"What the hell is this?"
Kaiba paused mid-step, with his foot on the bottom stair of the staircase in the mansion foyer. He was just heading upstairs after a late breakfast and was surprised to see Jou greeting Yugi at the front door.
"Yugi just came for a visit is all." Jou tried to be nonchalant, pretending to be cheerful and dismissive all at once, but he didn't have a nonchalant bone in his body and Kaiba was instantly suspicious.
"Hi," Yugi half-waved at Kaiba and squinted. "You look horrible, Kaiba."
"Why, thank you."
"Are you wearing jeans? I don't think I've ever seen you in jeans before."
"I'll make sure to fire my stylist," Kaiba quipped drily. "Just what exactly are you doing in my house at eight-thirty in the morning?" Kaiba asked disdainfully.
"I asked Yugi to come over," Jou interjected, looking noticeably nervous now.
Before he could say anything else, Yugi blurted out, "I know about what's going on with you. I'm here to try and help, Kaiba."
Kaiba shot a look at Jou that clearly screamed 'traitor,' then his eyes sliced across to Yugi again. He crossed the foyer to stand directly in front of Yugi and looked down at him scornfully.
"I don't need it. You can go now," Kaiba said coldly.
Kaiba turned his back on them and walked away. Then Yugi said something that sounded like gibberish to Jou, but seemed to clearly affect Kaiba.
"Ehet eremun brahan."
Kaiba stopped in his tracks and slowly turned to face Yugi.
"What did you just say?"
"You've heard it, right? Those words? In your dreams."
Kaiba stared at Yugi, lips parted as if to speak, but no sound came out.
"Do…do you know what they mean?" he finally asked, somehow managing to sound both controlled and aloof, but his intense gaze betrayed his torment.
"They're an incantation. From the past, from ancient Egypt."
Kaiba silently pivoted around and made a beeline for the stairs again.
"Wait, Kaiba! You know I'm right! You see yourself, but you're not yourself, you're someone else. And you're doing things you would never do, saying things you don't understand."
Kaiba's steps slowed on the stairs, but then they picked up speed again. Yugi darted after him, talking to Kaiba's back as they cleared the stairs and headed down a brightly lit corridor.
"They don't feel like dreams, do they? It feels real, you can feel the knife in your hand, smell the blood, taste the sand."
Jou, who had been following them silently, reacted, casting a bewildered gaze in Seto's direction.
"Whoa, what blood – what knife?"
Kaiba looked at Jou, clearly upset that he had heard that.
"Stop." His carefully even tone and the glare he levelled in Yugi's direction clearly brooked no argument and would have shaken lesser men.
Kaiba turned away from Jou's confused face and grabbed the door handle to his study.
"That's because it is real, it's happened," Yugi continued, ignoring Kaiba's warning. "You did it. I mean, you didn't do it, but - that ritual, it's real and -"
"I said stop!"
Kaiba angrily flung his arms wide and the door flew open, revealing a mess of books and papers stacked on every available surface. His jagged panting was the only sound in the still air as he slumped against the doorjamb, his back to the others.
"Whatever you're researching - it won't help you, Kaiba," Yugi said softly. "What you're dealing with is way bigger and older than anything in any book."
"Do you really know what's happening to me?" His voice was muted, maybe with defeat, or at least acceptance, Yugi thought.
"Yes. I think I do."
"Then just tell me." He turned to face Yugi, and looked literally pained to say it, to admit that someone else had what he needed.
"It's not that simple."
"Then explain it to me. I think I'll be able to keep up. You have twenty minutes." And just like that, Kaiba was back to his normal, domineering self. He strode into the study and motioned them to follow him, once again in control of the situation.
o.O.o.
Kaiba and Yugi sat facing each other over the large wooden desk in his study, studiously ignoring the heaps of books and papers littering the entire area, while Jou took up residence in the corner closest to the door, leaning against a bookcase.
"Well?" Kaiba questioned, eyebrow raised and shoulders set. Yugi knew he would not want to hear what he was about to say, and he tried to figure out how to explain it to Kaiba so that he wouldn't kick him down the stairs immediately.
"Kaiba, I know you're still coming to terms with this reincarnation stuff, but that's at the centre of what's happening to you," Yugi started gently. "I need you to just bear with me and really listen to what I'm saying to y-"
"Eighteen minutes."
Jou rolled his eyes in his corner.
"Let's start at the beginning. Do you remember that duel with Marik at Battle City, where we had the vision of the past?"
"Yes," Kaiba grudgingly acceded.
"Ok. You remember seeing someone who looked exactly like you, right?"
Kaiba said nothing at first, but his body language indicated that he did. "Yes. I remember Set," he said finally, raising his eyes to meet Yugi's.
"Alright, good. I know you've heard this before, but - you are the reincarnation of Set. You were him in your past life, in many past lives, actually. Your soul keeps being reborn through time. I mean, you're still you, but you were also him, get it?"
The look on Kaiba's face was strange; not dismissive, but not altogether accepting either. It seemed to Yugi that Kaiba was caught somewhere between disbelief and despair, and he might have said something reassuring if Kaiba hadn't snapped back into CEO mode.
"Sixteen minutes," Kaiba said in an efficient, clipped tone. Yugi really had to give it to Kaiba, the way he could keep his composure no matter the circumstance was amazing.
"Alright, I can tell you're not gonna give this a chance till you hear it all, so here goes. When Set was High Priest, he was possessed by something…evil. He did a lot of things during the time he was possessed. A lot of…bad things."
"What does that have to do with me?" Kaiba asked impatiently.
"I'm getting to that. See, while he was possessed, all of Set's deepest, darkest desires were given free reign. The one thing he wanted more than anything else was power. And he thought that the only way he could get that power was through eternal life. He took a series of…measures…so that he would never really die. He chained his then-consciousness to all of his future reincarnations. That's why you've been dreaming those things, seeing those things."
Kaiba was silent for a few moments, digesting this information, turning it over in his mind, and Yugi could see he was struggling to decide whether he should believe it and continue their discussion, or beat the shit out of both him and Jou for making him even entertain the idea. Finally – thankfully – Kaiba relented, and reluctantly addressed Yugi.
"So, say I buy this. What does he want with me? There must be a reason for these…visions." The distaste on Kaiba's face was clear as he spat out the last word.
"He's trying to take back his body, his life. Only now, it's your body, your life."
o.o.o.o.o.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.o.o.o.o.o.
I made some stuff up yall, I don't know no Egyptian, ancient or otherwise. Also, I took some artistic license with the ancient Egypt storyline; fanfiction ftw!