Beyblade Fan Fiction ❯ Good evening ❯ A golden staircase ( Chapter 4 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

Disclaimer: Just because I forgot to slip one into the 3rd chapter doesn't mean I'm going to give anyone a chance to no longer hear me saying that though I would love to own Rei and Kai, I don't… But cheese darn it, I can borrow them!

Edit: I managed to fix a few errors and change the wording a bit before a week or more passed! Woo! Go me! ^-^

Cool feathery kisses tickled pale skin, calling the raven-haired prince Rei into consciousness. He groaned, not wanting to give in to the waking breeze that blew in through the slightly ajar balcony door. Soft eyelids fluttered as he turned under the silky soft covers around him, trying to hide deeper in their warmth. At last he gave in and sat up. Golden eyes drifted lazily across familiar white marble walls and hand crafted furniture until coming to the open glass door. Everything was the same as it was every time he awoke in his bed, in his room, where he was safe inside of his own castle.

Something soft brushing against his hand drew golden orbs down to a soft orange-red feather, one that he recognized. A shiver made its way down his spine as images of a slender boy thief crossed his mind. A sense of foreboding set itself in quickly, reminding the young prince that he was still trapped. He wasn't sure how… he couldn't remember falling asleep during his escape attempt, but apparently he had and the thief had found him and brought him back to this replica room.

“You were out of this room past dark,” a cold voice came from just outside on the balcony.

Rei's eyes instantly landed on the boy who spoke. He appeared as he had the day before, a tight purple shirt with gloves of the same stature, and large pants of a shad of blue. Again he was seated on the balcony railing as the gentle breeze teased his clothed and hair.

“I suppose I never told you; you are to be back in this room before dark each night.”

“Why?” the prince asked. Being one of royalty, he was usually only ordered to do anything by his mother and father and none other.

“I wouldn't want anything bad to happen to you, now would I?” The thief replied with a cold smile that sent shivers through the raven-haired youth, “see that you are back before dark this evening.” With no further word, the thief moved so that he was now standing on the railing, turned, and dropped out of sight.

Startled, Rei sprung from the bed and ran outside to look down over the balcony's edge. Down below, the thief was standing unfazed as though he had not just fallen from three floors above the ground. He glanced back up at Rei and gave a small smile, “do you wish to join me?” he called back.

Rei shook his head, and watched as the boy turned and walked out into the garden. His stride was very graceful, so much so that it apeared as though he were walking on air alone. Golden eyes followed the boy for several minutes before the young prince drew back inside. Again his mind wandered to thoughts of escape. It shouldn't be too hard… should it? He could sneak out of his room as he had done the day before, and search for a way out.

As he slowly crept the door open, he found himself musing over how silly he was acting. What was he afraid of? The day before, the thief had said that he could leave the room whenever he wanted with out worry. He could explore all that he wanted in search of a possible escape. These thoughts were forced to the back of his mind as he slowly crept out into the hall, doing his best to ignore the coldness of the tiles beneath his naked feet.

He took the same path as he had the day before, down to every last turn. He again passed through the decorated halls with paintings, the great ball room full of angels and the beautiful painting which coaxed him to stay and marvel at it's beauty as he had done before. The temptation was forced away, and soon Rei found himself in the hall full of statues depicting great beasts and deities of all sorts. This was the last location that he could remember from his previous exploration.

The passage took a turn to the right, and Rei found himself standing before a spiral staircase of gold. The wiry stairs spiraled into a circular hole in the ceiling above. The rails and edges of the stairs were spotted with shimmering rubies and diamonds inlaid in the precious metal.

It felt as though a rock had settled itself in Rei's stomach as he stared up at the wondrous staircase before him; this was a dead end, these stairs only went up. He had come all this way for nothing, through the hours of long passages and small chambers filled decoratively with stolen treasures… for nothing. Going up would merely take him further from his destination.

`I came this far… I might as well go up…' he thought as he took a step forward, `maybe… I'll find a fast way back down…'

With that being the only encouragement for himself, he slowly climbed the stairs.

The room which the golden-eyed teen now beheld was large, and filled with more carved crystal artwork. A crystal table holding several bowls of crystal fruit stood in one corner of the room, and a small crystal hippopotamus stood across from it. A lion crouched by one of the edges, ready to pounce on the unsuspecting huntsman with a drawn bow, looking for game in the wrong direction. A line of crystal gods lined the wall to the left, each posed in attempt to be more beautiful than the others.

Most all of the crystal statues stood around the edges of the room, all save for one. In the very center of the marble tile floor stood the tall figure of a man.

This lone being grabbed Rei's attention. Cold feet shuffled across the floor only to stop almost in the center of the room. He looked up to see the man better. He stood at least ten or eleven feet tall, making him more godly than the deities fighting one another in posed silence elsewhere in the room.

Large wings were spread from the man's back, as though he were to fly toward the sky. Rei gasped, this figure looked very much like the one in the painting.

The similarity was beautiful, `perhaps this work and that were made by the same hand' the prince mused to himself.

Again, like the day before, Rei realized that he was spending far too much time marveling at the splendid figure before him, and promptly scurried across the floor and out through the wide open door into the hall beyond.

The small passage carried Rei through yet more beautifully decorated halls such as the ones he had been passing for only god knew how long. At last, Rei grew weary of walking, and sat himself down on a golden chair leaned against the wall. This chair was one of many chairs that stretched out down the walls on either side of the hall, each made of a precious metal or stone of the same stature; one even appeared to be amethyst.

Numb feet were hugged close against his body in an attempt to warm them from their white and frigid state. A sense of discouragement fixed itself firmly in Rei's stomach as he reflected on how long he had been walking now. He had passed no windows, and thusly had no concrete way to tell how long he had been away from the room which had sheltered him through two slumbers already. From how much his feet hurt, he guessed that it had to have been a very very long time. His stomach growled, beginning to hurt with hunger. He frowned; no food had passed his lips since he had been taken captive. He estimated that to have been about two days ago.

A soft whimper escaped the boy's lips as he curled into a ball in an attempt to disperse the empty hurt in his stomach and to fend off the offending cold that was starting to close in on him. The same thing had happened the previous day when he grew tired as well. He couldn't remember more than tying to stay awake against the cold. That meant that he had fallen asleep.

Cold marble tiles were beneath his feet quickly as he stood; he had no intentions of falling asleep again. He planned to continue his exploration of the castle in hopes of finding a way out. As he turned to continue, a strange shadow caught his eye. The shadow sluggishly danced across the wall where this hall connected with the next; there was something just around the corner.

Rei froze, was it the thief? The shadow appeared far too bulky to belong to his lithe kidnapper. That meant that there were other people living in this castle after all. Rei's eyes darted around quickly for a fast escape, turning quickly in the direction he had recently come from. That was the fastest escape rout to take; he had no intentions of meeting with this unseen stranger.

He almost cried out in anguish at the sight of another imposing shadow coming around the corner behind him. Frantically his eyes darted around the passage until at last they fell on a door of bleached oak. It stood only a few feet from him, and with out any consideration as to what may be behind the door, he darted across the cold tile to throw it open and slip inside.

He carefully closed the door behind him and leaned against it, eyes closed. His heart raced; had he been seen? He desperately hoped that he hadn't.

Lumbering footsteps thumped noisily across the floor outside. The sound reminded the young prince of how bears walked, though they were more quiet if he could remember correctly. The stomping came to a halt, leaving the other being to lumber a bit farther until at last it too stopped. Rei swallowed hard, now holding his breath; it sounded as though they had stopped just outside. They had seen him, and they were coming in after him! Many thoughts followed this as to what they would do to the prince once they had captured him, each more grotesque than the previous.

A low growl made its way to his ears, and then both pairs of lumbering footsteps continued in their separate directions.

Rei sighed with relief; they hadn't seen him after all.

Now that he was safely out of harms way, he looked around his new surroundings in wonder. He was standing in a large dark room full of tables and… “Plants?” he whispered to himself, taking a step forward. The rounded window, the first that he had seen since leaving his own room, filled the room with dim moonlight, revealing hundreds of potted plants ranging from Johnny Jump-ups to small potted trees. It was beautiful, like an indoor garden. This was the only room he had come across that was not filled with riches.

Sai: Ah, the sweet smell of a new chapter (or maybe that's the smell of this orange juice…). I hope that you all enjoyed it, and once again I am sorry for any stupid typing errors or for any part that could be better re-worded (because I don't proofread these before I give them to all of you! I promise still though that I will because I have to because my Dai-kun wants to read this once it is done so I have to fix everything!). Also, once again sorry for such short chapters, like I said… I have a pretty short attention span for everything, so I only have the patience and attention to be able to write about 3 pages when I get on the computer (and no I can't just type a little and come back to it! Blasphemy! Woah… I didn't know that I could spell that word!). Well, please read and review, always appreciated greatly! And have yourself a nice day *-^