Fifty Shades Of Fear

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This was not Graxin's fight. Not really anyway. Felicity was Keter's daughter, and his duty to defend.

Getting between two Sith duking it out usually wasn't the best course of action either. Graxin put a cap on his temper, and gently moved over to take Felicity by the hand and move her away from the fight.

"Are you hurt?" He whispered.

Keter was a master, or so Feena had said. This Sith was formidable, but Graxin had little doubt who the victor would be.

Then again, life really was full of surprises.

[member="Asterion"] [member="Keter"] [member="Felicity Mason"]

 

[Felicity Mason]

She hit the dirt with a tiny inaudible cry. She landed on that hand. Of course she landed on that hand. She couldn't possibly get away with being treated like a rag doll, being tossed back and forth without hurting herself again. And than, before she had time to really come to terms to what was happening now, she was pulled away by familiar hands.


"Are you hurt?"
"No," she lied, wincing in pain, "Okay, just a little. It's nothing."

She held up her bruised and broken hand to show him, three fingers twisted in odd directions, swollen and purple. Not very pretty.

"It's okay. I think I hurt him worse."

She was talking about emotionally. No way the little scar she left on his face was equal to what he did to her hand. She looked up, biting her lip. She struggled to her feet, ignoring her bruised and bloody knees as best she could.

"We have to stop this."

[member="Graxin Rade"] [member="Asterion"] [member="Keter"]

 

[Stephanie Swail]

The second his blade was blocked, Asterion had to keep moving. In training with two blades, once one was used to deflect the opponents, the other would move into action and you couldn’t stop to think on your next attack – attack, move, attack move.

The blades crackled between their bodies, his words came out almost robotically, and Asterion span around as the third blade came up from below, piercing the air. Coming in just behind Daddy, the Sith raised his boot to take out his left knee from behind and would hopefully land a crushing blow against the back of his neck with his arm.

Blades were a worthy weapon to wield, but in such close proximity, Asterion never shone away from using his fists to break bones and wear the enemy down.


[member="Felicity Mason"] [member="Graxin Rade"] [member="Keter"] [member="Owain"]

 

[Keter]

He felt the kick connect with the back of his knee, dropping him to the ground. Keter was grinning wildly, relishing the sensations. It had been too long since he had had a fight. The pain that blossomed was quickly stolen away, devoured by his power. Sparks danced across his skin as he rolled forwards with the blow that came to his neck, robbing it of much of it's force. The blades flickered out to avoid cutting him before he leapt back up onto his feet, only one red saber springing back to life.

The blond stowed the other away, fetching another device from his belt and holding it tightly in his fist as he grinned at his opponent. "Pragmatic, quick...who taught you boy?" he asked, genuinely curious, holding his weapon casually down, ready for an uppercut slash if approached. Keter had never learned any lightsaber forms, teaching himself some rudimentary skills and supplementing them with his own abilities and tricks.

[member="Asterion"] [member="Felicity Mason"] [member="Graxin Rade"] [member="Owain"]

 

[Stephanie Swail]

Watching Daddy roll, Asterion made sure his perception of what was happening behind him as to prevent a surprise attack. Stalking back left, away from the coward and more towards the two youngsters, Asterion kept his eyes on his opponent. He could feel the energy coming from him, the lust for the fight and the deception.

”Lady Kyros of the Sith Order tried to cage me but it didn’t work; now I just am my own man; no Master, no teacher.”

The blade hummed in his right hand, but he held back watching and waiting.

”Leave this place. Leave me. Take your daughter and love her properly as she deserves.”

His emotion still bubbled away, his senses fuelled by the Dark Side.

[member="Keter"] [member="Felicity Mason"] [member="Graxin"] @Rade Owain

 

[Keter]

"Good...good," Keter said with an accompanying nod. "You're making your own path. I like that," he said. It really did remind him of himself, once. "I love my daughter as she deserves already. You just can't see it because you've blinded yourself boy. There is a lot more you could learn about the galaxy. Yourself as well, if you so wished. But you bury your head in the sand. Come along boy. Come along and let me show you something...wondrous," the blond said, slowly approaching the fighter. "You hurt my duaghter in your childish act of rebellion. And yet you are still shackled. Freedom is yours if you would take it."

This was all so...similar. And maybe this young man could achieve something Keter had failed at. Change. A shattered cycle.

[member="Asterion"] [member="Felicity Mason"] [member="Graxin Rade"] [member="Owain"]

 

[Stephanie Swail]

Asterion listened, but didn’t want to.

His left hand came up, again to stop Daddy from advancing, to have the chance to stop without coming further. The crimson blade still angled down and to the side.

”This was not rebellion – this was salvation. Maybe our paths will cross in the future if it was meant to be, but don’t talk down to me like you know me; you don’t.”

[member="Keter"] [member="Felicity Mason"] [member="Graxin Rade"] [member="Owain"]

 

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Graxin shook his head. It wasn't his place to interfere here. Keter was the father, and the Sith the guilty. Graxin loved his little sister dearly, but he had no right to judge the Sith while Keter was here. The father took precedence over the bastard brother.

"Give me your hand." He ordered. It wasn't a question.

Graxin took off his gloves - the same leather ones Felicity had given him on Coruscant - and hooked them in his belt.

He gently reached for her shattered fingers. "I was a healer before all this war business....and your father is doing what he thinks is right. I have full confidence he'll make the right decision."


[member="Felicity Mason"]

[member="Asterion"]

[member="Keter"]

 

[Felicity Mason]

The girl winced and handed over her hand without question, all the while, her eyes were on her Father. So strong, yet her was also being kind. She knew enough about him to know that if he wanted to kill this Sith, he would have taken his head and kicked it around a few times by now. Something was going on.
Felicity was fiercely proud of her family, especially her Father. There was no other man in the Galaxy that could ever mean more to her than him, although a few could come close. Graxin was close. Graxin was very close, but she'd only had him a few years. Her Daddy had been with her from the beginning of everything.

"Daddy, Asterion, stop!" she screamed, "Enough. I just want to go home!"

[member="Graxin Rade"] [member="Keter"] [member="Asterion"]

 

[Keter]

Keter hissed in annoyance before relenting. The stupidity of youth. The pride of youth. Make it his choice and he would come. RIght now, he was just opposing the suggestions because Keter was making them.

"As you wish," he spat, shaking his head. "But there is one matter before I leave, child. Your hand. An eye for an eye. Stand there and break every bone that you broke in my daughter, and I will take my leave."

Everything was balance in the end. And if the boy was willing to hurt himself that much to make upfor his trangression, then Keter would see all he needed to see. The potential to become someone transcedant, above such petty morality as good and evil.

[member="Felicity Mason"] [member="Graxin Rade"] [member="Asterion"]

 

[Stephanie Swail]

Looking from Daddy to Felicity, Asterion smirked to himself and killed the crimson blade - no loss, he was not here to fight.

He stood tall and let out a deep breath, watching the masked man, then the coward, the bumbling boyfriend and then the fragile young girl. When the order came to take out the injuries afflicted on the girl to himself, Asterion didn't acknowledge his petty request, but knew it would be honourable and a test for her to fight back.

Kneeling down, he spread his hand palm down on the floor, eyes cooling with the amber rage starting to fade away to dark grey eyes.

"Felicity. Do it."

His voice not a request, but a command to the girl who had pretty much broken him.



[member="Felicity Mason"] [member="Keter"] [member="Graxin Rade"] [member="Owain"]

 

[Felicity Mason]

Her Fathers request did not surprise the girl at all. It was so very like him. All honor and balance. Fair. Still, When Felicity slid her hand from her brothers and stepped over to stand above the Sith that had hurt her, she hesitated. He wanted her to do it. She could see it in his eyes. He wanted her to do it.

She looked from her Father, to Graxin, then down at the Sith. She could just step on his hand now, end it, go home. She was certain her father would be satisfied with that, Graxin would not be able to blame her for it either.

"No," she shook her head, bending over to offer her other hand to him to help him up, "I won't do it. I already gave you a scar on your face. That is enough right there."

She was not going to give in to his demands. Not now. Not for all the Galaxy. If he wanted her to break his fingers, she would have to just do the opposite, or else what lesson would she be teaching here? She was better than revenge, and she knew it.

[member="Asterion"] [member="Keter"] [member="Graxin Rade"]

 

[Keter]

Keter snorted and shook his head as his daughter showed mercy. Inside, he was grinning like mad. So much like her mother. "Feena will not be pleased with your choice," the blond wanred his daughter. As if that mattered - the Mason's did things their own way, and answered to no one - not even themselves. And if his little girl chose to defy him...then all the better for her.

[member="Felicity Mason"] [member="Asterion"] [member="Graxin Rade"]

 

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She didn't do it.

Unlike her mother, Felicity understood what he taught. She was his Padawan above his sister, after all. Her training had been short thus far, but she had the traits to make a fine Jedi Knight.

He only stared at Asterion and Keter. The words he'd intended to say to them were lost; replaced with a more urgent need to get Felicity very, very far away from here.

He lowered down to his little sister's height, and focused on her hand. Down past the skin, through the bone, within the very marrow that gave it structure. There he saw the damaged cells, ruptured and dead.

Slowly, he began to coax them into growing. To breath new life into the dead cells, and reinvigorate the damaged ones. The process of healing Felicity's hand would take time, but it was painless, effective, and might feel very, very itchy.

"I'm proud of you." He whispered to the girl. "You've shown the character of a true Jedi just now."


[member="Keter"]

[member="Asterion"]

[member="Felicity Mason"]

 

[Stephanie Swail]

Staying knelt, Asterion didn't look up or reply. He felt them through the Force; the emotional state, the healing, the pride.

He curled his hand into a fist, dragging up the loose dirt and fauna under his fingers.

A moment passed, and he rose. The Sith touched his bloodied face, the crimson streaked down his cheek where the open wound was red raw with torn flesh and muscle. A perfect reminder. Looking once more at the girl and giving a slight nod, he turned, fixing the lightsaber to his belt and, as his eyes glanced to the side once more, he stepped down to the blast doors of the bunker.


[member="Graxin Rade"] [member=Keter] [member="Felicity Mason"]

 

[Felicity Mason]

"Mother is never pleased, Daddy," she responded almost immediately, "It doesn't mean what I did was wrong."

She pulled her hand away after a short while when the Sith did not take it. She supposed he had his own pride too. It would not be good to hurt him more than she had. Graxin came over next to praise her. She beamed with pride while he tended to her hand. Some day, she hoped she could learn to heal too, but she wasn't going to hold her breath. Like her own gift, healing was sometimes something that was just out of reach of certain people.

"We'll meet again someday," she called to [member="Asterion"] as he walked away, "That wasn't a vision this time, but I know it will happen."

She did not bother to turn to look at him. There wasn't a need. She would see him again, just as she said. Who knew what side he would be on when they did. Not even she could tell what would happen.

[member="Asterion"] [member="Graxin Rade"] @Keter.

 

[Keter]

"Well, that was enlightening for all of us. Come along you two. Time to head for home," Keter stated, shrugging and heaidng for his ship, his previous mood already forgotten. The blond shook his head as he approached and lifted the limp form of Owain, unconscious on the ramp. The boy still had so much to learn about ebing effective. "Oh, and before I forget. Felicity, you're grounded. Graxin, we will have words as to why she was abducted under your care," he called over his shoulder.

[member="Felicity Mason"] [member="Graxin Rade"]

 

[Felicity Mason]

Daddy was so casual now. Strange. Felicity followed wordlessly until they reached the ship.

"Owain!" She hurried forward, reaching out to touch the boy on his forehead while her Father lifted him up off the ground, "I didn't even know he was here. Is he hurt badly?"

She acted like she hadn't even heard that last bit about being grounded. She really didn't care. After what she'd just been through, being forced to keep to her bedroom felt like a vacation.

[member="Keter"] [member="Graxin"]

 

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Graxin grunted his reply. He should have kept Felicity under better guard, but how a Sith snuck into Ession, he had no idea. What he did know was that he was growing rather tired of dealing with Sith in a passive manner.

In short, Keter made him very uncomfortable.

He turned about, away from the injured boy, Keter, and Felicity. "Aye." He grumbled. "Felicity, it's best you go with your father. I'm taking my forces to Kashhyyk, Sith ships have already been located at the edge of the system. I won't take you to a warzone."

Shlurk blinked from the edge of the forest. Graxin nodded, and the old Graug disappeared in the direction of their ship.

"If you want to continue your training, you can rejoin me after the battle."

[member="Felicity Mason"] [member="Keter"]

 

[Keter]

"Hmm," Keter replied. He would have preferred to have Graxin along when confronting Feena - his wife would have been to focused on being displeased with the younger man to find anything to blame Keter for. And speaking of consequences..."Felicity, you're grounded for being captured. However, you did well, so let's go get you a tauntaun," he idly revealed, boarding the ship, ignoring the way his duaghter fussed over Owain. The boy would be fine. Just a concussion. KMaybe some minor brain damage. Nothing one would notice.

[member="Felicity Mason"]