TLC

Kai pov

Prince Kai watched through the glass as a med-droid inserted a IV into his father's arm. Only 5 days has passed since the emperor had shown the first signs of the bleu fever, but it felt like a lifetime. Years' worth of worry and anguish rolled into so few hours.

He was to young to remember his mothers death, but he knew that what his father is going through, was exactly the same what she went through, and that made him pity the dead.

It was hard for Kai to connect the ill man on the other side of the glass to his father. The man who already had wrinkels from laughing. The man who lifted him on his shoulders and pretended he had the weight of a dozen man while always saying 'jeez boy!'. The man who taught him the ways of his people so he could lead them rightly one day. No, don't think about that, he taught, it will crimpel you.

'It will be alright.'said the royal adviser Konn Torin and he put a hand on the prince shoulder. How is it going to be alright? How in the world will this be alright?

The man – his father – groaned, and slowly, slowly, opened his swollen eyes.

'Your majesty,' Konn said quickly, 'how are you feeling? Do you need something? Water, food?'

'A escort 5.3?' said Kai with a mischief smile, who failed miserably. He felt Konn's disaproving eyes, but his father managed a small chuckle, which shortly turned to a cough. The med-droid rushed to the emperor and coverd his mouth with a white handkerchief, and when removed was splatterd with red, blood, his fathers blood.

Kai turned his head away, 'Kai, Kai are you here?' his fathers voice was a distant echo, just a ghost. It wasn't the voice who could cheer him up, the voice the hallways always carried. Kai has visited his father six times and everytime he just felt hollow, now, he heard that voice and wanted to cry for hours.

'I'm here dad.' He leaned closer tot he glass, who's cold felt like sandpaper on his skin.

'Be… strong. Tru-' Again his father coughed, but it was over before the med-droid reached his side, instead the med-droid filled the IV with a clear liquid. To ease the pain he guessed, and the emperor closed his eyes, sleeping without dreams, but he didn't look asleep, with the red marks on his neck, his gray skin, his shallow breaths, he just looked dead.

'how long, until…?'

'A few days, maybe a week.' Kai put his head to the now welcome cold of the glass, and Konn's forgotten hand squeezed his shoulder.

'Your highness.' Kai shudderd from his tone, because he knew what he was going to say.

'You are going to be emperor, your highness. We must begin to prepare you. We've already put it off too long.'

Too long. Five days.

Just in five days his world was turned upside down, his father, the colourfull and vibrant rock in his world was passing in the next one. Naisi had broken down and now there was a possibilty that her secrets where lost forever. And he was going to be emperor. He wasn't a emper–.

Ping!

Kai and Konn turned around tot he sound of the elevator doors opening. A small men with greying hair and a paperboy cap came through them, , the head of the letumosis research, and, the impossible-to-find cure. He was the only one, beside himself and Konn, authorized to see the emperor in his condition.

was wheezing and as red as a strawberry, but he bowed quickly to Kai. 'Your highness.'

' , what is it?' Kai said that sentence, not without despair sounding in it, was a busy man, even if he had made time everytime he stopped by this week, just so he had the feeling that he was doing something. But seeing him wheezing, it said he had gone in a big hurry to tell him something really important and it couldn't be good. looked up at him and his eyes made him even more scared, always had calm eyes, blue and stunning, but how they looked bewildered, rash. 'Your highness,' he said again 'we have found someone.'. His voice was so full of wonder, hope, amazement, that Kai's own heart blew itself up with light.

'Found someone? Found who? How is this relevant?' Konn asked, with a angry undertone.

just smiled, a smile worthy of a cild innocence. 'We found someone who is immune. Immune to letumosis.'

'…What?' the world rolled of his tongue, meaningless. His brain was a big fog, no taught, no feeling, just… emptiness. Not possiable, no one survived the plague. No one.

And now…

'Explain further, .' Konn voice was determind, stern, and suprised. He had never, ever, in Kai's lifetime looked he so openly and fullheartedly suprised.

'I will explain on the way, now come Your Highness, I promised you, that you would bet he first to know if I made any progress, this is me keeping that promise.' Without looking back stepped back in the elevator, and Kai and Konn stepped eagerly after him and the doors close with a silence hiss.

'Research facility, second floor.' Dr. Erland said and let his breath slowly go. He turned to Kai. 'Your highness, yesterday we had a volunteer, we did everything like always, take a bloodsample, infect the person with a litte bit of letumosis, all carriers tracked. It was expected for the volunteer to enter the second stage of letumosis about 01:00 today, but almost within twenty minutes the volunteer's body had defeated all the carriers.' The way said it, so simple, it was impossible to believe it. But his heart expanded beyond his chest, beyond his countrey. They maybe finally found it, the antidote. The antidote.

'We experimented with a draft subject this morning, we took the volunteer's blood and injected it into the draft subject, and now… now he is cured Your Highness.' 's eyes darted into Kai's 'It took over a hour but the man is cured, he is weak and will likely stay that way for a while, but he is cured.' The relieve in the docters eyes was astonishing. How many people will be saved because him? How many people will still have their loved ones because of this person? But one question kept bouncing in his head. Just one.

'Will my father recive a trail of blood from him?'

'Of course, Your Highness. My assistance is working on it as we speak. But, Your Highness, it's not he, it's a she.' His eyes glimmer with humour.

'Whe need a prescongres, the people need to know this. That the emperor will live, th-' the doors of the elevator finally opened, and the three men shot out it if the air was toxic.

'Come Your High-'

'YOU IGNORANT LITTE ASSWIPE!' three pairs of eyebrows shot upward. , Kai and Konn Torin froze in their tracks. The elevator left them at a spacious white creamed hallway with sevral people looking as suprised by those words as they were. Then suddenly a girl with a messy ponytail and dirty workgloves emerge, along with half a dozen pissed off gaurds.

Konn Torin and stept infront of Kai, but because of his lenght he could see the feisty girl, who defended herself just fine against two gaurds who tried to tackle her, but even to the untrained eye ,six was to much to take even fort his girl. She landed good punches and kicks, but was driven in a corner. Curses flodded out of her mouth who could make a fisherman blush.

Then in a desprait act the girl slided under the legs of a gaurd who had bruises all over his face and stood face to face to Kai, and recognition hit Kai like a truck.

Linh Cinder, the mechanic.

'Linh-méi?'

She smiled a smile who made his heart skip a beat.

'good fucking afternoon Your Highness.'