A/N:- This story, just to remind, follows the original series' plot, so mist of these events occur in between the episodes, especially in th 5th episode of second season, but at the end, you might as well imagine it however you want.

Thank you very much to the Guest for the reviews! I hope you keep reading! :)

Ch 10

(New beginnings)

The first day of the school had left him quite drained mentally, and it hadn't even ended yet, and what was worse, the tons of homework wasn't promising much relief either. There was no way he was going to waste time practicing rules of a language that he could speak better than the teacher itself, oh who was he kidding…

There was a swarm of students making their way to the cafeteria around him that didn't bother him much, instead they acted as a shield from anyone who might recognize him. He took his little meal and searched for a suitable place to sit in, finding a secluded table and sitting down, setting his plate down before cringing as he heard an all too familiar voice calling him loudly over the crowd, before a goofy looking Wyatt was sitting down opposite him, setting his own – much more filled, and actually resembling a lunch rather than a snack – plate down and looking at him almost giddily.

"Dude, I've been searching up for you the whole day, where were you? I thought we had a lot of classes together but I didn't see you in any."

"Oh really"

"Yeah, so, where were you?"

Either this kid was actually having a pair of some strong balls down there, or was nearing death. No one, okay not no one, but no idiot like this one asked him stupid questions and got away with it.

His hand tightened into a fist which he hurriedly unclenched, breathing deeply to calm himself. He was not going back to being violent again, he had sworn. And this would only make him look like an absolute asshole, because the kid was the only one who had bothered to talk to him in the first place, while the others were either afraid or just hated him.

"Are you okay, Kai?"

Warm deep brown eyes were staring at him worriedly, as he had closed his eyes and was breathing weirdly a moment ago.

"I'm fine," he didn't know why he bothered to answer, but was glad that he did because Wyatt's face beamed with a big smile before he picked up his spoon and starting eating, thankfully, with manners.

He stared down at the apple he had picked up along with the bottle of milk, his mind immediately asking for coffee, before he ignored the urge, picking the fruit up and biting into it.

"Do you want some of mine, you know, an apple's not gonna be enough for a big boy like you," Wyatt smiled, pushing his tray towards him.

He shook his head and pushed it back, before standing up.

"Hey, where are you going?"

"None of your business," with that he pushed his way out, searching in the broad maze of the school where the library was, his mind still puzzled as to why he felt bad for leaving the kid alone when the kid himself had given him company in spite of sitting with his own friends.

Guess he was getting soft…

He heaved a sigh of relief as he shut his notebook, standing up and stretching his body before leaving the study table and laying down on the bed, a little surprised as to how much not studying for a few months during the championships had affected his knowledge.

The rules of English, that he had forgotten once again, had to be spent an extra hour on just to cram stuff that literally did nothing for him as he could already speak perfect English. And he didn't know why he had to take French, when he was already fluent in that too. Translating simple and stupid sentences from English to French had been an easy task for him, but he was still annoyed for having wasted his time on that.

Science and social studies were the subjects that he could do with interest and without getting distracted, so they weren't a problem either. Maths, though, was the best out of all, simply because he had no difficulty in solving even the toughest problems the teacher had given them for homework.

Guess this wasn't so bad…

He picked up his phone and skimmed through the unread messages, before clicking on the video Tala had sent him hours earlier.

He smirked as Bryan's sleeping face came to view, the calmness of it broken by the horribly done make-up over it, his eyes smudged with bright pink glitter, the most eye-catching sight though, being his hair which had been dyed, or rather sprayed an equally blazing shade of pink.

Moments later the falcon woke up and rubbed his eyes, smudging the poorly done eye-liner around his eyes, before looking up confusedly at Tala standing there holding the phone pointed in his direction.

He raised an eyebrow before his eyes narrowed in suspicion, and he rushed to the bathroom, a terrible girly scream being heard seconds later.

Tala's giggling was heard before Bryan came out of the bathroom, a murderous expression plastered on his face before he lunged at Tala, the phone falling from his hand and showing the ceiling for a few seconds before he picked it up and ended the video, presumably forgetting to delete it from the recently deleted items.

A smirk formed on his lips, his eyes lighting up as he watched their antics, before they dimmed as the realization that he wasn't there with them hit him full force.

He put the phone down and stared up at the ceiling, a dark shadow now looming over his heart as it ached with that familiar feeling of home-sickness.

He realized that it was harder to handle such feelings rather than doing any physically straining work. He just wasn't made for it, all he could suffer through was physical pain. One would think that after all those years of constant brain washing, his heart would've finally turned to stone, but it was still there, beating somehow.

His eyes saddened as the face of Tala came before them, and he remembered with a deep feeling of grief of how much he had missed the redhead, his wolfish smile, his irritating laugh, his soothing words, his comforting aura, his unbearable existence, his-

He stopped himself, there was just no use in lying down and sulking, he might as well just sleep, but he wasn't feeling drowsy, so he decided to walk around the school campus for a bit, it wasn't as if much students would meet him along the way anyway.

He pulled on his oh-so-ugly green sweater over his head before leaving the room and starting his wandering around.

The cold air seemed not to be helped out by the thick sweater and he shivered slightly, silently regretting not putting on his jacket and taking a scarf, wrapping his arms around himself to provide some extra warmth.

He was used to the cold for the most part, what with Russia being his home town, but he couldn't help being confused as his body reacted to the cold as if it were encountering it for the first time.

His eyes raked over the nearly empty grounds, only a few stray students seemingly hanging outside, the others safely tucked in the confines of their rooms.

He himself regretted leaving his room now that his body was nearly trembling with the fitful shivers that ran up his body every now and then, before turning around and taking himself back to the direction he had come from.

As he walked back to the dorms, his gaze fell on a lone figure sitting on one of the benches at the other end of the ground.

He raised an eyebrow, the kid, whoever it was, had no warm clothing on to protect him from the cold.

As he neared the boy, his eyes widened with recognition, this was the same kid who had pestered him at break time.

As if sensing another presence, Wyatt jerked his head up, looking at Kai with shocked eyes before standing himself up.

"Oh, it's you. I thought it were the boys from before. Never mind."

He gave Kai a smile and stepped towards him, though Kai noticed that the smile hadn't reached the boy's eyes like it had done before.

"What are you doing here at this time?"

"I could ask you the same question."

"At least I have the sense to put on some appropriate clothes before stepping out in the cold. You sure are trying to find an excuse for skipping those maths classes, aren't you?"

Wyatt slowly put an arm around himself, as if just realizing that he was not wearing any jacket on hearing Kai's words.

"I just wanted some fresh air. And hey! Those maths problems are tough. If you are a genius, doesn't mean everyone else is too. I still haven't been able to finish half of the homework."

"Hn."

Kai watched him as he sat down back again, wrapping his other arm around himself too, his body shivering as a cold gust of wind flew by.

Kai could just go back to his room, and enjoy some peace, but something compelled him to stay here, with this annoying kid.

He did not know what came over him, but in the next moment, when Wyatt shivered again, he rolled his eyes at him before giving him his own jacket, glaring at him when Wyatt seemed hesitant to take it.

"I am used to the cold anyways."

Wyatt nodded, before pulling the jacket on, thanking Kai before scooting a little on the other side of the bench so as to make some space for Kai, before beckoning him over to sit.

"You know what, Kai, I've heard so many mean things about you, but you don't seem half as bad."

Kai smirked at that.

"What have you heard about me, exactly?"

Wyatt stuttered, not knowing how to answer to that, "I, uh, well, you know, during the World Championships in Russia, there were so many negative rumors going around. They are always there, but at that time, they had reached a high level."

"What were they?" Kai was looking him straight in the eyes, his crimson orbs didn't seem to reflect any anger or hurtfulness, they were calm, because he already knew about all the dirt that had been splashed at him.

"They said that you were a traitor…"

Kai broke his gaze away.

"I know it's not the truth, I just know. Just by looking at you, I can determine that. You don't seem the kind to betray someone."

Kai raised an eyebrow, "You have barely known me for a day, and you can already make assumptions of what kind of a person I am?"

Wyatt smiled at him.

"Well, we all humans have the capability to judge someone, but sometimes, instead to judging, we understand that person, and I am sure that I have understood you correctly."

"You sound like a grandpa."

Wyatt chuckled at that before looking at him again, "I am sure you are good person deep down, Kai."

Kai scoffed, "Believe whatever you want" before standing up and making his way towards the dorm, his form not shivering despite the lack of the jacket.

Wyatt stared at his retreating form before his phone tinged with a message and caught his attention, taking it out and reading it, all the while clutching the jacket with his other hand lightly, a slight smile on his face.

Alright class, we're finished here. I hope to see everyone's homework done tomorrow," with that the old gruffy science teacher eyed a few students, silently warning them, and left the class, while the students broke into their own gossips and talks.

Kai leaned back in his seat, his mind exhausted from the continuous dose of scientific facts that the teacher had stuffed into their brains.

The coming of steps toward him made him look up.

"Hey Kai, would you mind if I join you for lunch?"

Kai raised an eyebrow. Where was this sudden burst of manners coming from? The kid always barged into his business like it was his and now was asking permission to hang out with him?

He shook his head before standing up and taking himself out of the classroom, Wyatt following him like a puppy.

"But why Kai?"

"I'm going to the library to get some work done."

Wyatt thought for a moment before his face broke into another smile.

"How about I join you there? We have got the same homework anyways."

"No way."

"But why?"

"Because."

"Kaiii"

Kai's eyebrow twitched as he neared the library, Wyatt's whining getting on his nerves. He was hoping for some peaceful time in there, and now the kid had decided to cling to him. Why didn't he go back to his shitty friends again?

"Alright, now fucking listen to me, I'll only let you join me if you actually study, and this includes no random talks about anything at all."

Wyatt nodded his head in a hurried manner, before sitting at the chair next to the one Kai had occupied.

Picking up a book from the pile that Kai had placed on the table, he flipped through the faded pages boredly.

"Aww dude, this used to be my favorite until it became a part of my studies."

Kai looked up from where he was also flipping through his notes, watching as Wyatt placed the slightly worn-out book back, the words 'To Kill A Mockingbird' written across it once again fascinating him.

It had been one of his favorites books too, along with a few more Russian classics, though he'd never admit it to Wyatt, or else the idiot might think that they were bound to be friends because of their similar tastes.

He sighed and picked the book up, while Wyatt watched him with interest.

"Hey Kai, had you ever read this book before?"

Kai nodded, seemingly more interested in the text in front of him.

"Well, what do you think about Boo Radley?"

Kai looked up.

"What about him?"

"Well, I first thought that he was the bad guy."

Kai looked at him as if he had grown another head.

"What would give you that fabulous idea?" he asked sarcastically.

"He just seemed shady right from the start."

Kai gave him a incredulous look before shaking his head.

"Well, what do you think of him?" Wyatt questioned.

Kai thought for a while before letting out, "He seemed like he was the victim of some terrible abuse."

Wyatt raised an eyebrow.

"What exactly do you mean by 'terrible abuse'?"

Kai looked at him seriously, "It seemed that he was the actual victim of sexual harassment."

"WHAT? But what would give you that idea? And anyways, the whole harassment thing was just a trick for the Ewells."

"I know."

"Then?"

"He barely ever got out of his house, you'd think someone was keeping him captive, or maybe threatening him."

"But that was not it, right?"

Kai nodded before standing and collecting his books and files, picking them up.

"Sometimes, we don't really know what's happening behind closed doors, so we should leave them alone instead of making false assumptions"

"What?"

Kai shook his head before starting to walk out of the library.

The bell rang exactly at the same time indicating the end of the break. The two left the library and went towards their classrooms.

Wyatt waved Kai bye which the latter expertly ignored, before they diverged to attend different classes.

Wyatt kept thinking about what Kai had said, somehow, he didn't think he was talking about Boo Radley.

Kai let out a tired sigh as the classes ended for the day, making his way towards his room, relieved at finally getting some time alone. He was already tired of the school, and it hadn't even been long since he had gotten here.

Laying down on the bed, he pulled out his phone and called a familiar number.

Kai's irritation grew the longer he waited for the redhead to pick up, cursing him multiple times before a muffled voice was heard on the other end of the line.

"What the fuck were you doing?"

"Huh? What did you say? IAN!!! TURN THE FUCKING VOLUME DOWN!!!"

Kai pulled the phone away from his ear lest he should tear apart his ear drums, before putting it back to his ear. Thankfully, the noise from the background had dulled now.

"Yeah, so, what were you saying, Kai?"

"I asked what you were doing?"

"Oh, me. That's a great question. Now, how do i answer it exactly?"

Kai rolled his eyes.

"You've done something fishy, right?"

Tala dramatically gasped, "How the fuck did you get to know?"

Kai let out a confused, "Got to know what? I was just messing with you."

The lack of answer made his eyebrows crease and a suspicious look overcame his eyes.

"What have you done, Tala?"

Tala cringed before saying sheepishly, "Me and Ian were, well, we were watching this cooking vlog and had the idea to bake a cake, and Ian ruined everything"

"HEY!!!" Ian yelled in the background.

"All right, fine, we ruined everything. And now the kitchen looks like it was caught in a hurricane, and Spencer is gonna be home any minute."

"Don't you have any shame, Tala?"

Tala's face reddened at Kai's words, before he repeated Ian's screechy 'Hey'.

"You know i'm right, Tala. After all, such childish behavior doesn't suit a captain. Don't you agree?"

Tala sputtered in rage, wishing that there was some way he could punch Kai through the small device, while Ian laughed at his expense before he was hit on the temple with a flying remote courtesy of Tala.

Tala glared at the short teen who now sat there almost statued, before another laugh fell on his ears.

"FUCK YOU, KAI!!! FUCK YOU SO HARD!!!"

Kai merely snickered a little more, just to tease the redhead.

"You know what, I don't even know why I bothe-"

Kai raised an eyebrow as Tala paused mid-sentence.

On the other side, in the lovely – ahem – home of the even lovelier Blitzkriegs, the front door opened making the two boys in the living room pale.

"Tala?"

"Spencer's home," a slow murmur reached him before a deafening shout was heard.

"WHAT THE FUCK DID YOU TWO DO TO MY KITCHEN?!!"

Spencer came stomping in and looked them dead in the eye, daring them to even move a muscle.

"I'll call later, seems you both are gonna be busy mopping the floor," the bluenette hung up the phone and a smirk formed on his face.

Oh, how he wished he was there to watch Tala be put into his place by Spencer.

Tala let out yet another loud curse as his hand slipped on the wet marble and he nearly hit his face flat on the floor, angrily throwing the poor mop away, which landed on Ian's head, who was cleaning away at the other corner.

"HEY!!!"

Tala rolled his eyes at the indignited yell and got up, putting his hands on his hips and staring at their unfinished work.

Spencer had, in his blinding rage, ordered them to clean the entire house, and despite their protests, no mercy had been shown on them.

They were currently in Bryan's room, and after finding two stuffed animals with daggers through them, a box filled with all kinds and all shapes of blades, a suspicious looking stash tucked in a corner under the carpet, a gun that Tala suspected belonged to a cop, but didn't know how it ended up there, and several other things that could only be related to Bryan, they were finally mopping the floor, and Ian had the nerve to walk right through to get his brush after Tala had just finished one side, resulting in being smacked on the head none-too-gently.

Now, Tala had just redid his deteriorated work, and only Ian's share of side was left.

He walked up to the bed and dropped on it, sprawling on it like a dead starfish.

"Bryan's gonna have the laugh of his life when Spencer tells him that he made us clean all the place like some housemaids."

Ian nodded, "We didn't even need to clean his filthy room anyways, Spencer was unfair." Ian pouted as he finished with the last wipe on the floor, before going out of the room.

Tala sighed and looked around the room, the first time he had actually taken the care to notice what Bryan's room looked like.

It had little to no decoration, the furniture was the same as it was before, the sheets, the curtains and the carpet were all different shades of gray.

There were daggers and weird looking traps around the walls, most likely to prank them.

Some clothes lay strewn about, but other than that, there was nothing.

The room seemed dull…

But then again, what else could he expect from Bryan? And it wasn't that he himself had flowers all around his room or had covered every inch of the walls with cartoons.

In a way, they just weren't what they were supposed to be. He knew normal teenagers liked to decorate their rooms according to their taste.

He had once seen a group of teens standing around some decorative items such as vases, scented candles, sceneries, and other stuff when he had gone grocery shopping.

One of them was saying that she had posters of her favorite band all around her room, but that she was now bored with seeing the same pictures again and again, so wanted one of them to accompany her to buy new ones.

He had followed them to a small store that had second hand instruments, cheap ornaments, vintage items no one used, and of course posters that faded with age, giving off their classic look.

After the girl had bought a few of them and had left the shop, he had wandered around it and found a piano settled at one corner.

It's keys were covered with dust, he realized as he touched them, and so was all the other surface of the bulky instrument.

He remembered that in the abbey they had gotten piano lessons, but he didn't remember ever having even touched a key just because he was curious to know about the music it created. Every stroke was dull.

An old man, the owner of the shop, came up behind him.

"You kid, get outta here, ain't nobody gonna mess with my stuff, you rowdy ones don't know nothin' 'bout the value of these dear old things."

Tala looked up at the man, who was now staring at the instrument, but his gaze was unfocused, probably lost in some sweet old memory of his, so he had decided to leave quietly.

Since then he had decided to go there again and get something for his room, but hadn't gotten the courage to do so.

He sighed.

What normal kids their age did was not normal for them. It was almost ridiculous.

The hobbies that they divulged in were something akin to laughable to them.

Really? Listening to music? Dancing? Reading books? Gardening? Cooking? Exploring?

The exploring that they had gotten through was filled betrayals and tortures, every breathe was a struggle, every monent they had to stop the urge to kill themselves because there were others who relied on them.

Exploring, on their part, had been deadly. They had seen too far into the world of misery and pain, where no light shone and star glimmered.

The kids thought if they knew how to climb a barely steep rock, they bore the capability of climbing the Everest, thought that a string of their guitars was a music come from angels, felt that they could live other lives by just reading text that was mere imagination of some other? Planting a little seed that they were going to forget about anyways made them feel like the world owed them.

They thought the endless amount of homework was torture, late night sessions and cancelled plans were unfair, the burden on their shoulders was the heaviest any human ever bore.

How spoilt…

If he had been given a chance to live a life like some other normal kid, he'd have grabbed it with both hands, and lived his life thinking he was in heaven.

But no…

Fate had its own place, and its own plans.

They could, even after trying so hard, not live like the normal kids. Heck, even Kai, who had stayed nearly four years lesser than them in the abbey had as much impact of its shadowy effect as them, more so if it were with how his mental health was deteriorating…

There was no escape to this, there were bound to live like that, trying to fit in, getting weird looks, not understanding what certain emotions meant, and not knowing what 'happiness' really was.

Tala shook his head, he knew what happiness was, there were a few times when he had gotten a fresh rush of it that hit him so hard he had felt giddy.

As he recalled, the last time he had been really happy was when he had laid eyes on Kai after so long, all the while having accepted the false fact that he was not the same Kai they knew anymore, but when Boris had brought him to them, he had to try so hard to keep his blank demeanor.

All he had wanted to do at that time was take Kai with him and run away, but one look at his teammates had reminded him of the past they had been together, and he couldn't, even if his life depended on it, betray them.

So, he had, in an only way seemingly there, turned hatred towards Kai, doing which, he agreed was harder than a brutal torture session from Boris.

The door to the room opened and it's owner came in, holding a confused expression as he locked on his captain laid like a lost soul on his bed.

"Whatcha doing here?"

Tala, at the question, realized that he wasn't alone in the room anymore.

Bryan raised an eyebrow, sitting down on the edge of the bed.

"What is it?"

Tala shook his head before sitting up, crossing his legs before him, a sullen expression on his face.

"Red, what's wrong?"

He looked up at the worried tone, that Bryan only ever used on him.

"It's nothing to worry about, Bry."

Bryan's eyebrow went higher, his eyes holding a suspicious look.

"The fuck did he do?"

Tala looked up, surprised.

"Who?"

"The damned Hiwatari."

"Would you stop fucking doing that, Bryan?! You literally blame him for every fucking thing!!"

"Because it's only him that gets you like this!"

Tala glared at him accusingly.

"I'm sure, Bryan, if you were in any trouble, I'd help you. I don't understand why you make such a big issue of it every time."

"I'm not saying you don't care about us, but whenever something's wrong with him, you act like you are the one going through whatever trouble he has."

"I just worry, Bryan. You are not even making sense anymore, so shut up."

Bryan grunted but obeyed, before lying down, putting his hands behind his head and staring at the ceiling.

"If not him, then what?"

"What what, Bryan?"

Bryan rolled his eyes, "Never mind."

Tala also lay down again, presuming his previous position of a starfish.

"At least answer one question."

Tala turned and looked at him inquiringly.

"What were you doing in my room?"

Tala turned away, knowing he was gonna be in for a lot of teasing and idiotic remarks if he told the incident with the kitchen.

"Never mind," he repeated the other's words.

Bryan smirked, "Fine, Spencer told me anyways."

Tala's face reddened with both anger and humiliation.

"Did you clean my room nicely, Tal?"

The teasing tone made him hit the other hard on the head, before getting up and making to leave the room.

He turned around as he reached the door knob with one hand, before saying,

"Oh, and Bryan, we found your porn stash. Quite an impressive collection you had there. Unfortunately, all's down to ashes cuz' we burned it."

He left the room quickly and went to his own, locking the door and effectively blocking it against the lilac haired monster that now was pounding his first at it, all the while cursing every lovely syllable to him.

Tala smirked evilly, well this was just the routine…

Thanks for reading!