All the humans drew back from her, all had the same scared expressions on their faces.

A black wave of power was rising behind Ahmanet, a threatening presage of death. If the princess had seen the fear in her Chosen's gaze, she probably would have been hurt from it. But all she could see was the hand of that blonde mortal, still on her Chosen's strong arm. One thought from her and that Jenny wouldn't have had an arm anymore. Ahmanet clenched her jaw, savouring the idea, already seeing in her mind the mortal's face contorting in pain. She liked that, and smiled. Her expression surely didn't promise good things to come, because her Chosen threw an alarmed look to that woman, and stepped in front of her.

"Hey, Ahmanet, stop, calm down, it's okay..." he started, but the princess interrupted him.

"IT'S NOT!" Her murderous gaze was still pointed on the blonde woman, who was returning it from behind Nick's back. She seemed quite terrified. Good.

"It is, she doesn't mean any harm." Nick had been so relieved to see Jenny there. Not because he felt something for her, but because she came there to help. She has explained him that she didn't like Prodigium's plans on Ahmanet. That she didn't know what to do, who she could trust, except from him. Because, her words "You can be a thief, a liar, and the worst man I've ever met, but you are not a mean man. There is good in you. And that's why I'm here. You didn't harm anyone when you helped her escape. I think you want to fix all of this. And you are the only one who seems to want to do this the right way. Without, you know, killing or torturing anyone, which I definitely don't like. So, need any help?" Nick was quite surprised that she got the point. But, hey, she was the one who succeeded in finding Ahmanet's tomb after all. She was a smart woman. And he was happy to have someone like that by his side. He thought the others would have been happy as well. Of course, he forgot the power of the jealousy. And now he wasn't that happy anymore. Ahmanet looked furious. She didn't move, as if she didn't even hear him. Her fists were clenched.

He lifted an hand and tried again "She wants to help us."

The princess still didn't move, but the black wave behind her twisted, restive, impatiente to be released.

Nick took it as a good sign. Maybe she was listening after all, or she would have let her power go already.

He took a step forward and added "Please, Ahmanet, at least listen to her. Don't you trust me?"

At those words, Ahmanet answered immediately "Of course I do."

"Then please, give her a chance." Her Chosen smiled to her, and tended his hand, asking her to take it and to come closer to him.

Ahmanet expired slowly, and let her tension to abandon her body. With some effort, she also sent her power back to where it belonged.

The humans' faces relaxed immediately, and she advanced and took her Chosen's hand.

"Thank you" he said, caressing her hand with his thumb.

She smiled at him, more calm now that the blonde didn't have her hands on him anymore. Maybe she actually was a smart girl. Maybe.

They turned to the other two, and Nick said "Alright, why don't you tell them what you told me before?"

Jenny nodded and opened her mouth to talk, but Chris preceeded her "Yes, I'd like to be adjourned too, but first, I'd like to eat something."

They all looked at him, puzzled.

"What? I was dead remember? I haven't eaten for days, and now I'm so hungry. And then, it's better to talk in front of food, isn't it?" Chris looked very serious.

Nick exchanged gazes with the two women. Jenny blinked and looked at Chris as if it was the first time she saw him. Ahmanet just looked exasperate, like if she couldn't find one good reason for having resurrected him.

Nick smiled. He's missed his friend, a lot. "Well, I suppose you are not wrong."

"Of course I'm not, buddy. Lead the way."

Nick shooked his head and said "Back to the church then."

They started walking and after a while Jenny talked "I've taken some food as well. I thought you could be hungry, but I didn't expect to find an hungry resurrected man too." She added, looking at Chris.

"Ahmanet brought him back" Nick explained, with a proud voice and a look full of love to his princess.

She smiled to him and held the look Jenny gave her. She didn't seem so surprised, the mummy was the only one who could do such things after all. She seemed more...admired. Admired for her good action. Then, Jenny smiled and said "Well, it seems I've taken the right decision then."

Nick nodded "I think so as well. You have to tell us everything."

Jenny snorted "You first. You are the only one who knows everything about this story. So let's start from the beginning, I think Chris'd appreciate that."

Chris turned to them and said "Yes I would. But most of all, I'd like to eat something, anything. I'm starving, dying for hunger. So, unless you want me to come back to be a dead man, let's hurry." Then he turned again and moved.

The other three just rolled their eyes and followed him.

It didn't take so long to reach the church, and they didn't go fast, besides Chris' complaints.

They felt safe, Jenny told them that the Prodigium didn't succeeded in tracking them yet. She did it just because when she and Nick were there to find the mummy's body, she had tried to contact the Prodigium, but she couldn't, because there was no signal in that place. So, when she decided to join them, her mind connected the pieces and she thought that place was worth a try. And it did.

Even if Henry and his men rushed there, by the way, with Ahmanet and her soldiers they wouldn't have been such a threat. Knowing that, they tried to relax and take some moments to rearrange ideas.

So, while their walk, Nick told his best friend the story from his point of view, and he listened carefully, trying to get Nick's thoughts and feelings.

Chris wanted to understand his friend, he saw how much he cared for the mummy, he saw how much he was involved in that story and he didn't want to let him alone facing all of it. Even he didn't feel comfortable when he heard what the Prodigium wanted to do to the princess. Jenny seemed disgusted too. And he laughed when Nick told him about the way he trapped the blonde woman in the bathroom. Ahmanet seemed amused as well.

"You threw a towel to her?" He asked between the laughters, while they were taking the food inside the church "What the hell were you thinking?"

"Don't laugh Chris! I don't know, I acted by instinct!" He was smiling too though.

They sat on two single benches, Jenny next to Chris, and in front of them Nick next to Ahmanet, and started to eat.

"That was not funny. You scared the hell out of me!" Jenny protested, leaning slightly towards Nick.

"Well, that was the intention." Nick answered, still smiling, but then he added "Ehm, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have used you like that again Jenny. I didn't have time, they were torturing her" he made a gesture towards Ahmanet "and I wanted to stop that."

The princess put an hand on him's and squeezed it, grateful.

"Yeah, I get it know, don't worry about it. I didn't like Prodigium's plans about her too, but I just..." Jenny seemed ashamed, she felt like if admitting that was like apologising with the mummy, the one who tried to kill her, many times. The one who probably still wanted to kill her. She felt more uncomfortable than she should in admitting a mistake and she didn't know why.

"You didn't do anything." For everyone's surprise, Ahmamet intervened, interrupting her. "Nothing but put your hands on MY Chosen." Her tone was poisoned and sharp, and made all of them to be struck dumb.

"I..." Jenny blinked twice, uncertain on what to say on her defense. Then she decided to attack instead "You tried to kill me! Several times! I'm sorry if this has...how can I say? Discouraged me to free you! You would have tried to kill me again!"

Ahmanet's expression didn't change as she said "Yes, probably. You kept giving me reasons to. You put yourself between me and my Chosen, repeatedly."

Jenny just raised her hands up in disbelief. Then she said "I didn't mean to take him away from you! We just wanted to survive that damn night! We were terrified!"

"He didn't have reasons to. I've never wanted to harm him! If you hadn't rushed here and interrupted us, he would have seen that! I was nothing but grateful! He saved me!" Now Ahmanet started to lose her manner too.

"Ha! He may have brought you away from that prison, but it's ME who found you!" Jenny exploded. She wasn't thinking, she just couldn't keep all that anger back anymore.

The church fell silent. Ahmanet tilted her head, puzzled.

"He didn't tell you, hu?" Jenny shooked her head "What a surprise! A woman works hard to do something important and of course at the end a man took all the merits." She sighed deeply and sat. In the impetuosity of the moment, she and the mummy have stood up unawares.

Ahmanet looked at her as if it was the first time she saw her, and stayed calm and quiet, all her rage and all her jealousy suddendly disappeared.

Nick sighed too and answered "I onestly didn't tell her because it has just slipped from my mind. We had more important problems to solve..." here there was an "of course" said by Jenny in a low voice, which he chose to ignore and kept talking "but I'm sorry for that too, by the way. I truly am."

"Whatever" Jenny stood up again, and for a moment it seemed she wanted to say something more to Ahmanet, her expression was calm, but then she snorted and walked towards the exit of the church.

The princess took one step forward, but Nick grabbed her arm to stop her. For a very short moment, Ahmanet had the instinct to wriggle from him and follow her, but she didn't pander it. She blinked, and turned to him. Her Chosen seemed very sorry for the way he had tricked the researcher.

He looked at her and Chris and said "I should go and talk to her. She deserves more than an apology. And if she'll stay with us, there has to be no rancor between us. We had to stay united if we want to succeed, or survive."

"I agree with you buddy. We are in this together and we have to have each others back" Chris stood up too, put an hand on his shoulder and added "And this is why she and our favourite princess here have to talk as well, at least to make a truce. But for now maybe we should leave her alone, to cool down her rage."

Nick nodded, but before he could say anything, Ahmanet preceded him "I'm talking to her now." And she started walking.

The two men exchanged a look, and then Nick stopped her once more and tried to talk "Ahmanet wait, she is..."

"She is very mad with you. She probably hasn't realized it till now. You apologised to her already, now it's my turn to talk to her." The princess' voice wasn't hard, but the determination shone through it. He was not going to stop her. "She won't listen one more single word from you know, my Chosen."

Nick and Chris both looked at her, and then the last one said "She is right buddy. And she is a woman, she can understand other women better than us, don't you think?"

Nick looked at him with a betrayed expression, but then he lifted his shoulders and answered "Yes, I suppose so..." He looked at Ahmanet for a long moment, unsure on what to do.

He couldn't get her intentions, and he didn't like that, at all. He couldn't get the reason of her sudden need to talk to her. He hadn't the foggiest idea of what she was thinking about.

So, when she turned and started to walk again towards the exit, he followed her for a few steps and, reached a certain distance from Chris, he grabbed her arm and stopped her once more. He made her to turn to him, and looked straight in her eyes.

Ahmanet raised an eyebrow and asked "What is it, my Chosen? Why are you so worried? I'm not going to hurt her, I promise. Don't you trust me?"

"Nono, of course I do, I..." Nick sighed and continued "I told you the truth before, you know. I had no intention of hiding you that she was the one who discovered your existence...I just forgot about it. I did, I wasn't omitting it intentionally." He took a deep breath and added "Actually, I had not idea of what I was doing when I fired to that rope and freed you. I was guided by the worse intentions when I searched your tomb. Chris and I thought Jenny was after a treasure, and to get to it I..." He swallowed.

"You slept with her and stole her the information that guided you to me." Ahmanet finished for him, her gaze was inscrutable.

Nick just nodded, his throath was dry. He let her go and diverted his eyes, ashamed and almost scared of her reaction.

Ahmanet just looked at him for a long moment, thinking. Now she could understand that Jenny and her anger a little more. Actually she was surprised at the fact that the mortal has exploded just now. Well, the princess imagined that she had had to shelve that affair to survive. And that hearing her talking about him in those terms had brought her rage back roughly. Knowing those things now, Ahmanet probably would have spared her, but if she had before, well, she wasn't sure.

Then she brought her attention on her Chosen once again. He was clearly ashamed and scared of her possible reaction.

She didn't know what to say, or what to think either. She did hate some men's behaviours, and that thought about which they were better than women, and because of that they had the right to do whatever they wanted. Like using women just to reach an aim, as Nick did. It wasn't so different from using a woman just to have an heir for the throne. Or more than one, if the present heir isn't a male. She clenched her jaw.

Then she expired and relaxed. All of that was the past. Nick was a different person now, he truly regretted what he had done, and he would have never done such a thing now. She did far worse things, she could easely forgive him for that, mostly because she knew he didn't feel anything for Jenny. And when he had slept with her, Ahmanet still wasn't in his life. Furthermore, everything that happened before their meeting brought them there, at that moment. Where all she saw in front of her was a man who respected her and cared about her. He has proven it several times. A man that she was happy to have chosen. A man from which she was happy to have been chosen in return. And that was all.

Nick still hadn't said a word, he was waiting for her to talk first.

The princess smiled to him, and put an hand on his cheek. "I'm happy you told me the truth, not everyone would have done that."

Her Chosen looked at her, incredulous, and asked "You are not mad at me?"

"I don't like what you've done, but I can see how much you regret that. And now you are a different person, as I'm trying to return to be. Thanks to you." Ahmanet smiled at him "See? The man you were would have run or fought me, he would have chosen the easiest way to save himself. But you chose the hard way, the more dangerous one. You have chosen to save me, when even I didn't want to be saved. You gave me a reason to fight and remedy to my mistake. And even if you aren't the one who found and save me from that tomb, you are the one who is saving me now, from my personal prison, from myself. And you are the man who I choose today."

Nick felt tears fulling his eyes, he was overwhelmed by emotion at his beautiful woman's words.

He smiled, put and hand on her cheek as well and kissed her deeply, making her to feel all the amazing emotions she provoked him. When they pulled away, he layed his forehead on her's and whispered "Thank you."

Then he opened his eyes and promised "I'll try to be worthy of your trust every single day. I won't disappoint you, or abandon you either. I swear it."

Ahmanet smiled, kissed him lightly and said "Now let me go, my Chosen, I and that Jenny need to talk. And we need to do this alone."

"Ok, I got it. Ehm, good luck, I suppose." He kissed her once more and let her go.

When he returned back to Chris, his friend found him definitely calmer then before.

"Everything good, I guess?"

"You guess well. We are good." Nick smiled at him and resumed eating his sandwitch.

"Yeah, I saw it." Chris looked at the entrance of the church "I know those two need to talk, I suggested it after all, but are we sure that letting them alone now is a good idea?"

"I wasn't sure before, but Ahmanet wants to do it and I'm not going to stop her, I don't think I can and I don't want to. She is changing, I trust her, I really do." Nick looked at his friend "She took you back, and it was her the one who proposed it by the beginning."

"Ah, thank you mate!" Chris threw a punch to him, which Nick dodged before saying "Ehy wait! I didn't even know that was possible!"

"Yeah, yeah, sure" Chris snorted and kept eating.

"I'm serious mate. I was desperate and she proposed me that. She could have avoided it, you know, but she didn't. And she didn't kill those men the Prodigium sent against us. These are steps forward." Nick smiled, confident.

"Yeah, but she turned them into damn puppets. Maybe death is better than that." Chris' eyes were pointed on a wall, but they didn't see it. He was thinking about his puppet experience, and, from his face, you could tell he didn't like it at all.

"I thought that too, and we had a fight for that."

Before he could continue to talk, Chris exclaimed "You two had a fight? What? The perfect couple had a fight? Unbelievable!"

Nick huffed and slapped him on the nape before talking "As I was saying, I thought that too before she told me she can release them anytime. And she will, when this story is over."

He drank some water, then he turned totally to his friend and asked "So, now you wanna hear what Jenny told me when she arrived here or we'll keep waste our time?"

Chris grinned and answered "Even if I'd like that, before I want to see the full picture. Go on bro."

Ahmanet walked out of the church and took a look around.

The blonde woman was sat against a wall near the exit. She was torturing her own hands, probably because of the stress.

Ahmanet took a moment to observe her. After what she learned some moments before, she could see her under a new, different light. She didn't see her as a rival in love anymore, but more like someone similar to her. She could understand how she felt better than anyone. And she felt the impulse to tell her, to talk to her about that. So, after a moment, she approached her.

Jenny didn't look at her, but when she came close enough, she spoke "Coming to punish me for hurting your precious chosen? Or to tell me again what wonderful man he is?"

"Quite the contrary, actually."

Ahmanet sat next to her, and sent her two guards who stood near them away with a simple nod. She wasn't joking when she said it was a thing only between the two of them.

Jenny turned to her, and lifted a questioning eyebrow at her gesture, at which Ahmanet simply said "I just wanted to talk to you alone. And I don't really need them. If an enemy approaches, I can perceive him long before them."

"Yeah, of course" Jenny took a deep breath and said "Yes, it's between the two of us. Can I speak clearly? Or my life is hanging by a thread?"

Ahmanet chuckled, which surprised the blonde, she liked that the woman went straight to the point, and answered "I'm not going to kill you. I promise."

"Well, that's a relief." Jenny diverted her gaze and added "I'm sorry for run away like a child, but I wanted to clarify things with you as well, I mean, if we are going to be in the same team we need to, and I couldn't in that moment, anger overwhelmed me."

She made a break and then she continued "But that's the only thing I'm sorry for. I spoke the truth, and even if you don't like it, I'm not going to apologise for it. I didn't mean to make you and Nick to fight or something like that, but I couldn't stop myself. I just couldn't keep that for me anymore. I mean, what I got is that you wouldn't have harmed him because he saved you, but me? You would have killed me just because I was there, trying to survive whit him, when it was only because of me that he found you."

Jenny's voice went calmer and calmer while she was speaking, but her fists were clenched, and she was still avoiding her gaze.

"You are right."

That made Jenny to suddendly turn to her, that was probably the last thing she was expecting to hear. Ahmanet smiled to her and continued "I don't know if knowing it at that time would have made me to spare you, but I'm glad to know it now."

Jenny raised both her eyebrows, she found that hard to believe.

The princess got it and said "I really am. It makes me easier to accept you here, to understand you and to find a meeting point with you."

Jenny was listening very carefully now. She got all her attention.

Ahmanet turned completely to her too, and said "I know how you feel Jen..what's your complete name?" She didn't feel comfortable in calling her "Jenny", it seemed too personal to her.

"Ehm..." the other woman seemed surprised by the question at first, but then she understood and shooked lightly her head, answering "It's Jennifer, but you can call me Jenny or Jen if you want."

Ahmanet just didn't call her, she continued talking as if she has never stopped "I know how it feels to be set aside from men after an hard work. I lived it."

A flash of awareness passed in Jenny's eyes, and she said "You had been set aside when your brother was born, after you had spent all your life training for being pharaoh."

Ahmanet tilted her head slightly, and barely ajar her eyes, at which Jenny explained "You are my life's work, remember? I know your story. Well, the little part of it I could find something about. It hadn't been easy. They erased you from history."

Ahmanet threw open her eyes, and then chuckled, and said "Not that surprising, don't you think? I dared to lift my head against those stupid rules, that made women almost powerless against men, and they mummified me alive and, not happy, cancelled my whole life, my entire existence." It was her turn to clench her fists.

Jenny thought that yeah, the reaction maybe had been a little exaggerated, but the princess killed her father, the pharaoh himself, his partner and their newborn child. Oh, and she also made a pact with an evil god. So maybe she had wronged the method as well.

"I was furious, you know." Ahmanet started talking again, and Jenny brought her attention back to her "I had spent my whole life following my father's teaching, training to be a good guide to my people, and a good pharaoh for the Egypt. I loved my homeland, and I loved my father, with all my heart. I dedicated myself to him and to the task he was going to give me. And I thought he loved me too. I thought he wanted to pass me the power and the throne because he thought I was worthy to get it. But then he had a son with a slave." She clenched her jaw, so much that Jenny found it hard to kept listening to her "And he decided to give HIM the throne. Not because he was smart, or because he had some special abilities, or because he deserved it somehow. In those cases, I...I could have also tried to understand it and to step aside willingly. But no, it wasn't because of that. The little prince had barely born and he had gotten the throne and all my father's love just by that. Because he was a male. And in our society he had all the rights to. No matter I dedicated all my life for it, no matter how hard I tried to repay my father's trust, no matter how much hard I've worked, for years. The pharaoh has had an illegitimate son from a slave, a male, and the throne automatically passes to him. And no one cared for me, for how I could feel about it, not even my father, because I was a woman. So I realized he only saw that about me. Since I was the only heir, I would have gotten the throne. But with a new, male heir, I just became the older sister of the new next pharaoh."

Ahmanet felt her fury to feed her power, and didn't even tried to stop it when it emerged. It destroyed a row of columns of the stone building in front of the church, and the whole structure collapsed.

Jenny winced, and looked fascinated at the demonstration of the mummy's power.

Ahmanet expired, feeling a little better, and said "I'm sorry, it's very difficult to controll my power when I'm angry. It likes my darkest emotions and uses them to emerge."

Jenny nodded slowly, still surprised and asked "Better now that you has vented your rage?"

The princess made a little smile to her and answered "Yes, definitely." And, after a moment "Sorry for the outburst."

"Nono, don't be sorry for it, it's alright. I'm glad you told me those things. I think we really can understand each others better than anyone else."

Jenny smiled to the mummy, a sincere, spontaneous smile, and she obtained in return one wider than the previous one the princess gave her.

In that moment Nick and Chris rushed out of the church, they have the same allarmed look in their eyes.

Jenny hurried to calm them down "It's alright boys, don't worry, and come back in. We'll come when we finish this."

Ahmanet just nodded to her Chosen when he looked at her, and the two men came back into the church, mumbling something about how difficult it was to understand them.

Then Jenny talked first "I've always loved your culture. When I found the first clue of your existence, I thought that I could do something important, and I was so happy that it was related to my passion."

She smiled and felt quite satisfied in seeing that the mummy was listening to her carefully, as she did with her before. "It's been very hard, your medjays did a good job. But I didn't want to give up, so I kept digging. And at that point Henry contacted me."

Ahmanet's expression became puzzled, and Jenny explained "He is the boss of Prodigium. You know, that man who was talking with me and Nick in front of you back in their base."

The princess nodded and commented "Yes, I remember him. He had a demon inside too. I perceived it."

Jenny snorted "You have no idea. Anyway, he offered me his help in my research. I accepted because he had more tracks to follow than I did, and he needed my help too. We could work together and discover the truth faster than working by our own. After few weeks we had a place in mind, so he sent me there. Then I met Nick. You know the rest." She made a little break, and then added "I also want to tell you that I don't have any romantic feelings for Nick. I made a mistake with him, and I paid the consequences of it. I just care about him as a friend would do that. And I definitely don't want to stand among you."

Ahmanet studied her expression for just a second before talking "I believe you. I think I got that when you told me those things back in there. And that's also when I decided to talk to you and to try to understand you. Oh, and of course I decided to give you the benefict of doubt and don't kill you."

Jenny laughed and asked "I hope to have repaid your trust."

Ahmanet smiled and answered "Yes you did. I think we are okay now."

Jenny smiled and tended her hand "Well, then, mm..." she didn't know what to propose. Friends? Too soon for that. Partners? Nah. Mates? She huffed.

Ahmanet lifted a questioning eyebrow, observing her tensed hand with curiosity.

"Whatever" Jenny thought, they didn't have to define what they were for each others. She was happy they did several steps forward from the point "we have to stop/kill the other". So she said "Ehm, I guess you won't try to kill me again then?"

Ahmanet smiled and grabbed her hand, it seemed the right thing to do, even if she had never done such a thing before. "Sure, I won't. I promise." And then, she added "I'm glad you didn't give up on searching me. It's good to be free and myself again. I won't waste this opportunity."

Jenny drew back her hand and said "And I'm glad I succeeded in finding you, even if with a little help. And I'm sorry for not having done a single thing to help you when I realised what were the plans of the Prodigium for you. It was a complex situation, you see, I was scared of you, I thought you were a dangerous threat, but I was also horrified at the thought of what they wanted to do to you. Luckily Nick decided to do something himself."

She snorted, and then continued "Now I've understood that there is another way to fix all of this, and that the Prodigium doesn't want to do this the right way. They want to do this the easiest one. Well, you have to consider they have to worry about the world's safety, but ehy that doesn't mean we don't! And they don't know, or don't want to know that you are not an evil creature out of controll. I didn't know that too, but now that I do, I want to help you even more."

Ahmanet smiled and stood up, and when Jenny did the same, she said "I'm glad to hear that. I want to do this the right way too. My Chosen helped me realising that." She made a break and observed her before adding "He is different now, you know. He truly regrets what he did to you."

Jenny looked at her for a long moment, and thought that she was changing for real to say her those things. Then she smiled and they walked back inside the church in a comfortable silence.

Once they reached the men, Chris talked "Well, you two are still alive and sound, so I guess everything is okay now."

They nodded and he continued "Then are you in Jen?"

She smiled and answered "I'm in."