A/N: A while back I posted a little poll asking whether I should ship out this story that's been grilling my brain for ages now. It wasn't until later I realized that perhaps it'd be easier for you to comment if you saw the actual first chapter, so… (sweatdrops)
Don't get any wrong ideas, alright? Technically, I'm still retired. It's just that I've been going crazy with this idea, and I need to ship out at least this one chapter to get it out of my system. So here it is, for the sake of my faltering sanity… This story is a slight alteration of one I wrote AGES ago and never got the guts to publish.
After reading, please give me your opinion as to whether I should update or not! I'm getting desperate here, because I just can't decide what to do. But before you make up your minds, a word of warning. (sigh) I can almost guarantee that the gaps between updates can become annoyingly long at times. Plus, I can't promise you I won't run out of inspiration and especially time in the middle of this story. (If that should happen, I'd try to get the story adopted to a loving author, though.) So – to make this fair for us all – I refuse to make any promises. BUT, if you're willing to take the risk, just tell me.
Okay, before you'll get fed up with me, here we go.
Disclaimer: I, own something? Please… I only have my hands on the OCs.
(Btw... If some of you read this chapter from Quizilla, don't get confused; I altered some SMALL things, such as Ray and Max's occupations. But no worries, there shouldn't be anything major.)
CHAPTER 1: Unexpected news
/ Washington, America. /
It's raining again, sad blue eyes detected. Fifth day in a row.
Max – or Mr. Tate, as everyone seemed to call him nowadays – could hardly be recognized as the happy-go-lucky kid, who'd infinity of years back shone on bey-arena with Draciel. It wasn't just because of his carefully sleeked, perfectly cut hair, or for his ridiculously expensive, neat suit. It was because… something was missing. Enthusiasm. Determination. The bond of trust and loyalty he'd had with his team-mates, friends.
Max blinked, somewhat surprised.
Yes, friends… He'd almost forgotten…
For over six years, Max hadn't seen any of his team-mates. After the team had split up, none of the promises to remain in contact had been held. Kai… The dual-hared teen had disappeared to Russia, and no one had heard a word of him since. Tyson, as far as he knew, was on/off dating Hilary. Tyson (who's face still decorated magazines from time to time) was travelling around the world, teaching kids the art of beyblading, and Hilary was studying to become a doctor. Kenny was working as a computer-expert for Max's mother Judy. According to the latest information Max had, the computer whiz was married to Emily, who was making research for university while studying there. If his sources had served him right, they had two kids. The latest information he'd received told that Ray was a recently graduated psychologist, and married to reporter Mariah. For some time, Max had been keeping an eye on the woman from distance by reading her articles, but it'd soon became far too painful. (1) But all that information was a little over two years old; he hadn't even talked to any of them over the phone since.
And Max himself? Well, believe it or not, despite his age he'd already became a widely noted businessman after taking over his father's store five years earlier and expanding it widely. Max Tate was 'the hottest young name', or 'prodigy', as some fond of big words claimed. He was financially well secure, but personally… He was single, and so busy that he could barely remember what words 'personal life' meant. Every time his mother called him and they actually had time to talk, she asked if he was happy. Each time, he was forced to lie.
" Excuse me, Mr. Tate?" The voice of his secretary, Allie Loman, startled him out of his thoughts. Turning around, she saw her standing at the doorway, with an expression that suggested she'd been there for quite some time.
" Yes?"
She walked up to him and gave him a fax-message. " This just came in. It's from Stanley Dickinson."
Max was surprised, to say the least. He'd spent so many years away from the world of beyblading. Why was the old man contacting him now? " Thank you", he muttered.
As Lindsay exited, he sat to the chair behind his desk and slowly folded the paper open, still wondering what Mr. Dickinson was up to, and found a long text. As he read it through, his face turned completely white and the paper escaped from his terribly trembling hand. " Oh my God…", was all he could muster.
/ Taiyuan, China. /
The black-haired man sitting in a chair of a office-building seemed like he would fall asleep at any moment as he once again took a look at his watch with exhausted, haunted golden eyes.
She's late, he noticed with great annoyance.
All of a sudden, the building's huge glass-door opened, and as the man looked up, he felt his heart jump as he recognised the young woman with long, black hair entering. She was the one he'd been waiting for!
Forgetting all his previous exhaustion, he got up almost faster than humanly possible and darted towards the woman. " Shayla! Shayla, please, wait!" he called in Chinese, sounding so desperate that the woman actually stopped, giving him a confused look.
" Do I know you?" she asked, in Chinese as well.
" You're Shayla Kawachi, right?" he asked, and felt a burst of relief as she nodded, seeming even further confused, almost scared. " I'm Ray Kon, the husband of Mariah Kon."
Shayla frowned at first, not remembering. The name then seemed to strike her, and her eyes widened. " Oh…" She seemed sad, almost pitying. " I'm truly sorry for your loss."
" You're the last person who saw her alive", Ray said, trying to suppress the almost unbearable pain in his chest. " You held her when she… So, I… I have to know." He had to pause to keep himself from crying. " Did she mention anything about… about Biovolt?"
The fear in Shayla's eyes was evident as she heard the last word. " I don't know what you're talking about", she stated, then turned around to walk away, but Ray stopped her with graphing her wrist tightly, almost painfully.
" Please." He had to gather himself for a long moment. " I… I know how afraid you must be, but please… Do the right thing." Seeing that it was his only option, he took out a picture of a small, less than three years old, raven-haired and golden eyed boy, and showed it to the less than unenthusiastic woman. " This is our son, Yoshi. This… This is the only thing I can do to protect him – and find out what really happened to my wife."
" You should be with him", Shayla stated, then pushed away the picture and freed herself from his grasp. " Trust me: this truth is far too big for you to chase. Too dangerous. Yoshi already lost a mother; don't make him loose a father, too."
With that she walked, almost ran, away, leaving Ray staring helplessly at her distancing back.
Two hours later, Ray was sitting in a small café in downtown, pondering over Shayla's cryptic words. His eyes begun to sting.
It had been such a long thirteen months…
Two years earlier, Mariah – being a skilled, resourceful reporter, though still just a trainee – had discovered that a certain company was running (to put it mildly) fishy business. Despite Ray's desperate warnings, she'd dug in deeper – and discovered that the once presumed dead Biovolt might have its fingers on the case. She had, however, ran out of time before she'd managed to prove anything. On a regular visit to a small store, a man had fired a bullet straight through her chest. She'd died before the ambulance ever got there.
Ray almost jumped when his cell-phone suddenly rang. Shaking off his troubling thoughts, he picked up, voice hoarse. " Hello?"
" Hi. It's me." He hardly recognized Max's sad voice that had once been so familiar to him.
He was surprised. Why was Max calling him after all is time? " Well hey. What's going on?" Just then the sadness in his old team-mate's tone struck him. It became very cold. " Is something wrong?"
" Haven't you heard?" Max sounded surprised. " I… I thought Mr. Dickinson had already told you…"
A deep frown appeared to Ray's face. " What's going on?" he repeated.
" I… I'm making arrangements for a trip to Russia." He could've sworn he heard Max sob. " For… for Kai's memorial service."
Ray's heart seemed to stop by the words. " What?!" he gasped, feeling his chest tighten.
/ Philadelphia, America. /
As Kenny parked his car in front of the house where Emily had moved into after they'd made a decision of separation, he locked his eyes to the rear-view mirror to take a look at their kids sitting on the backseat. They were playing happily, completely oblivious to their father's almost escaping tears as he looked at them long and hard.
Joshua, older of the two, was six and a perfect younger image of his father. He had short, unruly brown hair that often fell to cover his chocolate-brown eyes. To Kenny's relief, he didn't need eyeglasses – yet, at least. The younger of two, almost four years old Anna, had inherited her mother's orange hair, which she always wore on a ponytail. She had glasses covering her breathtakingly blue eyes.
Kenny let out a sigh the kids couldn't hear, forcing his gaze away from them. They'd spent a weekend at his place, and now it was almost unbearable to think about the five days he'd have to live without them – just as painful as it was to see their mother.
Waking up from his thoughts, he forced on the well-trained 'everything's okay'-look he always had when the kids were around. " Okay, let's move it. It bet mom's already waiting for you two."
Obediently the two got out of the car and walked with him towards the house. Just like every single time when he had to see Emily, Kenny felt this tight knot form into the pit of his stomach, and wondered how the heck he'd be able to do this once again.
His heart almost stopped as Emily opened the door, almost pained gaze of immense guilt appearing into her eyes as she looked at him. She looked away, however, when the kids (mainly Anna) hugged her tightly. Despite everything, the sound of the woman's laughter still made Kenny's heart jump. " Hey", Emily greeted the kids, hugging them tightly before letting go again. " Go inside, okay? There's something I need to talk about with dad."
" Okay", the two chirped, disappearing into the house after saying rather long byes to their father.
As the kids were inside, Emily closed the door, obviously to make sure they wouldn't hear what she had to say. " Kenny… We've been separated for almost a year", she stated in a voice that sounded nothing like hers.
Not liking the direction their talk was going, Kenny nodded stiffly. " That's right."
" I… I think it's time to… move on, you know? And I…." Emily paused for a while, visibly thinking hard how to express what she had to say. " I've met… someone. Someone I happen to like a lot."
Kenny felt like he'd been shot. " Oh…." The next question came almost reflexively after their marriage and long relationship before that. His tone was filled with such bitterness, anger and venom it nauseated him. " Who is it? Is it the one you…?"
" I don't think it's something you should concern yourself with", Emily cut in sharply, brushing her hair with fingers of one hand, just like she did every time she was getting angry at him.
Kenny nodded, feeling his stomach turning upside down. " I know. I have no reason to, after… everything… I'm sorry, it's just…" He focused on the grass. " It's not easy."
Emily smiled faintly, understanding. " I know." The smile faded. " I'm sorry, too. I know that this might be quite a shock." He could easily tell she was apologizing for so much more.
" It is", he replied bluntly, then sighed. Perhaps he hadn't forgiven as much as he'd thought, after all. " Look, I can't keep you from moving on. I wouldn't be honest with myself wishing you two all the best, but I hope you'll be happy." Even after everything, he knew she definitely deserved that.
" Thanks." Emily sighed, moving towards the door. " I'll better get back to the kids, so… See you, 'k?"
" See you."
Not bearing to watch Emily close the door between them, Kenny abruptly turned around and almost ran to his car, slumping to the driver's seat, and squeezed his eyes tightly shut. Despite the resistance some tears spilled.
Until today, he'd somehow hoped that he and Emily would work it out, that there was still hope for them, despite all the crap both had said and done. But now… All that was crushed. Emily had found someone else.
Some of the grief transformed into near-rage.
Most likely it was him. One of the two main-reasons to this damn ache in his chest.
Hands shaking, he wiped away the tears as his cell-phone rang. He had to clear his throat before picking up, and even so sounded far from his usual self. " Yeah?"
" H-hi… It's me." It was Ray, who'd evidently been crying a lot.
Even though they hadn't talked for years, Kenny knew his former team-mate's tone well. He frowned. " What's wrong?"
There was a long pause, and Kenny shivered as he heard Ray snivel. " Kai… Kai is dead."
/ Sendai, Japan. /
Hilary had never felt as cold as she did when sitting on a toilet-seat behind a tightly locked door, cold sweat glimmering on her forehead and heart working on its very extreme.
Her widened eyes were glued to the stick on her pathetically trembling hand, begging look in the ruby depths.
Please, please… God, please, let it be blue… Please, I'm begging you…She was at the very edge of a heart-attack when the colour started to appear.
Seconds later, world started to spin right in front of her eyes. It took all she had not to slump to the floor.
All she could see was pink.
" Fuck…"
Her brain probably stopped working for a while, because the next thing she realized was herself leaning over the toilet, vomiting violently.
This… was bad. Or no, not bad. A catastrophe.
This… couldn't be happening…
There was a small, hesitant knock on the door. " Hils? You okay?" The worry-laced voice belonged to her dorm-roommate, Elisha Yoh.
She snorted, wiping her eyes that'd became moist due to the nausea. " Dandy…"
There was a short pause. " Look, I… I hate to bring this on you now, but… It's Tyson." Hilary's eyes flashed hazardously, but before she managed to say a thing, Elisha went on. " You… you really should take this. It's… important."
Hilary frowned, cold shivers running down her spine. This must be really bad… Slowly, she inched the door – and her shivers became even worse when she saw the look in Elisha's mahogany eyes. " Thanks…", she muttered, taking the phone the other was offering, then closed the door again. " Speak. Quickly."
Her shivers turned into something close to terror when she heard a sound she'd never witnessed coming from Tyson before. A shuttering sob. " H-Hil… Are you… are you sitting?"
She immediately slumped down. " I am now." She gulped thickly. " What the hell's going on?"
There was a long pause, during which something seemed to happen to Tyson. His voice was completely different as he spoke again. There wasn't a trace of sobs, only something between anger and tremendous disbelief. " Mr. D just called. He… he said that Kai's… dead."
At first, disbelief flushed through Hilary's whole being, sweeping her numb. Once again, her head started to spin.
/ Kai walking right pass her as she greeted him when they met for a first time. /
Oh my God, was all that fit into her mind. Something hot and moist seeped to her cheeks.
/ Kai graphing her hand as she fell from a cliff. /
It seemed to take for ages, but eventually she gulped laboriously, before finding her faint, scarcely audible voice. She desperately tried to blink away her tears. " Ty …"
" Pack our bags. I'll call Max, Ray and Kenny", Tyson cut in, formally broken tone then filled with sheer, desperate determination.
Hilary frowned, utterly baffled. What the heck? " Why?" Was Tyson in this bad state of denial?
As Tyson next spoke, she could almost see the look of fire and bull-headed stubbornness in his eyes. " We're going to Russia", he announced. " There's something fishy going on, and I won't rest until I know what it is."
/ Yakutsk, Russia. /
Silence was almost absolute as a man with long, ash-coloured hair stood before a window, the look of his glass-blue eyes nothing but cold and expressionless. " You failed, Irina."
The young woman beside him gave a audible growl, running a hand through chin-length, purplish black hair. Her pitch-black eyes flashed with near rage and something else he couldn't find a name for. " How was I supposed to know he'd get himself killed?" she hissed, balling her fists. " I… couldn't stop it."
" I should punish you. But this is far too important." His eyes narrowed, became harder than steel. " Bring me the kid, and you can consider yourself given a second chance."
Her eyes flashed. " I won't fail again, sensei." So saying, she headed towards the door.
Just before she was gone, he spoke again. " Oh, and Irina?" She paused, but didn't look his way. " Those pathetic friends of his are coming. You'll have to take care of them, too."
" That won't be a problem." With that, she was gone.
For a moment, he kept looking at the door, almost like making sure she was truly gone. He then took his cell-phone, dialling numbers.
It didn't take for long before there was a reply. " Yes?"
" It's me." His eyes switched colour to a much, much darker shade. " I just phoned to inform that the project is underway."
Possibly TBC.
1) If you just got strange wibes, they're correct. Something's happened between Max and Mariah, but I can't reveal what just yet.
A/N: So… There it is. Let me know what you think; do you think updating this would be worth all the risks I mentioned, or should I just leave it here/delete this?
Also, if you find I should continue... How would you feel if I added a yaoi -relationship? (Unfortunately, I can't reveal between whom yet.) Just beware; these days, it seems yaoi often means same as mpreg to me... Would you be taken aback by such relationship?
Let me hear from you, 'k? Your messages just make me feel loved – even if you'd tell me that I should stay completely retired instead of posting a story with uncertain future. Your opinion DOES matter, you know?
Adios!