Your POV 

Thump.

I let out a loud, relieved sigh as I landed on the soft grass. Somehow the drop from Snake Pit had taken me back to the outside world. But how I got here was the least of my concerns. Seeing as the others weren't here yet, I figured I could used some thinking time. I eagle-spread myself so that my arms were wide open and I could just see the blue sky, clouds floating above me. The wind rustled the leaves and my hair as I reflected on what had happened during Red Eye and I. 

How could I think he was actually Shu? No way could a person change that much in two months. Shu wouldn't yell at people. He wouldn't interrupt people. He wouldn't call people a loser and taunt the. He wouldn't drop me in a 20m drop! Shu Kurenai was gone. I let out a deep sigh, troubled by all my thoughts and worries. But he would come back. He had to. He just had to.

We had been in Snake Pit for six hours, but I wasn't hungry at all. Instead, I felt broken inside. Just like my original Xcalius. The one Lui had broke.

I then took out a velvet box, and cautiously opened it. Inside there was the broken fragments of my first Xcalius. Shu noticed this.

'(y/n)? Are you ok? Is that...Xcalius.'

I slowly lifted up my head to look at him. His crimson eyes met with my, (e/c) ones, and they reassured me. Without warning, tears started falling from my eyes. I threw myself into Shu's arms and buried my head in his shoulders. I felt so stupid. It was only a broken bey. But salty water continued to fall. Shu's arms wrapped around me.

'Lui did that, didn't he?'

I nodded, face still buried in his shoulder. When I finally lifted my head up, I could see I had made a stain of tears of Shu's pink shirt.

'S-S-Sorry,' I hiccupped, wiping away my tears. 'It's so stupid.'

'It isn't stupid, (y/n),' Shu said gently, hugging me again. 

'It's just every time...every fucking time I see Xcalius in pieces...I feel like a loser. I break down.'

'(y/n), that is the opposite of stupid.'

I glanced up and saw how serious Shu was.

'Of course you would do that. Who wouldn't do that? What Lui did was the worst thing that could happen to a blader. But hey,' Shu smiled at me, and for a second I was floating. 'That's why we're going to beat Lui this year.'

I nodded, wiping my tears away. I blinked. It was so nice to have some alone time with Shu, I wish I could do this every day. But I couldn't. I wanted to make the most of this night, so I turned around, going for a kiss. But it was too late. His lips were already on mine.

We kissed, and I had a throwback to the last time we kissed. I would never forget times like these. I will treasure them forever and ever. We slowly broke apart and smiled simultaneously.

And I still did treasure times like those. I could never forget that memory. Never. But why was that? Maybe because I was happy? Yes, but I was happy now, wasn't I? Well, I would be if Shu hadn't gone missing. If I was back at BC Sol with Valt, Honcho, Cuza, Silas and...Free. I closed my eyes and let out a deep breath. I hadn't given him one thought after I left to go to Mexico. That wasn't being a good girlfriend. Constantly thinking and worrying about Shu...it reminded me a little of what happened between me and Ukyo. And then we ended up separating. I let out another, troubled sigh. 

I guess those feelings for Shu never did go away. But if I like Shu and Free at the same time...does that mean I have to pick? No way can I pick between them. 

The sun shone and twinkled down on me, momentarily blinding me for a second. It reminded me so much of Zac's stupid little light displays back at home, in the Nationals. I hadn't spoken to Zac for ages. His secret was out to the world, but now his fangirls loved him more than ever. I smiled happily, something I hadn't done in ages. I was glad he was happy. That made me want to call Zac. Maybe he could help with my little relationship problem, being gay and all. 

Swinging back up in excitement, I pressed the numbers 2034-0022-5605-666. The familiar sound of a phone ringing filled that air as I put the phone on speaker. It wasn't like anybody was following me in this forest so they could eavesdrop on me, right?

'Who is it? And why have you interrupted Akira and I's make out session?'

'Make out session?' I asked curiously, a smirk tugging at my lips.

'Shooting star? Is that you? I-I-I mean, makeup session,' Zac stuttered. 'Hold on.'

There was some shuffling across the phone, several odd clicks accompanied by a bang. I could hear a squeal and a noise that sounded a lot like someone was kissing someone. It wrenched my heart, taking my back to my days with Shu.

'Hello shooting star~' the familiar, joyful, upbeat voice sang, attracting some birds to the tree I was sitting underneath. It was as if the embarrassing scene had never happened. 

A small smile graced my lips.  'Hello, Zac. It's been a while, hasn't it?'

'Yes, yes,' he chirped over the phone. 'Almost too long. You haven't called me ever since you went off to Spain. I wish I could participate in the World Leagues, I did get invited you know, but I prefer to stay here with Akira. We're working on a new collab together, the song is coming out in two months! And besides, I couldn't bear to see Akira all by himself, lonely. It breaks my heart.'

'That's so sweet,' I gushed, but I couldn't help but be a little wistful. What if Shu and I had declined and stayed back in Japan, like Akira and Zac? I wouldn't be having this relationship crisis right now, that's for sure. Maybe I wouldn't be even out in this forest. I just wished that our relationship could've been like Akira and Zac. But I knew we both ultimately decided against that, even if we knew the consequences. We had to pick our career or relationship. I guess we thought that our love was so strong we could handle a long-distance relationship. But we were wrong. We both picked our career, our passion for beyblade shining through. (A/N idk why but i hear zac's voice saying that now.). Zac picked Akira over beyblade. He's still big in the singing world with heaps of fans, but he's dropping down the beyblade charts now, even if he is one of the Supreme Four. But he probably doesn't care anymore. He's head over heels for Akira. 'But... I need some help with my own relationship.'

'Ah yes,' sighed Zac, sounding a little reminiscent. 'It's all over the Beyblade News. Sh(y/n) is no longer a thing anymore. But you're with that golden boy now, aren't you? Free De La Hoya? Number one blader in the world?'

'Yeah,' I replied, but even to myself, my voice sounded hollow as I spoke.  I could almost hear Zac tutting across the phone, and I wished like crazy I had called him earlier. 

'Shooting star...' he murmured in dismay. 'You should have called me earlier.'

'I know, I know,' I sighed, glancing down and fidgeting with the edge of my jacket. 'I'm too deep into this relationship, aren't I?'

'Yep, which means Free's heart would be even more broken,' Zac exhaled loudly. 'But you have to break up with Golden Boy.'

I knitted my brows at the emphasis he put into the word "have". 'And remind me why I have to break up with him?'

'You still do not know?' Zac gasped, and I could only imagine him fake-fainting, being overly dramatic. 'My darling, shooting star, I thought it was quite obvious you're still in deep love with Shu Kurenai!'

Okay, maybe I still liked Shu, but I wasn't "in deep love" with him. I laughed nervously, 'How can you be so sure, Zac?'

'Shooting star, it's obvious,' Zac replied matter-of-factly, exasperation intertwined into his words. 'The way you say his name, with so much affection and love it's only reserved for him. The way you talk about him, as if he's the greatest person on Earth. The way I can hear hurt, pain and regret in your voice whenever you're talking about your new boyfriend. The way I can almost see the sadness in your eyes as you gaze upon the BeyClub, noticing all of their presences were there except one. Your (e/c) hues had never held so much pain, so much regret, so much grief. You could feel the salty water prickling your eyes, threatening to fall any minu-'

'Zac,' I said through gritted teeth. My hands curled up in balls and my voice could never be so venomous. I couldn't bear hearing him illustrate my feelings this way.'Can you stop taking over the author's job and please shut up.'

'Oh yeah, let's break the fourth wall!' Zac grinned maniacally. 'Hello, readers? How's your day been?'

'I said, shut up!' I snarled, my voice scaring away multiple birds and animals. I forced myself to breathe in and out, calming myself. 'Sorry, Zac. I-It just hurts being said aloud. Thank you for the advice, I might heed it, but for now...I need some space to think.'

'I understand completely, my dear,' I could picture Zac bopping his head up and down. 'And another thing? Just forget what happened at the beginning. Sound good?'

'I won't blab, Zac,' I promised. 

'Good, good,' he chirped. 'Now, go follow your heart, shooting star~'

'I will,' I replied, the smile growing bigger as I ended the call right there and Zac returned to his make out session with Akira. I added in a whisper, 'And thank you.'

Zac had helped me more than I had expected. The splitting headache and thoughts that had been haunting me this entire trip went away as I cleared my head, sitting alone, in the quiet, serene clearing. The wind blew softly around me, floating through my thin jacket as the sun reached it's highest peak in the afternoon. My hair was whipped across into my eyes, but I didn't care. I was just dreading the moment I had to do it. 

A beep woke me out of my terror trance, and I was forced to look at my phone. It seemed like I was close enough to the city to get reception. There was two messages waiting for me. One from Free. And one from Valt. 

~-~-~-~-~

Smol bean:

(sent and received at: 1:46pm):

(y/n), where are you? We just came out of Snake Pit, and you will not believe the epic battles we had! I'll spare you the details until the plane ride, we're leaving tomorrow. Oops, I'm blabbing again. It seemed like Snake Pit sent us to different places. Can you send us a picture of where you are? Boa is with us, so he'll be able to take us to you.

~-~-~-~-~

I stared at the message in confusion. Who was Boa? Whoever he is, I hope he wasn't dangerous. Obliging to Valt's request, I stood up and quickly snapped a photo of my whereabouts. 

~-~-~-~-~

Smol Bean:

(sent and received at: 1:47pm): 

Are you okay? What's taking you so long? Please take a picture soon so we can find you!

Sword Ninja Girl:

(sent and received at 1:47pm):

Jeez, be patient. It's only been one minute. Here's the pic:

(A/N please ignore Froakie. It was the closest picture that matched the image in my head.) 

Smol bean (sent at 1:47):

Oh thank goodness! I think we past that on our way to Snake Pit, so it isn't completely unknown. Hold on, Boa will take us to you!

~-~-~-~-~

A million questions about this Boa zoomed around my head. Before I could text back any questions, another beep reminded me there was something more important I had to do. I nervously smoothed out my black shorts and brushed my (e/c) bangs away from my eyes. I had to do this. Before it could get any harder. I swiped in my password and checked the messages from Free.

~-~-~-~-~ 

Golden Boy💕:

(sent at 9:12am, received at 1:47pm):

Morning, love. How's Mexico?

(sent at 10:54am, received at 1:47PM)

It seems like you aren't receiving my messages. Why is that? What's happening? Low connection? But you must likely aren't getting this message either...call me ASAP. 

~-~-~-~-~

He must've sent this messages during the time I was at Snake Pit. I reread the first text, and my heart fluttered a bit at the word love. I felt a pang of guilt at the thought of what I was going to do next. I hoped I wasn't going to break him. Or maybe he'll just shrug it off, act like our relationship was no big deal...that would be even worse. I knew the consequences of what would happen, but I still had to do it. Before it got even more harder and complicated. 

Follow your heart, shooting star~

Zac was right. I took a deep breath and pressed the call button, anxiety wracking me as I clutched onto the edge of my jacket. I had to follow my heart. I know this was the right choice for me. But I was just worried it would leave him spiraling in despair. 

'Hi (y/n). Finally you called me.'

Free's typical sleepy, lazy voice wafted through the phone, a tint of amusement and exasperation in his voice. I couldn't help but notice my name had a little more energy in it, which made this thing even harder. But I knew I had to do this. Before things got out of hand. 

'Free,' I ignored him. 'We're breaking up.'

--------------------

How'd you like that ending, hm? 

but Zac returned! he's going to be in this story as a recurring character, but he won't be completely ignore like in the episodes. and, yay! The chapters are getting longer <3. idk about you, but I find gay people really easy to talk to about relationship stuff. I had this gay friend one year ago, but he moved away to America ;-;. I really want a gay best friend now...creephoku will you be my gay buddy? (assuming you are gay, we should talk more :))

Oh, and check out my message board. It's urgent.

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Word count: 2484