Chapter Text
Horus
Horus stepped closer to Seth as Osiris walked across the battlefield to them. It was like the world had gone quiet and it was just the three of them. The sun shone down on sand covered in blood and gore, but the three gods were clean and calm. The bird Isis had sent still sat on Horus’ shoulder, observing. He wasn’t sure if he should dismiss it, or keep it to send back to his mother with a message about whatever was going to happen here.
Osiris looked no different than ever, with his tall Atef sitting on his green head, his pointed gold and black beard ornament, his thick usekh covering his upper chest, humans might have considered him intimidating and authoritative. It was obvious as he neared that he had a slightly angry expression on his face, one Horus was rather familiar with. While Horus was training to face Seth, Osiris would rarely visit them, mostly to spend time with Isis, or else teach Horus about how best to fight Seth. Osiris would smile sometimes when he was talking to Isis, and put on an unreadable expression when he was listening. But too often his anger overcame him when he spoke of Seth and what they needed to do for the trial, and it seemed he sometimes vented that frustration while he and Horus sparred. For a young god, it made for a difficult time, but Horus liked to think it at least made him stronger. He just learned to always watch his back around the older god.
Horus hadn’t heard anything from Osiris since the dead god testified about the night he was murdered. Isis had been worried about his silence at times when she and Horus talked in Heliopolis, but noted in private that, despite the fact that they won the trial, Osiris was still trapped in Duat. As she phrased it, it was a bitter victory, since vengeance was really all he had to celebrate.
“And given Seth is being punished on Ra’s sun boat, it’s not like Osiris can even wreak his own vengeance,” Isis had added with a pointed look at Horus.
Horus had met her gaze unflinchingly, refusing to change his mind, and she’d swiftly changed the subject. Osiris wasn’t the only one with vengeance on the brain. After everything he’d gone through, Horus had a right to his own punishment of Seth. If Osiris wanted to punish Seth himself, he should have been more active in winning the day for them, but instead it was up to Horus to put his life on the line for it. It was Horus whom Seth targeted during the trial. And it was Horus who defeated Seth soundly, twice. While Horus appreciated Osiris’ guidance in the lead up to the trial, he felt nothing other than basic filial duty towards the older god. Horus had seen the way humans cared for each other as families, and while Isis raised and loved Horus as good as any human mother, if not better, Osiris was distant, even during his rare visits when he wasn’t working off some anger.
Horus thought that it might be hard to know that you would never again bear the crown being fought for, and perhaps that was what bothered Osiris. Perhaps that bother had even transferred to Horus, and perhaps Osiris was even jealous in a way, but chose to be distant rather than cruel. So Horus had respected Osiris’ wishes and given him a wide berth when they weren’t interacting. But it didn’t exactly build any loving feeling in himself for Osiris.
There also seemed to be some strange expectation for how gods treated their children, with Isis and Nut being exceptions. Horus rarely ever saw his grandparents, and he knew a little about the war with Ra. And then of course Horus had seen some of Anubis and Seth’s interactions, and Isis had said that Seth attacked Anubis, nearly killing him, the night Osiris was murdered. It didn’t seem that the brothers were that different in their parenting philosophies, though at least Osiris had never outright beaten Horus in anger or punishment, let alone tried to actively kill Horus; Osiris was just unrelenting in sword practice. Horus thought it would help build feeling between him and Anubis the more they worked together, with two difficult fathers who were brothers, as some of the Isis’ followers who escaped cruel families grew together because of it. Instead, all Horus saw when he looked at Anubis was a beaten dog. Anubis had lived all his life in Heliopolis, in luxury, as the son of the God Supreme, and only after some very long time did he decide it was time to leave.
And even though Horus knew that Anubis had suffered under Seth… it was obvious that Seth cared for him to some degree, for reasons Horus couldn’t understand. Horus initially thought to taunt Seth with Anubis being health and flourishing – as much as the demigod was as essentially one of Isis’ secretaries – but he had seen how Anubis was like a knife twisting in Seth’s gut. How much Seth would sacrifice for his son, given Seth’s good behavior at the camp, even with his brief rebellions and the alternative threat of the cock ring. Something had changed in Seth with the mention of Anubis being there, something that gave him a strange determination that Horus hadn’t seen before.
Horus had the feeling that Osiris would never sacrifice as much for him. Osiris was already dead, and it cost him nothing to send off Horus and even Isis to sacrifice themselves in Osiris’ place for Osiris’ vengeance.
It was cruel, but a bitter part of Horus reveled seeing Anubis working himself to the bone on the battlefield, and Horus often sent Anubis on difficult tasks to keep him busy on the excuse it was making Anubis useful. Isis could modify Anubis’ duties as she wished, and yet she didn’t. Mostly it just meant Horus rarely ran into him, and so he rarely had to think about how the mighty war god who was making such a spectacle of himself on the battlefield was doing it all for that little demigod.
Horus had proven himself time and again under difficult circumstances by winning the throne of Egypt back for his family, knocking Seth from his place, and punishing Seth. Like he’d told Seth, here was an opportunity for Anubis to prove himself.
Meanwhile, Osiris stayed in Duat, while Isis and Horus took care of the bigger matters that involved Egypt, like invading armies and rebuilding. When Horus refused Isis’ suggestion to send Seth to Duat for punishment, it was in part because Horus knew it was unfair to reward Osiris. It was rightfully Isis and Horus who reaped the rewards of their labors, and Horus knew no small part of that was just annoyance at Osiris leaving the dirty work to him, but also Osiris leaving the dirty work to Isis. Osiris was there for her at times, but not a substantial portion of it. It was really only near the end of things when he’d bothered to show up at all.
Yet here he was now, for no apparent reason. The war was already seemingly won. Osiris was no longer needed. The bitter part of Horus wondered if that’s why he’d shown up, because there was nothing to lose. He knew he should be more understanding: Osiris had been murdered by his own brother, after all. It made sense that Osiris would look for opportunities to confront Seth, even if he seldom had before this. But the more Horus learned about Seth and his increasingly odd relationship with Osiris, the more Horus only disdained his father. Osiris had been lauded as one of the wisest gods, and yes, what Horus had seen of Seth in combat had shown him that Seth was a powerful god. But Seth was self-defeating more often than not. How had Osiris lost to that if he was so wise?
It was additionally frustrating that Seth insisted on comparing them. Horus was worse than Osiris? How? Because Horus was intelligent? Because Horus didn’t give murderers second chances?
Horus glanced at Seth, recalling Seth attacking Osiris right before the trial. There was no Ra to intervene this time, but Horus had Maat’s spell and the cock ring. Would Seth’s fury overcome him? Would that anger that made Seth insist he wasn’t Osiris’ return?
Yet Seth was so very still. The wind picking at his headdress might as well have been touching a statue. The hand holding his khopesh was slack.
Osiris continued to approach them.
Horus felt a kind of itch in his back. He didn’t like this.
“What are you doing here?” Horus demanded, glaring at his father as the man finally came to a halt a short distance ahead. “You’re supposed to be in Duat, leading your subjects.” He tried to keep his tone neutral, but a bit of anger was inescapable. This was a difficult situation and Osiris’ presence was not helping. “If you could come here of your own volition, why didn’t you appear earlier?” They could have used Osiris’ help fighting the Greeks. Perhaps more bloodshed could have been avoided. And perhaps I would have learned more about whatever is between you and Seth sooner, if Seth had to confront you here.
Osiris met Horus’ gaze. “Seth should have been given to my custody after the trial. It is my right to punish him, as the wronged party. I’ve come to collect him.”
Horus’ gaze narrowed and he stepped forward slightly, in front of Seth. “Seth attacked all of Egypt, not just you.” He disliked Osiris’ patronizing tone. Osiris should recall he wasn’t the only king present, and they were in the land of living at the moment, where Horus ruled. “He is carrying out his punishment for all of that.”
“You would speak to your father in such a way?” Osiris asked, frowning at him.
Horus returned the frown. I’m your son, and you treat me like an annoyance. I’m not some naïve child anymore, stumbling around trying to block sword hits. I succeeded where you failed. “I am the ruler of Egypt. You are the ruler of Duat. Your being my father has no bearing on my decision for how Seth is to be punished. If that frustrates you, you can go back to Duat where your commands matter.”
Osiris was glaring at him now. “You are on a battlefield, Horus, where mortals and immortals alike can die. Be careful to remember that.”
Horus should have been scared that Osiris was actually threatening him, but it only left him curious. Why was Osiris reacting this way? “And where were you when we could have used you before?” Horus demanded. “You come here to fetch your murderer after all the hard work is done, but weren’t here when we could have used you to fight the Greeks?” Horus tilted his head. “Some god of the living you were.” Isis would be furious how he was acting.
The ground rumbled under Osiris. “If you refuse to give me Seth, then I’ll simply take him.”
Giant vines burst from the earth, racing towards Seth, who leapt aside. Sand spikes burst from the ground, cutting at the vines.
Horus used his wind to cut into the earth and yank the vines up and away, tossing them into the sea. More vines burst from the ground around Osiris, racing towards Seth and Horus. Horus flew into the air, cutting down with his sword and wind at any vines that went for them.
Seth twirled and used his khopesh to cut at vines as well, leaping into the air on dunes sporadically to get out of the way.
“Come back to Duat with me, Seth,” Osiris ordered as he watched the two gods move around him, as if he was unaffected by it all. His gaze stayed on Seth. “You know it’s where you belong.”
“Fuck you!” Seth yelled as he raced in. “Why don’t you just die again?” He turned his khopesh into a bow and arrows and shot at Osiris. Vines blocked two of the arrows, but the third cut heavily at Osiris’ arm, taking a chunk of flesh with it.
Horus recalled how that arrow felt flying past when he and Seth fought during the second match of the trial, cutting even the air in its wake. Horus frowned when the cut also revealed… was that pale skin beneath Osiris’ flesh, which dissolved like green sand around it?
Seth was focusing on dodging vines, and seemingly hadn’t seen it.
Horus sent slices of wind over Osiris’ other arm, cutting thickly. The god bled green “flesh” … revealing more of that pale skin. And Horus’ intuition struck him: if Osiris wasn’t able to come up here from Duat himself, particularly without Isis’ magic at play, how did he come here? He’d need a living body for it. And a human was a likely answer, or perhaps even a demigod of some kind. …And Anubis, the little demigod who sometimes reported Osiris’ orders to Isis during the final lead-up to the trial, was in the camp. Almost always out of sight, where Horus couldn’t see him, getting up to who knew what. Speaking with who?
He wouldn’t dare, Horus thought, staring at Osiris and Seth battling. A part of him wanted to stay in the moment, watching them go to toe to toe. It was quite the sight. Osiris made up for his lack of combat skills with pure power and force, trying to trap and stab Seth to keep him still. Seth made up for a lack of power with speed and creativity, calling up sand spikes and soldiers to cut down the vines, and shooting at Osiris to make him dodge aside.
But a sensible part of Horus knew something incredibly wrong was happening here. He wouldn’t ordinarily think it of his father, for all the obvious enmity between them, but Osiris was also ready to kill Horus, too. Who knew what he’d get up to with the son of his enemy?
Horus looked up at Seth and said, “Uncle Seth! We need to change tactics!”
But Seth kept firing, ignoring him. The sand whipped around him, hungry to fight Osiris. He was ready to kill Osiris again. Horus knew it.
Horus called to Seth again, “Uncle Seth, Anubis is in danger.”
That pulled Seth out of his focus on Osiris, and Seth dodged more vines to land by Horus’ side and say, “What?!” There was a slight madness in his red eyes. And fear. Horus had grown able to smell Seth’s fear over their time together. To recognize it, even when Seth tried to hide it. Clearly, Seth was afraid for Anubis.
“We need to subdue Osiris without killing him,” Horus said, summoning a tornado to wrap around Osiris, briefly trapping him and his vines without harming him. “I believe he’s using Anubis to manifest in this world.”
“…That’s impossible,” Seth said, even as he raised his bow to shoot down the few vines that hadn’t been caught in the cyclone.
“Did you see where you’ve attacked him, and skin shows? He has green skin, Uncle Seth, not pale white. Anubis is trapped beneath Osiris’ skin.”
Seth only gazed at Osiris through the haze of wind. He was thinking, at least, not caught in whatever madness kept him focused on Osiris. “…I can trap him, then. With sand. And you can use your wind to scrape Osiris off.”
Horus nodded and dropped the tornado, letting Seth leap over more vines and shoot at Osiris, causing a distraction. Meanwhile, sand mounds rose up around the green god, trapping his legs. More sand grabbed his arms, and Horus sent fine winds in, cutting at the god’s skin to where he’d seen that pale skin beneath, revealing more of it.
Osiris glared at Seth, even as he dissolved. He was losing, and he knew it. “You can’t escape me forever. You’re, mine, Seth.”
Seth sent an arrow straight at Osiris’ head, and it knocked out a chunk of his crown, allowing the rest of Osiris’ body to dissolve faster.
“I was never yours,” Seth muttered angrily, loud enough for Horus to hear. “And if you’ve harmed Anubis again…”
Again? Horus thought as he watched the Osiris shell dissolve, leaving an unconscious Anubis trapped in Seth’s sand. Seth had been conscious when Isis told Horus to give Seth to Duat for Osiris to punish, but there was something in the way Seth spoke here and in Horus' tent... something about how Osiris had tried to claim him...
Seth rushed to Anubis and pushed the sand away, catching Anubis as he fell into Seth’s arms. Seth knelt on the ground and cradled Anubis against himself gently.
Horus walked over, studying the unconscious demigod, who was covered in light bruising and scratching from their battle. Whatever Osiris did, it wasn’t good for him, and he seemingly felt some effects of the fight. He said nothing about the way Seth was vibrating in fear and worry.
“We need to get him to Isis,” Seth said as he wiped away some dirty from Anubis' forehead. “She healed him last time. She’ll know what to do.” He sounded desperate and afraid.
Horus sent Isis’ bird away to let her know they were coming with an injured Anubis, and then focused on Seth. Isis had said that she healed Anubis after Seth attacked him the night Osiris was murdered, and Seth had blamed the injury on Osiris. Yet here Seth was, holding Anubis like he might shatter at the slightest movement. Why did Seth care about him this way? What had changed?