Clear Skies

Chapter 8: Conquerors

Dawn light burned my eyelids. I opened my eyes to slits, but the sunlight heightened my headache. I angled my head down so my bangs might give a shadow to work with. When I did, I saw my partner passed out by the foot of the cot. Though his hand had fallen slack, his fingertips still brushed mine. I bit my trembling lip, and a single tear traced down my cheek. I wiped my arm across my face and smiled in a small way. I moved to quietly rise to my feet.

Pain struck my spine. I tumbled off the side of the cot. I landed with a grunt, but someone else's gasp was louder. Kalin stared at me with wide eyes. I covered my reddening face with my hands. "S-sorry!"

"Yeah, well, there are worse ways to wake up than your girlfriend falling in your lap."

"No, really, I- wait, what'd you call me?"

He helped me sit up, rubbed at his eyes, and asked, "How we feeling today, princess?"

"Now I'm..." I clasped my hands together. "I have a headache, obviously, but I think I'm okay. Why do you call me that?"

"Rain, Rain, Rain. Only true royalty could look at the Satellite and call it pretty."

"Beautiful," I said, my gaze never breaking away from his hazel eyes. "It's beautiful."

"Whatever you say, princess." When he rose, I noticed him stumble. A grimace crossed his face for the shortest instance. He held a hand out to me while wearing a wide smile.

"Um, did you hurt yourself by staying here?"

"Nah. I'm fine, really." Our hands clasped, and he pulled me to my feet. He glanced behind me and did a double-take. "Holy shit! Is that a duel runner?"

Oh, yeah. I never told him. "Mhmm. That's mine. Totally slipped my mind. Now that I think about it, the runner could help us!"

"You just. You just have a runner? Did you build it?"

I shook my head. "I found it. I can't say I remember for sure, but I have a good feeling it's mine. Here..."

I showed him the remote and how its symbols were like the language on my duel disk. He was astounded at its ability to drive itself. Kalin said, "Look, if this thing is important to whoever you used to be, no way should you risk using it. Anybody catches wind you've got a runner, you'll be seeing thieves crawling all over this place. It won't only be the runner in danger in that case."

The bronze frame reflected the dawn pouring through the collapsed dome. I frowned, saying, "I hadn't thought of it that way. But the runner and whoever I used to be aren't as important as the team."

"I hope that's not true," he said. "You should care about yourself."

"You don't think the team's more important?"

"Pretty sure we already went over this when you wanted to join Team Satisfaction for no good reason. Nah. Your safety is. I want what's best for you, partner. Never forget that. It's all I want."

Gosh, with the insane amounts of work he put in, I figured nothing came before the team. The surety with which he spoke made me feel sort of... special. I managed a mumbled, "Mkay."

"I have an idea. If you want to know more about the runner, there's a super mechanic who can help you check it out."

My jaw dropped. "You know someone like that?"