Disclaimer: I don't own Beyblade or any of its characters.

Beyblade

Broken Down Ghost House

By: Plushie-Sensei

Chapter 3: More To The Story

There was a small knock, not too loud, so it was difficult for someone to wake up to something so small. Another knock, but this time louder, came and went. It came and went every now and then. A loud thump and Max opened his eyes. He sat up in his bed, looking to the side, seeing Tyson sleeping in his own bed, arms and legs sprawled out in an unruly manner.

'Well, Tyson seems to have adjusted nicely,' Max thought, smiling in exasperation to the loud snoring coming from said boy. Soon the thumping sound came again, making Max start. He looked up seeing the chandelier shake a bit with a few specks of dust floating away from it. Something was running around up stairs, but without a clock, Max couldn't tell if it was too early or too late for them to be doing that. He wondered why people would be running around at this time anyways, since it still looked dark. He suddenly heard children's laughter floating around upstairs. He sighed. 'Kids...' he thought, getting back under the covers. He soon fell asleep, the laughter dimming down a bit. The chandelier stopped shaking, and the dust settled, and above that? An empty hallway... Though the children's laughter didn't stop...

The sun shone high in the sky the next morning and a wonderful scent floated through the house as a woman prepared breakfast in the kitchen. At the front desk, Mary prepared papers and organized and Mr. Maple sat on the porch, a pipe in his mouth. In the dining area a young girl with narrow black eyes and short black hair put plates down, nodding when she deemed her work acceptable. She didn't smile even though she seemed satisfied and brushed some dust off of her maid dress, reaching over to a mantle to retrieve her duster. She soon disappeared into a doorway, dusting as she went along.

Meanwhile, upstairs, the Blade Breakers were waking up from their unusually peaceful slumber. Kenny and Hilary were up and dressed and Tyson and Max were ready to eat, but the other two team members were barely opening their eyes to the new day.

Kai stirred in his sleep as he heard footsteps in the hall, and voices he recognized as Tyson and the others. 'At least they're all still alive...' he thought, as cheerful as ever. He yawned a bit and stretched his numbed muscles then laid back down on his side. He opened his eyes again, but this time met with Rei's sleeping face. Kai blinked in surprise, forgetting that Rei had been in his bed rather than his -Rei's- own. He continued to stare at the boy for a while, watching the peaceful face with a raised eyebrow. Rei moved slightly, his shoulder coming closer to his chin, making a small lock of dark hair fall over his nose. Kai blinked a few times before hesitantly reaching over to remove the lock. Kai marveled at the softness of just a few strands, holding them a bit longer than he originally intended. He carefully pushed the hair behind the boy's ear, his fingers lingering on the slightly pointed tip.

It was amazing how inhuman Rei looked, though he acted the most human out of all of them; or how a human should act. He was the kindest of them all, always putting others before himself, and always knew where his loyalties lie. Kai glanced to his hand which had taken residence on Rei's soft cheek, unbeknownst to himself. He would've snatched his hand away, but the small movement of Rei's smile kept his hand there. Kai's chest went cold then, feeling strange. Why was he being so tender to Rei all of a sudden? Falling for his antics on getting him to let them come here in the first place, and wanting to jump in the water to save him? Offering to carrying him the entire way to their bedroom, and allowing him to sleep in his bed? It confused Kai, his own actions and not caring what he did. It was unusual for him to allow someone to affect him this way.

"Kai?" came Rei's raspy voice. Kai gulped, slowly pulling his hand away from Rei's face. He sat up as Rei did the same, rubbing his eyes in a cute manner. Kai gave him a glare, though it was softer than he intended.

"What?" he asked, rather than barked. Kai mentally growled, wanting to sound more fierce than that. Rei looked around, a sleep ridden look in his eyes.

"Where are we?" he asked suddenly. Kai groaned.

"At the hotel," he said through gritted teeth. Rei nodded.

"Oh," he said. Kai watched him for a while, wondering what he'd do next. He nearly fell out of bed when Rei lied back down, yawning a 'goodnight'. Kai growled again and threw off the covers, instantly regretting so as a rush of cold air hit both him and Rei. He, once again, almost fell off his bed as Rei threw himself into Kai. Rei tightly wrapped his arms around Kai's waist, hollering about being freezing and surrounded by water. He sounded so childish, though Kai couldn't blame him. Kai sighed, once again, allowing Rei to cling to him. He waited until Rei calmed down.

"Rei, there is no water here. Yes, it's cold, but there's no water." Rei looked up, still holding tightly onto Kai, his expression changing from whiny to relieved.

"Are you sure?" he asked. Kai couldn't believe this and almost slapped himself in annoyance.

"Yes, I'm sure," he said, trying to sound as patient as possible. Rei looked down, pressing his cheek against Kai's stomach, not wanting to let go just yet. He could feel his stomach rumble silently, mentally guessing that Kai was feeling rather hungry. "I'm pretty sure breakfast is ready now, Rei. We should probably get dressed and go eat." Rei nodded, hesitantly relinquishing his grip on Kai's abdomen. Once Kai was free, he stood up and began to change. Rei sat there, his hands in his lap, and his head down. Inside, he felt guilty for being such a burden to Kai. He knew Kai was already busy trying to help himself... No matter how selfish that sounded... "Are you going to get dressed or what?" Kai asked, buckling his belt, and grabbing his shirt. Rei's eyes lidded as he fell forward on the bed, looking like he couldn't move anymore.

"I don't feel so good..." he murmured against the soft sheets. Kai fixed his gloves on his hands, then folded his arms over his chest.

"How so?" he sighed. Rei mused over his pains...

"My stomach hurts, I have a headache, my ankle hurts, and it kind of hurts when I breathe..." Rei glanced up at Kai watching him as he watched him back.

"You should eat something then," he said, walking toward the door.

"But-"

"You'd get rid of your headache and stomachache if you ate something. You can deal with anything else afterwards." Rei watched as Kai opened the door and stepped out. He did NOT want to be left alone in this house.

"Wait!" he yelled, reaching out while standing on his knees. Kai stopped just as he rounded the corner, his eyes darkened. Rei told him to wait once before, and because he didn't, Rei ended up falling into the water. He let out a sigh. A part of him wanted to stay anyways; for some reason unknown to him...

"Alright..." he mumbled, grumpily turning around. He stopped in front of the door when he heard footsteps behind him. He turned around seeing a shadow coming up the steps. Kai's eye narrowed at the weird formation it made, some kind of light making the shadow dance, making it nearly impossible to tell who or what it was. Kai's heart rate sped up a bit as a young girl with short black hair walked up, a candle in hand. She made her way to a darkened lamp attached to the wall, and took off the covering. She lit the candle inside, then replaced the covering, turning her attention then to Kai.

"Breakfast is ready downstairs... Your friends have started without you," she said, her voice monotone, and slightly scratchy. Kai nodded looking a bit confused. She was dressed in a simple maid uniform, and her face held no expression what so ever. Almost like a doll. "Did you have a nice sleep?" she asked. It was intended to be friendly, but he couldn't help but felt a bit uneasy, since it held no emotion.

"I did..." Kai said, his voice edgy. The woman then bowed politely.

"I apologize for my rude behavior. My name is Evelyn and I will be happy to make you feel at home." She stood straight up in an almost robotic fashion.

"Okay..." Kai said and watched as she turned around and walked back toward the stairs.

"Kai," Rei whined. Kai looked up, his eyes narrowing as he saw Rei trying to free himself from the tangled sheets that had trapped him as he fell off the bed. "Help me..." he whined again. Kai could only shake his head in exasperation.

"You are really trying my patience, Rei..." Kai said -more so to himself- as he went to help the poor boy.

Max, Tyson, Kenny, and Hilary all sat happily eating a beautiful feast on an equally beautiful table. Tyson spooned the last of his rice into his mouth sighing with happiness at its exquisite taste. He turned to the three people standing near the table, one a young girl in a maid uniform -Evelyn- and another was a large sized woman dressed in all white with an apron and a chef's hat on. She had a pudgy face with a large friendly smile slapped right on. The last was the tall silent butler, George.

"This is great!" he said, talking to the obvious chef.

"Oh, I'm glad you like it, young man, and you can call me Mrs. Romanoff." Tyson blinked a couple times at her strange accent before nodding and smiled brightly.

"Okay!" Max however had a strange look. Hilary gave him a prod in the ribs.

"What's up?" she whispered. Max turned to her, motioning toward Mrs. Romanoff.

"I've heard that name before... I just- Never mind," he said, smiling. "Forget it." Hilary gave him an unsure look as he continued eating, but passed it off as she wanted to eat as well. Though little did Max know, he had heard that name from before, and if he remembered, it wouldn't have done much good to his sanity...

"Your name sounds Russian, Mrs. Romanoff, are you from Russia?" Kenny asked. Hilary looked up as well, Max peering over his bowl with interest.

"Indeed, I'm from Russia," she said. "I've been born in home country, but moved here for a good job. I've been here ever since," she mused. Max's eyes narrowed as he slurped up his noodles. He then remembered something.

"Hey, are there other guests here?" he asked. Evelyn looked up at this.

"Why do you ask, little one?" she asked, her voice still monotone. Max shrugged.

"It's just, I heard some kids upstairs from my room. They were laughing and such, but it was really late last night apparently," he said, rolling it over in his head. Evelyn drew in a breath and turned to Mrs. Romanoff and George.

"Don't worry about them, they're harmless," came Miss Mary's voice. Max turned around meeting with her friendly face and almost fainted from fright.

"Jesus!" Max yelped, holding a hand over his heart.

"Sorry 'bout that, lad," she smiled, standing behind Max and Hilary's chairs.

"So there are children here?" Kenny asked. Miss Mary brushed off the subject.

"Never mind that, so how's the food, folks?" she asked. Tyson howled in delight as another serving of chicken was dropped onto his plate, sidetracking everyone.

"The food..." Tyson breathed. "Is wonderful..." Hilary groaned deciding it better to just finish her food as Kenny did the same. Max however, had millions of thoughts running through his mind. He had heard of Mrs. Romanoff before, and he was determined to find out where and when he'd heard of her exactly.

Rei fixed his shirt glaring at Kai as the two of them made their way down the stairs.

"You know where you're going right?" Rei asked, still messing with his shirt. Kai merely closed his eyes for a moment, then opened them again, picking up the pace. Rei watched him walk faster with a menacing glare. 'Jeez... Kai's sure being a jerk this morning...'

The two of them made their way into the front room and was greeted by Evelyn.

"This way..." she motioned, pointing toward a large set of doors beside her. The front desk was empty again, as Kai noticed. That girl was almost never there... Kai turned away following the other two inside of the other room, where everyone was dining on breakfast.

Upon arrival, Kai and Rei took their seats and began to eat quietly while the others continued their idle chit-chat with the employees. Rei looked around, this being his first time out of the bedroom, while conscious, that is. The whole place had an old feeling to it, like the house had been standing for centuries after centuries. Dark reds, browns, and golds accented the house while everything was kept rather tidy. A few places did have dust, and down the hall from their room had a strange door, covered in dark red blotches. Rei didn't even bother questioning what that was all about.

"Did you sleep well, Rei?" Rei looked down to see Max smiling at him, Hilary doing the same. He blushed, knowing he was staring into space.

"Yes..." he said quietly, then returned to his plate. Kai watched Rei do this, then turned to the employees. He still had questions for them...

"Mr. Hiwatari, could I have a word with you?" Kai stopped in his tracks as the others followed Evelyn on a tour of the rest of the house. Kai's eyes darted to the side as Miss Mary walked up from behind him.

"What about?" he asked, turning toward her. Miss Mary lips curled into a knowing smirk. At this time, Rei turned, feeling his back go cold. He saw Miss Mary walking up to Kai with a smirk, placing a hand on his shoulder. Rei stepped forward, but was dragged back as Max and Tyson grabbed his arms.

"Wait, what are you- Kai," Rei called, but was suddenly dragged into the next room, and the doors were closed.

"You wanted to know about what exactly is going on, right?" Miss Mary probed, walking around Kai, her hand trailing behind her across his chest. Kai's eyes narrowed as he watched her finish her antics then walk to the center of the room.

"I do..." he said, turning toward her. Miss Mary turned toward him as well.

"Well, then I'll tell you... This mansion was built centuries ago by a young girl after her family was killed by pirates. She lived here all alone, until one day... as fate would have it, she died..." Kai listened to her tale as she admired her surroundings.

"And..." he urged. Miss Mary gave a lonely smile.

"She died and there was no one to take care of her house. It was abandoned, but there was one who came soon after and attempted to make her house a tourist attraction. But you see... it turns out, he died soon after. His employees found his dead body hanging in this very room," she pointed upwards to the chandelier as Kai glanced up.

"What's the story for?" Kai asked, wanting her to get to the point. Miss Mary sensed his anxiety.

"People say that to this very day... the owner of this mansion... still lives here..." she said, slowly turning to look at him. Kai stared at her, his eyes widening.

"Still...? How is that possible?" he asked. Miss Mary's face held an empty feeling as she stared at him.

"She walks these very halls... There's a reason why we haven't had guests in a while... I'll tell you, if you want to know... exactly what's going to happen... to you and your friends..." Kai's eyes widened more as he spun on his heel, looking at the closed door his friends had walked through. His breathing grew quicker as did his heart beat as he looked on at the door with a horrified expression.

"Rei..."

"Wow, this place is huge!" Tyson exclaimed as they made their way down the hallway.

"This way leads to the ballroom. Back in the day it was used for lavish parties that various aristocrats attended from many different countries. It's closed now, though..." Evelyn explained. Kenny looked up at this.

"Why is it closed?" Evelyn looked back at him.

"Reconstruction..." she said in a low tone. Kenny gulped quietly, sensing that there may be more to the story. Behind him followed Rei, then Tyson and Hilary, and taking up the rear was Max. Max continued to look down at the ground, still pondering over Mrs. Romanoff.

'I swear, I've seen her somewhere before...' he thought, frowning. He stopped suddenly, as his shoelace fell to the side of his shoe. "Darn shoelaces..." Max cursed, leaning down to tie it. The others, however, did not stop and continued their way down the hall.

"Here we are, ladies and gentlemen; the grand ballroom." Evelyn opened very large double doors and soon they were standing on a balcony overlooking a very large room.

"Wow!" Hilary breathed, then grabbed Tyson's arm and dragged him down the stairs to their right. "Come on, Tyson, let's dance!"

"Dance! What are you- Wah!" Hilary giggled happily dragging Tyson down one way, while Evelyn turned the other way to the set of stairs on the left, Rei and Kenny following. Rei looked around at the old, dust covered ballroom with uneasiness. The curtains were tattered and the large rug down the middle was shambled. Many windows were cracked and a slight breeze blew in from them. Not to mention the large family portrait overlooking the whole area...

"Where's Max?" Rei turned to Kenny whom was fixing his glasses atop his head, peering around. Rei turned to Tyson and Hilary. Hilary was making Tyson dance with her, in which Tyson didn't seem to like very much, though he wasn't complaining verbally. Hilary on the other hand seemed to be having the time of her life.

"I don't know," Rei said, turning to Evelyn. "But maybe she-"

"I don't know where your friend went. Maybe, he should stay closer to the group next time. Don't panic, though, I'm sure George or even Mr. Maple will find him. Relax and enjoy the tour," she said, walking toward the opposite end of the room. Kenny followed close behind but Rei stayed put. Something didn't feel right about this room... But there was nothing he could do, so after a while he followed as well.

Max stood and sighed. He opened his eyes and raised his brow. There was no one in front of him.

"Tyson? Hilary? Rei, Chief? Where did everybody go?" Max took a step forward just as a rumble sounded behind him. He snapped around, looking down the empty hall way. There was nothing there. Max gulped slightly turning forward.

'Get a hold of yourself, Max,' he thought, shaking his head. Then, with a nod, he trekked forward, but it wasn't long until the rumble sounded again. Max stopped, but didn't turn around this time. His shoulders shook slightly with fright, but he paid no mind and began to walk forward again. Max slowly passed a door to his right and continued along his way. A set of large double doors were ahead. Perhaps the gang went through them?

Suddenly a slam resounded behind him, making him turn around quickly. He looked around and once again, found nothing.

"That sounded an awful lot like..." Max turned his head to the door now on his left, watching with terror as it clicked open. "... A door..." he finished gulping in the process. He watched as the door slowly opened until it was wide enough for someone to fit through. He found his feet unconsciously making their way toward the open door, though his heart was beating so fast his legs started cramping. Max made it to the door after an excruciatingly long while and slowly peeked in. It was an old room with a fireplace and covered furniture. He let out a breath, smiling a bit.

'I really need to calm down...' he mentally scolded. He leaned back to leave, but something he didn't even expect occurred. Two hands were placed firmly against his back, making him halt, his body going cold. Within seconds he was pushed in and the door was closed. Max bolted up and ran towards the door, grabbing the knob. After a second or two of struggling he gave up. It was locked.

"What's going on here?" he asked, backing up. He heard a shuffle come from his side and turned to one of the furniture pieces covered in the white cloth. He eyed it suspiciously. The rocking chair was what caught his attention. Under the cloth, it looked like something had stationed itself. Max moved toward the chair shaking as it rocked slowly back and forth, due to the wind coming in from the cracked window. He took step after step, slowly and carefully, but stopped as one particular gust blew the sheet a bit more than the rest, making the chair rock further back. Max stopped completely as the rocking chair slowly teetered back and a hand slid out from under it. Max paled considerably as he watched the hand, bare of its skin and meat, hang from under the cloth.

His eyes were wide and his shoulders shook even more as he backed up toward the window. The bone hanging from the rocking chair twitched suddenly making Max's hair stand on end. He could hardly breathe as he watched with unmatched horror. The rocking chair stopped and the cloth slowly rose until it stood a good foot taller than Max himself.

Max backed up further as the wind blew behind him from the window toward the creature in front of him. He gasped, covering his gaped mouth as the cloth hugged the creature's being, revealing a skull and nothing but bones underneath. A sickening cracking noise echoed throughout the room as the skeleton inched toward him. Max's back soon came in contact with the windowsill behind him. He looked behind him, seeing a good drop. He was unfortunately on the second floor...

Max turned back around, silencing as the creature looked down at him, from right in front of him. Time seemed to stop as Max stared back at the emptiness behind the cloth. Then, the skeleton's hand rose and Max's eyes dilated.

Outside the house one of the second story windows broke, glass shattering everywhere, and down went a body, hitting a bunch of crates below. Max lay on the broken crates, his eyes closed and a bleeding cut across the bridge of his nose. Above, in the window, the curtains blew slightly, and within seconds the creature disappeared from the vision the window allowed.

"I... can't die here..." Max whispered, feeling his body grow soothingly warm. He relaxed as his eyes opened a little. "Someone... find me..." he whispered again. Tears leaked from his eyes as a drip of blood trailed down his cheek. "Someone..."

Hilary looked up suddenly, her face showing slight confusion. Tyson stopped just before walking through the door with the others seeing Hilary turn around.

"What's up?" he asked. Hilary continued looking around as if looking for something.

"I thought I just heard... someone..." she said. Tyson watched the others walk away down the hall and his anxiousness grew.

"Okay, well come on, Hilary. Everybody's leaving," he said and turned around to see Hilary running back toward the stairs. "Hilary, what are you doing!" he yelled, running behind her.

"Something's wrong!" she said, looking frantic. Tyson wasn't so sure of what the problem was, but he followed anyways, in an attempt to stop her.

"Hilary, wait!" he said, grabbing her wrist. She continued to struggle, but he managed to wrap his arms around her waist from behind.

"Tyson, let me go!"

"Hold on, we can't get lost in here! Do you know how hard it'll be to find our way out? Something funny is going on here and I'm not about to-"

"Tyson, look," Tyson quieted as he looked over Hilary's shoulder to the large painting above the doors they'd entered earlier. The painting seemed normal enough; a portrait of a wealthy looking family, but something was wrong with one of the young girls in the picture. Her face was void of anything; eyes, mouth, nose. Her face was completely empty. "I could've sworn she had a face last time I saw that painting... Which was, like... five seconds ago...?" Tyson paled and backed away, pulling Hilary along with him as he went.

"I think we'd better catch up with the others." He turned quickly, taking Hilary's hand in his own, but stopped, Hilary bumping into his back.

"What now...?" she asked, rubbing her head. She looked down, then, feeling Tyson's hand gripping onto hers in a death lock, and he was very still. "Tyson?" she asked, and slowly looked past his shoulder. She instantly regretted doing so...

The door closed slowly and a small click could be heard signaling that it had locked itself. A small white hand positioned itself on the handle and attached to that was a young girl, her back facing the two. Hilary and Tyson watched as the young girl turned around, and to their horror, she had no face.

"Oh... my..." Hilary placed a hand over her mouth as the two backed up. The young girl began taking jerky steps toward the two as if one of her legs were made of wood. A sick cracking noise came from behind, making the startled two spin around to see the bodies of the people in the painting slowly fall out of the portrait picture. Once they hit the ground, the lifeless corpses began to pick themselves up. Hilary grabbed onto Tyson's arm, shaking wildly at the terrible scene in front of her, losing her mind with every advance of the beings. It was Tyson who brought her back.

"Come on!" he said, pulling her across the room, away from the girl and her 'family'.

"Where are we going!" Hilary yelled, looking back to see the people fall down the stairs in a clumsy manner. Tyson didn't answer, instead he kept running straight, until he saw a door to his right. He turned, pulling her with him, and they both made it to the door. Once on the other side, Tyson released Hilary and pulled random furniture pieces from the hallway and placed them in front of the door. He back up once he was sure there was enough and waited. Soon enough there was a slapping sound on the other side. It continued for a few seconds, but eventually died down, and Tyson could hear the 'creatures' walk away. He let out a heavy relieved sigh, then turned to Hilary. She was sitting on the floor staring straight ahead, looking absolutely terrified.

"Hilary?" he asked, kneeling down in front of her. She didn't move. Tyson waved a hand in front of her face, but she gave no reaction. He felt his pulse beat a few paces faster. He gently nudged her shoulder, but she continued to stare ahead, looking lifeless. Tyson breathed and raised his hands, placing them on either side of Hilary's face. Hilary's eyes twitched, which was a good sign. He moved closer, stopping just before her face making her breathe. "Hilary, look at me..." he said calmly. Hilary closed her eyes for a moment before opening them and looking into Tyson's eyes.

"They're still...?" she began, feeling her eyes well up with tears. Tyson shook his head, pressing his forehead against hers.

"They're gone, and they're not getting in here, okay?" he said, giving her a soft smile. Hilary stared at him for a moment before nodding. Tyson nodded back then stood, offering his hand to her. Hilary looked to the blocked off path behind them, then the hallway in front of them. She peered up at Tyson as she placed her hand in his and he pulled her up.

"S-so where do we go from here?" she asked, wrapping her arm around his bicep. Tyson shrugged, fixing his loosened cap.

"Forward, I guess..." he said, and they began walking forward down the lightless hallway...

TBC...