Rating: R

Warning: The rating should be enough of a warning.

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters of Beyblade.

Summary: Saint Ann's Hospital is a place for mentally ill young adults, and when a new patient is transferred to their facility the world there is turned upside down for a handful of the other patients. Can they overcome their problems and be deemed cured, or will they become yet another slanted mind?

Slanted Mind

Chapter I - New Arrival

The screeching of the speakers and the tapping from the other end's microphone sounded in everyone's room as well as in all of the hallways and public rooms of Saint Ann's Hospital. It was the same thing everyday just before it the announcement came to report to everyone's respective rooms for lights out. Finally the head nurse cleared her throat and spoke into the microphone, her elderly voice high-pitched and as equally highly annoying.

"Everyone is to report to their rooms early tonight, but lights out is still at nine o'clock sharp. All patients please proceed to their proper rooms. Thank you, that will be all," and with an audible click the announcement system was flicked off.

Murmuring amongst themselves the teenage patients went about lazily to comply with what they had been asked of. There had been a hushed whisper earlier on in the day about an earlier call to rooms, but even so it rarely ever happened. Down the west wing of the hospital the girls were roomed two to a room, and the boys likewise in the east wing of the hospital.

Just as everyone had entered their rooms the sound of shattering glass filled the now empty halls, echoing eerily against the walls as nearly every single head popped out of the doorway to see, if possible, what the cause of the sudden noise was. Only those who dared to wander and look past the corner of the hallways would see the commotion at the greeting point of the hospital.

Nurses and orderlies were rushing down the halls, ushering the kids back into their rooms while on their way towards the main entrance area at the north end of the building. Not far behind them was Dr. Judy Tate, a well-loved psychiatrist to both the workers of the hospital and the patients alike.

As Judy ran by Tyson's room, as he had yet to peer out his door to see what was the cause of all the noise, his interest finally perked, dark blue eyes lifting from his comic. Flipping the pages closed, not after marking the corner of the page down where he had left off, the seventeen year old slipped from his sprawled position on his bed and stuck his head out his door like many of the other patients still were doing.

What is it, make all the noise you can day? Who in their right mind would be throwing such a fit at this hour? It didn't take long for Tyson's curiosity to be answered, as the scuffle that was going on moved from being out of his view to now running down at an all out sprint towards the south end of the hospital. There was one teen being chased by a good number of nurses and orderlies, and they didn't seem to thrilled to be running down the hall to late at night.

A new kid? Well now isn't this funny. I can't believe something so small is making all that big of a fuss! Well I hope he teaches some of those old hags to respect us. With an amused grin that flashed his white teeth Tyson watched the white attired nurses and orderlies chase after the new kid, Dr. Judy Tate not far behind them. I wonder how far he's going to get before he's caught. Daring to move from out of his room he tiptoed to the corner of the hallway, peering around to watch the chase end near the entrance of the door leading to the outside grounds.

With an amused grin that flashed his white teeth Tyson watched the white attired nurses and orderlies chase after the new kid, Dr. Judy Tate not far behind them. Daring to move from out of his room he tiptoed to the corner of the hallway, peering around to watch the chase end near the entrance of the door leading to the outside grounds.

Yelling, punching, kicking, and biting the new kid didn't seem to want to give any ground to the stronger and larger men trying to hold him down. Aquamarine eyes were filled with a clash of fear and deep seeded anger while a head of pale powder blue colored hair remained to be a tussled mess from the quarrel going on.

Watching as the head nurse jogged by with a syringe of sedatives Tyson gave a disappointed sigh. Well it looks as if the fun's over. That kid's going to be out of it before he even knew what hit him. I just feel sorry for who provoked him into such a fit. Poor Boris is going to have a sore cheek for awhile.

"No, stop it! Let go of his arm before it's pulled out the socket because of his struggling. I said release his arm this instant!" The commanding voice that yelled over the fighting was Judy's, a concerned yet furious look in her kind eyes as the orderly reluctantly let go of the kid's once tightly held arm. Freshly darkening marks were starting to become visible from where the man had once had a hold on the slender wrist.

"Just let him go, all the doors are locked. You're making him upset and stressing him out. You're only making it worse, now release him this instant!" The anger and displeasure in Judy's voice surprised Tyson, as he had never thought that the doctor had even a single mean bone in her body, as she was always nice, even to those who were mean to her.

Despite the direct orders the men refused to let go of the boy, seemingly for their own safety, yet as the head nurse came closer with the needle the struggling from the teenager became twice as worse and the whole mess came to end with the needle neatly stuck into the orderly's arm rather than the kid's. Briefly he was free from anyone's grasp and looked as if he was going to bolt again.

Home run for the home team. Snickering at the orderly now being escorted to the restricted office Tyson stuck his tongue out at the man. He had never liked him, and he wasn't too picky about who he was friends with. The man was just as bad as Boris was, if not worse at times when in a bad mood.

"No, no. Don't run, just look at what I have here." Judy was now holding out a stuffed animal of some kind with her voice gentle and soft, and at closer inspection it was a black panther with bright green eyes. It looked a bit worn, and the kid seemed to recognize it right away and snatch it away from her hands. As the orderlies stepped forward to take a hold of him Dr. Tate shook her head, placing a hand on the now docile teen standing next to her clutching the plushy.

Well what do you know, the kid is quelled by a simple stuffed animal. What a story that is.. Better get back to my room, though. Last thing I need is to have some of my stars taken away from me. With one last glance down the hall Tyson went back to his room to wait until lights out just like all the other patients.

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"Tyson Granger! Get up off that dirty floor this instant!" The middle-aged nurse that had just spoken was now standing in Tyson's doorway with her hands on her hips, beady eyes dark and glaring at the unconcerned male.

"Yes 'mother'," answered the navy haired teen as he sat up from having been lying down and reading his comic book on the floor. In truth the floor wasn't dirty, as it was cleaned weekly, just like every room in the hospital was. There was little doubt that he was going to be in any harm if he fell asleep on the floor reading his comic book.

"Don't use that tone of voice with me mister. You had better be on your best behavior the next time I see you or I'm going to take away five of your stars," threatened the nurse as she stood in Tyson's doorway, acting as if the boy was going to try to force her out of his room.

"What! Five stars! Lady, you're killing me here." At the comment the nurse's face lit up with bright red anger. 'You're killing me here' was an inside joke of the hospital, and the patients were well ready to use the comment to get the nurses or orderlies to back off. Of course they usually got into trouble for using the comment.

"What is that is your hand? A comic book? Tyson Granger! Where on earth did you get that piece of atrocity? I thought you would've learned the first ten times around that you are not to have those… those things in your room." Stepping into the room she made a swipe to try to snatch the comic book from Tyson only to have him stick it up his shirt and step aside. It was then that he noticed that the nurse wasn't alone.

"Hey, well looky there. It's the kid from earlier who gave you people a run for your money. Say, how's mister orderly doing? Still asleep? Good. Maybe next time he'll listen when Dr. Tate tells him to do something. It serves him right." Moving over to his bed Tyson flopped himself out on it carelessly, grinning slowly at the nurse.

"That just lost you two stars, Granger. And this is your new roommate. His name is Damian Pierce, and you had better treat him better than your last roommate. Now it's near light's out, and I expect you to show him the ropes around here Tyson." With that the flustered woman ushered Damian into to room and shut as well as locked the door behind her.

Glancing at the small black gym bag that the other teen carried Tyson gestured to the dresser in the far corner of the small room. "You can have the two bottom drawers, and as long as you keep your hands off my stuff I'll keep my hands off yours. But you can always read my stack of comic on the top there. Dr. Tate gives them to me because it keeps me from making trouble for the nurses to deal with."

With a mute nod Damian moved over to the dresser, kneeling down and sitting back on his feet before opening the bottom drawer and stuffing the whole gym bag in there carelessly. It didn't seem as if he had any intent on actually folding his clothes. In fact the ones he wore were slightly wrinkled, if not looking a bit too big for him. An old pale blue tee-shirt hung over his thin frame, his darker blue swishy jogging pants much too long for his legs and hiding the worn white sneakers he wore.

"That was quite a show you put on earlier, and all for that stuffed animal there, eh?" Dark blue eyes watched as their new roommate moved to sit stiffly at the edge of the bed, the said plushy held tightly to his chest with one arm. Declan proceeded to quietly toe off his shoes, not looking up from the floor.

"Midnight.." The word was barely a whisper, and at first Tyson thought he was hearing things, which wasn't exactly anything all that new when it came to annoying people. "What was that? You're going to have to speak up if you want me to even try to comprehend what you're saying."

Staring through pale blue lashes a pair of aquamarine eyes settled on Tyson, their uneasy look gaining an edge of confidence before the teen spoke up. "His name is Midnight, and he's a black panther, not a stuffed animal. He doesn't like to be called that.." He spoke slowly and quietly, as if certain he was going o be made fun of for saying what he did.

Chuckling and giving a dismissing shrug Tyson held his hands up defensively. "I didn't mean anything by it. Look I'll tell him sorry if it'll make you happy. Look, mister Midnight, you blank panther you, I'm sorry. Anyways my name's Tyson, and welcome to Saint Ann's."

"You're bi?" It was more of a question than a statement, Damian's voice picking up more of a calm and less defensive tone to it as he moved to hug Midnight with both arms, despite the soreness of the one which had been wrenched behind his back by one of the orderlies.

"Bi-Polar? Yeah, I am, but on the other hand I'm not bisexual. I'm actually gay, but I'm not going to jump you in your sleep or anything. I have my eyes and heart on someone else, and I'm a one man person thank you." Watching his new roommate closely for any flinch or distaste towards his confession Tyson was mildly surprised when none came, only a simple nod and shift in attention it seemed.

"What about you? Do you have some kind of obsessive-compulsive order or something?" It was only a guess from what the navy-haired teen had seen already, as Damian seemed mildly obsessed with his stuffed animal. However he wasn't going to go about making assumptions, as that usually got one into trouble at Saint Ann's.

"No.." There was a pause, as if Damian was contemplating his words. "They don't really know for sure what I have, but they've put together a few guesses." A dismissive shrug was given, as if it really didn't matter what the doctors thought. "They say that I have depression, general anxiety disorder, and schizophrenia." The teen lay back on the mattress, curling on there on his side facing the wall as Tyson looked at him.

"Well that's quite a list you have there. I'll take you to go see my friends tomorrow; you'll love to meet them and I think they'd like you. I'll warn you now not mind how skinny Rei is, because he has anorexia nervosa, and his protective boyfriend is Kai. He's a manic-depressive, but don't mind how distant or dark he might seem because he's still a good person. Tala on the other hand is someone you should stay away from when he's sitting down reading. He's been in this place the longest and has post-traumatic stress disorder as well as depression. He doesn't say much most of the time, unless it's to Kai, and he has a mad tempter when people bother him." Just as he finished the lights went out in the room signaling nine o'clock lights out. "Lights out kid, get some sleep before you take on your first full day here."

"What does Tala look like?" questioned Damian slowly, and then quickly adding on in a rushed whisper, "So I can avoid him." It was almost as if he thought Tyson my assume otherwise, but he could hear the other shrug through the darkness of the room and give a light chuckle. This calmed Damian, and he waited quietly for his response.

"He's pretty tall, though not as tall as Rei is--and don't get me wrong about this next comment, but he really is a pretty boy with those chilling blue eyes of his and his red hair. However he's like a frigid ice cube. Which reminds me," yawned Tyson as he rolled onto his other side dismissively. "It gets cold at night here, now get some sleep." It wasn't long after that Tyson's gentle snores filled the room.