"Hn?" Kaden woke up from where he was sleeping on his wife's grave. It had become a growing habit for him to spend his nights there, as it was the only place where he could sleep until morning without waking up, despite the freezing cold air piercing through his skin and fur, chilling his bones. Somehow, just knowing he was that much closer to his wife calmed him at night and put him into a dreamless sleep. One where thoughts of Tachyon, the attack and his son were all put aside for another night rather than allowing them to haunt his nightmares.
Blinking sleep out of his eyes, Kaden was shocked when he felt a vibration through the ground. It was so familiar, yet he couldn't figure out where he had recognized it from.
Instead he looked around, trying to see if anything was out of place. Everything looked the same. The landscape was nothing but destroyed buildings and not much else. Kaden blinked in annoyance as he realized it was still dark. He had definitely been awoken early from his sleep. But what had caused it?
Then he saw it. He caught a glimpse of the giant mechanical throne of Emperor Percival Tachyon. That was why he had recognized the vibration. They were footsteps coming from the mech's footfalls, the same footsteps that the members of the Center for Advanced Lombax research had been startled by the day of the attack.
"Crap," was the only word that managed to escape from Kaden's mouth. How was it that just a few days after Kaden had decided to quit in his vendetta against Tachyon that the Cragmite finally decided to come and find him? How cruel could fate be?
Kaden dove into the rubble of his destroyed home, hiding beneath the debris to prevent himself from being found. He needed to live. He had to be able to go back to Veldin and see his son again. He wasn't going to die knowing that he had abandoned his child in some mad conquest for revenge.
"Damnit, please don't let him find me," Kaden muttered to himself as he hid. "I want to see my son again, I want to correct the mistakes I made. Please, the only way I can do that is if Tachyon doesn't find me." Kaden buried himself deeper into the rubble, praying that the villain wouldn't head in his direction. He did not want to be found. He had finally accepted that he wanted to live!
The footsteps grew louder, the vibrations stronger. No, no, no, no, no! Kaden screeched in his mind as he realized the Cragmite was coming closer. He was doomed. He would be killed. He would never see Alister or his son again. He would die, knowing that he had finally realized the truth, only to never fulfill it.
"Hnh! These Lombaxes are nothing more than insolent pests! They shouldn't have been allowed to live for so long! I demand that they be found! Any Lombax you discover is to be brought to me. Alive! I want to teach them what they get for killing off my soldiers! The vile heathens!" the high pitched voice of Percival Tachyon shot through the air. He obviously sounded furious and hungry for blood.
Damnit Alister! Was Kaden going to die for Alister's kills? That was not fair! He was already suffering because of his friend's mistake! He wasn't going to die to protect him from Tachyon. He hadn't killed those Drophyds!
"Perform a bio-scan of the area," the Cragmite's voice commanded. "I want every single Lombax in the city limits found immediately!"
Yup, I'm going to die. Kaden realized. He had a bio-scanner? Why hadn't he been warned? Or had the Cragmite not used it earlier with Alister and Angela? Did Tachyon not know if there were truly Lombaxes there or not? When he discovered Kaden would he think that he had been the only survivor? That would mean that Tachyon would never think to search for the others. But was Kaden willing to be discovered and killed for their sakes? No! He had to return to his son!
"There's one Lombax in the city," a Drophyd responded after performing the scan.
"WHERE?" Tachyon's voice screeched. "Tell me now! I demand to know!"
"In that building over there," the same Drophyd responded. Kaden could hear the satisfaction in Tachyon's minion's voice as he pleased his leader. But to Kaden it was the sound of the first Drophyd he was going to kill once he was discovered.
Kaden heard the charge of an energy blast and jumped out of the rubble of his home, escaping just in time to watch the blast burn through the remainder of the ceiling, causing it to collapse in along with parts of the walls. He looked up at Tachyon despairingly, knowing he had nowhere left to hide now that he had been caught.
"Ah, I recognize you." Tachyon smiled maliciously at Kaden, clearly noticing the fear on the Lombax's face, even in the dark of night. "You worked in the Center. You were a close friend of that fool, Azimuth. You should have a better choice of friends."
"Coming from a Cragmite, I'll take that as a compliment. What kind of friends do you have? The ones you bribe and cheat to be by your side?" Kaden stated as confidently as he could. He needed to seem brave. He couldn't let the Cragmite know that he was figuratively pissing himself in fear. He had his OmniWrench held tightly in his hand, needing the weapon for support.
"Hm. Lombaxes did always have big mouths."
"Maybe around you. But that was just because we all knew you didn't belong," Kaden growled.
"I'd keep your mouth shut, for I have a bargain for you. Tell me where the Dimensionator is, and you may keep your life," the Cragmite offered.
"Yeah, but then you'll bring back the rest of your kind and they will tear my head off," Kaden guessed. There was no way he would tell him where to find the Dimensionator. His whole point in hiding it was to spite the puny Cragmite.
"Or, tell me where the other Lombax is. I believe that the bio-scans show it was an infant who had escaped in your ship with you." The Cragmite grinned as he watched the look of horror dawn on Kaden.
He knows about my son. What does he want with him? "Why should it matter to you?"
"I'll keep your son alive if that's what you're worried about. I have much grander plans for him." The malicious smile on Tachyon's face widened.
"What son? You killed him in your attack!" Kaden lied. He wasn't willing to bargain with him over his son's fate. He had already betrayed the boy as much as he could, when he abandoned him on Veldin. He didn't care if Tachyon really would keep the boy alive, Kaden knew he was safer in Solana, where the Cragmite wouldn't be able to touch him.
"Please, do you think I'm an idiot?" Kaden opened his mouth to respond that yes, yes he did, but Tachyon continued before he got the chance, "I remember you having an infant child, and I'm sure you wouldn't have gone to such great lengths for any old baby," the other alien taunted.
Wrong, Kaden rebutted in his mind. He had insisted that the same measure been taken towards Angela, and she wasn't his daughter. Tachyon clearly had no idea of empathy or how concern could be spread to more than one's own family. Was that why it was so easy for the Cragmite to turn on the Lombaxes? "Well, besides the fact that Lombaxes actually feel compassion towards children, it doesn't matter if he's my son or not! You're not going to get him and you're not going to get the Dimensionator! Not for a long time!" Kaden growled boldly. Sick of the back and forth he tele-equiped his Cryo-Mine glove and fired the mines at the Drophyds. The creatures froze instantly and Kaden attacked them with his wrench, watching their frozen bodies break. He panted as he looked up at Tachyon, not realizing how much effort he had just used in taking out the few Drophyds. Damn the fact that he wasn't much for fighting. He should have taken Alister up on his offer for a training regimen years ago.
"Aw, such a weak example of a Lombax. You should have stuck to using your brains," the Cragmite taunted. As Kaden stared up at the giant mech, the final enemy he'd have to conquer, he actually couldn't help but agree with Tachyon. His arms were screaming from the effort of destroying the Drophyds. Tachyon only smirked before calling out, "Now, for your refusal to cooperate, you will die, puny Lombax!"
"Hey, who are you calling puny? I'm not the one in the booster seat!" Kaden insisted as he fired Cryo-Mines at Tachyon's mech. They clung to the legs of the giant throne and froze it into place. Kaden then attacked the legs of the mech, hacking at them with his wrench in an attempt to make them break. However, no matter how much force he used, Kaden just couldn't make the legs give way. His arms were too tired, the mech was too strong and the ice was starting to melt.
One leg broke from the ice and swung at Kaden, who jumped backward just to avoid being hit. He tried to kick on his hoverboots so he could flee but as he kicked his heel down he realized his bare foot hit the desert floor. He'd taken his hoverboots off to sleep and hadn't remembered to put them back on when he heard Tachyon's mech. He couldn't move fast enough as the leg swung back like a pendulum and smacked the Lombax in the face, sending him flying into the debris of his home. The wall crumbled down on him, chunks of plaster smacking him as gravity forced it to the ground.
"You're not much of a fight. Just like the rest of your kind weren't. You won't believe the laugh I had when I saw them all run with their tails between their legs. You're all pathetic."
"Why do you hate us so damn much?" Kaden finally snapped, sick of hearing the Cragmite's insults. "We raised you, we took care of you, we didn't care that you were a damned Cragmite! But you just find out one tiny piece of history connected to both of our races and all of a sudden you want to commit full scale genocide against us? Rescuing and raising you was a mistake! I don't know how we managed to agree to actually allow you to live," Kaden growled angrily, frustration building up inside of him. He had been a very young and new member of the Center for Advanced Lombax Research the day the Cragmite egg was brought to the Council by a crew of Trillium miners. He remembered the hours of tireless debate among the Council members over whether or not they should destroy the egg. He remembered his own guilt in being involved in the creation of the Dimensionator and how he had stripped this egg, this unborn, innocent child, of any potential family or care it could receive. He had prayed for the Council to decide to raise that Cragmite, hoping that the Lombaxes could raise it just as well as its own race. Kaden hadn't had any input on the situation, but his prayers had been answered, when finally all of the members of the Council had agreed that raising the Cragmite was the proper and humane decision.
It was horrible knowing that they had made a grave mistake then, one that Kaden had agreed to. How dare this monster get to rid the galaxy of the Lombaxes? It had taken so long to agree to take care of him, and when they had, they had treated him as well as any other of their kind. It was revolting knowing that they could have just as easily destroyed the egg and prevented the whole situation they were now in.
"You dared to pity me! You atrocious creatures all hated me and you knew it, so you pretended it was alright by raising me and caring for me despite your hate! Just so you could hide your insensitivity towards my kind! "Look at us! We're Lombaxes! We just rid the universe of all the Cragmites in the galaxy. But we found this one and decided to take care of it to show we're not completely monsters!" Your kind sickens me!" Tachyon shouted at Kaden.
"You think we raised you to prove that we felt sorry for getting rid of the Cragmites? Percival, the galaxy was being destroyed by them!" Kaden explained. "The rest of the galaxy practically begged us to step in and save them! We raised you because we aren't monsters like your race was! Because you weren't tainted by your kind, we thought you deserved your life! We could have just as easily killed you, Tachyon! And instead you do this to us?" Kaden insisted as he pointed to the destruction around them, pulling himself out of the ruin of his own home.
The Cragmite had a look of contemplation on his face for a moment, looking like he was absorbing Kaden's words. Was he actually feeling guilty for what he had done? Kaden's eyes widened in surprise. He hadn't actually expected his words to break through to the Cragmite.
But as unexpectedly as Tachyon's moment of reflection had come, it jumped right out his mind. The Cragmite looked angrier than before as he cried out, "You're lying! Your race is as vile now as it has ever been!" the Cragmite insisted. He lifted one of the mechanical legs of his throne and kicked at Kaden, forcing him to the ground. The leg then stomped on the Lombax before he had a chance to defend himself, forcing pressure onto the center of his chest.
"Gyah!" Kaden let out a cry as he felt his ribs snap beneath the mech. He coughed and tasted blood rising in his throat. The Lombax wailed in pain as he tried to breathe. Tachyon had punctured one of his lungs. Kaden held up his wrench and tried smacking away the foot of the mech that was sitting securely on his chest. His attempts were futile and all the effort did was cause pain in his already aching arm. He dropped the wrench and pressed his hand to his upper chest, putting pressure on the pain in a sad attempt to make it go away.
Tachyon removed the foot of his mech and for a moment Kaden thought that he would be freed from any more pain, that the Cragmite was regretting the murder he was committing. But then the foot stomped on Kaden's chest again, twisting as it landed to grind the bones and flesh beneath it. The Lombax felt the blow crush his hand and the ribs and organs it was trying to protect. Kaden tasted blood rise through his throat again and coughed from the force of the attack, more pain burning in the body he was no longer able to control. He couldn't take it anymore. He squinted his green eyes shut, trying to rid himself of the image of Tachyon laughing maniacally as the Lombax's life slipped away from him.
He couldn't grab a sense of anything other than pain. All he could feel was agony running throughout his entire body. Was this what dying was? Was this the feeling of the end? He couldn't breathe. He pushed against his chest again with the little energy he had in a sad attempt to try and get his lungs to receive the oxygen he needed. Instead his broken hand burned with the ache of Kaden accidentally displacing the crushed bones.
Why was he suffering like this? He had finally made his choice, he finally decided that he wanted nothing more than to live and be with his son. Yet in the end that decision, the right decision, just like everything else that had been right in his life, had been stripped away from him.
"Get up," a voice commanded from behind him. The voice was soft spoken, despite the demand they were making.
Kaden tried to force his head back to see who this person was. He didn't recognize the stranger's voice at all. Had someone come to rescue him in his final moments? Or had they just come in time to watch him meet his end? His head ached from the effort from trying to move. "I'd like to see-" he took a long gasp, desperate for air, "-you-" a cough as his lungs failed in letting him breathe. He felt the blood in his throat again, tasting saltier than before. He wheezed out his last word, "-try."
"Come on! Don't you want to see your son?" the voice tempted.
"What?" Kaden used strength he didn't know he possessed and turned his head up to see a teenage Lombax, perhaps fifteen years old, dressed in nothing but a pilot's cap and cargo pants, crouching over him, with concerned eyes focused on him. The liar. Kaden let out a sharp cry as the pains of his efforts struck him. His head collapsed against the ground again, too much aching to dare try and hold his head up. His son was an infant. There was no way that this boy could be the same as the one he had left on Planet Veldin. "My son…" he cried, his voice sharp from the anger this Lombax had caused. How dare he lie to him like that, make him suffer emotionally on top of physically? Why would he tempt him into causing himself more pain?
"You mean you don't see it?" the Lombax worked his way around to face Kaden. He knelt back down before him and insisted, "Look closer. I'm telling you the truth."
Kaden did as he was told, he stared the other Lombax in the eye. Those green eyes. His green eyes! Yes, his fur was the same shade, light as his mother's, his face similar to his father's. The boy was short though. Kaden could even tell from the angle he was at. "You are… what… how?" Kaden couldn't believe it! How was he staring at his boy when he was so much older? Was it even possible?
"I grew up. Veldin was a pretty good place," the younger Lombax stated.
"You grew up. My son…" Kaden beamed up at the boy. His son was going to grow up safe. He had brought him to a good place. The child had managed to live a life, one without Tachyon to interfere. Kaden had succeeded in protecting him!
"C'mon," the younger Lombax held a hand out for his father, prepared to help him to his feet.
"I can't. It hurts just to breathe," Kaden stated as he felt his chest heave in a sorry attempt to keep him alive. He couldn't even move his arm to grab the boy's hand. He knew that every bone in it had been crushed by Tachyon.
"You're not giving up, are you? Lombaxes don't quit!" the teenager insisted. "Now give me your hand!" His expression grew harsher as he stared down at his father, unable to accept that the older Lombax was admitting defeat.
Kaden gasped for breath as he lifted his arm off of the ground, reaching for the boy's outstretched hand. Just as he thought his arm would give out he felt a grip around his wrist. Something was different. He tightened his grip on his son's arm as he realized he could move his hand. It was no longer broken. His breathing lightened as he felt oxygen enter his lungs again. He heaved himself up off the ground and both Lombaxes stood together, staring at one another. He had recovered. He blinked at his son, the impossible image of the child as a teenager. It couldn't be real and neither could this feeling of rejuvenation. "I'm dead aren't I?" Kaden asked as he blinked at his strengthened body.
"Yeah. I'm sorry," The younger Lombax scratched the back of his head sheepishly as his father admitted the truth he had been avoiding. "But you died a brave death. And you managed to keep me and the Dimensionator safe in the process."
"Good. At least I managed to do one thing right before I died." The older Lombax sighed, "I'm so sorry for what I did to you. You have no clue how awful I've felt since then." Kaden had spent days screaming and crying for the boy, the child had haunted his nightmares before his nights had become dreamless, and now here he was! He could apologize to him, let him know he truly was loved and that Kaden wanted more than anything to have him back.
The boy's eyes glazed over and he answered, "You did what you thought was right. And I didn't even know about Tachyon until I was like twenty. You managed to keep me safe and that's what matters."
"But I went mad," Kaden admitted, speaking the words aloud for the first time. He finally could confess what had caused his actions, he could finally let someone know why! "I wanted my revenge for what he did to us. You never even got to meet your mother. You never got to see Fastoon at its finest. You never got to see the Lombaxes as the proud race that had managed to vanquish the Cragmites! All you'll ever get to see is the destruction that Tachyon has caused. He ruined us, and I wanted revenge. I wanted him dead and I failed." Kaden wanted to break down in tears as the realization hit him. Had he been with his son, had he chosen to stay with him, then he would have been safe. He and his son could have lived happily together for years before Tachyon would have even found them. Why had he been so driven by vengeance he knew he could never get?
"Don't worry about it. I'll get him for you," the boy promised.
Kaden blinked at him and suddenly the boy was older. About twenty or so, wearing armour and holding a weapon in his hand. "You… No!" He had been driven so far into madness trying to kill the Cragmite, he didn't want to watch the same happen to his son. He did not want the boy to face the same fate as him. He did not want his child to throw away everything just to get revenge on one man.
"I'm going to be the one to beat Tachyon. For you, for Alister, for Angela, for all the other Lombaxes he hurt and for the galaxy he spent years terrorizing afterwards. I'm the one who's going to stop him." The other Lombax stated it like a fact and Kaden understood. His son wasn't going to devote himself to killing Tachyon, he would just be the one to achieve it.
A smile overwhelmed Kaden's face and he moved to hug his son. He barely knew the boy before him, and yet at the same time knew him all too well. And he was so proud, knowing what he would become. Kaden wanted to get to hold his son again, wanted the opportunity that his insanity had forced him to deny. But when Kaden tried to embrace the younger Lombax he grabbed nothing but air. He fell back to the ground and his pain overcame him again.
"Wait, please!" Kaden wheezed as tears stung his eyes. He just wanted to touch his son, to be with him. "Come back!" He gazed up at where his son was just staring back at him. The younger Lombax shut his eyes before he started shaking his head. It would be too hard to see his father return to his suffering. Their time was up. But Kaden didn't care, he wanted to talk with his son more. He wanted to be with him, like he should have been! He called out his son's name, but the boy just kept shaking his head. "Ratchet!" he cried, not understanding why, not knowing the importance of the word. The boy's ears shot up and his eyes opened wide as he stared down at his father, the surprise in his gaze showing that he had been caught off guard by the call. What did that word mean to his son? He didn't know, but it was the last thing Kaden said, his last breath to escape from his damaged lungs. The older Lombax reached for the image of his son, so proud and strong, the same green eyes as his own, staring at him sadly. Kaden's pain was overcoming him, his body no longer surrendering to his will. His hand fell, unable able to reach out to his son any longer. The boy disappeared and in his place was nothing but the purest darkness.