AN IMPORTANT : due to some people having trouble seeing the russian i have decide to mark things said in russian by ""blah"" as well as other languages (also i've notice the translation sites change certain words and end up making it gibberish. anyway sorry for leaving this chapter so long. thanks to all my reviewers, and subscribers.

enjoy arty.

How To Save A Life

Chapter three

waiting.

"I can't believe you let Mariah go with Kai!-"

Rei and Lee let out simultaneous sighs as they half walked, half ran down the corridor of the hospital— well Rei limped considering he was still pretty injured from his battle with Bryan.

"Kevin-"

"-I mean he probably killed her before they even reached the hospital-"

"Kevin!"

"Yeah?"

"SHUT UP!"

The two boy's yells caused a passing nurse to glare at them reproachfully. But they were already running round the corner and out of sight, followed by a stampede of teenagers on their heels, and followed by a group of apologetic adults walking swiftly after them. Only to be caught in a sudden tangle of limbs as they crashed into Rei and lee, who were standing right round the corner.

"Ow! Tyson your crushing me!-"

"GET OFF OF ME!"

"I can't! Max is on my arm!-"After a few minutes of yelling and muttered curses, they finally managed to detangle themselves. Michael was the first to turn to Rei and lee, who were still looking dazed "why the hell did you stop?" he snapped, rubbing his forehead (from where it had collided with the back of Roberts' head...) the two Neko-jins pointed. Michael followed their arms and gaped.

Sitting in front of them, was Kai and Mariah, Kai was staring at them slightly amused, as he took a sip of his coffee…

…While Mariah was asleep with her head on his shoulder... And he didn't look bothered at all.

"Kai!"

The Bluenette raised an eyebrow at the stunned looks he was getting.

"What?"

"You…her…what…?" was Tyson's oh so smart reply.

Kai raised his eyebrow higher "you do know that didn't make any sense right?" he asked, his voice rough as Tyson continued to babble nudged his shoulder slightly, waking Mariah gently. She lifted her head blinking sleepily up at Kai, then at the others surrounding her, and blinked again.

"Rei? Lee?"

She sat looking confused for a few seconds, then her eyes widened.

"Tala! Oh my God! Is he alright!" she gasped, grabbing Kai's shirt in a tight grip "And the others? Are they okay?" she asked again when he just stared at gently reached up and pulled her hands away from his shirt.

"I don't know yet, still waiting" he looked heartbroken as she lowered her gaze to her hands.

"You holding up okay?" Rei asked Kai gently. His only response was a small nod.

Max sat next to him, looking worried. "I've never seen you so scared before Kai…" he whispered softly.

(Flashback)

Max watched worriedly as Mariah tried to speak, he had never heard such terror in a voice before, he almost didn't want to know what she was trying to say.

"нет…"

Startled by the voice he glanced sideways and was startled to see his captain staring at the pink haired girl, with almost as much fear as when he walked into Balkov Abbey weeks ago...

"REI YOU HAVE TO SAVE TALA!"

Max jumped at the sudden scream.

"BORIS IS GOING TO KILL HIM!"

Max watched as Kai's already pale skin turned almost paper white, his eyes widening in fear. Tremors ran through out his body.

Then he was gone in a swish of his white scarf.

But he was close enough for max to hear his whispered plea.

"нет …please god not Tala...please..."

(Flashback End.)

The group fell into silence, after Max's word's it finally sunk in that this was real. They arranged themselves either sitting or standing in nervous groups. Mr. D and the other adults; Tyson's dad, Judy, and Tyson's grandpa, talked quietly in serious whispers as they glanced every now and then at Kai.

In the silence they all noticed how Kai's head shot up every time the door to the corridor opened, and how his head dropped every time they just walked by the strange group. Then finally it happened, a woman with shoulder length red hair, and soft green eyes made her way over to them.

"Are you here for the four boys just brought in? I'm Doctor Nadiya Solovyov—"

"Are they okay?" Kai interrupted standing up.

The doctor looked at him with understanding, as Mr. D rested a calming hand on the boy's shoulder.

"The little one—?"

She paused for them to fill in the name.

"Ian" Kai supplied.

"Ah, да Ian, he has a broken rib, along with bruising on a few others. He had a very mild concussion, he will be able to leave in a few days" She started, in a very heavy Russian accent.

"Tall blond one?"

"Spencer."

"Right, Spencer is in a slightly worse condition, a broken nose, a badly dislocated right shoulder, we had to put that back in place. He also had a bad concussion and bruised ribs. He should be able to leave in few days as well, but bit longer than Ian."

"The boy with purple hair?"

"Bryan."

"Bryan is pretty bad… two broken ribs, his arm is broken in two places, his leg… his right leg is broken in four different places, while his lefts ankle is also broken. He will have to use wheelchair for a few weeks but should leave around same time as Spencer."

Nadiya fell silent as she stared sadly at her clip board.

"Is… is Tala— the red head— Okay?" Kai asked softly, grateful as Mr. D tightened his grip reassuringly.

"The last boy—Tala… he is not so good…" Nadiya started gently.

"Almost all his ribs are broken… one pierced a lung, but we managed to fix that in surgery. He had internal bleeding we managed to stop that but he lost a lot of blood. His right hand is broken, the other is severely bruised, and the wrist broken. The knee of his right leg is almost shattered; the ankle of same leg is also broken. Also he has severe bruises around his throat. He has a severe concussion as well… he is in a critical condition... I'm sorry but I'm afraid all we can do is wait and hope he has a strong enough will to live."

Silence.

"Do they have guardian's I can contact—?" she was cut of by Kai.

""their bastard of a guardian did that to them!"" (1) he growled dangerously in russian, before pulling out of Mr. D's grip and stalking down the corridor, and disappearing through the doors at the sighed running a hand through his hair. "I'll go after him" he said quietly, heading off, he was surprised however when Judy Tate appeared walking alongside him.

"He might need a mother" she explained simply.

After a few minutes they found him; he was slumped in a heap against the wall outside, his face buried in his arms, a fresh layer of snow beginning to whiten his hair and shoulders. A nurse was kneeling next to him; she was holding a blue hospital blanket in her arms and seemed to be trying to convince the boy to take it in Russian.

As they approached Kai lifted his head from his arms revealing a tearstained face. He glared angrily at the nurse with blood red eyes, snapping something harshly in Russian back.

The nurse flinched slightly, but kept trying ""please take the blanket child""

"Excuse me?" Bruce said gently. The nurse stood up looking worried.

"Do you know this boy?" she asked softly in English , Judy nodded as she knelt besides him. "Please, make sure he goes in soon… it's too cold to stay out in nothing but a sleeveless top..." she whispered to Bruce passing him the blanket. She headed back inside as Bruce knelt down as well.

"Kai? Sweetie you need to come inside" Judy said softly, and then she blinked at the strangeness of that sentence. It wasn't every day you called the coldest teenager you had ever met sweetie after all, but it did feel right.

"At least wrap up, kid?" Bruce added.

Kai lifted his head and glared at them.

"I don't need it."

"Kid we're in Russia its freezing just take the blanket."

"I SAID I DON'T NEED IT!" Kai snapped, "You think I haven't been this cold before? I've been abandoned in the middle of the Russian wilderness with less than I'm wearing now! I—" He suddenly realized what he had just said and quickly buried his head back in his arms.

Judy and Bruce exchanged glances.

"Kai..."

"It should have been me…" he suddenly whispered. "I was supposed to be captain… if I had stayed Tala wouldn't be hurt... I should have been the one in hospital..." he suddenly felt himself in a tight hug. His face surrounded by blond hair. "What is it with women and hugging? First Mariah…" he asked "how do you know when to do that?" he sobbed brokenly. He felt the arms tightening around him.

"we just do I guess" she whispered gently "it's not your fault Kai, you didn't know" Kai gripped her coat tightly "but I did know..." he whispered, Bruce frowned.

"What do you mean Kai?" he asked gently.

"at the abbey… weakness is forbidden... if you lose your punished… if you lose too much… you are punished worse… or you disappear..." he muttered. Judy glanced at Bruce with wide eyes.

"Kai… did you… did you ever lose?" Bruce asked softly.

Silence.

"Kai?"

"I used to... I always got the worst punishment, being Voltaire's grandson made me a favorite... so was Tala… but for different reasons...i learned to win…always… no matter what…" Bruce flinched at the pain filled voice. "Does Mr. D know about this?"

"…no, I never told him..."

"Let's go back in" Bruce muttered softly.

"I c-can't!" Kai said, choking on the words as he pulled away from Judy. "I can't see Tala…. I just can't" Bruce gripped the boy's shoulder, trying to ignore the violent flinch "Kai if you were in Tala's place would you want him to blame himself?" he asked, the boy shook his head slowly. "Then wouldn't Tala rather you are by his side when he wakes up?" he said, and was happy to see him nod again.

He stood up along with Judy, holding out his hand to help Kai up. The boy stared at his hand for a few minutes, before reaching out cautiously, Both smiled when the boy rolled his eyes, finding himself suddenly wrapped in a blanket.

Entering the hospital once more, Kai spotted the nurse from before and walked over to her. He spoke softly to her in Russian before handing back the blanket. She smiled at him and shook her head saying something back. He just smiled slightly and walked away.

"What did you say?" Bruce asked curiously. "He apologized and thanked her" Judy answered when Kai stayed silent. He shot a glare at her but sighed when she just grinned back.

Feeling Max nudge him Rei glanced up to see Kai walking slowly towards them. He was staring emptily at the ground, while Judy and Bruce walked closely behind him.

"Room c14" Rei said gently.

Kai glanced up revealing to the group that he had been crying. He simply nodded and walked by him, but stopped after a few steps "Mariah you want to come see him?" he muttered without girl looked surprise, but pulled away from lee's embrace "yeah I do" she said quietly.

The others watched as Kai waited for her to catch up before walking slowly down the corridor.

"Why did he have snow in his hair?" Tyson asked.

"because we found him sitting outside" Bruce answered distractedly, before turning to Mr. D "did you know about Kai's time in the abbey?" he asked with a hint of anger.

Mr. D shook his head sadly "no I picked up a few things when he had nightmares... but he couldn't remember much"

"Well he does now" Judy spat harshly. "That man is a monster!"

"Nightmares? What nightmares?" max asked worriedly.

"The ones he has almost every night" Rei surprisingly answered.

Mr. D looked startled "he's still having them?" Rei nodded "yeah, but they got worse when we got to Russia… sometimes when he didn't know I was awake I could hear him sobbing in Russian… I looked up some of the words... the one's he repeated a lot was 'stop' and 'no', whenever I asked him about it though, he just told me to stay out of his business... then he would stalk off and not come back for hours or sometimes whole nights."

The group was suitably stunned as they stared at Rei. Judy frowned turning to Mr. D "sir we need to close down that abbey, now." She said sharply, "or at the least gain the guardianship of the demolition boys!" Bruce added, just as sharply.

"Why don't we go see if we can get some food for us and Kai? Maybe some gifts for the Demolition boy's?" Robert said loudly, taking charge (and looking paler than usual) he along with a few of the older bladers, herded the younger down the corridor, nodding to the adults as he passed.

Kai stared apprehensively at the door to room C14, he jerked slightly as he felt a soft hand on his shoulder "are you okay Kai?" Mariah asked gently, he nodded reaching out before his courage disappeared, and slid the door open silently.

He had only taken two steps when he froze, wide eyes staring at still teen that lay on the bed. He heard Mariah gasp besides him, and couldn't really blame her.

The usually strong looking blader looked horribly frail in the large bed.

Kai's horrified eyes trailed down his body noting every injury.

A bandage was wrapped tightly around his forehead, while the rest of his face was covered with an oxygen mask. Under it, normally pale skin was marred with a large dark purple and black bruise.

More dark bruises covered his neck, Kai and Mariah flinched when they saw the obvious shape of a large pair of hands.

He had bandages wrapped around what they could see of his chest. A cast was on his right hand, as well as his left. The arms themselves were littered with bruises. His right leg was suspended over the bed, a cast going from foot to knee.

Kai's knees suddenly buckled and Kai suddenly found himself sitting in the chair by the bed thanks to mariah.

"Shit Tala… I didn't think you would look this bad…" he sighed to himself he heard Mariah move a chair and sit on the other side of the bed. They sat quietly, just watching him breathing and listening to the annoying yet thankful sounds of his heart monitor.

"Do you think he'll be okay Kai?" Mariah asked softly. Kai reached out and took the still boy's cast covered hand gently, relieved to feel the warmth of his skin. He noticed Mariah mimic him.

"When we were five— well when I was five, Tala was eight— he swore that he would survive everything the abbey would throw his way... I guess this is where we find out if he'll keep his promise... or let Boris win for good…all we can do is hope he hates Boris enough to come back from this..." He lifted Tala's hand holding it in both of his own and rested his forehead on them 'all I can do is wait and pray... I've never been very religious, but someone or something must be there for us to keep surviving Boris… so I'll pray for Tala'.

Mariah stared at the pale hand she held in her grasp. Tala's skin was almost as white as the bandage. She couldn't help noting the absolute bizarreness of the scene. She was holding the hand of a boy, that up until this afternoon she thought was a— well a heartless bastard to be blunt, and now she felt positively awful about thinking such things. Pulling from her thoughts, she became aware of a soft whispering, almost to soft to hear even with her advanced hearing. Slowly it became louder but still a whisper just loud enough to hear what was being said.

Looking over to the direction of the sound, she felt the corners of her mouth lift into a sad smile. Wondering briefly if Tala knew… if he knew how much Kai cared for him... The boy was hunched over, his forehead lightly touching his clasped hands, in which held Tala's limp one in a gentle grip. His mouth moving as he prayed in soft Russian.

She closed her golden eyes after a few minutes, listening to the strangely haunting words and softly she began adding her own prayer to his, in her home language.

She heard Kai falter slightly as she began, before continuing in a stronger voice.

The only sounds for the next hour were their voices, the soft beeping of Tala's heart monitor, and sounds of people passing down the hall outside.

chapter end.

hope you enjoyed it.

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arty