Time to pay the Piper…

Kai had no idea how long he had been inside that cell. There was no way of knowing day from night. He wondered if they were going to keep him there forever.

In the end, he had exchanged one prison for another.

He kept himself sane by thinking about Bonnie. Remembering everything about her – her skin, her lips, her warmth, her love. He clung to the last desperately. He had no hope that she would find him. That she'd be able to rescue him. He had no hope of ever seeing her again. But he had had her love, for a time. Bonnie Bennett had loved him – and no one would ever take that away from him.

One day, light poured into his cell – and he opened his eyes to suddenly find himself, not in the cage, but in a field of orange trees.

He was sitting against a tree, watching the purple skies and green clouds and wondering what was so strange about all of this.

"Malachai."

Kai looked up. For half of a heartbeat he thought he was staring at Bonnie. Then he realized that she was too tall, too fair-skinned, too old, and in fact, looked nothing at all like Bonnie. But he did recognize her – had known this woman a long time ago – and with that, he realized he was in the middle of an illusion.

Abby Bennett.

"Hello, Abby. Fancy bumping into you here."

"You disgusting worm," was her response to his courteous greeting.

Kai laughed. "I ought to get a book of some sort, keep tabs. Although, it might be easier to write down the people who don't hate me than the ones who do." His laughter stopped abruptly. "At the moment, I can only think of one person who doesn't wish me dead. And that person is so amazing that she pretty much tips the scale completely."

Abby's hands clenched into fists and he knew that if they were in the real world now, she'd be pummeling him with magic.

There was no love lost between them. Kai had never gotten along with any of the witches his own age. It was quite simple, really: They had magic and he envied them; he was a magic-leech and they feared him. He had been particularly antagonistic towards his sister's cliché of Great Family witches, and Abby, as a Bennett, had been Queen Bee of that group so Kai had hated her the most.

Life really was one big joke and he was the punchline.

He hated to ask, to show even a smidgen of vulnerability but he couldn't help himself.

"H-how's Bonnie?"

Abby gave him a look that could crush a hill.

Kai cleared his throat. "I've been enjoying my forced vacation so much, I have no idea how long's it's been since… ever. I'm guessing you know about the bun in the oven." He cracked a grin. "Specifically my bun in Bonnie's oven."

Abby did rush him then – her fist aiming for his jaw…

…and passing right through it.

It was the most basic of illusions, he realized. They couldn't even interact with each other.

"You will never know, Malachai," she hissed, venom thick in her voice. "You will never see her again and you will never lay your eyes on them."

The news hit him like a spear in the gut and he staggered back. "Them? Twins?"

Abby grimaced. "Predictable. I can see your sick brain already scheming on how to use your own flesh and blood."

"T-that's not. I'm not…" His head was spinning, his heart racing. He rushed to her, tried to grab her arms but once again, there was no contact. "I need to see Bonnie. I need to tell her things. About Gemini twins. Parker twins. There's so much she has to know."

Abby looked at him with contempt. "She has my mother and me. Bonnie will be fine."

"Dammit, Abby! I'm supposed to be with her!"

"You're a monster! You have no more right to my child than a … a snake has to a dove."

"Please," and it was strange how easy it was to say the word when the motivation was strong enough, when the motivation was as overpowering at it was right now, "I am begging you. A day. An hour. A phone call. Please, Abby."

Something like satisfaction filled Abby's face and for one stupid moment, Kai thought she was backing down.

Stupid.

"You don't understand, do you? You're not just going to never see Bonnie and your twins again, Malachai. We're not just taking them from you, Malachai. We're going to take away the memory of them from you."

Kai's blood turned to ice. "No. You can't."

"We can and we will. By the time we're done with you, you'll forget everything about your time here, that you had this time with Bonnie, that you had these children with her. It'll be, to you, like this all never happened."

He could barely hear her over the sound of rushing in his ears, barely see past the red haze at the edges of his vision.

"You can't do that!"

She said nothing, just stared him down with a face made hard with anger.

He started pacing furiously, pulling at his hair as he tried to think of something – anything – that could stop this. "What about Bonnie? Are you going to take her memories of us, too?"

"The moment the children are born. Yes."

He almost fell, tripping over his own feet. "How can you do that?" he roared. "She's having my children. What possible reason or story could you give to explain how she …" His voice trailed off. "No," he said, a whisper at first. When he saw the satisfaction in Abby's face, the grim pleasure she took at him finally figuring the full extent of her retribution, he shouted – screamed. "NO!"

"Bonnie will never see those children. Those abominations of yours will be destroyed before they draw breath."

He recoiled. "No! You can't do that!"

"To save my child? I can and I will."

"You'd kill children? Babies?" he asked hoarsely. "How are you better then? How the fuck are you better than me?"

Abby's lip curled. "Malachai Parker cannot father children. He spawns monsters. I will be doing the world a favor. My daughter will remember nothing of them, of you," she spat. "Imagine their lives as payment for every day, every hour, every second that you stole from my daughter!"

He tried to grasp her, curl his hands around her throat, strangle her where she stood, but his fingers clutched air. "It's too much magic," he said, desperately. "You'll never be able to pull it off. There'll be cracks, there'll be inconsistencies. You'll drive her mad!"

"Between my mother, myself, and the sacrifice of your children, we have the power."

And that was it. It was over. That was the last card he had to play and he had lost.

Kai fell to his knees, his shoulders shaking. "I love her." And it hurt him that he could say it now when he knew Bonnie would never hear it. "She loves me and I love her."

Abby scoffed.

"You don't understand," he pleaded, fingers grasping at the phantom grass. "I have never loved anyone in my life and had that love returned to me. Don't take that away from me. Don't destroy our children. I am begging you."

"You're a monster. You're not capable of love. You used my daughter for your sick games. I am just glad that I've found a way to save her and hurt you at the same time."

"I'm going to find a way," he vowed, more to himself than to her. "I will find a way to remember. You'd better kill me, Abby and whoever else is in on this. Because when I do, I will come after you. Then I will come for Bonnie, and we'll avenge our children together."

For the first time, Abby laughed and it was a sad, bitter sound. "We're sending you back where you came from, Kai. Good luck finding a Bonnie that loves you there."

The field vanished and Kai was back in his cell. Alone. And filled with despair.

They were sending him back. To a world where Bonnie hated him. Where she had no good memory of him but violence and betrayal. They were murdering his and Bonnie's children, tangible proof of their love together like so much collateral waste.

And they weren't even going to let him keep his memories.

He sprang to his feet, and raged. Throwing everything he could against the walls, against the ground, everything including himself. He had no idea how the red haze of fury lasted but at the end of it, he was curled up on the fall, a shaking, tear-streaked wreck.

I won't give up. I won't. No matter what it takes. No matter how long it takes. I will find a way to remember. And I will make Bonnie do, too.

a/n: pretty sure it's obvious but i just wanted to make it clear that the chapter title is kinda based on the story of the pied piper who (eventually) took his payment in children. so you can kinda say that kai paid for his time-travelling and bout of freedom with his kids.

...

(petty)

i remember very clearly asking if i shouldn't end the story on a happy note and y'all told me to 'go on! bring on the angst! bring on the pain! we can handle it!'. so i just gotta ask y'all...

how do you like me now?

muahahahahahaha!