Chapter 4

I would like to welcome a new follower to this fanfic...

Bristleclaw!

Nice pen name, BTW.

This chapter is dedicated to Chidsengan and GoldenAngel999! Next one is for you, Bristleclaw, and anyone else who follows/favourites/reviews or makes themselves known.)

And special thanks to my sister 57R4NG3 N07H1NG for helping me with my editing! If you guys want to leave ANY suggestions, feel free to do so.

Zeo could only stand where was, slack-jawed and frozen with his hand still on the door. 'Masa...mune?'

He must have grown a foot taller, at least, but he was still well under Zeo's height. His spiky black hair had grown wilder and more dishevelled than he had seen it last, and it fell over his forehead in long, messy strokes.

His face lit with surprise, then joy when he saw the American standing at the doorway. "Hey! Zeo!" He flew at the American, crushing him in a bear hug with the grip of steel.

It was like the airport all over again. Millions of words expressing his hatred flowed through his mind, but he couldn't force himself to choke out even one. Instead, his throat made all sorts of unique noises as he tried to make it function again. Additionally, if not for the scary-looking muscleman behind his ex-friend, Zeo was pretty sure he would have smacked Kadoya right there and then.

A polite-looking girl with short dusky brown hair and vibrant blue eyes was glaring at the long-gone blader, as if he'd done something extremely rude. The bodyguard (as Zeo had decided to nickname him) took a false interest in his well-polished leather shoes.

Masamune dropped back and scratched his head awkwardly, talking so fast his words were a blur. "Yeah, sorry, I know it's been a really long time, but we searched you up, and I just had to see you! Uh, you remember me, right? Masamune Kadoya! From elementary school! Dungeon High? Number one?" He held up his index finger and waved it in front of Zeo's stunned face, seeming completely oblivious to his shock.

"I didn't have your new number, so I figured I should just drop by, right?" He laughed heartily. "I know, I know! Classic Kadoya! But anyways, I was gonna visit Toby except you moved him to a new hospital, and were acting all 'secretive' about it- I asked Coach Steels in case you're wondering- so that kind of screwed with my plans." His face fell, growing serious again. "How is Toby? He's not dying, is he? I hope he's feeling better. Can you tell me which hospital he's at, Zeo?"

'Toby.' The thought of his ill friend seemed to shock Zeo back into concentration, and his hatred flared up again. Slamming back into focus, something angry and resentful inside him snapped. Who did Masamune think he was to waltz in here and demand where Toby was? And- what the hell- he didn't even sound the least bit concerned for his state. Seven long years, and he wanted Zeo to kiss his feet or something. No way in hell.

His immediate reaction was to slam the door shut in Masamune's face and lock it. "Zeo! - what the - that was weird," he heard the idiot's cry dissolve to mutters from behind the door.

For a minute, Zeo stood where he was, breathing hard, while he processed what had just happened. Masamune had returned to America. Somehow, he found out where Zeo lived, even though his family moved to a new house not long after Masamune disappeared to Japan. And now he wanted to know where Toby was. Oh gosh, he had to get out of here.

'No way in hell.' For the third or something time that day, the stubborn thought ran through Zeo's head. 'Over my dead body is he going to get to that hospital!'

Hauling his bike along, he shuffled down the hallway and ran to the back door. If he went out the back, he could escape through the alleyway and still make it to the hospital.

Quietly and stealthily as possible, he crept down the steps and ran into the alley, bike in tow. Unfortunately, it seemed Masamune had anticipated this.

"Zeo!" The shout made him spin around. Masamune was running towards him at full speed, arms pumping as he dashed madly to his friend.

Wasting no time, he took a running start, then hopped on his bike and pedalled away furiously. "Wait- Zeo! ZEO!" Ignoring Masamune's desperate cries, Zeo sped out onto the road and biked as fast as he could away from his old friend. From his old memories. From the object of his hatred.

"ZEO!"

Sympathy cracked Madouka's heart as she watched Masamune chase after his childhood friend. 'What happened...'

Part of her was confused. Why did Masamune's supposed 'best buddy' bolt so suddenly? Why was he so eager to escape them? She shot a curious glance towards Klaus, who shrugged and trotted back towards the the front porch. Sighing, Madouka followed where she had seen Masamune disappear last.

Something about Klaus was unsettling to her; his broad, muscular figure or maybe the fact that he was pretty much ten years older than her. But either way, she understood the close relationship to Masamune that he shared. Klaus was like a second Coach Steels to him, she would say if asked to describe his relationship with Masamune.

Masamune stood in the alley, looking sad and lost. He stared longingly at the street, where cars raced back and forth. "Zeo... I don't get it..." He murmured as Madouka approached.

The other part of Madouka, the more observant and apathetic, had already deduced the situation. It seemed clear to this more logical, calculative side of her that Zeo Abyss was holding a bit more against Masamune than sadness for his departure years ago. But how would she tell that to Masamune? He would never accept it. He might be almost twenty or something, but he still was as naive as a child half his age.

Unsure how to react, Madouka put a hand on his shoulder. "You tried."

Masamune shook his head dejectedly. "I don't understand..." He spun around, crestfallen, and trudged back towards the house.

Klaus brought the torchlight to their gloom and doom. He held out a slip of paper for Masamune to see, whose eyebrows knitted together as he read it. "What is this...?" He took it in his hands, peering at the words.

"The address of Toby's hospital," Klaus rumbled, his voice deep and calming. "Your friend's parents came out, wondering what all the shouting was about. They gave that to me after I explained we wanted to find where Toby was."

Masamune's face glowed like a halo wrapped in a shining aura of light. "Klaus, you are my saviour!" He wrapped the older man in a hug greater than the one he had given Zeo, but Klaus didn't seem very surprised by his reaction.

"His parents are still waiting there," Klaus continued. "They want to know if you'd like to come inside."

Madouka shook her head. "No thanks," she murmured. She didn't have the energy today. Call her lazy, but it'd been ages since she walked so far. Her eyes drooped from the early rise Masamune had demanded if them. Her feet hurt from running back and forth trying to catch the right train, and then the chase down the alley. All she wanted was to take a dip in Konzern's heated pool.

But Masamune shook his head at her response. "No," he decided, "I'll go in. If you two can find your way back on your own..."

"Are you sure?" Klaus asked gently, with more patience and warmth than Madouka could ever reserve for Masamune.

He nodded. "Yeah. I...want to..." His voice cracked. "I want to see Zeo's room."

Nodding with understanding, Madouka and Klaus both turned and headed for the subway.

Madouka's mind raced as she considered the odds.

Zeo and Masamune, according to their wild, childish pal, were extremely close as friends. How did their relationship become so strained? Shaking her head as they approached the bus stop, Klaus's voice startled her from thought.

"What are you thinking about?"

Hesitant, unwilling to admit it, and discomforted by the ease with which he read her emotions, she had to consider her choice of words before responding. "I'm just not sure... if I'm right in thinking that Zeo might be angry with Masamune."

"Because they were such close friends, correct?" Madouka nodded. Klaus sighed, shoving his large hands in the deep pockets of his jacket. "I think that Masamune's description of his departure may have...confused us a bit."

Madouka perked with curiosity. "Oh?"

The European's expression was grim. "As we know, Masamune has a tendency to...rush into things. Too rash and headstrong. His leaving may not have been a well-needed and planned-out trip of achievement, but more like a..."

"...hasty decision," Madouka finished, sensing Klaus's awkward search for proper wording. She sympathized; English wasn't always her strong suit.

"A little like that," he agreed. "When I asked him to tell me more about it, the way he put it sounded as if he simply ran off upon discovering that Ginga was named as 'the strongest blader'. And remember, he's hardly an observant person. I'm beginning to wonder if his friend's condition was more serious than he thought at the time. If he left when it was most critical for him to have stayed, then it certainly would explain Zeo's anger. After all, he doesn't typically..."

"...Think things through," she finished once more, surprised by Klaus's observant analysis, his deep thought, and the fact that she was talking with him.

They were quiet as cars raced by, with still no sign of a bus anywhere close.

"You don't think that Toby is..." Madouka's question was left both unfinished and unanswered, but she decided it was better to leave it that way for now: she didn't want to think about it, anyway.

Masamune's steps felt heavy as he trekked up the stairs. 'Zeo...' He remembered the livid look on his friend's face, engulfed with resentment and fury. Was his friend angry about being forgotten? He hadn't meant to stay for so long...

Whatever the case, seven years was seven years. Some things were best left unresolved, his exhausted mind argued.

'No.' Yet again, he changed his mind. Seven years lasted a second amongst true friends, and if he, Toby and Zeo hadn't been true friends, he wasn't sure what they were back then.

He gazed around at Zeo's room, cramped and tiny. Dark blue paint was chipped in the walls. A tall bed with metal posts almost touched the ceiling, and a small couch lay underneath it. A desk sat under the window, with pens, pencils, erasers, sharpeners and shavings sitting beneath a desk lamp. Two picture frames sat on the desk. One was a photo of Zeo from when he was much younger, sitting on an elderly man's knee. The other one was of a grinning Toby.

'I wonder if there's something seriously wrong with Toby...'

Masamune realized, with a pang of sadness, that he recognized the picture. It was the day they won their first bey battle with bladers outside of the Dungeon Team as a group. However, both Masamune and Zeo had been cut out of the picture so that only Toby was left.

"Toby..." He murmured to himself, turning the frame around and around in his hands. "Is that all who you have left, Zeo? Am I really..." He couldn't bring himself to say the word 'forgotten', because it was the truth, and the truth was too hard to face, sometimes.

Tears threatened Masamune's eyes, but for a change, he refused to wipe them away. Masamune wasn't dumb. Even if Madouka and Klaus wouldn't voice the truth with him around, he could tell, from the look on Zeo's face, that something had changed between them. He had terribly misunderstood the emotions that had passed between them when he'd left for Japan, and worse, he'd also in turn forgotten about the friends he'd left in America.

Fate was a cruel object.

Masamune found himself feeling something terrible; something, he realized, he shouldn't feel and wouldn't if he had only gone back to his friends: homesickness.

This couldn't be. This. Could not. Be.

Impossible! His could he feel any nostalgia for Japan, when America had always and would forever be his home? The depression was a symbol of the betrayal that Zeo had pinned him with; proof that was lining up to mark him guilty.

But he wasn't. That was where the evidence turned against him. It wasn't his fault; Zeo's rage, and Toby's sickness.

He sank into the chair in front of the desk and hung his head in his hands. Was there any way to fix this? Would he ever see Toby again? His heart skipped a best as he realized something. If Toby was at the hospital...he was still alive... Masamune could still apologize!

Masamune didn't have a choice. He had to see his friend, and know if he was okay. He ran downstairs, thanking Zeo's parents hurriedly, and hopped on the first bus home, to Konzern mansion. Home, because this was America, and this was where he was meant to be, alongside his two friends.

He was gonna see Toby, no matter what Zeo said. And he had to discover why his friend was angry with him.

All the words and apologies ran through his head. "I'm sorry Zeo, I didn't know Toby was so sick..."

"I didn't mean to stay for so long..."

"All I wanted was to complete our dream..."

It was a rare instance in which Julian Konzern had free time. He spent that time swimming in the heated pool, relaxing after a long day at work.

As he climbed out, water cascaded from his long, golden hair. He dried himself off using a soft scarlet towel provided by a butler, then once dry, he marched into the common area, on the way to his personal chambers.

Inside, Sophie was sitting on a white ottoman, reading a book. Her pale blue curls were twisted into a beautiful braid. As usual nowadays, Julian lost his breath at the very sight of her.

Her sea-green eyes flickered across the pages of literature she was so engrossed in. Only when he stopped before her to read the title of the book she was reading did she notice him, look up, and smile.

"Julian. How was your swim?"

He simply loved her accent. Normally, he might find them bothersome or dismissable, but none of Sophie's adorable quirks could ever go unnoticed with him. "Fine, thank you," he responded, wiping a stray drop of water from his brow. "Just what I needed after a day at the office."

Giving a small groan, Sophie stood, walked over, and began massaging his shoulders with a smile as sweet as silk. "You work too much," she complained. "I understand there's no helping it - but, it is a fact." Julian couldn't help but agree.

Sophie's hands were soft, and she smelled sweet - lavender, perhaps. Maybe a touch of something minty. Julian loved those incenses, since they proved to do exceptionally well at calming him down. He almost blushed at realizing she was standing so close, but forced himself to push the feelings back down. They hadn't quite reached that proximity in their relationship- at least not on Sophie's part, as far as he knew - but even so, Julian knew it would only be a matter of time before he had to confess his feelings to her, as he had already done to himself.

When had the infatuation started? His best guess was three months ago, when they'd gone for a nice vacation in Panama, South America. It had just been Julian and Sophie alone at the time; Klaus was in Greece and at the time Wales was busy at the post office.

Eating breakfast so late in the day was unusual for Julian, but not a bad idea. They'd been having such a pleasant conversation, eating from the same bowl of cereal when their spoons clinked and Sophie teased him about flirting with her. Though Julian had laughed at the time, their hands brushed soon afterwards, and suddenly Julian felt very hot. It was as if patches of warmth were spreading on his chest, cheeks, and hands, and growing quickly uncomfortable. Quickly excusing himself, Julian later found in the restroom that a painted red blush had spread on his face. His head was light, and his hand glowed with warmth where Sophie had touched it.

Since then, he'd noticed so much more about her. The accent. How she wore her hair in different styles on certain days of the week. What jokes she laughed at. What made her smile or shed a tear.

"Julian?" Concern tinged Sophie's tone. "Is something wrong?"

Julian shook his head loose of those thoughts. "No, not at all," he replied smoothly. "Just thinking."

Of course, these pleasant observations had come with a price. He found himself less hidden; his feelings seemed more exposed around her. At work, he found himself distracted when lost in thoughts about Sophie. Jealousy sprouted inside him whenever he saw her talking to Wales or laughing at something Klaus said.

Poor Wales.

When it came to love, his best friend had become Julian Konzern's greatest obstacle. Even in Team Excalibur, Sophie and Wales had always been glued to the hip. They never went anywhere without the other, and always battled together. Closer than siblings, Sophie would almost never leave Wales's side if she could.

Julian hated to think so badly of his blue-eyed friend, but somehow his affection had taken control over all his emotions.

Sophie's hands stopped, and she craned her neck to smile warmly at him. "I hope that helped," she whispered with a small wink.

Julian turned, feeling his cheeks starting to glow. "Oh yes, thank you. More than you know." There were other things amongst it that would have made his life, perhaps, but now was not the time. Julian Konzern was a business man, and first his business had to be resolved.

Toby opened his eyes as the door flew open. He blinked in surprise as Zeo dropped all his things on the floor and looked around wildly. "Water?" He demanded.

Toby pointed to the nightstand, where sat a glass and a jug of water. Zeo poured himself a glass and then staggered to the bathroom, dragging his bag with him. Toby heard the sound of a container popping open, and his friend's frantic gulps as he drank deeply.

"What's wrong?" He asked when Zeo returned, looking refreshed.

"Nothing," his friend assured him with a slight wince, sitting down on the stool at his bedside and rubbing his temples. "Just a headache."

Toby's expression softened. "You shouldn't have come," he told him. "You've got homework, and you'd be better off relaxing at home."

Zeo's face was pale when he smiled. "I brought my school stuff with me. And trust me, I can't relax at home right now. I'll explain later, but it's just...complicated."

Toby gave up on questioning him any further. Since his treatment, it seemed impossible to get Zeo to tell him anything, even though they were such tight friends. Back then, he could read anything on Zeo's face. Now, it was like every day he saw him, Zeo Abyss was a different person. "There's something bothering you," he decided, "but I won't make you tell me. Can I just ask if it should be my concern?"

Zeo hesitated, and for a rare moment Toby could see through his gaze. "It is, isn't it."

His friend's smile was exhausted. "Please don't ask any further, really. I promise I'll explain it later."

"Of course." Toby shrugged and leaned back in his bed, closing his eyes. Whatever was bothering his friend, he knew he'd find out eventually. Besides, of Zeo found it easier to deal with by hiding it than not, Toby would gladly comply, for the sake of his friend's good health. With a relieved sigh, Zeo pulled out his books and set to work.

"Has the doctor set up a date for the last operation yet?" Zeo asked quietly, pausing. Toby answered without opening his eyes. "Twenty-first of May. Then I'll be out of this place once I recover."

"Oh, okay." Though his answer was simple, there was no disguising the joy in Zeo's voice. "That's good, Toby. Really great." He resumed his writing, but seemed evidently distracted by the news.

The usual scribbling of pencil on paper had become a regular lullaby for Toby, and he found his mind drifting off elsewhere... Elementary school... Masamune, Toby and Zeo... Best of friends... Bound to reach the top of the world someday... Toby's collapse, seeing Masamune in TV... praying energy night for his friend's success at the World Championships, before the sickness took ahold of his life...

Seven long years, and Toby owed Zeo so much for each and every one of them. Only two years ago, in his eleventh grade, Zeo had given up on school to take care of him. He worked three jobs a week, taking night shifts and noon shifts, skipping lunch break and sleep for his friend. It had to be the worst year of Toby's life.

Winter seemed to bring a hell that was like no other, but indoors. The treatment was so painful, so difficult, filled with things he couldn't describe without almost bursting into tears, and there'd hardly been any sign of Zeo to help him pull through it with his friend so busy trying to make the money to pay for it. And when Zeo did manage to visit, rarely as he did, his appearance was tired, undone, exhausted and haggardly. Black rings around his eyes. Skin so pale, it looked like curdled milk. His hair so dishevelled it reminded Toby of his own tangled locks in a trash can.

But one day, he felt better. Still in pain, but the feeling was dulled. He'd seen bright sunshine flowing through the curtain, and Zeo smiling above him. Blond streaks in his hair and a smile on his face, tears in his shining blue eyes.

With a groan, he asked his friend if he'd died and gone to heaven. Zeo had laughed. "We did it," Zeo whispered, and Toby didn't even have to ask what he meant.

This time, the expression held no grim hope, no doubt, no trace of exhaustion, but simply

That smile had been worthwhile. That moment, and the embrace they shared afterwards.

It had been worth all the pain, the blood, the tests, the tiredness, the tears, because those had brought the smile on Toby's lips that he held while he slept. It freed him from the lurking fear of death, and the uncertainty of his survival. And soon, those efforts would release him from the hospital.

Zeo Abyss, his best friend and saviour.

Toby couldn't forget that life debt, no matter what Zeo said. From now on, he had a duty to stay by his side, forever and ever, and never let the sacrifices his friend made to go in vain. Despite the time and sacrifice, Zeo had stayed by his side. And Toby planned to do the same for him, for the rest of his life.

Hey! Let me know what you think of this chapter, since I know it was a little long...

how do you guys feel about Sophie x Julian? I kind of threw it in on a whim, since this fic is kind of going to be a social drama/almoat-soap-opera kind of thing.

Just give me some feedback on how the story's going...or anything else. I really like fanfiction suggestions, so if you know about any really good fanfics worth checking out, I'd love to hear about them.

The updates should start to speed up a teensy bit because I finally have a couple of chapters organized, but they'll slow down soon enough. Haha, not to worry! ; p

Until next time, fans and friends!