Chapter Text
Kai could barely breathe. Rusty had forfeited their life source just to destroy the monster the ancient fire wielder had become. Daidan died not long after, torn apart by monsters while protecting him. And now Kai was alone again. The wasteland stretched endlessly around him, black ash swirling through the burning air. His body trembled violently as tears blurred his vision. He couldn't stop shaking. Couldn't stop crying.
Everyone was gone.
A broken breath escaped him, but smoke followed instead of air. Every inhale burned. The air around Kai warped in violent waves, his sobs coming out as smoke instead of breath. Tears slid down his face only to vanish into steam before reaching his jaw. Kai froze. Heat crawled beneath his skin. His brown hair started sizzling before strands slowly ignited into flames. Orange cracks spread faintly across his arms like burning fractures underneath his skin. Fire leaked from his body uncontrollably, scorching the dead ground beneath him.
The monsters screams quietened as if sensing a larger threat. For the first time in years, they looked afraid.
Kai lowered his head weakly, fingers digging into the dirt. Kai know that fire was a destructive elemental power when left unchecked. And Kai no longer cared enough to restrain it. The grief. The exhaustion. The misery he had carried for years inside that cursed land finally snapped something inside him.
He couldn't do this anymore. He refuse to survive another week in this nightmare land. If his fire desperately wanted destruction, then he would let it destroy everything. The flames around him roared violently, spreading across the wasteland like a starving beast. Dead forests ignited within seconds, turning into pillars of fire beneath the blood-red sky. Kai curled into himself as memories crashed into him all at once.
His shoulders shook violently at the thought of his sister. After the Merge, they had gotten separated. Kai searched for her for so long that the days eventually blurred into years. Every lead ended in failure. Every pat of the land he explored only buried his hope deeper. And now he wasn't even strong enough to continue searching for her anymore.
The realization made him feel pathetic, weak but strangely relieved too.
If he was going to die here, then at least he could take every last monster down with him. He could erase this cursed suffering of a realm alongside himself. No more endless running. No more grief. Kai's body trembled harder as flames continued leaking from his skin, scorching the dead earth around him black.
“Sorry, Nya…” Kai choked out between broken sobs. “I won't be able to find you.”
Kai smiled, accepting his final decision before commanding his fire to heel to his command. The fire exploded upward. Not the usual red shade of warmth, instead it's white. Blinding heat distorted the air around him as the flames swallowed everything in sight. The monsters stopped screaming. The entire wasteland fell deathly silent for one impossible second. Then the world disappeared in light. The explosion consumed everything instantly
Flames tore across the land with catastrophic force, vaporizing monsters before they could even flee. The ground itself split apart beneath the overwhelming heat. Kai didn't just burn the wasteland. His fire scorched far beneath the soil itself, leaving behind a massive crater where entire sections of land used to exist.
His fire erased everything. And with his fading consciousness, Kai only had one thought left.
Kai wish for everything's over.
Instead Kai woke up coughing, The red ninja immediately rolled onto his side and threw up violently onto green grass. His lungs burned as he coughed harshly, fingers clawing weakly against soft dirt. Kai grunts, he felt gross and wiped his mouth. That's when Kai noticed, grass. Kai stared at it blankly for several seconds. The bright green color looked almost unnatural after years trapped in a world of ash and decay. The green grass beneath him feel foreign yet familiar, how long has he seen any colors in that devastating depressive land? His breathing turned frantic again as he glanced around wildly. Blue sky, not gray, not polluted by smokes or infested by avian predators. The blue sky almost seems heavenly to him, has he truly escape the monster land? But how?
Birdsong echoed faintly nearby, making Kai instinctively reach for the sword that were no longer attached to his belt. His chest tightened painfully. This felt wrong.
Kai forced himself to breathe slower, steadying his shaking body with old training habits Wu drilled into him years ago. Inhale. Exhale. Control the heartbeat. Stay alert. But his hands still trembled. How long had it been since he last saw colors like this?
Kai slowly pushed himself upright, grimacing at the soreness in his body. His mind remained foggy. The last thing he remembered was fire. Endless fire swallowing the world whole.
Did he die?
No. This didn't feel like death. Kai reassured himself. Or maybe he's gone insane and start hallucinating a world he once lived in, where there's no monsters hunting him down.
The warm wind brushing against his face felt too real. Kai glanced around cautiously before spotting a dirt path leading downhill. A road meant that there's probably a civilization nearby. Meaning a place to rest. Without wasting time, Kai started following the path.
His heavy steps dragged slightly against the dirt path beneath the scorching afternoon sun. The thick fur coat hanging from his shoulders trapped uncomfortable heat against his body, but Kai refused to remove it. The wasteland had taught him never to discard anything useful.
Cold nights killed careless survivors. It might be his only way to survive, since he has no money or anything valuable on him.
At least the straw hat on his head helped a little against the heat as sweat dripped slowly down his neck. Still, Kai endured it without complaint. His body had long adapted to exhaustion and discomfort. Silence followed him down the hill.
There were no growls or distant screeches. It's strange to not be terrorised by the sounds of monsters. The absence of danger unsettled him more than danger itself.
Kai steps slowed down as he narrowed his eyes in confusion.
Stood not far away from him is an old, familiar stone tower. His heartbeat skipped painfully. Kai stared at the building longer, his stomach twisting tighter with every passing second. That was Darkley’s Boarding School for Bad Boys. The outdated stone structure from years ago.
Kai immediately moved closer, suspicion clawing at him. He kept low against the walls surrounding the property, blending easily with the shadows thanks to his dark, worn clothing.
This had to be an illusion. A trick. Some cruel hallucination before death.
With practiced ease, Kai climbed onto the gate and silently flipped himself onto a nearby tree branch overlooking the courtyard below.
Children filled the school grounds.
Kai felt strangely disconnected watching them. Then his eyes locked onto a familiar blond haired kid standing near the center of the courtyard. Lloyd. He look smaller than Kai remembered. Lloyd is talking to another boy. Gene adjusted his glasses nervously beside him. “If you don't bring your grades up, you know they'll kick you out, right?”
Lloyd rolled his eyes dramatically. “Class is lame. Seriously, who needs chemistry to become a villain?” he scoffed. “When my dad comes back, I'm gonna rule everything anyway.” the blond haired boy proudly announced before flipping his hair. Kai stared silently from the tree branch above them. Kai squinted and tilted his head to the side while listening to their conversation. Yeah, that's definitely young Lloyd. Meaning he's in the past.
The tombs hadn't been opened yet.
Lloyd hadn't released the Serpentine.
None of it had happened yet..
Everything was still untouched.
Kai slowly tightened his grip around the tree branch beneath him. He was in the past. He can change the past. He knew tampering with fate could bring catastrophe, yet a dangerous thought still lingered in his mind, what if he can change it to be better?
The tan skinned ninja grunted, he had made up his mind. He will linger near Lloyd until the kid get kicked out and lead him to the family forge. Kai can pretend to be a long lost family of Ray. Really, what could possibly go wrong?
AU Notes (You can skip this)
My hc for Kai in this AU is that he behaves almost feral, often acting purely on instinct. Most of the time, he barely talks, preferring grunts, clicks of his tongue, groans, and sharp exhales to express himself. His emotions are mostly shown through his eyes and body language rather than words.
Years spent surviving in the land of monsters had long since twisted his habits. Kai utilizes his fire powers in any way that helps him survive, especially for intimidation. Smoke occasionally curls from his mouth whenever he is irritated or threatened. Sometimes, he breathes fire like a dragon to scare monsters away. Fire crackles beneath his fingertips when agitated and burns beneath his footsteps whenever his emotions spiral out of control. He also uses sudden fire blasts as distractions while hunting or escaping monsters.