Potential
By RWThunder
Chapter Three – Doubt
"I'm glad you're feeling better, Nii-sama," Mokuba said, gripping his older brother's hand harder than was necessary as they made their way towards the museum. "But are you sure you have to see that lady now? The press is going insane and your executives are—"
"Talking with Isis won't take long, Mokuba." Seto interrupted. "I'll take care of things soon enough. As for the press and the hospital staff, you can assure them all that I'm not dead and don't plan on going for quite some time—sound good?' He ruffled his sibling's hair.
"Alright, as long as you're sure you're okay." The younger Kaiba stopped at the front doors and waved cheerily until his brother had disappeared inside.
As the doors swung shut, Seto let his posture sag and leaned heavily against the wall, clutching his chest. He was far from okay. Wincing, he slid a hand beneath his shirt to touch the bandages covering his chest.
"Damn bitch. I'll sue her into the fucking afterlife—not that I need the money…I could always request capitol punishment, that would suffice…"
"I sincerely hope that that is a joke, Seto Kaiba." The CEO's head shot up at the sound of that calm, icy voice belonging to the Egyptian priestess.
"Isis," he said, inclining his had respectful. She nodded in return, stopping a few feet in front of him and giving him a searching look.
"I had hoped that my millennium necklace was losing its touch when I saw that you would be coming today," she said tersely. "given your condition I can hardly see what reason you could possibly have for coming here. I have no more god cards for you." Seto smirked, forcing himself to stand on his own two feet.
"I don't want cards today, Isis. I have to talk to you about a dream I had in the hospital."
"Oh really?" She raised her eyebrows at this although the rest of her face remained frozen.
"Yes, only I'm not sure it was a dream. Is there someplace where we can…?" He glanced around the empty foyer. Isis slung his arm around her shoulders in one swift motion and nodded.
"Yes, of course. I will take you to someplace where we can talk."
"I can walk on my own, thanks," Seto said, his arm twitching. The Egyptian's nails bit into his skin through the fabric of his coat.
"Let us not worry about pride and appearances, Seto Kaiba, I know you are a respectable man." She began leading him down the hall.
"That's not what I—"
"Of course that is not what you meant. I quite understand. Not far now…" Seto could have sworn he saw her lips twitch with the beginnings of a smile as she ushered him down a painful flight of stairs.
"Right," he muttered, wincing. Painkillers my ass.
"Perhaps it would not be so painful if you had let the doctors of this fine age take proper care of you, yes?" the priestess said, stopping in front of a large door. Seto gaped at her.
No matter how many times she did it, he was always shocked anew whenever she used her Item to read minds. Believing all the things she said about magic and reincarnation was hard, but feeling someone dip into your thoughts was even more difficult to ignore.
"You know, I'm sure that's against the law." He grumbled as she fished a card out from her dress and slid it across the scanner set into the wall.
"You are, of course, absolutely correct. I do not indulge myself too often, Seto Kaiba." Her eyes narrowed, daring him to talk back. "Here we are." Suddenly with a great grinding of gears the door began rising to reveal a vast chamber. Seto had been there before.
"No—I don't want to go in there again…" He said softly, his fierce blue eyes scanning the dark room fearfully. Isis said nothing but lead him inside all the same, flashing her card again to close the door behind them. The lamps flickered on.
The harsh fluorescent light of the display fixtures shed their blinding beams onto the center piece: a massive stone tablet with the figures of Seto and Yami carved into the rock. Seto blew out an anxious breath he hadn't known he was holding.
"Now, tell me about your dream." Isis said, appearing behind the CEO with a chair. Seto sat down immediately, cringing as his wounds complained.
"Thank you, for…" He began, his eyes drifting to the haunting artifact before them.
"It was nothing." Isis replied briskly.
"I'm not sure if it was a dream, exactly," Seto continued, encouraged by the priestess' respectful silence. "I was walking with Yami, that's how it started."
"Just the pharaoh?" Isis asked.
"Yes." She pursed her lips. "It was strange, a part of me understood why we were walking and everything seemed to be in place…but I also felt like I was watching things happen through someone else's eyes—I couldn't understand where I was or why it was happening." He shook his head in frustration.
"Please continue." Isis prompted.
"Look, I don't know why but I felt close to him, close to Yami. It can't have meant anything, I'm just not used to seeing him as something other than a rival." Seto stopped, realizing too late that he was slightly uncomfortable with discussing the specific emotions he had experienced with the Egyptian.
"Sounds to me like a welcome change." She replied somewhat snidely, pulling up another chair. "Were you in love with him?" She asked, her voice never gaining the slightest spark of playfulness—her eyes just as hard as ever. Seto felt himself gripping the arms of his chair.
"What kind of question is that?" He said sharply, frowning at her. Isis shrugged gracefully.
"It is merely a question, Seto Kaiba—were you in love with his majesty?" She folded her hands in her lap expectantly.
"How should I know?" He shot back, biting his lip to keep his aggression in check.
"And so…?" Isis had obviously decided to let it go. Seto sighed.
"So nothing. We stopped walking, someone came out of nowhere…next thing I know I've been shot about five times and I'm on the ground, dying." His voice grew weaker as he recalled the feeling.
"And what was his lordship's reaction?" The priestess asked softly. Seto was silent for a moment.
"He was upset. I died and I—I mean, I saw myself die. And then…" His eyes flickered unintentionally to the tablet. "…I watched Yami shoot himself in the head. Then I woke up." There was a pause.
"Seto Kaiba, you are a terrible liar." Isis said sternly. Seto felt his face flush.
"What are you talking about?" He said, flustered, not meeting her eyes.
"I do not have to read your mind to know that you are not telling me the whole truth." She answered calmly.
"So what?" Seto burst out, wondering when he'd become so agitated.
"Tell me, Seto, how come you did not hear the murderer approaching?" She narrowed her eyes.
"I don't know." He replied stubbornly, looking at the floor. The Egyptian sighed.
"Allow me to fill in some of the blanks, Seto Kaiba," Isis said somewhat sarcastically. "As hard as it is on your pride, you know that you felt strongly for the pharaoh—and he for you. The fact is that in your 'dream' as we will call it for now, you experienced feelings that were not your own—feelings that your soul had already cultivated but not made absorbable to you. That was not a dream, exactly, it would be more accurate to say that it was a memory. I urge you now to believe me when I tell you that this is not the first time that you and his majesty have met. That is the best way that I can explain it for now."
"That's a load of bullshit. I've heard your spiel before. I remember your little trick from the last time that you lured me in here but I won't be fooled again." Seto stood up, making for the door.
"Open your eyes, Kaiba! What happened to you two days ago was not an accident!" The emotion in her voice scared him, numbing his legs somehow. He stopped.
"What do you mean?" He asked slowly. "You know something about why I was attacked? What the hell is going on here, I have a right to know!" He turned, his heart racing. "You told me once that I was Yami's high priest in another life and even if that's true, what the fuck does it have to do with the bullet holes in my chest? And what, dare I ask, would it have to do with my dreams—memories—whatever they are!" He staggered towards the wall and collapsed against it, arms folded protectively over his chest.
"You and Pharaoh Atemu have met before. What I told you about being his high priest is true." Isis said gently, coming up beside him.
"No—shut up! Stay away from me…" The CEO backed up into the corner and refused to meet her eyes.
"Don't you want to understand, Kaiba? After eighteen years of living a life of ignorance and routine don't you finally want to know the meaning of your existence?" Isis continued stepping closer and closer, her necklace shining in the harsh light.
"I said shut up! There is no fate, no predestination—I've made my own fucking life from day one, I didn't go through all that shit before because someone said I would!"
"Not entirely, no, of course not." Isis said quietly.
"My parents didn't die because 'it was their time,' godammit—it wasn't! And that stupid fuck who bought our lives away—Mokuba and I, that wasn't supposed to happen…" Seto felt the quaver in his voice and knew he had to stop. He hadn't cried in eleven years—he wasn't about to start now.
"Nothing is so black and white as that, Kaiba. I can't tell you why everything in life happens the way it does—which is why you should let me show you what I do know. I can take you back and make you understand why you were attacked and why you had that dream of yours." The Egyptian stopped and folded her arms as Seto collected himself.
"You're fucking crazy. I hate this shit, I hate it all…" he gestured towards the tablet. "Everything from that damned hunk of rock to the necklace you're wearing, Isis, I hate it." He cursed.
"And yet what—or should I say—who you hate most of all is Yami." The priestess said sagely, addressing the king of games by his first name for once. "Not true hate, Kaiba, you merely dislike him because you do not understand him. You do not understand why you feel the way you do around him sometimes, why he seems so familiar, and most of all why you cannot just forget about him. He changed your life, he is changing it still, and you despise him for it."
"I don't get it, my life was finally starting to get better…" Seto muttered. "Then that…'spirit' of Yugi's shows up and everything goes to hell." He slumped against the wall and shut his eyes tightly.
"I am well aware of your beliefs on the matter of reincarnation, Seto Kaiba, but that no longer matters. Whether you believe what I have told you about your destiny is now irrelevant. I have learned, you see, that you will better understand what I have been trying to tell you if you see it for yourself—if you see yourself." Her millennium item glistened menacingly.
"Fine. You know what? Fine. You win, I'll drink whatever you've got just make it quick." Seto straightened his coat and allowed the priestess to escort him towards the tablet.
"Kaiba, this process has nothing to do with narcotics. My millennium item allows me to see into the past, it—" She began.
"It was just a joke. Can we get on with it?" He snapped, attempting to hide his nerves.
"Very well. I ought to explain to you first, however, this will be different from your dream. You will not feel Seth's emotions, you will be an invisible, disembodied observer. A ghost, in short. You will not watch what I have to show you from any specific point of view—you will see a mixture of my memories and your own, but only from one removed perspective." Isis explained.
"Who the hell is Seth?" Seto asked, eyeing his profile on the stone depiction.
"Seth was your soul's first incarnation. He was the pharaoh's high priest—you, in a way." She framed the millennium necklace with her hands and shut her eyes.
"The memories will unfold before you much like a story, I will narrate when it is necessary. The rest you will ascertain for yourself." The eye around her neck glowed and Seto felt himself becoming amazingly light as the room seemed to disappear. He closed his eyes tightly and braced himself.
--
"Doubt" by Bella Morte