The Fire Didn't Stop Her

Tried and Failed

He stood in front of the three sectioned mirror as several attendants fitted him into the white suit and blood red sash adorned with metals and pins that was made for this day. The sash was smooth silk that could lull the sense of touch into slumber. The white if the suit so stark and bright is could rival the moon's glow. His hair had been combed and styled by a professional to perfectly compliment the crown that would be placed on his head during the coronation.

He saw his reflection, and only really processed certain parts of the way he looked. His eyes, sunken and tired from only eight hours of sleep in the past week. His lips, frozen in an emotionless image. Not daring to show or indicate the smallest sample of joy or hatred.

His cheek appeared slightly hollow from the lack of eating he'd had over the last week and a half. Not a morsel of food at graced his tongue in a whole day, and he wasn't even hungry.

The outfit he was wearing was one he would wear for the coronation, and then ...

The wedding.

Time was up. With Cinder not being spotted since the fight at the Benoit farm, there were next to no leads for any of the private detectives to go off of. And today was the day of the coronation. The deal Kaito and Levana had made said that if Cinder wasn't found by sunset today, he would marry Levana. Sunset was at seven almost exactly.

It was nearly one in the afternoon now. Less than six hours before Kai would have to marry that witch. It was more likely that Levana would call of the wedding than for Cinder to be found and returned to the palace before then.

So, he had no chance of marrying Cinder. After fighting so hard for so long, they wouldn't get to be together. The only person who truly cared about him, who sincerely wanted to be his family. And he would be marrying her aunt.

That is, if Cinder wasn't already dead. The tests had come back from the swabs of the inside of the satellite, and Cinder had definitely been inside it before it crashed. She could be dead.

Kai had grown used to the crushing feeling he'd developed after she'd been stolen from him. The endless despair that clouded his mind constantly. Every last bit of self loathing and hatred for his own existence grew and grew. It was as if a black hole was swallowing his heart from inside his body.

He could feel nothing but pain and sorrow, and he desperately wanted it all to end.

The attendants flocked away to find more accessories for his attire, and he stood glumly in front of the mirrors. All he saw in his reflection was a pathetic waste of space that couldn't even protect the one person he loved and who loved him. A weak, insignificant moron that was only cared for because he was a prince. If he wasn't such royalty, no one would care if he went missing, disappeared, or even died.

A glint of light caught his eye, and he saw something else in the mirror's reflection. It was enough to make him turn around and find something that he had not yet been fitted for.

A sheathed sword that he remembered seeing his father wear to the Coronation of Queen Camilla. It was a blade that resembled valor, bravery, and the caring for of others.

The handle was glorious enough without the rest of the sword. A handle of simmering gold and with a guard of gilded branched with intricate leaves no bigger than the nail on his pinkie finger.

He stepped toward the sword, feeling as though it was calling to him.

After all of this, Cinder getting kidnapped, being forced to allow politics to rule his life. He knew how his father felt. He knew how painful it was to be separated from the one thing you love. His father might have had the capacity to truly care for Kai if he hadn't be riddled with grief and the thought that his son could only be a reminder of his lost wife.