Chapter Fourteen: Return

"See?" Semet finished pulling the string through the hole in the wooden horse. "It's simple." She tied off the knot and put the small toy down on the ground, where a small boy immediately picked it up again, looking at it with interest. "Now," Semet rubbed her hands together and crouched down next to him, looking around their playing space in the courtyard. "Where's the chariot?"

"I have it!" the boy bolted away for the table nearby and quickly returned, a chariot in hand which he hooked around the horse's head. He grinned happily at his work but Semet merely shook her head.

"And where's the King himself?"

The boy thought hard, and then his face flushed red. "I think I left him in my room. My mother took it away because I kept playing with it when I was supposed to sleep."

"Well, go get him," Semet encouraged him, letting out a laugh when the boy nodded and bolted to the side towards the women's quarters in search for his mother.

Semet turned back around when she heard another small pair of feet approach her, smiling when she saw that it was the boy's sister who sat down cross-legged next to the wooden chariot and placed her own doll in it, wrapping the new string around the doll's waist.

"What are you doing here?" Semet asked curiously, kneeling next to the girl who seemed perfectly content with holding the doll upright and gently pulling the horse, copying the mock battle sounds she had previously heard her brother make. "You were unwell. You should be in bed."

"The coughing has passed," the girl said quietly, but defiantly. She looked up at Semet and gave her a toothy grin. "I'm good. Besides, Ahkmenrah was looking for you."

"He was?" Semet's eyebrows rose in surprise. The child took sudden interest in her wig and pulled on one of the strands, making Semet's hand to shoot up and hold it in place, giving the girl a look of warning. "Why is he looking for me?"

The girl shrugged, turning back to her doll. "I don't know. I didn't ask."

Semet gave her a playfully annoyed look but the child didn't even see it, muttering under her breath as she played with the toys. Semet let out a sigh and sat up, looking around. She grinned when she saw a thin, graceful dog heading towards her, calling out the familiar animal's name but it only barked at her.

She stared in surprise, and then looked around herself to see what could have gotten its attention. "It's okay," she slowly rose to her feet, her hands up in front of her to calm the animal down. "It's just us."

The dog barked again and Semet heard an exasperated sigh come from a pillar nearby and turned over her shoulder to see Ahkmenrah reveal himself, a defeated look on his face. The dog barked again, wagging its nail, its alertness fading into excitement but Ahkmenrah only glared at him.

Turning to Semet, he frowned. "I don't think he likes me very much. That, or he has proclaimed himself as your personal guard since the last time we've seen each other."

Semet narrowed her eyes, turning around to face him fully. "Were you trying to sneak up on me?"

Ahkmenrah folded his arms over his chest, glancing to the side. "No..."

Semet grinned, slowly walking towards him. The dog had lost interest and was instead sniffing curiously at the toys, letting out a happy bark when the girl laughed and tried to push his face away.

"You're a terrible liar, Ahkmenrah. You should leave sneaking along the dark corners to your brother; you have never been good at it."

"I wasn't sneaking. I was simply trying to... approach you without being noticed."

"Is that right?" Semet tilted her head to the side, now standing in front of him. "And with what purpose?"

Ahkmenrah smiled, leaning forward until their noses brushed.

"I thought you'd be at the atrium."

Ahkmenrah whirled around, eyes wide, to see Sarah leaning against a pillar with her arms crossed, smiling at him. Mistaking his look of surprise for a question, Sarah jabbed a thumb to the entrance of the young Pharaoh's tomb. "They're setting up the football game. I think there are actual bets being taken, although I'm not sure what you all can afford to trade." Smiling to herself, she looked over her shoulder at the tall Jackals guarding the doorway. "I think these guys have gotten used to me. Although..." She frowned, looking down at her feet. "I still feel like they'll try to attack me with their spears whenever I turn my back on them."

Ahkmenrah rose to his full height from where he had been sitting at the edge of his sarcophagus, shaking his head. "They will not harm you." He approached her slowly, as if he was afraid that if he neared her too quickly she would leave. In truth, he could barely believe she was actually here. "They will listen to my orders and I... I do believe they have gotten used to your presence in the museum. They were only protecting me, you see, you are no longer perceived as a threat."

"As you have told me before," Sarah nodded. "Good to know regardless."

He quickly looked her over, noticing she seemed better than he last seen her, more colour to her skin. "How are you?"

"I'm good," Sarah smiled. "Better. Than I was, I mean."

His eyebrows furrowed in worry. "You still get the nightmares?"

"Yeah," Sarah didn't bother to hide it, knowing her face would have betrayed her either way. She looked to the side. "But someone told me that running away from things is not the greatest way to deal with them—"

She was interrupted when her face met Ahkmenrah's shoulder, the young man standing in front of her in two large strides and pulling her into a tight hug, burying his face in the crook of her neck.

It took a while for Sarah to recover but eventually her own hands returned the embrace, patting his back with a slightly nervous laugh. "Hey... Is something wrong?"

Ahkmenrah didn't pull away, his arms tightening around her waist. After a moment he blinked, as if realising what he was doing but still didn't move to let go. "I'm sorry. I thought you'd never come back."

"Awh," Sarah sang, pulling away to give him a teasing look, lightly hitting his arm with a closed fist when he looked up at the loss of warmth. Her cheeks felt warm but she managed – somewhat – to keep a straight face. "Didn't think you cared so much."

"I do."

"You..." Sarah blinked again, confused. Whatever retort she had died on the tip of her tongue. "What?"

Before Ahkmenrah could answer Nicky ran into the tomb, red in the face and his hair sticking to his forehead with sweat. "There you are!" he cried out, pointing at the pair, letting out an exhausted groan. Sarah took a large step back from Ahkmenrah, one that didn't go unnoticed by the younger boy who looked at her curiously. "What are you doing?"

"Nothing," Sarah smiled innocently, crossing her arms behind her back. "Just talking." At Nicky's raised eyebrows she added, "I came here to tell Ahkmenrah about the football game."

"Uh huh," Nicky nodded, but still narrowed his eyes suspiciously for a moment before he shook his head. "Right. Well, we're mostly done. We should join the others." He tilted his head upwards and mimicked Sarah's stance, linking his arms behind his back. "Unless you guys would rather stay here—"

"Of course we'll go," Sarah interrupted before Nicky could finish, turning him around and pushing him out of the room. Nicky grinned and attempted to dig his feet into the ground, but because for some reason he had taken his shoes off, it was only easier to push him along. She glanced at Ahkmenrah over her shoulder, nodding towards him to tell him to follow. "Come on. Football is calling."

During the few nights when Sarah was still new to the museum, Ahkmenrah might as well have been in hell. It might have been easier to ignore her presence if she acted completely different from Semet, or did something he profusely disagreed with. But she didn't.

Despite her animosity – largely unspoken and quite well hidden, but there none the less – she reminded him of his lost love in more than her appearance. Even the way she interacted with Nicky was the way Semet would interact with children she encountered – although admittedly, Sarah and Nicky had little problem teasing and annoying each other to the point where things began to fly in each other's direction.

She would be smiling and laughing, and Ahkmenrah would almost call out her name but before he could, she would look up and her smile would drop, and she would return to what she was doing with a frown on her face. And he would be reminded that she was not his Semet, and she was not really his anything.

Her eyes held no love for him.

"Ahkmenrah!"

The Pharaoh was brought out of his trance by the very subject of his thoughts who was waving at him, a big grin on her face. She looked out of breath too, like she had been running.

A warm feeling spread throughout him and pierced his very bones. The expression was so familiar that for a moment he thought he was back in Egypt.

He didn't realise she was running towards him until he heard her yell out in surprise when she nearly tripped over Jed and Octavius in their car, ducking back behind the pillar when Rexy stomped past after them. The action brought a smile to his face – he knew it shouldn't have amused him, but even though she had accepted the dinosaur skeleton's presence she was still undoubtedly terrified of it, even if she seemed to mask it well. All he or Nicky had to do was ask if she wanted to come up with them on Rexy's back,

When she re-emerged, she grinned and jumped over the last two steps, pulling off her jumper. "Can I play too?" she asked, motioning to the football set-up around them.

"Are you sure?" Ahkmenrah asked carefully. He didn't doubt her ability to play – she had never joined them before so really he had no clue whether she could play – but with the museum's residents, a simple match could get rough quickly, even Nicky would have to stand back now and again before Larry – or Ahkmenrah's tablet, if it really got out of control – made an appearance to calm everyone down.

Sarah nodded enthusiastically, resting her hands on her hips. "I know the rules." Shrugging, she added, "More or less."

Attila the Hun made her jump when he came running around the corner, screaming at the top of his lungs. Sarah barely managed to move out of the way, seeing that he was clearly heading for the Neanderthal who was trying to bite the football. However, instead of grabbing the ball from him, he simply lifted him over his shoulder and ran straight into the goal, falling over and entangling them both in the net. The leader of the Hunnic Empire cried out in outrage and attempted to draw his sword once he realised his mistake, only managing to wrap the net tighter around himself.

"Then again," Sarah continued, "I don't think the rules will matter much now I that I think about it."

"Are you going to be on our team?" Ahkmenrah asked, excited at the idea of Sarah finally joining them in a game.

The girl herself shrugged, scanning the crowd for Nicky but only managing to catch a glimpse of his curly head somewhere. He managed to get away from her the moment they left the tomb and even though she ran after him as fast as her legs could carry her, she couldn't catch up. "I guess." Throwing Ahkmenrah a sideways look, she smirked, turning to face him fully and folding her arms over her chest, tilting her head to the side. "Unless you want me to wipe the floor with you?"

Ahkmenrah's eyebrows rose so high they nearly disappeared under his crown, which he promptly removed to make sure it is safe and not lost during the game, taking a step closer to Sarah. "You're really that good?" Sarah wanted to laugh. Of course she wasn't. She could barely kick the ball straight. But he looked genuinely impressed and she couldn't resist it.

Despite knowing that this could undoubtedly only end in embarrassment which neither Nicky nor Larry would ever let her live down, Sarah grinned cockily, sticking her chin up in the air. "Watch and learn, Ahkmenrah. Watch and learn."

Sarah was breathing heavily, leaning against the cold wall in one of the museum's long corridors, a sketchbook lying on the floor next to her. She had tried to spend the last few hours of the night – or the first early hours of the morning, to be correct – drawing, but she could barely grip the pencil, let alone lift her arm.

The game of football left her exhausted. She couldn't believe she thought that running after a ball and being repeatedly tackled to the ground – regardless of that fact that it's against the rules the last time she checked – would actually be fun. She regretted her choice five minutes into the first half of the game.

Hours later, she simply reclined against the first cool surface she could find, rolling up the sleeves of her shirt and tying her hoodie around her waist, closing her eyes.

She felt herself slowly slipping out of consciousness, the pale ceiling looking a brighter shade of gold the more she blinked, but she was brought back when a shadow fell over her face.

Frowning, she opened one eye to see Ahkmenrah frowning down at her. "You lied to me," he said accusingly, not really angry with her but feeling annoyed enough to pretend to be.

Sarah sat up, supporting her weight on her elbows. "About what?"

"You said you were good at football."

Sarah laughed, despite the expression on the pharaoh's face showing genuine irritation. "I'm sorry. I honestly didn't expect it to last that long." When Ahkmenrah merely continued to stare, she shrugged. "Well, we can't all be good at everything, Ahkmenrah."

The young man let out a heavy sigh, dropping himself onto the floor next to her. "I suppose you are right."

"That's the spirit," Sarah grinned at him before closing her eyes again, savouring the cool surface she was lying against. She could hear Ahkmenrah shift as he made himself comfortable, half tempted to ask where his crown was – since it wasn't resting on his head and she could count on one hand the amount of times she had seen him without it – but decided against it, even if she really was curious for she could have sworn she had seen him put it on again after the game of football was finished. Still, she turned to the side and opened her eyes, for a moment breathing deeply and memorising the shadows that fell on his face.

Catching herself, she shook her head before clearing her throat. "Ahkmenrah, can I ask you something?"

Ahkmenrah smiled softly, "Anything."

That was all Sarah needed to proceed. She took in a deep breath and sat up, resting her hands on her knees. "Do you remember when you told me that you've been dreaming again?"

Opening his eyes, Ahkmenrah furrowed his eyebrows at her question. "Of course." Looking up to meet her eyes, he rested his hands on his chest. "Why are you asking me this?"

Sarah licked her lips, looking away to the side before continuing, lowering one of her arms where it began to fidget with the corner of her sketchbook. "You told me you dreamt of happy memories."

Sensing where her words were heading, Ahkmenrah let out a heavy breath. "I'm sorry you are plagued by nightmares, Sarah. If there is a way to help you, I will keep searching for it."

The girl shook her head. "No, it's okay. It's not your fault, Ahkmenrah, you don't have to go out of your way to help me."

"But I want to," he gave her an earnest look.

"Thank you," Sarah smiled, earning one in return before she looked away again, swallowing. "You see, Larry told me about..." She had to take in another breath, the idea still sounding silly to come from her own mouth. "About the whole reincarnation thing."

Ahkmenrah faced the front again, his eyes tracing the tiles on the ceiling above them. "You don't believe it."

Sarah glanced at him before looking down guiltily. "It's not something that's easy to believe. That and well... You know... It doesn't really help my situation. But I have been thinking about it..."

Ahkmenrah glanced at her out of the corners of his eyes, intrigued, but looked away before she could meet his gaze. "Did your thoughts reach a conclusion?"

"No," Sarah shook her head regretfully. "But, there might be something..." She looked up at Ahkmenrah, but he remained silent, waiting for her to continue. "All these nightmares are Semet's bad memories."

Her words made Ahkmenrah shift, glancing at her in curiosity. "That is a strange way to look at it, although not entirely a wrong one." Sarah gave him a small shy smile. "What are you thinking?"

"That perhaps I should focus on happier memories, even if it only helps me a single night out of ten. Take back what little control is possible."

Ahkmenrah narrowed his eyes, musing over the idea in his head. "If your nightmares are a pathway through which Semet's memories are resurfacing, it is unusual for them all to be painful. I don't understand why they would be filtered to only allow those select few memories. But I think I understand what you mean. Perhaps trying to remember, could awaken other, potentially harmless memories but I cannot promise anything." His voice grew quieter, as if he was talking to himself, unaware that Sarah was listening. But his eyes seemed to light up suddenly. "I do believe it might help with your visions, however. Your conscious mind should have less trouble controlling them, if you wish to do so." When he looked up to see that Sarah was frowning, he grimaced. "I'm sorry. Those words were not very encouraging."

Sarah smiled despite herself, clearing her throat before she looked up to meet his eyes again. Deciding to not linger on the depressing subject any longer, she laid down again, mimicking Ahkmenrah's position and crossing one leg over another, but resting her hands on her stomach. "You and Semet – how did you meet?"

Ahkmenrah smiled at her casual tone, unable to stop himself from glancing at her through the corners of his eyes. She was so close, he could reach out to hold her hand but he managed to resist the urge to do so. "It's a long story."

Author's note: sorry if I missed any spelling mistakes (it's 3am why am I even still up...).