A/N: There are some schedule updates at the end of the chapter, so please be sure to take note.
Chapter 28: In Pieces
As Kaiba felt himself observing from above the scene, he couldn't help but wonder if he was viewing the ceremony from the Millennium Puzzle's perspective. It was an absurd thought and one that Kaiba would have previously ignored with ease, but he knew that it was going to be harder to do so in the future. He had seen too much and experienced it too closely to ever be so dismissive of it again.
The Millennium Ring was suspiciously absent from the other three Items on the altar that Seto was standing in front of while Isis resided behind it, the Dueling Stele presiding over it all. Her eyes were disapproving as she reflexively touched the place where her Tauk normally resided, her voice full of reproach as she questioned, "You are sure about this?"
"It has no place here," Seto insisted and for once Kaiba was free of the priest's conflicting and complicated emotions on the subject of Bakura.
"I shall endeavor to do my part to ensure your success," Isis stated, "as per our agreement."
"Understood," Seto agreed before they both lapsed into silence and began the ceremony.
Kaiba observed with a careful eye to detail, doing his best to commit the ancient chants and prayers to memory. The entire thing resonated within his very soul, but Kaiba could feel the wrongness in the air as the Millennium Items remained lifeless on the altar, refusing to heed Seto's calls to power.
After trying in vain for some time, Isis finally interrupted to say, "It is enough, Seto-sama."
"It will never be enough until he is back by my side where he belongs!" Seto growled, his voice hoarse from the continuous chanting. The oath struck Kaiba deeply over his current situation with Yami, but he pushed the thought aside and attempted to focus on what was happening.
"As I told you then, you shall not succeed in this lifetime as you are," Isis said, angering Seto enough to clench his hand into a fist that shook with barely restrained emotions. The priestess said nothing further as she departed, leaving Seto alone with the ancient artifacts and endless regrets.
Walking over to the Millennium Pyramid, Seto picked it up and caressed the sides of it as he had once done to his pharaoh. "Why won't you return to me?" Seto whispered to it, bowing his head until his golden third eye on his forehead connected with the cold metal one. He tried to project his soul into it to draw his pharaoh out, but he was refused—although whether it was by the Item or the pharaoh contained within was unclear. "Why have you forsaken me?"
Silence was his only answer and Seto's voice got louder as his anger started to turn, "Why make promises that you had no intentions of keeping?"
Still there was nothing but silence and Seto once again tried to use his spiritual strength to penetrate the Millennium Pyramid to find his pharaoh and restore him to life. There was a warning pulse that lashed out at his soul for its attempted invasion, but Seto ignored it and pressed even further as the stretched out to find any trace of the pharaoh.
Just when Seto thought that he had found the pharaoh, the Millennium Pyramid violently rebuked the intruder and the priest turned pharaoh cried out in pain. It felt as if he were being seared from the inside and although Seto was holding onto the chain, he could not prevent the self-destruction of the Millennium Pyramid as it once again pulsed with a power that blew it to pieces that fell to the floor and scattered over stone.
Seto collapsed to his knees as he choked back a sob, crushing one under his knee as he reached out to the one closest to his hand, bearing the Millennium Eye that was mocking in its blankness. "Why would you do this?" Seto demanded in anguish as he looked around the shattered remnants of his lover's tomb.
"So that you will move on in this lifetime," the pharaoh's voice echoed faintly through Kaiba's core.
Looking up in despair, Seto saw the countenance of his pharaoh for the first time in almost ten years. Reaching out to it, Seto tried to embrace the ghost, needing to bring him to life somehow. "You are wasting the life I gave mine for," the pharaoh said sadly, caressing Seto's face and wiping away a tear with a transparent hand. "We will have all of our next life together, so live this one in my honor so that we may be together again in the future."
"You cannot disappear," Seto pleaded, his desperation evident on his face. "I still need you!"
"I am always within you, my love," the pharaoh whispered, caressing Seto's soul before his spirit fragmented into as many pieces of the Millennium Puzzle and found its final resting place.
Left truly alone for the first time without the illusion of return to keep him going, Seto broke down and wept as he had not done since his pharaoh had first sealed himself away. Kaiba could only watch the man cry, feeling a hollowness within himself as he discovered the truth of Yami's entombment. It angered him in a way that he considered irrational, but his very soul ached at the sight of his ancient self weeping tears as if that would somehow bring the pharaoh back to him.
Eventually Nefersherit entered the holy sanctum and knelt beside him with a comforting arm around his shoulders to offer support. Seto was too in shock to notice, but Kaiba watched as she caressed a single piece in farewell before looking sadly at her husband. She held onto him, although he never once turned toward her for sanctuary as he continued to grieve in heaving sobs that wracked his whole body much like the guilt that was eating away at his very core.
"Let us leave here," Nefersherit eventually entreated Seto, trying to encourage him away from the remains.
"There is nothing left," Seto whispered, his voice cracking at the first admission of what had transpired.
"Then there is no reason for you to remain here," Nefersherit logically countered as she lightly touched Seto's arm to get his attention refocused on her.
Although Kaiba wasn't connected with Seto as in the previous visions, the rage rippling out from the grieving man was almost palpable as he growled, "No! I will gather the pieces, rebuild it, and then—"
"That will not bring him back," Nefersherit firmly told Seto, trying to make him understand.
"That is my punishment," Seto realized, opening his hand and revealing the Millennium Eye piece once more. "You are punishing me for my transgressions!"
Sighing heavily, Nefersherit reassured her husband, "No one is punishing you, save for yourself."
"Then why won't he come back to me?" Seto demanded as he looked back to the fragment resting on his palm.
"Because he has crossed over to the realm of gods that we may one day enter ourselves," Nefersherit said, although the comfort she had hoped to provide wasn't reaching Seto. Realizing that something had to be done, she stood up and looked down at Seto sadly before turning and leaving the room, her gown fluttering behind her as she departed. Kaiba could faintly hear her giving instructions to a guard at the door not to let anyone enter and then she was gone, leaving him only one thing to focus on now.
Kaiba watched as the grief morphed into anger as Seto continued addressing the pieces, "If that is true, then I will bury you in the center of a real pyramid, so deep in the depths that no one other than me shall find you again. They may find your body, but never will I grant them your soul. That is mine and mine alone!"
Having sworn his passionate declaration, Seto sat back on his haunches as he wiped away the shameful tracks of tears from his cheeks, surveying the full extent of the destruction. It was impossible for Kaiba to truly know what thoughts were going through Seto's mind at that point, but he could feel the echoing turmoil in the depths of his own soul, reflecting the ancient misery that had one ripped him apart. It was almost a relief when Nefersherit walked in, if only to give him a distraction from Seto.
Kneeling down at Seto's side once more, Nefersherit gently set an elaborate golden box on the floor that was designed with the same motif as the rest of the Millennium Items. Something about it bothered Kaiba, something familiar about it that he knew he should remember and yet couldn't quite place. He wracked his brain trying to recall why it looked so familiar when it dawned on him that he had seen the small box on Yuugi's desk.
"Why is that here?" Seto coldly demanded, glaring down at the object as if it were the most offensive of things.
"Because we cannot just leave him on the floor," Nefersherit answered, clearly bracing herself for the backlash from her words.
Rather than the explosion of rage she was expecting, Seto merely sneered as he stood up and smoothed out his robes. "Who would have thought that his wedding present to you would eventually become his soul's sarcophagus?" Seto sarcastically remarked as he deposited the center piece into the box before her stormed out of the room, confusing Kaiba.
The vision didn't follow Seto, nor did it end as Nefersherit surveyed the shattered pieces. "I never knew you to be so cruel in life," Nefersherit said sadly as she gathered the pieces one by one and put them in the box. "So many years inside of this have clearly corrupted you."
She silently completed her task of putting in each piece of the Millennium Puzzle, reverently doing it at a pace that made Kaiba anxious for what was to come next. As she came down to the last few pieces, Nefersherit resumed her commentary, "It is not fair that I will have to bury you twice in one lifetime, let alone watch Seto die twice inside because of his love for you."
Saying a soft prayer to the pieces on behalf of the former pharaoh's departed soul, Nefersherit traced the design work on the box as she had so often before, but her actions took on new meaning. Her words ended abruptly when Nefersherit stiffened immediately at the sound of soft footfalls and she picked up the box as she stood, turning in a fluid motion, begrudgingly impressing Kaiba as her face slid from emotionally vulnerable into a regal queen as she faced the intruder.
Kaiba noticed the contempt for Isis hidden in Nefersherit's eyes and it intrigued him as to what reason she could have for animosity toward the woman. "I did not grant you entrance, priestess," Nefersherit stated, shocking Kaiba as all the warmth he had come to know in her voice bled away into the coldest of icy tones.
"I apologize, my queen, but—"
"I have no use for your apologies, only your absence," Nefersherit informed Isis, making Kaiba smirk at the way it made Isis fight down an indignant reaction.
"I will leave as soon as I—" Isis started to say as she walked toward the ceremonial table, only to be interrupted again.
Nefersherit took a step to the side to block Isis from continuing forward as she said, "No, you will leave now or I will have you removed."
"From this room or from my position?" Isis challenged, her response causing Nefersherit to smirk maliciously in a way that did nothing to detract from her beauty.
"From this world if you continue to defy me," Nefersherit replied with the sweetest of smiles that bespoke nothing but danger and a very real implied threat. Even though Kaiba didn't want to like the woman, she definitely earned a point in her favor for such a response.
"All I seek is my Millennium Tauk, queen," Isis persisted, although she did not dare take another step closer without permission.
"You are denied," Nefersherit refused, not giving in at all. "I shall see to it that it is buried to the deepest level of the Underworld along with the rest of these accursed items."
"This country still needs—"
Once again interrupting Isis, Nefersherit disagreed, "No, all this country needs is the leadership of my husband. Now get out or I will have you forcibly removed, priestess. It is your choice whether it is from this room or this realm."
Swallowing hard, Isis bowed her head reverently, although the hard line of her mouth belied the effort she had to make in order to maintain her silence. Not saying another word, Isis walked out of the room as ordered, causing Nefersherit to sag a little in relief at her departure.
"What use is such a thing if it couldn't be used to save us all from this horrendous fate?" Nefersherit wondered out loud, her grip tightening on the small box in her grief as she knelt down once more to pick up the cover she had previously left on the floor. With another whispered word of blessing, Nefersherit placed the lid on the box and then there was nothing but an ancient dark silence.
Dropped out of the vision, Kaiba found himself on the floor as he tried to absorb the totality of what he had just witnessed. Everything was a whirlwind in his mind and Kaiba knew that what he had seen would haunt him for a long time. He was angry, angrier than he could remember over the ancient past, and Kaiba gathered his wits about him as he stormed out of the room. Instead of coming to the central hall where Yami should have been waiting for him, Kaiba stepped into another room that was no different than the last. Growling at the delay, Kaiba ordered, "Take me to him, damn it!"
Rather than complying the way Kaiba had meant, the ancient artifact acted to its own whims and dropped him back into another vision.
"Why don't you tell him?" Yuugi implored Yami as they sat on the stairs of the pharaoh's soul room, confusing Kaiba as he once again was left outside of himself as a mere observer of a scene. It was a conversation that Kaiba had no frame of reference for and he would have wondered why the Puzzle chose to show it to him, except so far it had always acted within reason.
"Because he'll blame himself," Yami replied as he rested his forehead against his clasped hands and closed his eyes.
"He already does blame himself," Yuugi pointed out, causing Kaiba to scowl at how well Yuugi was coming to understand him. "He needs to know, Yami."
Sighing heavily, Yami's pessimistic streak continued to show itself. "I don't have any answers to give him, aibou."
"Sometimes, 'I don't know,' is an answer," Yuugi said, trying to find any way to change Yami's mind on the matter.
"It's never an acceptable one," Yami muttered, his grip tightening until his fingers started to discolor. "Not with him."
Frowning at Yami's statement, Yuugi defended Kaiba, "You're not being fair to him."
"I'm not wrong," Yami shot back, finally glancing over at Yuugi with turmoil in his expression that Kaiba was rarely privy to.
"Did it ever occur to you that maybe Kaiba-kun already knows about it?" Yuugi asked, frustrating Kaiba with the riddles revolving around him.
Finally releasing his hands and leaning back on the stairs, Yami looked up at the labyrinth of stairs as he confessed, "I know he already knows. It's just a question of how much he knows."
"Then why aren't you talking to him about this?" Yuugi continued pleading Kaiba's case, confusing the brunette. "If he already knows, then what's the harm in—"
"Because it doesn't matter," Yami interrupted with a growl, causing Yuugi to jump at the ferocity of it. "It doesn't change anything, it doesn't—"
"Shouldn't you let Kaiba-kun decide that?" Yuugi suggested, making Kaiba wonder what had Yuugi fighting so hard in his defense.
"What does knowing that I married Nefersherit—that I was happily married to her in the past matter?" Yami snapped, finally cluing Kaiba in on what the dilemma was. "It changes nothing about our situation. That information has no relevancy in me regaining my body, so why bring it up?"
Shifting his position on the stairs to bide his time, Yuugi finally replied, "Because it's bothering you and Kaiba-kun is eventually going to figure it out. If he hasn't already."
"Why did Bakura have to be right?" Yami whispered as he once again curled up on himself. "It's all my fault. I was the one that drove him away."
"What happened between the priest has nothing to do with Kaiba-kun and you now," Yuugi reminded Yami, understanding that he had lost his focus. "So the pharaoh was forced to marry her. It's not like she's been reincarnated and is interfering in your present relationship, right?"
Yami looked as stricken as Kaiba felt by the suggestion of Nefersherit in the present time and silence stretched into minutes of eternity. "What if she was?" Yami quietly questioned, voicing a question that Kaiba hadn't dared to address previously.
"You can't be forced into marrying her again," Yuugi dryly pointed out, making Kaiba scowl at the fact that the sole voice of reason was the smaller duelist. "Even if she was reincarnated, it's not like you would ever leave Kaiba-kun for her. And he is not going to leave you for Bakura. He'd be pissed that you even thought such a thing and I don't blame him. You're just making problems to distract yourself from the real issue."
"You're right," Yami admitted with a sigh, leaving Kaiba to wonder when Yuugi had gotten so perceptive. Too much time with Anzu, Kaiba realized with a slight smirk that quickly faded. "It's just…hard."
"But not impossible!" Yuugi said with a bright enthusiasm that made Kaiba roll his eyes as he realized his suspicions about the shorter duelist spending too much time with Anzu was closer to the truth than he thought.
Falling back into himself without warning, Kaiba shook his head to clear his mind as he sat in the empty room. As much as he wanted to storm outside and confront Yami or whatever other memory awaiting him, Kaiba took a moment to get everything sorted out in his thoughts. There was just too much information to process and Kaiba didn't even know where to begin. The flashback of the ceremony should have been sufficient, but there were still visions afterward, which made Kaiba feel like something crucial was missing. There was a niggling feeling in the depths of his heart that warned him he could not complete the ceremony yet and it was infuriating. He started to challenge the Puzzle that he had seen enough, but he didn't dare voice aloud that thought for fear of what memory it would thrust him into as punishment.
Focusing on the last memory, Kaiba was surprisingly not that upset over Yami withholding his recent discovery of the marriage to Nefersherit in the past. They had both already suspected that had been the case, so it was nothing more than confirmation of something Kaiba already knew about, however it was the state of the marriage that was news. Like Yami had said, it really changed nothing about their situation—plus, there were other things to occupy their rare moments together now than such underwhelming discoveries. It also suggested that Yami was still unaware of the past he had not been around to witness, which still left Kaiba with the dilemma about whether or not to disclose what he had learned about Setem.
Recognizing that was a decision that could wait, Kaiba stood up and squared his shoulders as he faced the door in front of him. He hoped that it would bring him to Yami and away from the exhausting visions, but he cleared his mind as he walked through to minimize the chances of stepping into another past.
A/N: As many of you noticed, I missed last weekend's update. I had some unforeseen personal circumstances that got in the way on top of some issues with my muses. I thought things would get back to a slower pace once I finished my degree, but it seems that's not the case.
NEXT CHAPTER:
"And what would you have me do?" Seto questioned, his voice cracking as his emotions started to get the better of him. "What else will you make me endure?"
As I mentioned above, I'm not entirely sure I like what I changed in the upcoming chapter, so I'm going to post Chapter 29 on July 17th in order to have a little more time to work on it. That does not mean there will be no update next week, however.
On Sunday, July 10th, I'll be posting an Entangled Series sideshot that I've mentioned a few times over the past few years, entitled Truthful Lies. It will be a twoshot that takes place during and after Another Lesson, Chapter 9, except it's told from Bakura's point of view rather than Kaiba's. It will be implied onesided Bakura over Kaiba/Seto in the first chapter and a M rated lemon in the second chapter between the Priest and Thief in a flashback. It will give some understanding over things that happen later in this story, but for those of you that object, you will be okay skipping the second chapter. Having said that, I have no idea when the second chapter will go up, so it's a moot point currently. :x
So hopefully I'll see you all on Sunday, July 10th when I post Truthful Lies. Otherwise, I suppose we shall meet here on Sunday, July 17th…
