What If? - Soccer Game Day Stabbing
Alternate World - Sacrifice
Note: The playlist above is for this Alternate Universe, and the next Alternate Universe for the stabbing.
In one instant, without even the time to think it over, you make a choice that changes the course of your life. After all, that’s what happened when Jessica made the split second decision to put herself between Anna and Elettra’s blade, but Jessica was not the only one to make that choice, as the blade pierced not Jessica’s flesh, or even Anna’s, but Kai’s.
Where his sister had gone, Kai didn’t know. Most of his surroundings weren’t of any concern as he looked at the growing bloodstain on his shirt. “F**k.” For a mere second, there was only shock, but as Kai’s legs gave out beneath him and he hit the floor, Kai felt a sense of deja vu. Though in Kai’s case, it wasn’t just feeling like he had experienced the situation before, as he had been in the same situation once before.
Flashback
Blood, pain, shock. The young Kai looked to the kitchen knife his twin sister held. How had he pushed her so far? Was it something he said? Something he did? He didn’t know, but did it even matter? There he was, sliding against the counter and white cabinets to the floor, looking up at Elettra, her hand and clothes covered in his blood. His vision blurred as he heard footsteps. Elettra, it wasn’t her. She wasn’t getting help. She was simply standing nearby, eating cake, their cake, their birthday cake. More footsteps. Akielah, his little sister. She found him. “Elettra! What did you do…? Mom! Dad!” His mind was fuzzy, he was barely awake, but he could see the fear on the little girl’s face as she pressed a towel against the wound. “You’re gonna be okay Kai… You’ll be fine…”
End of Flashback
Kai nearly died that day. His 13th birthday, six years earlier. Now, there he was once again, lying on the floor as a pool of his own blood grew as a result of his own twin. Once again, with people he cared about over him, thinking they were about to lose him. Though this time, it wasn’t his little sister. It was Val and Jess.
Val… Kai knew she had been through loss, with her own sister. Val was his cousin by blood, but in his reality, she may as well have been a sister to him. This time, he wouldn’t be there to make sure she knew she could handle it. Candice may not have actually died, but at her best friend’s funeral, he was the only thing that had held Valerie together. He wasn’t the person in the world she was closest to, but they were family, and if Kai was gone, who would be the person to make sure that she didn’t break from the added pain. Kai could feel his mind growing less clear, his body was colder, and it was getting harder to keep his eyes open. He looked first to his cousin, pausing to breathe between words. “You… can handle… anything.”
Seconds, turned to minutes, and felt like hours. Stay awake. Keep my eyes open. Kai reminded himself. Once he was unconscious, what chance he had of making it out of that hallway alive, would slip away. That was when his eyes turned to the one thing he could focus on, Jess. “I’m sorry…” They hadn’t seen each other since his birthday, since he told her the truth. The truth about who his family was and why he was there. The truth that he regretted being true, but had to tell her, even if it would hurt her, but here she was by his side, covered in his blood. His lips curved into a weak smile, relieved she was alright. He took the hit for her, so she was fine. Jess wasn’t hurt, that’s what mattered to him. Everything else was quickly becoming a blur, the sights, the sounds, it was all blending together, but he could hold onto the fact that Jess wasn’t hurt. For a girl who he never planned to care about, the thought of her being hurt was more painful than the knife.
Flashback
Jessica Pierce. Make a good first impression, ask her out, pull her close, break her heart. It was simple. Play with her heart and complete the tasks given by her sister to protect his siblings. Though none of it was that simple, and it grew ever more clear with each date. She was never what he expected. To keep from losing everything, she forced him to let down his walls, and that was it. It was all over. All of the little things he had noticed that caught his attention before, began to add up as he let her in, and before he knew it, he was in love with her. Even in the moments that she drove him insane, Kai found himself falling harder for her. The way she teased him, challenged him, the way she made everything seem like it didn’t matter. From the conversations with their siblings, to the way they bickered about something as trivial as bananas. It was everything about Jess that made him fall in love with her, one moment at a time. At what point he was officially in love with her, he couldn’t say, but she had become someone he felt real with. He was himself, he felt comfortable with her, and nothing else really mattered.
As his birthday approached, and the two grew ever closer, each night that went by, he found comfort in holding her close. Close and secure, ensuring that she wouldn’t go walking the streets in the middle of the night, and he wouldn’t have to worry. Whenever she woke up, ready to go walk, he simply pulled her close, so she couldn’t leave. Though even when she tried to get away, he made no reaction to imply he was awake other than a slight smile. Just as whenever he woke up in the middle of the night, with painful memories on his mind, she was there, and all he had to do was keep her close.
End of Flashback
Kai was slipping in and out of consciousness. Only so much could be done with the blood he was losing. It was just a matter of time before Kai found himself in the hall one moment, and in an ambulance with Jess beside him the next, on the way to the hospital. In one moment, Kai looked at Jess, and tried to say something to her, but he could barely get “Jess… I…” out, as it wasn’t long before the semi-consciousness faded away as Kai was on the brink of death.
Minutes, hours, days, Kai didn’t know how long he had been out. His mind wasn’t clear, he could only remember flashes of what happened. His sister, the knife, Jess. Waking up, he slowly opened his eyes, and as he looked to the side, there she was. “I think I may have done something I shouldn’t have…” Kai said to get Jess’s attention. When she saw he was awake, Kai immediately found her arms around him. “Please don’t ever do that to me again you w^nker.” Jess whispered to Kai as she held him in a secure hug. “I don’t plan on it.” He smiled weakly, lightly hugging her back. “Jess… as much as I don’t want you to let go… this hurts…” At Kai’s words Jess did back off some, even if he didn’t really want her to. “I’m sorry Jess… about everything.” He had gone into things with Jess, wanting to protect his family, but that didn’t change that she had become just as important to him, he was so in love with her, that he was willing to die if that’s what it took to protect her. Jess was family to Kai, in more ways than one, even if Kai didn’t know that yet.
Mentioned:
@benitz786 - Jess (also Anna, but she’s not important here)
@CerealKiller - Val