Disclaimer: It's been half a year and I still don't own it!!! Yeesh!!!!
Blue: I'M ALIIIIIIIVE!!!! - Can you believe it? I am so sorry for the wait, I really am! I hope you all can forgive me for not writing this earlier, but I have been writing it since May!! I swear!! Last night I wrote over three, quarters of it though… XD As you can tell, I really didn't have much. Writers block. You'll all be happy to know that you will not only get this chapter, but you get this chapter in two parts…just to prolonge the inevitable end. XD MUWAHAHAHAH!!!
Kai: …aww man, I'd forgotten you existed. --;
Blue: you're so cruel to me. I KNOW YOU LOVE MEE!!
Kai: …
Rei: - YEP!!! glomps Blue
Blue: YAY! I'm loved!!
Dedications: This chapter goes out to EVERYBODY!!! You all deserve it for being so patient with me and my long updates. But a special thanks goes out to you people who e-mailed me and sent me reviews telling me to get my butt in gear…I really do thank you all. It means a lot that I would be missed.
Special thanks to LP, my beta, who put up with my horrible grammer and spelling throughout this thing…as well as correcting my tenses. ;;
Speaking of which, little note here: For the POV's, it's present tense. For normal POV it's past. Got it? Good!!
Blue: and now, for one of the last times I shall ever do this in the Beyblade section of … ON WITH THE FIC!!!
Kai's POV
I've been pacing for about three hours straight now... why there isn't a hole in the floor, I have YET to figure it out, but I will! Yes, I will! THEN I will find out why Tyson is such an idiot!! The great mysteries of life will be solved by me!!! The GREAT Kai!!!
Looking over to Rei, I guess I should really explain why I'm as restless as I am. You see, she has been asleep ever since I brought her home from that glorious night when Robert was able to bring her back to me. I really should look up to the guy more, he's a hero.
There. Now that I've said it, I don't have to do it.
God, I didn't realize how lucky I was for those few weeks I was with her. I couldn't stand being apart from her, and I can only imagine what had happened to her with the other side. However, the only real damage to her perfect body was a deep wound in her leg caused by something sharp... metal... I think it's some sort of metallic alloyed only found in Fanelia's own mines.
Off track here. Man I missed her... I missed the way she looked at me after each time I'd tell her I loved her. I missed the way her hair tosses gently around her form when she's walking beside me through the streets. I missed her laugh, her soft breathing as I would watch her late at night, the way her skin seemed to shine in the moonlight...
In short, I missed her.
"I won't let us be apart again Rei... I swear it!" I mutter softly to myself.
My eyes catch movement on the bed... she's finally waking up!
Striding over as quickly as possible, I sit beside her on the soft mattress covered in red satin sheets and stroke her face. Her golden eyes open and I make sure I am the first thing she sees.
We both knew then that no words were truly needed, only each other. The first thing she did was reach for me and I went to her. Lying beside her tired form, I gently stroke her cheek and gaze fondly at the woman I've grown to love.
"Kai… I..." I press a finger to her moving lips to keep the silence. Nothing good could possibly come from one of us speaking right now, only pain. But then she just had to look at me with those puppy-dog eyes, now didn't she!? Sighing, I remove my finger and she takes a breath before speaking.
"Kai, I love you, I really do, and I missed you so much..." she trails off, burying her face in my chest. Kissing her forehead, I gently rub circles on her back, telling her it was going to be alright. That I'd missed her, and I loved her. It took her a minute to continue, but she did. "I... I've got to fight tomorrow. Fight Blake... regain a sense of pride to my village."
She explained to me quietly about some sort of war that had been going on for ages that was now her problem. Heh, that's great. Not only that, but if there's no winner then they both die. How wonderful is THAT!? She would be controlled by a spirit and that spirit would fight for her... it wouldn't be her.
She and Blake had been given a night. One night to be with those whom they loved in case the worst should happen... which it most likely will, but still, how optimistic.
By the end of her story, my poor Rei was shaking and nearly in tears. I've never seen her this way before... she's not weak. Not at all. However even as she spoke, her body was healing, magically. Strange, but I didn't question it. Why would I?
"I don't want to leave you, Kai," Rei whispers at the end of her tale as she shook in my hold.
Sitting up, I grab her by the shoulders and force her to look at me. "Rei, you are going to survive this. You are going to win and you're going to come back to me! I'm never going to leave you, and you're not leaving me alone in this damn world! Not after everything we've been through! That you've been through! There is NO way that is going to happen!! You got that? I love you, Rei Kon, and I only just got you back." Defiantly I add while wiping a tear from her eye with my thumb: "I have no intention of letting you go."
She tried to pull away from me, but I had no intention of letting her go. Pulling her closer, she finally gave in and I felt her warm breath on my neck sending chills up and down my spine. "I'm not going to let go so easily, Kai Hiwatari. If it's the last thing I do," she looks up at me with a small smile on her perfectly tanned face, her sparkling golden eyes glistening with tears and love. "I will come back to you."
For one of the few times in my life, I actually smiled at her before pulling her into a slow, gentle kiss. It wasn't as awkward as our first had been, oh no. But it was just as powerful. Before either of us knew it, she was whispering something incoherently into my ear as I praised her porcelain neck... I couldn't hear what it was, but she seemed to be chanting whatever it was, and I didn't mind at all.
We fell asleep together that night, curled up as tightly together as we could possibly get before going... you know... there.
Ok yes I think of sex!!! I'm a healthy sixteen year old boy! So sue me!!
normal POV
A breeze rippled through the night, causing the thin white curtains that hung in the Kon and Hiwatari balcony doorframe to drift inwards in an intricate pattern as both lay asleep in their bed. Unbeknownst to the two, the breeze brings in sparkles of red and green, dancing with the leaves as they drifted along.
Interestingly enough, however, they began to take on the forms of two men. The red eyed one looked to his green eyed companion and smiled, holding out his hand that did not have the book in the other. "It's been a pleasure working side by side with you, Driger, White Tiger of Rei Kon."
Grinning, the other green eyed man took the offered hand and shook it gently. "As has it been with you, Dranzer, Fire Phoenix of Kai Hiwatari... and my lover," he teased before ducking a swing.
"Can you PLEASE be serious for one minute you stupid cat!?"
"Hm, no, no I don't think so," the tiger laughed, his canine teeth flashing with captured light and eyes twinkling with sincere happiness. "We get to go back to them now, right?" he asked, looking at the two on the bed who were lost in dreams of one another, never wanting to wake up.
Smiling, Dranzer nodded while walking over and gently removing a strand of hair from Kai's forehead that had fallen out of place. "Yeah. C'mon Drig. Let's go home."
Robert had awoke the next morning with high spirits, yet shattered hope. And even now, at seven o'clock in the morning, he stood by his window watching the sun rising higher and higher over the mountains, greeting him with a new day, he knew someone he held dear would be lost.
He didn't want to think about it... he never did. And he normally never had to, his pride wouldn't allow it. But today was different... and the person was even more cherished. Yes, he knew about the prophecy... an elder had called a secret meeting the night before once Rei and Kai had left and had explained it all.
To Robert, it was completely unfair. Why did she have to suffer so at the hands of others only to die because someone's pride was at stake?
It had to have been at least eight o'clock when Oliver came and dragged him out the door, a smile on his face and shouting something along the lines of "You have to see this!" or "It's the most beautiful thing in the world!"
In Robert's mind, though, the most beautiful thing in the world was going to di... was riding a friggin huge white tiger in the middle of the town, happy as ever!!!! With her boyfriend gently patting his fire phoenix and talking to it.
His jaw dropped as the tiger roared, confirming his suspicions that he may not have finally gone as insane as his old family stories! Well, you would spice them up too if they were as boring as people told you they were!!!
"DRIGER'S BACK!" Mariah shouted as she ran past his hut, Galux at her side before they both pounced on the white tiger.
Letting a smile cross his face, Robert watched in awe as they all laughed, with Kai watching over them protectively... but also paying lots of attention to his bit. Maybe... there was hope after all.
"What brought the tiger back, Johnny?" he asked in his most snobbish voice, just to annoy the Scotsman... and succeeded.
The boy rolled his eyes before responding. "Kai said something about the power of friendship and love... you know, the normal stuff that, in most anime's, is preached about the most by the most annoying characters who you just want to shut up but they continue to ramble on and on until they get on everybody's nerves and yet somehow never stop to take a breath but continue to ramble..."
Ignoring him now, Robert pulled out Gryffolyon and looked happily at his bit, Johnny's voice far from his mind. Ok, gone now... maybe now...
Now?
"Johnny, SHUT UP!!!" he shouted at the boy who just glared and 'hmphed' before walking over to Kai and Dranzer. Smirking, Robert looked at his bit again.
If friendship and love can survive this war so far... what's to say they won't continue to do so?
Rei's POV
'OH MY GOD!! I WOKE UP, AND YOU WERE THERE!!! AND OH MY... HOW DID YOU... WHERE WERE YOU.... ACK!!!' "I MISSED YOU!!!!" I shout aloud, wrapping my arms around the White Tiger whom I was currently riding through the village, on our way to the battlefield. But none of that matters, I have my Driger back!
I can see the visible Cheshire grin pass across his face as he looks up at me innocently. {I know you did, but could you please stop scaring the All Stars? They're bound to think you're insane by now... but you still owe me for catching you after you fell off of that cliff, so if you shut up....}
Blinking, I poked him. 'You caught me? How did you know I was falling... where the heck were you??'
{Heh... well... up... with Dranzer.}
'Yes, I believe we already figured that one out... have you been watching us?'
{...maybe?}
'AHA!! So you DIDN'T leave us!!'
{We could never leave you guys completely, kid. You needed to find you could do this on your own and once you did, we returned.}
'...really? But that's so... simple.'
{Which is why it probably took you a year to figure out.}
'HEY! It was very hectic, thank you very much!'
{Riight... Monday- make out with Kai. Tuesday- make out with Kai. Wednesday- Thursday- do a little work, THEN make out with Kai. Friday- Make...}
'Alright alright already, I get the point! Yeesh. Can I help it?' Looking over to the man in question, I smile down at him as he strides by my side at the front of the group. Feeling eyes upon him, he looks up and smirks back before looking ahead once again. 'He's sooo gorgeous!'
Yes, Kai is officially a man now. He was able to figure out that there was more to life than Beyblading and after today, he should be able to put his past behind him... hopefully.
{TOO MUCH INFO! TOO MUCH INFO!!}
Smiling down at him, I feel someone tug on my pant leg and I looked over to see Robert looking up at me. "Rei, I..." he starts, then falters.
Worried, I look him over to see if he was hurt. "Robert? What is it? Are you alright?" Nothing out of place... I wonder...
'Why are you chuckling? This is serious!' I mentally bonk Driger, but the tiger continues to laugh as I watch one of my dearest friends struggle for words.
{You really are naive... but I guess this is a good thing.}
I was now confused on two accounts as I had no idea what Driger meant and why Robert was struggling. Finally, he could only sigh and point. "We're nearly there, Rei."
Looking up, I found that I didn't feel the fear I really should have... but why should I? I had the All Stars, the Majestics, and my dearest friends the White Tigers on my side, let alone my closest EVER friends, including my lover, the Bladebreakers. Why would I be worried?
Robert fell back as he was supposed to with his Bladers while Tyson and Max flanked where he used to be not a second before. Taking a deep breath, I summoned Driger back into his blade and floated gently to the ground, easily continuing to walk with my team. That's right, my team. I was a Bladebreaker again... and they'd all promised me earlier today that it was one for all and all for one... something like that, anyways. Don't know what the heck their talking about, though.
I didn't see the landslide that would change the course of events completely until it was nearly too late... but I did hear it. It was louder than any thunder, any waterfall… even Tyson's snoring!
I felt someone pull me out of there, and I felt their body covering mine as I covered my head until the rocks finished falling and the noise that was deafening to my ears had ceased... though I did hear a sickening thud hit the person on top of me... oh God no... they couldn't be hurt because of me!
When they panted that it was basically safe, I opened my eyes and saw him wincing in pain, his breath coming out harshly and ragged... blood dripping through his grip on his side.
"Kai!!!" I shouted, pushing him so he was on his knees and I could get a proper look at him. "What happened? What's wrong?" He was hurt...
He was hurt because of me...
Oh God no... not now.
Not now...
I couldn't do this without him!
Smiling weakly, I finally noticed him holding his arm and side and moved his hand away, laying him down gently on the grass. What I saw will haunt me forever and a day... there was a long, jagged, and deep gash in his side that was bleeding profusely. Kai's face was paling quickly and a sheen of sweat appeared on his forehead as he choked back on a cry of pain.
"No…" Panicking, I ripped up a brand new replica of my old crimson shirt and immediately applied it to the wound. "No no no, you're going to be alright Kai."
Alright, so I was shaking as I tried to stop the bleeding, I even begged it to stop bleeding...
Feeling his hand on top of my face, I looked at him with tearing eyes, putting my own hand atop of his. His face... oh God... he was so brave. You could see it in his eyes, he was worried about me.
"Rei," he choked, stroking my face feverently with his thumb. "Ai... aishi..." blood fell from a corner of his lip and I panicked. Leaning down, I meant to kiss him but a pair of rough arms grabbed me, pulling me away from him.
"KAI!" I screamed, trying my best to get to him, but the arms continued to drag me away. I didn't know who was pulling me, I didn't care. All I knew was that the hand that had been on my face was reaching for me... Kai's eyes... they were reaching for me... and as he lay there, his head on a rock, on the side of a mountain, all I wanted to do was get to him. Tell him everything would be ok. Call him an idiot for saving me... just do something with him!!! But I couldn't....
And as the arms pulled me away, time seemed to slow as I saw his hand drop. Fear flickered through his eyes... and my darling's eyes... those beautiful crimson orbs that had always held hope for me, hope for the future... closed.
"NO!" I heard some girl screaming. It took me a minute to realise that girl was me.
He was gone...
He wasn't here...
My Kai, my precious Kai...
The one whom I've only been with a few times...
Was gone. He'd died alone... no one should have to die alone. They should be with the ones they loved... and my Kai was alone. He was gone and there was nobody to see him off, nobody to tell him they loved him, nobody to make him feel special or to not let him be scared when the time came…
Oh God he must have been scared... death scares us all, whether we want to admit it or not.
When the person holding me was finally able to turn me about to face the inner valley, I couldn't care less that Voltaire was standing there beside Blake, with his entire army behind him. I was able to turn around once, however, and from the glimpse I saw Tyson and Max being dragged with me by the hands of the guards.
The world came into basic focus, but was still blurred, when I heard Voltaire laughing and felt his hand on my chin. "Ah, so the little slave escaped and came here? She's the Bladebreakers' little pet? How quaint!" He laughed evilly before turning to the other two Bladebreakers. "Where is the leader of this village? He's to be here right now! Where is he!?"
Still dazed, I looked up and saw my friends. They were terrified, but were doing a very good job of faking it and were defiantly standing their ground. Turning my attention to Blake, it was so obvious in his eyes that he didn't want to be here... and he was slightly worried about me, from the glances he kept sending my way.
"Tell him, boy," a raspy, Russian voice spoke... Boris. "Or I'll kill you both in a much slower fashion than Voltaire's pathetic little grandson."
My head snapped up then from its hanging position and I growled. The rage boiling through my blood could not have been more hotter than a volcanoes' lava would be just before it exploded. "Don't you dare call him that... you don't have the right!" My team mates sent me signals to shut up, but I had had enough of this. Even Boris was growling... Voltaire was seething. "He was the bravest man I've ever met! He was caring, noble, loving and brave... and stop asking them, because you're looking at her! I'm the leader of the village!"
The entire field fell silent and I took this opportunity to elbow the guard behind me in order to let me go... then, in a fit of rage with my eyes flashing, I spun and kicked the man in the chest, sending him flying. Many guards were around me then as I lowered my foot but I didn't care. I was ready to kill them all! They were all going to pay for what they'd done to me!
Laughter filled my ears and I saw Blake being pushed into me. We both fell to the ground and were immediately shackled together. They were cold to the touch, so I shivered. Not only that, what the heck was happening??
"What's going on!? We're here to fight!" Blake yelled for me... at least I'm not the only confused one.
Our questions were answered, however, when Voltaire walked up to us and smiled, maniacally. "Do you two not know how much power you possess? Enough to control the world is what! And I intend on taking that power... it shall be mine!!!!"
{Annoying old men... he already has power! Why does he want more!?!?!? To show off?? Hm, I think he's covering up for something...}
Blake spat in his face and for the second time, I admired the boy. There were only seconds to do so, however, as Voltaire snapped his fingers and guards surrounded us.
The last thing I remember was a zap at the base of my neck so powerful my entire body shook as the electricity coursed through me, and seeing the world spin out of control before I only saw trees... then grass.. .then very blurry grass... and finally, it faded into black.
Is this real? Was anything real, really? Did anything at all she experienced over the past sixteen years of her life actually happen, or was it all a dream? Was her name even Rei?
She was standing in the middle of the ocean, yet the water only lapped at her ankles. The sky was only a veil of black where shone no moon and no stars, yet it was as bright as any full moon on any clear, cloudless night. A harsh wind hit her, causing her to tremble in the cold and hold herself as she looked around for anything familiar... anything at all. Anything to jog her memory... so that she could tell herself that yes, this was real.
"Who am I kidding?" she told herself aloud before looking to the sky. "None of that was real... it couldn't have been. Why would anything like that happen to me?"
Shaking, she sighed and wiped away a tear.
"Why wouldn't it?" a voice asked her from the darkness, but she didn't bother to look up. There was no point.
"Because nothing like that would happen to someone like me"
"Who are you?"
Rolling her eyes, she smirked. "Shouldn't you know?"
"Yes, I know, but do you?"
"Of course I know."
"Then who are you?"
"I'm... I am... I..." she stuttered and trailed off, her hand immediately going to her forehead with her eyes wide and staring across the endless ocean of nothingness.
"You don't know," the voice said, sounding quite unimpressed by this, but not surprised.
"Yes I do!"
"Then you've forgotten."
"Of course I haven't forgotten.... it's... it's on the tip of my tongue."
"Then you've obviously chosen to forget."
"Now why would I possibly do that?"
"You tell me."
"Look, I don't know so just tell me!"
"Can't."
"And why not?"
"You have to figure it out for yourself. Now, why would someone want to forget an entire life?"
"How the heck would I know?"
"Look, I'm starting from another viewpoint to help you, now just play along and answer the bloody question!"
Blinking, she sweatdropped. "Alright... because it... hurts to remember?"
"Continue."
Growling, she glared into the darkness. "This is really frustrating... you're doing this for your own amusement aren't you!?"
"Believe me, if I were... you'd be much more confused than you are already. Now listen to me... in order for you to be able to defeat the evil that marks your entire body and soul, you have to find who you are."
Biting her lip, she nodded. That really did make sense...
"And in order to find who you are, you have to answer the questions. I'm here to help you, but I can't do it on my own... I'm helping you find yourself, kid. Just trust me... now. What do you remember?"
Looking at the dark water lapping at her dry feet, she stared at it, puzzled. "Pain... maybe there was lots of pain..."
Her head seared at that moment as she remembered crimson... her dark yellow eyes darted downwards and she saw her shirt was crimson. "My shirt... no, no that's not it... blood. There was blood." Her breath and heart began racing as she remembered eyes... "His eyes... fear... darkness... there was fear before the darkness could come. Does that mean that before one can truly become one with darkness... they have to... be afraid of it? "
"Mmmm... you're close to that answer. Flip it around."
"Fear makes you plunge into the darkness?"
"Correct!"
"What does this have to do with me? I'm not afraid."
"Oh? Aren't you?"
"Of course not!"
"Mmmhmm... denial."
She glared once again into the blackness before she realised... she was scared. Or, she had been before she was thrown here...THAT she could remember. "I... I am afraid. I'm afraid that... I'll never see friendship or... love... again. That I've lost it forever... I don't even know what happened to the others after the landslide and..."
"Others?"
It took her a minute to realise it, but she'd remembered! Grinning, she shouted. "YES! I REMEMBERED!! They were behind us... the landslide happened..." her face fell as she continued. "I remember... I can see them now that I look back... I remember the fear on their faces. On his face... but... it wasn't for themselves." Her eyes flashed and turned a different shade of yellow, a bit lighter. "It was for me... they were afraid for me..."
"Why?"
"Silly question..."
"Just answer it."
"Well... I suppose it could be... because... they loved me. Each in their own way. No matter how little I'd touched their lives, they still cared." The water lapped calmly as she took a breath, memories playing in her mind like clips from old movies... and she could remember. "I guess... nobody is ever really alone. After all, I always had someone there to listen to me... all I had to do was ask... even him, before he left, said my name..."
A very, very smile formed across her lips for the first time in a long while that she could remember... ah to remember. It was such a blessing... yet as she remembered some of her worst times, she revealed it to be a curse as well. But perhaps for of a blessing... because to just remember one's name was enough to make an entire ocean seem a little bit smaller as long as you know who you are... and where you came from.
"You got it," the voice said, and for some reason it seemed more familiar, but she couldn't place it. Hey! She'd just gotten all of her memories back in less than five pages! You try it sometime and see how much you remember! "Tell me you're name."
"I am... Rei Kon, leader of the White Tigers. Keeper of the powerful Driger, and lover of the late Kai Hiwatari!"
She could almost hear the pride in the voice as her eyes changed back to golden.
"Good job... look up, Rei Kon, and be ready for the fight of you're life."
Smiling, she looked up into the black sky where her smile faded as she saw a figure falling through it, lit up by moonlight. Confused... that is, until it came closer and she could see it... it was... her.
With a slight gasp, she felt the world disappear from fight under her feet and as she continued to look up, she felt herself falling to the ocean that lay far below her.
"Good luck..." the voice whispered into her ear as she fell, the wind rushing past her, but she didn't feel cold. In fact, she was becoming more and more determined by the second and even as the ocean came closer and closer, she felt ready to fight and hurt whoever had brought her here... brought her pain, brought her friends pain. And yet, as she was gently set down on her feet in the ocean, the dry water lapping at her heels once again, Rei knew whom she would be fighting.
Unfortunately, she was right. Out of the darkness she saw a man step easily through the water and moved into a fighting stance as soon as she saw the maniacal gleam in those eyes... then the laughter.
"Voltaire..."
Blue: cliffie!!!!! But as I said before, this shall be a two-part chapter. The next one will be up in less than three days time as I am working on it as you read…and as I am typing right now. Again, thank you all so much and I hoped you enjoy that! Now, ONTO THE NEXT CHAPTER!!
(P.s leave me nice reviews ;; haven't gotten them in a while, so I might update faster!!)
RnR!!!!