Flower
Ever since birth, everyone would always say that she was pretty, gorgeous, enchanting. As she grew older, she kept true to those words. With smooth white skin, silky blonde hair and enchanting blue eyes, she was the human counterpart of Aphrodite. Every woman admired her and every man wanted to marry her. After all, who would take their eyes off a rich, powerful and beautiful lady?
Her parents always referred to her as a flower: a beautiful, untouched flower sitting in a plentiful green garden, outshining the other flowers around her. When she was a child, her mother would comb her hair through their fingers, all the while telling her that she was beautiful. The young girl would smile and nod in agreement as she stares at her own reflection in the vanity mirror.
They say that a rarity like her should remain pure. Only then can she truly be beautiful.
After all, a flower cannot be unsightly.
…
"Stop this now, Julia!" Sophie cried. Wales just stared in shock—disgust, maybe?— with his mouth agape.
Eliminate the enemy. That was the task that was assigned to her. Sweet and simple; nothing more, nothing less.
Destroyer charged straight forward at the Cetus duo.
"Those without power shall be destroyed! The weak should simply accept their fate, so just deal with it!"
A powerful blow was landed to White Cetus, causing it to wobble. The gladiator rose from its bey and raised its sword, about to deliver a finishing blow.
"Julia!"
"Not so fast!"
Blue Cetus slammed into Destroyer with incredible force, temporarily halting its moves.
"I guess there's no other choice here! Let's go Sophie!"
"Joint special move! Grand Deucalion!"
A huge, fearsome wave loomed over, ready to submerge its opponent into its depths.
"Please listen! Open your eyes Julia!" Sophie pleaded, her eyes shining with—sadness, pity?
Just go away…
"Just be quiet! Black Excalibur!"
The sword slashed at the wave, sending both beys and their bladers into the air. They screamed before landing on the floor in an ungraceful manner, along with their beys clanking on the floor.
A part of her job was done. She grabbed her bey and stiffly turned away to deal with the other intruders.
She heard Wales hoarsely call out her name, before stopping in her tracks. She did not care about her ex-teammates who were lying on the floor pitifully.
No… get away from me…
Sitting on the stairway, crossing his arms and glaring at her intently like a disappointed parent, was Dashan Wang.
He stood up. "So you've become Hades' pet monkey, huh? And now you're so low that you're battling your former friends?" He closed his eyes and shook his head ever so slightly.
"You've fallen as low as possible, Julia Konzern."
How low?
"I won't waste any more breath on you." He took out his launcher and aimed it at her. "You're a traitor! You will lose!"
"Dashan!"
"She's a good person!"
Julia laughed at Wales's remark, and partly at Dashan's declaration, acting like he knew everything about her. She pulled out her own launcher, glaring daggers at him. He wanted to battle her? Fine then, she would give him what he deserved.
Their beys clashed fiercely and the battle dragged on for quite some time. She was determined to make him lose, to make him lose face, to make him go through the pain that she felt. But she knew that her last declaration was impossible.
"Why would you sink low enough to join Hades?" Dashan demanded, pointing an accusing finger at her.
"You don't know how I suffered! I now have nothing but this dishonour and this despair! You don't know how I've suffered! You don't know what it's like!
"No, I don't."
Of course. Of course you fucking don't.
She shook violently, clenching her fists so tightly that her knuckles turned white. The constant flashbacks to her glory days where she was the apple of everyone's eye were taking its toll on her. She could feel the stares of disappointment of her family on her shoulders, telling her how much of a failure she was, how disgusting she was.
Unsightly. Impure. Tainted.
"And I don't want to understand the feeling of someone who thinks so little of beyblade." All of a sudden, Dashan ferociously stomped his foot on the ground. "You're wrong, Julia Konzern!"
As he went on rambling about the honour of beyblade and how he'll never back down because he had friends, Julia was on the verge of walking up to him and punching him square in the face.
"Julia, when you lost to Damian, did you really lose everything?"
Yes.
"It is impossible for someone to keep winning forever. True strength comes from getting back up and trying again. That's your problem Julia; that's your weakness. There is no way that you can defeat me."
The nerve! He was really testing the limits of her patience. She commanded another wave of Gravity Brave, yet Zurafa stubbornly held its ground.
"Special move, Storm Surge!"
A strong burst of fire knocked her off her feet, causing her to land on the floor ungracefully.
…
—pushed on the floor—panic—and a voice: "so pretty…"—
…
Julia resisted the urge to scream. Instead, she looked up at the blue sky with weary eyes.
"I'm weak… I'm weak, huh?"
Destroyer was wobbling. Pathetic whimpers escaped her throat as she brought herself to a sitting position. Soon the match would end with her bey in a sleep out. So much for putting Dashan in his place. So much for even trying.
I have nothing left… it's over for me…
"Stand up Julia!" Sophie said, bringing her back to reality.
"It's not like you to lose that easily, so stand up!" Wales followed.
"Please, I know you can do it!"
She stared at them in disbelief. Why in the wide wide world would they still speak to her despite following Ziggurat's orders and hurt them both? Maybe they hit their head too hard, she thought.
"Your family's wealth doesn't matter. Ziggurat doesn't matter."
"That stuff has nothing to do with us at all. We're your friends, aren't we?"
Her eyes widened. Friends?
"We are Excalibur!"
"The proud and invincible sword…"
If you knew… would you still speak to me?
Pushing those ugly thoughts aside, she gritted her teeth and shakily rose to her feet, with Sophie and Wales encouraging her like parents teaching their child to walk. There was no reason for her to complain about it since she had acted like a whiny child the entire time.
For the better of the doubt, she continued fighting for the sake of her friends who were still on her side and cheering her on. But when her bey came flying back to her and clanking on the ground in all its misery, she was temporarily paralysed by the sharp sting of failure.
Sophie and Wales held their breath but visibly relaxed when Julia turned and smiled at them.
"A broken sword can be fixed. There will be a new, stronger Excalibur."
Wales beamed, and Sophie raised her hand to wipe a stray tear from her cheek. Dashan smiled.
For the sake of her friends, she would paint a smile on her face and stay strong.
…
After the Spiral Force incident, Julia had been quick to recover her fortune. Needless to say, her family was not happy with her failure, but since she was able to make a quick comeback she was forgiven.
Her mother rushed over to shower her with hugs and kisses. I'm so glad you're fine. My precious girl has suffered greatly, she said.
At the corner of her eye, she could see her father rolling his eyes. For god's sake, he said. She's fine. She's back in one piece after all. Nothing's wrong with her.
Julia stiffly nodded in agreement and wriggled herself out of her mother's tight grasp.
…
While Julia was doing paperwork in her room, the door suddenly burst open to reveal her bouncy and energetic younger brother. He was carrying a backpack and held a file with his left hand, having just returned from school.
"Big sis! I'm having trouble with my schoolwork. Can you help me?"
In the past, she would scowl and tell him to go away; always claiming that she was too busy to bother with someone as insignificant as him. Despite the hurtful words, he never took them to heart and continued supporting her in whatever she did. Now, she was a much kinder person. She made it a promise to make up the mistakes of the past.
But of course, not all mistakes could be fixed.
"Of course." She closed the plastic file that she was holding. "Are you still stuck with geometry again?"
"No, it's Algebra."
"Algebra? I thought we went through that."
Nero pouted his lips. "Yea, but every time it just gets more and more complicated and I can't catch up! And I'm worried that I'll take up too much of your time..." He lowered his head in shame and whimpered. Julia shook her head and kneeled down to his eye level.
"Now don't be upset. I have all the time in the world for you, little bro. What questions do you have?"
At this, Nero tilted his head upwards and his frown turned upside down. He opened his file and took out a few math worksheets that looked like it had seen better days.
They sat at her desk going through the algebra problems step by step. It was a long, tedious session, but when they were done, Julia felt a strong feeling of accomplishment. Nero turned to face her older sister and thanked her with wide eyes that held pure innocence.
Sometimes she felt a little envious of that innocence.
…
A month had passed.
Christmas was coming, and the entire team decided to spend the holidays with each other in Julia's mansion.
The entire mansion was covered in festive decorations and bright lights, including a massive fig tree placed at the dead centre of the main hall. Under the tree, numerous gifts wrapped in pretty wrapping paper and ribbons were stacked in a generous pile. Nero, being the festive person he is, mostly helped out with the decorating.
Julia was never one to celebrate Christmas or any other festive holidays. She thought they were a waste of time, so Nero thought that it would be a brilliant idea to cover her room with ornaments, mistletoe and lights overnight without her noticing somehow.
At exactly seven o'clock, Nero switched on the Christmas lights and yanked open the velvet red curtains, blinding her with intense rays of sunlight. Furious of her beauty sleep being so rudely stolen, she chased her brother around the mansion in her nightgown. She nearly ended up strangling him, if not for the servants manually prying her apart from her brother.
When the gang arrived, Sophie insisted that they went shopping since she had not done so in a long time, and wanted to spend some "lady time" with Julia.
After they had lunch, they headed off to the mall where they spent hours entering and exiting high-end stores, buying whatever their hearts desired. The men had to carry mountains of shopping bags, and it proved hard for Wales due to him being less fit than Klaus, who was carrying two times more bags than him and didn't look tired at all. He ended up camping at one of the many benches scattered across the mall to rest his weary legs.
Sophie was browsing through racks of dresses and skirts, occasionally frowning when she couldn't find anything to her liking. It was quite some time before her smile was replaced with a grin as she picked out a striking black skirt with elaborate patterns at the rim. She showed it to Julia.
"Hey, this skirt looks really pretty. I think you should try it."
Julia looked up from a rack of blouses and grimaced. "No thanks."
"Huh? I thought you loved them."
"Really, no thanks. I rather wear long pants."
"But…"
"I said NO!"
Sophie jumped, taken aback by her sudden fierceness. A few customers turned to stare at them.
"Sorry… my tastes have changed. I just don't like repeating myself, see?"
"It's fine. We'll just look for something else."
At the end of their shopping trip, Julia had bought a massive amount of long pants and long sleeved collar shirts that would last her for a very long time.
…
That night, the dinner table was filled with exquisite food served in generous portions. Meats were cooked till tender and juicy; vegetables fresh and soups were boiled till rich and thick. For dessert, a chocolate fountain was prepared alongside with fruits, marshmallows and cups of hot chocolate. As Nero said many times before, you can never have too much chocolate.
Being the cheeky bastard he was, Nero hung mistletoes anywhere he could. Julia had ordered the servants to take them down, yet the boy kept on replacing them as if he had an infinite supply of those plants.
She nearly got caught under a mistletoe with Wales but managed to escape by pushing Sophie towards him. Seeing his new victims caught under his trap, Nero hollers at them to kiss, just like what he had done to many other unfortunate servants.
The Cetus duo was extremely flustered, and their friends' teasing cheers didn't help either. Left with no choice, Wales gave Sophie a quick peck on the cheek, making her entire face turn beet red from sheer embarrassment.
They spent the night playing video games on the console; with Wales winning every game they played by a leap. When questioned about his gaming skills, he just smirked and twirled his fingers gracefully, saying: "Two things. Quick reflexes and nimble fingers."
Too absorbed in the games, they failed to realise that it was nearing one o'clock in the morning. After stretching their cramped arms and legs from hours of nonstop gameplay, it was time to retire to bed.
Julia bid goodnight and headed to the exit, when Klaus rushed towards her with an outstretched hand which was holding her handkerchief that had somehow slipped out of her pocket. She thanked him and took her handkerchief back when Nero started shrieking and bouncing like he was on a sugar high (maybe he was, judging by the sheer amount of chocolate he consumed during dinner).
"You guys~," Sophie said slyly, and Wales started chuckling.
It was now Julia and Klaus' turn to be embarrassed. He rubbed the back of his neck and backed away slowly.
"Excuse me..."
"Nu-uh! You two must abide by the rules!" Nero chided, shoving his sister to Klaus. She stumbled and let out a cry of surprise from being pushed with so much force. Klaus reached out to catch her before she suffered a nasty tumble.
Wales, Sophie and Nero were laughing like excited schoolgirls, making the pair even more embarrassed than they already were. Klaus flashed a sympathetic smile and whispered. "I'll make it quick."
He held her shoulders and leant forward.
…
-punched the floor—squirmed— "I'll make it quick…"—
…
She screamed with all of her might, shoving Klaus away. She screamed till her throat became sore and her jaw hurt from being open wide for so long.
Her friends stood rooted on the floor, their eyes wide open in shock. A few servants actually rushed in after hearing their mistress's cries of distress, wondering what happened to have triggered her.
Everyone then started to crowd around her to voice their concerns, not knowing that it only made her more frantic. Klaus and Wales had to yell at the servants to leave them alone.
Sophie led a very pale Julia to the couch to rest and told one of the servants to fetch a glass of water.
Nero looked like he was about to cry. "I'm sorry! I didn't mean to! I was just…!"
"It's fine," Julia said, waving her hand in dismissal.
"No, it's not! I just forced you into doing something that you didn't like! I should make it up to you or something!"
"You don't have to…"
"I won't take no for an answer!"
"...fine then. Do whatever you want."
The servant returned with her glass of water, and Nero rushed to grab the glass to hand it to his sister.
"Are you sure you're alright? You can always tell us your problems." Sophie said.
Julia took a few tentative sips of her water. "I'm fine. I just overreacted a little."
…
Anyone who knew Julia knew that she was as stubborn as a mule. Her friends gave up trying to get her to talk about her troubles, not wanting to push her into an uncomfortable spot. Instead, they let her do the talking and did not attempt to pry her for answers to questions that she was uncomfortable with.
It seemed that sweeping dust under the rug worked. Julia was content with this arrangement, and her friends had nothing to complain. They continued contacting each other through emails and video chats and gave updates on their lives.
Sophie and Wales got together, much to everyone's glee. Klaus commented about how it was about time Wales grew the courage to confess.
Julia was happy for them; she truly was. Yet there was a strange yearning for someone to love her just like how Wales loved Sophie and vice versa, even though she technically had no reason to feel that way. A beautiful and wealthy woman such as her shouldn't even have to worry about getting a man's attention, and ultimately his love. She was capable of doing it just by looking at their direction and flashing her signature winning smile.
They conversed for a while before she closed the chat window and returned to work. But before she could type in another word in her word document, she gagged. Slamming her hands to her mouth, she dashed to the toilet to throw up the contents in her stomach.
…
For the past few weeks Julia had been constantly throwing up, and occasionally she would skip her meals as she lacked an appetite. No matter what medication she took, her sickness remained.
During a rare scenario where she would finish her work earlier than scheduled, she headed down to a nearby convenience store wearing a wig and shades. She paid for her items in cash, thankful that the bored cashier did not bother to question why she was wearing shades at night.
Sneaking back home through the back entrance, she dumped her plastic bag full of candies and ready-to-eat meals on her desk, taking only one item from the bag with her to the bathroom.
The seconds seemed like hours. She sat on the toilet, forcing every ounce of urine out of her after gulping down entire bottles of distilled water.
Hurry up, hurry up, hurry the fuck up.
With shaky fingers, she lifted the stick she was holding to eye level. If it was not for her biting her lip, her scream would have awoken the entire household.
…
For a moment, Julia nearly forgot that today was Nero's graduation ceremony—with all the work that was piling up her shoulders. She had to cancel and rearrange her meetings for the day as a result. During the drive to Nero's school, her father kept chiding her about being unorganised and forgetful, though his words left her head just as quickly as it went in.
Even during the speeches made in the ceremony were all a blur to her. The only thing she could remember was Nero in his graduation outfit throwing his cap in the air, only for it to land on her head. She could not even remember the conversations that she made with the teachers and parents there; not that it mattered anyway.
For today, only the red pills that remained hidden in her desk drawer mattered. For today, only the blood as red as those pills trickling down her thighs and staining the white tiles of the bathroom mattered.
...
It's gone.
…
There was one time her mother had questioned why she was so pale and cold to the touch. She rested her head on her hands, replying that she felt a little ill before excusing herself to her room to rest.
…
Recently, the head of the Waren family, Sanderson, had been frequently visiting to discuss business deals involving the expansion of the Waren family business. He would always bring along his son, Mason, along for no reason other than to talk to Julia. They would sit down at a table with a view of the expansive garden and have high tea. Sometimes they would take a stroll through the garden and chat about their lives.
The weather was perfect that day. The sky was a bright shade of blue, with white clouds shielding the piercing sunlight and reflecting the heat. It was not too warm, yet not too cold. It was not too dry, yet not too wet.
It was perfect, to say the least.
"Nice weather we're having today," Mason said.
Julia snorted. "You can't be serious."
"Ah, I apologise for being boring."
"No, it's fine. I'm an uninteresting person too."
"Really? I think you have many interesting things to share. I quite enjoy your company."
"You flatter me."
He then stopped in his tracks, bent down and picked a white rose from a bush.
"You remind me of this rose. Pure and beautiful."
Pure.
She took the flower by its stem, holding it daintily with her thumb and index finger to avoid getting pricked.
"People always say how I look like a rose."
"It's true."
A beautiful, untainted flower.
Letting herself space out for a while, she did not realise that her finger had been pierced by one of the rose's sharp thorns until she felt something wet trickling down her hand.
Mason gasped and held her wrists to assess the injury, causing Julia to drop the rose. "Are you alright? Hang on; I'll get you patched up…"
After he left to alert a servant to get bandages, she directed her attention to the rose. A drop of blood landed on one of the rose's petals, staining it red.
She bent down to pick up the discarded flower. This time, she did not bother to avoid the thorns. Instead, she grabbed the stem and clenched it tightly. She hissed in pain at the feeling of razor sharp thorns sinking into her soft flesh, but after a while it became numb. By the time Mason and a servant returned with bandages, her entire hand and arm were covered in blood.
But somehow it felt right. It was as if all her troubles were extracted from her body and laying on the earth in a red puddle.
…
When news of Nemesis's supposed revival arrived, Excalibur immediately went to work, doing endless research and calling up their connections to find a clue—any clue about the star fragment's location. Eventually, they managed to locate the rough coordinates of the star fragment, and soon enough its exact location. They immediately contacted Gingka and his friends, but unfortunately, the fragment had been taken away and ruined the temple that sealed the forbidden bey.
Despite their supposed failure, Excalibur promised to assist them in any way they could with their vast amount of finances and resources.
All of them tried, really. They helped in whatever way they could, but as they watched the supposed dormant Mount Vesuvius seemingly on the verge of eruption, it seemed that their efforts were deemed futile.
Was it their fault? Was it her fault for not trying hard enough to contribute something, anything? After all, she was the damn leader, and leaders take responsibility for the failures of their team.
The ground shook even more violently than the last few times, causing Julia to lose her footing and fall flat on the ground.
…
-"your fault. Why do you resemble her so much?"-
…
Julia screamed. Despite the constant reassurances from her friends to calm down, she could not stop screaming. She screamed till her throat burned and her lungs started to cave in. Yet she kept on screaming.
It was not until a tight slap was delivered onto her right cheek that brought her back to reality. Sophie was kneeling in front of her, with two glowing objects in her hand. Looking closer, it was White Cetus and Gravity Destroyer creating that glow. Looking around, she saw Wales and Klaus's beys emitting the same glow.
Picking her bey up to examine the phenomenon, she felt a strong tug. As strange and surreal as it sounds, Destroyer started speaking to her, telling her to lend its power to Gingka, the legendary blader that would defeat Nemesis. Obeying her bey's request, she pointed her bey towards the sky along with her teammates, praying for the best. Strong beams of light shot out from their beys and vanished into the inky blackness of the sky.
When it was all over and the rays of gentle sunshine were cast upon the Earth's surface, everyone laughed in relief. Sophie tackled Julia into a hug and patted her head like a mother would to a child. She told her that everything would be alright.
For a moment, she had temporarily forgotten about everything.
…
One night, Julia awoke from her sleep for no particular reason.
When she attempted to fall asleep again, she heard faint scratching noises in the background. The noises became louder and louder every second, so she was sure that it was not just her imagination. She needed to have a talk with the servants about the possible rat infestation the next thing in the morning.
"Mmmmmeee..."
Her legs suddenly felt heavy, almost as if a great weight had been placed there.
The scratching noises grew even louder than before. She was starting to suspect that it was not a rat infestation. Rather, it seemed that a person was making the sounds. A prankster, perhaps?
"Whoever it is, just be quiet! I need my sleep!"
"Mommy…"
Julia froze. That soft, high-pitched and nasally voice could only belong to a child.
"Seriously! It's not funny, whoever you are! Leave me alone!"
"Mommy… mommy…. Mommy!"
The child began to sound distressed, almost as if it were upset at the fact that it was being spoken to in such a harsh manner. It continued to cry, and as the seconds passed its cry grew louder and louder till it reached a crescendo. Then, it's shrilly screaming began to sound fearful. It grew softer and more distant, almost as if it were being dragged away with brute force. It continued to scream for its mother until its voice was no longer audible.
Sweat coated her silk nightgown, causing it to stick uncomfortably to her skin.
…
"Play with me~"
"No."
"But why?"
"Go away."
"It's lonely here…"
"Go find someone else then. Leave me alone."
"Don't you love me?"
"No."
Part one of my femJulian one-shot. I'm too tired to remaster the first portion ughh.
Julian is dead to me and my friend. We address him as Julia and whiny spaghetti princess. No regrets.
In all seriousness, this story will be treading on sensitive topics that might make some readers feel uncomfortable, but I want to keep this story T rated so nothing explicit will be written. Not bashing on Julia; I love her, but at the same time it's really fun to torture her.