Beyblade Fan Fiction ❯ Guilt ❯ What Michael did ( Chapter 5 )

Chapter 5

 

When the next day came she learned that the All Stars were going to stay with them until the tournament which was a few months away. She also found out that Max wasn't really part of the All Stars, but was just the son of Judy Tate, who toured with the team to give them council. This all happened before she had even been dressed, since Oliver had come to wake her up. Because her normal clothes were in the laundry she looked in the closet for something that would cover most of her body. It wasn't because she was ashamed of her body, but because a lot of her back and legs showed scars of her time in Biovolt. Even though she had only had one beating, they hadn't gone easy on her. The lower part of her right arm was in the worst state. She normally covered that up with her own t-shirt which had one long sleeve that ended in a glove, and she had torn the other one off, it looked horrid, but she liked the shirt a lot and somehow it looked a lot less horrid when she was wearing it.*

 

The only long-sleeved thing she could find was a dark red shirt that didn't cover her shoulders and was, in her opinion, relatively short, even though it only showed her bellybutton a little. Putting it on she quickly checked her back in the mirror. Above and below the fabric you could see some gashes starting or ending, but it wasn't too noticeable. Now she cursed the fact that her hair had been cut so short. She then settled for normal jeans that had a flower print on the side of her legs. She didn't really like the print, but it was the first thing she had grabbed. Quickly putting her hair in a ponytail she went out to the main room, finding the members off the All Stars looking at her in hatred. They too had been badly defeated by the Demolition Boys during a tournament.

 

One of them wasn't just looking at her in hatred though, he had something else in his eyes too; something that made her feel uneasy and for some reason scared. Max and Oliver quickly approached her with a smile on their faces, seeing her doubt. After they had sat down and talked about some random stuff the guy who had been looking at her strangely came towards them, stretching out his hand.

“Hi, I'm Michael, nice to meet you.”

Even though the `nice' came out with a tone of sarcasm she smiled gently and responded, shaking the hand presented to her.

“Faith, nice to meet you too.”

“So I hear that you're quite the blader, wanna test your strength in a little honest match?”

 

This made faiths mood a little darker. Apparently he was only here to show everyone what a sneaky git she was. Well she would show him.

“An honest match would sound good, but that means that you have to stick to the rules as well, isn't it?”

Everyone in the room except Michael and his team had to hold back a snigger as Faith smirked at Michael, revenge gleaming in her eyes. Seeing as she had agreed Robert showed them to their private beystadium. The battle was about to begin when Michael shouted a last insult to faith.

“I must warn you though; I won't go easy on you just because you are a girl.”

“Me neither.”

And to that comment Oliver and Max laughed out loud. It seemed that this girl had a wicked sense of humour as well.

The match began and it seemed pretty obvious that Michael was the stronger one. But then again, he didn't notice the evil gleam in her eyes. She was just toying with him. He had already called out his bit beast while she was still fighting with the power of her blade alone. And yet she was still spinning at full speed.

“Ha, is that all you got girl? I knew you were nothing without your stupid tricks.”

“Who said I was finished yet? Myriad, come out and play with this mouse.”

Seconds after she said that her bit arose, wings fully spread and ready to stalk down on her prey. She let out one high pitched shriek and then Michael's blade was nearing the edge of the stadium rapidly.

“This is amazing; her records are off the charts. That's one strong bit beast.” Judy exclaimed, looking at the analysis on her laptop. Everyone was looking at the former Demolition `Boy' in shock. She didn't even seem to have any trouble controlling the beast. With one more smirk she commanded her bit to finish it, and Michael's blade was out of the dish.

“How did you do that, I was defeating you.”

“No, you were defeating a beyblade, unlike you; I don't need the power of my bit beast all the time to win simple battles.”

 

Michael just growled, picked up his blade and then left, the rest of the team following behind. In the meanwhile Robert approached her, a very impressed gaze on his face. It had been a while since faith had last battled, and it felt good. The spirit of Myriad was once again full of life in her mind. The poor beast hadn't had a chance to stretch her wings for so long. Just like her master she felt relieved and happy.

“Faith, how would you like to train with us from now on, you look like a worthy sparring partner that could give us some good tips.”

In her mind Myriad was cooing contently, it was obvious the owl was very willing to take them all on.

“Sure, I'd like that, and my bit beast seems to be willing too.”

 

Max had stayed down with Oliver and had looked at the bit beast with utmost interest.

“It's a wonderful beast. But why was it mostly covered by that weird armour.”

“Thank Biovolt for that. During battles her defence was too low, so they altered the genes a little. But all they got out of it was a bit beast with ugly armour; the defence had hardly gone up.”

`Ah' was all max could utter. So that's what they did to win, alter bit beasts genes.

“But Myriad doesn't seem to mind it much. I preferred her without the armour though, she was a beautiful owl, and they had to go and throw sum metal on her. If I ever find a way to change it, I'm going to bring her back to normal.”

And so the day passed, talking about possible solutions to change her bit beast back to normal and other things. Though Faith doubted that was what Oliver wanted to talk about. But it didn't seem like the green haired minded the fact that they were talking anyways. Every time she looked up she found Michael glaring her while he was talking to Johnny. Apparently the two of them got along quite well. And so the day ended.

 

Weeks passed, and Oliver seemed to have forgotten that he was going to talk to her about something. But he and faith became close friends. Nearly as close as she, Tala and Kai had once been. Even though she grew stronger and better because of the friendship with Oliver, it still affected her mood because it reminded her of her friends too much. It took a while for it to shine through to them though. It was only when Oliver noticed that her eyes had lost the aqua colour and turned into a permanent purple colour that he decided to talk to her.

 

She was once again in her room. Sitting at her desk, pictures scattered all around her. One of them was in her hands, and her mood was set to utter sadness. It was a picture of her family, back when they had been complete. When Chester had been born. She had been the one that got to hold him while the nurse took a picture of the happy family. She let her hand wander over the faces of her beloved family. Not far away was a picture of her old dog, Laika. They had given it to their neighbour when they moved.

-I miss you all so much. Please wait for me. I promise I won't forget you.-

Oliver had come in unnoticed. He had gotten worried after the third knock and decided to risk coming in. When he saw her depressed state he softly put a hand on her shoulder.

“Are you ok? Or do you want to be left alone?”

“No I'm fine. Just looking at some old pictures.”

“Can I see them?”

 

He knew that this was a long shot since, even though he and Faith were close friends, she had never let anything loose about her past, and definitely not her family. Therefore he was surprised when she gave him the picture she was holding.

“That's from when my little brother was born. He was just perfect, ten fingers, ten toes, brown eyes, blond hair. Just like a little angel.”

“Can I… how… where is he?”

“They're all dead.”

He saw that her purple eyes had gotten nearly black. She wasn't just sad, but grieving for her family as well. But Oliver just had to ask, even though he knew it would be hell for her.

“How did they… you know?”

“Mom and dad died one year after dad's promotion. We had to move to Russia for that. I don't remember much of Belgium really. I wish we could've stayed there, maybe it wouldn't have happened.”

“But how, did they die then?”

“Car crash. Chester and I ended up in a coma for a few weeks. He wasn't allowed to die in peace. He should've never woken up from that coma.”

 

Tears had started flowing as the grief overtook her. Oliver pulled her in a hug and she continued her story in the crook of his neck.

“After that we were adopted by Boris. And then hell began. We weren't allowed to feel, to have any emotions. After a few years they decided that Chester was too much of a distraction for me and they just … killed him. I should've never ever protested on having him included in the adoption. Then he'd be alive, it's all my fault. My own stupid fault that Chester is dead.”

Oliver had no words of comfort for her. He just sat there hugging her shivering form. When she seemed to have calmed enough Oliver took the liberty of looking at the remainder of her photos. Most of them were of her family or her time in Asia. Very few were even from the pictures they had taken here in France. And then he noticed one solitaire looking photo. For one, it looked like it had been taking in one of those cheesy and cheap photo shops, and it showed Faith and two boys, all of them looking a little older than thirteen. One of them had slate coloured hair and crimson eyes, the other one had fire red hair and crystal blue eyes.

 

He picked up the photo and quietly asked Faith who they were. Faith looked at the photo in question and her mood seemed to go even worse.

“Those are my friends from Biovolt. Kai and Tala. They're still in that hellhole with no possible way of getting out. I wish I could do something to get them out of there.”

“You miss them a lot huh?”

“I spent a lot of my life in Biovolt; they were what kept me human, them and Chester. And now they think I'm dead and I have no way of proving them otherwise. I wish I could send them a letter, but I know they'd never get it. Personal possessions are forbidden in there.”

 

“But, then, how did you get these pictures? And the earrings?”

“After they killed my brother I stayed in Biovolt for about a week. I was nothing anymore. I couldn't think, couldn't feel. Then somehow I got my common sense back and I ran away. It took me a week or so to get to my old house. The place had already been inhabited by other people, but they had stuffed all our personal stuff in boxes on the attic. When I told them that I was the daughter of the family they wanted to take me in, but I couldn't stay in Russia. Nobody runs from Biovolt and survives. So they showed me the boxes and I took out some stuff. They promised me that they would keep the boxes for safekeeping. After that I just left Russia behind.”

Somehow Faith felt like a burden had fallen from her shoulders. She had finally been able to tell someone what had happened to her. It felt like she wasn't alone anymore.

“How old were you?”

“I don't really know, I think a little older than 11. I stayed with the white tigers in Asia for over three years after that. Then I just longed for my old home in Belgium again. I can't remember much, but I know that I was happy there.”

 

Oliver hugged her again. She had gone through so much. It was amazing that this girl still had all her marbles. If it had been him or anyone else they would've been a wacko already. But she just kept going. But it must've been hard for her. She must've felt so isolated. All those problems and memories, and nobody that could comfort her. But he was here now. And he would be here for her, as long as she needed it.

“Thank you.”

“Huh?”

“For listening Oliver. I needed it, needed to get it off my chest.”

“No problem hun. Feel better?”

She nodded. She indeed felt a lot better. But she made him promise not to tell anyone else about it. She didn't need pity. That's why it had felt right for her to tell Oliver, he wouldn't show her pity. He would only show that he understood. They talked for the rest of the evening. Of everything and anything Faith wished to talk about. Oliver didn't mind. It was good to hear the girl talk. And the way she told her stories kept you wanting more.

 

This was a good time for Faith. She stayed with the Majestics for nearly 3 years. She kept teaching the Majestics new tricks to stay in battle longer. Not that they needed any help, they were strong. So strong that even Myriad had trouble defeating them sometimes. That's how Faith figured out how the team got their name. They got visits from the All Stars every year when it was time for the French Championship to take place. Max hadn't been with the team since the first time she met him. Apparently he had gone to live with his father in Japan. Oliver had a minor depression after that, but it cleared up as soon as his boyfriend had given him a call. They now mailed daily and sometimes, when the team of aristocrats didn't have any tournaments, Oliver flew over to Japan to visit his beloved.

Even though she was happy with her new friends, she started longing for Belgium again. She decided that she would leave for her old home again as soon as the All Stars had gone home again. Oliver already knew about this, but that didn't mean he was too happy with it.

 

But she would go home sooner than she thought. During the lodging of the American team over the three years, Michael kept challenging her, and the queer look in his eyes kept growing. And one day, after a gruelling training, disaster struck. She was in the shower to get the sweat and stress out of her limbs when someone pressed her against the wall, holding her hands over her.

“Hey there gorgeous. Wanna have some fun?”

She could smell the alcohol from a mile away. She wanted to yell at him, tell him to get bent, but she found her voice lost and all her strength gone. She was scared. He had her pinned against the wall and naked. She had never felt this fear before. It was taking over her, and yet she couldn't scream. When he noticed the lack of reply he pushed her harshly against the wall again.

“I said wanna have some fun?”

She was not just scared now, but also in heavy pain. The grotto outlook of the showers was cool, but the stones were sharp and rugged, making it very, very painful. She nearly screamed in pain, but the offender had moved one of his hands to cover her mouth. Noticing she wasn't going to fight anytime soon he let her hands go completely and let his roam freely over her body. The fear still coursed through her body and soon shame accompanied it. How could she let him do this to her? She could've thrown him off ages ago. But fear stopped her body from obeying. He had turned her upper body a little so he could see her face.

 

“Oh, is the tough little Russian scared? Own fault bitch, it'll teach you to humiliate me like that and be smug about it.”

That made her angry and she got a little in control of her own body again. When he tried to force a finger in her mouth she nearly bit it off. He cursed and let her go. Just as she was about to run he grabbed her wrist and threw her back against the wall. Her spine had hit one of the rocks that were sticking out and she doubled up in pain. Moving hurt, she couldn't defend herself anymore. She felt him advancing and she couldn't do anything about it.

“You're just the same two-faced slut like Malin², aren't you? I should've known. Don't worry, we'll fix that soon.”

Someone else came down and Faith thought that her prayers had been answered.

“Ah, Johnny, how wonderful of you to join us. See, I told you I could get her to open up for me, didn't I? Want a piece?”

 

She saw the hungry look in Johnny's eyes and her fear doubled. This couldn't be happening.

“What the hell do you think you're doing Michael?”

“Having some fun, what does it look like? So you feel like joining? I ain't got no problems, and I'm pretty sure our little girl here has no objection either. Isn't that right?”

Then Johnny noticed the mark of a hand over Faith's mouth and the terrified expression. Anger started pumping.

“It looks like you're trying to rape one of my friends. Move away from her, now.”

“Ah come on Johnny, you said you wanted to have her not two days ago, what's with the sudden change of interest.”

But Michael never got his answer. Seeing as he wasn't going to move away from Faith, Johnny launched himself. Executing a very nice combo of foot and fist action. When he was satisfied with his handy work he grabbed the American by the collar and threw him out of the shower room.

 

He then grabbed the largest towel they had and wrapped Faith in it carefully. He noticed all the old scars on her back and wondered how she had survived some of them. She seemed to be in shock. And freezing, seeing as she was still sitting under the running shower. He turned off and gave her a small hug to warm her up. This got her out of the shock and she looked at hem with deep crimson eyes. She had heard everything Michael had said and she didn't want him anywhere near her. She slapped him.

“Stay away from me.”

Johnny felt hurt, but he also knew she had more then enough reason to not want him near her. For one thing, he was straight, and a guy, and thanks to Michael she knew that he wanted her too. In her mind, he was no better than the stupid All Stars bastard.

“I'll go get Oliver.”

 

He threw her another towel and then left. Meeting Robert and the rest on his way to the main room.

“Can I ask you why you beat up one of our guests so severely Johnny?”

“Oh, didn't he tell you? I caught him trying to rape Faith in the showers… reason enough for you Robert?”

Upon hearing that Roberts eyes flared in anger. But Oliver gasped out in shock and ran as fast as he could towards the showers. This had been the only thing missing on her rape of bad things happening. He just hoped she wouldn't loose it. She had evolved so much since she'd come here. The walls around her heart hadn't melted, but the Majestics had found a secret passageway through the fort. The same way that Mariah had made years before them.

 

He found her on the exact same place where Johnny had left her. She had returned in her shell and seemed to be staring in the void. Not caring that the floor was wet Oliver fell to his knees and drew her in a hug. After five or ten minutes her body started shaking and she started to cry. She just felt so ashamed and dirty. Not the kind of dirty from rolling in the mud, but a different kind. The kind that doesn't wash off, that doesn't go away. She was so mad at herself. She could've stopped it if she hadn't been so stupid and scared.

“It's my entire fault; if I hadn't frozen I could've knocked him out and run away.”

“No, whatever you do Faith, do not blame yourself for anything. It wasn't your fault, everybody freezes in that situation. And the ones that don't break down afterwards because it could've happened to them. I know what I'm talking about.”

 

She looked up at him confused. Did he just say that he had been in a similar situation? He noticed the question in her eyes and slightly nodded.

“But it is best not to open old wounds. Especially not when they have healed so nicely. Come on, let's get you dressed.”

He helped her up, but as soon as she stood she fell back on her knees. Her back still hurt like hell. When Oliver found out he carried her to one of the small counters. He dried her off and dressed her. Even though Faith was more than embarrassed at the fact that Oliver was touching her, she let it because she trusted him, and knew that he would never harm her.

“How is your back? Can you walk again?”

She gave it a shot again. It still hurt like hell, but it wasn't strong enough to force her on her knees again. Oliver put her arm around him and stated that she should lean on him a little. He led her back to her room to rest. It was needless to say that the All Stars were never to return to this place again. Oliver gave his team the necessary information concerning Faiths health and they spent the rest of the day in an uncomfortable silence.

 

The next morning Faith felt better and announced to Robert that she would make arrangements to leave for Belgium soon. None of them wanted her to leave, but they owed it to her. After a long time of discussing Robert reluctantly agreed and started making arrangements for her. When she came in her room to pack she noticed that Oliver was laying out all the clothes he had bought for her on the bed.

“Oliver what are you doing?”

“We have no need for these, they're yours anyway. And it would hurt me to much to see these hanging in the closet. They remind me of you. “

She noticed that he had modified the most of them so the right arm was always a long sleeve.

“And how exactly am I going to fit this all in my back…”

Just then she noticed that her scruffy old backpack was nowhere to be seen. Her eyes turned amber as she rounded on Oliver.

“Where is it?”

Even though he was scared of Faith at the moment he still answered her.

“Don't worry, it's being patched up and washed. It'll be in the state it was when your dad gave it to you again in no time.”

“Then where is my stuff?”

He pointed to a brand-new suitcase lying on a corner of her bed. On top of it was a small toilet bag she found filled with perfume and shampoo and other necessary things. Besides it was a photo album with most of her photo's taped in it. The ones that weren't in there were enlisted and ready to be taken out and put on a dresser or something. Her beyblade and parts had all been put in a small protected case and last but not least there was a small wooden box that contained her earrings and a lot of other jewellery. She knew all of it, except for her mothers earrings had been things Oliver had bought for her. She was about to speak up when he raised his hands.

“Don't look at me; most of those sparkly things come from Enrique. The only hand I had in them was that I went with him when he bought them. Do you want to pack on your own?”

“If you don't mind. I just need some alone time.”

He hugged her tightly and smiled when she hugged him back just as tight.

“I'll miss you. Keep in touch ok? Or I'm going over there and haul your ass back here.”

“Don't worry; you're not rid of me that easily.”

 

And then she was alone with her packing. She sighed as she noticed exactly how much the Majestics had given her. She felt guilty and spoiled, but she knew that they were so stubborn that they weren't going to take anything back. So she just started packing. When she came to the green dress she held it for a moment. Reliving her memories of the first week in here. As she was about to put it aside and leave it here, since it was way too precious to just fold up and put in a suitcase, someone started whispering in her ear.

“Keep it, Oliver told me how you are fond of memories. As I remember correctly, this dress is one of them.”

She turned to see Enrique smiling at her sadly. Before she could even protest he had already taken the dress from her, folded it and put it in the suitcase.

“Why do you have to leave? Don't you like it here?”

“I love it here, but Enrique, this is not my home. I belong somewhere else.”

“Can't you make this your home? And forget about where you belong.”

“I can't Enrique, and you know that just as much as me.”

She noticed the downcast look in his eyes. This conversation felt a lot like the one she had had with Mariah, and it made her feel all the guiltier. This was the second time she left a whole lot of friends behind. She hugged him for a while and then he sat down next to her watching her pack. Not really good at doing the same thing for long periods he started playing with the jewellery he had bought for her. Opening the box with her mom's earrings.

 

And then it happened, clumsy as he was the grey box fell from his hands onto the floor. Her earrings had flown in god knows what direction and the box was broken. She yelled and started looking franticly for her earrings. After 10 minutes she had finally found them and was going to stick them back in the box when she noticed something glittering in the bottom of the box.

 

Being curious she broke of the last bit of the box and found a small silver necklace that she had seen before, but she couldn't remember from where. She thought long and then it suddenly came back to her. Her dad had presented her the necklace once when she had been little. He said that it was her gift for when she became 18. He also said that it would be the key to all her questions one day. Even though she had no idea what he meant by that. The figurine hanging on the necklace looked like it was half angel, half human, only having one wing. As she was holding it Enrique opened the necklace and hung it around her neck.

While she had been pondering he had finished her packing and had the suitcase ready in his hands. She looked at him questioningly.

“It's better for me if it's a short pain.”

 

But before she could get on the Thalys³ Robert pressed something in her hands. It was a small envelope.

“Don't open it until you are on the train. Have a safe journey now. And do not change back into that damned shell you were when we first met you.”

“Don't worry, I won't.”

 

And then she set course for Belgium… again.

 

 

 

(*) If you wanna know what the clothes look like e-mail me: plaisirtje@hotmail.com. Made some drawings of them not long ago.

(²) Don't worry; you'll know who Malin is and what happened between her and Michael soon… uh-oh… I said too much already

(³) For those that don't know, the Thalys is a TGV(très grand vitesse…euh, means really fast train :P) that rides between France and Belgium. It even stops in Bruges….isn't that convenient? xD

 

A/n: sorry, long chapter I know, but this seemed like a good and ironic point to stop :P Sorry for being mean to Faith, but the `rape' (technically she only got fondled a little, so that doesn't really count as rape….for the investigators and all I mean, it's a whole different pov for the victim) ahum…but that scene has been in there since I started writing this story (2 or 3 years ago) so I had to put it in the revised version. It's a lot better written than the non revised version.

Thx to all the trusty readers and reviewers ^^ they helped my muse get off her lazy but and help me get this going :D

Anyhoo…hope ya liked, all reviews accepted and greatly appreciated. Well, not the insulting kind but yeah, ya know what I mean.