Emptiness
By: Black Dranzer
".." speaking and thinking
..Russian or other language translations (not jap tho)
.. speaking and thinking of non-human beings
---------- Scene Change ----------
--flashback sequences--
Disclaimer: I don't own Beyblade. I only own any of the characters that you haven't seen in the original Beyblade series.
In the last chapter of Emptiness:
(("Red," Bryan whispered as he stared at Falborg, then, as if losing the last bit of will to stay sane, he screamed, "Everything is red!"
That was enough to summon the strongest of Falborg's attacks as it prepared to attack.
Bryan, on the other hand had both his hands on each side of his skull, as if he wanted to claw out his brain.
"Not again," he said, "I don't want to see more red,"))
(("What is going on here? I do not want-"Boris' voice rose as he stepped into the room, but he stopped immediately seeing the scenario laid before him. A cracked wall, Spencer supporting Bryan, who seemed to be out of it, and Ian standing in front of Voltaire with Wyborg forming a protective barrier with its long body.))
(("Secure the test subject! Use a paralyzing injection!" a voice shouted over the sound of more bubbles arising. A feeling of numbness surrounded her and Kazuki felt the body weaken, and then stop struggling.
"What's going on?" Kazuki thought. She could feel almost every detail of the occurrences as if they were happening to her. She tried to shake herself awake, but it seemed that it was more than a dream she was in, more like a memory. But this had never happened to her before.))
((The eyes rested on Boris' face for a few moments before the man turned away to walk towards a computer at the back of the room. That moment left the glass in front of her glinting in the dim light, showing a reflection. Kazuki saw that the body she was occupying was not a human, but a kind of large bird, the color of ebonite. Cables were connected all over its wings and body, but Kazuki could see its red eyes staring back from its reflection and the hatred it shed.
"What is going on here?" Kazuki wondered, "Why would father experiment on an animal?" Even as she thought this, she recognized something familiar with the body she was in.
A sudden jolt to her temporary body shocked her for a moment and she heard herself screech out in pain.))
((Black Dranzer cursed at the back of her mind, How could she have tapped into my memory reserve? I never knew master Boris had created such an advance program that could draw out data with such force. He must have installed the most sophisticated programming into her mainframe. But no matter the strength of her power, I will conquer this body. Revenge must be achieved.))
((But I know that fate has chosen us three to be the ones to take on the 'prophecy'. So I must not allow you, the 'darkness', to prevail over the 'light'. I was chosen to be free to choose whom I stand behind, and I have chosen the 'light', but know that the flame shines as well as casts a shadow.))
Chapter Thirty-Nine: Transmission
Tala was restless as he stood in the cooling forests behind the abbey. He had taken the reminder of his afternoon training there, yet it just wasn't the same without a real opponent.
"Power without an opponent is useless," he thought, gritting his teeth as he shot his beyblade once again into the trunk of a tree, smashing right through the trunk and knocking it down.
Tala glared at the tree as it fell, then stepped to the side and let it crash to the ground inches to his right, his loosely dangling hair raising from the disturbance.
Wolborg returned to its master's hand when Tala beckoned, raising a crowd of powdery snow in its wake.
With a sigh, Tala looked at his bit. He thought back to the battle he had had with Kazuki just a few hours before. The power he had tasted made him lick his lips in hunger. He had only felt this kind of power once before, when he had battled Tyson in the World championships, but that time, he had more than one bit beast. Now, he only needed Wolborg to gain that strength.
He remembered the speech Boris had gave him a long time ago.
"To have strength is a beyblader's greatest possession. The most efficient way to get it is to let it seep from the strongest emotion, hatred. Gain this power, harness it, and make it a part of you. Only then will you realize what true power is about."
Tala smirked at the memory and thought, "Of course, your words always were correct," there was a pause before his smirk turned to a frown, "But not completely accurate." He looked over at the building that he had lived in since he could remember.
Suddenly, without warning, he felt a jerk inside his mind. Bringing up a hand to his head, Tala staggered a bit and leaned against a tree.
"What the hell was that?" he cursed as the jolt faded, but he could collect the sound of a scream before the shock had taken place. Widening his eyes, the looked up again at the building, but now specifically at a certain window, "It couldn't have been a transmission could it? It sounded like she was in pain," But shaking his head, he mentally slapped himself, "I shouldn't care. I have made a promise to myself not to and I intend to keep it,"
With a set face, Tala stood away from the tree he was leaning on and stood up straight. His red hair flew in short strands around his face in the soft, cold breeze.
"In order to conquer that power, the strength of hatred, I must continue hating," he thought, "And I don't intend to let anything get in my way,"
----------
"Are you sure of what you are doing?" Voltaire asked Boris as the two sat in his office, "I don't want anything like what just happened to occur in the tournament."
"I will fix the problems as soon as I can," Boris replied quickly, "everything will go as we planned,"
A pause followed as Voltaire rubbed his temples, "I am getting tired of these promises. They have been made many times, but more often than not broken,"
Boris offered no reply and the two men sat silently opposite each other.
Finally, Boris decided to respond, "This time, we have a stronger ally,"
Voltaire frowned and asked, "And I suppose she's mastered her 'gift'?"
"Not yet," Boris started, but seeing Voltaire's frown deepen, he quickly added, "But we could give it a test run today."
"A test run?"
"Yes, we have two lab rats waiting in the dungeons, they would be perfect for her feast,"
"Very well," Voltaire said, though impatience showed in his voice, "But if this 'test' fails, I will invest my time and money in more promising methods,"
Boris nodded and stood up, "We will begin immediately,"
----------
The soft wind blew over the beyblade dish, clearing the smoke that had just arisen, revealing three spinning beyblades.
"Finally!" Tyson groaned as Dragoon spun back to his hand, "You guys are a tough bunch to beat,"
"Yea," Max added as Draciel flew back to him, "I thought it would've taken longer to even force you back,"
"It is a good sign that we've finally won though," Ray pointed out, "It means we've improved,"
"That is for all of us to celebrate," Robert said, extending his hand to pick up Gryffolyon from the ground.
Oliver and Enrique nodded behind him.
With that, Tyson jumped up and shouted, "We're going to defeat the Demolition Boys for sure! We beat them before, we'll take the victory again!"
The proclamation was followed by a series of wild jumps and excited shouts, but was suddenly interrupted by an approaching figure.
"You may have beaten them before," Kai said as he walked slowly up, supporting himself against the walls, "But this time, they have a sharper weapon,"
"Huh?" Max asked, confused.
"You shouldn't be out of bed!" Jackie shouted as she ran over, "The doctor said-"
"Forget what the doctor said," Kai growled, pushing the girl away.
"What do you mean by a 'sharper weapon'?" Ray asked worriedly. He hadn't forgotten his battle with Bryan and slightly winced at the painful memory.
"Another team member," Kai replied as he sat heavily on the ground, exhausted from his trek from his room, "She's stronger than any opponent you've ever faced."
"She? You mean it's a girl?" Tyson asked as he walked over to sit beside Kai.
"How do you know?" Robert asked, joining in the conversation, "Have you met?"
"Unfortunately, yes," Kai replied.
"You mean..the girl you were with that night?" Jackie asked suddenly. Her face showed worry, remembering how the girl's beyblade tore through the boy's skin.
The question was returned with a silent nod.
"You know her too?" Enrique asked Jackie.
"How come none of us has met her?" Oliver added.
"She came specifically to meet me," Kai replied shortly, glaring at Jackie not to say anything else.
"Why would she want to meet you? Do you know her from before?" Max's question rang in his mind.
Kai didn't reply this time, the inquiries fogging his mind.
"It's not necessary to give you details concerning that," he finally said.
From the seriousness of his tone, even Tyson stopped asking.
Max, seeing that the silence was not going to help, brought up the questions he was sure his teammates wanted to ask, "Exactly how strong is this 'new member'?"
"I cannot tell exactly, as I didn't exactly beybattle her," Kai replied carefully, "But from what I can guess, I'd say she matches power with Tala,"
Tyson gulped, "One Tala's enough to handle," he moaned, "How are we going to deal with two?"
"Which is why you should never let your guard down," Kai snapped at him, "Over-confidence is prone to defeat,"
"Then I suppose we should go back to training," Robert suggested, "It is evident in what Kai tells us that the Demolition Boys won't be the same as last time you faced them,"
"I guess," Ray and Max replied as they turned to go, concern covering their faces.
"Come on Maxie!" Tyson said as he bounded up to his friend, "We'll still beat them, no matter what they throw at us!"
Max bit his lip, but smiled in return, "Yea, I guess,"
----------
Johnny and Kyle sat opposite each other in their cells.
Though the boy had his head down, he was secretly looking at the man opposite him.
After Bryan had left, the man had sat silently in his cell, not saying a word. With the darkness surrounding them, Johnny wasn't very sure, but he could guess that the man had a depressing look on his face.
A drop of water sounded like deafening thunder in the quiet as it fell to the floor.
Johnny sighed. He had already given up trying to break the bars, without the help of Salamulyon - and not to mention a launcher - his beyblade was useless.
"Hn, what a way to reward someone who saved a guy's life," he grumbled, more to himself than anyone else.
That seemed to alert Kyle as the man's head lifted. With a husky voice, he said, "But it does mean a lot to both him and me,"
Johnny looked up in surprise. The man returned with a dry smile, "It's been many years since anyone has been concerned of his safety. I have not been fortunate enough to be able to help him through tough times,"
That confused Johnny even more, "What do you mean? What about his parents?"
"Sadly," Kyle sighed, "they are both no longer with us,"
That came as a shock to Johnny, he had never really thought about Kai's family, but he never knew that he was an orphan either.
Kyle continued, leaning his head against the wall, "I shouldn't have thought Boris would treat him right after what happened, but I was almost sure he would be merciful from 'her' words. Now that she's gone.." the man's voice broke as he pushed his hair back, revealing tear-brimmed eyes.
A sickly feeling came over Johnny. There must be such a deep meaning to what the man had just said to make him cry. Sympathy welled over him, yet he knew not of what he felt sympathetic for. Was it for the man, Kyle? He wanted to know more, but the man's evident pain on the subject stopped him. However, the man continued of his own accord, as if wanting to relieve the pressure on his shoulders.
"It's a shame that our 'group' had to fall apart like this. I knew since I met Boris that he worshipped, yet was envious of Yuri." Even though none of what Kyle said made any sense, Johnny listened attentively.
"I should have stopped him when he tried to create Black Dranzer," Kyle suddenly said, self-criticism clearly shown on his face, "It was the cause of too many deaths."
"Black Dranzer?" Johnny asked, "Isn't that beyblade Kai used to steal the others' bit beasts?"
Kyle's eyes hardened, "It's stealing bit beasts now? Hn, that's way too tame for it. It has done worse when Boris used it,"
"Boris beybladed?!" the exclamation popped out of Johnny's mouth.
"Did I not tell you? He was part of our beyblading team." Kyle laughed, though bitterness gripped at every word.
"Your?"
"Yes," Kyle replied, eyes closed, "The team, I, Anna, Yuri and Boris created,"
----------
In a corner of the Demolition Boys' room, Bryan sat with his knees up to his chin. He had wrapped his arms around his face and was muttering something that couldn't be made out under his breath. He seemed to have calmed down from the incident in the training facility as he once in a while tugged at his torn shirt, but he still refused to speak.
Spencer stood at the door, a frown pasted across his features. "At this rate, we won't be able to solve our own problems before the tournament arrives," He rubbed at his temples in frustration.
A sudden movement from the door caught his attention and he moved back from leaning against it. The rattling of the doorknob then ceased and Tala entered.
There was no greeting as the redhead walked to his bed and sat down. He seemed to be lost in his own thoughts, but snapped out of them when he saw Bryan sitting in the corner of the room.
He shot Ian a look that plainly asked, "What's he doing?"
"Why don't you ask him yourself?" Ian returned.
Tala glared at him, but stood up and walked over to the other boy.
As Tala's shadow came over Bryan, the boy looked up. The look on the boy's face startled Tala greatly; it was a mixture of fear and slight insanity.
"Don't you see the red?" the boy said in a shaky voice, reaching out his hand.
Tala backed off, fearful of what Bryan was going to do next. He seems to have lost it.
An unstable laugh followed as Bryan looked at his own hands, and then suddenly, he grabbed hold of Tala's ankle and looked up with widened eyes, "I had to do it, had to. He told me to, it was the only way. Or he would have killed Dimitri."
A staggering pain was brought to Tala's head as the word, 'Dimitri' was said, "What the hell are you talking about?" Tala growled as he pulled his leg out of Bryan's grasp, "Start making sense here,"
"The trigger moved so quickly," Bryan said, ignoring Tala as he gave another frightening laugh, "Then, everywhere, there was red. You saw it too didn't you?"
Not liking where this was going, Tala turned to go, but the movement brought a sudden change to Bryan's actions.
He almost pleaded as he grabbed Tala's ankle again, "Don't let him take Dimitri," he said.
"Stop saying that name!" Tala shouted, kicking Bryan's hand off as he stormed out.
Spencer and Ian watched as Tala slammed the door behind him and then turned to look at Bryan.
The boy was now back to the same position as before, slightly rocking back and forth.
"This will really ruin our chances at a victory," Ian stated, folding his arms.
--To be continued
A/N: I've changed the scene dividers to ---------- because my keyboard is malfunctioning and won't make the other symbol --U. Just mentioning that in case anyone's confused.
By: Black Dranzer
".." speaking and thinking
..Russian or other language translations (not jap tho)
.. speaking and thinking of non-human beings
---------- Scene Change ----------
--flashback sequences--
Disclaimer: I don't own Beyblade. I only own any of the characters that you haven't seen in the original Beyblade series.
In the last chapter of Emptiness:
(("Red," Bryan whispered as he stared at Falborg, then, as if losing the last bit of will to stay sane, he screamed, "Everything is red!"
That was enough to summon the strongest of Falborg's attacks as it prepared to attack.
Bryan, on the other hand had both his hands on each side of his skull, as if he wanted to claw out his brain.
"Not again," he said, "I don't want to see more red,"))
(("What is going on here? I do not want-"Boris' voice rose as he stepped into the room, but he stopped immediately seeing the scenario laid before him. A cracked wall, Spencer supporting Bryan, who seemed to be out of it, and Ian standing in front of Voltaire with Wyborg forming a protective barrier with its long body.))
(("Secure the test subject! Use a paralyzing injection!" a voice shouted over the sound of more bubbles arising. A feeling of numbness surrounded her and Kazuki felt the body weaken, and then stop struggling.
"What's going on?" Kazuki thought. She could feel almost every detail of the occurrences as if they were happening to her. She tried to shake herself awake, but it seemed that it was more than a dream she was in, more like a memory. But this had never happened to her before.))
((The eyes rested on Boris' face for a few moments before the man turned away to walk towards a computer at the back of the room. That moment left the glass in front of her glinting in the dim light, showing a reflection. Kazuki saw that the body she was occupying was not a human, but a kind of large bird, the color of ebonite. Cables were connected all over its wings and body, but Kazuki could see its red eyes staring back from its reflection and the hatred it shed.
"What is going on here?" Kazuki wondered, "Why would father experiment on an animal?" Even as she thought this, she recognized something familiar with the body she was in.
A sudden jolt to her temporary body shocked her for a moment and she heard herself screech out in pain.))
((Black Dranzer cursed at the back of her mind, How could she have tapped into my memory reserve? I never knew master Boris had created such an advance program that could draw out data with such force. He must have installed the most sophisticated programming into her mainframe. But no matter the strength of her power, I will conquer this body. Revenge must be achieved.))
((But I know that fate has chosen us three to be the ones to take on the 'prophecy'. So I must not allow you, the 'darkness', to prevail over the 'light'. I was chosen to be free to choose whom I stand behind, and I have chosen the 'light', but know that the flame shines as well as casts a shadow.))
Chapter Thirty-Nine: Transmission
Tala was restless as he stood in the cooling forests behind the abbey. He had taken the reminder of his afternoon training there, yet it just wasn't the same without a real opponent.
"Power without an opponent is useless," he thought, gritting his teeth as he shot his beyblade once again into the trunk of a tree, smashing right through the trunk and knocking it down.
Tala glared at the tree as it fell, then stepped to the side and let it crash to the ground inches to his right, his loosely dangling hair raising from the disturbance.
Wolborg returned to its master's hand when Tala beckoned, raising a crowd of powdery snow in its wake.
With a sigh, Tala looked at his bit. He thought back to the battle he had had with Kazuki just a few hours before. The power he had tasted made him lick his lips in hunger. He had only felt this kind of power once before, when he had battled Tyson in the World championships, but that time, he had more than one bit beast. Now, he only needed Wolborg to gain that strength.
He remembered the speech Boris had gave him a long time ago.
"To have strength is a beyblader's greatest possession. The most efficient way to get it is to let it seep from the strongest emotion, hatred. Gain this power, harness it, and make it a part of you. Only then will you realize what true power is about."
Tala smirked at the memory and thought, "Of course, your words always were correct," there was a pause before his smirk turned to a frown, "But not completely accurate." He looked over at the building that he had lived in since he could remember.
Suddenly, without warning, he felt a jerk inside his mind. Bringing up a hand to his head, Tala staggered a bit and leaned against a tree.
"What the hell was that?" he cursed as the jolt faded, but he could collect the sound of a scream before the shock had taken place. Widening his eyes, the looked up again at the building, but now specifically at a certain window, "It couldn't have been a transmission could it? It sounded like she was in pain," But shaking his head, he mentally slapped himself, "I shouldn't care. I have made a promise to myself not to and I intend to keep it,"
With a set face, Tala stood away from the tree he was leaning on and stood up straight. His red hair flew in short strands around his face in the soft, cold breeze.
"In order to conquer that power, the strength of hatred, I must continue hating," he thought, "And I don't intend to let anything get in my way,"
----------
"Are you sure of what you are doing?" Voltaire asked Boris as the two sat in his office, "I don't want anything like what just happened to occur in the tournament."
"I will fix the problems as soon as I can," Boris replied quickly, "everything will go as we planned,"
A pause followed as Voltaire rubbed his temples, "I am getting tired of these promises. They have been made many times, but more often than not broken,"
Boris offered no reply and the two men sat silently opposite each other.
Finally, Boris decided to respond, "This time, we have a stronger ally,"
Voltaire frowned and asked, "And I suppose she's mastered her 'gift'?"
"Not yet," Boris started, but seeing Voltaire's frown deepen, he quickly added, "But we could give it a test run today."
"A test run?"
"Yes, we have two lab rats waiting in the dungeons, they would be perfect for her feast,"
"Very well," Voltaire said, though impatience showed in his voice, "But if this 'test' fails, I will invest my time and money in more promising methods,"
Boris nodded and stood up, "We will begin immediately,"
----------
The soft wind blew over the beyblade dish, clearing the smoke that had just arisen, revealing three spinning beyblades.
"Finally!" Tyson groaned as Dragoon spun back to his hand, "You guys are a tough bunch to beat,"
"Yea," Max added as Draciel flew back to him, "I thought it would've taken longer to even force you back,"
"It is a good sign that we've finally won though," Ray pointed out, "It means we've improved,"
"That is for all of us to celebrate," Robert said, extending his hand to pick up Gryffolyon from the ground.
Oliver and Enrique nodded behind him.
With that, Tyson jumped up and shouted, "We're going to defeat the Demolition Boys for sure! We beat them before, we'll take the victory again!"
The proclamation was followed by a series of wild jumps and excited shouts, but was suddenly interrupted by an approaching figure.
"You may have beaten them before," Kai said as he walked slowly up, supporting himself against the walls, "But this time, they have a sharper weapon,"
"Huh?" Max asked, confused.
"You shouldn't be out of bed!" Jackie shouted as she ran over, "The doctor said-"
"Forget what the doctor said," Kai growled, pushing the girl away.
"What do you mean by a 'sharper weapon'?" Ray asked worriedly. He hadn't forgotten his battle with Bryan and slightly winced at the painful memory.
"Another team member," Kai replied as he sat heavily on the ground, exhausted from his trek from his room, "She's stronger than any opponent you've ever faced."
"She? You mean it's a girl?" Tyson asked as he walked over to sit beside Kai.
"How do you know?" Robert asked, joining in the conversation, "Have you met?"
"Unfortunately, yes," Kai replied.
"You mean..the girl you were with that night?" Jackie asked suddenly. Her face showed worry, remembering how the girl's beyblade tore through the boy's skin.
The question was returned with a silent nod.
"You know her too?" Enrique asked Jackie.
"How come none of us has met her?" Oliver added.
"She came specifically to meet me," Kai replied shortly, glaring at Jackie not to say anything else.
"Why would she want to meet you? Do you know her from before?" Max's question rang in his mind.
Kai didn't reply this time, the inquiries fogging his mind.
"It's not necessary to give you details concerning that," he finally said.
From the seriousness of his tone, even Tyson stopped asking.
Max, seeing that the silence was not going to help, brought up the questions he was sure his teammates wanted to ask, "Exactly how strong is this 'new member'?"
"I cannot tell exactly, as I didn't exactly beybattle her," Kai replied carefully, "But from what I can guess, I'd say she matches power with Tala,"
Tyson gulped, "One Tala's enough to handle," he moaned, "How are we going to deal with two?"
"Which is why you should never let your guard down," Kai snapped at him, "Over-confidence is prone to defeat,"
"Then I suppose we should go back to training," Robert suggested, "It is evident in what Kai tells us that the Demolition Boys won't be the same as last time you faced them,"
"I guess," Ray and Max replied as they turned to go, concern covering their faces.
"Come on Maxie!" Tyson said as he bounded up to his friend, "We'll still beat them, no matter what they throw at us!"
Max bit his lip, but smiled in return, "Yea, I guess,"
----------
Johnny and Kyle sat opposite each other in their cells.
Though the boy had his head down, he was secretly looking at the man opposite him.
After Bryan had left, the man had sat silently in his cell, not saying a word. With the darkness surrounding them, Johnny wasn't very sure, but he could guess that the man had a depressing look on his face.
A drop of water sounded like deafening thunder in the quiet as it fell to the floor.
Johnny sighed. He had already given up trying to break the bars, without the help of Salamulyon - and not to mention a launcher - his beyblade was useless.
"Hn, what a way to reward someone who saved a guy's life," he grumbled, more to himself than anyone else.
That seemed to alert Kyle as the man's head lifted. With a husky voice, he said, "But it does mean a lot to both him and me,"
Johnny looked up in surprise. The man returned with a dry smile, "It's been many years since anyone has been concerned of his safety. I have not been fortunate enough to be able to help him through tough times,"
That confused Johnny even more, "What do you mean? What about his parents?"
"Sadly," Kyle sighed, "they are both no longer with us,"
That came as a shock to Johnny, he had never really thought about Kai's family, but he never knew that he was an orphan either.
Kyle continued, leaning his head against the wall, "I shouldn't have thought Boris would treat him right after what happened, but I was almost sure he would be merciful from 'her' words. Now that she's gone.." the man's voice broke as he pushed his hair back, revealing tear-brimmed eyes.
A sickly feeling came over Johnny. There must be such a deep meaning to what the man had just said to make him cry. Sympathy welled over him, yet he knew not of what he felt sympathetic for. Was it for the man, Kyle? He wanted to know more, but the man's evident pain on the subject stopped him. However, the man continued of his own accord, as if wanting to relieve the pressure on his shoulders.
"It's a shame that our 'group' had to fall apart like this. I knew since I met Boris that he worshipped, yet was envious of Yuri." Even though none of what Kyle said made any sense, Johnny listened attentively.
"I should have stopped him when he tried to create Black Dranzer," Kyle suddenly said, self-criticism clearly shown on his face, "It was the cause of too many deaths."
"Black Dranzer?" Johnny asked, "Isn't that beyblade Kai used to steal the others' bit beasts?"
Kyle's eyes hardened, "It's stealing bit beasts now? Hn, that's way too tame for it. It has done worse when Boris used it,"
"Boris beybladed?!" the exclamation popped out of Johnny's mouth.
"Did I not tell you? He was part of our beyblading team." Kyle laughed, though bitterness gripped at every word.
"Your?"
"Yes," Kyle replied, eyes closed, "The team, I, Anna, Yuri and Boris created,"
----------
In a corner of the Demolition Boys' room, Bryan sat with his knees up to his chin. He had wrapped his arms around his face and was muttering something that couldn't be made out under his breath. He seemed to have calmed down from the incident in the training facility as he once in a while tugged at his torn shirt, but he still refused to speak.
Spencer stood at the door, a frown pasted across his features. "At this rate, we won't be able to solve our own problems before the tournament arrives," He rubbed at his temples in frustration.
A sudden movement from the door caught his attention and he moved back from leaning against it. The rattling of the doorknob then ceased and Tala entered.
There was no greeting as the redhead walked to his bed and sat down. He seemed to be lost in his own thoughts, but snapped out of them when he saw Bryan sitting in the corner of the room.
He shot Ian a look that plainly asked, "What's he doing?"
"Why don't you ask him yourself?" Ian returned.
Tala glared at him, but stood up and walked over to the other boy.
As Tala's shadow came over Bryan, the boy looked up. The look on the boy's face startled Tala greatly; it was a mixture of fear and slight insanity.
"Don't you see the red?" the boy said in a shaky voice, reaching out his hand.
Tala backed off, fearful of what Bryan was going to do next. He seems to have lost it.
An unstable laugh followed as Bryan looked at his own hands, and then suddenly, he grabbed hold of Tala's ankle and looked up with widened eyes, "I had to do it, had to. He told me to, it was the only way. Or he would have killed Dimitri."
A staggering pain was brought to Tala's head as the word, 'Dimitri' was said, "What the hell are you talking about?" Tala growled as he pulled his leg out of Bryan's grasp, "Start making sense here,"
"The trigger moved so quickly," Bryan said, ignoring Tala as he gave another frightening laugh, "Then, everywhere, there was red. You saw it too didn't you?"
Not liking where this was going, Tala turned to go, but the movement brought a sudden change to Bryan's actions.
He almost pleaded as he grabbed Tala's ankle again, "Don't let him take Dimitri," he said.
"Stop saying that name!" Tala shouted, kicking Bryan's hand off as he stormed out.
Spencer and Ian watched as Tala slammed the door behind him and then turned to look at Bryan.
The boy was now back to the same position as before, slightly rocking back and forth.
"This will really ruin our chances at a victory," Ian stated, folding his arms.
--To be continued
A/N: I've changed the scene dividers to ---------- because my keyboard is malfunctioning and won't make the other symbol --U. Just mentioning that in case anyone's confused.