Skirmish The Sacking of Kaas City [LOTS v TSE - Open To All]

[Darth Empyrean]

"Indeed.", Maliphant offered, not acknowledging the strikingly loud roar coming from behind them.

With a sigh, he took a step off the ledge and fell with a controlled grace not dissimilar to a hololift or tractor beam levitation system. When his feet touched the ground, they did so silently - carefully standing where the gray water was not, but the smell was still noticeable. His nose curled up as he smelled the sewage that surrounded them.

"How... poetic.", he said to himself, considering the situation slightly ironic considering where they were.

"Lead the way, Arthos."

Arthos Vynea

 

[Vaylin]

Moirai rolled her eyes in response to Kaalia’s answer. “I’m afraid you’ll find yourself speaking to deaf ears, Kaalia. Vaylin isn’t here right now.” The tone was devoid of emotion, and yet it still held some measure of cadence. Almost similar to how Vaylin sounded when she was being sarcastic.

She began to pace back and forth slightly, hands never leaving their place. And Moirai made sure to block the way towards the Kro Varian’s ship.

“Vaylin was weakening, having doubts. Letting false emotions dictate her actions. She didn’t come to you because she didn’t want to burden you. You had already parted ways to be with your family, not wanting anything Sith to be involved with it.”

Something almost akin to disgust appeared across Moirai’s pale visage, recalling those memories.

“They were excuses, to hide the fact she was being a coward. She didn’t want to face her mistakes, that she rarely listened to you when you warned her.”

Moirai paused as she felt something within her...slipping, cracking. It dawned on her in that moment that confronting Kaalia had been a double-bladed sword. On one end, she’d be removing the one last nail that kept her down. Push the former SIth to the point of completely giving up on Vaylin. But the other was an occurrence Moirai hadn’t accounted for.

That she’d stir in the Kro Varian’s presence.

“Leave.” Moirai spoke, but the words were not directed at Kaalia. Hell, she wasn’t even looking at her. Moirai’s corrupted eyes stared straight at her, but were hazy as though she wasn’t...present.

No.

Feeling the irritating presence within, Moirai instinctively began to draw her blades out. But they suddenly froze in place before they could even get quarter of the way.

You won’t lay a finger on her.

“Leave!”

No!

“Leave!” Moirai’s eyes seemed to snap back to reality, staring directly into the ex-Sith. “Leave, Kaalia.”

Kaalia Pavanos​

 

[Kaalia Pavanos]

The Death of Avacyn // Confronted by Vaylin
Angel Blade

​

Patience.

Kaalia's head slowly swiveled from left to right, eyes closely following Moirai's pacing form. The zabrak was on edge, but the last thing Kaalia wanted to happen was for them to draw blades on each other. Not when it felt so utterly unnecessary. That wasn't how she would let this end. Not after all they had been through together. Even when Moirai spoke with such finality.

The agitated, even disgusted words that were spoken pained Kaalia. Help that she could've so easily given hadn't been reached out towards, while she gladly would've done all she could. The silence from Vaylin's end had bothered her before, but Kaalia always felt like it wasn't her place to pry. Now she regretted her inaction. Her mouth opened to respond, to apologize to the slumbering Vaylin suppressed by the Sith counterpart that had taken control, but a subtle shift in the Force caused her to remain silent for just a moment longer.

Struggle. Kaalia felt it. Vaylin wasn't gone. The redhead's lips tugged upwards, though just barely.

Instead of reaching for her pair of lightsabers, Kaalia took a single step backwards as Moirai looked to draw her blades. This moment wasn't about her, but about Moirai and Vaylin. She was more than ready to defend herself, her power had not been given up, but wouldn't resort to it until there really was no other choice.

Leave. A word aimed that wasn't aimed at her at first, but changed its target when the look in Vaylin's eyes changed. That was the woman Kaalia had wanted to talk to.

"You're better than this, Vaylin. Fight her. She isn't you." They were straight-forward words, but they carried no judgment. Stepping forward once more, she made sure to retain the eye-contact that the zabrak had established. "And despite what she thinks, she isn't stronger than you either."

This was Vaylin's battle to win. As much as Kaalia wanted to rip Moirai right out of her skull, this wasn't her war. It was too late to prevent the damage that was already done.

"Vaylin," Kaalia said after a short moment of silence, resisting the instinctual urge to physically reach out. "Know that I am sorry. I should've reached out."

The zabrak had told her to leave, but Kaalia wouldn't do so until she was certain that this wouldn't be their last meeting. She was as close to family as someone could get to the Kro Varian.

"But I am still here."

 

[Vaylin]

While the pale and corrupted appearance didn’t change, the Zabrak’s features did soften as Vaylin took center stage. But there was still no emotion there, not even capable of curling her lips into a small smile.

Her amber eyes were still hollow, just like the husk of a physical form.

“It’s too late, Kaalia. It was already too late when I answered Carnifex’s summons.” Vaylin simply stood there rigid in posture, almost as if she didn’t know how to move, to express herself.

A sign of just how long it had been since the Zabrak had been in the pilot’s seat last.

“You tried warning me about Jorryn, repeatedly. But I never listened, I just wanted to maintain that relationship, that warmth.” Vaylin had never been good with relationships; loving someone. It all harkened back to how her mother had seen her, treated her.

More as a slave than a daughter.

Then the stint as a Jedi didn’t help that either, followed by years stuck surviving in a hostile jungle...suffice to say Vaylin had never healthily developed and learned about that side of life.

As she spoke, the Zabrak took small steps towards Kaalia. Unconsciously so, almost as if she wasn’t realizing it.

“You’ve been like a sister to me for damn near a decade, if not more. I pushed you away, you’ve nothing to apologize for.”

One more step and suddenly Vaylin lunged forwards. A clawed gauntlet reached up to try and strangle Kaalia. But the other hand suddenly sprung to life and grabbed it by the forearm, stopping it.

“You will not stop me from killing this traitor!”

“Never. You won’t lay a hand on her.”

There were now two distinctive voices coming out, similar but their tones varied between Vaylin and Moirai. Each split personality was vying for control, but the swirling dark energy was building up around the Zabrak.

“Kaalia, you need to leave. I can’t hold her at bay for much longer, the darkness is too strong here.” Especially with the chaos that was erupting throughout the city. Moirai was practically gobbling it up, clawing back control bit by bit. “Please, Kaalia.”

Kaalia Pavanos​

 

[Kaalia Pavanos]

The Death of Avacyn // Confronted by Vaylin
Angel Blade

​

Despite the lack of emotion and the defeated words that came from Vaylin, Kaalia refused to believe it was too late at all. It only truly was if she had fully given up, but considering they were face to face at that very moment, that clearly wasn't the case. Even if there truly wasn't anything Vaylin could do any longer, Kaalia continued to believe that defiance could break all barriers. It was no more than belief, yet it carried great power. So, when the Zabrak began blaming herself, all the former Sith wanted to do was interrupt her and tell her to forget all of it. Knowing better, though, she kept it to herself.

When Kaalia did open her mouth to speak, Moirai regained some ground in the zabrak's torn mind and lunged. Instinct took over, causing the woman to draw her lightsaber and let it spring to life. Vaylin stopped Moirai in time before it could escalate, however. Kaalia was thankful it didn't have to come to that. With a deep breath coming from Kaalia, the blade retracted back into the hilt. She continued to grip the hilt tight; Moirai had nearly gotten the jump on her once. It wouldn't happen twice.

Once more, Kaalia was told to leave. Vaylin's words carried a burden of darkness, revealing to the Kro Varian that the internal struggle between Vaylin and Moirai was about to be settled in the latter's favor again for some time. Still, she hoped she had been able to get at least some words through that would stick.

"Promise me two things before I go." As Kaalia spoke, she cautiously placed a hand on the zabrak's shoulder. Hopefully, Vaylin would feel a familiar aura to remember. Her other hand would be swift to react to any sudden movements, however.

"That you won't forget who you are, and that you'll fight Moirai. Your life depends on it. Swear it to me, and I'll give you the space to do what you need to do." Kaalia's hand returned to her side. "I'm not leaving until you promise me that."

 

[Vaylin]

Vaylin was tense as she stood before Kaalia. Arm still held out, the other keeping it restrained. Fingers flexing as the inner Moirai continued to push her influence. The hand fanning out as she tried to summon a ball of fire, but Vaylin’s control was still just enough to keep it from forming.

A crackle of lightning followed shortly after, the energy sparking across the Zabrak’s fingertips. But again, Vaylin managed to interfere and forced the arm down to her side.

It was a battle of mental fortitude, and Vaylin’s was quickly waning. It was a strange thing to think about, as both were the same. But somewhere the two had split, torn apart by a decision one found awful in hindsight.

No amount of power was worth what she had lost.

Vaylin closed her eyes once Kaalia closed the distance, placing a hand on her shoulder. Initially there was nothing, but then a familiar aura, a familiar presence began to seep through the connection. The Zabrak didn’t say anything initially, but soon opened her eyes.

One eye; the one on the side Kaalia’s hand was closest to, was purple. The other was the ever familiar corrupted amber, but one had seemingly retained its original colour.

“I promise.”

Seconds later Vaylin winced, twisting her head to the side painfully. Moirai’s influence was beginning to surface in force. Vaylin glanced over at Kaalia once more, the purple eye was starting to corrupt again. She said nothing, just mutely pleaded for the Kro Varian to leave.

Kaalia Pavanos​