23. Win Some, Lose A Lot
Rhea pulled Kai from the water. Kai flopped on the ground, propping himself up with only his arms as he panted heavily and fought back his emotions. Rhea watched him silently, glancing upward to Anya surveying the bodies of Tala and Vitality Extortion and then to Samson who was observing the comatose Sarah.
Samson raised his head, looking out across the grey field, tears streaming down his cheeks. "Look at all of this. I never want to fight again as long as I live..."
"It is sad," Rhea agreed, looking down again on hearing Kai cough and sit down.
"The...the look on her face...It's going to remain on my mind for a long time..." he panted.
Anya turned around, hands akimbo and a grim expression. "The look on whose face?"
Kai leant forward and buried his face in his arms. "Spica... I should've listened to Sarah... Maybe Spica wasn't truly evil after all...None of Vitality Extortion was..."
There was silence until Samson stood up. "I'm going to get Kieran," he said before hurrying away.
Once Samson had disappeared from sight behind the mountainous rocks, Anya spoke again. "At least it's all over, and we're all still alive. Tala and Sarah will be easy to bring out of dormancy."
"Don't get too cocky. The war between good and evil is never over," Rhea countered.
"Rhea's right," Kai added, raising his head to the sky. "Before she died, Spica told me that there was a man that was working for both companies, acting as a spy for each one, but she wasn't sure which one he was ultimately loyal to."
"That's scary... Is this person still alive?" Anya interrogated.
"She didn't say. Fact is, I'm not sure she quite knew who it was, either. All she said was that it was someone that had betrayed me before, and he'd probably do it again."
"Could it be Boris?"
The three turned, seeing that Samson had returned, Kieran's body lying draped over his arms. A trail of blood from Kieran's head showed the path that Samson had walked. He set Kieran gently down on the ground and stood up at full height, staring back at them expectantly for an answer.
Kai lowered his gaze to think for a moment, but then met with Samson's eyes again. "I don't think so. We're not very fond of each other, but he's never really betrayed or used me. It would have to be someone more like-"
"Me?"
They turned back to the rest of the field, where the senile voice had come from. There stood a man with long, grey hair, a long brown trenchcoat and black boots. He had a rifle in his hands, and though not aiming, he could have easily fired.
The gasp was unanimous, "Voltaire!"
"So it was you that was betraying information about Biovolt to Goadbwa!" Anya exclaimed.
Even Rhea was on the offensive. "He's betrayed us before, Kai! Spica was right!"
Kai was too busy to add, feeling a sharp pain in his right arm where his last soul had been drawn from.
"That' right, Rhea, Kai... While Biovolt knows me as Voltaire, Goadbwa knows me as Deneb, and I've been conveying information this whole time. No one ever even took a single notice of my espionage," Voltaire explained, a smile creeping across his features. "But now, as the Hilanovs have destroyed the company that was more productive, I'm must destroy them."
Kai scowled back at his grandfather in agony, barely able to keep from yelling out and lunging an attack if it would suppress the pain.
Voltaire took the rifle in his arms, loaded it, and aimed for Tala. "One shot and that dormancy becomes death..."
"No!" Samson and Anya both cried as each jumped in front of their younger sibling defensively.
"I won't let you hurt my brother!" Anya protested. "He's much more of a help to this world than you'll ever be, Voltaire you double-crossing, impure scum!"
"Such hurtful words from a young lady. They just make my blood boil. But, I hate to admit she's right. I surrender, and I see that you care deeply for your brother and sister. Therefore, I shall let you live out your lives in peace." Voltaire closed his eyes, lowered the rifle and nodded his head towards them respectfully. He turned on the ball of his foot and began to walk away briskly.
Anya and Samson glared with determined faces as he moved away across the field, and when they felt he was true to his word and at a safe distance, they moved from their positions to tend to Kai along with Rhea. The three crowded around him. Kai clenched his teeth for a while as they fired questions at him, but they all became meaningless and muted as the pain subsided and he raised his head in an instant to see Voltaire in the middle of the field. The man stopped, but none of the others noticed. The man turned his head slightly, Kai saw, and in one quick movement, Voltaire whipped around and hurtled back towards them as fast as his elderly legs would carry him, raising the gun.
"Watch out!" Kai yelled, leaping up from his sitting position on the ground among the three and thrusting at Voltaire.
Just as Voltaire aimed a shot for Tala, Kai knocked his arm and the bullet went in an unintended direction. Samson and Rhea watched in horror as Anya threw her head back and fell to the ground, flat on her back and with some of her hair trailing into the water of the pond.
"Anya!"
Voltaire and Kai both got up from their positions on the ground, Voltaire first realizing what had happened. "Look what you did, boy! You made me hit someone I had no intention of hitting and I wasted a bullet!"
"You betrayed and used me as your tool at Biovolt when I was young and naïve. And as I did then, I dishonoured you. What makes you think I'll just roll over and allow you to take control of me now, Voltaire?" Kai asked as he pushed himself up.
Voltaire stood up, scowling back at Kai as the other two took time to collect themselves. "You shall call me grandfather!" the man scolded.
"Anya? Anya! No! It's not possible!" Samson exclaimed, once again shaking with tears as he leant over her.
Rhea bit her lip, also shaken by the loss.
Kai staggered to get up and limped over to stand defensively between his two friends and Voltaire. "You guys take Anya and Kieran back to Biovolt. I'll finish things off here."
"But Kai-you can't handle this all by yourself," Rhea protested, Samson too busy trying to come to grips as he stared at the wound between her eyes.
"I'm a Hilanov, remember? You've got to have faith in me."
Rhea stared at him a moment before turning back to Samson and reaching past him to take Anya in her arms. "Come on, Samson. You heard Kai. Go get Kieran."
Samson stood up, his words now stutters and beginnings that slurred together, making no sense at all. Nevertheless, he obeyed the order, walking with an uneven swagger as he followed Rhea to the exit of the field.
"We're counting on you, Kai!" Rhea called after them.
Kai looked back to Voltaire. "Where were we, grandfather?" he sneered, hardening the last word.
Voltaire raised the gun again, this time aiming for Sarah. "Please move, my grandson. I don't want to hurt you, as you could prove valuable later in life."
Kai didn't reply, but didn't move, either.
"Kai?" Voltaire asked, lowering the firearm again and surveying him in puzzlement. He smirked evilly. "Surely your betrayal at the Russian tournament meant nothing towards me?"
"You're wrong, old man. I've hated you since I found out the reason about me being brought up in the Abbey. You killed Rhea's and my parents. You placed us in that Abbey to make us become the ultimate Beybladers and manipulative tools for your own selfish purposes!"
"Oh, so you found out the truth about Xenia and Kajirou, did you?" Voltaire questioned, his grin growing wider.
"Kajirou?" Kai repeated puzzledly.
"You mean to tell me you don't even know your father's own name? His full name was Kajirou, but everyone just shortened it. He failed me as you have. Like father, like son. That was why I had to kill him."
"Then what about my mother?"
"She would have found out the truth sooner or later, so I had to deplete the witnesses. Now move, or die," Voltaire finished, aiming it again.
Kai held his ground. "I'll take the latter."
Without another word, Voltaire quickly shifted its aim and fired. Kai felt excruciating pain and then a sickness to his stomach. He struggled to keep on his feet for a moment or two while holding his hands to the new wound. He swayed a little before sinking to his knees and clenching his teeth in agony.
"That's surprising-you're not dead, my grandson," Voltaire observed matter-of-factly. "Most would die of a wound to the gut."
Kai forced himself to open his eyes and raise his head to scowl and clench his teeth at Voltaire shakily. He tightened his grip just below his chest and slightly to the left. The bullet had broken the mid-torso armour, the strong fabric, his skin and body. It had made a clean hole through him and caused a pain like he had never felt before. He could feel the blood secreting freely from it.
Kai watched as Voltaire aimed again, this time for Sarah. But Kai couldn't yell or knock him down has he had done before-he was paralyzed from the shock and agony. He heard the rifle fire, the sickening fleshy sinking sound and equally nauseating crack of some sort of bone. He screwed his eyes shut, allowing the tears to sting his cheeks, knowing full well that his grandfather had won him over.
"One down, one to go," Voltaire said, now aiming for Tala.
"No!" Kai wheezed in the strongest voice he could muster. He felt a vibration coming from his side and turned his head slowly to see red emitting from his Beyblade in his belt.
The light shone brightly, but was withdrawn to a single, short beam coming from the Bit Chip. But as Kai stared at it in wonderment, the beam began to take the form of the red bird and ascended from the dead blade torpidly. It headed forward to Voltaire, who was about to fire, but raised his head and gasped at the spirit slowly advancing towards him through the air.
Voltaire took a few wary steps back just as the phoenix sped up to warp speed and charged headlong through the old man's chest. Voltaire's mortified expression froze for a moment on his face as his chest was pierced and he began to waver. The red streak of light left his back rather violently, dragging a reluctant black soul with it up into the dark clouds of the night.
Voltaire finally rolled his eyes back into his head and his eyelids closed as he fell and landed on the ground with a thud, his arms and legs sprawled out as he lay on his back. The gun fell from his right hand. Kai looked up from the dormant body of his grandfather to his Bit Beast returning from the clouds to its Beyblade. Kai took one hand from the wound and held it out shakily. He sighed and leant forward, still on his knees to catch his breath before crawling, one hand clutched to his wound, over to the left side of Voltaire.
Still holding his right hand to his wound, he reached with his left hand into his belt and extracted his dagger. He held it out in front of him as he struggled to fight the pain and strength he was rapidly losing.
"You...You used me right from the beginning... You used both Rhea and I... You stole our only happiness by killing Xenia and Kajirou and then placed us in that miserable Abbey!" he panted. "Then you betrayed not only us, but your employees by working for both companies and then ultimately turning to the side other than your relatives were on. I want you to know... that I hate you, Grandfather!" Kai lifted his quivering hand with the dagger in it high above his head. Tears of hatred and anger as he stared at the comatose man's face. He didn't flinch when a loud crash of thunder sounded and lightning illuminated the dark sky momentarily.
"A-as you die,... I want you to know... that I hate you, Grandfather Voltaire! I can't allow you to plague my life and stand in the way of my ambitions anymore!" he yelled, causing a quick depletion of breath as he brought the knife down in one swift movement.
It hit Voltaire straight in the heart, blood squirting from the wound on impact and dousing Kai's hand with even more of the dark red liquid. Kai held it there for a moment or two, beginning to feel the cool sensation of rain against the nape of his neck. He released his grip on the black handle, still panting heavily from the outburst as the rain fell in heavier sheets.
He turned to glower at the face of Voltaire again. "To...to think I once...loved you..." he gasped before forcing himself to stand up and take his hands from his wound.
Then Kai paused, staring wide-eyed and in horror at the body. "It's...just like in my dream! Rhea was right! It was me that would...that would kill...Voltaire! I wonder...just how much else... in there...is the foretelling of fate..."
After having recovered from his shock, he staggered around the other side of Voltaire and took hold of the man's trenchcoat by the shoulders. He stumbled across the grass, trying to drag the man's body with him to the pond. A few metres away, he finally made it to the pond and flopped down beside the body to catch his breath again. He then turned around, and using some of the meagre strength he had left, he heaved the body, including the dagger still thrust into it, into the pond. Voltaire rolled over and hit the water face-first before sinking like a rock from the heavy clothing.
Kai watched as it sunk, breathing heavily and lowering his head, the tears staining his cheeks again as he sat before the pond as the rain fell on him. "There...Now no one else can suffer...From what Rhea and I already have..." After a minute or two, he suddenly remembered something else and raised his head, turning it to where his comrades lay either dormant or dead. Kai pushed himself to his feet and limped half the way back to Sarah with the very last of his strength, but collapsed.
He fell to his knees, gripping his torso as tight as he could, now trying to stop the agony. He looked up to Sarah, and saw a flash of light from his Beyblade that he had left on the ground. The red left its Bit Chip again, to return to the clouds, and came back down a few seconds later with a purple spirit. It entered through Sarah's chest, and exited again, gathering another soul of red from the clouds and restoring it to Tala's body before zipping back to its Bit Chip.
Kai watched Dranzer disappear into his blue Beyblade, glanced back to Sarah and Tala, and smiled sadly. "What would I do without you, Dranzer?" he questioned rhetorically before toppling to his left and rolling onto his back. He stared wanfully at the dark grey sky pouring rain down on him as he grasped his stomach. "He tried to...bring them both back..." he said quietly, flinching at a sudden sharp pain and closing his eyes.
Her head ached as if she had been bludgeoned by something. And her face was covered in something wet, warm, and sticky, though it was quickly being cooled by what felt like rain. She forced her eyelids open, but closed them immediately on being pelted by water. Eyes screwed shut, she sat up and held her throbbing head. She groaned before finally opening her eyes. The first thing she saw was the pond before her, just as she had remembered before she had been knocked out. She turned her head to her left to see the bodies of Vitality Extortion and Tale lined up.
She gasped and got onto all fours, causing a throbbing in her head that blurred her vision. She crawled over to them, nonetheless. "Spica?" she called, her voice a quiet rasp. She looked to the others, her eyes watering at the peaceful looks. Seeing Kuiper's eyes still wide open, she reached out to his face, brushing his bangs from it and running her hand horizontally down his face, closing his eyes so that he looked like the rest.
"I'm sorry." She pulled her hand away eerily, his face being cold and forbidding. She glanced to Tala and reached for his face, placing her hand on his cheek. Unlike Kuiper's, it was warm. Glancing to Vitality Extortion again, her vision became even more obscured, but she turned as she heard a loud groan from behind her. Through the thick sheets of rain was a body lying on the grass.
She crawled over to it, the agony in her head pulsating once again. Leaning on all fours over the body, she gasped when she recognized the pale, helpless face as Kai's. "Kai?" she said quietly.
His eyes opened slowly, and widened when he saw her face. "Sarah...You're alive!"
She reached out and propped him up with her arm cradling his head and other hand grasping one of his quivering hands. "Yes. Why wouldn't I be?"
Kai continued to stare wide eyed at her sympathetic face, but blinked when he saw a red drop plummet and land just to the left of his mouth. Sarah saw it fall, too, looked upward absently, and slipped her hand from Kai's to touch her forehead. Through her ripped glove fingers, she felt the sickening wound, every stream of blood and trace of singed or broken tissue. She pulled her hand away to examine it.
"I'm bleeding..." she started. She lowered her gaze to Kai's stunned brown eyes. "What happened to me?"
"V-Voltaire..." Kai stuttered. "He killed you with a rifle... But then I stabbed him and threw him into the pond...I've hated him for too long..."
"Voltaire?" Sarah repeated. "As in your grandfather, Voltaire?"
Kai nodded, and then Sarah noticed his hands, fixing her eyes on his chest. "What happened to you?"
"He shot me, too..." Kai mumbled, his wide eyes closing as he blinked slowly. He took his hands from the gaping hole. "As you can see, you should savour your last moments with me."
"No, Kai!" Sarah exclaimed, unconsciously shaking him with the sudden shock of the comment. "You can't die-not now-we've come too far...for you to...to..." she trailed off in mid-sentence.
Kai's wanful expression changed into a smile as he watched tears stream from her eyes. "I'm sorry to say...this is it."
"No!...It...it can't be!" Sarah whipped her head around on hearing another groan from behind her. She saw Tala sit up and rub his head ruefully. "Tala!" she called through the rain. "Come here!"
Tala turned his head towards them with logy. "What is it?"
"Kai! Just come!"
Tala glanced to his right, and shivered on the sight of Vitality Extortion's bodies. He eased himself onto his feet lethargically before limping over to where Kai and Sarah were. He knelt down beside them, eyes still half-closed. "What is it?"
Sarah turned her head away and to Kai's face. "He's been shot...He thinks he's going to die... But he can't, Tala...Tell him he's talking nonsense! Tell him he's wrong this time!"
Tala's eyes opened fully at the words, and he cast a serious glare at Kai, who had been looking back at him throughout the time Sarah spoke. Tala's expression seemed to say, 'I can't do anything...I can't make you live or die...' Kai's expression said the same, his smile daunted by her ignorance.
Tala looked up to Sarah's face. "Sarah?"
She looked to him, and he drew back. "What happened to you?"
"She was also shot by Voltaire," explained Kai.
"She should be dead!" exclaimed Tala.
"I'm fine! In any case, I'm in better condition than Kai," Sarah urged, looking back to him.
"Anya has also been shot."
"What?!" Sarah and Tala both exclaimed in unison.
Kai closed his eyes. "I regret to say that she was hit by a stray bullet from Voltaire. But Rhea is alive."
Tala's eyes faltered as he stared at Kai and then glanced around nervously, trying to take it in.
"Where are they, then? And what about Samson?" Sarah interrogated.
Kai drew a sharp intake of breath before speaking again. "Samson's fine, though slightly traumatized. Rhea and Samson took Kieran and Anya back to Biovolt along with everyone else."
"We're the only ones left on the field..." Sarah trailed off and glancing around.
Kai didn't answer, too busy surveying Tala's reaction. He didn't notice Sarah return the focus of her attention to him. "Kai? Are you feeling better now? If we hurry, we can get back to Biovolt so that you can get medical attention."
"I won't make it. Besides, I'd like to die out of Boris' control."
"Kai! Don't be so pessimistic!" she scolded, unconsciously shaking him again. "You always sacrifice yourself for others in battle, but what about yourself? What about the people that care about you, Kai?"
Kai averted his gaze. "What people that care?"
"Rhea, Tala, me-!"
"Sarah, drop it," Tala said calmly and with slight annoyance, obviously sobered by the news.
Sarah glared at him helplessly but whirled back when she felt Kai drop slightly. He had closed his eyes and collapsed his chest significantly. "Kai!" He opened his eyes and smiled.
"Just leave me here. I'll make it to the afterlife on my own. You two had better get back to Biovolt or you'll get pneumonia from this rain."
Sarah raised her arm, bringing Kai closer to her without really being aware of it. "Kai, you can't die! I won't allow it!"
Kai continued to smile as he reached up and placed his finger over her lips, silencing her. He then moved his hand up and ran it across her cheek, wiping the tears from it. She gasped and choked on her tears as she kept direct eye contact with him. He ran his fingers to her forehead and pushed her wet hair behind her ear.
"We all have to let go. And if you love me, that's the greatest thing you can do for me."
Sarah's frustrated expression softened into confusion. "We're friends, aren't we? With life-long debts to each other? Surely that 'life- long' part is longer than this?"
Kai didn't answer but looked to Tala instead. "Take care of Rhea and her for me."
"Kai..." Tala muttered hesitantly, half raising his arm to reach out.
"I remember... an old friend once telling me, 'not to dwell on the past, for it will only hurt your will to move ahead'," Kai reminisced, closing his eyes momentarily but opening them again.
"Kai..." Both Sarah and Tala whispered in unison. Sarah took hold of Kai's hand again and this time so did Tala. Their hands rested on his wound. "Not now, Kai... You're a strong fighter and you can't give up or give in..." Sarah pressed.
Kai shook his head slowly and grimaced on feeling a sharp pain surge from the wound. Through his grimace, he managed to gasp, "'Til death do us part..." His hand clenched firmly around both of theirs, but when the cringe was gone, so was the squeeze of life. It went limp in their grasp.
"Kai!" Sarah screamed, jerking him again. "Kai! No!"
Tala let go of their hands and drew it back slowly to his chest, staring at Kai's pale face. "This...can't be happening..." he whispered.
Sarah lowered her head to his chest and screamed, making Tala cringe slightly as he heard her stop, catch her breath and shake with sobs. She shook her head against his chest, still gripping his hand tightly and supporting his limp head. "No...No..." she kept choking.
Seeing this, and trying to take all of it in made Tala teary-eyed, too. As soon as he felt it trickle down his cheek, he blinked the rest away and swiped at his eyes with his bloodied glove. "I must be strong..." he whispered determinedly. He looked up at the crash of thunder and flash of lightning. He glanced to Sarah sympathetically before taking in a deep breath and standing up.
He placed his arms around her shoulders. "Come on. We'd better get back to Biovolt as he said. It's what he'd want us to do. There's...nothing we can do for him now," Tala consoled, his voice cracking and becoming choked.
Sarah didn't move, and continued to sob. Tala knelt down behind her and reached around her to release her weak arms from the body. "He said to leave him here. If that's what he wants, we would honour him by doing so," he said, laying Kai down gently on the soaked grass.
Tala tapped her shoulders lightly, and she stood up slowly, covering her face. He kept his arms around her shoulders as they turned and began to walk across the field. He looked over his shoulder and back at Kai just as a flash of lightning came. "As an old friend once told me, 'I hope we can meet again, someday.' Goodbye, Kai..."
~~~~~~~~~
The next chapter is the very last [actual] one, I promise. But if you want to know how Sarah, Tala, and the rest of Biovolt will get along without Kai, or what's going to happen to Goadbwa now that it's lost its heads, or how Eva, Rhea, and Samson will cope with Kieran and Anya's deaths, you're going to have to review! I'm not updating 'til I get one!
Rhea pulled Kai from the water. Kai flopped on the ground, propping himself up with only his arms as he panted heavily and fought back his emotions. Rhea watched him silently, glancing upward to Anya surveying the bodies of Tala and Vitality Extortion and then to Samson who was observing the comatose Sarah.
Samson raised his head, looking out across the grey field, tears streaming down his cheeks. "Look at all of this. I never want to fight again as long as I live..."
"It is sad," Rhea agreed, looking down again on hearing Kai cough and sit down.
"The...the look on her face...It's going to remain on my mind for a long time..." he panted.
Anya turned around, hands akimbo and a grim expression. "The look on whose face?"
Kai leant forward and buried his face in his arms. "Spica... I should've listened to Sarah... Maybe Spica wasn't truly evil after all...None of Vitality Extortion was..."
There was silence until Samson stood up. "I'm going to get Kieran," he said before hurrying away.
Once Samson had disappeared from sight behind the mountainous rocks, Anya spoke again. "At least it's all over, and we're all still alive. Tala and Sarah will be easy to bring out of dormancy."
"Don't get too cocky. The war between good and evil is never over," Rhea countered.
"Rhea's right," Kai added, raising his head to the sky. "Before she died, Spica told me that there was a man that was working for both companies, acting as a spy for each one, but she wasn't sure which one he was ultimately loyal to."
"That's scary... Is this person still alive?" Anya interrogated.
"She didn't say. Fact is, I'm not sure she quite knew who it was, either. All she said was that it was someone that had betrayed me before, and he'd probably do it again."
"Could it be Boris?"
The three turned, seeing that Samson had returned, Kieran's body lying draped over his arms. A trail of blood from Kieran's head showed the path that Samson had walked. He set Kieran gently down on the ground and stood up at full height, staring back at them expectantly for an answer.
Kai lowered his gaze to think for a moment, but then met with Samson's eyes again. "I don't think so. We're not very fond of each other, but he's never really betrayed or used me. It would have to be someone more like-"
"Me?"
They turned back to the rest of the field, where the senile voice had come from. There stood a man with long, grey hair, a long brown trenchcoat and black boots. He had a rifle in his hands, and though not aiming, he could have easily fired.
The gasp was unanimous, "Voltaire!"
"So it was you that was betraying information about Biovolt to Goadbwa!" Anya exclaimed.
Even Rhea was on the offensive. "He's betrayed us before, Kai! Spica was right!"
Kai was too busy to add, feeling a sharp pain in his right arm where his last soul had been drawn from.
"That' right, Rhea, Kai... While Biovolt knows me as Voltaire, Goadbwa knows me as Deneb, and I've been conveying information this whole time. No one ever even took a single notice of my espionage," Voltaire explained, a smile creeping across his features. "But now, as the Hilanovs have destroyed the company that was more productive, I'm must destroy them."
Kai scowled back at his grandfather in agony, barely able to keep from yelling out and lunging an attack if it would suppress the pain.
Voltaire took the rifle in his arms, loaded it, and aimed for Tala. "One shot and that dormancy becomes death..."
"No!" Samson and Anya both cried as each jumped in front of their younger sibling defensively.
"I won't let you hurt my brother!" Anya protested. "He's much more of a help to this world than you'll ever be, Voltaire you double-crossing, impure scum!"
"Such hurtful words from a young lady. They just make my blood boil. But, I hate to admit she's right. I surrender, and I see that you care deeply for your brother and sister. Therefore, I shall let you live out your lives in peace." Voltaire closed his eyes, lowered the rifle and nodded his head towards them respectfully. He turned on the ball of his foot and began to walk away briskly.
Anya and Samson glared with determined faces as he moved away across the field, and when they felt he was true to his word and at a safe distance, they moved from their positions to tend to Kai along with Rhea. The three crowded around him. Kai clenched his teeth for a while as they fired questions at him, but they all became meaningless and muted as the pain subsided and he raised his head in an instant to see Voltaire in the middle of the field. The man stopped, but none of the others noticed. The man turned his head slightly, Kai saw, and in one quick movement, Voltaire whipped around and hurtled back towards them as fast as his elderly legs would carry him, raising the gun.
"Watch out!" Kai yelled, leaping up from his sitting position on the ground among the three and thrusting at Voltaire.
Just as Voltaire aimed a shot for Tala, Kai knocked his arm and the bullet went in an unintended direction. Samson and Rhea watched in horror as Anya threw her head back and fell to the ground, flat on her back and with some of her hair trailing into the water of the pond.
"Anya!"
Voltaire and Kai both got up from their positions on the ground, Voltaire first realizing what had happened. "Look what you did, boy! You made me hit someone I had no intention of hitting and I wasted a bullet!"
"You betrayed and used me as your tool at Biovolt when I was young and naïve. And as I did then, I dishonoured you. What makes you think I'll just roll over and allow you to take control of me now, Voltaire?" Kai asked as he pushed himself up.
Voltaire stood up, scowling back at Kai as the other two took time to collect themselves. "You shall call me grandfather!" the man scolded.
"Anya? Anya! No! It's not possible!" Samson exclaimed, once again shaking with tears as he leant over her.
Rhea bit her lip, also shaken by the loss.
Kai staggered to get up and limped over to stand defensively between his two friends and Voltaire. "You guys take Anya and Kieran back to Biovolt. I'll finish things off here."
"But Kai-you can't handle this all by yourself," Rhea protested, Samson too busy trying to come to grips as he stared at the wound between her eyes.
"I'm a Hilanov, remember? You've got to have faith in me."
Rhea stared at him a moment before turning back to Samson and reaching past him to take Anya in her arms. "Come on, Samson. You heard Kai. Go get Kieran."
Samson stood up, his words now stutters and beginnings that slurred together, making no sense at all. Nevertheless, he obeyed the order, walking with an uneven swagger as he followed Rhea to the exit of the field.
"We're counting on you, Kai!" Rhea called after them.
Kai looked back to Voltaire. "Where were we, grandfather?" he sneered, hardening the last word.
Voltaire raised the gun again, this time aiming for Sarah. "Please move, my grandson. I don't want to hurt you, as you could prove valuable later in life."
Kai didn't reply, but didn't move, either.
"Kai?" Voltaire asked, lowering the firearm again and surveying him in puzzlement. He smirked evilly. "Surely your betrayal at the Russian tournament meant nothing towards me?"
"You're wrong, old man. I've hated you since I found out the reason about me being brought up in the Abbey. You killed Rhea's and my parents. You placed us in that Abbey to make us become the ultimate Beybladers and manipulative tools for your own selfish purposes!"
"Oh, so you found out the truth about Xenia and Kajirou, did you?" Voltaire questioned, his grin growing wider.
"Kajirou?" Kai repeated puzzledly.
"You mean to tell me you don't even know your father's own name? His full name was Kajirou, but everyone just shortened it. He failed me as you have. Like father, like son. That was why I had to kill him."
"Then what about my mother?"
"She would have found out the truth sooner or later, so I had to deplete the witnesses. Now move, or die," Voltaire finished, aiming it again.
Kai held his ground. "I'll take the latter."
Without another word, Voltaire quickly shifted its aim and fired. Kai felt excruciating pain and then a sickness to his stomach. He struggled to keep on his feet for a moment or two while holding his hands to the new wound. He swayed a little before sinking to his knees and clenching his teeth in agony.
"That's surprising-you're not dead, my grandson," Voltaire observed matter-of-factly. "Most would die of a wound to the gut."
Kai forced himself to open his eyes and raise his head to scowl and clench his teeth at Voltaire shakily. He tightened his grip just below his chest and slightly to the left. The bullet had broken the mid-torso armour, the strong fabric, his skin and body. It had made a clean hole through him and caused a pain like he had never felt before. He could feel the blood secreting freely from it.
Kai watched as Voltaire aimed again, this time for Sarah. But Kai couldn't yell or knock him down has he had done before-he was paralyzed from the shock and agony. He heard the rifle fire, the sickening fleshy sinking sound and equally nauseating crack of some sort of bone. He screwed his eyes shut, allowing the tears to sting his cheeks, knowing full well that his grandfather had won him over.
"One down, one to go," Voltaire said, now aiming for Tala.
"No!" Kai wheezed in the strongest voice he could muster. He felt a vibration coming from his side and turned his head slowly to see red emitting from his Beyblade in his belt.
The light shone brightly, but was withdrawn to a single, short beam coming from the Bit Chip. But as Kai stared at it in wonderment, the beam began to take the form of the red bird and ascended from the dead blade torpidly. It headed forward to Voltaire, who was about to fire, but raised his head and gasped at the spirit slowly advancing towards him through the air.
Voltaire took a few wary steps back just as the phoenix sped up to warp speed and charged headlong through the old man's chest. Voltaire's mortified expression froze for a moment on his face as his chest was pierced and he began to waver. The red streak of light left his back rather violently, dragging a reluctant black soul with it up into the dark clouds of the night.
Voltaire finally rolled his eyes back into his head and his eyelids closed as he fell and landed on the ground with a thud, his arms and legs sprawled out as he lay on his back. The gun fell from his right hand. Kai looked up from the dormant body of his grandfather to his Bit Beast returning from the clouds to its Beyblade. Kai took one hand from the wound and held it out shakily. He sighed and leant forward, still on his knees to catch his breath before crawling, one hand clutched to his wound, over to the left side of Voltaire.
Still holding his right hand to his wound, he reached with his left hand into his belt and extracted his dagger. He held it out in front of him as he struggled to fight the pain and strength he was rapidly losing.
"You...You used me right from the beginning... You used both Rhea and I... You stole our only happiness by killing Xenia and Kajirou and then placed us in that miserable Abbey!" he panted. "Then you betrayed not only us, but your employees by working for both companies and then ultimately turning to the side other than your relatives were on. I want you to know... that I hate you, Grandfather!" Kai lifted his quivering hand with the dagger in it high above his head. Tears of hatred and anger as he stared at the comatose man's face. He didn't flinch when a loud crash of thunder sounded and lightning illuminated the dark sky momentarily.
"A-as you die,... I want you to know... that I hate you, Grandfather Voltaire! I can't allow you to plague my life and stand in the way of my ambitions anymore!" he yelled, causing a quick depletion of breath as he brought the knife down in one swift movement.
It hit Voltaire straight in the heart, blood squirting from the wound on impact and dousing Kai's hand with even more of the dark red liquid. Kai held it there for a moment or two, beginning to feel the cool sensation of rain against the nape of his neck. He released his grip on the black handle, still panting heavily from the outburst as the rain fell in heavier sheets.
He turned to glower at the face of Voltaire again. "To...to think I once...loved you..." he gasped before forcing himself to stand up and take his hands from his wound.
Then Kai paused, staring wide-eyed and in horror at the body. "It's...just like in my dream! Rhea was right! It was me that would...that would kill...Voltaire! I wonder...just how much else... in there...is the foretelling of fate..."
After having recovered from his shock, he staggered around the other side of Voltaire and took hold of the man's trenchcoat by the shoulders. He stumbled across the grass, trying to drag the man's body with him to the pond. A few metres away, he finally made it to the pond and flopped down beside the body to catch his breath again. He then turned around, and using some of the meagre strength he had left, he heaved the body, including the dagger still thrust into it, into the pond. Voltaire rolled over and hit the water face-first before sinking like a rock from the heavy clothing.
Kai watched as it sunk, breathing heavily and lowering his head, the tears staining his cheeks again as he sat before the pond as the rain fell on him. "There...Now no one else can suffer...From what Rhea and I already have..." After a minute or two, he suddenly remembered something else and raised his head, turning it to where his comrades lay either dormant or dead. Kai pushed himself to his feet and limped half the way back to Sarah with the very last of his strength, but collapsed.
He fell to his knees, gripping his torso as tight as he could, now trying to stop the agony. He looked up to Sarah, and saw a flash of light from his Beyblade that he had left on the ground. The red left its Bit Chip again, to return to the clouds, and came back down a few seconds later with a purple spirit. It entered through Sarah's chest, and exited again, gathering another soul of red from the clouds and restoring it to Tala's body before zipping back to its Bit Chip.
Kai watched Dranzer disappear into his blue Beyblade, glanced back to Sarah and Tala, and smiled sadly. "What would I do without you, Dranzer?" he questioned rhetorically before toppling to his left and rolling onto his back. He stared wanfully at the dark grey sky pouring rain down on him as he grasped his stomach. "He tried to...bring them both back..." he said quietly, flinching at a sudden sharp pain and closing his eyes.
Her head ached as if she had been bludgeoned by something. And her face was covered in something wet, warm, and sticky, though it was quickly being cooled by what felt like rain. She forced her eyelids open, but closed them immediately on being pelted by water. Eyes screwed shut, she sat up and held her throbbing head. She groaned before finally opening her eyes. The first thing she saw was the pond before her, just as she had remembered before she had been knocked out. She turned her head to her left to see the bodies of Vitality Extortion and Tale lined up.
She gasped and got onto all fours, causing a throbbing in her head that blurred her vision. She crawled over to them, nonetheless. "Spica?" she called, her voice a quiet rasp. She looked to the others, her eyes watering at the peaceful looks. Seeing Kuiper's eyes still wide open, she reached out to his face, brushing his bangs from it and running her hand horizontally down his face, closing his eyes so that he looked like the rest.
"I'm sorry." She pulled her hand away eerily, his face being cold and forbidding. She glanced to Tala and reached for his face, placing her hand on his cheek. Unlike Kuiper's, it was warm. Glancing to Vitality Extortion again, her vision became even more obscured, but she turned as she heard a loud groan from behind her. Through the thick sheets of rain was a body lying on the grass.
She crawled over to it, the agony in her head pulsating once again. Leaning on all fours over the body, she gasped when she recognized the pale, helpless face as Kai's. "Kai?" she said quietly.
His eyes opened slowly, and widened when he saw her face. "Sarah...You're alive!"
She reached out and propped him up with her arm cradling his head and other hand grasping one of his quivering hands. "Yes. Why wouldn't I be?"
Kai continued to stare wide eyed at her sympathetic face, but blinked when he saw a red drop plummet and land just to the left of his mouth. Sarah saw it fall, too, looked upward absently, and slipped her hand from Kai's to touch her forehead. Through her ripped glove fingers, she felt the sickening wound, every stream of blood and trace of singed or broken tissue. She pulled her hand away to examine it.
"I'm bleeding..." she started. She lowered her gaze to Kai's stunned brown eyes. "What happened to me?"
"V-Voltaire..." Kai stuttered. "He killed you with a rifle... But then I stabbed him and threw him into the pond...I've hated him for too long..."
"Voltaire?" Sarah repeated. "As in your grandfather, Voltaire?"
Kai nodded, and then Sarah noticed his hands, fixing her eyes on his chest. "What happened to you?"
"He shot me, too..." Kai mumbled, his wide eyes closing as he blinked slowly. He took his hands from the gaping hole. "As you can see, you should savour your last moments with me."
"No, Kai!" Sarah exclaimed, unconsciously shaking him with the sudden shock of the comment. "You can't die-not now-we've come too far...for you to...to..." she trailed off in mid-sentence.
Kai's wanful expression changed into a smile as he watched tears stream from her eyes. "I'm sorry to say...this is it."
"No!...It...it can't be!" Sarah whipped her head around on hearing another groan from behind her. She saw Tala sit up and rub his head ruefully. "Tala!" she called through the rain. "Come here!"
Tala turned his head towards them with logy. "What is it?"
"Kai! Just come!"
Tala glanced to his right, and shivered on the sight of Vitality Extortion's bodies. He eased himself onto his feet lethargically before limping over to where Kai and Sarah were. He knelt down beside them, eyes still half-closed. "What is it?"
Sarah turned her head away and to Kai's face. "He's been shot...He thinks he's going to die... But he can't, Tala...Tell him he's talking nonsense! Tell him he's wrong this time!"
Tala's eyes opened fully at the words, and he cast a serious glare at Kai, who had been looking back at him throughout the time Sarah spoke. Tala's expression seemed to say, 'I can't do anything...I can't make you live or die...' Kai's expression said the same, his smile daunted by her ignorance.
Tala looked up to Sarah's face. "Sarah?"
She looked to him, and he drew back. "What happened to you?"
"She was also shot by Voltaire," explained Kai.
"She should be dead!" exclaimed Tala.
"I'm fine! In any case, I'm in better condition than Kai," Sarah urged, looking back to him.
"Anya has also been shot."
"What?!" Sarah and Tala both exclaimed in unison.
Kai closed his eyes. "I regret to say that she was hit by a stray bullet from Voltaire. But Rhea is alive."
Tala's eyes faltered as he stared at Kai and then glanced around nervously, trying to take it in.
"Where are they, then? And what about Samson?" Sarah interrogated.
Kai drew a sharp intake of breath before speaking again. "Samson's fine, though slightly traumatized. Rhea and Samson took Kieran and Anya back to Biovolt along with everyone else."
"We're the only ones left on the field..." Sarah trailed off and glancing around.
Kai didn't answer, too busy surveying Tala's reaction. He didn't notice Sarah return the focus of her attention to him. "Kai? Are you feeling better now? If we hurry, we can get back to Biovolt so that you can get medical attention."
"I won't make it. Besides, I'd like to die out of Boris' control."
"Kai! Don't be so pessimistic!" she scolded, unconsciously shaking him again. "You always sacrifice yourself for others in battle, but what about yourself? What about the people that care about you, Kai?"
Kai averted his gaze. "What people that care?"
"Rhea, Tala, me-!"
"Sarah, drop it," Tala said calmly and with slight annoyance, obviously sobered by the news.
Sarah glared at him helplessly but whirled back when she felt Kai drop slightly. He had closed his eyes and collapsed his chest significantly. "Kai!" He opened his eyes and smiled.
"Just leave me here. I'll make it to the afterlife on my own. You two had better get back to Biovolt or you'll get pneumonia from this rain."
Sarah raised her arm, bringing Kai closer to her without really being aware of it. "Kai, you can't die! I won't allow it!"
Kai continued to smile as he reached up and placed his finger over her lips, silencing her. He then moved his hand up and ran it across her cheek, wiping the tears from it. She gasped and choked on her tears as she kept direct eye contact with him. He ran his fingers to her forehead and pushed her wet hair behind her ear.
"We all have to let go. And if you love me, that's the greatest thing you can do for me."
Sarah's frustrated expression softened into confusion. "We're friends, aren't we? With life-long debts to each other? Surely that 'life- long' part is longer than this?"
Kai didn't answer but looked to Tala instead. "Take care of Rhea and her for me."
"Kai..." Tala muttered hesitantly, half raising his arm to reach out.
"I remember... an old friend once telling me, 'not to dwell on the past, for it will only hurt your will to move ahead'," Kai reminisced, closing his eyes momentarily but opening them again.
"Kai..." Both Sarah and Tala whispered in unison. Sarah took hold of Kai's hand again and this time so did Tala. Their hands rested on his wound. "Not now, Kai... You're a strong fighter and you can't give up or give in..." Sarah pressed.
Kai shook his head slowly and grimaced on feeling a sharp pain surge from the wound. Through his grimace, he managed to gasp, "'Til death do us part..." His hand clenched firmly around both of theirs, but when the cringe was gone, so was the squeeze of life. It went limp in their grasp.
"Kai!" Sarah screamed, jerking him again. "Kai! No!"
Tala let go of their hands and drew it back slowly to his chest, staring at Kai's pale face. "This...can't be happening..." he whispered.
Sarah lowered her head to his chest and screamed, making Tala cringe slightly as he heard her stop, catch her breath and shake with sobs. She shook her head against his chest, still gripping his hand tightly and supporting his limp head. "No...No..." she kept choking.
Seeing this, and trying to take all of it in made Tala teary-eyed, too. As soon as he felt it trickle down his cheek, he blinked the rest away and swiped at his eyes with his bloodied glove. "I must be strong..." he whispered determinedly. He looked up at the crash of thunder and flash of lightning. He glanced to Sarah sympathetically before taking in a deep breath and standing up.
He placed his arms around her shoulders. "Come on. We'd better get back to Biovolt as he said. It's what he'd want us to do. There's...nothing we can do for him now," Tala consoled, his voice cracking and becoming choked.
Sarah didn't move, and continued to sob. Tala knelt down behind her and reached around her to release her weak arms from the body. "He said to leave him here. If that's what he wants, we would honour him by doing so," he said, laying Kai down gently on the soaked grass.
Tala tapped her shoulders lightly, and she stood up slowly, covering her face. He kept his arms around her shoulders as they turned and began to walk across the field. He looked over his shoulder and back at Kai just as a flash of lightning came. "As an old friend once told me, 'I hope we can meet again, someday.' Goodbye, Kai..."
~~~~~~~~~
The next chapter is the very last [actual] one, I promise. But if you want to know how Sarah, Tala, and the rest of Biovolt will get along without Kai, or what's going to happen to Goadbwa now that it's lost its heads, or how Eva, Rhea, and Samson will cope with Kieran and Anya's deaths, you're going to have to review! I'm not updating 'til I get one!
