At what cost

I

Kaden stood amongst the ruin of his home, his hands cut and his fur caked in dust, he shook violently as he pulled pieces of rubble away getting closer to the sounds of infant wails that pierced through the chorus of screams that echoed through the entire planet.

The usually clear blue sky of Fastoon was instead a scorched red with a mix of grey cloud, fire danced around the horizon, a total solar eclipse painting the moon in a blackness that seemed to consume all natural light.

Alister had naively led the Cragmite to their end, Kaden had managed to convince the council not to kill Alister. They were pretty much brothers, having spent majority of their lives together, from meeting each other during the first days of school all the way up to Kaden proposing the dimensionator to the council.

A flash of orange fur caught his gaze.

Frantically he pulled the rubble off of his wife, his infant son, barely a year old cried loudly as he pulled him into his arms, too young to remember the death of his mother or the severity of their circumstances.

Identical Green eyes stared into his own grief filled ones.

For several moments he sat there on his knees shaking with wet eyes, the choir of death around him reduced to a hum in his burnt ears.

She had died protecting their child, he should've been here with them, instead having to deal with the dilemma of evacuating the several thousand survivors that had managed to escape through the dimensionator, only ones left being the dead or dying.

A wail of pain and desperation escaped him, finally giving in to the emotions that overtook him.

Holding his child close to his face he felt infant hands tug at his chin fur that was longer than the rest of his fur, he always did that whenever he held him, a coping mechanism for both.

The sounds of Hover boots approaching alerted Kaden to the presence of the disgraced General, nursing a nasty cut and holding his side.

Looking past Kaden he cursed, kicking dirt up as he did so.

"Kaden I'm sorr-

"Shut up" The golden Lombax all but growled as he stood back up, the child straddled to his hip.

Alister couldn't bring himself to look at his best friend, instead opting to stare at the ground instead.

"You know this time yesterday I was sitting on the couch with my wife, watching my son play with toys you made him."

A barely contained anger sat behind Kaden's puffy bloodshot eyes, he almost vibrated with it.

"If I accept your apology, I'm admitting that I forgive you for what happened."

"Kaden I didn't know Tachyon was going to do anything like this, I thought he was going to help us!"

"That help has killed my wife."

"You don't think I see that? I said I'm sorry!"

Kaden swung as hard as he could into Alister's face, earning a grunt and for him to tumble into the dusty ground, blood thumped in Kaden's ears as he kicked Alister in the side he was clutching.

Holding a shaky breath Kaden wanted to do more but at the same time couldn't bring himself to. He turned around to find Alister clutching his side on all fours, the sounds of death stopping at some point, leaving only the howling of wind through the gutted buildings and scorched earth.

Confliction brewed inside him as he stared down at his best friend, a feeling mixed between anger and sadness seeped out of him as he caught sight of the body lying in the rubble.

Last thing she'd want to see is us fighting, saw enough of that over the years.

Kaden felt tears prick at his eyes again as he sat down on the small green armchair that had somehow survived.

He was meant to grow old in that chair, watching his son grow up without the fear of a genocide over their heads.

Alister brought himself back up on two feet and approached his friend who stared vacantly, sniffing as tears rolled down his cheeks.

Wordlessly Alister pulled him up and into an embrace that Kaden returned knowing full well he was contradicting himself.

The evening rays were filtering through the smoke that seemed to encapsulate the planet basking them in extreme heat.

Moving away Kaden was the one to apologise.

"I-I'm sorry."

"I deserve worse." Half a smile appeared on his face as he spoke.

Kaden glanced towards the floor and back at the ship.

"I think you should run and not look back, as hard as it is, take your son and leave."

The words hung heavy in the air just as bad as the stench of death, both Lombaxes tired and on the verge of passing out.

Kaden looked over at his wife, his ears downwards and shoulders slumped.

"I'm not going anywhere until I bury her."