A thank you to Brillerai and Anonymous for the reviews :3
Here is Chapter 37! I hope you guys like it and thank you for the continued support.
Author's Note: I must thank and credit the composers Kuroishi Hitomi, Kajiura Yuuki, Toshihiko Sahashi and Takeharu Ishimoto; their compositions, namely Masquerade (Code Geass), Forest (El Cazador de la Bruja), The Price of Freedom (Final Fantasy VII Crisis Core) and a piece played during episode 21 of Gundam Seed Destiny really helped me to set the mood to this chapter. =)
Additionally, this chapter could technically have been split into two but I felt that the reward for waiting was SLIGHTLY below the mark I would deem worthwhile especially considering what I have in mind for the ending so...=)
CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN
~ Emotion and Expression ~
The Mediterranean sun shines as the sole ruler of the clear skies over the ancient city of Rome. Three luxury vehicles travel at comfortable speeds, one behind another, down a busy road in the city's center.
Ventus had made a few rather important announcements just the night before at the Alfhild's main estate. First, Ventus informed them that he had completely reclaimed all assets that were illegally transferred to those who ran the lab. In particular, he was now the head of the Alfhild Group that had been run by Lux's father.
The second piece of information was in regards to the fighting style mainly used by Lok and his fellow Magnanimae. He elaborated on the differences between the souls of normal humans and that of a Magnanimae class human. A Magnanima's soul, other than their ritual purposes, is similar to the typical bitbeast but potentially stronger. He further explained the Extend-type launchers developed at the lab that took advantage of this fact. The Extend-types uses a fragment of the immortal bitbeast Psyche as a catalyst to extend a portion of a wielder's soul into their beyblade. This process, due to contact with Psyche, causes a resonance that augments or further augments the portion of the soul that had been extended, enabling some unique abilities. In the hands of a Magnanimae, this results in potentially the equivalent in power to that of a top notch bitbeast capable of massive amounts of damage.
Lastly, Ventus informed them of his plan for defeating and disarming Lok and how the other two pieces of information are relevant to that end. As the new head of the Alfhild Group, he has arranged for an interview by the media in about a week in which he intends to disclose his and Lux's approximate location. Certain that this will be of interest to Lok, he intends for this to lure out Lok to a location of his choice. For this reason he has made arrangements for all of them to travel to Italy where he will be interviewed. He also arranged them into two uneven groups.
The first and larger of the groups consisting of Kai, Lux, Tyson, Ray, Max and Daichi are to accompany him to a confrontation with Lok. Their main strategy shall be the use of Elfe's Song of Silence to cancel Lok's soul extension while Kai fights him. He took care to warn them however that the move will not distinguish between friend and foe, so it will be Lux's responsibility to dispel only the enemy's extensions. Kai initially objected to this; he felt that a two on one fight with Lok would be unfair. However, after Ventus informed him that Lok normally fights with two beyblades anyway, he agrees to follow the plan. Ventus then warned them that Lok and any allies he may have with him will likely attempt to cheat in even more ways so Tyson, Ray, Max and Daichi are to ensure that the fight is even. Tyson and Daichi were not thrilled by the arrangement; they felt that Kai was "getting all the glory" but Ventus assured them that there is a power that Kai has that makes it more advantageous for them if Kai is the one to fight him.
The second group consists of Tala, Bryan, Spencer, and Ian. While Kai and the others keep Lok busy, the Blitzkrieg Boys are to head to the Isle of Souls on which the Temple of Ouroboros lies. Once there, they should locate three altars, on two of which lies the essential artifacts for the rituals that can be performed there. Their objective is to destroy them both. In doing so, both rituals will become impossible to perform despite the presence of all seven Magnanimae. He also notified them of possible interference from Lok's allies but stated that the chances of someone guarding the place should be low.
The time now is almost noon. The group's plane had arrived some two hours earlier. Due to the copious amounts of tourists at the airport, it had taken them a long while to get through customs. The group had then split into three even groups to fit into the three luxury vehicles that had been arranged for them. Tyson, Daichi, Hilary and Kenny rode in the first vehicle, Kai, Lux, Max, and Ray in the second and the members of the Blitzkrieg Boys in the third. Ventus himself, however, did not travel to Rome with them; he had left the night before for a short business trip to Berlin. Since there was about a week and a half left until they were to confront Lok, he had told them they can go do whatever they wished in Italy for the time being.
To Kai, the city of Rome is a familiar place. Having been here at least twice for the World Championship tournaments over the years, he had seen quite a good deal of the place. The same can be said of Max and Ray. Lux on the other hand has her eyes glued to the sights beyond the glass of the car window. Whether or not she might have traveled here in the past, the city was sure new to her now. Her delighted look causes a smile to form briefly on Kai's face, unnoticed by the other three passengers.
"I still remember the first time we came here on the back of a farmer's truck." Max recalls as he watches some of the sights go by in the car window. "Who'd have thought that I'd be traveling through here in a limo this time?"
"You said it." Ray chuckles, agreeing with him. "I still remember how Tyson kept talking about Italian food. To think that it's already been three years…"
"This was one of the places we went to for last year's tournament too." Max remembers. "I think I'll buy a souvenir for my mom while I'm here."
"That sounds like a nice idea." Ray comments.
Soon the car stops due to traffic. Kai watches as the first car continues down the road in front of them, having made it past the light before it changed. Lux looks out the window as before like a curious kitten. Her features show not a hint of care for the stop. Scanning the streets, her eyes eventually land on an unusual trio. She watches this trio consisting of one blonde teen and two magenta haired girls as the two girls argue and the blond one tries to calm them down. Max catches sight of Lux focusing on something outside and notices the trio as well.
"Hey guys, isn't that Enrique over there?" he points out.
Kai and Ray turn in that direction as Lux turn from the window to them.
"Yeah, it is." Ray then turns to the others. "We sure haven't seen him in a while. Why don't we go say hi to him?"
"Sounds like a great idea. I wonder what he's been up to." Max agrees he then turns to Lux. "Hey Lux, wanna meet him?"
Lux nods blankly. She didn't really care either way.
Ray then turns to Kai. "You in, Kai?"
"Sure, whatever." Kai wasn't particularly eager but he didn't see a reason otherwise when they have days of time to kill.
Max then opens the car window and shouts to Enrique, "Hey! Enrique!"
Ray turns to the driver. "Excuse me, could you drop us off here and pick us up a little later?"
"Sure," their chauffeur responds.
The four of them gets out of the car and makes their way to the sidewalk. The traffic light changes and the cars begin to move. Tala watches them from the third car wondering what they are doing.
"Girls, I didn't mean what I said, honest." Enrique tells the two quarreling girls in front of him. "I really think that you're both beautiful!"
"As if!" the one with the magenta pigtails says with her arms cross. "You compared me to a ladybug!"
"That's 'cause you are kind of like a ladybug." The one with short magenta hair remarks.
"Am not!" the magenta pigtailed girl retorts. "At least I don't whore for attention everywhere I go like someone I know."
"Pardon? What's that supposed to mean?!" the other girl glares at her back. "You're just jealous because I have a better figure!"
"Then what do call that washboard on your chest?"
"As if yours is much better! You're only bigger by one size!"
"Girls, let's get along now," Enrique tries to calm them down. "The two of you are sisters; it'd be a shame for you two to hate each other…"
"Butt out, you two timer!" they told him in unison before resuming their fight.
"Hey Enrique," Ray greets him.
"Ray! Max!" Enrique seems quite happy to see them. "…and Kai!"
"Hey," Max greets.
The two magenta haired girls stop arguing at the sight of Kai.
"Where's Tyson?" Enrique asks them.
"He's was traveling in a different car so I guess he didn't see you." Max explains.
"I see," Enrique then notices the silent, golden haired girl with them. "Who's the girl?"
"Oh, she's a friend of ours." Max introduces her, "Her name is Lux. We were actually on our way to her family's villa."
"Her family's villa?" Enrique is curious now. The girl didn't quite carry herself like someone from a wealthy family; more precisely she just seems like a shy, innocent girl.
The two girls with magenta hair look at Kai and then each other before sending each other glares and turning from one another.
"Anyway, it's great to see you guys again." Enrique tells them. "How about you all join me for lunch?"
"Sounds awesome!" Max agrees to it.
"You can count me in!" Ray joins in too.
They turn to Kai and Lux.
"Lux, you wanna come along?" Ray invites her.
She looks around at everyone and then asks, "Cake…will be there?"
Enrique and the two girls with him look at her strangely.
"Uh…we can order some for dessert if you'd like." Enrique tells her.
Lux nods happily in response."Okay,"
Seeing as everyone else is going along with this, Kai also joins in with a nod.
"You girls can come along too." Enrique tells the two girls in an attempt to patch things up with them.
"I guess I'll come," the pigtailed one replies, with her arms folded looking away from her sister.
"Then I'm in too." the short haired one adds, facing the other direction.
"That's great," Enrique turns to lead the group to a restaurant. "Follow me, everyone. I know a great place around here."
...
As the group begins walking, the short haired girl inserts herself between Lux and Kai. Fixing up her hair a little, she begins to talk to him.
"Hi, I'm Flavia," she introduces herself.
Kai continues walking without bothering to acknowledge her.
"You're Kai, right?" she asks, trying to start up a conversation with him.
He does not bother to reply.
The pigtailed girl watches her sister with disdain. She takes out a small mirror and checks her appearance.
"So Enrique what have you been up to lately?" Max asks him.
"More or less the usual." Enrique replies. "I've brushed up a lot over the years on my beyblading. Wait 'til you see my Amphilyon in action."
"You're going to try and enter this year's tournament aren't you?" Max half jokes around. He knew full well there was no way the Majestics were going to back out.
"You bet." Enrique then proceeds to say, "And this year no team of cheaters will stop me and my team from getting to the World Championships!"
The pigtailed girl, satisfied with her look puts away the mirror and approaches Kai from the other side.
"Hey there, I'm Cornelia." She begins to talk to him. "You're that blader who almost won the World Championships in last year's tournament, right? I'm a huge fan of yours."
Flavia, irritated, sends her a glare. She then walks a little closer to Kai. "See, we both saw you blade against Tyson in the finals. I personally think you should've been the one to take the championship title."
Kai eyes them both briefly but does not reply to either of them. The two of them were strangely persistent despite his clear lack of interest.
Flavia, interpreting the glance from him as a sign of interest, tries to pick up where she left off.
"You know, I'm a blader myself." She tells him. "I could use some pointers from you if you got some time."
"That'd be a great idea!" Cornelia walks a little closer to him as well now, earning a glower from her sister. "My sister and I were thinking of competing in the upcoming preliminaries. If you can, do you think you can help me out a little too?"
Feeling as if the two were just a little too close, Kai walks a little faster to make some space between him and the two girls but they increase their speed to match his, much to his displeasure.
The group passes by a small shop. A hairpin decorated with a metallic, iridescent butterfly design catches Lux's eye. She stops to look at it a little, causing Ray who had been walking beside her to stop too.
"Do you want something from this shop?" he asks her.
Max turns and notices the shop.
"Hey Enrique, you mind if we stop by here just for a little?" Max asks, stopping the remainder of the group. "I wanna get my mom something while I'm here."
"Sure thing." Enrique tells him.
Max enters the shop to look around. Kai, noticing Lux pick up the hairpin, brushes past the two girls and begins to approach her. Flavia and Cornelia both take note of the hair pins on display. A devious look forms on their faces as they approach the spot as well. Just as Kai was about to ask Lux if she'd like to have the hairpin as a present, Flavia places herself in between the two of them again.
"Do you think you can give me a second opinion?" she asks, putting on a hairpin with black floral designs. "How do you think this looks on me?"
Cornelia scowls at her sister again. Lux, having lost interest in the hairpin puts it back down and moves from the spot. Kai was going to tell Flavia to take a hike but seeing as Lux wasn't interested in the hairpin anymore, he simply walks back to the others outside and ignores Flavia who subsequently takes off the hairpin and puts it back, frustrated. Ray, noticing Kai's building irritation sighs.
Max emerges from the shop with a small bag, "Sorry to keep you guys waiting!"
"What'd you get for your mom?" Enrique asks him.
"Just something small. She told me she'd like one of these before so I thought I'd get it for her for the next time I see her in New York." Max answers.
The group resumes walking and the two magenta haired sisters resume their position on both sides of Kai. Lux stays in the back of the group as usual but begins to lag more and more behind.
"Hey girls, you wanna go on my yacht this evening?" Enrique turns to them to ask.
"No thanks, I have more interesting things to do," Flavia replies.
"Me too." Cornelia adds.
Enrique sighs and returns his attention to his friends.
"What'd you do to make them so mad at you?" Max asks.
"Don't mention it…" Enrique sighs. He then asks, "So how long are you guys going to be in Rome?"
"Not long, actually. We were really just passing through." Max answers him. "The Alfhild's villa is in Tuscany and that's where we're planning to stay for the next few days."
"The Alfhild's? Wait…" The name rang a bell to Enrique. He turns around to look at Lux. "Is she from the Alfhild family?"
"Uh…yeah," Max replies. "Why?"
"Other than the recent years, they've been in control of a powerful financial conglomerate here in Europe for almost two centuries." Enrique tells him. "Oliver and Robert's families both have dealings with them. According to Oliver, a member of the family is recently in control again."
"Really?" Max was a little amazed. "I never knew Oliver and Robert had connections with them."
"Well the rich tends to be connected to each other." Enrique tells him. "...Especially when we are from close by regions"
Having heard the information, the two girls with magenta hair eye Lux with envy. In reaction, they try to close up the space between them and Kai. Kai glances over to Lux who is traveling at the very back of the group. She is almost behind Ray rather than beside him. Her gaze was kept away from Kai. Unable to see her expression, Kai wonders what Lux even thinks of the situation or if she even cares. From the angle from which he is looking, she appears just as if everything was normal.
'Maybe she doesn't feel anything towards me beyond friendship after all…' he thinks to himself. His eyes show a hint of disappointment for a split second.
As they turn around a corner, Ray suddenly feels a little extra weight pulling down on his hair in the back. He turns to see his student holding lightly onto him by his ponytail with one hand. Her face was mostly turned away from the group but he could see an honest expression of discontent on her features. Ray glances over to Kai and the two girls around him and then back to Lux. Knowing fully what this was all about, he silently let's her hold on.
A few kids run past the group down the street. One of them accidently bumps into Cornelia along the way. She grabs hold of Kai's arm for support and presses her chest against him.
"I'm sorry," she says to him while her sister sends her a look of aggravation. "A kid bumped into me."
Lux tenses at the sight of this, unintentionally tightening her grip on Ray's hair and pulling on it consequently.
"Ow!" Ray screams in reaction.
Lux quickly let's go and mouths an almost inaudible "sorry…" to him.
Everyone in front of them stop and turn to Ray.
"What happened, Ray?" Max asks.
"I-It's nothing, I'm fine." Ray tells the others.
Max and Enrique resume walking. Just as Kai was about to get himself out of Cornelia's grip, another yelp sounds, this time from Flavia. The next thing Kai knew, Flavia was leaning on him as well.
"Sorry about that, I tripped," she excuses her fall.
Ray glances at Lux to see an even greater expression of displeasure than before.
Cornelia looks at her sister with disgust. "You did that on purpose!"
The group stops again.
"Now why would I do that!?" Flavia snaps back.
Cornelia does not get a chance to say anything back as an intimidating voice booms over them both, "Listen, if you two are done tripping and getting yourselves bumped into, do me the favor of getting off of me!"
The both of them to look up to meet Kai's angry gaze. Before they can react, he jerks himself out of both their grasps and walks on. Max and Enrique continue as well. The magenta haired sisters follow shortly.
Ray sighs, 'This won't turn out well…'
They soon reach a restaurant with outdoor seating. Enrique indicates to them that this is the place and the group chooses a table to sit. Max and Enrique sit beside one another. Kai takes a seat but soon finds both sides of him occupied by the magenta haired duo. Although much to his vexation, he chooses not to make a scene. Ray takes the empty seat besides Enrique and Lux sits beside Ray where she is farthest from Kai.
Enrique then begins to recommend some of the dishes at the restaurant to them. Max and Ray pick out the ones they're interested in while Lux leans on her chair facing the street away from the rest of the group.
Enrique turns to the two with magenta hair and asks, "So what would you girls like to eat?"
The girls choose not to answer but instead they begin trying to talk to Kai again, asking what he'd like to eat and recommending their own favorites to him. As before, Kai simply ignores them.
Enrique sighs.
A waiter soon comes to take their order. Max, Ray, and Enrique order normally but as Kai was about to order something, the two beside him attempt to order their favorites for him resulting in them fighting with each other again. Kai takes this chance to tell the waiter his order, much to the disappointment of both sisters. Seeing as Lux was in no mood to bother ordering food and probably does not have much of an appetite either, Ray orders some cake for her along with something to drink hoping it might distract her a little.
After writing down the order, the waiter leaves them. Lux then stands up and mouths to Ray, "…restroom" to which he responds with a nod and a look of concern. She then moves through the many tables and chairs to where the restroom sign is located.
As soon as she got to the restroom, Lux closes the door and looks around. Seeing as no one is inside but her, she leans back against the door and stays that way for a while. During this while, everything is silent save for the soft hum of the vents at the top of the room that had become audible.
'Why do I feel…so bothered?' she asks herself in her mind. Normally she enjoyed her time with her friends. Particularly around Kai, she normally felt at ease and even happy despite his silent and cool demeanor. However today ever since she had stepped out of the car with everyone, she felt herself feeling more and more uncomfortable.
Lux held out her hand in front of her and examined it. Then she makes her way to the mirror spread across the restroom wall and gazes into her own reflection. Physically there was nothing wrong with her. She turns and examines herself more.
"I'm not…injured." She then touches her forehead. "Am I…sick?"
She gazes into the mirror some more.
'No…I'm not…sick.' Her hand fell to her side.
Her eyes eventually fall on the red ribbon around her neck. Without even realizing it, she touches the ribbon with one hand and mouths,
"Kai…"
Lux wakes from her trance at the sound of his name.
'Kai…'
Kai had acted just as he normally does; he hadn't really done anything out of the ordinary today.
'Kai…was…normal. But…then…why am I…bothered?'
She thinks back to the things that had only happened a little earlier – the two girls clinging to him, pushing their body against him, and generally being all over him. Soon she felt that feeling that had bothered her grow even stronger.
At the same time, she realizes what it was that bothered her. "They're…the ones."
The restroom door opens and admits two female customers who are unfamiliar to Lux. Seeing as she was no longer alone, Lux exits and stands outside the restroom momentarily. She then walks a little further out to see that the food had arrived. Max, Ray and Enrique were enjoying their meal. The dessert and drink that Ray had ordered for her had arrived as well. However, as Lux's eyes fall on Kai and the two magenta haired girls around him trying to convince him to try some of what they had ordered, she felt herself becoming dissuaded from rejoining them. Quietly, without attracting attention to herself, she slips away from the vicinity of the restaurant and begins to walk down the street in the opposite direction from which they came.
"Lux is sure taking her time in there," Max notes after swallowing his food.
Kai turns and eyes the restroom area. However, Flavia forces his attention on her, "Even if you don't like what we recommended, you should still eat, you know? Your food will get cold."
"I wonder if she's alright." Ray then notices something not too far away in the distance – someone moving slowly down the street. Realizing who it is, he gets up and shouts to her, "LUX!"
Lux, hearing her name, turns back to see that, everyone, including Kai, had noticed her. She stands still; the first thing they'd probably ask is why she had left the way she did. Not wanting to answer that question to them for a reason she does not understand, she panics and looks around her. A nearby alleyway catches her eye.
Kai watches as she begins to sprint down the street and into an alley. He then recalls how she had kept her gaze from him as they were walking and even after they had been seated. It dawns on him why she had tried to leave. He gets up to pursue her but is stopped by a hand on his wrist.
"Oh, come on, why are you going after her?" Flavia then says, "If she wants to go, just let her."
That was IT.
"I've had just about enough of this…" Kai was furious now. He turns to both magenta haired girls, "PISS OFF!"
Kai jerks out of Flavia's grip and dashes off in the direction Lux had gone, leaving the two to stare after him.
Lux sped down the alley and into a street connected to the alley. She randomly picks a direction and continues running, nimbly dodging any passersby and crossing into any street that was not blocked by a "stop" traffic signal. Some ways behind her, Kai calls out her name and tries to catch up to her.
"Lux!" He shouts through the crowd.
'Damn, she's fast!' Kai mentally comments.
He follows her with his eyes as she crosses at an intersection ahead and disappears from view.
'How could I have been so blind?'
He follows her, making it across the road just as the lights change.
'She did care…she just…'
He looks around for her and spots her as she disappears behind yet another building.
'…She just didn't know how to express it.'
He dashes in that direction and soon spots her making another turn.
'She might not even understand…'
He continues to run after her.
'…just what it is she's feeling.'
Kai finds himself at an intersection. He looks around. Scanning everywhere with his eyes and again for a second time, he finds Lux no longer anywhere in sight. He had lost her. "Dammit!"
...
Lux slows down to catch her breath and looks around her to find herself at the entrance of some public park or reserve. She had kept running in a panic and had no idea where she had gone. Not knowing the way back to her friends and not in the mood to explain her actions anyway, she ends up wandering into the park. Unknown to her, she catches the iridescent cobalt eyes of a familiar man with ice-blue hair as she enters.
Looking around, the entire place was filled with…people. Lux notes that some of these people were doing very similar things to those she saw in Gamla Stan. She looks around some more and eventually notices a rather secluded spot under a tree. She walks over to it and sits down, tired from the long run. Her stomach lets out a noticeable growl making her slightly regret not having eaten anything. However, that thought ends as soon as she remembers the whole reason why she even ran here.
"But why...do the two of them bother me…?" she asks herself. She then remembers a certain furball that usually kept her company at times like this and begins to miss the small creature. She and Kai had taken the family of cats back to the spot where they had lived before leaving the country since they did not know how long they were going to be gone.
'What will I do...now?' Lux hugs her knees to her and stares ahead of her for a while, watching some of the tourists take pictures. Soon, without realizing it, the sun's afternoon warmth causes her to doze off.
...
Kai looks around a plaza. Lux was nowhere to be found. Over the past two hours, he had asked a number of people, mostly shopkeepers, many of whom had no clue if they had seen the girl. At this point he is not even sure if he's been misdirected or how many times if he has been. Kai looks around the plaza a little and wonders which person he should ask. A tug on his scarf catches his attention.
"Mister, are you looking for a girl with long golden blonde hair in a white dress?" a small child asks.
Kai was not sure how the child knew but decides to ask him anyway. "Do you know where I can find her?"
"She's at the Villa Torlonia." The kid tells him.
Kai ponders for a moment if he should trust the kid. There is the chance that Lux might have made contact with the kid and asked him to find him but then he thinks back to the mentality Lux seemed to have been in when she ran off. 'No way…'
"How did you know I'm looking for her?" Kai asks him.
"I can't tell you that mister," the kid answers.
Deciding this might be his only lead at this point, Kai decides to trust him once. "Fine, where's Villa Torlonia?"
"Here." The kid hands him a folded slip of paper.
As soon as Kai accepts it, the kid runs off.
"Hey, wait!" Kai calls after him but he soon disappears out of sight. He opens the slip to discover a poorly drawn map. Despite that however, the map was labeled and his route was traced out for him. Kai looks around him and begins to follow the route on the map.
...
In a nearby alleyway, the same kid runs up to a man with ice-blue hair.
"I told him what you wanted and gave him the paper, mister." The kid tells him.
"Good boy," Wyvynn answers. He then pulls out some cash from his pocket. "Here you go! Enjoy your ice cream, kid."
"Thanks mister, bye!" the kid leaves him.
"What in the world am I doing…?" Wyvynn asks himself as he watches the kid run off. He then shrugs. "Oh well…"
...
A breeze brushes through the many leaves and branches of a large ash tree and disturbs the water of the lake in which the tree stood. An elf bends down on the surface of the lake and lightly shakes Lux.
"Lux…" she calls to her.
The girl does not react.
"Lux…" she calls again.
Lux stirs and blinks her eyes open to see her own face.
"El…fe?" Lux recognizes her spirit friend and sits up. She then takes a look around. She recognizes her surroundings. "This…place…"
Elfe smiles and gets up. She then extends a hand to her. "Let's go for a walk."
Lux looks at Elfe for a moment and slowly nods before taking her hand.
As the two of them take a step forward, the scenery around them changes completely. The lake and the ash tree disappear and are replaced by a well-kept field with a single path through it. Lined on both sides of the pathway are blank portraits. Lux stops and reexamines her surroundings. Elfe stops with her and turns back to her.
"Shall we?" Elfe invites her down the path.
Lux nods.
As they walk through the many portraits, Lux begins to see that some of the portraits were not empty. One of them portrayed Kai as he was protecting her from three cloaked figures who had broken into Kai's mansion. Another portrait depicted Kai beneath her after she had fallen off Tyson's roof. Yet another one showed him by her side when she was injured. She then noticed one showing him at her bedside when she had fallen ill at the Alfhild estate.
"These…pictures…" Lux recalls all of the events shown in them. She feels a little guilty now for having running away; her actions must've been quite a cause of concern to her friends...especially Kai.
The two of them stop at the edge of a lake at the end of the pathway.
"It's time for you to go back now." Elfe tells her momentarily snapping her from her thoughts.
Lux gazes for a while into the lake.
'When I find Kai...I'll tell him sorry.' she promises herself before stepping into it.
...
Kai stops running and looks around him. He then glances back at the map. There was no doubt about it; he was at an entrance to the Villa Torlonia. He proceeds to enter but is stopped by a man who seems to be part of a family of six tourists.
"Excuse me young man, could you take a picture of me and my family?" the man asks him, holding out his camera to him.
Kai was in no mood for this. He tells him, "I don't have time for this."
He then attempts to bypass him.
"Oh come on, just one picture, it won't take long!" the man urges him, stopping him again.
"Get out of my way!"
Kai shoves him away from the entrance of the park and runs past him inside. Passing through a grove of palm trees and wandering a little, he finds himself near some sort of monument or structure. As he looks around for Lux, a movement nearby catches his eye.
'There she is!' Kai begins to move towards her as she sits up, apparently having just awoken from a nap. He felt relieved to have found her but was slightly annoyed at the same time by the fact that she had been napping while he wandered through the city searching for her.
Lux rubs the sleep from her eyes and looks around her. Everything was dyed in a slightly yellower hue than earlier. Before long, her eyes land on an exhausted someone with two toned hair who is making his way towards her. She soon remembers why she was here and why she ran before. Not quite ready to face him yet, she forgets the promise she made to herself in her dream and begins to panic again. Getting up, she looks around for a way out.
She soon finds that it is too late however, as Kai is already almost directly in front of her. Still scared of the idea of having to say what was on her mind, she backs away from him but finds herself hitting the tree that she had been napping under. She looks back in front of her to find Kai immediately before her. In a last attempt to run away from the confrontation, she tries to slip out from between the tree and Kai but is stopped by a firm grasp on her wrist. The next thing she knew, she was tightly wrapped in his arms.
"You're not going anywhere." Kai whispers to her in her ear in a firm yet gentle tone.
He holds her this way for a while and soon feels her relax into him. Silently, the two of them stay in this position for a while. When he feels she is calm enough, he loosens his grip on her to try to talk to her.
"Something was bothering you back there, am I right?" Kai watches as she shifts her gaze from him. He takes her reaction to the question as a yes. He then wonders if he should ask what it is. There was only one thing that it could have been so in essence, he already knows the answer. He then thought back to the way she had ran off without saying anything.
'She probably wasn't ready to say anything or didn't want to...' He concludes as he continues to watch her.
He then assures her, "If you're not feeling up to it, you don't have to tell me or anyone about it…"
Lux turns back to him.
"Just don't ever run away from me again," Kai asks of her in a softer tone, "Okay?"
Lux shifts her eyes from him for a moment and then back to him. She then recalls the dream she had when she was napping and remembers all the times Kai had cared for her or protected her. Her feelings of appreciation of him and her feelings of guilt for running away returns.
"Okay." she answers.
Kai smiles and takes her hand. "Come on, let's go back."
As he turns to lead her to the exit, she stops him. "Wait..."
Kai turns back to her. "Hm?"
"Sorry." she says.
Kai stares at her for a moment. "What for...?"
"For running from you..." she answers.
Kai smiles and pulls her to him, holding her lightly with one arm. "Next time something bothers you, if you feel up to it, you can tell me…no matter what it is, 'kay?"
Lux nods, "Okay."
"Let's go," Kai leads her towards the exit of the park.