Happy birthday to my favourite reader, P.O.J.A.!


He woke slowly, the first thing he recognized was a beeping noise. He saw a machine hooked up to him, he assumed it was the source of the beeping.

"You're awake!" Startled he turned to see a pale girl sitting in the bed next to him. Her hair was long and a rich auburn. Something about her seemed familiar, but he couldn't place it. "You've been unconscious for a long time I think. Longer than me at least, I woke up two days ago."

"Who are you?" He was in a hospital, that much was obvious, but there were no bandages on him so he assumed he had been there for some time.

"The people who come to visit tell me my name is Serenity."

"Tell you?" he asked.

She nodded. "I don't remember for myself. Do you remember who you are?" He thought about it and realized, no, he didn't. He knew what a hospital was and he could remember things he presumed he learned in school, but when his thoughts turned to himself there was nothing.

Before he could tell Serenity that he didn't remember a nurse rushed in, amazed to see him conscious and sitting up no less.

He learned a lot during the first fifteen minutes with the nurse. His name (Seto Kaiba), his age (twenty eight) and what happened (car accident) being the most important.

"Your brother will be here around six like always," the nurse was saying. "He'll be so happy to see you."

"I have a brother," he said happily once the nurse had left.

"That's great!" Serenity cheered. "So do I." He smiled and ran his hands through his hair, pushing it out of his face. The pair spent the next little while chatting, though they had very little to talk about. Serenity entertained him with the plot of some soap operas she had watched during her two days of consciousness and then her brother and friends came to visit.

The blond pouffy haired one, he called himself 'Joey', clapped a hand on his shoulder.

"Good to see you awake." Seto smiled, her friends were so kind it almost felt as though they were his friends too.

"Good to be awake," he replied holding out a hand. "My name is Seto Kaiba." He was pleased to introduce himself for the first time. Joey looked started, but smiled and shook his hand.

"Want to learn how to play a children's card game?" The short friend with tricoloured hair asked.

"I would love to."


The week in the hospital passed quickly. He played the game Duel Monsters with Serenity after he received his personal effects. The clothes were far too damaged to return, all that was left was a briefcase filled with cards and a locket that held a photo of his brother as a child. He had noticed Mokuba wearing a matching one during his visits.

Their friends would play the game too when they came to visit and Joey loved it when he beat him. Mokuba would visit after dinner and chat about work. Seto was quite impressed to hear that his younger brother was the CEO of the company that was responsible for Duel Monsters success.

Serenity left the hospital a few days before he did, both of their brothers had bought them new phones and they found it satisfying to add that first number. Seto even took a photo of them together, setting it as his background image.

When Seto himself checked out and went 'home' for the first time he was quite shocked at the sprawling mansion he and his brother shared. Sitting alone in his room he unpacked his briefcase and was about to put in away when he noticed something in the pocket. Curious he opened the small box and found a beautiful engagement ring. Elegantly cut diamonds that were clearly expensive, but not so large as to be ostentatious. He wondered who it had been intended for, no one had mentioned him having a girlfriend. With a shrug he put it in one of his desk drawers, something would be done with it sooner or later.

Seto invited Serenity over many weekend nights to watch movies, he felt as though he had a lot of catching up to do and he missed seeing Serenity.

She had started a job working as an apprentice under a fairly well know florist while Seto set about learning what Kaiba Corp did from the ground up. His coworkers seemed nervous around him, but decided it was reasonable as he was the CEO's brother.

There was something incredibly romantic about being with the first person he remembered seeing and a little over a year after they woke up Seto found a use for the ring he had found in his bag.


Joey walked Serenity down the aisle, he remembered the accident and when she and Seto woke up. The doctors has told them not to force them to remember anything, either they would or they wouldn't and trying to make them remember would cause unneeded stress. Especially to be reminded of the accident or the events immediately prior. So they kept quiet, but Joey held the biggest secret of them all. The day before the accident Seto had asked Joey for permission, an act so humble that Joey had been surprised and touched by it.

Passing his sister to Seto and seeing how happy the two of them looked he took his seat with a smile. Marveling at the fact that his sister and his sister's fiancé lost their memories, never regained them, but still managed to fall in love.

Again.


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