It is Memory Precious and Pure (complete)

[Darth Ren Malgus]

[SIZE=12pt]She felt lifeless that the blood would no longer course through her veins, to draw a breath hurt in more ways than she could imagine she felt a pressure at the base of her skull, and yet she found strength to pick her head up from her chin and look at Coren.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=12pt]“Ow, if I thought I lost memory before I’ve lost brain cells now” Her voice was soft and weak sounding. Slowly she opened her eyes, “my fingers are numb” She could feel it not feeling, would anyone understand that.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=12pt]She looked at her hand in Coren’s she tried to smile, even though pain still vibrated through her. “Are you ok?” Her eyes finally lifted to where she could look into his.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=12pt]She could feel it though she could feel him by her more than before, this was his presence, his being, and then there were his emotions. They seem to ripple around him it was the strangest sensation. [/SIZE]

[member="Coren Starchaser"]

 

[Coren Starchaser]

Coren didn’t know what to do here. He lacked the gifts to help others with the Force, all he could do was be there, was connect to her, but that was only as good as when you took someone for their first spacewalk, and you made sure they were able to watch their breathing and focus on you. The Corellian was at home in space, it was almost more home than that world had ever been, Starchaser lifestyle, after all, ExplorCorps family with a knack for finding things.

“I felt that… pain.” He shook his head, a little shudder to his shoulders. Only thing he felt worse than that was when his late wife was ripped from the galaxy. He had to go on Fringe Federation missions with the Dawn Treader just to clear his head. Space and the defeat and reclamation of the world? It helped him get through it. But this one, it was… different.

He looked to Wren and grabbed her hands lightly. “Well, they’re all still there.” He laughed and shrugged. An attempt at humor, now? Really Coren? “And I’m okay… More worried about you, I was just… getting second hand.” And trying to manipulate the energy away from her. Something he was working on learning.

Again.

Memories were odd, huh?

[member="Serena Bouie"]

 

[Darth Ren Malgus]

[member="Coren Starchaser"]​

​

[SIZE=12pt]Memories were painful it seemed though she wasn’t sure about this particular memory.[/SIZE]


[SIZE=12pt]“It was a shock to my entire body, I could feel the current running through me starting at the tip of my finger” Wren looked down at her hands to see the finger, “it looks singed.” It looked black and burnt. She shook her head slightly.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=12pt]Wren could feel his emotions a touch upon, “You’re empathic too. I’m sorry for the pain, I know that even though it is endured it is not always welcome.” Her voice remained soft as she worked to gather her strength back.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=12pt]She laughed when he laughed she didn’t mind a bit of humor it was helpful it made things easier.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=12pt]She stayed there on the floor it was easier than trying to stand she liked that he was holding her hand too it was a comfort that she rarely got to enjoy.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=12pt]“I either remembered some things or the shock unlocked something, but…someone, something named Akala, strong emotions, someone calling me, and then what felt like a strong presence asking who are you?”[/SIZE]

[SIZE=12pt]She sighed and looked at Coren, “I think some of this has to do with the runes, five things….the Jedi have a mantra, do the sith have a mantra?” Her blue eyes were blood shot red and why was she asking him about a sith mantra, did she think he was one?[/SIZE]

[SIZE=12pt]No. She thought he might know something she doesn’t.[/SIZE]

 

[Coren Starchaser]

Coren knew what he had gotten himself into. Whenever he met someone, he ran that risk. He was like the Exile from legend, forming bonds with people. And they worked both ways, he got caught up in them, and sometimes, without realizing it, they got caught up in him. He held her hand in both of his, looking it over. “Can you feel any of this?” Yeah, he was definitely not a Force-medic. They’d need to get her somewhere soon.

He shook his head. “Silly to apologize. I really don’t… shut it away. And if I could take some to make it easier on you?” He shrugged. It made the most amount of sense to him. Do what he could to help someone else. He might be one of the most chaotic characters on the outside, but he had his personal credo. And with the emotions? He could use them, the way they filled him with that wild energy… Primal, seductive.

One thing he didn’t mind was comforts of the flesh, even if they were sometimes superficial, it helped others, it helped him. That was what mattered, that everyone came home better than they left. Akala… He didn’t recognize that name, though. The Corellian shook his head. “Not ringing a bell.” Doesn’t sound friendly though. “What’d it feel like?” They? It?

“Sith… they’re a complex beast. I’m not of them, but I knew one, once.” He was getting that much of his memory back, still hadn’t pieced together that the Sith that was watching over the home ship was the one that caused him to lose seventeen years and his memory. He closed his eyes. “I think I can piece it together.”

[member="Serena Bouie"]

 

[Darth Ren Malgus]

[SIZE=12pt]Wren looked down at her hand more than just the finger which seemed to take most of the pain, “I can tell it to move and it moves but it feels…numb and tingly.” She felt a bit foolish sitting here on the floor like this but her legs were still wobbly she could feel that too as the feeling crept into her stomach. Now she wished they had put food on the list first.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=12pt]He did it out of need, desire to help, who could ask for anything more caring for a stranger, “I appreciate that you would do that it is very…unselfish” [/SIZE]
[SIZE=12pt]Emotions Wren knew about them first hand, they could bowl you over, take you by surprise, and even reduce you to tears she did not want to cry now actually she felt strangely calm.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=12pt]What did it feel like? “Akala felt like pain, felt like extreme loneliness mixed with a terrible longing” Wren tried to focus on what she felt at the time, tried them to shift the focus to the creature. She breathed evenly, steady.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=12pt]“When it asked who are you…my mind said Jedi….Jedi live by a code, a code of five lines from a mantra.” Wren had to admit she could still feel Akala’s emotions that longing for completion of love. Akala wanted her lover.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=12pt]“If you could remember I think it would be helpful” She felt tired was it the shock that had taken so much, but seemed to give her some memory. Memory that was as painful as the shock of energy that had just ravaged her mind and body.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=12pt][member="Coren Starchaser"][/SIZE]

 

[Coren Starchaser]

As long as she got herself together? Coren didn’t care how long it took. He wasn’t about to abandon someone who was in need. Sure, he was a self-described Dark Jedi, but it didn’t mean he was straight evil. No, he just lived in the wilds of the Force, that delicious area where it could do, and be, whatever you wanted from it. That was how he viewed the Force, how he needed it. It was something he knew he was good at, something he found when he re-found the Force.

How it worked and how strong it could be.

“Well, its what you do.” Can’t just let someone go it alone, then what would happen when you really needed someone in your corner? He was going to do what he could to help her from here, but there were things that even his bag of tricks didn’t have. Like a way to heal with the Force. That was blocked from him.

Looking at her, he nodded. Akala. It felt like it was from a dream. Close, but removed. Somewhere… distant.

As for the Sith code. He knew he could pull it when he started. Darth Venator, the man who he could sometimes remember. A man in black. A man sick with power, had taught it to him. How better to hunt the Sith than to learn to think like one? “I’m sure I can manage it.”

[member="Serena Bouie"]

 

[Darth Ren Malgus]

[SIZE=12pt]If she were fine would he have left her there? She had not thought about it because it just never crossed her mind that anyone would just up and leave.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=12pt]Why leave?[/SIZE]

[SIZE=12pt]Akala moaned because she had been left. Ohh Wren thought. She was glad for the moment to have other things to think about, to focus on, like her finger that she could see and yet couldn’t feel. That wasn’t good it might not..nope wouldn’t think about it.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=12pt]“The Jedi Mantra the really old one before Odan-Urr changed it was - [/SIZE]

[SIZE=12pt]Emotion, yet peace[/SIZE]​

[SIZE=12pt]Ignorance, yet knowledge[/SIZE]​

[SIZE=12pt]Passion, yet serenity[/SIZE]​

[SIZE=12pt]Chaos, yet harmony[/SIZE]​

[SIZE=12pt]Death, yet the force[/SIZE]​

​

[SIZE=12pt]Is the Sith code similar, are any of the words similar?” If this was a test to have them work together in her mind it made some sense that the code of the light and the code of the darkness played a hand in it. Five lines, five emotions or state of being.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=12pt]She got the chills again she could see the goosebumps running down her arms. It was getting cooler in there, least to her it was.[/SIZE]

[member="Coren Starchaser"]​

 

[Coren Starchaser]

Would he have left her? No. There was too much of his Warden training in him that wouldn’t allow him to leave someone aside. Still, Wren was also…. Well, yeah he didn’t need to consider that bit for way he’d stay, it was just another piece of obviousness. Wasn’t that why people spoke to one another initially? Attraction? He thought as much.

He still had his hand around hers, almost protective. That was something Coren did. He was protective of his team, no matter how long someone was in his team, if it was established? He’d defend them. Interestingly enough, he didn’t have the proper Force skills for such.

She started to cite the Jedi Code. That one he knew, it was basic and even former ExplorCorps members knew it. For the Sith code, though…

“Sith Code’s a bit… more intense?”

​

Peace is a Lie, there is only Passion​

Through Passion, I gain Strength.​

Through Strength, I gain Power.​

Through Power, I gain Victory.​

Through Victory, my Chains are Broken,​

The Force shall free me.​

He did enjoy the first two, well, the discussions about passion. It was what lead him to his… unique view on the wilds of the Force. Though, the original Jedi code, with the acceptance of what they considered to be taboo words, was also fairly appropriate.

He looked at her. “There is Passion in both.”

[member="Serena Bouie"]

 

[Darth Ren Malgus]

[SIZE=12pt]It had not lined up quite as she thought it would, “I had thought that we could align the words they had in common and then find the rune.” She smiled slightly disappointed she would have sworn they should be the same.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=12pt]She began to repeat the Sith code, [/SIZE]

[SIZE=12pt]Peace is a lie, there is only passion[/SIZE]​

[SIZE=12pt]Through Passion, I gain strength[/SIZE]​

[SIZE=12pt]Through strength, I gain power[/SIZE]​

[SIZE=12pt]Through power, I gain victory[/SIZE]​

[SIZE=12pt]Through victory, my chains are broken,[/SIZE]​

[SIZE=12pt]The force shall free me.[/SIZE]​

​

[SIZE=12pt]She was quiet, “the only words in common are passion, peace, and the force, so that’s three in common.” Serena put her good hand onto Coren’s shoulder to stand up, as she pushed up she peered at the table she didn’t trust it.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=12pt]“What are the other two?” She looked at Coren, “knowledge could be power,” she groaned, “What do you think do I sound...like I’m grasping at straws?” It made sense but still the pile of runes to only pick five.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=12pt]With great hesitation she reached for the pile, with a glancing look she quickly removed half, “I don’t think they belong call it a hunch” that still left more than five.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=12pt]“Maybe you can touch one of them and it…might…..” she smiled, “you know…say something” It was possible right?[/SIZE]

[member="Coren Starchaser"]​

 

[Coren Starchaser]

There were always nuances. He often wondered if the Jedi learned anything about the Sith, in order to understand them and fight them. It would make sense, at least to him, it would. He shrugged and shook his head. “I might have an abridged lesson. Not a Jedi, not a Sith, but… learned enough about both.” To be dangerous? Yes. To be effective? Oh, hell yes.

Passion, peace, the Force. The first two were what made the Sith and the Jedi, the third is what unified them. What made the place where Coren lived was the shadow in between the first two concepts. When he felt Wren get to her feet, he put an arm on her back gently, just to help steady her.

Because he was Coren and sometimes he was a white knight. But he wasn’t anyone who’d hover-hand. He nodded at her. “Knowledge is power, depending how you look at it. Know your enemy and all that.” A hunch, hey?

“Yeah, trusting a hunch, always lead me right.” There was no sarcasm there, despite how his words sounded. Closing his eyes, he reached out to the Force, to Wren and to the runes before slowly bringing a hand up. Keeping them away from the runes, waiting to see if he felt… he didn’t know, anything?

[member="Serena Bouie"]

 

[Darth Ren Malgus]

[SIZE=12pt]Wren watched him with his eyes closed it was now even with the pain she had felt that she could focus on life.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=12pt]The little wrinkles at the corners of his eyes as he concentrated, the long elegant fingers that showed signs of work, and then there was the aura around him. She had only seen it on a few people in her travels and here his was blue with shocks of white bursting throughout.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=12pt]By paying attention she learned that blue was a sense of calm of focus, the white were conflicts within.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=12pt]What would his hunch bring forth, and why did she suddenly feel like she knew all along she would meet him.[/SIZE]


[SIZE=12pt]Coren. His name now rang with familiarity, the gentleness of a touch that showed concern. The steadfast way he stood his ground to show his honor. Wren could not help but be attracted to him on a level that was more than based on looks. Coren wore a shield that was protecting something, or someone Wren couldn't help but sense it.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=12pt]She could not help but feel that fate had taken a hand to make sure she came to know him. [/SIZE]


[SIZE=12pt]It would seem the shock to her mind had cleared some of the tiny blocks of her memory.[/SIZE]


[SIZE=12pt]The force never does anything without purpose something to remember. The soft words of a teacher talking to her.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=12pt]She turned her gaze to the runes a hint of sparkle caught her eye. Oh. What was that? She bit her lip a terrible habit. She turned again to look upon Coren as he searched for an answer to the conundrum before them.[/SIZE]

[member="Coren Starchaser"]​

 

[Coren Starchaser]

There was something about Wren. Coren couldn’t quite place it. He enjoyed her company so far. Was it kindred spirits? That sort of deal? She was like him, she was a wanderlust, she was more… Jedi than he’d ever be, but still, there was similarity here to make things feel right. He could work with that.

Just like he could work with the runes in front of him. He wasn’t getting nearly the reception that Wren had gotten from the time she touched everything, the Force was here, and he was trying to focus through the static of the years, of the time when even the runes forgot the touch.

He was a defender, he was a hunter. He was a finder and a protector. He was here to make sure that those who needed him would get the help they deserved. Coren was known to use a lightsaber and a blaster, but his best gifts? Those were the Force and his mind. How he listened to it, how he used it, used it to push the enemies away, to slow them down, to turn their own power against them. And his intelligence.

How he could approach things from so many different angles. Mixing that with his psychometry? He knew he could get the answer. The Force was swirling around him, reaching back to Wren as he grabbed a few more. Were there five left yet? No.

They would have to work together for the last.

[member="Serena Bouie"]

 

[Darth Ren Malgus]

[SIZE=12pt]Sensations, she could feel it moving around her even though she could not see it, she felt it. It was as if an invisible hand caressed her mind and then whispered the secrets of the galaxy to her.[/SIZE]


[SIZE=12pt]She wasn’t sure what was happening she wasn’t sure of a lot of things instinct was slowly taking over. Her memories were there, her mind knew they were there even if she could not touch them. Serena had training in psychometry, and far sight the force knew this.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=12pt]With a confidence and a feeling of certainty she reached over and put her hand on top of Coren’s slowly her fingers crept across the back of his hand till she was able to roll her own underneath and hold his hand.[/SIZE]


[SIZE=12pt]A connection her force ability her connection to it a combined skill, words were no longer needed as they looked upon the runes. Her mind whispered[/SIZE][SIZE=12pt].[/SIZE]

[SIZE=12pt]There’s also something about what they are made of, the rune stones.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=12pt]Shadows in the room seemed to grow longer darker, the braziers burned a bit brighter, and they had to be on the right path.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=12pt]They were getting close.[/SIZE]

[member="Coren Starchaser"]

 

[Coren Starchaser]

The Force was tricky. It flowed and ebbed. It connected everything around them, and it definitely connected Coren and Serena. He could feel her near him and it was… comforting, the light in her presence. He knew that he was darker, but he burned no less brightly.

He burned hot, though.

He was remembering people, remembering life from before. Remembering Kelly, remembering some people he wasn’t sure he even met yet. The Force was weird here. He wasn’t sure if it was a good weird or a bad weird. Just… weird.

Feeling her hand, he couldn’t help but smile. It was an odd feeling. Being comfortable and touched? It was something he wasn’t used to. He grabbed her hand tighter. “Anything changing?” It was definitely verbal, but it was definitely in the Force.

[member="Serena Bouie"]

 

[Darth Ren Malgus]

[SIZE=12pt]She felt his hand tighten on hers It’s ok I’m not going anywhere. Why did she say that? It is comfort [/SIZE]came the whisper.

[SIZE=12pt]Was anything changing? Yes she had flashes of faces she felt she should know each of them looking at her with an expectation that could be seen in their eyes.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=12pt]Coren was close, she remembered being close. The warmth of a smile, the acceptance of who and what she was. All of this and then that sensation.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=12pt]The force swirled around them Wren looked at the stones from her mind’s eye and then for a moment she had that feeling of déjà vu. WE have done this before Coren. She couldn’t explain that, how was that possible?[/SIZE]

[SIZE=12pt]I feel a bit like I am melting as her blue eyes focused on the runes slowly between their combined energies slowly the runes separated.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=12pt]There were four singled out, and yet the fifth still remained elusive.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=12pt]What more was needed?[/SIZE]

[member="Coren Starchaser"]​

 

[Coren Starchaser]

It was refreshing. That was what it was. Having someone in his corner like this. Coren had gone how long, especially since the death of Kelly, without feeling anyone? He wasn’t the type of guy to just run around and bury his feelings. Not any more. He knew he could use them. They fueled him, fueled his missions, his thoughts, who whole attitude. The pilot could hear her and nodded.

They were in this together, clearly. Were they here before? Had they done this? Was Wren something of a constant to him? She might be, they were clearly revolving around one another here. It was… helpful but it was also bringing in other questions.

How were they supposed to amplify what they had? What they were looking for? He pulled her closer. He had no idea why.

Was the fifth an element?

[member="Serena Bouie"]

 

[Darth Ren Malgus]

[SIZE=12pt]Wren began to let go of the problem to not over think it to try and understand only one thing what was the fifth element?[/SIZE]

[SIZE=12pt]She could feel Coren he had pulled her closer instinctively her arms went around his neck laying gently across his back from shoulder to shoulder. In her mind in the force she could not really tell now where Coren began and she ended she had melted into him.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=12pt]There was no light no dark.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=12pt]Her heart beat in synch which his each breath mirrored the other. The runes without them looking were moving.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=12pt]Time faded slowly Wren finally found peace. She laid her head onto his shoulder any memories that she had were his to see there were no barriers in her mind for him to encounter. In her mind if Coren looked he would see Serena/Wren a bright eyed woman who looked at the galaxy and saw opportunity to learn, who longed to touch the stars, and wondered at all things.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=12pt]Coren her mind whispered Are you still here with me? She could not longer feel her body everything around her had faded. But was the experience the same for Coren?[/SIZE]

[member="Coren Starchaser"]

 

[Coren Starchaser]

He wasn’t sure why he pulled her closer. All he knew was that he did. It felt… right? He wasn’t sure. Was it what they both needed? To get themselves through whatever they were in? To help each other remember? To give the other comfort and let them know it was all going to be okay? Coren Starchaser was a man who still hadn’t really pieced everything together in his brain. He was working on it, but at this point? He hadn’t fought with the Underground, he was drifting between worlds after the Fringe Dominion-Race.

And he was here, now, with Wren, a gorgeous blonde who seemed to echo him on all the important factors. Sure, Coren leaned dark, but that was because his methods were rough. He knew it, he didn’t apologize, he didn’t need to. He saved people. As much as he would never admit that he was being helpful, he was. Chaotic Good, Chaotic neutral at the worst. But to say Coren was evil? It was just dark.

Darkness and chaos weren’t always evil, they weren’t the opposite of light and order.

Was that what they needed? To echo one another? To amplify what was within each other? Coren could feel her mind and he knew she’d be able to feel his. His thoughts, his fears. The fact his wife was gone, his children didn’t know him and he was a man out of time. He didn’t fit in this new order of the galaxy. His Wing had moved on without him, they’d changed, and he wasn’t sure if it was for the best.

They knew it was, but there were so many doubts around him right now. Where he was going, and if he’d find his place in the galaxy, and what it would look like.

Who it would be with.

He could feel the energy from her, her life, her thoughts, but beyond that? Blackness, free floating, like the water, or zero-G. It was… comforting in an odd sort of solace. What was going on?

Wren...

[member="Serena Bouie"]

 

[Darth Ren Malgus]

She heard her name and grew calmer at the mention. The room seem to shift slightly, it was all an illusion controlled by something, someone ancient. It hid itself well within the halls of this place.

Wren turned her attention back to Coren. She could see into his memories she could feel the emotions, she could sense his fears. Gentle fingers walked over and stroked the back of his neck trying to provide a sense of it's alright to ease the emotions he felt.

I understand her mind whispered to him as she held him tighter the need to comfort him to let him know. It takes time Coren, life happens for a reason. There is purpose in everything but in the end it is

She had only a few memories they swam out. The memories of the time with Akala the screaming emotions of a creature so lost, the soft voice of a woman reassuring a daughter it was alright, the sensations of an adventure found all that she had seen since awakening she shared and then the dark. The unknown waiting to be formed.

Serena felt soothed, without thinking she kissed his neck. Whatever happens this was all a gift. Every person in her life contributed to its wealth. She smiled.

The force rippled around them. So what is the fifth element?

Slowly a word formed - Unity. At one time they had all been one they had been unified, the force was the unifying factor for them all. Vibrations of joy resonated within the force as if having a celebration of the realization.

One and the same.

[member="Coren Starchaser"]

 

[Coren Starchaser]

There was no telling where they would end up, where they were going. The Force was not written in stone. Destiny could change, morph, adapt. Fate could step in and take either of them on a path no one could guess. With the battle lines between the One Sith and the Republic constantly on a change, and the galaxy kept in the middle of the turmoil, there was no telling what would be happening.

What happened next, that was unexpected to Coren.

When her lips pressed to his neck, he pulled her closer, his breath picking up.

Dark and light. And explorers from both. Unity.

Unity and balance.

What happened next was not written until now. It didn’t matter where Coren found himself in the coming months, who he would be pairing with. This moment mattered now. And where the bodies would take the energy? That was unity.

[member="Serena Bouie"]