Ghost

19. Kain.

The room was still, silent and dark when I woke up, but morning was slowly approaching in the cool air. My head was aching, my body was aching, and I could taste dried blood in my mouth. As I woke up, I became aware of several things.

The first was that I was in Imam’s old house. In Jack’s old room to be precise. The second was that Jack was curled up asleep in my arms. I had one hand buried in her hair, and the other splayed across her ass as she breathed steadily against my throat. And third, that Riddick was sitting on Jack's old balcony, his gaze unwavering.

I blinked slowly as I tried to make sense of it. I couldn’t remember… I looked at Riddick again and what had happened the night before hit me as hard as the wall of water had, and my gut clenched as I closed my eyes. Mai’s face swam into my mind and caused a rip tide of pain. I saw her as she had been once, full of life and laughter and beauty. I also saw her as she had been the last time I’d see her; pale and still in my arms, as death took her away from me.

I sat up bit by bit as my muscles screamed in protest, and brushed a kiss across Jack’s shoulder when she murmured. I slid from the bed carefully, and left the room. I needed to get away from here - from him - before I did something I wouldn’t regret, like ripping his head off his shoulders. I could see Dog and Link asleep in the lounge room when I made my way down stairs. I watched them silently for a moment, my hand braced against the wall for support as I swayed on my feet. Knowing that Jack wasn’t alone allowed me to head outside, and shut the door softly.

The streets were silent and empty as I staggered towards the water. I hadn’t felt this weak in years. Riddick’s words had cut too close to home - far to close. And those careless words he had thrown at me, had opened a wound that I now couldn’t close. I’d been carrying it inside me for a long time, but in the wake of the storm, it felt like it had only happened yesterday.

The sand gave way under my knees as I collapsed at the water's golden edge. It hadn’t been golden last night - it had been as dark as the pain inside me. As dark as the words he had thrown at me. As dark as the man himself. I glanced back down at the water I knelt in, and wished that it was the ice blue of my home planet and not the warm gold of New Mecca. New Mecca had never been home to me. It was just a place where I set up house for a little while.

My home has always been with Jack. And before Jack? I sighed heavily as I stared down at my reflection in the water, and slowly traced a name on the surface with the tip of my finger. A name that also echoed home - my true name. A name I had shed when Mai’s blood had still been slick on my hands. A cool breeze ruffled the surface, one which carried a whisper, and I lifted my eyes. But there was nothing - no one - and I was as alone now as I had been when I first landed here. Before I met Jack and found my balance again.

Jack saved me in a way. Mai’s death had deadened me inside. I lived a half life, traveling from place to place, while trying to outrun my ghosts. Then I’d met Jack, and I'd seen something in her that I hadn’t seen in anyone but Mai before. A spark that was trying to burn, while pain dampened it down. And when we reached out to each other, we saved each other from that grief. Not a replacement for our ghosts, but a piece that had been missing from each of us. She wasn't a sister, not exactly, but someone I let into my heart. A savior

“Purge the poison. Save you… save her.”

Riddick’s voice drifted towards me on the morning wind, and I shook my head as he came towards me. I shifted in the water and then drew one knee up and rested my chin on it. There was no way in hell was I going to give him something else to use against me. Not in this life time. I’d fucking kill him first. As it was, I wasn’t staying with him. Me and Jack? Gone. Dust on the wind. Ghosts. Let him see how it felt to have someone deliberately tear his heart in half.

“Wasn’t your fault, Kain. What happened to Jack? Wasn’t your fault,” he muttered a moment later, and my gaze snapped to his as he looked down at me.

“Not what you said last night,” I mumbled, and he sighed.

“No. It wasn’t. But it worked, didn’t it?”

When I looked up at him, he was picking at his hand. I remained silent until he huffed and threw his hands up in defeat.

“You really are a stubborn asshole, aren’t you?” he spat, and plopped down beside me.

“So I’ve been told,” I said dryly, and he scowled in answer.

“I told you - nothin’ worse than bein’ manipulated. And manipulate you is what I did. Made you face whatever it was you were runnin’ from.”

When I glared at him, he grinned.

“Ok… you walked past me in a manly fashion to get away from the bitch who tore your life apart. Walkin’, runnin’, skippin’ through a fuckin’ meadow, whatever you call it - it was time you stopped doin’ it and faced why you were.”

“So you decided to play Daddy, did you?” I hissed, and he narrowed his eyes at me. “I don’t need you decidin’ how I should live my life, Riddick. Next time you wanna fuck wit’ someone’s head, try lookin’ in the mirror!”

His mouth twisted into a silent snarl and a shiv appeared in his hand. I lifted my chin as he glared at me, and for a moment, I thought he was going to use it on me. But just as quickly as it had appeared, it disapeared and he sighed.

“He didn’t do it for you, Kain. He did it for Jack. To keep her safe.”

“You and that animal inside you honestly think I’d fuckin’ hurt her?” I cried, and he shook his head again.

“No. I keep gettin’ told that you’d die to protect her - but what if she followed you down that path, and she died? Hmm? I told you - I know you. I now what it’s like where you are. And as for where it leads? You don’t want to go there, Kain. You don’t want to take Jack there. I won't let you take her there.”

When I glanced at him, he was squinting in the early morning light. Bruises stood out clearly on his face and chest, and I looked down at my hands slowly. I sighed heavily as I stared out across the water, and thought about his words for a bit. And when they finally started to make sense, I shook my head.

“You look like a rainbow went and puked on you,” I said quietly, and his teeth flashed before he could hide his grin.

“You should see Vaako,” he offered a moment later, and I snorted.

We remained silent for a long moment, and I finally sighed heavily and glanced at him.

“I get why you did it, Riddick. But next time? Don’t try to psychoanalyse me, ok? You‘ve got no idea what I think and feel, and I don’t need you head fuckin’ me by usin’ my sister or Jack as weapons against me. That’s what Aereon does,” I finished quietly.

He nodded slowly, and when I looked at him, he was biting his lip.

“How’d she die?” he asked, and when I blanched, he looked away again.

“In my arms,” I said finally, and he swung his gaze back towards me.

I felt my jaw clench, and blinked quickly as I bit my bottom lip as hard as I could. I could still feel her in my arms. Feel the warmth leaving her as I carried her home. Feel her hair hanging down over my arm and smell the scent of her blood on my skin. I stared out over the water at the sun as it rose, and felt it burn against my eyes.

“We snuck out together, because she was meant to go to Aereon the followin’ mornin’,” I said slowly. “The moon was full and the animals were singin’ in the waves as we played together. She didn’t wanna leave… Didn’t wanna be taken from home and sent somewhere where she’d be studied and gawked at. Didn't wanna be married off to some stranger as his own personal science experiment - one who was ‘made for fuckin’,” I said bitterly, and heard his quick intake of breath.

“We’d talked about it - she asked me to take her off world - to get her out of there. I couldn’t figure out how to do it - not wit’out bein’ hunted down by Aereon’s people as well as our own. I told her that I’d speak wit’ our father in the mornin’ - make him listen. I promised her that I’d find a way. She went real quiet after that - just danced on the water and played wit’ the animals.

“We went to sleep on the beach a few hours later - and when I woke up, she was watchin’ the sun rise from a sphere of water that was raised high above the ground. So high… I just watched her. She was closed off to me for the first time, since we’d been born. I couldn’t read her. Then she looked down at me… She stared at me for the longest time…”

I shook my head as I rubbed the back of neck. Riddick remained silent, and I clenched my jaw briefly before speaking again.

“I joined her to watch the remainder of the sunrise. And as I held her, I made the decision that we would run. I’d rather die than see her trapped into somethin’ that would kill who she was. She looked up at me. Smiled. She kissed me, and told me it was time to fly. A shot rang out seconds later. She lost control of the water, and we fell. I hit the ground pretty hard, but it wasn’t hittin’ the ground that hurt.

“When I dragged myself up, I could see Mai layin' on the ground. The bullet had passed through me and hit her in the throat. She was so scared… I could see she was dyin’. She was cryin’, and I could feel it… I tried to save her. She told me that she loved me. That it was ok... She died in my arms.”

I looked over at Riddick, and shrugged slightly.

“So now you know. I’ve given you all the ammo you'll ever need to cut me down any time you want, Riddick. But next time? Make sure it counts. You ever use Mai or Jack against me like that again, and I swear, I’ll make sure you drown in your own blood,” I said quietly, and hated that my voice hitched with pain when I spoke.

“I don’t like bein’ threatened, Kain… But your terms are agreeable,” he muttered a moment later, and I nodded once as I stared back out over the water.

“Where does Aereon come into it?” he muttered and I shrugged.

“It was one of her people who pulled the trigger. To this day I don’t know why we were targeted. Maybe Aereon saw that we were gonna run. Maybe the shooter couldn't see Mai in front of me. I dunno. But they found the shooter not six hours later, and put his head on a spike before sending it to Aereon as a declaration of war. I didn’t see her again until I was wit’ Jack. What did she say to you about it?” I asked, and he frowned.

“Aereon wanted me for your sister - so that a child with all four elements in their blood could be created,” he muttered a moment later.

I snorted and shook my head slowly.

“She tell you that you were a worthy specimen to study - that you should feel privileged to have been chosen?” I asked and he scowled.

“More or less,” he muttered, and I looked back down at my hands.

“Imagine growin’ up wit’ that,” I said softly, and he looked away from me.

“She also told me how and why you and Jack ended up on the run and then in Crematoria,” he muttered, and I laughed bitterly.

“Yeah. Sure was nice of her, huh?” I muttered, and scowled as I stared out over the water again.

We remained that way for a little while; silent and pensive, each of us lost in thought. Silent, until Riddick cleared his throat and gestured towards the water.

“What you did last night - the water? What was that?”

I shrugged slightly and turned towards him.

“That’s what happens when some asshole manipulates you and pisses you off.”

“Bullshit, Kain. I get pissed, people die. You get pissed? You bring a tidal wave down on us. How‘d you do it?”

I shrugged again, and then held up a hand when he growled.

“I dunno know how to explain it to you, Riddick. I’ve always been able to do it. I don’t know how - it just happens. It’s like breathin’ - somethin’ you know you use muscle groups for, and that your brain controls wit’ out you really thinkin’ on it. I see the water, and guide it to where I want it to go. Same as the air - I can’t call up a wind like the she-bitch can, but I can manipulate the moisture in the air enough, to cause some trouble.”

“What else can you do?” he asked, and I shrugged again.

“I don’t have a full handle on my capabilities - I left home before I completed my trainin’. I can use a body of water to call out to another of my kind. Step between worlds…”

“Huh?” he interrupted, and I grinned at the look on his face and shrugged.

“Just what it sounds like. If I know the body of water I want to go to, I can literally step between planets. Use the water like a door way.”

Riddick frowned and I waited as he worked things over in his mind. And when he came to the conclusion he wanted, I saw the temper leap into his eyes.

“Then why didn’t you leave Crematoria when you can do that?” he hissed, and I levelled him with a single look.

“I wouldn’t leave Jack behind, Riddick, and she can’t travel that way. She’d drown. Not even I can stop death in its tracks.”

He breathed out heavily and glared down at the sand.

“She really did have you put in a place you couldn’t manipulate, didn’t she?’ he growled and I nodded slowly, my attention riveted to the surface of the water as it rippled.

“Riddick?” I said slowly, and he glanced at me. “No matter what happens? Don’t interfere.”

I saw his confusion, and licked my lips as I heard my name whisper across the water on the wind once more. The water that exploded upwards from the calm surface was sudden and violent, and I heard Riddick swear viciously. Like an explosion from a volcano, the water hung in the air as if it was solid. I closed my eyes and bowed my head as the water shimmered - I didn’t need to see it happen to know what it was.

When Riddick fell silent, I knew that someone had stepped out of the sphere of water that had been purged so violently into the sky. Knew they were walking towards me on the surface of the water, as if it was solid under their footing. And when the twin edges of ice cold steel came to rest under my chin, I let them lift my head without argument as I kept my eyes closed.

"Kaniece."

I sighed heavily when the sword that had lifted my chin fell away. I knew that voice. Knew it well. I opened my eyes slowly, and came face to face with my past.

"Zakhi… I answer to Kain now. I have done so for years."

Zakhi was carrying a long double blade katana in his hand, his face unreadable as he returned my gaze. The similarities between us are striking - they always were. The same pale skin, black hair and glowing blue eyes. Alien eyes. I could only stare at those eyes as he looked me over slowly in return.

"Seems we have both changed in your time away from home, brother,” he said finally. “But you will always be Kaniece to me," he said and held his hand out for me to take. When he yanked me to my feet, he sheathed his sword and stepped back a few steps.

"I thought you were dead," he said softly, and I shook my head. "Yesterday… was that you who pulsed the water?” he asked, and when I nodded he sighed heavily. “I thought so… the whole planet is talking about it. I’ve been waiting for you to call, and yet I still damn near shit myself when I heard you. Where the hell have you been?" he demanded.

"I’ve been in Crematoria, Zakhi," I said quietly, and his eyebrows drew together sharply as I lowered my eyes.

The cool touch of his hand on my chin had me lifting my eyes, and Zakhi’s eyebrows drew together. I was surrounded by the smells of my home planet as he drew me closer to him, and he rested his chin on the crown of my head when I lowered it to his shoulder. His hand closed around the nape of my neck, and his sigh mingled with my own as I closed my eyes.

"Why didn’t you call for me sooner, Kaniece?" he murmured against the top of my head, and I shook my head as his hand tightened on my neck. "Did he really hurt you that badly, that you wouldn’t call for your family’s assistance?" he pressed, and I laughed bitterly and pulled away.

"He said I was dead to him, Zakhi - that he‘d never forgive me," I said flatly, and his eyes flashed with temper.

"It was seven years ago that you had that fight with him - three and a half years ago that I saw you by chance on this planet, Kaniece! Father has had us searching high and low for you, ever since!” he said, as his voice got louder. “I came back from seeing you that last time, and when he found out, and we got back here, you were long gone and there was a bounty on your head! You stubborn asshole!" he shouted as he jabbed his finger into my chest.

I heard Riddick snort in amusement at Zakhi’s statement, as Zakhi gripped my shoulders. He shook me viciously, and then pulled me back into his arms. He held me for a long moment, and when I finally relaxed into him, he fisted his hand in the hair at the back of my head and tightened his grip on me as he muttered under his breath.

"I’ve missed you too," I mumbled a moment later and his laugh was brief and tinged with sadness.

He released his grip on my hair a moment later and just held me as I sagged against him. Aside from Mai, I had always been closest to Zakhi, even with the six year age gap between us. He had been the one to help me harness my power as a child and the one who taught me to manipulate not only the water, but the air in the waves as well.

"Father misses you, brother," he said quietly, and I pulled away from him and shook my head.

"He blamed me, Zakhi," I muttered, and his hand came down heavily on my shoulder.

"He made a mistake, while consumed with grief. Come home, Kaniece."

I looked over at him slowly and shook my head.

"I can’t leave Jack. She needs me, Zakhi. I need her. I’ll be back one day - when you least expect it, I’ll come home."

Zakhi sighed and shook his head slowly.

"When, Kaniece? When he’s dead? He never blamed you - he has regretted his words to you, ever since it was discovered that you were gone. Haven’t we suffered enough, brother?" he said softly, and my head jerked up as I stared at him.

"Haven’t I?" I whispered, and Zakhi winced as I backed away from him.

"Kaniece - I’m sorry. I didn’t mean it like that," he said finally as Riddick came up beside me. I shrugged in answer and Zakhi sighed heavily.

“Zakhi, this is Riddick,” I said finally as the two of them stared at one another. “He helped me and Jack get out of Crematoria. Riddick - this is my eldest brother Zakhi.”

Riddick nodded but remained silent, and Zakhi kept his gaze on me as I looked back out over the water.

"I brought Hades," Zakhi muttered a moment later, and I nodded as he reached under his cloak and withdrew a gun I’d never thought I’d see again. He handed it to me carefully, and Riddick peered over my shoulder as I held it out at arm's length, and looked down the length of the barrel.

"Hades?" Riddick asked slowly and I nodded as I fingered the silver designs that were raised along the barrel of the gun.

"Hades - he rules the underworld, while Cerberus guards the gates," I murmured as I handed it to Riddick and spoke quickly when he fingered the trigger.

"Careful - I named it Hades for a reason, Riddick. That gun doesn’t contain bullets - it shoots out a pulse of crystallized light, that can take a man’s head off at several hundred feet and leave nothin’ but mist in its wake. A bringer of death - hence, Hades."

Zakhi chuckled softly as Riddick handed me the gun back with a wince, and I shook my head as I carefully settled it into the holster that had been specifically designed for it, and strapped it to my upper thigh silently.

"Please reconsider, Kaniece. Father needs you. He misses you," Zakhi said, and I shook my head slowly.

"You don’t think he feels bad enough about losing Mai, Kaniece?" he murmured, and then backed up when I snapped my eyes towards him.

"He feels bad for losin’ her? I felt her fuckin’ die!" I hissed, and he lowered his eyes as I took a step towards him. “I needed him, Zakhi. I needed him and he said I was dead to him. That it was my fault - I was fifteen years old! He needs me? Too bad!”

“I need you,” he said softly, and I closed my eyes and turned away from him slightly.

“He wants you to come home, Kaniece. He knows I’m with you right now - it was him who told me to go to you - to bring you home, to where you belong; with your family. With your people.”

Zakhi gripped my shoulders tightly as I stared up at him in disbelief, and I finally managed to push the words out.

“Wit’ my family? What family, Zakhi? He was consumed wit’ grief? He may have sired her, but I was born wit’ her - she was a part of me, Zakhi. We were created together. We grew together, laughed together, and I…”

I looked down as the words choked me and felt his forehead come to rest on the crown of my head.

“I don’t even know where she’s buried,” I finally whispered, and when I tried to pull away from him, he tightened his grip on me. “I watched her die and couldn't do nothin' 'bout it. When her heart stopped beatin’… mine did too. I died when she did, Zakhi, but I’m still here, livin’ and breathin’ and she’s not,” I whispered, and I felt the shudder that wracked him as I fought to resurrect the walls I had built around me so long ago.

“She went on to something’ better. And I’m still here. I’m still here, and I’ve been here all along. He never once looked for me, Zakhi. Not once called out to me. I needed him - and he wasn’t there. He never was.”

I pulled away from him and took a few steps backwards so that I stood at Riddick’s side.

“I don’t know how long I’m gonna be here for, Zakhi. But my place in life is wit’ Jack… and Riddick. Maybe one day I can come home. But not yet.”

Zakhi’s jaw tightened and he nodded slowly. And when he finally sighed, I felt the tension in my body leave.

“Can we have the day?” he asked and I nodded slightly.

“Yeah - ‘sides. There’s someone I know you’re gonna wanna catch up wit’,” I said, and Riddick snorted.

I glanced over at him, and he shrugged as we turned to head back to Imam’s. While the hurt was still there, it was less than it had been when I had first woken up. And as I watched him roll a shoulder that was black and blue, I let go of any remaining animosity I had towards him. He’d let me kick his ass last night - and although he said it was for Jack, I had the feeling it had been for me too.

And when I saw him tilt his head slightly to look at me, I nodded in understanding. Jack was the bridge between us. And I was ok with that. And when he nodded in return, I knew he had similar thoughts. And that was ok too. Maybe we were alike. And maybe - just maybe - we could forge our own ground together. Time would tell.