The First Sacrifice Card (Part 2)

DIMENSION: ANIME (The One That Pays to Save the Day)

///Serenity: Blind. It'll be born blind. It'll never get a chance to see color, or a single vision./// Blindness scared Serenity more than she wanted anyone to know. It scared her too much. It scared her so much that . . . she glanced toward Seto Kaiba. ///Serenity: It scared me that night.///

She couldn't remember for the longest time. Nothing. She just knew that she woke up next to him in his bed, but on top of the covers with her clothes on. But now?

Her fuzzy memories . . .

///Serenity: I really should go home. I really should go home./// She was in a strange house with a strange man. She wasn't doing anything, but if she told anyone what was happening, they would tell her that she was being an idiot.

Yet, she really didn't fear Seto Kaiba. She'd spent the whole day with him so far. He told her about his brother, and she told him about Joey. She told him so much about everyone she loved. She told him about all the great things in her life, except for the one thing that was probably the single most important at that moment.

"Serenity?"

She stumbled to the carpet, his all white carpet with the delicate red of the God's Brew. It looked like blood murdered the carpet before all the lights went out. All she felt was a wet floor beneath her darkness.

"Are you okay, what happened?"

She told him that she couldn't see, that she once had problems with seeing. He said he'd call her doctor and he helped her up.

"Where do you want to go?"

Good, she hated when people took charge of her when she was like that. It was something Tristan would always do when things got rough. "Somewhere to lie down. Sorry about your carpet."

"Who cares, I'll buy more." Not sweet words, but his words. She felt his guidance and felt a nice, comfy bed beneath her. He asked her questions about if she lost her vision recently, if she had anything around if she was experiencing relapse, if he could use his physician to look at her because his were way better.

She refused to use his doctor and just wanted to make an appointment with hers. He made the appointment for her. He asked about friends or family he should call. No one. She didn't want anyone knowing. He told her that he thought it was a bad idea, but he didn't push the issue, following her wish.

For a long time, she stayed on the bed. Her vision started to slowly come back. Fuzzy at first. She told Kaiba that she didn't want to leave until her vision was restored, but she knew it was his bed. She was beautiful, and things happened.

"Things only happen when I want them to happen," he told her. "You're fine. I'll sleep on the other side. We'll go in personally to see your doctor first thing tomorrow. I have about a thousand words to ask him, starting with how the hell they can't answer for emergencies."

"It's a small office."

"He better have a real good answer, or it will be no office."

Interrupted from her fuzzy memories . . .

"Everyone learns their own way in life." Seto Kaiba's voice came back to her. She snapped out of the memory. "Setbacks just make the Kaiba name stronger." He looked at her, like he just remembered too. "It's no big deal, we live in a time that it'll be fine. It'll thrive."

He remembered how scared she had been too. "I remember now."

"Yeah, nothing big." Seto Kaiba waved it off.

"What do you remember Serenity?" Tristan was right there by her side. Again. Fast and on time. "Do you remember what that bozo did?" He glared at Kaiba. "It doesn't matter, don't feel bad."

"No, it wasn't that. I lost my vision," she revealed. "I didn't want anyone to know. Kaiba just kept me safe because I didn't want to move. That's all." The look on Tristan's face. She swung back around to look at Kaiba. ///Serenity: Yeah. I don't think it's going to be as bad as everyone thinks. At least. I'll have someone who gives me some control./// "Atem?"

She watched him move back toward her. He seemed to be in his own little world of problems. This was not the biggest thing by far for him, so it'd be good to get this worked out. "Could you get me an extra card, so I lose my eyesight instead of it?"

"Serenity!" Tristan and Joey both yelled at the same time.

"Things are changing all the time," Tristan said to her. "Don't do that, don't agree to this. Once you do that, you'll be in Kaiba's web!"

A web. Really? "Atem's already stated it. It's about big sacrifices or big moves. Everything keeps changing, because we won't settle down and decide on what we really need to give! There is a Serenity out there in trouble, and she is going to need someone else to help her. You know who that someone will be?"

"Kaiba?" Tristan asked.

Ugh. "Me!" She was going to save herself. "Azure will have the vision of the dragon and her own eyesight. I give up mine for her."

"You really might want to think about that." Seto Kaiba's voice came from the back. "There is no going back on one of these deals. Once you agree, that other card is dead set to play."

Blindness in the world. It wasn't fun and it wasn't easy. The thought did scare her, but the thought that a baby of hers would never experience anything else? It scared her more. "I am sure, Atem."

Atem nodded. He paused. "Masika said the goddess' have thanked you for participating. Azure can wait, they will substitute power in place for her, but they want the other part now. Sekhmet is coming with a card."

As soon as he said it, a large lion landed right in front of her with a card in her mouth. Oh boy. As long as it was good? She took the card from the mouth as well as a gold pen hiding beneath the card. "Read it and sign it," the beast commanded.

Serenity read the card. Yeah, it sounded right. Balance. ///Serenity: I guess I get to make the first act of 'mom' before it's even born./// Weird. ///Serenity: I am going to hate every minute of this.///

"Sign already," Sekhmet said. "You decided this, Human."

"Sorry. I just never pictured being settled down, becoming a mom, and . . ." Never seeing the world. Never leaving the home. Never accomplishing anything again. No. There wasn't time to think about that or regrets. The other her, needed her. As she started to sign, she heard the predictable desperate mutters of her brother and boyfriend, but she also heard Kaiba mutter something under his breath. She didn't know what it had been, but she did it.

Before she even gave the pen back, the vision was gone, and she felt two people by her sides predictably.

"Finally. Someone finally came through with what they need to do. Keep it up."