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Wyldfyre had tried to talk to Kai.
Really, she did!! But it’s not like Kai made it easy!! Sometimes it felt like Kai had a list of people he wanted to talk to. And if you weren’t on that list at that specific moment?? Whomp whomp, sucks to be you!! It might be a while before he ever wants to talk to you if he even WANTS to talk to you!! Sucks to suck!!
They had hugged. Kai and Wyldfyre had hugged!! But, to be fair, Cole and Riyu were included in that hug. But it still counted!!
Wyldfyre had wanted to say something as soon as they got up. But then Cole smothered Kai in kisses and Kai didn’t hesitate to return to favor. Conveniently enough, Roby was standing just a few tail lengths away from her. So Wyldfyre ambled off towards him, and they walked out together.
After saying her sad goodbyes to Roby, she walked back into the Monastery using one of those weird Portal Gate thingies with Lloyd and Sora (who were STILL both down in the dumps about Arin. I mean, Wyldfyre liked the dude, but they weren’t particularly close!! And even if she did miss him a LOT (which she didn’t!!), she wouldn’t be openly moping around about it!! No way, Wyldfyre did NOT mope!!).
Kai had already gone in a little bit ago, it seemed, since he was already standing in the gateway with Nya, talking in hushed tones. Wyldfyre caught a little bit of it. It was something about ‘Jay didn’t remember me’ and ‘he shattered his goodness’, and Wyldfyre took that as a sign that the conversation probably wasn’t open to her (even though Wyldfyre could easily join any conversation she wanted, she decided to leave this one alone. For Kai’s sake).
But not before catching one last thing Kai had said.
”Don’t worry sis. You and me? We’re going to go find him. No matter how long it takes.”
Wyldfyre had stiffened slightly, and followed Sora to go greet the new student Lloyd had somehow adopted. Some snake-thing named Frak.
That was it. Kai was leaving. Again. And he’d barely said a word to Wyldfyre in forever!! No ‘Hi, I missed you so much, tell me everything that I missed’, or ‘Wyldfyre, I can’t WAIT to start training with you again, everything was so boring without you!!’. Not even a simple ‘Training tomorrow at dawn, don’t be late this time, we gotta catch up!’!! Wyldfyre would’ve just taken that last one!!
But no. Kai had chosen to not say a single word to her.
”And that’s totally fine,” She thought bitterly, answering a question Frak had asked. “I don’t NEED your attention, KAI. I’m perfectly capable without it.”
And still, as Kai walked past her without so much as a glance in her direction, laughing up a storm with Cole and Nya and Lloyd and Zane, Wyldfyre couldn’t help but feel completely and utterly forgotten.
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Kai was about to turn and hug Wyldfyre before Cole grabbed him and smothered him in kisses.
Which he would never complain about, because it had been too many years and they had a LOT of kissing to make up for. But this single action set off a weird chain of events that Kai wasn’t expecting.
Wyldfyre had seen this, grimaced, and speed-walked away to some…boy on the other side of the cavern. Somebody Kai didn’t recognize. But the way he grabbed Wyldfyre’s hand and pulled her closer to him, seemingly without thinking, made Kai nervous.
Who was this kid?? And why was he acting like Wyldfyre was suddenly someone he could just drag around without asking someone first?
Unfortunately, Cole and Nya dragged Kai away in the opposite direction without asking. So Kai had to put that thought away and save it for later.
The next weird thing that happened was when Wyldfyre, Lloyd, and Sora came out through the Portal Gate a few minutes after Kai and Nya had. Nya was debriefing him on what had happened with Jay during the Tournament, and Kai was fully invested. He promised then that they would go looking for Jay as soon as possible, no matter how long it took. But Kai needed to at least make an effort to say hi to Wyldfyre. It had been….a while since they’d had an actual conversation.
As Kai told Nya this, he was looking up at Wyldfyre as she came closer, about to pause his and Nya’s conversation to say something to Wyldfyre. But abruptly, Wyldfyre turned and followed Sora in the opposite direction of Kai, watching him for a moment before tearing her eyes away from him and Nya with a stricken expression.
Kai’s brows furrowed in confusion as he watched her turn her back on him to talk to Sora and that Serpentine kid Lloyd had recruited.
“Kai?? Everything okay?” Nya asked carefully, following his gaze to Wyldfyre.
”Yeah…yeah, I think so?? I should be….but I get the feeling that Wyldfyre’s avoiding me..” Kai answered sadly, turning his attention back to Nya.
She smiled fondly. “I’m sure she just missed you is all. Actually—I know she missed you. She trained nonstop while you were…gone. She’s probably just trying to figure out how to say that, is all.”
Kai let out a sigh. “Yeah…you’re probably right. I’ll talk to her tomorrow, it seems like she’s making friends.”
”I’m glad,” Nya hummed happily. “She needs more friends her age. I’m sure her and Roby are going to keep in touch, but she needs more verbal communication with people. Maybe this Frak kid will be good for her.”
”I’m sorry—WHO is Roby—???”
“Hey, guys!! Cole called, interrupting Kai unintentionally. Lloyd and Zane were being dragged over with him. “I’ve got one movie, two buckets of popcorn, and five couch seats with our names on it!! Whadya say?? Movie night tonight?? Just like old times??”
”I think it will be quite beneficial and relaxing,” Zane added happily.
”I just wanna sit down…I’m cool with doing whatever…” Lloyd admitted bashfully.
”I’m down!!” Nya replied excitedly. “I think it’ll be nice to do something just us for the first time in…forever.”
”oh, you know I’m here for it!!” Kai grinned, throwing his arm around Cole’s waist. “I call picking the movie, though!!”
”Hey, no fair!!” Lloyd protested while Nya groaned.
“Kai, no. You always pick the worst movies.”
”Statistically true,” Zane chimed in. “There is an eighty-eight percent chance Kai picks a movie we all collectively dislike.”
The group fell into a fit of laughter as they began walking in the direction of the elevator. As they did, they passed Sora, Frak, and Wyldfyre.
Kai ATTEMPTED to give Wyld a small smile. One that said ‘Can’t wait to talk to you tomorrow!!’ But Wyldfyre was already staring at him as they passed.
And the glare that she was giving him….it burned as hot as her fire.
Kai swore he could smell the smoke coming from her. She glared at him with such…disdain, Kai felt a shiver run down his spine. He had to turn away before he started crying from the sheer hatred in her eyes.
And…maybe from the pain of realizing Wyldfyre wanted absolutely nothing to do with him anymore.
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Wyldfyre woke up in a small sea of limbs.
Frak and Sora thought it would be a good idea for them to all bunk together in Sora’s room last night. Sora suggested it would be a nice opportunity for them to ‘get to know each other better’. Wyldfyre had fun, she’d admit that much. And, sure, she felt a LITTLE closer to Sora and she was seeming to get a firm understanding on Frak’s personality as well. But none of that made up for the fact she got like, no sleep last night.
So the minute she woke up (which was earlier than either of them, since dragons have an internal clock, and Wyldfyre had learned to have one herself), she detached herself from under Frak’s leg and Sora’s mechanical arm, and headed down to the Dragon Stables.
Heatwave wasn’t there currently, but all the other dragons were. And where there was dragons, there was comfort. There was safety. And the dragons had no problem letting Wyldfyre sleep down there with them. In fact, they’d told her multiple times that they enjoyed her company.
She fell asleep curled up next to Zanth for maybe another thirty minutes before she heard her name being called.
“Wyld?? Wyldfyre, you down here??”
Wyldfyre shot up and jumped down to ground level, only to see Kai standing in the entrance. She mentally reprimanded herself for getting up so quickly at the sound of his voice.
”There you are,” Kai smiled, hopping down to meet her at ground level. “Nya at told me you’d probably be down here.”
Wyldfyre shrugged. “I come down here when I can’t sleep.”
Kai nodded. “I remember.”
In the silence that stretched out for a moment, Kai took in her appearance. She had a new Gi—it seemed Lloyd finally got tired of her old one and bought her a new one. Kai remembered Lloyd begging him to get Wyld a new Gi. He’d always just brush it off and say that she was fine—crisp and clean and freshly pressed, like she hadn’t had it for long. Her body was cleaner Han it had ever looked, her fingernails no longer caked in dirt and blood. The few bruises and unhealed scabs she had on her arms had been treated, and a few were covered with bandages.
Most importantly, the horn that had previously adorned her hair was gone. Now, her hair wasn’t as….wild. It had been cut. Trimmed a few inches and rid of its tangles and nots. Her bangs—previously framing her forehead—were now pulled back, creating a half-up half-down hairstyle that Nya sometimes wore.
Kai realized for the first time that Wyldfyre looked like a completely different person.
Kai’s stomach twisted. Was he really doing this?? He wasn’t even sure Wyldfyre was a deep-conversation kind of person. To be fair, Kai wasn’t either.
But he’d learned how to…handle it.
Wyldfyre hadn’t learned any of that.
He decided to start off simple. “…you look different. You cut your hair?”
Wyldfyre immediately reached up and awkwardly ran her fingers through her hair. She watched Kai closely.
“Yeah…Nya cut it for me.” She replied honestly
Kai chuckled softly, but his voice caught awkwardly at the end of it. He placed both of his hands on her shoulders, brushing dust off her. He felt….a little bit honored when she relaxed under his touch.
“That was supposed to be a joke, you weren’t supposed to change without me.” His voice broke. He was fighting back tears now.
Wyldfyre turned her gaze up at him. She could see the tears welling in his eyes. He had missed her..!
And he was sad that Wyldfyre had brown without him there for her.
Wyldfyre felt a strange feeling blossom in her chest. It was like…all the bad things in the world were her fault, and she was the worst person in the world. Who could she set on fire to make it stop??
Wyldfyre didn’t even notice that hot tears were running down her face until she had to sniffle and rub her nose to clear it.
”I’m sorry,” her voice shook. She turned her head away from Kai and towards the floor, blinking tears out of her eyes. “I didn’t think I had a choice.”
Kai’s breath hitched. “Oh, kid…” he frailly whispered. Wyldfyre let out a choked sob and rammed herself into Kai, wrapping her arms around him tightly. Like if she ever let go, he’d dissolve into ash and disappear again.
Kai let himself silently cry into her hair. He didn’t want to break down in front of her—not in front of this kid who looked up to him so dearly, and searched for him as her safety in every room.
He had to be strong for her when she didn’t know how to be strong for herself.
“And I will,” Kai thought as he stroked her hair comfortingly, feeling her sobs die down. “I promise, Wyldfyre. I’m going to be here whenever you need me.”
”I won’t leave you again.”
The next day, Kai and Nya invited Wyldfyre on their hunt for their missing teammate, Jay Walker.
And of course, Wyldfyre agreed.