I found the reviews really interesting! Thanks a billion! Sorry again for the long waiting periods… I've been busy.

SOMEONE2003: I found that review rather amusing. Haha, I don't actually flinch at my first work (which is this story). I find it great that I've become a much better writer with both practice/experience and lovely reviews. Stress? Absolutely none in the world of writing. It's a stress-reliever, in fact; it helps to escape from real world stress. Though I felt the need to rewrite the chapter several times, it was definitely not stressful.

Twisted Fate

Chapter 25: The Strength of a Soul

"Max…" the pretty blonde woman whispered. Blood was everywhere, mixed with the glass, spilled chemicals and rubble. She lay in her son's arms, dying. Crimson seeped through the fabric her dress and trickled freely down her face from a huge gash in her head.

"Mom!" he screamed. "Mom, no!"

"Darling… can I… ask you something?" she asked faintly between sharp breaths, her blonde hair streaked red as it was fanned out on the floor.

"Anything, mom," he said, his passionate blue eyes holding an intense stare. Her eyes, of an identical colour and vibrancy, slowly closed.

"Did you know?" she whispered.

"Did I know what?" he asked, anxiously.

"Please, Max. Don't give me that," she pleaded. "Did you… know… the doors would lock… that I would die here…" her life was vanishing.

His mouth hung open. "What are you talking about?" he asked, but a vivid flashback abruptly entered his mind.

City lights lit up the dark sky as two figures walked towards the BBA research centre. "So what exactly do you want to show me, Maxie?" the blonde woman said, staring down at her son.

"It's a surprise," he said.

"And it couldn't wait for tomorrow?" she asked, looking at the dark sky.

"Mom," he whined. "It's really cool! Besides, if you hadn't worked overtime until past dinner…"

The blonde woman smiled at her son. "Sure."

Max opened the doors with Judy's key. "So where do we have to go to see your surprise?"

"Come on, this way," he said, leading the pretty lady through the building.

"Okay," he said at last, arriving at their destination. "Now… wait in this room, while I set it up," he said, and pushed her into an adjacent room, then shut the door.

He began to set up the project he had been working on with Emily and Kenny. They had just finished earlier that day. It was a completely new type of training session – it was part virtual, part real. He entered a few commands into the computer, pressed a few buttons and was ready to let it rip.

He grabbed the cord and plugged it in, however sparks showered everywhere. That wasn't supposed to happen… He unplugged it, but realized he had triggered something. Before he knew it, the building was catching fire, and things were exploding. Instinctively, he began to run. He could hear the screams of his mother, trapped inside the locked room, but still he ran…

"Mom, no!" he yelled. "I would never… I didn't mean to…" but realized his words were not heard. Her ragged breathing had stopped altogether. And she'd died thinking Max had killed her.

Reality seemed to die right then and there. His world was collapsing. He felt his soul crumble into dust and leave him.

"Put me down!" she screamed, but her lips wouldn't move. Her body was limp; she was paralysed. "Kai!" she screamed hoarsely, both frightened and enraged. "Kai," she said, softer, realizing what he had done. "What are you doing to me now…?"

The boy walked ahead, carrying her body. Tyson followed silently. "Tyson!" she shrieked desperately, but realized her screaming was only in her mind. "I'm sorry!" she yelled mentally. "Please, stop!"

Her throat hurt, even though her hoarse shrieking was only mental. She was then vaguely aware of the liquid drenching her shirt… blood, from her neck. And she then could feel it dripping down her wrists and arms, all over her body.

"Where are you taking me?" she shouted in her mind, trying in vain to move. She could see tombstones… but surely they weren't going to…

"I'm not dead!" she screeched. "Put me down!" She was crying, though no tears fell from her face. Kai laid her body in the coffin as she shrieked in her mind. His eyes stared blankly at her, disassociating her from his life. He then walked away, white scarf trailing.

Tyson's face then came into her view. She would have been shaking, had she not been unable to move. "Later, Hil," he said in a voice not his own. Or at least, not the one she had known. Screaming on the inside, she watched as he closed the lid on her and she no longer could see anything. She could only feel herself falling…

The coffin was falling immensely fast. She could feel it through the slight openings of the hinges. Only after about a minute of falling did she realize that she had no air. "But I'm not breathing with any difficulty… I'm not breathing at all!"

Minutes passed, and she was still falling. She would fall for eternity in the darkness…

After ten minutes, she had cleared her head and realized what had happened.

After thirty minutes, she had gone through her entire memory of her life. Her pathetic life filled with false friendships and happiness.

After an hour, she had realized she would be here forever, in the darkness of misery and regret.

After an hour, her spirit had broken.

Kai shuddered. A boy lay dead at his bloody, tainted hands. He fought back the tears and every emotion that threatened to escape. The boy's blue eyes would never open again.

"Come on, Kai," his grandfather whispered, dangerously quiet. Kai could feel the poison, pushing him towards his next victim.

Tyson was shouting, yelling, frightened. Yet Kai continued to walk towards him, knife brandished. Tyson was cornered. He couldn't move. He was paralysed with fear.

Kai tried to stop himself. He couldn't. "I'm… sorry…" he whispered, as he approached Tyson. His hands were shaking violently, yet clung to the silver blade. It dripped with the life of his friend.

Tyson's shouting ceased. Kai swore his voice was still echoing in the stony chamber. They saw he was shaking… they saw him collapse, trying to fight the pain… didn't they?

Kai opened his eyes, realizing he was already in front of the next victim. It was Rei. Unlike Max and Tyson, he wasn't pleading or crying or shouting. He stood there, calmly.

"Kai," he said. "Stop…"

"I… can't stop it," Kai whispered. "I'm not strong enough…"

Rei cast him a wary glance. Kai couldn't hold out any longer. The crimson-stained knife plunged.

Kai's eyes seemed devoid of life. He was weak. He had nothing. He succumbed to the poison, killing Hilary and Kenny effortlessly.

His grandfather had won.

Kai had lost.

Tyson shivered as he hid in the alleyway. It was nearing nightfall now. This would be how he spent the rest of his life – in hiding. He could see the headline of the grungy newspaper he was huddled under read "Beyblade Champion Murders Grandfather". Skimming through the article, he saw he was wanted for murder… the murder of his grandpa.

He sat there, numb to the world. He had been accused of killing his own grandfather. It hadn't quite hit him yet, however the fact that he would never be able to see any of his friends ever again hovered in the dark silence. Would he ever be able to see anyone ever again?

The text blurred before his eyes, illegible now. How would he survive? How could he eat? Where could he go? He frowned, then read the article over again.

'…Victim stabbed in heart… Evidence leads to Tyson Granger… Witnesses say they saw Granger commit the act…' "Witnesses?" he said out loud. He squinted and pored over the paper once again.

"Oh… no…" he said, mouth open in horror. "No…!"

'Kai Hiwatari, a witness and friend of Granger, said that from a doorway they "saw him walk over to his grandfather, and before we knew it, he had killed him with a knife. He ran before any of us could confront him."

'Hiwatari, along with Max Tate and Rei Kon, saw the incident, and he ran before any of them could stop them. "We were just in total shock," Kon reports. "We hadn't realized what he'd done until he had run away."

'Investigators could find no motive for the incident. "He was always very close to his grandfather," Kon said. "Tyson is a kind and caring person, as is his grandfather. We still don't understand why he would do such a thing," the boy told the press.

'The five, all members of the Bladebreakers team, were very close to Granger. They had been "the people closest to him in his life, except for his grandfather," Kon said.

'"We just hope the police find him soon," Hiwatari told the media.

'The other witnesses refused to comment.'

Tyson gritted his teeth. 'Goodbye, sanity.' He couldn't have done it… must have been some doppelganger or whatever… but he could picture it in his mind too clearly. He had done it. Now he was left with nothing. He trembled softly, unsure of whether it was the cold or pent up tears.

They'd betrayed him. They told the police what had happened. No…

They hadn't betrayed him. They were just… doing what they thought best. After all, if Max (who had a similar close relationship with his mom) had pulled a knife on his mother and killed her in front of them, wouldn't he be afraid? Would he do the same? Try and find him… and get him some help?

He read the article again. "'Tyson is a kind and caring person… don't understand why he would do such a thing…'" he read. "Maybe… maybe they just want to help." He smiled slightly. So… even if he was psycho. Even if he did somehow kill his grandfather (a thought that would make anyone cringe)… his friends didn't hate him. They weren't against him.

Even at the worst of times, his friends would stick by him. He would always have them. And that was why Tyson would never lose his spirit. He had hope.

"Rei, what's going on?" Max asked.

Rei was shivering, though it wasn't cold. "Tyson – freeze. Kai – poison. Hilary – death," he said, in as close to an emotionless voice as he could muster. He was quite aware his voice was shaking.

"Rei, I don't understand…"

"You – watch." As soon as Rei had spoken, he could tell it had started.

"Max? Rei? What's happening?" Kai's voice could be heard.

"Kai!" Max shouted.

"It's no use," Rei said, looking at the ground. "They can't hear us."

"Guys, it's suddenly really cold…" Tyson's voice came.

Max stood up and ran over to where they were contained. He started banging on the glass. "Tyson!" he shouted, paying no heed to what Rei had just said.

Rei could now see Tyson's breath in front of him. "I'm serious… I'm freezing…"

"Rei, why am I trapped in here? Where are we?" Hilary asked. Rei stared at her in horror. It was a matter of time until her fate was played out.

He saw Kai collapse to his knees, sweating and shaking. He watched Tyson shivering violently, trying frantically to warm himself up. He looked at Hilary frantically pushing against the glass, frightened and screaming. He silently observed Max, as he pounded the glass Tyson's prison, shouting and not giving up.

Rei turned away and covered his ears. But then, he discovered he couldn't. He couldn't stop watching, and he couldn't block out the sound… But it was his conscience stopping him, not some psychopath.

Max was right. Even if their fates were inevitable, the least he could do was support them. They were teammates. They were friends.

Rei walked over towards the prisons, and started shouting at the top of his lungs. He knew they couldn't hear him, but at least they knew he was there for them.

He walked over to Hilary's prison. "Hilary! It's okay! Please, don't be afraid! Just… hold on. Be brave," he was shouting. She looked at him, and seemed to calm down a bit. He was suddenly aware of how ridiculous he looked with his wildly exaggerated hand gestures. He smiled at her.

She stopped pounding on the glass; her fear seemed to vanish from her eyes. "Everything's going to be okay, Hil," he said. He tried not to look sad. "It's okay…"

He then ran over to Kai's glass, banging furiously and shouting whatever came into his head. "Come on, Kai! Get up! You can do it! Don't give in!" He looked like a perky cheerleader. He was shouting and jumping and waving his hands.

Kai raised his head from his knees and looked up at him through bleary eyes. He smirked. "C'mon. You're never gonna make it to the national cheerleading squad without any back-flips," he muttered.

Rei grinned, and did so happily. Three in a row. He felt this amazing energy pulsing through him, and was no longer tired.

"Sweet back-flipping, Rei," Tyson said, teeth chattering, catching sight of Rei. Tyson grinned at him, and Rei returned the smile.

Max was laughing, and soon Rei joined in. And at that moment, Rei knew that no matter how bad it got, no matter what would happen, they would be by his side.

There would be no tragic ending. Nor would there be a happy one. No, there would be no ending. Just new beginnings. Life would go on.

END OF CHAPTER!

Ooh, leading up to the end. Hopefully I'll finish this fic before we all die of old age…

Penguin Pop