AN: Wow...the last chapter was so freaking awesome I can't contain myself! I know, I'm stroking my own ego, but who cares right now? I feel very very happy. As in completley hyper happy! And this one, may I remind you, is one of my favourites. I delicatley details just about everything I've wanted to write for months. It's got fluff, agnst, romance...jebus the list goes on.

Disclaimer: Owning Beyblade is not my profession, Captian.

Song: Your Call - Secondhand Serenade

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Chapter 28 - Losing Sight

He screamed her name to the smog, but there was no response. Silence reigned around him, and even though Kai called out the names of his other teammates there was no reply from them either. He felt, once again, truly alone. Nothing measured up to feeling of panic flooding his chest, keeping him on the tips of his toes. "I have to calm myself down, otherwise Ember could be hurt..."

A scream snapped him out of it. Ember's soft voice was yelling for help, the pain and fear in her voice making him choke back tears of pain, and also snapping his heart slowly in two with every syllable she cried. "Ember, keep calling! I'm coming for you!" He ran left and right, feeling slowly around the walls for an exit. He had to resist the urge to jump into the air in truimph when he found the metal door. It was locked tightly, and he cursed, his voice a growling low. A sheen of silver in the lock caught his eye - Boris had left the key in the mechanism when he had ran through. Kai was confused how anyone could be so stupid to leave it in the lock, but he ferverently thanked the gods for not giving Boris more than one brain cell. He turned the key in the lock and with a loud clunking noise, the door unlocked and it swung open. Kai dashed through the opening, calling Ember's name. She replied with a scream, from a short distance away. When he was close, the boy stopped as he heard the chilling tone of Boris' voice echoing.

"Ember my dear, you don't need Hiwitari. He doesn't care about you, really - he's only using you. That bastard couldn't care about anybody, not even his own mother." Ember was almost crying as she yelled back...

"He does care! You're the one with no heart, Boris! You KILLED Racheal!" The eyes facing the girl narrowed with a cruelty only a murderer could have. "How did you know the boy's mother's name?" he hissed. "He trusted me enough, so he told me about what you did to Racheal. And I could not be more disgusted you sickening excuse for a human being!"

With a glint in his eye, Boris reached into his pocket, and pulled out a weapon.

Her blue eyes were filled with terror, and as Kai came skidding round the corner she screamed. The silver handgun in Boris' hand was bloodstained, sending Kai reeling. Was it...his mother's blood? His eyes filled with tears as he whispered no, his voice barely more than a breath of air. Time was repeating itself.

Suddenly, out of nowhere, Kai got a burst of energy. He didn't know where it had come from, and he didn't really care where it had come from. All he cared about was Ember's safety, far ahead of his own. This fueled his instincts, driving him into a sprint towards the pair. In the final seconds before he reached them, Kai noticed Ember begin to run towards him, yelling his name. He saw Boris raise the gun and roar with anger. Kai could see the man's finger tightening on the trigger, and knew if he could only go faster, if he could only find a way, he just had a few more metres to go, he was almost there...

Too late.

The gunshot echoed through the hall, followed by a scream. Her body crumpled, blood seeping out of the wound. Time froze, Kai froze. Nothing and nobody moved, since Boris had run off some time before. His legs moved slowly as he walked towards the body of his friend. He kneeled down next to her and gently held her hand. Pulse, he thought automatically, and he placed his hand on her wrist. Waiting.

No beat, no steady thump thump. He could feel no reassuring motion underneath his palm, and he hiccoughed once.

Was she...dead? After all he had done to protect her?

"No." he mumbled, feeling his entire body tremble, his hands shake uncontrollably. Tears gathered in the crevices of his eyes, and he felt their banks almost overflowing. Kai waited for the inevitable breakdown.

It came harshly, sending him reeling. Salty water dripped out of his eyes, ran in streams down his cheeks and dripped onto Ember's neck. Knowing she may be dead in front of him and Kai couldn't do anything to bring her back broke his heart. It snapped him in two, for the second time in his life he felt as if he had lost everything worth living for. Except this time, it was far more pronounced, he could explain why but he wasn't ready to accept that Ember Makotina, the woman who meant the world to him, was no longer in the land of the living.

He buried his face, thinking of her final moments. How scared she had been, the horror of the violence of her death. No-one deserved to die like that no matter what and Kai felt like he couldn't stand it any more. He wanted to shoot himself, kill himself, get rid of the pain quickly and suddenly, join her wherever she was. He felt like he couldn't live without the young woman, if she was gone he would have to be gone too. His feelings for her had started small and unnoticed, even by him, but they had slowly begun to work themselves up into something more meaningful after weeks of spending time with her, noticing every last beautiful thing about Ember in the way she talked, tossed her hair, laughed, and even would look at him with those gorgeous sapphire eyes, giving him the only reason he had to live anymore.

But now he had lost her. He had lost her to Boris, and the crevice in his heart that had just a week ago been filled with pure happiness was now empty once again. He was missing that one special person in his life now once more. And he had been on the verge of telling her his emotions, spilling them like water on the earth, and seeing if she accepted him or not. But now he couldn't and never would be able to.

"Ember..." Kai whispered, "You never had any idea how much you really meant to me, did you?" She didn't answer and Kai was choking on his tears as he realised that she may never do so again. He rested his head on her shoulder, whimpering as the last vestiges of hope seeped from his mind and heart. No matter how hard he tried he felt there was no hope left for him at all. But he didn't realise what was happening, not even when a pulse surged back into her wrist. Her heart began thumping, slowly recovering the life that had been lost.

Her eyes, once shut with the promise of death, fluttered open in a slow and painful motion. Everything hurt. She groaned softly, and this was the only thing that got through to Kai. He looked up at the young girl, his eyes filled with disbelief. Then he wrapped his arms firmly around her, sobbing loudly into the crevice of her neck as all of the hope that had left him barely a few moments earlier now came rushing back with abundance.

"I thought I'd lost you..."

"You didn't lose me," she replied softly, "But I did come close to it. Thank you, for everything. You always have been there to protect me, and I have a suspicion that you will be there in the future as well."

He smiled weakly, then noticed she was beggining to fade into unconciousness again. Red hair spilled over his chest, shoulders and onto his stomach as her head rested against his chest. Strong arms snaked around her waist as Kai pulled her into him, sighing gently. Ember was safe - that was all he cared about now. Feelings of compassion, adoration, protectiveness spilled out of his heart as he held her close, keeping her shielded from the pain. It suddenly occured to him that he had wanted to be like this with her ever since the night before, when he had held her in her arms, just wanting her to feel safe. Now she was, and he couldn't be any happier than he was at that moment. Everything felt right as he buried his face in her hair and sighed deeply, caressing her side.

Looking onto her he smiled, his emotion from before resurfaced, and he suddenly felt his cheeks growing pink. He wasn't uncomfortable with it as he lowered his head to her ear and whispered to her, "Ember?" She didn't respond, maybe it was better if she didn't. All Kai could think about was what he wanted - no, needed to say to her.

And now the moment was here, and he had to seize it. Running his hand through her hair gently, he brushed a strand away from her face, revelling in her beauty as he silently gathered his emotions before whispering so softly he could barely hear it himself...

"Ember, I love you."

With that he tilted her head towards his, and gently brushed her lips with a ghost of a kiss.

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AN: Romantic factor TWENTY SEVEN. Out of ten. God damn I had a lot of fun with this chapter, and as I said before...I'm hyper with excitement and SOOOOO happy.

Sneak Peek

With a soft whisper he woke her up, murmuring in her ear, "Ember, wake up." Her eyes slowly opened, and she blinked several times before she focused. Kai held her in his arms, looking down on her with a soft smile on his face.

"Rise and shine, sleeping beauty..."

AN: Kekeke! Hyper as I said before, half because the romantic-ness of this chapter is making so happy and half because it's only about a week till CHRISTMAS! I'll update soon, I promise.

Tyrila Anios xxx