"Ray, there you are, where were you, what's happening, what did Kai do to Max?" Tyson ranted, his face pale and worried. Ray shivered and didn't answer, pulling the blanket that someone had given him tighter round his body. He wasn't even wearing his own clothes, just some spare items that a nurse had been able to find for him, and they itched like crazy. He focused on the itching, blocking out everything that was happening around him.
Tyson called Ray's name a few more times, then, recognising a lost cause, wandered out of the little side-room. He chewed his lip nervously. Kenny and Ray were practically comatose, and no one was letting him near Max. And where was Kai? He took Dragoon out of his pocket and grasped the white beyblade tightly, trying to give himself a confidence boost and failing miserably. Sinking down onto a chair, he buried his head in his hands and let the frustrated tears fall.
"What the hell's happening?" he muttered brokenly. He'd never felt so alone. The empty corridors seemed to mock him, echoing with invisible footsteps. He didn't know what was going on - why would nobody tell him?
Max lay motionless in the hospital bed, his face chalk-white and devoid of any expression, half-covered by an oxygen mask. Only the beeping heart monitor confirmed that there was still a heart beating inside the fragile shell of the twelve year-old boy. A nurse came in and checked his medical chart. Tutting softly, she changed his IV, eyeing the chest drain vigilantly. With a sigh, she rested her hand lightly against the young boy's forehead.
"Poor kid," she murmured, before leaving the room.
Tyson looked listlessly up. His face lit up like a light bulb as he saw who was approaching.
"Mr Dickinson!" he cried joyfully, bounding up and rushing over to the elderly man, who smiled and allowed Tyson to hug him tightly. "Thank god you're here!" Tyson exclaimed, his head buried in Mr Dickinson's ample stomach. "No one's telling me anything, and I can't see Max, and Ray and Kenny won't talk to me, and-" He stopped mid-sentence as a harassed-looking doctor came bustling up to the pair.
"Stanley Dickinson?" she questioned in flawless English. The man in question nodded, his plump face creased with anxiety.
"What's happened?" he asked.
"Maxim Tate was admitted a few hours earlier in a coma, sir. He has seven broken ribs, two of which have punctured his right lung. We have very little knowledge of what happened, other than a boy named Kai was directly involved. Two boys, Ken and Ouray have been admitted for shock; until they tell us what happened all we can do is treat Max as we would normally. We do, sir, have reason to believe that this is a police matter," the doctor said formally. Despite everything, Tyson found himself sniggering, not listening to anything else that was said.
"Ouray...man, Ray, that's the weirdest name I've ever heard..."
"Native American in origin, if I'm right," a small, shaky voice lectured.
"Kenny!" Tyson shouted. He hurtled across the corridor and burst into his friend's side-room, hugging him happily. "You're back!"
"Never left, as far as I'm aware…" the eleven year-old mumbled indistinctly, his voice muffled by Tyson's strangle-hold. "Just sort of…fell asleep with my eyes open." Tyson laughed, delighted to finally have someone to talk to again. "Where's Dizzi?"
"Um…back at the hotel?"
Fifteen minutes later, a solemn-looking Mr Dickinson stepped into the room.
"Kenny, do you feel up to talking to the police about what happened?" he asked quietly. Kenny paled drastically, but tightened his lips and nodded determinedly. "Good boy." The BBA chairman left the room.
"Woof." Kenny muttered under his breath. Tyson let out a snort of laughter, which faded instantly as he was told that he wasn't allowed in the room while the police were questioning Kenny.
"What? This is so unfair - "
"Do you know Kai?" the burly policeman asked him in slightly accented English, his gaze friendly. Tyson hesitated, and then nodded.
"To an extent." he answered, uncharacteristically serious.
"Well, we'll talk to you afterwards." Clearly dismissed, Tyson scowled and wandered out, leaning against the wall in a stance that was unconsciously reminiscent of Kai.
"So, Kenny, isn't it?" Kenny nodded. "Would you mind telling us what happened to cause your friend Max to be injured? Taking a deep breath, Kenny began speaking, wishing helplessly for the familiar, smooth contours of Dizzi clasped in his arms.
"Well, I don't really know much, Ray probably knows everything that happened-" He broke off as the policeman leaned over and whispered something to his partner, who nodded and scribbled something down in a notebook.
"Please carry on, Kenny."
"Okay… So, I heard a really loud bang coming from Kai's bedroom, so I went to see what it was. Then I saw Max lying there," He swallowed, his stomach churning with nervousness. "and I called out, something like "What's going on?", I don't really remember, then Ray yelled at me, told me to get away, then this bolt of…I don't know, energy or something, hit the doorway just above me. I think Ray was holding Kai back, he yelled at me to run, so I did, I went and phoned the ambulance." He took a deep, shuddering breath.
"And what happened then?"
"They arrived, and they brought other people too, I reckon they were people specifically for unstable situations, and they tried to get Kai to come with them."
"Did he?" Kenny shook his head.
"Nope, Ray did, but Kai…Kai…" He trailed off, horrifying images flooding his mind's eye.
An air of power fills the room, crowding the air already thick with the stench of blood. The figure that should be Kai, but isn't, turns to Kenny. Black eyes blaze with the fires of hell, lips stretch back in an insane smile. As Kenny watches, petrified, his eyes flicking between the bloodied corpses on the floor and the satanic apparition grinning at him, Kai raises a hand and points it at the small boy's head.
"Forget this, Chief." he rasps. "I'm not that cruel."
His lips aren't moving! Kenny thinks frantically. They're not moving! This goes against everything logical- With a guttural, inhuman laugh, Kai closes his fist. Kenny's world goes black.
Kenny buried his head in his folded arms. His mind felt foggy and confused, half-formed thoughts of blood and evil spirits floating around aimlessly.
"Kai…didn't go with them." he whispered finally. He was sure of that, if nothing else. A small frown flickers across the policeman's calm face.
"Are you quite sure that's all you remember?" Kenny nodded sleepily, yawning softly. His eyelids began to droop, and he curled up in a ball. A jumble of incomprehensible Russian sounded faintly in his ears, and through a haze he saw the two policeman being led out.
Tyson fiddled uneasily with Dragoon.
"How would you describe Kai?" A small smile crept onto Tyson's tanned face.
"A sourpuss." he murmured, chuckling. "He was never what you'd call talkative, or friendly." he elaborated.
"Did he ever behave in a violent way towards any of you?" Tyson shook his head fiercely.
"No, never!" he denied impatiently. "He used to punch the wall a lot when we got too annoying to cope with, but he never, ever hit us, or did anything except glare and insult us."
"What do you know about his home life, his past?"
"Virtually nothing." Tyson replied frankly. "All we know is that his grandfather used him to try and get control of all the bit-beasts in the world."
"Did his grandfather ever abuse him in any way at all?"
"I don't know."
"What about his parents? Where are they? Are they dead?" The policeman's tone was sharp, urgent.
"I-I don't know." Tyson's voice cracked as a worried tear slid down his cheek. He wiped it away with an angry swipe of his hand. "We really don't know that much about him, none of us do. Mr Dickinson's probably your man if you want information like that." He bit his lip, struggling not to burst into sobs. He was only thirteen, after all, and scared out of his wits
"One last question, Tyson, all right?" He nodded, swallowing. "Thank you. Now then, would you consider your friend at all dangerous?" Tyson opened his mouth to deny it instantly, but something kept him thinking, remembering a time when Kai had looked capable of anything, a time only a few weeks before. Cold-blooded, pitiless, ruthless…dangerous? Power hungry didn't describe it, but…dangerous? As in: potentially violent? Kai?
"Maybe…" he whispered faintly. Maybe… Another tear slipped down, soon followed by another, then another.
Kai ran tirelessly down the streets of Moscow. He had been running for almost two hours now, and still his legs pumped up and down, moving like pistons. Unstoppable. He was breathing normally, not a drop of sweat to show effort. He slipped through the crowded streets like a ghost, like the evil spirit that he had triumphed over just a few short hours earlier.
All victory had its price.
Jagged shapes swan around in his mind, floating in a background of red and black. He was diving amongst them, engulfed in radiant crimson and the deepest black.
A black that was slowly but surely taking him over.
Max's corpse-like face suddenly screwed up in an expression of pain. Sweat stood out on his white forehead. One arm shifted slightly on the hard bed sheet as a fierce internal battle drew to a climax.
The brief semblance ofawareness that had returned to his still form was snatched cruelly away as the heart monitor showed a flat line. An alarm sounded, the shrill, insistent bleeps signalling the boy's surrender. Cries of alarm ripped through the thick silence, a tableau of panicked hospital staff reflected in half-open, glassy blue eyes.
(Do not read if you are caught up in the story)
Just remember this, people, if Max was to die, Kai would be facing a murder charge. Which would be BAD.
Ray will come into the next chapter, he's just in shock at the moment. Oh yeah, if you're wondering about the whole Ouray/Maxim thing, I got tired of Raymond and Maximillian. Ouray means something along the lines of "straight arrow" in Native American.
Anyway, I'm really not too happy about this chapter, so please review and tell me your opinions.
AndI also apologise for the large amount of line-things in this chapter.I know it looks strange.
