Chapter 7
Bandit Keith walked down the hall and came face to face with-
Kaiba.
Seto blinked, startled.
" Well, that was unexpected!"
" So you're really here." Bandit hissed.
Seto cocked an eyebrow. " You're a bit early-" He looked at his watch, " Oops, actually, you're right on time. I really need to look at the clock more often." He shrugged. " You can go upstairs and play the game of vengeance with that psychic woman, but don't hurt Mokuba, please." He turned around. Bandit wanted to call him back but something stopped him.
Okay, if anything else did not change, Seto certainly did become more queer...
Mokuba looked up in surprise just as he was about to turn the handle. The
big chunky blonde guy with a bandana stormed up next to him and opened the
door without saying " With your leave" or " By your leave" or even an " Excuse
me".
Mokuba paused as the door shut in his face. Doubtless Seto knew about it by now. Being the considering child that he was, he figured he'll leave it up to Bandit and the psychic woman. Doubtless Bandit and the sorceress will give each other quite a hard time before Mokuba dirties his hands, so might as well watch and wait. He turned around and looked for his big brother.
Shadi put down the scroll and rubbed his eyes. So far he learned that Seto
had the ability to move out of his body and acts purely on instinct when he's out of
the body. Therefore he's very easy to capture. However, Seto has a lot of power
which he never uses, ( add some kind of dull look to that and you'll get Shadi's
expression) and therefore had escaped all different kinds of magicians. He was a
heartbroken lad that had been failed too many times to count and the battle with
Yugi had been the last straw.
In addition to that, he had also read Seto's diary, which was mixed in different sections of the piles. It was that diary that troubled him.
" Well?" Isis demanded. Shadi sighed.
" Seto-" He broke off for a moment. " The reason Seto went-" He broke off again.
Finally, he tossed Isis the scroll, or actually the piece of papyrus that broke off a
small book. Isis took a look. For a moment everyone waited. Then Isis visibly paled.
" Well?" Yami demanded.
Isis hesitated briefly before letting Yami read the scroll. For a moment the Pharaoh's eyes skimmed the pages. Then, he too, visibly paled.
I remember how it was before. Ra, it was but a day ago, when I was the
Pharaoh's faithful priest and the Pharaoh my dearest companion. The meeting was
tense because there were many problems to be dealt with, but we were content
because they were all solved.
" A toast to you, High Priest!" The Pharaoh laughed, and I laughed too. How could I laugh? Why did I laugh? I shouldn't have. Now such moments seem so bitter.
I feel so cold.
He came. His hair was long, and in the night it gleamed pale light. His eyes were dark with malice. I saw him clearly. At first I wondered what he was doing. And then it became clear.
I struggled. The Pharaoh thought I was strong. I struggled with all my might against this scoundrel. He wouldn't let me go. I resorted to magic. But even that didn't work. This man was a powerful sorceror. Even more powerful than I am.
The pain, the pain! And I called for him, my dearest companion, my master, my lord. I screamed, dropping all dignity to this rascal. He relished in it.
And still he did not come. My lord. My Pharaoh.
And now I know. He had planned this all along. How could he have not heard me in that palace? I know that the palace echoes loudly. He should have heard. He should have saved me.
Dearest companion.
My lord.
I did everything for him. For his good, for the country's good. And yet, in my time of need, violated by this disgusting man, he never came.
What am I supposed to do? Why did it happen to me? I never hurted anyone, I never killed anyone, not even the murderers. It was the Pharaoh. I never whipped or punished any servant or slave. I never spoke up to the Pharaoh, and all the duels we played, I thought they were only games. I thought we were only having fun. I never knew he was trying to destroy me. I trusted him.
I am so lost-
" Yami, are you alright?" Yugi asked.
Yami was not. He felt a cold chill settle at the bottom of his heart and suddenly felt nauseous as everything came together.
Seto's arguments. His sudden disagreeableness. His wild murder attempt. Those eyes blazing with hatred.
Please don't let this mean what I think it means-
" Bandit Keith. Good heavens, I thought the sorceress was enough, now Bandit what happened here?" Pegasus shut his eyes and sighed. " Oh dear! If that is so, then, Seto!" He turned around and left.
Yami took no notice of Pegasus. He was trapped in his own thoughts. He thought about Seto's gentle nature and innocent loyalty. He thought about how Seto had helped him through hard times when he was young. How when he first became Pharaoh, Seto was eleven years old and had helped him establish a secure position.
Of course. How come he never thought of that? Seto wouldn't have betrayed him for no reason. Of course. He wouldn't have betrayed him.
In the end it was Yami who betrayed Seto.
Yami sat down. He felt if he stood up any longer he would faint. Yugi and the others murmured in concern. Yami paid no heed. Words repeated over and over again in his mind.
Seto was raped. Seto was raped. Seto was raped. Seto was ra-
" How come you never told me?" Pegasus sighed. " Worthless brute."
Seto smiled. " I like to keep secrets." He grew solemn. " This woman is
powerful, Pegasus. I don't know if I can handle this."
" You have good dueling skills, and a cheating series of visions to go along with
that. And now that you're done with the vision overload you can focus better."
" She has good dueling skills too. And she has a series of visions as well."
" But there's one thing that's different. Fate's on your side."
" Oh, nonsense! You have no idea how Fate-"
" Made you lose those two battles? Seto!"
" But-"
" Listen, those two battles were nothing compared to the number of times you won.
And besides, even if Fate was not so on your side, you played a good game for each
duel. You'll do fine. And besides, I can always-"
There was a sudden pause, and it might have been a long one. Seto's eyes flashed eerily and Pegasus waited with much tension.
Finally, Seto's eyes dimmed back to normal and he began thrusting his arms down in despair.
" Iie! Iie! Iie iie iie iie iie! Not another one! Not another one! One I couldn't handle
already. Two?"
" Nani?" Pegasus blinked, then paled. " Kami-sama..."
Anna Kasekova jerked back as a vision met her. She saw into a near future.
Some guard is going to pop out of the bushes and demand her for her evidence of
being in the competition.
Natasha was already in the castle. Great, more competition for the Child. Richard was coming to the island shortly, and he's not a psychic, just a mere sorceror.
The guard popped out. She swung her leg and kicked. The guard went down. He was not going to get up anytime soon. Anna sighed. She needed another vision.
No visions.
Anna looked up at the sun. Noon.
Richard has already arrived. Now there are three psychics after the Child.
Kuso.
Yugi had went upstairs with Yami to comfort him the best he could while the
rest tried their hardest to continue working. Seto is the important one. Not Yami.
There will be time for sniffling later.
" It's bad enough Seto forgot to tell us that there are other psychics." Jou muttered. He suddenly remembered a duel with the blue haired Psycho-wannabe. But now he had a feeling that these psychos aren't fake ones.
Ryou blinked at an English one book.
" Apparently Seto came back more than once, after the Egyptian deal." He said to
everyone. " Here's one also about Seto. He went under a different name though.
Ilya Craner."
" Sure that's him?" Honda asked.
" Blue eyed angel, some say devil, with dark brown hair and pale skin. Tall and
delicate. If you subtract the delicate and the pale skin you'll get Seto Kaiba."
" There are many blue eyed brunettes, Ryou." Bakura pointed out.
" Sure. Let's see, has an uncanny ability to predict the future. It was said that several
Greeks saw him at Apollo's oracle at Delphi."
" Prophet powers?" Isis blinked. " That sounds more like Seto."
" Several murder attempts have been made on him," Ryou blinked. " All failed. He
only died because he committed suicide. Let's see, what was the whole story?"
He began reading the pages.
" Ilya Craner was born into a noble family in 1404. The Craners disappeared seven
years later, and only Ilya was left behind. I guess since the Craners were close to the
King the King took him in, but this book didn't say anything about it. Nevertheless,
Ilya was known to be constantly in despair and some thought he was mad...used
forks as knives to stab his head and neck."
" Spare us the details." Bakura muttered.
" Alright," Ryou was silent for a moment. " When Ilya was seventeen he began to
speak in riddles, and started to see a lot of things. His eyes also began glowing. Then
England got all...well, screwy-not very impressive. Several strange people start
appearing at the palace. One time Ilya was caught fighting with one of them. Before
any of them could stop the attacker, Ilya was pinned to the wall, and out floated this
little kid, around ten years of age. That ghost kid went off and Ilya went splat. Dead
on contact. Three days later Ilya was walking around as if nothing happened. No
one ever knew who the kid was, except he looked exactly like Ilya when he was ten.
Ano...around twenty murders in one month, all related to Ilya. There are some
more, but it goes on to say that Ilya was finally killed because in despair he threw
himself off the cliff."
" That's not especially helpful." Anzu frowned.
" Here's one from a sorceror." Ryou blinked after a moment. " The Child is an
immortal being who is made of two forces; the Golden Radiance and the Silver
Radiance. Since the universe is composed mainly of these two forces, the Child,
therefore, has all the powers of the universe. However, since the Child is not
originally a soul, his spirit can be broken down into these two forces and used as
powers and forces alone. When this happens, the Child no longer has a conscience.
Those who do this will suffer the wrath of Fate. The Child can often be recognized
as a young boy of ten years, with eyes of blue and hair of brown and skin as white
as snow. He will be wearing a silver circlet with sapphire stones embedded in them,
and a long sleeveless tunic of bluish gray..."
" How's Bandit doing?" Seto was holding his head as he laid down the next card.
" Pretty well, actually. No visions coming to her yet." Pegasus answered.
" Pretty good." Seto nodded. " I want some popcorn."
Pegasus shrugged. " Sure."
Later, they were at the game again. Not really speaking, because each knew what the other was doing. They're just following their motives.
" How's he doing?" Seto asked. Pegasus would have been annoyed, and Seto
wouldn't have cared that much about Bandit's welfare if it hadn't affected his very
life.
" Losing now."
" About time."
" Pretty bad though. We're going to have to think of some plan."
There were no plans to think of.
" Mokuba will take care of him."
" You hope." Pegasus smiled. " Does Mokuba really have that much power?"
" He surprises me often."
" I see." Pegasus began to feel more confident. " Lets see, change of heart."
" About time."
Moments later, Pegasus sighed and tossed his cards into the graveyard.
" Bandit just lost."
Seto nodded and tossed his into the graveyard. " Come along, ototo-chan." He muttered. " Be on time."
" So you're saying that Seto isn't real?" Shadi asked. " And that he's..."
" Hai." Ryou nodded. " That's basically it. So Seto is in grave danger now."
" In that case, we better get to Yami and Yugi." Anzu said. The group got to their
feet and left the scrolls scattered on the table and floor.
" It's okay Yami, it's not something you could have helped." Yugi rubbed circles
around Yami's back. " It's okay. It's not your fault. Seto's back, safe and sound, and
you don't have to worry about the past."
Yami rubbed his tearfilled eyes and smiled weakly. " I guess you're right Yugi." He sighed.
Just then, the door opened.
" Yami, Yugi, out, now." Shadi said quickly. " We have a psychic here to deal with!"