Ancient Truths

[Vrak Nashar]

[member="Athena Heron"]

He chuckled. "No."

Vrak wasn't a fool.

"Your promises mean very little to me." There was no trust between them. She had never done a single thing to allow him to trust her anymore, in fact back in the tomb she had attacked him. Why in the force would he give her the holocron now? Here on a planet with Jedi.

"Bring him here." He told her. "Then you can have the holocron."

She was clever enough to find a way, he was confident of that.

 

[Athena Heron]

[member="Vrak Nashar"]

He was about to let this opportunity slip by. Fingers twitched at her sides, barely in check. She wanted to strangle him. "He needs to open the holocron here. We can't take him anywhere. The illusion will not be as effective."

The teen was already turning from the shop.

"I will not run. And you will not trust me. You leave me no choice. Please play along nicely and don't end his life until we get the answers from the cube."

Or end my life. She didn't add that part.

Just as quickly, her hand came up to slap Vrak violently across the face, enough force to knock that hood off of it connected. Then she screamed and her very appearance before Vrak changed. What the boy would see. She was bleeding and bruised.

A bedraggled, blonde human.

In her experience, blondes got more attention for soMe reason.

"Help," she stumbled away from Vrak. As predicted, the food little Jedi came rushing to her aid. "He stole something of mine!!! He's going to kill me!"

A shaky finger pointed at Vrak's looming figure.

 

[Vrak Nashar]

[member="Athena Heron"]

He stared at her for a moment, bewildered.

His initial reaction was to instantly grab her by the throat and crush her windpipe, but as she began to scream bloody murder he quickly began to understand just what she was trying to accomplish. His lips thinned, the slight taste of blood filling his mouth, her slap having dragged his inner cheek over his canines. He scowled for a moment, but nodded to her as he understood what she wanted him to do.
The hand around her throat tightened, and then he threw her to the ground.

The landing would likely hurt, but she more than deserved it for what she had just done to him. As soon as he let go of Athena he let out a maddening cackle, one that resounded down the street for just a moment. The boy turned and instantly began to rush forward, heading directly towards Vrak. Before The Jedi could reach him however Vrak burst into a sprint, running in directly the opposite direction of where the boy was coming from.

He would leave the rest to her.

Though they would talk of this later.

 

[Athena Heron]

[member="Vrak Nashar"]

She hit the ground, barely maintaining control over the illusion. And she barely kept the smile in check as she looked down at the swiped holocron in her hands. She needed it for her plan to work and if Vrak was being too stubborn to cooperate, she just had to take it.

He'd realize soon enough.

The teen yelled out a resounding 'stop' at the sith's back. She could see he was torn between chasing after the interloper and stopping to help her. She fumbled with the holocron and let it tumble to the kid's feet. She moaned on the ground, her illusion holding.

"He was after it," she struggled as he knelt by her side, picking up the box. "I don't know why."

"You need help. Right away. Who was that? And this," his voice held some awe. "I think this is a holocron."

"No please, don't take me anywhere. He'll....he'll find me. Please help me. I know there are answers in there to help me."

Bruised face tipped toward the cube. The teen knelt by her side, his attention shifting between the hurt girl and the glowing cube. It began to open with three soft clicks.

 

[Vrak Nashar]

[member="Athena Heron"]

Vrak turned as soon as he passed the treeline.

He shifted, placing himself within the shadows. The Pureblood had never been one for stealth. He found sneaking difficult, and running around in the dark to be almost impossible. His talents were more suited to a full frontal assault rather than anything else, something that Athena already likely knew. He turned, shifting so he could see her, then immediately cursed.

"Schutta!" His voice was a low whisper.

She had taken the holocron.

His fingers immediately balled into a fist, his eyes settling on the distant figures.

He would kill he for this.

 

[Athena Heron]

[member="Vrak Nashar"]

Once the little Jedi started, he couldn't stop. There was an odd sense of urgency, something he couldn't explain. Athena, the helpless damsel watched and listened, hearing and absorbing all the secrets the holocron had to offer. She kept pressing his mind with urgency, persuading him to go deeper and deeper.

She saw hidden temples. Jedi healing practices, lightside techniques. Coordinates to places she'd never heard of, things of legends. She saw techniques used against the sith. And it went on.

"Whoa," he breathed as the holocron spit out its final secret. Maybe there was more but she didn't have time for it all. Like a surgeon, she cut into his mind. His hand went to his head and he started convulsing.

A second later, he woke up standing, hand on the lock of the shop. Head shook and he looked around. He shrugged, then continued on his way, having no idea his memories had been robbed and ripped free from his skull.

Athena was long gone, headed in the direction of when she last saw Vrak. Although, she'd done ALL the work, she was tempted just to NOT find him at all.

 

[Vrak Nashar]

[member="Athena Heron"]

As soon as she stepped into the forest she would find a hand upon her throat.

The strike was instant, surprising, and not at all out of character. He had presumed she had betrayed him at first. He had presumed that she would simply walk away. Such was not the case of course, but if there was one thing that Vrak liked to display, if there was one thing he liked to show more than anything else, it was dominance.

His hand wrapped around her throat, instantly lifting her into the air.

"Don't." He breathed, his voice a rasp. "Ever."

His eyes were cold steel. "Steal from me again."

It wasn't technically stealing of course, she had done just as much work to get the holocron as he had, but that was besides the point. He saw the device as his property, that was it, that was all. Before she could gasp for breath Vrak dropped her to the forest floor.

 

[Athena Heron]

[member="Vrak Nashar"]

Vrak would find that she weighed practically nothing at all. She dropped to the ground lightly. Coal-orbs glittered with quickly spreading yellow like pin-pricks of stars glittering in the depths of a cold and unforgiving space.

"Don't. Ever. Touch me like that again."

Power whirled around her but she didn't use it. Not yet. Fingers pushed back the dark curtain of midnight hair from her face. Vrak would find the holocron chucked at his face. "Take it. We're done here."

 

[Vrak Nashar]

[member="Athena Heron"]

He caught the device. "Good."

The Jedi Holocron was all but useless to him of course, though perhaps he would find something...or someone to open it.

For a moment the thing seemed to shrink slightly, it's force signature growing a bit more dim as Vrak wrapped his fingers around it. Vrak glanced towards it, then looked back up towards Athena. His lips thinned for half a moment before turning into a smirk.

"I hope you learned something." Came the small taunt.

His fingers floated near his lightsaber just in case.

 

[Athena Heron]

[member="Vrak Nashar"]

"Youll never know," she offered a thin smile. She was a bit surprised he didn't try to coerce information from her. Perhaps he knew it would be a fruitless endeavor. A call went to her servant to meet her at the star port. Her ship was already enroute.

Just as quickly, her form disappeared from sight as she dipped into an illusion and she was gone.