Kai opens his eyes, jerking a little on his feet. He stands in the exact same spot but this time the pool table is gone. He had done it, he was back in 1994. Not something he ever thought he would be happy about but here he is, clutching a magical teddy bear to give to one Bonnie Bennett. It is her birthday after all. He just hopes she doesn't set him on fire before he can give it to her.
"...Bonnie?" he calls, wiping sweat from his brow. He had been trying most of the day to muster up enough magic to send her friends here but the effort has sapped him of strength. He thought becoming leader would make him uber powerful, and it did, but now he feels like he is one nosebleed away from fainting like a Victorian heroine. So just sending himself, along with her magic, made more sense and stopped him from passing out in front of her shitty friends. Also he had eaten a dozen cupcakes and is definitely on a sugar high. It's just a bad mix.
"Maybe you're hiding," he whispers, amusing himself with the image of Bonnie stocking up on weapons, having heard him. He smiles and walks to the table and something crunches under his foot. Broken glass litters the floor, the remains of a bottle of bourbon. "Damon will be furious Bon," he murmurs and takes a seat at the table, placing the teddy bear in his lap. A camera, which is still recording, and a simple white frosted cake sit beside an empty glass. A piece of the cake, chocolate, sits mostly untouched. Kai looks at the camera as he picks up the fork.
"Let me guess. You tried your cake, it sucked and you smashed the bottle out of shame? It's cool, I've been there," he grins, trying some and moans in surprise. "Wow this is good! Not as good as me but still...Let's look at this," he picks up the camera and stops it. Fork in his mouth he fiddles with the buttons until Bonnie appears on the screen, sitting exactly where he is. He hits play.
"...It's my birthday and I'll cry if I want to, cry if I want to…" Bonnie, in a skin tight black leotard which exposes her bare shoulders, sings before the camera, clearly half drunk. Tears well up in her eyes. "I was gonna sing happy birthday but I can't do it…" she laughs, looking down and Kai can hear the clink of the fork against the plate. "I've made so many of these but now I don't know what to say...I thought about uploading these stupid clips when I got out, make them into a documentary. Bonnie Bennett: My Retro Hell. Yeah, the title needs work," she smirks and it falls, shaking her head. She looks up. "They're not stupid, this camera has kept me sane...watching myself. How vein right?" she laughs but he does not. The fork now in his hand is forgotten. "So, here I am, the big 21...and no one came to my party! Those assholes! I think I'd even kiss Kai if he showed his smug face…" she snorts and then grows quiet, losing focus and Kai stops breathing. Bonnie on the screen looks up suddenly, directly into his eyes. "I - I don't know who might find this, or it might just sit on this table forever...but whoever you are my name is Bonnie Bennett, today is my 21st birthday...and I think it's time I cut myself off."
"No," Kai breathes, watching as she struggles to drink through her tears.
"I tried to make it work, I travelled and I took the camera. I pretended I was like someone on the moon, reporting back to an audience, to my friends and family...but no one watches this stuff but me and I don't think that's going to change...well, I won't see this," she adds, confused, staring at her drink. She focuses, breathing in sharply. "If - if someone does find this I hope it's before they find me, in – in the garage...please don't tell my mom, okay? Just say I'm stuck, just lost…" she cries, unable to carry on.
Kai looks down, not realising he had risen to his feet. He is glued to the camera, to her anguished face but he wants to run. "...Bonnie?" he repeats her name, about to move when she begins speaking again.
"I love you, I love you all and I always will. Please don't be angry at me, I really tried but it's so hard. Not having anyone to talk to, going weeks without speaking, it's so lonely...I can't do it anymore, no one is coming for me. I'm sorry...I feel so ashamed, my grams would be so…" she begins weeping hard, her face screwed up in anger and with a cry she gets up and smashes the bottle of bourbon to the floor. Kai, speechless and rooted to the ground, watches the Bonnie on the small monitor walks out of shot.
Kai drops the fork and spins on his heel and almost falls to the ground. Feeling dizzy and sick he leans against the table, sweat pouring down his face and neck. Still clutching the bear he staggers from the room, shouting out Bonnie's name. Alien emotions spike through him, panic and dread, making him run until he is in the garden, the light dimming. The dark crescent of the moon makes its passage over the sun and as always the world grows quiet and still.
In the distance he hears a low rumble and Kai moves in that direction until the garage comes into the view. Wisps of gas leak from the door and Kai swears, racing forward. He slams against it, wrenching the handle up but the door in locked. He bangs against it, struggling to open it.
"Damn it! Bonnie?! Can you hear me?" Kai shouts and then looks at the teddy that has fallen to his feet. "You fucking idiot!" he yells and stepping back he points at the garage door. With a flick of his fingers it flies up and clouds of carbon monoxide come billowing out. Coughing, Kai waves his hands, drawing the poison gas out until the room is clear.
Bonnie lies by Damon's car, staring up at the ceiling. Kai freezes, looking down at her prone body. She does not breathe. Since merging with his brother feelings of guilt and sadness have badgered him but the misery that suddenly crashes him flat immediately passes to denial, which, if he could be subjective, he would be thankful for.
"No," Kai hisses and throwing the bear aside he grabs Bonnie by her wrists and roughly drags her out of the garage, the anguish now flaming with rage. How dare she? On her damn birthday? Who the fuck does that?
Me? It's tradition. Except she won't wake up.
"Shut up," he growls and sprawling Bonnie onto the lawn he gets down on his knees. Not knowing what kind of magic can save her, healing has never been his forte, he laces his fingers together and places the heel of his hands under her breasts and begins compressing. Counting to five he presses his lips to hers, blowing air into her lungs.
Bonnie's eyes fly open so quickly he half suspects she had been waiting.
"Yes!" Kai rocks back as Bonnie coughs and splutters and he rolls her onto her side. The light around them brightens, the moon passing on by and Kai looks up at the sun with a grin. He is so happy he is shaking but he hardly notices. He watches Bonnie, who is still on her side, drawing in ragged gulps of air. "Just breathe. You're gonna have the worse headache of your life and your throat will hurt like a bitch but...but you'll live," he says and Bonnie begins to cry, moving onto her back. Her jade green eyes are huge.
"...What - what…?"
"What am I doing here on your birthday? I was told there would be cake," he says with a shrug and she cries even harder, arm over her eyes. Kai leans back and grabs the teddy bear. "Brought you a present," he gently pulls her arm away from her face and she stares in disbelief.
"Miss Cuddles?" her voice is hoarse and painful.
"The enhanced version, yeah. Thought you might want your magic back," he whispers and the tears still seeping from her lashes Bonnie manages a weak smile. She takes the bear and hugs it to her chest tightly. Kai, feeling very woozy, sits crossed legged beside Bonnie until she is able to sit up. She stares at him and her disorientation morphs into a solid antagonism.
"You left me."
"...That's what you wanted, you said to go separate ways," he whispers and he is only telling her the truth but why does his stomach twist so painfully? Bonnie looks down but the anger is evident in the clench of her jaw. She wanted to part ways but she probably didn't imagine that involved taking a knife to the gut as a farewell. The memory never really bothered him but now it feels like someone has poured boiling acid into his stomach.
Bonnie shakes her head, tears falling onto the bear. "I never thought -"
"That you'd see my smug face again?" he asks and Bonnie narrows her eyes and then they widen.
"You watched the recording."
"Just be glad I didn't watch it from the start, otherwise you'd be dead."
Bonnie nods, trying to dry her tears with her sleeve. "Please - please don't tell the others?" she whispers gutturally and Kai shrugs.
"I won't. I've tried to kill myself before, in many ingenious ways, but I always came back. Did you think you would?"
Bonnie is silent before answering, still clutching Miss Cuddles. "...I hoped not, if I really was stuck here but then - then I tried to get up, to get out but I couldn't move, couldn't breathe," more tears fall down her face and he wants to touch her desperately but he grabs the grass in his fists instead.
"You're going home Bon," he says it gently and Bonnie repeats it softly, looking down at her bear. Kai, not knowing how to comfort her and, reeling with the fact that he wants to, circles his arm around her waist and brings them up. He wobbles and Bonnie grabs his shirt, inspecting his sweaty face.
"You don't look too hot."
"I think I'm kinda dying. I'm coven leader now by the way," he adds and while he smiles a deep pang of fear rings in him. He feels terrible, like his organs are shredding apart. Bonnie gazes at him sharply, breathing more easily now.
"What happens if you really die?" she says is evenly, but cold and he knows she is thinking of killing him. It must have kept her going thinking of the ways to hurt him, make him pay.
"...This world would collapse, taking you with it. So good thing I came now huh?" he stares at her, his arm still around her and knows that she is thinking about leaving him, the idea is written on her face. Kai sighs. "I know you hate me and I deserve it but can we have a witchy woo battle when you're not breathing like an asthmatic and I'm not seeing two of you? That would be great," he smiles, leaning on her and she almost falls. The sky, usually a clear blue, begins to brighten even more.
"...Fine but we have to wait for the next eclipse," Bonnie says, looking up at the now white sky. "What's going on?"
"The worlds are bleeding, they're not stable. I think I can get us over now...but I need your help," he urges, looking at her bear and Bonnie purses her lips but closes her eyes. With a simple spell she reclaims her magic and she gasps, smiling in soft wonder and he suspects the damage to her body is being healed, magic flowing through her veins.
"Together?"
"Yes."
"Do you promise you won't tell anyone?" she begs, gaze desperate and ashamed and Kai is silent before he takes her hand.
"I promise."
As the world bleeds around them Kai's knees buckle when a sudden agonising pain stabs through his back and abdomen. He groans, biting his lip as he feels a hot stickiness spreading over his back and front. Blood. His connection wavers dangerously and for a moment he sees his curly haired sister smiling viciously but then he squeezes his eyes shut.
Don't lose the connection. Get her out.
Bonnie is unaware of what is happening and Kai is thankful that he had buttoned his coat so she does not see the bloom of blood spreading over his white shirt. If she did she'd probably clap with joy. As the sky bleaches to a bone white something else happens that makes him wonder if the whole thing is just a strange dream. Snow begins to drift around them, flakes landing in her eyelashes and hair. They look up, sporting matching looks of disbelief and see a patch of stars in a night sky. It looks like someone has ripped the sky open slightly, like a child taking a peak at a wrapped present.
"What the hell?"
"Better do this quick," Kai urges and Bonnie nods. It's snowing in May, the world is going to hell and they might just go with it. She takes the ascendant from her pocket and Kai watches as she cuts her finger, dripping blood onto the relic. Mind whirling, his heart beating erratically, Kai touches Bonnie's cheek and she looks up.
"I'm not really here."
"What?"
Kai smiles and with a rush of intense feeling he has no time or desire to decipher he leans down and presses his lips to hers as she chants. Snow melting in the spring heat the kiss lasts for a total of three seconds and it is the longest kiss Kai has had for eighteen years. The only kiss. As expected she leans back sharply, cupid bow mouth beginning to curl into a snarl and Kai sighs.
"Happy birthday."
Bonnie does not have time to answer as she is suddenly beamed up in a bright white light, leaving Kai to fall to his knees. He looks at the mangled ascendant from 2013 in his hand, knowing that he does not have enough juice to send himself back. He used it all getting to Bonnie.
"Okay world, this is your god speaking. If I die so do you...but I can't die here, even as a projection…right?" he asks as the sky darkens and he sees colours shifting and swirling for a moment before the sky turns white again, completely blank but for a perfect black hole ringed with fire. He squeezes his eyes shut, the images maddening. He falls onto his back, clutching the ascendant and then a noise like he has never heard roars in his ears, like a stadium of whispers, an angry buzz of the dead...
"...Kai? Wake up," someone is slapping his face and there is an odd cooper taste on his tongue. Kai's eyes fly open and he stares at Damon Salvatore in utter bewilderment before he looks down. He is lying in a pool of his own blood. Gross but his wounds are healing.
"Ugh, I like this shirt."
Damon leans back, smirking. "Welcome back asshole."
Kai gives a grimacing smile before looking up and spots his little sister lying in a heap across the room and then his eyes land on Bonnie in Elena's arms and he inhales deeply. She is safe.
a.n:
The end...but if there was more it would be about Kai getting magically sick, like on the show, but this time Bonnie is out and she knows he risked his life to save her. Yeah, so I might come back to this in the future.