CHAPTER THREE

~ The Dark Behemoth ~


The light of early morning dances in quiet steps across the heavens. They slowly dance into a room that contains a single girl and together alongside the singing birds, signals to all that it was time to leave the land of dreams behind for a day.

Lux opens her eyes to discover that she is once again in the room where she woke up the night before and this time, her injury cares less to bother her as she stands up, dresses in her normal clothes and walks out of the room. The hall is a little brighter and she wanders her way outside of the mansion. She shivers a little in the chill air of morning and then hears a sound. She follows it to discover her savior training. He notices her presence and turns to her for a moment before continuing with his training. She sits down on the ground and watches him. Silence was the composition of their conversation until it was replaced by a question.

"Kai...is it?" she asks as she stares at his blue blade.

Kai turns to her briefly and nods.

"Last night...that boy...with the red hair..." she looks up at him. "who is he?"

"Daichi or Tala?" Kai asks.

"I think...Tyson called him Tala…" She replies.

"Tala was a teammate of mine. I don't know much more other than that Boris and my grandfather messed around with him in a lab a couple of years ago." he answers her without looking at her.

"Oh..." Lux returns her gaze to her feet.

"Why?" Kai asks, turning back to her.

"He seemed...familiar..." she replies, keeping her eyes to the ground.

"Why so?" Kai asks.

She remains silent, unsure what to say since she did not know the response.

"From what I can tell, you don't know much about yourself, do you?" he questions, pausing for a second from his training. "I can't see why you would answer a question about your own name with "they said" otherwise."

Silence ensues for a small while.

"I...can't remember...anything more...than...eight months ago..." she replies, hugging her knees.

"Tala said that you're someone that's important to whoever those guys are." Kai recalls his beyblade.

"The black one?" she looks up at him again.

"Who are they?" Kai asks.

"I don't know…" she shifts her gaze from him.

Kai eyes her for a while as if searching for more information from her. He sighs, "Where do you live?"

"With the furry ones." she replies.

"You mean the cats?" He looks at her puzzled.

"Cats?" she looks up at him. "Is that...what they are called?"

Kai gives up. Her clueless expression told him all the answers to his unasked questions. He then wonders, 'What am I going to do with this girl? I can't exactly send her home since she doesn't really have one...'

The girl tilts her head, a curious expression apparent on her features. Kai turns from her, realizing he was staring.

'I could tell her to go and she probably would...' Kai then feels a little bad about the idea; the girl has no home after all. However, its not like he has to give her refuge; he barely knows her. Furthermore if he let's her stay he'd likely have to pay for her food and other needs.

Kai looks back at her again. She seems to have been staring at him the whole time like an innocent kitten. He then remembers the dream he's been having every night for the past month.

'Then again, she's my only link to those dreams...' Kai watches as she blinks. 'She doesn't seem loud or annoying...and it's not like I can't afford to keep her...'

He pockets his beyblade and turns to go inside but pauses and turns to the girl. "Coming?"

She nods and gets up to follow him.

"If you don't have anywhere else to go, you can stay here." Kai offers to her, deciding to let his curiosity get the better of him. He then tells her, "After breakfast, I'm gonna go to Tyson's place. I kinda promised I'd be there to hang out with the others for a day. You can come if you want."

She nods again and continues to follow him.

...

The predominance of the gray above rules out the possibility of room for effervescence to exist below it. Beautiful white flakes drift here and there, constantly trying to break apart the gloominess in ignorance of the vanity in their attempt. The air is sternly crisp and cold. In the middle of all this lies a large building complex, a dark behemoth of metal, partially covered in snow and ice. What it brews is no pleasure for one to know, but gazing at its progress from its highest window is a thin graying man.

The intercom in a room of pure white sounds and is followed by the voice of a young man who speaks with the tone of a servant. He requests permission to enter the white chamber and that permission is granted soon after. The door opens, revealing a man clad in a black cloak. His face is hidden beneath his hood. He walks into the room slowly and respectfully, stopping in front of the man.

"Did you find her?" the elderly man asks.

"Yes. But…"

"But?"

"We have a bit of a problem…"

"And that would be?"

"Kai Hiwatari…he defended her while I tried to recapture her and seems to be sheltering her."

"Really? Well isn't that interesting."

"Interesting?"

"And Tala?"

"I'm very sorry, sir. Tala, Byran and Spencer got away and the whereabouts of Ian are unknown."

"Did I not tell you to keep our operations secret until the time comes and to eliminate all who discover our operations?" the man eyed the cloaked lad angrily. "Well, what are they up to then?"

"I'm not sure, sir, though it doesn't appear to be too much."

"Where did they escape to? Do you know?" he demands.

"Japan…"

"Did they make contact with Kai Hiwatari?"

"I'm not sure, but they found out about her when I tried to get rid of them the second time."

"So much for the element of surprise…it's likely they went there to alert those brats then." he mutters. "Very well, at your first chance, snatch the girl and make it appear as if she left on her own. Try not to leave them any hints that we were there."

"Understood, sir."

The cloaked man left the room and the graying man resumes his gazing of the scenery outside the window. The puffs of gray still stretch unendingly and the white flakes still continue to drift down.

Outside the chamber of white, the young man in the black cloak stands still. His seemingly emotionless physique now shows some sign of softness. He then shows some signs of physical discomfort as a single sparkling, clear pearl rolls down the portion of his face that the hood failed to cover. It falls and lands almost inaudible onto the floor. He turns and looks down a little as if unsure, then aggressively strides down the hall.