Even If It Means War || Ennead

Blood

"Seth, my love." Osiris pulled Seth into his embrace, holding the man close as he let out a breath of relief. His body was accompanied by the coldness of Duat.
A shiver went through Seth's spine as he regained his conscience and pushed against his chest to free himself.

"Seth, there's a rumor traveling through Egypt about you carrying out my son's child. But it can't be.." Osiris smiled, "You wouldn't do that right?"

His face was unsettling, almost maniacal with the way it contorted into a smile. If Seth had eaten before bumping into him he probably would've released it all at that moment.
"Let me go–"

"They were lying right?" Osiris grabbed Seth's face with one hand, while the other was still wrapped around his waist, "Tell me they were lying!"

Where were the servants? Why wasn't anybody there to help him? Why was he so weak?
The questions raced through his mind one after the other.

Seth whimpered as his knees gave in, "No.."

Osiris paused and then shook his head as the realization hit him that the rumors were indeed true. His Seth had given birth to his own son's child.
"No! This wasn't supposed to happen!" he moved quickly as he slammed Seth into the wall, knocking the breath out of him.
Holding him up by his shoulders he kept yelling, "Why him? It was supposed to be me!"

Seth's head kept hitting the wall as Osiris shook him, "Stop please–"

He had never seen his brother truly angry like that. It was a terrifying experience, one that made him weak and left him no choice but to take whatever was coming his way. Now more than ever did he feel that he wasn't as strong as he used to be.

"You said you'd do anything as long as I didn't touch Anubis! You broke your promise, Seth!"
Osiris shook his head, "How could you?"

"I didn't mean it like that–" Seth protested but Osiris cut him off.

"It's not too late to make him ours, where is he? Where is your son?"

Flashbacks from that day when Seth had given up his body to save Anubis came rushing back into his head, forcing a scream out of him.
He vividly remembered the horror he felt when he saw that Osiris had collected the components of Anubis' being.
And then it was just pleading and incomprehensible cries that followed. He could not live through that again, couldn't let Osiris get his hands on another son of his.

"No! Please not him! Anything but that!" Seth's whole body was vibrating with fear as Osiris finally pulled him out of the wall which left bloody cuts on his back and a wound on the back of his head.

"You and he will come to Duat with me–"

Before Seth could protest further, the bloody tip of a sword rammed through Osiris' chest making both of them freeze up..
"What–"

"Your presence here is not welcome, Osiris."

"Isis–" Osiris gasped as his wife twisted the sword inside his chest, "My Love–"

Isis grimaced and tightened her grip on the handle of the sword.

"Don't call me that. You do not love me, I know that now." Isis must have used a spell on her sword because suddenly the wound began to turn an ugly black color that ate its' way through the rest of Osiris' skin.
Seth dropped to his knees as the hands holding him up wasted away along with the body in front of him.

"So that's the one he used this time." Isis looked down at the body of an unconscious Hathor lying between them. Her gaze then shifted to her brother, who was nothing more but a shivering mess on the ground.

"Hey, you can stop that now." She rested a hand on her hip.

The shivering turned into short little gasps that slowly but surely turned Seth's face blue.
His hands grasped for something but there was nothing but the tile on the ground for him to hold on to.
He toppled over as he desperately tried to slow down his breathing.

Isis frowned and kneeled down, "Hey, look at me." She grabbed Seth by his face and held it steady. Seth tried to say something but the oxygen in his lungs wasn't enough to bring out a coherent sound and the short breathing didn't even let him begin to talk.
His eyes slowly rolled back into his head leaving him on the verge of losing consciousness.

"Seth breathe!" Isis shook him but it only aggravated him more. The sounds he was making could break even a god's heart.

"Come on, do it like me." She began to breathe slowly, hoping that he would catch on and imitate her as she cradled his limp body in her arms.

Seth hiccuped as he tried to follow her instructions though he seemed like his mind was already far away..
His glassy eyes were staring at her but didn't seem to fully focus on anything.
Isis felt herself tear up as she pushed a strand of hair behind Seth's ear and kept rocking him in her arms.

"It's okay. I'm here. You're safe." she whispered.

–

"I want to see him!" Horus persisted and tried to pass through the door that his mother was currently blocking. Seth had been gone for so long that Horus went to go looking for him only to find his lover crying in his mother's arms, completely disassociated.

He didn't know what to think when he saw Hathor's unconscious body next to them, bleeding from a wound in her chest.
For a moment he thought...he thought that maybe Seth had done something to her. But the look in Isis' eyes told him that something bigger had happened.

When he went to take Seth out of Isis' arms the demigod just screamed and the crying started all over again. He refused to be handled by Horus in any way, refused to even look at him.

Eventually, Isis had to carry her brother away from the prying eyes of their servants that came rushing in. They'd have to investigate why they were gone in the first place but that was a problem for later.

"He doesn't want to see you right now." Isis persisted.

"I'm his future husband, I should be with him right now," Horus argued.

For her own sanity, Isis chose to ignore what Horus had just said, "I'm telling you to stay back and let me deal with him."

"Mother–"

"I won't hurt him.."

Horus froze when his mother correctly predicted what he was worried about. There was an unspoken agreement between them then, to which Horus nodded and turned away.

He reluctantly agreed to give Seth some space, though the unknown was killing him. Isis refused to tell him what exactly had happened, only that it was she who stabbed Hathor.
Realizing that he wouldn't get to see Seth for the rest of the day, he went to stay with Imsety, who at this point had also caught wind of the situation and demanded to see his father.

Isis made her way back into the darkened room that smelled of a calming incense she had lit earlier. Her eyes shifted to the outline of Seth's slim body under the sheets. The tremors had passed and now he laid still, like a dead body.

"Seth?"

No answer.

She sighed and sat down on the edge of the bed. As much as she hated him, seeing him like this and realizing that this was the aftermath of what Osiris had done to him...she felt sorry for him.

Against her own judgment, she lifted her hand and rested it on his back, stroking it slowly.
No words were needed when Seth relaxed against her palm, giving her a quiet sign of trust.