Emotionless Tomorrows

Rim: I’ve finally made it to the last chapter after like several years of procrastinating on this thing, and busy with other things. Now I can finally move on to so many other things that I’ve left untouched for a while.

Akito: You should be thanking who for this.

Rim: Thank you Akito and Kanzaki!

Kanzaki: Now let’s get this out of the way.

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The continuous beeping of the monitor hooked up to the battered bluenette reminded the red head that the angel laying within the hospital bed was alive by the very grace of God himself. Shifting his eyes to clear bag of saline solution running through an IV into Tyson’s arm, no more than days ago it was accompanied by a bag of blood from a blood transfusion, that also being a miracle from heaven seeing as how Tala had been right up the alley to donate.

Moving his attention back to his pervious thought, he never figured he was a very religious person per say growing up in the environment of Boris’s abbey. He always questioned what type of God was cruel to take away a child’s family and simple comforts and place them in the situations he dealt with. In thinking on the same level, what sort of God would blindly allow this blue haired angel to suffer at the hands of someone they loved for so many years. But the fact that Tyson was still alive after what was done to him, sparked a small fascination of whether it was the help of a higher power.

There were still going to be scars left behind on Tyson’s heart, his mind, and maybe even his soul. Hopefully Tala could be there in those dark times to pull Tyson afloat. God shouldn’t think to allow this angel to drown anymore. He didn’t deserve any more pulled up on him.

Tala sat back in the hospital chair he had been occupying since that day almost a week ago when he went with Sarutobi-Kai’s butler who was planning to take Tyson out of the hostile relationship Kai shackled him into-back to the Hiwatari estate only to discover Kai had murdered two maids one of which was Sarutobi’s sister, Silba, and another maid. Not only that, but Tyson was wounded from a gunshot wound. Eventually Kai was able to injure Sarutobi and would have finished him off.

Having heard the gunshots outside whilst awaiting the butler to come back, Tala instinctively grabbed the gun Sarutobi told him was hiding under the seat of the car that was suppose to be Tyson’s ride to freedom. Tala can still remember the next few shots as he switched off the safety lock on the gun, rushing into the mansion as quickly and as quietly as he could to not alert Kai of his presence. Any noise he made on his way in and up the stairs was covered by sounds of more gunfire.

Turning his eyes back on the still unconscious young man, breaking from the memory, Tala watched the soft rise and falls of his angel’s chest. He had not hesitated one second killing Kai who was distracted with preparing to kill the butler. The angry, hostile words spewing from Kai’s lips about how Tyson was going to die and go to hell with him were too much for Tala to handle.

A fury at the carnage Kai nonchalantly caused erupted, blinding Tala who emptied the clip into Kai even after the dual haired bluenette was down and unarmed. When Tala finally came around, his mind riddled him with guilt as it sympathized with Kai. It truly was not his fault how his grandfather and Boris screwed him over. Yet it was no reason to turn on his lover.

“You were brave for staying with him through thick and thin…or was it out of pity? Did you sympathize with the pain he went through? Or was it fear after all this time?” Tala whispered, leaning forward and taking Tyson’s hand in his. Lacing his fingers with Tyson’s, he gave the limp hand a tiny squeeze.

“Tala…”

“Hm…?” Tala tilted his head to the side, finding the Chinese Bladebreaker behind him. He hadn’t even heard the male enter the room being so wrapped up in his thoughts. Rei walked forward once his presence was acknowledge, his eyes rimmed red from all the crying.

That same day Tala killed Kai and managed to rush Sarutobi and Tyson to the hospital was also the same day Rei and the others received the call from the hospital to come. By the time they arrived, he knew they were never going to believe what he had to tell them. In fact, Rei almost beat him on the spot out of anger that he would accuse Kai of such heinous crimes.

The blow of Kai’s death and the murder of the two maids were blown away by the diagnosis one of the doctors who took Tyson into immediate surgery gave. Not even Mr. Dickenson who was informed and arrived quicker than Tala expected was ready to discover the dark world Tyson had been living in for so long that it was amazing anyone brought it into light. The many scars, bruises, broken bones, and factures…

“How’s his condition?” Rei whispered.

“The same.”

“Oh…” Rei closed his mouth, turning his eyes from what someone he mistook as a person who could do no harm, did secretly over the course of years. “I’m sorry…”

“You shouldn’t apologize, I told you once before that I understood,” Tala assured. “It’s really okay, I’m holding no grudges.”

“No, it’s not okay,” Rei shook his head. “We should have see it too. The signs were there staring us in the face. We could have stopped it from going this far. But we thought everything was fine because they acted like nothing was happening.”

“We can’t always know what’s happening. Especially if you only see good when they are around. We hide the ugly scars from others because it’s something we learned to do,” Tala stated, rubbing the back of Tyson’s bandaged hand with his thumb.

“We were the ones closest to him though. Nothing clicked into place. It feels as if I let him down as a friend. How could we just--” Rei broke off as tears brimmed over, trickling down the crevices of Rei’s face.

Tala turned sympathetic blue eyes on the other man. “You can not take the blame for this.”

“I hate him now,” Rei sobbed, clenching his fists at his side. He turned his head downwards. “I want to make Kai suffer for this. Kenny, Max, Mr. Dickenson…we all hate him for this. We want to scream at him why. Why would he do something like this to Tyson? To someone he loved? Why would he put Tyson through what he went through?”

“I hated him when I stopped him,” Tala admitted. “When I saw what he did, I blanked out and I couldn’t stop myself from emptying that entire clip into him. I wanted to do more, but he was already dead. I wanted to make him suffer. But now--”

“But now…?”

“But now I pity him. He couldn’t let go of the past. He was bound to it even after his grandfather was dead. He had no control over it. Of course it gives him no reason for going to this extremity…I just realize there are two sides of the coin.”

“I still hate him,” Rei spoke.

“You will probably hate him for years now. Every time you see Tyson, you may feel guilty, but you have to move on eventually for Tyson’s sake,” Tala murmured.

“Tala…tell me…how did you see past the mask and discover what none of us knew? How could you have know what was happening?” Rei questioned. Tala looked at the gold eyed male for a long minute, saying nothing before turning his eyes upon the bluenette.

“It’s because as Bryan puts it, I was being paranoid. When you love someone, you notice different things about them. You become paranoid over every little thing surrounding them. It just happened that this time it wasn’t my imagination,” Tala mumbled quietly, but he knew that Rei could still hear him.

“It scares me…” Rei finally stated after a long set of silence. “You suffered too, didn’t you? You all did, yet you didn’t turn out like Kai. Or maybe you did, but like Kai you’re hiding it. How are we going to be sure Tyson’s not going to be hurt if we allow you to remain by his side?”

“It’s natural to get uneasy after something like this,” Tala guaranteed. “I’m not going to push him towards anything against his will.” A soft knock on the hospital room door interrupted the conversation between the two. Tala tilted his head around to see Bryan in the doorway. “Oh, Bryan, come in.”

“I just got off the phone with Spencer and Ian, they’re better, I think news about Kai finally sunk in. They wanted to ask if there was any changes in Tyson’s condition?” Bryan shut the door, taking a few steps short of where Rei was, turning his eyes on the bandaged man in the bed.

“No, but the doctors said he’s damn lucky that the bullet hit bone instead of a vital organ. The doctors are expecting him to come around at any time now,” Tala responded.

“That’s good,” Bryan nodded somberly. Taking his eyes off Tyson, his attention shifted to Rei. “Are you and the others going to be all right, Rei?”

“I-I guess…we haven’t sorted through all the mess in our heads as of yet. It’s a little hard to…we all thought we knew Kai, but--” Rei trailed off, his eyes misting at the sight of Tyson.

“Things like this are never easy,” Bryan shook his head, his attention turning to Tala. “How’s the butler?”

“I heard the doctors were going to release him in two more days. He’s still grieving over his sister’s death, but when I was sitting with him earlier, he was grateful he didn’t have to see another person die by Kai’s hands,” Tala commented.

“So does he know what he’s going to do now?”

“Well…he doesn’t really know right now. I suppose first he’s going to bury his sister. After that he’ll make a plan, I guess,” Tala thought.

“Mr. Dickenson is going to take the Hiwatari estate and compensate all those who have suffered from this,” Rei spoke up.

“Just how many people is a tough figure to crunch,” Bryan frowned combing a hand through his hair. Rei gave him a funny look towards the remark.

“What Bryan is saying…is that you don’t expect those at the estate who presently work for Kai to be all his victims. We’re both sure there are plenty of others who he’s killed to cover up his crimes,” Tala explained.

“Exactly. I don’t expect it to be so simple. He never was expecting to get caught, so he would have been thorough about keeping his sins from others. The sheer amount of people he would have--”

“Twelve…” a voice came from the bed. All eyes turned to the pair of dark blue ones that opened slightly from the face whose bruises were finally going away.

“Ty…” Rei said, his voice cracking under both grief and a sense of peace his friend was finally conscious.

“Twelve…” Tyson repeated.

“Twelve people who crossed Kai’s path and never made it out alive?” Tala shook his head when Tyson nodded slightly. “There will be no more victims Tyson.”

“Kai…” Tyson muttered hoarsely.

“I wasn’t able to save him,” Tala answered. “The butler, Sarutobi was about to be killed. I had no choice but to shoot and kill him.”

Tyson only nodded slightly, the answer both made his heart heavy and flutter. Kai deserved to die, his mind told him that, but his heart knew he didn’t deserve to die because of the state of mind Kai suffered from. Tyson would have preferred for Kai to be locked away somewhere forever with a chance to come to terms with his issues. Then again, some people didn’t change. There was no guarantee Kai would have changed his life for the better.

“Do you hate me Tyson?” Tala asked the question he wanted to know since he sat by Tyson’s beside after the surgery.

“No…”

“Hey Rei,” Bryan said, placing a hand on the other’s shoulder. “How about I buy you some coffee to calm your nerves. Now that Tyson’s awake, you don’t have to fret so much. It’ll help you tell the others.”

“I-I-I” Rei stammered through his tears. “I dunno…”

“It’s okay…” Tyson smiled a little. “I’m in good hands.” Tyson indicated to the red head who still had his fingers laced with his hand. The thumb still gently stroking the back of his hand. It had also been that simple act to bring him out of the darkness. The sense that he no longer had to worry surrounding him, giving Tyson the courage to open his eyes and not be afraid a fist was going to rain down on him.

“Are you sure?” Rei voiced with fearful eyes only to have Tyson nod.

“Tala won’t hurt me, I know he won’t in my heart.”

“Come on, let’s get you a cup of coffee,” Bryan said, leading Rei out of the room. When the two were gone, Tyson turned his eyes on his hand laced with Tala’s. It had been so long that such a simple gesture of comfort and affection was given to him.

“Does it make you uncomfortable?” Tala wondered.

“No, don’t stop,” Tyson whispered. “Thank you, Tala. How did you know though? Did Sarutobi tell you what was going on?”

“I only confirmed my worst suspicions with him. When I saw you for the first time in so many years, I knew immediately something was wrong,” Tala said.

“Because you love me?” Tyson probed. “Only with those you really love can you know something like that. I was like that with Kai.”

“Do you fear me loving you?” Tala didn’t want to be shot down later. He would let go now if Tyson was too broken after so many years of mistrust and abuse. Tala would never forcibly hold on and risk becoming another Kai for the bluenette.

“I will never fear you,” Tyson assured.

“Why?” Tala blinked.

“Because you found me lost and hurt, and you have fixed my broken wings,” Tyson stated, his eyes closing once more. A gentle smile softened the bruised features.

“Tyson,” Tala murmured, getting up from his chair, fingers still intertwined with his angel’s as he sat on the bed at Tyson’s side.

“Hm?” Tyson’s eyes opened momentarily.

“Do you mind if I stay by your side for a while longer?” Tala asked.

“Yes…I do mind,” Tyson said back. “I don’t want you by my side for a little while. Don’t leave me alone ever. I can’t take being in the dark again.”

“If this was a book, you know it would be the most clichéd ending to a romance novel,” Tala laughed a little, raising Tyson’s hand to his lips, kissing the back of it.

“To hell with what’s clichéd and what’s not,” Tyson muttered.

“Then…I guess you’re stuck with me on this road of recovery. I never wanted to leave your side anyway,” Tala smiled softly.

“Good, I want it no other way.”


~End~


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Rim: And I’m done before eight!

Kanzaki: Congratulations on a job well done.

Akito: I thought the day would never come that we were done fretting about when you were going to get to the end of the story, and now you have an entire journal filled up with this one story.

Rim: Yep, and I have my sister to thank for making the prequel which was my entire inspiration for writing his story. I hope everyone has enjoyed reading it, and happen to check out my other stories in my profile.

Akito: Now you can get back to work on There Are Always Prices, Aster Fall, Pushing Me Away, A Little Less Sixteen Candles, Legend of the Dynasty, Dear Teacher, Ai--

Rim: Okay you can stop! I know…I know…my work is never done.