Revamped!

[HERE IS THE KAIDER CHAPTER YOU HAVE ALL BEEN WAITING FOR!]

Act of Kai-ndness: Part Eight

Cinder knew to check Kai's house first and she was relieved to see Nainsi in the driveway. She didn't want to sprint to Torin's house because running and she didn't have that much time.

Just to be polite, Cinder knocks on Kai's door. When there's no answer after a few seconds, Cinder uses her key and lets herself inside, still knocking on the door and calling out that she's here. She stands at the main entrance of his house, making sure he's home because it would be embarrassing and a waste of time if he wasn't even around. Nainsi's in the driveway! She's about to leave until she hears footsteps rushing down the stairs. Cinder looks up and sees Kai fresh out of the shower.

The breath is taken out of her lungs as her heart stops and her eyes nearly bulge out of her head. His hair was still damp and flops nicely around his head. Then, she can't help herself but look at his abs which, for some reason, she always forgot he had. Kai holds a plain tee in his hands that complements his pyjama pants. He was about to put it on but stops and smiles a little when he sees that it's Cinder.

"Hey," Kai greets with a small grin at the corner of his lips, "what are you doing here?"

It was always intoxicating for him to be this close to him. There's no denying the physical attraction she feels for him, but now she couldn't think straight when he would look at her like that. He makes her feel drunk…

Cinder shakes her head a little, coming back to reality (which, wonderfully, still contains a shirtless Kai). "Curse you and your wet hair and abs for distracting me. I almost forgot why I was here."

Kai stands a little confused. Cinder perks up a little when she has an approach to this. She walks closer to him and wraps her arms around his shoulders, leaning into him as she runs her fingers through his damp hair. Kai holds her at her waist, not sure where this will go but not complaining.

"You know, you're still the mayor's son…" Cinder mutters.

Kai looks away, wondering what kind of approach that was. "Your point?"

"I can be a good citizen."

Cinder leans in to kiss him but stands straight again, stopping mere inches from his face. She keeps her arms where they are and Kai's left confused for more reasons now.

"By telling you that you need to campaign alongside Torin and Levana," Cinder finishes.

Kai backs away from her and walks further into his house. He puts on his shirt as Cinder follows him. She curses to herself that combining her seduction attempt and bull-like tendencies wasn't a good move. She should've gone with her gut and picked one over the other (but wouldn't know which one to choose).

"That's what they want but I can't do it," Kai says to her.

"So you want to do it but you're unable to?"

Kai stops her. "I never said that."

"Why not?"

"Because I can't go on about my day pretending that my heart isn't breaking every time that I breathe."

Cinder is left speechless, silent. It reminds her of when Levana asked Winter how Kai grieves if he can't even breathe. She watches as Kai stands before her, trying to hold himself together and can't help but remember the moments that led up to now. Being with Kai when he got the call to get to the hospital, driving him there, running down the hallways to find him. She stayed in that hospital all night, wandering around mindlessly as she passed room after room containing sick people who weren't sure if they would get better. She couldn't track how much time passed or how many laps she did around the same rooms, but she remembers stopping in her tracks when she saw Mayor Rikan's doctor leaving the room with the nurses. All their faces were filled with defeat and grief as they discussed in hushed and shaky whispers on what they should say to his son.

That's when it hit Cinder: Mayor Rikan was dead.

He died at that moment.

She doesn't remember her first thought was but all she could think of, ironically, was her mother. Her mother died after she was born and now, Kai's father died after Cinder told everyone her secret. Maybe Selene Blackburn brought death to all those around her.

Then, Cinder remembered making her walk to Kai, wherever he was since he would've just heard the news. It was the longest walk of her life. She thought back to the day where that soldier came and told them that Winter's dad died. She thought about how Winter broke down right beside her and how Levana shattered. But Cinder was her typical Cinder self - she felt the pain and grief but never showed it.

Maybe that's why she never cried: she needed to be strong for the sad ones around her. She needed to be their rock for them to cry on. Cinder Blackburn is what they need to hold on to.

Cinder takes a breath, focusing back on the present and on Kai. "Death will always bring pain but you can't stop living because others died. Kai, I know this is hard for you and I can't begin to imagine what you're going through but you can't keep it to yourself."

"It's one election," Kai says. Tears start forming in his eyes and he turns around to brush them away.

"It's only one election away from you losing everything your father did and that includes yourself. Torin's continuing to raise you and is campaigning on your father's behalf, finishing what your father started. You being there shows the continuity of his legacy, that you believe your father is still here. You're not only representing him but our generation. We're the majority and the future. We need hope and you'll give that to us. I believe with my whole heart and body that gen z's constitute a revolutionary soul force that can, and will, change the world for real."

Kai is silent which makes Cinder uncomfortable. Was he even listening or did she lose him after the failed kiss? This time, he lets his new tears fall in front of her. Maybe Kai is thinking of what she said and now it makes her wonder if her words even worked. She hopes they did because she has no other ideas.

"I've been thinking," Kai tells her.

"If it was about what I said," Cinder mutters, "please recap it for me because I don't remember. It all rolled off my tongue and I couldn't keep up."

"I don't remember my mom the way I should. I see her in pictures and that's all I remember her by - a snapshot in my mind of that one event. I can't picture her moving a lot because it doesn't feel real to me. She would always be doing small and repetitive things which are how the memories play back in my head, kind of like a boomerang, almost. Sometimes, I question if those memories are even real, something comforting I made up, or something my dad might have told me. Whenever Dad or anyone asked if I remembered Mom, I said yes to make them happy."

Cinder keeps quiet, slowly nodding.

"People around town have been saying that they don't remember a time when my father wasn't the mayor," Kai continues, "I would smile and agree for formalities but that thought never left my mind because they're right. It got me thinking about how I don't remember a time when my father wasn't the mayor. If anyone were to ask me what kind of man my father was, I would say he was the Mayor of the Commonwealth before my father. Even after he died, we're still calling him the mayor. You even said it yourself when you walked in, I'm still the mayor's son."

Cinder can feel a smile tickling her lips. "So … what are you saying?"

"I'm saying that I need to get dressed."

"That whole spiel about your parents and you're thinking of a wardrobe change?"

"I don't think my father would want me keeping his legacy alive while in half of my pyjamas."

Before Cinder could process what he just said, Kai quickly kisses her before running upstairs to his room. Cinder turns around a few seconds later, looking up to where he would've run off to. That smile from seconds ago finally appears on her face. She did it, or at least, she thinks she did. She still isn't sure what happened. While she waits for Kai to run back down, she pulls out her phone to update everyone else.

Group Chat - Emperor Kai Rikan of the Commonwealth and His Favourite Subjects
Members: Big Bad Wolf, Captain Thorne, Cinder, Crescent Moon, Emperor Kai, Jacin Kinda-Maybe-Hate-Him Clay, Little Red Scarlet, Winter Hayle-Stepcousin

[Cinder changed the name of this chat to "Emperor Kai Rikan of the Commonwealth and His Favourite Subjects"]

Cinder: Nailed it.

Little Red Scarlet: Nailed the plan or nailed Kai? ;)

Emperor Kai: both ;)

Cinder: NO!

Captain Thorne: Well, that would've been our plan B anyways…

Cinder: I still hate all of you.

[I've been looking at the past few chapters in this arc and noticed a few things. First, Kai is barely in it compared to the others. I was almost about to change that because it's his arc and he should be in it more but realized that it's symbolic because he kind of doesn't want to be there. He wants almost nothing to do with the campaign (at least, until now). Second, Kai's arcs are always the sad ones for some reason. I even looked at the possible season three I have planned, and *possible spoilers* it seems sad too.] [2020: For the first one, my literature-analyzing aces were flexing. For the second one, it's not that sad anymore since I changed some things.]