(Note: Inspired By post/95208190403/kai-will-become-a-cyborg-then-if-he-got-a-retina on the lunarheadcanons Tumblr!)

She paced the waiting room nervously, her head a mess and her heart thudding in her chest, the warnings in her retinal display not helping to dispel her anxiety.

Her internal clock indicated that it had been nine hours since he went into surgery. The surgeon had mentioned that it would take around ten, so at least the worst of it was over. The only news the med droids had brought since he went under anesthesia was that everything was going well.

Cinder was the only one not currently in the hospital, except Cress. The blonde had only sustained minor injuries since she'd been mostly safe in a security booth the entire time, but she was with Thorne, who'd broken three ribs and nearly lost an eye. Wolf was in recovery from his surgery and Scarlet was still in hers – but it was minor enough that Cinder knew better than to worry. Scarlet was a fighter.

All in all, the Rampion crew weren't too hard out. Except Kai. The idiot. He just had to jump in front of an attack for Cinder. It had cost him his right arm, and that's what they were working on now. Giving him a new arm.

There was a lot of risk involved with cybernetic operations, particularly those that included installing a control panel in someone's brain. Cinder was a nervous wreck and wholly surprised that the anxiety hadn't caused her brain to shut down. Not yet, at least.

She slumped down in a chair and buried her face in her hands, her legs bouncing restlessly. She wasn't sure why she was so anxious about it. At that point, there was very little that could go horribly wrong. Even still, she couldn't stop thinking of every terrible thing that could possibly go wrong ever. She couldn't help but blame herself – she wouldn't let herself glamour him to keep him safe during her scuffle with the thaumaturge, and if she had, he never would have been in the way of that wolf hybrid who'd practically shredded his arm before she could get control of the thaumaturge's bioelectricity. Of course, she had little time to make a decision. He was supposed to be elsewhere, safe, yet he just had to hunt her down.

But there was no going back now – she'd promised never to glamour him, anyway. And when she heard the door of the OR slide open, she jumped to her feet. The surgeon bowed to her as he walked through the doors, an exhausted smile on his face. "He's a strong one. They're taking him to the recovery room now. The operation went smoothly, and he now has a control panel around the same area as yours. I also feel that, now that it's over, I should tell you this." He looked around, though the waiting room was deserted, with royal guards positioned outside the entrance. "He was unconscious when he arrived but, when we were prepping him for surgery, he was lucid. He requested a retina scanner."

Cinder's arms began to shake. "He what? A ret- and-and you got full consent for it? Are you sure?"

"We're sure," the surgeon told her. She noticed that he had taken a small step backwards, probably a little disconcerted by her reaction. "It's in his right eye. Believe it or not, that was the easy part of the surgery."

Cinder swiped a hand over her forehead, "Why am I not surprised? He's such an idiot."

The surgeon wet his lips, "Uh, would you like to see him?"

She nodded, "Yeah, take me to him."

Seeing him hooked up to all of those machines made her heart ache. He was sleeping peacefully, though, so at least there was that. She approached the bed reluctantly, her trembling fingers reaching out to run along his prosthetic arm. He was just like her now. It didn't feel right. It wasn't right. It was her fault.

There were bandages wrapped around his chest and a gauzy eye patch over his right eye. She bit her lip, a familiar pressure building against the back of her eyes, though they would remain dry.

She wondered if he even considered that he'd never be able to cry now. He would suffer the same headaches as her, and they weren't necessarily pleasant.

She then traced her fingers down the length of his human arm, dodging the IV line, and resting them against his palm.

"You're an idiot," she muttered under her breath.

She squeezed her eyes shut and tried to tell herself that this wasn't real. She would open her eyes and he would be whole again. He wouldn't be 17.96% not-human anymore. It was just her imagination playing tricks on her. She would open her eyes and they would be anywhere but in that hospital room and they would be safe and he would be 100% human.

When Cinder finally opened her eyes, he was looking back at her, a serene smile on his face. When she made eye contact, he wrapped his fingers weakly around the ones she'd left against his palm. "It's not nice to call someone an idiot." His voice was low and croaky, but her audio interface adjusted itself just enough.

Finally getting a grip on herself, she smiled back. "You are an idiot."

He painstakingly sat up, much to Cinder's own horror, and tugged on her arm as much as his lethargic muscles would allow him. "Sit with me."

Hesitantly, she sat on the bed next to him. He reached up and touched her cheek with his metal hand and it was so hard to cope with the fact that it was him. "How do you feel?" She asked weakly.

His eyes scanned her face, as if he couldn't fully grasp that she was actually there. Like he thought it was just a dream. "My right arm is kind of cold."

"Shut up." She blinked slowly, the cool metal of his new hand warming against her skin.

At least he was there.

At least he was still alive.

"How is everyone else?" He asked.

"Everyone's fine. Are you in pain?"

He groaned, "Always making things about me, aren't you?"

She pursed her lips, "Only because you can't make anything about yourself."

He ran his metal thumb across her cheek, "Please don't worry about me. I'm all medicated up and I can't feel any pain."

"All I do is worry about you," she admitted.

"Because you can't make anything about yourself."

She sighed and leaned over, placing her forehead against his, "Why did you get a retina scanner?"

"I thought it would be cool."

"Kai."

"I thought it would be fun to send each other comms during meetings."

"Kai." She sat up, "It wasn't necessary. Do you have any idea how dangerous it is for them to do that?"

He ran his human fingers down a stray piece of hair that hung over her shoulder. "I just-"

"You'll never be able to cry," she began, dropping her gaze away from him. "You'll have all of these warnings and messages popping up in your vision. You'll feel more like an android than a human. People will think you're emotionless because you can't show it the way they do. You-"

"Stop, Cinder." She lifted her eyes to meet his again. He took both of her hands in his, the sound of metal-on-metal making her start just a bit. It wasn't right. Inhuman. "I made the choice. Me. You sound like you're blaming yourself for the choices I made. You have to stop doing that."

She rubbed the back of her neck, "I can't help it. I'm the only reason you're here."

"Levana is the reason I'm here. She is the culprit behind all of this. She's the reason for everything."

Cinder's tense shoulders relaxed and she shut her eyes once again, shaking her head slowly back and forth. "I really do blame myself for everything, don't I?"

"Welcome to reality."

She opened her eyes and her fingers fluttered again over the bandages covering his torso. "I can't believe it's over."

He smiled, "You succeeded, Cinder. You did it."

"We did it," she corrected, and then she bent over and kissed him. "You may be a complete idiot, but you did save me."

He hummed, "I won't tell anyone that you admitted it, either."

"Always nice to have you looking out for me."