Where the fuck was she?

She wasn't at breakfast, she hadn't been on the shuttle bus to the stadium and unless she had somehow gained the ability to become invisible, Isobel certainly was not in the Bladebreakers training room. Drawing the line at asking Tim and her brother- who were still sharing with the Bladebreakers and had commandeered their fourth dish for themselves- Kai decided that a lap around the stadium was in order, but alas, even that yielded negative results.

Perhaps he had managed to miss her on his rounds, it could have happened at any time, especially when Spencer had decided to chat to him for twenty minutes. Kai wouldn't have minded, but all Spencer wanted to do was to reel off a list involving his new British discovery; Cadbury's chocolate, from best to worst. It was almost like listening to Tyson.

Thankfully his inability to find out where Isobel was did not impede on his practice session. In fact, Kai was doing rather well; the adventure that they had been on had acted as a sort of factory reset for his brain and mercifully the small amount of sleep he had managed to get before his alarm went off that morning had been entirely Balkov Abbey-free. By late afternoon Kai's new found mental clarity had allowed him to successfully thrash not only Tyson but Rei and Daichi's blades so badly that Kenny was now having to replace their defense rings and the underside of Tyson's blade- somehow Kai had taken a chunk out of it. Also, to Kai's utter delight, Tyson was now lying face down on a bench with his arms flopped over the sides, looking extremely depressed.

"Max? You wanna go?" Kai called, feeling his ego soar as he invited his blonde teammate to be his next victim.

"No!" shouted Kenny from a work bench on the other side of the room. "Kai, you've trashed your blade!"

"It'll be fine for one more match!"

"No it wont!" snapped Kenny.

"Ugh- Fine!"

Kai and Max exchanged disgruntled looks with each other as he swept over to the bench and banged Dranzer down, causing Kenny to jump in fright. With nothing left to do, he turned to leave but not before Rei caught sight of his expression and surveyed him with a strange, all-knowing look.

"You're in a good mood, what happened?" he asked, grinning suspiciously.

"Not much, good night sleep," Kai lied.

"I LOST!" wailed Tyson into the bench. "I LOST, I LOST I LOST!"

"Oh, yeah, and that." Kai gestured towards the pathetic life-form that was his ultimate rival.

"Hmm," mused Rei, who continued to survey him with interest. "And the bruises?"

At this, Kai also grinned. "Yeah uh, laser tag was way more taxing than I thought it would be."

Rei snorted. "If you say so."

"Don't believe me?"

"Not one bit."

"Cool. See ya."

Frankly, Kai didn't care to discover whatever Rei was trying to get at, and so he strode out of the training room. He had only got a few paces down the corridor when he heard, "hey Kai- wait!" and he turned to find not Rei, but Max speeding towards him. "Hey man! Um, you alright?" Max asked as he fell into step next to him, running his hand through his hair nervously.

"M' fine," said Kai, giving Max an appraising look as they continued to stroll down the corridor.

"Heh heh. Course you are," there was a long pause as Max fiddled with his shirt. "So um, you took laser tag pretty seriously."

Kai frowned but said nothing, wondering if he was about to find out about whatever Rei had been trying to hint at.

"That- that's what I like about you, Kai! Always up for a challenge!" And he patted Kai on the shoulder but stopped abruptly at the look on Kai's face.

"What'd you want?" Kai demanded as they slipped down into one of the staff corridors; Hilary had informed him earlier that he had been cleared to use it so as to avoid the paparazzi.

"Uh-" Max ran his hand through his hair again and stopped walking. Kai followed suit, folding his arms across his chest.

"Well? Spit it out."

"Yesterday."

"Yesterday?"

"Yeah, I noticed you and Isobel were kinda-" Max paused awkwardly but then barreled on. "You were kinda like, I don't know! You seemed to get on well, and I was wondering if… if there was anything like, y'know, going on? Between you? Or if, uh, maybe you… Like her?"

Max looked shell-shocked at his own daring.

"What?" Kai asked in disbelief, the notion was completely absurd. Why would Max even think that?

"Er, Isobel. Do you like her?"

Kai frowned. Of course, there was nothing wrong with her. Well, aside from her complete lack of interest in hers and others safety.

Had he been on a whirlwind adventure with her the previous day? Well, sure. And yes, Kai was quite eager to go on more, even if it was dangerous. But No, Kai did not have any of those sorts of feelings for her. The feelings that he was able to identify mainly came under the heading of mild worry. A slight concern over whether or not Isobel's soul might be damaged beyond repair, but that was normal, right? It was normal to worry about someone after watching them have part of their soul ripped from their body. After all, if it had been Tyson, Rei or Max or one of the Blitzkrieg boys, Hilary or Kenny- hell- even Daichi, Kai would be worried about them. And so, he was simply concerned for her wellbeing.

He did not like Isobel.

"Kai?" Max prompted, looking anxious.

"I don't like her," he said quickly, followed by a inward cringe of awkwardness.

"Oh, right!" Max's his hand going anxiously to his hair again. "Cause y'know, I just wanted to check! Because I like her," he added firmly. "But if you liked her, I wasn't about to get in your way! I just thought after laser tag- the way you were with her was kinda- y'know."

Kai did not know.

"I just thought I saw a spark, or something. So I just wanted to check I wasn't stepping on your toes."

"You're not stepping on my toes."

"Right, OK. Cause y'know, if you did like her, that's cool with me! I'd totally step aside!"

Kai stared at him. "Right."

Every so often- and this just so happened to be one of those times- one of Kai's teammates would do or say something so considerate that it would mentally shoot him into the stratosphere. It was unbelievable to Kai that Max would go as far as to give up on a potential love interest if Kai were to confess that he wanted her instead.

For a moment he considered telling Max about the little adventure he had been on with Isobel, but he stopped himself. He wasn't sure if Isobel wanted anyone to know.

"Really," Kai continued, trying to sound genuine and reassuring. It had obviously been difficult for Max to pluck up the courage to discuss this with him. "I don't feel that way about her."

Max looked relieved. "Cool! I- Thanks man," he grinned widely. "Sorry for being so awkward! I gotta get back to training! I can feel Tyson already plotting some insane plan so he can thrash you tomorrow."

"He wishes," said Kai, giving Max a swift nod as Max waved goodbye, looking giddy and light on his feet.

Back at the hotel Kai headed straight to his room, still reeling at everything Max had said. Had it really come across as if there were a spark between him and Isobel?

He paused for a short moment in front of Team Duality's door. Was she in there? For one wild moment Kai considered knocking. He would only ask how she was, maybe suggest that she take a multi vitamin, or some flu medicine. Hell, what did one suggest to someone who had just sacrificed a part of their soul?

Kai raised his hand to knock but then lowered it again. No, he didn't want to give Isobel the wrong idea. What if there had been a spark and he just hadn't noticed? After all, when they ate lunch in the park, even he himself had thought that it felt like a date. He didn't want to lead her on.

He turned back to his own room and jammed the key card into the reader.

Stepping inside, he noticed that there was a red light beeping on the answering machine in the entrance hall. Kai pressed the button.

"Hello all of you, its Mr Dickinson. I'm just calling to let you know that the police are requesting some of your time next week to go over more evidence. I'll call back when I know more details. Until then!" the machine beeped as the messaged ended. A sinking feeling filled Kai's chest.

More tapes? Kai had almost forgotten about them. He picked up the newspaper next to the answering machine and sank down onto the hallway floor as he scoured its pages. There was nothing there about the abbey, the only noteworthy article was a small piece about the repairs that were still being done on the stadium. Kai sighed and closed his eyes as tiredness washed over him. Perhaps an early night was for the best. He could even watch that horror movie that he had been trying to watch before he had been hauled off to laser tag.

He had just reached his bedroom door when a loud crash emanated from the kitchen, followed by a wailing noise. Kai spun on the spot. Who the hell was in the kitchen? He had thought he was alone. He crept forwards, grabbing one of the hotels branded umbrellas from the stand and held it aloft. He was just about to open the kitchen door when he paused.

A sob, then another. Someone was crying.

Kai lowered the umbrella.

"Hello?" he called, cracking the door open so that the crying could be heard more clearly.

Kai froze, he recognised that voice, but it couldn't be.

Bryan Kuznetsov did not cry.

Kai opened the door, still holding the umbrella- he wasn't sure how Bryan would react to his being there.

There he was, slumped on the floor against the kitchen island, a bottle of vodka sat between his splayed legs. He was sobbing with dribble and snot streaming down his face. Kai entered the room, but Bryan did not look up, appearing far too drunk to notice as his head lolled lifelessly to the side as he wept. The room stank of alcohol and Kai noticed the floor was streaked with blood which was explained immediately by the shattered remains of another vodka bottle.

Kai stepped quickly out of the room again, put his boots back on and then rushed to Bryan's side.

"Bryan?" he asked as he crouched down.

There was a dustpan and brush a few feet away with bloodied handles. Bryan had clearly tried to clean up the smashed bottle but in his inebriated state had cut himself and made the situation worse.

"Kai?" Bryan blubbered out, like a child. Then he reached out and grabbed Kai by the jacket, pulling him close. Kai shifted awkwardly, trying not to kneel on any of the glass.

"Wh-wh-where's Tala? Spence?"

"Spencer's training, I don't know about Tala. What happened? Why aren't you with them?"

But Bryan did not answer, instead he looked around the room with heavily lidded, dazed eyes. "I made a mess! I dropped it! Ahhh!" fresh tears streamed down his face.

"It's fine, I'll clean it up!"

"You're really- hic- great, Kai!"

"I don't think you'd be saying that if you weren't drunk." Kai muttered as he pulled away and reached for the dustpan and brush.

"KAI! Don't want-" Bryan lunged for him and pulled him back. "See- anymore!"

"What?" Kai asked, confused, trying to prise himself out of Bryan's grasp.

"I heard, I heard the- the- don't- want!"

"What don't you want?"

"Don't…" he trailed off as if he had forgotten his train of thought. "Don't… make me!"

"Make you what?" Kai asked urgently.

"TAPES!" Bryan gasped out as he pulled Kai into a bone crunching hug which Kai desperately tried to wriggle free from. "I don't want to go to the police! Not again! I DON'T WANNA WATCH- WATCH ANYMORE TAPES!"

Realisation came to Kai like a punch to the gut. Bryan didn't want to see anymore of the Balkov Abbey evidence, he must have heard Mr Dickinson's message.

He sighed and muttered, "yeah. Me neither," and, despite his hatred of physical contact, allowed Bryan to cling to him. With some luck, Bryan would not remember this in the morning.

Christ, Kai had always thought that mentally, Bryan was stronger than him. That he was stronger than all of them. He was always laughing and joking, the life and soul of the party and eternally the funniest person in the room. Now however, as Bryan did nothing but almost howl into Kai's scarf, getting blood and snot all over it, Kai realised that he had been so, so stupid.

They stayed there on the floor for a long time. Kai kept trying to decide when would be an appropriate moment to extract himself from Bryan's arms. Eventually, when he felt that his knees were on fire he said, "come on! You can't stay like this! I need to get you away from all this glass."

Bryan blinked at him, bleary-eyed. "Your scarf! And- and- the BOTTLE! My fingers!"

"It's fine!" snapped Kai. He knew how difficult it was to get blood stains out white cloth but he did not want to think about it right now. "Come on, over here." And with great difficulty, he hauled Bryan over to a corner of the kitchen that wasn't covered in glass, deposited him on the floor and rested him upright against the wall.

Kai wasn't sure what to do. He couldn't drag Bryan out into the cream carpeted hallway, that was a sure-fire way to get a huge cleaning bill from the hotel. Bryan then chose that moment to throw up all over his legs and Kai couldn't have felt more confident in his decision to leave him where he was. "For god sake," he said as he ran to the sink, grabbed a bucket from the cupboard underneath and plonked it down in front of his drunken friend. "Stay here!" Kai warned as he sped out into the hallway and picked up the phone.

"This is reception," said a woman on the line.

"This is Kai Hiwatari, room 401. I need to make an internal call to Julia Fernandez room?" Kai had not failed to notice that Tala had been mysterious missing when he had spoken to Spencer earlier, and he had a hunch as to why.

"One moment while I connect you Mr Hiwatari."

The phone began to ring, quickly followed by the puzzled voice of Julia. "Hello?" She asked.

"It's Kai. Can you put Tala on?"

"Oh! Sure!" there was fumbling on the line. "Its Kai!" he heard her whisper as the phone made a crinkling noise.

"What d'ya want?" drawled Tala's annoyed voice, as if Kai was interrupting a very important meeting.

"WHERE THE FUCK ARE YOU?" he roared down the receiver, which was redundant because he knew exactly where Tala was.

"Wha-"

"SHOULDN'T YOU BE TRAINING FOR THE TOURNAMENT?"

"Er- I guess. Why do you care? You're not on our-"

"I DON'T HAVE TO BE ON YOUR TEAM TO KNOW THAT YOU SHOULD BE TRAINING INSTEAD OF FUCKING YOUR GIRLFRIEND AND LEAVING YOUR BEST FRIEND ALL ALONE IN A COMPLETE AND UTTER FUCKING MESS!"

"WHOA- Kai? Calm down, whats going on?"

"I JUST FOUND BRYAN ALMOST PASSED OUT ON THE KITCHEN FLOOR SURROUNDED BY VODKA AND BLOOD-"

"Oh!" Tala began stupidly, letting out a panicked huff of air down the phone. "Shit! Right. I'll be three minutes. Make sure the windows are locked so he can't do anything stupid!"

The phone went dead and Kai stared at it. Tala sounded like he was used to this, as if Bryan regularly got so drunk that he cried and tried to- well- Kai didn't want to think about it.

He went back to the kitchen where Bryan was now completely slumped on the floor and checked the windows. They were mercifully locked, although Kai thought Bryan was past the point of being able to walk and so he was quite sure that jumping out of the window was no longer in the running. He checked Bryan was breathing and then picked up the dustpan and brush, rinsed it under the tap and then began to sweep up the glass as he waited.

The front door clicked open and Tala ran into the kitchen.

"Bryan? Bry- it's me! It's Tala! Are you conscious? Hello?" he slapped his cheek.

"Ughhh," groaned Bryan.

"Get some water!" snapped Tala, as if this was all Kai's fault. "Bryan- what's wrong? Why are you drinking on your own? Again! It's 4pm on a Wednesday!"

Kai passed him a glass of water and Tala held it up to Bryan's mouth.

"M'just," mumbled Bryan as more sick dribbled down his chin. "Mr D. called."

Tala turned to Kai with a questioning look.

Kai grimaced. "Theres a message on the answering machine, we have to go verify more evidence sometime next week."

"Of course we fucking do!" Sighed Tala. "That explains it!" And then, more gently he asked, "Bryan, I thought you were going to train with Spencer this morning?"

"Didn't- hic- sleep well," mumbled Bryan. "Told him to… to.. Go without me."

They said nothing else as Tala continued to try and make Bryan drink more water. Kai mopped the floor.

"Help me with him, I can't carry him alone."

They removed Bryan's bloody clothes and carried him into his room.

"M' naked," muttered Bryan.

"I've seen it all before."

It was lucky that they had such luxurious en suites, they were so roomy that Kai and Tala were able to maneuver him into the shower easily and set him down on the floor.

"Kai hasn't," said Bryan.

"I assure you, I'm trying my best not to look," said Kai as he leaned over and rinsed the sick off Bryan's chin with the shower head. Unfortunately, it was impossible for Kai not to look, although his reason for looking was not due to Bryan's nakedness. No, that was nothing compared to the scars covering his entire body. Scars that were much, much worse than the ones that Kai had. They were large, deep and stretched. Some of them were deformed and warped strangely around his body, as if he had grown a lot since he had received them. Kai felt sick.

After they had cleaned Bryan up and tucked him into bed he began to murmur.

"Sorry Kai."

"Its fine."

"No, no," he said, his voice sounding a little whimsical and far-off. "I'm just sorry you look like that."

Tala gave an exhale of annoyance as Kai frowned. Had Bryan's sense of humor made a miraculous resurgence?

"He means the shark fins," said Tala with a roll of his eyes as grabbed an armchair from the corner of the room and dragged it so that it was next to the bed.

Kai felt a rush of intrigue. "What about them?"

Tala gave him an evaluating look. "You really don't remember, do you?"

At this, Kai felt a pang of annoyance. "I've told you a thousand times that I don't."

Tala sighed. "Do you want to know?"

Kai knew that he should not want to know. There were so many things about the abbey that he did not want to know. His shark fins, however…

"Fine, yeah, whatever," and he sat down on the end of the bed as Tala climbed into the armchair and sniffed dispassionately.

"Remember the other day when Bryan was saying about how he got his hand smashed for losing a battle?"

"Yeah."

"Well, that wasn't exactly the whole story. See, you and Bryan were battling, it was a sort of assessment- we had them every few months. The losers always.. Well.." He trailed off before beginning again. "You and Bryan battled, Bryan lost and he got dragged away, screaming. It was pretty awful, we thought he was going to be killed, y'know, like the others."

Kai froze. "Like the others?"

"Oh come on Kai, don't act like you don't know what I'm talking about."

"Right," he said, forcing himself to pass over that horrifying piece of information.

"So that night, you, being you, broke out of your cell to try and rescue him. I don't even know how you got out, those cells were impenetrable! Anyway, I guess whatever you did or whoever you had to convince to keep Bryan alive worked, because they brought you both back to your cells. They'd smashed Bryan's hand of course, but that was nothing compared to what could have happened. You saved him." Tala paused for a long moment. "We'd thought you'd got away with it as well. But then one night they came to our cells after dinner and took all four of us down to this weird room. I don't even know why they took me and Spencer, its not like we did anything. But they accused us all of planning the whole thing. I mean, we had discussed it whenever we got time to speak to each other but it was only you who managed to break out of your cell. They wanted to know how you did it, thought we would know, but we didn't. And even if we did, we weren't about to rat you out. But anyway, they started threatening us, and, well…"

Kai stared fixedly at the digital clock on Bryan's bedside table, his heart hammering.

"Well?"

"Well, they threatened to kill all three of us if we didn't hold you down so that they could tattoo the shark fins onto you."

"Oh."

"They did things like that a lot. Force us to watch or.. Participate." Tala picked at his nails.

Kai felt numb.

"Sorry…" said Tala. "I shouldn't have told you."

"It was bad!" groaned Bryan, who was miraculously still awake.

Kai's mind was blank. "Why shark fins?" he heard himself ask.

"I don't know," Tala shrugged. "They said that beating you had never worked and that this," he gestured to Kai's face, "would be character building. That it would send a message. It was around the time that they had realised you'd be a good fit for, well…" and he looked suddenly awkward. "I guess they didn't want to hurt their little Black Dranzer protégé anymore."

That night Kai tossed and turned in bed.

He had never known exactly how he had got his shark fins. He knew it had happened during his stint at the abbey, but that had never stopped Kai from being proud of them. Indeed, Kai wore them as trophies. He had to cover them up for school of course, and in doing so he became aware of the fact that there was marked change in the way that people treated him when his shark fins were- or weren't on display. They scared people, and Kai liked it. He liked it so much that he had gone as far as to name his first beyblade team after them, the Blade Sharks, and he had long ago decided to believe that getting them tattooed had been something that he had chosen for himself. Like a prison tattoo, something to make him appear more powerful, perhaps an act of rebellion against Boris or his Grandfather. They were the only thing from the abbey that he had ever been able to draw strength from, that he liked, that he had based his entire demeanor around.

Yes, Kai wore his shark fins like armour, and it was nothing short of utterly devastating to learn of their true origin.

He threw back the covers, feeling that they were smothering him. He needed to get out. To go somewhere, anywhere.

He dressed in the darkness and five minutes later the lift doors opened onto the ground floor. He sped out into the lobby, heading straight for the exit, only, he was not alone. Kai stopped abruptly in his tracks as he spotted the one person he had spent the entire day looking for.

There she stood in a set of pyjamas and fluffy slippers, handing money to a pizza delivery guy. Isobel. Kai had forgotten all about her, Bryan's drunken meltdown and Tala's story had driven her entirely from his mind.

He watched her dazedly, he may have spent the day wishing he could ask if she was OK, but he certainly didn't want to speak to her now. He cast around for an exit as she thanked the pizza delivery guy and turned towards him as he did nothing but stand there, stupidly, hoping that one of the many pot plants littering the lobby might suddenly gain sentience and jump in front of him.

"Oh!" she said in surprise, looking just as awkward as he felt. "Hi!"

Resentment bubbled in his chest as he surveyed her. There absolutely nothing wrong with her! A little tired and bruised but aside from that she looked perfectly alive, not at all damaged by her diminished soul. Kai considered walking straight out of the door and ignoring her completely but then a flash of blonde hair slid into his peripheral vision.

"Kai!" called Max as he approached, also in his pyjamas and carrying two bottles of cola. "Why're you down here so late?" he asked happily before he turned to Isobel to whom added in an undertone, "the sprite got stuck in the vending machine, had to get cola instead."

A date. They were on a date.

"I'm going out," Kai murmured, feeling the overwhelming agitation he associated with the need to be alone.

Isobel frowned. "At 1am?"

Kai glared at her and bit his tongue so as not to remind her that they had been out until the grand old hour of 5am the previous evening doing something which- he might add- was much more dangerous than traipsing around London's streets.

"Yeah. Is that a problem?" he spat, every bitter feeling he had experienced since returning to the hotel threatening to bubble over.

"Err…" Max laughed nervously and then turned to Isobel. "I wouldn't worry, Kai's always going out at crazy times."

"But its dangerous to walk around at night-"

"I think I'll be alright," said snapped Kai, making to leave.

Max frowned and said, "wait!" He grabbed him by the upper arm and veered Kai away from Isobel. "Whats wrong?" he asked in a hushed tone.

"Nothing!" Kai lied, but when Max didn't relent he added. "It's been a shit night, I can't sleep. I'm going for a walk!"

Max stared at him for a long moment and then appeared resigned to the fact that he would not be able to talk Kai out of going. "Right. I er, I'm sorry you had a bad night. You could always come with us- No? Well, fine. But if you don't show up for breakfast tomorrow we'll all be out looking for you! And Tyson will be extra annoying!" Then he grinned, no doubt trying to make Kai snap out of his mood.

It did not work. Kai let out an exasperated noise and wrenched himself away, heading straight for the doors.

He heard Isobel whisper, "shouldn't you go after him?"

"Nah, he'll be alright, seriously. I think…"

The door swung shut behind him. It was a mild summers evening and he stared around, trying to figure out which direction he wanted to go in. He did not get far however before the doors behind him opened again.

"Go away Max! I'm fine!" he snapped, whirling around in anger.

Apart from it wasn't Max.

Isobel stomped up to him. "Why's there blood on your scarf?" she hissed with an anxious look on her face. "I don't think Max even noticed!"

Kai looked down. He had put the scarf on automatically in the dark having forgotten in his state of unrest that it was covered in Bryan's blood.

"Its from last night," he lied.

"Really? It looks fresh to me," she said, coming closer and examining one particularly large stain.

Kai stepped away from her. Could he not just have one moments peace?

"You know," she said hesitantly, "you could come watch the movie with us if you like? Instead of going out. Really, London is dangerous at night, especially with a blood stained scarf. Someone might see it as an invitation to start something!"

Kai stared at her in disbelief. "You're lecturing me on whats safe?" he spat. He could not believe her; telling him not to go for a simple walk, let alone the fact that it would be incredibly awkward for him to crash her and Max's date. "And no, I don't want to watch a stupid movie with you and Max! Leave me alone!"

He started walking away but she followed, her ridiculous fluffy slippers making a rustling sound against the pavement.

"Whats wrong?" she emplored in a voice that suggested that after the events of the previous evening, she felt entitled to take liberties with him. It made Kai feel extremely uncomfortable, so uncomfortable that he stopped and turned so abruptly that she walked straight into his chest.

"Don't pretend you give a shit!" he snarled down at her.

"Wha- I do give a shit!" she fired up at once, looking hurt. "I knocked on your door this morning to see how you were but Bryan said you'd already left so I assumed you were fine and went back to bed! Excuse me for having a lye in!"

To this, Kai said nothing, feeling that it was a wholly inadequate excuse, even if the logical part of his brain knew it made sense.

She let out an nervous huff of air. "I'm sorry if this is about last night! I really shouldn't have dragged you along. It was wrong of me to involve you. I'm sorry, OK? I wont take you with me next time!"

Kai stared at her, of course she had got the wrong end of the stick. She didn't know that he had just discovered the devastating truth about one of the only things that he had ever liked about himself.

"This isn't about that!" he shouted. Feeling overwhelmed and on the verge of a meltdown which he absolutely did not want her to witness. "And what'd you mean next time?" he continued in the same harsh voice. "You mean you're going on another crazy death trap adventure? Are you stupid?"

She looked taken-aback. "Maybe I am!" she snapped, her voice rising. "Luckily for you, when I do go you wont know about it because I wont be telling you!" and she turned on her heel, heading back to the hotel.

Kai let out a shuddering, anxious breath. Just a few hours ago he had been thinking about how fun it could be to go on another adventure with her yet now he was telling her she was stupid for entertaining the idea? Fucking hell! Just this once he wished that other people had the ability to see the inside of his own garbled head. But alas, Isobel could not, and Kai could not force out the words needed to explain himself. Instead, he shouted, "you would have died in that place without me!" Which did not help at all.

She threw up a rude gesture with her hand and yelled, "good to know your ego is entirely unaffected!"

He watched her go, her long black hair swaying with the ferocity at which she walked, leaving Kai to feel that actually, he was the smallest person in the world.

Sorry I've been away for ages! I am back, undoubtedly just to post this chapter and then scarper again! Hehehe hope you enjoyed it!