One Last Time [Night at The Museum Fan-Fiction] **COMPLETE**

Chapter Four

Credit: "Letters From War" by Mark Schultz

xxx

All the cleaning was done, at least an hour and a half before dawn would approach and most of the inhabitants were lolly-gagging in the lobby, waiting as Emma worked on the speakers and microphone before pressing pause on her MP3.

Once the music began playing, all talking ceased, eyes were all focused on her. Emma's heart beat rapidly and she took a deep breath, waiting for her cue to begin.

She placed a shaky hand upon her breast and opened her mouth, the words flowing out;

She walked to the mailbox
On that bright summer's day
Found a letter from her son
In a war far away.

He spoke of the weather
And good friend's that he'd made
Said; "I'd been thinking 'bout dad
and the life that he had.
That's why I'm here today."
And that at the end he said,
"You are what I'm fighting for."
It was the first of the letters from war.

Out of the corner of her eye she saw Teddy and Sacagawea exchanging smiles with one another, and on the opposite side she saw Ahkmenrah staring at her. This earned a set of butterflies in her stomach.

She started writing
"You're good, and you're brave
What a father that you'll be someday.
Make it home, make it safe."
She wrote every night as she prayed.

Late in December
A day she'll not forget
Oh, her tears stained the paper

Her eyes closed, willing her mind to wander somewhere else as she sang, the song, which meant the world to her and her family, causing tears to well beneath the lids of her eyes, and begin to stream down her face.

With every word that she read.
It said; "I was up on a hill,
I was out there alone
When the shots all rang out,
And bombs were exploding.
That's when I saw him,
He came back for me.
And though he was captured,
A man set me free.
That man was your son.
He asked me to write to you,
I told him I would, oh I swore."
It was the last of the letters from war

And she prayed he was living,
Kept on believing
And wrote every night just to say;
"You are good,
And you're brave.
What a father that you'll be someday.
Make it home, make it safe."
Still, she kept writing each day

As the final bit came up, her voice began cracking slightly, tears fully falling down her face, memories of three generations of her family entered her mind.

Then two years later,
Autumn leaves all around
A car pulled in the driveway,
And she fell to the ground.
And out stepped a Captain,
Where her boy used to stand.
He said; "Mom, I'm following orders
From all of your letters
And I have come home again",
He ran into hold her
And dropped all his bags on the floor.
Holding all of her letters from War.

Make it home
Make it home
Make it home

Once the song was finished, it was quiet, for a mere second. Emma dared not look up; was she really that terrible?

As soon as she was about to turn away in embarrassment, the crowd started to clap loudly. She reached her free hand up to wipe away the tears, before going to the other side she stopped, feeling a hand being gently placed upon her shoulder.

"You have a beautiful voice, Emma."

 Glancing up she saw that it was Ahkmenrah, he hesitantly reached up, less than an inch away from her face, before brushing the remaining tears away from her cheeks. The look in his eyes, she couldn't place, but those dark orbs bore into her grey ones and Emma felt her knees weaken at the intensity of that stare.

"Are you alright?"

She cleared her throat before speaking, "Yes, I am. Thank you."

He studied her again and when she went to speak, to assure him that she was alright, the words immediately died on her tongue when he pressed a slender finger to her lips. In a low voice he said, "You are so strong for all of us Emma, but, we all know when one is hurting. If you do need to talk, you know where I am."

She nodded, not trusting her voice as she turned back to where Octavius and Jedidiah were, decided to play She Thinks My Tractor's Sexy a country song sung by Kenny Chesney. Emma smiled, laughing as it brought memories back from her high-school years.

Needless to say, she was quite impressed with both their vocal and choreography abilities. For a couple of miniatures, they definitely possessed talent.

Once their song was over, everyone clapped, whooping and hollering.

xxx

The night was almost over, around twenty-five minutes before the sun would rise, Emma and Ahkmenrah slowly made their way towards his tomb, talking quietly.

As they stepped in, ready to say farewell to one another, Ahkmenrah gritted his teeth and let out a low groan, his knees buckling, he would've hit the marble flooring if she hadn't caught him in time.

He didn't look like he weighed that much, but Emma knew that looks could be deceptive, and for basically a living corpse, he weighed more than what he probably should.

Slowly, she lowered them to the ground, removing her leg from underneath him, she leaned him against one of the walls of the entrance, placing a hand on his face, her breath hitched as she noticed the graying tinge to his skin.

"Ahkmenrah?" She inwardly cringed at how scared her voice sounded. She wasn't the one that was having any sort of effect from the damned tablet and here he was, looking like death decided to tap dance on his grave.

His dark eyes found hers, holding contact as his hand frantically found her own, gripping tightly. Fear filled his eyes and she felt her heart break, knowing well that there wasn't anything she could do to alleviate his suffering any.

By the time the episode wore off, his colour slowly returned, his hands were shaking and gasp after gasp of breath entered his lungs. She waited a few moments before helping him to his feet, guiding him to his sarcophagus, both glancing up to the tablet.

A little more of it was green.

He wordlessly climbed in, crossing his arms over his chest, and looking up. It was mere moments away before daylight would shine through the tomb, and the last words that came out of his mouth, were ones that would send her into tears.

 "I am so frightened."    

The museum was now eerily quiet as she leaned over the side, looking down at Ahkmenrah's remains, tears rolled down her face as she reached in and carefully trailed her finger's along his cheek.

"Ahk, I swear to God that we'll figure this out." She whispered to him, she knew that even during the day, he could hear everyone around him. "I promise."