Kinson arrived at the BPI a few minutes early. He assumed he was supposed to feel a little nervous, returning to the place he was kidnapped and all, but nothing assaulted his senses but regret. Regret at not getting a good night's sleep. Fortunately, that was something he was used to, as nightmares often kept him up all night.
When he walked through the door into the office, the first one to greet him was Kael. She sat in one of the office chairs, idly spinning, but jumped up to greet him.
"Kinson! You're alright!" she exclaimed in relief.
He blinked at her uncharacteristic friendliness. "Uh, yeah, I guess."
"Thank goodness. It's only been a day or two, but it's felt like a lifetime," she said, "first the deathdream, then pirates."
"Yeah, it's been crazy. I heard you've been awfully worried," he teased.
"What? Of course not. Who'd care about a little thing like that?" she scowled and turned away, but still failed to hide her red tinted face.
Kinson smiled, but decided to let her go. He sat down in one of the chairs and faced her.
"I ended up walking in that deathdream, and learned some crazy things. You've done that too, right? What was your dream like?" he asked seriously.
Kael turned to him with a small frown, but said, hesitantly, "Honestly, I don't like to talk about it much. Like you, though, I did it by accident. My older brother, Jerom, was in the military. I was only 9 at the time, and didn't really understand what was happening. Father said he saved a lot of people, but that he wouldn't be coming home for a while. I thought my brother… hated… me, and didn't want to see me anymore. We had been very close, before… he left."
Kinson simply listened to the jumble of her story. Kael's voice was soft and hesitant, and her eyes distant. It reminded him of himself whenever he recalled the events on Mars.
"What I didn't know was that his body had already been brought back, and was being prepared for burial that day. There had been a private viewing, in the basement. My father didn't tell me the truth for years, but… I already knew," Kael said sadly.
"You saw his deathdream?" Kinson asked gently.
Kael nodded lightly and gazed at him, her eyes glistening with tears. "That was the night I awakened my ability. I sat on his bed, one which would never again know his warmth, and cried myself to sleep. When I opened my eyes, I was on a large military vessel. I was lost in a cold, white hallway while alarms blared. Armed soldiers ran by me going both ways, but none stopped to help me. Then, firm hands reached out and gently wrapped around me. It was him."
A figure appeared behind Kael, entering the room from the door. Kinson looked up and saw Andres's gentle face. Andres held a finger to his lips, motioning to Kael. The girl had paused her story, lost in memory. A single tear gathered on her cheek, ready to fall. Kinson unconsciously reached forward and brushed it away with his finger.
Kael blinked in shock and her hand flew to her face, A faint blush splashed upon her cheeks.
"Oh, sorry, I just… forgot where I was," she mumbled, looking away.
"Don't worry about it. What happened next?" Kinson prompted her.
"Jerom didn't recognize me, no matter how much I said. He thought I was a lost crew member's daughter or something, confused in the attack. The way he carried me was the same though. It was the last time he would ever do so. As he carried me through the hallways, we ran across other children as well. He gathered them up and escorted us to the crew's quarters, where several adults took over. However, as Jerom ran off, a breaching craft hit the ship, forcing its way through the armor and wall right behind him."
Kinson nodded. From what he had studied, a breaching craft was like an enormous bullet, packed full of soldiers. Ships would fire them at each other at close range to land boarding parties and sow chaos onboard the enemy vessel. The military basically never used them as the chances of survival were minimal at best.
"Enemy soldiers poured out of the craft and fired into the crowd of civilians. Bullets flew around me, but somehow, none hit me. My brother rushed back towards us and began to shoot, yelling at us to take cover. I was paralyzed though, and could only stand and watch in horror. Jerom fought bravely, to the very end. He held off the dozen or so boarders by himself until help arrived. He was like a god, standing in front of me, taking the bullets meant for me with his own body. When reinforcements arrived, he continued to stand tall, squeezing the trigger despite having run out of ammo. Only after the enemy had all been defeated did he finally fall," Kael's voice was a whisper at this point. She scrubbed her face with her sleeve, wiping away tears.
Kinson put a hand on her knee and squeezed gently. "It's okay. I know what happened next."
"No!" Kael burst out crying, "you don't! I cradled his broken body in my arms and listened to his final breaths. Blood soaked me. HIS blood. He told me I looked like his sister. He wished he could have hugged me one last time. I tried to tell him he was, but nothing came out. When he closed his eyes for the last time and took a final, ragged breath, I felt broken inside. The darkness that followed as the deathdream dissolved matched what I felt on the inside."
Andres took a seat beside Kinson. They both looked intently at Kael, waiting for her to regain composure. When she spoke again, her voice was calm, and her eyes were clear.
"But that still wasn't the end. I floated in the darkness for some time before light appeared before me. It was Jerom's soul, or at least, a part of it. This time, I knew it was really him. He disappeared only a few seconds later, with only enough time to say one thing," Kael's eyes were firm and steady as she talked. "He said he would have taken a thousand more bullets if it had stopped even one from hitting me."
With that, Kael finally went silent and wiped her eyes again. Kinson sat back, digesting her story. The formula matched very closely with his own, save Captain Ashton had more time than one sentence. Perhaps it was the difference in their soul's power?
"That's a story I haven't heard before," Andres said, stroking his chin. "Does that match your experience, Kinson?"
"Yeah," Kinson nodded, "pretty much to a T. I think it's especially weird that a deathdreamer gets placed in the context of the dream, even wearing different clothes."
"Ah! Andres! When did you get here?" Kael exclaimed and covered her face, embarrassed.
"Oh, stop that. I've been emotional at least once before… I think," Andres added after a moment of uncertainty.
"Kinson coughed. "Yeah, I also spoke with the protagonist of my dream in that dark space," he brought them back on topic.
"Then why did… Never mind," Kael shook her head. "I can't share that."
"You can't do that!" Kinson said in mock anger. "You can't start and then not share."
"It's alright," Andres placed a hand on his shoulder. "She's thinking of Orion. I mentioned before that he never recorded any of his experiences, but that wasn't strictly true."
Kinson blinked. Who was Orion again?
"I visited him shortly before coming here from Luna, and he told me his story. It wasn't a big deal, but he asked me not to speak about it. Just know that in his, uh, soul space, there wasn't a soul he met. The dream just faded out after a while," Kael explained.
"Oh! That's the guy in the portrait!" Kinson suddenly exclaimed.
"Uh, yeah, that one, He's Orion. ," Andres gave him a thumbs up.
"What about Orion?" A sour voice entered the room, followed by a frowning Luthier. "Oh, it's you," he said after glancing at Kinson.
"We were simply discussing some of the similarities between the deathdream they experienced," Andres said as he gestured to Kinson and Kael.
"I still can't believe a guy like you survived. Not even he could!" Luthier scowled at Kinson.
"Who?" Kinson looked at Andres in confusion. Andres only shrugged.
"He's talking about Phil, another death dreamer," Kael then glared at Luthier. "But he doesn't have anything to do with Kinson!"
Luthier huffed in anger, but turned and entered the Isolation Chamber. "I'll be doing some real research now," he said with a meaningful look at Kinson.
As he retreated, Kinson found himself looking at the ceiling. The whole mood had been destroyed.
"What's his problem," he muttered.
Andres sighed, a long, drawn out breath. "He's got all sorts of ambition, and arrogance to match it. Most of his issues are private, so I won't go into them, but he sees you as a target for his frustration. An embodiment of them, if you would."
"He's just a big jerk," Kael frowned towards the isolation chamber.
"I thought you two were closer than that," Kinson looked at her sideways.
"Well, I hadn't met him much before you. His power isn't something to scoff at, and he's got the experience. But, his personality is just awful," Kael explained with feeling.
A sudden cough behind them interrupted their gossip. Turning, Kinson jumped as he found Griffon standing at his shoulder.
"Hey! Why do you always sneak up on me?" he cried, startled.
"Huh? Probably because it's easy," Griffon grinned.
Kael laughed, and the dark mood finally dissipated. Griffon rolled a chair over and sat down, the chair groaning in protest over his large frame.
"So, I heard from Winston you wanted to learn how to fight," Griffon said with a gleam in his eye.
"Fighting? Why do something awful like that?" Kael asked, sounding shocked. "It's not like you wanted those things to happen."
Kinson nodded emphatically. "But, they happened anyway. I'm beginning to see that I can't always trust myself to fate and hope everything will be alright. I've been bullied left and right ever since coming to this place. First in the deathdream, then by the pirate. I'm kind of sick of it. Where's that guy at? He said he would train me"
Griffon chuckled at his outburst. "Winston's busy today, probably trying to find out how that pirate kidnapped you two under our noses. He asked me to give you a few things to work on."
Andres stood up, pulling Kael along with him. "Let's leave these meat heads to it. I'd like to go over some new Death Dream studies we've received from Terra."
"Okay, I'm coming. But be careful," she looked at Kinson with concern.
"Relax, it's literally Griffon. He fried three pirates to keep me safe," Kinson said confidently.
Griffon coughed. "Only half fried the last one…" he said regretfully. "Come, let's go to one of the training rooms. I already received permission for use."
Kinson followed the ex soldier out the door with a wave to Kael and Andres. "See ya later!"