Moon Knight (Sam x Luna)

Chapter 13 : Running Out Of Time

She quickly closes the door behind her and scans the room. Luna pauses in her place, her hand falling from the doorknob as she looks in awe. Memories from her childhood come flooding back to her as she scans the room with her eyes. She smiles lightly at the familiar and beloved objects around the room such as her books and her action figures as Charlie enters behind her. "We should go, you don't need to see anymore" Charlie says urgently. Luna turns around, seeing the alt's sad and anxiety filled face. "Why are you trying to not let me see what's going on? It's my choice if I want to see these memories or not" Luna states firmly, becoming more concerned when Charlie panics more, trying to avoid the rest of what happened after the accident.

"Okay" Charlie says uncomfortably as she holds her hands up, knowing that Luna should see and also feeling too upset to look at this memory too much. "I need to know what happened" Luna says seriously, then turning back around to her old room. Luna glances at her old bed and watches herself cry, face buried in her pillow. As much as she wanted to continue viewing the rest, something out of the corner of her eye caught her attention.

Looking outside the window, the light from the sun grows darker as it unhurriedly becomes night. Slowly, the night turns back into day. The cycle between day and night continues, but then it goes faster every time it switches. Charlie bites her lip, trying to not say anything or panic as she witnesses the sky outside as well. The cycle gets faster and faster until it eventually slows back down. Luna looks at the bed again, seeing her child self from the past still sobbing in her pillow on her bed. Suddenly, she's pulled away out of the room, bringing them back into the corridor. "What the hell are you doing?! What happened in there Charlie? What happened in that room?" Luna struggles in Charlie's grasp. "You don't need to see that," Charlie says, trying to ignore her questions and give the same sentence back as a response.

"What are you hiding? It can't be anything worse than what I've already seen" Luna breaks out from her alt's hold, yanking her arm away. Charlie sighs as something appears beside them.

Taweret looks at the girls as they both glance back at her. When they look at the hippo, something else catches their eyes. A glowing, bright light forms all the way at the end of the corridor.

"What's that?" Charlie asks. "That's the afterlife. You are running out of time. Your scales aren't as unbalanced as before but you have a way to go before they balance" Taweret says, upset for the danger of their lives and everybody else's back on earth. "Well I know what we have to go, we have to go back" Luna says, hurt, but still staying strong for the both of them. "There has to be something else" Charlie murmurs. "Is there something else that I don't know? Because I'm thinking that all of that I have just witnessed was all lies" Luna says, obviously upset by the memories she had witnessed. "I can assure you that everything you see here is the truth," Taweret says firmly, making Luna shed a tear as she stays quiet. Charlie sighs.

"I just... You don't need to see that. Trust me you don't" Charlie says hesitantly. "Why not? What are you hiding?" Luna asks, becoming annoyed by Charlie's hesitance to show her this last memory even after all the others she had to painfully view. Charlie groans and turns away, thinking silently to herself. Luna looks at the hippo for some sort of help or advice.  "Remember what I told you both, it is so important you remember" Taweret says gravely as she fades away once more. "Everything must be shared for us to escape" Luna says softly, but ready to stop dealing with her alt's nonsense.

Luna marches back to the door she was pulled from, but Charlie jumps in front of her.  "Look, just listen to me for a second. You don't have to go back there. We don't have to go back there, we can just... Talk" Charlie says, trying to not revisit the dark past. "Talking isn't enough, I don't know what you are hiding but I have to see for myself. I have to see" Luna says, uncomfortable that the alt was using her method of thinking instead of going with her own way or doing things. Charlie was trying to be closer and warm up to Luna in the next few seconds so she would listen. "But we can just talk about it. Please Luna... Don't make me go back there" Charlie pleads, holding her arms out to block the way. "We have too... If we don't then we'll never make it back and the world will be lost. That will be on you, it will be all your fault" Luna says, while concerned and upset for what was to come and what was wrong with Charlie, she speaks seriously and allows herself to toughen up.

"No I can't! You can't make me! I won't go back! Not again! Not again!" Charlie screams and freaks out, making Luna back away. Luna stands back, stunned to see her moody and usually annoyed alt shakes her head and screams, closing her eyes tight. "Not again! I won't! You can't make me! You can't make me!" Charlie hits her head, breaking down in front of her. Luna shuts her eyes, terrified and upset at the sight of Charlie breaking down. Charlie cries and loudly panics in front of her, but soon the sounds go silent.

Like she has done before, she opens her eyes and finds herself somewhere else. This time, she is by herself. Charlie is gone again, leaving her alone in a dark room. Luna remembers this room with its scratched up floor and dented walls. In the corner of the room, she spots it. The other alt. The alt rocks back and forth and mumbles to herself, not noticing Luna behind her. As she creeps closer, she notices the alt's bruises and cuts. Hesitant at first, she gazes at her for a moment until continuing, knowing that she had to do this. "Hey there mate" Luna says softly. The alt ignores her call, mumbling to herself and rocking quietly.

Dropping to her knees slowly and carefully, Luna comes close enough to hear the alt. The alt repeats the same things, whimpering and pleading to nobody.  "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry. I'm sorry" She repeats, not knowing of Luna's presence. This lets Luna realize how mentally broken her alt was. The alt turns slightly, tears dropping from her tired and hurt eyes.  "Please don't go back there... Please. Please" The alt pleads.

"But... I need to... Everyone is in danger" Luna says, not wanting to hurt the alt and feeling bad that she had to. The alt turns around and mumbles to herself again, crying and whimpering harder this time. Luna sighs softly. "The thing is... I've been shown a lot of memories that I don't remember and like you, I'm scared... I'm scared because I don't want to believe the things I have seen but at the same time, I have too because they are real. And... I don't know what's coming but I need to know..." Luna says, getting no return from the alt."I need to know because I have to get back... There's a lot of people counting on me and Charlie" She continues, hoping her words would at least help the alt understand or feel better somehow.  The alt remains unresponsive. Luna is silent as she thinks.

"You met Sam before didn't you? She's my girlfriend. Well, she's more than that... She's my world. I would be lost without her. Despite all of this craziness, she's stuck by me. But right now she thinks I'm... Gone... I can't imagine the pain she's feeling right now. But whether I'm alive or dead, I will always love her" Luna says quietly, getting off her knees and sitting where she was just crouched. The alt's rocking slows as she speaks. "Sam is the kindest, sweetest girl ever and it's funny because she will say the same about me... But the truth is, she is everything. I've met gods but to me, Sam is the greatest goddess of them all" Luna admits, smiling at the thought of her lover. The alt stops rocking and mumbling. She turns around, looking at Luna with tears in her eyes still. "I love her... I love her so much" Luna closes her eyes, trying to hold back her own tears again.

"Please... Please I have to get back to her" Luna opens her eyes, tears falling as she pleads back to her alt. The alt's tears fall as she shakes her head.  "You can't go back there, please don't" The alt whimpers. "It's okay, It's okay... Whatever it is, however bad it is... I promise that no one will hurt you anymore... I promise on my life" Luna says, watching as the girl begins to cry again, closing her eyes.

Luna gazes at the alt sadly, waiting for a moment before moving again. Slowly and steadily, she crawls closer to the alt. At first, she's reluctant, but then she opens her arms. Luna wraps her arms around her alt, hugging her as gently as she could.