Title: The Road to Heliopolis.
Pairing: Rei/Mariah, Future Rei/Kai.
Warnings: Shounen ai. Yes this is one of those stories. If you don't like the idea of some of the characters being gay then please don't read any further. Thank you :D
AN: This takes place after the first season. V force and G-Revolution haven't happened and so therefore, some characters, such as Hilary, will not be appearing in this story.
***
At three am, the Leningradskoe highway was pretty much empty of traffic, apart from the six long, dark cars heading out of Moscow, enshrouded in the predawn darkness. A long, sinister procession, only two things kept the line of limousines from looking like a funeral train: one, the speed at which the cars were travelling, and two, the loud, triumphant cries coming from the lead car.
"Dude! World Champ~ion!"
Hiwatari Kai rubbed his temples and huffed out a frustrated breath. The Championships had been two days ago and it felt like there hadn't been a moment of peace since. The party had started in the arena, with Tyson waving the trophy around like an imbecile. It had headed to the hospital, so as to include Rei in the torture, where it had remained – much to the doctors' displeasure - until the Chinese boy's discharge yesterday afternoon. Since then it had been mainly focused in their private rooms in the hotel and had proven impossible to sleep through, although Kai had tried. It was official. Tyson had reached hitherto unobtainable heights on his lengthy quest to climb to the top of Kai's last nerve.
Currently the boisterous boy was standing up, none the worse for his night of sleep deprivation and consumption of the entire hotel buffet, his head out of the limo's sun roof, shouting out his victory, to the few people who were unlucky enough to actually be out at this time in the morning in Russia.
Like Kai.
"Sit down, Tyson."
"World Champ~ion!"
"Tyson."
"Champion!"
"Tyson!"
"We are the champions, my frie~nd!"
Ok, enough was enough. Grabbing a fistful of gaudy yellow shirt, Kai gave a vicious yank and sent Tyson from the roof to the floor of the car in an instant. Tyson looked suitably affronted and rubbed his chest, even though Kai had made sure not to touch it. "Dude, what was that for?"
"They can probably hear you in the last car."
"That's the whole point, Grouch." Tyson grumbled as he clambered back to his feet and made to rise out of the sun roof again. "Come on Maxie, the weather's great up here."
"Yeah, Kai, quit being such a wet blanket."
Kai growled a little at the predictability of the situation. Tyson would start these things and always, always his little cheer leader Max would follow on. No wonder Rei and Kenny had chosen to ride with the White Tiger team. He was beginning to wish he had. Even Mariah's accusing glares would be better than this. After all, he could shut those out by a simple closing of his own eyes.
This on the other hand…
"Keep your heads inside the car or risk losing them."
"But Kai, there's nothing out there. We're on top of the limo. No car's going to get us here."
"I never said anything about dangers outside the car." In the flickering light and dark of the passing road lights, there was a distinct glimmer in Kai's eyes and Tyson gulped before sitting down obediently.
In the front seat, next to the chauffer, Mr. Dickenson heaved a sigh of relief and chuckled.
"Boys will be boys, eh?" he murmured. The chauffer merely rolled his eyes in response and thanked his lucky stars that said boys hadn't discovered the intercom system.
"Holy shit, Max, check it out!"
The mini fridge on the other hand, would never be the same.
***
By the time they'd reached Sheremetyevo International Airport, Kai was ready to kill someone. Before the limousine had even finished rolling to a stop, his door was open and he was outside, bag over his shoulder, breathing in the frigid air in a rare display of open relief. The view of the car behind him showed a number of empty packets on the floor, confectionary mostly, although there had been some salted popcorn in there too before Tyson had started flicking it at Kai. Then it had made a quick trip out of the sun-roof. Kai had had to battle himself in order to not send Tyson flying after it.
"Kai…" Even Mr. Dickenson could see his nerves fraying, Kai could tell, for he paused before continuing," Don't wander too far, my boy, you're flying out soon."
He nodded. He wouldn't need to go far, the doors of the airport were fine for his purposes. Just as long as it was away from the brat pack. He leaned on the wall, closed his eyes and crossed his arms over his chest as the other limousines began to pull up at the entrance.
It was unfair of him to blame his bad mood solely on his team-mates, he knew. He'd been treading on thin ice since meeting up with his grandfather in the beyblade arena during the tournament. The man was angry with him, it wasn't hard to see, and Kai was unsure where to go from here. His life - his home - was in Japan, with the man he had scorned in front of an international audience. A man whose only desire was for world domination and who currently lacked both of the two things he needed to make his dreams come true.
Kai and Black Dranzer.
Kai resisted the urge to dip his hand into his pocket and clutch Dranzer to himself. He needed no reassurances.
Still, a part of him was just waiting for the time his grandfather would appear to demand he return the dark bit-chip. It had been a calculated risk on Voltaire's part, giving Kai the bit beast during the tournament, and one which had backfired considerably. Kai could not see his grandfather allowing the chip to leave Russia and yet, how could he possibly stop them? The man had not been seen since the Blitzkreig Boys defeat and Kai knew that the police were currently hot on the trail. All of Voltaire's money wouldn't be able to buy himself out of that mess.
Familiar voices pulled him out of his musings and he opened his eyes to peer out through the shield of his bangs. The white tiger limo had arrived it seemed, and Tyson and Max were currently greeting their wayward team-mates as though they'd been missing for a year instead of just a few minutes. Idiots, he thought, watching them slam into Kenny. At least they were treading carefully around Rei still.
Although the other boy seemed fully recovered now from his ordeal in his match with Bryan, Kai was still amused to see Mariah's arm around his waist in a gesture of support. There was no hiding the fact that she saw Rei as a prospective husband. At the moment it would seem Rei had no objections to the idea either, as his own arm was around Mariah's shoulder as he grinned at Tyson and Max before glancing over at Kai, smile dimming for something more serious, more intense. Kai jumped, and cursed himself for the show of nerves, before closing his eyes and resuming his air of indifference.
The sound of footsteps coming closer preceded the voice that he knew would come.
"Sounds like you had fun on the way here."
"Hm." He didn't need to open his eyes to know Rei was leaning beside him now.
"We could hear his excuse for singing from our car."
"Could hear it even better from mine." He said in response. He could almost hear the grin on Rei's face.
"Why do you think I stayed away."
Kai smirked slightly at that and enjoyed the silence for a while as Rei sat back to ponder his own thoughts alongside him.
"You're worried." It wasn't a question. Kai knew his team-mate better than that. He shrugged a shoulder before opening his eyes to stare ahead of him at the pack of children currently sorting out their bags and shouting things to one another. Over in the corner, there was a change to the chaos… a small group of boys standing calmly, just as he was, watching in silence. If he was worried, Kai thought, what were they feeling?
"You don't think he'd have the gall to come here though."
Kai tore his eyes away from the Blitzkreig Boys and glanced over at Rei for a second, shaking his head slightly. "Dickenson is calling us."
He shouldered his bag and pushed himself away from the wall to head over to the portly man who was indeed gesturing them all closer.
No. A confrontation with his grandfather at the busiest international airport in Russia was the least of his worries right now.
The sooner they were out of Moscow the better.
***
With the gathering of teens around him, still cheering and laughing amongst themselves, Stanley Dickenson took on the image of a strange sort of business –suit clad Santa Claus. In his hands he held a sheaf of tickets, which he began passing around. Kai glanced down at his seat number, pleased to note it was an A, which likely meant it was a window seat. At least he wouldn't have people on both sides.
After handing out the final ticket, Mr. Dickenson held up his hand for silence. It was a testament to the respect the old man had by how quickly the chatter around him died out. "First things first, does everyone have their seats?" There were a chorus of affirmations from the crowd. "Good, good. We're going to head in in a few minutes for boarding. You'll be heading to Vladivostok first before a quick stop for a plane change, then on to Tokyo for a photo-shoot, a couple of scheduled paparazzi interviews, and celebration dinner. There's a week's board booked for you all in a hotel in Tokyo and after that you're free to go home and get some rest before the season starts again. Any questions?"
Rei's voice piped up. "Are you not coming with us, Mr. Dickenson." Ever astute, Rei had picked up on the man's use of pronouns.
"Afraid not, my boy. I have some duties to attend to here, before I can head for Tokyo. Never worry though, I'll be there for your party." He glanced around, "anything else? No? Then let's go inside out of the cold."
***
The plane was a lot smaller than Kai had been expecting. Just a single pathway ran down the middle, with a line of three seats on one side and two on the other. The rows were lettered A-F and he was pleased to find that he'd been right in his deduction of a window seat. Even better it was on the double seater side. He stowed his bag overhead and settled down with his trusty MP3 player ready to drown out the noise for the next few hours.
It was full daylight outside now and he looked through the reinforced window idly, taking in his final glimpses of Moscow. There was nothing all that remarkable about the view really; a dingy looking stretch of tarmac runway and a parade of aeroplanes heading in line towards the take off point. He had no pangs of regret at leaving this city behind, just a vague feeling of unsettlement at the fact that they still weren't airborne. He put up with it though, knowing that it wouldn't go away fully until he was over international waters…something which was a good nine or ten hours away yet.
"Oh great. You."
Kai rolled his eyes before glancing to his left to see Mariah. She was taking it in turns to glare at him and then at her ticket obviously realizing it was the one next to him. Wonderful, he thought. The one person who would be a worse seating partner than Tyson and I get her.
"See something you like?" He questioned, amused at the way her face seemed to flush up.
"Switch with Rei."
"Why should I?"
"Because…"
"Sound argument, but no thanks." He tipped his seat back and tucked his arms behind his head before closing his eyes. "I'm quite comfortable here."
With his eyes closed he missed the despairing look Mariah sent in Rei's direction. Rei was in one of the sets of three seats a bit further ahead, and tucked in between Tyson and Max. They were already looking to be deep in conversation and she sighed, seeing no choice but to heft her bag up and take her seat next to Hiwatari. After a few minutes of fidgeting, trying to get comfortable without touching the boy next to her, she turned to him and hissed. "You could at least offer me the window seat."
She hadn't really been expecting a response so was shocked into silence for a second as he sighed, straightened up his seat and stood up. "Move then," he growled when she just stared up at him in surprise.
She huffed, but moved out of the way, sliding back into the seat after he'd vacated it and leaning up against the window to keep as far away from him as possible. Kai, acting oblivious to her actions, although she knew he had to have seen them, made a big show of sitting down again, fixing his seat belt and adjusting the volume on his player until she could just hear the faint sounds of bass thumping through the ear pieces.
It wasn't perfect, but it would do.
Kai was fully aware of the fact that Mariah hated his guts. He couldn't really blame her though, after all, if someone had attacked and stolen his bit beast like he'd done to her, he'd probably hate them too. Although, he didn't really hate Spencer, he thought. He didn't really feel much of anything for the Russian boy. On the plus side, at least she'd be a quieter seat partner than Tyson. It wasn't as if she was going to be chatting his ear off when she could barely stand to look at him. Kai rethought his previous statement. Maybe Mariah would be the perfect seating partner after all.
***
After an uneventful take-off, the plane settled out into its flight path heading for Vladivostok on the eastern coast of Russia and the seat belt sign was taken down. As soon as it did, the party broke out anew. From his seat between Tyson and Max, Rei chuckled as the chorus of 'We Will Rock You' started up for the third time, the loudest yet. It was a good job that the aeroplane was so small, he thought. He had to wonder in fact if Mr. Dickenson had booked the entire plane, as, after a quick look around, he noted the fact that they were the only passengers. Although, he had to admit, the lot of them together was probably more than the air hostesses could stand. Tyson alone was bad enough let alone pretty much every high ranking beyblade team in the world at the moment.
There was a lot of blading talent here, he mused.
Glancing back, he caught Mariah's eye from her seat and smiled at her for a second before suddenly frowning. She looked completely miserable, visibly tense and uptight, something made even more obvious by Kai's strangely lax position next to her. He jerked his head in a 'come over here then' gesture, to which she surprisingly shook her head. So, with a quick word at Tyson to move out of his way, he squeezed out of the seat and wandered back to her.
"What's wrong?"
Mariah's arms were folded tight against her chest and her fingernails were digging into her arms. "I can't get out," she hissed at him furiously. "He's asleep or ignoring me and I can't get out."
Rei chuckled as he glanced down at Kai for a second, taking in the closed eyes and relaxed features. "He's asleep." He said. Kai never looked relaxed when he was awake. It was an unspoken rule.
"You're sure?" she whispered. He laughed again.
"I'm sure. You can speak normally. If he's not waking up through all this plus his headphones, he's not going to wake up because of your voice."
"I hate him."
Rei turned surprised eyes on her, taking in her own shocked expression. She obviously hadn't meant to say that out loud and for some reason he felt bound to come to his captain's defense. "He's not that bad."
"Oh please."
"He's not. He's always been there for us in his own weird way. He watches out for us, but tries to pretend he doesn't. I don't think he likes to get too close to people."
Mariah snorted, "Really? You'd never guess."
Rei refused to be baited, going on in a somber tone. "I think his grandfather did a lot of damage to him."
Mariah snorted again but kept her thoughts to herself. She was probably wondering about Voltaire, Rei thought. He knew he did often enough, trying to figure out just how the man had managed to turn his own grandchild into such a dark, distrustful soul. It wasn't Kai – not deep down – and Rei knew that with time and perseverance from his team-mates, Kai would come through.
If he could only admit to himself that he wasn't happy.
***
It was only six hours into the journey and Mariah was bored. Not that you could tell from her outward expression. She kept herself still, sitting bolt upright and staring with unseeing eyes at the same page of the in flight magazine that she'd been 'reading' for the past three hours or so.
With a sigh, she laid the unread magazine down and chose to stare out of the window for a while at the ground thousands of feet below. It was concealed mainly now by cloud cover but she could catch glimpses here and there of something white that was a little too bumpy to be cloud.
The 'plane shook a little and Mariah glanced at the view ahead as best she could, spotting the presence of yet another thick, black bank of cloud. She tightened her seat belt in preparation, knowing from past experience that this meant turbulence. And sure enough, as they plunged into the fog, the shaking started. There were a few giggles from the people behind her, nervous but not too worried as this had happened a number of times before on the flight.
The giggles turned into shocked gasps when the aeroplane suddenly dropped a few hundred feet. It hit 'bottom' with a shuddering that shook the craft from nose to tail. Mariah felt her stomach seem to rise up to her throat and found her hands holding on tightly to the chair arm rests.
The seatbelt sign came back on with a quiet ding and, as though it was an alarm clock, Kai stirred a little and opened his eyes. "Where are we?"
Mariah stared at him for a second, turbulence forgotten. "Um, over Russia." She replied haughtily.
"I know that. How far in?"
Ah. "About three quarters done."
"Good." And with that he closed his eyes again.
Something within Mariah snapped with an almost audible crack. "Aren't you worried?" she hissed at him.
Kai opened his eyes a fraction to look at her. "It's only turbulence."
She huffed and turned away to look out of the window again. The view out there was more interesting than Hiwatari anyway. The light had faded to practically nothing and she could no longer see the ground, or even the end of the wing, she realized with a shock. Only the flashing navigation light that flickered on and off occasionally lit the view enough for her to see anything.
She frowned, squinting suddenly.
"Kai."
No reply.
"Kai. Kai!" She elbowed him in the side.
"This better be good, Mariah."
"Is there…something on the wing?"
Kai snorted. "Tyson already tried that with me. It's not going to work. Do I look like Robert Wilson to you?"
"No, seriously," she gestured to the window, "There's something not right."
"If it'll make you shut up." With a sigh, Kai sat up and glanced outside into the near darkness. There was a flash of the navigation light and he frowned, realizing Mariah was right. The wing was … lumpy, thicker than it should be. He shot a questioning glance at Tala, sitting near the front of the plane with the rest of the Blitzkreig boys but the other boy seemed unaware, possibly even asleep. Another shuddering drop as the plane hit an air pocket and he was looking back out at the wing.
Come on…flash, he thought, waiting for the light to come again. It obliged and his eyes widened in sudden horrified understanding.
Ice.
Not the normal build up of frost on a commercial airline wing in flight. This was thick and getting thicker; weighing them down.
Another sickening jolt came and he sat back suddenly, grabbing at his seat belt with haste-clumsy fingers.
"Buckle up!" he yelled.
…TBC.