Private No More Nightmares

[Raphael Gallustrade]

Raphael's time at the Temple had been interesting, in all reality he wasn't quite certain how many people knew about what had happened to him. Night time was always hardest. When he tried to sleep he was plagued by horrible nightmares. He already knew that, realistically, he should've been asleep by now but he didn't want to have another nightmare and wake up a bit later in the morning, which concerned Raphael. He'd nearly been late for history lessons on the Force Wars this morning because of it.

Still, he'd been staring at the same chapter of the archive cd for the last three hours, just blanking out. He didn't want to sleep, though. Too many things were bothering him to just shut off his brain. Still he was beginning to feel the clawing nature of sleep oozing into his brain and his body, exhausting him. He needed to make sure to take good care of himself. With that in mind, Raphael shut off the cd, and laid down in bed, pulling the covers up and over himself. The beds were harder than he was used to, but his, this time, felt much better than normal and he drifted off almost immediately.

As always, he began dreaming immediately. It started off normally, heading home to his adopted sister Baarla'vay on the lower levels of Coruscant. But as the door opened, things changed. He watched as he set upon her, tackling her to the ground. Then sharp canines punctured her neck and he began to drain her of blood. His arms grew wings beneath them, his ears elonged... and he felt more like he was looking at her instead of himself.

Yet, he couldn't awaken and things kept getting worse and worse. He breathed harder...he could feel his heart beating faster in fear. He couldn't pull himself out of it. He was stuck deep in the bowels of a terrible nightmare and even waking up seemed to do anything for him. So Raphael tdid the only logical thing he could think to do, tried forcing his mind self to run and flee. Yet he saw it now, more clearly his face... He both wanted and hated this. He didn't stop, draining her until he sister was drained completely.

"Make it stop...make it stooooooop.... please... I need...want to sleep."
Adeline Noctua

 

[Adeline Noctua]

Equipment | N/A
Location | Within Raphael's mind
Tag | Raphael Gallustrade

His nightmare would soon take a drastic turn, everything turning into a blur as the very room shifted and warped into something new entirely. He would find himself no longer eating his own kin, as she too vanished.

His eyes would see nothing but a floor, carpet brushing up against his hands.

The ticking of a clock would break the silence, and as he would look around he would see a simple library. A pale woman sat on a couch, licking her finger before flipping a page in the old book she was reading.

Deep down he knew this was the very woman who had giving him just a fraction of her power, the same strength that allowed him to outperform other humans, and the same reflexes that meshed perfectly with the force to give senses as sharp as a hawk's.

"My dear, what troubles you so? You need not to consume the living, merely small droplets of my own blood. The same blood that flows through you within this moment, fear not the dark my friend."

Even though Raphael knew in his gut that this was indeed the same woman, she seemed so different now.. Far more elegant and regal. Her voice would sound like a fine silk to the ears as she spoke, giving him an odd sense of warmth.

With the snap of a finger he finds himself also on that couch, Adeline softly smiles to him as she continues her book.

"How have they treated you at the temple? I would assume you fit in decently enough?"

With another page being audibly turned, she puts a bookmark into it before closing the book.

"It is almost time for you to see me again is it not?"

Unlike how the man might remember, she seemed so calm.. Almost coldly so in a way, yet the room felt... Warm, like she was throwing a soft blanket over him that kept his mind and body at ease. While one may figure this to just be part of a simple dream, it was so much more, so vivid you would swear that you were actually there.

This would be the first time this woman who he did not even know the name of would appear here in his mind, no doubt about it.. This was real in a way, she really was here.

 

[Raphael Gallustrade]

Raphael blinked as the world of his nightmare changed and shifted, as though he was falling into a second dream. He looked around blinking, hands grasping at the carpet before him in not only disbelief, but also relief. Then a ticking clock snapped him from his reverie. He looked up and around. He was in a library, with a woman, skin pale as snow and he watched as she turned a page on an old book. One glance and he knew, immediately, who it was. This the woman that he had been both looking forward to hearing from while also concerned about hearing from: she'd given him power through blood. This was the person that he was as afraid of, as he admired.

The division of his feelings and emotions frustrated him.

"Right, just..." Raphael shakes his head as he slowly turned and sat on the same carpet in front of her, legs crossed. "The imagination is, perhaps, one of the greatest tools as well as tormenters of the human mind." His breathing slowed as did his heart rate. "Don't fear the dark you say? Not so much afraid, as I said, but I get ill with the dark..." Something had changed about her, though. Where at first there had been a kind of...manic feeling from her there was now a calm. There was an elegance and silky sound to her voice. It was something that he greatly enjoyed listening to.

There was a snap and Raphael was once more sitting on the couch beside her, and as he glanced around a bit confused, he saw a smile grace her lips as she continued reading. "Oh! Uh, yeah. They've been treating me quite well and I fit in. They like to help me. They talk with me and have been helping me to better myself, little by little." The page turned again and then the book closed.

"Oh!" He looked up towards her. "Yeah, I suppose that it is," he replied, nodding. "It hasn't been that long since what happened in the ruins. I was simply working here and all that. I was also... uh, several things really. I'm building a new ship... The, I don't know what you call it, that you left that did this last time, I think that my body finally adapted to it. My body moves even more freely since those few days when that happened..." He turned to her. "How have you been, in the time since? You seem...calmer."
Adeline Noctua

 

[Adeline Noctua]

Equipment | N/A
Location | Raphael's dream
Tag | Raphael Gallustrade

She giggles a bit, shaking her head a bit at him.

"You've lost track of time, haven't you? It has been a year since I last saw you, I was... Changing to put it simply. But now I am stronger, better even. Now I am here though, and now I can make these nightmares vanish... You need only return to me and take my gift once again."

Adeline stands, going over to place the book back on its shelf.

"It is good to hear that they treat you well... Perhaps too well."

The strange woman vanishes into a cloud of dark smog, he can see as it coils its way back to him like a serpent, Adeline forming back into a physical form next to him again.

"Tell me, do you think you can do me just a little favor? Before you leave.. I want you to borrow either a Jedi holocron or find me the plans for the temple, that's not so bad.. Right?"

A pale hand pets his head, and the petite looking woman smiles a bit.

"I figure you can bring at least one of these things to me before you leave to find me, or better yet... Do you have anyone that could travel with you? Traveling alone can be dangerous, best you have an extra hand. no?"

In reality, Adeline wanted to see if she could commit a powerful and dark act known as force vampirism. A promising little subject brought by her thrall would do nicely, she would eat their very connection to the force in order to strengthen herself.

Her hand moves away from him, chances are he would of course know that something was up... Yet at the same time, the very blood that was now adapted within his veins told him to obey, that it was perfectly fine.

"I am unsure I have even told you my name, how rude of me my dear. My name is Adeline, but you can call me master Noctua."

She knew it, and could feel it even before he said anything about it. His will was now much easier to break and control, all she needed to do was command and her little pet would obey. Such was the bond formed by cursed blood, her darkness had made itself home within the confines of his vessel rather nicely...

 

[Raphael Gallustrade]

It had been an entire year, hadn't it? He hadn't realized it, nor could he have even thought about it. Changing... His body shivered. He didn't like the way that she'd said that, didn't like the way that her voice had mentioned that. There was so much wrong, even with her just being in his dreaams, there was a lot wrong with it. She could make the dreams disappear. But... How...would he...?

"They treat me... too well?" A frown slowly creased on his lips. "H-How would they be treating me too well? The point...of sentient life would be to treat someone as well...as you can..."

From where she'd been returning a book to a shelf she suddenly snaked back in smoke. She wanted... what?!

He listened slowly, drinking in each sentence, eyes never leaving her. She would notice a fierce spark in his eyes, an oddity that he rarely carried, whether dreams or not. There was a different kind of strength. Not one of training, not even one of emotion, but one of the Force itself.

"Master Noctua..." he almost immediately began, as his mind suddenly erupted. "At best I could borrow a holocron for a day, I wouldn't be able to smuggle it off world. Nor are there plans for the full Temple within the archives. I looked once already, in an attempt to study architecture of the early Republic days." He took a deep breath, his mind seemed partially fighting, a power that seemed to be afforded more by the Force than his own body. "...I... I can get someone to come with me. A...friend from the lower sector. He is Force Sensitive...much like myself... I..." He took a breath as her hand left his head. "...I have drawn...several schematics of the Temple proper. I can bring in those drawings... And my friend... He's...broken and...down on his luck. I'm sure..." He paused a moment. "I'm certain that he would love to be of help."

Rising, Raphael tried to stop himself, but then he turned and got down to one knee. "I offer these things al--along with myself, as always, to you Master."
Adeline Noctua

 

[Adeline Noctua]

Equipment | In Bio
Location | Raphael's dream
Tag | Raphael Gallustrade

A sickening, soft grin formed on her face. Her influence on the man had gone deep, his mind drilled by her dark tendrils of influence. It was only a matter of time before she could poison it further and perhaps even turn him fully onto her side.

"They are determined to have you, this works to my advantage of course. That is what I meant by treated too well, it is thanks to this you are my eyes and ears there... Perhaps you could even be given more power, eternal life such as I. You need only to accept the dark, the unknown isn't as horrid as the Jedi make it out to be. You can do a great many things with such power.. Unlike those fools we killed. They thought they knew the dark, yet they merely flung sparks around."

She poofs into nothing but dark smog once again, soon reforming behind the couch with her hands on his shoulders.

"You can be so much more, but that will need to wait... For now I need to see your devotion and loyalty to me and only me, only then will I give you a true reward."

Her hands tighten a little bit.

"Fail me though and I shall remember it..."

It was more than just a threat, it was a promise.

 

[Raphael Gallustrade]

Her eyes and ears? Yes, that was true, to an extent; he did have a habit of giving her the information that she sought. More power? Eternal life? More confliction, more splintering, more division. He did and didn't want such things, he didn't need power, never had, even when poor. He didn't need to live forever. And yet a part of him, small yet growing, was beginning to think that such a thing might not be too bad. He already knew that the unknown wasn't that bad. He often had gone hunting it, had gone seeking after it. He'd even been shown things by Onrai from the Maw. Yet accepting the dark was tantamount to suicide. He might as well just ingest arsenic, at that point. Then again… Through her influence he could feel the darkness now, without it making him…completely ill. Still…

He couldn't deny, though. Those idiots at the Temple had just thrown around lightning; he'd seen true power already, through his mast—N… Stop. For just a moment and think. He shook his head, and smiled to her.


He needed to see her devotion and loyalty to her and her alone. One part of his mind had surrendered entirely, had bent the knee and was ready to find her, ready to serve her and learn from her, if needed. Yet there was another part and it was as strong, if not stronger. That was the part that she was trying to break, to corrupt. There were far too many things at stake… The war wouldn't be over anytime soon and the time was coming where Raphael would have to choose a side. He had begun to understand a growing connection to the Force, thanks to the Jedi. And yet, his master… N—Stop. Adeline… She could…

Her hands tightened a bit on his shoulders and he felt that ever present dread. Yet, with the same level of dread, he also felt a depth of calm. He turned to look at her with trusting eyes.

"I certainly understand, master Noctua. And if I should fail you, then I would expect and hope, that you would remember it. I only find myself with one conundrum: I…am effectively on lockdown. Due to what happened at the ruins, Jedi Master Valery Noble has forbidden me leave the Temple, save for missions and even then, only when supervised… I am going to try and find my way to you, with what I promised. It might take me a bit and, if I am blinking and in pain when I arrive, then I'll simply know what it's like to be without the totality of your presence."

Yet the flame of his resistance was nowhere near extinguished and from within him Adeline would be able to sense something, a presence from somewhere close and a strong at that. In a way, she would realize that they weren't alone entirely.
Adeline Noctua

 

[Adeline Noctua]

Equipment | In Bio
Location | Raphael's dream
Tag | Raphael Gallustrade

It was what she expected, Adeline wanted them to hold him there. Feel the pain of not being with his rightful master till it shaped or broke him, she cared not... Adeline wanted to see his bloody devotion or else she didn't consider it worth her time.

"My dear, I could care less if they have you on lockdown. You will feel the pain, let it shape you... Or break you. I will not be there to stop it, nor will I go out of my way to seek you out. What I crave and expect is your bloody devotion, more than a simple slave. You will either remain as prey or you will seek me out of your own accord, I do not seek a slave out of you, I seek a warrior. For what I give you, the training you can get... You will never know a nightmare again, instead you will drink the fear, indulge in the rage..."

The Sangnir cared not for whatever or whoever she was feeling the presence of, it only made her continue.

"You can feel the emotions deep in your heart, do not be afraid of them! Let them guide your heart and mind, flow through you as you bring down your blade on whoever stands in your way!"

She sighs, vanishing once more before appearing back on the couch again.

"Even if you care not to rule, or to hunt as I. At the end of the day we do the things we do in order to protect what all we love, right? What harm is there in controlled power? The ability to stand firm... The light cannot give you this. We all have our stories, let the darkness be the ink that continues your own."