Past is Past - Chapter 7: Exposé
Disclaimer: Sadly, I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh…
Seto woke up, he felt excited, yet he learned to smother his emotions. Emotions can show weakness, with weakness comes failure, failing was not an option for Seto.
Finally after these long months, his plan would unfold. How bittersweet his victory would taste. Very soon everything was about to pay off…
Téa woke up, she was nervous, anything could happen. Seto could be revealed too soon, or too late. Everything had to be precise. She really didn't want the plan to be sabotaged, although the chances of being sabotaged were highly unlikely due to the minuscule amount of people who knew the plan, Téa still worried about it.
She couldn't help but feel fear for Seto, his plan, and possibly his safety…
Mokubah woke up, feeling hungry. He didn't really worry about anything since he was a kid, he was more excited to see his brother's plan come into action. Mokubah knew the plan would work, because his brother was a genius.
Seto's revenge was something he looked forward to…
Yami woke up, he was anxious, he was going to exploit the fact he couldn't even maintain order in his own kingdom. Rather embarrassing, some might call it a publicity stunt for the people to like him more, because his faults make him more down-to-earth. Faults were not supposed to be in kings.
The pharaoh could sense something bad was going to happen, to some unlucky soul, and he had a pretty good hunch that soul was him…
The palace guard called, "My king! The people have arrived, they are waiting for your speech!"
"Thank you…" the pharaoh replied as he nervously stepped out on his platform to face the people.
Joey shoved through the crowd, Mai gripped his arm as he plowed to the front.
"See Mai? I told you I'd get us good seats!" he grinned.
Mai smiled, "Yes Joey, you are quite the negotiator."
The pharaoh glanced over to the beggar who stood by his right side, where Seto used to always be. It felt strange having someone else stand there, that was Seto's spot.
The crowd quieted as the pharaoh raised his arms, "My people! I have called you here today, to admit to all of you, that I have not been too great of a ruler."
Joey muttered to Mai, "Understatement of the millennia…"
Mai snickered and smacked his arm playfully.
Yami continued, "Especially, these past two months. So I had help to put Egypt back on its feet. This man!" he gestured to the beggar, who stepped forward, "He was the one who helped us get back on our feet."
The crowd slowly erupted into cheers and applause, the beggar smiled. Yami turned to the savior, "Tell us, what is your name?"
"It's alright, it is of no importance." the beggar answered modestly.
"Why of course it is! The savior of this country needs his name to be heard for all to know! Tell us, who are you?" the pharaoh persisted.
The beggar approached the pharaoh, and whispered fiercely, "Surely you already know me!"
Yami watched fearfully as he walked to the front of the platform and held his arms out to the people, "Why, Pharaoh, no, Yami! You've known me your whole life!"
The beggar threw away his scraggly cloak, revealing Seto, who stood tall and straight and at a frightening height of over six feet. He smirked as the whole kingdom gasped, Yami's face paled. The guards he retrained bowed in respect to the returning high priest.
Seto turned to face his former best friend, his icy azure eyes locked with Yami's violet. Seto's glared ice daggers of guilt into Yami's soul.
The king stammered in disbelief, "S-Seto?"
Seto turned back to face the people, who all seemed to be holding their breath expecting something unexpected.
"Yes Pharaoh. It is I. The man you betrayed! Here, ALIVE. This man, your king, is nothing more than a pig! He couldn't keep his hands off of a woman already betrothed, to ME. He betrayed me, a lifelong friend and right-hand man, over a woman! Without me, this kingdom would become complete anarchy! So once again I had to clean up his mess, because he was incapable of doing so himself. He has become dependent upon me, I do the work and he gets the praise."
In the crowd there was murmuring, comments such as 'That explains everything!', 'That is terrible!', and 'So that's why the high priest disappeared!' found their way up to the platform.
Seto turned to face Yami who was looked like he had just experienced a mind crush. He smirked at the expression, he savored the moment by taking a mental picture.
Seto added menacingly, "Isn't that right, brother?"
Yami shook his head slightly, and swallowed, "Seto, where have you been?"
Seto furrowed his brow, "What do you care? You wanted me out of the picture, wasn't it as great as you thought it would be?"
The pharaoh fell to his knees and pinched his eyes shut to hold back his tears, he pleaded, "Seto…I am so regretful! You have no idea how much I wanted to tell you that after you abandoned me…I could not stand my own presence."
Seto looked into the clear sky, the wind ruffled his chestnut hair, "Guilt is a powerful thing, a very difficult emotion to harbor…"
Yami bowed respectfully to Seto, "Forgive me! Brother! Forgive me, Seto please…"
Seto sharply snapped his head towards the pathetic looking pharaoh, Yami winced as Seto spoke, "Why? Why should I forgive you?"
There were shouts from the crowd suggesting Seto do harm to the king, others pleaded he should be merciful to the pharaoh's wrongdoings.
Someone called out from the crowd in response to Seto's question, "Why? Because he is the king, the ruler of Egypt!"
Seto directed his stare to where the voice came from. There stood a man with brown hair that was pointed in the front, he seemed frightened that Seto seemed to pinpoint his outcry. Seto narrowed his eyes and bore his eyes into the other man's, and smirked.
"Tell me sir, what was he when I was not here? Did you not see what happened to the infrastructure of this precious city without me here to help balance the order?"
The man gulped, and Seto continued, addressing the entire assembly this time, "Have any of you seen the difference from when I aided your king, to when I was gone?"
When no response came, he pointed to the king, "What was he without me here to guide? What happened to the peace of the city after I left? Was he able to maintain the balance? The answer my good people is, no. He was not."
Seto turned to look at the weeping pharaoh, "He was nothing without me. Eventually he started to go mad from his onus and his infatuation with my lovely bride, Téa…"
Some brave soul in the mass of people dared to ask the question, "High Priest! What…what exactly did the pharaoh do to betray you?"
Seto faced the people and closed his eyes, embracing the wind that seemed to envelop him, he spoke almost inaudibly yet everyone could hear.
"He…was jealous…of me and my lover…he wished to have her as his own…I…stood in the way…"
Seto furrowed his brows and tightened his jaw as he remembered everything, "He had to get me out of the picture…so he would go to her chambers every night…and try to persuade her to leave me…for him…"
There were gasps and sounds of pity from the crowd, Seto smiled at his next memory, "She would constantly refuse…she cared too much for me to leave for even the king…she came to me and told me what he was doing…"
Téa became misty eyed hearing the story through her lover's point of view, she walked to him and embraced him. Seto returned her hug and continued his story.
"We decided to have our wedding sooner than planned…this angered the king even more…his attempts were increased…one night I caught him…and I left…"
Yami fell to his knees, he rested his weight on his palms and knees. He was so stricken from it all, he raised his tear stained face to look at the crowd. They all seemed displeased, at the least, with his actions. Seto received looks of pity from them, Yami felt the warm trickle of fresh tears down his cheeks again. Just thinking that Seto was back, he wouldn't have to worry about waking up and not seeing anymore! He was here, right here, and he wasn't going to leave! He began to cry tears of joy, joy that his long-time friend was back.
Téa looked at the Pharaoh, his eyes were red and puffy, but he seemed to be smiling. She was snapped out of her thoughts when someone called out.
"Retribution! Retribution! He must be punished!"
Seto stared off into the distance, he pondered the idea. He always reminded himself when he was constructing his plan to not punish the king. At least not in the way the people intended. Seto was not like that in nature, he did not want to build an image of him being one who punishes.
Joey turned around he saw the man who called out, he scowled at who he saw, the silk trader. How he hated that man! Joey clenched his fist, he really couldn't hold back his anger at the trader.
Joey face the man and let him have it, "Hey! Why don't you shut up! Just because you like the idea, doesn't mean that's what he deserves!"
The silk trader gulped at the sight of Joey, he countered, "You're one to talk!"
Joey's face reddened with anger, "What did you say? I'm not the High Priest, he probably has a more civilized way to resolve his problems!"
The silk trader decided to shut up, arguing like this wouldn't solve anything, it would just draw more attention to him. In fact he heard someone behind him whisper about him touching customers, not the attention he wanted. Seto listened to his friend's argument with the irritating trader.
The High Priest raised his hands, "No."
Everyone stopped and looked at him, time seemed to slow down. Seto looked down, and sighed. He worked very hard to get to this climatic point, he was not going to ruin it by diminishing his aura as a man who seeks violence as the punishment of wrongdoings.
That was not who Seto was, that was not what he wanted. No, Seto knew who he was, and he knew what he wanted. He was the High Priest of Egypt, all Seto wanted was to live in peace with his beloved and brother, and for the king to learn from this to, hopefully, improve upon it.
Téa, Yami, Mokubah, Joey, Mai, the council, and citizens watched Seto carefully, in awe and curiosity.
Seto repeated himself, "No…I will not do any such thing. I wanted the pharaoh to learn from this…I wanted him to improve himself from this lesson…I wanted him to understand life without me…I wanted to help…"
Everyone seemed to be filled with the air of understanding and respect for the high priest's refusal to stoop to a lower and more violent level. Seto turned to look at Yami, the pharaoh gave him a grateful look. They exchanged smiles, Seto escorted his brother and Téa back inside the palace. The other palace members followed their lead.
A guard shouted to the people, "You may return to your homes!"
Yami walked into the garden where he saw Seto enjoying himself with Téa and Mokubah. He didn't want to intrude, so he watched for a bit. The brunettes enjoyed each others company, Mokubah began to run around visibly excited to have his brother back. That's when Yami heard it, Seto laughed. He actually laughed! Mokubah looked up at his older brother with such fascination, Téa smiled and rested her head on his chest. It had been a while since the pharaoh heard Seto laugh, it was good to hear.
Yami felt this would be the best time to intrude, he cautiously approached. He couldn't help but feel afraid, he hoped it wasn't too visible. Seto saw him coming and smirked, which made Yami even more frightened, but he tried to keep himself composed.
"Seto.."
Seto arched a brow, "Yes?"
Yami smiled to see him, "Its you! You're really here!"
"Yes it is me, and I am here, and I don't plan on leaving." he smiled.
Yami's questions all overflowed, "How did you do it? Where did you go? What happened to you? Was everything okay? Where did you get the idea to be a beggar? How did I not realize it was you?"
The last question was more to himself than Seto, but the High Priest laughed.
Yami beamed at Seto's laugh, "It really is good to have you back with us Seto. Life was hell without you."
Seto smirked, "I'll bet it was."
Téa chimed in, "It was."
Yami nodded, "…I'm terribly sorry…to both of you. I- I really shouldn't have intervened with the love you two share. It was wrong for me to try and shatter what was indestructible. Please…will you both forgive me?"
Seto and Téa exchanged looks, with a smile they faced the king.
The High Priest began, "Of course, but,"
Téa finished, "Under one condition."
Yami gave the brunettes a skeptical look, "What is it?"
Mokubah popped in, "Yeah! What is it?"
Seto's brother obviously was not included in this part of the plan, only because Seto figured he would enjoy the surprise.
Seto ruffled his brother's hair, and Téa explained, "Our condition is…"
"Is? Is what?"
Seto cut in, "You have to get rid of all your concubines!"
Téa snickered, "And you have to get a wife! Its been too long, Egypt needs a queen!"
Mokubah began to laugh, so much he fell on his back and began to roll back and forth. Yami's eyes widened, this was the second mind crush of the day. Seto gave his brother, who was still laughing an rolling, a concerned look.
"Mokubah…Mokubah…Mokubah!"
He sat up, "Huh?"
"Why are you rolling around, laughing?"
"That was a hilarious joke!"
"What? We were being absolutely serious!"
"…Oh."
Yami shook his head to clear his thoughts, "Are- are you serious?"
Téa narrowed her eyes, and spoke with a serious tone, "Yes. Why wouldn't we be serious?"
The king stood there for a moment actually thinking of a reason. He realized that maybe this was for the better anyway.
"Of course you can do this, right? I mean you're the king of Egypt!" Seto taunted.
The pharaoh looked Seto in the eye and nodded. He would start tonight. Getting rid of the concubines would be easy, but getting a wife after Seto's entrance, now that would be difficult.
A/N: Hey guys! I think I have maybe two more chapters left with this story. Sadly I didn't make my deadline of 1/1/2012, but better late than never, right? Well thanks for reading, and please review! I might be writing a few oneshots before I update any of my chaptered stories. Well enjoy!
