This is a short one, but it was originally a part of the last chapter that got too long. The next chapter might have to wait for a while so I wanted to get this out. I am superglad you guys keep reading this!

I dont own Cats and in this chapter I have exaggerated a lot about the inside structure of the pyramids, they were actually quite uncomplicated but the inspiration comes from the different temples where later pharaohs were buried, the egyptians got tired of people plundering the graves and hid them better and with several traps for thieves. But new finds suggest that there are still hidden chambers in the three big pyramids, so the lst thing is not said in this matter..

Extra bonus points to the one finding the Howard Carter reference! Fun facts for everyone reviewing, yay!

When the sun rose in the morning they had slept decently but both felt stiff and took their time stretching out.

"Okey, so we are prepared for what we will see today" said Cassandra sounding determined. "We can't change the history, but we can understand it better" she said and Misto smiled. He had thought the same thing before he fell asleep last night.

"Yeah, let's learn something new" he said and they went outside together. Misto felt the wonderful smell of fresh fish and was just about ask Cassandra if they should try and get some for breakfast when he heard her throw up and he turned towards her worried. "Are you okey!?" he asked as he lend her a paw to help her stand up straight again.

"I'm fine" she said but looked a bit pale. "It was just that horrible smell, I wasn't prepared" she said and shook her head.

"And here I thought we were prepared for something worse than a bad smell in the air" said Misto trying to joke. Cassandra laughed.

"Haha yeah, well I feel better already, but no fish for breakfast okey?" she said and smiled.

"It was the fish?" said Misto surprised. "Never mind, let's find something else to eat" he said changing the subject. He was hungry and if Cassandra didn't want fish he wouldn't waste his time on that.

They went back to the market place from yesterday and quickly realised that it was from there the smell of fish came from. Cassandra gagged but didn't throw up again. Misto looked longingly over at the stand with fish before he sighed and they left. It didn't take long until their noses told them a rat was close by. They hunted it down and it was big enough to feed them both. When they sat and ate the rat several humans came up to them and petted them, one woman came out with some water for them and then another one hurried out with a saucer with milk instead. Cassandra and Misto happily accepted and when the second woman saw that they preferred the milk she made a comment to the other one who turned and left. They finished the bowl of milk and thanked the woman by nuzzling her leg before they moved on.

"They really like cats here" said Misto to Cassandra.

"It was because we took care of the rat, that is one of the reasons they treat the cats so well, by taking care of rodents we keep sickness from spreading and protect the food they have stored up" said Cassandra almost quoting a sign from the museum at home.

"Look at that, I am already learning" said Misto with a wink and they both laughed.

It was time to move towards the pyramids and the sphinx. They both prepared themselves for what they were about to see and it didn't take long until the lines of slaves dragging blocks of stone came upon them. They braced themselves and pushed forward. It was easier today when they knew what would come but it was still hard to see the people of Egypt pay the prize for the luxury of their leaders. More than once Cassandra thought about the amount of gold that had been found in Tutankhamun's chamber, a tenth of it would probably change the lives of everyone living in the city. The hope of getting to meet Chefren, which would probably be the pharaoh at this time, turned into disgust. The proud line Cassandra sang at the Jellicle ball would be filled with something else from now on. Instead of respect for the pharaohs she would think of the sacrifices made by the people that didn't make the history books.

Cassandra took them to the largest of the pyramids, the Cheops pyramid and they circled it for a while before finding an entrance. Cassandra knew that the real entrance would be hidden and that some of these entrances were especially made for thieves, they were narrow and designed to make the person who entered lose his way and never get out again. There would also be several pits in unsuspected places for the thieves to fall into if they entered. She hesitated a bit before entering. To enter the pyramid after the pharaoh had been buried was not allowed and you would be punished by the gods even if you avoided getting caught. But they were cats and couldn't be expected to know that. But there was also a second reason she hesitated. If they found the way to the hidden chamber they would see gold, carvings, amulets, magic, but they would also see sacrifices the humans had made to the gods and those sacrifices would be both humans and animals, and there would probably be several mummified cats in there. A chill went down her spine and she turned to Misto.

"If we enter we might see things that are worse than the ones we leave on the outside, do you still want to go?" she asked. She was not prepared to go down there alone but she didn't want Misto to come unless he knew what it meant.

"I think it will help us understand" said Misto. He had seen Cassandra's hesitation and even though her eyes didn't give anything away he could read her body language well enough. This was something that frightened her, but she was still ready to go through with it. It must be an important piece for both of them.

"It will be really hard to find the way, we might enter and not find anything at all, but I want you to leave traces of glitter to make sure we don't get lost" she started and Misto took mental notes. "It will soon be dark enough that not even our Jellicle eyes can find our way, can you conjure light for us then?" she asked and Misto nodded. She paused and wondered how she would continue.

"I know the pharaoh demanded sacrifices and I know some of them were cats" said Misto suspecting what it was that troubled her. It was Cassandra's turn to nod. "If we can't find anything it will still not be in vain" he said and they both smiled. They had only dreamt of seeing the beautiful and remarkable things before they went but now they both felt the importance of seeing all things, not just the valuable historic artefacts.

Misto and Cassandra entered the Cheops pyramid in silence. Misto had to conjure light only a couple of hundred of meters in, the darkness was like being blind even to a cat. He sprinkled glitter on the floor behind them as they went on and made it stick to the ground so that the gentle breeze that sometimes swept by them wouldn't move it around. They proceeded slowly and several times they passed narrow passages to the sides. Everytime they came upon one Misto sent in a spark of light and let it travel until the passage came to a stop. Most of the times the light disappeared and a few minutes later it appeared again behind them. It had moved in a circle somehow before returning, it wasn't hard to see how one could easily get lost. When the light came back the same way they went in and explored the passage. Most of the times it ended in a trap and in one of the pits they could see the skeleton of a human not knowing if the person was a thief that had been caught by the pyramid or if it was an injured worker that had been left behind.

After what must have been at least an hour they came upon a trap pit where they could see the passage continuing on the other side of it. They both looked at each other. 'This is it' thought Cassandra. They could see markings on both sides of the deep pit that indicated some kind of bridge had been there but was now removed. Misto conjured a plank for them to walk over on. When they came to the other side Cassandra almost immediately saw the thin cracks in the side wall that indicated a door opening. She could barely breathe. Down to the left it was an opening that looked like a rat had digged its way out.

"Look, maybe there's a way in here!" she said and turned to Misto. They lay down and peeked inside, it was pitch dark and they had no idea if it was because the hole wasn't deep enough to go through or if it was just as dark on the other side of the wall. Misto used his magic to push some light through the hole and instead of it returning they could see a faint light from something that must be the room on the other side. The hole was only big enough for one cat to look at a time.

"Ladies first" said Misto and gestured for Cassandra to look inside. She put her face as far into the hole as she could and looked. "Can you see anything?" asked Misto impatiently.

"Yes, wonderful things" said Cassandra. It was all she could get out. Everything was covered in gold. The light Misto had pushed inside were reflected in almost every surface of the room and she could barely make out the details. She took out her head and Misto didn't need to get told to put his inside. Their ears stroked against each others as he hurried past her. At first he couldn't see anything because the light was so bright and he understood why Cassandra had been silent. But then he could make out the contours of statues, a chest and paintings made in gold all around the walls. He pulled his head back out and him and Cassandra just looked at each other with their mouths open. Neither could believe what they had just seen. The feeling exceeded anything they had ever felt before. It was like they were the only two cats in the world, and in a way they were since they belonged to another time. Misto couldn't tell why he did it but suddenly he felt himself pull Cassandra close and kiss her. He needed to be close to her, to share this, the exhilarating feeling had to come out in action. She kissed him back for a second before they both came to their senses again.

"I'm sorry, I don't know what I was thinking" said Misto looking down at his feets. He felt so embarrassed that he had acted on the instinct. He didn't want Cassandra. There was something different with Cassandra though, a different smell that he couldn't put in place.

"No, it's okey Misto, don't think about it" said Cassandra. She felt her face being warm and wondered what on earth had made her kiss him back. It hadn't felt wrong but it didn't feel like there was any attraction between them.

"Everything just got so intense, I didn't mean to- you know I don't feel that way, it just.." Misto stuttered. He couldn't look at his friend although he hadn't heard any anger in her voice.

"No I understand, let's just pretend it never happened, ok?" said Cassandra and Misto nodded. He still looked embarrassed though. "I'm a bit overwhelmed as well" she said and laughed off some of the tension. "Hah, just this morning I warned Tugger not to come onto me, I didn't realise it was you I should keep my eyes on" she tried to joke.

"Haha yeah I just hold back at home, in reality I'm the impossible flirt" Misto couldn't help but laugh as well. When they said it out loud they both heard how absurd it sounded. There would never be anything but friendship between them. To lose the tension to laughter was liberating. It wasn't long before they both were laughing so hard they had to sit down. It was like the past day and night had been so filled with tension that they had to laugh for days to make up for it. Suddenly they heard a loud crack. They both turned their gaze up towards the ceiling just to see it approach them in pieces. Cassandra hid her face as she prepared herself to get crushed to death. The last thing she felt before being hit by the rocks were Misto grabbing her arm.

To be continued

PS. Dont we all have a friend that we wanted to kiss at some point? That it has nothing with attraction to do, but only a need to get an overwhelming feeling out? Nope? Just me? Very well then...