His Moon

XXVII | Love And Death Last

Kaia stayed quiet for a long moment and then she asked the question that had been burning inside of her mind. "You cared about her?"

Jack raised his head and turned to her, "More than anything. She accepted me even after I told her the truth about where I come from and who I am...about where you come from, too. There are more people like us, Kaia."

"Where I come from?" Kaia asked. It was the closest Jack had come to giving her the answers she sought. Honesty, it seemed, was the only way to get the truth from him. She had to be as open as she wanted him to be. Still, he refused to elaborate. "Then show me," Kaia said, "Prove it."

"Prove it?" Jack asked, confused. 

"Show me or I'll never believe you," Kaia said, "I'm giving you this chance to convince me."

Jack sighed and held out his hand, "I can do that. Take my hand, child." He was going to drop his walls, the static that protected his thoughts and memories. This touch was her chance to get a better look at Jack's thoughts, his past.

Kaia reached out immediately and took his hand for the second time. The second she did, her head split open. For a moment, it was like someone had wedged a blade into her skull and pried two halves apart.

And then everything calmed. Kaia was elsewhere. There was no world around her, no context. Everything was white, everything but the two people in front of her. Kaia clapped a hand over her mouth, and her eyes welled up. It was her mother. She was younger and without the lines from smiling all those years, but her mother nonetheless with her gentle dark eyes. Kaia's eyes.

"Mom," Kaia squeaked, stepping forward. But her mother couldn't hear her. She only watched the boy in front of her, the boy with the stunningly blue eyes.

Kaia wanted to cry. She felt like she was trapped in a cage, banging on the bars to get out, screaming. But no one could hear her. Not even her mother, the woman who was supposed to be there for her, was to supposed to understand everything.

"Look," she said, taking his hand, "I learned this when I was young." She traced the lines on his hand, "They mean different things. You see here..."

The boy was smiling widely. It was Jack, a young Jack without the years of weariness. He wore his emotions on his sleeve, his eyes softening when he looked at her. "You'll have a long life," Kaia's mom said, tracing his hand.

"And you?" Jack asked, taking her hand and looking at it. When he saw it, he looked perplexed, and then... This boy was transparent. He looked traumatized, "Your line is short."

Kaia's mom took her hand away and shrugged, "It's never accurate, you know. I'm going to have children one day. Stop worrying, Jacob." She reached up and touched his face with a smile.

Jack frowned, "Don't call me that."

And Kaia's mom smiled softly, her eyes affectionate, "Sorry...Jack."

Before the image faded, the connection with Jack's mind still active, Kaia turned away from the scene and peered into the endless white void. She could have sworn she saw something for a heartbeat, a woman with olive skin and raven hair. But the mysterious woman was gone with a blink, and Kaia couldn't make anything else out. Who had she been and why had she been in Jack's mind?

The world went blurry, the image fading back to black. Kaia felt her mind whiplash back to real life. "Wh-"

"Do you believe me now?" Jack asked, staring at her.

Kaia blinked, "That was my mom." She felt tears falling down her cheeks, but didn't bother to wipe them away. It was no use. They would keep coming. She wrenched her hand from Jack's.