Two years later I finally post the epilogue. I really hope you like it. Please read the authors note at the end!

TEN BLACK ROSES

DancerInTheDark101

Chapter 22: Epilogue

Ten Black Roses

Six months later

Tala looked over at his best friend. It had been a long and arduous road for Kai after he had been released from the hospital some months before hand. Other than the obvious physical wounds, Kai had suffered greatly from the emotional damage that had been inflicted on him by his grandfather. He had been withdrawn, hardly spoke and barely leaving the house. Both Tala and the Bladebreakers had done all they could to try and get Kai out of the slump he had fallen into, but nothing seemed to work.

Until one day several months later. Tala had walked out into the living room and stopped short, his mouth dropping open in shock. Kai was seated in the living room, the TV on and he was watching whatever was playing intently.

It turned out to be news about his grandfather's trial.

Soon after Tala had spoken with the police officer who had arrested Voltaire, the news had been released to the media. Once it had been found that Voltaire Hiwatari had been arrested on several counts of child abuse, neglect of a minor, attempted murder, conspiracy to murder and several counts of first degree murder, the media had begun a crusade to get the truth.

Tala had been only too happy to oblige, but on one condition – Kai was to be left alone. So far, the media had honoured their word and left the crimson-eyed teen alone. Tala didn't know how long that would last after the trial though.

They were currently sitting in a courtroom, watching the proceedings of the final jury's decision. It was obvious Voltaire would be spending the rest of his life in prison, but the jury still hadn't made the final decision yet and then there was the matter of the death sentence or not. Tala hoped like hell he did. As much as life imprisonment was a very good sentence, they'd been through too much and the bastard deserved to die.

"Do you think he'll get it?" Tala asked, once again turning to look at Kai.

Kai's crimson eyes locked with his own icy blue ones. "I fucking hope so," came the low reply. "He deserves to rot in Hell."

"Yeah, I agree."

There were many murmurings of agreement. Besides himself and Kai; Spencer, Tyson and Max were seated in the courtroom. They all wanted to see Voltaire dead just as much as they did.

Rei hadn't been seen since he'd tried to kill Kai all those months before. The police had been on constant alert, searching for the teen, but they hadn't found anything. It was very likely he'd managed to skip country and probably headed back to China. It worried Tala that they hadn't been able to find him, but it wasn't something he was going to dwell on forever. They'd get him someday.

There was a loud clap and Tala was brought back to the present. Looking towards the front of the courtroom, the redhead saw that the judge was standing, hammer poised over the wooden table. He was ready to announce the decision.

He could feel Kai trembling slightly beside him and Tala reached over and pressed a hand to his friend's shoulder. Kai relaxed slightly at the touch.

It was then announced that everyone was to stand. Tala stood, his eyes flickering between his best friend and the judge. Voltaire was brought to the front of the room, hands cuffed with four guards standing around. The elder man looked downright pissed and Tala had to fight to keep a laugh from escaping.

Glancing back over to Kai, Tala saw that his friend was staring at his grandfather, his crimson eyes stormy with rage. His hands were clenching into fists tight enough to make his knuckles white, before unclenching and repeating it all over again.

"Rot in hell you evil bastard…" Kai whispered. Tala smirked at his friend's statement. Oh yeah, Kai was pissed.

"The jury has decided," the judge began. "Voltaire Hiwatari you are sentenced to three consecutive life imprisonments at the Bakuten Maximum Security Prison, without the eligibility for parole."

Tala could feel himself burning with anger. That's all he was getting? Three life sentences? What about the fucking death penalty!

"However," the judge spoke up over the increasingly angry roar from those gathered. "You will not be seeing those sentences out as it has been decided that you, Voltaire Hiwatari, have been given the death penalty by lethal injection, to take place on this date in four months time. Dismissed."

Tala couldn't help the elation washing through him. Once again he looked over at Kai and for the first time in years, he saw a genuine smile filtering across the pale teen's face.

It was over. They could finally get on with their lives. It was finally over.

Four months later

Kai watched as they strapped his grandfather to the table and inserted the appropriate needles into his arms. A complicated set-up was situated to the left of the table; a box containing three clear cylinders that each contained a different coloured liquid. Kai knew that they would be injected into his grandfather's blood stream soon. They had been carefully measured out in the correct dosages to make it painless, but deadly.

He would just feel like he was falling asleep, only this sleep he'd never wake up from. Sometimes Kai wished that they still used the electric chair, so that his grandfather as much pain inflicted on him as possible before he died.

But he was going to be dead, that was all that mattered.

The Russian teen watched as one of the technicians signalled to another to start the process. Looking on in morbid fascination, Kai saw the first of the cylinders be plunged down, the liquid starting to make its way through the tubing and into Voltaire. Immediately afterwards, the second cylinder emptied, closely followed by the third.

Seconds after the third cocktail of drugs had made its way into Voltaire's system, the elderly man's eyes began to close. Kai watched on as his grandfather's eyes closed for the last and final time.

A technician went over and checked Voltaire's pulse before confirming that he had passed on.

"Time of death: 10.01AM."

Kai couldn't help the wave of relief that washed through him. He turned and looked at his friends gathered around him.

He was free.

It was finally over.

END.

Okay, there you have it! It's short and not exactly what I had in mind originally, but I finally finished it! Hope you all like the ending.

Just wanna say a huge thanks to everyone who has read, reviewed, favourited or followed this story over the years. I first started this way back when I was still attending college and now almost four years later (and in a completely different country!) I finished it :)

I honestly don't think I'll ever come back to the Beyblade fandom, so thank you so much for all your help and support. This fandom is what really got me into writing and you've helped me improve my skills so much.

So, THANK YOU.

-Rachel