Chapter 5: When The Days Go By

42 4 0
                                    

This chapter will be much shorter than the others as it's basically a placeholder between the longer, more exciting chapters.

One year had passed since Free's mother left his father.

Both his parents had disappeared from the kingdoms, and so had many of the Ryoko Travelers. Free suspected they had either fled his father's wrath or went along with him.

Free was fifteen. Most of his friends had turned twelve, bar seventeen-year-old Kristina and eleven-year-old Lui.

Sometimes, when Free stared out of the window, he wondered did he miss his father. He missed his mother, Savannah, who had sent a proud message to him saying Free now had a brother. But his father, if not for his mother, would have dragged Free out into the lifeless, gray world Free hated. But then again, his father was family. When Free was young, his father had been the one to make sure he always had something to eat. When a rogue predator came near, his father would shoot it down. Free even remembered telling his friends he trusted his father more than anyone else in the world.

That was something to think about.

On the other side of the school, twelve-year-old Shu was practicing his fire. Flames lit up and caught in the wind. Shu willed them to die down. Valt cheered beside him, on a sublevel, practicing his social and peace skills.

Somewhere in the middle of them both, Lui was training with one of his friends, Gou Chagake. Their blades clanged. Lui deflected Gou's blow with his shield.

The latter dropped his sword, wiping the sweat off his forehead.

"Tired already?" Lui sniped.

Gou sighed, shaking his head. "Not on your life."

Zac and Daigo were talking inside their dorm.

"I'm just... worried about Ryota," Daigo confessed.

"Oh. Your younger brother."

Ryota Kurogami had been admitted to the school infirmary after falling ill six months earlier. Daigo visited him occasionally, but he was too busy rebuilding and attending lessons again.

"I know how you feel," Zac said sympathetically. "There's this kid called Akira... says he's a big fan of mine. We made friends. I guess you know what happened when he left school early." He sighed, shaking his head.

Honestly, I don't know what goes on in that dramatic head of yours, Daigo thought, half resentful, half amused.

Zac doesn't know how we feel at all, the darker side of him whispered. He's never had a sibling.

Stop it.

Daigo had no idea how that dark side had formed. Maybe it was frustration, or worry, and resentfulness. Or maybe all three. But one day after Ryota fell ill, he found himself thinking resentful thoughts every time Daichi scolded him, or ordered him around. Slowly but surely, a dark mind grew in his head, thinking and mentally saying things the normal Daigo would never think of.

It scared him.

He wanted to trick and blind his opponent in battle now. He was willing to stand up to the angriest figures like Lui and Daichi.

It wasn't natural.

That's what kept him awake at night.

Despite what they kept on the outside, many of the princes carried the same burden on the inside: guilt.

. . .

The Snake Hunters had been living in the abandoned village well over a year.

Ashtem was annoyed. He had to constantly put up with Violet Eye and Azure Eye's complaining, Gold Eye and Silver Eye's constant "secret plans", and worst of all, the mistrust from the five Kurosu kings.

"I don't understand why you even try anymore," Gray Eye sighed. He had been one of the last hunters to give up on the kingdoms, but eventually, he did.

"We can't go back," Ashtem reminded him. "When we left, we left almost everything behind."

"The instructors still run the place," Violet Eye grumbled. "I bet they live better than us."

Silence ensued. The sun dipped down the horizon. Day turned to night. Stars dotted the skies. But it went on, until they were all lost in their dreams.

As the days went by...

(DISCONTINUED) Skyfall /// Beyblade Burst FanfictionWhere stories live. Discover now