Chapter 32 — Graves Aren't Heavy Until You Dig Them
Three years later.
The sky wasn't red from fire anymore. Just rusted light bleeding through clouds that hadn't seen sun in days.
Cainen walked alone.
No crew. No empire. No legacy. Just the name people whispered like a bad omen:
"The Lonewalker."
Some recognized him. Some didn't. He didn't care either way. Let the world lie. Let them call him a monster. That was easier than the truth:
He was a broken man who killed the only person who gave a damn.
He knelt at a handmade gravestone in the dust.
REKKA. Underneath, scratched in jagged, clumsy lettering: "My Fault."
His fingers brushed over the name. He didn't cry. He didn't scream. Not anymore.
He just whispered:
"I'm still sorry."
Behind his eyes, the flashbacks played like cruel home movies.
His fists slamming into Rekka. The look in Rekka's eyes. That stupid forgiving smile. The blood.
Cainen rose and left the grave behind. Again. Because if he stayed too long, he might beg it to forgive him. Graves don't talk back.
He wandered until night. Into a town with flickering lights and shut doors. He didn't ask for food. Didn't ask for warmth.
He just kept walking.
Some bar. Some broken TV. Static dancing over an old announcement. A drunk guy squinting at the screen.
"Ain't that the Ghost?"
Cainen turned.
And there he was.
Kaito.
Hair long. Beard messy. Eyes dead. Stripped of everything that made him who he was. The shrimp chips, the grin, the fire? Gone.
"Execution in 7 days. Prison: Iron Clasp. Charges: terrorism, evasion, unlawful use of RAC energy."
Cainen stared. Couldn't breathe.
They got him.
The only bastard who lasted longer than anyone else. The one who couldn't be caught. The Ghost.
Gone.
And he was next. Maybe not tomorrow. But soon. They'd find him too. And not even the Spider would save him.
He sat in silence that night. Fist clenched. Jaw tight. The poster crumpled in his hand.
"Do I save him... or let him die with the rest of the past?"
No answer came.
Just the wind.
Just the dark.
Just the sound of a broken boy trying to be a man before the world erased what was left of him.
And somewhere, buried deep in the silence— a laugh.
The Spider's laugh.
But even he stayed quiet.
For now.