Smile For Me
- chapter 18 -

Heart-wrenching screams echoed throughout the room and resounded from the walls, a series of cruel laughter following soon after. Then the screams returned, this time more louder than the last, then the same laughter yet again. And again. And again. And the cycle repeated, until the one screaming bit his lower lip, then a few seconds later, a thin trickle of blood dripped down his chin from his lip. He wasn't going to give the other pleasure of hearing him scream anymore.

In the middle of the room, hung by his wrists by chains that clanked hollowly and feet a few inches away from the floor, was a boy with his upper body bare of shirt, but covered by bleeding gashes. And another figure stood behind him, his throat grumbling with suppressed laughter as he surveyed his masterpiece. Then lastly, a third figure, far away at the very side of the room, was another boy, navy blue hair messily cast around his head like a puddle on the floor, his body crumpled as he slept. The side of his face was covered in blood as well, from the metal pipe that was used to hit his head, yet he continued to slumber, somehow relieved that he could finally rest, but still disturbed because of something, something he knew yet did not. And so he slept.

And Kai whimpered and closed his eyes, and willed his tears away as a crack resounded in the room, because he knew what was coming. He was still caught off-guard however, and instead of his lip, bit his tongue instead. The metallic taste of blood never left his mouth.

Voltaire laughed, a cruel, hollow laugh that would have sent shivers down Kai's spine had he not lived with that laugh all his life. Then the man raised his whip yet again, and with another crack, gave another touch to his work. Then he spoke, his voice mocking with venom, "Kai, first you scream, and now you're sniffing and crying. Such childish behavior! You were not like that before. See what that Granger kid has done to you? He is a bad influence! I simply cannot see why you choose to tag along that boy like a lost little puppy! That bastard of a child does not --"

"Don't call Tyson a bastard!" Kai raged, his voice husky with overuse, yet despite that, his tone of voice was enough to make Voltaire pause and look at him. And so, with a glare that would killed his grandfather if looks could kill, he continued, "If anyone -- anyone at all in this world -- deserves to be called a bastard, it would be you."

That earned him another series of slashes.

"See, Kai! I have fed you, educated you. I have done everything for you! Yet you refuse to show thanks! You would have not dared to answer me in that... insulting way if you had not met Tyson Granger!" He spat the syllables of the name with dripping venom, "It was a mistake to have sent you to that school! A mistake!" Then Voltaire stomped his feet in anger, gave one last slash at Kai before marching for Tyson's body. "It's this boy's fault! All his fault! He must pay for what he has done!"

At that, fear gripped Kai's heart as he watched helplessly as his grandfather walked near the other boy. "No! Voltaire! Don't hurt him! He's done nothing! Nothing!" Voltaire kept on walking. "No! NO! DAMNIT, DON'T GO FUCKING NEAR HIM!" It's as if the man's pace went even faster. "PLEASE! Please..." Kai mumbled, his throat aching and his will slowly fading away. "Grandfather..."

Then, Voltaire stopped walking and laughed. And laughed. And laughed. And when he turned to look at Kai, his face showed an expression of insanity that it was the first time that Kai truly felt afraid. The man's eyes almost bulged out of their sockets, and his mouth was opened wide in a mad smile. His hand gripped the whip tightly, as he spoke, his tone desperate but at the same time joyful. "There's nothing you can do, Kai. You're too late for that now! No more grandfather! No more grandson! You're not Kai Hiwatari. YOU'RE NOT MY GRANDSON." And he walked.

And Kai screamed, tugging at the chains furiously, like a wild animal being caged for the first time. "VOLTAIRE! I SWEAR, IF YOU TOUCH HIM, I WILL PERSONALLY KILL YOU!"

And Voltaire giggled, then cackled, as he finally reached his destination. He stood over the body for a few minutes, wondering if the whip would be enough to let that Granger receive what he deserved. Then he looked around, but found nothing else, and the metal pipe was useless, thus he decided that he would be loyal to his whip for today. So he raised his hand, and as another crack echoed through the room as the whip slashed through the air, the chains holding Kai's wrists broke and Kai ran, and the whip met his back once again for the umpteenth time that night.

"YOU! You have caused enough trouble, Kai! Get out! Get out of the way! GET THE HELL OUT OF THE WAY!" Voltaire screamed, uttering a colorful string of curses as he kicked the bloodied body once, twice, thrice, for Kai had threw his arms around Tyson's figure, holding him close and crying his fear out, his tears falling freely for the first time in a very long time.

Then Voltaire raised his whip and slashed, and Kai cried, hoping Tyson would wake up, but at the same time, hoping that he would stay asleep so that he would never see a scene such as this.

"Tyson... Tyson... I'm sorry. I haven't been able to protect you properly. But I will, this time. I promise. Tyson, I promise." Kai took a deep breath then continued, his voice merely a whisper, and his words jumping every time another slash was added to his back. Then his vision dimmed and he panicked, "Tyson, do you hear me? I'll protect you. I will. I promise I will." His voice sounded desperate now, he didn't know why he was desperate.

Maybe... Maybe it was because to protect Tyson means paying Mrs. Granger back. For all the kindness she's shown him. For all the sacrifices she took for him. For everything.

But...

Kai knew it wasn't that.

It was because...

Tyson, do you hear me? Tyson?

"TYSON! KAI!"

Whose voice was that? Who's that? Why did the slashes stop? Why did the laughing stop? Whose voice was that? What was his name again? Kenny, was it?

Kai closed his eyes.

Tyson, do you hear me?

I love you.

"Tyson? Wake up, Tyson... Tyson?" No response. "Tyson? Tyson! TYSON, WAKE UP!" Nothing.

Max sighed, slumping back in the chair beside Tyson's hospital bed sulkily with a pout. He looked at Rei with an apologetic expression and a sheepish smile, "He won't wake up. You know him."

Rei laughed, scratching the back of his head. "I guess we should just give up. Besides, we're not allowed to disturb him in the first place." He winked at the blonde, who snickered, remembering how they had escaped the nurse who tried to lecture them about visitors and patients. They hoped that the nurse loved the 'Hey-look-it's-Mickey-Mouse' trick. She was actually stupid enough to have fallen for that. Poor girl.

Max stood up and stretched, jumping a bit just to stop the strain in his muscles for sitting in the room for three hours already. "It's so boring, though. Tyson won't wake up, so nothing's eventful, really."

"Speaking of eventful..." Rei mused loudly, this time looking serious, "How's Kai?"

Max paused, "I think Chief told us that Kai was alright too, still sleeping as well. But he's gonna be in the hospital for weeks or months, probably. And he'll be sent somewhere where people will teach him to get over his trauma or what. After that, he may be sent to an orphanage."

"Well, he is still underage." The neko-jin stated, before sighing sadly, "I don't want him to end up in an orphanage. I don't think Kai would like to be taught to get over his trauma as well."

"Me, too." The blonde frowned, "I wish we could do something for him, though. After all this, Tyson wouldn't want to be separated from the guy, too. And you know Ty... He's gonna do everything to get what he wants."

Rei smiled slightly, "Better be ready for some chaos, huh?"

"You bet."

"GUYS!" Suddenly, the door opened, and collided with the wall loudly, and although Rei and Max winced at the noise, Tyson didn't barely did so much such as flinch. Kenny ran in the room, clutching his shirt where his heart was and panting loudly. "Kai -- I went to check up on him and -- Kai -- he's..."

"Chief? What? What happened?"

Kenny cast them a panicked look, "I can't find Kai anywhere!"

Kai walked through the empty hallway, the tapping of his bare feet on the ground echoing through the walls. He reached the second to the last room and paused, his hand hovering above the handle of the door. Then he sighed, and put down his hand, and cursed himself for being a coward. Sighing, he ran a hand through his hair, but paused as his hand passed over the smooth texture of the bandage around his head, and he closed his eyes, and remembered the image of the metal pipe connecting with Tyson's head again and again. So he grabbed the handle and pushed.

Once inside, the first thing he saw was Voltaire's sleeping body in the middle of the room covered in white cloth with only the head out in the open air. His wrists were handcuffed to the sides of the bed, courtesy of the policemen who arrested him. The handcuffs followed him from his mansion to the hospital, because he simply refused to sit and stay still for even just a few minutes. At first, the doctors and nurses who were in charge of him were patient, for they were taught to be patient with their patients, but even they got annoyed and injected him with medicine to make him sleep.

The next thing Kai saw was a small rectangular machine at the side of the bed, the screen showing green zigzags upwards, downwards, upwards then downwards. Then connected to another machine were the paddles, two of them side by side, looking so harmless. And somewhere in the room, Kai spotted a clean, white cloth. So pure.

So he grabbed the cloth and returned back to the bed, and implanting the image of the metal pipe to his mind, he gazed coldly at Voltaire's solid face for the last time and with the cloth in hand, he forced open the man's mouth and shoved the white cloth in it.

Voltaire's eyes snapped open.

Kai glared straight in his eyes. "You are not my grandfather." And grabbing the paddles, he rubbed them together, savoring the sweet image of Voltaire writhing and trashing in front of him madly, his arms pulling at the handcuffs, his feet flailing wildly in the air and the bed rocking back and forth, side to side. The man's voice going up his throat, but not coming out of his mouth. His tongue effortlessly tried to push the cloth away, but to no use. Then Kai remembered the times when he would be the one writhing, shaking and trembling, and so he enjoyed the fear evident in Voltaire's face. It was a first, and he took great pleasure in it immensely.

Then he lowered the paddles, and settled both of them parallel on the man's chest. And pushed.

Voltaire's body jumped as his eyes widened so much that it looked as if they were about to jump out of their sockets. He tried to scream, but ended up choking himself in the process. So he waited in pain as his body stopped lapsing, and stared fearfully at Kai, and wondered just how much their roles have changed.

"That one was for me." Kai spoke, his voice a whisper, but he made sure Voltaire heard it. He didn't know if he was guilty or not, if he was supposed to be guilty or not, but he wanted to do this, and now that he'd started it, he wanted to finish it.

"This..." He continued, placing the paddles at the same position as before, and pushed. "one is for Mrs. Granger."

Voltaire's body shook for the second time, his body jumping off the bed slightly, then limping as it touched the mattress. Electricity worked through his veins, his whole body felt like shaking, but at the same time not. He felt pain, but then again, he felt numb. He tried to scream yet again, but proceeded to choke himself further.

"Don't worry." Kai spoke, malice and sarcasm in his voice. "This kind of thing must run in the family. Aren't you proud?" He remembered the night a few days ago, when he was crying and screaming and wondered if he should be embarrassed. Then he shook his head, and continued, "This will be the last one, because..."

"This," He lowered the paddles, and Voltaire shook his head from side to side, fear and panic gripping his heart and the only thing in his mind was death. He spoke against the cloth, but his words were absorbed, and muffled cries were heard throughout the room, but Kai closed his hearing as he pushed for the last time. "Is for Tyson."

Voltaire's body jumped again, then continued on shaking uncontrollably, because unlike before when Kai put the paddles, he immediately pulled it up again, but this time, he kept the paddles on the man's chest. And so Voltaire let out a muffled scream followed by a spasm, his body jumping and his voice once again going up his throat but unable to get out of his mouth. And he screamed, and screamed, and the cloth chocked him further, and by the time Kai raised the paddles, Voltaire was dead.

And so Kai closed the man's eyes, returned the cloth to where it was, returned the paddles to their original positions and left the room without a word.

"Kai!" Kenny rushed over to him with a relieved smile, panting as he wiped the sweat from his forehead, "We were so worried! What are you doing out here! You're supposed to be resting! With your wounds and all, I'm surprised you can even stand up!"

At that, Kai looked at him weirdly, then shook his head, remembering that the Chief doesn't know, though he expected that everyone would have known by now, he thought bitterly. His whole life lived in low profile, but now, so much for low profile. He nodded gratefully at Kenny, before walking pass him to show that he wanted to return to his room.

Kenny, however, followed and began checking his notebook, "Kai, do you know what happens now?"

"Yes." Kai closed his eyes and shrugged, "This is where everything ends." And he walked away, leaving a dumbfounded Kenny behind.

He escaped Voltaire, earned freedom finally after all those years of torture. But he entered a new kind of cage by killing a man, and somehow, sooner or later, the authorities would know and hunt him down. Though Kai didn't care for that, what plagued him the most was that: Tyson wouldn't want to be with a murderer.

And he didn't need to ask, the conflict in Hokkaido was enough to give him proof.

He was the grandson of a murderer, and now he is a murderer. Voltaire's dead, now it's his turn. He didn't really need to kill himself, he was already dead a long time ago, but when Tyson came, he just managed to hold on the brink of death because Tyson was there, but now...

This is where everything ends.

KK: Okay, I can tell this is going to be one lengthy author's note, so I apologize. First of all, I want to say I'm sorry for having all of you wait for freaking 3 months. More than 3 months, actually. As you can tell, our internet got cut, our computer crashed, our computer was fixed, then crashed again and we were told that it's really, really dead. -stabs- and sooo... We've been using dad's laptop every time he brings it home on weekends, but it doesn't have internet. Just recently we managed to connect to the internet using this laptop. XD And now dad brings it home every day, so yeah...

I can't write properly on paper, I mean, if I write a story in paper, it usually sucks, so I waited until there was a computer. I have to admit that I was mostly lazy, really, for those three months. -hides- I didn't even get to greet all of you Merry Christmas, Happy New Year and Happy Valentines, so... uh... belated Merry Christmas, Happy New Year and Happy Valentines Day. XD And another reason was I'm graduating in March 31! -insert cheering here- Yay for me. o.O

Okay, enough of me, here's a few notes for this chapter: I hope you're all happy with the length of this chappie, because I understand the last one was short. :3 I think the first part was exaggerated... but I like it, nonetheless. XD And I hope you understood what I tried to say with the paddles thing... I wasn't sure what to call it, paddles or panels. And I have to admit, the paddles thing was not my idea. I just can't remember whose story it was that I read, but it was a Gundam Wing one. I included the cloth, because I didn't know if the paddles thing could kill you, so it's up to your imagination which got Voltaire killed. The paddles or by suffocation.

And yes, I told you that this was going to be the last chapter, but I couldn't resist. I wanted one more cliff-hanger. 3 Don't worry, I'll make sure I post the next chapter up soon. -glomps each and every one reviewer- I wouldn't have made this far without you! Please review!