"Parents are supposed to outlive their children."
The heavy, wet, squelch of flesh torn open was muffled by the ripping of fabric and the splash of color on the gray floor beneath her.
Sorry, she mouthed - best as her weak lips could - before the light left her eyes.
The visceral sound was punctuated by the heavy thunk of steel anchoring itself against her spine, the crossguard of her sword preventing the telekinetically wielded weapon from flying entirely through her.
In the blink of an eye the world shattered.
Everything exploded like tempered glass. For all the giants supreme attributes even he caught the singular moment too late, not fast enough nor prepared for it when the blade rent flesh. "NOO-" It was all he could get off before everything went black, fading away behind the shape of her delicate face. In that moment he'd locked eyes with her then father and daughter, as he watched the light darken behind them. Countless times, certainly far too many to count he'd been in this singular moment to watch the lives of friends and foes alike breathe their last in this realm. It had been a fascination for a time and he'd been here so much they often called him the final moment made flesh. For the satisfaction this reaper took in watching his enemies leave this realm. But in this moment? Now? It was a raging storm that had taken the infamous Lord of Lies and irreparably shattered him, doing what had built for so long and taking the person he was and turning him into dust on the wind.
In that moment he would've given up everything to rewind and change the outcome, to switch places with her. The guilt was an unbearable titan crashing him beneath its waves like the oceans at high tide. A father who victimized his own daughter by poisoning her essence with his malice, who threw her into the fires instead of sheltering her and raising her to face the world, to give her a full life she was denied, a proper home. It was never her job to pull him back from the edge of the abyss, it was his job to pull her. How could he do that to her? To force her to this point. Where he saw only the surface of her rise in power and climb to the throne of the Brotherhood of the Maw, he was so blinded by his own pride and arrogance, he couldn't see the pain she was in. In his supreme arrogance he was so blind to her pain he could only see the potential of an heir for his empire. One who may eclipse both her father and her cousin. Someone to complete their plans and reign unchallenged over the galaxy and accomplish what they could not. It took this moment to remove the partisan blinders from his eyes and it broke him into smaller pieces then.
"Do what I could not. There is more to life than surviving, fighting. Put down the sword and live."
As his late brother once said at the moment of his death he was too focused on the fight, instead of putting down the blade and choosing to simply live. For a time he'd thought it was a mistake after tragedy struck, he consigned living to being a mistake, opening himself up exposed him and his family to weakness because he wasn't ready. But it wasn't until he watched the light fade from his precious daughter's eyes that he understood. In that moment he would've given any entity in the cosmos everything he had, every material bit of fortune, success, the Kainate itself, his force sensitivity to see it reversed. Such bargains were dangerous to strike as he'd learned but in this moment he didn't care. There was nothing too costly to spend if he could have one more chance with her. One more chance to say what needed to be said, beg her to reconsider. She was supposed to outlive him. But her entire life was one more chance that he'd wasted pointlessly. As had happened before no such opportunity came and it smothered him in the crushing grip of reality that she was already gone.
"Kid, he loved you like a son. In this mad world we live on even the greatest legends and gods die. None of us know how or when our end is gonna come but make no mistake it comes for all of us. He lived an extremely long life and had the rarest luxury to punch his own ticket, write the end of his story. Never forget how precious that is. Honor it for you'll never see it again here. Only a true legend such as he could accomplish that."
Time had frozen on that gaze into her eyes then and only slowly, inevitably advanced as his precious daughter began to come apart, her essence unraveling. Every ounce of energy she drained within had suddenly, abruptly begun to force its way back out of her. It almost caught him off guard in blasting the giant away from his child forever. But he'd been ready this time and dropped his weight down, pushing back at the gradually escalating force as reality slowly began to unfold for him. In this moment he had a choice as few ever did. He could've abandoned her one more time, how many times had he left her abandoned and alone before? She came into this world alone. To take what some would say smart, others cowardly decision to flee or let the wave carry him through the citadel's walls, his body could take it. It had long been hardened from experience and manipulation to resist such pains.
"All this power you've gathered Darth. Its trivial compared to what truly matters in this world. When the end comes, and come for you it will, it'll never be how you expect. All of your carefully laid plans will unravel and you'll be cast into the darkness you belong." - Veiere Arenais
No more running.
"I won't abandon you again."
Step.
The words fell hard into the air as he took a titanic step towards her. The devastating vacuum began to press its dark fury over him eroding away the darkened zeyd cloth, blazing his flesh with soul searing agony. The immediate area of his fully tattooed, muscular chest darkened with its burning fury as it blazed into his skin and began to peel its layers back. Its fury set his hair alight and started to burn it off his skull. The carefully designed tattooes that told his story from his time on Panatha, his life on Maena, and his career as a Sith. A beautiful tapestry immortalized on flesh burned away before the unstoppable fury of her death. The giant stood his ground and wielded the force in one simple reason, to corral her eruption into one simple direction: straight forward. He blew the sword out of her back and yet the titanic fury of energy still kept coming, holding her upright.
Step.
The forceful, destructive energy pushed harder as the first walls of flesh burned away and started slaughtering its way through the muscular system beneath. In his face it started peeling to reveal the hardened, skeletal pockets beneath. The body's regenerative capabilities long since overwhelmed. In his determination his grief flowed freely off his face, tears started welling as boiling droplets of fire sending off trailing, evaporative smoke. In his long life he only ever processed through pain and grief one way: Fighting. So the man known as Braxus Zambrano roared. The absolute soul gripping conviction was unlike any other utterance into the open air. It combined with the unbearable sound of a parent who'd lost their child and its own destructive fury sundered the earth around him. It shouldn't have been possible for him to resist such force and yet here he stood undaunted.
Step.
He grabbed her then. One hand wrapping around her torso and the other the back of her head, pulling her tightly into an embrace and tucking her head into the crook of his lowered neck. The giant faced the back wall and unleashed his bellowing fury once more as his fury combined with the explosion of energy ripped the wall down. To choose this chapter of his story was a gift he wouldn't pass over. To escape and drown in the grief of his failure every moment of his existence. For what? What would it feel like without her? To imagine life in the reality where he'd failed her. To fight one more war, one more death. To scorn life and fate itself by robbing them of a life taken too soon. She who had grown as close or closer as only two others had. It was in this moment that he'd thought of them. Braith. A love lost and returned to him in an unexpected gift by his blessed child, who felt like she would never be enough to fill the void of her mother. She was enough, and he was so blinded he couldn't see that. It was an unimaginable reunion but in this moment he thought of her and what he'd say. She was still picking up the pieces of her shattered life, all the time she'd missed - years, and he was scared. Braxus Zambrano - scared of leaving her alone. How much had he abandoned her over the years to fight the wars of the Sith instead of being there for her? How many times had he been blind to see her?
Kaine.
Student, Teacher, Friend, Nephew, Brother. They'd forged a Dark Dyad together. A lifetime spent by each other's side - well over seventy years constantly by one another. They hadn't ever been separated. Together they built an empire out of the darkness, uplifting House Zambrano from disgrace to a supreme throne of galactic dominance, built an unmatched bastion of power. Together they'd done the impossible and eclipsed the light, irrevocably changing the galaxy. So many completed plans and so many unfinished. Their bond had eclipsed everyone he ever met in his extremely long life - and he knew he would feel every bit of what was happening. A brother who accepted his life teachings and rose to the highest wrungs of greatness. Together they made life worth living for him at least. Long had he been his nephew's protector from the threats that might face them, destroying them before they approached him. In this moment he was terrified. Terrified of what may happen if he wasn't there to protect him - of leaving him alone. Apologetic for not being able to be there and failing his nephew in the promises he gave. "Brusrar." Braxus spoke through their Dyad directly to his nephew. The word in Epicanthix had no direct translation. Perhaps brother or bonded one came closest. It was only spoken among two individuals with the deepest bond with one another, perhaps even soul mates would share such a thing. "I won't leave her, not again. I've failed her too many times. I am writing this chapter myself. Remember everything. Remember I will always come for you. I ruqa aeui. I'k kurrae."
The last words he'd speak were directed straight at Quinn Varanin - his daughter's precious lover. Every word was a struggle to let out into the air at a level she'd be able to hear it "Go Quinn. Leave this place. Live your life for my daughter. I shall care for her now. As long as you breathe - you shall never fear violence from any sworn to Zambrano. So I have decreed so shall it be." Then after a lifetime of fighting - holding his precious daughter? He let go, darkness came and the fury of her destruction tore him apart and unleashed his own.
Death is not the end. But the beginning.
