Fourteen

Hide my head I wanna drown my sorrow
No tomorrow
No tomorrow
And I find it kind of funny
I find it kind of sad
The dreams in which I'm dying are the best I've ever had
I find it hard to tell you
I find it hard to take
When people run in circles its a very very
Mad world
Mad world

The Beyblades continued to spin around after each other, locked in intense combat. The strain of maintaining their Bit Beasts against Kai's new-found iron will was evident on the faces of the Demolition Boys. It was as if Dranzer had been flooded with a new dark power. Dranzer had become what Tala knew it didn't want to be: exactly like Black Dranzer. It was attacking without mercy, and before long Wyborg had found its way to the wall, and almost shattered into pieces. It was down to Wolborg, Seaborg and Falborg now.

"Feeling lucky Tala?" Kai sneered, a feral flame burning in his eyes. Tala took a step back in surprise. There was more to this than basic human reprogramming. Kai wasn't a cyborg, so he'd obviously need more persuasion to join up with Hideaki without a fight. Tala knew from what he had seen that Kai's memories were as good as gone, and that he'd had new memories put in their place. But the thing was, Tala knew Kai would resist. Kai would put up a fight. Here, it seemed like Kai had just succumbed to his fate without question, and that wasn't like Kai at all.

"Yes I am!" Tala yelled in response. "Go Wolborg! Attack Dranzer!" and so his Beyblade skidded round to take another bash at getting Dranzer down.

"Tala stop this!" Tyson cried out. "Give me just a little while! Only a few minutes! And I can reach Kai!"

"Tyson there's no time to follow a distant hope, not now," Tala replied firmly. "Kai is trying to hurt us, he's trying to take our Bit Beasts from us! I refuse to let him do that! You showed to me how important the bond of friendship is between ourselves and our Bit Beasts, and you're not even fighting to protect that bond! What a coward you've become!"

"I'm _not_ a coward for wanting to save my friend!" Tyson snapped back furiously. "You provide me with the cover I need and I'll try and get through to Kai." Tala sighed. It was no use arguing with Tyson over this now. He was so stubborn. And besides, Tala needed to keep his attention on Wolborg. Tyson clenched his fists and ran out to Kai, grabbing onto Kai's injured arm.

"Go away, you irritating child," Kai growled, shaking Tyson's grip off of his arm. He'd been hit back, but that wasn't the call to surrender. Not for Tyson.

"Kai! Wake up and start seeing what you're doing, dude!" Tyson pleaded. Kai continued to ignore him, keeping his full attention on the battle. Tyson still held his ground. "Kai! It's me, Tyson! I'm not your enemy! You and I are friends! Sure, we've hit a few bumps along the way, what with you being a total minus zero on the personality scale and all, oh and me being a total pain in the neck every other day, but we endured! You abandoned us for the Demolition Boys and Black Dranzer, but we were still there when you needed us when you were about to drown! Don't you remember Lake Baikal?!"

"Shut up!" Kai hissed furiously, hitting Tyson down.

"Tyson!" Max, Kenny and Ray cried, as their friend pulled himself back to his feet, rubbing his sore cheek.

"Close my lid, Kenny! I don't wanna watch this anymore!" Dizzi wailed from the confines of her laptop prison.

"We don't wanna see this anymore than you do Dizzi," Ray replied. "But we have to accept that this is happening. We can't just hide away until its all over. This is Kai we're talking about!"

"Yeah!" Max agreed whole-heartedly. "So let's give our full support to Tyson!" they were all in agreement. They were going to back Tyson up all the way. They couldn't fight Kai, but maybe Tyson could get through to him.

"I'm not fazed, Kai," Tyson replied, and angry expression spreading across Kai's face. His attention was divided between Tyson and the battle, and he hated that. "You didn't mean that."

"You really think I didn't, huh? Want me to do it again?" Kai responded with his usual icy tone.

"Think back, Kai. You have to remember! Lake Baikal was where you realised that you would always be a winner as long as you had us! When we were a team, we never lost Kai! We were always winners! Please, try and remember!"

"Get lost you annoying little moron!!" Kai yelled, but before Kai had a chance to lash out a Tyson again, something happened that no one had come to expect. Tyson hit Kai. Square across the face.

"Get real with yourself Kai, this isn't who you are," Tyson said sternly. There was a look of absolute horror on Kai's face, as he tentatively lifted a hand to his sore face. "Sure, you have a merciless streak, but you'd never stoop down to being your father's lap dog! That isn't your style! You have a lot more class than that! Come on Kai! Remember!" Kai looked at Tyson, noting the stern yet sincere expression across his face, then looked over to the battle. He gently rubbed his left temple with his fingers and tried to remember what this lunatic was raving on about. Slowly yet surely, a picture came into focus in his mind…

~~+*+~~

The freezing icy water was up to his knees. Kai looked down and couldn't see his feet anymore. Where was he? He looked up, where just across from him he could make out black figures, trying to get to him. One had a hand extended right out to him. Who was this shadow? And why was he trying to help him?

'Go away…' Kai muttered. 'Leave me be…' but the shadowed figures didn't go away. He heard faint murmurs coming from them, which grew louder and clearer with every passing minute. They were calling out his name. They were calling out to him. What were they hoping to achieve?

"Just grab my digits, dude!" the shadow with the outstretched hand called out to him in desperation.

"You…you want to help me?" a familiar voice seemed to break the ice in Kai's mind, he turned around, and saw himself. He looked back over to the shadows and they finally seemed to have faces. It was those teenage boys he had been battling against, and the one that had hit him was the one holding out his hand to him.

'What…is all of this?' Kai asked to no one in particular, as it would seem no one could hear him. 'That's…me…but how can it be…I'm right here…'

"After all the horrible things I've done, said to you…" Kai watched on as a shadow of himself spoke with these teenage boys.

"We'll talk later, just grab my hand!" the one with the outstretched arm pleaded, his desperation growing.

'Who…are these people…? Do I know them?' Kai said, looking from the image of himself, to the images of these teenage boys. More conversation went on between them all, before Kai noticed his image start to crack.

"You guys…I'm so sorry," Kai's image said, wincing his eyes shut as tears started to drain out of them, before reaching out and grabbing the boy's outstretched hand. Kai watched on as the boys pulled his image out of the water.

'They…saved me…but why? I don't know who they are…' Kai was still stood in the water, watching on as if he had somehow been astral projected from his own body. It was like watching a home movie or something. Things were supposed to ring a bell with him, yet they weren't. He watched on as his image walked away to a helicopter and boarded it, taking off and leaving his rescuers behind.

'So familiar…' a smile crept onto Kai's face. 'I feel like…I know them well…and a part of me has a bond with them…' as soon as the helicopter was out of sight, Kai felt himself start to sink. He looked down as the water surface crept up his body. He was in a panic. What now?

"Don't worry Kai! We've got you!" a hand reached out and grabbed his tightly. About three other hands also grabbed his. Kai looked up. It was the same teenagers that had saved that image of him. The boy that had spoken was the one that had hit him.

'Who are you?' Kai asked. The blue-haired boy smiled.

"We're the Bladebreakers Kai! We're your friends!"

'My…friends…?'

"That's right Kai! It's me, Tyson! And these are Max, Ray and Kenny. Do you remember?"

'I…' Kai paused and scanned their faces. Suddenly, something seemed incredibly familiar about them. 'Tyson? Max? Ray? Kenny? I know you…'

"We know you do Kai!" the one Tyson had pointed out as Max smiled warmly at him. "We're here to pull you out, because that's what friends are for. We'll always be around for you Kai."

'Always there for me…'

~~+*+~~

"Kai!!" Hideaki's booming voice snapped Kai out of an apparent daydream. None of what he had seen was real. It was all a trick of his mind. Or was it? A part of that daydream seemed too familiar to be discarded right away. "Kai get back to the battle!!" Kai shook his head lightly, and reaffixed his attention on the battle. Tyson wasn't quitting. He knew he'd hit home with Kai at last, well he'd definitely hit something if he'd made Kai zone out for five minutes.

"Don't listen to him Kai!" Tyson yelled. Kai looked over at him. "He's a liar and a murderer!! He killed your mother Kai!! Don't let him kill you too!!"

"My…mother…?" Kai asked slowly. His mother…who was she? He could barely remember her. And, much like last time, he felt himself slip away into another daydream…

~~+*+~~

"You useless bitch!!" a loud familiar voice boomed, as Kai turned to see a familiar man hit the woman that stood between him and a young child. The woman fell to the floor. The boy ran to her side, crying.

"Mama get up!" he cried, shaking her gently. She raised herself up onto her elbows and looked into the boy's tear-filled garnet eyes.

'I know that woman…' Kai said, looking down at her and the boy. 'And I know him too…is he…me?'

"Kai listen to me very carefully," the woman scooped her son into her arms and held him close. "You have to get out of here. Run away Kai. Run as fast as you can."

"No mama I won't leave you!!" the young Kai cried. The heavy hand of the man that had struck the woman down fell on her shoulder and pulled her away from Kai.

"Just run Kai!! Run away!!" she cried, holding her ground against the man as he hit her several times more. The young Kai refused to leave her, and ran at the man, tugging at him viciously.

"Papa stop!! Stop hurting her you'll kill her!!" young Kai cried angrily.

'Papa…?' Kai asked. Was that man his father? If that man was his father, and that woman was his mother, why was he hurting her? His father grabbed the young Kai by the throat, as the young boy struggled for air.

"That's the idea you little brat!! Don't you go running off, cos once your mama is dead you'll be next!!" his father boomed, throwing Kai against a wall. His father's face was so familiar. Who was he? He'd seen him before…

'Hideaki!' Kai cried out, looking over as his father resumed beating his mother. He watched as the young Kai got back up to his feet and tried twice more to help out his mother, but to no avail. He then watched as his father grabbed a hammer. 'Oh no…oh please no…' Kai cried out in horror.

"No!! Mama!!!!" young Kai screamed out as his father hit his mother down with the hammer four times.

"Kai…my beautiful Kai…run away…" his mother said, her voice sounded agonised. Another lethal blow was dealt, but this time she did not get back up. Kai watched on in painful disbelief as his younger self ran over to the battered and bleeding body of his mother.

"Mama!!!! Mama get up!!! Get up you've got to get away with me!!" the young Kai began to sob, snuggling his face into his mother's blood stained cardigan. "I'm not going without you!!" tears began to stream down Kai's face as he watched this painful scene.

"It hurts, doesn't it?" a familiar voice interjected. Kai looked over to see Tyson enter the room. "You must have loved her so much…"

'She…was trying to protect me…' Kai said, not caring that he was crying.

"Any mother would want to protect her son," Tyson replied, looking down as the young Kai was pulled away from his mother by his father and her body was dragged away. The young Kai was left on the kitchen floor, curled up in a small ball, crying. "That man barking orders to you did this to her. Are you going to let him get away with doing it to you too?"

'No…' a moment of angered realisation dawned on Kai. He wasn't going to let this tyrant take control and kill him the way he'd killed his mother. She'd tried to protect him. No more. No more.

~~+*+~~

"Kai!!!!" Hideaki yelled once again. "Get back to the battle!!!" Kai's head was hung low, and Tyson could see tiny crystalline tears falling down Kai's pain torn face.

"No…" Kai muttered. He looked up at Hideaki, through his tears the frustration could evidently be seen. "No. No!! NO!!!!!!"

Set your mind and soul free

My little one

And always keep in your heart

That you will never be alone here

And we shall never be apart

I trust and love you

My little one

And you must never forget

That our love is an eternal bond

One he cannot wreck

SN: That's it for this part, my friends. The little squiggly things here and there show a jump into Kai's subconscious for a look at his memories as he attempts to remember them. The single speech marks are Kai speaking within his own mind, and the regular speech marks are the people in his memories acting out their role, or those there to guide him. So Kai is watching certain lost memories re-enact themselves in his mind. It's all confusing, but you'll understand it eventually. Just have to read it about 15 times…oh well…

The opening paragraph I got from Mad World, the Tears For Fears song, but I got these lyrics from the Gary Jules cover. Was Christmas no 1 in the UK. Totally beat The Darkness. Why?! Their song was just funny!! Remember all, keep voting if you want your ending or it won't happen…and a note for all to remember: there will be no yaoi, no lemon, no lime, no nothing of that sort in this story. It's gonna be clean OK?

Review review review review review review review review!!! Oh do you know how many red squiggly lines I just had to get rid of? GAH!!!