The other Riders stood along the edges of the room. Some of the No Men were with them, watching in the same dismal silence. In the centre of the room, Kit stood before Master Eubulon, the focus of so much miserable attention. He'd removed the black uniform with the dragon logo and he stood there in just an old pair of jeans and a t-shirt that had seen better days.
"You will always have a place in this family," Master Eubulon said.
Kit felt like he ought to thank him, but the words caught in his throat. He couldn't bring himself to say goodbye either.
He just held out the Dragon Knight advent deck. He bowed his head, more so that he didn't have to look Master Eubulon in the eye than as a gesture of respect. The deck was taken from his hand and his fingers closed to grasp empty air. He saw Master Eubulon's hand wave across the deck and knew that the glow meant he'd been disconnected from it.
He'd thought he'd feel different afterwards.
There was no point waiting. On the wall of the command centre was the dark portal. Master Eubulon had set it to take Kit home. It was a one-way ticket. Without the advent deck, he'd never be able to come back to Ventara. But hesitating wasn't going to make leaving any less painful.
He walked towards the portal.
There was movement from the edge of the room. Len came up to him, halting Kit's progress with a gentle hand on his shoulder.
"Kit," Len said. The name sounded like a plea.
Len didn't continue and Kit couldn't think of anything he could say back. Sorry just wasn't enough. Kit brushed past him without a word.
He stepped into the portal.
For a moment, he glimpsed the glittering brilliance of the advent void. Then he stepped out into his apartment. He looked around at his living room but felt that he didn't fit in his own home.
He'd bought this place using the money he'd been given as a reward for saving two planets. He'd spent ages touring round potential places with Len and Kase in tow, teasing them about how they also needed to get a place away from the Kamen Rider base. He'd finally found a place and he'd moved in about a month ago. Most of his life was still packed in cardboard boxes. He turned and stared at the full-length mirror that had been one of his first purchases for this place. He saw only himself in the reflection.
Something snapped inside him.
He let out a wordless cry and flung the mirror down. It smashed with a satisfying sound, sending glass across the floor. He stood there, breath shaking with angry sobs.
On a shelf over-looking the room was a cuddly dragon. It had been a house-warming present from Kase, handed to him in front of smiling friends. Before his world had been shattered like the mirror. Kit reached for the dragon now. He hugged it to his chest and sank to the ground. He sat amid shards of broken mirror, clinging to the toy dragon and crying so hard it felt like he'd never be able to stop.
There were so many things Len wanted to say to Kit. He wanted to say that it wasn't his fault, that he didn't hate him for being the one left alive, that he didn't want to lose him too. But something in Kit's empty expression told Len that he'd already lost him. Kit felt responsible for what had happened and nothing that any of them said would change his mind.
This wasn't a break. This wasn't just that he needed time to grieve and to forgive himself. This was it. Kit was returning to Earth and he wasn't expecting to ever come back here.
Len wanted to beg him to stay, to say that he needed him. But there were no words. Len just watched as Kit walked through the portal back to his own planet, leaving Len standing there. Len felt a hand on his shoulder. Someone asked him if he was alright, if he needed anything. What Len needed wasn't something anyone could give him.
He knew he had friends, brothers-in-arms, ready to offer him any help he might want. But he still felt more alone than he'd felt since the day he'd watched Xaviax vent his friends.
Len wandered back through the halls of the base to his room. Their room. His room. He closed the door behind him and leaned against it, shutting his eyes as though blocking out the sight of her belongings could block out the pain. The room was small for the two of them, but it had been comfortable. Still, they'd talked about moving away, finding a place for just the two of them. Or maybe not just two. Len could picture her face so clearly as she tilted her head and gave him that teasing smile as she'd made a joke about trading in the bikes for something that could fit a baby seat.
His breath shook, but he stayed in control. At least until he went to the bed. He sat on the edge, then slumped sideways. His head landed on the pillow on her side and he breathed in the scent of her. Hot, angry tears fell onto the pillow.
Kase's memory lingered on everything in this room and Len wanted to yell at her. He wanted to scream at her for leaving him. He wanted to hate her for being gone because it was easier than this pain. He'd thought he'd lost her once. Losing her twice was more than he could bear.
He lay there on the bed. He stretched out his arm, as if trying to touch her, but his hand met only air.
Any minute now, she'd shake his shoulder and ask him if he'd had a bad dream. Any minute now, the door would open, and she'd smile at him and tell him he was silly for believing she'd gone. Any minute now...
But the minutes ticked by. When there came a tapping at his door, Len knew that it wasn't going to be Kase. He forced himself to sit up as Master Eubulon came into the room. The advent master stood there for a while. Was there any wisdom in his alien mind that could possibly stop this hurting?
"I've just spoken with the coroner who performed the autopsy," Master Eubulon said. "I'm so sorry."
And that was the confirmation. Those three words summed up the awful truth. Until now, he'd hoped that her comments about baby seats and needing more room had just been jokes, indications of a potential future. Master Eubulon's sympathy drove the certainty into Len's heart and he wasn't sure he could survive this pain.
Kase had been pregnant.
The End
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