The Beast Within

Chapter 4

"Come on, Faye! Give me some help here!" Luna shouted from the kitchen, searching the cupboards for some chips or pop or something for their guests. "They'll be here soon!"

"No way. Find the stuff yourself," Faye grumbled from the living room. She flopped on the couch and closed her eyes, scowling with annoyance. "They're your guests so you can entertain them." She could feel herself becoming angrier by the second – it bubbled up until she felt like her head would explode if she didn't release it. Bad sign. She winced as she tried to calm herself.

"But Faye – Tess, for God's sake put the coffee down! You've had enough for the whole day already!" Luna yelled in frustration, chasing Tess around the kitchen. Faye opened her eyes a crack just in time to see Tess dart into the living room, clutching an empty coffee pot.

"But I've only finished one pot this morning!" Tess shouted defensively, brandishing the empty pot as evidence. "See? I haven't had very much!"

"Please shut up." Faye said in a strained voice. It fell on deaf ears.

"Not very much? Are you kidding me?"

"No, it's not very much! It's just one pot–"

"I said shut up!" Faye screamed furiously.

Tess and Luna cut off mid-argument, stunned into silence. Faye hardly ever raised her voice in anger and she'd never yelled at them like that before. Tess glanced quickly at Luna and set the coffee pot down, nervously taking a few steps toward the couch.

"I'm sure Luna wouldn't have said anything if she wasn't sure Kai could help you, Faye..." she said quietly.

Faye stared at the floor, trying to focus on her breathing, the sounds of passing traffic outside, anything that might distract her from the fury building inside her.

"I'm sorry, alright?" Luna sighed. "I know I'll never be able to say it enough times but I really am sorry. I should have asked you first. Please forgive me?"

Faye whipped her head up and glared at her friends, sparks dancing threateningly in her eyes. "Why?" she demanded, "You and Tess swore it would never be mentioned again, not even between us! And you–" she pointed at Tess, who cringed a bit under her fierce gaze, "You should have talked her out of it the second she told you about it in the park! I trusted you!" Unshed tears brimmed in her eyes as she tried to fight back the steadily building anger. "How could you go behind my back like this? Arrange some meeting with people who should just mind their own business? They won't understand! What makes you think they'd be any different from every other person who's found out?"

"But what if they can help?" Luna asked, taking a proactive step back.

"Why would they? Luna, I like it here!" Faye cried, leaping to her feet, "I don't want to be forced out of another home!!"

"But–"

"NO!! I'll deal with it on my own!"

A faint tapping noise was heard as someone knocked tentatively on the front door.

"GO AWAY!!" Faye shrieked, storming quickly out of the living room. A door slammed violently in the hallway a few seconds later.

-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --

Kenny hurriedly backed away from the door, hiding behind Kai. He had no idea why he was here and found himself wondering, not for the first time, why the hell he ever did what Kai asked without demanding a decent explanation first. In this case, all Kai had told him was that his expertise was needed to help someone. Kenny mentally rolled his eyes. Kai, you're so frustrating! Why do you have to be so vague all the time? Using Kai as a protective shield, Kenny cautiously eyed the door.

"Are you sure we're in the right place?" he mumbled.

"Of course." Kai smirked. "Don't tell me you're afraid of girls?"

"That's not it!" Kenny retorted defensively, adjusting his glasses, "It just sounds like we're not very welcome. Why are we here, anyway? What's so important that we have to risk our lives just to talk to a bunch of angry girls?"

"One angry girl."

The sound of footsteps approaching the other side of the door caused Kenny to duck behind Kai again.

"Oh, yeah," Kai mocked, "You're definitely not afraid of girls."

Kenny glared up at Kai and was just opening his mouth to tell him to shut up when the door swung open.

A tall girl with long, black hair and dark green eyes greeted them with an apologetic smile. "Hey Kai. Hey Kenny." She winced as something smashed against a wall further back in the apartment. "Sorry about that. She didn't take the news that you were coming very well."

"It's ok." Kai shrugged, shoving Kenny away. "I'm not a shield, wimp."

"Say what you want but it sounds like things are being thrown and I'd rather they hit you than me!" Kenny grumbled.

Tess laughed. "Can't argue with that logic."

"Hey, just a minute," Kenny turned to look at Tess, "I've never met you before. How do you know my name? How do you know either of our names?"

Tess shook her head and looked at Kenny with pity. "So brilliant with beyblades, yet so clueless about the world around you." She pointed to a small television in the corner of the room. "It's called television. Te-le-vi-sion," she said slowly and clearly.

Kenny scowled up at her.

"Any true beyblade fan can recognize the teams and team members thanks to television." Tess continued patronizing the small boy.

"I know what television is!" Kenny snapped, "I'm not a child!"

"Then you shouldn't have had to ask." Tess held her hand out for Kenny to shake. "I'm Tess. Luna is down the hall, waiting for Faye to calm down." She looked at Kai with apprehension. "You didn't say anything to him, did you?"

"No." Kai replied coolly.

"Ok," she gave him a faint smile. "Luna obviously trusts you, so I guess I'll have to do the same...for now."

Kai narrowed his eyes.

"No offense." Tess added quickly. She turned towards the hallway, motioning for the two guys to follow her. "Just so you know, we'll probably have to wait a while before we can talk to Faye."

Kenny took a few steps and stopped. "Does this have anything to do with the glowing beyblades?"

Tess and Kai ignored him. Heaving an exasperated sigh, he followed them into the hallway.

Luna sat at the far end, leaning against a wall. Across from her was a closed door. Muffled yells and thumps were coming from the other side of the door; it sounded like someone was screaming into a pillow while punching it and throwing things at the same time. Every now and then, the sound of something breaking added itself to the mix. A blood-red light shone through the crack beneath the door, interrupted by sudden flashes of white light.

Luna sat with her legs drawn to her chest and her arms folded across her knees as she gazed at the door across from her. She looked up as the other three approached, greeting them with a strained smile. "She needs to regain control before we can go in." She looked at Kenny, speaking quietly. "We need your help. The seal has been weakening faster than ever. We'd hoped it would hold out longer...but by the looks of it, we probably have less than a month."

"What seal?" Kenny blinked in confusion, "I don't understand."

"Sit. Get comfortable." Luna gestured at the floor beside her. Tess sat next to her and the guys sat against the opposite wall, near the door. The eerie lights continued to flicker through the crack beneath the door.

The flickers and flashes gradually dimmed over the next half hour or so until the faint glow finally disappeared altogether. Luna and Tess simultaneously sighed with relief; Kai stood up calmly, looking bored with the whole situation. After giving her stiff muscles a quick stretch, Luna reached out and tentatively knocked on the door.

"Mm?" an exhausted voice grunted in response.

"Is it ok for us to come in?" Luna asked.

"I think so…but I'm still not happy with this."

Luna smiled and opened the door slowly. A scene of complete chaos and disarray greeted the group as they entered the room. Everything under the sun seemed to be scattered across the carpet: blankets, pillows, clothes, paper, books…it was a disaster. The room was dimly lit – the lights were off and the curtains were shut tight, though a few rays of sunlight still managed to sneak through. Kai tried flipping the light switch but nothing happened. Upon closer inspection, he noticed some shards of glass lying on the carpet – remnants of a shattered bulb. In the far corner of the room, a thick blanket lay in a messy heap.

Tess and Luna carefully picked their way through the debris to the blanket, followed closely by Kai. Gently lifting the nearest edge of the blanket, Tess exposed Faye's shadowed form sitting beneath it. Luna crouched down and peered at the girl, who was clutching a pillow tightly to her chest. Kai caught a brief glimpse of her face before she buried it in the soft pillow; she had four long, evenly spaced scratches running down her right cheek. Her right eye was blue but her left…it was a vivid gold colour, burning with a fury so intense that even he had never seen its equal, not even in his battle with Brooklyn.

Kenny stood in the doorway, his laptop open in his hands. He had asked Dizzy to do a quick analysis of the room and find out what had caused the eerie light – he had turned the sound off, so he and Dizzy were communicating through typed messages.

I'm sorry, Chief. I can't seem to locate the exact source of that light you saw earlier. Whatever caused it is being strongly suppressed now so I can't get a clear reading. It's still here, but its presence is being masked by the strange waves of power filling the room. There are so many layers of waves that it's impossible to tell where they're originating from. Unfortunately, I don't think I'll ever be able to pinpoint the source.

Why not?

It looks like the source you're looking for is the only thing keeping the waves going. Once it has been completely suppressed, the waves will probably disappear altogether.

Then how are we supposed to find it again?

Wait until it resurfaces, I guess.

Great.

Hey, I'm doing my best here!

I know. Sorry, Dizzy.

He closed the laptop with a sigh. So much for the scientific approach. Turning his attention back to the group, he noticed that Tess had now completely removed the blanket and tossed it to the side, revealing a girl with long brown hair sitting on the floor. Her knees were drawn up and her face was buried in a pillow clutched to her chest.

"So you waited after all, huh?" the girl mumbled, her voice muffled by the pillow.

"Yes, they did." Luna replied. "Come on, can't you at least talk to them properly? They're here to help you, after all." She reached out, trying to pull the pillow away from her friend's face.

Faye gripped the pillow even tighter. "I don't want them to see my face right now. They'll just have to deal with talking to a pillow for a while."

Kai nodded, still thinking about that furious, golden eye. "It's alright," he assured Luna.

Kenny picked up his laptop and moved to sit in front of Faye. "Okay, let's start with the question that's been bothering me the most. Do you know why so many beyblades have been glowing without an explanation?"

Faye sat in silence for a few moments. "What do you mean, 'so many'? I thought it was only affecting my friends and I…"

"It appears to have a much wider influence." said Kai.

Faye looked at him cautiously. "How much has Luna told you?"

Kai gave a brief explanation involving a magical seal of some sort, a destructive monster, and something about a vessel in which the monster was trapped. The details were sketchy at best. Faye listened quietly, leaning into the comforting softness of her pillow. Kenny had his fingers poised above his keyboard, ready to take notes. When Kai had finished speaking, Faye uttered a short, bitter-sounding laugh; she raised her head from the pillow, finally making eye-contact. Kai made a mental-note that both of her eyes were both blue now – there wasn't a trace of yellow in them.

Faye gazed at the small group in front of her without really seeing them. Her eyes seemed void of emotion and her shoulders slumped as she stared into space. Kenny felt a sympathetic pang in his heart as he looked at her, wondering what could possibly have happened to make a person look so defeated. The cuts on her cheek had begun to heal, though their contact with the pillow fabric had resulted in a few bloody smears.

"So in other words…you don't know anything." Faye smirked half-heartedly. "But why should I bother telling you? You probably just see me as some kind of experiment subject or something. You don't really care. I'm just some kind of guinea pig to you. Just like then."

"Look, you selfish brat," Kai glared, "We're here for your benefit. Your friends are worried about you and were just trying to find you some help, so here we are."

Faye opened her mouth to argue but Kai cut her off.

"You said you want to deal with this on your own and you treat your friends like this problem of yours is none of their business, but I think that's just an excuse for you to forget about it. You don't talk about it so it doesn't exist, right? Well, that's just not true. Ignoring a problem doesn't make it disappear. It will haunt you relentlessly until you accept it as a fact of life and find a way to solve it."

Faye averted her eyes, staring at the floor.

"You need to stop being so selfish about this," Kai continued, "You're only hurting your friends when you shut them out like this. It's not worth it, trust me." His voice softened as his argument became more personal. "Don't suffer alone when you don't have to. You'll only torture yourself that way."

Faye brooded in silence for a few moments.

"It's not fair," she whispered shakily, tightening her grip around her legs. She took a deep, steadying breath and looked directly into Kenny's eyes. "You'll really help me? You won't back out?"

"I don't leave puzzles unsolved."

Faye's eyes narrowed slightly. "Alright. Just don't forget that this puzzle involves human beings, not objects. Anyway, I guess I'll have to start from the beginning to make you truly understand my...problem."