Chapter Text
She recognized the sound. The souls of Duat screaming out in fury, provoked by Osiris' own rage. It was a sound she herself had been the proprietor of back when this was her domain during those nightly trips with Ra on her solar barge. Seth once again played the defender by killing Apep night after night. She made quick work of the demon serpent, and with nothing to do after, would always wander through Duat to sometimes pick a fight.
"What are you smiling about, Suetekh? To hear that call is not a good thing." Isis said, her voice hushed as her eyes darted around, looking for those who would soon be hunting them.
"Just a memory... I used to have fun here."
"Well, you know who will make it to us first, and you know what he is fond of doing."
"I do not fear Shesmu, at least not when I have a weapon, that is." Seth told her. Isis just simply lifted her brows. "I said when I have one."
"Hello, ladies." Speak of the devil, and he shall appear. Isis threw a bolt of lighting at him that he easily dodged. "Whoa, whoa, whoa! Calm yourself, Aset. This time, it is Ra who commands me."
But to the surprise of everyone, Anubis and his wife Anput rose from the shadows, each taking hold of a goddess, "Hold tight, Suetekh." He said to Seth, "and keep your eyes closed."
Into the shadows they went, where demons and lost souls alike reached for them. Anubis told her to keep her eyes shut, but she was not daunted by these creatures. With the fullness of her memory being returned, Seth could definitively say that she has seen worse than this; and with a formidable gaze of her own, the creatures of this realm steered clear of she and Anubis.
"What the hell is he thinking, Anpu?" Seth wanted to know.
"I believe that it is safe to say that he isn't thinking!" Her nephew answered.
Seth rolled her eyes, "You can say that again!"
The pair brought the two goddesses into a familiar dwelling, and Seth's heart soared as she fought to squirm her way out of Anubis' arms.
"Horus!" She called out, "Horus! Where are you?"
"He and Maat have gone out. She needed to go to the Pillar of Atum to connect herself to the realm of her power. Maat has fought for some time to distance herself from everything and everyone except for Thoth." Anubis explained.
Seth's heart sank in disappointment, "I miss him so much!" She muttered, tears blurring her vision.
"You do not want him to see you like this." Isis said, the horror of what she saw reflected in her eyes. "Come, I can help you to heal quicker."
"We must return to Duat. Please, you have to stay hidden from anyone with whom Osiris could possess to come and get you. We are going to find out what is happening, and I will report to you as soon as I know something."
They were gone, and Isis took Seth by the hand, leading her into the sitting room where she could lie down. Isis cried silent tears of misery, and Seth wondered if she really looked that bad?
"I am sorry." She heard Isis say for the second time.
"You have nothing to be sorry about. It isn't like you were the one who did this to me."
Isis tried to quiet the sob that slipped free of her throat but was unsuccessful. "Why didn't you share your pain with me? Why didn't you lean on me even for a moment? I never saw the things he did to taunt you. All I could see was your stubborn fury over nothing! Nephthys... " their eyes met, "... well, how much did you really love her anyway?"
Seth chuckled, already feeling the effects of Isis' magic touch. She was right, Seth did not love Nephthys in that manner any longer as another had grown to take her place. Surely, his mother could understand why they did not share the news of their love with her.
"I might have been furious, Suetekh. Horus had obligations, but a mother's ultimate goal is the happiness of her child." Isis said in answer to Seth's thought.
"I forgot how annoying it is to have my mind read." Seth grumbled softly, "... you would not have pushed us apart?"
Isis met and held her gaze, "Of course I would have tried to come between you, but eventually Horus would have convinced me of the sincerity of your love. I would have come to support it, and you. Most importantly, though, I would have found out how Osiris did torment you. I would have put a stop to it."
The two siblings shared a silent moment of understanding before that moment was broken by Anubis, who came now with a battered and unconscious Nephthys in his arms. Isis gave a loud cry, rushing forward to check on her sister.
"What has happened, Anpu?!" She asked as her eyes took in yet another horrific sight left in the wake of Osiris' anger.
"He didn't believe her." He told Isis, finding a place to lay her down. "If she dies, she will return to Duat where he will continue to make her suffer."
"He will not get that chance!" Isis swore, immediately getting to work.
"Meryt?"
Seth gasped, turned her head, "Horus!" She cried, going as quickly as her newly healed body would allow, into his arms. "Where were you? Where is Maat?"
He crushed her to him, his lips leaving frantic kisses all over her face. Seth tensed in his arms, and Horus loosened his grip.
"He hurt you, didn't he? He– " Horus' eyes were wild as he fought not to imagine what his father did to her, " –he raped you!"
"Please, my falcon, I don't want to think about any of it right now. Please!" She begged, burying herself within his embrace.
"I will kill him! With my very own hands, I will end his existence!" Horus vowed, trembling so badly that his wings came out forcibly, and without realizing it, he wrapped them protectively around he and Seth.
"You will do no such thing." Isis chided. "You are no match for your Father, nor should you try to be. It is not your place to punish him. This is what the Ennead was created for, to provide checks and balances."
Isis looked down at her sister, and her fury continued to grow. For one terrifying instance, she thought about invoking Ra's secret name, thereby swelling her own power so that she could take on Osiris herself. He did not deserve to be in and of this realm if all he could think to do was abuse his power.
"Maat can't judge him. She holds no dominion over the dead!" Horus exclaimed in a controlled voice. He didn't want his anger to upset Seth.
The name was on the tip of her tongue, her jaw loosening as she made ready to open her mouth and call out the sacred name of Ra...
"We all must remember that none are above our laws, not even Osiris! Maat may not be able to judge him, but she can call down to us a God who can, should the Ennead decides that it must be done." It was Anubis who angrily pointed this out. "I hope she can do this in time because he, as the Lord of the Dead, has a right to unleash the demons of Duat into this world."
Isis snapped her mouth shut with the words of Anubis. To be so reckless... to steal Ra's power for her own vengeful use. She would be no better than the monster Osiris had become if she did this, no matter how noble her cause.
"He has threatened to do this on one other occasion." Seth reminded Horus.
"During the contendings... " Horus looked down into Seth's upturned face, "... you gave up the throne then."
"That alone should have been an indication as to the cruelty that he is capable of. I HAD to stop resisting or he would make the whole of Egypt suffer!" Seth was clinging to Horus at this point, as if he were a life line she could grab onto. "It wasn't truly for his threat that I stopped, though, my falcon. You know that, right?"
Horus chanced a kiss, and found her receptive to it. A little too receptive as his body responded immediately to the sudden fierce hunger that Seth displayed with the touch of his lips. By the time the kiss was broken, Horus swayed on his feet. Now was not the time to lose themselves in their passion for one another... Nephthys had been gravely hurt, and Osiris was about to unleash hell!
Opening his wings, Horus rested his eyes on Anubis and Isis hovering around a badly beaten Nephthys, and he found yet another reason to want to see Osiris destroyed! Has he always been this despicable? How could he do these things to his siblings?
"My god! Does his depravity know no bounds?" Horus cried in astonishment, clutching Seth a little too tightly. She gave a soft cry, and he apologized profusely.
"It's ok, I'm ok. Let's just focus on Nephthys and her healing."
"How quickly can you heal her, Mother Isis?" Anubis asked anxiously, knowing that they didn't have much time.
"I thought for sure he would believe her– oh, I should have known better! I was only thinking of buying myself time! I should have made her come with me!" Isis cried, laying her hands against Nephthys' temples, trying to see into her mind while also working to heal her skull fractures. "I-i will go as fast as I can."
She has had enough of this! Enough of letting Osiris terrorize the lot of them simply for his own pleasure. How awful can one man be without ever paying the price for his misdeeds, while everyone around him is left to suffer in the wake of it? When will Osiris be brought to justice?
*
*
"You did what?!" Geb demanded of Nut.
"Did you really think I would just stand back and allow my child to be annihilated?"
"I expected you to follow the will of Atum. Now, look at what your interference has caused!" Geb scolded in a none too soft tone.
Nut's black eyes narrowed, "Atum should not have demanded such a price without getting to the root of Suetekh's obsession with destroying his brother!" She argued. "Do you honestly think that Osiris was blameless in all of it?"
"YES!" He yelled, and the ground rumbled. "Seth was always been and arrogant little s.o.b! "
"Watch it, buster, or I will reign down on you hellfire from above!"
"Can the two of you stop fighting?" Ra asked, rubbing at her aching temples. "The Ennead must convene. What Osiris does is against our laws— "
"What Seth has done is no different. He was sentenced to a complete death! One which he managed to escape with the help of his mother, defying the Hreat God, Temu. He does not belong here! Let him now rot in Duat under his brother's rule for the rest of his days!"
"You can not mean that, Geb. He is your son." Nut said in horror.
"I said my goodbyes to that boy ages ago." He snapped.
Nut left, and Ra let out an exasperated yell. "What the hell is wrong with you, Geb? She might never forgive you for those words."
A look of contrition molded his features at the thought of Nut withholding her love from him until the end of time.
"Perhaps I have spoken too harshly." He muttered.
"Ya think!" Ra snapped back. "You must make amends, and you must do it by supporting your wife in the decision that she's made by coming to the tribunal."
"I will not." He simply said.
"Fine, get used to viewing your wife forever from afar because if Osiris succeeds in annihilating Seth or vice versa, you will never feel her in your arms again."
Ra left him with those words, feeling confident that they had found their mark. Geb would eventually show up. Now, she had to go to Nut and convince her of this, while also getting her to come back into the human realm, where it is terribly constricting for her to be and somewhat painful to boot.
*
*
Maat could feel the power that resonates through this sacred place. She could see it as it flowed like golden dust around her and through her. In her minds eye played a living record of Kemet, from its very inception in the time before time.
She had before her all the moments in time where the balance had shifted, and it was almost always due to evil deeds. Those that were done out loud and, with the most obvious malintent, were committed by Seth. Hence the reason for his annihilation. But there was something more, something insidious acting alongside the troubled god.
Maat could not see it then because she could not be persuaded to look; to believe that Osiris was capable of awful things. She could see now that he was and that he always has been. The affair with Nephthys went on longer than what either of them had confessed to. He believed it was his right to have them both, drawn more by the intrigue than by any sort of feeling he may have had for Nephthys.
She, however, lay with Osiris out of her deep love for him, that grew to an obsession as he treated her coldly in the light of day while stoking the flames of her passion in the night. With his lies, he held her under his sway, blinding her to the truth. Osiris did not love her, but she could be made to believe that he did.
Isis was also just a possession to him. She was his sacred wife. The one with whom he would rule. The one who would give him an heir. To his great dismay, Nephthys gave him one first. She came to him, joyous over the news, and he ripped that joy right away from her.
"Seth will kill that child. Perhaps Isis will help him. You must cull that thing!"
"Thing... he had called Anubis a thing, while also calling for his death. Nephthys, ever the dutiful sister/lover, did as he asked. She left Anubis to the creatures of the Nile. It was only by the gentle grace of Isis that the child survived. Isis had discovered the affair, somehow knowing that Nephthys had already delivered her baby, but seeing no proof of this birth, Isis went looking.
She found Anubis and placed him under her protection before confronting her siblings with what she knew; and in front of Nephthys, Osiris told his wife that it was a one time thing, and that Nephthys had tricked him into it. Lies, but only Nephthys knew that he lied. Osiris had somehow managed to convince her that these lies were for the best.
When it came to Seth, Osiris publicly apologized while privately ridiculing him for not being man enough to give his wife a child, bragging about how Nephthys preferred his bed to that of her husband's, taunting his brother until he made a rash and devastating decision that would start him on his downward spiral into evil.
Everyone believed Seth to be the epitome of darkness after he murdered Osiris and continued on with trying to completely destroy his brother. Each time he would fail, Osiris only taunted him more.
"You can do nothing right, little brother. Just except your ineptitude." Osiris would say, which would have the desired effect.
Seth would just try harder and become more depraved in his actions. Taking the throne while also trying to force Isis into the same betrayal that was committed against them. The only saving grace was that he didn't give much effort into raping her...
The sisters brought Osiris back with their magical lament, and had the son he gave no love to assist them in making the first mummy of Egypt, preserving his body for the afterlife because the magic of his sisters could not sustain him. It was then that he became the King of Duat.
It was also then that Osiris fathered his legitimate son and heir: Horus. With the birth of this child, Seth's descent into evil would be furthered as he began hunting his pregnant sister with the desire to rip that child from her stomach, killing them both. He forced Isis and her child into a life of hardship and suffering, successful in seeing to the death of Horus, the toddler being bitten by a poisonous snake.
Maat's loving husband took pity of the cries of Isis as she begged the help of the gods. Thoth healed the child, and Serket veiled them in her protection until Horus was old enough to challenge his uncle for the throne.
Egypt had fallen into darkness under the rule of Seth, who was not equipped, nor skilled in the ways of bringing forth life. Gone were the days when he would protect Egypt. All he knew how to do now was to destroy that which he touched. Underneath it all was Osiris, pushing and goading Seth into trying harder to get rid of him entirely.
But something happened that Osiris did not intend. His son fell in love with Seth and was successful in proving that fact to him. Horus was able to open Seth's heart and mind to the beauty of being truly loved.
"I will give it all to you and serve at your side if this is what you want, Uncle. All that I ask is that you allow me to love you."
"Why would you give up your inheritance for just my heart alone? Do you wish to enslave me?" Seth asked, suspicious of Horus' motives.
Horus knelt before him, "I am the one enslaved, Uncle, and gladly so. I want only for your happiness. If sitting as Pharaoh is the way to have it, then I give it to you, but you can not do it alone. You need help, and I will provide it for you... if you agree to let me love you."
"Again with this love! How could you love me?"
Horus kissed him softly at first, and when Seth did not push him away, he poured all of his passion into conveying the love he felt for Seth in this one kiss alone. No one has ever displayed such wanton desire, not for him; and he did, he gave himself up to Horus.
Maat felt the wetness of her tears as they stained her cheeks with sorrow. It hurt her to know how long Seth had gone feeling unworthy of love, how desperately he reached for it when it was offered, only to be stolen away by Osiris.
If left alone, Seth would have flourished with the love of Horus and was well on his way, but Osiris refused to see his brother redeemed in the eyes of his fellow gods and the people he served. The King of Duat continued to poke and prod at Seth's perceived inadequacies until one day, the final straw was met. Atum sent down his order, and Anubis was forced to carry it out. Seth was gone, and many felt his loss... none more than Horus.
"O Great Temu, hear me." Maat called, "The Lord of the Dead has sinned against his station. Come down into the little kingdom and judge him for his crimes."
An answer would come, but it was not Atum who would speak it.
"He will be judged, but not him alone." Thoth's voice brought her out of her trance.
"Mehi!" Maat threw her arms around the neck of her husband.
"You are trembling, my love." Thoth murmured, rubbing her back vigorously.
Maat turned her dark eyes up to him, "If you only knew what I have seen."
"I do know, my darling; and as you know, I am also aware of the prophecy that has been given to you. I know what it means." Thoth replied, dread in his voice and in his eyes.
"What, beloved? What does it mean?"
"It foretells the end– "
"The end of Osiris' deception?" Maat asked with hope.
"The end of us all, moon of my life." Not the answer she was expecting.