Taiy-Chan: And I finally decide to update. Go me. Hope you guys all enjoyed my Christmas fic! (Wink, wink) Did everyone have an awesome Christmas/Holiday? I sure did. Woot, woot. So here's the much awaited (or so I hope) 18th chapter. Only two/maybe three chapters left to go!
Disclaimer: Don't own nothing. Nuh uh.
BTW, after I'm done this story, I'm moving on to Because of You. Once I'm about done that, I'll be starting Of Maniacs and Killers-check out my bio page for the summary. I've also come up with another idea of a little ficcy for after/during the time of writing Of Maniacs and Killers. I got the idea from a show on Teletoon about a guy who 'accidentally' clones himself and his other self just happens to be the total opposite of him. I'm going to use Kai in that one. So stay tuned for that summary!
Also, thanks to everyone that checked out and reviewed the Beyblade F Fusion Christmas Side Fic I wrote. You guys are the best!
Anyways, I'm now, officially, done! On with the chapter!
Flashbacks are in bold.
Beyblade F Fusion Chapter 18
Hurting
A small boy skipped up the stone pathway of his Russian home, humming a happy tune under his breath. His school bag was slung over his right shoulder, his two-toned hair bouncing with him as he made his way up the marble steps. Today was his birthday and he was turning seven. Mom and dad had told him that a surprise was waiting for him when he got home. He couldn't wait.
Running up the last couple of steps to his front door, he reached up and turned the gold knob, just barely tall enough to peak into the high mailbox by his door to check for any presents from distant relatives. When finding no packages addressed to him, young Kai shrugged and grabbled the other envelopes in the metal box. Pulling the large wooden doors opened, he stepped into the house.
The large mansion was quiet inside. Kai looked suspiciously around, slowly taking off his shoes and dropping his school bag on the floor beside them. Glancing down, he spotted his parents' shoes and smiled. They must be waiting for him.
Bouncing towards the living room, Kai grinned from ear to ear, he couldn't wait to find out what his present was!
But he stopped short in the living room doorway and his crimson eyes widened in shock.
There were big men, so much taller than him, standing in front of him, blocking his view of the room. They were all dressed in black, heavy firearms resting in their arms. Kai let out a small gasp and stumbled back a step, blood red eyes frantically searching through the strangers for a familiar face.
He sighed with relief when he spotted long, glossing silver hair.
"G…" he swallowed, fighting to get over his shock. "Grandfather?" he said shakily.
But the tall man didn't seem to hear Kai's voice. The small boy frowned and cautiously stepped closer to his relative, moving around the other bodies and making his way to the front of the group. The young boy froze, a small hand whipping up to cover his mouth, muffling an anguished cry.
"M… Mommy! Daddy!" Kai ran over to his fallen parents, stumbling on the carpet in his haste, the strangers around him forgotten. Dropping to his knees between them, he took their hands, wincing at the ice cold skin that greeted him.
"Mommy… Daddy… Wake up…" Tears started pouring down his face, large, crimson eyes flooded with emotion. He shut them tightly; rivers of sadness streaking down his cheeks. "Wake up!" he bent over his mother, grabbing a fist full of her blood-stained shirt. The small boy held on tightly to the woman, sobbing.
He pulled back to look at his mother's face, reaching an unsteady hand up to brush blue locks from her pale face. His eyes caught on something and his gaze fell to her right hand. Opening up her closed hand, he found a small box, wrapped in green paper. Kai picked it up carefully, turning over the tiny card taped on the top.
"To Kai…" he read quietly. "Happy birthday… Love Mom and Dad…" the young boy let out a chocked sob, red eyes once again drifting over his parents' lifeless bodies.
Unwrapping the gift slowly, he let the coloured paper fall to the stained ground. With a trembling hand, he took the lid off the box, dropping it beside him.
Between crispy white paper, Kai found a dark blue blade with the word: 'Dranzer' written on its side. A picture of a magnificent phoenix stared back at him. Kai let the box fall to the carpet as he took the blade in his hand.
"Dranzer…" he whispered, clutching the blade tighter in his small hand.
Suddenly, he was roughly pulled to his feet, a large hand gripping the back of his shirt. Kai let out a surprised yelp, scrambling up.
His grandfather sneered at him, turning to inspect the gun held in his wrinkled hand. Kai's eyes widened. Voltaire met his grandson's gaze once again, smirking cruelly.
"They were never much use to me anyways." He said, pocketing the deadly weapon.
Kai's anger flared and he struggled wildly against the strong hands holding him back.
"You killed them!" he screamed, tears of sorrow and hate falling from crimson pools. "You killed my parents!"
Voltaire smiled sickly.
"Yes, I did, didn't I?"
"How could you! I hate you! You….. You…." Too young to know how to express his anger, Kai stuttered. "You sick old man…." He finished finally.
But his grandfather just laughed, motioning to the guards around him.
"Take him to the car."
Kai's eyes darted around the room in panic and he struggled harder when the men pulled him forwards. As they past Voltaire, Kai lashed out.
"I'm not going with you anywhere! I'm going to call the police… And… And…. They'll kill you!" he screamed, yanking one of his arms free and punching his only remaining relative in the stomach.
Voltaire doubled over and the man restraining Kai slapped the small boy so hard he fell to the ground at his grandfather's feet.
"I have no one…" Kai whispered, tears falling onto the carpet that his hands clutched so desperately now. "I have no one left…" his eyes fell on the beyblade in his left hand and he held it tighter. "They won't take you away from me… Ever…" he vowed quietly, clutching Dranzer to his chest.
"I….. I'm scared of the dark…. So scared of the dark... Someone… Help me… I don't want to be left alone…"
Taiy jolted awake, the thin, white sheets twisted around him, sweat trickled down from his forehead to the pillow his head rested on. He untangled one of his hands from the sheets, shakily brining it up to touch his cheeks. He had been crying.
Gasping for lost breath, the distressed teen pulled himself into a sitting position, holding his head in his hands. Calming his heartbeat, he waited until his breathing returned normal, trying, unsuccessfully, not to cry any more.
But the tears wouldn't stop; it was like an endless flow of sadness that had been locked away for many years. The dark haired blader hunched over, trembling hands frantically wiping his wet eyes.
Finally, he looked up, ice blue eyes glancing around him. Taiy was back in his room in the hotel. He frowned. The last thing he remembered was the fight with Boris and his lackeys. What had happened after that?
The distressed boy pulled his knees up to his chest, resting his arms on top of them. He buried his face in his hands, muffling chocked sobs and the little cries that escaped him.
Where had his control gone? Where had his composure left to? Why couldn't he seem to stop crying! Why couldn't he just stop remembering?
A loud sob wracked his lithe frame and his hand quickly came up to cover his mouth. His eyes snapped to the closed door, hoping that none of his team mates had heard him. Taiy ignored the small part of him that wished that they did.
Taiy let out a heavy sigh, his head falling on top of his arms once again. No, no one ever came. Even if they did hear, they never came to help him, to see if he was okay. It was always like this. Fate just wanted him to be left alone, but he hated being alone.
"Damn, why the hell is everything going wrong?"
"Nothing ever goes right."
"….That's….. Just what we were trained to think…."
"Then why is it always true?"
"Nothing is…ever etched in stone. Our future isn't planned out for us."
A loud knock on polished wood snapped Taiy out of his dark thoughts. Jumping slightly, he uncurled himself and quickly dried his eyes on his long sleeve.
"C…. Come in." he said, his voice cracking slightly.
Hilary peeked her head around the door, smiling slightly at seeing Taiy awake. She turned around and said something to a person behind her. Hilary opened the door wider, stepping into the large room. Tyson and Max followed behind her, looking down.
"You feeling better, Taiy?" the brunette asked.
Taiy nodded, untangling the covers around him and swinging his legs over the side of the bed.
"Just a bit… Tired…" the dark haired boy admitted.
Hilary shook her head.
"I should think so, you fainted from exhaustion back there." She said, coming to his bed to sit on the edge. "You really pushed yourself today."
Taiy just shrugged, pushing himself to his feet, swaying slightly. As he looked around the room, he frowned.
"Where's Kenny?" he asked.
"He went to check the schedule for the finals tomorrow." Max answered for him, smiling at the tired boy. "He thinks that it will probably be in the afternoon."
Taiy nodded and stretched, he felt as if he slept for days. Cracking his back with a blessed sigh, he turned away from his friends.
"I think I'll go have a shower now." He said, heading in the direction of the bathroom.
Hilary stood, straightening her clothes and turning to Max and Tyson.
"Come on, you two! Let's go! We have to order dinner, remember?" immediately, Tyson's eyes lit up and he bounced out of the room.
"Hilary! Max! Hurry up! I'm starving!" he called from the hallway.
The two rolled their eyes and followed their bottomless-pit of a friend out of the room, closing the door behind them with a soft click.
Taiy sighed as he stepped into the shower, his clothes lying, discarded on the floor. Content under the hot spray of water, Taiy lent back against the cool tile walls, lost in thought.
"Today felt as if it lasted forever."
"I can agree with you on that one. So many things happened! I don't know about you guys, but I sure felt overwhelmed."
"We can't even get a normal, boring day. It seems like there hasn't been one day so far, during this tournament, that all we did was sit on our ass and do nothing."
"Well, what about the plane ride from Canada to here? All we did was sit on our ass and sleep."
"Yeah, well, we couldn't do anything else, now could we?"
"You got a point."
"I know."
"Cocky bastard."
"Thank you."
"You two, stop arguing."
"This is how we express our love, Ray."
"No it isn't."
"Yes it is."
"This is the first time I've ever heard of me loving you."
"What! Kai! That's mean!"
"Che. I'm not supposed to be nice."
"You asshole."
"Hn."
"Oh… My God…."
"What?"
"I think this is the first time that Kai has said 'hn'! Like, in our whole time together, he hasn't said it up until now! Wow! That must be a record! Kai, I didn't know you had it in you, buddy! Congrats!"
"…..Right… Whatever."
"Oh my God! Ray's right! Kai, you should win a medal or something! Great job, man! I'm so proud of you."
"Just shut up, both of you."
"Geeze, no need to get so uptight."
"Tala."
Taiy sighed as he stared at the opposite wall, eyes drooping and glazed over. So many things had come back that day. Things that he didn't really want to remember. It was hard acting like the memories had never come back.
Turning his face towards the warm spray, Taiy closed his eyes, blocking out everything except for the comforting water and lazy steam surrounding him. He just wanted everything to stop, to just disappear.
"Whoa, we're getting pruney… We should get out soon."
But Ray was met with silence, broken by the sound of the water hitting the tiled floor of the shower.
"Guys?"
Taiy just wanted everything to leave him alone. It was hurting him andthe past never seemed to cease haunting him.
And he couldn't do anything to stop it.
"Pack your bags, son. We're going on a trip."
Young Tala looked up at his father with big, ice blue eyes. Where were they going? Were they going to visit Grandma? Were they going to go to the amusement park? To see a play in the theatre!
Tala scrambled to his feet, running to his room to do as his father said. It wasn't every day that his parents had time for him. Usually, they were busy with work, or busy with each other, and it was weeks until they said even a word to him.
But it didn't bother Tala, not that much. It was only at night, when he didn't have anything to distract him, that the loneliness kicked in. But it was okay, he had Natalie, the Nana that father and mother got for him since they had no time to take care of him.
Tala loved Natalie. Though she was old, she always had the energy to take him to the park, or to play games with him. She was his one and only friend, but she made up for the times when he was left alone with no one to turn to. Natalie made Tala forget by playing games and entertaining the small boy.
But today, Natalie wasn't at work. Tala's parents had told her that she never had to come back, but the young red head didn't know this yet. He was too busy looking forward to the big trip that his family was going on.
In Tala's eyes, they were going to spend every second of every day together, laughing and making up for all of the times that they couldn't be together. Everything would turn out better, and Tala wouldn't have to worry about being left alone any longer.
But Tala was disappointed. Boarding a fast train to take to their unknown destination, the excitement slowly began to wear off, and Tala was left bored, staring, with glazed eyes, out the train's window, silently watching the scenery roll by.
And his parents hadn't said a word to him since his father had told him to pack his bags. They never spoke to him once, never turned to meet his eye or give him a hug. But Tala refused to dwell on these dark thoughts, determined that it would all get better once they got off the train. Maybe they were just as bored as he was.
Finally, the train stopped and Tala's family stepped from the train, much to Tala's relief. They were in Moscow, Russia and the air was as cold as if always was in the wintry country. Tala smiled as he breathed in the sharp, fresh air.
Tala's parents pulled him along as they made their way through the busy city, not stopping for dinner, or pausing to shop. They just kept walking, not looking back or telling their young boy just where they were headed.
Tala was confused. Weren't they supposed to be checking into a magnificent hotel? Wasn't his mommy supposed to turn around and give him a big hug and a kiss, apologizing for never being there for him? Wasn't his daddy supposed to pat him affectionately on the head, ruffling his red hair and smiling down at him? Why were they just ignoring him? Tala's smile disappeared. Why were they acting like they always did…?
He couldn't stand it. Couldn't stand just being dragged along through a strange city, passing strange people and places that he never saw before. He hated it. He hated being treated like he wasn't worth their time. He felt like he wasn't good for anything, like he did something wrong.
But Tala knew he didn't.
"Mommy?" he said softly, tugging on his parent's sleeve.
"Oh, please be quiet, Tala. We're almost there." His mother snapped, yanking her coat away from her son's hand.
Tala felt tears well in his eyes, but he held them back, not wanting to seem weak in front of his parents. Like she said, they were almost there. Wherever 'there' was, Tala was sure everything would turn out fine once they arrived.
His parents finally came to a stop in front of tall, iron gates. Tala looked up with huge eyes at the building before him, a shiver crawling up his spine that was not from the cold.
The gates were high and pointed, menacingly guarding the other side. A long, tall building stood behind a flat stretch of snow. Bare trees stood by the fence, their thin branches swaying in the wind.
Cold fear seeped into the young boy's heart, the urge to run away almost too great. He tugged on his mother's hand, trying to draw her back, away from the gates, trying to get her to tell him that this isn't where they were headed.
But his mom just pulled her hand from Tala's weak grip and pushed the gates open, not looking back once. Tala turned his fearful eyes to his father, silently pleading. Suddenly, he was yanked forward by the scuff of his shirt, his father pulling him along through the tall gates and Tala didn't have the heart to struggle.
Once inside the ominous building, Tala's parents met a big man with purple hair and a mask covering half of his face. When Tala tried to hide behind his father's legs, his parent just pushed him forwards to face the stranger.
"Tala, this is Boris Balcov." His dad said. "You will be staying with him here in the Abby for a while."
Tala turned to face his parents.
"Where're you going?" he asked in a small voice, not wanting to be separated from his parents that he barely saw already.
"Away. We have to take care of some business. We'll be back soon." Was all his parents offered to him for reassurance.
And they left, leaving Tala with Boris and nowhere to go, stuck at the Abby until his parents came back like they said they would.
But they never did.
Taiy opened bleary eyes, blinking as the water hit his face. He felt tired, more tired than he had ever been in his life. But things were only just starting for him.
The next day, Taiy and his team would be going up against the Demolition Boys and they would not only be fighting for the renewed title of World Champions, but they would be fighting for the answers they were so desperately looking for.
Taiy's story was coming to the climax, and there was nothing he could do but try and get through it, to survive whatever was thrown at him and strike back with double the strength. All he could do was hope and pray that he'd come out alive.
Because it was hurting him. The past that he had tried so hard to forget was like a nagging pain in the back of his mind, not letting him live a day without regretting it. But he had to keep on fighting, for he hated being alone with no one but the wind to comfort him.
Taiy-Chan: Holy. Fuck. That was one monster of a chapter, at least to me it was. I really didn't expect it to be so long! Hehe…
Anyways, yeah, this story is coming to a close. Basically two more chapters left plus the epilogue and we're done. I hope you guys will stay with me to the end of this story and never forget about reading it, cause I know that I sure will miss writing it…
I'll update as soon as I can, but keep in mind that, for me, exams are coming up once school starts again, so updating might be a bit slower than usual. But, by February everything should be back to normal, so I'll try to update sometime before that, okay?
If I don't just be patient, okay?
Thanks for everything you guys! 300 reviews! Woot!
Adios amigos!