His lungs were burning as Larry finally reached the top stair out of the temple. One hand covered his front pocket to ensure the miniatures didn't fall out while he'd run. Teddy grabbed his arm and moved him away from the temple's entrance. "Are you alright?" he asked in a panicky tone.

"Yeah, I'm fine, I'm fine," Larry said as best as he could, still catching his breath. "Is anyone hurt? Everyone get out okay?" He scanned the crowd around him to see if any of them were injured. Just as he did, the Queen began to yell.

"Ahkmen? Kahmunrah?" she asked, frantically looking around. "Boys, where are you?! Merenkahre, were they not behind us?!"

"Ahkmenrah, where are you?" Lancelot called out.

Oh, God, no. "Are they still in the temple?!"

"No!" The queen shrieked and began to run back to the entrance. Merenkahre wrapped his arms around her from behind, holding her back.

"Shepseheret, you cannot go back in there, you'll perish!"

"My children, I have to get my children!"

In his panicked state, Larry almost didn't notice the suit of armor running past him. "Lance, no!" His hand managed to grab the cool metal on the knight's arm and Teddy thankfully did the same with his other one. "You'll melt in a second!"

"I cannot let them die in there!"

"It's suicide!" Teddy told him.

"Ahkmenrah, Kahmunrah, come to me now!" The Egyptian mother was in between shouting and sobbing.

Trying to restrain Lancelot, Larry started down into the temple. Please come out, please come out, please, please, I can't lose any of you again, please be okay, dear God, please!

"Lancelot, there is no chance in saving them!" Teddy shouted. "You will only kill yourself as well!"

Larry's white-knuckled hands almost lost their grip on the struggling knight and he feared either him or the Queen would rush into certain death. The weight of the man's armor suddenly hit him as Lancelot fell backwards. Larry hit the sand hard but got up quickly. Just as he was about to seize Lancelot again, all went silent. No one moved apart from the two figures who had fallen onto the sand nearby, their gasping the only sound.

Kahmunrah and Ahkmenrah barely had a moment before the Queen broke free, crying openly now, and fell to her knees in front of them. She wrapped her arms around them as best as she could and Merenkahre was heard giving a loud sigh of relief. "Don't-you-ever-scare-me-like-that- aga-a-a-ain," she choked out in between her cries.

"We weren't exactly planning on it," Kahmunrah mumbled in an exhausted tone.

Larry's body finally relaxed, the muscles going back into a state that didn't make them feel like they were one fire. That was way too close. Holy crap. They almost freaking melted. I almost let them freaking melt. We have to get this over with. I can't keep risking their safety. I almost lost them once.

Everyone seemed to be allowing the distraught mother a moment with her children, even their father. Her sobs had subsided, and she was now kissing them both on the cheek, switching off after two kisses or so. "Oh, sweetheart," she said to Kahmunrah after a moment. "You've got some dirt on your face." Without another word, she licked her thumb and brought it close to him.

Kahmunrah brought up his hand up in an attempt to intercept hers. "I'll get it, I'll get-" His nose crinkled up and his eyes closed as his mother's wet thumb rubbed against the smudge of dirt. "...Thank you," he said when she'd finished, not at all convincingly. The Queen gave a contented sigh and hugged each child again before finally getting up, allowing her sons to do so as well. Merenkahre approached, seeing his wife had calmed down. He looked at both of his children, his face stoic. "I am extremely thankful that the gods have returned you to your mother and me. If something had happened, I have no idea how we would be able to go on."

And that was the end of it. Larry couldn't help but notice that Merenkahre wasn't very good with emotions. Guess he leaves that up to his wife. There was a moment of quiet after that, the only sound being the swirls of sand carried by a slight breeze.

That was the only cue they needed.

All at once, Lancelot, Teddy and Larry raced up and surrounded Ahkmenrah. They all spoke at once and so quickly that Larry - who could only blurt out, "Thank God, you're okay, I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry." - only caught a few words here and there. Lancelot sounded like he was cheering, and Teddy was saying something about how the museum wouldn't have been the same without him. It was a cacophony of noise until a loud whistle cut through it like a knife. All of them looked to Jedediah and Octavius.

"Gigantor, yer about this close to crushin' us if ya hug Ahk like that again," the cowboy said. "Speakin' a' which, thank goodness yer okay! Ya almost got barbecued quicker than a road lizard on a hot desert day in July!"

Over the years, Larry had observed that Jedediah spoke more "cowboy" when he was flustered or excited. Thankfully, Octavius spoke up as well. "Indeed. We would not have known what to do without you, my friend."

The young Egyptian smiled at them and opened his mouth to say something but was cut off as Lancelot picked him up off his feet and spun him around. "Thank Ram you're alright! I had my doubts about your funny little snake gods and dog people but thank Ram for keeping you safe!"

"Lance, I think you might mean 'Ra'." Larry smiled.

"Thank him, too!" the ecstatic knight shouted. "Had your brother not knocked me over as you ran out, I would've barreled in there to get you, believe me. I am not letting you out of my sight again. For the rest of this trip, I promise to not let you down!"

"And I thank you for that, my dear friend, but...could you please let me down?"

"Hmm? Oh, right." He set Ahkmenrah down on the ground and patted the top of his crown with a smile. Larry couldn't help but laugh a bit at that. Lancelot then turned to the other Egyptian son. "And you! I know we don't know each other that well, but I'm glad you're alright for Ahkmenrah and your parents sake!" He stretched his arms out and approached Kahmunrah.

"Touch me and it will be the last thing you ever do."

"I am going to back up to where I was previously standing."

Rolling his eyes, Larry turned his attention back to Ahkmenrah, a hand placed firmly on his shoulder. "I am so sorry, Ahk, I thought you were right behind-"

"No apology needed," he interrupted with a smile.

"Yes, apology needed, you almost died. God, for a second, I almost thought you weren't gonna make it out of there."

"Well, it wasn't easy but..." Larry watched as Ahkmenrah's looked away for a moment. He followed his gaze and was surprised to find it lead to Kahmunrah of all people. "I, um, managed, as you can see."

Larry decided to ignore that and focus on the fact that Ahkmenrah wasn't a puddle in a river of lava. "I'm just glad you're okay."

"So am I - goodness!" Ahkmenrah jumped a bit as Dexter jumped up onto his shoulder and hugged his face. "It seems you're happy to see me as well, hmm?" He reached out and started petting the animal, who in turn, sat on his shoulder like a parrot with a pirate.

"I still don't understand how you got him to like you so much," Larry admitted.

"I honestly have no idea."

Teddy put his own hand on Ahkmenrah's shoulder, the one Larry's had just left. "We're gonna have to keep a closer eye on you, it seems. Even in your own land, you find a way to get into trouble."

That got a bit of a laugh, but it was cut short for some reason. Ahkmenrah turned back to him with wide eyes. "The Mirror. You did get it, did you not?"

"I have it right here." He held it up for him to see. "...I can look into this, right? It's not gonna, like, suck out my soul or something?"

"No, only if you are a dark force. I am just glad it didn't fall into the lava! Now all we have to do is find Zalaam's soul and trap it inside. Do you know where we should go next?"

"Yeah, umm," Larry went to reach around for his backpack but looked at the Egyptian and his family. He thought of what could have happened, how they were nearly mourning rather than celebrating. "You know what, I'll handle this. Let's just...why don't you all just take a break, okay? Literally, this night could not have gone worse - okay, scratch that, it totally could have. But why don't we just take a break and I will figure out what to do next, okay?"

"We need to find him before-"

"Ahk, you almost died, you and your brother," he said firmly. "I can handle this."

"He's right," Teddy told him. "After what has just happened, I think we should all stop and allow ourselves some time to collect ourselves. We have the Mirror now, the journey has almost ended. We can stop somewhere and after a while, Lawrence will have found out what to do next."

Ahkmenrah looked like he was about to protest, but his eyes glanced back at his family, then back at Larry. "Maybe we should stop for a bit," he conceded.

Larry gave him a knowing smirk and took his cell phone out. He got into his Maps and tried to figure out if there was anywhere, they could go that wasn't the middle of the desert. "The Nile river is nearby," he suggested.

"Oh, the Nile!" the Queen grinned, having returned to her happy self. "So many good memories".

Perfect. "Looks like if we head West, it's not far off. And we'll still have plenty of moonlight left to find Zalaam later," he assured them. There were a few murmurs of agreement.

As they started off again, Kahmunrah once again tried to get in front of the group, but to Larry's surprise, Teddy approached him and placed his gloved hand on Kahmunrah's shoulder. Side by side, he noticed that Kahmunrah was a bit taller than the president. "Well done," Teddy told him simply. A knowing smile was under his moustache. For some reason, those two words make Kahmunrah's eyes widen drastically, as if he'd seen a ghost. He roughly removed Teddy's hand and strode off, quickly.

What is he congratulating him for? Not dying? Confused, Larry walked up to him. "Hey, umm...what was that about?"

Teddy's bright eyes looked at him. "What? Kahmunrah? Oh, he just doesn't want his little secret out. Figured someone ought to say something to him, though."

Wow, that didn't clear anything up at all. "What, what secret am I missing here?"

"You didn't see it? I thought you had; you were right next to me. I know we were both focused on Lancelot...well, maybe I shouldn't say."

"...Oh, um, okay. Never mind then."

"That was a joke, of course I'm going to tell you," Teddy told him quickly. "I love a good bit of gossip. Just don't go teasing him, hmm? That goes for you two as well." He eyed Larry's pocket.

"Hey, our lips are sealed, amigo," Jedediah told him. Octavius mimed out locking his lips and tossing the key.

He studied them for another moment before looking back up at Larry. "You must've missed it before Lancelot fell on us. It was quick, but I know what I saw." Leaning in a bit, he lowered his voice. They were in the back of the group by now, but apparently Teddy wanted to take precautions. "When they both came running out of that temple, Kahmunrah was holding onto our young Pharaoh's arm."

Holding onto his...It took Larry a moment to understand what he was saying. "Wait, are you trying to tell me that Kahmunrah got Ahk outta the temple?"

"Yes, that's what I'm saying."

"...This Kahmunrah?"

"Do you know another?"

"Ain't no way, Teddy," Jedediah argued. "Ya musta had some sand in yer eyes."

"I agree," Octavius began. "Kahmunrah would never do such a thing."

"He hates Ahk," Larry explained in a low voice. "I really don't think he'd care if something bad happened to him. In fact, had Ahk not come out of there, he would've started dancing and praising every Egyptian god in history."

"'Hate' is a strong word, Lawrence," Teddy told him. "I watched him come out of that temple with Ahkmenrah in hand and he did not release him until they fell into the sand."

Larry was about to argue when he remembered how Ahkmenrah had paused and looked at his brother for a moment. "Wait but, but, why? He's selfish. And he's been wishing something bad would happen to Ahk since we got here. Plus, he's still mad about Ahk getting the throne. Why would he save him?"

"Why?" Larry awaited an answer, but Teddy seemed to have to think about that for a moment. "I don't think I can tell you when I'm not sure myself. In fact, by the look he gave me, I don't even think Kahmunrah knows why he did it...No, actually, I take that back. He knows. Just won't let himself admit it."

"...Are you sure you didn't have sand in yer eyes?" Jed asked.

"I mean, they did come out of there together," Larry pointed out. He looked up to the front of the group, where Kahmunrah was walking. He wasn't sure about what had happened between the two brothers, but he didn't have a lot of time to think about it. They had a temple to get to. Before they were too late.

A/N: A nice, kinda tame chapter after the insanity of the last one. Once they leave the Nile after this next part though, the action is coming back at ya! Thanks for all of the lovely comments, follows, and favorites.