It takes around fifteen minutes to cross from the exit to where the helicopter is waiting. During that time Gingka tries not to glance back at Benkei, with Kyoya's arms strung loosely down his shoulders like a lengthy necklace and his face propped against Benkei's back. The side visible is smudged with purple. It looks like he's unconscious. Gingka's the first to climb in the helicopter, and so he's the first to be hit with his father's questions.
"How bad?"
From the solemnity of his face and voice, he's not expecting good news. Stepping aside to the left and sitting down next to him, Gingka starts, "Really bad, we need to go to the hospital."
His father's mouth thins as he nods and gets up to tell the pilot. Benkei and Nile, now carrying Kyoya between them so as not to hit his head on the low ceiling, move precautiously to the back of the helicopter with Demure following behind. Gingka watches them settle Kyoya between them while the rest of the group trail onboard, his eyes stuck to the limp way Kyoya slumps in his seat like his bones won't hold him up themselves. The light coming from the circular windows lining the sides of the helicopter reflects bright enough that Gingka can almost convince himself Kyoya isn't as sickeningly pale as he remembers from outside. He still can't unglue himself until his father returns to his seat.
"I just… can't believe it," Gingka says, awe-soft, to him.
His father looks brooding as he returns the feeling with, "Neither can I. I'm not sure who would do this- or who could have done it?" He looks over at Kyoya for a moment, taking in the damage before continuing, "Kyoya is a strong blader with an unyielding spirit. The kind of organization it would take to hold a blader like him for so long, and to do this kind of thing to him would have to be on par with the Dark Nebula."
At the mention of the group Gingka sits up and gasps. "The Dark Nebula?"
"Yes," His father nods. "But they were disbanded after Battle Bladers. The WBBA doesn't have any information on another group like them and it doesn't look like they left much behind for us to find out more. If it hadn't been for the tip we received, we might not have found Kyoya at all."
Gingka turns away and swallows hard.
The screech of the engine powering up fills the air. It takes about a minute before it dies into a loud hum and the helicopter lifts from the ground. Gingka grips the seat as he's pressed into it and glances out the window behind him, watching the ground, and then the building they just left get farther and farther away. He watches until it's out of sight because having it disappear makes it seem like it doesn't exist, and by the churning in his stomach Gingka can tell it won't let them forget about it for a long time.
Behind him, Gingka can hear Masamune and Madoka talking from the seats across from him but he doesn't turn back until he hears Madoka ask, "Where did they even come from? I've never seen anything about this, not even online."
"Who knows? Some people are just horrible," Masamune says, but Madoka isn't satisfied.
She insists, "Organizations like this don't just come out of nowhere, they have to have funding and connections- these people even had a front for the whole thing! They seem too… established to just be some one-off gang of jerks." She sighs regretfully. "Anyways, no one-off gang of jerks could ever do something like this to Kyoya. As one of the top bladers in Japan- in the world, he should have been completely safe no matter where he was. But somehow… somehow they…" She trails off, pursing her lips tightly.
Gingka glances at Masamune and whispers, "Is he asleep?"
Masamune blinks, leans slightly to see, then nods. Gingka had thought as much, but he hadn't wanted to talk about Kyoya while he was listening. He says quietly, "The way he looked back there, in that cage, I've never seen him so… cornered. Like it didn't matter if he knew us at all because of what we could do to him at that moment."
Madoka winces and complains, "Oh, I don't want to even think about what he went through! This is all wrong!"
His expression hardening, Masamune tells her, "We'll find out who did this and make them pay!" He swings an arm back. "This isn't right, they can't do this to people! I can't allow it!"
"There isn't anything you can do," Gingka's father interrupts. "Anything any of you can do until we find out who or what is behind all of this." He meets all three of their eyes with a deathly serious look. "This group has already proved themselves to be very dangerous. I don't want any one of you hunting them down by yourselves, is that clear?"
Reluctantly they agree, and the matter closes.
For Yu, however, two seats down from Madoka, he can't stop thinking about it. The more his mind goes over the situation, the more uneasy he feels. The bruises he can see on Kyoya in the seat across from him, one to the left, are a lot like seeing the defeated bladers of the Dark Nebula- only so much worse. At least they were left in a storage room instead of a little dog pen. And unlike those bladers Kyoya isn't unconscious from having his spirit taken, it's because of injuries more severe than anything Yu saw back in those days.
"Hey, Tsubasa?" He says quietly no one else will hear him over the noise of the chopper blades. Tsubasa hums inquisitively so he continues, "Do you think Yoyo will tell us what happened when he's better?"
Tsubasa considers him for a moment, and given the subdued way Yu feels he doesn't blame him, before offering, "Maybe."
"Just… no one should get locked up like that. Especially alone in the dark. It's, uh, it isn't fun." He stares at his feet and kicks them a little. He adds in a mumble, "Beybattles shouldn't hurt people like that either. That isn't a real fight, it's just evil."
Tsubasa nods. "You're right, Yu. This wasn't a fair fight. If it were, I have no doubt Kyoya could have handled himself." He gazes over at Kyoya. "When he's well enough to tell us about it, we'll have to be ready to stop whoever's behind this, and to support him in any way we can. Fights like these can leave a blader's spirit damaged." Yu watches his golden eyes narrow and fall away in troubled thought. Little reminder was needed for Yu, who touches Libra in his pocket and imagines the missing chunks made once when they fought hard to protect themselves from bladers like those.
By the time they reach the helipad closest to a hospital dusk is settling in. The sky has taken a warm hue in the west to offset the growing purple across from it, although clouds are beginning to thicken as well. Streetlights are coming on. The helicopter hovers cautiously down, and Nile watches the other get off first before helping Benkei move Kyoya again. For the first time since they'd boarded Kyoya stirs and shies away before he recognizes them and he allows the pair of them to awkwardly maneuver out the door with him. Mr. Hagane had called some people during the ride, and apparently had arranged two WBBA cars to pick them up because they're waiting just off the helipad. Just getting to one, however, is enough to make Nile's arms burn a little. The others have left the way to the back free for them, thankfully, and while it still isn't easy squeezing in without bumping Kyoya too much, they manage and settle him, as they did on the helicopter, between themselves. Demure takes a seat just in front of them by Tsubasa and Madoka, and the Director sits in front with the driver. Gingka and the rest must have taken the other one. The car starts and nothing disturbs the quiet besides Mr. Hagane's directions to the driver and Kyoya's flighty breaths until midway through the drive.
Nile sighs when, after overtaking the colors of sunset with gray, the rain inevitably spatters over the back windshield. He's always liked rain just fine, but the way it sucks the heat from the car is wearing on already frayed nerves and he wants nothing more now than to get out of it. A shiver against his side grabs his attention and he turns to see Kyoya still awake, although looking very much like he wants to be anything but by the way he twists half-heartedly against the seat. Nile watches him try to find some kind of comfort through his misery before he gives up and simply lays there, blinking glassy eyes slowly at nothing until a chill seeps in and he curls up a little more.
"He looks cold," Nile comments, breaking the spell over the car.
Benkei nods and says hesitantly, "I'd give him my jacket, but he's still burning up. I'm worried that the heat will get worse if I do."
Nile hums in acknowledgment, it seems sound to him, but he doesn't feel any better about watching Kyoya suffer through it.
Demure turns in his seat and asks, "Do you think he'll be okay eventually? I mean, I know the fever will go, and his leg and wounds will probably all heal alright but…" He trails off.
"- But he might not be the same Kyoya…" Nile finishes. Demure nods somberly, and Nile glances back Kyoya, feeling weary. He had once considered himself apart from other bladers, as though his tactical mind made him higher somehow, and it wasn't until he'd met someone so much more deserving of his respect that Nile changed how he thought. Kyoya was an unstoppable force when they met, and somehow it became important to Nile to see him succeed because he knew Kyoya could. But, no matter how resilient, no matter how bright his spirit is, Nile has to come to grips with the fact that Kyoya is only fifteen and very human. Bad things can happen to him and break him.
Nile shuts his eyes. He couldn't give up yet. Not when there was still a sliver of hope that Kyoya will get up again unfazed. He has to hold on. Kyoya wouldn't take nicely to being written off besides that.
The car pulls up in front of the hospital, while the other one moves to the parking lot instead. Gingka understands that they don't have any emergency like the other, but he's still impatient to rush over to where he sees Tsubasa and his father hovering by Wildfang. As soon as they stop he wastes no time, and he can hear Kenta, Yu, and Masamune hot on his heels. With the rest of them spotting, Gingka's father goes inside ahead of them, and by the time they enter the hospital there's a trolley waiting and a gaggle of overly eager nurses, who are quick to take Kyoya and disappear.
Then they wait. The hours that tick by are near unbearable, tempers running close to the skin as everyone simply tries to bear it. Masamune is the only one really being productive by attempting to distract Yu and Kenta in any fashion that comes to mind, but it's a failing effort. Benkei's been pacing the floor for a long time when Tsubasa finally asks, slightly irritated, "Can you stop? You're making me seasick."
"Don't order me around!" Benkei snaps back.
Tsubasa looks like he's considering leaving it, like he knows he really should, but his nerves are short enough that he replies, "I wasn't. I was just suggesting. Could you please sit down?"
"You may as well quit, he does this every time he's nervous," Nile tells him flatly from across the row of blue plastic waiting chairs.
"Of course I'm nervous!" Benkei declares angrily. "Kyoya's all alone in there, more hurt and sick than I've ever seen him in my life and I'm out here being useless!"
Speaking up in a forced level voice, Gingka tells him, "He'll be fine. Kyoya will pull through."
"And what if he doesn't?!" Benkei wails in desperation.
"Would you really doubt Kyoya like that?" Nile asks dangerously, and it gives Benkei enough pause to pull himself together a bit.
He looks down, ashamed. "No. If anyone can pull through…- I know Kyoya can. But I don't want him to have to." And there is the crux of it. They all fall silent, realizing that their own feelings echo Benkei's statement.
Ryo takes the silence to add his own input. "I don't believe Kyoya will allow this to stop him. Worrying yourselves like this won't do any good, just be ready to be there for him, even if he doesn't want our help."
Beside Nile Demure sighs and murmurs, "That much is very Kyoya-like."
A click surprises Gingka and he turns to the door opening where a lady pokes her head out. "Group here for… Kyoya Tategami?"
He trips finding his feet, and the others stand as well. She nods and ushers them into a hallway where she leads them to a secluded hospital room Gingka notes as similar to the one Tsubasa stayed in when his battles and behavior were altered by the dark power. The white light illuminating the room sticks out against the dark window and only adds to the stillness of the room- as well as the stillness of its inhabitant. His tangled green hair splayed under his head as Kyoya sleeps, the flush to his thin, dirty face and the way each wheeze of breath passes through parted lips; it all sticks out against the sterile hospital sheets. Gingka's lips thin at the cannula draped over his face to his nose, as well as the IV he spies taped to the inside of Kyoya's elbow, arm laying over the thin blanket.
"He'll have to remain here for now," Gingka hears the nurse saying behind them. "I'm afraid you'll have to leave soon, visiting hours are almost up and we don't allow people to stay overnight unless it's for a life-threatening condition." She walks out, leaving them alone to the room.
No one moves for a few minutes, not daring to disturb the silence until Tsubasa murmurs, "We can't do much more here." The implication is understood, and hesitantly, they begin to wander out.
Nile and the rest of Kyoya's team stall, and he tells them, "We'll stay. Just for a little longer." Gingka nods to them, then allows his father to lead him out with a soft hand on his shoulder. Tomorrow will probably be better. Probably.
2017 Note: Haha, this had less than 1000 words originally, now it has over 2000. I hope that argument in the waiting room didn't seem out of place. Ah, yes and now that I've repeatedly had the characters reassure themselves that Kyoya's gonna be fine I'm gonna crush their dreams aha.