What If? - Kai And After Skye
As I’ve said previously, there are countless worlds in which the life of Malachi Azure turned out differently. Now, let me present to you a world in which Kai’s life had followed the same path as his reality for nearly 10 years beyond his time at Cerulean High.
This is a world in which he did marry princess Evangeline, and nearly left everything to be with Jess more than once, but what choice brought the chances to this life you ask? This time, it was not a choice made by Kai himself. It was a choice made by a younger girl who was looking to travel and see more of the world, Skye. She didn’t know it, but she would become someone extremely important to Kai, and when she chose to change her flight to visit Listaria first, she unknowingly brought herself into his life much sooner.
Note: This Alternate post begins where the year 9 portion of Kai’s reunion post began, but with a mention of Skye and Kai having met prior to that time, instead of after the reunion as in the real timeline.
Warning: This alternate also does contain mentions of death, as well as references to depressed and suicidal thoughts.
Alternate - A Simple Change In Timing
One. Two. Three. Three heartbeats. The royal babies that the world heard all about. Well, they heard that there wasn’t just a royal baby, but royal babies. The princess hadn’t just been pregnant with a single baby, not even twins like herself and Kai both were, but triplets. Triplets can be tricky, born premature with heightened risks to mother and children. Odds were high that something could go wrong, something made all the more clear with the birth.
One. Two. Two heartbeats. Of three born, there were two that survived. The two girls, identical twin girls, would go on to be princesses while their triplet half brother was to never grow up. Of the three infants, there were two fathers, one of Eva’s affairs, and Kai. Eva hadn’t lied. She was pregnant with Kai’s second born son… The media would hear about the birth of the royal twin girls, but the boy would merely cease to exist in the minds of the few that knew, except for Kai. Kai would always remember and think about who he had lost. Once again, he wasn’t getting to be a father. Be with a girl he loved, have a family, that was all he wanted, but every time it was ripped away from him. The reason Kai stayed with his wife, in Listaria, was gone, not even because of a lie, but because his life just never seemed to work out in a way where he could be happy.
Kai hated what his life had become, how it seemed he would never be able to be himself, always having to play a part. His life was nothing that he wanted, in fact it was everything he didn’t want, but that didn’t change a thing. How he felt didn’t matter. He didn’t care at that point, he was just hurting. There wasn’t much use in trying to be anything different than someone hiding behind a mask. Keep his walls up, close off, because nobody else would care enough to look past the facade to really see the person with so much pain inside.
However, it seemed there was one person willing to check on the man that she could tell was breaking. The girl knocked on the door before slowly stepping inside Kai’s room. “Kai…?” The pair hadn’t known each other for very long, just a few months, but the times they had spoken were enough for them to have developed a positive relationship with each other, with her calling him Kai instead of Malachi. Kai looked up from the empty glass in his hand to meet her gaze. “Skye.”
“Is there anything I can do for you…?” He looked back down for a moment, simply picking up the nearly empty bottle nearby, then back to Skye. “Any chance you can get your hands on another bottle?” Kai said before taking a sip of alcohol straight from the bottle in his hand.
With that, Skye went and found more alcohol, because if there was ever a time someone needed it, it was then. She couldn’t deny Kai wanting to numb the pain he felt for a while. He would feel it all later, but there was nothing wrong with burying it for the night. When she returned, she made the choice to stick with him, even after he said she didn’t have to stay, choosing to drink with him as well. “You need a friend. I’m not leaving you alone.” Before long, she certainly wasn’t thinking clearly, but that was enough to lead to a kiss between the two, then more.
“Kai.” Kai stopped and turned to look at Skye, her tone telling him that something was up. “What?” When he looked towards her, she walked over to him, letting him see the object in her hand. “This.”
“You’re…”
“Pregnant.” Skye said, not even letting Kai finish his sentence. “Yeah… Apparently when we were drinking… this happened.”
Of all the ways everything could have happened, that was the way the cards fell. Kai had gone from his wife being pregnant, to his son being born and having that hope for the future ripped away by his son not surviving. Yet, in his grief, his desire to shut his mind off with the alcohol, had brought a new life. Losing a child had somehow opened a new door. Kai had barely been holding himself together, he was shutting off from everyone and everything in a way beyond what he ever had before, but there was a reason to keep Kai from putting up every wall he had. Skye, and their baby. Unexpected only began to describe it. In no way was Kai in a good place for it, but when in Kai’s life had reality ever fit his plan, or taken his mental or emotional states into consideration.
Skye, a girl who was helping pull Kai back from the edge and to be more of himself, the mother of his daughter, someone who had really become his best friend. Though Kai would never have expected it in the beginning, Skye had become someone extremely important to him, not just because of the baby. However, it seemed the world was not in Kai’s favor. After months of growing closer to Skye, any dreams he had of the future were once again ripped away in the cruelest fashion imaginable, and Kai was once again feeling the crushing weight of loss. Though, Kai was not the only one to suffer, as his newborn daughter would never get the chance to know her mother.
It seemed that Kai’s life was filled with moments where every hope he had for his life to be something better was ripped away. He had been through so much, felt too much pain, and what even was the point. What life didn’t take from him, he still would find a way to screw it up. Malachi Azure, heir to the hidden Blue Royalty empire, the upper one percent of the top one percent, had everything one could want, even before marrying a princess and becoming royalty. What he never had was freedom, he could never make his life more his own. His life wasn’t his, and he didn’t know how to keep up the mask that the world saw. He couldn’t continue with the life he hated living, he didn’t have it in him to keep the confident charm expected of the prince, he could barely look himself in a mirror. He couldn’t be himself, but even if he could be, Kai didn’t even know who that would be. He was lost, and the only thing that kept him going was his daughter. Kai was all that Scarlet had, which was the only thing keeping the darkness inside from winning.
What gave Kai the idea, he didn’t know, but for some reason he knew it was the best choice. Wedding ring left on the dresser, Kai found himself leaving Listaria for what was intended to be the last time, one way or another. That’s how he found himself walking up to a door, questioning what he should do. Even at a glance, he wasn’t the same Kai he once was, he wasn’t the prince the world seemed to care about, he was a broken shell of a man who just wanted to do the right thing, who wanted to do something good for the tiny infant in the carrier he set down on the ground. Though, Kai couldn’t deny that other thoughts crossed his mind of what to do. Thoughts, which would’ve hurt everyone he did care about, even if it felt like it would have been for the best. Scarlet could be taken care of, it could be arranged for her to be safe with someone who was worth it, she could have a happy life. A life without Kai. He knew she deserved a better parent than him, and if he wasn’t there he couldn’t bring her pain. If he was gone, he wouldn’t have to keep hurting the people he cared about, for those who deserved better than him, and he wouldn’t have to feel the pain he had anymore. In that moment, the thought of just walking away was strong, but he chose to stay, to be there and keep on living each day trying to do right by Scarlet, and wait for the door to open.
There was a part of him, well… most of him, that expected the door to be shut in his face immediately. After all, with everything he had done, he knew he deserved it, but he was there because he knew he had to try. He needed to be able to say he at least tried, both for himself and for Scarlet one day. He had to try to apologize and admit how awful of a person he had been and how much pain he caused, and even in a way, do what he knew he should have done before. Though he felt like he didn’t deserve forgiveness, he needed to know he tried. Ease his conscience, and make it just a little easier to get up each morning. However, despite his expectations, the door didn’t shut right away, and he found himself face to face with someone who would always have a piece of his heart. “Hey Jess…”
@benitz786 - Jess….