Hello again! So this chapter's gonna be a big revealer of the premonitions or bad feelings anyone's had to this point. Kai makes a discovery, and it'll prepare for an intense but cute Kainorra scene for the next chapter. Well, don't wanna hold up the story so…Onward!
"Kai, I want to show you something."
The father stood in the corner of the living room. He knelt down, pulled out a safe from beneath a secret compartment in the wooden floor, and motioned for Kai to come over. The boy's curiosity piqued: people only kept money in safes. Kai dashed over, listening to his every word, watching his every finger movement on the lock. At last, the door popped open and unveiled a treasure that shone in Kai's eyes.
All the jewels, coins, and expensive items—all in an assorted array of gold, red, and blue—flashed at Kai. The boy fell into its spell, his mind forever trapped by its sight. The father smiled at Kai's reaction.
"These are the family life savings. They're yours too, since you're part of the family."
"Uh huh," Kai whispered as a scheme began to form in his mind, "that's just great."
The day passed, and night fell. It was only under the cover of darkness could Kai execute his plan. Sure that the family was asleep, Kai made his way from the bedroom he shared with Chou and down to the living room. Trying to keep quiet, he crept over towards the corner and pulled the safe out of the floor. Pressing his ear against the safe, he rotated the combinations around until he heard a 'click.' As he swung the sack around his shoulder, he heard a voice call out.
"Kai?"
His heart froze as he turned his head. Standing by the stairwell was the family, draped in their nightgowns and clear concerned. Chou's face was crushed. Kai sighed, stood up—with the sack still tight in his grip—and began to walk over to the family, his head dipped as if in shame. But just as he passed the dining table, his eyebrow cocked, and Kai—out of nowhere—grabbed a chair and swung it towards the group.
The chair hit the father perfectly in the stomach, shifting his wife's attention from Kai to her injured husband. It was Kai's only hope of getting away. As the house filled with the cries of the adults, Kai sprinted towards the window. He put one foot in front of the other until he reached it; Kai flung the window open, climbed half-way through it, and then felt a tug on his leg.
He turned back, and there was Chou. The boy's eyes were fresh with pain, as if asking Kai 'why would you do this?' Betrayal was evident, and for a fleeting moment, Kai felt a sharp pain inside him. Deep down, he knew what he was doing was wrong.
But Kai brushed it off.
Without thinking and out of desperation, Kai clenched his fist and struck Chou in the jaw. He heard the boy tumble backwards, both physically and emotionally scarred for life.
But Kai couldn't bring himself to look back.
He ran and ran as fast as he could, away from the house, away from the community, and away from all he'd done wrong. Why should Kai care? Why should he feel bad? They were nothing but phonies; he'd never bought their "perfect, happy family" act. After all, he'd been to so many and seen so many fail. Besides, he couldn't stand how ignorant they were about the struggles outside their perfectly gated, wealthy community. Most of all, he had long given up on the hope that any family would truly value him. What made them any different?
Outside, rain began to pour down. Something was wrong. Kai stopped and no longer recognized his surroundings. Then, the earth 'cracked' and fractured beneath him; a dark abyss was all he saw. Tentacles shot out and wrapped themselves around Kai, pulling him into the hole. This fate seemed all too familiar.
He heard a shrill, familiar, female cry in the distance.
"Jinora!" Kai cried out.
Kai tried to wriggle out of the tentacles, only to cause them to dig into him further. Soon, he heard an evil, deep-voiced laugh rumble, "No friends, no spirits to save you Kai. You can't save her or yourself from me…Prepare to face your monster."
"GAHHH!" Kai shouted as he propped himself up.
He panted heavily as he became acclimated to his surroundings. Realizing he was still in the dorm, still in Chou's new "home."
Kai rubbed his face, trying to figure out what it meant. He remembered the first part of the dream: it was the day he'd stolen their savings and ran away. There was nothing inaccurate about that—no matter how much Kai wished it never happened. But latter half; it was a repeat of the nightmare he had experienced the day before he'd left for the Earth Kingdom.
There was now no doubt it meant something, if only Kai could figure out what.
Two days had passed since he'd stumbled across Chou. He couldn't remember how though. In the short time he'd been there, Kai's enthusiasm and optimism had slowly declined. There was something odd about this place, something wrong.
The "seismic activity" Chou described had reoccurred far too many times. Jinora had lectured Kai thoroughly about the topic, and Kai knew enough to know that this wasn't natural. The fact he'd seen injured boys carried away on stretchers immediately afterwards didn't reassure him at all. There were too many bits and pieces that didn't add up in the equation Chou had given Kai. Plus, there was something severely wrong about Chou.
Kai had tried to deny it, had tried to convince himself that Chou had simply grown-up and grown a thicker skin since his misfortune. But no one could change that dramatically. Chou was cold, besides his physical looks, he didn't resemble the brother Kai had known. When he told Kai more about his story (the events leading up to his parents' death), Kai felt uncomfortable with the way he spoke. I wonder how much of that is my fault, Kai thought to himself.
What if Kai had never stolen from them? What if Kai had never rejected their attempts to bond with him? What if Kai had never left them in the first place?
He didn't even want to think about it. Kai felt like avatar Aang after he'd found out about the air nomad genocide. However, even if Kai couldn't figure out what happened to Chou, he was going to figure out what was going on with his "family" right now.
Kai heard a familiar 'grumble' from outside, growing louder and louder, closer and closer to his dorm. Is that a Sato-mobile? Kai thought to himself. It didn't make sense, but Kai had a feeling it was about to.
Kai crept to the entrance of his dorm, waiting for the truck to pass. When he saw the first sign of gray, Kai propelled himself out of the door and under the truck. Before its wheels could pass over him and expose him, he grabbed onto the underside, clinging to it as if it were his lifeline. His back strained to keep his torso flat up against the truck so that no one could spot him. He couldn't see much, but he could make out the bright light penetrate his surroundings.
They were going above ground.
The truck drove for what seemed like an eternity before coming to a sudden stop. Kai let go of the truck—relieving his sore shoulders, dropped to the ground, and waited. Boots suddenly landed in front of him, and Kai heard the clinging of metals as the boys unloaded. Knives, clubs, other crude weapons, ropes, burlap bags, and a strange box fell in front of him.
"You know Chou's orders…Don't leave a building un-robbed."
The bandits left with all there equipment, and as soon as the perimeter was clear, Kai climbed out from the underside of the truck.
Lines of crumbling houses stood a hundred feet in front of him. As Kai examined the neighborhood, he heard a 'boom' in the distance. By the time he turned his head towards what could've only been an explosion, fire engulfed the houses. Townspeople began pouring out of the neighborhood, some burned, some desperately trying to fend off the attackers, some holding small children, some screaming for help.
Some of them were even the same people that had slandered Kai in the market place.
Kai froze in horror as the truth dawned on him. How could he have been so blind? Chou's "family" was no benevolent act: this was a criminal operation. The boys were thieves, and Chou was the gang boss. Chou had been terrorizing these people for the past two years; Chou had all these boys carrying out his dirty work; Chou was tricking Kai all along.
And Kai had a feeling Chou had something to do with Yung and Daw's disappearance.
Not wanting to be seen and not knowing whether to get involved, Kai did the one thing he could think of: get away, away from the scene and back to Jinora. He flipped open his wing-suit, and with a power air-blast, flew off.
Okay, so I hope that chapter was alright. I know things have been getting progressively darker, but again good can't exist without bad, right? Still, lemme know any suggestions you might have; reviews are great! I will get the next chapter up tomorrow. So until then...peace!
