An Orphan's Tale

Dramatic Change

Chapter 15:

I slowly became aware of my surroundings again as sleep finally washed away. My head was no longer pounding and my ears were not ringing, which were an improvement. However, I was scared to open my eyes, so I continued to focus on my other senses. I was in a very soft bed, wrapped in a silky-soft sheet. I could smell the fresh linens, cleaning solution, and Seto, more specifically his cologne. He has to be close. I finally sucked it up and opened my eyes. Luckily, my vision has returned to normal with no more green and purple shadows. It was nearly all white room, only hints of blue and silver. I sat up slowly and turned to the left and saw Seto sitting on a couch tapping away on his laptop. I recognized the room as his assigned room for the tournament.

"You don't know how to stop do you?" I asked putting my feet on the floor and standing gingerly. He looked up so his intense concentration was broken at the sound of my voice but only briefly.

"Not really." He mumbled. I made my way over and sat next to him before closing his laptop.

"If anyone else did that they'd be off this blimp." He paused his motions finally looking at me.

"I want your full attention." I said placing my hand on his cheek.

"Okay..." he said skeptically raising an eyebrow.

"Seto, what happened after...? The last thing I remember is the lightning striking right in front of me, barely missing my body." I didn't mention the dream because I didn't understand it myself. Although, I had an inkling that told me it was related to the God cards and those gold 'millennium' items.

"You had me truly scared for the first time in years Ri. All I heard was Mokuba's broken scream and looked down to see you in Yugi's arms. It's a sound I don't want to hear ever again. You were motionless, barely breathing. You eventually started saying my name though especially the more awake you became. That gave me some hope you'd be okay."

"I'm sorry for making you worry."

"It's not your fault. I should have called an intermission and put us all indoors but I let my own motives take control and it almost took you from me; again. The storm was unnatural and came out of nowhere."

"I'm fine Seto."

"I had the medical team give you a full exam and kept you on a heart monitor for a couple hours. Then I had them bring you to my room, where I could watch you closely myself and away from the dweebs. They insisted on staying with you for a long time before I had Roland remove them."

"Oh, you can't get rid of me that easily. Hey, I have something that will make your day. Hand me my deck." I said motioning for him to give me my belt. He obliged. I dug around in my deck pouch in my secret compartment where I kept my favorite and most valuable cards. I smiled as I found the one I was looking for.

"Look, this is something I've kept with me all along." I said handing him my absolute favorite card.

"The Magician of Faith." He said touching the card light as a caress, disbelief on his features.

"I remember giving you this card. It was my tenth birthday. You got me a booster pack of cards and it reminded me of you and I insisted you keep it." His face became soft and sincere.

"Yes and it has been in my deck every duel since. Between this card and my ring, you've always been with me Seto, maybe not physically but as a support."

"You are absolutely amazing you know that?" He said brushing a bang out of my face to place a feather light kiss on my lips.

"I know." I said pulling back and smiling playfully at him.