When Ahkmenrah exited his sarcophagus the first time in New York, there had been seemingly endless nooks and crannies to investigate and explore. Becoming reacquainted with the world was a novel experience. On one of his first nights, after all the unsavory business with the former night guards had been dealt with, he saw himself.

There was a console in the adjacent section of the Egyptology exhibit. Since the coffins were not opened, 3D images had been loaded onto the screen so the public might view the mummies. The former pharaoh had approached this with more than a little trepidation.

Ahkmenrah's first impression was an abrupt shock at the state of his own vermiform corpse. The second was a close inspection of his own living hand, as he contemplated the incongruous shift from 3000 years dead, to alive and well. There was a strangeness in the idea that he became living and whole in the sparse few seconds after the sunset. It made him uncomfortable.

On this occasion, Larry had found him, after doing his rounds through the rest of the museum. Noticing the images pulled up, he felt a spark of uncertainty at how to handle the situation.

"Kinda weird, huh?" He ended up asking. The Egyptian nodded.

"When I was in there, I feared..." He paused, giving the night guard a measuring look. "I worried that the spell had failed, somehow. I wondered if my body really did resemble a corpse, and that was why I remained locked away." They both gazed at the decrepit remains of Ahkmenrah.

"You don't belong in there. I'm sorry about what happened." Larry said, feeling another flash of irritation for Cecil and his cronies. Ahkmenrah, for his part, did not remind the New Yorker that he was blameless in the matter. As a ruler, he understood that sometimes "sorry" just meant a shared grief over things that could not be changed.

They looked for a while longer, before both leaving to assist Teddy in the hall of miniatures. The Pharaoh had not approached the console since.

A/N: hm. Not sure how this went. But against my better judgment, I am very fond of NatM.