Beyblade Fan Fiction ❯ How we came to be ❯ Risks ( Chapter 5 )

Chapter 5

 

“We'll figure something out. Who knows, he might not be in that stage yet when we have to go.”

“There are different stages?”

“Yes, the first one is the hardest one to go through. We'll need to be there for him, no matter what. “

“What exactly happens in that phase?”

“His emotional stability will falter. Knowing Kai he won't be breaking down in tears, but more get angry for no apparent reason. Just do your beset to not get in his hair, but stay near him for support, show him that you're not going to let him down.”

“What happens afterwards?”

“Then the physical symptoms get worse. At first he'll just sweat a little more and have some problems keeping focused, but after phase 1 he'll start shaking a lot and he'll be sweating uncontrollably. If he does get in that stage when the conference starts, it would be best to let him stay home and just say he has the flu.”

 

They talked until well past noon. And then operation “get Kai clean” began. After that, they never let him out of their sight. It went good for the first few weeks but after that Kai started to get a whole lot snappier and sensitive. He was now at the point where he'd hit you for eating the last cookie even though he didn't even like cookies. Everyone just tried to get out of his way as best as they could. And if they couldn't, Faith always seemed there to take the blow.

 

In the start she seemed to have a calming effect on the boy. But after a while not even she was able to stop the rage that welled up in him sometimes. Tyson was happily skipping in the living room and switched on a different channel when the next drift came. As the blue haired was laughing at whatever happened in the cartoon, a dark and gloomy voice sounded behind him.

“I was watching that.”

Tyson yelped and jumped up from the couch as quick as he could. Behind it stood Kai, looking very pissed of and his mind obviously set on murder.

“Oh, hey Kai, I'm sorry, I didn't know… but how could you be watching it if you weren't here?”

He would regret saying that. But just as Kai launched at him, Faith came into the room and quickly did her math. Tyson had been the one that needed a shield the most. The rest actually knew to shut up against Kai. She slightly rubbed her ribs in the remembrance of the last time she had pushed Tyson out of the way.

 

“KAI STOP! Whatever it was, I'm sure it's not worth beating up Tyson for.”

His fist stopped in mid-air and he looked at Faith very threatening. For the first time in her whole life, Faith was actually afraid of Kai. She had only seen that look on him once before, and that was when he had beaten a kid to death.

As he advanced on her she made just as much steps backwards. That sounded like a good idea in her mind until her back hit the wall. Before she could turn and run, Kai had already trapped her.

“Don't tell me what to do.”

His hand had placed itself around her throat and now he was lifting her by it. She stayed perfectly still, trying to focus on her breathing.

“…Ever.”

That anger in his eyes told her that it didn't look like he would stop anytime soon. His hand squeezed harder, cutting her breaths even shorter than they already were. Taking in some shallow breaths she tried to talk some reason into him.

“Kai, this isn't you. You're not yourself... let me go….and we'll talk.”

“About what?”

She was reaching a panic state because she couldn't get air in her lungs fast enough. But she was trying her very best to hide it.

“About…whatever's…bothering….you…&# 8221;

 

In the meanwhile Tyson had gotten the rest of the team up and they were all trying to get Kai off Faith. They were not really succeeding. Even Ray, who was about the same strength as him got thrown off. They still kept trying, begging him to let go of Faith.

“Why would you care?”

“Because…”

His grip tightened even more than anyone thought was possible and before she knew it her hands were now frantically gripping the hold around her throat, hoping to loosen it a little. It was a bad idea to go panicking because it made her already shallow breaths take in less air.

“I'm listening.”

Her consciousness was slipping and when the boys saw that they were trying harder. They knew very well that Kai wasn't really in control of his actions, but they would not risk getting Faith in the hospital for it.

“Kai, let go of her.”

“Shut up. You can't tell me what to do. You WON'T tell me what to do.”

 

He had turned to his assaulters for a second. He saw their faces of fear and then he looked back at Faith. He saw her futile attempt at loosening his grip, and the rapid up and down movement of her chest. He realised that she was in panic. Something that had never happened before. He could also see the pain in her eyes as she was clawing at his hands. Something deep inside his conscious mind he liked her suffering. It was giving him a great amount of strength. The fact that her life was in his hands made him feel more powerful than ever. He could end her life now if he only squeezed a little harder.

 

“Because of WHAT?”

The last part was emphasised with a slight push on her throat. His mind had gotten lost in the madness and the power that consumed him. She could no longer recognize her old friend in the eyes that were now blazing with anger. Her hearing, touch and smell were being shut down to save a lot of time in getting the little oxygen that she was getting, through her body.

“Because….you are…my … friend…I… care about….you.”

When she said that reason came back into the boy. The blaze in his eyes vanished and made way for fear. He let go of Faith immediately, making her fall to the ground without warning, and he looked at his hand as if it wasn't his. With one more look at Faiths body lying against the wall like a rag doll, he ran upstairs without a word. Kenny and Ray were perplexed, but Tyson and Max had already gone for Faith. As Max was supporting her head Tyson was checking for vital signs and consciousness.

“Kenny go get some water.”

It was the only thing Max could think of that would be of any use for when the girl woke up. But seeing Tyson's face, even that future was insecure.

“Is she going to be alright?”

“I don't know. Her pulse is fast which means she's still alive, but it doesn't seem like she's breathing.”

“And that means…?”

“I don't know, it can't be shock, but her lungs might have stopped functioning. It's also concerning me that she's not conscious. If she doesn't wake up soon she might get in a coma.”

At that sentence Ray stormed off upstairs. Tyson lightly slapped the girl's cheeks, hoping that she would come to her senses again. But all of the reaction they got was that chest had started heaving visibly again.

 

What they didn't know is that she had been conscious for a while, if only barely. She had not reacted at the boys because she was not able to do so just yet. Her full mind and body were focusing on getting her breathing in a steady rhythm. Only when she had that back into her control, she would focus on getting her senses functioning again. She had learned this in the convent long ago. Who would've known she'd need it now. She had been close to death, but she would never tell them that.

 

After 10 minutes she allowed herself to open her eyes. When she opened them and they had adapted to the massive flooding of light she saw Max and Tyson looking very relieved. And Kenny was standing somewhere in the background, she was sure of that. As she was carried to the nearby bench she looked at Max questioningly and tried to voice her question. But found that her voice seemed to be grating her throat. Max offered her the glass of water.

“Here, I thought you might need it.”

Thankfully she took the glass and tried her voice again after a few shallow gulps. But she had no more need to ask, because the answer had already presented itself.

 

“Kai, open this goddamn door and face me. I swear to god I'm going to hurt you so badly if you don't.”

Upon hearing this Faith made an attempt to get up. But as soon as her body had gotten in an upright position, the whole room started to turn around. She didn't stop though, she continued her path upstairs. Every step made her feel even dizzier, and the fact that her head and throat hurt a lot didn't help her an awful lot, but the comments Ray was spewing at Kais door edged her on.

“Kai, if you don't open this door you will be sorry you were ever born.”

“Somehow I don't think that will convince him to open it…do you?”

 

Ray turned and saw a very fatigue looking Faith clinging onto the stairs.

“Faith, you're alright, you shouldn't be here, and you should be resting.”

“I think I am perfectly able of determining where I should or should not be thank you very much. Now you have two options: you can stand here banging on the door for another week and achieve nothing but painful hands and a dry throat, or you can go downstairs and let me handle this.”

It was obvious that she had trouble speaking and Ray was obviously considering, but when his gaze landed upon the red mark all over her neck he focused again.

“No, I can't leave you alone with him. Not after what happened. He might kill you next time.”

“It's a risk I'm willing to take. Leave us. You don't know him half as well as I do, and I really think that shouting and being mad at him isn't the best solution. It wasn't even his fault.”

“Funny, I really remember it was him hanging you up by the throat. And you might know him better, but if you were totally honest with yourself, then you will admit that you had never expected that to happen. Not from him.”

Despite her headache she glared at Ray. He was right at some points, but that didn't mean that she had to like it. It was true; she hadn't expected Kai to nearly strangle her. But a large part of her knew that it hadn't been Kai in control when it happened. People have done worse things while in his condition.

 

“Ray. Leave now or face my wrath as soon as I get better.”

The amber in her eyes and the tone of malice in her voice were hard to miss and Ray made a quick leave. Faith made a few wobbly steps towards the door of her best friend and ended up looking for support against the doorframe. A soft knock on the door was all she could manage.

“Kai, let me in, let's talk. We need to talk.”

There was no answer and Ray, who had chosen to observe her from the stairs, felt his anger boiling again. He didn't understand why she still put up with the shit that Kai put her through. This had been the millionth time that she had gotten hurt by Kai and she still hadn't retaliated. He just didn't understand why. Every time Kai fought her she seemed to go defenceless. Much more time to think about it he didn't have for a loud cry came from behind the door.

“NO, leave me alone.”

Ray felt like barging in the room and finally putting that hiwatari prick in his place for once. He liked the guy, but his behaviour from the past few weeks had to come to an end before people actually died.