Familiar Faces

[Xyrael]

The speed of Aÿisha would have been surprising if Saia had not known the former Jedi. She was powerful, but Saia had grown much as well. She was a simmering ocean of conviction and fear, fighting for what she knew was right but now, once again, plagued with the doubt. Doubt inspired by the thought that today would be her last day alive, knowing she should have told Akacen what this thing could so easily read from her. Love.

The Sith's cruel eyes peered through her mental fortifications, eerily scathing holes in her defenses, but Saia was not without retaliation. "I would hope not," she answered, spinning clockwise on the balls of her feet as she altered her stance to face the new direction, "but I will do what I must." She spun her waist simultaneous with the motion, powering through the motion as she brought the shimmering blade of light in a sidesweeping strike aiming to bisect the Sith Lord through the waist.

 

[Rev]

Both hands would grip the hilt of her own blade as her wrists turned to point it towards the ground. The resulting defense was all dependent on timing, something the Sith Lord felt she knew in her old Padawan. As the blue beam attempted to dice the Sith Lord in two it would be met with the angled purple blade. Sending her own lightsaber in a fanning motion in front of her face, Saia's blue blade would sweep above Aÿisha's own head and to the opposite side. The result would be Illusia's own blade pinning Saia's down at their sides.

The two Force Sensitives would remain close as their blades were locked at each others side. Using the moment to pull her right hand from the hilt she would pull her fist back and let loose a hard straight at Saia's chin. She couldn't hold her old Padawan's blade for long, but if Saia chose to hold the weapons in place her face would ultimately be met with blunt force.

 

[Xyrael]

Saia sensed hesitation in the Sith before her, a reminder that the being before her truly was her former Master. So confirmed, it still did not change the fact that they were now locked in mortal combat, a deadly game of plasma swords, telekinetics, and sheer, raw power.

"Why!?" she shouted at her former master as she pinned her blade to Saia's right. "Why did you turn against us!?"

Saia saw the fist pull back in her mind before with her eyes, watching it ready to launch at her. Saia let go her left hand from the saber which remained locked with Aÿisha's, the sparks of light emitted by the clashing sabers crackling in the Coruscant night. She aimed to deflect the blow with an inside block, knocking it aside and to her left. While doing so, she rocked forwards on the balls of her feet, giving her the space and momentum required to bring her right leg forward, she would launch her knee upwards sharply to connect with Aÿisha's gut.

 

[Rev]

Her fist would be met with a mixture of flesh, fabric, and air. Saia's block would no doubt protect her from the full force of the impact, even deflecting Aÿisha's fist aside, but it surely left its mark. The questions the younger girl projected ringing out in the Sith Lord's mind as she sought to answer them, but with time.

Hellish sound projected from their blades as they fought to hold in place. It was foresight that would hint to the darksider of her apprentices attack, but she would do nothing to stop it. Saia had no understanding of the intangible Force, something Aÿisha had never taught her of, something Aÿisha the Jedi, had never known of. Sith Alchemy had a strange way of changing things that would otherwise be deemed 'normal.' The fabric otherwise appearing as cloth had been altered through the Force, the dark material able to deflect some blaster bolts, but absorbing most.

Illusia would take the impact of the knee, letting the blunt trauma go to her gut with relative ease. As she curled around the incoming attack her body would contort into yet another spin to distance herself from the girl who's knee would feel it had impacted the durasteel hull of a starship. Standing several feet away she would hold her own stomach which would feel the ache of pain.

"..Tanaab, Saia! The Jedi turned their backs on me that day! Each one there left me for dead.. It wasn't until I was shown the truth that I understood the Jedi's true stance.. You are a pawn of the council! Sent to do their bidding, sent to enact a code you don't even believe in!"

 

[Xyrael]

"I don't serve a Council. I serve a Galaxy, and for a cause greater than myself!" she said defiantly, wincing as she planted her foot again in a defensive posture. The fist had glanced her cheek, and her knee wracked with pain, but her mind quickly worked to shut it down and stamp it out. Pain was in her mind, just as every other sensation was, and what pain she felt in her leg was easily crushed by the mental police waging a war against far more dangerous sensations in her mind. "You turned your back on yourself that day! It wasn't the Jedi that left you alone, you did that yourself! You discarded what made you you, and you gave yourself to a cause that truly serves the goals of nothing more than one man!" She struggled to fight back with words, to make her former friend and mentor reflect back on who she truly had been. "You were afraid to die, and you let that fear drive you away from us, and for what!? Power!?"

She advanced with purpose once again, her stride more powerful and confident, once again planting her right foot forward, bringing the blade above her head and striking downwards in a curved arc, aiming to sever her former Master's left arm.

 

[Rev]

Illusia had nearly laughed at the initial comment of serving something greater than any council or herself. She served the galaxy? But for what? There would always be something larger, something greater than whatever she served to crush it. Another man more defiant doing something far worse than Saia could stop, or even imagine.

"If I were not to bend, you would not be standing before me today. I would be with the dead, with the weak, with the Jedi.."

Her words spat from her mouth with truth behind each word. The venom stinging more with each word that slipped from her lips. As her apprentice continued to speak with such blasphemy the anger which swelled within the Force Master grew.

"I left to prove that the darkside was not what the Jedi said it to be. It is far more than good and evil, of Sith and Jedi.. More than one who fears to stray down such a path could understand."

As Saia began her movement forward the emotion which was held within Aÿisha would explode out in hurricane like gusts; one memorable Force Push. The wall of energy would explode from the very core of Darth Illusia, an arctic chill of emotional energy backed behind it. The Force was enough to push Aÿisha's own form backwards, her boots treading into the building's top.

"Can you not sense the honesty in my words? I am no Sith, I am so much more than that.. So much better than that!"

 

[Xyrael]

Saia was stunned by the cruelty and wickedness in Aÿisha's voice, something so carnal and hate-filled. With every word Saia spoke, and every venomous reply, Saia could feet Aÿisha's presence in the Force, like a shadow in her mind growing. A choir of hate echoed to her through the Force, screaming into her mind. If nothing else, her fury helped Saia to predict the wicked Sith Lord, though her anger fueled her power.

The telekinetic blast that surged towards her threw off durasteel plates and twisted them. Saia powered off her saber, setting both arms forward and concentrating hard to counter the force of the push, but with little avail. The force of the push, though lessened by Saia's counter, still launched her backwards. She rode the wave of force, using her agility and grace to help her land in the wake of the telekinetic assault tens of feet away, towards the edge of the platform. She shrugged, reigniting her saber and pushing the Force into her legs, powering her charge. Left had extended, she closed her eyes and focused her mind, overcoming the doubt and the fear and the anger and casting out a bright, blinding light that burned brighter than the sun, hoping to blind the Sith Lord just long enough for the Jedi Knight to once again engage it.

"You'll never be anything more than a person driven by pettiness and selfishness! I would sooner die than become what you have become!" Saia shouted as she charged forwards in the wake of the flash. She'd engage the Sith Lord once again, this time with a flurry of slashing blows, hoping to lock Aÿisha in saber combat, deny her the time to manipulate the Force and use it against her.

 

[Rev]

The flash of light that escaped from Saia's hand had been something the Sith Lord had practiced a decade before the girls existence. Although her own practice of the power better prepared her for the attack, she hadn't quite expected it. Using Saia's speech as a delay, she used the time to view the world in a different light; through the eyes of the Force.

"..You are a fool if you believe such things, my friend. I merely had my eyes opened to the truth, a truth you fail to see. I am as much the being I was, only so much more! I am no more selfish than you!"

Dropping her dominant foot back as Saia lashed outward her initial instinct was to act in defense. The onslaught of attacks were blocked away as she quickly stepped backwards, the mixture of flourishes the Jedi threw combined with attack made up for a wave of trickey, but nothing the Sith had never seen. Just as Aÿisha settled into defense her motions would switch, back peddling changing to an onward push.

"You, you came here for your self! Left anyone.. everyone who mattered, who cared about you behind. For what? To serve yourself.. To serve your council? Just as I had.. look at where it took me!"

At the close of her words the barrage of attacks Saia had put onto Aÿisha would be returned. A volley of quick attacks coming from dominant hand to weak side and back, each driven with more power than the last. With one final chop the Sith Mistress would try and push Saia's blade into the durasteel below them before pulling a fast 360 degree turn in direction of decapitation.

 

[Xyrael]

"The only truth," she muttered obstinately, reacting to the Sith's counter-attack, "is that you are driven by nothing more than fear. Fear of death!" The Sith attempted to drive her saber into the ground, but Saia pulled the blade back, watching as the Sith quickly spun in front of her that would bring the blade to strike from her left.

She lifted the lightsaber up, her right hand nearest the blade, spinning the blade counter-clockwise 180 degrees, keeping her left hand on the bottom of the hilt. The motion brought her wrist into the cradle between her bicep and forearm, a strong position from which to block Aÿisha's powerful strike. The blade shimmered, parallel to her form, pointed directly to the ground, braced for impact. She shifted on the balls of her feet, lowering her profile, raising her left arm, and allowing the blade to protect the majority of her body.

The blades would collide in a massive, thundering clash. Once the momentum had been lost, Saia would counter-attack, unfolding her left arm downwards like a hammer, pushing the top of her saber with her right in a forward circular motion that woul result in a single, powerful slashing cho sun strike. The torque of the motion would add power to the strike, and she advanced forward with her left foot, adding even more force behind the blow.

"The Force willed that I come here. My own motivations are nothing in comparison. And now, I only know that it wills me to stop you, to prevent you from bringing harm to others," she exhaled, focusing her mind as slowly she defeated her own fear of death, "You think you can control the Force? How naïve, to think that you, who is given life by the Force, can control it. It existed before you and I, and it will exist after you and I. There is no death, there is only the Force. Don't you remember?"

 

[Rev]

The result of the massive strike would send Aÿisha stumbling backwards. As she would regain her balance another, almost as powerful strike was sent her way; directly from the core of Saia. Raising her own blade above her head, but nearly parallel to the ground, she would use Saia's momentum against her.

Stepping into the attack her hand would stay in place, still up and awaiting the fierce impact. When it came her wrist would lock, directing the attack instead from herself to her right side, her arm riding out the momentous attack. Her own blade would cut the air just centimeters from her own back and shoulder before her wrist would unlock and turn the blade counter-clockwise: away from her body.

It was that short gap in time where neither could attack that Illusia would let out her most surprising of attacks, Saia's own. Reaching up into the sky a beacon of light would project from her palm before launching outward directly at her old Padawan's face. The blinding orb holding that of a Tattooine sun, but none of the heat.

As the orb would leave the Sith Lord's hand she would follow with her blade behind it. The aid of the Force guiding her she pinpointed Saia's right thigh and cut at it with precision, hoping to incapacitate her old friend, if only momentarily. Aÿisha Remy deep in thought on the words her former Padawan offered, her body merely reacting in its most natural of ways; fluidity at its finest.

 

[Xyrael]

A vision in the Force, only moments away, played across her mind, and she reacted to counter it. She had disengaged her left leg moments after the strike failed to make contact, and was in the process of pulling her blade back to a guard position when the flash came, blinding and surprising the Jedi Knight. She continued through the motions of her combat form, anticipating the next strike as it played across her mind and not her sight.

No sooner had the blade returned to guard did she push a surge of Force energy into her legs, launching herself into air in a front flip, somersaulting over her opponent just as Aÿisha's hand began to twist and launch the saber centimeters beneath her feet. Her raven black hair and obsidian robe twirled about her as she took the precious few moments to connect the dots in the Force, visualizing the impacts and ripples in the Force that outlined the silhouette where Aÿisha should have been.

She landed softly and prepared her guard as her mind began to peel away the guise that hid the true form of Aÿisha, seeking to see past the disturbances of the senses that the flash, and her illusions, had formed. "If you kill me, Aÿisha, you will only unite me with the Force, make me eternal. Why were you so afraid to become one with it there, on Taanab? To truly become one with that you profess to know so well now? If you truly want to free yourself from your chains, Aÿisha, do not be afraid to become one with the Force," she pleaded with her former Master in a flood of telepathic thoughts that irradiated from her, hoping to give the Sith pause, reason to reconsider herself, if only for a moment to buy Saia time.

 

[Rev]

"Impressive..."

Her blade would cut just centimeters from her former Padawan's feet as she leaped high into the air and to safety. The blinded girl no doubt fighting for her life with each and every breath. The 'hunt' excited the Sith Lord, but her emotions remained in check. She did not come here to kill, but instead to plant a seed, an idea into the young woman's mind. The soft patter of Saia's feet hitting rooftop brought the Sith to life as she with one elegant stride closed the distance between Padawan and Master.

The girls guard would be met with a flurry of slashes yet again. The outstretched message which beckoned from an old friend was met with nothing but cold bitterness. As Saia's 'words' molded into sentences within Aÿisha's mind she would lash out in anger. The Force would explode outwards from her very core once again, this time in mid swing. A battering ram of Force energy would hit anything within meters and sailing off the rooftop. Various garbage, items, and other various papers would explode to life in a twister of air before finally dissipating.

It was in that moment of attack, that moment of lethal emotion that the vilest of grins would make its way to Illusia's face. Standing alone at the center of the rooftop she huffed in a breath, the purple beam sucking into the metallic tube within her hand. Exhaling the breath she held her voice would come across just as cold as it had moments before.

"Fear of death?"

She squeezed the metallic within her hands with everything her body could muster to no avail. Staring across at Saia she looked up and allowed the same smile that riddled her face all through the girls training to return. What the girl spoke of was ultimately true, whether they both believed it or not, but what the Padawan was never trained for would be put before her by the Master.

"Strike me down Saia."

The words were direct, without haste, and above all else had an arrogance behind it which pleaded for it to happen.

"Kill me. Do as your Jedi commanded."

Reaching back she threw the lightsaber at her former apprentice, but as a mere lob. If she didn't catch the weapon it would simply bounce feet away from the Jedi.

"Free me from that which the Jedi fear. Do to me which your Jedi refuse to do to the true enemy of the Universe. Exterminate me, old friend.. Turn your back on me just as the rest of them have.."

 

[Xyrael]

It took only seconds for the assault to commence once more, her words triggering a rage within her old comrade. Her eyes could see through the Force and witnessed a darkness therein, a veil which hid the truth that was the Knight she knew. Instead, a facade remained, a mystical mask that lied to Saia.

Blinded but still able to see the near-future, watching the ripples in the Force and listening to it speak to her, she knew where the strikes would land before they were delivered. But she could only last for so long. Fatigue was beginning to set in under the weight of resisting her attacks; her muscles were beginning to burn, and her breath was beginning to grow irregular.

And suddenly, her eyes broke through the blinding light long enough to witness her Master, twisted and changed beyond recognition. The smile that formed was carnal, pure and evil. The hair on the back of her neck stood on edge, not inspired by the chill hours of the Coruscant night, but by something different. She tried to identify the sensation that ran through her, but a blast of energy radiated outwards with frightening tenacity just as she moved to parry a blow designated for her midsection.

Her boots skidded against the duracrete gravplatform beneath her, finally coming to a rest only moments before she would have been blown off. She looked back, looking past the bright, white glare that had blinded her, and she could not help but frown as the twisted smile disappeared. Her heart sank, and she realized the sensation that had burrowed itself into her mind. Disgust, betrayal.

"Strike me down Saia... kill me..." the words rang out across the darkness, the voice of her friend. Her mind struggled to understand where the plea came from. Penitence? Her former Master seemed to toss her the blade, easily catchable.

It gracefully found its way into Saia's left hand, and her sapphire eyes turned to its shape. It was familiar, as it had been so long ago; it had served as a guide when she first built her own lightsaber. She looked at it for a moment, her mind pausing. The conflict within it seemed to pass, but her mind was clouded. She looked at the hilt, seeing an opportunity.

This is a tool, a whisper in her mind called out to her, use it. Saia shook her head, not willing to trust herself. Something was growing around her, and as her eyes adjusted to the night she realized that everything around her was becoming darker. The Dark Side was clouding her judgement, she knew that much. Aÿisha had become so much more powerful.

But the temptation strove on, testing Saia. It pulled at her yearning desire to purge the darkness from her friend. Aÿisha will never be accepted by the Jedi again. She wants redemption, and only I can give it to her...

She closed her eyes, suppressing the thoughts. No... she refused herself, gripping Aÿisha's blade, stepping slowly forward. Her resolve had diminished now as she cautiously approached her friend. She knew that Aÿisha, despite not being armed, was more than capable of killing her. She was a Jedi Knight, and she was sure that Aÿisha had become a Sith Master. Perhaps... more... No... that can't be...

No, she knew Aÿisha, she knew her as a friend. There had to be a glimmer of hope, something in her that could be saved. Saia knew, however far the thought had become, that it was wrong to kill Aÿisha. But... she had become so fundamentally opposed to herself, the Light seemed so lost to her... and Saia. The Jedi Knight could not fathom that she was powerful enough, or wise enough, to bring her friend back. But she knew what was right, and what was wrong, and she had that drilled into her mind. No whispers in her mind or taunts or jeers would cause her to sacrifice her principles, not here. Not now. No, she had lost everything now, her Master and her family, the only purpose she had to live for now was the welfare of everyone she would never know.

She continued to step forward, holding Aÿisha's saber in her left hand, her own in her right, still ignited and shimmering brightly in the Coruscant night. "Aÿisha, I never abandoned you. I never will. Please, trust me, and do what's right," she pleaded with her former Master one more time. She knew that her window of opportunity was fast closing, and soon there would be no option for death for one of them. "I will help you, just surrender yourself. Truly free yourself."

 

[Rev]

"Then why is it you turn your back on me now, Saia?"

The Sith Lord stared forward, her eyes intently staring on her prize. Aÿisha would go from looking at Saia as a whole to focusing her gaze back into her eyes. The Sith Lord's honey brown eyes pleading to her old friend for the last time to understand the mistake which was the Jedi.

"Are you so blind as to not see who... what it is you work for? What it is you are a part of?!"

Illusia would open her arms wide as if to embrace Saia, but what the Sith expected was for the girl to back away if anything.

"I am not the evil.. the Jedi, the Jedi are corrupt.. please, listen to me.. They are not who they once were; the galaxy is doomed if they are to remain!"

Lowering her arms in desperation, she was ready to deal her final blow to Saia Typhelon.

"I beg you to see the truth, Saia.. I am evil to ask you to join me, old friend.. Yet you are good by asking me to surrender..?"

 

[Xyrael]

The paradox that faced Saia left the young Knight perplexed even as she stepped back, wary of any attack Aÿisha might launch at her. It beheld a truth, that could not be denied. She sought to bring back her friend, to redeem her, and to return her to her true self. And yet, there were differences. But how many of those differences were dogmatic views drilled into her mind through years of training? Something in her mind pleaded to her to see the world through Aÿisha's eyes for just a moment. To understand herself, what she wanted, what was best for her. Saia closed her eyes and dropped her head and her guard for a moment, her saber now falling to a nadir, its blue luminescence radiating against the dark grey duracrete below her feet.

"If the galaxy is doomed, how can it be saved?" she asked hesitantly. She did not know why, but she felt compelled to understand her former Master's logic better. To understand what, exactly, caused her to think that the Council had become 'evil'.

 

[Rev]

The Jedi Knight's mind finally had question in it, the seed of evil was planted.. Now it just needed the proper guidance to reach its final destination.. to reach its potential. Internally masked the Sith Mistress was exploding with delight. The adrenaline of 'the hunt' nearly taking over her body, but the proper demeanor, maturity, and control would keep the broken Jedi to appear just as that. What the Sith Lord spoke was far from a lie, but she also knew it was not the truth.

"With action, Saia! Not deliberation.. They preach patience, yet their only action is to react to another's play. They are not the evil in this galaxy, but they are far from being the good.."

Aÿisha would sigh with some relief, getting the words off her chest at long last. In her heart she knew what she felt, the Jedi had left her to die that day just as the others went. They were one with the Force, and perhaps it was a better place; guided by the light to their destination. It wasn't her time, the Force guided her to the destination she found herself at today, and if it were not for it she would be nothing.

"I acted on a feeling.. a final thought projected by Predor before he.."

She paused remembering those final moments, burning into her mind, her body, and her soul with emotion unlike anything she could describe.

"..he said 'Do what I feel is right..' I- I don't know what that meant, but in that moment a choice stood in front of me.. I could join them in the afterlife.. Go to the Force and be free as you say.. Or I could see the other side, life for what it is meant to be.. Emotion... feelings.. life is forever changing, Saia. That feeling.. that emotion deep inside you, Akacen, the Jedi tell you to hide that.. I.. I tell you to embrace it."

 

[Xyrael]

"It is not the Jedi way to be aggressive. It is the Jedi way to defend the weak, not to save those who suffer," she said, frustrated with the words even as they came out of her mouth. In all honesty, she found the Jedi Order to be hypocritical in nature. It did not strive to establish freedom for all, but only maintained the freedom of those fortunate enough to be born into a liberated Republic. She knew that striving to establish a utopia would only result in failure and bring conflict to the whole Galaxy... but was apathy really the best solution?

She threw the Sith's lightsaber back to her, not wanting to keep such an item on her person. "Emotion has already blinded you, Aÿisha. It drives you to do what's best for you, but at the expense of what others want. I would only pursue Akacen if he, too, felt the same way for me. If I were to serve myself, fulfill my emotions, I would inevitably force him into actions that he does not want. Emotion is the most fundamental problem that this Galaxy has, that people strive to serve themselves. I can't do that, friend, I can't serve myself knowing that other's would suffer in some way for it."

"Aÿisha, I don't serve any one man, or Council. I do serve myself, my conscience, and I serve the Force. Through it I can sense the suffering of others and it drives me, it gives me a reason. The Order might stand idle, the Council might uphold their austere righteousness, but I'm ready to sacrifice myself and my principles to make sure that this Galaxy is a safer, better place. You tell me to embrace my desire," she spoke slowly, raising her lightsaber slowly. "My only desire is to make this Galaxy a better place, and the Sith will never let that happen."

 

[Rev]

"You mistake my words, Saia.. Aggression is not needed to commit action.. Action is needed for that. Action which the Council.. which the Jedi so rarely use."

The Force would assist the lightsaber as it cut through the air. The metallic hilt assisted by the invisible energy as it landed so softly in the Sith Lord's hand. With one flowing motion it would clip to her belt and be out of harms way. Saia was strong, her willpower and perseverance quite possibly the strongest of her traits.. But she could see the truth if she wished, it was merely revealing it to her in a way she understood.

"Emotion is what drives this galaxy, Saia! The Jedi forbid your use of it, yet wish for you to understand the chaos which surrounds you.. Control is what I taught you on Tython those years ago.. Control is necessary on both sides of the Force, my friend. It is judgement... opinion on what is evil, what is light and what is dark."

She paused as her friend continued. Expressing how and to whom she served with pride, something that brought a smile to the elder woman's face. As Saia's lips came to a close and her words settled in Aÿisha would bow her head in respect to her old friend.

"You know what you serve Saia, and it came from your mouth; yourself. Do not be a fool and be blinded by the Jedi and their lies.. They wish for peace in this galaxy, but they go about it the wrong way! I am with you when you speak of the Sith.. the path they have chosen may not be the galaxy's best, but it is a start... It is action. Your desire is shared, my friend.. Your action.. our action can change the galaxy for the better. I do not ask you to join the Sith.. I ask you to see what else this galaxy offers and to join me in righting the wrongs..."