Disclaimer: I don't own YGO. I don't make any profit off of this fanfic… in fact, I'm dead broke.

Author's Note: Hey avid YGO fans out there!

This one-shot is for the finals of Computerfreak101's Yu-Gi-Oh! Fanfiction Contest. Apparently I'm still lucky enough to have made it back to this round AGAIN, and the pairing for this round is Flowshipping or Priestess Isis x Kisara.

Yes, it is yuri. Yuri… well at least that's better than Stake (Bandit Keith x Mai).

Thanks to everyone who participated with me this season of the contest—you guys were awesome, the entries were astounding, and it was just a fun time overall. Comp-chan, you rock as host, so thank you MUCHO for being ours for the contest!! This has been a terrific season.

Hopefully you guys like this one-shot! And for the second time: Viva la YGO Fanfiction Contest! (because YGO is the BEST!)

#2 Author's Note: Thoughts in italics.

In My Heart

By: Angel's Nocturne

Ancient Egypt, 3000 years ago—Priestess Isis

She knew there was something about the woman.

It wasn't just her physical appearance, though Isis knew that was partially it. Her skin was paler than ash, resembling the parlor of death, but glowing with such radiance that the sickly grey of the deceased did not suit someone so stunning. She seemed to be made of ivory, the way the early sunlight glistened on her flesh, and it only enhanced the glowing silk that was her long, flowing hair. It was a little filthy from a bath and much traveling, but Isis was sure that a good brushing would make it shine as if made of moonlight itself. And then there were the eyes… those eyes of sapphire, like undisturbed pool of ice. They gazed out at the sweeping dunes so sadly, but the emotion only increased their ethereal beauty.

Such was the sight that Isis came upon when she visited the Temple of the Goddess she was named after. It was early morning, as Ra had only just peeked out over the desert horizon, leaving a warm glow across the waking land. The cool of the night was beginning to dissipate, and the heat of Ra had yet to come, leaving the air perfect for an untimely venture to the temples to pray.

That was what Isis had intended to do, as she had done every other day ever since she had been anointed as one of the Pharaoh's Priests. She always had been very devoted to the Gods, but with her new position she felt it her duty to bring herself as close to them as she could. After all, she now protected the lives of the Pharaoh and his family—if there was anyone who needed the favor of the great Gods themselves it would be her.

She also took a liking to the solitary trips up the hills to the Temple of Isis. They encompassed the few moments she did have to herself, where she could be at peace and simply melt into the blessed seclusion of prayer. She did not have to see the future or the past—she was just herself, alone with only the deities, and there she had her one moment where she was not foretelling the fate of Egypt, but just being. The clarity brought her deep tranquility to suffice through the day.

Normally there was hardly anyone up at this time at the temple. Isis met the occasional traveler or two who was visiting just before they were to move on, taking a moment to pray to the Goddess before their journey. It was a surprise to the priestess to find anyone when they did come—let alone a ghostly figure such as the one who sat at the steps before her.

Isis approached, still uncertain that she was even seeing such a being. How could someone be so pale, so magical, so… beautiful? The woman was so striking Isis wondered if she was even viewing her at all, or if a mirage played tricks on her. She rubbed her eyes, getting out the sand of sleep, and looked again.

The woman still sat there, like a glowing spirit.

Who is this person? Isis wondered as she drew even closer, curiosity ebbing at her to continue. Her skin is so pale, so light it nearly glows… it is as if she is not human. Maybe she wasn't. This was the Temple of Isis… perhaps the Goddess Herself was taking a visit to her human worshippers.

Isis wasn't sure she disbelieved that. The stranger was far too unique to be from around here. Her eyes sparkled with such an inner depth that the idea of her being a spirit, or even the Goddess, made Isis shiver with sudden interest.

She was too beautiful to be human, she decided.

Isis came even closer. Finally the woman snapped out of her reverie and noticed the approaching priestess. Fear sparked her eyes, and her thin body tensed instantly as if to run.

"Oh… Oh, I'm sorry." The woman got up and tentatively began her descent down the steps of the temple. "I—I am not staying long. I… I'll leave, I'll go, I'm sorry—"

"No," Isis said to the girl. "No, please, you do not have to leave." The alarm was not doused from the stranger's gaze as she started down the steps hastily. Isis strode forward, blocking her from escaping. "Please, it is all right," Isis insisted. She did not like seeing fright in the young woman's eyes. Such jeweled eyes should not be afraid. "You are quite welcome to stay, you are no bother to me."

The sapphire eyes looked at Isis incredulously, then returned to apprehension as they peered out over the dunes and into the distance. "N-No, it is fine, really. It is probably best that I leave."

Despite the wishes of the foreigner Isis did not relent. She stood calmly before her, still not letting her pass. Why was she so scared?

"You need not, really," Isis continued. She smiled a little before turning back towards the desert. "Or, perhaps, if it is my presence that bothers you, then I will gladly leave you so you may be comfortable—"

"No!" she said abruptly. The action seemed to shock her as well as Isis, as the girl backed away quickly. "I mean, you do not bother me at all."

"And your presence does not trouble me either," Isis replied. Fluidly she walked up beside the woman, trying to be as welcoming as possible. She did not wish to frighten the person more, but it still baffled her why she did so in the first place. "Come, sit with me. The temple at this time is wonderful to share with others."

The woman seemed to relax a little, but still kept an air of nervousness as she asked, "Are you… sure?"

Isis nodded. "I cannot see why not." She wanted to know why fear would ever burn with such vigor in the eyes of someone so amazing. The way her skin glowed and her eyes sparkled, Isis almost felt the slightest pang of envy for such beauty. Almost. Jealousy was not a trait she had acquired and her own blessings were plenty enough. The Goddess had given her all that she needed—there was no need to hunger for another's possessions, when they were not meant for her in the first place.

Still uneasy, the girl nodded in agreement and they settled next to each other on the stone steps. For a while they simply stared out at the horizon, watching as Ra's light stretched out over the length of the desert, the shadows growing as quickly as the light. Besides the cry of a distant bird or two, the air was silent of sound for many moments.

Eventually Isis found her persistence eating away had her. She had to know. "Why is it that you tried to run from me?"

The woman tensed beside her. The soft reply came out as a tiny whisper. "I am sorry, I did not mean to. It is just that, whenever people do see me, if I do not run they will usually chase me out anyways."

"Why?" Isis asked, a little surprised. People had chased her away? What in their right minds were they thinking? It puzzled her that anyone would want to chase away someone like her. It was not as if she was a monster or anything of that sort….

"I am an omen, they say," the woman replied forlornly. "They look at my pale skin, and at my blue eyes, and they say I will bring bad luck. That I will set plagues upon them and kill their crops."

Now Isis was baffled. She looked at her companion dubiously. "An omen?" she repeated. She shook her head and smiled. "How can that be? You do not look dangerous to me."

She couldn't tell for sure, but Isis thought she saw a pink stain tint her ash-colored cheeks. "You… You do not think so?"

"Why, not at all," Isis replied. "In fact you look like you were brought from the Gods themselves. When I first saw you I almost thought you to be the great Goddess Isis."

The pink stain turned to crimson. "I am certainly no Goddess," she insisted, but Isis smiled at her modesty. "You are the first to ever say such a thing to me…."

"I can't understand why that is. It is unfounded that they cast you away for such superstitious things." Isis brushed some of her hair from her shoulder. "Where is your family? Do you have no one to go to?"

The pale stranger was silent. "… They exiled me," she responded at last. "The village drove me away. I have been traveling ever since, but there is nowhere for me to stay. I am shunned by everyone."

Her sad tone ached in Isis's heart, making her want to throw her arms around the girl and hold her. She knew she would probably only scare her again, though. Still, Isis could not stop herself from placing a hand on her shoulder.

"Not everyone," Isis corrected. The girl looked up, questioning. "I do not shun you. And nor does Isis, the Great Mother Goddess. You are safe within the arms of the Gods."

"I know," she answered, a distant smile gracing her lips. "That is why I come to the temples. Perhaps the Goddess will answer my prayers and release me from my fate." The azure jewels fell downcast, and she quietly added, "Maybe She can change the destiny I am forced to fulfill."

Isis looked to her, the woman's peculiar words echoing in her thoughts. The destiny I am forced to fulfill…. "Why do you say that?"

Her companion stared at her. "Pardon…?"

"Why do you say that you are bound to fate?" Isis asked.

The woman's gaze wandered. "Because… Because I am. The Gods have made me to look so strange for a reason." Her eyes watered a little. "It is because I must be a bad omen. Why else would I look so different? No one wants me, if I was truly useless the Gods would have let me die by now. What other fate is there for me but to fulfill my destiny?

"But I… I do not want to," she continued. "I do not want to cause people harm. I do not wish to bring about bad luck to anyone. That is why I pray, that maybe the Gods will have mercy on me and take me before I bring about a great calamity like everyone says I shall." She bit her lip, gnawing on it in frustration. "I just want someplace to belong. I do not want to hurt anyone."

The woman looked out at the rolling dunes, her voice strained from saying much more. She opened her mouth to quickly apologize for spilling out such unnecessary drama to her poor listener, but her words were softly cut off.

"You do not intend to hurt people," Isis said steadily. "So… do not."

The woman looked astounded. "But… that is what everyone says will happen. That is why I am a bad omen—"

"Listen," Isis said sternly, but her voice quieted as her lips curled into a distant smile. "You are not a bad omen. And you cannot be, if you choose. Fate gives us choices in life, and though certain paths are set for us, the decisions we make ultimately determine where we will go, and what we will become. I am a seer—I know of the future, and its ways." Isis's blue eyes became remote, as if she was looking past the horizon to the next day. "I used to think that fate was set in stone, that nothing can be changed. That we are what we are and we will do what we are fated. It took time, but now I see that the future is really what we make of it. Everyday we change it with every decision we make.

"That is why we need seers. If the future never changed, then we could simply view it once and know the outcome to the end of the universe!" Isis grinned coyly. The hand she had on the stranger's shoulder moved more around her, bringing her into a light embrace. "So please, do not think that you are destined to this. You do not have to be evil. You do not need to bring about disaster. Be whatever you wish. Be the person you truly wish to be." She hugged the woman tighter, hoping she had not overdone it.

She became slightly concerned when she felt her companion sob into her grasp. Isis pulled the girl away to reveal that tears streaked down the pale face, making her eyes seem like the ocean waters of Alexandria.

The sight of her weeping made Isis feel terrible. She did not mean to make her upset! But after a shaky breath, the stranger's lips formed a smile and they whispered, so lightly that maybe only the Gods could hear it.

"Th… Thank you…."

Isis heard it.

A few tears formed in the priestess's eyes as well as she held the outsider closely, now unabashed in her efforts to calm her. "And as for where you belong," Isis whispered, "you can belong with me, if you wish."

The ghostly woman sniffled a bit. "R-Really?"

Isis nodded. "If you wish it. And if you choose to move on… you will always have a place in my heart."

"That… that sounds like a wonderful place to belong."

They would not stay together for more than that morning, the woman choosing the travel onward. She did not wish to burden the wonderful priestess who had comforted herand became the first person to give her something more than hate, though she did not tell her that was her reason for departure. She regretted it later, for she never found Isis again, though she was never completely at a loss.

Kisara knew she was always with Isis. Always, in her heart.

fFfFfFfFfFfFfFfFfFfFfFfFfFfFf

BC Battle Ship, Present Day—Ishizu Ishtar

She knew she'd won the battle before it ever began.

It all happened as she had foretold, as the Millennium Tauk had shown her. She would duel Seto Kaiba, and in the last moves where he played Obelisk and attacked, her trap card would cause his assault to backfire, destroying Kaiba in the process.

She knew that she would win. That was what fate had foreseen.

So it was a terrible surprise to Ishizu when, just as Kaiba was about to announce his attack, he stopped short of his declaration.

"Obelisk the Tormentor! ATTA—!"

Ishizu watched, wary as she noticed his hesitation. Why does he pause? she asked, unnerved. She had not seen him do so in her visions—this was not what was supposed to happen. Why isn't Obelisk attacking?

Her azure eyes studied him with fear and uncertainty. The man looked as if he had gone into a trance, his own cobalt orbs staring at her, past her, as if seeing something beyond the scope of time and space itself. The vacancy of his expression only heightened the Tomb Keeper's apprehension.

This isn't… what I saw…. She bit her lip in confusion. This isn't… but how, how can it be?

What is it that he sees?

She had no time to further question it, however, as Kaiba's eyes soon brightened with presence once again. He clutched his head, his face etched in bewilderment, but then a strange clarity overcame his features. Ishizu observed as he looked to her, then to his hand, with a foreign sense of calm. She waited for him to announce again his attack upon her with Obelisk….

"Come out, Blue Eyes!"

Ishizu sucked in a gasp as the air shifted with silvery light; from the sacrifices of Kaiba's monsters—of Obelisk—came forth the Blue Eyes White Dragon. The beast glistened with a holy light, its ivory scales glossy and shimmering like that of moonlight. Its wings outstretched, the gales created from it swirling about like a miniature typhoon. Ishizu looked up in shock to see the sapphire gems it called eyes looking down at her, so deep and blue that nothing, not even the sky, could compare in their wonder.

An alien warmth overcame her as she lost herself among the blue. Those eyes, so magical and jeweled… she had seen them somewhere before. She could not think of when, but the feeling was all the same. It did not mater when. She simple knew.

Great White Dragon, she heard herself whisper as she gazed up in awe, feelings stir inside of me… what is it that I sense before you? It is as if I… know you….

A part of her was entranced with the strange sensation. Another part looked upon the dragon and was engulfed in the fact that she did not see the dragon in the visions. The battle had completely changed—whatever it was the Kaiba had seen, it altered his decision and chose the dragon over God. It changed the future.

This… I did not predict this….

Fate had changed—the visions she thought to be etched in stone eroded away like footprints in sand. How could this be? Was destiny really something that was not permanent—that it could be changed, that could be altered by one's will?

Could the grim fate she saw, for her brother and the world… could it be changed as well?

She had not time to think, but her mind still swirled with the new possibility. And as she stared into those endless blue eyes, so much like her own, she knew that maybe there was a chance for hope. Maybe the fate she saw for herself—her self-sacrifice—would not have to come.

There was hope for the Pharaoh, hope for the world. Hope for her brother.

She did not hear Kaiba command the dragon to attack her. She saw the white lightening forming in its mouth, but the brilliance did not blind her. She could not stop staring, her eyes locked to the beast as it released its attack upon her….

Much of her now pushed away the idea of fate. It was obviously false, there was no such thing—Kaiba had proven that quite effectively. A small part of her, however, could not help but think that maybe… maybe fate had brought this about to bring her the White Dragon.

She could not explain it. In her heart it felt… right.

Ishizu closed her eyes as the white lightening hurtled over her, the blinding radiance enveloping her as she awaited the pain of the assault….

She felt thin arms around her, and her eyes shot open at once.

The burst was so bright that she could barely see the world around her, but the ghostly outline of a being in front of her was just barely visible. She did not need to open her eyes to know of their presence—she could feel it in the wondrous warmth that flooded through her as the arms held her tightly, their grasp like feathers tickling her flesh. The ghost looked up at her.

Eyes of evening sky peered to meet her own.

The spirit smiled. "Have you forgotten already, so easily?" The white woman's eyes danced with laughter as she brushed her lips against Ishizu's. "You command your fate. That is what you told me." Her azure gaze softened. "Know those words you said again, for they are the words of a bright future."

Ishizu felt her lips tingle with the earlier contact. She felt the instinct to bring her hand up to touch them, but resist it as she stood spellbound by the ghostly form. "Who are you…?" she asked, but her heart did not. She already knew who this person was, though she could not explain how….

The spirit laughed lightly, and the sound caressed Ishizu's ears like a flitting melody. "You already know," she answered. "You know me in your heart, because that is where I have always been. And I will never leave." The crystalline eyes of aqua deepened, and her form suddenly began to transpire, disappearing into the light….

"Wait!" Ishizu gasped. "Please, do not leave…."

The spirit only smiled. "I won't leave. I have a place I belong to now."

Ribbons of ivory hair wisped around, and the light engulfed the ghost until only gleaming blue eyes watched her….

"Thank you."

And then they were gone.

The battlefield was silent. The Blue Eyes White Dragon had already retired from the duel, but Ishizu could still feel its presence—no her presence—over her like a blanket. Kaiba was talking to her, saying something about commanding one's own destiny and that fate was for fools. The thing that called itself her brother was leaving, something in his expression noting that he was bothered. The duel was being announced as over, and that Ishizu had lost.

But all Ishizu could do was smile inwardly. Yes, the fate she had seen was not the fate that occurred. But now there was possibility—now there was a chance that the world could be safe.

She knew there was hope, where she didn't know so before. It was there, glowing, in her heart.

And it had the most beautiful blue eyes.

The End

Author's Note: Well, that was something.

If you likey, reviewy. And pray that I at least stand a chance in the contest finals (crosses fingers).

Hugz and cookiez to all!