The Final Chain

[Jacob Crawford]

Maena​

The Unit​

In the wake of finally finishing his ‘rebirth’, Jacob had remained on Maena for a time. Matsu had given him a tour of sorts, showing him various notable vistas. The Wastelands, The New City, The Slums, but most importantly The Unit and The Tower. It all culminated in Jacob forming an understanding of the planet. He had felt it when he first arrived, setting foot on that fateful beach where he unleashed the Force on the surroundings. Maena’s darkness flowed into him without hesitation, tasting the corruption that was the planet’s heart. He recalled the chilling sensation he had felt, and realized it had been just that. The call of the Dark Side swirled within him. Not even the smallest trace of the Light survived that day, except for that fragment locked away in his mind.

There was a distinct silence now that the voices were gone, even Jacob would admit to that. Spending a year confined in a facility with only them as company, part him missed it, the other was glad they were gone. They were parts of a chain that would’ve held him down, away from his potential.

His time on Maena had mainly consisted of him training, getting use to just exactly what that entailed with someone like Matsu Xiangu. But what had fascinated him the most, was just what exactly was going on in the very depths of the Unit. At a first glance it was nothing more than part of the ruins, of the Old City that once reigned as the capital. But the further you delved, peeling the layers away during the descent, you saw the heart of Maena.

It was tormented, twisted, bloody and beautiful. A truly twisted combination that formed the lower levels of the Unit. Jacob was simply enraptured when Matsu had originally shown him only some of the stuff that was going on. And today he was returning to that place, after having spent almost a month away.
Nar Shaddaa. Nal Hutta. Tatooine.

Each had been a thread he had chased, each had various levels of success and failure. He had tracked down his father and had managed to kill him, though at a cost. His attempts to reclaim his old lightsaber had fallen short, but it had enlightened him to the fact his former master; Allyia Zarn was still alive. Then he had been ambushed on multiple occasions across sandy dunes, and yet it ended with him acquiring a piece of a puzzle - one that he would use to the fullest to track down Allyia very soon. There was one more lead that pointed towards Coruscant, but he had decided to return to Maena and report back to his master.

That is what brought Jacob to the Unit, standing in silence as the elevator went lower and lower. He had sent word before arriving, and Matsu had responded with where she would be when he did. It seemed she was in the midst of something if she was occupied down in the very depths of the facility.

He couldn’t wait to see what it was.

[member="Matsu Xiangu"]​

 

[Matsu Xiangu]

She admired the efficiency of nature. Save for those planets whose atmosphere had been eaten by the merciless march of time or war, decay was the same everywhere. Every body exhaled its last breath, grew soft with muscle breakdown, turned a sharp delineation of white and blue as blood settled. Eyes melted in sockets, skin dried and tightened over skulls and eventually succumbed to the sun, water, or time. Ashes to ashes. And it happened to all of them, regardless of rank, power, or ability. Of course, people didn’t like to think about that. Some people spent their entire lives chasing immortality. But the next best thing was space, wasn’t it? If you had to die...the only escape from decay in to nothing was the cold, unreachable depth of space. No moisture. Freezing cold. Intense pressure. A place where rot could not go.

This place reminded her of those wilds. Every glass cage surrounding her as she walked the length of the room reminded her of the silent depths of the expanse between each star, an environment totally devoid of all the things that would mar the process of natural rot. In those containers she could control each element: temperature, pressure, simulated elements. She wanted to understand how it all worked on every species. At first it had been about defense, her interest in necromancy and the longevity of her Children. But then it had just become fascination for its own means…

And if she left them alone in these cages without changing a thing, they’d never rot. They’d just stand and watch, alive but bodies failing, through some trick of her sorcery. Disgusting, really. Beautiful.

She was characteristically quiet as she worked, her steps a whispered hush across metal flooring as she moved to the slab on which her subject lay. When she cut through scalp and thin flesh surrounding skull, a blooming crimson line that welled to chase scalpel, there was no movement despite the widening of the eyes of the human female under her blade. Surely there was agony but Matsu kept them infused with enough drugs and sorcery to tranquilize them...or at least their bodies. The important part was seeing what had happened to the...skullcap pulled away, revealing a brain pink and healthy despite the putrid sloughing of the rest of the woman’s body.

Another success.

It was as she wrapped her hands around the underside of the brain, carefully tilting it to inspect the bottom, that Jacob appeared.

“Ah,” Matsu hummed in greeting, not looking up though she acknowledged his arrival. “Here, look. Perfectly preserved. Though the body fails, the brain is in perfect condition. My hope is that these undead I can learn to raise will be able to...think, after a fashion. Obey my commands with my precision. Of course, the body will eventually simply get to a point where it can no longer move. But this could change things…” She trailed off, a seeming awe in her voice before she focused on her apprentice. Quietly, she started the process of stapling the skullcap back to the rest of the body. Her words were punctuated by its horrid snap through bone with each staple.

“So - find anything interesting while you were gone?”

[member="Jacob Crawford"]​

 

[Jacob Crawford]

When you finally reached the lower levels, there was a distinct shift in how the rooms were arranged. While both shared the same state-of-the-art look and equipment, the levels above were all orderly and neat. Down below, it wasn't so - orderly yes, but there was a certain artistic touch to how different it was, how things were placed. There was no doubt Matsu had a hand in designing how certain rooms looked.

The one he knew she was currently working in was a prime example.

Jacob slipped in silently, stepping along the edges of shadow as the door closed behind him. While his attention was immediately drawn to what surrounded the centre, his eyes immediately fell towards his master, whose hands were currently around a brain still connected to the body. There was a look fascination in his expression, not one of disgust or even morbid, just pure and simple fascination. It was Jacob to a T, whether or not he'd ever make use of the subject himself. It didn't matter, he was always eager to just simply learn about it.

And under Matsu's teaching there was plenty of it. Twisting the very nature of something, seeing how it worked and experimenting to see what could change. The various beasts and monstrosities locked up and wandering the Wastelands were a perfect example of the ending result.

"It is indeed fascinating, usually the brain would start to decay not long after the heart stops." Jacob spoke evenly, walking up to other side of the slab with gloved hands held behind his back. He knew alchemy and sorcery were what was keeping the subject alive, the first of which had sunk its claws into Jacob not long after Matsu had first explained the how. With what he had in mind, the alchemical arts were a perfect tool to see ideas come to fruition. He had borne witness to some of Matsu's creation that day on the beach, with the zombie horde combined with a mix of more undead creatures like rancors. It was a lesson well learned, to always strive to better improve something that was already considered perfect.

"I did, a few things in fact." Jacob paused as he thought, watching as Matsu went about stapling the skullcap back on. He didn't flinch once. "I found my father, alive. And I killed him." That time his eyes did snap to the woman. The matter of Gregory Crawford had been brought up before Jacob had first departed. When asked what he intended to search for, his father had been the first to escape his lips. Voicing the fact he knew he was alive in the galaxy somewhere.

"But, it was not without its sacrifices." He unclasped his hands and brought them to his side, then lifted his right one up. There was a moment, but lacked any hesitation as Jacob peeled off the glove and revealed the cybernetic hand hidden beneath.

[member="Matsu Xiangu"]​

 

[Matsu Xiangu]

A woman of more subtle facial expressions, the pleased smile she wore as Jacob extrapolated on her work was almost imperceptible - especially at her angle hunched over the pseudo-corpse - but unmistakably there. Where he’d found an interest and love for alchemy, her obsession remained primarily with sorcery if only for its flexibility. For a woman whose hobbies were constantly changing, it fit her proclivities. But either way, it was a welcome change to have an apprentice who appreciated the less martial arts.

And he didn’t flinch when he saw something strange. A useful attribute.

The rest of his answers however, were even more interesting.

At the mention of his father, she looked up from her work, interest clear in her expression. One of the beautiful things about mentalism was the ability to feel like she’d lived a thousand lives beside her own. Whatever emotions ran through her at the mention of Gregory Crawford were real, her own somehow, despite their borrowed nature. She’d met many a horrible man in her journeys but she was glad...content to know that one was dead. But that wasn’t perhaps the best half of the news. She was never truly satisfied with an apprentice until they left her and built something of their own. It was all well and good to claim the rank of Knight, even more to reach a Lordship. But those were words, pretty titles so many used to justify themselves in perpetuity. A silly thing to rest your laurels on, if you asked Matsu.

She didn’t hope for an empire from her apprentices, though many had gone on to do great things. Venefica had been a terror, but she’d made an entire army of female Sith that had terrorized the galaxy. Sage Bane had worked in close contact with the Ravens when they had existed, making a name for himself based on skill and not demanded respect.

What she considered success was a person who sought something greater than mere power.

The thing Jacob had done out there while he was away was a step in the right direction. And even more beautiful was that cybernetic. It was not so much the hissing of its components that she found without flaw, but the act that had forced it to be necessary. It was the absence that proved more perfect, the hole created that one could rebuild within. Something better. Enough of a sacrifice? She had to know.

“Tell me how it happened,” she said as she looked back down to the semi-corpse, lifting scalp over skull to begin sewing it all back together as if she hadn’t just defied nature.

[member="Jacob Crawford"]​

 

[Jacob Crawford]

Jacob didn't answer immediately, instead he simply watched as Matsu began the process of sewing the scalp back to the body. There was something to be said about the process of weaving needle and thread through skin. Jacob imagined it was therapeutic to those that enjoyed the consistent movement; a repeated pattern no matter the subject that was laid out on the cold slab. Every movement was precise, a sign of someone who had done this many times before. The pace neither too slow or fast, as metal fingers moved between the pushing the needle through and pulling it out the other side.

For a moment Jacob looked at his own cybernetic arm. His looked old fashioned in comparison to the sleek and smooth ones Matsu had. Though it was of no real complaint, after all he had specifically got such an outdated model for the sake of convenience. After Nar Shaddaa he was moving about too much to just simply stay in once place and fuss about finding a specific one he liked. But with that thought coming about again, Jacob pondered on what exactly he could make out of his new arm.

Jacob's focus slipped away from his internal musings, minutes had passed since Matsu had last spoken, and it was only then he responded.

"How about I show you?" His eyes snapped up from the subject to Matsu, knowing well enough his master would've as well. There was a knowing look; one of shared knowledge of something that had happened before Jacob had left Maena initially.

It was only the third day after first being taught by Matsu, that Jacob had arrived to one of their sessions with a mind clouded and feeling as though someone was squeezing it to a point of popping. To Matsu she had seen a coiled snake. Winded up to a point that it was harming itself, poised to strike out uncontrollably. She had quickly instructed him to perform some meditation, to calm his mind from whatever pressure was building up from within. Once that was done, another expedition into Jacob's mind was made. It was through this that they discovered his mind had not healed completely. The fragmented pieces had been pulled back together, but they were only connected by strands - not pieced together like a puzzle. Though there was no sadness, no disappointment. Rather there was a shared curiosity at what it meant - what were the possibilities?

One of those had been a strange skill Jacob had innately developed. He was able to take a memory of his own, copy it and even move it around under his own power. Sometimes these duplicates could be vivid, other times hazy and sometimes there was nothing but the raw emotions felt during that time. Much like dreams, ones that could be potentially more controlled with further training.

Jacob waited until Matsu agreed before he focused on doing just that. He took the memory of Nar Shaddaa and sent it across the way, travelling across the bridge that had been built between them previously.

At first it appeared as everything was fast-forwarding. Breezing past as Jacob landed on the Smuggler's Moon, travelling to the lower levels in search of Utorg the Hutt's majordomo. Random scents and emotions flickered in and out as the scene played out. Annoyance was the primary feeling that lingered during Jacob's dealing with the Underworld. And it wasn't until he reached the industrial sector that things finally slowed down into vivid detail.

He cautiously moved into a warehouse, expectancy heavy on his mind as Gregory Crawford made his appearance. Anger washed over everything, a seething rage that burned from within as Jacob looked upon his father. Though that was swiftly changed with surprise as several mercenaries surrounded him. It was a trap, his dealings with Utrog the Hutt revealed to be a lie, he had been expected and had walked right into an ambush. Indignation flared to life just as the dark side tore from Jacob's fingers as he lunged at his attackers and struck them down. He had survived through the trap, but now his father was escaping through the factories.

A chase broke out, Jacob in pursuit until Gregory managed to outmaneuver his son and into the path of a machine. Jacob had only enough time avoid being completely crushed before the hulking metal slammed down on his right arm. The sensation of bone being crushed tore through the memory, screams of a man trapped. The older Crawford mocked him as he fled, Jacob's rage intensifying with bolster from the Dark Side.

The scene that followed was a blurred image, but the feeling of cold metal; a dagger, cut through flesh and bone, blood spilling as Jacob cut off his own arm. He was fueled by the dark side and nothing more. The moment Jacob was free he was moving, not a single hesitation as he pursued his father. Their chase took them to a landing pad where Gregory's ship was. But the elder never reached it, as Jacob's enhanced rage gave him the precision to throw a dagger at the man's leg. He crumbled to the ground, giving Jacob enough time to reach him. Words were shared, years in the waiting as vitriol was spat from son to father. The memory ended as Jacob plunged a dagger into his father's heart, then used the Force to throw his lifeless body over the side and down into the depths of Nar Shaddaa.

[member="Matsu Xiangu"]​

 

[Matsu Xiangu]

The longer she lived, the more she saw the patterns in people’s lives. It wasn’t to say that the struggles, tragedies, joys, victories, weren’t unique or valid. Simply that it was just false to assume that one’s experience alone set them apart from the pack, for so many had known hardship. It was what one chose to do with it that made them better (or worse). Either way, the foreign memories that played across her mind were familiar if only because they reminded her…

of snow, deep and thick blown up against a treeline cowering beneath the massive presence of a mountain…

though for her, it was The Mountain, the one underneath which she’d almost died…

and despite the height of the snow she’d been nearly silent as she’d stalked up behind him, though it hadn’t really been her plan to kill him right away. She didn’t really like ceremony or making things a show - she’d just wanted to see him again. Figure out if maybe there had been something mystical, powerful, something that would explain how he’d managed to overcome her mind.

Of course, there had been nothing mystical about Krius Syonis. In the end, he had just been a man. He had only ever been a man. And she had been a young girl barely past her teens when she’d run across him, taken by her first glimpse of someone else who wielded the same power she’d discovered in herself. The Force had been intoxicating at first, and he’d been so sure of himself and his view of the galaxy at large. He’d seemed to understand things, to be so certain. In the end, it was her uncertainty that had undone them and he’d attacked her, made her do his dirty work as she mutilated herself and lay in the growing hollow of snow melted by her warm, seemingly endless pool of blood.

The skyline looked the same as when she’d stared at it as she grew weak. And he had looked the same too, though perhaps a little older and a little more tired.

They’d exchanged a few words, afraid to talk too loud and disturb the hush of the snow.

But she’d pushed him in to his own fire, watched him struggle and melt until he died. She’d stayed there all night watching him burn off to skeleton, staring and sitting in the snow. He died just like a regular man too.

For her, the closure had been permanent, a means to starting another chapter in her life. It had come at the right time, and had been satisfying in the way it sat so neatly between new sections of her life. For Jacob she sensed that the murder of his father was only a step closer, a partial satisfaction.

“You grow stronger,” Matsu said, though it could have referred to anything. Perhaps the strength lent by the sacrifice of his arm, or the power to play memories like film reel in someone else’s mind. It was a beautiful but tricky mentalist’s talent, but he’d done it well. “I’ve seen more Sith than I care to remember realize the only thing fueling them was some rival or memory, only to find themselves adrift when it was gone. You have more yet to do. But...find something for yourself. Find something to build. It would be a shame to see you waste away.” That she was pleased with his time away was obvious enough in her advice.

“If you want something else for your cybernetics, there are more than a few engineers in the Unit who could make something for you.”

But with that, she was curious… “Anything else?”

[member="Jacob Crawford"]​

 

[Jacob Crawford]

With the memory having played its part, Jacob tugged against the tether and pulled it back to his mind. There was a slight shift in his demeanour as the fragment settled back into its place. This had been the first time had had attempted duplicating a memory and moving it. Before now it had been purely speculation on his part, and had summarized that attempting it with Matsu was the best option given the connection already established. Now that he knew it was possible, Jacob's mind began to wander at the possible implications.

It was difficult to not smile at least slightly at Matsu's words. There was no denying Jacob felt some measure of pride over the fact Matsu saw improvement. Though that was the extent of how far that expression went. Jacob was not the type to preen like a peacock at a compliment. He acknowledged it as a step in the right direction, something that stoke the flames to continue on.

Matsu had seen what he had started as; a lost soul with a broken mind. She had helped repair it, laying out the groundwork, and Jacob was not going to squander the chance she had given him. To rise above what he was before, and eclipse it in comparison.

"My time out in the galaxy have been stepping stones," He said nodding in agreement. "Killing my father shattered one of two chains that still bind me to the past. The second however still remains, and I know there will be a lot more stones between now and then." There was a slight tease in his tone, indicating he knew something that she didn't, but wasn't going to leave it as a dangling thread for too long. His amber eyes seemed to practically swirling with anticipation, the sense of lingering out and rising through the room. Even as he peered down at his cybernetic arm, examining it - the build up continued.

"I was curious whether a solution was available on Maena, but I also know there's companies out there that could be useful." He looked up at Matsu. "I will think on it."

From there he began to talk about his time on Nal Hutta, tracking down a group of smugglers with Connor Harrison. Jacob had discovered the group had somehow got a hold of his lightsaber, the one from when he was a Jedi. It however proved fruitless as someone else had got there before and acquired the weapon before Jacob even got word it was on the planet. Although he intentionally left out the part of just who exactly it had been, albeit there was a flash of anger when mentioned the person who had beaten him to the lightsaber.

"After that I followed a lead on who had taken the lightsaber, it took me to Tatooine where I met a Zeltron called Thraxis." He continued on about how they had went about gaining access to a section of the city's outskirts through a local Hutt. Though things didn't go too well, and Jacob had noted his suspicion that those that ambushed them fully intended to capture him alive for some reason. "It wasn't until I found something at the location, that I was completely certain on the identity of the person."

"Allyia Zarn is still alive." The anticipation hit its crescendo with those words. Jacob's former master was somewhere out there in the galaxy. She was the last chain he needed to break before he could truly be free from his past. "And I know how the find her."

Jacob reached into his pocket and pulled out the small item he had acquired on Tatooine. A necklace; a thin line of chain threaded through a loop attached to half of a small stone. It was no bigger than a decent sized pebble that could fit in one's palm. Looking at it through the Force, it was easy to see the tether that connected to Jacob, while the second lingered out towards the expanse of the galaxy.

[member="Matsu Xiangu"]​

 

[Matsu Xiangu]

Matsu was not still for the majority of the retelling, letting the scenery play out in her mind as Jacob talked and she worked. Resewing was as natural as breathing to her now and thus her attention could be split while maintaining the perfection of her stitches.

Lightsabers had never been that important to her. As far as she was concerned, it was the mark of a bad force-user to rely on a blade, sentimental value or no. That wasn’t the case with Jacob of course. But were the situation different she might have advised him just to forget about it, to let it go and build another one. He would have access to thousands of kinds of crystals. She might have suggested one of the obsidian nova crystals in Maena’s mines - with his burgeoning talent in alchemy, she had no doubt he could stabilize the crystal enough to make a very interesting blade. But that wasn’t the point here. The lightsaber itself wasn’t the point. It was what getting it back represented.

As Jacob had so aptly said, the final chain.

By the time he reached his reveal she was putting the specimen back in its tube, the cage sealing perfectly to leave conditions within it exactly as she specified.

She froze when the Jedi’s name was mentioned.

Matsu was prone to obsession. Of course, it was of all different levels. There were some that simply moved in passing, fits of hatred that fizzled out as soon as the body was burned. There were some that were caused by novelty, a need to make the unique, singular, or powerful hers - locking Siobhan Kerrigan in a cage perhaps, a pet made of a powerful Dark Woman. And then there were things she was still learning. Like a pervasive, extraordinary, singular obsession...metal and wires, red eyes… She blinked.

Allyia Zarn was, perhaps, one of those obsessions of novelty. Since seeing her in Jacob’s vision she’d craved an interaction of any sort with the Master. It was most likely the power of standing within Jacob’s memory, how it had become enveloping enough to feel special to her. But Jedi of old were so very rare nowadays, the true sort of Jedi one thought of when the word conjured an image. Not these pretenders gallivanting around murdering with impunity in the name of conquering Sith, arming mercenaries, bending over backwards to justify themselves. Allyia Zarn reminded of her when the Light have truly been close to pure. She wanted to stand in front of her and just...bask in it for a second. Before Jacob murdered the Togruta of course.

When Matsu unfroze it was to turn her head sharply to her apprentice.

“Well then, I suppose there is no time to waste.”

[member="Jacob Crawford"]​

 

[Jacob Crawford]

“Well then, I suppose there is no time to waste.”

It was impossible to wipe away the grin that appeared on Jacob's face. It was what he had been hoping to hear, knowing well enough that Matsu had a fascination with the togruta, much like he did. Although Jacob's was more aimed towards confrontation, as Allyia Zarn was someone; the only one, from his past that still lived. There was once a bond established between them, of padawan and master, when no one else would take him on.

But now that was gone, torn apart by the Netherworld, cut into like knife to flesh and left as a festering wound. Then the dark side infected it, spreading like a disease until there was no difference between it and Jacob.

The only thing that remained was the small necklace, connecting the two through the Force. If it was needed, Jacob would've destroyed it by now. But it was a means to an end, a way to track down and find his former master.

Both Matsu and Jacob departed the Unit together, opting to uses the latter's ship given it was ready to go. He had after all fully intended to immediately depart even if the Atrisian didn't end up coming along with.

He took them off Maena, and settled the ship a fair distance away from the planet. Jacob needed to focus on the necklace, which was cemented in the middle of the Force. It refused to fall in the dark, even the dark presence on Maena did nothing but muffle it's effect. But it also didn't automatically fall towards the light, instead it simply existed within the Force. Once they were away from the planet, Jacob began to meditate and explore the only other connection that was tied to the stone.

It took almost an hour, but eventually he returned to the cockpit where Matsu was.

"She's on Dantooine."

Something about that planet rang a bell in Jacob's mind, but it wasn't until he had set foot on it that it finally came to him; a memory that was. This was where Allyia had taken him to shortly after deciding she would take him on as her padawan. Jacob recalled there being a stipulation, a test he had to succeed in if she was going to truly train him. And given the history between them that followed after, it seemed he had passed it.

They saw the old Jedi temple as they went to land. Dormant and in ruin, waiting for when a certain Sith Empire would eventually come and repurpose it. There was also the lingering presence of the Primeval, time passed since their little ritual on the planet, but the effects of that night still remained within the Force.

"It's this way..." Jacob seemed almost mindless as he led the way, obviously following the path set before him through memories. While the destination might not be of any importance to Matsu, it was clear to see that wasn't the case with Jacob. There was a sense of familiarity radiating from him, as the duo trekked further into the forest towards a clearing at the centre of it all.

That's when they felt it.

A presence situated at the very middle, incredibly small in the Force. It was being contained through the use of Art of the Small, with only a glimmer of light and grey glimmering out on the surface. Allyia Zarn was ahead of them, knelt atop a large flat slab of rock. Her posture settled perfectly, facing directly towards them but with her eyes closed.

[member="Matsu Xiangu"]​

 

[Matsu Xiangu]

Matsu had never been to Dantooine, though that probably wouldn’t have been surprising were she to say it aloud. It was verdant enough and that she could appreciate. Though she gravitated to cities she’d once been an explorer, a trait strong enough to be passed to her son. She loved to wander, poking through abandoned ruins, forests, towns, and cities alike. But she’d never been drawn to Dantooine, home of lush meadows and Jedi ruins.

Were it not for Jacob’s necklace they might have wandered far longer. Even with Matsu’s supreme attunement to the Force, the innately deeper connection afforded through sorcery, Zarn’s Art made her seem infinitesimal in its flow. It was only when they drew almost right upon her that she could be felt at all.

Matsu was not begrudging where credit was due, and such control was impressive.

She did not bother with words of advice where this confrontation was concerned. Jacob would not need them. She could feel his hate.

____​

Allyia did not find the peace she once might have here.

She would be a Jedi until the day she rejoined the Force. Of that, there was no question. But so much else had...changed. She had failed her sister. She had failed her Padawan. Perhaps - she thought - she had failed herself. The ruins of the Enclave loomed around her, accusing. Yes, once she might have knelt here and thought of those that came before and what she might do to earn a place at their hallowed sides, to make a change for the better in the Galaxy.

Now it just reminded her of how little of that path she’d been able to tread.

But there was hope.
Jacob Crawford was alive.
And close.

Her eyes opened when she felt both of the newcomers enter the space she claimed, her hold on the Art releasing. She could have just left her presence wide open as a beacon but she wanted to see…

“You still have my necklace,” she called, remaining in her meditative position though it was clear she was completely alert to her surroundings and ready to move at a moment’s notice. Age had given her new aches, but it could not temper her instinct or the peace she found in movement. And though fascination, awe, hope furled out and overtook her, she could not help but notice the petite woman that entered with him. Dark hair, frightening eyes, sharp features, unnervingly quiet. A Sith.

“And replaced me, I see. I knew my company wasn’t the best, but I didn’t think it was that bad…”

She watched as the little Lord smiled slightly.

[member="Jacob Crawford"]​

 

[Jacob Crawford]

As Jacob stood just inside the clearing, he let out a sharp intake of breath. Allyia Zarn let her presence unfurl across the Force, the clearing and towards them. The sensation was immediate. It felt familiar to him, something that had been missing for years - torn away from a single moment on Dxun. But it failed to connect, the damage had been done, the bond was severed.

The translucent strands that once bound them together as Master and Padawan, pulled taut by the Netherworld until the point of snapping. Now all that remained were the frayed ends, with not even a spark of movement, no desire to try and reconnect.

Even from this distance, as Allyia lifted her head to look towards them. Their eyes connected, and both just simply understood. There was no going back, not to what once was. Jacob had already known it, now the Togruta did too.

The prospect of hope dwindled in her heart.

"Of course I still have it, it's one of the last pieces connecting to my past." Jacob spoke evenly, his voice neutral to match the matter of fact tone. Where once his emotions were easily readable for the Jedi, now they were concealed from her. Not from Matsu though, the Atrisian would likely feel it wrapping around her apprentice.

Like numerous serpents coiling around his form, wrapping him in their embrace as they slowly moved towards his arms. Poised to attack when the time was right.

Hatred. Anger. Disappointment.

Jacob's expression gave none of it away. There was a time; not too long ago now that he thought on it, where all he knew was Dxun and experiments. It wasn't until he had finally left that everything slowly fell into place.

Receiving the information while in Irajah's care gave him a nudge.

Going to Maena so he could reconnect with the Force, placing him at the cliff's edge.

And finally, his time with Matsu where she guided him over that edge.

All of it was what forged Jacob into the person he was, standing in the clearing facing the biggest part of his past. One he fully intended to eradicate, just as he had with his father.

"No, you were the best." He stepped further into the clearing, taking careful steps towards the centre. There was actual honesty in his words. He did admire Allyia for what she once was, he had the perspective to see that without the attachment. For here was no real emotion in his words still, just fact. "You took me on when everyone else wanted to cast me aside, did your best to mold me into the Jedi I could've been. Until that was all taken away in the blink of an eye."

“The Netherworld." Allyia watched as her old padawan moved closer. The Togruta shifted, ever so slightly as she remained in her meditative stance; body straightening like a spring. "I'm sorry you had to experience that."

"I'm not." Jacob stopped several feet away from Allyia, and crossed his arms against his chest. "My time there tore me down and laid the groundwork to build back up. It pushed me down the path that was inevitable, we both know that." Jacob had always been that particular thorn for many of the other Jedi Master's, always the one that was on other's minds when thinking 'who would end up falling to the dark?'

Perhaps he might've been a good Jedi if things had turned out differently. But right in this instance; this reality? It didn't matter.

[member="Matsu Xiangu"]​

 

[Matsu Xiangu]

Allyia felt immeasurable sadness fill her as her old Padawan spoke. Had so failed so miserably? If she had been warmer, would things have turned out differently? She was not as distant and unfeeling a Master as some, of that she was certain. But she had always been...hard, shaped by her own brushes with the Dark. She would never be turned by it, but it had tainted her own blood. And dealing with that had changed her. Proof of that was easily found in the way the other Masters had often found her unorthodox. Respected her, certainly. But found her sometimes troubling just the same. She was willing to take risks. She’d allowed herself to feel - the sadness that swept over her now was nearly overwhelming, but she was too controlled to allow it to go that far.

There had been many great Jedi Masters throughout recorded history, or what the Plague had left of it, to assure her she was in good company where her beliefs were concerned.
That Jacob had been so thoroughly tainted by the Dark Side was...yes...among, if not her greatest failure.
She had not been able to make him see that his struggles and isolation did not define him.

Despite the emotion she allowed to flood over her, Allyia concentrated on the Force flowing around her, allowing herself to coast along its current and be shown its guidance. She had two possible opponents in front of her. Jacob moved directly towards her, and the Lord that accompanied him moved to walk slowly along the outskirts of the chamber. Allyia felt she was keeping her distance not out of wariness, but because this wasn’t directly her conflict. Just to watch… And she was, without a doubt, a Lord. She had no great showiness in the Force, did not attempt to choke the Light in the room by exerting her influence. She co-existed with it, seemingly interested in it in a studious way. But it was obvious, the weight she brought with her despite her petite frame.

But the Spider was keeping her distance, and therefore Allyia concentrated solely on her old Padawan.

It wasn’t wise to sit in a meditative stance anymore, not with two predators circling. The Togruta unfolded long legs from beneath her, reaching to full height as she faced Crawford.

“There was always a darkness in you, but I do not believe this path was inevitable,” she countered, voice beautiful and even as always. “There were many Jedi in history who struggled, who carried something inside them that they struggled with constantly. Our own histories tell us that, not to mention those written and salvageable of scholars outside our Order.” She did not realize she spoke as if he were still within their ranks. Visualization was a tactic she was quite good at - believe it, and it would come true. She took a few steps forward, still upon the dais on which she had been meditating, bare toes along the lip of a short set of stairs that separated her and Jacob. “They learned how to follow the Light, to be guided and accept the peace of the Force to quiet their darkness. They became great Jedi Masters. Sat on councils. Maintained peace across the galaxy.”

It was a gamble to take the three stairs down to stand in front of him, but she did it anyway. She still had hope she could make it right.

“It is my failing, Jacob, that I could not guide you to see that you might be one of them too. It was my fault, for not telling you that I understood.” She reached to her belt where the hilt of his saber had been concealed under the fold of her cloth garments. Holding it out to him, grip light should he decide to take it, she spoke softly. “I hope you can forgive me, and allow me to try again.”

[member="Jacob Crawford"]​

 

[Jacob Crawford]

There was an undercurrent of tension flowing around the area, swirling around the length of it and turning in like a whirlpool. It was all pulling towards Jacob and Allyia, two contrasts in the Force.

Light and Dark. Peace and Anger.

Allyia wore her emotions on her sleeves, allowed them to flow from her just as well as the Force did. The Togruta was never one to shy away from them, and yet at the same time had a tight control over them. The only occasion that changed was when she was forced to kill her twin sister; Allira. It had been her 'crowning achievement', the thing that had seen her rise to the rank of Master.

That had never settled well in Allyia's heart, killing her own flesh and blood like that. She was never the type to cloak things under mantras or dogma, the typical 'she was too far gone,' or 'the dark side had already corrupted her.'

No, there was always a chance, a means to turn things around without resorting to violence and death. And the situation right now; with her former padawan stood before her, was no different.

Jacob shared one similarity with her, in that he also had a control over his emotions. Only because he had recently rediscovered them, after being reforged from the shell the Netherworld had spat out. The man that stood before Allyia was not the same Jacob she had once known. He had been unwillingly cast into a chrysalis, and after four years had finally broken from it as someone else.

The version of him Allyia hoped for no longer existed beyond a set of memories, with no emotional weight attached to them.

"You always were hopeful, and I always knew you understood. It's why we got along so well; bonded, after I had gotten over my initial scepticism." Jacob had taken note of how Allyia spoke, referring to him as though she was still a Jedi. "But it was already too late, darkness had settled in my heart long before the Force had ever entered the picture." That was the difference between them. Whereas Allyia had battled her personal darkness while a Jedi, Jacob had not. Allyia had seen her tribe slaughtered as a child, but had others around to support her. Jacob had none of that. "My mother's death, my father's actions, the days and nights spent in the fighting rings as a child." The list went on, both familiar with what was left unsaid. "The die had already been cast."

Jacob tensed up slightly, the lingering anger began to tighten its grip around his arms as he prepared for a fight. But Allyia had simply stood up on the dias and took several calm steps towards him. He should've expected it, as Allyia was not the type to attack first, rather seek out the peaceful option first and foremost.

His eyes fell on the lightsaber; his old one. It was the missing piece, something he had been searching for. There was no hesitation as she took the last steps, enough for him to reach out and grab it. Allyia allowed it, letting the hilt slip from her grip as he grasped it. There was no fear in the Togruta, rather she seemed to almost radiate hope as she looked upon her former padawan as he gazed at the weapon.

The moment it was in his hands, Jacob felt memories rushing to the surface. He remembered creating it, using it, training with it. He almost felt nauseous with how much was bombarding his mind, but things were now much more clear.

He was finally whole once again, and he wanted to smother it.

Allyia's hope remained, watching as Jacob closed his eyes in apparent thought. But that slowly began to dwindle as he took a step back, then another and another. She knew exactly what this was, seen it countless times before when they had sparred before. Only this time, it wasn't going to be on friendly terms.

“Jacob-"

"No."

That was all Jacob said as he opened his eyes, the amber colour; the corruption seemed to flair to life more than it had before. The anger he had allowed to bottle up began to flow from him, just as the Dark did in preparation to battle Allyia's Light. Jacob ignited his old lightsaber, the blue blade illuminating the space as she slipped into a bastardized Djem So stance.

[member="Matsu Xiangu"]​

 

[Matsu Xiangu]

The ‘no’ was resounding.

It was painful, decisive like a knife placed precisely. It was the abruptness of a thing settled. She would have liked to assimilate that emotion, understand it in some detached way and put it to the side - no longer threatening for the logic she’d applied to it, given to the Force to be carried away. But she had no time. She knew the way her once-Padawan settled back. His eyes made him a stranger but many of the other mannerisms carried forward. With a deep breath, she gave every negative emotion that had exploded through her at that one simple word (no...no...no...no)...and they were gone.

“Then you leave me no choice.”

Djem So still retained some of the stigma it had carried when first introduced to the Jedi Order, and so it seemed the perfect fit for the Togruta. She used it in the style of great practitioners past, toeing the border between peaceful strength and aggression and never teetering needlessly to the more dangerous side of the fence. It was a Form with a solid base in defensive maneuvers, perfect against Sith that often favored more aggressive tactics. But nor did it wait for an opponent to tire, seeking decisive counters and pressing when an opening was seen.

For a moment the cavernous room itself was a held breath, motes of dust streaming in shafts of light the only things moving. Even the Sith Lord tracking the edges of the place had stopped, lithe body poised mid-step as if someone had reached in and paused some dreadful holo-recording on finding they didn’t like the outcome.

“This isn’t the first time you’ve let someone fall.”

Allyia could almost have been convinced it was her own thought, her own poignant regret that traced across her mind like a finger dragged over water. It took her a moment to peel back the layer on the intrusion that marked it for just that - the Sith, in her head, speaking. She’d been so focused on Jacob that she’d neglected to ward herself against the petite woman’s touch. Her gaze snapped to the Atrisian only momentarily, but it was enough to catch the closed smile that the woman wore. How much had she seen? How far had she wandered without Allyia even noticing in her hope to turn Jacob back?

Figuring it for the distraction it as, Allyia managed to turn her eye back to Jacob just in time to respond to his lunge. The spine-tingling sound of a lightsaber blade swinging close laser-focused the Togruta’s attention, reaching her own out to catch the blade that crashed overhand towards her. With a great augmentation of the Force to her strength, she PUSHED, trying to send him backwards. This would be no drawn-out battle of skill and technique - she realized now she was fighting for her life, not her once-Padawan’s. His had already been lost. He’d died years ago.

So there was no pause, no supplication for reconsideration as Allyia, saber up one-handed in a ward, reached towards the crumbling stairs and pressed at the cracks in their stone form until they split under the weight of the Force. They made fine projectiles which she flung at Jacob, hoping she might be spared the sight of his skull cracking open.

[member="Jacob Crawford"]​

 

[Jacob Crawford]

While he didn’t outwardly show it, Jacob was surprised when Allyia slipped into a Djem So stance. It was not a form that he generally attributed to the Jedi Master, but then again she was a Battlemaster for a very good reason. Form VII might’ve been her speciality, but it didn’t detract from the rest of her knowledge.

But Jacob had been her student once, and had been trained in a similar manner Allyia had. Djem So had been his favored form, making it a rather interesting move on her part. He had no doubt in his mind that she was still very much the master when it came to proficiency with lightsaber combat.

As a counter, Jacob shifted into an Ataru stance. It was a surprising choice for him, if specifically looking at his past tendencies. Back when he was a Jedi, Jacob had always favoured the more aggressive forms, and while Ataru had it, it distinctly lacked the raw strength he always utilized.

Form IV was certainly not a common style Jacob has used in the past, mainly due to his lack of using the Force in conjunction with it. But since his return from the Netherworld, he had found himself liking the form with his higher proficiency with the Force.

Within a moment everything seemed to shift, like a snapshot had been taken before it resumed. Jacob lunged towards Allyia, lightsaber angled for a stab. But the master quickly snapped her attention back in time to defend against it. What Jacob wasn’t expecting was the Push, his body held in such a position that the attack sent him blasting back.

He flipped through the air, managing to land stomach first. Jacob slammed his cybernetic hand into the ground, metal fingers digging into the dirt as he skidded to a stop. But Allyia was not one to relent in her assault, and had sent several stone projectiles his way.

Standing up, Jacob slashed at the first two with his lightsaber, then ducked and dodge a few more. It was the largest of the lot that became his focus. Summoning the Force, drawing upon the anger within, Jacob yelled as he threw his free hand out and cast a Force blast towards it. The projectile shattered into smaller pieces, enough so that he wasn’t fazed as they stuck him, nicking skin across his face.

“You’ve grown within the Force…”

Allyia had always known her former padawan to be a duelist at heart. Even back on Nar Shaddaa, when he used the Force as a weapon to enhance his blows. He had never been able to further train that innate ability outside of lightsaber training.

And to now see that wasn’t the case?

“Like I said, Allyia. Things have changed.”

Jacob shifted his body into another stance. But rather than letting the Togruta move in, he instead darted towards her - using the Force to enhanced his speed as he came at her with a flurry of swings.

[member="Matsu Xiangu"]​

 

[Matsu Xiangu]

There was something dogged in Jacob’s pursuit that unnerved her, unsettled the foundation she stood on. It was like an animal one trusted suddenly turning rabid, attacking where every other day of its life it had been docile. One simply couldn’t react with the presence of mind required. But she had to.

The stones broke against his deflection.
Suddenly she wondered if Djem So had been the right choice.
It was one of fragility. It was one of uncertainty. Certainly not overall, but from where she stood, without a doubt. So much had happened - her sister, Jacob, the way she pushed the Order. Since Jacob’s disappearance she’d been afraid...worried of using Juyo for the temptation that it was.

Jacob ran at her, dashing towards her.
It was the only choice.

Flow with the Force. Your Form will try and push you over the line in to the dark - Juyo requires the constant reminder to yourself that our gift is one we allow to control us, and not the other way around. Let it guide your mind, and by extension your body, your arms, your hands. It is your protector, as it always has been. It grants you trust when you take up Form VII and you must never give it cause to feel betrayed.

The words of Allyia’s own Master flowed through her mind, a welcome, calming balm as she let the Force guide her blade to defend against the unceasing onslaught of Jacob’s attack.

Those of us who practice Juyo have a darkness ourselves, but through this form we set it free. Not to control us or do harm, but a purging. We set it free to leave us, disappear in the light which we send it to by letting go. Relish that freedom, let it give you peace - let go and feel that darkness take hold while you were weren’t looking you stupid karking heathen, let your family fall, let your padawan fall, because you can’t stop falling! I should have let you go. I shouldn’t have taught you. I should never have let you get this far! You are an abomination, an insult to your Order!

The sudden change in tone was frightening, and one particularly strong swing from Jacob had her staggering backwards, reaching out behind her with a hand to stop herself from falling. She rose quickly, blocking another swing by raising her blade up above her. It nearly broke her arm.

She realized the Lord must be manipulating her, watching memories until she caught something she could change and disturb Allyia with. That manipulation burned and when she rose with a snap to her feet she threw her weight in to Juyo with a ferocity that gave it its name.

“You’re weaker this way Jacob! You think the Dark makes you stronger, makes up for something taken from you, but it doesn’t! You are stronger than this!”

Her features were twisted in something ugly, angry. She pushed against him as they battled towards a set of stairs, backing her strike with a telekinetic shove that made her five times stronger.

“Don’t make me kill you!”

And I’m weak too...

[member="Jacob Crawford"]​

 

[Jacob Crawford]

Jacob moved fast, and hit hard.

That had always been his way of fighting back when he was a Jedi. It was a mix of the speed he had to rely on when he was younger, ducking and weaving around larger opponents in the cages. During a time when he was more scrawny and lacked the muscle that he had nowadays.

Which was further helped by practically wrestling beasts near twice his size for a year. Amongst everything he went through during his imprisonment on Dxun, it had certainly helped build him up to be a much stronger attacker. Something that his former Master was currently feeling each time his lightsaber slammed against hers.

As their weapons clashed, Jacob could see Allyia falling back on her thoughts and memories. It was something he knew well, that she had done many times over the years. A technique she relied on, much like any proper Jedi when she was in the middle of a heated battle, attempting to keep themselves calm. Anger had its uses, but it was a slippery path to go down if you let it take the reins. Even for Sith, one needed to keep it's leash short unless you wanted to slip up and make a mistake.

Then in that moment, he noticed the Togruta falter.

Something in her mind had turned her path awry, footwork loosening up as she became momentarily distracted.

It was enough for Jacob, and he moved in to capitalize on it.

He swung his lightsaber with all his strength, slamming it down intending to slice into Allyia. But even with her addled mind, the woman was able to bring her weapon up in time to block it. Although the power behind it was certainly felt as he heard Allyia groan from the strain. Then without missing a beat, the Togruta slipped back into her Juyo stance and immediately returned to her assault. It was unrelenting, slicing and slashing in every other angle as she slowly pushed Jacob back, overwhelming him.

Until something sparked within, and Jacob managed to force them into a saber lock.

"There was nothing for it to fill, when the Dark Side found me I was nothing but an empty shell! The Netherworld took everything, leaving nothing but bare scraps for me to cling on to. I do not think that it makes me stronger...I know it does." Jacob roared out in anger, bashing Allyia's lightsaber to the side and delivering a knee straight to her gut.

Jacob leaped over her with the Force, landing atop the slab of rock she had previously been meditating on. Anger swelling through his mind and body, Jacob slammed his fists down into it, augmented by the Force as it shattered into large chunks.

"This is where you die, Allyia!" He began to throw the stone projectiles her way, mixing smaller pieces with the larger as they soared through the air.

And when it got near to the end of them, when Jacob threw the final large piece?

He leaped through the air right behind it, saber poised to strike the moment she inevitable cleared the debris from her path.

[member="Matsu Xiangu"]​

 

[Matsu Xiangu]

Allyia had always been of the strict opinion that reasoning with Dark Siders was a futile task. Those dramatic talks of conviction would never get anywhere. But that had been naive. It was easy to stay so detached when you didn’t care about the person on the other end of the conversation.

And there lay the fatal flaw.

She cared.

So many rules of the Code, so many doctrines of the Council that she’d been willing to bend. Never break, but bend. She’d been an exemplary Jedi Master in every way and though sometimes her actions and willingness to play with the rules had turned heads, they’d never once questioned her judgment. Allyia was a standard to set by.

But now she wasn’t so sure of their faith.

Despair flooded her mind, an emotion far too strong. She knew it was too much, that she should give it to the Force. She checked for the Lord’s intrusion, thinking the woman pacing the outside border of the room had to be amplifying her sorrow. But instead she found the Atrisian had left her completely, vacating to leave a hole that had filled with negative emotion that put Allyia in danger of faltering under Jacob’s onslaught.

Take this from me. I can’t carry it.

She didn’t have the time to close her eyes, to truly cast off those things that jeopardized her position in the Light. But still, she let go of her clutch on heartache. It drifted, carried away on the tide of the Force.

Let it flow through you - don’t try to swim.

Chunks of rock pelted her, the temple becoming more and more ruined by the moment as the two duelled. It was probably something metaphorical and poignant but the Togruta had no time to contemplate its representation of her current predicament. Instead she erected a barrier, one that managed to stop the smaller projectiles and slow the bigger ones enough that they fell ineffectually at her feet. But it could only hold for so long. Two pieces hit her forearms held before her body. Another hit her in the stomach, drawing a slight tilt forward that made it hard to focus. That was when it dropped, her hands drawing up to bring her sabers in to a guard - but too little, too late.

She managed to stop him from cutting off her arm entirely, but the damage was hideous to look at. Halfway through flesh and bone, muscle pulling away from the plasma beam, her right arm dangled with a sickening cracking noise each time the pieces of bone rocked against each other. She let out a scream of pain, but focused on defending herself.

She couldn’t win here.

Even if she could bring herself to break through her old Padawan’s anger and kill him, there was still the Lord to contend with. Two against one should have been a difficult fight, but not this taxing. Sentimentality had gotten in her way.

She disengaged, one arm useless, lightsabers humming shut as she raised her left arm and let her mind go blank as she channeled the Force, asking it for everything it could give her. The blast of telekinesis that followed cracked the earth, zig-zagging through stone and nearly reaching the Lord’s feet. It would hopefully send Jacob flying far enough that Allyia could get some distance.

It was a calculated series of jumps that allowed her to reach a hole in the side of the ceiling, over fallen debris and half-collapsed terraces, until she was out in the sunshine and retreating. The odds of them following were good - she was, after all, wounded prey. Allowing her to recuperate somewhere would make their jobs harder. She ran as fast as she could, heritage allowing her an athleticism and speed unheard of in other species.

It would not be the last time she’d see Jacob Crawford. And next time, she wouldn’t be hindered by emotions.

[member="Jacob Crawford"]​

 

[Jacob Crawford]

When Jacob had decided he would track and fight his former Master, he had come to it knowing it was going to be incredibly tough fight - one he could very well be killed in the process of. In his mind there was no way Allyia would immediately go for the kill when it came to him, he was her old Padawan after all, one that she had failed.

The inevitable and boring 'come back to the Light' and 'the Dark is corrupting, there's still time to leave it' flew from her lips at some point, as Jacob expected they would. Allyia was a that type of Jedi to a T. But something had changed in the middle of the battle, perhaps in part due to Matsu's manipulations in the Togruta's mind.

Having her here had been a benefit, no doubt. Although Matsu had made it apparent she was not going to raise a hand in this fight. Even if she did end up assisting, it was going to be incredibly minor degree. Jacob had a feeling that her actions during this battle had been one of curiosity, more than anything else.

Allyia had no doubt come to this with the knowledge she'd be facing him alone, and didn't account for having a mentalist poking around on the sidelines. From what Jacob remembered, she wasn't that well versed in mental defences. He himself was curious about what Matsu had found, what barriers and walls were even there for her to bypass.

Jacob's focus had been on the physical fighting, clashing blades with someone who made name for herself with lightsaber combat. But it seemed a combination of things had worked against Allyia.

Probably being out of practice, years spent in isolation away from any conflict. The emotional toll of having to fight someone who had once trained, once cared for. And of course, having a spider crawling along the peripherals; both physical and mental.

Even then, it came as a surprise to Jacob when he managed to deal a blow against his former Master. He felt it as his blade cut into Allyia's arm, tearing out do deal even more damage. It seemed to even stun the Togruta, giving Jacob an opened he wasn't able to past up. He lurched forwards, lightsaber poised for another strike. But before he could reach her, Allyia sent a Force Blast towards him, tearing up the ground in its wake.

Jacob moved out of the way, but it still managed to clip him. It sent him flying through the air, until Jacob managed to flip in the air and land on the ground with both feet. However, as he looked back up he found Allyia was gone.

All that remained was small pieces of stone crumbling from high above, where Allyia had jumped up to make her exit.

Slowly, Jacob walked over looking up at the hole in the ceiling. He heard the faint footsteps as Matsu joined him.

Allyia had escaped, as they both had expected.

He held no disillusion that it would end of any other way. Jacob was not at a level where he could best his former Master in a lightsaber battle. This had been a test, one to see whether there was anything left of his past connections. And today had proven that wasn't even a slither of it left. He would cut down Allyia at any chance he got, as there was no doubt they would cross paths again.

For now though, Jacob had to deal with what he had come for - the real final chain that was currently being held in his hand.

His old lightsaber.

[member="Matsu Xiangu"]​