Okay, so I finally gave in and wrote a Night at the Museum fanfiction. The fandom REALLY needs some more stories, because these movies are brilliant. I'm not entirely sure where it'll go, but I have a few ideas. Anyway, standard disclaimer: I own NOTHING from the movie franchise! The only things I do own are the story and the OCs that might come in later. Please read and review!
Nicky ran down the hallway in a panic, trying to live long enough to reach the Egyptian wing of the museum, where he last saw his father, Larry. At this point in time, Nicky had finally given in to his dad's wishes and gone to college. However, that meant helping to pay for college, which meant getting a job, which ended up with Nicky as the museum's much needed second night guard. He worked with his dad as his boss now; therefore, he didn't generally like the job as much as he originally thought. Hence running down the hall, fearing for his life.
"DAD?!" he shouted when he saw the gate to the Egyptian Exhibit.
No answer.
"Oh, great!" he groaned, pausing and looking around to come up with a plan.
When the sound of the escaped, and now stampeding, animals reached him he started to run again. What truly caught him off guard was the arm that reached out, grabbed him, and pulled him into the hall that contained Ahkmenrah's tomb. When Nick registered what happened, he looked to see the young pharoah slamming the metal grate of the entryway shut.
"Oh, thank God!" Nicky groaned, completely out of breath.
The animals ran past the gate and on to torment another area of the building, aside from the lions. The large cats paced on the other side of the grate and growled lowly. Ahkmenrah shouted toward them in what Nicky guessed was an ancient Egyptian language. After being shouted and scolded at, the cats put their heads down and grumbled back down the hallway they came from.
"Thanks, Ahk." Nicky said, regaining his breath and sliding down the pillar he hadn't realized he was leaning on, until he sat in a stressed out heap on the ground.
"What was that about?" Ahk asked with genuine concern for the boy, while he took a seat on the ground next to him.
"That was what happens when I'm trusted to do important stuff…" he grumbled bitterly, "Lock up the Hall of Mammals, my dad said! It'll be easy, he said!"
"Bad day already?" the other boy asked, with an attempt at a humorous chuckle, "And we all only just woke up."
"That explains the...that," Nicky chuckled dryly, gesturing at the wrapping that still remained around the pharaoh.
"Oh, congratulations on breaking the record," Ahk grinned.
"What record?"
"Your girlish shriek was quite literally loud enough to wake the dead!" he explained, bursting into a fit of laughter at the irritation on Nicky's face.
For this joke, he received a smack on the shoulder.
"Ugh, I hate you sometimes!" he laughed at Ahk, as the young king held his shoulder in mock pain.
"What fun would it be if you didn't?" he shrugged, standing to his feet and then pulling NIcky up onto his.
"He is proud of you. I don't know why he doesn't say it, but he is." Ahk said, trying to be encouraging.
"Who?"
"Your father. Since you began working here, he's been much happier."
"Well," Nicky sighed, "Not for much longer. I suck at this job! There are stampedes running everywhere, and nothing gets past him! And for some reason, it was easier when all I did was be a kid and help make a bigger mess. I never knew how hard this job was, and now I'm gonna lose it!"
"Not just yet," Ahk smiled, with a clear plan formulating in his head, "Go back to the African hall and wait there."
He ran and carefully removed the famous gold tablet from the wall.
"I have an idea!"
Nick didn't question it. Instead he ran back the way he came and hoped that, by some miracle, they would get there before Larry investigated.
When he arrived, the hall was completely empty, with no animals in sight. He gripped his hair nervously, making various unintelligible noises.
"Come on, Ahk!" he sighed quietly, as though it would help in any way.
Just when he started to panic, Ahkmenrah hurried down the hallway, now in his usual royal wardrobe.
"Okay, so what's your big plan?" Nicky asked quickly.
Ahk calmly spoke to the tablet before the gold slab began to glow.
"This is my plan," he gestured down the hallway, as a faint noise turned into the herd of animals that Nicky had accidentally released, "Move away from the door in about three seconds."
"Okay." Nick sighed, "3...2...1...NOW!"
The two backed out of the way as the animals rushed into the room, and each grabbed a side of the gate to effectively slam shut. Thankfully, Nicky had already locked the other door of the hall.
"Now, just lock it up," Ahk insisted, "And hurry!"
"That's kinda the problem!" Nick remembered, "I don't really have my keys on me."
As if on cue, the familiar happy noises of a capuchin monkey echoed in the hallway. Dexter sat happily on a bench behind the two boys, who were still holding the gate closed. Ahk rolled his eyes and let out a low, irritated breath that could have barely passed for a sigh.
"Again? Really?"
"Yup."
"Nick, hold the gate," the king instructed, regaining his patience, before turning to the monkey, "Dex, come here. Now."
Dexter let out a fussy whine of a sound, before resolutely sitting on the back of the bench.
"I'm not doing this today. Now." he ordered calmly.
Dexter gave in, slumped his shoulders, and walked over to Ahkmenrah, who then picked him up off of the floor.
"We talked about this," he scolded the monkey gently.
Dexter looked down sadly.
"But...I understand," Ahk sighed, knowing how much the capuchin hated being locked up. He could never blame him for that.
"No more taking NIck's keys and behave yourself, and you don't have to be put in there at night. Sound fair?" he negotiated.
Dexter smiled and chirped happily before hugging the pharaoh's neck. He then hopped over to Nick's shoulder to drop the keys into a waiting hand.
"Is it 'cus I'm a night guard now?" Nick asked, finally locking the dumb gate, "You didn't pick on me so much before."
Dexter shrugged and smiled again with a fake innocence.
"Just...go pick on my dad or something!" Nicky grumbled as Dexter scurried off.
Just as Dexter rounded a corner, Larry came around from the other side.
"NIcky?" he called over.
Ahk immediately hid the tablet behind his back, under his cape, and the boys hoped Larry wouldn't have seen it.
"I was fixing an issue downstairs when I heard a bunch of noises from up here. Sounded like trouble, so I came to check it out," Larry said skeptically, before looking around.
He was suspicious of them, as the two boys quickly put on matching nervous smiles.
"But...it looks like you've got everything under control here." Larry relaxed as he saw all of the African Mammals contently lounging in their own exhibit, which was secured, "Good job, Nicky."
"Heh, thanks." came the nervous reply.
"Anything go wrong tonig-"
"NO!" Nicky exclaimed, way too fast to avoid more suspicion.
Larry gave him an odd look.
"Nothing at all," Ahk agreed calmly, defusing the moment.
"Okay, I'll be downstairs if you need me." Larry mentioned before walking off.
When Nicky was sure he was out of earshot, he threw his head back and let out a loud "Ugggggh!" of frustration.
"I think it went alright."
"I can't do this!" Nicky complained dramatically.
No response.
"What? No encouraging "Don't worry, Nicky! You can do this!"?!"
"You have visited this museum at night for eight years, yet on the first day of actually working here, you are almost eaten by lions," Ahk pointed out, "I'm not sure a hearty "You can do this" is appropriate, because that is highly debatable."
"Oh, shut up!" Nicky complained, as the two started laughing.
"Well, it sounds as though there's a party starting downstairs and I don't plan to miss Attila crowd surfing again."
Ahk started down the hall.
"Hey, Ahk," Nicky stopped him, "Thanks for...everything."
"Of course."
"I've never had one, but...you make a pretty good big brother," Nicky admitted.
The pharaoh had, after all, been helping to look after Nicky for eight years. He was the closest that Nicky had a brother, and Ahkmenrah had never really been close to his brother, so neither minded the new one.
Ahk just smiled back at him and then continued downstairs to check on the rest of the museum "family".