Chapter Text
Seth
Seth stared at the offered hand Horus held out, with absolutely zero desire to take it. He looked up at Horus’ face: he had what looked like a hopeful expression, as if Seth was to be moved by all that Horus had said, rather than standing on the other end of all the time between them, even before they’d ever met. So he simply said, “The last time someone offered me help, it was when Osiris drugged me before assaulting me.”
Horus twitched.
“And then Sekhmet goaded me into assaulting you,” Seth said, glad he hadn’t seen her at all yet, and wondering what horrible mess she was no doubt up to now. “And then during our final match, you defeated me. Leaving me to spend thousands of years on Ra’s sun boat.”
Horus lowered his hand, perhaps the slightest bit ashamed of his behavior, if he could feel any feelings beyond his own obsession. “While I think the length of your punishment was wrong, it’s not my fault you were sent there. I didn’t suggest it, nor did I make you commit all the crimes for which you were sentenced.”
Seth smirked, pleased the farce was fading a little. “Good. And here I thought confessions of love had melted your brain.” Seth’s foolishness at Khemmis was one thing, but pretty blue eyes in a drunk’s memory didn’t change who they were to each other: enemies, temporarily pushed together at best. Seth was the evil god. Horus was the beloved savior, and child of the man Seth hated the most. That Horus confessed his love now only felt like a shadow of Osiris’ twisting words. Now that Seth was in his clutches, Seth knew Horus’ true colors would emerge. Gone would be the “generous” jailer.
Seth had seen what Horus was capable of during the trial, already, after all.
Horus looked unfazed by Seth’s reply and just gazed back at him. “I don’t plan to hurt you.”
“You’re my jailer,” Seth said. “What other choice do you have?” I didn’t see through your father’s lies, he thought. I won’t be fooled by yours. He’d spent thousands of years avoiding one cage while trapped in another; this was no different, and his head already ached from the experience.
Horus sighed in frustration. “In the morning, we can get you a phone. And I can help set you up with a computer if you’d like. You’ll have more freedom to communicate with other gods, if you wish, and learn more about what you’ve missed.”
The random topic switch surprised Seth, who expected more false reassurances.
“Anubis said he can meet in two days,” Horus noted, making Seth’s heart race. “That gives you a little time to settle.”
The idea of seeing Anubis again was tempered by the reminder of their circumstances. “And you’ll be chaperoning, I assume?” Seth asked, acerbically.
Horus bowed his head again. “Unfortunately, yes. It’s the terms of your probation.”
Seth rolled his eyes because of course the pigeon would respond in such a way. But the reminder of Anubis also made Seth recall what else had happened during the video call. “Why did you react oddly when I asked how Anubis ascended?” Seth asked.
Horus’ eyes widened. “I didn’t know you didn’t know. It was a difficult time for everyone, and Mother was quite upset about the whole thing.”
“Difficult time?” Seth asked as he crossed his arms. “Like the whole war you still haven’t told me about?”
“There have been many wars,” Horus said, neutrally, as if he was discussing the weather. “Not always around god squabbles, but sometimes.” He frowned and asked, “You really didn’t know about them?”
Seth shook his head, frustrated again at his isolation on the sun boat. “I’m a god of war, but it’s not like I can sense every battle in existence. I lead armies, I fight, I can be a soldier, I can sense aggression nearby… But I don’t have some instinct that tells me there’s a battle going on somewhere.” He’d been so busy staying alive or lost in his own misery some days on the sun boat he almost forgotten about the outside world.
Horus bowed his head. “I think Nephthys should tell you about this. It’s not exactly my story.”
Seth frowned, surprised Nephthys was brought up, and disliking the way Horus was trying to back out of explaining. “What do you mean Nephthys should tell me? What does she have to do with it?”
Horus breathed in deeply before he said, “After your trial, I spoke with Mother, and we discovered that Osiris trapped part of Nephthys' memories in a mirror.”
Seth’s eyes widened in shock. “What?!”
Horus grimaced. “The hand mirror was made by Ra for Hathor, and focuses on feelings of affection. There are two of them: one person looks into the controlling mirror, and when the person on the other end sees them, the second person, if they do not love the person they see, loses their feelings of love for whom they do love, and fall in love with whoever is in the mirror. Osiris found the mirrors when he raided Ra's temple after the last war he took part in with her, before Anubis was born. He gave the second mirror to the share of spoils that went to you... and the mirror found its way into Nephthys' hands, making her forget her love for you as her feelings were trapped in the mirror, and fall in love with Osiris."
It was bizarre, but it twigged something in Seth's memory, even long ago as it was. The celebrations they'd had, and Nephthys focusing on a mirror in the spoils Osiris sent him... "No. I... I let her..."
"It's not your fault," Horus insisted, taking a step closer. "Mother thinks... it's possible Osiris meant to use the mirror on you. But it caught Nephthys instead."
Seth just stared at him, horrified. "It was... I was meant to be...?" It was Seth's fault after all... He protected them all those years… until Osiris revealed his true colors and nearly killed Anubis.
How long was he planning all this? Seth thought in horror. And the monster had the audacity to say that Nephthys somehow just fell in love with Osiris because he was stronger?! And not because Osiris brainwashed her?!
He was stronger, Seth thought in frustration. Stronger than the fool who let her be assaulted. "And I never even noticed, like a blind idiot..."
“The loss of her affection for you,” Horus said, "was also coupled with some memory loss. It's part of why she never said anything about it. And how would you have suspected such a thing? You're not trained in that kind of magic. Even my mother didn't know until I told her about Hathor gifting me the second mirror."
"Hathor gifted it to you?" Seth said, trying to connect his frayed thoughts. "To... what?" He couldn't handle the reality that Nephthys really had loved him. It hurt too much after so much time. After all he'd done to her.
Horus smiled grimly. "Hathor likely wanted to make me fall in love with her if her courting attempts failed. If she and Ra had control over the future king of Egypt, they would have their revenge and be secure in their power."
It was a chilling thought, and Seth supposed things could have been worse for them all. He wondered if it wasn't some deeper ploy of Ra's to sow discord amongst the four siblings. But something else twigged his memory. “You said it was a hand mirror that Hathor had?”
"Yes."
“I caught Hathor muttering over one during the trial,” Seth said with a grimace. “Plotting something…” He pressed a hand to his forehead. "It was right there, that whole time..." He could have shaken the truth out of her somehow.
“Mother and I figured out how to undo the spell,” Horus said. “We restored Nephthys' mind, and she told everything she remembered. But..." Horus looked uncomfortable again.
"But what?" Seth demanded.
"But bringing this before Maat would have involved revealing what happened to you during the night of usurpation," Horus replied, grimly. "And I promised you that wouldn't happen."
"You're still trying to keep that promise?" Seth asked, quietly, and with some surprise. It had been so many years, and that promise had been so sudden.
Horus nodded. "It's all I could do. Even though I think Osiris should face punishment for what he did."
"Yes," Seth said, latching onto that rather than Horus' fervor. He wanted to go into Duat and rip Osiris apart again, though he knew he couldn't.
But he had another fear. "So Nephthys knows about... what happened on the night Osiris died?"
Horus shook his head. "She believes it was accidental. That Osiris looked into the mirror by happenstance. Mother and I discussed it in private."
Seth breathed in deeper, almost reassured. "So you lied to her." Despite Seth's own fears, Nephthys deserved justice against the man who'd hurt her. Seth had faced his punishment, Osiris should as well!
"She was already distressed," Horus said, looking not at all guilty. "Framing it as accidental seemed to soothe her."
"She might still trust Osiris," Seth said, angrily. "When he was the one who hurt her!" He hated that even now, Osiris escaped punishment for his crimes. Being trapped and seething in Duat wasn't enough!
"She stays from him as is," Horus insisted. "I don't think that's a risk."
Seth scoffed, furious at Horus' cowardice. But he knew that he, Seth, had no way to protect Nephthys anyway. No one would believe him if he claimed Osiris was guilty of all this. If Isis was against it, then Seth had no ground to stand on.
Finally Seth asked, "What does this have to do with Anubis' ascension?"
"Hathor still tried to manipulate me," Horus explained. "And during the trial, I fell victim to the mirror as well."
Seth raised his eyebrows in surprise. "But... you don't love her?"
Horus smiled as he replied, "If you love the person in the mirror, it doesn't affect you in the normal way. The person I saw was you, not her. So I was fine."
Seth's cheeks warmed and he looked away. "I never..." He shut his eyes. "When I ran into Hathor in Heliopolis, I looked into the mirror. That must have been when..." I imagine Isis counts that as another mark against me.
"I don't blame you," Horus said, a bit gently. "But it meant we were warned about Hathor and Ra's actions. Thankfully, Sekhmet helped Mother and I figure things out."
"You should never be thankful for Sekhmet's involvement," Seth said, angrily. It was true that Sekhmet had seemingly helped Seth see through some things, but she only ever pushed him towards disaster, as was her nature.
Horus nodded with a rueful smile. "She's dangerous and can't be trusted. But she showed Mother certain memories of the past, which allowed Mother to restore Nephthys, and gave us enough information to accuse Hathor. When Maat demanded Hathor present herself for a trial, Hathor refused to appear. She hid behind her allies, factions were formed, and the battle was fierce. Some humans were caught in the crossfire, and Anubis went to protect them. During that time, he ascended.”
Seth turned away, not sure what to say to all of this. His head was swimming with all the new information from Thoth. And now everything with Nephthys and Osiris...
Nephthys had been attacked on Seth’s watch, and he’d never known. No matter what Horus said, Seth felt like more of a failure than he ever had. Even Osiris' lies felt more truthful than ever: Seth's weaknesses were plain. He'd never once suspected Nephthys was bespelled. Though he couldn't do magic, he could have tried seeking out help for it. But he'd been so focused on himself that he'd missed Osiris' plots and Nephthys' pain... How was he a guardian, a soldier, an anything useful to anyone?
“You should lay down for the night, Uncle,” Horus said, quietly. “It’s been a long day. Rest could do you good.”
Seth wanted to shout back that he didn’t need rest, he was a god, he wasn’t on the sun boat anymore, he could walk easily and… he just felt tired.
When he’d still been acclimating to being on the sun boat, he’d had to take long rests most every day, not just because of gravity forcing him to the ground at every moment, or because of injuries sustained in combat with Osiris or Apep or other enemies, but also because of the mental toll of it all. He thought he’d gotten over it. But it seemed that wasn’t the case.
“Tomorrow we’ll handle your phone and maybe explore the city a little, if you’d like,” Horus continued, as if he was trying to make Seth feel better. As if anything could, let alone wondering in a stupid human city. “We can put off Maat’s list for a short while, at least.”
“You haven’t even shown me that,” Seth said, recalling the conversation Maat had with Horus only vaguely. He’d been overwhelmed by his arrival and not processing everything properly. He also had a weird time adjusting to no longer being trapped by the sun boat’s gravity, and managing his strength was difficult. He had to avoid kicking everything around him to pieces.
“I’ll send you a copy when you get your phone and computer,” Horus said. “There’s nothing secret on it. I’d print you a paper copy, but it’s decently long.”
Seth breathed in, only imagining what Maat had written out. “Fine.”
“I’ll answer all your questions,” Horus said. “But I really don’t think anything is accomplished by continuing tonight.”
Seth sighed and walked back to his room with a quiet, “Whatever.” He thought of appearing before Nephthys to apologize to her, but wasn't sure what to say. He'd failed her so deeply, the words didn't seem to exist. He wondered that she'd agreed to a meeting, given everything between them.
This is all Osiris still, Seth thought as he walked. He wants me off my game so I'm easier to attack. But he'd overcome it. He had to. And... he'd figure out what to say to Nephthys by the time he met with her.
If Horus was planning to attack him while Seth’s back was turned and he was distracted, he didn’t try.
Seth shut the door behind him, and then glanced at the lock. Horus can break it down if he pleases, Seth thought before he turned away and went to his bed. He dissolved into sand to get out of the annoying new clothing and lay on the bed in his familiar shendyt, feeling the softness of the blanket against the bare skin of his chest. His red hair pillowed around him, covering his eyes as he buried his face in one of the pillows.
He extended some of his sand to flick off the light switch, leaving him in darkness. He let it stretch over him, recalling that it had been a while since he’d been in true darkness. For so many years, Ra’s burning sunshine had always been nearby, like an itch at the back of his mind. He’d learned to sleep through it, row through it, fight through it.
No blazing sun servants came to call for him. No other gods snuck into his room to harass him. The floor didn’t tremble. Outside, he could hear the distant sounds of modern humanity, blissfully ignorant of the few troubles of a god older than the stone beneath them, lost amongst them like so much dust in the wind.
He wondered if Nut knew he was back. If Horus, Isis, or Maat had messaged her about him. If she saw him even now, in a world even busier than the one he’d left, when she’d have far more to watch over. Far more than her most embarrassing son.
He wondered if Nephthys thought about their ruined lives. How pained she must have been. How she deserved justice, and he... had to give it to her.
And he thought about blue eyes, rivers, gentle sky, and a world that felt even more distant than when he'd been on the sun boat.
“Because I love you.”
Seth's hands tightened on the bedsheets. He'd been professed to before. By Osiris. So what if Horus said he was trying to make Seth not feel shackled or trapped? He still was. Horus could be jealous of Anubis all he wanted, that only sounded like shades of Osiris' jealousy of Nephthys. And Nephthys hadn't... Her love had been destroyed. And Seth had gotten rid of any chances of anything else. All because of Osiris and his lies and manipulation.
Seth wasn't sure he was capable of being loved, despite Horus' comments. He'd fallen for Osiris' tricks. He'd failed Nephthys. He wasn't worthy.
Osiris is in Duat, Seth thought. And he cannot touch me here. I will survive his son. I will make amends to Nephthys, and if she never wants to see me again after that meeting, then... that is her wish.
Seth didn't know if it was his wish as well. There had been too much pain. He didn't know if he could explain it all away with a spelled mirror and misunderstandings. Too much time had passed.
He needed to talk to her. But he was afraid, too.
He finally shut his eyes, knowing thinking it over and over in his head was useless. He hoped not to dream.