Stories Unknown

Some Fall More Than Others

Warning: mentions blood/an injury

The sound of a loud crash startled Kai from his work. He was at his desk in the office that connected to his quarters, port in hand, but dressed down to an old t-shirt and boxers as opposed to his stuffy emperor's apparel. "What the..." he whispered, getting to his feet and walking toward the bedroom, picking up a heavy jar in case he needed a weapon. It was late at night— long past midnight. Cinder had gone to bed just half an hour ago, leaving him to finish reading through some documents.

His footsteps were careful— wary of whatever crash had sounded and what it might be. But when he entered his and Cinder's bedroom, he discovered the bed to be empty of his wife. Fear prickled at the back of his mind, his heart picking up speed. He clutched the jar in his hand tighter.

"Cinder?" Kai called out, voice wavering with nerves. His eyes glanced over the room, landing on the light peeking through beneath the bathroom door. Kai released a great sigh, laughing at himself and his silliness. What had he thought? That someone had broken into the palace and kidnapped his wife? Absurd. No one could kidnap royalty in their own home. Er, at least no one that Kai wasn't either married to or close friends with.

Kai walked up to the door, hand up to knock, when he heard a steady stream of curse words flowing in a panicked tone. Fear gnawed at Kai's insides once more. "Cinder," Kai said, knuckles rattling against the door. "Are you okay?"

The curses stopped for a moment before she responded. "Uh, yeah," Cinder said, not at all convincingly. "I'm fine. I just... fell."

"Are you okay?" Kai asked, fingers twitching against the doorknob.

"Oh, I'm fine," Cinder muttered, barely loud enough for Kai to hear her. He could picture her worrying at her bottom lip. Something was wrong. "I just, when I fell, I fell into the bathroom mirror."

"Uh-huh," Kai hummed, not following. He stared up at the ceiling, forgetting for a moment to breathe.

"And I broke the glass."

Kai's gaze dropped back to the door, as if he could somehow see through it— see her. "Cinder?" Kai's voice came out almost as a squeak. "Cinder, are you okay?"

There was no response, but rather the sound of a heavy sigh and then— the door opened.

"You're bleeding," Kai said, rather stupidly, reaching out to touch Cinder's arm before thinking better of himself. "That's a lot of blood." It sounded more like an accusation than anything else. "That's a lot of blood, Cinder. Oh my stars, that's a lot of blood."

"I know," Cinder said, her face pinching.

"I'll call someone to come help."

"No," Cinder hissed, grabbing Kai's arm with her cyborg hand. "No, Kai. It's late, and I don't want– I don't want anyone seeing me like this."

"Cinder, you're bleeding everywhere. You might need stitches."

"I don't need stitches," Cinder protested, cradling her bleeding arm against her chest. It was only then that Kai realized that her hair was wet and she was wearing only a towel. "It's a superficial wound. Lots of blood, no depth. It'll be fine. I just need help picking out the glass."

"Cinder..."

"I'll call in an android to vacuum up the glass."

"That's not–"

"Please, Kai."

Kai huffed. He hated calling on servants late at night just as much as she did, but her arm truly looked terrible, blood leaking all over her fingers and smearing the crisp whiteness of the towel.