Title : Broken

Summary : Which hurts more; a broken promise, a broken heart or a broken mind? Set near the end of the first series.

Pairing : BryanMariah, some KaiRay, plus one sided MariahRay at beginning.

Author : D. C. Zed

Disclaimer : Beyblade and the characters aren't mine.

Please review.

Thanks to : Risen From the Ashes, Bluestray, Yazzy, she-devil-16, Milla Kuznetsov, Echo in the Dark, Ramen II and The man with the golden guitar for their reviews! (I didn't think I'd get more than 5!) happy now!

Mariah had woken up early the next morning, before the sun had even peeked above the cloud. The outside world was dark as she sat in her room, the oil lamp burning next to her, providing the only light and heat in her bedroom at that time. Her hair was loose and hung over one shoulder as she brushed it with care even though her mind was elsewhere.

Ray.

What would Ray be doing right that minute? Sleeping, no doubt since Russia was five hours behind time-wise and it was nearing 5:30 in the morning in China. She sighed, separating her hair equally either side and tying it into loose bunches since she had been told on various occasions that she looked cute with her hair like that. As she tied a white ribbon round the top of each pigtail, she once again began to wonder why Ray had left the team. If he'd stayed with the White Tigers it would have been them at the world championships now. Ray had truly let them down.

"I wish I was there." She thought out loud, imagining how proud her family would be to see their only daughter there in Russia battling it out for the title of Beyblade World Champion. She knew the light would be focused on her if she had gone, a girl had never won it before, let alone a girl from a tiny village that barely anybody knew about. It would be like making a stand for herself, for her village, for her race, for her family, for female bladers everywhere… But she knew now that it couldn't happen, no matter how much it would mean to the world. The neko-jin had never been given that much of a chance by outsiders since the rumour of how they came to be was none too flattering : After all, in the eyes of the ignorant, there is only one way in which the genes of humans and cats can be mixed… And that theory, to Mariah, was not only disgusting but truly insulting as well. The neko-jin went far further back than even human beings themselves; they are simply creatures of different evolution.

Standing from her seat at her dressing table, a rickety one, hand-made by her father when she had been younger, Mariah walked across her room to gaze out of the window. The mountains looked so beautiful at night, she felt a smile form on her soft lips as she looked at them, watching the calm wind blow a few dry leaves through the air in front of her window, a single feather of a falcon amongst them. She gasped at it's beauty and quickly reached out, managing to grab it in her hand. The feather was a light brown colour with a few black speckles on it, not something many people would see as special, but as Mariah stroked it with her thumb, she felt a warm feeling rush through her.

Turning herself back in toward her room, she glanced around for a piece of string. She knew she had some in her room, but finding it was another matter.

"Aha!" She exclaimed in a whisper, finding a length of golden brown twine. She tied the feather onto it and tied it around her neck, leaving the loose ends of the string to tickle her shoulder blades. "I'll have to cut those." She told herself, once again stroking the feather. Mariah was almost surprised at how soft it was, 'whichever bird this feather has come from must look after it's plumage well,' she thought with a sweet, somewhat motherly smile.

Feeling a little refreshed, she glanced over her shoulder back at the window. The warm orange glow of the sun was creeping into the clouds, even though it wasn't due to rise for another two hours. Picking up her jacket from where it had been resting over the back of her chair, Mariah shrugged it on, wanting to be out in what she saw as the beauty of the early morning.

She blew out the oil lamp, submerging herself into darkness. After waiting for her eyes to adjust to the new light, or lack of it, she opened her bedroom door as quietly as she could, not wishing to wake anybody else up and suffer the whole day being called 'inconsiderate'. After closing her door carefully too, she turned to walk down the corridor but gasped, finding herself face to face with another person.

"Where are you going at this time of day?" The stern voice asked. Mariah didn't even need to be able to see properly to know that the speaker would have his arms folded and a glare on his face by now. She knew that he suspected her, but she still decided to play dumb, acting as innocently as she could, which, to be fair, was a hell of a lot.

"Lee, you frightened me." She told him quietly, though this act produced no reaction from her brother. A quick excuse was needed, so went for the easiest option. "I was going to fetch some water from the well. I noticed last night we were running low, and I wanted a drink of tea."

Lee stayed quiet for a minute, taking in his sister's appearance. She looked innocent enough and didn't seem to be wearing or carrying anything out of the ordinary, so he nodded, allowing her to pass. "Mariah…" He said in an expectant tone, disappointing his sister. She had been foolish to think that he would let it go that easily, she was hardly ever up this early, and hardly ever willingly fetched the water either…

"Yes Lee?" She asked quietly with a slight sigh, though the Galeon blader didn't notice.

"I'm coming with you. It's still early and wildcats will still be roaming at these hours." He told her in a tone that she knew she was not to argue with. She bowed her head a little.

"Okay."

The pair walked along the length of the corridor in silence, both enjoying the serenity that was always apparent during the night, the only thing that would break the quiet would be the howling of the wildcats, but since they were considered as something close to sacred to the people of the village nobody minded. In a way it was considered a sign that everything was alright, when the howling of the cats stopped and even the crickets daren't make a noise, that was when it was known that something was very wrong. Just as Mariah was beginning to feel like things were too quiet, a well timed yowl of a wildcat calmed her senses.

"Thank you for caring Lee, but I would have been alright on my own." She told her brother with a smile. At times he could be the worst thing that ever happened to her, but at other times he understood her and knew when she wanted peace and quiet. Luckily it seemed like this morning was the latter.

Lee shot a very sarcastic 'oh-please' look at her. "Like you can carry the buckets back on your own." He muttered, before stopping in his tracks, eyeing his sister suspiciously once more. "… What's that round your neck?"

Mariah's hand automatically closed around the falcon feather, a warm feeling once again rushing through her as she did so. "A feather. I… um…" She had to admit that she felt a little confused as to why a feather made her feel so warm inside, but there was no way she would deny that feeling either. Maybe the feather was special? Maybe it had been brought to her by fate? Or then again, maybe it was 'just a feather' and she was completely getting ahead of herself. "I thought it was pretty. It landed on my windowsill this morning and I liked it."

"I see." Lee replied sceptically, rolling his eyes. He didn't think he'd ever understand girls properly, especially not his sister. She was a complete mystery, how Ray could have coped was beyond him. A thought struck him, making a smirk appear on his face. "It wasn't a present from ray or anything, was it?" He asked mockingly. Mariah glared.

"No. It wasn't. And if you're going to be like this then you may as well stay here." She retorted, striding out of the front doors and down the stone steps ahead of her brother. Lee just watched her with a chuckle, she had gotten a lot moodier since Ray had left. Maybe his return would be for the better.

"What the-" Bryan woke with a start upon hearing a gunshot and the scream of a young woman, not knowing whether it was real or just a dream. He glanced around the dormitory, noticing that both Tala and Ian were also sat up in their beds, searching around with their eyes in the dark. Spencer had been known to sleep through a devastating earthquake, so it was no surprise that he was asleep but… He always awoke when something like this happened. It wasn't the first time a worker had been killed in the dead of the night and all four boys knew it wouldn't be the last. Balcov Abbey was not somewhere you wanted to be, especially when the Director was angry.

"What the fuck was that?" Bryan finished his sentence, pushing a few strands of lilac hair from his eyes. Across the room, in the bed opposite his own, he could see Ian clutching his pillow, while in the bed next to Ian, Tala was leant rigidly against his headboard, hugging his knees.

"That would have been the scientist that argued with him yesterday." A voice from the corner of the room muttered, making the other three bladers turn their heads toward Spencer, who was still lying down. So, he had woken.

"It's Kai's fault he's angry." Tala muttered, spitting out Kai's name as though it was the filthiest word that one could ever imagine. "I hate him." The captain admitted, in a voice that would never have been associated with somebody as strong as the Wolborg blader. He sounded so pathetic, or that is what Boris would have told him anyway.

Hard, echoing footsteps on the stone stairs made the colour drain from Ian's face while Bryan and Tala exchanged fearful glances. Spencer didn't move, but they all heard his breathing hasten. The footsteps were drawing nearer and nearer to their dormitory, and it was obvious that their owner was livid with rage. Lying back down, Bryan refused to close his eyes, but instead kept them on Tala who had also laid back down, but he had pulled his thin blanket over his head and had squeezed his eyes tight shut, hoping that for once, it would be okay.

The door was opened with such force that it swung 180 degrees and slammed against the wall, cracking and splintering. Bryan couldn't help but swallow the lump of fear that had formed in his throat as he regarded the broad figure in the doorway, watching as a sickeningly spine-chilling grin spread across the man's face.

He was pure evil. There was no part of him that was good. He was a heathen. He was the Devil himself. He was Boris Balcov.

"Good evening, my boys."

To be continued…

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