20051215-

This is slightly AU, simply because I believe that this event happened in exactly the way it looked like, not how I wrote it.

Really a scribble, but I felt it was big enough to stand on its own.

Kain blew an exasperated breath out through his lips at the persistent rain. The past few centuries had been tedious, and he didn't know how he was to endure the next millennia and beyond. After the temporary defeat of the Elder God in the Vampire Citadel, Kain was at a loss. There was only so much he could do in this time period, but the few means of returning to the future were denied to him.

The Eternal Prison was a small temptation. Kain knew madness, and he was sure he could survive for a while within its timeless walls, but there would still be the risk of encountering himself there if he did not wait. For now, Kain had to contend with staying out of history's way until he returned to his correct time.

Kain unsheathed the Soul Reaver so that he could sit on a convenient rock. Funny how free will could be a liability. Raziel had been subject to the pull of destiny, and so it took a conscious effort to change his course. Kain was completely free and unfettered now, thanks to his childe, and so any misstep could spell his disaster.

Kain paused a moment to think. What was he doing so close to Uschtenheim? Normally, he avoided coming this far South, especially when his past self was currently residing in the Termogent Forest. After a moment of concentration, Kain felt a certain tugging sensation at the back of his mind. So, he wasn't completely unfettered, but what had drawn him here?

Kain hissed as he tightened his lax grip on his sword. He felt something else as well. It felt like his childe. Kain stared at the Soul Reaver, but realized that it had not changed. Raziel's presence was as always completely masked by the vampiric enchantments on the blade. Kain was sensing Raziel from somewhere else.

It was then Kain saw him running through a ravine far below. Raziel was headed towards Janos' retreat. Kain reluctantly left the Soul Reaver on that secluded cliff, convincing himself that no other being could possibly reach it, and leapt down into the ravine to follow his childe.

When Kain caught up with Raziel, he was standing on the edge of the lake, gazing up at the ruins of Janos' home. Suddenly, the wraith turned and spat, "Oh no. Every time you turn up something monumental and terrible happens. I don't think I have the stomach for it."

Kain chuckled softly. "No drama this time, Raziel." It was heartening to see that Raziel still had some wit, wherever he had come from.

"You are persistent, crossing time like this to follow me.
Still waiting for that coin of yours to land on its edge?" Raziel asked.

"I'm biding my time," Kain answered. It was a necessarily guarded truth.

Kain gazed up at the balcony as he puzzled out how Raziel had come to be in this time. Raziel was still fiercely angry, yet still willing to listen to what he had to say.

Kain suddenly found the answer he was looking for. "I see that Moebius has played a little trick on you."

"Yes, he clearly doesn't want me to meet this 'Janos Audron'," Raziel answered, confirming Kain's suspicions.

"Perhaps..." Kain mused, adjusting his gauntlet. He had always assumed that Raziel had been sent directly to the past, and so that's where he had gone for the next fatal turn. Perhaps that had been the case only when Raziel killed Kain in William's Chapel, another unforseen consequence. "Or maybe he merely hoped that it would harden your heart against me to see this wasteland which I single-handedly authored."

"My heart doesn't need hardening, Kain," Raziel spat. "If I even suspected that destroying you would make any difference, I would do it this instant."

Though the words stung, Kain laughed at Raziel's hatred, mild compared to what he was capable of. "I knew you'd see through them, Raziel. Janos is indeed the key to your destiny, but you'll need to find your own way back into Nosgoth's past." Kain became serious again, now lost in thoughts of his own dilemma. "Make no mistake though, Raziel. You and I are now in great danger. We are irritants here. Malevolent forces are being marshaled to eliminate us."

Raziel sneered, "You talk as though we're allies."

Kain frowned and reminded himself that Raziel would forgive him eventually. "Regardless of your sentiments, Raziel, in their eyes, we are."

"Well, they're certainly trying to eliminate you, Kain, there can be no doubt of that," Raziel snapped defiantly. "I am assaulted relentlessly with demands for your demise. As for me, I suspect they made a grave error when they allowed my unique resurrection. I don't think they know how to destroy me."

"You mustn't underestimate them, Raziel," Kain warned. His blood ran cold, but he knew the harm in giving Raziel any more forewarning of what was going to happen to him.

Ignoring Kain's subtle warning, Raziel continued ranting, "And who exactly is this diabolical 'they' to which we keep referring? If there's some grand conspiracy going on, the right hand doesn't appear to know what the left is doing. Even Moebius seems to be caught out at every turn."

Kain sneered. "Moebius is a puppet, Raziel - haven't you realized that yet? That's the sweetest irony in all of this; Nosgoth's 'great manipulator' is their plaything." Kain calmed, reminding himself that he might be giving too much away. "But the ones pulling the strings haven't shown their faces, yet."

Again, Raziel did not pick up on Kain's delicate clues. "They don't like us unwriting their carefully choreographed history though, do they?"

"You must understand, Raziel - we haven't unwritten history, we've merely rewritten it." Kain felt the beginnings of an understanding dawning in his own mind as he explained it to Raziel. "The future flows around our petty actions, finding the path of least resistance while admitting only the slightest alterations. This is the reshuffling you felt, when you refused to kill me." The perception of a missing piece slowly drilled itself into Kain's mind. "And remember, Raziel, we are irritants in this regard, as well - history will not allow the introduction of a paradox."

"And if events cannot be reshuffled to accommodate the change?" Raziel questioned.

"It is the irritant who's expelled." Kain stated with grave certainty. "Bear in mind that this may be exactly the outcome our enemies are trying to provoke. We must tread very carefully." With those words, Kain teleported back to the ledge on which he had left the Reaver.

Kain spend a long time lost in thought as he cradled his sword in his hands. It had been good to talk to Raziel once more, even if he was still angry in this time, even when Kain couldn't reconcile his past transgressions. The conversation had stirred up strange ideas in Kain's head. Somehow, he knew that he know had a clue that was vital to his own personal future.

Kain noticed when Raziel raced back through the canyons back to Uschtenheim, probably on his way to the past, where Kain had thought Raziel had originally went after threatening Moebius. Kain resisted the urge to delay Raziel's quest further with more useless conversation. Instead, Kain once again sheathed the Soul Reaver on his back and began wandering North. He would endure the centuries required to return to his own time, and then he would set the world to right.