The Dark Paladin of Chaos
Aboard the Nutcracker II.
Six. Years.
Madalena let out an icy cold breath, waving away the little smoky clouds that appeared in front of her. The ship's heating system had malfunctioned again, giving her and the crew a small amount of days to get it fixed before they all froze to death. But she didn't care. None of them. After a long, six years, they were finally at the one place (out of a maximum of two) that they wanted to be. Home.
From the bridge, she could already see it. The Scintilla. Not in a million years had she ever expected to become so fond of what was, when you got to the bottom of it, a whole bunch of metal put together to build a gigantic space station that could easily rival small planets and big moons. But it had. Oh, it had. And while her heart would always yearn for her ancestral home, the one she had yet to lay eyes on since coming to this dimension, for all intents and purposes, the Scintilla was her home. And she had missed it sorely.
It looked to be about the same size. That, in its own, was a relief; six years, she knew, was a long time. They had made more than enough enemies that would want to shrink it in size, and she was glad to see that if any had even attempted it, they had failed. Growth was not something she had dared for; they had grown so fast in those early days, that it had hit their stability somewhat.
But that hadn't been the reason for her leaving. Not hers, not her sister's. The two had to undergo a mission that took them far beyond the rim of the Galaxy and… It had not gone well. Her sister had almost died, and Madalena had to pull a Nessarose; take her sister somewhere safe, but erase her memory so she could aso remain hidden, therein also temporarily severing her connection to the Force. The look on Scherezade's face was enough to give her nightmares for years.
Yet recently, Madalena had undone the spell. She couldn't quite cancel it but… She knew motions to bring her sister back would soon enough come to be. And she hoped her sister would forgive her.
That though, did not erase Madalena's own journey. Through the years she had learned, she had battled, and she had become stronger, fiercer even. Yet lacking in the science advancements afforded to her at the Scintilla, her face had never been properly reconstructed. The scars remained where they were, still emitting their dangerous glow from time to time. And still… Beyond the rim, it had been so much easier to learn how to control it. For most of the past six years, that was what she had done there. Learn, and survive.
There was no fantasy lingering in her head that she would in any way maintain her position among the Wild Hunt, assuming the Wild Hunt even existed. But Madalena, despite taking her father's name instead of her mother's, was a deWinter, and deWInters excelled at climbing from the bottom and shining brightly while spreading glitter, death, bantha wings, and chaos, from above.
Well, maybe not the Chaos, that did seem to be the specialization of this generation… And still.
Her ship boarded the Eve dockyard with no particular problems. That was a relief too; nothing had happened, or whatever had happened had happened long ago enough, that there were no ridiculous security that she had to go through. Or perhaps, someone in control had recognized the deets of the ship and let them in? She wasn't certain.
And still…
Walking back to her room aboard the ship, the glow of her eyes rested almost immediately on a little metallic urn.
"I wish you could see it…" Madalena found herself almost whispering, "You would have loved it. The Scintilla. Eve. The people." With a sigh, she rested her hand above it for a mere moment. "But this will not be your final resting place. When we return to our proper home… I'll bring you with me. Like I promised."
Her one failure. The one person she hadn't been able to properly protect. One of the very few people she never should have failed to keep alive. And the one person she couldn't find, not in all the dimensions she'd opened since, not in the afterlife, nowhere… He was well and truly gone, and with it, a peace of her heart. Madalena no longer held on to any hope of bringing him back, and she knew she would someday find love again. But she couldn't part from his heart. Whether she loved a hundred more people, he would forever hold a special place in hers, and she would see him brought to where she had promised.
Another sigh, and she was ready. Her crew, made up of people who had never set foot on the Scintilla, who had never been inside the galaxy proper, were given free leave to do as they pleased. They wanted her to come with them to the city's heart, but she didn't want to.
Madalena wanted to see if the long kilometers between the dock and the city still held forests, still held lakes. She wanted to walk, to breathe it all in....
And to build up the courage before she knocked on Discordia's door.
Six. Years.
Madalena let out an icy cold breath, waving away the little smoky clouds that appeared in front of her. The ship's heating system had malfunctioned again, giving her and the crew a small amount of days to get it fixed before they all froze to death. But she didn't care. None of them. After a long, six years, they were finally at the one place (out of a maximum of two) that they wanted to be. Home.
From the bridge, she could already see it. The Scintilla. Not in a million years had she ever expected to become so fond of what was, when you got to the bottom of it, a whole bunch of metal put together to build a gigantic space station that could easily rival small planets and big moons. But it had. Oh, it had. And while her heart would always yearn for her ancestral home, the one she had yet to lay eyes on since coming to this dimension, for all intents and purposes, the Scintilla was her home. And she had missed it sorely.
It looked to be about the same size. That, in its own, was a relief; six years, she knew, was a long time. They had made more than enough enemies that would want to shrink it in size, and she was glad to see that if any had even attempted it, they had failed. Growth was not something she had dared for; they had grown so fast in those early days, that it had hit their stability somewhat.
But that hadn't been the reason for her leaving. Not hers, not her sister's. The two had to undergo a mission that took them far beyond the rim of the Galaxy and… It had not gone well. Her sister had almost died, and Madalena had to pull a Nessarose; take her sister somewhere safe, but erase her memory so she could aso remain hidden, therein also temporarily severing her connection to the Force. The look on Scherezade's face was enough to give her nightmares for years.
Yet recently, Madalena had undone the spell. She couldn't quite cancel it but… She knew motions to bring her sister back would soon enough come to be. And she hoped her sister would forgive her.
That though, did not erase Madalena's own journey. Through the years she had learned, she had battled, and she had become stronger, fiercer even. Yet lacking in the science advancements afforded to her at the Scintilla, her face had never been properly reconstructed. The scars remained where they were, still emitting their dangerous glow from time to time. And still… Beyond the rim, it had been so much easier to learn how to control it. For most of the past six years, that was what she had done there. Learn, and survive.
There was no fantasy lingering in her head that she would in any way maintain her position among the Wild Hunt, assuming the Wild Hunt even existed. But Madalena, despite taking her father's name instead of her mother's, was a deWinter, and deWInters excelled at climbing from the bottom and shining brightly while spreading glitter, death, bantha wings, and chaos, from above.
Well, maybe not the Chaos, that did seem to be the specialization of this generation… And still.
Her ship boarded the Eve dockyard with no particular problems. That was a relief too; nothing had happened, or whatever had happened had happened long ago enough, that there were no ridiculous security that she had to go through. Or perhaps, someone in control had recognized the deets of the ship and let them in? She wasn't certain.
And still…
Walking back to her room aboard the ship, the glow of her eyes rested almost immediately on a little metallic urn.
"I wish you could see it…" Madalena found herself almost whispering, "You would have loved it. The Scintilla. Eve. The people." With a sigh, she rested her hand above it for a mere moment. "But this will not be your final resting place. When we return to our proper home… I'll bring you with me. Like I promised."
Her one failure. The one person she hadn't been able to properly protect. One of the very few people she never should have failed to keep alive. And the one person she couldn't find, not in all the dimensions she'd opened since, not in the afterlife, nowhere… He was well and truly gone, and with it, a peace of her heart. Madalena no longer held on to any hope of bringing him back, and she knew she would someday find love again. But she couldn't part from his heart. Whether she loved a hundred more people, he would forever hold a special place in hers, and she would see him brought to where she had promised.
Another sigh, and she was ready. Her crew, made up of people who had never set foot on the Scintilla, who had never been inside the galaxy proper, were given free leave to do as they pleased. They wanted her to come with them to the city's heart, but she didn't want to.
Madalena wanted to see if the long kilometers between the dock and the city still held forests, still held lakes. She wanted to walk, to breathe it all in....
And to build up the courage before she knocked on Discordia's door.
