Beyblade Fan Fiction ❯ The Chosen ❯ Chapter Twelve: An Angel Takes Flight ( Chapter 13 )

The Chosen

Chapter Twelve: An Angel Takes Flight

Author: Kameko-chan

Warnings: Yaoi. Swearing. CHARACTER DEATH IN THIS CHAPTER!!! (or is it? Ohohoho!)

Pairings: Kai/Ray, Tala/OC, hints of Max/Tyson

Notes: Like it says up there, CHARACTER DEATH!!! So don't say I didn't warn you.

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"I told you we'd die out here! We're all out of water and this stupid temple is nowhere to be found! Thanks a lot, Oliver!"

A pause. "Elaina, you DO remember that you're the Chosen of WATER, right?"

Silence. "Shut up."

It really was an odd assortment of people. Adri was still wearing her ceremonial-robe-and-jeans ensemble, which oddly didn't have a speck of sand on it despite their walking in the desert for 4 days. Joel also had jeans but skipped the robe in favor of a t-shirt and several gun holsters. Why they needed guns in the middle of nowhere was still a mystery, but no one was about to say anything. Hannah donned a black kimono, Ray his traditional outfit, and Kai still had his scarf wrapped tightly around his neck. Everyone else was a typical shorts and t-shirt outfit, although Max had insisted his be bright orange and only pink would do for Oliver.

And it was this rag-tag group of teenagers upon which rested the fate of the entire planet.

//We're doomed.//

//Don't be so pessimistic, Kai.//

Kai glared playfully at Ray, who grinned, happy to lighten Kai's dark mood even if only a little. In the back of his mind, though, Ray felt uneasy. He hadn't told anyone the exact details of his vision, only the approximate location of the temple and that he'd explain the ritual further when they reached it. How could he tell them that one of their number may have to be sacrificed for this to work? And worse yet, how was he supposed to tell them that even if they could make it work without the sacrifice, all the Chosen would die?

That had been what happened to him in his vision, he was sure of it. The priests of Egypt long ago had converted their very souls to raw energy, and when they'd returned that energy to the earth, they'd been left without souls. Without a soul, one could not live. Ray knew it to be the same for them; their powers and their souls were one in the same, and when one left the other would be gone as well.

Not for the first time, Ray wished he'd never seen the vision. Wished that he'd never learned he was a Chosen. He wished everything to be like it was.

`Well,' he thought, looking over at Kai, who was doing an admirable job of controlling his temper and not grinding Adri's face into the sand, `Not quite like it was before.' That was the only part of this whole experience he did not regret. Seeing Kai truly happy...

He'd find a way to make them live through this. He had to.

"Hey!" Tyson said, waving his arms like a madman, "Is that it? Huh? Is it??"

Ray looked up and saw it. The temple he'd seen in his vision.

***

Joel kicked the door once more. "What the fuck?? How are we supposed to do this damn ritual if we can't even get into the stupid building?"

Adri rolled her eyes. "Yes Joel, keep kicking the door. It worked so well the LAST 50 times you tried."

"You may be my sister, but don't think for a second I won't lay a smackdown on you if you provoke me..."

Oliver sighed and decided to ignore the bickering siblings. "There must be some sort of key, but what?" He scrutinized the carvings around the door. "I wish I could read hieroglyphics, it would make this SO much easier... Hmmm, a bird, a tiger, and... a panther, maybe? Stupid Egyptians, why couldn't they just use letters?"

"Maybe I could look them up on the internet!" Kenny suggested, whipping out his trusty laptop. "I'm sure Dizzi can get a connection, even out here."

"Great idea, Chief!" Olliver said, grinning and sitting in the sand beside the bespectacled boy. The two proceeded to research ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs, which quite frankly did not interest anyone else. At Tyson and Max's insistence, the rest of the group gathered together to "Get to know each other before we save the world and all that" as Tyson cheerily put it. "After all, I don't think I've even heard Luma and Demos talk!"

Katrina's eyes went wide while Adri and Joel shifted uncomfortably. "Didn't Olli tell you guys?" Katrina asked, shooting a glare at her brother. "He'll ramble on and on about useless historical crap, but he doesn't mention... fucking hell..."

Kai quirked an eyebrow, his familiar `I'm surrounded by idiots' look finally making a reappearance. "Care to repeat that--using full sentences, mind you--for those of use who don't know what the hell you're talking about?"

Kat opened her mouth to speak, but was interrupted by Demos smacking her across the head with a thin, white cane. "Ow!! Demos, what was that for? I think the physical injury was unnecessary!"

"You're just lucky I'm naturally docile," Demos said dryly, folding his cane back up and returning it to his backpack, "Because I'm fairly certain I now have an idea of how a girl with PMS feels." He turned his eyes towards the Bladebreakers, who had unconsciously grouped together. Ray noticed for the first time that the other boy's eyes were a very milky blue. He'd never seen a color like that before.

Tyson noticed as well, apparently, but was much less subtle about such a discovery.

"Hey, your eyes are really weird!"

Used to Tyson's sheer stupidity by now, the Bladebreakers simply sighed in unison. Demos smiled a little. "Well, Tyson, that would be because I'm blind. Luma's deaf. Communication using words or sign language is thus very, very difficult. That's why you haven't heard either of us talk much."

Judging by the way Tyson's mouth was opening and closing without releasing its usual torrent of noise, he was at a loss for words.

Max, however, picked up the slack. "But you're Chosen!" the blonde exclaimed, eyes wide with shock. "Shouldn't you be protected from this kind of thing or something? What good is all that magic if you can still be crippled?!"

Demos' eye twitched a bit. "'Crippled' isn't how I'd phrase it," he said, teeth clenched. "We've got some flaws we couldn't help. It didn't ruin our lives anymore than your amazing ability to insert your foot into your mouth has."

Max had the decency to blush. On the other end of the shame scale, Hannah gave our blind boy an `Oh my fucking God, let me bear your children' look.

Luma grinned. "Don't mind him," she said, voice a little loud but perfectly clear. "He's a little sensitive about our problems. We got some grief when we were younger."

"Wait, how'd you..."

Luma pointed to her eyes. "I can see, so I can lip-read. It's not so bad that way, no one even notices I'm deaf unless they talk to me when I'm not looking."

Max's cheeks reddened again. "I'm sorry about what I said, I wasn't--"

"Don't worry about it," Demos replied, relaxing into his spot again. "You didn't mean any harm."

"Augh!!!" Oliver yelled, breaking the silence before it became uncomfortable. "If these symbols aren't hieroglyphs, then what are they?"

Kenny's brow furrowed... well, if you could've seen his brow, it would've been furrowing. "I don't know, Oliver. It doesn't make any sense... why would Egyptians have used a code on here? I'm sure that the only people who can get in here are Chosen, anyways. Why the secrecy?"

Kai rose from his spot next to Ray and strode over to the door. Peering at the symbols a moment, he removed his Beyblade from his pocket and detached the bit chip from it. He dusted some sand from underneath one of the bird symbols and revealed a thin slot. Kai then inserted his chip, touched the symbol, and watched with smug satisfaction as the bird glowed red.

Kenny and Oliver stared at the glowing carving with wide eyes. "How did you figure that out?" Kenny asked, voice full of awe.

Kai shrugged. "It was a carving of a phoenix. I thought it was pretty obvious." He looked at the group of teens nestled together in the sand. "I suppose you all have bitbeasts too, then?"

They nodded in unison.

"Well, don't just stand there, put them in the slots. Idiots."

One by one, the remaining nine Chosen placed their bitchips beneath their respective pictures: dragon, tiger, panther, unicorn, butterfly, dove, raven, cat, and snake. When each carving had begun to glow, the massive stone door started to move slowly aside, revealing a dark corridor.

A snap of Luma's fingers and the hall lit up like daylight. Ever cautious, Demos and Kat worked together to hide the group from any prying eyes, Demos hiding their bodies and Kat masking their magical presence.

Ray was feeling sick. He could sense the death in the air; the same suffocating presence that he'd felt the day Hannah killed their parents. Yet he could also feel life, the bright, happy, golden feeling of life. For this place was the origin of the Earth's life. The planet would have died long ago had those priests not found a way to bring new vitality to it. But the price they paid... it was heavy, far too heavy. Ray shuddered at the thought of what had happened to those ancient beings: souls torn from their bodies and converted to energy, leaving only memories of them in this world and not a whisper of their spirits in the next. It was the worst death, death without eternity, a complete and utter eradication of existence.

Ray gripped Kai's hand so tightly that his knuckles went white. He didn't want to die, not when he had so much living left to do. They were all still so young.

There had to be a way to save them. There HAD to be!

Kai noticed a single tear slip down the tanned flesh of his companion's cheek, but didn't say a word.

"Hey, this must be it!" Max exclaimed as they stepped into a large, round chamber. There were twelve round stones arranged in a circle around a raised platform in the centre of the room. Each stone bore a carving that matched one of the Chosen's symbols, twin elements placed opposite one another.

"What's the thing in the middle for?" Tyson asked, his face openly showing his puzzlement.

"Oh, I know!" Joel said cheerily.

Ray gave him a questioning look. "You do?"

Joel smiled brightly. "Yep!" Ray's stomach gave a funny jolt as he saw something flash in the boy's hazel eyes. Something cold. Something...

Joel pulled a gun from its holster and aimed it at Tala's head. "It's for you," he said calmly, pulling the trigger and sending a crimson spray of blood across the room.

A scream ripped apart the hallowed silence of those ancient halls as Elaina watched her beloved fall to the ground, rich ruby liquid pooling about his head like a bloody halo.

All Ray could do was watch in stunned silence as Joel turned to him, malicious smirk on his face. "You're not the only one who gets visions, prettyboy."

TBC

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Thanks to Shaka for giving me the idea for Demos' blindness. And then I HAD to make Luma deaf, `cause otherwise it just wouldn't be fair.

So, have recent events surprised anyone? Good lord, I hope so. I live for plot twists. Sorry to the Tala fans, but this was necessary. I didn't start out with the intent of killing him, but somewhere around chapter 8 I realized that I needed to. But is he dead for keeps? My answer: kinda-sorta. =P All will be explained next chapter, which is, coincidentally, the last! Chapter 13 and the epilogue will be posted at the same time (though as separate entries, so make sure you read both!) and then the Chosen will be complete!! Yessss!!!

As per usual, thank you to all my reviewers. *hands you all cookies* Love you.

As an added note: Ray, what the hell?! Kai was supposed to be the main character, what happened to that??

Ray: I'm an attention whore!

Fair enough.