This was inspired by another fan fiction one-shot by VR Trakowski ( u/79770/VR-Trakowski), that proposes the idea that Caine and Jupiter met as youngsters. I follow them throughout their growing up years. I will extend VR's invitation to use this as a jumping off point to start your own fan fiction.
The general premise is that Jupiter was found as a recurrence as a child, and Kalique undertook the raising of her. Both she and Titus want to have more control over her, so that they can influence her or even take over her estate. Caine is raised with her as her companion and eventual body guard.
I recommend reading VR's short one shot first, as this one picks up after that. (VR's story, The Princess and the Pup: s/11311589/1/The-Princess-and-the-Pup) The condensed version is that they meet, Jupiter selects him as her companion, and an older splice named Sittac is hired to raise them.
I would love to get feedback. Enjoy!
Edited 6/21/2015
Jupiter Jones, upon being discovered as a child to be a recurrence of Seraphi Abrasax, had been moved from Earth to Cerise. Despite being on Kalique's planet, she didn't see very much of the eternally-youthful ancient. Kalique wasn't fond of children running around her alcazar. Their nanny, Sittac (an avain splice) turned out to be very motherly, and a good liaison between youngest and the oldest Abrasax females. Jupiter also selected a companion for herself; a young, runty lycantant named Caine Wise. They were enrolled in a private school, of which Caine was the only splice in attendance. He was accepted by no one, save for Jupiter and Sittac.
The nanny cautioned against their attachment, but saw the futility of that. The children were young and innocent now, but that wouldn't last forever. Already, there was an intensity with Caine that was as of yet still absent in Jupiter. Whenever he wasn't directly interacting with her, he was watching her. He knew all that he owed to her.
At the very outset, they were young enough to share a room. Sittac quickly felt uncomfortable with this, and put them in side-by-side rooms. Jupiter, lonely for her mother and her home, began sneaking into Caine's room after bedtime. With only the one bed, they slept snuggled together. This went on for several months before Sittac found out about it. While she knew that nothing untoward had happened, she felt that it couldn't go on. Caine would mature faster than Jupiter, and the girl was already too important to him.
Talking to Jupiter yielded no results. The young majesty was so stubborn. So Sittac spoke to Caine, and tried to explain that even though Jupiter saw them as equals, they were not. Jupiter was a child, and her view of splices would someday change. Caine must protect her from humiliation later on. Caine was too young to understand much of what she meant, but he knew that the rule was this: no sleeping together, and he would uphold it for the sole reason that it would protect Jupiter.
He didn't like the idea of distance between them, but he was soothed by Jupiter's blatant rejection of the need for it. Jupiter continued to sneak into his bed, and wouldn't let him protest. He would lie there, arms around her, until she was asleep, and then he would move to the floor beside the bed to sleep. He was content to hear and smell her so close.
Sittac was no fool. She knew that one day Caine's heart would be broken. But with little she could do about it, she resigned herself to the fact that Jupiter could have no better protector, and she continued to assure Kalique that all was well and proper between the children.
During the day, Caine revolved around Jupiter like a planet. He would smile his shy smile, and do everything that she suggested. At meals, or under Sittac's watchful gaze, he put more space between them, and observe her quietly. The housekeepers were used to the closeness between the children, and gossiped as they would, but around other adults, Caine behaved differently, sensing their shock and displeasure.
At school, Caine was withdrawn, and encouraged Jupiter to play with other children, relationships which were often short-lived, because Jupiter couldn't suffer a negative word about Caine. Jupiter had gotten into hot water more than a few times with teachers, over the prejudice she saw them display toward the splice. It strained their patience to have to teach a stupid, lowly Lycantant. Jupiter began tutoring Caine at home, but Caine continued to act dumb at school, because his success only made teachers angrier. He hated to disappoint Jupiter, but she could never stay cross with him for long.
Sittac managed to convince Kalique to allow Jupiter to visit home a few times a year. Everything had been explained to the family, who were dazed and uncomfortable around anything alien. Guards waited outside, and Sittac made herself scarce, but Caine wouldn't leave Jupiter alone in a room, and the family gradually adjusted to her wolf-boy shadow. He wouldn't join in their family games, but he would eat their food and blush under any of their attention.
Sittac tried again to impress upon Caine his duty, and the denial of his heart; to convince him that Jupiter would see what the rest of the world saw one day. Caine didn't believe that Jupiter would ever change. He thought that caring for her only made him better at his job. He didn't understand, until the day Titus came to visit Kalique, the second primary, and Jupiter, the first secondary of the house of Abrasax.
There was an air of celebratory nervousness as they boarded the hovercar to take them there. Jupiter had been trussed up in a ruffly gown, her hair elaborately curled and ornamented, like a miniature empress. Caine was washed and groomed, but dressed in dark leathers, outfitted as though he were a body guard, tiny though he may be. Sittac as ever wore her linen tunic and trousers, and watched over the two excited children. She didn't have to caution Caine to behave more appropriately once they arrived. There was gravity to the occasion that they all sensed up admittance to the luxurious alcazar.
Caine took his practiced half-pace step behind Jupiter, and Sittac trailed several feet after them as they were led down familiar hallways. Caine's hackles rose at the new sims lining the sitting room they were meeting in, and he slid close enough behind Jupiter to be nearly touching. His eyes settled on Titus, and though he was afraid, his worry for Jupiter galvanized his courage.
Kalique, however, turned airily around without alarm. "Ah, Jupiter! You look lovely! Come meet my - our - brother, Titus."
"Call me Uncle Titus," the man said, swooping down to kiss the back of Jupiter's childishly pudgy hand. He had puffy, enhanced lips, and a handsome, pampered look about him.
"I think she's a little young to charm," Kalique teased snidely, her pretty face full of mischief. Jupiter blushed in confusion.
"Never too young to charm, my dear sister," Titus responded. "And who is this," he added, looking back at Caine even as he still held Jupiter's small hand.
Caine met his eyes challengingly instead of looking away. Titus quirked a brow.
"Oh, that's the companion I told you about," Kalique said.
"Surely not!" Titus gasped.
Jupiter pulled her hand away sharply. "Yes, he is! He's my best friend."
Caine flushed with both pride and embarrassment. Titus' eyebrows receded into his dark hairline. "You can't be serious," he muttered over his shoulder to his older sister.
Kalique just laughed. "I can't ever remember being so fond of our companions, can you?"
"Indeed not. I remember you setting your companion's tail on fire once."
"And I recall you seducing yours."
"Well this seems more likely to turn into the latter situation."
Kalique's lips pressed into a thin line, and her eyes bored into the two children.
Sittac squirmed uncomfortably. "Nurse," Kalique addressed her, "What do you think?"
"I've never seen a more loyal companion, your grace. He would die to protect her, even now."
Jupiter stepped back, and took Caine's hand. He was too young and scared to pull free. The two Abrasax watched them.
"A lycantant can change easily. They are violent, beastly creatures. Far better suited to the military than to the care of young girls," Titus mused.
"I beg your pardon, majesty," Sittac sunk into a bow. "I won't deny that they make impressive soldiers, or that a pack of them can be brutal. But this one's gentle as a dove with her. He's protective of her, certainly, but he's never attacked anyone."
"Well then he's hardly very useful as a guard, is he? And then what's the point of him?" Titus jeered, eyeing the skinny biceps on the boy.
"Oh, make up your mind, Titus. Which is it, that he's too ferocious, or not ferocious enough?" Kalique snapped, losing patience.
Titus waved a hand listlessly and drifted towards a chair.
Kalique straightened her shoulders. "I'm no fool. Sittac watches them night and day. He fills the role of companion, and he'll grow into the most devoted guard we could wish for."
"No doubt," Titus mused. "But which pocket is he going to be in, hers or ours?"
Kalique frowned at the children. Caine pulled his hand free and took a step behind Jupiter, bowing his head to break eye contact with the two adult royals.
"Not as dumb as he looks, that one," Titus smirked.
When they left, the three were quiet. Jupiter couldn't understand what had occurred, and was agitated. Finally she burst out: "What happened there was no different than what happens everywhere! They just don't know you. Why are you both acting so funny?"
Caine reached for Jupiter's hand. "It was different, Jupe. They are your care takers. If they disapprove of me, they can have me removed like that."
Jupiter clutched his hand. "I won't let them."
Caine shook his head. "They won't try, but … I think I have to be … less familiar with you …" he glanced at Sittac, who looked at their hands and nodded. He extricated his fingers from Jupiter's. "… At least in front of people."
Jupiter shook her head. "I don't get it."
"Yes you do," said Caine, softly.
"You know all about splices," Sittac said. "Caine is worse than a stray dog. He can't be seen to be presumptuous with you. Even if you were a regular person, he could be killed for it. You're not regular though, you're an Abrasax. Do you think that your aunt and uncles would stand for being the laughingstock of the entire universe?"
"I don't care what they think," Jupiter said, stubbornly.
"They would hurt him, Jupiter. And me," Sittac admitted.
Jupiter caught Caine's sad eyes, finally understanding what they were communicating. A long moment passed. "So I need to … pretend like we're not really friends? That he's nothing other than my guard, or a - a companion like other … splices?" She had seen the way people treated their splice "companions."
"Yes," said Sittac. "But it's more than that. A friendship between children is one thing. The real concern is when you two mature, which is only a few years off. If there were to be … an attraction, let alone a relationship—"
Jupiter's mouth dropped open. "Like, what, marriage?!"
"Oh, marriage would never be allowed," Sittac hedged.
"Then - kissing?" She looked at Caine, face aghast. Caine was burning with shame.
Sittac' silence said it all.
"That's gross!" Jupiter burst out. Caine flinched as though he'd been struck, but the young girl didn't notice.
Sittac looked uncomfortable. "You're too young for that to be appealing now, I'm sure. But chemistry between a woman and a man - or a splice …"
"Ew, ew, ew," Jupiter cried, clapping her hands over her ears.
Caine was bright red at this point, and Sittac, wanting to spare him, said, "Alright. I think we've discussed it enough for now."
At home, Caine chose to spend an evening away from Jupiter for one of the first times ever. Sittac advised Jupiter to give him his space, that tomorrow was another day. Meanwhile, Caine wept in his room. His feelings, and his body, had advanced further than Jupiter's. Not to mention his background, all of which compounded into a crushing rejection from the center of his universe. He didn't understand that Jupiter currently found the notion of all romance disgusting. He assumed that she had meant him specifically.
When she came into his room that night, he sat up, surprised. "Jupiter, you heard what they said. You can't do this."
She crawled into bed and sat facing him, almost nose-to-nose. Their eyes gleamed in the dimly lit room. "We have to pretend like we aren't best friends in front of people, but that's all."
The boy was at a loss for how to explain things to her. With a sigh, he got out of bed and laid on the floor. She had woken to this enough times to know that he abdicated his bed late at night. Tonight, she wanted to make a point. She got out of bed and stretched out beside him. He started to sit up, but she put her hand on the side of his neck, over the raised flesh of his splicer's brand. "Don't you move, Caine Wise! Listen to me. Nothing's going to change between us, ever."
He grinned at her, a flash of sharp white teeth in the darkness. "Whatever you say, your majesty."
She fell asleep quickly with her head on his chest while he clumsily stroked her hair. Once he was sure she was sound asleep, he carefully rose, and struggled to pick her up. He could barely manage it, but at last he slipped her under the blankets without waking her. For a moment, her arms tightened around his neck, and he was trapped near the pillow. He waited, her breath in his pointed ear, before she relaxed, and he was able to pull free.
He could see well in the gloom, and he watched her face, limned with light. He already knew that he was going to love her for the rest of his life. No matter what she said, he was going to feel about her as a man feels about a woman. He didn't yet know what that would mean, but he could sense it budding inside him. Even Jupiter Abrasax couldn't stop that.
But hormones did eventually come, even for the late-blooming Jupiter. She began to feel her own body altering, and all the self-conscious awkwardness that brought on. She noticed Caine changing, the skinny frame filling in, downy face darkening around his jaw line, muscles hardening. There was a new tension between them, even at play. Tickle fights would become suddenly uncomfortable and strained, and end abruptly, until Caine put an stop to them altogether. They ceased touching each other almost at all, and when they did by accident, they would look at each other and then quickly away again.
Jupiter elected to stop coming into Caine's room at night. They both found that they wanted the privacy and the space to sort through their confusing feelings. This all would have been enough for Caine, if the other boys at school hadn't changed along with them.
Caine saw them watching Jupiter in a new way, and heard the things they muttered to each other. They hardly knew what they were saying, or what they were looking for, but the play-acting was enough to make Caine's blood boil. It took awhile before it became worth it for anyone to tangle with Jupiter's fast-growing shadow, but eventually, the challenge became more inviting than discouraging. They knew they had to try something while Caine wasn't around, but those opportunities rarely presented themselves. Especially as Caine almost seemed to know what they were thinking, and stuck closer to Jupiter than ever before, even saving bathroom breaks for before and after school.
At last, they got him alone. Marcus (one of the most popular boys at school) had his cronies gang up on Caine, steal his backpack, and lock him in an empty classroom. Jupiter, who had been waiting for him outside at lunch, eventually went looking for him. She found Caine's backpack at a remote edge of the school, and hurried around the corner, running smack into Marcus.
She already didn't like him, he had said a mean thing or two in the time she'd known him. She certainly wasn't in the mood to see him now. He started trying to sweet talk her, though.
"Hey Jupiter, lookin' good," he said.
"Where is Cain?" She snapped at him, having no patience for his games.
"Forget about that stupid mutt, will you?" Marcus grumbled, feelings hurt.
"Don't you call him that!" Jupiter yelled.
Marcus surprised her by kissing her suddenly, launching onto her like an octopus, hands and tongue trying for things he was completely inexperienced at. Jupiter reacted quickly, kneeing him in the groin and backing up, stunned.
Marcus was still struggling to recover when Caine found them, towering in his adolescent fury. He rushed toward Jupiter, a hand going to the back of her head, getting her to meet his eyes. From this close proximity, he could smell Marcus on her. He whipped away from Jupiter, and advanced on the bully, who was still wincing and trying to stand up straight. Caine knocked him to the ground, fists flailing, snarling with incoherent rage. Jupiter snapped out of her shock, tried to pull Caine off of Marcus. By the time she succeeded, blood was streaming from Marcus' nose, and he was blubbering like someone half his age.
Caine heard the teachers coming before Jupiter did, and urged her to keep up with him. "In here," he said, pulling her into a small, dark space and closing the door behind them. "Are you okay?" he asked Jupiter from the dank, close confines of the janitor's closet.
"Yeah, are you?" She asked, noticing how he winced with each breath.
"What did he do to you?" Caine asked, ignoring her question.
"Nothing, nothing, he just - kissed me," she responded, and then started to laugh a little hysterically.
Caine, not wanting to be found, clamped his hand over Jupiter's mouth, and pulled her close to muffle her laughter. When he released her, he saw that she was crying instead.
"What's wrong?" he asked, panicked. She was nearly sitting on his lap in the cramped space.
"That was my first kiss," she sobbed.
"So?" he asked. It didn't matter if it was her first or her 5,000th kiss, Marcus shouldn't have done it, and Caine still wanted to kill him for it.
"I always thought my first kiss would be with someone who loved me, you know? … I just wanted it to be with someone who loved me," she sniffled, her idea of romance damaged.
Caine took her face in his hands, and Jupiter caught her breath. He looked into her eyes, though she couldn't see as well in here as he could, and then he leaned forward to kiss her on the lips. It was a soft kiss, and he had only meant it to last for a second, but it took a few longer for him to pull back, though he had done no more than let his mouth rest against hers.
He took his hands away, and listened carefully to the sound of their heartbeats, his racing with passion, hers with surprise. At least she didn't start crying again. They didn't speak for awhile, although they both looked away from each other.
After a long time, Jupiter said, "We should leave. Can you hear anyone?"
He listened carefully for a moment at the door. "No, let's go." He was heady with the scent and taste of her still, but it was platonically that he took her hand to get them out of the building.
When they arrived home, there was no hiding that something had happened. Caine's eye was swelling closed with a bruise, and he had the calm confidence of someone who had done what needed doing. Jupiter was a mess, and starting weeping the moment Sittac cried, "What happened!?"
Caine began, blushing at his own failure: "Some guys ganged up on me - they had me outnumbered - they locked me up - I managed to get out…" (not mentioning that he'd broken a window to do so) "…and then I found Jupiter—"
Here Jupiter cut in frantically, "Marcus kissed me! I mean, he was kissing me when Caine came up… ."
Caine glanced at her swiftly, wondering why she was not telling the exact truth. Jupiter had already gotten free when he showed up.
Sittac raised her feathery eyebrows. "Then what happened?"
"Caine pulled him off me, and - and hit him."
Sittac narrowed her eyes at Caine. This was not good. "Violence, Caine? Against your schoolmate? Just because a boy—"
"I didn't want Marcus to kiss me! It was … it was … an attack! Caine saved me! Isn't that what he's here for!?" Jupiter demanded.
Sittac looked at Jupiter, not wanting say what it is that she thought, which was that Caine probably would have done the same thing even if Jupiter had wanted the kiss. "Yes, I suppose that's the general idea."
Caine squinted at Sittac. "I didn't hurt him … too badly. No worse than they hurt me. No worse than he deserved."
Sittac covered her face with her lightly-feathered hand. "Well, you did right to protect her. I just wish it hadn't needed to go so far. You could have just separated them and gotten her to the principal. Did you ever think of that?"
Caine's eyes flashed hatefully at the thought of not attacking that boy.
"Look what they did to him!" Jupiter shouted, pulling up Caine's shirt to reveal the cause of his labored breathing. Bruises were already beginning to form over his ribcage. They had gotten him on the floor and kicked him. Caine writhed away from this exposure, but Sittac insisted on examining it, and then sent him to his room with ice packs.
Sittac sat with Jupiter alone for awhile, but could get no further information out of her. Despite what Sittac explained to the principal and the parents, they were outraged that one of their pupils got beaten up by a splice. Kalique smoothed things over, and she at least was happy to see that Caine had been worth the investment. She didn't have the insight to be worried, as Sittac was.
Jupiter at last went to her room to be by herself. What she thought about wasn't her botched first kiss. Instead, she thought about her second, and the unspoken proclamation of love which had gone with it.
After that, their friendship changed a bit. While they didn't talk about what had happened between them, they became more polite and formal with each other. The way Caine looked at Jupiter made her blush now, and they spent more of their time together in companionable silence, carefully not-touching, and usually trying not to catch each other's eye, either.
Caine became obsessed with getting bigger and stronger. He couldn't abide having been overpowered like that. He took his job as her guardian more seriously than ever. He ate more, pushed himself to inhuman physical limits at gym class (not caring when the other students called him a freak) and spent every extra moment running or lifting weights. While he made sure that Jupiter was protected, he didn't try to be around her all the time anymore.
In this new space, Jupiter began to realize that her feelings for Caine were different than what they had been. She noticed the other girls watching the increasingly mature-looking adolescent with lust in their eyes, though their racism kept them from acting on their fantasies. The boys in school quickly realized that they could no longer push the lycantant around.
Even though he followed her everywhere, eyes either on the back of her head, or on the ground, Jupiter began to feel as though she wanted more from Caine. No matter how much she hinted, Caine wouldn't mention what had happened in the janitor's closet.
At last, driven to desperation, she changed into another girl's short skirt in the ladies' room one morning at school. She had on low-heeled sandals and long, dangly earrings. She had a new habit of sitting still for more of Sittac's grooming than she had before, and her hair hung in ropey curls today, glittering with little jewels. (Thankfully she hadn't tried for a low-cut top, with nothing to boast of yet.) When she came out of the bathroom, Caine's eyes fell to her legs, and his mouth dropped open.
Instantly, Jupiter felt more embarrassed than gratified. "What?" she asked him.
"Er…" was all he could manage to say. Caine's gaze on her legs was one thing, but the eyes of the other boys skeeved her out. Even some of the adult men let their eyes linger where they shouldn't. This was Jupiter's first experience with this sort of thing, and she was shocked at the bottom-up scan every male gave her her in that skirt.
With as inexperienced as she was, the boys whispering about her caused her to feel insecure. It made it worse that she could practically feel Caine crackling with electricity beside her. The fair hair on his arms was raised, and the new muscles of his body were rigid. He was glaring at the whisperers as though he'd like to tear them apart. "Jupe, please," he whined, turning to her at last. "Please go change back."
"Why?" she asked.
"They're talking about you like you're some kind of … of … ." He couldn't bring himself to use the word.
"Let them talk. Maybe I was getting tired of being ignored," Jupiter snapped.
Caine looked confused. "They don't ignore you."
"Not them," Jupiter said irritably, and got up to leave. Still, she knew that he was right, and she was glad she couldn't hear what the boys were saying the way that Caine could. She did go change, not wanting him to get into a fight.
At home, though, in a rare moment when Sittac wasn't about, she would put it back on, or lay out in the yard in her swimsuit. Caine wouldn't leave the premises - usually - but he often went nearly purple in the face trying to keep from looking at her.
One day, she'd had enough, her impatience outweighing her uncertainty. They had been sitting together, watching a movie in the rec room. When she'd finally worked up the nerve to put her hand on his leg, he gently pulled away.
"What is it? What?" she burst out. "Am I gross? Did you change your mind?"
"What are you talking about?" he asked, puzzled.
"That day - you kissed me."
Caine was silent.
"After Marcus?" He tensed, and she said haughtily, "Good, so you remember."
"Of course I remember."
"So, what? Did I, like, have bad breath or something?"
Cain smiled a little. "I wouldn't have to kiss you to find that out."
Jupiter shoved him in the chest, startled to find how firm it was now. "Why'd you do it? It was cruel!"
His amusement vanished. "You're right, I shouldn't have."
"Then why did you!?"
"Because you wanted your first kiss to be with someone who loved you," he said, ducking his head.
"I didn't mean brotherly love," Jupiter glowered.
Caine waffled, clearly full of internal struggle.
"That is how you love me, right? Like a brother?" She pushed.
"Jupe, why are you doing this?" He frowned.
"Because you kissed me, and I have a right to know!" she said, using little-girl logic on him.
It was a good move, because Caine couldn't deny her that. "No, not like a brother," he said softly, his eyes on hers.
"Then like what?" she whispered, breathlessly. Her hands were curled against his chest now, her body angled toward his, her back towards the movie which still played.
"Like… like a boy likes a girl." He must have seen something in her expression, because he amended the statement. "The way a splice wants another splice, or the way a human loves another human."
"I don't care about that. You shouldn't either," she said, squeezing out tears.
"You should," he said. "You're royalty."
"What good is that if I can't love who I want?" she sniffled, looking down.
"You shouldn't love me, Jupe," he said, miserably.
"But I do!" she cried.
"It'll…it'll go away," he tried. "You should kiss someone else."
Jupiter rolled her eyes. "You'd tear their head off if I did."
"Then…then I should go away," he said, looking sick at the idea.
"Don't you dare! We're either equals or we're not. You don't get to decide what's best for me. Am I the boss of you, or aren't I?"
Caine looked away. "We're not equals. You are my sovereign."
"Then I order you to kiss me," she told him.
She almost didn't expect it when he did. This kiss was different than their first. She could tell he was angry, that he had wanted to kiss her, badly, for some time. She clung to him, battered by the onslaught of feeling which emanated from him. Inexperienced he was, but this hadn't come without forethought. Eventually, he gentled, and afraid that he was going to pull away and then never speak of it again, Jupiter crawled hastily into his lap, and wrapped her arms around him. He didn't turn her away, and the minutes trawled into hours, the TV going to blue screen.
They were still lip-locked when a maid flicked the light on in the room. Though they sprang apart, it wasn't fast enough. The maid screamed.
Jupiter jumped up and went towards her. "It wasn't his fault! I told him … I told him he had to."
"No," Caine argued, still seated.
"Yes! I did!"
The maid jabbered at them in a burst of alien tongue, and then turned, calling for Sittac.
"No, please," Jupiter cried, grabbing onto the maid's hand. She shook Jupiter off and went in search of the nanny. Jupiter came back to the couch, crying heavily. Caine wrapped his arm around her shoulders reassuringly.
"It'll be alright," he murmured to her, although he wasn't sure what would happen to him.
"It's all my fault," Jupiter sobbed.
"No, it's not. I kissed you first, remember?"
"I told you - I ordered you—"
"I don't regret it," Caine interrupted.
She looked up at him, smiling through tears. "Me, either."
"No matter what happens, Jupe, I - I love you. I've always loved you, and I always will. Okay? And I'll be alright."
She was confused. "What do you mean, 'whatever happens?' I'm not going to let them take you or - or punish you!"
He didn't seem so convinced.
Sittac took what felt like a long time in coming. When she arrived, she turned off the TV, and then sat in front of them on the ottoman, a hand on each of their knees. Caine had released Jupiter moments before. "I paid off the maid, but I don't know if that will keep her quiet," Sittac murmured.
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean—" Caine began, but Sittac cut him off.
"I know," she said, and paused. Her quietness was almost worse than her scolding.
"Let me see if I can make you two understand gravity of the situation. As you both well know, inter-species marriages are not legal. Those found to flout this societal norm by having a public relationship out of their species and caste are often brutalized, or even killed. Some people can get away with it, but not you, your majesty," she addressed Jupiter.
"Then I will legalize it," Jupiter said imperiously.
"Perhaps you could, if you were never seen to be in such a relationship yourself. Has it ever occurred to you, Jupiter, that Titus, Balem, and even Kalique Abrasax are dangerous?"
Caine stiffened beside her, but Jupiter took longer to understand. "I've never met my Uncle Balem… . Uncle Titus and Aunt Kalique say he's a grouch, but other than that …"
"Do not give them a reason to dispose of you," Sittac advised her. "I may be wrong, but I do not trust them. I think they each want influence over you, so that they can someday control your assets. Once you come of age, and you can make decisions regarding it, they will want the decisions you make to be in each of their best interests. And if you don't … I will say it again: I would not trust them."
"I won't let them touch her," Caine said, leaning closer to Jupiter.
"I don't doubt it, Caine," Sittac said. "But you are one very young man, and they are some of the most powerful figures in the universe, with everything at their disposal."
"I don't understand," Jupiter interjected.
Caine turned to her. "If they know about us, it would be easier for them to get earth away from you, or even have you killed."
"Which is why I am going to tell Kalique about what's happened here today."
"What!" Jupiter yelled. Caine looked as though he had been betrayed.
Sittac set her jaw firmly. "I do not believe that she will punish Caine, nor tell her brothers. But it is clear that the two of you won't listen to me, and someone must make you understand the importance of what you have done. Before it goes too far for one, or both of you, to be saved."
Though they were stressed out about it, Kalique wasn't so bad. Awkward and miserable it certainly was for the guilty parties, but Kalique was more amused than anything. She dismissed them as two young playmates, and perhaps after having been around for so long, there was not much she had not seen, nor tried herself.
She did join Sittac in warning them against her brothers, though. And alone with Caine, she made no bones about the fact that he would lose his life if he was not careful. She seemed not overly concerned with that fact.
Word never escaped from the maid, because Kalique had her tracked down and imprisoned. Imprisoned, but not killed, which meant that Kalique might someday want her testimony.
Despite the warnings and the drama, the young teenagers could not stop what they had begun. Caine was full of self-denial and sacrifice as always, but Jupiter assured him that they need not get caught. Being ever more vigilant, they didn't. It was a little rough at school dances and affairs of state, when Caine had to stand aside like a whipped puppy while Jupiter danced with other young men to put up appearances.
At one such extravagant ball, Titus took a turn with his "niece" on the dance floor. "You look utterly ravishing, my dear," he purred in her ear. "And you dance rather well. All quite surprising for a girl of your age."
"Thank you Uncle Titus, I've had help," Jupiter demurred.
"Do you mean with the footwork? Yes, I see your dance partner pacing the nearest wall," he smirked.
Jupiter started, but Titus was careful to keep her in step. "Don't act shocked, dear, it gives too much away."
Jupiter set her face, trying to hide her panic. "You're a quick study," he continued, "but not quite quick enough. Take it from me, never trust a lycantant."
Her eyes flashed at him, but she kept her tone measured. "Dear uncle, there is no one that I trust more than my body guard."
"Not even 'dear uncle?'" He asked, eyes twinking mischievously.
Jupiter laughed. "Not even you."
"Clever girl," he praised her. "Take it from me, sweet one. Be wary of Kalique. And even of body guards."
"That's what everyone seems to be saying," Jupiter mumbled.
"I'm not everyone," Titus pressed. "You'll find me the least judgmental when it comes to your … predilections, but no matter who I took to my bed, I would never make it public."
Jupiter glowed with embarrassment, especially when she saw Caine's eyes boring into hers across the floor.
"A maid still?" Titus questioned her. "Perhaps my worry is unfounded, then. Nevertheless, I tell you this because I care for you, as neither of our other family does. Remember that. Now come, let us see if half-breeds can dance." And he spun her closer to the wall where Caine waited, and pressed her into Caine's arms. He made a loud show of it, and grabbed Famulus to dance with himself, calling out that it was time for an inter-species dance. Many of Kalique's subjects refrained.
Caine obediently trudged out with Jupiter onto the floor, graceful even though they had never danced in public before. "I don't think that Titus likes you quite like a brother, either," Caine grumbled unhappily.
Jupiter laughed. "Like a son loves a mother, then?" she teased.
"I'm being serious," Caine grumped.
"How can you tell?"
"I can smell hormones," he said, pitiably.
"Oh," she said awkwardly, wondering what that meant for her, with Caine. "Well, he does give me the creeps sometimes, but he's also funny … and nice." She nodded to where he was capering with his deer splice assistant, to keep the attention on him, and away from them.
"Sittac was right, we can't trust any of them," he urged.
"We?" Jupiter asked, batting her eyes at him.
Caine grinned in spite of himself. "Yes, your majesty, we."
Incongruous with these cheerful proclamations, Caine had a habit of staring at Jupiter in a gloomily intense manner which others noticed, and sometimes made even Jupiter uncomfortable. Luckily, most others attributed it to mental retardation (that was the favorite theory of the kids at school) but most knew well enough not to get in the way of that gaze. It sent something primal squirming in their bellies, causing them to feel like prey.
Jupiter, who had made some friends by this point (who kept mentioning "the stare" to her) cornered him about it one night, having snuck into his room. "Why do you always look at me like you think you're … going to lose me or something?" She whispered in the darkness.
Caine shrugged beside her, reaching to tuck her hair behind her ear.
"You think that you are, don't you?"
"You'll probably wise up one of these days," he smirked at her. "Decide you don't want some smelly lycantant's tongue down your throat."
Jupiter giggled. "Not likely. Seriously though."
"I am serious," he shrugged again. "Maybe I'll get to be your body guard, but some day you're going to realize that I'm not right for you. You'll have to marry someone more suitable. Have kids that aren't half-breeds." His ears were pinned back tighter against his head, miserable at the thought.
"We could run away together," she suggested, laying her head down on his chest.
He put his hand on her back. "Maybe we could. We could disguise ourselves on earth."
"Yeah, you could wear a hat," she giggled.
"That would be a lot to give up," he said, returning to seriousness as he often did.
"I wouldn't mind," she whispered. "Giving up royalty for a normal life with you."
He was quiet for a long moment. "What would you do when we had kids with pointy ears, that can't hide that they're different?"
"I don't know," she said. "Live somewhere remote until they're old enough to remember to wear a hat like their dad." She picked her head up to look at him, surprised to see that his eyes were shining with tears. He rubbed them away with the back of one hand, embarrassed.
"What's wrong?" she pressed.
"Nothing … I just never thought I'd have a family. I was the runt of my litter, you know. An outcast even with them. Then you showed up on the playground one day, and stopped them from … picking on me, I guess. And now… ." he raised his hand to gesture at me laying in bed with him, innocently clothed, but still.
"Now you're practically betrothed to a royal. That'll show your jerk family," Jupiter teased.
Caine laughed, and then covered his mouth to stifle the sound. "Really?" he whispered after a moment. "You think you'd … marry me someday? We could, you know, on earth. They wouldn't know I was a—"
She stopped him with a kiss. "Who else am I supposed to marry, you idiot?"
Caine rolled over onto his forearms on top of her, kissing her exuberantly. He pulled back suddenly, and said "Shh!" before flattening himself over her, and giving a rather impressive snore. His door cracked open, and Sittac whispered, "Caine?" The boy in question gave another almighty snore, and the door closed quietly. Caine lifted himself onto his elbows. "Are you alright?" he asked her.
"Flattened, but yeah."
"Quick, you better go pretend you were in the bathroom or something. She's knocking on your door now."
"Okay," Jupiter agreed, kissing him a final time before slipping away. Thank goodness for his hearing, she thought.
High school graduation came and went, every moment buoyed by a fizzy, secret happiness they shared with no one else: their plan to run away together. Caine tried half-heartedly to dissuade her from the plan, but they both knew they would do it. They would miss Sittac, certainly, the woman who had been almost a mother to them both. Jupiter thought she might miss Kalique a little bit, and maybe even Titus, but she was also wary of them.
So one day, after leaving a note that Sittac would have to search to find, they stole a small skipper and left. They managed to make it off of Cerise, and ported at the next nearest planet, where they realized that they had not expected the seediness of these strangers. They buckled down in a sketchy model overnight, and though Jupiter tried to laugh it off, she kept Caine's arms tucked tight around her. She could scarcely remember a time when she had been this near to other people who didn't know that she was an Abrasax.
The next morning, they left before dawn, not knowing if the sirens they heard wailing were already in search of them, or just a common feature on this planet. Caine was trying to hot wire an expensive-looking hovercar in an abandoned alley when trouble found them.
A bunch of nicely dressed men stumbled out of a nearby strip club, and came running when they saw that their vehicle was about to be stolen. "I told you we shouldn't have left the car, man!" One shouted, while another grabbed Caine by the scruff of his neck.
"Oh look, it's a splice. We oughtta' teach him not to put his paws on an entitled's property."
"Speaking of," said another, taking hold of Jupiter, causing her to shriek. "I think this tramp is an entitled. Look at her clothes."
"I'd rather look at what's under her clothes," another one sneered. Caine's panic crescendoed into incoherent yells of rage.
"You haven't had enough yet? Been looking at ugly aliens all night."
"Exactly, this one's human. Full-human, I think, though I can't tell with her so covered up."
Jupiter began screaming with a vengeance. "CAINE! CAINE, HELP M—" One of the men struck her over the head, and she fell quiet for a moment, woozy from the blow.
Caine was putting up enough of a fight by this time that the three men who held him needed assistance. The lone one who hung back with Jupiter didn't fancy wasting his time.
She fought back well enough, having picked up a few tips from Caine, but only long enough to hold the man off for a few minutes. He soon had her defenseless.
"Please, please," Jupiter sobbed, begging him to leave her alone.
He didn't seem to get the message, but Caine got there in time. He yanked the man back from her, a frenzied, inhuman look on his face. Devoid of weapons and not looking to ask nicely, he acted on enraged instinct. Jupiter screamed again as Caine sunk his teeth into the man's throat, and ripped backwards. The man fell, twitching for mere seconds before being still. The other men that Caine had escaped from stood there in utter shock and horror. One started shouting, and the others ran. The sound of sirens were already approaching.
Caine was covered in blood from his mouth downward, and as soon as he saw that the danger was past, he bent to throw up beside the corpse. Jupiter leaned against a graffitied brick wall, shaking. An alien stripper rushed out of the same building the men had left, unsteady in her stilettos. She began screaming as soon as she saw the blood. The pre-dawn alleyway lit up with revolving lights, and Caine turned back to Jupiter.
She recoiled at the sight of him, eyes going wide in fear.
"Jupe, it's okay, it's me—" he began, and then a tasering beam put him in spasms on his back.
Jupiter watched him anxiously as she was loaded into a hovercraft. Caine was placed in another one which followed suit. As the ground grew smaller beneath them, Jupiter saw keepers rounding up witnesses.
She was surprised when they docked at an unfamiliar space ship instead of heading back to Cerise. It didn't look as though it belonged to Kalique, being dark and spare. A white rat splice led her to an elegant, skeletal man reclining on an ornamental hover lounge. She kept twisting around to watch Caine's progress behind them. A Sargorn was stomping along behind him. She, never having seen one in person before, was so afraid of the creature that she hardly paid any attention to the man in front of her at first, even after he began speaking.
"I am Balem Abrasax. I apologize for not making earlier introductions, but you see I was under the mistaken assumption that my brother and sister could manage a single ninny-headed child."
Jupiter watched as the winged lizard-creature lolled its slobbering tongue between its clicking teeth. Caine's solemnity served him as passable composure considering the circumstances.
"DID YOU NOT HEAR ME!? I AM BALEM ABRASAX, PRIMARY HEIR OF THE HOUSE OF ABRASAX!" Balem shrieked, causing the rat-man to shiver in terror. Jupiter flinched, but was in too much shock to be much impressed by Balem's tantrum. She did at least give the man her attention at last. He seemed to be trying to calm down and begin again. His emotive eyes flickered across Jupiter's face, expression fathomless.
"I had rather hoped that you wouldn't be dead before you came of age, else we'd have to wait another million odd years for another recurrence…" he sighed. "I can see that I will have to intervene if we want that to happen. I cannot for the life of me imagine why they paired you with this rabid young pup… ." he lightly massaged his alabaster forehead with slender, be-ringed fingers.
"Caine p-protects me," Jupiter offered me, and glanced back to meet Caine's sad eyes.
"Clueless child," Balem wheezed philosophically. He laconically bent his fingers at Caine, beckoning him forward. The Sargorn shoved him from behind, making him stumble a bit. He straightened his back and stared into Balem's eyes.
"Teach the dog some respect," Balem said, sounding bored, and looked away when the lackey struck him, causing him to fall onto the floor.
"No!" Jupiter shouted, and ran to Caine's side. She helped him up.
"Jupe, don't," Caine shook his head, and broadened his shoulders again, although this time he kept his gaze on the floor.
"Interesting. So what Mr. Night's spies say is true. They are a … bonded pair." The rat splice shivered, this time in pleasure at the acknowledgement of his services.
"To think that the legacy of my mother would be so … stained," he sneered at the blood covering Caine's front.
"He saved my life!" Jupiter shouted, fists clenched.
Balem glanced back at Jupiter and muttered, "Mismanaged." Then, scarcely any louder, he continued, "And no more than his duty. He is a splice, who kidnapped you from your home, brought you into danger, and dishonored the Abrasax family."
"We ran away together," Jupiter contradicted, raising her chin.
"That's worse. Tell me child, what would you do if I killed him?"
"I would kill you," Jupiter snarled back. Caine made a low noise, cautioning, but was ignored.
"Very bad start. But what am I to do? I can't have you in my way, nor can I risk you falling into the hands of my idiotic siblings, who toy with you like a cat with a mouse. Perhaps we'll just have to … start over."
"What do you mean?" Jupiter demanded.
"Wipe both your memories. Put you back with your family, slip something into the tea of my siblings if I can manage it. See if I can undo what they've done, unclaim your title. Oh, I'll kill you eventually, I've no doubt. Before you come of age, and after I've sorted the mess with the title. If not, I'll get you to sign over the title to me, once you're old enough to do so."
"You can't wipe long-term memories," Jupiter argued, panicking.
"Is that what Kalique told you?" He scoffed. "They can't, certainly, but I'm leagues above them."
"Why wouldn't you just kill me?" Caine asked, stepping forward before a reptilian hand came down on his shoulder.
Balem cocked his head at Caine. "Erasing your memories won't undo what you feel for her, what you've already done for her. There is nothing in the universe like a Lycantant bonded to a single person, instead of a pack. No, I'll keep you alive, should I ever need someone to hunt her down, or protect her until I'm ready to kill her."
"I won't forget her," Caine growled, struggling.
"You will, though," Balem assured him. "I can't erase the scar of cold-blooded murder. I will have to work that into your backstory. You will remember doing it, just not why. Perhaps an ex-skyjacker, disgraced by his bestial nature? You're a bit young for that, but you won't remember the timing. Some training and a couple of memory purges, and you'll remember exactly what I wish."
"No, please, I'll do anything - just don't separate us," Jupiter begged.
Balem's cold eyes found her. "I know you will, Jupiter. Just not yet." He lifted his fingers, a clear dismissal. Caine couldn't escape his jailer, but Jupiter managed to shake off the weaker-stomached splice in order to get to Caine. "Don't let them do this," she begged him.
"Don't worry, your majesty," he said, giving her a small smile. "I will find you. No matter what they do to me, I will find you."
Jupiter Jones had been having an enthralling dream when the alarm clock woke her. What had the boy in the dream called her? Your majesty… ? And then it was gone, and she was left grasping nothing, unable to remember, and a feeling of terrible deadness stole over her. She stared at the underside of her fluffy quilt, not wanting to move, to dispel the feeling that there was more for her, when her mother called, "Yupiter! Yupiter, get up!"
"I hate my life," Jupiter groaned, and pushed back her quilt to begin another day of her boring, toilet-cleaning existence.
The End
I apologize for how gory/scary the scene is where Caine kills an entitled. I felt like they didn't explain what he did well enough in the movie, and I wanted to work an explanation of it into his past. It had to be something bad to make him kill someone, especially using only his teeth. Obviously for this "plotline" to work, Stinger's memories would have had to be altered, too. Or he was just lying, but I like to think of Stinger as a good guy. Maybe they involved someone else because other people corroborating fake memories help them stick better. Perhaps Stinger did make a mistake, and rather than just demoting him, they altered his memories to corroborate Caine's.
This plot also explains the intensity of feeling off the bat between Caine and Jupiter. (I really like that. Are there any other movies/shows that have a similar romance? I wish Jupiter Ascending had spent more time on it, especially with developing it.)
Let's say as well that Balem did succeed in altering his siblings memories as well. Even if he didn't, I think it still works. Either way, what happened in the movie still happens. Titus finds her due to a gene tip-off, and the chase begins. Balem, successful at unclaiming her title, doesn't find himself in a hurry to kill his mother's child doppelgänger, until he finds out that his siblings are onto her and trying to overthrow him. Unleash hell, fury, etc. I don't know, it's a stretch, but it was a fun one to make.
If you enjoyed it, let me know! If you write anything inspired by it, please share!
Thanks for reading!