A/N: Guess what? The new chapter is already here! I just thought I should update fast, because in a week or two, there might be a… situation when I won't be able to update for a while. But no worries: come what may, you won't have to wait for a new chapter for longer than two weeks – that is, if reviews keep coming… (Oh, I'm so not hinting!)

Okay, you're probably ready to rip me to pieces if I won't go on, but first… Thank you from the bottom of my heart for your astonishing reviews! It still baffles me that you actually bother sticking around for this long, much more to actually comment! (HUGS)

Alright, alright, here it comes! Now you'll finally find out if I chose to spare poor Kai's life or not – among other things. Hope you'll like!


CHAPTER 29: Svjet

Two weeks later.

Sitting on a comfortable arm-chair, Dara looked at the woman across the huge desk. She had shoulder-length, chocolate-brown hair, and a pair of emerald-green eyes that seemed to see right into one's soul. She was Shelly Tshadov, a prosecutor in the case against Voltaire Hiwatari and Boris Balkov. " I understand that this is difficult for you, but please, try to tell everything you can remember. Only that way we can get Voltaire and Boris locked up."

She nodded, filled with certainty. " Okay."

Shelly smiled. " Okay." She looked at her list of questions. " So… Tell me about Mischa Petrova."

Tears immediately glimmered in Dara's eyes. " She… She was my big-sister. After my parents died in a car-accident, she took care of me since we had no one else but each other. She was also badly injured, but she recovered fast, determined to get me away from Boris' hands." She shivered. " Spanish social-services were supposed to take care of us, but… We couldn't trust them. They would've separated us, perhaps even surrendered us to Boris, as he was me and Mischa's only living relative."

Prosecutor Tshadov blinked in surprise. " Relative?" Looking at Dara's papers, she discovered that she'd changed her surname from Balkov to Petrova only about a week back. Oh gosh… Poor kid…

Dara nodded, eyes dark. " That asshole is our uncle, our mother's brother. Unfortunately, social-workers didn't have a clue of what he is really like." She ran a hand through her hair. " So we… we escaped the hospital and travelled from Spain to Russia, all alone… Once there, Mischa worked as a waitress – no one asked her age, didn't give a damn, as she was cheep labour. We lived in abandoned apartments, even tried to study a little, and she… she did everything she could to keep us out of Boris' sight." Sorrow transformed into pure rage. " But two years after our parents' death we ran out of luck… Boris… He got to us. Mischa's boss had sold her out."


/ Sixteen-years-old Mischa had a look of utter fury in her green eyes as she held her crying, seven-years-old little-sister tightly in her arms. " You'll never have her!" she growled in Russian.

With a venomous smirk upon his face, Boris took few steps closer. " And you actually think you can stop me?" Boris took out his gun, pointing it at Mischa. " Hand over your sister, and I won't have to squash you like I did your parents."

" You'll have her over my dead body!" Mischa snarled, holding terrified Dara even more tightly.

Boris' eyes flashed, and he gave a cruel grin of a predator. " As you wish."

The chilling echo of the gunshot and Dara's scream could be heard in the walls of the house for a long time. /


Dara had tears in her eyes, a couple of them spilled. " Boris has done so much bad, killed and hurt so many people…"
/ From a backseat of a limousine, Dara watched helplessly as a burgundy-hared woman ran desperately with a baby in her arms, trying to get away from armed Boris following her.

" Run…", Dara whispered without noticing it. " Run, escape… For the both of your sakes…"

But luck wasn't on the woman's side. Getting ice under her shoes, she tripled, falling roughly to the ground, protecting her baby the best as she could. Before she was even up, Boris had caught up with her. The woman watched the man with widened eyes, realizing that there was no way out.

Boris' lips were moving as he raised his gun and aimed. A loud blast was heard as the gun went off and the woman slumped to the ground, a pool of blood growing underneath her. Giving her a grieving look, Boris took the horrified, crying baby and walked up to the car.

Once inside, Boris handed the baby over to Dara. " He's Dimitrei. Take care of him, or I will personally make sure that you'll share his mother's fate. Understood?"

Dara looked at the baby, trembling. " Yes." At that moment, as she looked into his innocent eyes, one thing was clear: she wasn't going to let Boris corrupt this child – whatever it would take. / (1)


" My mother was deaf, so I can read lips", Dara continued the story quietly. " That's why I know what Boris said to Dimitrei's mother before he killed her."

" What did he say?" Tshadov asked gently.

Dara's eyes glimmered once again. " ' I love you.'"

Tshadov found herself shivering. Deciding that she couldn't pressure the burdened girl any further, she nodded and made some notes. " Alright. I believe this was enough for one today."

" There's one more thing." Dara's eyes were filled with hatred. " Do you have any notes of Ivan?"

Frowning, Tshadov flipped through her papers, then shook her head. " No, I afraid I don't. Who is he?"

" Was", Dara corrected, voice filled with grief. " He… He was one of the few people in the Abbey I could truly call a friend." Icy coldness filled her entire body. " Voltaire Hiwatari ordered Boris to kill him." It took for quite a while before the girl could carry on. " He was Ivan Hiwatari, Voltaire Hiwatari's son." (2)


After walking around for a long time to clear her head, Dara entered the hospital – just like every single day for the past two weeks.

Though Kai was still unconscious, his condition was now stable enough to allow two visitors go in at a time. Every member of their gang had taken their turns, telling Kai that they were there for him and asking for him to hang on, as Kai's life was still hanging on a thin ledge. His injuries were healing torturously slowly, and it was still uncertain in what condition he'd be in once he'd wake up – if he ever would. And it also seemed that Dr. Hendez's fear had came true: there indeed seemed to be at least a slight infection in Kai's leg, which gave him a fever that made his healing even slower. The doctors had more than dozens of times tried to convince Mr. Dickinson to allow them to amputate but so far, the elder hadn't cracked under their pressuring.

The gang knew that Kai was strong, most likely the strongest person they'd ever met. But despite that, they couldn't help wondering how much he'd be able to endure.

Dara smiled to nurse Toamachi, who'd became familiar to her, as she got to the hallway Kai's room was in, then approached the room number 524. Just like she'd expected, the others were sitting nearby it. Ray and Nadja were most likely inside the room, as the two were absent.

" Hi", she greeted once close enough to be heard. " Anything new?"

" Still nothing", Tyson replied absentmindedly while flipping through a magazine. Though the boy never spoke it out loud, she could see from his midnight-blue eyes how much Kai's 'situation' (as they called it) was eating up the young Dragon.

" How'd it go?" Tala asked, referring to her meeting with prosecutor Tshadov.

She shivered. " As well as expected, I suppose." She took a seat, glancing towards the door of Kai's hospital-room, counting seconds.

" You'll get in soon enough, don't worry", Max's voice suddenly told her, filled with sympathy.

She gave the boy a quick smile. " I know. Thanks." The two of them had became good friends during the past couple of weeks. Something good about the nightmarish situation.

Drifting into her thoughts, Dara kept glancing at the door, hoping, praying.


Inside the room, Ray stood slightly further, watching as Nadja was whispering to her brother in Russian, her eyes glittering just slightly.

He knew very well how much it took of Nadja to reveal her emotions like this before him, to show him such trust – after all, having been under Voltaire's hand for so long, it was just as hard for her to trust them as it'd been for Kai. But it seemed they had this mutual understanding, wordless acceptance. Nadja – having seen all the tapes and pictures Kai had left for the Bladebrekers – knew that he wouldn't betray her, and Ray – noticing how stunningly much like Kai Nadja was – treated her like a sister, just like Kai was like a brother to him. They respected one another.

Ray's attention shifted to Kai, and he couldn't help feeling his heart jolt painfully with sorrow and fear.

It wasn't that Kai would've looked awful. In fact, the young Phoenix seemed almost peaceful, and it was nearly impossible to believe that the boy wasn't just sleeping. But Kai was sickeningly pale, and pretty much his entire body was bruised. There was also this small, chilling wheezing sound when he breathed, caused by the damage Kai's broken ribs had done to his lung. However, none of those things was what scared Ray. It was the horrifying emotion in his chest. He'd had the same feeling before, some months earlier when he'd been forced to let Kai's hand slip from his in his home-village. (3) Again, watching the scarily slow and weak, still rather uneven rise and fall of Kai's chest, he couldn't help feeling that the boy was slipping away from them.

Ray sighed, so quietly that Nadja couldn't hear it. Kai had fought so hard, they all had. He wouldn't believe that the whoever was on charge of peoples' destinies would let it all end like this.

I know we already got one miracle, and I'm almost afraid to ask for more, but…, he thought, closing his suspiciously moist eyes. Please, whoever there's listening… Give us one more miracle… Please…

A memory of the events in the warehouse came to his mind.


/ No one knew how much time had passed, or how many fruitless attempts to save Kai's life the medics had made. But, no matter how little they liked the idea, they all knew that too many minutes had slipped by. At some point, the ones herded out had came back inside, deciding that the medics couldn't keep them away from their friend. At the moment, they almost regretted the decision.

Dull silence lingered heavily over the group, strained faces mirrored each other. Fear, disbelief, grief … No one dared to speak, it was almost like they'd feared that should any words be voiced, the almost stilled atmosphere would break and the medics would announce the inevitable, that there was no longer hope.

All of a sudden a warm, almost hot wave flowed through the huge room. Gasps escaped when the group looked at Kai's blade that was once again glowing as Dranzer was trying to get out. Everyone – even the medics – stared in both fear and amazement as the magnificent phoenix rose to her wings, letting out a feral scream, eyes and wings burning like never before. " What the hell is this!" one of the medics yelped with widened eyes, beginning to back away from Kai's still form as flaming Dranzer flew to her Master.

" It's gonna toast that kid!" another medic yelled, trying to drive the phoenix away from Kai.

" No, don't!" Tyson screamed. " Let her be, for your own good!"

But the warning came too late. Dranzer's eyes got a colour of furious flames as she saw the man approaching her, and before anyone could make another move she formed a shield of fire that covered both her and Kai, almost burning the medic. " What on Earth…?" Mr. Dickinson gasped, old face paling.

After that everyone stood frozen and speechless, watching in awe and perhaps some fright as Dranzer bowed her head and rested it against Kai's forehead, closing her eyes. For several moments nothing happened. Then they all begun to hear the silent, extremely beautiful humming, almost like a song, that came from Dranzer's direction, and saw the tears that spilled to her feathery cheeks, falling to Kai's pale face.

It wasn't until then they understood.

Dranzer… She was calling her Master back.

It seemed to take forever before Dranzer opened her eyes and the enchanting humming faded away. For some time Dranzer looked at Kai, letting out a soft sound that was close to a chirp, desperate, demanding look in her auburn eyes. After that the wall of fire crumbled, and it took for just couple of seconds before Dranzer was back in her blade.

After making sure that the bird wouldn't come back anymore, the medics rushed over to Kai. The one checking for his pulse gave a huge gasp. " I… I can't believe this! He's alive!" /


Suddenly Ray woke up from his memories, and both he and Nadja let out a small yelp of surprise as the constant, steady bleeping of Kai's heart-monitor all of a sudden quickened, sounding almost enraged.

" What the heck…!" Nadja gasped, backing away from her brother in reflex.

At first, Ray stood paralysed, staring at his friend, fear squeezing his chest so tightly that it hurt. Kai's face remained unchanged, but Ray could tell that something was happening. The angry bleeping meant that something was wrong, he knew that.

And then, all of a sudden, his legs seemed to remember how to work again, and faster than he'd ever moved he dashed to the door, throwing it open. " Call Dr. Hendez! Something's happening!"


Unable to take the heavy, depressive silence hanging above the group anymore, Tala eventually decided to go and get a snack from a nearby machine. His thoughts were working with everything else than what he was doing as he dropped in some coins, then absentmindedly pushed a button. He didn't really care what he'd get – he wasn't that hungry anyway.

All of a sudden, his mangled thoughts were swept away when he felt that he wasn't alone anymore. Peering over his shoulder, he saw hesitant-looking Tyson standing not too far away. His eyebrows immediately furrowed. " Granger?" His voice was much icier than he'd intended, but at the moment he couldn't have cared less. " What do you want?"

A look between nervousness, hurt and guilt could be seen upon the bluenette's face as the boy seemed to gulp, staring out the window to avoid eye-contact with him. " Look, Tala… I'm not too good at apologizing, so would you please not make it even harder?"

Tala arched a surprised, almost amused eyebrow. Was Tyson seriously apologizing to him? He suddenly bowed his head in shame. Truth to be told, Tyson wasn't the only one who should've been sorry. " I think we're pretty much even."

" No, we're not", Tyson murmured. Looking up in surprise, he discovered that the younger boy still wasn't looking at him. There was a long silence before Tyson went on. " You really care about Kai, don't you?"

Surprised, Tala blinked his eyes, then nodded. " Yeah." Simple truth, a single word that held more meaning than thousand.

Tyson nodded as well, finally looking at him. The boy's midnight-blue eyes were filled with something close to grief. " I'm sorry… for never even trying to understand."

Tala opened his mouth, attempting to respond, when a panic-filled scream of Ray's prevented him. " Call Dr. Hendez! Something's happening!"


A voice echoed inside blinding brightness.

" Kai, can you hear me?"

Kai frowned in dissatisfaction. What was this voice? He just wanted to sleep…

" Kai, I want you to open your eyes."

He gave a small, protesting moan.

I... I can't... Too heavy...

Gradually, almost like in a slowed motion, Kai's eyelids twitched, unwilling to open up at first. Eventually they inched, just slightly, blinking furiously to get used to the bright light attacking them.

At first, Kai's hazy, disordered mind wouldn't recognize where he was. He could hear voices – those that came from people, but especially the irritating, alarmingly familiar beeping. His forehead again formed a small frown as he desperately tried to concentrate, to figure out where he was, and why there seemed to be this hellish pain all over his body.

" Kai?" the same female-voice asked, he felt a hand squeeze his. Slowly turning his head, he saw a doctor beside him. " Kai, you're in a hospital. Everything's alright."

Hospital…

Kai's eyes widened with realization, and a feral scream of utter panic escaped him. " NO!" he shrieked, forcefully pulling his hand off of the woman's hold.

" Kai, it's okay. I am not going to hurt you. Relax", the woman tried to soothe him.

Just then, a familiar voice spoke. " We're all here for you. Don't worry – Voltaire will never lay his hands on you again. Everything's alright."

The gang watched as Kai slowly turned his gaze to them. For a while he looked at them with a small frown upon his face, almost like not recognizing them. Then, suddenly, his eyes widened and he gave a gasp, a look of fear and immense humiliation in his eyes. He muttered something they couldn't make out as he quickly looked away, locks of black-dyed hair falling to shield his face. His breathing started to go hitched and his body quaked as panic took over.

Noticing the state he was in, Dr. Hendez tried to touch him, but he moved away. " Kai, don't you want them here? Would you like them to leave?" The boy didn't reply, wouldn't even react. " You are going into a shock. I need you to look at me and take deep breaths."

As Kai finally looked at the woman, her face suddenly changed – and he could see one of the Abbey's doctors right before him, the same who'd put the cyber-implants into him. He gave a strangled gasp, and although it hurt like hell due to the injuries he had, he backed away, as far as the bed allowed him to. " No, no, no… Please, go away… Leave me alone!"

Everyone else watched in slight frighten as Kai kept dodging Dr. Hendez's touches, huge burgundy eyes filled with panic unlike anything they'd ever seen before, entire body shivering uncontrollably. His heart-monitor was beeping furiously, much too fast to be normal. " Kai, I need you to calm down, alright?" the doctor told him, loudly and firmly. " If you don't, you are going to get yourself hurt." She almost managed to graph Kai's wrist, but the boy slapped her hand away with surprising force. She gave a sigh. " Kai, it's alright, you're safe now. No one's going to hurt you."

Unable to just stand back and watch, Dara stepped forward. Realizing that this girl would probably success much better with soothing Kai than she had, Dr. Hendez gladly gave the teen her place beside Kai's bed. Oblivious to the numerous pairs of eyes on her, Dara tried to touch Kai, but the boy moved away, eyes still filled with fear and pain. She bit her lip roughly to keep tears from coming. " Kai, it's me. Calm down, you're hurting yourself", she whispered in Russian. " You recognize me, right? I wouldn't hurt you. I could never harm you." She tried to touch him again, but he still wouldn't let her. A couple of desperate tears escaped her eyes. " Kai, please, look at me."

Kai's mind was spinning as he slowly, slowly lifted his gaze, staring at the girl sitting beside him with dazed eyes. He blinked, feeling very woozy all of a sudden. " D – Dara…?" This icy coldness then seemed to fill his entire body, and he started to shiver wildly. The breathtaking pain he was in made black spots dance on his vision as he pressed his legs – even the badly shuttered one – tightly against his chest and wrapped his arms around them, sobbing hysterically. He just wanted to disappear, to make himself invisible… He whispered in Russian. " Please, Dara… Take me away from here… Please… Don't let them hurt me… No more… Don't let him…" His voice disappeared as he buried his face into his knees.

Dara couldn't keep the tears from flowing. " Kai…" She reached out her hand, and shuttered as her fingers brushed his hand. Gosh, he's burning up…

The brush of fingers made Kai feel like he'd been burned up alive. Feeling terror flood through his veins, he wrapped even more tightly into himself, desperately trying to withdrew himself from the touch. " Don't touch me… Please…", he begged in a weak, almost pathetic voice. As he lifted his gaze, the vision of his seeing eyes once again changed – and Voltaire was there beside him, sneering at him. He gave a terrified gasp. " You will never get away from me, grandson."

Shivering even more violently, he wrapped his arms even more tightly around himself. His teary eyes were widened and almost glazed over as he stared at the monster before him, his breathing became hitched with panic. " Get away from me!" he screamed in Russian at the top of lungs.

Noticing that even Dara wasn't managing to calm Kai down, Dr. Hendez decided that she'd have to do something. If Kai wouldn't settle down soon, he'd go into a total shock, or end up making his injuries even worse. Few droplets of blood already stained his hospital-gown, indicating that some damage had been done. Carefully making sure that Kai wouldn't see what she was doing, she prepared a needle with strong sedatives, and begun approaching the horrified teenager from his blind side. Before Kai got even a chance to suspect something coming, the needle had found his arm. The boy fought furiously against the sedative, but eventually he was in at least some kind of a sleep.

Sighing, Mr. Hendez looked at the slightly startled group of teenagers. " I'm sorry you had to see that. Sometimes waking up is a huge shock for patients, and he also has the fever confusing him", she explained gently.

Blinking, Tyson looked at his sleeping friend. " Is… is he going to be okay?" he asked in a shaky voice.

" We'll see when he wakes up again and his head clears out a little. I think it would be a smart idea to have less people around him then." She gave them a slight smile. " But until then… You should all go and get some sleep. He won't wake up for few hours, and he really needs peace and quiet."

Reluctantly, the group-members nodded: they indeed needed some sleep, especially now that they could finally relax and catch their breaths. Voltaire and Boris were behind bars, Kai was safe and on his way to recovery. There was nothing to worry about anymore.

Little did they know how much recovering Kai would have to do…

The same moment the teenagers exited, in came a rather young nurse whose nametag stated Aina Toamachi. " Dr. Hendez, patient-Hiwatari's test-results just came", she stated as soon as the door was closed.

Dr. Hendez was immediately alerted. " And…?"

" All negative for STDs." (4)

Dr. Hendez felt tremendous relief flood through her. " Thank God… At least some good news." She then remembered something. " What about the drugs we found from his bloodstream?"

Nurse Toamachi shook her head apologetically. " There's no knowing yet. The lab is still processing on them. So far at least six different, unidentified drugs have been found."

Dr. Hendez shuttered. Gosh, what have those freaks done to this kid! " Thank you", she stated, signaling the nurse that she was allowed to go. " I'll still have to do some bandaging on him."

Left alone into the room, Dr. Hendez looked at Kai (who moaned and trashed around in restless sleep) and gave a deep sigh.

Truth to be told, she couldn't be sure if Kai's behavior was entirely because of the fever or shock over waking up. She'd seen his head-injury, and couldn't help wondering if there was some degree of brain-damage on top of everything else the poor kid had to bear. It was also possible that those drugs given to him messed his mind. Or perhaps it was all mental – after all, Kai had been help captive, used as a guinea-pig, abused, almost killed, and God only knows what more. It was more than likely that a torture like that would leave scars.

Giving another sigh, she carefully brushed a stray-lock away from Kai's forehead. Even in his sleep, the boy whimpered weakly and withdrew from the touch. And although Dr. Hendez had seen pretty much everything imaginable during her career, much more than she would've liked, that heartbreaking sight brought tears into her eyes. " You have so many people waiting for you to recover, Kai", she whispered to her young patient. " You have to fight this for them. You must."


Some hours later, Tyson – who'd been sleeping off the exhaustion caused by countless of sleepless nights – jolted awake as the sound of his cell-phone ringing filled the hotel-room he was currently sharing with Kenny. Blinking his eyes in confusion, he looked at his phone and frowned when he couldn't recognize the caller's number. " Hello?" he mumbled groggily, rubbing his face with his free hand to wake up a little.

The voice he heard was probably the last one he'd expected. " Tyson, this is extremely painful for me to say, and I need you to listen carefully, because I won't be able to repeat myself."

He blinked again, this time in complete shock. " J – Jax?" The confusion turned into anger, almost pure rage. " What the hell…?"

" Listen!" Jax almost roared at him, voice filled with pain. " I… I don't particularly like you – big surprise, huh? And… The last thing I want is to see someone as good, amazing and pure as Max suffering because of you. But… I've tried for months, and I just can't change the way he feels for you." Tyson could've sworn he heard a sob. " And… That's why I'm offering you a one last chance to make things right between you two." This time, there was definitely a sob. " Now that Kai's safe and recovering… Max is coming here, to America. And… He says it's only a weekend-trip, but… I know that if he'll come here, he'll never leave." Jax needed a long moment to compose himself. " His flight departs at six pm. And… If you'll be able to stop him, I'll just have to live with it. But if you won't… Then I'll know for sure you never deserved him."

Tyson blinked his eyes in total confusion. It took for a while before he found his voice. " Thanks."

" Don't thank me", Jax replied harshly. " I'm not doing this for of you." With that, the older boy hung up.

After the phone-call ended, Tyson's first thought was that he should run as fast as he possibly could, find Max before it'd be too late: clock was approaching six with terrifying speed. But then… He simply froze, standing about three steps from the bed, eyes wide and tight throat hurting.

If he would keep Max from leaving now… would he ruin the boy's life? Gosh, both he and Max had changed tremendously during the past long months, grown up and learned so much… They'd have to learn to know each other all over again, and it would be a long, painful process. Besides, would they ever get back the connection they once had?

Max would be happy with Jax. Who was he to prevent that? Did he and Max even belong together?

He was startled as a soft, feminine voice suddenly spoke. " You should know… Max left five minutes ago." Slowly lifting his gaze, he saw Dara leaning to a doorframe. There was a look of deep pain, but also steely determination upon her face. " Tyson… No matter how much you doubt, how difficult it might seem… Please, don't give up on Max – I can see how much you two care about each other. If you let him slip away now, you'll never forgive yourself."

Any other day, Tyson would've scolded at the girl he still didn't trust, told her to get lost. But at that moment… He just couldn't. Instead a weak, wheezing question escaped him. " How can you be so sure?"

Dara's eyes were glimmering. " Because… I almost lost Kai. And… Trust me when I say this – you would never want to feel such pain." She gave a shuttering breath. " It almost ate my soul away. I won't watch you going through the same because of your damn stubbornness."

And at that moment, looking into her sapphire eyes that shone with nothing but pain and sincerity, Tyson finally understood that he'd been wrong about her. True enough, she'd once lied about a lot of things, but the look in her eyes just then told that she definitely wasn't selfish or heartless.

But he didn't have time to apologize or tell her about his newfound wisdom. Giving a slight smile, he darted towards the door. " Thanks."

Dara smirked, recovered from her rush of emotions. " Good luck."


It seemed to take forever before Tyson finally dashed through the airport's huge double-doors, desperately gazing around with widened, terrified eyes. Max was nowhere to be seen, and his chest suddenly became very tight and heavy.

Had he been too late after all? Had he… Had he lost Max – for good?

But then, just as he'd almost fallen into despair, his eyes suddenly met a familiar mop of blonde hair, and a huge gasp of astonishment and relief escaped his lips. " Max!"

Max was just walking towards the gate that would lead to his flight, carrying a huge bag. Hearing his name, the boy paused for a while, looking around with surprised eyes. But the boy's gaze never met Tyson, and he continued walking.

Desperation and terror filling his body, Tyson begun to run like a madman, something close to utter terror in his eyes. " No, Max! Wait!"

And just then, Max saw him. Such a variety of mixed feelings appeared into the American's eyes that Tyson simply froze, about five steps from the boy, suddenly finding it hard to breathe.

Surprise, hurt, anger, wonder, possibly even desperate hope.

For several moments they stood absolutely still, staring at each other, speechless and immobilized. Tears gathered into Tyson's stormy eyes as he eventually whispered three words. " Yurushite kudasai… Please…" Not even noticing it, he reached out a hand.

Tyson knew full well how much he was asking of Max. With forgiving and staying, the boy would give up on pretty much perfect life, turn down the unconditional love Jax was offering him.

Max had every right to just walk away.

Time seemed to stand still as Max stared at his outstretched hand with pained, almost teary eyes, seeming deeply torn. Then, so suddenly that it frightened them both, Max dropped his bag and rushed over to Tyson, throwing both arms tightly, almost frantically, around the bluenette. Sobs shuttered the blonde's entire body as he buried his face into Tyson's chest.

In his hazy, disordered mind, Max could only wonder how he'd ever been a fool enough to think that he'd be able to just walk away like this.

Almost like reading his mind, Tyson gave a small smile through almost spilling tears of sheer relief and joy, gently stroking his hair. " Let's go home", the bluenette whispered in a croaky voice.

All Max could do was nod.


Alissa's ice-blue eyes were filled fury, annoyance, maybe even a hint of nervousness as she stood in a small park some hours later, taking a look at her watch. She gave a loud growl.

Late, as per usual. He never changes, it seems.

" So, Lissa… Long time no see", came a disturbingly familiar voice in Russian from behind her.

Squinting her eyes, she peered over her shoulder. Behind her stood a boy at her age with silvery eyes and short, unruly indigo hair. " What the hell are you doing in Japan?" she snarled.

" Valeri's funeral will be held here tomorrow", Mikhailov announced. " Don't ask me why, but I thought I should ask you to come along."

Her eyes darkened. " I cut all my ties to your stupid little gang for over a year ago."

" Yes, you did." Mikhailov's voice was low and unforgiving, almost like a growl. " We found you and saved your life, took care of you when you were half-dead. And how do you repay us? By ditching us like some garbage – twice!"

Alissa's eyes flashed. " Yes, because the things you forced me to do made me sick! I became everything I'd always despised because of you!"

Mikhailov snorted. " According to what I saw, you didn't seem to loathe us – or him, at least – all that much back then."


/ With the rest of the gang fast asleep, Alissa and Valeri (5) were laying on the boy's bed, attacking each other with passionate kisses, battling over control.

Suddenly Valeri withdrew from Alissa, making her moan with dissatisfaction. " Allie… Do you trust me?"

Alissa blinked in surprise at first, then nodded, smiling. " Of course I do. What kind of a question was that?"

" Then…" He took out a set of strange equipment, one of which had a needle on it. " … will you finally become a official gang-member? Will you seal it?"

Alissa found herself shuttering. " Valeri, I… can't…"

" Please?" he interrupted, insistent look in his eyes. " For me?"

She found her resistance dying down. Slowly, she gave a small nod. " Alright. For you."

He smiled, eyes radiating utter happiness. " Thank you." Gently, he removed the shirt that'd been covering her shoulder, softly brushing her skin with his fingertips. " I wont hurt you, I promise."

" I know." She, too, smiled. " I trust you."

She didn't even wince when Valeri carefully tattooed a picture of black wings onto the pale skin of her shoulder. Once done, the boy looked at her, eyes filled with joy, and kissed her lips passionately, hungrily. " Congratulations, Allie. You are now a official member of The Sinners Of Eden." He kissed her again. " I love you."

She grinned. " Love you too."

From his bed, Mikhailov's watched the kissing couple with pain-filled eyes. Giving an inaudible growl, he sifted to side, taking his eyes off the excruciating sight. /


" Perhaps I loved him once, but he destroyed all that a long time ago." She looked at Mikhailov, eyes flaming. " He worked for Voltaire, did you know that? He turned his back on us all."

Mikhailov's silvery eyes filled with fury. " Why should I believe a traitor-bitch like you?"

Giving a loud hiss, Alissa punched the boy with all her strength, sending his head jerk sideways. " Call me that ever again, and the next one fill hurt much more. Got that?"

Mikhailov smirked. " Feisty little cat." He watched as she rapidly turned around and started to walk away. " You should know… You will never get rid of your past, Allie. There's no turning your back on all the things you've done." His eyes flashed. " Your 'friends' will discover all about you sooner or later – after all, they're not idiots. And that day they'll ditch you, just like you ditched us."

As Alissa's legs quickly carried her away, she squeezed her eyes tightly shut and grit her teeth, desperately trying to fight against bubbling emotions.

Was Mikhailov right? Would Ray and everyone else, even Tala, abandon her if they'd know?

She'd just got herself people she could call family, found a place where she belonged. She couldn't lose that all – not again.


That same evening, Mr. Dickinson blinked in surprise when his cell-phone suddenly rang. " Hello?"

" This is Dr. Hendez", came a familiar voice. " I called to inform that the test-results just came."

Although he'd almost fallen asleep just a while ago, Mr. Dickinson was suddenly fully alert, eyes slightly widened. " Y – yes?"

" The results were checked three times, and each time we came to same conclusion." She held a small pause. " Kai Hiwatari really is your grandson."


Meanwhile in a airport not too far away, a driver named Grigori watched as his newest boss approached him, and couldn't help smirking with delight.

Not bad, he declared to himself. Not bad at all.

She was a girl in about the age of fourteen with shoulder-length, ginger hair and piercing, fierce auburn eyes. On her she had a short, black leather-jacket and blue jeans, plus a pair of bark-brown boots and a midnight-blue shirt. No denying it – she truly made blood boil in his veins. " Good evening and welcome to Russia, Miss Kovanen", he greeted in wobbling Finnish.

Giving the man her bag, the girl found herself smiling. Funny. It's been for almost three years, and I'm still not used to that name. " Kiitos." She continued in flawless Russian, taking the man by surprise. " You can just call me Taina." Enjoying of the man's stun, she walked pass him, noticing that it took for a long time before he'd gathered his wits enough to follow her. " Would you take me to a hotel, please? And tomorrow, there's a place I need to go to…"

" Sure, Miss."

Sitting into the man's limousine some moments later, she stared out the window, letting her thoughts whirr. Gosh, it'd been for such a long time from when she'd last been here! And now, she had something important she needed to do…

Tomorrow, I'll finally be able to seal all those scars he gave me… Her eyes squinted. Perhaps then, I will finally be free. Free to grasp onto my fate…


TBC.
A/N: I… couldn't… kill him… yet, at least… (grins evilly)

Uuuh… A lot of stuff in one chappy, huh? So many 'little' things revealed, but a lot still left… Will Kai ever be the same again? What all is Alissa hiding? And who is this new mystery-girl? So many secrets left unsolved – and only six chapters to go… (grins evilly – again) (I'm creeping you guys out, aren't I?)

I sincerely hope you don't hate the fact that Mr. D is Kai's (and Nadja's, too) real grandfather. I just thought that Kai deserves at least one relative (save Nadja, naturally) who doesn't want to use or harm him.

Okay, with those, 'hope I'll see you all next time! Bye guys, and please, please, PLEASE review! (gives huuuuuuuuge puppy-dog eyes)

(Btw… The chapter-title "Svjet" is Russian, and means "Light".)

(Btw 2… In case you were wondering what Tyson was apologising for… He and Tala had this rather nasty fight in chapter 19, and Tyson said some… harsh things. Tala, on the other hand, was thinking about his actions back when he was Biovolt's puppet.)

(1) Just in case you've forgotten… Dimitrei's mom Boris killed here… She was Tala and Alissa's mother, too. I think this came out in chapter 23. (As did the accident where Dara's parents died.)

(2) Remember Ivan? He was mentioned quite a many times during the earliest chapters. There was a longer description of his looks (and, unfortunately, death) in chapter 7.

(3) The scene mentioned can be found from chapter 22.

(4) STD sexually transmitted disease. Thought I should put this here for those whose first language isn't English. As one myself, I know perfectly how bitchy these shortages can be to remember.

(5) Oh yes, the same Valeri who Alissa attacked in chapter 27 when he tried to kill Ray.