So here is Chapter 8! It's a lot longer than usual, but I'm very happy with it :) I hope you all enjoy it, and review review review! Thanks for reading!

The Journey

Chapter 8

Luna grimaced as she walked through the halls, her long flowing hair bounced against her back. People were staring at her and whispering. She knew what they were saying too.

Why did she still wear the ring when Kai clearly didn't want to be with her? He went and ditched her to join the Blitzkreig Boys, once again. They would say how they weren't meant to be, but Luna knew. Luna knew that they had a connection that no one else understood. Hell, even Luna didn't understand it. All she knew was that when she was with him she was complete. She didn't know if she believed in soulmates before she met Kai, but she definitely did now. But she was only eighteen, so what did she know? The online articles and reporters obviously definitely knew better than she did. Sarcasm, may or may not have been intended there.

Luna squeaked when she felt a hand grab her wrist and pull her into a closet.

"Ummm if you're planning on holding me ransom, I hope you know you've got the wrong cousin. I know me and Kira look alike and all but-" she gasped when she felt a pair of lips cut her own off and as her eyes focused in the darkness she realized who it was. "Oh Kai..." She squeezed him tight.

"It's been too long..." He whispered taking in a deep breath. She smelled as he remembered, doused in her favorite Victoria's Secret perfume.

"Well I wonder who's fault that is." Luna rolled her eyes, not wanting to let go.

"Definitely not mine. It's definitely your fault."

"Oh whatever! Don't play that game with me." He smirked and kissed her deeply again, his fingers tightening the I grip on her shoulder.

"Thank you for being patient with me, I know it's been hard."

"That's an understatement." Luna frowned, looking away.

"It'll all be worth it soon, I promise." He looked at the door and frowned. "I need to get going. But I'll see you again soon." He slipped a tiny envelope into her pocket and left the closet, but not before taking one last glance at her. Luna felt in her pocket and pulled out a keycard for a hotel and smiled, holding it against her chest. She opened the door to the closet and peeked out, seeing no one in the hallway so she snuck out and put the keycard back in.

"Are you sure you're going to be able to do this Kira? I know how close you and Max are." Johnny frowned, pacing in our pre-game room. I leaned back on the futon, and watched him, raising my eyebrow.

"Johnny I'm going to be fine. Yeah we're old teammates but he and I have an understanding. Blading comes first. It's not like we're going up against the White Tigers or something..." I frowned looking to the floor. Johnny's head sharply turned looking at me.

"Would that be a problem for you otherwise?" He narrowed his eyes, and I rolled mine.

"Of course not. You know that."

Lucy opened the door and walked in, smiling. "Max is ready and is so psyched! He's been talking about wanting to battle you for the longest time, and now he gets his chance."

"As do hundreds of other people in the world." Robert chimed in. "They just don't know what they're getting themselves into when it happens." He pinched the bridge of his nose, remembering their reunion encounter on the cruise ship two years before.

"Hey that was your own fault for being cocky. I had to put you in your place. The only one I'm truly worried about here is Rick... He's strong Johnny and we don't know much about him."

"Well I doubt we have too much to worry about." Johnny crossed his arms.

"Let's just stick with the original game plan, Kira you battle the old BladeBreakers members and Johnny will take their sidekicks. It's foolproof." Enrique shrugged, straddling a chair.

"Let's hope so anyways." Oliver grimaced, looking over at us. One of the ladies helping out poked her head in, smiling. She was pretty with blonde hair and green eyes.

"We're ready for you guys. Follow me to the stage." Enrique raised his eyebrows.

"Gladly."

"Oh please try to keep it in your pants for five minutes." I rolled my eyes, standing up patting him on the shoulder.

"You guys have got this. I don't know what you all are stressing about." Lucy snorted. "Kira's unstoppable."

'Johnny, we can do this. I have all my faith in you.' I told him mentally and I saw him tense up ahead of me.

'Didnt we have a conversation about pedastals and not putting me on them?'

As we were walking, I saw a bubble gum pink hair-colored girl come into view and I groaned. "Great..." I whispered harshly.

"Well Kira, looks like we're going to the next round...not so sure about you guys though." Mariah crossed her arms and looked my teammates up and down as they walked past me.

"'we?' You make it sound like you had anything to do with Ray and Lee's success. They did that all on their own." I retorted. She smirked and took a few steps closer to me.

"Don't you get it? With you, Ray felt like nothing. He had no chance to shine. You took that away from him. But with me, he has what he needs to succeed. I make him strive to want to do more, to be better... Just proves what he was missing out on when he was wasting his time with you." I felt my blood start to boil, and I didn't bother replying to her comment. I made it a point to make sure my shoulder bumped into her - hard. I didn't have time for this though, I had a tournament to win.

Lights were flashing around and the crowd was cheering heavily. This was, of course, Max's home court so he had the advantage with the crowd but I did have four hot guys on my team, so that helped a little.

I looked over and saw as the All Starz walked onto the stage as well, facing opposite of us. Rick was five steps ahead of Max and the rest of the team. I could feel a divide between them.. we could definitely play that to our advantage as I had just broken my team of that habit.

"As if today wasn't already exciting enough, now we've got the PPB All Starz versus The Majestics!" DJ Jazz exclaimed as the crowd once again went wild. "The fierce Rick, tender hearted Max versus the sharp and smooth Johnny and ever powerful Kira. Who will the winner be?! I guess we'll have to wait and see because I honestly have no idea."

I chuckled to myself and turned to look at Johnny. 'You've got this. You can beat Rick, no problem. And just in case anything does go wrong, I've got Max.' I patted him on the shoulder and gave him a swift kiss on the cheek. 'Go get 'em, tiger.' Johnny nodded to me and slowly walked up to the stage, as Rick also treaded his way up. His white hair was pulled up into a tight man-bun-pony thing. That's a thing right? I think so anyways. His skin was tanned and he was extremely buff. Like, a body builder on extra steroids. Which would honestly explain the temper that I've seen.

Then again, the men in this sport did tend to be big babies. My eyes scanned the crowd and I saw The White Tigers almost directly in front of me. Great, Ray was gonna be all that I was able to focus on. I scoffed and made myself focus on the battle at hand.

Johnny pulled out his launcher and held it out in front of him.

"C'mon Johnny! You've got this!" I heard a soft voice coming from behind me and saw Amara standing behind me, her arms crossed and a smirk on her face. Her jade eyes locked with mine and I saw a challenging look on her face. What was she doing here? I had enough on my plate as it was.

"3, 2, 1, LET IT RIP!" The guys called out in unison and yet again, the crowd went wild as the battle started. Rick was terrifyingly strong, but thanks to my training, Johnny was faster than him. He easily dodged all of Ricks advances.

'Good, keep him on his toes. Don't unleash your power until the last round.' Johnny nodded and smirked.

"How's it gonna feel when you have to go home a sore loser beaten by a 'pretty boy?'" Johnny was referring to Rick's tweets that he had sent out earlier. Oliver was being a wonderful Internet stalker on all of our opponents. I mean, he did it on the daily with all the guys he was currently obsessed with. This was just a different obsession.

"Well at least I don't have some girl in my ear telling me all the shots I should make. If I lose, I'm losing by myself. But, that's not gonna happen because that Princess behind you is the one carrying the team." God, how I HATED that nickname.

"Hey, I call my own shots. Fuck you." Johnny glared, as the tips of his ears started to redden. I couldn't help but crack a smile. That was one of my favorite parts of Johnny's hot temper. "Salamolyon, ATTACK!" Johnny's blade lit up and flew towards Rick's Bison and Rick smirked as Johnny bounced right off of him. Lucy grunted and looked to the opposing team.

"That must have been Emily's doing, I fixed you guys up so stuff like that wouldn't happen..."

"It's fine, Luce. I'm not worried."

"Oh but you should be, Princess. Seems as though you guys weren't as ready as you thought. Rock Bison, time to bring down the house."

'Johnny, the other way!'

"Drop Rock attack!" Rick's tan colored blade flew towards Johnny's and I winced as it crashed into Johnny's. They flew into the wall closest to where Johnny was standing.

"No..." I whispered and saw the look on Johnny's face as it shown on the big screen. He was crushed...in the most literal sense of the term. His blade was left with almost nothing except his bitbeast card.

"I...I can't.."

"It's okay..." I tried to reassure him, but I knew that look. He was pissed, and it would probably take a day or two until he would talk to anyone.

"And that makes Rick the winner since Johnny is no longer able to blade!"

Part of the crowd cheered, but mostly people stayed quiet.

"Unless, of course, Kira would like to take the challenge of going against both Rick and Max." My grandfather magically appeared on a podium with a mic in his hand.

"That's not fair. I beat him fair and square!"

"What? You scared of the Princess?" I crossed my arms, taunting the brute.

"You were complaining how you wanted to battle her, Rick." Max shrugged, and Rick looked down and glared at him.

"But this isn't one-on-one. She'll go down easy."

"I wouldn't assume that, if I were you." Max sighed.

Amara walked up to Johnny and pulled him into the box. I felt a twinge, deep in my gut. No, now wasn't the time to be jealous.

"I'll do it." I agreed and the crowd exploded. Enrique ran up to me, his face full of concern.

"You sure this is a good idea, Ki? You saw what happened to Tyson like thirty minutes ago."

"Yeah, but I'm not an idiot like Tyson." I grinned at him while I slid on my gloves and put Draiga onto her launcher. "Don't worry Enrique. I'm not going to lose this."

"Finally! What you've all been waiting for! Kira versus the All Starz!" I looked over and saw Kai nod at me in the crowd. I gave him a small smile, which grew when I saw Luna sitting next to him. She smiled at me and I looked back at Max and Rick. Max has a look of concern and he put Draciel on its launcher.

"I'm sorry Ki..." Max looked at the floor.

"Why? We would have been battling each other anyways." I replied, holding my launcher in front of me, waiting on the countdown.

"Don't get sappy on me, Max. You need to do your best even though she's an old friend. You're on my team now, not hers." Rick said, holding my star e. Max nodded, holding his launcher in front of him.

"ARE YOU READY FOLKS?!"

"3."

"2."

"1."

'You've got this, Ki.' Johnny's voice appeared in my head as I smirked.

"LET IT RIP!" I called out as we ripped our blades and they all flew into the arena.

"Can you feel that power flowing through the air, AJ?"

"You've got that, Brad. I'm thinking that Kira's got a lot of pent up energy to unleash here."

I felt the ice cold of Draiga's powers burn through my veins as she flew across the arena. I hadn't bladed in so long, it felt like. Ever since I got attacked anyways, and Draiga was ready to destroy a blade or two.

"If I were you Rick, I would run and hide. Draiga's out for blood and your bison isn't exactly the defensive type."

"But that's why I've got Max here. There's no way you can break through him."

"Clearly you don't know how strong I am." I smirked. I knew it came across as cocky, but I had no choice at this point. No one was going to know how scared I was.

"Come on Kira! You've got this!" I heard Enrique call out and I smiled.

"Draiga! Heavenly Flare!" My blade flew forward towards the others as it bashed into Rick's and sent the poor Bison flying into the wall. Trails of ice were left behind as Max's eyes looked panicked.

"Woo! Only a few minutes in and Kira's already out for revenge! Now that's what I like to see!"

"You've got that right, AJ. I don't think Rick knew what he was getting himself into when he started this battle. Now let's see who's going to win the war." Brad and AJ's voices trailed over the stadium as Draiga drove herself into Rock Bison, not giving him any second wind.

"Just let me know when you've had enough and maybe I'll leave your blade in a recoverable state."

"Kira!" I heard Max's voice pull me back to reality and saw the look on his face. Draiga pulled back from her fatal attack and sat spinning in the middle of the dome. What to do, what to do. That truly was the question. "Don't hold back Kira, that's not fair." Max shook his head, and I bit my lip. I didn't have any bad blood with Max, I didn't want to embarrass or hurt him or Draciel.

"Don't make me do this..." I whispered.

"It'll be okay." He nodded his head and I sighed. "Draciel! Attack Draiga now! Don't hold back." His blade flew so fast, I hardly recognized it but the speed wasn't unfathomable. Still, she didn't dodge it. Draiga was bumped back and flew back towards Draciel knocking him back as well.

"Rock Bison, attack!" I watched as Draiga dodged in and out between the blades. I hadn't gone against two blades since the beginning of our training against Enrique and Johnny. Per their request, of course.

"I really didn't wanna have to do this... I'm sorry Max." I sighed, closing my eyes for a second and then reopened them.

'Ki, no!'

"HEAVEN'S WRATH!" I hadn't used this attack in so long. Not since The World Championship Finals. A bright light came from Draiga as she glowed a light blue color, the arena they were spinning on completely froze, as did her opponent's blades. Draiga's speed went to full capacity as she flew towards Max and Rick's blades who were perfectly aligned. They slammed into the wall, putting a hole through it, shattering their blades.

"AND THAT MAKES KIRANA DICKENSON OF THE MAJESTICS, THE WINNER!" DJ Jazz exploded, as did the crowd. I made it a point to look up at Mariah and wink, as I did a tiny hair flip, grabbing Draiga, slipping her into my pouch.

"That was amazing Ki! Although I'm sure I won't hear the end of it later from Max, that was amazing!" Lucy ran up and hugged me. "Your stats were so off the charts, it was ridiculous!"

"Way to be a show off, Dickenson! You're supposed to help me get the ladies! Now they'll all think I'm some kind of chump next to you." Enrique slapped me on the back and I rolled my eyes. I looked over and saw Johnny talking to Amara over in the corner, and I felt the pit of my stomach boil up with that terrible feeling once again. My mind flashed back to the other night, when I was pretty much on deaths door, he was lying in bed with me, holding me...doing everything in his power to make sure I felt better.

Or was that just a delusion? A delusion from my sick, lonely, desperate mind? Why would he be frolicking with her after what we did? Did it all really happen or was that just me?

"I say we go get some drinks! Go unwind! We only have a couple of days left here in NYC." Enrique called out and I smiled.

"Go invite Max, Luce. You deserve to have a fun night with your boothing." I winked, and she blushed. "He probably needs you to relieve some stress too."

"Stop it!" She laughed, rushing over to the other side of the stadium. I couldn't help but turn my head and look at where the White Tigers X had been, but they were long gone. My head and my heart were so confused at the moment.

Somewhere, in a far away land. Like Russia.

"She's getting too strong. I don't like the looks of this. We've let it go on too long." A rough mans voice spoke quietly.

"We can't exactly do anything about it now. I told you to put a stop to this a long time ago." A hand slammed down onto a metal table. "Now we have to wait for the perfect moment again. And who knows when that will be."

"...we will know when the moment is right. The bond between that team is highly severed. It's only a matter of time before she implodes on herself, and when that happens...we will swoop in and it will be like she never even existed."

A few hours later, it was time to go to the club. New Yorkers definitely knew how to party and I couldn't wait. It had been too long since I had let loose, and tonight was going to be that night.

Apparently word had gotten out that we were going to be going clubbing, so most of the blading teams had let me know that they were joining in.

Yippee.

I curled my hair and put it into a ponytail, and started to go through my things...what to wear. I turned to look as the door opened, and my favorite cousin walked in, a giant smile on her face.

"Well, someone bumped into her fiancé, I'm assuming?" I smirked as I looked back down at my Louis Vuitton suitcase.

"What would give you that impression?" She asked, crossing her arms.

"I mean, the giant hickey is a big give away. I thought you had more class than that." I laughed, pulling out a few dresses.

"Okay, we hadn't seen each other in a month. What more do you want from me?! No and no, let me help you." Luna rushed over and started holding outfits up to my body. "You seem to be getting dolled up more than usual. What's going on my dear cousin?"

I was silent for a second, as Luna dropped the clothes and looked at me. "Ki. You can tell me. What's going on?"

"I'm just so confused." I sighed as I threw myself backwards on the bed.

"About...?"

"Swear you're not going to repeat anything." She raised her eyebrow and gave me a look, as if to say 'really, bitch?' I sighed, and gave in. Telling her everything that happened with Johnny.

"And ever since that night, I've felt as if there's been something more there between us, and then today at the tournament... It felt as if he'd rather turn to Amara than me, which has never happened before." I saw Luna biting her lip, trying to hide a huge grin. "WHAT?!"

"Oh...nothing! Just that I knew you were in love with him!" Luna stood up, throwing clothes around. "Now we definitely need to make you look good! Amara doesn't have anything on you, but she definitely knows how to dress to get and keep a man's attention, but we can easily have her beat. Just let me work my magic and by the end of tonight, Johnny's wiener will be all yours!" My face turned bright red at that comment and I let out a short laugh in reply.

But she truly did work magic. I was in a tight black dress that stopped at mid-thigh and was flowy at the skirt. There was a cleavage cut out that helped push my boobs up to give me a little extra support (and helped me look sexier too, to be honest.) Luna had pulled my hair back down and gave me a braid crown around my head, but still let my dark burgundy hair flow down my back. A dark smokey eye with a burgundy lip completed my look and I blinked surprisingly as I looked in the mirror.

"Luna...thank you." I smiled and she hugged me.

"Go get your man."

"If you and Kai wanna join us..." I started and Luna shook her head. "We need some time alone to just be together right now. After these next couple of days I don't know when we'll get that again."

"I understand. I'll keep you updated!" I hurried and slipped into some dark pumps, grabbing my clutch and headed out the door. Everyone was starting at Le Bain, a new upscale club in Downtown NYC, so I made my way, and didn't take long to get in. Honestly I was glad because I was starting to get exhausted and just wanted to bring my man home. Soon after entering, I saw bladers scattered throughout the place along with regular patrons who I had no idea of. The music was bumping loudly, and I could feel the bass in my chest. I moved through the room as I entered a hallway and went upstairs.

"Kira! It's been too long!" A familiar face appeared in my view, as I smiled.

"Michael.. It truly has." I allowed myself to be distracted until I saw Johnny and Amara in the back, her arms wrapped around his neck, her lips planted on his. I felt a pang in my chest. I had truly thought he loved me, why was he allowing her to be all over him like this? "I'm sorry I have to go." I walked towards them, and I knew I was going to regret this later...

'Can I talk to you?' I sent mentally as I knew he had heard it because his eyes popped open in surprise.

'Ki...'

'Johnny please.' He pulled back from his kiss and said something to her, as she looked over and glared at me. I walked over to him and tried my best to ignore her, pulling him into a nearby room.

"What's gotten into you, Ki? I thought my relationship with Amara didn't bother you... I thought you were bigger than this." He crossed his arms.

"Oh? Did you come to this conclusion before or after we had sex the other night?" He sighed and shook his head.

"That...that should have never happened between us. You and I...we're old news. I'm sorry. That shit ended like...two, three years ago."

"You're joking with me right? I finally open my eyes and see that you've been googly eyed over me since I moved back and now this?"

"I just...I can't risk what I have with Amara for you? You obviously don't get it and I don't know why you would, since you clearly only think about yourself. Now I'm going to go enjoy my night with my girlfriend. I hope you have a good one." Johnny turned and went back out, the music entered the room loudly as he opened the door and then it was quiet again when he shut it. I stared at the wall, not knowing what to think.

I was so much more confused now, than I was earlier. Where was all this coming from? I didn't understand whatsoever...

Feeling humiliated, I took myself to the bar and downed shot after shot after shot, to try and mask the pain I was feeling. Was it heartache? Jealousy? Betrayal? I hadn't the slightest idea. I felt myself growing sick to my stomach as I got up and made my way back to the hotel. I didn't want to be around them anymore... I didn't want to be around anyone.

It took a good fifteen minutes in my drunken state to make it back to the hotel. Shoes off and all, the doorman helped me inside and to the elevator as I slumped against the wall as the doors shut. The tears finally fell from my eyes as I leaned my head back, watching the numbers fly by.

What had gone wrong? What did I do wrong that Amara did so right?

It wasn't fair. I sighed as I heard the all too familiar 'ding' and forced myself to stand up to exit the elevator. As I used the wall to balance myself, I saw a door open, one that was right next to my own room, I couldn't decide if I was happy or sad to see the person, now standing in front of me.

"Ki..." He whispered and we stared into each other's eyes. It wasn't an awkward silence, but my mind was fighting against itself on what to do.

"Ray..." I breathed his name in what felt like so, so long.

"I..-" I somehow managed to grab ahold of the back of his neck and brought his lips to mine. To my surprise, he didn't fight it at all, and kissed me back. He pushed me against the wall and I grunted, pulling back to look at him.

I may regret this in the morning, but at the moment, it was what I needed.