Private What Is Dead May Never Die

[Kahlil Noble]

The world was barren on it's surface. Small, perhaps with enough surface area equal to a small city. Dusty and bright. There were no stars in the sky, just a shell of the world to protect the Wellspring. He'd never thought about how empty it was on his first trip here. From the first day he'd been here all he could see was that soft glow. Mostly. There were a couple instances, gifts as he was told, where he could see them. Valery. Vera. They were visions few and far between.

Vera was growing up so quickly.

He wasn't, though. Every day was the same. Sleep, wake up, go on guard. Watch, wait. Protect. He had a feeling what from, but the day in question hadn't arrived. Days, months, years. Time sort've lost it's luster when every day was the same.

Until it wasn't. Kahlil was pouring yet another cup of tea at the same time of day, or what he assumed was, only to see something different. Someone was there. Not completely. Never completely, like when he'd peak into their lives.

"Vera."

Then panic.

"Vera do-"

Then she was gone. Not good.

Valery Noble

 

[Valery Noble]

The Noble Apartment

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Appearance: Link
Tag: Kahlil Noble

"Daddy!" Vera yelled as her eyes opened in the middle of the night. She had been sleeping but was now covered in sweat and breathing heavily after she had just seen... she wasn't quite sure what, but she could see her father, and she felt that it was very different from the other times she could see him in her dreams. This was a vision. So without wasting a second, she jumped out of bed, sprinted past BB-610 , who was sleeping in his own little space and threw open the door into her mother's bedroom.

After crossing the distance to the large bed, she jumped on top and crawled over to her mother to pull at and shake her shoulder with everything she had. "Mommy, mommy!" she exclaimed to get her attention, and in less than a second, Valery's eyes opened, and she sat up immediately to look at her daughter, "Vera? What's going on?" she asked, clearly very worried that something was wrong, but Vera felt very different.

"I saw daddy! He needs help!" she said, and Valery's expression softened but with a familiar pain in her fiery eyes.

"Oh, baby... daddy is alr-"

"No! He needs help," Vera persisted after interrupting her mother, and it was the tone and what she could see in her daughter's eyes that made Valery go completely quiet for a second. "I don't know how I can get to him to help, little star. I only hear him when he sometimes briefly talks to me," she tried to explain, and in response, Vera placed her little hand over her mother's chest, right above her heart, and closed her eyes. A very brief, but intense vision was forced into Valery's mind as a result — an extension of what Vera had seen during the night, and Valery just knew what it meant as soon as she saw it.

The Wellspring of Life.

"Alright," Valery said after opening her eyes and looking at her daughter again, who still seemed unusually intense. "I'm going to get someone to stay here with you and I'll be back soon."

...

After getting dressed and ready, Valery walked over to the door of her apartment but stopped when she saw Vera standing there with her backpack strapped to her back, and her teddy bear in her hand. "I'm coming with," Vera said with Noble stubbornness, and Valery struggled to look at her and say no, even though she knew that this was too dangerous.

"Vera... you can't, this is too dangerous," she said as she placed her hands on the girl's shoulder. Vera pouted and sniffed away a few tears before pressing her face against her mother. "Mommy, I'm scared... Will daddy be okay?"

"He will be, I promise. I'm going there to figure out what's going on and I need you to take good care of Bee for me, okay?" Valery asked, hoping to spark something in her little girl.

"Okay..." she said and after a quick exchange of hugs, and a kiss from her mother against the cheek, Vera headed back to her room, while Valery left to board her X-wing and start the journey towards the Wellspring of Life. She only knew what Kahlil had told her about it, but had no idea what to really expect.

Only time would tell.

 

[Kahlil Noble]

The journey itself was uneventful. Even the world, it's location found not by coordinates but by guidance of the Force, was easy. Valery was welcome here. But on the surface, she was met by not her husband. Instead, the black cloaked figure, the Force Priestess of serenity, her blank expression mask staring at the Jedi Master.

"We knew you would come. But you should know you should head back."

Valery Noble

 

[Valery Noble]

Wellspring of Life

​

Appearance: Link
Tag: Kahlil Noble

The trip to the Wellspring of Life had been easier than she had expected, but between the Force guiding her, the promise to Vera, and what she had learned from her late husband, Valery had every bit of motivation and information she needed to find it. But even before she left, she understood that the real trial awaited her on the planet itself.

She wasn't quite sure what it would be about or how Kahlil was tied to it just yet, but she was going to do everything in her power to find out. This was something she had to do, and not just for herself. That look in Vera's eyes wasn't something she had ever seen before, not even that awful night when both their lives were turned upside down by the painful loss of the one man they needed the most.

After she finally made her landing and jumped out of her X-wing's cockpit, Valery left everything that tied her to the normal Galaxy behind her and assumed the role of a Jedi and the place they held within the Force. This soon brought her face-to-face, not with the man she came here for, but with one of the priestesses she had heard about.

"If you knew I'd come, you also know that I won't turn back," Valery said in response with a slightly narrowed gaze, full of the stubbornness Kahlil both loved and had to battle in the past.

"The Force guided me here, and I know my path is in front of me, not behind me," she then told the woman calmly. Even though it was Vera who had received the vision, there was a bond within their family that allowed it all to carry over. The dyad between her and Kahlil, but also the way it connected to their daughter.

"Please, I ask that you allow me to continue."

 

[Kahlil Noble]

"His path was already written, and he accepted it. To save you, no less." Anger. The mask of wrath peeked her head around Serenity from seemingly nowhere, floating to hover beside her sister.

"It pained him greatly to leave it behind, but he knew it was the only way he could save you. A price had to be paid." Sorrow.

"But every now and then he can get glimpses of the life you and your daughter live! It makes it so worth it for him! Joy.

"And yet, here you are. Why?" Confusion. The five sisters, the five Priestesses, their masks watched the Jedi Master with their unblinking gazes. Serenity was the one to break the silence.

"He is bound here, Master Jedi. What will you do with that knowledge?"

Valery Noble

 

[Valery Noble]

Wellspring of Life

​

Appearance: Link
Tag: Kahlil Noble

Valery glanced between the priestesses with mixed emotions of her own — she had only heard about them and this place, but after Kahlil sacrificed himself, she hadn't particularly felt like exploring more. She knew this was where he had gone, and coming here would have been... difficult. But this time, she had a purpose, and no matter what kind of trial they'd put her through, she was going to do whatever she could to help him.

Even if she had no idea what she was helping with yet.

"My daughter saw a vision and heard him. She showed me and even though he's no longer with me, we made a promise to always help each other and keep each other safe. I'm here to uphold that promise," she said, her eyes shifting to confusion after the priestess had asked her question.

Finally, she turned to serenity and frowned, "I've accepted that he's no longer with me, but that won't stop me from helping him if I can. I just... need to know more, but I will face whatever challenge I must to do this," she said with conviction. If he was out there and needed her, she'd be there for him, just like he was there for her when she needed him most.

 

[Kahlil Noble]

"Your daughter's vision?"

"Your daughter has no business looking into the Wellspring! He gave his freedom to protect you and her and now lives in service of the Force! Be proud and let him go already."

"But now she knows he still lives! Isn't that a good thing?"

"Now she'll keep trying to see him and distract him from his task. We shouldn't of let him reach out before.."

"Sisters." Serenity gave them all a look. Or at least seemed to given how they quieted down immediately. Her passive gaze once more turned to the Jedi, her yellow eyes staring down with an almost coldness to it.

"He chose this path of his own free will. His freedom for your life. Now he lives here, to help protect. If you want to help, you will leave and tell your daughter her father is gone."

Valery Noble

 

[Valery Noble]

Wellspring of Life

​

Appearance: Link
Tag: Kahlil Noble

"But now she knows he still lives! Isn't that a good thing?"

As frustrating as everything else they said was, it went in one ear and out the other instantly the moment Joy said that. Valery's eyes widened, and despite what Serenity was trying to do, Valery took a step closer towards Joy and pointed at her, "What did you just say?" she demanded, while her fiery eyes shifted between all of them for a moment with a new kind of intensity to them.

"He's alive?" She could barely believe herself saying it, and almost felt a little light-headed at the idea. Just... how? Had he been trapped here, but serving willingly? Or was he being kept here without knowing that he was alive? Or perhaps it was more complex than that, but it could be no coincidence that Vera heard her father right as this was being revealed.

Turning back to Serenity, Valery frowned deeply, "Was he here willingly, knowing that he's alive? Or are you keeping things from him?" she asked with a shake of her head. "If he's alive, I want to see him and I want him to make the choice about whether or not he remains. It's not up to you, nor... is it up to me."

If he truly wanted to remain here, she'd never stop him. But if he wanted to be among the living and watch his daughter grow up, no priestess in the Galaxy was going to stop Valery from finding him.

 

[Kahlil Noble]

"You are in no position to make demands, master Jedi. The will of the Force is beyond your understanding." The five shifted, folded. Became one once again behind Serenity. But she was anything but. The warmth of light that bathed the planet dimmed and darkened with a storm. Clouds crackled above, breaking the sky with endless streaks of lightning. The air itself grew thick and heavy, wet almost like a jungle.

"Turn back now, or be thrown at the mercy of the Wellspring itself." She raised her hands, then was gone in the blink of an eye. Leaving Valery alone on the desolate surface now battered by wind and strikes of lightning.

Valery Noble

 

[Valery Noble]

Wellspring of Life

​

Appearance: Link
Tag: Kahlil Noble

"I believed your kind to be above arrogance," Valery told Serenity in response to her comment on the will of the Force. She hadn't received and interpreted the vision herself, sure, but she knew how pure Vera's connection was when it came to the Force, its will, and its ties to time itself. With her little star guiding her here, she knew there had to be something. And whatever it was, these priestesses were not keen on sharing more information and felt awfully defensive.

They then joined again and this time, Valery looked up to see the sky split asunder, instantly reminding her of the day her face was scarred for life. She frowned and looked down at the masked figures one last time, as the Wellspring of Life twisted into something that felt so unnatural in a place as closely tied to the Force as this.

"I won't turn back. I can't," she told them and then they were gone. Valery was immediately forced to wrap the Force around herself like a blanket to shield her against the cold wind and looked around for any sign of... anything. "I'm not leaving you here..." she muttered to herself as she extended her senses and hoped to find that familiar bond she had with him. The Force was her only guide here, so as she began to walk around in search of answers, she kept her mind open to it.

But deep down, she already knew there were trials and challenges ahead of her.

 

[Kahlil Noble]

Another flash of lightning, brighter than anything before, blocked out everything. The sky, the barren landscape. Even sound diminished under the roll of thunder that accompanied it. When the flash finally faded, it was the buzz of insects that came first. The sound of nature, life. Thunder still continued above, rattling through the clouds that seemed ever present. A world of permanent shadow.

Dromund Kaas.

At the height of the Sith Empire it was the crown jewel of worlds among the Sith. The Dark clung to the planet like a thick miasma, suffocating any aspect of light beneath the clouds. Even here, in a garden filled with so many different plants, darkness radiated out. Unnatural plants, some carnivorous, some poisonous, were the plants that grew. Some very much turned to face the Jedi, naturally pulled to the scent of living flesh.

"Sto- Don't! Why are y- Don't!"

The panicked cry of a boy deeper within. The sound of a fight, of bodies rolling among the dirt, bumping into the pots and tables, sending some of the flora crashing to the ground. They rolled into sight. Two boys, barely six. One unknown. The other, silver haired with blue eyes. Between them, a knife. A Sith dagger, the one Kahlil kept until he shattered the blade when he plunged after Kyrel on Tython.

A blade that was now firmly in the chest of the unknown boy. The young Kahlil stared down, panic in his eyes. Panic and fear. He himself was bleeding from a wound on his back. Literally stabbed in the back, by the very blade that now took the life of his assailant.

For the briefest moment, he smiled. A smile that turned to horror as the boy finally died below.

Valery Noble

 

[Valery Noble]

Wellspring of Life

​

Appearance: Link
Tag: Kahlil Noble

Valery turned her head away and held up a hand to shield her eyes against the intense light produced by another flash of lightning. There were few storms she had ever known to be this intense, but somehow, this particular one felt awfully familiar. The jungle around her, the corrupted creatures and eternal shadow that loomed over the world — she had been here before, although it had felt very different at the time. Her battle alongside the Ashlan Crusade here hadn't left much of an impression, but she knew of this planet from the days of the Old Republic as well.

She knew what it meant to the Sith, and she could feel the darkness in her chest. This wasn't Dromund Kaas as it was currently, but a creation within her mind of what it had once been.

But why?

"Sto- Don't! Why are y- Don't!"

The cry that echoed through the woods drew Valery's attention immediately and after feeling the anguish deeply rooted within, she began to sprint toward the source. From a small distance away, hidden partially behind a tree, Valery watched two boys fight each other. The silver hair, the blue eyes, and the dagger... Valery's eyes widened and she quickly realized that she was once again seeing a fragment of his past. But that question from before lingered again.

Why?

"Hey..." Valery began with that soft, almost motherly tone as she approached slowly. "It's okay, you don't have to be afraid," Valery continued, now swallowing a little when she saw the lifeless body beneath Kahlil.

"Let me help you, okay?"

 

[Kahlil Noble]

Panic only grew as a voice came out from behind. The boy glanced up, fear and horror clear in his expression. He pulled the blade free, turned it's bloodied point towards the stranger.

"D.. Don't! Don't come closer! I'll.. I'll cut you!"

Very threatening indeed. But he wasn't thinking. High on adrenaline, probably in shock from the wound on his back. A wound that while he might not feel was no less debilitating. No sooner did he lift the blade then it just about fell from his grasp as his face twisted in pain and he fell forward half a step.

"I.. I won't die! I won't!"

Valery Noble

 

[Valery Noble]

Wellspring of Life

​

Appearance: Link
Tag: Kahlil Noble

For just a moment, Valery paused as he pointed his blade at her, and raised her hands defensively, so he could see that she wasn't holding a weapon. "I'm not here to hurt you," she tried to assure him, her tone as friendly and warm as it could be. To look even a young version of her beloved husband in the eyes was creating turmoil within her, but she had to push through and help him. Kahlil was alive, and she couldn't help but believe these priestesses were keeping him from her, from Vera, and from living his own life.

It would have to change.

With the injury quickly draining him of his strength, Valery suddenly surged forward with Force-augmented speed and brought an arm around his lower back so she could catch him and lower him while she crouched down and attempted to have him rest on her lap. She tried to keep the knife away from her with her free hand at the same time, but if helping him was going to require her own suffering, she'd endure it. "You're not going to die, I promise," she said.

"It's going to be okay, just relax and stay steady..." Valery was no healer, but if there was one person she could heal, it had always been Kahlil. Through their bond. Whether it would work now with this young version of him, she didn't know, but she did everything she could to draw on their dyad and heal him up. "What's your name and where are you from?" She then asked, hoping to keep him thinking and talking, so he was less likely to pass out on her.

 

[Kahlil Noble]

Slowly, the wound knitted itself together. Vision, or reality? The past, or the present? None of it made sense, but the bond was there. And she could pull it to bring life to him. The paleness that had filled his cheeks slowly regained color. Confusion filled his gaze at first as he stared up towards her. No pain. No death. The confusion of someone who didn't know what kindness was.

"K.. Kahlil. .. Here. This. This place is my home. .. Part of my home, I guess."

Valery Noble

 

[Valery Noble]

Wellspring of Life

​

Appearance: Link
Tag: Kahlil Noble

"There, that's much better, hm?" she asked with a warm smile, as she looked him in the eyes and saw color returning to his face. Even though their paths hadn't crossed until much later in his life, she could still feel a connection to him. The bond they had went beyond space and time, and they had entered visions and dreams of each other's pasts before. So while she felt relief that it worked, she also wasn't too surprised.

"Well, it's nice to meet you, Kahlil. I'm Valery and I'm not from here, but I will help you, alright?" She gently rubbed the side of his arm and began helping him up to his feet, slow and steady so she could still support or even catch him if necessary. Once they were up, she looked him over the way a loving mother would just to make sure he was alright, and then she looked around the area they were in.

"Is there somewhere you have to go that I can take you to? Somewhere safe, so you can recover and rest."

 

[Kahlil Noble]

Confusion was all he had as he watched her. She healed him. Why did she heal him?

What was the angle?

Distrust filled his features as the pain left. Did she want to hurt him more? Did she need him for something? He scooted closer to the dagger, trying to be as subtle as he could in the process.

"What do you want? You won't get in good with my dad by helping me."

Valery Noble

 

[Valery Noble]

Wellspring of Life

​

Appearance: Link
Tag: Kahlil Noble

"I'm not doing this for your father," Valery assured him, and even though she didn't show it, she could feel the gentle tremors in the Force as he readied his blade. She didn't want this to get ugly, so rather than attempting anything herself, she just reached out through their dyad, and hoped to convey her intentions.

He'd likely not understand, but he'd hopefully feel what he needed to know.

"I just... want to help you," she said, but explaining that to him wasn't going to be easy. "I saw how difficult it was for you to..." she trailed off and looked at the lifeless body that was slowly starting to rot on the jungle floor. "You're different, and I want you to know that it's okay. You're stronger than you might think, and you don't have to let any of this control you."

Valery took a small step back so he had some personal space again, and looked him in the eyes to search for that connection she always had with him. Even if he wasn't the Kahlil she met, it must be there to some extent. "But what's most important right now is what do you want? If I wanted to harm you, I could have just let you bleed out, so please, let me help you."

 

[Kahlil Noble]

The boy squinted in disbelief. Confusion. Distrust. So many different emotions simply saying no. Run away. Leave. Yet he didn't. He watched her, listened to her. Despite all the obvious mistrust he had, he stayed.

".. I don't know what I want. I just know I don't want.. This." His gaze turned, falling to the dead body beside them.

"I never wanted that."

Valery Noble

 

[Valery Noble]

Wellspring of Life

​

Appearance: Link
Tag: Kahlil Noble

"I know," Valery said while she tried not to give away that she knew him in ways nobody else did, but the emotions that flowed through the Force did little to hide that connection. No matter what, the bond always persevered, and feeling it again like this was strange... but good.

"I understand that it might be hard to trust me, and that you'd maybe rather leave to figure things out for yourself, but I ask that you look deep inside and follow what you feel." She gestured around at both the environment and the body again.

"About all of this, about yourself and about me. I can take you far away from all of this and help you, but I will never force you to do anything." Her fiery eyes shifted to connect with his again, and a soft smile began to tuck on the corners of her lips.

"I can keep you safe if you come with me."

The way he had always kept her safe