Faded

There is a man who visits me every night in my dreams. Hair a burnt sienna, skin a golden brown, and eyes a deep cerulean…

He once told me he was the shadow to my light.

"What light?" I asked, running my fingers through his hair.

"The one inside you," he said, catching my hand in his. The sun's rays casted a glint in his eyes.

I felt a blush creep up to my cheeks. "You have your own light," I replied, feeling slightly abashed. "Everyone does."

A soft wind blew past, gently brushing the fringe from his face. His eyes bore into mine before glancing off and occupying themselves with the blades of grass that lay between us. He uprooted the shoots and released them individually in a rhythmic cascade. "Not I," he said, watching them float unhurriedly back to the earth. "Not for some time."

I inched closer to him until our noses were almost an inch apart. "You do," I told him. "You've only to rediscover it."

He grinned and leaned in. "I've already found a new one."

He took me to the edge of the world where we walked among the trees and under the stars. The moon gleamed ahead of us, dancing off the white of his vestments.

"There, you see," he said, holding our hands up and pointing beyond the confines of our path. "There can be no light without darkness. Conversely, there can be no darkness without light. You and I, we complete each other. If not for my shadow, how would I have seen you? If not for your light, how would I have known that I was in the shadow?" His arms encircled around my waist and drew me to him.

We are running.

Someone is pursuing us. The pebbles hop up and down as we dash through them.

"Set! Accept your fate! Your fate as pharaoh granted by me is light and shadow."

"Keep running!" Set shouts hastily, pulling me forward as we weave between the columns and evade the blasts from behind us. There is rubble everywhere.

We can't go on.

"Kisara, stop!" he calls to me.

I can't. I won't let him hurt you again.

"Become the Dark King!" the terrible voice roared.

"Kisara and I are not your tools for revenge!"

What is that coming towards us? I can't let it hit him.

I'll protect you.

"Set," I say, reaching up to touch his cheek. The blue of his eyes was fading away. I don't want to miss them. Don't cry, Set.

Please don't cry.

-o-

The morning light poured in through the sheer curtains, stirring a young woman from her recurring reverie. Tears brimmed from her sky blue eyes and streamed down her cheeks. She sniffled and buried her face into her pillow, not comprehending why her heart ached so much or why she was so overcome by a mere dream.

She didn't want to leave him…

He was her friend and great love. She was dying and there was nothing either of them could do. She had touched his face and watched helplessly as he fell apart.

The maiden sat up and leaned her head back against the headboard of her bed. It was just a nightmare, she thought. Just a nightmare. The last dream was different from any other that she had had previously. All the others were radiant and peaceful and endearing; last night's was wicked and despairing. Perhaps she was too stressed.

Set will be waiting for her. He had always waited for her, for as long as she could remember—always there to assure her gently through all of the travails she endured. She would see him again when she fell asleep tonight.

A sinking feeling set in. No, she would not. The sharp pain in her chest betrayed her hopes. There was some quality in it so unlike that produced by a dream, even if it was a bad one. She stared ahead past the footboard and at the opposite wall of her studio, taking in her surroundings. It was as if she was seeing the room in a new light or for the first time. But the room hadn't changed. She had.

She touched her hand to her forehead and drew her hair back. That wasn't a dream. Somehow she knew that it wasn't. It was an experience…a memory.

In all of three thousand years, why was she barely remembering this now? And if she was alive again, then where was Set?

A/N: After rewriting Fall to Pieces, I had the inspiration to tell the story from Kisara's point of view. From the anime, I never got a real sense of closure from Seto's connection with Blue Eyes; I wanted more! Seto and Kisara's history is the most interesting of all the Yugioh characters, in my opinion, and there's so much material to work with! Inspired by the song "Faded" from Alan Walker, you can bet I played it plus fifty times over as I was writing this. The icon I used is found from Google. It was also my motivation, so props to the original and "anonymous" artist.