Story Title: Visionary
Author: Heleentje
Rating: K+
Word Count: 2533
Disclaimer: I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh GX.
Notes: Written for Satari-raine. Merry Christmas and a happy belated birthday, hun! I hope you enjoy the story!
Visionary
Jim woke up to a persistent ache near his right eye, and he was rubbing his eyes to get rid of it before he remembered the events of the previous day. Right. Karen, bear trap… And his eye. He gingerly traced the outline of the weird stone through the bandages. It chafed where it touched his eye socket, and he winced briefly. What had that man called it again? Eye of Orch- Ori- Orichalcum? Surprisingly, it didn't hurt nearly as much as he'd expected it to. Losing an eye should hurt, shouldn't it? But all he felt was a mild headache and a slight feeling of discomfort. He got up gingerly and promptly tripped over his own feet. Karen was by his side in an instant.
"It's okay, girl," he told her, but she didn't look convinced. She grabbed the leg of his trousers and tugged at it until he gave in and let her sit him down. Then she crawled into his lap and brought her face very close to his, teeth slightly bared as she looked at the offending bandages.
"It's fine. See?" He turned his head to show her his still-intact left eye. "I can still see, and you're safe."
Karen growled and bumped his head once with her snout. She didn't look happy, but for now she seemed content to just keep him sitting down, so Jim took the time to take stock of his environment. He'd seen the old man disappear in thin air yesterday, but that had to have been a hallucination, right? People didn't just dissolve in thin air.
People also don't just give you mystical eyes, his mind told him, and Jim groaned. He could feel the stone eye clearly through the bandages. Should he take them off? He started to look for the end of the bandages, but Karen gave a warning growl and he dropped his hands.
"Yeah, I guess you're right," he said. "I should probably find a doctor first."
Karen nuzzled his arm and closed her eyes, but now that she'd brought doctors to mind, Jim had a whole set of new problems to deal with. Losing his sight in one eye surprisingly didn't feel like that big a deal. He suspected the shock would set in later. But his parents were expecting him back from his camping trip tomorrow; how was he going to explain this to them? Should he even keep this weird eye the old man had given him - without his permission, no less? What if it got infected? He'd seen enough nasty wounds in his lifetime to know the danger. Sure, he himself always took great care to disinfect any scrapes and scratches he acquired on his trips, but he had no idea what the old man had used to insert that stone, or where it even came from. Heck, he didn't even know what it looked like!
Karen clambered off his lap and dragged his backpack back to him. He got the hint and found his water bottle, drinking greedily. He'd been thirstier than he'd realised. He finished half of the bottle and offered the rest to Karen, but she kept her mouth resolutely closed.
"So, now what?" he said out loud. He could think better when Karen could hear him and give her input. It wasn't even nine in the morning yet, but in these late November days even the mornings were warm, and the humidity was pressing. If he left before noon he could make home before nightfall. He told Karen as much, and she growled approvingly.
They waited until eleven on the off-chance that the old man would return, but when he didn't, Jim was forced to conclude that he probably wouldn't be coming back at all, and so he gathered his belongings and set off. He offered Karen a ride on his back, but she insisted on walking - a good thing too, it turned out, after she grabbed his leg to stop him from running into his third tree that day.
"Depth vision," he grumbled to the crocodile, and she made a sympathetic noise. Every time he thought he was fine and could easily navigate the rest of the forest, he'd run into another tree or trip over another rock he normally never would've hit. Good thing he had Karen. He had to walk slower than he liked, but he still reached home just as the sun had almost set. His dad's car was parked in front of the door, but his mum's was nowhere to be seen. She was probably still out working. It wouldn't be the first time.
"Dad?" he called, closing the front door behind him carefully. "I'm home. You there?"
"In the back!" his father shouted. Jim ditched his backpack in the hallway and followed Karen through the living room into the garden.
"How was the trip, son?" Dad asked, not looking up from the table he was trying to set up.
"Eventful," Jim said after a moment's hesitation. "Listen, dad, um, there was a bear trap out there that almost got Karen-"
"Again?" His dad got up and brushed the dirt of his knees. "You'll have to tell your mum there are poachers out again. She'll- What happened to your eye?"
"Yeah, about that-" Jim tried to launch into an explanation of what had happened, but his dad wasn't listening. He steered Jim back inside, told him to sit down and not move, and then spent the next half hour calling his mum and any doctor who was willing to come at this hour. Jim exchanged a befuddled glance with Karen, who'd crawled onto the couch next to him. She focused one yellow eye onto him, as if to say, "Humans."
"Dad, it doesn't hurt. I'm fine, really," he tried to say when his dad put the phone down. He didn't get to finish that sentence either, because that was the moment his mum pulled up in front of the house, tires screaming. Jim sighed and shook his head.
"Mum, there are poachers out again," he said when she came storming in. His mum had been dealing with wildlife conservation since before he'd been born. His comment seemed to momentarily throw her off track.
"Where? I'll call-" she said, distracted by her job. Then she caught sight of Jim's bandaged face and she paled. "We've got to get you to the hospital right now."
"I called doctor Harris," Dad said. "He should be here in a few minutes. Are you sure it doesn't hurt, Jim?" he glanced at Jim's mum and muttered, "Why isn't it bleeding?"
Jim shook his head. Karen growled warningly, but it really didn't hurt. It had stung a bit the previous day, but now the only discomfort was the itchiness of the bandages.
"There's this stone thing inside and I guess that's stopping the bleeding. It's just a bit weird because I can't see properly, but Karen helped me," he said. His parents exchanged glances as the crocodile nuzzled his arm.
"Stone thing?" Mum asked, deceptively calm. He recognised it as the tone of voice she used to calm down a skittish animal.
"There was this man who found me after I fell, and-" Jim stopped talking when his dad immediately moved back to the phone, muttering about calling the police. They probably weren't going to believe his story about the man disappearing, which might be a good thing, because Jim wasn't entirely sure he believed it himself. But he'd walked an entire day with minimal pain, so at least the old man had to have done something right.
Doctor Harris arrived five minutes later, helped Jim to remove the bandages, and then spent a full minute staring at his right eye in complete silence.
"I've never seen anything like this before," he muttered at long last. He covered Jim's left eye. "Can you see anything?"
"Some light flashes," Jim said. "And shadows. Nothing proper."
Doctor Harris looked surprised. "You can see this?" He asked, shining a light into the Orichalcum eye. Jim nodded; he could see the glare of the light even with his other eye covered. Doctor Harris paused and thought for a few seconds before shaking his head. "This is far out of my area of expertise. I'm writing you a note for ED. I'd prefer it if you went as soon as possible."
'As soon as possible' became almost right away, only delayed by Jim's parents stubborn refusal to take Karen along and Karen's equally stubborn refusal to stay behind. She only relented when Jim had calmed her down and assured her that nothing was going to happen to him. She crawled up the stairs to Jim's room in a huff, and Jim cast her a wistful glance as he was ushered out of the house by his parents and doctor Harris. He wasn't used to being separated from Karen. He knew she wouldn't be allowed inside a hospital, but he really wished he could take her along, if only for the moral support. The trip to the hospital took far less time than it usually did, courtesy of his dad breaking a couple of speed limits along the way. The time they saved, however, was more than made up for when they spent the next three hours sitting on the uncomfortable chairs in the waiting room of the emergency department. Clearly doctor Harris' note hadn't had enough persuasive power to get anyone to look at him at ten in the evening. Once more, Jim wished Karen were here. At least with her company, the waiting would be slightly more bearable. His dad was tapping his foot, looking more agitated with every minute that went by, and when a nurse finally called out, "Jim Cook," he was the first out of his seat, helping Jim up even though he could walk perfectly fine.
"This is… Highly peculiar," doctor Ellison said. She was a short woman with greying hair who did not look happy about being called to the hospital at almost one in the morning. Jim couldn't help but think that if they hadn't made them wait for three hours, she would've been here before midnight. She was now studying Jim's eye much in the same way doctor Harris had done, and coming up with identical conclusions. "I'll need a scan to be sure. If you'll follow me?"
Jim was reasonably sure that the only reason he was getting a scan now instead of being sent home and told to come back the next day was doctor Ellison's curiosity about his case. Still, he followed her dutifully and then spent another hour in the testing room. Was it really supposed to take that long? After the weekend-long hike he'd been on and all the confusion of the day, he very much wanted to go back home to Karen.
"Is there anything we can do?" his mum asked when doctor Ellison had the test results in front of her. "I mean, we have to be able to take that stone out, right? Even if…" She faltered and cast him a worried look. "Even if he can't see with that eye anymore…"
Take the Eye of Orichalcum out? But the old man had said it was important, and that he'd have to use it to save a dear friend. Then again, Jim still wasn't entirely sure if the man hadn't been a hallucination. On the other hand, if he'd need it to save Karen one day, he definitely wanted to keep it!
Doctor Ellison didn't reply immediately. Her eyes were flitting from the test results to Jim and back. "I… Haven't seen a case like this before," she said at long last. "There are no signs of infection or even irritation. That stone isn't causing any abnormal readings whatsoever."
"Meaning?" Jim's dad asked.
"Meaning that according to these results, it's a completely natural part of your son's body."
"That's impossible. It's a rock, for crying out loud!"
Doctor Ellison adjusted her glasses with a tired sigh. "Normally, I would be inclined to agree with you, mr. Cook. However, I ran the tests three times and the results remained the same every time."
Oh, so that's why it had taken so long. Jim touched the stone eye gingerly. Now that doctor Ellison mentioned it, it didn't feel unnatural. Sure, he couldn't actually see with it, but he barely noticed its presence at this point. Weren't eye transplants supposed to hurt?
"So what do I do?" he asked.
"I'm afraid we won't be able to restore your sight in that eye, though. I'm sorry, Jim," doctor Ellison said, clearly trying for a gentle tone.
"Oh." Jim looked down at his hands. They still looked the same, even with one eye. He just couldn't see as much on his right anymore, but he could still see fine with his left eye. So that was okay, he figured. He'd just have to stop walking into things and Karen was doing a great job helping him with that. "It's fine," he decided.
"Are you sure?" his mum asked. "We can try to remove that stone and fit you with a prosthetic eye."
"Actually, I would advise against that," said doctor Ellison. "As I said, it appears to be an actual part of your son's body. I fear that removing it will cause more damage than has already been done."
"I'll keep it," Jim said before his parents could reply. "Karen can help me, right?"
"We have a lot of experienced counsellors and therapists here," doctor Ellison said. "If you go to the front desk, you can make an appoint-"
"It's fine," Jim insisted with a soft smile. "Really."
No one looked convinced. Jim gave a small shrug. If they didn't want to believe him… If he hadn't acted, Karen could've got seriously hurt or even killed. Compared to that, an eye was a ridiculously small price to pay. It wasn't even like he'd gone completely blind, and if this eye would help him save a dear friend, it was a perfectly fine thing to have in his book.
Doctor Ellison kept them for another fifteen minutes, but she eventually ran out of things to discuss and sent them away with a follow-up appointment and eye drops that would probably be worse than useless. Jim was walking down the hallway of the hospital, just a bit ahead of his parents, when he realised something and darted into a nearby bathroom. In all the commotion, he was the only one who hadn't actually seen the Eye of Orichalcum yet. He studied it in the bathroom mirror. It was actually carved like an eye. One day he was going to try to figure out who that old man had been and where he'd got the eye from.
His dad slipped into the bathroom after him. "Okay, son?"
Jim nodded and looked at the eye of Orichalcum once more. It fit seamlessly in his eye socket, and the metal melded to his skin like it had been there all his life. So this was going to help him save someone dear to him? Save Karen, maybe? Jim smiled. He could live with that.
Comments, questions and concrit are very welcome as always!