Distress- Rei
When Rei finally came to, he was aware of only two things, firstly; the pain. His arms, back and sides all felt bruised
and he was bleeding from numerous cuts. The poison inside him was burning through his bloodstream and his
muscles ached but none of these compared to the agony in his chest. His ribs had been broken and he could hardly
breathe from the pain. The only other thing he could think of was that he was alone. There was no one, no one to
guide him and no one to hurt him, just his own personal darkness surrounding him and the pain in one mote of
being.
Rei opened his eyes, desperate for some consolation but nothing had changed. Unable to tell anything else about his
surroundings from his uncomfortable position on the stone floor. Rei finally summoned enough strength to push
himself up into a sitting position. It was a big mistake.
Rei let loose a short panicked scream at the lightning pain that shot through his entire body. He collapsed back to
the floor again his body racked with agony.
'Hey' the small tired voice surprised Rei so much that he almost forgot the pain for a second.
'Who…' he croaked, his voice rough from thirst. 'Whose there?' There was a sound of movement just a few meters
away.
'In the cell across from yours. Can't you see?' The voice was quiet and sounded quite young. Wearily Rei opened his
eyes and lifted his head to stare sightlessly across to the source of the voice.
'Oh!' came a disappointed reply. 'They've given you 'crimson eye.' Rei rolled carefully onto his back and slowly
relaxed all his muscles. Thankfully it seemed to allay the pain of his broken ribs somewhat.
'Poison?' he asked shortly, it hurt him even to talk.
'Mm hm. Oh, shhh, there's someone coming.' Rei closed his eyes again and tried to listen to the footsteps coming
closer. He was finding it hard to concentrate anymore though and it felt like his hearing was giving up on him.
The footsteps, at first quite distant, would go silent and then seconds later appear again, only much closer. Rei's
breathe began coming quicker. He started shivering slightly, fearing they were coming for him. The footsteps went
silent again. Rei jumped slightly when they appeared again almost right next to his head. He gasped slightly with
shock and squeezed his eyes tight against sudden pricking tears of distress.
'Awake are you?' came a rough voice, filled with displeasure, 'Get up then, weakling.' Rei didn't know what he feared
more, the pain of moving or the pain that would be sure to come if he didn't obey. His indecision cost him.
'what are you? Deaf boy? I said get up.' with that, Rei let out a gasp as someone grabbed his hair and hauled him
roughly to his feet. The voice faded away and all sounds were lost to Rei for a while as he concentrated all his will on
fighting the pain and dizziness that tried to overtake him. Stumbling back slightly, Rei felt someone grab his arms
and he was pulled forward. Sound suddenly rushed back and surrounded him. all around there was footsteps and
people shouting orders. He was unable to keep up with the quick steps of whoever was pulling him along and soon
found himself being dragged down rough stone corridors. Rei shivered violently, he had a feeling he knew what was
going to happen. Though his fingers had gone numb from cold and hurt, he could tell that Drigger was still there.
From the feel of it, they had gone so far as to tie his blade to his hand to stop him dropping it and maybe killing
himself in the process.
Because he knew now, Drigger was all that kept him alive, he was dying from this poison they'd given him and
Drigger was only slowing the agony of death. Suddenly the hands let him go and somehow Rei managed to stay on
his feet, swaying slightly as he waited.
'Now Rei.' It was that voice again, Boris. Rei shook his head to clear his thoughts. 'I believe you know what we want
you to do, There's a Bey Disc right in front of you, all you have to do is launch your Blade.' Someone shoved
something into Rei's left hand, he realised seconds later that it was a launcher. How kind he thought bitterly as he
fumbled to bring the launcher and his blade together. His hands shook too much though and he knew he was in no
condition to launch a blade properly right now. Finally, someone took his hands and connected the two together for
him. He remembered bitterly his previous refusal to ever help Biovolt. He knew now that he'd rather not face the pain
again, so, with his hands shaking and his back bent over in an attempt to stop the agony from his ribs, Rei lifted his
arms.
'three…two…one…' he whispered painfully before pulling as hard as he could on the ripcord. There was a silence as
he fell to his knees. He could tell his shot had been totally pitiful but how could they expect him to do any better like
this. With the last of his strength he called Drigger back to his hand.
'Master Rei.' It was Boris, 'I'm afraid you're going to have to do much better than that if you expect to help us.' Rei's
breathes came short and quick, he could hardly breathe in at all.
'I can't' he whispered as tears trickled slowly down his cheek.
'What was that?' asked Boris, he sounded surprised. Idiot thought Rei, angry now.
'I said I can't.' he growled through clenched teeth. 'I can hardly stand and you expect me to launch a blade as if I was
in perfect condition. I am not a machine. I can't do it. I can hardly breathe for pity's sake.' He stopped as another
wave of dizziness came over him and he was left gasping for air through all the pain. 'I can't do it.' He whispered
finally before letting go and collapsing into further darkness.
