Lunar Palace

Chapter 14: Kai

I am back, my people! The wonders of the world are coming back to me!!! I shall start this chapter over! A-hem. Thank you. Please continue.
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*that moment when you forget your own story and have to reread it to remember where you left off*
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A-1 held the vial far from himself, his nose wrinkled. The sour smell of it wafted through the air, carried by the slight breeze coming through the vents. "What's this?"
The doctor in front of him smiled bleakly at him over the table, her brown eyes familiar. "That's actually letumosis."
A-1 gaped at the vial before setting it back down, holding it carefully at arm-length. "Liquid letumosis?" A memory floated to the surface of his brain, bobbing gently among the lake of useless facts stored inside. Letumosis. A disease that had killed so many people, but a powerful weapon, if controlled. If new strains were blocked. And he felt a stabbing pain along with the information, as if it had killed someone he held dear to him. It was like a fresh wound, torn open again. The blood was his pain, and his pain was a memory. That was all he remembered. The pain.
"Yes." The doctor picked up the vial, but there was no fear in her eyes as she held it near to her face, studying it. "This is the earliest strain. No use for our purposes, of course-it doesn't work on Lunars."
"Lunars?" The word felt hostile on A-1's lips. Strange. Horrifying. "Why would we use anything like this on Lunars?" Or anyone?
The doctor gave a short, belittling laugh, and looked back up at him, the vial held loosely in her hands. "That's our key to winning this thing. Our enemy wouldn't release anything like it-it's our best advantage against them." She snorted. "Soft-hearted Earthens and shells, all of them."
"Our enemy? But-" A-1 cut himself off, but what he was about to say rang in his mind instead. But if they won't do something this bad, doesn't that make us worse?
The doctor smiled at him again, and shook the vial at him. "This has powers. All we have to do is release it." She, strangely, had a toothy grin that made her look younger, though normally she looked right after her teen stage. A-1 turned away with a small shudder, leaving the lab area and visiting another station.
"Antidotes and Suppressants," a sign declared, and A-1 entered the lab room, his toes curling at the smell of chemicals being swirled together. This time, several doctors and assistants were assembled at the tables that lined the room, poking at liquids and preparing vials. A row of bottles was already set up in the far end of the room, in different shapes and sizes and colors, the labels all signed and stamped with a number and a name-a place, A-1 realized.
He approached a doctor at the end of the nearest table, pulling on new gloves. "What are the updates on this lab? The Leader sent me," he added before the man could interrupt to tell him that no one was allowed in the labs accept for authority.
The doctor wrinkled his nose and reluctantly updated A-1 on what was happening. The scientists were creating antidotes for every possible strain of the disease that had a possibility of appearing, and creating multiple samples for each. A-1 had to hide his surprise when they showed him the books full of formulas, ideas written down. It shouldn't have surprised him-they did things thoroughly here, in the labs.

An hour later, A-1 left, barely suppressing a yawn behind his hand, and he headed back for his room. He would update the Leader early tomorrow, when he wasn't so tired. When he wasn't so shocked by what he had seen in the labs.

Throwing open his door, A-1 slammed it shut, then collapsed onto the bed. He didn't even bother changing, but buried into the plush comforter, the calls of the land of dreams finally luring him in, like sirens at a shore.

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"Kai."

"Kai, wake up."

"Kai?"

Kai felt a sharp jab in his leg, then the sound of murmurs fading as footsteps walked away. He guessed whoever it was had given up trying to shake him awake, and, once he heard the swinging of a door closing, he opened his eyes.

He was in a relatively neat room, some of it holding mechanical supplies and medical items like bandages. There was a window on the far side, but strangely no sunlight, though Kai didn't feel sleepy. He knew immediately that this was an unfamiliar room, an unfamiliar place. Not somewhere in the palace.

He looked down at his leg, and saw that there was barely any blood on it, a slight cut marring his skin. No worry of infection, at least. But Kai wasn't used to getting hurt and not having someone fix him up right away and leave perfectly healthy right after. It was a strange feeling.
As he looked down, his eye caught on torn skin on his wrist. Kai's breath caught, and he already knew before he saw it-his ID chip was gone. But it was fine, he reassured himself, because he had an extra-
There was a sting behind his ear, and he felt for it, scrabbling behind his hair and searching with his fingers, searching with a frantic worry that clawed up his throat by the second. It had to be there. It had to be, the only way that he could be tracked in danger, his guarantee for safety.

Stars, it wasn't there.

He kind of expected it, but the panic still submerged. His extra ID chip. The one that had reassured him for years just by its presence. If he was ever lost, and his ID chip was gone, then at least the palace guards could still track him. But now... Now, he was untraceable. Wherever he was, the guards couldn't find him.

Kai stood, his leg making him hiss slightly, and stepped over to the pile of bandages and disinfectants on the floor. He disinfected his leg first, and tightly bandaged around it once he had unwrapped the bandages from each other. With the extra pressure on it, his leg didn't feel half bad. He could walk better now, and Kai, hesitating a bit, headed for the door and left the room.

The hallway was empty, but the first thing Kai heard was the sound of talking. Murmurs, coming from the room next door. Reluctantly, Kai opened the door, peeking inside, before stepping fully into the room.

A man sat in the middle of the room, his eyes wandering everywhere but not seeming to land on anything. He was young and handsome, his blond hair parted to show his startling blue eyes, and with a scowl, Kai remembered him. Carswell Thorne. The criminal that had escaped prison with Cinder. Kai felt a rush of jealousy, and pushed it away quickly.

Next to him sat a short blond girl, smiling sweetly at him and in a way that made Kai wonder if they were together. If they were... Kai fought back a smile, and stepped forward, notifying them of his presence.

"Your Majesty!" The girl stood abruptly, her chair rolling on the floor behind her as she kicked it back. "Oh! Cinder's expecting you."

And then everything changed. Kai was in the same room, in the same place, but watching as if from afar. A beautiful woman stood where he had been, her eyes cold and cruel, and she smiled at the girl. "Linh Cinder? The Lunar fugitive?"

The girl nodded, confused. "Yes, of course." Her eyes didn't seem to widen with realization, and she didn't back away in fear, although Kai sensed his own fear, panicked and alert.
The woman held up a commanding hand, and Kai saw as the man fainted, the impact of his sudden fall sending the chair reeling. The woman laughed, a cold, harsh sound, and all of a sudden, she was no longer beautiful. Kai wanted to step back, away from this, away from this dream, but all he could do was helplessly watch as the woman pushed Cress down, and stalked out of the room. He knew who she was looking for-Linh Cinder. The Lunar fugitive. And then he wanted to run toward her, to stop her, and then-he awoke.
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Hey guys! Hope you liked that chapter! If you did, do whatever people do when they like something on Wattpad-vote, comment, follow, add, all that fudge. And I feel like my writing's a bit different now, what do you think? Like I don't know.. it just feels different.
Thanks, and bye!

@lunaspell