Just testing. Let me know what you think and Enjoy!

Long Nights

Ahkmenrah welcomed the change in scenery. He liked to travel and now that he was able to get out of his tomb, made the experience of waking every night all the more enjoyable. But he missed New York. He missed the friends he'd made from Larry and Nick, to the exhibits. Everything in England was so new it took a bit of getting used to.

Seeing his parents was a wonderful treat, though. He was glad to see they'd survived so long and hadn't been looted of pillaged in their years beneath the ground. He was even gladder for the chance to speak with them again. They had a few questions about what had changed during their centuries beneath the ground and while he couldn't tell them everything, he could fill in a great deal.

It was during the hustle and bustle of the night life that he was able to forget. He was able to forget that despite the friends and family, he was missing something very important. He was missing someone to share it with. His sudden freedom in New York after thousands of years of solitude simply meant anything else fell to the wayside. Ahk was simply enjoying his life once again, until being near his parents once again.

Seeing his parents together only made the feeling of distant loneliness more pronounced. What he wouldn't give to have someone he cared for that cared for him.

"Did you hear me, son?" Merenkahre asked.

Ahk jolted back into reality. He hadn't realized he'd drifted into his thoughts while he and his father were on their nightly walk.

"No, father." He answered. "Apologies."

"What troubles you, my son?" he asked.

The aged Pharaoh paused in step and turned to face his son. Ahkmenrah averted his father's eyes for a moment or two. He was embarrassed about what had forced him out of the conversation and didn't wish to relay it, but his father was once his confidant, so it would make sense he could be again.

"It's just…" he hesitated briefly. "You and mother, you seem so happy, even still."

A slow, understanding smile crossed Merenkahre's lips. He nodded.

"It is understandable." He replied. Ahkmenrah peered up through his lashes looking so much like a lost little boy. "But surely, there is someone here?"

Ahk glanced around. The museum was again filled with statues, paintings and figures moving around, talking amongst themselves and enjoying their time awake, but none of them were anything he was interested in.

When he was alive, Ahkmenrah's marriage was arranged just as his parents' had been, but he was never given the chance to follow through with the ceremony. He died before being married which meant no children and no wife to be buried alongside him.

After hesitating to find an answer, Ahkmenrah was interrupted. The moment his mouth opened, Tilly –their night guard- came into view.

"Whoa," she smiled. "It's the kings." She let out a light giggle which both of them had come to think as charming. "I thought you'd for sure be in the East Wing."

"And why's that, Guardian?" Merenkahre asked in his typical regal tone.

Ahk sighed internally. He'd told his father multiple times that Tilly was not their guardian. She was in charge of watching over the museum, not the royal family, but he still seemed to think that because they were 'the most important displays' that naturally they were the ones she had to protect the most.

"Well, 'cause we got more mummies in." she said as though she was confused they didn't know. Their collective brows pulled together.

"More mummies?" Ahk asked.

"Yeah. A couple, I think."

The youngest Pharaoh looked to his father. A silent agreement passed between them and soon they set off towards the people from their homeland.

At some point, Ahk had pulled ahead of his father, though why he wasn't sure. They were both curious as to whom from their land had come to the museum. Was it someone they knew? Was it a great king from before their time? Perhaps more family? Whoever it was, they had to know.

Mid-journey, Shepseheret –Ahkmenrah's mother- joined them. She was just as excited as they were.

When they rounded the final corner, the three were greeted with a sign telling them everything within the newly setup –and recently abandoned- wing was on loan from the Vatican Museums. Near the rear of it were the little bits of Egyptian artifacts.

Their pace slowed a bit as they took in what had been brought. Most of it was art -moving hieroglyphs and the like- but in the very back was a sarcophagus. It was rocking violently from side to side, shaking as the one inside tried to escape. The closer they stepped, the more they could hear the muffled screams from within. It made Ahk's hair stand on end. He knew he must have looked the same to the previous night guards in New York. No wonder they hadn't let him out sooner.

But, knowing what it was like to be stuck inside a coffin, Ahkmenrah wanted to release whoever was concealed within.

"Father, please." He said.

Merenkahre handed his staff to his wife and joined his son on one side of the sarcophagus. Together, they shoved as hard as they could. The lid toppled to the ground with a heavy clunk.

Immediately, the body within sat up and they could see why the poor individual hadn't been able to free themself. Their wrappings were still firmly securing their arms to their chest preventing them from moving. Ahk rushed forward to help.

"It's alright." He said as he began to tug and break the withered bindings. "You're safe."

But they hardly calmed and he didn't expect them to. Waking in your tomb is a jarring process. He'd been doing it every night since he was entombed. It was a side effect of being buried with his tablet.

The moment their hands were free, the mummy began to tug at their face and rip away the last bits of bindings. Frantic and erratic, Ahk and his parents had no choice but to stand back. There was a real chance whoever was in the tomb would react violently.

The sound of tearing fabric filled the air and soon there was headway. Tuffs of black hair shined through the dusty cloth and with one final yank it came free. Long ebony hair spilled out. The same moment their mouth was free, the mummy spun to the side and coughed over the edge of the sarcophagus. Soon it was just heavy, panting breathing.

Calmness took over. Eventually the mummy was no longer struggling to do anything and simply breathed. Ahk –being braver than his parents- took marginal steps forward. He tentatively reached out to touch the newcomer's shoulder.

"Are you alright?" he asked calmly.

"Where," a soft voice breathed in a language all too familiar to the trio. "Where am I?"

"You're in the British Museum." Ahkmenrah answered in his native tongue. It felt both odd and welcoming to speak again. "What's your name?"

The small framed newcomer ran their fingers through their hair, pulling it back and out of the way to better see those staring. Ahkmenrah felt his breath catch.

A young woman peered at him through tendrils of long black hair. She was perhaps his age and beautiful. Her face was heart-shaped, her cheeks high and lips full, her skin beautifully bronzed, but it was her eyes that held his attention. They were ice blue. While his were green –another uncommon color with his people- hers were the brightest he'd ever seen. They were the color of the sky and just as piercing.

"Isis," she finally answered. "My name is Isis." Her eyes fell to Ahk, the closest to her, and he felt his back shudder. "What's a British Museum?"