I don't own Beyblade, or any of its characters, please do not sue me.

Fate

Chapter 19

""Talking

''Thoughts

Flashback

Office of Hiwatari Company

"Thank you Mr. Hiwatari." Malarin said and picked up the formally typed contract.

"And I hope that we'll have a successful time working together." Voltaire said calmly and put the cap back onto his pen.

"Of course." Malarin smiled and put it into her briefcase. Then as if she thought of something, she paused and looked at Voltaire with a different glow in her eyes. "Mr. Hiwatari, how is Kai doing right now?"

Voltaire looked at her with furrowed brows. "You know Kai?"

"Yes. He is a friend of someone important to me." Malarin sat back and looked at Voltaire.

Voltaire sighed heavily and leaned forward, leaning his forehead against his right hand. "I don't know. It just seems like he disappeared from Earth."

Malarin gave a look of understanding; she placed her hands in her lap and looked down at them. "That's why you signed a contract with us." Malarin then gave a small smile and looked up at Voltaire. "What makes you think I'm going to help you?"

Voltaire looked at the young woman in front of his desk, perhaps she isn't just a pretty face after all. "You don't have a say in that, you're just representing your company today."

Malarin smiled and stood up, soothing out her knee-length skirt, she bowed to Voltaire politely. "True, but the owner of the company will have to listen to what I say anyways, because we're very close, closer than you can even imagine."

Hiwatari Mansion

"I'm sorry sir, but there still hasn't been any word from the young master." The housekeeper said lowly, standing beside Voltaire's large desk.

Voltaire starred at his computer screen then sighed and turned to the housekeeper tiredly. "Do you think I did the right thing? What if Kai... what if they've..."

"Then you just have to kill her off, sir." Spending many years in the Hiwatari mansion, working beside Voltaire, killing isn't even an issue now.

Voltaire pushed back on his chair and stood up; he walked around his desk and faced his housekeeper. "There's a reason why I can't do that to her."

The housekeeper looked at him in surprise, when does Voltaire do things based on logical reasons?

"Come, I'll show you the reason." Voltaire said and walked towards the large oak door, the housekeeper turned and followed after him.

Park

"Why are we here?" Celestia asked and looked at Kai beside her, walking towards the other exit.

"I want to show you a house." Kai said calmly and kept on walking forwards. Celestia blinked and followed along with Kai.

This park, very nicely fixed, very in order, but no one is here. Not even a simple wandering dog is straying alone. Looking up at the rows of houses, she sees construction workers here and there. Looking around, a cemetery caught her eyes immediately. She turned toward Kai a bit spooked. "Kai, did you know that there's a cemetery here?"

Kai broke his gaze and glanced at the cemetery with a bored expression. "Is something wrong?"

"Kai, a cemetery is bad luck, I don't like this place."

"That's just superstition." Kai looked at her funnily. "Now, we're not supposed to be in any of the houses right now because construction is still going on, and nothing is stable. But..." Kai trailed off and shrugged. Evidently, he doesn't really care.

Being dragged along the muddy pathway, the image of the cemetery still engraved in her mind. It's not superstition... but it's... uncomfortable.

However, once she got inside the soon-to-be house, the cemetery doesn't seem like such a problem to her anymore, even though something is still lurking at the back of her mind. Looking ahead, Kai is already on the stairs, moving up to the second floor. At that moment, Celestia felt as if she could never reach Kai again.

Stepping on the first step of the staircase, Kai heard her and turned around to face her. "Be careful, the staircase is pretty wobbly."

Celestia took a foot forward, suddenly tilting backwards, she gasped and grabbed onto whatever she could and steadied herself.

"Celestia, move!"

She looked up quickly, perhaps gabbing the pillar of this level enough to tilt it sideways is not such a good idea, after all the pillar does support the roof of this house.

Celestia's eyes widened, the pieces of the roof coming down blocked her view, the last thing she felt was a warm embrace.

End of Flashback

"I'm glad you could make it today." Voltaire stepped away from the pond and walked towards her.

"Of course you are. So, what did you call me for? I'm a very busy woman." Celle said and flipped some of her hair back. She then realized that it was still brown. It was still Celestia's hair color. She scoffed mentally and made a note to dye her hair back to blond later on.

"I heard about your engagement with Ray Kon this morning."

Celle raised an eyebrow and looked at him expectantly. "So?"

Voltaire just shook his head and sighed heavily. Celle glared at him and rolled her eyes away. "What was that? Couldn't you at least say some nice words?"

"I feel bad." Voltaire started off and brushed some dust off of his hands before continuing on. "I still think that you're in love Kai, and it was because of me that you can't marry him anymore."

Celle choked up a short laugh and looked at him with disbelief. "You're joking, right? What makes you think that it was your words that made me change my mind about marrying Kai?"

"It wasn't?"

"To tell you the truth, I couldn't care less about what you said." Celle paused then looked on. "The reason I stopped was because Kai's too stubborn and he wouldn't give up no matter how hard I tried."

Voltaire looked at Celle and remained silent.

"Tell me, what is so special about Celestia that no one else has?" She inquired solemnly.

Voltaire looked at her thoughtfully. "But you should know." He then shook his head and waved his hand in front of him. "Celestia is not the topic that I wanted to discuss today. Truthfully, I really like you, even though you cannot marry Kai and become apart of this family. However, you could still be my grand-daughter. I'd be a foster grandfather."

Celle looked at him incredulously and surveyed his form. Was he... on some kind of drug or something? That was not something Voltaire Hiwatari would say to anyone. "Are you okay?"

"I am. Why do you ask?"

"I swear you're on drugs. Why the hell would you want me to become your grand-daughter?" Celle shook her head slowly from side to side, her mind was still in shock.

Voltaire faced her directly and spoke seriously. "Why can't I want you to be my grand-daughter?" He paused then added on. "To tell you the truth, I objected to Celestia and Kai as well. However, I really wanted Celestia to be my grand-daughter as well. Though, I never got the chance to ask before she disappeared."

Celle frowned quickly, why was it always Celestia? Was she born into this world to become Celestia's shadow? Was she destined to become Celestia's replacement that no one liked?

"Mr. Hiwatari, I thank you for your... kind offer. However, I'd rather die before joining your family."

Neither of them said anything after that. Voltaire just starred at her, his face was expressionless. Celle studied him carefully. She was prepared if he was going to strike her or knock her out. She was prepared to be thrown out of this mansion and never be invited back again. Truthfully, she didn't want to come back anyways. Then, to her surprise, Voltaire just spoke out thoughtfully, as if examining an artefact.

"So different, you're so different?"

"What..." Before she could say anything, her cell phone rang and both of them looked down at the silver object in her hand. She glanced at Voltaire before flipping it open and put it next to her ear. "Yeah?"

Then her expression changed several emotions in a split second. From surprise to happiness; from happiness to nervousness; from nervousness to sadness; and finally she remained stoic and emotionless. "No I'm not." She continued on. Then she glanced down and nodded to no one in particular. "I'll be there."

"Who was that?" Voltaire asked when she hung up.

"Your grandson." Celle stated coldly then she tilted her head upwards and looked away. "Anyways, I need to get going. It was nice seeing you again." Without another word, she turned and walked away from him.

Voltaire looked at her back view and rubbed the bridge of his nose tiredly. She had changed so much; maybe he shouldn't have done that before. He definitely liked her personality from before.

Cafe

"Where did you get this information?" Malarin gapped at the files that she's holding in her hand.

The older man just smiled and sipped at his coffee patiently. "My dear, you still have a lot to learn when it comes to business relationships."

Malarin smiled as well and looked down to continue on reading. She struggled through much hardship when she was looking for Celle's information. And in the end, she was unsuccessful. However, there he was with all these reports ready, and was just waiting for her to read through them. Sometimes, she wondered what she would do without him.

Then her eyes gapped out un-lady like and her hands shook. It was definitely excitement. She snapped her head up and looked at him with obvious joy. "This is..."

"Don't get happy, the bad parts are at the back. Go on reading."

Malarin gave him a strange look then lowered her head and continued on reading. Soon, her happiness dropped and she starred at the file with hard eyes and frozen hands.

"That's impossible!" She shouted at the paper.

"Calm down." The older man put a hand on her shoulder and glanced around at the gathered looks.

"No! She can't! She just can't be!"

"But she is."

Celle parked her red convertible and looked out through the wind shield. She saw Kai leaning against his black car smoking a cigarette. She just sat there and starred at him. Out of the corner of her eyes, she could see a cemetery. She frowned slightly and turned to confirm her suspicions and found that she was right. A cemetery? What was he thinking?

She turned back to look at him through the wind shield again and found that he was looking directly at her. She sucked in a deep breath and held it in. Then she turned off the engine and grabbed her keys. She opened the door and stepped out, all the while, she kept her eyes on Kai. When she slammed the door shut, he pushed away from his car and waited for her to come near. She weighed the key and cell phone in her hands and then shoved them into her pockets.

"What is this place?"

"This house." Kai nodded towards an incomplete house. Every other house on this street was completed and filled with people already. However, this one was still incomplete; it's just the basic frame and structure of the house. Some beams and pillars looked wobbly and ready to fall down any time. "I bought this house many years ago and hoped that I'd move in with Celestia after we got married."

Celle turned her eyes back on him and just raised an eyebrow. Her heart twitched and sharp pain stabbed through her. Why was it always about Celestia? "A house near a cemetery? Kai, a cemetery is bad luck, I don't like this place."

Kai turned to her with an unreadable expression and just starred at her. She fidgeted under his gaze and tilted her head upwards. "What?"

"That's exactly what Celestia said."

Celle blinked in surprise. Did... they seriously have a lot in common? The next time she looked up, she realized that Kai had already started walking towards the house. She looked at the cemetery again and then looked back at Kai. Without a choice, she picked up her feet and followed after him. "If you bought this house, then why isn't it complete?"

Kai paused at the foyer and looked around. "After Celestia disappeared, I told them to halt the construction. I wanted Celestia to see this being built and finished with her own eyes."

"But what if she never comes back?" Celle asked and stepped into the supposed foyer of the house as well. She glanced around the house quickly. The first floor looks spacious, but not too big, it's just enough for two people to live in. The design of the house was to the point and very useful as well, nothing was there just for show, everything had its use. However, despite all these wonderful traits, she just didn't like this place. She felt as if something horrible was going to happen here. No... She felt as if something horrible did happen here.

"She will come back." Kai stated and turned to look at her.

Celle looked up and caught his eyes. They just starred at each other in this incomplete house. Celle found breathing to be difficult when Kai was starring so intently at her. She couldn't remember another time when Kai would look at her this seriously and this intently. Then she forced herself to shift her eyes away and gazed down at the diamond engagement ring. She had Ray, she could not disappoint Ray. "Let's... take a look upstairs." She said quickly and walked up towards him. She hoped that it sounded casual.

Kai looked at her for a moment longer but didn't force her into anything. He turned as well and started up the staircase. Celle followed after him and stepped on the first step of the staircase. The wood cracked under her foot and she felt as if the entire place was shaking. Kai heard her and turned around to face her. "Be careful, the staircase is still pretty wobbly."

Celle took a foot forward, but suddenly tilting backwards, she gasped and grabbed onto whatever she could and steadied herself. Her breath caught in her throat and her heart pounded like crazy. Why did that feel so familiar?

"Celle, move!"

She looked up quickly. Then she realized that perhaps she really shouldn't touch this house at all. The thing that she grabbed to steady her was one of the main pillars that were supporting this level. The fortunate news was that the second level was not going to collapse on top of them. However, the bad news was that the pillar supported a heavy wooden beam, and the beam was not happy about shifting. Thus, it decided to drop down and visit whomever that awoken it from its slumber.

Celle's eyes widened, she let go of the pillar out of reflex and couldn't move as the pillar aimed for her head. Then she heard shuffling and loud movements and she landed on the butt faraway from the staircase. After the pain set aside, she opened her eyes and found that she was looking at a different world.

She saw Kai sprawled out on the staircase, the wooden beam on top of him. It was clear that he was unconscious, but didn't possess any obvious wounds. She just starred at him in shock and slowly tears slipped out of her eyes and her body shook with every drop. She inched forwards and touched Kai's out stretched hand from when he pushed her away.

This was the second time that this had happened. Years ago, when he first showed her this house, this happened as well. And then the inevitable happened. However, fate had other ways around this obstacle of them separating and brought them together again. The tears fell from her eyes freely as she pushed the beam off of his body and touched his face gingerly.

All these memories came rushing back to her when she stepped into this house and when Kai saved her again. All these unwanted memories, all these pain. She cradled his head in her arms and closed her eyes against his hair.

"Kai." She called out hoarsely and sniffed. "Thank you for waiting, thank you. I'm back, I'm finally back."

TBC...

Thanks for reading, please R&R.