Loss
"I'm not going."
"Kellian, please, he would want you there."
"I am not going. And you shouldn't be doing this."
Krystal reached out a hand to her sister, touching her shoulder. She saw the build up of reaction nanoseconds before her sister shook the hand off. She sighed. "He's gone. We need to pay him our respects."
Kellian spun, anger in her pale blue eyes. "He. Is. Not. Dead. The Eldest lives on and I don't care how many times Kevin swept the grounds or what scanners he used. He simply can't....he's not!"
Another sigh. Kellian had been inconsolable since Knight's disappearance. She had been fragile since Jimmy's death, and to lose Knight only a matter of months afterwards...it had been too much. Knight had been the mainstay for them all. Always there, solid, a parent, a leader, a prototype to what they should be...to lose him...
It had been a shock. Abrupt. One minute in communication with Central, the next...gone. She had been on duty that night. She had interrogated channels, sensors....but her father's MAV had simply disappeared. Along with Knight and the stranger.
Sean Masters. The man was a mystery. No record. No indication of who he might be. Knight had sent detailed scans, yet they had all been laced with static and incomprehensible gibberish. He was as missing as Knight.
It hurt. He was her father. Their father. He was supposed to live forever. Not that any of them were of the illusion that he could not be killed. That lesson had been learnt with her brother Kole. Death was the ultimate end, delayed, but always there. It just seemed that Knight would simply always be there. She knew how Kellian felt. How could she not? But reality had to be faced.
Knight was gone.
And it was their duty to remember him.
She left her sister, a mental impression of a hug sent down the network line. The flicker of response she received hurt a little, but...each had to face this in their own way. Keenan had destroyed a building when he heard. But then, of them all, Keenan had known their father the longest.
As she walked out onto the front lawn of the mansion and to the small group surrounding the chairs she'd set up earlier, she was shocked to find the Trans Am parked nearby. A hand came to her mouth. Who had? The sight of it and what it meant brought tears to her eyes.
"Kellian, please, he would want you there."
"I am not going. And you shouldn't be doing this."
Krystal reached out a hand to her sister, touching her shoulder. She saw the build up of reaction nanoseconds before her sister shook the hand off. She sighed. "He's gone. We need to pay him our respects."
Kellian spun, anger in her pale blue eyes. "He. Is. Not. Dead. The Eldest lives on and I don't care how many times Kevin swept the grounds or what scanners he used. He simply can't....he's not!"
Another sigh. Kellian had been inconsolable since Knight's disappearance. She had been fragile since Jimmy's death, and to lose Knight only a matter of months afterwards...it had been too much. Knight had been the mainstay for them all. Always there, solid, a parent, a leader, a prototype to what they should be...to lose him...
It had been a shock. Abrupt. One minute in communication with Central, the next...gone. She had been on duty that night. She had interrogated channels, sensors....but her father's MAV had simply disappeared. Along with Knight and the stranger.
Sean Masters. The man was a mystery. No record. No indication of who he might be. Knight had sent detailed scans, yet they had all been laced with static and incomprehensible gibberish. He was as missing as Knight.
It hurt. He was her father. Their father. He was supposed to live forever. Not that any of them were of the illusion that he could not be killed. That lesson had been learnt with her brother Kole. Death was the ultimate end, delayed, but always there. It just seemed that Knight would simply always be there. She knew how Kellian felt. How could she not? But reality had to be faced.
Knight was gone.
And it was their duty to remember him.
She left her sister, a mental impression of a hug sent down the network line. The flicker of response she received hurt a little, but...each had to face this in their own way. Keenan had destroyed a building when he heard. But then, of them all, Keenan had known their father the longest.
As she walked out onto the front lawn of the mansion and to the small group surrounding the chairs she'd set up earlier, she was shocked to find the Trans Am parked nearby. A hand came to her mouth. Who had? The sight of it and what it meant brought tears to her eyes.