Private Incognito Nuns

[Maeve Linahan]

Maeve stood off to the side, watching Eloise stare transfixed into the mirror. As the girl turned away with watering eyes, one had to wonder just what it was she saw in her reflection, and what the abbess expected. Eloise seemed fine, if not a bit shaken.

"Look again, child," Adah urged. "Look closely."

The next time Eloise turned to her reflection, the older version of her would still be there. Tall and fiery-haired and proud. But this time, her eyes blazed gold.

Maeve recoiled. Not because she saw the reflection, but because the Dark Side immediately rippled out through the room, slamming into her like a gust of heat. She squinted, trying to find out what it was Eloise was seeing, but there was nothing. Just her plain reflection.

What Eloise saw was so much worse.

This older, darker version of her stepped out of the mirror as if it was water. She flashed a smile, dagger-like earrings swaying back and forth against her neck, and she stopped shy before young Eloise, casting her in an impossibly long shadow.

"Little Dinn, little goddess. Why did you look away from me? Do you not like what you see?"

Eloise Dinn​

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[Eloise Dinn]

The abbess was apparently not satisfied with Sister Griselda’s initial glance. Somewhat reluctantly, Eloise turned around to look again…

“What the f—!” she blurted upon seeing the dark version of her future self step out of the mirror, staggering backwards to put some distance between her and the apparition.

"Little Dinn, little goddess. Why did you look away from me? Do you not like what you see?"

Eloise’s first instinct was to grab her lightsaber. Her hand went into her long sleeve, fingers closing around the hilt of the weapon. But she hesitated. Such an act would instantly break their cover. Was it worth it?

She shot a brief, panicked glance toward Maeve, but found that the Jedi Shadow was still peering at the mirror as if expecting to see something there. Moreover, no one else around them seemed to notice the six-foot-two, fiery-haired Dark Lady.

Turning her attention back to the mirror-born illusion, she made a face. "No, I do not like what I see. So you just turned me into a clone of Mom? Where's the rebellion? Where's the originality, the uniqueness?"

Maeve Linahan​

 

[Maeve Linahan]

"Does it matter?" Not Eloise said. "What's important is that I am better. I am your future. I am everything you are meant to be and the goddess you were born to become."

She shrugged. "I'm not evil. I'm just the reflection of your ultimate self, and I've come to offer you the opportunity to embrace it." The Dark Lady smiled warmly, eerily like the abbess had when they first met. "Wouldn't that be nice? No more taking orders. No more weakness."

"I could take away your pain, Eloise. I can make you forget your troubled past, the sick memories of your parents, the atrocities they committed." The reflection opened her arms, beckoning her into a hug. "Embrace me. Let me make you stronger than you can ever dream and more than just some Padawan for others to leash."

As the Dark Lady spoke, Maeve stood off uneasily to the side. She could see the panic in Eloise's face, how her eyes locked onto some invisible figure before the mirror, but she couldn't see anything herself. Only feel it. The Dark Side, rolling over her in waves. There was the nuns, too, who had begun to hum in song, a chorus of hymns that made her back shudder.

She whirled on the abbess. "What are you doing to her?"

Adah absently hummed with the others. "He has come to claim what is His."

Eloise Dinn​

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[Eloise Dinn]

"Yeah, right," Eloise muttered sarcastically. "Because all that matters is being better than everyone else."

She had spent too much time comparing herself to others. All it had led her to was bitterness, jealousy, and resentment. Still, she'd be lying if she tried to claim the offer wasn't tempting, especially during this time of strained vulnerability and terrible loneliness.

Eloise had never been truly happy with the Jedi. As was often the case with groups that dedicated themselves to a higher purpose, some of them were among the cruelest, most self-righteous people she had ever met. They lacked compassion and understanding. Many didn't care to understand. She had been happy with her family, before she learned the extent of their atrocities. If she could go back to that time, forgetting what she had seen, would she be better off than she was now?

Maybe. But feth that. "Nice try. But a strange woman climbing out of a mirror promising strength and freedom isn't going to make me fall to the Dark Side." And with that, the charade was over. She grabbed her lightsaber from inside her sleeve, thumbing the activation switch. "Nobody move! This is Jedi business."

Maeve Linahan​

 

[Maeve Linahan]

The Dark Lady stared at Eloise for a long moment. At her refusal, at the hand grazing the hilt of her lightsaber, at her exclamation. She had chosen her side, and the mirror wouldn't have it. Slowly, the body of the Dark Lady rippled, changing shape and form, until it turned into a near perfect reflection of Eloise's mother.

She pursed her lips, almost pouting, and chided Eloise as if she was a little girl again, "Oh, dear daughter, I shouldn't be surprised. You were always such a disappointment."

Eloise's false mother lifted her eyes to the other nuns and waved a hand. "Kill them."

Then, chaos.

Maeve didn't understand what was happening until one of the closest nuns lunged her way. They moved as if possessed, wide-eyed and feral, and Maeve shoved the first woman aside and quickly backpedaled up the altar. Of course, that was only the beginning. More nuns began to climb the pews towards them, several even making a beeline straight for Eloise.

"Ashla's Light, Eloise!" Maeve exclaimed. "What did you do?"

Eloise Dinn​

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[Eloise Dinn]

The illusion of her future self transformed into that of Eloise’s mother. Ishani, Rhiannon, Adamanthea—whatever the hell Mom was calling herself these days—then ordered the nuns to kill them.

Eloise hadn’t expected the sisters to attack, and thus was caught off guard when they lunged at her like zombies. Obviously they were under the Mirror’s power, though they were perhaps willing thralls. Still, she didn’t want to kill them. With careful, skilled swings, the Padawan instead aimed to disarm them. Literally, as severed hands fell to the floor of the chapel, followed by screams of pain.

"Ashla's Light, Eloise!" Maeve exclaimed. "What did you do?"

“Told the Dark Side to feth off!” Eloise replied, also backing up towards the altar. She had started to shrug off her nun’s habit, her dyed purple braids now visible beneath her wimple. Giving the Mirror a solid kick, she tried to send it tumbling down from the altar toward the nuns below, hoping it would shatter on impact.

Maeve Linahan​

 

[Maeve Linahan]

"Oh!" Maeve said at Eloise's answer. "Well, good enough for me!"

She fell beside the Padawan on top of the altar, warding back the nuns with only her bare hands and a few carefully placed kicks, but when Eloise sent the mirror tumbling down, a collective cry went up from the possessed women, even from the old abbess.

"No!" Adah snarled. "The mirror! Protect our Lord's mirror!"

The nuns grabbed at the mirror before it could hit the ground and began to carry it away to the safety of the pews. Meanwhile, the reflection of Ishani stood unbothered behind them, not even fazed at the thought of having been almost shattered. Her eyes were more drawn to Eloise's lightsaber, to the ease and care at which she severed hands.

"Silly daughter," Ishani tsked. "You can't just go around maiming your toys. They're fragile. Easy to break. Why not try playing with something a little more your size?"

The reflection lazily waved its hand, and suddenly, Maeve heard stone grinding against stone. As she kicked another nun square in the face, she turned in time to see the statue of Darth Carnifex from earlier—looming over the altar, over them—beginning to move. One dead eye fell on Eloise. Then, it brought its hand down on her like a hammer blow.

Eloise Dinn​

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[Eloise Dinn]

The nuns rushed to save their precious mirror. Eloise looked to the vision of her mother, who appeared unbothered by the chaos. In fact, she seemed to relish in it.

"Silly daughter. You can't just go around maiming your toys. They're fragile. Easy to break. Why not try playing with something a little more your size?"

At that, Eloise’s eyes began darting around, expecting trickery. What she didn’t expect was for the larger-than-life statue of Carnifex to start moving. With the ear-splitting sound of stone grinding against stone, the idol moved to crush her under its massive hand. Eloise leaped out of the way just in time, knocking over a shrieking nun in the process.

“Maeve!” she shouted, forgetting to use her fake name out of panic. “I think we need to leave now!” They would have to get the mirror from the sisters first, but right now the statue seemed to pose a more imminent threat.

Maeve Linahan​

 

[Maeve Linahan]

In normal circumstances, Maeve would've been irritated at Eloise for using her real name, but this was nowhere near normal, and there was no point in staying discreet. Their cover was blown. The nuns knew they were Jedi, and whatever was possessing them wasn't going to stop until she and Eloise were food for worms.

"Leave?" Maeve snapped. "Don't be ridiculous! We can—" The statue of Carnifex groaned towards her and swept out an arm, almost swatting her through one of the stained glass windows in the chapel, "—oh, for Ashla's sake! We can't run. They'll just follow!"

She whirled on the statue, considering her options. Lightsabers might cut through stone, but a statue this big and without weaknesses to exploit? She could try cutting off its head, but that didn't mean it would stop trying to crush them.

What they needed to do was find the source.

"Destroy the mirror!" she told Eloise. "I'll deal with Carnifex and the nuns!"

Maeve stepped back onto the altar and sloughed off her nun's habit and headpiece, revealing pale-white Jedi robes underneath. She ignited her lightsaber, and with a little helping of the Force, she exploded into searing light. Shadows peeled away and the nuns shrieked. Strangely, even the reflection of Ishani recoiled at the light.

Maeve flourished her lightsaber, drawing the attention of the statue and other feral women. "Your Lord is nothing more than a cack-gargling, goat-licking sleemo!"

Now, those were words she never thought to say before…

Eloise Dinn​

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[Eloise Dinn]

Maeve shot down the idea of leaving, even as she was nearly swatted clean out the window. Instead, a new plan was hatched: Eloise would destroy the mirror while Maeve distracted the nuns. It sounded good in theory, but in actual practice?

Shedding her disguise, Maeve used Force Light—a rare and majestic power which Eloise had at this point only heard about. To see it in person was another experience entirely. She squinted her eyes against the brightness that filled the chapel, turning to locate the mirror amid the chaos.

"Your Lord is nothing more than a cack-gargling, goat-licking sleemo!"

There! A small group of the nuns were still clinging to it. Eloise jumped down in their midst, lopping off hands and seizing the mirror. Now, how to destroy it? She made a tentative stab of her lightsaber into the reflective surface, fully expecting it to be made of phrik or some other nigh-indestructible material…

Maeve Linahan​

 

[Maeve Linahan]

Maeve's outburst—and unpleasant remark—instantly sent the women in a frenzy. They descended on her in an onslaught, gnashing teeth, reaching at her with their grubby hands. The same went for the statue, which swung at her in an attempt to level her shoulders. For some Jedi, it might've been too much to handle.

For Maeve? She could take them all and then some.

A kick in the face. A slash across the wrist. She moved like a whirlwind, lightsaber cutting through the air, first shearing across one nun's leg and then lopping off the statue's arm. Neither screamed or cried out in pain. It bought her time, but if there was going to be an end to this madness, it was all up to Eloise now.

Eloise, and a mirror that wouldn't break.

Her lightsaber met the reflection with ease, but rather than it shattering into a hundred pieces, it rippled. As if made from water, as if it was… a doorway.

"Oh, daughter," Ishani whispered in her ear. "Why don't you join me?"

Eloise Dinn​

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[Eloise Dinn]

The mirror didn’t break. Instead, her lightsaber passed through the reflective surface as if it were made of water.

"Oh, daughter," Ishani whispered in her ear. "Why don't you join me?"

“I’d rather not spend the rest of my life in an asylum,” Eloise replied. She kept her focus on the mirror, looking for other ways to destroy it. Hitting it with a physical object probably wouldn’t work. She’d have to use the Force, most likely.

Eloise did have some idea of how an imbued object might be safely broken down, but that knowledge came from her Sith upbringing. It involved calling upon the Dark Side to destroy. Then again, the mirror had been created from the Dark Side. Tearing it asunder wouldn’t be an act of evil.

Taking a deep breath, she called upon the Force and concentrated her power upon the mirror. Her outstretched hand became a closed fist as she sought to draw the imbuement out of the object like poison from a wound.

Maeve Linahan​

 

[Maeve Linahan]

"What's this?" The voice of Ishani laughed. "Trying to use the Dark Side to draw me out? To destroy me? Oh, sweetheart. Stupid, foolish girl. I am the Dark."

A black hand shot out from the mirror, clutching her wrist. Whatever Eloise was doing, it was working, but maybe not in the way she'd hoped.

Another hand pushed out from the mirror's reflection, holding onto its gilded frame, before a head poked out, followed by a twisting neck and shoulders too thin to be human. In moments, a skeletal and ink-black creature emerged, its hand still holding onto Eloise, clawed fingers digging into her skin. The spirit had no face, no eyes.

But it did have a mouth, and it curled with a wicked smile, all teeth.

Although Maeve was busy fighting off a bunch of crazy nuns and a murderous statue of Darth Carnifex, she saw the spirit, too. A mangled and horrifying thing, with a crushing presence in the Dark Side. Even with her own light, Maeve felt like a flickering candle against it.

Her heart sank at seeing Eloise face such a thing alone. She had promised Amani to keep the girl safe, and yet there she was, confronted with a spirit older than either of them combined.

"It's going to take more than a lightsaber and a few cheap tricks to stop me, little girl," the spirit said, still speaking with Ishani's voice, before taking Eloise and hurling her across the chapel.

Eloise Dinn​

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[Eloise Dinn]

“You’re a lot of things, but the Dark isn’t one of them.” Eloise continued to be the defiant daughter, even when faced with an apparition of her mother. But despite her best efforts, things were taking a turn for the worse.

Some sort of skeletal creature clawed its way free of the mirror, which now appeared depleted of power, and latched onto her arm. She tried to pull free, but the black hand held firm.

"It's going to take more than a lightsaber and a few cheap tricks to stop me, little girl."

“Who are you calling little?” Eloise shot back, but her voice was thin and her green eyes were wide with fear. Then she was hurtling through the air, flung across the chapel by the creature.

She crashed through a stained glass window, iridescent shards cutting her skin as she flew past. Eventually she would lose momentum and gravity would claim her, sending her crashing down the side of the mountain. She couldn’t let that happen.

Summoning the Force, she managed to suspend her descent, floating in midair, before snapping back like a stone loosed from a slingshot through the broken window. She nearly collided with a row of pews upon her return, but was able to slow down enough to avoid any further injuries. Now, where was she?...

Maeve Linahan​

 

[Maeve Linahan]

Maeve watched in horror as Eloise was flung out the window.

Now, it was her turn to call out her real name.

"Eloise—no!" Maeve cried before extending a hand, desperate to catch the girl before she plummeted off the side of the mountain, but the Force didn't come. After fighting off so many nuns, she was weak, helpless to save her or do anything more than watch.

Fortunately, Eloise didn't need saving.

The Jedi Padawan soared back through the shattered window like a loosed arrow, landing in the pews. Even the twisted spirit seemed a little surprised, its ugly smile falling into a black grimace. But it wasted no time. Without warning, the creature descended on Eloise with the singular desire to kill, intending to sink its knifelike teeth into her face.

Maeve kicked another nun aside to try and reach it. Most of the women were completely down, and while the statue was persistent, she was more worried about the Sith spirit, about—

A sharp pain lanced through her back. The breath almost escaped her lips and Maeve turned, shocked and stunned, and found none other than Abbess Adah staring at her with two bloodshot eyes. The old woman had lodged a knife in her back.

"For the Patriarch."

Eloise Dinn​

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[Eloise Dinn]

There was little time to get her bearings. Eloise saw the gnashing teeth of the creature snapping down toward her and immediately braced her arms against its throat and forehead, straining against its snapping jaws to keep it from taking a bite out of her face. Her lightsaber apparently wouldn’t work against this nerf herder, so she’d have to get creative.

Sparks flew from her fingertips, then finally flames. She blasted fire at the creature, seeking to burn it to ash. Pyrokinesis, while highly useful, was also very difficult to control; in her exhausted and battered state, the effort was doubled. The flames soon began to spread to the rest of the chapel, licking up cloth tapestries and devouring the wooden pews.

Then there was Maeve. Through the Force Eloise was made aware that the Jedi Shadow was wounded, but as she was presently preoccupied with killing the big oily skeleton, she had no way of assessing how bad the damage was. For now, Maeve would have to deal with her own problems in addition to the new threat of being burnt to a crisp...

Maeve Linahan​

 

[Maeve Linahan]

The Sith creature shrieked and snapped its fanged teeth at Eloise, spitting black bile and threatening to draw blood. She could probably smell the reek of its breath, like something had curled up and died on its tongue, and its jaw came so close, one more bite and it would've taken her nose off completely.

At least, until Eloise started breathing fire back at it.

Flames licked up the creature's arms and it hissed. Not in pain, but agitation. Rearing back from the Padawan, the creature shielded its eyes with one clawed hand, blinded by the light, and strangely enough, the shadows on its back began to peel away, but not completely.

"Foolish child," the creature spat. "All you know is how to destroy. Just like your parents. Just like the Sith you claim to oppose. You are not made to be a Jedi, you are made to belong to me—to the Dark—and you will join it, whether you like it or not."

The creature reached out its burning arms to her and wrapped its fingers around her shoulders, claws digging in, unhurt by the flames, smile wicked and gleaming in the firelight.

Light.

On the other side of the chapel, Maeve stared in shock at Abbess Adah and the knife she'd lodged into her back. The pain was excruciating, and the old woman had twisted the blade in deep, the wound seeping blood. She couldn't believe she'd been caught off guard so easily.

"The Patriarch is my strength!" Adah preached. "He is my shield!"

Maeve gritted her teeth. She had enough of this madwoman. "Fuck your Patriarch," she said, then taking her lightsaber, Maeve beheaded the abbess in a single swing.

Eloise Dinn​

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[Eloise Dinn]

"Foolish child," the creature spat. "All you know is how to destroy. Just like your parents. Just like the Sith you claim to oppose. You are not made to be a Jedi, you are made to belong to me—to the Dark—and you will join it, whether you like it or not."

“You’re the one who’s on fire!” Eloise shouted back, turning up the heat. Flames continued to lick up the skeleton creature’s body, burning whatever substance it was made of. It was hurting her, trying to get her to stop, but the pain only made her more defiant. She wouldn’t stop until she was dead—and if that happened, she intended to take the thing down with her, reducing it to a charred heap.

The flames had spread rapidly throughout the chapel. The walls were made of stone, but the roof was carved from wooden beams encased in lead—very flammable. Soon it would collapse on top of them.

Maeve Linahan​

 

[Maeve Linahan]

The Sith creature hissed, growing increasingly agitated as flames consumed its dark skin, melting away to reveal pitch-black bones beneath. But still, it stood, smoking and smiling and claws digging into Eloise's shoulders.

"You burn me," it said. "You burn yourself."

"I beg to differ," said a weak voice, and there, suddenly standing behind the dark creature, stood none other than Maeve, hair golden and skin paler than moonlight. The abbess' wound had done serious damage, but she wasn't ready to go down. Not like this.

By the altar, the statue was a collapsed mess of rock, destroyed by her hand, and in the meager seconds that had passed between Eloise and the Sith spirit, Maeve had positioned herself behind the creature, one hand pressed to its smoking back, the last reserves of the Force pooling into her fingertips, ready to unleash all she had left.

"No," the creature said, trying to tear away. "No!"

Maeve's hand erupted with Light, which tore through the spirit's back, out through its chest, and from every hole in its twisted face. The thing screamed, and its eyes fell to Eloise desperately, its voice warping again into her mother's. Her sweet mother.

"Save me!" Ishani cried. "Save me, Eloise!"

Eloise Dinn​

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[Eloise Dinn]

Just when it seemed Eloise had run out of hands to play, Maeve came to the rescue. Even badly wounded, the Shadow made for a powerful ally in battle. She started blasting the monster with Force Light, burning it at the spiritual level. In a final attempt at self-preservation, its visage changed back into Ishani's.

"Save me!" Ishani cried. "Save me, Eloise!"

Eloise bit back a snarl. "You're not my mother!" she roared, unleashing a final inferno of pyrokinesis. Between the two of them, it ought to be enough to send the vile, wicked thing back to hell where it belonged.

Maeve Linahan​