((Hello Reader's! I just wanted to thank you all very much for the wonderful comments you have been leaving me. Honestly, it makes posting these worth all the effort I go through. At this point we have about reached the halfway point of the story. Aw, yes there is more to come. I hope that you continue to read and review, and I hope you keep enjoying it as well! Thanks again!))

Amunet could not move. Her muscles had turned rigged as she stared up into the eyes of her mother and father. They were dressed in their normal, plain robes, the sand gracefully dancing around them. They had never been people of vanity, and yet they shone more beautifully than any other man and woman Amunet had seen. Tears stung her eyes, and it had nothing to do with the sand that was still underneath her lids. She opened her mouth to say something, but all that came out with a cry of a young child.

She stumbled in the sand and fell into her father's open arms. Her mother joined in their hug, making Amunet feel more complete than she had in ten years. They tingled under her touch, almost as if her skin were hyper sensitive to her long dead parents.

"There, there," her father whispered, trailing his hand down her golden hair. "No need for tears! We are together now, you never have to worry again." Amunet buried her face in his chest, gripping his robes tightly, feeling a kiss on the head from her mother. It took a minute or two before she could speak. Chocking on her sobs, Amunet lifted her head.

"I- I don't understand," she hiccupped, eyes stinging with tears and sand. "I saw you…I saw both of you."

"What you saw then does not matter now," her mother whispered, her English accent falling on Amunet's ears like honey. "All that matters is that we are here now." Amunet stared up at them for a moment before a smile of relief came across her face. They were right. She didn't want to know what happened. All that mattered was that they were there now; together. Amunet smiled until her cheeks began to grow sore and she laughed, tears rolling down her face, only to be wiped away by her mother's gentle fingers.

"Oh Father, you won't believe everything that had happened!" she said, gaining control of her tears and wave of emotions. Her father shook his head, patting her shoulder.

"None of that matters."

"But it does! It does!" she said, growing more and more excited, more like the ten year old girl she was last time her parents had been with her. An idea suddenly dawned on her and she gripped both of her parent's hands, pulling away to tug them along through the whirlwind of sand. "I have someone that I want you to meet." She felt resistance to her pull and looked up at her parents in confusion. "Father. Mother. Come with me." Her parents both looked at her, their eyes fixed on hers, their smiles growing a little wider in protest.

"No Amunet. Stay with us."

Both of them had said it at the same time, making Amunet freeze, a chill running down her back despite the heat. Her brown eyes flicked back and forth between her parents, the tears having cleared away most of the sad. Something was wrong. The image of her parents began to flicker between their smiling faces…and something else. Swallowing, Amunet felt her stomach drop. Her father gripped her hand a little too tightly, his smile becoming forced.

"Stay."

Amunet starred up at him with wide eyes, her heart ramming around in her chest. She slowly took a step forward, releasing her mother's hand as if in submission. Her parent's smiled. Amunet took a deep breath and tried to give the most realistic smile she could muster after realizing that the people in front of her were not her parents. She slowly reached behind her back to grip the handle of her knife that was tucked into the waist band of her robes. Her eyes flicked back and forth between her parent's face, pain aching in her heart. It was clear now, now that the tears had drained the sand from her eyes, that these things were not her parents. It was like losing them all over again. It hurt, but Amunet could not focus on that now. A few new tears rolled down her face and her father reached up to caress her face.

"No more tears Amunet. We are here. We are together." Amunet pressed her lips together, exhaling and offering them one last smile.

With one quick motion, Amunet whipped the knife out and brought it slashing down on her father's wrist. It cut clean through, but instead of scarlet blood, sand came pouring out, as if she had sliced the belly of a sand bag. Her father jerked back, letting out a scream that sounded like a bird screeching. Amunet fell backwards into the sand. The image of her father flicked and vanished, relieving its true form. It was in the shape of a human, but made entirely out of sand. The creature impersonating her mother had dropped its allusion, and Amunet found the sand woman pouncing on her with an inhuman yell. Amunet panicked, slashing at the sandy flesh, cutting away limbs as fast as she could. The sand creature stumbled back, crying out, giving Amunet some time to scramble to her feet.

The creatures recovered quickly however, sand connecting their limbs and healing them at an alarming rate. Amunet's eyes widened in awe and fear and she realized all that she could do was run. She turned on her heal and ran, her feet digging into the sand and propelling her forward. The wind and sand seemed even harsher as she ran, the cry of the sand creatures echoing as a sign of their pursuit. Chocking on sand, Amunet cried out, desperate to find the rest of their group.

"Lazarus! Evy! Imhotep!" she cried, running blindly around in the storm. She was powerless against something she could not kill. Her training and everything her father taught her was worthless now. She was taught to fight and protect herself against mortal humans! Not sand people! Amunet could hear their cries behind her and she sprinted faster, closing her eyes and gasping for breath. She was going to die here. Alone. She when she felt like she could not take another step, she ran head long into something very solid.

Dazed, she stumbled but got her footing in time to see Imhotep turning around to look at her, his eyes red from sand. "Imhotep!" she gasped. Imhotep looked surprised to see her, his eyes widening if only a little. "Imhotep!" Amunet repeated, grabbing his arm and looking up at him in a panic. "There is something in the sand! Whatever you are seeing, it isn't real!" Imhotep blinked and Amunet looked around his tall frame and let out a scream. A single sand creature was standing in front of Imhotep, but was reaching for him in a way that indicated it meant him harm. Imhotep's eyes flashed and he turned around, catching the creature by its throat and squeezing hard so that its head popped in an explosion of sand.

"It won't stay that way forever," she cried, tugging on his arm. "We have to find the others!" Amunet whirled around at the sound of screeching cried to see the two sand creatures that had chased her appear through the sand. "Imhotep! We have to go!" she screamed. Imhotep saw the approaching creatures and grabbed Amunet's hand. They took off running, Amunet barley able to keep up with the Mummy. A third scream joined in as the creature Imhotep had temporarily destroyed hoped out of the sand.

"Evy! Lazarus!" Amunet called, looking through the storm only to see sparkling sand. "Where are they?" she called to Imhotep.

"I am not concerned with the O'Connells or your Medjai companion," Imhotep replied. Amunet's eyes widened and she tore her hand free from his grip to stop in the midst of the sand. Imhotep turned, his glare making Amunet falter slightly.

"No! I don't care about what you think or what agenda you have, we are not leaving them behind!" she screamed. The screams of the creatures echoed as they hunted for them in the sand, the howling of the wind and sand making it near impossible to pin point which direction they would come from. Imhotep stepped forward, reaching for her arm.

"Do not be a fool Amunet," he said. Amunet stepped backward so his hand met empty air.

"I am not a fool for caring about others!" she snapped, her heart banging around in her chest. "So help me Imhotep if you don't help me I will find them myself!" She turned, as if to run off into the storm by herself, but found Imhotep grabbing her and turning her around. Their sudden closeness caught Amunet off guard and she forgot how to breathe. His eyes searched hers and his jaw clenched in frustration. Amunet could hear her heartbeat in her ears and her face grew hot.

"You will run. I will find them." He said, giving in. Amunet opened her mouth to protest her lack of involvement but Imhotep gripped her arms even tighter at the sign of her defiance. "Do not test me. I want you out of this storm. Now. Run in that direction and do not stop for anything, do you understand?" Amunet nodded her head and Imhotep released her. "Run."

Her father's last words to her rang in her ears and she starred up at the Mummy before taking off. She pumped her legs and arms as hard as she could, her head spinning. Why was it that every time they were so close she seemed to forget everything? It wasn't fear, although Imhotep could be frightening. It was something much different. It wasn't that she disliked it. In fact…she liked it very much. She shook her head, as if trying to rattle the thoughts away. This was not the time to be thinking of something like that! She ran harder and suddenly realized that the sand around her was beginning to grow lighter.

Sunlight.

Eager to escape the storm, Amunet kept going, her lungs screaming at her for mercy. She gave it one last sprint before she burst through the wall of sand. It shocked her how abruptly the storm ended. She gasped for clean air and fell forward, black spots clouding her vision. She was able to see one thing before finally fading.

The ruins of a giant city.

"Huminaptra," she gasped, and fell onto the sand, everything going dark.

"Amuent! Amunet wake up!"

Amunet's eyes opened slowly, a deep groan rumbling from her chest. She was rolled over and saw the fuzzy form of Evy leaning over her.

"Oh thank God! Come on, we have to run!"

Running was the last thing Amunet wanted to do, but she sat up, her head spinning from her little fainting episode. She was utterly confused about what was going on. Yelling registered in her ears and she turned her head to see Lazarus yelling at Imhotep. The only thing that was keeping him from attacking the Mummy physically was Ardeth, who was holding him back. Amunet blinked, utterly confused. When had Ardeth shown up? Evy registered her confusion and gave her a panicked look.

"It seems that time passes very different when we were inside the Mirage. It gave Ardeth time to catch up with us. Unfortunately, it gave the Westings an advantage as well."

"Mirage?" Amunet muttered, still dazed. She looked back over the desert for some explanation. The sand storm was gone, leaving a long span of sand, and an army shimmering on the horizon. The Westings.

"You could have told me it was a Mirage!" Lazarus yelled, earning Amunet's attention. Imhotep was glaring at the young Medjai, not moving an inch while Lazarus tried to grab him through Ardeth's arms. "You sick bastard! You knew! You knew what I was seeing and you went ahead and killed her right in front of me! I thought she was dead!"

"You should be thanking me, boy," Imhotep snapped. Amunet have never seem him so furious.

"Thank you?!" Lazarus screamed. "You did it out of spite! I know you saw the same thing! Don't deny it! You knew! And you decided it would be funny for me to think you killed her!"

"Lazarus, calm down," Ardeth pleaded gruffly.

"Don't you dare tell me to calm down!" Lazarus screeched, jerking against Ardeth's hold. "He is a bastard! A creature from hell!"

"No thanks to you and your people," Imhotep snarled. At this, it looked like Ardeth might let Lazarus loose on the Mummy at that comment but Amunet jumped to her feet and ran forward.

"Stop it! Both of you!" she cried. Lazarus stopped fighting against Ardeth, staring at her with heavy breathes.

"Amunet. You- you're awake." His yells had quickly diminished into whispers that the sight of her. He broke free from Ardeth's hold and Amunet suddenly found herself in the largest hug she had ever received. Blinking, she felt her face glow red.

"Lazarus, what happened?" she breathed, not able to take much oxygen in due to the bear hug she was victim to. Lazarus pulled away slightly to look at her intently, his eyes sad but relieved.

"I thought I saw you die," he whispered.

"What are you talking about? I didn't see you at all!"

"It was a mirage," Ardeth said, obviously unhappy with the closeness between the two. "You were all seeing your heart's desires. It would have killed you all if you had not gotten away in time." Amunet felt her face flush upon the realization that what Lazarus was talking about was that he had seen her in the mirage. She didn't want to address what that meant and stepped away to hug her torso and look at the ground.

"But I thought mirages were just heat and light in the desert," she said weakly, trying to avoid Lazarus' gaze.

"There are some like that, yes," Ardeth said, "But this was very different. Nature is beginning to fight back as the Vessel draws closer to the Vessel Chamber. Now even the earth has begun to try and prevent Anubis from rising."

The group went silent at this. Even though they were closer to their goal, things had begun to look even more hopeless. Amunet's gaze moved to Evy and Rick, both of which looked broken. She walked over, leaning down to look at Evy.

"You saw Alex, didn't you?" Evy looked up, tears appearing at the corner of her eyes. She nodded, and her hand went to her mouth to cover her sobs. Rick, who looked as if he had aged a few years, gripped her shoulder tightly. Amunet took Evy hand and held it gently, bowing her head.

"And you…you saw your parents," Evy whispered, squeezing Amunet's hand. Amunet was unable to look at her friend in the eye before nodding her head. Everyone was silent for a long while before Ardeth spoke.

"We need to get inside. The Westing will be upon us soon." Everyone agreed, those who were sitting stood to follow Ardeth and Imhotep towards the mangled city. Amunet held onto Evy, not yet ready to let her friend go. Imhotep stopped, voicing that the entrance was below them. He began to work against the sand, spreading his hands and moving it aside as if it were water and he was Moses. Amunet watched, feeling so drained that the marvel did nothing to surprise her.

"Amunet."

She turned her head to see Lazarus standing next to her. "Could I talk to you for a moment?" Amunet swallowed and looked at Evy. She nodded her head and released her arm, letting her go. Amunet followed Lazarus, who led her a little ways away from the group. They stopped, and Amunet waited for him to speak. He looked at the ground for a very long while before reaching forward and taking her hands in his.

"Amunet, in the mirage I saw you." Even thought she had already suspected as much, Amunet still felt her heart jump in her chest. "And it made me realize that…that life really is too short, and that I don't want it to end without any regrets." Amunet opened her mouth, but Lazarus silenced her by placing a hand on her mouth.

"Amunet please," he begged quietly. Amunet closed her mouth, starring up at him with wide eyes. "I don't know what will happen to me, seeing as I am the Vessel for Anubis. This plan of yours might not work. And if it doesn't I want to go out knowing that I told you how much I love you." Amunet froze at these words, her face flushing red. Lazarus tugged her closer, eyes never leaving hers. "I love you Amunet. I know that seems silly seeing as how short of a time we have known each other. But that mirage made me sure. I love you." Amunet felt dizzy and she gripped Lazarus' arms tightly, fearing she might faint again.

She had never even seen anyone romantically, let alone had someone tell her that they loved her. She had no idea what to say, but Lazarus quickly took care of that but leaning in and stealing Amunet's second kiss. Closing her eyes, Amunet nervously returned it, her fingers curling at the sensation. Their first kiss has been innocent, an 'in the moment' thing, but this was very, very different.

The moment was interrupted however by the sound of someone clearing their throat. Amunet broke away from the kiss to see Imhotep standing only a few feet away. Her heart chilled at the look he gave both of them. Lazarus did not let go of Amunet, but challenged his glare with his own.

"It is time to go, Vessel."

((This Chapter's Question: Who do you ship Amunet with? Imhotep or Lazarus? Care to tell me why?))