AN: Ok so I lied… there are 14 chapters and an epilogue …I finished it last night, I'm sad because of it *sniff* Blame Faith for the extra chapter! She gave me ideas ;)
This one's a short one… so the next chapter will but up tomorrow or Tuesday
Oh warning.. this chapter is a .. tear jerker ;) so I've been told. Oh and the language degrades a bit from here on out.. I think I'll up the rating to PG-13 tho I don't think its that bad.. there are some limey scenes in a couple of chapters..
The next morning Liika stood, hands on her hips glaring down at Tala as though he were the devil himself. "No. I won't do it! You can't make me!" She exclaimed hotly.
Tala checked his grin, putting on his best puppy dog face—which was pretty damn good if he did say so himself. "But I can't do it myself!" He wheedled, blinking innocently at her. Oh he knew he'd never get her to concede and actually help him bathe, but it was so much fun watching her blush. Almost as much fun as it was teasing her about Bryan.
"I will not give you a sponge bath! You will just have to suffer or get one other the others to do it!"
He sniffled dramatically, allowing his eyes to become wide and teary. Ha! Fight this! Persuasion was his specialty. "But my hair's all matted and I'm covered in blood and sweat!" He crooned radically. "And you know none of the others will help me out."
Liika continued to glare at him, ignoring the obvious ploy of large watery eyes and simpering mouth. Oh he was good…too good. She almost wanted to help him. But there was no way in hell she was going to bathe him! None! Not only did she not want to see him naked, but also the embarrassing taunting he would subject her to was a significant deterrent. Besides, she knew he was more than capable enough of bathing himself. He just wanted her to do it because he enjoyed harassing her.
"You can't walk Tala, there's nothing wrong with your arms. I'll fill the wash tub and get you a sponge but that's it!"
He sighed sadly, and cast down his eyes. "Fine then…if you don't want to help a poor injured man who can't fend for himself…"
Snap. There went her temper. "Oh for the love of GOD! Gah!" She screamed and whirled, storming out of the cave while Tala fell over onto his bed mat laughing hysterically.
She was so much fun! Being unable to walk left Tala with an incredible amount of boredom, leaving him with nothing but time on his hands. He had to fill the time some how didn't he? "What about that wash tub?" He called after her, grinning widely.
"FUCK YOU!"
Liika was seeing red. First thing in the morning and he had already pissed her off! It was a theme of the month. It must have been labeled 'Piss off Liika Month', because Tala had been doing a great job.
Of course she didn't even know why she was that mad. Sure he had wheedled her, and picked at her all morning about giving him a bath. But it really wasn't that big of a deal. It was just a bath. She should have just said no calmly and walked away. But nooo she had to lose her temper and let him win.
She should have just dumped a bucket of water over his head.
Ah, good plans always came too late it seemed. She cursed, why couldn't she ever come up with good plans when it actually counted??
She sighed, stopping in her tracks and looking around the clearing that surrounded their cave. Ian and Spencer had gone off to check trap lines earlier that morning, so they were not around, but Bryan, Bryan was sitting on one of the large boulders that were piled beside the cave entrance. He barely glanced at her when she stormed out. Typical Bryan.
Liika blushed slightly as she remembered crying all over him the night before. After she had stopped crying he had declared that they should go back and dragged her—literally—back to the cave, glaring at the other three as they entered, just daring them to say something.
They said nothing.
Now, after sharing everything with him yesterday, Liika didn't know how to act around him. She didn't know how he felt about her, but she was sure he knew about her feelings. After all, how could he not know? Apparently it was obvious.
Treading over to him quietly, she paused beside the rock. "Hey." She greeted, smiling at him.
He grunted, as he always did and glanced at her, running his eyes over her face. Her smile brightened his day just a bit.
Liika perked up as his eyes lost some of their ice when he looked at her. Maybe he did care after all! "What ya doing?" She asked brightly.
Bryan scooted over and motioned her to sit beside him. He was glad that she wasn't the type of girl that needed smiles and tender words. That she could see that he…cared…with out him saying anything or doing anything out of the ordinary.
"Carving." He answered, looking back down to the objects in his hands.
Liika flushed, she should have seen what he was doing with out asking. Following his gaze she noticed an almost finished carved piece of wood and his carving knife. "What is it?" She couldn't see it clearly.
"Wait." He answered, starting his carving once more.
Her mind began to wander, her eyes drifting around the clearing. She was content just to sit in the sun beside Bryan, not saying anything, and daydreaming. It was…peaceful. She barely noticed when Ian and Spencer arrived back in the clearing. She didn't even noticed their snickers, she was too busy being off in her own world.
Bryan noticed however, and shot withering glares at the pair of them. No one laughed at him. For any reason. And especially not for sitting beside a girl. His girl.
Ian and Spencer sped into the cave to avoid being glared at. It was a creepy glare that promised pain if they lingered, and they had no desire to be on the receiving of that pain.
"Here." Bryan spoke after quite a while. He slid his knife back into the sheath on his leg and shoved the small carving into Liika's surprised hands.
Liika blinked out of her daze, just registering the fact that Bryan had spoken, and shoved something into her hands. Looking down she studied the small wooden figure, turning it over in her hands.
It was a relatively rough carving of Falborg, but though it was rough, it was incredibly detailed and very pretty. His wings were folded against his body, but Bryan had taken the time to carve each individual feather, as well as small eyes, a beak and all the bit beast's markings.
"It's beautiful." She breathed, turning amazed eyes to him. "Here."
"Keep it." He muttered, pleased with her reaction. He hadn't expected her to act so…well amazed by it. It was just a small, quick carving of his bit beast, but she acted as if it were smelted out of gold and inlaid with precious stones.
"Really?" Her cheeks tinged pink as she pulled the small figurine back and cradled it between her hands. He was giving her something…
"Yes." Bryan replied shrugging.
A large grin crept over her face. With out thinking she flung her arms around his neck and hugged him, laughing. "Thank you! I love it." She exclaimed, pulling back to find her face inches from his.
Bryan's eyes darkened as her face came closer and she placed a small kiss on his lips. He was about to lean into her and demand a harder kiss, but the loud sound of an approaching helicopter interrupted him. Liika pulled back, keeping her arms around his neck and looked upwards, frowning towards the sky.
A large black helicopter was slowly descending into the clearing, causing dust to whirl and wind to blow viciously. Both teens that were out side squinted and coughed, and Liika hung her head over Bryan's shoulder to avoid the dust and dirt that was being flung into her face.
Eventually the helicopter landed and the propeller was shut of, allowing it to wind down to nothing, and the dust to settle. Ian and Spencer had helped Tala out of the cave to see what the noise was about. None of them expected what happened next.
Out of the sleek black helicopter stepped Mr. Dickenson, leaning heavily on his cane. He was dressed as immaculately as always and was sporting a large grin.
"Congratulations kids! You're training is now officially over." Was the first thing he said to the stunned group of teens who just stared at him.
"What do you mean 'over'?" Ian demanded, scowling at the old man.
"He means Ian," Tala interjected before Mr. Dickenson could answer, "That he's sending us back to the city." None of them looked very happy.
Bryan was looking even more angry than normal, and Liika just looked lost. Bryan stood, lifting Liika with him and setting her on her feet. Together they made their way over to the rest of their team's side, in front of the BBA chairman.
Mr. Dickenson smiled, oblivious to the teenager's reaction to his news. "Tala's right. It's time to go home—for you all. School starts in a week and a half, and Liika must be getting back to Japan, and back to her team." He explained.
Liika felt like a brick house had been dropped on her head. Go home…? She hadn't even thought of it! She had been so content with her life here, with her new family that she had totally forgotten that they would eventually have to go home.
Her team…her heart broke. She realized that she had ceased thinking of the Bladebreakers as her team and had started to think of the four Demolition Boys as her team. Could she really leave them? Did she really have a choice?
"Come on kids, it's time to go. I'll give you a few minutes to pack up whatever you wish to bring back with you, then we must depart. The other teams have been flown back to Russia for a special banquet commemorating your success, we mustn't keep them waiting now must we?" Mr. Dickenson said cheerfully, waving the five teenagers inside the cave with a wave of his hand.
This caused looks to be passed between the four boys. "What do you mean 'flown back' where were they before?" Tala asked, raising an eyebrow.
Mr. Dickenson smiled again—something which was really starting to annoy the four boys. "Ah, the other two teams finished their training some two months ago. You five are the last to be picked up. Now off you go, or you'll leave with out your belongings."
Liika was the first to turn and head into the cave, her head bowed to hide the tears that were gathering in her eyes. She didn't want to cry in front of them, not when she had spent six months trying to convince them that she was strong. However, as she reached her bed mat, and she looked around the familiar cave, the sting of tears in her eyes turned to a burning and she was no longer able to keep the salty liquid from spilling down her cheeks. She couldn't help it. The dark, slightly damp and crowded cave had become her home.
"Hey, you're not going to turn all girly on us and break down crying are you?" Ian asked, nudging her in the side with his elbow.
Liika smiled, sniffing and wiping at her eyes. "No." She stated, nudging him back with her shoulder. "I just got some of that dust in my eyes."
Ian eyed her skeptically, slight gloom reflecting in his owns eyes. "Uh huh, just don't start wailing ok? I don't think my poor ears could handle that."
The other three watched the two slightly younger bicker to cover their true feelings about leaving. Truth was, none of them really wanted to leave.
Unlike Liika, none of the four Demolition Boys had anything to go back to. Not a home, not a family, not a team. They had each other, and that was about it. They didn't know what would happen to them upon entry back into the real world. They didn't want to know either. They were happy as they were. But they also knew things couldn't stay as they were. Reality always came back to slap you in the face. It was the way life was.
"Everyone ready?" Tala asked, running his eyes over the four members of his team.
They all nodded, shouldering their bags and readying themselves to leave with one more glance around the cave.
"LIIIIIKKKAAA!!" A familiar voice shouted as Liika and the rest of the Demolition boys exited the helicopter on the Moscow Hilton Hotel roof.
Liika glanced up just in time to be glomped by a slightly chubby Japanese boy, knocking them both over. Tyson was followed closely by Max, who wanted his chance to hug their missing teammate as well.
"How are you?? What happened to your hair?? They didn't hurt you did they??" Tyson shot at her, while Max hugged her and shot questions of his own. Her eyes were wide, and filled with complete surprise. She was overwhelmed by the amount of people suddenly crowding around her. She had forgotten how boisterous her friends were.
"Tyson, at least let her breathe! Can't you see you're overwhelming her??" Mariah scolded, pushing through the crowd and pulling the excited navy haired boy off her blue haired friend.
Liika shot Mariah a thankful smile, and stood up to hug her friend. "Thanks Mari. It's a bit overwhelming when they all come at you at once."
The pink haired girl laughed and caught Liika's arm. "So what did happen to your hair?"
Liika reached up and touched her neck length hair and smiled fondly. "Got sick of it one day and hacked it off with a hunting knife. Didn't you know? It's all the rage now in the Siberian wilderness!" She explained in a knowing voice.
Mariah laughed, and was joined by Jade and Emily as they both came over to greet their fellow girl. "Somehow I can't see that style catching on in the city." Emily quipped, adjusting her glasses.
"What? You don't like it?"
The three girls laughed. Tyson, having enough of being ignored, pushed his way into their conversation. "Enough about hair! Are you all right Ika? Boris' henchmen over there didn't hurt you at all did they??" He demanded, looking her over closely.
Liika suddenly found herself under the scrutiny of many eyes as her team, the two All Stars, the two White Tigers and the Majestics all studied her. She rolled her eyes, shrugging off their concern. "I'm fine!" She exclaimed firmly. "They didn't hurt me. In fact, they took very good care of me!"
The comment brought bewildered looks from all, but the three captains who knew the truth of what was going on. Liika ignored them all and turned, looking for the mentioned boys.
They were standing quite a distance off, still under the helicopter propellers, watching the scene with hard eyes. All of them were scowling. Liika's eyes softened as she watched them. Her heart longed to run back to them…to wrap her arms around Bryan's waist and show all her friends that the four boys were not evil at all.
However, before she could, both her arms were caught by excited boys, and she found herself being dragged away towards the roof entrance to the hotel.
Desperately she turned her head and looked back towards the four boys that were such a big part of her life. Her eyes locked with Bryan's, her heart lurching. For once…for once his eyes held his emotions. She struggled against the hold of her friends, needing to get back to them, back to Bryan. However, their grip was too strong and before she knew it was too late and they had dragged her through the doors and into the stair well.
That was the last time she saw them.
