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Kai

Cinder lay still on the hospital bed. Her skin was unnaturally pale and a thin sheen of sweat glistened on her forehead. Occasionally, she'd gasp and pant and a faint light would shine somewhere in the depths of her throat. Whenever that happened, Kai would grab her hand and squeeze it tightly, praying silently that she would be alright.

The nurse wrung her hands in terrified bewilderment. "I'm sorry but I just can't tell what's wrong with her. I've worked at this school for years and have seen all manner of injuries, magical and otherwise, but nothing like this!"

"Do you at least have some idea on how to treat her?" Kai asked her desperately.

She shook her head. "Unfortunately, no. I'm as confused about this as you are."

"Well then, is there anyone else in the school who might not be?"

The nurse frowned. "I don't think-"

Suddenly, her eyes widened and she gasped as a thought struck her. "Professor Erland! He was once a doctor, and a very successful one at that! Maybe he'll be able to figure out what's wrong with her."

That was all Kai needed to hear. "Go get him then!" he shouted.

The nurse nodded frantically and tore out of the room.

Sighing, Kai buried his face in his hands. If his father had seen that, Kai would have had the scolding of his life. He was very big on respect. He used to say that, without respect, society would collapse. Personally, Kai thought that was a little extreme, but his father always seemed to believe it wholeheartedly.

Not that it mattered now, anyway. Not since this morning. Kai's father would never again drill into him the value of respect for others, or help him with his holiday homework, or whisper jokes about the ministry officials in his ear. Never again would the two of them go to the garden to pick out new flowers to decorate mother's grave. Never again would Kai's father do anything except lie in a coffin buried a foot beneath the earth, silent and still.

The thought was just as crushing now as it was that morning, when Kai read the letter from Phoenix Hospital. He left the Great Hall feeling empty, devoid of emotion and thought. Somehow he found himself in his room. And then grief made itself known, a dark, heavy weight settling in the space in Kai's heart that used to be filled by his father.

He could barely remember the next few hours. He remembered crying. His eyes had stung as the salty droplets pooled and dug tracks down his cheeks. He thought he might have screamed a few times, judging from his sore throat, and his knuckles hurt. Maybe he'd punched the walls?

It felt like he'd been in his room for less than an hour. The clock in the infirmary said it had been most of the school day.

Kai wasn't sure when, if left to his own devices, he'd leave his room, or even if he'd leave his room. And he'd never be sure, thanks to Cinder.

The first time she knocked, he'd figured he'd imagined it. After all, why would anyone want to see him, said his grief-ridden brain.

After the second round of knocking, he knew he wasn't imagining things, but he still hesitated to answer the door. He didn't really want to talk to anyone, and what Regolith would actually bother to check in on him? Wolf? He'd been avoiding Kai ever since that episode the day after the full moon. Jacin? He definitely wasn't the comforting type. The idea that Cinder would be on the other side of the door, wearing an oversized Regolith cloak, hadn't even occurred to him.

She'd been a bigger help than Kai thought. It felt good to have a shoulder to cry on, to have someone to talk to. For the first time that day, he'd felt… good. Confident. Maybe, Kai thought with a slight blush, a little too confident.

It's just-she was so close and he really, really liked Cinder and he thought, in that moment, that maybe she liked him. But as soon as Kai leaned in, she fainted. If you could call it fainting when she was on fire and screaming in pain.

He glanced at her prone body, and his gaze fell on her left hand. The smouldering remains of her glove still hung around her wrist, but now did nothing to disguise the strange, tinted light that pulsed around the skin and through the veins. Under the thin hospital blanket, Kai could see the glowing form of her left leg as well.

He wondered what they were, why they glowed like that, and why Cinder seemed to think she had to hide them. After all, they were just glowing limbs as far as Kai could tell. Nothing to be ashamed of. Maybe there was something else about them that she felt was worth hiding? But the most dangerous thing Kai had ever seen them do was catch fire, and that seemed pretty involuntary.

He reached out and took the hand. It felt completely normal.

A loud bang forcibly shoved Kai out of his thoughts and he instinctively let go of Cinder's hand. The tall, willowy form of Professor Erland came striding over to the bed. He knelt down beside Cinder and placed a palm on her forehead.

"What happened?" He asked Kai. He sounded slightly hysterical.

Kai swallowed, wondering how much he should tell. "I-I think she just got really stressed and then she started screaming and her hand and leg caught fire and then she fainted."

Professor Erland cursed under his breath and picked up Cinder's glowing hand, turning it this way and that as he examined it. "Has she shown any other strange symptoms since being brought here?"

"Sometimes her throat glows a little."

Professor Erland muttered to himself, peering down Cinder's throat, poking at her hand with his wand and checking her pulse. Kai could only watch him work, feeling awkward and useless as the teacher checked Cinder's vitals.

Finally, he lifted Cinder's head off the pillow and dragged his wand along the back of her neck. Wherever it touched, sparks would appear beneath Cinder's skin, crackling around her spine.

Professor Erland nodded, seemingly satisfied, and rested Cinder's head back on the pillow. "You'd better go Kaito. I believe you have a lot of make-up work to pick up."

"What about Cinder?"

"She'll be fine. I expect she'll be up and about again by dinner. Now go."

Kai cast one last look at Cinder's sleeping face. He wanted to kiss her on the forehead, to wrap his arms around her shoulders in a farewell hug. Even just a quick squeeze of her hand would satisfy him. But not with Professor Erland watching, and not without knowing how Cinder would react if she found out. So he settled for a quick nod in Professor Erland's direction and left the room, closing the door quietly behind him.

A/N: Poor Kai… maybe next time.

We've see the events of last chapter from Kai's point of view, and gained a whole bunch of new questions for what's up with Cinder. Why did her spine glow when Professor Erland's wand touched it? Will Kai ever get the chance to kiss Cinder?

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