Disclaimer: You know the drill.

Used to contain lyrics to Evanescence, but deleted because of the policy.

It's more or less, the events of the Russian Tournament, or as I like to call it ... The Russian Soap Opera, as seen from Tala's POV.

Part 1: Tala - Taking Over Me.


I watch with craving eyes,
As you walk on by,
You don't remember me,
But your face lingers clearly in my memory ...

Evil lurked in the darkened corridors of the Abbey; it was everywhere, behind the corner, in the cracks of the walls, even within the dorms where the students dwelled. All of them knew this, especially one specific boy, the boy who was currently tossing and turning in his sleep, haunted by nightmares of his past, and by the pain that was etched deep within his broken heart.

He suddenly bolted upright, panting hard; glimmering sweat drenched his body, plastering his fiery red hair to his pale face. This was the third nightmare he had been having since he laid his icy blue eyes on the familiar face. He sat there in quiet contemplation, his head bowed low.

'Why Kai? Did you really forget me? Or have you found a better life? The memory of you still haunts me, in my sleep, and when I'm awake, you're there. Why can't I forget you, like you have so easily me?'

I believe that one day,
We will be together once again,

Tala stood up from his bed, wiping his brow with the back of his hand. He walked over to the small table in the corner of his room. Boris had decided that he should not be mixed up with the other boys, so he received his own room. Where he could go to be alone, to dwell in his own thoughts, where Boris could have his way with him without anyone knowing.

'I can't go on like this anymore, Kai. This pain I feel wouldn't hurt as much if you were here to comfort me, to wipe my tears away, to give me reason to go on when I have none.'

He pulled the table forward, and from behind it, took out a picture. He studied the picture carefully, running his fingers over one of the boys who stood smiling there. It was a picture of Kai and him taken at the Russian Circus, just weeks before Kai had left the Abbey. They had managed to get away one day from Boris' strict training and spent the whole day together there, just enjoying themselves. When they returned that night, Boris was, as expected, fuming. Both were punished. Tala was, as Boris had called it, 'disciplined', so badly that he couldn't walk for three days. Kai ... Tala hadn't known, because they were separated and Tala never saw Kai again, until this morning.

The beatings at the Abbeys were never this cruel. Perhaps Kai's sudden disappearance had angered Boris somehow. He had told the team that Kai had left with his grandfather for Japan, and that he would never return.

'I looked for you. I always knew that we would meet again someday, but not like this ... I never imagined we would meet like this.'

--Flashback--

Tala and his team were practicing hard for the upcoming Championship. Their opponents were an unknown team called the BladeBreakers.

Boris said that it was a sure win. They were the undefeated world champions. There was no way a raggedy underdog team would ever beat them.

As always, Tala though that Boris was just blowing hot air.

That was until he came. He was so grown up, of course, Tala hadn't seen him in nearly ten years, but he still looked exactly the same. The two-toned blue hair and the blood red eyes, the complete opposite of Tala who had red hair and blue eyes. Tala would have recognized him, blindfolded. As Tala's gaze continued to linger on him, the boy in question turned his attention to the redhead.

For a split-second, their eyes met. But as soon as the moment came, it left, and Kai broke their stare and continued on with the rest of the people he was with, without a hint of recognition for Tala.

Tala just stood there stunned. Bit by bit, he could hear the soft breaking of his heart and it hurt. Tala clutched his chest in agony, feeling a sudden sharp pain, as if someone had taken a knife to his heart and started twisting it around.

"Kai ..."

--End Flashback--

Have you forgotten,
The memories we used to share,
The moments we had,
Back then ... I knew I loved you ...

"Who are you?"

In the after events of the morning, Kai had rejoined the Demolition Boys. Tala had confronted him about the events earlier and Kai had just looked at him blankly before narrowing his eyes and asking in impassive way.

"Who are you?"

As the last words were spoken, Tala sank deeper and deeper into his own subconscious-ness. He felt numb to the world around him, not realizing when he was being spoken to, unconscious to anything happening around him. Even when the news of Kai taking Bryan's place on the team reached him, he could do nothing but stare emotionlessly.

He now sat alone in his room. Accompanied only by the cold and silence that plagued the dorms. His head bowed and his eyes bore a hole in the floor, but he saw nothing, his eyes looking past the concrete forms that surrounded him and straight into darkness. The same darkness that surrounded him.

He thought about the past. The past he had shared with Kai, someone whom he loved with all his heart, someone whom he would give up his life to save, someone who had forgotten him like he meant nothing. Like the memories they shared was nothing but an empty dream, not even worth a moments notice.

Back then; Kai had made him feel like he was somebody. Like he mattered. Kai had always said that everyone was put on this earth for a reason, and Tala already knew his reason ... to love. But the person he loved had shunned him, left him. Maybe Kai had lied all this time ... maybe his parents were right about him. Maybe he really didn't deserve to live.

I believe in what we have,
To know that the future holds so much more,
To find you once again,
We will be together ... in the end ...

Three days had passed.

Tala sat at the side of his bed.

Kai had left them ... again. Seems that his team had managed to convince him that they were better then the Demolition Boys. They had brainwashed him into believing them to be his enemies, whilst they were his best friends when he didn't know the meaning of friends. That was what Boris had said.

Tala had always known better than to believe anything Boris says, but this time, his hurt multiplied with his anger had blinded his vision ... his ability to tell the difference from lies and truths.

He hated Kai. He hated the BladeBreakers. He hated the world. All Tala knew was his pain.

The World Championships was starting tomorrow and Boris had finished giving them a pep talk. If they should lose the tournament, they would lose everything. They all knew what Boris meant by the term. They have seen many of their comrades fall at the hands of the evil man. For years, the Abbey Bladers have dominated they Russian Beyblade circuit, they have retained their titles again and again. There were those selected few that had cost the Abbey the championship on a few occasions. Tala didn't know what happened to them, but rumors have it that on one dark night, they had just ... disappeared.

For them, this was a win all or lose all situation, and none of them cared to experience the latter.

'If you had asked it of me before, Kai, I would have happily handed the championship to you on a silver platter. Of course, you would never accept. But given the current situation. I can't afford to lose. The team is depending on me, and I can't let them down. I really wish that you would be my opponent in the final match. Then ... we will see whose the best. I'll make you pay for abandoning us ... for abandoning me. Soon ..."

I see you in everything,
You face haunts me in my sleep,
In my wake,
I look in the mirror,
You image comes back to haunt me ...

Tala looked at his reflection in the mirror. Icy blue orbs stared back through the mirror. Ones that were wet, and shining with unshed tears. Tears that had been held in for so long.

'We lost ... I lost ...'

Tala cried tears of pain. Tears of regret and grief. Now they were in for it.

'I lost ... to a loudmouth glutton. I've let down my team.'

Boris was on the warpath, looking for people to hurt. His target ... the defeated team. Tala.

Tala raised his head slightly; looking straight at him was the infamous blood-red eyes. They were shining with laughter, mockery, as Kai and his team were obviously doing now at the loss of the undefeated Demolition Boys.

Tala could no longer think straight. It was as if he was staring straight at the unfeeling face of death, which was not so much farther from the truth. Boris was coming, and behind him loomed the grim reaper. It was as if Boris was his messenger, and he was marking him for an early death.

Tala did not care to be honest. He had lost the only thing that kept his will to live, burning. And now he was gone, taking Tala's strength and will power with him.

His expression for a split second turned to rage. He balled up his fist and punched the mirror with everything he had. It shattered into a million piece; finally for once, it was reflecting the truth. Reflecting Tala's heart.

The broken shards embedded into his hand, dripping fresh blood onto the floor. Tala ignored the pain shooting up his hand and instead, focused his attention on his blood. He raised his hand and marveled at the deadly shade that was slowly soaking his sleeve red.

'Ironic, isn't it, Kai. That I had fallen for those beautiful orbs of yours, those blood red eyes that only you posses. The same colour eyes of the liquid that runs through my veins, keeping me alive, just like you keep my heart alive ... I damn you for making me feel like this. I hate you, Kai.'

Tala could heard the heavy footsteps nearing his door. There was quite a few, so Tala assumed that Boris had brought the guards with him.

'I hope you'll live happier after I'm gone, Kai. I hope you find happiness. So long ... my love ...'

You're surrounding me,
Suffocating me,
You own me ...

...I promised myself that this wouldn't bother me ... that I would keep myself from getting hurt by him again. It's funny how things work out in your life, how fate decides to deal you an evil hand. I would have laughed ... if only these tears would just stop flowing.


End Part 1.