You Can Never Escape Your Shadow /// Beyblade Burst Fanfiction

Chapter 7: Hall Of Secrets

-Ashtem-

I glared at all four of them. "Why are you here?"

One smiled. "Perhaps we wanted to make something a little harder."

"Hmm," I mused. "Like what?" "Let the past repeat itself," another said. "Merge two and you will succeed in your goal. You have used one. Why not use the other? But even harder. You have other Masked Bladers, perhaps they could help."

"Emerald Eye and Shadow Eye? Or Gold Eye and Silver Eye?" I asked, surprised. "Perhaps the former if you want to go easy, the latter if you want to push them harder." "The latter can be the final challenge," I conceded.

Requiem seemed to heat up in my hand. At least that one is eliminated.

"Go. Same order. Different room, same theme."

Now they can pay.

~No one~

Ropes around wrists.

Screaming and shouting.

Blindfolded.

Enveloped by darkness.

Was that better than seeing? Who knows.

Would you rather be blind to what is happening than seeing the truth? Is blindness the true answer to facing down your fears?

Shadows.

"We can't split up," Ken choked out. Daigo stared at the floor. "Maybe we have to. Maybe it's the only way." Wakiya crossed his arms. "Survival was a depend-on-yourself game. If Ashtem will only let us go when we feel fear... it might be the only way," Valt mumbled.

"Yes. It is the only way," a new voice said.

Emerald, gray, black, violet, blue, and the darkest shade of dark.

Six new people stepped into the room. All were sporting a mask some of them knew all too well. "Forget each other," Shadow Eye hissed. "Rely on yourself."

"Which would you pick: freedom or friendship?" Emerald Eye asked.

Valt cried, "Of course I would pick friendship! We'll find a way out together!"

But clearly the Masked Bladers knew they couldn't change Valt's mind. They turned to Daigo.

"The game chose you as the Assassin for a reason," Black Eye murmured. "You were always meant to walk alone."

"Red Eye chose that path once," Violet Eye said, nodding at Shu. "And because of that one choice, he defeated Ashtem."

Valt bristled. "His name is Shu!"

"I guess that's what you get when you join a group and leave it of your own will," Daigo commented. "For power."

Shadow Eye nodded. "This one gets it."

Unknown to the others, Black Eye grabbed Daigo's arm in the dark and dragged him off into a different room.

From above, Ashtem watched silently. They're not following my instructions, he thought. The plan was to let them leave and try to battle them. His mouth curved into a small, sinister smile. It doesn't matter. The one I need gone is gone.

Emerald Eye targeted Ken next. "Ken Midori..."

Ken hunched his shoulders. If I can save Valt... I can't fail him again.

"I'm so sorry," hu murmured as Emerald Eye talked on and on. "We'll all make it out Valt. Then we can be together again."

Closing his eyes, trying to hide the sadness gnawing at his heart, he let Emerald Eye take him away.