Tortured Soul

I'm so sorry, I didn't think it would take me this long to write the chapter. Just 'cos you have it planned out, doesn't mean it's easy to write, apparently!! I was having real problems ending the chapter, I just couldn't seem to do it right. Anyway, here it is, I hope you like and please let me know if the ending sucks. Next chapter might take a while, I'm back at work tomorrow.

*____* = dream sequence.

ASOTA, I think it would still damage him but Boris doesn't really care. And it is a relief to not be torturing Tyson anymore.

Drake294, welcome new reviewer, I'm so glad you stumbled upon my story, that's how I find most of the ones I read too. Thank you for the compliment, I'm so glad that you like it. I want to murder Boris too, but we'll have to wait and see what happens.

Now on with the show.


Chapter 14

It had been a bloody long day, he couldn’t wait to sit down back in Kenny’s office. Even with Brooklyn and Garland helping in the search, Rei didn’t think they were making any progress. His lack of sleep was catching up with him, and by the look of Kai walking next to him, it was catching up with him too. Their feet dragged along the ground as they made their way back for the debriefing.

“You ok Rei?” The sudden question made Rei’s feet pause mid step, he looked up at Kai and smiled.

“I’m as ok as you” he replied tiredly. Kai just smirked in response and turned to carry on toward their goal. Rei shrugged and followed Kai, they were close to the BBA building now which gave them new strength. Only a little further now and they could sit down, it would be a quick debrief and then they could get some sleep.

With any luck one of the others would have found something to help in the search, maybe Mr D had found something on one of the security tapes from the airport. They had rechecked all the different places that people practiced blading, asking everyone if they had seen the blue haired blader. The others were covering different parts of town, just because Rei and Kai had found nothing didn’t mean the others hadn’t.

Rei could see the BBA building now and unconsciously quickened his pace, eager to put his feet up. Kai watched him and smiled, he was a little tired too and could understand why Rei was anxious. They had found nothing, his gut clenched at the thought that Tyson was in trouble and they could do nothing to help. He realised that Rei’s quickened pace was quickly leaving him behind so he lengthened his own stride to catch up.

They walked through the front doors of the hut that served as the BBA building until the old one could be rebuilt and headed straight for Kenny’s office. When the door opened and they walked through, they realised they were the last ones back. Both Kai and Rei stopped dead when they noticed that everyone was staring at them, Hillary and Kenny sat on the edges of their seats obviously hoping for good news. When they saw the looks on Kai and Rei’s faces, their own fell.

“You’re not brining good news are you” stated Hillary, her voice quiet and tight.

“No” was Kai’s one word reply.

“Nobody else had any luck?” asked Rei.

“Mr Dickinson didn’t find anything at the airport, the train station or the bus station. Nobody remembers seeing Tyson in the last few days and he wasn’t on any of the surveillance tapes.” Kenny looked at the floor, not wanting to meet anyone’s eyes for fear of crying at the despair he knew he would see there.

“We canvassed our area, even going back to each place twice just to be sure. There was no sign of him anywhere” reported Garland.

“Hillary and I found nothing. We asked around about Daichi too, figuring that he’d probably be looking for battles while he’s looking for Tyson. Nobody knows anything, it’s like he just vanished.” Max’s concern for Daichi reminded the rest of the group that he was missing too.

“I think we can assume that whoever took Tyson also has Daichi now too” Kai said matter-of-factly. “The only question is did they take him or did Daichi find Tyson and manage to get himself caught in the process”.

“Either way, we now have two people to look for and still no clue where to start looking.” Rei finally entered the room fully and dropped himself heavily into the nearest chair. He leaned his head back against the wall and sighed, blowing his bangs out of his face as he did.

“I think we could all do with a rest” Hillary pointed out.

“We can’t rest, we have to find Tyson” Kai said forcefully.

“We have to rest” Hillary responded, maintaining her calm outward appearance while fuming on the inside. “If we don’t rest, we’ll never get anywhere. There’s nothing else we can do tonight and you two look like you’re ready to fall” she pointed to Rei while indicating Kai as well. Taking a deep breath and sighing, Kai could think of no way to argue with her. She was right and that really irked him, it meant that she had gloating privileges. She wouldn’t use them until after Tyson and Daichi were found, but Hillary had a very good memory, she wasn’t likely to forget.

“Fine” he said, instead of what he really wanted to say which was mind your own damn business and let me find the man I love my way. He turned to leave the room but seemed to stumble. As he pitched forward both Rei and Brooklyn shot out of their chairs and before he could hit the floor had grabbed him from either side. Turning him so they could lay him on his back they gently lowered him to the floor, Kai murmuring quietly.

“Tyson”.

“Did he just say Tyson?” Hillary asked confused.

“Why would he say that?” asked Kenny, who had been too far away to hear the quietly uttered word.

“I swear he just said Tyson” Hillary said with conviction.

“It must be another dream, Tyson must be calling out to him again”. Rei said quietly, not really speaking to anyone except himself.

“A WHAT?” Rei suddenly realised that he wasn’t alone when everyone in the room shouted out at once.

“What dreams?” Max asked, trying to understand just what Rei was saying.

“Do you really think now is the time for this?” Rei asked, sidestepping the question. They all noticed that Kai seemed to be having some kind of nightmare, he was squirming in his sleep muttering constantly about forgiveness and pain. Hillary knelt at his side and brushed the hair from his face, soothing him as best she could.

000000000000000000000

*”Kai forgive me. Please forgive me. I don’t want to help him, God knows I don’t want to help him but I have to. I have no choice. Please forgive me.”

“Tyson?”

“I’m so sorry Kai, I tried to be strong, I really did but I can’t let them hurt him.” Tyson looked directly at Kai and Kai blinked at the barely held rage behind his eyes.

“What are you saying?”

“I could deal with the pain, I shut it out and thought about you but I couldn’t let them hurt him.”

“I don’t understand” Kai said, tears threatening to fall at the thought of Tyson hurt.

“He’s got Daichi. I can’t let him hurt him, I’d never tell the little brat but he’s like family. I can’t let him feel what I did, go through the same as me.”

“Tyson where are you?” pleaded Kai.

“In darkness” Tyson replied cryptically.

“What does that mean? Tyson just tell me where you are.” Kai noticed the tears running freely down Tyson’s cheeks.

“I’ve entered the darkness Kai. I’ve struck a deal with the devil” Tyson laughed without humour, looking very much like he was about to crack.

Kai walked forward, the conversation was confusing him and making him angry. Someone had taken Daichi to force Tyson into helping them, that much he understood. The part about the devil and darkness had him squirming, something was really wrong if Tyson was talking in metaphor.

“Shush love” Kai said soothingly, walking up to Tyson and wrapping his arms around him. Tyson leaned into the touch wrapping his own arms around Kai almost painfully tight. Kai winced at the pain but didn’t pull away, Tyson needed this and he wasn’t going to deny him anything.

“Kai, I’m sorry” Tyson said again quietly.

“You have nothing to be sorry about. It’s not your fault. Someone is doing this to you Tyson and they’re using your own good nature against you. They knew you’d never let anything happen to a friend.” Kai said, hoping Tyson would listen and understand.

Tyson released his death grip on Kai and pulled back enough to look into his eyes. He saw the love and compassion that Kai had for him but also the anger and fire that was directed at his tormentors.

“Tyson, who’s doing this to you?”

“Isn’t it obvious? Who else do we know that could be this cruel?” Tyson asked with obvious malice in his voice.

“I don’t know Tyson, that’s why I’m asking you”.

“Shouldn’t you know, this is a dream after all. Everything I know, you should know.”

“Tyson, I don’t think this is a dream. I’m really here.”

“Yeah right, like the real Kai would hug me and call me love” Tyson said almost sadly as he pulled away from Kai.

“But I would, Tyson it’s taken me a while to figure it out”.

“Figure what out?”

“That I love you and so help me, whoever’s hurt you is going to pay for it.” Tyson pulled further back at the venom in Kai’s voice. “So tell me who took you”.

“Boris” Tyson’s eye’s flared with fire as he said the name. Barely leashed anger threatening to spill out and consume Kai. Kai’s eye’s widened at the name, something in him said he shouldn’t be surprised at this, that it had only been a matter of time before Boris had made a move on one of them. Kai was just angry that it had been Tyson, after all, Kai had ruined his plans just as much.

Tyson began to fade before Kai’s eyes, he reached out to grab hold of him but it was no use. Their hands didn’t connect and Kai was left there alone. His eyes burned with fire, his mouth inched up into a mockery of a smile. Boris had the man loved, Boris was going to give him back and then, Boris was going to pay. His vision started getting cloudy, and he blinked rapidly to try and clear it. He could hear people saying his name and wondered why they sounded worried. Slowly his brain started to send signals through his body, he was on his back on something hard, his eyes were opening and…*

“Boris”.

Everyone in the room had their attention focused on him, he looked up into the concerned eyes of his team and their friends.

“What about Boris?” Kenny asked, obviously confused.

“He has Tyson and Daichi”. Kai stated in his no-nonsense tone.

“What?” Hillary asked taken aback by Kai’s obvious conviction. “How do you know?”

“Just trust him Hill” Rei told the girl, he offered his hand to Kai and Kai took it. He pulled up the Russian blader and looked him in the eyes, searching for something that would help him understand. Kai just stared back unblinking and a wordless conversation seemed to pass between them.

“So what are we gonna do?” Asked Kenny, breaking the moment.

“We find Boris” Max said, trusting his friends without having to think about it.

“You guys gonna be ok going after your old boss?” Rei asked, turning his attention on the two former Bega bladers.

“More than Ok” Brooklyn replied.

“It’s time he got what he deserves” added Garland.

“So how do we find him?” asked Hillary.

“We ask an old friend for help” Kenny told her. Everyone looked at him with open curiosity, trying to understand exactly what the computer geek meant.

“Kenny, you’re gonna need to explain that one” Rei said, his eyes searching Kenny’s for meaning.

“Oh, has everyone forgotten about me?” came a familiar voice.

“Dizzy?” Hillary said, turning towards Kenny’s laptop.

“Who else do you know that can search more than 50 databases a minute?” said the bit beast.

“How soon can you find Boris?” asked Kai, getting straight down to business.

“It depends on how well hidden he is but if he’s around it shouldn’t take more than a day.”

“A day? Is there any way to speed that up?” Rei asked the laptop.

“Sorry guys, that’s the best I can do.”

“Fine, we’ll keep up the search till then. Now we know who we’re looking for it might make it easier to find him.” Rei looked around the room for confirmation from the other bladers present, everyone nodded at him. “We should all get some sleep first. Kenny, can Dizzy run the search without you?”

“Of course, as long as she knows what to look for there’s no problem.” replied Kenny.

“Good, ‘cos you need some sleep too.” Kai and Kenny looked ready to argue but Rei shot them both a warning look.

“If we don’t sleep, we’re useless. Dizzy will find Boris, which will lead us to Tyson and Daichi, with any luck that shouldn’t take too long. If we get a good night's sleep now, we’ll be ready for anything.” Rei told the gathered bladers in an I’m-not-taking-no-for-an-answer way.

“Fine” Kenny said sighing. “Just let me make sure Dizzy has all the information she needs”.

“Ok, nobody walks home alone, we’re not loosing anyone else to Boris”. Rei continued while Kenny typed some search parameters into his laptop.

“Done, Dizzy will continue through the night and she can contact me if she finds anything sooner.” Kenny said walking back to the group.

“Right, let’s get going then” Max said, taking Hillary’s hand in his and leading the way out of Kenny’s office. Rei raised his eyebrows at Max’s obvious show of affection towards Hillary and looked at Kai. Kai just smiled a half smile back, happy that someone could show their true feelings even if he couldn’t, yet.

Walking out of the BBA building and into the night, the seven teens turned towards Hillary’s house, an unspoken agreement that they would drop her off first. They walked in silence, each teen lost in his or her own thoughts, not realising that their thoughts were the same. They had a lead, they would find Tyson and Daichi, and they would punish Boris for ever trying to divide them.