Ask In Her Footsteps

[Ezra Thorne]

Ezra was thankful she helped, though he could practically feel her rage bubbling. He scoffed at her suggestions, “Oh yeah because you would’ve nodded and agreed if I told you what I was about to do,” He rolled his eyes, knowing her far too well to think otherwise.

They stepped inside and he felt a chill run down his spine. There were chunks of the roof missing from a past bombardment. From here he could look up at parts of that unnatural sky, lightning streaked out laterally past where they were. They were in the eye of the storm that existed permanently above the spire.

The open platform was unsettling, but he didn’t fear it too much. He could tell there was nothing lingering in the shadows. It was nothing but eerie silence save for the wailing winds from above. Ezra glanced around himself, taking in sight of his surroundings.

“He was here,” He observed quietly, stepping towards a chamber to the side. In order to get there, he had to step past shriveled, disembodied limbs of animals and humanoids on the floor. There had been patterns and engravings etched on the ground to signal that Raze had performed crude alchemy here. This was perhaps the sight of his first beast creation and Ezra and Silvi had run into the completed remnants outside. Did that mean there was humanoids mixed into those beasts??

Further steps revealed papers and books strewn about carelessly on the floor. Raze had searched for something, but he had no concern for anything else there. It was clear the wraith had obtained what he came for. Ezra crouched down to pick up what appeared to be a journal. He quickly read through the words, his brows rising slightly. He silently handed it over to Silvi.

“I think…this is all referring to your mother,” He said quietly, his ears twitching the slightest bit, “It’s signed Kai.”

@Killa Ree

 

[Silvi Velt-Morata]

Though she wasn't a Force user, that didn't mean she was immune to the Darkness.

As soon as Ezra commented Raze had been here once, she simply nodded at first. Her voice was small, quiet, as she followed him further into the darkness.

"I know... I can practically smell the stench of him."

It was everywhere. Seeing the limbs, the carvings in stone, she felt a queer chill of nausea creep up her spine. Like Ezra, she briefly contemplated the creatures they had come across outside. Was this.. their origin? Was this... something that Ilana did?

The more inwards they went, the more her hands shook, her heart thudding in her throat and her breath coming in shallow pants. At his handing the journal, she took it from his hands hesitantly with her off hand, holding it gingerly, as if it would bite.

If she opened this now... would it truly change anything? Perhaps... this was a first step to knowing more.

Putting her blaster in the holster, she knelt to the stone floor and pulled a glow rod from her pilot's pouch, beginning to read.

He would see her face alter at the very traitorous words written there. He would see her face become drawn, devoid of all color. Even the familiar glint in blue eyes would fade, as shock pinned her to the cold floor, as she tried to take in the words that didn't make sense... yet made so much more sense the more she read.

About her empathic skills. Her first steps into Darkness; and the author's fears that, should she go further, she would surpass him in power, perhaps even steal it all from him. His plan to use her, her knowledge and her skills as a physician, to access a Holocron that could detail the user on an ability that, he believed, could recall his dead partner.

How he toyed with her, viewed her as little more than a diversion, yet he knew her feelings, fed on them. He described how her abilities could level a planet, should she learn to control it more. But it also described their discoveries. Where the last holocron had been found... and that he and Ilana had discovered it, before he abruptly seemed to end it.

It was the final entry that chilled her to the bone, making her stomach roil sickeningly. In her mother's handwriting, in neat, concise words, read the following:

Experiment failed. The dead can never be reanimated in this manner; more experiments to be documented for further testing needed.

A Sith Alchemist.

"She... was one of them." Her words felt tinny to her ears, and she looked up at Ezra blankly, shaking her head slowly. "She... how? Was this," she pointed behind them, "because of her?"

@Sreeya

 

[Ezra Thorne]

Ezra had only read the beginnings of the page and assumed it was some past affair between Ilana and whoever Kai was. However, Silvi’s reaction suggested it was something else entirely. It wasn’t long enough before he ignored the respect for privacy and quickly scanned the words while looking over Silvi’s shoulder. His eyes widened, an uncharacteristic display of horror creeping into his face as he processed what he read.

Ilana Morata was a Force user? Not only that, but she was an alchemist? Only the most powerful wielders of the Dark Side could even begin to step down that path, and instead it had been the woman regarded as a galactic healer. Ezra felt sick to his stomach, not because of the revelation, but because of the parallels between this and what he learned about Raze. They both had parents that had lied to them, that betrayed them, that hid monsters within themselves. Did his father and Ilana work together in these vile ways? Could they ever be forgiven? When he found out about Raze, tt had made Ezra question all his memories and his life and his entire existence and reality. He had run away from everything then and no one understood him.

Which is why he knew exactly how Silvi felt right then.

Ezra said nothing, but he closed the distance and pulled her into an embrace. He was terrible with words, comforting others, emotions, or any of those things. However, he knew this. He knew what she felt and he knew there were no words or sayings that could make it better. So he calmly held her as the storms raged above, as they stood between horrific limbs and visceral brutality around them. She would know she still had someone in her corner despite it all.

@Killa Ree

 

[Silvi Velt-Morata]

Her question rang out emptily into the dim penumbra, over and over again in her mind.

One of them? Was she? One of them?

She wanted to run. To hide away like a child, covering her ears and closing her eyes, but the words kept swimming to the surface. Was this why she died? To keep her secrets? Or was this just another facet, another fraction of the woman she had barely even truly known?

Cold amber eyes flashed in her mind's eye, filled with pain. You don't know the galaxy, Silvi. You'll never understand.

She gnashed her teeth, but when Ezra's arms circled around her, she flinched, the sudden warmth splintering the mental echo. As the cold numbness began to seep away, another emotion could be sensed from the white-haired woman.

Despair.

Such a wrenching, full-body despair that she sagged into him, fists balling into his jacket. Too deep for words, too much to cry out, to scream. She wanted to punch something, to push Ezra away, or to burn that damn book and burn away the words that were permanently etched into her memories.

After a few beats of tense silence, she eased her grip. Her voice was soft, but the tone in it was cold, almost emotionless at first.

"I need to undo what she's done, Ez," She muttered. "I don't know where to start... but I can't let it sit like this. I can't let that monster rampage with her knowledge possibly in his hands. I have to... stop it somehow, though I know I'm not like you, and have no idea where to begin." She looked up at him, then, blue eyes hard.

She could grieve more later, for the galaxy had shifted once again. And though, in another lifetime, she would have melted into Ezra, let him comfort her in this way... she couldn't hide or feign ignorance to this. She couldn't flinch away or wish away the possible damage her own flesh and blood had done to the galaxy, even though her contributions as a doctor were on par with paragons. She had to figure out a way to make things right...

Starting with the Jedi Order. Looking up at Ezra, her features softened, her voice quiet between them.

"Will you help me?"

@Sreeya

 

[Ezra Thorne]

A chill ran down his spine as she gave voice to what he feared. He knew Raze had taken the form of an Anzat, which meant he could consume beings. Furthermore, Raze often feasted on thoughts and memories and there was a high chance that he had access to all the information Ilana possessed. A part of him almost blurted out that Raze had been a part of his father, but he knew that would only pile on. Ultimately the focus was that Raze was the enemy, and that remained unchanged. The other factors didn’t matter just then.

“You hold more cards than you think,” He reminded her as he stepped back to gaze at her, “Consider my fathers,” He didn’t know if his fathers used the Force to get their way, but a part of him had a feeling they didn’t. Force manipulation was easy to detect eventually and Emryc had been President for a long time, “My Pops can change the tides of a war on a whim and he has never used the Force. You can inspire worlds, you can rally people, you can do a lot..you just have to stop thinking that you are powerless without the Force.”

His own sister didn’t have it, and she was plenty successful. Ultimately even Ilana didn’t rely on it as a crutch to impact the galaxy as hugely as she had. Ezra nodded his head, “I can open doors as long as you step through.”

@Killa Ree

 

[Silvi Velt-Morata]

At his words, she lifted her head. It was true. Emryc and Jaikus Thorne didn't seem the type to use the Force to get their way, even though she had never actually met either of them before. Looking back on the memories of her mother... it was still too soon to consider her in a light that wasn't stained with this information. But she didn't seem to rely on her own abilities either.

Raising her chin, she stared into silvery eyes, and gave a small nod of her own.

"Then that's just what I'll do. I've stood still long enough."

Perhaps there were more mysteries to this place, but... they could be explored by someone else, some other time. She had let a year slip by, she wasn't about to let more time pass. Taking a step forward, she hesitated, before lightly raising her hand as if to touch his face, faltering halfway, before resting her hand on his shoulder. A decision had been made... even though it saddened her that nothing more could ever come between them. It couldn't be helped; a part of her would always wish for more, but she would just have to bury it, and accept his friendship. Just like she should have years ago.

"Thank you, Ez. It seems I have work to do."

/End Thread