Chapter 10- Lights
He was floating in the sea. The water didn't bother his eyes; he could keep them open, and look around himself at the sandy expanse in which he had been placed. His body was heavy with fatigue, and he could not move. An inviting light pulsed from the, surprisingly warm, sand beneath him. A translucent image of a shark passed overhead, but he was too tired to question the phantom-like creature. His eyes fell shut once more, and he let the waves surround him and rock him gently to sleep.
Kikile…
Kai's fever had only gotten worse as the minutes went by, and before dinner they had rushed him to the hospital. Influenza at its worst, they'd said. He was strong, and they were fairly sure that he would come through it alright, but the coma that he was in definitely had them worried. The doctors fussed over him, completely confused as to why he would be sent into a coma by this. Most patients would have been wide awake to the end, but he was seemingly lost in the confines of his own mind.
His teammates worried and fretted. They didn't know what to do. Tyson, Rei and Max all flat-out refused to leave his bedside. It was completely out of the question. One thing that occupied their thoughts outside of their captain, though, was the peculiar way that Xyana was acting. She always stood at the foot of his bed, watching his chest. She was like a zombie or something; you had to call her name a dozen or so times before she would even respond.
Kai… my sister has completely mastered your heart. Anger is your strongest emotion; before it was strongest at the thought of being beaten in battle, now it is strongest when you think of my baby sister with injury. Deanus has a plan for you, but I cannot quite understand what. I just can't help but watch your light…
Kikile rested on the ocean floor, the air pocket keeping away the natives of the waters. It was so dark at night beneath the waves that the moving currents could easily get you turned around and play with your mind. Her nightlight, though, still pulsated ever so gently just out of reach over the horizon. Her human eyes could not see in the dark as could her sirenic ones, and therefore she could not continue on to her destination through the night. She murmured a soft lullaby to herself that she had once heard a human mother sing:
Bye, oh baby,
Bay, oh baby,
Bye, oh baby,
Baby bye…
His eyes shot open.
That lullaby… he remembered it! Kikile had sung it for him once! He sat up, and glanced around fervently, trying to find her before fatigue overcame his body once again. The sound… it seemed to come from that ghostly shark that remained swimming overhead…
He was overwrought. His limp, exhausted body fell back to the lightly pulsating sand, and his every thought left him, letting him float into a dream…
/Dream/
"Kai."
A strong yet gentle voice sounded overhead, and he forced himself to open his heavy eyes. This place… it was so full of light… warm, inviting, beautiful. He felt like this was the truth of his spirit, like this was the truth that resided within. He belonged here, somehow. Words sprang from his mouth, his mind unwitting.
"Father?" he asked groggily. He knew that voice, and it was his father, but his father had long since left the world of the living! His eyes opened wider, and he looked about himself. The place was beautiful; everything was perfect. His father sat at his side upon the gentle grassy slope, and a brook ran by at his feet, a small waterfall no more than a hundred yards away. The sun… wait, if it was the sun, why did it look like the moon? As a matter of fact, it was the moon, even though the sky was bright with daylight!
"Yes, it's me, son," he said, a fatherly smile coming into play. Kai couldn't remember the last time he had seen his father's smile… "Look around you. What do you feel?" he asked. Kai sat up and cast around an admiring glance before looking back at his father's countenance.
"Belonging," he answered, sure of the feeling in his gut. This place was somehow apart of him…
"It is so."
With this, everything vanished.
/End Dream/
In the hospital room, Kai stirred slightly. Xyana alerted no one, for she watched the dream, and she understood at once, and for once, she felt honor for the man that lay before her. Peace, Kai.