Hourglass
Chapter 3
"Coward"
The difference between a hero and a coward is one step sideways.
- Gene Hackman
Kai watched as Tyson and Hilary began arguing again, though less ferocious. Rei made sure to but in before it got too out of hand while Max just laughed it off and chatted happily with his future son. Rin seemed to be trying to ignore the arguing couple but by the looks of the growing vein on her forehead, wouldn't last much longer. Once again, Rei stepped in to calm both down and Mariam couldn't help but laugh with the two shouted at the poor black haired boy. Kai's eyes drifted off to Gou and Makoto, who agreed to be fighting about something. But what? Being who he was, Kai had no issues inching closer without being noticed.
"Gou, can't you just get along with her, just for right now?"
"Why should I?"
"Because your dad invited her and the team over so they can help us test out the new stadium! The last thing we need you two to do is get in a fight and destroy the new stadium!"
"You're one to talk!"
"That was three years ago! And Iris and I are friends! Our fight was all in good spirit!"
"Whatever."
"Gou!"
"I said, NO, Makoto!" The other boy finally snapped. "My dad was stupid to invite her over. If anything happens, it'll be his fault, not mine."
"She your dad's friends daughter!"
"So?"
"So why can't you two get along?"
Gou went ridged. "I don't think that's any of your business."
Makoto gave him a look. "I heard my dad and your dad talking one time. He said you guys used to be good friends."
"It's none of your concern."
"As long as you're my friend and teammate, it is my concern. What happened, Gou?"
"Drop it, Makoto."
"No. Tell why-"
"Makoto..."
"I'm your friend, why can't you tell me?"
"Drop it."
"Gou, you guys used to be friends-"
"Times change."
"Come on-"
"I said drop it."
Makoto's face fell as he stared at his friend. He shifted as if he was about to move away but instead placed a hand on the two toned boy's shoulder. Said boy's glare fell from his face, replaced by a blank one. "Can you at least promise to tell me? One day?"
Kai expect Gou to answer right away but when he didn't Kai frowned. His son-Kai twitched-seemed to be having an inner battle. Finally he opened his mouth to answer-when muffled voices greeted him. A scowl immediately placed itself upon his face.
"Mr. Tate, are Makoto and the others here?" A girls voice, with a thick Russian accent, asked.
"U-uh, yeah, in the back. I'll get them for you."
"That's alright, you look busy. I can get them."
"No, no! It's fine! I can get them!"
"Err, Mr. Tate?" It was a new voice this time, a gruff Russian male. "You look pale, are you alright?"
"Dandy!"
"No one says 'dandy' anymore." Another voice laughed, this time a female.
"Well, I do. Now let me go get Makoto and the others." There was a bit of shuffling around and the door opened. A. Max quickly entered. "The other's are here. I don't want any of you to mention any of this 'time-travel' stuff to them. Makoto, you can tell Rina when you have her alone." With a nod, the future children exited the room. Gou moved slower then the others, his scowl getting deeper with every step. Once the door was shut again, A. Max turned to the Bladebreakers. "Sorry about that, but I don't want to get anyone who doesn't need to be involved, into this."
"It's fine." Rei said with a nod.
Hilary look at A. Max with curiosity. "Who are the kids who just arrived?"
"Well, one was Rina, your daughter. The others are an foreign beyblade team and slight friends." A. Max said with a small grin. "Kai invited them to help test a new Bey-stadium that's just finishing up."
"Really?" Tyson seemed to perk up at the thought of beyblading. "What team? Do we know their parents? Are they good? What do you mean by 'slight' friends? Can we meet them? Where are they from?"
Max laughed as his future self gave Tyson a wide-eyed look. "Tyson, calm down! Don't overload my future me!"
A. Max blinked, snapping out of his shock. "I forgot how crazy Tyson was at that age." He said, laughing. "Well, let see, they're Neoblitz, yes, you do, very good, 'slight' because we only see them every now and then, sorry, but no you can't, and they're from Russia."
Tyson seemed to take all of this in as Kai's thoughts began to run.
'They're from Russia...' He thoughts came together. 'Couldn't be. They couldn't really have kids… And who would even get close enough to them to fall in love… Most people still fear them. It's impossible.' Kai glanced at Gou, who appeared to hiding in a corner. 'Then again…'
"Kai?" The two-toned male looked over at Rei, who had a questioning look on his face. "Something wrong?"
"It's nothing." He said looking at the door. Which suddenly burst open and a two-tone man strode in, causing a shocked gasp from four of the five Bladebreakers. Kai didn't even flinch.
A. Kai looked around the room then turned to A. Max and Mariam. "I called Rei. He said he get here as soon as possible but that'll be a day or two. When are Ty-"
"Sorry we took so long!" A. Tyson yelled, bursting through the door(With shouts of greetings from the children in the other room), A. Hilary stumbling behind him, and barely stopping in time before falling straight into A. Kai, as said man rolled his eyes.
"Never mind."
A. Tyson glanced at A. Kai. "How'd you get here before me? My dojo is closer the stadium."
"I'm guessing you came on feet, while I took the car." A. Kai replied with a smirk. "Ran a couple reds but no damage."
A. Hilary gave both men a look before turning to speak to Mariam but her eyes fell instead on the time-travelers. "Oh god." She muttered. "This is so, so strange. It's like looking in a mirror, but I'm only sixteen." She said as her blue haired friend laughed, patting her on the back.
Hilary's eyes were wide like a deer in the headlights as she stared at her future. "You're... me!" She said gaping.
The older brunette blinked and gave her a small smile, then turned on her heel and smacked Mariam over the head. "Tyson told me that you let it 'slip' that we're married and what happened afterward. It's no wonder Takeru would come near me! Couldn't you break it a bit softer?"
Grinning, Mariam shrugged. "Nope, I don't think so."
A. Kai rolled his eyes and spoke up, turning to the group of teens. "Tell me everything that's happened before you were sent here."
"Well, that was weird." A black haired boy said raising an eyebrow at the back door. "Are you're parents always like that?"
Rin gave the door a nervous glance. "Let's say it's a special occasion and leave it at that." The boy frowned but said nothing. Rin smiled, turning to him. "Been a while, Dimitri. I was surprised you guys weren't in the last tournament."
"Sorry, that was my fault." The other boy, blond hair and blue-gray eyes, said with a chuckle. "I broke my arm right before the tournament. They needed four to enter and couldn't find one in such short notice."
"What he means," A short violet haired girl spoke up. "Is that we wouldn't find a replacement. Everyone would flock at the chance to be on Neoblitz. We could of found a replacement in no time, none would be cut out for us, but we still could. Yulia just wouldn't allow it."
"Ever the modest one, Kisa." A red haired girl said rolling her eyes. She smiled at Makoto. "It is good to see you again, Makoto. I'm gonna get a chance to blade you, right? We've all trained a lot after missing last year and now we're ready for you." She smirking, clear blue eyes gleaming with excitement.
The bluenette grinned. "You bet, but you're the one who's goin' down, Yulia!"
The red head laughed. "You haven't changed a bit. It's really good to see you again. I forgot how catchy your mood was!"
"Thanks!… I think."
Gou scowled as the group continued chatting, his eyes on the red head. 'Why'd you have to go and invite her, dad? And then you just had to go and allow them to stay with us. Thanks, pops, thanks. As if things weren't bad enough with her just being. Now I have to face her in my own home. After everything, you couldn't figure it out, Dad. Things between me and her...'
Memories flashed.
'You can't reverse time.'
Screeching, screaming, voices everywhere. The a loud wail.
'No matter how much...'
Eyes meeting, there was yelling, screaming then silence. A cold whisper.
'Damn it! Why does no one get it? Why does she have to be here? Damn it!'
"Ol' Blue's pouting." A sneering voice said causing Gou to come back to reality. Yulia was now standing in front of him, watching him with cold blue eyes. The others seemed to not even notice she had left the group. He glared back at her. "What's wrong, Blue? Didn't you miss me?"
"Don't call me 'Blue'." Gou growled.
"Why should I, it's so," She met his eyes. "Fitting. If you ask me."
"I didn't. Now walk away, Ivanov. You're not wanted here." The two-toned boy hissed as Yulia scowled.
She growled and her eyes flashed. "I don't like this anymore then you, Hiwatari. I wouldn't even be here, if it was my choose."
"Then leave."
"It was a team choose." She sneered. "I was out numbered. They wanted to come."
"Hn."
"Hiwatari..."
"Ivanov."
"Yulia?" Lev spoke up.
Her mouth became a thin line, eyes glowed. "Don't forget."
"Fuck you." He hissed, so only she could hear. The girl bristled like an angry cat.
"Yulia, Gou?" Rin called, worried.
Gou scoffed, then moved to walk away.
"You can't walk away from all your problems, Hiwatari." A chilling voice said. Gou eyed the red head out of the corner of his eye. Yulia face was stony, her eyes burning with what could only be described at pure hate. "You're a coward."
"Guys, come on."
Gou's eyes flashed with something unrecognizable. Thoughts and memories buzzed through his mind. He stared at the red head then turned again and left the store, his friends watching him, confused.
'Perhaps.'
"I can't make sense of it." A. Tyson said. "Max's is right, why can't we remember this happening? If it's happening to them, then technically, it happened to us."
"Yeah." A. Kai said with a nodded. "It doesn't make sense. Are you all sure there was nothing out of the ordinary going on around you? No crazed scientist or rogue blader?"
Tyson nodded. "We're sure. It's actually been really boring lately."
Rei clasped Driger, pulling it out of his pocket. The tiger bit-beast gleamed at him from his bit-chip. "Maybe a rouge bit-beast had something to do with this? Like one of Boris' crazed experiments." Both Kai's tensioned.
"Not possible." A. Hilary replied, as A. Kai stood stony. "Boris was put away after the thing with Brooklyn. He's either still in jail or dead."
"Oh."
A silence fell around them, the air thickening. The teens exchanged worried looks as the adults seemed deep in thought. Kai clenched his hands, a slight happiness that Boris was still in jail or, even better, dead. His sentencing had been to light. Life in jail was too good.
"It's getting late." A. Max suddenly said, glancing absently at his watch but the air around them stayed thick. "I think we need to figure out where you all can stay, as you're probably going to be here for a while."
"That's a good point." Mariam said nodding.
A. Kai glanced at the door. "I would of let the stay with me, if it had been any other time but with the kids here, I can't. They'd figure it out."
"Rin said she thought we were cosplayers." Max spoke up nervously.
"Yes, but Yulia and her team are smarter then that." A. Tyson spoke up.
His younger version spoke up. "Who's-"
"Not now." Kai cut him off, then turned to older versions. "Max has a point. Rin thought we were cosplays as so did other people around us. It looks like the only people we need to worry about are the ones who know us and their kids."
"Right." A. Tyson nodded. "I'm sure we can make space at our house. You can stay with me, it'll be just a bit crowded."
"We'll survive." Rei responded with a shrug.
"Good." A. Kai said as he headed towards the door. "I'll take the kids to my house and you can head to Tyson's."
A. Hilary and Mariam exchanged looks as their husbands nodded. The Bladebreakers thoughts buzzed through their head, wondering just how long they'd be stuck in the future.
TBC
