The Time It Takes To Fall

Ten Times Too Late

Iko closed her eyes, covering her face with her hands. "I don't know what to tell you," she said, her voice muffled. "I just can't see a way for this to be true. How does a prince live for four hundred years and still look exactly the same?"

"I don't know," Cinder confessed, glaring down at the now half-naked slice of pizza. "It's just so weird. He's so weird."

"But," Iko, twisted her head up from her hands, her eyebrows raised.

Cinder felt her whole body contract, as if to protect itself. She was scared to be open about her feelings— to share everything that she had felt. But this was Iko, and she had always told Iko everything.

"I kinda think I might like him a little more than I ever intended to," Cinder confessed, her whole body tensing. For some reason, it all felt wrong— as if she were kidding herself.

Iko tensed as well, her whole face going pale as she turned to look at her friend. "Like how much?"

"I don't know," Cinder groaned, knowing exactly how much she liked Kai. "It's all so complicated. He's wonderful and perfect, and literally everything anyone could ever want. But then there's the whole 'Zhu Kaito' conspiracy in my brain as well, but I just don't know how that would even work."

Iko frowned, looking down at her perfectly shaped nails. Cinder always marveled at their elegance— the way they were always neat and trimmed, yet somehow completely natural. Cinder's own nails were usually tinted some shade of unpleasant gray, ragged, and often bleeding.

There was just a natural beauty to Iko that Cinder could never have— even if she tried. She had always been like that, since the two had met in high school.

Cinder started to wonder if Kai would still have any interest in her if he met Iko. Would he still want to see her for their third date on Saturday if he knew that there was someone such as Iko? Because while her best friend was beautiful, she was also kind and intelligent, and way better at nearly everything— other than mechanics— than Cinder.

"If you care for him," Iko said slowly, still not looking at Cinder. "Then you should give him a chance. What are the odds that he is some long lost prince?"

"Not much," Cinder said, her voice constrained. "And I don't even think that actually bothers me. I think it's more..." Cinder put her head in her hands, trying to wrap her brain around all the emotions coursing through her body.

"You're scared," Iko whispered. "You're scared of what this means; you're scared of those feelings."

"Is that completely insane?" Cinder asked, peeking at her friend through her fingers.

"Maybe just a smidge," Iko teased, throwing Cinder a wink. "But based on your track history of people that you've cared for, I think it's understandable."

Cinder let out a sigh, feeling comfort at Iko's words.

"But don't let fear hold you back," Iko continued. "Fear is man's worst enemy, and love's greatest traitor."

"Don't wax poetic on me now," Cinder sniffed, crinkling her nose, but smiling all the same. Iko always found a way to make her feel better.

"You're going to be fine," Iko laughed. "And if he breaks your heart, I'll kill him."

"While I don't think that will be necessary," Cinder grinned, "I thank you for the solidarity.

"Anytime," Iko smiled, winking at Cinder.

***

Water ran down Kai's face in a gentle trickle, gluing his lashes together and tickling his nostrils. He stared at himself in a grimy mirror that had a long diagonal crack through the center. His face was the same as it had always been— aside from the moisture upon it— but his eyes were somehow older than they had been four hundred years ago. They were exactly the same as they had always been: brilliant copper, with flecks of amber in the center; but somehow, they held a sort of weariness that had grown with the years.

Kai knew that he would look for Selene for all eternity if that had been the Blue Koi's sentence— but he would have to admit that the past four decades had been exhausting. He was too tired for a being that never needed sleep.

Grabbing a towel, Kai wiped his face dry, watching as his skin grew rosy with the rub of the scratchy fabric. He ran a hand through his hair, the strands damp at the roots and dry at the end; he pulled them up, then watched them fall down into his eyes.

Letting out a sigh, Kai left the tiny bathroom and entered into the kitchen that was also a bedroom and living room. It was a studio apartment— the cheapest thing that he could find.

It wasn't as if Kai didn't have any money; on the contrary, he was loaded. He had left China with nothing, but had worked hard for the first bit, and earned enough to get around. He was more educated than most people, and fluently spoke three languages, allowing for him to get just about any job he pleased.

Throughout the years, he had worked lots of odd jobs, sometimes a teacher, other times a translator, and even once as a chef— though that particular job hadn't lasted long. For the most part, Kai enjoyed jobs that included the arts in all their many forms, though especially literature. Museums also held a special place within Kai's heart, as he was always wanting and willing to share all that he had learned of the world throughout the duration of his long life.

But while the jobs had earned him enough money to get by, his real fortune had come through in more recent years as his interest rate increased. It was a simple thing: he had put his money in banks— all around, due to his travels, and the interest over the course of many decades had given him more money than he felt he deserved.

He had put his fortune into a lot of good— donating to different charities, especially ones involving children, and those who came from rough families; because Kai knew better than most how hard parents could be.

All four hundred years of wandering the Earth in search of his love had not been a waste— yet somehow, they still felt pointless. He had searched for years and years, and had found her once again; but would he be able to keep her?

Kai had been engaged to be married to Selene on two occasions, and convinced her to run away with him on two others. In all the lives that Kai had met Selene's reincarnation, she had never failed to fall in love with him— even in her fourth reincarnation.

She had loved him even as she forgot his name and where he came from. She had found comfort in him, a stranger holding her as she died in the rat-infested streets of London. She had adored him, even on the night before her execution. She had stared at him as if he were the world while her village had burned to the ground. She had been willing to leave her whole life behind to start a new one with him as an outcast. She had been the girl who claimed him as her own, even when he was the reason for her death.

But while she had loved him in so many lives, Kai could never forget the one in which she had despised him. The one where he had failed—scared her off. He would never cease to remember that reincarnation, and how horribly he had fallen.

Selene may have always loved him, but she had learned to hate him as well; and for that, Kai would have to remain cautious.

Cinder had a damaged soul, and it was all Kai's fault. She had died ten painful deaths on his account, because he had been ten times too late. She had faced horrors that no person should have to live through during one lifetime. Cinder was a broken being—but so was Kai. Because while Cinder had died all those terrible deaths, Kai had suffered through them with her.

Their souls were forever intertwined, and there was nothing that could break their bond. As long as Kai didn't mess up again, he could succeed. He would succeed.

Because if he didn't, he would lose everything.