Act IV: Ira

[Hal Terrano]

He couldn't even hold on to her.

Torn away from his former student once more, Hal was thrown to the ground which was seemingly his place in the galaxy. He had to rise to his feet again, he had to get back to her, to protect her from that monstrosity of a woman, he had to-

It was a sound he'd never forget.

That snap.

Hal stood, eyes wild and wide as he watched Lira's head droop, body instantly going limp. Stood there, bleeding, watching, feeling as he felt the presence of his only student get snuffed out in an instant, with not a lingering of her spirit in the air.

It was her fault.

The unrelenting beast that wouldn't let up. You don't get to touch her like that. Attacking, defiling, destroying every single thing that Hal Terrano had ever held dear. You don't get to hold her like that. Oh, he had clung on when it was his own pain, his own pride, his own body that was upon the rack, but Lira Dajenn was a person, not just an extension of him but a human fething being.

One of the two that were so dear to Hal in this cruel Galaxy.

It was his fault.

He had failed her. He could have done more to help, so much more. Get away from her. Instead he found himself getting knocked about and pushed aside at every opportunity because he wasn't strong enough, and Lira, Lira wouldn't run because that's how he had taught her. Get away.

Chest heaved, the movement growing increasingly wilder as thoughts escalated, throwing blame, screeching why and unlocking nigh indestructible chains that once held back his anger.

It bled slowly into the biots, erasing all hope that might have remained even though his fear, it erased everything.

Restraint was gone.

Suddenly he rushed once more, this time with his teeth bared, snarling spittle and fury as his face warped into the very picture of wrath. From his haggard throat he bellowed words that were nigh-incomprehensible as they were completely corrupted by his rage, his pain.

When Hal came upon Vrag his arms moved to go around both of her legs, her armour really not mattering to him now now as the man tried to pick her up and slam her into the ground with a double leg takedown.

---

[member="Lira Dajenn"] [member="Vrag"]

 

[Vrag]

The body in her arms suddenly felt lighter, as if a soul had left it there, an empty shell of a woman that no longer existed. How insignificant.

A false sensation, of course, brought on by Force knows what shred of compassion still labored about in her heart. How pathetic.

And then it was gone, and her hands released the dead girl, her silver hair spilling onto the broken stone of the forgotten temple like a halo around her head. How poetic.

The red eyes of the skull turned to the only living being still around, impassive and emotionless in their dimmed orange glow. The Master would bury his Padawan. How cruel.

And his eyes now mirrored hers, wild and oh so angry, a livid red that demanded flesh be cut and blood be spilled. A price be paid. Her lips peeled back into a sharp smile, rows of pointy teeth glinting that same orange as she watched him charge, the whole sequence almost like viewing slowed-down footage on a holodisplay. Frame by frame, the enraged man neared, his feet barely touching the ground as he sprinted towards her.

Instead of standing against his blow, the woman embraced him like a long-lost lover, finally welcoming him into the fold. Even in the coils of the Force-dead Skerr Kyrric, Vrag could feel the fault lines running wide and gaping through his signature, as if the Dark Mark had been painted anew upon him.

This time there would be no going back.

She hit the stone for the second time that day, holding him close so that when they fell, the fell together. Her armored fingers would dig into the meat of his back, not caring whether or not the pale skin withstood the pressure of the sharp edges, not caring if he bled for her, again.

He was in her domain now; now and for always, her wrath.

[member="Lira Dajenn"] | [member="Hal Terrano"]​

 

[Hal Terrano]

Hal would note, upon reflection, that there was a demented satisfaction that came when the pair went crashing into the ground once more. At that exact moment however, Hal was far too deeply entrenched in violent mania to even realise such.

Caught in a twisted embrace her unforgiving armour cut further into his flesh, his clothes now a shredded canvas of cloth and blood, those carnivorous fingers digging into his back to create further wretched art. From the impact to the ground Hal was between her legs with his head pressed against her chest as if he sought to hear the black beast's heart beat, the lacerations to his face completely inconsequential at this point in time.

The primal vision of man didn't remain there for long however.

He reared up violently, looking down upon her grotesque helm with nothing but savagery within his gaze. Moving from between her legs Terrano opted to straddle Vrag's midsection, trying to give himself better purchase for what it was that he truly craved to do.

Logic would have demanded that he tried to remove the ghastly helmet before proceeding, but all traces of logic lay besides Lira Dajenn upon the sodden dirt. Dead.

Blood pumped hard within his ears, almost drowning out the world around him. Adrenaline and absolute fury lashing throughout his veins, with every single racing heart beat it felt as if the organ might have burst out of his chest. Pent up for so many years, decades even and now, now it was released, unrepentant, unforgiving.

My chains are broken.

With all notions of his own well-being completely cast aside Hal drew back his arm and in one brutal instant sent his fist crashing towards Vrag's helm…

...and he would opt to do it again, and again and again until she stopped him.

---

[member="Lira Dajenn"] [member="Vrag"]

 

[Vrag]

Blood was rushing wild through her veins, her heart pounding in her ears with each constriction of the powerful muscle. Ironically, it was beating faster now than when she was snapping the neck of the Jedi girl. The crack – crunch of her vertebra still echoed in her ears, like a fine melody one finds themselves humming even long after the song itself has ended.

No time to hum, though.

With far less finesse the dissonant tones of his fists meeting her helmet now rang out through the clearing, the sound of his bones turning into white splinters filling her skull as her head shot back, hitting the ancient stone half-buried in the mud. Blood blossomed in her mouth, salt and copper and iron, and as the Hand of the Dark Lord bit down on her broken lip to stifle a groan, the Vonduun didn't hesitate.

The claws of her helmet would shoot forth to grasp his wrists and pull him closer and onto the spikes that weren't yet imbedded in his flesh. In a deathly embrace, Vrag would wrap her armored arms around his perforated, bleeding body and hold him flush against herself, cradling his broken form as he raged in her grasp.

She would gaze into that red gaze of his as he struggled against her, knowing even in her arrogance that he stood no chance to break free. Perhaps before all this, before she'd snuffed the life of his Padawan before his very eyes; perhaps then, [member="Hal Terrano"] still had a choice.

But not now.

A bloody leer stretched her lips as she held his gaze, her chest shaking with gleeful laughter. With his wrathful rictus hovering no more than a hair's breadth away from her face, Vrag growled out, her timbre low and pregnant with promise.

"You. Are. Mine."

[member="Lira Dajenn"]​