Days Gone By

[Metal Gear Seth]

She blinked.

' ' "Scarlet, I know you don't wanna work the farm-" ' '

She breathed.

' ' "If you promise me, you won't give up on this dream, I will help-" ' '

She closed her eyes for a moment, then opened them.

' ' "Yes! Thank you daddy! I had these plans worked out right here, and I was just working on this pla-" ' '

Scarlet looked to over to her right arm, and was in relief, but felt an odd feeling in her left.

' ' "Why. What. Daddy? Where are you daddy? Why aren't you here? Why'd you lea-" ' '

She looked to her left and saw her shoulder bleeding out, her head pounding as she realizes what's happened. She looks around, and see's her arm laying a few feet from her.

' ' "She's struggling! Hold her down before she-"
"WHERE'S MY DADDY!? I WANNA SEE MY DADDY!"
"SEDATE HER OR SHE'LL NULL THE SURGERY!" ' '

Her eyes widened in horror as she stared at the severed arm.

"Daddy.." she was breathing harder.

"Aiden.." she breathed even faster, like a jet engine.

' "MOMMY." ' She was breathing even harder, and faster, hyperventilating now.

"DADDYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!!" she suddenly opened her eyes, and rather quickly sat up from the floor of what was Aiden's ships onboard Holding cell.

'It was..' she blinked, her heart rate coming down from beating so fast.

"A dream.." she looked about, realizing she was bound.

"Sadly. This part is not." she sighed, standing up, and cracking her neck from her nap.

"Hey Jackass. What gives?" she said rather snidely.

 

[Chask274]

The swirling blues and whites of hyperspace streaked by the cockpit viewport as Aiden stared out at the vortex forlornly. The events of the last couple hours hadn't been pleasant to say the least, and what the next few hours would hold was filling him with dread. If he thought Scarlet's attitude towards him was bad now, hoo boy, it'd get much worse when they reached their destination and he broke the news to her. The fact that the man she'd been desperately searching for had been dead and buried for five years was not going to go over well at all. 'Might need to bring a dose of tranquilizer with me, just in case...' Dismissing the thought, Aiden, still dressed in his green tunic, black pants, and leather boots, hopped out of the pilot's seat and slid down the short ladder to the lower deck. The interior of the ship was pretty cramped, but it did it's job well enough. As he reached the bottom of the ladder, a sound coming from the occupied holding cell caught his attention. It seemed that Scarlet was talking in her sleep.

As he cautiously approached, Aiden managed to make out the words she was saying, and realized with a sickening feeling that was having a nightmare about the day she'd lost her arm and her father in a freak workshop accident. Leaning against the nearby bulkhead, Aiden grimaced as the memories of that unfortunate incident came flooding into the forefront of his mind. He'd come over to hang out with her, and had been halfway up the path to her house when he heard the screaming coming from the workshop. Sprinting over in a panic, he entered the workshop to find a scene that looked like it belonged in a horror film. Scarlet's dad was laying on the floor dead, and next to the workbench Scarlet herself was screaming her head off while bawling, her side and the ground around her stained vermillion from the wound where her arm used to be. Fighting back the urge to retch, he rushed to his friend, and after bandaging her injuries as best he could, he scooped her up and bolted back to his house, calling for help the whole way. His dad came tearing out of the house and took her from him, and they immediately sped off in the family speeder to the local hospital. The next few weeks had been a blur, and before he knew it, the report came that Scarlet had up and vanished, leaving him shocked and deeply saddened.

A part of him had always blamed himself for her leaving, a feeling that was only made worse when she returned just a few weeks ago a vastly changed person who seemingly didn't care about him anymore. He knew at least part of it was a stubborn façade put up to avoid painful memories, but how much of it was just a front, he'd yet to find out. Sighing, he straightened up and walked over to the cell as he heard Scarlet sit up and address him. Inputting a code into the keypad, the cell door slid open, and he stood there leaning against the doorframe, looking a bit more haggard than he had at the meeting, and there was a bitter sadness to his expression. "Sorry about the restraints. I didn't want to worry about you waking up and causing problems while I was trying to fly the ship. We're enroute to Wyatt right now, so it shouldn't be too much longer." He stayed silent a moment, debating on whether or not to ask the question he wanted to, before deciding now was as good a time as any.

"Why do you hate me, Scarlet?" [/abox]

 

[Metal Gear Seth]

Sitting down, and letting her arms rag-doll in front of her with comfort, she gave no expression, no emotion, and no gestures of body language that said anything. She simply looked at him, and spoke.

"You're honestly retarded if you don't know the answer." she looked him dead in the eyes.

"I won't play fekking mind games Aiden, so don't expect one either." she stood up, and strode out the door towards where she saw her gear, and ffinally gae a show of emotion, of body language.

It was a silent anger.

And the type not to be trifled with.

"Now let's go."

 

[Chask274]

Scarlet would get as far taking leaning forward to take a step before the chain connecting her shackles to the wall snapped taunt, stopping her in her tracks. Crossing his arms, Aiden glared at Scarlet, his expression changing from downcast to irritated. This change was also apparent in his voice as he snapped at her in response. "Obviously I don't know the damn answer, otherwise I wouldn't be fekking asking, now would I? As for why I don't know the apparently obvious answer, well, let me lay out things from my perspective. After I saved your life in the aftermath of a freak workshop accident, you repay me by running away without a word, and then when you finally show back up, you won't talk about what happened and seemingly blame yourself for what happened, despite being told repeatedly and explicitly that it was an accident, and not a single person blames you for what happened. On top of all that, you've been treating me like osik and continuously disrespect me and the position I worked hard to earn. So I ask you again, Why. Do. You. Hate. Me?"

His voice had started out irritated but otherwise calm and neutral in volume, but by the time he was done, he was nearly shouting and venomous anger was dripping off of every word. [/abox]

 

[Metal Gear Seth]

"Pfffff-HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!" Scarlet broke into utter hysterical laughter as stepped back into the cell, slowly laughing herself to the floor from how hard she was laughing. She got to a point where she was starting to choke out laughter, and stopped recovering with a few coughs, and tears in her eyes.

"WOOOOO! Osik, I haven't laughed that hard in a long ass time Aiden." she was smiling a little.

*AHEM* she recentered herself, brushing off some dust.

"See, you really are retarded. You just answered you're own question." she smirked.

"Aiden. Bud. It's layed out for you. The fact that you haven't seen it, is kinda funny." she glimpsed at whatever she could behind him, to see if she could find how long it was till they landed.

 

[Chask274]

Aiden's expression hardened as she broke into laughter. Going over her words, he realized what she was most likely referring to, and snorted in contempt. "So that's what it is then, eh? I'm leading our clan, and meanwhile, you're still just a rank and file Commando, indistinguishable from any other Fett aside from your shitty attitude. You're pissed off because I've achieved what you supposedly are working for. You're being jealous and spiteful simply because you're behind in the running. Pathetic." His expression twisted into a mocking sneer.

"Both your father and Wyatt would be disgusted with your behavior."

 

[Metal Gear Seth]

Her smirk turned sour with what Aiden had to say in response. She could only hold the best neutral face possible. She was pissed.

And then she lost it.
"Don't you ever talk about my father." she tried to throw a punch, knowing it would stop in front of his face by the restraints, her teeth beginning to grit.

"Or Wyatt. YOU DON'T KNOW THE FIRST THING ABOUT EITHER OF THEM." Her tone was firm, and authoritative. It wouldn't matter who you were or where you came from, her tone was one to scare just about anyone who crossed her path.

"Maybe if you knew the first thing about honor, I wouldn't be chained up in your little kink cell, hmm? Fight me like a goddamn Warrior you fekking bastard. I don't know the first thing about where you're taking me, but I can guarantee you I'll kick your ass when we do." she was on the verge of losing all composure.

"Bet on it you little Osik."

 

[Chask274]

Aiden's sneer wavered only slightly as Scarlet fired back her reply. Snorting, he shrugged, "Why shouldn't I talk about your dad? It's not like you ever talk about him. And as for Wyatt, ha!" He broke into a dark and humorless chuckle. "I'm far from the only one here who deserves to be called retarded if you think I don't know anything about Wyatt. I figured out he was the one you were looking for and I know where he is, didn't I? Imagine what else I've dug up on him, eh?" He considered her final point in silence a moment, then shrugged. "Honor is overrated, and far too often is used as an excuse to stand by and do nothing by people unwilling to do what's necessary. Think on that while you wait for us to reach Lothal." The instant he finished speaking, Aiden reached over and hit the switch to seal the door, then turned on his heel and returned to the cockpit.

A few hours later, the ship landed, and Aiden opened Scarlett's cell, unfastened her restraints, and handed over her utility belt sans any weapons. Walking into the living area, Aiden picked up a duffel bag and slung it over his shoulder. With a somber expression, he gestured to the lowered boarding ramp. "You'll get your armor and weapons back when we're done here, now let's get moving. Head west, and I'll tell you when we get to where we're going."

 

[Metal Gear Seth]

"SHUT UP! I SAID SHUT UP!!" the door slammed, and she slid to the floor in anger in despair.

When they'd arrived, her expression was cold, and filled with fury. She scoffed taking what gear was available, and walked down the ramp. Looking around, she felt some sense of familiarity, despite having never been to Lothal even once in her life. It was something rather unexpected that put a thought in her head as to why it felt as such. What lay before the two of them was a large complex of ruins. It looked to have been a rather large operation base of sorts. She started to get a feeling that she knew this place. She didn't understand why they'd be here though.

"Wha.. What is this?" she said still tense.

 

[Chask274]

Gesturing to the ruins, Aiden went down the ramp and began walking west towards a ridge overlooking the destroyed compound. "This is all that's left of the base of the mercenary outfit Wyatt used to be a part of. I'm sure he'd mentioned it before, and if he hasn't, well it's where he made his living until Sith hired mercs moved in and wiped them off the face of the planet. Far as I've been able to tell, Wyatt and a friend of mine were the only survivors." He walked in silence for a moment, letting Scarlet process and respond to what had been said.

"How'd you meet Wyatt, and why are you so desperate to find him?"

 

[Metal Gear Seth]

She sank to her knees as she simply stared over the ridge at the evidence before her. She didn't exactly understand, but it didn't make any sense. It was when Aiden asked the question that she popped back to her knees, and got in his face.

"This is straight osik!" she said firmly.

"Why're you showing me this? Who showed you this place? How do you know about Wyatt, and how am I supposed to know if you're lying!?" she was very determined to get an answer. Her expression was stern, and she wanted very desperately to know what she should do, as she herself was very conflicted.

 

[Chask274]

Aiden froze as Scarlet snapped at him again. As she got in his face, his hands lashed out and seized her by the front of her flightsuit, pulling her in so that they were nose to nose. His expression was twisted into an angry snarl as his tone became dark and dangerous. "Why the feth would I lie to you about this?! Ever since you came back, I've done nothing but try to reconnect, to make up for not being there when I was needed, and for what? All you've given me in return is scorn, bad attitude, and doubt. When I found out I knew the man you were looking for, I had every reason to keep it to myself because of your treatment of me, but I didn't because there was a time when I called you my best friend, and I'd really like to have that person back. You want proof I know Wyatt? Here it is!"

He shoved her backwards hard, then using the quickdraw technique he learned from Seth who learned it from Wyatt, he drew his blaster pistol (still set to stun) and blasted her once in each knee. It wouldn't knock her out, but she wouldn't be using her legs anytime soon. Sliding his pistol back into it's holster, Aiden pulled a holoprojector from his pocket, turned it on, and tossed it onto the ground between them. The device flickered to life, and the unmistakable image of Wyatt appeared as his voice began to emanate from the speaker.

"Hello Seth. Hello Aiden. And hello anyone who may be watching this. If you are watching this, then I've died, and passed on the knowledge that these tapes exist. I will state now, that this is my legally binding will and testament, in both Mandolorian, and Republic Law.

To both Aiden, and Seth, I leave whatever is respectively labeled to either of you as well as Any property I have throughout the galaxy. This can be found on the holotape I labeled for Aiden as he will no doubt need it, though Seth will oversee the dividing of property fairly.

To Seth in particular I have left a holotape with all of my teachings, as well as a few other things that connect to what I say after the next.

Second to last, I name Seth my successor to my clan, and Aiden a secondary should he accept the offer.

This is the end of my will and testament..."

The projector shut off, leaving the two in silence, before Aiden spoke up, his voice now a broken whisper. "Believe me now, vod?"

 

[Metal Gear Seth]

Theme​

"I-I..I. I d-" she was holding herself as best as she could as she temporarily huffed in anger from the quickdraw technique Aiden had used on her legs, effectively immobilizing her, and leaving her helpless to what he had to force on her. She didn't know what to say. How to handle what was being said. What to think of it, or even what to think of all the thoughts and emotions welling up inside of her. She couldn't choke on her words anymore. Her body wouldn't let her.

"I don't know." she said slumped, sitting with her legs ragdolled, and her head staring at the ground below her. She simply laid there, gloomy, and wordless, the silence of the wind the only thing to break the air.

Until a single tear dropped to her leg. Followed by another. And then another. Until it as very apparent that streams of tears were running down her face, and she began to cry. Her head never once budging with the cries of contorted emotion finally being released.

She sniffled and continued to cry, before her eyes suddenly widened in realization, whipping her head up, and showing her emotion in all it's pity as she grit her teeth in terror.

"DON'T YOU LOOK AT ME DAMMIT. I DOn't-" she coughed and sniffled as she slammed a fist to the ground.

"I DON'T.. I'M NOT.. I CAN'T.. I'M NOT YOU'RE VO-d-" she collapsed her head back to her gloomy sniffling and crying with the ground as her eyes guide.

"Don't you look DOWN on me.." she sniffled and collapsed back to her tears.

 

[Chask274]

Aiden winced as Scarlet finally completely lost it and broke down in tears. Sighing, Aiden reached down and fastened the retention straps on his holster, securing his pistol, then walked forward and knelt down in front of Scarlet. Just as she demanded she not look down on her, he reached out and wrapped her in a tight hug. "I've never looked down on you, Scarlet, and I never will. You're a Fett, dammit, and you know I never turn my back on family. Now, come on, up we go, it's time I showed you something before we're too torn up over this..." Hauling her to her feet, he scooped her up bridal style and carried her up to the top of the ridge. As he climbed, it wouldn't be hard for her to notice his somber and downcast expression, nor the fact that tears were starting to form at the corner of his eyes.

Stopping at the edge of a grove of trees, he set her down I'm front of a makeshift tombstone marked with Wyatt's name. Collapsing to his knees next to her, he spoke up in a broken whisper, the emotions he'd been desperately trying to hold back finally breaking to the surface as he started to cry. "I'm so, so sorry, Scarlet, but... Wyatt... He's dead. He has been for five years...."

 

[Metal Gear Seth]

When she was set down, she heard everything Aiden had said up. Right to the bitter crushing, heartless end of how long he'd been dead. She couldn't stop staring at the tombstone as her pupils dilated, her face pale, and her arms loose and ragdolled. She sat and stared at the tombstone a rather concerningly long time, but Aiden was too busy finally letting everything go, and failing to notice her finally slowly glance at him, her vision aimless as she stared at him for a solid minute of silence, the tears still continuing to scream, and her right hand become like a zombies for a moment. While Aiden was still distracted with his crying, she swiped his pistol with ease as her teeth clenched, and she raised the pistol at his head.

She stood with the gun to his head, her finger rather tense, and ready to squeeze as the tears began to run. It was rather impressive that she'd been able to cry this long and this passionately at all. It was hard for her to cry at all for years due to he incident. It was rather unfathomable that she had tears to shed anymore, but here she was.

Her teeth grit down even harder, her grip tightening on the blaster pistol as she had it pressed against his head she'd not noticed the feeling returning to her legs as she clambered away from him, getting at least a solid 15 feet away from him as she kept it trained on him.

"I-I J-ju-uus-t.." she choked out with a solid couple stripes tears down her face, her eyes puffy, and her face mixed with fear, anger and clustered frustration.

And so.

'"It's rather important I'd say."'

She slowly-

'"What's your name young lady?"'

-pulled the blaster towards herself.

'"Scarlet. Scarlet Ram'or Fett, sir."'

And jabbed the muzzle-

'"My name's Sol'yc Ruus'alor Fett. I'm a Mandalorian as you can more than likely tell, and your help distracting my target is much appreciated."'

-into the bottom of her chin.

'"My friends call me Wyatt."'

And readied the trigger.

 

[Chask274]

Aiden had been dejectedly staring at the ground, letting the emotions work their way out of him system when a tugging sensation on his hip coupled with the metallic clink of a buckle and the rasp of metal on leather drew his attention. Turning in surprise, he faced Scarlet just as the cool metal of his pistol's muzzle pressed into his forehead. Locking up in fear and confusion, Aiden's eyes went wide as he looked up at his grief stricken friend. "S-Scarlet, what're you doing?!" While he looked panicked and confused, Aiden had a decade and a half of experience in the field, and knew that this was gonna turn out one of two ways if he let her get out of reach with the blaster; either she was gonna shoot him, or herself, or possibly even some combination of the two.

He wasn't going to just stand by and let that happen.

As Scarlet began to stand, Aiden gently straightened up with her, raising up so he was no longer sitting on his heels. Just as she got to her feet and began to pull away, Aiden launched into action. His left hand snapped up and wrapped around the pistol just in front of the trigger, his thumb pressed against the underside and running parallel with the barrel as he pushed the weapon up and twisted it sideways to his left. This motion, combined with dropping back down to sit on his heels would ensure that if the blaster did go off, it wouldn't harm him. As the push and twist started, his right hand came up in a knife hand strike directly to her wrist. This, combined with a bit of additional force to the twisting/pushing motion, should wrench the weapon out of her grip, allowing Aiden to spring to his feet with it in hand and back away a good six feet.

Ejecting the power pack, Aiden dropped the pistol to the ground and chucked the power pack into the treeline. Sighing, Aiden looked at Scarlet pleadingly, his face still tear-streaked and saddened. "I-i-i don't even know how to respond to that, or what to do now, really... Seems like everytime I try to help or do anything remotely positive with you, you lash out and reject it..."

 

[Metal Gear Seth]

She fell forward, the ground coming closer to her in slow motion as her look of shock, sorrow, and pain had simply frozen and remained contorted as it was, her cheek resting on the ground as she slumped motionless, small heaves of sorrow continuing as she curled up, and gripped her head.

"ALL I SEE IS PAIN!!" she screamed.

"All I see is pain.. All I see is pain. All I see is pain." she kept mumbling it to herself as she'd finally lost all sense of what she had to do.

She stayed this way, waiting for the answers to come, but never expecting them to arrive.

 

[Chask274]

Walking over, Aiden dropped to his knees next to Scarlet, and after a second of hesitation, he pulled her into a tight hug. "The galaxy is a painful, cruel, and merciless place, Scarlet. Bad things happen to good people everyday, and at times it seems like nothing we do really matters to anyone. But it won't always be like this, not if you're still alive and willing to try. Wyatt knew his time was coming, it's why he put the contingencies in place like he did, but he wouldn't want this. He wouldn't want you to eat a blaster bolt just because he's gone, and I don't want that either. You've got a promise to keep, remember? How are you gonna be able to keep it if you give up like this, hmm?" He sighed, pulling back to arms length and brushing the hair in Scarlet's face aside so that he could look her in the eyes.

"Having someone close to you pass away is a hard and difficult thing, and you have every right to be upset, but don't throw your own life away out of grief. Take his teachings to heart, use them to push on in his memory and do what you can to make the galaxy a better place for it. Alright?"

 

[Metal Gear Seth]

She was tight. And.. close. To something so unexpectedly familiar, but different somehow. The tears from her eyes had blurred her vision so much that as she sucked in her sorrow a bit to regain her breath, she looked up and blurrily saw a face, but not just any face. Aidens soft yet gruff face filled with sorrow, and joy, and all the warmth and comfort she could ever hope for. When she was pulled in for such a close warm hug, she couldn't understand why, but it felt right. Like she'd been ignoring something this whole time, her whole life possibly.

She was so awestruck from the gesture that she held frozen for a bit before more than joyfully returned the hug slowly, pulling in even tighter, before a reprieve she wished had never come, because she couldn't help this feeling, this urge to want to wrap herself around him, and be close. To be held. Her hair was brushed aside and she may not have made sense of what Aiden was saying to her, but all she knew was he meant every word with sincerity, and heartfelt meaning. She finally heard his last words, the most inspiring part of all he'd said bringing a little spout of tears again. A mix of sorrow, joy, relief, content, and comfort flowing with her tears.

"Thank you." she sniffled.

"But you talk too much!" she said with a boost of momentary sheer before tackling him, and hugging him tighter. Holding her head close to his heart.

"Please just give me this. Let me hear you." she said adjusting her position to one of more comfort.

"That's all I want." she wiped her tears.

"This moment."

 

[Chask274]

Aiden smiled more broadly as his words and actions finally seemed to make an impact and have the desired results. "Happy to help, Scar-oof!" The tackle was surprising, though the aftermath wasn't unappreciated. A witty retort about how he was making up for the lack of communication from her died on his lips as she asked to just be able to enjoy the moment. She'd be able to hear his heart rate increase a bit in response, and his grin could be practically heard in the tone of his reply. "Ok then." Shifting slightly so as to be a bit more comfy, Aiden wrapped his arms back around her with a content sigh.

Resting his head back against the ground, Aiden gazed up at the sky and felt genuinely relaxed and happy for the first time in a long time. Wyatt's death and his inability to prevent it had weighed on the Count's mind for years, and the guilt and remorse had only grown when Scarlet returned and revealed that the man she was so desperately searching for had been Wyatt. But for once, Aiden didn't have that weight on his shoulders, and while he knew that one little pep talk wouldn't be the end of Scarlet's pain or his own, he had been given hope things could get better.

As the minutes drifted by and scattered clouds floated by overhead, a nagging feeling began to make itself known in the back of his mind. It wasn't relief over the situation and it's alleviating effect on his guilt, nor was it suspicion or any other negative feeling towards the woman currently using him as a body pillow. No, what the feeling was, it was an almost indescribable feeling of...right-ness. Like something was telling him that this was how the two of them should be interacting, being friendly and open and kind to each other, not trading venom and vitriol laced retorts and insults. The revelation first made him snort, then break into amused chuckling.