Speechless

6: Team Tension

"Man I'm beat!" Tyson yawned, extending his arms and flopping down onto the bed.

The rest of the Bladebreakers filed into the room, worn out from the day. The team managed to pull out a win against The Tall Boys, though tension hung thick in the air with the White Tiger Team staying right around the corner.

Persephone set her computer bag down and sat down at the edge of one of the beds. She could feel a small headache forming in her temples, most likely due to stress.

"I'm gonna go to a private room and see if I can work on some improvements for our beyblades," Kenny said, scooping Dizzy up under his arm.

"Let me know if you need any help Chief," Persephone called.

The small brunette gave a thumbs up before strolling out the door. Ray retreated to the bathroom to shower, not saying a word to anyone as he closed and locked the door behind him.

"Do you think he's okay?" Max murmured, eyes glued to bathroom door.

"I'm not sure. I know this has to be hard on him," Persephone replied, pulling her knees to her chest.

"He'll be fine. Ray's a tough guy. He can handle it," Tyson said before putting his hands on his stomach, "Anyways, I'm starving. I'm gonna hit up the buffet."

Tyson marched for the door, Max right in step behind him, leaving Persephone alone with their team captain once again.

Kai was silent as he leaned against the wall, one foot on the floor and the other against the wall, propping him up. Persephone did her best to block out his presence, still a bit upset with their little incident in the locker room. She wasn't one to hold grudges, but something about Kai's attitude irked her. Maybe it was the fact that he was rude to her teammates constantly, or maybe it was that she could sense some kind of good under his cold exterior, but she felt conflicted nonetheless.

Before Persephone could even decide how she was going to spend her evening, Kai appeared in front of her, staring down at her with his eyebrows knotted in judgement.

"I'm going to go train. Since you are the team manager, I thought you might want to watch and learn some things that might help these other losers out."

Persephone didn't respond. He wasn't really asking anyways. She stood, throwing her bag over shoulder.

"Fine," she murmured, not meeting his gaze.

———-

They walked in silence. Kai leading her through the woods trying to find the perfect patch of nature for his beyblade to shred. Persephone walked a step behind, not having said a word since they left the room. Kai could feel something was off. She had been quiet the first time the two had wandered off together, but this was different. This silence didn't feel peaceful and light like the other had been. This silence was deafening.

He quickly dismissed it as they came across a open patch of grass between the trees. He stopped in the middle and pulled out Dranzer as Persephone walked past him to perch herself on a stump. Kai did his best to put her out if his mind and focus on practicing.

After about an hour and hitting targets spot on and keeping his blade spinning for impressive amounts of time, her turned to see Persephone's face buried in her laptop. He grit his teeth, Dranzer flying back into his palm as he marched over to her.

"Have you not been paying attention at all?" Kai scoffed as he folded his arms.

Persephone didn't say anything, eyes glued to her screen.

"You're supposed to be paying attention so maybe the rest of this team can learn some actual skill."

He watched her fists tightened, and the air around him seemed to suffocate under the tension around them.

Before he could open his mouth to speak again, she stood and looked at him, her eyes with more fire in them than he thought she was capable of.

"I don't need to watch you. You're beyblading style is completely different from everyone else's. You balance attack and defense, but tend to stay on the attack. Tyson is full blown offense. Ray focuses on attack and has amazing stamina, and Max's specialty is defense. So how exactly is me sitting here watching you going to benefit any of them? You act like you want to help them, but all you've done so far is bully them. You're our team captain! You're supposed to lead us! Not tear us down just so you can feel better about yourself!"

Her voice cracked at the last word, and she could feel the frustrated tears well up in her eyes. She cried when she was angry, a flaw in herself she greatly resented. Even so, she rarely ever lost her temper like this, but she couldn't stand hearing Kai talk down to her or her teammates. If they were gonna succeed as a team, they needed to work together.

Kai stood there stunned. No one had ever yelled at him like that before. Especially not someone who was normally so quiet.

He didn't have time to think of a response, as her fiery eyes quickly turned to ones full of fear and embarrassment. She scooped up her laptop and her bag and hurried off in the direction of the hotel, not daring to look back.

————————

Persephone made it back to the hotel, panting from sprinting all the way back. She fumbled with her hotel key, but managed to finally get in the door and shut it behind her. She made her way to the bedroom, tears staining her cheeks. How could she scream at her team captain like that? He was definitely going to hate her now.She padded into the bedroom, the silent room leading her to believe she was alone, but she was wrong. Her puffy eyes meeting cat-like yellow ones.

Ray lay on the bed, hair still damp from his shower, looking at her with concern.

"Hey are you crying? What happened?" he asked, throwing off the covers to sit at the edge of the bed.

Persephone hesitated, but Ray patted the bed next to him, and she took up his offer for support.

"Kai took me with him to go train in the woods with him. He was being such a jerk to me and about the team and I just- I lost it. I yelled at him, and then I just ran," she choked back a sob, bouncing her knee against the carpet below, "Oh my god he's going to hate me," she cried, holding her head in her hands.

Ray was silent, before a cheerful laugh rang through her eyes. He felt a heavy hand pat her back, and she felt chills go up her spine. She lifted her head in confusion.

"It's about time someone stuck up to that guy. I just wasn't expecting it to be you," Ray chuckled.

"But he's gonna hate me. How the hell am I supposed to work with him now?"

"He won't hate you. He's just an asshole on the outside, and he's serious about winning, so I doubt he'd do anything to jeopardize that."

Persephone nodded, and Ray threw his arm around her.

"Hey cheer up alright? Everything will be okay."

Persephone sniffled and wiped her eyes, offering up a small smile.

"Are you okay?" she asked.

Ray's cheery expression faltered for a second, but quickly returned, "Yeah I'm okay. We'll both be okay, yeah?"

"Yeah. We'll both be okay."

——-

A/N: Hey guys! I've finally beat my writer's block so here's the new chapter! The next one should be up in a few days, so let me know what you guys think so far!