Work Text:
i am not the only traveler
who has not repaid his debt
with jaded tears and an upset stomach, kai sat on the broken down boardwalk, miles away from his friends & problems. an old music player sat next to him, playing a song he hadn’t really been listening to, instead deciding to pay attention to the waves crashing against the wooden pillars.
i’ve been searching for a trail to follow again
his shaking hands, long since paid attention to, ran along the splintering surface as he struggled to think about something else. anything else. the fact that he just experienced something of this caliber for the fifth time that year wasn’t fair. not to him. not to them. not to... not to...
take me back to the night we met
this was one of the worst days he’s had since cole... cole... since cole died. the fact that this was the anniversary didn’t make it any better. the fact that it all went down in the same place didn’t make it any better. the fact that – that –
and then i can tell myself
he breathed in. the iron doom ending up there wasn’t their fault. acronix has said sorry. that he didn’t mean to actually kill anyone. that he didn’t realize that’s what krux was doing. kai doesn’t know if he believes it. (even if cyrus has vouched for him. a criminal.)
what the hell i’m supposed to do
it didn’t matter though. cole was still – still gone because of them. everyone who loved and cared for him would never be able to see him again, all because of some world domination fantasy that got a bit too far.
and then i can tell myself
his hands met, one of them taking off the ring that sat carefully on the his wedding ring finger. the ring, shiny and diamond encrusted, twisted alongside his bruised and bloodied hands as he struggled to get it off.
not to ride along with you
it was the ring he had sworn to give to him just hours before he had died. kai had planned on proposing.
i had all and then most of you
some and now none of you
take me back to the night we met
kai looked down into the water. his reflection, a sad and nauseating thing, stared right back at him. his eyes were red and bloodshot, stained with the tears he had held off on shedding for nearly a year. his gi, blood-stained and torn, reminded him of how cole had looked that day.
his eyes went to the ring. the diamond, now imperfectly stained red, made tears bunch up in his eyes. the pure feeling of dread that he got from just a colored diamond caused his heart to nearly explode. he felt... he felt overwhelmed.
i don't know what i’m supposed to do
haunted by the ghost of you
he let out a fleeting sob.
oh, take me back to the night we met