To Breathe or Not to Breathe (Night at the Museum fanfiction)

An Untimely Announcement

"Is that oversized dog head finished flirting with you?" Ahk grumbled as I joined him and Nathaniel at the side of the room a minute later.

Nathaniel shot Ahk a curious look. "Isn't he technically one of your gods? I would have thought you'd be showing him a lot more respect."

Ahk snorted. "I've never had much respect for Egyptian divinities. There are so many different gods my country worships... and most of them have no power at all. Anubis can't do much to me, especially since I'm an exhibit and not really quite... human anymore. In addition, I'm technically a god, too, according to Egyptian beliefs. After a pharaoh dies, he's considered a deity."

"It doesn't matter either way," I interjected, "because Anubis was never flirting with me in the first place."

He raised an eyebrow. "Oh, is that why he put a love spell on you and then-"

"Ahk!" I glared at him. "Okay, so he liked me before. But that's over now, all right?"

"I'm not buying it," he mumbled, "but sure. If you say so."

I sighed, then changed the subject. "Hey, Nathaniel, I feel bad cause I was actually supposed to be your date and I haven't even danced with you yet. Are you feeling up to a dance or no?"

He glanced up, shrugging. For the first time I noticed he looked a little down. "I dunno. If you want to."

Oh, great. What's going on with him? Did I do something rude by accident? Did I inadvertently hurt his feelings?

I tried to get him to meet my eyes. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine," he mumbled. He wouldn't really look at me.

How the heck do I deal with this? Right now I don't even think I would know how to help even if he did wanna talk about it.

Before I could figure out what to do, the music stopped and Mr McPhee stepped up to the front of the room, a microphone in his hand. Everyone in the room quieted down to listen to what he had to say.

"Firstly," he began in a self-important voice, "thank you all for coming here to support the museum. It's a truly magical place, and we're glad you all realize that. We couldn't keep expanding and growing without the support of all the people within the community." He sounded a bit like he was reciting a scripted line. But with his next words his voice grew a bit more animated. "We've been getting ready for a rather exciting change that will open our horizons in a new direction, and we decided there would be no better night to announce the change than tonight. The board of management thinks the museum needs a wider variety of exhibits, and has come to the decision that we will be adding an entire new section to the museum featuring aspects of World War II, including the likeness of Hitler, an entire Nazi regimen, and a model concentration camp!"

The announcement was met with cheers and excited chatter from the visiting museum patrons, but I felt my heart sink and I exchanged a panicked glance with Ahk. We'd already had to deal with Alexander the Great, and he wasn't even known for his maliciousness or cruelty. And now a Hitler statue? With an entire regimen of Nazi soldiers?

Next to me, Nathaniel gulped. "What are we going to do?"

"I don't know," I whispered, biting my lip. "But Nathaniel... I have Jewish ancestry. What if..."

"You'll be fine, I promise," he replied softly, grabbing my hand and squeezing it. "I'm not gonna let-"

"We," Ahk cut in. "We won't let anything happen to you."

I closed my eyes. "This is a freaking nightmare."

"It's not that bad," Nathaniel said, sounding like he was trying to convince himself as well. "Maybe he's... not as bad as he sounds in the history books?"

I just looked at him.

"Okay, yeah, no, you're right," he mumbled. "It is pretty bad."

"Let's go upstairs to my exhibit," Ahk said swiftly. "We can figure out what we're going to do about this in there, without interruptions."

As Nathaniel and I turned to follow him out of the room, a sense of deep foreboding thudded inside my suddenly hollow chest.

Somehow, I knew something terrible was going to happen with this new change.

***

Hey all!! It's been awhile XD

Anyway, I am sooo sorry it's taken me so long to get back to y'all on this story. And IK this chapter is a bit short, but it's a transition and some pretty crazy stuff is about to go down, so be on the lookout for that! I am going to try and update every Friday, and maybe I'll also have time on other days of the week buuut we will see. 

Thanks for reading, friends!!!

-L1b3ra