Hey guys. Well here's chapter five. Most of this chapter is going to be flashbacks to show you a bit more of Angels past. Sort of to show you how haunted Angel really is and why she seems to bond so easily and quickly with Kai. More story action will probably take place next chapter but it was getting so long with just the flashbacks and stuff (13 pages!) that I decided to save some for the next chapter. Just as a heads up. The chapters might slow down a bit because now I've caught up and passed what I had written beforehand so its gonna be pretty much as soon as I write it ill type it up and put it up here. So yeah, hope this isn't too bad and sorry if the ending is so rushed I just had to end it somehow. Later and peace out.
LightInTheDarkTempest
Chapter Five: Haunted EyesFlashback
Angel knelt in the darkness on the cold stone floor of her underground cell. As if in another realm, she heard distant cries of pain and torment. She closed her eyes trying to close it out of her mind as it grew louder and sharper. Tears wanted to form in her frozen eyes as she tried to cover her ears, but the sound would not be blocked. The scream heightened further, echoing through the cell now. The sound of a spirit on the breaking point.
"No! Stop it!" Angel screamed trying to stop the scream or silence it somehow with her own, but it would not be silenced.
On and on it went as Angel let a few tears form in her eyes but she would not let them fall. When she thought no sound could pierce her deeper another sound more deafening than the scream and even more heart-wrenching sounded through the air and blasted in her ears…silence.
Suddenly she could see the faint glimmer of a torch. She heard the creaking of the iron door that opened into the cell next to hers. The torch faintly illuminated two suited men as they threw a limp form into the cell next to hers; but as the torch was taken away she saw a glimpse of the terribly cut, bruised, and battered form that lay breathing weakly and raggedly on the stone floor. To Angels' utter horror she recognized in that brief instant the face through the blood and bruises.
"Will!" Angel screamed running to the bars of her cell, but there was no reply. "William! Answer me!" she pleaded.
"Angel?" came a weak and muffled voice.
"Will. Its me." Angel replied.
"Angel." He repeated.
"Hold on it'll be okay. I'll get you out of this one."
"Angel don't." came Will's muffled voice.
"What?"
"Don't try to help me. You can't."
"Yes I can, and even if I can't get to you, You're not going through this alone!"
Will painfully turned his head to look at her. In the darkness he could make out her eyes, always filled with light and warmth, and her hand reaching out to him through the bars. Weakly, he painfully moved his arm and took her hand in his.
"I never go through anything alone, not with you around."
Angel smiled weakly in pain at her comrade, her teammate, her friend, her protector.
"Will, what's happening? Why are they doing this to you?"
Will didn't answer.
"Will!" Angel prodded knowing he was hiding something.
"Angel" he started, " when I die."
"Don't talk like that." Angel whimpered.
"When I die," he repeated, "you'll be next." Will let that sink in for a moment. "Before that happens, promise me two things."
Angel nodded her head painfully in the darkness.
"Promise me first that you will not give in. Please Angel, no matter what they do, no matter what they pull: do not allow yourself to be controlled by the evil within you. Promise me that." He said forcefully and passionately.
"I promise." Angel replied trying to keep her voice steady.
"Second, If I lose it, if I give up and succumb to the evil within me," Will paused and made Angel make eye contact with him, " stop me, kill me. Don't let the evil within me even get the chance to carry out what it wants to."
Angel looked in shock and horror at Will
"Kill you! I…I cant. You can't ask this of me!"
"I must." He replied decidedly, sorry that he must ask this of her. " Angel," he started again tenderly as his other hand cupped her cheek, " the others have already turned. I saw it. They did terrible things. Nightmaric horrors. Don't join them Angel, and please don't let me become one of them either. Please. You're the only anchor I have here in this storm."
A tear fell from Angel's eye and stained Wills' bloodied hand. He felt its warmth and felt both pained that he had to ask this of her and yet strong knowing that she would pull through.
"Promise?" he asked tenderly almost childlike.
Angel couldn't make her voice work for a time, as it was filled and chained with emotion. Yet finally she heard herself speak as if in a dream or rather some terrible nightmare,
"I promise."
Will smiled weakly before the sound of a creaking door caught his ears. They were coming for them.
"Remember your promise, whatever befall." He said hastily as four men approached and soon both were pushed along the corridors before they came to the castle courtyard. It was the dead of night and even the stars and moon seemed to hide their light from seeing the evils going on below them. Angel watched in horror as they began to torture Will but soon they included hr as well. They used every method possible to bring out their dark sides. They were beaten, torn, cut, verbally assaulted, nearly blinded, burned, chained and flogged and other evils that would be too nightmaric to describe. Angel glanced over at her last remaining friend weakly. Would it be easier just to give in she wondered.
Then Angel noticed a strange, dark glint in Wills' eyes. The warmth was gone from them, the humanity was gone, and the light that shown inside of him was seemingly snuffed out. He was succumbing to the evil within him.
"Will no! Don't!" Angel screamed.
"Will? Why do you call for Will? He wasn't strong enough to stand this. He is no longer here." Replied Will, but Angel knew it wasn't the Will she knew, it was the darkness within him. Will had succumbed to it and now her promise would have to be fulfilled.
"No!" she screamed. Her promise, no, why did she have to keep her promise? Why did Will have to give in. Why?
In pain, torment, and regret Angel threw the guards that restrained her off and picked up the knife that still bore her own blood. She closed her eyes as she stood beside Will who was still chained to the ground. The evil in his eyes growing darker and stronger.
"Stop me, kill me. Don't let the evil within me even got the chance to carry out what it wants to." Came Wills' voice in her memory.
The knife came down and found its sheath in Wills' own body. Tears formed in Angels' eyes as the darkness faded and was replaced with the familiar eyes of the true Will. He was fading fast, the wound was fatal and now Angel feared she would never see her friend again. Tears fell from her eyes as he gently cupped her face in his hand.
"Shh… its okay Angel." He said weakly, " thank you. You saved me."
"Don't leave me Will." Angel cried holding desperately onto the hand on her cheek.
"I never will. I'll always be in your heart as long as you want me there."
Wills' breathing became shallower and weaker.
"Will! No!" Angel cried.
"Let me go angel." He smiled weakly, " Let me go."
"How can I keep going without you with me, you're my only friend, you're all I have."
"Wake with the dawn and breathe. Just keep breathing, keep fighting, keep living and never give in. Remember your promise and remember me." He said with his last breath.
Wills' hand slackened and now, he was gone. Angel cried harder releasing all the pain inside her as she screamed in pain and torment at the darkened skies above her. In anger the guards beat her and yelled at her as Wills' body was taken away.
End flashback
Jess awoke to Angel moaning and gasping in torment. She looked over to see Angel nearly screaming as she slept. Thinking it only a nightmare Jess ran over to wake her but when she touched Angels' arm she felt something sticky and wet. She took back her hand to study the strange residue. Holding her hand up in the moonlight Jess gasped at the sight of blood. Quickly Jess turned on a light to see Angel in some sort of lifelike nightmare. Cuts, long healed, reopened along her back, side and stomach and bled. The newer cut on Angels' arm bled like a war wound and Angel mumbled in her induced nightmares. Jess glanced at the clock beside Angel; it was 2:30 am. How long had Angel been like this? Jess quickly ran to the bathroom and grabbed the first aid kit. She quickly set about covering the cuts when she stopped at the one on her arm. Jess could see that the blood had a bluish tint to it and decided to refrain from putting peroxide or alcohol on it in case it reacted in some harmful way with the drug. Not knowing what else to do she simply wrapped it in another bandage and after watching her uselessly hour after hour finally went back to her bed to sleep. She couldn't do anything else for Angel and she knew that angel would tell her to go back to sleep as well. She'd be needed tomorrow; there was no way Angel could carry them both in her condition. She'd need to blade her best tomorrow so that Angel wouldn't kill herself off protecting the both of them. Finally Angel fell back asleep with a heavy and concerned heart.
At daybreak, the nightmaric memories finally released their talon-sinking grip on Angel. She woke with a start, her breathing fast and ragged. She felt her tired body; some of the wounds she had received in her memories had reopened from the intensity of the drug after years of healing. She felt tired, sore, cold and so haunted. Angel stood up stiffly noticing her bandaged cuts and tired body in the dim sunlight. She glanced at her clock; it was 6:00 am. They didn't need to leave till about 9:00 am Angel thought noticing her sleeping friend in the bed on the other side of the room. Knowing that she couldn't sleep anymore even if she wanted to, Angel quietly walked out onto the balcony.
Angel felt shaken, nearly broken by her haunting memories. The faces she'd seen, the torment shed re-endured, the pain, the shadows of her mind echoed in the stillness of the hour. She had relived many nightmares but the worst to her were perhaps the first and the last.
"It's all my fault." She whispered to herself in dejection.
Yet as she whispered to herself she felt warmth in her pocket. Curiously she reached in her pocket and pulled out her beyblade.
"It wasn't your fault." Came a voice inside her mind.
"Ryker." She muttered not knowing how to say what she felt.
"I know, young mistress, I know." Ryker comforted.
Angel wanted to cry she wanted to break, she didn't want to be strong anymore, but she had to be. Something within her would not let her break, would not let her submit or give in, and because of this tenacious spirit she was still alive. She had to be strong. She had to be brave. She had to keep fighting, not for herself, but for Jess, for the bladebreakers, for her promise.
"Hold on." Ryker whispered once more. "Just keep holding on."
"I know Ryker. I just feel so…alone."
"You aren't as alone as you feel."
Angel still felt so weak, so tired, but she felt a sudden strange yet familiar warmth coarse through her veins.
"Ryker?" she questioned.
"You're tired and weak, so use my strength."
"Ryker, but you" Angel started
"Angel its okay. We're in this together." Ryker cut in.
Angel smiled to herself a bit weakly as Rykers' strength coursed through her veins.
"Thanks Ryker, I needed help."
She could only feel him nod to her as the voice quieted, but the warm strength remained. Angel stayed out there a long time just staring aimlessly at the view before her.
"Angel." Came a quiet, worried voice behind her.
Angel turned to see Jess standing behind her looking a little bit tired as worry rested heavily on her brow.
"Are you alright?" Jess asked meekly not knowing what else to say.
"I dunno, Jess." Angel replied honestly.
The pure honesty of Angels' answer struck Jess. There was something far worse going on than she even knew about. She had been extremely worried about Angel when he had shown up and drugged her, but now, there was something different. Angel looked pensive yet scared and worried, more so than Jess had ever seen her be.
Angel stared at Jess and remembered a time not too long ago when she almost lost her. The pain of which was now, thanks to the drug, still fresh in her memory.
Flashback
Angel was dragged, limply through a dark corridor. She felt so weak, so hurt, she couldn't even move. The two suited guards who carried her roughly threw her into a room. She looked hazily up from the cold stone floor at a grinning malicious figure. He glared down at her his evil grin nearly twitching.
"Angel, did you actually think you could escape me? Escape us? We own you!" he screamed. His voice echoing in the dark.
Angel didn't even flinch. She merely met his glare, challengingly.
Angrily the figure kicked Angel in the stomach and slapped her face hard.
"You think you can't be broken, but I will show you how weak you really are!" he threatened. "Show her what I mean."
Angel looked behind the man threatening her to notice her coach, evil as ever, standing by a darkened side of the room. He was young perhaps a year most likely two older than Angel, well built, with dark gray/blue hair and black eyes. He wore black cargo pants with a deep blue shirt and a gray colar-less jacket, the uniform they all wore. Upon hearing his command, he flipped a switch to illuminate the darkened corner. Angel gasped as she saw three chained and beaten figures. For there, chained and bleeding was her new team. Curtis and Christian were hurt pretty badly while Jess was slipping in and out of consciousness.
"Angel!" Curtis and Christian weakly screamed in distress and worry for her as they looked at her far worse beaten and bruised body.
"What have you done to them!" Angel questioned in anger and pain.
"What's it to you? After all it's not like you were really part of their team. You can't be, because you are the captain of the Celtic Dragons." Her coach began bitterly and tauntingly.
"I am no longer that captain. I quit, I ran away. I left you. I am no longer yours to abuse, torture, and control. I am no longer a Celtic Dragon!" Angel spat out.
"We'll see about that." The other figure smiled maliciously.
Angel watched in horror as she was forced to watch her team be beaten because of her unwillingness to return to the Celtic Dragons. She watched in horror as Jess was whipped and in pain saw her look up and hold Angels' gaze before passing out into unconsciousness.
End Flashback
Angel had nearly turned back that day. Had nearly allowed herself to be controlled by the evil within her again. She'd never seen Jess in so much pain and yet there was something else. Something she'd seen in all of their eyes that night and it had given her strength and resolve she didn't know she had. They trusted her, and even though they didn't know what was going on they were willing to die for her. And because of that, Curtis and Christian had died, trying to save her. Angel couldn't look at her friend in the eye any longer and turned back to face the view she'd been looking at.
"Angel," Jess started uneasily, "You were reliving that night again, weren't you."
"I've had to relive many nights Jess, but yes, that was the last one." Angel answered a bit distantly.
Jess knew Angel didn't want to talk about it but she needed to know.
"Angel what happened that night." She all but whispered.
Angel turned to her, "You know what happened." She said coldly.
"All I know is that Curtis and Christian are dead and that you won't stop blaming yourself for it." Jess said her voice shaking as it rose with pain and desperation.
Angel brushed past Jess and went back inside. She didn't think she had the strength to tell Jess what had happened that nigh after she had fallen unconscious for the last time. Angel lay down on the couch tiredly and rubbed her pounding head. For awhile, silence consumed Angel as she lay there still and quiet. After awhile she heard Jess come back inside and make her way over to her.
"Angel," she began, "I'm sorry. I just wanted to know what happened to our friends, our team, what happened to you. I know you best out of probably anyone right now, but some things are still such a mystery."
Angel sat up to face her friend with sorrowful eyes, "Jess I'm sorry. I just need a little more time to heal, I don't think that I can tell you right now. I want to Jess, but after the drug and last night, I don't think I'm strong enough."
"Alright Angel, then I'll wait." Jess smiled a bit sadly yet knowing its what her friend needed.
"Thanks Jess." Angel replied gratefully.
Silence consumed them for what seemed an eternity when Angel remembered the tournament.
"Hey what time is it?"
Jess and Angel both looked at the clock on the wall.
"Ahh…Shoot!" Angel screamed as she and Angel noticed it was now 3 minutes till 9:00am.
"Let's move!" Angel said springing to her feet only to double over in pain.
"Smooth move dork." Jess laughed hiding her concern.
Angel grinned at her and laughed sarcastically before standing up a bit more slowly and moving quickly to their shared room.
Angel threw on a pair of black cargo pants as well as her and Jess' Azkaban Prison workshirt. She was heading for the door with Jess; her leather bag was slung diagonally over her shoulder when she glanced in the mirror.
"Shoot." Angel mumbled as she stared at her reflection.
"What's wrong?" asked Jess.
"Well the cut on my cheek for one and for another look at my eyes."
"I didn't think you really cared about looking cute Angel." Jess teased.
"I don't. But don't you think even they'll notice a two and a half inch scar on my cheek and how bloodshot my eyes are."
Jess looked at her friend and realized she was right.
"Okay wear your black shades, they make you look cold and unfeeling anyways plus they look awesome on you and I'll explain the cut if they ask okay?" Jess replied very happy with her genius solution.
Angel nodded and dug out her black shades before heading out for the shuttle stop with Jess by her side. She sure hoped that Jess knew what she was going to tell them.
When Jess and Angel arrived at the stop they were surprised to see the bladebreakers already there.
"Well look who decided to show up." Tyson teased as the two figures walked closer.
"Overslept." Jess smiled innocently.
Angel took her normal place against the wall; thank God the sun was out otherwise they really might notice her shades.
"Man angel!" Max suddenly started a bit concerned, " How'd that happen?" he said noticing the cut along her cheek and pointing it out now to the others.
"Oh nothing," Jess said interfering for Angel, " she's just a bit accident prone." She teased.
Jess laughed along with the others save Kai as she clearly felt Angels stare. She could almost see her annoyed look that clearly said, " that's the best you could come up with!"
A few minutes later the shuttle pulled up and everyone pilled on again taking strangely the same seats as before.
Once again, all but Angel and Kai engulfed themselves in a movie ignoring all else that went on around them.
"Angel." Kai whispered after silence had deafened them for what seemed like an eternity, " what happened?"
Angel shrugged, (which turned out to be quite painful since she was still sore); " I'm accident prone." She said avoiding his eyes as he glanced at her.
Kai looked at her annoyed, but he noticed she wouldn't meet his stare. Why was she wearing shades anyways? Perhaps she liked the way they looked? Kai looked at her and admitted to himself that she definitely looked good in them but something didn't seem right. She looked tired to him and though she hid it extremely well he could tell she was sore. What was going on? He had only known Angel a day but it felt like he had known her much longer. They shared a common bond. One in which they found understanding in one another because they both had lived similar pasts. But was that bond strong enough?
Kai tried to make eye contact with Angel again. For a moment she held his stare but then diverted her gaze as soon as he started reading deeper within her. The bond alone wasn't enough, she needed to trust him. Yet how could she?
"Angel what's going on?" Kai finally asked only loud enough for her to hear him.
She looked torn. She knew he'd seen enough and figured out enough to know she was lying if she said nothing, but could she really trust him? She somehow had the strange feeling that he had had a past similar to hers but how could she know for sure? At her silence Kai felt a little ray of hope, but not much.
"Please don't ask me that Kai." She pleaded, now looking deeply into his eyes.
Kai felt taken back, he seemed to almost feel the pain muffled in her voice, he could sense the torn feeling inside of her that partly wanted to trust him but was too afraid to. As if on their own, Kai's hands went up to her shades and gently removed them so his eyes met hers. Kai looked compassionately into Angels' haunted and bloodshot eyes. They looked so terrified, so pained, so tormented. They seemed to look straight through him. What had the drug done to her last night? Angel gently took the shades back from Kai's hands and put them back on.
"Angel." Kai started.
"Kai, please." Was all she said in a pleading tone. She stared at him in silence, as he understood that she didn't want to talk about it. Or perhaps she couldn't talk about it. Either way, Kai decided to wait and didn't ask her or force her to tell him right then and there.
Soon the shuttle stopped in front of the tournament building and all piled out. Jess waved to them and gave them a few quick hugs as Angel merely glanced at Kai. Their gazes locked before Angel finally broke it and turned to enter the entrance that was the quickest way to their locker room, with Jess by her side.