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"Hope is being able to see that there is light despite all the darkness"

- Desmond Tutu -

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In the Snakepit, there was no source of light. No windows to welcome the morning sunlight. The only sound that hints at the morning or the arrival of dawn is the shriek of the alarm clock. Shu turned to his side, holding his head which felt like it would explode at any given moment. Sweat trickled down his skin, and above everything his leg muscles were screaming in agony as he pushed himself up. It took him several minutes to focus on his surroundings and another few seconds to spot the glass and the medication on the nightstand. He unconsciously thanked Theodore and popped the white pills into his mouth and washed them down his dry throat. He grimaced at the lingering bitterness inside his mouth as he finally turned off the alarm, screaming out it's usual morning song. He stumbled to the bathroom and splashed fresh water over his burning face. His hands planted firmly on the edge of the sink to keep his balance as he stared at this reflection from the mirror. He looked like shit, Shu knew before even he looked at his reflection, but he didn't realize his face would be this bad. His skin was so white that it looked almost ash in colour, the dark circles under his eyes contrasting widely against the paleness of his skin. He felt the pain reliever sinking in, the burning in his chest and the pain in his head was slowly sinking back. He knew it was only a temporary releasement but it was heavenly.

He walked to the closet and stripped off from his shirt and jeans to put on his Snakepit uniform. He didn't remember how he ended up in the room. His guess was that Norman called Theodore after he.. What? Collapsed? Shu put on his coat and mask adjusting his hair behind it. He looked at the tray of breakfast he received just a few moments ago. The cheese sandwiches and the glass of milk stood on the tray, untouched. He did not have any appetite and there was a nudging ache in the corner of his mind that he will throw back up, but it didn't stop him from gulping down the glass of milk and grabbing a piece of sandwich before dashing out from the door. He stood in front of the intimidating iron doors which led him to the training rooms with a half eaten sandwich in his hand. He threw the rest of the thing to the bin and walked in. The others were already inside, some polishing their beys and launchers, some launching their beys. All of their masks resting against the shelves. Shu slipped off his own and placed it on the metal shelves. He spied Spryzen from his pocket and went to the corner of the room where there was an empty bey stadium. He stood before it and stared, not daring to launch or move. He had to keep his strength stored to whatever the challenge Ethan had in store for them.

After a few beats of silence, Ethan walked into the room. His eyes held the same bored look. He looked around the group of ten and waved his hand hastily. "Five hundred launches, now go" He said, going to the corner to observe each of them. There was a stunned silence till everyone got to work. Shu blinked, processing his words. Sure, there were times back in Beigoma where he launched countless times to distract himself, sometimes in the mere idea of training but he was sure he had never gotten to the amount of five hundred and surely, referring to his current health condition he doubted whether he would be able to finish it. His ears caught the sound of launching and the countdown. He looked over to Ethan who was looking straight at him, he was the target. A sloppy grin covered the raven haired male's lips. Shu broke his gaze and positioned himself. Here goes nothing, he thought to himself starting to launch.

The first launches were fine, almost exciting. He found himself driven by the enthusiasm he always felt while launching his bey. The same emotions playing with his mind, beyblade is fun, it has always been. Shu tried the counter clockwise spinning method. In Snakepit, they were given a different type of a launcher and as Theodore said, it was one of the few legal things about the place. He stared at his bey, spinning like Longinus across the smooth stadium. The time spent by seconds and turned to minutes, the effect of the painkillers slowly started to wear off as the splitting headache came back to him. Shu winced, moving his hands to his temples as he gingerly messaged his skin. "Dang it!" He cursed, taking his position to another launch. Legend Spryzen spun around the stadium, slightly wobbling from the drained launching pattern of the albino. 356 launches, the machine beside him said. Few more to go, Shu said, convincing his crumbling body. He took his stance, and this once the launcher almost slipped from his arms as Spryzen went wobbling off to the stadium, just to be stopped after mere seconds. He groaned softly, bending down to pick the bey when he realized the strange quietness of the room. The sound of beys contacting against the metal disks had stopped. He stood backup to see everyone staring at him. His skin crawled from the sudden attention, but he kept his face apathetic, showing no emotion even when Ethan crossed the room to make his way toward him.

The raven haired male stopped right in front of him, raising his brow. "Why, can't go on?"

"I never said that" Shu shot back, keeping his voice low.

Ethan crossed his arms, "Oh yeah? When I said I needed launches I said real ones, not half assed attempts to get past just barely" He raised his voice with each syllable making sure to keep the impact of his statement. Few snickers rose up from the rooms and Shu felt his cheeks slightly heating up, gosh this is humiliating.

Despite all the feelings, he looked up to meet with the mocking eyes of Ethan Carter. His grip on Spryzen tightened that the disk bit into his palm. The splitting headache and the rising fatigue of his body made him want to pass out when suddenly a voice talked, "Not to interrupt you two or anything, but isn't it kind of unfair?" Shu snapped his head to the side to see the lavender eyed boy from the earlier day.

Ethan raised his brow, "Oh yeah?"

"I mean, he's so young. There's a fairly significant age gap between us and him."

Ethan stepped away from him and stepped toward Lavender. His blue eyes rang with fury as he took the boy by his shoulders. Shu crossed his fingers not wanting anyone getting hurt because of him. "You're trying to teach me about injustice!?"

"No sir" The male said, his eyes trained on the ground.

"Good." Ethan said, releasing him. "Don't speak to me unless you're spoken to. Do you get it?"

Lavender stayed quiet but nodded. Ethan grimaced, "I asked, DO YOU GET IT!?"

"Yes sir" There was no hint of regret or shame to his voice and after coming to Snakepit, for the first time Shu felt there was a small hope for humanity. Maybe, everything's not lost. Ethan walked back to him, a sinister grin making its way up to his lips.

"Okay, since people are questioning the fairness of this programme, let's make a deal." He pulled out his bey. Shu had seen it back in the Raging Bulls before. He had seen Ethan battle, and his talent for this game. Winged Sphinx, attack type and a left handed launch, he knew it all and the immense power it had. "If you performed well enough to have a ring out finish with my bey, I'll let you go off from today's training session if you couldn't, you'll have to launch 1000 times. Double the fun"

Shu narrowed his eyes. The offer was risky. He didn't know whether he could pull off a survivor finish with Ethan, let alone a ring out finish would be extra hard and he knew bursting Winged Sphinx was a whole other problem. Nevertheless, the albino also knew that he couldn't go on like this. If he did, he would just end up fainting and disqualified from the Requiem Project. He took a long breath from his nose, readying himself for whatever the storm he's about to face. His gaze didn't falter as he stared right into those deep blue eyes, "Deal"

A look of amazement passed Ethan's features as he walked to the opposite side of the stadium. The rest had stopped launching, all of their eyes straining to see the battle. Ethan cast a look at Lavender and raised his brow, "Care to be the referee?"

He nodded as he walked past both of them, positioning himself in the middle. "Ready, set"

Shu positioned himself, determined to pull the string and have a successful launch despite the pounding in his head, the darkening of his peripheral vision.

"3"

"2"

"1"

"Let it rip!"

Shu winced when Spryzen landed on the disk, slightly wobbling. Sphinx was circling steadily through the stadium with another bey attacking it? Shu frowned, just realizing the third presence. A bey he had never seen before, circling counterclockwise over the stadium, trailing behind Spryzen as if trying to aid it to move forward, to attack. Shu snapped his attention to the third figure standing. Half of his face was covered by a black mask lined with light blue. Wearing the same black jumpsuit with the coat and knee high leather boots. Ethan growled at the newcomer, "What the hell do you think you're doing!?"

The male grinned, "I'm trying to spice up this monotonous training of yours."

Shu moved his eyes from the stranger to the bey disk. The bey was indeed aiding Spryzen to land a successful blow on Winged Sphinx and it did the trick. Shu watched as the combined effort of Spryzen and the other bey drove Sphinx to the edge and soon they were staring at Sphinx on the floor right next to Ethan's right foot. The male was fuming as he stormed to the stranger and grabbed him by the collars. "You bastard! I have told you not to interrupt with any of my training"

The guy blew a low whistle, "There are kids here, no swearing"

Ethan raised his fist toward his face, he's practically shaking with the rage. Shu had never seen Ethan losing his cool in front of any of them. Even in the Raging Bulls Ethan never talked much, did not interact with any other except for Free and Joshua. They shared a room but rarely talked. The Ethan standing in front of him was completely different, a person detached from his cool, stoic exterior. The other man ducked and elbowed Ethan's stomach making him stumble backward. "Cool down man, I need this kid" He said, pointing at Shu.

Ethan frowned, "Why?"

"Nothing special. The boss said me to pick up any trainee I find fascinating and make them help me with the guard duty today"

Ethan shook his head, "Take one of those two, I need this one" He said, gesturing at the two guys who had already finished the 500 launches. They shared a glance with each other and smirked, obviously prideful about their achievement.

The man shook his head, clicking his tongue, "I need someone smaller, there is something I need to do"

Ethan rubbed his temples, scowling in dismay when the man reminded again, "Boss' orders" Ethan threw a glare at Shu who was watching him through half lidded eyes, beads of sweat rolling down his face.

"Fine" He said, finally giving up. He shot a disgusted look at Shu and walked away as he rejoined with the rest of the members to continue training. The masked guy placed a hand on his shoulder, giving a slight push leading him toward the doors which swung open automatically. Shu realized it was almost as if his body was in autopilot at the moment. He couldn't feel anything except for the buzzing in his ear and the feel of a warm hand against his shoulder. He blindly followed as the male led him through a maze of corridors which Shu barely kept the focus on before reaching a room. It was larger than his own, completed with a queen size bed. Shu frowned, he was quite sure he heard something about guard duty and he was sure as hell a guarding duty was not supposed to be in a bedroom. A sudden wave of uncertainty and fear crumbled upon him as he spun on his heel. He was about to dash through the still opened doors when his head started to spin making him stumble forward. Shu pressed back a wave of nausea that hit him suddenly. He wanted to pass out and run away at the same time, but his body didn't cooperate with the urgency inside his mind.

"Calm down Shu" He talked, there was a vague familiarity inside his voice. Shu wondered whether he was imagining it.

The man took off his mask looking into him with his sapphire blue eyes. Shu knitted his eyebrows as a familiar figure stood in front of him. "L-Leo?" Shu croaked out as the older male hushed him leading him toward the bed.

"What are you doing here? Why did you come to a place like this?"

Shu frowned, "What are you doing here?" He repeated, dodging the question he really wanted to ask, What are you doing in a dark place like this?

Leo shrugged, "I work for the Snake Pit."

Shu forced himself to keep his look neutral. He didn't want to show any hint of his dissatisfaction or his disheartened mind seeing Leo, the guy who he met on the plane and whom he thought was harmless, here in the Snakepit, working at one of the most hideous organizations in the country. "Same here"

Leo gave him a concerned look, "You shouldn't be here"

Shu realized the concerned look on his face. Leo was different from them, he didn't hold the hatred or the dark veil of evilness around him, and somehow Shu felt safe. "And you should?"

Leo merely sighed, "This place is for not children like you, why are-" He cut himself off, "You look awful"

Shu just hummed, tempted to lay down on the bed and sleep. Leo stood up and went to his closet. He threw the doors open carelessly and rummaged through his clothes and walked to him with a box of pills and bandages. "Take off your shoes" He instructed. Shu obediently followed his orders as the blonde handed him two pills. "It's not easy here, so I taught myself to treat fevers and stuff. This will help you"

Shu popped the pills to his mouth and washed them away from a glass of water. He grimaced at the bitter taste it left him with. "Why are you helping me?"

Leo helped him to lie down on the bed and tucked him in, "This place is hell, but that doesn't mean that I can't help an old friend."

Shu gave him a small smile, closing his eyes. "Thanks, Leo"

Leo hummed, petting his locks, "Go to sleep and rest. I'll take care of the other things"

There was no response from Shu as he curled into a ball under the covers that only a mop of white hair was visible under the complete white blanket. Leo frowned, closing the pill box as he walked back into the closet to put it back. He overheard about a Red Eyed young blader yesterday night and he was curious to see who was driven out from desperation of power to this hell hole again only to see it was the nice kid from the plane, someone he least expected. Back there, he looked happy. He was the last person Leo would've thought to see here and there he was, inside the dimly lit cold room, curling to the bed with a high fever running inside his body. He didn't even have the mind to check on the new bladers who came to take part in the Requiem Project. He just liked annoying Ethan, the teacher's pet. That's when he caught the sight of Shu, sweating profusely, slightly trembling and that was his cue to interfere, he didn't want to see this kid dead.

The time ticked as Leo paced inside the room. He passed the guarding duty to someone else at the last moment to keep and eye on the younger. It seemed like the fever was slowly going down. Leo stared at the clock to see that several hours had passed. He snuck away earlier to grab dinner for Shu knowing he would miss both lunch and dinner at this point. He sent a quick message to the boss covering up for his lie for Ethan and put the phone aside when he heard whimpering. He shot back to the bed to see the albino turning around, slowly sitting on the bed, holding his head from one of his hands as he squinted waiting for his eyes to adjust to the light. His usually combed shaggy white locks were messed up. Leo smiled to himself seeing the lost look of his face before he spotted him and remembered what happened, "L-Leo" he talked in confirmation.

Leo nodded, "Your guardian angel this time, is real"

Shu gave him a small smile which was soon cut off by a yawn. The medicine earlier still made him groggy. "Feeling better?"

"Yeah" Shu answered, looking around the room properly. "This is pretty big"

Leo snapped his fingers, "Senior privileges"

"I still can't believe you're here" Shu said quietly, ''You're too nice.

Leo just smiled at him and placed the food plate on his lap. "Eat up, you missed lunch too"

Shu blinked realizing how hungry he was at the moment. He picked up the spoon and the fork, muttering itadakimasu under his breath not wanting to look weird for the foreigner looking at him. Everything was quiet for few moments until Shu finally finished his meal, "Thanks"

Leo winked, "No biggie"

Shu took off the cover from his body and swung his legs down to touch the cold floor. He shivered slightly as he stood up. "I should go"

Leo nodded, "Make sure to tell that Ethan you were in duty with me"

Shu gave him a tight lipped smile, nodding. "Okay"

"The fever will be down by tomorrow morning. Till then make sure you ain't exhausting yourself"

"Yes mom!" Shu said with a soft laugh exiting the room, putting on his mask.

"You little brat" Leo said, his lips turned to a smile as he watched Shu exit the room. Shu carefully, quietly stepped through the maze of hallways inside the Snakepit. He was quite sure he would find the way because Leo's instructions were clear. Thankfully, the hallways were clear because it was late, most probably everyone was inside their rooms after the dinner, he thought just when his peripheral vision caught movement. Shu pressed himself against the wall mixing with the shadows darkening the hallways. His eyes were soon landed on Ethan, his dark blue eyes darting around the hallway and for a second, Shu thought he caught his sight but for his luck Ethan turned away and walked off from his sight. Shu sank down to the floor waiting till the footsteps ceased and the hallways quiet down. He stood up silently and tiptoed to his room and thankfully he did not meet anyone else on his way back to the room.

Shu gave out a relieved sigh, opening the door of his small dorm and slipping inside. His heart was racing as walked to his bed and put his head on his palms taking slow deep breaths. He didn't realize the two figures inside the room until one of them spoke, "Shu" Theodore said, hurrying toward the youngsters side. Shu snapped out from his trance and looked up to see the room lighted and Norman standing beside the switch, one hand still hovering over the air and Theodore kneeling in front of him, checking his temperature.

"I'm fine"

"Where have you been?" Norman asked, a touch of urgency taking his tone. Shu knew that Norman didn't trust his capabilities yet and he was surely just seeing him as a vulnerable kid. And besides, Shu thought bitterly, after arriving to Snakepit he had only been vulnerable to all the outer sources.

"I met someone I know," Shu started. As he expected, a confusion laced their faces. "Someone called Leo" Shu frowned, "I don't know his code name but I have met him earlier"

Norman blinked carefully wording, "Leo? The blonde one?"

Shu nodded.

Theodore heaved a sigh rubbing his face. "Good thing it was Leo. Unknowingly he helped out plans it seems"

"What do you mean?" Shu asked, the initial confusion passed down to him.

"The third member of the FBI. The one who doesn't know about our mission. He's on his own out there." Norman said, crossing his arms as he leaned against the wall. "You're lucky. You didn't spill anything, did you?"

Shu shook his head, making a zipping motion over his mouth. "Not a word"

Theodore pat his shoulder, "Good. Leo is a good guy but we should stay away from his path. He's close to finding out about all the Requiem Project and-"

Shu stopped listening to him. The sudden feeling of overwhelming euphoria flowing over his heart as he repeated to himself, Leo is not a bad guy, he's a good person. He chanted to himself. A strange feeling of relief washed through him as he fell back into the bed. Theodore stopped talking and looked at the albino who was yawning to the back of his hand. He looked better than he was in the morning. He smiled, "You should probably take some rest"

"Mhm!" Shu hummed with a small smile, "I'm happy, he's in the good side"

Norman snorted, "That's perfectly evident on your face. You're like an open book kid"

Shu scowled, "I'll make sure to close it next time"

Norman shook his head, his gold eyes stopping over Theodore. "I'm leaving. I'm still doubting about your choices Mr. Glass"

Shu fell silent for a moment, watching the other man exit the room. He fidget with his fingers unable to make out any words when Theodore placed a hand on his head with a reassuring nod. "You'll soon prove them wrong. I trust you"

"I wonder" Shu trailed off watching Theodore standing up to leave the room.

"Oh and" He said, spinning on his heel. "From tomorrow on, you all are accepted to the dining hall. No more meals in the room"

Shu groaned, burying his head in the pillow. There goes his freedom to have a peaceful meal with himself. Theodore closed the door shut with a small thud leaving Shu alone with his thoughts. Breaking everything inside his mind, one of the thoughts revolved around his skull, he was happy Leo is a friend. If he hadn't been, Shu was quite sure he might've lost hope in all humanity, including himself.