Family
The real balance between the just and the unjust was finally free.
Ammit beamed.
So much time had passed after her judgment.
So much.
The gift to his avatar had never satisfied her hunger.
And it wasn’t the same.
As times changes and the court of Osiris stop passing judgment to the wrongdoers, and the criminals no more face their sentences, been left to scatter over the Earth, finding only partial punishment in the laws of men and in the meager efforts of Khonshu, the pleasure that it came from devouring their souls, it had been denied to the goddess. Ripped off from her hands.
After accustoming her to live for that pleasure, the rule of Osiris that had prevented the other gods from intervening in the affairs of humanity had become impossible for her to follow.
That was why she had designed her plan to eliminate the gods and continue to rule alone.
Although she had failed and ended up locked up all those years.
But her avatar, her servant, the one abandoned by Khonshu, had been useful to her, very useful and had fed her with enough souls to be able to recover the strength for this rebirth.
Oh, gods and humanity, weren’t prepared for this.
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Marc approached the pyramid removing one of his suit's crescents to use its reflection.
“Okay, Steven. You are the expert. Do you want the body now?”
“No. We don't know if I'll be able to give it to you again if something happens, mate”
“So? How we do this then?”
“Describe to me what you see and I tell you what to do”
“Very well, Steven. You're in charge” Marc murmured looking at the entrance “What do you want me to look for?”
“The entrance to the Ennead's chamber has to be present in the structure. The gods must have guaranteed that, in the event of a tragic event, their avatars could enter without using their powers. Or, at least, that is what anyone would logically have done…”
“Steven” Marc warned him “We don't have time for lessons on logic”
"Yes, sorry. You're right. Look for nonsense symbols among the ones you can see. Especially those related to the moon”
“With the moon? Why?”
"Because that chicken with which you made the deal is more paranoid than the two of us put together"
Marc shook his head laughing.
Steven was right.
If there was a secret entrance, the persecuted Khonshu would have put a graffiti on it, to find it in any eventuality. Especially considering how much the other deities and their avatars “loved” the god.
But… how to find that signal?
"It occurs to me that... he could be like Gandalf"
Oh, of course.
Steven had a point again.
He was the ruler of that satellite for a reason.
If there was any sign, it should definitely be visible under the light of it.
Marc drew his other crescent dagger and pointed it at the pyramid wall, hoping the reflection would illuminate the writing.
"Over there!" Steven exclaimed from the other crescent dagger "The horns!"
“Khonshu, it’s incredible that you have escaped so much time from the wrath of the gods with that death wish that you have”
Marc commented with a low laugh.
He wasn't an idiot. Yatzil, avatar of Hathor, had spoken to him for a particular reason. And, when in the discussion with the Ennead, Khonshu had let his ire run free was when Horus spoke. With Osiris, the god of the moon, had screamed more, but with Horus, oh, with that guy Marc had felt the rage burning through his veins.
There was no need to add two plus two.
He had been Layla's husband long enough to know that Hathor was Horus's wife and that if the goddess decided to support Khonshu against her husband’s advice, while the moon god seemed to want to kill Osiris's son when he spoke, it was because something very juicy had happened between the three of them.
And, fittingly, Khonshu's insolence showed.
Adorning the moon that was on the symbol of the goddess, with a metal that refracted only the light of that same satellite.
Basically, showing the middle finger to her husband in the same pyramid where they met.
The former mercenary sighed, pushing the figure of the cow whose horns glowed to discover the entrance that opened before him. The god he was going to seek was half insane. But he couldn't deny that it was altogether entertaining.
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Khonshu fell to his knees panting from the constant exertion he had suffered these days of his imprisonment.
It was impossible to escape.
It was much worse than that other time.
The years didn’t pass for nothing and, although he survived all those years, that didn’t mean that he did it with the same power or that the gods haven’t learned from their past mistakes, reforming and improving their cages.
Meanwhile Ammit was gaining strength moment by moment.
“Always so dramatic” said a voice almost in his ear “Is it that the lord of the moon has definitely lost hope?”
He held his breath turning his face as he identified the voice he hadn't heard for centuries.
“Anubis!”
The moon god exclaimed rising to meet a projection of the jackal-headed god.
“Khonshu” the vision of the god replied smiling “It's always very interesting to see you again”
“Where are you? Why did you come?”
Questioned to the illegitimate son of Osiris, the moon god.
Anubis was a wild card among the gods. Almost as much as him. Able to rise to the front lines of popularity among them, he had decided to throw it all away, being the first to leave Earth despising the Overvoid itself, to concentrate his efforts in a strange and distant Galaxy.
As far as he knew, the jackal-headed god had lost his divine wife and raised a daughter alone, cut off from the other gods, with little hope that he would rejoin them.
“Our lady Hathor summoned me to help you” Anubis told him, interrupting his thoughts “My avatar will soon begin to break this prison, but we need your help. You must collaborate from within it to do so”
“You plan to free me”
“Exactly”
“Why?”
The jackal-headed god laughed, throwing his head back, exposing his black fur collar adorned by a wide, brightly colored collar.
“Because the true father of my daughter Kebechet deserves something better than these golden walls” Anubis finally replied “And because… you are right about your judgment on humanity and the blindness of certain gods”
“Beg your pardon?”
Khonshu asked the other god in astonishment.
The real… what?
“My dear old friend, I know this wasn't the best time, but... when have hard truths had a good time to be told?” said the jackal-headed god to the moon god, resting a hand on his shoulder “Our lady Hathor always watched over her and I must confess that Kebechet has been such a source of joy for me as my grandchildren Luke and Leia have been since I have been able to meet them. You will have the opportunity to know those same joys, if you collaborate and we solve this matter of Ammit once and for all”
Luke? Leia?
His grandchildren?
Something about that he had also heard. That Anubis had inflamed the ire of the gods by procreating with a mortal in that Galaxy far, far away and that they had forbidden him to see his descendants, but that later he had obtained permission for who knows what mistake the others had made.
In all honesty, he had visited the Overvoid so little that he hadn't exactly followed the news.
He only knew that Hathor had been heavily involved in the matter.
Which he wasn’t ashamed to admit had made him a little jealous, since the goddess hadn’t been in contact with Khonshu since their time together and, from the rumors that her ardent defense of Anubis had aroused, more than one had concluded that the jackal-headed god had entered the heart of the wife of Horus.
And here came the illegitimate son of Osiris to pull the rug out from under his feet discovering that his alliance with Hathor had been given from sharing history as parents crossed by a difficult situation. Anubis with his son with the mortal and Hathor with her daughter with… Khonshu.
Oh, this changed things so much.
After what he'd been through all those years.
After being banished, imprisoned, beaten and despised by most of the gods.
After his warnings went unheeded and that they practically spat in his face.
Now the moon god had double, no, triple reason to go out and slay that deranged demon and that insane bitch of Arthur.
“Get ready then” Anubis suggested “We will start the process”
“I'll be ready” Khonshu replied to the other deity “Tell your avatar to hit with everything it has”
The jackal-headed god smiled again, nodding, before his vision faded.
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“Leia!”
Luke exclaimed when he saw the ramp of the Millennium Falcon descend on the green mantle near his future temple-school.
“Luke!”
His sister replied, then quickly walked over and enveloped him in a hug.
“Hey, honey, leave something for the rest of us” commented laughing his brother-in-law.
“Han” Luke sighed separating from his sister “you don't know how relieved I am to see you both”
“Hi, kid. How have you been?” questioned the captain of the Falcon, patting him on the shoulder first, and then giving him an affectionate hug.
“Well, I've been fine until... very recently” Luke confessed “Did you have the same dream as me, Leia?”
“If we're talking about one in which dad's story turned out to be much more complicated than what already was, yes I did”
The Princess confessed crossing her arms, to which her brother sighed again, only this time out of frustration.
It was an insane story.
Another Universe.
A God.
A slave.
As if Anakin Skywalker lacked anything, now they could add up a divine origin.
“If you ask me, love” Han commented to Leia “If what you both dreamed turns out to be true, let's say that what happened to that guy is much more understandable. Going crazy because a god from another universe plays with your head is way more reasonable than doing it because you believed that you could “save your wife from what evil visions said”. I mean, somebody had to put the visions in the first place. It's not like they got there on their own, and from what I understand from you two, the Sith, especially the Emperor, weren't powerful enough in those days to continually manage to penetrate the mind of…well…who would later become Darth Vader”
“I keep insisting that it seems to me like too much a comfortable and self-satisfied explanation”
Leia expressed shaking her head and Luke couldn't help but agree.
The decisions of their father could have been totally influenced by third parties, but they were definitely his own. Gods involved or not, Anakin Skywalker had become Darth Vader by his own hands. His actions were entirely his.
“However” Luke said “The fact that he was the son of a strange god and that another of those gods influenced his decisions, would explain a lot about his origin and his later history. Besides, Leia, this Anubis knows about Grogu and Din”
“The child that was going to be your student?”
“And his father”
“The Mandalorian”
“Great, another can of sardines” Han interrupted them shaking his head “Didn't both of you have enough of those guys with Fett and the curmudgeonly Bo-Katan Kryze?”
“Han, Bo-Katan's problems in the Senate have nothing to do with this” Leia commented “And that woman must have no idea that your student is with his father again, right?”
“As far as I know, from what Ahsoka and R2 say, that Mandalorian woman, hasn't been anywhere near Din and Grogu since the Moff’s ship encounter”
“Alright. Alright” Han accepted raising his hands in defeat “If you say that the can of sardines that is the father of the green dwarf is more passable than the rest of that group that we know, I believe it”
Luke smiled slightly as his sister patted her husband on the arm, laughing at his way of expressing himself.
He had missed those two.
How he missed Grogu.
And, although it will sound very strange to say it, also to the Mandalorian that they were talking about.
Din had been an object of interest for Luke ever since they parted ways on Moff Gideon's ship. First because of Grogu, for whom he had agreed to contact the Mandalorian. And then because of his few, but constant communications via R2.
The truth is, no one could judge him for feeling moved by the man who asked the Jedi if his son had eaten every night, if he was okay, if they both needed something. Many times, without waiting for a response because transmission not always could be direct. Din's heart had managed to break the Jedi Master's opinion regarding Grogu's future at his side, so much so that he had allowed him to take the option that the little boy had taken, even considering the Jedi joining both of them in their adventures, for a time.
Of course, before he could organize his transportation and the custody of the temple, the dream of that god, with Grogu at his side, had come to him loud and clear, changing all his plans.
“Luke” Leia called her brother taking his attention away from his memories “R2 says that it's about time”
“Did you bring your saber?”
The Jedi Master asked his sister, to which she nodded, as her husband clapped his blasters.
Luke wasn’t going to bother asking Han if he was going with them.
As the portal opened in front of the temple, he knew that once he set foot on the other side, the couple would come after him.