I redid the epilogue, apologies to people who read the last one! Honestly I just wasn't happy about it and I debated over it before deciding to just rewrite it. It was just too OC with Daniels and Jonathan. I do still intend to do a sequel mind. Once again thanks for all the reviews and favs and to Kitty Daniels for her wonderful reviews and insights :-)

It did not rain often in Cairo but when it did it put Jonathan in a miserable mood. The Englishman frowned at the sound of heavy drops beating off the roof as he sat in his living room, alone as usual, sipping quietly at a whiskey. He didn't really have a taste for the drink and supposed dryly that it was something that was starting to rub off on him from Mr. Daniels.

The Englishman tensed when a steady knock came at the door and he eyed it warily. It was late in the evening, just after eleven, and given how heavy the rain was he couldn't imagine that it was anyone pleasant. As the knock came again, Jonathan stood, tugging out his Colt pistol as he did, wondering who or what it could be this time. Given his past adventures he was ready to expect anything- living or dead.

Jonathan crossed the room hastily and hesitated at the door. He wanted to call out but knew he would hear no reply over that dreadful rain. He jumped slightly when a knock came again before swallowing hard and muttering to himself, "you've fought mummies man, you can deal with this!" He drew himself upright, pulled back the bolt on the door, turned the key and greeted the visitor with his gun.

"Safety's on," Daniels greeted him bluntly as he eyed the quivering gun hand with a frown. He pushed the Englishman back with one hand before trudging into the house, bringing a healthy amount of rainwater with him as he did.

"Good evening to you too," Jonathan retorted sardonically as he holstered his gun back in his blazer pocket and closed the door. "Please, do come in and trek mud all over my floor."

Daniels sat down on the couch and made a point of placing his mud stained boots on the coffee table. Jonathan just rolled his eyes at the man as he relocked the door before walking over to him. It had been just a week now since they had defeated the mummy Imhotep and fled Hamunaptra. They had found themselves suddenly very wealthy from their adventure, thanks to the late Beni Gabor having so helpfully and unintentionally loaded a camel with sacks of treasure for them. They had split the shares evenly but for the despondent Daniels it wasn't enough.

Jonathan, Rick and Evelyn had all expected the greedy Texan to bolt for American with his newfound wealth and they had been shocked when he hadn't. Instead, the first thing he had done, was used a very small portion of his coin to locate Jess' body and see it buried beside Henderson's and Burns'. Something had been lost in the man when he had eyed her dried up husk, Rick suspected until then Daniels had held out hopes of her somehow still walking the earth despite having seen her died.

Now here he was, stinking of whiskey and looking like he hadn't slept for days. His eyes were bloodshot, his stubble was getting messy and his dark hair was growing uneven beneath his hat. Jonathan tensed as the man leaned forward to set a now very familiar book down upon the table with a loud thud.

"It's been a week Johnny," Daniels said stiffly, "and I don't know what to do with this damn thing."

"Dav...er Mr. Daniels," Jonathan began with an awkward smile, "is this...well is it wise talking about it?"

Daniels looked up at the Englishman stonily. "No, of course it's not wise," he grumbled, "damn book causes nothing but trouble but..." He trailed off and muttered a curse. "Look Johnny, I may have been too stupid to notice the way Jess looked at me but I did notice how you looked at her," he said as he pointed at the man with an accusing hand. "What do you think should be done?"

Jonathan flinched at Daniels' words as he blushed faintly. "I don't know Mr. Daniels. I agree it's not fair what happened to Jess or to Mr. Henderson and Mr. Burns but the creature is defeated; I don't feel we can do much more." He offered a faint smile and added, "except enjoy our wealth and lives of course."

Daniels sighed as he tugged out a cigarette from his blazer pocket along with a box of matches. "I know Johnny but I let all of them down. I want to get on a boat and forget it but once I get home there will be questions and I can't avoid it. What the hell do I tell people?" He struck the match against the box and then lit his cigarette with it before waving the match out. "I don't know this hellhole city too well, it stinks of shit, the heat is unbearable and I'd rather go the rest of my life without seeing anymore of it but if I leave then it's final. Burns and Henderson have families and friends who will need some sorta explanation and what about Jess? I don't want to remember what happened here but then who will remember her?"

Jonathan sighed this time as he took a seat opposite Daniels and reached for the offending book tentatively. In comparison to the glittering Book of Amun-Ra the Book of the Dead was an ugly thing; made from obsidian, Jonathan was certain its colour was as much of a warning as its name. "I will remember her," he said softly.

"Can you?" Daniels queried bitterly as he pushed up the brow of his hat and frowned at the man. "I try to but I'm sure you can guess all I remember right now. I shouldn't be walking and that's a fact, I should be a dried up corpse like Henderson and Burns. Fuck Jonathan I feel like I'm in limbo here."

"Mr. Daniels just get on a boat and go home," Jonathan advised with a sympathetic stare as he pushed the book back.

"It's hard when my friends can't get on with me," Daniels grumbled.

One month passed by before Daniels, O'Connell, Jonathan and Evelyn finally decided to depart Egypt. Evelyn and Rick made plans to go to England with their newfound fortune and Jonathan was determined to go with them, eager to see his homeland once more. Rick and Evelyn couldn't fathom what had kept Daniels wasting away under the desert sun for so long. Evelyn guessed that it was as simple as guilt, murmuring to Rick that the man couldn't face telling his friends and family back home about what had happened, undoubtedly fearing some sort of blame upon himself for surviving when Henderson and Burns had not. Rick had agreed though he had also jested that it must be whores and drink that kept Daniels in Cairo as the man seemed to be spending plenty of time with both.

The Texan was a shadow of his former self- pale, unwashed, unshaven and noticeably broken. He had never been much of a talker but now anyone was lucky to get two words out of him and his temper had gotten to the point that he was banned from most establishments and had seemed to move into Jonathan and Evelyn's quarters though Evelyn couldn't pinpoint when exactly this had happened.

The Englishwoman had tired of nursing the man's hangovers, especially when it involved cleaning vomit from his face. She wondered at his state, half-thinking he was a man determined to die before she realised that it was quite the opposite. In fact the man seemed almost mad with some internal conflict that had Evelyn wondering about a certain book in his possession. She had her suspicions over it, and had hassled Jonathan about it but if her brother knew anything he didn't reveal it.

Jonathan alone knew what Daniels tried to drown out with drink, as he found himself reaching for the bottle several times himself with the same desperation. Daniels was tormented on a nightly basis by wraiths- Henderson had found him in an alleyway, Bethany had called at the door, Burns had stood crying out accusations at him in a hotel bedroom and Jess, Jess had just lingered, staring at him in his bed. Jonathan had shared some of those torments, he had seen Jess out a window when Daniels had joined him one night, and a few times he had woken in the night to shadows and whispers, though he could never pinpoint who or what they had belonged to. Set's curse had almost devoured Daniels and it was growing strong against Jonathan.

Jonathan wondered if the curse would follow them across the ocean or if Daniels' sanity would survive long enough to see the curse undone. Jonathan wasn't sure what exactly would undo the curse, uncertain that it would be as simple as resurrecting Jess. He had suggested instead to Daniels that maybe ridding himself of the book and any potential of bringing the young woman, reasoning that that might at least satisfy Set if not Daniels. It might not undo Jess' curse but it might at least end it for Daniels and Jonathan.

All Jonathan knew with any certainty was that it was time to go. The people of Cairo were talking, there were too many queries about the Texan's lost companions, the rumours of bodies in the fort, a mummy roaming the streets and the significance of the plagues. No one wanted anymore trouble and to a good lot of the natives the hot tempered, foreign Daniels seemed to represent trouble in spades. It didn't help his case any that his one common associate was a known thief and cheat, or that the fellow American who occasionally came to drag him from bars and fights had once been sentenced to hang for his crimes before being narrowly saved by the interventions of a woman.

It was on an unreasonably hot morning that Daniels arrived at the Carnahan household one final time, his intentions clear.

Evelyn greeted him at the door, unsurprised to see his mood at black as ever. She recoiled slightly from the odour of whiskey on his breath as he greeted her with a nod before she stepped back to let him in. The humble quarters of the house were in a form of organised chaos- cases and suitcases were in various stages of being packed whilst clothes and books lay scattered over the furniture and floor.

Daniels stepped into the living room and slammed the Book of the Dead down on the coffee table causing Jonathan to jump slightly.

The Englishman had been resting on the couch taking his umpteenth break from the packing. He looked up at Daniels with a startled look before his sea blue eyes fell on the book. "Ah, that thing again," he muttered.

"Call it a parting gift," Daniels remarked gruffly as he frowned down at Jonathan.

"Pardon?" Evelyn remarked as she looked at the American with wide, hazel eyes.

"I don't want it," he grunted.

"Well we don't really either," Jonathan muttered as he looked at the thing distastefully.

"Jonathan let's not be rude," Evelyn piped up hastily as she manoeuvred herself in front of Daniels. "What my brother means to say is thank you for the thought and does this mean you're going home?"

Daniels nodded. He tensed and glanced over his right shoulder sharply. They were standing against the wall, shadowy and almost translucent but he could still recognise them. Henderson, Burns and Jess- his three ghosts. Daniels felt a faint spark of relief as he noticed how they appeared fainter and their voices were softer on his ears.

"Going to run and not look back? We ain't resting," Henderson scorned, "but we ain't living either, maybe when you go we can finally rest."

Evelyn inched up on her tiptoes to glance over Daniels' shoulder, swaying left and right as she tried and failed to see what the man was looking at.

"Don't look at them," Daniels advised tiredly, "that just makes it worse."

"Look at who?" Evelyn pried as her hazel eyes flickered up to him with a measure of concern. 'He doesn't seem delirious with drink,' she thought to herself. 'Is it fatigue? Man doesn't look like he's slept; he should have gone home long ago.'

They all turned hearing footsteps on the stairs, relaxing slightly when O'Connell's familiar tan boots appeared in sight. "I thought we were packing," the Chicago born male remarked sardonically. "Seems I'm the only working as usual." He paused as he reached the bottom of the stairs and his warm, blue stare fell on Daniels. He awarded his fellow American with a bright, tight smile. "Daniels, to what do we owe this pleasure? Another bar throw you out? Or is there no room at the inn again? You really don't know how to use your wealth, do you?"

Daniels fixed a hostile stare on the man before shrugging. "I'm just saying farewell O'Connell, for forever hopefully."

"Well it's about time, not that I won't miss your cheery attitude," Rick retorted teasingly. He stepped forward and held out a hand to the man.

Daniels accepted the hand and shook it as Jonathan finally stood up from the couch. "Goodbye Dav...id," Jonathan said awkwardly, daring to call the man by his first name as it was farewell after all. "I hope you remember us fondly."

Daniels turned to him with a wilting look even as he took his hand. "No offence Jonathan but I hope I don't remember any of you, or this cursed place."

"What about your friends?" Evelyn blurted out. "And Jess?"

Daniels released Jonathan's hand and fixed a cool, blue stare on the woman. "I'll remember Henderson and Burns as they were not what they became. As for Jess," he took off his fedora and frowned down at it, "I'll remember her too."

Rick's stern stare fell on the book before it flickered up to Daniels. "Planning a little light reading?" he quipped sarcastically.

"It's a parting gift," Evelyn informed him as she gave him a warning look.

Rick rested his hands on his hips as he frowned back at Evelyn before turning his disapproving stare back to Daniels. "You couldn't have just bought us a nice pot or something? Evelyn that book is not staying here. Why did you even take it Daniels? Lost the desire to read it already?"

"I find the language a little unpleasant," Daniels grumbled. "And you can do what you like with it, burn it for all I care." He froze again as Jess' ghostly figure gave him a cold stare. Her dried out amber stare was full of malice reminding him that it wasn't really her but just the remnants of Set's curse. "I hope you don't follow me to Texas," he muttered as he finally put his fedora back on.

"No desire to," Rick assured him. "So you finally used your brain and realised using the book was a bad idea, I'm glad, it only took you a month."

"Rick really," Evelyn chided him.

"Well I won't deny contemplating it," Daniels admitted darkly. His frown deepened as Burns and Henderson shouted insults at him. "I mean what if they're in Egyptian hell with that mummy?"

"They won't be," Evelyn assured but the truth was she wondered the same thing. "Anyway, the book wouldn't have brought them back right, probably."

"Definitely," Rick assured.

"Right," Daniels mumbled, "well goodbye."

"Goodbye and good luck," Rick retorted. "And don't worry; I'll be sure to burn the book."

"Goodbye," Evelyn said sweetly.

"Yes, goodbye chap and have a good journey," Jonathan remarked brightly.

Daniels finally departed Cairo in the late afternoon, catching the boat to Alexandria. He travelled with his treasure close to hand, staying up on deck with it. As the boat left the shores of Cairo it was to the sound of jackals howling from the desert. Daniels was thankful he couldn't see them as he smoked heavily, resisting the itch for a drink as he was determined to keep sober to keep a better eye on his treasure. He thought glumly of the months he had wasted here, hiding from facing the reality at home whilst contemplating Jess' curse. The young woman had died for him, and he knew he owed her but Set's curse had worn him down in the end. Nor could Daniels fully shift his conviction that using the book was wrong.

He sighed heavily as he leaned across the railing slightly as he felt a weight lift off his shoulders as Cairo finally slipped out of sight. He felt a mild happiness he was going home a rich man after all but it was hard not to feel guilt with it, Henderson and Burns should have been sharing this wealth, it had been Henderson's idea to come here after all and if it wasn't for Jess he wouldn't be here at all.

'I'm sorry,' he thought mournfully, 'but I need to keep living.'