"Its o.k Tom" Max said switching off the machine.
"Kai just woke up, and he, erm…. Decided he didn't like the heart monitor much." Max looked sheepish, as he usually did when covering for someone.
"Understatement of the year" Hilary mumbled, secretively shocked at the ferocity Kai had used when pulling off the wires.
"No harm done I'm sure, hello Kai my name is Tom. Now I'm just going to give you a little medication to help with the pain."
Kai didn't respond, his face had turned deathly pale and he was shaking. He didn't hear anything the others were saying, he only had eyes for the needle gleaming in the doctor's hands.
Flashback"Time for your treatment Kai" Boris advanced, a needle in his hand.
A seven-year-old Kai tugged hopelessly at his restraints. He knew what was going to happen and he shuddered.
"Come on Kai, we know what happens, you fight against it but in the end the result is always the same."
With that the needle with it's odd looking liquid was jabbed into his arm.
End flashback"Kai?" Tom said advancing with concern on his face.
Kai backed away; his heart beat loudly in his chest. He scrambled out of the bed, all tiredness gone. He was wide-awake as he stumbled on a broken leg. He needed to escape that needle.
He shrank away from the hands trying to help him, and grabbed onto the windowsill.
His hands were heavily bandaged and half healed, so it caused only a small amount of pain as he beat on the glass as if death itself were hot on his heels.
He struggled with the locked handle, they were gaining on him. He had to get away.
He faced them, seeing only the needle coming closer and closer. He backed up as far as he could; his eyes were gleaming with fear.
For all the world like a cornered wild animal. He charged suddenly through them, and through the doorway. Only to be tackled to the floor by none other than Rage.
"Are you sure you gotta do that?" she asked as the doctor approached with a needle.
"Yes," said Tom sadly "It's a sedative, he needs calming down."
"Sorry Kai" Rage whispered to the pinned down boy. Then she slowly wrenched his arm away from him, showing that she was stronger than she looked. It took a great deal of strength to do that even with Kai being in the state he was. Until Tom could and did empty the contents of the needle into Kai's arm.
Rage carefully released her grip on him. Standing by just in case.
Finally he seemed relaxed enough and was carried back to his bed.
"What just happened?" Tyson asked, voicing the question on everyone's lips.
"Its seems your friend has a extreme phobia to needles. I've personally never seen a case this severe." Tom said quietly, Kai had just fallen asleep again.
Tom left the room without explaining further. They needed to process this information.
"So Kai's afraid of something, wow" Tyson sounded genuinely surprised.
"Where do you think you're going Rage?" Ray said spotting her about to make a quick getaway.
Rage paused, one foot in the hallway and turned around. Blushing because she had been caught.
"You've got some serious explaining to do."
"Yeah, just where do you keep disappearing to anyways?" Tyson added.
"I……….like going for walks?" Rage ventured lamely, knowing she was caught out.
"Tell you what Rage, we'll make you a deal. You don't have to answer that if…."
"She doesn't?" asked Tyson blankly.
"If" continued Max "you tell us all you know about Kai."
"We know something bad happened to him, but he won't tell us," explained Ray. "We just want to help him."
Rage sighed recognising the stubborn bonds of friendship. She wanted to help, but doubted that she could tell much.
"He entered the abbey at around the same age as I did, so about four or five. I have the feeling that what you need to know happened before that. He was so haunted back then, from the moment he arrived. According to my sources anyway, since I'm a year younger than him I wasn't there until a year after his arrival."
"I didn't see him much and we never really spoke, the abbey was never a very social place if you get my meaning. It was worse for him there than anyone else. We all saw the marks he got and he was pushed harder than any of us. I saw the room where they used to take him once when I had got lost. There was a chair with straps on it, and on a table nearby was a tray with needles and knives on it."
She forced herself to continue.
"They had blood on them, I never went back there. Kai was sick a lot from training. That's why they said that he needed harsher training than us. Those not stupid suspected of course, but that brought him no pity. A lot of the others suffered 'harsh' treatment when they fell behind in training. They hated Kai because it was his grandfather who owned the place. Who ordered the treatment."
"I beat him when I was eight, and then a year later when my punishment had just ended. It happened."
"What happened?" Tyson demanded, not willing to wait. Rage snapped out of her spaced out mood to send him a death glare that would have rivalled one of Kai's.
"As far as I can tell, he got a hold of black dranzer and used it. Since he was only ten at the time, he couldn't control its power. It destroyed half the abbey; it was incredibly lucky that no one died. Kai was trapped under the rubble for so long, that finally Boris had to rely on the emergency services to get him out."
"I'm getting this from rumours mostly, but what I gather that happened was. Mr Dickenson headed an inquiry into the incident, he started to keep such a close eye on Kai that they couldn't return him to the abbey. So Volitaire took him to Japan, it's also rumoured that his memory was lost from an injury caused when the abbey collapsed. I didn't see him again until I came here. That's all that I can tell you. Can I go now?"
"Wait" Hilary said suddenly "Just one more question."
Rage sighed again annoyed; she was late enough as it was.
"How did you find Kai, and how did you know what state he was in even before you saw him?"
Rage rolled her eyes and decided to tell all. It might shut them up for a while.
"I have a bond with my bitbeast that runs deeper than yours. She and I share emotions and thoughts. She is a fire wolf and so I possess the increased hearing and senses of a wolf. To answer your question I used these to find Kai. He smelt of blood, too deeply to be of a minor wound. I also have some abilities with fire, but they are merely things like resistance to heat so aren't very useful. She has also gained some abilities from me, such as independence. She has her own mind, even if she were somehow separated from me, no one else would be able to use her."
She looked around at the stunned faces and smiled.
"Now I'm finished," she declared walking out from the room.
As soon as she stepped out of the hospital she started running. She had wasted too much time, what if she didn't make it?
She shook her head, her breathing ragged. She pushed herself harder, she would make it, she had to. People looked shocked as she raced down the street, that didn't matter. All that mattered was getting there and soon. She hoped she wasn't too late.
"Your late" the mysterious man said, his voice was deep and commanding. He was in his forties; his dark brown hair was touched with grey. He was well built and well dressed in a dark suit that made it hard to tell whether he was a labourer or a gentleman. With a blue flannel shirt absent of a tie, he could have passed for either. His cold grey eyes glared at her impatiently as she caught her breath.
"Hello Bathos" she smiled politely, something in the way he moved reminded her of a predator stalking its prey.
His mouth split into a sudden grin. The grinning of an insane lunatic. A very cunning and dangerous one.
"And how is our friend Kai getting along?"
Hmmmm, soooo wat do ya think?
Next chapter might be harder to do, but i'll get around to it. Next chapter will be posted within a week I estimate, probuly less than a week. Anyhow, read and review please. I love getting reviews, and the more reviews i get the sooner the next chapter will be up. They tend to make me work at this more for some reason. They're a lot of help.