Chapter 69 - Rae

Kai blinked a few times as the bright sun filtered in through the leaves of the tree. He was sat under a single huge oak tree in the middle of a vast field of long grass. The wind blew through rustling the leaves. The smell of the grass and the sound of the wind whipping through the branches all smelled and felt familiar to him.

Kai raised his arm to shield his eyes as everything else around him came in to focus. He could see a stone castle in the distance.

"Wait, I know this place..." he whispered to himself. This was the castle in the former Eastern Territory. Former home to Raeliana and the royal family.

He could feel the warmth of the sun on his skin.

"Am I dreaming?"

If this was dream, it all felt real. Too real. Everything smelled, sounded and looked exactly like how he had remembered it as a child. The former Sirran King, King Nolan, had destroyed the castle after he slaughtered all of Rae's family. If Kai hadn't known what had actually happened in this place, he would have assumed that he was actually there.

Kai turned around and ran his hands along the oak tree. He felt the familiar dips and cracks in the bark. He felt like a child again. He had sat under this tree a million times, reading his books as he watched Raeliana play in the long grass.

As he continued to run his hand along the bark, his fingers finally found the mark in the tree that they were instinctively looking for. The name Rae and Kai Kai carved crudely in to it. Kai's heart ached as the memory of her carving their names in to the tree with a stone came flooding back.

Kai was so confused. "Is this really a dream?" Kai couldn't work out if it was or if this was Adalyn or Tara reaching out to him using her gift, but in a new space." As the questions flew through his mind, he felt a small hand tap his shoulder.

"What are you doing Kai Kai?"

Kai flicked his head around in surprise as he looked to find the owner of the voice. A little girl, no more than 6 or 7 stood next to him in a pink dress. As he caught sight of her face he fell back on his hands in surprise. He recognised her. Her long dark hair cascaded down her face and her green emerald eyes looked at him curiously.

"Rae?" Kai asked. He asked but he already knew the answer. Her face had been permanently burned in to his memory.

The little girl cocked her head to one side in confusion. "Yes?" she asked politely.

*'Of course it's her'* he told himself again. Her black hair and her pink dress already stained with mud and dirt from playing in the fields.

"Did...did you bring me here?" he asked.

"You're so silly Kai Kai. Papa Maddy brought you here." Maddy was the affectionate name she had called Kai's father, Maddox. Kai and Rae's father had a close relationship and as a result his father had often doted on Rae when he brought Kai round to stay with them.

Before Kai could respond back to her, something in the long grass suddenly caught Rae's attention and she ran off to explore. A tan wolf jumped up in the long grass playfully. Butterflies startled by the wolf flew up in to the air and the tan wolf started trying to pounce at them.

"Woah!" Rae called out and she giggled as she tried to catch the panicked butterflies.

Kai rose up to his feet to take a better look. It was Tara. If they were separated, then this place had to have been created by her. Kai looked around for Pax but there was no sign of him. Perhaps whatever was affecting his connection with Pax was also filtering through to this space and affecting him from being able to see him here too. If this was her space, he couldn't understand why Rae was a little girl here. If the seal that Colton mentioned had broken, why wasn't she her normal self. Kai needed answers.

"Rae," Kai called after her. She stopped playing with Tara for a moment then looked over towards Kai's direction.

"Can you come here for a moment?" Kai asked. Rae smiled again. The same big beaming smile that had him entranced from the moment that he first met her when they were both kids. If she was awake, here in this world, then perhaps she was awake wherever she was in the real world. Maybe she could help him find her.

As she got closer to him, Kai knelt down on one knee to be closer to her eye level.

"Rae, what's happening? Did you bring me here?" he said softly.

"Bring you where?" she said in a mocking whisper to Kai's quiet voice.

Kai lips tugged up on one side as a smile tried to force its way out on his face. She was always cheeky. In fact, she still was as a grown woman.

"This place Rae." Kai repeated again as he gestured with his hands to the expanse in front of him.

If this was Rae or Tara using their gift again, this place was a complete contrast to the foggy void that he was in before when Tara first brought him to this space.

As Kai looked back down at Rae, she stared at him in confusion then scratched her head. She had no idea what he was talking about. She raised an eyebrow and looked to the side as though she was trying to solve a huge maths problem in her mind.

Kai quickly realised with her in this form he wasn't going to get anywhere fast. He was going to have to be patient and speak with her on her level to get answers to his questions.

Kai took one of her hands in his. It was so tiny. He couldn't remember her ever being this small, but even knelt down next to her, he felt like a giant compared to her. "Rae, I need your help. Can you help me with something?"

"Sure! I'm good at helping," she replied enthusiastically.

"That's right, you are." Kai full on smiled seeing the proud expression on Rae's face. He patted her on the head gently. "I think you might be a bit lost. Not here but in the real world, which is why you brought me here. Do you know where you are?"

Rae cocked her head again in confusion. “I’m here, with you Kai Kai,” she said, stating the obvious. “How come you’re so big? It’s not fair, I want to be big too!”

Kai laughed. “The Rae I know is big too.”

“You know another Rae?” Rae hopped on her feet as she listened to him attentively.

“I do.”

“Is she pretty?”

“Oh yeah, she's really pretty. Not only is she pretty, she’s smart, funny, passionate and strong. She’s not afraid to put me in my place either when she’s mad. She reminds me a lot of you.”

“I like the sounds of her” Rae giggled her trademark sound which tugged at Kai’s heart. It had the same effect as when Adalyn laughed or giggled. He couldn’t work out why he had never noticed that between the two of them before. Kai laughed at himself internally. He kept thinking of them as two people but they were one and the same.

As much as he was enjoying talking to her like this, none of this was going to help him locate her. He wasn't sure how he could phrase his questions in a way that would make sense to her. In her current form, she didn't seem to be aware of her grown self or that this place wasn't real. Kai couldn’t stop the despondent look from showing on his face.

Catching sight of this, Rae reached out both hands and placed them on either side of his face, breaking him from his trance.

“You’re always so serious Kai Kai. Are you sad?”

Kai pulled his frown back in to a small smile again to try and not worry her. “I’m not sad, I’m just worried about you. I miss you already.”

Rae released her hands from his face and stepped forward in to his chest. She wrapped her little arms around his neck and buried her head against him. She gave him a tight hug. As tight as her little frame could muster.

“It’s okay. I’m right here. You can cry if you want to, if you're sad. I won’t tell anybody.”

Kai was really taken aback by this little action. Here he was trying to find a way to help her and here she was now trying to comfort him.

Memories of the past came flooding back. The whole time he had been grieving for her since Arya came to get him from the castle, he had missed her. She had saved him from a potentially cruel fate and he felt nothing but guilt since that day. Guilt for not doing anything. Guilt at just sitting in silence while her whole family was massacred.

Every move he had made since then was to make himself stronger, so he could stand up for himself and protect those that he cared about. He had thought of a million things that he wanted to tell her, a million things that he wished he had done differently with the time they had spent together as children. He wished he’d played with her more. He wished he had laughed with her more. He had mourned her and this whole time she had been right there with him the past year, without him even knowing.

As Adalyn, she had continued thinking about him and supporting him. Even now, when he had no idea where she was, even if this was just her subconscious reaching out to him, she was still supporting him, still trying to save him.

Kai could feel a lump forming in his throat. This little girl was had brought him to his knees both physically and emotionally with just a hug. Kai pulled out of the hug and stroked her face.

“You are right, you are right here.”

Kai took both of her hands in his.

“I want you to listen to me okay. Some of this won’t make sense to you right now but I know somewhere in your subconscious you wanted to speak to me so I’m hoping this reaches you, wherever you are right now.”

Rae looked at him curiously as Kai continued.

“I’ll protect you this time, just like how you protected me back then. I'll get stronger, then I’ll come find you and we'll fight whatever is coming together, so just wait for me okay." He nodded at her as though he was expecting a response, but he knew that this little girl would probably have no idea what he was talking about.

Kai squeezed her hand gently. "I love you."

Rae's eyes started to water as she listened to his words. She seemed confused as to why she was so affected, as though she had no idea why her eyes were suddenly leaking.

Kai smoothed one of her tears away and kissed her forehead. Wherever she was, wherever she truly was, somewhere deep inside her, the woman he knew had heard him. "I won't be long, so stay out of trouble for now okay."

With tears filling her eyes faster than she could wipe them away, she beamed at him. A full-on toothy smile. "Okay" she replied, unsure as to what she was agreeing to.

Kai blinked and when his eyes opened again. Arrow was leaning over him.

"Hey. Are you okay?" Arrow asked in relief. It was the same as when Arrow had found Kai in the woods. He knew it was Ady's doing based on what Kai had told him before.

Kai sat up and Arrow moved back a little to give him space. Dylan was standing over to one side just staring in confusion.

"Yeah, I'm good now" Kai replied casually as he started to get back up on to his feet. He was fine in more ways than one now. A huge weight had already been lifted off of him and he felt keen to start doing something instead of just moping around. "Let's go and find Arya."

Arrow eyed Kai curiously. He could see that something in him had changed. He seemed focused and at ease with himself. This was the Kai that he knew. The man that that he had chosen to follow both as a friend and as a prince. "Okay, let's go." Arrow looked over at Dylan who was still staring at the both of them in bewilderment.

"Hello? Are we not going to talk about what the hell just happened?! Why did his eyes go all cloudy like that?" Dylan asked Arrow.

Kai was already making his way over to the lift in the foyer to leave and had grabbed his jacket on the way.

"Do you know where Arya is?" Arrow asked him again, completely ignoring Dylan's rapid-fire questions. Arrow was already following Kai in to the hallway. "We're gonna go and look for her now. You okay to leave on your own?"

"Oh hell no, I'm not getting left out of whatever the hell this is. I'm coming too. I'll tell you on the way." Dylan quickly followed them towards the lift hallway.

"Any excuse to skimp out on doing some actual work as pack Alpha, huh?" Kai muttered without turning back to look at Dylan. Kai secretly smiled to himself as the lift doors opened and he stepped inside.

"That's pretty big coming from the deposed prince!" Dylan laughed as they all piled in to the lift together.

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Somewhere on the other side of Galas, in a dark cabin, a dark-haired woman awoke from a long sleep. As she stretched, she rubbed the tears away from her emerald green eyes and smiled. "I love you too Kai."