Private Lost in the Light

[Ishani Dinn]

Denon Undercity, Night

Ishani awoke hanging from a rope. Bound around her wrists, it pulled her arms straight up, her feet just barely touching the floor. Pain radiated through the muscles in her shoulders and back, as well as from bruises and lacerations along her torso and limbs. More scars for the road.

She’d gotten in a fight. A group of six men intercepted her on patrol. Just some street thugs, she’d thought. Normally they were no trouble for her to dispatch, but these ones were different. They were trained and skilled enough that they knew how to stun someone like her instead of just killing them.

Once she was out, they had dragged her here. It might’ve been a warehouse, or a deserted starscraper—she didn’t have the mobility to look all the way around the space. She couldn’t feel the weight of her weapons at her belt (not that she could’ve used them anyway) and the Force felt distant, unreachable. The mask she wore to hide her identity had also been removed.

She didn’t realize she wasn’t alone until a figure stepped out of the shadows. A scrawny boy of nineteen with red hair, dressed in black. After all these years, Arcturus hadn’t aged a day, but the effects of corruption had made his face gaunt and his skin sickly. Dark veins crisscrossed beneath his flesh like black claws reaching toward his heart.

He walked right up to her and cupped her face. His hands were rough to the touch.

“You weren’t there when I came back,” he said. “Why did you leave?”

Understanding came in a chilly rush, like cold sweat in the wake of a nightmare. This Ishani had saved a group of kidnapped acolytes from slavers, but never returned to Korriban. This Ishani hadn’t pushed Dagon away that night aboard her ship. This Ishani was a Knight of the New Jedi Order who moonlighted as a masked vigilante, and she had no idea how to explain herself to this bitter ghost of her past, a boy she had met once and forgotten about.

“I…” she began, her voice faltering. “I made a mistake.”

What mistake was referring to, she wasn’t really sure.

Arcturus stared at her with eyes so intense, they seemed to almost glow. “Was any of it ever real?” he asked. “Or was it all a lie? Just a means to an end?”

A calloused thumb settled in the dimple in her cheek. She was grimacing, not smiling.

Dagon Kaze​

 

[Dagon Kaze]

Neo Elpis District,
Denon Undercity @ Night

Once upon a time, Neo Elpis was to be the new hope for many impoverished residents of Denon. A massive plan to create an affordable, prosperous district that would feed its denizens by becoming this side of Denon's prime tourist spot. But good intentions are few and far between on Denon - they're either concealed as such, only to do the opposite, or they were deliberately defiled in the process.

Whatever it was, Neo Elpis remained unfinished and lawless. Gangs ran the levels and half-erected skyscrapers housed its residents. Two hours ago he'd lost contact with Ishani, one of his fellow Jedi vigilantes on Denon with which he shared a... well -- a call-in-the-night relationship. It's a one hour drive from Sakedo to Neo Elpsis - Dagon took it in thirty minutes. Maybe the calls were becoming more regular.

A faint shimmer through the Force halted his advance abruptly, right off the ledge of a skyscrapper.

He shut his eyes and his mind expanded through the ethereal looking for Ishani. Words rippled across the Force.

Ish... where are you?

Ishani Dinn ​

 

[Ishani Dinn]

"What do you want from me?" Ishani asked Arcturus.

"Answers,” he replied. His hands lowered to her neck, then settled on her shoulders. “I need to know the truth. I need to know… if there’s no hope.”

“Hope for what?”

“For you.”

She scowled. “What are you going to do, kill me?”

“Maybe.” He looked her in the eyes. “It depends.”

“Why do you care so much?” she demanded. “We met once, and then you deserted the Sith. So why should it matter that I left, too?”

“But I came back, and you didn’t!” he insisted. “Why can’t you understand that?”

It was right around that time that Ishani heard Dag’s call. Whatever was interfering with her Force connection made it seem muffled, but still detectable, if only barely. She managed to muster up a faint ping in response, just enough for him to get a vague read on her location—the thirty-ninth floor of a half-erected starscraper somewhere in Neo Elpis.

With Arcturus standing right in front of her, she couldn’t do much to free herself, but at least she knew help was on the way. “You don’t own me,” she snapped at her captor. “You can’t control me.”

“I never tried to. But this is different.” He glanced at the bindings around her wrists, and for a moment his expression was tight with grief, as though he couldn’t believe it had come to this. Him tying her up just to get some answers. “Tell me why you gave up on me.”

“I—I thought I was doing the right thing.” Her voice softened. “I didn’t mean to hurt you. It’s just, being a Sith—well, look at what it’s done to you. Look how much it’s cost you.”

Arcturus took a deep breath, exhaling in a sigh. “Was it the right thing?” he asked.

The alternate path of her life lay before her, the route ready to be traced. It wasn’t perfect, but whose life was? At least she was still alive. In fact, the only significant downgrade she could think of was the fact that her children had never been born. She had no family, and the whole thing with Dag was just—

“Was it the right thing, Ish?” Arc repeated his question, growing impatient. "No regrets?"

She swallowed. “I don’t know.”

“Why not?”

“Because I have questions of my own,” she muttered. Giving her bindings a sharp but useless tug, she glanced impatiently toward the nearest window. Come on, Dag. Don’t leave me hanging here...

Dagon Kaze​

 

[Dagon Kaze]

Whatever questions Ishani had remained unanswered; at least for now.

The glass shattered into a thousand pieces as a masked form lunged through the dusty window of the abandoned skyscraper. A blue lightsaber lighting up the dimly lit floor. It cut through the bindings in one masterful stroke and an arm wrapped around Ishani as she and Dagon landed hard a dozen feet away from where she had hung just moments ago.

His hand yanked the loose rope binding her hands, "Think you've caught the wrong person, pal." he cockily taunted the assailant, eyes narrowing into a frown at his sickly face half-concealed by the shadows of the room. He didn't look strong enough to overpower Ishani, to which he murmured to her in a whisper, "...got a lot to explain how you ended up like this."

Ishani Dinn ​

 

[Ishani Dinn]

There was a sound of shattering glass, shards and dust scattering like stars. A moment later Ishani was rolling away, her body clasped to Dag’s. Pain bloomed fresh along her arms as the strain of her weight suddenly released, allowing blood to rush to her muscles, and she grimaced.

After their little tumble, Dag’s hands worked to free her of the remaining restraints.

"...got a lot to explain how you ended up like this."

“He had help,” she hissed back irritably. Her arms were burning and her wrists were sore from the rope, but at least she wasn’t tied up and hanging anymore.

As if on cue, the lackeys she had mistaken for simple thugs earlier began to surround them. There were roughly a dozen of them, mainly armed with stun batons. This time, Ishani did not hold back—she kicked one in the face, then seized his weapon and commenced beating another one with it. She had to be fast to evade them, but it was at least manageable, so long as Dag kept the rest off of her back.

While all this was happening, Arcturus stood in the shadows beyond, the glow of his red lightsaber shining in the darkness. He seemed to be waiting to see what would happen, probably hoping Ishani and Dag would be worn down or knocked out by his men before they ever reached him. Dag wasn’t wrong about him being a lightweight, but that was the way Arcturus had always been: a scrawny kid who practiced blood magic to compensate.

Pray he didn’t feel a need to use that kind of Sith sorcery on them.

“Do you remember how—I came to Coruscant with you to find—a Sith who deserted during the invasion of Ossus?” Her speech was halting, seeing as she was in the process of defending herself. “That’s him.”

She probably didn’t need to explain why Arc had gone through the trouble of capturing her... or why he looked so pissed off now that Dag had quite literally crashed the party.

Dagon Kaze​

 

[Dagon Kaze]

"He had help,"

"Right." Dagon murmured. She was better than this. Stronger. Perhaps that was one part of the reason he'd felt attracted to her since that day on her ship. But whatever faint irritation lingered in his tone abated, replaced by the urgency of the situation.

The two clashed with a group of goons wielding all sorts of makeshift weaponry. Common, meaty thugs preying on the streets in Neo Elpis. He ducked beneath a punch and sprung with his legs at the assailant's face, then cartwheeled away from another's lunge. A third one charged straight at him and Dagon somersaulted over him then roundhouse kicked his face sending him staggering and crashing into the other.

"Do you remember how—I came to Coruscant with you to find—a Sith who deserted during the invasion of Ossus?" Her speech was halting, seeing as she was in the process of defending herself. "That's him."

"Your ex?!?" he blinked, stunned. This particular Sith's affiliation with Ishani was never truly fleshed out, both Dagon and her not really ones to dwell on the past but the raven-haired Knight maintained 'the Sith Ex' theory as a fact. A thug took the opportunity to smash a baton at his back and the Jedi groaned, tumbling away from the immediate danger zone.

"Hi." he gave the Sith a cocky grin, illuminated by the crimson saber in the slender man's hand. Dagon glanced at Ishani, "...just love when things come full circle -- let's just bag him together." he spread his arms releasing a torrent of the Force to blast the thugs away from the two Jedi before surging towards Arcturus, blue blade becoming an extension of his hand. Ishani could read his pattern, they've trained together on Denon enough -- he was going to go high and she would go low. Leave him no quarter.

Ishani Dinn ​

 

[Ishani Dinn]

A younger Ishani would’ve been distracted by all Dag’s crazy acrobatics, but by now she was used to it. She was a lot less graceful, using her smaller size to evade the thugs but otherwise fighting like a common brawler.

“Yes, my ex!” Side-stepping a punch, she grabbed her opponent’s arm and sent him sailing into a hollow metal pillar. Judging by the resounding dong that heralded the impact, she had certainly rung his bell. “He wanted to know why I deserted the Sith and never returned his calls!”

In her periphery, she saw Dag barreling toward Arc at full speed. “Don’t hurt him!” she exclaimed instinctively, not entirely sure which of them she was directing it towards. Of course, hurting Arc was probably inevitable if they were going to apprehend him; what she really meant was don’t kill and/or maim him. Not that Dag had a problem with using excessive force, but… well, Arc didn’t, and if his opponent was shooting to kill, Dag had been known to throw caution to the wind out of necessity.

“Damn it, you two!” Ishani muttered, hearing the clash of lightsabers long before she broke free of the last of the blasted henchmen and staggered toward the duel. She had picked up a couple of batons along the way, still with enough juice in them to produce a potent charge. Cracking one against Arc’s arm, she managed to stun the limb, only to be knocked backwards by a wave of invisible energy. Though she tried to resist it, the Force still felt distant and unresponsive.

“I don’t have the Force! He won’t let me get close to him!” In other words, for the time being, Dag was on his own.

A Sith dagger flew from its sheath at Arc’s belt. Guided by the Force, the point stabbed toward the soft flesh underneath Dag’s arm as he aimed high. At almost the same time, Arc brought his blade crashing down toward the Knight’s head.

Dagon Kaze​

 

[Dagon Kaze]

"He wanted to know why I deserted the Sith and never returned his calls!"

Talk about obsessions.

Such was the nature of Sith; to see everyone as nothing more than prized possessions for their corrupted, greedy hands. The reason may have sounded comical but there was nothing humorous in Sith capturing people and hanging them from the ceiling. They killed for much less.

Ishani's calls fell on deaf ears. Surely, the raven-haired Knight would attempt seizing the Arcturus alive but the means to accomplish it often devolved into a galaxy of pain. There was hardly another choice when facing off another powerful Force user, especially one strengthened by the dark side of the Force. Her faint hesitation cost them their two-pronged attack as the Sith brushed her off with a powerful blast of the Force. Meanwhile, Dagon's own inflated self-confidence fell prey to the fickle Sith's cunning. A dagger he should've noticed punched through his guard as he leaped over Arcturus, planting its edge inside his shoulder.

Feth!

The wound burned like no other as if acid had corroded his flesh. Its tip was coated in Sith alchemy and only Dagon's link with the light side kept his arm still viable, although hurt. Any non-Force User may have needed an amputation. He couldn't linger on the pain as Arcturus came for his head. His cerulean blade came in clutch at the last moment to parry the blow. The Sith's blade pummeled down, aiming to overpower the Jedi with a physical strength that no one really should've expected from the slender dark sider. Cold sweat stung his eyes as the wound scorched his other shoulder and Dagon struggled to keep the crimson saber from dissecting him.

His wounded arm shot forward in an attempt to repulse the Sith with a shove of the Force but Arcturus was quick to retaliate with a push of his own and both duelists were flung back in the opposite direction, tumbling away like ragged dolls. Dagon's fortunes, as per usual lately, sent him clawing to catch a steel beam protruding from the shattered walls of the abandoned floor. His feet hung a hundred meters from the ground as the dagger's wound drained the strength from his arm holding the beam.

"Get the hell outta there!!" the Knight barked at Ishani as his situation did not allow him to be of much aid for a bit.

Ishani Dinn ​

 

[Ishani Dinn]

With Dag hanging on to a beam and Arc dangling from a ledge, Ishani stood between them, still trying to find the Force.

"Get the hell outta there!!"

“Not without you!” she yelled back. Turning toward Arc, she demanded, “Why can’t I use the Force? Did you do something to me?”

“No!” came the furious response. “Do you seriously think I would take the Force away from you?”

“I didn’t think you would kidnap me and hang me from the ceiling, either!” she replied.

There was a pause. “I see your point.”

"Oh, do you?!"

Feth it, she thought. I don’t need the Force. I have a grappling hook.

She could feel both men weakening, their grips loosening. Without the Force, she’d probably only have enough time to save one. For this timeline’s Ishani, the answer was obvious.

There was a clang as her hook wrapped around the durasteel beam, and Ishani dropped down next to Dag. Clipping the other end of the wire to his belt, she informed him, “You can let go now.”

Dagon Kaze​

 

[Dagon Kaze]

The troubling news of Ishani's loss of the Force was swept away by the sweat of his palms threatening to release his grip on the beam. The wound festered further, veins turning black as the Sith poison clashed against his system and the pain grew unbearable. Eyes closed shut as he focused on holding to the beam until suddenly the weight pulling him down to oblivion disappeared.

Ishani had arrived.

"Took... you long enough." Dagon murmured through gritted teeth as he let go of the beam, "The arm... I need it looked at. Stat." he admitted, glancing at the gash.

Ishani Dinn ​

 

[Ishani Dinn]

“Damn. Would you like fries with that?” Ishani’s snide remark was a crack at his giving her orders. But she examined his arm anyway, growing more serious as she saw the darkening of his veins. “Looks like he got you with his dagger. Probably Sith poison…” And she still didn’t have the Force to draw it out with.

Sith poison wasn’t something you could solve by slapping a bacta patch on it. It was a weaponized form of corruption—potentially deadly, possibly a mutagen, and in some cases it made the victim more prone to the Dark Side. Either way, not good.

“Uh, Dag… would you be terribly upset with me if I amputated your arm?” she asked in the sweetest, gentlest tone of voice she could muster. “You know, to save your life… unless you tell me where you parked, and I somehow manage to get you back to the Temple healers in time, of course...”

Dagon Kaze​

 

[Dagon Kaze]

A pallid mask covered his face at the mention of arm amputation. In a galaxy full of cybernetics and scientific advancement, it probably shouldn't have. Yet, "...no speeder... Sakedo Hospital, ugh -- Dr. Nakada... she can, she can keep it at bay... for a bit." it still remained a gamble, and Ishani without the Force could do nothing to stem the poison long enough for them to get back to Coruscant. Doctor Nakada, on the other hand, had dealt with Sith alchemy a few times in her past; the conventional methods were far inferior to the Force but there was still a small chance.

Dagon's eyes wearily drifted to meet hers, "The Force?" he asked, a flame of hope flickering in his voice.

Ishani Dinn ​

 

[Ishani Dinn]

“You walked all the way here?” Ishani shook her head. He was probably delirious from the pain. Hesitating, her brow furrowed as he mumbled a question.

She called upon the Force then, frantic and desperate to save him. Through the deafening silence she thought she felt a ripple of sorts, the low hum of the corruption spreading through his veins. Though it wasn’t much, she clung to it and to Dag.

Please work. Please, please work. Even if it never works for me again, let it work this one time… I can't lose him, not now...

Black ichor leaked from the wound in his shoulder, trickling down into the pit below. Exhaling a breath she hadn’t known she’d been holding, Ishani cupped Dag's face between her hands and kissed him, then reached up to lengthen the cord, lowering them to another level of the building.

Dagon Kaze​

 

[Dagon Kaze]

Her question drowned under the tumult of delirium as the Sith poison coursed through his veins. The cold sweat gushing from the pores of his skin flowed down Dagon's face like rivers branching from their delta and his blue eyes blanched as the usual glint of life in their color faded as if a cobweb veiled his sight.

The entropy worked faster than the Jedi had expected. Whoever concocted the poison was no mere acolyte but truly a master of the art. A sudden touch on his lips, at first distant, gradually revitalized Dagon's senses as life funneled through the warmth of their kiss. The calenture withdrew to an extent allowing the Knight to grasp at coherence once more. Ishani had given him another chance to fight the affliction.

"It's... working." he stammered, eyes finding the strength to look around their immediate surroundings, "Get us... inside, Isha." with the state of the abandoned skyscraper, their trail of escape would go cold to any pursuers. At least, for a while.

"...always a pain... meeting an ex." somehow, in typical Dagon fashion, the Jedi found humor in it all.

Ishani Dinn ​

 

[Ishani Dinn]

It worked. In her joy and relief, Ishani kissed Dag again, longer this time—and had to be reminded that they were still technically in mortal peril.

"Get us... inside, Isha."

“Inside?... Oh. Right.”

She touched them down on solid flooring, a cautious arm automatically moving to support Dag. Her trick seemed to have helped, but he was likely still somewhat weakened.

“As you can see, I have improved by leaps and bounds in the area of my love life,” she replied as they made their way toward the nearest exit. “Speaking of which, I know this is kind of a bad time, but… Dagon Kaze, will you marry me?”

Chaldean girls didn’t screw around, literally or figuratively.

Dagon Kaze​

 

[Dagon Kaze]

Dagon staggered forward into the building, the second kiss, longer than the first, breathed life into the afflicted Jedi. He halted to inspect the wound that convulsed against the healing touch of the Force. Black fissures began drawing back towards the wound and the purple blemishes were slowly fading away.

"… Dagon Kaze, will you marry me?"

His head snapped up, eyes blinking as if trying to clear something in their sight, "I-I-I-- uhhh..." his mind had gone blank, completely, as he slowly turned to meet the blonde's eyes, "Is-isn't, uhhhh, shouldn't I be-- feth--"

The knots of complications suddenly unraveled, the binds holding them back burned away under the flames of passion, "I-- Yes, Ishani Sibwarra, I will marry you, you crazy Chalde--" his words trailed off as lips locked in a loving vow. He squeezed her closer, body against body, without any thought of ever relenting. The pain of the wound withered away and all he could feel was the blazing love between the two.

Ishani Dinn ​

 

[Ishani Dinn]

He said yes?

He said yes.

The building and the world and the galaxy beyond it all seemed to melt away in the all-consuming heat of his kiss. Even their escape was put on hold. It could wait for a few moments, or a few minutes, or an eternity, couldn’t it?

Please. I don’t want this to ever end.

The part of Ishani for whom this was but a dream was hit by overwhelming grief. Was this it? Would the pieces all have fallen into place this easily, if she had only decided to stay with Dag instead of returning to Korriban?

Her love poured out, burning away what remained of the poison and strengthening Dag, yet she felt no weaker for having given of herself. She was fulfilled; she wanted for nothing.

Breaking away for air, she laughed. “Are you sure we still need to go see Dr. Nakada? Can’t we just go home?” If they kept going at this rate, they wouldn’t make it past this room. Their pursuers would find them in a conveniently vulnerable position, and then they'd be screwed in more ways than one.

Dagon Kaze​