1Author: Hey guys, I'm back with another fic. But first of all sorry everyone for the delay in publishing the next chapter of 'Rise of the Pheonix', these are tough days you know. So, I had this draft sitting for a while now and saw it yesterday so I thought I should post it.
Hiro: What is it now with this crazy girl writing one more fic? you already have one going on.
Author:Rolls her eyes Ya, but I got you married in this one... to Crystal, it's Horror story, It's inspired by a fic written ages ago by Aya Granger, So this one has no connection my any other fics. So Hiro, do the disclaimer now.
Hiro:mumbles under his breath First she got me beaten up by Kaihil and Tyhil fans then she had me possessed by Zeus and now she wants me to star in her horror story. 'Rubies and Amythest doesn't owns beyblade or any of its characters except OCs 'Crystal' and 'Ayaka'.'
Author:putting up her best fake sincere smile Oh don't worry, On with the fic.
Crystal stared out the window, watching a single cloud floating across the blue sky. Her aquamarine eyes were sad, wishing it were any other day than the day it was. "That's not fair, why does this day have to exist?!" she called to that lone cloud, sadness evident in her voice. She slammed the window shut and turned away .She pushed her brown hair out of her aquamarine eyes, with a little sigh.
Strong arms encircled her waist. "Honey, what did that cloud do to you? Don't tell me it rained on your parade?" came her husband's voice. He spun her around and hugged her, causing her to giggle a little. Hiro Granger was looking drop dead gorgeous in a pair of tight fitting jeans, a white shirt, and dress shoes.
She looked up at him with a small smile on her face. "It's just that... it's Father's Day today." she said softly. She laid her head on his big, strong shoulder and closed her eyes. "I think about them some times..." Thinking about her biological parents, wondering who they were.
Hiro kissed her forehead. "Then why don't you go visit Mr and Mrs Dickenson." he replied, speaking of her adoptive parents. "I'm sure they would be more than glad to see you." he smiled reassuringly down at her. "Even though daddy's little princess met him just yesterday at the meeting about artifacts we discovered during our latest project." he said jokingly, earning a playful slap on chest.
Looking up at him she replied "Yeah, but I was referring to my biological parents. Don't get me wrong Hiro, I love my adoptive parents but sometimes when I think about- how I always had J. Raven with me, why do I have this special connection with bitbeasts and all these kinds of things, they all lead to a common question who were they?" She continued while staring a hole in her shoes. "But then... I don't even have their names as St. Christopher's forbade any of us as they used to say that we should not cling to the past..."
"Is why your surname used to be St. Christopher?" he asked softly. She rarely spoke of the orphanage where she'd spent the first ten years of her life before being adopted by Mr. Dickenson. All he knew was that it was a catholic orphanage located in the mountains of Switzerland and had been run by a nun and a priest.
She nodded, stepping out of his arms and grabbing one of his hands in her own. "Yes, every boy was named after a saint or prophet. And girls were named after a righteous woman from the bible." she sat back on the couch dragging him along with her "There was one Christopher St. Christopher too. He was one of my friends at the orphanage."
He wrapped his arms around her, hugging her close. "Then what happened to you? Crystal doesn't sound like a bible name" he asked gently. "Or are you an exception to the rule?" He slowly lifted her onto his lap. He rested his head on hers while staring at their wedding picture on the wall in front of them.
She gave a little laugh, hardly above a low chuckle "They told me that they tried to change my name to Rachel but I was already a year old when I got there and wouldn't answer any other name except the one my biological parents gave me so they had to keep up with it. Sister Mary used to say that I was the most stubborn kid they ever faced."
He chuckled and said "I knew you were stubborn ever since our first beybattle, 'The Blazing Queen of the Arena'." she chuckled hearing this.
He then asked, "Did they know you have a gift?"
"I... don't know, I mean no one used to Beyblade there, well except Joseph and me, but he never had a bit beast, maybe they didn't even know if anything like bit-beasts exists or not, I got to know about bit-chip -that I had in my baby bracelet- after I was adopted. It was one of the two things my bio parents left for me, the other being my Beyblade. "
They remained like that for some time as silence surrounded them until "Is St. Christopher's still in operation?" Hiro asked as some plan cooked inside his head.
"No, why?... Hiro... what's going on in that head of yours?"
He smiled a little "I was just thinking that if it were, we could go visit it. Look out for some of your childhood friends...and maybe see if the orphanage's office had anything on your parents. But if it's no longer in operation, then it would be hard to gain entry inside."
"It won't be hard if you have a key to the front door" she said while smirking.
"What are you doing with a key? " Hiri asked with an amused expression.
"Sister Mary Johnson and Father Thomas gave each of us an old fashion key to the front door. 'If you ever want to come back after leaving us.' Sister Mary used to tell us girls every time she made sure we still had them." replied Crystal.
Hiro nodded. "I think I get the idea. It's that intricate silver key that hangs on the silver filigree chain with the St. Christopher medal. The one you keep in your jewelry box, right?" He made a thoughtful sound. "And all this time, I thought it went to that music box your mom insisted you take out of your old room last time we visited them for dinner."
She shook her head, her brown hair sliding across the back of her maroon tank top. "There hasn't been a key to that old music box since she found it on the front steps the day they brought me home." she was about to say something when the door burst open, admitting Hiro's brother Tyson and his girlfriend, Ayaka.
"Aniki!" called Tyson as he raced over and plopped on the couch next to them. Ayaka still stood in the doorway, giggling. "Did you forget?"
Hiro blinked, his face showing evident confusion. "Did I forget what, Kiddo?" then it hit him what Tyson had called him. "And don't call me Aniki!" he growled in slight irritation.
"But you are my brother." said Tyson blinking slightly.
Hiro sighed as he motioned for Ayaka to have a seat. "I know Kiddo. But it's still not very appropriate. Now what is it that you think I forgot?"
Tyson bounced a little more, taking a handful of chocolate kisses out of the candy dish on the coffee table. "It's Sunday. Ayaka and I would have been home alone since her parents went to visit a sick relative and Grandpa too is going out of town so we were supposed to spend a week with you and Crystal, grandpa told you, remember? and Grandpa said you agreed, so we were waiting for you to pick us up but since you forgot so grandpa dropped us here ." said Tyson while eating chocolates.
'Wasn't that three months ago that he asked him and they looked after Tyson for a week and he forgot to tell me this time' thinking Hiro cursed under his breath but he didn't mind as Tyson was his baby brother. "You can still stay, but Crysie and I aren't going to be here. That means you'd either have to invite Kai and Hilary to stay with you since Ray and Mariah are in China right now."
The bouncy bluenette blinked again. "Where are you going, nii-chan?"
Hiro gave a smile and regarded Tyson. "To St. Christopher's orphanage in Switzerland." he felt his wife staring at him, a little surprised as she thought he wasn't serious earlier.
"Oooh!" said Ayaka finally drawing attention to herself, "Are you going to adopt?" there was a hint of excitement in her sparkling gray eyes. "That would be so sweet since Crystal was adopted too."
Crystal smiled at the joyful girl. "No Ayaka. But if we discover we can't conceive when we decide to have children, then we will definitely look into that." They had decided to wait to have children until they had completed two years of their marriage. They had made that decision after Crystal had conceived their wedding night and then miscarried in two months. Neither had known she was pregnant.
"I don't get it," said Tyson scratching his head. "If you're not going to adopt, then why are you going to an orphanage that far away in the first place?"
Hiro moved and ruffled his hair affectionately. "Because kiddo, We're going there to see the place where Crysie grew up the first ten years of her life. That's all. Any other questions?"
Tyson nodded adamantly. "Just one...Can we come with you guys, pretty please?" he begged, indicating to himself and Ayaka.
Hiro shrugged. "It's not up to me, Crysie is the reason we're going in the first place. So you gotta ask her if you might go." he replied, secretly hoping that she would say 'no' as he wanted to spend this little trip alone just with her. But knowing Crystal and Tyson's mother-son-like relationship, Hiro knew what was gonna happen now, and sympathetic looks he was receiving from Ayaka just confirmed it.
Tyson turned his eyes to her giving her the puppy dog look. "Please, Crystal! I promise we won't get in the way. And I promise we'll listen to you and Hiro. It won't be like the time you let me go to Paris with you. I promise."
Crystal thought about it, it hadn't been Hiro's brightest idea to take Tyson with them on their honeymoon. But Grandpa had been away and they had been unable to find anyone to look after Tyson also she couldn't say no when Tyson made such a cute puppy dog face.
"Well, alright Ty-chan. Just don't go broadcasting it to everyone. I don't know about Hiro, but I don't want Blitzkrieg Boys breaking in and throwing another party just because they think it is funny to piss me off."
Tyson abruptly hugged her. "Thanks, Crystal-chan." he stood and held out his hand to Ayaka. "So Ayaka, let's go to Max's, his dad had called us all to check new Beyblade parts. Bye Crystal, we'll be back before dinner." with those words, the pair was gone as fast as they had come, leaving the front door open.
Hiro stood and went to close the door. "You know what, Crysie," he said with a chuckle as he straightened a picture that hung next to the door. "This is probably going to be like Paris..." At that moment he turned back to face her, and discovered she was gone. "Crysie?" he called loudly.
Crystal stood in the bedroom closet, searching for something. As soon as Tyson and Ayaka left, she'd gone up the stairs to look. She knew she still had it somewhere. She vaguely heard Hiro calling her from the living room. "Bedroom, Hon," she called to him. Then she saw it there under a bunch of Hiro's and her collective albums.
The black leather-bound volume that Christopher had given her, looked more like a catholic church choir book than a book of photos. She ran her fingers over the gilded letters that were etched on the cover. "St. Christopher's Home For Children." she read softly. 'St. Christopher's Home for the Unwanted was more like it.' she thought. It had been a great place to grow up, but few were ever actually adopted. And those few that were, they were usually back at St. Christopher's within a few months.
Hiro stood, leaning against the doorway. "So this is where you ran off to?" he said with some amusement in his voice. Then his eyes spied the black leather book in her hands. "And what's that, honey?" he asked. It was something he'd never seen before, this slender black book she held.
Crystal sat on the bed and padded the space next to her. "This? This is my St. Christopher photo album. This is the first time I am going to see it actually" She smiled up at him. "There are only about five in existence. Which belongs to me, Christopher, Martha, Peter, and Ruth." she paused and took a breath. "The sixth would have been Joseph's, but he fell down the steps of Prayer House and died."
Hiro went and crawled behind his wife, putting his head on her shoulder. "What's Prayer House?" he asked as she opened the book to the first cream-colored page which bore 'Crystal St. Christopher – Wish House Six' on it in a ten-year-old's childish handwriting.
Crystal smiled a little at Christopher's notation on the first page. "Prayer House was where all thirty of us Orphans, including the babies, attended morning and evening catholic mass."
She flipped the page to a picture of six smiling children standing in front of a low, squat, building. "Here we are," she said. Five of the children in the old photo bore raven colored hair, the sixth a sort of reddish color like Salima or Daichi but the face was the one he could identify in crowd of millions i.e. his Crystal. "This is us on the steps of Wish House after Easter Mass." she pointed them out in turn, naming each as her finger glided over them. "... this one is Christopher, and that last one is me obviously."
Hiro eyed the picture, smiling but feeling a little weird seeing Crystal with anyone other than Mr and Mrs Dickenson. "So Dear? What is Wish House then?" he said as she flipped the page again to reveal another picture of the same smiling children, this time at play in front of a much larger building that reminded him of an old church.
She smiled, turning her head to look at him. "Wish House was the building where the six of us who had never once been adopted were housed. We didn't even have to show up at the Adoption Day Party, unless we were wanted. Sister Mary always told us it was so that our hearts wouldn't get broken again. Joseph died two days after we learned that he was going to be adopted by an English couple."
He smiled. "That was nice of the old nun. So why was it called Wish House anyways?" he prodded gently, sidestepping the death of Joseph as Crystal still used to have nightmares about that sometimes and would become very scared after that. She wouldn't sleep again until he would console her, but then she won't remember anything about having the nightmares next day.
She grew thoughtful. "You know what...No one really knows. The town used to say behind our backs that The Orphanage was actually a cult for the Occult. And that we children were sacrifices to the demons. But I never put too much stock in that." she froze as she flipped to the pictures taken few months before she left.
Hiro blinked as he felt her tense up. "Crysie? Who is the second priest? If that is Father Thomas," he said indicating towards old man standing at the back of the thirty orphans in the picture. "Then who is this guy?"
"Father Dominic..." Crystal said softly, her eyes widening. "He was brought in to investigate a sudden disappearances of people at St. Christopher's. But when he left, Father Thomas told us he was just a fragment of our imaginations." her aquamarine eyes were on the young priest standing off to the side of the group. "I believed Father Thomas...Until now."
Hiro moved his head from her shoulder and shook it. "What kind of place was it that you grew up in, Crysie?" he asked softly. Even though he was slightly worried now, he wasn't going to cancel their plan.
She smiled as she closed the photo album and placed it on her bedside table. She shifted around to face him. "It wasn't so bad." she said with a little chuckle. "I have some good memories too. But I'm glad Dad adopted me. If he hadn't, I never would have met you or fell in love." she added while slightly brushing her fingertips with Hiro's.
Hiro pinned her to their bed, and kissed her intensely. "I think I fell for you the moment I saw you in our school." He said huskily. "Oh really?" she replied with seductive voice. He licked the spot behind her ear making her moan, then he started a trail of kisses from her neck down to her shoulder while feeling an urgent need to get rid of the clothes separating them "You know then our first beybattle, then you started to come in my dreams and... Oh, Damn it!" he suddenly growled as their bedroom door burst open with a bang.
"Crystal, how many people would you and..." Tyson's words trailed off as he saw the compromised position his brother and sister-in-law were in. "Uh oh..." he said softly. "I just pulled out another Paris, didn't I?" He covered his brown eyes with his hands while Hiro was sending glares his way.
Crystal pushed Hiro away- who was furious at Tyson for disturbing him while romancing his wife- to get up immediately and smiling she said "It's alright Tyson, we didn't exactly locked the door, did we Hiro?", playing the peace maker as usual. "So... what was your question again?"
Tyson opening his eyes smiled and accepted the unspoken truce Crystal was declaring between him and his brother. "I wanted to know how many people you and Hiro would be willing to take on this trip of yours?" he repeated.
Hiro deepened the glare he was sending at Tyson. "Tyson Granger! Just what have you done this time?" he questioned, crossing his arms. His little brother could act very stupid sometimes.
Tyson looked away. "Ikindoftoldeveryoneaboutthetripand nowtheyallwannago." he said in a rush. This made it kind of difficult for both Crystal and Hiro to understand what he was saying.
Crystal looked at Tyson like he was speaking an alien language. "OK Tyson, a little slowly . And one word at a time, we don't have a train to catch right? So, just take a deep breath and try again."
Tyson took a breath and covered his head. "I kind of told everyone about the trip and now they all wanna go." He suddenly ducked to avoid the pillow Hiro just threw to hit him. "Crystal, please don't let him kill me! please don't let him kill me!" he said while hiding behind her.
Crystal held her hands up in defeat and stepped aside, moving out of Hiro's way. "I can shield you from your brother's anger only to a certain time limit." she smiled and ruffled his hair. "but I will give you a head start. So kiddo, I advise you... to run."
Tyson immediately considered her advice and rushed out of the room.
Hiro rushed after him. "I'm gonna kill him this time." He rushed out the door after his brother.
Crystal shook her head as she watched them go. "It's like deja vu all over again." she smiled, thinking this was going to be an interesting trip to Switzerland.
TO BE CONTINUED...
Crystal: Adopted daughter of Mr. D, Hiro's wife and research partner, veteran beyblader, Archeologist, that's all we need to know right now.
Ayaka: Tyson's girlfriend and classmate, Hilary's close friend. strawberry-blonde hair, beige skin tone, gray eyes. Ayaka is neat, a little mature, and organized unlike Tyson, but along with it fun to be around, joyful and not to forget a really good cook too.
Author: That's it guys, Please me tell if you like it or not, criticism is accepted (but as constructive criticism) so please leave your thoughts as Reviews.
Rubies and Amethyst.