Neither Near nor Far
Chapter 1
-Past-
"Ha, yet another display of why girls don't belong here; you're too weak, you can't even get up! We'll teach you to make a mockery of the Biovolt Abbey!" The Biovolt Abbey was a torture palace for all of the orphaned or abandoned children who happened to have some talent in beyblading. The green haired boy yelled at her as he sent the young 7 year old into the cold brick walls again. The other boys that had circled her began laughing as she attempted to regain her posture again; it was useless. Boris sama had already given her a lashing of 20 for miscalculating yet another of the more basic formulas used here in the Abbey. Her blanch-blue hair was held back, but because of the young man beating her, some strands that had been held back now loosely hung in front of her desolate plum colored eyes.
"Hey, why don't you boys pick on someone your own size, hm? Or, would you rather receive the satisfaction of knowing that you can beat up a girl who's younger than you by 3 years?" An unexpected, strong, masculine voice asked as the pale-blue haired child was getting herself prepared for yet another throw from the green haired male. He stopped and turned around just before he gave the young child yet another strike. The intense jade haired abnormality flashed the older unforeseen guest another of his trademark sinister smiles.
"You're just jealous that you didn't think of this before we did, Petrov!"The emerald-green boy was one of the many defects of the Abbey. His vile mustard eyes watched with ominous glee as the older unpredicted male reached out and secured a tight hold on his neck. "Oh, so the whale wants to play, eh? Ku-ku-ku...Well, now it's time for us to leave." The new comer released his grip on the aquamarine haired boy and watched as he ran off; he was muttering to himself the whole way back to where he was kept as a prisoner in the penal complex.
The rest of the crowd of males quickly departed and the blue-pastel haired girl was left alone with the 11 year old. She lowered her rich violet eyes and waited for her oncoming punishment from the older boy. He sighed and crouched down to become eye-level with her. "Do you want to come with me? You'll be safe from the rest of the people here if you do, I promise." She slowly raised her head and stared into his blue eyes for a moment. She nodded and followed him silently back to where he had came from.
-Present-
"Alright, alright, I'm coming!" Adrasteia yelled in response to my impatient growling. My Peruvian violet eyes remained closed until I sensed that the burgundy haired girl had passed me. I quickly re-opened my eyes and locked the door behind her; we were done in this city. I promptly marched into my position at the front of my team; as captain it was my duty to take charge in any and every situation. As leader no mistakes or flaws must appear; perfection at all costs.
"Do we really have to leave Germany so soon?" I heard Adrasteia mutter underneath her breath. Barely anyone ever told me anything to my face anymore; I was almost completely alone and I loved it. I sighed and continued down the hallway and out the door without making a sound. My deep plum eyes glared ahead of me in great disdain; nobody deserved to receive answers to basic questions. I sighed in annoyance when the rest of Einfach Schlicht's (team name) bickering continued. 'If only they knew just how hard this job is...How hard this job was to take, then maybe they'd give me a break every now and then,' I thought sullenly as we waited on the curb in the windy weather for our cab to take us to the airport once more.
-Once Reaching Japan-
"What do you mean we're being transferred to another team?" I exhaled again; I was anticipating this reaction from Carina, she never really took change that well when it came down to matters such as this. She was a fiery teen with blonde hair and ice blue eyes that now had a navy outline; she happened to be screaming; her name was Carina. She had been left in Ireland as a child of 13 with her distant relatives. Her father was a highly respected military officer from Germany. I knew that she would feel betrayed by this movement, but it was the only other available option.
"Carina san, your leader has already said that it'd be okay if we sent you to another team. I'm sorry, but the decision is final, you're splitting up as a team to go on to more successful and larger teams that have already made it this far." Mr. Dickenson was trying to reason, but I guess even the calmest of people needs to be strict every now and then.
Carina quickly turned her anger onto me. The only other member of the team, Adrasteia, was giving me a sharp look with her deep crimson eyes from where she stood quietly. Adrasteia's maroon hair floated about her body as she leaned silently against the wall. I fixed Carina a cold stare and, eventually, she backed down. I mumbled in a low tone in German to the two furious girls, but nothing I said seemed to calm them. 'I checked out the teams and the captains of those teams very carefully; there was nothing left unchecked, including criminal records; my hacking comes in handy every once in awhile. Why are they so irate with me when they should know by now that I'd always take care of them, even if I'm not the one watching their every step?' I thought solemnly and stood silently throughout the rest of the arduous meeting.
-Afterwards-
I sighed as we waited in anguish as the hours dragged on; why were the replacement teams so late? My body leaned against the grey plastered wall; my 'team' was sitting across from me; as far away as possible. I knew that they were muttering in lowered voices on how much they 'dreaded' this moment. 'Like they knew this was coming...It even surprised me.' I breathed out again and my amethyst eyes closed in impatience at the late arrival of the two captains that were to take in the two females of which didn't belong to me anymore. I drifted into an uneasy doze while contemplating if this really was 'for the best' like how Hiro sama had explained earlier on to me.
-Past-
It had been a year since the boy known as Spencer Petrov had found the young girl in the hallway, Acquilina. He quickly introduced her to his few friends: Tala Valkov, Bryan Kuznetsov, Ian Papov and Kai Hiwatari. They weren't too sure about this female for some time, but, eventually, Acquilina did earn their trust. The group was almost inseparable and when they were, the other wasn't too far behind.
The day after Kai's 9th birthday, she overheard a very private conversation between the head master and the founder of this nightmare realm. "We have to let him go, sir, the fool almost destroyed the whole Abbey! Do you know how much this is going to cost us? That explosion was strong enough to lure in the dead beats of Russia!" she heard the 'head master' yell from just outside the door to Mr. Hiwatari's office. She guessed that the fool that he referred to was Kai kun since he had just destroyed half of the Abbey only a few hours ago.
With those few words, her curiosity had risen and she decided to stay and eavesdrop. "Mr. Balkov, do not raise your voice to me and do not try to tell me how to raise my grandson!" she flinched when the founder of the Abbey, Voltaire Hiwatari, slammed his fist against his polished desk in ire towards his 'right hand man' and our tormenter, Boris Balkov. The older male growled in anger when Boris began to grovel to him; pleading and promising to 'make things better', she knew what that meant: more work for those who lived here and more scars to hide in her case.
Voltaire nodded and asked for their 'executioner' to leave, well, more like told Boris to depart. She hastily got up from where she crouched and scampered off to her friends. Her mind was racing as her steps tried in vain to catch up to her thought process. 'What are they going to do to Kai kun? They can't take him away, can they?' The little girl wondered as her steps gained momentum and her heart beat quickened.
-Present-
I opened my energy-filled, heliotrope eyes and glared at the two captains that walked through the door; Ray Kon and Kai Hiwatari... I snarled something like 'you finally came, eh?' under my breath; my fangs were carefully hidden from the two males that had entered not too long ago. Ray san seemed to catch what I growled and gave me a quizzical stare before Kai san reached out with a gloved hand and grabbed Adrasteia's arm roughly to pull the slender girl away from the wall. I shifted uneasily against the wall and 'ignored' my resentment of him and the way he was treating my former team-mate. Adrasteia gave me one last passing, ire filled glance before Kai san had dragged her out into the hallway hurriedly; something's never change.
As for Ray san and Carina, things weren't going as smoothly. I slowly uncrossed my arms and ankles and walked towards the two confidently, but my steps were measured. My deep violet eyes were fixed on Carina as I approached. The young Chinese man with long, black hair seemed exasperated by the time I was close enough to murmur incomprehensible German into Carina's ear. She shot me another hurt and thwarted look before she obliged to his will and followed him out. Both Adrasteia and Carina wanted to leave me behind as quickly as possible; their version of revenge and all that.
I slowly relaxed and allowed some of my kept in breath to leave from my mouth quietly. I reached up and placed my head in my cold hands once fully realizing what I had done; I ruined the next best thing to a friendship. I had no relations that I could call 'family' and no other to speak of...I drove the only other human being that gave me the time of day away. Alone; that was what I was and that was what I would remain to be. I was born into the chaos of this world, and I would leave it in the same state.
A knock on the door jolted me from my unperturbed condition; it was my turn now. I quickly stretched my body to ready myself for the oncoming turmoil and distress I knew would surely follow with the addition of my presence on that team; I needed a beer soon. 'I know that deep inside all that stands is forgiven, though, I know that they won't exonerate me,' I thought before walking towards the large doors.
I marched over to the door and opened it. The red-headed captain glared down at me and muttered what sounded like a 'hello'. I nodded in response and walked after him after he hastily walked away with heavy steps; he only did that so he could 'proclaim' his rank as leader to all. My cold amethyst eyes were fixed on his back as we ignored the rest of the stares following after our retreating steps. My chains clanged together as I trailed behind him. 'Was this what it was like for my team to leave my grasp over their training schedules? Like an impending doom that you can foresee in front of your path...I know that this will not be a good day.'
-Past-
The young girl was quickly slapped across the face by the jade haired abnormality; another of Boris' failed experiments. Acquilina's quiet yelp of pain reverberated along the dark, empty hallways in the Biovolt Area. Her body was thrown across the floor only so that it could be slammed into the wall once more. Her eyes were closed and her teeth were gritted. 'Why is this happening to me?' She thought while trying to think of somewhere other than in the present day, to happier times. The green-haired mutant licked the edge of his knife while his gleaming champagne-colored eyes scanned every inch of her bruised body.
"Now, let's see if you learn your lesson now, girlie! We will show you why people like you should only be here to feed us!" He snarled in such a dangerously low level while baring his sharp porcelain fangs; there was no one else in the vicinity with the two. Acquilina closed her crystalline violet eyes and waited for its gruesome hand to clutch her neck, again; it disgusted her. He smelled like rotting flesh, but that was only because he spent most of his days with other experiments; they were all dead.
'Things had been different when Kai kun was here with us...' Acquilina thought as his grip slowly tightened around her thin neck and her body was being raised by the freak that stood before her now. She knew that his always-present, depraved grin lingered on his face as he continued to beat her senseless. She knew because of the way his voice quivered and the way his eccentric laugh rang through her ears.
-Present-
I subconsciously reached up to touch my left arm as memories clouded my gruelling thoughts; some scars never heal. The leader of the infamous Blitzkriegboys stopped in front of a plain oak door. I watched his back wearily as he fished out the keys to the room hurriedly; I guess he still hasn't forgiven me. I nervously tensed up when more stares were received from passer by's or from the team across the hallway who ironically left their door open.
Tala turned around and fixed me with a steely glare; apparently he wasn't happy with me, not that I could blame him, I wasn't happy with myself at the moment, either. "Okay, here's the deal, Acquilina, you will be staying here, alone; there is no curfew and we don't care what you do in your spare time. I'll wake you up before the team goes out to train. You are expected to be up at 6:00 am and at the designated training spot at 6:30 am. If you're late, I hope you remember the punishment for it." He quickly growled out and tossed the keys rudely to me before he stalked away. 'As if I could forget what happened to me when I did something wrong at the Abbey...No, I will never forget,' I thought as my mind thought back to my 'tattoo's'. I watched him depart and a new kind of sorrow replaced the feelings of guilt that had been lingering around in my heart for some time; I was completely alone now, like I was back then. My team, Einfach Schlicht, was no more...
Cannot start to live and I cannot end my life