WARNING:  the usual disclaimers, a bit of a spoiler, a sexual situation, and sentimentality up the wazoo.  YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.

To set up the scene:  Lexx reached the planet Earth, where all the souls from the destroyed Planets Fire and Water went, including Prince.  Once on Earth, Prince became Director of the ATF, and the puppet-master of the President of the US.  He used the escaped souls from Fire and Water to wreak havoc on the Earth.  There’s a great battle on Earth in which the Director’s forces are defeated, using the Lexx.  Kai has been persuaded to try and assassinate the Director, who can’t be killed in any ordinary way, and he follows the Director to the Lexx, where he has taken Stanley in an effort to conquer the Earth or destroy it, using Lexx’s power.

"The End of Lexx"
by dgrequeen

The Director was waiting on the bridge, knowing Kai would come.  Kai had surmised that the Director could be anywhere he chose to be, and there he stood, on Stan’s perch at the central nerve column console, his eyes ablaze with alien fire, his mouth set in a rictus of grinning hatred.

Stan huddled on the floor nearby, looking hopeless.  His eyes lit up.  “Kai!  Oh, thank goodness!”

Kai surveyed the scene and approached Stan, readying his brace arm.  “Are you unhurt, Stanley?”

“Yeah, I’m okay.”  Stan glared at the Director, who watched them with amusement on his face.  “He’s going to blow up the Earth, Kai.  Xev’s down there!”

Kai aimed his brace arm at the Director’s head.  “Did you think to escape me?”

The Director snorted.  “That puny weapon will not stop me,” he said, stepping down off the console.  “As you well know.”

“Perhaps not,” Kai agreed, pulling Stan to his feet by one arm and pushing him behind his back.

“You should give yourselves to me now,” the Director said.  “End this pointless game.”

“Perhaps not,” Kai repeated, keeping his brace arm steady.

The Director smiled lazily, his eyes glinting with that odd, alien light.  He stepped down from the console and began to circle Kai, who turned to face him, keeping himself between the Director and Stan.

“I can assure you,” the Director said, “your lovely Xev will not be safe on Earth.  When I have disposed of the two of you, I shall return there.  The Earth is mine.”  He smiled widely and spread his arms.  “All creation is mine, if I so desire it.”  He lowered his head, glared at Kai, and added, “And I do!”

“That remains to be seen,” Kai said.  “Stanley.  Remember what I told you before.”  He reached behind and began to push Stanley toward the console.

The Director cocked his head to one side, wondering what new game was afoot.

“Kai,” Stanley quavered, “I don’t know if I can…”

“You must, Stanley!”  Kai’s voice was harsh.  “For the sake of all!”

Stanley swallowed hard and nodded, more to himself than to Kai, whose gaze and aim never left the Director.  They were within reach of the console now.  The Director watched, confident he could stop anything they might attempt.

“What are you doing?”  he asked, laughing as Stanley hesitantly mounted the console.

“Lexx,” Stanley said, barely able to control the quaver in his voice.

“Yes, Stanley.”

Stan hesitated.  Kai, watching the Director intently with his brace arm held steady, hissed at the security guard, “Do it, Stanley!”

“Lexx,” Stan said, his voice hardening with determination.  “Go into the sun.”

The Director became very still.

“But I will burn up, Stanley,”  Lexx said mildly.

“I… I know, Lexx,” Stan said, regret in his voice.  “And I’m sorry.  But you have to do it.  To keep me and Xev and all the people down there on that planet safe.”

The Director’s expression began to change from amusement to disbelief and outrage.  “What are you doing?” he demanded again, stepping forward.  Kai’s brace sprang into his hand, and the Director stopped.

“All right, Stan,” Lexx said, and ponderously began to turn.  The sun filled the viewscreen.  “It will be good to help instead of blowing up the planet, Stanley.”

“That’s right, Lexx.  It’s a good thing to do.”

“You can’t hurt me this way,” the Director said, incredulous that they would even try such a foolish thing.  “I can return to Earth if I wish.”

“But you must move through space and time as we do,” Kai said.  “I have killed all the moths but one.  And that one is not for you.”

The Director sneered.  “I do not need moths.”

“Faster, Lexx!”  Stanley cried out, terrified, and Lexx began to accelerate.

“Stop!” the Director shouted, springing forward.

“Now, Stanley!”  Kai fired his brace.

Stanley jumped off the console as the brace tore through the Director’s body.  Momentarily confused, the Director looked down at the cable piercing his chest, and thus allowed Stanley to run past him toward the middle passage leading to the moth chamber.

“What do you think you’re doing?”  The Director said to Kai.

Stanley stopped at the opening of the passage and looked back at Kai.  But Kai had rushed to the Director.  As Stanley looked on in horror, Kai grabbed the brace where it dangled from the Director’s back and drove it into his own body, straight into the control rods in his chest, whipping the cable around them both to anchor himself to the Director.

“Go, Stanley!”  Kai shouted at him, and Stanley turned and ran.

Kai clung to the struggling Director, who was flailing with his arms, trying to get a grip on the assassin.  He felt one of the control rods break free, but the others held.  Protoblood oozed out around the cable where it penetrated his chest.

“You cannot kill me, you fool!”  The Director panted.

“I do not need to kill you,” Kai said.  “This planet’s sun will do that.  I only need to hold you here long enough.”

“Let me go!” The Director howled, struggling to pull free from this dance of death.  Kai lost his balance and they fell, the Director still trying to turn and grasp his enemy.

Another control rod broke free, and protoblood began to flow faster.  Kai felt himself weakening, but he hung on.

Suddenly, the Director grasped the brace cable, and with a mighty yank, ripped it free from Kai’s chest.  Protoblood spurted over both of them.  Shrieking like all the devils of hell, the Director unwound himself from the cable and tore the brace from his own body.  He fell backwards, gasping.

Kai’s legs would not work.  He raised himself on his hands, trying to get up.  The Director, raging, kicked him onto his back.

“I can still get to Earth!”  The Director screamed.  “You puny fool, you were never able to stop me!”

“The moths are all dead,” Kai said.  “Stanley took the only living one.  There is no way off.”

“I can fall!”

Kai looked up at the viewscreen, where the sun burned brighter and brighter.  The floor and walls were vibrating harder and harder, and a sound began to fill the crackling air, like a distant roaring.

“Kai,” said Lexx, calm as always.  “Stanley has left me, and I am now caught in the gravity well of the sun>”

The Director stared in horror.  Kai smiled slightly and lay back, with no more need to struggle.

“Do not be afraid, Lexx,” he said. “I am with you.”

“NOOOOOO!”  The Director raised his head and his fists and shrieked again.  “It can’t end now!  I am too close!”  He ran toward the passage, howling, in a now futile attempt to get off the Lexx and escape his inevitable end.

“Kai!”  The viewscreen crackled and Stan’s face appeared, distorted in the energies that streamed around them.

Kai, though he was growing weaker, dragged himself to the console and managed to prop himself up into a sitting position against its base so that Stan could see him.

“Stanley, are you safely away?”

“Yes, but… what about you?”

“Do not concern yourself, Stanley.”  Kai closed his eyes, his fingers exploring the ragged hole in his chest.  His body was now unable to repair itself, and protoblood filled his hand.  When he opened his eyes, he saw that Stan’s face was wet with tears.

“I’m coming to get you,”  Stan said.

“No!  You must not!”

“But, Kai…”

“Go to Earth, Stanley.  It is your home now.  Take care of Xev.  Be happy there.”

Stan angrily brushed his hand across his eyes.  “Sure.  She’ll never forgive me for leaving you.”

Kai felt himself sinking, but he summoned his strength.  “She will forgive you, Stan.”

“Kai.”  Stan’s tears were coming faster now.  “Did you ever love her?”

The assassin was silent, his eyes downcast.  He searched himself for the answer, and found it there, among the myriad memories.  He tilted his head.  “Tell her… yes.  I loved her.”

For a moment they stared at each other.  Then Stan nodded.  “She’d want to know.”

“Goodbye, Stanley,” Kai said.

Stan’s face faded into the static and vanished.  The chamber was filling with unbearably bright light.  Kai lay back against the console, preparing himself at last for the eternal rest he had so longed for.  As he lay there, he was surprised to find a kind of sorrow welling up in his mind for the life he might have had, a grieving for the assassin’s existence he had been forced to lead for millenia, and profound regret for all those lives he had ended.  These were feelings, something he had suppressed all this time, but now he couldn’t stop them.  But perhaps, in saving Xev and Stan and the Earth, in some small way he had saved himself.

“Kai.”  Lexx’s voice was calm even now, caught in the gravity well of the sun and being dragged to destruction.

“I am here, Lexx.”

“Is this the end of me?”

“Yes, Lexx.  And of me as well.”

“I am afraid, Kai.”

“There is nothing to fear.”

The vibrations were worse.  Kai could feel radiation flooding through Lexx’s body.  The light was so bright, he could distinguish almost nothing.  He let himself slide flat on the floor and lay there, completely relaxed.  There was no reason to move, no need for yet another awakening.  His purpose, however mysterious it had been, was concluded.  He closed his eyes.

* * * * * *

Kai awoke.

For a long moment, he lay still, unable to comprehend what had awakened him.  The cryopod lid was open, the air about him warm and humid.  It was obvious that he had not been frozen for some time, yet he had not been conscious.  He lifted his head and noted with surprise that he was dressed in brightly colored Brunnen-G clothing.  Then he remembered.

Alarmed, he automatically reached for his brace.  It was gone.

He looked around, but there was no one else in the chamber.   He had been lying on the bridge, and the Lexx was headed for the sun, that much he remembered.  He had been waiting for his own destruction.  Yet here he was, in his open cryopod, dressed in his native costume, and apparently unscathed.  What was going on?

He climbed out of the pod and walked the distance to the bridge.  He called, as he went, for Xev and Stan, but knew instinctively that there was no one else aboard the Lexx.  When he reached the bridge, he stopped and looked around, and then called:

“Lexx.”  No answer.  “Lexx!  It is I, Kai!”

“Lexx is gone,” said a voice.

Kai flinched, reaching once again for the missing brace.  “Who are you?” he asked warily.

“I am the infinite,” the voice said.  Kai listened intently, trying to place the voice, which for all intent and purposes sounded female.

“What does that mean?”  he asked.

“You will understand soon.”

“Where are Xev and Stanley?”

“Don’t you remember, Kai?  They’re on Earth.”

Kai drew in his breath, and this act surprised him even more.  He put his hand to his chest.  The memories came then, of the battle for souls, the battle to save the planet that called itself Earth, the ultimate defeat of the Director of the ATF, who was also Prince from the Planet Fire.  Kai walked to the command console and sat down, confused.  He had wanted, as much as he was able to want, for this “Earth” to be a place where Xev and Stanley might find a home and peace and safety.  But if he himself were not finally, at long last, dead, and where was Prince?

“Prince is defeated,” he said, as much a question as not.

“Yes, Kai.  You have fulfilled the final part of the prophecy at last.”

“I do not understand.”

“You will.”

“Am I dead… at last?”

“Oh no.  You are waiting to be reborn, as you foresaw on the Planet Water.”

Kai sighed heavily.  That was not a reassuring answer.  More life meant more pain and sorrow and loss.  He had had enough.

“What about Xev and Stan?” he asked the voice.

“They are safe.  They will be happy.  Thanks to you.”

“Will they…” his voice trailed off.

“Will they what, Kai?”

“Will they… remember me?”

“They will remember you always.  Of that you may be sure.”

Kai got up and began walking.  He walked everywhere, past Stan’s moth bed, through the galley, to where the moths had been kept --- all gone, now, even the carcasses --- and finally, into Xev’s bedchamber.  He stood staring at her empty bed for a long time.  Memories of their time together, the many adventures they had shared, flowed through his mind, chaotic and unbidden.  He had felt regret many times while he was with them, he realized now.  He might have felt other things as well, but always, always he had repressed  these feelings as unproductive, even dangerous, when he needed to be dispassionate in order to protect them.  He thought of Xev, and his heart --- the heart he thought he no longer had --- ached with the memory of her.

“Kai,” said the voice.

He bowed his head, wanting silence. “What do you wish of me?”

“The time is short.  Soon we must go.  But I cannot let you leave this plane of existence without a final farewell to this life.”

He would have laughed, but he had been too long without laughter.  “I had no life.”

“Come to the bridge.”

Resigned, he went.  As he approached, he heard another voice, a familiar voice, singing his old battle song.  He hurried his steps and came upon her, sitting at the foot of the console.

She looked up and smiled.  “Kai.”

“Xev…” he was at a loss.  “But… the voice said… I thought you were on Earth.”

“She is dreaming, Kai,” the voice said.  “She does not know she is here.”

Xev stood.  She was dressed in a flowing dress of some soft material, looking much like a woman of Earth would.  She put her arms around him and laid her cheek against his chest, closing her eyes.  For a moment, he couldn’t bring himself to touch her, and then he gently enfolded her in his arms.

“Xev,” he whispered, longing in his voice, all the longing of their years together when he could not express it.  “I’m so sorry.”

She looked up and put her fingers to his lips.  “I love you, Kai.  I’ve always loved you.  And I always understood, even if I never told you.”

Hot tears burned his eyes, another astonishment.  He made a move as if to kiss her, and stopped.  But she didn’t wait.  She pressed her lips to his, and they kissed, in regret and sorrow, in love too long denied, in burning desire.

And then they were prone, making love, caught in a timeless zone where nothing had meaning except themselves and each other.  It seemed to Kai that a white light enveloped them, obliterating everything for him except her.  A pure, sweet pleasure filled him, sweeping away every memory he had ever had of the pain and sorrow he had suffered.

Her lips pressed to his and her tongue sought its way into him.  He felt suddenly that she was touching the deepest part of him.  He put one hand behind her head, the other at the small of her back, pressing her to him.  Their kiss became electric, searching, and their hands explored each other urgently.  Xev pulled away from him to rid herself of her dress, while Kai frantically shrugged out of his Brunnen-G jacket and trousers, and then they were entangled again, desperately searching for that union he had long forgotten and she had never known.

She pushed his shoulders back and buried her face at his throat, tasting him.  Her tongue explored the small depression there at the base of his throat, drew a tingling path down his chest, and gently licked around one nipple.  He moaned softly, his head back, his breath coming quick and shallow.

His hand slid down her smooth, muscled back, cupping her small, perfect buttocks. She moaned and he lunged upward, and as she rose with him, he caught her at the back of her neck, forcing her face down to his.  He kissed her, driving his tongue deep into her mouth.  She pulled away with a low lizard growl, catching his lower lip in her teeth.  He groaned, almost laughing, and she let go.  She guided his hands to her breasts and leaned forward, head thrown back, gasping, rocking against his thighs.

He thrust himself into her.  The first thrust was convulsive, and the second, and then they found a rhythm together that spiraled upward to blackness and a universe filled with exploding stars.  Xev cried out as Kai shuddered, and then they were still, Xev lying on top of him, limp and gasping.

He turned his face to kiss her.  “I love you, Xev,” he whispered.  She smiled at him, her face shining full of love.

And then he opened his eyes and he was standing alone on the bridge, as if nothing had ever happened.

“This is the gift I give you, Kai,” the voice said.  “Your final farewell.”

Tears rolled down his cheeks as he stood there.  He looked up at the viewscreen.  Earth floated there, soft and blue.

“I cannot… go there?”

“You must be reborn, Kai.  This cycle is ended.”

He bowed his head.  He had known from the beginning what his eventual destiny must be.  Slowly, he mounted the console.

“I cannot control the Lexx,” he said.

“The sentience known as Lexx is gone.  The machine will do as you direct.”

He put his hand out and the contact glowed.  He watched it, now calm and steady.  He took a breath.

“Lexx. It’s time.”

And there was the light again, flowing all around him, bright and pure, silent.  He watched the star growing larger.

Kai smiled, closed his eyes, and released himself to the light.

* * * * * *

Stan brought flowers to the hospital, because he has seen other Earth people give them as gifts.  They were pretty, and he thought she might like them.  They had put her in such a small, drab room with ugly curtains, he wanted her to have just this little bit of beauty that he was able to provide.

The nurses clucked over the flowers, and brought him a pitcher of water to put them in.

“My man never brings me flowers,” one of them said, and Stan smiled awkwardly, wondering if he had done something wrong.  But they let him carry them down to her room.  Hesitantly, he peeked in.

Xev was asleep.  Softly, he tiptoed in and set the flowers on the stand beside her bed.  He wandered over to the window and looked out at the setting sun.

Earth was a beautiful place, nothing at all like the Cluster.  He still didn’t understand most of the customs, but he supposed that would come with time.  He had found employment selling cars --- primitive vehicles, to be sure --- but he was good at it, and it provided a living.  He’d found a place to live, and for the time being, at least, Xev would be living there with him.  After a period of grieving, she had actually begun to like her life on Earth.  Stan supposed that sooner or later, her Cluster lizard nature would take over and she’d want to make her own way.  But not completely alone, he hoped.  It was unexpected how he, without even trying very hard, had come to occupy a place in her life.  She showed no signs of wanting to leave him completely on his own.

And now, there was this.

“Stan?”  He turned.  She was pulling herself up into a sitting position.  He hurried over.

“Take it easy, now.  Don’t hurt yourself.”

“I’m fine, Stan.  Don’t fuss.”

Again he marveled at how beautiful she was.  Her blonde hair, the red streaks completely gone now, was pulled into a soft chignon at the back of her head.  He reached over and tucked a loose strand behind her ear, and she smiled at him.  She was dressed, he was glad to see, in the lavendar gown and bed jacket he had bought for her.

“How do you feel?”

“I feel good,” she said, patting his cheek.  “You’re sweet to ask.”

“Are they bringing the baby soon?”

As if in answer to his question, a nurse came in with a small bundle in her arms.  “Here he is, your little man,” she said cheerily, and placed the bundle in Xev’s outstretched arms.

Eagerly, she pulled back the blanket edges and looked down at his face.  His eyes were closed, his little lips pursed in a full pout, and his tiny fists clenched tight, waving in the air.  She brushed back the thick black hair, so downy soft and fine.

“Stan,” she said, her voice low.  “I never told you… about this dream I had.”

“What dream?”

She watched the baby, then she looked up and shook her head.  “No, it’s not important.  It was just a dream.”  She smiled brightly.  “What shall we name him, Stan?  They’ve been asking me, but I didn’t know what to tell them.  I don’t know much about Earth names, do you?”

Stan touched the baby’s head.  Anyone could be the father.  Xev had taken lovers on Earth.  But there had been that one, drunken, grief-stricken night when they had sought each other… it didn’t matter to him.  He loved the baby, and he had always loved Xev.

The baby opened his eyes.  Neither Stan nor Xev knew that all Earth babies are born with bluish eyes.  All they knew was that this one had eyes the color of river water, with glints of emerald and gold.  The baby yawned, smacked his lips, and lay looking at them, peacefully observing this strange New World.

“We’ll call him Kai,” Stan said.

She looked at him.  “But, Stan…”

“I want to,” Stan said firmly.  “I don’t think we should forget.”

She smiled and looked down at the baby.  “Kai, my little one,” she crooned.  “I have such songs and stories to teach you.  Welcome to the world, my little one.”  She laid her cheek gently against the top of the baby’s head.  “Welcome, Kai.”