The Ember of the Soul

[Darth Seraphic]

Night had came upon them as shadows danced on the walls of the slaver's small base as fire licked the air around it. The smell of blood, and burnt flesh filled the man's nostrils as he sat there in chains, shirtless, and beaten. Blood tripped from his face, and various other wounds all around his body while a branding mark was placed on his chest with a rod that had been heated with a symbol on the end of it. His multicolored haired was trenched in sweat with a mixture of his own blood, matting it to one side of his face, head. The chains were locked to his wrists and pulled back to the wall, keeping his hands away from his body so they could be clearly seen. His knees had been scuffed up from the ground he was on, concrete was not friendly to one's skin.

Two bodyguards stood with their weapons pointed to him, but his face remained pointed towards the ground as if in shame this had come to be his fate. Earlier that day, they had beaten him with thick, but flexible sticks as he resisted their commands to comply. The binding of Romeo Sin had not been an easy one. Out of the twenty men that had come for him, only five survived. Two were now being treated for broken bones, another was being given a new arm, and the other two now watched over the Vahla Sith Lord. Their master was coming, coming to reward them for such a grand capture, a Sith Lord hiding his face from the galaxy, for the most part. Romeo's muscles flexed as he gently pulled against the chains just once, testing their strength. A blunt strike to his cheek stopped him with blood spilling on the ground from his cheek being cut open from the inside.

Metallic tastes filled his mouth along with warm, red liquid. For some reason, he stayed quiet, usually the Vahla was talkative, mocking the torturers for their attempts of causing him pain. Instead, he was preparing himself, she who was master of these men would soon be here, and she who would love the fact that the heretic of Vahl was now in chains was not prepared for what Romeo Sin was about to say to her.

@Lassiter

 

[Lassiter]

[member="Darth Seraphic"]

Fingers drummed against the desk in a quick yet impatient rhythm. Sena had waited for this day for a long time, she was so close she could almost taste it, but this particular capture went just above her own head. Ever since mention of a place named Vahlra had surfaced, and ever since more and more of her quarries began to escape her clutches and onto that particular planet she had been anxious to get there. However, she knew the danger of it. She knew that if she was to get a single parsec within range of their sensors they would have her flagged down for who she truly was. The woman was good with her illusions, but she wasn’t that good. A small group of people was a longshot from fooling a whole planet into believing she was something she’d never be again.

It was fair to assume that when word of the Heretic king’s movements started to reach her she got straight to work, ever so anxious to watch the life drain out of the eyes of he who dared defile the name of the goddess, he who had so boldly called himself the blood of Vahl. It wouldn’t do. Sena had gathered her team of hunters and sprung a trap while she herself chose to stay back and observe in case something went wrong. They were expendable, the Sword of Vahl was not.

And so the fingers continued to drum until another pair of boots clacked into their impromptu command center. The woman turned around with her expectations running high. The man gave her a nod of affirmation. The target was acquired. Devilish glee, an equally harrowing smirk spread on Sena’s lips. Her heart beat faster in excitement.

Stepping out into the open, there he was. On his knees and branded for the world to know exactly who he was. The men stepped aside to make way for her approach. She offered them no response, no signs of her appreciating the work they put in or not. The job wasn’t done yet. Celebrating a victory before it had been had was not how she operated. Unlike what the emotions within the guards seemed to insinuate, it was only over once the person was within the clutches of the high priestesses again.

Nonetheless, Sena knelt down in front of the man to get a better look. Her hand grabbed a firm hold of his chin before she started to turn his face side to side in order to truly inspect the damages. She saw the gash in his cheek and glared at her men.

“This happened after he had been caught.” Was all she said.

“He tried to resist, we needed to show him his place.” The guard who had done it defended himself.

Sena sighed and dragged a hand through her hair.

“Up.” She ordered the captive.

 

[Darth Seraphic]

[member="Lassiter"]

Something twisted, and evil moved in his direction, the person was filled with both excitement, and pleasure in the sight of his chained body. He never looked up, never moved a muscle save his breathing. His hair had finally drooped to his face, hiding most of the beaten face save some parts of his cheek. This was clear to him as it was pointed out by the woman who mastered these men as she touched his face.. At any moment, Romeo could have removed himself from his chains, he could have attacked, he still had the energy for it, but he was silent, and motionless.

His skin rose from her voice and touch, it was soft, and pleasant to his ears, something he didn't expect to happen, but was not entirely surprise. In his eyes, she was indeed beautiful, a mask hiding the darkness underneath. Her sigh made was noticed by him, regret, or maybe displeasure in his wounds? It probably didn't matter, it was gone as fast it came as she ordered him.

Slowly, Romeo's right leg lifted up, and planted his foot on the ground. Even slower, he pushed himself up to stand, the chains pulled harder from this action, cutting some of the circulation from his hands. Still, though, his face remained towards the ground as his red eyes stared at the ground before him. Fear did not fill him, nor did anger, amusement, and even the concept of pleasure behind his battered body expelled from him.

Finally, the man lifted his head to look up as the woman, his eyes meeting hers as a smirk slashed across his face.

"Hello."

 

[Lassiter]

[member="Darth Seraphic"]

In reality it was the idea that more blood had been expended than was necessary. No doubt it would have been fixed by the time they arrived with the high priestesses, but any unwarranted damage was still frowned upon. The duty to harm him wasn’t theirs and if anything they were lucky that the man had been bruised as little as he had been. No, it was the others, the higher ups who would be in charge of this man’s fate. The frown on Sena’s lips was merely an indicator that unlike her minions she knew what was within her rights and what wasn’t. The man who had held the baton to Romeo’s face and whacked him with it was as likely to be reprimanded for this as anyone else was.

After all, the Ember wasn’t as big on failures or disappointments as others might have been and he knew that. She could feel his mind shift to cope with what he knew was waiting for him in the not so distant future. Fire had a way of reminding people of their failures and how not to repeat them. It was brutal, but it was efficient. Those who didn’t live up to the expectations of the many, died like few others did.

This was something that Romeo would come to know within time as he rejoined his brothers in the fires again.

“Hello.” She offered him back with a glare. She could have said more, but nothing important came to mind. Circling around his back she grabbed onto his cuffs and pushed her other free hand against the back of his shoulder to force him into moving.

“Call the shuttle, tell them to prepare for take off.” The woman said as she turned to one of the other soldiers by her side. “Tell them that the package has been retrieved.”

 

[Darth Seraphic]

[member="Lassiter"]

Romeo took in a deep breath as she spoke directly to him, offering a hello back. At least she was not rude, Romeo hated rudeness. As she grabbed his cuffs, a even tighter grip wrapped around his wrists this time, and now he was really feeling it, but this only made the smirk crack open into a smile. The woman's hand pressed into his back to which he moved as he was directed, though the concept of flying was not an idea he was too fond of. Ever.

Still, as they moved, Romeo's head drooped back down to look at his feet, that quiet composure rising back up. Each step gave to a deep breath while he concentrated on the things around him. Some people never learned, fighting fire with fire was Romeo's particular profession, and he was highly infamous for his fire works. Manaan had been a testament to his abilities, Solan Charr couldn't hold his own against Romeo without that stupid scythe, and now, he was probably the last of the great fireworkers. He had not heard from the others in a long time.

In the end, though, none of these thoughts mattered, the real thought to be questioned here was, why was Romeo in cuffs. Why had he allowed the men to take him? His head lifted up, and leaned back in this thought: he wasn't sure himself. That voice was gone, Vahl had left him alone, to waste away by himself. What had he done to deserve such a thing? Such bliss?

In the Vahla native tongue, his words came:

"Do you fear the priestess? Do you fear failing her, or Vahl? Which, would you say holds your fate more? The saint, or the sinner?"

To which was the saint, and the other, the sinner was a cryptic way to put it, but then again, Romeo knew what he meant.

 

[Lassiter]

[member="Darth Seraphic"]

“Everyone in their right minds should fear the High Priestess.” Sena responded in the ancient tongue. “As should you, heretic.”

The woman yanked the chains a bit to make a point. In the end she pushed him forward to cause him to stumble. She wouldn’t play with the man’s games and he was to be made aware of that. The man who had hit the Heretic King across the cheek let his shoulder slump for a moment as his head bowed with a sigh. Lassiter caught it, but she didn’t do anything about it. He was afraid of what was going to happen to him when he returned home, or at least so she assumed. For a moment he looked like he wanted to say something but he stopped himself and looked at the others instead and then at Sena.

“The sinner.” He finally blurted out. “Most of us would identify as-”

The man burst into a shriek of agony. Sena stared him down as he fell to his knee and grasped at the top of his head. Her hand rose in the shape of a claw that only seemed to dig further and further into the palm of Lassiter’s hand. She didn’t accept failure, hated disappointment. The crew that had come with her knew of this and they knew the price, yet this man dared the both of them. Her hand eventually eased up, the man stopped screaming yet remained on the ground heaving.

“Your mouth stays shut unless it is I who talk to you.” Sena gave them all a firm stare down. They all remained quiet. “Good.”

She had never been a team player.

“Our only priority is locking this man up. For good if we have to. Nothing else. Do not humor him.”

The man who had been on the ground gnashed his teeth in frustration. His eyes set on the woman who had tortured him like a laser pointer on a wall. He was not happy. Not at all.

 

[Darth Seraphic]

[member="Lassiter"]

Romeo fell to the ground as she answered his questions, and caused him to stumble. There he remained on his knees as one of the captors blurted out what Romeo felt was the right answer the whole time, and at this, the Vahla smiled but only to let it go away as he realized most probably didn't know who the sinner was that Seraphic was referring to. With his hands behind his back, and his face towards the ground he listened to the man that was no being tortured for his spontaneous blurts. Romeo fed on that pain, letting it fuel his own powers as he raised his head up to look at the man.

With thin lips parting, he spoke:

"The sinner is the High Priestess who has failed our people, and presented up a false prophet as the One Sith emperor who is now dead. We are even farther from our home, and even further from Vahl than we ever were. The saint, would be Vahl herself, the one who gave us a home, and gave us hope. As you can see, my captor, this is the fear you speak of from the sinner. Vahl shows mercy to those who are faithful, and honor her...the High Priestess acts as if she is Vahl herself the way she prances around...but hey....no one can point fingers since she has not been seen or heard ever since her false prophet was dealt with...if only I could shake that man's hand who did it."

It seemed as if Romeo was now looking past them all, not even seeing them. Something twitched in the back of his head, a familiar presence that both annoyed him, and made the smile of a rogue reappear.

"Your goal is to lock me up, mine is to bring us back home...the High Priestess' goal has been killed, and we are without leadership...do you really think you have your priorities straight miss....what is your name miss?"

 

[Lassiter]

[member="Darth Seraphic"]

The man had fallen to his knees and yet he continued preaching to her men. The idea of knocking him to the ground came to mind but she knew better than to repeat the same mistake as the man she had tortured had been forced to live with. Being the Sword put more scrutiny on you, made life a bit more painful in the wrong circles. This was one of those circles in which hypocrisy was a danger to the cause and the way that their members operated. One might even have argued that Sena torturing the man, in itself, was one such danger, but in that moment she had not cared. It was a mistake she had to live with and a mistake she would have to repeat should a situation like it happen again, even if it was just to save her own face.

“You don’t get to know m-” The force cried out in warning. Sena instinctively raised her hand to catch whatever it was only to find it grasping at the arm of the man that had hit the captive across the cheek. His other hand raised, she tried to catch it but it was too late. Blunt pain spread across the surface of her cheek and she was forced to the ground. She caught the fall with her elbows, turned around to try and grasp at his throat but found herself struck once more across the cheek.

The world darkened. Voices faded…

… The man towered above the unconscious redhead. The remaining three soldiers had raised their batons in response to his act, and he had raised his towards them in turn before he cast a careful glance at Romeo.

“Her name is Lassiter.” He said in panic. “Darth Drethi to some and-”

“Carth, what the hell?!” Another soldier exclaimed.

“Don’t you get it guys, this is our chance!” Carth, the soldier who had struck Sena down, hissed.

“A chance for what?! Dying in a fething bonfire?!” A third soldier chimed in.

“We’re here with the King of a planet filled with our people, Bertram.” Carth looked at the ‘third soldier’ and pointed his stick at Romeo. “He can offer us safety, whereas this schutta,” He then poked it at the unconscious Sena before him. “Has killed more than she has ever saved.”

“He’s right. It’s already too late, we’re all in it now.” Bertram said with wide open eyes as he looked at the other two soldiers who were still hesitating. “Nomi, Draelen, he’s downed the Sword of Vahl.”

The other two merely continued staring at her body.

“There is no going back after that. We failed to protect her, you know what that means.” Bertram swallowed air and looked at Carth.

“What do we do?!” Nomi finally cracked before she turned to look at Romeo. “What do we do?!”

 

[Darth Seraphic]

[member="Lassiter"]

That was an unexpected turn of events, the men that had beat him, his captors, were now saving him. Romeo's eyes turned to each man as they spoke, finally his eyes resting on the unconscious Lassiter, otherwise known as Darth Drethi according to the one known as Carth while the other's Betram, Nomi and Draelen now looked to Romeo for answers to their next move. Slowly, the Shadow King raised his hands to either side of his body as the force swelled inside him from feeding on all the pain, hate, and fear all around him. The chains to his wrists turned a bright red, then melted off his body as he converted the heat away from his body, and skin.

Clinking sounds were made as the chains dropped to the ground, proof that at any moment, Romeo could have gotten away. Walking over to the redhead woman, Romeo knelt before her, and placed his hand on her throat, the pulse was fine, but she could have a concussion from a blow like that, his attention returning back to the men now scrambling for directions.

"Tell the shuttle it is no longer needed, plans have changed. Lassiter as decided to make sure Romeo Sin can cause no further harm than he already has before taking him to the High Priestess. This is what you will tell them, when this is done, contact my ship, the Resurrection, it's ready to jump here at any given time should I have failed in what I wanted to accomplish, from there, we will make our way to Eclipstica where you may find refuge."

Taking a collar that could have been placed on Romeo, he slipped it on the woman instead, and lifted her over his shoulder. Mercy, that was what he had to show these people, all of them.

"Would any of your other soldiers wish to come? This will be their only chance. Vahl only shows mercy once, and so shall I only show it once before we leave. I will...show this woman why her way is the not the right path. The anger, and the hate that runs through her...it is cause she is half breed no doubt...but even Vahl has great places for those who are not of her people, the saint Vahl is amazing that way."

Romeo hoped they all noticed how he never called Vahl a goddess, or almighty, but simply a saint. He always referred to her as something flesh, and bone, mortal.

 

[Lassiter]

[member="Darth Seraphic"]

There was a moment of hesitation between the soldiers before Nomi grabbed the commlink by her waist and radioed their shuttle. She told them about how the prisoner had escaped and that Lassiter had to make sure he didn’t have the opportunity to run away. That they could take off for now and they would radio the shuttle back once the man was captured again. ‘Protocol Veer.’ and the prompt ‘Goddess be with you.’ signal that returned. The pilots knew what had really happened, the preparation that went into this was originally drafted as a ‘just in case’ scenario but it had quickly turned into a ‘most certainly’ scenario, and fast. The woman then proceeded to hail the Heretic King’s ship.

No other soldiers were planning on leaving. While she knew that many of them wanted to, there were still those who had to stay behind to help others escape. She shook her head and looked at the collared monster that laid unconscious over the man’s shoulder. Carth looked as well, but the look of fear that lingered on Nomi’s face had long since turned to disgust for him.

“Don’t see why you’d want to keep her alive.” He muttered. “She’s not worth the trouble.”

“She’s killed more of us than she’s saved.” Draelen repeated. “I once saw her outside of the temple. The girl ain’t right.”

“Rumor is she a total psycho.” Carth grunted. “Someone we ought to put down for the sake of everyone else.”

“The goddess-” Nomi began.

“The saint.” Carth interrupted her.

“Uh, right.” She cleared her throat. Her mouth opened as if to say something but shut as if she forgot. A moment of silence lingered before she finally spoke up again. “You have to wonder what makes someone perform the jobs she do. Glory? Money?”

“Or maybe she’s just a freak-”

“We get it, Carth.” Bertram cut his friend off. “We get it, you hate her. Good riddance, and thanks for putting us all at risk. Really.”

 

[Darth Seraphic]

[member="Lassiter"]

Never did the man think he would do what the voice that proclaimed herself as Vahl had told him to do, becoming a beacon of hope for the people he was looking at now, his people. Hardly had Romeo ever thought about what home was like, the need to feel it's ground under his bare feet never came to his mind, not until he had died, and came back from Chaos. The Netherworld had a funny way of changing people, that, and his father, Crucix, had told him a lot that he never thought he would ever hear from that man.

Whatever Lassiter had done, Romeo was no better. His very first time dealing with a Sith was with Patricia, and he had chopped off his arms to make sure he could do no more hurt. That Jedi, where ever he may be now, was very upset. Still to this day, Romeo had thought it was the right thing to do, but, it was beginning to change. Realizing this was probably not a good way to carry this woman they had feared, now he changed her to be in his arms, and support her head. The soldiers were now discussing things about the woman, already having called in his ship, a large star destroyer with a droid army, and his Blood Knights on it, waiting to put anyone who resisted in their place.

"She did those things because fear drove her, fear of the High Priestess and what she might do if she had failed. She did those things, because the One Sith had told her it was the thing to do to see our homeplanet again. That is the way of the false priestess...failure should be punished, but not with death, not with torture. Lassiter is not a bad person, she's not a good person, but she is not bad. Speaking of which...."

His face fell down to look at the redhead, she was young, so beautiful, it was hard to believe that this face was the face of a murderer, but that was how the galaxy worked.

"I ask forgiveness for the death of your comrades....if I did not make it look authentic, I fear what may have happened. I will have my knights recover their bodies, and have them buried properly. Now...."

With that said, and it was indeed a sincere apology, the Resurrection came into orbit from it's jump, sending down shuttles of droids and his Knights. The anger that came from the three with him already continued to fuel his powers as he fed on them, he wondered, though, did they understand how to use the force? He would make them Blood Knights if they so wished. His shuttle came down, five Blood Knights coming out of it, Frecker, Jager, Venon, and the other two he had not entirely met yet.

They came up with their weapons in hand, nodding to the soldiers and bowing to Romeo. Their armor was all the same, their helmets all on. Never did they remove them when in hostile territory. Never did they speak without being spoken to outside of privacy. That was the code of the Blood Knights: Serve and Protect, Honor and Valor. Another shuttle came down, empty except the droid pilot.

"Protect these three soldiers, they are to be guarded with your lives. I will take care of Lassiter myself. I bid you farewell to we meet back on Eclipstica. From there I will have an offer for the three of you, and the decision is yours to make, you are now free people."

Romeo bowed before the Vahla people, even to his knights, and turned to his shuttle. Inside the shuttle was a small med center set up. When finally inside, he sat the sleeping body of Lassiter onto the bed, hooking her up to the machines to make sure she was alive, and well. Her pulse was still good, her blood pressure seemed okay, and no real injuries were physically seen. The concussion was light, and she would recover from it, hopefully.

The shuttle lifted up as the latch closed as and the three were escorted to the first shuttle.

"I am Knight Commander Frecker, this is Jager, Venon, Gir, and Ishmar. We will make sure you arrive safely. Our king's commands are our will."

Back on Romeo's shuttle, he sat down, and looked at the woman, his eyes devouring her image, imprinting it to his memory. She sure was a deep sleeper.

 

[Lassiter]

[member="Darth Seraphic"]

Deep sleeper. Darkly dreaming Lassiter some could say. Beneath the conscious veil lie four voices that all vied for control. Reason, which drove the girl for most of the time. Anger, the voice that was always the loudest and the one that was the hardest to appease. Sadness, which had become more of a quiet background noise the longer she went on. Then finally there was her fears that drove her from place to place and made her seek out more and more ways to escape from who and what she had become. Or rather, that was what it had started out as. Once anger had gotten the best of her during her escape from the slave pits she had found that fear had grown more and more accepting of what they had to do to survive.

These voices were never quiet. They all whispered at the same time, they all had their ideas on how Sena was to act and look, but they were all quiet when she was on the hunt. Always quiet on the hunt, as if that was the only time they knew how to be quiet. Each act of murder was a brief amount of time during which the girl would know peace. In the end that was what really drove her. The peace. Not the fear for the High Priestess, not the hate and anger at her lot in life. While they certainly went into the equation, it wasn’t what drove her to act. At least not most of the time.

A deep breath filled her lungs with air before her eyes began to flicker. She tried to remember where she was and what had happened. She was in the forests, she had been arresting Romeo Sin before…

The woman twitched, ripped at the equipment that had been hooked to her and tossed it aside as she rose from the bed in a hurry. Eyes set on the man in the chair only to find that it was Romeo. The woods was a shuttle and the people that had surrounded her were all gone. She looked for anything to arm herself with but couldn’t find it.

Her chest rose and sunk as she tried to take deeper and deeper breaths.

“You.” She growled. “I knew I should have ended you.”

 

[Darth Seraphic]

[member="Lassiter"]

Without moving an inch, Romeo sat there, bloody, and shirtless as he watched the woman arise from her slumber, and stare him down. Scary was hardly the word he would use to describe her actions and tone. Here, they were now equals. Slowly, he sighed as his eyes continued to hold the stare down the two were now having. Again, the presence prickled in the back of his skull, so familiar, and yet annoying. His mind chewed on each decision he could make at this moment, and with a gently movement of his hand, the collar on her neck fell off.

He regret that thing, it was ugly, and a chain. Romeo removed chains, and gave freedom. Standing up, he moved over to the sink, and began to wash off all the blood on his skin, the concept that some of it was not his revolting him. Now it was time to chose the right words, or maybe to simply speak from the heart? Romeo was unsure which was best.

"Lassiter.." His tone was now completely different from before, the strange confidence from being chained to now a soft spoken, and cold vibe reflected his calm demeanor. "Relax. You are safe, and you possible have a concussion. Try to not to move too much."

When he was finally finished, he looked himself in the mirror, checking his face for the wounds, and declaring them too minor to worry about. This done, Romeo turned to look at the redhead, as the man's head tilted to the side in wonder about her. Slowly, he moved towards her, his hands visible so that he could give no threatening movements to her well being.

As he finally made it to her, he got on his knees before the woman, taking her hands gently and placing them on his neck.

"This is your only chance to end me. You have a choice here, though. End me, or talk to me. When we are done with our conversation, if you choose to have one with me, I will present you two more choices."

His eyes looked deep into hers, searching for what she called her soul, wondering what made her tick, made her do what she did.

"So..." He pressed her hands tightly around his neck. "What will you choose?"

 

[Lassiter]

[member="Darth Seraphic"]

In her wake of her, well, waking up Sena hadn’t even noticed the collar. Perhaps a remnant from her past as a slave, the element of choking was always present back then. Her eyes caught on to the item as it freed her throat of captivity and fell to the floor with a clang. Vivid memories of her seeing the very same thing happen nearly ten years ago flashed before her. Only this time she wasn’t a fifteen year old girl looking to escape from her past, this time she was a full-fledged murderer who had hidden the last few remnants of her past underneath the cover of a wristband and with a shirt that covered a scar riddled back.

The man knelt down before her, grabbed her hand and placed it against his throat asking her what she would do.

A fire lit up inside of her and it didn’t take long for the woman to start pinching with all that she had. The voices cried out, they all cried out for it. She tried to push him to the floor with all her might as her second hand swept up to latch on to the other side of his throat. This wasn’t what the high priestess had wanted, this wasn’t even what she had been ordered to do. This one was all hers, this was for imposing a chain upon her again. This was for thinking he had any right to keep her alive when the others without a doubt would have begged for her death.

“Nobody.” She growled as she tried to bash his head against a surface. “Chains me.”

“Nobody. Controls me.” She tried to bash him, again.

“Nobody.” And again as her nails tried to dig their way into his skin.

 

[Darth Seraphic]

[member="Lassiter"]

As the first bash cut open his head, blood began to dribble down the side of his face, but still no fear could be felt from him, only pain. Mainly because he had already prepared for this reaction. It told him what he needed to know about her. The second bash came, but this time, he resisted, only for a third attempt but failed. His own hands reached up, and with the same power with the chains, he gripped her throat, a burning sensation rushing up his palm and finger tips.

He held his breath, keeping calm as he focused. The rage, that fire, it was perfect, it was beautiful. He would continue to hold his hand till a nice red hot print of his hand was left on her neck, and his attention moved to her wrists where he did the same thing.

"You're chains are broken, you are free Lassiter. You have always been free. You let your fear control you, this anger is a reaction of fear, a animal backed up into a corner. Blinded are you Darth Drethi, but you can see once again if you would let me show you."

At one point, he could somewhat understand the concept of being chained, being bounded to do someone's will that was not his. Never would he let that happen again.

"Listen woman!" A force pulse from his vocal cords erupted from his mouth enough to blast her hair back, but cause no real harm. "You are free!" His legs were now around her waist as he began to feel his lungs burn for air, he had exhausted it all.

 

[Lassiter]

[member="Darth Seraphic"]

He burned against her skin, but she didn’t stop. He had tried to imprison her again and she’d rather die than go back to being the girl that she had once been. The burning hand that had grabbed onto her throat moved away to grasp at her wrist to pull it away. Sena wasn’t a heavyweight, she wasn’t much of any kind of weight. The hands that had enveloped the man’s throat started to slip from their firm grasp. He started to burn at her arms, but yet again her anger was far too great to really make note of it. She wanted this man to perish, and she was going to make sure that it happened.

Fingers clawed for his throat before the pulse struck her. She was grappled.

“I’ve always been free.” She grunted while trying to get the man off of her. “Get off me.”

She continued to struggle.

“I choose to hunt down the strays, I choose to obey.” Sena closed her eyes and focused. “I choose to be free!”

She set the force free in a multidirectional push in all directions. A pulse to set herself free and get back on her feet.

“And I choose to kill. Every. Last. One of you.” She felt her eyes flicker again. A spike of pain rolled across the side of her head. Then she hunched. “I-...” She began, but the pain grew stronger. Gravity seemed to shift and shiver, lights grew brighter. “I ch-...”

“I’ve chosen my… Life…” The woman tried to finish before she promptly collapsed to the floor again with a thud.

Concussions were great.

 

[Darth Seraphic]

[member="Lassiter"]

With a massive headache, and a sore throat, Romeo watched as the woman went to pass out again. He scrambled to the woman to lift her up, this whole time, she had the shuttle rocking about as if they were getting shot at by invisible laser fire. The droid turned to look back that was piloting then it returned it's attention to flying the ship as they began to dock with the Resurrection. The same could be said for his Blood Knights and the other soldiers who had followed.

From here, a med team came in and began to examine her. Romeo could have already told them that she was fine, and would survive, she just needed to be hydrated, and her concussion needed to be watched, but it was best to let them do what they did. From the hangar, a droid platoon, and his Blood Knights awaited him, he dismissed them all.

This wasn't necessary. None of it. This woman was no real threat at the moment, not yet. His mission was not finished here, this man wanted to see this person given a better life, and at this moment she was more of a hot mess than he ever had been at that age. Though, at her age..he was fighting against her superiors. He sighed.

He moved further into the ship, a directive given to leave him, and his guest alone. Frecker was given command while he was busy. Something Romeo was not into, sending messages, and feelings through to force, was what he needed to do to get this woman to relax. What he was afraid of was what he would find if he tried to enter her mind.

Without anymore second thoughts, he brought the force in, swelled it up, and then began to enter her mind.

 

[Lassiter]

[member="Darth Seraphic"]

It was like stepping into a dark room or an echo chamber. A deafening silence fell over them, the sound of their heartbeats applying pressure where otherwise there had been nothing at all as if all air was sucked out of the room in a rhythm. This was her barrier, this was what most would sense if they attacked her conscious mind, but Sena wasn’t conscious at this point and her efforts to keep her mind closed was all but non-existent. A light at the end of the tunnel appeared like a crack tearing across the darkness and a blinding light flooded the senses before all went dark again. From all around the echoes of a past the girl did not remember called out with the sound of a child’s crying, the sound of blaster and a feeling of intense fear. It was followed up by the insistent pleading of a child and a small girl’s pleas for her friends to wake up again.

Imagery began to flash in waves. There was a girl cradling a small boy. He was barely alive. His torn rags exposed his starved ribcage to show the world how little he had eaten. He was exhausted and hungry, his breath as shallow as ever. The redhead girl held his form close. More images like it began to flash it. As did another, and another, and another until nearly a dozen girls cradled a dozen different children with the only noticeable difference being the amount of blood that grew on the girl’s hands as well as how old she was. All around the room a voice, a whisper, grew stronger and stronger for each image that appeared. It turned from a whisper to a scream.

“You had no choice, they were already dead. You helped them.”​

The world darkens in an instant but it does not take long for the next round to begin. A fourteen year old girl stands before the man she had come to think of as her father. Or perhaps it was more accurate to say one of the fathers she knew. He grabs her by the arm and pulls her along for something in the chamber where she knows most of them reside and talk in. Without warning she is thrown into the middle of a circle of them. They all look at her, they all grin. A deep sense of apprehension and fear start to flood the room as the girl watches them approach one by one to run an inspection of their goods. Hands go up and down in an inspection but it is not until they all start to get closer that the fear starts to blossom in full. It was not until half-way through that a new voice starts to whisper in her mind.

Minutes turned to hours as trust was ripped apart, as those she had thought to be her caretakers destroyed who she had once hoped to become. The images fade away before reaching the end. She had blacked out and she did not want to remember. The imagery returns to show a hollow husk, a girl with a stare as empty as her own mind lies abandoned in the dust of rocks and sand. The man who had brought her before the others enter her room and she gasps in terror. Another steps in and violently tears her off the ground. Her legs are still weak, too weak to stand as he gets the branding iron out. Their muffled voices force her to keep quiet and she obeys without hesitation, but it was for nothing. The man applies the burning hot metal to her left wrist and she cries out in pain. They drop her again, discard her to the ground like trash and leave the girl in her cell with nothing but her own thoughts.

The second voice was shrieking alongside the other voice at this point as yet another crack spread across the girl’s psyche.
.

“Trust no one.”​

​

A gap, a distinct lack of memories and imagery was coming up.

This was the part of her life Sena had chosen to forget. To cast aside forever.

And even still there were more images after that, none of which seemed to have a happy ending except one of them. A recent memory.

 

[Darth Seraphic]

Many times, so many times, people had sorrowful cloud drenched in darkness, and intense emotions. The things passing, the past events of this woman only intensified her desire to murder, and kill. The irony of a slave owning slaves did not sit well with Romeo either, what drove this woman to this level of madness was very clear to him now, and it only then began to dawn on him that he was invading into something so private, so secretive, that his life was truly on the line for knowing these things.

It didn't stop, the voices continued to echo in his head, something Romeo would never forget for as long as he lived. It was taking everything Romeo had to not back off from his probing, to keep pushing forward and learn more about this woman. In the end of this, he knew, weaknesses would reside over him from the emotions that flooded his own, threatening to take control of his actions.

His gait became slow the further he walked as they neared his quarters, his door would open for him automatically. Inside, it had just enough light to give one a sense of direction in the foggy darkness. From here, Romeo laid the unconscious Lassiter on his bed, and pulled a chair next to it.

Taking in a deep breath, his journey into the twisted mind of the red-head continued. His thoughts of his own little girl echoing in the back of his mind as he continued to do, a sense of....fatherly protection and anger boiling in the pits of his stomach.

So much pain...

 

[Lassiter]

[member="Darth Seraphic"]

The images continued.

A years worth of imagery was gone in a distorted and muddied tunnel of hazy pictures. Enough to solidify exactly what had happened, and how often it was. However at the end of the tunnel one particular image stands out. Sena stands before her slave drivers, but this time there is a knife in her hands. There are people around her, a sense of freedom and terror seems to linger all around. Sirens blare and shouts encouraging fellow slaves to escape reverberates all around. The two men before Sena smack their lips and urge her to hand them the knife back to them, the knife that she has stolen from them. A hollow stare dances between the knife and the two men as she contemplates fate of both actions laid out before her, and they both lead to her death. They all lead to more torture and pain at the hand of these men.

One man leaps for her and a split second decision is made as she thrusts the knife into his knee and tears his tendons. The second man joins in and she thrusts the blade deep into his heart with a twist. Blood trickles down the blade’s edge and down the handle, between her fingers and down her arms. For a second she is horrified, but then she hears it. The voices and their shouts, their encouragement.

“You acted in self-defense.”​

“You are safe.”​

“They deserved it.”​

But then there was the fourth, the newcomer that skipped from a whisper straight to a shriek...

​

“That was fun!”​

A grin starts to spread on the girl’s lips as she withdraws the blade from her attacker’s chest and looks over at the other man. This was the first time she had felt anything in nearly a week, the first time she felt alive in almost a year. With one attacker dead and another left alive she rose from the floor and staggered over to the man whose legs had been torn apart. She sits on his stomach, her eyes locking into his before she continues to thrust her blade into his chest, screaming all the while as loud as she could. Her anger fuelled her, her hate devoured her, and in that moment she became the woman that she had remained until this day.

Once she was done she once more rose from the ground. From all around she could hear people run for their lives, but she was already gone. The blood still dripped from her knife as she slowly strutted towards the exit in triumphant victory, cutting down any and all that she felt like cutting down. It didn’t matter anymore, she didn’t care. For brief moments of time she could feel others experience the same pain that she had gone through, even if for just a very short while, and she loved it.

This was what she wanted. This was what she deserved.

The images continued as countless to retell the tale of the times in which she had committed wanton murder for no other reason because she felt like it. She really wasn’t all that different from who her associates had made her out to be before they had betrayed her, but then off in the distance a single frame starts to glow bright.

A blonde woman. Blue eyes, amazing body and a source of great confusion. This was Ameli Trahir, and it was the only woman that Sena had ever decided not to kill out of mercy. This was the one that got away, the woman that she… Loved? To be honest Sena wouldn’t know herself, the concept of feeling loved was beyond her at this point. At least so she had come to think yet here someone was and just over a single night they had become the most important person she had ever known. She clung to this person, wanted to protect her against anything the galaxy would throw at them.

Her heart was aflutter and she didn’t know why.

She didn’t-

The images started to flicker and withdraw. A hand, an actual physical hand swung for Romeo’s cheek.

“That’s not for you to know!” A panicked woman screamed at him. It was Sena who shrieked. “Get out!”