The Fall of Korriban: Fall of the Academy

[Valen Pelora]

Few Sith have climbed the ranks of the Order without first passing through the Academy. Even as the Empire formed, the Academy remained. The hyper competitive ranks of Sith and Acolytes war with each other for the chance to ascend the hierarchy of the Order. Much of the Sith’s strength still revolves around what the Academy produces. It must be destroyed.

The Academy is a fortress protected by the very best the Empire has to offer, and filled with zealous warriors. Towering walls, powerful shields, and impossibly large turrets protect the Academy. A full-on assault would be suicide. Thankfully, the Jedi have a better idea. Fifty of the best Jedi Knights the Order has have been tasked with infiltrating the Academy. There are two massive generators that power the Academy, if they both are overloaded the Academy will fall. The Jedi Forces are led by a young female Twi’lek Jedi, Lara Lee’kell. Jedi Lee’kell serves at the pleasure of the Grandmaster as member of the Jedi Shadows. Many of those tasked with bringing down the Academy are Shadows. They strike at night.

“No survivors. Every dead Sith tonight is a life saved.”

OOC: Death Disabled.

​

 

[Sreeya]

She was there to help defend Ziost, and she was here today to once again turn on the Order she began to call her home. The Sith had received reports of an attack on the academy, though the extent of the damage was not yet revealed. She knew she could never turn back to the Jedi Order ever again. She had left behind her husband, her daughter, and she followed Emperor Malon to do his bidding. In the end, she was exactly where she wanted to be, feeling more powerful than ever.

Comms buzzed with chaotic warnings and the dying screams of guards posted in the left wing of the academy. Shae, who turned her back on the Jedi once and for all, donned her helmet and lightsabers that she once used to cut down a former Jedi Grandmaster. They bore her old name on them, and she embraced her individuality to its fullest. She grew drunk in her power, finally freed of being in the shadows and worrying about conforming to something she was not.

Malon had set her free, and she would do anything to preserve that freedom. Even if it meant killing people she once called her own. Her footsteps echoed in the empty hall where the lights were flickering. Clearly there had been some activity here, and she strode in silence, not bothering to have others accompany her. In all her time in combat, she had grown to be a formidable force entirely on her own.

There was a saber gripped in her hand, though she did not ignite it yet. There was a haunting chill to her presence, and it was the aura of someone that fell deep into darkness and let it consume them. Beneath the helmet, her yellow, animalistic eyes gleamed with bloodlust. She could all but smell the sweet, intoxicating aroma of fear as she stepped over a dead body and turned the corner to make her way towards where the Jedi no doubt infiltrated.

 

[Phoenix]

Corvo had never played well with others. When he found out the Shadows were deploying he'd not told anyone that he would be coming along until they set down on the ground, meeting them at the LZ. Someone else had been given the command over the landing force and he was just fine with that. While many of them had been recruited by him, they were picked for their autonomy. None of them needed to have their hands held.

That was just fine with him because while he was here for those generators, that was really only part of the reason he was here. When he'd found out Shae was missing, it had been panic all over. Her ring had been left behind and he had the sinking and horrible feeling that something was wrong. When he'd heard that she was seen fighting on Ziost - and not for the Jedi - he'd keeled over. It wasn't the most shocking thing, in fact the writing had been on the wall, but that didn't change the fact that it made him ill.

He'd immediately set to work trying to find any path to find her but there was still work to be done for the Order. The attack on Korriban brought back a whole slew of memories. Although he, himself, hadn't been trained within the academy like most students, he'd spent plenty of time here as an adult doing training and teaching saber techniques among other tools for the Sith.

From the moment he'd set down, his helmet was in place over his face, taking some solace in the "safety" of his armor. His short sword was in his hand as he made his way into the academy, spilling the blood of an Acolyte who'd raised a blade against him. It was only as he pulled the sword free that he felt what brought both relief and horror. He could feel Shae's presence in the Force, even if severely altered. It meant that he had found her but it also meant that she was absolutely with the Sith and they were... going to fight? He could only hoped to bring her back.

He slipped his sword away and seized his saber hilt, leaving it in his hand unignited when he came around the corner. He'd been hiding his signature in the Force but she knew him well enough - far better than anyone else - that he wouldn't have been surprised if she could sense him nonetheless. Shae? he asked as he saw her rounded the corner to see her stepping over a body. He was desperately hoping that he was wrong, holding onto a false sense that it was all a mistake, but he knew that wasn't true.

 

[Sreeya]

Shae came to a pause as she felt a familiar presence. A grimace appeared on her face at once, and she seriously considered turning the other way. However, the other presence made its way directly towards her just as she expected it to. She had seen the arrival of this day ever since the first seeds of doubt were planted in her mind. Shae remained silent for a moment as she saw the familiar figure and heard that familiar voice.

It was the voice that lulled her to sleep and greeted her in the morning for years. It was the voice of her husband, the father of her child. And now to her it sounded like poison. To her his voice was a rope that coiled tightly around her and threatened to yank her back into the prison she had been in. She did not back down from him, standing still a short distance away. He would feel the icy aura around her and get a sense of the whirling hate that was now fully consuming her.

Shae looked behind him, noting that no one was in his immediate vicinity. They had many similar styles of fighting and they both preferred to work alone unless it was with one another. She glared at him from beneath her helmet, “You knew it would come to this,” Her voice was not what he was familiar hearing. It wasn’t the soft, warm voice, but it sounded hollow and devoid of emotion now. She was truly a shell of the woman he had fallen in love with.

Shae began to walk in a half circle around him, the saber hilt twirling in her hand, “You remember how it began. You wanted to kill me when I was here last. I saw it in your eyes. You wanted to murder me. You thought I took everything away from you,” With that, saber was ignited, “I just did it again.”

 

[Phoenix]

Corvo could feel that Shae's presence was different. It felt cold and distant, not much like the wife he loved so dearly. When she spoke, it was the same. She sounded like barely the same woman. Her voice was harsh and unfeeling, as though she'd cast aside everything that had made her herself. It hurt him to hear it, but her words only made it that much worse.

Love, it doesn't have to be like this, come back to me, he all but begged. He felt ill watching his wife torn apart by her demons and happily embracing the path of darkness that she'd fought against for so long. Her words cut him like a knife and he knew it was true. She was his world and she had just robbed him of it.

Please don't do this, he said weakly, his spirit all but broken. What was his plan? He couldn't kill her. Even if he'd wanted to and was skilled enough, he couldn't bring himself to it. All he could do was think of all the days they'd spent together, some even here on this world. No... we've been here since then. Walking the tombs of the dead, you made it past all my walls. All the barriers. Please come back to me.

Her saber ignited and deep down, he knew she wouldn't listen. He stood there, watching her move and turning to keep her in front of him. He didn't ignite his saber or make any moves toward her, hoping against hope that she might change her mind and knowing there was no way he could be the aggressor and attack her no matter how she had changed.

 

[Sreeya]

For a moment, for the blink of an eye, for that brief interval, her breath caught in her throat. There was a jolt that went through her body, shooting like lightning and flaring out into her nervous system and down to the tips of her fingers. She wanted to stop, she wanted to run into his arms and collapse against him. But that moment passed as soon as it came, and she exhaled audibly, as if she had been holding her breath for that entire period of time.

Memories had flashed through her mind then of their time together, from before they ever had a child together. There were memories of them laughing and walking together hand in hand. There were memories of her feeling happier than she had ever been. But those memories began to darken, and it first began with her capture and imprisonment. Her mind was poisoned, and she began to remember how she lost her identity, how he had allowed it to happen. She felt doubts poison her thoughts and cloud her mind. Shae had purposely blocked out their true last time here. It had been the time they had confessed their feelings for another, the first time they had acted on their desires and a made a commitment that carried them through the years.

“I made it past your walls and do you know what I saw?” Venom dripped from her words, “I saw that you still had a monster in you. I saw that you still had a penchant for power. You can’t shy away from it. You became the poster boy for the Jedi and you tossed your family into your shadow. I was someone before I met you,” She glared at him beneath the helmet, “This is the most empowered I’ve felt. I am me and me alone. I am free to do whatever I please in a way I was never allowed before. I’m done being a Jedi….I’m done being a mother… and,” She sucked in her breath, pausing as she choked on the words slightly, “….I’m done being your w-wife..”

Without allowing herself to dwell on it, she darted forth, swinging her saber out horizontally across his chest. He would instantly be able to tell this was shattering her. Her movements were shoddy, her attack had no real power behind it, but it would cut into him if he put up no fight. She knew this was something he could avoid even with his eyes closed, but she couldn’t face the reality of the situation. She had to throw herself into the fight, she had to push her thoughts away from the hole through her chest, the bile rising in her throat, the hot tears threatening to spill. She had to lock all that back and see this as another Jedi that stood in her way.

 

[Insalius]

As Shae darted forward, a voice to her personal comm unit buzzed to life. "Try to keep him there. I'm lining up a shot on him. Jump away when I signal." The metallic voice came from Jet, one of the Dark Honor Guard entrusted with protecting the inhabitants of the the Academy and area. He currently knelt around the corner that led towards the room that Shae and Corvo found themselves in, taking aim with his Aural Blaster to incapacitate the attacking Jedi. Despite being unable to use the Force himself due to being an Elensalite, he had been trained in how to fight force users and was putting his knowledge to the test once again. Wearing Emperor Malon's old Wraith Armor, his dark form blended in to the shadows around him as he concentrated to keep his minimal Force presence from giving him away. Without the right equipment to see him, he'd be almost invisible.

Jet didn't know of the history between the two, but on the battlefield such ties shouldn't matter to a true warrior. Despite being quite emotional himself, he knew that feelings of a certain strength could affect one's combat ability and a trained warrior should know better. He would signal if Shae seemed to be following along with his request, but if she wavered too much or seemed like she was going to protect him, then he would fire to hit them both. The fight was taking over the entire world and they didn't have the luxury of indulging in personal squabbles right now. At the very least, though, the more they stalled here the more time the innocents and students from the academy had to escape to safety.

 

[Phoenix]

He could feel a crack in that cold exterior. He could feel that for a moment, his wife was there again. But as soon as it had appeared, it vanished. She was robbed of that moment of humanity and it destroyed him.

Her words may as well have destroyed him. His heart and soul were ripped out with every utterance and warm tears began to stream down his face behind his mask. There was no attempt to hide the pain in his soul and she knew him well enough to be able to feel it in an instant. Please... he choked, not even knowing who he was talking to anymore. He just wanted the pain to stop.

When she launched at him his saber flashed to life, catching her swing with his own blade and pedaling backwards. His other hilt leapt to his hand as he moved but remained off. He made no attempt at a counterattack and couldn't help but notice her sloppy form. He knew she was doing it on purpose, as uncommitted to killing him as he was to her. Love, you don't have to do this, he said, still alert to a potential follow-up. His voice was pained as he blinked the tears clear, knowing that if she truly opted to kill him, he would need to be at full capacity if there was any hope to stay alive. He had no idea what his next move would be but he knew that he needed to stay alive. Your family still loves you. I do, Ciri does. @Insalius @Sreeya

 

[Sreeya]

Shae heard the voice on her comms, her jaw clenching as she realized she wasn’t alone anymore. Someone else was here to complicate matters even more. Shae’s saber pressed against Corvo’s their blades humming in unison. She pivoted around so her back faced towards where the newcomer was lining up his shot, her angry voice growling into her comms, “This fight is my own. Stay out of it,” The same rage seeped into the channel to let Jet know he was treading on dangerous territory. At the same time it would tip Corvo off that they weren’t alone.

Nevertheless, she was still engaged in a fight. She noticed he didn’t ignite his other saber, and she abruptly moved to sweep his leg to make him fall on his back and take him off guard, “Stop it!” She hissed at his words, angry that he would play to her emotions like this. Mentioning Ciri’s name made her feel sick, but those emotions were twisted into rage.

“Drop the kriffing act!” She screamed at him as she whirled in with her saber once more. Whether he was on the ground or not, she could keep pressing her attacks, swinging her saber in a figure eight to come at him from different angles, “Stop pretending to be something you’re not! Stop lying to yourself and everyone around you!” She didn’t care that she was screaming at him, all her emotions and despair pulsated in her Force signature, and her attacks had more power behind them, “I do have to do this. I do have to be true to who I am. That does not include living in your shadow anymore!”

@Phoenix @Insalius

 

[Insalius]

The growl in Shae's voice was confusing, until the enemy Jedi came better into view. Jet didn't fear much, or let on that he was afraid easily, but the sight of Corvo Vis shook him to his core. All the pieces had fallen into place, why Lady Vis was so shook up and why the enemy seemed to not be attacking her. He wasn't aware of the intimate details but he knew enough to know he was in the company of two of the galaxy's most notorious. He counted Shae as an ally, but if he had a chance to bring Corvo down then he would take it. The Empire would only be safer with his capture, at the very least. He considered her request, unable to accept it outright, and instead opted for a compromise.

"Negative, target is one of the Empire's greatest enemies. However, I will hold back and let you deal with him as you will. I'll render support if needed." He paused then, seeing her waver. While not the best at inspiring others, he felt he needed to say more. "Whatever hold he has over you, don't let it chain you down. I've seen your skill and power first hand. You're strong enough to live freely if you wish, and I can do nothing but respect that. Don't let him drag you down." He kept up his aiming, though did not make any other moves to fire. He would be true to his word, letting Shae try to handle things if possible. If it were anyone else he would have fallen back, but for a chance like this, it wasn't something he could just walk away from.

@Phoenix @Sreeya

 

[Phoenix]

Corvo heard her yelling but the words made no sense. A moment later, it clicked in his head that she wasn't talking to him. He spun away, looking to see if there was someone behind him. As he did, he brought his leg up in a classic kick-block. The impact still struck home and he felt it reverberate up his leg, again noting that she attacked a non-lethal blow.

His eyes began to dart around the shadows, narrowly picking up one amidst the darkened room. He didn't chase down the man - or woman, or beast - but instead continued his "combat" with Shae, realizing he was in far more danger now than he was even moments before. Holding his own against Shae alone was hard enough, but against her and someone else... well if she turned on him truly, it would be bad.

I wanted to leave! To leave the Jedi behind and take you out of here! You didn't want to, you told me we couldn't! He said as she screamed at him. He didn't know what else he could do. There was nothing for him to do by way of choices. Act? Shae, I would do anything for you, that hasn't changed. I... I just want my wife and daughter. Nothing else.

His saber came swirling up, meeting hers at her sweeping arcs and moving only with enough energy to defend himself, though he noticed how her blows were growing in strength. He began gathering the Force in his left arm but failed to attack, focusing on protecting himself and potentially hunting down that other being here. Through it all he began to backpedal down the corridor he'd come through, ceding the ground to her advance and carrying them both further away from the mysterious figure. Shae, come home with me. Not to the Jedi, to our home.

 

[Sreeya]

“You don’t know how to not be important!” Shae was meeting his saber blow for blow, their blades hissing and colliding repeatedly. They both moved as if they were dancing, both duelists by nature. Both combatants whirled around, their motions blurred and becoming more practiced. The shoddy work was replaced with pointed hits and defenses, betraying the true nature of their skill, “I fell so far directly in front of you and you could do nothing to stop it. You could do anything for me but you couldn’t stop this…you were so wrapped up in becoming Valen’s little attack hound that you couldn’t see your own family falling apart.”

The thought of that angered her even more. In her free hand, she gathered the Force to herself and launched it directly at him. The blow was powerful enough to send him flying back into a wall behind him. Shae was relentless and she charged directly at him, sweeping her saber up to attack him while he would be recovering from the crash. It was clear now that there was no going back and she was beyond angry at him. In her mind, he was to blame for the most amazing, but also the most terrible, things she had ever felt.

“It’s your home that you just happened to bring me into. It was your mandated place that you obtained from your time as…oh, what was it again? That’s right, the Supreme Leader of the kriffing Sith!” Shae scoffed at him in a mocking fashion, “Stop trying to pretend you’re this good and just man trying to show me the light. You’re just as low as me. You are just as broken as me. You are just as kriffed up as me. You are just as lost as me. You are, and you always will be, Venator.”

She didn’t wait a second longer, sweeping in with even more attacks. She kept the other man in mind, entirely too preoccupied to send him away. Shae knew she couldn’t falter even if she wanted to, and his words resounded in her mind. Whoever he was, he was right. She had let Corvo drag her down long enough and that needed to end.

@Phoenix @Insalius

 

[Insalius]

Listening to every word, Jet stored all the information he was learning away to study later when not in a crisis situation. He was true to his word, though, staying put and allowing the two of them to fight each other as it was obvious there was a lot of issues they had to work out. Whether she ended up leaving or killing Corvo, it wasn't his place to interfere anymore. He'd made the promise to only come when she asked and he was Honorbound to keep his word. Besides, either of them could demolish him if he did anything stupid, and he liked to think he was far from that point.

The Honor Guard kept quiet as he continued to watch, keeping his weapon training on the man yet not moving to fire. He would have Shae's back, even though the very powerful Sith didn't need such protection. In the back of his mind he was glad, however, that she had managed to halt the enemy's advance to allow for the evacuations to proceed. Some in the Sith would have used the trainees and initiates as cannon fodder to bury the enemy's front lines with corpses. Even Jet could see that doing so now would just be stupid, as their numbers were beginning to dwindle. It was no longer a victory by defeating the enemy, the new objective was to survive, as the dead couldn't fight a war. His thoughts returned to the current fight, remaining motionless until Shae gave the word for him to assist her or until the fight ended.

@Phoenix @Sreeya

 

[Phoenix]

Perhaps the most painful thing about it all was that she was completely right. He had completely failed the one person he cared about more than anyone else. He'd wasted his life trying to make up for his past sins and had been completely helpless in bringing her back out of this slide into darkness. She was certainly correct that he was no good man. He never had been.

She unleashed a blast and he met with his own, narrowly stopping from being flung across the entire room. Even so, he slid back, boots grinding along the ground in an attempt to find traction. But she was relentless now, throwing herself at him as she had many times in practice, except now it was far more deadly and he was forced to bring his saber up once more, flash after flash filling the room as their blades collided and sent sparks and lights dancing across the room.

Every one of her words was grinding against his soul. He wanted the pain to stop. He wanted not to feel as broken as he was. He wanted his wife to come back, but he couldn't do that. He couldn't force that out of her. He knew the easiest path out of the pain was lurking just below his surface, but he didn't want to give into that monster.

You know I'm not a good man. I've always told you that. I know my past and there's no escaping it, but that doesn't mean we have to embrace our darkest demons. Shae, there are people that care about you, he said through a cracking voice. Do you really hate me so much? Your family so much? The fact that he had ruined her so completely and broken up such a wonderful thing because of his own actions rent his heart in two. I'm sorry, love. I'm sorry for everything.

 

[Sreeya]

As Corvo skidded back against the floor, Shae followed him without hesitation. Their dance continued down the corridor with him backpedaling and her relentlessly pressing the attack. There was no mercy shown, no quarters given, no safety nets. Her movements were practiced and she was becoming a methodical killer, no different than when she had first destroyed the Jedi temple on Tython. She couldn’t see his face behind the helmet, and she had to focus on him as if a stranger.

Pain and anguish gave way to rage and anger. The rage drove her and empowered her, and he would be able sense it. It was almost a seductive call of darkness as the Force surrounded her in its depths. Shae kept her flurry of motions coming, her saber swinging in from all directions and the hiss loud as ever. To the side she could see a group of Jedi and Sith breaking out into fights. As some of them neared them, they promptly backed away, driven back by the sheer amount of dark energy pulsating between Shae and Corvo.

As he began to speak, she grew even angrier. She knew he was still playing to her weakness, reaching for her emotions and Achilles heel. She couldn’t allow that, as it would inevitably lead her back to the prison she escaped from. At once, she looked at Corvo and her hand began to clench. The Force rapidly began to gather around his throat, constricting it, “Stop…talking….” She spoke in a low, dark tone. She couldn’t bear to keep hearing his words, couldn’t take another cut from him. She needed this fight to end even if it meant one of their deaths, “It’s too late now," She poured her anger into the choke, pressing down with the Force harshly around his neck with enough pressure to physically lift him up if he didn't fight it, "Face what you've helped create."

 

[Phoenix]

It seemed there was truly no hope. Nothing he could do or say could change the path she was on. Could he have done something different when it was earlier? Was she doomed to fall the moment she'd been captured? The execution of her kidnapper was little consolation now as his work was already done. Too little too late. Everything he ever did was too little too late. He'd been too late to turn his back on the Sith, too late to save her from kidnap, too late to stop her fall to darkness, and it seemed he was too late to reach her now. Failure was the singular word that marked him. He'd long feared that his sins would finally catch up to him and now the price was more than he could bear.

He felt her grip close around him, the powerful grip of someone who had rage and hatred in abundance to unleash. It was apparent that he was going to be killed by her if something didn't change, but he couldn't bring himself to kill her. He couldn't even bring himself to attack her yet, but now he had few other options. As that grip tightened, he knew he had only moments to react.

Three fingers lifted off his second hilt and a wave of energy came rushing out like a cascading waterfall. The blast was aimed at her lower legs and would easily be enough to knock them out from under her and send her landing on her face if she did nothing to stop it. I can't hurt you, Shae. You are still my world, but even as the words came out of his mouth, he knew that couldn't be the truth anymore. He had a daughter to look after who had been abandoned by her mother. Now he was all she had left, but what would his continued existence cost her too?

 

[Sreeya]

Shae was thrown off when she felt the push against her legs. As her legs skidded back below her, she slammed her hand down to the ground to catch herself, momentarily kneeling. She sprang off that momentum from the ground, swinging her saber across again. It was a feint as she abruptly switched her stance and jammed the saber in from an underside strike. Shae intended to keep the battle going without pause, his words only adding fuel to the fire.

“Can’t hurt me?” Shae scoffed again, “Abandoning me when I needed you the most to be a Shadow hurt me. Being gone while I spiraled into darkness to go be a galactic hero hurt me. Leaving me alone in my terror to handle myself and Ciri to be the poster boy hurt me,” She kept her attacks coming, saber sweeping in over and over again, each attack growing more powerful, “You’re all talk! You’ve been leaving cuts all over me and you finally cut me one last time. And now you can’t stand to face what you’ve killed and what took its place.”

Shae looked to where his eyes would be, “We both hurt each other. We both destroy each other. We are both monsters. How do you not see that? It was your darkness that drew me to you, and it was what you saw in me. Face it, we were merely pretending to be more than the monsters we truly are. We wanted to find salvation, and we clung onto Ciri because she’s the only thing remotely good that either of us have ever created. Independent of her, we are despicable. You included.”

Without warning, she unleashed another powerful push to slam into his gut to knock the wind out of him.

 

[Phoenix]

How could he have failed so miserably and been so blind? He should have died long ago and perhaps this would never have happened. Perhaps his family - even if they weren't his family - would have been able to go on living their lives, none the wiser that they were without him but far safer - or never born. Anything would have been better than what he had turned them into.

He had no rebuttal to her claims that he was a monster. He'd known for years that it was true. His saber came up to block her slash but she redirected and his other blade immediately snapped to life, catching her attack as he spun back again. So you would just abandon your daughter? Perhaps she is the only thing good we've ever done but she is more important than anything else we've ever done.

Her next blow was unexpected, smashing into him with the force of a punch. His armored clothes dispersed some of the impact but even so he hunched over, one of his hands nearly touching the ground as his left blade buried into the floor. He'd always said that he would die for her and now it was looking as though perhaps he'd not just die for her but by her hand.

He was up in an instant, right saber coming up to deflect whatever blow would inevitably land as he gathered the Force to himself once more. Their dance continued as he blocked enraged blow after enraged blow, nimbly moving and maneuvering as each tried to gain better ground on the other. It was perhaps their most practiced tango and doubtlessly the most deadly in the galaxy.

So what then? You want to leave behind your family and for what? To rule over a burning galaxy? To be completely alone forever? Left with nothing but the haunting memories of all those you've murdered? You'll be fine for a few years, but eventually you'll realize there's nothing else but your own self-loathing and you will be completely empty, he said, frustration growing in him. He'd walked that path and had left him with nothing but regret and a monster he couldn't be rid of. It was not all that people hoped once the paranoia, loneliness, guilt, and hate set in.

 

[Sreeya]

Shae didn’t stop her assaults, his words only working to bolster her perseverance, “You’ve done more harm than good for her,” She hissed the words, expertly dueling him with her blade till they were both a mere blur of motions. To the onlooker, it would appear as if two beings were moving faster than the blink of an eye, each movement with the saber quick reflexes that were second nature, “She despises having us as parents. She is teased and mocked for having you as her father, a father with so many deaths and destruction on his conscience. And what did that father do with that knowledge? He went and became the Shadows for the Jedi to have an excuse to continue doing everything Ciri would hate.”

She pivoted around him to flank him, coming at him from the side with her quick blows. She still did not draw a second blade, drawing the Force to throw him off. She applied a push to his legs similarly to what he had done to her, aiming to make him lose his footing. At the same time, her saber whirled in to slice into his arm from the side, “I’d rather be completely alone than in your shadow. I’d rather be completely alone than pretend to be something I’m not. I’d rather be completely alone than live another day serving the Jedi.”

Shae laughed a shrill laugh as he reiterated the inevitabilities of guilt that would eventually consume her, “You felt that because you are weak. Corvo is weak. Venator was the one that rose through the ranks, and he brought the Sith Order to his knees. It was Corvo that ruined that, and it was Corvo that let weakness cloud every judgment and reduce you to being nothing more than the Jedi’s lapdog. I won’t let the same thing happen to me. I will be the queen of my domain, the master of my world and I will bow to no one!”

She pivoted around once more, whirling in to attack him from behind, “I won’t let pathetic and weak emotions like guilt well me up. Don’t you get it? I’ve finally accepted that I relish it. I’m glad I ended those lives in the Jedi Temple and I’m glad I killed the Sith on Korriban. Destruction is beautiful to me because I control it. People fear me and bend to my will. There is no greater display of power than truly harnessing the dark side of the Force. You had it in in your grasp and you let it slip because you are weak! You are nothing! You are just a pretender!”

@Phoenix

 

[Phoenix]

Of course, yet again, her words rang true. He had been a terrible blight upon his daughter's life. The memory of her eyes when she'd first sensed the darkness in him still cut him to the core. There was no escaping what he was or who he had been. He heard her rail against everything that he was, hating against his very being and the man who loved her. He didn't know if she meant the words she said, coming from the woman who was once his loving wife, but true or not they cut deep to leave scars that would likely never heal.

Her blow smashed into his legs, knocking him to his knees as he used his blades to block her strike, the Force boosting him forward as he leapt with an inhuman speed back to his feet and pivoting to the side. Her words hurt far more than any of her attacks, and she no doubt knew it. She'd passed all the barriers he had and knew his every weakness and fear.

Perhaps she was right. Even now that he helped he Jedi, it was Venator that cut down the enemies of the galaxy. it was Venator who got results, tearing down those who would attack his family. Venator was the attack dog that bent the galaxy through shear willpower, and moreover, it was Venator who felt no pain. The aching feeling that he knew all this sadness and hurt could be immediately washed away was not lost on him, but in the midst of this situation, he wasn't sure what that would mean for him.

Could he come back from that? Did it mean he could be with his wife again? Did that mean he would be abandoning his daughter? He'd done more harm than good for her anyway. He should have forced them to give her to the Jedi in secret from the beginning. He could never return to the Sith, not again, but perhaps he could be with her again, if even for a bit. It was a dangerous path to step down and dipping his toe in meant he was playing with fire, but he was sick of the pain this was causing him.

He was tired of asking questions and tired of wondering. He'd always been cautious and it had kept him alive but at what cost? He was tired of it and his soul was exhausted. There was no other person in the galaxy who had the capability to break his very soul save the woman in front of him.

With an abrupt shift, he spun, his right blade catching her attack from behind as his left swung out viciously in the first true attack he'd attempted since their fight began. His right arm shoved back with enough force to put a space of distance between them. I am what I have always been and have always told you. Your husband has never been a good man, he hissed with a hint of disdain. His voice sounded almost animalistic and in stark contrast to his tone thus far. He darted toward her once more, his movements fluid and without hesitation as he lashed out at her with his blade aimed for her ankle.