#kaider fanficiton

[salt-warrior]

WHEN EARTH TURNS TO ASHES

Masterlist

Chapter Ten: Overprotective Shadow

Lights faded in and out between Cinder's dreams of the past. Dreams of a mother who only wanted her to be happy, of a boy who loved her, a sister that idolized her, and a friend who tried to find a cure for Selene's problem. All of them were painful.

The mental agony of Cinder's dreams dulled the pain of reality for a short time. She wondered if she had finally died—if She had found a way to kill her yet— but Cinder couldn't remember anything. The last thing she could recall was driving to school, and then–

A sudden jolt shot through Cinder, her eyes snapping open as memories flooded her mind. The accident, the fire, the boy. What had happened to the boy? What if I killed him, too, Cinder worried. But no, it shouldn't work like that. Don't they have to love me?

"Even my wildest fantasies couldn't imagine you being this hot awake." 

Cinder flinched, turning to see a boy sitting next to her. She hadn't noticed him before, and maybe that had been for the best. His mere presence agitated her.

Could it be him? Selene looked into the man's eyes; they were a clear crystal blue. No, her savior had born eyes of copper and flames.

"No pun intended." The annoying man winked, leaning back in the plastic hospital chair. He had sandy brown hair, a strong jaw, and an easy smile accompanied by the dimples of a church boy. He wore tennis shoes, blue jeans and a Star Wars t-shirt with Han Solo on the front and captioned "I know."

Cinder frowned. The boy smiled. "Who the hell–"

"Ah, no need for blatant questioning and accusations." The man stuck out his right hand, a crooked, wicked smile on his face. "Carswell Thorne, at your service." He cupped his left hand to the side of his mouth, as if he were telling her a secret. "But you can just call me Thorne."

Cinder blinked, and Thorne lowered his hand, smile disappearing. "Where's all your fire?" Thorne exclaimed, giving her a questioning glance. Cinder glared at him, and he seemed to realize his mistake. "I mean your personality, not the car stuff," Thorne clarified.

"Why are you here? I don't know you," Cinder croaked, her voice scraggy from lack of use. "Where's..." Cinder was about to ask for someone she knew— someone who loved her— but they were all dead.

"Am I that disappointing?" Thorne inquired, exasperated.

"I mean," Cinder clarified. "Where's the boy with the eyes?" she flushed, realizing how stupid she sounded, but she had only seen the eyes of her savior, nothing more.

Thorne stuck out his jaw, his face perplexed. "I'm a boy, I have eyes, I feel like I meet your expectations just fine."

Cinder huffed, wanting to strangle Thorne the more she talked to him. "There was a boy who pulled me out of my burning car. Where is he?" Cinder felt her stomach roll with dread. What if I killed him too?

"Oh, you mean Crown. He's not here." Thorne nodded his head like a complacent beach boy. "Speaking of which, I should probably call him. He's a little too excited to meet you. A bit like a puppy." Thorne rolled his eyes. "Well, I guess you've already met, but you were a little out of it. Understandably."

Cinder hit him. Not hard, but a simple backhand to the shoulder. She was done with this man, who she had never met before, and his stupidity.

"Aces, ow! What was that for, Selene?" Thorne put a hand to where Cinder had struck him, his face indignant. He was so caught up in his "injury" that he didn't notice Cinder freeze, her face pale as parchment. "Sel–"

Throwing herself forward, Cinder covered his mouth with her uninjured hand. Pain laced her entire left side, but she didn't stop. Thorne's muffled protests pursued, and he tried to get Cinder's hand away from his pie hole. Cinder refused to let go, too scared of what would happen if he said her name. That was until he licked Cinder's hand. She retreated immediately. Maybe it wouldn't be so bad if he died.

"What the aces and spades?" Thorne exclaimed, scrunching his nose. "Look, S–"

"Don't call me that!" Cinder yelled, startling Thorne enough to make him drop all his flirtations. "Don't call me S... don't call me that name."

Thorne softened, taking a gentler side to things. His face lost its mischievous gleam, and he leaned forward in his seat. "Okay, what do you want me to call you then?"

There was a slight shock to seeing this calming side of Thorne. She wouldn't have believed he had a tame side if she hadn't seen it staring into her face. "Cinder. Call me Cinder."

Thorne's face contorted with horror, and then he seemed to be attempting to hold in laughter. Apparently his considerate side wasn't that strong. "You're kidding. You're..." Thorne looked at Cinder's face, taking in her expression before sobering. "You're not kidding."

Cinder glared. She wouldn't much mind if her gaze caused him to alight in flames. "Okay, Cinder," Thorne said. "If you don't mind, I'm gonna call your boyfriend. Like I said, he wants to see you." Cinder continued to glare, but didn't stop him.

Pulling out his phone, Thorne dialed a well acquainted number, fingers dancing. It only took one ring for a frantic voice to answer on the other end. Cinder could hear the faint voice of a boy, though not what he was saying.

Cinder kept her eyes on Thorne, making sure he didn't say her name. Apparently Thorne had the memory of a goldfish.

"Yeah, Sel–" Cinder interrupted Thorne with another backhand. "Ow! Would you stop that?" Thorne pulled the phone away from his face, glaring at Cinder.

"I told you not to call me that!" Cinder bellowed.

"I remember that, thanks." Thorne remarked sarcastically.

"Obviously you didn't, because you just called me that." Cinder huffed, feeling too drained to argue with such gusto.

"Well, Kai won't recognize you by any other name! That's what the nurse said your name was. I'm sorry that you're sour about it," Thorne bit back.

"Just don't call me that name," Cinder growled.

"Fine." Thorne turned back to his phone, bafflement coloring his face like paint. "The girl," Thorne glared at Cinder pointedly, "she's awake. And I've got to admit, I much preferred her asleep."

Cinder scowled, but refrained from hitting Thorne again. She was so tired, and the annoyance it took to simply engage in a conversation with Thorne was draining. She only half-listened to the rest of his conversation, before her mind spun into blackness.

***

Kai glanced into a window. It was dark enough that he could see his reflection, and the way his hair was a complete mess. He ran a hand through it to tame the tangles, wishing for once he had followed Thorne's advice on how maintain his hair. Kai hated putting gel in, though.

What are you doing? Kai asked himself. She just woke up from a coma, and why do you even care? She's just a girl. But she wasn't just a girl.

The hospital was busy, people flitting in and out of rooms as visitor hours drew towards a close. Kai's body was vibrating with nervous energy. He was finally going to be able to talk to her. He would talk to Selene.

Cinder.

Kai was confused by the name change, but Thorne had been adamant about it, complaining of bruises as he relayed the information to Kai. Of course some people hated what their parents named them. Kai himself despised being called Kaito, but Cinder wasn't even close to Selene. Kai had thought it was a joke at first, Thorne being inappropriate as always, but it wasn't.

No nurses stood in with Cinder as she lay nearly motionless on her bed. She was awake, staring down her arm at the patched skin that had once been burns, dark hair falling down around her face.

The treatment they had used on her was new, and worked on healing skin incredibly fast. Already Cinder's flesh was looking healthy, and only a little bit patchy and pink in some parts. Kai marveled at the progress that had happened in only ten days.

"Hey," Kai tapped his knuckles lightly on her door, startling Cinder from her awe. Looking at her sent shivers down Kai's spine. He remembered the first time he'd seen her, surrounded by fire, and how he'd thought she looked like an avenging angel. Even without the fire she still had a blaze about her that made her seem dark and powerful.

Selene always had a darkness about her— almost as if her shadow was a living being there to torture her forever. Kai shook Cress's words away, although not before noticing that Cinder did seem to have an overprotective shadow.

"You look really good." Kai smiled, before feeling his stomach fall. "I mean, you always looked good. You never looked bad. I was just meaning that you look better. Your skin is looking great." Kai cringed. Your skin is looking great? He sounded like a creep.

"That came out wrong." Kai said, biting his lip before sighing exasperatedly. "What I meant to say is that you've healed a lot since I last saw you."

Cinder stared at him, not saying a word. Her eyes were huge and brown and beautiful. Kai looked away from them, knowing that if he continued to gaze into her eyes he would never be able to look away.

"My name is Kai, by the way." Kai said, sitting down in the cold plastic seat. "Well, it's Kaito, Kaito Crown, but only my father really calls me that. You can just call me Kai." He didn't know why he was babbling so much. Kai hardly ever babbled, and it was only when he was nervous.

"I don't know if you remember me. You were basically unconscious, but you did look at me for a few seconds before blacking out." Cinder blinked, still not speaking. Kai wondered if Thorne had been making up the story about her beating him up. She was so mellow.

"I'm also sorry about Thorne. He's a pain, but he means well. I asked him to stay with you while I was... away." Kai didn't know why he wasn't telling her about his visit to Olympia. She had a right to know that he had gone snooping in her business, but something about her stare and the rejection of her name made Kai think she wouldn't be too happy about it.

"Why'd you do it?" Cinder whispered, her voice defiant.

Kai froze. Did she know that he had been investigating her past? Kai had told Thorne not to tell her, but he never was good at keeping secrets. "Do what?"

"Save me." Cinder's voice was as cold as her stare. Kai worried that the floor would open up and he would be sucked down to Hell.

It was such an odd question. In the moment of the crash, there had been no other answer than to save the girl on fire. It hadn't been a multiple choice test; his only option had been to save her.

"It was the right thing to do. The only thing, really. I couldn't just leave you there," Kai muttered, wringing his hands together. He didn't dare glance at Cinder— he could feel her burning gaze.

"Oh, so you're the noble type. You could have gotten yourself killed, or terribly injured. You shouldn't have done it," Cinder snapped.

"Well, I'm fine. You're alive, and I wouldn't change anything about it. I'm sorry if I disappointed you." Kai felt attacked. Maybe it was due to the fact that he was being attacked, but he was going to consider all of the possibilities.

Cinder sagged, her shoulders closing in toward her chest and her face cracking. "I'm sorry, that's not what I meant." She paused, then whispered, "Thank you for everything."

"You're welcome," Kai murmured, feeling undeserving of her thanks. It physically hurt Kai to look at her showing so much pain and humility. She was just a girl—a teenager—and she deserved to be saved. She deserved to be loved, and she had never gotten that.

"Listen, Cinder," Kai moved closer to her. "Can I ask you why you changed your name?"

Kai had crossed a line. He could tell by the way Cinder tensed up, regret and guilt stabbing him the moment the words had left his lips. Why did he have to be so rude and nosy? She was lying in a hospital bed feeling terrible, and Kai had brought up something to make her feel even worse.

"No. You can't." Cinder's eyes filled with rage. "Nor are you allowed to ask me why I ran away from home or why I have no emergency contact or anything else about my life."

"Okay, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have brought it up." Kai curled in on himself, moving away from Cinder. He felt defenseless against her words, and terrible guilt was eating at him for digging into her past without permission. He felt like a trespasser.

"You may think that I'll worship you just because you saved me, but I didn't ask you to." Cinder's words cut like knives. "I may owe you my life, but you won't get my past."

Kai nodded, choking on the words that he should have been saying. He needed to apologize, but the only thing that came out was: "I– I think I should go."

Cinder didn't even look at him as he walked out the door.

[salt-warrior]

Alright, so I technically closed this but I love you and I love this song and my morning has sucked so I’ll write this drabble🖤 thanks for the request @cinderswrench you are just lovely in every way🖤🖤🖤

#16: Easy Peasy by The Happy Return

“I don’t want to be alone,” Kai whispered, holding out his hand to Cinder. She stared at it for a moment before taking it; her fingers were ice cold.

“So wait,” she grinned. Kai rolled his eyes at her and pulled her close to him. He wrapped his arms around her and breathed in the scent of her. He never wished to be parted from her.

“But waiting’s getting old.”

Cinder laughed and pulled away from him. She grabbed his hand once more and brought it up to her lips. She kissed his palm gently, then gave him a final smile before she turned and walked away, leaving him alone.

[salt-warrior]

Thanks @impossiblesuitcase​!!!

#2: I Don’t Want to Miss You (Like I Do) by Austin Weber

“I don’t want to miss you like I do,” Cinder whispered, her hand pressed up against her port screen as if she could touch Kai’s face through the glass and thousands of miles. “I guess there was just some part of me that though by this point I’d be through.”

Kai laughed, the sound somewhat tinny through the port, but no less beautiful. She wished that he was laying beside her in her massive bed and that they were laying side by side, grinning at one another with only the light of the stars to gleam upon them. Or better yet, she longed to be upon the earth, the place she still thought of as home.

“To the other side of love?” Kai asked, blinking slowly as a somber look overcame his features. “Where it’s not just you I’m thinking of?”

“Yeah,” Cinder breathed, her head beginning to pound. “Something like that.”

“The last thing I’ll do is forget you,” Kai said, giving her a sad smile through the port. He was still sitting at his desk despite the lateness of the hour, but his work had long since been forgotten as they spoke to one another. 

Cinder let out a weak chuckle. “But missing you isn’t that much better,” she sighed. “I wish I could find an attitude to keep myself from missing you. It’s not quite brokenhearted or blue—it’s a special kind of woe.”

“Ah,” Kai grinned, leaning his head toward his camera until all Cinder could see was black hair. Then he fell back against his chair once more, biting his lip. “My melancholy heart feels the same.”

“You don’t want to miss me either?”

“Not for another moment,” Kai muttered, rubbing a hand over his sleepy eyes.

“You won’t stop, will you?”

Kai gave her a look—one that silenced all concerns of him ever forgetting her. It was a look that one only gave a person they truly loved. 

“Never.”