Private You've Seen The Butcher

[Zaavik Perl]

Don't wanna take it slow...
​

"Drop your fething blaster or I'll kill her!"

Taking a hostage was sufficiently low on the list of possible reactions Zaavik had considered. Clearly the hostage didn't expect it either, still locked in a stiff shock over any sign of panic. Zaavik's refusal to lower his blaster when ordered wasn't doing her any favors in snapping out of it. Sudden silence cried blood and thunder as magmatic eyes pierced the captor with killer indifference.

"You hear me!? Drop it or she dies!"

"Might as well get it over with, then."

"Get what over with?"

"Killing her."

"You think I'm bluffing!? Huh!?" The captor pressed the barrel of his blaster into his hostage's temple.

"Doesn't matter, payout stays the same. Kill her or don't. Either way you're not getting out of this."

Shock faded away from the hostage's expression. Fight beat flight, and she began to struggle, cursing in some language Zaavik didn't understand. Taken off guard, her captor struggled to keep her restrained, replying to her protests in the same tongue.

"I don't have time for this, I'll do it."

Zaavik's aim shifted by a factor of inches, pointing his sights dead center at the struggling hostage. Crimson strobed as the muzzle screeched death's cadence. Sweltering tibanna grazed past the struggler, trajectory bending a supernatural curve following a sideways nod of Zaavik's head. The duo across from him collapsed as the stun round hooked behind and slammed into the shoulder blade of the captor. The freed woman scrambled out from under her assailant, screamed, scurried out of the alley.

Not even a lie detector would have called that bluff. Zaavik nearly convinced himself, almost surprised when the woman wasn't dead after all.

Approaching the his prone target, Zaavik tugged the magnetic manacles off his belt. A feeling of doom assaulted his emotions. Subtle visions of movement played in the theater at the back of his skull. The target shot upward on cue with the force's forewarnings. Unlike the hostage situation, this he was ready for. One cuff of the manacles clamped down on the assaulting hand, stopping the vibroblade clenched within it only inches from taking out a Zeltronian jugular.

A twirl and tug on the chain jarred the wrist enough to disarm, and wrapped a neck within it all in one go. Zaavik and the target were up against one another, back to front. The chain tightened as Zaavik pulled and leaned, picking the target's feet from the ground like an impromptu noose.

"You might shrug off a stun round, but you gotta breathe like the rest of us, huh?" Zaavik taunted as he pulled tighter, lifting the man higher and increasing the pressure on his own spine and ribs. Once the flailing stopped, the target was released before the strangulation wandered into lethal territory. The thud of a limp man meeting the ground was silent to everyone but Zaavik and the alley rats. A pulse check confirmed the man still alive.

Still worth cred, more importantly.

Buzzing from his pocketed transmitter drew his attention away. There was plenty of time to drag it out now that the hard part was over with. Blue light erupted from the screen as the notification appeared front and center on the datascreen.

///Things have gone south.///
///Meet me at the Nest.///​

"Chit," he uttered aloud. An effort had to be made not to jump to disastrous conclusions. Impulse won anyway. Nerves began a gauntlet of anxiety. What did that mean? Magnetic cuff released the target's wrist as Zaavik pulled the manacles away.

"Looks like you won the lottery."



For the first time in a while, Zaavik was able to make a full flight without any issue. The work put into the old clunker was finally starting to pay off in a tangible fashion. Speed was still an issue, the journey taking so long it might fool Aradia into thinking he wasn't coming. Not much that could be done about it. With how much spice was constantly drilling holes in the last owner's brain, it was a miracle it was still running to begin with. Even more difficult would be getting the smell out. It never stopped bugging him.

Spice freaks.

Landing was rough. Only two of three landing legs obliged when prompted to extend. Setting down became as delicate as threading a needle, forcing the ship into resting as a disc off-kilter. Zaavik dropped from a maintenance hatch, one of the few systems still working didn't allow the loading ramp to drop if the ship wasn't level. Go figure.

One thump from the ball of his fist bypassed the door code. So much for a safehouse door. Knowing the code helped, at least. He remembered what vias and traces to spark like how to ride a speederbike. A mechanical hiss showed him inside, black on black fabrics clashing with the grey-beige color palate of the saferoom interior.

"Yo," he called, announcing his presence. A split moment afterward, he turned a corner to meet Aradia. A red hand and its new, rudimentary cybernetic twin threw the hood off his head. One of his own creations this time, albeit far from visually pleasing. Much like the burned, maimed remains of the hand that still remained attached.

"What happened?" he asserted the inquiry just as directly as his approach surveilled for injury. No, that wasn't it. There was certainly something else, though. "You look like you've seen a ghost." Or perhaps more appropriately, a shadow.

Darth Daiara

 

[Darth Daiara]

"Yo,"

The pressure on her chest released, her breaths coming easier as his face rounded the corner. Her hand twitched. The urge to reach for him nearly took over, but she remained locked stiffly on the couch.

"You're late," she deflected. Neverminded that no time had been set. Meet at the Nest was a failsafe for a bad scenario. He'd know he was coming to bad news. Bad enough to resort to here.

She cut right to the chase. "They're invading Korriban." Again. "We were there beforehand for relics or something. I broke orders. Came here." Her clipped recount was only half the story-- nothing about Allyson or Vesta's knowledge of the attack. Nothing about their duel and certainly nothing that would justify the way the blood had been drained from her face.

Something had gotten to her.

She crossed her arms over her core. "We should lay low for a bit."

Because who ever showed up next at that door would determine everything. It was coin toss she didn't want to be apart of.

 

[Zaavik Perl]

"They're invading Korriban. We were there beforehand for relics or something. I broke orders. Came here."

"We should lay low for a bit."

Mental gears turned, processing information. The look on his face, brow arching, reflected his slow consideration. Picking it apart, looking for holes, was an involuntary reflex. He stopped as soon as he caught himself, but not before he found a few.

"Just like that?" he prodded. Zaavik was well aware of Korriban's situation, and wanted nothing to do with it. One visit to that hellrock was enough. He didn't imagine Aradia shared his reluctance, though. Nor did he figure she was okay with the ancestral world of the Sith being threatened.

Defying orders, but for what?

A drawn out exhale timed with his lowering onto the couch mimicked deflation. "Really, what happened?" he prodded again. "You wouldn't ditch and call me here for no reason, right?"

 

[Darth Daiara]

A long silence stretched out. She looked to the door of the windowless room, her ears pried for any intruder trying to breech its defenses. Her lips pursed as his question went unanswered. Her eyes slowly trailed back to his, avoiding direct contact as she took in the life that had returned to his cheeks. No more lines marred his forehead; sleep softened his eyes. He ate. He even smiled.

Sometimes.

Their new routine had brokered a strange... calm. They looked healthier for it. She didn't understand Allyson's issue.

"I promised no more. Not unless it's done right. Not without you." She grumbled, picking at the couch. But of course, that was another deflection. She could feel the way he looked at her. Their pact said nothing about covering your butt on a surprise attack. It did bother her that Korriban could be lost. The Jedi's impertinence left her knuckles turning white as she yanked at a couch.

The silence was enough to force her to speak further.

"Allyson found me. Vesta is holding her back," she reported, flicking a chunk of couch leather across the space.

 

[Zaavik Perl]

A lump formed in his throat. He almost regretting prying.

Almost.

The gulp was barely audible. "Oh," he croaked. That meant one of them was probably dead now, didn't it? He didn't let himself get torn up over probability. It went without saying he had a preference for the outcome. Although he doubted Aradia's was the same.

"Did she say something to you? Does she know about-? You know."

 

[Darth Daiara]

you had to ruin the guy

Aradia looked away, the twitch of pain across her face speaking volumes.

"She deduced."

She stood up then, busying herself with the sudden deconstruction of the couch. She tossed aside cushions and reached under, undoing the bed mechanism and pulling it out with a little bit of struggle herself. All the training in the world didn't change the fact that she was small. It was big enough for two.

"So we stay here," she told him, matter of fact. Emotions hadn't caught up, and she didn't want them to. Any results would hurt, but there was one she couldn't weather under any circumstance.

"I watched my tail like you taught, we're clear." She kicked aside the cushion and unfurled a small throw blanket through the air. It was a pitful bed, but it was better than the floor.

"They aren't going to touch you."

 

[Zaavik Perl]

"She deduced."

'You know' must not have been clear enough. Aradia's reply answered a different question entirely, and by extension his original inquiry. Two birds, and all that.

The sudden upheaval of the couch forced him to stand. Having a moment to pause, the implications of his preference coming to fruition began to set in. Vesta more or less gave him a safe place to be away from the threat of constant manhunt. He realized he never gave them enough if any credit at all for that. That didn't change who he hoped came out on top.

But what would that mean for Aradia and himself? That must be why she called him here.

Better not to think about it.

"They aren't going to touch you."

He blinked. Was she a mind reader now?

"I wasn't worried about it." A lie. He lowered himself to the bedside. Silence lingered for several moments. There was so much more he wanted to ask, but he didn't want to show any sign of missing things or people from before. Allyson might have been an understandable exception, but he wouldn't risk it.

"You sure you're okay?" He gave her the benefit of the doubt when she deflected. Now that he had the details, it was harder to make assumptions.

 

[Darth Daiara]

She didn't answer. She just stared at the end of the pull out mattress, not joining him.

you had to ruin the guy

"I'm fine," she lied back, monotone. But they weren't fine. Both had something to lose here; their calm little oasis suddenly felt like it was moments from possible collapse. She collapsed onto the mattress in a sudden, defeated heap, space still kept between them as she came to accept the moment.

"I shoulda known she would have come. She loves you." She didn't look at him. She could only see Allyson's eyes and the way they dismissed her with a wave of disgust. It burned holes through her. What if he turned around and looked at her that way too? The concept scared her, and she was aware of it.

Painfully aware of it.

"I'm sorry." For what? It was hard to say. She just shrugged, life slowly eeking its way back to her limbs. He was here. Did the rest really matter?

 

[Zaavik Perl]

"I'm fine."

That reactive monotone was all too familiar. He knew what it meant by now; they were both liars. It didn't take a mind reader to figure out what must be going on in her head. The concerns were mutual, he could feel it. Their equanimity was threatened by the outcome of Korriban. More validation about getting away from it all. Yet, did he really? Somehow it all felt more impactful on his life now that he tried to not be involved.

"I shoulda known she would have come. She loves you."

Tension mounted across his entire body. Emotions flushed into a tight scowl pointed toward nothing in particular.

"Zaavik, you can't harbor this anger."

A steady exhale begrudgingly released much of the emotional pressure.

Yet, the anger remained.

"She certainly took her fething time trying to find me," he uttered quietly. Zaavik didn't leave with the intention of wanting to be found. When people did come, the implications of their timing fueled rage.

Couldn't resist the bounty payout any longer? Sellout.

A total one-eighty of the hopeful eagerness and concern he'd shown for his former master previously. Suddenly he felt indifferent to the up-in-the-air nature of what was happening on that dark, red sphere thousands of light-years away.

Deep down, his heart played furtive contrarian to his fatalist attitude. He loved her, too. She was the only real family he ever had. Something wouldn't let him lean on that reality, rallying every feeling for defiance.

"I'm sorry."

"For what?" he asked just before sensing that she was asking herself the same question. His head craned toward her, away from the nothing he'd focused an intense glare toward. Frigid, aluminiferous fingers gently draped over her closest stray hand.

An epiphany. Zaavik's own deduction ability began to manifest. Reason mixed with force-given supernatural insight, a testament to Allyson's teaching.

"Did she blame you?"

 

[Darth Daiara]

Her fingers twitched and tightened around his. The grip grew stronger, until his fingers turned into a lifeline that she would not release. "Don't you?" She croaked, red-rimmed eyes finally looking over to catch his. Her fragile confidence was shattered again. It was so easy to do. All she wanted was to belong and be safe. He had helped her realize that, even though she had never said it. That journey was a constant uphill battle, and it was costing them-- First Kaalia, now Allyson. It seemed neither of their parental figures were happy with what they were doing. What other option did they have? Lie down and take it?

They had been left to die.

She knew the reasons they had left. She knew it had each been their own choice. Their paths were the direct consequence of the mindless wars their orders had propelled down. Yet all it took was that dismissive glance, and suddenly Aradia felt like the 14 year old who had nearly been purged on Bastion.

Did she deserve that hatred?

Get out of here before I decide to kill you

Her free hand removed the coin from the hole she had cut into her leather belt. Her thumb stroked it for a moment, the emotionless damn breaking to a thin line of moisture on her lash line.

She threw it, her pain erupting to a sudden scream.

"This will never end, will it. Even if we put it down-- walked away, 'had a feth ton of kids'-- it would follow us. We will never be safe."

 

[Zaavik Perl]

"Don't you?"

"No," he insisted. "Never."

That was what everyone assumed on the outside, wasn't it? It hadn't occurred to him until now how his disappearance might have looked. How could anyone claim to know him and draw such a conclusion? No one could ever make him do anything. Reputation never felt important, but now this implicated attack on his character toed the line of giving him a conniption.

Did she blame herself too? Her question posed as if the finger-pointing was universal. Taking ahold of his life and volition had been a domino effect. Every aftershock seemed worse than the last. If anyone could really be at fault for any of this, it was him. He knew it. All the decisions leading here had been his own.

Aradia's sudden bellow caught him off guard. Crash and ricochet of metal off walls and flooring affirmed what he thought she'd done with the arc of her arm. What did Allyson say to hurt her so badly?

"This will never end, will it. Even if we put it down-- walked away, 'had a feth ton of kids'-- it would follow us. We will never be safe."

That must have been part of it. Not the hurtful part, but it was certainly something she'd say.

Walk away. It sounded better than living around a conflict and being forced to hole up in a safehouse the moment things became turbulent. Was hiding and dodging really living? Serving and fighting never felt like it. That's why he left the first time.

Was it time to leave again?

It was time to live.

Zaavik took Aradia by the shoulders, gripping tightly. "We could still try," he proposed, shaking her slightly as he spoke. "We can go somewhere far away on the edge of the galaxy, like Weik or Vestar." Those two were the farthest possible places he could think of. Anything farther felt even more ideal.

"I'm tired of fighting, hiding, and hoping things work out. I wanna take everything into my own hands and live."

His grip tightened.

"Don't you?"

 

[Darth Daiara]

Give up... their ... crusade?

Her stomach jerked in initial rejection. Was he crazy? After all they had put in to pulled down the imperials-- all blood they had shed-- and he wanted to just... walk away?

The grip forced her to look him in the eye and see the exhaustion mirrored there. He looked older lately. Worn down. It wasn't hard to forget that she had nearly lost the ability to see him at all. The whole point of this break was to strength up enough to not risk losing each other again, but was that a fool's mission?

She didn't think there could ever be enough power to take down a evil like that. Not without becoming someone he wouldn't want to look at anymore. and that was as bad as him dying on her all over again.

Revenge and his love was slowly beginning to appear incompatible. What she'd chose became abruptly clear.


"With you? Yeah. I do." A laugh of disbelief caught in her chest, her leg folding onto the couch to turn that much easier into his grip. Their lives stood at crux. It made it easier to entertain futures that had once felt so distance. Especially when they contained him.

Her fingers siezed him back, gripping possessively.

"But what would we do? I'll know how to do is kill, Zaavik. I'm not suited for much else."

 

[Zaavik Perl]

"But what would we do? I'll know how to do is kill, Zaavik. I'm not suited for much else."

"What we always do. Figure it out."

The prospect of playing their departure by ear didn't sound so puerile when considering they'd handled everything that way.

Mostly.

For all it was worth, that same in-the-moment intuition had kept them alive, which to Zaavik was good enough measure to say it had worked before.

Mostly.

Everyone ran out of fight eventually. Zaavik wanted to save what was left in him for what mattered. Authoritarian monoliths and esoteric shadows seemed less and less important by the minute. As long as either of those wrathful avatars held anything over him, the capture of his own destiny felt moot. The high of letting go, not allowing any of it to be his problem, and putting the saber down never felt more tempting.

At this point, he doubted he'd miss it.



Mostly.

 

[Darth Daiara]

She had never considered something like this before. She wasn't even thinking ahead now. There was no time for preparation when the world was falling down around you. They didn't know the fate of their master's yet, but a lifetime of war had taught them a brutal lesson.

Always expect the worst.

There was something worse than Vesta dying. Her clammy grip slowly withdrew. "...Are you sure? Are you sure you won't regret it. Allyson is looking for you, she wouldn't do that unless she could --"

Well that was just the thing, neither trusted the woman for a reason. Aradia shook away the doubt and wrapped her arms back around herself.

"Every moment you spend with me ruins your reputation further. There's no path out of this for me. If she survives...." Aradia swallowed hard. 'If she survives it might be your last chance."

Last chance for what, she didn't know. The woman's taunts reverberated through her head and drowned out all the reasons they had left.

 

[Zaavik Perl]

"No," he dismissed. "I don't need that."

Allyson would be the only one if anyone was playing for what she thought was redemption. Foolish. Zaavik doubted that was anyone's real purpose for seeking. Even if it was, convincing them his actions were his own would be a fools errand. One look and they'd pin him a spiritual casualty. Whatever they could to justify snuffing him out or wrangling him back into being an obedient little soldier boy.

The few concerns and longings he held for the before weren't allowed to come to a head. Bottling things up and tucking them away had become his most honed talent. It wouldn't be long before no one missed him, and his name only reverberated in holotapes and the music he'd played reverberating in dives across subterranean Coruscant.

A ghost is what he'd become then. Forgotten yet immortal.

Home to him would become something new, and the old would be an echo.

"It's just you and I now. I'm not going back."

 

[Darth Daiara]

She wasn't convinced. She never really pressed the topic with him before, she was too afraid of what might happened if she tried. No, Aradia preferred to live life ignoring the elephant in the room. He couldn't see sense and leave her if she never brought it to mind. Zaavik wasn't dumb, she just wasn't dumb enough to risk it, either.

She knew what she was.

She knew what he was.

It had always seemed so frustratingly inconsequential before. Now that she brought it up, his simple dismissal did little to fill the hole she had had been covering for so long.

"If you're sure..."

 

[Zaavik Perl]

"If you're sure..."

"Deadly," he assured.

Senses discerned Aradia didn't believe it anyway, an inverse of picking up deception. Knowing appeals would do little. She was obstinate with her fears. Emotional filibuster was low on the list of things Zaavik had the energy for. Even lower on the list of scarcely helpful options.

Robotic finger servos whistled loud mechanical strains as his idea-stressing grip let her free now that the proposal had passed, leaving her to her self-cradling. A metallic bang followed, his unclipped saber was thrown carelessly to the side, with the cloak following shortly after. Another pile added to the floor of the room minimalist beyond practical.

The crude leyline where flesh met prosthetic blow his left elbow was getting worse. Krayiss still echoed in the complications of unprofessional attachment. Zaavik didn't look at it, pretended not to feel it. Sleeves weren't long enough to mask it. He scooted, hid the problem behind Aradia, wrapping the arm around as he came up beside.

"We'll be alright," he reassured. Did he believe it? Almost. Tellingly, his tone didn't beget his intended message. Misplaced notes weren't indicative of deception. None of this came easily, let alone naturally.

Effort had to count for something.

 

[Darth Daiara]

She was less inclined to throw down her saber, but she watched him with interest as he did. He was done, wasn't he? Well and truly done. She wasn't. She just wanted to no longer be hunted. He...

I wanna take everything into my own hands and live."

He wanted to be normal. She wasn't sure she could give that to him. She was born and raised as nothing more than a slave. A life was never in her cards, and that had only changed because she had stolen the chance for herself. Was she stealing from him if she did this? She was so wrong for him.

HIs arm wrapped around her. She slowly softened and looked up at him.

"...Deadly? Really? Bad time to tempt fate."

Her lips twitched, killing her seriousness. She reached for him in turn and tried to pull him deeper onto the bed with her, her shoes kicking off as she went.

 

[Zaavik Perl]

"...Deadly? Really? Bad time to tempt fate."

Deadly sure. Zaavik smirked. "Right. Word choice." Tact often fell into the same basket as the rest.

When pulled, he cascaded gently back-first onto the mattress. Archaic springs groaned, creaked, settled into silence. Pressure stung the brim of his severed arm. Teeth grit shut, resisting the natural reaction to shift and squirm the arm from underneath her.

Pain subsided.

It was quiet.

It took a painfully long moment for him to shatter it like glass. "I'm sorry it all ended up like this."

 

[Darth Daiara]

Aradia turned, slowly drifting towards his body heat until she laid against his side. Her eyes trailed up towards his face. Tic by tic her neck lowered her head onto his chest.

A hand hold... an arm... a cuddle. She was always braced for him to pull away, but when he didn't she relaxed against him. His heart beat in her ear.

"I'm not," she lied, draping her arm around him in turn. The should feel the scars under the fabric of his shirt. She couldn't help but to wonder how many more would be there if he hadn't left with her when he did.

Kaalia, the Empire. ... Korriban. Everything that she had once protected was gone, but it all would have happened anyway. "I dunno where I'd be without you," she confessed. Her gaze went distant, a lump forming in her throat.

"Would you change it. If you could?"