Borderline

[Kuronan]

(( Please note there are mature parts in this fanfic. As with anything else that has ever existed ever since humanity first learned how to write, read at your own discretion. ))

 

They came at midnight, robes black as sin and brandishing red death. They came to take me because I am sensitive to the Force, my mother did not fight them. They talked and laughed as though I were not there when they took a few steps out and then looked back at my mother. They both looked at each other then pointed their lightsabers to her. They ordered she lock the door as they came back in, she did... and it was the biggest mistake I ever saw her make...

 

It was clear what they were going to do afterward. The two make sure the door was locked and there were no other escapes. The more nimble one charged at her and spun, he missed twice, or so I though, but the truth became more evident as her clothes fell to the floor. The bulkier one near the door walked up to her as he undid his armor...

 

Neither of them payed any attention to me or my brother as they had their fun with my mother right in front of our eyes, I was eight, he was ten... after they had their fun with her, the nimble one wanted to kill her, but the bulkier one wanted a prize, to hell with the owner. He force persuaded her to come with them, removed her collar, then grabbed my wrist and dragged me out as my brother watched us leave, unable to do anything to stop them... as they got to the dock, where they parked a large transport ship, we were both brought aboard... I thought my life was going to become a hell unto itself now, that I was going to become one of these heartless... things...

 

I was wrong again. the ship was boarded halfway to our destination, we watched as Jedi and Republic forces suddenly ran up to each of us, and I saw a Sith electrocute a Jedi, whom I was holding onto at the moment... as the lightning coursed through me I felt re-awakened, as though something inside of me was napping all of my life and had just now decided it wanted to awaken... The Jedi killed the man and then kept pressing forward, I walked up to him and took his lightsaber. It was a strange thing, lightning coursed through the hilt and when I brandished it I felt powerful. I went along with the Jedi, concealing the lightsaber.

 

Eventually we got to the bridge, where the two that abducted me were holding my mother hostage. The thing inside of me coursed through my veins, demanding I focus my hatred into my hands and shoot them at the Sith, although it never spoke words, it was instinct... The Jedi rescued my mother by lifting her as I shot out both hands and electrocuted the bulkier one. The Jedi attacked the nimble one and finished him quickly enough. He redirected the course as I went back to my mother. She was still in shock, but she smiled at me, so I knew she was going to be fine...

 

That is, until the bulky Sith reappeared behind her, raised his lightsaber and swung down on her... I could literally feel it as my mother died. I obeyed my rage as I brandished my lightsaber as he took his friends lightsaber and fought off me and the Jedi. He spoke through his mask before I abused the distraction and stabbed him...

"You will make an excellent Sith, Twi'lek."

 

As he gasped his last breath, I turned off the lightsaber and put it away.

"I will never be like you, ever!" I kicked the corpse for good measure, then looked at the Jedi. Only now do I realize she was split between happy that I helped and distraught I was already turning into one without realizing it, that even the best intentions can corrupt...

Edited May 28, 2012 by Kuronan

[Kuronan]

Ten Years Later...

 

I walk to the site where my mother was buried. It took a lot of demanding and a lot of whining, but I had my mother buried on a hilltop overlooking the temple. It's near the Twi'lek Pilgrim settlement, they helped me put her to rest. I kneel at the exact spot where the matron was saying a prayer for her in rylothian, where her head was facing, North. I pray, not for the first time, that she has found peace in the Force. I stand as my master comes forth. He is a Kel Dor skilled in the Force, as I am. Soon, I won't be calling him master...

"Praying to your mother again are you, Cara'sin?" I nod to him.

"I should have known, whenever you aren't training, meditating, eating or sleeping, you come here to honor her... Remember the code. 'There is no Death, there is only the Force.' " I nod to him. "But I didn't come to teach what you already know. The time has come for you to prove yourself. Do you have everything?" I reach into my robes and pull out all of the components of the lightsaber, including the blue crystal I found on a force-sensitive Flesh Raider. "Then go to the Forge Padawan, the time has come for you to step out from under my shadow." I thank him one last time and go, not returning to the temple to say goodbye to my masters even.

 

After an hour or two of fighting Flesh Raiders and defunct Droids, I reach the Forge, and hear even more Flesh Raiders behind me... I see a loose boulder near the mouth of the cave and focus, lifting it with the Force. I then throw the boulder at the incoming Flesh Raider and hear something important snap as I feel it die. I turn back to the Forge and gather my materials in hand. As I approach, I feel a change in the air around me, a sort of oppressive presence. I carefully approach the Forge and, looking around one last time to ensure there are no hostile presences nearby, sit down and slowly construct my lightsaber. I do not notice as the crystal itself is swapped until later... after I feel the hilt at my back and the cloth on my mouth. For a few moments, I fight the grip, but to no avail. I feel my strength slowly draining as I am lulled into sleep...

 

I dream of lush green grass, of clear blue skies, I quickly realize I am dreaming of a village. Although I am tempted to try to break the dream, I am sort of lulled and drawn into it... perhaps I should stay here... Mother approaches me.

"Oh, I'm glad you are awake, could you help me gather berries for the village?" I nod, the idyllic nature feels relaxing after living a life on the run, and then a life of study... part of me wishes I could stay here forever, all of me agrees I could play along with it until I wake up. We calmingly walk outside of the village to the forest, where we pick berries for the village. I don't remember why, but tonight is supposed to be a special occasion...

Later on my friends are standing nearby, congratulating me. "How does it feel Cara, finding the woman of your dreams?" I look down and notice I am in formal wear, I wait for my bride.

She comes up the aisle wearing white, some kind of silk obviously, as she approaches me and shows a smile that could fell the heart of any man she could have chosen, why did she choose me? The priest begins...

"Dearly beloved, we are gathered here today, to celebra-" I get a stinging feeling in my chest, enough to take off focus, I try to refocus on the ceremony at hand. "to join together this man and woman in holy matrimony-" The stinging becomes so great I literally grab my chest with my left hand and almost give knee. The dream begins to fade and almost all of my mind tries to claw back to it, but to no avail.

 

I am awake by the third shock and cry out in pain as the lightning in me I quelled so long ago awakens once again. The Sith speaks loudly to me.

"Are you finally awake slave? I wasn't sure whether you were still alive or not..." I try to focus to see a Twi'lek sith glaring at me, she shocks me again, and I cry out, clenching my fists.

"You are no longer free, you are hereby my slave and will do whatever I command of you, even if it's as in-dignifying as licking my feet. Do you understand?" I glare at her in defiance and she shocks me again.

"Defiant aren't you? That will change with time. I paid a great amount for a force-sensitive slave and I intend to make full use of you." I look at her, the last thing I remember is being lulled to sleep by a damp chemical cloth, she laughs audibly.

"Ah yes, you didn't hear from the other padawans? Sometimes inexperienced padawans go missing when they head out to the Forge. You were captured by a Sith who sells padawans as slaves, making sure to freeze them in carbonite so they don't defy him when they wake up..." That explains why the dream lasted longer then it should have, why it felt like I had been there for months rather then minutes...

"You were also sold at discount because you must have been in there for some time... maybe a month or two. Consider yourself lucky, and in my debt." I quickly realize there is only one way I could possibly escape: I have to play the Sith's game... I have to earn her trust and respect and then stab her in the back, take her ship, and fly to Coruscant, where I will atone for the deeds I do in the meantime...

 

A valiant plan with three flaws:

I could never earn her trust, I have no real value to her as a slave, and my morals aren't anything like hers.

 

It is a horrible plan, but it is the only one I can come up with...

"For now I'll let you wear those robes as a mockery to who you once were before. I will twist you to the dark side, and if I don't feel content with you or your... performance, I will kill you." Ah perfect, so in addition to all of this, I am now a sex slave. Well, it could be worse... I could be a slave on Hutta or Nar Shadda... I slowly get up and affirm that I will do as she commands, and secretly plot how I will kill her...

Edited May 7, 2012 by Kuronan
Dissatisfied with length and end

[Kuronan]

For a Sith, she sure does love her well-outfitted ship, several times she has piloted the ship directly into illegal dogfights... Not that the Empire gives a damn about legal repercussions... In the meantime I have been mentally mapping the layout of her ship. I especially note the bed chambers, where I will likely kill her. During one mission I watched her fight, I asked what modifications this ship had.

"Only the best armaments for a Darth." Should have expected she'd say that... Still, that will do me well when the time comes.

 

She has been teaching me regularly for the two weeks we have been adrift or flying to nowhere in particular. She is surprised at how quickly I am adjusting to Force Lightning. I once asked her what it felt like to her, the lightning in one's veins. She smiled.

"Those who haven't felt or don't use Force Lightning could never know the feeling. For me, it is a current within my body, I can literally feel the blood flow in my arms, although smaller parts like my fingers have no such feeling. Why do you ask?"

"Because that's how I feel it, but there's something more... It talks to me, but it doesn't speak. It wills me to do things I wouldn't normally do or normally think."

"Things like desiring power, wanting to kill?"

"Sometimes I do want to kill, I think back to some Jedi masters, who would never allow me to feel, or masters who wanted me to use telekinetic abilities when lightning would be better..." She listens and nods.

"Such things are why the Jedi are weak, they cannot allow themselves to show, it creates conformity. It is why most Jedi die forgotten, and why so many Sith are remembered." I nod now, partly understanding what she means. I don't like how the Jedi can force peace onto themselves, or say something is because of the Force rather then basic logic or effort. it's also why I didn't really appreciate many of the older masters I was taught of...

"I can sense yourself giving in, to what you really are. As a Sith Lord, I am normally obligated to bring you to Korriban, but corrupted Jedi don't always go. You can choose whether to go or not. Many acolytes die on Korriban, but there you can more properly learn of your power, as well as discard your light. I'll give you some time to think upon it, the choice is yours however. Learn from me, or train on Korriban." As she walks out the door, I find myself conflicted on the matter, I will have to decide with time...

[Kuronan]

(( if anyone is actually reading this, I apologize for not adding more into the story, been mixed up in Diablo 3 and having a hard time deciding how to bring it along ))

 

I cringe painfully as I awaken, it feels like some of my life essence is draining from me, but that's likely the withdrawal. Some time ago, my master injected me with spice in my sleep (Who does that?) and told me after the third day when I cringed from the pain of the withdrawal. She will give me the spice under one of two conditions, that I prove my obedience and improve, or to make sure I'm still addicted. She said it was Lumni-spice, one of, if not the, rarest variety, to ensure there was plenty of time between doses.

 

The last dose was about three weeks ago, so she'll likely be especially brutal this week, because this is when the withdrawal is strongest between doses.

 

I roll off the bed (literally) and fall flat on my face to help me counter-act the inner suffering with outside pain. I know this may sound somewhat sadistic, but somehow when I hurt myself on the outside, the inner pain lessens. I slowly drag myself off of the floor and take my acolyte robes from the closet. I earned them on Korriban, where I will never plan on returning. The trials there are unnecessarily brutal and betrayal can happen if you so much as sleep for too long. Darth Delaria, as she refers to herself as, meets me outside the door.

"I see the withdrawal is setting in... good, you learn better under duress." I would argue I learn even better when I'm not treated like a slave, or left on my own to study the more arcane rituals, but I don't even bother to open my mouth, as that would earn me a Force Choke.

"You will need to understand that the most powerful Sith harvest power from their own suffering, I get the feeling you will do well like that." Again, I would argue my focused hatred does even better, but again, I do not speak, I simply walk over to the door. After a moment, Delaria opens the door, and joins me. I will never understand why she insists that I use a training saber on well armed pirates, but thankfully my lightning more then makes up.

 

As we leave the dock the alarm goes off, we smuggled our way here from some of their own, killed them, and then came on their ship to avoid detection... At least until we were inside.

 

Quickly, some mercenaries run up and into cover, but that won't save them. I look at the largest one and begin focusing my hatred of his job, his choice of life style, and numerous other things as I drain the life from his body. He cries out as the visible energy is ripped painfully from his stomach into my hands and into my blood stream. Darth Delaria has no hesitation as she uses Force Speed to sweep any mercenaries in twenty yards and electrocute any that aren't behind cover. Three left I count, they come up and both Delaria and me electrocute two coming from cover but the third has a sniper rifle, he shoots her in the heart Delaria as I drain the life from him as well.

 

I look to her, she could be saved and is still conscious, demanding I heal her. However, her connection to life and the force is weakening. Now is the time i have been so eagerly awaiting. I drain the remaining life force from her body as slowly as possible, so she can feel the suffering she has put me through for the last year. As it finally ends I am suddenly happier then I have ever been in my entire life...

 

The Force shall free me.

[Kuronan]

(( This entry will be completed in segments ))

 

There were obviously more men aboard the ship, but by the time they had realized the first wave had failed and gotten there, I was already long gone. I brought Delaria's corpse along in case she locked everything with a bioscan. As I enter the ship, 2V-R8 is about to set off an alarm when I tell him to shut up and stop.

"You killed my mistress!"

"Damn right I did! I'm the owner of this ship now, and you are now my droid, is that clear?" after a moment, 2V nods, I have him change all of the bioscans to my own signature as I attempt to set the holofrequency on the holoterminal to something republic, so maybe I can see what I can do about defecting back to the Republic... I chuckle at the irony of a Jedi being forced to defect back into his own faction.

 

After about ten minutes, I realize it's pointless trying to establish a connection in the middle of neutral space, so I head up to the cockpit, where 2V-R8 was compliant enough to reset the bioscan locks. After I change them to mine, the ship willingly complies and I set course for Coruscant, only to think a few seconds later and realize that a Sith ship is as likely to get welcomed by even one Jedi as blown out it the sky the instant it comes in orbital defense range... I reset the course and change for somewhere that faction has no real meaning, a place so neutral that Imps are as likely to buy me being a Sith as Reps are to welcome me as a defector...

 

Nar Shadda...

 

As the ship changes course, I am called into a space skirmish, I ignore it. In only a few moments I pull out of hyperspace and see it... Nar Shadda, the most corrupt hunk of steel ever constructed, even if it started with a moon. I pull in and am not even asked for identification or anything over the holo. At first I find this odd, but then I realize it's because it's Nar Shadda, no one cares.

 

I go to Delaria's quarters and find some good robes, convincing enough for a Sith. Although I feel disturbed for both wearing HER clothes and the clothes actually supposed to be something a well-endowed woman should be wearing, and not some kind of male Jedi. I makes some adjustments, look in a mirror, and nod, content that some makeshift alterations will make them look more natural on a male, although the feel of Alderaanian Silk makes me somewhat uncomfortable somehow... Note to self... Never purchase an Alderaanian Silk robe...

 

As I get out no one comes to meet the Darth Delaria, I take it as a good sign and put my lekku in my robe, then pull the hood over my head, so as to not give myself away.

Edited May 28, 2012 by Kuronan

[Kuronan]

As I walk around the Imperial port, I notice many people bowing before me... do Darths really command this much respect without trying? Or is this something all Sith are accustomed to? No one asks anything of me even. As much as it almost disturbs me how much some people try to hide from me, one woman tried to hide behind a planted tree, it almost feels like I am above them all, that whatever they do, they will never be my equal. I quickly dismiss this motion as it is prejudice, foolish, and pathetic. No one is above anyone, we are all equal in our own ways.

 

As I get to the spaceport, I notice a Dark Blue Chiss running up to me, hair black as the void but shining in the neon lights, eyes as red as human blood when first spilled, and wearing some very official looking robes, which suddenly make me realize she is a Darth... I forgot how any species can achieve the rank if they work hard enough. Her voice is like caramel in taste, but it feels like calculation, planning and execution. (think Agent female)

"Hello Darth Delaria, or should I say Darth Cara'sin? Your getup may work on civilians who don't know the politics of Sith, but it's pretty obvious you didn't just get elevated legitimately." I turn to her, in seconds she completely dissected my cover. Before I can open my mouth, she continues.

"Normally I would kill anyone who tried this, but you? I could use you... I also get the feeling I know what you are about to pull. If you try to run off, I will hunt you down using all the resources at my disposal and execute you publicly on Dromund Kaas. Join me however, and I can show you things your old master never would..." Her offer tempts me, I look to the nearest speeder and realize that, I'll be dead before I even get on if I try to escape. Once again, I have been backed into a corner, but this time, the circumstances are far more favorable, except the ones for escaping...

"Your offer is very tempting... Tell me your name first..." She smiles, and I get the feeling that she's a Black Widow.

"My name is Nir'Avi'Miurani. And you are now my apprentice, with the position of Lord. Your former master's ship will be refitted and reprogrammed to answer to you, and more importantly, me. Walk around for a bit, you are restricted to the Promenade, the port, and the Star Cluster Casino. When you are done, report to your ship, my instructions will be waiting for you." She turns around and leaves me.

 

Somehow I get the feeling she will know the instant I defy her... unless I make myself discreet but appearingly compliant. I go to the shuttle bot and request a shuttle to the Promenade, where I may strike on luck and find a Jedi...

 

(Author Note: For a variety of reasons, including the current use of Inrokini as a guild on my server, and the use of Nuruodo by a person I greatly respect, and with the wish not to involve either in my fan fiction, I will not be using the Chiss Noble Houses of Inrokini or Nuruodo, despite how they could relate to the story, without the full consent from the people involved.)

Edited May 31, 2012 by Kuronan