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Dreams were fickle, figments and puzzle pieces of life and the imagination mixing together to form a landscape. For Marc, this landscape was hellish, a place where all the fragments of trauma and all the people he couldn’t save lied. Sometimes it was a vast desert, crawling endlessly in the scorching heat that burnt his flesh. Other times he was falling into water, struggling to breathe as his lungs filled with liquid and became heavy as lead. Today was…different.
The moon was bright, shining and full in the dark abyssal sky. There were no stars, even though there should have been. Dream him didn’t think anything of it- the dream was his temporary reality while he slept. And in this reality stars did not exist.
He was in his Moon Knight armor- cape fluttering behind him like liquid in this strange dream world. He leapt over a roof, and then suddenly he was in the alleyway below. Dreams were fickle like that. Dream him thought nothing of it, glancing around the alleyway. There was a door at the end of it- leading into the vast expanse of space. It looked calming, he took a step forward-
Marc groaned, an insistent screech awakening him from his, for once, peaceful slumber. He rolled over on his side, getting tangled in the sheets. He raised a hand, tiredly slamming a closed fist onto the alarm clock, silencing it. He nearly sighed in relief as the alarm ceased its insistent chirping-
The noise continued, grating on his ear drums. He groaned, the fog of sleep washing away into awareness as he vowed to find the source of the noise. He strained his ears, it was close enough that it was hard to tell exactly where it was coming from. It echoed all around the room, all encompassing.
Then he looked behind him.
Khonshu, balancing, crouched on the headboard of the bed, squawking loud enough to shatter his ear drums. The bastard didn’t stop once he realized he was found out- only when Marc grabbed a pillow and prepared to let Jake take over so he could effectively beat the god over the head with the pillow- did he stop.
“Ah, my avatar, you are awake” Khonshu stated the obvious, finally ceasing his infernal squawking.
“Let me at ‘em” Jake demanded
Marc just sighed- he didn’t want to deal with this right now. Well, he was awake now…He groaned, sliding off the bed and slowly making his way to the blackout blinds- Steven had ordered those recently, so they could all rest easier during the day, with no light- and sliding them out of the way. Pitch darkness greeted him, outlined and highlighted by moonlight. He glanced back at his alarm clock sitting innocently near the squatting god on his bed.
It was 1 AM.
Marc sighed, closing the blinds and making his way to the door. Might as well go rough up some criminals since it was night out. He paused at the door, unlocking the variety and abundance of locks attached to the doorframe, courtesy of Steven. Speaking of Steven, he was strangely quiet. Maybe he didn’t feel like co-fronting right now? Marc didn’t know, they knew so little about DID, and he knew he should know more, to help him and the others. Maybe Steven couldn’t come out for some other reason?
Marc unlocked the last lock, stepping into the hallway- and making sure to lock the door behind him- he made his way to the stairs, descending them somewhat hurriedly as he made his way outside. The moon shone heavily, and he felt a presence at his shoulder as he made his way down the sidewalk towards the alleyway. He minutely turned his head, to find Khonshu, appearing in a smaller form to perch on his shoulder.
Marc turned into the alleyway, ignoring the god. He glanced around for cameras or passerby, finding none. He summoned the suit, tight bindings and bandages wrapping around his body. A cloak materialized at his neck, unfurling behind him. He opened his eyes, not realizing he had closed them, relishing in the moment. His eyes were now as bright as the moon itself.
He glanced up, staring at the roof above, he braced himself, backing away before racing forward, leg raised to jump off the wall onto the one behind him, and so on. He repeated the process until he gripped the lip of the roof, hauling himself on top. The moon made his armor practically glow. He leapt from roof to roof, passing sidewalks and alleyways. Nothing of note caught his attention.
Until something did. A scream, two screams. He immediately raced towards the cries, leaping down into the alleyway and confronting the problem up close. A group of unknown muggers, two male, one female, all with pistols confronted two helpless people. One of the muggers, a skinny male, had some strange orange mask, though he couldn’t get a good look at it from behind. The two men who had screamed were backed into a corner, expensive, matching watches on each arm. So that’s what the muggers were after.
He cleared his throat, gaining the attention of the muggers, they whipped around, the skinnier male muggers mask being exposed…
“The fuck is he wearing?” Jake asked, and for once, Marc shared his sentiments.
“Little too late for Halloween, isn’t it?” he asked, pointedly looking at the mugger who had an entire fucking jack-o-lantern on his head.
He walked forward, and the definitely inexperienced muggers ran up to meet him, intending to shoot him point blank instead of from a safe distance. His leg shot out, kicking the jack-o-fuckers gun out of his hand, before spinning around and using his other leg to kick him in the head, sending him and bits of pumpkin to the ground.
“Pssst” Khonshu whispered, watching Marc fight from the sidelines
He watched as Marc roughed the criminal up, stomping his face repeatedly but not killing them. Not carving a crescent moon onto their flesh so their body would be sacrificed to him. So he could feed on it.
“Feed me” he whispered, watching as Marc continued to ignore him.
“Ill give you a sandwich when we get home” Marc replied sarcastically, dodging a bullet.
“No!” Khonshu howled
Marc ignored the god, ducking under a crude punch and punching the woman square in the face, sending her crashing to the floor. Another shot rang out, this one didn’t hit him either- these muggers were amateur at best. He stares directly at the last mugger, hands shaking as he held his tiny pistol. Marc rushed forward, punching him in the stomach and sending him collapsing to the floor. He straightened himself, watching as the muggers nursed their wounds. There would be no carving crescents into flesh- no sacrifices to Khonshu tonight.
Not when Steven knew about him and Jake.
He turned away from the muggers, instead facing the two men. The larger of the two straightened from their crouched, cowering position. “Thanks for saving me and my little brother, man”
Marc nodded “No more straying near alleyways”
The two men -now dubbed as brothers- nodded, quickly leaving the alleyway and rushing out into the night.
“Feed me” Khonshu whispered, appearing on his shoulder as he made his way onto the roof again.
“No” Marc replied, knowing what the god wanted
“But- look at him, Marc!” Steven exclaimed, just as Khonshu started begging to be fed again.
Marc sighed, ceasing his running across rooftops “He wants blood, Steven”
There was silence, and Marc thought the discussion over, that Steven understood.
“…have you tried feeding him anything else?” Steven asked timidly.
Marc paused.
He hadn’t.
“We would need to carve a crescent into flesh so he could consume it- it wouldn’t work” Marc explained
“…Chicken is flesh”
-
Marc could not believe he was doing this.
Here he was, waltzing into McDonalds, dressed to the nines in his ceremonial moon knight armor. Everyone stared at him like he was insane- some even had their phones out and were recording it. Khonshu- the little bastard- kept chanting ‘feed me, feed me’. He walked up to the counter, leaning half his weight on it and trying his fuckin best to look casual.
“Um, how can I help you, uh, Mr. Moon Knight?” The woman at the counter asked, curly blue hair vibrant in the overhead lights.
“When you lean like that our great ass shows” Jake commented
Marc ignored the comment, instead answering the poor confused lady at the counter. “Can you do me a favor and get me five spicy chicken sandwiches?”
“And a happy meal!” Steven chimed in
Marc sighed “…And a happy meal?”
She looked at him like he grew a second head, but nodded, putting the order in. Marc waited awkwardly in line, well aware of all the eyes on him. His gaze flicked down to the counter, where a rat sized Khonshu sat.
“Feed me, feed me, feed me, feed me-“ The feathered bastard chanted, stomping his little toothpick of a staff down with every word.
“Here you go…” Someone handed him his order, and he didn’t even look up to see who it was, taking it and replying with a thanks.
He awkwardly shuffled out of the McDonalds, refusing to look at the cameras pointed at him. He could imagine the headline already: “Moon Knight Orders Happy Meal Like a Fucking Child”
He sighed, climbing up on top of the McDonalds once he was outside, opening the sandwiches and setting them down in the packaging they came in. He took out a gleaming crescent blade, holding up the sandwich, taking the bun off and revealing the chicken.
He couldn’t believe he was doing this.
Nevertheless, he proceeded to lower the blade against the chicken, carving a crescent into it. Khonshu materialized beside him, still appearing rat sized for whatever reason. He held out his tiny arms up, as if he were praising the chicken.
Sighing, Marc set the sandwich down for the god, who proceeded to fucking inhale it. It was as if Khonshu had become a vacuum cleaner, and the sandwich was the dust. Marc had never wondered why Khonshu had never opened his mouth before- hell, he didn’t even know he could! And part of him was glad he had never seen it before. Seeing a tiny Khonshu stuff a whole, normal sized chicken sandwich down his maw was frankly terrifying.
Khonshu finished the sandwich in less than a minute, holding his tiny hands out for more. Marc proceeded to carve a crescent into the sandwich again, before cautiously holding the sandwich out to the god, who eagerly devoured it. The process from then on was simply rinse and repeat.
Then Jake started speaking.
“He can fit a lot in that beak, look how he fits that sandwich in”
Jake paused, before continuing.
“Now that’s a man who knows how to take a coc-“