Open Coruscant Tattered Paths

[The Storyteller]

The invasion of the boy's mind, body and soul was continuing and it looked as though the forces of the Dark Side were making progress that the Light could not match blow for blow. With Alex diverting some of her attention to keep the building from crushing herself, her padawan and the children, she was limited in how much she could engage in the active struggle against the shade of the Master of Palpatine.

The spirit that had taken hold over the nexus since before the old republic fell into imperialism.

So, instead, she lit the beacon and called to the only thing that the Sith and the Dark Side respected; power. Even as the weight she was holding up began to increase as the building above them began to shatter, beginning to collapse atop of the Jedi and the children they were trying to save. There was a moment, a second, where the focus of the Darkness was no longer fully on the boy but on Alex instead.

A Body Not Worn By Time And Tainted By A Lifetime Of The Light.​

It didn't take the bait, it didn't rush to take Alex instead... but the mere fact that the offer had been made had snatched its attention away from the active struggle it was engaging in. During that moment, the moment it had taken to consider the offer and reject it, was enough that the Darkness did not see the truth behind the internal struggle within Maura.

And that meant when she reached out with the Force, seizing control of the boy's physical, literal, heart? She was unopposed.

The effect was almost immediate as the boy shuddered, eyes widening and he began to seize up, choking and clutching his hands towards his chest. Confusion rang through the Force before it was replaced by white hot rage as the spirit of the Dark Side nexus realised that the Jedi Padawan was attempting to render its possession useless. Worse, with the possession in progress it was bonded to the child's heart far more than it was tied to anything else, aside from the Dark Side itself.

You Will Not Take Him From Me! He Is Mine! You Would Kill A Child Just To Keep Him From Me?!​

Unlike before, the tone conveyed by the raging spirit was loud - as though it was actually shouting for the first time, as though it was actually concerned. Maura might not have had the sheer presence in the Force to feel it fully but Alex would be able to feel the undercurrent of fear through the spirit.

And You, Grandmaster, Will You Stand And Watch Your Student Kill A Child? Out Of Spite And Hatred Of The Dark?​

The shade of the old Dark Master raged, seething as it threw out another gambit as the temple continued to collapse.

@Valen Pelora @lizziie

 

[Maura Starwalk]

The Shadow's voice in her head was screaming now; screaming at her, screaming at Alex. Would she kill a child just to keep him from it?

The answer was yes no matter how painful it was or how heartbroken she felt as she continued to force her will upon the boy's heart. She'd seen his face. She'd heard his pleas. She'd watched as his eyes bulged and his teeth popped out. Whatever future this boy had in store for him would be no future. Maura didn't need to be a seer to see that.

"I'm sorry." Maura wasn't speaking to the Shadow, but rather to the boy as she dug deep into herself and pushed harder on his heart. "I'm sorry I couldn't save you." She was intentionally ignoring anything the Shadow was screaming in her ears even though she heard every word.

@Valen Pelora @Nefieslab

 

[The Storyteller]

The last gambit of the shade was to manipulate the Force as it had been known to do in life, just as it was left doing so now in death. It reached out to Alex and as the Grandmaster was distracted it didn't try and manipulate her - instead it manipulated the Dark Side and how it interacted with the Force. Specifically, how Maura was using the Force so that when Alex was reaching out to support her Padawan, she felt like she was staring at her Padawan who was giving in to the Dark Side.

To Alex, Maura would be beginning to radiate the Dark Side even as the Shade began to lose some of it's cohesion as her grasp on the kid's heart grew stronger.

Strong enough that it was unable to beat.

Strong enough that the kid grew still as he expired and the shade's connection to the physical body of the child was it's downfall. Unlike the shade of Palpatine, the shade of his Master passed away as he had done in life. Growing still, the shade began to fade away as the child it had sought to possession died on the ground.

The ritual disrupted, the other three children began to wake up, groggy but with an immediate sense of danger. Danger in the form of the collapsing building - the distraction from 'seeing' her Padawan kill a child while using the Dark Side distracting Alex enough that she paused in all of her efforts momentarily. More weight slammed down atop of them, entire floors of the Palace above them crashing down around them, large chunks of stone landing between Maura and Alex, cutting them off from one another as the three surviving children all hurried to Maura, instinctively clinging to her as they screamed, panicked and afraid as the temple began to collapse on top of them.

@Valen Pelora @lizziie

 

[Alexandria Voran]

The Force burned at Alex’s reserves. Racing through her tiring body. She could feel the fear in the shade. Real fear in the Force. Her eyes flicked skyward. The impossible weight of the Temple pressing down on her. Alex pushed back. Every cell in her body flooded with the Force. Her eyes never leaving Maura. Would she let the girl kill the boy? Would she do any differently? The Force quivered with the changes. The child was dead already. A truth that was difficult to admit. Even she had limits, they could not hope to drive that dark spirit back. She knew that in her heart but watching the life squeezed from the child was no easier. She would make the same choice. The greater good often required tremendous sacrifice.

One Maura would have to make. One Alex watched her make. She could not protect the girl forever...even as the Darkness grew around the Padawan.
No.

That wasn’t Maura. The choice would not poison that heart. The heart that Alex knew to be filled with care and compassion. A heart she had know for the better part of a decade. It was an illusion… a trick. One last lie of the shade before he passed into memory but she realized too late what the distraction had done to her.

She’d taken her concentration from the tons above them for half a second. The weight of the Temple grew heavier. Chunks of rock and the rest hammering down. Alex raised her voice. “Run! Get them to safety!” She couldn’t see the children. She couldn’t see Maura. Alex would be fine. She was always fine. The Force extended from her. Ever pushing upward. Slamming back against the growing weight. Focusing her attention on where she knew them to be. They were safe. They would be safe. Truly, that was all that mattered.

@Nefieslab @lizziie

 

[Maura Starwalk]

'I did it.' The boy's heart stopped, and the Shadow that had been so desperately worming its influence over the poor child was gone. But gone too, somehow, was her master's concentration, and suddenly the ceiling was raining down on them.

The largest of it landed in between her and her master, instantly separating the two. Before she could cry and call out though, three crying children latched themselves onto her, awake and terrified. The dead boy, his corpse half mutilated from the failed transformation, was still in her arms. She hadn't realized how tensely she'd been gripping the fabric of his shirt.

There was no time to mourn. Maura's brain was overclocked, her eyes jumping every which way as she quickly assessed the situation. She was exhausted, but her body was in survival mode now. "Hold onto my belt," she instructed the tallest of them, placing the Togruta's hand on the leather. "Hold her hand and don't let go. And you, his. Hold so tightly until you can't squeeze any harder, and don't let go!"

Maura scooped the boy up into her arms and began moving as quickly as she thought the kids could keep up in their little train behind her. 'Exit. I need to find an exit!' She heard her master's echoes behind her, and she set her brow forward. She would get them out. She could save them, at the very least!

The path out of the palace was not an easy one, in no small part thanks to the sheer amount of mental and physical energy the padawan was drained of. She was still standing by pure will and determination. Her muscles screamed at her as she pushed on, sending aches of pain through her whole body as the fibers tore under the stress. She tried her best to use the Force to keep an awareness around her, using it to preemptively avoid the falling rocks before they crushed her and the kids. Breathing heavily, she eventually dragged them through the crumpling grand doorway, reaching back to yank the Togruta (and in turn the two kids she led) out of the way as the archway fell behind them.

All four of them would tumble down the short flight of steps outside, Maura doing her best to take the brunt of the fall. Her breath was knocked out as all three of the kids tumbled onto her. For several long moments, she was convinced she wouldn't be able to get the air back in her lungs. 'Is this it?'

It wasn't, but those long moments were a struggle. And when she finally gasped, sucking air violently back into her lungs, she couldn't do anything but continue to lie there. The children were still crying, the boy's corpse was half laid on top of her body, and tears of her own began to well up in Maura's eyes. Relief. Grief. Exhaustion. She wanted to close her eyes and sleep for a whole year.

"Master..." she weakly called out, her voice barely loud enough to catch the children's attention. They were even more freaked out by Maura's collapse, but at the very least, they were safe from being crushed. She could only hope Alex made it out alive as well. There was no way these kids could get back up on their own.

@Nefieslab @Valen Pelora

 

[Alexandria Voran]

She was used to the weight. This was not the first time Alex had carried such a burden. The path of the Grandmaster was a lonely one. She leaned on the Council. Did all she could to shift that burden…but in the end it all lay at her feet. Alex’s eyes tipped up again. That weight pressing down on her. It could all end in an instant. She could feel Maura shepherding the children from the collapsing Temple. She could feel the pressure pushing down. They would be safe soon. The Morellian Jedi could hold out long enough.

Again she looked skyward, shaking her head. The last whispers of the shade still echoing in her thoughts. She was tired. Alex had served the Jedi faithfully for over a century. She held the tide as Grandmaster for nearly two decades. Had she not earned a rest? Did she not deserve one? She shook her head again. Those were not her words. They were the words of a woman physically and emotionally drained. The war with the shades had taken all her strength. She was tired…but she was not done. Her journey was not over. This was not her end.

Alex could feel Maura exiting the Temple. Her face scrunched with determination. Roaring she shoved against the dying Temple. Buying herself enough time to hurl her body towards an open corridor. The Force funneling through her body, Alex fled through the rapidly decaying structure. She had to get out and then fine the children. Eventually, the Grandmaster was free of the Temple. Free to follow the Force bond to a group of screaming children and an exhausted Maura. Calm flooded the Force. Peace and safety pressing against all other emotions. “Shhhhh, you are safe now….you are safe.” She bent down to hug each of the children. “You’re coming home. It will all be alright.” Her eyes fell on Maura. For a half second she swore she saw that same darkness again. The hint of the Darkside. She shook her head and it was gone. “You are all so brave. Be brave just a little longer.” Gently, Alex wrapped the Force around Maura and the dead child. He deserved a burial. “Follow me.” Towing the rest behind sue began to lead them from the temple. “We are all going to be alright.” The Darkside nexus on Coruscant was gone. The Light would return to the Core


@lizziie