Yu-Gi-Oh! Fan Fiction ❯ The Young God ❯ Chapter 3b ( Chapter 6 )

Chapter 3b

Seto woke to a bright morning in the familiar mortal room which he had lived in for four years. Sitting up he wondered what day it was and was about to begin his work when the door opened.
" Oh, you're awake." Said Jou, and Seto blinked, finding the comment somehow familiar. " We were worried about you! You were just sprawled out on the floor for no reason, and Yami thought you commited suicide or something. He mentioned something about daggers, and we had to check you over, and Yami went bezerk, I tell ye! Of course he quickly calmed down and decided that you'll wake up like that first time, but boy. What's been eatin atcha? I mean, business for gods is a breeze, ain't it?"

Seto took his time in replying. Now that he was up close and personal, Jou was actually very much like the healer Taknash, now that he thought of it. The same quick-mouthed witty talk, the same impatience, although not the same skill.

" I really don't know what happened." Seto admitted. " One minute I was angry and the next minute-I'm here. How did you get in here?"
" Mokuba found you." This made Seto feel very nervous. " Right now he's in school, very reluctant but Yugi forced him to go. Mokuba found ye, and called us over. He was so worried! But everythin's alright now, I'll go tell Yami and Yugi and the others."

Seto let him go and looked around the room for a minute. He got out of bed and was surprised that he felt woozy. Looking at the mirror he saw that the circlet was in full view and quickly hid it with his magic, and then he walked out of the room to splash some water into his face.

Yami felt awful. He could relate when a similar thing had happened, and young Seto Kaiba refused to tell him anything. That was then, and this was now, but it was pretty much the same thing. He wondered if Seto's illness was the same one, and if it had gotten worse, well, Earth is pretty much doomed.

So far it seemed to linger at a certain point, he mused. After all, Earth wasn't blowing up, as Seto had described might happen, and so far Seto wasn't blowing up either. He wasn't sure how long it would last though. Seto has been here an awful long time and seems to be getting homesick again.

He really emphasizes ' There's no place like home'. Yami thought bitterly, remembering their last parting. In fact, he'll sacrifice everything just to go home.

Even Mokuba? He wondered. Perhaps. He sacrificed his Blue Eyes White Dragon last time. Sure he came back and retrieved it, but what's the difference? He couldn't care less about the cards except for now, now that he had been told he'll stay here for a very long time-a mortal lifespan, actually.

Maybe he'll fake a death. But Yami knew Seto wouldn't do that, because that just wasn't Seto. The High Priest Seto was innocent. Was sweet. Was intelligent.
Was moral.

Oh blast High Priest! Yami thought to himself. All that crap about a thirteen year old that was actually a hundred or so years old. Five thousand years is a long time, even for an immortal. Things change.

Things did change! Since when did Seto become taller than him? Yami had to chuckle a little. Seto was a big boy now. But no matter what, Yami would still be older than him. He ages quicker. He has gained knowledge. While Seto was still playing in the gardens, Yami was already dealing with politics. His blasted father couldn't do a thing, and it was a miracle that Egypt was held together.

And why was he so cruel to Yugi before? He tore up the Blue Eyes White Dragon. Seto was a bad liar, but he had improved through the ages. Yami was sure that he was lying, however. It couldn't have just been that he wanted everyone to avoid him. Could it? Seto had learned to be tough on the outside. Yami thought to what he knew of Seto. Seto was a bad liar but a good actor. He was tough around the other priests and had an aura of respectfulness. But he had hidden a dark secret from Yami all that time and Yami never knew until too late.

That was it. Yami suddenly understood. Seto had distanced himself from the spirit because he realized the spirit remembered nothing of their relationship. Right now he's hiding something again, and all the things he told them were lies, or half lies. It wasn't like Seto to lie for no reason, and yet it seemed that Seto's biggest secret was that he was immortal, and yet he let it out. So Seto must be in danger. Some kind of danger...or they might be...

But then Yami thought back to Seto's words when they parted the other night during the storm.
" You can't guard two people Yami." Seto had said. " It will tear you apart. Don't worry about me. Go take care of Yugi. After all, he needs you more."

Yami was beginning to think that Seto was lying about that too.

Anzu frowned at Seto, who was laughing at her.
" You have to admit-that was really funny." The CEO chuckled.
" It was not."
" It was! I swear. I've never had any girl think of me that way before. I never expected it from you, but I'm really sorry that was quite rude of me," But Seto couldn't help but burst out laughing again. " Gomen! I didn't really mean to read your mind but-that was really funny!!"

" You've become like Pegasus." Anzu said fiercely. Her face was flaming hot.
" Oh?" Seto stopped. " That is quite harsh now, isn't it? But then again, Pegasus does talk freakily. Don't you worry Anzu. Mortals can't love gods. It's only a phase, it will pass, I assure you. But that was really funny!"

Anzu didn't think it was funny at all. Having a crush may be amusing but it isn't silly as Seto seemed to take it. Seto sensed her discomfort and did his best to quiet down.
" You see," He told Anzu, " Gods can't love. If we love we can hate and that taints perfection. Which was why I'm imperfect."
" Imperfect?" Anzu blinked.

Seto knew that his mouth slipped. " Oh, nothing really." He muttered, and with a wave of his hand Anzu forgot everything that just happened. He suddenly felt sick.
" I have to go now." Seto stood up, hiding his torment. Anzu looked after him and blushed, but Seto didn't bother laughing at her. He felt no love for the girl.

Why not? He suddenly stopped. Why not use his powers more frequently? After all, the gods simply play with him, no more. They do not care. All those empty promises, of a chance to return home.

Well, Seto thought to himself in determination. I'm not going to play their game anymore. It's clear no matter what I do they're not going to let me return. I might as well stop living in fantasy land.

Drawing himself straight the first thing he did was get rid of Anzu's foolish love for him. Anzu can still love, he decided, but he wants nothing to do with her. The second thing he did was make snow, this time on purpose, simply because he felt like it. He smirked as the children outside laughed at the sudden snow. Then he closed his eyes, and felt himself dissintegrate.

Yami looked curiously at the snow for a minute with his aibou. Seto never did this before, especially not on purpose. And it was definetely on purpose, this snowstorm, because it didn't stop. Snow was actually sticking on the ground.
" I wonder what is wrong." Yami said to Yugi. " Seto almost never uses any more magic than mortals are capable of having."
" You can't make snow?"
" Iie. We can ask for snow, but we can't actually make it." Yami looked at the snow. He felt it. It was freezing cold. " Seto. I wonder what is wrong now. If only I can tell what he's hiding." Yami looked at the sky. " This isn't like him."

You forget, Yami. Seto thought bitterly. Five thousand years can change things. He sighed. He certainly didn't want to do anything stupid, so he decided to wait a little, wait for the pain to go away, so that he could focus and think clearly. But the pain never wavered.

It will probably never go away. He thought.

Seto...

" Urusai!" He shouted. " Why don't you just leave me alone? I don't owe you anything!" And with that, he poured all his anger out. He blocked out the connection, and then he broke it completely. The gods use that connection to torment him anyway. Well, he's not going to be their guinea pig any longer. He was Seto Kaiba. Child of Living Things. And he is Seto Kaiba, the Undefeated. They'll know not to play with his mind.

He looked out the window, and blinked. Snow. In the land of gods there wasn't snow. He reached out the window, and felt the cold frostiness land on his fingers, and suddenly he laughed. Snow! Snow! No wonder children laugh at the sight of snow, and pull their scarf over their faces to roll them into small boys and throw them at each other, not caring that the snow would melt and they would be wet! Snow! No wonder children make them into huge men, piling three balls together and stuffing carrots in the faces! Sticking sticks into the sides! Fastening hats! Buttons! Eyes of coal!

Seto blinked in surprise at his laughter. He had never laughed at home. He had never felt snow. And he saw the snow, falling from the sky, white as perfect whiteness, cold as perfect coldness, and he laughed again.

Yami turned his head at the distant laughter, and he smiled fondly in faint remembrance. No matter how long it has been Seto would always carry that laugh, for Seto never laughs unless he's truly happy. But his smile faded as he remembered the other kind of laugh, the laugh of darkness and sarcasm. That was not like Seto.

However, as things always had been, time changes. But it's good to know that there's still something of the past that had survived. The snow. Seto must have remembered that time with the snow, when Egypt first saw white sand, and was laughing now at how different it is now, a memory so beautiful. He smiled. Seto's laugh was like bells, a godly laugh, a laugh of pure joy and delight. A laugh of a child.

And even five thousand years later, so long, and the world has changed, trees have turned to buildings, horses to cars, Seto still has that godly laugh that resembles the laugh so long ago. And Yami smiled. This was the Seto Kaiba he knew best. That very laugh may well represent the High Priest, young, innocent, and pure...