A/N: Hey everyone, I'm sorry it took me this long to update, school took up a lot more time than I expected and I think I rewrote the last half of this chapter about four times and I'm still not very satisfied with it. Oh well…
Thanks to my reviewers Darial Kuznetsova and Windstar, I really appreciated your kind words!
Disclaimer: I don't own Beyblade and the man you love belongs to Il Divo
Anyway, enjoy chapter 3
Quiero estar dentro de tu corazón,
Poder lograr que me ames como yo
Had Tala left the radio on again? Scowling Spencer closed the door, he had told Tala to turn that thing off when they went out, the electricity bills where high enough as they were without the redhead wasting energy like this.
I only wanna be the man
to give you everything I can
every day and every night
love you for all my life.
He shook his head as the language switched from Italian to English, there was no way Tala would listen to something as sappy as this.
I don't wanna change the world
as long as you're my girl
it's more than enough,
just to be the man you love
So whose was it then? Bryan would rather go to a tea party hosted by the White Tigers then listen to this and Ian had never shown any particular interest in his captain's choice of music either. Making his way into the living room he felt like he could hit himself. He wasn't really to blame though, after all he had seen the newest resident of Winter lane number 69 only four times since her arrival last week. Natanya really had taken her brother's threat to heart, not a sound not a sight indeed. The girl moved like a ghost, invisible safe for a flash of black as she hurried away from them. The soft rustling of her skirt being the only thing betraying her presence, the suddenly tidy rooms and the lingering smell of her perfume the only actual proof that she was living here.
Taking in a deep breath, he closed his eyes. He could still smell her scent; it was so different from the sharp, spicy smell of their cologne and deodorants that it had confused all of them at first. It was rather humiliating to be honest, with their abbey training all of them could distinguish the smell of various poisons and Ian could name the chemical formulas of a substance by merely sniffing at it but it had taken them almost the whole evening to realize that the soft, flowery fragrance was a bloody women's perfume. How could they have known however? None of them had ever seen a single woman at the abbey, not even a female scientist. The only time they came in contact with the other sex were at beyblade events or whenever Tala and Bryan went clubbing (for some reason Spencer and Ian were always dragged along even though neither of them enjoyed it), a fragrance as soft as Natanya's would be lost entirely, diluting with the scent of a thousand others and obscured by the prevailing smell of sweat and alcohol.
He opened his eyes and looked around the sparsely decorated room that had been a mess this morning. Tala had decided on the last moment to put on some make-up, as usual taking him forever to do so, when he had finally emerged from the bathroom they had practically dropped whatever they were holding so they could be in time for the meeting. The magazines Ian had just thrown on the coffee table were now neatly piled together on the corner of said table, Bryan's carving knife and the piece of wood he had been working on were placed next to them and the book Spencer himself had left on the couch was lying in the other corner.
Tiredly he rubbed his face. Should he join Natanya in the kitchen? The girl had been hiding for a week and he didn't want her to flee now that she had finally left her room. Hesitantly he walked towards the kitchen door, no matter what Tala said they couldn't avoid her for the three years to come could they? On the other hand it was Tala's sister, if he didn't want to have anything to do with her than why should they? Shaking his head he grabbed the doorknob. No, the girl couldn't communicate normally and she probably didn't even know Japanese, he would not let her live in complete loneliness for three years, he did have something akin to a conscious after all.
"You're cooking?"
A pained yelp escaped her lips as she turned around in surprise. Spencer winced; he hadn't meant to startle her but after years of sneaking past guards and traps he tended to forget that normal people made a lot of sound when entering a room.
"Are you okay?"
Judging by the pained expression, she wasn't.
"What's wrong?"
She held up her right hand, blood was welling up from a large cut across her palm. A sudden beam of light broke through the small kitchen window and Spencer felt his breath get caught in his throat. The blood appeared to be unnaturally dark against her snow-white skin, shimmering in the sudden beam of light, like little rubies against white satin. He blinked, what the hell? What was wrong with him? This was the second time that he had been almost… mesmerized by the girl's blood.
Briskly he took hold of her wrist.
"Hold still." Irritated he felt that her whole body became rigid as he inspected the wound. Why was she always so tense around him? He could understand she didn't like Bryan, the falcon had taken to ogling the girl whenever he saw her and seeing that Bryan could make a full-grown man shit his pants by merely looking in his general direction it was nothing more than normal for Natanya to dislike him. For some reason or another, Ian was reduced to a blabbering idiot when he was in her proximity and (luckily) she hadn't met her brother since her arrival last Monday. All in all, he had acted the most normal towards her, so why did she tense up when he was around?
"It isn't deep, sit down and I'll bandage it."
A bit bleary eyed she nodded before sitting down at the kitchen table. Spencer scoffed as he turned around, the wound wasn't very deep, granted it was going to hurt because the cut ran horizontally along the middle of her palm but it surely was nothing to cry for. He could feel her eyes on his back as he reached for the first aid kit in the cupboard next to the fridge. (The thing had originally been kept in the medicine cabinet but it had proven to be more practical to keep it in the kitchen with all the brawls Bryan ended up in.) It was strange how this one girl could get so many reactions from his normally stoic team. True, she was beautiful, but a far cry from the hot and dumb way Bryan preferred his one nightstands, so why did he eye her up every time he saw her? Why did Ian of all people stutter and blush when he was in the same room? As she was sitting there, head bowed and dressed in a white, knee lengthened skirt and an oversized ice blue sweater he couldn't help but think that it would be downright wrong to be turned on by someone like her, she simply looked too innocent. She was like one of those paintings, a kind of beautiful that should be left untouched except by time.
Spencer shook his head. What the heck? Since when did he become so…questioning? Philosophic even? Since Natanya's arrival, a little voice in the back of his mind said. It was true, but why? Because your teammates react so odd to her presence. He inwardly groaned as he pulled back the chair next to Natanya, great, was he developing an inner voice or what? There came no reply from the back of his mind so he sat down in relief.
As he started to wipe away the excessive blood he couldn't deny it, his teammates had beenreacting strange since her arrival. Bryan was unusually edgy and so was Ian, Bryan a bit more then the shorter boy because his room was next to Natanya's. The worst however was Tala, he was shifty and even more bad tempered than usual, the sneers and snide remarks that were usually reserved for the other teams were now also directed at them, and then there were the mood swings. The redhead could turn from deadly quiet to; there was no other word to describe it, downright bitchy in a mere second, like Bryan had found out the hard way by oh so tactfully telling their captain that he was worse than a PMSing Ming Ming. The first aid kit being in the kitchen had been proven to be very practical once again.
The sharp smell of chemicals filled his nose as he poured some antiseptic onto a wad of cotton. Spencer had always wanted to become a doctor, when he was little he had always been the one to tend to the scraped knees and elbows of his friends. One of the medics at the abbey, Kiron, a young man who had just gotten out of university, had taken a liking to the curious boy and had taught him about the finer art of medicine. But as he grew older the injuries become worse, scraped knees became fractured kneecaps and scraped elbows became infected wounds, what had once been eagerness to learn had become a necessity to survive. When they came out of the abbey, Spencer still was the medical backup for his injury prone teammates. Ian was a genius in chemistry and anything explosive, but whenever one of his experiments backfired Spencer was the one who treated his burns. To Bryan he was the one waiting when he came home late at night, drunk as hell and the injuries a testimony to the bar fight the Falcon had undoubtedly started himself. Spencer would curse him and whack his head for good measurement but he would help him nonetheless. And Tala, well sometimes Spencer seriously questioned his friend's mental stability. Every now and then Tala enjoyed a good fight just like all of them, he however would take it a step further than the rest. He would step into a bar, find the most aggressive guy and rile him up to the point of pure fury. A fight would result; Tala would let the guy have the upper hand for a bit before pulling a knife, which he would 'accidentally' drop. From there on came the dangerous part, the redhead would let himself get attacked with the knife before suddenly, often with one single move, reversing the rolls and take the man into a deadly grip, a wolfish grin on his face and his blue eyes sparkling. Spencer thanked whatever deity listening that it wasn't a regular occurrence and that he only had to literally stitch his captain up once every so months.
A whimper brought him out of his reverie.
Natanya was feverishly trying to free her hand from his grip, the tears in her eyes almost falling.
He rolled his eyes and wiped the wound one last time with the cotton.
"I forgot to tell you that it was going to sting."
She just shot him a teary glare.
He snorted, this was one of the reasons why he hadn't gone of the university to go and study medicine, how was he supposed to treat a full-grown man howling in pain when he had seen twelve year olds almost been beaten to dead and not utter a sound? How was he supposed to put his trust in scientists when his body had been moderated and altered by them? How was he to react and respond to normal people when he had never been, and never would be normal? Neither he nor Ian had any memories from before the abbey and they both felt uncomfortable in large crowds, unlike Bryan and Tala who weren't practically born in the abbey and once were normal. No, he was just doing fine at his job at Hiwatari Enterprises, he hardly came in contact with anyone except Kai, the payment was good and he had a guaranteed job when they moved back to Russia in three years.
"Here you go," he said as he finished of bandaging her hand.
She rubbed her eyes and opened the pouch hanging from her hip, producing a dark purple book.
He watched her curiously as she gave him a small smile, opened it and scribbled one single word, before pushing the book towards him.
Thanks.
"No problem, lucky you are left handed.
She took the book again and wrote something different.
I'm dexterous.
"Oh."
They sat in silence, she was biting her bottom lip and Spencer was trying to avoid her stare, which was just as piercing as her brother's.
Hesitantly she brought the pen to the paper, send him a glance and put it down again.
This movement was repeated a couple of times, increasing Spencer's unease with the situation by the second.
He snapped when she put the pen down for the eight time or so, "Just ask whatever it is you want to know already!"
She shot him a last, calculating glance before she started scribbling again.
He felt his eyebrows shoot up when he read her neat, loopy handwriting.
Why are you so worried?
"What makes you think I'm worried?"
She laughed.
Spencer reeled back as he heard the high, chiming sound, not very loud in volume but not very soft either, like rustling leaves in an autumn wind. He didn't know what, but as he listened to the almost unearthly sound, he knew something was wrong with that girl. His brains told him he was being an idiot; Natanya was a weak, completely harmless little female who he could kill with a flick of his wrist. Then there was something deep inside of him, instinct maybe, which told him to stay away from her.
The sound of scribbling replaced her laughter as she started writing again.
Shakily he leaned back against the chair, his eyes never leaving the girl next to him.
She gave him an apologetic smile when she pushed the book towards him.
You only ruffle your hair when you're worried plus you have been frowning the whole time.
He stared at her, "But how…"
Natanya chuckled softly, effectively breaking him off as she leaned forward so she could reach the book.
Just because you haven't seen me it doesn't mean that I haven't seen you.
Spencer just blinked, his mouth opening and closing in a repetitive movement.
Being the oh so lovable guy he is, Kai has a whole arsenal of insulting nicknames for every human being that crosses his path. About a quarter of this witty munitions is solely dedicated to Tyson, one of the mildest being "King Goldfish" because of his famous goldfish impersonation whenever the world champion gets dissed or thoroughly confused. (Seeing as he tended to hang around Kai and Kenny this happened quiet often.) Spencer however would have been sure that if the dual haired blader had been present he would have upped Spencer to King and Tyson would have been made Prince without a second thought.
Finally, he managed to croak out some words, "Do you have any idea how creepy that sounded?"
She just gave him a smug grin and flung her arm around the back of her chair and at that moment, she looked so much like her brother that Spencer had to repress the urge to hit her like he would have hit the redhead.
Suddenly her face screwed up in a scowl. He watched her questioningly as she snatched the book up, wrote something down and tore the paper out of it. A low growl emitted from the back of her throat as she crumbled up the piece of paper and flung it at him. In a reflex he caught it.
GO AND CHANGE NOW!
Perplexed he looked up at her, "what, why?"
A pale finger pointing to something behind him was her answer. Following her gaze he found the reason for her dismay, the muddy trail that had been left in his wake.
A dripping wet Bryan chose that moment to walk into the kitchen. Did I say walk? I meant barge.
Not paying any heed to his surroundings, he immediately made his way to the fridge all the while muttering incoherently. "Crazy old goat… mixing teams… damn brothers…bloody bossy females…fucki… what the hell!"
As Bryan was staring wide eyed at Natanya with his mouth hanging slightly open and his hands still raised in defense, Spencer decided that the Falcon would be emperor Goldfish, but then again it wasn't like anyone could blame Falborg's wielder, it wasn't exactly an everyday occurrence that someone summoned up the nerve to pelt the Russian bad boy with crumbled pieces of paper.
"That's her way of saying hay."
His teammate looked doubtfully from him to Natanya, who was by now sending death glares worthy of a Hiwatari.
"You're sure?"
"Just read the notes."
Bryan send them both one last glance before he unfolded the pieces of paper.
"Get changed and if you dare to look at my breasts again I'll kill you," He snorted at the last one, "Four dead threats in less than thirty minutes, it just keeps getting better and better."
"The damn brothers?"
"Yeah, Parker told me he'd kick my ass if I hurt York, Wong promised to send some sort of jinx after me if I dared to touch that pink thing, and when Fernandez came to me trying to be menacing I walked away."
Spencer snickered, "You got threatened by Raul?"
Bryan gave him a dark look and turned to the fridge.
The blonde rolled his eyes at this, "You're still moody because you got paired up with the girls?"
"Moody? I'm pissed as hell." His eyebrow twitched as he closed the fridge with much more force than needed.
"They're just so goddamn bubbly, I swear Fernandez and Wong were giggling the whole time I spoke to them, and York needs to learn how to speak human language instead of that geek speak she uses."
He opened the lid of his soda can with a frown on his face. "I mean, why did they pair up me of all people up with only girls? Why not that Italian snob?"
Spencer sighed: "They want to encourage beyblading Bryan, not teenage pregnancies."
The other waved it aside. "You know what I mean, and to make it even worse they can drink each other's blood, how the hell am I supposed to turn this thing into a "team" when Wong and Fernandez already have paired up against York?"
Spencer shrugged, "Just solve it like they were guys."
Bryan took a seat opposite him and took a swig of his drink.
"For some reason I don't think getting them to fight it out would work Spence."
"You could always make them hate you; if there is something that draws people together it's a shared cause."
"I was considering forcing them to work together but them having an I-hate-Bryan-campaign might work better."
Natanya snorted.
They turned their eyes to her, Bryan looking like he had forgotten she was even there and Spencer simply cocking his eyebrow for what felt like the hundredth time that day.
She sighed, rolled her eyes and grabbed her book and pen once more.
Are you really expecting those options to work?
"Well…yeah of course it'll work, why not?" Bryan asked after he had to squint to read upside down.
Natanya blinked, looked from Bryan to Spencer before she blinked again and shook her head.
Are all men this simplistic and one track minded or are you two just prime examples of cavemen?
Bryan nearly choked on his soda, "what?"
It was funny, Tala mused, only hearing half of a conversation. His modified hearing picked up every sound coming from the kitchen, from Il Divo on the radio to Bryan's choked exclamation and from the soft sound of pen on paper to hissing sound of something getting cooked on the stove.
"It's simple, I'll just make them hate me so much they'll group against me, thus forcing them to work together so they will forget whatever feud they are having."
Tala rolled his eyes at Bryan's explanation, for someone as smart as him he could be such an idiot at times. The sound like a page was turned, followed by the scratching of pen on paper. A low thud as something was slammed on the table, the soft sloshing of liquid indication that it was a glass or can. A chair was pushed back, scraping over the floor. Unnaturally soft footsteps made their way to the fridge, probably Spencer, the giant always had had a knack of moving around soundless. Something was slid across the tabletop, a short silence followed, before another one of Bryan's indignant exclamations filled the air. The fridge was opened and closed, the footsteps returned to the table and not much later Spencer's booming laughter reached his ears.
The redhead shook his head and walked towards the stairs, his muddy boots in his hand. His team could be so oblivious to normal things at times, he himself included, but if Bryan really would go through with his plan to get his team together by making them hate him, it wouldn't be before long before the Falcon discovered the female ability to hold grudges. Closing the door of his room his mind went to his "new team" as he started to change out of his wet clothes.
He knew that the whole, "teams were chosen at random" was utter bollocks, the teams were put together with a reason, in some cases, like with Bryan's team, the reason was beyond him but there was a reason. Brooklyn was put together with him because out of team BEGA he had suffered the most from Boris' control, like he had suffered the most from team Neoborg. They were probably expecting that the shared experience would help the young prodigy to deal with his problems. The compliment he had given the teen this afternoon had been deliberately, it had confirmed his suspicions, Brooklyn was still in the hesitation faze. All four of them had gone through it, Spencer the quickest and Bryan the slowest. Only they had had each other, Brooklyn was going through it alone. Sure, his team undoubtedly was trying to help him, but without knowing what he was going through the only thing they could do was give advise like they would give a normal person. That was the problem, just like team Neoborg Brooklyn was he expected to behave and function in a world he didn't understand and to be normal while he had never known normalcy. He was now going through the hesitation faze, he had come to terms with his life and to the outside world he was normal, while in reality this was just an act, the slightest change out of his normal routine being enough to throw him back. He had seen the hesitation, the insecurity in the teal eyes as he complemented Brooklyn, who had always been shunned for being the best, on his skills.
It was easy to guess why Granger had been put together with him as well, with his limited knowledge and skills the dragon was already good, never mind what he could be if he was trained by someone like Tala, a perfectionist at heart. That was the main difference between Kai and Tala, they were both equally matched in skills and leadership, only Tala did everything with all his emotions and passions, while Kai treated nearly everything beside himself almost halfheartedly. Kai had made G-rev the best team there currently was, and that was good enough for him, he didn't put any further effort in them than that. Tala on the other hand never stopped, he knew perfection was impossible to reach but he would be damned if he ever stopped trying. He was going to force Granger not to be just the best in his days, but to be the best that there ever would be.
Tornatore was the odd one out, he decided as he pulled a green sweatshirt over his head. Brooklyn, Granger and himself were three of the best bladers at this moment in time, so why did the BBA spoil a super team like that with such an average blader like the Italian? Did they give them a weak link on purpose or was the easy going blond there as a contra weight to the socially inept redheads on the team? Whatever the reason Tala needed to get more information about the noble, he knew Brooklyn's and Granger's moves and backgrounds from the inside out but he knew near to nothing about the Italian.
With dismay he looked at the pile of dirty clothing, it was Bryan's turn to do the laundry this week and if he didn't want his white shirt to end up pink he'd either have to wait for a week or do it himself. Sighing he decided that he'd better do it now and be done with it. Irritated he noted the black stain on his shirt as he picked it up, that mascara had been meant to be waterproof. Grumbling he picked up the rest and stomped out of his room again to the little room next to the kitchen where they kept the washing machine, tumble dryer and other domestic appliances.
He hadn't even made it to the top of the stairs however when he heard the sounds of Spencer and Bryan leaving the house. Tala frowned, what could possibly get those two to go out in this weather? He shrugged it off; if those idiots wanted to get drenched again he wasn't going to stop them. He interrupted his way to the stairs another time to close the still opened bathroom door, but as he was about to close it his attention suddenly got caught by his reflection in the mirror. The make-up was running down his face and his hair had escaped the tight ponytail he had put it in this morning, making him look like a cross between a redheaded Alice Cooper and a drowned rat.
If he looked back this would have been the point where he should have walked away and wait with removing the make-up until one of his teammates got home, but at that moment in time the vain teen wanted nothing more than to get the filth of his face. It was with this intention that he thoughtlessly ran a brush trough his hair and that he poured some make-up remover on a wad of cotton. Just as he expected the mascara was difficult to get off, the bloody thing had been a waste of his money, it started to run when it came in the slightest contact with rain but when you actually tried to get it off it was all of a sudden waterproof. But with every patch of black that disappeared his hands started to shake, his blood pounded in his ears with a deafening kaboom, kaboom. With every layer that was removed, with every color that vanished his hart started beating faster, his stomach turned and his throat clenched shut. He should have stopped, but his pride didn't allow him to. His breathing was erratic, on the brink of hyperventilating, his face covered in a thin film of sweat. Cold sweat, sweat of fear. Fear of what he would see when the mask was removed, fear for what he was.
With a shaky, almost aggressive movement, he removed the last traces of eyeliner. General Ivanov was staring back at him. It didn't matter that Andrei Ivanov had had green eyes instead of blue, it didn't make a difference at all that his hair had been cropped short, Tala was still a copy of him, a copy of a monster. His knuckles were white from the grip he held on the sink. No, it didn't matter at all, he was modeled after a monster, he had been raised by one, and he had been trained by one. Forcefully he pushed the air out of his nose as he stared at the anger-filled face of his father in the mirror. Did that make him a monster?
NO!
Panic's iron claw seized his heart as his head was filled with memories.
No, no, no, please.
His cries were all in vain; his eyesight became hazy, focused on the past.
Not now, please not now.
Red and white.
God I beg you, please not again.
Blood on snow.
But why would you listen to someone like me?
Screams filled his ears; the sickingly sweet smell of death filled his nose.
Why would you listen to a monster?
A cold so cold that it felt like fire was scorching his skin.
Why would you listen to a devil?
Something was sticking to his hands, warm and gooey.
A murderer?
His hands were painted in red, red on white, blood on snow.
For that is what I am.
A monster.
Tala opened his eyes, he was panting softly as he sunk to the floor, not paying any heed to the shards of the shattered mirror. His bloodied right hand was throbbing, but he was feeling oddly calm, almost numb. Footsteps were running up the stairs but he didn't hear them, his own screams were still ringing trough his ears, the blood still pounding with its deafening kaboom kaboom.
The door was opened but he didn't turn around. A person placed itself behind him, arms encircling him, a hand softly guiding his head to their shoulder. He closed his eyes and leaned in to the cold, caring touch.
He may have sat there for an hour, for a minute or for a lifetime he didn't know, all perception of time seemed to fade away as he sat there waiting for the storm of memories to go away. He waited and waited for everything to become normal again, but he had never been normal, and he never would be. Panicked he snapped his eyes open and tightened his grip on his only lifeline. Natanya was looking down at him, her face filled with worry and her eyes shining with sympathy and…understanding?
But Tala's mind was still a storm of bloodstained snow and through the haze he didn't see the caring face of his sister, but the face of his abandoning bitch of a mother instead. He jumped up, pushing the girl away in the process. Natanya hadn't been expecting the sudden movement and certainly not the sheer force her brother had used. With wild, unfocused eyes he watched her fall, watched how she put her arm behind her to lessen the impact. He saw her scream rather than he heard her when long shards imbedded themselves deeply into her unnaturally pale arm. Red on white, blood on snow.
He shook his head.
No.
He scrambled up and ran.
A/N:
It's a bit darker than the first two chapters so I hoped you enjoyed it, and I know that I promised Emily last time but this chapter kept writing itself so Emily will get a chapter on her own. (not the next one though)Please tell me what you think and R&R!
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Silent Pandemonium