Of Love and Death.

The Future Chapter 13: Bonds of Bladers and Beys Pt. 4

     Bel had absolutely no idea what was going on. Well, that wasn't fully true. He knew that his sister was safe. Or at least alive. He also knew that both of his parents were communicating using his dad's telepathy and mind reading. Which they did for a few reasons. Either out of force of habit because that's always what they'd done. Or because they were flirting and, apparently, Bel and Jamie complained when they did that. Or because Bel's parents were discussing something they didn't want their kids to hear.

     The pink-haired blader had a feeling that this case was the latter of the available options.

     All of the members of the Snake Pit who hadn't already gone to the hotel were sharing another shuttle, heading there at about 9:30 at night. They'd probably arrive closer to ten. Which was quite late. Bel could tell how emotionally and physically worn the whole team was by how silent the bus was. A bit of exhausted chatter was coming from the front. But other than that, not a peep.

     Looking next to him, Bel studied someone else who hadn't said a peep. Jamie had been basically silent since he'd reunited with her. Judging by the way she'd held herself, something had happened. She was closed in, holding her limbs close to her. Just like a hermit crab. She also wasn't meeting anyone's eyes, just like a...Bel wanted to say hermit crab as well. But maybe that wasn't accurate. How did hermit crabs hold their eyes?

     Bel almost transformed into a hermit crab then and there, but decided against it. He'd learned a lot of random animal facts for obvious reasons, and hermit crabs need really humid air to breathe. He wasn't sure if the inside of a bus counted as humid enough.

     Closing his eyes, Bel reached out for his partner. Should I try and talk with her? He asked Belfyre in the darkness of his brain. There was silence for a bit. Silence that sounded a lot like a groggy bey waking up from sleeping.

     With a quiet, half-asleep voice, Belfyre finally spoke, She's your sister. You know her better than I do. That was very unhelpful. About as unhelpful as a mountain during a biking contest.

    With an annoyed eye roll, Bel told his partner as much. "You are very unhelpful right now," he grumbled good-naturedly. Inside of his head, he heard Belfyre chuckle a bit, before heading back into some semblance of sleep. Bel was constantly jealous of how beys could fall asleep within an instant.

     Glancing back over to Jame, Bel saw that his sister was still continuing her trend of taking up as little space as possible by pulling her knees up to her chest, and looking out the window. Basically not at Bel, because there was nothing but desert outside. Pitch black desert as a matter of fact. And last time he checked, his sister couldn't see in the dark.

     Maybe that would be a good way to start a conversation, Bel realized. Because, at the end of the day, he did want to try and speak with Jamie. He didn't like all of this stiff silence that was enveloping his family. It also didn't help that everyone seemed to know what had happened except him.

     So, summoning up all of his extravert capabilities, Bel spoke up. "See anything interesting out there?" He jovially inquired. Even though he knew that the answer was going to be "pitch black nothingness". If he even got an answer at all. He hoped he would. Hopefully the pink-haired blader's twin sister would be able to summon some conversation.

    However Jamie surprised Bel. Instead of snipping back with some snide comment about how she couldn't see anything because there was not enough light to reflect back into her eyes to make out shapes, she spoke about something completely different. Something that Bel had not been expecting in the slightest. "I'm the Masked Blader," Jamie admitted out of nowhere, still staring out the window.