Beyblade Masters (Ninjago x Beyblade Burst)

PANIC

Valt's POV
That was it. My final stop on my closure adventure. Now I could finally return to PIXAL at the Monastery and shut myself behind the strong wooden doors; there, I could safely practice my power - no one of flesh to hurt (with no offense in regards to PIXAL).

So why did it hurt so much to leave?

I went over my feelings again and again as I ran out of the International Blader's Cup building with no thought to where I was going - not that I knew where I was going, I was in the USA. My eyes were on the ground, watching as my feet made contact without actually seeing or feeling the impact. I had said goodbye to everyone: Ken, Toko, Nika, Mom, Daigo, BC Sol, Wakiya, Xander, even Shu. I had left them all with the mind frame that I was at least alive and well. What I couldn't figure out was why I felt even more empty than before.

I ran until my muscles screamed and my throat felt raw, but the physical pain was nothing compared to the the emotional pain. PIXAL had sent me on this little errand in order to to put closure on my relationships, and I thought it would make me feel better, but now I just feel hollow.

The building was surrounded by desert, so all I saw was rough, sandy earth as I ran on. Under PIXAL, I had learned that running helped me think. There was something about the moving limbs and heavy breathing that provided my brain with the fuel it needed to think things through. As I ran, I went over what had happened with Shu. I guess I had been acting a little crazier with him than I had been with any of the others. He had been my best friend throughout kindergarten, true, but so had Xander, and I wasn't nearly as overbearing with him as I was with Shu. So what was different with this stop?

Maybe... difference in feelings?

I started to slow down as it dawned on me, and kicked myself for not realizing it sooner. I had been so tipsy with Shu because I saw him as more than a friend. I loved him. And when I saw him follow that creep so blindly, losing himself in the process, it just broke my heart. I felt such anger towards Theodore for turning Shu into Red Eye, for making him forget his friends, for taking him away from me, that I wanted to make him suffer. I had wanted to make him feel every ounce of the pain he had caused me. If the Element hadn't sent my ancestors to stop me, there was a good chance that I would have killed Theodore.

A Master never kills, unless there is no other option.

PIXAL had taught me that. It was one of the most fundamental ideals of the Elemental Masters, yet I had almost forgotten and broken it. I almost killed a man. I'm not a Master... I'm a MONSTER.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a puddle that some distant rainstorm had left and had been saved by the mercy of the sun until the next day. I drifted over to it and looked at my reflection. For a second I thought someone was in the puddle, for I barely recognized the boy who stared back. I had grown used to how my physical appearance had turned out - I knew my hair had gotten longer, I had lost some weight, and a considerable amount of time in the sun had darkened my skin a little. But I hadn't yet taken into account how much my eyes had changed. Before they had sparkled with so much enthusiasm that I used to scare people away with a glance. Now I hardly recognized them - all of the former childlike sparkle had gone.

That wasn't the main reason why I didn't recognize the boy in the puddle. It was the fact that the boy didn't have any friends standing beside him. He looked crushingly lonely.

Monster.

Lonely.

A lonely monster. That's what I am.

At first I didn't notice the pain starting to build within my tear ducts. I vaguely understood that I was about to cry - who wouldn't, in this situation? Then the pain started to get worse, and I realized something was wrong. Tears mean you hurt emotionally, not physically. As soon as I had that thought, a blue line appeared in the puddle. It took me a second to realize that the line was in my eye. It was my tears.