Chapter 23
The quiet, abandoned corridor was in perfect contrast to Tala's racing mind. He was halfheartedly plodding back to his team's room to spend his remaining hours of the night with figuring out what to do with his troublemaker teammates. He didn't remember if he had had to face with such a serious conflict since he had been captain.
'What a fucked up situation this is!' He cursed mutely as he opened the door of the team's residence and stepped in.
The common room was silent and dark though at the noise of his entrance, a tall, board figure came out of his cave, stopping and eyeing him in the shadow.
Tala acknowledged Sergei's presence only with the shakiness of an exhausted and frustrated sigh before he walked to the aesthetic writing desk in the corner and sat at it. The blonde followed him, lifting the armchair from the corner with a hand, and easily moving it to the table, sitting down opposite his captain.
"Boris?" Tala grumbled as he rubbed his forehead with the attempt to chase away his sleepiness. He felt tired, but couldn't sleep in this state. Not until he formed a decent plan to settle the arsenal of ridiculous issues.
"Wandering somewhere. He needed a walk."
At Sergei's words, Tala just bobbed his head absentmindedly. If he wanted to be honest, he didn't mind Boris' absence right now; it was easier to think without him, and oddly, he found Sergei's company preferable at this moment.
"Have you figured out what you're gonna do?" Sergei queried, silently offering his support if it was needed.
Tala propped his elbows on the desk and hid his thin lips behind laced hands before he answered.
"I tried to prevent it, keeping together the team, but… It looks like I'll have to send away Boris."
"Why?"
"Hiwatari." Tala explained bluntly.
"What happened? Did he say something?"
Tala huffed a dry laugh without looking up at him.
"Yeah. He gave me an ultimatum."
Recalling the arrogant wealthy boy's words, he could feel his own defiance and outrage instantly lit up inside him.
How dared Kai giving him final offers? He wasn't a damn employee of his!
"What kind of?" Sergei pushed because apparently, Tala was not really in a chatty mood.
"If I don't kick Boris out, he will report both him and Alexandra for their violent attitude. With that, they'd probably ban Alexa, too, hence we won't have a team in the end, and we have to step out of the tournament."
His words were followed by a morose silence, not stomaching the idea by either of them.
"But why Boris? Why only him? They were on good terms last year. If they want to make an example of Boris, they can forbid him from the Championship permanently. I know Kai's a man with a cold heart, but would he seriously ruin his ex-teammate's chance for one brawl?" Sergei pondered aloud, folding his arms across his board chest.
"You were too delicate with the words." Tala scoffed sarcastically. "Kai's an arrogant bastard with no principles, nor feelings. Just like everyone else, he gives zero fuck to our career or to our life, regardless that we were teammates last year. Which is totally understandable considering him, and I wouldn't want him to care about us the least. But it's nauseating when he has the audacity to use every opportunity – namely Boris' and Alexandra's horrendous past in this case – to his own benefit like it was just a mere sick game for him, completely removing the human as important factor from his calculation, and gambling with their lives like they were nothing else but puppets. He's just like every other wealthy man. Once, they smell power, they can't resist the urge to show off their extensive influence. Fucking disgusting!"
Tala breathed loudly as he vented out his frustration about the phoenix and his privilege based on birth, irritated no end that Kai had a grip on him. Sergei watched him in tensed silence; the detestation that radiated from his captain put him in unease. Tala had always hold a grudge against the upper class, and because of that very reason, they deliberately avoided to mention this topic in his company. It was a miracle that he had had enough self-control last year not throwing insults in Kai's face in every minute.
His darkened glare melted down suddenly in exhaustion and desperation, and a tired frown of uncertainty took over its place.
"Still, it doesn't change the fact that Boris attacked and injured him. We can be thankful that reporting us was not his first action. If he was a true asshole, the Head Office would already hear about the incident." Tala sighed then furrowed his eyebrows as he recalled his conversation with Kai. "Something's not right with him, by the way."
"What you mean? With Kai? Or Boris?" Sergei frowned at the sudden change in Tala's mood.
"Kai. He's acting weird. He's saying weird stuff. And look a complete shit like some drug addict or dunno. Like he was not himself." Tala clarified though it seemed he was rather musing to himself as he stared pensively at the table surface.
Sergei didn't know what to say to this; he didn't notice any extraordinary in Kai's demeanor, however, it was true that he didn't pay any attention to him. He had better things to do than examining others' behavior, though he was aware that Tala liked spending his time with that. It often served him with advantages against his opponents.
"Anyway, not our problem." Tala spoke up in the drawn-out silence, exhaling wearily. "For the team's sake, I have to kick Boris out."
He hoped that if he repeated the sentence enough times, it would fill him with the proper amount of strength and determination to actually do it. He knew that Sergei didn't agree with his decision without sparing a glance at his hardened face, though the blonde was discipline and didn't make a comment on it.
He didn't like this either; he truly hoped that he could strengthen his friendship with Boris during the tournament, but no matter how eagerly he tried to ignore the facts, his pale friend had caused too much damage on his trust. Tala was far from confident about himself being strong or prepared enough to handle a well-trained soldier who could flip out in any moment if Tala's life was in danger. His lips turned into a disgusted sneer at the thought that he was some sort of fucking princess Boris had been programmed to protect.
It put him into a twisted situation that bit at his pride and made him vulnerable. Tala hated when others pitied him. Considering him weak? He gave a damn to such a shit talk because eventually, he always proved his own competence, and he found some kind of unreasonable arousal in the stupefied expressions on his ill-wishers' face when they realized they made a huge mistake underestimating him.
However, a friend standing up for him voluntarily and without his permission, now that embarrassed him. He didn't need protection. He had his own reputation as the Russian team's captain. People feared him, they felt intimidated in his company. Why on earth would he need Boris to watch over him at all?
It still felt like a silly dream, having grown up beside a friend who had been trained to be a murderous spy. Tala's head was dizzy with the many worried thoughts and questions that kept his rational thinking in a prison.
Then, there was Alexandra. The new team member whom Tala didn't know much about. She had shared information with them about her life in the Abbey, but… was it true? Considering how secretive and cunning she could be, Alexa had talked about her past too easily. As if she had been expecting their questions about it. She had led the conversation. She had been the one who decided what kind of details she had shared. Tala knew it was not his business to get a full insight into her life, and didn't have even the intention to meddle into something that didn't concerned him, but he had made a huge mistake when he had let the shock numb his thinking and prevent him to shoot his questions to her.
…'What a 'coincidence' you have two KGB-apprentices in your team…'
'Damn you Kai and your implying words!' Tala fretted, not able to get rid of his concerns.
"Was there something else?" Sergei broke the thick silence between them, noticing the sudden blizzard in the blue eyes.
"Kai made a remark about Alexa according to which I shouldn't trust her." Tala admitted in a harsh manner, desperate to somewhat lift this burden off his own shoulder.
He was irritated by the lump of anxiety that the thought itself formed in his throat. Boris and Sergei were his own pack, his family. As a leader, he was responsible for their well-being on the championship and he personally felt in charge of eliminating the risks that threatened his bond with them.
Unaffected by Tala's words, Sergei hummed to himself before he carefully spoke up.
"Hmm. So?"
With a loud thud as he dropped his hand to the desk, Tala sent an ice-cold glare at him.
"What 'so'?"
"Does he have any proof that gives us a reason not to trust Alexandra?"
"Uhm. No?" Tala said dumbly after a beat, suddenly questioning his own point of view.
"Then why you pay any attention what that bastard says? Since when you care about what Kai thinks?" The broad guy replied nonchalantly with a shrug of his shoulder. "He's not even part of our team anymore. His judgement's irrelevant."
Tala glared at him with a loosened jaw.
Fuck.
Sergei was totally right.
Red eyebrows knitted together as Tala reconsidered his teammate's words, inspecting thoroughly his own swirling emotions inside him. It was not easy.
He knew that Sergei had always kept up a distance towards Kai, and treated him as an outsider, never trusting fully the phoenix, but it didn't necessarily mean that Sergei observed Kai's ambitions falsely.
Why should he get scared of him reporting his team, then? When had he become again a puppet like he had been under Volkov, compromising with what people offered him, and not pursuing what he did think right? Tala was free, independent, he didn't need to bow before anyone, or to follow orders from others anymore.
When did he forget that? The age of the Abbey had ended. Volkov's age had ended. He didn't owe anything to anyone. He had the right and also the opportunity to make his own decisions about his damn life, about his team as a captain.
Re-encountering with his pride, Tala's face hardened with determination. Surprisingly, Sergei's lips curled up in a disturbingly content manner.
"I missed this dreadful glare."
Ice-blue eyes flicked with purposeful coldness at the devilish smirk. Suddenly, Tala felt energetic as he made his definitive decision. He jumped up from his seat, a plan already forming up in his mind as he leaned on the tips of his fingers against the desk.
"I'm listening." Sergei's teeth flashed up, knowing well what was happening in his captain's head right now.
"Boris stays in the team – if he feels the same way, 'course. We need time until the semi-finals, though. If we can get qualified as one of the best four teams, it'll be harder for the BBA to get rid of us. I'm sure banning us out would raise a scandal in the media, and Mr. Dickenson wants to avoid every possible negative feedback on the Beyblade Championship after last year's events with the BEGA. People's losing their trust in the sport and in the BBA, thus the old man's hands are strongly tied. Fortunately, that's beneficial for us in this situation."
"Mhm." Sergei hummed and nodded approvingly, having a like on this part of the plan already. "What about Kai? Did he give you a deadline or something?"
"Yeah, tomorrow morning." Tala sneered as he folded his arms. He needed to find a solution for this matter as well, quickly. "I'll talk to him tomorrow and settle on a specific strategy answering to the progress of the circumstances. I'll deceive Kai and bench Boris tomorrow if that's what the situation requires from us."
"What if we don't win enough points without Boris tomorrow?" Sergei prompted.
"We've already collected enough scores; we can take a small risk. We need to win at least one match, just to ensure our place in the semi-finals. Certainly, we can pull that one win."
"And what about Justice-5 and Majestics? There's a chance we lose all matches against them." Sergei argued, testing every aspect of Tala's strategy.
"I'm positive we'd be able to win at least one match against the Majestics. Don't overestimate them and don't underestimate us too much, Sergei." Tala scolded his teammate. "Justice-5 is a tougher case. But even if we all lose against them, we still can make it to the semi-finals in respect of the current scores of the teams."
"Right. And who'll battle twice if you bench Boris?"
While figuring out further details, Tala made himself comfortable. He removed his gloves and zipped open his jacket to take it off, then dropped it on the chair. He hadn't realized how hot he was until he felt the fresh breeze on his arms; his skin gratefully erupted with goosebumps under the silently buzzing air conditioner. Not having a like wandering around half naked like Boris or Sergei had been often prone to, he left his black tank top on.
"Depends on which team we have to fight tomorrow. If it's not Majestics or those boastful assholes, you will. It'll give you a good opportunity to test your new beybla– Fuck! We have yet to build Seaborg for you!" Tala cursed and terrified at the thought that Sergei might not compete tomorrow at all, if they didn't build his beyblade in time.
"Alexa already finished him." Sergei waved him off, pulling out his brand new spinning top and swaying it in the air before the redhead's eyes.
Tala opened his mouth to talk then he realized he didn't have anything to say. Or rather, it was pointless to waste his energy on a question when he already knew the answer. Instead, he asked something else.
"Do you trust her?"
His voice sounded more distant and softer than he liked, as if he would have talked about a dirty secret with Sergei. The muscular blonde pouted and pondered on the question for two seconds before he replied.
"No, I don't. It's foolish to trust her, we don't know her purposes. Though I believe she also wants to win the championship and does everything for that."
Nodding in agreement, Tala found some relief in Sergei's opinion. He had a tendency to overthink the simplest ideas with his strategic mind, and there might be a chance he was doing the same right now.
"Don't let Kai's personal opinion manipulate your own thoughts, Tala." Sergei warned him in a reprimanding tone.
Tala narrowed his eyes at the rebuke, but he thought better not to challenge Sergei this time. Then, he should admit that these thoughts had been already there for a while, and Kai's statement only fueled his concern regarding the girl, but since he didn't possess any evidence to prove it, he remained silent.
oOoOo
With a grunt, Boris adjusted again the cones that his falcon had blown over carelessly in the training room. Tala had previously directed him to retire to his bedroom, and he had actually obliged and tried to sleep, but he simply couldn't stay put in his bed. His mind went on haywire, overwhelmed with the many thoughts and emotions he felt after the events.
He had almost killed someone today. A girl. His teammate.
He had almost killed again. A guy. His ex-teammate.
Then he had been almost kicked out of the team. But the captain had changed his mind. And he might not be a killer. He didn't dare believing in that thought, though.
After that, Yuriy had almost forgiven him. But they had gone to apologize to Kai, and his captain had seemed to change his mind again.
The constant changes regarding his position in the team made him too nervous to rest, hence he had decided to do the exercise Tala had showed them the other day. He needed some practice anyway, so he set up some cones and launched Falborg again and again without achieving any result.
It was futile. He couldn't focus. Instead of hopping from one cone to another, his beyblade repeatedly crashed into them, making a mess just to start over the whole process again.
The last time Boris had felt this desperate he had lived in the Abbey. He was worried that he had lost his only connection to the real life, to the rationality. He was scared that he would never earn back Tala's trust ever again.
What would he do without him? Without Tala's advice and guidance? He was garbage without him. An empty headed, murderous soldier who had no valid right to exist on this world. Boris didn't have a life goal. He had always followed Tala. He had ambitions. He knew what to do and what was the next step.
But Boris? He was just going with the flow. He had fought for other people's crazy purposes because that was what he had been taught in his entire life. With a past like his, who would bat an eye on him anyway? He was a tool.
A fucking dull weapon.
He was getting understand Alexandra's point calling them weapon. All along, he had thought this was just an empty but hurtful insult to muddy the waters as a revenge for feeling herself left-out of the team. Turned out, she had been making sense. Their feelings, their actions and reactions were led by their brainwashed experiences and training methods all along.
Charged up with his own rage, Falborg boomed against the cones again, bouncing and rolling in every direction in the room. Gritting his teeth, Boris growled loudly with frustration.
He was so freaking helpless!
"Try to think with Falborg's head, not with yours. Imagine yourself on the top of the cone, your instincts will help you to launch with the proper energy."
Although, he recognized the voice, Boris stared into the shadow, from where his teammate spoke. They shouldn't be here together, nor alone. Why the hell was she here?
"Are you spying on me?" He spat but with much less vehemence than he intended. After all, Alexa had the reason to be angry with him.
She breathed a small laugh at the question.
"Yes. I'm collecting information on all of you." Alexa humored him though Boris was not in the mood to appreciate jokes.
"What are you doing here? It's late." Boris said with the attempt to make peace with the girl, but he still noticed the harsh tone in his voice.
"I couldn't sleep." Alexa admitted as she watched him re-loading his launcher with Falborg. "My mind is restless. I thought some training could help. I see, you're in the same shoes."
"We're not in the same shoes." He bit back without missing a beat and in a vicious manner he couldn't explain, but he immediately regretted it.
Alexa's judging eye didn't move from him while the silence of awkwardness made its appearance in the training room.
"You were here first. I'll go somewhere else." Alexa told him at last as she spun on her heels and headed the door.
It was the perfect moment. They were alone without anyone else around. They couldn't see each other's face in the dark. He couldn't have found better conditions to do it what Boris thought to be right.
"Wait." He called after Alexa who was already opening the door, the light from the hotel's corridor poured in, when he heard the continuous taps of her heavy boots came to an abrupt stop.
Boris still couldn't see her in the shadows, but assumed she was watching him, curious what he had to say to her. The words didn't come out at first though. He kept biting and swallowing them back; it felt so unnatural.
When he sensed that his company was getting lose her patience, Boris took a deep breath and threw the words into the air almost carelessly.
"I'm sorry."
Again, he couldn't see her but heard as she shifted in the darkness. As if she had been waiting for more. He hated the suffocating silence that lingered around him all night.
"I realized I haven't apologized to you for… what happened tonight." Boris explained; despite standing in his own military boots and long sleeve jacket, he felt naked. "I didn't want to hurt you."
After the clumsy speech, Boris expected nothing else from her than turning around without an acknowledging word and leave. He already heard the ear-splitting squeak of the door as it closed, leaving behind only the noxious, heavy silence with the blurred darkness that slowly grabbed him by his heart.
"It's okay. I had fun."
Boris blinked in surprise and glared at the shadows from where the voice came, like he could see the figure in the darkness if he opened his eyes wide enough. He needed some time when he successfully processed the meaning of Alexa's words.
Was it okay?
She had fun?!
"You're making a joke of me." Boris growled with a bitter taste in his mouth.
Maybe he deserved her taunting remarks, but she shouldn't be so arrogant. Now, he felt stupid for apologizing.
He was not a remorseful man, but hoped that if he made exceptions this time, people would appreciate his efforts. He was wrong. Neither Kai, nor Alexa accepted his apology. He was not going to feel sorry for anything from now on, regardless the gravity of his mistakes.
"Am not." Alexa claimed in a neutral voice. "I did have fun."
Her heavy steps echoed as she paced toward him in the dark, and Boris tilted his head in slight confusion. Alexa stopped under the light of the moon that shined through the huge windows. Boris finally could see her face and she could his. The pale face glowed in a muted blue tone with the moonlight on it. Her hair was not in a tight ponytail this time, but was braided loosely, its length sat on her shoulder, resting like a golden snake on her black attire.
"And I'm sure you liked it, too." She added as a matter of fact.
Boris' eyebrow twitched as all his muscles clenched in him. He felt like the deer that been caught in the harsh headlights; every inch of his essence, his secrets, his thoughts being exposed in the brightness for a fragment of the time.
"Damn. You hurt your head pretty bad, I guess." Boris scoffed, his voice was a mere rasp, sounded hollow in the big, empty room.
Turning back to continue his practice, he launched Falborg for the six-hundredth times, but again, his thoughts were everywhere else, but on the exercise, and the falcon knocked over the cones once more. Cursing the god, Boris collected them and already stood into position when he realized that Alexa still hadn't left the training room, she was watching him.
Dropping his arms to his sides, Boris whipped his head at the blonde.
"Do you want something else from me?!"
Alexa looked up from the cones and locked her eyes with Boris with a tilt of her head as if she was contemplating something.
"I misjudged you." She said at last with an unreadable expression.
"Huh?"
"You were able to pull a draw against Tyson. I underestimated your capabilities."
Although she didn't say sorry, it was clearly a redeeming acknowledgement from her side. Boris stared at her with bafflement. What people say in these situations?
"Pft, I was lucky. The guy enjoyed the battle so much, he forgot to win it. I just noticed and used the opportunity."
At the sight of the blonde and their oddly good-natured conversation, a new feeling rose inside Boris. The heavy burden that he had carried on his shoulders for many years, it slightly lightened on him. It was still unbelievable that the kid he had strangled by Volkov's command was the same person who stood in a mere few meters from him, in a similarly abandoned, dark room.
She wouldn't get help in time if Boris decided to attack her again. If everything Kai and Alexa had said was true, he attempted to murder this girl already three times. How the hell did she have the guts to stand so calm before him and chat with him?
"Answer me. Are you really the same child from the Abbey?"
The gloomy atmosphere around them created the illusion that they had stepped out of the reality and they ended in a different dimension. Boris felt again the obnoxious appearance of their horrible and bloodied past, taunting them like an evil demon whose existence no one acknowledged, but you knew it was there, constantly lurking in the back of your mind, watching you and waiting patiently for you to momentarily forget to keep up your guard.
"Do you want details?" Alexa arched an eyebrow at Boris who remained silent, giving his mute consent.
Yes, he wanted details. He wanted evidence that he was not a murderer. At this moment, this was his everything. Alexa's expression hardened, her lips became a thin line – noticeably annoyed by the request.
"Do you want to hear the part when I was tossed into that room to face you? Do you want to hear the part when I felt hopeful because you rejected Volkov's command at first? Or do you want to know what it was like when you beat me half dead, and I wanted to cry in my agony but couldn't because my lungs clenched so painfully I barely could breathe and I was already choking on my own blood? You want me to describe, perhaps, the feeling of your cold hands–"
"ENOUGH!" Boris yelled desperately at the girl.
Both of them heaved under the recalled memory. Alexa was as upset as him, her blonde strand swayed in her face as she fumed, but Boris felt worse. He could cry. Overwhelmed by the sea of emotions in his heart that the revelation caused in him, he broke down, buried his tearful eyes in his hands and gasped convulsively like an animal with a death-wound as he paced back and forth.
He knew his reaction was ambiguous, and Alexa was possibly stupefied or more likely embarrassed by it, but he couldn't withhold it anymore. Years of ponderous burden fell from his soul as he breathed freely once again in his life.
The blonde's precise details about the incident miraculously enslaved him from his guilt-prison, and for the very first time in his life, he held the hope of not being an evil, bad man in veins. He was allowed to feel something else apart from wrath and didn't have to force himself anymore to enjoy hurting other people either physically or mentally, just because he had an order to fulfill.
This was his chance to be anyone he wanted to be. The chance he had been yearning after a maddeningly long time in his life. He could change, be a new man if he wanted to. Confused by the hoard of feelings that stormed through his head and in his heart, he felt… euphoric? Boris didn't know sure because happiness had been always foreign to him. He couldn't recognize something he had yet experienced in his life. He was confused.
"I'm not a murderer." He said, straightening up and wiping the joyful tears from his eyes, chuckling, because he didn't know how else he should handle his overwhelming emotions.
"I'M NOT A FUCKING MURDERER!" Boris screamed of laughter at the ceiling, glancing at the blonde girl as if he would hug her in any moment in his celebration, but his relieve disappeared instantly when he noticed the shock on Alexa's face.
Realizing that he acted like a gigantic asshole, getting carried away with his own one-man party while Alexa must feel mortified for recalling that dreadful memory of hers.
Boris bridged the remaining distance between them, and briefly touched the blonde on her upper arm, like he was poking an unidentified object with a stick as an experiment to see what's going to happen. Social interaction had always been considered his strength.
"Sorry. I'm a dick. This must be your most horrible memory. Are you OK?" Boris asked, noticing another new emotion in his tone – concern?
Getting over her shock, Alexa quickly re-organized her expression into an unfazed one.
"Don't worry, I have much worse memories. But keep going, don't hold back yourself just because of me. Continue your cute happy dance around your little imaginary fire." She said in a stone voice, but the barely visible smirk in the corner of her lips dulled the sharpness of her words.
Boris snorted at the remark in his embarrassment then he quickly dropped his small smile.
"You have worse memory than this?" He asked again, because he couldn't imagine any worse.
For him, this was his most terrifying dream that kept haunting him every now and then. From her perspective, what else could be worse than being almost killed by a stronger man she couldn't fight back?
"Don't flatter yourself." She scoffed mockingly before she answered in a serious tone. It seemed, they shared the same equipment in communication to ease the embarrassment of their denied feelings. "Remember, you refused to obey Vladimir Gregorovitch at first. I appreciate that. You didn't have a choice, but you tried to rebel."
Despite knowing this moment was currently happening and real, Boris struggled to grasp it. Speaking about their mutual experience from the Abbey felt too surreal, but it did good on his soul, nonetheless. He didn't need to deny his human nature, his more sensible part anymore, because Alexa knew exactly and understood what situation he was in.
Always hoping that it'd be Tala the one who understood him, Boris had continuously disappointed in their friendship when he had tried to direct their conversation to the things that had happened in the Abbey with him, but had always run into a solid wall as the redhead had intentionally and rigorously forbidden him doing it. Tala had become nervous if he had had to talk about the abbey, or more precisely, Boris' life in the abbey.
With time, Boris had given up with his attempts to discuss his shameful past with his old friend and closed in instead. It meant some kind of relief that he could share this awful memory with someone, especially that they were strangers. To Alexa, Boris didn't owe anything; he didn't risk an important friendship if he had told her details about his training, because they barely knew each other. He wouldn't meet with a loss with her because she simply didn't matter to him.
"Are you not scared of me?" He asked in genuine interest.
"Should I?" Alexa's eyebrows ran up.
He furrowed his bushy eyebrows tighter with confusion in return. Wasn't obvious the reason?
"I don't know." Boris shrugged hesitantly. "Maybe it'd be wiser. That incident was almost repeated today. I'm dangerous…"
Alexa snorted with laughter, her serious look disappeared in an instant.
"I'm tougher than you think. I'm as dangerous as you. Who knows, maybe we can extinguish each other's fire. And haven't I told you already? It was fun!"
Now, Boris started to worry. Did he damage her brain when he smashed her against the floor? At his troubled expression, Alexa hurried to explain her point.
"I mean, obviously not that part when we were trying to kill each other. I'm talking about our combat. I haven't felt so alive for a long time."
Boris smiled, exhaling a relieved sigh.
"Hm. Yeah. It's been a long time for me too since I fought against a good opponent."
Alexa was visibly pleased at the unintentional compliment, staring at him with a smug smile that soon grew into a greedy one.
"What a pity I fainted so quickly. I'd have continued the fight until I'd tasted your blood."
Her voice sounded almost perverted that awaken a long forgotten yet foreign feeling inside him. Boris was not sure if she was just playing the tough warrior, or he should take her words seriously – her expression was so wild suddenly. She was clearly joking. A right-minded person didn't say such things so thoughtlessly out loud.
"As if." He teased, anyway.
Boris didn't deny that he himself had some fetish for violence as a consequence of his training; the smell of blood didn't terrify him, and he could find beauty in a purple bruise on the spotless skin, often fighting with the temptation to sink a finger in the wound; the painful gasps of the bruised owner music to his ears. But he kept it as a secret even before his friends. He knew it was abnormal admiring something morbid like that, though he would go crazy if he lived in denial of his true self forever.
Slightly alarmed by Alexa's sudden move to cover a yawn, Boris snapped out of his thoughts.
"You should sleep." He advised on his usual uncivil tone.
The blonde growled in refusal.
"I can't. That's why I came here, to exhaust myself. But I'm already dead-tired, and still can't sleep. Maybe I should take a walk on the fresh air. I haven't seen the city anyway. Wanna join?"
"Can't. I need to practice with Falborg." Boris looked back at the cones with dubious feelings. He was convinced that he wouldn't be able to execute the exercise properly for tomorrow, but he needed to show some progress to Tala. "If I can't complete this task, the captain will be disappointed."
Did he sound desperate? He did sound desperate. Originally, with the words, Boris wanted Alexa to get the hint and leave him alone now, to re-organize his thoughts and focus on the practice. He was not enthusiastic for the idea of a girl watching him constantly failing. Even so, Alexa stepped only closer, following the line of his sight on the cones as they stood side by side.
"It's because you're doing it wrong." She commented bluntly.
"I'm not doing it wrong!" He objected like a five-year old, because he suddenly didn't have a better comeback. "My bitbeast is a falcon. Falborg's specialty is swooping down on his prey. Every time I shoot him, he darts out unstoppably."
"Are we still talking about your falcon?" Alexa retorted cheekily.
Boris retained his stoic gaze to scold the girl for her weak, tasteless joke, but his lopsided smirk betrayed him. She got a weird sense of humor.
"Just do as I said. Try to think with Falborg's head." Alexa changed into a serious tone, stepping behind a bit to give him enough room for the launch.
What she asked was a fucking bullshit. Think with a bird's head. Was she messing with him?! But Boris tried it anyway because he didn't have a better idea. Also, after experiencing the cathartic state of the true about himself – not being a killer –, he felt some gratitude toward Alexa, and didn't want to shoo her away just like that. It wouldn't be nice. Though, he couldn't tell since when he cared about acting nice.
Sighing internally, he imagined himself as a mighty, terrifying falcon (he couldn't suppress a snort at the thought) and aimed with his launcher before shooting, creating the same mess again.
"See?" Boris grumbled, irritated that he made of himself a clown for following her advice.
"Gimme, I'll show you." Alexa sighed exaggeratedly, an open hand urging him.
Boris hesitated. Voluntarily handing over his most precious possession was more than unwise, on the other hand, the girl was her teammate – he had tried to kill just hours ago –, if anyone, it was him who should place more confidence in her.
Not convinced making the right decision, he offered her his Falborg with the thought of the captain in his head. Yuriy would want the team to be unified. Boris paced backwards, still nervous by the sight of his falcon laying in Alexandra's hand.
She lifted the beyblade to her face and muttered some words to it that Boris couldn't understand, but she looked like someone who was praying. He cringed at the idea and hoped he was just misunderstanding the situation. He couldn't respect the people who blindly believed in something that didn't exist.
The firm clicking sound implied that Alexa loaded her launcher with Falborg. She stared at the cones for a few seconds to assess the distance, then she shot, and the beyblade elegantly landed on the first cone. Boris stepped forward next to her and glared at his falcon balancing effortlessly on the top of the cone with widened eyes.
The blonde was still burbling words under her nose, her incomprehensible whispering was like the muffled wind thorough the walls of a warm, secure home, and in the next moment, Falborg hopped to the next cone. The jump was a bit clumsy, and the beyblade had to re-balance its unsteady movements, but it definitely completed the task.
"How?" Boris blurted out, stupefied and outrageously jealous.
Why did Falborg obey her so diligently?!
Picking up the beyblade from the cone, stopping instantly its spinning, Alexa gave Falborg back to Boris and urged him to stand into position before the cones for another launch.
"It's all thanks to the captain. Yuriy developed a great practice to strengthen our connection with the bitbeasts." She said with an eager smile, then switched into a scolding tone. "Your bond with Falborg is quite poor, honestly. You should talk to him more often."
Boris couldn't regulate his eyebrows, they instantly jerked up at the ridiculous idea.
"By talking, you mean, talking?"
"Yes." Came the flat reply.
"But… he's a goddamn BIRD!"
Duh. How should he keep up a conversation with a bird? Making shrill, friendly chirping sounds at his beyblade, or screaming a hoarse 'kee-eeeee-ar' what Falborg usually made during his fights? This sounded embarrassingly lame.
"He's a bitbeast, Boris." Alexa laughed at him. "They understand our souls, our human thoughts perfectly if it's clear enough for them."
"'Kay…" He was not going to argue about this with her. It'd be a waste of time.
He raised his arms with the launcher in them, aiming at the top of the ugly orange object before him, trying to think as Falborg, being powerful, malicious, deadly – they had lots of resemblances…
But he didn't feel any difference in the process. He was still just a guy who was making an idiot of himself in front of a girl for the purpose not to be a complete disappointment for his team.
"Are you trying to shit? You can take a short break, you know." Alexa said in a tone Boris couldn't decide if she was mocking him or being serious.
"No!"
"Then why are you struggling so hard like a man with constipation?"
"Shut the fuck up! I'm trying to concentrate!" Boris hissed through clenched teeth, and he could sense the girl was fighting back a good laugh.
"Your face is red like a tomato. Is it because of the concentration, or because I'm embarrassing you?"
Her irritatingly taunting words made him snap.
"Stop messing with me, woman! Do you never learn?!"
At his loud, threatening voice, Alexa instantly dropped her smile, and shot back her own challenging glare. Boris sensed danger in the air as the tension spiked between them all at once.
Suddenly, she grabbed his hand – he recognized with a surprise that he was able to stop himself reacting with any sudden, dangerous move – and lifted it up for him, directing the launcher again at the goal as she leant closer to him, eyeing the top of the cone.
It was official, now. She did have a death wish stepping so deep into his personal space.
"If you were a fucking falcon, a medium size bird with strong legs and wings, how would you bridge the small distance between the two cones?" She asked impatiently, pointing at the orange objects, expecting correct answer from him.
Boris imagined a bigger bird hopping effortlessly to the next cone, helping the jumping with one small wing-beat. It didn't require much energy to close the distance between the two objects.
Shit. He got it. He was doing the absolute opposite all along. He thought Falborg needed high velocity to keep up the stability on such a tiny point, but in fact, the speed only threw the beyblade out of its balance. This exercise demanded more delicate launching, different kind of concentration. It was something he had never practiced before. In the Abbey, everything was about power, he had to engage with brutal force. Boris didn't know how to launch his beyblade gently, and truthfully, he didn't even have a need of it until now.
Feeling dumb and hopeful at the same time, Boris could only praise Tala once again for his aptitude for leadership. The captain was aware of their deficiencies of skills, and developed suitable exercises for the team.
"Hm." Boris hummed, indicating for Alexa that he understood the conception, and readied his launcher.
The blonde stepped back, and Falborg had been launched, landing on the cone, but after two seconds, it slipped off.
'Close', he motivated himself in his mind, perking up at his first improvement.
In the next hour, Boris practiced the same exercise in the training room until he managed to complete it properly. When he was able to repeat the correct landing with Falborg and making him jump to the next cone for more than ten times, he was content with his progress. Alexa had left his side for a while, not interested to oversee his training, but Boris didn't mind it.
Now, that he diverted his focus from the cones, he noticed his body broke into sweat, arms and legs felt like jelly after the repetitive, strong sudden movements. He deserved a break. A good sleep!
A racket of metal bouncing on the floor in the night's stillness made him jump, feeling a wave of heat coursing through his body thanks to the unanticipated adrenaline shock. Boris snapped his head in the direction of the noise, shooting a scolding glare at the blonde for startling him.
Apparently, Alexa was trying to do salmon ladder, but she had slipped off from the ladder, and the bar rolled loudly far away from her as she tried to catch her breath. Luckily, she was able to land on her foot.
Boris grimaced at the thought of playing the caring teammate but hurried there to check up on her anyway.
"The fuck are you doing?" He scoffed impatiently when he joined her.
His ego purred in contentment at the sight of the girl's failure, especially after his many clumsy launches witnessed by her. However, when he noticed that Alexa still held her head in visible pain, he quickly forgot to continue gloating over her.
"Did you drop the bar on your head?" Boris asked with a slight amusement and a sudden rise of worry. How was she going to battle tomorrow in that state?
"No." Alexa corrected, still pressing a hand against her head. "I have… mmmm… in my brain."
"What? What's in your brain?"
"Mmm… Presage." Alexa mumbled as her face contorted in pain.
"You do realize you're not making any sense, right?" Boris grumbled.
"No, there's presss… Press-something." Alexa was getting noticeably frustrated for not finding the proper expression she wanted to say. "Pressure! It's pressure!"
"You have pressure in your brain?" Boris puzzled out slowly in a doubting tone.
"Mhm." Alexa nodded slowly.
"Always the weakest part hurts the most." He snorted mischievously.
He received a death glare in return for the mean remark.
"Let's call it a day. We should rest for tomorrow's matches." Boris suggested, pointing at the exit door with his head, but Alexa shook her head.
"Go if you want. I need to complete this ladder first." She said with strong determination as she collected the bar from the floor.
Boris inhaled a long, sharp breath with a dramatic eyeroll while he settled himself close to the ladder and the blonde to watch over her. He had no motivation to start arguing with her when she was clearly that stubborn.
"What are you doing?" Alexa frowned at him.
"I'm supervising you. Only a stupid fuck like you would do salmon ladder alone in that state."
"What kind of 'state' are you referring to?" Her voice dropped a few accords, obviously offended.
"Yeah, yeah, we all know you're a strong badass girl, but right now, you look like a bird-shit on the windshield that someone tried to wash off with the wipers but just ended up smearing all over it in a disgusting way."
Boris could hear the noise of the outside world as Alexa was glaring at her, unamused.
"Aren't you a charmer." She deadpanned.
Boris boastfully pulled up his shoulders with his hands in the pocket and smirked in a way that read he had been born with such natural talent. Alexa turned to the ladder after a shake of head, eyeing the lowest rung to collect her strength, but before she made any move, she sighed in defeat and looked at Boris again.
"I can't do it under your judging eyes. So, unless you can help and show me how to do it properly – which highly unlikely –, please, leave and let me practice alone! I can take care of myself."
"'Highly unlikely'? You think I can't do salmon ladder?" Boris spat with incredulousness in his tone.
Her audacity was patronizing.
"Can you?" She asked with a quirked eyebrow.
"Pff."
Boris snatched the bar from her hands after taking off his jacket and throwing it to the floor in a slubber way as he stepped under the ladder and shoving Alexa away. Without hesitation, he began pulling himself up. Rung to rung, bar clinking at each step, Boris made eventually to the top, but he noticeably became tired at the last two steps, groaning with struggle not to miss the rungs. Resting for two seconds in the height, he slowly started his way back down.
When he dropped himself to the floor from the last rung, heaving in exhaustion, he looked at Alexa to brag with his achievement, but the green eye wide in astonishment made a knot on his tongue.
"You didn't tell me you could do that!" She accused him unexpectedly in her awe.
"Well… you didn't ask." Boris panted, not really understanding her scolding tone.
"I thought only Kai could do that." Alexa uttered more to herself than to him as she eyed again the ladder dreamily above her head.
Then she suddenly slapped him on his harm. The hit was meant to be playful, but it was stronger than Boris anticipated, raising a murderous look at the girl for that. He still was out of breath to spew back insults for the gesture, but Alexa ignored his dirty glare.
"That's great! You can teach me how to do it then!" She clapped in excitement like a little girl who was planning to catch Santa in the night. "I tried to learn it by myself, but I do something wrong because I'm climbing the rungs unsteadily, often ending to fall down. I even studied Kai's movements, but I still don't understand what I do differently. I didn't dare ask him during his training. He was focusing so hard, I'm sure he'd send me to hell and refuse to help. I want to learn it. You and Kai make it look so easy."
Boris had enough time to rest during Alexa's animated, long speech. He had never seen the blonde girl chirping this enthusiastically and vividly about something like a simple physical exercise.
The more thing he learnt about her, the more he found the girl weird. In an oddly satisfying way.
"So, when Tala caught you staring at Kai during our training, were you just watching his technique?" Boris asked, recalling the funny scene from the other day.
He and Sergei had a good laugh at the situation and mostly at Alexa. Not so surprisingly, Alexa groaned with an eyeroll.
"Of course! You guys seriously thought that I'd lust after boys on training?!" She gaped, mortified by the suggestion.
"Right. So, you're telling me you're not attracted the slightest to that arrogant, cocky, rich motherfucker with his ridiculously muscly body that braindead girls are intent on killing for." Boris shot back, half jokingly, half earnestly.
Alexa crossed her arms defensively and shot a pointed look at him.
"Exactly." She confirmed, but her statement sounded rather stubborn than convincing. She shot a cutting glare toward him. "But don't talk about him that way! That's rude."
Her hostile voice didn't achieve the expected impact on Boris, he could only snort in his amusement. Though right after that, he sobered his expression when a close memory just faded into his mind from the white, messy fog that still surrounded his combat with Alexa.
'Along with underestimating me, hurting him was the last mistake you made in your life!'
At the recalled threatening words, Boris furrowed his eyebrows in his small but important revelation. His memories were slowly returning to him, a not very pleasant part of the process after taking back the control over his own mind.
"Now, tell me what it is I'm doing wrong." Alexa urged, interrupting Boris' thoughts.
After scrutinizing Alexa's technique, Boris corrected the common mistakes she made during the salmon ladder exercise. She had been holding the bar in her hands too closely to each other. Once she grabbed it wider, her balance improved and reached the next rung with more confidence.
The other problem was that she hadn't pulled herself from her upper body, but just hang on the ladder between two steps and tried to work from her arms. When she started to activate her core muscles, Alexa managed to climb two rungs.
"Aight, that's enough for today." Boris claimed, looking at the clock in shock after the blonde landed on the floor after a successful but tiring attempt. It was already 2:48 am.
Alexa was ready to argue with him, but she couldn't press a word through her heavy pants as she supported her weight leaning on her knees, holding her side with a hand. Her previously nicely braided hair soaked in sweat, laying messily on her shoulder. Just like her face from the struggle and concentration, her hands were red due to the strong grip on the bar. All in all, she looked horrible, but satisfied with herself, nonetheless.
"I did it!" She breathed with a painful grimance as she rose a fist triumphantly in the air.
"Yeah, yeah, you're a fucking superhero. Now, come on. If Tala finds us here, he'll kill us."
As Boris shepherded her toward the exit and through the hall to the elevator, she didn't put up a fight, although, before they left the training room, she quickly collected her claw rings she had forgotten on the bench prior to their combat.
With a brief and surprised glance at the mirrored wall, Boris realized that the staff had already cleaned up their mess. There was no blood, nor shattered mirror pieces on the floor anymore. He hadn't even noticed it first when he had returned there tonight for more training.
It was just a bad memory, now. Just like everything else in his life.
"Do you think we have training tomorrow morning, too? Considering tonight's events, would Yuriy hold it anyway?" Alexa asked when they were already travelling up to their own floor with the elevator.
"You can damn depend upon it." Boris grunted that was followed by Alexa's tired groan.
Arriving to their own rooms, Alexa waved Boris a wish of 'good night'. Boris looked after the blonde as she walked deeper on the corridor, opened her room with the usual beep of her keycard and disappeared from his sight. The silence that befell on him suddenly relaxed both his mind and muscles, taking into note of the various and odd events of the day, a pure roller coaster of emotions he had ridden in the past 24 hours.
His hand rested on the doorknob of the team's room, but still didn't want to break the satisfying peace around him. After his spontaneous private training with Alexandra, he felt his soul had healed some. Not because of the presence of the girl, rather by the reassuring and surprising improvement of the circumstances. She seemingly didn't hold a grudge against him for the terrible things and suffer he had caused her.
It seemed like he had been… forgiven?
Another new feeling he was getting acquainted with today, and for the very first time in his short but tragical life Boris was a man with a more or less complete soul. For the record, he did not plan to keep sessions about his past with Alexandra or anyone else from now on, but it was comforting to know that he had found finally someone that understood his confused mind and shattered character without words, and didn't have to explain the necessary urge in him to vent out his frustration in some form of violence instead of pure communication, like that would help anyhow.
What Boris knew from his conversation with his new teammate, Alexa operated the same way as he. She found her strength and determination in combat, just like him. She felt strong and in position when she acted menacingly, just like him. She wanted to feel great pain when she was overwhelmed by the wrestling thoughts in her mind, just like him.
It was not a normal way to handle the stress, but it was a way, their way. Only people with healthy mental state, people with even temper said violence didn't solve anything in the life. For Boris and Alexandra, violence did solve problems. They didn't have a different set of equipment to cope with in a case they couldn't keep under their control. Simply because they had been not taught any different method to handle their raging emotions.
The life in the Abbey defined their life forever. Everyone had to accept that. Not just Boris and Alexandra, but Tala and Sergei, as well. And the entire Beyblade community. They were different from the normal, everyday people. Violence was part of them. This was the language they spoke, for god's sake. How else could they express their fear, their uncertainty and uneasiness if not with a punch in the wall or in a nose of someone's annoying face?
The peaceful moment still lingered around him. Boris cherished it. Though he probably paid a great price for that, with the possible risk of being kicked out of the championship, he was contented and thankful for that he could have a real fight with someone who didn't fear him. The world didn't seem so cold and harsh suddenly; he didn't have the feeling of standing alone against it on the top of a pile of debris.
With a small, satisfied smile on his face and a deep inhale, Boris stepped inside the team's common room at last, welcomed by the gradually retreating darkness thanks to the upcoming dawn. Only one lamp's light had been forgotten on, the one on the writing desk that Tala liked working on so often.
Not surprised finding the captain sleeping on the desk, Boris touched him on his back and gave a gentle shake to wake him up before he occupied the armchair opposite the furniture. He watched Tala jolting up from his dozed off state with amusement, rubbing his sleepy face and wiping off the saliva that covered his chin due to his unconscious drooling. The redhead looked around in the room and then at Boris, blinking hard in puzzlement. He was obviously trying to figure out where he actually was and how long he had been sleeping on a desk.
Once his extraordinary blue eyes became clear, and understood the situation, he repositioned himself in the seat with a groan.
"What time is it?" Tala's voice croaked, so he quickly cleared his throat.
"Almost 3 am."
"For fuck's sake…" Tala grumbled, rubbing his tired eyes again. "Did you just come back? Where were you until now?"
"In the training room. With Alexandra." Boris replied. He decided it was better to tell him the truth from the beginning instead of getting into another loop of lies. A casual answer to the captain's casual question, though the reaction was far from ordinary.
Tala's eyes widened in disturbance, then instantly narrowed at him with anger.
"You're fucking kidding me!?"
"Nothing to worry about." Boris put his hands up in the air to interrupt the amount of scolding that threatened raining down him. "We talked through our things. More or less. We're good, now. I think. Yeah."
At his shrugging and not so convincing words, Tala narrowed his gaze at him with a suspicion as a new fear gleamed in his eyes that Boris couldn't understand at first.
"Oh, god, no…" Tala whispered with bewilderment, still fixing his gaze on him. "Don't tell me…"
"What?" Boris frowned, completely baffled what thought might have occurred in the captain's head.
"You fucked her, right?" Tala said bluntly, catching Boris perfectly off guard with the idea. The redhead probably took his gaping mouth and wide-open eyes as a validation of his wild assumption, because he immediately dropped his head in his hands and started whining. "Geez, Boris! That'll just complicate things even more!"
Finally processing Tala's words and witnessing that entertaining shock on his face, Boris couldn't bite back his cackle. He tilted his head back and slapped his own knee as he chortled at the ceiling, delighted by the sight of his horrified captain.
"What the hell, Tala! No! We didn't!" He managed to say through his not-quieting laughter as he stared now at the captain's plain face.
"Glad you didn't use your common method to smooth your misunderstandings with the girls this time." Tala snarled just to ease the embarrassment for himself with a remark.
When Boris' cackling finally subsided, he repeated his words in a more severe tone to reassure the captain that, indeed, nothing that had happened between him and Alexa.
"Anyway, you should avoid being alone with her. Especially at night. What did you think, seriously?!" Tala chided him with his vivid, piercing eyes.
"It was her who joined me!" He defended, but Tala ignored him with a click of his tongue. Boris looked down at his lap as he pondered on his time with Alexa in the training room. "She seemed much more at ease this time when we talked. I even dared to ask, and she said she's not afraid of me. She seemed honest. I think we'll be able to work together as a team from now on."
"That'd be great, actually." Tala grumbled in a not so convinced way. He leant back in the chair and eyed Boris with a contemplating expression. "I have an important question for you."
"Yes?" Boris straightened in the chair, noticing the seriousness in Tala's voice.
"Do you want to stay in the team?"
The falcon locked his eyes with the redhead's with rock solid determination, and ceremoniously nodded once. He truly wanted to stay.
Tala still eyed him with uncertainty, not satisfied with a single nod to his question.
"Even with the risk that you can snap again and do harm on your opponents? Once you hurt someone on the competition, you have to face the consequences and take the responsibility for it alone. I won't be able to cover your back anymore if anything similar happens again."
Boris would lie if Tala's words didn't make an impact on his clenched heart and didn't hurt him, but his questions were rightful, none the less. Although, he was aware of the risks, hell, he had been aware of them for years now, he still wanted to take them and stay part of the team. He just needed to be extra cautious, and everything would be fine as it had been for two years.
"I'll take full responsibility for my actions, not putting in danger the team's reputation. I'm here to help and win the championship, not to ruin our odds, ya know."
This time, Tala nodded in satisfaction, believing what Boris just said. A comfortable silence embraced them as Boris watched the rising sun through the window behind Tala's illuminated figure, pouring dimmed light in the room.
"So, everything stays the same?" He asked, holding some kind of hope that the answer would be yes.
Eventually, the captain breathed a long sigh, and shifted on his seat, evidently ready to retire for the remaining time of the night.
"If Alexa's also okay with your staying, then yes. Everything will stay the same. I just tell Hiwatari to fuck off with his reporting intention."
What exact conflict Tala had with Kai, Boris didn't know, but he was too tired to ask about it. It was already too late – or too early –, and he had yet slept on this night. He would have a chance to ask about it tomorrow.
At the mention of Alexa and Kai, however, Boris pulled down his eyebrows and recalled his mild realization from the training room. Despite having a good time and getting on somewhat friendly terms with her, Boris' loyalty primarily laid with Tala and only him. He was not going to conceal any seemingly important details from his trusted friend.
"Just a word, Tala." Boris requested, and the captain slowly eased himself back on the chair – he was about to leave.
Noticing the sober expression on the falcon, Tala leaned forward on the desk, nonverbally telling him that he was listening closely.
"I remember something from the fight. Something that Alexa said while she was strangling me after dragging me away from Kai." He felt uncomfortable talking again about the parts of the fight, but his instincts told Boris that this was an important detail he had to share with Tala.
The captain visibly tensed at the topic, but his stoic gaze didn't give away any of his excitement.
"She said, on top of underestimating her, I'll pay for hurting him. Or I made a mistake hurting him? Something like that." He examined Tala's reaction, curious if his friend could make any sense from it, or if he would jump at the same conclusion.
"By 'him', did she refer to Kai?" Tala asked after a while, chewing on Boris' words internally.
"I believe so." Boris confirmed; who else could she refer to? He hadn't hurt any guy apart from Kai in her presence. And there was a possible connection between them. "I think she got a crush on him, but what's more important… I think Kai is her trigger point."
The captain didn't respond instantly, he kept staring at him in contemplation with a heavy frown. Boris could almost hear how the cogs were turning at full blast in his head with the effort to get the whole picture from the puzzle pieces. After a few seconds, Tala narrowed his eyes in irritation, as if he'd discovered a secret he had been lied about.
"Did she talk to you about her relationship with him? Did she train with him, maybe?" Tala queried.
Boris shook his head.
"We didn't get into specific details. But she goes quite defensive when you mention Kai in an inappropriate way. Check it by yourself tomorrow. Maybe she'll share more information about it if you back her into a corner."
"No, that'd serve nothing good, only ruin the team's moral. I don't want her to feel intimated in our companion. Besides, we're here to win the championship, not to resolve mysteries and investigate her past." Tala reminded him, and finally stood, stretching his lean, stiffened limbs. "Thanks for telling me, though. It's important for me to know what it's her trigger. Now, go to bed and sleep, that's an order."
"Aye, aye." Boris responded robotically as he rose to his feet to leave the common room, as well.
As he quietly slipped into the bedroom he shared with Sergei, his ear immediately caught the monotonic huffs and snorts from the bed of his blonde teammate. Knowing how heavy sleeper the whale-wielder was, Boris didn't bother to move with caution in the room, and turned on even the lamp on his bedside table. For his own surprise though, this time, Sergei stirred at the light and cracked his eyes open sleepily with a grunt.
"Sorry, bro. Did I wake you up?" Boris asked the obvious innocently.
When his sleep was interrupted, Sergei often behaved like a fierce bear waken up from its hibernation, and he didn't want to upset him more than necessary. Boris had intentionally avoided Sergei in the mornings in the Abbey, because the guy had been constantly bad-tempered after the too early and unpleasant reveille, and if someone hadn't talked to him the way he liked, the broad guy had effortlessly put the fool on a flying route without a second thought, injuring them severely.
"No, it's alright. I was worried for you." Sergei mumbled and Boris snorted at his nonsense. He would never say such things to Boris when he was wide awake.
"I'm safe and sound. You can sleep back, now." Boris pulled his t-shirt over his head, and plopped himself in the bed.
"It's past 3 am. Where the hell were you?" Sergei interrogated, his voice a mere rasp, his hair a mess above the two thin lines of his eyes.
Boris quirked an eyebrow at his questioning. Why was everyone so interested suddenly in his whereabouts?
"I was training with Alexa. We're good buddies, now." Boris announced with a sigh. He was too tired to evade the question with a fabricated lie.
Sergei pulled a confused, funny face with his sleepy, puffy features. His reaction reminded Boris what the captain had believed first, and he had to bite back another burst of laughter.
"Your reaction is better. Tala thought I had sex with her."
Sergei stared at him with even wider eyes, and Boris worried they would pop out of their sockets. In the next second, they both roared with laughter, bending double on the bed as the gurgling sound filled the room.
"You should've seen his face!" Boris neighed through his tears that arouse another wave of laugh from Sergei.
They heard a set of angry pounds on the wall from the neighboring room followed by Tala's muffled voice.
"Sleep time, fuckers!"
When they finally brought their laughter under control, Boris dropped himself back on the bed, ready to fall asleep.
"Why did he think that? She's not even your type. Alexa's too ordinary for you." Sergei asked still with a slight amusement in his tone.
"Right?! Though, trust me, that girl is everything but ordinary." Boris objected with a meaningful, dreadful glare that suggested Sergei to stay away from her if he wanted to live. "She's a total weirdo."
"Look who's calling the kettle black." Sergei snorted. "You lost the bet, by the way."
"What?" Boris had no idea what his teammate was talking about, but fragments of an old conversation vaguely occurred in his mind when they had first met Alexandra.
"The bet. The deadline was a day ago. She's with the team for a whole month, now." Sergei clarified his own win with a smug grin.
"Oh, fuck me!"
A/N: Okay, I don't know what this chapter is and how the hell I was able to write down so much random shit, but don't let it fool you, it does contain important details regarding the plot of the story. I know I previously said the focus will shift back to Kai's POV, but this chapter was necessary and originally planned, so yeah. Not intentionally, but kinda lied to you. Sorry. :D
I don't know how much you're interested in Boris or my OC's character, or how much you like following the Blitzkriegs' life, but I certainly had fun playing with these guys. I hope it gave you a better insight into the characters' mind and connections, I believe these things are important for the sake of the story's completeness.
As always, thank you for your constant support and encouraging feedback!