Forests and Friendships and Cultists, Oh My!

[Darth Miseria]

Dianah's mouth flapped up and down as she made a mockery of the voice calling out to them. It was a rather childish thing to do but she was a firm believer in breaking tension with a little humor. When she looked down at Madalena she caught the confused look on her face. For a moment she was confused herself. She'd already made up her mind that the woman standing before her was indeed Scherezade deWinter but Dianah had spent a good while now getting to know her as Madalena now. She had almost forgotten that there used to be someone entirely different inhabiting that crazy, brilliant, eccentric brain.

When her brain caught up Dianah was at a loss of what to do or say. Clearly she was Madalena now for a reason, but Dianah couldn't be sure if it was her doing or someone else's. Luckily enough Maddy pipped up with the idea that they were just messing with them, which made sense considering he'd called her little again. She simply nodded in agreement as they made their slow way through the dark corridors.

Passing through the thin veils of flesh was particularly horrifying. Even for two Sith who had seen and committed countless horrors themselves. It shifted around them or caught on their shoulders to slip down the shining metal that made up their armor. Dianah shuddered and felt Madalena do the same beside her. She was tempted to grip onto her arm in disgust and fear, but as anyone could be watching them composure was everything. A mixture of old, rotting flesh and the powerful stench of fresh blood filled her nose to the brim with a sour smell that Dianah was sure she'd never forget.

A dim light came streaking through the paper thin muscle as the two approached the doorway. When they passed through all Dianah had done was blink but when she opened her eyes again both of them were clad in a dress so tightly bound she struggled to inhale. Dianah turned to Madalena in a panic and almost fell over. Going from a heavy suit of armor to a light frilly dress had completely thrown her off balance. The fact that she could now turn without using every single muscle in her body screamed to the fact that they had been completely stripped of anything useful, save for their connection to the force.

A strange force caught her every muscle in a lock so powerful nothing she did would break it. The sound of two pairs of heels clacking against the floor echoed off the stone walls as they unwillingly moved toward the table set out before them. Her legs felt stiff with the force she extruded trying to stop herself from moving, but her efforts were fruitless. Dianah could feel Maddy's gaze on her but the only thing she seemed to be able to do was talk, so she did.

'You know, we can kick your shebs just as well without weapons. You've done nothing but provide us with some minor entertainment and a good fight when we finally find you. Assuming you can actually fight.'

The voice laughed in response. A deep, rumbling, mocking laugh that Dianah felt reverberating from the top of her head all the way down to her toes. On the table in front of them steaming hot cups of tea and delicious looking finger foods were spread out in a rather tempting display. But for the first time in her life Dianah wasn't feeling very hungry. Heavy wooden chairs slid out from under the table making a deafening sound as they scraped against the stone floor. They were both forced into them so violently that it knocked the wind from her lungs. When she finally caught her breath she spoke out again.

'You're completely insulting our intelligence if you think we're going to touch a single thing you offer us. What is this anyway? Did you find an old script for a terrible b-class holofilm or something?'

[member=Scherezade deWinter]

 

[Scherezade deWinter]

Dia was able to speak, but Madalena’s voice had been cut off the moment she’d tried to cast her spell. The two Knight were seated at the table now, and Dia was mouthing off to their jailor. Madalena tried not to listen, tried to focus. Much like her friend, she had no intention of actually touching any of the food or beverages provided on the table. But her unwillingness to wouldn’t matter if their captors could make them move against their will, could freeze their bodies when they wanted to, could change their clothes and silence their voice.

Were there other things they could no longer do? Madalena looked at the tea cup in front of her and focused. Moments later, it went flying against the wall, shattering into a million little pieces. For the first time since their experiment with Dia!tree, Madalena smiled.

“One little girl mouths off, one little girl breaks one of my cup,” the voice was heard again, but the amusement in its voice was gone almost entirely. “That cup was part of as a set that I received a gift from my mother! Her name was Martha!”

Immediately, the surroundings around Madalena and Dianah changed. Whereas before they were in a dank room that hosted a table, now the walls and ceilings vanished, turning into an eternal blackness that seemed to go on forever. But they were no longer alone in it; around the table, circling them, stood hundreds if not more of people, all clad in dark robes with hoods that covered their faces.

The butthole silenced my voice, Madalena pressed to Dia’s mind, what are the odds you know how to cast Witch spells? If Dia could do it fast enough… No, that was a bad idea. If their captor would silence Dia’s voice as well, they’d be indefinitely in deeper poodoo. No, don’t, even if you do… I don’t want him to silence you too, came her quick correction.

The robed people around Dianah and Madalena began to chant. It was the same singing the two had heard earlier as they descended down the stairs, the same creepy melody and words that weren’t words at all but a random string of syllables.

This time though, the singing and chanting was different than earlier; earlier, it had been just noise, just sound. Now, Madalena could feel something crawling beneath her skin, swirling and twirling as though it was looking for something, much deeper and stronger than the voice of the butthole.

The singing lasted for what felt like an eternity, though it might as well have been a mere few moments, before something began to change; Madalena’s eyes moved upwards, just in time to see an eerie light slice the air above their heads, building into a rift.

What the…

Sounds were coming from the other end of it. Bad sounds. Monster sounds. And before she could blink a second time, the snout of something that Madalena was sure at this point was a gigantic dragon, began to push its way through the rift.


[member="Dianah Vi'Dreya"]

 

[Darth Miseria]

A sharp crash sounded out as the dainty teacup hit the solid stone wall, it was the most satisfying sound ever. Dianah gave a loud whoop and twitched in her chair, she was supposed to jump out of it but the lock on her body held her firmly in place. The only thing she had to show for her efforts was her chair had moved a fraction of an inch. At least now she knew if Maddy could talk she would be joining in on the sarcastic quips.

'Aww, too bad. Maybe now you can invest in something that's a little more classy? Patterned china is so dated.'

All of a sudden the surroundings disappeared into complete blackness. The appearance of a hundred life forms made her squeal with surprise. Madalena's voice reverberated in the corners of her mind. The question she asked was a complicated one. Dianah knew how to do a few spells but none that would have been any use at the minute. It didn't matter though, Maddy changed her mind about it quickly and Dianah was very much inclined to agree. She'd have to play smart if she wanted to keep her voice then, not that saying anything seemed to be doing any good either way.

Don't worry, we'll get out of this. I don't know what's keeping us here but if I can shift into somethi-...

A somber song echoed through the void and crept up on Dianah, feeling remarkably like a million bugs crawling over every inch of exposed skin. When it reached a crescendo the two women were cast in a dim light that broke forth into a blinding one as it ripped through the darkness. For a cacophonous humming coming from the weirdos behind them was so loud Dianah couldn't focus on anything else. What broke her out of this was something catching what light streamed out of the rift. Thick green scales glinted and flashed as a snout emerged, followed by two nostrils that were about the same size as Dianah's head.

'YOU'RE A FRIKKIN' DRAGON?'

A column of fire burst forth from the huge mouth, sending flames dancing across the blackness. Dianah had to scrunch her eyes and attempt to turn her face as the heat licked out and singed the frills of her dress. When she opened them to look at Maddy panic was written all over her expression. Sure, a hundred robed idiots would have been no bother, but a dragon?!

[member=Scherezade deWinter]

 

[Scherezade deWinter]

“Of course I’m not the dragon!” the voice replied, its words draped with the endless giggling and cackling, “I’m the mouse!”

Madalena squinted her eyes, trying to see if there was an actual mouse there, but then came the flames, and for once, she was glad that her voice was silenced, keeping her from the embarrassment of screaming out in terror. It was hot, too hot, and she could feel the fire’s warmth licking at her skin, boiling her from the inside.

She saw Dia’s panic, and if she’d had a moment to think, she’d have realized that the look on her face probably matched.

Sometimes, what gets a person intro trouble, is their instincts. In Madalena’s case, her instincts often led her to poke big angry or big scary things with the pointy end of her knives. Lacking knives in the women’s current predicament, her mind went to the next best thing; a flurry of spoons and forks flew from the table, making their way straight into the dragon’s nostrils.

It was probably a bad thing to do.

No, scratch that, it was a very bad thing to do.

The dragon’s snout paused in its reveal, the rifts around it in their lightning and flashy greens seeming to hold their breath in, waiting to see what it would do. In the split of a moment she had, Madalena used the Force to shove Dia’s chair to the side.

And the dragon sneezed.

A hoard of utensils covered in snot shot out of the dragon’s nose, all aimed straight at Madalena, who was covered less than an instant later. It was gross. It was icky. It was disgusting.

It also included one fork that managed to stab her in the right shoulder, pulling a string of curses from the young woman that could have made a sailor blush. But pain was sometimes a good thing; Madalena realized she could move her arms again, and scream. Not for the pain; but for the sheer grossness of it all.

“Eww eww eww eww eww,” she muttered to herself as she got up, trying to get some of the slime off the front of her body.

The dragon’s snout, now free of utensils and other physical debris, continued its descend out of the rift.

“Use the Force, Dia!” Madalena cried out, “get rid of the jolly monks! See if they’re wearing tights under those robes!”

And with that she grabbed the fork out of her flesh and jumped; straight into the dragon’s mouth.


[member="Dianah Vi'Dreya"]

 

[Darth Miseria]

When the heat died down Dianah was thinking a little more clearly. Madalena displayed a powerful aggression when the force began to chuck things violently toward the dragon. Despite the situation she couldn't help but laugh a little. If they made it out of this mess it would be one hell of a story to tell. With nothing left to lose Dianah joined in the torrent of china raining down on the dragon. Silver spoons and heirloom teacups whizzed through the air from all angles, smashing and splintering into a thousand pieces of sharp porcelain on the dragon's invincible scales.

An aggressive wave shoved Dianah's chair to the side without warning. The frills of her dress caught under the weight of it and the sound of material ripping unceremoniously echoed out through the void. This noise was followed by one that was recognizable to anyone. A sneeze. Dianah turned her head away from it, just in time to feel a soft spray of dragon snot cover her from head to toe. Madalena had it worse though, she was covered in a thick film of green mucus that, if she was honest, would have made Dianah throw up if the tables were turned. She'd have to remember to thank her profusely if they got out alive.

Dianah had only just noticed the shiny fork sticking out of Madalena's shoulder when the robed figures behind her began to swarm. Without a moment to lose, and a little motivation from Madalena's words, she stood from the chair and swung a solid fist toward the first attacker. She had expected to meet something similar to flesh or maybe bone, after all she could physically see the sucker's face, but she met with nothing but empty air. The twisted smirk plastered on his lips popped into a cloud of multi-colored smoke. Gravity took over the thin fabric and it crumpled away, catching on an imaginary breeze and drifting off into the void. For a moment or two all she could do was watch it twisting and turning, slowly disappearing into the nether. When she came to her senses all she could manage were three words.

'What the kriff...'

She was just about to turn around to explain to Maddy when she witnessed the most incredible thing she'd ever see. Madalena jumping head first into the mouth of a dragon. There was a split second where the only emotions she felt were awe and amazement. With little time to wonder what on earth she'd done to deserve meeting someone like Madalena, Dianah snapped into action. The first thought on her mind was preventing the dragon from blowing flame and presumably burning Madalena to a crisp. Dianah had no idea if that was how the whole fire breathing thing actually worked but she wasn't willing to leave it to chance.

She turned on her heel and grabbed the nearest cloak. Considering there was nobody attached to the other end it slipped away as easily as if it were hung on a peg. The force surrounded her in a bubble of fizzing energy. It wrapped around her muscles and urged them forward as she jumped toward the dangerous beast. With the twisting darkness as her guide Dianah managed to land neatly on the top of its great head. For a moment it seemed confused. It rocked back and forth, trying to turn to see what annoyance had made it's home on the top of its skull, but Dianah wasn't going to let it. She flicked the thick cloak over his silvery-red eyes and pulled hard.

Nothing seemed to be happening until the dragon's chin was reared up into the air, leaving the fleshy defenseless portion of its neck open to the void. Each time it tried to throw its head back down Dianah was almost launched violently off her position on its neck, but she head fast. The dragon knew there was nothing to be done until its vision returned so for now Dianah assumed the two to be relatively safe, at least until Maddy could finish doing whatever she was doing. But so far both she and Madalena had proved you only need to fall down a hole to have the wildest adventure they'd likely go on in their entire lives.

'Hurry up, hurry up, hurry up!'

The panic in her voice was ingrained now. She was speaking to Madalena but whether or not she could hear her in the depths of the dragon was a different story. In the corner of her vision she could see the robed figures advancing toward her slowly. While she knew they were only apparitions Dianah had yet to discover if they could actually hurt her or not. She wasn't willing to give her theory that they could for sure a test.

[member=Scherezade deWinter]

 

[Scherezade deWinter]

Sometimes, Madalena wondered about her choices in life. She wondered sometimes about why she’d thought getting krak faced drunk a few weeks ago was a good idea. She wondered sometimes if joining the Confederacy was a good idea. She wondered sometimes about whether enlisting with the Knights Obsidian was a good idea. She sometimes wondered if her preference for the color pink and painting her bedroom’s walls in it was a good idea. And now, she was definetly not wondering whether or not jumping into a dragon’s mouth armed with only a fork while she was bleeding out from her shoulder was a good idea. Because she knew that it was not.

Did you know, dear reader, that dragons do not brush their teeth? Madalena never had reason to consider such matters, but now that she was clawing her way towards it throat, her body demanded that she breathed, and by the Force, it reeked. She was also coming to realize that dragon saliva was a very slippery thing. More than once did she almost just slide out of the dragon’s mouth, and eventually realized that it would be better to make her climb using the dragon’s teeth rather than go through the tongue. She had never seen tooth plaque in such quantities from this close up. The dragon should definitely sue the cult for dental insurance, she thought.

A few more twists and turns, and boom. She was at the throat’s bell. Part of her wanted to ingle it, stab it with her little fork, but with the rising heat inside the dragon, it sounded like a bad idea. An even bad’er idea than climbing into a fire breathing dragon’s mouth. She could feel the dragon’s head moving up and down and hoped that it wasn’t because it was going after Dia. She knew her newly made friend was far from being weak, but most people, however well trained, could not deal with both a dragon and a cult of weird monks at the same time. Of course, Madalena had no clue that the monks were air and they weren’t even tickling her friend. She’d know later. Maybe. If she survived this.

Down the dragon’s throat Madalena now slid, the pink frilly dress, now cut in many places, giving her absolutely no protection against the saliva’s prickling against her skin. Right. Digestive juices. Another thing to keep in mind. Force, she was never going to climb into another dragon’s mouth like that again.

And poof, inside the dragon’s stomach she was. It was dark inside, the light entirely lacking. She cast her night vision spell again, and that combined with her knowledge… Madalena was eternally grateful for her skill at skinning and butchering animals for food. It gave her a firm grasp about the anatomy of what she was dealing with now. The walls of a stomach felt like the walls of a stomach in most creatures she’d carved, and thank the Force, this dragon was not an exception. Noting the tunnel through which she’d gone and the general physical built of dragons, the Sithling set to work.

She wished she had a knife instead of a fork, but considering that all the knives present at the table had been butter knives, maybe the four points of the fork would serve her better anyway. She didn’t know much about reptilian anatomy though. Did they have nerves on their inside organs? Could they feel stomach aches? The dragon was still moving, but she couldn’t know for sure if it was her or something that was happening on the outside.

Using the Force to strengthen her fork slashes, Madalena kept slashing and stabbing until she formed a cut. Ripping the tissues after that was easier, and then began the climb. The digestive juices were no longer trying to digest her alive; instead, she was now covered in blood and gore and various inside bits. But that was all right. She was going for something very important.

The dragon’s heart.

It was beating. So slowly, so lazily, as though it didn’t take effort to work a body that size. For a moment, Madalena toyed with the idea of carving it out and preserving it in an aquarium with salt water. But no. She wasn’t going to be able to do that with her little fork, no matter how much she strengthened herself with the Force. But there were other things she could do.

Grinning, Madalena hugged the dragon’s heart. It was still beating. Still moving. She gripped it harder. What did a dragon look like when it was having a heart attack? She could still feel movements, but she was too focused now to understand if they were normal or not. All she knew was that she had to focus and hug that heart tighter and tighter. The main arteries would remain undamaged, of course. But she could feel the smaller vessels popping, the blood flow now hurting. The heart was weakening, pausing from time to time to spasm. A little bit more, just a little bit more…

Still holding on to that heart, Madalena pushed her face into it, and took a great big bite. It tasted a little bit like bantha heart. Good. She took another mouth full. This dragon wasn’t going to places anymore.

And there they had it. Cardiac arrest.

Madalena grinned.

The way up took her longer than the way down. She was almost at the throat again when she felt he exhaust seeping into her skin. What had happened while she was in there? How long had she been in there for?

Dia… Madalena tried to reach through the Force. Could she do it? Would Dia hear it? What had Dia been going through while Madalena was… KRAK! Was Dia even all right? Had the monks hurt her? Dia can you hear me? Madalena sent again, a new burst of energy helping her make it back the dragon’s throat’s bell. She stabbed it with her fork for good measure before letting the tongue slide her out of the mouth.

“Dia?” Madalena now asked using her voice, looking around through blood and gore covered eyes.


[member="Dianah Vi'Dreya"]

 

[Darth Miseria]

The great brute twisted and turned its head in impossible ways. At first Dianah thought he was simply struggling to get her off its head, but in the few moments where she was desperately trying not to be thrown forward into its razor sharp teeth she had entirely forgotten that Madalena was inside the thing. A massive roar sounded out, echoing off invisible walls and shaking her eardrums violently inside her skull. She could feel it in the core of every bone, right down to the center of her chest where her heart beat a fast paced rhythm against her rib cage. Something or, hopefully, someone was doing some serious internal damage.

In a matter of minutes its terrifying roar had turned into the soft whimpering of an animal in pain. The struggling had come to a stop and instead it was swinging its massive head, the silver-red of its eyes growing wider by the minute. Whatever Madalena was doing it seemed to be working. The dragon was losing strength and rapidly. If she was honest with herself it was rather depressing to watch. The death didn't seem to fit the majesty of the beast, but it had tried to burn them to a crisp so her sympathy had limits. It slumped over after one last pathetic attempt at the bone trembling roar it had given off before. The thing was finally dead.

Just then the sound of Madalena's voice invaded the corners of Dianah's mind.

Maddy...

Dianah pressed her thoughts back in return, if only so Madalena had some kind of motivation to carry on. In that moment she realized she had no idea how injured Madalena was. She'd dived down the throat of a dragon, presumably straight into its stomach. How quick could a dragon's digestive juices dissolve a body? At least Dianah knew she was alive. Just then a flash of something aggressively pink slid out from between the dragons slightly parted teeth, joined by its great lolling tongue. Dianah was too excited and pleased to notice the smell, fortunately.

'MADDY!'

Dianah slid down the slumped Dragon's head. The frilly pink dress flew upward but she completely ignored it, along with the fact that the scales gave her a million tiny cuts along her legs to boot. One of her heels snapped with the force of her landing so she ended up hobbling over to her mucky partner. The moment she reached Mandalena she scooped up a mass of frilly pink skirt in her hand and tried her best to gently wipe away body matter from her friends eyes. Once the thick oozing gunk had slid away Dianah smiled wide at Maddy and clapped her on the back.

'That was the craziest thing I've ever seen someone do. I think I'm in love with you. You were inside a frikkin' dragon! And what did you do.. give him a heart attack or something?'

When Dianah's hand came away she realized that the blood coating it was regular, human blood and not the sour smelling stuff that covered most of Maddy. The fork must have gone deeper than she originally assumed and Malaenda's blood was coming out thick and fast. Dianah reached down and tore away the cleanest part of the horrendous frills. They came away with a satisfying rip that seemed to carry on for an eternity, echoing and bouncing across the void they stood in. She was no field medic but Dianah had been fiddling around with her own human anatomy for years. Fortunately she knew exactly where to tie the makeshift bandage, which seemed to stop most of the bleeding. At least she wasn't going to pass out on her now.

'How are you f-...'

Dianah screeched and brought her hands up to her ears. A shrill, sharp piercing sound attacked her mind. It clawed and scratched at her brain and tore its way through her ear drums. One, long, incessant sound that wrecked her body with a violent, queasy feeling. Over the noise, offering the first moment of peace from the sound since it began, were the sound of voices. Not ones that Dianah had ever heard before and they sounded real, or at least realer than this entire experience had felt thus far.

'They killed the dragon?!'

'Yeah... one of them bit through its heart.'

'Well, kriff. Looks like I owe Grum a few credits.'

'Shut up you fools, and do your jobs. The exit is still too harsh. Look at their BPM and blood pressure.'

A strange smell followed, it smelt rather clinical, which was entirely strange considering the disgusting fluids they were currently standing in. Dianah afforded one confused look at Madalena as the voices faded into nothing, replaced once again by the shrill beep, before blackness crept over her vision and she fell back into a deep sleep.

[member=Scherezade deWinter]

 

[Scherezade deWinter]

It were two, perhaps three seconds, in between the moment Madalena used her voice to call for Dianah, and that she heard Dia's voice calling her back. Those were some of the longest seconds of her life. She was aware of everything, could feel everything, from the smell of the terrible things she was covered in, to the scent that was unique to Dianah herself, to the sudden absence of monks around her. But then Dianah was in her field of vision and Madalena felt as though she was taking her first breath, and just as soon as she realized her friend was all right, everything else turned incredibly numbs.

Dianah was speaking, but now Madalena was barely registering any of it, the speed at which the fatigue took her over would be something that would surprise her later on when she replayed the events of the moment in her head. For now though, she just stared at her, emerald eyes glowing in the dim light now that the rift was closed and nothing else was casting its light on them.

"In love with me?" she asked confused, her eyes moving up a few inches. What she done? "I… I hugged its heart until it stopped beating." And she spat. "And I think I took a few bites and…" her voice was there and not, coming out quietly one moment and then at a higher volume, and back to quiet again. Why was she so confused? Why were thing not so coherent? She wasn't used to feeling like this. Like… Did something poison her? Was she administrated with some drug?

She didn't even register the blood that was leaking from her own body, only vaguely aware that Dia, precious Dia, was taking care of it, was making sure she wouldn't bleed out in this strange place. Dia was asking something and Madalena looked up, her mind trying to piece together what she'd tried to ask. She looked up again, trying to understand, but-

And then the smell hit her. That didn't make any sense. She didn't hear the voices but she heard the beeping and it hurt like a motherkrakker, making her want to scream

And all was silence.

Dia can you hear meeee, sang through Madalena's head, it's so dark and I'm alone, the words continued on their own. Madalena grunted, willing the song to stop. There was something inside of her that warned her of the dangers of songs but she didn't know what its source was, and right now, she didn't want to heed the warning either. She wanted to… Wanted to…

She wanted to open her eyes.

Slowly, sounds came to her ears. Beeping. Machinery. The smell of things being… What…

Finally, she managed to open her eyes. Everything was white. It was too krakking bright. Her eyeballs moved around, taking in the scenery, trying to… Dianah as lying on a metal bed near her. There were people moving around them.

"Oh good, you're aw-"

Madalena screamed as she jumped off the metal bed, pulling along the needles and other equipment that had been stuck in her body. She second her bare feet hit the cold metal floor she realized what a mistake it was, the room spinning around her at a ferocious speed that made her want to vomit. It didn't keep her though from using the Force and slamming the bed she'd been on into the group of white coats that was standing closeby.

With too much effort, she waddled to where Dia was lying, pulling the needles out of her. "Dia," she half screamed, "Dia, wake up, everything is krakking more wrong than it was a moment ago! WAKE UP! WE NEED TO GET OUT OF HERE!!!"


[member="Dianah Vi'Dreya"]

 

[Darth Miseria]

Maddy I can I hear you... What the hell is going on?

Dianah sang back into the void.

Blackness. Her vision was dark. Spinning. The entire world was swinging round violently, even though she couldn't see a thing. A voice sounded out in the middle of the madness, it felt like a safe voice. Her guiding light in the darkness. Light filtered through her eyelids and poured into her iris as they flickered open. Everything was blurry. Madalena faded into view but something was wrong, she looked entirely different to how Dianah remembered her. She wasn't nearly dying in the middle of a void covered head to toe in dragon goop. Dianah couldn't even see the makeshift bandage she was almost certain she had put there moments ago.

'Maddy...'

Her voice sounded hoarse, like she hadn't used it for a good few hours but that couldn't be right. Literally seconds ago she was talking to Madalena, asking her how she was. Dianah coughed violently into the air and sat bolt upright. The entire kriffing place had changed. Where there used to be a black void of nothing there were now sterile tiles that covered the floor and walls. A thin line of blood streamed down her arm from where the needles had been previously. There were a few moments were the grogginess of being asleep just wouldn't shift, all Dianah could do was sit on the bed looking around at the confusing situation.

She swung her feet around and off the edge of the bed, surprised to see she didn't actually have any shoes on. The tile floor was cold to the touch but it sent a shock of energy coursing through her body. Wherever they were Dianah was ready to go. She looked around once more now she had more whits about her, finally settling her eyes on the three people who had been mildly crushed by one of the hospital beds, presumably the one that Madalena had been sleeping on. Dianah dragged her gaze over to Maddy, a panicked look settling in them as she did so.

'Are you okay? Who are they? Where were we? Where are we?!'

Dianah wasn't sure why she'd asked Madalena those questions, they'd both experienced the same things, right? There was no time to waste either way. Dianah slipped her hand into Madalena's and padded her way across the floor toward the only available exit. It was time to get the kriff out of here.

 

[Scherezade deWinter]

Dia was waking up. Madalena let a sigh of relief out as she continue to pluck the needles out of her, done just in time before the Shi’ido pushed herself up from the bed. She followed Dia’s gaze to where the people were, seeming to only now realize she’d actually crushed them. A second ago she didn’t even remember seeing them. Were there drugs in her system? There had to be. Nothing else would explain that.

“No, I don’t know, I don’t know, I don’t know either,” she answered as she leaned half over Dia’s bed. The room was still spinning too violently for her. She wanted to vomit, but she could feel that there was nothing other than stomach acids in her stomach to expel. “I was an unwilling participant at a tea party with you and then a dragon showed up,” she recalled, closing her eyes. Had it been a hallucination? Was everything made up? Had Dia experienced something else? Because if none of that had happened then she didn’t really know Dia. Was it even Dia?!

Emerald eyes snapped open and squinted at Dianah. Madalena needed a weapon, something, anything. “Who the krak are you?!” she shot at her, “are you like the dragon?! I ate his heart, I could eat yours too!”

With another scream, Madalena called one of the broken leg beds to her hands, ready to launch at the other woman. If she was why she was here, she’d die along with the rest of them.

[member="Dianah Vi'Dreya"]

 

[Darth Miseria]

Dianah raised her hands in defense, completely blindsided by Madalena's sudden anger. It was entirely fair of her to feel the way she did and if Dianah was honest with herself she'd had her suspicious about Madalena when she'd first woken up too. After some intense thinking that dragged up a few memories Dianah came to a realization, throughout the entire strange mission Madalena had seemed the most real thing there. She wasn't awake enough for this and something in her stomach was clawing to get out, but there was one thing her foggy head came up with that she knew would settle her mind.

One of the hands she'd stretched to the ceiling began to shift from it's caramel complexion into the rough texture of tree bark. The flesh had turned into solid wood, which Dianah then used to swiftly smack Madalena upside the head. It was probably the wrong move to make but whatever they had been drugged up with was causing her brain to speed ahead a million miles a minute. There wasn't any time to question each other. Dianah was sure there would be no need for further explanation but just in case she opened her mouth to speak quickly.

'Why on earth would I be rigged up to all these needles and machines if I weren't real?'

She lifted her frame off the lumpy bed, stretching her hand out for Madalena to inspect if she wished.

'Trust me, I want to have a melt down too, Maddy. But we have to focus. We have to get out of here. I saw the same things you did... Something isn't quite right here and I'm not willing to stick around and find out what.'

[member=Scherezade deWinter]

 

[Scherezade deWinter]

Madalena stared as Dia’s arm began to shift, and she blinked a few times, wondering if it was the effect of this dream or alternate reality or whatever else it was she had just experienced. But no. Dia had done this earlier too, when she’s turned into a tree so that Maddy could use her to ram into a door. So… If that had been real, and the Dia here now was real, that meant that everything that had happened in between had also been real. Logic!

The smile was beginning to spread on her face when Dia thwacked her with her tree-arm.

“Ouch!” Madalena screamed, a hand coming up to her head. She rubbed the sore part, already knowing it was going to turn into an actual bump before the day was over. “You totally didn’t have to do that!”

As for the needle question, the brunette could only shrug. If she wasn’t real then someone else might’ve planted her there for Madalena to think she was real which was plot twist on plot twist on plot twist. But now that Madalena’s sense of smell was returning to her and she could smell Dia’s Shi’ido’ness again, coupled with the fact that she had not smelled the dragon’s species of the monks…

“I’m not having a melt down, you’re having a melt down with you hitting me like that, tree-lady,” she stuck her tongue out. Nope. No melt down here. And while she wanted very much to agree with them needing to get out, they were still not done. “We’re both alive, and we still have a mission to-“

Madalena stopped mid-sentence. Her Force-nose was picking something up. No, she’d have never been able to do that if she had been severed from the Force, because her actual sense of smell was not that much above average for a human, but…

“I know that smell…” she half whispered before she grabbed her improvised weapon and turned around, leaving the room, not caring about the dead people in it. “Dia!” she shouted for her now friend to follow.

A few twists and turns, there was nothing in these halls other than a few more white robes that the two couldn’t easily dispatch of. Scientists were always so squishy. Madalena almost paused to question one, but there was no time. The smell that she was catching through the Force was getting stronger and stronger.

And at last, Madalena, still wearing that hospital gown, kicked a door open. Inside were cages, most of which empty, but towards the ends…

“So we get experimented on or whatever the krak that was, and they’re also keeping Lloth wolves puppies?” she asked, blinking. “How is that even connected?!” Two cages. One pup in each. Normally, Madalena didn’t really believe in signs from above. But she knew about the Great Web, and she knew that there were two Lloth wolves here, and that there were two Knights. There was no way that she was getting here without one, and if Dia was going to leave the other one here, Maddy was going to take both.

“They’re sentient,” she started talking as she walked into the cage room, “and they usually understand basic. These might be pups but Lloth wolves are to be respected in every possible way,” she unlatched one of the cages, her hands reaching in to pick the puppy up, who was already making happy puppy sounds. “Lloth wolves are magnificent creatures,” she said quietly, “what’s your name, little one? What do you want to be called?”


[member="Dianah Vi'Dreya"]

 

[Darth Miseria]

Dianah winced and withdrew her hand quickly. She hadn't meant to hurt Madalena but in her half-awake, dragged back from the dead mind-set she wasn't quite thinking clearly. She'd somewhat taken offense to the idea that she wasn't real and in her confused state hitting her was the only way to make up for it.

'I'm so, so sorry I don-... I have no idea why I did that. Are you okay?'

Maddy's pink tongue poked out of her full lips, which made Dianah heave a sigh of relief. If Maddy could tease her she definitely wasn't that upset about the clump over her head. She couldn't help but laugh as she pointed out, probably rightly so, that Dianah was having a melt down herself. Dianah was half way sliding herself off the bed when Madalena cut her sentence short. She set her onyx eyes on the woman's face and studied it carefully. She could sense something that Dianah couldn't. The tip of her nose twitched and shifted on her face as she sniffed, Dianah couldn't help but stare curiously.

'What smell?!'

Dianah called after her, hissing as she padded across the icy cold floor toward the direction Madalena had run off. She heard a minor scuffle up ahead and walked past a few dead scientists to confirm her theory. Madalena wasn't just brutal, she was quick as well. Dianah couldn't even fathom lifting a finger to use any force move at the moment, never mind battling, even if they were just scientists. The sight her eyes drew in when she reached the room was well worth it. Dianah emitted a high pitched squeak, diving forward toward the cages containing the fluffy pups. She didn't care that there was nothing under the hospital gown, or that the tiles were pressing up against her bare shebs as she settled in front of the metal bars.

'Woah.'

Dianah turned to face Madalena, a wondrous expression on her face. She'd never heard of Loth-wolves before but Madalena knew enough about them to give her a quick run down. Dianah dived into the cage and lifted the furry puppy up into her arms. It felt like a blanket made from clouds and had the sweetest look on it's face. The moment she cradled it in her arms it snuggled down, soaking up the warmth her body offered.

'Aren't you just the sweetest thing...' She lifted a finger and softly scratched the top of it's head. Dianah wasn't sure how they were going to escape but there was one thing she knew for damn sure. 'We can't leave them here. Ragnos knows what they're doing to them.'

She reached out with the force, twisting it round the corridors, exploring every nook and cranny for a way out. It seemed they were closer than they'd originally thought.

'I can count more signatures than I care to admit, most are on the opposite end of the facility though. We can make it out of here and to an exit in less than ten minutes if we don't stop to find our armor first, but I don't really want to leave it behind...'

[member=Scherezade deWinter]

 

[Scherezade deWinter]

Her body and her head still hurt from the treatment they’d received at the hands of the scientist, but nothing short of missing limbs could keep Madalena from laughing as the Loth pup she held in her arms licked her face. She knew that meant the pupper approved of her. There would be no fight and no need to convince him (was it a him? She would have to check later) that she wasn’t out to injure him. “You can even train them in a few basic Force abilities when they’re older,” she said quietly, licking the puppy’s nose with her own tongue for a moment before realizing that this was a silly thing to do and that she was not going to do that again. “A blood hound and a wolf…” she whispered, a few of the potential possibilities rising to mind.

But it was not for now. Dia spoke of more people being in there, and the need to find their stuff. Krak. Madalena had almost forgotten about needing to get their stuff. When were they taken, anyway? Was it by the entrance door? Just before the tea party? Had the tree thing been part of the dream or was that real? Her brain throbbed. There was just too much information to sort through regarding all these things.

“I’m guessing that armor of yours is a single-existing piece, just like mine is,” she said, “and my lightsabers were a gift from a lifelong friend. No way I’m leaving them behind if there’s anything that can be done about it.”

Madalena sighed and rose back, puppy still in her arms. She’d never fought with a cub in her hands. Fighting with him probably meant that she’d have to completely rely on the Force, as she didn’t have any training in this sort of physical combat.

That left them only one thing to do.

Moving first again, Madalena moved out of the room. Opposite end of the facility? There was only one hallway right now, and she moved in the opposite direction of where the room they’d been kept in was. Once the reached forks though, Dia would have to lead them.

“I’m going to bleed them all dry,” Madalena said, her voice dipping low into the cold anger that marked just how dangerous the constantly smiling woman was.

[member="Dianah Vi'Dreya"]

 

[Darth Miseria]

Dianah was completely invested in the little pup, despite only having held it for less than a minute. It's sweet blue eyes were locked onto hers and it made tiny little mewing sounds as she scratched its belly. Dianah already made her mind up that she would kill for this little baby cuddled into her arms and it looked like that's exactly what they were about to do. She nodded her head at Maddy's words but her gaze didn't move from the silver puppy.

'Wow, I guess we're lucky we ran into them then. Poor little guys...'

She lifted herself up off the icy cold floor and tucked the puppy down her gown, one hand wrapped around it so it wouldn't slip. It seemed to like it there, Dianah guessed her body heat was keeping it warm because it kept snuggling closer to her skin. She couldn't help but laugh a little at it.

'Yeah, my armor is one of a kind. I don't mind so much about the lightsaber. In fact I have a rainbow crystal I'm dying to use so I wouldn't be too sad if that went missing. But the armor... Yeah. I need it back. We'll get them. I made the lightsaber using the old ways so it should call out to me when I look for it.'

A firm nod of her head set the two on their way down the straight corridor. Dianah reached out with the force as they walked, calling to the crystal she'd gathered almost a year ago now. She could feel its power humming and vibrating the closer they got. When they reached the fork in the corridor Dianah took a moment to close her eyes and really concentrate on it.

'Left.'

She turned in the direction she'd mentioned, walking smack bang into a couple more scientists. Dianah didn't even think about it. Her hand flicked up gracefully and a wave of dark power filled the small corridor to bursting point. A deathly scream followed as the scientists crumbled to the ground clutching their chests. Her fingers curled up into a fist, nails sinking into the skin on the palm of her hand. It was over in a few seconds, a muffled pop sounded out and the screaming quietened.

'That always feels more satisfying than it looks. Let's keep going.'

[member=Scherezade deWinter]

 

[Scherezade deWinter]

“I’ve never built a weapon before,” Madalena remarked, wondering how awesome it probably was to build your own lightsaber. Or your own bullets. Or… Well, your own anything, really. She was good with her hands, and one of her hobbies that no one knew about were drawing and painting, but she’d never actually built something for all these fights that she regularly attending. Perhaps, once this was over, and after a good long day at the spa getting her spine broken and put back together by a hot mostly naked human or near human man, she’d look into how to create something like that on her own.

While Dia put her puppy in her gown, Madalena opted not to do the same with hers. With the amount of adrenaline surging through her, the last thing she wanted to do was accidently squish it to death in her boozem. Still, she gave her pupper a little scratch behind the ears. “They’re gonna be taller than both of us once they’re done growing,” she remarked with wonder. They were so frikkin’ small right now.

Once they were at the fork and Dia said to go left, Madalena followed her. Her anger was still as cold as ice, the screams of the scientist doing nothing to calm her nerves down. They were all dead, but they were just workers following orders. Most of the people they would come across here would be of their kind. But where was the source? What caused this bleeding of Darkside energy from the building? None of it was clear.

“Heart combustions?” she asked as Dia mentioned it was more satisfying than looked. She didn’t really understand why it had to be said, if she as doing anything with the Force to their chests on the inside, it was more than just satisfying. If it wasn’t heart combustion though, she wanted to know what else it was. Madalena was the type to always learn from her surroundings; superiors, inferiors, and peers, all had something she could use to gain in knowledge.

Moving into the next chamber, this time it was Maddy’s turn. She waved her fingers lazily in the air. The scientists that were in there all paused in their steps, their sides that was exposed to the two Sith ladies turning first a deep red and then an even deeper purple before the blood sprayed through their skin, flying towards where the women were standing. Their bodies, lacking blood, dropped with loud thumps to the ground.

“I want the person in charge,” Madalena said with icy coldness, “I want to know who it was, and then I want their eyeballs in a jar.”


[member="Dianah Vi'Dreya"]

 

[Darth Miseria]

'It's actually good fun, if you know how to work with your hands. Hard work though. A lot of yourself goes into making it.'

Dianah glanced down at the teeny tiny puppy nestled in between her breast. She tried to picture it in her head, the wolf standing next to her at least five foot taller than she was now. It was hard to imagine that one day they'd be bigger than them, it's not like Dianah and Madalena were short women.

'I wonder if they're from the same litter... I hope they are. It gives us another excuse to spend time together.'

She stepped over the slumped bodies, careful not to let her bare toes touch them. Dianah shook her head at Madalena's question and hoisted the puppy up a little further to stop it from slipping.

'Not combustion. I suppose it's just a very advanced form of telekinesis. I popped their hearts. Took me a hot minute to learn. It's difficult when you can't see what you're trying to grab.'

Another two scientists had the misfortune to run into the deadly sith women. This time Madalena took the opportunity to show off a skill. Dianah watched closely. There seemed to be nothing happening at first until their skin shifted shades from white to pink to red to purple. All of a sudden a hot spray of blood exploded out through the pours in their skin. Dianah reacted immediately, lifting her arm up to shield the young pup and her own face.

'Kriff... Okay. I'll teach you how to pop hearts if you teach me how to do that. Let's get our armor first before we go chasing after any top dogs.'

Dianah snorted at her own joke as she moved passed the bodies. She couldn't really avoid the pooling blood that spread through the cracks in the tiles, so her face twisted as her bare skin touched the warm liquid. They came to another split in the corridor, though this time Dianah needed no time to check which way she was going. She turned right and barreled her way to the door at the end. When she tried to turn the handle it was stuck fast, with a lock or maybe something barring the other side.

'Hmm...'

She motioned for Maddy to step back, taking three or four large steps of her own. The force gathered around her finger tips, humming and buzzing till the air felt electric with the energy it created. After a deep breath she released it, aiming it toward the metal hinges that kept the whole thing together. The nails holding them in pinged out, flying in crazy directions all over the room. A split second later the door groaned and slipped from it's frame, landing on the floor with a deafening smack.

[member=Scherezade deWinter]

 

[Scherezade deWinter]

“That’s weird,” Madalena commented as Dia explained about a lot of herself going into making a weapon, “it’s how I feel with those glitter bullets, only I didn’t make them. Feels like something I could’ve though, y’know?”

With a shrug, the two Sith continued to advance. Blood was spooling around them, but Madalena had no trouble with it in terms of how it felt against her bare feet. The main concern was slipping in the stuff, but as long as her own (and Dio’s own) blood didn’t mingle in there, they were perfectly good.

So it was telekinesis? At that, Madalena had to stop and laugh. “Dia,” she said after a bit of laughing, “if I couldn’t smell each of our bloodlines I might’ve confused us for lost sisters or something. That’s exactly what I do with the blood. You use the telekinesis to pop the hearts, I use it to pull the blood out. The rest is just responses of what happens to the bodies of those we do it on.”

It was really as simple as that. And where Dia had to learn and put effort into learn how to do hers, Madalena had done the same with pulling the blood. Two unique yet very similar applications to a Force ability that was as common as dirt though very few ever thought to use it as such. It was destiny; Madalena and Dianah were meant to bump into each other at some point in life.

As Dia took care of the door situation, Madalena gave her pupper a few pats on the head. It was a good puppy. All while Dia and Maddy had taken care of stupid scientists, her little Loth wolf had remained silent, not interfering, but demanding attention, and not peeing on her. It was only the electric feel and then the hinges smacking around that caused her to lift her face and smile.

“Oh my,” Madalena noted as she looked inside the freshly opened room, “looks like you found…”

Inside, the room was utterly full of surveillance equipment. Screens showing almost every room in the building (or so Madalena imagined), but where she had expected a security guard or somesort to sit in front of it, it was a man in a business soot.

“… Our captor.”

The man was smiling. Before the women could do anything, a barrier erected around him, the faint blue shedding its light on its surroundings

“I’ve been waiting for you, girls.”


[member="Dianah Vi'Dreya"]

 

[Darth Miseria]

'That's incredible. I wouldn't mind being your sister! Though, I honestly didn't think about using telekinesis like that. It looks like we have a ton of other stuff we can experiment with. We could probably come up with a whole new force move if we tried hard enough.'

She laughed at herself, the idea was silly. The force had been around for longer than the entire Galaxy had been. Everything to do with it had been discovered already. But still, Dianah thought on how that particular use of the force could be applied or changed. You could probably boil blood inside someone's body if you had the mind too and if you didn't mind being sprayed with molten hot goop.

Dianah let Madalena go first and, as she walked into the room, her tone of voice indicated there was something rather surprising hidden away in it. Her thick curly hair popped through the door frame to allow her a quick glance around the control room. Her face was instantly bathed in the artificial light of a hundred different screens. Each one of them contained a rather fuzzy picture of every room available in the facility. She was just about to look at them closer, to try and inspect them for anything that stood out when...

'I've been waiting for you, girls.'

That voice... Where had she heard that voice before?

'You've been causing quite the stir.'

Of course. The mouse! This was the voice that had been talking to them the entire time they were having that crazy vision. Dianah could feel a hot anger rising up and coloring her cheeks a scarlet red. Who did this crazy man think he was? After a moment or two she brought herself into the room, standing with one hand on her hip and one hand wrapped around the puppy. She had half a mind to rip his head off right there and then, but that wouldn't do them any good. Partly because he had erected a shield and partly because there was something else they had to do first. She hadn't forgotten the original reason they'd came on this mission in the first place.

'I'm assuming we're not the only ones you drugged up and forced into that absolutely insane situation. Where are the rest of them?'

The man shifted in his seat, lifting his frame slowly off the creaking chair. The blue hue of his defenses went with him.

'No, you're right. We've been doing a little experimenting. So far you're the only two to make it out alive.'

[member=Scherezade deWinter]

 

[Scherezade deWinter]

While Dia connected the dots and understood that the man inside the bubble was the mouse that had been speaking to them during the dream, Madalena herself did not reach such a conclusion. The voice sounded somewhat familiar to her, but she wasn’t about to waste time trying to figure out from where. What she wanted was more information. Why they were there. Why them. Why… That entire thing. And more importantly, how.

“And you’re about to be dead real soon if you don’t start talking,” she said to him, her voice dipping dangerously low.

But the man only laughed in response.

“You forget. I have been inside your heads. I know what is in there. And as you can so clearly see, I know how to protect myself. Do you really think I would have no security in place? Do you really believe you killed so many of my employees because you’re strong? No, little girls. Everything you have done since entering this building, from sleeping to dreaming to finding these puppies, has happened because I permitted it to happen. Because I caused it to happen.”

Madalena stared quietly. The notion of having someone inside her head did not sit well with her. The inside of her head was hers, not anyone else’s.

“Do you even know why you are angry, little pretender?” the man asked as he looked at Madalena, “do you know what is inside that head that you hide even from yourself?”

The man then turned, his dark eyes landing on Dianah. “And you…”

[member="Dianah Vi'Dreya"]