3/17/20 - we're currently on quarantine lockdown from COVID-19 and I am going crazy. So why NOT go through my first/oldest fic. I read the whole thing last night and wow the cringe was hard to get through. But if you can make it past the first five or six chapters it really improves I promise. That's called growth people! If I was a real masochist I would edit the ENTIRE thing, but we aren't there...check back in after week 2 of quarantine XD idk if anyone even gives a shit about Beyblade fanfiction anymore...let me know if you stop by hahaha

Author Note: Sadly, Kai/Tala and company do not make their appearance until the end of chapter four (I know, so far away). But I love my OCs and I believe they deserve proper character development and background. This story was my first and it is near and dear to me. Give it a chance, you will not be disappointed.

Chapter One - Over the Hills and Far Away

A 22-year-old girl sat silently on an uncomfortable wooden chair in a drafty room. There was a slight chill in the air but she couldn't determine if it was from the air conditioner or the atmosphere surrounding the event. She sat in the front pew in a historic room. Flowers lined the aisle as well as the alter on the stage. She felt more out of place than anything else. She could hear the sobs and whimpers coming from multiple people around her, but she just couldn't understand why. Where these people actually sad? Shouldn't she be the one in pain? In mourning? She was just there. Starring at the caskets, but not actually seeing them. Her mind was wandering, her life wasn't really turning out how she expected.

-Flashback-Two weeks ago-

The same girl was sitting on her bed studying for an upcoming test. Deep azure eyes were scanning the words on the page trying to memorize the information. Every so often, strands of honey blonde hair would block her vision and she would subconsciously push them out of the way. The rest of her long sun kissed hair was in a loose braid on the back of her head. She glanced at her alarm clock on the side table next to her bed: 1:26am. It was no use. She was too tired to concentrate let alone actually retain any knowledge about the Roman Empire. She shut her text and dropped it on the floor next to her bed.

The thump of the book hitting the ground stirred the figure in the bed next to hers. A girl with ashy silver hair sat up. She rubbed her eyes trying to adjust to the light coming from the small lap next to her.

"Blair, what in god's name are you doing up?" the girl said groggily. The sleepiness in her voice seemed to make her British lilt stand out even more. She glanced at the clock.

"It's 1:30 in the morning!"

"I know what time it is Elle," the girl said glaring half-hearted at her sleepy roommate.

"You should know better by now to try and cram the night before an exam, love. Try spreading out the information yeah?" she lay back down in her previous position and closed her eyes before Blair could even think of a smart retort. Elle always did get the last word in.

"Hn." was all Blair said before turning out the lamp and getting underneath her covers. Sleep came over her quicker than she anticipated as she fell into a dreamless doze.

She was not awakened by the usual sound of her iPhone's alarm clock coming from its position on her bedside table but by the dean's voice gurgling over the loud speaker. Speakers were installed into each student's residence at the university from emergency procedures. Blair rubbed her eye and she tried to narrow in on what the actually words were coming into her room, "Good morning girls of Westwood College, will Miss Blair Cooper in Blue House please report to the registrar immediately." Blair sat up in her bed trying to clear her head of the fuzziness sleep had caused. She looked to where she assumed Elle would be but a perfectly made bed stared back at her. Why was she being called to the registrar's office? And especially over the intercom? Obviously there was no fire in the residence halls so Blair was utterly baffled.

Not finding it appropriate to keep the registrar waiting, she just brushed and re-braided her long hair, which had loosened in the night. She brushed her teeth and quickly dressed in her university uniform: a maroon pleated skirt reaching mid thigh and a white polo with the schools emblem on the left breast. Blair walked into her en suite and washed her face. She looked into the mirror to check her appearance, sprayed a little perfume and walked out her dorm door.

As Blair walked down the hallways she noticed a rather large dent in one of the walls. It was made only last year when older brother Aaron came to visit from his college after the first rounds of exams.

Ever since Aaron Cooper was seven he played rugby religiously. He was always practicing around the house and once he even broke the large picture frame over the mantel of his and Blair's great grandfather, Sir Benedict Cooper VI. So when he came to visit Blair, of course he brought his beloved rugby ball their mother bought for him on a trip to Scotland when he was fourteen. Every morning he would get up at the crack of dawn and go down to the football pitch. Whenever Blair couldn't find him, she always ended up at the field shooing away the girls that practically filled the bleachers. Even though they went to an all girls' college you would think they had never seen a man before. She hated when he exercised shirtless.

Blair rolled her eyes at the memory of her idiotic brother, but a small smile graced her pale coral lips. As Blair was about to open the office door it swung open revealing an older woman dressed in a sleek gray pantsuit.

"Good morning Mrs. Darya, you called for me?" Blair said politely.

"Now Blair, I must be off. There is a meeting in the conference room that I'm late for. There's a call waiting for you on line three, just press the flashing light and talk. Now, good day." she said with a light Irish accent.

As she left, Blair relaxed her stiff shoulders and sighed. What was it about this school? It had been a good three years and she still didn't feel relaxed. Of course she wasn't really at home here but you would imagine she would adjust. It wasn't all bad. The girls were civil and the weather was bearable. And hell, the landscape was beautiful. She should consider being shipped here a blessing. Lots of girls in the states would kill for an opportunity to study in London.

She shook the thoughts out of her head. She would graduate in the spring and her sentencing would be complete. She made it this long right? What was a few more months?

Blair walked up to the desk, picked up the phone and pressed the button, "Hello?"

"Blair honey, yes hello. It's your favorite aunt here," a distinctly Spanish female voice said.

"Oh! Auntie Isabel! How are you?" Blair replied happily.

She rarely got calls from her extended family considering the long distance charges. And with Aunt Isabel and Uncle Christianson now living in Oregon this call was going to cost her a fortune. Good thing they had plenty. It was always good to hear a familiar voice. However, she overlooked the fact that her aunt had phoned the head office instead of her cell phone.

"Not good sobrina. I've some bad news." Isabel said, her voice getting shaky.

"Huh? What is it?" Blair now worried after clearly hearing the crack in her aunt's Spanish accent.

"Hun, I'm really sorry but..." there was a pause but Isabel's voice came back. It was clear she was crying at this point. "Blair baby, your parents, last night, there was a bad wreck. They were rushed to the hospital but it was too late…" All Blair could hear was sobbing and heavy breathing. Out of pure shock she dropped the phone.

Isabel Valdez Cooper was Blair's aunt by marriage. Of course her and Uncle Christianson Cooper were married before Blair was ever born so Isabel was always there for her. Although she was not blood related to Blair's parents, she still had a special bond with Bridgette Cooper, Blair's mother. Both being married into the Cooper family and both being ethnically different than the pure Polish brothers, they instantly bonded. Blair's heart broke for her aunt.

'They were...dead?' after a minute or so Blair's brain began to work again. Blair picked up the phone that was discarded on the ground and said to her aunt simply, "I'll be home tomorrow."

-End Flashback-

Blair's mind finally came back to the present time. Goosebumps trailed up her bare flesh that were not covered by her simple black cap sleeved Chanel dress. As she stood from her seat she looked around one last time. The service had finished a few minutes ago and this was the social transition before the reception. Half these people were complete strangers to her, but they mourned more than she ever would. What did that say about her? About her relationship with her parents? Obviously they left some legacy behind.

She murmured her goodbyes to the distance relatives that came around to hug her. She played the silent griever card as a way to sidestep the small talk with her family she hadn't seen in years. As she walked out the door and into the warm Polish summer air Blair reached into her cream canvas Michael Kors purse and pulled out her iPhone.

As her car keys dangled from her left hand, she scrolled through her contacts with her right. As she found the one she was looking for under the S's she put her phone to her ear.

"Hey." the voice was light as if sensing the depressing scenario.

"See you in 10 hours." Blair's voice was solid and monotone.

"I'll be waiting."

Blair hung up without a goodbye. She never felt the need to use one. But the person on the other side of the phone would know that and wouldn't feel offense.

Blair took one last glance at the historic chapel behind her as she ran a hand through her long honey blonde locks. No emotions crossed over her pupils as she opened her car door. It was filled to the brim with luggage. Her whole life was in that car. But it felt so empty.