Sitting at your easel in your art class, you were distracted today. Probably because you'd spent the night talking to a bunch of living exhibits at the museum. You did get home early enough to get a decent nights sleep, but the experience made you... well shook, for lack of a better word. In a good way of course.

Your drapery painting assignment was half done sitting in front of you, you hadn't blended the shadows yet, because you were spaced out thinking about the museum. You'd gotten Larry's number last night so he could tell you when to come by and he'd let you in, and the plan was you'd come back tonight.

If they wanted art classes, you figured you'd start with basics. Like still life and shapes. So you'd been mentally preparing and throwing ideas around for a while now, long enough you'd been starring at your half finished painting long enough for your teacher to walk over and snap your fingers in front of your face to snap you out of it. You blinked, coming back into reality.

"You good there (y/n)?" She asked.

"Yeah, just thinking" you replied.

Assuming you meant about the painting, she gave it a scan over and pointed out an area to blend a little lighter. Thanking her, you continued to paint still thinking about the museum.

You could bring an apple or something to use as a subject, and you had to remember to bring your violin like they asked. As long as Rexy didn't use the bow as a chew toy, it'd be fine. Mind wandering back to the start of the night, you still couldn't believe the absolutely shocking sight of a mummy rising from their death.

Ahkmenrah was so much nicer than you thought a pharaoh would be. You always read about them ruling with an iron fist, and mummies were usually the subject of horror movies. But he was just... a nice person who happened to be 4000 years undead. He didn't seem to mind you'd trespassed his exhibit, he was genuinely interested in your art too. That was a nice surprise.

And the outfit... you loved a good cloak and bling combo. Dramatic, elegant, fit for a pharaoh. You wouldn't mind having a fit like that.

Although, it was odd to think that right now he was a mummified corpse in that sarcophagus. How that tablet turned him from a deadman to a reanimated, totally normal person, you had no idea. But you were glad it did, he was interesting. And all his friends were too.

When your classes finished, you headed home with some time to kill before night. Out of curiosity, you went to your computer and googled his name, wondering what historical records would come up.

Ahkmenrah, fourth king of the fourth king.

Second born son of Merenkahre and Shepseheret, and the younger brother of Kahmunrah. Alive at an assumed 4000 years ago, he was crowned Pharaoh over his older brother, due to what is thought to be his parents favouring him and finding him a better fit for the throne.

The tomb was found near the pyramids of Giza in 1938 his sarcophagus and other artefacts found in the tomb were taken to Cambridge university for study and display. Moved to the New York museum of natural history in 1952 and remains there to this day.

The study of the artefacts revealed they were made with solid gold and a vary of precious gems, the crown in particular insinuated he ruled middle-lower regions of Egypt. The most prized artefact is the tablet of ahkmenrah, a golden tablet made especially for him by his parents.

The study on the mummy revealed the assumed time period of death, and that he died young. Assumed around 17-19 years of age, wounds found on the body suggest foul play, and examination of the bones suggest he was of average height for the time, and was fairly healthy at the time of death.

There's still a lot of mystery around the family, Ahkmenrah in particular. But Egyptologists have examined as much as they can and unless new artefacts are found, no more can be taken from the body or artefacts.

Interesting, very interesting.

He was probably from early ancient Egypt, he had a brother and parents over in other museums and was kept at Cambridge for years. Perhaps that's how he learnt English, from listening to conversation at the university and reading the books when night fell. But the fact he died young was sad, he was no older than you. And the foul play theory? Who'd want to kill such a nice person. If he was as nice to his subjects as he was to you, then you couldn't imagine why someone would hate him that much.

But this was ancient Egypt, a VERY different time. Maybe being nice was a bad thing to a kingdom back then? You didn't know much about ancient history, but it was very interesting. You were sure he probably didn't want to talk about his death, so you wouldn't ask. But maybe one day, you'd find out.

By the time you'd finished reading all the websites on ancient Egypt, the sun was starting to go down and you had to get your stuff gathered together to leave. You packed up your usual art supplies, and grabbed your violin in its case. On the way out taking an apple from the fruit bowl to use as a still life subject. On the way to the museum, you stopped at a cafe for a quick dinner and drink before heading over. You got a message from Larry, telling you to go around the side and that the staff door was open for you.

When you finally got there and the sun had gone down, you slipped through the side door to immediately find a monkey hanging from one of the stair railings. You remembered this cheeky guy, dexter.

"Oh! Hey dexter, don't you go stealing my stuff ok? I need it for the others" you said.

The monkey just chattered at you, reaching a hand out and touching your head to inspect you.

"You are curious aren't you..?

He stepped onto your shoulders, seemingly wanting you to carry him around. Seeing no harm, since he was friendly albeit a bit cheeky, you allowed him to chill on your shoulders as you made your way down the hallways.

Running into Larry, he immediately rolled his eyes at the monkey.

"Dex, don't harass the guests" he said, having him hop onto his shoulders instead.

"Ah, he's not making trouble" you said.

"Not yet. You can't trust this guy, he's the reason I have to lock my keys to my belt"

Dexter seemed to know what Larry was saying, as he gave a smug grin to the night guard.

"They're all hyped up. They haven't had a new person around for years so you're kind of a big deal now" Larry explained.

"I am? They're all a lot more interesting than I am, not sure why they're acting like I'm some famous artist" you snickered.

Walking into the main entrance room, you were greeted with the skeleton T-Rex sniffing you as you walked in. Remembering you from the night before and exited you were back.

"Hey Rexy, we'll play fetch later ok?" You said, scratching his bone nose.

That seemed to please him, as he wandered off to harass the others around.

"Ah, mx (y/n) you're back, welcome!" Teddys voice boomed.

"Can't leave you all bored without art can I?" You replied.

"Good thing we didn't scare you off! It's not often we see new faces. I'm sure Lawrence had explained your overnight popularity"

"You guys must be bored as hell if you're finding me exiting" you joked.

"Nonsense! You're more interesting than you think you are (y/n)"

Well, that was nice to know. At least someone found you worthy of hanging around. Didn't matter they were all wax figures, at least it was someone.

Greeting everyone and catching up, they were eager to learn art from you. And quickly you'd gathered everyone who wanted to give it a shot and pushed some tables and benches to the centre of the room to have a place to draw. Somehow Larry had even found pencils small enough for the minis, like those ones you collect at IKEA for no reason.

"Is this everyone?" You asked.

"Hang on, Ahk is probably tangled in his mummy wraps still" Sacajawea pointed out.

That's right, he did want to learn form you. And yet he wasn't here yet, but it didn't take long for him to show up. Only moments later he rushed in, fixing the position of his crown on his head.

"I'm here! Bloody mummy wraps..." he muttered.

"Hello again, nice to see you" you replied, handing him some paper and a pencil.

He gave you a smile as he took them, glad to see you came back.

"Nice to see you again too, I'm glad you came back" he said.

"How could I not?"

Now everyone that wanted to learn to draw was gathered, you took the desk lamp from the front desk and put it on the table in front of you, underneath it you put the apple you bought.

"Alright. We have to start easy. It might be a little boring, but you can't draw complex things without the basics. So we'll start with still life..." you began.

You propped up your paper on a clip board against some books so everyone can see it.

"This teaches shape and shading. You start by drawing down the basic shape of your subject, and marking out the darkest and lightest areas..." you explained, demonstrating by jotting down the shape of the apple.

They followed your instructions, trying their best to follow the shape from sight.

"Don't press too hard, be light so you can erase easier. To blend you can use paper stubs or your hands, if you don't mind them getting covered in graphite"

Larry was throughly surprised how well this was going, the museum was actually calm for once. Everyone was occupied and entertained, and those who didn't want to draw stayed out of the way and out of trouble so the others could focus.

"To shade, press harder but not so hard you rip the paper, and layer on the colour for dark areas and lighten how hard you press and how far apart the stokes are for lighter areas. Like this"

You demonstrated by colouring in a side of the apple where the dark shadow turned to the light top.

You felt kind of like your teacher when you did this, standing in front of a class and directing how to move the pencil. After explaining all the techniques and tips, you wandered around from person to person looking at their progress. Surprisingly, a lot of them were pretty good for beginners. Maybe they had some memories of art from their lives as a real person and not a wax figure.

Sacajawea was particularly good at shading already, she had an eye for light and dark. It was a little hard to see the details with Jed and Octavius as they were smaller, and using smaller pencils and paper. But on closer look they seemed to be be getting on well.

Octavius was definitely a bit better then Jed, who was struggling to find the right pressure to put on the pencil. You couldn't blame him, he was small. Octavius seemed to be a little stronger than him and could control the pressure a bit better.

And when you finally got to Ahkmenrah, he seemed completely focused on getting the placement of the shadows right. He'd stare at the apple for a moment, and line up the shadow with his pencil to make the measurement right.

"But of a perfectionist?" You teased.

He jumped, not noticing you behind him.

"Oh! Yeah, a bit. I suppose I was just raised that way" he replied.

That made sense. He WAS a pharaoh after all.

"Well you can't rush art, so taking your time to make sure it's right definitely isn't a bad thing. You're doing good so far" you complimented.

"I am? I feel like I'm getting things a bit off canter" he replied.

"No really, it looks good so far. You're a fast learner"

He couldn't help but smile, feeling accomplished that the expert thought he was doing well. He only noticed his cheeks heat up when you walked back to your paper to finish your apple, and he was left in a giddy state from the complement.

He shook his head, trying to get focused again and turned back to his paper.

Why did that feel so... good? He'd been complimented before by his parents and stuff, so why was yours making him blush all of a sudden?

He pushed the thought aside and continued to draw, thinking no one noticed.

But he was wrong, because the night guard was watching the whole room making sure nothing went south. And he saw everything, Larry definitely knew what was going to unfold over the next few art lessons.