Memories

The next morning came around all too quickly. Evy had rejoined Ardeth who was talking to Rick about something, and I decided to spend some quality time with my brother, and by quality I mean me play fighting with him. Teaching him some more hand to hand combat.

"C'mon Jon, I know you can do better than that." I said as he let out a wimpy punch at me. He threw another one at me attempting to get better. It was a tad better than the last but still could use some work.

"Joe puh-lease when am I ever going to need this?" He asked me whining, now I knew where Alex got it from.

"You never know Jon, trouble seems to have a way of finding us." I said back to him as I dodged his punches and threw one of my own only to have him dodge it.

"You mean trouble has a way of finding you." He replied back as he made a punch at me and got me. He smiled proud of himself, I knew I could take him down a peg easily by wrestling him to the ground but I just let him have this one. I laughed as I threw my punches at him trying to go easy on him. He blocked my every advance.

"Good job Jon. Wanna do some defense?" I asked him, my defense consisted of him trying to get out of a hold I would put him in. He sighed exasperated we had been practicing all day. I didn't blame him.

"Joe, I think I gotta call it for the night." He said to me exhaustion clear in his voice and sweat dripping from his forehead.

"Alright, alright." I said as I plopped down next to him on our makeshift chairs.

"Say what was with you earlier back there?" He asked me giving me a side glance making sure I was alright. I rested my elbows on my knees and sighed hanging my head. Finally, I looked back at him.

"I just feel like this is all my fault, if Rick and I would've never went after the bracelet..." I trailed off. He nodded sullenly, scooting closer to me, put an arm around me in a brotherly manner, and rubbed my cheek with his knuckle.

"It's alright old mum. It happens, we can't blame you for adventuring, it's in all of our blood. Plus, I know Alex loves adventure just as much as the rest of us." He told me. I smiled at him, he unraveled his arm from around me and scooted back over.

"Besides maybe we'll find more treasure, I hear that pyramid has a giant diamond on top. I plan on retrieving it and stealing back all that money I lost." He smiled proudly. I laughed. Either that or he'll die trying. God help that man and his need for money.

"Listen, what can we expect from our old friend Imhotep?" I heard Ricks voice out of nowhere.

"His powers are returning quickly. When he reaches Ahm Shere, even the Scorpion King won't be able to stop him." Rick put his head in his hands and sighed. Here we go, all over again except two immortal creatures will be after us. Suddenly, I had a weird feeling overcome me, I got up from where I was sitting near Jon and to the side of the ship where Evy was, almost like a hypnotic state overtook me.

"It's time to remind you of who you are." I heard a voice say in ancient Egyptian. Unexpectedly, the clouds around the ship turned into one of my visions. I saw two women dressed in beautiful gold clothing holding sais, ready for a fight. They turned away from each other.

"Pah Eu" I heard and someone clapped from beside me. The two women immediately turned around and started clashing their sais against each other. Confused of who they were I looked around at the men surrounding me, I was pretty sure it was Seti. The one beside me in the chair looked happily at the two. He had something to do with this "competition" I wasn't quite sure yet what it was. Imhotep was another face I recognized near me. I glared at him. One of the women fell to the floor disrupting my thoughts. She took off her mask. I gasped but it seemed like no one noticed. It was Evelyn, or someone who greatly resembled her. My instinct to keep her safe kicked in but I couldn't move from my spot. It was like I was glued to the floor. As confused as I was, the fight played on.

"Put your mask on, Let's not scar that pretty face." The woman Evy was fighting took off her mask as well as she said this. Not sure who this was but I was pretty sure it was Anck-Su-Namun. The fighting continued and soon Evy was disarmed of her weapons so she ran into a cartwheel back handspring backtuck on her way to get another from the wall. Anck-Su-Namun did the same throwing, her sais away into the genital area of some male statues. I smirked. Suddenly, Evy had gotten her axe thrown away in a different direction by Anck-Su-Namun and she was once again weaponless. I yearned to go help her but as soon the thought crossed my mind Anck-Su-Namun had flipped her over and held a spear at her neck.

"You are learning quickly, Nefretiri, I'll have to watch my back." She said.

"Yes, and I'll watch mine." Anck-Su-Namun dropped the spear and bowed walking away as the guy next to me got up and walked towards the two women.

"Bravo, Bravo! Who better to protect the Bracelet of Anubis than my lovely daughter, Nefretiri, and who better than to protect me, than my future wife, Anck-Su-Namun." The man said hugging Evy. He reached his hand out to me to join the hug but not before I noticed Anck-Su-Namun and Imhotep sharing a guilty longing look with each other. It almost seemed like we flashed forward because now Evy was in her room and I was bidding her goodnight. As I was walking to who knows where I saw a man who looked vaguely like Rick. He was one of my soldiers that I oversaw.

"Sakhmet." He said as I stopped in my tracks turning to look at him.

"Ptah." I smiled at him. He drew closer to me. "Not here." I said in ancient Egyptian smiling at him as I led him to my room not too far away from Evelyns. Immediately once we entered my room this man was kissing me I must've known him from somewhere. I guess he was my secret lover? As soon as we began I heard a knock at my chamber door. I told Ptah to go to the balcony, so we wouldn't be caught.

"Enter." I said, my voice clipped.

"Princess, you're needed by Nefretiri." He informed me. I nodded leaving with the guard.

"Of course, when am I not." I grumbled while the man led me outside my room to a balcony where my sister was overlooking the city.

"Sorry, I just needed to talk to someone about what happened today." She told me as I entered the room.

"Of course, I'm always here for you Nefretiri." I told her. Her eyes caught something. As I followed where she was looking I saw Anck-Su-Namun meeting Imhotep. That bitch, I knew she was no good for father. Suddenly, the curtains closed so we couldn't see what was happening.

"Father, he's in trouble." Evy or Nefretiri said to me.

"Do something!!" She yelled at me.

"MEDJAI!! My father needs you." I yelled down to the guards beneath our balcony. To my orders my guards started running towards Seti just as Anck-Su-Namun and Imhotep started to stab and slice him into pieces. My sister yelled, falling over the balcony.

"NO!!" I yelled falling over grabbing her ankle to help her. I couldn't lose two family members in one day. Suddenly, reality came back to me. I was hanging over the ships edge with Evy's ankle in my hand and Rick holding onto me.

"JOE!!"

"EVELYN!!" Rick and Ardeth yelled simultaneously. Ardeth, Rick and Jon's joint effort pulled us back onto the ship. They sat us down and put a blanket around us. I sat next to Rick, his arms around me in a hug.

"Joe, I know you haven't been yourself lately with these dreams and visions— Evy you said you were having them too." Rick started the conversation. Ardeth looked guilty, he seemed to understand what was happening all too soon.

"No, they're memories from our previous lives." Evy stepped in, more eager to talk about what had happened than I was. I was still trying to understand. "Honestly, I'm not losing my mind. It all makes perfect sense now." She went on looking at Ardeth, he wrapped his arm around her.

"I sentenced him to death." I whispered. It just hit me. I understood everything. This is why Imhotep wanted me dead.

"That's why we found the bracelet?" Rick asked me. I honestly wasn't sure why we found the bracelet since Evy was its protector.

"I was its protector. I must've told Sakhmet everything when I invited her back into my room that night." Evy started rambling. My brain was going a thousand miles a minute trying to wrap my head around the situation.

"Now do you believe, my friend? Clearly, you were destined to protect this woman, as I am with Evelyn." Ardeth said clearing things up slowly for everyone not in our heads.

"Right. Shes a reincarnated princess, and I'm a warrior for God." Rick said unbelievingly.

"Actually, you're a Medjai." I whispered to him as he kissed my cheek, happy he didn't lose me to falling off the ship.

"Now our son leads the way to Ahm Shere. Three sides of the pyramid. This was all preordained thousands of years ago." Ardeth said looking at Evy.

"And how does the story end?" Evy asked her husband looking into his chocolate colored eyes.

"Only the journey's written, not the destination." Ardeth replied to her going all spiritual.

"Convenient." Rick said once again sarcastically rolling his eyes confused still about the situation we had found ourselves in.

"Honestly Rick, I was having visions when we first resurrected Imhotep on accident." I told him looking at his face, I saw worry cover his features as he looked back to Ardeth.

"How else do you explain Joe's visions?" Ardeth asked him. "And our son who wears the bracelet?... How do you explain your mark?" He asked Rick trying to make him see his point.

"Coincidence." Rick scoffed at him. I understood the situation, it did sound insane, but he wasn't the one reliving scenes from his past life. I knew he didn't want to believe it.

"My friend, there is a fine line between coincidence and fate." Ardeth said trailing off. We were all clearly meant to be together. Now one problem solved, I knew what I needed to do.. Revenge was needed, Imhotep would die forever and he wouldn't ever be coming back. I was going to kill him.