#hsdc-ace

"Well done." Was the last Ptah spoke the night before. It was obvious that Lucilla angered Ptah by what she said to Marc but she'd never expect him to be this upset with the girl.

"What did I do wrong?" Lucilla questioned. She prayed that Ptah was still beside her, just watching like he always was. She hoped he was close enough the hear the question and even give a possibility of giving Lucilla an answer. It didn't matter either way. She knew what made him upset.

The god was no where to be found as Lucilla scanned behind her in the mirror. "Ptah." She moved to pull her hair into a ponytail as she spoke. No response came. The room remained quiet and Lucilla still couldn't figure out what was going through Ptah's mind.

If Ptah was going to give her the silent treatment then Lucilla saw no need in remaining as an avatar. Ptah obviously sees her as an unfit avatar so why carry on?

Lucilla stared at herself in the mirror for a mirror before muttering a small "Release me." It was certain that Ptah could hear her and now she's made her request, it's their choice on what action to take next.

There wasn't a moment that went past that night where Lucilla didn't debate asking Ptah to do that very thing, and now she has it didn't feel as though anything's changed. She looked just as tired as she had when she first awoke and she felt the exact same. Well, Lucilla wasn't exactly sure how everything worked. She's never been in a situation like this before.

Without Ptah was a way of life Lucilla hadn't came to grips with. What would she do now? The last thing she wanted to do was pack everything up again and maybe move north. Everything was circling back to Lucilla so why not run? It's what Marc did.

But she didn't know what she wanted. So many things have came crashing down on Lucilla in the past 24 hours to the point that it is hard to choose what to deal with first. With Ptah at least she had someone to coach her through everything.

Besides, she'd be leaving everything behind. It seemed like a good idea on paper but now... maybe not. The idea of being alone again scared Lucilla. She needed someone to stop her from falling down into that pit again. Prah was that someone.

"Ptah." Lucilla called out on a whim but gained no response. Perhaps they was still listening, hoping and waiting for Lucilla to ask them to come back.

Her eyes drifted down to her watch as wind blew through her window. 09:32 it read. Steven's shift at the museum must be starting soon.

Seeing Steven wasn't on top of Lucilla's priority list but she did make a promise to Mark. If she didn't go after last night's events then she'd be at Marc's level, someone who's never in one place to avoid the truth. Steven had no right to be treated like that, he was innocent. That's the least Lucilla could do to the sweeter version of Marc.

Even the walk to the museum was silent. Painfully silent to the point Lucilla had to put her headphones in and listen to music just to fill the silence. She couldn't remember the last time she had to do that. It must've been long enough for her to forget how much she hated the sound of her own mind. The silence couldn't remain for long, and if it did her mind would always jump to worse-case scenarios. Why? Lucilla had no clue but maybe that's why she liked Ptah's presence.

"Steven!" Lucilla called out, spotting a familiar man stumble off of his bus. He turned towards the voice as Lucilla ran carefully across a road towards him. "Hey." She greeted whilst removing her headphone.

"What happened last night?" Steven asked, not even turning to look at the girl as they walked to the museum. He looked awful like he hadn't slept, meaning Marc didn't sleep. Steven also looked upset which wasn't something Lucilla couldn't blame him for as he did find out there was a completely different person living in the same body as him.

"What do you mean?" Lucilla questioned, attempting to figure out how much Marc knew to begin with. If he didn't know much then she wouldn't tell him too much. Marc preferred if that way. If Steven found out quite a bit in a short time frame who knows what could happen.

He soon stopped before the duo reached the museum's stairs, turning to Lucilla before walking up them. "Don't pull my leg with this mate," he groaned. "I know what I saw last night and I need you to fill in the gaps. You showed up and from there everything weird things started to happen. So...." Steven paused, realising he never learned Lucilla's name, "miss please keep me in the loop."

"Lucilla." She introduced herself before stating that, "None of this is for me to explain." Her hands slid into her trousers pockets as she watch Steven. He was annoyed, that was obvious. However he watched Lucilla for a moment as if the name was familiar. "If it makes you feel better, not even i have all the answers. Marc strictly said-"

Steven was quick to catch onto Lucilla's slip up. She tried so hard to not mention Marc. "Wait, Marc?" He asked.

Lucilla didn't speak, instead she walked up the steps and into the museum. Marc was quick to follow the girl. She only paused in her step to allow Steven to walk ahead, ordering a small "don't mention last night." As he passed.

The museum itself didn't appear in a better state than it was left in last night. Sections of the entrence were blocked off with police tape causing actually getting into the museum practically impossible. Construction workers also made their way into the building past Lucilla and back out again to retrieve certain tools. Steven watched one left the building.

"You guys did t-this?" Steven stumbled as he questioned Lucilla.

"No," she whispered back. "I didn't do any of this, but that was me." She was quick to direct Steven's attention towards a wall that contained a large human-shaped dent. That side of the building was yet to be touched, all the focus was on what Marc did. "I had no business with them but they still came for me." Lucilla explained.

She didn't know why the Jackals attacked her, probably because she encountered Mr Harrow but it still didn't make sense. They wanted the scarab but then Lucilla didn't even know he had it.

"What do you mean them?" Steven asked, stopping to look over at the secluded section.

"You saw them." Lucilla explained blankly, hinting to the Jackals that we're chasing Steven last night. "They want something you have. Something you cannot give them." She let her eyes drift over to the dent on the wall from last night. Everything seemed just as they left it. Debris was covering the floor, the wall still held the small cracks stemming from the indentation of Lucilla's body. The only thing missing was the dagger that flew out of Lucilla's hand when she hit the wall.

She moved to scan the hands and pockets of everyone around them until she spotted it in a construction worker's pocket. He was heading towards another room. "Shit," Lucilla groaned. If that was handed into the police then surely they'd find a connection to her.

"Luce?" Steven called out, clicking his fingers in front of Lucilla's face, "You got a plan?" He asked nervously.

"Security." Was all Lucilla mumbled as she returned to her original plan, "You need to see the security footage from last night to see how much they know. But either way you erase it." She explained, watching the construction workers as the did. Her hands quickly moved to her pocket to pull out a small drive before holding it towards Steven.

"Wh-why do I have to do this?" Steven exclaimed, "what are you going to do? I don't even know what's going on."

"I have a plan, don't worry," Lucille reassured the man, patting him on the shoulder as she spoke. She reassured Steven in the worse way possible by telling him that the museum was "your turf," and he should "own it," before starting "give me five minutes to do my thing and then I'll be right with you."

Steven nervously nodded. He didn't know whether to agree with Lucilla or ask her to stay with him. But the girl had a completely different plan: find and destroy the dagger from last night. After that, she can fix any mess Steven makes whilst she's gone.

She watched Steven slowly walk over to the security guard, talking as if they knew each other. A smile fell on Lucilla's face as she continued to watch the different side of Marc. He was everything Marc wasn't. Steven was nice, scared and caring. Marc was.. not that. It slowly made Lucilla wonder what would happen if it was the other way around and Marc was like Steven, would anything have happened in their lives?

Satisfied with how Steven held a conversation, Lucilla moves away to locate the group of construction workers from earlier. She turned as a construction worker enters the building before quickly following them. "I hope you're still there." Lucilla quietly prayed to Ptah despite being unaware if he's listening. He has to be listening. 

She could still remember the day they started. Just after she left Marc and Layla's place after hearing their arguing. It wasn't long since Marc returned from the desert one his own and Layla had recently invited the heart-broken Lucilla to stay with them.

"She's just a kid Marc!" Layla yelled at her husband as Lucilla walked into their house, "She shouldn't be abandoned like that!" It was obvious that they were talking about Lucilla, even she knew they were talking about her the moment she stepped into the house. Even if it wasn't, the fact that Marc had no one else to abandon made it obvious.

Lucilla had crept quietly into the house, barely reaching the kitchen to see the two face to face through the semi-closed door. "She's six years younger than us!" Marc fought back, "Lucilla is no way a child, she can fend for herself and sure as hell shouldn't be babied by us. She had a whole childhood for that!"

She learned from a young age that when two people arguing, it usually never ended well. It was obvious for Marc and Layla but what was worse was the fact that Lucilla was the cause of it. She never had a childhood of being babied, despite was Marc thought, her childhood was an overwhelming experience. Lucilla was often the one that everyone had forgotten about. However now, they didn't forget about Lucilla, the issue was that she was thorn in their side.

"She's you sister and she's grieving, Marc!" Layla added. Lucilla often agreed with Marc, she shouldn't be intruding on their lives like this. Layla's kindness is the only thing that kept her here the past week or so. She thought Lucilla should be with someone after the news.

"I lost my family years ago." Marc spat, "They're the ones who abandoned me."

"Lucilla didn't." Layla argued, folding her arms at her husband. "She followed you through everything. Why do you think she's still here?"

Layla was often the voice of reason between Marc and Lucilla. She was the true reason they are still in contact. She believed that since Lucilla tried to follow Marc through life in attempt to hold onto the one glimpse of the normal family she once had then Layla only had to help. Because the Spector didn't turn their backs on Marc. It was their mother that did. She blamed everything onto Marc as he was was the oldest and Marc was furious Lucilla got the easy road in life. Their mum was convinced it was Marc who left Randell in that cave so he quickly placed as the blame.

Lucilla was convinced it was her fault, not Marc's. She was the one who wanted to hang out in the cave but no once listened to her after the accident.

"Lucilla followed the easy road in life."

Sometimes Marc proved himself wrong by the simplest of comments. The year before he was discharged from the army, Lucilla was alone on the streets trying to make a small amount of money to survive the day. It had gotten worse by the time he became a mercenary.

Lucilla was practically dead in some part by the time Layla found her. She was searching for some of Marc's family as a surprise but from how Marc spoke about his Family Layla didn't search for most of it. Just Lucilla. The lucky part of the gift to Marc is that the only lead Layla had on Lucilla led her to the girl.

But Marc would have cast Lucilla as a burden more than a gift anyways.

She never chose the easy road in life either, just chose the paths that were handed to her. They were long paths that only changed three times in her 28 years of living. Layla was the first change into a different route.

Lucilla didn't listen to the couple's argument for long. She instead walked into the guest room that she occupied for the past week. "Fuck it." Lucilla mumbled to herself before pulling her suitcase out from under the bed and began to place her clothes into it. If Marc wanted Lucilla gone then she'd grant his wish.

Layla and Marc's argument continued as Lucilla dragged her stuff to the front door. She pulled out a notepad from her pocket and wrote "Thank you." and placed it onto the end table by the door along with the spare set of keys. They continued as Lucilla left.

It was true that she didn't want to leave them, she didn't want to be alone for the first time in forever but she didn't want to be the thorn Marc thought she was. If she did stay any longer then maybe another issue might occur but she didn't want to chance it.

Lucilla didn't know what happened between the two of them once she left, whatever happened next was out of her control. She assumed that by the time they shut up and noticed Lucilla's disappearance, she was already on a train to the next state.

She did what she knew best in these situations. Run. And that's what Lucilla did, she ran to the next state in hopes of finding something better. It wasn't like Layla and Marc would go looking for her. They had no right to.

Running was what Lucilla learned from Marc. He knew how to do it best as it was his go-to tactic. Run as fast as you can to avoid the unbeatable. It usually worked.

The entire night was spent by Lucilla tossing and turning in her bed in attempts of gaining a comfortable position that would drag her conscience into a deep slumber but it never did. She didn't sleep a wink that night.

In nights like these she'd think about what would of happened if she was alone her entire life after she left her childhood home, what would happen if she never was found by Layla and Ptah when she needed someone the most.

Maybe she was Lucky. Marc was right about something then. Lucilla was lucky. Just not the good kind of luck. It was lucky for everyone else because she survived for so long that she managed the escape the brink of death numerous times.

Still, she didn't need the help she got.

The biggest example of this was the night she met Ptah. It was almost a week after she left Marc and Layla. Lucilla was about to give up on everything as she sat on a bus bench in the middle of the night waiting for nothing.

"Sleeping will help you." A voice called over the girl. Lucilla shot straight up from her position on the bench, scanning around her frantically for the source. There was no one beside her. "A warrior must sleep." They continued as she looked around her again.

"W-Who are you?" Lucilla called out in hopes the source would appear and they did. A large figure appeared directly in front of Lucilla. She had to hold in her scream as the abnormal figure came from nowhere. Her back flattened against the glass of the bus stop as she attempted to move as far from this thing as she could.

"Your saviour." They stated in a hopeful and certain manor, "If you accept of course."

"Accept what?" Lucilla questioned, curious as ever. Who wouldn't be if a mysterious figure appeared out of thin air stating it's someone's saviour.

"The role of my avatar."

"Avatar?" She asked herself. Lucilla secretly convinced herself that this was a hallucination and there was a logical reason for the situation. This thing wasn't real. A thing with a black crescent shape for a head and a odd sphere floating in the middle of it.

"Someone who will continue my buisness on the human plain," they explained. They didn't breath nor move from their stance. It was almost as if they were a statue that appeared before Lucilla. "It isn't offered to just anyone."

"What do you mean?" Lucilla questioned. The only avatar's she's aware of were them weird blue people from that one James Cameron film. This thing was obviously not that.

"I'm unsure how else to explain it." They explained, moving to lift it's head to the moon before moving back down to Lucilla again. "I am Ptah," Ptah introduced himself. "And I provide you the opportunity to become my avatar in order to continue my journey of the arts."

Lucilla struggled not to laugh. The entire situation sounded like Ptah was requesting Lucilla to become a superhero. It was completely ridiculous. How could Lucilla become something that didn't even exist? Heck even if they did exist, she couldn't save anyone. She could barely save herself.

"Take the chance." Ptah suggested, "I will release you at anytime you wish and you can return to this life."

Release her to what? Lucilla had no life to return to, maybe that's why Ptah came to her. She was disposable, easy to remove from society after their business had finished. It was easy to let her go and have nothing about Ptah be released into the public because all they had to worry about was killing Lucilla.

Maybe that's why she should accept his offer, follow the flow even if this was her tripping. Why not get a kick out of it? Who knows when she would get another opportunity like this?

"What do I get out of this?" She questioned, arms folding over her chest.

"Anything you want." Ptah responded, "Within reason, of course." What Lucilla wanted was impossible. She'd never get it back. "You are able to escape this ditch you've carved for yourself." They continued, moving their head ever so slightly to look at Lucilla's broken luggage thrown to the ground beside her bench. "No one wants to live like this willingly. However, if luxury isn't what you desire then at least you will have an acquaintance by your side."

Lucilla didn't want a life of luxury. She didn't deserve it. But maybe having friendly face sticking around might help her through everything.

The girl scoffed at her brother's words. Of course that's why he came. She watched as Marc picked up the phone and scanned the cracked screen before focusing upon the unlocked contents.

"Hey!" Lucilla called out whilst attempting to snatch the phone back. "Give me it!" She shouted as Marc moved the phone above his head as he scrolled through the messages before moving onto the voicemails.

"I didn't think you'd listen to these." Marc's face dropped, continuing to scroll on the phone until he caught his finger upon a bit of broken glass, "It wasn't like this earlier." He muttered as he moved to examine the cracks. Marc could instantly tell that something happened.

"I didn't think you payed attention." Lucilla commented back, moving away from her brother. Once Marc had hood of something there was no way he'd let it go.

"I pay attention." The older man responded, bringing down the phone to Lucilla's level and held it out to his sister. "Despite what you believe."

"I only believe what u left me believing." The girl explained blankly, snatching her phone out of Marc's hand.

"You know I didn't mean to, Luck." Marc stated, following his sister as she moved to sit down on the sofa. It didn't matter whether he meant to leave Lucilla behind with their mother, he still did.

"Why do you call me luck?" The girl changed the topic one more. She had so many questions to ask her brother but there was no time in the whole universe for all of them. So what's better than a topic Lucilla wanted to avoid?

"Because you're lucky." Marc responds with a shrug. "You always have been." Lucilla scoffed at his words. She wasn't lucky, never was. No one would class her life as being Lucky. "You survived, didn't you?" Marc questioned at his sister's action. "I'd class that as luck." He continued as Lucilla remained silent.

"You don't know the meaning of Luck." She began to explain, thinking of all the reasons why she wasn't Lucky. There was too many. However there were quite a few moments that would say she's Lucky. "What happened wasn't luck. It was coincidence." She mumbled.

"What did happen?" Marc questioned, sitting down next to his sister. He was almost curious what happened to Lucilla over the time he was away and when she was on her own. The girl didn't believe his intrigue was natural. Why would Marc care?

"Now you pretend to care?" Lucilla laughed at her brother's words. Marc never cared. He still didn't, she could practically hear the cringe radiating off of his voice and he spoke. The girl was fully convinced that Khonshu was the reason he was here, nothing else.

Marc paused before he spoke again. His eyes glanced over to the mirror as he caught his own reflection. He watched himself for a moment before sighing. "I always cared." Marc explained, sliding back further into the seat as he broke contact with the reflection. "I-" He paused again, almost as if someone was talking to him. "Things were happening that I couldn't explain. Things that you couldn't be involved in."

A scoff escaped Lucilla's lips as the words left Marc's. He couldn't possibly believe that Lucilla will believe a thing he said. There was no use.

"You're as good as lying as you are keeping people away." The girl joked, curling up closer into the sofa. All Marc did was keep people away but they always came back somehow. Like his lies, it comes full circle.

"I wish I was joking, Luck." Marc sighed as he slid his hand into his pocket. He rummaged around the crack he kept in there searching for something.

He was quick to pull out a golden scarab, laying it flat against his hand to show Lucilla.

"This is what they were looking for." Marc explained, gesturing for Lucilla to pick the scarab up. She did. She also examined it very closely. It was almost like a broach but there was no pin. The colour on the other hand was not faded, it was all bright like it's freshly painted.

Marc watched closely as Lucilla examined the object. She was scared to touch it with anything that's not a light touch as if she'd break it with the tiniest amount of force.

Trusting Lucilla was something Marc never did but maybe through the Gods and Steve, he could.

"What is this?" Lucilla questioned with her eyes locked onto the scarab.

"A scarab." Lucilla's eyes flicked to Marc as he explained. His own eyes were on the object itself. "They believe it to lead to Ammit's tomb."

"Ammit?" She froze at Marc's words. Ammit's tomb. No one would want to open such a thing, yet alone to release such an awful creature. The release of Ammit would go against everything Khonshu fought for to remove her. Who would want to release her?

"Loose it."

"Loose it." Lucilla echoed Ptah, shoving the scarab back into Marc's hand before walking towards her door. "Marc. Just-" She paused as she turned towards her brother once again. "Loose it so they don't find that thing. It won't help whatever you're doing." She reasoned.

"Don't." Ptah commanded. He contradicted everything he just said. However, Lucilla attempted to ignore Ptah for as long as she could. Despite, his ability to overpower her at any minute.

Interrupting the silence, Marc attempted to explain the situation, "You don't understand." Was all he could get out before Lucilla interrupted with opening the door for Marc to leave through.

"It won't take you to that tomb." She lied, gesturing for him to leave her apartment. "Loose the scarab." The girl ordered once again. However, this time she refused to look at Marc and kept her focus on the ground.

"What are you talking about?" Marc began to question his sister, walking over to her to push the door closed. "What do you know about it?" He inquired, looking at Lucilla once again.

"That you should loose it." She explained, hearing a small but weak "Don't." Echo again through her mind from Ptah. He knew where she was going with this. "Do something with it that isn't finding that tomb."

"Lucilla." Ptah called the girl's name in a stern tone. She watched as he appeared behind Marc, shaking his head at the girl.

"Give it Mr Harrow." Lucilla suggested as she pulled her eyes away from the God and onto her brother. That was the one person that he didn't want to have the scarab. "Or hide it Somewhere or give it someone who won't open that tomb."

"Luck, I don't think you know what that can do." Marc explained, attempting to place the scarab into her hand. "It's more harm to all of us if he has it." The scarab laid flat again Lucilla's palm as Marc folded her hand around that.

"Just loose it." Lucilla repeated once again, flipping Marc's hand around to shove the scarab back into it. "It'll be a mess that I will have to clean up either way." That is why she couldn't have the scarab.

Understanding the scarab isn't what was on the top of Lucilla's mind, it wasn't her priority. The main factor was that Marc was in trouble because of it and this Arthur Harrow wants it. Ammit's tomb being opened wouldn't be the best thing in the world, quite frankly it'll be the worse, however as long as neither of the them have it everything will be fine. Right?

"I can't do that." Marc states, adjusting his posture before glancing to the door. "No one is forcing you to come along, Luck." No one was forcing her along but Marc wanted her to come. The way he held himself and avoided eye contact meant something and Lucilla just couldn't figure it out. She didn't know who was talking, khonshu or Marc.

"Ptah will." The girl groaned to herself. There wasn't a chance that Ptah would let Marc travel far from Lucilla, especially because he's Khonshu's avatar. If he managed to escape her gaze, she'd just have to locate him again.

Marc paused at his sister's words, watching her for a moment as he thought of a plan. "Steven's going to go back to the museum." He explained, glancing at the scarab before shoving it into his pocket. "Go there tomorrow. Watch him. But don't mention anything to him." His eyes flicked over to the girl as she nodded. "I mean it, Luck. This side is something he cannot see."

"I'm not the issue." Lucilla stated, "I won't speak a word to him but if Layla returns-"

"I could a bigger issue." Marc finishes, cutting his sister off in the process. "Im working on that." he explains. "But try to loose her. She can't get involved in this."

Loose her. They were all the words Lucilla heard come out of her brother's mouth. Was that what he was trying to do with her? "Why?" She questioned.

Something tipped within Marc at Lucilla's questioned. His stature shifted before he snapped "she just can't, okay!" Marc's hand instantly went onto the door handle as he turned away from Lucilla. "Just do this for me, Luce."

The girl only nodded slightly which Marc turned back to see before leaving Lucilla's apartment.

The siblings haven't had a proper conversation in years but when they do, Lucilla doesn't even understand a thing Marc is going on about.

"Well done." Ptah congratulated, Lucilla ignored him. She moved past his figure that stood in the kitchen and walked into her bedroom. Her phone was quickly discarded on the dresser before Lucilla flopped onto her bed.

It would be a lie if Lucilla said Marc had always been like this. He hasn't. Up until Randall died when they were kids everything was fine but since then Marc got more distant and quieter from practically everyone. He wasn't the only one though, Lucilla did too at times but not to the same extent as Marc.

He didn't even show up to their mother's shiva. Which was completely reasonable which how she treated him. She wasn't a good mother to Marc.

The day Randall died impacted everyone in the family. Lucilla was the youngest of the three Spector children and she could recall every moment of that day. It haunted her for days on end.

Lucilla deserved just as much to blame as Marc had. She was there with them. She was following Marc's lead. But Marc was blamed for not keeping them all safe. He had no control over them. They were just kids.