er heart had been broken from the suffering of her friends, the endless waiting of useless years, the twisted ressurection of her dearest friend, and the longed for freedom that never came. Isis's hand strayed to her necklace, lingered over the golden Wajet eye in the middle, and let the cold presence at her neck glow softly in reassurance. It felt warm as flame, but soothing against her flesh. It was the only Item she knew of that did not take prisoners. But, that bit of mercy was ruthlessly torn away with the unexpected and tormenting truth of Seto Kaiba. Seto had been propped up on the couch, draped in a blanket, his head swathed by a pillow and his forehead swathed in a cold wash cloth. Useless gestures in themselves, as was the lonely, anxious vigil that young Yugi kept at his side. But, the concern was touching, and Isis felt the ever vicious ache of remorse when she saw another tear slide down Yugi's cheek.
Seto himself, lay still, his face placid and serene and white as a corpse's. Aside from the slight breath, there was no indication that he even remained among the living, or that he had any haste in returning, at least in Yugi's weeping eyes. Isis lay seeking fingers on Seto's wrist, and smirked when she felt his fiery spirit recoil at the invasion, completely unbroken, and enraged, but still calculating, and in control. The dragon did indeed retain his fire, even in all this. It was blessedly reassuring to know that, even if she could not convey that to Yugi. She looked at him, with sympathy, for all these poor inocents. They had never asked to be swept up in this chaotic tide that even flowed over time, and love, and their lives indifferently. Bitter, black water that drowned, hid the monster in the deep, and held the secrets in the depths that nobody should ever be forced to transverse.
Isis sighed, in anguished preminition. She remembered a proverb, spoken so long ago, that the thread of the past could weave itself into the lifeline, or the noose of the future. Staring down at Seto's still form, and Yugi's hunched, and shattered one, and thinking of Yami's corrupted pain out there made her dread which way the thread would unravel.
Yami. How far he had fallen away from that noble young Pharoah who had willingly gone into the dark with nothing but his own frail flesh to sacrifice and the vague hope that it would be worth it. Now, he was the hungry dark that relished the pain he once fought so hard to spare others from. The wounds would never heal, and she wasn't sure it would not have been an act of mercy to let the dead stay dead, if this was what ressurection did to them.
Yugi. He had gone from being an untouched child to a willing torturerer of his own protector. The Puzzle had corrupted him to the point of almost being beyond redemption, his inocence was shattered, his existance in this world permanently altered, and the Puzzle would likely drain his life away with glee. From the deep undercurrent that surged through Yugi, she knew that the poor boy was aware of that possibility and grappled with the thought of his own life ending on too many dark nights. It was a burden that nobody should ever have to bear.
Seto. His only crime was baring the face of the beast that started all of this, and lingering in concern for Yugi. Granted, he was strong-willed, and fire and fierce pride, but Isis knew that he did not have the inner resources to maintain that vicious struggle for control much longer. She shivered at the thought of Seto growing corrupted. He might harbor a more vicous potential than Yami.
Seth. With one dagger stroke, he had slain the sacrificial lamb, and cost himself his own redemption. Isis shivered at the memories of the blood, the gaping wound, that dying breath of Yami's and that helpless torpor that lay over everything as Yami wept and bled and died in so much needless pain. The deaththroes of his body's last spasm, before he lay so still and violated, the scarlet screaming for a justice that never came. And, now Seth was attempting to atone for that horrific act by willingly donning the chains and the wounds and the scars with nothing more than a vague prayer that it might be enough.
Isis sighed. It would never be enough. Five thousand years of hurting and waiting had been the only penance she could offer up for her own atonement, and it was not enough to change one damn thing. Her only hope now lay in a Pharoah's mind that lay as broken as the people he left behind, and a cynical billionaire who wasn't even capable of withstanding even her gentlest of spells. It made her very, very afraid.
She was startled at the sudden twitch of Seto's entire body as his face contorted and he uttered an animalistic cry, before going still again. Hastily, she put a palm to his temple, uttered a spell, and was rewarded by another one of Seto's familiar snarls. That reaction, at least was an indication that Master Kaiba was still there.
Seth did not answer him for a long moment, only gazed down mutely at his chains, the cuts, with tears. How he had gotten to these shackles, and what broken madness had made them so much better than the guilt, he could never say. Were he given the choice, he would have hacked out his own throat a thousand times if it meant he could be free. Wearily, he raised his head to see Seto's scowl twisting into worry as his eyes darted uncertainly at the four walls that Seth had stared at for so many eons. His eyes fell on the futile scratches on the dark brick, each mark a day spent in hell, each scar a well-earned wound.
"It was not too long ago that I bore your same hardened look of cynism, friend. That I had the luxury to dismiss and scorn, and hate for no reason. My king was every bit the noble prince worthy of serving that Lady Isis has spoken of. My king willingly lay his life down for his people and took their burdens with little thought to the cost to himself. Were I not the traitor I was, none of this would have been set in motion, and I would not be in these chains, now."
The only sounds was Seto's exhaled breath and the soft clink of the chains. "Be that as it may, you still haven't explained how I am leaving this place."
"The way out is almost as horrific as how you arrived to this dark place in the beginning. I know that you seek and deserve the answers, friend. Allow me to warn you of that before I say more. Now, I will answer you to the best that I can. It is the least I can do to make this right."
Seth only groaned in answer.
Seth could feel the fraying tether of his own sanity ebbing again, the shaky foundation erroding and blurring as he was drowning again in the madness.
Seto nearly pissed himself when he felt the harsh hands grabbing his wrists as he was hauled to his feet, and met with Seth's searing blue eyes full of misery and pleading for understanding.
"I'm...fading again. In a little while, I'll be lost again, and lingering here in the shadows of what I was supposed to be. Forgive me, it cannot be helped, and I don't know when I may yet emerge again. I will return when I have the ability. Forgive me, for what I am about to do, and know that it will result in your deliverance."
The words lingered in the air, and Seth buried his head in his shaking hands, as the tears trickled down in silent testimony of the cost of such absolution. Seto could only gape in sickened numbness as Seth's burning awareness yielded back to those empty eyes full of gleeful, shimmering shards. His mouth went from its mournful sob to a bright smile, and his tense body resumed its rocking as he started to hum in time to music that did not exist.
"Seth? Seth?! What the hell happened?!" Seto spluttered in rage and confusion as Seth only gave him an eerie grin and a cackle in answer.
"My master has sent you to join me! Such a kind gift, such a mercy! Oh, the games we can play!" The enthusiastic squeal and the clapping hands made Seto recoil with a shiver of fear.
"Before you demand that I frolick in the flowers, you need to tell me how to leave this place. Now, damn it!"
Seth stiffened as if he had been struck by an unseen blow, the silence falling over him like bricks. With narrowed eyes that were glittering with malice, he gazed up at Seto, levelly, trembling, his grin melting away to dark rage.
"The games we can play." Seth lowered his voice to a purr as he slid with achingly slow steps over to Seto's crouching into a patient glide and smirking.
Seto felt the bricks at his back, the cold burn of rock digging into his palms as he groped blindly for a plan and some distance. Gulping, he stared at the corners, the walls cloaked in shadows, and the demon approaching him with so much entitled ease. He was the mercy of a monster. Again. He was going to go through one hell of a nightmare. Again.
Something deep inside broke and Seto only stood straight and stoic, raising his chin and crossing his arms.
"If you think you're going to play any games with me, I suggest you back the hell up and reconsider before I get angry." Seth only cackled in answer, undeterred. Seto watched, numbly as he approached, ever closer, even as his breath hitched in his chest, his blood froze and he felt everything inside turn to rock instead of flesh.
It was the lingering seconds before the blow that Seto only had time to cry out. The strangling fingers ghosting over his throat halted, that mad glint in Seth's eyes had been replaced with one of contrite, broken sorrow, as Seth shored up the last of his defenses to squelch the murderous impulse. Trembling fingers sought Seto's wrist, gently stood him on his shaking feet, and then let go. Seto only panted, staring, as he
grunted, "You returned, again? Great timing. Now, please, get me out of here before you lose it again and you don't get it back."
Seth flinched at the horrible prophesy of those last words as he only raised a shaking palm. "I have lost all, and there is no hope in getting it back. Do not my scars prove this to you?"
Seto shut his mouth for once. Seth sighed. "Since it is only answers you wish, you shall have them. As I said, forgive me."
And with those last, sad words, he rose to his full height, and only gave Seto a pleading look before he wrapped the chain around his neck and pulled to the strangling point.
Seto grunted, clawed at the links digging into his flesh, and thrashed blindly at the lack of air and mercy as his last breath exhaled and he sagged, bonelessly.
Seth felt the unresisting yield of his spine as Seto's eyes slid shut. Hastily, he released the hold, praying it was enough. Kaiba exhaled with a choking gasp, but lay still, unconscious.
Seth smirked at the outcome. Hurt, and subdued, but not dead was the aim he was hoping for. Broken and bound, a gift delivered from the gods themselves, and handed over by their supposed messenger Isis. He chuckled at the irony of Isis's idiocy of trying so hard to redeem him. Indeed, such stupidity had only prolonged the suffering of the people she tried so hard to protect. What a nasty suprise it would be for her and her beloved king to have him arrive unshackled, and unfettered in another body, and therefore, unnoticed. It would be the cruelest deception of all. Instead of the pathetic parody of this weakling bearing his face and subjecting Yami only to the memories, he would have his pleasure fulfilling the actual act in all its bloody glory again.
The cackle rose from the deeps of the rock as he distainfully shook off the shackles with an ease that betrayed no suffering. He stared down at Kaiba's vulnerable form, and then the shackles. He grinned again at the thoughts that arose from the delightful task of shattering that arrogance beyond repair.