Lunars of the Caribbean

Time For Goodbyes (36)

Kai gaped at the figure with tears brimming in his eyes. He stared at the wound his father now possessed, uncomprehending and afraid. "Father?" he questioned, partly wheezing.

The man turned to his son, and his eyes brightened with joy. "Kaito," he sighed in relief. "You're alive."

Kai couldn't understand what was happening to him. But everyone around him did. Crescent gave Kai an expression of pity, while Thorne was discouraged and held back words he could have said.

Scarlet couldn't look. Wolf gave her some comfort, lending her his arm to latch onto. Cinder suspected it was the loss of her own loved one that made her sympathize with Kai's situation.

Cinder knew that's what she was currently feeling.

Linh Gareth and Peony were her family, and losing them took a piece of her heart and tossed it into their graves. To her, Gareth had been her father, and Peony her sister. Her family.

Losing a father, it was an unimaginable pain. Well, until one experienced it first hand.

And that was what Kai was experiencing at this very moment. The loss of a father. A mentor, a loved one. His heart was fracturing into dozens of pieces, giving him a pain in his chest that would never truly leave.

"But-" Kai stammered. "You can't - Y-you can't be ... dead. You were there. You were there, at home when I left!"

"One of Levana's henchmen killed me. Stabbed me with my own letter opener," Rikan explained.

"Why?" he asked, his voice cracking with tears in his eyes. "You- you did nothing wrong!"

"Yes I did," his father countered. "After you left, I began drafting a letter to the King. Telling him we needed military aid to stop Levana. And ... to keep her from marrying you."

Rikan reached out to his son, bit his hand simply went through his son's flesh. The sensation Kai received from it made him shutter and his teeth chatter. The ghost silently repented for causing his son harm.

Rather than reach for him again, he placed his hand over his heart. "I'm glad you're safe now, Kaito. I could never forgive myself if any harm came to you."

Kai was sobbing, his face a canvas of despair. Yet, Cinder couldn't help but thing that Kai going back to Port Royal and finding his father dead there would have been different. In the presence of Levana and her goons, he would show nothing but strength. Not a sliver shy of courageous.

He would have masked everything he felt for the sake of the people of Port Royal, and to hide any weakness from Levana. Giving her nothing to exploit. All while he was dying inside.

Turning from his son, Rikan addressed Cinder, the only other person in the room he knew personally. "Please, keep him safe."

Gravely, Cinder responded, "You have my word."

Satisfied, Rikan took on last look at his son. "I'll give your love to your mother." And in a puff of green smoke, Rikan dissolved, and became a ghost. To the world, and to Kai, his only child.

The ritual continued, and Cinder was revolted at the lack of sympathy. "This is enough!" she shouted, slamming her hands down on the table. "He is loyal to your cause, and through your misplaced mistrust, Kai's now been traumatized!Doesn't that prove his resolve to help us!"

"We must continue," Winter said in her deep toned voice. Her eyes were still glossy green. "Calypso commands it."

"Well if Calypso is such an all seeing goddess like everyone claims, maybe she should get it through her thick skull that Kai is-"