𝕓𝕖 𝕞𝕪 𝕝𝕚𝕘𝕙𝕥 | 𝔽𝕣𝕖𝕖 𝕕.𝕝.𝕙.

Dawn-Chapter three

"Wha-

Ravlynne awoke with a jolt, only to realise that she was in her new room in BC Sol, not her old one back in her father's  house. She exhaled and sat up in her bed.

"Of course the nightmares would follow me here..."

Ravlynne swung her legs over the edge of the bed and stood , shaking the duvet and sleep from her slim frame. 

Ever since Karaginn had told her about the Snake Pit two years ago, she had been having dreams almost every night. Sometimes they were about her past, and sometimes they were about strange figures in masks like the men in the dream. And her father would be leading them, except his face was masked by a purple mask. The men called him "Ashtem".

And sometimes it was just her, and an abyss she was falling into.

Ravlynne closed her eyes, trying to shut out the thoughts. She opened them, walked over to the door and slipped out into the dark corridor after throwing a glance at the sleeping Karaginn. The neon white digital clock beside the bey announced that it was only four in the morning.

Ravlynne walked down the long corridor of rooms. Her feet didn't have a particular direction; they just needed to keep on moving, keep on walking. That way, the voices in her head weren't as loud. Ravlynne didn't bother to turn on the light. She was used to the darkness. If anything, she preferred it. Everything softened, and came into focus at the same time when it was dark.

Creaaaak

Ravlynne heard a door creak somewhere. She whipped her head around, startled. The door of the room beside hers swung open, revealing the drowsy form of a certain golden-haired boy. He shuffled out slowly, still yawning like he had been last afternoon.

"Does that boy do anything but yawn?"

Ravlynne wondered how he had claimed the title of the number one blader in the world in the first place, when all he seemed to do was sleep and yawn. 

Free's eyes flew open from their half-closed sleepy state when he saw Ravlynne. He had not expected anyone to be  awake that early in the morning. Her bright blue eyes seemed to glow in the dark, and he was somehow drawn to them. Something about her soulful gaze made him want to give her a hug and tidy up his messy hair at the same time. He blinked and looked in another direction.

"Up already, huh?" 

Free knew he needed to divert her attention. 

Ravlynne shrugged and replied "Yeah."

 She felt like she needed to explain more, but decided against it. Giving Free a slight nod, she turned and walked away, towards the staircase beside the back door which opened into the garden. Fresh air, she decided, might clear her head.

Free watched Ravlynne's retreating form, blinked again and remembered why he was there: To head to the forest to train. He hurried after her, as the forest wrapped around the back of the building, including the garden, so he could enter it from there.

Ravlynne saw Free walking down the flight of stairs behind her from the corner of her eye, but she chose to ignore him. They descended from the third floor and made their way through the back door and into the garden in silence. 

Ravlynne stopped beside the small fountain on the edge of the woods, while Free plunged into the thicket without hesitation, like he had done it thousands of times before, which he probably had, considering that he had been in BC Sol for, well, forever. 

"Maybe he trains early in the morning and sleeps for the rest of the day. No wonder he looked so tired yesterday."

Ravlynne shrugged and thrust her hands into her pockets.

In the meantime, Free was walking through the forest, sticking to a well-trod trail that he knew would lead him to an abandoned bey stadium with an arena. It was old, but he could still use it to train. He liked the secludedness of the place, where no one would disturb him. The other members of the club could get annoying or loud sometimes when they were too excited. 

It tired him, how they constantly pestered him for tips or explanations. He had been in the club for years, was the first member Kristina had scouted back then. Nothing much happened as the months passed, bladers joined, leaves grew, bladers left, leaves fell, seasons changed, and much more of that kind. 

Free had seen many people come and go over the years, but none had made an impression on him. He was used to people gawping at him-the famous "Golden Boy", so much so that they bored him. 

But that girl, Ravlynne, was an exception. She was so...so quiet, so uninteresed, that it stood out against the loudness and enthusiasm of the rest of the team. 

It reminded Free of himself.

There was something else too, her eyes. There was almost otherworldly about them. They were so beautiful, yet so mournful. Something must have happened to her to make them that way. Free thought that she was the kind who could light up the whole room with a smile when happy.

Free paused in the middle of the trail. He frowned and ran a hand through his hair. How did he know that? He barely knew her, after all. For the first time, Free De La Hoya, top blader in the world, was utterly stumped. After a while, he sighed and continued down the trail, still puzzled.