Twelve
Through this world I've stumbled
So many times betrayed
Trying to find an honest word
To find the truth enslaved
Oh you speak to me in riddles
And you speak to me in rhymes
My body aches to breathe your breath
Your words keep me alive
Ray's breathing was heavy. He was nervous. Scratch that, he was afraid. Kai was in the bathroom, so he was in the clear for now, but what would happen when Kai got out? Would he just ask him outright what was going on? Ray felt the shaft of the rifle jam into his lower back. It was there to serve as a constant reminder of his predicament. Nothing could shut his fear out.
Kai emerged from the bathroom, looked over at Ray briefly, then walked over to his bed and sat down.
"You look worried," Kai noted, taking into account Ray's distressed expression. His face was giving him away. Ray shook his head slightly, to try and dismiss the dread that was amassing in his mind.
"I'm fine Kai, don't worry," Ray forced a smile onto his face. Kai didn't look convinced. Ray's once placid, friendly amber eyes now looked a torrent of fear and confusion, and Kai could see this.
"No you're not," Kai stated, looking over at Ray again. "You're afraid. I can see it in your eyes. Why are you scared of me Ray?"
"I'm…not…" Ray replied, but the fear in his voice was all too obvious now. Kai got to his feet, a stern look on his face.
"You're lying to me Ray."
"Why would I lie?"
"To protect yourself from the unknown? I don't know. You tell me."
"I'm being honest here Kai. I'm not afraid of you."
"Your eyes are telling me a different story Ray. There's fear in them."
"I…I don't know what you're talking about!"
"Stop playing with me Ray."
"I'm not!! Back away Kai I swear!! Back away or I'll hurt you!"
"I doubt that. I really do. What would you hurt me with?"
"This!!" and with that Ray pulled the gun out from the back of his belt and fired blindly at Kai. He opened his eyes for a split second, and saw Kai stained in his own blood. He then winced his eyes shut again and fired twice more. A huge adrenaline shot coursed through Ray's body as he pulled the trigger all three times. He slowly opened his eyes to find Kai rested against a wall, his blood coating everything.
"Ray!!" a familiar voice cried out, emanating from the next room. "Ray!!!!" it was Max. He bolted through the door, then stopped and looked at Ray in utter disbelief. Ray's hands were trembling. Fake or no fake, he'd just shot someone. He could be taken down for murder, and jailed. "Ray…" Max's voice trailed away as he looked at the blood all over the walls, floor, beds and even Ray himself. Tyson, Kenny, Tala, Spencer, Ian and Bryan ran in after Max, and they all stopped just behind him, unable to speak. They were horrified. Kai was bleeding to death against a wall, and Ray was stood before him, a smoking rifle in his hands.
"What the hell did you just do Ray?!!" Tyson asked, unable to believe what his friend had just done.
"He's…not Kai…" Ray said meekly in his defence.
"You're right," Kai replied weakly. "I'm not. I'm just…a carbon copy…a clone, if you want…" Kenny gasped.
"Biovolt have harnessed cloning technology?!!" Kenny asked, taking it all in slowly. "Hideaki really has brought out the mercilessness of his father's corporation, hasn't he?"
"Heh, he's a bastard," Kai smiled, noticeably dying at this point. "I'll tell you…everything I know…because you treated me like a person…instead of a tool for massacre."
"We're listening," Ray said, taking a seat.
"Hideaki used samples of the real Kai's DNA to create a carbon copy of him. He obtained all of this genetic data through the operations and torture procedures Kai endured during his previous experience at The Abbey, prior to this one," Kai winced in pain, but swallowed it down and continued. "Hideaki isn't using Kai to spearhead any operation. He's going to take Kai's soul, something his father failed to claim, and use it to power his new machine."
"What does it do?" Kenny asked softly.
"It creates artificial Bit Beasts. "They'll feed off of Kai's soul, and it will consume and kill him." everyone's breath was caught in their throats.
"So…the plans we thought we found…" Tala began.
"Were a part of an elaborate hoax by Hideaki to throw everyone, including Boris, off," Kai finished, struggling against the deadly sleep that so threatened to take him. "Ray."
"Yes?" Ray asked, moving closer to Kai and kneeling by his bleeding body.
"Do me a favour," Kai asked.
"What?" Ray asked. As he finished his question, Kai placed his finger over Ray's and helped him pull the trigger, to release the final bullet into Kai's chest.
"Thank you…" Kai muttered, smiling before allowing death to wash over him. Ray's eyes were wide. He'd killed someone.
"You OK Ray?" Tyson asked, approaching Ray cautiously.
"I…guess…" Ray replied slowly, getting to his feet.
"He just wanted life…but he couldn't take Kai's…not after seeing all he has seen," Tala said. Everyone turned to look at the icy-eyed Beyblader.
"What do you mean?" Ray asked.
"This carbon copy saw with his own eyes how wonderful it is to have friends on your side. He's at a loss, it would seem, to understand why Kai shuns you. He has seen how deeply your bond with Kai runs, and he is now giving you the chance to save Kai's life. We can't pass this up: we have to do what we can. For Kai!"
"For Kai!" Tyson yelled proudly. "For our friend, our team mate, our captain!"
"Yeah!" Max cried with delight. "Let's get ready to kick some Biovolt butt!" they smiled at one another, and together said the three famous words spoken at the start of every great Bey battle:
"Let it rip!!"
~~***~~
Kai felt sluggish and heavy. A splitting pain tore down the side of his head, and the soft spatter of blood falling from his face could be heard. What had Hideaki done to him? Kai tentatively lifted a hand up to his face. The first thing he noticed was that he wasn't restrained. He could escape. But what Kai felt on his face changed all of that. He felt cold metal and sterile glass. It was some sort of metal visor, which swept down the left hand side of his face, encasing the most part of it in stainless steel. Over Kai's left eye was rose tinted glass, protruding from the main body of the visor. With his fingers, Kai tried to pry the machine from his face, but was met with more blood and pain. It had been grafted onto his face! With his other hand, he felt another metal implant on the right side of his head, which was connected to a long cable emanating from the back of Kai's skull. Was this Hideaki's machine?
"Good morning son," a familiar sinister voice filled the room. It belonged to Hideaki. Kai turned to face him, an expression mixed with anger and horror painted onto his usually calm impassive face.
"What is this?!!" Kai yelled, but his question was laced with panic. It was all too easy for Hideaki to realise Kai was afraid.
"My machine, Kai," Hideaki replied, walking slowly over to his son's side. "you may have noticed the cable in the back of your skull. We put you under a very strong anaesthetic, and implanted it into your brain. I connected it to the part of your brain that controls your memories, as that is no doubt our most valuable source from your mind."
"No…no!!!" Kai cried out, completely terrified.
"Yes, my son!! You'll forget those stupid Bladebreakers, you'll forget Dranzer, you'll forget Beyblading, you'll forget Biovolt…you'll even forget your mother…"
"NO!! You can't make me forget her!! Not her!!"
"I can and I will Kai. She is dead, as you soon will be, my boy. But when you cross over, she'll know you, but you won't know her!!" Hideaki let out a menacing laugh. Kai's breath was shaky. Hideaki was ruthless at picking apart Kai's weaknesses. He knew his biggest weakness was his mother, dead or alive. This was a bad situation, and a bad place to be. Why hadn't he just listened to that note and left Russia when he had the chance? Now his whole horrifying past was coming back to get him, and he'd spent his entire life trying to forget it. There was more to repressing his memories that just Black Dranzer. Hideaki had been the main reason for wanting to shut his past into the dark.
'This is bad,' Kai thought. 'I'm placing all the hope I have in those Bladebreakers. If they don't figure that clone out before its too late, they'll lose their Bit Beasts! And not just that…no that will only be the beginning…come on Tyson you idiot!! That isn't me!! Figure it out!! Tyson!!'
~~***~~
"OK someone remind me what we're doing again?" Tyson asked, scratching his head thoughtfully. Behind him were the Demolition Boys and his Bladebreaker team mates. The body of the dead Kai copy was in the arms of Tala, who immediately voted himself to be the body's carrier, as Ray was too shook up to do much.
"Idiot," Bryan muttered under his breath. "Tyson we're heading to The Abbey to get the real Kai back, and expose Hideaki's sham."
"But if Kai is gonna be in a machine, won't it be a bit hard to get him out if he's all hooked up to all the wires and stuff already?" Tyson asked yet another question, but this time he had raised an interesting point. If Hideaki already had Kai wired into his machine, then the chances of getting Kai out unharmed were slim. Tala gritted his teeth. They hadn't planned this out very well. They hadn't thought of the worst case scenario yet: if they got to Kai too late and he was dead.
"Tyson raises a good point Tala," Kenny piped up, picking up his pace to match the infuriated Tala's. "What if Kai is already wired to the machine? What are the odds of getting Kai out without hurting him?"
"A million to one I'm afraid," Tala replied, through his anger. "The wires will no doubt penetrate his brain and extract whatever power Hideaki is looking to take. If he succeeds in doing this, then Kai is in huge trouble. Whatever Hideaki is looking to remove from Kai is obviously something vital to Kai's survival, so my suggestion is that we pick up the pace, and pray we're not too late." everyone agreed and broke out into a run. Soon enough, The Abbey came into sight. Upon seeing the towers of the building, the Bladebreakers picked up speed, with the Demolition Boys in pursuit. Tala stopped them all at the gate. "I know how to trip The Abbey's security, so wait here," and with that Tala handed the dead clone to Bryan and snuck into The Abbey. Several minutes later, Tala returned.
"Is it clear?" Bryan asked. Tala nodded. Everyone tiptoed inside and made their way into the main building. They were lead along endless corridors, that all looked identical to one another. It was like an underground labyrinth had been built just to keep them from finding Kai.
"Mr Hideaki, everything is ready to your specification, sir," an unfamiliar faint voice could be heard down one of the corridors. On impulse, Tyson darted down the corridor, despite Tala hissing at him to stay put. Tyson knew in his heart that Kai was wherever that voice was coming from.
"That's excellent. Are you ready, boy?" another unfamiliar voice asked someone in the room. The voice had to be Hideaki's. their voices grew louder, until Tyson found himself overlooking a sea of Biovolt-trained Beybladers, awaiting the issuing of their own Bit Beasts. Tyson sunk to the floor and crawled on his stomach over to the dark metal rail, after which there must have been at least a two storey drop down to the ground. Tyson let out a hushed gasp when he saw Hideaki. He was about as sinister as Tyson had thought he would be. But his heart leapt into his throat when he saw to whom Hideaki was addressing his question. It was a weakened, battered, exhausted teenager, whose skin and hair were stained with the dark crimson paint of blood, and the dark blue triangles tattooed on his face were barely even visible under the heaviness of the painful crimson stains. His garnet eyes were running out of strength, and the temptation to just close and never open again was evident within them. He was ready to surrender to his fate. Tyson could barely believe it.
"No I'm not, but like it matters to you," came Kai's hoarse, weak reply. Their strong, proud team captain had been beaten into submission. All Tyson could see of their once arrogant leader were weakness, frailty and a dark longing for an end. Tyson couldn't believe it had come down to this. Somehow, Hideaki had done something no one had ever done before: he'd broken Kai down.
"No, Kai…" Tyson said in a whispered voice. He couldn't sit by and watch his team mate, his friend give in to the shadowed fate that had been dealt to him by Hideaki. He wasn't a tool for any war. He was a human being, and he didn't deserve to bear this pain alone. With an iron-willed determination on his side, Tyson got to his feet and stood proudly above the sea of people, catching the gaze of Hideaki.
"Who are you??!!"
There's more power in you
Than even you know
I can see it in your eyes
So stand tall and don't fall
Don't let the light die
And pull him back up to his feet again
Though shadows stand between you
Only you can prevail
So never cease in your plight
For now we are to see the start
Of your personal fight
SN: There's chapter twelve. Only a couple of chapters left and then its closing time! Has anyone, anyone at all, got any idea what I should do next? This is a bloody hard act to follow, and my brain is fried from trying. Nothing I do is any good in comparison! Help would be much appreciated. The opening paragraph is from Possession by Sarah McLachlin. A very beautiful song.
Oh, and by the by, in the ending vote, thus far the happy ending option is in the lead. You don't want it to be? Vote sad ending in your review! You want happy to stay there? Vote happy ending in your review! I'll let ya know when the voting must end. Thank you for your participation.
Review happy people! Woo haa!!
~~For Elcy Name: because the honour is all mine~~