(After episode 5)
Steven woke up flat on the ground, he looked up seeing a starry sky above him. All he remembers was falling off the boat and calling out to Marc before he froze in the sands.
"I should be dead." He whispered looking up at the sky.
Well, he was already dead. But he meant truly dead as in no more soul.
He slowly sat up and looked around to see nothing but sand and stars.
"Tough day you're having." A voice said as he looked up to see someone.
"Marc?" He questioned, the man didn't sound exactly like his Marc but he sure looked like him.
The strange man chuckled and smiled at him.
"No, I'm not Marc." He replied walking over to Steven and reaching a hand out to him. Steven cautiously took it and let the stranger help him up.
"Quite the day you had. Marc really needs to do a better job protecting you." He said dusting the sand off Steven's body before he reached up and wiped the dust and sand off his face.
"W-Who are you?" Steven whispered to the strange man who seemed so comfortable with him.
"My name's Jake." He responded as Steven nodded a little.
"I'm the other alter." He continued as Steven looked at him in confusion.
"Alter, you mean...as in, you're like Marc and I. Another part." Steven stumbled out making Jake laugh softly.
"Yes, exactly like that. The sarcophagus you saw in the psych ward was me, I eventually made it out. Explored Marc's memories and then just before Marc disappeared to the field of reeds I was able to draw your consciousness or soul as they call it back to me, where I knew you'd be safe." Jake explained as Steven listening, he noticed Jake was still searching over Steven's skin maybe making sure he was definitely not injured.
"Marc, he made it to the field of reeds?" Steven whispered feeling an ache in his heart. He couldn't help but tear up as he shook his head.
"Marc's gone?" Steven whispered as Jake looked at him sadly. He reached up to Steven's face once more and held his cheek softly.
"Shh, it's alright. We'll get him back, but we're too weak at the moment. Wherever we are, we were brought here to recharge. We're both far too weak to try anything to save Marc. Not to mention how mentally exhausted you must be, you went through a lot with Marc. A lot of trauma." Jake said as Steven finally looked up and met his eyes.
"I-It's okay, it was Marc that had to go through it, not me." Steven muttered before Jake slowly pulled him forward into a hug.
"But you still found out so many truths, saw what truly happened. Must've been hard for you. I'm supposed to protect you, I'm the protector that's what I do." Jake whispered as Steven subconsciously wrapped his arms around Jake in return.
"You must've been so afraid, especially without me there to protect you." Jake whispered as he pulled away slowly and looked at Steven.
Steven slowly backed away and chuckled a little.
"Nope, this isn't real. It's just that creepy psych ward doing this to me. It's just Marc and I, there's not another alter. Nope. And Marc isn't gone, this is just a trick." Steven muttered, unlike Marc, Jake was patient. He wouldn't get angry at Steven or overwhelm him and force him to calm down.
"I just need to lay down and close my eyes, then everything will be okay." Steven said as he sat on the sand again and then laid down and closed his eyes.
"Just need to sleep, that's all I need to do." He muttered as Jake walked over to him and sat down in front of him.
"Steven it's okay. I'm not going to hurt you, I won't even touch you if you don't want to." Jake said as Steven opened his eyes, Jake could see he was holding back tears.
"We're going to get Marc back, but for now we both just need to relax and calm down. I thought I saw a hippo on the boat, I got a feeling you know something about that huh?" Jake asked, he knew how much Steven loved ancient Egypt and also knew it would help him calm down.
"That was Taweret, she's the goddess of women and children." Steven said as Jake smiled.
After a few minutes Steven had sat up and was going on about everything he knew about what they had seen in Egypt.
Jake just smiled and watched Steven ramble in wonderment.
"Oh bullocks, I've been talking your ear off haven't I?" Steven muttered making Jake chuckle.
"I could listen to you talk for the rest of time." Jake said making Steven suddenly blush and chuckle a little. Steven went silent for a moment.
"It was you who took over and killed those men wasn't it?" Steven whispered as Jake sighed and nodded.
"I admit I lost control, I was just trying to protect you and Marc. Steven, you don't need to be afraid of me." Jake said as Steven hugged his knees to his chest and looked at Jake.
"I'm actually quite the opposite, I feel quite safe. Maybe it's just me being delusional." Steven said chuckling a little as Jake smiled. Steven unwrapped his arms from his knees and crawled over beside where Jake was sitting. He sat beside him and looked up at the stars before slowly resting his head on Jake's shoulder.
Jake smiled and reached down finding Steven's hand which he intertwined with his.
"Our adventure is only just beginning. I think this is the only peace we'll get for a while." Jake whispered as Steven chuckled and slowly closed his eyes.
"We better enjoy it then."