Beyblade Fan Fiction ❯ Schwarze Unterwelt ❯ Chapter 1 ( Chapter 1 )

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Schwarze Unterwelt

Chapter 1

 

 

 

It was time.

 

Of course it was time. The night sky seemed to eat at the light and would too hide him from prying eyes while the crescent moon would be just enough to illuminate his way. This would be the night that was yielded through months of planning and weeks of preparations.

 

Shouldering his pack, the twelve year old cast a cursory glance over his room - the place that had held him prisoner for all his life. He supposed he was slightly wistful about leaving the place he had so familiarized himself with. It was likely the last time he would see this familiar setting - he would make sure of it.

 

Securing the end of his improvised rope of bed sheets to the balcony's banister, he peeked surreptitiously over the edge, watching as the guard passed under his window. He had not spent those months studying and memorizing the movements of their internal security only to jeopardize his first and only chance of escape.

 

He dropped the other end over the railings and swung himself over, slithering down to land quietly in the courtyard below. He eyed the wall at the far end of the courtyard cryptically - his goal lay beyond that wall. Stepping toward it, he cringed as the snapping of twigs under his shoes sliced through the silence in the yard like whips slapping on flagstones. But he knew he hardly had time to consider his options.

 

After a last check to ensure no one had come running, he made a half-mad dash to the other end of the courtyard, his heart pounding in his ears as fear and adrenaline pumped through him.

 

He scaled the tree nearest the wall with little effort, pausing on a particularly stable branch to take out his other improvised rope from his pack. Securing one end around the stout branch, he stiffened when voices drifted up to him from below. Barely daring to look, he spied two guards conversing directly below his tree, pointing toward something he could only guess at.

 

Panic gripped him - the taste of freedom was so tangible, he could almost feel it. It was just there, beyond the wall! He could hardly breathe until the guards started to move away slowly. Knowing it was too risky to stay there any longer, he dropped the rope over the wall and leapt, swinging himself over the walls. He made his way down, careful not to make any noise. A sigh of relief escaped him when his foot touched the ground beyond the wall. He was free.

 

He drew in a deep breath, stepping towards the world that had always seemed so distant to him. It was everything, yet nothing he expected. Houses of bricks instead of the marble he had always known, dusty pavements in place of the never-ending corridors that had represented his past. The stars were his only constant; their twinkle was the same both in and out of his prison walls.

 

A grin tugged at his features, a sense of wonderment and adventure easing its way through his jumble of emotions. He let his feet take him wherever they wanted - it mattered not where he went now, as long as it was some place far from where he once lived.

There was hardly anyone left on the streets now; it was pretty late after all. He savored the silence that surrounded him, the peacefulness like a balm to his frazzled nerves.

 

“You really shouldn't have done that.”

 

He almost leapt a mile high, his grip tightening around the strap of his pack. He scanned his surroundings wildly, mentally berating himself for neglecting to be alert especially in light of his recent activities. However, there was nary a soul around.

 

He forced himself to calm down, taking in measured breaths as his ears strained to pick up any other sound or people. He wasn't to be disappointed, for moments later he heard a distinctive thump followed by a groan, coming from an alleyway some distance away. He hurried towards the source and ground to a halt as he took in the scene before him.

 

A figure lay unmoving on the dirt-strewn ground, at the feet of a young boy roughly his age. The youngster had a shock of red hair, so eerily similar to the rusty-red puddle collecting near the prone figure. The youngster was fairly well built, and his posture spoke volumes of his apparent rough upbringing.

 

His eyes however were drawn to the youngster's hands - for they were stained the same colour as the slick red liquid that was staining the ground, making faint plopping sounds as it dripped off the appendage. A muffled gasp escaped his lips and the he found himself staring into frozen pools of sapphire, rooting him to the spot.

 

A feral grin stretched across the boy's features as he realized he had a spectator. Raising his hands to his lips, Ray gaped in abject horror as he licked off the excess blood, seeming to enjoy the mortified look on his audience's face. He had only faintly noted the slight narrowing of the youth's eyes before he found himself flung backward, landing roughly on the ground some distance away.

 

His hands instinctively went to clutch at his gut, willing the stabbing pain to ebb away. He barely had time to look up before his assailant was upon him, delivering a swift kick to his chest, which he awkwardly blocked, rolling on his side to get away from the sudden onslaught of attacks. His opponent beckoned almost tauntingly, feral grin turning sinister in the few short seconds.

 

Enraged, he charged, dropping low to deliver a punch to his opponent's gut but only caught air. He twisted, just in time to see a swift kick aimed for his chest before it caught him head-on. He flew, slamming against the wall and sliding down into a disheveled heap on the ground.

 

His breaths left him in short gasps, spots dancing in his vision as his lungs fought for oxygen. The attacks paused and he struggled to his feet, unwilling to go down without a fight. However, the youth was distracted with the arrival of a blue-haired newcomer.

 

“Enough,” he shivered at the startling cold tone, “he may prove to be more useful to us alive.”

 

Any resistance the red-haired boy had meant to display wilted under the intense glare the newcomer sent his way.

 

“Bring him. We're leaving.”

 

With that, the boy turned and left, leaving Ray alone with the red-haired teen again. He tensed when the boy shuffled over to him, but he only grabbed him and proceeded to drag him off to wherever they were supposed to go.

 

Briefly he wondered if it was just his luck that was horrible. How he managed to get embroiled in a situation he wasn't even sure of - he'd probably never find out.

 

And whilst he did not appreciate being dragged off to some unknown place, he wasn't going to argue with someone who had just diverted a possible life-and-death situation.

 

Heck, he didn't even know who they were, and he doubted they knew who he was either. The only plus point was wherever he was going, it was likely going to be far from his home.

 

`First night out of home and I run into these people? Now I just know my life's going to turn out into an epic adventure,' he mused sardonically.

 

There was no point trying to figure this out. It'd probably just give him a huge headache, which would do nothing to improve his situation. It was probably a waste of time trying to understand these people anyway, and he wasn't going to waste the effort. Period. Besides, how bad could they be?

 

Famous last words indeed.

 

 

 

TBC