Chapter 3

"They aren't stupid enough to kill her." Kale was holding onto Elana tight, she was flying faster than he had ever seen before. He knew why though. As they approached the ship they both heard Reanna's thoughts. 'Get the fuck off me. You point the gun at my child one more time I swear I will kill you.' Kale pulled Elana in tighter, "calm down, you have to go in there level headed and blocked. You can't charge in there, they or it will kill everyone we hold dear." She didn't move she just kept her eyes on the ship lumbering in front of her. "Kale I love you dearly I really do. I want you to know and remember that. No matter what happens in there I want you to take care of our family. I'm not planning on getting killed but I have a feeling I'm not going to be around for a while." She allowed him to see inside her head, 'their leader is planning on taking me hostage to torture on their ship we just left. If it saves my family I will gladly do it. But if they hurt my children or my family in anyway they just lost the peace I was going to offer.' He focused his thoughts knowing she would hear them, 'Reanna, close off, we are coming, and by what Elana is thinking you may lose your wife tonight. Be careful and watch the kids.'

Rosie was docked and they were both on their feet moving toward Reanna's thoughts. She was on the main deck, as they approached the door Elana stopped, 'they are waiting to shoot me, they are right behind the door, there are at least 10 in there. Come with me.' She turned around and jumped into a tube next to kale. As he slid down next to her he saw into the main deck. She was right there were 11 Ariki on the deck; her whole family was in there. "Now little slut where is your wife?" Elana jerked her head to look at the one that spoke she knew that voice. "I don't know." Reanna was on her knees with her hands bound behind her. She was looking directly at the vent they were at. She had a black eye forming and Elana's temper flared.

"What the hell?" the voice she recognized had a name Elvic. A dark chapter in her past was again open in front of her. He couldn't focus on who it was because she was moving from one of his men to another so fast she looked like a blur. "Stop or I will kill your lovely slut." She stopped moving and looked back to him. Kale had slipped out of the tube during all the commotion and was untying Dezen and Olaf. "I remember you little girl, do you remember me?" he was gloating with his gun at Ilesa's head. "Easily forgotten, until I smelled your stench. Had to search my mind to find your pathetic ass. You couldn't even rape me properly. Some man you are, holding my family hostage. Not willing to take me on yourself?" His eyes deepened in their color and it was clear she had struck a nerve. His hand moved slightly and it fired, Reanna seemed to sprout wings and fly to her daughter. Ilesa was fine and Reanna looked back up to Elvic. Dezen and the others knew better than to try and get into one of her fights. They were loading the family into the tube while Elvic was distracted.

Soon all that was left of Elana's family were her wife and children. Elvic's men started to come around and sounded the alarm. "Elvic where is everyone else?" He looked around and for the first time in his life Nalcus disobeyed his mother. He jumped at Elvic and took the gun away from him. The man turned and went to hit the young boy and he held the gun up with his fingers on the trigger. "You not hurt us no more." His little fingers pulled as hard as they could and Elvic screamed in pain grabbing his shoulder. His men went for Elana "I will warn you know if you get any closer to me or my family I will not spare you as I have, you will die here." None of them seemed to care. They began their attack. Everyone knew she was an assign but this was a group attack, not a one on one. Elvic was under control and Reanna looked to her lover and saw the group of men moving onto her. She stayed back knowing not to interfere.

As she felt the men closing in on her she crouched down and leapt into the air. As she flew over their heads she kicked three and landing on another one. She snapped his left arm and slammed the bridge of his nose into his head killing him. She turned to see two coming at her. As they jumped she fell onto the dead man behind her and use her legs to vault them over her head into the wall. Reanna and the kids climbed into the tube and huddled with the rest of the family watching Elana fight the gruesome horde. Three more of the men charged her and one got her. He plowed in behind one of the others that were knocked away by her left hook. While she was distracted by on of the others he wrapped his arms around her upper body and squeezed. She screamed in pain as three of her ribs cracked. She pulled out the dagger she had in her sleeve and brought it across his throat. The two that had been kicked to the wall came back at her. She jumped into the air and spun hitting the first to the floor the second dodged and tackled her to the floor along side the two dead bodies. Her hand searched for the gun she knew was next to her as his hands tightened around her neck. She slammed the butt of the gun into his head and rolled out of reach. She stood and noticed the rest of the men weren't moving. 'What the hell?' She turned around and Elvic was back on his feet with what appeared to be a shotgun pointed at her. "And you think this will keep me from killing you?" she grinned slightly and pulled her dagger from it's sheath on her calf. A sadistic grin crept across his face and he pointed the gun to his left and fired. When she tracked into where he had fired she saw Kale and Reanna's lifeless bodies lying in the tube she had entered from. "I expect that you keep you from moving for a while."

"NO!" she looked back to Elvic but this time he could see her rage. Her eyes were no longer the calm green he had seen so many years ago, her eyes were aflame. Her burning red eyes pierced his mind and he heard her voice screaming in his head before he saw her on top of him. "I will kill you!" she picked him up off the floor and threw him into the wall where the view screen was. The screen cracked and shards of glass showered over him. His screams of pain were soon quieted when Elana kicked him to the chair in the center of the room. When he hit the raised step to the chair a sap was heard and it was clear that she had broken his back unfortunately for him he wasn't dead merely paralyzed. Tears were streaming down her face as she brought her dagger across his body sending his head rolling to the men left standing by the door. "Who's Next?!" her screams showed her rage her hands were dripping blood and she was heaving for air with her cracked ribs. All the men lifted their hands, surrendering to the young woman.

"Elana." she turned and had her stained dagger at Kale's neck, "Kale? I thought you were dead." She looked to the tube and Reanna still lay lifeless. "I'm fine." As he spoke she saw the blood oozing from his chest into his hand. "Reanna?" she slid to the tube and lifted her beloved's head. 'I'm... still... here... my love.' Elana lifted Reanna from the tube walked to Kale and put his arms around her neck. She ran for the Med-Bay on the other end of the ship praying she would be in time to save what little remained of her wife and best friend.

"Don't sugarcoat it Tolin." Elana was looking into the Med-Bay at her right. Kale and Reanna were laying on two tables, as she watched she saw both chests rising and falling. Knowing they were breathing eased her slightly. "And I know, Elana are you listening to me?" she looked back to Tolin and he saw that she was crying. "I'm sorry I was watching them breathe." He nodded and hugged her, he'd never even shook her hand before but for some reason it made her feel a bit better. "Kale will be fine in a few hours, he is just like you and can heal faster. But I'm not so sure about Reanna. She is a tough little cookie I'll give her that. With where she was shot she should be dead right now. I think you actually did it. I ran a scan on her and it seems someone else was healing her as you ran from the other side. I want you to know I am going to do everything I can here. And I want you to acknowledge this is not your fault. Ok?" she saw fear in his eyes for some reason and scanned him, 'I can't let them die. It would kill her. I can't lose her now I've only just gotten to know her. Damn it. They won't die.' She looked back to the bay and Kale was sitting up rubbing his ribcage where he had been shot. "Can I go in there?" He opened the door and motioned for her to follow. "Hey there." Kale held out his arms for a hug. When she felt his body against hers she felt his pain, 'I tried to get in front of her. I swear I did. Please don't be mad. I tried but I was to slow.' She looked up to his eyes when she felt water on her head. He was crying, she'd never seen him cry before. "I don't blame you at all." She looked over to Reanna who looked to be awake. She had tubes and machines plugged into her going every direction. Tears were streaming down her face before she had taken one step. "El," the voice was painful to hear, it was clear how much pain she was in, "this is not your fault and I love you." Elana bent in and kissed the pain-racked empress. She fled the room; Kale pulled on his clothes and went after her.

He found her in the hallway puking into a trashcan, "El, take it easy or you'll make yourself crazy." She looked up to him crying, "I'm already there, why bother being here if I can't protect the people that are closest to me?" Nalcus came running down the hallway clearly meaning to be in Elana's arms. "mommy, is mommy ok?" his little chest was heaving and his tears soaked the sleeve of his shirt. "she is hurt bad, but she is alive." His little face rumpled up and reddened. When this happened she lifted him from the floor and walked back to their chamber. She laid him in his bed and kissed his forehead, Ilesa was already asleep in her bed. She kissed her daughter and pulled the blankets up around her. As she turned to walk out Kale was in the doorway, "What do you need kale?" her voice was almost irritated. "Nothing, I am going to stay with you until Rea is out and can take care of you. I was there a few years back when you tried to kill yourself, I'm telling you now that's not happening again. Got it?" She tried to shove through him and he felt what she was going to do. "NO, I am not kidding about this Elana. You are not going to leave your wife and kids and hell the rest of us that care about you because you couldn't stop him in time. This is NOT your fault damn it look at me when I'm yelling at you." He gave a half grin hoping she heard the joke he had just tried to break the mood with. He felt her mood lighten for a moment then sink back down. She moved away from him and out into the main chamber. She fell to the floor and curled into a ball crying. Kale was walking to her when she moved and had a gun pointed at him, "Kale I love you, you know that but please let me go. They will be better off without a freak like me. Just fucking let me die." She put the gun to the side of her head and started to pull the trigger. The shot went off, Elana was staring at Kale with a hateful glare as her hand with the gun was pointed at the ceiling. "No, like I said you won't be dieing tonight ok?"

She pulled off all of her gear, all the weapons that were held in her sheeths were taken from her. Kale was standing at the door talking to Argus and Dezen. "I'll stay with her tonight you guys can take over tomorrow ok?" the two nodded and headed to the med-bay. When he turned around she was walking toward the bathroom in the back, nude. "what are you doing?" she looked in the mirror and saw he was behind her but not looking at her. "Making sure you stay alive to see your wife again." He was looking to the side but keeping her in his peripheral vision to be sure she was ok. "Why aren't you looking? If Argus were here he'd be looking. What makes you so much better that you don't look huh?" he heard pain in her voice but didn't know why. "Because I love you for who you are, not for your body. You are the best friend I've ever had and I'm not going to let flesh take away the trust I've worked for." She climbed into the shower and shut the glass door behind her.

Her head was against the wall of the shower when she heard the door open. Kale poked his head in and took the razor out then shut the door again. "I should kick your ass for treating me like a baby." He said nothing but flipped a towel over the top of the glass. "I'm not treating you like a baby I'm keeping you from making a huge mistake." He was sprawled out on the floor looking at the ceiling when she wondered back into the main room. "What are you doing you dork?" she sounded a little better. "Did you know how many weird things you can make by connecting the dots on your ceiling?" She said nothing but lay down next to him. When she did he smelled something on her that was not unusual in times of stress. "Where was the Alice?" he didn't move, he couldn't read anything off of her and it made him nervous. "Last time you were this drunk you wanted to try and have sex with me. Where is the bottle El?" She giggled and straddled him, she was still nude but had a towel between them, "Still not willing to have sex with me huh?" Her face betrayed how she truly felt. He slipped out from under her and lifted her to the bed. He put her under the blankets then pushed the bed against the wall to the corner. She fell asleep instantly, while she slept Kale put up a security system at the end of the bed and curled up at the side. 'If she gets off this bed I'll know it.'

When he woke she had climbed onto the floor and under the bed. 'She can be so weird sometimes. Ok let's get you out of there.' When Dezen walked in all he could see were Kale's legs sticking out from under the bed kicking. "Kale!" he went to help and he saw what kale was doing, "Why is she under there?" Kale simply shook his head and reached for her again. When she heard Dezen she awoke and kicked the hand reaching for her. "Damn it El. Take it easy." When she realized who it was she calmed down and crawled out. When Dezen saw what little she was wearing he looked to Kale with a questioning glare. She shook her head once and walked out. "Why is she naked?" he was clearly upset by her lack of clothing. "She took a shower last night got drunk form some Alice I have yet to find and passed out on the bed. I'm sorry but I didn't want to try and put clothing on her. First I don't know where any of their clothes are and it's hard to dress someone if you have your eyes shut." Dezen could feel Kale had tried not to look at her, and it wasn't because of a fear of being hurt for it, it was because he cared for her too much. "My shift then?" he held out a hand the Kale slapped and the change of guards was complete. At the touch Dezen felt the whole night, looking for the bottle and staying awake to hear her move. Acting like he was asleep as she climbed under the bed. Kale nodded and walked out visibly tired.

"Kale isn't babysitting today?" she was holding Ilesa with Nalcus close on her heels. "Nope, we are taking shifts. Where is the bottle?" she handed the children to the nanny and walked ofr the door. "Elana, I'm not kidding. Going to the bottle will not help anything. And you know it. Where is it?" she ripped her arm from his grasp and walked out. He followed her but said nothing more of the bottle. She didn't go near the Med-Bay the whole day. It was almost as if she thought Reanna would die if she did. "I'm beat." She laid her head down on the termanl in the elevator going down to the residential deck. "You need to eat little miss." Dezen put his around her and lifted her off the ground. "Dez put me down I can walk by myself you know." He said nothing but continued to walk. Soon she saw where they were going. Dezen put me down now, I can't go in there." She began to struggle as he walked closer to the door of the Med-Bay. "You need to see her and we both know it."

Reanna was still looking aweful with all the machines attached. As Dezen got closer she saw that a tube had been inserted into her throat. "Why?" she looked to Tolin already in tears. "She stopped breathing. She's doing much better now. This is going to be a very long road and she will need you. I was looking at the tape from yesterday and Kale might have saved her life. If he hadn't moved where he did her heart might have been hit rather than his lung." She said nothing but looked at her lover. She touched Reanna's hand sending loving thoughts before she gave up and had to leave.

"Where is she?" Kale pushed Alric into the wall his eyes aflame. "She knocked me out and I don't know where she went." Kale looked to the airlock next to him then ran for the docking bay. "Has Lady Elana wondered through here?!" Kale was looking to one of the men in the bay. He nodded and pointed to the door that was open showing the sleeping world below. He pulled on a helmet and went for his bike, "Bring her back you hear me?" Dezen was at the control room in the back watching. Before he headed into the atmosphere Kale focused on Elana. 'Get the hell off me! I'm not telling you shit. Find her yourself!' he knew what she had done and he kicked himself for it. He headed toward the Ariki ship knowing she was on it and needed help.

Reanna's eyes opened to see Argus above her talking to Tolin. She couldn't understand them the drugs in her system had not yet worn off. She heard Argus' thoughts before she realized it. 'I almost hope she does die. Maybe then Elana will pick me to be her replacement. I did help her have babies after all.' She sat up and took his dagger from his side. It was drawing blood at his chin when she gained the energy to speak. "if you ever think me dieing will help you to get into Elana's pants I will kill you. Now get the hell out of here." She turned to Tolin who smiled weakly, "We were worried about you." He held out her uniform which she took happily. "Where is my beloved?" he looked to the floor and said nothing. "Tolin answer me!" he kept his eyes to the floor as he spoke, "Your four boys were taking watches to make sure she didn't kill herself. She knocked Alric out and escaped the ship. Kale went after her and we haven't heard form them since." Reanna said nothing, as the door opened her head jerked to see who was entering. Dezen was panting in the doorway with Alric close on his heels. "M'Lady, it is good to see you are doing well." She held her hand up, Argus joined the two in front of her, "Where are Kale and Elana?" The three looked to one another then the floor. "I know she left and Kale went after her how long ago was that? Few hours? How long was I down?" Tolin stepped forward from behind her and stood next to Dezen, "you were down for six months M'Lady. Elana and Kale left three days into your recovery." Reanna's fist balled she wanted to hit one of them but didn't know who deserved it. Alric knelled in front of her, "You should hit me M'Lady, it was on my watch that she escaped. I am very sorry." Her hand relaxed and she made him stand in front of her. "No, she is a crafty little thing. It is not your fault. Lets go get our family huh?"

"Tolin what do you think you are doing?" Reanna was already in her armor as were the three boys. "I am going to get my sister. Please don't ask. Please let me go along. I can fight." She saw the look in his eyes and consented. "My mother's name is Cerola. She came up to the ship before what-ever-his-name-was took everyone to the main deck and shot you. She told me once about a brave woman who mama Kalana had to give up and how the woman grew strong. She told me how she escaped an evil man. How she killed her grandfather. And even how she became the first woman assassin. I swore to her once that I would find and protect her. She never believed me. But now is my chance to prove myself to her and everyone else. We Metains are not to be fucked with." Reanna was in shock, that was the first time she had every heard him say such a word. "Well it's good to have more family." She hugged him and he felt that he was more than welcome in their life.

As they approached the ship They all heard Elana and Kale's voices. Pain, unbearable pain, it was shooting through them all. A voice greeted them, "Hello Visitors, how may we assist you?" Reanna said nothing she docked the ship and walked to the door. "M'Lady, no." Argus stood in front of her and opened the door. The daughter of Ralnasa was standing with the same ragged bunch of bodyguards standing next to her. "Greetings. Is this another attack or are you here to improve relations?" Reanna glared at the small Ariki woman, "I am here to take my wife and father of my children back. Give them back or die." The woman laughed, "Bring me my mother and we'll talk." 'Go, they don't realize you are here. Bring them both back or I will kill you.' Dezen and Tolin moved toward the cellblock cloaked. Reanna stood eye to eye with the black woman knowing not to back down. "Where is my wife?" she started to pull her sword and Argus put his hand on hers, 'Easy, we don't need a fight. We will need all our strength to get them out of here. I am very sorry for what I was thinking, I had gone out and had too much to drink. You can trust me. I swear to you on my life I will help you bring your wife and Kale back.' She felt his intentions were true and eased slightly.

When Dezen saw the cellblock he pulled Tolin to the side 'ok, I know you aren't a fighter. Just do what I tell you and we can get them out of here ok?' Tolin nodded and they walked into the cellblock. Kale was standing in the smallest cell with his hands tied to a pole that was sitting on top of his shoulders. He looked to be in extreme pain. His left eye was swollen shut and the clothing he had on was covered in blood. He looked up and saw the two of them. He held up one of his hands and motioned them away. 'Elana and I are being watched from an observation room upstairs. If you could just cut one of my hands free we can disable the room and get us out of here.' Tolin pushed the buttons on the side panel opening the cell. Kale moved over slightly but acted like he was just shifting legs. Dezen cut his right hand free and noticed where Elana was. She was tied the same way onto Kale. He was holding both of them up. She was slightly conscience. When Kale felt his hand free he pinched Elana and she moved and seemed to draw up all her strength and as Kale shifted sides she untied the left side out of site of the Ariki above them. When Dezen and Tolin saw Elana they didn't recognize her. She was nearly completely purple and she was so swollen she looked like a pillow. Once they were free Kale turned and threw Elena into the ceiling. Dezen looked up and saw a mesh panel was now missing and soon an Ariki man was throne through it to the floor. When she jumped down she collapsed onto the floor. Tolin picked her up and Dezen put Kales arms around his shoulders. They placed Camouflage packs on the two they were rescuing and headed back to the pod and Reanna.

"Are we just going to stand here and do nothing then?" the woman's name still had not been disclosed and it was clear she wanted to be elsewhere. "Unless you give me my wife, yes." As she spoke she heard Dezen, 'We have them, we are on the pod, we need to get the hell out of here now. They are really fucked up.' Reanna drew her sword and knocked down the woman. The pod undocked from the ship and cloaked. Reanna went to Elana's side. When she saw the condition of Elana she began to cry. "Why did you let her go?" she looked to Kale who was equally battered. "I didn't, she slipped away from us. I came after her and wasn't strong enough to get us both out of here. I'm sorry I failed both of you." He put his head down, no one realized it but he had passed out from all the exertion.

"What's the prognosis?" Reanna was looking to Elana holding Nalcus. "it isn't up to me. It is up to her. Her body is not healing as it has before. It seems she has given up. She doesn't want to live. I think she helped us to free her and Kale purely for Kale. He is also not doing well. He has the same issue. Elana's system has finally cleared out from all the drugs they had in her system. She is in a lot of pain but she coherent, same with Kale. Feel free to go yell at them." She placed her hand on Elana's and her eyes opened, "Rea? I thought you were gone." Reanna brushed the hair out of Elana's face trying to sooth herself and Elana, "No, I am fine. You should not have gone off and done that. Look at you. They could have killed you then where would I be?" Elana tried to smile but her face was so swollen it did nothing. They both looked to Kale who was awake and watching the entire scene. "And you did not fail either of us. You kept her alive. Therefore you did your job. You saved me when Elvic attacked and you went after her when you knew she needed help. You are a true friend. If you die I swear I'm going to kick your ass." The three of them shared a laugh and Tolin informed Reanna that they would need their rest. "So you are my step-brother huh?" Tolin held out his hand and soon they were talking of their mothers and life.

"MOMMY!" Ilesa ran to Elana and hugged her mother. For the first time in nearly 3 months she was allowed out of the med-bay to wonder on her own. As she held her daughter she felt Kale coming toward her. He had been out for two weeks before she was. He seemed to be happy, he was thinking about lunch and eating. "Hey babe!" he stopped thinking of food and blocked everything out. This was odd for him. He had never shut her out before. "Hello M'Lady. How are you feeling today?" he was cold, unfeeling, almost scared. She put down her daughter and took his arm. She still couldn't read anything from him. "Take me to lunch."

"It's been a while since we were in here huh?" he said nothing but handed her a plateful of her favorite foods. "Talk to me Kale. This isn't like you to be ice to me. What is going on? Did I do something to piss you off?" He looked to his food, "While we were on that ship... they tried to get me to do things to you. It isn't you that has caused problems. It's me. I almost became Feneric. You rolled over and said 'I love you Reanna' in your sleep and somehow knocked me out of it. What if you hadn't? What if their fucking mind control had worked? I would have lost the most important thing in the world. Your trust." She said nothing. She vaguely remembered him hanging over her then moving away. They were in a small cell. It was only as wide as his shoulders. "Kale. I remember that, kind of. But I knew you wouldn't do anything I wasn't aware of. Plus I knew in your heart that wasn't what you wanted." He still didn't move, when she reached for him he drew away. "But somewhere in me I do want to be in Reanna's spot. I want to have your beautiful heart with mine raising our children. But I feel like there is a wall up around it keeping me from hurting the best relationship I have. My friendship with you is the best thing to ever happen to me. I am not willing to risk all of this on one stupid thought that one..." he stopped speaking and she knew why. They both felt a huge group of phantoms moving in the city, and moving toward them. The door opened and a dozen or so were standing in front of them. These were the half-breeds. "We are looking for Elana Angel." He was clearly the leader. Kale motioned to rise, Elana touched his hand then stood, "I am she. What do you want?" He saluted her then drew an ancient broadsword. He knelt on the floor looking directly at her. "Lady Angel. Mistress of the Blade. I swear my allegiance to you and any that serve you. You have my sword and my life." He rose from the floor and the next in his group did the same. Soon every Phantom that had ventured into the city had sworn their allegiance had sworn their allegiance.

"Why did you do that?" again the leader stood in front of her, "Because you are trying to help us. We are going to help you. We don't like the Ariki. They forced you off your world. We will not have that here." She looked to the motley bunch before her and nodded. When she turned around Kale was gone. "Where did he go now?" one of the men stood, "He walked through a door on the bottom of the bar." She walked around the side and saw the door standing wide open. She walked down the stairs, as she stepped down she drew her blade she could feel he was down there She just couldn't feel anything from him. As she hit the floor she realized it wasn't wooden, it was dirt. "Kale?" she felt his hand around her. "Shhh, one of them is Ariki. Here look." He was whispering and walked her over to a vid monitor. It was picking up heat off of the group in the front of his bar. One of them was cold. "they don't put out as much heat as Phantoms." She paused for a moment and for the first time she noticed that he was much darker than she was. His eyes were darker and almost everything about his appearance suggested he was Ariki. She pushed away from him and pushed her dagger into him. "When were you planning on killing me Kale? If that is even your real name."

He pulled the dagger from his chest and held it in his hand. She was still pushing on it and his hand was bleeding. "Yes I am more Ariki than Metian. But I am the Kale that fed you on your grandfather's ship and I am the one that tucked you into bed upstairs when you passed out. I am still the one that held you as you cried, convinced you would never have a love of your own." She eased and looked back to the screen. The dark spot was gone. "He is down here." Kale was shoved into a corner and a midnight black men was attempting to push a poison needle into her eye. Kale picked him off of her and threw him into the far room. He kicked the wall and a green screen closed off the room. "He is another one trying to kill you." He had opened himself slightly and she could feel all his emotions were swarming. "We need to get back to the ship and I want you to talk to Reanna and I understand?" he said noing but vented a gas into the little room and the man fell to the floor.