12A/N: This is for SnowyFlame's Contest! She is an amazing authoress and I want to reward her hard work with this one-shot. More people should take part in this contest! It's real fun. Keep up the hard work, Snowy, and do your best!
Disclaimer: I don't make any profit from this story. It's only fan-made. The characters don't belong to me either. Even if she is only mentioned in the story, Ai belongs to her creator, SnowyFlame.
Ripped. Broken. Devastated.
That's how she felt whenever they turned their back on her, making her feel useless. No hope at all.
The simple dismiss of their hands, all the disgusted and hateful looks she got from the ones she cared for, all of them ripped at her heart and soul. In a single moment all her hope was crushed under their cold stares, leaving her feeling dead on the inside. As if a part of her was wasn't there anymore.
It wasn't always like this. They were her closest friends, supporting each other every moment. Her friends were the good guys, always doing what was right. They had their wrongs, but they made her happy. And that's why Madoka loved them all. They were like a second family to her.
Family. . .The word left a bitter taste on her tongue. It reminded her why she was in this state.
It wasn't always like this. They used to trust her. They used to care and respect her decisions. But not anymore.
The girl had a family, wonderful parents that loved her wholeheartedly, but time and misfortune took them away. Her mother, Ai, what a lovely woman she was, died during childbirth, the reason why Madoka never met her. No siblings, no mother, a hard childhood she had, blaming herself for her mother's death, unhappy to see her father silently cry when he wasn't aware of the brunette's presence.
She eventually got over it and made everything in her power to show her father that she was happy.
They opened the Beyblade Shop and lived happily. That is, until she met them. They were incredible bladers in a mission to save the world, her friends, so Madoka followed them everywhere. Her mechanic skills proved useful in all their adventures around the world.
She was careless and left all that remained of her family behind and when she realized her mistake it was already too late.
Her father got ill and couldn't support himself anymore so he closed the B-Pit. No use to own something you can't take care of. He waited and waited for his child to come back to him, to see her one last time, but she was too busy helping Gingka and the others. With that thought in his mind, the man died in a hospital bed.
She felt terrible for that. She had lost her family, but she still got her friends, right? Friends that helped her get over the pain and misery.
She had lost her family and in it's place she got another one. Little did she know that she would lose it too.
It wasn't planned. No, their meeting was random. Madoka never knew that just the brief crossed glances she and the serpent boy had were going to change her life drastically.
The girl knew he was one of the bad guys, that he was evil, a sadistic member of Dark Nebula, but she couldn't help herself. At first it was pity, seeing his battle against Gingka. She asked herself why wasn't she happy when the blue-bandana boy beat him. Wasn't Reiji Mizuchi the bad one? Then she saw it, in his eyes. He was hiding his true feelings from everyone.
She felt bad for him so she followed him after the battle. Even now, as she tried hard no to cry, she still remembered clearly how it happened.
"I know you're not who you pretend to be!"
He turned and glared at the short girl in front of him, then hissed, "What are you talking about?"
"You are not the one you want us too see, drop this facade already!" How was she so brave, Madoka didn't know, but one thing was for sure. She was determined to see the true Reiji. She took a step toward him. "Please, you don't have to hide anymore. Let it all out. Nobody will hear beside me."
He visibly flinched when she reached out to him. "Stop before I do something to you!"
Despite his answer, Madoka smiled. "No worries. I can see it in your eyes that you don't want to."
Who was this girl and what did she want with him, was all Reiji could think of as Madoka tried yet again to grab his wrist.
"W-why are you doing this? Y-you don't understand. I was always alone, my family is gone."
She let a sad smile grace her lips, "I know how it is to feel alone, Reiji." And just like that she hugged him.
"There is no need to be alone."
Since then Madoka spent a lot more time with the red-head, teaching him to let go of Dark Nebula and embrace freedom. She tried to be discrete, but unfortunately, her friends found out.
It was a big mess. They told her he was evil. She denied it.
"He can't be trusted, Madoka! Why can't you see he's using you to get to us."
It was always about them and she didn't like it one bit. Why couldn't they see the good side of Reiji? He was like a brother to her, the one she never had. Why did they push her away? Just because she offered Reiji a chance? Who was the bad guy now? Madoka didn't know anymore.
She was alone in the cold rain while her former friends were probably looking for a new mechanic.
"Like they could replace me." A broken laugh escaped her parted lips. What were they going to do without her? Who will repair their beys and not charge them for it? Who will be a friend like her? Who, who? But if she thought better, she had done the same. Even before her father died she replaced him. Oh no, she replaced him with them!
Madoka felt like screaming, screaming and screaming until her voice broke, until nothing would have a meaning to her. Why, why, why? Oh no, why?
She needed to talk to someone, to stay sane. Where was Reiji? Did he left her too? Wasn't he her surrogate brother. Siblings that share the same emptiness in their hearts.
The brunette didn't know how much she's been standing in the rain, numbness filling her body, but she could hear someone coming towards her and she didn't turn away.
She already knew who it was.
Reiji stepped out of the shadows, the rain making his hair a darker shade of red, his bright yellow orbs filled with concern for the cerulean-eyed girl. No words were exchanged between them. There was no need for that. He knelt down and dropped his arm around her stiff shoulders in a half-hug.
He understood her like no one else and Madoka was grateful for that. There was no need to be hiding. Not anymore or, at last, not from him.
A whimper echoed as her small frame crushed against his taller one. She let her tears free and cried on his shoulder.
She had lost her family again and in its place she found Reiji.
Was he going to end like her friends? Will her carelessness take him away too? No! Her friends left her deliberately. No one took them away. It was their own fault.
So she cried.
Ripped. Broken. Devastated.
That's how she felt when they left her, blaming her for being lonely, for doing the wrong thing. They left her with a broken heart, a devastated soul, but not lonely. No. She had Reiji and with his help, Madoka was going to fight and shine in the darkness they left behind.
A/N: I hope this is good enough for the contest, Snowy. I apologize for any possible mistakes I made or for OOCness.
BlackCatNeko999