Oi, I'm so tired. But, *points to the bottle of Pepsi deadly thinker gave her, which is hooked up to an IV line* Oh yes. Caffeine. ^.^
When Our Eyes Meet - Part 36
Normal POV
Panic stricken eyes darted around the hallway, searching vainly for signs that someone was coming. Somebody had to have seen what happened. After all, the entire abbey was riddled with cameras, all for the sole purpose of monitoring the students, if they could be called that. Prisoners seemed more appropriate.
Tala's azure eyes fell on Boris's still form, still lying on the ground. Blood was leaking from the man's mouth, in a steady trickle. His head was cocked to the side at a strange angle, and there were several large, dark bruises beginning to show on the skin. Shifting Kai's weight on his back, Tala tried to kneel down without falling. He needed to know, needed to see if the director was still alive. With a shaking hand, he reached out to try and touch the man's face. His fingers hovered, millimeters from the skin, before he finally pulled back, as though he were going to touch something hot. Cradling his arm to his chest, he stood up, tearing his eyes away.
'Why do I care if he's dead?' he thought, his mind still in somewhat of a haze from the whirlwind of recent events. 'He tried to rape Kai. He deserves everything he got.'
The thought of Kai made his throat go dry. He swallowed, but had a hard time working up any saliva. It felt like his throat had been rubbed with sandpaper. Nervously, he licked his lips. What would he do when Kai woke up? How could he explain himself to the boy? Kai wasn't an idiot, he would probably understand, but what about trust? Trust was always an issue for Kai, who spent a good deal of his life believing that everyone that tried to get close to him was only trying to hurt him in the end. It was a constant problem for him, something he had worked hard to overcome, with only marginal success.
Turning his head, Tala tried to get a look at Kai's face. The boy was still unconscious, but instead of the peaceful expression that normally graced the boy's features when he was asleep, Kai looked pained. A certain pressure surfaced in Tala's chest.
Guilt.
He couldn't remember the last time he had truly felt bad for something he had done. There had been times when he knew the choices he had made had hurt others, but never had he felt any remorse. That wasn't a part of his nature, nor was it a part of his training. And again, it all came down to his training. It wasn't his instinct he had followed when he hit Kai; it was something else, something that he had to tap into, to ignore the wretched pain he felt when he saw himself hurting his friend. It was his programming, his conditioning.
"Damnit."
He closed his eyes, suddenly aware that he had spent far too much time standing around, lost in his thoughts. He should have been thinking of a place to hide. But no, he was too busy agonizing. He had let his heart take over when this was clearly a time for thought and planning. They would be coming soon, and there was no way he could expose a defenseless Kai to them. That would be suicide, especially, since Tala didn't plan on letting anyone even remotely close to his friend. Not when he was unable to defend himself like this. He would die before that happened.
'Alright,' he thought, trying to calm his widely pounding heart and frayed nerves. He needed to be composed, or his judgment would be clouded. 'We can't go to my room or Kai's, that would be far too obvious. The roof is out of the question and so is leaving the abbey, not with Kai like this. So, then, where?'
Still trembling faintly, he took off down the hallway at a quick walk. He had no idea of where to go, not yet at least, but he certainly wasn't going to stay there. The pressure of that location, and the sickening, coppery smell of blood, where starting to effect him. He needed to put some distance between himself, and what had just happened.
A heavy, desperate feeling rose in Tala's chest. He was lost, unsure of what to do. He had screwed up, let the situation take the wrong path. If he had just submitted to Boris…
Squeezing his eyes more tightly shut, he tried to block that thought out of his mind. No, it wouldn't have been ok. Things would never be ok, never again, no matter what course of action he had taken. Boris would still have his lustful, violent eyes on Kai, if he were even alive, and the man would still use the affection Tala had for the phoenix as blackmail. No, things would never be ok again.
Even from the short encounter with Boris, Tala felt dirty. He could imagine how Kai had felt after what had happened to him before. How had he managed to keep that bottled up? Didn't it hurt him?
'I'm sorry, Kai. I finally understand. I understand why you wouldn't tell me.' Involuntary tears began to squeeze from under his closed eyelids, and he broke into a run. He felt like the world had spun out of control, and he had no say about anything that was happening. It was a desperate feeling; something he wasn't used to, and something he didn't know how to deal with. He needed help.
But from where? He didn't have many people to turn to for help in his life. Kai, of course was one, but Kai was incapacitated, unable to help. Yaremka was another, but how was Tala supposed to get in contact with him? The boy was out of the question. Some deep, buried instinct in him wanted to say his parents, his mother and father, but he didn't have any. Or if he did, he didn't remember them. He didn't even have something remotely close to a mother-figure or a…
"A father- figure?" his voice was thick, half choked by the wave of unfamiliar emotions. He could feel an idea, tugging at the corner of his mind, but he couldn't grasp it. He was starting to feel tired. The emotional wear was starting to add up with the physical strain of carrying Kai as he ran. The boy wasn't very heavy, but nonetheless…
His pace slowly, his breathing labored. 'I don't have anyone like that…' he looked over his shoulder at Kai, who still hadn't stirred. "Kai." He gasped. "What can I do?"
Sapphire eyes closed, and then suddenly snapped open, as he finally grasped the thought that had been dancing on the edges of his mind. 'Someone I looked up to…someone we looked up to…Igor!'
The faintest hints of a smile crept at the corners of his mouth. That was it. The man was long gone, but still, he could help…maybe.
Leaning close to Kai's face, Tala whispered to him, although he knew that they boy wasn't likely able to hear him. "Kai, let's go visit the memory of our old friend." His mind made up, Tala glanced around, gaining his bearings at the there location, and choosing a direction.
'Igor's gone, but, maybe he can still help. His room is the same as he left it, it's been that way every since he died. No one ever cared to clean it out. They may not think to look there.'
Still vaguely aware that the cameras were watching them, Tala ran, until he reached the closed door of his deceased friend's room, his mind praying for two things. 'Please, let the door be unlocked, and let the cameras not pick up on us going in there.'
Reaching out, he laid a shaking hand on the doorknob, hesitating as he took a deep breath to calm himself, before pushing the door. To his great relief, the door swung up, and he stepped inside, quickly, shutting the door without a sound.
The room was dark, but Tala didn't dare turn on the lights, for fear that somehow how, that would lead them to the hiding place. He could make out the lumpy shape of a bed against one wall, even in the gloom. So he carefully walked over, stumbling several times on various objects that scattered the floor. Obviously, Igor hadn't been the neatest person in the world. He felt the bed carefully before laying Kai down gently, not wanting to put the boy on top of anything sharp. After trying to make the boy as comfortable as possible, he looked around, trying to make sense of things in the gloom.
The room felt like an entirely different world right then, as if he had somehow stepped into a dream, or nightmare. It wasn't a particularly large place, and with the bed, and the desk that stood against the opposite wall, it seemed even smaller. The floor was covered in papers, all yellowed and torn from being trodden over, as well as various other possessions. Some clothes, stray knickknacks, garbage.
Tala glanced down at Kai; fondly brushing stray bangs away from the boys face. He was feeling slightly calmer now, but not by much. He was still stressed, but at least they were out of sight of the glass eyes. Tearing his eyes away, he tried to make his way towards the desk, careful not to step on anything. It might be awhile before Kai woke up, and somewhere, deep down, Tala felt he needed to look at the remains of Igor's life.
The desk was like a miniature version of the room, covered with junk, disorganized, and dirty. Nonetheless, Tala stood next to it, pushing papers aside and occasionally picking one up to look it over. There wasn't anything interesting, not that he could see, so he started to turn away, when something near his foot caught his eye. Bending down, he picked it up, and as he did, several small shards of the glass fell to the floor. He turned the object over, squinting to see what it was in the gloom.
He picked a few more pieces of shattered glass away, suddenly realizing that he was looking at a picture frame. Walking over to the bed, he sat next to Kai, examining the frame. The picture had long since been removed, but there was still something there.
Frowning, Tala picked at the edges, trying to pry it out without cutting his fingers. A corner of it came up, and he was able to pull the rest out, so he tossed aside the frame.
'Another paper?' he thought, as he unfolding the crumbling sheet carefully. 'I wonder why he hide it in here?'
His sapphire eyes scanned it quickly, his expression quickly becoming confused. "What…what is this?"
So, there you go. The so-called "mystery person" has appeared…sorta. I mean, he's dead, he can't really appear again, but you know….ok, enough rambling. (Too much caffeine) Anyway, sorry that it wasn't the Bladebreakers, but they will come later.
And, sorry this is a short chapter, but I wanted to end it here, so next chapter… x.x Can't say. ^.^
Please leave me a review, tell me what you think, and I'll update Wednesday. ^.^ And a very special thank you to everyone who reviewed. I'm so honored. You guys are the best. ^.^ *hands out goldfish crackers and cupcakes with 'Tala' or 'Kai' written in icing to everyone* Ja ne!
When Our Eyes Meet - Part 36
Normal POV
Panic stricken eyes darted around the hallway, searching vainly for signs that someone was coming. Somebody had to have seen what happened. After all, the entire abbey was riddled with cameras, all for the sole purpose of monitoring the students, if they could be called that. Prisoners seemed more appropriate.
Tala's azure eyes fell on Boris's still form, still lying on the ground. Blood was leaking from the man's mouth, in a steady trickle. His head was cocked to the side at a strange angle, and there were several large, dark bruises beginning to show on the skin. Shifting Kai's weight on his back, Tala tried to kneel down without falling. He needed to know, needed to see if the director was still alive. With a shaking hand, he reached out to try and touch the man's face. His fingers hovered, millimeters from the skin, before he finally pulled back, as though he were going to touch something hot. Cradling his arm to his chest, he stood up, tearing his eyes away.
'Why do I care if he's dead?' he thought, his mind still in somewhat of a haze from the whirlwind of recent events. 'He tried to rape Kai. He deserves everything he got.'
The thought of Kai made his throat go dry. He swallowed, but had a hard time working up any saliva. It felt like his throat had been rubbed with sandpaper. Nervously, he licked his lips. What would he do when Kai woke up? How could he explain himself to the boy? Kai wasn't an idiot, he would probably understand, but what about trust? Trust was always an issue for Kai, who spent a good deal of his life believing that everyone that tried to get close to him was only trying to hurt him in the end. It was a constant problem for him, something he had worked hard to overcome, with only marginal success.
Turning his head, Tala tried to get a look at Kai's face. The boy was still unconscious, but instead of the peaceful expression that normally graced the boy's features when he was asleep, Kai looked pained. A certain pressure surfaced in Tala's chest.
Guilt.
He couldn't remember the last time he had truly felt bad for something he had done. There had been times when he knew the choices he had made had hurt others, but never had he felt any remorse. That wasn't a part of his nature, nor was it a part of his training. And again, it all came down to his training. It wasn't his instinct he had followed when he hit Kai; it was something else, something that he had to tap into, to ignore the wretched pain he felt when he saw himself hurting his friend. It was his programming, his conditioning.
"Damnit."
He closed his eyes, suddenly aware that he had spent far too much time standing around, lost in his thoughts. He should have been thinking of a place to hide. But no, he was too busy agonizing. He had let his heart take over when this was clearly a time for thought and planning. They would be coming soon, and there was no way he could expose a defenseless Kai to them. That would be suicide, especially, since Tala didn't plan on letting anyone even remotely close to his friend. Not when he was unable to defend himself like this. He would die before that happened.
'Alright,' he thought, trying to calm his widely pounding heart and frayed nerves. He needed to be composed, or his judgment would be clouded. 'We can't go to my room or Kai's, that would be far too obvious. The roof is out of the question and so is leaving the abbey, not with Kai like this. So, then, where?'
Still trembling faintly, he took off down the hallway at a quick walk. He had no idea of where to go, not yet at least, but he certainly wasn't going to stay there. The pressure of that location, and the sickening, coppery smell of blood, where starting to effect him. He needed to put some distance between himself, and what had just happened.
A heavy, desperate feeling rose in Tala's chest. He was lost, unsure of what to do. He had screwed up, let the situation take the wrong path. If he had just submitted to Boris…
Squeezing his eyes more tightly shut, he tried to block that thought out of his mind. No, it wouldn't have been ok. Things would never be ok, never again, no matter what course of action he had taken. Boris would still have his lustful, violent eyes on Kai, if he were even alive, and the man would still use the affection Tala had for the phoenix as blackmail. No, things would never be ok again.
Even from the short encounter with Boris, Tala felt dirty. He could imagine how Kai had felt after what had happened to him before. How had he managed to keep that bottled up? Didn't it hurt him?
'I'm sorry, Kai. I finally understand. I understand why you wouldn't tell me.' Involuntary tears began to squeeze from under his closed eyelids, and he broke into a run. He felt like the world had spun out of control, and he had no say about anything that was happening. It was a desperate feeling; something he wasn't used to, and something he didn't know how to deal with. He needed help.
But from where? He didn't have many people to turn to for help in his life. Kai, of course was one, but Kai was incapacitated, unable to help. Yaremka was another, but how was Tala supposed to get in contact with him? The boy was out of the question. Some deep, buried instinct in him wanted to say his parents, his mother and father, but he didn't have any. Or if he did, he didn't remember them. He didn't even have something remotely close to a mother-figure or a…
"A father- figure?" his voice was thick, half choked by the wave of unfamiliar emotions. He could feel an idea, tugging at the corner of his mind, but he couldn't grasp it. He was starting to feel tired. The emotional wear was starting to add up with the physical strain of carrying Kai as he ran. The boy wasn't very heavy, but nonetheless…
His pace slowly, his breathing labored. 'I don't have anyone like that…' he looked over his shoulder at Kai, who still hadn't stirred. "Kai." He gasped. "What can I do?"
Sapphire eyes closed, and then suddenly snapped open, as he finally grasped the thought that had been dancing on the edges of his mind. 'Someone I looked up to…someone we looked up to…Igor!'
The faintest hints of a smile crept at the corners of his mouth. That was it. The man was long gone, but still, he could help…maybe.
Leaning close to Kai's face, Tala whispered to him, although he knew that they boy wasn't likely able to hear him. "Kai, let's go visit the memory of our old friend." His mind made up, Tala glanced around, gaining his bearings at the there location, and choosing a direction.
'Igor's gone, but, maybe he can still help. His room is the same as he left it, it's been that way every since he died. No one ever cared to clean it out. They may not think to look there.'
Still vaguely aware that the cameras were watching them, Tala ran, until he reached the closed door of his deceased friend's room, his mind praying for two things. 'Please, let the door be unlocked, and let the cameras not pick up on us going in there.'
Reaching out, he laid a shaking hand on the doorknob, hesitating as he took a deep breath to calm himself, before pushing the door. To his great relief, the door swung up, and he stepped inside, quickly, shutting the door without a sound.
The room was dark, but Tala didn't dare turn on the lights, for fear that somehow how, that would lead them to the hiding place. He could make out the lumpy shape of a bed against one wall, even in the gloom. So he carefully walked over, stumbling several times on various objects that scattered the floor. Obviously, Igor hadn't been the neatest person in the world. He felt the bed carefully before laying Kai down gently, not wanting to put the boy on top of anything sharp. After trying to make the boy as comfortable as possible, he looked around, trying to make sense of things in the gloom.
The room felt like an entirely different world right then, as if he had somehow stepped into a dream, or nightmare. It wasn't a particularly large place, and with the bed, and the desk that stood against the opposite wall, it seemed even smaller. The floor was covered in papers, all yellowed and torn from being trodden over, as well as various other possessions. Some clothes, stray knickknacks, garbage.
Tala glanced down at Kai; fondly brushing stray bangs away from the boys face. He was feeling slightly calmer now, but not by much. He was still stressed, but at least they were out of sight of the glass eyes. Tearing his eyes away, he tried to make his way towards the desk, careful not to step on anything. It might be awhile before Kai woke up, and somewhere, deep down, Tala felt he needed to look at the remains of Igor's life.
The desk was like a miniature version of the room, covered with junk, disorganized, and dirty. Nonetheless, Tala stood next to it, pushing papers aside and occasionally picking one up to look it over. There wasn't anything interesting, not that he could see, so he started to turn away, when something near his foot caught his eye. Bending down, he picked it up, and as he did, several small shards of the glass fell to the floor. He turned the object over, squinting to see what it was in the gloom.
He picked a few more pieces of shattered glass away, suddenly realizing that he was looking at a picture frame. Walking over to the bed, he sat next to Kai, examining the frame. The picture had long since been removed, but there was still something there.
Frowning, Tala picked at the edges, trying to pry it out without cutting his fingers. A corner of it came up, and he was able to pull the rest out, so he tossed aside the frame.
'Another paper?' he thought, as he unfolding the crumbling sheet carefully. 'I wonder why he hide it in here?'
His sapphire eyes scanned it quickly, his expression quickly becoming confused. "What…what is this?"
So, there you go. The so-called "mystery person" has appeared…sorta. I mean, he's dead, he can't really appear again, but you know….ok, enough rambling. (Too much caffeine) Anyway, sorry that it wasn't the Bladebreakers, but they will come later.
And, sorry this is a short chapter, but I wanted to end it here, so next chapter… x.x Can't say. ^.^
Please leave me a review, tell me what you think, and I'll update Wednesday. ^.^ And a very special thank you to everyone who reviewed. I'm so honored. You guys are the best. ^.^ *hands out goldfish crackers and cupcakes with 'Tala' or 'Kai' written in icing to everyone* Ja ne!