Disclaimer: I don't own Beyblade or its characters.

Chapter 3: Questions without Answers

It was lunch time, and the Bladebreakers and the Majestics were already in the dining room. Well, most of them.

Ray, Oliver and Kai were absent, and this fact didn't escape the others.

"Where are they?" Tyson huffed.

A moment later, Ray arrived, looking extremely tired. His eyes were bloodshot, and he was a little pale.

"Ray?" Max prompted.

"Dude, are you feeling okay?" Tyson asked.

Ray gave a small smile.

"Yeah," he said, his voice barely above a whisper.

The three Majestics in the room looked on in suspicion. They could see that Ray was hiding something, but Ray's teammates just seemed worried. Kenny even went so far as to feel Ray's forehead, checking for a fever.

"Ray, you're cold," Kenny remarked.

"Don't worry about it, Chief," Ray said.

"Ray," Robert said. "Do you know where Kai and Oliver are?"

Ray shifted slightly when Oliver was mentioned, but no one commented.

"I don't know where Kai is," Ray said. "And as for Oliver. He got a little hurt when he was helping me, so he went to go clean the wound."

"How did he get hurt?" Enrique asked, concern for his best friend shining through.

Before Ray could answer, Kai entered. He glanced at Ray, but said nothing. He took a seat next to Tyson without a word.

"What took you so long?" Johnny asked.

Kai glanced at him, but said nothing. Normally, Johnny would have felt enraged, but there was something in the other boy's eyes that prevented Johnny from saying anything. He saw it intensify when Kai glanced at Ray again, who was sitting across from him.

They waited in silence for a few minutes, the atmosphere tense. Almost everyone breathed a sigh of relief when Oliver finally arrived, but the others gasped.

Oliver's cheek was an angry red that only intensified near the three slashes. Oliver avoided everyone's gazes as he sat next to Ray, who only gave him a look that resembled guilt.

"What happened?!" Johnny and Enrique exclaimed, making a few of the others flinch, including Oliver.

"I'd rather not talk about it," Oliver said, his voice quiet.

The others, except for Ray and Kai, stared at Oliver in astonishment for a while. The boy became nervous, and he avoided the others' gazes.

"Leave him alone," Kai said. "Obviously, he doesn't want to talk about it. So stop staring at him like he's some kind of show."

The others jumped, and Oliver and Ray smiled gratefully at Kai. Robert cleared his throat.

"Yes, well," he said, "we have other things to discuss as well."

"What do you mean?" Enrique asked.

"When Tyson and I were battling, our Bitbeasts started acting strange. It was almost as if…"

"Almost as if they were afraid of something," Tyson finished, his voice unusually solemn.

Ray and Oliver shared a glance, which didn't pass by Kai's notice, whose own eyes widened.

"Dizzi was also nervous," Kenny said. "Something's coming, and it's making the Bitbeasts nervous."

"Dranzer was also a little freaked out," Kai said. "This isn't normal."

"No kidding," Oliver whispered. "I spoke with Zomb earlier, and he seemed to be acting stranger than normal. He mentioned something about darkness rising."

"When did you speak to Zomb?" Johnny exclaimed. "Is he the one that did that to you?"

"No," Oliver sighed. "I saw him earlier this morning. Guess the Dark Bladers are still a little mad at us."

"Did he say anything else?" Robert asked.

Oliver glanced nervously at Ray, before looking back at Robert.

"No, nothing else," he said.

"I see," Robert said. "Has anyone else noticed anything strange with your Bitbeasts?"

"Not that I noticed," Enrique said. "Guess there is only one way to find out, though."

"Yeah," Max sighed. "Guess we'll figure it out eventually."

At that moment, their meal arrived, and everyone was silent for a while as they started to enjoy their meal. Eventually, Robert sighed.

"Please," he said. "If something else happens, let us know. Something's going on, and I don't want to take any chances."

…..

"Do you think we should have told them?"

Ray and Oliver were once again in the library, and Oliver was pacing frantically.

"I don't know," Oliver said. "How do we even go about explaining it? That there's a creature somewhere here that you can't see but I can that attacked us? Yeah, like that's going to happen."

"Then please elaborate."

The two nearly jumped out of their skins when they heard the voice. They turned towards the door to find Enrique there, arms crossed and an unamused look on his face.

"Enrique," Oliver said. "How long have you been standing there?"

"Long enough," the blond answered. "Now, what happened?"

The two explained what happened earlier. When they finished, it was silent as they allowed Enrique to absorb the information he was given. He gazed at Oliver and hardened his gaze.

"There's something else you're not telling me," Enrique said. "And I wanna know what it is."

"Wait a minute," Ray said. "Do you believe us?"

Enrique sighed.

"I'm not sure," he admitted. "All I know is, something's happening and you two might know something about it."

Oliver swallowed before averting his gaze.

"There is something else," Oliver said. "When I was washing the blood off my face, the creature came back."

"What?!" Ray exclaimed, rounding on the greenette. "What happened?"

Oliver took a shaky breath.

"Threatened me," he said. "It doesn't know why I can see it, but it wants me to not interfere with whatever it's doing, or…"

Oliver left that statement hanging in the air, and Ray and Enrique seemed to know the implications.

"This is bad," Enrique said. "Any idea what we should do?"

"I've got an idea," another voice said, startling the three.

Out of the shadows of the bookcases came…

"Kai!" Ray exclaimed.

"Were you eavesdropping?" Enrique asked.

"You're one to talk," Kai said. "Anyway, whatever it is, it seems to be after Ray. We need to find out what it is and why it wants Ray."

"And how do we go about that?" Enrique asked.

"We can start with Robert's collection," Kai said, gesturing to all the books.

"You're kidding, right?" Enrique groaned.

"Actually," Ray said, "it's not a bad idea. A lot of these books have to do with the supernatural. Maybe one of them has something about whatever it was."

"Just great," Enrique groaned.

"Since Oliver actually saw it," Kai said, "he will have to be the one to identify it. Which means that if we find something that matches the description, we need to set it apart to figure out if it's what we're looking for."

They nodded their understanding and set to work, each grabbing a book. They browsed until it was time for dinner, and afterwards it was too dark and too late to continue, so they all went to bed, hoping to resume in the morning.

…..

Ray was once again running through the black void. He could hear his pursuer behind him, and he was terrified. His pursuer wasn't running. He was walking.

'I need to get away,' Ray thought panicked.

'Little kitty, little kitty, little lost cat,' his pursuer sang, his voice like ice.

Ray's breath hitched, and he started to run faster. Whatever was behind him, it was gaining.

Ray suddenly felt something collide with his back, and he let out a startled gasp as he fell to the ground. Something was pressing him against his back, effectively pinning him to the ground.

'You won't get away from me, my little pet,' the voice said. 'You belong to me, and nothing you do will stop that.'

Ray screamed as he felt cold hands grab his arms.

…..

"Ray, wake up!" Kai whispered frantically.

Max, Tyson and Kenny were still asleep, and Kai wanted to keep it that way. He knew Ray wouldn't like it if he knew the others saw him in such a vulnerable state.

Ray was thrashing around, his face pale and covered in a sheen of cold sweat. His breathing was frantic, and Kai knew that whatever Ray's nightmare was about, it was terrifying the boy to his core.

"Come on Ray," Kai whispered, shaking Ray's shoulders. "It's just a dream. You're safe. Come on."

'Why won't he wake up?' Kai wondered, before a thought struck him.

He reached over for Driger, who was resting on Ray's nightstand. As soon as he touched the blade, he felt the white tiger's anger and fear, and knew that it was all for Ray. Kai brought the beyblade closer to Ray.

"Come on," Kai said. "Please, get him out of this Driger."

Ray's eyes snapped open, and Kai nearly jumped. He flinched when he saw the cloudy look in Ray's eyes, even through the darkness. And besides the darkness, Kai saw fear.

Kai placed a hand on Ray's arm, only for the other boy to shy away. Kai frowned before realisation hit him.

'He's still caught up in the dream,' Kai thought. 'He doesn't know it's me.'

Kai frowned and looked Ray over, and his eyes widened at what he saw. On Ray's arms, just below the elbows, Kai could see bruises forming. Bruises that looked a lot like…

"Kai?" Ray asked, his voice hoarse.

Kai snapped his attention back to Ray's face and was pleased to discover that the boy no longer had pure fear, but that there was also confusion.

"Glad to see you're awake," Kai whispered.

Ray sat up and looked around the room, surveying his surroundings.

"Sorry I woke you," Ray said.

"Don't worry about it," Kai said. "Now, what was your nightmare about?"

Ray flinched, and Kai could see that the other boy didn't want to talk about it. He was about to say that Ray needn't tell him if he didn't want to, but Ray beat him to it.

"I think," Ray said, "when we go back to the library, we also need to look for anything that can invade dreams."

The part with the 'little kitty' is from an episode of Hell Girl, the second episode of the English dub. It's what the girl's stalker sang over the phone. I figured it would be well-suited. Anyway, please review, so that I know you guys like it.