Warnings: See first chapter
Disclaimer: See first chapter
Voltaire's pupil
The others were leaving. He didn't want to admit it, but in the end, it hurt him that they just gave up about him and continued off without looking back. He had seen the look on Tala's face, of course he had, and the redhead hadn't been happy for doing what he was doing, but that didn't stop him from leaving.
Why it hurt so much, Kai couldn't comprehend. He shouldn't care for them, nor should he care for what they thought about him, and nor should they care for him. And he was the one who had warded them off, the one who had made sure they wouldn't stay, and that was his plan. Now, they wouldn't get hurt because of his search for his lost one. It wasn't fair that they all should stay in hell because of him. They were... his friends.
The sound of hundreds of footsteps slowly muted as the slate walked in to the light again. Their attempts to get him with them had been weak, that was what had hurt him. But he also knew that he wouldn't change his mind, and that they knew this. Yet it hurt like shit. It wasn't like he would avenge himself on them, it would be stupid when he had used so much energy on helping Bryan. Even if he had slowed down the emerald's process on purpose.
The sound of footsteps distracted his thoughts, which seemed only to be a positive thing. He turned his head, and the violet eyes narrowed when he saw Boris come running. The slate went back to the shadows of his cell, listening to the man's growling. "Damn it, they have already been here! How was they even able to turn off the cameras?!"
Because you have a little traitor on your team, poor, poor Boris.
"They have emptied most of the cells in the four lowest floors, not including this one," a guard informed as Boris came into view for the slate teen. Kai simply stood, leaning against the wall, while the violets pierced into Boris. The man didn't notice. "They have also been to the kitchen and stole most of our food. Though... While the people that tried to stop the ones that freed people from the cells died from some unknown weapon, the ones in the kitchen was simply knocked out." Good one, Brooklyn.
"Damn it," Boris snarled, kicking Kai's open cell door. It closed with a bang before springing open again from the force of the kick, and the sound echoed the hall. "We have to find them! They are armed now. Though I doubt many is capable of shooting, I am not going to cross Tala's path if he is in possession of a machine gun." Boris turned to the guards. "Begin to sear-"
"Boris."
The purple haired man's head snapped to the side, and he looked into the violets of the Hiwatari. It took him a moment to locate the teen in the shadow, but when he did, he made a lot of effort not to grin widely. So one hadn't decided to follow out. And that was good news to sooth Voltaire before telling him the castle had lost most of its prisoners. "Kai," he answered, watching the teen. "So you decided to stay?" What does it look like, asshole? "Well, good. Did you see where they are going?" How good you are showing how much you appreciate me talking to you again, creep.
"Yes, I did." Kai ignored his inner voice that was screaming one single word.
Traitor.
"They went that way." He nodded to show the direction.
Traitor.
"They are about two hundred now, and armed. But they don't have machine guns."
Traitor.
"They went to the nearest exit, and they had Katyenka with them."
Traitor!
Why the hell did he say this? But it was said, and he couldn't change it, so what the hell. They were armed, and might be far more than Boris and his men. By the way, he wasn't a traitor. It wasn't like he had ever been on their side! Yes, he had been on the same team as... Well, he had been a Bladebreaker, Blitzkrieg- and Demolitionboy, and he nearly got on the BEGA-team. Sure, he had been on their teams, but... There was a reason why he wasn't set on one team... He just didn't know the reason. But he forced himself to ignore the inner voice.
"That's good, Kai. Thank you. We have had a new cell ready for you whenever you chose to change your mind. Maxim, show him the way, please." Oh, so Boris didn't trust him to stay if he was let out of sight. Else, he would have taken all his force and let Kai wait, so now, Kai was showed to a new place where he could get locked up, now where his own cell had gotten a crashed door. As long as he didn't have to look the others in the eyes, especially Tyson or Tala, he was okay with it. Tala would surely take the nearest gun and go for the head, while Tyson would stare or cry. And he cared, yes, they were 'friends'. But he was quite sure Maxim was ready to rip his head off.
With a last look on Kai, Boris went on to catch the escapees before they got to the exit, and the slate was nearly certain they would at least clash together. The bearded Russian guard came to his open door and looked at him like he didn't care at all. As soon as Boris' footsteps were gone, the man to a few steps forward, obviously ready to break the slate's neck.
Kai just glared at the approaching man with that look. "If you touch me..." he warned, letting the end of the sentence be shaped in the man's imagination. His whole body was tense and ready for battle. A battle he would lose, as Maxim was a trained soldier and both bigger and a little stronger than him, but he might be lucky and get in a good kick. The bearded soldier looked into his eyes, and when he didn't see any fear, he hesitated. Might not be a good...
Plus Kai was, or at least had been, a friend of the escapees. "I have to touch you if I'm going to move you," Maxim said instead, and the slate rolled his eyes at the man. Sure, that was so much what he had had in mind a little while ago. The soldier shortened the distance a little more and took out his hand, and Kai let him get a grip on his shoulder. The grip was a little too hard, but God knows he deserved punishment for talking.
They began walking the opposite direction of the one Boris had stalked down on, past the iron-door and up some stairs. Up until now, it was just the same way as the one he normally went when they got to the room where they trained, but after they had followed the normal route a little while, they walked past the door to the training room and continued forward. None of them said a word all the way, until they began walking up some new stairs. Was he being moved from the absolute bottom to the top floor?
"Why did you tell him? You didn't have to, and they might be stopped now because of you. And telling about Katyenka being with them only equals her death." It was obvious Maxim didn't like that idea. But all Kai answered was a shrug and an uncaring look. "They are your friends, right?" Such an accusing tone in his voice. The violet eyes met the eyes of the older one, and he raised an eyebrow.
The slate broke contact with the man again and shrugged. "Two-three of the ones that are still living. Tala Ivanov, Tyson Granger and... Maybe a girl named Hilary. I'm not sure whether or not I see her as my friend, but she's nice enough sometimes." He eyed the man again, and got the answer he had thought. Maxim didn't know Hilary, only the ones in his group. The unprofessional people in the other blocks, those he didn't know anything about.
But the soldier shrugged it off and looked at the teen for a long time. "And you let them die... for what? You sold them to Boris back in your cell, you know."
"I expect Tala to show just how great a leader he can be. If that should go wrong, I expect Bryan to get them out of whatever situation they get into. I know you don't like him, but Bryan is more than capable to get them out of here now that he has gotten this far, and keep them alive until they can survive on their own. Tyson is too slow to help them there, and Hillary isn't a leader type, so I put my money on Tala and his teammate." The slate still looked like he cared shit about the situation, and he looked the walls over. "You are aware of the cameras, right?"
"Yes, I am. On these floors, there are cameras, but no microphones, so we can talk what we want. Though I'm doubting Bryan..." The teen cut him off.
"Only because you have blocked him out by mental walls. You are scared to look a boy that has suffered all his life in the eyes, because he is made the machine he is. A successful experiment. You are afraid of him because he is, yeah, scary, and he seems not to care. So what? You block him out and choose to ignore the abilities that actually do make him admirable. Have you ever thought that might be how he is met by everyone that realizes what he is? You are just too narrow-minded to give him a chance." The teen honestly didn't care and only said it to poke the soldier's conscience. "So, how do you know there aren't any microphones?" They walked through the many, shallow halls, still upwards. It had been long since he had seen a cell, and the slate began to wonder where he was staying.
"Because it's up here Boris speaks his mind about Voltaire's plans if they annoy him or where we talk things about Boris without ending up getting killed for it. And here Voltaire stays when he visits and doesn't go all the way down to visit you. Lets call it intuition. And I'm not narrow-minded, sorry I'm not used to speak with human robots. But you shouldn't be talki-"
"You should get used to the robots, now that the power has gotten into the hands of two not so... reliable people. They are probably planning on making Bryan-copies of all the youngest people that don't listen." Still, Kai honestly didn't care, but he could see that the other one did. Embarrassment over not looking otherwise on the emerald-eyed teen, fear of meeting other like that teen, uncertainty of whether he should have taken the side of the teens already. Yeah, it was certain the bearded soldier followed the escapees. "Were you a communist? You were in the Soviet Army, so, were you?" As far as he knew communism, it might be some kind of fuel for the older.
"How did you know about the army?" the man said instead. He was looking suspicious, but the slate shrugged, still not caring. Or at least looking like it. He was sucking information out of the man like a sponge and didn't even feel bad about fucking up the poor man's head. A confused man slipped information more easily than a man that was leading the conversation, and they were easy to get confused if you knew the tools. And Kai did.
"A free guess. So, were you a communist?"
"No. I don't care much about politics, and sure, the communistic thoughts are... good. Nice. But they are too easy to misuse, and it becomes bad in the hands of people like Stalin. But it's all about the people that takes the lead, and it is considerable to see that communists still rule some countries, while Nazism and Fascism is left to minorities." They got up some more stairs, and Kai remembered from the map that there were about ten stories from bottom to top. They were about to reach it now, the top, and Kai really wondered where he was going to be staying.
"You sound like you are very fond of communism, even if you claim you're not," the slate pointed out.
"I'm not, I'm just proud of my country, and the Soviet is one of the newest things in our history. Besides, I'm only alive because Boris remembered me to be a good soldier. I owe him somethi-" A hoarse metallic sound brought their attention down to his walkie, and both Maxim and the slate listened for a moment.
"We have found Katyenka. They shot her. Seems she tried to flee and they shot to stop her. She's in a pretty bad condition, but we can save her. Boris has ordered you to pick her up at ground floor, hall 36 and bring her to the infirmary as soon as the Hiwatari is set in his new cell," a mechanically hoarse voice told them through the machine, and Maxim lifted the walkie from his belt after looking at the slate for a bit.
"Alright, I'll be there soon. Are you going to leave her to go on to the teens?" The male voice in the walkie confirmed this, and the soldier sighed and shook his head before pushing the button again. "I'll be there soon." Then he turned the thing off and stared at the teen he had his hand on. "She went with them voluntarily, didn't she? Anything else would surprise me... Why the hell did they shoot her...?" The last was only for the soldier himself to hear, but that didn't stop Kai from listening. They got to a door, all black, and Maxim took out his keys to open it.
"It might have been her own idea. It would be best if... they had someone they trusted on the inside. Or that would probably be how they thought of it, so they agreed to shoot her." 'They' in that sentence meant Bryan. He knew the emerald didn't mind sacrifices, and had probably shot her in a way that wasn't too life threatening. The door opened, and the slate cringed in disgust at the sight that met him. That was his new cell? That wasn't even a cell!
Inside, the floor was oak planks instead of the blocks of granite, the walls covered in colorful tapestries of flowers and ancient bit beasts, landscapes, people and animals. Only the ceiling still showed the black granite. There was a table to eat at, a big table, a normal bed, a bookshelf, armchairs, yeah, there was even flowers placed on the dinner table! When Kai thought of the small cell he had been living in for months, this was enormous. There was even a door to some other room. And it was not to his liking. Once again, he felt like they were trying to sooth him.
He turned to Maxim with lightning violet eyes. "Show me back to my cell." The anger was radiating from him, and it was so intense he might even be scarier than an angry Voltaire. But the soldier didn't show his fear in any other way than not looking in to the flaming eyes of the teen, just stood tall as he tried to shove the teen inside. With little success, as Kai still was strong.
"This is your cell."
"No. This is bullshit. Show me back to my cell, and you are doing it right at this moment."
The slate glowered at him, and even not looking in to the burning violets weren't enough to escape the intensity. With another rough movement, the soldier pushed the slate so hard that the teen fell into the room, but even then, even when he had fallen to the floor, the young one didn't break contact. "I'm getting on to Katyenka. Don't get in my way." The door closed with a bang and locked. It had a small window with thin bars, and Kai rose to get over to it and took a hand around one of the bars as he leaned out towards the soldier. Maxim had turned his back to him.
"It you or your little female friend get in my way, I'll make sure Boris gets to know some of your traitorous thoughts. I don't care about you or your girl, so if prove that you are no threat to me and you won't annoy me, I will let you be." The soldier stopped walking away from the cell and turned towards the lightning violet eyes and looked into them with a mix of disgust, fear and hate.
"I thought better of you, Hiwatari. But seems you want power and control as just as much as your grandfather."
The slate didn't let the violets widen, nor did he show his surprise and hurt until the man was out of sight. Then, the mask fell. He was alone again, and alone meant he didn't need to have his guard up. Or... wait! He looked around, showing his confusion and despair, anger and depression until he found the camera. Then he took Black Dranzer and killed the camera, before dropping down to his new bed and let himself crack open.
But it didn't happen, even though he sat with his face buried in his hands. Even though he tried to take some steam off the pressure he felt, the pressure that felt like it was going to make him explode, it didn't happen. Two sobs were all he got out, and no tears. Not a single one. Why was it like that? Why couldn't he just give in to the feelings and be hurt because he had betrayed his friends and had done every single mistake he had done all his life all over again? He stared down at Black Dranzer, and remembered one mistake he had yet to commit before ending up making them all. He hadn't forgotten her like he had last time. He called the blade back and rose from the bed again.
In front of him, on the opposite wall was a mirror. He hadn't seen it before now, and it showed the unbearable truth of his state. Looking at him was a boy. Not a man, not even a teenager, but a boy. Without his face paint, he was only a child, nothing more. He had lost weight, so much that the clothes he had had on the last many months hung on him like a cloth on a fake ghost, his scarf was spotted gray and black. He looked miserable, and hadn't realized it before now. Of course he had seen the others wilt away, but this was the first time he had seen himself in a mirror for ages.
Slowly, he let his hand reach the bare, pale cheeks. So small. So fragile. Then he turned and looked the whole cell over again, ignoring the door over at the other side. A button and a speaker, exactly something he was looking for.
Fast, the slate moved over and pushed the button. A female voice answered him. "I want all mirrors out of my cell or some blue face paint. If it doesn't happen, I will break the mirror and use one of the pieces to commit suicide, and then my years of bad luck will be set on you. You and I would prefer the paint, since the mirror is too big to take out."
Fresh air. There was actually fresh air. It caressed the lungs when it came down to them, embraced them with the feeling of kindness and security. There even was sun, it was pale and chilling, and yet warm. And they could hear birds singing, and the wind whistling over the plain, the chilly beams lighting up their pale bodies, but while the majority in the group, even including Tala, stopped to feel the feeling of freedom, Bryan continued.
The emerald was walking, slowly but determined, towards the trees, and when he realized his leader didn't follow, he turned around and walked back to the group. If some of Boris' loyal guards got angry, he wouldn't be surprised if they looked out the door and began shooting like crazy to get rid of the nonbelievers, and that was the reason why they should get away from the open land around the black castle as fast as they could.
"Tala." The redhead opened his eyes and let the deep breathing he had taken seep out slowly before letting his gaze reach Bryan. The gray-haired teen looked at him for a moment, them nodded towards all the other people that still dozed off in the euphoric feeling of nature that streamed over them. "Get them together. We have to go on, or we will just end up as targets for angry shooters." Always calm and collected and hitting right on the mark.
"Yeah, of course." The redhead looked like he just had woken from a dream. Or a nightmare, that is. The wolf had, like the rest of his flock, walked out in the real world again from the hell inside the building. But one member hadn't woken up yet, one member was still in that nightmare, for he had never thought the hell as anything else than the current situation in his life. And now, he still carried it deep in his heart, without revealing anything in his bright, emotionless, green eyes. "Everyone, wake up and follow me. We are in danger out here." 'A leader was what he was born as, the leader we all must follow'.
"I'll make sure we can find back to the castle if we should ever want to make Voltaire pay." There really was something formidable over a man with blood dripping from his knuckles, but Tala ignored this as he gave permission to do that job. It wasn't like physical blood on the emerald's hand would scare the rest off more than the mental blood they knew he had after shooting Katyenka, so the redhead would only bother the emerald by saying he should wash it off. He let his eyes follow his teammate's moves out to the trees left of the place he was leading the rest, before he concentrated on his task and began shouting orders. It was surprising how well they followed him. No arguments.
The emerald got out in the woods and then turned up towards the river he could hear. He found the bank and looked up, and saw the power-source Katyenka had told him about. An enormous watermill with a turbine that made them electricity. And it looked like it wouldn't be too hard to destroy, if they had the right amount of power. Which they had, if Brooklyn decided to survive his wound. Else, they were forced to sniff out some explosives.
But if they followed the river, they would be able to find the castle again. He just had to mark the river in some way, so that they could find the river and go up towards the mountain where the castle laid, while Boris wouldn't know where they had ended. He looked up and used the sun as a compass and decided the river went west, down the mountain. The group were going in the same direction, which was good enough.
But how he would mark it was still a problem. He looked down at Falborg, the blade he still had in his hands, and got an idea. He could make the wind blow strong for over ten miles... If he exhausted himself a little bit. But it should cause enough destruction for them to be able to find it again. They wouldn't get more than... about seven miles away from the castle before they made a permanent camp. They might... or would probably travel even longer in time, but for the time being, it would be enough for them... On foot, many of the people wouldn't want to go long.
Bryan took out his blade and closed his eyes, building up all the energy he could bear. Slowly breathing in, then out, feeling his blade do the same. He hated that blade. It was always in the way, it was the reason he had ended up like this. He hated the bit beast too, but that wasn't fair. It didn't stop him from hating it... Another breath. The black flames drove away the new monsters that roamed in his body. The monster had gotten even more now, but the black flames were still stronger. Another breath.
Then he opened his hateful, green eyes, his whole body tense to the point where the muscles were aching and felt like they were burning. It was pleasureful... yet nearly pain. He lifted his hand, gritted his teeth as he strained his body even more and then, let the hand fall. The wind the bit beast had raised washed over the riverbank, throwing a few trees over as it slowly disappeared. The destruction could be followed all the way down the mountain from where he stood, but it was nearly soundless. And when the wind had blown itself weaker, he would still be able to recognize the scratches the wind would cut deeply into rocks and trees.
The emerald let his knees give in as his body gave up trying to stand. Ugh, this was why he hated that blade and the reason he didn't like blading. He couldn't control the strain an attack like that made on his body, and the only way he could win in the game was beating up strong opponents because he was incapable of just attacking normally. In front of him, Falborg continued to spin, mocking him without receiving any reaction. He forced his body to move again and picked up the blade before he turned and walked into the trees again.
Bryan reached the group a few minutes later, not showing his fatigue as he got up beside Tala. The wolf had fallen back with some teens that was able to hunt to hide their tracks as good as they were able to, while the rest of the group continued forward. It all was on Tala's orders, and everyone was still to confused to argue about who was going to be the leader. And since Kai wasn't with them, Tala was the strongest person who had both leadership and could keep his head and make the right decisions.
"I have done what I had to do," Bryan informed, his face not revealing any exhaustion. The redhead nodded, satisfied with those words. When time came, he would be filled in on the details. Now, the only thing he should think about was getting everyone to a safe location and let Bryan do the thinking that Bryan did best.
"Tell me later. Go to the front and take the lead, so we can set up a camp for tonight on a good location." The blue eyes sought the group through and his eyes stopped for a second by Brooklyn, who was still heavily leaned towards Garland with the rest of the surviving BEGA-team nearby them. He seemed to be the only badly wounded person that had gotten out of the castle. Notable, as Bryan had shown him to be one of his most important pieces. Very notable. "Would you mind making sure Brooklyn get the bleeding stopped on your way to the front?"
An amused smile crossed his face. Not because he was amused by the last comment, but because he knew he should have been. Then he nodded, emerald eyes meeting icy, blue pools, and Tala let himself crack a smile before going back to his normal, half-frowning expression. The emerald turned, and as he did, the wolf let his eyes go over his teammate once again. Yeah. Very notable indeed.
Bryan, on the other hand, didn't let go of his amused smile as he zigzagged his way over to the BEGA-team, getting past quite a lot of people he knew. Only the professional, world-class bladers didn't eye him with concern, and even in that shallow group, some of them did do so after he had shot the guard and beaten up Boris. Not that it concerned him at all. He didn't care, so long he got his job done. Though he didn't know why he had reacted like that towards Boris...
"Has the bleeding stopped?" The conscious part of the BEGA-team, which meant Garland, Mystel and Ming-Ming, looked up at him, the girl not even trying to hide her fear. The white teen still leaned towards Garland's shoulder, though Enrique had left them after they got outside to catch up with the people he knew and were friends with, which meant Mystel had taken his place.
"Yes, I think so," the blond answered, given their strongest member a concerned look. As far as Bryan knew, Mystel had about the same attitude as Brooklyn, but more fighting-spirit. This meant he couldn't be certain if the words were true, as the citrine easily would have agreed to something only halfway done if it meant he didn't have to work so hard. So Bryan decided to take a look himself, just to be sure.
"Lay him down on the ground a minute."
"But the others are still movi-"
"Lay him down," Garland cut off the blond, and Mystel just nodded. Gently, Brooklyn was wired down to the forest floor, his face peaceful. He looked like nothing was wrong at all, his pale face and citrine hair glowing with the light his bit beast contrasted, the sun lighting him like an angel through the skeletal trees. If you did not know him, he really would be able to fool you into believing his as pure as that.
Bryan took off his white shirt to find the bullet wound, and the BEGA-team was surprised to find their member very skinny, until they realized they themselves looked equally bad. The emerald looked up and narrowed his eyes as he scouted through the crowd. "Enrique!" The blond turned his head away from the girls he had gathered and looked at the gray-haired, and then came over to the group around Brooklyn. "Give me your shirt." The emerald took off his vest and threw it towards the rich boy. "Take that instead."
The blond looked like he was about to argue and oppose the orders, but decided to go on a compromise with his senses and argued while he took off his shirt. "Why the hell is it me you decide to buck with this? Why not anyone else? The rest of the people have clothes you could borrow too! And why don't I get your shirt instead?"
Bryan just took the shirt, sat down and began to tear it apart in strips. "You are one of the cleanest people in the group that I know the name of. And you wouldn't like the smell of my shirt, so you get my vest instead." The BEGA's suppressed their giggling as Enrique watched his shirt being torn apart with awe. It was first when he wrapped it around the citrine's injured shoulder that they realized he was using it for bandages. He got done with bandaging the white teen, and after giving the citrine his shirt on again he looked up at the group. "Get on."
He himself just left them, even though they had fallen so far behind now that they were bothering Tala and the rest of the people that tried to hide their trail. Fast, they took the white teen over their shoulders again, but Bryan didn't look back and just continued to the front, where he ended as Tala ordered, leading their way.
The day went to red as the sun lowered, and the emerald finally stopped and looked back towards the people he was leading. And he wasn't quite the Moses, didn't encourage them with promises or words, but let them to their own thoughts, exhausted, afraid and slowly making more distance between themselves and him as a side effect of their tiredness. Lets just say there was a reason for him not to be leading them, though he was the one to get them out of their shithole cells. "We'll stay here for tonight," he announced. The floor was soft and there was a lot of material to their camp. In the beginning, it was going to be cavemen-style, though they had their guns.
Tala got to the front again to stand beside Bryan when he heard the emerald's words, and he saw quite a lot people smile when they saw him. They were starting to rely on him, and they were beginning to do it too much. So he began speaking, his voice loud enough for everyone to hear.
"I know you are exhausted. I know you are tired. And I know you feel like the world is sitting on your shoulders and threatening to break your back. You have the right to feel like that!" he started his speech, and he felt himself getting warmed up. He didn't like speaking like this, but when you were leading a bigger group you had to encourage in other ways than personal conversations. With a hundred or two hundred people, for every person you have talked happy, another person would have committed suicide before you got to reach them. So he had to do this. "But you must remember..." Theatrical break. "... That every man by your side feels the exact same. We are in this together, and only together, we will be able to lift the weight of the world from our own shoulders! Only together are we able to survive in here! So all I ask you is to reach out your hand for help while taking the hand offered to you. You can't survive on your own, and by trying, you will be risking the lives of the faces you see in this group!
We'll be divided into smaller groups, each group have a different purpose. One group of about seventy people will make shelter by every camp we get to. They begin as soon as we stop for the day. If you can tie a knot or have experience and talent in making and building things, this is your group! But remember, if you choose this group to lay down and let others do your work, you don't just harm yourself, but also the rest!
Another group takes care of gathering food and water and cooking, a group of about sixty people. Berries and other fruits and vegetables are everywhere in the forest, but for the beginning, just use the food we took. You will be making food over open fire, but no one complains about burned food until this group have gotten the chance of getting the hang on this! If you are good at either finding ingredients in the wild or cooking, this is the group for you!
We also need a group of about thirty people for hunting. The hunters must be able and good at using guns. In the beginning, the hunters will use guns, but as soon as they have learned to use other weapons, mostly bows and arrows, they will use them. We need to save as much of our ammo as we can. This group is going to provide meat, but meat is not going to be the food source we'll get most of, since hunting from the birth man has been unstable in success. On the other hand, the people in this group will also be teachers! We all need to learn how to protect ourselves and fight. Whether or not we will take Boris and Voltaire on, I will leave to you, but you must be able to use at least the guns, if not other weapons, too! We may not waste our limited ammo.
The last group will be about forty people. You make our material, when the hunters have hunted, you will skin the dead animals, you will make bows and arrows and other weapons together with the hunters, you will make spoons and bowls for the food out of wood, you will make pot and pan of flint until we reach a city and take some of the fabricated pots and pan. If you are good at carving or using a knife, this is the group you belong to!
There are positive and negative sides of all groups, but I want you to see past this and use the group that is most fit for you. I would like boys and girls to divide themselves as equally as they can into each group, since females can be just as good at shooting and carving as males, and the opposite way around too.
Lastly, before I let you form your own groups, I will not be our leader unless I am chosen to. I despise dictators, and that would be what I am if I don't let you choose. My suggestion is that we have a leader from each of the working-group to decide our next move and make decisions. Then, everyone gets a fair chance of being a part of this! Now, take your time to think how you would best help to lift the world from our shoulders and chose your group! If it doesn't go well, I'm going to put the groups together, and I don't want to hear a single argument." Tala turned to disappear, so he could get to sit down. He could see fire in the eyes of many of his listeners, and he wasn't surprised. He was a good speaker. The speech had tired him out, but then, he heard the first one to question him.
"Hey! Tala! You were from the Blitzkrieg-Boys, weren't you? Aren't you supposed to be, you know, evil?" It was as he had feared, and they had every right to think of him as the enemy. He had done... bad things. Before. And for a long time, he had only waited for someone else to try and take his position as leader, even if he had made a suggestion to an alternative. It would be so much better for some if they just got full leadership, instead of sharing it.
The redhead closed his eyes and turned, Bryan moving closer to him as support. The others on their team would have been far better support, but Tala only had Bryan, and that made the emerald act it as good as he could. His superior needed him. "Evil is a wide term. But yes, we were Boris'... henchmen a few years back. I wouldn't call us evil for that." Tala stared his opponent down, showing his teeth slightly, like the alpha that had met another who tried to pull him away from his leadership. It was a girl, about his age and with pitch black hair and brown eyes. And a determined look.
"So you wouldn't call yourselves evil, even though you were the henchmen of a person that has locked us up for months and forced us to train to become his soldiers? Would you mind telling me what is wrong with that picture? Hn?" If Tala had had fur, he would surely look like a hedgehog right now. The emerald looked from the girl to his captain, and seeing his captain's pain, he began to wonder. Should he kill the girl?
"The only thing wrong with the picture is you, not realizing the exactly same happened to us a few years back. I can tell you that what you might have felt like hard training for you looks like nothing other than a vacation for the two of us! And if I was his henchman still, and if I was evil, as you so kindly called me, why did he decide to have me whipped the first day I was there? I have both proof on my back and witnesses in this group!"
"That doesn't explain why you were with him years ago! If it was so much harder, then why should you have taken his side in the first place? Can you answer that?" She had quieted down a bit, probably knowing she wouldn't be seen as a good leader if she only tried to scream his head off. But her words made Bryan decide. Yes. He should absolutely kill that girl. She wasn't his superior, and she threatened his superior. Exterminate.
"It's in the past, and I don't want to tell you." The wolf gaze nearly grew icicles on her ears and nose. People looked confused from one to the other. Tala had been the one in the lead until now, but... It was true that he might not be trustworthy in the end. He had history with Boris, and he was known to be ruthless and violent. And he was, apparently, hiding something. While this, Bryan had turned around, took his gun and silently loaded it. Exterminating.
"The past is the past. Why don't you just tell? I'm sure we all want an explanation." Her eyes narrowed. She knew she had hit a weak spot, though she did not know how bad this weak spot really was. But right at that second, she had went to far. Bryan turned around, took a second to aim and then...
"NO, Bryan, damn it!"
BANG!
She was lucky. The bullet hit the ground, the wolf's hand on the emerald's arm, guiding the gun towards the forest floor with everything else than friendliness. Bryan watched Tala, Tala watched Bryan, and then, the gun was ripped out of the emotionless's hand. "I order you not to kill any of these people, no matter what they say about me, you or the past, понять?" he spat, clenching the gun, and the girl's eyes widened in realization.
"Orders taken, captain," Bryan said, his emotionless eyes set on the girl again.
"He tried to kill me!" she yelled and turned around towards the rest.
"And I stopped him. If you are so persistent, I will give you the frame so you all can make a little picture of how the past looks. I don't remember anything about parents. I was taken to a place, popularly known 'The Abbey', when I was four. The same with Bryan, while my teammates, Spencer and Ian, was taken as three-year-olds. In that place, they made experiments on humans, which means children, which means us. In the abbey, two kids were shaped into leaders, the ones who should order the rest around. Everyone else were shaped into soldiers, about half of them without a mind of their own. Though one was made into a 'machine'. It is said humans can't erase their feelings, but this one proved everyone wrong. Boris was the leader of this place."
Tala's eyes were cold, hiding the pain from them. He was furious, furious at the people daring to touch that topic, furious at the girl for trying to defy him, and furious at Bryan because he did exactly what he had been trained to do. Try to please his superior. "Do not talk to me or him about the past. You might get an answer. Everyone, think of which groups you want to be in and do your job now." The wolf turned around and began to walk away, forcing his tears back. Bryan reached out and took his wrist, and the wolf reacted by slapping his face. "Don't go near me right now. I'm mad at you. Can't you at least try to make them like you?"
Bryan stood for a second, not knowing what he was supposed to do. Then he looked the group over, and they were staring at him with fear and after Tala with sadness. He was upset, and that only made them surer of the truth in his words. But the emerald could show them how to make a shelter of branches and such things...
An unknown, surprising factor suddenly shown. A girl came towards him, Hilary made her way to him. She looked down. "You still have blood on your hand. I know where there is a river. You can't show them anything if you scare them because you don't have clean hands." She took his arm, and while he went back to his normal problem, was she superior or inferior?, she lead him towards the river. Cause he actually still had Boris' blood on his hands.
The door led to a bathroom. And that was where Kai used most of his time, since it was big and there were no cameras. They had replaced the one he had destroyed, which was quite annoying. He felt just the slightest bit of paranoia, and now, when he actually had a bed he could sit on without feeling pain in his back, he had a chance to flee from that awful, staring lens. Luxury showed to be a pain.
But, well, at least the toilet was nice too. It had tiles like a regular, normal toilet, but it was still nicer, in yellow, red and orange colors between the white tiles, set in patterns. This made him feel... quite a lot like the cell did, like puking and nausea. He would, in many ways, prefer his old cell. It was wrong to accept this, but he wasn't the one to decide.
In the toilet, he slept, ate and read the books from his new bookshelf, only coming out when the guards took him out to train in the training room with the prisoners that were still was in the building. There was only Emily and Miguel left of the professional bladers. The rest was out. Or dead. That made them three, where Emily was the best opponent for him and none of them even near capable of beating him. Brooklyn had left right when he had begun to be able to beat him every third try! That was an exciting battle!
Boris had showed up once since they had put him in here, two days after the escape as far as Kai could guess. That had been fun, since he had had one arm in a sling (it had broken five different places), seven of his fingers in all was broken, the nose was smacked out of place, a couple of his ribs had been bent or broken, well, nearly everything was broken. Bryan had forgotten the legs, and the back had gotten away with only a little... lot... bruising, so the man was able to walk. But the funniest thing had been to what the black eyes, wounded lips, the great amount of broken teeth in his mouth and the bruising all over his face.
At first, the slate had been surprised. Who wouldn't when your captor showed up all beat up with his arm in a sling and a face so black and blue, that you were lucky to find at least one little spot with normal color. Though Boris was still alive, the emerald had done his job. The purple-haired couldn't even walk without grunting, limping and wincing.
Even though Kai was going to cooperate, and even though he was on their side, he was highly amused by this. But back to the actual reason for Boris' visit, cause it bothered the slate quite a lot.
Voltaire was on his way.
That was what the purple-haired had told him. It was supposed to be today he came, and though he should know his grandfather had realized they were on the same side, the man still managed to terrify him.
The slate forced himself to concentrate on his book, sitting against the wall beside the toilet and on the opposite side of the door. It was his normal place to sit. It was only because a guard came in every day to clean the toilet, which was better than the one he had had in the other cell. It hadn't been cleaned even once, but you got used to the stench in time.
But he had a shower! It might not seem as an important thing, but... When you hadn't had showers regularly for a long time, it was like a dream. That was at least one positive thing about not going with them, and in these past few days, he had taken a bath every morning and evening. It didn't make him feel cleaner, he knew he was rotten all the way through, but at least the outside felt a little better. And they had extra clothes in the same style as his old, what a weird coincidence, and the slate had washed the scarf in the sink with some normal hand soap. So it was white again now.
The book that had drawn his attention was called 'The Dead Father', and the reason for him to choose that book... was kind of obvious. Up until now, he had found it confusing, annoying and absolutely not funny, but he had an idea why. It was set up to be resembling to your own relationship with a father, and... Well, just leave. He didn't want to think of that... idiot. He didn't want to remember him, didn't want to remember the hurt it had caused him.
He just continued reading his book without caring. Its cover claimed it to be good, but he didn't feel the book at all. A knock on the door, and he looked up to see his grandfather's huge figure. "I wonder what my grandson is doing reading in the bathroom." Sarcastic as always, Voltaire took a step inside. He was a huge man, but not in the fat way.
It was simply his built that made him broad, and he just had the look of a normal, hardworking, exercising adult. "Oh,
'The Dead Father'. Interesting choice of book. Personally, I don't think much of it, but most people find it very good."
"Cameras have a weird effect of giving you paranoia," the slate answered, just as sarcastic as the older man. None of them even cracked a smile at the weird exchange of words, which gave them a look of inhumanity Personally Kai thought it fit greatly for both of them. "And for the book, it has a very interesting name, but the inside is very unsatisfying." They watched each other for a long while, and a smile found its way to the older man's face.
"I had forgotten how nice your voice is. But don't be so formal. Dinner is set on the table outside, so leave that damned book in here and come outside." Memories of earlier dinners with Voltaire flashed through the slate's mind as he rose up from the floor. They were not good memories, but he was in no position to say no. He had handed over his body, and though his mind still resisted somewhere in the deepest, forgotten places, he would follow all their orders.
The dinner was just as fine as it had been the last few days, steak, a lot of green stuff, potatoes, even sauce. He was quite sure he would begin to regain his weight, but didn't fear end up getting fat. He trained too hard in the training room to end up like that, though he could train harder... But the food was another thing he didn't like about this. Even in the other cell, he had gotten slightly better food. Now he got a whole meal, while the prisoners in the cells below got some of that sticky, disgusting porridge. But he didn't complain out loud. Voltaire knew already, that Kai was sure of. And his grandfather didn't care at all, that his grandson was uncomfortable with the food.
They sat down by the table, just like they used to when they ate in Voltaire's mansion. It was a different table, it was shorter and not as luxurious, but the atmosphere around the table was exactly the same. Kai ate in silence, his eyes closed, knowing Voltaire would do the talking if talking was meant to be. But when they were left in silence a little too long, the slate opened his eyes. The older man watched him with a lazy look, but the other's eyes still made the teen tense. He had to distract him, or he would end up running back to his toilet to get away from the intense, lazy stare.
"I thought Boris was going to be here." It was probably the first time Kai was the one to start a conversation, but it had the effect it should have. The old man blinked, and the feeling of paranoia disappeared again. It seemed that feeling was going to be his companion for his time here, and if everything went badly, his time here was the rest of his life.
Voltaire looked like he did not know if his should be amused or angry as he opened his eyes again, but he chose not to show any feeling as he answered. "He decided to stay away to lick his wounds. And he had claimed he was the one to know those two problems the best." Sarcasm and irony was going to be their companion in this conversation, it seemed. Was it a Hiwatari-trait? Maybe. "Even I knew Bryan was going to come up with something, and it is only natural Tala would be able to gather people and get them out. Boris has gotten his punishment for underestimating them. Sadly, he won't get any permanent injuries to remind him of being cautious."
"Fantastic," Kai mumbled, going back to his food. He closed his eyes again. That was that topic, and the next got picked up by his grandfather, as the dinner traditions required. And yet, the man let his grandson wait a long time before revealing his next words, and Kai nearly became uncomfortable again. But this time, he didn't open his eyes.
"You still haven't giving up all resistance, Kai." Yeah, state the obvious. "Just like you haven't stopped resisting Black Dranzer." I prefer my beautiful, female phoenix, yes, are you surprised? She is more reliable than any family I have ever had. "Stop resisting." Why? "Why, you think? Well..." Uh, you read my thoughts... "I am offering you more than anyone else could ever dream of. You can rule a world, Kai, and you prefer hiding in a bathroom?" Ouch, that did actually hurt. "I have every person in the world in my custody, except your redheaded friends and his likes, and I can shape the new society after my will. And I am going to do so, when the new generation, the people aged 2-12 has grown up. The problem is that I am in my sixties and might not live long enough to do so. You, on the other hand..."
"I don't like your ideas, Voltaire. You do not respect humans." The slate opened his violet eyes and watched his grandfather. "What do I get out of it? I am not interested in ruling the world." There, he lied, and they both knew it. Besides, it was quite egocentric to talk about his own profit in this matter, but he pushed it aside, choosing to go back to that subject now. "Your plan is to make the world follow you to comfort you. You are centered around yourself, don't care how the people around you feel. That is not my way." Their eyes met, and locked, staring each other down with the same kind of intensity. Hiwatari against Hiwatari is an endless battle.
"There is no other way to rule, Kai. You want the power. You are a true Hiwatari after all. If it wasn't because my son is a spineless brat, I would have used him instead, but he is, so I concentrate on the member of my family that actually has some courage. But enough of this. We'll only end up insulting each other, and that is not in my interest. Instead, let's eat." It wasn't like Voltaire to leave something like that, and Kai immediately got suspicious.
"I'm going to follow your orders, Voltaire."
"Oh, I know, Kai. You are to honorable to leave that promise, though you never said it out loud. But when you are going to follow me, and not just my orders, I will let you come with me to my castle in Florida, where I have control over the rest of the world's teenagers. Of course, you will be my right hand there, not a prisoner." Voltaire continued to eat, and the slate decided to leave it, afraid the answer to his question might scare him. Then silence ruled the table until Voltaire finished, and though Kai had closed his eyes, he knew the old man had gotten back to watching him.
When the teen finally let his cutlery drop, Voltaire rose from the chair. He motioned to the slate, who just watched his grandfather at first, before getting up. It was quite annoying that he had to look up when looking at the old, terrifying man. "I would like you to show me your blading skills." The slate just raised an eyebrow, his suspicion growing worse. What was the man up to? But Voltaire just nodded toward the beydish in the room. "Come on, Kai."
The slate sighed and took a step towards the dish and launched the black blade. Voltaire watched without enthusiasm, and Kai sped up. Though hating the man... he had to satisfy him. He had lived to long for the man to not wanting him to smile at his skills. "I didn't know my grandson was such a weakling." Fire began burning inside him, and he did it before thinking it through. The feeling of power, the feeling of flying over everyone else, feeling of superiority... It all mixed together when the black phoenix rose from his blade in his attempt of pleasing his grandfather. It surrounded him, and he... Couldn't help loving it. He was a Hiwatari, as Voltaire had pointed out. Power was that family's fuel.
And then, the youngest Hiwatari on Earth finally gave in to his grandfather's wishes. How could he say no to power? Black Dranzer was the best persuader the old man had ever invented, and a smile did crack his ever frowning face.
But Kai had done the only mistake he had been missing. Black Dranzer got control, and that meant he left her.
Kai is an idiot...
Enjoy in joy~