Thank yous, love and hugs go to: X Shadow Wolf X2, Mrs. Sumpter, x-hikari, XxCrimson ShadowsxX, Midnight Insanity, Fire Spirit (hi DD!) and Iceball132 (thanks so much for adding me to your favourite authors!)
Please keep reviewing, I need your support!
I'm sorry that I don't have enough time for individual messages; it's because of my A-Levels workload. I would have left this till the weekend, but I've put you through enough waiting! So here is the 13th chapter- there are only two left after this, so make the most of it!!! XD
Chapter 13 - Death Sentence
"Albina? Albina, wake up-" A whispered voice echoed through the darkness, edged with panic and fear. The small shape on the stone floor writhed under its blankets, but didn't wake up. "Wake up Albina!" the whisper came back again, harsher this time, the audible panic growing. Finally, a small white face emerged from the blankets, eyes wide open, their expanding pupils searching the black for the source of the whispers. Albina found herself looking through the bars of her cell and up into the face of Boris, white with fear and looking older than ever.
"Boris? Why-" She mumbled, still drugged with sleep.
"You have to escape-"
"What?"
"Voltaire has ordered me to kill you. One of the scientists leaked that it was your fault his plan failed, and now that he no longer needs you, he sees it as suitable punishment." He was trying to speak calmly, but the whispers became quicker and increasingly frantic as he spoke.
"But-" Albina was lost for words; all she could do was stare at him in horror. He opened the cage door with shaking hands, as quietly as he could manage.
"I've left the front door unlocked. Kai gave you a map didn't he? Maybe if you could find his hotel, you could hide there until-" He stopped there, unable to finish the sentence. He didn't know if the abbey would ever be a safe place for her to live again.
"Boris, I-" Albina's head still wasn't clear of sleep, and what she was hearing didn't seem to be making any sense.
"I- In the morning, he's going to come here and you have to be gone by then. I'm going to tell him that I've killed you. I don't know what will happen to the rest of the children... or to me." Albina, now sitting up completely, realized with an awful shock what Boris was telling her, and quickly lifted off her covers and began to pack her belongings into a bag. There wasn't much- her beyblade, her launcher, her gloves and her face paint. Suddenly, the things that Boris had said clicked into place, and she felt a rush of gratitude towards him. Throwing on her scarf, she looked back at the old man, unmasked, uncloaked. Underneath the evil facade, he was nothing but another slave.
"You have to escape too!" She cried, looking into his wrinkled eyes. "He might want to kill you too!"
"It doesn't matter."
"It does!" Her eyes lit up as an idea came to her. "You could get him arrested, use those communicator videos of him as evidence! You could film how badly the students are treated!" Her face dropped when she saw that his expression hadn't brightened.
"Don't be ridiculous. He has contacts from everywhere; we'd have no chance. Besides, I'd go down with him."
"I would testify for you!"
"Like they'd listen to you." He grimaced, her naive, excited face only making him sadder.
"Please, Boris... you have to save the other children here too- and the team! We could- we could continue as a proper beyblade team!"
"Albina! There isn't time for this. You must escape now, or else nobody will be saved." She nodded, lifting her bag and walking past Boris.
"Okay, I'll go. But only if you agree to consider what I said." Her determined, wet eyes bored into his, every feature of her face expressing how serious he was. Grudgingly, he nodded and said:
"I will. Now go."
"Thanks." She whispered, before turning and beginning to quietly hurry away.
The cold wind thrashed against her skin, her long white hair whipping across her face as she stepped out into the night, closing the heavy door behind her. The ice cracked under her boot's stiletto heels and the bitter cold stung her eyes- but she'd grown too accustomed to cold to notice. All she had on her mind was finding her brother before morning arrived. She stepped outside into the world, closing the heavy iron gates slowly so as not to make them clang, and looked around. Several years ago, when this was her home, she'd have been able to find her way around easily- but almost six years older and in the dark, she felt totally overcome and lost. She pulled the map out of her bag and unfolded it- the moonlight was just bright enough to see it by. It was just a normal street map of Moscow- but a thick red line ran from the abbey to the hotel; it was as if Kai had known this was going to happen. Looking around and positioning herself on the map, she began to trudge away through the cruel Russian streets, wondering if she'd ever see Tala again.
Another freezing hour later, she stood outside a tall building that she thought must be the hotel. She walked up the steps and stepped inside, the warm air enveloping her in a comforting embrace as she shut the door behind her. The silent, deserted reception was bathed in warm, dimmed light, and she felt a twinge of discomfort. She'd never had to do anything like this before- should she try to get someone's attention, or just try to find Kai's room herself? Slowly she walked up to the desk, and when she still didn't see anyone, she climbed over it and walked through the doorway there. A woman was slumped over a desk, her chair slowly sliding from underneath her.
"Uh, hello?" The woman jumped up, gasping and breathing heavily.
"Wha- what are you doing here?"
"I wanted to ask where Kai Hiwatari's room is." The woman shook her head.
"What are you, a fan girl?" Albina was confused.
"No... I'm his sister."
"Yeah, right. Now why don't you go on back home, because I'm not telling you."
"No, really, I am! Just ask him." The woman glared at her.
"I'm not going to phone him now, I'd wake them all up. Now leave!" Albina wasn't listening. She'd seen a plan of who was staying in each room, and found out where the Blade Breakers were staying.
"Hn." And with that, she went back into reception and stealthily started up the stairs to their room.
A few minutes later, Kai woke up to the sound of small, bony knuckles knocking on wood. He pulled himself out of bed and walked to the door quietly, knowing exactly who it would be. He thought that she'd escape sooner or later. He opened the door and looked into his younger sister's face, but no greetings were exchanged.
"What happened?" He simply mumbled, letting her in and closing the door. Albina's eyes widened when she saw their room- it was richly decorated and softly carpeted, with beds unbelievably soft and big, like she'd never seen before. The rest of the team were still fast asleep under their plush covers- it took her a while to drink the sight in and reply to Kai.
"Boris came to wake me up, to tell me that Voltaire had ordered him to kill me. So he made me escape-"
"He made you escape? Why would he do that?"
"You don't know Boris like I do, Kai. He didn't want me killed, that's why." Kai was silenced by this statement- 'you don't know Boris like I do?' What was there to know about Boris apart from the fact that he was a twisted, evil slave to his grandfather?
"Hn. Anyway. I suppose you'd better sleep here." He changed the subject, motioning to his bed. "You need it more than I do."
"I doubt that, but I'll take it anyway." She replied, managing to smile a little. "Wait- won't the boys be annoyed when they find out I've been sleeping with them?" She added, blushing as she saw where Kai had been sleeping- in a double bed with Rei. She hoped that the room would be too dark for Kai to notice.
"If they are, I'll deal with them." Kai said, grinning very slightly. He would never admit it to anyone, but he was really glad that Albina was his sister- she was almost like a miniature, female him. Except her emotions were a lot fierier than his. He'd discovered after only knowing her for a few days, that she was able to scare him, worry him and make him laugh; she did something that nobody else had ever been able to do: bring out his emotions. It seemed that perhaps, she'd had that effect on Boris too- and Tala, he thought, gently touching his broken nose. He lay down on the sofa and watched with admiration as Albina pulled off her boots, revealing her leg full of scars, and with amusement as she carefully climbed into bed with Rei; was shocked as she sank into the luxurious mattress and finally shuffled so that she was right at the opposite end of the bed to him. Sleep descended upon the siblings, sending Albina terrible dreams of Voltaire killing Tala, Bryan, Spencer and Boris, making her feel it was her fault for just running away, when she should have stayed and fought. Despite awaking several times in the night from these nightmares, she wished that this night would go on forever- that way, the dreams couldn't come true.
What will happen to them all? Grand finale of the story coming soon- and I've already got some ideas for a sequel! If this story ever reaches 100 reviews (which I doubt it will) then I will definitely write it.
Thanks for reading, please review! Next update at... 83 reviews, that should give me enough time... :D
