Later that night, Tala went for a drink at a pub. He had already asked Boris to let Frederick stay the night at his place (and for the rest of the week) and Boris had been more than happy to accept. He knew that Tala needed time by himself.

"Drinking yourself to death won't help," Garland said, sliding into the seat beside Tala.

"I happen to be a good drinker," Tala replied curtly, ordering another whisky.

"How many bottles have you drunk already?" he asked, eyeing the empty bottles on the bar counter wearily. There were definitely more than ten there.

"Fifteen," Tala said as the bar tender passed him another bottle.

Garland shook his head, surprised that anyone could still be completely sober after drinking fifteen bottles of whisky. He really underestimated Tala. But still, that could not possibly be healthy.

"Even if you are a good drinker," Garland stated, watching as Tala drowned the last bit of whisky. "It's no good to be drinking so much."

"I know," Tala said and stopped ordering. He glared at Garland instead. "What the hell do you want?"

"Nothing," he replied. "I'm just here to watch you drink yourself to death."

"By all means be my guest," Tala replied. "But if you want to see me dead, it definitely would not be by drinking too much."

"Should have known," Garland shot back swiftly and ordered a few drinks himself. "I'm quite a good drinker too."

"Suit yourself, just don't make me carry you back," Tala spat.

"If you are really unwilling to forgive Bryan and Rei, leave me here when I pass out drunk," Garland challenged.

"You know Garland, I've never been told to do something simpler," Tala snarled and gulped down the rest of his whisky in one breath.

Garland sighed.

As Tala expected, Garland was not able to last as long as him. Obviously. He stood up from his place and glanced down at the passed out Bryan. He rolled his eyes and left the pub, because he had no intention to forgive Bryan and Rei. At all.

Garland was stupid, Tala decided as he exited the rowdy park and entered the solemn streets. And he was going to pay the price for it, which was to get kicked out of the pub and spend the night in the streets. He was not going to forgive Tala for seriously leaving him there but there were other things Tala much rather bothered himself with.

His life had been perfect, almost anyway, before the arrival of Bryan and Rei and then his world had turned upside-down and topsy-turvy again like how it was back in Japan. He wondered if anything would have been different if he had not gotten together with Kai after BioVault had closed down. There were so many other options for him to choose from, none of them involving the Hiwatari. Alas, love makes one do stupid things.

And then there was Bryan. And Spencer. And Ian. Both who had listened to the full story and yet still chose to forgive Bryan and welcome him back into their arms as if nothing had happened. Why? Was he not as good as Bryan? Or was he just not as important as Bryan? Either ways, he did not see how he was going to be able to face any of them.

Great, he was practically planning to eliminate all his friends from his life, the people who have ever cared about him and gone through almost the same things as him. The scary thing was that he found out that he did not mind the thought of it that much.

He sighed and turned the street corner, and almost immediately ran back to the pub. Because, standing in front of his very eyes, was the one and only insufferable 'World Champ' of all time, Tyson Granger.

"Oh gosh, someone kill me," Tala groaned as an unmistakable flash of blonde hair came into his sight of vision. Max Tate... "Please no."

"TALA!" Tyson screamed and practically flew towards him, Max hot on his heels.

With easy grace, Tala stepped aside so that Tyson crashed to the ground like the clumsy ape he was. Max, as usual, followed in his footsteps and they both landed up sprawled on the ground, attracting the attention of more than a few passers-by who sniggered and pointed in their direction.

"Aww man Tala, what did you do that for? Not happy to see an old friend?" Tyson moaned as he pushed Max off him none too gently.

"You are not my friend," Tala said simply and turned to walk away, with every intention to forget ever seeing them.

"Tala, you're still so shy!" Tyson hollered and he and Max doubled over with laughter, ending up on the floor again. No surprise.

Tala decided to ignore Tyson's comment, as any sane person would, and started walking faster, hoping and praying with all my might that Tyson would just laugh, laugh, laugh and disappear… from this world.

As the laughter got fainter, he thought they had just laughed too much and forgot all about him. However, he was proven wrong when a strong grip on his shoulder stopped him from walking.

"Tala," Tyson's voice was suddenly much more serious than Tala ever remembered it to be. "We need to talk."

"About?"

"Kai, Rei, Bryan, you," he stated simply.

"Look Granger, I've never appreciated you sticking your nose into my business and I definitely will not start being grateful for it now. I can handle my own problems by myself just fine," Tala snapped, preparing to walk off again but Tyson tightened his grip on his shoulder.

"We need to talk," Tyson said and Tala sighed.

"No," he stated, stubborn as usual.

"Why?" Tyson questioned.

"Do you think I have nothing better to do than listen to your crap?" Tala threw back easily.

"Obviously," Tyson retorted with surprising calmness. "You don't seem like you have anything better to do if you just came out from a pub."

"How would you know?" Tala asked, rolling his eyes.

"You smell like you just came out from a pub…" Max replied.

Tala you are stupid. Tala thought to himself before he gave a resigned sigh. It was true that he had nothing much better to do and Frederick was probably asleep at Boris' house already so it was not as if he had to rush to fetch him or anything…

"Fine, I'll see what you have to say…"

"You have to talk them properly," Tyson said. He had entered a nearby café to talk because the outside temperature was too bloody cold for him to stand. Tala had wanted to protest but he decided that that would only waste more time than he already did.

"And who are you to tell me that?" Tala asked, blowing a stray strand of hair. "Granger."

"Because I am Kai's and Rei's friend and they're precious to me!" Tyson declared. "And you're my friend too Tala, and Bryan too. You're all my friends and I care about you all."

"That's right, Tala," Max spoke up. "We care about you guys so we want to help."

"I never considered you two as friends though and ever heard the phrase 'mind your own damned business'?" Tala questioned casually, staring at the two beybladers before him in boredom.

"I thought we were friends!" Tyson exclaimed, sounding hurt. "After all we've been through…"

"We were acquaintances and we had a common enemy," Tala explained slowly. "We had no choice but to depend on and help one another."

"But you still helped me when I was battling Brooklyn," Tyson insisted. Tala wondered why this guy just would not understand that they were not friends; never had been and never will be.

"As I said," Tala reiterated. "We were acquaintances and shared a common enemy."

"I'm sure it was more than that," Tyson continued.

"Is this what you were planning to talk to me about?" Tala asked instead. Arguing with Tyson would pointless. Tala did not want to admit it but Tyson could think up a bunch of reasons (rubbish if Tala had a say) and Tala would eventually be unable to come up with a reply.

"No…" Tyson mumbled.

"Then?"

"Right," Tyson said, gathering his thoughts. "You should go talk to them and sort things out. Whatever happened was in the past so I'm sure that you can all be friends again."

"You're too naïve," Tala spat out. He thought that by now Tyson would have grown up after seeing the world a little more, but he was still that naïve and foolish little boy when Tala met him for the first time all those years ago outside the Abbey.

"You're too complicated," Tyson shot back, obviously put off.

"The world is complicated," Tala replied calmly.

"You think it's complicated," Tyson retorted. Max was looking at them to and fro worriedly. He hoped that this would not escalate into a huge argument. He would not know how to handle it.

"Granger, get to the main point now," Tala said in annoyance. "Or I'm leaving and trust me you won't be able to find me once I step out of this place."

"Fine," Tyson said, though he was sounding extremely irritated, probably more than Tala. He knew that Tala was right and that he would never be able to find Tala once he leaves, not in Japan and definitely not in Russia. "Kai, Rei and Bryan are probably feeling guilty now, especially Bryan so you should talk to them. I know your only friends that you can trust are the Blitzkrieg Boys, so you should not lose your friendship with Bryan over such a matter."

"You see the nice things only," Tala stated as he got out of his seat, refusing to listen to anymore of Tyson's nonsense.

"And you see only the bad things," Tyson replied smoothly.

Tala turned and left, trying not to think about the truth in Tyson's words. It was not true. It definitely was not true. If it was true, then why did he even love in the first place?

"Bryan?" Rei asked uncertainly. He had searched Moscow for the better half of the day and had finally Bryan sitting by a frozen lake.

"Leave me alone," Bryan said without any emotions in his voice. If Rei had not known Bryan like he did, he would have scampered already. Bryan was being scare after all. However, Rei knew Bryan and from experience, 'leave me alone' was code for come here now.

"How are you?" Rei asked as he took a seat beside Bryan, trying to ignore the cold that was biting through his think winter cold. He had always been very sensitive to the cold. Bryan must have known that, since he immediately wrapped an arm around Rei's shoulder and pulled him closer so that he could feel the heat from Brayn's body.

"Like shit," Bryan said, letting out a low chuckle.

"Tala'll come around," Rei said confidently.

"And you know that?" Bryan asked sceptically. No offense to Rei but he was Tala's best friend and he did not even dare say that for sure.

"Yes," Rei replied, sounding so sure of himself that Bryan almost believed him. Almost.

"You don't know Tala," Bryan said instead, letting out a low chuckle. "He wouldn't care about me now."

"I'm sure he does," Rei insisted. "You're best friends."

"After all that I've done, do you think he still considers us that?" Bryan questioned.

"Yes," Rei answered stubbornly. "You're his best friend in the whole wide world and one of his few friends."

"So?"

"So he'll come round and forgive you, definitely," Rei said, looking at Bryan with hopeful eyes. "He will."

"Kitten, don't be silly," Bryan said affectionately, wondering how on earth Rei could be so adamant about this matter when he was usually a push-over when it came to other matters.

"You're his best friend," Rei said again. "Come on. Have some faith."

"You know Rei." Bryan let out a long sigh. "Sometimes I think his best friend is loneliness."

"I…" Rei did not know what to say to that. Tala may have the loner image but Rei did not think that it was possible for anyone to be able to stand being alone, not for a long period of time anyway. It was scary to think that anyone could. That was so sad, so heart wrenching. Even if Rei hated someone so much that he would kill that person, he would never wish solitude upon anyone.

"It's alright," Bryan said in resignation. "He'll be fine. He's been alone all his life."

Rei kept his silence, pondering over this new piece of information. After a while he spoke up again.

"I don't think he's been alone all his life," Rei said, leaning against Bryan.

"Why?" Bryan wanted to know.

"Because he has you," Rei replied, smiling. "And you definitely make an impact wherever you go."

"Thanks Rei," Bryan said, sincerity laced in his voice. "Thank you."

"There's no need to thank me," Rei said modestly, though Bryan could hear the underlying smugness. "I was only telling the truth."

Kai stood by the window in his hotel room, gazing at the full moon. He found it ironic; how the moon always changes at its different phases yet still remains exactly the same. Why were humans not the same?

"Tala," he muttered softly. "Could we ever be the same?"

TBC

-Winterblazewolf