Twenty six

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Damien woke with a jolt. He straightened and looked around, eyes falling on the familiar canvas walls and the messy desk. He was back in his tent. The realisation made him sigh with relief. He was safe back in his tent and unharmed. Body restored to that one pictured moment once again. Though, this realisation meant that he couldn't exist outside his frame without the tablet's magic. He took a few seconds to breathe now that there was no pain and no sharp spear on his neck. What had happened? Ahkmenrah was still down there. He was outnumbered and left with Kahmenrah, his murderer. Panic filled him and Damien barely took a second to pull up his braces before jumping out of the frame and running for the exhibit door.

His shoes were loud on the marble floors and he dodged around a lot of newly animated exhibits. Waxwork figures who were familiar, but he had no time to try and recognise. Stone statues stretching their limbs and animals running underfoot. Damien almost tripped over a dodo as he rounded a corner to the door to the basement. The bird blinked at him as he wavered for balance, arms swinging, before squeaking at him and scurrying off. He slipped on the smooth floor and tipped backwards. Hands caught his shoulders and he turned around in surprise. A man clothed in long robes dating back to the crusades, pushed him back up to his feet. The man muttered something at him in Arabic before grinning and nodding before continuing on his way. Damien blinked and watched as the man ran up to a blonde crusader knight and interlocked their hands. The couple disappearing around the corner.

When he turned to make sure he wouldn't trip over anymore birds, it was to see the door to the lower levels, burst open and a familiar man come running. "Dami!" Ahk exclaimed. He was still in the shirt and trousers from the night before, bare feet of cold floor. The pharaoh slowed enough that he wouldn't knock Damien over for the second time and threw his arms around his neck. Damien hugged him fiercely, burying his head into the crook of Ahkmenrah's neck.

Ahk was the first to pull away. He pressed Damien's face in his hands, green eyes taking in his features in concern. "Beloved, are you unharmed? I woke and you had disappeared".

"Ahk. I am fine. Are you okay?" Damien replied worriedly. The other man looked rather rumbled and his curls were a mess. He finger combed them out of Ank's face for a second. "I woke up back in my photo. It seems that I cannot exist outside of it without the tablet. I am just glad that it wasn't worse". Ahk breathed a audible sigh of relief at the reassurance. "Are you alright?" Damien pressed.

"I am unharmed. Dawn came to our rescue, bringing the guardian of Brooklyn along with it".

"Larry is here?" Damien asked.

"He arrived perfectly on time", Ank grinned. "Our small friends called him last night and the man arrived just at sunset. In time to take the tablet and buy us all time to run. I lost him in the maze below". He stopped talking to clasp Damien's face in his hands again and surge forwards to press their lips together. It was a sudden, deep kiss. Reassurance and passion and happiness. Damien felt his eyes flutter shut as he kissed back, hands resting on Ahk's shoulders. It only lasted a few seconds but the contact was enough for Damien to melt into the touch. Any worries seeping away.

"What was that for?" He breathed, eyes still shut and lips tingling as Ahk pulled away.

"I am just happy you are okay", Ahk muttered, resting their foreheads together. "I was so angry. How dare my pathetic cockroach of a brother make you bleed. He shall be struck down with a thousand swords for his arrogance", he seethed. "He dare seek to destroy what is mine".

"Ahk", Damien soothed. One hand cradling the other's jaw in his palm. "I am okay. No blood love. He will not take me away from you".

Ahkmenrah exhaled deeply and leant into his touch. "My wrath Will overpass that of Ra if he tried".

Damien smiled fondly. "I know. I won't let him touch you either. We are soulmates remember. We cannot be separate now that we have found each other". He paused and they pulled away enough to turn and begin walking away from the lower levels. Kahmenrah would be looking for them and it was best to keep moving. Neither of them had to mention this, both of them just falling into step and interlocking hands as they blended with the crowds of newly animated exhibits. "So you knew what we were ever since our first meeting?" Damien asked curiously as they turned down a corridor leading to a art exhibit.

Ahk nodded, eyes darting round in careful lookout for any sign of Kahmenrah's soldiers. "When I first woke from my tomb, I knew that my soulmate must have discovered me. I read the reports of my tomb's discovery in those first few nights, in any hope of finding who it was. I found your name in a newspaper that had been left in an office. It took me a year or so to learn enough to read it but as soon as I spoke your name aloud, I knew it was you".

"Were you disappointed?" Damien couldn't help but ask. "You had your whole life and four thousand years afterwards to wait for me".

"I was not disappointed. How could I be dissatisfied with you? You are beyond any image I might have created in my youth". Ahk stopped and pulled Damien close by their joined hands. He smiled fondly before raising their lined hands up and pressing his lips to Damien's knuckles. "Beloved. I treasure every moment I have with you. Even though I wished that we could have met in either of our lives, this time after death together is precious".

Damien beamed and leaned over to land a peck on the corner of Ahk's lips. "Though, if we are destined soulmates", he spoke as they continued walking again. Pausing to manoeuvre round a giant red ballon dog that bounced past. "It makes sense why I always had this feeling that I was constantly searching for something growing up. My family thought I was wasting my time with archeology but then I found you and it proved them wrong. Though I am sorry we never met when I was alive".

Ahk hummed, gaze turning sad for a moment. "I couldn't leave and find you. I just had to wait for you to come to me. I kept up with the news as much as I could but then one night I woke up and I could feel it. The tablet's magic was stronger then and when you died, I knew. Oh how I raged then at the misery my fate seemed to be. It was unfair". He took a breath before continuing. "You were dead before I have ever gotten a chance to meet you. Time passed and I learnt English, about your land. Then I was moved to New York and trapped. I thought it was a form of hell. Until I heard your voice and you introduced yourself to me". He squeezed Damien's warm hand in his own.

"I am sorry I couldn't be there sooner", Damien muttered.

"You are here now". Ahk smiled at him and he couldn't resist smiling back.

Behind them came a shout. They both turned round to see three of Kahmenrah's soldiers pushing their way through a group of statues. The stone nymphs with their carved revealing robes, threw up their hands in a soundless squabble at being pushed about. Damien gripped Ahk's hand tighter and the two of them broke into a run. Ahk slightly ahead, Damien on his heels. Their hands clasping them together as the soldiers broke into pursuit.


Unedited

Anyone recognise the cameo couple I mention here. (I'll give you a hint: the old guard). Just had to include canon historic gays.
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