A Month Of Kaider

Twenty Two: Squad Goals

Cinder wants to yell.

Or punch something.

Or both.

She doesn't really care at this point.

Kai had managed to sneak out for Solstice's funeral but he'd looked worse for wear, smiling brightly but constantly on the verge of collapsing.

Still, he'd been there to hold her as she'd trembled with grief. Solstice had been like a mother to her and she never would have gotten through the funeral if it hadn't been for Kai. He'd been there to keep her steady when Winter had made her speech, when Evret had made his, when they'd closed the coffin forever and when they'd covered the wooden box with soil.

Winter had stayed right beside Evret before going off with Jacin. The others hadn't been allowed to come because they weren't family - and their excuse of all being in a polyamorous relationship hadn't worked - so they'd had to wait at Winter's house, having decided to try and cheer her up with a movie marathon that had lasted way into the next day.

Kai had stayed as long as he could without being noticed, hugging Cinder sadly when he'd had to leave.

"I love you," he'd murmured as she'd aimlessly run her fingers over his cheekbones just because she could.

Cinder had never called herself murderous but, seeing Kai, she'd immediately made a mental hit list.

"I love you too," Cinder had whispered back.

And then he'd left, Cinder promising that she'd come to him.

And now she was here, watching Thorne pick the lock of Kai's back door.

"Aha!" he whisper-yells triumphantly, winking at them as he pushes the door open.

"Oh, shut up," Wolf grumbles, but he's smiling too.

Cinder shakes her head at them, sighing. "Cress?"

"Hold on, don't go in yet," she yells into their ears, all three of them wincing. "Kai says Simone's with him at the moment."

"Oh come on, Jay and Scar had one job!" Thorne rolls his eyes.

"Why did you nickname him 'Jay'?" Cinder asks, never having understood his reasoning.

"You know, like a jabberjay... those spy birds from those books that- wait, who read them again?" Thorne asks.

"Kai," Cinder laughs. "But Scar and Cress read them afterwards and Kai's told me all about them."

"So you know how apt of a nickname it is then," Thorne beams smugly.

"Yeah, he does have freakishly good memory," Cinder agrees.

"Is this that one where the protagonist is named after a plant?" Wolf asks.

Thorne and Cinder share a look before simply nodding.

"Okay, Scar's got Simone distracted. Go!" Winter whispers through their earpieces.

Wolf automatically straightens, standing tall and shutting the door behind them.

Cinder tries to think back, tries to remember the layout of Kai's house. Taking a guess, she leads them out of the storage room and past the kitchen, through the utility room and into the second dining room, looking for the shelf that hides the basement door.

"That one, can you move it?" she asks Wolf, pointing to the smallest bookshelf.

"Got it." he doesn't waste any time, rolling up his sleeves and pushing the shelf to one side like it's not filled with heavy books.

"Have you found him?" Cress asks hopefully.

"Maybe." Cinder fumbles with the doorknob before groaning and slamming into it with her shoulder.

The door flies open and Thorne whistles but she ignores him, squinting at the darkness.

"Cinder, stairs!" Wolf calls, pulling her back as she goes to step forwards and saving her from tumbling down the steps.

"Thanks, Wolf." She nods at him before carefully descending, Wolf following and Thorne staying at the top so the door doesn't close and lock them all inside.

"Kai?" Cinder whispers, looking round.

She sees Kai curled into the furthest corner, his arms wrapped around his knees and something silver glinting on his left ankle.

"Is that what I think it is?" Wolf growls as Cinder rushes forwards.

Kai flinches as she kneels in front of him but his eyes fly open in shock as she kisses his forehead.

"Cinder?" he breathes, his voice sounding sore.

"Hey, emperor." She smiles.

"What the- they handcuffed you?" Wolf sounds so enraged, it's a wonder he's not punched a hole in the wall yet. He pull keys out of his pocket. "It's a good thing Scar has family in the police force."

"You stole keys?" Cinder laughs.

"Borrowed, technically." Wolf unlocks the metal around Kai's ankle, wincing at the bleeding skin. "Stars, that's got to be painful."

"It's fine," Kai says softly.

"Unlikely, but we'll sort that out later." Cinder pulls him up, then frowns. "Where's Nainsi?"

In her ear, Cress makes a pained noise. "Don't! That's not a good topic! Just get out!"

She lets Wolf help Kai up the stairs, her gaze flying over the pieces of metal littered around the room.

Her heart breaks.

She and Kai had worked on the droid for so long. She doesn't even know if he'd managed to find whatever he was looking for in her storage files. Or maybe those files are why Nainsi had been destroyed in the first place...

"I'm going to kill them," Cinder mutters to herself.

"Cinder!" Thorne calls.

She shakes her head, sprinting up the stairs, Thorne helping her to put the shelf back before they follow Wolf and Kai. They're almost out of Kai's garden when Simone turns the corner and sees them, her eyes widening before narrowing in anger.

"Blazes, Wolf, run!" Cinder yells.

Wolf doesn't hesitate to lift Kai up with ease and speed up.

Cinder and Thorne block Simone's path.

Twenty six punches, thirteen kicks, seven scratches, two hair pulls and an unceasing stream of profanity later, Simone flips them off before retreating, muttering something about revenge and Rikan, or maybe revenge with Rikan, but it doesn't really matter.

Thorne and Cinder weakly high-five, groaning as they realise they'll both have a spectacular set of bruises in an hour or two.

"We'll be fine compared to her." Cinder winks.

"We're at mine," Cress informs them.

"So that's where we'll go," Thorne replies, his tone causing Cress to emit a strange squeak.

Cinder laughs giddily, "We got Kai."

"Stop giggling run, you idiots!" Scar yells at them.

"My ears!" Thorne wails dramatically, but Cinder agrees.

Cinder runs ahead of Thorne, not caring when she loses sight of him for a while. He catches up just as she gets to Cress' door, stumbling through the house to where she knows Kai will be.

He grins as he sees her. "Cinder!"

"Hey," she whispers, kissing his nose.

"Don't you dare let anyone pull the IV out this time," Dr Erland warns them.

"We won't," the seven of them chorus.

Kai grins, his dimples deepening as his smile broadens.

Cinder beams at him.

My apologies for the hunger games references, it just fit in... It's a fanfiction, you can't sue me anyway ;p See you tomorrow!