Anything For You

20: Moonlight

Heyyyyy look who's back! Surprise surprise!

I feel horrible now, I still do. Yikes. We'll save all the emotional stuff for the author's note at the end of the chapter. I have a few announcements to make.

One: I am no longer following the script exactly. It's what killed me last time. I hope this doesn't bother anyone but I really don't want to do that because frankly it's too much effort that I can't afford right now.

Two: Updates will be very short and slow for the time being. That means there will probably be more of them then. I hope everyone's okay with this.

Three: I love all of you and thanks for reading this or coming back and reading this or whatever you've done but thank you so much words can't express how much it means.

-Natalie's POV-

I brushed my hair behind my ears, tugging on a loose strand as though something would come from the simple action. Ahk at my side, tablet tucked under my father's arm, and friends and family surrounding me. What could go wrong?

A lot of things could, and a lot of things had.

First, we had gotten a bit of a shock when the tablet 'broke'. Second, every time it malfunctioned, most of my friends froze up or went into unspeakable pain. Third, the dinosaur attacked us and threw me through a door.

Fourth? We met an annoying knight who hadn't left us alone. Fifth? Said knight caused a disturbance and corrupted my brother. Sixth, I found out my best friend wanted to kill me. Seventh? The dragon woke up and attacked us. Did I mention the tablet broke?

Oh, and eighth? We had no idea how to save it.

I tried not to let on how much my arm and my head hurt. I tried to conceal that, and the worry. Could we even stop the damage created by the tablet? Would anyone who came from the museum live?

And what about Ahk? How could I live with myself if I lost him?

We rounded a corner and I gasped. There it was. The Egyptian wing, where all of our problems could hopefully be solved. I reached by hand out for Ahk's finding it questing for mine as well. He laced our fingers together, and I smiled, although the expression probably looked forced.

"Are you sure you're up for this?" I stuck my other hand in my pocket, fingers grazing over the pocket knife I had forgotten I had, and a few singles.

"Ready as I'll ever be," he sighed, and, mindful that Dad didn't look over, slipped an arm around my waist and drew me close. I met him halfway, lips touching for too short of a time, just a whisper, a promise, of what could have been. A goodbye, even though here we could find the answer to this problem.

Here, with his family, if he didn't believe we could find the solution, then I didn't know if we could either.

The coolness of his hand against my cheek drew me quickly back to reality, as well as a soft nudge from Sacajawea. I smiled at her, before noting my dad talking with Lancelot in exasperated tones before Lancelot stepped aside. Our group moved forward, and Ahk clasped my hand in his again.

I looked at him in surprise. My family was here, as well as his own. I mean, we hadn't been exactly subtle, but I didn't think they knew. And he was about to see his parents for the first time in a while...

I couldn't do that to him, so I let go. He didn't understand, I knew that, but it was for the best.

Maybe for the best that I started letting go now.