be.

" Dad called me after all these years, about her shiva, and I couldn't do it," Marc admits.

" No, this is all wrong," Steven proclaims, his voice barely registering above a whisper, " This is... no this all wrong. Oh, no, no, no. No, let me out, let me out, let me out!"

When Steven's eyes open, he sees a strange man sitting in front of him, and by instinct tosses the glass of water all over the stranger.

But it's no stranger.

It's the man who killed him, hiding behind a doctorate degree.

Steven saunters around the room, getting a sense of his new surroundings as the doctor attempts to break him down.

Steven's denial is strong, and it keeps going and going, spilling out more excuses as Dr.Harrow dials his mother's number.

But when he's handed the phone, he stares at it blankly as his mind processes the truth that it once refused to believe.

" My mum is dead."

The humming dial tone whispers in his ear as the doctor puts the phone back on the receiver. Steven closes his eyes, and when he opens them, he finds himself in one final memory.

The day of his mother's funeral.

There stands Marc Spector outside his childhood home with a flask in his hands, staring in through the window as his father motions for him to come inside, but he doesn't bother.

Marc turns down the street, walking with a limp as his anger slowly turns into sadness until it becomes unbearable. Marc collapses to his knees on the empty street, clutching his chest as he cries and cries. He rips the kippa off his head and smashes it into the ground, but soon feels remorse for his actions. He apologizes over and over until he just can't take it.

His eyes roll back into his skull, and soon Steven takes over, completely oblivious to the severity of the situation as he pulls out his phone and starts talking to his dead mother.

And as the memory of Steven Grant walks away, the Steven Grant wearing hospital clothes puts a hand on his other half's self, consoling him with an ever so gentle smile.

" It wasn't your fault."

The magic words seem to have broken the spell, for their reality begins to shake, like an earthquake, and suddenly they're running back to the boat to see if they've finally done it, but unfortunately are met with bad news.

" I'm so sorry. Your scales never balanced. Our journey's come to an end. I cannot stop the inevitable. I was really rooting for you guys, but the unbalanced souls of the Duat must now claim yours."

The Goddess leaves the two men on their own to be claimed, but that's not good enough for them. They can't give up now, but the screeches of the dead don't exactly fill them with motivation.

The dead pile onto the boat as it moves through the waves of sand, and Marc instantly orders for Steven to hide while he deals with the threat.

And normally, it would suffice, but these circumstances are far from normal.

" Come on, Marc, you've got this. But... if I'm you, that means.. I've got this, too."

To help his other half, Steven picks up a baseball bat and swings it with all his might, turning the unclaimed soul back into a pile of sand.

" Six!" He exclaims, " I prefer cricket."

Marc gives him a smile, seeing a side of him he's never seen before. He sees Steven repeatedly smashing the dead with his bat, and that distracts him just enough for an unclaimed soul to grab him from behind.

It all happens so quickly.

Before Marc can get dragged down to the sands below, Steven sprints towards him to remove the threat from his back, but in doing so he sends himself down to the depth of the sand.

But he can't escape, for as he begins to crawl towards the boat, his body starts turning to stone, with the final words leaving his mouth being the name of his other half.

On the boat stands the Goddess, observing the scales as one of the hearts seem to disappear.

" The scales are balanced."

And once Marc turns his head, no longer is he on the boat, but finally in the Field of Reeds.

He's in Paradise.

Heaven.

How much better can it get?

He's achieved what many never could... but why does he feel so empty?

His heart doesn't feel full.

He feels all alone.

He feels incomplete.

He doesn't feel like this is paradise, for how could it be if he doesn't have Steven?

How could it be if he doesn't have Cleo.

No... this cannot be.

He cannot stay here, despite the Goddess looming over his shoulder.

" We need to go back for him," Marc states as he stares at the field beneath his feet.

" It doesn't work like that," The Goddess says, " Leave here and you can't return. You don't need him anymore, Marc."

" So I get to go on to eternal peace and he just... stays lost in the sand forever? No... I'm not good with that."

Marc turns his back on paradise and heads into the cool sands to find Steven.

Meanwhile, in the world above, Cleo's body takes her through the hot sands to find nothing. Her mind feels numb and her mind feels broken. She travels through the desert and ignores her aching feet. She just keeps walking.

She sees the pyramids in the distance and knows that she has a mission to finish, but finds herself lacking the will to complete it.

What's the point?

She'll lose everything regardless.

It's in her nature.

Everything she cares for will eventually vanish, so why bother in trying to stop Amitt?

Cleo comes to a breaking halt as the thought crosses her mind, for it's the exact type of logic Baahir would lose.

Despite his death, he lives on inside her mind like a parasite, eating away at the good she holds.

But she won't let him consume her. She won't let him make her a bad guy.

Cleo continues her journey toward the pyramids, feeling the ground rumble beneath her feet as the sacred grounds become a fighting ring.

Avatars vs. Harrow and his men, and of course, the followers of Amitt come out on top.

One foot at a time, Cleo marches up the steps of the Great Pyramid, scaling it with ease as she comes across the rather large hole in its side. She purposefully ignores the fight raging on and searches for the Gods trapped in stone.

Her eyes scan over the various Egyptian Gods, but soon settle on the one with a bird's head. She removes it from the shelf and smashes it to the ground, and in a whirl of smoke comes a God she's not very happy to see.

Khonshu.

" We need to talk," Cleo announces as the God stands tall.

" DO WE?"

" How do we defeat Amitt?" She asks.

" BY KILLING HER."

" And how do we do that?"

" IT CANNOT BE DONE ALONE."

" Who else do we need?"

" MARC SPECTOR AND STEVEN GRANT."

" They're dead."

" ARE THEY?"

Khonshu's games are unamusing as usual, but for once, he might've said something useful.

Unfortunately for him, Cleo has grown much stronger since the last time they spoke, for soon enough he finds sand binding him and forcing him to his knees as she stands eye-to-beak with the God.

" Choose your next words wisely... little one," Cleo taunts with a tight jaw, earning a sigh from the bird.

" VERY WELL."

Cleo's binding tightens around him.

" IF YOU WILL RELEASE ME, I CAN GIVE THEM BACK THEIR POWER. I CAN GIVE THEM THE SUIT, AND THEY CAN JOIN US IN OUR CONQUEST AGAINST EVIL."

" What's the price?"

" THERE IS NO--"

Khonshu's words halt as Cleo brings her sword to his skull.

" Do not make me ask again, Khonshu."

" THE PRICE IS THE SAME. THEY WILL BE MY FIST OF VENGEANCE AND PROTECT THE TRAVELERS OF THE NIGHT."

" Change it," Cleo says bluntly, " I'm open to suggestions."

" YOU WOULD OFFER SOMETHING IN EXCHANGE FOR THEIR SERVITUDE?"

" Yes," She states, " Now what do you want."

" A TEAR."

" A tear?" Cleo questions, " That's it?"

" THAT IS ALL THAT I REQUIRE TO CHANGE THE PRICE."

It seems just a little too easy, but Cleo ultimately decides to remove her blade from his skull as the sand bindings fall down to the floor, allowing the God to stand up tall.

" THINK OF A TIME THAT BRINGS YOU GREAT SADNESS. ONE WHERE ALL HOPE IS LOST AND NEVER TO BE FOUND."

Cleo does as he asks, eyes staring blankly as her mind travels to just a couple hours ago, in which she watched Marc and Steven fall to their deaths, remembering them splashing into the shallow pool as the tear falls down her cheek and onto Khonshu's finger.

By the time she blinks, Khonshu is gone. Cleo lets out a huff as she places her sword back into its seeth, but finds herself needing it once more as a hiss echoes from down the hall.

She slowly brings her sword back out and holds it in both hands as she inches toward the noise, getting closer and closer with every cautious footstep.

The hiss grows louder and meaner, sounding like a cobra preparing to strike, and as she rounds a corner Cleo prepares to swing her sword, but falls short once she sees a familiar face.

" What the hell is wrong with you?!" Layla exclaims as she holds up her hands.

" I thought you were a snake!" Cleo rebuts in her defense.

" Why would I be a snake?!"

" I don't fucking know, Layla!"

The two women stand just a few feet apart, both taking a moment to regain their composure and their breath.

" What... are you doing here?" Cleo asks as she puts her sword back in its sheath.

" I need to free Khonshu," Layla states, " I got a message from... from Taweret."

" The Goddess of women and children sent you a message?" Cleo repeats slowly.

Layla nods, and Cleo just shrugs in response.

She's heard crazier.

"Well, lucky for you, I already freed Khonshu," Cleo affirms as she takes a step forward, " Now we wait for backup."

And backup is on the way, but experiencing a bit of a speed bump.

Marc has finally found Steven buried in the sand, but part of him fears that he may be too late as he kneels down for a heart-to-heart.

" Steven... looking pretty rough, man. I don't know if you can hear me... From the moment you arrived, way back then, we were so young. You saved me. I survived because I knew I wasn't alone. You were always there, alive, full of hope. And I tried to protect that, and I failed. I couldn't protect you. But you didn't abandon me. You didn't abandon me. And although that field back there was looking pretty good... there's no way in hell I'm gonna abandon you. Because you... are the only real superpower...I ever had."

The sand consumes Marc, but the magic of his love for Steven is strong enough to break the spell, setting them both free.

Free to embrace one another and rejoice.

And free to run through the Gates to return to the land of the living to their body floating in the shallow pool of water.

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[ i really dont want this story to end 😭 ]