Aurélie stood with her arms crossed over her midriff, fingers curled over her biceps, trying to keep in the warmth that still lingered in her body. Sure, it had been freakishly hot outside, and she had a sweater in case there was a draft inside the pyramid, but shorts and a tank top really did nothing to attain any warmth, especially now that her soft and honestly quite expensive cashmere sweater lingered somewhere on the steps to where she found her little sister.  She was chilly, and upset and wanted to go home.

The eldest responded to the Egyptian's thanks with a smile that lasted a fraction of a millisecond. Then, she handed her supplies over to her mother. Frankly, if Aurélie had to be the one to help Thierry she'd probably prod his wound out of vindictiveness. Or so she'd like to believe. As her mother chastised her father in hushed words Aurélie could only make the tone out of, the sister watched over the youngest one while her eyes swooped over the room. It was odd. No- eerie. The goosebumps on her skin weren't entirely caused by the cold alone. 

As her father approached, the teen noticed her body became more rigid and she swallowed. She wasn't scared of him, never had been. But sometimes words could hurt as much as a punch to the nose could. Yet, she could see remorse in his eyes as he knelt before the youngest. For her father's sake, Auri hoped Cosy would grow tall fast because her eyes immediately darted to his knee while a muscle in her jaw ticked. She didn't like him to be in pain. She didn't like anyone to be in pain.

While the smallest of the family accepted the blatant distraction Auri's eyes searched for her mother's. There was something cracking beneath the surface of the woman who raised Auri, but she carried it so elegantly. Like broken pottery fixed with lacquer and gold powder. She was a walking Kintsugi piece. Beautiful, whole, but still more fragile than before. Aurélie's artful appraisal was interrupted by the soft voice of her father, so different from before. A nickname she had rejected in her early teens but lately been craving to hear in the same tone of affection as before. His gratitude was unexpected, and a slight twitch in her brows showed her confusion, then her awe, before her face inevitably hardened and gave him a curt nod in return instead. The 'no big deal' Auri was hiding her inner Aurélie.  

Much time to deliberate what had happened wasn't granted, as her mother's voice suddenly questioned Theo's whereabouts and Aurélie's head jerked around, her hair loose hair sliding over her shoulders as she searched for her brother the last place he had seen him. Shit, how long had he been gone? Did he leave on his own, or did something happen?

Her heartbeat found a new home in her throat as she looked at her parents. The teen's eyes misted over and she was unsure why. Theo wasn't her twin, nor her full sibling for that fact, but their closeness in age made them as close as they could be, and sometimes it seemed that she could just- sense things about him. Before she could beg either of her parents to please find Theo, the world seemed to spin and her hand shot up to her forehead. 

Afraid to fall, or worse, faint, the teen dropped to her knees and squeezed her eyes shut. Her veins filled with lava as her head suddenly started pounding. [color=rosybrown]"Maman.."[/color] she whimpered.

[hr]
[i][color=rosybrown]Those dusty bricks...[/color][/i] Okay maybe, just [i]maybe[/i] his big sister had a point. These bricks sure were dusty. With a slight frown, keeping his light in hand, Theo followed the hall. A turn to the right, a turn to the left. His light illuminated a set of stairs going upward. Up was good, right? Up meant exit, or leading to, hopefully. There had never been a point in Theo's life where he [i]regretted[/i] going to the gym so much as he stared at the narrow stairs. Even Auri would have a problem with these. 

But the gym was an escape for him, both the one at the estate and the one in the city he frequented after class. There was something so freeing about putting in his earbuds and disappearing from the world, while his body gained strength, agility and stamina. It hadn't been particularly useful for anything as of yet, except for getting girls and carrying around his mother's or Auri's shopping. Heck, maybe there were more downsides than he realised. But still, the middle child attempted the stairs. After one step, he found that walking straight up them was going to leave him with battered, bruised and scuffed shoulders. 

He had to turn sideways instead, walking up the stairs like a crab one step at a time. The upside would be that if he could fit through, so could the rest. He'd see if this was the exit, then get his family. As he managed to get top and forward toward purple light, Theo found not an exit, but a splitting of the path. Before him, more stairs, going up, and as mentioned before, up was good. But the aspirant archaeologist was more interested in the enclosed tomb before him. Just where in the fresh hell had they ended up?

He circled it once, then twice, but found himself completely out of his depth when it came to studying the thing. A scuffle behind him shook him from his thoughts and the tall teen swivelled on the heels of his feet to find the Egyptian man, introduced to him as Ramses, appear at the top of the steps he'd just come from. After a short appraisal, he saw the man had been helped by someone with his bloody nose. With a clenched jaw, Theo nodded at the man. [color=steelblue]"I'm sorry my dad punched you. I'm trying to find the way out but-"[/color] The teen's thoughts already were distracted halfway through his sentence as a flickering in the room to his side caught his attention. 

[color=steelblue]"What's that?"[/color] He asked, more to himself than the man that was either fleeing from Thierry or sent to collect his son. Theo's eyes momentarily flickered down to the ground as he made for the pathway, stepping through the square frame. [i]Always check for booby traps.[/i] Dad's archaeology lessons 101. He didn't want to trigger a mechanism that would impale him on some rusty and unsanitary stakes. That would be a bother. 

It seemed Theo did forget the other 101 lessons though, such as don't fucking wander about while following your youthful curiosity. Oops? The relief of dodging a possible boobytrap was immediately wiped off his smug face when the room started rumbling like a herd of bison were running overhead. He coughed at the dust falling down, discolouring the fabric of his blue shirt to grey. A crack from the tomb caught- no [i]demanded[/i] his attention and once more Theo whirled. The son's eyes squinted at the eerie light as mist seeped into the room like a failed science fair project on Halloween. 

The orb, or however someone would call it, drained all the blood from the boy's face as his heart tried to escape through his chest and outback down those stairs. The words, loud and booming, terrified him. 

It didn't stop there. Blind? Theo wasn't blind, right? Or well, Aurélie had accused him of being blind to certain things because that was just the easier thing to do. And what held him back? Or was it who? A short breath left his lips as the orb, strangely enough, addressed Ramses and accused him of hiding secrets, making Theo's eyes narrow. Much time for accusations or questioning wasn't gifted upon them, and Theo ducked as a bolt skittered across the ceiling. It was like Thor himself was playing games while Theo narrowly avoided a boilt that threatened to sear his big toe. [color=steelblue]"MERDE! Run!"[/color] Theo yelled, though he wasn't entirely sure where to run to. 

The second of hesitation was enough for the bolt seemingly aimed straight at his chest to catch him off guard. Only the last-minute jerk of his body assured the bold didn't hit him straight in the heart but in the shoulder instead. His vision turned white. He yelled out, loud and pained, before the force of the bolt slammed him against the wall and gravity slammed him to the floor. His hand went up immediately, accompanied by a pained groan. Glancing down, Theo pulled at the collar of his shirt and saw a dark impact on the soft spot between his heart and shoulder, discoloured and shooting out in random patterns. [color=steelblue]"Ugh, fuck, Jesus, fuck."[/color] 

Another crack in the room alerted Theo to move, and he pushed his body to roll away from the spot where the bolt hit seconds later. He was running on pure adrenaline now. The son was barely able to gather himself off the ground and his running was more like stumbling. He went for the closest: the steps upward he had spotted earlier. He went up them but found halfway that adrenaline alone wasn't enough to get him somewhere. After a stumble, he collapsed on the stairs with ragged breathing, fighting hard to not lose consciousness.