The Time It Takes To Fall

The Face of the Devil

USA, 2019 A.D.

Kai tapped his fingers maddeningly along the table, his fingertips clipping a horse-trot sound despite the sturdy makings of the surface. Music sung by the King of Rock played chirpily through the speakers above him but they only caused agitation. He couldn't stand the chipper whine of Elvis' voice as he sang of dogs and lying.

Kai had never been the violent sort— save for when harm came upon the one he loved— but he was beyond all rational thought and wanted for nothing more than to kick the wall behind him and scream at the top of his lungs. He longed to pummel a brick wall and feel the pain of it; but Kai was immune to all pain, so it would yield nothing more than an increase in agitation— he knew this because he had already tried.

So he sat, drumming his fingers across the white fake-marble tabletop, his nose twitching as he stared at the checkered floor. Everything within him was motion and anger— so much so that the hostess had yet to come and ask him what his order would be. For the first time in his long life, Kai was a creature to be feared.

He'd called Blue just minutes before— after he'd hit the wall outside his apartment building and felt nothing but pressure— and she hadn't picked up. It didn't matter though, because she would show up soon enough. She always did.

Kai didn't know how he'd never found her suspicious. She showed up whenever he called for her, despite having others like him spread throughout the world—thousands of souls to collect every day. She could be anywhere at any point in time. It made no sense. The Blue Koi was an enigma— a creature of only mystery and death.

The door swung open behind Kai in a gentle whoosh. It was a sort of sound that no mortal could perfect, as it required harmonization with the wind as one opened the door. He didn't even turn his head to look and see— he already knew that it would be her.

Seconds later, Blue glided to sit before him, her dark veil and robe of oceanic shades fluttering as she sat gracefully before him. She looked like a child wearing a ghost costume made of a blue sheet. In other words, Kai found her array of clothing to be childish all of a sudden, rather than mysterious.

And why was it that she always wore such an array of clothing? What in the world could she possibly have to hide?

For a minute he just sat there, fuming as he took her in. It aggravated him that he couldn't see her face and glare into her very soul. He wanted his eyes to burn into hers until she could no longer see any part of the world. Kai was not the violent sort, but he wanted her to feel the pain that screamed for relief from within his heart. He needed her to know how much she had destroyed him.

"Young Princeling," Blue began, drawing one hand out of her lap and placing its gloved fingertips on top of Kai's. He jerked his hand away, hissing at her touch.

"Do not," Kai growled through clenched teeth, "touch me."

"My, oh my," Blue tutted, her tongue clicking within her mouth. "Who's tied your fins in a knot?"

Kai clenched his hands, digging the nails into his palms. If he were able to sustain injury, his hands would have been dripping with crimson.

"You know what you did," Kai said, though the words did not sound like his own. His voice had changed into something that he had never been— predatorial. It was the deep, grating bite to his tone and the lack of any affection. His voice was exactly that of his father's, all cruelty without mercy; it was the voice of Prince Kaito resurrected from hell.

"I most assuredly do not," Blue hummed, though she sounded almost gleeful as the words left her mouth.

"Stop lying to me!" Kai shouted, slamming his hand down upon the table just as Cinder had done the night before. He suddenly realized how she must have felt, knowing that he had kept something so great from her— that he knew her more intimately than she could have ever imagined and he had never let on. Her rage joined his own, magnifying his emotions into a monstrous beast. "All you have ever done is lie to me," Kai hissed, "and it has to stop now."