Disclaimer: The only thing that I own is the plot.

Author's Note: Special thanks to MarianQ for BETA reading :-)

And I am in fact still writing my stories. It just takes me a really long time to write them and post them here,okay?


"Sweet dreams", Miguel said with some irony to himself when he closed the bathroom door behind him. He was feeling dizzy but at least now he was somewhat certain of what he should do. In a few hours, they would blade against the All Stars and then they would gain the recognition they wanted. Albeit, in an underhand way. The blonde boy sighed and noticed that both Claude and Aaron were sleeping but Mathilda was not in her bed.

"Where is she this time?" Miguel thought and turned to look at the window. She always loved to stay outside looking at the sky before she slept. As he expected, she was there in the balcony gazing up the stars, her mind travelling fast in faraway lands and places. He noticed that the blue curtains were softly dancing in the air. Her hands were embracing her body due to the delicate breeze of the night standing at the edge of the balcony, making her cold. The door was left open and so the boy did not hesitate and decided to approach her. He knew what she was feeling.

"Mathilda?" Miguel asked in a very soft tone and came close to her. She was crying, he could see it clearly now. He did not expect that. He gave her a fake smile nonetheless and waited for her reply. The girl remained silent not turning to look at her teammate or leaving. She just kept looking ahead with her eyes full of tears.

"Mathilda?" Miguel asked her again after a long moment of silence. Miguel sighed unable to understand why she was not responding to him and looked at her intensely. He was well aware of the way she was feeling but he couldn't stop himself for wanting to ease her emotional pain. He was willing to bring that burden upon himself. Would his final decision worry her too much? He felt slightly confused by her attitude. She was never the kind of person to shield herself this way. When the girl continued not saying anything Miguel touched her cheek and said quietly

"I'm here for you. You can trust me with anything."

Mathilda's eyes only watered more but they were also shining in the shades of the night.

"I..." She began whispering in a trembling voice, "I don't know how we came to this. Everything seemed to be so simple at the beginning but now, everything is... black. I can't see ahead anymore."

Mathilda whispered in the night while small silver tears kept on coming down from her eyes.

"I miss freedom"

Miguel looked at her as if she was about to break at any time. The expression on his face was falling slowly as he was considering her words. He felt the sudden need to help her escape the world they were living in. He could not believe what he was hearing. His face had turned into a sad masquerade. The girl did not pay any attention to the change on her friend's face. Miguel kept on wondering. How could she feel like that? Didn't he promise earlier this day that they would stay together through everything? Did she not believe in him? Miguel could feel his hope fading away as he kept looking at her, stroking her cheek in an affectionate way.

The girl turned around to look at him. She was searching for hope, for courage, for anything to hold on to at this very moment. She didn't expect Miguel to find her there and now she had no other choice but to confess all these she was truly feeling. The boy, on the other hand had seen her like that...last night. He just couldn't understand why the girl did not believe him. Didn't he promise earlier that day that they'd stay together as a team no matter what?

She cried silently and Miguel held her tightly in his arms. She looked so fragile and delicate "she should not have to suffer being treated this way by him" he thought, "none of this is worth it!" He let out a deep sigh, making sure she felt comfortable in her position. In his mind, millions of thoughts and scenarios were playing.

"You should sleep now," he whispered to her, knowing that that was the best thing to do at that moment.

"Sleep" He repeated and looked down at her. The girl with the light pink hair only nodded in agreement so Miguel led her back to her bed. He was slowly walking, making sure she wouldn't fall or run away from him. He cared about her so much after all. When they reached the bed, he quietly placed her there whispering once again, "I'm not going anywhere until I'm sure you are alright"

Mathilda gave him a weak smile and turned to the other side. After a couple of minutes, Miguel also felt asleep, there next to her on the bed. He was far too tired himself to stay awake any longer.

The next morning came almost too soon. Claude got up from his bed as soon as he heard the alarm clock; he had to make sure that he wouldn't be late for training or the upcoming match. The thought of the match still brought chills upon his spine but he quickly shaken off any negative feelings and stormed to the bathroom.

Aaron found it difficult to get up from his bed. He kept looking to the room with blurry eyes until his gaze fell upon the bed next to his. "What are they both doing there?" he wondered looking at the two figures of his friends. With a raised eyebrow, he shut down the alarm clock, which Claude had left on.

"Rise and shine everyone" Claude sung coming from the bathroom.

"What the hell is up with you?" Miguel asked turning to look at him with a frown in his face.

"I decided to be the 'happy' person in the group today," The blue haired boy continued.

"Okay" The blonde decided not to question any further and got up from the bed heading to the bathroom.

Mathilda turned around to look at her teammates and tried to understand why everyone was so jolly this morning. She didn't say anything, she just stared at them. Miguel stood in the middle of the room and cleared his voice before he spoke.

"We seriously need to figure out what we will do now"

"What are you talking about?" Claude answered pretending he didn't actually know what the other boy was talking about.

"Barthez. That's what I'm talking about" The blonde pressed on glaring at him.

"What about Barthez?" Aaron asked.

"Don't you also believe that we shouldn't do whatever he says?" Mathilda told him sounding very severe.

"Well..." Aaron trembled not finding the right words to say.

"He needs to leave" Miguel spoke, overshadowing anyone else.

After many eyes darting back and forth, Claude was the first to speak.

"How will we do that? We can't simply fire him. He brought us here. He pays for all our expenses. He trained us. And he is not the kind of person that you can just talk to."

The dark boy gulped remembering all these times that they were training with Barthez.

"He can't simply make him leave," he said looking at the floor.

"He can't stand him anymore either" Mathilda spoke quietly looking at her teammates.

"Have you seen how the other teams are fighting? We will never have the passion they have, we will never share the friendship that they do, we will never feel good and proud of ourselves if we continue like this" Miguel raised his voice outraged with the whole situation.

"He won't let us go" Claude replied glaring at the blonde boy. How could Barthez just leave them there if they tell him to leave? How could he just go without protesting or beating them up? He was paying for them. What would they do with no money in their hands? All of their families lived far away. They needed to cross a whole ocean to see them. What would they do? How could they survive?

Claude was partially right and the leader of the team knew that but he couldn't stand being bossed around anymore.

"We will figure it out" he began slowly "the BBA will help us"

"Nobody can help us from him! No matter what we do, he's going to find us some day," Claude pressed on and on.

"Snap out of it!" Miguel shouted.

"If we don't have at least some hope, we will never do anything in our lives!"

Claude only sighed still glaring but now at the window outside.

"Fine," he finally hissed.

"I just want to know if you are with me on this"

Miguel announced looking at each one of them.

"Because no matter what I'm not gonna stay here for any longer especially being treated this way by him"

"I'm with you" Mathilda replied approaching him.

At this moment, Claude felt some kind of jealousy boiling inside of him when he looked at his other two teammates together.

"I have no choice but to agree" he said and walked out of the room. There was a new feeling, which kept battling inside him every time he looked at her, but what was it? He slowly closed the door behind him and walked in the hotel hall, his hands in his pockets.


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