Chapter 28 - (Choose) To Live


There was nothingness around him. Pure nothingness that - at the same time - seemed like everything brought into one until it was just left with the ultimate darkness that it created.
An emptiness that had always been in existence and yet had never been truly there at all before. An emptiness that came from inside of him, from the hole that had been torn through there mercilessly with the wages of the war that they had all driven themselves into.
It had all seemed worth it in the beginning, having something that was worth fighting for now that they knew the truth of his condition, believing that if they were just able to hold onto him long enough they could win this fight.
But they - he - soon realized that it was meaningless.
They had foolishly believed that they could save Gingka, that they could somehow bring him back from the brink of death even though he was inevitably walking closer and closer to his unspeakable fate; there was no way to save a man who was on his death bed, his heart slowing down and dying from whatever cause that the doctors could not identify.

No matter how hard they fought in this war that they had all made, 'he' would win no matter the outcome.
Whether they took him down or he reigned over them all while whimpered helplessly in the corner, he would win on some account and have his sick, twisted way.
They should've known that it was foolish to even try from the very start, that all hope that they hung onto was nothing but false hope created by the darkest areas of their hearts that had always thought there was a way.
Zyro knew everything was pointless - Alcorin may as well have already won.
He knew as he stared into nothingness, on his knees on an invisible ground that couldn't be seen, yet could still gently be felt by the slight ache in his knees.
His blue eyes looked down onto the ground in front of him, seeing the unconscious form of Gingka before him, flat on his back with a peaceful look on his face.
The redhead was fully clothed, including with his jacket and scarf that would otherwise choke him if he wasn't completely immobile.
The way his long bangs, still restricted by his headband, fell over his face and down past his ears made him seem entirely surreal, a paleness about his complexion that seemed entirely unnatural and yet the one thing that had come first.
Zyro gently lifted one of his hands, his other hand still at his side as he gently brushed his fingers against Gingka's cheek, the contact with soft skin sending a strange tingle up his arm that had been so strange to him at first - he just dearly wished he knew why as he pulled his hand away, looking into the face of the blader that he had already failed.

Zyro couldn't even remember why he had done all of this in the first place, a sense of hopelessness flowing throughout him as he now just realized that there was no reason to even bother fighting.
Alcorin would have Gingka's life either way - he may as well have already won the battle, and the war.
They had all been fools to think there was anything they could do, that there was some sort of solution that could help save Gingka, that the redhead in question could indeed live.
Out of all the battles that the Beyblade Generation had fought, out of the all the wars that it had braved and conquered, out of all the walls that they had built around themselves with gates that united them, this was the one war that they could not win.

"Are you tired?..."

A voice from behind him, something soft and weak, delicate and fragile, one that he could've recognized..

Yes. That could be his only answer.

"Are you broken?.."

Zyro let out a soft breath at the questions he was asked, trying to search deep down in his memory of where he knew this voice from.. But he found it all meaningless to even try such a thing; something that wouldn't matter in the end.

Yes. Why wouldn't he be?...

"Will you stop?..."

Yes.. He had no other choice too..

"Will you sleep?..."

Yes... He was tired..

"Will you give in?..."

... Yes... What reason did he have to go on?.. There was no reason for him to wake up from the endless sleep that he would soon be condemned to.. Just like Gingka..

"No."

A soft gasp escaped his lips that was nothing more than a breath of air, looking up with wide eyes only to see nothing... Of course there was nothing..

What?

"No."

You won't let me rest?..

"No."

You won't let me fall asleep?..

"No.."

Why not?..

"You can't.."

I can't?..

"It's not over yet.."

Why?

"Because you promised..."

Who?...

"Him.."

What about him?

"You have to decide that..."

Him?.. Him of all people?..

Why?..

"Because he chose you..."

Chose him?

But why me?...

"Think about it..."

...

...

...

Who are you?...

The only answer he was met with was silence - a silence that consumed everything, that made chills go down your spine as if you knew there was just something was there even though there was nothing with you.
But the other was there.. He could feel them.. And somehow, it just felt like someone he had known even before his creation.

"I'm..."

The voice that came from behind Zyro trailed off, never finishing their sentence as silence overtook once more.
Zyro's eyes became half-lidded for a moment, glancing down at the redhead in front of him before he willed himself to shakily stand up from his kneeling position.
In that process, he willed himself to turn around and face whatever - whoever - stood behind him in their waiting.
The ginger-ravenette's eyes widened in shock, looking into the face of the one person that he could have never known.

"You?.."

A small smile etched itself across their face.

"Me.."...


"Zyro, come on, wake up!" Madoka called out to the younger blader that they were all gathered around, now laying on his back compared to having been on his side from when Maru had tackled him to ground from Alcorin's grasp.
The Fire Blader still had color, but he wasn't breathing - his heartbeat was there, but it was incredibly weak from when they had checked it.
"Zyro, please.." Shinobu willed desperately, biting the inside of his cheek at the thought of now losing his best friend.

Zyro couldn't die... Not like this..

Tears had filled Maru's eyes of which she kept in, kneeling on the ground in almost the exact spot that she had been when she had showed up and supposedly saved Zyro's life from Alcorin's grasp - though that action might have proved worthless with the way things were going now.
"Zyro, come on!" Takanosuke pleaded, a frantic look on his face as he stood behind Shinobu, entirely frazzled by the situation of everything just happening so quickly ever since this morning; one moment, him and Sakyo had come to the B-Pit following Ren out of Takanosuke's worry for whatever happened to Maru (despite not knowing as well as the others), the next they were hurrying down endless corridors towards some sort of control-obsessed psychopath - it really wasn't something that was in their normal everyday schedules.
But the tension between all of them could only build as they all pleaded for the Fire Blader to wake up, watching for some sort of sign that he was going to be okay save for his weakly beating heart.

All of them except for Kira were gathered around the possibly dying young blader, crying out to him in hopes that their voices could reach him and he would find the will to make it back to them; all Kira did was stand there in the background, looking at the sight before him while simultaneously being unsure of how to feel.
He didn't care about them, he knew that he very well didn't and didn't have too - he knew that their problems weren't his, that he should pass this off as nothing more than the way life goes as it had with his own mother.
But for some reason, he wasn't able to find the will to do that.
All he did was stand there, staring at the sight before him as they all tried to waken the young blader, not knowing what to think about this situation now that his mind had gone completely blank from the many emotions that had filled his body before.

He couldn't care... There was no way he cared about Kurogane..

Whether he died or not was not up to them - it was just a way of life, the thing that they were all slowly creeping towards with every passing minute.
They were just the foolish ones who kept hanging on, thinking that if they tried hard enough to save someone they would live - so why was there some sort of tightening in his chest towards this?..

Ba-thump

"Mommy?..." The creaking of the door..

No.

Ba-thump

Water overflowing from the bathtub, tinged with red..

Forget about it..

Ba-thump

His mother, pale as snow on a late winter's night with cuts on her wrists..

It doesn't matter.. They don't matter..

Ba-thump

"Mommy?..." Laying in a pool of nothing but red, the liquid underneath him dampening his socks..

You didn't matter..

Ba-thump

With a stoic face did Kira swiftly turn around and slam his fist into the wall, a physical pain spreading from his knuckles and halfway up his elbow, causing him to let out a silent breath that he didn't know he had been holding.
He ignored the few stares that went his way at this action, focusing on nothing but the pain that spread up his right arm as if it were his only lifeline, the only thing that he bothered to hang onto anymore in the hopelessness that had always been a part of his life. Even with the dulling pain, he kept a blank face that didn't say too much.

He didn't care... He didn't care.. He didn't care..

The soft sound of coughing reached his ears, breaking him out of his thoughts and causing him to look back towards the others.
Everyone's eyes turned back to Zyro, the ginger-ravenette now going into a coughing fit as his breathing returned, his entire body shaking a bit as he turned his head to the side a bit and coughed still.
The Fire Blader gasped softly once he finished coughing, slowly opening his blue eyes of which they had dreaded they would never see again.
"Zyro!" Madoka exclaimed in relief, followed by most of the others.
"You're okay!" Takanosuke blatantly pointed out as a wide smile spread across his face.
Slowly and carefully did Zyro bring himself up into a sitting position, bringing a hand up near his throat from the dull pain that still receded from there.

"Are you okay, Zyro?" Shinobu asked out of concern, watching as the ginger-ravenette looked over at him a bit with half-lidded eyes. "Y-yeah.." He stuttered, letting his best friend help him up and study himself, "I'll live, at least.."

"Well, you almost didn't.." Kira sighed as he placed his hand on his hip, watching as most of their eyes turned to him, "Judging from the fact that you weren't breathing, but you seem to be okay now."
Zyro didn't respond to that as he looked down at the floor.
He had some sort of dream in his sleep-like-death state that was very hazy, yet he could still make it out a bit in his head about what exactly he had seen so clearly in a world that wasn't even real - yet when he supposedly turned around, he couldn't remember what he had seen... He had seen something, or someone maybe, but he found that he wasn't able to remember what that 'something' was.
"You scared us.." Maru said as she looked up at the Fire Blader with slightly sad eyes, "We didn't think you'd wake up."
Zyro smiled softly at the pinkette before realization finally came into mind as he got his bearings together and looked at her with a confused expression.
"Wait, what are you doing here?" He asked, raising an eyebrow and causing the girl to sweat-drop.

"Well, apparently the wall that cut us off on the stairs didn't last for long after we went to look for Ren." Madoka began to explain, "And Maru decided not to listen to me and stay with Tsubasa... But I guess it was a good thing, considering she just managed to save your life."
Zyro looked at the brunette for a moment before smiling down at the pinkette beside her.
"Thanks Maru.." He said, "I owe you one."
A small smile made it's way to Maru's lips before she went up and hugged the older boy around the waist, of which he accepted her in doing.
Kira watched the scene before him as he witnessed most of them being glad that Zyro was okay, that he was alive and safe and that the most Alcorin had done to him was give him an aching throat from nearly choking him to death with his supposed powers.
It wasn't long before the pastel-haired blader sighed in irritation and looked at them with a solemn expression.
"So, are we going to go after the psychopath or are we going to sit and make flower crowns all day?" The Bahamoote Blader asked.
Shinobu seemed about to say something to him before Sakyo interrupted what was likely supposed to be a snarly retort.
"He's right." The Dragoon Blader said firmly as he looked over at the others, "We should go."

A few of them looked warily at Zyro, seeing as how he had just managed to come back from the brink of death and may have a few in-capabilities as he hadn't really had time to regain his full strength yet, but the Fire Blader simply nodded with a determined look before everything was decided.
After that, no questions were asked as they headed down the hall that lead off of the 2 halls that, were connected to each other, their footsteps once more echoing off of the metal that surrounded them as they ran closer and closer to the fate and answers that awaited them.
Zyro was the one who still fought to keep it together as they ran down the hall that now went on forever, the lighting seeming to get a bit dimmer and dimmer as they hurried down their pathway - and as everything seemed to get darker and darker by the second, the more the walls seemed to be closing in around him, chasing after him and pulling at the strings of his sanity of which was all that he really had to hold onto at this point.

Don't let it get to you...

Don't let it get to you..

Just breathe...

Breathe..

Breathe..

The proceeding darkness was all that hid Zyro's slightly anxiety, and the fact that they were running didn't help with breathing in and out calmly either.
It was only as things kept getting darker did they all see what appeared to be a sliding metal doorway that took up the whole wall, like a few of them up above in the WBBA building, supposedly the entrance to another hallway or room of which Zyro desperately hoped was lit up.
As they finally came to it, the door opened up without them having to slow down, leading into total darkness with only faint outlines of things that could barely be made out from the lack of light - this was what almost made Zyro finally give into his claustrophobia and start freaking out if he hadn't gotten it together and focused on deep breathing which the others would likely take for exhaustion from running.
All of them stopped once they were a few feet inside, looking around aimlessly in confusion at what they were doing here and where they were supposed to go in this pitch blackness; though it didn't take them long to know where they were when a voice that they very well recognized broke through the silence.

"Well, it's about time." Teased a voice as menacing as a bear and yet as sweet as tiny bells that made them freeze up where they stood.
In that moment with a loud bang that filled their ears, the lights of the large, half-circular room flashed on, stinging their eyes for several moments as they had temporarily grown used to the darkness.
Though it didn't take long for them all to regain their senses back to the light and look up, all eyes immediately falling on the only person on the opposite side of the room, standing only a few steps up on a large and wide platform that was maybe only a meter or so high, a small smirk placed on his lips with a malicious look in his eyes that spoke of nothing but malice.

"I'm glad you came to play.." Alcorin said with a small smirk on his face, his hand on his hip as he stood with a straight posture.
Many eyes narrowed at the psychopath that stood across the room from them, knowing that perhaps this time it for sure wasn't just a hologram of him - though they might've been able to tell the difference if it was.
Though despite that, he looked exactly like his holograms had projected: shoulder-length indigo hair with bangs that looked like they were parted twice, narrowed golden-brown eyes that had an almost cat-like appearance to them, a fair skin complexion with a decisively soft face - a brown trench coat that was lined with dull blue, loose white pants that went into knee-high brown boots.
They had seen his appearance before, but now that they saw the real thing standing before them, they found it entirely had to believe that he was even there, had been waiting for them in the domain that they had walked into of which was rightfully his.
"Especially you, Zyro, considering you apparently lived." The psychopath continued, tilting his head slightly with a small smile that was anything but friendly.
Madoka glanced down at Maru when she felt the girl hide behind her a bit, her lavender eyes wide in fear as she stared at the one person she had seen before Dynamis had died.
The brunette pulled a hand on the side of her student's head, letting her known that she was there and that she wouldn't allow anything to happen to her.

"We're here, Alcorin, so what do you want?" Zyro demanded, narrowing his eyes at the bluenette across the room.
"Interesting question.." The psychopath speculated in a voice that was entirely surreal, as if there and waiting to force it's way into their minds, take hold of them and swallow them whole like a python, "With quite an interesting answer... Obviously we've all got down that I kind of want Gingka Hagane dead while simultaneously making him suffer.. But I suppose the question you're going to ask next is.. Why?"
Their eyes narrowed at the sociopath across from them, Zyro already getting slightly annoyed from his casual attitude in doing something so horrific.

"Enough with the games!" Shinoby demanded, "How can you say something that casually about taking someone's life?"
All Alcorin did was shift his golden-brown eyes to the light-haired blader and raised an eyebrow at him as if he were the one who was absolutely crazy.
"How?" He repeated, "You obviously don't know anything psychopaths, now do you?.. And suggesting you don't, let me fill you in: I don't care about anybody. I'd tell you what I'm doing this for, which is quite an interesting story on both parts, but that ruins the fun of it all."

"How can you say this is fun?!" Takanosuke demanded, glaring at the blunette slightly with an intensity that he didn't know he had in him.
"Again, you really must not know much about people like me." Alcorin said before a small giggle escaped his lips, causing most of them to shiver from the familiar and terrifying sound that they had heard over and over again, "It might not be any fun for you.. But it may as well be like Christmas morning to me! Kira would understand, now wouldn't you? After all, sadists tend to understand each other and our love for other's pain."
Zyro's, Shinobu's, Takanosuke's, and Madoka's eyes looked over at Kira, who said nothing as he turned only Zyro's gaze with his one eye before looking back to Alcorin.
"You wouldn't even dare deny it, child..." Alcorin said with a tilt of his head, a red hue appearing in eyes of golden-brown, something lying behind them that hid all that he really was underneath all that he appeared to be, "The sweetly sickening joy you get when you see someone in pain.. How badly you want to see them cry and lick their tears just to know how sorrow tastes?" A hysteric giggle escaped the psychopath, bringing a hand up near his mouth slightly before opening his eyes again of which appeared to be even more crazed than they already had been, "It's exactly the feeling I felt when I saw how much little Gingka was suffering for over three weeks.. How badly he wanted someone, anyone, to notice and save him from the overwhelming pain that may as well been death itself!.. But you denied it, Zyro."
Zyro's eyes widened as his breath caught in his throat, his entire body tensing up like a rock as he heard the voice of which was now all too familiar to him - yet there was something in it that he couldn't identify, something that his brain screamed at him to notice and realize.

There was something about his eyes...

Something about his eyes and his voice that wasn't real..

Couldn't be real..

"You knew something was wrong with him, Zyro." Alcorin mocked, an amused tone in his voice as he easily got under the younger blader's skin with what he knew would get to him from watching them for so long, "You even guessed it spot on and you were convinced that you were right.. But just from that pathetic 'I'm fine' from you, you denied everything you thought you believed because you wanted to believe that you were wrong.. You couldn't hold onto the idea long enough to be sure that you knew what was wrong, and now look where he is!"
Alcorin swiftly raised his arm and snapped his fingers, the largest screen lining the wall directly behind him turning on with a loud noise.
Sharp gasps escaped Shinobu, Zyro, and Madoka as they saw what was on the screen behind him - Gingka. Still in his bed at the B-Pit, still comatose with weak breaths that they could just barely see being taken from his mouth as he slept endlessly in the world of his mind that he was condemned to.
"Gingka..." Madoka breathed out softly, her eyes wide as she saw the unchanged condition of the comatose redhead visibly displayed on one of the many screens that lined the wall.
Another giggle escaped Alcorin's lips as he saw their reactions, finding nothing but pure amusement in the expressions placed on most of their faces.
"Creepy, I know you'll say." He said teasingly, rolling his wrist off to the side lightly, "But I couldn't find any other way to make sure I could keep an eye on all of you at all times. After all, the WBBA does have some very interesting surveillance systems that I was able to use to my benefit."

"You've been watching us the entire time?" Zyro questioned out of shock, his eyes wide as he stared at the screen behind the psychopath before his eyes went to Alcorin himself.
"Yeah..." The dark bluenette sighed in an almost carefree way, "I mainly did it to watch as Hagane suffered endlessly.. But once he went into a coma there was no one else for me to watch suffer except for all of you." Another giggle escaped the man, one that was possibly the remnants of a broken childhood that had perhaps made him the way he was, "Well... I guess that's not entirely true.. Seeing as how I do have this.."
A small eerie smile made it's way upon his lips as he lifted his left hand, palm up while clutching something gently in his fingers - a crimson orb that seemed to be a perfect sphere, small enough to fit in the palm of his hand and for his fingers to wrap around and yet big enough for them to see.
The crimson color that it was seemed more bright near the core, and darker getting to the outside - it almost seemed to be pulsating lightly from the very core of it, like the beat of a human heart.
"What is that?" Madoka asked, wary and slightly afraid of the answer that she would have as Alcorin giggle like that of a school girl talking about the boy she oh so adored - which was honestly very creepy.
"Well, I'm very glad you asked.." He said with a small smirk crossing his features, "You can very well decide if you wish to believe this or not, but either way, I will be truthful with you.. This is the only thing that's keeping your precious Gingka alive. It may as well as be his heart with how things stand now.."
All eyes widened at this statement, everyone falling silent as they processed this impossible information with what they were given.
Kira and Zyro exchanged a glance with each other, as if telepathically speaking about what they had both suspected from earlier that day.
What they had guessed was absolutely crazy, but hearing this seemed to make it a bit less so somehow.
Though Alcorin tilted his head to the side a bit as he saw their precious reactions, chuckling softly with his eyes closed before opening them again.

"Unbelievable, I know." He teased, "But do believe me when I say it's true.. You didn't honestly think that he was having those little 'episodes' for no reason, now did you?"
This time there was a laugh that came from him as the words escaped his mouth - though Takanosuke and Sakyo seemed somewhat confused, the others had no problem in knowing what he was talking about. Maru, who was practically clinging to Madoka's leg looked at the orb in his hand with fearful lavender eyes.
She had seen him holding it when he had been at the Mist Mountain Shrine - it also explained the terrible feeling that she got when he had squeezed it in the palm of his hand.. Because he had been hurting Gingka..
"Yeah, that was me." He said with a non-guilty smile, his tone so casual that it was almost sickening, "It was honestly quite fun to watch how he reacted to it. Sometimes I'd do it for fun, to mess with your emotions.. And other times I just use it as a stress ball. Which is definitely not good for little Gingka, now is it?"

He quickly scanned their expressions, their faces only becoming more and more amusing to him as he saw them suck in the whole truth.
"Don't believe me?" He asked playfully with a malicious accent to his voice, "Fine then.. Observe instead."
Lifting the orb in his hand beside him, he wrapped his fingers firmly around it - and squeezed. Their eyes widened as the orb in his hand seemed to glow a bit brighter from the middle; and simultaneously on the screen behind him, they watched as Gingka's condition changed in a familiar way.
He closed his eyes tightly, his breathing quickening and almost getting caught in his throat as the heart monitor beside his bed quickened in pace just like it had several times before - only this time around, the redhead seemed to be in more pain than he previously had been, of which all of watched in sheer horror as Alcorin squeezed the orb in his hand of which they now knew stood as Gingka's heart.
"Stop it, you're hurting him!" Zyro shouted, and surprisingly enough, Alcorin did.
His grip on the orb in his palm loosened, though he still held it firmly as to not drop it - and thankfully, Gingka slowly calmed down from his most recent episode, his breathing still weak but a bit fast from the very recent trauma and pain.
A giggle is what tore them away from the screen, something that was still horrifying to hear and struck fear into their very depths of their souls.

"I told you so.." The dark bluenette mocked with the remnants of his giggle on his tongue, "Gingka's life is in my hands.. It has been since the very beginning."
Madoka narrowed her eyes slightly, biting the inside of her cheek as she remembered all the times during the last week that Gingka had one of his little episodes where he would freak out and his condition would get worse - it was all because of Alcorin... All of it..
"But Hikaru's there, isn't she?" Maru questioned softly, though still able to be heard by the others, "Wouldn't she hear and see what's going on with Gingka and call for some sort of help?"

"Hikaru?" Alcorin repeated, before a laugh escaped his throat - it almost became a hysterical one from the pure amusement that he got from that before looking at them with a cruel look behind his eyes, "Hikaru can't do anything to help him or you.. Well.. More like she won't.."

"What the hell are you talking about?" Madoka demanded, beginning to really become tired of Alcorin's attitude towards this entire situation.
"Well I'm not surprised none of you noticed.." The psychopath said with a smirk on his face, "After all, she is quite good at pretending she'snot under my control."
All eyes widened at this sudden statement, shock overturning them all with this reveal that they had never expected coming.
"Just like Ren.." Alcorin mocked with a sickeningly playful tone, "Only Hikaru's been under my influence for the past month and all of you were incapable of noticing. She's quite a good actor, I'll give her that. I honestly probably wouldn't have gotten as far as I did without Hikaru.. Well, maybe, but being as close to the Director of the WBBA as she is, she certainly proved helpful."

No.

No, this could not be true.. First Ren, and now Hikaru.

Or the other way around, considering that said bluenette was seemingly first.

"But..." Maru began, "W-wouldn't we have noticed?.." A chuckle made it's way from Alcorin's throat, a rather content look on his face towards their reactions.
"With how well it was hidden, most certainly not." He said mockingly, "It's strange what a little bug bite can do to you.. One minute she's entirely free in her choices, and the next she has no other choice but to obey and turn her loyalty to me.. She was and is nothing but a puppet to me - but she did help me succeed quite well with many of the things I've done. I've changed her appearance to look exactly like me.. Made clones of her that cleverly fooled all of you since you're really oblivious when under such stress.. It's strange how people like you work."

What?

Disguised her to look like him?

Made clones of her?..

What the hell was he talking about?

"What do you mean you made her 'look like you'?" Kira questioned, asking one of the many questions that raced through all of their heads at once.
"Oh, I shape shift." The psychopath said like it was the most casual thing in the world, "It might not be a thing where you all come from, but is very much a thing with me.. But it's not just myself I can shape shift, oh no.. Only those I have full control over can I do so - and it could potentially fool you unless you know what someone's eyes look like. Because I can't change those.."

"So you c-could've been her?..." Maru asked shakily as she still grasped onto the edges of Madoka's skirt.
"I could've been.." Alcorin answered, still holding Gingka's very life in his hands as he stood there, "But believe me, child.. My eyes do notgo with that hair.. As for the clones on the other hand, they were just solid-looking holograms.. Of course, it was a bit hard for me to keep track which one I had here but that won't matter. It was the same back there where he apparently failed to rid you of dear Zyro. The only reason I could use my abilities is because they're at least real enough for me to generate my powers through them - the same goes for when I took control of Ren. Of course, no one was there, but Hikaru was shifted to look like me so that I could use my powers through her and just wait to fully control Ren." A giggle escaped his lips from the joy that governed his void-like soul, "It was a very interesting set-up if I dare to say so myself."

"Why are you doing all of this?" Sakyo asked solemnly, now seemingly intrigued about the events that were now taking place, and how everything just suddenly seemed to fit together - he made no reaction when Alcorin's eyes shifted to him with an almost irritated look on his usually calm features.
"To complete what my father failed." He answered bitterly, "Not even he was strong enough to do everything that I had, which almost makes me disappointed in him.. But I will say I look up to my old man."

"You're father?.." Zyro questioned, something stirring in his chest as some sort of feeling arose - he wasn't sure he was going to like the answer that he received.
"Yes, quite." The dark bluenette said with an almost look, "What was his name again?... Oh right! Nemesis, as I recall."
That's when everything hit the fan and things came into sudden realization that flat out punched them in the face.

What?..

No..
No, this all had to be some sort of sick joke made up in that twisted mind of his.. That wasn't possible, was it?

Alcorin was the son of Nemesis?.. At this revelation, Kira and Zyro exchanged glances once more.
From the mere contact of their eyes/eye, they both immediately knew exactly what the other was thinking - seeing as how it had been Kira's assumption in the first place, it turned out he may have very well be right.

"Nemesis?.." Takanosuke repeated out of confusion, almost as if he was entirely confused on what in the world Alcorin was talking about - but they all knew the name of Nemesis, as everyone did.

"You know, the one that little Gingka destroyed 7 years ago?" Alcorin clarified mockingly, a small giggle escaping him as his eyes suddenly looked much more terrifying than they ever had; golden-brown eyes darkened to almost a black color before they lit up again with the color of red that remained as an aura behind them.
"N-no.." Madoka denied, shaking her head, "T-that can't be true.. That's not possible.."

"Tell me about my powers, then." Alcorin retorted cleverly, an amused look on his face, "Are you going to tell me that any normal human being can actually hold someone's heart in the palm of their hands and slowly kill them in a coma induced sleep?.. Because if you are, it is highly unconvincing."
Madoka's words got caught in her throat at his own, feeling entirely backed into a dark corner of which hope did not exist, a feeling stirring in her stomach of which she had known before - the dread of everything that was happening, the dread of what he could very well do at any given moment because he had the power to do so.
"How?.." Shinobu asked, a confused and shocked look on his face as he tried to process this newly given information of which they had not previously known about, and now discovered that they may have very not wanted to know.

"Well, it all started with my birth." Alcorin said teasingly, "Really interesting story, actually.. But I won't be getting into that. Besides, it's not like it'll matter since you should be worrying about the little liar."
His eyes - still as red as the orb he held in his hand - gestured back to Gingka suggestively.
"Why in the hell would you do this to him?!" Zyro demanded to know, of which none of them argued against.
"Isn't it obvious?" The psychopath questioned bitterly, his eyes golden-brown once more having returned from their more demonic state, "That man is the savior of the Beyblade world. On a number of occasions to be more precise.. I'm really quite shocked of how many people didn't think of killing him before they tried taking over the world. Because really, it makes things a lot easier.. And now that I have you all here like good little puppets... I don't think there's anymore reason for me to let him live."

"What?.." Madoka gasped out, her entire body tensing along the others at these words.

"You didn't think I was just going to let him live forever, now do you?" Alcorin asked, his eyes narrowing with a smirk on his face as the golden-brown orbs gleamed red once more and perhaps showing through to a true nature that they couldn't see, "You all knew it from the very beginning.. No matter what the outcome, no matter what you do to try and stop me.. I will have my way. One way or another."
As his words walked off of his tongue, he passed the cracked orb to his opposite hand of which his handedness did not lie for whatever reason - but with a devilish look upon youthfully flawless features, he took no hesitance and squeezing it tightly in his palm like he had previously.
Most of them jumped out of shock when a scream reached their ears, all eyes except for Alcorin's red ones went to the screen behind said sociopath, witnessing it unfold before them as Gingka screamed in pure agony as what was basically his heart was being crushed from the inside of his chest - the heart monitor beside him could clearly be heard as it beat faster than it ever had as he screamed unconsciously from the depths of his endless sleep.

"No!" Madoka screamed, unsure of what to do as her entire body shook and tears came to her turquoise eyes.

"Gingka!"

"Stop it!"

"You're hurting him!"

"Cut it out!"

"You sicko!"

The only reaction that they got from Alcorin was a small smile on his face and another change in his eyes - a change that didn't reflect any light even with from the glowing orb that began to crack on the surface beside him, only the cracks in it went even deeper than just the mere surface, spreading slowly all the way towards the core as the redhead from behind him screamed in the unbearable pain that he had never hoped to exist.
There was something in his eyes that reflected everything of who and what he was, the heritage that he had been born into and even back far into a past that few had known about and long forgotten - something he would not allow them to see, but made clear from the eyes that went back his entire life.
A small giggle escaped from Alcorin's lips, something that echoed in their heads and delved down into the deepest parts of their minds of which seemed to open them up - Gingka's screams of agony could never have been more clear; it was a sound that was inhuman, something that could only be caused by the truest of pains that went inside the very depths of his soul.

"Leave him alone!" Zyro weakly cried out before his breath hitched in his throat as they all heard a shattering sound, seeing Alcorin's hand now closed up into a fist with something pouring out through his fingers like sand that he let fall to the ground - and Gingka's screams had finally ceased as he flat lined entirely, his pained expression fading as his face went entirely white from the blood no long flowing through his veins.
A chuckle came from the psychopath's throat as if something as released, letting all that remained of the orb that had once been a substitute for Gingka's heart fall to the ground as pieces small than sand grains - his eyes were not that of anything remotely human anymore.
His irises were red, without reflecting any sort of light despite the quite bright lights from above - there was something in his eyes that lead far deeper than they could see on the surface.

Though no one cared about that anymore as time seemed to slow all at once - Madoka's mouth hung open in a failed cry, tears filling Maru's eyes and spilling over the edges of her eyelashes and staining her cute cheeks further - Sakyo and Takanosuke stood in nothing but shock as only the sound of Gingka's no longer beating heart rang endlessly in their ears, Shinobu not knowing how to react and instead looking over at Zyro along with Kira.
The blader's eyes were wide, his breathing heavy as he slowly looked down and away from the screen towards the ground. His breathing was heavy and deep, much like they had heard Gingka's be before his heart had ultimately stopped.
Shinobu instinctively went to assure that the other was alright, while Kira's one eye made its way back to the psychopath on the other side of the room, laughing hysterically with an undertone that was anything but mortal.

Ba-thump

"Mommy, are you okay?..."

Ba-thump

Red everywhere... On the floor, in the water..

No.. You don't care..

Ba-thump

His socks were wet as he up beside his tub, his tiny hand clutching her cold shoulder...

This isn't like then.. It doesn't matter..

Ba-thump

"Where's my mommy?.." There was no answer..

What had he done this for?..

Alcorin's giggling was all that rang in the background, taking over everything else as the screen behind him shut off with no further purpose.
"I told you you couldn't save him, Zyro!" The supposed demi-god mocked with a sickeningly joy lacing the edges of his voice, "Because I always get my way."...


When Gingka opened his eyes, he knew he wasn't really awake.

After all, if he had been, he would probably see the ceiling of a hospital room and hear the beeping of the heart monitor from beside his bed that could confirm he was still alive.

No... He opened his eyes, and saw before him a reality that was entirely his own - though this one was one that he liked.
Not an endless void of darkness of which he was held down to, not a pitch black abyss that he would forever be condemned to - it was world of stars and galaxies, warm and cold colors all mixed together in a beautiful scenery that was entirely his own, something that defined his soul and spoke all that his name was.
It was the one place that he could always willingly retreat to for comfort, burying himself inside his mind even if just for a moment to see the united entities and lifeforms that likely inhabited the cosmos around him that he loved so much.
It was his ideal - to see all things joined to together and accepting each other as one, knowing only peace and not war that tore them apart from each other instead of uniting them.
Gingka knew very well that it was something too good to ever be true, but he had always loved to imagine a world of paradise of where there was always freedom, and no walls to keep them in, no chains to hold them down, where everyone accepted each other and never fought in their ceaseless battles.
It was the world that he had always dreamed of, a universe that he had always wanted out of the very depths of his weakening heart - it was everything that he stood for, and everything that he was.

"What took you so long?.." Came a voice from behind him, causing the redhead to jump slightly and turn around swiftly with his scarf following with his movements; he found himself facing a glowing entity just a few feet away, a pure being of light that he had to squint at from the brightness that it emitted.
But the glow from it gradually calmed down and dimmed, taking a transparent human form of which he had to look at for several moments before he was finally able to identify who it was.
The redhead's eyes widened, unable to say a word as he stared into the face of who he had looked at as an old friend - and one that he had not seen in so long that he had to look into the depths of all he could remember before recognizing him.
He had changed in age, but he still seemed as youthful as he had the last time he had seen him from the day they had lost him; a soft whisper escaped on Gingka's tongue, a name that he had not said with such emotion in a long time.

"Ryuga..."

And for the first time, a smile graced Ryuga's lips.


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