Angel of Light
Chapter 13
Pharaoh
Atem nodded graciously to the nobles he passed on the way to Seth, who had placed himself in an obscure corner of the hall. He stood next to his cousin for a while and observed the guests silently.
"Quite a gathering of our fellow nobles, isn't it?" Seth said quietly to Atem.
"Yes."
"They have no shame. Some of them are acting as if this is their coronation," he remarked. Atem rubbed his temples and sighed.
"It's so hard to get away," he murmured. "Someone-I believe my mother's third cousin on her father's side-kept asking me for lands, and quite indiscreetly, too." Seth nodded sympathetically.
"And if you don't acquiesce, they pull out their trump card-the ties of family."
"I managed to turn that around with muttering something about someone else already asking for it. The rest of this evening, everybody will be watching everybody else."
"I don't envy your position," Seth grinned. Atem looked at the massive crowd and winced.
"Come outside with me. I need to talk with you."
"And you need to get away from this," he added as he followed the Pharaoh to the balcony outside.
The doors closed behind them, cutting off all the noise inside as if someone performed a silencing spell on them. The night was new, and the stars were barely visible among the sun's last fading rays. Above them, the full moon shone bright with all its glory.
"Ah, Egypt," Seth sighed. Atem wholeheartedly agreed. From their vantage point, the Nile River lay before them in an unbroken, smooth ribbon. Beyond it, the lights of Memphis winked softly at them, and the desert rose up in the background like the sea.
"If I had a choice about whether or not to be Pharaoh," Atem said quietly. "I would still choose to be Pharaoh because I don't wish to see Egypt fall in the hands of a weaker or corrupt man. I will be Pharaoh if only to see it flourish and continue to grow, even if it takes my last ounce of blood to do so."
"You have such devotion," his cousin murmured. "I wonder if I could feel the same way about something."
"You can. You are just afraid of commitment." Seth laughed harshly.
"Commitment to what? I have no desire to spend my life tied down to something. After all my work to perfect my skills, I still know nothing. Commitment only brings more of this wretched feeling of inferiority!"
"You have a commitment to being the best," Atem remarked calmly. "I respect that, but I also say that you fear finding out what life would be like…if you were the best. Life would be stagnant, the excitement of a coming day dulled by the knowledge that you have nothing left to strive for. You are not inferior, Seth, far from it. You are one of the seven most powerful priests in the land, second to no one."
"Except you," Seth spoke moodily. "These titles mean nothing to me. One of the buffoons in there can have them all. I want something unattainable." He spoke his last sentence softly, so softly that Atem couldn't hear. Someone else did, though.
"I want someone to understand me…"
The doors cracked open and a servant cautiously looked through. Atem and Seth turned to face him and he gulped.
"Pardon this unworthy slave, Exalted One, but the father of Priest Seth has sent me to get him. He wishes to talk to him, Your Majesty." Seth quickly stepped to join him and the door closed again.
"That was an interesting conversation," a female voice spoke behind Atem. He turned around and saw a veiled girl sitting on the railing.
(Celestia POV)
For the royal palace, their security was ridiculously easy to pass. A few guards tried to stop me at the gates, but I charmed them to forget I ever came by. It took me a bit of time to find the darned balcony, but then I remembered something. As twins, Seth and I had almost identical energy signatures, so all I had to do was find the essence that felt the same as mine. Unfortunately, I think I meddled with something that I shouldn't have; hence, Seth's blowup at the Pharaoh. If they're really friends like I hear everywhere, though, it'll be forgotten. I'll have to apologize to him someday, I suppose, but I don't plan f or that to happen any time soon.
Anyway, I found Seth and stood under the balcony, listening to them speak. The courtyard I was standing had excellent acoustics, so I heard everything, even Seth's little private wish. I wanted so badly to talk to him, but I held myself back. Discipline is really a most wonderful thing. As to why, who can understand each other better than a sister and a brother? Well, maybe that's not the best example, but I'm confident that he'd understand if he knew me.
So after their backs were turned and Seth went off with that ridiculously humble servant, I just casually perched on the stone railing and said in my most cheerful voice, "That was an interesting conversation."
When he turned to face me, I was struck by how powerful the aura he exuded was. It wasn't just a magical aura, but rather a strong presence. I could see how he warded off my father's clutching grasps for power, but two could play at this game. I let a bit of my power loose, which was formerly concealed.
For a few seconds we looked at each other, silently assessing the other's ability.
(End Celestia POV)
Atem felt her power flare up, responding to his hidden challenge. He looked at her with well-concealed awe, disguising the fact that he was aware of her power. She stared at him frankly without a trace of the modesty and deference that women were expected to show to men. She smiled wryly, but it was mostly hidden by her veil. Only her eyes crinkled with a bit of mirth.
"If you're expecting me to bow or anything, might as well save your energy," she said, almost as if she had read his mind. "I don't bow on principle." Atem found his voice.
"Usually people bow to each other when they've been introduced."
"Usually people bow if they're seeking advancement of their own careers," she retorted. "Thankfully, though, I'm fine the way I am."
"You don't acknowledge that I have the authority to improve your condition?" Atem challenged.
"No, I'm not saying that you have no control. Judging by your aura, I'd say you have excellent control over your subjects-and your power. I'd rather be self-sufficient, if you understand what I'm saying," she said almost confidentially.
"Point taken," he conceded. "Now, if I may ask your name?"
"You may, but you won't get it. My name's very special to me, you see. Hundreds, if not thousands of people ask me that each year, but no one have found it out. You may call me Lady Veil, or just Veil, if I give you permission." The Pharaoh's eyes widened and she noticed. Again she smiled her hidden smile.
"I've never traditionally been to Memphis, that's true," she admitted. "This year, though, I thought that I should see who wore the crown this time, since I'll be paying the taxes to you once I settle down. It might as well be someone I've met."
"Well, here you are, then. Your benefactress, the esteemed Shadow Goddess, had hinted not very discreetly that-"
"Oh, her," she said. "I might as well tell you now that I have no intention of doing anything for you, Pharaoh. I am my own person, not someone you can command. She makes many promises for me, but I keep only those I like."
"If you were talking to anyone but me," Atem said indifferently. "Your head would have been removed from your body and displayed to all. Then again, such blatant disrespect is quite refreshing."
"You're not getting special treatment, by the way. This is how I treat everybody."
"Even the human incarnation of Ra?" he asked, amused.
"I'm the daughter of a goddess," she retorted. "And the Shadow goddess is infinitely more powerful than the sun god. We're both human, after all. Most of the groveling is nothing but show."
"Has anyone ever told you that a little bit of sweetness goes a long way?" he asked her.
"And has anyone ever told you that a little bit of humility saves your neck from being halved?" she shot back. "Living on the go doesn't do much for a sweet personality, your Majesty, and frankly, all of the people who've told me such a thing aren't alive right now."
"You killed them," he stated flatly.
"No. I simply refused to help them with banishing a murderous Shadow Monster from their home. I have the right to make a decision, after all," she declared.
"I suppose you won't become a High Priestess, then?" he asked. She shook her head and smiled, although he couldn't see.
"And live here? I'm sorry, but I still walk my own path and choose my own lodgings. It's not time for me to be tied down yet; I have a life to live, and so much more to live for than to be stuck poker-faced behind you in a servile attitude. Someday, I will, but that day is not today." She made as if to leave, but Atem, remembering the question he had for her, cried,
"Wait!" She stopped, almost as if she was expecting him to call her, and stood motionless, looking out to the starry sky. He came up behind her and was again struck by her presence.
"Beautiful night, isn't it?" she asked quietly. "It has a knack for making people forget their troubles; at least it does for me whenever I look at the moon from the desert. Everything's flat there, and I have the sensation that I'm the only one around; but when I look at the sky there, I'm made distinctly aware of just how small my life is when compared to the billions of others in the world." Then, she abruptly asked, "Have you accessed the Puzzle's power yet?"
"I'm beginning to unlock it," he replied, stunned by the quick change of subject.
"You'd better make good use of it," she said, her tone discouraging any argument. "The ones who made its creation possible won't ever be able to come back. Learn how to unlock its potential soon, Pharaoh. Your livelihood depends on it."
"Why?" he asked. "My puzzle was made from the souls of exorcised Shadow Monsters, wasn't it? Why would anyone ever want them back? Aren't they merely tools for our use?" She turned on him angrily, her eyes narrowing dangerously above her veil.
"You fool!" she raged. "Shadow Monsters and humans rely on each other. Without one, the other falls. Don't ever call them tools! They're more faithful than humans, that's for sure." She stopped, glaring at the teen Pharaoh with suspicion. "Speak your piece and I'll be gone."
"Where is the friend of my cousin, Seth?" he forced out through his anxiety. "The friend who went to the Golden Sun Temple with him as a trainee of the Shadow Realm Goddess?" Celestia closed her eyes, thinking of something to say that would cover her former identity.
"She is dead," she said solemnly. "A jealous classmate, by the name of Malik, stabbed her through the heart the day after your cousin left." Inwardly, she cheered herself on, thinking that this would quench any desire Seth had for looking for her.
Leaving the boy in his silence, she floated over the railing of the balcony and turned to face his once more. "I will not join you until you begin to show some more compassion for your Shadow counterparts," she said clearly. Then she vanished.
Celestia POV
I actually went to my former hiding spot below the balcony to listen again. Seth returned and after a few pleasantries, the Pharaoh told him of my supposed fate. He seemed to be resigned to it, and thought no more of the subject. Only I heard the suppressed cry of his heart. I was filled with sadness for him, and couldn't stop being sad even when Seth was appointed the post of High Priest.
Things were better this way, I thought, and went away from the person who could have understood me best. I went to find Bakura/Kage so I could say my goodbyes to him as well.
End Celestia POV
"Kage, I have to go," Celestia said to him. She stood next to him, looking down to his face, which he resolutely kept turned away. There was no response.
"Please don't hold my stopping your assassination attempt against me," she said.
Still no response.
"Fine, Kage. If you want to be pigheaded, go ahead," Celestia grumbled, turning away. "Never mind the fact that if you had killed him, you would have been killed by the various spells surrounding him. I'm sorry if you wanted to be portrayed as the tragic martyr, but can you blame me for protecting you?"
"I can take care of myself," he said for the first time. "I don't care if I die now, there's nothing left for me here."
"I care." Bakura whirled around to look at her. She was turned away from him, but he heard the sincerity in her voice.
"Why?" he asked.
"Do you think that I've had many friends?" she asked him. "The friends I have aren't even human. Can you blame me for wanting to keep one of the few friends I have on this earth?"
"No," he finally admitted. "I'm sorry."
"It's not your fault," she said. "You were motivated by revenge. I couldn't bear losing someone so soon after…Seth." She took a deep breath and faced Bakura. "Anyway, I should get going. I always travel in the night, and I can't stay in Memphis any longer. Malik's here."
"You're just going to leave?" he asked, surprised. "After everything that happened today."
She smiled sadly and started walking off into the night.
"I am a wanderer," she said softly. "I have no home. Why should I stay for too long in any one place? I'm sure we'll see each other again. After all, Egypt is only so big."
Disclaimer: don't own Yu-Gi-Oh! Never have and never will.
