WARNINGS: Death, Gore, Vomit; Somewhat disturbing things ahead.
Disclaimer: I don't own Beyblade; it belongs to Aoki Takao.
A Vow Fulfilled, A Soul Tormented
Kai opens his deep crimson eyes, blinking, pondering where in the world he is. Dim torch light slightly brightens the stone corridor, but it creates eerie, fluttering shadows. Disturbing laughter reaches the curious—though ever-stoic—teenager, causing him to narrow his eyes.
That sounds so familiar…
A bone-chilling scream fills his ears with a rush, followed by a resounding crash, not giving Kai time to think more on the matter, only allowing his heart to do back-flips with fright.
Glancing about, Kai notices his back is to a wall and there are no doors or windows in sight. The only route is the seemingly interminable stretch of stone hallway laid out in front of him.
The dual-color-haired boy squints his eyes, straining them in futile attempt to see the end of the corridor. But all that is viewable is menacing darkness.
Kai strides forward, confidence waning slightly as he feels lost and confused. But his features betray nothing of the sort: He seems as he normally does; self-assured, fearless, strong, impassive.
More unsettling cackles erupt from an unknown source, sending shivers down the spine of Kai. Again, he wonders who the laughter is coming from….
Recognition hits him like a bullet between the eyes.
Boris…
Halting in his tracks, pristinely white scarf floating about wildly, Kai stares ahead unseeingly.
Another scream, this one louder and a bit less shrill, echoes off the walls.
The Abbey?...
He realizes this is a corridor much similar to those in that place of dread.
With some fear stirred up from a depth of his heart, Kai carries himself forward, more determined than ever to discover what is going on.
Finally, after several long minutes, he can see a wooden door at the end of the hallway. His stride evolves to a sprint, and he races toward it.
Skidding to a stop in front of the door, a third scream pierces the air. Kai, panting, can distinctly hear a thud and that haunting laughter on the other side.
Quickly, Kai unbolts the heavy metal lock on the large wooden door, and flings it open.
What he sees…makes him sick.
Blood. Lots…lots of blood…
Dead…
They're dead…
Collapsing to his knees, Kai gawks at the forms of Kenny, Ray, and Max, lying on the stone floor in various positions in pools of their own blood.
"KAI!" a desperate yell comes, just as brownish vomit spills from Kai's mouth.
Swiping the trickle of throw-up from his chin, the teenager-in-question turns his head to the source…only to see Tyson backed against a wall, Boris in front of him.
Tyson's blue eyes dart back and forth between his attacker and Kai. Boris turns his gaze on the newcomer.
"Ah, Kai…," he hisses in a twisted way, "you've come at precisely the right moment."
Attention back on Tyson, the purple-haired scientist lifts a blood-stained dagger in the air.
"Just in time to watch your friend die…," Boris finishes.
"NO!" screams Tyson, trying to shield himself with his arms.
No luck.
The knife enters the midnight-haired teen's torso, directly in the heart. Dark crimson liquid instantly stains his shirt, seeping from the wound. Boris rips the knife out, displaying less than mercy.
"K-Kai…," the dying child sputters, life's liquid starting to dribble from his mouth.
He tumbles to the ground, a sickening thud resonating. Droplets of blood fleck about upon impact.
Laughing maniacally, Boris turns, and rests his gaze on Kai, perverted grin spread across his ugly face.
Kai is horrorstruck, immobilized. He feels sick, can feel vomit gathering in his esophagus, slowly choking him as his mouth hangs open, but nothing is released. His fear, hate, rage, sorrow, disgust, pain—it's all consolidated into a swirling mass until it transforms into what he currently feels: nothing.
Absolutely numb, Kai manages to tear his eyes away from his fallen friend, and stares at the man who pushed him.
"Having fun, I see, eh, Kai?" the lunatic says, relishing in the painful, horror-filled, yet empty look in the boy's eyes. Droplets of thick liquid can be heard slowly pattering to the floor from the dagger.
Kai endeavors to speak, but can manage nothing.
Weakness not mattering to him right now, Kai can feel tears welling up.
What just…how…I…no…
Smirking, radiating pure evil and insanity, Boris tenderly licks some of Tyson's freshly spilt blood off of the dagger.
Cackling at the confused and disgusted emotions in the teen's eyes, Boris ventures forward, heading for the door, brown overcoat swishing around his feet. As he passes Kai, he makes a flicking motion with his hand, causing blood from the knife to speckle on the side of Kai's face and in his hair.
"Farewell, traitor," sneers the middle-aged man, bolting the door closed behind him.
Crimson eyes scan the blood-spattered room. They rest on each teammate, each friend, individually.
Kai feels as though he were choking, whether on vomit or tears, he does not know. Salty water droplets trickle down his cheeks, but he doesn't realize it. Feeling sluggish, Kai lifts himself up, and staggers over to the nearest body…Ray.
Blood gathers underneath the Chinese boy, as the being lays in it. Kai kneels next to the body, and with as much gentleness as he can muster, turns the body onto its back.
A sob escapes up Kai's throat, as he takes in the form of his friend.
Ray looks as though he is sleeping, with his amber eyes softly shut…other than all of the blood. Life's liquid spills from a few stab wounds on Ray's abdomen, and dribbles out of a corner of his mouth.
Kai begins to gag, and turns away from his friend. Leaning towards the ground, Kai can't help vomiting.
Ray…
You were so graceful, catlike, brave, a great warrior…
…a great friend…
Not able to dwell on these thoughts for long, Kai pulls himself up again, and heads toward the next fallen boy…Max.
Collapsing next to the fair-haired teen, Kai gapes at his body.
Max's throat is slit, seeping blood that flows slowly down his neck. His bright blue eyes are opened, yet glazed over, showing no life…no anything.
Max…
You were always so happy, keeping us up in the bad times, cheering us on, glad to do the right thing…
…glad to be selfless…
Gently, with shaky hands, the Russian boy slips Max's eyelids over his eyes.
Forcing the vomit down, Kai manages to pull himself up. More tears fall, adding to the countless that have slipped away with the sands of time, mounting with the angels in Heaven who cry them with the rain.
With aching knees and a slightly spinning head, Kai drops down next to…Kenny.
The younger, brunette boy's chest has a gaping wound slashed across it. Blood pours out of it, thickly coating his shirt. Some of his bushy bangs are flopped to the side, revealing closed eyelids.
Kenny…
You were the smartest, encouraging, helpful, always remaining sensible when we needed it…
… always by our side …
Standing, Kai lays his hand against his head, feeling dizzy and sick. Resisting all urges to vomit again—though he cannot prevent the tears that he doesn't even realize are falling—Kai steps toward Tyson, avoiding the smoldering pile of wires and metal that was once Kenny's laptop.
Once again, Kai turns a body over. He finds himself staring into the glassy, lifeless eyes of Tyson. Shakily closing them, he ogles at the stab wound.
Tyson…
You were always so determined, courageous, ever-willing to fight, never giving up…
…never abandoning your friends…
Kai pulls himself up, and stumbles a few steps forward, before dropping to his hands and knees, vertigo causing colorful spots to dance before his eyes.
Unable to control it, brown, thick liquid falls from Kai's open lips. The teenager stares into the puddle of sick, his teardrops along with vomit droplets from his mouth and beads of sweat from his forehead drip into it.
"This…isn't…fair…," whispers the distressed teen through sobs, lifting himself again, somehow.
Stepping forward, he plants his foot in the brown pool, causing him to slip. Crying harder as he collides with the ground, Kai feels his sick wetting his pant leg.
"This isn't fair!" he exclaims, ignoring everything as his emotions pour out with his tormented tears. Out comes the pain, sorrow, regret…everything, in the form of salty water droplets, mingling with smeared blue face paint. The numbness seems to fade away, fall away with the tears.
"This…isn't…fair!" Kai screams, pushing his body upward after several agonizing moments.
Blinking against the teardrops obscuring his vision, the stench of deadness poisoning his nostrils…the phoenixmanages forward.
Reaching the door, he leans his body against the wood. He attempts to turn the door handle, only to discover that the door is locked.
"THIS ISN'T FAIR!" he bellows, pounding on the door with his fist.
Eyes squeezed shut, he shoves his back against the door, and slides down it.
Countless minutes of painful torture pass. Kai feels so lost, incapable of calming down, unable to forgive himself for the loss of his friends, powerless to stop the tears and aching.
Finally, in an effort to cease this display of emotion, Kai digs in his pocket. Pulling out his blue beyblade, he forces his eyes open, avoiding his friends' bodies.
Gasping, the boy realizes his beloved bitbeast, Dranzer…is gone.
The bitchip is blank, the picture of the mighty phoenix, his friend, missing.
"Dranzer?" he murmurs confusedly. "…N…no…"
The beyblade falls from his hand, clattering to the ground.
With eyes widened due to shock, Kai stands. Crimson darts between each body and his beyblade.
"N-no…. This c-can't be…."
Tears subsiding, Kai backs up, only to slam into the door.
Oblivious, he whispers, "No…."
All the boy can do for several moments is stare unseeingly.
Emotions twist Kai's innards, cause his heart to beat faster. Sweat streaks down his face as his breathing becomes labored. Boris's disturbing cackles ring in his ears. Memories of his friends—Tyson, Max, Ray, Kenny, Dranzer—play and replay in his mind, seeming so vague and distant.
"N-no…," repeats the boy, unaware he has spoken.
Thoughts swamp him, emotions overtake him. A subconscious thought that his heart will explode if it beats more rapidly flutters through him; he disregards it.
Vertigo begins overpowering everything, and soon Kai's aching inside fades into numbness once again. Everything swims in and out of focus; strange lights and colors flash before his eyes; he sways to and fro. He swears his friends' bodies disappear and reappear, but he can't be sure of anything anymore.
Kai nearly chokes as he catches fleeting glimpses of a person in a white lab-coat next to him.
Are they real?
Is anything real?
I'm so confused…
Kai closes his eyes, head throbbing and pulsating.
"I…can't take it anymore…," he whispers, not realizing it, only subliminally recognizing his voice.
The teenagercradles his aching head in his hands, bidding it all away.
"I…can't…take this anymore…," comes the mutter, this time louder.
The tears start to slide down his cheeks again, mingling with blood droplets, sweat, and face paint.
"Please…help me…."
Boris stands outside a chilly, stone room--empty aside from one lone boy with a blue beyblade next to him.The manis peering through an astronomical window, watching Kai with sick curiosity.
A scientist, clad in a white lab-coat, exits the room; Kai seemingly does not notice the door he is leaning against being opened and closed a fraction. The scientist holds in their hand an empty syringe, which was full of lime-green liquid a few moments ago—before it was inserted into Kai's bloodstream.
"Sir," the scientist begins once next to Boris, "he has been injected with the fluid again. It should keep up the hallucination for another half-hour or so."
Smirking in a sick way, Boris nods. "Brilliant."
Biting their lip, the scientist turns to watch the boy suffer.
Boris, unaware of the scientist's displeasure, runs a hand through his purple hair.
"This…is a wondrous method of revenge, don't you think?" he questions.
There is no response.
Ignoring the silence, Boris continues, "Sweet revenge…. Voltaire swore his vengeance upon you, Kai…too bad he isn't here to see what I've come up withto fulfill that vow."
Turning his attention toward a nearby figure, Boris calls, "You there."
A guard, dressed in black cult-like robes, stalks forward.
"Retrieve Kai's friends," he demands. "I want them to see him suffering over their 'deaths'."
As the guard wanders off, Boris cackles his evil, sickening laugh.
And even though Kai is hallucinating, stuck in a nonexistent world created by a fluid, that laughter penetrates through it all and resonates in his soul…torturing him in ways unfathomable.
But this isn't the end of Kai Hiwatari…for phoenixes always rise from the ashes.
End
…I can't believe I wrote that…. Depressing, dark…wow.
If anyone noticed, when Kai was reflecting on the qualities of his fallen friends, the last things mentioned (the ones on separate lines) were all things he's not.
Maybe you all should go read something funny to lighten the spirits, eh?
Please review, give me your thoughts on this piece.
have a nice day
CyborgRockStar