Yes it's finally here, a new chapter! I am so sorry it has taken this long to update, but I'm trying to work out an ending to the story that won't be disappointing, so it's taking a bit longer than usual to come out with chapters. Life's quite hectic right now, so I'm not sure when the next update will come. I'm really sorry. Thank you for all your support though.

Abandon Hope

Tala was typing at his computer, while his guest, Rin, watched intently. The boy sat perfectly still waiting for the young man to speak. Sure enough it was not much longer before he did, his voice filled with complete seriousness.

"I need you to do a huge favour for me. Would you be able to deliver a message for me if I get you outside the walls? It's at this address."

Tala handed over a letter with an address written on the front. It was in a town he recognised, but he quickly realised that the letter had no street name or a house number.

"This is where I grew up. I'll definitely be able to take it there!" Rin replied excitedly, glad he could help. "But where do I take it to in town? It's a pretty big place."

Tala nodded, his face remaining impassive, but there was something in his eyes that gave away his worry. "Go to that area and ask around for Kai Hiwatari. Hopefully someone will be able to tell you where he is or at least where you can meet him." He paused before continuing, " I know I shouldn't have to tell you this, but whatever you do be careful and don't get caught. Can you do that for me?"

Rin nodded, determination shining through on his face. "Definitely, sir." He replied, giving a small, though slightly wobbly salute.

"Once you find him then stay there and don't attempt to come back, do you understand?""

"But what about you?" Rin asked, worried for his friend's safety.

"Don't worry. I'm one of the best the Government has. You hardly need to worry about me." Tala replied, placing a hand on Rin's head. "And thank you, kid."

Kai sat on the beach staring at the ocean. He stared off into the distance along the path that the Sun's rays were hitting the water, causing the light to shimmer. Everything seemed to remind him of Suzaku's other side.

"What happened?"

He should have realised the silent question would not go unanswered as a little girl with pale hair sat next to him. Her bright blue eyes watched over the sea and her body did not give away a single emotion, just like her master.

"She is dead, Kai."

A sad smile spread across his face. "You don't need to remind me."

"Obviously I do, because you are taking her death harder than you are letting anyone know. Do you really think you can hide anything from me?"

"Maybe if I try hard enough..."

The full grown woman now sat beside him, eyes blazing with blue fire, ready to burn him to a small blackened crisp. She looked back out towards the sea.

"Stop feeling sorry for yourself."

"I'm not."

She snorted. "You do not have time to mourn her death. The others are looking to you to help them. Stop acting so selfish."

"Is that what you think I'm being?" Kai shouted in response.

"It was her duty to protect you. She had been created only to destroy. To die protecting you was her choice and her rebellion against her creators who only wanted to make her an emotionless killing machine, much like you. I hate to admit it, but you had a much stronger bond with her than me ever since you got us back.

"She was always there while I was, and still am, just a shadow. She understood what they had done to you, while I could only imagine. I know she is gone, but I am still here, just like before, just like I have always been here."

Kai knew she was referring to the past he could not remember, but he did not have the heart to point that out. She seemed too upset that all the anger he had been feeling just melted away when he saw the tears fall down her cheeks.

"She was my copy, an imperfect copy, and yet she managed to surpass me in every way..."

"You're wrong. You are both very special to me for different reasons, but you are more special because you're my hope that I might be able to finally shed some of this darkness that has tried to choke me. You're the side that's making me do the right thing just because it's right. So please stop crying."

She nodded and smiled, thought the tears still fell down her face. Both looked up at the sky above them before Kai stood up. "I'd better get going. Kenny said he wanted to talk to me about something."

With a blaze of fire, the woman turned back into the little girl and took Kai's hand in hers before fading away as he walked towards the towering building.

Tyson sat on the roof of a long since abandoned building that looked over the city. It was quite a walk from the headquarters but that was part of the charm of it. It had only been a few years and yet nature was already taking back the roads and buildings that no one had the money to maintain. It was strangely comforting and humbling at the same time to know that nature could still take back its land after what people had done to it and yet it would only take a small amount of time for many of human's triumphs to disintegrate into legend.

"Humbling is right." A smooth voice rang next to him and Tyson turned his head to look at his companion.

"You finally grace me with your presence. How many years has it been since you've talked to me properly?"

The man's laugh carried through the wind. "I'm sorry I was not there for you; however I do not think this is the time for quarrelling."

Tyson smirked, "No, this is the perfect time for a talk as no one else is here and I may not be alive for much longer."

A shadow descended on both of them and only the wind could be heard as they sat in silence. Suddenly the other man stood up, looking around as if trying to find something.

"What is it Seiryu?" For it was Tyson's bitbeast was standing next to him.

"Someone is coming this way." He turned to look at Tyson, "Whoever it is seems to be in quite a rush."

Tyson nodded and jumped down onto the pavement below, knowing that Seiryu had already disappeared from his vision. Whether the person was friend or foe Tyson would have to figure out on his own as he drew the sword that was strapped to his back. Running around the corner with his sword held high he was shocked to see a young teenager fall back onto the ground below, eyes wide in fear of the man in front of him.

The boy inched away using his hands, but for the most part keeping his feet and bottom on the ground, apparently hoping that Tyson would not notice. Tyson lowered his sword hoping the action would look like an acknowledgement rather than aggressive. It seemed that luck was not on his side as the kid suddenly jumped up and skidded in the other direction.

"Hey, wait a second!" Tyson shouted, "I'm not gonna hurt you."

The child was either ignoring him or had not heard Tyson's call as the boy continued to run away, silvery grey hair whipping behind him. He turned a corner and by the Tyson had recovered and began following him the child had vanished.

Sighing Tyson wondered why a kid had been out in the city all alone as he made his way back to headquarters.

"Seiyu, keep an eye on the city and see if you can find that boy. Let me know if anything happens."

The spirit, now in the form of the Azure Dragon, nodded his great head and stalked off into the city.

Ray laughed, "You're joking right?"

"Nope, Tyson was so shocked he forgot all about chasing after me!" Daichi answered, though it was difficult through all the laughter.

The other occupants in the room took this as a queue to laugh more and soon the room was filled with the musical sound. Max wiped a tear from one eye and Hilary excused herself from the room to get a glass of water.

Ray smiled, "Ok then, who's next?"

"It's supposed to be Hilary when she comes back." Max answered between giggles.

The group had been telling stories about the 'old days' as they were commonly referred to and mainly centred around when the team was apart. They ranged from the hilarious, to the surprising, to the disturbing.

The original group had started out as Max and Daichi, but were quickly joined by Ray and Hilary who had sent laughter cascading through the halls of the complex. It had not been long before others had joined in the storytelling including Rick, Ming Ming, Johnny, Crusher, Michael and Mystel.

Johnny, being as impatient as ever, quickly grew bored, "How about a story until she comes back?"

Michael smirked, "I've got one."

After receiving a few nods to start his story Johnny wished he had kept his mouth shut as Michael began telling the story of when Johnny had challenged Kai to a beyblade match after the BEGA tournament only to be not only thrashed, but ending up falling into the river they were battling next to. Howls of laughter followed as Michael described the look on Johnny's face, only to be tackled to the ground by an irate looking Scotsman. Michael continued to laugh as Johnny sat on top of him trying to strangle the American.

Hilary walked in on the scene with a look of horror on her face at what was in front of her. A quick look at Ming Ming settled her feelings of dread, realising that Michael was fine. She soon also joined in the laughter that kept her and her friends in good spirits.

Kenny was watching the screen of the computer, wishing for once that he was horribly wrong. Sighing as he rechecked the information for the third time, he knew there was no error. This really was not boding well.

"You called?" Kenny turned around to see Kai watching him, the eerie glow of the computer screen making his pale skin look sickly.

"Sorry to take you away from your amazing sex, but this is really important." Kenny commented.

Kai could not help but give a small laugh at the crudeness of Kenny's joke, "I didn't think you had that in you."

Kenny smirked, "You'd be surprised. But anyway, as I was saying before we have a problem."

"I wasn't even with Hilary." Kai muttered in defence, before catching what Kenny had said, "How bad?"

"Have you heard of the book Nineteen Eighty Four by any chance?"

"Where the ruling force makes up a story about rebellion in order to draw out the real traitors?"

"Exactly, this whole 'let's attack at once plan' is a bit too convenient. I know that we've determined it's a trap, but even attacking on that day seems a bad idea. After all, in order for this to really work we need to assassinate the King."

"Don't worry. I'll do that myself." Kai answered darkly.

"You won't be able to get there on your own. I think it would be best if the Bladebreakers were the ones to back you up. They all have bitbeasts and even I at least know how to fight."

Kai smiled at Kenny, "I understand where you are coming from and I'll think it over, how's that? Besides," Kai added, his expression turning grim, "it's pretty hard to know how to find the King since he moves around so much. The chances of us knowing where he is on the day he already knows we're going to attack is probably smaller than our probability of winning this war."

"It certainly won't be easy." Kenny agreed. "Also it sounds like the Government is gathering up anyone suspected of working for the Rebels within their ranks. They're tightening the noose"

"Yeah, well we'll have to worry about that later; there's nothing we can do for the captured Rebels, but we may be able to use them, assuming we can find and free them. For now, let's find the others and try to enjoy the rest of the day." Kai suggested, putting a subtle emphasis on 'try' which Kenny almost missed. "After all we only have one more day after this one before the final strike."

The two stepped into the corridor only to run into Tyson, who seemed to have a thoughtful look on his face. He did not seem to notice the two young men that stood in front of him.

"Are you alright Tyson?"

Tyson looked up as if coming out of a daze. He was about to explain when his eyes glazed over.

"Where is he?"

Kai and Kenny exchanged glances, knowing that Tyson was talking to Seiryu. Kenny gave a motion to Kai explaining he was going to find the others to which Kai silently responded with a nod. As Kenny walked off Tyson looked at Kai.

"I'll explain on the way, but we need to go now."

Before Kai could agree Tyson had shot off in the direction of the entrance to headquarters. Kai quickly recovered from his shock and sprinted after the younger man.

It was now late at night and Rin had been walking around all day. He had only run into one other person and would have asked him about Kai had it not been for the fact he had had a sword in his hand. It was hard to trust anyone he met on the streets, since either Government or Rebel would mean that they would carry weapons (and he had none to defend himself). How could he find someone if he did not even know who to trust?

Suddenly a dark figure appeared around the corner in front of him. Stepping back in worry he decided to risk trusting the figure, but not enough to trap him.

"Kai?"

There was no answer, which only succeeded in panicking Rin. Now the figure knew his purpose and he had no allies to turn to. Rin was about to turn and run in the other direction when he felt a hand clamp over his mouth. Eyes widening he looked up to see a man standing over him.

"The name's Steve and you are?"

Rin's whole body shook and he began to desperately try to shake free of the man's grip. Unfortunately the man's large palm was tight across his mouth and nose and Rin was quickly losing the energy to fight back. A dark haze started to fill his mind, quickly taking over and sending him into an unconscious state.

Tala sat in the living room wondering if it was right to get Rin in this mess. The boy was hardly old enough that he should have to worry about saving the world, but Tala quickly reminded himself that Tyson and his friends were about the boy's age when they had had to stop Boris the first time.

"This is a different situation and you know it Tala." Tala almost leapt out of his chair in surprise at the gruff voice behind him.

"I didn't notice you, Wolborg."

The Silver Wolf proudly stood behind him in his animal form, yellow eyes piercing Tala's blue, knowing what Tala wanted before the young man could even think of it himself.

"This is not the time to be getting cold feet. The boy knows the stakes and wishes to repay your kindness. You have given him the chance to."

Tala nodded, still not satisfied. The rest of his thoughts were interrupted, however, when there was a sharp knock at the door. Tala locked eyes with the Silver Wolf before he disappeared and Tala opened the door. The moment the door opened a crack chaos ensued and Tala found himself knocked to the floor.

"Tala Ivanoff, you are under arrest for high treason. You have no right to a lawyer and anything you say here will be used later on against you."

Tala's eyes widened and the man on top of him smiled, "You didn't think you'd gotten away with it had you?"

"That's enough. Take the prisoner away."

Tala looked up into the eyes of the man who had just spoken, "So you ratted me out did you Brian?"

Brian looked at him impassively, "You don't really expect the Government to lose do you? It was a foolish dream and you were a fool to think any of us would follow you and betray the King."

Tala did not even try to shake himself loose and the guard holding him smirked.

"The Rebels have lost."

Please review. Your comments and suggestions really encourage me to continue.