Authors Note: I started writing this chapter back in the summer of 2021, so constructive criticism would be appreciated.
Beyblade Burst is not owned by me. Please Support the official release.
"Let it rip!" Wu Kong bounced along the bottom of the stadium, before evening out in the middle. "Dang it."
"Try not to angle the launcher so much," Free said. "Then it won't bounce as much at the start of the battle."
"Okay," I reached down to scoop up Wu Kong. "Let's try that again." It felt a little warmer. I took my blading stance again.
"Your stance is wrong," he said.
"Then could you help me?" At that, Free turned scarlet. Why was he blushing? He walked behind me, then tentatively placed his arms behind mine. My cheeks burned. I could feel Free's chin brushing my hair. True, we had done this as kids, but we weren't kids anymore.
"Try again," he said. I was so lost in my thoughts, I didn't realize that he had finished and was looking away. I turned away and took a deep breath.
"Let it rip!" Launching my bey, Wu Kong landed into the stadium running. Or rather spinning very quickly. It circled around the stadium before settling into the center. I checked my watch. "Hey, it's already 11."
"See ya then," His tone indicated a slight disappointment.
"Where are you going today?" I asked. We had the weekends off from training unless there was a match that week.
Free began walking towards the door. "That's for you to find out and me to know." I followed him and recalled many of my memories with him. All of them for some reason took place in the forest. So it would make sense that…
"You're going to Central Park," I guessed. "Because it reminds you of the forests behind BC Sol." He didn't say anything, so I took that as a yes.
Wanna come?" he asked suddenly.
"Sure," I shrugged.
The birds were singing. The flowers were blooming. On days like this, kids like you…should be going outside and getting exercise. Anyways, we were walking through Central Park, exploring the different paths and streets. There were a couple of main concrete paths, but many dirt paths branching off from the main avenues.
"This kind of reminds me of when I was first exploring the forest with you," I said. Free's arm twitched slightly and continued walking. What's up with him? I wondered. As I was thinking about this, something caught my eye. A part of the trees that lined all of the paths was slightly less grown in. I could see there used to be a path there.
"Hey look," I told Free. "Wonder where that leads?"
"Sure," he said, which didn't make any sense, before walking into the forest. I sighed and followed him.
Most of the path had been covered by grass, with vines hanging down and crisscrossing in the air. Sunlight could barely penetrate the thick foliage. Soon, however, the path led to a clearing.
The area was eerily similar to the stadium Free and I used to hang out during the summer. They were almost identical, with the same layout and marble columns.
I was about to mention this out loud when a thought crossed my mind. Why had he been acting so weird whenever I mentioned BC Sol? Come to think of it, why had he left? The last time I had asked him, he gave a very non-committal answer.
"Free?" I asked slowly. "Why did you le-I mean to join the Raging Bulls? And give me a real answer for once." I had tried to reword the question so that he wouldn't notice what I was trying to get at. It didn't work. He stiffened up again and his face hardened, his eyebrows knit, confirming my suspicions. I suddenly felt a pang of guilt and shame. I had just thrown those words out willy-nilly without thinking about how they would affect Free. I looked away, unable to see the hurt on his face. Then I got angry that I felt ashamed. Why should I? He's the one who disappeared.
"It's fine," he said. Confused, I looked up. "As you said, a lot changed."
"What does that…" I trailed off, the meaning slowly dawning on me. "Oh, sorry. I…didn't realize this would be a touchy subject."
Free shrugged. "It's cool,"
"No, it's not!" I snapped. I wasn't too sure where this was coming from. "It's obvious that something is bothering you and I refuse to let it go!" There was a pause. Then Free started to laugh. It was a small chuckle, and it was very unlike him. I was just about to say something very angry when he asked to battle. I agreed, reluctantly, mostly because it was a good way to vent my frustration.
"3! 2! 1 ! Let it rip!" Instead of circling the outside, Wu Kong drove straight for the center. Bam! I (we?) managed to push back Fafnir from the center. That same aura that had appeared a few weeks ago began to envelop me. Red tinged my eyes.
"We are not losing this!" I decided out loud. "Go!" The shadow of something rose out of Wu Kong, but it was more defined, and I was able to see the edges of….a tail? I shook it off. Ding! Fafnir was slammed into the wall.
"Go Fafnir!" Free said. He was surrounded by that yellow light I had seen before. Another shadow emerged from Fafnir, with the outline of a claw. "Drain Spin!" As Fafnir came into contact with my bey, it managed to drain some of the spin, as it wasn't in its defensive form.
"Now!" I ordered. As Fafnir circled back for another attack, Wu Kong built up momentum and began to move back to the edge of the stadium.
"You really think that'll work?" Free smirked. "Block them." Fafnir closed in on Wu Kong and slammed it to the side. I was on the verge of panic. How was I supposed to beat him this time? I took a deep breath and closed my eyes. I couldn't let him get to me. When I opened them again, my head felt clearer. The red tinge in my eyes had cleared.
"Wu Kong, stop Fafnir in its tracks!" I said. Bang! The two beys bounced away from each other, both quickly losing energy. Come on! I think. Hold out a little longer! Unfortunately, that wouldn't be the case. Wu Kong clattered to the ground first, with Fafnir falling soon afterward.
I slumped to the ground in defeat. All of the energy from the anger was gone, replaced with a cold and empty feeling. I felt like crying. Even after all this time, I still couldn't beat him. Even after rising to the theoretical top, I still couldn't win. If you couldn't beat him, why did you think you could beat Free? A voice in my head whispered.
Footsteps came towards me. They stopped, and I felt arms surrounding me. I glanced up to see Free's chest in my face. Had he….hugged me? This was very unlike him. I wrapped my arms around him and began to cry. The warmth and familiar smell of the forest broke down any self-control I had left.
We stayed there for a couple of minutes, letting all of the tears out. I managed to get out "I missed you."
"Me too," he responded while hooking his hands under my arms, helping me up. I wiped off the excess tears and went over to pick up Wu Kong when I found that it wasn't there anymore. I turned around to see Free holding out his hand with Wu Kong in his palm.
"Here," he said.
"You want to head back for dinner?" I asked Free. "Or you wanna find somewhere?" Free shrugged indifferently.
"Alright, a restaurant it is," Scrolling through Google Maps, I decided to bring him to a local cafe I had discovered the previous weeks. "Come on!" I grabbed his wrist and began to drag him forward.
"Woah!" he yelped uncharacteristically.
"Come on Ghost Boy, we don't have all day," I said. He seemed to sigh in defeat. We were lucky that the cafe was close by, as it began to rain really heavily. Droplets the size of my hands began to fall from the sky. I was a bit lucky, as I was wearing a hoodie. Unfortunately, Free wasn't, so he was soaked.
We soon arrived at the cafe. Free's hair was flattened and dripping with water. The rest of his clothes were not too wet, just damp. I was relatively dry, but my hoodie was half soaked. Feeling uncomfortable, I pulled off my hoodie to reveal a gray workout shirt. I tied it around my waist
"You good?" I asked. Free nodded, although he seemed to be shivering slightly. "Okay then." I opened the door, to reveal an 80's style cafe, with a darkish atmosphere and dark-tinted glass separating the booths.
"Jing!" one of the waitresses called. She had goldish brown hair and brown eyes; she was wearing a dress shirt with black pants that were a bit big for her. "How ya doing?"
"Fine," I responded quietly. When she walked over. Please don't say it please don't say it! I quietly plead.
"Who's this?" she asked. Oh, thank god she didn't ask if he was my boyfriend. That would have made the situation very awkward. We had kind of become friends again, but our relationship status was still unclear.
"I'm a friend," Free said.
"Oh alright then," she quickly went over to the hostess stand and grabbed two menus. "I'm Argo and I'll be ya' server tonight." She waved us over to a booth towards the corner. As we sat down, I noticed Free was studying Argo.
"You're not from here," he guessed. Argo leaned towards me.
"Your friend's a lot faster than you," she muttered with a smirk. I swatted her annoyedly. She turned back to Free, who was idly looking at the menu with his signature expression of boredom. "' M from Japan, just going by Argo." After a moment of pause, she pulled out a notepad. "What can I get ya ta drink?"
"Water," I said. Free grunted in confirmation.
"Kay Ji-chan," said Argo as she turned away.
"Don't call me that!" I grumbled. It was quiet after that. We sat there looking through the options.
"You good?" I asked Free. He seemed to be zoning out. When he didn't respond, I sighed and clapped his face. "Earth to Free." He looked back at me.
"You know what you're getting?" I crossed my arms. "You know, the whole point of a restaurant is to get food."
"Done," he put the menu in front of my face. I pulled it down and moved closer.
"Good," I leaned back, then suddenly realized someone was standing next to us.
"So, what's the mighty Free De La Hoya doing here?" Argo smiled mischievously. "Looking fo' a private place ta…." she looked between us. "Get down to business?" It took a moment for those words to sink in. My face went through at least 50 different shades of red, ending at a light pink.
"Geez Argo," I muttered, trying to act unaffected while pushing her slightly, almost causing her to spill the two water glasses she had in her hands. I sat back down to find Free staring at the table.
"Can we just order?" I asked.
"Don't be afraid to come back," Argo winked. I grumbled.
"Come on Free," I grabbed his hand and began to drag him out of the restaurant.
"And don't forget to bring back ya boyfriend!"
"ARGO!" I moved much more quickly until we were standing outside underneath a streetlight. I sighed.
"Sorry Free," I apologized.
"You two are good friends," he noted.
I waited for a second. "Continue…." he shrugged.
"She likes you," he didn't elaborate further even as I pestered him all the way back to the tower. When we entered through the backdoor with the keys we were given, Free turned.
"Good night?" I said.
"Sure," he then turned back and began to walk up the stairs.
"Hey!" I called. "Are you ever going to tell me?" he stopped.
"That's for you to figure it out," he continued up the stairs. I stood there for a few minutes, trying to piece together what he had meant. I'll figure it out tomorrow. I decided, before trudging up the stairs.
When I sat down on my bed, I immediately realized that I wouldn't be able to sleep. I had too many things on my mind, too many questions. So I decided to lie there just staring at the ceiling. Still silent. Still the same an hour later. Two hours now.
Eventually, I decided to move to the fire escape. Opening the window, I glanced around to find nothing but air. I gently slipped outside and sat on the edge, looking down. New York felt different at night, with all of the bustling and lights muted by the darkness of the sky. I could still hear the noise of the city, but it felt quieter. I felt the night breeze on my face.
The atmosphere gave me time to think. To think about other things. I pulled out my phone, realizing I hadn't contacted my parents yet. I checked my phone to find no voicemails or missed calls from them. I sighed. Typical. They were always too busy with work; my dad was always at his office or on the phone; my mom was busy with filming or voice recording.
I dialed my mom's number and put it to my ear. I was soon sent to voicemail. She was probably busy, re-shooting a scene for a new movie.
"Hey mom," I said, leaving her a message. "I was just calling to tell you that I'm fine, and I have been enjoying my time in New York." I paused for a moment, deciding whether I should tell her about Free. She probably knew about it already though. "That's it. Miss you, bye." I hung up and put away my phone. My parents had been ignoring me for the past few weeks. Not by their fault, but the lives they led left little room for me now. Practically speaking, I only had Free left.
A tear landed on the sidewalk.