"We Who are Hated by Life Itself"

Chapter 4

re·​pen·​tance

verb:  the action of repenting; sincere regret or remorse.

─── ⋆⋅NOCTEMIS⋅⋆ ───

"Ah, Theodore," Norman Tarver walks into the familiar office room. The man in the office chair before him is looking more disheveled by the day. He still greets Norman with a unnerving smile.
"Tarver, take a seat."
I should be cautious of him. I know what he's capable of. Norman walks over the other side of the table and tentatively sits, never taking his eyes off the man for a single second.
"No need to be so cautious, Norman, we're friends, are we not?" Theodore pouts.
Are we friends? I've helped you all this time, and you've given me nothing in return.
"Ah yes, I suppose you're right." Norman says.
"Now, we should discuss why you've come to me." Theodore looks Norman up and down.
"Because I've thought of some ways that you could help me."
"Norman? Help you, of course I would, fire away my dear friend."
"Requiem, bring it back."
"You know that's far to dangerous, are you saying you want Red Eye's power?"
"I only want the power to right the wrongs inflicting on me."
"A noble pursuit of justice, how chivalrous of you, Norman"
"And in return for giving me requiem's power."
"..."

"I'll get your team back." 

─── ⋆⋅SPRYZEN⋅⋆ ───

    "WE'LL MISS YOU SHU!" an excited blue haired ball of energy crashed into Shu, nearly knocking the wind out of him.
    "Calm down, Valt, you're the world champion now." Shu looks down at the shorter boy. Only a couple months had passed and Valt had gone from the dark horse of a district tournament to the world champion. I suppose that is how true champions are made.
    "Are you sure you don't want any of us to come with you?" Daigo questions from Valt's side. His words are friendly but his eyes still hold that same warning air. He hasn't forgotten their talk the other day at the party and neither has Shu.
    "Yeah, we'd always want to see how everyone back home is doing." Besu's head pokes over Valt's shoulder.
    "Isn't it a little late for that?" Shu motions to the bustling airport in the background. I have to do this by myself...I...I need to do this by myself, I don't deserve to have any of you. Shu pushes the thoughts out of his mind as he grabs his bags from the back of their van.
    "See you around sometime?"
    "Yeah, for sure buddy."
    Shu bumps fists with Valt for the last time, he presumes, for a while.
    The airport is even busier on the inside than the outside. Not that he hasn't been in busy places before, he's never been fond of them, though. I want the rest of them to be happy, I want them to be able to celebrate without me. I know I don't deserve their trust.
    After checking bags and printing boarding passes, Shu decides to head over to his terminal. He's flying commercial, now that he's not on any team to charter private flights. A few people stop to stare along the way. They probably know him as Red Eye. To them, Shu Kurenai was the one that Red Eye turned into, not the other way around.
    Shu looks down, keeping his eyes glued to the floor. The world now only knew the worst parts of him. The parts that were willing to hurt his friends for power. But do I even want them to see the real me? Is the real me somehow worse? Worse because that part of me is still there, just suppressed.
     Salt Lake City to Narita with one stop in Dallas. A 16 our haul. After this blading thing is over, I'll have had enough red eye flights for a lifetime. He bitterly chuckled to himself.
    Shu watched America flicker away underneath the metal body of the airplane. It was like a lizard letting go of it's tail. A sense of relief washed over him as the mountains disappeared from view. Might as well get used to the time change now, Shu thought, drifting into sleep.

─── ⋆⋅BALKESH ⋅⋆ ───

    No where to run, no where to hide.
    Boa Alcazaba had no where to turn after his losses at the International Blader's Cup. If the rumors he heard were true, Ashtem had disappeared to somewhere, leaving his team to fend for itself. It's not like he could go back to his team, the public would have it taken from him soone enough.
It wasn't looking for a roof over his head that Boa was concerned about, he had earned enough from the International Blader's Cup to keep him on his feet for a while. He just needed to get away from Ashtem.
Although Ashtem had disappeared in the public's eyes, Boa knew that there was no way that someone like him would just go away. He was out there, probably thinking up more devious schemes. Boa had abandoned and betrayed Ashtem the first chance he got. If Ashtem found him, there was no guessing a to what would happen.
Balkesh is really all I have left The young boy clutched his bey harder. He may have been able to run from Ashtem's clutches this time, but a cloud of malice seemed to hang over his head, like clouds before a monsoon.

Like the eye of the storm.

─── ⋆⋅ LÚINOR ⋅⋆ ───
    The sun ripples through the windows of the suite, losing some of itself on the hanging curtains decorating the White Tyrant's room. How many days had come and gone like this? They seemed to blur together into an intangible string of events.
    This morning was bound to be the same as any morning, but Lui felt something off as he goes through the menial tasks of starting the day. A familiar pull tugs at his chest. The feeling is hard to identify, it hasn't been present for a while. Lui sucks in a breath in anticipation as he recognizes the pull.
Lúinor.
Against all other common sense, Lui can't help but fill his mind with crazy hopes. what if Lúinor's fixed? The boy walks back to his bedroom, glancing around almost nervously. But there was Lúinor, the two halves looking almost like a set of jaws, ready to devour anything unlucky enough to pass by them. Lui cocks his head, how ominus over nothing. Lúinor's tug doesn't loosen as Lui nears his shattered bey. It seems to pull him in further and further, until Lui can see his own reflection in the reflection of the dragon's eyes.
"No, I'm not doing what you're thinking." Lui hears himself say out loud, surprised at his own sudden outburst. He tries to fight off the tugging of his bey, the tugging of his bey's dark power. This time, though, his bey isn't particularly corrupting, though Lui can hear it say one thing.

"Brutal."