Title: The Mystery of Balkove Abbey (rewritten)

by Lionheart

Summary (detailed): Riley is a little kid with a sometimes bizare point of view,telling about whathappens in Balkove Abbey from the World Championships in Russia to the next world finals (G-Revolution). At first neglected by Boris and his ambitious plans, she's supported by Bryan and others and soon, she finds herself in quite adangerous situation, when she finds out more and more secrets about Balkove Abbey, but isn't allowed to tell anyone (not that she has many people to turn to anyway). It's a long way to the top, and if she can't reach it, she'll end broken. And there's death, loneliness, and danger…

Author's note: This story has been in my mind for some time now, but I never found the courage to write and post it. English isn't my native tongue (as you have figured out by now for sure), so I'll be thankful if you can tell me when my language gets too weird. However, don't judge me less hard because of this – writers grow with the critics they get.

It's been so long since I heard and saw all these things, or so it seems. In fact, it's barely a year since things began to change. I never thought I was special in any way, and I still don't think I'm special - not even now. Somehow, I was forced into all that. The insanity of fate has driven me into it, and the hardship of life has kept me there.

I'm tired now. So very tired.

I guess, Boris was angry after his team lost the World Championships, though he showed it in an untypical way: he stayed all alone in his office. Voltaire Hiwatari flew back to his appartement in Rome. Noone had expected the Demolition Boysto lose – Boris was the last one whowould havebelieved that.

Life couldn't go on like before, I knew it. However, I had no clue what was really going to happen. I didn't know how manipulative power could be – I knew nothing at all. Really nothing. And that would change just too soon.

In the morning after the world finals, Iwas sitting in the dinning hall and mused about the day before. However, it wasn't Tala's loss I thought about but Taylor. She was a great blader, perhaps even better than her best friend Tala, and she belonged to Boris' top students. Some had thought that she would be on the team for the championships. Boris hadn't chosen her, however. When Bryan had lost, she had shout at him and she had blamed Boris for trusting Kai – Voltair Hiwatari's grandson.

"She haa been acting strange since the very begin of the championship," Adrian said. He was a shy readhead with eyes of aqua blue and – what was more important – he was my best friend.

"Yeah, but yesterday, she behaved so… Well, she acted as if she was satisfied in some way. I mean, when Bryan lost, she freaked out and all, but after Tala's battle, she was calm," I told him. We had watched the battle on TV in the abbey, for we were too young to go to the stadium with Boris. "Taylor stayed here, too, though she would have been allowed to go. She was in the stadium all the time when Bryan, Spencer, or even Kai battled, and she always liked to go out, you know. Besides, Tala's her best friend, so why didn't she go to his battle?

"Why are you so interested in Taylor? Look, Riley, she has nothing to do with you."

"She has nothing to do with me, right,except for the fact thatmy brother really likes her."

He raised hiw eyebrows. "He does? How can you know that Mikael really likes her that much?"

"It's obvious." I sighed. "The two of them didn't get on the team, that connects somehow, I think. Besides, my big bro acts like a tamed lion around her."

"Compared to Fritz, he is a tamed lion."

"I guess my brothers are all kind of weird. Look at Ethiopis: he can't add one and one together, he's like Fritz' shadow, and they still keep him, though he's too dump to tell his right hand from his left hand."

We laughed. My brothers weren't funny, and especially not for me, because they all picked on me the most.

"I wished I had a family anyway, even if I had brothers as worse as Fritz," Adrian finally said.

Rolling my eyes, I replied: "We can switch placesif you want. It's not like we're a family, you know that. I'm just their favourite victim, that's all."

"Anyway," Adrian mumbled. Changing the subject, he asked: "Do you want some tea?"

I shook my head. "No, thanks. I don't like that fishy tea. I wonder what's in it. Perhaps a drug?"

My friend sighed. "It's ordinary fruit tea."

"It tastes sweet."

"It's supposed to taste sweet."

"It's too sweet for me. I've tasted it once – it was horrible." By bitting into my piece of toast, I showed him that I didn't want to discuss the issue. I had made up my mind.

"It tastes like fruits. We often had fruit tea in the orphanage, because it keepts you healthy, it's full of vitamines." It was rare that Adrian told me about his time at the orphanage. I knew my "family", and I didn't miss them, because I knew they didn't miss me either. My sensitive friend, however, missed people he didn't even know. Perhaps he needed the hope – he loved to hope that there was woman who would have given him kisses and hugs, who would have whipped away his tears when he was scared or sad, if she just had been given the chance to do it. He didn't even know if he was abonded by his parents, if they were dead or if they were forced to give him away.

"They made children drink fruit tea," I responded when my mouth was empty again, "because it's cheap. I prefer cold water – even if it makes my teeth aching. By the way: Do you think Boris will get fired?" Eventually, I had spoken out aloud what I had mused about all the time.

Adrian hushed me. "We'll be in serious trouble if we talk about things like that!"

"Yeah, sure," I mumbled. "But who will overhear us?" Looking around, I noticed that we sat at our table in the corner all alone; nobody payed any attention to us – as always. The other kids around our age usually ignored or teased us.

"We never know," Adrian warned me. "And even if he gets fired, there might come someone much worse than Boris."

"Worse? I can't really imagine someone worse than Boris. He beats and punishes us, if we deserve it or not. He's sadistic and brutal. He grabs us and pushes us down to the floor everytime we lose when he's near. There must be a loser, he knows that – it's just logical. And remember when he made us scrubbing the kitchen floors for three hours for doing nothing. He's ill-temepered!"

"Yes, he is," Adrian admitted, "and I, too, wish he would go."

Suddenly, the noises in the dinning hall lowered. Adrian and I turned around our heads and looked at the entrance door. Holding their heads up, the D-Boys walked in – minus Bryan. Tala, Ian, and Spencer entered the hall and pretended not to notice that everyone glanced at them. They sat down at a table and beganeating breakfast just like always.

My left eye twickled. "Where's Bryan?"

"Maybe he's not hungry. Don't worry, he'll be okay."

"You don't understand, what if he's in trouble for losing us the championship?"

"Tala also lost, but he's here –fine and safe. Why are you so worried about Bryan now? He can look after himself."

"Who knows… Everybody needs help at times. And Bryan is okay. He treats me nicer than Mikael does, he's very intelligent, and he always helps."

"Sure, but he's way strange anyway. I mean, he's not supposed to have any emotion. I'm sure he's okay."

"I want to check that out, anyway. Be right back, okay?" Getting up, I hurried to get out of the hall.

Mikael treated me like a rat, and the others laughed and were encouraged to treat me the same way. Bryan, however, was a little bit more like a big brother, he was even a friend.

Racing up the stairs to the third floor, I took two steps at once. When I ran around the corner, I bumped into somebody. Hitting my head against someone's stomach, I fell down on my back.

"Be careful, brat! What are you doing here?"

Getting up quickly, I discovered against whom's stomach I had run. "Nothing Fritz," I mumbled and looked down at the floor.

Fritz – the second of my three brothers who lived in the abbey. He was very different from Mikael. Mikael was the one with a common sense; he didn't treat me kind, but he never humilated me without a reason, though even the little mistaked I made annoyed him. Fritz didn't need a reason to tease me, he just loved to be cruel, he enjoyed showing he was stronger. Ethipios, the third one, was simply stupid and always did what Fritz told him to do. In some way, Mikael took more care of me than of Ethiopis.

"Tell me another one. You're not allowed to be here, are you?"

"What do you care?" I replied. "Are you allowed to be here?"

His pale face turned into a deep red, and suddenly, his fist hit me hard on my forehead. Again, I fell down. My head ached and I whimpered quietly.

"Oh, stop being such a baby." Fitz walked past me. "You're a weakling."

I waited until he was gone before I dared to get up again. Holding my head where he had hit me, I went on. The memory of Taylor and Bryan's argument about the lost battle just two days before came into my mind, and I asked myself if it might be possible that Bryan was gone. Simply gone.

Why did this trouble me so much?

Flashback

It was the first time I visited unit Delta. This was the part of the abbey where the science labs and development department could be found. Boris led me through long grey halls. The doors on the left handside and in the right handside were closed.

I had my blade in the pocket of my buggy pants and wrapped my fingers around it. Not knowing why Boris had taken me there, I was nervous. Could it mean any good that he had just told me to come with him before training? Had I done anything wrong lately?

Boris stopped in front of a glass wall and told me to wait. He went into the room that lay behing the glass wall. I glanced into the room and saw a well-known light hazelnut-haired boy, Mikael. My brother sat in the middle row – the room looked like a classroom – between Tala and Ian. The bladers – including the very best of Boris students – had their heads bend over folders, book, and notebooks. A young woman stood in front of the class, I could read some very difficult calculations with numbers, letters, and strange symbols on the blackboard.

My left eye twickled.

Boris talked to the woman, but I couldn't hear what he said. Then, Bryan got up and talked to Boris before leaving the room. Quickly, I turned around and looked away from the classroom.

"Come on, kid," Bryan said drily.

I followed him. This was going to be interesting, and I couldn't wait to see what was going to happen – and to tell Adrian. Finally, Bryan opened a massive metal door, and we reached another corridor; there, again, I saw through a glass wall and discovered several science labs behind the wall. Children, about my own age and older, worked there with adults or other older students. Their work looked interesting, and they seemed to be concentrated.

When Bryan had taken me into one of the labs, he eventually spoke to me: "First of all, I should tell you that science is not a game. Either you concentrate on everything you do and follow my orders, or you go away and don't come back. Understand?"

"Da." Trying to look into his cool lanvender eyes, I wanted to find out what he was thinking.

However, he turned away to avoid eye contact, and went on: "Can we begin?"

"Da," was all I said. In my opinion, Bryan sounded much too serious – after all, we were talking about science, that was a subject at school like math or geography.

Bryan hold up a glass tube that was filled with a colourless liquid. "Do you know what that is?"

I glanced at the tube. For sure, it was something chemical.

"I give you a clue: It's very important, and without it, you will die."

"A medicine," I responded softly.

"Guess again."

"I don't know."

"It's water."

"Really?"

He grinned. "Do you think I would lie to you?"

"No, of course not," I hurried to say, "it's just… you said it's important…"

"If you don't drink enough water, you will die, y'know?"

"Da."

Bryan rolled his lavender eyes. "Can you say something else than the Russian word for 'yes'?"

"Da… I mean, yes… I mean, yes, I can."

"Try to use only one language – either you speak Russian or English."

"We're not allowed to speak Russian. Well, I am not."

"Then use English."

"My English isn't that good, I fear. And I always speak Russian with Adrian, but we're in trouble if we get caught."

"I know. You can speak Russian with me if you like, but don't mix two languages. See, if you mix a language with one, two, or several other ones, you destroy the language. And destroying a language means destroying a country and a folk's identity."

He sounded just too serious, I thought. "I can speak English with you, no problem."

From that day on, I spent two hours a day in the lab with Bryan. At first, I had mixed feelings about Bryan's tutoring. He was strick and didn't seem to have a sense of humour when it came to science -or languages. However, he was patient and explained everything very well. When I had problems, he helped me, but we never talked about other things than learning. Bryan acted cold and distanced. Science and everything he taught me was interesting because it was a whole new world.

One day, I was late for Bryan's lesson. When I arrived in unit Delta, he was already waiting for me in front of his class room. Arms crossed in front of his chest, he glanced at me angrily.

"You're late," he said.

"I'm really sorry. I… erm, I played basketball and forgot our meeting," I lied. I knew it would offend him, and he would think that I rather played a stupid game than learning with him – which was not true and it hurt me to know that he might think ill of me, but it was better than telling the truth.

But somehow, Bryan knew I was lying. "What's that above your left eye?"

I was surprised. Carefully, I touched the bruise on my eyebrow. Of course, I had known I was injured, but I had thought that Bryan wouldn't care. "I walked into a door." Another lie.

"I see. And your shoulder?"

That was pathetic! Even if he cared about the bruise, how could he know about my shoulder? "I don't know what you are talking about."

"You're left-handed, but you touched your left eyebrow with your right hand, and your left shoulder is hanging down as if you were in pain."

"Someone bumped into me during the match." Hoping he would stop asking these questions, I went on: "Can we go?"

"Yeah, we already lost time thanks to you."

We walked to the lab in silence until Bryan asked: "How are you going to blade if your shoulder is injured?"

"I'm sure it will get better soon." To be honest, my shoulder ached terribly, it was blue and stiff.

"Boris will be angry if you can't. Did you win, at least?"

"No, we lost 2:4 – but my friend Adrian shot two goals within 13 minutes."

Bryan stopped. "I thought you played basketball."

"What?"

"At first, you said you had played basketball. How can someone shoot a goal during a basketball match?"

He had caught me lying. Well, not that I thought a lie was that bad. In fact, everyone lied, and I usually had no problem with lying to Mikael or any of my siblings, but somehow I felt bad about doing it to Bryan.

"Did you lie to me, Riley?" he asked calmly.

I didn't answer.

"I think I forget to tell you my rules. Well, one rule says you may not tell lies. So, I give you a chance to tell the truth now."

For another minute, I was silent before I began to speak: "I had a fight with Fritz. Nothing serious, just a little argument."

"A little argument means a bruised face and an injured shoulder for you? I see. Why did you argue?"

"I don't know."

"Is Fritz injured, too?"

"I don't know; I don't think so."

Bryan put his hand on my left shoulder; bitting my bottom lip, I tried to surpress tears. "It hurts, doesn't it?"

"It's not that bad."

"Move your arm!"

I liftes my hand.

"I told you to move your arm, not your hand."

Carefully, I tried to move my upper arm, but a sharp pain rushed through my shoulder and I could only cry quietly. Anyway, I assured Bryan I was okay.

"Don't lie to me – you've already lied to me twice, don't lie to me again."

Still, I could neither see what was so bad about not telling him that I had an aching shoulder, nor why he made such a fuss over it. However, I wanted to show him that I could behave. "I won't, I promise."

Bryan nodded. "Good. So, you've learned enough for today. Come on, I need to take a look at your shoulder." Not waiting, he turned around and headed for another hall.

"You're Mikael's sister, aren't you?" he asked as we walked.

"Yeah."

"I feel pity for you. But you're a tough one." He stopped in front of a metal door which he opened. "Here we are."

The room was empty, except for a bed and some shelves on the wall. Bryan told me to sit down on the bed and took a green bottle from one of the shelves.

"Can you strip off you T-shirt? I need to see your shouler."

It turned out to be rather difficult to get out of the shirt without causing too much pain, but Bryan helped me pulling theshirt over my head.Then, he poured a cold, green liquid over my shoulder and rubbed it gently. The room was filled with a nice smell and it made me sleepy.

"Your shoulder will be alright again – it's just swollen and blue, but not broken."

I leaned my head against Bryan's hand that had rubbed my shoulder. "I'm sorry I caused trouble."

"Don't worry. As soon as you're okay again, we'll have extra lessons. Anyway, you're doing pretty good."

"It's a world if its own."

"What do you mean?"

"Learning."

"You're right, it really is a world of its own. And in a world where you have nothing, you can have knowledge."

"Yeah, yeah I do."

The both of us were friends to learning, and from that day on, we were friends to one another.

Flashback

"Bryan?" I knocked on his door.

No response. Silence.

"Bryan, it's me, Riley."

Still no reaction. Just silence.