A/N: I….have nothing to say…

XP

I couldn't tell you how long the captain and I had been in that room. I wasn't entirely sure why I was doing this, I wasn't getting any pleasure out of it, but every time I thought of letting up, of letting him go, images, no, visions of men, women, and children all came into my mind, begging to be let free, begging for their lives, begging, even, for their death. And him saying, no, they were too valuable to him alive.

Alive, and forced into slavery, because of this man.

"How does it feel?" I murmured, "It's not so nice when you're on the receiving end, was it? Who was that girl? The one who asked if she could at least have her doll back? The one who begged endlessly for her mother? Do you remember her? Do you remember her name?"

"N-n-no, I, I don't know, I don't know! P-please, please!" He begged, his face full of fear, his eyes sparkling with the tears I had forced out of him.

"And that boy, the blond one? Did you know he was bringing medicine back to his mother when you took him prisoner? Did you know she died waiting for him to return? Do you know how long it took for her to die? But she held on to life, she held on because she knew, she knew he would return to her. But he never did, and her body eventually gave out on her. She was in pain for over a year before she died. Did you know that, captain? Did you know that? Did you think to ask? Did you think to listen to the boy's pleading and begging?" I asked.

"I'm sorry! I'm sorry!" He sobbed, "I didn't, I didn't mean—"

"No, you're not sorry, you were never sorry. And you did mean to do it. You didn't care, admit it, you never cared."

"P-p-please, please! No-no-no!!!" He screamed, attempting to resist, but it was pointless. Kagero's smoke extended from my wrist to engulf his other arm and sink into the flesh. The captain screamed and began writhing on the floor, begging me to make it stop, to make him stop.

"This is nothing compared to the suffering that you've caused, Captain." I said, taking him by his hair, and dragging him over to the full-length mirror. I forced him on his knees, his head back so he had to stare at himself, "It was only a matter of time before it all caught up to you, Captain. It was only a matter of time. You know you're going to hell, right? The moment you die, whether I decide to kill you now, or later, that's where you're going. And you'll have the gods of the underworld to answer to. I'm not sure how it works in this world, but I know it's not going to be a pleasant trip. You've turned yourself into a monster, vicious and predatory, feeding off the helpless and weak to fulfill your own stomach. Your mistake was confusing your own predator for prey." I said in a deathly, quite voice.

"Captain!!!" I heard the first mate cry, banging on the door, "We've got trouble! The King just arrived, he got a look at some of our men and—"

"TERGAN HELP ME!!!" The captain screamed, and the first mate, Tergan, scrambled with his keys as the captain made a break for the door. The moment it was unlocked he burst right out of it, ordering Tergan not to let 'the demon' out.

"D(beep)it." I said, switching to a more light voice as I moved to catch the door with my foot, "You let him escape." I said, and I kicked the door so that Tergan went flying.

When I got outside, I discovered that the entire crew was being arrested, the King's Fleet had the ship surrounded, and I was just able to look down in order to see father and son embracing before the cries and screams of the captain ruined the moment.

Under the guise of chaos, I was able to sneak around beneath notice and get near enough to the prince that, when the captain was brought to his knees in front of the King of Babylon, all I had to do was shoulder my way through, and he would see me.

He screamed, "Your majesty! I care not what you do to me!!! Throw me in prison, hang me by the gallows, anything! Just keep that demon away from me!!!" He said, attempting to run, but being forced to stay put.

All eyes were on me now, and the prince put his hands on his hips, "What did you do to him!?" He exclaimed.

"Now, Prince, do you really want me to answer that?" I asked, giving him a rather sinisterly innocent smile.

"No, no, I don't, actually." He answered.

"I do. What could such a frail-looking lady like you do to put such a man into a fit of terror like this?" The king asked me, his eyes were narrowed, but there was a slightly amused look on his face.

"Oh, a little of this and a little of that." I said innocently.

"IT'S THE DEVIL INCARNATE!!! IF YOU VALUE YOUR SOULS YOU WILL KILL HER WHERE SHE STANDS!!!" The captain yelled. I turned to look at him, and then made as though I was going to step towards him. He coward and began sobbing and whimpering about how he didn't mean it and please, please, please don't hurt him. I smirked, satisfied with that.

"Whatever you did to him, please don't tell my father what it was." The prince said.

"Oh, is this your father? Hello, my name is Kaida Megowan, pleased to meet you. By the way, if you cut open a wound and squirt lemon juice in it it's really, really painful." I told him cheerfully.

"KAIDA!!!" The prince exclaimed, though the king was laughing so hard he was having a difficult time staying dignified about it.

"Whaaaaat!?" I exclaimed, innocently, "I'm just making conversation! You don't have to get so defensive." I said.

"So this is the woman you mentioned to me, is it son? Well, young lady, it seems I owe you much gratitude for bringing my son back to me. Thank you." He said, clapping me on both shoulders, his eyes shining as he smiled down at me. I had to grit my teeth and do my best to give him a convincing smile back. It was taking all my will power not to knock his hands away.

What followed had to be one of the most uncomfortable experiences of my life. I'm not sure what it was, but the King seemed to have taken to me already. Couldn't have been my charm, I didn't have much of that. Perhaps it was the same reason why the entire male population was staring at me. Red hair, amber eyes, and tattoos. Well, the fact was that, the entire way as he lead the prince and me through the city, he kept scooping me up and telling me that I would be treated to a hero's feast, and that I would have an honored place at his table, and that he would love to hear all about how I had met his son and blah, blah, blah get-your-hand-off-me-please.

We eventually found ourselves in the somewhat privacy of the castle, where food was prepared for the prince's arrival, so that he and his father could do a good deal of catching up. I attempted to hang back, not wanting to intrude on the family joy, but, once more, found myself being scooped back into the froe of attention by the king. And the prince, of course, being the man that he was, was simply too excited about being back home and seeing his father again to notice my discomfort.

I guess I should have expected it though. Now that there was a crowd of people around, now that I wasn't the only intelligent being that he could talk to, the prince was able to give his attention to something else. Half of me found this a great relief. It would be easier now, easier for him to let go. Perhaps surrounded as he now was by his people, by the reminders of his duty, he would come to realize what I'd been trying to tell him all along. He would understand that we couldn't be together like that, and we could go back to being friends, just friends, and nothing more.

But that other half of me was twisting and screaming in agony at the thought of loosing him to another woman. A half which I beat down with a metal bat and buried deep, deep into the underground of my heart where it was easier to ignore. Easier to pretend it didn't exist.

I took my seat next to the prince before the king could tell me to sit down next to him. I ate in silence, preferring not to join into the conversation. Though we were in a smaller crowd, there were still servants everywhere waiting on us hand and foot, and, for some reason, a table of woman was set up next to us, where a range of very pretty but scantly clad women were sitting, giggling, and looking over at the prince. They were throwing me a few filthy looks, though, which I simply responded to with a raised eyebrow and decided to ignore.

I ate what I could stomach while the prince told his father what he could, and also a few lies so he could avoid the whole 'Dahaka' issue. Apparently he really didn't want to tell his father about the hourglass, or the Island of Time. But he did tell his father that it was only because of me that he was alive today, and also that he was able to come home at last.

I wanted it to be over. I regretted ever agreeing to come here, to so much as get on the same ship as him. What had I expected? A city full of strife like in Two Thrones? One where we would be doing something rather than sitting around and having a nice little chit-chat? I had prevented Zervan from ever even knowing about the Sands of Time by taking Kaileena's library and everything else from that island.

Yes, that had been it, I expected us to come to a burning city, to struggle through it just like we had in the Island of Time, to be fighting, to be living on the edge of our tether. Not this, not this…

I wanted out of this, I wanted out of this room, out of this castle, out of this entire, freak'n, city. I was surrounded by people, I was not use to this, the last time I'd ever been near a crowd, or any time I had ever been near a crowd, the streets were flooded with bodies and blood. People were screaming, I was running, slipping, trying to get away from them just like everyone else. And anyone who tried to help me…

"Kaida, Kaida!" The prince put a hand on my shoulder and shook me.

"W-what?" I suddenly looked up, noticing that everyone was staring at me.

"Are you, alright?" The prince asked, looking concerned.

"I'm fine." I murmured, shrugging off his hand. A bad move, something I realized only after I'd done it. Now he would know something was wrong.

"Perhaps the day's excitement has exhausted the young lady." Said the king, smiling kindly at me, almost in a fatherly fashion. "Our finest guest room has been prepared for you, if you'd like to retire." He told me.

"Yes." I murmured, "Thank you very much." I said, standing up and trying not allow my relief to be too obvious.

"I'll go with you." The prince said.

"I'll be fine, Prince." I told him, giving him a small smile, "You haven't seen your father in over seven years. I promise I'm not going to disappear while you're not looking." I told him, and I followed the servant who told me, very respectfully, that he would show me to my room.

It was much too large, much too lavish, and the bed was much too big. But it had a balcony that looked over out across the sea, and I took my refuge there, sinking down onto the rail, and allowing myself to shake and shudder to my heart's content.

The twilight air was cool and crisp, I could smell the familiar scent of the sea, mixed with the incense that wafted out to me from the guest room I had been given. The combination of these familiar scents wasn't enough to soothe me, though one might think it should have.

I need alcohol. I thought to myself. No, actually, the reality of it was that I needed the prince. But now that we were here, now that we were in Babylon, we couldn't continue what we had been doing until now. We were no longer in a world where the only living beings were the two of us, we were in Babylon, we were in the greatest city on earth…

And I never anticipated how much not having him right there next to me would hurt. Never anticipated how incredibly overwhelmed I would feel once we arrived here. I felt like a child in this place, I had no control over what was happening, we were no longer on a ship that the two of us were directing, we were no longer on the Island of Time, which I knew like the back of my hand. We were no longer fighting beside one another, no longer passing the time on the same small boat as one another, reading and talking.

I felt as though coming here had ripped me in half, and my other half was just going to be getting drawn farther and farther away from me as the weight of the city's needs fell upon its shoulders. Had it really got to the point where the prince and I were more like twins than brother and sister? More like an already married couple than lovers, if that was even what you could call us? And if that were the case…how could I have let this happen? Why did I let him become my other half? Why?

Was I even aware it was happening? Could I have stopped it if I was? If I thought about it, really thought about it, was I so sure that one night, that first night, would never have happened?

There was a bell in this room, and I pulled on it. In only a few moments a servant came in and bowed so low I thought he might tip over at any moment, "What is your desire, Oh Lady?" He asked in a hushed voice.

"I…" I was rather taken aback by this treatment, and tried to regain my composure, "I'd like some wine, if it's not too much trouble." I told him.

"It is my only desire to serve, Oh Lady." He answered.

"Thank you." I told him as he bowed again and moved to leave. This seemed to surprise him slightly, causing him to bow again before leaving swiftly.

I let myself fall upon the cushions that seemed to line the entire room in order to wait. I let myself lay sprawled across them, an arm over my head, my hand touching my brow as I closed my eyes against the torchlight. "Why did I come here again?" I murmured to an unresponsive ceiling. "Oh yeah, that's right, because I can't seem to say 'no' to a certain pair of blue eyes." I muttered sarcastically to myself.

When the servant came back with a few bottles and two glasses for me, I thanked him again, deciding not to tell him that I really didn't expect anyone else to join me, and he left with another bow to me.

I sighed, poured a glass, and took a sip. It wasn't quite as good as what Kaileena had, so I cheated a bit and aged it another hundred years. Perfect. I thought, drinking deeply and sighing contentedly. I could already feel it working to help loosen me up. I poured myself another glass.

"What's this? You're starting without me?" Came an incredulous voice from the balcony, and I turned, not altogether shocked to see the prince there, leaning against the entry way.

"Is your room just above mine or something?" I asked him.

"It's next to yours. If I didn't know any better, I'd say father did that on purpose." He said, grinning as he came to settle down next to me, and pour the other glass for himself.

"And if I didn't know any better, I'd say that he's this close to adopting me." I said, taking a sip.

"Mmm." The prince said in surprise, drinking some of the wine, "Wow, how old is this?" He asked.

"Few hundred years. I aged it myself." I answered.

He licked his lips. "By the way, I told father that I wanted to marry you."

I choked on my sip and slammed my glass down on the table. "WHAT!?" I demanded, "Okay, you know what? That's called foul play on my world!" I declared angrily.

"Calm down, I also told him that you were barren and couldn't have children, and it was for that reason that you kept refusing to take my offer of marriage." He said.

"Oh." I said, feeling relieved, "And, let me guess, he told you that I'm right?" I asked, not quite managing to keep the triumphant tone out of my voice.

"No, actually," The prince took another deep drink from his goblet, and then stared at it as though it had just insulted his mother, "He said that I could take a concubine and you could adopt the child as your own."

"Or you could find yourself a better woman to be your wife." I said.

"That's the problem, though, Kaida. I don't want another woman, any other woman! I want you." He grabbed me by the shoulders and forced me back down onto the pillows that we were sitting on, an action which surprised me slightly. I wasn't really expecting it, though you'd think I would have. "And I'm getting tired of taking 'no' for an answer." He said darkly, a shadow crossing his eyes.

"You haven't been taking 'no' for an answer, Prince." I said with a sigh.

"And that's the problem, isn't it?" He growled.

"Yes, it is, but that's not entirely your fault either. It isn't as though I've been very adamant about saying no, nor have I done a very good job of getting my point across." I slipped my arm around his neck and kissed him.

"Can you honestly tell me that you don't love me? After all of this?" The prince asked.

"No, I can't honestly say I don't love you. But I can't honestly say that I do either. I've asked myself the same question over and over again and I can't seem to answer it. I wish I could dip into your mind and get a taste of what you feel for me, just so I might have something, anything, to make a comparison by. But whether I do or not isn't the reason." I sighed, and I ran my fingers through his hair, resting upon his cheek. His eyes closed and he shifted his weight so he could take my hand and kiss it.

"Then what is the reason?" He murmured.

"How many times am I going to have to repeat myself, Prince?" I sighed, and I slipped out from under him so I could sit up and pace around the room. "You don't understand, I don't…I don't know how long I'm going to be able to stay here." I told him.

"What? But, but why?" He asked, completely taken aback by this.

"You didn't notice, did you? Your father, I know he was trying to be accommodating, wanting me to feel as welcome as he could possibly make me, but he was putting his arm around me, his hand on my shoulder, taking my wrist into his own and pulling me along. Each time I wanted to scream and jerk away, I wanted to yell at him about touching me the way I use to yell at you. But if I did that…" I sighed, "I don't want to offend your father, but I also don't want to loose control and have another Kagero incident in front of him. Can you just imagine the chaos that would ensue and the sort of things that Kagero might say in front of him?" I ran my fingers through my hair, "And Monigan, I don't even want to think about what might happen if she got out."

"I'm sorry…I didn't notice, I guess I just didn't think about it when he was putting his arm around you." The prince murmured, "But isn't that what you want? To be able to allow others to touch you without panicking like that? To be able to deal with these situations the way anyone else might?" He asked, standing up and coming to me.

"Yes, yes that is what I want, but I just don't know if it's even a possibility. The mind is far more powerful than most realize, and experience has a large effect upon the mind. I just never realized how much being in crowds would upset me, how close to the edge I would be, longing to be alone again every single moment, counting the seconds and wondering when I would be able to escape. The only times I've ever been in crowds of people, the only experiences with that I've ever had…

"I can remember all of it so vividly, the streets flooded with bodies, slipping on blood that seemed to be an inch deep all around me, screaming in the air, sirens sounding all around me, gunshots, cries, men and women fighting, struggling fruitlessly. They had no chance in hell of defending themselves, children sobbing over the dead bodies of their parents, their screams echoing in my ears as they, themselves, were caught up in the massacre. It was genocide, all around me, and while I ran with the others, while I screamed and cried as well, trying to get away, I knew…I knew that it was my fault, everything was because I had been born. No one knew, how could they know? And when someone tried to help me, they were tortured to death.

"And you know what they did? They laughed, they laughed! They were enjoying themselves, they were having the time of their lives. And there was nothing I could do about it, there was nothing I could do. You can't expect me to forget something like that in a hurry, you can't tell me that I can just 'get over it', just like that. I want to, you have no idea how much I wish I could be with people, without remembering what use to happen to anyone who got too close to me. I want to forget what happened, to forget everything that I went through as a child, to start over, to be the happy-go-lucky girl that I might have been. If I could take a knife and cut out those memories, I would do it in an instant. I want to learn, I want to learn to be around people, to feel comfortable even in large crowds, I just don't know if I can."

"Then try." The prince murmured, taking me into his arms, "Kaida, I don't know what to do, I have no idea how to make this better for you. I know what it's like to feel terror, to know what fear really is, and to spend your days looking over your shoulder, afraid that any second it will find you, it will be coming after you. But you took that away from me, it's because of you that the Dahaka no longer peruses me. I want to help you for that reason just as much as for the other. I don't know how to make you more comfortable around crowds, but if there's a way, I promise I'll find it."

What was the harm in letting myself believe him? I mean, how much worse could I screw things up?

Oh crap! Is that Murphy knocking at my door!?

XP

Murphy: Hello.

Kaida: (Pulls out rocket launcher and shoots it at him)

(BOOOOOOOOOOM!!!)

Rhea: O.o Uh…you know that's kinda overkill…

Kaida: (twitching) Don't care, he's dead isn't he!?

Kioko: Actually he isn't, but he is running for his life.

Kaida: GET BACK HERE!!! (Runs after him)

Rhea: Poor Murphy.

Kioko: I'm not too fussed, personally.

Rhea: Oh well, who wants to do the FAQ!?

Everyone: (raises hand)

Rhea: Mmmmm, Monigan! You haven't done it in a while, go for it.

Monigan: YES!!!

Q: When's the Dark Prince gonna show up!?!?!?

A: Soon, but not soon enough for my tastes.

Q: Is Kaida ever going to get use to being around crowds?

A: Heheheh, not if I can help it.

Prince: (Twitch, twitch) Well, you CAN'T!

Q: You're all horrible, how could you make Kaida suffer like that when she was only a kid?!

A: Because she was so cute when she screamed and cried.

Prince: Killlllll…

Q: You know if she dies you die too, why do you keep wanting to kill her!?

A: Well, let me tell you—OH NO LOOK, A CONVENIENT DISTRACTION!

Q: Where!?

A: You're an idiot.

Q: I hate you.

A: That's not a question.

Q: FINE! What's the answer to life, the universe, and everything!?

A: 42, didn't you read the last fic? Kaida answers that question herself.

Rhea: Okay, I think that's enough for today.

Monigan: But we were having so much fun!

Rhea: No. Until next time!