All the Stars - Moon Knight: Marc Spector / Steven Grant

VIII

Flashback:

She was an ordinary girl, wandering through a pet shop for toys to buy her cats. She reached onto the shelf  to grab a moving toy mouse. "This ought to do it," she thought to herself. She began to make her way to the front, exiting the aisle, when a man bumped into her.

"Woah, in a bit of a hurry, are we?" She frowned at him.

"Sorry, I, uh, just needed to get a last-minute gift for my coworker's kid," the man replied.

"At the pet store? What does he have?" She asked.

He smiled, "nothing yet, but I think I'm gonna get him a hamster or something. Kids love those, right?"

Xia scoffed, "not a chance. Get the kid something easy and not smelly that the parents can easily take care of and not find to be a burden."

The man nodded, "such as...?"

"A goldfish," she responded.

He smiled, "Thank you, Miss....?"

"Xia," she finished.

He held out his hand to greet her, "I'm Marc."

——

He grabbed her hand pulling her into the ocean as the sun was just over the horizon. She squealed as the cold salt water reached her body. Her and Marc splashed around in the water for a few minutes until they made their way back to the sand.

"It's beautiful," Xia sighed, admiring the beauty of the universe, as she often did.

Marc stared at her sun kissed face, noticing the sparkle in her eyes. "Yes," he replied softly, still looking at her, "beautiful."

She stood up, still staring at the view and putting her hair up. "We should start heading back," she suggested. She heard him shuffling around and turned around.

When she saw him, her heart exploded. He was on one knee, looking up at her with desire, a ring in his hands.

"Yes!" Xia jumped up, excitedly. He jumped up as well, picking her up and swinging her around.

"I want to be with you for the rest of my life," Marc whispered in her ear.

——

The sun was blazing over Cairo when Xia woke up. She looked over to the other side of the bed, seeing an empty silhouette of where Marc was. Living with a mercenary wasn't easy.

She got dressed, fed the goldfish, and made her way outside towards the woman's shelter. She helped unwed women with childbirth and childcare. "Easy there, Nailah," she said, helping an eight-month pregnant woman to sit.

Noticing the diamond on Xia's finger, she spoke, "Where is your husband? Why would a woman like you help us?"

Xia sighed. "I want to help. Us girls have to stick together," she explained with a smile. She got up to go help others when Nailah grabbed her arm.

"You are a good person," Nailah said. Her voice lowered, "I need your help." Xia leaned in, wondering what she meant. "Meet me on the rooftop at midnight."

"What? Why?" Xia whispered. Just then, another woman came up to talk to Xia, and the subject was dropped.

—

Xia sat at the table in her and Marc's apartment, deep in thought. Midnight was drawing near, and Marc still had not returned. Xia sighed and stood up. She grabbed her shawl and threw it over her shoulders, making her way outside.