Reviews: -Pegs cookies at everyone who reviewed- Thanks so much. Lets see, should I give Kai and Rick a break…? Um…Nah. Let the torment continue X3
Kai opens his eyes to peer into those endless black orbs of sheer madness. "Phil," he manages to croak out from under the crushing pressure of a vice like grip around his throat. "Stop this, please."
Immediately, Philbert's eyes flicker with confusion, before fading back into their natural hazel brown. "What…?" he mutters, losing his grip of Kai's throat, before springing back away from the bed, staring at his hands in shock. "I…?"
Coughing and breathing deeply to pull air back into his lungs, Kai struggles into a sitting position, rubbing his neck with his hand. He stares at the teen in front of him, confusion and surprise in his own eyes. He recalls how Philbert's eyes seem to change and he begins to realizes that his suspicions may be right; Philbert may be possessed by his bitbeast, and whenever it takes control of his body, he calls himself Bat Fang. Being called Phil must be the trigger to bring Philbert forward and back into his own body, just like Dranzer was the trigger for him. "Phil?"
"No, I…," Phil mutters weakly, still staring at his hands, expression of pure fear on his face and in his eyes. "I don't want to do this anymore!" He screams, clutching his head. "Stop it! I can't!"
"Kai?!"
Kai whips his head towards the door, a sense of relief and a hint of fear after he recognizes the voice. Relief that Rick is just outside and that he's ok, and fear that Phil is very unstable at the moment and might snap at any given second. "Rick?" Kai mutters, as he sits up, but then convulses forward in pain, clutching his side. "Urgh," he grounds out through his teeth, before taking a deep breath, "Rick!"
The door handle moves almost frantically, but the door won't open. Kai feels his heart sink a little, realizing he's locked inside with Phil and Rick can't get to him.
Typical, Kai darkly muses as he watches Phil hold his head in pain, before glancing at the door again. Our friendship started with a locked door and now it looks ready to end with a locked door.
"Philbert!" Rick snarls from the other side of the door, pounding his fist on the wood. "Get away from him now!"
"Don't come in!" Philbert screams.
"Dammit!" Rick curses, the door buckling like someone is either shoulder barging it, or kicking it in. "I'm the one you want, just leave Kai alone!" there is a pause of silence, and the door stops moving. "I swear, if you leave him alone I'll battle you, ok?" he says quietly.
"Rick…" Kai whispers as he senses the desperation from the bulky blader, and feels his heart ache because of it. His eyes soften and shimmer with a sense of sadness. "I've caused you nothing but trouble."
He feels helpless, with a hint of confliction. He wants Rick to burst in and rescue him, but he doesn't want to cause the American anymore trouble, and by trouble, he means battling against a possessed blader with a virtually unknown bitbeast.
But it's not unknown, a little voice suddenly whispers in his mind.
The voice startles Kai slightly, but then he begins to recall the memories of days long since passed. He remembers his father's description of the Crocotta, the power it possesses, and the way to stop it!
"Shut up! Just shut up!" Phil suddenly snaps. "I don't want this, I don't want to do this anymore!"
"Phil," Kai says, his voice soothing. "Calm down, it's ok, you can fight him."
Phil peers at Kai through his red dyed bangs. "Fight…?"
"Yes," Kai replies with a reassuring smile, his eyes understanding and patient. Slowly, as not to distrub his injuries, he slips off the bed and moves, painfully, to stand in front of him. "It's ok, I understand what you're going through. It'll be ok."
"…I'm sorry…" Phil whispers, tears running down his cheeks, his hands falling limply to his sides.
"I know, it's not your fault."
"I'm so sorry…" he whispers again, a painful sob erupting from his throat.
"Dammit!" Rick curses again, having no idea what's going on in the room, and finding it incredibly frustrating. "Open this door."
"Help me…please…" Phil begs, lifting up his hand, reaching out to Kai, his expression lost and very afraid.
Kai smiles softly as he would to a small child and takes his hand in his, patting the back of it with his other. "I will," he whispers.
Suddenly the door flies open and Rick bursts in, launcher in his hand. "Kai!"
"Ah, Rick!" Kai immediately turns towards him, looking as if he wants to throw himself into his chest and stay there. And for his part, Rick looks as if he wants Kai to throw himself into his chest and stay there.
"No!" Phil yells, as he grabs Kai's hand, abruptly pulls him to him, wrapping his arms around the fragile teen, holding onto him for dear life. "Don't come any closer!" he warns.
Kai gives a yell of surprise, and struggles for a moment, but due to his injuries, he finds that his strength is failing him. He falls weakly against Phil and stares up at him, a hint on fear settling in his chest, but also a sense of sadness. Phil, he's nothing but a lost little boy, fearful of everything and everyone. He has to help him. He needs to get rid of that bitbeast.
For him and for Rick.
"Let him go," Rick snarls, his eyes narrowing, but they quickly turn soft when he stares into Kai's eyes, feeling helpless and angry at himself for not having the ability to do anything in this situation.
Rick curls his fists by his sides, shaking with anger. I'm not losing you again, he vows.
"I can't," Phil shakes his head in desperation. "He won't let me."
"What?" Rick asks with genuine surprise, taking a step closer, as close as he dares too. "Who won't let you?"
"Bat Fang, he won't…" Phil stutters as he trembles in fear, backing towards the window. Fortunately, Kai's room is on the ground floor, which means he won't receive as many injuries he did before if he were to fall out the window again, god forbid.
"Ok, calm down," Rick says, raising his hands in front of him in a peace-like notion. "Give Kai to me and we can work this out, ok?"
"No, I can't, I told you."
"He's hurt," Rick tries to reason, the emotion in his voice cross between desperation, concern and fear. He swallows thickly, his eyes still boring into Kai's, who is staring at him, his eyes shimmering with sadness.
Phil frantically shakes his head, still backing away and tightens his grip around Kai, wincing when Kai whimpers softly in pain and discomfort. "He'll hurt him, I have to protect him."
Rick tilts his head to the side in confusion. "Protect him from who?"
Phil swallows a sob that threatens to erupt from his chest, tears now flowing freeing down his cheeks. "He said he'd help me…" he whimpers, clinging on to Kai for dear life. He suddenly drops to his knees, taking Kai with him and they fall to the floor where he begins crying into his chest.
Tilting his head slightly, Kai breaks eye contact with Rick to look upon Phil with sympathy, sensing the utter hopelessness in his aura, realizing that he may be the only person on this planet who may be able to help him. He turns to Rick, who is standing in one spot, staring at the scene in complete disbelief and a lot of confusion. He suddenly snaps his eyes towards Kai, lifting his hand slightly, a question of his health in his eyes.
"I'm ok," Kai whispers ever so quietly, before shaking his head and sends a pleading gaze towards him. "We have to help him."
Rick gazes at him like he's crazy, reluctant to help Phil in anyway just because of what he has done in the not so distant past. Kai opens his mouth to explain why he has to help, but is cut of abruptly when security guards and uniform police barge into the room, all screaming at once. The sudden noise snaps Phil back to reality where he is instantly on his feet, and with a speed not humanly know possible, he picks Kai roughly into his arms and then jumps out of the window, hitting the cement a mere foot below, and then runs before any of the emergency personal can blink. A few precious seconds tick by before Rick soon snaps out of his stupor and runs to the window.
"Kai!" he yells, but in vain as Kai nor Phil is anywhere to be seen. "Dammit!" he curses for the umpteenth time, punching the window sill with a sickening crack. The police quickly pushes him to the side and they too move out through the window, hoping that at least one of them will be able to find where they went.
Rick continues to mutter obscenities under his breath as he storms past the hospital personal who are starting to gather in the hallways, all wondering what on earth all the noise is about.
"Rick!" Rick cringes slightly when he recognizes the voice. He doesn't have time for another one of Max's rants, he needs to get outside and do some foot work himself, there's no way in hell the police will be able to find Kai in time. Who knows what Bat Fang, Philbert or whatever the hell he's name is now, will do, especially in his fragile state of mind.
"What happened?!" Max demands as he finally catches up to him.
"He's taken him," Rick snarls, irritably running a hand through his hair, grinding his teeth together. "The bastard has taken him!"
"What? Where?" comes a chorus of questions from behind.
Rick growls, a clear sign that he is on his last nerve, and it certainly doesn't help matters when he doesn't have the slightest idea what the hell is going on. Philbert is Bat Fang, isn't he? But then why is he referring to himself as a third person? And what does he mean that 'he'll' help him? Does he mean Kai?
"Rick! Where would he have taken him?" Max asks.
"I don't know!" Rick explodes, whipping around to face all of them, causing them to all reel back in surprise, Max immediately snapping his mouth shut. "There's something wrong with him," Rick continues, his voice sullen. "With Philbert, he said something about Bat Fang will hurt him and that he wants Kai or something. He didn't make much sense and he clearly was hysterical."
"What do we do?" Michael asks softly, clearly understanding that Rick is torn up by the entire situation and is feeling a little lost.
"We need to find him," Rick replies shortly and gruffly, turning on his heel and storming towards the entrance of the hospital. "Kai is still hurt, he's awake, but he's still hurt."
"Why?" Max continues with his questioning. "Why would Philbert or Bat Fang, or whoever the hell he is take Kai?"
"He said something about Kai helping him."
"But-"
"Just shut up already!" Rick snaps, stopping dead in his tracks to send Max a vicious glare, his eyes as hard as steel. "You're wasting my time." To hell with manners and tact.
Max reels back slightly at the venom in his voice, his mouth much like a fish, opening and closing. He quickly snaps out of it when Rick starts to walk again. "Hey, Rick!" he is about to follow the older blader when a hand grabs his shoulder, pulling him back.
"Let him go, Max," Michael says softly. "We can't stop him."
Max whimpers with disappointment, tears shimmering in his eyes as he watches Rick disappear from sight, his profile tense. "It's not fair."
-----
Once again, Kai finds himself swimming through a sea of darkness towards the light of reality, like he has done countless times before, and it's really starting to get on his nerves. Groaning deep in his throat from pain, he slowly blinks his eyes open and finds himself staring up at a support beam, cobwebs and other equally nasty and unidentifiable stuff hanging off of it. He blinks again, hoping the numbness of the sleep laden mist will lift from his mind and remind him just what the hell is he doing in a place like this?
A soft whimper soon catches his attention, successfully pulling Kai into full consciousness. He tilts his head to the left to realize that he is currently laying on an old mattress that has seen better days.
"Phil?" he whispers through the silence, his eyes immediately landing on the form of a familiar, leather clad teen, who is currently sitting in a corner, rocking back and forth, talking to himself, pleading to a voice that Kai can't hear, but is certain it's his bitbeast, the Crocotta.
"I'm sorry," Phil whispers. "This wasn't meant to happen."
With much effort, Kai pulls himself into a sitting position and manages to crawl off the mattress. "Talk to me, Phil," Kai says, continuing to use his nickname instead of Philbert, as it seems that that name is the only thing he has to keep his bitbeast at bay for the moment. "When did this Bat Fang come into your life?"
Phil sits in silence and Kai begins to wonder if he is in fact dealing with Phil, or has bat Fang taken over? "Yena…," Phil whispers. "I was…I was 13 when he came. I found him, after a street battle, he came to me. He called for me, he said that he would help me. He said I was strong, that no one can do the things that I can…I can hear him, in my head. He…hurts. It's hurt so much, I don't know…" he trails off.
So I was right, Kai muses sadly to himself, He is possessed by his bitbeast…
"It's ok, Phil," Kai whispers, a calm and steady reassurance. "Really, you can defeat him. I will help you, but please, let me go. I can't battle you in my condition," Kai admits, the words on his tongue like poison. "But I can help you."
"How do you know what I'm going through?" Phil asks, peering up at him through his hair. "How can you possibly understand the pain I'm going through?"
"I was possessed by a bitbeast once, too," Kai admits, his eyes becoming sad at the remembrance, and the sickly feeling he remembers while suffering at the hands -or claws if you want to be specific- of Black Dranzer. The name still causes him to shiver from the icy coldness of the freezing water lapping around his ankles, standing on that frozen lake, about to sink to his death. He remembers the moment when he was able to break free of the darkness that engulfed him whole, making him do things he would never even consider if he had been in control.
The feeling of knowing what you were doing, yet having no control is truly frightening. With no limitations, no consciousness holding you back, stopping you, seeing the fear and hatred on everyone's faces when you done something terrible. Those thoughts will never leave Kai, and no one can truly understand what it's like without going through it themselves, and Kai would never wish this upon anyone.
"What?" Phil slowly moves his head, giving Kai his full attention, staring up at him, eyes wide, this time with a sense of hope, only a little bit, but hope none-the-less. He shakes his head, and chews on his bottom lip nervously. "He won't like it if I let you get away…he didn't last time."
"I'll be back as soon as I can."
"…I'm so scared."
"I know," Kai whispers, painfully moving forward to hug him awkwardly. "I was too. It'll all end soon, I promise."
Phil leans into his chest and suddenly sighs, falling limp, almost lifeless. "…Run," he whispers. "Leave before Bat Fang takes control again."
"Thank you," Kai whispers in reply. "I'll be back, I promise."
-----
Rick runs blindly through the streets, ignoring all the abusive yells from people he had to push aside, heading for the other end of town, towards the old wharves. Something is pulling him there, he doesn't know what, or how, but he has to find out. For whatever reason, he feels that Kai is there and he needs him, and he'll be damned if he lets him down again.
"Hold on Kai, I'm coming."
Yup, yup, another chapter done! Aw, poor little Philbert…Oh well! A reunion between Rick and Kai in the next chapter X3 I hope you'll look forward to that.
Please review? -gives readers teary, kitty cat eyes- Nyo?
