"Wyatt…?" I said quietly, taking an unsteady step forward. "What are you doing here?"

It was all I could think to say in the state of shock, I hadn't seen or spoken to him in over a month and now there he was, standing in front of me and unable to look me in the eyes. His hair was longer, bangs now hitting the beginning stages of falling over his eyes, and looked less well kept, somewhat messy as though he hadn't brushed it in awhile.

"Stay back." He said, flinching as I attempted to approach him. "Please don't make this any harder than it already is."

"I don't understand. What are you talking about?"

Tyson touched a hand to my shoulder, giving a slightly playful smirk at the situation that was unfolding. He had never been the best at reading a room and this was clearly no exception, he appeared to not notice the tension that sat between us.

"You could at least say thank you." He grinned somewhat awkwardly. "If it weren't for him you would have had your face ripped off by gorilla boy, over there."

Dunga's face contorted angrily, fists clenched with rage that he was clearly struggling to control.

"Stay out of this!" He yelled, looking from Wyatt and back to Tyson. "This is between me and Kai, I didn't come here in order to argue over who's wiping the floor with who." He pointed a fat finger in my direction. "You and I, we have a score to settle, and I'm not leaving until we're done!"

"You aren't worth the effort."

I turned my head in shock. Had Wyatt really just smack talked this guy? He had been there during our first battle, he knew that he had power and I couldn't just go into this blindly. He gave just the faintest hint of a smirk, eyes now hidden behind his shaggy hair.

"Watch it!" Dunga shouted at him.

"Wyatt," I ignored their bickering, I was determined to get some form of answer out of him, "What are you doing here?"

"It's been awhile." He said sadly. "I wasn't sure if I would see you again someday or not."

"You cut me off." I reminded him. "I tried contacting you."

Even now, a month later, I found myself still looking at his number inside my phone contacts, calling every so often and hoping that this time it would ring, that this time he would answer and tell me the entire thing had been a misunderstanding.

"None of it matters anymore. I'm not here to make amends."

He still refused to look at me… Why wouldn't he look at me?

"Kai," Tyson said again, backing away slightly this time. "What's going on? Why is Wyatt here?"

I didn't answer him, I couldn't answer him. I didn't know myself what was currently happening and was hardly even able to get my thoughts in order, stuck in a blank trance as I took him in, hoping to memorize every part of him, to not ever forget. He didn't want me to approach him; he didn't want to see me, but why? Why was he here if he had chosen to cut me out of his life?

"I'm not interested in hearing you and lover boys soap opera drama." Dunga remarked again, reloading his launcher and holding it in my direction. "I'm not leaving until you fight me, and I won't go so easy on you this time."

"Can't you see I have more important shit to do?" I snapped at him, still stuck at a stand still as I continued looking back and forth between the two of them.

"I can't let Kai fight you right now." Wyatt stated, eyes still low to the ground in a way that looked damn near pitiful. I had seen him depressed, I had held him while he cried, but whatever was happening in front of me right now wasn't Wyatt.

He looked… different.

He looked… like me.

Like me when I had first unveiled the power that Black Dranzer once held over me, when I had taken down every single person who got in my way regardless of who they were; without caring. It hadn't been a hypnotic state exactly, I had been fully aware of what was happening, but the power struggle had effected my sense of self control. It had been like I was drunk off it.

"Beat it, kid." Dunga barked at him again, making his annoyance clear. He was growing impatient of what he viewed as a distraction in front of him. He was here for one reason and this wasn't it. "I'll wipe the floor with both of you if I have to."

"I can't allow you to fight." Wyatt repeated. "Not now. I'm sorry, but I need Kai at full strength." He turned his head upward, hollow eyes finally making contact with mine. There was no life left in them, where had he been? What had he been doing? "I'm here to take you off your pedestal. You think that I can't fend for myself, that I need protection… but you're wrong. You're the one who needs protection… from me."

"What are you-"

"I'm here to take you on, Kai." He blurt out before I could finish my sentence. "I'm here to fight you… and I'm going to win."

"I refuse." I said, taking a step backward. "Not when you're like this. Something is wrong."

"You're the only person here who there's something wrong with."

Immediately after speaking, he launched his beyblade toward me, the static in the air bringing the hair on my arms to a point. This wasn't Wyatt, it wasn't who he was, it wasn't the way he battled. He didn't possess this level of power.

"Kai!"

Tyson yelled out my name and I jumped back, saved only by the clash of two blades hitting.

I hadn't launched, though…

Quickly I turned, catching the stern expression that now filled Dunga's face. His jaw was clenched tightly, the skin tightening around his lips.

He was the one who had shot his beyblade at Wyatt's.

"I told you to scram." He spoke through gritted teeth. "I'm here to fight and I'm not going to be interrupted by some dumb lovers quarrel, whatever happened between the two of you, you can settle it after I'm done with him."

He played the act of the tough guy, but I saw through it. Neither of us had expected the level of power than Wyatt's blade currently radiated, the turbulence blowing all of us back a step as they clashed.

"Wyatt!" I yelled. "Why are you doing this?!"

"To prove I can!"

The rapid beating of my heart slowed as I watched him, my chest flooding with endorphins as our eyes met, a stream of tears running slowly down his face, a face that held every pain I had ever done to him, a face of heartbreak. I had allowed him to get close to me, pulling him into the intensity that was my life, allowing him to love me, and I had broken his heart beyond repair… He had been at that hotel having what may have been the worst week of his life, kicked out of school and confided to a small hotel room with his parents, the two people who he had never been good enough for…

I had given him one last shred of hope that our relationship hadn't been for nothing, that our expulsion hadn't been for nothing, and I had left him alone and hung out to dry, stranded once again.

I had abandoned him.

"Kai, listen!" Tyson yelled toward me, the wind which surrounded us distorting the volume of our voices. It was becoming harder and harder to hear; to see what was happening. "There's something wrong, can you see it!?"

Could I see that something was wrong? Everything was wrong! How was I expected to focus on anything around me at the moment? I couldn't take my eyes off the blades that continued to aggressively crash in front of me, bits of dirt and rock scraping by; a small shard of metal hit me, causing my cheek to sting and for me to wipe off a small strand of blood.

What did he want me to see?

"His uniform!" Kenny now yelled, computer open and camera on, attempting to focus on the battle as best he could in these conditions. "It's the same as the people we fought when we were on the island!"

"He's working with Team PsyKick, Kai!"

I froze in place, legs now locked.

This wasn't happening. There was absolutely no way this was happening.

Wyatt's pupils had dilated, he bit aggressively on his lower lip. I had never seen anger take him over like this before, as though he had been hypnotized either by power, by brainwashing, or by both. This wasn't him, though… this wasn't the Wyatt I knew. All I could do was stare helplessly as my greatest fear came true.

My enemies had found him and it wasn't by coincidence.

They found him and they were hitting me where they knew it would hurt.

The one person they knew I wouldn't fight.

"Wyatt, you need to stop!" I yelled, finding my voice again within the thinned out air being sucked in from around us. "Can't you see what they're doing to you!?"

"What they're doing to me!?" He yelled back, brushing aggressively at the tears that had stained his cheeks. "What about you, Kai? What about what you did to me?"

"You left me!" I retaliated. "You cut me out of your life!"

"What choice did I have? What was I supposed to do, sit and wait forever for something that was never going to happen?" The wind threw him back slightly, causing him to stumble and have to catch his breath. "My new team is right, you used me! Someone who cared would never hurt me the way that you did. These people treat me like their equal; they care about me and what I can achieve. This-" He pointed to the battle in front of him, "This is only one month of training!"

I brought my eyes back to their battle, Dunga currently on his last leg. The air pressure was taking a tole on him; he had underestimated Wyatt's strength.

"They're using you, Wyatt!" I yelled, "They don't care about you, I'm the one who they're after, can't you see that?"

"Because it's only ever about Kai, right? Why would anyone ever want anyone else!"

"You need to listen to me!"

"I need to listen to reality! I gave you everything that I ever had, I let you push me around and use me for whatever you wanted, I let myself believe that you cared about me but the only person you ever cared about is yourself. I left because it was the only way that I could force myself to get away from you, the only way that I couldn't change my mind and come back. I tried so hard to give you one last chance and you threw me away like I was nothing just like you always do and now what? I'm better than you Kai, I'm better than all of you."

"It's not like that!"

"It's always been like that! All you ever do is run away from your problems, but what about me? Why am I forced to stick by your side when my biggest problem is you?"

I could feel my stomach drop, my breathing becoming uneasy as I took in the words that he said. I had been the cause of so many of his problems, I had given him all of my anxieties and insecurities and forced him into the position of my safe place.

I was myself with him and only him, but was he himself anymore with me?

"I didn't want to hurt you." I said through shaking breaths. "I did something I shouldn't have done, I ran away from home and ended up in the hospital, I didn't have my phone, I had no way to contact you."

He eyed me in confusion, getting blown back once again by the turbulence. I needed to get close to him, I needed to get him out of this battle before his body could no longer take it.

"What are you talking about?"

"I always thought that I was the one who had to keep you safe, but really it was you who protected me. It was always you."

"You can't talk your way out of this, Kai."

"I'm telling you the truth I should have admitted a long time ago. You were the one who gave me a chance that I didn't deserve, you were the one who saw through me when no one else did, you were the one who broke down that wall. I've never saved anyone from anything, Wyatt… but you saved me every day that you were in my life. I'm so sorry I never saw that..."

With his focus now lost, Dunga took his opportunity to strike, hitting Wyatt's blade with everything that he had and sending a shock wave toward us, knocking me off my feet and backward into the concrete wall of the overpass and knocking the air out of me.

With little time to process, I brought my gaze back to Wyatt, his eyes meeting mine with fear as he was pulled off of his feet and into the air, over the guardrail.

Time stood still for that moment, only the sound of ringing that filled my ears.

I watched him plummet to the ground below.

Xxx

I couldn't remember running down the concrete steps of the overpass, my heart beating out my chest as I saw Wyatt on the pavement, eyes closed and body not moving. I couldn't remember skidding on my knees to a stop in front of him.

I only remembered screaming his name.

"Don't touch him!" Kenny yelled, trailing behind the remainder of our team who had run after me, now frozen and unwilling to get too close. "He needs to keep his head still until help arrives!"

"He's bleeding out!"

"Not badly enough to warrant making it worse! You can cause irreversible damage if you try and move him in any way!"

I sat on my knees in front of him, trying to focus my attention to his chest falling and rising slowly. He was alive, unconscious, but alive. He had to have fallen close to six meters; he had hit his head and there was a puddle of blood forming around his cracked skull.

"Wyatt!" I yelled, "You need to wake up, please!"

Cautiously, I brought a shaking hand to him, touching it to his cold fingers that rested on top of his chest.

"Tyson," I turned my head toward the voice that spoke, becoming dizzy from the adrenaline that pumped through me. Ozuma watched us from the stairs, using most of his strength to help keep Dunga propped up, who stood hunched over in exhaustion. He had also been launched backward. "Joseph is calling an ambulance on the payphone. For now, consider us stepping back. Don't think this means we're finished with your team."

I didn't care about them, I didn't care about Team PsyKick either. I only cared about whether Wyatt was going to be okay as I saw his eyes open just a slither, tears glazing over the slits of his lashes before running down his face in a thin line.

"Kai?" He said in a near whisper, causing me to have to move myself closer to him. His hand had curled around mine and I squeezed his fingers tightly.

"I'm right here."

"I can't see..."

"There's help on the way, you're going to be alright."

Slowly, he blinked his eyes, sending another small pool of tears down. His breathing was weak and he seemed to be struggling to talk, struggling to stay awake.

"I'm sorry." He caught his breath in his throat, a squeaky sob coming out as he tried unsuccessfully to take in more air.

"You don't have anything to be sorry for, just keep breathing and try to stay awake."

"I can't." He cried. "It hurts."

"An ambulance will be here soon, they'll get you to the hospital and fix you up, you'll be okay."

"They told me I needed revenge… that if I proved myself to you that-"

"Don't you even worry about that. Just stay with me, okay?"

Blood had stained the knees of my pants by the time we were able to hear the sirens of the ambulance, blood that either came from his head or from the skinned knees I had given myself. Fuck… how much blood was he losing? It looked like a lot.

I didn't let go of him as the paramedics arrived, my hand still clutching tightly to his right up until they approached the stairway.

"Let me go with him." I said as they got down to his level, sliding something under his head and neck and buckling it around his forehead. A woman was taking his pulse as the small group helped pull him carefully onto a stretcher.

"Can you tell me what happened?" The woman asked.

"It was all so fast… he lost his footing and he just-"

"Doesn't seem like his head took worst of the landing, his shoulder is damn near shattered." One of the men spoke, not looking at or acknowledging me. "His skull might still be fractured though, we're talking likely a grade three concussion."

"Is he still conscious?"

"No, he's out."

"Please!" I yelled at the paramedics to get their attention. "Let me go with him!"

"Are you a relative?" The woman asked.

"No but-"

"Kai." A hand touched my shoulder, causing me to jump back slightly at the forgotten realization that I wasn't alone. My thoughts weren't working properly. Now looking behind me I saw the concern on Tyson's face as he and Max helped pull me back to my feet.

"We need to let them do their job." Max said. "Tyson's grandpa can drive us to the emergency room, right now you need to step back and let the paramedics help."

"But-" I tried to say.

"Wyatt is alive, that's what matters. There isn't anything more you can do, though."

They had me held back by the arms and shoulders, helpless to do anything but watch as they loaded his limp body into the back of an ambulance. This wasn't like when I was a child, this wasn't like when my mother and sister were taken from me, I was older now; I could help. I had to do something, I couldn't just leave him alone.

"We need to follow them." I said, looking at my team with more fear than I had ever expressed in my life. I needed to get to him, what if he didn't make it there alive? He had woken up when I spoke to him before, who's to say it won't happen again?

Without reluctance, they nodded at me.

They knew there was no talking me out of it.