A/N: So I saw on Facebook that it was Kai's birthday about a week ago, and I was like, hmmm, I should probably write another chapter of "The Three!" Because I haven't seen him since June, and this is my way of not forgetting Kelsey and Kai, since they both moved out of my school to go to private school. So, umm... here it is. Hopefully I'll put up another soon; I promise that there will be more action as soon as they get to Corus... and you might just get to see appearances by some of my favorite characters from another fandom. You'll just have to see...
When the carriage devoted to carrying the three pages-to-be arrived, none of them was prepared for the sight it posed. Kelsey, Rachel, and Kai were astounded by the brightly hued fabrics and the detailed craftsmanship of the traveling wagon. Kelseai, Raiycal, and Kaiathen were astounded by the damage that had been done to their faithful guardians.
"Children!" Liya, Raiycal's childhood guardian and tutor exclaimed, running towards them, her brightly colored dress tattered and loose about her body as she ran towards them. "Are you all unharmed?" she asked in Jindazhi, her onyx eyes cautiously searching their bodies for harm. "The cliff… it crumbled without warning. We thought we had lost you." The woman was close to tears.
"We're fine, Liya," Kai said hesitantly, also in Jindazhi. The words tasted odd on his tongue. His mind knew how to say the words, but still, it was hard to move his mouth around the syllables. He finished his answer and frowned. Assuming Kaiathen's life would be much harder than he imagined. Even now, this strange sort déjà vu was complicating things. His two fused personalities and memories were constantly at odds with each other. He knew that he could speak Jindazhi, and yet, he also remembered never having have spoken a word of it in his life. The result was that his words came out in a garish and impossible blend of Jindazhi spoken with a half-English, half-American accent that made the three teens wince.
"Are you sure that you're fine?" the woman asked again eyeing them questioningly.
Kelsey closed her eyes and hoped that she could master more proficiency with Jindazhi than Kai had displayed. "Yes, we're fine," she said slowly, the result much more acceptable. "We're still just shaken up from the accident."
The words of her young charge seemed to strike a nerve with the maid, and she clicked her tongue thoughtfully. "Of course you wouldn't be yourselves after such trauma! Come, children, we have tea and bread over here. It's not much, but it was all that we salvaged. We will just have to manage until we reach Corus." Liya drew them over to the other side of the caravan, where three men sat around the fire. One sported a large bandage around his head; another had his arm in a sling.
The surviving servants who had accompanied them seemed to cheer immensely at the sight of the three teens. Shadows still remained in the strained faces, reminders of how close they had come to death, but with Raiycal, Kaiathen, and Kelseai's return, their eyes seemed to brighten a tiny bit.
Glad to use the excuse of being shaken up by the accident, they ate silently and quickly retreated into the caravan with little resistance. There, the propped themselves on their packs and lay in heavy silence, pondering the situation and their newfound identities. Last night, they had been too tired and too shocked to think before falling asleep. Now, the entirety of their situation had begun to catch up with them.
Who am I? Kai thought, staring at the covered roof. Up until yesterday, he had thought he knew. The "British Guy," the actor, the musician… he wasn't that boy any longer. The old Kai was still buried there, somewhere, but it was a distant memory. At the same time, Kaiathen's memories were embedded deep inside him, but the other boy's consciousness was not there. With two sets of memories crammed inside his head, Kai almost expect to hear Kaiathen's words inside his head. It's almost like I'm schizophrenic, he thought curiously, but the person inside my head is me… whoever I am.
It was a long while before he closed his eyes and let sleep overtake him, still disappointed by his lack of resolution. All he knew was that, whoever he was, it would take a long time to sort his identity out. Until then he would have to act, just like he had done in all the school productions. Only now, things were completely different. That strange woman's voice echoed in his mind… "To save the word." She had said it calmly, almost matter-of-factly. If what she said was true, then things had just become much more serious than anything else in his life.
A/N: There's not much to review here, but, still, reviews always make me update faster!