Vader is a terrible, terrible man. AGAIN. [OPEN]
Kenobi!
Vader's eyes snapped open as he jerked to consciousness, his last memory of Kenobi's smirk burnt into his memory. The treacherous Jedi had thwarted him again. Why he was not dead was beyond him, but the second time Kenobi had left him for dead without having the stomach to actually finish the deed would be the last ( Read more... )
Vader's eyes snapped open as he jerked to consciousness, his last memory of Kenobi's smirk burnt into his memory. The treacherous Jedi had thwarted him again. Why he was not dead was beyond him, but the second time Kenobi had left him for dead without having the stomach to actually finish the deed would be the last ( Read more... )
She regarded him thoughtfully, watching the way he gathered himself as if to intimidate her. It did not work. He had not braved the sands of Arrakis, his storm came from other sources, other places--from within and from without. It marked him as her blue-within-blue eyes marked her, she with an addiction that meant death if interrupted, his with a body that could not sustain itself without aid.
"Loyalty to the dead," she said softly. "Do the dead not deserve to be avenged properly? You say duty but this duty of yours is not in service of an Empire. I think it is not. It is selfish and weak. If you had a proper sense of duty, you would take up arms against the Ohm and avenge your Empire. You would fight with us and not against us. You may deny all of this, but if you examine all that has transpired, you will see the path you must take. I cannot tell you 'choose this' for you have your own mind. Sometimes there are things we are loathe to do, but these are the things that must be done."
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Vader was grinding his teeth between proclamations, his body screamed for action rather than this back-and-forth useless exchange.
"Call me selfish if you will, but as it stands now I am the Empire. You cannot know what I sacrificed to breath life into the Galaxy once again, to create order from madness, but it will not be wasted. I am my purpose- I will see it through, then gladly turn my lightsaber upon my self to see every last trace of the Jedi erased."
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Her eyes flicked over his face.
"I am, too, the head of the Order I come from in my own universe. The last of the Bene Gesserit. You know nothing of my own trials nor of the chaos I have seen and survived." There was more behind her voice than that of the twenty-six year old woman that now sat at his bedside. There was the press of more than five-thousand years worth of genetic memory behind it. She was old and sharp and different with eyes that reflected it.
"As to your son," she said, "I have never met a more remarkable man. If you lay aside your hate for a moment, you should be proud. He has rebuilt the Jed-Eye and left the trappings of the Order that stifled it and, perhaps you, aside. I do not know how such is poison..."
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Vader froze, his jaw tightened and veins stood out prominently in his forehead.
"My son is forever lost to me. Do not speak to me of how I can be proud of a man I can never know, a man who has been programmed to fight against me to my death-- a man I will have to put out of his own misery if I cannot save him from Kenobi's ministering. You may speak to me of hatred, but the Jedi will never be content until they have intruded upon every last facet of who I am and made it nothing."
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Such is what she saw when she looked at Luke.
"You say 'the Jed-Eye' as if they are a massive force uprising against you that needs to be crushed. In reality, they are all survivors, all who are aboard this ship. They harm no one by being here, though you would surely kill them all. You may try, but this ship will not let you succeed."
She studied him unflinchingly for awhile.
"There is sorrow in that such things have happened to you," Arha said at last. "The situations that lead up to such a confrontation must have been terrible, indeed, for you to shed your life as Jed-Eye and become Sith, as you are now. I will let you find your comfort, such as it may be, if you wish. Our words will continue to clash for mine fall upon ears that have forgotten how to hear. I am certain I could stay for hours and we should get nowhere. But, I leave you with the words I have spoken. They are truth as I am Bene Gesserit and Jed-Eye both."
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"I do not need your false pity, nor do I need your disdain or supposed joy-- all these things are lies. The Jedi feel nothing. Nothing! You cannot fathom the bonds of blood because they are forbidden to you, and I do not encourage you to try, lest you fall and find yourself no better than I am. Then you would be unable to stare down at me from your vantage point and gloat in such a manner. Wrap yourself within the teachings of your false prophets, if they truly allow you to sleep soundly."
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She half rolled her eyes.
"The Jed-Eye you hate are gone. You do not listen and I have no gloating, no pity. You are what you choose to be. I cannot change this. The only thing I can change is myself." She stretched her mind out, open wide, though the wrapped anything to do with Obi-Wan up and stuffed it away like a squirrel, burying it in the sea of voices that were her ancestors (and truth, those who she had never known in her life from the one whose face she did not know). The Mothers-Within were agitated, but settled to allow sharp relief to the memories she called forth and left where he could reach them. The barren stretches of her home on Arrakis, the emptiness, the abandonment, the bitter cinnamon sent of Spice, the roar of the great Shi-Hulud--such had been her family before finding the Jed-Eye. Then the Force, healing Obi-Wan, and the joy of it, the release, the family she had gained. Kyle Katarn with his arms around her, Luke talking of his wife, of Ben, or his sister and her own family, the laughter and the joy, the heartache, all of it laid bare.
"Tell me I lie again. Tell me I am weak and I will drown you in the life I have lead. I do not lie in anything I say--there is no advantage in lying to you, nothing I can gain from it."
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"Get out," he said, hoarsely. Then, shouting, even as ravaged as his throat was from this unassisted conversation: "GET OUT! I will not be swayed by you! I have had the veil removed from my eyes, and the Emperor has shown me...he knows far better than you do how deeply the conditioning of the Jedi runs!" He was frantic now, pulling deeper and deeper within himself to stay right, to know that what he had done was the only conceivable option. He was the avatar of justice to the galaxy...
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This was a place without Jed-Eye.
But this was a place with her. She had no family but the wide stretches of sand and the creatures of the desert, left alone and pathless for long, long ears even as war tore through her planet. She healed those she could and watched others die, their bodies put in the deathstill to water the seitch. Their water rings were borne by their loved ones and life went on. Life always went on.
Arha recognized Tatooine (such was where Luke had come from) and followed his thoughts as they fled while showing him the Jed-Eye in crystal-clear relief. (Blood and death on his hands, on his sands, grief and rage, so much rage.) The Jed-Eye were family and they were joy--Mara's relief at knowing her son and husband were on the ship was bright and fresh as if it was happening, Arha own deep pleasure at seeing the family reunited, Kyle Katarn's unwavering support as she faced the horror of what had been done to her universe, too, was there.
She showed him the Ohm, then, her sands blotted out in a sea of insectiod aliens that devoured and killed everything in their path. The dying eyes of the child she had tried to protect were freshly burnt into her memory. They were her people, even if she had been alone in their midst, they were her people, and they fought like Fremen to the end. Even as that sharp leg stabbed through her mid section just before she was caught, Arha had been fighting. For her family.
This was truth.
And the same ferocity shone through as she slammed it home.
"I was not Jed-Eye, then," she said in a tight voice. "I am not conditioned, now. Look, see." Her fingertips rested against the edge of the bed. Arha showed him what she saw when she looked at him--the pale angry man, the denial, the refusal to listen to anyone, and how it hindered him. The refusal to deal with the situation at hand, the Ohm, the ship, these were the things that would render him useless. And he was meant for more than uselessness.
She was sure of that, even if he was a Sith Lord, he was not meant to be useless. Arha had hope in this. It mattered not what he thought. This was how she saw him, the light of her own eyes, unaided by the Force. Too, this was how she saw nearly every last person she met--with hope.
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He recognized what she was showing him- as though they were half-remembered holos from his own life, snapshots of something he once knew, and had left behind. He recognized how she saw him, he was aware of his faults; but now he buried those doubts deeper within himself, attributing them to his own weakness and lack of skill in the Dark Side.
I am capable of resisting this.
And he...withdrew. Bloody sands, dying children, family, two different but somehow linked galaxies- all thoughts he sent drifting further from his mind, floating away as he curled his thoughts behind battered shields.
None of this is of any concern to me.
Further...and further...
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Her eyes squeezed shut as she focused, tightening her control until she could see the damaged cells. She stilled and carefully, gently eased a thread of healing that became a light wave that washed over the scarred surfaces and wound its way into the deeper recesses of his lungs. It was restorative, easing, and a combination of the Force and her own healing. The pain would go first, it always did. There was a loop in the assent clause--more of her own ability, less of the Force. Starting slow with her own was easier on the system, less chance of shock. This would be a slow healing, but it would be like soaking in the sun on a hot day. She examined the black spots, the charred sections, and the healthy tissue that still remained, her frown soft.
Restoration was attainable, though it would be terribly difficult.
She could heal his lungs given enough time.
And yet, she had snaked her mind after him, refusing to let go until he faced the reality of their current situation. No trick, just the brutally honest truth of this moment. Arha Masaari was not about to back down from a challenge--not this one. He would be shown the truth and she would spend time healing him. There would be no argument.
She was Bene Gesserit and she was Jed-Eye. She would find a way.
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It was at that moment her assault on his mind turned to the physical. For a moment he thought he'd lost feeling in what was left of his body, until he realized he simply was not feeling...pain. Between the calm he was trying to maintain and the sudden removal of stress-
Vader began to slip out of consciousness and into a very rewarding sleep.
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Obi-Wan had knocked him down fairly hard (acceptable, considering Vader was trying to murder him) and that had its own effects. Arha knew this first healing would have little effect on his lung function, but the pain would be greatly reduced. When she pulled herself out of the healing session, she found herself too groggy to move at all, and decided she wished to remain still for just a moment.
That moment turned into several.
Arha Massari had fallen into a light doze with her cheek against the edge of Vader's bed, her fingers curled beside his arm. A lazy tendril of a thought escaped, meandering in Kyle Katarn's direction.
...could use. Some food in. Medical?
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Finally reaching the Med Bay he found her dozing on the edge of Vader's bed. Not what he was expecting at all. What the hell was going on? At least she seemed to be okay. Moving forward he gently put a hand on her shoulder to awaken her. "Arha? Arha, it's Kyle. Are you alright?"
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Her eyes found the food and she reached for it.
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