Yu-Gi-Oh! Fan Fiction ❯ Black Land ❯ Background ( Chapter 2 )

Disclaimer: YGO characters aren't mine.

AN: For Nemichan, 'cause she asked. This is the sequel to Black Land, but it can stand on its own. Spoilers for the AE arc.

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His son is twelve summers old this day, and he has just killed a man.

He stares down in silence at his child's bent form, watching him kneel at the feet of his own elder brother. Any words he could speak would betray his own conspiracy, so he says nothing to save nor condemn the child. His child's fingers and slippers are splattered with still-cooling blood, and he cringes at the legacy of darkness his son has inherited.

When his son speaks, his words are calm, collected, and he seems unfazed in the presence of his living god, his uncle. The boy, of course, is ignorant of that fact, but even if he were to know, he would not care. Though yet a young man, he already has a reputation for aloofness and cruelty. He is rude to his betters and he does not care. He is arrogant and studious, and his son is brilliant and beautiful. And cold. His son is very, very cold.

His son cares for very little. His own defense seems lazy, careless, even as his jaw firms with conviction.

"He was cruel to the prince," his son says softly, evenly, eyes lowered, head bowed. "He would have caused him harm."

Pharaoh is displeased. Justice is not for a mere apprentice priest to decide, no matter how dearly the Shadows seem to love him. Let his brother fume. His concern should be for the more dangerous creature that he keeps close beside him.

At the pharaoh's side, the young prince sits, still-rounded face expressionless. He is very still. His brother's demon-child blinks those unsettling eyes only rarely. He seems not to care for his surroundings or for the trial before him. A lesser man would think him bored, yet those in the great hall were not so ignorant. The prince is a just child. Perhaps he is too just.

His brother's child has killed men before, and pharaoh did not know how to punish him then. He still does not do anything more than chastise the boy. Yet his own son, his own blood, is sentenced to a severe whipping, one that will keep him from his duties for at least seven days, if not more.

There are worse punishments, and his child knows it. But he does not approve the easy condemnation of his deed. It is not right, for one man's child to suffer, while the other child receives no pain, all due to a mere accident of birth. Had he been born first, this foolishness would never have happened. Had his brother been stronger, perhaps there would have been no need for the wicked magics that they still use to keep their blessed land safe. Had his brother been better, he could claim his son as his own.

The guards seize Seth by the shoulders and begin to drag him away. He watches, silent. He knows his child will neither cry out nor complain. The boy is too cold for that.

Just before the doors swing closed, his one true eye widens.

His son's lips quirk up into a smirk, and his eyes (bluer still than the Nile herself, a color surely blessed as the prince's are damned) sparkle with life as his gaze falls on the one person in this world for whom he would gladly die.

Akunadin does not turn back to face the pharaoh and his brat, though fury and jealousy churn in his gut.

He knows that Atemu is smiling back.

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AN: O:-)

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