Written for round five of the YGO Fanfiction Contest. The challenge pairing is Blueshipping—SetoxKisara. This story is a prequel to my museum thriller Divination, as in this is the story behind how the Millennium Items were unearthed for that exhibit. Again, I'm an archaeology major (I'll be legit too, I'm going on a dig this summer!) with enough knowledge of Egypt to make most everything of that nature within this story accurate—although of course, this is YGO. So there's magic too.
"Chronology"
Kisara stood up, wiping her forehead where beats of sweat had started to form from the mid-afternoon heat. They had been at it for several weeks now, sifting through the sands that had covered up all evidence of what they knew lay beneath. Kisara's team consisted of a small army of students from the University in Cairo, along with several professionals in remote sensing, radiocarbon dating, and osteology—and her. Contract archaeologist from the Cairo Museum of Antiquities. This was one of the biggest sites of her still burgeoning career, and if things turned out for the best, she would have a tenure-track position at one of the top Universities in the Mediterranean—or better yet, a curator of the finds which were sure to come. They were so close. It was only a matter of time.
"Kisara! You're needed at the main tent!" Kisara's body swiveled at the shout; she saw one of the more promising undergraduates, Rebecca, waving at her from the top of the ridge. Kisara sighed, laid down her brushes, and climbed the terraces they had dug into the Earth until she was level with Rebecca. She stared wistfully at the stele that she had been uncovering; she supposed that reading the inscription would have to happen later.
"What is this all about? Has the entrance to the cavern finally been uncovered?" Despite their height, both of them kept a fast pace to the main tent, given the central place of honor in the small tent village they had constructed in the desert.
"Not yet—the radar indicates that we're just several feet away from the surface." Rebecca grinned, pushing her prescription sunglasses up the bridge of her nose just a fraction of an inch. "I was told to retrieve you by our visitor—apparently he was sent as an emissary from our advocates back at Domino."
Visitors were a fairly common sight to their surveying, but if Ishizu sent someone to check in on them, it would be the last straw—weren't weekly videoconferences enough? "From the Museum or from our Corporate Sponsor?"
"I'm not one-hundred percent sure, but I think our guest is Kaiba himself."
"What does he want with us?" Kisara whispered as they neared the tent. True that by being affiliated with the Domino Museum they were directly reliant on their sponsor, Kaiba Corporation, for a majority of their operating budget, but still… they probably weren't even a dent on his write-off expenses. She scratched at the back of her head, where her long hair was plaited into a braid. What was he doing here?
"I'll leave you to it then. I'm sure they could use an extra set of hands at the cavern," Rebecca hastily backed away from the tent, heading off in the direction of the sun. Kisara sighed—wasn't there anyone she could push this on? She's so much rather be back out in the field.
Her first impression upon entering the tent was that he was sweltering, yet at the same time too proud to do anything about it. His hair was plastered to his forehead and neck, and his clothes looked brand-new, they were so white. She knew better—in this world, nothing stayed white for too long.
Upon noticing her entrance, he crossed the space in several strides and stood not a foot from her, towering over her in height. She took his proffered hand, shaking it twice.
"Seto Kaiba of Kaiba Corporation."
"You can call me Kisara." She smiled; what was that saying again? You catch more flies with honey than vinegar. "So, Kaiba, what can I do for you? You've come a long way from Domino."
"Schroeder Corporation holds an annual exposition around this time, so the opportunity to check in on my investment presented itself. Have you managed to uncover the artifacts?"
Right to the point as usual. Kisara suspected that one of the reasons for Ishizu's demanding schedule of reports was their mysterious benefactor, now standing right in front of her, his eyes unblinking as if he could read her like a book. His corporeality made him no less mysterious, but she reminded herself that he was nothing more than a person—and she could deal with him.
"We have managed to discern the precise location of the tablet, which to our limited knowledge has all of the objects placed in situ. We're currently excavating that location, and have almost uncovered the entrance to a cavern that should lead to the tablet. If there have been cave-ins or sediment shifting, then that will of course delay us further. But we are making progress."
"It doesn't sound like much progress," and she had to silently agree with his words. "When I discussed the excavation and site data with Ishizu, she made it seem like—"
"You should know that Ishizu's scales of proportion are in need of calibration," Kisara couldn't help the interruption, knowing well her colleague's predilection to making the smallest detail of the utmost importance. It was, however, one of the things that made her an excellent curator. "You read our site data? So you don't need a refresher on our work so far at Kul Elna?"
Whether Kaiba was truly bored or trying to not appear too interested in the site, she couldn't tell. "I didn't read it; I had it summarized for me." She fought the urge to roll her eyes. Of course. "I know the basics of the site; the excavated houses and market area, and the tomb stelae that you have uncovered. I know that you have yet to pin down an accurate date since you cannot find evidence linking the site to a specific Pharaoh's reign. I'm surprised though: why aren't you concentrating more of your efforts on the mortuary archaeology? Didn't you write that occupation of the site ceased suddenly due to some natural disaster or invasion? I think that would be a more valuable usage of your time."
"How ironic, then, that we are limited in what we excavate because we have been tasked by our friends at Domino—by extension, you—to find that tablet. We at present do not have the resources to excavate both intensively and simultaneously."
The answer didn't seem to affect him; it was as if he already knew her reasons. The fact that the site had been suddenly abandoned was her main reason of interest behind excavating the site. There was the potential to learn so much about the people of Kul Elna because hopefully they left things behind that they didn't have the opportunity to take.
"I'll make sure that you do," he said and Kisara was strangely touched by the offer, even though she knew that to him it was nothing. Before she could offer her thanks, he had already moved on. "Now tell me: how close are you to uncovering the cavern?"
"Like I said earlier, very—" The shrill beep of her pager interrupted her words; on instinct she unclipped it from her belt loop and glanced at it. "Today is your lucky day," she said, pressing down on one button to silence it. "We're closer than I said earlier." She fought back a smile—think of all that lay beneath them! Catching Kaiba's eye, she added, "Come along—see our progress for yourself."
Side by side they exited the tent into the blinding sunlight. "I hope you'll be willing to answer something that I have been wondering about for awhile." Kisara hadn't the slightest idea of how to initiate a conversation with one of the most powerful men in business, let alone the man on the top of every magazine's hottest bachelor list, but figured that it was better than silence. Being surrounded by nothing but sand made her appreciate the people around her even more—they were all she had to keep her sane.
Kaiba nodded imperceptibly, and Kisara continued: "What are your personal interests in this project?"
"I never said I was interested in your project."
"Right… that explains precisely why you flew out here and why you could quote the site data probably better than I can, and why you agreed to be our principal sponsor when this has nothing to do with KaibaCorp's products…how wrong of me to assume that you were interested in this project." Although she was wearing sunglasses, he thought that she was smiling with her eyes—at least she had the courtesy not to outright laugh at him.
"The excavation is just over there," Kisara commented as they trekked across the sand. It was the first moment that she noticed that he was wearing sturdy hiking boots—again she suppressed another smile. It was almost as if he had anticipated this breakthrough! She prepared for the ensuing fight when he would inevitably want to enter the cavern with them.
They saw the crowd of people around the entrance—the small hole was visible in the Tura limestone structure that itself only peeked up outside of the sand. Kisara weaved expertly through the crowd, the people instinctively parting around her unknown companion.
"Kisara! I'm so glad you're here!" Rebecca waved her over; pointing to where several people were dusting what appeared to be an inscription. Turning to Kaiba, she replied frostily, "Can I help you…?"
"You can help by explaining what's going on—try and use big words," Kaiba countered.
"Hold it." Kisara crouched next to the stone, scrutinizing each inch. "Can we clear the entrance any more?"
"Sure," Rebecca replied. "The inscription continues so we know that the entrance can be widened; but I think it's wide enough for us to get in."
Kisara scanned the group crowding around the entrance. "You three—work on widening this entrance. Rebecca, grab two flashlights. You're coming with me." Rebecca's eyes lit up and she grinned.
"Right on it!"
Kaiba coughed loudly, drawing her attention. When he spoke his tone was smooth slippery. "You are crazy if you think you're leaving me here. This is what I came here to see. With just one call, I can make your funding… disappear. You wouldn't want that, would you?"
She tucked a few wisps of hair back behind her ears, knowing that this would not go over well with the rest of the staff. But if she wanted to keep her funding, and stay on his good side, she might as well let him tag along. She reached to her belt and unhooked a small flashlight. "Can your magic act… that's why I asked Rebecca to get two extra flashlights." She poked the flashlight into the mouth of the cavern.
Rebecca returned, carrying two flashlights, reluctantly handing one to Kaiba. "Let's go in," Kisara lead the way into the cavern, Kaiba and Rebecca following closely behind.
The interior of the cavern was dark, and large enough for the three of them to stand comfortably. "We'll be back in less than twenty minutes… keep working to widen the entrance," Kisara said to the crew outside. Three flashlight beams swung in arcs around the room, highlighting the wall paintings decorating each surface.
"Are you taking notes?" Kisara whispered, her beam hovering next to a particular image. The scratching of a pencil over paper filled the silence. "Wow… this is amazing. This is the place—I'm sure of it." Her voice strained with wonder and incredulity.
"It's… a dragon." Kaiba's voice hovered next to her ear. Kisara started; she hadn't heard him approach. Yet, as she listened closely, she thought she could hear his heartbeat pounding along with her own.
"Yes, it's a dragon." The combined light illuminated the drawing clearly, all carefully etched lines and the slightest coloring of blue and white. It was beautiful… but it wasn't what she was expecting. He, however, didn't sound surprised at all.
"Shall we continue on?" Kisara again led the way into a narrow corridor off of the main chamber. Stairs carved out of the bedrock led the way down into a wider, subterranean chamber.
"This is… unheard of." Rebecca gasped, her pencil skirting furiously across each sheet of paper. "Right? No other site has these attributes, these features. What was going on at Kul Elna?"
"Exactly." They went deeper into the chamber. Suddenly Kisara halted. "Is that—?!"
"The tablet? Is it here?" Kaiba took several steps forward, at pace with Kisara now. Not five feet from them lay the source of all their concerns, troubles and dreams. The tablet looked innocuous enough, yet the devil was in the details, and set into the depressions of the tablet several golden talismans glinted in the weak light.
"Only six are present… look, there's one missing." Kisara's disappointment echoed around the room. "Nothing is adding up."
She reached towards the tablet, as if somehow the last object was simply hidden, or somehow invisible. Kaiba predicted her motion and reached towards her, his fingers grasping the fabric of her shirt as he shouted, "Don't touch it!" His voice sounded unusually loud in the space. A split second before her finger brushed against cool stone she could have sworn she heard the voice of another man, and his dark laughter, and suddenly the stone was no longer solid but a shimmering ripple and she was in its way, and then for one blissful moment everything went completely dark.
The first thing she saw when she opened her eyes was Kaiba. She blinked once, then again… yes, it was definitely Kaiba. His own eyes changed when he saw her looking at him; they became a little more narrowed and a little less bright. "Good, you're conscious. That's one problem solved, at any rate."
"What's going on?" She sat up and rubbed at her head, which felt sore from the contact with the hard ground. "Was there an explosion?"
"You touched it—isn't that rule number one of your job; don't touch the artifacts?"
"That's museum law, one which I don't particularly care for." Kisara glanced around the room as if suddenly noticing where she was. "Something's different." She was right; everything seemed a little less rough and a little less dusty. Suddenly realization struck her, and she turned to Kaiba. Accusingly: "You knew something was going to happen! You told me not to touch it!" She then waited, arms crossed in frustration, for an explanation.
"Ishizu… told me something before I left Domino. Of course I didn't believe her at the time, but… she told me to not let anyone touch the tablet, because depending on the person, it would cause a reaction."
"So… there was an explosion?" She again looked around the room, then down at her hands. "I don't understand."
"Not a reaction of space, but a reaction of time." He said as simply as he could put it. "She told me that if you touched the rock then you would go back in time. I was holding on to your shirt, trying to stop you from being stupid, therefore… here I stand."
Kisara voiced what she was thinking. "You don't believe that."
"Of course not." He turned to her, offering her a hand to pull her up from the ground. "I'll bet there was a reagent on that rock that caused an explosion or knocked one of us out. This is either your dream, or mine."
"Well then, if it's my dream I say we're exploring. Come on." She ascended the stairs back up to the entrance chamber, noticing that the entrance passageway had been widened. They stepped outside and into a street lined by abandoned dwellings. Kisara stopped, staring at the crumbling remains of the village. "Kul Elna's already been destroyed."
"Destroyed? Not just abandoned?" Kaiba walked out into the street, turning first one way, then the other, as if deciding which direction to go.
"Yes. Look at those scorch marks. Smoke damage, too. Someone did this—someone burned this city." She turned to one of the buildings as if to enter, but again Kaiba pulled her back.
"Remember what happened last time you touched something? No, we're going to find someone." He started walking to the south and a moment later she followed, hurrying to match his longer strides.
They passed several minutes in silence. "I know you said you weren't interested in our project, but the dragon—"
"You noticed that." His voice was flat.
"It'd be hard not to."
He reached into his pocket and pulled out a deck of cards. He pulled one and showed her the image, glittering in the sun as if it was alive. Kisara wondered how many people actually saw the card, and not the holographic monster on the other side of the arena. "The Blue Eyes White Dragon."
"You know, we were researching Kul Elna, not the link between a modern game and ancient art."
"Yet you found ancient art."
She glanced sideways at him; was this his idea of humor? "We also found the Tablet," she pointed out. "That will make a number of people very happy."
"Does that make you happy?" They both seemed surprised by the question.
"Of…course." She struggled to articulate it, just how important these things were in the larger scope of someone's career. People came to KaibaCorp for jobs, for opportunities and connections, not the other way around. She had her foot in the door—if this was successful, it could knock the whole building down.
"There aren't many excavated sites in Lower Egypt. Depending on what we can discern from the symbols on the tablet, we can understand much more about this society. The Ancient Egyptians had, to put it bluntly, very strange customs."
"So would they say of us." They walked again in silence. Despite the sunlight, to them it didn't seem very hot—neither of them showed any perspiration or other indications of the heat. Several minutes later they walked over another ridge in the sand; seeing a troupe on horseback just below them, pointed towards the direction of a substantial stone structure. The group was all men, half-dozen in number, and before Kaiba could stop her Kisara had sprinted down the sandy hill towards the group, shouting for attention. He followed quickly, ready to protect her if these newcomers turned out to be less than friendly. She was always acting before she could think.
"Can you tell me where we are? Is that a temple, or a palace?" Not a single head had turned; none of the group even registered that Kisara had spoken. She noticed Kaiba approaching behind her; louder, she continued, "Kaiba, you try. Why can't they hear us? I don't think they can see us either."
He surveyed the men on horseback; seeing their extensive collection of swords, shields and daggers belted to each man he was frankly glad they couldn't see them. His visual sweep stopped at the last man, a little in front of the rest, eyes turned towards the structure, dark irises partially obscured by a very colorful fringe of hair. Kaiba could count on one hand the times that all rational thought had left him, and for the three deep breaths that he took while his mind broke down all possible reasons for seeing this…approximation of a very familiar duelist, he encountered the very foreign feeling of confusion. It was uncomfortable. He didn't like it.
"Yugi…?" The words escaped his lips before he could stop it. Kisara turned to him at the sound; her face mirroring his—a combination of disbelief and what-the-hell-is-going-on.
"What was that?" She genuinely hadn't heard him.
"Nothing… I'm starting to think this is, in fact, my dream." He continued to scrutinize the not-quite-Yugi sitting on the horse, now conversing with another of their party.
"So that accounts for my presence how?"
"My subconscious apparently has a sense of humor." Her back to him, she rolled her eyes. So he could tell a joke. "Then how were you accounting my presence in your dream?"
Kisara distinctly felt her heart skip a beat in surprise—hesitating a second more than she ought to, she replied "let's go to that compound over there—look, I think there might even be a city behind it."
The pharaoh's horse suddenly reared, and the group took off, heading towards the limestone structure. Kisara and Kaiba followed at a distance, their tracks obscured by the blowing wind and shifting sands.
"Are you okay?" She asked after a while. "You seem so rational, yet you're taking so much of this in stride. Is something going on?"
Kaiba thought over her question, hitting closer to home than she had probably realized. Something was going on—but she didn't need to know that. She didn't need to know about the previous dreams he had been having. She didn't need to know about the many other things Ishizu had told him—none of which he had believed—and how she had sought him out as a sponsor for what was occurring at this very moment. She didn't need to know that against his better judgment he had stepped into that tent, stepped into that cavern, to find some answers and get some closure. "Just thought I saw a ghost," he found himself replying.
"Right." They approached the structure, seemingly alone as the group on horseback had skirted around the compound, instead heading back towards the city just beyond. "It does look like a temple—maybe it's a valley temple?"
"You would know." Kaiba stopped beside one column; its capital carved like the petals of an opening flower.
Kisara was now crouching beside one band of carvings that wound around the bottom register of the wall. "You know it could be—look at these carvings, that image has to be a net, and see there's a boat—maybe it's a motif of Nilotic imagery, and…"
The words died on her lips as she habitually glanced up, noticing Kaiba's expression—he could have been one with the column with the set of his features and his posture—as if his spine itself was frozen. He raised one hand and slowly waved her towards him. "Come here." He whispered, but she could distinctly feel the intensity behind them.
Meekly she joined him behind one of the columns. "I guess I wasn't kidding when I said I saw a ghost," he whispered, and it tickled the back of her neck. "See for yourself."
She peeked around the substantial column and saw three figures; the first was standing on a higher ledge across the paved court, yet even from this distance she could tell that there was something horribly wrong about him. He was wearing dark robes that fell to the ground and some sort of mask obscuring his features, yet he obviously held the control and complete attention of the two standing below him. One was a dark haired man in blue and gold robes, and a woman in a sand-colored dress with nearly white hair tinged with blue that seemed to be pleading to him. Kisara's knees gave out.
Kaiba caught her effortlessly, holding her shoulders as she trembled, trying to regain her balance. She fought against the tears that were threatening to emerge—she would not show weakness, not in front of him. "This is no dream." Her voice, however, was clear.
"It's okay." He tried to 'shhh' her the way one might to a child. She could feel his chest rumble with the sound.
"Did you hear what they're saying?" Her voice rose in pitch with each word. "That man told…him…" Kisara gasped. "…to kill her. He said something about a dragon. Tell me this is a dream."
"…This isn't a dream." Kaiba knew exactly what she was thinking, because he was thinking the exact same thing. It was like looking into a mirror, yet seeing something else entirely. It was like he could see out of the other's eyes when he closed his, or feel echoes of the strangest things with each beat of his traitorously pounding heart—whether that man was him or was not, he couldn't escape that connection. He could feel his thoughts and they were torn. "You won't get hurt—I wouldn't let it."
"What the hell—are they dueling?" Kisara couldn't believe it. Her life was on the line—and they were dueling over it? "No—that's…your card. She has the dragon?" They both watched, spellbound, as a very familiar white dragon faced off against a tall, shadowy giant.
"She doesn't have the dragon… she is the dragon." He found himself staring at her rather curiously. Who would have known that the inspiration for much of his own identity, his own ethic, his own…history, was her? An image of a crudely drawn dragon on lined notebook paper swam briefly in his mind before dissolving.
The not-quite-Kaiba moved to speak, and for one clear, shining moment of harmony they both heard and understood him. Seto Kaiba found himself instinctively mouthing the words—he couldn't give them a voice. Not yet. What's the point of a world of darkness ruled by Zorc? Kisara, you made me realize something—I'd rather be a peasant in a world shining with hope, than a king in a world contaminated by darkness. The way to light up the darkness is the light of lov—
No, not yet. The connection had been broken—so Kaiba had found the breaking point after all. Yet Kaiba could still feel those echoes and see clearly how he looked at her—the manifestation of the dragon that some had said was his only attachment. He found himself looking at her again.
She turned her head up to look back at him, her eyes shining with confusion and something else. "I want to go back," she said.
"Now you're talking." He allowed her the shadow of a smile.
"I so wish you would return," a new voice interrupted from behind them, causing them both to tense. Kisara could feel Kaiba's fingers clench from where he was still holding on to her shoulders, even though she hadn't felt faint—until just then. Slowly she turned around, shrugging off both his grip and his sharp I-hope-you-know-what-you're-doing glance.
The newcomer lounged against one of the closed-bud capitals nearer the compound's entrance, away from the courtyard. He had unkempt hair that might have been white, and robes dyed a dark, deep red. He regarded them with a cool disinterest, choosing his words slowly, as if he had all the time in the world to deliver them. "Your arrival put a stop to all of my carefully laid plans. But I do suppose it was inevitable, with what you were excavating. Of course, you were chosen to unearth this, so it was appropriate." He smiled, and the scar on one cheek stretched with the effort. "Those with such…connections to the past often react in interesting ways to the power of the Millennium Items."
Suddenly a blast of light illuminated the courtyard behind them, followed by a very feminine scream. Kisara's eyes widened, mouth gaped into a ring, and when she turned instead of the scene she found her view blocked by his shirt. "Don't look." His voice was hoarse, almost pleading.
"Did you know this was going to happen? You seemed like you knew everything else! Did Ishizu tell you this, too?" For some reason she couldn't quite describe, Kisara felt so small, so… overwhelmingly alone.
"No, she didn't."
The newcomer clapped his hands, bringing Kisara back to the awful reality that they had a whole new set of problems—the only person who could interact with them did not mean to help them, she was sure of it. "Allow me to introduce myself," he said, bending at the waist in a mockery of a bow. "You could say that I am Darkness. But you will soon know me as the inhabitant of the Millennium Item you will soon reunite with its long-lost brethren. "
"You're crazy." Kaiba's whole posture was meant to be threatening, but the way this man observed them, he obviously thought they were completely helpless.
"Perhaps." The smile widened. "Now, what to do with you? I do suppose the excavation can continue without you—maybe not without you," he said, inclining his head towards Kaiba. "Money does always tend to expedite things."
His gaze then focused on Kisara, who settled for staring him directly in the chin. "There is a saying that goes something like 'History repeats itself.' I think I can uphold that and have a little fun at the same time." For a moment, the image of a golden pendant materialized around his neck while a monster materialized out of the shadows behind him. "Attack!"
Kisara could see it coming, and in those final seconds, she wasn't thinking about herself—her thoughts were on him, Seto Kaiba, and on protecting him. She would give anything to keep him from getting hurt—he had stuck with her for this long, when she clearly was the source of all this trouble. If not for her, for him…
She heard the cry and there was a bigger blast of light, and the first thing Kisara saw when she opened her eyes was a Blue-eyes White Dragon, its own attack colliding with the enemy monsters and negating it. Kaiba was staring at the monster in raw disbelief; Kisara couldn't stop her surprise… wasn't it his? He was then looking at her like he did, and without words she understood… it was hers. She had summoned it…somehow.
The Spirit cried out in disbelief, the pain of the monster affecting him as well. "Attack!" He shouted, and the dragon roared as it was struck with the attack, Kisara crumpling as searing pain shot through her—it felt like her skin was burning.
"Kisara!" Kaiba was beside her in an instant, his eyes showing his concern. She winced, slowly standing up. "You shouldn't be fighting… it's not worth the risk. What happens if it gets destroyed?" He could barely choke out the words.
"Then summon yours," she grunted, turning back to her dragon. "Four Blue-eyes… that must be stronger than anything."
"How… did you summon yours? What did you do?" He pulled the deck out of his pocket; his fingers instinctively found the three most treasured cards in his deck.
"I… was thinking about you." In that moment, her dragon seemed even stronger, as if it had never even taken that attack. "I didn't want you to get hurt."
"…Stupid." Instantly three more dragons appeared in front of them. The pavilion could have been glowing with a thousand points of light; they almost couldn't see. For a moment Kisara forgot to breathe.
Kaiba turned back to the monsters, his face almost aching from muscles he didn't know existed—yet he couldn't fight the smile. Four Blue-eyes White Dragons on one side of the field… this had never been done before, and he doubted that it would happen again.
"White Lightning Attack."
The light swallowed up the monster and is burst into too many pieces to count, disappearing into the storm of light that continued on to the Spirit. He screamed in pain as the light gradually dimmed and the dragons themselves shimmered into the air. The duel was over, and they had won.
"And now to finish you off." Kaiba growled, stepping closer to the hunched-over Spirit.
"Wait!" He shouted as Kaiba approached. "You don't want to kill me!"
"Try me."
"You kill me; you'll never get back to your time! I can take you back to a second after you touched the tablet… just leave me alone."
Kaiba hesitated a foot from the Spirit, his eyes blazing. "You won't bother either of us again."
"If the word of Darkness means anything to you, you have it." He rubbed his hands together as a swirling fog enveloped the compound. How satisfying that their condition had no effect on his plans… and he had something in store for Domino that would shake the city to its core. He would build it anew, with him as the King. It was only a matter of time.
Kaiba stepped back until he was in line with Kisara, who clutched at his sleeve as if they might become separated in the mist. "We're going back," he whispered. "Don't worry."
"I'm not worried." In that second Kisara memorized Seto Kaiba—every line of his form, every angle of his face, and that smile that she knew was just for her.
Seto opened his eyes, blinking them several times, unused to the darkness in the cavern. Kisara was leaning against his shoulder; he shook her awake just as he heard Rebecca's shout, "I dropped my flashlight, I think it's broken… are you both alright?"
Kisara leaned up, looking around the cavern with a smile. "We're fine," she called.
They ascended back to the surface to see that the cavern was widened enough for people to move in and out, but the tablet had to wait a little longer before it could be moved. It was remarkably well-preserved, so it needed no conservation—soon it would be on display at the Domino Museum.
At the end of the day Kisara found herself back in that tent, marking notes in her field book when Seto entered, leaning against the counter that was her writing surface, where she sat perched on a stool. "Are you going to be okay?" he asked, far softer than he could have.
"I think so," she answered. "But I don't trust him—or this exhibit. He said that the Millennium Items react to people. Who's to say that the exhibit is the catalyst for something worse? And we could have done something about it—"
"You stay here," he said, closing the field book and resting his hands on top of her far smaller ones. "I'm giving you a grant to study the mortuary archaeology of Kul Elna. You have to figure out just what happened to this city—find the root of this problem. I'll go to Domino for the exhibit."
"You shouldn't—" she started, but one look from him silenced her.
"There are things we both need to protect, and things we both need to figure out." He tried smiling again—here, and now, he found that it took a little more effort. "I'll be back soon to check on your work."
"Right." She laughed. "Well then, I'll await your return."
"I'm not going anywhere yet. Don't worry."
She smiled at him, and to him it meant so much more than that—there was a hope and promise there that went beyond words. "I'm not worried."
To be Continued…
To find out what happens at the exhibit, please read 'Divination.' I titled this 'Chronology' because as 'Divination' is a telling of the future, so a 'Chronology' is a telling of the past. If you have any questions about the archaeology of this story, please ask me! Thank you for reading, and please review!