Random One-shots (Complete)

NATM: From Existence. To Living. To Saying Goodbye

Oddness washed over him, limbs started moving as he walked off his pedestal in confusion. Granted there was a large amount of it since he wasn't meant to be walking in the first place.
He knew that he was Teddy Roosevelt, or at least, he thought so anyway. This body. It didn't feel right. It felt wrong, there was a certain stiffness in them he didn't believe a human should have.
It wasn't until a few months afterward that he realised the one important thing he should have known from the start. Wax. And a lack of heart.
He spent a whole year trying to get a grip on himself, as well as be the man he was supposed to be. Even if it felt fake to him sometimes.
He had also spent that year working with the three-night guards. As well as avoid the tomb that would curse them should they ever try to open it up.
He spent a few months existing in fear of going near the place before he had the guts to check up on it every now and then to make sure no one tried anything.

Four years passed and the warning had become nothing more than a buzz at the back of his waxed head. He held the fort when need be but otherwise stuck to himself.
At least until he was told about the new exhibit. And he felt the second emotion he never thought he was capable of. Excitement, the thrill of something new. It only escalated when he realised who exactly it was.
And that was when he felt his third emotion. Love. He was certain of that. A Native woman with black hair. Sacagawea was her name, the one in charge of helping two men to find the pacific ocean. If he remembered correctly anyway.
Unfortunately, he didn't have the guts to talk to her, let alone introduce himself.
It wasn't until the next night came around that he started to notice things started going downhill. All thanks to the night guards.
He spent the next 50 years living in fear, as well as pretending that everything was okay. He knew he was a coward, and he was okay with it.

54 years passed, and then one night everything changed. He met Larry Daley, the new night guard, and something inside Teddy told him that this man might be the one the museum needed to get everyone getting together. No longer having to live in fear.
But the man was stubborn, the first night was understandable, he was out of his depth, but needed a certain push in the right direction.
"Man must look inward to find his own answers"
He helped Larry to understand what he was dealing with, but the man resisted, he didn't want anything to do with this.
Teddy gave him one last speech before the sun rose once again.
The second night went great at the start, but then it went downhill not long after thanks to a certain Capuchin monkey by the name of Dexter. He had begged Larry to not rethink this. But Larry wouldn't listen.
When the sun came up, all he felt was a coldness even worse than the one he had for the past 54 years. An empty void.

The third night made him relive everything that came to be during his existence. He wanted to help Larry, but it was not his place nor was it his duty to help Larry.
"You can't quit this time. I'm made of wax Larry, what are you made of?"
And then he left, like the coward he was.
Not long after that, Larry did the one thing he had never had the guts to do, stand up for everyone and everything they believed in. A true leader. Teamwork.
And even after the scare of the cowboy Jedidiah and roman soldier Octavius. Theodore Roosevelt felt something he had never thought he would feel ever again. Joy. Excitement.
A chance for everyone to get to be out of their cages and truly be free in the museum without the fear of being locked up.
Even if Lawrence wouldn't be coming back again, he was happy to know there was someone out there that actually cared for them. Like family. Even with the very person they had been told to fear for the past 54 years.
"Nick. Your father is a great man. Told you. No Lawrence, good day"

3 years passed since that encounter, everyone was happy and content, and the adventures they had were something Teddy wished to cherish for as long as he could.
But at the start of the third year, Larry left them to seek out new adventures. They were abandoned and the museum was starting to fall apart. Right up until some were being shipped to another museum.
Including the love of his life. And he would be forced to exist with the tablet while Sacagawea would forever be frozen.
If he had a heart, he was certain it would have broken into many pieces. And shatter even more when he took her on a final walk around the museum.
However, when he next woke up. He found them coming back into the museum with Larry in tow. He had explained everything. And Teddy, for another moment of his existence, felt like he would burst into a ball of sunlight.
Especially when the museum opened at night to the public. And for the first time, he actually felt like he was Theodore Roosevelt himself. Especially when the children looked up to him in awe and excitement.
For 54 years he felt like he had been living a lie. It only took another 3 years for him to truly feel like he was alive.

54 years of simply existing. 3 years of joy and adventure. 5 years of entertainment and living.
And then everything went downhill. The magic in Ahkmenrah's tablet was dying. They were, in a sense, dying.
And this was the first time in to the 62 years of existing, that he felt the true meaning of fear. Death. But he was a wax figure. He shouldn't be dying.
And yet the very word shook his entire body. It was almost laughable.
And yet, shockingly enough. He was okay with it. His mind was drawing a complete blank. But he pushed on like the soldier he was.
He was? He never thought like that before until now. Huh. Must be the whole 'knocking on death's door' as he's heard before.
They had snuck to the museum. They traveled. They hunted. They sought their prize only to have it ripped from their grasp seconds later.
And the awkward traveling on the bus. By god, he hoped to never experience that ride ever again. It only just confirmed what he was all along. He didn't belong on the outside.
Didn't matter for now though, he was tasked to help Larry and get the young king's tablet back. And he was going to get it, come hell or high water.

The last of his limbs went still and he felt the darkness creep over him. Only this time, he no longer sensed the sun creeping into his vision. But of the dreary dark abyss that would tear him from the inside out. He remembered calling out to Larry, and everything went silent.
For a split second, he felt the coldness, he felt the emptiness take over and fill him with terrible things he didn't want to witness ever again. And then, he felt it. A tiny gleam in the distance. A familiar gold colour he knew was related to Ahkmenrah's tablet.
And then he found himself back in the world of the living. He could move, he could feel the snow touching his face and hug his friends as if everything had just been a dream.
It was also at that moment, that he realised that Ahkmenrah deserved a chance of a second life. More than him and the others.
It was time, for him to say goodbye. To let go.

For 54 years, he had lived in a state of panic, fear, and a sense of false life, false happiness. Simply existing.
Some men are born great, others have greatness thrust upon them.
For 57 years. 3 years. He had lived in a state of calmness, joy, and adventure.
I was going to say good exercise, but the love thing works just as good.
For 62 years. 5 years. He had been. Theodore Roosevelt. He had lived. And watched Larry become the man/leader he was meant to be.
Smile my boy, sunrise.
As the sun rose for the final time that day. Teddy Roosevelt gave his last smile, before the light consumed his vision. And he moved no more.