Set during 6x05, "The World Has Turned and Left Me Here"
Old yellow bricks,
Love's a risk,
Quite the little Escapoligist
Looked so miffed,
When you wished,
For a thousand places better than this,
You are the fugitive,
But you don't know what you're running from,
You can't kid us,
And you couldn't trick anyone,
Houdini, love you don't know what you're running away from,
"Old Yellow Bricks" - Arctic Monkeys
Chapter 4 -What You're Running Away From
April 1993
Skye slammed the dorm room door in Kai's face, but he just opened it a moment later and stepped through, sighing.
"Get out," she growled, trying to contain herself. She had not been this angry before in a long time, and she was scared where it would take her. And Kai's insufferable, obnoxious behavior wasn't helping.
"Babe, calm down. It wasn't that bad," he cajoled.
"Wasn't that bad?!" she nearly screeched. "Who says something like that?"
Undisturbed, he pulled out her desk chair and sat, propping his legs up on the desk's surface, making Skye see red. "You know, I've never seen this hostile side of you. I really like it, makes you like 6 times hotter."
Just a foot away, Skye was shaking with the amount of rage inside her, and his continued idiocy only added to it, but he couldn't take her eyes off of her. There was something in his gaze off-putting to her. Like he was fascinated by her rage, like he really meant what he was saying, though his tone was sarcastic.
"Kai, I swear to God…" Her tone was deadly calm, the type anyone would fear from another person, but Kai still sat, watching her, unperturbed. "If you don't leave this room, I will castrate you."
He leaned forward now, his feet meeting the floor, eyes still glued to her, but this time traveling down her body. "Ooh, the threats stage, how fun. Here's a suggestion, though, you should make them more original."
Skye gaped, momentarily forgetting her rage. "What is wrong with you?" she burst out. "Look, you need to leave. I will talk to you when I've cooled off."
Looking around, he ignored her. "When does your roommate get out of class again?" he asked.
She regarded him with utter disbelief. "Kai, seriously."
"Answer the question, please."
"I don't know," she snapped, "Two hours."
"Perfect," he grinned, before his arms flashed out and pulled her to him, forcing her on his lap. She struggled instantly, but he held firm. "Listen," he shushed over her wrathful mutterings. "I'm sorry."
"Yeah, that was totally convincing," she said, still tense in his arms.
Letting out a long-suffering sigh, he said, "Fine, I'm really sorry. I'll never say anything like that again." The anger stirred up again in Skye at his still blasé attitude.
"Wow, you really need to improve your apology skills," Skye said, seriously. She tried to move again, but he clamped down. "Kai, let me up now."
His nose brushed her ear and she froze. "Let me apologize in other ways," he whispered, and just that one whisper against her skin took some of the heat of her anger and transformed it into the heat of desire. But the anger was still there, simmering, and she wasn't ready to let it go.
"No," she insisted "In fact, maybe we shouldn't even be toget-." He had cut her straight off when he inclined his head and pressed his lips to her neck. He knew too much about her in what seemed like such a short amount of time. He grinned against her neck when she let out a little gasp. "Not fair."
Pulling back, he nudged her till she stood up off his lap, though his face had turned serious and hurt. "Actually, not fair is going postal over one idiotic comment, and almost breaking up with your boyfriend."
Instantly, Skye felt guilt weigh heavily in her belly. Observing her stricken expression, he smiled brightly, "It's okay, babe. I forgive you." He pulled her down into his lap again, and this time his lips settled over hers hungrily. She kissed back, desire finally winning out, but she was also confused, wondering how he could've turned around the situation so quickly.
The next morning, Skye jerked awake to see Kai; he sat on the edge of the bed, dressed in a dark, distressed denim jacket, with at least two more dark layers underneath, and black shorts. But what had actually awoken Skye was his movements - he was purposefully bouncing his body, making the bed shake. She was unsurprised, the boy was like an over-excited puppy, trying to wake up it's owner in the morning.
When he saw her open brown eyes, he gave a bright grin.
"Come on," he said, his voice annoyingly cheerful. "Get up. Our friends are already waiting for us in the woods."
Groaning, Skye rolled onto her back, right into a stream of sunlight that poured in through the window of one of the many guest rooms of the Salvatore Boarding house.
She squinted at Kai and pushed her hair back. "What time is it?"
"8:30," he answered, scooting closer to her. His face had relaxed slightly from the grin, but now his eyes were focused on her exposed neck. She froze when he reached with one hand and touched the bruises, gingerly tracing with his fingertips. "That means less than fours hours from now we'll be hurtling through time and space. It will be like Back to the Future, only I'm like way more attractive than Michael J. Fox." Turning his gaze to the floor, his brow furrowed, but he still kept his hand on her neck, except now he entwined his fingers into her hair. "Wait- does that make Bonnie the Doc in this scenario?" He pressed his thumb down hard against the bruise, and Skye hissed in pain. "Because that just seems weir-" Kai stopped when Skye's hand shot up and grabbed his wrist tightly. Their eyes locked for a second, while his expression seemed startled, his eyes held an knowing sadistic gleam.
Sitting up, she shoved his shoulder with all the force she had, causing him to topple to the floor with a loud thump, and a grunt came from his prostrate figure.
He was back on his feet the next second, regarding Skye with pursed lips. "Normally, I would be a little angry about that. But we're going home today, and even you can't bring me down."
Walking to the end of the bed, he bent and pulled all the fabric off Skye and the bed into the floor. "Get up. Our schedule is very restrictive today, and like I said, Bonnie and Damon are waiting on us." While Skye tried to fend off the cold by wrapping her arms around herself, Kai pointed to a neat stack of folded clothes on the dresser. "Bonnie left you some clothes. You have time for a shower, but make it quick. I will be downstairs." With that, he strolled out the door.
Skye got up cautiously, not entirely believing he was gone. She padded to the doorway, and looked into the hallway. It was empty, and if she strained her ears, she could hear him downstairs moving around.
Swiping the clothes off the dresser, Skye walked to the bathroom she had found last night in the hall. Quietly shutting the door, she was insanely relieved to find that it had a lock. She twisted it quickly, and walked to the tub to start the water.
She enjoyed her shower, the warm and cleansing water, but it ended too soon. She dried and dressed fast into the clothes Bonnie had laid aside for her: ripped jeans, a white tank top, and a red and black plaid shirt. Her now more awake brain was reminding her of exactly what the day was supposed to hold for her: the real world, where her mom, Anya, and Anthony were. She even let herself get a little giddy, that is until she turned to the steamy mirror, wiped it and the ugly bruises greeted her. Feeling deflated, she ran a random comb she had found in the medicine cabinet through her hair. The comb was too flimsy to brush entirely through her thick hair, but it was enough.
Stopping by the guestroom again, she slipped on her red Converse, grabbed the dark scarf from yesterday off the bedpost, and wrapped it around her neck. She was glad the scarf was polyester and not wool, which would be hard to explain to Damon and Bonnie in perpetual May weather.
Skye headed downstairs to the foyer. Kai was already there, with the huge front door wide open, and holding up a glass of orange juice and an apple. "Bonnie and Damon already ate breakfast. Pancakes, again, can you believe it? It would be cute if it wasn't so disgusting. Like don't they realize there are a billion other way more interesting breakfast food items? French toast, eggs, even waffles, for God's sake..."
He held the items out to her, and she eyed them doubtfully. He shook them at her insistently. Sighing, she took the glass of orange juice from him and drained it in three gulps, hoping he hadn't gotten his hands on rat poison or something similar. Kai's murder approach was usually more direct anyway. Handing back the glass, she snatched the apple, and walked past him through the door, intending to leave his ass behind. But then she stopped in her tracks, and cringed, realizing she had to wait for him to know what direction to go.
Chuckling, Kai came out and headed left. "I was wondering when you'd realize…" he said.
They set off into the woods. Kai trampled quickly and unforgiving while she followed more slowly and carefully through the underbrush, chomping on the apple. Every so often, he glanced back at her pensively.
"You know, babe, I've been thinking. We can't go back to the real world on bad terms."
"Yes, we can," Skye said immediately, speeding up. She walked ahead and then a little sideways, until she was four trees away from him latitudely.
"Are you still mad about yesterday?" he called.
She didn't answer, only kept walking, not even looking back.
"Look, I'm sorry about it, okay?" Kai almost sounded serious, but Skye heard the slight intonation that betrayed him.
"Sorry, insincere apologies will get you nowhere."
"I had to motivate them, otherwise we'd be stuck here." His voice was closer, and she quicken her pace.
"No, you'd be stuck here because they actually like me. Maybe it's because I'm not the spawn of Satan and Norman Bates."
Turning her head, she saw that he was now one tree away from her. She gave him the sweetest smile she could muster. "Like you, Mal."
Expecting him to get angry for the nickname, she was amazed to be met with an blue-grey pair of mirthful eyes. "Ooh, a Hitchcock reference. You know, he really was overrated…"
Kai launched into a tangent about his least favorite Alfred Hitchcock movies that lasted several more minutes and feet of irregular, dirty, stick littered ground -where Skye tossed the remnants of her apple.
Skye was relieved to finally hear two other voices-Bonnie's and Damon's; she practically jogging at this point.
"But Kai's a sociopath. Who's to say he won't screw us over?" Good point, Bonnie. Skye thought. She could see the witch and the vampire now, stepping into a small clearing, but she could also sense that Kai was right at her back.
"Me," Damon answered. "I say. Because I will kill Kai, and anyone who comes in the way of me going home."
Breaking into the clearing, both Kai and Skye slowed. Kai had already pulled out the Ascendant, and came to stand in the middle of the group.
"I heard my name," he said to Bonnie and Damon. "All good, I hope." They only stared back cautiously.
"Doubtful," Skye quipped, honestly. She tried to give Bonnie a smile, but the witch was focused on Kai.
Raising the Ascendant to his forehead and looking up, Kai said, "The eclipse will happen directly overhead." He brought his hand and head down. "In perfect alignment with the Gemini constellation." Pointing to Damon, he directed, "You need to dig into the tunnels below us. We'll do the spell there."
"Why?" Bonnie questioned.
"Have you never portal jumped through an eclipse before?" Kai asked sarcastically, feigning shock.
Damon, Bonnie, and Skye all shot him looks of exasperation. "Okay, look," he said, ready to explain. "The light of the eclipse will shine down and activate the Ascendant." Now, he pointed to Bonnie. "You spout a little bit of witchy-woo. And poof," he finished dramatically. "Anyone standing in the circle of light, holding the Ascendant, goes home."
"By witchy-woo, I assume you mean the spell?" Bonnie asked.
"Uh huh."
"Let me see it," she demanded.
"When the time comes," he said cryptically. Kai started forward, passing in between Damon and Bonnie, headed in the direction they had come from. Skye came forward too, perplexed.
"Where are you going?" Damon asked casually.
Kai turned, "Into town. I need to gather some important supplies." His eyes shifted to Skye, "You coming?"
"Uh-," She looked towards Bonnie and Damon. They were watching her, but offering her no alternative.
"Come on, Skye," Kai insisted, patting his legs. His tone was similar to a tone of pet owner, calling for their dog.
She glared at him; that was sure making her want to follow.
Bonnie stared at him, openly hostile. "You can stay here with us, Skye," she said softly while glancing meaningfully at Damon.
"Yeah," Damon agreed, upon seeing her look.
"Thanks, guys, but it's okay. He won't do anything to me," she said, already headed towards the grinning fool. That he hasn't already done a hundred times over, she thought, as he turned, walked a few steps, and vaulted around a tree.
Besides, it would be best if one of them kept an eye on him.
Kai had led her to a car on the side of a road, and presented her with her own blue canvas backpack.
Now, they were browsing the record store in the downtown area of Mystic Falls. Kai was concentrated hard on his selection while Skye felt less concerned with hers. He had said supplies earlier, and to Skye that meant things they would need in the real world to survive, like money, toiletry items, extra clothes, food, etc. And surely, one could still access this music in the future. It had only been eighteen years; some of the music in the store had been around longer than that. She had tried to explain all this to him, but he had pulled a face at her, and plugged his ears until she stopped talking, all the while throwing one grunge CD after another into his bag.
Not to to be outdone, she started picking out her own CDs away from him. The Beatles, Beastie Boys, Radiohead, The Cure, and Depeche Mode eventually found their way into her bag.
Picking up Cypress Hill's Black Sunday album, she peeked over the track listing before grinning to herself.
"Hey, Kai, here's your song," she said. Curious, he made his way over before taking the CD from her grip and glancing down at the song she had indicated, "Insane in the Membrane." Rolling his eyes, he threw the album over his shoulder carelessly, and it landed on a rack with a clatter. While she laughed, he snatched her bag from her grip and began rifling through her selection.
"Really?" he burst out, taking out Depeche Mode's album Violator. " 'Enjoy the Silence." Oh my god, I remember this god awful song. You used to sing along to it all the time, like really loudly and off-key." He laughed nostalgically. Skye, always protective of her music choices, grabbed the CD and her bag from him. But Kai continued, in his inane, self-righteous Kai way: "I always wondered how you failed to see the irony. I mean, they were using words to describe how words were meaningless. I still can't decide if it was really stupid or ballsy of them. They should've just put a blank track in it's place and entitled it 'Enjoy the Silence.' Now, that would've been ballsy and hilar-"
Skye exited the music store, and walked quickly across the street, headed to another building where the storefront read "General Store."
Here, she grabbed what she considered necessities. Kai barged in, not even five minutes after she had entered. "Way to be rude, babe," he said, making his way towards her place in the food aisle only to be diverted by the stand up coolers in the back. "Ooh, Zima." Changing his path, he walked to the display. "Damon told me they discontinued this, can you believe it?"
"Yes, that stuff is disgusting," she answered, before exiting once again without him.
Now, she just needed to find a bank...and break into its safe. Now, she actually needed the criminal. Sighing and turning, she went back to the General Store. Kai was already sitting on the counter, swing his legs, a bag of pork rinds opened at his side, and draining a bottle of Zima.
Wiping his mouth with his sleeve, he raised his eyebrows at her approach. "She returns. And here I had just resigned myself to the fact that you were being annoyingly independent today."
That statement made what she had to ask for next ten times harder, "Actually, I need your help."
His face broke into all-knowing grin that just got bigger by the second; she contemplated smacking it off his face.
After Kai had revealed the bank's location, broke into the vault successfully (with no small amount of gloating) and Skye had collected twenty thousand dollars, they drove back to the side road and headed back into the forest, the backpacks heavy on their backs. Kai was rambling, but Skye was preoccupied, thinking over the behavior he had displayed so far that day. The wake up call, breakfast, the backpack, the trip into town, his almost seemingly endless patience - he was acting like he typically would, after he brutalized her in any way. She recognized for what it was, a tactic of emotional manipulation. She had read all about it in all the books she had consulted about sociopaths, of course once she'd learned he was one in the prison world.
Speaking of the world, cutting off Kai mid-babble, Skye addressed an issue that had been bothering her since yesterday.
"So your family called you an abomination because of your...ability?"
He actually looked genuinely surprised for a split second, but it was gone and replaced by a smirk too soon for her to be sure it had happened.
"Yeah, my whole life," he replied. "Why do you ask? Feeling sorry for me?"
"No, just thinking about self-fulfilling prophecies," she said softly. He raised an eyebrow, staying silent. But he was interested. She continued: "You know, the idea that if a person gets called something over and over again, he tends to become that very thing, even if he wasn't before." His gaze stayed straight ahead. "The situation usually reflects poorly on the name caller," she said as his head snapped to her, and for the first time in her life, she thought she saw uncertainty on Kai's face. She had to finish, though. "But the victim's not entirely blameless either. They did fulfill the prophecy, after all." His features went hard again, and he seemed to sneer at her, before he sped up and left her behind. Skye already knew that she never would feel sorry for Kai, or not blame him for his actions. She just had needed to tell him that.
She trailed after him, until she saw the clearing again. Except now there was a big hole in the middle of it, with Bonnie sitting on it's edge. She was chatting to Damon, who Skye guessed was inside of it. She watched from her approaching distance as Damon heaved the pick axe over his head before he brought it down again. Then she heard rocks falling down into what sounded like a hollow space.
"Looks like we got back just in time," Kai said, stepping into the clearing, pulling his bag from his shoulder. Skye stepped into the clearing too, but stopped behind him. Which was a good thing, as Damon vamped out of the hole and snatched Kai's bag right out of his hands. Damon unzipped it and examined its contents, while Bonnie looked on with some concern. "Zima, grunge, every Alex Rodriguez rookie card known to man, and a pager. Really?" he finished, the last part laced with snarky surprise.
"555-HIYA-KAI. There's no way I'm giving those digits up," Kai answered. Skye rolled her eyes; she had forgotten all about his stupid pager.
"These were the important supplies you had to get?" Damon asked, with skepticism. He turned to Skye, "Please tell me you have more common sense than your boyfriend over here."
"Look, the future sounds great," Kai interjected before Skye could respond. "I'm super excited about the Internet. But 1994 has been my home for most of my life, and I'd hate to get homesick."
Damon rolled his eyes, but he didn't deter Kai.
"So, let's get down there-"
"No," Bonnie broke through, standing up, approaching Kai, and pushing Damon off to the side. "We're not going anywhere until you show me the spell."
"Oohkay," Kai drawled out, putting his hands in his pockets. He smiled between the two, showing his willingness to wait.
"Are we literally not going anywhere?" Damon asked, showing the barest hint of his irritation.
"Fine, you don't want to show me the spell," Bonnie reasoned. "You can do it yourself." Holding her hand out, she challenged, "You want my magic. Take it."
"Uh oh, she's being brave," Kai said to Damon, with contempt. This exchange marked the instance that Skye became nervous for Bonnie. She didn't even want to know what Kai's face looked like.
Skye stepped closer to Kai from behind while Bonnie did the same, though in front of him. "I'm serious, Kai. This was your big threat, wasn't it? If I don't do the spell and let us out of here, you'll just take my magic, leave me for dead, and do the spell yourself. So, go ahead," she challenged once again. "Take all of it."
There was a slight pause before Skye heard Kai say "Don't mind if I do." He slapped his hands on her shoulders, holding the tops of her arms tightly. Bonnie skin glowed orange under his hands, and she groaned out in pain, tipping forward.
"Bonnie," Damon said, concerned. Skye moved even closer to the pair, ready to intervene.
"It's okay," Bonnie reassured through gritted teeth, straightening to look dead into Kai's eyes. "He won't kill me."
"Doesn't look like that from here," Damon said. Skye had to agree, and she was barely able to see Kai's face.
"Kai," Skye finally cautioned.
"Shut up, Skyler." He also spoke through gritted teeth, but she figured his were on edge for a different reason.
Kai twisted his arms, and Bonnie fought against him, but she let out a new, louder moan, and the pain finally showed on her face.
"Hey, Bonnie," Damon barked. "Whoa. Guys."
Skye grabbed Kai's shoulder, hard.
"Stop!" Damon commanded. Kai finally released Bonnie and she staggered a few steps back. Both witches were breathing heavily before Bonnie said, with scorn and complete confidence, "He doesn't know the spell. Which means we don't need him. Motis."
With a flick of her hand, the pick axe rose from the ground and impaled itself straight into Kai's chest. He let out a thick grunt, and coughed, while Damon started shouting, "No! No, no." Kai fell to the forest ground right away, almost comically, his eyes rolling into the back of his head. Skye went down with him, but scrambled away as soon as she could, and looked in utter shock, not upon Kai, but upon Bonnie. She had never expected such as thing from the girl, the one who seemed so righteous.
"Bonnie," Damon said, also seemingly scandalized at Bonnie's action, but only because to him, Kai was the wealth of information they needed. Damon patted her on her shoulder condescendingly, "Great work, Bonnie."
A/N - Again, this is not the full episode, but I wanted to give you something this week. It's not as long as last chapter, but still longer than the first. I will finish the episode next time, plus provide my own content for the next because I know Kai and Bonnie aren't in it. Hopefully, you guys got some satisfying Kai / Skye interaction out of this one too.
Thanks so much for the favorites and follows. Also, thanks to the reviewers:
Guests: Thank you all so much. You're all very encouraging. To the one that complimented my use of the flashbacks, thank you so much! It definitely helps to not dump out all the exposition in one go. To the one that said everyone's voice was in character, thank you! I do worry about this. To the one concerned about Skye's welfare, don't worry she's pretty tough. To the one who thought I might be a TVD writer, I'm not but that's like the best compliment I've ever received so thank you.
louiseinwonderland: Thank so much! I'm glad to hear you loved the flashback scenes, and that I write Kai well. That has been my biggest concern.
mrsdansmith: Thank you! Yes, I've been trying to be more timely. Thanks for recommending the video - it is perfect, especially the song choice. Like I needed to fall more in love with him.
Justfourmisfits: You're welcome! And thank you! It's awesome to me that people get excited about what I write, so I hope you like this one.
VampiresAndLiars: I'm glad you like the flashbacks! I was nervous about them. As for the one of the day Kai killed his family, that one is already slotted for the Thanksgiving episode, though I think it will be told from Skye's perspective.
AmericanWordsmith: Thank you so much! You really hit the nail on the head with your insight. I love that you see the thought I put into it because I had hoped it was translating.
susan: Thanks so much! So sorry about the rating, I didn't know how it got to be that way. But I changed it right after I got your review, so thank you.
Female whovian: Thanks so much! I hope this chapter is just as intense for you!
sarahmichellegellarfan1: Thanks so much for reviewing each chapter. I think that's one of the reason I like Kai, too, because of his parallels with Kol. As for Kai's and Skye's relationship, I wouldn't say they have no feelings for each other, in fact I would say they both have too many if that makes sense to you.
We're All M-M-Mad Here: Thanks so much! Don't cry, the update's here. I hope you like it.
MrsEnzo: Thank you! As for who Skye is getting out of the prison world with, I don't wanna spoil it, but this is a Kai / OC fanfic (hint, hint).
Loki Ascending: Thank you! Here's the update. I hope you like it.
diadems and sesame seeds: Thank so much! That episode is pretty creepy, and he is definitely one of a kind. I'm glad you like their portrayal. I hope you like this chapter.
Also, I've thinking about Kai's and Skye's ship name and it's pretty much impossible to make one out of their nicknames, so you guys got any ideas? Malakyler? Makyler? Malaskye? It's weird.