A/N: Yay, another one! :D hehe. Getting close to the end now! So close, can you smell it?! I'll admit, I did rush a few scenes in here, and some are not quite as detailed or as well fleshed out as I had hoped or would have liked, so for that I apologize. That aside, as always, hope you guys love this one, and if you do PLEASE let me know you favourite part(s)! It makes me feel so good inside! lol
Ok enough with the excuses and begging hehe. On with the show, enjoy!
Disclaimer: I own my OCs, that is all. All other characters and cannon content belong to... well not me. Unfortunately.
It had been roughly two weeks since the incident between a certain redhead and brunette, and as the former was trudging down the hallway towards breakfast, his mind was, as it had been nearly every moment since, on that night in question. To say he'd been in a less than approachable state since the fateful night would be an understatement, and admittedly, it was probably the main reason his team seemed to be generally avoiding him for the most part.
Grumbling to himself, Tala stepped off the lattermost stair onto the main floor, and pivoted on his heel to head towards the cafeteria, when something in the corner of his eye caught his attention. Turning his head to look towards the main entrance, crimson brows furrowed as he made note of a familiar pair of luggage sitting beside the front doors.
"Those are Demetra's..." He thought with a deep frown. "Is she leaving...?"
He tried to tell himself it was no big deal; if the spoiled princess wanted to go, then good riddance. But deep down, his inner self taunted him for the bluff, especially when a mild sense of panic began to bubble up and twist his gut.
Swallowing the unwanted emotions with some difficulty, Tala jerked his head away from the door and forced himself to continue towards his intended destination.
-;-
Though he tried to make it seem inconspicuous, Tala's polar blues searched almost frantically about the already occupied room. As expected, he made quick note of his teammates already there, chatting (mostly) lively amongst themselves. But not unexpectedly, there was no Demetra.
"Looking for someone, Tala?"
Tala gritted his teeth against the nails-on-chalkboard voice that greeted his ears, then turned to see his least favourite blunette giving him a smug look. With an indignant snort, Tala ignored him and crossed the room to get himself a coffee.
"If you're looking for Demetra, she's gone to finish getting ready to leave." Ian said nonchalantly.
He didn't want to let on just how much the statement bothered him, so he didn't reply. But Tala's back tensed nonetheless, and his hand froze with his spoon hovering over his mug. Once again that previous sense of panic began to surge up inside him, and this time he was very glad he was back-on to his friends - not to mention a certain pain in his rear.
Forcing himself to visibly relax, Tala finished dumping in his usual heaping serving of sugar, gave the blackness a quick stir, then reluctantly turned back around to go sit with his team - on the opposite end of the table as Kai, as far from him as possible.
For a while, there was only basic chatter around him, which relieved Tala, because it gave him little chance to voice the question he was absolutely itching to ask - Where is she going?
As if on cue though, the heavy metal doors to the cafeteria swung open, and Tala's heart went up into his throat when he saw Demetra pass through them. Deep down, he'd been hoping it wasn't true, that there'd been a misunderstanding, that she wasn't actually going anywhere. But as he looked her over, a deep frown creased Tala's face again when he noted her decked out from head to toe in outer gear. The sight made something sickly twist painfully in his gut.
For a brief moment, their gazes met, and Tala's breath halted in his throat. But before he could so much as form a thought, never mind a word, those gorgeous silver eyes turned away from him again as if he were of no more consequence to her than a rodent on the side of the road.
"Morning Demetra." Spencer greeted politely.
"Morning." She replied simply.
Tala couldn't believe that was it, that was the best anyone had to offer, the best she had to offer. She was about to walk out of their lives - probably forever - and the best anyone could offer was 'good morning'?!
Swallowing hard, Tala turned forward, pretending to stare disinterestedly at the wall while he listened to Demetra's boots cross the room in direction of her own black fuel. He could scarcely believe he was able to decipher the clinking of her spoon against her thermos, seeing as his heart was thundering so loudly in his ears, but he was indeed acutely aware of it. He was also extremely aware when the brunette turned back around, strode back across the room again, her footprints getting steadily closer.
Tala fought with himself internally, trying to force himself to speak, to say something to her. But it seemed like his mouth was glued shut. For agonizingly long seconds, he felt the panic skyrocketing this time, fearful she would completely cross the room and actually leave - possibly disappearing forever without so much as a backward glance, or a kiss my arse goodbye.
However, just when he was sure his own distress would choke him, Tala heard his petite teammate speak up in his stead.
"Hey, why don't you sit with us and drink that?" Ian suggested. "You're not in that big a hurry are ya?"
"Actually, I am." Demetra replied bluntly, not pausing in her step.
"Awe come on!" Bryan egged on. "A few extra minutes won't kill ya! We're gonna miss seein' ya in the mornings!"
Tala held his breath hopefully as he eyed the brunette's back out the corner of his eye. And when she released a heavy sigh and turned back around, he thought he could actually jump for joy. Never in his life had he ever appreciated his friends so much.
Demetra made her way back towards the little breakfast group, and Ian sidled over to make a little room between himself and Bryan. Tala could swear he saw a little light of relief cross her face for that, before she situated herself between them.
Now that the opening was made, Tala decided to take it and use it for himself - he wasn't likely to get another chance.
"So where you going?" He asked, trying his damndest to make it sound conversational and mostly uncaring.
"Who says I'm going anywhere?" Demetra replied coldly, sipping her coffee without looking at him.
"Saw your luggage by the door." He said casually as he could. "Finally running away, Princess? Russia too tough for ya after all?"
Instantly, Tala watched Demetra's hand clench so tightly around her thermos her knuckles bleached, and his stomach dropped out his toes as a threat from not so long ago echoed in his ears like a voice through a megaphone.
"The next time you call me by that hateful dub, so help me God, I'll shove it down your throat!"
Tala winced as he noted the fury in her eyes and the tight set of her jaw. Suddenly he was extremely grateful they were surrounded by everyone. For once, he hadn't meant to taunt or to tease her, it had simply been reflexive. He was so used to calling her by the dub, an outsider might even mistake it as flirty affection.
The urge to apologize was on the tip of his tongue, but with so many witnesses, as per usual, he couldn't quite banish his pride enough to let it out.
Saving him the trouble, Demetra both fortunately and yet unfortunately replied. Tala's heart jumped up in his throat again when she swung her beautiful silvery gaze on him, but it felt like a violent stab when he noted the vicious glare in them.
"Not that it's any of your business." She began coldly. "But I'm taking a trip to China to meet up with the girls for a week."
Tala felt like a water bottle someone had just poked a hole in; immediately he felt a majority of the tension and panic that had accumulated rush out of him, to instead be replaced by a deep sense of relief. The relief was so intense, he had to force himself not to actually release a matching sigh.
"Flying miles away for a whole week, just to slack off." He taunted moodily. "Must be nice. Guess you don't take training that seriously after all."
Once again, Tala inwardly cringed at his own words. As so often, he hadn't meant to let them out, and he knew they weren't going to do him many favours. But he couldn't have held them back if he'd tried. Relieved though he was that she didn't seem to be disappearing forever, he was still considerably bitter, mostly because he found he really didn't like the idea of her leaving at all - and the thought made him furious.
Fully expecting her to explode, Tala was momentarily surprised at the response that almost instantly came out of her mouth.
"What's the matter Tala?" She taunted in return. "Going to miss me while I'm gone?"
He noted the smug smirk on her face, and if it was only that, Tala would have been convinced she was indeed merely taunting him. But although he couldn't quite identify it, he saw something else in her eyes too as she stared intently back at him.
Unable to decide if she was just throwing his own words back in his face, or if she could actually see through him, Tala felt a hot flush rush up his neck and face. Turning away from her, he closed his eyes and forced an indignant look.
"Don't flatter yourself, Princess." He spat coldly, the dub completely deliberate this time. "I'll relish the reprieve."
Hearing her scoff, Tala opened his eyes again, and looked out the corner of them towards her, noting with disappointment that the brunette was getting to her feet.
"Hey, where ya goin?" Ian asked, obviously disappointed as well - though Tala was willing to bet not nearly as disappointed as he was. "You can't be finished already, you just got here!"
"I poured my coffee to take with me." Demetra informed him. "And I intend to do so."
"Awe." Ian cooed with a frown. "Well have a good trip then!"
"Say hi to your team for us." Spencer said politely.
"Try not to miss us too much." Bryan added cheekily.
"Keep in touch." Kai finished tonelessly.
Demetra looked over her shoulder at that last remark, and Tala felt the little green monster inside roar furiously when she locked eyes with the blunette for a second. But to his surprise, her gaze flicked to him next and lingered there just a little longer. Feeling a surge of pride and joy this time, Tala felt a corner of his lips quirk helplessly upward a little before the stunning beauty turned forward again and continued on her way.
"See you in a week." She said simply without looking back again. And with nothing more than that, she was gone a second later.
Like she'd never been there at all, the Blitzkrieg Boys, save Tala, all fell back into comfortable conversation again, and for a long time, Tala was left to his own brooding thoughts while he tuned them out. However, eventually, he found himself forcefully dragged into their conversation, and not at all to one he wanted to be a part of.
"Yea, that reminds me..." Bryan said thoughtfully. "What the hell happened that night anyway, Tal?"
Knowing full-well what night they were talking about, Tala felt his stomach twist sickeningly again. Still, he decided to play dumb as long as he could, extremely unwilling to talk about the topic at hand - he didn't even want to think about it.
"What night?" He almost growled, closing his eyes and lifting his mug for a sip.
"That night you took Demetra on a date to the festival." Spencer supplied, unfazed as usual by his friend's frosty response.
"It wasn't a date."
Tala's eyes snapped open and flicked towards Kai, only to find the blunette glaring back at him. The denial had been a simultaneous one from them both, and Tala almost kicked himself for it.
"What, seriously?" Ian questioned, seemingly in suspicious disbelief. "The whole village has been gossiping about it ever since. They're all saying you guys had heaps of chemistry, and you make the cutest couple."
"Yea, apparently there was even a hot little scene at the bar." Bryan said with a huge cheesy grin.
Tala wanted so badly to take his brash admission back; to tell them that yes, it was a date, and yes there was a hot little scene, and hells yes they made a damn good couple, because Demetra had without a doubt chosen him!
But, even if his pride did allow him to say such a thing, and even if there may or may not have been an inkling of truth to at least some of it, looking at the irritating blunette giving him a challenging look across the way, Tala knew Kai was well aware of the most important truth, and he knew the blunette would never let him get away with it.
So, clenching his teeth, Tala did his best to keep his voice even and calm as he forced himself to continue.
"We just happened to meet up, that's all." He replied in a deadpan tone. "And the scene in the bar was just something to get Sergio to back off."
"Ugh! You ran into that moron!" Ian spat in disgust, latching onto that piece of information. "That guy really chafes my hide!"
"Yea, what a loser!" Bryan agreed.
There was a tiny spark of relief that the guys seemed satisfied by his brief explanation and left it at that. But admittedly, Tala was just a bit disappointed too. In a way, he sort of hoped that they would have kept pestering him, that it would have given him the opening to be 'forced' to admit that it wasn't just a friendly outing after all, that there had been more to it, and he was fairly certain Demetra was on the verge of realizing some sort of deep, intense feelings for him.
Unfortunately, that chance never came.
What did come however, was the sound of something he not only didn't want to hear from his friend's mouths, but in fact from anyone's mouth ever.
"That's true alright. She's totally one of the hottest girls I've ever seen in real life." Ian said casually and matter-of-factly, as if he was merely discussing beyblade parts.
"And the most ruthless!" Bryan said, practically drooling. "I've never met such a vicious woman in all my life!"
"Yea, she's pretty dangerous." Spencer piped up, tossing in his two cents worth. "It's hard to imagine when you look at her for the first time. Glad she's our friend instead of our enemy... She'd have given a lot of the guys back in the abbey days a run for their money."
Looking towards the resident blunette, Ian gave him a cheeky grin.
"I'd ask what you think, Kai, but pretty sure we all know what you think about Demetra."
Casually lifting his mug to his lips, Kai spoke over the rim before taking a long sip.
"If you know, then don't bother to ask."
"Kai's in looooove with Demetra!" Ian teased, leaning over to nudge the blunette's ribs. "Ain't ya buddy?"
Kai scoffed but annoyingly didn't deny the comment.
"Yea! And the way she looks at ya, I bet your chances are pretty good, big guy!" Bryan teased with a sly grin. "You ol' dog! I bet-"
Suddenly a loud thump made the two teasers jump, and all eyes went to Tala. The redhead was on his feet, hands on the table, and a splatter of now icy coffee covering the surface from the mug he'd slammed down on it.
Blinking at their Captain in surprise, all but Kai eyed the redhead in stunned shock.
"Ugh... you OK man?" Ian asked, eying his friend with wide eyes.
"I'm going out." Tala snapped bluntly, ignoring them all.
Turning in on his heel, Tala left his team gaping after him, storming out of the cafeteria in a flurry of barely concealed rage that nearly tore the heavy metal door from its hinges.
Although her plane was touching down in China, Demetra's thoughts were a million miles away. In fact, while she had decided to take a vacation to get away from the place and everything that went with it, her mind refused to leave the frozen wasteland behind. If that wasn't bad enough, she was even beginning to wonder if she'd left her heart back there as well.
As the giant airbus taxied briskly down the runway, Demetra tried to force her thoughts to the here and now, to the people she was about to reunite with rather then the ones she'd left behind. But it was like trying to get a stubborn hound off the scent of a rabbit.
Finally the plane slowed to a stop, and Demetra was granted a minuscule reprieve when the seatbelt sign went out, enabling the passengers to finally be able to move. Luckily she'd had a isle seat, so with a heavy sigh, Demetra immediately got to her feet, quickly collected her carry on and hastily made her way down the isle towards the exit.
-;-
"It's almost time! Tori should be meeting us here any minute!"
Demetra's expression softened as she watched her petite teammate happily gushing some ways away. Her fellow brunette had yet to arrive, and since her flight would be getting in at a particularly busy hour, they'd decided to meet her somewhere.
Waiting for just that, Demetra stood off to the side as the small group happily chatted and goofed off some ways away. She wasn't exactly a social butterfly at the best of times, and seeing as the group seemed to be currently content with entertaining each other without her, Demetra took the time to message Breal and let him know she'd safely landed. Turning her cell on, she did just that, and as expected, the response was quick.
Swiftly reading the confirmation text her brother left, her expression softening at his well wishes, she promised to pass on his greeting to the other three as requested, then moved to close her screen and replace it into her pocket. However before she could manage, another text came through, lighting up the device once more. Her eyes rapidly scanning the message, she debated on ignoring it, but something made her reconsider.
Glancing up at her collection of companions, she noted that the girl they were waiting for had yet to arrive, and the others were all still happily chatting amongst themselves, so Demetra turned back to the device in her hand and selected the name and number on screen.
After only a single ring, a familiar voice came through the other end.
"Hey! You called!" Ian's cheerful voice greeted her.
"You asked me to." Demetra replied in a deadpan tone. Ian chuckled.
"Yea, but I didn't think you actually would!"
Demetra sighed and lifted her hand to rub the bridge of her nose.
"What do you want, Ian?"
"Oh, not much, just wanted to know you got there OK... Since you're there though, mind if we use your treadwalls?"
Sweatdropping, Demetra rolled her eyes.
"Knock yourself out." She replied bluntly. "If I didn't take it with me, then it's fair game. Nothing I've left behind is irreplaceable."
"Sweet!" The voice on the other end cheered. Immediately after, she heard him call to the others with a far too excited exclamation then the simple request warranted. "She said it's cool guys!"
Demetra felt a prick of amusement at that before the Russian teen came back on the line once again.
"So how was your flight?"
For some time there was small talk, until the bittersweet sound of a familiar irritating voice cut through the two's meaningless chatter.
"Made it in one piece, huh?" Tala's voice jeered tauntingly. "No surprise, I guess. You're pretty good at escaping after all."
Demetra's teeth clenched tightly at that.
"I've told you before," She replied coldly. "there's a difference in running away, and simply walking away from something not worth my time."
"Clearly." Tala said without missing a beat. "And like I said; guess training and actually making something of yourself isn't worth your time either, huh? But then, when you're already at the bottom, there's not much further you can fall, right? So I guess one extra week can't make that much difference."
A week could make a helluva difference if it meant getting away from those stupid mind games for a while. Feeling her temper skyrocketing, Demetra's jaw tightened. Why oh why did she call, and how did she honestly expect anything other then exactly this?
"Gimme back my phone, Tala..." Ian's muffled voice sounded wearily.
"Yea, come on Tal." Spencer was heard agreeing. "Give her a break, she's on vacation."
There was a series of muffled arguing from the other end after that, and Demetra rolled her eyes as she debated on just hanging up on the idiots. Fortunately for her, a much more lovable familiar voice cut through the annoyance and saved her in the nick of time.
"Hey grouch! Think you can spare a moment for your team? Tala can wait a week for you!"
Her head snapping to the left, Demetra's eyes locked on the girl they'd been waiting for, and a flood of relief accompanied the tug of affection she felt for the other brunette as she took in the sight of her. Always there when she needed them, her sisters were constantly rescuing her from herself, usually without even realizing it.
"Fashionably late as always." She thought, a tiny smile tugging at her lips. "And yet somehow always right on time..."
"Goodbye, Tala." She said curtly. "Don't contact me again."
And with nothing more to say then that, and no more desire to say it, she ended the unwanted conversation to make her way towards her most favourite big mouth.
-;-
"Hey, Demetra, everything alright?... You haven't touched a thing since your food arrived. Are you having trouble with your chopsticks?"
Shaken out of her trance, Demetra blinked a few times, belatedly realizing she'd been completely lost in thought. Her face instantly soured as she realized that once again, she'd been completely focused on the mess her life had become lately, instead of the here and now with the majority of people she loved most in the world.
A low growl rumbled in Demetra's throat, and her grip on the thin wooden sticks in her hand tightened to the point they began to bend under threat of breaking.
"What the hell was the point of leaving Russia to forget about it, when my mind decided to stay behind anyway?!" She thought angrily towards herself.
After following Kage and the White Tigers to their residence, they'd all unpacked and settled in before deciding to go out for a bite to eat. Demetra had tried her damndest to focus on the here and now, to be part of the conversations around her - at least with as much desire as she ever had to be part of any menial conversation. But no matter what she did, she couldn't force her stubborn mind to actually leave Russia behind for even the briefest moment to actually join her in China.
Thoroughly irritated with herself and her own traitorous heart, the brunette instead turned her anger towards the pinkette across the table, whom had addressed her.
"I'm Japanese." Demetra bluntly stated icily.
She watched Mariah and several others all sweatdrop at the statement, and they watched her as she moved to skillfully pluck a piece of fish from her plate as if to prove her point, then pop it into her mouth.
"Right..." Mariah drawled briskly through a somewhat clenched jaw, a tic forming in her forehead. "My mistake then."
Demetra ignored the girl after that as she continued to clean her plate - to keep the attention off of herself if nothing else. She was well aware she wasn't the sole female Tiger's favourite person, and truth be told she really couldn't be bothered enough to care. There were precious few who would consider Demetra Nakamura their cup of tea, and to be perfectly honest, she couldn't be bothered enough to care about that either.
Though she didn't look at anyone, Demetra was acutely aware of her girls exchanging looks with each other, as well as the awkward tension her icy reaction had brought on. That silence ensued for quite a while until eventually the sound of someone clearing their throat was heard, followed by the resident bubbly blonde's irritatingly cheerful voice.
"So! What's everybody been up to since we last saw each other?" Max asked with a wide million dollar smile. "Feels like it's been forever!"
A welcomed wave of relief passed around the table then as the easy flow of conversation kickstarted again.
Feeling a light nudge to her ribs, Demetra glanced to her right to see Kage looking at her with a knowing and concerned expression.
"You OK?" She asked subtly under the table.
Taking a long deep breath, and resisting a sigh, Demetra looked away from her sister, knowing she couldn't hide the truth from the girl if she had to look her in the eye. Giving a small nod in confirmation, Demetra placed her chopsticks down before pushing her chair back.
"I'm stepping out for a minute." She declared tonelessly, getting to her feet.
Her girls looked at her with frowns and concerned expressions.
"You OK?" Keisha asked with a worried look. "Want us to come with?"
"I'm fine." Demetra replied shortly. But looking at the concerned faces staring at her - most of the table to be exact - she then sighed lightly and forced her expression to soften. "I just need some air. I won't be long."
Not giving anyone else a chance to add anything more, Demetra turned away from the collective group and briskly made her way to the back of the restaurant towards the doors that led outside.
-;-
For the first time since she'd arrived, Demetra was finally able to rip her consciousness away from Russia's frozen tundra, long enough to actually take in the scenery around her. Taking a deep, measured breath, she allowed her gaze to wander. She had to give them credit; the White Tigers knew how to pick a setting.
The restaurant they'd chosen was planted smack dab int the middle of the very busy and bustling city, and yet somehow, this time little piece of paradise seemed to have been completely removed from it all. Though she could faintly hear the bustle of the city life beyond the high ancient-style walls, it was mostly easy to ignore while surrounded by the serene view she was faced with.
Standing on a old-style curved wooden bridge, Demetra listened to the gentle babbling of the water feature below, watched the picturesque leaves floating along its surface. Lifting her gaze, she stared at the no doubt hundred year old giant some feet away, and listened to the subtle rustle of its beautiful foliage as a gentle breeze danced through the beautiful, well tended garden. The scene was so surreally peaceful and idyllic, that for just the briefest of moments, she was able to escape the prison of her torturous thoughts, long enough to simply enjoy the pure loveliness of it.
However the reprieve didn't last long; about as long as it took her to notice a tiny bundle of flowers growing near the bridge she was standing on - flowers of the most stunning shade of blue; a shade that was a disturbingly accurate match for a certain pair of polar blues she'd come to know, nearly more intimately than the sight of her own.
A heavy, frustrated sigh escaping her, Demetra's head dropped in defeat. Her face screwed up in a mix of irritation, and a very unwanted sort of heart sickness she'd never had the displeasure of feeling before.
"Get out of my head!..." She growled half-heartedly under her breath.
"Wow. That's a pretty big sigh for someone who's supposed to be on vacation."
Straightening and looking over her shoulder, Demetra made note of a familiar face approaching her, admittedly a very unexpected face.
"Being on vacation doesn't put life on hold." She replied instantly. To her surprise her companion chuckled.
"Yea, guess not, huh?" Lee Wong said with a half-cocked grin. Stopping beside her, he crossed his arms as he turned to look out over the scenery she'd just been admiring. "Pretty great view huh? Might not put life on hold for ya, but if you let it, it can might help you forget it for a while."
Eying him for a minute, Demetra eventually turned forward and leaned ahead to rest her arms on the rail again.
"What are you doing here?" She asked him, choosing not to respond to his comment. "Did you lose the draw to come and try to console the savage beast?"
Lee chuckled again.
"Nah. I was just on my way back from the john when I saw you out here through the window." He replied casually, not bothering to look at her. "Just thought I'd check on ya. If I'm bothering ya though I can scram."
Demetra was silent for a few moments before eventually replying.
"It's fine." She said simply.
And for once she meant it; admittedly, considering the guy, and considering the rest of the collection of her girls' new friends, she had to admit that out of them all, he was without a doubt among the least irritating. If she had to share her solitude with someone, she supposed he probably wasn't the worst nuisance who could have disturbed her. Besides, with an unfamiliar soul invading her space, perhaps it would give her some sort of break from the maddening thoughts plaguing her.
"So, I hear you're stayin' with the Blitzkrieg Boys huh? What's that been like?"
Instantly Demetra's expression soured. Or not.
Glancing to the side, Lee seemed to make note of her expression and his own softened guiltily.
"Sorry." He apologized readily. "Sore topic I guess. Feel free to tell me it's none of my business."
Surprising even herself this time, Demetra was quick to answer.
"It's fine." She said bluntly, and after a short pause she made a face before continuing. "Living with them is a pain in the ass."
Admittedly, the sound of her companion's easy laughter did her good.
"Yea, I can see that." Lee said with a wide grin. "Not like either of 'em are exactly a bunch of cuddly teddy bears, especially Tala and Kai. Seems like those two can barely stand each other at the best of times. Bet keeping them in line is a pain by itself."
Demetra scoffed in agreement and Lee grinned again.
Oddly enough, a series of easy small talk followed that, and Demetra found herself grudgingly grateful for the Chinese blader's presence - though she would never admit it aloud.
Eventually, Lee uncrossed his arms and looked at her.
"Bet everybody's wondering where we are." He said casually. "Think I'll head back. You feel like joining me? If you're not quite ready, I can let 'em know you just need another bit?"
Demetra considered for a moment before straightening and turning towards the doors.
"Might as well head back." She said bluntly. "If I stay any longer, there'll be a search party of three coming soon after anyway."
"Fair enough." Lee chuckled. "I'm sure you're probably right about that."
And so, Demetra followed the White Tiger back to the collection of friends. When they'd reached the table, several faces turned their way.
"Look who I found." Lee teased, retaking his seat beside Kage again.
"Woah! I can't believe you were not only brave enough to disturb her, but you actually managed to bring her back!" Victoria exclaimed, only half playfully.
"And you're still alive and in one piece!" Keisha tacked on, impressed.
"Yea, maybe I should give shark diving a go." Lee teased back good-naturedly. "Seeing as I'm so lucky with dangerous creatures."
Demetra scoffed in admitted amusement as Lee gave her a teasing grin.
"You certainly must have some sort of good fortune about you." Demetra replied somewhat jokingly. "Normally I'd say you'd have better luck with the sharks."
When everyone had a chuckle at that before resuming the table talk, Demetra met her girls expectant gazes. Her expression softened and she gave them a reassuring look to set their hearts at ease. She knew it wouldn't hold them off for long, but at least it would allow them to leave her be for just a little bit longer. Hopefully long enough for her to at least navigate the chaotic hurricane in her own brain, well enough to be able to function properly again if nothing else.
-;-
"Heh. Not gonna lie, that was smooth. But I bet ya never seen moves like these before!"
A tiny smirk quirked up Demetra's lips at Ray Kon's comment, and true to his word, he proceeded to come at her full-force with a series of impressive maneuvers she indeed hadn't seen before.
"I suppose I can admit I've seen worse." She allowed herself to reply good-naturedly. "But don't get too cocky just yet, Captain. The battle's only just begun."
"Bring it on, Demetra! I'm ready!"
"Well just see about that."
Amid their playful banter, Demetra had to admit that she was indeed, for once, enjoying herself. The collection of friends had all decided to take a trip to a local park, and currently a few of them had paired off for some casual Beyblading. For the first time, she was simply blading for the sheer fun of it; no strings, no consequences, and no pressure to ensure victory. For once victory wasn't a necessity, and she had to admit that the fact alone added another level of enjoyment she'd never felt before.
The battle had been raging on for several minutes, and for the most part it was a fairly even amount of give and take. However, somewhere during the tussle, a harmless comment from close by changed all that and turned her good mood on a dime.
"Anyone ever tell you you talk too much?!"
It had been a playful and teasing comment from Victoria towards the White Tiger's smallest blader, as they too duked it out a ways away. But playful though it was, the memory it induced was enough to make Demetra physically flinch.
"Anyone ever tell you you talk too much?!"
The last time she'd heard that, it had been directed towards her, and the person who'd screamed it at her, had done so in a fit of rage akin only to what she herself had felt towards him at the time.
Noting the sudden and puzzling change, Ray frowned at his opponent.
"Hey... you OK?" He asked in concern, eying the other Captain with concern.
"Yea. Fine." Demetra replied shortly. Shaking her head and straightening.
She tried to focus, but now that the wound had been reopened, it kept pricking her like a physical stab; every little ridiculous word and action around her reminding her somehow of that night long ago, and the person she'd unwillingly shared it with, until she'd eventually become nothing more then a bundle of nerves.
The tension tantamount now, and her good mood thoroughly ruined, Demetra clenched her teeth and lifted her hand to recall her blade, which instantly zipped back towards her, and shot up into her open palm. Closing her fist around it tightly, Demetra turned away from the dish.
"Must be something off with my bey..." She muttered, her voice cracking just a bit. "I'm going to go check it out..."
"Sure... no problem..." Ray watched her walk away with a deep frown and look of concern.
A deep frown of her own creased Demetra's face as she heard Trea whine inside her head, grumbling over being blamed for something that was completely her fault and in no way his.
"I'm sorry old friend..." She apologized to him.
She felt guilty about blaming her ally for her own shortcomings, but there was no way she was able to admit what had really so thoroughly thrown her off her game.
-;-
Bright silver orbs shone like two polished silver coins as they reflected the warm glow of the flickering fire before her. It was the final night of her vacation, and the group were all gathered around a cozy fire while they talked and enjoyed each other's company for one last time before parting ways once more.
So far, her day had been eventful, and for the most part, the girls and their busy schedule had managed to keep her irritating thoughts away from Russia and planted firmly on Chinese soil. Unfortunately, as she stared into the crackling warmth of the flames before her, listening to the pleasant chatter of those around her, the scene irritatingly brought back very similar memories of a time that seemed like so long ago, she could scarcely believe it had been the same lifetime. Yet distant as they were, those memories came to her now even more clearly and vividly then the scene around her at that very moment.
-;-
"Hah! That reminds me of our first sledding trip! Remember Tala's face when we told him he was getting Demetra for a partner?!"
Bryan's grin was uncharacteristically huge as he slung an arm around Ian's shoulders.
"Yea, I remember!" He chuckled. "I remember wanting to kick you ass too when we found out how good she was! Man did that ever backfire!"
"Yea, she's almost as good a shot as Tala." Spencer chimed in teasingly.
"Hmph. What do you mean almost?" Demetra added teasingly.
Across the fire, Tala scoffed and Demetra tensed in anticipation of his scathing rebuke. However, to her astonished shock, that response didn't come.
"Heh. Yea, I guess as far as partners go, she's not the worst one I've ever had."
Too stunned to reply, Demetra simply stared at him, glad he didn't look back as the others continued to tease and chatter around her.
It was a weekend, and after a particularly gruelling few weeks of combined schoolwork and training, respectively, the Blitzkrieg Boys, plus Demetra had decided to wind down with a cozy little fire.
For their part, the boys had decided to have a few drinks - or more than a few to be honest. Demetra was amazed at how much they had managed to tuck away in such a short time. She herself had decided to refrain from alcohol, instead sticking to a particularly tasty brew of tea.
It wasn't that she was particularly against underage drinking, truth be told she really couldn't care less. Besides, they were all nearly legal anyway. Not to mention that in the short time they'd lived, each one of them had already been forced to become more grown up then half the people double their age anyway. Demetra had only ever had a handful of drinks in her life; only one at a time, and only ever with her girls. As such, she wasn't about to drink now, being the only female among a bunch of guys, especially not this bunch of idiots - not that she didn't trust them.
As it happened, nearly every single one of the drinkers were already red-faced and feeling no pain, even the normally stoic and stony-faced Kai. The only one who didn't seem completely drunk off his rear was Tala, and not because he hadn't drank as much as them. In fact Demetra was almost appalled at how much the redhead had drank so far, and how high his tolerance seemed to be.
She'd expected the guys to tease her over her disinclination to join them, but they had almost seemed to expect it. Instead, the group had been admittedly amusingly almost fighting over who got to brew her a pot of tea, and had been taking turns doing so for several hours. They were all fairly decent tea brewers, but currently she was polishing off Tala's pot, and she had to admit, it was the best one yet by far.
"Hey! Let's play a game!" Ian suggested with a wide toothy grin.
"Yea, let's play Guessem!"
Demetra lowered her mug, having just polished off the last sip of tea, and frowned with a questioning look.
"What's that?" She asked curiously.
"Awe it's a laugh and a half!" Ian cheered, causing the brunette to lift an eyebrow at his interesting response.
"Are you finished?"
Demetra looked up and startled a little now to see Tala standing beside her.
"Ah... yes. I just finished..." She replied, stunned she hand't noticed him approach.
"Here then. There's one left, I'll put on another one."
Tala lifted the metal kettle in his hand and reached out to top her up again.
"Oh... thank you..." Demetra replied, stunned by the redhead's casual and unusual kindness. Perhaps he was feeling the alcohol a little bit after all.
"Hey! It's my turn to brew a pot!" Ian argued, pouting uncharacteristically. Tala rolled his eyes as he moved to fix another pot and replace the kettle back over the fire.
"It's already done." He replied bluntly. Then he shot a mischievous grin at the teen. "Besides, it's obvious mine's been the best. Look how fast her highness polished it off."
Demetra felt her face burn at the obvious truth, and lifted her mug to hide her fluster. Three of her companions opened their mouths to argue, but Kai's somewhat annoyed voice cut them all off.
"Just explain the stupid game, Ian." He said irritably.
As if having forgotten about it, Ian's flushed face lit up.
"Oh yea! OK so, one of us is blindfolded, and then everyone else haves a game like rock, paper, scissors, except with numbers one through five. Whoever picks the highest number gets to play. Then that person has to do something, and the person blindfolded has to guess who it was! Get it?"
Demetra furrowed her brows.
"I suppose so..." She replied, only half sure.
"And you have to guess a bunch of times in a row!" Bryan added. "We usually do five cause there's usually five of us. If the person guessing guesses right, the person who did the thing gotta take a drink. But if they're wrong they gotta take a drink!"
Demetra glanced at her tea.
"Easy enough." She replied half-playfully.
"Uh, uh, uh!" Ian exclaimed suddenly towards her. "You're not gettin' off that easily! You're not drinking so we'll come up with something else for you!"
Demetra gave them a dull stare, figuring she should have known she wouldn't get off that easily.
"OK, everybody in?!" Ian exclaimed excitedly.
Seeing as everyone agreed, the game began. Admittedly, Demetra found she enjoyed the game much more than she expected, particularly watching the boys' completely ridiculous antics.
They were already several rounds in, and so far Demetra had only had to be the doer twice; the first time for Spencer, at which point she'd tossed a snowball at him, the second time for Bryan, at which point she'd tipped him off his log. Both times she'd gotten away with it, and so far during her guesses, she'd gotten them all right, so she had yet to discover what her penalty would be for guessing wrong or being caught. Though to be fair, she figured their carelessness was likely due to the excessive drinking.
Now, after several amusing rounds, and yet another pot of tea (thankfully from Tala again, seeing as the rest seemed completely unable to accomplish a palatable brew anymore), it was finally Demetra's turn to be blindfolded again.
"OK! One, two, three! Go!"
Sipping her still exceptional tea, Demetra waited blindfolded for her companions to decide the players. After a series of playful teasing cheers and jeers, they seemed to be ready, and Demetra placed her mug beside her as she heard the first guy approach - just in case.
A light gasp of surprise escaped her, as Demetra felt a pair of large hands around her waist before she was hoisted high in the air. The culprit held her there for a few seconds before gently replacing her back onto her log. She listened to his steps walk away and stop before Ian's excited voice spoke up.
"Alright! Who d'ya think that was?!'
Just like each of her previous turns, Demetra didn't need to take long to consider an answer. There was only one person in attendance who was able to so effortlessly lift her at such a great height.
"Spencer." She said almost immediately.
There was a loud groan from the blonde, and a series of teasing from the others.
"Hah! Man you're really good at this!" Ian cheered in amusement.
Demetra scoffed internally.
"Not really." She thought in amusement. "You're all just too damn drunk to realize how blatantly obvious you are."
"OK, next!" Bryan exclaimed, and Demetra once again waited for the next player to be decided.
This time, Demetra heard an odd but familiar sound cut through the air. Once again, it was an easy guess as a memory from not so long ago came back to her.
"That's Ian." Tala had informed her the night of her first ever paintball game. "It's the call Bryan and him came up with. Sounds like a bird, and sometimes it's easy to miss, but if you listen close enough, you can tell it's him."
Once again, her response was near-immediate.
"Ian." She voiced confidently.
"Awe, man!" Ian pouted in disappointment.
"Heh. Drink up, birdie." Came Tala's teasing voice.
Feeling the tug of an amused grin, Demetra reached for her mug, lifting it to her lips for another sip to keep it at bay while she waited for the next round. When she once again heard a set of footprints crunching her way, she replaced the mug at her side again and lifted her chin confidently. Her brows furrowed though when she noted the player move behind her.
For a few moments, there was no reaction, and Demetra opened her mouth to question the dead silence. But before she got the chance, much to her extreme shock, she felt a hot, sensual breath blow gently past her ear. Immediately an intense violent shiver shot down her spine, raising an immediate rush of goosebumps all across her skin.
Swallowing hard, Demetra tried her damndest to force back the hot flush that washed over her. Even in their drunken states, she knew perfectly well that neither Ian, Bryan nor Spencer would have done such a thing. That only left two people, and although she wouldn't put it past Tala to pull a move like that, something nagged at her, insisting it wasn't him this time.
"Kai." She said quietly this time, embarrassed at being forced to admit it.
Unlike his teammates, this player didn't seem particularly sore over having been outed.
"Heh. Good guess." She heard his husky voice whisper sensually in her ear, and it chased another shiver down her spine.
"Uh... Kay, let's see who's next..." Ian's voice sounded out awkwardly this time.
Feeling suddenly extremely vulnerable now, Demetra squirmed a little in her seat as she waited impatiently this time with bated breath.
There was a blanket of awkward silence over the entire area now, and this time when she heard a pair of boots approaching her, Demetra felt her body tense.
Once again, there was a few seconds pause, and the tension in her body increased to a point it was almost painful. Being so distracted by her anticipation, when she finally felt someone's touch, it made her jump. But the touch was completely unexpected, and once again she felt herself flush hotly, this time from the unbelievable tenderness of the action.
Against everything she expected, of all things, Demetra felt a chilled hand reach out to delicately tuck a stray lock of her hair behind her ear with the gentleness of a lovers caress. Before pulling back, the chilled digits of the hand they belonged to tenderly brushed her cheek before withdrawing. The action made Demetra's breath catch in her throat, and made her pulse flutter wildly.
"It... it had to have been Kai or Tala again..." She thought, greatly flustered now.
Deep down, though she did everything in her power to deny it to herself, a part of her wanted so damn desperately for the culprit to be the latter, and the admission both distraught and infuriated her. However, she was desperately afraid to hope for such a thing, and even more afraid to be wrong about it. Again, she knew it probably wasn't out of the realm of something Tala would do, especially out of his favoured desire to constantly torture her, but she was convinced it was more Kai's style, especially after the last round.
So, feeling left with little other choice, Demetra forced another hard swallow, this one much harder than the last, and forced herself to mutter a reply.
"Kai..." She whispered. Maddeningly, she was equally desiring desperately to both be correct, and at the same time to be wrong.
Hearing a familiar scoff as the sound of footsteps retreated away from her, Demetra's eyes instantly widened, making her exceedingly grateful they were hidden behind the cloth so no would could tell. If the scoff had meant she'd been wrong, that only meant one thing.
"It was Tala!" She thought with a mild sense of alarm. Now her heart was threatening to strangle her.
"Ah-ha!" Ian cheered, albeit still sounding a bit awkward. It was obvious he was trying to lighten the stifling tension. "We finally gotcha!"
"That's one for you, missy!" Bryan added, he too sounding a little off.
With a shaky hand, Demetra reached up to lift the blindfold, hoping with all she had that her wild emotions weren't plastered all over her face. As she expected, three of the guys looked completely awkward, though they were obviously doing their very best to hide it.
"Who was it then?" She asked, trying to sound casual. But even she could hear the ever-so-slight quiver in her voice.
"Can't tell ya!" Ian teased. "That's not part of the deal!"
Looking around at them all, she knew without a doubt that the intimate gesture hadn't come from the first three, because although they all looked awkward, they had little trouble meeting her gaze. Kai however did, and he refused to do so. There was also a deep frown on his face, a knit to his brow, while Tala looked cool as a cucumber while he eyed her with an almost mischievous glint in his eye - though she could faintly pick up something else there too.
"Alright, missy!" Bryan said with a snicker. "Put the blindfold down, you got one more round! Let's see if we can make it two for two!"
Hesitating, the three drunkards teased her, demanding she continue her turn, until eventually Tala smirked.
"Put it down, Princess." He said, a strange tone to his voice.
Working her jaw for a moment, Demetra finally reached up and reluctantly slowly pulled the blindfold back into place.
The following moments were a collection of the most uncomfortably torturous ones Demetra was sure she'd ever felt. At this point, she found herself thanking God above that this was her last round - there was no way her heart was able to withstand much more.
The effort to swallow was completely impossible now, because at this point Demetra's throat had gone bone dry. Though it drove her completely insane with mortification, she also couldn't contain the jittery tremble that had suddenly overtaken her body, a tremble that had nothing to do with the bitter cold night.
Once the final player had been decided, there was an exceedingly lengthy and tense silence, the duration of which made Demetra's anxiety skyrocket. Eventually she was convinced she couldn't take any more, and frowned deeply.
"What's going on...?" She asked, hoping she didn't sound as nervous as she felt.
Once again she reached to push up the blindfold, but before she had the chance, she felt a hand wrap around hers, gently lowering it. The action made her jump; she hadn't even heard anyone approach this time - probably because her heart had been thundering so loudly in her ears.
And yet, if Demetra thought her pulse was strangling then, it only increased to a painful degree when she felt the hand around hers cradle it, then felt a second hand nip a finger of her glove to give it a small tug, followed by the next and so on, until it had slowly slipped the garment from her hand.
The glove dropped into her lap with a soft pat, but Demetra barely registered it, because immediately after, she felt her sleeve being pushed back just a little. She had no idea what the intended course of action could be this time, and her mind was running completely wild with the possibilities. But she could never have guessed what came next.
Her choked gasp was clearly audible this time, as a chilled digit traced itself ever-so delicately up the tender underside of her wrist, soft enough to resemble the kiss of a butterfly's wings. Briefly, the hand pulled back and Demetra wondered if that was it; both hoping it was, yet at the same time praying desperately there was more.
To her both dismay and great pleasure, there was more. This time, when the chilled digit returned, it traced its way back down the super sensitive pulsing lifeline of her wrist. When it reached the heel of her hand, it was joined by it's fellows, and together they grazed down her palm to trace slow, sensual circles across it, before moving on to slip between her own fingers. The administrating fingers laced and interlocked with Demetra's for a moment, gave her hand a tiny gentle squeeze, before retracting their path again. This time, the foreign limbs grazed delicately back across her palm again, slipping then around the back of her hand.
Demetra was sure the heat in her body now might actually melt her, convinced of the fact when the foreign hand wrapped itself fully around hers, gave it another gentle squeeze. Slowly the sensual touch moved fingers to give the back of hers another tender squeezing caress, then another, and a third, until finally, at last beginning to retreat. Ever so slowly, tenderly, as if the person that hand belonged to was trying to savour the feel of her as much as they wanted her to do the same, the foreign fingers gently pulled so slowly away, trailing the length of her own until at last they reached her fingertips. The beautiful touch lingered for a few blissful seconds more on the pads of her sensitive fingertips, before finally pulling back and disappearing.
For a few moments, Demetra's hand remained suspended, tingling, as she did indeed savour the absolutely breathtaking interaction. But eventually, her hand lowered slowly back into her lap, though for quite some time she was unable to move, or even breathe, as her heart threatened to beat itself into an attack.
It had been such a delicate gesture, such a brief contact. But it had been the most intimate and supremely beautiful feeling she'd ever felt, so much so, Demetra felt the corners of her eyes sting with an unfamiliar wet emotion.
Once again, Demetra knew the culprit had to have been one of two people, but unlike last time, this time she was sure she knew who that person was. However, even if she would have currently been able to speak, she knew she'd never be able to admit to, to utter the name of, the person she knew beyond a shadow of a doubt had touched her in a way no one else ever had - touched her somewhere deep inside, a place she hadn't even realized was accessible to another living soul until that very moment.
Somewhere across the fire, the sound of someone awkwardly clearing their throat somehow reached Demetra's ears through the thunder.
"So, uh... who-..." The voice trailed off, and Demetra tried to desperately wrangle her haywire emotions back under control.
"I- I don't know..." She managed to croak out, cursing the tremble in her voice again.
"You gotta guess somebody!" Spencer encouraged. "Come on, just say a name."
Her befuddled mind screamed at her to voice the admission she knew without a doubt was correct, but Demetra knew there was no way she'd be able to force herself to say it. So, instead, she forced out the first alternate name that came to mind.
"Ian." She croaked.
Immediately an explosion of laughter burst through the area.
"Bah-hahahaha!" Bryan roared loudly. "D'ya really think Ian is that smooth?!"
"Aw, shut up!" Ian retorted moodily while his friends laughed at his expense. "I can be smooth!"
This made the others laugh harder.
"The only thing smooth about you is your hairless baby face!" Bryan exclaimed through his laughter.
"Hey, it's not hairless! I got some good ones right here, look!"
While the goofballs hammed it up, Demetra reached up a second time to shakily lift her blindfold. To her flustered shock, she startled a little when she noted her suave player was still standing before her - close enough to decipher each of the individual eyelashes lining his beautiful polar blues. And to further her fluster, she noted with a mix of emotions that she had once again been correct in her guess - at least her truthful internal one.
"Too bad, Princess..." Tala's husky and raw voice whispered so softly, the dance of his warm breath across her skin rose goosebumps again. "... Really thought you had that one."
She managed to hold his intense gaze as long as she could, until finally Demetra's face tipped to the side to escape Tala's penetrating eyes.
"What's my penalty..?" She managed to choke out.
At that point, she would gladly have drunk the whole boozy well dry if she thought it would quench the uncomfortable inferno her body had suddenly become.
-;-
"Hey, what's wrong with your wrist?"
Jumping a little, Demetra blinked a few times as she was suddenly snapped out of her memory. It took several seconds, but when the question that had rescued her finally registered, she belated realized she had been caressing the same wrist that had received such special treatment, what seemed like a lifetime ago.
"How had I forgotten that...?" She wondered with a deep frown. But then, she knew the answer to that; it was because she had forced herself to forget.
"And are you feeling alright? You look totally flushed."
Realizing she had yet to answer Keisha and Victoria's concerned questions, Demetra leaned back a little and slipped her hands into the pockets of her jacket to stop them fidgeting.
"I'm fine." She said for what felt like the umpteenth time that week. "I was just thinking about something."
"Are you sure?" Victoria pressed sternly. "You've been totally spacey and out of it all week..."
"I'm sure." Demetra insisted. "I'm fine, I promise."
To her dismay, her girls didn't seem to be the only ones concerned with her feelings, nor were they the only ones with an opinion on the matter.
"The only time a girl is ever that out of it is if she's thinking about a boy." Mariah teased playfully.
Demetra hoped the wicked glare she shot the pinkette would shut her up, but unfortunately, no such luck.
"So how about it, Captain?" Mariah teased, undeterred. "Is it a boy who's got ya all out of sorts?"
Demetra had a feeling the pinkette was exacting some sort of revenge on her, no doubt a clap back for all the times the brunette had been less than warm towards her.
"A guy huh?" Max chimed in with a cheesy grin. "Never thought you of all people would be all distracted over a guy, mom!"
Before Demetra could freeze the blonde with an icy retort for that, another voice cut through the chatter to toss their two cents in.
"What? No way! Aren't you staying with the Blitzkrieg Boys?" Kevin asked, his face screwing up in disbelief. "You're not seriously crushing on one of those psychotic freaks are ya?!"
Demetra opened her mouth to defend herself, but once again she was cut off.
"Actually, she's been becoming pretty friendly with a certain hunky blunette as of late!" Keisha teased with a wink.
"You think Kai's hunky?" Max asked with a playful pout.
"Sure, but he's got nothin' on you, Maxie! You're the bomb dot com!"
The bubbly blonde grinned, flushing with pleasure as his petite girlfriend leaned over to give him a hot little smooch. Demetra thought this was her chance to finally defend herself, but no such luck this time either.
"Kai's not so bad, I think." Oliver piped up mischievously. "I think you'd both make a handsome pair, mademoiselle."
Much to her displeasure, the banter at her expense continued on for some time, until eventually Demetra thought the hot mortification of it all would literally catch her afire. Just when she was toying with the idea of tossing them all in the nearby river and denying up and down she'd ever seen either of them, Demetra heard a chuckle cut through the humiliating chatter.
"Alright, alright guys. Come on, I think she's had enough!"
Shooting a gratefully relieved glance at the White Tiger who'd defended her, Demetra thought she'd never appreciated and respected another soul so much in her life. If the way her silent teammate was looking at the guy beside her was indication, she could tell Kage thought so too.
"Thank you." Kage told him subtly, her eyes sparkling with something Demetra had never seen in them before.
With a pleased look on his face, Lee gave her a somewhat flushed smile and a a small nod. Feeling a tug of affection for the Chinese blader, Demetra decided to put off her murderous intents as the conversation thankfully steered back away from her into more comfortable and favourable waters.
-;-
"You guys! I'm gonna miss this so much!"
"Me too, girl! I can't believe a whole week is gone already. Feels like I just hopped off the plane!"
Demetra sipped her tea as she listened to her two youngest sisters gush sentimentally. She was only half paying attention though because, yet again, her thoughts had gone back to Russia without her.
"It's been so great seeing you girls though." Kage told them with a smile. "I'm really glad we did this. Don't know about you, but I needed it."
Demetra had to agree with that; so did she - desperately!
"Me too!" Keisha seconded. "I needed this so bad! And I'm really glad you guys all decided to come! It wouldn't have been the same at all if either one of you couldn't make it."
"Well, at least most of us showed up."
At this point, Demetra was forced to finally focus all her attention on the conversation, because all three sets of eyes were now pinned on her.
"What?" She asked defensively, confused and half taken aback.
"Don't you what me!" Victoria scolded with a stern expression. "You've been a total space case all week. I mean you're physically here, but you haven't actually been here at all."
Lifting a hand to cut her Captain off, she gave the brunette her best stink eye.
"And if you say I'm fine, one more time, I swear I'm gonna slap you!"
"Yea, come on Demi." Keisha prodded much more gently. "I mean, I get that you didn't really wanna spill your guts before cause there were so many people around. But now it's just the four of us again so... spill already. What's going on?"
"We can tell whatever it is, it's eating you alive." Kage said with a pointed expression. "And you know you'll feel better if you let it out."
Looking away from her sisters, Demetra worked her jaw for a few minutes, until eventually she released a heavy sigh. She knew they were right. Truth be told, it was the main reason she wanted to come on the trip in the first place; because she needed this, needed them, and secretly she'd been hoping and waiting for this moment since she'd met up with them again.
"Fine." Demetra eventually caved moodily.
And with that, she finally allowed the floodgates to spill open; to finally tell them everything she'd been keeping bottled up over the last few weeks, over months. Even, reluctantly, the happenings of the night of Victoria's birthday - or most of it at least.
A sharp gasp escaped Keisha, and her eyes widened as her Captain filled them in on all the very important information she'd held back from them so long.
"So... You mean he was actually going to kiss you?" She asked in disbelief.
Instead of responding, Demetra looked away from them, choosing instead to stare off to the side. The girls exchanged a look at that.
"And... did you want him to kiss you..?" Victoria asked gently. Demetra frowned deeply.
"At the time..." Demetra answered softly, still looking off to the side "Yes, I did."
A mixture of expressions appeared on the girl's faces at that.
"Wow..." Keisha said with another sense of disbelief. "I mean... that's kinda a big deal though, right...?"
"Yea... I mean..."
Demetra released a heavy sigh when Victoria trailed off.
"Yes, Tori, I know..." She replied pointedly.
There was a silence between the four for a while after that, until eventually Demetra noticed Kage flick her hand in her peripherals to get her attention. When her Captain looked at her, the ravenette spoke, her hands moving slowly, pausing a few times as she measured her words carefully.
"Do you think... you might... like him in 'that way' then..?"
A queasy, unpleasant feeling twisted in Demetra's gut when the silent blader used air quotes for that way. She knew what the girl meant. Her face screwing up in a mixture of expressions, Demetra closed her eyes and sighed again.
"I don't know..." She replied softly. "I honestly have no idea how I feel anymore..."
There was another silence but this one was shorter than the last, and unsurprisingly, the groups chatter box was the one to break it.
"This so crazy..." Victoria stated bluntly. "I mean... I can't say I'm super surprised; you two have had this kinda insane, sexually tense, mad chemistry goin' on from the beginning."
Demetra's eyes shot open at that to give the other brunette a sharp glare, but before she could comment, Keisha spoke up.
"Yea, I noticed that too." She added thoughtfully. "It's not really surprising you ended up developing some sort of feelings for him... But it's really weird though, I thought for sure you were into Kai..."
Chewing her cheek, Demetra's eyes unfocused a bit as she considered the blunette.
"So did I..." She whispered softly.
"But you definitely did thought, right?" Kage asked curiously. "For a while there at least... It's clear he's totally into you."
Placing her mug beside her, Demetra reached up to rub her hands down over her face and released the biggest sigh yet.
"I don't know." She mumbled miserably behind her fingers. "I mean... yes, I know Kai has feelings for me, he's made that painfully clear. But as for me..."
She pulled her hands from her face and tipped her head back to stare at the ceiling.
"I honestly don't know any more..." She whispered softly.
Her expression screwed up again as she pictured a certain redhead who had once been the absolute bane of her existence. Now he was all she seemed to be able to think about.
"All I know is... No matter what I do, I can't seem to get the other one out of my head... And everything reminds me of him.."
No one needed to ask who the other one was, and for a third time, there was another silence; this one much longer then the others. When finally someone broke the silence - figuratively speaking - for once it wasn't the resident chatter box.
"Well... you've still got time to figure it out." Kage said comfortingly. "Really, it doesn't matter who you choose, just as long as you're sure..."
"And therein lies the problem..." Demetra replied with another heart-sick sigh.
"Do you miss him?" Keisha asked softly.
That question should have taken her longer to answer, she shouldn't have been so eager to do so. But the answer was indeed much quicker then Demetra would have liked - near immediate in fact.
"Since the moment I walked out of The Facility..." Demetra whispered, barely audible. "Much more than I like to admit even to myself..."
A wry, mischievous grin crept up Victoria's face at that.
"Funny that you didn't ask miss who." She teased pointedly. That realization made Demetra's eyes widen.
Before anything else could be said, Keisha opened her mouth to blurt out a very unexpected comment, especially on the heels of their previous discussion.
"I got an idea!" She declared cheerily. "Let's take the weekend to go to Italy with Tori before we part ways again! Kage hasn't had the chance to actually go anywhere, and it'll give us just a little more time together!"
She knew her girls expected her to argue, but the more the suggestion sank in, the more Demetra warmed to it until finally, she knew her brain had all but decided.
"Fine." She said simply, reaching for her tea mug again. "But after so many days of little to no training, don't think either of you will be getting another break any time soon. When this is all over, it's back-to-back drills every day until worlds."
This received huge amused grins all around.
"Yes ma'am." They all agreed cheekily.
Realistically, he probably should be doing this inside. Realistically, he should probably be taking a few more precautions for himself.
But today, Tala didn't feel like being realistic.
His teeth clenching and grinding so tightly it was beginning to give him a headache, Tala watched as his beyblade tore around the outdoor training grounds with a vengeance. It had been a brutally agonizingly long week, and he'd been all but counting down the days, hours, minutes, since a certain brunette had left - though he'd tried to convince himself it was because he was counting down the dwindling moments of peace. Tried being the key word.
Finally, Demetra had been gone for a whole seven days, and Tala had at last begun to feel the sickly tension and negativity that had built up over the week slowly start to ebb away. Surely she'd be on her way back by now. Surely she'd already bid her charges farewell and was making her return trip.
At least, that was what he'd begun to hope. But hope was a fickle, petty thing, and it always seemed to take great pleasure in dashing the hearts of the ones stupid enough to believe in it on the rocks.
He'd spent all morning pacing, fidgeting, checking the time almost obsessively, until eventually he couldn't take it any more. Tala knew calling Demetra would not only be counter productive, it would likely be fruitless; she'd already told him not to contact her again, and as such, he wasn't likely to get any information out of her. The he'd debated contacting one of her teammates, but he knew how that would look, and there was no way he was going to willingly show that kind of weakness. Next he'd thought about conning one of his friends into contacting her, but he realized that would likely end up much the same way, so he ditched that idea as well.
Tala scoffed as he thought of a certain blunette pain in the neck. No doubt Kai would be all too happy to contact her, and she'd likely be all-too happy to hear from him. But for obvious reasons, that idea wasn't even an option.
So, in the end, Tala had been forced to take to the net and scour social media - extremely unexplored territory for him, and something he was in no way, shape or form familiar with. He'd nearly driven himself to the brink of insanity with that, and had been grudgingly ready to accept defeat, when finally he'd stumbled across one of Victoria's pages. Thankfully, the polished pop-cutout was somewhat of a social butterfly, and as it turned out, she was almost laughably forthcoming with nearly everything he wanted to know without him even having to ask. From her page, Tala had quickly learned that Demetra had decided to extend her trip a few days to join her team in Italy, where the younger brunette was staying with Enrique Giancarlo and Oliver Polanski.
As he thought about this latest piece of information now, Tala's blood ran cold, and his already painfully clenched teeth tightened to the point he briefly thought they might crack. But he was helpless to force himself to ease up.
What if she decided to stay longer in Italy with her fellow brunette? Another week, a month maybe? What if she decided not to leave? Or what if she decided to go to America with the tiny rag-doll redhead next?
What if she liked one of those places better than Russia, and she decided not to come back at all?
That thought twisted Tala's gut so sickeningly, he had to swallow the bile that instantly rose in his throat.
Breathing was becoming a nuisance by now, and not because of the frigid mountain air - though it certainly wasn't helping.
After brooding and obsessing over his worrisome, gut-wrenching thoughts for hours, Tala had decided to take his multitude of frustrations and insecurities outside where he would, hopefully, be left to deal and sort through them alone, without threat of anyone playing witness to his moment of weakness.
And it was here he was doing just that; outside in the sub-zero temperatures of the Russian mountain air, practicing unity training with his beyblade, and doing everything in his power to focus on that and only that, while inside, his heart and mind raged war against him, completely wreaking havoc on his body and soul.
Not so deep down, there was that nagging feeling inside him, that irritating insecurity that always seemed to surface whenever he thought about her too deeply; the one that told him he had no business fantasizing over a girl like that anyway; she was too good for him, and he didn't come close deserving her.
Realistically, he couldn't figure out why he was so hung up on the infuriating woman to begin with! They were complete opposites in near ever way; she came from a wealth of money, luxury, a stable family life, and the sort of life Tala himself had scarcely ever allowed himself to even dream of. While he had come from nothing, had to scrounge and fight tooth and nail for every good thing he had, had to come out swinging every time, just to earn a scrap of respect for himself among a world that always considered him inferior.
Realistically, he shouldn't even bother, he should quit any thoughts of pursuing her before he even started, should stop torturing himself, as he always had his entire life, with yet another thing he'd never be able to have.
But he'd already decided he didn't feel like being realistic that day.
Thinking back to earlier in the week, to the beginning right before Demetra had walked away, Tala's mind replayed the words he'd unintentionally set her off with, yet again. He recalled the nickname he'd dubbed her with so long ago, recalled how she had hated it at first, how she'd seemed to warm up to and almost enjoy it for a while, until he'd somehow managed to make her hate it again. With a deep frown, he recalled how that nick, along with his big mouth, had driven her away from him yet again.
"She probably hates me right now anyway..." He thought moodily.
It was unfathomable why he tortured himself so, why he was so hung up on someone so utterly mismatched for him. As he considered all their multitude of differences, a stupid song he'd once heard playing on an American radio station came to him, making him cringe - particularly over its irritating appropriateness.
"We're like fire and gasoline, I'm no good for you, you're no good for me. We only bring each other tears and sorrow."
Tala made a face as the stupid lyrics rang out in his head as if mocking him. God did he ever hate country music!
Probably because it always seemed to find a way to be so damn relatable in a way it had no damn business being!
Honestly, it really was a good analogy though. In so many ways, they really were like fire and gas; their relationship was dangerously volatile, explosively destructive, and although their personalities might serve themselves and those around them well on their own, they were nearly always a completely devastating force when thrust together.
"Tomorrow, I'm gonna listen, to that voice of reason inside my head, telling me that we're no good..."
A furious and frustrated growl tore from Tala's throat as more lyrics of the stupid song echoed in his head. And while his mind toyed with the idea that there might actually be some wisdom there which might do him a little good to heed, his heart refused to give the probably sage advice a foothold. Instead, that less than intelligent part of him decided to ally with him; it told him that pouring himself into what he was doing right now, in burning himself out with his physical exertions, was much more practical then letting himself crash and burn over some stupid suggestion he'd merely heard in passing. Song be damned, it didn't know what was best for him, it didn't know what he really needed!
He really hated country music so damn much!
Now, it wasn't like Tala didn't know the dangers of what he was doing, and it wasn't as if he had come unprepared. Initially, he had been adequately dressed for the outdoors, been adequately prepared and been minding and pacing himself, taking it easy and making sure not to overdo it.
But as his thoughts and emotions raged on, so too did his physical training. And as the rage rose, and the vigorous training became more intense, so too did his temperature rise with it. First to go was his heavy coat, that was fine, he didn't really need it anyway, his exercise was keeping him sufficiently warm. Next to go was his scarf, honestly, he didn't really need that either. After that, he ended up ditching his sweater, then his gloves, his light snow pants, until finally he'd gotten down to his simple long-sleeved shirt, which at that point was considerably soaked with sweat.
It was fine, really. He was keeping himself moving, keeping his temperature up, making sure to keep self-aware enough to know when enough was enough. Besides, he didn't plan to be out there very long anyway, just long enough to tire himself out so he could eventually return inside, clean up and hopefully pass out in his bed so he could finally put an and to yet another bothersome day - he'd worry about the following one when the cursed thing actually arrived.
Taking a running jump, Tala bound high in the air, watching with satisfaction as his bey mimicked, coming down hard when he did to leave a sizeable crater in the frozen tundra. Admittedly, the physicality of the rigorous training he was putting both himself and his bey through was helping to keep his thoughts at bay - but only a little, and only in short intervals.
When he watched his blade blast through a massive boulder after thrusting his arm forward with a mighty punch, watched a spray of sharp splinters and sand shower down, Tala was suddenly reminded of a certain night seemingly a lifetime ago; a night when a fiery beyblade had burst through a pillar of its owners training room with such force it shook the building.
Releasing another furious growl from deep in his throat, Tala's fists clenched at his sides.
"Get out of my head!" He demanded of the beautiful creature whom seemed to have taken up permanent residence there.
Picturing Demetra's face before him now, Tala watched as her oh-so attractive form materialized before him. He watched her saunter towards him with a breathtakingly seductive smile tugging at those perfect kissable lips. He watched her slowly lift a hand towards him, and without realizing he was doing it, his own lifted from his side, reaching for her. She'd closed the distance between them, her hand was so close to his, their fingers brushed, and Tala felt a surge of wicked heat pass from her touch to tear through him like an inferno.
And then she was gone.
Swallowing against the heart-sick feeling that rocked him, Tala's hand clenched into a tight fist again before lowering his arm back to his side.
He shouldn't have let her leave the way she did. He knew he was terrible with words, terrible with sharing his feelings, but he also knew heshouldn't have let her go without letting her know, somehow just what she was becoming to him, what she had become to him.
He should have let her leave with a reason; a reason to make her want to come back, a reason to think he wanted her to come back. A reason to make her miss him as disgustingly much as he was sickeningly missing her.
"I won't make any more excuses..." Tala swore to himself. "I won't let her go on believing I feel the complete opposite about her as I've made her believe I do!"
He wasn't totally sure how Demetra herself felt about him, but he was convinced she at least felt something. And he was sure that something wasn't entirely of a negative nature. He was sure that if he could somehow manage to finally convey to her that she'd become an annoying staple in his life, that she'd become someone important to him, that at least eventually if not right away, he could be someone important to her too.
"I'll suck it up." He thought with determination now. "Kai be damned! I won't let him just take her without a fight!"
Tala's fingernails dug into his palms now clenched so tightly they shook.
"When she comes back... if she comes back... I'll ask her out for real... I won't leave any room for her or anyone else to wonder if that's what it really is..."
It would be a real date this time, just the two of them, and this time he wouldn't let himself miss any opportunities. This time he'd make up for all his stupidity, and he'd do whatever the hell it took to show her what she'd done to him, even if he couldn't do it with words. He'd pick up where he left off, and this time when he parted ways with her, there would be no doubt in either of their minds that she'd come back to him.
Just then, the wind blew an icy breath past Tala, and a bitter chill rocked through him. Looking up and noting the colourful sky, informing him of the late hour and just how long he'd unwisely spent out in the cold, Tala was forced to admit it was probably time he head back inside. Glancing down at his clothes, he plucked at the front of his shirt and frowned to note that his previously sweat soaked garments were now frozen stiff around his body.
Yes, it was definitely time he call it a night.
With a heavy sigh, Tala lifted his hand to call back his beyblade, but a deep frown creased his face when the white blur wobbled back towards him with a much more drunkenly pace and spin then per usual. When it merely came to a sputtering stop beside his boot instead of leaping up into his waiting hand as it should, Tala's stomach knotted in dread.
Crouching down, Tala's heart stopped as he took notice of the wretched state of his bey. There were chunks missing, it was scratched nearly beyond recognition, and its attack ring was cracked and barely hanging on. Feeling a prick in the corner of his eyes, Tala reached out with a shaky hand and wrapped his fingers tenderly around the bey, the metal cutting into his hand painfully as he closed his fist tightly around it. Closing his eyes tightly against the onslaught of emotion that suddenly rocked him, Tala lifted his beyblade to his face and pressed it to his lips.
"I'm sorry old friend..." He thought miserably. "I don't know how, but I'll fix this..."
Admittedly, he wasn't entirely sure what he'd meant by that statement; if he was talking about his bey or himself. To be brutally honest, he had no idea how he was going to fix his beloved beyblade after dealing it such destructive damage. All he knew, was that he'd do whatever the hell he had to do to make it right.
A bitter, self-depreciating smile crossed Tala's lips as his throat constricted with the raw emotions eating him from the inside out.
"Looks like we're both completely wrecked..." He thought morbidly. "Only difference is... I know you can be fixed..."
-;-
Tala reached out with a trembling hand, swiping it across the glass before him, and frowned at the sight that met his eyes. As he stared at the reflection in the bathroom mirror, he was reminded of a similar memory from not so long ago. Hesitating a moment, he reached for the hem of his shirt and weakly pulled it over his head. Like that long ago memory, Tala turned around, looked over his shoulder, reached up to finger the tips of the vicious souvenir carved deeply down his back. Unlike that time, it didn't pain him to do so now - at least not physically; the scars had long since healed to prevent that.
Eying the gruesome sight for some time, a heavy sigh echoed through the bathroom before Tala lowered his hand and turned back around again. He leaned against the sink and braced his hands against it as he stared into the haunted polar blues staring back at him. After looking for a few moments, he closed his eyes, hoping to block out the image of his own tortured gaze.
But that ended up having a less that desirable effect. Now instead of his own eyes, Tala was reminded of a pair of entrancingly beautiful silver dollars he'd come to almost crave the sight of. And with the thought of those eyes, came the thought of the rest of the body they belonged to.
A sharp hiss seeped past Tala's clenched teeth as he felt an unfamiliar sensation against his burning flesh, so searingly welcome it sent chills down the length of him and stole his breath. All at once, he could feel a pair of hands on him, so hot they were like a pair of hot irons as they trailed across his body. So provocatively intimate in their explorations that the feel of them nearly made him cry out.
Biting down hard on his lip, Tala's face screwed up in a mix of sweet agony and blissful pleasure as he leaned back, sinking into the welcoming arms of the body behind him. When he did, those arms slinked further around him, tightening their hold on him so tightly breathing was impossible. The body they were attached to pressed so tightly to him, Tala was sure if he leaned back any further he would melt into it.
Then, just when he thought the sheer mouthwatering pleasure of having that body pressed so tightly to his, enveloped around him in such a blissfully intimate way, he was sure there was no way it could possibly feel any better without actually killing him, Tala was suddenly proven very wrong.
Tala's eyes shot open, and the loud cry actually tore from his lips this time, as he felt a powerful sensation jolt through him the likes of which he'd never felt. Forcing himself to focus, he looked in the mirror again and saw those stunning silver eyes he'd so desperately pinned to see staring back at him.
Pressed so tightly against him it was criminal, Tala noted the hot look in those eyes, the only part visible over his shoulder with her face buried in it, and immediately he realized what had happened to shake him so thoroughly. The way she was pressed so tightly against him, it was inevitable that the twin markings they shared should press together also, and it was the feel of just that sensation, of their shared memorabilia fitted so perfectly together, that had caused such a powerful surge of pleasure to rock him.
The pressure of his teeth on lips was so intense this time, that Tala was sure he would draw blood, but he was unable to ease up for fear another one of those tell-tale cries could escape him again.
Instead, a trembling hand lifted from he sink, searching out one of the ones wrapped so tightly around him. But when he found it, moved to thread his fingers through the scorching digits searing his flesh so hotly, his hand was met with emptiness. Furrowing his brows, Tala tried again to grasp the foreign hand on his body, but was once again met with nothing. Looking up into the mirror, he searched out the silver dollars that would assure him he was not alone, but once again he was left disappointed.
Forcing himself to turn around on shakily legs, Tala searched the bathroom, but very quickly, he was forced to realize that he was completely and utterly alone. Just like outside earlier, when Demetra had materialized in front of him, when he'd wanted so damn desperately to touch her, she'd disappeared.
It was then that a loud roaring reached Tala's ears. With bleary eyes, he forced himself to turn his head. It took him a few moments, but eventually he made note of the source of the roar, and finally belatedly realized
the bathtub he'd been waiting to fill was now overflowing.
Stumbling forward on shaky legs, Tala reached for the faucet. But when he was nearly close enough to touch it, the image doubled, tripled, quadrupled, until finally he felt himself falling forward and the blurry image slipped through his fingers.
As Demetra waited once again for her plane to taxi its way down the runway, she busied herself with thoughts of her week rather then the anxiety she felt at being back on Russian soil at last. She thought about everything they'd all gotten up to that week, she thought about her chat with the girls, and she even thought about Kage and her own romantic dramas.
After spending a week with the White Tigers, Demetra found she really liked Lee Wong, who seemed to have at least some sort of interest in the silent blader. And although she had yet to verbally admit to it, Demetra was fairly certain Kage had feelings for him too. This was all well and good, but the problem was, after spending the past few days in Europe, joined by a particular hotheaded Scottish Rogue, Demetra had developed an inkling that the redhead might also have a bit of a thing for her friend. The problem with that was, Demetra found she was actually at least mildly partial to him as well, and that left her unsure who she should root for, so to speak when it came to both young men.
Demetra sighed in sympathy.
"Good luck with that, girl." She thought wearily towards Kage.
And that train of thought led her to another love interest, one she was much less partial to. After enduring a certain fiasco of a blonde playboy sort, Demetra was suddenly feeling much less confident about leaving her younger brunette charge in the care of Europe's biggest flirt, even if the Polanski boy seemed to be doing a fairly decent job and playing mediator.
Really, why couldn't Victoria have stuck with the French chef? He was a much better choice in Demetra's opinion? Why did her fellow brunette always have to make things so complicated, why did she always have to choose the most difficult option?
"It's fine." Demetra thought confidently "It's easy enough to make someone disappear."
Upon finishing that thought, Demetra heard the ding above her head that signalled it was safe to remove their seatbelts and finally dismount the plane. Once again, she was among the first to exit at the first available opportunity.
It didn't take her long to locate her brother, even in the bustling airport. Nor did it take him long to locate her, and he swiftly made his way towards her as soon as he'd done so.
"How was your trip?" Breal asked as soon as he was before her.
"Just what I needed." Demetra replied simply.
"Good. Glad to hear." Breal replied honestly.
Once they'd collected her limited luggage, the pair left the airport behind and climbed into the waiting taxi, which of course would be the first step towards making it back to the place she'd been longing to see for what had been the longest week of her life.
-;-
When finally the Nakamura siblings reached the Facility and had gone inside, Breal parted ways with his sister and disappeared, while Demetra stood in the main lobby, trying to shake the disturbing feeling of coming home.
After dropping her luggage off in her room and getting herself out of her outer gear, Demetra debated briefly on unpacking her things. The debate didn't last long, and soon enough she was making her way back towards her door and leaving her room behind with the intent to hunt down the Blitzkrieg Boys. She tried to convince herself that she wasn't anxious to set eyes on a particular redhead at last, but her heart wasn't exactly making a good argument.
Clenching her teeth, she forced those thoughts out and tried to focus instead on her hunt and where the objects - or object - of her search might be.
It took the better part of a quarter-hour, but eventually Demetra managed to locate the boys in the rec room. Unable to resist the tug of affection, or the minuscule tug of a smile at her lips upon seeing their faces, Demetra reached up to push open the heavy metal door and make her way inside.
Immediately, she was greeted with the loud disturbance of a particularly annoying song that made her wince and reach up to tweak her ear. On the couch, Ian and Bryan were busy battling each other in some ridiculous combat video game, while a ways away, Spencer and Kai were having a game of pool; all four of them chatting loudly over the music while they played.
She thought of verbally greeting them, but seeing as they were all in the middle of a conversation, Demetra decided to wait for them to finish or pause, and simply approached them instead. However, when the actual topic of conversation reached her ears, their words gave her pause, and she halted in her approach as a result.
"Dude, I know, right?!" Ian exclaimed, his eyes not leaving the screen as he mashed away at the controller in his hand. "It's not like Tala doesn't know how stupid it is to be out there with nothing on! I dunno what he was thinking!"
"He wasn't thinking." Kai retorted irritably as he sunk a ball and moved to line up another shot. "He was just in one of his irritating moods. He was cocky and stupid."
Demetra watched the blunette miss the ball he'd tried for this time, then snort in annoyance before straightening to lean on his stick.
"It's his own dawn fault." He spat, seemingly in disgust. "And I'm done playing nurse for the moron."
Furrowing her brows, Demetra wondered curiously what they were talking about, but a moment later her questions were answered.
"Aw, come on, Kai. That's not fair." Spencer said without looking at him as he sized up the table. "I'm sure he was just distracted, that's all. It's not like Tala to be so careless. And it's not really fair to say it's fault either. He's been pretty sick the last few days... I feel bad for him."
Kai snorted indignantly but made no further comment as Spencer finally leaned down to take his shot.
Demetra's brows shot up at that information, and afterwards she tuned the rest of the conversation out. Upon hearing this new revelation, she considered for a minute, though it didn't take long. Glancing at the four, she noted that they had yet to notice her, so she quickly decided to backtrack and ducked back out of the room again. Once outside, she hesitated for a moment only before making her way to the upper floor.
-;-
Standing in front of a door nearly identical to her own, Demetra hesitated for longer than she intended, but eventually she steeled herself up and lifted her fist. She'd only made a single knock when the heavy wood gave way with a small creak. Her fist still suspended, she paused a moment, eventually swallowed, then unfurled her fingers to splay them across the door to gently push it open.
"Tala..?" She called softly, a little wearily, as she poked her head into the room.
Receiving no response, Demetra's gaze immediately went towards the bed, not entirely surprised to see the redhead in question fast asleep atop it. Stepping into the room, she gently closed the door behind her and leaned against it with her hand on the knob while she observed him. She half expected the redhead to open his eyes and turn his head, to see his face screw up in the usual contempt it held when looking at her, to demand she was unwelcome in his private sanctuary and drive her out. But when that didn't happen, Demetra took a deep breath and slowly approached the bed, slowly as if walking into the den of some wild and savage beast - which, she thought, wasn't too far from the truth.
However, despite all her thoughts, when she'd finally reached her destination and was standing over the form that was usually such a thorn in her side, Demetra was suddenly overcome over the sight that met her eyes.
For the first time since knowing him, Tala's face was completely devoid of all its usual malice and distaste. For the first time, the normally pain in her rear looked completely vulnerable, and as Demetra stared down into his fever flushed face, she couldn't help but note how terribly beautiful and attractive that face was. Her only regret was that his face didn't resemble that endearing expression more often.
Unable to resist, Demetra slowly lowered herself down beside the sleeping form in the bed, and without really meaning to, her hand lifted almost of its own accord towards the face below her. Her fingers gently brushed aside the crimson locks that had become plastered to his sweat covered brow, and as they did, a deep frown creased her lips as she noted the vicious heat that radiated from him.
"Idiot..." She heard herself whisper. But the single word came out with a much more affectionate note then she'd intended.
Gently placing the back of her fingers against his forehead, she made note of the wicked heat again and the frown deepened. Carefully as she could, she got to her feet again and quietly left the room behind. In a few short minutes, she'd returned with a pan of ice water and quietly shut the door behind her again before making her way back to the bed.
Demetra placed the pan on the bedside table before making her way to the bathroom and retrieving two wash cloths. Once she'd retaken her place beside the redhead, she reached out to swirl both cloths in the icy water, rung them out, then neatly folded them and turned back to her companion.
Tala flinched and hissed softly in his sleep when she placed the cloth to his forehead, but to her relief, he didn't awaken. Pressing it gently for a moment, Demetra moved to gently lower the collar of his shirt and place the second cloth under it, onto his chest. She didn't know how long she stayed there, gently sponging and cooling down the one person in the world she never imagined herself caring for, but eventually most of the ice cubes in the pan had melted. Yet still she remained like a faithful nurse who'd known and loved her patient all her life. The thought was beyond disturbing, but she couldn't force herself to stand up and leave, no matter how hard she tried.
At one point, when Demetra had switched out the cloth on Tala's forehead for the countless time, and reached to remove the one on his chest, she'd just lifted it when her eyes were drawn to the redhead's collarbone, and she was suddenly reminded of the scar on her own chest which began at nearly that exact area. Without really realizing what she was doing, Demetra's fingers reached out to touch the area she'd been admiring, and once again of their own accord, they traced a delicate trail down Tala's chest, the path of her own scar that ran down her body.
Unfortunately, this minor lapse of judgement and lack of self control caused the redhead to stir. Demetra's breath halted, her eyes widening a little as she whipped her hand back as if burned, waiting with bated breath as Tala's beautiful blues finally fluttered feverishly open. To her shock though, and against any and all reactions she might have imagined from him, Demetra's heart leapt up into her throat when instead of instantly reverting back to his usual self and demanding her immediate expulsion from his room, Tala's abnormally scorching hand reached up to delicately and tenderly touch her cheek.
Completely spellbound by the tender and dreamy gaze in his glazed and unfocused eyes, Demetra stared into those entrancing blues unblinkingly as Tala stared back at her with a confident tenderness the likes of which she'd never imagined them capable of in her wildest dreams, certainly not while looking at her. The sight made her insides flutter in a heart-sick sort of way that warmed her from the inside out and made her positively melt.
For the briefest of moments, the dreamy look, the tender touch, allowed Demetra the oh-so dangerous hope that perhaps, just maybe, the redhead had missed her as much as she'd so desperately tried to convince herself she hadn't missed him.
"You came back to me..."
The quiet, unexpected, sensual statement, and the sheer joy it produced in her, was positively overwhelming. So overwhelming, Demetra felt the heady emotions choke her. Her own hand reached up to lodge atop his, and reflexively her face tilted just a little to affectionately nuzzle his palm.
"What's the matter, Big Bad Wolf...?" She whispered teasingly against her constricted throat, her voice distressingly softer and gentler than she'd ever heard it before. "Miss the Pampered Princess that much...?"
Once again, Tala's response surprised her, but this time it wasn't nearly as pleasant and heart-warming as the previous one. As if a switch had gone off somewhere inside him, Demetra watched several unidentifiable emotions flit across Tala's fair features, watched his crimson brows furrow as he seemed to be fighting some internal struggle, watched his beautiful blues slowly focus, until finally his face settled into its usual harsh lines; and just like that, Demetra knew the Tala she knew and pretended to loathe had returned.
Whipping his own hand out from under hers as if he'd been burned, much the same as she had when he'd first begun to stir, Tala's face contorted into a furious scowl as he stared up at her with an expression she knew and hated all too well.
"Of course not!" He spat with disgust. "I've never been happier than to watch you walk out that door!"
Demetra felt like he'd physically struck her, and she was sure if she'd been standing, his brutal denial would have knocked her on her rear. Feeling like she might actually vomit, Demetra swallowed the bile that rose in her throat, then lifted her chin to look down her nose at the redhead, an attempt to display a form of her own disgust she didn't really feel at the moment.
Without a word of response, Demetra turned and reached into the shallow bowl on the bedside table, scooped up the handful of remaining cubes left inside, then turned back to the redhead with an emotionless expression. A loud and forceful hiss escaped Tala's pale lips when she reached out to roughly plop her ice laden hand onto his burning chest. His first thought was to shove her away, but he didn't want to give her the satisfaction, so instead he gave her a vicious glare.
The look completely glanced off the brunette though, because as far as she was concerned, the redhead had already wounded her deeper than he'd ever done to date, and she knew no look he could give her then could cut her any deeper than he already had.
Leaning down into his face a little, Demetra gave him a look she poured her entire effort into making look cruel.
"I like this look on you, Ivanov." She hissed coldly with a mean sneer. "Weak and pathetic. Finally a look that suits you."
"Don't get used to it." Tala hissed savagely, his eyes flashing dangerously.
Demetra scoffed and pulled back from him. With one last, forced look of false-disgust, she got to her feet and made to leave, just barely managing to turn away in time before the crippling heartbreak tearing her apart exploded across her face.
Hours after Demetra had left his room, Tala found himself stumbling through The Facility looking for her. His hand was braced against the wall, sliding across it as he slowly picked his way down the halls in his still fever-drunken state. He knew he should still be in bed, knew he should still be resting, but rest was impossible with the events of hours ago replaying through his head like a particularly effective horror movie.
In his minds eye, he saw that awful scene replaying over and over as vividly as if it was happening all over again, heard those gut-wrenching words echoing in his ears like a banshee cry through a megaphone.
He tried to convince himself it didn't really happen, that he hadn't really said those horrible things to her, hadn't really treated her that way. Especially since they were the furthest thing from the truth, and especially when he had woken up to something so soul-searingly beautiful, the mere memory of it made him nearly weep with pure joy.
It really had been so damn perfect, so unbelievably perfect he could scarcely believe it had happened. So why the hell had he reacted that way?!
Of course, he knew why; it was because the scene had been so heart-wrenchingly perfect, Tala had been unable to convince himself it had actually happened. And that disbelief had made him panic. And that panic had made him stupidly react like he reflexively always did, every time something he wanted so damn desperately it made him sick, seemed too good to be real.
Clenching his teeth against the wave of nausea that rocked him, Tala swallowed the bile, wrapped his free arm around himself, and paused as he waited for it to pass before eventually forcing himself to continue his journey to attempted redemption.
-;-
When finally Tala found her at last, Demetra was in the training room, apparently working on her bey. Seemingly noticing him enter, she looked up, and Tala watched as a smug look crossed her face before immediately going back to what she was doing.
"Well, if it isn't the invalid." She drawled cruelly.
Old habits die hard. True to his character yet again, despite how desperately he wanted to do otherwise, Tala was unable to resist the cowardly urge to take the easy way out; to convince himself for just the one fraction of a second that the recent memory still fresh in his mind, hadn't really happened the way he recalled after all. Demetra hadn't looked happy to see him, hadn't been staring at him when he woke up with a look she'd only ever given him in his dreams. And she hadn't missed him in the humiliatingly gut-wrenchingly way he'd missed her for what felt like an eternity - even though he embarrassingly knew it had only been little more that a single short week.
So, ever faithful to his own character, Tala reacted in a way that was so familiar and yet so maddeningly opposite to what he wanted of himself.
"Time for that rematch, your highness!" He growled at her, fumbling in his clothes for his bey and launcher.
His heart sank when a cruel laughter bubbled up from Demetra's throat.
"And here I thought you didn't know any good jokes." She replied venomously, not bothering to look up at him this time.
Feeling the familiar rage bubble up inside him, Tala's teeth clenched as he finally managed to produce his launcher and the practice blade he'd fished out of his closet. Taking them along had been a reflex, he felt naked without them, he'd had no intention of actually using them. But, as the saying went; you can't carry a gun and not expect to get shot.
"This isn't a joke, Princess!" He spat, his fury rapidly mounting. "Get off your pampered ass and give me what I deserve!"
Demetra scoffed at that but still didn't look at him.
"Careful what you wish for tough guy." She retorted smartly.
"Get up!" Tala barked, his voice raw and cracking.
"Go back to bed, moron." Demetra seethed at him, still not sparing him a glance. "I barely have the time and patience to deal with you on the best of days. I'm not about to waste any on you in the pathetic state you're in now. Get out of my sight."
Tala felt his temper skyrocketing, beginning to reach a height it hadn't in some time.
"I said get up and fight me!" He all but screamed at her.
Finally Demetra's head snapped up, and Tala noted her expression dark with a violent fury very much like his own just then. The sight made him sick with regret.
"With what?!" Demetra yelled furiously back at him. "From what I heard, you trashed your blade in your idiotic training attempt! You have no bey to blade with!"
"I'll blade with this!" Tala snapped, lifting the practice bey for her to see. Demetra's eyes narrowed on him.
"Don't insult me." She growled in response.
"Then give me a real fight!" He aimed back, tossing the bey and launcher aside to instead lift his fists.
Demetra gave him an expression that was a cross between incredulous amusement and offended fury.
"You can't be serious." She stated bluntly.
"You see me laughing?" Tala snarled testily.
To his mild surprise, after a deep, heavy sigh, Demetra actually got to her feet and approached him. Tala lifted his fists further as she closed the distance between them, but instead of stopping, she moved past him and proceeded towards the exit.
Whirling around so fast another wave of nausea rocked him, Tala waited a moment for it to pass before calling after her.
"Where do you think you're going?! Running scared again your highness?!"
"Shut up, Tala." Demetra called wearily without looking back or slowing in her departure. "You're grating my nerves even more than usual."
She'd almost reached the exit, and Tala was getting desperate. Grasping for straws, his thoughts were a flurry of words and phrases until finally, his lips parted to spew out something vile just as her hand reached out and opened the door.
"This what you learned from watching dear, sweet mommy?" He crowed venomously. "Mommy teach you how to run away like a coward?"
That did it. Tala watched with a combined satisfaction and deep regret when Demetra suddenly brought up solid, instantly stiffening like a board. The door swung shut as her hand released it, and her voice carried back to him without turning.
"Take it back." She growled threateningly. At last, Tala knew he'd sunk his claws in.
"I'll take that as a yes then." He taunted cruelly. "What else did she teach ya? Did she teach ya how to be a loser too? That why you're so good at it?"
The satisfaction lasted only about as long as it took her to turn slowly around. It instantly evaporated when he saw the dark look on the brunette's face; a look darker than anything he'd ever seen from her, and Tala was flooded with instant regret as he immediately realized he'd gone too far this time.
"You want a fight, you mangy mutt?!" Demetra snarled menacingly as she stalked back towards him. "You damn well got it! And I'm going to bloody well enjoy it!'
Tala raised his fists again when she finally reached him, and on reflex he swung at her as soon as she was before him. Unfortunately, those reflexes weren't exactly up to par at the moment, and it was embarrassingly easy for Demetra to dodge him.
A pained grunt erupted from Tala as Demetra's elbow came down sharply on the arm he'd used to take a swing at her. Before he could retaliate, his opponent delivered a swift and brutal punch to his gut that instantly knocked the wind out of him. Doubling over, Tala grabbed his stomach, gasping for breath. When he managed to straighten, Demetra dealt him another harsh blow, this time to the chest, making him stumble back a few feet.
Having only enough time to look up once he'd steadied himself, Tala's eyes widened to see Demetra lift her leg to kick him, planting her foot hard enough in his chest to knock him on his backside. He cried out as a sharp pain shot up his tailbone, and a sharp gasp of breath ripped through him as he found himself finally able to breathe. But none of it hurt nearly as much as Demetra's savage tone, or the look on her face as she stared down at him with the most potent form of hatred he was sure anyone had ever directed at him.
"Get up!" She demanded viciously.
Forcing a hard swallow against the searing lump in his throat, Tala managed to meet her demand, though with a great deal of effort. However, as soon as he did, Demetra wasted to time unleashing one of her trademark savage roundhouse kicks on him, this time sending him sprawling.
Completely dazed now, Tala only deftly registered being yanked off the floor, stared back at the brunette through an unfocused gaze as her normally beautiful silver dollars bore a scathing hole through him.
"Damn the cursed bloody day I ever met you, you wretched beast!" She snarled savagely at him, her fist clenched in the front of his shirt; Tala thought briefly that it might be the only thing still holding him up.
Her words were punctuated by a proper left hook to his jaw, and Tala felt the familiar coppery tang of blood explode in his mouth as his face jerked painfully to the side.
Turning back to look at her was another colossal effort, but if he thought he was in pain just then, it was nothing compared to the pain he felt looking into her face now. Seeing the look of pure loathing on her face, Tala knew nothing he'd ever felt had made him feel so rotten in his life, and he'd never regretted anything he'd done so much as he regretted the last few minutes.
Thrusting him away from her, a look of utter disgust joined the brunette's expression now.
"Defend yourself!" She snarled at him.
Tala simply stared at her, knowing right then that even if he was sufficiently able to meet her demand, any and all desire for it had completely left him.
"DEFEND YOURSELF!" She all but screamed at him now.
Still Tala simply stared silently back at her.
A savage growl tore from Demetra's throat, and Tala fully expected her to strike him again. He was prepared for it, and he was prepared to let her do it. But to his complete shock, Demetra was suddenly jerked backwards just as she lifted her fist to swing at him again.
Her savage scream echoed loudly enough in Tala's ears to make them ring, his eyes watching her unblinkingly while Demetra kicked and struggled against her captor in a desperate attempt to escape.
"Let me go, damn it!"
Tala blinked in stunned surprise to see Breal standing behind his sister with her arms pinned firmly to her sides. Some ways behind them he noted his team all standing there was well with a mix of shocked and grim expressions on their faces.
"Let me go, Breal!" Demetra screamed at him in an uncharacteristic fit of blind rage. "He asked for it! He wanted this! He deserves it!"
Tala watched the brunette struggle in her brother's arms for several moments, a complicated expression on the man's face as he fought to get her under control, until finally, he leaned his face over her shoulder to forcefully hiss something in her ear.
Once again shocking the redhead, Tala watched in stunned disbelief, as whatever the blunette had uttered to her made Demetra instantly freeze as her eyes simultaneously flooded. The next moment Demetra's face contorted in what looked like an expression of utter tortured agony, before a sound akin to that of a wounded animal tore from her lips.
Ripping herself free from Breal's arms now, Demetra whirled around and flew to the door, disappearing through it in the blink of an eye as if she'd never been there at all - though the state she left the redhead in behind her wouldn't let him forget she had indeed been.
When his ward had disappeared, Tala watched Breal round on him, and the look the elder Nakamura gave him was decidedly the most terrifying thing Tala had ever seen; it was a look that said if he had it his way, the blunette would see him six feet under right then and there, and it would be a very painful end indeed.
The remainder of spectators gave the blunette a wide berth of respect and fear as he too turned sharply around and made a hasty exit.
Finally able to move, Tala lifted a knee and rested an elbow atop it as he pressed his fist to the blood drizzling from the corner of his mouth. No one spoke, and Tala ignored his team staring at him while he stared at the door the Nakamura siblings had just nearly blown off the hinges, unable to shake the feeling that he'd just made the single biggest mistake of his life with precious little chance of the possibility to rectify it.
The emotional hurricane in human form barrelled down the halls and corridors of The Facility in nothing short of a violent flurry of movement, and God help anyone or anything that was unfortunate enough to cross her path.
The fateful day of Victoria's birthday, the events that had occurred, along with the ones the following day, had left Demetra totally shook and in emotional tatters, easily the likes of which she'd never felt before, and hadn't come close to since. She'd been doubly sure there couldn't possibly be anything that could happen in the near future, nothing anyone could say or do to top that night - surely those events had re-hardened her soul enough to be able to withstand virtually anything else life had to throw at her any time soon.
Unfortunately, she couldn't have been more wrong.
"You're disgracing Yua's name and memory!"
Breal's harshly hissed accusation ricocheted in her head with a viciously painful vengeance, getting louder and louder the further and faster she ran. Each time the statement made contact, it felt like a razor wire flaying her heart and soul, until by the time she reached her room, Demetra was once again a complete emotional wreck with absolutely no idea how or where to find relief.
Never in her life had she ever lost control in such a way, never in her life had anything caused her to become so completely unhinged. While she'd never been known to be the friendliest girl on the block, she'd never actually physically lashed out at anyone before either, never actually struck someone outside of sparring or defence - either of herself or someone else.
Perhaps it was because she'd never really, truly been alone. All her life she'd always had someone else to lean on, someone else to turn to when she needed them, even though she always made such a point to convince not just everyone else, but herself as well, that she didn't need anybody, that she was independent.
Now, having been faced with so many new thoughts and experiences over the past several months, so many things she had no experience and no idea how to handle or deal with, she felt more alone then ever. Breal was there, but as usual he wasn't there; and she couldn't really blame him for that. Her brother was and had always been there when she needed him, but fact was, there were things he simply couldn't help her with, things she needed her girls for. And her recent reunion with them only brought that home so much harder; brought home just how much she truly needed them, how strong they made her, and how damn weak she was on her own.
Demetra scoffed in self-depreciation at that thought. She'd always considered herself the strongest of the four, both physically and mentally; and she knew her girls had always let her believe it; perhaps even in some ways they believed it as well. But as she considered their initial separation, the day they'd all gone their separate ways for the very first time, something occurred to Demetra that she hadn't even considered before. While all three of her girls had ventured off into foreign lands unknown, all three of them totally and completely on their own; Demetra had still had Breal. She herself had never actually been alone.
It was about that point that Demetra felt something fragile snap inside her, and as if looking through the filth-stained windows of someone else's nightmare, she helplessly watched herself come undone.
For an unrecorded amount of time, Demetra's inner self watched with horror as some crazed, psychotic beast went utterly berserk in her room. It didn't touch her equipment, it completely ignored her desk and dresser and other personal items. But nothing from that night, from any moment or memory she shared with anyone other than those of her previous life, was safe.
Like a physical hurricane, the discharge of Demetra's tangible bundle of negativity wreaked absolute havoc on every tiny minuscule object or item she'd accumulated since arriving in Russia, completely destroying near each and every piece until, in no time at all, her room indeed looked liked the aftermath of some horrid natural disaster.
As she stood there among the wreckage, panting and chest heaving so violently it made her chest ache, something clicked in Demetra's head, and finally her inner self was able to wrangle control of the helm of her body out of the clutches of the savage beast.
Demetra's eyes widened double their size and for the second time that day, instantly flooded as she took survey of the colossal destruction her moment of insanity had caused. Stumbling back several feet in horror, Demetra's shaky legs betrayed her and she went down hard. With her legs sprawled at awkward angles around her, her fists clenched tightly in the scratchy, uncomfortable fire blanket that had somehow been blown off her bed sometime during the fray.
"Breal's right!" Demetra thought in a crazed distraught despair. "I'm a complete disgrace!"
A strangled sob escaped her then, and with it the pools in her eyes filled to the threat of overflowing. Demetra's hands shot up then to forcefully dig the heels of her hands into her eyes, determined not to let the disgusting things free. As she fought desperately to hold back the onslaught, her thoughts shot like a cannon back to the shocking happenings of so shortly ago.
As clearly as if he was still sitting before her, she saw Tala's still fever-flushed face, bloodied by her own hand. She pictured the way he'd looked back at her, crumpled there on the floor with her hand fisted in his shirt, and the look reminded her very much of the way a faithful dog might look at its owner after a good beating it in no way deserved.
Demetra knew the redhead was a loose cannon in his own right, and he was a downright hateful pain in the neck a majority of the time. But she also knew that the only reason she'd been able to so easily overpower him, was because he'd already been so weakened from his illness. Truth be told, deep down, she also knew that even had he been at the top of his game, though surely he could and would have easily been able to defend himself, he never would have attacked someone so brutally. No, not even the ruthless Tala Ivanov would have done something so unspeakable horrible, as to mercilessly assault another human being the way she had, especially not one already barely able to stand on their own two feet.
That very sobering thought finally succeeded in a jailbreak for the despicable prisoners Demetra had kept so heavily locked up inside her for nearly a decade. With a loud, choking sob that echoed around the room, Demetra bit down so hard on her lip she tasted a familiar metallic tang in her mouth. But that pain barely registered, because she was too busy trying desperately, in vain, to damn up the steady flow of criminal tears now streaming unchecked down her cheeks; hateful criminals that had absolutely no concern or regard for the careful walls she'd so painstakingly built up for herself over the years.
Tala's broken expression lunged at her once again through the darkness, and another strangled sob escaped her.
"I'm a monster!..." Demetra sobbed through the tears.
Suddenly another thought occurred to her, and as if a bucket of ice had been dumped over her, Demetra's blood ran cold as it struck her. Whipping her hands from hr face, she whirled around at the hip, so fast it made her head swim, and tossed her wild gaze towards her bedside table.
Potent, tangible relief instantly replaced the crippling fear that had momentarily rocked her. Despite her fear, sitting there atop the small table, innocently and unblemished, was the sole surviver of Hurricane Demetra.
"Of course you survived..." Demetra thought, pretending to be bitter about it. But her heart scoffed at her half-arsed pretence.
Forcing her aching limbs to move, Demetra crawled pathetically towards the table and reached up with a shaking hand to grip the pure snow white wolf staring almost accusingly down at her. Fisting her hand tightly in its fur, Demetra pulled the ridiculous thing towards her and cradled it tight to her chest. Moving to lean back against the bed, she lifted her knees to her chest, clutching the stupid stuffed toy against her like a life ring, and leaned down to bury her face in the comfort of its soft fur.
-;-
She wasn't sure how long she'd sat there amidst the chaotic debris, face buried in inanimate comfort, unmoving except for the silent wetness soaking the white softness in her arms. But when Demetra finally forced herself to lift her throbbing head and noted the blackened darkness of her room, she knew she must have been there for hours.
Sniffling thickly just once, Demetra looked back down at the stuffy in her arms and stared into the glassen eyes barely visible in the near-darkness.
"How am I supposed to make amends for this...?" She muttered rhetorically, her voice raw and cracking.
It wasn't as if her character would allow her to just up and stalk out of the room, hunt the redhead she'd so terribly wronged down, throw her arms around him, or herself at his feet, and beg him with heartfelt sincerity for his forgiveness. And yet, she knew she had to do something; this time she owed him that.
Just then, looking into those eerily realistic eyes, ones that normally reminded her irritatingly so of the redhead in question, this time she was reminded, as she had often before, of Tala's precious Wolborg. Then something clicked, and suddenly Demetra knew exactly how she would make amends.
With a suddenly renewed strength, Demetra lifted her head, forced her stiff limbs to carry her to her feet, turned to almost reverently replace the stuffy onto its rightful spot, then immediately turned on her heel and made for the door.
-;-
Although she'd wasted no time getting there, as Demetra stood before the door in front of her now, she was much less enthusiastic about opening it then she had been only moments before. Her heart was hammering so loudly in her ears, so forcefully in her chest it was clearly visible; the flesh covering it pulsed and jumped like a caged animal beneath it was attempting a desperate escape.
A voice in her head screamed at her not to be stupid, to forget this ludicrous idea, turn around and march back where she came from. It wasn't easy to ignore this voice, and several times she almost gave in, but somehow, Demetra managed to stuff the nuisance into submission and eventually reached with a trembling hand towards the door.
She told herself that if he was there, if he was awake, if there was even the slightest chance he might catch her, she'd abort her mission and hightail it out of there; she'd worry about excuses and consequences later. As Demetra slowly turned the doorknob, pushed the door open almost painfully slow, wincing at the creak it emitted which might as well be a cannon fire in the dead silence, Demetra's anxiety was almost suffocating.
"Tala..." She whispered nervously into the darkness.
When she received no response, she poked her head further into the room before trying again.
"Tala." She said a little louder this time. Still nothing.
Gently pushing the door open, Demetra took a single step into the room, allowed her eyes to adjust. She'd just moved her foot to take another step, but froze when her gaze followed the long wedge of light cast from the light pouring through the open door. Not that it was surprising, it was very late after all, but Demetra's heart still went up into her throat when she noticed Tala laid out at an uncomfortable looking position on his bed. For several long minutes, she stood there, holding her breath. But even after such a length of time, the form didn't move.
Swallowing hard, Demetra crept closer, her footfalls silent as she moved to stand beside the bed.
"Tala..." She whispered again, her voice a little shakier this time.
Just as before, there was no sound, other then the sound of the redhead's shallow breathing. As Demetra stood over Tala's sleeping form, staring down into his sleeping face, her heart lurched to note the blackened smudge on his jaw, visible even in the near-darkness. She also noted his expression, contorted as if in distress; a much different expression compared to the peaceful, beautiful one she'd seen on his face the last tie she'd been there. The sight made a surge of bile rise in her throat, and it was a physical effort to force it back with a hard swallow.
Heart sick and gut sick, Demetra tore her gaze away from the redhead and forced herself away from the bed, deciding to stop testing her luck and complete her hunt before it was too late.
It didn't take her long to find what she was looking for, and in mere moments, Demetra was approaching the fragmented, scattered remnants of Tala's scrapped beyblade atop his desk. Looking over her shoulder, she made sure one last time that the redhead was sound asleep, and convincing herself he was, she turned back to his desk with a determined look before reaching out to quietly scoop up the battered parts. Tucking them safely and quietly into her pocket, she reached to pick up the bit sitting off to the side, but as soon as her fingers brushed it, she felt a violent shock shoot straight through her hand and up her arm, the likeness of a bolt of ice ripping through her flesh. The force of it instantly numbed her entire limb.
Reflexively pulling back, Demetra gave her throbbing and tingling arm a few good shakes when it seemed to come back to life a bit, then stared down at the bit. Working her jaw for a minute, she eventually reached down and cupped her fingers over top it before closing her eyes.
"I swear to you... I won't give you cause to need to protect him from me again..." She promised the dangerous beast harboured inside. "Let me make this right..."
Waiting a few long seconds to be sure, Demetra held her breath before moving to curl her fingers around the bit again. Steeling herself, she felt a flood of relief wash over her when the bit remained docile this time.
Releasing a quiet sigh, Demetra lifted her hand to press her closed fist and the treasure inside to her heart. With one last glance over her shoulder towards its owner still sleeping fitfully in his bed, she turned and silently made her way out of the room, closing the door softly behind her again on her way out.
