Chapter 8: Lover's Loss

By  Kim Wild

 


Kim gazed up at the bottomless sky as tears of anger welled up in her
eyes. As she continued to stare aimlessly at the stars, the Dragoon
Constellation began to disappear before her, stripping away Kim's final
glimmer of hope from her grasp.

"Kain..." she whispered softly, the tears of anguish beginning to
stream down her flushed cheeks. The depths of despair were now
beginning to overcome her as she sat down slowly onto the bare ground.
Her love Kain had been taken away from her, and there was nothing she
could do. And that hurt more than anything in the world. The thought
of Kain absent from her life ripped her heart into shreds and made
life seem all the more unbearable. Life without Kain wasn't a life
anymore - it was a torture which the worst words in the world couldn't
possibly describe. It was her biggest fear, more than dying, and now
she felt that it had finally been realized. Kim felt that the worst
nightmare woud not hurt as much as living without Kain forevermore.

Kim gazed absently into space and sighed in dismay. Her life was not
the same anymore, she wanted to be with him every minute of the day
and the thought of not being able to see him again hurt her more than
she thought it would. It was too late to tell him how much she loved
him, now he had been taken mercilessly away from her. What if - no, she
couldn't bear to think of it. But if Kain was dead as she had begun to
believe, then everything will have been in vain and she would never would
have the opportunity to apologize for everything.

Jason slowly walked behind Kim and sat down beside her, his eyes flushed
with tears.

"Everything will be alright, I know it will."

Kim looked at Jason, her eyes glistening with sorrow that it pained Jason
to look into them. "Will it? I have lost the most important person in my
life. Right now, nothing seems to matter anymore."

"Tseng said that Kain is still alive. There is still hope."

Kim shook her head. "We both saw what happened. It is impossible that he
could have survived that. And, besides, the Dragoon Constellation has
disappeared. Something must have happened to him and I can't help but
think the worst. I have lost him forever."

She gazed at the ground, trying to keep back the tears.

"That doesn't mean he is dead," tried Jason reassuredly.

"It's just.....I will never have the chance to........" she burst into
tears and began to shake uncontrollably. "I could have saved him."

"NO!" said Jason angrily. "It wasn't your fault. It was TuMaHuB that
killed him, not you. There was nothing you could have done."

"It is!!!" wailed Kim. "I should have helped him. Now it is too late
and I'll never get the chance to apologize for what I have done!"

Kim began to cry again and Jason put his arm around her shoulder.

"You haven't done anything wrong."

Kim sighed.

"You don't understand. All these years I have been working with him
and I have belittled him for believing in Relm. I have been cruel and
heartless and now I will never get the chance to tell him so."

Jason stood up. "So you are going to give up? Would Kain want you to
give up?"

"No."

"Then continue the fight," pleaded Jason. "We can't let them get away
with what they did to Relm or Kain. And besides.....I have this feeling
that Kain is still alive."

Kim looked up at him, a glimmr of hope shining back into her crystal
blue eyes. "Do you really think so?"

Jason smiled. "There is only one way to find out."

Kim stood. "You're right. I have to try and get him back. After all,
Kain wouldn't want me to give up on him."

Jason turned to go but Kim stopped him.

"But first, I want to pay my respects to Relm."

Jason tried his best not to smile at this. "I thought you didn't believe
in the existance of Relm?"

Kim shrugged. "After all I have seen, I don't know what I believe anymore.
But I do know that a girl has been heartlessly murdered and no one deserves
that."

Jason nodded, the tears beginning to well up again, clogging up his
throat. "Right. I'll take you to her."

The two began to walk slowly up to where he had left Relm, but a nasty
surprise was to await them.

======

Greg stared worriedly in front of him. Jason and Kim had been gone far too
long and he was extremely worried something had gone wrong. Greg tried to
stand up, but a creasing knife pain shot up his leg so he had to sit down
again. He touched his leg gingerly, every movement causing him great agony.

Greg sighed. "Fat lot of good I am now. And besides, Alli and I won't be
able to-"

"Don't say it!" said Cherabue. Greg chuckled.

"I see you are returning to the land of the living," said Greg, smiling.

"Good job too, otherwise I would have had to hear all the details of
what you and Alli can't do."

Greg opened his mouth but Cherubae continued. "And right now, that is
the last thing anyone needs."

Greg smiled evilly. "Are you sure you don't want to know about the
time I-"

"NO!"

"Aww, you're no fun."

Cherubae sat up slowly, her head banging repeatedly. "What the hell
hit me?"

"An icecube," Greg smiled. Cherubae stared at him in disbelief.

"What a way to go."

She stood up. "Well, what are we waiting for? Where are the others?"

"I can't walk," said Greg impatiently. "I think I may have broken my
leg or something."

Cherubae knelt down and inspected his leg. "I don't think it's broken.
But it would probably need lots of rest."

Greg groaned. "Like I have the time for that."

"Come on," she put her arm around his shoulder and lifted him up to
his feet.

"Let's see if we can find the others."

As they turned around to leave the room, a hissing noise echoed around
the room menacingly. They both looked at each other in fear.

"WTF?"

Cherubae turned around to see the Relm clones advancing toward them.

Oh shit...

======

Craxton continued to fly into the distance in search of his good friend.
Now that FuSoYa was gone, he needed someone to help him get FuSoYa back
and help Relm. The question was whether he would be in time.

Craxton finally landed at the entrance of a nearby cave. The prospect
of entering was not pleasant as the place had a smell of fear and death.
But this was the only way he could help FuSoYa and Relm and put an end to
their suffering.

He advanced through the dingy and dismal cave. The interior of the cave
was barely lit and it was a struggle for him to see where he was heading.

"I hope he is here," Craxton thought aloud. "Otherwise we are all
doomed, especially Relm."

The cave was beginning to get narrow so he had to crawl along now like
a newborn baby.


"He must be here some-AHHHH!" He screamed as a group of bats hurled
themselves at him before flying off into the distance. His heart was
now pounding constantly and the sweat was beginning to form on his
otherwise cool features. Suddenly the ground began to shake and a
booming voice echoed around the chamber.

"WHO DARES ENTER MY CHAMBER?!"

"It's me, Craxton!" shouted Craxton. "I need your help!"

The ground stopped shaking and a dark figure appeared at the end of the
tunnel.

"Long time no see, my friend," said the hooded one kindly. "Come, tell
me what it is you need..."

And with that, Craxton advanced slowly toward the menacing figure.

======

Darkness all around him and then suddenly bright lights.....

Josh woke up to find himself on a table in a small badly lit room. There
were a few candles on the walls and it had a chemical smell to it, as if
some kind of experiment had been conducted there. The room reminded him of
a place he knew, but he couldn't quite place his finger on it. However, a
figure advanced toward him which he would recognize anywhere.

"Hi Josh. How is the head?" asked Rude as he stepped up into his view.

"YOU!" Josh cried as he tried to get off the table. Unfortunately, his
arms and legs were strapped to the table so he was unable to move. His
head was still swimming from the chemicals he had been exposed to earlier
on the handkerchief.

"You don't seem very pleased to see me," said Rude grinning evilly.
"Is that any way to treat such a friend?"

Josh glared at him, trying to slip out of the ropes. "Why are doing
this?"

"You are getting in the way, just like all your other friends. We
wouldn't want any of our plans to go wrong, now would we?"

Josh spat in his face. Rude wiped his hand across his face in disgust.

"I am afraid I can't let you get any with behavior like that." He opened
the nearby drawer and took out a syringe. Josh's eyes opened wide with
fear as Rude placed the needle into Josh's arm.

"Sweet dreams Josh, sweet dreams....."

======

"She's gone!"

"WHAT!" cried Kim.

"I don't believe it!" cried Jason in anger. "She is dead for goodness
sake! Why the hell do they want her body!?"

In the distance, a lone figure dressed in black, was watching them,
waiting for his next move.

======

"Ow, my head," sighed Rachel as she opened her eyes. Next to her was
Small Girl and in front was a shiny piece of metal glistening in the
light.

"No.....it can't be.....Kain's lance??"

She walked over to it and picked it up carefully with her hands.

======

Linda, Bob, Atma and Omatu finally managed to finish off the last of the
soldiers.

"Phew!" sighed Linda, wiping her arm across her forehead. "That was sure
tough." Everyone looked really tired. Even Atma was beginning to feel the
strain of it all.

"I say we find the others and get the fuck out of here," said Atma.

The others nodded and they walked into the next room to see Slipgate,
Unright and Mary lying on the floor.

"MARY!" Linda rushed over to Mary and tried to help her off the floor. "Are
you alright?"

"MUMNFHFHKFDGHGG" said Mary in exparation. She pointed to her mouth and then
smiled to reveal that most of her teeth at the front of her mouth had been
knocked out.

Linda winced. "That looks nasty."

Mary nodded.

Bob and Omatu were trying to wake Slipgate up. After many attempts, they
succeeded, but Slipgate was very weak from the battle and had problems
finding the strength to talk.

"What happened here?" asked Atma, looking at the other two bodies.

"It's.....a......long.....story," panted Slipgate painfully. Atma shrugged.

"I don't know about you but I could do with a drink" said Omatu. "I'm
parched."

"But what about Relm?" asked Bob worriedly. "She needs our help. That is
why we are here."

"Relm......is......." started Slipgate, struggling to get the words out,
"dead....."

The color drained from Linda's and Bob's face as they stared at him in
disbelief.

Dead?

"That must be some sort of mistake!" cried Linda. "She can't be!"

"I felt her die," stuttered Slipgate wearily. "We are too late. We failed."

"No" said Bob with determination. "The fight has only just begun!"