I wrote the original version of this story three years ago, but wasn't comfortable with it until now (after a seriously extensive rewrite). It turned into a sort of character study of Kai and his feelings concerning the three people with whom he spends most of his time. Let me know what you think, constructive critisism is always welcome! And with that said, enjoy.
Kai reclined in his bus seat, sinking down into the cushions in an attempt to make himself as inconspicuous as possible. His reason? The argument raging just across the aisle.
Just over two hours ago, Ray had made an offhand remark that Tyson was quick to dispute. It didn't take long for the comment, and the entire point of the verbal fight, to be lost in the boys' attempts to be the one who was right. At the moment, Tyson was attempting to recruit Max to his side of the battle. The blond wisely refused to rise to the challenge, doing his best to ignore Tyson's cajoling. It seemed that he, as well as Kai, had noticed the less then happy looks the bus driver had been giving the group for the past thirty minutes.
Kai sighed as Tyson rose up in his seat, sitting on his knees and glaring at Ray over his headrest. After another shout of "There's no way you're right," Kai tuned the pair out. Or he tried to, anyway, instead turning his attention to the passing street outside.
The scenery wasn't much different from a few hours ago, when they began the long drive through the countryside. The tournament the team was headed for was almost a day's drive away. Frowning, Kai didn't think he would be able to stand a full day trapped on this small bus with his boisterous team. Well, maybe it wouldn't be so bad if Ray and Tyson fell asleep. Then maybe there would be some peace and—
"Kai!"
Kai barely kept himself from jumping as he turned to look at Tyson. However, he couldn't stop the eyebrow that rose up his forehead when he found Tyson in the seat next to him. A quick glance around showed him that Max was leaning over the back of his own seat, watching him with a mix of interest and worry. Even Ray was leaning across the aisle, eyeing him from around Tyson, who was now leaning into Kai's personal space.
"What?" Kai asked, leaning back slightly.
"'What'? What do you mean, 'What'?" Tyson asked. "I've only yelled your name a hundred times. You with us in there?" Tyson gave Kai a tap on the head, causing the elder boy's eyebrow to rise even higher.
"I'm fine," Kai said, pushing Tyson's hand away. He only received a disbelieving look for his troubles.
"You sure? Because you've been acting kinda weird, especially since this morning, like maybe you…"
"Maybe I what?" Kai asked, eyeing Tyson. He was a little shocked to notice that Tyson hadn't stopped talking. His mouth was still moving, but no sound was coming out. Now that he noticed it, Kai realized all of the sounds around him had seemed to just fade out. He couldn't hear Tyson's voice, the sound of the bus engine, or the wind blowing through a nearby open window.
"What's going on?" Kai asked, looking over to Max. The blond's mouth moved in response, but again, no words came out. And then suddenly a sound did reach him. It was that of a car, moving along the road at ridiculously high speeds. Looking out the window, Kai spotted the source of the sound.
Barreling along the wrong side of the road, headed straight towards their small bus, was a large black truck. Kai was able to let out a single yelled warning before all sound came flooding back to him in the form of the two vehicles colliding.
The driver let out a blood curdling scream as the front of the bus was crushed, cutting the man's cries short. But Kai didn't have time to consider this, as the collision sent the bus spinning around, throwing Tyson to the floor of the bus, and Kai into his vacated seat. And then suddenly the bus was tipping, rolling over and over for what seemed an eternity. The four boy's screams filled the air as they were tossed about as if in a dryer, slamming into seats and walls. The tumble seemed never ending; it was as if the bus would continue rolling on forever.
Then, after what could have been years but was more likely seconds, the bus groaned to a stop with the sound of shattering glass.
It took Kai a moment to orient himself. He found he was lying at the back of the bus, which had landed on its side in what appeared to be a ditch. Kai slowly pulled himself from the seats he was tangled in and made his towards the back of the bus, which had lost its back door in the tumble. Moving carefully around the shards of shattered glass and the sharp points of twisted metal, Kia spilled out of the bus and onto the muddied ground of the ditch.
"Tyson!" he shouted, climbing gingerly to his feet as he looked around for his teammates. "Ray! Max!"
Where could they be? Kai wondered anxiously as he moved along the underside of the bus, ducking past the upturned vehicle's still spinning wheel as he searched for anyone who could have been launched from the vehicle as it rolled. Kai stumbled slightly over the uneven ground, churned up by the bus, and at one point reached out to steady himself against the bus's undercarriage only to pull away quickly as the still hot metal burned his fingers.
Why can't I find anyone? Kai's anxiety took on an annoyed tinge as he scanned the stretch of grass leading up to the road, the slope of the ditch so steep he couldn't see the asphalt up above. They can't have ended up that far from the bus.
It wasn't until Kai reached the front of the bus that he found what he was looking for—Ray, laying face down beside the tipped bus.
Kai knelt down, reaching for his friend's shoulders and carefully rolling the other boy onto his back. The boy flopped limply, his head lolling to the side. Breathing hard, Kai clenched and unclenched his fist a few times before leaning forward and calling his friend's name.
"Ray?" he whispered, watching the boy closely for any response, but Ray didn't so much as twitch. His breath catching in his throat, Kai shakily lowered his head, pressing his ear to Ray's chest and listening intently. He let out a soft sigh when, after a painfully long minute, he found a pulse. But he didn't feel much relief, for even though Ray was alive, the grass he was laying in was soaked in blood.
"Oh man," he gasped, scanning Ray for the source of all the blood. It didn't take him long to find the wound; a gaping hole in the boy's side that had been revealed when Kai rolled him over. Biting back another gasp, Kai wrestled with his shock, trying to push it aside and figure out what to do.
A deep breath from the still unconscious Ray, which rattled wetly in his chest and caused the boy to let out a small choking sound, jolted Kai back into action. With fumbling fingers, he unwound the scarf from his neck and balled it up in his hands. He then pressed the wad of cloth to Ray's side, trying to stem some of the bleeding. Packing the material into and around the wound as best he could, Kai used Ray's sash to secure the scarf to the boy's side. He then sat back on his haunches, looking over his impromptu bandage. It'll have to do, he decided. At least until I can get some help.
"I'll be back, Ray," Kai whispered, resting a hand on the boy's still shoulder, "I'm going to go find Max and Tyson." Rising slowly, Kai continued to stare at a Ray for a few more long moments before stealing himself and continuing forward, circling around the front of the bus.
As he passed the crushed front end, he heard a moan from the top of the wreck. He recognized it immediately, and was quick to begin scrambling up the mangled bus in search of the sound's source. Pulling himself up onto the skyward facing side of the bus, Kai scanned the area around him, breathing hard as he tried to find his teammate. He froze, a small, strangled sound escaping him when he finally spotted the heap that was his friend. Slipping slightly, Kai crawled on his hands and knees to reach the unmoving boy.
"Tyson," Kai whispered, crouching beside the younger boy.
Tyson had been half flung through a window, his upper half resting outside the bus while his legs dangled down into the bus below him. His face and arms were scattered with little cuts, incurred from his collision with the window, and there was a large cut on top of his head that oozed blood into his hair.
"Tyson," Kai whispered again, lying one hand hesitantly across Tyson's back. "Can you hear me?"
"Kai?" Tyson whispered, letting out another groan as he regained consciousness.
"Yeah, it's me," Kai said, releasing the breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding in a relieved whoosh. Tyson moaned, turning his head slightly to look up at the older boy.
"Wha' happened?" he muttered, blinking hard. Kai frowned when he noticed the boy's pupils, which were so dilated that his irises were almost invisible.
"We've crashed," Kai answered, leaning to try and get more into Tyson's line of sight so that he didn't have to strain to see him. "I found Ray, he's alive, but I don't know where Max is. How badly are you hurt?"
"N'bad," Tyson slurred. Shifting his weight, he reached a hand out limply. Kai hesitated a moment, unsure, before grasping it. "Help me up," Tyson said.
"Are you sure you should be moving?" Kai asked. Tyson gave him a flat look; Kai wasn't sure if it was a look of annoyance or simply from being concussed. However, after a few seconds of indecision, Kai decided that he couldn't leave Tyson the way he was.
Kai carefully maneuvered his friend from the wreckage, slowly pulling him onto the side of the bus, where the injured boy collapsed against him.
"Gimme a sec," he whispered, panting softly. Kai gave him a moment to catch his breath, and then began the decent back to the ground. Crawling back towards the bus's front, Kai took advantage of the many hand and foot holds the mangled grill and windshield provided. It was slow going, with Kai having to stop on multiple occasions to help Tyson down, but they eventually made it to the ground. Once they were both safely down from the bus, Kai began leading the way around to the other side of the bus, speaking softly as he went.
"Okay, I've found you and Ray. Now we only need to find—Max!" Kai's sentence ended in a startled gasp as he caught sight of a familiar flash of blond hair. Leaving Tyson leaning against the side of the bus, catching his breath, Kai ran towards his friend, sliding to his knees in the mud at Max's side. He gasped again as he discovered his friend's condition.
Max lay half curled on his side in the muddy grass at the bottom of the ditch, his eyes closed and his arms lying limply at his side. His hair was matted down on one side with thick, dark blood, glittery glass grains sparking around the weeping wound. But, to Kai's horror and dismay, his view of Max only extended as far as halfway down the boy's thighs.
The rest of him was hidden from sight, pinned down beneath the toppled bus.
Looking down at his friend, lying frightfully still, Kai struggled to think, trying in vain to decide what to do. He reached towards Max, only to hesitate, his hand hovering over the boy's shoulder. For a moment Kai was afraid to touch him, afraid that to do so would prove true his fears, prove that his friend was dead. Instead he simply stared, hopping that any moment the boy would just open his eyes. Kai was so focused on Max that he didn't hear Tyson coming over until he fell to the ground beside him.
"Max…" Tyson gasped, reaching out without a moment's thought to lay his hand atop Max's head. "Max, can you hear me?" A soft groan from the blond caused Kai and Tyson to exchange startled looks before drawing them both closer to their friend.
"Max? You awake?" Tyson asked quietly. Max groaned again, blue eyes opening slowly in response. It took them a moment to focus, and when they did they were quick to find Kai. A hand slowly reached towards him, and after a moment of hesitation, Kai took it.
"We crash?" Max whispered, barely audible. Kai nodded. Max's gaze shifted haltingly between Kai and Tyson. "You hurt?"
"We're fine," Tyson said. "You on the other hand…"
"M'fine," Max said, giving Kai a small smile. The smile disappeared quickly though, as Max added "Can't feel m'legs."
Kai wasn't sure what to say, so he just gave Max's hand a reassuring squeeze.
"You'll be fine," he said, worry beginning to color his voice.
"Kay," Max breathed, as his eyes slid shut once more.
"Max," Kai said, leaning forward. When Max didn't respond, he grabbed the boy's shoulder and shook it. Groaning in pain, Max's eyes reopened, his gaze quickly finding Kai. "I'm sorry," Kai said quickly, "but you can't close your eyes Max. You need to stay awake now."
"M' tired," Max muttered, frowning at Kai, who licked his lips nervously.
"I know you are, Max," he said. "Just wait until I get some help, and then you can go to sleep, okay?" Max sighed.
"Fine," he whispered.
"Good," Kai breathed, though he didn't feel very relieved. All of his friends were badly injured, and if he didn't find help for them soon they wouldn't last much longer. Sighing, he turned to Tyson, who was slumped forward, staring down blankly at Max. Frowning, Kai reached out, resting his hand on his teammate's shoulder. Tyson jumped slightly at the touch, head jerking up to meet Kai's gaze.
"Tyson, I'm going to go and try to get help," he said, speaking slowly to make sure that Tyson, whose gaze was becoming less and less focused, understood. "If I can get up to the street, I should be able to flag someone down." Tyson blinked owlishly at Kai, who sighed softly. "Stay here with Max," he commanded. "I'll be right back."
Climbing to his feet, Kai fought the urge to looks back at Tyson and Max as he hurried away, knowing that if he did he might find himself unable to leave them. Picking his way carefully through the bits of bus wreckage that lay all around, Kai made his way towards the grassy slope that would lead him to the road, where he hoped to find help. Eyeing the slope for a simple way up, it soon became apparent to the Blader that there wasn't going to be anything to make this already daunting task any easier. So, stealing himself, Kai simply picked a spot and started to climb.
Only to slip against the damp, muddy grass, quickly sliding back down to the bottom of the ditch. Kai pulled his hand back with a pained hiss as it scraped against a shard of glass hidden in the weeds, glancing at the cut briefly before turning his attention back to the slope. Not about to be put off by a little wet vegetation, Kai immediately through himself right back into the climb.
The going was slow, Kai sliding back two feet for every foot of distance he gained, but he refused to give up. Burying his fingers into the soft earth, he heaved himself along. Mud smeared across his clothes, and his cut hand stung painfully each time he grabbed onto a clump of weeds, yet he kept moving with a single minded determination. His wellbeing no longer mattered—only that of his friends, who were counting solely on him to save them.
After an eternity of climbing, the suddenness of his arrival atop the ditch took Kai by surprise as he tumbled out onto the shoulder. Panting from the exertion of the climb, Kai stumbled to his feet, taking an instinctive step back from the road to avoid oncoming vehicles.
Or, a step that would have avoided oncoming vehicles—if there were any.
"What?" Kai whispered, staring in shock at the empty highway stretching out in either direction before him. "Where is everyone?" he asked, directing the question to the deserted roadway. It just didn't make any sense. When they'd crashed, the road had been packed with cars, and that had only been…how long ago had it been? Kai was sure it couldn't have been more than a few minutes, but he checked the sky anyway, hoping it might help him get a better idea of how long it had been.
What he saw shocked him.
The sky was dark, lit only by a smattering of stars.
"H-how…?" Kai stuttered, gaping up at the sky. How could it have gotten dark so fast? How did I not notice? Gritting his teeth, Kai again looked up and down the roadway. "Even if it is dark," he muttered, "there should still be someone out." The words felt empty to Kai, even as he said them. Sure, someone should be out there, but before he'd reached the road he'd been sure it should be light out, too.
Was I…knocked out during the crash? Kai wondered. He hadn't thought so, but the night sky looking down on him seemed to argue otherwise. But if he had been unconscious, for how long? He knew it was night, but there was no telling how late. It could very well be three in the morning for all he knew. At that thought, Kai's heart dropped into his stomach.
Not a lot of people out driving at three a.m.
Kai shook his head, clenching his eyes shut as he struggled to ignore the overwhelming sense of hopelessness now building within him. He couldn't give up now, not with his friends counting on him. Their lives counting on him. If help was going to come to them, then Kai would just have to go and get it. Surely there was an exit nearby that would lead him to a town, where he could get help. Yeah, there had to be one close. If he hurried, he was sure he could make it to one in time.
With a deep, steadying breath, Kai checked in both directions for any sign of civilization. Neither looked more promising than the other, so he just picked a direction and started to take it—
When an explosion from behind him derailed his plans completely.
The force of the blast threw Kai to the ground, a wave of hot air blasting over him as he instinctively curled into the grass. Shrapnel from the blast rained over him, sharp bits of metal stinging as they scraped across his exposed arms. Kai did his best to shield his face from the onslaught, which seemed to take forever to end. Eventually the flying debris abated, however, and as soon as it did Kai was rolling over, shoving himself upright.
"No," he gasped at the sight that met his gaze—the bus, engulfed in a wall of flames, thick plumes of black, acrid smoke billowing up into the sky. Through eyes wide with horror, Kai searched frantically for any sign of his friends, but the light from the fire showed him nothing but the wreckage of the crash and the grass and trees that were beginning to catch fire and burn.
"No," Kai repeated. His vision of the crash blurred as tears pooled in his eyes. "No no no." As Kai watched, the fires spread across the bus's undercarriage, working their way towards the vehicle's large gas tank. There was no warning, only the explosion of fire and heat that billowed towards Kai as the fuel ignited.
"No!"
With a gasp, Kai threw himself upright, hurling the blankets covering him away with a sweep of his arm. He sat, panting hard and struggling to blink away the image of the inferno roaring towards him.
Just a dream, he told himself firmly. It was just a dream. Sighing, Kai let his head drop into his hand. Just a dream. Scrubbing his hand across his eyes, Kai looked up, gaze traveling over the people sleeping on the floor around him.
Over three chests, all rising with the slow rhythm of sleep.
Sighing again, Kai collected the blanket he'd thrown when he woke up and bundled it up, setting it down beside his pillow before climbing quietly to his feet. Making a pointed effort not to check and see if Tyson's messy hair was hiding an injury, Kai stepped carefully over the sleeping boy and then made his way towards the door leading out onto the dojo's porch.
The night air was refreshing, the soft breeze helping sweep the remaining wisps of Kai's dream away. Taking a deep breath, Kai let it back out slowly, releasing the last bit of dream caused tension with it.
Just a dream, he reminded himself as he looked out over the dojo's manicured gardens. An unexpected sound from behind drew his attention, and he turned his head in time to see someone stepping out to join him on the porch. Kai nodded once in greeting, and then turned his attention back to the garden. After a moment of hesitation, soft footsteps carried Kai's visitor over to stand next to him.
"You're up…early," Max observed, tilting his head to look at Kai. "Is everything okay?"
"Sure," Kai responded noncommittally. Max brow furrowed.
"That's…not a yes," he pointed out. Kai held back the urge to sigh. Facing Max, he prepared to tell the boy to go back to bed. However, he faltered when he was met with the blond's concerned look. Frowning, Kai turned away again.
"I had a dream," he said simply.
"Bad dream?" Max asked.
"Unpleasant," Kai offered. "But it was just a dream."
"You know," Max said conversationally, "I heard once that dreams are your mind's way of telling you stuff."
"Oh?" Kai asked. Honestly, he wasn't all that interested. He'd never been much for all that dream analyzing stuff. Max either didn't notice Kai's lack of interest or, more likely, didn't care.
"Yeah," he said, "and I think, maybe bad dreams, they're your mind's way of telling you what you're afraid of."
"Huh," Kai responded thoughtfully. What you're afraid of. He immediately pictured his team—Ray, lying in a pool of his own blood, Tyson, hanging out of a shattered window, Max, pinned beneath the toppled bus. Kai closed his eyes, chasing the thought away. There was a moment of silence from Max, and then—
"Want to talk about it?"
Kai turned to look at Max, one eyebrow raised. When Max noticed the look, he shrugged.
"What? I thought I'd at least offer. If you'd taken me up on it, then I would know it was really bad. But you didn't, so…" he paused, giving Kai a thoughtful look, "you're okay?"
"I'm okay," Kai agreed.
"Good." Max grinned, and then motioned over his shoulder with jerk of his thumb. "I'm going to head back in. You coming?"
"In a minute," Kai said, his gaze returning to the garden.
"Okay," Max said, his footsteps retreating towards the door. "Don't wait too long to come back in," he warned. "You don't want Tyson to start snoring again before you get a chance to fall asleep, otherwise you'll be up till morning." A small smile tugged at the corner of Kai's lips.
"See you in the morning, Max."
"Kay," Max said around a yawn. "'Night."
Once the blond was gone, Kai sighed. What you're afraid of. Kai pictured the bus, engulfed in flames; remembered the crushing feeling of not being able to find his friends in the chaos of it all. Kai had never been on for all that dream analyzing stuff, but he could see the plausibility of Max's words, as he superimposed them with the faint dream pain caused by the thought of losing the most important people in his life. What you're afraid of.
Yeah, that sounds about right.