Disclaimer: I don't own I do own the plot.

Author's Note: Special thanks to MarianQ for BETA reading :-)

"Thus nature has no love for solitude, and always leans, as it were, on some support; and the sweetest support is found in the most intimate friendship."
- Cicero

The morning had come. Uninvited. Miguel rubbed his eyes a few times, only to find himself alone in the room.

"Where are all the others?" he thought and forced his eyes open wide. He reached for the alarm clock next to his bed and he grabbed it. Nine AM.

"Wonderful, now I'm late for practice", he hissed under his breath. Quickly, he changed to his usual outfit, opened furiously the door and stormed out of the room. After five minutes, he had reached his team training room.

He was ready to open the door when a female voice spoke

"It is alright,Miguel. We thought you could need some more sleep. Barthez is talking to the journalists at the other side of the hotel." Miguel let out a sigh of relief after hearing this news and approached the girl in front of him.

"Thanks, Mathilda. That was very thoughtful of you. All of you, in fact." he said trying to catch his breath. The pink haired girl gave him a quick smile and looked him right into his eyes. Miguel remembered how scared Mathilda looked last night and now she was standing there smiling. Full of life.

"Doesn't she...? How can she hide it so well and I can't?" Miguel's fear grew. They were expecting him to do something. Anything.

"Duck and run" he thought "that's what weak people do and... I'm not as strong as they think I am" He gave her a quick smile, not wanting to let his own feelings show.

"We better go..." his voice trailed off when they heard loud footsteps approaching them.

"Where the hell are those children? Why can't they ever listen and do as what they are told?

Barthez hissed under his breath and quickened his steps until he reached the path that lead to the training room. His eyes fell upon two obviously scared teenagers who were staring at him with a startled look.

"You!" he shouted, pointing at the young light pink haired girl, "Go and find the other two and bring them in here. Now!" he said, emphasizing his last word. Mathilda leaned her face down and nodded while she whispered,

"A-a-alright,Sir..." and she quickly left taking the other path back to the hotel. Miguel faced Barthez with an even more frightened look in his blue eyes than before.

"Miguel" Barthez said slowly, facing the young teenager, "Go into the training room"

Miguel nodded as he was ready to walk towards said room but something was aching inside him.

"Damn those threats!" he muttered to himself and froze. His whole body was unable to move because he knew what he had to do and what he had to say. He knew what the others wanted him to do. But he couldn't. He just couldn't.

"Is there a problem, Miguel? Did you forget how to walk?" Barthez's voice was cold and stiff. Miguel held tightly his fists in his hands and his lips were now one thin line. His whole face had darkened.

"I am not a hero." Miguel thought to himself and walked towards the room. The door was opened quickly and it was closed with absolutely no sound. No anger, no fear, no regrets. Then again were there any?

At that particular moment Mathilda came along with Aaron and Claude, all of them looking frightened. Barthez gave them a look of approval and all of them walked in the training room.

Later at lunchtime

The members of the Barthez Battalion team were all sitting at a table in the middle of the restaurant at the hotel they were staying in. All of them remained silent, not showing any interest in their food. Expect Aaron, he was the only one who was eating and that because he found relief from stress in food.

Tomorrow,they had a match against the PBA All-Starz, in New York City. In order to make Barthez's plan work out, all they had to do was to cheat so that they could win. Apparently they had to become liars in order to emerge victorious. This made them all feel disgusted and ashamed to be a part of this team. But they all feared Barthez and they couldn't say no.

Claude would battle first. All he had to was to allow a sharp piece from his beyblade to break off and cut him. This would show that the PBA All-Starz are not playing nice. All Barthez wanted was to do was to defame the PBA All-Starz in their home country. Make their own people dislike them. According to the BBA,it is illegal to carry a blade or anything that could hurt your opponent into battle. Nobody would notice that Barthez Battalion would switch beyblades before the match. The control happened at the training room. Experts were coming in to make sure that the beyblades were legal but there was plenty of time to change your beyblade before you reached the beystadium. Barthez had everything planned out. Every single move. And this is how the Barthez Battalion team would gain fame. Barthez wanted to inspire sympathy in his own team by playing dirty. But this was not the first time it had happened. It had happened before in the European Championships against the Majestics.

Miguel held his glass of water tightly within his fist. He was thinking. He was thinking so hard that he was almost sure that his brain would explode. He raised his glass to level with his lips and drank slowly.

"I refuse to be the one" he made his thought final and set his glass down. He just gave quick glances to his teammates before he left the table. Saying nothing, he merely got up and left. Leaving nothing but silence behind him.

"What's up with him?" Aaron said looking concerned at the figure of the blonde boy who was now fading away. Claude did not say anything, hoping that whatever was going through Miguel's head was right. On the other hand, Mathilda sighed and placed her hands on the table.

"I think we should talk to him" the girl said obviously concerned.

"Let him figure out on his own. Whatever will happen,we will stay together as a team"

Claude said sounding unexpectedly confident and reached out to hold the girl's left hand. She turned and looked at him showing how much she cared about how Miguel was feeling but she gave him a smile nonetheless.

What was going inside Claude's head? He was the one who was afraid the most. How could he be so self-assured in front of Mathilda? Maybe, working with Barthez had made it easy for him to find ways to hide his true feelings.

Claude could never hurt Mathilda's feelings. She was delicate. Like a diamond. Beautiful like a swan. Holding the most rare beauty in the world. With his eyes glued to hers,Claude smiled back and held her hand.

"Alright" Mathilda mumbled, somewhat persuaded. She still looked concerned but then again she always looked like that. She let out a sigh of relief and placed her focus on her plate which was still full, even if they were at the restaurant for half an hour. At that moment, Claude let her hand fall free on the table and turned his whole body in order to face her.

"Are you feeling alright?" he asked her, noticing how pale she looked.

Mathilda had not slept at all. Last night she had spend most of the time she should be sleeping out at the balcony thinking. Thinking thoughts that were never given closure because she simply felt so sad. This whole fiasco was making her feel sad but she did not want to bother other people with herself even if she hurt so. Claude saw some kind of hesitation in Mathilda's face before she replied

"I'm fine,Claude. I'm not the one you should worry about now" she said, referring to Miguel.

"You're right" he replied, with Barthez in his mind.

"We have to do something" the girl said sounding worried. She did not want Miguel to be alone now. Nor did she want anyone to be alone when they were at the championship.

"This isn't going to end pretty" Claude said thinking about the next match. Only the thought of it made him feel nervous. What if something didn't go as planned? What if he failed? What if he hesitated? Then he would pay. Barthez would make him pay. Claude sighed and closed his eyes for a moment.

"I have to make sure he's alright" her voice trembled when she noticed that the blonde boy was now approaching them with a furious look in his eyes.

"I cannot promise you anything else but I promise we will remain a team, no matter what".

His voice proved that he meant every word he said. The others just looked at him curiously.

After a few glances, they all nodded to each other. For now, everyone was somewhat content.

xxxxxxx

Miguel rose from his chair and quickly paced through the hotel, then launched himself outside of it feeling like he could touch freedom. His mind was chaos. Complete chaos. He stood next to the hotel main entrance looking at all the people walking in the street. People laughing, yelling, talking.. why couldn't he laugh? Or yell? Or feel anything at all? His heart was heavy with only a feeling of anxiety hiding underneath. He had learned to hide his feelings perfectly.

"I refuse to be the one, I refuse to be the one" he screamed within his mind and he quickly touched his head with his hands

"I cannot stand this!" he thought furiously and started walking back to the hotel but before he reached the staircase, he stopped.

"Just perfect" he thought and closed his eyes.

"I cannot leave, I am in a foreign country. I don't know anywhere to go" he closed his fists tightly and felt like his brain was about to explode at any minute. "And what am I going to say once I'm back? Hello mum and dad, I just decided that Beyblading is not what I was born to do after all. Maybe I should become a director or a... teacher. Or what about a gardener? There is a million other things I can do. A million other things. But nothing will give me the same pleasure as beyblading. I can't give up on my passion that easily. I can't just shut out all of my feelings and forget what I have been doing all of my life. Put Beyblading aside. Because I will always remember how happy I was when I was beyblading. Because nothing will make me feel more alive than beyblading. Nothing. Absolutely nothing and then I will end up as a whiny loser. Not that I am not one already." he threw his fist against the wall near the stairs and looked around. Nobody was paying attention to him. Normal teenage behaviour. That's what they would think. The world is so kind.

"Wonderful. Just wonderful. Simply wonderful. What if I start yelling at Barthez in the middle of the room? Would anyone notice me then? They would. Because people love gossip. But I refuse to do that." He sighed and looked down at the floor. He could start running all around like a fool again. If he knew what he wanted. What did he really want? He opened his eyes and faced the empty yellow wall. He had no idea what he was supposed to do. No,he knew what he had to do but he did not know the way. No, not the way. The way was easy. What about how he would do it? He blinked his eyes and let his hands fall limp.

"I am the leader. Therefore I must help my team-mates, I should not put them through more trouble. Because if I leave, Barthez will go mad. Insanely mad. And it will be my fault if they don't win. If we don't win. Because we are all in this together. As a team. Whatever decision I have to make,I will ask for their advice first." Miguel knew that he should trust them and believe in them. Every one of them. The wise Claude who knows when to stop and when to react. The adventurous Aaron who likes to take chances in his life and see where he will end up. And Mathilda, the one who would sacrifice everything for her team. She had already sacrificed her studies, her friends, all of her life. And he would just blow all this away? Just walk out on them? The people who have helped him so much?

He turned his body back to the world who still seemed not to care about him. He smiled, feeling satisfied inside and started pacing back to the restaurant. He had to see them now, make sure that they knew that he would be there for them as much as they are for him.

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