Disclaimer: I don't own the gods/goddesses. Don't strike me down with lightning! I also don't own YGO, even if they don't feature in the prologue!
It's all in the eyes
Prologue
"Hey!" Aphrodite yelled as someone knocked her chessboard aside. She stood up, ready to get an explanation, when she saw that it was Juno. "Oh, sorry, your majesty, I thought it was someone else!"
"Yes, well, are you blind?"
"Love is blind," joked Aphrodite weakly.
"Very clever." Juno began to pace. Aphrodite groaned inwardly. Jupiter's wife was in a bad mood. That explained the chessboard.
"Your majesty, what is the problem?"
"The problem is that one of Ra's priests has sacrificed Greek incense to Isis. In the manner reserved for me! I've had it up to here with Ra and his incompetents!" Juno raised a slender hand above her head. She stormed over to a pearl chair and waved a hand. A mirror appeared in front of her.
"Get me Ra!" she snapped. Then, she closed her eyes and when she opened them, they were icy cold. Aphrodite shivered. The goddess's famed temper had come into play.
"You have reached Ra, the almighty Egyptian god of the sun. If you would like to leave a message, just begin to speak. If you would like to talk to the Majestic One himself, please wait."
"I hate those smart-alec answering services. Those Egyptian gods have no sense of style," said Juno, filing her nails. Or, rather, it looked like she was filing them. In truth they were being sharpened.
"Ra here." Ra's hawk-face appeared on the mirror. Juno's eyes blazed.
"RA! YOUR INCOMPETENTS HAVE DONE IT AGAIN!" Juno managed to talk in capitals without raising her voice.
"Oh, ah…. Done what, Dream of Thousands?" Ra said, half-cowering before the angry goddess.
"DON'T TRY TO FLATTER YOUR WAY OUT OF THIS! YOU KNOW EXACTLY WHAT THOSE IDIOTS ARE DOING!"
"Ah… that little matter of the incorrect incense?"
"AND THE INCORRECT PRAYER!" Juno's voice became dangerous. "Tell me, Ra, why is it always your people who give me headaches? Why not Toutatis' (1), or my own? No, it's ALWAYS the Egyptians. ALWAYS, Ra."
"Surely not, Juno…?"
"Hmm…"
"Juno, I apologise profusely on behalf of the unfortunate who did this."
"He still must be punished. You cannot excuse him, Ra. The Roman Pantheon does not look upon what he did kindly."
"What is his name? Ah, Seth. Well, Juno, this one has a great part to play in this lifetime. You may punish him in the future."
"Well… the future. So who is this priest in the future? A young man by the name of Seto Kaiba. That fits in quite well with what I had in mind. But still, you must reprimand this Seth. He must be made to understand that what he did was WRONG."
"Don't order me around, Juno. I am your equal; you'd do well to remember. But Seth will be punished now, and made aware that the lightness of the punishment is for a specific reason."
"Good. Maybe the great Ra can do something good."
"Juno! I resent that remark!"
Juno waved her hand and the mirror faded, along with Ra's face.
"Aphrodite!"
Aphrodite turned, almost guiltily. She had been trying to escape while the queen of the gods was occupied. "Yes, your majesty?"
"Find me Iris (2)!"
"Yes, majesty." As Aphrodite sped away she grumbled to herself. She was the goddess of love and fertility and all the rest, but the queen really could be trying sometimes.
Ra paced his chamber. Juno was unfair in labelling his people as the only troublemakers. They most certainly were NOT.
"It was ONE mistake, for my sake!" grumbled Ra.
"Ra?"
"Isis."
"I have news of a mis – "
"Yes, I know."
"Oh, that's right. All-knowing god and all that."
"That, and I had a very unpleasant call from Juno."
"She's also in on the all-knowing-ness, you know that. She is a goddess, though of a different people. So what did she say?"
"She's going to punish him in the future. I just have to reprimand him and inform him of this."
"In the future?"
"Yes. You know the role he has to play now. In the future… maybe Juno will mellow."
"And pigs will join you in the sky."
"Don't say that. Someone will get ideas."
"Are you going to tell the pharaoh? It is his priest who has transgressed."
"Yes. I think I will. He must know – he will also be there in the future, and may be able to help Seth's future self."
Isis sighed. "It's all so complicated sometimes."
"You don't say."
(1) Have you ever read an Asterix comic? If not, go read one now.
(2)Iris was the Wind-Footed messenger of the Greco-Roman gods.
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