A New Dawn [Ovmar]

[Nisha Decrilla]

There were thirty two white ceiling tiles that Anaya could count, and had counted a hundred times since she'd woken. She couldn't move, restraints kept her firmly in place, the doctors told her it was to stop her from undoing the good they had done. Let her body heal.

With her eyes open, all she could see was white tiles and blinding lights. With her eyes closed she was greeted with unpleasant recollections of a sword bursting through Mikhail's chest. When she'd first woken, she raged, screamed and hurled insults at everyone who passed her line of vision. She yelled at him, knowing he was near by, cursing him to an eternity in hell for what he had done. He left her alone.

Left her to mull things over. Slowly, the anger quietened, became silent and even more deadly. Encouraged by the whispers of her own insanity, she managed to convince herself that [member="Jared Ovmar"] had been using her all along. Playing with her head, that he was the cause of all her pain. It was a wonderful feeling, to lose all responsibility for the chaos around you, but even that didn't last.

In the sterile white room, Anaya was left with her own madness. And in that room she began to piece together her shattered mind.

That was when he finally came to see her.

 

[Arage Bao]

[member="Anaya Fen"]

He came to her in silence, sat down in silence and leaned back against his chair in silence. It was an eery silence of judgement, mixed with concern, hurt and the sharp feeling of disappointment. They knew each other for a long time now, their bond through the Force making it almost impossible to hide any feelings they had to each other and the rest of the world at large.

A bond that gave them strength, a bond that gave them weaknesses towards each other. Such were most relationships if you really thought about it, the presence of the other could give you strength in times of distress, or she (or he) could make you weak in times when you needed to be strong.

Sometimes it wasn’t particularly clear which situation was at hand, until after it was finally over. Too late to make a difference in how you acted during the time, of course. That too… was the nature of things.

Finally then, the Sith Lord spoke. While emotions raged within himself - he had given her time to think, but that time had also been for himself, to ponder and consider - his voice was balanced, smooth and cold.

Such as he always was, Jared Ovmar, a man of business.

‘So you want to die.’ he said. ‘is that it?’

It was a reference to her last words screamed to Mikhail Shorn, when she had been weak and allowed herself to be controlled by passions unhinged and emotions run rampant. It had hurt, a hurt that Ovmar would not ever speak out loud unless pressed, but why hurt? Jared himself did not know.

 

[Nisha Decrilla]

Anaya opened her eyes as he entered the room, eyes following his movement until he sat. He sat where he was at the edge of her vision and she stopped straining to try and see him. The air between them seem to crack with energy and emotion and Anaya closed her eyes, drawing in a deep breath to calm her nerves as he judged her. She would not crack under his gaze, she refused to. She simply breathed and waited for him to speak.

Eyes snapped open as the words left his mouth and she pondered the question before answering. "I did." she spoke softly leaving her words to hang in the air for a moment, her tongue flicking across dry lips before she continued. "I cannot begin to explain what went through my mind. You have seen one side of the story between myself and Mikhail, and that will be the only side you ever see. Everything about it is irrational and built on uncontrolled emotion. I have saved his life countless times and I have received nothing but contempt in return. I wanted an end to the cycle."

She paused, anger dulling the hurt she was feeling from him. "You used my instability to get at Andra. Why?"

[member="Jared Ovmar"]

 

[Arage Bao]

[member="Anaya Fen"]

Ovmar snorted. ‘As I told Varanin, I tell you the same. I was improvising on the spot and had no idea what would or would not come next. Had I known Sivas and you were destined to meet at that place? I would have done my best to make it not so.’

A shrug, some ponder at the events of that day. ‘I was juggling my day’s worth.’ Truth. That was what she would be getting from him, no attempts to disguise meanings, vague constructions of sentences to make falseness into truth. Just frank, blunt and facts.

‘I ain’t no genius strategic master, Fen. Just an ordinary man, who was trying to help the woman...’ that he loves. ‘...that asked him for help.’

Damnit, Jared. Tell her.

 

[Nisha Decrilla]

"You juggle well." She replied coldly.

"Well enough to not reveal yourself until Mikhail showed up. Well enough to stab him in the back, which we both know you've wanted to do since the tournament. Since Lipsec." She closed her eyes again, reliving the surprise on Mikhail's face. The horror on her own.

"You could have stopped all of it. You could have stepped in at any point before he arrived and prevented a world of pain. But you didn't. You chose not to, because somewhere in that mind of yours you wanted Andra to suffer. Why?"

[member="Jared Ovmar"]

 

[Arage Bao]

[member="Anaya Fen"]

‘Didn’t step in?’ the Sith Lord repeated her words softly, dangerously soft. ‘Who stepped in when you were just about to be put into an endless sleep by Sivas? For that matter, who was there when you decided to run off the deep-end and almost got wrecked by Zambrano?’

Chair creaked as the pressure of his hands almost broke it.

‘You see one constant, but don’t see the other. I act when you are in danger and need help. Had you not invited your precious Throne-Breaker to kill you, I would have waited and let you handle the situation yourself.’

Too much emotion, don’t show it. She will only use it against you.

 

[Nisha Decrilla]

Anaya's own anger reflected his, he was avoiding the answer to her question. But she did not raise her voice, she simply held her breath for the count of three and exhaled slowly. "You are not answering my question."

She said softly. Too long her had played the cold hearted, emotionless entrepreneur with her. "I am well aware of the mistakes I have made, and the support you have given when I have requested it."

She was silent again, eyes closed, she waited for him to calm before speaking again.

"Mikhail would not have killed me."

[member="Jared Ovmar"]

 

[Arage Bao]

[member="Anaya Fen"]

Eyes closed, eyes open, relaxed. She won’t get to you. ‘I did not go in and solve either of your problems, because I wasn’t sure what I would do. I have history with her, I got the present with you. When you made it clear to me you couldn’t handle the situation, I stepped in. Because, feth. I didn’t want to lose you.’ ...did he just, nope. He didn’t just say that.

Jared blinked and then continued speaking, hoping she wouldn’t pick that one up.

‘I didn’t know what Mikhail Shorn could or couldn’t do, so I stepped in again.’ another shrug. ‘Think what you want, but I don’t care about him or Sivas. There are only a couple of people I care about in this Galaxy.’

Stop with the revelations, Ovmar. You ain't being smart about this.

 

[Nisha Decrilla]

Anaya barely heard nothing past 'i didn't want to lose you.' beyond that all she heard was the blood rushing in her ears as her heart rate jumped up a notch. Did he just say that? Did the cold hearted entrepreneur admit to caring about her. She licked her lips again, wanting very much to turn her head and looked it him. She took another breath, calmed herself and retraced the last seconds of the conversation again.

"She would have been the mother of your child, Jared." She continued determined to get something out of him. "That is not the sort of bond you can cast aside so quickly. Whatever you consciously believe, subconsciously you do care about her." She paused "And thats ok."

"It's ok to care. I know that now, I understand it. So long I've been running from it, denying it. But it's ok to care, Jared."

[member="Jared Ovmar"]

 

[Arage Bao]

[member="Anaya Fen"]

For a long while Jared Ovmar, the Lord of the Fringe stayed silent. Pondering, wondering. What should he do. What should he say? It was clear that she had not only seen and underlined that slip of the tongue, but had weighed it and found it… pleasing? It was difficult to imagine, and yet it seemed to be true. The words came finally and were spoken with just a little bit of sadness.

'You know what the mother of my unborn child said to me when I finally managed to get justice for him? "You did this, Jared." "You killed the baby." Did I, Anaya? Did I kill the baby? Was it my hand that stabbed through her gut and winked out that fire?’

Another ponder, a shrug. ‘Caring… brings pain. I have felt many pains in my life, is it so strange to try and separate myself from yet another source?’

He didn’t want this, didn’t want so much truth to spill out between the two of them. Truth brought caring, caring brought emotions and emotions… well… they were a whole new bag all together. That ship has sailed though, long gone, she knew now and there ain’t anything he could do about it.

 

[Nisha Decrilla]

"No, it is not." she replied. Was that not what she had spent a life time doing?

"We cannot run from the truth forever, love. Sooner or later, it will catch up with us, and the web of lies we build around us, will simply cause more pain, than that which we have been trying to escape."

[member="Jared Ovmar"]

 

[Arage Bao]

[member="Anaya Fen"]

The sound of Ovmar’s fingers tapping, his eyes closing and opening again - trying to focus, trying to stabilize himself. Didn’t work out nearly as well as in the past. Finally, a sigh, indignation at the situation and reluctant acceptance.

Love.

‘Cards on the table then.’ the Sith Lord replied. Ovmar was a man of action in the grand scheme of things, he had delayed this for as long as possible. But once he found himself in the corner with no way outta the situation? He was quick to cut the crap and get to the point.

‘I love you.’

Three words. He had never said them in this context before. They were gone now, in the wind, can’t take it back, can’t retreat. Jared leaned against the chair, suddenly a weight lifting, but only new qualms were arising.

 

[Nisha Decrilla]

Anaya made a noise halfway between a laugh and a sob as a well of emotion rose in her chest. She drew in a shuddering breath and spoke.

"I can't see you." she said in a half panic. She wanted to see his face fully, feel it through their bond and see it in his eyes. she wanted to know it in her heart that it was true, the he was hers and she was his. "Jared..."

[member="Jared Ovmar"]

 

[Arage Bao]

[member="Anaya Fen"]

Too far gone to crawl back, eh, Jared? But do you want to… that would be the question of the damn century. He didn’t waste anytime, instead the Sith Lord sat down next to her clearly in sight. Another blink of the eye and Jared finally removed the last vestiges of his impenetrable walls to her.

She’d feel his love, see it in his eyes, taste it on her lips.

‘I am here.’ he finally whispered.

 

[Nisha Decrilla]

Had she been able to, Anaya might have pinched herself just to make sure what she was seeing and feeling was true. As he let down the final walls all her doubts were washed away. The last bitter pieces of her shattered mind, settled back into their rightful place and fell silent. She blinked, tears running from the corners of her eyes.

"I love you." she said softly. The strap holding her arm in place groaned and gave way under the force. Slowly she lifted it and brought her fingers to rest on his cheek.

"That wasn't so hard now was it?"

[member="Jared Ovmar"]

 

[Arage Bao]

[member="Anaya Fen"]

Jared blinked at that, before giving out a small chuckle. His own hand held hers, pressing it closely to his skin, foreheads touched each other and finally the Lord of the Fringe felt somewhat at peace. Perhaps this was just a small moment, or perhaps this was the beginning of something new, who really knew in times such as these?

‘Heh. Guess it wasn’t.’ before giving her another soft kiss.

Straps got removed by some unknown force and he would finally lie down next to her. They would be there for a while, simply… being there in the moment. Enjoying the peace while it lasted.

 

[Nisha Decrilla]

Anaya drifted in and out of peaceful sleep. Sometime when she woke, Jared was there beside her, other times he was not. While the latter saddened her, she knew that other things demanded his attention, that she could not have it all. She lost count of they weeks that went by before she was allowed to leave the bed, aided by physicians. Slowly she would build up her strength, till she was no longer bound to her bed.

When Jared returned he would find her in a training room, bare footed with a long pole resting lightly in her hands and two opponents similarly armed. After spending so long tied down to a bed it felt good to move again. The force rushing through her as she moved, muscle memory taking over as she ducked, weaved and countered incoming attacks. The crack of wood on wood resounded throughout the hall, its pace increasing with every passing moment as they fell into the flow of the fight.

There was nothing else.

Until he walked in. A misstep and she was on the floor both staffs bearing down upon her own. She frowned and refocused, pushing them back with the force she was up on her feet again, beckoning them in. She hit harder, struck faster and within moments had returned the favor, landing them both on their backs. Breathing heavily she smiled and inclined her head to them before lifting her gaze to Jared himself.

"You caught me off guard, love."

[member="Jared Ovmar"]

 

[Arage Bao]

A wave of the hand and the two guards filed out of the room, at the same time a training saber lifted itself from one of the tables, finding its way into his extended hand. The Sith Lord took his time studying [member="Anaya Fen"], at first it would seem it was merely the look of a concerned man, making sure his woman was okay. Until she would notice the slow, wicked grin spreading across his lips.

It seemed… the Lord Ovmar liked what he saw.

‘Now you understand why I trip every time.’ Jared replied smoothly. ‘Duel?’

 

[Nisha Decrilla]

"No," Anaya chastised, "You trip every time because your footwork is terrible."

Her own grin formed an the training staff spun in her hand.

"Are you sure, love? I wouldn't want to hurt you." she mocked.

[member="Jared Ovmar"]