Sorry for the delay in this update its been a draining week for me...
For those who may not remember i originally posted this as a one-shot a sort of semi-prequel to this story but decided it fit MUCH better chronologically into this series especially since in the original series Seto and Ishizu met while Yugi was recovering in the hospital.
So, this taking place just before Ishizu meets with Kaiba to give him Obelisk and takes place from Ishizu's pov, however it includes a flashback scene from the anime episode 60 (the Japanese one) where Ishizu confronted Marik after he stole Ra and we get the truth behind his motivations. And yes, I borrowed the title from the Inuyasha movie...it just fit.
This idea came to life from one of the many unanswered questions of the series: if Ishizu knew what was going to happen with her brother, Seto, Atem etc. why didn't she do anything? (i mean for the longest time her holier than though attitude annoyed the hell out of me i won't lie, but as an older myself i couldn't just believe this whole "acceptance of fate" thing she was going with and especially given how dramatically her personality changed after her duel with Seto, and how she become more hopeful...it made me wonder what if just before all this happened, she knew EXACTLY what the outcome would be getting a little bit of a hint like the duel with Joey the necklace showed Atem and Yugi before their duel with Kaiba? but if that was true than how and why since it was made perfectly clear the necklace was sketchy at best...this is my thoughts ;)
Disclaimer: I own nothing. Yes, title was borrowed from the first InuYahsa Movie
WARNING: Mentions of past abuse, Self-doubt, depression, hopelessness, etc.
Contains spoilers for the manga and Japanese anime (I strongly suggest reading/watching both if you've only ever seen the 4kids version)
Ishizu Ishtar bringing the mortuary palette to Domino City and giving Seto Kaiba the third god, Obelisk, was the catalyst for the Battle City Tournament and the Millennium Battle of the 20th century, knowing it would lead to her beloved younger brother's downfall and set in motion a chain of events once started could never be stopped—and whose outcome even she cannot see, no matter how much she wishes.
As Her meeting with Kaiba grows closer, doubt and anxiety begins to consume her and she begins to have second thoughts—until an unexpected vision arrives from an old friend whose heart has always been hers.
Affections Touching Across Time
The God Obelisk was heavy in her hand.
She stood alone in the museum's off exhibit wing where the palette of the Millennium Battle looked over her like a foreboding ghost refusing to rest.
Seto Kaiba would be here soon. Her taunk had shown her. Just as it had shown her the outcome of this fated meeting and the events that would follow it: all leading to a new Millennium Battle, and a new clash of the Gods and a new test of Kings. All concluding the the final confrontation between the soul of the Nameless Pharaoh and his courageous chosen against the ultimate darkness
Tears stung her eyes.
Marik.
The Tomb keeper who'd betrayed his family legacy.
The fearsome leader of the Rare Hunters who hunted for the God Cards like a starving lion hunted antelope.
The boy whose long held suffering at the hands of destiny and Fate had consumed him and led him down a dark path to seek the title and power of King himself.
Her brother.
Guilt flooded her heart and her neutral mask and demeanor cracked. She was glad for the seclusion of this off exhibit room away from the prying eyes of museum associates and antiquity guards.
Here, in this space, within these walls away from prying eyes and expectations and destiny she was not Isis, dutiful daughter of the Ishtar clan whose only purpose was loyalty to her father and clan. Not Ishizu the Head of Egypt's Antiquity division who rose the ranks through knowledge no living person could or should possibly know. Not the reincarnation of an ancient priestess whose duties she'd unwittingly and unwillingly inherited. Here she was just Ishizu, just a woman who'd lost everything and was about to set in motion the chain of events that would ruin all that she had left.
The God card burned on the pocket against her breast, a cruel reminder of what she must do and what she was powerless to stop.
The glimpses of the future the millennium taunk offered were hazy at best, but the turning points were clear: the Millennium battle would be fought again on the streets of Domino City; the reincarnated chosens of the past would arrive to compete for the title of King; the Nameless Pharaoh, however content he was with his circumstances would be forced to fight, ignorant of the role he was about to play and its importance his kind-hearted chosen and those he had come to call friends would all become pawns and weapons in a dangerous game; and his fate would intersect with that of her brother who was driven to destroy him.
It was unfair of her to do this to him, to any of them. The King had already suffered enough in his past life according to the ancient scriptures. He deserved a second chance to live in peace after such a sacrifice as his name, life and memories. And yet here she was about to force him once again into the heart of danger, into a battle that should not be is, like the very thought of his happiness was some sick joke.
Were the gods truly so cruel as to repeat the suffering of others over and over again for their own amusement just with different players?
The Museum curator spoke nothing but fondness for the King's chosen, a young man named Yugi, and his friends. They called the King friend. They cared not for his past, or glory, or status. Friends who truly loved the king for who he was—it was a luxury he'd been denied in his past life, when things like friendship and affection were seen as a weakness in a man meant to embody the Gods. Was it truly right of her to do this to him? To them?
She wished she knew, but every time she looked into his future: his, her brother's, the world's, it showed only the same vision. A Shadow Game between the Pharaoh and her brother completely consumed by darkness and whatever remained of the brother she loved, limb and lost as a broken doll; the boy who was the King's chosen all but consumed by shadows, the world surrounded in darkness. The vision did not change. Sometimes she would see a fifth figure lurking in the shadows though she could not see his face. Sometimes she saw the horrified faces of his friends and sometimes even Kaiba was there. But the primary vision never changed.
If she set in motion these events, if she did what the Taunk told her, if she gave Obelisk the blue god to Kaiba then she would lose her brother for good and the lives of too many innocents would be destroyed.
She collapsed against the stone. Pain erupted from her chest in a way so fierce she knew her heart was breaking. Tears stung her eyes and an elegant hand rose to cover them. The other braced against the stone was weakening and barely able to hold her up. Instead she allowed herself to fall, for her knees to hit the stone and just, if only for a moment, surrender.
She couldn't do this.
She wouldn't do this.
She refused to do this.
There was still hope for her brother after all. Marik was misguided, not evil. His pain and hatred had merely twisted his beliefs and turned him against the Pharaoh as a means of coming to terms with his grief. It was understandable. No one knew the extent of his suffering more than she did. Surely he understood that?
Memories of her last encounter with Marik, the last one before she came to Domino and he all but vanished her from his life, came flooding back to her in a wave of doubt.
She waited for Marik outside the tomb where the avatar of Ra slept. He exited the cavern a moment later dawning the long purple robe and hood of the Rare Hunters, the god card in hand.
He did not notice her at first, then his gaze found hers. She kept her serene face level, her long fingers folded calmly before her. She betrayed no emotion, but even she could not stop the hope fluttering within her eyes.
"Sister," he said and his voice belonged to her brother not the leader of the Rare Hunters. His lavender eyes locked with hers, hesitating, waiting.
"Is this how you spit on our ancestors, Marik," she chastised him but there was nothing accusatory in her voice. Only sadness. "Our family has protected the Valley of the Kings for nearly 3,000 years. You're wasting the sacrifices of our ancestors with this—"
"They sacrificed for what?" Marik cut her off, words laced with indignant determination. "For a king who never came!? For a man who knows nothing of kingship and less of our family's suffering?" He snapped full of anger but beneath the rage, she both sensed and heard his pain. "Someone had to get rid of this tradition, Isis. Someone had to set us free. I will gather the three God Cards and acquire the title of Pharaoh, and finally free our family from this cursed destiny."
It took everything in her not to flinch, knowing all too well what their "cursed" destiny entitled. What it had entitled of him.
Her hands clenched at her sides as she steeled herself, powered by her own resolve she countered. "You're betraying our family!" She wrung her fingers, not yet willing to surrender. "Please, brother, stop this. There is still time to undo this. Help me find the Pharaoh, once he has united the gods and regained his memories then our family's duty will be complete. We can still be free."
"We'll never be free, Isis." His tone brokered no room for argument. "Not as long as we are servants to another. Why should I pledge myself to some unknown savior. Why should you, when we could claim that power that is rightfully ours and finally free ourselves from this fate and build a better world as a result. A world where there is no need for such slavish duty." His eyes met hers again: bright with righteous determination and hazy with love. "You cannot stop me, Isis." The words were a fact as well as a plea.
With it the last hope she had of convincing her brother to end this madness evaporate like mist in the desert.
"I cannot let you past, Marik." She steeled herself.
Her eyes flashed when he raised the Millennium Rod. "Step out of my way, Isis."
With a Herculean effort she kept her face serene, betraying the anguish clutching her heart like sharp, poisonous claws.
"You would uses your Millennium Rod on me, Marik?" The words were a plea not a challenge.
He did not take it as one.
"I can if it's for our family's future. Even on you, sister."
With a flash of pale golden light, she knew no more.
Her chest burned now as fiercely as it had then. She had woken up alone in the desert only a few moments later, Marik's footprints and motorcycle tracks still fresh. It was a testament of the love he still had for her that he merely put her to sleep, and even then only long enough for him to escape—but the anguish of that action hurt nonetheless. Two months and the ache it had caused had not sustained.
Even without her taunk telling her so she knew: the Pharaoh's destiny and her brother's were intertwined and there was nothing she could have said to him that would stop it.
But there is something that can.
Some cold, dark part of her taunted.
Subconsciously. Her fingers slipped to Obelisk, safely tucked away in her dress.
She pulled it away and touched the eye of Wadjet at her throat. "Tell me what I'm supposed to do...someone please tell me if this is what I'm supposed to do."
No answers came: no visions of the future, no offerings of clarity, nothing to assure this decision was the right choice.
Her shaking hand fell away, defeated, and she steadied herself against the palette.
Don't give up.
She gasped, pressing her palm against the rock. A sudden brightness flooded her eyes accompanied by a voice so deep and smooth and loving it enveloped her like a cloak of warmed velvet.
Don't give up, habibi...
The vision returned to her: the final duel, the Pharaoh, her brother, a sky swallowed by darkness, but then something else happened she didn't expect. The vision changed, shifted like it was moving forward...
The shadows gave way to clear blue skies and bright sun. She saw her brother standing by the sea looking as happy and innocent as he had before the tomb keeper's initiation. Beside him was a sweet-faced young man she, at first, did not recognize: soft skin, apple cheeks, outrageous hair in three bold colors, deep beautiful eyes and a smile that could shame a thousand suns.
Another vision showed the young man she'd seen as the Pharaoh dueling against a spunky blond youth, the fire of battle between them, their warriors spirits bright and carefree, the rivalry in their eyes born from mutual respect not malice. The Pharaoh appeared again, a serene, peaceful smile gracing a sleeping face as if darkness or danger had never touched his life. He slept wrapped on the arms of another young man whose face she could not see but the smile she could betrayed no emotion but love and longing.
Another showed them again a few years in the future: the Pharaoh, his chosen, her brother, and all the people they called friends seeing off their lone female companion at the airport, their futures as bright as their eyes and smiles. The next vision was many years in the future where she again saw the Pharaoh's chosen bouncing a babe in this lap. A babe with that same outrageous hair and her brother's lavender eyes. Running towards him was an older boy with Marik's tanned skin and platinum blond hair and sharp eyes but their color was darker, deeper...like his mother's. Studying all three of them as his older son climbed up his mother's back—her brother stood smiling looking happier and more content then she'd ever seen him.
Breathe caught in her throat as she saw, wandered through each memory until a final vision in the form of a girl came bouncing past her with a head full of golden waves cascading down her back that emphasized her Egyptian skin. She ran towards the waiting arms of a tall man, also blond, wearing the most outrageous purple trench coat she'd ever seen. He caught the girl ecstatically and whirled her in the air until her face met Ishizu's. She look her right in the eyes...her eyes: deep, dark, penetrating blue eyes that Ishizu saw every time she looked in a mirror—her mother's eyes, her eyes, her daughter's eyes.
She chanced a glance at the man who held her and a breath froze in her throat. Those pale blue eyes, that chiseled face, that small smile—something stirred in her heart as he looked at her, smiled at her. A smile of recognition and remembrance and regret and love.
The world came back to her with such sudden sharpness that she nearly stumbled in her shock, her hand did not falter from the stone. Collecting herself. She realized it was the "diaha" palette depicting the Pharaoh's battle she was leaning against. Slowly she pulled her hand away revealing the hieroglyphic engraving of the Dark Magician.
And just like that, she remembered.
Tears pricked her eyes Lightness washed over her, and all her previous doubts and anxiety vanished like dust washed away by a spring rain.
"Ms Ishizu," her bodyguard entered. "Mr Kaiba has just arrived."
"I will be right there," she said and dismissed him with a nod.
Casting one last glance at the stone mage, she smiled. Feeling lighter and more certain than she had in years, Ishizu squared her shoulders and, ironing her resolve, left to meet with Seto Kaiba.
I'm personally very proud of the memory scenes :)
I'll be honest, for a long time I was hit or miss with Ishizu, but as with most Yugioh characters, as the series progressed and her character developed she really grew on me, especially her relationship with Malik and her family.
As such, I also included the flashback scene from episode 60 where Ishizu confronts Malik just as her steals the Winged Dragon of Ra-I used the subtitled version because the dialogue made so much more sense (Marik was a lot less psychotic than the 4kids version seriously if you have not read the manga or watched the original subtitled Yugioh DO IT! Oh my god!)
I really liked how Marik's actions were motivated by his desire for freedom, for himself and his family, which made him a much more sympathetic and dynamic character in my opinion-and honesty given how many characters in his series have abusive parents/backgrounds and the level of shit these teens deal with, I would not be surprised if Takehashi created this series with the theme of childhood trauma in mind and the duels and tournaments are a metaphor for overcoming your past demons-literally (think about it Kaiba threw this whole tournament just to escape his stepfather's shadow)
By the way anyone wanna guess who the blonds were in Ishizu's vision, one was obvious, the second one...;)
Thanks for reading! Stayed tune for Intertwined Persistence of Memory and more Captive and the Cobra!
