This week on 'As the Space World Turns'

[doeswhathemust]

Characters: Claire Bennet, Draco Malfoy
Location: The Sith Academy
Planet: Korriban
When: During the monster attack
What: Fighting a few gentlemen
Rating: PG for FIGHTING and then DRAMA

Comments

[regeneracy]

[It was easy to slip away from Lily on Nar Shadda, and even easier to find herself a ride to Korriban. Her nerves while approaching the planet she knew Draco was on were the hard part, at least until after she landed.

After questioning countless people, she finds herself lost and confused and standing outside a Sith academy that's in chaos during yet another monster attack. Finding Draco's a priority to her, but she doesn't have a chance to really make it all that far into her search before she's facing off against something tall, fangy, and downright freaky.

Of course, Claire's learned enough to not come unarmed. She has the lightsaber Draco's left her, and the training she's picked up from a few of her friends, but she's never been faced with an actual fighting situation before.

As it turns out, anger and letting that anger out by attacking something come natural to her. She surprises even herself by being able to use the Force with a reasonable amount of control, even through her fear and her anger pumping through her.

Even with one useful arm she's able to do a good amount of damage to her attacker and is able to Force shove him away from her and takes off running, only to plow right into another. She's able to hold her own against this new one, but when the previous weirdo makes his way back to her, it's two against one and despite the fact her odds aren't all that great she just grits her teeth and lunges into fiercer attacks.]

[doeswhathemust]

[The sound of fighting down a corridor draws Draco's attention. Planning to avoid it, he peeks around the corner. The sight of bald heads only serve to justify his decision and he takes another moment to make sure neither of the things have spotted him, and to laugh at the poor sod caught fighting them.

He stops when he catches the sight of blonde hair (which is ridiculous because blondes are dime a dozen at the Academy) and his gut twists sickeningly. Claire.

He turns away, listening to the fight and willing himself to just continue down the corridor. No one would know. He doesn't need to get involved in this-

With a hiss, his lightsaber flares on. Wordlessly he throws himself at one of the bald creatures (whatever they are, they're not human) using the Force to push the other off Claire.]

[regeneracy]

[What in the -?

She pauses only for a moment, to see who had interrupted her attempts to be strong and useful. She sees the mask and offers a critical stare, but the Gentlemen charging forward for another round of attacks cuts the moment short.

She opens her mouth to call out to him, but realizes that inside here, her voice is gone. That's...pretty freaky. She's going to blame it on these guys. She's thinking that removing their heads is the best way to go, just like with her, and steps into a series of motions that ends up with her pressed up against a wall. Furious for looking weak in front of a Sith, she just taps right into that anger and uses the Force to shove the creature away from her. Unfortunately for her, the blast was a little stronger than she expected, and the wall behind her ends up cracking as well.

She glances up at it before moving back into the fight, once again attempting to get in a good enough swipe to cut off its head. ]

[doeswhathemust]

[He loses his balance as Claire throw the other monster across the room, causing him to miss. Frowning he twists the blade and turns it to stab the bald thing through the chest (like he stabbed Hatter, and like the Sith stabbed him that night all those months ago-)

The momentary pause gives the creature time to reach up and claw at Draco's mask. He flinches away, but not before he pain bursts across his forehead. He kicks the body off his lightsaber (how did he miss the scalpel it was holding?) and sweeps the blade around to catch it in the neck. The creature staggers back a few steps and falls over.]

[regeneracy]

[Entirely focused on killing the thing attacking her, Claire drives her lightsaber through its stomach, and then pulls it out and goes for its chest. Having both a small size and good agility on her side, she's able to duck under an arm that comes at her, and she swings her blade up to hack off its arm.

While it's distracted by that attack, she uses the Force to tug the monster down at the waist, low enough for her to swing -

She hasn't mastered using the Force enough for her to be able to hold the thing in place for long, but a second is all she needs, and soon its head is rolling on the ground at her feet. She stands there with her lightsaber, taking deep breaths in and out as she lets the adrenaline go through her. She remembers that there was someone here with her, and she spins around to face them.

Without the threat of death looming over her, she's able to realize this guy is the same height and size as the one that rescued her from the rooftop. The one that saved her from falling, the one that she thinks is Draco. The one that just saved her again.

She retracts the blade of her saber before putting it away and marches forward, right into the Sith's boundary. She sees that the mask is damaged, but she knows it's already him. She just has to pry it off his face to confirm what she believes. Her hand is trembling as she reaches up to grab at the edge of it, and pauses long enough to see what his reaction is.
]

[doeswhathemust]

[Feeling the blood drip down the inside of his mask, Draco's too busy trying to remember what he was taught about using the Force to think of getting away or even notice what Claire's doing. It's hard to believe that that's really her- here on Korriban fighting these monsters with his lightsaber and so he just can't comprehend it.

Right up until she's in his face, her hand on his mask. There's no denying that's Claire. There's a look in her eyes that scares him- because she's looking at him and not the Sith he's supposed to be.]

Don't. [He doesn't have his voice enhancer on, but there's no time to worry about that now. He tries to step back and turn his face away.]

[regeneracy]

[Hearing his voice makes her gape, and she pauses in her movement. It takes her a few to realize that it really is him, and that he's alive, and that he really did abandon her to be here. The pain caused by this confirmation is almost enough to make her drop down to her knees, but she numbly steps forward and reaches out for his mask once again.

No, he's not getting away this time.

Her fingers curl around the left edge and she tugs as hard as she can.]

You can't run away anymore, Draco. I know the truth.

[She wants to yell this at him, to spit it out and just seethe. But it comes out flat and empty, almost resigned. It goes along well with that sinking feeling in her stomach.]

[doeswhathemust]

[It's such a simple movement, her hand pulling off his mask. Almost too simple for the enormity of what's happening.

He feels he should meet her eyes, but he doesn't want to know what he'll find there. Instead he brings his hand to the cut on his forehead- it's easier to deal with this than to face her. More than anything, he can't understand how she found him. She must have been here looking for him- which means others might know he's still alive.

Even if he'd wanted to he couldn't have spoken. His throat is closed and his stomach is tied up in knots. What can only been a few seconds feels like hours of silence before Draco finally looks up at her.]

[regeneracy]

[She eats up his silence, feeling it's as much a confirmation of guilt as any words could possibly be. When he finally is able to look her in the eye she tosses the mask aside. He's not going to be needing it anymore.]

I guess the part we should start out with is figuring out why you bothered to protect me when you hurt me worse than anything else could have.

[Her mouth feels dry, so she licks her lips, and stares him down. He's going to have to talk eventually.]

Do you know what I had to go through to find you? Do you even care that I bothered to? Why did you even leave me in the first place?

[And with those questions asked, the emotional dam breaks and she starts to cry. She glares through her tears, though, to make it feel better for herself. She feels that despair pooling in the pit of her stomach, and its rapidly turning to anger. She feeds off of it until it starts to feel overwhelming, and she tries to direct waves of her feelings in his direction through the Force, a trick she had easily picked up before she even knew what she was doing. She wants him to feel what he's done to her, what he's made her into.]

[doeswhathemust]

[Her words are damning, cutting through all the small excuses he's been telling himself.]

I- [His voice cracks. A little of it is disuse, keeping to yourself means less talking. Mostly he doesn't know what to say. There's no excuse, not really. He swallows, unable now to look away. And then she's crying- and it's his fault. It's all his fault.

But before he can continue a sudden surge of emotion stops him. He frowns at her sharply, because even though he doesn't know how she's doing this, it's clear she's the source.

He has to turn away from her, do something to break the overwhelming connection. His hand rises to cover his face (the wetness on his face is no longer blood but tears), his mouth is open but he's still struggling to find words. He can't cope with this.] S-stop it.

[regeneracy]

[Is he crying? He doesn't get to cry here, he's the one that did this to her. She shakes her head in response to his finally speaking. Even if she had wanted to stop, she wouldn't be able to control it right now.]

I can't. [This is admitted in a whisper, and she reaches up to wipe at her tears. But she thinks better of it, and instead reaches over to wipe at some of his. His crying unnerves her, he's supposed to be stronger than her. But if he's not going to talk, oh she has more than plenty to say to him.]

Isn't it a good thing that I can use my emotions like this? Isn't it what Sith like to be able to do? [She's crying stronger now as her voice raises, and the lack of control she has shows as the ground at their feet begins to shake. The more emotion she feels and feeds into, the less control over it she has. She realizes that her body is trembling, with no relation to the fact they're standing on unstable ground.]

I told you that I loved you. You told me that you could...that you might love me. And then you had me see you being killed. You saw how depressed I was, you knew what I was going through!! And you just stood by and watched.

[Now the shaking has gone up from the floor to the walls, and with a loud crack, it begins to shatter and debris falls to the floor. That's enough to get through to her and she shakes out of it, and turns to stare at what she's done.]

Do you want to know what the sad part about all of this is? Just like every time with my family back home, I could forgive you for leaving me, just so you'll stay with me a little longer and I don't have to be alone. I still love you, even after you showed you didn't care anything about me, and even after you killed Hatter. I've been the only person on your side, even after I realized you must hate me so much to fake your own death to run away and come here.

You'd rather kill people than be with me, and give us both a chance to be happy. And I'd rather push all the other people who care about me and want to help me away because I'd rather feel betrayed and hurt by you than feel nothing at all.

[She's done with her emotional tirade now, and feels drained now that she's had the chance to let it all out. She drops down to her knees, and realizes she's downright sobbing now. Instead of looking up at him, she turns her head and tries to force herself to stop crying.]

[doeswhathemust]

[Draco doesn't flinch away when she reaches to touch him. He can't. He's skilled at hiding his own pain, boxing it up so that he never has to deal with it. He has no idea how to handle these open and raw emotions other than to stand and cry and regret everything.

When did she learn to do this? When did she learn to use the Force? Draco has so many questions, and he can't think of any of any of them with her pain coursing through him. It's a wonder he manages to keep standing with the way the room is shaking.

She stops, the rush of emotion from her ends and then he's left feeling drained and empty of everything except self-hatred. He escapes to a wall and, leaning against it, drops to the floor.] I didn't mean- I never- [He has to stop for a second as wipes his face.]

I didn't want to hurt you. [He just didn't want to give up the things he wanted more.]

[regeneracy]

[It takes her a bit, but she finally manages to stop sobbing. She's still crying silently, tears streaking down her face, but at least she's not shaking and sobbing anymore. After what feels like an eternity she finally looks over at him and breaks the silence.]

Yeah, well you did a pretty crappy job at making sure you didn't hurt me.

[She wipes at her eyes with the back of her hand, a childish gesture that makes her look and feel younger than she really is.]

We're only supposed to be kids, aren't we? I know I'll never be normal but -

[A pause.]

Now that I found you, what are you going to do?

[doeswhathemust]

[He draws his knees up against his chest and drops his head onto his arms. The realisation is dawning on him that he's a selfish coward, and he's been one all his life, and everything he's ever done has been to get what he wants, regardless of anyone else. If he could still feel anything, it would be like a kick in the gut.

But right now there's nothing left in him that can feel, so he just aknowledges the fact and moves on. Selfish, arrogant, childish coward. That's him.

He laughs; a dry humourless sound when she accuses him of being a child. He hasn't been a child for a long time.]

I don't know what I'm going to do.

[He lifts his head and looks over at her] You're not the only person who knows I'm alive, are you?

[regeneracy]

[Of course he doesn't know what he's going to do. He never really does. She wants to sneer at him, but doesn't have the energy left to do it, so she just fiddles with some of the wall debris she made land on the floor, and tosses it in his direction so it will land at his feet.]

I'm not. Alice and Lily both told me that they thought you were the one that killed Hatter. Dean and Catty are pretty sure you're alive, and Anakin probably figures you are too. It's not exactly a secret with people I know, I was pretty much the last one to catch onto the fact you abandoned me - which, by the way is the one thing I hate most other than lies.

[She sighs, and rests her chin on her knees. What are they supposed to do now? She's found him, he's resigned to being a selfish coward, and she's not hating him as much as she thought she would.]

We can't just sit here like this all day, you know. There's more of those things out there, they'll eventually find us.

[She bites at the inside of her cheek.]

If you don't know what you're going to do, can you at least tell me what you want to do? Right now, in this moment, without having to think about it.

[doeswhathemust]

[He jumps, startled by the rock landing at his feet.

... Of course everyone would know. All his work was for nothing. All of this stupid hiding, and killing Hatter and everything has been for nothing, because they know he's alive and he still hasn't found a way home.]

I want to go home. [He doesn't even have to think about it. Home to where and when things made sense, and his greatest problem was figuring out how to cheat on his Transfiguration test. He screws his eyes closed and presses his palms against them for a moment (because now he knows that she wants him to stick around and he just wants to run away to where it's safe).

Since he's nothing but a little whining coward, it makes sense to continue to run away and deal only with the things he wants to deal with right now.] I know somewhere we can wait while Master Resmi takes care of any other of those creatures around. Then you have to get off this bloody planet before she finds you here.