CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
❝With freedom, flowers, books, and the moon, who could not be happy?❞
Oscar Wilde
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Ahkmenrah's beaming as he walks toward his parents, tablet in one hand and Luna's hand in the other, and Shepseheret places a hand on his cheek, smiling. "Well done, my child."
Merenkahre's expression is unreadable as he stares hard at Luna, but she doesn't turn away. Finally he says, his voice almost trembling, "Thank you for bringing our son back to us."
There's so much hidden in his words, and Luna can only nod in understanding. She knows exactly how he feels. To lose Ahkmenrah... She can't even imagine it.
"Mother, you would've laughed to see it," Ahkmenrah says animatedly. "There were lions chasing us and--and we met two actors, erm, and--Luna, wasn't that the man from Les Misérables?"
Luna cannot describe how desperately she wants to kiss him right now. But she just nods, smiling so widely her face feels as though it might burst.
"And then this mythical knight's nose sort of melted..."
Ahkmenrah's words fade into the background as Luna looks around and sees Teddy and Sacagawea's grave faces. Her smile fades too. "What--what's going on?"
"Lawrence, dear lady--a word," says Teddy, and the expression on his face worries Luna.
She squeezes Ahkmenrah's hand and then hurries down the steps to join them. "What's wrong? You all seem...sad."
"The others and I have been talking," says Teddy, gesturing to Sacagawea, Attila, Jed, and Octavius.
"Ahkmenrah's place is here with his family," Octavius continues sadly. "He must remain here."
Luna looks up at Ahkmenrah, standing there, still chatting animatedly with his mother, and her heart sinks. This is what she was afraid of all along. But if he wants to stay here, then--
"And the tablet should stay here as well," Teddy adds solemnly.
"This is where it belongs, Gigantor." Jed shakes his head, staring at his boots.
"Yeah, but it--" Larry tries, then pauses. Starts again. "That means you guys would have to stay."
Luna doesn't say anything. She doesn't really have words. Of course it would be this way, that just when she's finally made sure that nothing stands between her and the love of her life, a roadblock has to come between them.
"We belong in New York," says Sacagawea calmly.
"What's all this? Are you talking about the tablet?" asks Merenkahre, turning to face them with a frown.
"Yes, we were just saying--" Larry begins, but Merenkahre shakes his head, a rare smile appearing on his face.
"Ahkmenrah cannot stay here," he says, and the way he says it is oddly joyful. "He's not an exhibit."
"What do you mean?" asks Nicky, frowning confusedly.
"You've forgotten one part of the prophecy, then," says Merenkahre with a twinkle in his eye. "The very beginning."
"'A child, born in absence of light,'" Luna begins slowly, thinking hard. "'Holds the key to'--Oh my god." If she was holding anything, she would've dropped it. Her heart's practically leaping out of her throat.
"'Reborn life,'" gasps Ahkmenrah, wide-eyed.
"Because you chose to relinquish your powers in exchange for the tablet, it returned all back to normal. Back to the way each was created. From wax to wax, plastic to plastic, and...corpse to living body." Merenkahre's grinning slyly, clearly enjoying this. "My son, because this girl selflessly chose, you've been granted life again."
Ahkmenrah shoves the tablet into his father's hands and leaps toward Luna, swinging her up into his arms with a joyous laugh, gleeful and happy for the first time in a very long time. She laughs with him, tears in her eyes. Not only is he here and safe, but he's alive. Not just a reanimated corpse, but a man. A man who can truly sleep at night, who can meet her parents, who can live a life with her--if he wants.
"Oh, and the monkey is alive as well," Merenkahre says nonchalantly. Dexter chitters on Nicky's shoulder, indifferent.
"So Ahk," says Larry, grinning. "What'll it be? Home to New York--or here? You could visit your parents every night. The tablet could stay."
Ahkmenrah glances up at Merenkahre and Shepseheret, a wistful expression on his face, but then he looks back at Luna and the look in his eyes is one of pure rapture. "Mother," he says, looking back at her. "Please forgive me, but--"
"No." Shepseheret holds up a hand firmly. "Don't apologize, my child. I left my family to marry your father and I did not look back. One's parents are there for childhood, but the one you love will be with you for the rest of your life." She smiles wryly. "If you chose us over her, I'd be worried."
Luna bites back a sob as she stares up into his face. "Ahk, come home with me. Meet my family. Stay with me."
Ahkmenrah brings his hands up to her jaw, cupping her face in his hands, and smiles tearfully. "Only if you'll marry me." (OH MY GOD, reader.)
"Someday, I will." Luna can't believe what's happening right now. The most beautiful man she's ever met is proposing to her--in front of his parents and their friends. "I want to spend the rest of my life with you."
"And even after that." Ahkmenrah stares into her eyes, a single tear making its way down his cheek, and Luna can only imagine the rollercoaster of emotions he's been on the past few hours. From dying to not dying, the possibility of staying with his parents, finding out he's a living man again, and now this. She's struggling with half that.
"And what of the tablet?" asks Merenkahre. "My son, it's your decision."
Ahkmenrah blinks, tearing himself away from Luna's eyes (a very hard challenge, dear reader), and looks at the tablet in his father's hands. For a long moment, he simply stares at it, then nods decisively. "It should stay in New York."
"No!" Attila, Teddy, Sacagawea, Jed, and Octavius all shout their disapproval at once.
"We've had our time, Ahk," says Jed pleadingly. "Let these people get a chance to live."
"We're ready." Teddy nods.
"For thousands of years, I spent every night awake, separated from my husband and my sons," says Shepseheret softly. "If I am to be separated from my sons once more, I should not wish for that fate again. Let me instead be satisfied in knowing that you're happy, my child."
Merenkahre nods his agreement, hand firm on his staff. "These people have known one night of happiness. Of freedom. But they have no one to guide them--" His eyes fall on Larry, Luna, and Nicky-- "no one to truly befriend them, and that would be a mistake indeed." He holds out the tablet to Ahkmenrah, who takes it, holding it carefully in his hand, and then looks at the others warmly.
Luna looks at them, too: Attila, Teddy, Jed, Octavius, Sacagawea. Some of her best friends in the world, only given life by night. "I wish I could've made you all human," she says quietly. "Given you life."
"We're museum exhibits, young lady," Jed replies with a smile. "It's what we are. Folks come to look at us, maybe learn a little something. That's alive, man."
Larry checks his watch. "We've still got time. If we catch a flight now, we could be home before I've got to be at work."
Ahkmenrah runs to hug his mother tightly, and his father, and Shepseheret glides over to wrap her arms around Luna, too. "Please, take care of my son," she whispers, and Luna bites back more tears as she tucks her head into Shepseheret's shoulder.
"I promise I will."
As quickly as possible, Larry, Nicky, Luna, and Ahkmenrah get everyone back into the crate, load it up into the van--Laaa included, despite his sudden romance with Tilly the chatty night guard--and drive it back to the airport. While Larry gets them tickets, Ahkmenrah changes into some of Nicky's extra clothes, which fit him surprisingly well, and when he walks out of the bathroom, Luna inhales sharply.
If she thought he was hot in his pharaoh outfit, he's stunning in a t-shirt and jeans.
Ahkmenrah pulls at the jeans uncomfortably as he sits down next to Luna and Nicky. "Are all clothes this...stiff and tight?"
"No." Luna laughs. "You'll just have to get used to them. When we get home, we'll get you some sweats." She leans close, so that Nicky can't hear them, and lowers her voice. "But you look really hot in those jeans."
Ahkmenrah's eyebrows go up and he blushes furiously. "Oh?"
Luna laughs and kisses his cheek. "Cutie." She's so giddy over the fact that he's coming home with her, to her apartment (the one she hasn't quite finished moving into yet; there are still boxes everywhere), she can barely think straight.
On the flight home, Larry sleeps; Nicky watches yet another Fast & Furious movie, although half-asleep himself; and Ahkmenrah and Luna are both wide awake, cuddling under a thin airline blanket and whispering quietly to each other. She tells him everything about her life outside of the museum, about shopping, movies, plays, everything they'll do when they get home, and he talks excitedly about all the places he plans to take her to after they're married and he's got a job.
When the plane lands, it's nearly nine o'clock, and Larry plans to go straight to work. Nicky's going home to bed, and Luna asks Larry for the day off. He grants it to her--on the strict understanding that she actually get some rest, and so a taxi speeds off back to her apartment with Luna, Ahkmenrah, and luggage in tow.
Luna texts her mother on the way there, letting her know that she's back in the country, but that she plans to sleep and do nothing most of the day, and Eliana replies, asking if dinner's still on for Thursday.
It's almost nerve-wracking, bringing Ahkmenrah back to her world, but it's a good nervousness, Luna thinks as she unlocks her apartment door and leads Ahkmenrah inside. Boxes are still stacked in the living room with all the things she didn't get to before the trip to London. She was still living with her parents before then; this'll be the first day she's spent in her own home. She cancelled on the official move-in with her parents to go to London in the first place.
Ahkmenrah sets her suitcase down, staring around at the bare gray walls and cardboard boxes with an open mouth. "This...is yours?"
"It is." Luna grimaces. "It's not much, but--"
"It's perfect." Ahkmenrah wraps his arms around her, pulling her into his chest tightly. "Anywhere you are, I'll be."
Luna grins up at him and presses her lips to his softly, her arms around his waist. And then her arms snake up to his neck and into his hair, and she smiles against his mouth. "I'm sleepy. Aren't you?"
"I haven't--slept--in about--four thousand years," murmurs Ahkmenrah between kisses, cupping her face and pulling her closer. "I could--go for--a few more."
Luna laughs, finding the hem of his t-shirt and playing with it, her heart leaping a little when he gasps at her touch. She slides her hands across the bare skin of his back and he inhales sharply against her lips, stunned for a split second.
Then he pulls her closer, hands sliding from her jaw to the neckline of her shirt, pulling her bottom lip between his teeth and smiling when she gasps his name.
"How about a nap?" Luna breathes, closing her eyes and tilting her head back as he kisses down her lips to her chin. She's on fire and doesn't mind one bit. Her skin aches to be touched, her heart aches to be loved.
"Mmm, you're really tired?" Ahkmenrah fumbles with the buttons on her work shirt, pushing her backwards down the hall and toward her bedroom. "I'm perfectly fine."
"If I fall asleep, wake me--" Luna gasps as she hits the doorjamb and Ahkmenrah trails kisses from her jaw to her collarbone, leaving every inch of her skin on fire.
"I don't think I'll have to," he whispers, grinning slyly up at her, pushing her shirt slowly off her shoulders and sliding it down her arms, revealing the silly strawberry bralette she's had for years. His fingers trace her stomach, her ribs, the curves of her chest, drawing burning lines across her skin.
Luna sighs, tilting her head back contentedly, and pulls him through the door and onto the bed. "Dammit, I love you."
Ahkmenrah spends most of the next hour proving he loves her, too. And then they do fall asleep, wrapped in each other's arms, as the bright sunshine pours through the window, and neither one pull away.
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ahhh only the epilogue to go! i'm both sad and happy to see this story come to an end. it's really one of my favorite things i've ever written and i'm so grateful for all the love it's gotten. thank y'all <3
q: how would you rate the ending so far?
a: *sniffle* 10/10, if i do say so myself.