Moon Knight (Sam x Luna)

Chapter 14 : A Life I Never Had

Luna closes her eyes as she hugs her broken alt. She is unsure how the alt has reacted to her gentleness, but what she does know is that the feeling of her body is vanishing. Luna opens her eyes to look at the alt, but finds that she is back in her childhood bedroom again. The sky's cycle from day to night slows down, ending it's switching on daytime as it had originally started. Luna looks back at her bed as she stands near the window. Young Luna balls her eyes out, repeating the same phrases she was hearing seconds prior. The little girl apologizes non stop as she sobs into her pillow, her back to Luna.

Suddenly, something pounds at the bedroom door, causing Luna to jump.

"Open the door Luna" Her mum says with hate on the other side. Luna looks back at her child self. "I'm sorry" Young Luna cries on her own, saying the same thing over and over. "Let me in!" Her mother yells from the other side. "I didn't mean too, I'm sorry" Little Luna sobs, gripping her pillow with intense fear as the aggressive pounding keeps on in the background. The young child, no older than ten years old, looks up with a terrified and sad face. The sight brings tears to Luna's eyes. Her young self breaths shakily, but her eyes suddenly roll back.

Luna watches her kid self, stunned by what was happening. The child's eyes return to normal, reverting her body into a normal sitting position. The child looks around, not afraid, but confused. "Open the door now!" Her mum yells again. "Okay I'm coming!" The child says. With the way she spoke and behaved, clearly being more confident than seconds before, Luna realized that this was young Charlie.

Young Charlie wipes her eyes in confusion and quickly slips off of the bed. Young Charlie rushes past Luna, pulling and pushing the desk out of the way of the door as present Charlie steps out from behind Luna with a sad expression on her face. Young Charlie opens the door, stepping back to make room for her mother. "You are going to pay for my little Lynn's death" Her mother says, only fire and hate in her eyes. Luna slowly steps to the side to get a better view of her mum.

Her mother holds a belt in her clenched fist. Luna watches in shock as young Charlie becomes fearful, frightened by what was about to happen. Young Charlie's eyes roll back like they did moments earlier. After the child's eyes return to normal, she now stands and behaves differently. By observing the kid for a moment, Luna realizes that this was the unnamed alt.

"I will make you pay" Luna's mother says, coming closer with the belt in hand.

Before Luna can watch what happens, Charlie gets in front of Luna and leads her backwards out of the room.

"I wanna see... I wanna see what she did..." Luna's lip quivers as they exit the memory, her voice shaking with it. "You don't need to see that, you don't" Charlie says sadly, leading them out the door as loud snapping can be heard. The two are brought back to the corridors when they get through the door, Charlie shutting it behind her while Luna flinches at each belt snap that sounded from the memory. Charlie looks over at Luna, tears rolling down her cheeks.

"You don't need to see anymore, that's the point of you..." Charlie says sadly. Luna looks up at her in slight confusion. "Point of me?" She repeats. Charlie shuts her eyes, letting her head hang down. "I'm so sorry... I'm sorry you had to see that. I... I didn't want you to see that because... It's the truth" Charlie admits. Luna still looks at her in confusion, her sadness not leaving as she listens. "I didn't want you to know the truth because you are kind and... And pure. And happy... That's you, not me..." Charlie says, beginning to sob slightly as she explains. Luna wipes her tears and looks back at her. "I... Created you because of the trauma... I created you to... Protect myself from her..." Luna pieces together. Charlie smiles softly.
"Luna, you created me to protect you" Charlie tells the woman. "I did?" Luna asks, clearly shocked by this new information as it gets confirmed by the alt. Charlie nods and laughs a little, her teary eyes trying hard to not let them fall.

"All this time... I thought you were trying to hurt me but the truth is... You were just trying to protect me, like you have done all these years" Luna looks down and speaks past her sadness. Charlie nods and lowers her head. "When I created you for the first time right there and then... You helped me block out all the bad things that ever happened to me... You... You gave me a normal and happy life and... And you took all the pain" Luna says, her voice becoming less shaky. Charlie shrugs and looks back up at Luna.

"That must have been so hard for you," Luna says, looking up at Charlie. "It was... But for the longest time it helped me, knowing I was helping someone... Things got harder for sure but I told myself that I was doing it for a reason. And no matter how hard things got, I told myself to do it for you. To give you the life I could not and will never have" Charlie explains herself, revealing probably the deepest and most hidden part of herself to her. Luna frowns sadly. "You... You gave your life for me" She says, shattered by the revelation.

"Yeah, I did," Charlie says. Luna smiles slightly. "Thank you Charlie... It hurts that I didn't know the truth. But I know why you did it. You gave me something I never asked for... I just wish now I could do the same for you" Luna says, looking at the ground and wishing to herself in silence. Charlie nods softly in response. The pair hadn't noticed, but the light at the end of the corridor had gotten closer since the last time they had checked.

A hippo fades back into their world of memories. "Your scales have almost balanced. You are so close, you can do this" Taweret says happily. Luna smiles back at the joyful hippo. "How are things up there?" Charlie asks. Taweret looks at her. "Well time moves differently here but Harrow is still searching for Ammit" Taweret says. "So he hasn't found her yet? We still have time then" Charlie nods in thought about what the hippo had said. "Yeah but not long I'm afraid so whatever else you both have to reveal to each other, do it fast" Taweret says, her jou fading slightly as she explains.  "How's Sam? I-Is she alright?" Luna asks nervously, missing her girlfriend and wishing she could be with her right now. "She's okay but... She misses you" Taweret says, feeling bad for Luna and her girlfriend, knowing that this situation was difficult for both of the women. Luna nods sadly. "Don't worry, she will be okay. Balance your hearts and you can go back to her" Taweret says in hopes she can make her feel at least a little better. Luna smiles at the thought and nods. "I hope we don't scare her when we are well, you know... Come back from the dead"Luna looks at Charlie and says with a little laugh and a goofy voice at the end. "I think seeing us come back to life will be the least crazy thing she's seen" Charlie smiles, finding the light in Luna's momentary goofier tone. "Don't forget, everything must be shared with each other" Taweret says before fading away. Charlie nods before she disappears again.

A door directly behind her pops open. "Charlie, look" Luna spots the door. Charlie turns around and notices it as well, seeing a street peaking through the crack. "Shall we... Go in?" Luna asks as she walks up next to her alt. "Yeah... Everything has to be shared" Charlie sighs and nods her head. Luna slowly makes her way to the door, leading the pair into the memory as Charlie follows close behind.

The pair find themselves in a street, many buildings around them as random people walk on the streets. They stop and look around at the sights and end up spotting the hospital beside them. Luna is unable to remember anything of this memory. "Do you know where we are, mate?" Luna asks her alt. Charlie stares at the hospital for a few moments, then turns to Luna.

"Yeah, I do" Charlie nods and slowly leads the way towards the hospital, Luna following her alt close behind.