Private Who Tells Your Story?

[Taeli Raaf]

Continuation of this thread's private duel
Allyson Locke
​

The response was quick to the emerald lightning of righteous judgment, Allyson launching an arrow into the floor to ground part of the lightning streaming towards her. As she did so, Taeli would pull the arrow from her shoulder even as the light from the kyberite infused tip continued to flow through her. Pain flashed through her shoulder anew, but she could rotate it in full range of motion still... it definitely hurt.

She would stop the lightning as there was a pause, Allyson calling out her story didn't matter. Another arrow was nocked, ready to be fired. She could feel the frustration of the Shadow, the determination... the apathy. The hopelessness of her role in the galaxy, that she would never be anything else but what she was. It frustrated her in turn that the Jedi before her just could not accept that there was more to life, to purpose, than throwing their life away to the Jedi and the Alliance.

"Who lives, who dies, who tells your story, Allyson Locke?" she muttered quietly as the arrow was let loose, striking the space between them and exploding in a flash of shrapnel, flame, and smoke. Sapphire light erupted and she came speeding out of the smoke, blade swinging upward. It would be met by, not the red blade of a Sith, but a strange blend of purple and orange, not unlike a sunset, as she activated the saber in her hand.

"You have done what you had to, what you were taught to do," she remarked, forcing the blades apart before quickly launching a flurry of feints and strikes in a blend of Makashi and Niman. "But why? What have they done for you, Allyson?"

From her free hand, a glow would form around her fingers and palm.

"What awaits you back there?" the glow would become brighter. "Nothing. You know this. You say that your only purpose is to just keep fighting... but why? Why must that be your purpose? They. Don't. Care."

It became clear to Taeli that to set Allyson free from the chains she had bound herself with to the Jedi, to the unfeeling and uncaring Order and the Alliance that had thrown all the Force users out of the SIA, she would need to break the links bit by bit. The eye would be first, she decided, once she had an opening.

 

[Allyson Locke]

//: Taeli Raaf //:

The clash of the ion blades sparked, causing the smoke from the explosion to disperse faster. A part of the Corellian was surprised she had so quickly resorted to her blade. In most cases, she only used the weapon to cut through things she couldn't hack through. For some reason, Taeli pulled something primal out of the woman.

Each strike from the Sith was met with a parry into another strike. The years had passed, allowing the Corellian to finally develop her dueling skills. However, she had to after facing Zaavik during her attempt to save him. With every deafening blow, Allyson felt her mind drift to each mission she had - failures and successes. No one knew anything of her contributions, or so she felt. The missions she carried out created openings or closed doors for the Jedi. She saved lives and put many in danger. There was nothing to celebrate when it came to her, no one in her corner telling her everything was worth it - because everyone there was now gone.

People left Allyson, and those who stuck around held onto an illusion of what she was. At times, she did feel welcomed within the Order - but she feared it was because of what she knew. Did the Jedi consider her one of their own? Or was she a significant liability if they ousted her?

All she remembered was the look on their faces when she tried to come home. It all boiled down to that one mission, that one mistake, and her own hubris of thinking she could juggle a real life and her work. All of it backfired in her face. Even the promises were broken, all of them. She was left alone, rotted in a cell, and paid for her crimes—ones that were committed to protect the Alliance.

But the Jedi see things in black and white nowadays. To some, she would always be a threat, even if the Corellian did everything to prove her loyalty.

Allyson let Taeli's words sink into her mind, weaving, and warping even the happy memories into cruel stains on her life. Nothing was holding her back to the Order except the guise of duty.

Her blade blocked once more, pushing Taeli's aside. Allyson put her weight behind the next attack, driving to strike the side where her arrow had damaged the woman's shoulder. "They don't have to do anything for me." She forced the words, the lie she continued to tell herself. "They owe me nothing." The force continued to push the Corellian beyond her means as she stepped forward, wanting to gain ground on

"I work in the shadows like I always have. I am not who I am for glory or recognition - I do it because I have to, because —" Allyson stopped her words. She didn't need to explain things to Taeli Raaf. No, Allyson had no one waiting for her, but it was okay. It meant that she remained silent in her duty to protect what she cared about, even if it meant disappearing into the wind one day as death welcomed her.

This was her penance for not being there to save the ones closest to her.

"Why are you doing this?"

 

[Taeli Raaf]

Allyson Locke​

She would allow her blade to be pushed aside, creating a supposed opening for the Shadow to strike at her injured side. She could feel the conflict within Allyson even now, trying to balance the good her missions had done for her allies and the negative consequences her life and choices had created in pursuit of those missions.

But the words spoken, that they didn't owe her anything, rang hollow to the Sith Lady that knew the Shadow so well. Allyson had spent a lifetime in her field, creating perfect covers by convincing herself that whatever backstory she constructed was the truth. Such a method was incredibly useful in intelligence work, but it did carry the risk that one could be subsumed by the new identity. It required time out of the field, time to readjust to actual life.

The Jedi and Allyson had never done that for her.

She had always moved onto the next mission, the next hunt, the next identity. But why? What had driven the younger woman to do so? Taeli had always wondered that even as she observed Allyson both near and afar. Duty was the obvious answer, and the one Allyson constantly gave, but she could hear the lie in it every time she said it. It wasn't duty that drove the Shadow to her limits, to throw away any sense of self-worth that might form. Someone who created multiple identities didn't see an issue with that, and neither had the Jedi or SIA. It made the Shadow the perfect weapon, at least in theory.

But she was still a sentient being.

As the blade came around for the attack, her glowing hand would move into the way... and catch the blade as she employed Tutaminis and Force Absorption to temporarily hold the lightsaber at bay.

"Because I want you to become yourself, not what the Jedi or SIA have made you think you should be."

It was a simple and complex answer to the question, and then her blade would lance out in a quick and surgical strike. It would be a shallow strike, aimed for the head... or more accurately the cybernetic eye that bound Allyson to the SIA. Even as she struck, even as she held the blade and could feel the heat and energy starting to recurve, she continued saying, "What are you running from, Allyson Locke?"

She would release the lightsaber blade, spinning away to create space between them again. She hadn't seen if her strike for the eye had worked, but it would only be the first if it hadn't. She was determined to free the woman trapped within the Jedi, trapped within whatever chains she had forged for herself. Or whatever the underlying truth had wrapped around her.

 

[Allyson Locke]

//: Taeli Raaf //:

The strike rang true for the Sith. Allyson felt the heat of the blade against her face as she pulled her head back. The attempt at her face had taken her by surprise. While they fought, Allyson always felt a sense of preservation for both of them. Neither is willing to kill the other. Taeli's attack was different; she was aiming for something, and Allyson, after stumbling back, discovered it. Her vision was suddenly cut in half, and blood mixed with a mechanical fluid streamed down her face.

Shock took hold of her as her labored breathing quickened, trying to catch up. John had done it. He had disabled the bomb that had been placed by the corrupt SIA director M. Or maybe he didn't, and it was a bluff that the woman used to control the Corellian. As much as Allyson claimed she was okay with dying, she wasn't. A part of her wanted to live, but guilt made sure that she didn't. Allyson didn't give chase to Taeli as she disengaged. Instead, the woman took a minute to tie the eyepatch she typically wore over her ruined eye. The patch became moist against her face, soaking the blood and fluid quickly, but it was better than exposing it.

"You think it was just the Jedi and the SIA?" Allyson laughed. The organizations molded her after she was broken by another. "You want to know what set me on this path? Where I lost it all?" It was funny; Allyson wondered how much Kaine had told Taeli about their rivalry. The breaking of Corellia was one thing; it brought her back from the stars and made her shove her dreams aside. She was still hopeful, though. Allyson still believed there was good in the galaxy and that joining the GADF, then the SIA, and becoming a Jedi meant she would be a hero.

For once, make her parents proud.

No. Allyson Locke would never be a hero; she would sacrifice and break repeatedly.

"I thought you knew me, Taeli Raaf. I thought you knew everything about me." The Corellian mocked her fellow and shook her head, blood continuing to trickle from under the eyepatch and now down her neck.

"He broke me." The laughter and the sarcasm that made up the Shadow's spirit became silent. "Kaine Zambrano broke me." another pause as Allyson dug through the broken, shattered fragments of her memory. "I was seventeen, and my first mission alone was to place beacons and surveillance comms for a strike mission that would come after. I was a forward soldier and a scout because of my affinity for machines and natural cloaking." Allyson moved closer, the tip of the lightsaber dragging against the floor.

"I messed up; I was young, still a child trying to grieve my dead parents after Corellia was broken, split down the middle. Did you lose people, too, Taeli? Did you ever go back?" Allyson vehemently questioned her fellow Corellian. "I was fourteen, digging my parents out of our shared apartment, because I ran away on Ember Rekali's ship. I didn't want to be a shipmaker's daughter - I wanted to see the stars and live that life." Allyson waved her arm to add emphasis to her foolish childhood. "I dug my parents out of their death trap, my baby brother - chaos knows where my sister is - maybe she was lucky and escaped, or maybe she was so far into the cracks of Corellia that nothing is left of her."

Allyson shook her head, "But that's not what broke me; it only made me dream harder; HE broke me."

A hand covered her forehead as she strained, pulling the memories together. Too many lives she had lived and too many faces she had become. Finding things that belonged to Allyson was complicated and worse than torture. "I was captured and brought into the depths of the dungeons. There, I was bound and tortured. The skin from my back slowly flayed as I was interrogated. I knew nothing; I had literally transferred to the SIA from the Rogue Squadron. Because I knew nothing, I only suffered more. He dug deep into my unprotected mind, pulled my deepest fears, and made me watch them over and over again. He told me what he would do to the one person I loved, the one person I had in this whole galaxy."

Allyson could feel something inside of her stomach grow heavy. The hatred she had always locked away was threatening to break through and consume her. "Every day and night, I had to listen and watch my worst nightmares over and over again. I wish I had the information. I wish I could have told him just to make it stop and protect her. Nothing I did could make it stop. I somehow escaped, but I had been tortured for what felt like years, only finding out it had been 45 days."

She laughed, not the same conceited laughter the Corellian would laugh. No, there was a hint of insanity in each pitch. "He broke me; I hate him. What am I running from?" The darkness continued to knock on the edge of the Corellian's mind. "I'm not running from anything. I've done what I've done to just do one thing because that's what I must do." The Force surged around the Shadow, and it ignited something inside of her as she charged forward faster and was enhanced by the Force. Suddenly, she disappeared from sight, only to reappear closer to Taeli as she swung the cerulean blade, looking to disarm it by amputating the woman's saber hand. Allyson's free hand glowed a hint of light; the once-felt darkness had suddenly vanished, only to be refocused. She aimed to punch the Sith woman in the face; there was no holding back now - Taeli knew almost everything.

I'm running from myself. What I know I'm going to become will consume me, and that's why I run.​

 

[Taeli Raaf]

Allyson Locke
​

The shock of Taeli striking at her face had allowed her to disengage, and she knew why. In all of their struggles with each other, there had been a mutual agreement, unspoken perhaps but there, that they wouldn't go for something that appeared to be a killshot. Oh, certainly there had been headbutts and punches to the face, but never something that could have been construed as a death blow. For Taeli to strike the cybernetic eye would at first appear to be breaking that agreement, but the disengagement should have been a clue that she had not meant for any sort of killing blow.

"Enlighten me then."

Yes, she thought, she very much wanted to know what had fully shaped her. She had a few glimpses here or there over the years, snippets that had led her to educated guesses. She had seen how quickly Allyson, in her younger years and when she had been shadowing Jorryn, had latched onto the motherly interactions towards her. Now she knew why, and also why it had been so difficult to really draw her closer.

Kaine had tortured her, of course he had. She would go quite still as Allyson explained what occurred, how she had been seventeen when she had been captured by Kaine. How she had been sent out to prep for a strike mission, the SIA likely choosing her, not just for her affinity with machines, but also because of the loss she had suffered when the Akala Crisis broke Corellia.

"Yes, but they were dead before Corellia broke," she replied quietly to the question if she had lost anyone. Their graves were on Corellia now, a place she visited every year on the anniversary of when her sisters had vanished. Even as a Sith, she was not removed from her emotions or empathy and her heart felt for the younger woman before her at what she had suffered... and to then be caught by Kaine...

Amethyst eyes watched closely as her hand rose to her head, a flash of pain crossing her face as the memories came to her. The beginnings of how she could finally make a breakthrough started to come to her. Kaine always making her job harder, but the torture had inflicted... the cruelty he had visited upon Allyson had left a kernel of hatred in her.

She knew that Kaine could not have cared about the answers she may or may not have known. He would have tortured her because it pleased him. She could feel the anger, the hatred, rising in her, trying to break free of the restraint the Jedi had taught her. But had they? She had been their lead Shadow, and to be that one needed to have a closer relationship with darkness than most Jedi would be comfortable with. No, it wasn't restraint that held her hatred back...

The idea of the breakthrough further coalesced even as the hint of insanity came into Allyson's laugh, mirthless. She felt it when she harnessed what she was feeling, as Allyson moved with greater speed and then vanished. She knew this trick; Coren had always been a fan of it. Her eyes closed; she followed the essence of Allyson as it traveled through the local currents, appearing closer to and the cerulean blade already moving towards her own hand.

The purple and orange blade of her lightsaber would meet the cerulean, catching it in a cross block that she would start to twist even as Allyson's free hand glowed and struck towards her face.

Yet again...

She supposed it was fair; she had taken her cybernetic eye after all. The punch connected, immediately causing stars to form in her vision and blood to spurt across the Jedi's fist as the light held in it impacted her like a second strike. Her connection to the darkness further wobbled, and if she was other Sith, it would have been enough to unnerve her.

But even as the fist connected, as she twisted their joined sabers so they would disarm each other and send the hilts spinning away in opposite directions, even as she staggered from the punch, her own free hand rose up and one finger would tap Allyson on the forehead. A flash of blue and purple energy would travel down that digit...

And the world around them would change, shifting into that dismal dungeon. Into one of the memories, the traumas, Allyson had suffered. She had tried to coax them out... now it was time to do this the hard way. Mnemotherapy was usually gentler than this, but today, for what she wanted to do with Allyson, it needed to be this way.

"No more running," she said as the dungeon solidified, becoming the full memory of her time in Kaine's clutches. "And no, it's not what you must do. It's what you bound yourself to do. Let's see what freeing you of those shackles, of facing your trauma will do."