[8] The Survivors

[Kaden]

"Read this," Piper said as she extended a piece of paper over her shoulder. "We just got a personal invite from the man himself.

"Of course we did," Kaden mumbled as he took the scrap from Piper.

His eyes swept across the driving directions, uninterested in how they were getting to their destination. Flipping the paper over, Kaden scowled at the note. The smugness... the sheer arrogance was infuriating. The note had been neatly penned and Kai's signature was elegantly scrawled across the bottom. With a frustrated sigh, Kaden extended the note to Sophia, who scanned it with similar results.

Fatigue was once again catching up to the courier. Battling for his life had almost been a blessing; it seemed that the only thing that could lift the hazy veil of fatigue were the explosions and coursing adrenaline of combat. Once they were gone, a dreary fog settled upon Kaden's mind once more. At that point, the courier wasn't sure which he actually hated more: people trying to kill him or being so tired, hungry, thirsty, and drained that he felt like dying would simply be the easiest thing to do.

Placing his elbows on his knees, Kaden buried his face in his hands and let his mind wander where ever it might, he didn't care. The courier's eyes drifted around the floor of their vehicle, eventually settling upon Sophia's legs and lingering for a moment before drifting back to himself. He frowned as he saw the flecks of blood that dotted his jeans. Trisha's blood. He could still feel the warmth of it as it splashed against his chest.

Despite the repulsiveness of it, Kaden found something comforting in the warmth of her blood. It wasn't a sadistic or barbaristic thing, but that even if only in a literal sense, there had been the warmth inside Trisha that he was looking for...

Kaden began laughing. He was losing it. Reading meaning into blood... his mind was having an even harder time functioning properly than he thought it would, but maybe that only stood to reason. With a sad smile, the courier lifted his head and found himself returning Sophia's gaze. The priestess had been considering Kaden with a tilted head.

"Are you... ok, Kaden?" Sophia asked such a simple question, but one that carried more meaning that she could ever...

"Heheheh," there he went again. "I've certainly been better," Kaden waved a hand across his torso, drawing attention to the vomit and sweat and blood that covered his jacket and shirt. "But yeah, I'm ok."

"Alright," Sophia eyed him suspiciously. "If you say so."

Leaning back, Kaden let his head thump lightly against the wall of their transport vehicle. He could feel the sun's wamrth radiating through the vehicle. If he had been just about anywhere else, he would have simply closed his eyes and let the wamrth blanket him as he drifted to sleep. That, however, wasn't an option right then and there.

"Hey..." Kaden's head rocked forward and tilted toward Sophia. "I'm..."

"What?" Sophia leaned forward as she watched Kaden's mouth move. The noise of their vehicle had drowned out whatever he had to say.

"Ahem," Kaden cleared his throat, but again his voice was lost against the creaking and groaning of their transport. Sophia shooke her head and raised a hand to her ear in response. "I'm sorry!" the courier all-but screamed at his ally.

Sophia recoiled backward in surprise. Piper's eyes snapped to her rearview mirror. Kaden ran a hand through his hair and pretended he wasn't blushing. Ignoring the flecks of vomit and blood that dotted his hand as he pulled it from his hair, Kaden cleared his throat once more and regarded Sophia with his eyes.

"Back there, with Trisha, I... I'm sorry about some of the things I said. When I said I would... 'stop' you two from doing anything to Trisha. I... I didn't mean it..." The courier let his voice trail off as his eyes dropped towards his feet.

"Of course you did," came Piper's voice from the front seat. "You don't really expect us to believe that you're ok with killing as long as one of us does it, do you?"

"I..." Kaden's eyes settled upon the back of Piper's head. "Well... you're right. I would have tried to stop you. But what I meant was that I wouldn't... I don't want to hurt either of you. And I feel like that's all I've done."

Inwardly, Kaden cringed at his own words. His pessimism, something he often dismissed as simply being realistic, was something he usually kept to himself. Well rested, even poorly rested, the courier would never voice his doubts and concerns so casually; unfortunately, Kaden was several steps beyond "poorly rested" at that point.

"Kaden..." Sophia reached out and set a hand on the courier's knee. "You haven't hurt us. Not even close."

"Not yet..." the courier mumbled. "But I just... I'm... I don't know how to do stuff like this. I... I don't have any idea what I'm doing out here..."

"And you think we do?" Sophia smiled at the courier.

"We're all just doing what we have to do," Piper added. "And right now we just need to focus on getting to Kai, right?"

"Yeah. That's one of the things I'm worried about," Kaden frowned. "How many people do you think are going to be after him? I... doubt I could keep everyone from killing him." Frustration filled Kaden's voice. "We started this with Szar, and it's not fair to him -- it's not fair to Kai -- if we don't finish it."

"Fair to Kai?" Sophia withdrew her hand and cocked and furrowed her brow at Kaden. "You're worried about what's fair to Kai?"

"Well, yeah." Kaden seemed almost confused at Sophia's question. "Think of the hell he's put us through. He did whatever he wanted. If we turn around and do the same thing, we're no better than he is."

Sophia leaned back and considered Kaden's words. It looked as though the priestess had something else to say, but either Kaden was misinterpreting her body-language, which was more than likely, or she held her tongue

"Before we worry about Kai, we have to worry about how we're getting to him," Piper reminded them.

"... I'm sorry about that, too."

"Kaden!" Piper barked at her companion. The two locked eyes through the rearview mirror. When the medic spoke again, her voice was surprisingly soft. "Stop blaming yourself."

"But if I had just--"

"What? Saw the trained sniper? Caught his bullet his bullet and saved Trisha? Magically known where her emblem was?" Again the medic's words were harsh, but her tone was not. "You did everything you could. We all did. If we spend what little time we have worry about what 'could' have been and what we 'should' have done, we'll go insane."

Even if the eagle emblem hadn't been destroyed in the blast that seemed to have killed Trisha, or in the blast that destroyed the mall she had been in, it was sitting beneath a pile of rubble that would take months to sift through.

Sophia nodded. "What we need to do now is figure out what to do without that emblem thing. Heh, you could probably just blast down anything in our way, huh?" the priestess asked jokingly.

Though Kaden appreciated the attempt at humor, the comment spread a frown across his face. Sophia had touched upon something that had been bothering Kaden since Kai's little game had become. He didn't dare voice such a concern, and he had only just realized it existed, but it was very present. Shaking his head, Kaden smiled at Sophia and pretended to chuckle.

An awkward silence filled the transport and Kaden had to resist the urge to apologize for setting such a somber atmosphere. He leaned his head against the wall of the vehicle and once more enjoyed the faint warmth of the sun. The courier pushed away his concerns and doubts, if only for a moment, to enjoy the warm feeling. A smile crossed his face as sleep finally claimed him.

"--den..."

The voice was faint.

"Kaden..."

The courier tried to mumble something in response, but it probably didn't come out as more than a grunt.

"Kaden!"

Finally the courier's eyes snapped open. He found himself staring at Sophia, who was shaking him by the shoulders. When he finally blinked in response to his name, the priestess stepped away from him, crouching in the back of the transport, and motioned for him to follow. Kaden slipped out of his seat and watched as Sophia hopped out of the back of the vehicle.

As Kaden hopped out behind her, he was interested to see that their car seemed to be stopped in the middle of a four-lane road in the middle of nowhere. Just about as far as Kaden could see, they were surrounded by surprisingly lush, grassy plains. The view was obscured only by the occasional tree. As Kaden rounded the transport, however, something entirely different met his eyes.

"You snore," Piper teased as Kaden approached his comrades.

"I do not," the courier responded, ingidnantly.

"Oh?" Piper turned to Sophia.

"It was pretty funny," the priestess confirmed.

"Yeah, well, I try." Kaden shot a mock glare at Piper and Sophia before turning the to obstance in front of them.

The road led straight into a tunnel -- or what should have been a tunnel -- that seemed to lead through a single mountain. Instead of a tunnel, however, Piper, Sophia, and Kaden were met by a massive slab of rock. The stone didn't match the rest of the mountain and it seemed split down the middle. On the side of the road, not far from where Piper had parked, was a small pedistal.

Sophia and Piper wandered toward the pedestal while Kaden surveyed the door. Despite his previous concerns, the courier had entertained Sophia's notion of him being able to punch a hole through whatever was in their way. Even if he could Unlock his ki again, though, he doubted he would be able to blow a hole through what amounted to a mountain-side. Giving up on that idea, Kaden joined Piper and Sophia.

The pedestal that they were standing at bore three rounded indentations. In these indentations were intricate carvings of three animals. One was obviously a snake, one looked like a dinosaur of some kind, and the other looked like a bird of prey in mid-dive. Kaden found himself glaring down at the carving as it taunted him. Letting out a frustrated breath, Kaden turned and started back towards their vehicle. The sun's rays were enough that Kaden pulled off his jacket as he approached the still-ajar back door.

Tossing in his jacket, Kaden was about to close up the car when a dull thud stayed his hand. The courier's eyes snapped to his jacket, the source of the sound. Blinking, Kaden nodded as he remembered that he had put Trisha's dagger in his jacket... the dagger that Piper still had. Tilting his head, the courier reached out and plucked up his jacket once more.

Now that he was in a position to scrutize it, it was obvious that there was something in pocket of his jacket. Reaching in, Kaden's hand withdrew a small blue orb. Kaden spent several seconds simply staring at it before he returned it to his jacket pocket. The courier was too dumbfounded to even muss his hair. Instead, he reached into his jacket one more time and withdrew the orb. There was no doubt, the stylized eagle etched inside the orb matched the one on the pedestal.

With a laughter that bordered on an insane cackle, Kaden slung his jacket over his shoulder and walked back to Piper and Sophia. Without saying a word, Kaden stepped between the two women, up to the pedestal, and set the Eagle Emblem in the appropriate indentation. The orb flashed as it settled into the stone.

"Wha..." Sophia turned to Kaden.

"... Is that?" Piper followed Sophia's example.

Kaden turned to his partners with a wide grin on his face. Maybe it was the few minutes of sleep he got, or maybe it was the tiny triumph that they thought had slipped through his fingers, or maybe it was the thought that Trisha actually had helped them. Whatever it was, Kaden felt a rush of... well... as close to euphoria as he had felt in a long time.

"Maybe things are actually starting to look up," Kaden said, trying to sound hopeful.

"Yeah," Piper replied. "I'm sure it'll be nothing but smooth sailing from here on."

Despite the medic's sarcasm, Kaden knew it was foolish to actually expect anything to get easier. While it would be nice, they were inching thier way closer to the mastermind behind all of this with every step they took. Whatever he had in store for them, it would probably be worse than anything else they had faced up to that point. They needed to be ready for it.