I don't own Beyblade. R+R!
Thanks for the reviews!
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Twisted Fate
Chapter 8
(Kai's POV)
I woke up early, from my sleep in the soft sand. The sun had not risen yet; it was still dark.
"Good morning, Kai!" Hilary's bright voice came. We were stranded on this island, together. It didn't really matter to me, whether we were separated or together. but it did. I guess I finally have started to appreciate their company.
We started to walk aimlessly across the island. We were hungry. Yeah, I was starving; I hadn't eaten in a week. I was more worried for Hilary, though. She had never felt true hunger before, and she hadn't eaten in days now. I had faced starvation many times when I was younger; it wasn't a new feeling.
I noticed her pace slowing, so I slowed down as well. I stayed just a little ahead, so she would push herself to go on. Eventually, she collapsed. I caught her just before she hit the ground.
She emitted a soft moan; her eyes a little out of focus. She looked a little embarrassed and uncomfortable when she realised she was in my arms, and quickly sat up.
"Are you okay?" I asked. She hated to appear weak and helpless, something was wrong.
"Yeah." she said, softly. "I'm sorry, I just." her voice trailed off.
I looked deep into her auburn eyes, waiting for her to continue. She flushed and turned away.
"Forget it, I'm fine; let's get going again," she said, standing up.
"Are you sure," I asked, putting my hands on her slim shoulders, forcing her to make eye contact. I felt her tense under my touch.
"Yeah," she said with a smile. Her deep ruby eyes shone with determination.
I gave an encouraging nod, and we set off.
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"Kai! Hilary!" I heard Rei's voice in the distance and saw Rei and Tyson, running towards us. The sun was bright overhead; it was late in the afternoon. We had been walking for a long time.
"Hey guys!" Hilary waved. "I'm so glad you're okay," she said, hugging them both. They were all smiling, happy to see each other again.
I saw Rei's smile fade and was replaced by a look of concern. "Are. you guys okay?"
"Yeah," Hilary said, but wasn't really. Her voice was frail and she looked weak from hunger. She had collapsed a few times while we were walking, but every time got back up and continued. Her determination was incredible.
"Man, you guys look starved!" Tyson exclaimed.
"Well yeah, Tyson; I haven't touched food for days and Kai hasn't for over a week!" Hilary retorted. "What?" she said, seeing their shocked expressions.
"You mean. you didn't get a package yesterday?" Rei said, curiously.
"Oh man, I thought we shoulda saved some," Tyson said, guiltily.
Hilary looked extremely angry now. Rei and Tyson exchanged cheesy grins, but they knew this case was serious.
"Hey! Sorry we're late!" Max's voice came. I saw him and Kenny running towards us; the Bladebreakers united once again.
"Did YOU get a package yesterday?" Hilary quickly asked them as they approached.
"Uh, yeah. didn't you?" Kenny said, nervously.
"Didn't you save ANY?!" Hilary looked desperate now.
"Sorry." Max looked nervous now.
"I can't believe this! This isn't fair!" Hilary sounded upset. The rest of them exchanged guilty looks.
"We're really sorry, Hilary. We weren't thinking; we figured everyone got some," Tyson apologised.
"Yeah, we didn't know," Max added.
"You okay?" Rei asked. Hilary nodded. She looked pale and weak again. "How about you, Kai?" he asked me.
"Hm."
"Talkative today, aren't we," Tyson muttered sarcastically.
"Aren't I always," I smirked. I quickly turned around; I heard a noise.
"What is it?" Kenny asked.
"Listen, don't you hear it?" Rei asked.
"Yeah." Max strained to hear the sounds of a boat coming closer and closer.
"A ship! We're saved!" Tyson cried out. "Hey, over here!"
The large ship stopped, and they all hurried towards it. They waited and waited for someone to come out and rescue them. It was a large, nice ship that probably held people. But, there were none.
"There's no one on board," I figured. I could SEE question marks above their confused faces.
"Then who's steering the ship?" Hilary asked.
"Only one way to find out," Tyson said and jumped aboard. We all followed him, Kenny rather reluctantly.
Kenny and I walked into the captain's cabin. It was empty. "The captain must have left," I inferred.
"Yeah. I think you're right," Kenny said. "Look at this communication screen. maybe I can hack into it and replay it." He started to fiddle with the many instruments and controls in the captain's cabin. I left; he could probably concentrate better alone.
"Yeah! This is AWESOME!" I heard Tyson's shouts from inside a cabin. I noticed there were only 3 cabins to the whole ship. They were huge, though.
I looked inside. There were two beds, couches and chairs, a kitchen, and a bathroom. Oh, and three hyper kids jumping on the beds.
"Check this out, you guys," Tyson said, and did a somersault off the bed, landing flat on his back.
Max and Rei snickered, as Tyson lay on the floor. He put both hands on the ground and did a flip forward, and landed neatly on his feet. "Ta-dah!"
"Not bad, Max, but learn from the pro," Rei laughed and ran up the wall, then did two back flips in the air, and landed on his feet in a pose.
"Yeah okay, you win," Max said, laughing.
"Help." Tyson moaned, still on his back. Max and Rei started laughing, and soon Tyson was laughing as well.
I walked out of the cabin, leaving the sounds of happiness and friendship. In the distance I heard a crash and a groan from Tyson, followed by even more laughter.
I looked outside. I couldn't see the island anymore. We were moving quickly into the empty sea. Water is supposed to be soothing, but it only brought back bad memories to me. I was soon engulfed in my thoughts. I was drowning in the darkness.
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(Hilary's POV)
I walked into the neat, clean cabin. There was everything we needed: beds, a bathroom, a kitchen. Wait, a kitchen?! I ran towards the refrigerator and opened the doors. Darn it.
I searched the cabin for food and found nothing. I was going to die if I didn't get some food quickly! I think I hadn't eaten for 4 whole days now. The hunger was painful. I had already collapsed a few times today.
I flopped onto the soft bed and sighed heavily. I closed my eyes and buried myself in the fluffy pillows. "HILARY!" I heard a voice shout. My eyes snapped open and I saw Rei and Max running into the room, with - gasp - food!
"Here ya go, Hil!" Max winked. Rei threw the large package of food into my arms, and I started to eat. I felt unladylike, but I didn't care.
After I had eaten a few days worth of food, I realised how rude I probably appeared. "You guys want some?" I asked, my mouth full of the substance.
"Sure!" They hadn't eaten for a day, also and they joined in. Tyson came into the room, eating from the rest of the load Rei had brought, and Kenny had come and also joined in.
"Hey, what about Kai?" I suddenly remembered. Everyone stopped eating and looked at me. I gathered up some food and walked outside, to where he was standing.
He was leaning against the ship rail, looking deep into the ocean. His eyes were lost. I could see a look of panic from his memories.
"Kai!" I yelled. With a blink, his eyes returned to their normal, focused look and stared at me. "We found some food, so I brought some for you!"
He nodded his thanks and took the food. He ate slowly and calmly; I blushed as I remembered how I had eaten like Tyson. I wondered what he had been thinking about. I walked away from the awkward silence.
(Tyson's POV)
I saw Hilary come back into the room. Okay, Kai was alone. I had to confront him now.
I walked out of the room and I saw Kai looking out to sea again. There was still a pile of food that he hadn't touched yet. His eyes had a distant look.
"Kai." he looked at me, completely focused again. "What did they do?" I blurted out. "You know, the needles," I spoke softly.
He glared at me. Well, I couldn't really tell if it was a glare or a stare or whatever. His eyes flashed with anger, hatred. some kind of emotion along those lines. He now knew I had seen into his past. He had to tell me.
"They were a test. Basically, if I died I didn't deserve to live anyway." He said this all too calmly; it bothered me. I, however, felt completely shocked and angry.
"That's not fair!" I yelled. "So your grandpa injected you with this stuff just to see if you would live?"
"Or as punishment," he said, calmly as ever. I didn't get it, so he continued. "When I--" he caught himself before he said anymore. He went stiff and silent.
"When what, Kai?" I was curious now.
"Forget it, Tyson." His voice was bitter and cold now. With that he walked away, leaving me standing alone, dumbfounded.
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(Rei's POV)
"Tyson?" I saw him standing alone in the dark. "What."
"He told me. I shouldn't have asked." He looked sorry. Who? Kai, obviously.
"Told you what?" I asked, cautiously.
"You know the dream?" Yeah, I knew. Not any old dream, but THE dream where he saw into Kai's past.
"Yeah?" I waited for him to continue.
"I only asked him what the needles were for, and he goes all distant and mysterious on me!" Tyson explained.
I looked at him; his voice sounded annoyed but his eyes told me otherwise. "What happened. exactly? What do you mean distant and mysterious?"
"Well his eyes. they were sorta, blank." I had seen it before, too. I knew what he meant. "And he looked really angry, but not completely with me, but with himself. He answered me, though. He said they were just to see if he would survive."
Oh. That's pretty scary. Imagine your own grandfather hurting you just to see if you'll live. Psychopath. "So you're saying that Voltaire coulda killed his grandson and could care less?"
"Yeah. he said that if he had died, he wouldn't have deserved to live anyway. And he said that completely calmly and sincerely; that's what bothers me," Tyson said. I stared at him, bewildered.
"And there's more," he continued. "He said they were used as punishment. He started to say something, but walked away and told me to forget about it. He sounded kinda bitter."
"If you're done talking about me..." Kai! Oh no. Tyson and I looked at each other, panicked.
"We're sorry, Kai," I apologised. "We just--" but before I was finished, he was gone.
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(Normal POV)
"Okay, so there's three rooms," Max said as Rei and Tyson walked in the door. Everyone was there except for Kai. "Oh, hey guys, we were just deciding rooms. You seen Kai?"
Rei and Tyson looked at each other momentarily. "Yeah. he's outside," Tyson said.
"Okay. so who do you guys wanna go with?" Kenny asked. He hoped he would be chosen.
"I'll go with Tyson," Rei said quickly. Tyson nodded.
"Yup! Of course, buddy." Max and Kenny exchanged I-thought-I-was-his-best- friend looks.
"I'll go with Max!" Kenny hastily cried out. He didn't want to be stuck with Hilary. that would be beyond uncomfortable.
"Then that leaves you with Kai, Hilary!" Max said. Her eyes widened.
"Oh." The others resisted laughing. Well, almost resisted, a few giggles escaped their lips.
"Well it's getting late out. Let's get to bed," Kenny said, and they went to their assigned cabins.
Kai watched from the shadows as they settled into cabins. Rei, Tyson and Hilary walked out of the cabin they had been in. Rei and Tyson walked into one cabin and Hilary into the last one.
He felt empty inside. emotions stirred up once again. He stared at the deep sea, which was now almost black, reflecting the sky. He wasn't angry with Tyson or Rei. He was a little confused as to why they would be talking about him. as if they cared.
He wished they had never found out. It was better that way. He was better off never feeling that artificial - love - from Rei's memories. They weren't real. to him, anyway. All they did was leave emptiness inside and a longing for the impossible.
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(Hilary's POV)
I jumped into the soft, comforting bed. I scrambled into the crisp bed sheets and warm blanket. Staring at the empty bed beside me, I vaguely wondered where Kai was. I soon fell asleep.
I woke up around 3:00 am to use the bathroom. When I got back into my bed, I heard noise. I saw Kai was sleeping in his bed, a pained expression on his face. He was thrashing about in his dream.
"No. I won't." he softly said in his sleep; I could only make out fragments of his sentences. His face looked angry and pained, yet determined. "Never." As he said this, pain flickered in his face and he flinched. This continued, and it appeared to me he was being beaten.
Suddenly, the beating appeared to stop. A look of sheer terror spread across his face, as his left arm jerked out. Immediately, he started to shake and his muscles tensed. I felt like screaming just looking at his face so stricken with pain.
His breaths were shallow and harsh; it was difficult to breathe. His teeth gritted together to keep from crying out, his fists clenched tightly. His eyes were tightly shut in pain. I could almost see tears forming. The pain was getting worse and worse.
Kai immediately jolted up, awake. His face was extremely pale and beaded with sweat. His eyes were wide and panic-stricken. His breathing was heavy and deep.
"Kai." I said softly. He turned to look at me, sitting on my bed. His breathing calmed down a bit; his eyes quickly hid the fear. "What happened?"
He sat there, taking deep breaths. "It's nothing."
"That's not true, Kai. You can tell me," I said, sitting down beside him on his bed. I put a comforting hand on his shoulder. It was cold and he trembled a bit at the touch.
"No. I can't," he said. His voice was strong yet I detected a hint of emotion in his voice, although I couldn't tell. With that, he walked out of the room, leaving me sitting on his empty bed. I had a feeling he wouldn't come back to sleep tonight.
"Kai." I was worried about him. There was no way I could sleep now. well, why not go to Rei? He would understand. I walked out of the empty cabin.
(Rei's POV)
I yawned and stretched as I was waken by Hilary at 3 in the morning. "What is it, Hilary?" I said, rubbing my eyes sleepily.
"Whaddya want," Tyson's muffled voice came from under the blankets, his face buried in a pillow.
"It's about Kai." At this, we both opened our eyes and shook off our tiredness.
"What about him?" I asked, concerned. I hoped we hadn't done anything.
"Well, it was like this." Hilary explained everything that had happened. Tyson and I exchanged glances, as we realised what had happened. "Do you know anything about this?" she asked.
"Hilary, you know that dream where we saw into each others' lives?" I asked. She nodded. "Well Tyson saw into Kai's past."
"Yeah, and I think I know what happened in the dream," Tyson continued. "Kai was beaten by his grandfather." Hilary's eyes opened wide and looked as if she was about to say something, but didn't.
"So we'd assume that was what was happening in the dream, the way you described it," I said.
"Yeah. that would fit what I saw," she nodded slowly.
"And then the part where his arm jerked out and went into extreme pain, I think I can explain too," Tyson said. "When I was in Kai's life, there was this flashback of when he was injected with a poison. I sort of felt it when I was there, but nothing compared to what it was actually like. What I did feel was worse and more terrifying than anything I've ever experienced, and that wasn't even close to what actually happened."
"Why was he injected with the poison?" Hilary wondered.
"He said it was just to see if he would survive," Tyson told her. She looked horrified. "Or as punishment," he added.
"He would have had to do something horrible to deserve that," I said. Even for an abusive grandfather, to do something that would kill a normal person was harsh.
"I mean - Kai - was absolutely terrified and almost died, and Kai is like, you know." Tyson said, and we nodded. We knew what he meant.
"Wait, I remember something else," Hilary said quickly. "Before he was. beaten, he said something like 'No, I won't. Never.' So he was refusing to do something."
"Yeah." I said slowly, pondering about what she had just said. "We should get some sleep. It's past 3 in the morning," I realised.
"You're right. Thanks, guys," Hilary said and went back to her cabin. We crawled back into our beds for about 5 minutes.
"Can you sleep, Rei?" Tyson asked from his bed.
"No, can you?" I assumed he couldn't either. He shook his head and got out of bed, and I did too.
"Wanna beybattle?" he asked, suddenly.
"Yeah!" I happily accepted the challenge.
We headed outside and battled. We had a lot of fun and improved our beyblading while we were at it. We couldn't have a full, all-out match because I had realised we would destroy the ship, so we kept our bit-beasts contained. We enjoyed ourselves anyway. It ended up a tie.
"Hey, guys," Hilary's voice came. "I couldn't sleep either."
"Yeah? We were just having a beybattle!" Tyson exclaimed. "We tied."
"Really? And you didn't destroy the ship?" Hilary laughed.
"Nah, Rei recognised that so we didn't call out our bit-beasts," he said, smiling.
"Yeah? So what are you guys gonna do now?" she asked.
"I dunno," Tyson confessed. There was no way any of us could sleep, and it was 3:30 AM or something.
"Where are we going, anyways?" I wondered aloud.
"I don't know. Kenny said it was stuck on auto-pilot or something, so we don't really have a choice," Hilary explained.
We sat and stared up at the dark sky. It was beautiful and clear; the stars glowed softly yet brightly against the pitch black. They were reflected in the deep water, glittering as they struck the calm waves.
"Let's play a game!" Tyson suggested.
"Okay," we agreed. We had to get our minds free of concern, at least for the night.
"Ooh! Let's play I spy!" Tyson said, enthusiastically. "I spy with my little eye. something that is pink!"
"Hilary's sweater," I said.
"How did you guess?" he wondered.
"Well, considering it's the only pink thing in sight."
"This isn't working so well," Hilary commented. "How about. spin the bottle?" She saw our shocked looks. "Not that I want to kiss you guys, or anything," she added quickly, her face flushing furiously.
"How about cards?" Tyson asked.
"We don't HAVE any cards, Tyson," I said.
"Right. crazy eight's anyone?"
"You need cards to play crazy eight's, Tyson," Hilary reminded him.
"Blackjack?"
"You need cards for that too," I said.
"President?"
"Cards," Hilary said, exasperated.
"Go fish!" We sweat-dropped.
"How about we practise our beyblading instead," I suggested.
"Good idea," Hilary said.
"I wanna play go fish."
"Tyson! You need cards to play go fish! We - don't - have - cards," Hilary said slowly.
"Really?" We groaned.
"Honestly, Tyson. You can be so dense at times." Hilary started. She received a glare from Tyson.
"Let it rip!" We launched our blades with the familiar phrase. We practised on the wooden deck and dodged miniature bottles of shampoo and shower gel.
We heard another blade that was neither Tyson's nor mine. It was grinding against metal with that sleek, smooth sound. Hilary gasped, as she saw into the shadows.
"What is it, Hilary?" I asked. Tyson and I looked and saw Kai, his beyblade streaking across the thin rail. The bar was as thin as the beyblade itself; one slip and Dranzer would be lost in the dark waters below.
"You're insane, Kai!" Tyson exclaimed. "What do you think you're doing?"
"Practising, what's it look like," Kai said coolly.
"Really, Kai. I don't think." Hilary started.
"I know what I'm doing," Kai said confidently. The blade started to fly from bar to bar, jumping effortlessly. Our faces were completely in shock and awe.
"Talk about total control," I mumbled, as the blue blade flew back into Kai's outstretched arm.
"No kidding," Tyson nodded. Kai gave a slight smirk of satisfaction.
"What are you doing out here, anyway," he demanded.
"We were practising blading," I quickly explained. Hilary and Tyson nodded. Kai didn't ask why we were out at 4:00 AM; we were relieved. Maybe because he didn't want us questioning him.
"It's getting a little cool out. Let's go inside," Hilary suggested. We agreed, and went into one of the cabins.
Hilary and I were sitting on a couch, when we heard the sounds of Tyson repeatedly opening and closing the fridge. Open. Shut. Open. Shut. Open. Shut. Open. CRASH!
We immediately turned to see Tyson, buried in food! I burst out laughing, and I bet even Kai cracked a slight smirk. "Tyson!" Hilary cried out. "Oh Tyson, are you okay?"
His eyes were dazed, but returned to focus as he started to laugh as well, out of both happiness and shock.
"Oh wow, we got a lot of. ingredients? Great!" I laughed, and started to put them on the counter.
"Hey! Let's make breakfast!" Hilary shouted, enthusiastically.
"Sure!" It would give us something to do, and besides it was almost sunrise. We started to cook breakfast, well Hilary and I, anyway. Tyson was eating chocolate chips out of the bag, and Kai continued to practise with his blade.
Max came into the room when the food was almost ready. He looked fatigued and exhausted. "What's up, Max?" I asked.
"I dunno. just not feeling so great," he admitted, as Kenny entered the cabin.
"Wow! Food!" He exclaimed. "Oh, yeah, Max isn't feeling very well," Kenny added.
"Do you want some pancakes?" Tyson asked, sitting at the table hungrily ready for breakfast.
"Not really," he said wearily. He smiled weakly.
"Ya sure? Hilary and Rei worked real hard on them!" Tyson smiled, but was worried.
"Yeah. Thanks anyway," he said.
"You should get back to bed," I suggested. He nodded and slowly walked back to his cabin.
"Poor Maxie," Tyson said, and we nodded.
"The Bladebreakers seem to be getting sick a lot," I commented.
"Yes, Rei, you're very observant," Kenny said, starting a lecture. "I believe this is because your immune systems are down from exhaustion, making you vulnerable to disease. Also, you've been exposed to extremities that your bodies are not necessarily capable of handling while functioning normally."
We stared at him blankly. "So basically you're right, Rei," Kenny sighed. He saw the lights inside our heads turn on as we understood.
"Oh, okay."
"Breakfast is ready!" Hilary said, putting large stacks of pancakes on everyone's plate, except Max's, of course.
We started ravenously devouring the fluffy pancakes, thoroughly enjoying the first decent meal we'd had for a LONG time. "Hey Kai, don't you want to eat?" Tyson said although it was hard to make out as his mouth was stuffed with food.
"Thanks anyway," he said, shoving his untouched plate towards Tyson.
"You sure?" Tyson said happily, grinning at the extra mound of pancakes. Kai gave a swift nod and walked out of the room. My eyes followed him until the door closed behind him.
"What's up with him?" Kenny asked. Tyson, Hilary and I all exchanged glances and I could see we all agreed it was better we didn't worry Kenny with any more; he was already stressed out as it was.
"He's probably just not hungry," I said. I was hungry myself, though, so that might not cut it. The others didn't seem to think so either.
"Yeah, he probably lost his appetite watching Tyson eat," Hilary joked and we all started laughing, although I noticed the urgency in her voice.
Tyson made a face at her, but continued to shovel forkfuls into his mouth at an alarming rate.
"Well, I've gotta go and work on that communication box," Kenny said, leaving his empty plate. As soon as he had left the cabin, we all let out a huge sigh of relief.
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(Normal POV)
Kai didn't feel like eating. He didn't think it would stay down, as the recurring memory came back once again, the one Hilary had seen in his sleep. He hoped she hadn't seen too much. he couldn't explain, even to them, his best friends.
He realised that Hilary probably had talked to Tyson and Rei about it; they had been up late together. They, in turn, probably had told Hilary about what Tyson had seen. 'Great,' he thought sarcastically. They were better off not knowing anything.
"YOU GUYS!! COME HERE!!" Kenny's shrill voice rang out. They came running to the captain's cabin and stood around the flickering screen.
"I'm so sorry about everything that has happened. Don't you worry," Mr. Dickenson's familiar voice came. "The authorities have sent this ship to take you home. I will explain more when-"
His voice was cut off, and the screen went dead. It then flickered back on, but it was a completely different person.
"I want your bit-beasts. Surrender, or we will have to take drastic measures." They recognised the voice to be that of the scientist that was in control of their experiment.
"No way, freak show," Tyson shouted.
"Well then, let's see how you do with THIS." There was an evil laugh, and the screen flickered off. With that the boat turned so sharply around it literally sending them flying.
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END OF CHAPTER!! Review please!
~ Penguin Pop
Thanks for the reviews!
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Twisted Fate
Chapter 8
(Kai's POV)
I woke up early, from my sleep in the soft sand. The sun had not risen yet; it was still dark.
"Good morning, Kai!" Hilary's bright voice came. We were stranded on this island, together. It didn't really matter to me, whether we were separated or together. but it did. I guess I finally have started to appreciate their company.
We started to walk aimlessly across the island. We were hungry. Yeah, I was starving; I hadn't eaten in a week. I was more worried for Hilary, though. She had never felt true hunger before, and she hadn't eaten in days now. I had faced starvation many times when I was younger; it wasn't a new feeling.
I noticed her pace slowing, so I slowed down as well. I stayed just a little ahead, so she would push herself to go on. Eventually, she collapsed. I caught her just before she hit the ground.
She emitted a soft moan; her eyes a little out of focus. She looked a little embarrassed and uncomfortable when she realised she was in my arms, and quickly sat up.
"Are you okay?" I asked. She hated to appear weak and helpless, something was wrong.
"Yeah." she said, softly. "I'm sorry, I just." her voice trailed off.
I looked deep into her auburn eyes, waiting for her to continue. She flushed and turned away.
"Forget it, I'm fine; let's get going again," she said, standing up.
"Are you sure," I asked, putting my hands on her slim shoulders, forcing her to make eye contact. I felt her tense under my touch.
"Yeah," she said with a smile. Her deep ruby eyes shone with determination.
I gave an encouraging nod, and we set off.
^^^^^
"Kai! Hilary!" I heard Rei's voice in the distance and saw Rei and Tyson, running towards us. The sun was bright overhead; it was late in the afternoon. We had been walking for a long time.
"Hey guys!" Hilary waved. "I'm so glad you're okay," she said, hugging them both. They were all smiling, happy to see each other again.
I saw Rei's smile fade and was replaced by a look of concern. "Are. you guys okay?"
"Yeah," Hilary said, but wasn't really. Her voice was frail and she looked weak from hunger. She had collapsed a few times while we were walking, but every time got back up and continued. Her determination was incredible.
"Man, you guys look starved!" Tyson exclaimed.
"Well yeah, Tyson; I haven't touched food for days and Kai hasn't for over a week!" Hilary retorted. "What?" she said, seeing their shocked expressions.
"You mean. you didn't get a package yesterday?" Rei said, curiously.
"Oh man, I thought we shoulda saved some," Tyson said, guiltily.
Hilary looked extremely angry now. Rei and Tyson exchanged cheesy grins, but they knew this case was serious.
"Hey! Sorry we're late!" Max's voice came. I saw him and Kenny running towards us; the Bladebreakers united once again.
"Did YOU get a package yesterday?" Hilary quickly asked them as they approached.
"Uh, yeah. didn't you?" Kenny said, nervously.
"Didn't you save ANY?!" Hilary looked desperate now.
"Sorry." Max looked nervous now.
"I can't believe this! This isn't fair!" Hilary sounded upset. The rest of them exchanged guilty looks.
"We're really sorry, Hilary. We weren't thinking; we figured everyone got some," Tyson apologised.
"Yeah, we didn't know," Max added.
"You okay?" Rei asked. Hilary nodded. She looked pale and weak again. "How about you, Kai?" he asked me.
"Hm."
"Talkative today, aren't we," Tyson muttered sarcastically.
"Aren't I always," I smirked. I quickly turned around; I heard a noise.
"What is it?" Kenny asked.
"Listen, don't you hear it?" Rei asked.
"Yeah." Max strained to hear the sounds of a boat coming closer and closer.
"A ship! We're saved!" Tyson cried out. "Hey, over here!"
The large ship stopped, and they all hurried towards it. They waited and waited for someone to come out and rescue them. It was a large, nice ship that probably held people. But, there were none.
"There's no one on board," I figured. I could SEE question marks above their confused faces.
"Then who's steering the ship?" Hilary asked.
"Only one way to find out," Tyson said and jumped aboard. We all followed him, Kenny rather reluctantly.
Kenny and I walked into the captain's cabin. It was empty. "The captain must have left," I inferred.
"Yeah. I think you're right," Kenny said. "Look at this communication screen. maybe I can hack into it and replay it." He started to fiddle with the many instruments and controls in the captain's cabin. I left; he could probably concentrate better alone.
"Yeah! This is AWESOME!" I heard Tyson's shouts from inside a cabin. I noticed there were only 3 cabins to the whole ship. They were huge, though.
I looked inside. There were two beds, couches and chairs, a kitchen, and a bathroom. Oh, and three hyper kids jumping on the beds.
"Check this out, you guys," Tyson said, and did a somersault off the bed, landing flat on his back.
Max and Rei snickered, as Tyson lay on the floor. He put both hands on the ground and did a flip forward, and landed neatly on his feet. "Ta-dah!"
"Not bad, Max, but learn from the pro," Rei laughed and ran up the wall, then did two back flips in the air, and landed on his feet in a pose.
"Yeah okay, you win," Max said, laughing.
"Help." Tyson moaned, still on his back. Max and Rei started laughing, and soon Tyson was laughing as well.
I walked out of the cabin, leaving the sounds of happiness and friendship. In the distance I heard a crash and a groan from Tyson, followed by even more laughter.
I looked outside. I couldn't see the island anymore. We were moving quickly into the empty sea. Water is supposed to be soothing, but it only brought back bad memories to me. I was soon engulfed in my thoughts. I was drowning in the darkness.
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(Hilary's POV)
I walked into the neat, clean cabin. There was everything we needed: beds, a bathroom, a kitchen. Wait, a kitchen?! I ran towards the refrigerator and opened the doors. Darn it.
I searched the cabin for food and found nothing. I was going to die if I didn't get some food quickly! I think I hadn't eaten for 4 whole days now. The hunger was painful. I had already collapsed a few times today.
I flopped onto the soft bed and sighed heavily. I closed my eyes and buried myself in the fluffy pillows. "HILARY!" I heard a voice shout. My eyes snapped open and I saw Rei and Max running into the room, with - gasp - food!
"Here ya go, Hil!" Max winked. Rei threw the large package of food into my arms, and I started to eat. I felt unladylike, but I didn't care.
After I had eaten a few days worth of food, I realised how rude I probably appeared. "You guys want some?" I asked, my mouth full of the substance.
"Sure!" They hadn't eaten for a day, also and they joined in. Tyson came into the room, eating from the rest of the load Rei had brought, and Kenny had come and also joined in.
"Hey, what about Kai?" I suddenly remembered. Everyone stopped eating and looked at me. I gathered up some food and walked outside, to where he was standing.
He was leaning against the ship rail, looking deep into the ocean. His eyes were lost. I could see a look of panic from his memories.
"Kai!" I yelled. With a blink, his eyes returned to their normal, focused look and stared at me. "We found some food, so I brought some for you!"
He nodded his thanks and took the food. He ate slowly and calmly; I blushed as I remembered how I had eaten like Tyson. I wondered what he had been thinking about. I walked away from the awkward silence.
(Tyson's POV)
I saw Hilary come back into the room. Okay, Kai was alone. I had to confront him now.
I walked out of the room and I saw Kai looking out to sea again. There was still a pile of food that he hadn't touched yet. His eyes had a distant look.
"Kai." he looked at me, completely focused again. "What did they do?" I blurted out. "You know, the needles," I spoke softly.
He glared at me. Well, I couldn't really tell if it was a glare or a stare or whatever. His eyes flashed with anger, hatred. some kind of emotion along those lines. He now knew I had seen into his past. He had to tell me.
"They were a test. Basically, if I died I didn't deserve to live anyway." He said this all too calmly; it bothered me. I, however, felt completely shocked and angry.
"That's not fair!" I yelled. "So your grandpa injected you with this stuff just to see if you would live?"
"Or as punishment," he said, calmly as ever. I didn't get it, so he continued. "When I--" he caught himself before he said anymore. He went stiff and silent.
"When what, Kai?" I was curious now.
"Forget it, Tyson." His voice was bitter and cold now. With that he walked away, leaving me standing alone, dumbfounded.
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(Rei's POV)
"Tyson?" I saw him standing alone in the dark. "What."
"He told me. I shouldn't have asked." He looked sorry. Who? Kai, obviously.
"Told you what?" I asked, cautiously.
"You know the dream?" Yeah, I knew. Not any old dream, but THE dream where he saw into Kai's past.
"Yeah?" I waited for him to continue.
"I only asked him what the needles were for, and he goes all distant and mysterious on me!" Tyson explained.
I looked at him; his voice sounded annoyed but his eyes told me otherwise. "What happened. exactly? What do you mean distant and mysterious?"
"Well his eyes. they were sorta, blank." I had seen it before, too. I knew what he meant. "And he looked really angry, but not completely with me, but with himself. He answered me, though. He said they were just to see if he would survive."
Oh. That's pretty scary. Imagine your own grandfather hurting you just to see if you'll live. Psychopath. "So you're saying that Voltaire coulda killed his grandson and could care less?"
"Yeah. he said that if he had died, he wouldn't have deserved to live anyway. And he said that completely calmly and sincerely; that's what bothers me," Tyson said. I stared at him, bewildered.
"And there's more," he continued. "He said they were used as punishment. He started to say something, but walked away and told me to forget about it. He sounded kinda bitter."
"If you're done talking about me..." Kai! Oh no. Tyson and I looked at each other, panicked.
"We're sorry, Kai," I apologised. "We just--" but before I was finished, he was gone.
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(Normal POV)
"Okay, so there's three rooms," Max said as Rei and Tyson walked in the door. Everyone was there except for Kai. "Oh, hey guys, we were just deciding rooms. You seen Kai?"
Rei and Tyson looked at each other momentarily. "Yeah. he's outside," Tyson said.
"Okay. so who do you guys wanna go with?" Kenny asked. He hoped he would be chosen.
"I'll go with Tyson," Rei said quickly. Tyson nodded.
"Yup! Of course, buddy." Max and Kenny exchanged I-thought-I-was-his-best- friend looks.
"I'll go with Max!" Kenny hastily cried out. He didn't want to be stuck with Hilary. that would be beyond uncomfortable.
"Then that leaves you with Kai, Hilary!" Max said. Her eyes widened.
"Oh." The others resisted laughing. Well, almost resisted, a few giggles escaped their lips.
"Well it's getting late out. Let's get to bed," Kenny said, and they went to their assigned cabins.
Kai watched from the shadows as they settled into cabins. Rei, Tyson and Hilary walked out of the cabin they had been in. Rei and Tyson walked into one cabin and Hilary into the last one.
He felt empty inside. emotions stirred up once again. He stared at the deep sea, which was now almost black, reflecting the sky. He wasn't angry with Tyson or Rei. He was a little confused as to why they would be talking about him. as if they cared.
He wished they had never found out. It was better that way. He was better off never feeling that artificial - love - from Rei's memories. They weren't real. to him, anyway. All they did was leave emptiness inside and a longing for the impossible.
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(Hilary's POV)
I jumped into the soft, comforting bed. I scrambled into the crisp bed sheets and warm blanket. Staring at the empty bed beside me, I vaguely wondered where Kai was. I soon fell asleep.
I woke up around 3:00 am to use the bathroom. When I got back into my bed, I heard noise. I saw Kai was sleeping in his bed, a pained expression on his face. He was thrashing about in his dream.
"No. I won't." he softly said in his sleep; I could only make out fragments of his sentences. His face looked angry and pained, yet determined. "Never." As he said this, pain flickered in his face and he flinched. This continued, and it appeared to me he was being beaten.
Suddenly, the beating appeared to stop. A look of sheer terror spread across his face, as his left arm jerked out. Immediately, he started to shake and his muscles tensed. I felt like screaming just looking at his face so stricken with pain.
His breaths were shallow and harsh; it was difficult to breathe. His teeth gritted together to keep from crying out, his fists clenched tightly. His eyes were tightly shut in pain. I could almost see tears forming. The pain was getting worse and worse.
Kai immediately jolted up, awake. His face was extremely pale and beaded with sweat. His eyes were wide and panic-stricken. His breathing was heavy and deep.
"Kai." I said softly. He turned to look at me, sitting on my bed. His breathing calmed down a bit; his eyes quickly hid the fear. "What happened?"
He sat there, taking deep breaths. "It's nothing."
"That's not true, Kai. You can tell me," I said, sitting down beside him on his bed. I put a comforting hand on his shoulder. It was cold and he trembled a bit at the touch.
"No. I can't," he said. His voice was strong yet I detected a hint of emotion in his voice, although I couldn't tell. With that, he walked out of the room, leaving me sitting on his empty bed. I had a feeling he wouldn't come back to sleep tonight.
"Kai." I was worried about him. There was no way I could sleep now. well, why not go to Rei? He would understand. I walked out of the empty cabin.
(Rei's POV)
I yawned and stretched as I was waken by Hilary at 3 in the morning. "What is it, Hilary?" I said, rubbing my eyes sleepily.
"Whaddya want," Tyson's muffled voice came from under the blankets, his face buried in a pillow.
"It's about Kai." At this, we both opened our eyes and shook off our tiredness.
"What about him?" I asked, concerned. I hoped we hadn't done anything.
"Well, it was like this." Hilary explained everything that had happened. Tyson and I exchanged glances, as we realised what had happened. "Do you know anything about this?" she asked.
"Hilary, you know that dream where we saw into each others' lives?" I asked. She nodded. "Well Tyson saw into Kai's past."
"Yeah, and I think I know what happened in the dream," Tyson continued. "Kai was beaten by his grandfather." Hilary's eyes opened wide and looked as if she was about to say something, but didn't.
"So we'd assume that was what was happening in the dream, the way you described it," I said.
"Yeah. that would fit what I saw," she nodded slowly.
"And then the part where his arm jerked out and went into extreme pain, I think I can explain too," Tyson said. "When I was in Kai's life, there was this flashback of when he was injected with a poison. I sort of felt it when I was there, but nothing compared to what it was actually like. What I did feel was worse and more terrifying than anything I've ever experienced, and that wasn't even close to what actually happened."
"Why was he injected with the poison?" Hilary wondered.
"He said it was just to see if he would survive," Tyson told her. She looked horrified. "Or as punishment," he added.
"He would have had to do something horrible to deserve that," I said. Even for an abusive grandfather, to do something that would kill a normal person was harsh.
"I mean - Kai - was absolutely terrified and almost died, and Kai is like, you know." Tyson said, and we nodded. We knew what he meant.
"Wait, I remember something else," Hilary said quickly. "Before he was. beaten, he said something like 'No, I won't. Never.' So he was refusing to do something."
"Yeah." I said slowly, pondering about what she had just said. "We should get some sleep. It's past 3 in the morning," I realised.
"You're right. Thanks, guys," Hilary said and went back to her cabin. We crawled back into our beds for about 5 minutes.
"Can you sleep, Rei?" Tyson asked from his bed.
"No, can you?" I assumed he couldn't either. He shook his head and got out of bed, and I did too.
"Wanna beybattle?" he asked, suddenly.
"Yeah!" I happily accepted the challenge.
We headed outside and battled. We had a lot of fun and improved our beyblading while we were at it. We couldn't have a full, all-out match because I had realised we would destroy the ship, so we kept our bit-beasts contained. We enjoyed ourselves anyway. It ended up a tie.
"Hey, guys," Hilary's voice came. "I couldn't sleep either."
"Yeah? We were just having a beybattle!" Tyson exclaimed. "We tied."
"Really? And you didn't destroy the ship?" Hilary laughed.
"Nah, Rei recognised that so we didn't call out our bit-beasts," he said, smiling.
"Yeah? So what are you guys gonna do now?" she asked.
"I dunno," Tyson confessed. There was no way any of us could sleep, and it was 3:30 AM or something.
"Where are we going, anyways?" I wondered aloud.
"I don't know. Kenny said it was stuck on auto-pilot or something, so we don't really have a choice," Hilary explained.
We sat and stared up at the dark sky. It was beautiful and clear; the stars glowed softly yet brightly against the pitch black. They were reflected in the deep water, glittering as they struck the calm waves.
"Let's play a game!" Tyson suggested.
"Okay," we agreed. We had to get our minds free of concern, at least for the night.
"Ooh! Let's play I spy!" Tyson said, enthusiastically. "I spy with my little eye. something that is pink!"
"Hilary's sweater," I said.
"How did you guess?" he wondered.
"Well, considering it's the only pink thing in sight."
"This isn't working so well," Hilary commented. "How about. spin the bottle?" She saw our shocked looks. "Not that I want to kiss you guys, or anything," she added quickly, her face flushing furiously.
"How about cards?" Tyson asked.
"We don't HAVE any cards, Tyson," I said.
"Right. crazy eight's anyone?"
"You need cards to play crazy eight's, Tyson," Hilary reminded him.
"Blackjack?"
"You need cards for that too," I said.
"President?"
"Cards," Hilary said, exasperated.
"Go fish!" We sweat-dropped.
"How about we practise our beyblading instead," I suggested.
"Good idea," Hilary said.
"I wanna play go fish."
"Tyson! You need cards to play go fish! We - don't - have - cards," Hilary said slowly.
"Really?" We groaned.
"Honestly, Tyson. You can be so dense at times." Hilary started. She received a glare from Tyson.
"Let it rip!" We launched our blades with the familiar phrase. We practised on the wooden deck and dodged miniature bottles of shampoo and shower gel.
We heard another blade that was neither Tyson's nor mine. It was grinding against metal with that sleek, smooth sound. Hilary gasped, as she saw into the shadows.
"What is it, Hilary?" I asked. Tyson and I looked and saw Kai, his beyblade streaking across the thin rail. The bar was as thin as the beyblade itself; one slip and Dranzer would be lost in the dark waters below.
"You're insane, Kai!" Tyson exclaimed. "What do you think you're doing?"
"Practising, what's it look like," Kai said coolly.
"Really, Kai. I don't think." Hilary started.
"I know what I'm doing," Kai said confidently. The blade started to fly from bar to bar, jumping effortlessly. Our faces were completely in shock and awe.
"Talk about total control," I mumbled, as the blue blade flew back into Kai's outstretched arm.
"No kidding," Tyson nodded. Kai gave a slight smirk of satisfaction.
"What are you doing out here, anyway," he demanded.
"We were practising blading," I quickly explained. Hilary and Tyson nodded. Kai didn't ask why we were out at 4:00 AM; we were relieved. Maybe because he didn't want us questioning him.
"It's getting a little cool out. Let's go inside," Hilary suggested. We agreed, and went into one of the cabins.
Hilary and I were sitting on a couch, when we heard the sounds of Tyson repeatedly opening and closing the fridge. Open. Shut. Open. Shut. Open. Shut. Open. CRASH!
We immediately turned to see Tyson, buried in food! I burst out laughing, and I bet even Kai cracked a slight smirk. "Tyson!" Hilary cried out. "Oh Tyson, are you okay?"
His eyes were dazed, but returned to focus as he started to laugh as well, out of both happiness and shock.
"Oh wow, we got a lot of. ingredients? Great!" I laughed, and started to put them on the counter.
"Hey! Let's make breakfast!" Hilary shouted, enthusiastically.
"Sure!" It would give us something to do, and besides it was almost sunrise. We started to cook breakfast, well Hilary and I, anyway. Tyson was eating chocolate chips out of the bag, and Kai continued to practise with his blade.
Max came into the room when the food was almost ready. He looked fatigued and exhausted. "What's up, Max?" I asked.
"I dunno. just not feeling so great," he admitted, as Kenny entered the cabin.
"Wow! Food!" He exclaimed. "Oh, yeah, Max isn't feeling very well," Kenny added.
"Do you want some pancakes?" Tyson asked, sitting at the table hungrily ready for breakfast.
"Not really," he said wearily. He smiled weakly.
"Ya sure? Hilary and Rei worked real hard on them!" Tyson smiled, but was worried.
"Yeah. Thanks anyway," he said.
"You should get back to bed," I suggested. He nodded and slowly walked back to his cabin.
"Poor Maxie," Tyson said, and we nodded.
"The Bladebreakers seem to be getting sick a lot," I commented.
"Yes, Rei, you're very observant," Kenny said, starting a lecture. "I believe this is because your immune systems are down from exhaustion, making you vulnerable to disease. Also, you've been exposed to extremities that your bodies are not necessarily capable of handling while functioning normally."
We stared at him blankly. "So basically you're right, Rei," Kenny sighed. He saw the lights inside our heads turn on as we understood.
"Oh, okay."
"Breakfast is ready!" Hilary said, putting large stacks of pancakes on everyone's plate, except Max's, of course.
We started ravenously devouring the fluffy pancakes, thoroughly enjoying the first decent meal we'd had for a LONG time. "Hey Kai, don't you want to eat?" Tyson said although it was hard to make out as his mouth was stuffed with food.
"Thanks anyway," he said, shoving his untouched plate towards Tyson.
"You sure?" Tyson said happily, grinning at the extra mound of pancakes. Kai gave a swift nod and walked out of the room. My eyes followed him until the door closed behind him.
"What's up with him?" Kenny asked. Tyson, Hilary and I all exchanged glances and I could see we all agreed it was better we didn't worry Kenny with any more; he was already stressed out as it was.
"He's probably just not hungry," I said. I was hungry myself, though, so that might not cut it. The others didn't seem to think so either.
"Yeah, he probably lost his appetite watching Tyson eat," Hilary joked and we all started laughing, although I noticed the urgency in her voice.
Tyson made a face at her, but continued to shovel forkfuls into his mouth at an alarming rate.
"Well, I've gotta go and work on that communication box," Kenny said, leaving his empty plate. As soon as he had left the cabin, we all let out a huge sigh of relief.
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(Normal POV)
Kai didn't feel like eating. He didn't think it would stay down, as the recurring memory came back once again, the one Hilary had seen in his sleep. He hoped she hadn't seen too much. he couldn't explain, even to them, his best friends.
He realised that Hilary probably had talked to Tyson and Rei about it; they had been up late together. They, in turn, probably had told Hilary about what Tyson had seen. 'Great,' he thought sarcastically. They were better off not knowing anything.
"YOU GUYS!! COME HERE!!" Kenny's shrill voice rang out. They came running to the captain's cabin and stood around the flickering screen.
"I'm so sorry about everything that has happened. Don't you worry," Mr. Dickenson's familiar voice came. "The authorities have sent this ship to take you home. I will explain more when-"
His voice was cut off, and the screen went dead. It then flickered back on, but it was a completely different person.
"I want your bit-beasts. Surrender, or we will have to take drastic measures." They recognised the voice to be that of the scientist that was in control of their experiment.
"No way, freak show," Tyson shouted.
"Well then, let's see how you do with THIS." There was an evil laugh, and the screen flickered off. With that the boat turned so sharply around it literally sending them flying.
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END OF CHAPTER!! Review please!
~ Penguin Pop