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

XII

Xia gasped awake in a sweat, remembering the night before. Was it a dream, or was it a glimpse of her past? She sat up and checked her phone. To her surprise, there were no texts from Steven. She assumed that he was just oversleeping. It wasn't in character for Steven to be oversleeping, though, and after the night with Bastet and her visions of Marc, she couldn't help but worry.

After feeding her cats and grabbing a bagel for the road, she went to Steven's apartment. She knocked on the door three times, as she usually did, and waited for him to open the door. She, however, received no response. After thirty seconds passed, she knocked again. And again. "Steven?" She called through the door. "Steven, are you there?" She figured he was ignoring her. "Look, I'm sorry about last night. Just please open the door so that we can talk." 

Then, she heard a commotion in the street; it sounded like a gunshot. She looked out the window in the hallway to see a man running. It looked like Steven. "Oh, hell no," she cocked her neck, pushed the window open, and skillfully made her way to the ground, booking it after him. 

"Steven!" She called out chasing after him and pushing past people. He did not stop or turn around to acknowledge her. The two ran for what felt like forever until they reached an alleyway. He was cornered. "Steven, what the fuck?" Xia panted, catching her breath. She looked into his eyes and realized that it wasn't Steven, but it wasn't Marc either. "You're not Steven," she realized, slowly inching towards him, ready to fight. "But you're not Marc either," she slowly reached behind her to grab her taser. "Who the fuck are you?" She asked softly, squinting her eyes. The man said nothing. 

In an instant, his eyes glowed white and she saw the traditional moon knight suit surround him. Xia shook her head as he jumped out of the alleyway. "Son of a bitch!" she exclaimed to herself. "Alright, Bastet. You win. Get the hell back here. I'm in," she called out to the goddess, sounding undefeated. 

A dark smoke surrounded Xia as the goddess appeared. "Are you sure?" Bastet asked. 

"Shut up. Yes I'm fucking sure," Xia replied with urgency. Bastet nodded and Xia's old costume surrounded her body. She hated to admit it, but it felt good to be back. She jumped out of the alleyway and climbed the tallest building she could find. "Fuck," she sighed to herself after scanning the entire city and finding no sign of him. 

-----

Xia had her hood up and her hands in her pocket. She walked past several TVs in a shop window displaying the news story of the person shot outside of Steven's apartment. Marc and Steven's face was plastered all over the news. "This isn't good," Xia whispered to Bastet. "We need to find them NOW." Xia was getting more and more agitated at the whole situation. 

"I have searched everywhere here. No luck," Bastet replied. 

"Thanks for nothing. Talk to me when you find something useful, okay?" Xia continued to walk around the city trying to think of a solution. 

She made her way back to her apartment building and headed straight for the roof. Once she got to the top, she saw the moon. In prior days, Xia loved the moon. To her, it meant peace and love. Now, though, whenever she saw the moon, all she felt was hatred. She took a deep breath and let out a loud scream. "Khonshu!!!! Where the fuck are you? What are you playing at, you stupid bird!!! Answer me! I'm not going to stop hunting you until you let them go! Do you hear me? Answer me, damn it!" 

She received no response, so she sat down on the edge as tears silently ran from her eyes. She was confused and frustrated. She felt hopeless. Suddenly, a big cloud of gray smoke erupted behind her, causing her to whip around and stand up to face him. It was Khonshu.

Xia immediately ran at him in frustration. "You monster!" She yelled, hitting him; her hits having no impact. "Stop exploiting them! Let them go!" 

"Xia," Khonshu spoke up. "I am not here for you."