Story

Kai was born in 1993, England, in a Staffordshire town known as Denman. He grew up in a comfortable home with his mum and dad, Indira and Dominic London, and his half-sister, Clara Bell-London.

His household was lively and gregarious. They had an abundance of family friends, but actual relatives were few and far between. Kai had a few uncles and cousins scattered across the country, but they were lucky to see them once a year, and his paternal grandparents both tragically died in a traffic accident a few years after he was born. His maternal grandparents lived in India - they, nor any of his Indian relatives played a role in his early life, estranged from Kai’s mother before he was even born.

Kai and Iona Jacobs, who was 2 years older, were friends from a very young age, and she played a very significant role in much of his life.
Iona was the daughter of Cliff Jacobs, a family friend and an ex-bandmate of Dominics.

Kai was a happy, polite child, if not a somewhat anxious one. He didn’t like making decisions for himself or rocking the boat, so it came naturally to him to let other people take charge.

Music was big in the London household. His dads background in music and his passion for rock greatly influenced Kai. He loved it when Dominic played guitar, and he was over the moon when he received his own to play on his 8th birthday.
Iona loved music, too - so much in fact, that the two of them formed their own band - inspired by Dominic and Cliff, and their old band, Starstruck Ape.
Iona decided that her and Kai’s band would be named Snake Bitez. At this time in their lives, calling them a band would be generous. They weren’t even teenagers. But they did have a real passion for what they were doing.

That same year, Kai, who had been attending cub scouts for a few years by that point, was assigned as buddy to a newcomer - Matthew Navarro (though when they met, Kai knew him as both his birth name and as a girl). Matthew was rude and antisocial, but after only a few weeks, he began to warm to Kai, and they became friends.

Iona and Matthew were Kai’s closest friends, but despite being a chubby kid with a withdrawn nature, he was popular at school, too. He was smart, hard-working, and mature for his age. Other pupils thought he was very cool.
Kai got more and more proficient in guitar as he grew. He learnt a lot from his dad, and with Dominics expertise and Iona’s momentum, they started writing and recording songs. Things really started to come together when Matthew came on board as their drummer.

When Kai was 13, his family adopted a puppy they named Peaches. She was a close companion of Kai’s through many of his teenage years.

Kai’s relationship with his sister blew hot and cold, and their love for one another, though substantial, was usually left unsaid.
In 2008, Clara left home to move in with her boyfriend, and Kai became the only child in the London household.
Kai matured fast. He was taller (and hairier) than all of his classmates, and, most of the time, he was more sensible, too. Kai earned a reputation as someone who was mature, helpful, responsible and capable.

But the influence Iona held over Kai’s life only grew stronger as they both aged. Spending time with her and her other, much older friends made Kai sometimes forget that he was still a kid. She talked him up to all her friends and soon, Kai had a lot of connections - so long as he was there to respond to Iona’s every beck and call.
When Kai was 15, he had his first sexual encounter with Iona - who was two years older than him.
Kai and Iona’s relationship, however, remained exclusively platonic. He had his first ‘proper’ girlfriend at 16, a girl in his year called Sinead.

After Kai finished secondary school, he didn’t know what to do. He was an anxious person and hated making decisions for himself, convinced he’d make the wrong choice. More often than not, Kai would go to others to find out what he should do. Kai’s parents noted his intelligence and potential, but Iona said that higher education was completely pointless. He eventually ended up taking a course on music at College.

When Kai was 17 and out on a drive with Matthew, he told Kai that he was transgender. Kai, his knowledge on the topic virtually nonexistent, was confused at first, but told Matthew he’d support him no matter what. Kai clumsily sort-of came out as bisexual during the same conversation. His sexuality, in truth, was something that had been on his mind for a long time.
Unexpectedly, he got an awful lot out of this conversation with Matthew and came away feeling a lot more at ease with things.
It was only a few months after this that Kai came out as bisexual to his family and peers, something that was met with nothing but support. Were it not for Kai’s dad being bisexual too, he probably wouldn’t have come out as soon as he did.

As Kai grew older, he only became more popular. Even before he turned 18, Kai (who’d had a fake ID for nearly two years by this point) had a reputation around the pubs of Denman as the likeable guitarist dude who could always be counted on - for anything. He got into a habit of smoking, influenced by the rest of his peers, and it wasn’t long before he found himself in all kinds of situations.
For instance, Kai was involved in a physical conflict for the first time when Iona provoked a drunken man looking for a fight. This, unfortunately, would not be the last time Kai had to throw punches on a dark street.
Kai, as liked as he was, was still an intimidating character to a lot of people. He was thought of as reliable and cool, but also, to some, as tough and cold - not to be messed with. Some people didn’t like that.
This worried Kai. He had a role to fill now. There were a lot of people out there who did not like Iona. If he wanted to be able to protect the people he cared about, he needed to be stronger.
Kai began frequenting the gym. This was something Kai enjoyed more than he thought he would. The regulars there liked him, and he was even invited to play on the basketball team.

Kai had less spare time nowadays, though. Snake Bitez still had a very significant role to play in his life. They played the occasional show - and years earlier, they’d put out a ‘proper’ album called Night Tremors, for which they’d even rented a studio to record in.
In 2012, he stopped speaking to Matthew, who left the band after the two of them fell out. Kai had confronted Matt for the demeaning remarks he often made about women, which struck a nerve with him. By the end of the year, they’d made up.
Kai finished college, and afterwards, started work at Joel Karson’s garage. Joel was a family friend and best mates with Dominic, who he used to play with in their band days.

Kai met Martha Anderson, Addison Ellis, and Sylvi Dee one evening when Matthew invited them over to watch them play as a band. This would not be the last he saw of them. In fact, he liked some of Matthew’s friends from Post-16, and soon found that he was meeting up with them most weeks.

Kai was 19 when their band finally got its 4th permanent member. Julian Bailey was an easygoing bassist who Kai got on great with from day 1. Abigail Shepley was another person who entered his life during this time. She was a fan of the band, and a friend of Iona’s - who was absolutely nothing like her.
A lot of things happened during this period of his life. Snake Bitez only continued to build momentum, gathering themselves a small following, and with their popularity, Iona only seemed to be getting herself into more trouble. Kai fractured his eye socket after a fight. He became more sexually active, having the occasional hook-up and short term open relationship. At the end of 2013, he started dating Abigail exclusively, infatuated with her.
He travelled to India with his family after Indira reconnected with her parents, and met some of his relatives for the first time, including both of his maternal grandparents, his aunt, and his cousin. Though a language barrier often made it difficult to connect with them as much as he’d like, he really appreciated being there. He’d always felt a little detached from his mother’s background and that side of himself, and it was a really important journey for him.
Ali Safaya, his cousin, spoke some limited English as he was in the process of learning it, and he seemed to love talking with Kai. They stayed in touch afterwards, exchanging online messages on and off throughout their lives.

All the while through this period of his life, Kai became hopelessly obsessed with collecting a number of piercings and tattoos. This solidified his identity as he went into adulthood.

In 2015, something odd happened. It was sometime mid May when Kai got a weird phone call from Matthew. That afternoon, he showed up on Kai’s doorstep, frantic, not at all himself, but refusing to clarify anything.
Addison, who also seemed out of character, and Sylvi, who seemed just as confused as Kai, later joined them, and together, they drove out north to find Martha walking the streets, before she greeted them as she broke down into tears.
What Kai didn’t know and will never know was that he witnessed the end of Impossible Years. He knew something terrible and a little bit surreal had happened that day, but had no idea what. In the days following, he learnt that whatever happened had been explained to Sylvi. Kai became quite bitter. Matthew was his best friend, and he was close to Martha, too.
What could possibly have happened that he didn’t have the right to know?
Sylvi tried to explain to Kai how the fewer people that knew, the better, but it didn’t help. He had too many questions. Why, for instance, did Addison and Matthew seem so close? Last thing Kai knew, they hated each other, but now, they spoke like they’d been friends for years.

It took months, but eventually, Kai begrudgingly accepted his role, especially since his friends seemed to need his support more than ever.
Life only seemed to get harder after this. Matthew, who worked at the garage with Kai, seemed completely unstable for most of 2015, in a way that Kai found extremely disconcerting.
But soon, life threw another curveball at Kai, and he had more important things to worry about.
Abigail was someone that Kai loved with all his heart - their relationship was serious and he truly pictured a future with her. Unfortunately, the discussions about their future were thoroughly put on hold.
Kai knew something with her hadn’t been quite right for a while, but he was dismayed to discover she’d been abusing drugs. Heroin, specifically. Heartbroken, he told her that they could get through this.
But things with Abigail and her situation got worse, quickly. It was clear to everyone that she was in no state to be in any sort of relationship. Heart-wrenchingly, Abigail and Kai both knew this.
After two and a half years, they parted ways.

Drugs - it was no secret that they were a big part of the lifestyle that Kai found himself in. He’d never had a lot of interest before, but now, he was determined to abstain entirely. Seeing what it did to Abigail, her relationships, her life... it left a substantial impact on Kai.
Iona was a user too - she had been for years. Kai didn’t know how she always seemed to keep her wits about her, but the drugs were practically a part of her identity by this point. He couldn’t let himself ruminate about Iona’s drug use. It was Iona, after all, and Iona's life seemed to follow a different set of rules.

Kai was 23 when he moved out of his parents to live in a flat with Matthew. Though he was still a far cry from his old self, Matthew seemed better - mostly. But living with Matthew soon gave Kai a new perspective. Kai was convinced that he was drinking too much, and it became something he couldn’t ignore. Matthew told Kai he was paranoid after what happened with Abigail. Matthew was convincing, and Kai was still distraught about Abigail - so he found this easy to believe.

Life was in an uneasy balance, and Kai was only just holding things together. He still found himself in bad situations, and often seemed to end up in violent fights that nearly always involved Iona in some way. Kai acted as her unpaid bodyguard a lot of the time, only even joining nights out so she didn’t get herself hurt or killed. Kai had a lot of loyalty to her, and eventually, he found comfort in the familiarity of it all.
Everything that happened with Abigail had hit him hard, and it didn’t help that other, minor friends and acquaintances had drug problems, too. He lost track of the amount of times he called emergency services after someone's overdose, or following a bad fight.
After Snake Bitez got signed to a record label, Kai had no time left for anything else, and he grew a little distant from his family. Exhausted and anxious, Kai balanced music, chaperoned Iona, and somehow, still held a full-time job, too. Not to mention, Matthew was hardly the textbook example of a good flatmate. Kai often found living with him and his worsening mental health problems difficult.

Kai was desperately looking forward to the two weeks he’d booked off to travel the United States with some of his friends. In June 2017, all 6 of the odd little friendship group (Kai, Matthew, Martha, Addison, Sylvi, and Matthew’s brother, Charlie Navarro) rented a car, and road tripped across the American Midwest. They had an incredible time - staying up, lighting campfires and drinking lager under the stars, skimming stones, telling stories and sharing banter until the sun came up.
While they were there, they also met a young woman called Dakota Laney, who by chance, ended up joining them for the remainder of their road trip. At the conclusion of their holiday, Matthew and Dakota entered into a long-distance relationship. Kai was happy and relieved that his friend seemed to have something good in his life to keep him on the right track.

Only one month later, Kai was stabbed.
It was an unassuming pub they were in, but Iona had been getting herself involved with all kinds of shady characters, and Kai being her bodyguard and right-hand man put an impressively large target on his back. What had happened to Kai was only supposed to be a warning, but it was a deep cut, and though it missed any vital areas, he had suffered muscle damage.
Though Kai's life wasn’t in danger, what happened wasn’t pretty, and he was stuck in hospital on the hottest week of the year, while missing close friend Mike Morgan's birthday party. Kai was completely miserable. He’d have been a lot more miserable if it wasn’t for the surprisingly frequent visits from Addison.
Addison was… not like other people. The black sheep of the friend group, Kai didn’t think Addison really liked him - or anyone really, for that matter. He was confused as to why they visited nearly every day, just them alone, sitting, speaking only occasionally.

Things became clearer a month or two later, when Addison approached Kai to simply state that they’d like to spend more time with him. Just the two of them.
Kai caught on and, trying to keep an open mind, agreed to go out on a date with them. Kai didn’t particularly have feelings for Addison at first, and in fact, was even a little uncertain about the entire situation. But by the end of the year, Addison had won Kai over, and the two of them were an item.

A month later, Kai quit his job at the garage, taking the plunge and doing Snake Bitez full time. He and the rest of the band had to work hard at this to make ends meet, pushing themselves well beyond their limits.
By this point, he was seriously concerned about Matthew. Iona was as problematic as ever, and Kai still found himself in fights at least once a month. Stressed out and fed up, he became quite a pessimistic, depressed man with very little patience.

Addison and Kai often spoke about getting their own place, but Kai was reluctant to leave Matt. By this point, his tendency to binge drink was common knowledge. Kai’s intuition last year had been more than correct, and he wasn’t sure how well Matthew would cope by himself. But, after a very bad argument that escalated into a fight, Kai made his decision, and in the late summer of 2018, Addison and Kai moved into their new home.

Kai was elated to be sharing a home with his partner, but not much else improved. Tensions in Snake Bitez were great, and now Addison was a bigger part of Kai’s life, they wanted to know what was going on. Kai became very, very nervous about Addison getting even slightly involved with anything related to the band. He knew how Iona treated people by this point. This quickly became a source of conflict for the couple. Addison, understandably, wanted to know the reason that Kai so often came home with cuts and bruises, and when he went away on tours for long periods, they felt very much in the dark. Kai refused to tell Addison very much at all. After all, Iona’s activities were often straight up illegal, and Kai had been doing her dirty work for a long time now. She was investigated after the mysterious death of a rival frontman, during which Kai gave statements to the police which were untrue. He was disgusted by his own behaviour, sickened by the fact he went against his own principles pretty much every time Iona was involved in anything. He started to feel on the wrong side of the law, and morally corrupt.

In 2019, Kai was dealt another blow. Abigail had died from an overdose. Until her funeral, he struggled to comprehend it, but afterwards, he was a wreck. Addison tried their very best to comfort him, but this only did so much good. He was overcome with grief, but he couldn’t waste time mourning. Snake Bitez’s latest release was on the horizon.

In 2020, Snake Bitez released what would be their third and final album. It’s production and release was wrought with drama, both within the band and outside it. Matthew’s behaviour was a hindrance, to put it lightly - showing up at the studio too drunk to play or not at all, constantly saying that he’d get better but never really seeming to try. Iona was Iona - she couldn’t seem to go 5 minutes without causing some kind of commotion. Julian was sick of Snake Bitez, and he was certainly sick of Iona. He had constant screaming matches with her - they hated each other. He threatened to leave the band every other week.
Kai couldn’t even think about leaving. Iona, Matthew… if Kai wasn’t there, he was pretty much convinced that they’d be dead within a week.

Next year, Snake Bitez were playing at a very shady venue when it was raided by police. Kai, unlike the rest of the band, immediately complied with the law. While the others were embroiled in a car chase down the motorway, Kai was co-operating.
Snake Bitez got off lightly. In fact, Iona always got off lightly when it came to the law, which she broke often. Kai always had suspicions as to why this was the case.

A few months later, Julian sat down with Kai and Matthew. He explained that he was leaving the band - and suggested the others leave, too. For some reason, this idea terrified Kai. Being without Iona, without the band? He struggled to comprehend it. Matthew didn’t respond to the suggestion positively either, reminding Julian that he’d never be able to hold a normal job. The band provided him with the only semblance of structure in his life.

Iona did not take it well when Julian left, but even she couldn’t do anything about it, and Snake Bitez became a trio.
For a couple of months after this, Snake Bitez had a break. Kai was looking forward to some time with Addison and with his family.
But frustratingly, Kai couldn’t relax. His sister was pregnant and he couldn’t wait to be an uncle, but all he could think about was Iona and Matthew. He was snappy and constantly on edge, and Kai’s family hated what the band had done to him. In fact, his mother had tried to intervene several times throughout the years, but it never went anywhere.
He was actually relieved when Martha called out of the blue one morning, asking if he and Addison were free to help her with something - she wanted to clean Matthew’s disgusting apartment. She was convinced this would help him. Kai and Addison spent the day going through years worth of Matthew’s crap and depression hoard, which benefited their friend in the long run, though he didn’t admit it at the time.

That autumn, Kai’s nephew, Joey was born, 2 days before his Kai’s own birthday. This was the distraction he needed. Kai, surrounded by his loved ones, was finally able to forget about the last few chaotic years and focus on the things that mattered most.

In 2022, they went on tour as a band again, and it really didn’t take long for things to go sideways. A violent incident backstage at a concert left most of the band badly hurt. Kai found himself very winded, bruised and sore afterwards.
Addison wanted to know what happened after he returned home, but Kai still refused to tell them anything. He was well aware of Addison’s confrontational nature, and desperately feared a conflict between them and Iona.
But this time, Addison wasn’t going to give up so easily. After squeezing the information from Matthew instead, they went out to find Iona one night while Kai was babysitting his nephew.
Kai didn’t know a lot about what happened that night. He got a phone call from Matthew in the early hours of the next day. All he told Kai was that Addison had been badly hurt. Kai, in a panic, left Joey with Dominic and Indira and rushed to hospital.
He found Addison there in a coma. They’d been assaulted, and for a short while it was touch-and-go. Matthew said he found Addison at the recording studio. He’d been concerned after Addison told him they were going there to talk to Iona.
But it appeared that the studio had been robbed. Thousands of pounds worth of equipment was stolen - Addison seemed to have just been in the wrong place at the wrong time. Iona had an alibi. She seemed as shocked as everyone else.

Addison woke after a few days, but was unable to remember anything that happened that night.

For a short while, things returned to semi-normality. Addison made a remarkable recovery, but Kai was shaken.
One night, Kai received a string of mostly incoherent text messages from Matthew, who despite having been doing better as of late, had a bad relapse. It was only the next day that Kai properly read what Matthew had sent him - and Kai couldn't believe what he was reading. They seemed to allude to Iona being the one who attacked Addison.

Kai found Matthew, still hospitalised after the previous night, and demanded to know the full truth, threatening the complete end of their friendship if he didn’t. Matthew had never in his life seen Kai that frighteningly serious, and it freaked him out. Emotional and conflicted, Matthew told Kai that it was Iona who attacked Addison, but made it very clear that he couldn’t let on that he now knew. Iona had very seriously threatened Matthew, forcing him to help her cover up the evidence. Kai, still furious, said he didn’t give a shit about what happened to him or anyone else. He stormed out, leaving Matthew at his wits end.

Kai didn’t want to go back home yet. His world crashed around him as he came to terms with the fact that Iona had been the one who nearly killed Addison - in a fit of rage, no less. He drove to his parents house and, in their garage, where Snake Bitez was initially started, he completely broke down.
His mother, Indira, found him.
Kai told his mum everything - his mum, who was, helpfully, a lawyer.

After this absolute low, things began to turn around. Indira and all of Kai’s friends helped find a way to make Iona pay for her crimes, and Kai found a way for him and Matthew to leave the band without arousing any suspicion.
Kai and Matthew left Snake Bitez for good. Iona, thanks to everyone's efforts, was sentenced for a crime she committed several years before. The band was over, and the boys could move on.
Kai didn’t know what to do with himself. A life without Iona was unfamiliar. Free for the first time in his life, he learned how to live for himself and for the people who truly cared for him.

In 2023, Kai and Addison got engaged, and later that year, married - though Kai was disappointed that they didn’t come around to the idea of inviting their estranged father.

Kai and Addison enjoyed the normality they’d both found in each other. Life was, for the most part, good.
In 2026, Kai was approached by Iona in a supermarket. He didn’t want to see her, but he couldn't help but stop and stare as she approached. Before he had the chance to tell her to get out of his face, she told him that she was escaping the country. She was pregnant, clean, and planning on fleeing to Australia. Kai didn’t know what to say to this. She explained that she couldn’t go without seeing him one more time. And then, she left, and it was like she was never there.

Many years down the line, Kai and Addison had a son, Seth London, with the help of Martha, his surrogate mother. Seth grew up good friends with Chloe Navarro, Matthew and Dakota’s daughter. Matthew, needless to say, was doing a lot better, and in fact, several years later, he, Kai, Julian, and Addison played a small bunch of reunion shows. These were, hands down, the best shows he’d ever played. They even formed a new band, called Kingdom.

Kai grew old with Addison, surrounded by family and a sense of peace that he never thought he’d have.

Relationships

Family Tree