Chapter no. : 23
Chapter title: Realisation
Story rating: T
BETAed: Unbetaed (Mistakes Imminent)
Disclaimer: Me no own Beyblade. I mean, come on - how stupid are you? If I did own Beyblade, it would contain much swearing, blood, sex and rock'n'roll. And Yaoi. Don't forget the luffly yaoi. But since I don't own it, I have to settle for entertaining you guys with my stories and OCs - which is fine by me.
Warnings: swearing... me being annoyingly-cliff-hanger-y... um... nothing really... this is a rather clean story... -hums-
Big thanks for reviewing...
The Johnny McKilt Productions
Winterblazewolf
shrouded-obssession
Meghan (new reviewer! Cookie to yew!)
Notes: So, the exams are over, but still my drive is near non-existant... gay... ugh, like I said before, I really am trying to keep churning out the chapters, but it is hard, so much support is needed. But, hopefully, I'll get drive when I'm on holiday in Devon -nods slowly- so, you definitely won't get an update for a week or so, okies?

"To think…"

"Oh no, don't do that! 'Screws up your brain!"

Usually, such a remark would make a certain Lizard explode in fury over such an insult to his intelligence. Usually, the Dragon who had made the comment would be six feet under before once could say, 'Oh poop'. Usually, the Griffin would be the one to quieten the furious reptile by dragging him out the door to the nearest chessboard. Usually, the Unicorn would be forced to dig up the poor serpent's body and then cook a nice chocolate cake to cheer him up and calm the rest of this strange family.

And, usually, this would happen everyday.

As usual, Johnny turned away from the window he had been staring out of to look at Enrique. The blond, who was sat in one of the many armchairs in the room, expecting a barrage of verbal abuse and name-calling, winced; the violet-haired noble rolled his eyes and the green-locked teen chuckled behind his hand.

Unusually, however, the Scottish boy just regarded the Italian with a steady, cool gaze before turning back to look at the mountains outside. The other three glanced at each other.

"To think what, Johnny?" Robert asked, taking a small sip of the brandy in his glass.

"That…" The McGregor sighed heavily and let his head fall against the windowpane.

"Mon ami, talk to us," Oliver whispered, standing and moving over to the strangely-acting Scot.

"It's just…" Johnny sighed again in frustration and whirled around. "It's just you're supposed to be dead-" He pointed right at the Unicorn. "We're in Canada for a reason I don't have a fucking clue about; we're surrounded by people either I didn't know existed until a little over a week ago or I thought were our enemies and there's a crazed maniac out there sending retards at us with the intent of murder! And yet, everyone's acting like this is a game with an escape button that we can press if things go wrong! You're all too normal and this situation isn't. I'm sick of it."

Silence filled the room.

Without another word, the redhead stalked out, slamming the door loudly behind him with a resounding bang.

"Leave him," the German noble murmured to the other two. "He just needs some time alone. Let him deal with his rage on his own."

"But…"

"No, Enrique." Ruby and sapphire met in a locked gaze, before the former looked down to his glass of swirling brown alcohol. He, too, sighed. "You would have thought, from experience, that Johnny would have blown up about anything and everything that got on his nerves or frustrated him, yes?"

"Yeah. That's generally what happens with Johnny-boy."

Oliver, too, nodded in agreement, perching on the window ledge.

"But, for once, he has taken others' courtesy into first account," Robert went on, surprising the others. "Didn't you notice that, upon hearing of Oliver's survival of the fire, that he remained calm and collected? And after we were attacked, he acted rationally, following orders and not questioning a single one? Although he clashed with Bryan down in that vault, he could have been worse."

"What are you getting at, Robert?" The blond asked.

"That all that anger and frustration from recent events - even dating back a year ago - have built up inside of him-"

"And he's finally letting it out," Oliver finished.

"Indeed," the noble replied, before taking another sip of the brandy. "In an environment where there is no immediate danger, he's finally letting out that rage and grief from your apparent death and revival, Oliver, and then hiding his fear and panic behind it. All those emotions are slowly spilling out." He paused to refill his glass. "Just let him vent."

"Okay… I only thought Johnny-boy was capable of one of those four emotions…"

Robert smiled at the comment, eyes still fixed unfocused on his drink. "We learn new things everyday."

"And so we do," the French teen added, looking behind him, out the window. "Who knew that Johnny smoked?"

The other two's gazes shot towards him and the Unicorn gestured out the window. They stood and moved over to look outside. Sure enough, as Oliver had hinted, on the steps of the large, Canadian manor house, was a certain Scottish teen, a certain white stick gripped in his fingers and a certain Falcon smoking beside him.

"Well, I'll be damned…" Enrique muttered.

Robert frowned. "No, he'll be damned - to aged lungs and an early death."

"What, at your hands?"

"If he's lucky."

"I didn't know you smoked."

The Lizard glanced at the Falcon, inhaling deeply on the cigarette, before shrugging.

"I started after Oliver… 'died'. Made me relax. Haven't had one o' these since I met up with Robert and Enrique in London after I saw Oliver in the street."

"Didn't want them to know?"

"Yeah." Johnny chuckled. "Robert would lecture me on the health risks and stuff."

"Tala did that with me too. But he's a fucking hypocrite and a half. Spence just gave me one of his stern looks, but said nothing on the matter…" Bryan looked down at his cigarette solemnly. "I cut down a bit when I found Bryony. Didn't want to hurt her…"

"We'll get her back, Kuz'," Johnny murmured. "And then we can retire happily."

"I think I can agree wi- what the fuck did you just call me?"

The Lizard shrugged.

The Falcon shrugged.

The two looked out onto the large, open grounds.

"Holy… fuck…"

Blinking in sudden surprise, the two bladers turned to the large, elite doors to see a stunned Ian, his ruby orbs wide in shock.

"You two are… getting along?"

Johnny and Bryan looked at each other before shrugging nonchalantly. Upon turning back to the Snake, they saw his was gone; but when they heard a shout from inside, they knew where the younger had gone.

"Spen-ceeeerrrrr!" Came the low whine. "The end of the world is herrrrrre! The two bastards are being buddieeeeees!"

"So," Bryan started, stubbing out his now-small cigarette. "Why the sudden restart?"

"Ugh, just… everything. When I see D'Arcy or whoever's behind all this, I'm cutting his balls off and making him die a slow and very painful death." The Scot did the same and flicked the butt over next to the Falcon's. "I mean, everything was fine before that fire. Yeah, my team didn't get on like macaroni and cheese, and our meetings didn't go that smoothly or well, in fact, but… things were okay - they were normal.

"Even though I challenged Sir-Stick-Up-The-Arse to chess or a battle everytime I saw him, didn't mean I didn't respect him; I just wanted his company. And even though I generally treated the Master of Idiocy like shit, to me, he was the kind that made my favourite boots look less 'let's please father', which is something I do not like to do. And about Girly-Pants… yeah, I said I hated his food, but that just made him cook better and more dishes… I don't think they understand that. They probably think I'm made up of rage and nothing else, and that I don't regard them as… friends… meaning, I'm not allowed to do this sort of thing - you know, explode in a flurry of emotions; fear included…"

Johnny's eyes widened.

"Shit, I just said that all out loud, didn't I?"

"Indeed you did."

The redhead dropped his head into his hands. "Great, great, great… spilled my thoughts to the Homicidal Maniac… just great."

"I resent the 'homicidal maniac' comment, but don't get all girly on me here… if you don't think they understand you, why not tell them?"

"Oh, yeah, great idea, Einstein. 'Hey guys, wanna be my fwends? I wuv yuuuu!'." Johnny glared at the silver-haired male.

"Che, fine, don't listen to me then," the Russian muttered. "And I didn't mean like that, anyway." He lit up another cigarette. "But I guess it's one of your characteristics. My team know that I respect them and that, deep down, I do regard them as my true friends and not just as comrades, yet I still treat Ian like a midget who's escaped from the circus and tease Tala about taking on a maternal side with us."

"A maternal side?"

Bryan shrugged. "As close as a straight guy can be to being maternal; fussy, bitchy, meticulous… and in turn, we know that that's his way of showing he cares. And Kai; che, would the guy share his money with us if he didn't have some form of affection towards us?"

"What about Spencer?"

"I treat him like I treated him in the Abbey - like an elder brother. As a kid, he used to protect me until I was strong enough to fight; but still he was always in the shadows. We have a sort of sibling connection; something I don't even have with Bryony." He glanced at the redhead. "Didn't you have someone like that?"

Johnny paused. "I did…"

"Who?"

"…No one…"

"Ah…" Bryan murmured. "I guess something happened to them."

"Yeah; I did. Or rather, my father's expectations happened. He made me regard him as a rival rather than a friend or brother. I don't know what happened to him."

"Let me guess - until now, you didn't care."

"I hate you… why are you always right?"

"Someone has to be."

They fell into silence, their thoughts to themselves for once in the conversation. It seemed that in certain circumstances, Fate could bring opposites together in understanding. Yet, the two, in a sense weren't opposites - they were as bad as each other - but were still in underst-

"Shit…"

"What?"

"I've just realised something."

"Do you tend to realise things around me?"

"I think I do." Bryan stood, inhaling a final drag from his cigarette before stubbing it out and flicking it away. He suddenly raced for the doors and disappeared from the redhead's view until Johnny had the notion to follow.

"Kuznetsov!" The Scot yelled down the corridor. "'The fuck?"

Demi: Seriously - review and you may get an update before I go on holiday. This isn't a threat or me holding work at ransom, reviews give me boost to write. If not, hope you have a good week and see you when I get back.