In The Gleaming Twilight
Hey, this is a request-fic for TwilightGoddess so this fic is dedicated to her. Hope you like it Hun!
If anyone wants me to try and write a certain fic, then just let me know. All I request is that it's for one of the categories I've already written for as I don't really want to have to refuse a request for say…something like Star Trek…as I have NO clue about it (seriously! The only reason I'm considering going to watch the next movie is because Benedict Cumberbatch is playing the villain and I thinks he's an amazing actor!).
Anything you recognise is not mine.
'Life is complicated; things that should be easy are often hard whilst the things that you think will be difficult are sometimes the easiest ones that you come across. I know this from long and sometimes bitter experience.
My early childhood was much like any other in my town, not that certain…acquaintances for want of a better term…of mine would believe that I was actually human as a child (Joey Wheeler for instance, the Mutt has hated me ever since I met him. To be fair, my near constant taunting of him probably didn't help but I hate stupidity and he does seem to be more idiotic than most people) but it is true. My mother and father loved me very much and they made sure that they gave me what they could. When I was 6, my mother fell pregnant with Mokuba, and all three of us were excited for the addition to our family. Unfortunately, the birth was hard on her and she didn't make it; Mokie almost died too, he was very premature and almost too weak to survive but somehow, he did. Neither my father nor I ever blamed Mokie for our mother's death, after all, he hadn't asked to be born early and he certainly couldn't help it that the birth took such a toll on her but then, both father and I had always been far more intelligent than most people.
As a young child, Mokie showed every sign of being just as clever as I was along with looking very like mother (I had inherited father's looks). It was when he was just 3 (I was 9 at the time) that the accident happened. It was my 9th birthday and Mokie and I were being babysat by our neighbour while father ran to the store to get a birthday cake for me; a driver on the opposite side of the road was drunk and kept swerving into oncoming traffic. Father was killed instantly while the driver walked away; it's for this reason that I hate drinking…and my birthday. Why would I want to celebrate on the anniversary of my father's death?
Mokie and I went to live with mother's sister and brother-in-law, our aunt and uncle. It was evident almost immediately that they resented us: Mokie for causing mother's death (at least that was how they saw it, idiots) and me because I meant that they would have never inherited mother's money. Within 7 months, they'd spent all of mine and Mokie's inheritance and we were packed off to an orphanage.
Even there, we were very different from the other children; it was known that while we were orphans, we did have living relatives who could have cared for us. I will admit that we were teased for that, kids can be cruel. As it turns out, we were only there for 3 years before Gozaburo visited on one of his 'philanthropic' visits. How I persuaded him to adopt us is a matter of public record, although there are rumours that I had previously studied his chess tactics and so cheated. That is not true, I was just clever than him (having an eidetic memory helps too though).
I often wonder if it would have been better for us to have stayed in the orphanage, I might not have had to endure Hell like the next few years had we stayed there. Gozaburo had really only agreed to adopt us because he had a son my age whom he wanted to encourage to excel in his studies as he was physically weaker than he should have been due to a hereditary disease on his mother's side (it had resulted in her death and would prove to be too aggressive for Noah too). Of course, "The best laid schemes o' mice an' men Gang aft a-gley" as Robert Burns stated in a poem, I continued to do better than Noah in my studies, something which annoyed Gozaburo to no end.
The abuse reached its peak when I was 15, Noah had died when we were just 13 and Gozaburo couldn't really accept the fact. One night, when he had beaten me particularly badly, I met her. She was beautiful, the most beautiful woman I had ever seen and she damn near took my breath away (had I not been sobbing due to the pain). She was tall, easily reaching 5'7", with long silky hair the colour of a raven's wing. It's rich, dark colour contrasted sharply with her skin which was pale to the extreme, I'd never seen someone with skin that pale before…or since. What really struck me more than her hair, unusual skin tone or her pretty features were her eyes, they were a deep sapphire blue, but there seemed to be a fire burning in those azure pools. For a moment I felt like I was drowning in the blue fire before I blinked and I was myself once more. She started to move towards me, approaching where I lay in a pool of my own blood, her movements like she was dancing or floating on the air.
"Who are you?" I asked weakly, starting to cough up blood as I finished speaking; Gozaburo had really done a number on me and I'm fairly sure that, had she not come to me that night, I would have died. Instantly she was by my side and I blinked in confusion, she'd been over the other side of the room and I'd never even seen her move.
"Hush darling, I will not harm you. My name is Isis, although I have been known as Iliana for some time now. I am simply here to offer you a choice." She paused here although she swept my fringe out of my eyes and gazed at me with an expression of love.
"You do not remember it now, but in a previous incarnation you were Pharaoh of Egypt, even as my father was. I was his only surviving child but as you were the closest male relative, you ascended the throne instead of I." She started to explain and, I couldn't help myself, I got interested in the story.
"But if you were the Princess, didn't it upset you when I became Pharaoh and you didn't?" I asked curiously. She laughed lightly, a sweet, musical sound.
"Not at all, shortly after your ascension to the throne, you named me your Great Royal Wife, we had married some years before my father died. You had been the High Priest of Anubis and as such were only able to have one wife. When you became Pharaoh you were offered a Syrian Princess as a second wife but you refused, I am not sure what you said but it was something along the lines of telling them that you would not take a second wife. By this time we had a son, Thutmose who was 10 and so it was agreed, as a compromise that he would marry a young Syrian Princess instead when they were a little older. You were an exceptional and unusual Pharaoh by all accounts." She explained with a smile. I was slightly confused by this explanation, when studying history, Gozaburo made sure I only studied modern warfare (as Kaiba Corp was making weapons at that time it was natural) so I had no idea about Ancient Egyptian society.
"But if we were related then how could we have gotten married?" I asked, feeling incredibly confused. She laughed again.
"In reality I was your second-cousin but in Ancient Egypt, Royal siblings were married to keep the line 'pure' so that was not such a concern." She replied. I nodded, groaning in pain at even that slight movement.
"Try not to move darling before I give you your choice. When I died in Ancient Egypt, I changed, I have waited for 5000 years for the stars to realign in such a way that it would allow us to be reunited. My offer is this, I will heal and protect you if you will consent to become as I am and spend eternity with me. Your other choice is that I will heal you but you will not have my protection as I will not choose to live alone any longer." She said, pulling out a vial of red liquid.
"You would kill yourself?! Why?!" I asked in surprise, struggling to talk.
"Because the millennia have been lonely without you my darling." She smiled sadly. I gulped before making my decision.
"I'll become what you are but I'd rather wait until Mokie is an adult, I don't want to leave him on his own." I said, causing her smile to widen.
"I can accept that, drink this my beloved and you will heal within moments. As for Gozaburo, follow your plan to take Kaiba Corp and I will deal with him." She smiled, handing me the vial. Upon drinking it I realised that it was blood but Iliana vanished before I could comment.
True to her word, Iliana did something to Gozaburo after I took over Kaiba Corp, less than a week after our meeting. Even now I don't fully know all the facts but I can guess as to what happened and I don't think it was pleasant. I kept the deal that I had made with Iliana secret from everyone except Mokie who was thrilled that he had a sister out there somewhere now (even if she wasn't technically speaking). After much research, I realised just what she was but as I grew older I found that I had less and less time to dwell on that fact or my fate.
When Yugi and his band of friends started preaching to me about Ancient Egypt, I kept quiet about the knowledge I had of my own past there. Ever since I had drank what I assumed (and have since had confirmed to be true) was Iliana's blood, I had been seeing visions of my past in dreams. So when I was 'told' about Kisara, I had to stop myself from stating that I already knew about her as it would have led to many questions. It seems strange but reflecting back, when I was Seth, I might have taken her as a second wife had she survived to see me become Pharaoh. I certainly cared enough about her, Iliana (or Isis as she was at the time) cared about her too and, like me, mourned her death greatly. She knows all this, I'm sure of it but she's never seemed upset at the possibility. It's all moot now of course but it's nice to know that had the option cropped up 5000 years ago that she would have been happy.
It was shortly after Mokie's 18th birthday that she came back. I was sat at the desk in my bedroom, working on certain plans for Kaiba Corp, having retired from the public eye a few years previously. Mokie had been running the company for years while I took more and more of a backseat and it became official on his 18th birthday. I had held a press conference where I told the world's media that I was handing over control to Mokie in order to concentrate more on the designs for our products. I did this because somehow I knew, and I'm still not sure how I knew as Iliana refuses to explain, that I wouldn't be able to be in the public eye once she returned.
"You've grown Seto." She smiled as I took in her appearance. She hadn't aged a day, not that I expected her to.
"Have you come to change me Iliana?" I asked as she walked towards me.
"Yes, your brother is an adult now." She smiled, winding her arms around my neck and kissing the corner of my mouth with her ruby red lips. I closed my eyes as I leant back into her embrace. Over the years, I had felt lonely so the companionship she offered was welcome.
I allowed her to pull me out of my seat and towards my bed as she started to kiss my neck (the high-heeled shoes she was wearing allowing her to easily reach). I was no virgin so I knew what was coming next, having lost my virginity when I was 16 after a party (too much alcohol when I wasn't used to it) with numerous other businessmen in the area and their families. Of course, it wasn't to the daughter of one of the businessmen but one of the young women who was serving drinks. The stupid bint had assumed that she was my girlfriend after that little incident and I had the devil of a job getting her to leave me alone. Luckily for me, I suppose, she vanished a few months after she had been arrested yet again for violating the restraining order I had taken out against her.
I had been suspected at first but as I had been in a meeting with another businessman all day when she disappeared, it was obvious that I had nothing to do with it. I do know who did though, and it shows that Iliana was keeping her promise to protect me as the woman's obsession took a deadly turn. I had experimented with other women but none of them lasted long, they all got annoyed with my refusal to kiss them or to let them kiss me. Only Iliana would have that sign of affection from me.
Our coupling went on through the night, with Iliana changing me after the first time. I will admit that the changes hurt, but not as much as I might have thought and she was certainly able to distract me from them. When we rose the next morning, my own skin had become as pale as Iliana's but other than that, there were no visible changes. I could sense the internal changes, however; it became apparent to me that I had no inclination to eat human food anymore and I instantly knew that I would be stronger and faster too. Mokie was thrilled to finally meet Iliana and she acted exactly like he was her own brother which, in a sense now, she was.
Others of my acquaintance were not so thrilled to see her however. I will never forget the day that Yugi and his group of friends met her. Most of them were fine but Atem was shocked and more than a little bit freaked out.
"Isis? Is that you?" He asked incredulously. Iliana looked at him with an almost bored expression.
"I am known as Iliana and have been for many years." She replied before returning to her book. This did not sit well with Atem.
"You became one of them didn't you! When did this happen?!" He demanded, looking annoyed.
"When I was 22, not that you were around at that time." She spoke without even looking up from her book. He turned to me.
"Do you have any idea what she is Kaiba?!" He snarled, causing the others to look at him in surprise.
"Pharaoh, what's the matter?" Yugi asked, he still called Atem 'Pharaoh', even though he was technically speaking Atem's reincarnation.
"Of course I know, I've known since I was 16! What you might not realise is that she has always cared for and protected me when I needed it." I growled, making his eyes widen in shock.
"You are one too!" He gasped, backing up.
"Will someone tell us what is going on?" Bakura asked, causing my attention to shift to him.
"Iliana is a vampire and Atem is angry because, when she was human, she was his daughter. In Ancient Egypt, she was my wife and she has waited 5000 years to be reunited with me. Yes, I know about my Ancient Egyptian past, I knew about it before all of you did." I replied with a smirk, sitting next to Iliana and putting my arm around her.
"Kaiba, you're a vampire too, aren't you?" Yugi asked thoughtfully. I nodded in reply. Chaos seemed to erupt at that moment. Almost all of them stepped far back out of reach, causing me to roll my eyes. As if their moving away would stop me if I wanted to hurt them. Yugi, however, stayed where he was.
"Guys, if they were going to harm us then they'd have done it already!" He pointed out. The others were always wary of me but they soon realised that I had no desire to drink their blood. They're all gone now, dead for many years, sometimes Mokie still mourns them but I am more philosophic about death. Death is a part of being human and no one can avoid it. If it is meant to be, then we are reunited with those who are gone. Mokie himself found his own love among the vampires and so did, rather ironically, Yugi so they are still around. In a way I'm pleased that Yugi is here (although he is still obsessed with Ancient Egypt) but sometimes I wish that the others were too; I never thought I'd say this about them, but I miss Joey and even Atem.
When I think back on my life as a human, I look at those last days with something akin to sentiment, I don't view them as my last few days as a human but rather the end of my old life and the beginning of my new one. I am happier than I have ever been and it's all down to…'
A soft cry from the next room interrupted the tall brown haired vampire's writing. He looked up and quickly ran through to see Iliana holding a young child who was crying softly.
"Is she alright?" He asked, making his way over. Iliana smiled at him.
"She's fine now, I think she had a bad dream." She replied, rocking the child gently. Softly he stroked the child's head, helping to comfort her and causing the little girl to turn her own cerulean eyes on her father.
"It's alright Iliera, your mother and I are here." He said softly, causing the little girl to smile but snuggle into her mother's arms and fall fast asleep. Iliana put their daughter back in her crib while Seto went to look in on their son.
He lay sleeping deeply, undisturbed by his little sister's distress, his pale skin almost luminescent in the moonlit room. He was a sturdy lad of about 4 or 5 who looked almost identical to Seto, just with Iliana's eyes instead of his father's. Seeing that he was sleeping well, Seto pulled the blankets that he had kicked off back over him before smiling down at his son.
"Sleep well, Seth." He whispered, leaving the room and making his way back to his and Iliana's bedroom. She was stood at the desk reading what he had written but she looked up as he entered.
"What's this?" She asked with an amused smile on her face.
"I wanted to record what happened, it's been 200 years and I felt it was time to get it all down." He replied with his own smile.
The two vampire lovers kissed passionately, before making their way to the bed to continue showing each other just how much they love each other. Later, as Seto was drifting off to sleep with his sleeping wife in his arms, he thought how he would have finished that sentence…
'…my children and my beautiful vampire princess.'