The Man's Half Crushed (Preliat)

[Ginnie Dib]

Aboard the Kaho Miko Exploratory Vessel
Medical Bay ICU

The Mandalorians who saved [member="Preliat Mantis"] were elsewhere on the ship. Eli had been moved from the hangar bay to the proper medical bay, along with the little girl [member="Ginnie Ordo"]. The child was flat out unconscious, oxygen tanks connected to her lungs before the girl suffocated on her own respiratory system. The doc droid had said her oxygen levels were so low the fact she was breathing at all was a miracle of the so called Force.

Aditya lingered between the two beds, she pulled a stool over and sat beside Eli and waited for the moment he'd wake up. What a sight he'd see, a warm room filled with light, his beloved girlfriend and lover sitting with her hair down and her gloves off to hold his nearest hand. His wounds were scrubbed clean, sutured, precious bacta patches applied and wrapped in the best bandages Aditya could afford. The stark medical sheets were covered in warm blankets, and a line of IV fluids was pushing through nutrients Eli's body was starved for as he laid in temporary medically induced slumber. They had to slice clean more tissue on his amputated leg, cleaning the crude prison work up and leaving the man with a noticeable absence of limb.

The surgeon droid said he'd start coming out of it any minute, Aditya rubbed her eyes and yawned. She intertwined her fingers with Eli's and leaned over until her head was draped on the bed beside him. "Someone get me some stimcaf, please."

A nurse wandered off. Aditya rubbed her eyes, "Eli? I don't know if you're hearing any of this, but I tried. I tried so hard when I found out you'd been taken and it took too long to find you but I didn't know what else to do. That little girl over there was the best I could do. Nobody'd expect a kid, you know? And what do you know, Eli. The girl did it. She found you. I've never felt relief like this. Truth is I . . . oh you know."

She leaned over and brushed the hair out of his face, it had been washed and brushed. His face shaved and teeth cleaned, body dressed in grey linen. Aditya kissed his temple and sat back, leaning her elbow against the bed rail.

 

[Preliat Mantis]

His eyes were the first to open. The machines started to whirl, as his heart rate fluttered and he instinctively sat up, looking around. It wasn't as if he was about to attack anyone, he was just...confused. His brown eyes, fluttered before he laid back. He felt significantly cleaner, the grime of the prison washed off. His leg felt...better. His eyes moved to his hand, and he slowly retracted it from Aditya's, letting it rest on his abdominal muscles. He breathed deeply, taking in the gravity of the situation.


"You shouldn't have brought him. And you shouldn't have been there either."


He didn't say anything more- it actually seemed that Preliat didn't want to talk to anyone right now. Especially her.


[member="Aditya Amadis"]

 

[Ginnie Dib]

Aditya jumped when [member="Preliat Mantis"] sat up in bed, she nigh on spilled her stimcaf over herself, but managed the slosh of only a drop or three she rubbed off her leather trousers. "Gash me up and call me Zippy, you're quick."

By the time she put her mug down to help him back into bed, Eli was already laying down again. No wonder the Field Marshal'd lasted as long as he had.

"I wasn't about to turn down fighters once the girl brought all that information back. It scared me, Eli. Med scans and sentries and Sith Lords. I'd have brought the freaking Mand'alor if I'd had the chance. Besides, what was I supposed to do? I'm not his big sister, I can't order [member="Silas Mantis"] around. It's not like I peeked under every Mando's helmet to ask if it happened to be a relative you knew on good terms." Eli pulled his hand from hers and she felt the wash of his rejection. Aditya mashed her lips together and pulled her arms over her chest.

"Why wouldn't I be there? Give me one good reason I wouldn't come rescue you from that horrible place."

 

[Silas Mantis]

He glared from his seat, eyes fixated on [member="Preliat Mantis"]. "Am I not allowed to make my own fething choices big brother?" He questioned angrily. Silas didn't expect him to say anything back, so he went back to what he was doing, maintaining his rifle. This was basic operating, a soldier had to keep his weapon functional at all times without exception or excuse. The idea of his 'duty as a soldier' kept him busy, kept him focused on what he could control and not on the actions of other people in his life, no matter how big a role they played. Still his mind wandered.

He continually questioned why after all the trauma he'd been through, why not once did Preliat come to the one group of people who would and had always been there for him. None of it made since, it didn't add up, but then again the motives and actions of a beast were often hard to comprehend, and that's what Preliat was now, a beast. How [member="Aditya Amadis"] could deal with him, like this, all the time was beyond him. She may not have been a fighter, but he would never question her tougness.

 

[Preliat Mantis]

"You should have left me in that cell."Preliat's brown eyes shot daggers at [member="Silas Mantis"], ignoring him. Which, probably hurt more than saying something to him. The Field Marshal leaned over the railing."You should have left me to rot and to die."His accent, soft normally, accentuated the consonants in his words that made them slightly more vicious.



The Field Marshal locked his eyes with Aditya, gritting his teeth and curling his fists into the bedsheets under him. The fabric began to give, ripping was the sound that occupied the room before the man spoke again."Get out. Both of you."He said, bitterly.


It might have been the most horrific and meanest thing he had ever said to anyone, given the context.


[member="Silas Mantis"] [member="Aditya Amadis"]

 

[Ginnie Dib]

"Thank you, Silas. One more pipe up from the two of you and I'm going Mama Nexu on you both and gonna make you hug it out till you're sore in the middles. Don't think I don't mean it! I might not be brave, but I can be now." Aditya glanced back at [member="Silas Mantis"] and sighed, giving him a 'really, that's your comment' sort of look. A rumbling cough stole Aditya's lungs, she covered her mouth with a handkerchief and hacked. The smoke had done its number on the armour-less woman and now that she'd taken the time to stop, it was rustling up. One of the medic droids pulled a scanner out and scanned Aditya's chest and stomach. It trilled and clucked, rushing off.

"Oh you bastard." Aditya balled her own fists, staring back down at the man in the bed. "I can turn the ship around, heft you down that hangar bay and give you a push, but that's your pain talking. The torture you went through. Not my Eli. And don't you go saying my Eli is gone, 'cause I know that no man goes through what you did and gets out alright on the flip side. You lived through it. So don't you dare. Don't you dare act like a flipping two year old who lost his lollipop. You're a fething Field Marshal and your vod stuck by you. I stuck by you. You don't get to make that judgement, Eli. Not till I'm satisfied."

What was it the Sith girl wanted? For [member="Preliat Mantis"] to get punched in the face? He was running close to getting that caveat fulfilled. He sat staring at her and she stared back, her black eyes with their irises of red softened by a newly found affection. In his absence, she'd discovered that the man meant more than she'd admitted those days before. She put her hands on the bedrails and peered down at him unbreakingly. "No. I'm not leaving."

She'd lost her husband once, let Kei fall away and now Eli was hurting. Aditya pressed her lips together and fought the furrow of her brow and flare of her nostrils. "Go through your pain. Feel it and we'll deal with it together. I don't care if you yell and billow and shout. I don't care if you throw your weight around. I don't even care if we shove the others off this ship and head to the Unknown Reaches. I am not leaving this room, Preliat Mantis. And I'm sure as kark not leaving you."

 

[Preliat Mantis]

"MY NAME IS PRELIAT!"He screamed at [member="Aditya Amadis"], nearly lunging off of the bed, if it weren't for the tubes and other things connected to him, he might have actually pounced on the poor girl. Preliat's name, might have been the only thing he had been holding on to besides her. Preliat- literally had nothing. His anger, however, was the thing that broke him. Not the torture. Not the battles. It was his own demons that caused his devil to manifest. Hopefully [member="Silas Mantis"] could avoid the devil in their bloodstream, the rage. "If you will not leave, then it would be wise for you to be quiet. I'd rather be alone right now."Hate filled eyes wandered towards her again."Do not belittle men, do not pretend to know what I've gone through for these years, Aditya. Your affection is noted, but do not pretend it is the sole thing I have been holding on to these years. Now both of you, get the hell out and leave me be. I'm tired and I want to rest."




He spit his words venomously.

 

[Ginnie Dib]

As he surged up, Aditya shrieked and skittered backward until her back hit the next bed over. Grabbing onto the side rails, her eyes wide and lungs heaving, Aditya clammed up into a series of ragged coughs. She bit the side of her mouth to stop them, her chin wobbling as the extent to [member="Preliat Mantis"]' horrifying situation became clear.

"I CAN YELL TOO!!" Aditya spat back, balled her fist and punched him in the arm. The woman may not have been particularly brave, but she did lack a certain care of person which kept her from backing up completely and hiding behind [member="Silas Mantis"]. She looked back at Eli's younger brother, a stroke of fear on her face. The woman didn't know what to do.

"Don't belittle me by thinking this is easy! Think I want to see that hate in your eyes? I've had enough of that before Kei died and I don't need it, Preliat!!" She spat his name out and let go of the far bedrail, coming back beside Preliat's bedside and sitting down on the stool. "You already know I've gone through enough myself to know only you can deal with your pain. But not alone. Please, don't bring me to an entirely new culture full of people I don't understand then shove me off 'cause you've been through worse than death. I know you're trying to make Silas and I feel like dirt."

Aditya gulped and pulled her fingers together in her lap. "You're succeeding. Can't I take a little of this burden off your shoulders? 'Cause our family just got bigger and right now I'm terrified you'll wander off and get killed or I'll never see you again and not know why other than 'because'. G-et some sleep. I have something for you when you wake up."

The woman pulled herself off the stool and damned the consequences of her next act. She kissed Eli's forehead, "I love you.", then walked back to where Silas sat with his rifle and sat down beside him.

 

[Silas Mantis]

"Leave him be." Silas spoke up, shaking in both anger and pain, looking to [member="Aditya Amadis"] with the same brown eyes as the man she loved. "Just let him be alone, he's had times like this since we were kids, just let him be. It isn't a big ship, he'll call if he needs you." He continued, intentionally leaving out the phrase 'us' as he stared daggers right back at [member="Preliat Mantis"]. The nature of his rage was new to Silas, but the rage itself was not.

He turned on his heel and moved towards the hallway without a word, silently holding in the anger that was welling up inside his chest as a a result of this 'betrayal'. He didn't look back, he simply hoped Aditya would follow, or call him back. He wasn't reaching out for Preliat, not he was just as angry as the elder sibling, perhaps more, he merely held it in.

 

[Preliat Mantis]

In his deafening and mind-clouding anger, he did not understand what [member="Aditya Amadis"] meant. He could not see the love in her eyes. He could not see the passion she felt, the affection that ran like a river for him. How badly he was hurting her. Here, he did not see the brother he was leaving behind, the scarring that his departure from the family brought onto his own little brother. Eyes flickered over to Aditya, blinking before they turned away.


"That's exactly what they are. My burdens. Not yours."


So he did care- enough to not shoulder the weight of his world onto hers. He knew that she did not deserve the pain, and he was not one to try and share it. With anyone. His head turned when she said the three words that he had been longing for since he found himself falling for her. He pursed his lip in shame, before quietly returning the favor.


"I love you too."


He did not talk to his brother. That wound would not heal anytime soon.

[member="Silas Mantis"] [member="Aditya Amadis"]

 

[Ginnie Dib]

"Yes, they're your burdens. But you brought me into your life to help you bear them. Making us hate you solves nothing, 'cause we never will."

He said it, and the man meant it. If there had been anything she needed from Eli as he dealt with his horrifying situation, it was that nothing emotionally had changed. Or at least one thing was the same. Aditya bent down and threw her arms around his shoulders, pushed her forehead on his chin and whispered in his ear. "I love you. Please. , , sleep and come back. I need you to come back, we've got a . . an ad'ika on the way and I'm scared I can't do this without its' father."

Aditya yanked herself away from [member="Preliat Mantis"] and followed red-faced after [member="Silas Mantis"]. She didn't know how she could look deeper into Eli's face with her admonition. "Wait! Silas, wait. Please don't walk so fast, do all Mama Mantis' sons walk at hyper speed? Give a woman a chance to catch up. . . Silas why didn't you tell me before we left who you were? You probably didn't know who I was, come to think but . . . Silas, wait!"

 

[Silas Mantis]

He stopped, dead in his tracks and waited for [member="Aditya Amadis"] to catch up before he answered her question. "I didn't think it mattered, I didn't know who you were, all I knew was I wanted him out of prison." He answered, venom in his voice when he spoke of Preliat. They were hardheaded boys, always had been, and Silas would be as slow to try and fix things as Preliat at this rate. But Aditya caught his interest, the way she cared for his brother, it was good, Silas approved, and in the back of his mind he hoped Preliat would come back home, perhaps with her.

He noticed how red faced she was, whatever she'd told him must have been either embarrassing or rather important. He didn't ask. Silas had found Preliat, become a Mandolorian warrior, but now he found himself with a strange sense of emptiness, he didn't know where to go.

[member="Preliat Mantis"]

 

[Preliat Mantis]

"I am the embodiment of hate."


He chalked it up to tinnitus and not wanting to listen. He was able to make out a few words, before the strain of the conversation brought the weakened Mandalorian back into the bed, gritting his teeth, before his eyes began to close. A hand reached out to grasp hers, a last ditch effort to make sure she was alright, before he sunk into the cotton, fading into a dream. It wasn't a pleasant one, it was Elrood again. And the demons, his demons, surrounded him, but did not attack him. They simply stared. All the death, all the wars, all the men who died under his command. They just stared at him, forming a line on either side, a tunnel of his own machinations.


He dragged his feet onward, and he found himself armored in his dreams. His old armor- before he was even a Rally Master. Back when he was on Elrood. At the end, he saw his family, Aditya, Silas, GIlamar, Ordo, Azrael, collected and happy around a table. All the Mandalorians he knew, all the friends he made, all the people he knew from the Army of Light, gathered around to celebrate their bonds. And here he was, unable to go to them, as the ghosts of his past prevented his passing. He screamed, but was drowned out by sheer number of people- that he had killed, the monsters in which he slayed on the very ground he was standing on, and his inability to reach the happiness he had been fighting for.


He stirred in his sleep, but did not wake- the dream was a recurring one. It just grew more and more dense every time.

 

[Ginnie Dib]

"It's ok, get that rest you were wanting, won't be as much of it once. . . well, we'll talk about that later, future Buir." His hand on hers stopped her from moving. Aditya's heart near broke off its moorings as she glanced down at the man. She wanted to curl up beside him, to hug into his chest and kiss away that terrible pain in his eyes. She didn't care if he was a monster to everyone on the outside, but to her? To Silas? To their future child? Thinking it made it real and the displaced Epicanthix held on to [member="Preliat Mantis"] hand until he fell off to sleep.

Here she was onboard a ship with two of the most kraft dragon headed boys the Mandalorians had produced. Ever. Aditya put her hand on her face and dragged it up to her forehead. "Well it matters now. For how awful Preliat's being we can both see he's been through higher waters than a Mon Calamari in the surf. Give him some time? Gosh I sound like I needed to hear that, too. Where. . . where are you staying? You know, on Mandalore? 'Cause Eli bought some land and there's a house on it we've been living there and that's where I'm going and . . . I guess what I want to say is you don't have to abandon him. We can make it better eventually or . . . or I don't know what to do, but it's worth the try. You're welcome with me. With us. How not okay are you right now?" [member="Silas Mantis"]

 

[Silas Mantis]

"I was staying in some of the barracks, and now I figured I'd do some mercenary work. It worked out for him." He replied, jutting a thumb in Preliat's direction. The man had met [member="Aditya Amadis"] doing merc work, maybe he'd be just as lucky, he'd at least get some experience. Silas' expression was dim, evidently he was very not okay, but the boy was as hardheaded as his brother, and he wouldn't let the pain show through. He was set on his course of action, he'd help the Mando'a whenever they called but he also had his own priorities to take into consideration.

Somehow the second the words he'd spoken left his lips he knew she would protest or suggest an alternative. Or maybe she wouldn't, maybe Preliat's bluntness was a shared trait between the two. That would make for one...interesting kid. If they ever had kids, because that totally wasn't happening. Tucking his helmet under his left arm he quietly waited for her response.

 

[Ginnie Dib]

"Stay with us. Come back to Mandalore and help me settle Eli. You can make it a . . . a home base. But it's a home, okay? Barracks are cold and sterile and the food's not as good as it should be. You're a growing young man. You need more than the barracks life chasing bullets and credits by slicing whoever needs the coins in their pockets less. Sure, you want to Bounty Hunt? Be a Mercenary? It's your life, but don't waste the time you've got in a barracks. Have your own room looking over the farm, there's a great bedroom across from the baby's r--" Aditya mashed her lips and fingers together, her cheeks burning a bright crimson red as she walked a few paces from [member="Silas Mantis"].

"Worked out for him? You know he saw the dead return to life, right? Zombies eating brains and tearing flesh. Your brother lived through some weird Sith magic that kept bringing their dead back again and again. He saw horrible things and his only sparkle of light was a crazy Epicanthix engineer and I'll have you know I was married at the time. Was. Not anymore. . . Come home, Silas. That's how it works. You can go out and do your jobs, make whatever credits you can and help whatever Mandalorians you can, but you'll be a stronger man and a stronger fighter if you've got a place to come home to and a warm meal to fill your belly. Trust me, I've been in your brother's life for a well, a while. And I don't want to see you end up falling into some kind of crazy like. . . like I know can happen. So come home with us."

 

[Silas Mantis]

"Fine." His response was quick and firm, the young man didn't seem overly eager on the exterior, but deep down he found himself thankful [member="Aditya Amadis"] had offered him a home. When she told him of the horrors Preliat had experienced during his work as a mercenary, he simply nodded. Silas understood well enough that in a galaxy filled with energy sword swinging magicians and monsters beyond imagination, there were plenty of way to seem some very karked up stuff, but he was okay with taking that risk. Despite his efforts, most Mandolorians, and the galaxy in general knew him as Preliat's little brother, not as his own man, and he was hellbent on changing that fact.

Silas had caught the bit about a baby, even in cutting herself short she still couldn't help but let out too much, but he wouldn't pursue the subject. Obviously he niece/nephews mother was very early in pregnancy and wasn't ready to disclose all the details, and he respected her wishes. Without a word, Silas lifted up his helmet and slid it on over his head. From behind the 'T' of the visor he waited for Aditya to say something more.

 

[Ginnie Dib]

Were all the Mantis boys that curt when replying to something? Aditya had half a mind to slap them both upside the head and yell 'sentences!', but felt better about it. [member="Silas Mantis"] would warm up in his own due time.

"Thank you Silas. I appreciate it and I know some day Preliat will appreciate it too. Might take him a while, but he'll succumb or he's the stupidest son-of-a-bantha in the universe to give us up. Let me know what kind of colours and things you like and I'll help you do up your room your way. Oh, and there's already an engineering lab and repair station in the basement so you don't have to put a workbench in your bedroom unless you want to." She smiled and rubbed her eyes. The fatigue of rescue, the energy highs and emotional panics were breaking the last straw in Aditya's conscious body.

"Are you hungry? 'Cause I'm starving. They've got a goodly supply of food in the Mess. I'm gonna go grab a bite or three then come back to the med bay to watch over your brother. You're welcome to join me or just chill on the way to Mandalore. Up to you. You know where I'll be." With that, the woman walked off toward oddly chosen foods and the chance to put her feet up.