Beyblade Fan Fiction ❯ Intoxication ❯ Chapter 7 ( Chapter 7 )

Chapter Seven

Although this is my first Beyblade fic, I've been a fan fiction writer for the best part of four years. I came into contact with a lot of people who were fantastically talented writers themselves, professional standard, but who never wrote anything commercial in their lives. I'm amazed by the reviews I'm getting that say they're not used to highly descriptive writing in a fan fiction, and that is really tragic. The only difference between professional writing and fan fiction is that the readers are already somewhat familiar with the characters. Anyone who has a talent for writing and an idea shouldn't hold back from expressing it. It's done purely for fun and not for profit (except for my review addiction) but that's not to say that a lot of effort shouldn't be put into it or isn't put into it. Why shouldn't fan fiction be high concept?

Anyway, I'd like to thank everyone for their reviews, in particular shinigami tenshi for her paragraph review. I love reviews so much I'm writing this chapter three days before I even planned on starting! Reviews are better than coffee, or rum-laced tea since I'm Irish.

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" Do you have the tape?"

Kai handed the surveillance tape to Ian reluctantly. Although he'd been the one to ask the Demolition boys for help, it didn't mean he trusted them. Would they really be able to treat the incident as seriously as Rei's team mates had to? Takao and Max were very unhappy about the whole arrangement, so much so that they had wanted to leave the hotel before the other team got there. Kai only just managed to convince them that they would be able to help.

It was a requirement of students at Biovolt's Abbey to study not just Beyblading and physiology, but also psychology, all facets of human behaviour. The aim was to make the players able to look into the minds of their opponents and be able to gauge their abilities on that. It rarely worked in battle, since the players so often became caught up in the game. However, it left the students with minds that were constantly analysing the conduct of the people around them. They were more talented than most criminal psychologists. Kai hadn't been at the Abbey long enough to develop this ability, but the rest of the demolition boys had.

They and the remainder of the Bladebreakers were sitting in their new hotel room, equipped with a rented VCR and the tape Kai had stolen from the previous hotel, watching the various people on the tape walk back and forth. For a long time, everyone was silent. Then, suddenly, Brian paused the tape and pointed to the figure on screen.

" It's that guy."

He was pointing at a man, dressed all in black and dragging a large suitcase after him. Rei was nowhere near him. Takao hadn't been looking at the screen, but when he heard Brian speak he turned around.

" How do you know?"

" Look at the way he's dressed. Generally when people don't want to be noticed they wear a lot of black. What they don't realise is that it attracts more attention than the person would have normally."

" All right. So where's Rei? Hidden under that trench coat?"

Ian stood up, strolled over to the television screen, and placed his finger on the image of the suitcase the man in black was dragging behind him.

" He's in there."

Takao laughed at that, although it was a strangely bitter sound. Maybe it was a big suitcase, but it couldn't fit a human in it! Brian nodded and voiced his agreement to Ian's statement.

" Definitely. Rei's what, five foot four? He's on the thin side and fairly limber, if he was drugged that guy would have no problem stuffing him in there."

Takao took a good look at the suitcase. Maybe he was right… Kai spoke.

" That doesn't help us, though. We can't see his face."

" Relax, Kai. We know something about him. First off, he's not smart enough to apply lateral thinking, so he'll be easier to find than you think. He'll go so far to hide away from the world he should be easy to find. If he was hiding in a block of flats we'd be in trouble."

Brian got up from his seat on the bed and walked over to the table, and then opened the folder. Then he took out a notebook and started writing.

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After the night in the torture chamber, Rei wasn't visited by C for several days. The only way Rei was keeping track of the days was through the meals that appeared three times. Once a third arrived through the slot in the door, he figured a new day had started. Three days came and went, and then Rei stopped counting.

His two internal voices, Miss Logic and Worry Wart chattered constantly in his waking moments, and Rei slept so much, just to use up his time, that he was never quite sure of the difference between his dream-filled slumber and his hallucinogenic awareness. More than four days may have passed, or maybe not. Rei had no idea.

After a while, the two internal voices were joined by a third. Another female, she didn't badger Rei the way Miss Logic did, or whine like Worry Wart. In fact, she rarely spoke at all, just every now and then to offer him bad advice. Most of her advice seemed to involve shutting off his brain and fading away.

Rei slept fourteen hours at a stretch, rose to eat, took baths within an hour of each other, ( taking great care not to look in the mirrors) and spent long hours staring at the walls. He thought the boredom was going to kill him.

Well, there's a few ways to resolve that feeling, Rei. If you go over there and bang your head off of the wall. Knock yourself unconscious.

Don't do anything stupid! If you mark your face, he'll punish you again!

Kill yourself. It's the only way out of this forever. Even if you escape, you'll never be able to forget.

The voices jabbered away, arguing with each other, while Rei tried to tune them out. Banging his head off of the wall was starting to seem like a good idea…

…when the three beeps sounded and the door opened. Rei didn't hesitate to step outside. His muscles were stiff and sore from lack of use. The smell emanating from down the hall told him that a supper like the one where there had been all that trouble had been arranged. He was afraid of another incident like the last one, but he was hungry too. The food that came through the door was expensive but served in very small amounts.

The ballroom was set up the same way it had been before, and Rei took the seat he had taken at the first supper. He noted the empty seat beside James, the dark haired man who ratted out the previous occupant of that seat. He noted that James was sitting awkwardly forward, not allowing his back to come into contact with the back of the chair. His head was so far down it was almost in his lap. C entered, nobody said a word. The food was served by one of the men, a slight slender fellow with pale brown hair and nervous eyes. It was pasta with a white wine sauce, not enough to really fill anyone up. Everyone ate, the table was cleared, Rei thought the evening would end without incident. He was wrong.

C spoke quietly to one of the guys beside him, a tall man with white blonde hair wearing a full tuxedo. Then he addressed the room.

" Stephen here is going to honour us with some after-dinner music. Rise, Stephen."

Stephen stood, and for a few moments it looked like he was too scared. But just when everyone in the room was starting to worry for him, the man opened his mouth and began to sing in a beautiful tenor that disguised his fear. The song soared and washed over the vast walls of the ballroom, then crashed into Rei's ears and penetrated the very core of him. Rei felt tears slipping down his cheeks, for although the song was beautiful it was also unbelievably painful to listen to, like hearing a child cry in a locked room. Rei's entire body shook with the force of his sobs, and as much as he tried he couldn't control them.

As soon as the singing was finished, C dismissed everyone except for Rei, who was still crying uncontrollably. C pulled his seat over behind Rei's, and waited until the sobs stopped. Then he took a silk handkerchief out of his front pocket and wiped away Rei's tears. Rei drew several shuddering breaths before C spoke.

" Did the music move you to tears, Rei?"

" Yes, and no."

" An ambiguous answer. Dare I ask?"

" It brings back a memory."

" So it wasn't just the music, then. I'm disappointed, but intrigued. May I ask what memories 'Ave Maria' bring that could wrench such emotion from you?"

" My mother used to sing 'Ave Maria.'

" I see. A soprano, was she?"

"…"

" Tell me about your mother, Rei."

" I don't know enough about her to tell anyone anything."

" Tell me what you know."

And why not, Rei? You've always had trouble telling people you trust, people you like, people you respect? How about someone you hate? What's the worst that could happen?"

" She used to sing two Aves. One for when she was happy, and one for when she was sad."

" And the sad one was the Caccini, I assume."

" I don't know the names. She died."

" How old were you when she died?"

" Two."

" And you still remember the songs? You know, I sourced you out before I brought you here. The people of your village were reluctant to tell me about her."

" They didn't like her."

" I see. Was she a loose woman, Rei. Did she have other men?"

" No. She loved my father."

" Why did they dislike her, Rei?"

" She wasn't one of them. She was a foreigner. That's what killed her."

" So she seduced away one of their best men with her exotic charms. That must have made you unpopular, given that you look so much like her."

" I survived."

" I know. How did your father react to her death? Losing such a lovely creature, it must have hit him very hard."

" It did. He didn't cope well."

" And with you around, looking so much like her. Did he try to get closer to you, Rei? Did he treat you in a manner unsuitable for a son to be treated by his father?"

" No. He loved me as much as he loved her."

"How did she die? Did he kill her in a fit of passion?"

" No. She got very sick and faded away. She was never meant to be there."

Rei began to sob again. When he stopped, C dismissed him. But just before he walked out the door, C asked one last question.

" What was her name, Rei?"

" Isabella."

Rei left the room.