Chapter Text
Seth
“You can use this room while you’re here,” Horus said, gesturing to a large bedroom in his apartment.
Seth walked in with a dubious look on his face, gazing around at it. There was a large bed with black sheets on it, and as Seth moved forward, he idly touched it. He was surprised at how heavily cushioned it was. The sheets were soft, too. He looked around to see a curtained window to his left, and walked over to it.
“Ah, I wouldn’t…” Horus started as Seth put his hand up to the black curtains and yanked one back.
Seth stared at the outside: a world of tall, strange-looking buildings, coated in twilight. Nothing looked familiar, and he realized they were higher up in the air than he imagined, like humans had built towers to live in for some reason. It somehow seemed even more daunting than Heliopolis. He let the curtains close.
“It’s a very different world,” Horus commented after a while.
Seth looked around the room more, and his eyes settled on a large version of the communication device they’d used for the call with Anubis. This was nearly as big as Seth, though, and sitting on a kind of chest.
“Ah, you should probably leave this alone for now,” Horus said when he saw where Seth was looking. “It’s going to be much more overwhelming than the window.”
Seth frowned, wondering what dark things lurked in the large black box.
“We’ll see that tailor tomorrow,” Horus said, “and we can probably order you some things in the morning, after you’ve settled in a little more.”
“What are you ordering?” Seth asked, confused. He’d never had a huge wardrobe in the past, unlike his sisters. The idea was overwhelming. And wasting time changing clothes all the time seemed stupid.
“Items the tailor won’t make for you,” Horus said. “I’ll explain more after Thoth comes by. He should be here soon enough.” He glanced over Seth, his eyes resting on Seth’s lower body. “I can get you some pants, though, if you’d like.”
“Pants?”
Horus frowned, and then said, “Stay here, please. I’ll be right back.” Then he left through the door, leaving Seth alone in the room.
Seth looked around the room to get a better understanding of it. It had the large storage chest under the communication device, and a smaller one near the bed, with an odd metal object he didn’t understand the purpose of. It had a papyrus lid over it, and he assumed it was decorative. He also noticed two doors in the room. When he opened one, it was clearly a storage space of some kind. When he investigated the other one, it was a smaller windowless room, filled with what seemed vaguely like a large tub of some kind, and a basin. His night vision also let him see there was a sort of mirror over the basin, clearer than any Seth had ever seen. He stared at himself in shock for a bit, before leaving. The world truly is strange.
Horus appeared at the door with a bundle of cloth in his arms and said, “I was gifted these a while back, but never used them. They’re pajama pants, but they should do for the time being. If they’re too large, we’ll figure something else out.” He held them out to Seth.
Seth gazed at the bundle for a while before taking it. He wondered what “pajama pants” were.
“They go around your legs, like these,” Horus said, tapping his left hip to point out his leg wrappings. “They’ll keep you warm, too.”
Seth supposed he did feel a bit of a chill in the dwelling.
A short musical tune played from Horus’ pocket, and he pulled out his small device again. “Ah, Thoth’s on his way. I need to organize a few things quickly, and I’ll let you get settled.” He walked over to the door and paused, before looking back at Seth. “There’s a lock on the door if you’d like. It’s not accessible from outside the room except in emergencies. Here,” Horus demonstrated how the lock worked on the door for him, and Seth walked over to try himself.
“If you want,” Horus said, “you can use it. Or not, whatever makes you comfortable.” He moved his hand to a small notch on the wall and flicked it, making the room go dark. “This is a light switch. It turns the overhead light on or off.” He flicked it back, and the light returned.
Seth frowned at what Horus was doing, but it was simple enough. A strange kind of magic, at any rate. He felt embarrassed to want to know how it worked. Every part of living here seemed full of strangeness. But he recalled there being a notch like this in the small basin room, so perhaps he could investigate that properly later.
“I’ll just be in another room,” Horus said, smiling. “Oh, and you should probably take your headdress off.” He dissolved his falcon headdress, making Seth’s eyes widen. His eyes were deep blue, like a river, and his face was somehow warmer underneath his short, dark hair. From the shape of his face, he took much from his mother’s looks, with an added level of allure that seemed his own, and lacked some of Osiris’ sharpness.
I’ve seen those eyes before, Seth thought. But he wasn’t sure where. Probably he was remembering when they fought during the trial.
“We don’t wear them unless it’s official business,” Horus explained, “and Thoth is just visiting as a friend.” He frowned. “Well, a friend who owes me a favor anyway.”
“Have gods debased themselves so much while I was gone?” Seth demanded. He wondered what favor Thoth owed Horus, but the headdress part was bothering him more.
Horus winced. “Things just changed a lot, Uncle. Humans changed. We adapted.”
Adaptation is one word for it, Seth thought darkly.
Horus smiled and said, “Take your time.” Then he walked out of the room.
Seth considered his headdress, breathed deeply, and made it dissolve, leaving his head bare. He felt somewhat naked without it and had to spend a moment breathing deeply in and out to settle. It had been one of his few protections when he’d been on the sun boat: he could always pretend to be stoic beneath it. An enemy could see too much.
Rather than investigate the basin room, he went to the cloth bundle and investigated it. It was a set of dark blue leg wraps that were quite large. He used his sand to shut the door and dissolved his shendyt before he tried them on, mimicking Horus. It wasn’t the most comfortable, but his movement wasn’t overly restricted, and it was warm. Then he sat down on the bed and rubbed his hands over the sheets, marveling at it. The room overall was larger than the small cabin he’d been given on the sun boat, and the bed was far more comfortable, so it wasn’t fully bringing back bad memories, but the enclosed nature of it was reminding him a bit too much of the sun boat, though he wasn’t quite ready to open the door.
Seth didn’t imagine the small door would change that feeling of being trapped or vulnerable, even here. Horus was a god now, just like any of them. It made more sense why Horus was left in his charge, rather than the demigod Seth recalled from the trial. And it was another reason Seth hadn’t just run through the front door or the window to the outside world.
He had to remind himself he wasn’t on the sun boat anymore. Even if Horus attacked him now, Seth would be ready. Horus wasn’t one of the ancient gods Seth had worked alongside there, or the even older monsters they’d fought.
All of this was merely a distraction from his thoughts about Anubis: what Anubis had revealed, what they might talk about when they met again, the chance to see Nephthys again… It made his chest tight and his breathing stutter. It felt too unreal, and even if he reminded himself that it was real, it felt too daunting.
He strangely found himself missing the regularity and mind-numbing focus that rowing the sun boat required. And at least sometimes he could fight actual monsters to work out his frustration.
There was a knock on the room door. “Uncle? Are you all right?”
Seth innate sense of time kicked in and he realized he’d been sitting for quite a while. He stared at the door, thinking about the god beyond it. About the last time they’d been in a bedroom together before all this, and how Horus had gripped him so tightly on Seth’s failed assault. Seth was firmly aware he was wearing a piece of Horus’ clothing and living in Horus’ home and there was very little he could do about it. He considered just taking off the shirt Horus had given him, but it felt strangely childish.
“I’m sorry I had to leave,” Horus said, “but I’m free now. If there’s anything you want to ask, I’m here.”
You sound so worried, Seth thought. Like you actually care about me. It made no sense. Even if Horus had kept Seth’s secret for some reason, why? Was it the same obsession his father had?
But before he could reply, there was a loud chiming noise somewhere beyond the door.
“Oh, that should be Thoth,” Horus said. “You can come meet him if you’d like, Uncle. He’s here to help you.” Horus’ footsteps padded away.
Seth shut his eyes briefly, reminding himself to not be a coward. He stood up and had to stop himself from summoning his headdress. Seth walked to the door and opened it, walking out to where he smelled Horus’ lotus scent and heard voices. He turned around a corner and saw Horus chatting in the entryway with a familiar lithe man in another of those suits.
Thoth looked at Seth in surprise, and his eyes widened in shock. Whether from Seth’s appearance or the mere sight of him, Seth had no idea, given Thoth was often nervous around him. Thoth was still thin, with that same long, silvery-blue hair, and his blue god markings around his eyes. His hair was still tied back in a high tail, and he wore his golden pyramid earrings, but he looked strange without his gold ibis crown. He carried a large white box in his arms.
Seth kept his distance. Even without Maat around, Thoth could still be dangerous.
“Seth!” Thoth said with an awkward smile. “How um… nice? To see you?”
Seth glared. Was that meant to be convincing of anything in particular?
Thoth laughed awkwardly. “Yeah, I know. Maat talked to me about this. It’s uh… incredible!”
Seth wondered who it was incredible for. Thoth had never been his ally, after all. Just Nut’s, and she hadn’t spoken to Seth in centuries.
“Let’s go into the lounge,” Horus said, guiding Thoth through another doorway, with a brief glance at Seth. “And I can get us some forks and plates for your tart.”
Thoth quickly followed behind Horus, darting another nervous smile at Seth.
Seth followed after them, his arms crossed.
They ended up in a different room than the big table room. This one had large, plush couches and a lower table in the center, along with another curtain-covered window and a sort of thin table with another of those big black communication devices on it. Horus gestured for Thoth and Seth to sit on the couches, and then disappeared through another doorway.
Thoth moved to the biggest couch and set the box on the table before sitting primly nearby. He glanced up at Seth and smiled again. “So um… How’s it been to be back?”
Seth thought about it a bit, imagining how he could possibly manage, "After thousands of years I'm back in a tiny world surrounded by noise and full of weird objects and I'm treated like an annoying pet and have meeting my former wife who went behind my back with my brother to look forward to at some point in the unknown future since I don't set my own schedule and am under the charge of my nephew."
He settled on, “Strange.”
Thoth chuckled nervously. “Yes, I imagine! A lot has changed in the time you’ve been gone!”
“What does Horus need you for?” Seth asked, wanting to know what this was all about. “What are you going to help with, exactly?”
“Oh, well, that’s—”
Horus stepped back in with some plates, utensils, and small white towels, and set them out on the table. “Seth, please sit. Thoth got us a fruit tart, if you’d like some.” Then he sat on the couch beside Thoth.
Seth wasn’t sure what a fruit tart was, but he sat on another couch, watching Horus and Thoth suspiciously. He frowned when Horus opened the box and revealed a flat pastry of some kind, with odd-looking possibly fruit on it, and began cutting it up. It smelled oddly sweet.
“These are really good,” Thoth said, grinning at Seth. “I get them all the time!”
Horus placed a slice on a plate and handed it to Thoth, and then did the same for Seth, though he set it on the table before Seth, with a small smile.
Seth eyed the plate with suspicion. He didn’t think Thoth had the guts to poison him, but both Maat and Thoth had joined Isis to stand against him in the past. Anything was possible.
Horus took a slice for himself and picked off one of the colorful fruit pieces before putting it in his mouth, chewing it up.
Thoth quickly worked through a good chunk of his slice.
Seth found this whole thing bizarre, with the three of them all sitting together like everything was just normal, and the two gods besides each other hadn’t worked together to overthrow him in the past, and one of them wasn’t married to the judge who’d overseen it. And both believed Seth murdered Osiris (or at least one of them did, because Seth didn't know how much Horus knew of the night Osiris died). But as he apparently kept hearing, things had changed. So he eventually picked up the plate in front of him and took up the odd utensil, which was sort of like a strangely cut up spoon crossed with a knife. He’d been given rations when he was on the sun boat, and they were typically filling but tasteless. Good things didn’t survive the passage on the sun boat. But ignoring the food was useless, as well, since those managing the sun boat needed all the energy they could get to survive the day. And though the rations had been less than wonderful, Seth got used to them.
But at least I recognized what the food was made of, Seth thought as he eyed the fruit tart slice skeptically. Even if it wasn’t poisoned, he had no idea what any of it was. “What’s on it? I don’t recognize these.” He could still smell the sweetness of it, but that was all.
Thoth swallowed and lowered his plate. “Ah, yes, I can see the issue there.” He glanced at Horus. “Did you want me to just go for it now? It might be easier.”
Horus nodded. “If Seth is okay with it.”
“Go with what?” Seth asked with a frown, wondering what conversation the other two gods had without him. He didn’t like being treated like an oddity.
Thoth set his plate down and reached out for one of the small white towels to wipe his face off. Afterward, he looked at Seth and said, “I can grant you at least some of the knowledge you’re missing. You’ll have to sort through a lot of it, and there will still be things you struggle with. But you’ll have the basics. It will give you a leg up on things.”
Seth frowned. “Grant me knowledge? How?” Outside Thoth’s prophecies and his sharing the information he knew verbally, Seth didn’t exactly have much experience with Thoth’s magic. The bird always ran off whenever Seth was around.
“A memory transfer,” Thoth said with a smile. “I do them for my followers sometimes. And I’ve done it with gods before. This will be a bit more information than usual, but I don’t think it should be too much trouble. Knowledge should be shared, anyway.”
Seth didn’t want Thoth, or anyone else, rifling through his mind. His frown deepened.
“It’ll make things a lot easier for you, Uncle,” Horus said, meeting Seth’s gaze with a serious one. “You’ll be more independent, and you can move around the apartment more easily.”
Seth grimaced and thought about how all the strange changes had meant he’d been hesitant to wander as much. On top of not knowing what to make of a Horus who was being so amenable to everything. But Seth was still concerned. He looked at Thoth. “Are you going to read my memories?”
Thoth shook his head. “The spell works on its own to grant you what you lack. It’ll investigate and then pull from me what you need. But the spell will have to read you a bit. It doesn’t report back to me, though… unless the recipient dies, and you’re a god, so you should be fine.” When Seth frowned at him, Thoth laughed nervously, “Well… humans sometimes pray for more than they can manage, unfortunately. It’s rare, though. And only with humans.”
Seth didn’t trust that Thoth didn’t have some means to see what his spell was looking at, but Seth was also currently being defeated by a piece of food and a black box.
Seth was a god of war. He wouldn’t be intimidated by such things. “Fine," he said. "Do it.”
Thoth nodded and turned properly towards Seth. He reached out his right hand and lightly rested his middle and pointer fingers on Seth’s forehead.
Seth kept himself still.
Thoth’s blue eyes became unfocused for a bit.
Seth stiffened as he felt something almost like a river moving through his mind, flooding his thoughts. It felt like things in his head were shifting around. It made him dizzy, and he pulled away.
Thoth also drew back and breathed in deeply. “It should work. Just give it a moment. Give yourself more than that, actually.”
Seth put a hand to his head and stared at the ground, breathing in deeply and trying not to fall over. He gazed at the carpet under the… coffee table. It was a coffee table. Upon which sat plates, forks, napkins, and three sliced pieces of fruit tart. The tart slice had a strawberry, a slice of pineapple, a slice of kiwi, and some berries. The overhead light lit up the area in a way that wasn’t overbearing.
Seth grimaced and looked away, to face the… the television… sitting on a wooden stand.
“Give him time,” Thoth said, quietly, to Horus.
Seth hissed, annoyed at being treated so carefully, as if he was fragile, “I’m fine. I just…” A new wave of dizziness hit him.
“Do you want to go to the bathroom?” Thoth asked, his expression oddly kind. “You can just take a moment to yourself…”
Seth thought tossing actual water at his face and getting away from the two gods beside him wasn’t a bad idea, actually, and got up and said, “Where?”
“Right around the corner,” Horus said, pointing. He looked worried, but stayed seated.
Seth walked off and found the place, switched on the light, and then shut himself inside, locking the door, letting him pretend he was alone. There was another large mirror over the sink, and Seth stared at it, understanding what he was staring at, but still shocked it was so clear. He could see himself perfectly: he looked alarmed and strangely tired. His red hair was a little mussed, and he was sweating. The black shirt looked ridiculously large on him, and his golden usekh peeked out from underneath it.
He leaned on the ceramic of the sink, just breathing. He didn’t know what to make of this. All this information was whirling around in his head. He could look back in his memories and recall the video call with Anubis on the desktop computer, the cellphone that Horus was constantly using, the skyscrapers outside his window, the cars below…
Seth breathed in and out. The world now truly was different. Even knowing more about it, he felt like such an outsider, even more than he had during his failed kingship over Egypt. How could he even find a place in all this? Even with Horus helping him, he felt like he was stumbling along, holding onto someone else’s skirt. Was he always going to be like this? Never his own man? At least on the sun boat, he’d had some control over his actions, so long as he obeyed orders.
He blinked and laughed. “Is that what the point of the punishment was? Of this whole farce of a ‘release’? Send me here so I realize I’m better off on Ra’s stupid sun boat?” Seth put his hands to his eyes, finding it all darkly funny. Ra would love for him to come crawling back, begging to be taken in by her, willingly. Proper revenge for her defeat all those centuries ago, since Osiris was where she couldn't reach him in Duat.
I won’t go back there, he eventually thought, breathing in an out. I won’t go running back. I’m out. I’m back home, in so far as it’s still a home. He wiped his eyes. I’ll figure this out, just like I figured out the sun boat. He stared at himself in the mirror. At his bright red eyes and his look of determination. I’ll push through this just like I pushed through that.