Child of Fate

Chapter 3



Shadi found himself in a large room. There were many doors, all of which were not that interesting, except for one, which was a golden and silver door, covered with many gems and intricately decorated.

Shadi was use to such doors. They often hold the most valuable information. However, they are also the ones that are most dangerous to enter. So taking a deep breath, he decided to check out other doors before entering that one.

What puzzled Shadi most was the rooms behind each door seem to contradict each other. One door seemed to suggest a dark side. There were many knives and swords, weapons of war. Another door had many toys. Not the childish toys behind Yugi's door, but toys for someone who was slightly older. Another door seemed to suggest emptiness, and indeed, there was nothing behind it. Yet another one had many musical instruments in it. Violins, pianos, harps, cellos, flutes, oboes, bassoons, tubas.

By the time Shadi had gone through all the doors, he felt that Seto was the strangest person he had ever met. How can so many things be piled into one person? Such contradicting natures. There was even one with spectres inside.

He came before the golden door, all of the sudden realizing that Seto had not put up any defenses at all in his mind. Why weren't there any defenses?

Pausing, Shadi suddenly remembered Seto's condition. The boy was probably too taken up with his visions for his mind to even register that he was there. Suddenly bold, he opened the golden door.

He was met with a surprise.



There weren't any defenses at all. Instead, there was a large loom. It was so large, he didn't know how the room could have held it. There were many strings. Some were cut. Some were actually being spun, but no one was there to spin it.

For the first time in his life Shadi actually wanted to get out of this mind. He thought that he would surely lose his own if he stayed here much longer. However, that loom seemed to hold him, to forbid him to leave. So swallowing, he took a step nearer.

" Come no further."

Shadi blinked. Who was the one that was speaking to him?

" Who are you, intruder?" Asked a voice, a feminine voice. " Why have you stepped through this delicate mind?"
" My name is Shadi." He answered. " I am the holder-"
" I know who you are." Said the voice, and she appeared.

She was tall and fair but cold. She had a hood over her head, but her face was visible. Four others stepped into view. Three were men, and all were wearing hoods.

" Who are you?" Shadi asked.
" We are the guardians of the Child." The first one said. " We hold the responsibility of keeping him alive. Why have you come?"
" I come to see what causes his pain." Shadi answered. " And to answer many questions."
" Go no further. We shall tell you all you need to know. We sense you do not bring harm." Said the man. " However, beware. The Child's defenses may be low now, but he has great power."



" The Child alone has the power to see the future and change it." Said the third guardian. " He holds the power to change what he sees."
" But why is he seeing so much then?" Shadi asked. " He does not seem to be able to handle it."
" Only because he has been broken." Answered the fifth guardian. " The Child suffered great inner pain in his life and therefore learned to resist. Visions are only painful if one resists them."
" The Child...how powerful is he?" Shadi asked. " I know no one who is so accurate."
" That is because no one is like him." The second one replied. " The Child is the result of the magic in the loom being released. Many years ago, he came to this world as a boy with great powers. The Pharaoh of Egypt instantly recognized this and gave him the position of a High Priest. After the Child was executed, the innocent spirit fled to the boundaries of the universe. Fate discovered him and through crafty tricks lured him back and he was unwillingly reborn. To protect him from danger, Fate gave him one gift; to see the future when it is crucial. He alone has the true powers of prophecy."

Shadi was silent for a long moment.

" Then why are you here?"
" We came to protect the Child." The first one said. " Long it has been since the Child is harmed and continued being harmed."
" By what?" Shadi asked.
" Come." Said the second guardian. " There is one door you haven't opened yet, because it is so secret it cannot be seen..."



" What do you mean, past life?" Yami looked annoyed. " I'll tell you about his past life!"
" Stay quiet!" Bakura looked over at Ryou and Yugi. " Could you keep it down? Good heavens, for a Pharaoh you sure have a quick temper."
" Well, thanks a lot!" Yami and Bakura were talking in Egyptian now. " I'll tell you about that bastard's past life. He comes into court as an eleven year old with great power and totally lost. I look at him, I notice his strength, I take him in. He grows to be a thirteen year old and becomes a High Priest because he outdid the rest. Listen! Get back here! Then several years later, he suddenly comes to court in the morning all silent and pale, then he started throwing insults at me. Sure, I could take that, but the next day he tried to murder me. The bastard-what are you doing?"

" Are you sure that's Seto?" Bakura blinked.
" Of course! So he tried to murder me, I couldn't do anything except have him executed, and that was really the lightest I could do considering the Mind Crush and the Shadow magic and every-no, you don't understand. Don't roll your eyes at me! He was totally bizarre. He was a sweet kid, and all of the sudden he became a maniac."
" So tell me, when did he try to duel you?"
" We were going to execute him. He escaped, made the whole place explode, then challenged me into a duel."

Bakura cocked an eyebrow. " Well, that certainly tells us a lot about Seto Kaiba."
" Exactly! So we're not going to get anywhere by looking at that guy's past life where are you going?"
" Downstairs. I'm going to see how Shadi's doing."

Yami sighed and followed him.



Shadi was stunned.

The room was blacker than the rest except for several candles that lighted the place. Spiderwebs and cobwebs nearly covered the entire room. However, that was not what caught his eye. He ignored the dust and the drops of water. He was staring at Seto.

Poor poor Seto. Chained to the wall, his limbs wide apart, his eyes cloudy and grey. He was like a ghost, pale as snow, his bones showing everywhere. His body was confined by the chains, cutting into his flesh. Flatworms surrounded his body, feeding on his blood. He looked pitiful.

But that was not what hurt Shadi the most. Shadi was an old being, condemned to guard the Millennium Items for all eternity with eternal youth. He had never realized Seto's true being even when he met him. However, this time it was as if Shadi saw Seto for the first time. Before him, chained and dying, was not the CEO of Kaiba Corps, the person who nearly destroyed Yugi's life and everyone related to him. Before him was a child, a body of a child, eyes of a child. It took Shadi a moment to realize that Seto Kaiba was a child all along, it was just that his conduct, his behavior, fooled them into not realizing it.

" Why is he like this?" Shadi whispered.
" Love." Answered the first guardian, her voice all of the sudden sad. " Even in his past life Seto searched for love and gave it freely to those around him. He was betrayed and the Pharaoh unknowingly killed him. In this life he still bears that same pain, and tried the final time to search for love. His parents left and abandoned him for all the love he felt. Now he only had Mokuba, and Yugi and the others are stealing it away from him. Seto could no longer love, but love is what he is. So now he is dying like this, with only his visions to comfort him and even the visions bring small comfort."

Shadi reached out and attempted to free him, but one of the guardians stopped him.
" You cannot help him." He said. " The only one who can help him is one whose love also ended in tragedy. You will only make it worse."

Shadi reluctantly withdrew his hand. He thought he was going to break down right there.



Yami blinked as Shadi pulled the key out and started to rub his eyes really hard.
" Something wrong?" He asked. Shadi did not answer. He continued to rub his eyes.

Seto sat up and rubbed his eyes as well. " Ugh, what happened? Who...nani?" He stared at Shadi. Shadi ignored him and continued rubbing his eyes.

" Shadi, are you crying?" Bakura suddenly asked.

Shadi choked but continued rubbing his eyes. " Dry. Dry. Dry. Dry."

The two spirits looked at each other. Shadi had never acted like this before.

" Shadi, this isn't like you..."
" You've never been in there." Shadi answered, looking much better now. " If you did, you'll be worse off than I am. Come, Seto."
" But wait, they've never been in where? What just happened? When did you come here?" Seto blinked. Then he eyed the key and the truth dawned on him.
" Hai, he went in your head." Bakura snickered. " Happy, Sleeping Beauty?"
" Seto, get dressed. We're going out." Shadi ordered. The yamis looked at him, bewildered.
" It's going to snow." Seto blinked.
" Nonsense!" Bakura hissed. " Look at the window. The sun's cheery."
" It's going to snow. We'll be trapped!"
" Seto, we're going by air, and you might want to bring the others, Yami." Shadi helped Seto to his feet. " Go go. I am losing my patience. And my sanity," he muttered under his breath, but the others did not hear him.



" Tell me, where are we going again?" Anzu asked Jou and Yugi as they watched Shadi's figure on the seat in front of them.
" I don't want to go." Even though no one told Seto where they were going, Seto seemed to know. He was starting to get tense. " Why are you making me go?"
" If you want to be freed of leeches," Shadi muttered, and everyone looked at him as if he was insane.
" Leeches?" Seto asked bluntly, then blinked at Yami, confused. Yami shrugged, giving his hand a squeeze. Seto had no idea what was going on.

" Where are we going?" Jou was getting annoyed. Yugi and Yami were puzzled too. So was Mokuba.
" We're going...to the Duelist Kingdom." Shadi answered quietly.
" NANI??!!!"
" Are you nuts, man?" Jou cried. " The guy's a psycho! Who knows what he'll do with Seto! Are ye trying to get him killed or somethin?"
" I'm not trying to get him killed. " Shadi looked a little exasperated. " If Seto wants to be freed of those...leeches, he'll have to get help from Pegasus, and I'm pretty sure Pegasus can't refuse considering that Seto is the Child of-" He stopped.
" Leeches?" Seto asked again. " What leeches?"
" The guardian taught me a technique to help you deal with the pain every time you have a vision." Shadi changed the subject dramatically, noticing the first signs. Seto blinked, confused, as Shadi took out a long, white cloth.

*FLASH!*

The blonde woman stepped out of the painting, smiling and walking towards-

" Uh?" Seto blinked, but noticed he couldn't even open his eyes. There was something tightly tied around his head. He jumped startled.
" Settle down. That feels much better, eh? Keeps in the heat." Shadi muttered to himself for a moment.
" Nani?"

Shadi ignored him. Yami looked at Shadi for a moment, puzzled, before noticing that Seto was trembling. Taking both of his hands, he rubbed them reassuringly, warming the cold fingers and hoping Seto would get the message.

Seto did not get the message. He only saw darkness.



Pegasus blinked. Why are they here? And from his Millennium Eye, Seto is here too, pretty much against his will.

Everyone on that strange plane seems to be annoyed at one person. Stretching his mind he saw it was Shadi. Shadi seemed disturbed.

After about half an hour, Shadi boarded the plane and left. Leaving the others here.

How odd.

They are heading towards the castle. Pegasus stood up. Calling Croquet, he ordered the guards to stay where they are and let them in. He was pretty sure that this is something important.

Something was keeping his mind from reaching the thoughts of the others. He's pretty sure that it was Seto. Why was Seto blindfolded?

And to his amazement, watching from the high window, Seto was walking over the cracks and sticks on the road, blindfolded, without any guidance. Deeply puzzled, he left the window and went downstairs to greet them.



Seto immediately panicked when his blindfold was taken off and he saw that Pegasus was standing right there.

" This is the House of the Dead!" He suddenly cried, startling everyone on the room. " The dwelling of pain and torture! I hear screams!" He clutched his eyes, glowing bright blue, and writhed and fell to his knees. " Spirits longing for the living-she stepped out! She's coming! She's coming!"

Yami wrapped his arms around Seto tightly.

" Seto! Seto, get a hold of yourself! Yugi, I think we need to slip the blindfold on again-"

" Pegasus." Seto was suddenly calm, and his eyes were still glowing. He stretched an arm and pointed at the north tower. " Your wife awaits."



" I still don't know what the heck that was about." Pegasus blinked. " There's nothing up here. I don't know why you insist on coming. There's only a painting of Cecilia..." He opened the door and froze.

" Rather, there was a painting of Cecilia." Yami blinked.

Indeed, he was absolutely right. For where there once sat a beautiful woman, poised and smiling from behind the frame, there was only an empty chair next to the window...and no Cecilia.

Pegasus began trembling. Waves of trembling broke over his body and his face was drained of color. It was like Seto had said. She stepped out. And she's coming.



" Relax, Seto. Hey pal, don't get so edgy! There's nothing to worry about. Just get some sleep. Hey hey hey!" Jou grabbed Seto and pushed him down.

Mokuba watched forlornly at his big brother as Anzu tried to soothe him.
" Don't worry. He'll be alright." The girl assured him. Mokuba stared at his brother.
" He was always so sure of himself."
" It is snowing hard outside." Honda looked out the window. " And it's only in November!"
" At least we get to miss school for this." Jou laughed. " Wonder how my pops actually agreed to this. Or your parents."
" We said we came here for an emergency." Anzu shrugged. " Anyways. Whoa! Seto!"

The boys turned back and found that Seto was heading out again. Jou grabbed him and gently lead him over to the chair, sitting him down.

Seto released a nervous sigh. That was when they realized he was absolutely terrified.

" This is the House of the Dead! The dwelling of pain and torture! I hear screams! Spirits longing for the living-she stepped out! She's coming! She's coming!"

Pegasus stared at the empty portrait with a dumb look and so did the others.
" I guess...that was what Seto meant." Ryou said carefully. " Perhaps Cecilia came back alive or something."
" Iie." Pegasus said slowly. " Spirits longing for the living. She's coming. She's probably coming for Seto. But how did Seto know?" He turned to the others. Then he paused.

" He has powers of prophecy." He said softly.

Sunday at 8:10 p.m.