A/N: Happy Three Kings (aka Epiphany) Day, everyone! In fact, this chapter was especially named for today, although it's already past midnight... ^_^

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the historical figures or the Death Note cast.

Chapter 14: Stalemate

"Besides, I thought ambrosia granted eternal life?"

"Oof!"

"Geroff, you're –"

"We're back," Matt said breathlessly, taking in the familiar sight of the two-dimensional paintings of the Weighing Scale above them. Ma'at and Anubis had returned them safely, albeit roughly, to the Theban palace throne room – to the past-present of the human realm. "You guys, we're back!"

The redhead teen yanked his tangled friends apart before pulling them to their feet. Mello took a vicious swipe at his gravel-covered posterior.

"Why couldn't we have been teleported on top of pillows or something?" Near grumbled.

"You shouldn't be complaining," Mello snapped. "I broke both of your falls."

"You are alive!" cried three new voices.

The trio spun around to see King Tutankhamun and his wife rushing toward them. Grand Vizier Ay trailed behind the royal couple, the leather-bound Book of the Dead dangling limply from his hand.

Matt smirked. Foiled.

"You fell… from the ceiling..." Ay spluttered.

"From the heavens," Mello corrected him.

"Mission complete," Near announced, dangling the ambrosia-filled vial in front of their eager faces.

The golden liquid swirled and swished within the crystal container, enticing the entire group with its promise of everlasting youth. I wonder what it tastes like, Matt thought curiously. After a moment of reverential silence, King Tut tore his gaze from their celestial prize and cleared his throat.

"Ah, yes. We're splitting this four ways, correct?" Near murmured, uncorking the gilded stopper. Mello shifted uncomfortably.

"Yes, yes," Tut breathed, and the snowy-haired boy handed the pharaoh the vial.

Tut lifted the ambrosia to his lips, muttering a quick prayer of thanks before taking a delicate sip. He shuddered and broke out into a huge grin.

"I feel happy," Tut whispered, "and warm." He passed the crystal tube back to Near, who promptly pocketed it.

"It would be wiser to save it for when we return to our own time," Near explained.

Mello nodded. "Good idea."

"My scribes were right in choosing you," the Egyptian teenager declared, sinking to his knees and clasping his hands together. His wife followed suit, as did Ay. The latter's wrinkled face was frozen in a mask of shock. If Matt hadn't known better, he would've mistaken the vizier's expression for awe.

"Get up," Mello demanded. "Even I can't condone a king bowing before a commoner."

Matt could've sworn the blond man was blushing.

"Your modesty is admirable, but you three are anything but commoners," Tut insisted. "You have outdone my high priests, some of the most intelligent and skilled men in this kingdom…"

Nonetheless, he complied, gesturing for his wife and advisor to do the same. "Pray tell me, how did you find the sphinxes, their riddles? Piece of cake, I would presume?"

"Actually," Near piped up, "we didn't find them at all."

The young pharaoh looked politely puzzled. "Excuse me?"

"We never got to meet them," Matt clarified, trying to keep the accusatory tone out of his voice. Beside him, Mello gave the tiniest of nods.

They couldn't let Ay know that they were on to him. Not yet, anyway.

"Yeah," said Mello. "Somehow we skipped over the Duat and ended up in the Hall of Two Truths on our first try. Funny, isn't it?"

Matt cringed. Fortunately, the three Egyptians seemed oblivious to Mello's poorly disguised sarcasm.

Tut stared at him. "The Duat?"

"That's what your gods call the underworld."

"Interesting," Tut mused, tilting his head to look at his grandfather. "Ay, did you know that?"

"No, I did not," the vizier gritted out. Ay eyed Mello suspiciously. "Did you talk to them, then?"

"Yeah. Anubis is pretty cool once you get to know him," the blond retorted. Again, his sarcasm seemed to fly over the elder's head.

"Ankhe, I would like you to tend to my scribes and have them revise the library scrolls," Tut ordered, his bronzed cheeks darkened further with excitement. "Today has been a monumental day for Egypt. We have been blessed with more knowledge of the afterlife."

"As you wish," Ankhesenamun said, beaming at her husband. She swept out of the throne room, humming a happy tune. It was obvious to everyone that the woman was already daydreaming about naming her first son.

It was also obvious that Tut had gotten rid of her to address the proverbial elephant in the room.

"I must apologize," the pharaoh began. "I am not properly trained in magic, so I was taking a big risk when I helped the others use the Book of the Dead. Perhaps that was why –"

"You're not to blame," Near said firmly.

"How can you be so sure?"

Near moved in for the kill. "Because according to Ma'at, your men never even made it to the Hall. We are a hundred percent certain that Ay assassinated your high priests, and he tried to do the three of us in as well."

There was a stunned silence, which was broken mere seconds later when the vizier took a step backward, growling and gasping for breath.

"Ay," Mello said sleekly, "the jig's up. Game over."

"Grandfather?" Tut exclaimed. "Is this true?"

Ay blinked rapidly. "My king, I –"

"That was a simple 'yes' or 'no' question," Tut hissed, drawing himself to his full height. The pharaoh seemed to crackle with energy as he stared down the man who had always been his closest advisor.

Matt fully expected the vizier to shrink beneath the condemning gaze of his young superior – to shrivel up and beg for mercy and forgiveness.

He couldn't have been more wrong.

In the blink of an eye, Ay drew back a leg, and before anyone could react, he delivered a swift blow to Tut's shin. There was an audible crack, and the pharaoh howled, crumpling to the floor.

"No!" Mello bellowed, lunging for the older man.

But he was no match for a seasoned fighter protected by armored robes. Mello was sent sprawling to the ground, clutching his chest, where an angry bruise was already blossoming across his skin.

"Mello!" Matt and Near cried out simultaneously.

In the split second that Matt and Near had turned their attention to their fallen comrade, Ay was free to raise the Book of the Dead high above him and bring it down with a sickening crunch just below Tut's crown headdress – which was exactly what he did. By the time Matt and Near whirled around, it was already too late.

Ay tossed the Book to the side and fled the room, screaming, "Murderers! Murderers!"

Before them lay the boy king, dead and forever youthful.

"It does, only as everlasting youth. It does not, however, protect one against physical damage. Once a body dies, the soul departs."

A/N: Trivia – the concept of the "Duat" wasn't completely formed until the New Kingdom (Tut's era).

The time-traveling "rule" that I used for this fic was the Novikov self-consistency principle, which basically states that "nothing can be changed because anything a traveler does merely produces the circumstances they had noted before traveling"; the same concept was used in Harry Potter (with the Time Turners) and the Time Traveler's Wife.

That is why Tut was ultimately unable to escape his untimely death, as you have just seen :(

Special thanks to the latest readers and reviewers: TheCatchingLightAlchemist, Eternally1Yours, akatsukifan (aw, thank you yet again :D), Pink Star Art, TeamDeanWinchester4Ever, Kira the Wolf, OhMyGeePinkSucksAss, Friday (ah, interesting! I'm glad you're liking the chars as well ^^), Kishimjoin~

*We three kings of Orient are/ Bearing gifts we traverse afar* (for relevance, lol)