Adventuretimefantic's drafts and oneshots

The effects of being a mummy (NATM)

Fandom: NATM
Ship: None
General synopsis: Little oneshot about how being mummified would physically affect Ahk. Plus some big brother Ahk little brother Nick wholesomeness.

The mummification process is the practice of preparing a body for burial in a ritualistic fashion by removing the organs, drying out the body and wrapping it fabric strips. Then it would be placed into a sarcophagus and taken into the tomb. Many cultures did it, with varying methods. But no doubt, ancient Egypt was the civilisation that was most famous for it.

Thing is, mummies aren't exactly meant to come back to life. If they were, they'd have kept all their organs. So Ahkmenrah found himself in an odd situation here. Reanimated every night by the tablet and life simulated via magic to allow him to well... live. But he lacked organs, so there were some side effects.

He first noticed it the night after the tablet almost being stolen. He was so full of adrenaline and disassociated out of his mind that night, he didn't notice it then even when he was standing out in the snow. But he was FREEZING. Even inside the museum with the heating on, he found himself cold. Especially in the limbs. Now he was parading around with his chest and abdomen out, so that wasn't helping. But even when he'd wrap his cloak around himself as a blanket, he was still cold.

The next thing he noticed was whenever he moved too quickly, he'd suddenly get lightheaded and his vision would black out for a moment. That, and his balance wasn't what it once was. He'd trip on nothing, misjudge a corner and run into a wall, step on the side of his foot and fall over.

Then, the pain started setting in. In his joints, legs and back in particular. At first he thought 'well I have been in a sarcophagus for 54 years, I'm bound to be a bit stiff'. But it seemed no matter what he did to try and loosen up, the pain wouldn't go away. Some nights were better than others, but at its worst he'd spend the night sitting in the break room half asleep because he just didn't have the energy to move.

It finally all came to ahead last night, when he'd been heading from his exhibit to the lobby to go say good morning... night... to everyone as usual. But halfway there he just... collapsed. The ache he'd felt the last few nights got too much and his knees buckled, landing on the polished floors with a thud and his crown clanging against it when it fell off. Now he wasn't just sore from achy bones but from hitting the hard ground too, great.

It took Sacajawea hearing the clang of his crown and her coming to help for him to get back to his feet. She sat him on the nearest bench, asked him what happened. That was the thing, he didn't know. It was like as soon as he'd woken up that night he was freed, he couldn't walk straight anymore. One call down the halls to Larry later, and he was being practically interrogated for every symptom he'd felt since he was freed.

It quickly became clear to Larry, who had basic modern medical knowledge that Ahkmenrah lacking his organs and being a literal reanimated corpse was having an effect on him. The cold and dizziness sounded like anaemia symptoms from lack of iron and vitamins in his blood. That is, if he even still had blood. The aches and pains sounded like the effects of being in rigor mortis as a corpse, wrapped so tight and dried out for thousands of years, stuck inside that sarcophagus. The bad balance sounded like vertigo symptoms, from his lack of organs in and around his ears.

He'd gotten rather intrigued by it all, the effects sounded so similar to that of someone which chronic pains or fatigue. Larry went home that morning wondering just how much the tablet could actually simulate in terms of bodily functions, and if it's inability to recreate all organ functions perfectly was what caused Ahkmenrahs symptoms. While he may now be able to get answers to magic tablet mummification induced chronic pains, he could at least look into ways to help Ahk be less uncomfortable night to night.