NOOU: Ch. 11: Dead Man: Falling Inside the Black

The entire world was in mourning. Everyone had been shocked at the apparent whirlwind change right before Gingka’s sudden, terrible death. Of course, some had found themselves beginning to hate the redhead for his unexplained change in alliance. Still, even those who had booed at the redhead were of the opinion that he should not have had to die, not in the way that he apparently had. There had still been no word from or about Kyoya or Ryo, both having disappeared directly after the tournament’s end and Doji’s dramatic appearance.

Madoka, working in the B-Pit and trying desperately to face each day, found herself crying at each spare moment. She heavily regretted the words she had said to Gingka. Her anger had caught up with her and exploded, as it usually did, and she had not meant to say much of what she had said. Despite what she had told Gingka, she still loved him. Now, her heart was breaking, bit by bit. If only she had known that he was just trying to protect her and the others, she could have supported him, rather than yelling at him and further causing him to crumble. The sound of his scream still rang in her ears, the sound he had made when he had finally snapped under the pressure. Despite her efforts to keep them out of her mind, images of a bloody, dead Gingka kept popping up in her mind. When she was alone, they flooded her brain and left her trembling and weeping violently.

Maru watched her mentor as the young woman wept. She wanted to comfort the brunette, but she didn’t know how. Zero and the others noticed the young mechanic grow more and more silent around them, her usual cheery attitude subdued. All attempts at conversation within the group eventually ceased completely. They were often together, although silence reigned in their minds and sorrow in their hearts. None of them, save Zero, had ever actually met the Legendary Blader beforehand, but they had all looked up to him before the DNA incident. Practically every blader in the world, save his enemies, had looked up to Gingka in some way, most of them setting him as their goal. In every tournament, he had been the one to beat. After he had disappeared from the public eye, the world had waited for him to come back, while bladers trained hard to surpass him.  

To the entire world, Gingka Hagane was dead. He was merely a legend who had started as a blazing light, a shining example for everyone to follow. He had finished as a fallen, broken statue. He was still an example, but his last few days had not been shining. On the contrary, they had dimmed with each passing moment, each second longer that he had fought to keep his friends safe. But the world didn’t know that. To all but those who had been closest to the Legendary Blader, Gingka was a traitor. To those who knew him best, he was still the shining light he had always been.

The only person in the entire world who didn’t know what Gingka was was the redhead himself. Forced to lay on his back for the time being, the redhead had nothing to do but think. Ever so often, tears would slip from his half-closed eyes as he remembered something a friend had said, the pain he had felt when a bond snapped. He had been overconfident, proud of his strength. He had been sure that he could keep his friends safe with his power. In his self-confidence, he had forgotten that the source of his power was his friends. By the time he realized that protecting them by joining the DNA would break the bonds, it had been too late. With every snap, part of the flame was extinguished.

Doji had known exactly what he was doing. Not only had he gained a strong foothold of fear in the minds of the world, he had been able to slowly weaken Gingka. Nothing gave the evil mastermind more satisfaction than knowing that he had personally brought the Pegasus blader down. Doji had clipped Gingka’s wings, bit by painful bit. Slowly, he had chained the fiery, wild spirit that had defeated him so many times. Ryuga had failed. Ziggurat and the Spiral Core had failed. Even Nemesis had failed. Those facts made Doji’s victory all the more sweet. Gingka had been able to defeat all that Doji had thrown at him, but when Doji pitted the Champion against himself, there was no way Gingka could possibly win.

Doji smirked to himself slightly as he looked over a control panel filled with red buttons. Each button was marked with the name of one of Gingka’s friends. Tricking the redhead had been simple. Once Baihu had tricked Gingka into a trap, Doji had merely had to make the proposal to the redhead.

-Flashback, a few weeks before-

Gingka groaned as he woke up. He looked around in confusion for a few moments before narrowing his eyes and growling. “Hey!” he shouted. “Let e out of here!”

“Now, now, calm down.” Doji’s voice said, chuckling.

Gingka growled, trying to pull free of the bonds restraining him. “Doji! What do you want this time?!”

“Now, now, Hagane. Calm down.” Doji chuckled. “I merely want to talk.”

“Sure, sure.” Gingka said sarcastically. “Let me go and we can talk plenty with our beys!”

“I have a proposition for you.” Doji said, ignoring the redhead’s sarcasm.

“As if I’d agree to do anything for you.” Gingka growled. “Have you forgotten that we’re enemies?”

“Oh, you’ll want to listen to this.” Doji chuckled, as a screen appeared in front of Gingka. The redhead narrowed his eyes as images of all of his friends from around the world appeared.

“These are live feed cameras.” Doji said with a sadistic grin. Gingka bared his teeth slightly.

“So?”

“So we’re close to all of them… Very close.” Doji hovered a hand over one of the red buttons, marked with Madoka’s name.

“With this, we could kill one of them in an instant. All I have to do is press this button, and…” Doji touched the button.

“Stop!” Gingka shouted. “Leave them alone!”

“Oh, don’t worry. They’ll be safe… If you agree to my demands, that is.”

Gingka growled under his breath. “What demands?”

Doji chuckled evilly, making Gingka shiver slightly.

“I brought you here so that we could come to an… Agreement.” Doji said.

“As if I’d agree with you.” Gingka growled. “You represent everything I’ve fought against all these years!”

“Oh, but you will agree with me on this.” Doji chuckled. “Because if you don’t…” his holographic fingertips stroked a button lovingly, “Then your friends will die, one by one, while you stay here, helpless to do anything bus watch.”

Gingka released a sharp gasp, then growled, his hands clenching into fists.

“I’ll let you think about it.” Doji chuckled. “But you’d better decide soon, or else.”

Gingka looked at the ground, closing his eyes. “Fine.” me muttered. “What do you want?”

An evil glint appeared in Doji’s eyes as he smirked. “I want you to work with me, as if you’re on my side.”

Gingka’s eyes and head snapped up. “What?! No way I’d ever-” he froze, tensing as Doji placed his fingers on a button.

“You get one warning.” Doji said. “Either you work with me, or they die while you are forced to watch. Make your choice.”

Gingka closed his eyes, falling silent for a few moments. He couldn’t betray his friends… But he couldn’t let Doji kill them either. These facts considered, Gingka knew that he only had one choice: To join Doji. However, doing that went against everything he had ever fought for. But perhaps… If he could find out how the DNA was going to kill his friends, and secretly take that down while working for them, then he could break away once they were safe. Gingka hid a smirk. That was what he would do. He would pretend that he was going along with Doji’s plans, like the evil mastermind wanted, all while taking down the DNA from the inside. Undoubtedly, he would have to fight his friends, but he could tell them what he was doing and why. They’d understand.

“Fine… I’ll do it. Just don’t hurt them.” Gingka grunted, feigning defeat. Oh, but he would win. He always won in the end, after all, right? Even Nemesis, the so-called God of Destruction, hadn’t been able to win against him. If Nemesis couldn’t beat Gingka, then neither could Doji. However, little did Gingka know at the time that the moment he agreed, Doji had already won. The moment Gingka caved, Doji’s victory was secured.

-end flashback-

As he laid in bed, unable to breathe without difficulty, Gingka thought angrily that he had been a fool to think that he could have ever won. Really, Doji had won the moment Baihu’s trap had worked. Had Gingka not fallen for that obvious trick, had his concern for younger bladers not gotten the better of him, Doji would not have stood a chance. As soon as he was under Doji’s control, Gingka had been defeated. No matter what he had chosen in that room, he would have lost. Either way, he would have lost all of his friends, then died a slow, painful death. The thought tore a whimper from his throat, a sound that instantly woke up a wearied Ryo and brought the Phoenix to his son’s side.

“What’s wrong?” Ryo asked gently, grabbing Gingka’s free hand and clasping his own around it.

“There was no way… I could have kept this… from happening…” Gingka whispered.

“Shh. It’s okay.” Ryo said, stroking the blazing hair of his son.

“No… As soon as Doji.. Got me into the DNA… He had won…” Gingka moaned.

Ryo sighed. He had quickly figured out that, when Gingka got upset about what had happened, it was better just to let the younger redhead get it out.

“Even if I… Resisted… I would have still… Lost everything… And then.. Ended up like this…”Gingka whispered, squeezing his eyes shut.

“Shh. It’s okay. You did what you could. Just rest.” Ryo said calmly.

“It wasn’t enough…” Gingka muttered wearily.

“It was what you could do.” Ryo replied. “And that in itself was rather impressive.”

Gingka shook his head weakly. “No… I failed...  I’m not strong… I never was…”

“Not on your own.” Ryo replied.

“Doji knew that… He had control of me… They all hate me now… Madoka said so... “ Gingka’s voice became choked with tears.

“Shh. It’s okay. You’ll get the bonds you had back. You already have one.” Ryo reached for the bedside table and pressed Pegasus into Gingka’s hand. “You still have the ones with me, Hyoma, and Kyoya. You’re not weak. It’s okay.”

Gingka clenched his fist around the bey. “I’m so tired of this…” He muttered.

“I know. It’s going to be okay.” Ryo sighed.

Gingka closed his eyes, crying himself gradually to sleep. For weeks, the redhead laid in bed, wounds being replaced by scars over time. Ryo let out a sigh of relief the moment that Isha told him that Gingka would definitely survive. However, even though wounds had healed, the scars were still there. The physical pain was gone, but the emotional pain was just as strong as ever. After the first two weeks of complaining that he wasn’t strong enough, had never been strong, Gingka began hiding his thoughts. As Kyoya had promised, he returned a month after returning Pegasus.

“He needs to get up.” The Leone blader said as he stood in the living room of Hyoma’s house.

“He hasn’t fully healed yet.” Ryo said.

“He still needs to get out of that bed for a while.” Kyoya growled. “I know you’ve been thinking the same thing. He has the strength now to be able to move, does he not?”

Ryo sighed, nodding. “But not the strength to stand, not on his own.”

“Then help him. Just get him out of that room.” Kyoya growled, turning and heading outside into the sunshine. The greenette froze as he stepped onto the porch, blinking in surprise.

“Madoka…?”

“Oh, hi Kyoya…” The brunette muttered. “I didn’t think you’d be here.”

“Why are you here?” Kyoya asked slowly.

Madoka looked at the ground and sniffled. “The DNA was attacking Metal Bey City… I didn’t know where else to go… And I guess my mind sorta just… Pulled me here.” the brunette raised her head, eyes looking around the village, most of which was still asleep. “It didn’t really change, did it…?”

Kyoya shook his head, sighing and listening to the noises inside the house behind him. Low voices, probably belonging to Gingka and Ryo, seemed to be arguing.

“I-I don’t think I can bear staying here…” Madoka muttered, snapping Kyoya’s attention back to her. “Because, you know... “

“Come inside.” Kyoya said, his voice gentle, although he was clearly giving an order that he expected her to obey.

Madoka slowly followed the Leone blader inside, raising an eyebrow in surprise at seeing Ryo sitting in the living room, his back to her as he sat on the couch. He seemed to be looking at his lap. Kyoya walked around the couch.

“Madoka’s here.” he said calmly.

Ryo turned, smiling gently at the brunette even as a sharp gasp echoed in the silence following Kyoya’s words. Madoka blinked in confusion, stepping slowly around the couch as Kyoya smirked at her. She gasped and clasped both hands over her mouth in surprise, trembling in surprise and shock as tears sprang to her eyes.

“G-Gingka…?” she stared at the form lying on the couch, his head in Ryo’s lap. Gingka’s eyes flashed in the light from the windows, filled with nothing but fear at seeing the brunette. The sight nearly broke Madoka’s heart, as she took a few quick strides over before sitting down next to Ryo’s feet, reaching out with a trembling hand to stroke Gingka’s face. The redhead shuddered slightly at her touch, then relaxed.

“I’m sorry…” Madoka whispered. “I didn’t mean it. I regretted those words right after I said them…” tears sprang to her eyes and she buried her face in the couch cushion.

Ryo and Kyoya watched Gingka, both smiling slightly as the fear in the redhead’s eyes changed to a soft, gentle look that was reserved for Madoka and Madoka alone. As the brunette continued sobbing into the couch, Gingka slowly sat up, his breathing becoming uneven as he slid off the couch, wincing as he landed next to Madoka. The redhead paused for a few moments to catch his breath, then slipped his arms around Madoka, pulling her close to him. Madoka raised her head slightly, eyes wide, before she twisted in Gingka’s arms and wrapped her arms around him. A worried look appeared on her face for a moment as she felt his uneven breath on her hair.

“It’s okay…” Gingka muttered slowly, sniffling as tears of relief fell from his eyes. He buried his face in Madoka’s hair, his weakened body shaking slightly with sobbing.

“This was what he needed…” Ryo muttered under his breath to Kyoya, who nodded. The two men turned and went outside, leaving the sobbing pair alone.

“I’m sorry…” Gingka whispered repeatedly.
“Gingka…” Madoka kissed the redhead on the cheek gently, rubbing his back to calm him down.

“It’s okay. We both did things that we regretted later, that we shouldn’t have done… I think we’re about even. Don’t worry about it.”

A deep sigh of relief came from Gingka, who stopped trembling, hugging Madoka as tightly as he could without hurting himself.

“I’m just glad you’re alive.” Madoka whispered, burying her face in Gingka’s shirt as she hugged him gently. Instinct told her that a tight hug would hurt her friend, so she held back. A gentle, warm calm fell over the two as they sat there, completely comfortable in each other’s arms.

“Gingka…?”

“Hmm…?”

“Thank you for protecting us, even though it nearly cost you your life.”

The redhead drew in a sharp breath. The usual retorts came to his mind, about how he had been too weak, how Doji had beaten him.

“You’re welcome…” He replied after a few moments.

Madoka smiled. “Rest.” she said gently, pulling out of his arms and forcing him to lie down, his head leaning against her. Gingka closed his eyes. For the first time in a long time, he forgot about what had happened. Madoka had forgiven him, and wasn’t mad. She didn’t hate him. Right now, to him, that was all that mattered as he drifted off to sleep.

“Rest….”