Beyblade Fan Fiction ❯ The Chosen ❯ Chapter Thirteen: Hope in Death ( Chapter 14 )

The Chosen

Chapter Thirteen: Hope in Death

Author: Kameko-chan

Warnings: Yaoi. Swearing. MORE CHARACTER DEATH!!!!

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

Notes: Extra-long chapter. I really wanted to finish it up, so lucky you!

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Joel turned his gun on the knot of frightened teenagers staring at him in mute horror. "I suggest you all cooperate with me, I don't want to kill any more of you than necessary."

It was Tyson who found his voice first. "Joel... why'd you do that?" Fear made the normally energetic boy's voice quake. He flinched as Elaina let out another wrenching sob. "Why'd you kill--" The ringing of a gunshot cut Tyson off. He let out a sharp gasp as his eyes went wide and he clutched his shoulder. Blood flowed freely from the wound.

Joel smiled coldly. "Does anyone else have a question?"

Shocked, Adri looked at her brother but could not see him. That person up there, it couldn't be her brother. Not her sweet, caring, happy-go-lucky sibling. No...

"NO!"

Joel turned to face Adri, eyes void of all their warmth. "Yes," he said quietly, raising the pistol now at his own kin and not giving a damn, not one fucking damn.

But shock did not paralyze everyone. Rage kept the numbness from creeping into Kai's legs, white-hot flames of anger rolled through his veins and he used it, every last once of the searing fury became a mental fire that he sent out to the one place it could do some good.

Joel cried out in pain as the gun in his hand glowed bright red, and he instinctively released the offending object.

In that instant, the cold shock chilling the room broke, and the other chosen sprung into action. Joel had begun to reach for his fallen weapon when Demos struck him blind. Still, that did not stop him; he let out a snarl and dropped to his hands and knees, groping about the stone floor. Joel grinned maniacally as his hand soon found his weapon. But his face quickly fell-along with the rest of him-as he lost the feeling in his arms and legs. He hit the ground with a satisfying clunk as Hannah grinned her self-satisfied half-grin.

Knowing the feeling would soon return to the other boy's limbs, Katrina twined a stray breeze around his limbs. This gave Oliver enough time to call upon the sand littering the ground to bind together and wrap tightly about Joel's wrists and ankles, fusing him to the stone floor.

They had only been in the temple for five minutes, and already it seemed like it had been an eternity.

Joel soon found himself face to face with Kai. "What the FUCK were you thinking?" Crimson eyes flashed angrily. "Explain yourself! Why did you shoot Tala?!"

Joel wouldn't say a word, he simply spit in Kai's face. He flushed an angry red and raised a fist to strike the offending youth beneath him...

A light hand stopped his blow. Kai looked and saw Luma, crystalline blue eyes regarding him warmly with a hint of amusement hidden in their depths. "I have an easier way," she said, smiling as she gently pushed him aside. Her gaze turned to the rebellious boy, struggling against his impossibly strong bonds of stone and sand. He in turn regarded her, the barest hint of fear in the back of his own hazel orbs.

Luma's smile widened. "Don't be frightened, Joel. I'm not going to hurt you." She placed a palm against his forehead and shut her eyes. "I'm just going to bring a few things to light."

Kai watched in amazement as Luma's hand glowed, the light seemingly seeping into Joel's skull. "Oh light of truth," he heard her mutter, "Make this one reveal the knowledge that we seek." The glow went out, and she blinked a few times before turning to Kai. "Okay," she said brightly, smile returned, "Ask him whatever you wish!"

Kai raised an eyebrow and leaned over Joel again. "Why did you do it?"

"I was paid to stop the ritual from taking place." Joel's speech was slow and halting, as if he were trying with all his might to keep the words from escaping his mouth and failing miserably. Whatever Luma had done to him had penetrated his will, manipulated his very mind. Kai marveled at the quiet, smiling girl standing beside him, calm and powerful and frightening.

But then Joel was speaking again, words pouring out of his mouth in streams. They came quicker and more clearly the more he spoke, as if they had become a rushing river that the boy could not contain. "I was supposed to stop this without killing any of you, because he's got big plans for the Chosen, big plans for all of us. He said he'd let me and Adri go if I did what he asked, and I'd get a nice paycheck to boot. I wasn't sure if I'd do it or not, but then I got the vision, the same one HE got," the ensnared boy managed to tilt his head towards Ray. "Only I got it first, months ago. And I know what he didn't tell you."

Kai turned his attention to Ray, as did everyone else present. The naturally tanned boy had gone deathly pale, and his eyes were wide and frightened. He shifted his gaze and looked into Kai's eyes, and Kai could see fear and love and agonizing heartbreak, and he wondered what the hell was going on.

With everyone staring at the feline-featured teen, Joel seized his opportunity for escape. A wave of dark, chaotic energy surged through the room, and the bonds holding Joel down flew apart, once again a harmless cloud of sand. He sprung up, freed from his bonds but not from Luma's influence. It didn't matter now, though. Joel was half-mad, and he wanted everyone to know it. He wanted to taunt them with his knowledge and his power; he wanted them all to know what he had done and why he had done it.

"Don't you think they should know?" Ray flinched at the other boy's harsh, mocking tone, too shocked and distracted and confused to notice the glint of insanity hidden behind the scorn. "Don't you think they have the right to know if they're not going to live to see another day?"

Oliver stepped up angrily. "We knew there'd be sacrifices, you idiot. I went into this knowing in my heart that I wouldn't be coming back. But if we don't do it, the entire planet will wither and die, along with every being on this earth, including us!"

"Then at least I'll take the rest of the planet down with me!" Joel's power pulsed through him, his body not able to contain the swirling chaos of energy that was his magic. And as the dark, brooding power began to permeate the room, a familiar feeling washed over Kai. His emotions were heightened, especially his anger, that boiling, seething fury beneath the surface.

Kai snarled and somehow managed to pin Joel against a wall, realization only fueling the flames of his wrath. "It was YOU!" His voice quaked with that suppressed rage, whose source was now apparent. "It wasn't our magic running wild or any of that bullshit, you were the one making us go nuts!"

"I thought if you were emotional and confused, then you wouldn't be able to do the ritual in time." He was trapped again, but Joel didn't seem to care anymore. He needed to keep talking. "And then I thought I could make Tala kill himself, or injure himself enough to get hospitalized." Hazel eyes clouded over. "We could have done it without anyone dying, but you people wouldn't cooperate. I was left with no other option."

"Why Tala?! He's not a Chosen!!"

The cold, creepy grin was back in place. "Why don't you ask your little boy-toy over there?"

Kai glared, but shifted his eyes to Ray anyways. "Well?"

Ray's breathing had returned to normal, though his eyes were still wide and frightened. "He's the one, isn't he?" he asked quietly, staring past Kai at Joel. "He the one we were supposed to sacrifice. Only you've gone and done it too soon."

"Very good." Joel's crazed voice had gone eerily calm. "Yes, Tala was supposed to be the sacrifice. He is the pure one, the fallen angel who lived among death but was not tainted by it. And without him, the ritual cannot go on." The chaotic Chosen, in a sudden burst of energy, pushed Kai away with surprising force. "And now the entire world will join us in death!" Completely losing his mind now, Joel lunged for his gun with the obvious intent of killing anything he could aim at. And then, something happened.

First, Joel stopped dead in his tracks and put his hands at his throat. A low gurgling sound came out of his mouth, and it looked like he was having trouble breathing. Then, while he was preoccupied trying to clear his airways, a white blur tackled him from behind. As the pair hit the floor, Kai realized with a start that the blur had been Adri. She was straddling her brother's back, hands pressed against his temples and glowing silvery-white. Joel let out a cry, and then went silent.

Adri let out a sigh of relief as she slumped to the ground, completely exhausted.

Kai, forgetting his anger at the siblings (for without the influence of chaos, such a thing seemed to be far, far less important) went to see if they were harmed, but was stopped when he felt a tug on his wrist. He turned, and found himself staring into his sister's soft brown eyes. "They're fine, Kai. Joel's passed out from the water I summoned into his lungs, but he'll be fine when he wakes up. And Adri's just tired from trying to bring order back to Joel's mind." Kai winced as Elaina's grip tightened. "But he's not okay!" she cried, gesturing to Tala with her free arm. "We have to help him, Kai! We can't just leave him like that!"

It pained Kai to see the desperation in his sister's eyes. "Elaina, I can't..."

"I can."

Beginning to feel like he was watching some sort of insane tennis match at this point, Kai turned now to face Ray. "You can?"

Ray nodded, determined expression on his face. "I think so. I've never brought anyone back to life before, but... I have to try." He took a deep breath and strolled over to the bloody corpse that he once called a friend. His eyes were still wide and staring, even emptier in death than they'd been in life. The stench of death assaulted his nose, and he could taste the bitter vile in the back of his throat. He breathed in deeply again, forcing his stomach to stop churning as he kneeled in the rapidly drying pool of blood. "I HAVE to try."

Because if I can't save him... how will I save any of them?

Ray squeezed his eyes shut and let his power flow. And unbeknownst to him, the tenth and final symbol in that temporarily forgotten circle began to glow.

Yes, unnoticed by the preoccupied Chosen, the symbols they had seen carved into the floor had lit up one by one as each of them used their powers. Somehow, the inanimate pictures had made a connection with their corresponding Chosen, and when that final piece of the puzzle fell into place...

Ray gasped as he felt an intense surge of power. And not just any power, oh no. He realized with a start that this power came from the other Chosen; he felt the wild and endearing aura of Joel, the calm, collected intellect of Adri, and even the cynical wit of his own sister. He cried out and grasped at the power with his mind, for he knew that this wasn't just energy but souls, the very essence of their beings, and it was just flowing away from him and into Tala, and he had no control. They slipped past him and were lost forever.

The roar of power in Ray's ears drowned out the agonized screams of the tortured teens around him. Adri and Joel had even awakened from their brief slumbers, the lull of unconsciousness not nearly enough to protect them from the feeling of the very centers of their existences being ripped from their hearts.

The screaming didn't last long, however. One by one, each of the Chosen eventually went silent, eyes glazed over, their bodies limp and lifeless.

Ray wasn't aware of this. All that went through his mind was one thought.

Kai.

And when Ray felt the fiery determination of Kai begin to flow through him, he used all the strength he could muster to catch some of that blazing energy. He couldn't save everyone, and it was already too late to save his sibling. But he could still save the one he'd given his heart to. He could keep Kai alive.

Time slowed down to a crawl, and every second felt like a lifetime. Still, Ray clung to that little piece of Kai's soul, mental fingers continuing to grasp through sheer will alone as something far, far greater and more powerful than he used all it's might to rip his love away. Tears came to his eyes and he gritted his teeth and still, Ray refused to let go.

It seemed as though a millennia passed before the great, unseen force gave up. The agonizing surge of energy stopped all at once, and Ray sighed with relief and happiness at the blessed feeling of emptiness.

Then his energy abruptly drained away, and the world went black.

***

They watched with keen eyes as Ray crumpled to the ground. They were old, these beings, older than time itself it seemed. Of course, they were far from it. Each of the three had been born a mortal, made eternal to watch over the affairs of the world after it had nearly come to death. The Watchers, some called them, but they had not given themselves such titles. They were simply they, and that was enough for them.

"It is done," the one who had been silently and unanimously named leader declared. "Let us shed these mortal constraints while we do our work."

The other two nodded and closed their eyes. Soon, where three boys on the edge of adulthood had stood, three heavenly beings appeared. And yet, they still retained some features of the mortal forms they had taken. The first had silky blonde hair and piercing blue eyes, which had been such an odd coloring in his country and had been a constant source of ridicule and frightened stares during his life. The second was shorter than the other two, with bright green eyes partially covered by his soft brown mop of hair. His very presence had once radiated shyness and vulnerability, but such impractical characteristics had left him when he gave up his earthly life, and now his very aura commanded the utmost reverence. The third looked much like an older version of his worldly form; blue-black hair tumbled down his shoulders, his eyes a deep blue that hinted towards violet. These eyes, though, held the wisdom gained through thousands of years and lifetimes of living rather than the happy, carefree innocence of youth his previous form possessed.

While their forms seemed those of mortals, it became instantly clear that they were not. Each of the beings held themselves with a grace unparalleled by any creature on this earth; they made the most graceful dancer seem a stumbling child. If that were not enough proof, had anyone been there to look upon them they would have seen that it did not matter that Luma's light had been extinguished, for they glowed from within and lit the dark cavern even more brightly than her spell had. In fact, all that has been described of them would have been invisible to any who chanced to cast an eye in their direction, so bright and clear was that inner light.

Their own beings no longer impressed them, however, and there was work to do. Most pressingly, there was a ritual to be completed, and time was running out. They had left things far too long this incarnation, they had gotten the timing wrong and now they had to hurry. Silent as shadows, they drifted to the gasping, coughing redhead sprawled on the floor. He was beginning to regain consciousness, his soul returning to where it was sure it would never be again. The Russian felt life flowing through his limbs, and he cried and praised the heavens and still his eyes were shut tight, as though he was frightened that this was all a dream and when he opened them he would be viewing the land of death. And so he did not see the knife. He cried out in surprise when he felt the cold steel pierce his skin, and for a heart-wrenching moment he thought he'd been brought back to life just to die again.

But the blade was removed, only the smallest of cuts on his finger to remind the teen of it's presence. And finally, Tala opened his eyes, only to shut them tight again when they were assaulted by the blinding brilliance of the figure in front of him.

"Don't be afraid, Tala." The softest, sweetest voice he had ever heard drifted to Tala's ear. "Just a little drop, and then it will be like none of this had ever happened."

"Where's Elaina?" Tala squinted and was able to see a vague outline of the one standing before him. "Where's Kai? Where's everyone?"

"They did their duty." The one who had been know in this incarnation as Tyson turned away. He had developed a friendship with this person, though all his experience and wisdom had told him not to he had done it anyways. And now he could not bear to look into Tala's eyes as he spoke. "Their souls rest in that single droplet at the end of your finger, and when it falls they shall nourish the earth as they were meant to."

Tala opened his mouth to protest, but it was too late. The drop hit the ground with a soft splash, and a spike of energy shot straight to the earth's core right beneath their feet. Tala lost consciousness once more as he shockwave sent him tumbling to the floor.

The blonde creature, the one known this lifetime as Max, drifted closer and placed a hand to the pale boy's forehead. Light gathered into his palm, and the heavenly one raised it to his lips and blew it out like a flame. That was it; the spell was done and the pure one's mind had been wiped clean of any memories of the incident. Now all that was left was for the other, Kenny as he was called, to rid the chamber of the corpses littering the ground. A light tap from the diminutive immortal, and the flesh would melt and become part of the soil and the air and all the thing is had been first made of.

But something was wrong.

"Why have you not removed the bodies of Life and Fire?" the palest of the three asked.

Green eyes were troubled. "Because they are not dead."

The two were at his side in an instant. This was impossible. None had ever survived the ritual, save the so-called sacrifice. Yet there it was, two of the Chosen, battered and broken and in the deepest of sleep but undeniably alive.

The leader didn't say anything. His two companions were anxious, and looked to him for a decision, and in answer received a smile. "I think," he said, a happy tone in his voice and a glint of amusement in those ancient eyes, "that this is how it is supposed to be. Fire and Life... yes, can't you see it? Can't you see the reason?"

"That one's fiery passion, and the other's hunger for life," the smallest said quietly. "They mixed, giving them the strength to hold on to each other and save enough of themselves to survive."

"Their bond was strong, and their alignment a lucky accident. Even the bonds of family could not give the others the strength to live, but these ones could. The powers that should have ended their lives worked together to save them instead." Blonde hair was flipped back as he regarded their leader. "We leave them alive, then?"

"Yes. They earned it."

"We will have to erase their minds. They will not remember sharing their feelings. They may not remember their feelings at all."

Another smile. "They are in love. We could wipe their minds blank and send them to opposite ends of the world, and still they would find each other."

---------TBC---------

Go read epilogue! I'll save my notes for the end of that.