Forests of Despair

[Katelyn Feanor]

Image

The vessel was miles away by now. Almost impossible to find due to the heavy foliage within the forest and some of the massive tress blocking out the sunlight entirely, leading to clusters of Ewok villages along with predatory creatures which are yet to be discovered. Yet, under all of this...beauty still remains. Small rivers run through the trees, with moss covering the rocks on the side leading people to a feeling of peace despite how narrow the rivers and streams are. Though, they didn't always bring joy to all.

Katelyn trudged through the foliage, with a long jagged knife in hand. Sure, she did have a lightsaber, but their was just something about using a blade of metal that brought comfort to her. Her padded boots stepped upon thick clusters of foliage and roots sticking up from the ground, sometimes snapping twigs and crushing foliage underfoot.

Katelyn cut through overhanging branches and vines as she walked through the forest until she came upon a clearing littered with few trees. A large waterfall hanged over head, dropping water into a large lake which lead to another waterfall to another lake. Small creeks leaked down from the lakes, causing small streams to runoff back into the dark forest.

Katelyn walked over to one of the many rocks not covered in moss and stood over it before stabbing the word into the rock and burying her face in her hands.

"Of Course....H-he cut off my arm...than I found out he was my Father and he found out I was his daughter! I karking hate my Split-Personality...Always ruining my life no matter what I DO!!"

I Karking hate this!! Well, at least I was able to find some seclusion...the soft rumble of the waterfalls and the chirp of birds overhead in the trees high above.

In anger, Katelyn punched her left mechanical arm into a nearby rock formation, causing a spiderweb crack to spread across the area where Katelyn punched the rock.

[member="Gray Raxis"]

 

[Gray Raxis]

[member="Katelyn Thanewulf"]

Gray stood on the open ramp of his ship as it flew over fighter ship. He had one hand holding onto a rail while the other was on the side of his helmet. He said in a loud voice as the wind whipped all around, " Key, keep her steady. I'm going to jump down onto that fighter in just a moment and.... I know what I'm doing.... Who is the owner here you silly droid?.... Look I'll be fine, I've done this before and only ended up breaking a leg once.... Well I trust you, so just do it okay?"

Gray took his hand away from his helmet and just shook his head. Every since he bought that droid, it had done nothing but worry over his health and safety and well being. So what if he was going to jump onto a star fighter from his freighter mid flight instead of try and let the droid flank it so he could shoot it with the cannons? He knew what he was doing... kind of. He had a couple of timed detonators with magnetic bases in his belt. He took a few breaths, and then dropped down onto the star fighter. The pilot seemed to be freaking out as he landed on the wing of the ship. He held on with one hand as tight as he could as he pulled out the bombs with the other. He locked one onto the ships engine and the other right next on the wing he was on. He set them to go off and then scanned the area ahead.

Gray saw a nice clearing was coming up with a lake, which worked extremely well for his current situation. He tapped on the cockpit glass and waved goodbye to the pilot as he let go and dropped like a human bomb towards the ground. He had managed to time it right enough so that he hit the water with a huge splash right as the bombs exploded and the star fighter went soaring off into the ocean of trees. He had expected the landing to hurt, but not knock him out like it did. He was lucky his armor had enough oxygen to lack him just long enough for his body to wash up onto the shore.

 

[Katelyn Feanor]

[member="Gray Raxis"]

Katelyn jumped back with a start when out of nowhere, a body dropped down from the cloudy sky falling into the lake with a loud wooshh of water. Katelyn grabbed her lightsaber hilt which was strapped to her left thigh and took it out of it's leather holster. She held it tightly in her left mechanical hand before approaching the figure who was clad in white armor. She folded her knees downwards to half-sit half-stand over the fallen figure before examining him.

Great! Exactly what I need right now. Well.....might as well check to see if this guy is at the least alive. That's the least I can do right now.

Katelyn reached out with her right hand and dragged the man further onto the sandy and rocky shore before flipping him over with both hands and taking off his helmet. She reached out her right hand and folded all but the middle finger and ring finger inwards and pressed them against the neck of the man to check his Pulse. He was alive which was great news! Katelyn rested the helmet next to his head and then sat down on her knees by the unconscious man. If her hunch was right, the helmet should have stopped any water from getting into the man's mouth. Well, hopefully that was right.

 

[Gray Raxis]

[member="Katelyn Thanewulf"]

Gray was out cold. It was going to be a bit before he woke up. He had thankfully not swallowed any water during his little trip back to solid land. His face would have looked calm as he laid there, almost as if he was asleep. The helmet next to his head began to have the sounds of frantic droid beeps coming out of it after a few minutes. This seemed to rouse the man out of his water induced slumber.

Gray moved his hand slowly and sluggishly up to the side of his head. Instead of making it to his head, his hand would instead land on the woman's thigh. He didn't seem to notice as he said weakly, " See Key.... I told you I could do it...."

Gray's hand fell limp again as he slipped back into slumber. He hadn't planned this little stunt out as well as he had thought he did it seems.

 

[Katelyn Feanor]

[member="Gray Raxis"]

Katelyn felt a hand that felt both warm and cold on her right thigh before looking down. She was shocked to say the least when she say the man's hand on her thigh. Katelyn just sat their, stunned and slightly shocked. Just as she brought up her right hand to slap the man he moved his hand away before falling unconscious again. Katelyn stayed where she currently was but criss-crossed her legs instead thinking it would be better than kneeling.

Ughh, why did he do that? You know what...I don't actually want to know why he did that anyways but her better have an explanation when he wakes up.

Katelyn hooked her lightsaber back into it's leather holster before examining her mechanical left arm. From when she punched the boulder, the fists were dented and some pieces were broken but other than that, the arm appeared to be perfectly fine at the moment. She put her left arm back down before closing her eyes again, trying to calm herself from her earlier 'rampage.'

 

[Gray Raxis]

[member="Katelyn Thanewulf"]

Gray had not been aware he had touched anyone's thigh. He wasn't even aware of where he was at. He wasn't even dreaming. His mind was just floating around in the quiet of his darkened brain. He didn't stay like that long however before he suddenly coughed and the vibration of it woke him up. He opened up his gray eyes slowly and blinked several times. Everything was a haze of light and color for several moment before it finally began to clear. He saw a beautiful sky above him and tree tops all around. He heard the sound of a waterfall and the gentle swooshing of water against a beach.

" Am I in paradise? It feels like it..." He turned his head and saw a woman sitting next to him watching over him and added, " A pretty lady, certainly looks like it...."

 

[Katelyn Feanor]

[member="Gray Raxis"]

Katelyn slapped him. That's right, slapped him. After he had woke up and left the 'pretty lady' remark she had slapped him on the right cheek, not hard enough to cause major harm but enough to leave a sharp sting for a short while.

"That's what you get for touching me!"

Katelyn stood up and walked away from the man who was still laying on the ground. She walked over to the rock she was standing on previously and then climbed up and over the rock she punched before standing upon a sharp plateau of rock overhanging a small part of the lake. Katelyn then sat knee-down on the ledge of the overhanging rock plateau.

Well, at least he's awake that's always a good sign. But next time, he should know not to touch somebody until he meets them and all of the crap before touching areas close to their sensitive areas.

Katelyn closed her hazel brown eyes and just sat their, trying to keep herself at peace due to the recent situation and the whole 'A guy cut off my arm and now I know he's my father' situation. She kept her hands on her knees but winced slightly as her right hand ran over the scar that went up her right leg and ended at the very tip of her thigh closest to her knee.

 

[Gray Raxis]

[member="Katelyn Thanewulf"]

Gray was caught completely off guard by the sudden slap. What had he done this time? Although that probably meant he was not in paradise like he thought he was in. His head felt heavy as he sat up. He was still partly in the water and so he managed to get himself stood up. He picked up his helmet and got a little ways into the grass before his legs buckled under him and he fell. He just laid there for a moment. Every muscle in his body was screaming at him right now. He seemed to have gotten some whiplash, and he hated to think of how bad it was going to be later if it already was this bad now. He rolled over onto his back and stared at the sky.

Gray said after a moment, " So what did I do to get slapped? Touched you? When did that happen? Did it hurt or did it feel good? Hopefully good." He was sure that wouldn't lead to another slap. A kick in the ribs maybe, but not a slap! He just laid there waiting for the woman to say something, anything. He didn't really feel like laying there and waiting for Key to pick up on his com signal in his helmet in silence. Of course he always was up for hearing from a pretty woman instead of listening to the sound of angry trees.

 

[Katelyn Feanor]

[member="Gray Raxis"]

Ok, that was it! No, no..stay calm Katelyn...stay calm. Don't let the other one come out just..do what you do best.

Katelyn jumped off of the edge of the plateau which was overhanging land and then walked over to the man who was one the ground. She suspiciously avoided the water for some reason though. She walked over him, hesitating to kick him. Though, in the end she did kick him in the ribs, she did it hard but hopefully not hard enough to break one of his ribs. Then she grabbed his by the shoulder and heaved him over to a slanted rock which would allow him to lie across it's face, hopefully not in pain.

"Can you please just shut the Karking Hell Up? Gosh I've been having a bad day....first having my ARM CUT OFF which still hurts and burns like Karking crap and then I find out that the guy who cut off my arm is actually my FATHER!!!!"

Katelyn set him down upon the rock before sitting back down on the sand and taking off her leather jacket to reveal a black tanktop, revealing a black bats tattoo half revealed while the other half was hidden under her shirt along with a black dragon tattoo which stretched over her right shoulder blade and descended to her lower back. Katelyn yanked off some bandages around the area where her metal arm connected to her body to inspect it. It was still bleeding to say the least and the burns still felt like complete crap. She put the bandages back on and then laid out upon the sandy beach stretching her arms behind her head and closing her eyes.

 

[Gray Raxis]

[member="Katelyn Thanewulf"]

Gray had a hunch the woman was a little unstable. He didn't know if it was the slapping of his face, the kicking of his ribs, or the half throwing him against the rock though. No, the real reason was that he had a black tank top on. What woman in her right mid came to a pretty lake with a tank top that didn't become see through when wet? He could tell how much she must have been in. He might have felt it, if his body didn't hurt so much.

Gray laid there for a moment before he willed his aching body to action. He slowly stood up at the speed of a frantic snail. Once he was on his feet he walked over to the woman. As he did, he reached into the pack on his lower back and pulled out some medical supplies. He held them out to her and said, " Here, use this to deal with that wound. It hasn't healed up properly and this should help. My droid is hopefully bringing my ship around and when it gets here we can try to do something more for it."

 

[Katelyn Feanor]

[member="Gray Raxis"]

"Look...I'm fine I...I just need some time. It's just..I've been going through a lot lately and I needed some alone time. It's not that I'm pissed off at you, I mean I am but not that pissed off. Anyways, I know that look, you think I'm unstable but I'm not...I mean sure right now but not usually. But, fine fine I'll take your meds..."

Katelyn took some of the medical supplies hesitantly at first. She then stood up and pulled of her shirt to apply the meds. Though, she wanted to make sure of one thing.

I bet he's feeling lucky to see me without a shirt but whatever. Not like I actually give a crap. Well, I do but...it doesn't typically bother me like I'm sure it does to other people.

"Don't get any ideas just because I'm taking off my shirt. It's not for your viewing pleasure.."

Katelyn threw her black tanktop at the man, not caring if he got any satisfaction out of seeing her without a shirt on. Katelyn said the last part with a hint of flirtatious behavior in her voice before yanking off the bandages and applying the medical supplies. It stinged at first, especially in the burnt area but she had gone through worse, such as losing an arm. Once the meds were applied she wrapped the area back up in a new roll of bandages and handed the man back the medical supplies in exchange for her tanktop.

 

[Gray Raxis]

[member="Katelyn Thanewulf"]

Gray was glad she took the meds. He could understand why she was so unstable at the moment. He had been worse than she was after his parents had died after all, so he couldn't fault her for being like this after what she said had happened. He had to admit that it wasn't so bad to see the woman topless, but he wasn't a pervert either. He made sure to keep his eyes to himself as much as possible while she did what she needed to do for those wounds. He said after a bit, " If it would make you feel any better, I could always take my top off too. Then there would be two of us like that at this lake." He was joking of course, but with his voice still being a little weak he wasn't sure if it came across.

Gray handed her back her tank top when she had finished up with the medical supplies. He put them back away and said, " I just wanted you to know that I get where you are coming from. It was not the same, but I went through something similar when I was younger. See this scar on my face? It was given to me by the man who killed my dad. He did it right before he killed my dad in front of my eyes. Not a pleasant thing to go through, and I was more than a little anger afterwards. If you need some alone time I'll be happy to just lay down and pass out on the grass for awhile and give it to you. If you would rather talk, I'd be fine doing that too." He smirked a bit before adding with a wink, " Of course I'd rather talk to such a pretty lady such as yourself over sleeping any day."

 

[Katelyn Feanor]

[member="Gray Raxis"]

Once her tanktop was back on she listened to the man. Katelyn did blush though at the topless thing bur tried her best to hide. After he said it, she playfully punched him in the arm. Not hard, but lightly seeing as still wasn't doing too good. Once the topic about his father came up, she listened carefully. Once the man had finished, she placed a hand on his shoulder and squeezed it in a comforting manner. Once he finished talking and he said his own 'pretty lady' remark again this time she didn't slap him, no she blushed and gave him a hug. Which, actually shocked her herself.

"Well...I guess we could talk..if you enjoyed the Hug that is."

The words that she said to him were those of comforting words and her best at trying to sound helpful and reassuring. She laid down upon the sand and patted the sand to her left for him to sit down.

"So..uhmm, what did you want to talk about?"

 

[Gray Raxis]

[member="Katelyn Thanewulf"]

Gray wasn't surprised he got punched in the arm. That seemed like the type of thing this woman would do to him by this point. What did surprise him was the hug though. He wasn't entirely sure where it came from, but he didn't hate it. He just wished his body wasn't so bad off at the moment or he might have been able to enjoy it more. He sat down next to her as she patted the sand.

Once he was say down, Gray said, " Hugs are always welcomed, especially by someone cute like you." He winked at her, and found that that actually didn't hurt. It seemed his face was mostly alright, unlike the rest of his body right now. He added after, " We can talk about what ever you want to talk about. Anything on your mind? Maybe something on your chest you want to get off?"

 

[Katelyn Feanor]

[member="Gray Raxis"]

"Uhh, yeah maybe some. So, I work for the First Order as a sort of 'Security Enforcer' and we have do all of this stuff. But, something's been nagging at me...is what I'm doing right If I'm just cutting down soldier after soldier of the Galactic Alliance and killing Civilians. I mean, I always though that we had to do anything to bring justice, to help people. But, recently..I haven't been so sure about that."

Katelyn waited for the scorn of the man, for joining the first order and killing innocents. She bet that he would be annoyed and probably angry about what she was doing. But, all Katelyn ever wanted to do was the 'right thing' which is some places, means doing everything you can like killing innocents. It just didn't exactly sit right in Katelyn's stomach and she wanted to get it off of her chest once and for all. Then, for some reason, she just started tearing up at the thought of killing Innocents and what the man might say about her. She just hoped that what he would say to her wouldn't be that hurtful about what she had done, hopefully it wouldn't.

 

[Gray Raxis]

[member="Katelyn Thanewulf"]

Gray had to close his eyes and rest a little. His energy level was dropping pretty low and he might end up falling asleep soon if he didn't conserve what little he did have. He listened to what she had to say and felt remorse from her. He felt a great deal of fear and shame as well. He didn't have much of an opinion when it came to the First Order, they were known as butchers around the galaxy almost on par with the One Sith, but that didn't mean he hated people for just doing what they were ordered to do. Gray was a mercenary and while he did his best to pick morally right jobs, he was often expected to kill someone. Killing was killing no matter the reason we try to give to it. He knew that, even though he always found some way of justifying it to himself.

Gray said a moment after she had finished speaking, " Killing is just killing. There is no order or justice in it. It is what it is, and nothing will change that. Nothing will change what you have done either, but that doesn't make you a bad person. Good people do bad things at times. It can't always be helped, and we all make mistakes. It sounds like to me though that you know exactly what your actions have caused. You regret them right? If you do, all you can do is repent and move forward with your life. Don't let your anger, your sadness, drag you into a hell of your own creation. Just work to be a better person every day and eventually you will no longer regret the way things are going for you." He added after a moment, " I hope that helps a bit, even though it likely doesn't."

 

[Katelyn Feanor]

[member="Gray Raxis"]

Katelyn wipes some tears away so act strong. While, at the moment she felt flustered and confused but tried her best to hide it.

"Thank you, I-it does help! Also, it occurs to me, what it your name anyways? Oh...and you can ask me a question if your up to it."

I-i can't believe I actually got that off of my chest. It feels so good to tell someone. I, I don't feel alone about it anymore...despite it not being the right thing. 'Killing is just Killing,' the man had a point to this. Well, whatever his name is...he looks like a Tommy up close or a Sawyer. No, not a Sawyer, a Sawyer had hair down to his ears and acts all wicked. While, a Tommy can come off as rude at times but can still be a great friend.

Katelyn let off a short smile to signify that the man's advice had helped her to reassure the man that his advice was in fact, helpful. Katelyn reached out her left hand slowly and placed it on the man's shoulder with a light squeeze. She then bended her left arm from the elbow down and laid it down on the soft sand and then rested her head upon her metal forearm. Katelyn closed her eyes and began to slowly breath in and out, taking in the smells of the nearby water. Which smelled of newly fallen pine-cones and of pine-trees right after the snow melted.

 

[Gray Raxis]

[member="Katelyn Thanewulf"]

Gray was glad to hear his advise had helped. He had gone through enough and knew how confusing things could get. She seemed to have calmed down as well, which was good since now he wasn't having to deal with that over flow of emotions coming off of her. He was in enough pain as it was and didn't feel like dealing with a headache on top of it.

Gray said to her as she got laid down on the ground, " The name is Gray, Gray Raxis. How about you pretty lady? What might your name be?" He waited for her to respond, but no matter what she said he wouldn't hear it. Sleep had finally over taken him and he had fallen back to sleep laying on the ground.

 

[Katelyn Feanor]

[member="Gray Raxis"]

"It's Katelyn, Katelyn Thanewulf..."

Which was all Katelyn said before she heard snoring and looked back over at Gray. Seeing that he was asleep, she stood up and stretched before kneeling down by the crystal clear lake and peering into it. Appearing as if she was lost in thought, as if she was in a fantasy. In short, she was actually just looking at the small fish within the water and not day-dreaming like most would suspect.

Well, he's asleep now. Now what to do? Should I go in the water, I don't know how to swim? Maybe I should just go in some but not far enough in where it's deep enough to go all the way underwater with still space under.

Katelyn stood up and slowly walked into the lake. Though, before she did so, she kicked off her boots and walked inwards. The warm was cool, but not too cool to feel like ice water but cool enough along with a little warm to be comfortable. It flowed through her toes and felt as if it was hugging her legs softly. She walked further in until the water was up to her waist and Katelyn just stood their, closing her eyes trying to relax. Then she remembered, that she left her lightsaber on the shore but she quickly dashed away the thought.

 

[Gray Raxis]

[member="Katelyn Thanewulf"]

Gray was soundly asleep. He needed this rest after what he had done. Jumping onto a moving star fighter, setting up explosives while holding on for dear life, and then plummeting into a lake was not exactly the most relaxing thing you could do to your muscles. All his energy was sapped from him and he needed to get some of it back if he wanted to ever be one of the waking again.

As Gray laid there asleep, a freighter fly over the clearing and landed in an open spot a short distance away from the lake. The ramp dropped not long after and a little k1-series droid came out beeping up a storm. It rushed over to it's owner who was asleep on the ground and kept beeping even louder than before. While the landing of the ship hadn't woken him up, the nagging beeps seemed to wake Gray up. He looked over at the droid and said in a slightly annoyed tone, " Key I'm fine. I was just taking a nap. I'm not dead or dying or getting dismantled. Calm down you silly droid and go get the med room ready. My new friend.... my new friend needs to use it."