Two weeks later, Kai was standing at a beyblade dish, with Black Dranzer fighting against some other characterless blade. He was thinking about Charlie. Two weeks had passed and he hadn't seen her, not once. Maybe she got out, eventually. Maybe she had made it back to France.
"When I get back to France, I'll come back for you, with the whole army if I have to." those words reverberated in his head like a song that is played too often on the radio.She lied, she said she would come back for him and she lied. All of a sudden, Black Dranzer came flying past his head and he watched as it hit the Perspex wall and cracked it. He walked over and picked it up off the ground. This was starting to affect his fighting skills. He had tried to forget about her, but he couldn't. He loved her and trying to hide it, made it that much more difficult. He stood up and looked at the ordinary beyblade that beat him. He grew angry and launched at it in anger, smashing to shreds before he even hit the dish. He breathed heavily and looked at Black Dranzer. She was all he had now.
"Love must turn to anger if I want to survive in this place again." He said to himself.
"Again!" Boris shouted from the side.
"Then we're done for the day." He added.
Kai sighed and called Black Dranzer back. Another ordinary beyblade was launched by machine into the dish and he launched again, smashing it.
"Good job Kai. Now, go get something to eat, and I'll see you tomorrow." Boris said, walking away.
Kai ate something in the cafeteria, and went to his room. He closed the door and walked to his bed. He lay down and stared at the ceiling. She was really gone.
Later that night, way past eleven 'o' clock, there was a knock on Kai's door. Kai woke up, sat up, walked to his door and opened it. Tala was standing there with a white haired girl in his arms. She looked liked she had passed out and he was carrying her.
"May I come in?" Tala asked him.
"Yeah," Kai said, stepping aside.
Tala walked past him and set the girl down on the floor.
"What's this?" Kai asked Tala.
Tala got up, walked to the wall, leaned up against it and looked at the girl. Kai looked down at her. She was pale and her eyes were black as night. It seemed like her soul had been broken and taken from her, piece by piece. Kai felt sorry for her, but he didn't know her.
"Call it a gift, from me to you. For your birthday. It's no fun when she doesn't fight back." Tala smiled at him.
"Ah, how sweet, you remembered, but you're a few days early." Kai said, his voice dripping with sarcasm.
He walked over to the girl and held his hand over her throat. She was ice cold and there was barely a heartbeat.
"Who is she?" Kai asked, looking up at Tala.
"You don't recognize her. It's Charlie." He smiled at him.
Kai's heart stopped. He looked back at the broken woman. It was her, her features under that paper thin white skin. He stood up and his fists balled up.
"WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED TO HER?" He shouted at Tala.
"Relax," Tala said, putting is hands up.
"Boris was experimenting on her, and this led to that and… she died, a few times." Tala said, walking towards the door.
"But, how is that possible, a few times?" Kai asked, walking after him.
"Boris has found a way to bring people back to life after they die. It got good use with her, but as you can see, their appearance is changed somewhat during the procedure. I hope you didn't like her for her hair or eye color." He laughed and left the room.
Kai closed the door behind him and turned to look at Charlie. This poor little, broken, young woman. She had sacrificed everything. Now she was here, broken down, soulless, because of him. And he had thought the worst of her. He leaned down next to her and tried to catch her eyes.
"Charlie, can you hear me?" he asked.
She blinked but didn't look at him. She stared out into space and didn't even react to his voice. He sighed and picked her up off the freezing floor. He walked over to his bed and put her down and covered her with the blanket. She was so cold and lifeless. He noticed a cut on her cheek. An old cut that had broken open and was bleeding again. He wiped the blood away with his hand and she turned her black eyes to look at him.
"Kai…" she whispered in a strained voice.
She had obviously been screaming a lot lately. She reached out and touched his face. Her fingers were cold, she reminded him of a living corpse, a zombie. He closed his eyes and enjoyed the only human touch he had had since they took her away. He took her hand and kissed the white fingers.
"Yes…" he said, feeling a tear roll down his face.
He got up and made to move to the chair when she grabbed his leg. He stopped and looked at her. She lifted the blanket slightly. He knew what she needed. He took off his clothes and climbed in behind her. He wrapped his arms around her starved waist. He could feel the ribs, the broken bones and hard bruises under her pale skin.
"I'm sorry." He whispered in her ear over and over again, but she said nothing.
He fell asleep holding her and all through the night, and didn't move an inch.