Okay folks the action is dying down finally and we get to find out who lives and who dies! Heh well I know of course lol anyway this is the last chapter...finally after let's see it was December 2005 that I began writing this (I think or was it 2004...memory so fuzzy...so long ago!)
As I have said previously thank you to all those who have read All That's Left, I normally don't have much motivation to finish my fics without reader support because I have so many ideas for stories it's hard to pick which one to do first.
Disclaimer: Like I've said many a time I don't own Beyblade or any other pop culture reference I may or may not mention during ATL such the song feature below All That's Left by Thrice! The lead singer sounds kind of like Kai in some of their songs...yes I am very petty...but hey the song is officially awesome I named this fic after it after all!
All That's Left
Chapter 21 Epilogue: What's Left of My Heart
One day the dreamers died
Within us
When all our answers never came.
We hid the truth beneath
Our skin but
Our shadows never looked the same.
A ghost
Is all that's left
Of everything we swore we never would forget.
We tried to bleed the sickness
But we drained our hearts instead.
We are...
We are the dead.
And when we couldn't stop
The bleeding
And when we couldn't stop
The bleeding
We held our hearts over the flame
We held our hearts over the flame
We couldn't help but call it treason
Treason
And after that we couldn't fill our frames.
After that our shadows never looked the same.
Kai dragged himself down the hall, alarms ringing in his ears all around him, he had to go back...he had to back to Tala and make sure he was okay. At the time when Kai'd had Tala slumped over his shoulder the redhead had been unconscious though the beat of his heart was faint thankfully it was stable but his breathing was raspy and labored.
Limping back Kai was leaning hard against any surface he could grab onto. His left foot dragged behind him, his calf ached and a stabbing pain shot through his whole leg after every step as the bullet lodged in his just behind his knee from the feeling of it pressed against a nerve. Though if he stopped to think about it concentrating on the bullet wound was the only thing keeping him from noticing his broken ribs and fuzzy of his vision, but Kai knew if he did stop at all he probably wouldn't get up again he was so tired...he felt like he just wanted to sleep and not wake up for a month.
"Tala...ta...la" he wheezed blood pooling at the back of his throat.
In the light he saw the extent of his brother's injuries...burns over his chest his jumper looked like it had burned away to nothing except for the strands of wool that had melted into the fake skin of his right arm. A scar ran down his left arm from the palm of his hand right up to Tala's shoulder. Kai had seen injuries like these before...
"Urgh...hugh...uh" he hacked as black smoke drift through the air above them. Kai sat down next to the redhead and hugged Tala close to him trying to keep the older boy warm. They need a way out but both stair wells were cut off so the only path up to the surface would be to go up in the lift. He sighed and took off his jacket putting on Tala to stave off hypothermia.
"Ugh...Come on Tala" Kai whispered pulling the other boy up with him as he stood, the bluenette's arm around Tala's waist and dragged him along "If we're going to die anyway we might as well go down fighting..."
Ding!
The elevator pinged as the doors opened and Kai threw them inside, mashing the button for the ground floor repeatedly in his impatience "Come on you fucking...damn ass thing!" he yelled angrily at the machine as it slowly rose up the three levels. Kai's left hand twitched over his pistol as the car slowed down and the metal doors slid back revealing six armed guards.
"Hi" Kai said smiling awkwardly and gave them a little wave, wincing in pain 'oh yeah for some strange reason broken ribs make it hard to breath' he thought sarcastically.
"Hands in the air" one of the men ordered pointing his M16 at them.
&&&
Rei ran up the street towards the mountain, he'd seen Kai walking home that way a lot of times after school but didn't know exactly where the blunette lived.
Just over half way up he spotted a large stone mansion...smoke was billowing out of the ground floor windows into the night sky. He hadn't known why but he felt like he was... like it had drawn him him and every cell in his body was yelling at him that something was terribly wrong.
Suddenly his mobile rang "Max what is it?" he spoke raggedly into the phone.
'Where are you Rei? Do you know where Kai and Tala are? It's been nearly an hour and they haven't shown' the blonde asked worry in his voice.
"I don't know!" he snapped his voice cracking "where the hell do they live Max?"
'Calm down for a fucking minute Rei! it's up the mountain about half way up the face in Shizuka-ku over on Hiwatari Avenue' he told his friend.
&&&
"I said hands in the air" a man ordered pointing his rifle at the BioVolt guards "You kids okay?" he asked Kai.
"Sir we've rounded up the remaining mercenaries" another member of the SWAT said "what do we do with Balkov sir?"
"Arrest the bastard" he replied smirking behind his visor "I've been waiting to put that shithead away for years, lets see how he does with some of his own medicine...hand and leg cuffs I don't want the fucker going anywhere"
"Yes sir" two other officers saluted him and ran off down further into building.
Kai's vision blurred more and more he was so tired and he'd been fighting for so long...he just didn't want to have to fight anymore.
"Hey kid?" someone said "Come on where the fucking hell are those EMT's damnit!" he yelled as Kai slipped into unconsciousness.
&&&
The Chinese boy arrived just Boris was being dragged away in chains. Three stretchers were being carried out of the burning mansion towards the waiting ambulances, one cover with white cloth.
"Kai!?" he called out rushing over to them.
"Sir the building's unstable, you must stay back" a policeman said stopping Rei from coming any further.
"But my friends are in their!" Rei yelled pleading with the man to let him through.
"I can't let you through, I'm Detective D.J Jazzman okay - your friends what do they look like maybe I can find them for you?" he asked him calmly.
"My Rei...Kai is a couple of inches taller than me with two tone blue hair and Tala's nearly a head taller again with dark red hair" Rei described the two as roughly and quickly as he could in his anxious state.
"Okay Rei just stay here I'll see if I can find Kai but I can tell you now someone of your friend Tala's description was already sent ahead to the hospital with critical injuries" Detective Jazzman commanded him running over to his captain for information.
That's when Rei spotted the Russian boys, he was a fair distance away and there was ash and blood covering his face but Rei knew that mop of blue hair anywhere "KAI!" he shouted and ran over to where one of the paramedics were maneuvering him into an ambulance.
As he came closer Rei could see how Kai laid still on the stretcher his face cringing unconsciously from his obviously discomfort, his body was covered in bruises, deep cuts and what looked like small burns over his hands...Rei tried not to look away when he saw how Kai's his leg had been bandaged up like a mummy to stop the blood flow.
On the other side of the driveway Boris fought against the two smaller men trying to get him into cuffs. "FUCKING BRATS YOU'RE DEAD! YOU THINK THIS IS OVER! YOU'LL NEVER BE SAFE!" He yelled as the police dragged him kicking and screaming into the car.
"Kai...?" Rei whispered stroking Kai's hair as the boy groaned in pain. If it wasn't for the hair he probably wouldn't have been able to identify him Kai's face was so bloodied up and swollen.
"Ta...la..." Kai moaned his eyes scrunched up with effort, trying with all his might to get up. Rei put his hands on his boyfriend's chest trying to keep him on the gurney without hurting him further.
"Kai...don't try to get up you're hurt, Tala's already been taken to hospital" He told him as Kai started to panic and his breathing erratic.
"Mister we have to get him to hospital right away" the paramedic said to Rei as his partner closed the doors and climbed in the front of the ambulance.
&&&
Drip...drip...drip
Morphine slowly seeped into his vein drop by drop through the IV line stabbing into the skin just below the crook of his elbow.
Kai leaned back into his pillows and stared unseeing up at the sterile white ceiling, a patch over his right eye "You know I used to hate you Papa so much, I'd thought you'd left us...I never understood why you never returned and I'd always be thinking that for some reason it was my fault" he whispered his voice raspy from the oxygen mask that covered his mouth and nose, as he clenched and unclenched his fingers around the sheets either side of him ignoring the sting from the first degree burns covering them... for the time being they were really the only thing he could move freely.
"Kai...you're awake..." Rei asked his voice sounding very sleepy and tiredly he moved his chair over besides Kai.
The blunette just gave him a looked like he was thinking 'no duh Rei I'm still unconscious I'm telepathic you know!'
"Yeah kind of stating the obvious aren't I? Anyway I'm glad you woke up when you did they were going to move you to the coma ward if you didn't wake up soon Max and I used to come every day but he had to go back to school" he said scratching his head nervously, he felt like he sounded like such an idiot.
"Rei where's Tala?... Is he alright?" Kai questioned anxiously wishing he could sit up but the pain in his chest kept him flat against the bed 'argh!' he cringed mentally 'ok I'm not trying that again...when moving the morphine does nothing' and ground his teeth.
"Calm Tala got out two days ago he's trying to get everything organised, seeing as Boris is under arrest and all Kai so Tala had to fight to be made your medical proxy and legal guardian seeing as you are under eighteen you know...ok so stop looking so worried you're the one that's badly injured" he told he patting Kai's hair.
"Who's worried about that bastard he's nothing but trouble...and heavy..." the blunette tried to cover up his concern but he was telling the truth about the Tala being heavy part.
"Who are you calling a heavy bastard? bastard!" someone called out from the doorway.
"You are bastard...and you are heavy when was the last time you worked out?" Kai argued.
"Everyday...just because you weight the same as a ten year old doesn't give you the right to say I have weight issues seriously Kai your measurements haven't changed since you were fourteen" Tala joked poking his little brother in the forehead.
"I just have a fast metabolism...that's all" he argued "Anyway last I remembered you were the one in the coma not me...so how the hell did you get out before me damnit" Kai coughed repeatedly the strain on his dry throat getting to be too much.
Rei helped his boyfriend drink some water as he pushed his mask up before putting pillows behind him and adjusting his bed so Kai was upright enough not to choke on the liquid.
"Well let's see mild electrocution" he said after Kai finished coughing, holding up one hand then another as if weighing things up "multiple broken ribs...punctured lung...blood loss and concussion oh and did I mention the bullet lodged in you leg...hmm I wonder"
"Ok...when...when you...put it...like that..." Kai replied his voice hoarse and raspy as hell.
"But really you do that again I'll slit you throat with a rusty screw driver" Tala warned glaring at him.
"Yeah...right, so...what now?" he asked giving Rei pointed looks.
"Ok ok I'm leaving you don't need to use the glare" Rei joked leaving the room.
As soon as the door clicked shut and they could no longer hear the other boy's footsteps echoing down the hall the two started talking again.
"So it happened to you too huh?" the redhead queried becoming serious as he sat down on the end of the bed "We can't tell anyone about these abilities got that...Garland died because of them and Brooklyn's gone insane".
"People...already think...we're freaks" Kai murmured "it's nothing...to worry...about for...now" he closed his eye tiredly.
"Well we'll leave it for now, anyway Boris is gaol now he was gonna get the death penalty but the Russian's haggled it down to life without parole the first two years here then the rest back in Moscow" he explained running his fingers through his crimson locks.
"Now...he's someone's bitch..."
"Hey I never thought about it like that heh!" Tala laughed.
The End...