I decided that I want to finish this before christmas as I have another idea for a beyblade fic running around my mind. I won't start work on it till this ones finished. I'm letting my Naruto fics slide for a little while too (after all you've been loyal fans for a lot longer) but I never give up on a fic. I just really want to get this one done as I have a really big climactic ending already written!!

Than you for reviewing and I apoligise again for not responding to you, my internets driving me crazy (we're supposed to be switching to sky but there was cock up involving our virgin providers).

I do not own Beyblade!!

Her head hurt, visions of prison cells, of dogs, of handcuffs, of fighting, of being captured over and over again were swimming through her mind. The lies her grandfather had told her, the way he had used her aunt, uncle and cousin in order to manipulate her, the countless times she had wanted to get away. It was all coming back now, the fear, the horror, the confusion, the sadness. A tear dropped onto Mariah's shoulder before Hilary even noticed she was crying, wiping her eyes she mentally shook herself. Now was not the time for crying.

Feeling exhausted Hilary watched with suspicion as a car travelled quickly down the road towards where she and Mariah sat, she wasn't normally one to look a gift horse in the mouth but… well these days she had major trust issues, besides, if the Trojans had looked their gift horse in the mouth they'd have seen all their enemies sitting inside.

Still Mariah was sleeping now, as was her baby, and Hilary knew she couldn't leave her. Mariah had fed her child but Hilary knew she'd need to get them both to a hospital as soon as possible.

The car slowed down as it neared them and came to a halt practically beside them

"Hilary!"

Stunned she stared up at the man with hair and eyes so like her own "Jake!" she smiled at him, now she knew exactly what he had been for her all these years she felt closer to him than any of her other cousins.

He was out of the car in a flash "Oh thank god" he dropped to his knees beside her whilst his wife inspected Mariah "What's the deal Cher?"

"Placenta seems intact, no haemorrhaging, pulse fine on Mariah, and the baby… we need to get them to a hospital but I have to say" she smiled at Hilary "I'm impressed"

"You should have heard Mariah screaming, then you'd have been impressed!!" Hilary replied with a grin, then she noticed that Jake was staring down the road at the mess she had left there "He's dead. I-I shot him."

"The first kill is always the worst, we'll send a team out here later" Jake muttered darkly his expression telling Hilary that he knew exactly what she was feeling. "Are you OK?"

"Let's get Mariah to safety, I'll be able to think enough then to answer you."

"Sure thing" Cheryl agreed with a smile "Hey Mariah… time to wake up."

--

Once at the hospital Mariah stayed awake long enough to see her baby checked over by the staff before she lay back against the pillows and falling off to sleep. Whilst she slept Hilary and the doctors decided to discuss everything that had happened during the birth.

"I had to perform CPR" Hilary explained to the doctor who nodded understandingly

"Well as far as I can tell the baby hasn't been negatively affected, any brain damage issues we wouldn't know about for a few years anyway but we've given the kid a full examination and I think it'll all be fine."

"I hope so" Hilary whispered looking down at the tiny baby in her arms "It would be awful if anything bad happened"

"I understand that the father is on his way?" The doctor looked questioningly at Hilary

"Yeah" Hilary grinned and nodded "Ray's coming as quickly as possible"

"Ray?" in the bed Mariah shifted and started to sit up "Is he here?" she looked around hopefully, her mind befuddled by sleep.

"Not yet" Hilary soothed still rocking the baby "but he's on his way."

Outside Mariah's room Cheryl smiled at Ray as he dashed down the corridor followed closely by Kai and Tia

"Is she ok?" Ray panted out as he tried to look past her into the room behind.

"She's fine" Cheryl told him "but be quiet she's resting, and if you wake the baby up she won't be too happy"

"No, no, of course…." Ray agreed then he paused and stared at her "hold up, what did you say?"

"Congratulations" grinning widely Cheryl turned to open the door and allow the group into the room

Slowly and quietly Ray stumbled forward and made it through the doorway, in the bed the grinning Mariah lay looking very pale and sleepy. Standing beside the bed holding a bundle that looked like a blanket with a head stood Hilary, they both turned to look at him as he entered.

"Ray!" her voice was very weak but Mariah smiled and pushed herself up in the bed a little, running forward Ray threw his arms around his fiancée's neck and held her tight. She looked so wan that it frightened him, he would never let anyone hurt her again.

Kai followed his friend into the room but it was Hilary that caught his attention, standing by the bed and holding the baby she looked like his Hilary, calm, as though nothing out of the ordinary had happened. There was a soft smile on her face he couldn't take his gaze away from her as she whispered something to the baby stroking it's head and kissing it gently before moving forward and handing the tiny bundle over to Ray.

"Meet your little girl Ray" Mariah whispered happily

Hilary had still been holding the baby and she smiled at the couple's reunion before muttering under her breath 'exhausting' as she stroked the tiny head. Watching the couple carefully she judged that now would be a good time to present Ray with his child and moving forward she gently handed the little one over. Ray flashed her a grateful grin as he took his daughter into his arms and looking down he was astonished to see the little girls dark eyes open and stare up at him.

Looking back to the door Hilary smiled at the other visitors, moving away from the bed and towards them she jerked her head to the doorway and they left the new parents alone for a while.

Tired but happy Hilary walked towards the hospital canteen for something to eat, Kai and Tia were with her but none of them said a word. The silence was oddly companionable and Hilary was beginning to feel comfortable when a hospital gurney rushed past them. The man on the bed was middle aged and with purple hair, his face was bleeding and for a moment the vision of Boris lying in the road flashed into Hilary's vision and the wave of nausea overcame her.

"Hils are you OK?" Tia asked as she watched her friends face go pale

"I just need" Hilary pressed a hand over her mouth and turning away ran down the corridor. Tia was about to follow but before she could do anytihng Kai sprinted after his girlfriend looking worried, shaking her head she decided to leave them alone together, she was going to meet the other beybladers at the door and tell them the good news.

Staring into the toilet bowl Hilary felt the sour taste return to her mouth as the contents of her stomach rose up. She wasn't sure how much there was left to throw up as she'd been sick three times already but it seemed that she still had more.

Her hands held her hair away from her face but there were a few strands falling out of her grasp. She was about to grab her hair again when two cool hands brushed the hair to safety and held it back. Not caring to ask any questions Hilary allowed herself to vomit once more, as she coughed she felt a tissue wipe at her mouth and with watery eyes she smiled up at her helper

"You realise you're in the girls bathroom right?"

Kai nodded and wiped at her mouth again "Are you OK?"

"Do I look OK?" Hilary raised an eyebrow and Kai laughed

"I meant do you feel like you need to be sick again?"

Hilary paused before she answered, shaking her head she reached forward to flush the toilet and turning moved towards the sinks. Remaining silent as he watched her Kai allowed her to move to the sink and wash her face, she stared down at the sink for a long time before finally raising her vision slightly and regarding herself in the mirror. She stared at her face and frowned, then she caught Kai's eye in their reflections and gave a half-hearted smile. Kai felt awful, it was back, that colder, harder Hilary had returned and she was no longer looking like the girl he once knew, her eyes were closed and unreadable again.

"What was all that about? Are you ill?"

For a few moments Hilary's face remained impassive, then seeing the concern in his eyes her own filled with tears and clutching the bowl of the sink as if for dear life she began to cry.

Kai moved forward quickly and wrapped his arms around the sobbing girl, she allowed herself to be turned and burying her had in his chest she cried harder than Kai had ever seen anyone cry before. Gently stroking her hair and whispering kind words to her Kai soothed her to the point where she found her voice again.

"He's dead" Hilary whispered into his chest "he's dead"

"Who?" There was no response so holding her face in his hands and staring into her eyes Kai asked again "Who is dead?"

"Boris," Hilary tried to look away not wanting to look into those caring grey eyes as she admitted to her crime "I killed Boris"

Surprised Kai's arms dropped to his sides and he stared at her "you killed….?" his eyes moved from her face to stare at the floor.

He didn't have time to ask her anything further as Hilary, broken-hearted at finding those warm and secure arms gone from her shoulders, seeing the awful expression on Kai's face Hilary turned and ran off.

--

Disgusted Dr K surveyed the wreckage of the car she had been tracking, trust Boris to screw up like this. Shaking her head she wondered where the man had gone to, scanning the area she almost gasped when her eyes fell upon the pile in the middle of the road. For a moment she thought it was just clothes but as she got closer she recognised that the coat was too filled to just be a coat…

"Boris?" she stared down at the mans body in shock, blood was everywhere and if it hadn't been for his clothing she wouldn't have been able to tell that it was the man, his face was utterly destroyed.

Shivering Dr K surveyed the wounds, whoever wielded the gun was inexperienced, had probably fired in panic, she thought it through in her mind, Boris was meant to retrieve Mariah and Hilary, one of those girls had struggled and killed him. She couldn't return without that girl, if she got back to Horatio and Voltaire without Hilary then…, another shiver wracked her body. She really ought to be more careful who she worked for, her usual employers were rich enough to pay her the kind of money that made her life very luxurious but they were also usually clinically insane.

Pausing in the middle of the road she smiled to herself, there were a very few options open to her right now but she already knew which one she was about to take, leaning down to take a hold of Boris's arm she began to drag him over to the wrecked car.

--

Feeling alone and scared Hilary walked out of the hospital, how could she face anyone now? Who could she turn to about any of this? Tears formed in her eyes as she remembered the disgust on Kai's face.

"Hilary?"

Looking up Hilary easily recognized the blonde in front of her

"Hey Millie, how come you aren't in there with the others?"

"Not welcome" Millie shrugged as though it was nothing "I make Max uncomfortable and now everyone knows how two faced I can be!"

"What do you mean?" frowning as she looked at the seemingly casual young girl Hilary couldn't understand how she could ever be seen as two faced.

"I worked for MI5 without telling them" she stated brazenly

"And?"

"I lied about it"

"And?"

"Well…that's it" Millie finished with a shrug allowing her cool façade to crumble under Hilary's intrusive look.

"That's it?" Hilary asked in surprise "Millie if you had worked for my grandfather or something I could understand them saying you're two faced but… MI5? They're the good guys"

"No they're not… Hils, they wanted to study you as much as your grandfather did"

"What?"

"You are the only person that has ever had the serum they used on you and regained their memories, they kept asking questions about you, they had Dr Kim sending them regular information but they wanted me to find out what you had been exposed to that would make you remember stuff."

"Kai" Hilary whispered quietly "It was all Kai, my last thought before my memories left and the first thing to come back to me."

"You remember?" Millie asked astounded

"Yes ever since… ever since I killed Boris memories of the stuff that came before started to come back" Hilary waited for the revulsion she was sure Millie would display but instead the other girl just nodded understandingly.

"I've been reading up about fugue states, there are ways to end them, either with outright confrontation, you know someone telling you everything that happened in gory details, or for you to go through something worse than anything you went through before. For you, killing someone is one of the worst things you can do so, it made you remember."

"It was awful" Hilary shivered involuntarily, seeing this Millie walked forward and hugged the older girl

"Do you want to go get a drink? Caramel Macchiato?"

Sitting together in a coffee shop Hilary kept her sunglasses on and wore a rather out of character bandanna to cover her hair, every now and then when Millie looked at her friend she would giggle a little but Hilary hadn't smiled once in the time they had been together, Millie's reaction to the news that Hilary had killed a man had been rather calm, almost as though she had already known. Millie had guessed that something big happened and knew that Boris was hard to escape from so she had guessed that he had died as soon as she heard that the two girls were now safe.

Millie also guessed that Hilary was close to depression, her eyes behind the glasses were tired and her whole figure seemed wilting.

"Mariah was taken hostage and her baby almost died in my arms" Hilary shook her head as she and Millie sat drinking their hot beverages "It would have been all my fault, I can't involve you guys anymore."

"What can you do?" Millie asked as she watched Hilary take another sip of her drink "You can't exactly stop us from helping and you can not face your grandfather alone"

"Why not?"

"Because he's dangerous, he could kill you"

"But he won't, don't you see? out of all the people involved in this only one person is wanted alive by all sides. The only way to stop him is for me to either go to him, or to just leave and never contact anyone again... I can't go to him. I can't have a child by" holding one hand in front of her mouth Hilary retched a little, she knew full well that if she had had any food left in her stomach she'd be heading for the nearest toilet

"Hilary you..."

"Millie please. let me go" Hilary begged pitifully "let me stand up and walk out of this coffee shop and never tell anyone what I've said to you"

"Not gonna happen" Millie shook her head and stared at Hilary "I'm not letting you out of my sight ever again if you're going to be like this"

"I guess I should have figured you'd be like that" Hilary sighed as she once again took a sp from her mug "Tell me this though Millie, what would you do if you were in my position, honestly."

"Well I wouldn't run the risk of him hurting my friends whilst I'm gone" Millie told her determinedly "Your grandfather is the type who'd kill a load of your friends in a violent way just to get their names in the papers so you'd know they'd been hurt and that more would get hurt afterwards if you didn't go back to him, more than that, if he hurt one of your friends even a little it's be on the cover of every paper and magazine around the world so he'd be sure you'd see it. Even if he couldn't know you'd see it, I think he'd do it anyway."

"That's true" Hilary agreed dejectedly, she hadn't thought of that, Millie was right, even if he couldn't be sure she'd know what he'd done Horatio was the kind of person just to do it if he was angry "But I ask again, what would you do?"

"Well in times like this I always think WWJD"

"What would Jesus do?" Hilary asked in surprise

"What would James do"

"James?"

"Bond!" Millie joked and had the pleasure of seeing Hilary laugh for the first time since they'd sat down together

"James Bond? Well… he'd hook up with a few beautiful women and end up saving the day in a disastrous explosion or two!"

"Ok, so get rid of the hooking up with beautiful women bit... althouh a lot of guys would still find that hot, and head straight for the saving the day. Think the man with the golden gun!"

"Good music, bad car chase, awful acting… man Roger Moore was bad, he wore a cardigan once! James Bond in a cardigan" Hilary shivered "Not hot"

Glad to see that her friend was already recovering Millie laughed at Hilary's words but shook her head "I was thinking more of the books, Ian Fleming was an amazing writer. Anyway, that book is kind of right for all this, Bond's thought dead at the beginning, he has amnesia and then gets brainwashed by the Soviet Union."

"I still need some more for the plan here!"

"Ok, after that he goes undercover to work for Scaramanga"

"The man with the golden gun"

"Yeah, by working undercover he manages to kill the bad guy. You need to go undercover"

"How?"

"Like you just said, you have two choices, let your grandfather get you, or run. Now we know running isn't an option, so what is the only other option?"

"Go to my grandfather" Hilary shivered and rubbed her bare arms wishing she had a jacket with her.

"Exactly, and when you get in we'll take him down."

"How?" Hilary asked thinking that the plan was a bit vague

"You and I are in this right? No matter what you can't get rid of me now"

"Yeah" Hilary nodded in agreement

"But you don't want to involve anyone else?"

"No"

"We need two more people for this"

"If you say Kai or…"

"Are you kidding? None of the Blade breakers are what we need for this, I say Jake, and Cheryl. They worked for MI5, they can help us plan this, they have the experience for this," Hilary looked like she was about to argue but Millie cut her off saying "not only that they're already in danger, those bugs we found in the Dojo will have recorded everything, even the stuff we said about them. The only reason your grandfather hasn't gone after them yet was because they were covered by MI5 and he might have been planning to leak false information through them. Now as long as your grandfather is alive they're in danger."

"Alright" Hilary nodded her agreement "You, me, Jake and Cheryl. No one else…" she paused looking at Millie carefully "It means lying to Max again"

"We broke up, doesn't matter" Millie shrugged it off carelessly with a patently false grin "I don't think we'd have worked out anyway."

Moving her chair closer to her friend Hilary looked at Millie with concern "Millie, would you stop pretending to be a bitch?" she asked before wrapping one arm around the blonde's shoulders "That's not you."

"What do you mean?"

"The careless 'it doesn't matter' attitude, the way you smile as though everything's fine. It makes you seem cruel and inconsiderate and… I know for a fact that you're not."

"How can you see through that?" Millie asked biting her trembling lip

"Cause I've done it myself, loads of times, so stop acting like you don't care that everything's gone to shit right now and admit that you're upset"

Millie looked into Hilary's eyes for a moment before bursting into tears, she then allowed herself to be pulled into a hug. "I screwed it all up" Millie sobbed into Hilary's shoulder "It's all my fault and now he hates me"

"If he hated you he wouldn't care so much" Hilary comforted "Max doesn't hate you"

"He does, he does. He hates me, he hates me…" Hilary could tell that by now Millie was inconsolable and her best bet would be to just comfort her and not try to reason her out of her misery. She'd had crying jags like this herself and al you really wanted was for someone to hug you and let you cry. Smiling a little Hilary shook her head, this was normal, this was what she should be worrying about these days, her friends and their relationships, not her grandfather and who he was going to kill next. Maybe one day things would go back to normal, then she's have time to go yell at Max for being so stupid.

Ok a little bit of a longer one so please R&R as the chapters will all be getting longer from now on and the story is getting moving again.