T H E F I N A L S T A N D
"It appears my work here is done," Stone Lincoln remarked, smiling down at the dumbstruck crowd below him. He looked at Larry, "Just remember, son. A house divided against itself cannot stand."
Him and Larry shared a meaningful look before he left, exiting the messy room the same way he'd burst into it, shouting a final farewell before he was gone completely. It was quiet until the sound of his thundering footsteps faded away.
"What now?" The villain in the robe asked Kahmunrah.
"You know, I'm not quite sure," he admitted, slowly turning to face Larry, Theodosia, Ahkmenrah and the miniatures. "I suppose we should probably start by watching them die."
Theodosia's settling heart sped up again. She always knew there was no escaping tonight without killing Kahmunrah first. Cruel fate had brought the brothers back together again, but Theodosia was determined that tonight would end differently than it did four thousand years ago.
"I'm sorry," she whispered, her eyes locked on Kahmunrah's imposing figure. "I may need to break my promise."
He squeezed her hand. "I know."
Surrounded, once again, by opponents on all sides, the group got ready to stand their ground. They were defenseless. Larry's hands were occupied by Jedidiah's hourglass, and she and Ahkmenrah had nothing but the luck of the Gods on their side. Her sword was still hidden away within the crate she'd been stolen from at the beginning of the night.
Theodosia took a deep breath, squared her shoulders, and stepped to the front of their misfit group. The man in the robe smirked at her. All she had been tonight was a helpless girl, passed from one hand to another, waiting for someone else to save her.
Not anymore.
She might have never stood on a real battlefield, but Theodosia had the blood of Spartan's running in her veins. She was born to conquer, and she would make her ancestors proud.
Her opponent called his army in a language Theodosia had never heard and then, with his finger raised towards them, he shouted, "Make them dead!"
Theodosia tried to take in each soldier in the few seconds she had before they were upon her, weapons drawn and murder in their eyes, but the fight was interrupted before it could even begin.
Kahmunrah groaned, "Oh, now what?"
Theodosia turned to see a group of familiar faces. Now it was her turn to smile, and she did, as she searched the determined faces of each member of her family. They wouldn't fight alone, and Theodosia wouldn't fight unarmed. Behind Amelia, in her signature power pose, was Alec, and in his right hand was her sword, glinting promisingly under the fluorescent museum lights.
"We are not going to attack...right now!"
Their battle cry echoed through the room, springing everyone into action. Theodosia's hesitation melted away as she turned to meet Kahmunrah's patchwork army head on. With nothing to deflect their weapons, Theodosia charged ahead, knocking through their undisciplined formation.
Down went the first soldier with a heavy thud, his axe slipping from his grip and sliding across the tile floors. Theodosia jumped to grab it, gripping the cold metal handle as tightly as she could, and bringing it up just in time to block the soldier who had already gotten up. He lifted his shield and the axe lodged. Cursing to herself, Theodosia lifted her foot and pushed with all her strength against the shield, dislodging the axe and sending the soldier down for good.
The room was utter chaos. People fought without purpose, dodging blows, and dealing them in turn, fighting one person and then the next. Theodosia tried to see through the dense crowd, tried to find Ahkmenrah, but their opponents swarmed in hoards. When she knocked down one, another replaced him. One after the other they came, and no path cleared.
Theodosia was clumsy with the axe. It was heavy and stubborn. It didn't slice, it lodged, and it felt wrong in her hands. Her muscles were screaming with fatigue, but still, it made better company than nothing at all. The clang of the metal against armour, against steel, against shields, was a symphony to her ears.
She felt at home.
It was if she had spent her whole life on a battlefield. Her anxiety melted away and turned into adrenaline. She felt exhilarated, she felt right. She could almost glimpse the shadow of a different life, like a mirage, dancing around her. She chased it, hopelessly.
"Theo!" With the brute force of an ox, Alec slammed into the soldier aiming for her. Just like that, the shadow slithered away. Smiling down at Theodosia, his hair flopping in his eyes, he held the hilt of her sword out for her to take. "You looked like you needed this."
Sharing in Alec's devilish smile, she wrapped her aching hand around the leather-bound hilt of her sword, warm from Alec's hand, and let the axe fall unceremoniously to the floor. Now this felt right.
With Alec at her side, they fell into a steady rhythm. Block, strike, turn, and repeat. But still, Theodosia's eyes searched. They searched until they finally found Ahkmenrah. Her glimpse of him was fleeting, but it was enough. He was holding his own against some of Napoleon's men, but most importantly, Kahmunrah was nowhere near him. She struck again.
Kahmunrah.
"What's got you so distracted?" Alec yelled over the clamour, as their backs met, allowing them to see all of their oncoming attackers.
"I want to find him," she grunted, slicing the arm of a soldier.
"Who?"
"Kahmunrah!" She pushed back against the soldier and turned to Alec. "Cover me."
Alec smiled to himself. He always loved a good challenge. Theodosia bent down, biting down on the handle of sword. Moving quickly, she pulled the front and back of her long skirt together and tied them in a tight knot. Grabbing her sword, she pushed her way through the warring crowd, to Kahmunrah's pile of museum treasures. She knew what she wanted. She grabbed the same robe Kahmunrah had been parading around in an hour earlier and pulled the tie from the belt. Standing back up, she reached back and pulled her long hair into a ponytail, tying the glossy back ribbon around it securely.
She turned back to the fight. From here, she could see so much better. It took no time at all to find Kahmunrah in the crowd, and this time, she wasn't losing him. She fought through the crowd to get to him, but, to her dismay, Larry beat her to it. As he ran out from behind a pillar, Kahmunrah stopped him with his gilded scythe.
"Very clever, Mr. Daley," he taunted, backing Larry up with the tip of his blade pressed against his chest, "getting them to fight amongst themselves."
"Yeah, I can't, uh, really take credit. It was, uh, Abraham Lincoln's idea," Larry replied, hesitantly. "You know, 'A house divided can't...' Doesn't do well."
"Yes, well, you should have saved yourself when you had the chance." Kahmunrah raised his blade to strike, but just as quickly, Larry brought the hilt of his flashlight up to block him. "Because now I shall have the tremendous pleasure of killing you myself!"
Their fight began, and Larry threw Amelia the tablet. Kahmunrah kept up his attack, striking without pause, and Larry dodged every blow with his flashlight. The room had stopped fighting. All the calamity ceased as the two fought a tense battle. And then, Kahmunrah got hold of Larry's flashlight and in an instant, it was across the room, and Larry was unarmed. Larry dodged him and went for his weapon, but Kahmunrah was on a war path. Larry slid across the floor to reach the flashlight, but as he turned, Kahmunrah was coming at him.
Theodosia knew Larry could handle himself, she was sure he would grab the flashlight in time, but if he did than she would lose her chance to give Kahmunrah the punishment he deserved.
Before Larry could raise his flashlight, Theodosia rushed towards them and narrowly blocked Kahmunrah's blade with her own, just inches from Larry's face. Kahmunrah looked up at her, surprised, and she took this as her opportunity. Pushing his blade up with hers, she forced him back with all her strength. As he stumbled, she brought her foot up and kicked him square in the chest, sending him to the floor.
She looked back at Larry, who was staring up at her, as stunned as Kahmunrah. Taking a breath, she nodded. She knew he had a plan, and she trusted him enough to believe in it. He nodded back, so she allowed all of her attention to return to Kahmunrah. He got up, red in the face, the veins in his neck nearly popping he was so angry.
"You!" He spit. "Oh, I'll enjoy this."
"Not nearly as much as I will," she muttered.
Kahmunrah went back to his constant attacks, but Theodosia was better than Larry at blocking them. Rather than letting him push her back, she moved forward with every strike he thrust at her, backing him towards Amelia. But as she got closer, Larry caught her eye. For a split second, her focus shifted as she noticed him running past them. It was just enough of a mistake. She barely blocked Kahmunrah's blade as he brought it down towards her face, murder clear in his eyes. She tried not to show her fear on her face as his blade shimmered above her, but she could only think of one thing, and it terrified her.
Was this the face Ahkmenrah saw before he died?
She struggled under the force on him pushing down on her. She shouldn't have let her focus slip for even a second, but she did, and now she had lost the upper hand. Behind him, Larry was gesturing, trying to catch her attention. Kahmunrah's blade slipped closer as he finally did. Theodosia gasped involuntarily, but she caught Larry's motion.
He was gesturing towards the sarcophagus.
Forcing herself, she met Kahmunrah's eyes. They were so void of anything but anger and revenge. His eyes were empty and cold, but Theodosia saw something else in them. She saw every fear, every insult, every taunt, every problem Kahmunrah had caused her tonight. She saw Ahkmenrah, the man she loved. The man whose life he took, out of petty jealousy. She saw the fear she had never seen in Ahkmenrah before, and with a cry of anger, she pushed back against him as hard as she could.
With renewed fervor, she began striking at him. He dodged, but he wasn't as quick as she was. He was almost against the sarcophagus now, but Theodosia wasn't letting him go that easily. His scythe blocked another attack by her sword, but she pushed it away, leaving his chest open. Without any hesitation, she plunged her sword into him.
Kahmunrah gasped in pain as she pushed her blade in further, bringing her closer to his face, distorted in pain.
"It hurts, doesn't it?" she hissed. "I wish I could force you to endure every bit of pain you made him endure. I wish you could face the death you deserve, but you can't. You haven't come back to life. You're just a pathetic recreation of an evil man that died eons ago. You are nothing but wax and cowardice. There is nothing great about you, and there was nothing great about the man you owe your likeness too. But luckily for the Gods they don't need your mortal body. Your soul will pay for all you've done, and he will live on, forever graced by the Gods who have shunned you."
The portal opened behind him, and for the first time, Theodosia saw fear in Kahmunrah's dark eyes. She felt no pity for him. She put her foot on chest, and he cried out.
"Please," he gasped.
She ignored him. With a grunt, she pushed him off her blade, sending him into the underworld where he belonged. Amelia shut the sarcophagus and the room went silent. Theodosia took a shaky breath and let her sword drop to her side. She gripped it tighter as she tried to hide it.
She had just killed a man.
"Theodosia."
She turned and there was Ahkmenrah, standing where she and his brother had just fought. The sight of him nearly sent her into hysterics, but she held strong. He was safe. She was safe. They were all safe. So, why did she feel so empty?
Dropping her sword with a clatter that resounded through the room, she ran into his waiting arms.
a/n: okay so writing fight scenes is INSANELY difficult. I'm glad this one is over, I literally rewrote this like eight times and if I'm being honest, I had to cut myself off at this draft, I could probably keep going. Hopefully this (begrudgingly) final draft delivers the spectacular finale I was hoping it would!
School has started back up again for me so I haven't had much motivation to write. You'd think reading great authors like Shakespeare and Bronte and Browning would inspire you to write but all I am is exhausted 🥲 it's my reading week and I'm supposed to be catching up, but mostly all I've done is sleep. I regret nothing.
As always, I really hope you enjoy this chapter and thank you to everyone who reads, votes and comments. I appreciate you all so much! I'm sorry I haven't been updating regularly (or even often), but I still try and check your comments and interactions nonetheless! I don't want to disturb the entire Hamilton song being transcribed in the cast + intro chapter, but I seriously love it, if the song finishes, someone start a new one asap.
Have a great weekend!!