Sorry, the last week of school was hectic. My socials teacher gave my class a test on the last day in last period. So sad. Anyway, I promised you guys at least two chapters a week so here it is.
Hope you all like it!
He coughed and clamped his handkerchief over his mouth and tied it behind his head. Kai's eyes watered from the fumes. Too late, too late, too late, his brain chanted. Smoke clogged the halls, rice paper screens easily going up in flames. Kai ran past it all, back to their private booth. He gritted his teeth as he used the tips of his fingernails to slide back the smouldering wood door. It was too hot. Giving up, Kai finally kicked the sliding door in. The pliable wood splintered under his foot with a crash. Exhaling sharply, Kai's panicked eyes swept the room . No Cinder.
Kai shook his head, sweat dripping down his face. Where could she be? Maybe she was already- No. Cinder was the strongest person he knew. She had overcome insurmountable odds and triumphed when everyone else had abandoned hope. Cinder had sacrificed everything for her people.
Even him, the small voice at the back of his head hissed. Why should you care so much when she does not care at all? Kai contracted his hands into fists. Not now. This is not the time for such thoughts. "Cinder!" he shouted. "Selene! Your Majesty, where are you?" Utter silence except of the crackle of the near blaze and collapsing of falling wood pillars. Despair tightened its hold on his heart. He choked back a sob and turned wildly. "Where are you, Cinder?" he whispered. "I have waited for you for so long. Don't disappear on me again. Not so soon after..." he trailed off. She can't hear him and this won't help her.
"Please, Cinder. Answer me." Kai shouted. The emperor retraced his steps. What had he not noticed? Going back to the beginning, Kai slipped into the rooms he had missed before. But why would Cinder be in a random room? There had to be some pattern, some symbol that would indicate where she was. Which part of the puzzle was he missing? He walked back into the blackened corridor. Kai scanned through the rooms. What did they have all in common? Kai froze as he paused before the shattered door he had kicked in.
Why would that door be closed? The restaurant's customers were terrified, scared for their lives. They wouldn't have remembered such a mundane thing as to shut a door. They would have opened it to flee, but close it? Why would they need to? It's not as if the fire wouldn't burn everything up. The question was why was the room they had been in had a shut door. Cinder wasn't really that worried about the fire, that Kai knew. She had been afraid for little Carrot, but not for herself. Her selfless personality shining through as always. Cinder might have closed the door, but...
There was a closed door further down the hall. He had passed it a while ago thinking it was just a storage room... Nobody should have been in there. Kai glanced at the sliding door he had smashed. But maybe not everything was a coincidence. His meeting with Cinder six years ago certainly wasn't. Neither was when they had bumped into each other today. Something had led him there. Led him to her. It was as if there was something inside of him that always pointed to her. Always nudged him in the right direction that would make sure they crossed paths. Kai took a step. Then another. Somehow, he knew to dread whatever was on the other side of the door. Kai found it difficult to swallow as he approached. He attempted to breathe in shortened breaths through his makeshift mask. It was getting to hot, too hazy.
He was standing in front of the storage room door. How had he not realized the metal door was ajar on his first round? Kai hesitated. Did he really want to see what was beyond the opening? He steeled himself. Cinder might be in there. He had to save her.
Kai used the tips of his boots to angle the scalding metal door open. Smoke poured out from the opening forcing Kai to turn away and cough. The smoke cleared out and he gazed into the fiery storage room. Crates were stacked haphazardly across the perimeter of the storeroom. Scattered logs blazed a merry bonfire and Kai almost sagged into the door. He caught himself at the last moment and straightened, his eyes narrowing. He was no detective, but the fire was obviously no accident, and the perpetrator had wanted them to know it. He stepped in for a closer look and almost tripped over a soft body.
Cinder.
She lay, still and unmoving at the threshold of the door. Her straight, glossy hair spread like a curtain on the floor, a slight curl on the ends from the heat. Kai dropped immediately. "Cinder!" Kai tugged her limp body onto his lap. He shook her gently. "Wake up! You have to wake up!" Kai slapped her cheek. Her skin was pale, too pale, and soot stained her face. Cinder didn't move. Kai wasn't even sure if she was breathing. His chest contracted painfully. Cinder. He brought his ear to her mouth. Barely there. A small gasping rasp, then gone. He shook her again. "Don't sleep, please," he choked. Her lashes fluttered. A slight quirk of lip.
"Kai," she breathed, a cough rattling in her chest. Kai shifted her higher. "Don't worry," she mumbled, her eyes still closed, "Not dying... yet. Just resting." He scowled, to hide his tears and smacked her again.
"No! You can't. Stay awake," he said swallowing the knot in his throat. She used a weak hand to push him away.
"You should go," she said through a achingly hoarse throat. Her eyes flickered open, staring at him in a wistful way. The lump in his throat sank, lodged permanently in his throat. She studied him carefully, as if committing his features to memory. Cinder reached a trembling hand to run her fingers through his hair. Kai stilled. A heavy weight pressed at the back of his eyes, and he closed them. Tears seeped from under them. Cinder's fingers curled the strands around her fingers and stroked them. "Why are you crying?" she whispered.
"Shhh," Kai shushed rocking her quietly, salt drops sliding down his face. "Don't try to talk." Cinder let go of his hair and her fingers slid down to his cheek. She traced the contours there.
"Is it selfish of me to want you even as I am dying?" Cinder murmured, so soft Kai had to lean down to hear her. Wait, what? Heart beating rapidly he stared down at her in disbelief. Cinder smiled up at him in a whimsical way. No, she was only saying this because she thought she was going to die. And she wasn't. Cinder was just delirious, confused. There was no way she would say-
"I love you, you know. I've loved you forever. Even before you knew me. Before we had never met. Back when you were just a prince and I a lowly mechanic, and was one of the 200,000 single girls that daydreamed about you. Even before I knew of your existence. I think I had known you were going to come into my life and had just waited for you to announce yourself." Cinder's fingers dropped again, this time to his mouth. She carefully reached under his makeshift mask to gingerly brush his lips lightly with a thumb. Kai shuddered and clutched her closer.
"I'm here," he said simply, ignoring how his heart was being rent to bits, influenced by her soft touch. Cinder sighed, not hearing him.
"But you and I weren't meant to be. There are always complications, aren't there. Always things that block my way to you. If only I was a normal girl. If only I was not cyborg, not queen, not Lunar, not-"
"I don't care," Kai whispered harshly. Cinder blinked up at him. "I never cared. The only one who ever cared was you." Kai shifted her closer. "Don't you get it? I-" Cinder pressed her finger to his lips silencing him.
"I know," Cinder closed her eyes, "Believe me, I know. But I just wanted you to know that I'm sorry. I'm sorry for everything. And," her breath caught. "I love you. Always have, always will and tell Ginger that I'm sorry for breaking my promise to her, and-"
Kai shook her furiously. "Don't say those things to me. When you get out you'll have a lot of time to tell those things to the others. Just stay awake-"
"I won't make it," Cinder interrupted. She coughed, and lurched to the side to spit out a sticky black substance. "You know I won't make it," she smiled slightly when she recovered. "So, I want you to go." She pushed him away. "Go," she whispered. "Leave me." Both of them could hear what she wasn't saying. Forget me. Kai shook his head, tears falling once more. "One of us has to live, Kai, and it has to be you." Cinder gave him a slight grin. "I once said that I would keep on following you. I'm afraid this time it'll have to be the other way around." She slumped against him. "I'm too tired, Kai. So tired." Cinder took his hand and squeezed weakly. "Love you to forever and beyond," she whispered and her grip went slack.
Kai paced the corridor outside the infirmary. He'd been there for over an hour already. Ginger commed Ambassador Scarlet and Thaumaturge Cress after he and Cinder had come out. Cinder on a stretcher, face pale, evident even through her tanned skin. News hovers crammed the smoking sky waiting to catch a rare glimpse of the unconscious Luna Queen. Crowds gathered in swarms all abuzz with rumors, speculating on the recent activities of Queen Selene.
He was supposed to hold a press conference in an hour. To explain things to your people and the police, Torin had said with a furious look on his face. His advisor hadn't been happy when he heard the news, but what could he do? It had already happened. The best he could do was to salvage the situation somehow. But what could Kai say? The truth? He snorted. Like that would go over well. "Oh," he imagined saying to the reporters. "Queen Selene and I were having lunch together, and we got caught in a fire. By the way, we also confessed our mutual love for each other." Kai groaned and shoved his fingers into his hair pulling hard. The same hair that Cinder had touched just an hour ago. He closed his eyes and tried to recreate the soothing feeling of Cinder's cool fingers combing through the strands.
The automatic doors opened and Kai looked up, nodding a brisk greeting to Dr. Erland.
"You better be grateful." the old man muttered. "I flew here from Luna with Hera at the controls. You know how fast she goes?" He gagged. "I think I'm sick myself." The doctor snapped on a pair of plastic operating gloves and gave him a wary look. "I can't believe you trapped Selene in a burning restaurant." Kai threw up his hands.
"Is that what they are saying now?" he said exasperated. But his tone couldn't mask the undercurrent of anguish and misery. Dr. Erland looked at him sympathetically and patted him on the shoulder as he passed.
"I'm sure your queen will be fine." Kai glared.
"She's not my queen."
The doctor eyed him. "Think about what you just said," he said quietly, "and then tell yourself whether your statement is true or not." Dr. Erland swept past him to the emergency room. "Because if you truly love her, she should be yours as much as you are hers." Kai opened his mouth to answer but the doctor was already gone.
Ginger entered next. She watched him pace quietly. "Everyone is mad at you," she stated simply. Kai rubbed his temples.
"I know," he said wearily. "Where is your mother?"
Even Ginger was sorry for him. "Mommy is with Aunty Cress, Uncle Carswell, and Daddy. They are down in the cafeteria waiting. Reece and Thaumaturge Danto are there too." Carrot grimaced. "They are not your biggest fans right now." Kai flinched. Of course he knew. The moment the Cinder's attendants had arrived at the royal infirmary... well, let's just say he hadn't made a very good first impression. Ginger's father, Wolf, had almost lunged for his throat.
"You said you would take care of her," he had snarled, baring his canines. Thaumaturge Danto's guards, his fellow Wolf Guard comrades had trouble restraining him.
"Wolf!" Ambassador Scarlet's steel infused voice whipped out. "We will not bother with His Majesty in such a savage way. I believe he understands the consequences that will result if our queen is hurt in any way, shape, or form." She gazed at him with cold, cold eyes. "Perhaps we might even withdraw our terms for peace." Thaumaturge Cress stepped forward.
"Enough with the threats, Scarlet. It is not helpful at the moment." The blonde Thaumaturge cocked her head. "But just to be safe Emperor Kaito, consider yourself warned." Commander Thorne pressed a hand to his paramour's shoulder, white and gold silk flight uniform rippling in the bright hospital lights. He murmured in her ear and she tilted her head close, listening. Thaumaturge Cress nodded and slipped her hands into her uniform's bell sleeves. Thaumaturge Danto stood off to the side, his arms crossed and face impassive.
"Danto, send Blackcrest to the site of the fire to investigate," the first-tier thaumaturge commanded. She turned to him with a grim visage. "If we could be excused, Your Majesty, I think we will retire to our chambers, now. Do send for us when the queen comes out of the emergency room." With that, they swept away. Only Carrot had peeked back at him and waved, but her normally cheerful features were shadowed with guilt and sorrow.
So here Kai was. Waiting. Ginger slumped into a plastic hospital chair. I love you, you know. I've loved you forever. Cinder's words echoed in his head. Kai swallowed and he pressed his fists into his eyes. Me too, he had wanted to say. I love you. Always, unchanging, past eternity. Why didn't he say it? Five minutes. Ten minutes. Twenty. Then, thirty. The emergency room doors stayed closed. "Please," Kai pleaded, whispered, really. To the blank, sterilized white walls, to anyone, anybody who would listen. Kai closed his eyes. "I'll do anything. Just please let Cinder push through." He clenched his hands tightly, fisting the fabric of his pants, then releasing. Contract, release . Contract, release. Contract, relea-
The lights dimmed and the door swung open. Dr. Erland shook a gloved hand with Dr. Fateen, solemnly. "It was nice to work with you again, Fateen." The younger doctor smiled.
"The honour was all mine, doctor. It's great to know that after all these years, your healing touch hasn't diminished in the least." Fateen flicked her gaze to meet his. "I'll leave you to explain things to His Majesty." She gave her surgical gloves to a nearby med-droid and bowed slipping out the waiting room doors. Dr. Erland faced Kai. His face held apprehension, worry. Kai searched the doctor's face for clues as to whether they were successful in reviving Cinder. Dr. Erland looked away from his scrutinization.
His voice was warily as he said, "Do you want the good news or the bad news?" Kai's heart froze.
"The good news first I would think," Kai said taking a deep breath and holding it. The old doctor eyed him hesitantly.
"You don't need to worry too much about Her Majesty Queen Selene," Dimitri said sanguinely. "She pulled through. Her vitals are as healthy as they can be after a severe case of smoke inhalation. We treated her with some acetylcysteine and administered supplemental oxygen to help with her breathing. I also tried a bronchoscopy test and it came out positive for soot detection. Queen Selene needed bronchodilators to open up her airway but she should be stable for now. She showed no other signs of injury except for a mild concussion which should heal easily." Kai breath whooshed out of him.
"Great! Is she awake yet? Can she have visitors?" he asked eagerly. Dr. Erland flinched and looked down.
"The queen is not awake yet." Kai faltered, puzzled.
"When will she wake up?"
The doctor pinned his gaze to the wall. "I don't know," he said shrugging helplessly. "This is the bad news. It is difficult to tell. She only had a minor head wound, but you can't really tell with these kinds of injuries. They are kind of unpredictable. And the queen damaged her hippocampus, the part of the brain that controls memories. We still have idea what kind of memories Her Majesty might have lost or the extent of which she lost them. The injury was mild. I know I told you that but-"
"With head injuries, they are unpredictable," Kai interrupted sighing, "Yeah, you said that already." Dr. Erland nodded.
"You understand then." Kai nodded. "You can go see her, but only for a little while and only one at a time. We moved her to private room, A 14. Needless to say, be careful around her. Don't say anything that will provoke her in this fragile state and when she wakes up, don't be surprised if she doesn't remember the events of the past week, after the trauma the queen went through with the fire and all. Our brains are fickle creatures. They don't like remembering bad events or emotions so they protect themselves from hurt by closing the memories off. When Queen Selene gets better, she might remember only flickers and flashes of past events so you can try to bring her to the site of the fire to unlock those pesky memories. Not too soon though. She is weak and we can't afford another breakdown." Kai nodded again, numbly. The doctor gave him a fatherly pat on the back. "Don't be too hard on yourself, Your Majesty. I'm sure your queen will be fine." This time Kai didn't bother to correct his statement.
Kai glanced at Ginger who gave him an weak, but encouraging smile. He moved down the hall to the private infirmary rooms. He paused at the one labelled A 14. Misgiving seeped through him. Kai opened the door to see Cinder half covered by white sheets, hooked up to machines, needles poking, and tubes draining. Kai closed his eyes and sagged against the door like it was the only object holding him up. "Oh, Cinder," he whispered. He walked into the hospital room slowly and sat carefully on a plastic chair beside the bed, mindful of jostling the various apparatus that were keeping Cinder alive. They beeped at him, steadily, comfortingly. She looked strained, even in sleep. There was a wrinkle in her forehead, as if she was thinking of something really hard. Kai reached out a hand to grasp Cinder's metal hand with his own. It was warm. Kai brushed his free hand over her face to tuck some stray hairs behind her ear. Cinder shifted and murmured softly. Kai's heart froze. "Cinder?" he questioned, hope rising like a bird taking flight.
Suddenly, Cinder bolted upright, eyes wild, unfocussed. Panting she yanked the oxygen mask off her face. Cinder madly tore the band aids, gauze, tubes, needles off of her. Kai tried to restrain her. "Cinder. Cinder! What are you doing?" She squirmed in his grip, her voice making a painful rasping sound. "Cinder! You are going to hurt yourself," Kai said, desperately. It was one thing to restrain a six year old girl, it was another thing altogether to hold a twenty-two year old cyborg down. Cinder stilled finally, gazing at him with confused eyes. "You're at the hospital right now, Queen Selene," he said clearing his throat. That was the proper way to address her. "You were trapped in a fire, but you are okay now. Dr. Erland flew in to help you. " Kai named a familiar person to relax her, make her feel better. Cinder gaped at him angry and bewildered.
"Don't touch me," she hissed in a hoarse voice. Kai released her in shock.
"Cinder?"
"How dare you address me by that name," she snarled. "Who are you?"
Also, I wanted to wish all my readers a Merry Christmas in case you don't hear from me in a while. I don't know when I will update so... You know, Christmas celebrations, family, friends and all that jazz. Have a good one guys!
And you know, as my Christmas present, please review! It'll make me really happy. Pretty please with a bow on top?
Love you all!
-Silverleaf