Ask Diagnosing the Undiagnosable

[Laeonas Tannaras]

Thyferra,

Xoxhixi General Mental Hospital

Some time after the Bombing of Firrerre


One of many worlds contributing to the Firrerre relief effort, Thyferra had taken in a number of Firrerreo refugees. As a result, the planetary healthcare system had been saddled with hundreds of thousands of additional patients. The number of people with long term injuries was staggering, the severity ranging from permanent limps to below neck paralysis. Eventually things would even out, but right now, the system was simply overwhelmed. There were to many patients, and doctors would only be able to deal with the most severe cases first; provided there was hope for recovery.

But when it came to the mentally ill, there were... a number of exceptions.

Unsurprisingly, many of the survivors had to deal with the trauma resulting from their near death experiences. PTSD patients in the capital city doubled within weeks, and all the mental hospitals that were previously always half full were filled to capacity. Like the cases of physical ailments, the mental patients' severity also varied significantly. Most could probably hope to reintegrate into society, following several months of counseling and readjustment. Others had suffered permanent trauma-- and due to the lack of available doctors, and the slim chance of recovery, they simply weren't treated.

The most severe cases, however, took priority over all others.

Although a small minority, many, many of the refugees had been horribly traumatized, but had also become very violent. The nature of the Firrerreo's fight/flight response was the main culprit behind most of these cases. Their first instinct when encountering danger was to engage it and attempt to fight it off. Ofcourse, not a single firrerreo could fight off a fleet engaged in a total bombardment-- and that had confused everyone. The absolute worst, now driven almost totally mad, would need to be permanently institutionalized-- or at least kept under guard until they could be properly treated.

That was the case with a particular patient-- a human, who'd been rescued by a small ISC task force a short time after the bombing. He'd been found in the vicinity of a YV-285 freighter-- currently impounded. His condition had been described as particularly, and the doctors were simply unable to diagnose the man. He displayed various symptoms of different disorders. Most lined up with schizophrenia, but as evidenced by his violent assault of a guard and multiple attempted suicides, the man was much more volatile than most any of the other patients.

It only complicated matters that he displayed force sensitivity. Usually the Jedi would be called to deal with such things-- and there were multiple on planet. However, the healthcare system had simply been to swamped. Doctors were being overworked, and were unable to go through all the proper channels necessary. Protocol and fallen to the wayside, and so their force sensitive patient was kept in an empty room. His pot was changed every few hours, he was brought food, but other than that, he received no stimuli, no visitors, and nothing that could possibly lead to a violent outburst.

Alone in his room, the man lay on his bed, tied down, whispering to himself.

"...all gone... all gone... all gone..."

​

@The Steel Stag @Valen Pelora

 

[Alexandria Voran]

“She’s gone Master Jedi.” Alex did not sink to her knees. She was too proud for that. Her hands left the Firrerreo woman’s chest, the Light trailing after her. The Force slowly receded from the Jedi Councilor. Her eyes slowly coming to focus on the badly burned woman…no…corpse. She stayed on her feet but leaned back against the wall. She shook her head. So many lost. “Take me to the next room.” The young Bothan doctor blinked at her twice. “Master Voran, if my notes are correct, you’ve been on the ward for twenty-four hours, it would be unwise not to rest.” A grim smile appeared on her face.

“I’m fine, doctor. I can stay awake much longer if needed.” That was not entirely true. Alex was drained to her core, but she was not about to rest. She had rushed to Thyferra after confronting Emil. The rescue effort needed healers and Alex was the best the Jedi had to offer. She could work miracles with the Force that modern medicine could not comprehend. She could stave off death. Her head swept around the room, locking onto each lost life. How many miracles had she worked today? Death was winning. “In that case, while you were immersed the medical director asked if you would see a particular patient. We believe the man is Force Sensitive but in some kind of trance we can’t break. It seems to go beyond medicine, more in the spiritual realm.” Alex nodded. It would be good to get away from the burn.

She allowed the good doctor to lead her to the psych ward. She barely noticed the shift in the Force. The doctor nodded at a door and Alex stepped through. The Force slapped her in the face. Idiot. Had she truly been so tired? “Laeonas?” That was why he did not make their rendezvous, but the Light had shoved them back together. A flick of her hands sent the bindings rattling off the young man. “Laeonas, what happened?” The Force was muted…his mind shattering. What had happened?

@Tom

 

[Vahn Berand]

Horrible things happen when you’re not around.

The voice whispered in the back of his mind. It was a nagging, biting rasp from some corner of his psyche. Master Vetan. Ajan Kloss. Master Tionson. Now Firrerre had been burned. Logically he knew it was impossible for him to be everywhere at once, but just the same he felt that logic and reason didn’t matter. Especially not in this moment. A storm of pain, fear and trauma raged around him as he followed Master Voran in silence. There wasn’t a single quip, no witty retorts or humorous stories from the Jedi. The halls were a tomb and he felt the pressure of the moment.

Vahn wasn’t a healer. Not exactly. He knew the arts, but he had always been more comfortable with a saber in his hand. When Alex stepped forward to lead the relief efforts he followed. His instincts held firm and he knew where his place was. If the reports were true there really weren’t any safe places left in the galaxy, and he knew where he had to be. A wary glance turned around the halls, roaming from patient to corpse, assessing the danger tucked away into the corners of each room. He had helped where he could, but his healing abilities paled in comparison to Alex’s.

He had been about to back up the necessity for the Councilor to rest before, a single exchange brought him pause.

“A force sensitive?” Vahn said aloud, a muted question, and followed behind.

Dark blue eyes tensed as he focused on the sight of Laeonas strapped down on the bed. He didn’t know what he had expected, but this was certainly not it. The force worked in strange ways. He frowned as he circled around to the foot of the bed. Vahn seized a nearby datapad, and flipped through the feed, parsing out the particularities of this case. Self-harm, paranoia, bursts of violence. Vahn had seen it all before on a dozen worlds but no where so... concentrated. He gritted his teeth, and passed by Alex as she worked off Laeonas' bindings while handing off the datapad to her.

“Careful,” Vahn said quietly. He knew Laeonas wouldn’t harm either of them. There was a good person there, but he also knew the ways that trauma can strip a person bare. How much of Laeonas was still present? He made sure to place himself between Alex and Laeonas in case his worst instincts bore fruit.

@Valen Pelora @Tom

 

[Laeonas Tannaras]

Throb. Throb. Throb. Throb.

People. People were coming. He could sense it through down the halls, passing through walls. The man's breathing was heavy, and his fingers trembling. They hadn't given him any sedatives for fear of what might happen to an already fragile mind. The voices were a whisper now; barely present, barely enough to bother him. They were a whimper, and his own voice matched them, muttering along. "All gone, all gone, all gone..."

Throb. Throb. Throb.

He hurt. There was a biting at the space behind his eyes, cutting into his skull and spreading out, roots of pain burying into fresh soil. Whenever the voices receded, that knife would come out to replace his other tormenters when they grew tired. Skin chafed below tight binds, and he yearned to just massage his temples. Even such an ineffectual action would've been better than this. Better the act of trying to help himself than the continued agony and horror he slipped back into minute after minute, hour after hour.

Throb. Throb. Throb.

"Pleeeeeeeeeeeaase..." He moaned out again. His neck rolled up and down, spine cracking as he tried to move. It hurt-- unpleasant, painful, but something else. "When do they go..."

--------

Doctor Malani had been pensive about their unquestionably volatile patient. She wasn't assigned to this ward, but gossip traveled fast when coworkers only had minutes to spill tea. Word of a man who'd thrown things around with his mind, took the eye of a guard with a flying scalpel. When she'd heard word of the Jedi arriving, she'd half expected that they'd come for the mad forceling first and foremost. But Master Alex had spent hours without rest, by her side, helping the patients without even bringing him up.

She should've felt shock when the Jedi revealed that she'd had no idea about what was going on. The other Master seemingly had no idea either. The Jedi were healers and peacekeepers, but they were concerned with the force and those with it most of all.

For patients with such severe cases, guards were placed outside when things were going according to procedure. As casual as she could manage, Malani swiped her card over the reader. The windowless, solid-doored room opened up, and it's contents were laid bare... that being, it was bare. Nothing but a bed, an IV drip, and a man.

Looking into his eyes, she could see an off color blue that had been described in some of the reports. What had mainly been focused on however were the whites. Veins tore across the sea of milky pale that should've surrounded the aquamarine sphere and black pit, and the see itself was died a light pink color. His hair was long; past his shoulders by now, with facial hair sprouting across his jawline. She was struck with memories of the old horror holos she'd watch as a child, that face matching with the generic human nutjob that turned out to be the killer at the end.

--------

Faces. Names. His name. The pain grew, but the letters formed in his mind, sound came together; "Jedi..." he had mouthed. He knew the one; Vahn. Years it had been, years and years and years and years. The other he hadn't learned the name of. She'd attacked him, brought him down, and destroyed his saber. He was more apprehensive with this one, but... she couldn't be here to attack him again, surely. Surely not, no no no. "Not 'ere, Jedi... Jedi don't..." He began, but he was cut off when the straps came undone.

The doctor's voice rose. Letting out a pained moan, the man clutched the sides of his head, babbling on. "wh-- master Jedi, I have to protest this! The patient is extremely volatile-- violent, dangerous even! He's maimed and nearly killed a guard, you're putting yourselves at risk!" She said quickly. Tired; exhaustion, it radiated off of her. She was high strung, pained. Not like him, but close.

"'urt..." He muttered, not as a response to the Jedi's questioning, but to the doctor.

Throb. Throb. Throb. Throb.

​

@The Steel Stag @Valen Pelora

 

[Alexandria Voran]

Alex shook her head, gently shoving Dr. Malani aside. “Wait outside Doctor.” She stepped closer behind Vahn. “This is Jedi business.” In a happier time, she may have laughed at using those words. How cryptic and very mysterious sounding. “We know this man. He won’t harm us.” She gently pushed Dr. Malani out of the room with the Force, shutting the door. Alex could speak more freely. “Vahn…his mind is in tatters…the trauma of the attack.” Deep sadness welled up in her heart. To feel that without training. The devastation. “I was lightyears away with my mind shielded and it brought me to my knees. What must this have felt like to him?” Anger threatened to consume her mind. Alex pushed those thought away. Exposing Laeonas to such thoughts would be a mistake.

She put her hand out for Vahn. “It’s the only way to get through to him…I’m sure of it.” She reached for Laeonas, coming to put a hand on forehead. “This will be unpleasant.” She turned to look at her fellow Jedi Master. “But nothing worse than we have faced before.” Once Vahn grabbed her hand she would speak again. “To repair his mind, we must enter his mind.” Deep breath. She was connected to Vahn with the exposed nerve of Laeonas pulsing beside them. The pain lashed up and down her thoughts. It was excruciating. “Together…as always.” She plunged them into Laeonas’ mind, darkness spinning and twisting around them. Agony like shattered glass was all around them.

She needed to anchor their spirits. Slowly, she built. The forests of Yavin blossomed around them, the pain still beating at her thoughts. “Laeonas? You’re safe…we’re hear to help.” She called out, trying to drag the man buried deep beneath the suffering.

@Tom @The Steel Stag

 

[Vahn Berand]

She was right. Vahn took a breath, and stepped out of the space between Laeonas and Alex. He was more of a danger to himself than the two Jedi, and he had to make sure she could do her job. Fretting and fussing in this moment would do more to harm the operation than help.

“It’s a wonder he’s even alive at all. There’s a strength to him,” Vahn said. “The Force works in strange ways.”

Vahn’s grip on Alex’s tensed briefly, before relaxing. He trusted Alex. She knew what she was doing, especially when it came to the task of healing.

“I’ll back you. As always you have my support,” he assured, and steadied himself.

He reached out with his senses, guiding his will into Alex’s own. The two Jedi’s minds connected; merging into a single intention as they connected with Laeonas. Vahn wasn’t a healer, but there was one thing he could do. In the best of times Vahn had to keep his emotions under check. He was never the prime example of a Jedi, able to keep their emotions and thoughts fully to himself without effort. But when he wanted, Vahn was quite adept at constructing walls and barriers

Vahn focused on those walls. The agony of Laeonas’ thoughts was enough to overwhelm any Jedi, so he carefully constructed barriers to check it. He kept the ambient scars in the force from the wounded at bay, while regulating the pulsing agony of Laeonas’ pain. He could hold this, he was sure of it. The effects of the young man’s psychic trauma wouldn’t be gone, not exactly. It would be subtly suppressed, the wards putting the agony of Ferrerre’s death distant enough for the two Jedi to work as Alex constructed the thought-forms of their simulacra. This was ever his job; keep the darkness at bay so that she could light the beacon.

@Valen Pelora @Tom

 

[Laeonas Tannaras]

Patricia Malani had spoken, albeit with a justifiably high level of concern, in a relatively reasonable fashion. What the Jedi were doing violated all protocols regarding patients of this severity. Under any other circumstance-- any other circumstance, she would've had every right to call in the guards and force them out. But these two were Jedi; not only that, Jedi masters. They neither had the authority-- nor even the strength-- to send either Jedi packing.

Yet she protested regardless. "Master Jedi-- I understand that you have a greater... expertise on this front, but what you're doing is ill advised." She began, foot tapping a bit. The patient, eyes bloodshot, glanced down from the bed and across to the floor. He began to scratch at the side of his cheek, in time with the woman's clicking. She stared for a few seconds, before stopping and turning away. "Please, at least allow me to administer a seda- HEY!" She exclaimed again, as the Jedi forced her out the door.

Patricia stood there, mouth agape. The guard sitting nearbye let out a chuckle, untill she turned to stare daggers in his direction. For a brief moment, she wanted to burst back through the door and force a needle into the patient's arm. Yet her better judgement won over. Besides all the horrible ways it could go wrong, it'd also be plain rude. Her expression mellowed; but it didn't turn soft. "...put a couple men on standby. I hope to the force we won't need them... but we can't possibly know what will happen." She muttered. The guard nodded, walking off to the side and pulling out his commlink.

--------

Throb. Throb. Throb. Throb.

The doctor had been so... loud. Irksome, annoying, absolutely... unpleasant. He'd heard the words, the whispers. They begged, and they begged for help. Begged for everything to stop, begged for him. The tapping from her foot had been a blessing-- another sound to focus on besides words. When she'd gone, that had gone to-- but the voices were left to stir.

The Jedi's words were not much of a help. She spoke about attacks, about knees falling, her body overwhelmed. Flashes of people-- of him-- ran through his mind. Suffering came with it, and the man let out a wail. Shaking hands moved back to cup the sides of his face, tears ran down those bloodshot eyes of his.

Throb. Throb. Throb. Throb.

The Jedi had only said a few words, and he was already balling his eyes out.

--------

Alex and Vahn arrived in a spaceless void. They had arrived at the very surface of his mind; the line where awareness of the physical met the mental construct that was his sentience. It was the proverbial beach of a vast ocean-- one that they had decided to explore the depths of. They'd have a few moments to contemplate the peace-- the utter absence of thoughts, of awareness.

The peace of nothing.

And the peace was shattered by a roaring tidal wave. That void was replaced by blue-- wallowing sadness and despair that would've risked engulfing both Jedi... save for those walls that Vahn had put up. It was a testament to his skill that none of it seeped through; the technique was meant to guard against concentrated attacks, not an overwhelming miasma of raw pain and emotion.

This was not his mind-- not yet. There were no thoughts here, no concentrated ideas or experiences. Just emotion-- raw, primal, and entirely unfocused. With the proper protection set up, Alex was able to build her mindscape. It was distant from all that Laeonas was or could be, on the proverbial edges of the typhoon his mind had become. She was experiencing the rawest-- but also the weakest-- pain that he was going through. If they wanted to find him, either a madman who hadn't escaped from his madness would need to find his way to them, through all of that...

...or they would need to come to him.

--------

He... he...

He felt them. Crawling, scurrying, changing. Deep inside, making noise, saying words. There was a blip in that radiating pain he was engulfed in-- an absence, a state of tranquility. A state of peace.

Foreign invaders, just like all the others.

"GHEEEAAAAT OUUUUUAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAT!!"

--------

The storm of despair began to shift. It radiated in the air, almost... moving. Prodded by something they couldn't perceive, that overwhelming sadness shifted to anger-- and quickly, to hatred. Grinding against those walls Vahn held, they tore, cracking and bending. All it would take would be a slip up, or a hint of that rage infiltrating either of their minds, and their hopes of pacifying the man would be good as gone.

​

@The Steel Stag @Valen Pelora

 

[Alexandria Voran]

Troublesome. Her soul floated in the mindscape, ridding beside the familiar light of Vahn. As in all things, she wandered as he held the darkness at bay. Alex owed more than she could ever repay to the Tarisian Jedi Master. Vahn sacrificed so she could be what the Order needed. The endless waves of aching sadness crashed against his mental walls. She lent her strength to him so that those walls might endure. The pressure on her mind was undeniable, the rage of a broken man. Alex had been in this position too many times to count. The Ajan Kloss curse, the Darkness on Ubese, Asminys mind, and Oota’s corrupted crystal.

She was familiar…comfortable…in the mindscape. The Morellian Councilor was unafraid. This was the realm of her mastery. There was undeniable danger but allowed panic into her mind would only serve poison poor Laeonas. She would not give up on him. There was good in the young man, good she intended to find. Her mind touched Vahn. “Hold firm.” Laeonas tried to push them out, but Alex kept building. Slowly, Yavin was all around them. The safety of home…a feeling that would be undeniable. She reached for the young force sensitive’s mind again, slipping past the roars to keep them out.

“Help us understand what you feel, let us take away that pain…come…we can keep you safe.” Her words echoed throughout the mindscape. Alex played a dangerous game. Lending a piece of herself to Vahn to hold the barriers while splitting her mind to form the illusion around them. It would work. She knew it. Just as it had worked so many other times. They just needed a chance to talk with the young man, to help him understand what broke his mind. The pain and sufferings of millions upon millions.

@Tom @The Steel Stag

 

[Vahn Berand]

That surge of pressure, the pain and trauma scarring Laeonas’ mind due to his proximity to the tragedy nearly shattered him. There was so much of it. He often thought that he was carrying a great weight, but this...this was something else. Smothering, inconquerable. He could feel it like a storm of broken glass on the other end of his barriers.

For a moment, a whisper thin fragment of time, it felt like it would break him, and pierce through him. How Laeonas was even alive after so much pain was beyond him. Vahn had often thought that he had experienced pain, loss and suffering. He knew now that he was arrogant; there were entire worlds beyond what he had experienced and Laeonas was suffering through them now. The weight of this pain bore down on him and nearly shattered his will.

It was this same thought, paradoxically that stiffened his spine, and he gave ground only to refocus his efforts. Laeonas was good at his core. He had his faults, but he also knew there was Alex could reach this goodness; she could push through the darkness as she always could. One way or another. The touch of her mind upon his own bolstered him, and as she constructed the mindscape he pushed out, flaring the protective wards around their own minds. Laeonas was going through something that he couldn’t understand; at least the gravity of it. The texture, the ebb and flow, however? That he understood, that he was familiar with and he able to meet the tides of sorrow and agony, turning them away from Alex’s own powerful expression of the Force like a great dance. He allowed the strongest waves of pain to hit his wards; Laeonas’ denial and desire to free himself of the two Jedi’s invasion. But he made them hit obliquely, sorrow twisting into the path of least resistance, dizzying itself back into the background of horror. Vahn felt a spike of cold deep within. He knew that unprepared, even for a moment the two could be swept up in the the Force Sensitive’s miasma of trauma.

“We’re only here to help,” Vahn said.

@Valen Pelora @Tom

 

[Laeonas Tannaras]

Their constructions grew wider and wider. The storm was pushed back, but it's content's grew thicker, the swirling miasma of hate and anger and misery condensing. The screaming of millions grew cacophonous, and a distant beating like that of drums hammered.

"WOOOOORRDS!" A single voice shrieked, sounding so very far from that of a sentient being. Immediately following it was another push from the storm-- one that broke against the ever strengthening barriers Vahn was putting up. The screaming grew louder, frustration rising to the top over all other emotions.

He wanted them out, and they weren't leaving.

There were already millions of voices in his head, whispering words, sounds. Theirs were different, sure-- more tangible, and they weren't of suffering. But they repeated, over and over and over. "We're here to help," one said, "We're here to help," the other said. They were all real, and they were all not real, but they all caused pain in their own ways. They took up space that was his-- these two in particular were particularly egregious. They weren't content with just existing; no, they had to expand their sphere of influence within his own head.

There was... something about it that was different, but he couldn't focus. He couldn't focus on anything for to long. That was why it was the blind pain that always swirled within him that attacked. If he were in any way capable of actually harnessing it, concentrating it into a point for more than an instant...

There wouldn't be a wall in the universe strong enough to stop what he could do to a mind.

--------

Externally, Laeonas looked... empty. His aquamarines, bloodshot and usually always jumping around, appeared glazed over. He hadn't gone into shock; his vitals were normal. The two Jedi were standing still, though they wore neutral expressions, rather than the vacant look of the patient. All of this was noted by Patricia, whose pensive expression hadn't faltered in the several minutes that had passed. She was still waiting on those guards, her fingers inseparable from her lips, gnawing on her nails as she'd wait.

She had... no experience with something like this. Volatile patients were a rare occurrence, but this... this wasn't just volatile. They had been trying for weeks to properly sedate him, with virtually nothing working before he inevitably started wailing or rocking again. Ofcourse, she didn't work in this wing, so she hadn't actually overseen any of these treatments-- she'd just heard again and again about how dire the situation was. There hadn't been a day that had gone by where there wasn't a new story about him biting off someone's finger, or nearly strangling a nurse, or once again attempting to kill himself by smashing his head into a wall.

It really was a wonder that he was alive.

--------

Why couldn't they just go? Why couldn't any of them just LEAVE?! They were dead, all of them, turned to dust by the monsters-- wasn't that what was going to happen to all of them?! Their only hope was to run, to run as far away before all was laid to waste. Laeonas wasn't going to be the last person who wound up like this.

All he had felt, second after second, minute after minute, hour after hour, day after day, was pure, unfiltered suffering. He could taste blood and ash in his mouth, smell roasting flesh in his nostrils, hear the screams and wails and death rattles, and see destroyed homes, families. Every single moment they were there, either overwhelming, or hiding behind the corner, waiting to pull him back into the abyss. It would never end, never stop, and all around him could do nothing to even slow it down.

Deep within that storm of pain was a man. A man curled up tight, knees hugged to his chest. Alone, with nothing but the ghosts of the damned to keep him company.

As that mindscape expanded, they would be able to go deeper. Alex and Vahn would have to continue pushing through that pain, that anguish. Only than would they even be able to visualize the person they were trying to save.

Only than would they be able to save him.

​

@The Steel Stag @Valen Pelora

 

[Alexandria Voran]

“We’re close.” Alex turned to meet Vahn. “Can you feel it?” Waves of pain continued to crash against the barriers. “He hides behind the anger…self-defense.” A smile curved her lips. She always lightened the mood when certain danger was near. “If only one of us knew about cutting the galaxy off because they were hurting.” Alex almost laughed. When Max had died, she retreated into a shell. How foolish that had been. Her family had pulled her from those dark days. “It’s time we meet what the mind protects.” A deep breath. Her full strength in the Force rushed through her mind.

The power wielded by the Jedi was considerable and it grew with her experience in the mind. Together, Vahn and Alex were a Force few in the galaxy could hope to rebuff. She pushed the mindscape out. Yavin…they were on Yavin. This was her home. It could be his home. Here he was safe, safer than he had ever been before. Waves and waves hammered against them, but they remained strong. They were Jedi. A light in even the greatest darkness. Eventually, they would be greeted with Laeonas’ broken form. Alex stayed where she was.

“Laeonas…please…look at us.” She put out her hand. “We can take away the pain.” And she could. He needed to lock his pain to suffering around him. They were too close to others who had burned at Raze’s command. Too close to the world that shattered. He needed to close his mind to those pains least it consume him.

@The Steel Stag @Tom

 

[Vahn Berand]

Vahn could feel it. Even through the walls he constructed; the layers of defenses and bulwarks he could sense the presence of Laeonas. It was familiar. Even through the pain and hurt he could sense the good man hidden beneath the tapestry of trauma and pain that he had experienced. He could also sense that there was no way he could keep Already, if Laeonas had focused on expelling him Vahn wasn’t sure if he could hold off the psychic attack. Somewhere, somehow he knew there was hesitance. He needed to switch gears. He needed to find some way to break through to the man without inciting further trauma.

“Yes. He’s so near. We’re almost there,” Vahn answered Alex. He spent a moment in thought as the scenes of Yavin were constructed around them. The familiarity building around him brought comfort. This was a place he drew strength from. Comradery, family. If only he could share this strength. He grinned as the Morellian Jedi spoke. "Future generations of Jedi will compose exhaustive treastises dedicated to our folly. As if a Jedi were ever truly alo-"

He paused mid sentence. That was it. Everything snapped into place.

“Laeonas,” he said.

“You aren’t alone. Not anymore,” his voice was calm, measured even through the exertion of holding those walls.

“I know what hurts the most. It’s not the weight. It’s not the quantity of hurt. It’s feeling you have to carry the weight all on your own. It’s feeling abandoned. Feeling like no one else in the world can help. That’s what hurts. That’s what breaks people.”

Vahn had been there. He’d stood on that precipice of agony, walled up so tightly that every thought echoed back and amplified his hurt. Master Vetan. Arias. Taris. Feeling like he had to suffer entirely on his own. Then he’d rediscovered his family.

“We can’t understand. No one can. Not entirely. But we can hold your hand. We can stand with you while you rise above what was done to you. We just need the chance. I know you can do it. I know you can feel us.”

He reached out, a hand extended towards the barely perceptible brokenness of Laeonas’ mind-form.

@Valen Pelora @Tom

 

[Laeonas Tannaras]

None of them had permission to be here. Not those whispering imprints of souls that clung to his mind like stains on a carpet. Not the nightmares that repeated in his mind whenever he drifted to sleep. Certainly not the two invaders, the only two truly living consciousness' in his head besides his own. The only two with purpose, the only two with direction. The only ones who could meaningfully change anything within him. To bring order to chaos, to heal the injured, to help the helpless.

They were reminding him of what he was, who he was. They spoke his name, again and again and again. They offered him help, again and again and again. As their sanctuary expanded, going deeper into his mind, their challenges would grow. The blind whirlwind of emotion that had first greeted them began to take shape. At first, simply manifestations appeared; gaseous, anthropomorphized blobs would throw themselves against the barrier and break.

But it wouldn't stop.

Eventually, there weren't just vague figures attacking their walls. Features began to harden, details appearing as they'd push onward. Gas would turn to skin, and gaps would turn to mouths. The skin would be torn in places, burned in others, or simply absent. The mouths of millions began to scream, and to wail, and to incoherently beg. It wasn't real; there were not millions of souls trapped within the mind of a single man. These were impressions, illusions that had stamped themselves into the man's vulnerable mind.

Yet despite their inauthenticity, everything about them seemed real.

--------

"Doctor?" A guard addressed. Patricia stood still for a moment, not looking away from the sight within the room. Laeonas' heart rate was growing more rapid, rising from a resting pulse of 110 BPM to 160 BPM. The patient had been listed as suffering from moderate high blood pressure, but the sudden spike was something that put the doctor on edge. Externally, there were still zero changes in either the Jedi, or the patient. One might be forgiven for mistaking the man for being dead.

"...doctor Malani?" The guard addressed her a second time. Blinking, Patricia finally looked up at the man, a bit flustered. "Um-- yes, security chief Anado. Thank you for arriving on such short notice." She'd quickly respond, glancing back through the viewing window every few seconds. The man, much larger than the scrawny doctor, didn't look like he was in the mood for pleasantries.

"You called me down here in regards to the patient that took one of my men's eyes," He'd begin, tone stern as his throat rumbled in a deep baritone. "When you requested half a dozen more of my men, I felt it was appropriate to come myself. I assumed that we were at risk of an escape attempt, or a fatality." He'd express, before glancing inside. The Doctor gulped a little as she'd follow his gaze, before nodding.

"Your assumptions... could prove correct. Due to the patient's particular nature, I... well, I requested the help of the Jedi who had arrived to assist recovering patients." She'd explain, gesturing to the man and woman inside. "I believed that they might be able to help improve my understanding of how to treat him, but instead they've begun... 'treating' him on their own." She'd finish, an exasperated tone in her voice at the end. She was still frustrated that the Jedi master had acted so carelessly... but now was not the time to complain.

"I... still believe that the patient is a risk to himself, and, force save us if things come to this... the entire hospital." She finally confessed, letting out a sigh. "I... may need you to neutralize him. I implore you to not use lethal force, but if anything goes wrong, he needs to be stopped." She'd finish.

The security chief had said nothing this entire time. He wore a blank, stoic expression, wrinkled olive skin folding a bit as he'd finally give her a nod. "Understood."

--------

They were close, so very, very close.

The forms that had manifested before them grew ever more complex. No longer was it singular spirits that melted away before them. There were now entire scenes that would break on impact with the expanding sphere of tranquility. Scenes of children grasping at their mothers, parent buried halfway under rubble as they struggled meaninglessly. Fathers clutching the scorched husks of their own children. A man screaming at the sight of his lover, whose brains had spilled on the pavement after a stray piece of stone smashed open his skull.

There were thousands of scenes. Each one was unique, with different people in different perspectives all around. Suffering of all kinds was displayed, pain radiating through his entire subconscious. It was strong, potent, and only the two Jedi master's protections could hope to stand against it. In his mind, in it's purest, most concentrated form, such exposure would break even the most willful of beings.

The horrific displays continued, intensifying ever rapidly. As they finally pushed through the most horrific scenes one could ever imagine...

...they arrived.

Their circle of tranquility had reached him. Consciousness itself, Laeonas Tannaras as a singular being. The suffering around them was contained, walled off. All that was left now was an emptiness, a black plain. The ability to perceive what was beyond the edge was difficult, even for them. Rarely did a Jedi master delve this far into the mind of another living being. Usually they would encounter a manifestation, a genuine self construction of what the host consciousness was. Not an ideal; but a personification of his identity.

Yet what stood, or more accurately, hunched before them, neither could prepare for.

It was... a man. They would be able to tell that much from his figure, the way his muscles twitched, the presence of hair on his head. The easily recognizable features ended there, however. The "man's" skin looked devoid of pigmentation, yet covered in ash, so that the otherwise pale white would instead look a dirt grey. More bizarre would be feathers. They were not consistent, a few sprouting on parts of the man's back, his triceps, and shoulders.

The scene before them was equally bizarre... and far more terrifying.

A few meters away, in that empty void, there was an egg. It was freakishly large; enough to accommodate a man. It was shattered on one side, shards of shell splayed out all over. Yet far closer to them, and to the "person" they'd arrived at, was a carcass. Vacant aquamarines would stare up into nothingness, facial hair on the man grown out, hair unkempt. He looked freshly dead, and they would recognize him as the man that they had come to save.

But that man was dead. What had replaced him was... something else. It sat there, hunched over the body, obscuring most of it from view. It was for the best; both men were entirely bare. The still living "man" that hung over the other could be heard whispering, whispering something neither Jedi could hear.

He was alone, in this place, and yet now that there was company, he seemed as if he didn't wish to acknowledge it.

Would either of them make a move?

​

@The Steel Stag @Valen Pelora

 

[Alexandria Voran]

Alex tried to wrap her mind around the changing scene. She was dimly aware of the conversations transpiring in the physical world. Her skill was such that she did not completely lose sense of the outside. They were running out of time. She touched Vahn lightly on the shoulder. “We don’t have much time left…the good doctor is becoming anxious.” Unfortunately, she struggled to comprehend exactly what she was seeing.

Part of the healing was keeping the demons at bay while allowing Laeonas’ mind to find safety. She had to allow some measure of control for his mind to exert. Alex was century old. She spent the better part of eight decades as a Jedi. Her knowledge of the Force surpassed all but the wisest masters of past generations. What the fuck was she looking at?

She took a few steps forward. “Can we help you?” It was some part of Laenoas’ mind, but what part? She could not begin to fathom what deep corner this came from. She could only hope it spoke basic. Alex took another step forward. Her mind pressing outward to keep the safe walls of the mindscape in place. She would not lose focus.

@Tom @The Steel Stag