Foreword:
So, with the ridiculously long wait between the last couple chapters, I had begun to wonder if I would still have an audience by the time I got my rear in gear... Imagine my surprise when I checked my email the day after posting chapter 17 and discovered that I'd gotten 8 new reviews overnight. O.O I can't tell you all how happy that made me. :3 Like, seriously, thank you so much, guys! Wow. I wanna cry now. T-T And speaking of crying, here goes chapter 18. With Valentine's Day upon us, I present to you the most tragically romantic thing I've ever written. Yes, I'm evil and this is the thanks you get for giving me an ego boost. :P Hopefully you won't all hate me by the end. DX
Oh! And I can't believe I forgot to mention this last time, but I want to give a big shout-out to Dark Glass Marionette, who has started translating The General and Kaden into Spanish. Muchas gracias, mi amiga! XP
"What I feared has come upon me; what I dreaded has happened to me. I have no peace, no quietness; I have no rest, but only turmoil."
— Job 3:25-26
« ... »
The aerial view of Fastoon upon entering the planet's stratosphere was a sore sight for even sorer eyes. From his safe haven in the passenger seat of Lieutenant Durst's two-passenger ship Kaden bleakly watched the carnage of Tachyon's onslaught as it passed below, rolling by like the ocean with no ending in sight no matter how much of it they left behind.
"We weren't prepared for this kind of internal invasion," Durst stated. "At this rate there will be nothing left of the capitol in less than a week."
"What's the point of telling me that?" Kaden asked. He didn't turn to look at his escort; just kept staring down at the ground below, trying not to let the true extent of his feelings leak out.
"I just want you to understand why it's so critical you be here," the lieutenant explained.
Kaden spared a brief glance at his companion, just long enough to say, "I understand," then turned away again.
He wanted to say more, but couldn't find the words. His throat had never felt so tight before—like he was being strangled. Buildings toppled and explosions sounded left and right, but it all faded together into a jumbled mess of noise by the time it reached Kaden's ears. It was all he could do to tune it out entirely.
In all his life, even after growing up in a galaxy recovering from war and where the threat of disaster was never silent, Kaden had never imagined such a horrifying turn of events could actually take place. It would have seemed to him too nightmarish to be possible. And yet, here he was in the thick of it, trying to keep calm in the laughing face of cruel fate.
After a while Lieutenant Durst announced that they'd reached the capitol, and Kaden stirred from his statue-like trance just enough to turn his head toward the approaching spectacle. It was a small relief—but a relief nonetheless—to see that the assaulting forces had not yet made it this far. The city was in a state of panic, but as yet no one but frightened Lombaxes flooded the streets. Where some semblance of order had been established there were soldiers directing droves of civilians toward the center of town. Kaden followed the crowd's flow with his eyes to the greatest work of defensive architecture that Lombax engineering had ever produced: the Court of Azimuth.
"It's a mass exodus," Durst stated. "Every Lombax in the galaxy is to convene in the Court until the Dimensionator can be used to send us all to another dimension."
Kaden said nothing. His job description was clear from context, and the details didn't need to be stated. They both knew that this was the most drastic measure that could have possibly been conceived for dealing with the problem. That Lombaxes from all over the galaxy were arriving at the Court of Azimuth, some with enemy forces in hot pursuit, and that their window of opportunity for using the Dimensionator was narrowing. At some point they would have to cut their losses and go, lest they lose everyone. Thousands would be left behind.
"Just get me inside," Kaden muttered. "I'll take it from there."
« ... »
The interior of the Court was mayhem. Kaden expected as much. For the first time he was actually grateful for his military escort, for without it he feared he would be swallowed up in the crowd. Every way he looked he was being flanked, passed, or bumped by panicked scientists trying to prepare the citadel to be their race's last line of defense against the apocalyptic force closing in on them. He overheard countless snippets of rushed conversation about vitally important topics: the integrity of the defense grid, the spatial capacity of the court's inner chambers. the amount of time before enemy forces could overtake the city. Matters of life or death—of survival or extinction—with his successful programming of the Dimensionator at the critical epicenter. No pressure.
At last Lieutenant Durst ushered Kaden inside a high-security laboratory wing, where his team was waiting for him. The Dimensionator was set up in the center of the room, and the five other authorized technicians were already at work on the start-up procedures.
Wait a minute… five?
"Where are Alvar and Casey?" Kaden asked.
The somber eyes and downcast faces of the rest of the team answered his question. Swallowing hard, he forced aside his emotions, as well as all the horrible imaginings brought on by them, and held his head high.
"Come on," he said in a strong, commanding tone, "We have a job to do."
« ... »
Hours later, after his work was done and the Dimensionator was ready for use, a restless calm settled over Kaden. It was out of his hands now, and there was nothing left for him to do. He hated that. He hated having nothing to do. He'd always hated it, if only for the fact that he couldn't take the boredom, but now was even worse. Boredom would've been bliss compared to this unbearable, guilt-wracked worry.
It had been hours since he'd been forced to leave Nayeli on Lumos. Hours that felt like days, and yet he remembered every fleeting detail of those cursed moments when it happened. He remembered her trembling hand, her forced smile, her gentle, raspy voice. The atmosphere had been stiff with the sounds of terror and the smell of desperation.
What had become of her? How had she managed with the complicated position she was in? Had she made it aboard one of the evac ships? He didn't imagine she could board while in labor, but with her father and best friend attending her, he supposed it wasn't impossible... He wondered if the baby had been born yet. The time-frame seemed about right. Hopefully there hadn't been any complications, but the more he thought about it, the frailer a hope it seemed. Labor had been a month premature—induced by shock, no doubt—and for Nayeli to be giving birth under such horrific circumstances couldn't be good for the baby. It might be too much to hope that the child would even survive.
Kaden sighed deeply as he let himself collapse against a wall and slump into a huddled bundle on the floor. He wrapped his arms around his legs and pressed his face against his knees while his ears sagged behind his head. He couldn't take this. It was just too cruel. If he didn't get some word on Nayeli soon, he would lose his mind with worry.
"Kaden," called a soft voice, and Kaden looked up to see a member of his engineering staff standing just outside the door to the communications room. "I'm sorry to bother you, sir, but there's a transmission for you from Planet Lumos."
Kaden leapt to his feet and flew past the surprised engineer into the room. His eyes flashed across the stations and he quickly isolated the one in question, slamming down on the answer button and staring hopefully at the screen before him. There was nothing but noise and snow for a moment, and Kaden bit his lip so hard it almost bled, but finally the image took form and Nayeli appeared. He forgot all his troubles when he saw her, sitting there smiling like nothing was wrong.
"Hello, Kaden," she greeted.
"Nayeli!" Kaden exclaimed. "Are you okay? What's going on down there?"
"Relax, I'm fine," she assured with a nervous laugh. "We didn't make it onto the first group of evacuation ships... but don't worry! Dad's been working on Aphelion, and he says she should be space-worthy anytime now. If we can't make it onto the next evacuation group, she'll be our backup. We'll be joining you on Fastoon soon."
Kaden breathed a deep sigh and smiled at his wife in sweet relief. "I'm so glad to hear that."
Nayeli smiled back and bit her lip a little, blushing as she hesitantly murmured, "So... Want to meet your son?"
Kaden felt weightless for a few seconds, and after that could only say, "Yeah!"
Nayeli knelt down and disappeared from view for a brief moment, then popped back up, lifting an infant Lombax onto her lap. Kaden's face broke out into an open-mouthed smile when he saw him. The tiny creature was covered from head to toe with a downy coat of unspoiled amber fur. His round face was all eyes, the same chrysolite green as his father's, and he looked into the view screen with curious fascination.
"Wow..." Kaden murmured in awe. "It's like looking into a mirror!"
"I know, right?" Nayeli agreed while the baby clawed his way up her front. "Apparently you have all the dominant genes. Ow!"
She grabbed the little rascal's arm and tried to coax him into releasing her left ear while her husband laughed unsympathetically. "Apparantly so!" he said. "Raising that kid'll probably make you regret marrying me."
"No way!" Nayeli retorted. "He's perfect; just like his father."
Kaden grinned endearingly. "So, what did you decide to call him?"
Nayeli smiled, tightening her arms around her child. "His name is—"
An explosion cut her off, and the picture on the screen jolted badly. Kaden gasped, and he watched in terror as the screen went snowy again, then cleared once more to show Nayeli from behind, clutching her baby close and staring mortified at something Kaden couldn't see.
"Nayeli, what's happening?" he asked desperately. "Nayeli!"
"We're under attack!" she shouted. Whatever else she was trying to tell him was too marred by interference to make out. Kaden could only hear the urgency in her tone and watch helplessly as what looked like explosions and flying rubble blasted in the background until the connection dissolved into noise and haze.
Kaden's chair fell over backwards when he shot to his feet, and he leapt over it as he made a beeline for the door. He saw Hadrian just outside, speaking with the engineer from before, and he called out to him without stopping, "I'm going to Lumos."
"What?" Hadrian had to run in order to keep up with Kaden as he bolted from the room. "Kaden, you can't do that! If you leave the Court now, then—"
"I was going to stay anyway," Kaden said. "Someone has to make sure the Dimensionator doesn't fall into Tachyon's hands. It makes sense for it to be me."
Hadrian looked shocked, and for once in his life kept quiet and waited to hear the rest of what Kaden had to say.
"It's actually better this way," Kaden went on. "Now I don't have to abandon my family in order to do it."
"But how will you get to the Dimensionator if you leave now?"
"The defenses around the Court are strong enough to hold off Tachyon's forces for at least a few days. I'll come back when my family is safe and enter through one of the hidden underground entrances. Even if Tachyon has the Court surrounded, I'll be able to get inside without his knowing, and take the Dimensionator. Whatever happens, I'll make sure he can never find it."
Hadrian stared at Kaden with a level of awe and respect that he never had before. It took him a moment to find his breath to speak.
"Kaden, you're the pride of our race. Certainly the last Lombax who deserves such a fate... Godspeed."
Kaden nodded to his old rival, and managed to smile as he felt the long-standing barrier of bitterness between them dissolve in hopeful admiration. Ironic how the end of life as he knew it was what had instigated peace between him and his enemies.
« « « « « ж » » » » »
Kaden's heart sank when he saw the Lumos settlement. It had been ravaged without mercy, and everything was completely destroyed. The landscape was like the impact zone of a nuclear explosion. Few structures remained standing, none were undamaged, and he couldn't find a single street that wasn't all but buried in debris. He supposed he shouldn't be surprised. After all, every major Lombax city that had been hit by Tachyon's forces had been dealt with in an equally ruthless manner... but the Lumos settlement was so small, so remote. While on Fastoon he had confirmed that none of Tachyon's munitions were being produced there, so he would've had to go pretty far out of his way to attack this settlement. And for what? Sure, he hated Lombaxes, but Kaden would've thought he had bigger fish to fry than this tiny little colony on the backwater planet of Lumos.
Plus—and Kaden almost wondered if he was imagining it—the level of destruction here somehow looked even more thorough than it had on Fastoon. Like they were purposely tearing down every building and every structure they came across. Like they were looking for something.
Kaden put the thought out of his mind and turned his focus instead to his objective: finding his wife. He couldn't let the grim appearance of things deter his hope that she might be okay. She was a smart girl, and her father was an inventive genius. Surely they could have figured out a way to survive the attack... right?
He bit his lip and prayed silently against everything as he scanned the horizon for any signs of life. It was hard to see through the haze of smoke hanging in the air, and his ship's computer readings were inconclusive.
"Please," he muttered under his breath. "Please let her be safe..."
Finally he reached Callista's house... or what used to be the house. What was left could scarcely be described as a ruin. Kaden felt faint when he saw it, and his throat tightened in despair. Then he happened to notice that the yard, though littered with rubble, was otherwise empty. He gasped hopefully and rushed to land the ship near the spot where Aphelion had been. Jumping out of the cockpit like it was about to explode, he raced to the demolished portion of fence he remembered from his earlier landing. It was the only damage in the area that had been caused before the attack. Sure enough, the drag marks of Aphelion's underbelly were still etched into the dirt there, but the ship was nowhere to be seen.
Kaden dared to breathe deeply in hopeful relief. Nayeli may have escaped after all.
He whipped out his wrist and activated the navigation unit on his communicator. Thankfully Feel's comm frequency was still programmed into it. He tapped a few buttons and, to his sheer delight, the navigator picked up her signal. But then the bad news came to light: the ship was still on Lumos, only a short distance away from his current location.
Wasting no time, he took off running in the direction the signal indicated.
"Nayeli! Aphelion! Anyone!" He called out all their names in turn repeatedly as he dashed through the deserted ruins of his childhood home, trudging through rubble and blasting away any debris that stood in his way.
At last he climbed over the remains of what used to be a house, and saw his ship sitting nearby in a nest of dust and crumbled concrete.
"Aphelion!" He raced over to her and immediately started to look her over. The cockpit was open and there was no one inside, so Kaden climbed in and took a look at her control board. She was shut down, but it looked like all the major damage to her systems had been repaired. He crossed his fingers and flipped the ignition switch.
Her engine hummed to life and her computer came online. Kaden smiled when he heard her voice begin to rattle off her pre-programmed status announcement.
"Aphelion," he cut her off, "where is Nayeli?"
"Oh! Kaden," the ship greeted. "That's right, I remember now... Dezmond finished my repairs just before the Drophyds attacked. Then everyone boarded me and we tried to escape the planet, but we were caught in a tractor beam by one of the drop ships, and I was forced to land."
"Then what happened?" Kaden asked worriedly.
"I don't know," Aphelion admitted, her voice remorseful. "The tractor beam knocked out my engines and shut down my computer."
Kaden swallowed hard, then got out of the ship and started frantically searching the area.
"Hello?" he called out, his voiced etched with desperation. "Is anyone out there?"
Suddenly a weak voice reached his ears from nearby. "Kaden?"
Kaden spun 90 degrees and ran toward the voice, which he recognized immediately.
"Nayeli!"
He found her lying at the base of a toppled building, buried from the waist down in rubble. He knelt beside her and took her gently in his arms, trying not to look too carefully at the tremendous mountain of debris that trapped her.
"K-Kaden," she muttered feebly. "They took him... They took our baby! You have to—go after them..."
"Of course I will," Kaden promised. "As soon as I take care of you."
Nayeli shook her head. "It's too late for me."
"No, it's not!"
"Kaden," Nayeli whispered beseechingly. "I've been bleeding for hours, and I—can't feel my legs... Even if you get me out, I won't make it..."
She paused for a few seconds to cough and take in a deep, labored breath. "Please... If you waste time on me, you'll lose us both..."
Kaden's face broke with sadness, and he unconsciously shook his head. "Nayeli," he murmured in disbelief. "You're not asking me to leave you here...?"
Nayeli's lower lip quivered, and tears began to form in her eyes. She took a deep breath and spoke tenderly, without a trace of blame, uncertainty, or selfishness in her voice. "Kaden... Please don't feel like you've failed me. I was more valued and more loved in my eight years with you than most girls are in their whole lives... I have no regrets."
She reached feebly up to grasp his shoulders with what little strength she had left, and Kaden read her with a pang of deep sorrow. With one hand supporting her back and the other her head, he gently, tenderly drew her close.
How long had it been since they'd kissed? It seemed like a lifetime ago. Through her cold lips he felt the overwhelming warmth of more affection than he could possibly bear. The weight of it pressed down on his aching heart until it broke.
At last he reluctantly pulled back, still cradling Nayeli in his arms as their eyes met, mere inches apart. She looked up at him with round, sparkling eyes, smiling as she had on their wedding day, and softly whispered, "I love you."
Kaden had to swallow the lump in his throat before he could answer her. "I love you too, Nayeli... S-So much..."
"I know..." Nayeli whispered. She pressed her hand against his chest and somberly said, "Now go."
Kaden's breaths were fast and sharp as he looked down at his darling wife, anguished disbelief leaking from his eyes in the form of tears. They soaked his cheeks and trickled down onto Nayeli's face where they mingled with her own. As carefully as he could, he laid her down against the bloodstained soil.
After reluctantly pulling his arms loose, Kaden stroked her cheek with his right hand. He drowned in the feeling flowing from his fingertips as they trailed across her soft fur, and she closed her eyes and shuddered at his touch. As his palm came to rest on her neck he felt her heartbeat, still pulsing faithfully, but slower each time.
Kaden's face twisted in agony. Everything inside him screamed in protest against what he was about to do.
No...
No!
NO!
I can't! I won't! Not like this... I can't leave you like this! You're my... You're my—! Everything... Everything I've done was for you. Everything I am is because of you! What in the world am I going to do without you?!
Kaden shut his eyes tight, gasping back tears and whimpering in heartbroken grief. He had to sever his soul from his body in order to summon up the willpower to pull away from Nayeli, and in the instant her touch left him, his heart froze over.
Driven on by blind, senseless instinct, he activated his hoverboots and jetted away, fleeing like his life depended on it. An artificial wind swept the tears from his face as he blasted forward. His eyes remained open out of pure necessity, but soon he could no longer make out the road ahead for the visions of the past that invaded his mind. All he could see was Nayeli—healthy and happy, smiling and laughing, gazing at him fondly with dazzling sapphire eyes and an infectious smile.
So many days returned to him... so many moments that he cherished in the deepest, dearest part of his heart. She was always there by his side—always waiting, always watching. Always finding little ways to show how much she cared for him. He was her hero, and she reminded him of it every day, with a kiss, a hug, a squeeze of his hand in passing, or a humble act of service. She would sit patiently and hand him tools all day while he tinkered in his workshop, and every hour or so she would bring him a cup of ice water.
So much joy... so much kindness... so much love... How could such a tender, fragile heart be filled with so much love? It shouldn't be possible... just like it shouldn't be possible for someone who loved so much to die at the hands of someone who's cold black heart was filled with only hate.
"Open up!" he shouted when his ship came into view, and Aphelion raised up her domed roof to make way for him as he rocketed into the cockpit in a blind rage. "Scan for the residual ion trail of the fleet that attacked the settlement and set a pursuit course, maximum speed!"
"But Kaden, what about—?"
"Shut up and GO, Aphelion!"
"Ye-Yes..."
Kaden deafened himself to the sound of Aphelion closing her hatch, powering her engines, and making her ascent into the upper atmosphere of Lumos. He pounded the back of his head hard against his seat, and stared upward with dead eyes that were gradually darkening. Breath hissed through his gritted teeth, choked sobs heaving from his throat.
I love you...
His face fell, and he clamped his hands on either side of his skull as though he meant to tear the flesh right off of it. All the emotions churning inside him boiled over, and he screamed. A long, loud, hopeless cry, embodying all the pain one tender soul could possibly bear.
Author's Notes:
- Nayeli's Death— Wow... I can't believe it's actually happened. Believe it or not, the rough draft of the scene where Kaden leaves Nayeli on Lumos was one of the first parts of the story I typed up. It seemed so far away back then, and now it's actually happened. Excuse me while I go bury myself in blankets and bawl my eyes out. T-T
-Theme Song: "Paperthin Hymn" by Anberlin — This is song is about the pain of losing someone you love very much, and the struggle afterward to carry on without them. Thus I associate it very strongly with Kaden in this chapter (though I also think it kinda fits Alister at the end of everything). My favorite part is the line in the chorus that says, "I just want one more chance... to put my arms in fragile hands." That makes me feel like I'm gonna cry every time I hear it. :(
-Theme Song: "Dear Angel" by April Sixth — Another Kaden song about Nayeli. Pretty self explanatory.
-Theme Song: "My Last Breath" by Evanescence — I know this song has been applied to countless characters before, but I'm blown away by how perfectly and literally it applies to Nayeli in this chapter.