A Ghost From the Past

[Kimiko Taiyou]

The addressed teen eagerly responded,"Hi papa! We missed you immensely! You've missed a lot, we met a whole planet of people like momma!"

Ki smiled softly as the young woman spoke to Nate as if no time had passed. it warmed her to witness, although the weighing atmosphere fought it's way back soon.

The white-maned woman sighed, though not maliciously, and embraced her adopted daughter into her lap,"It has only been two years Nate, but so much has happened, it's seems like longer." she looked him dead in the eyes,"I am sorry for disappearing like I did. I know it won't be forgiven easily."

Her facade quickly crumbled and she averted her eyes which had begun to fill with tears...

[member="Nate Phantoms"] [member="Dax Fyre"]

 

[Nate Phantoms]

Something flickered inside of him for the girl, his fatherly instinct putting a small smirk on his face, if only for a short while. However, as much love as he had for the two, he couldn't control the feelings stirring within him, resent, anger, and most of all, pain.

"You can tell me allllll about it once I get home dear, okay?" Clearing his throat his gaze bore into, his former wife's, even as hers were looking elsewhere. Tears were seen, yet they were all but completely dismissed. "But first your father has to talk to mama privately alright?"

Clenching his jaw, he waited for his daughter to vacate the lap of the woman, before speaking quickly, his anger beginning to bubble. "You disappearing isn't what I'm worried about Ki, what I'm worried about is how in all that time, -granted you were busy- you managed to find your home planet, get together with my best friend, but not once come find me?"

Internally, his calmer side screamed at him to reel it in, to not blow up, to stay silent as he always had. But that wouldn't be the case this time. Nor ever again. Hardly pausing, he spun on his heel, his fist underneath his chin as he spoke.

"Do you remember the night you confessed your love to me Ki?" Turning to look at her over his shoulder, the flames died within his eyes as sadness tore through him for saying What he was, but it was necessary. "You made me promise I'd never leave you or do anything to get myself killed" he held out his hands, his voice softening. "Well here I am, I've done just as you asked."

[member="Dax Fyre"] | [member="Kimiko"]

 

[Dax Perl]

The words that Nate spoke echoed in the empty bridge, in Dax's ears. They made him wince, knowing how much the situation hurt them. If he'd have known this would have happened, he would've never kissed Ki, never asked her to be his. But that was a lie wasn't it? In the back of Dax's mind, he knew Nate would've returned, just like he always did. He should've known. And now, all he could do now was watch the fallout of his actions unfold.

[member="Nate Phantoms"] | [member="Kimiko"]

 

[Kimiko Taiyou]

Kimiko cringed at the words, they were harsh, but she deserved to hear them. Her eyes averted downwards and ears flattened against her head and she swallowed hard before speaking in a low but stiff tone,"We agreed to those terms together, so I could say the same for you and Dax to a lesser extent. We separated from the Galaxy Nate, and upon return, he was all I found that was still the same...mostly." Ki's eyes looked at the hologram though her head remained lowered.

The next words came out with unintentional venom in her voice, the emotions boiling to a point far to gone too be reeled in,"I did ask about you, first thought when I saw Dax upon return. He then proceeded to pass information on what he had believed to be your demise...you know how hard that was too hear? From someone who had been there for both of us through thick and thin?" a pause to catch her breath apparently, as she hitched from the tears beginning to fall,"I didn't trust Dax after that revelation, not immediately. But he did work hard to help me reintegrate into the Galaxy...and...now here we are."

"I assume he is the one who found you?"

[member="Dax Fyre"] [member="Nate Phantoms"]

 

[Nate Phantoms]

The stiff reply matched his demeanor, his gaze still locked on her, never wavering. Blunt? Perhaps. Apathetic? Mostly. Unnecessary however? Not in the slightest. As always, he either spoke or stayed silent with purpose, everything being done for a reason. Either merely on instinct or driven by some other force. This instance was not the latter.

Even as the tears began to fall, he stayed unmoved. Tears were the body's reaction to emotional strain, to try and lessen the pain. Did it work? Occasionally, but he still deemed it an unnecessary action. She had spoke about forgiveness, which was a funny notion, as if he had any factor in her disappearance.

"Negative, I chased him down. I had no memory Kimiko, no recollection of anything. Not you. Not the kids. Not even myself. It was only after I confronted him did things start to come back together."

Blinking slowly, Dax's words reverberated inside his skull, remembering trying to play off his disbelief.


"Coincidentally, as soon as I realized who I left behind, I was told that in the eyes of everyone else, I was presumed dead and all but forgotten in turn."

Clenching his jaw, he shrugged, demeanor shifting slightly. Anger turned to dispassion, not for the speaker, but for the circumstance. It had only meant the world to him, even as it was a funny thing; to love what death could touch.

This was out of his control, and speaking his feelings never did any good so he had already prepared to move on, accepting the worst.

[member="Kimiko"] | [member="Dax Fyre"]

 

[Dax Perl]

If there was a way for Dax to fix all of this, he would've done it. As the voices around him rose and fell, he found his breathing rose and fell to match, holding it and exhaling as if it were a part of the conversation he was listening to, just as frantic and charged, but silent, voiceless, with no right to intervene. No right to exist. It would've certainly been better if he had been the one subjected to the Last King's mental onslaught, not Nate. Or maybe he should've died in that war that wasn't even his. Hell, the galaxy had thrown so many situations at him that should have ended with him dead, he really didn't have any right to continue existing. Omega, Jelucan, Shiva IV, Tatooine, Won Shasot. The list went on and on. And if had just bit bullet. Long before he and Nate had ever gone into exile, Nate would've never reached Won Shasot, never lost his memories, never lost Ki, or his family. Yeah. Better off dead...

[member="Nate Phantoms"] | [member="Kimiko"]