Played For A Fool

Wake Me Up

Fire and smoke blazed all around her. Screams filled her ears, but she could not tell if they were her own. She was choking on the thick black clouds around her, wishing she would die, so it could all be over. The flames licked up her leg, making her scream. Her throat burned for more than smoke, her eyes wanted for moisture.

Finally, she heard something above her screaming, a voice. Would the voice be her rescue, or her destruction? Cinder didn't even care anymore as she lay there, turning into ashes.

The voice was calling out to her. Still calling, but never there. That's when she realized they were calling her name. Cinder, Cinder wake up!

Wake up? She was burning, burning alive, and the only rescue someone could provide for her is to wake up. What the stars was wrong with them.

Her head throbbed as she tried to recognize that voice. To go towards that voice. The burning seemed to calm around her, and then suddenly, it all stopped.

Cinder awoke with a start, eyes snapping open to find her familiar garage. She was really warm, which surprised her. The garage was dank, as usual, but had the light turned on, making Cinder's eyes hurt.

For some odd reason, Cinder's head throbbed terribly. Her ears were still echoing the terrible sounds of screams and the roaring of the flames, along with a high ringing. Her throat burned from all the screaming, yes, and her eyes for their lack of tears, but she couldn't explain her head. It was as though someone had tried to cut it in half with a hatchet, and the light was only making it feel worse. Cinder closed her eyes, wishing she could stop the pain.

"Cinder? Are you okay?" Cinder's eyes snapped back open, and peered at the familiar face of Kaito Prince. He was looking at her, concerned etched across his features, and Cinder didn't know how she had missed seeing him before.

That's when Cinder remembered. He was the voice in her dream. He was the one calling out to her, telling her to come back to reality. Kai had been trying to save her, to rescue her from the burning memory of her past.

Cinder sat up in a flash, before falling back down in pain. Kai came even closer to Cinder, and grasped her hand. No, not just her hand, her left hand. Her mutilated and burned hand. The hand that had caused her to be teased and bullied as a child. The hand that had nearly turned to ashes.

Kai took his other hand and pulled a warm, fluffy blanket up to her shoulders. Cinder didn't recognize the blanket, but didn't much care, her head still aching. The confusion of Kai's presence made her wonder how long she had been asleep.

Seeming to read her thoughts Kai spoke. "You've been asleep for about fifteen hours. It's about two PM, on Saturday, the twenty-first of October." Kai proclaimed, smirking, before his face fell back into a look of concern. "Are you okay? Do you need anything? Water? Stars, you scared the everything out of me last night." Kai lifted Cinder's hand to his lips again, just like when she had first showed him her burns.

Silence stretched between them as they gazed into each other's eyes, Kai still holding her hand. There seemed to be an unspoken connection between the two that Cinder couldn't quite put a finger on. "Kai," Cinder began, "What happened? I can't remember anything after Dr. Darnel told me about the mutation." Cinder looked down upon their hands. Kai had place both of his around hers, cocooning them.

"Well," Kai sighed, "I decided to come and look for you last night, because I, um, I kinda missed you." Kai looked down at their hands, a sheepish smile playing at his lips. "I got to Dr. Darnel's house and found you unconscious on the floor. Stars, you scared me so much." Kai gazed into her eyes, a mix of worry and exhaustion set into his coppery ones.

This confused Cinder. Why the stars was he worried about her? She had been so concerned about him the past few days. She had missed him in a way that she couldn't explain, and for some odd reason, he seemed to feel the same.

"You..." Cinder trailed off, not sure what to say. "You missed me?" Cinder blushed a deep scarlet, and saw Kai do the same. She didn't know why that had been the question she asked him first, but she was curious.

Kai cleared his throat and shrugged, trying to act cool. "I may have missed you a bit. I've been locked away in my room for the past few days, pitying my losses, when it suddenly hit me." Kai laced his right hand with her left.

"What hit you?" Cinder whispered, wondering if it was supposed to be obvious. Kai was being kind of vague, and she was starting to get butterflies in her stomach.

Kai shrugged again. "I like being around you Cinder. You make me feel happy and you're easy to talk to, and maybe I, um, I kindalike you a bit." Kai whispered this last part, and his face became red.

A laugh escaped Cinder at this small action. Was Kaito Prince, the most popular kid in the entire state, maybe even country, nervous because of her? She had never had anyone tell her they liked her. Stars, she had never even had enough friends to count on all her fingers.

Suddenly, Cinder felt a warm bubbly feeling in the pit of her stomach. It almost made her feel ticklish. Another laugh escaped her mouth, and Kai eyed her with caution. "Are you okay, Cinder?" Kai asked yet again, only to receive more laughter on Cinder's part.

"Actually, Kai, I feel great!" Cinder giggled. She sat up to prove her point, and only made a slight face due to pain. She wasn't lying either. She felt happier than she had in a long time, and wondered if something had switched in her brain.

"Um, so you hit your head last night, pretty hard," Kai glanced around the room, as though he were looking for a response to Cinder's crazy reaction. "Dr. Darnel said that you have a concussion, and stuff, but I don't know if this is a symptom."

This made Cinder's laughter stop. Suddenly, she remembered. The pain up her leg, then pain in her head, then nothing at all, except for glimpses of medical gauze, and a pair of familiar copper eyes. She realized that it was the reason why her head hurt so bad. The pain must have been from hitting it so hard. Kai said she had a concussion, so maybe that was where all these crazy emotions had come from. Cinder had never had a concussion before, and she didn't really know the symptoms, except that the person's head hurt a lot, which certainly did fit.

Kai inspected her carefully, seeming to notice the change in her mood. "What's the matter?" Kai asked, leaning forward, only a few inches away from her face.

Cinder blushed before glancing down. "Nothing. These past few weeks have just been sorta crazy. I don't really know..." Cinder trailed off, unsure of what she was going to say. Did she tell him her secret? Would he even want to see her again?  She slumped a little, wishing that she could come up with something better to say.

But before Cinder could regain her composure, Kai shifted, tilting his face so that there was only an inch between their faces. "You don't know what?" Kai asked, almost teasingly.

This threw Cinder off. Was this just a game for him? Was he mocking her in some kind of way, or was she just not comprehending anything correctly, due to her concussion? "I'm not really that cer-" Cinder was cut off short by the press of Kai's lips.

Cinder gasped, not having expected him to kiss her, and broke it, only for Kai to lean into her again. Emotions rushed through Cinder that she had never felt before. Her chest burned, and she longed to just sit there and kiss Kai forever.

After a few moments, Kai broke the kiss and put a hand on Cinder's burning cheek, his thumb rubbing gentle circles. His face broke into a huge, triumphant grin, and Cinder could feel her lips turning up as well.

Kai leaned forward again, but only to give Cinder a small peck on the cheek, before telling her that she should get some rest. Cinder did as she was told, not because she wanted to, but because she really was exhausted.

For a while, they just stayed there, Cinder cuddled in her blankets, while Kai sat criss-cross on the floor beside her, holding her hand. They both wore smiles on their faces, and Cinder was just thinking how lucky she was, before drifting off to sleep.