A Cold Shoulder (IC. Duel; Otter, WWFF)

((Ok, not sure how happy I am with this...but...meh. Enjoy.))

Gabriel.

The name was said with a surprising amount of strength and an almost palpable determination behind it considering the physical abuse its owner had just taken and Di’Shan found himself insurmountably pleased by this. There was nothing so disappointing as an easy kill and he had half expected the fight to be a brief interlude when he’d first attacked the Jedi, merely a distraction upon which to take out his frustration at having lost the healer he’d been so close to killing but the Force was apparently well pleased with him this day and had afforded him yet another worthy opponent. This one was a little more of an equal but while the Sith knew he wouldn’t need the assistance of any of his brethren to win out in the end, the look of stoic determination in the young man’s eyes said it would be a definite test of skill to seal the killing blow against this particular Jedi. Nothing could have made the Sith happier. He did so hate when his victims were boring.

The two silent figures stood facing each other and as Di’Shan scanned over the form of his opponent, he was glad he’d let the young man regain his breath and his footing. It would have been a shame to have cut this one down without testing his full merit. No, there was something ever so honorable and noble shining in those strange blue and white eyes, something that Di’Shan ached to see flicker and die. Something he could appreciate. Thick black gloves creaked as he cemented his grip on the dual saber in hungry anticipation and a grin curved his mouth though it remained hidden behind the shield of cloth covering it. For an instant, nothing moved, and once more the Force waited on them to dance. One breath. Two. And then they were moving in perfect synch, sabers slamming into each other and the air echoed with the screams of protest between the energy beams but this time Gabriel was the aggressor. Di’Shan found himself grinning as he was pushed back again and again. So much fire in this one. He could see the burning passion of this Jedi’s beliefs reflected in those stark eyes that stared out from a youthful face.

The knight was still well under the delusion that the good guys always win, that right will always find a way and that the Jedi would conquer their foes on this battlefield. Must be something they put in the water, Di’Shan thought sarcastically as he slapped one blazing orange saber away from his face. That blow had been close enough to sear the air around him and the smell of burnt ozone met his nose. It was turning out to be a fantastic day. Still, Di’Shan gave ground under the flurry of movement put forth by the Jedi. His golden eyes fixated on the face beyond the blur of flashing light between them. There was no point in trying to watch the man’s hands, they were moving far too fast, and so the Twi’lek was forced to rely on the subtle cues from the Force and his peripheral vision to keep his body in one piece. Gabriel was a skilled fighter, tough, agile, and driven. His blows lacked some of Di’Shan’s fancier flourishes but what he lacked in dexterity, he more than made up for in raw power. The Sith could feel the vibration from each impact as it rolled up his arms and for a few moments it was all he could do to keep from being pressed against a wall.

Di’Shan ducked and cartwheeled to his right as a saber whizzed over his head and another came under him only moments later. He heard the wall he’d just vacated take the hits but when he turned again it was to meet those cold blue eyes as the Jedi’s sabers swung in hard. The Jedi was going to tire him if he had to keep this level of defense up. Attack was Di’Shan’s strong suit, not defense and so he knew he had to regain the upper hand as soon as possible. His arms were beginning to feel the burn from both fights, first with the healer and now with this new opponent. Gabriel’s swings were harder than any Di’Shan was used to and he knew it would only be a matter of time before his defenses gave way. The Jedi was cunning and fast and, as the two sabers swung in to catch his middle, it was all the Sith could do to get out in time. He leapt back and sucked in a sharp breath, allowing the sabers to slice cleanly through the air he’d just vacated but his tunic suffered from the blow and as the sharp bite of cold air hit his abdomen, he realized just how close he’d come to being his own twin.

He had little time to think on it though as a pressure slammed into his gut and ripped the air from his lungs. Di’Shan skidded back across the stone floor, his boots kicking up a small bit of dust and debris as he slid but he managed to stay upright and that fact alone kept him breathing. In the next moment, Gabriel was once more at his throat like the hound in a hunt and despite himself, Di’Shan chuckled behind his scarf. This was just too much fun. He managed to suck a lungful of bitterly cold air and let the pain of it fuel him. There was strength in pain; it fueled rage and a will to survive and Di’Shan was in need of both against Gabriel. There would be no quarter with this one, no second chances or mistakes allowable. If he slipped so much as an inch, this Jedi would slay him and that was not something the Sith was willing to let happen. Not this day. Not now.

He once more forced the Jedi’s hands high and swung up hard with his left hand, slamming his fist into the Jedi’s gut but the blow didn’t seem to deter the knight any and he kept up his pressing attack. Di’Shan knew he had to find a way to slow or break this man’s stride before his arms became too tired to fend off those powerful blows anymore. So far, his sheer speed was all that was making the difference in this battle and that wasn’t good enough. He spun and batted away the sabers again and again, each time giving more and more ground before the more powerful attacks of the Jedi. Soon, he would be cornered if he didn’t break this off and stand ground. He twisted, dropped, and lunged up over two low saber swings to take a shot at the Jedi’s head but a swift duck to the right left him with only a thin piece of singed tunic for his efforts and as he brought the blade around to drive it through the man’s chest, he found it blocked by a glowing orange shield. Sabers screamed and whined as Gabriel threw him off, his whole body behind the push and Di’Shan yielded enough to try another strike.

This time the Sith found his saber pinned for a brief instant and then another slam of energy hit his chest, sending him back a few feet into a new room of the Temple. He stumbled and had to turn, his right hand slamming into the floor to keep him from toppling entirely over and then he was back on his feet and into a defensive posture once more. The Jedi stalked toward him through the open doorway, his fiery hair as bright as his sabers, and Di’Shan allowed himself to drop to a low animalistic crouch as he took a few steps backward. He expected any moment for the attack to continue, for the Jedi to rush him, intent on nothing but the kill, but instead the man made his first real mistake in the fight…he paused. When he spoke, Di’Shan knew he had him. The Jedi was his. Most Jedi didn’t bother to try and talk to a Sith but this one was young and probably hadn’t learned better. Curiosity had won out and the minute the Jedi showed any interest in knowing anything about Di’Shan, it was all the invitation the Sith needed. This Jedi was going to be fun indeed.

The trading of blows was all well and good but it lacked the substance the Sith truly needed to make this a fight worth remembering. He needed to feel this Jedi’s pain, needed to taste his fear, needed to get a reaction out of him the way he’d failed to with the healer. That was what he lived for, why he fought, why he trained and why he was here. It was a burning desire in his veins, a hunger so deep it seemed to scream up at him from his soul and Di’Shan knew he’d never be able to sate that need with anything but this man’s suffering. That hunger, the monster inside him, woke with a vengeance and his golden eyes narrowed into a smile that was pure venom. “Gabriel,” he rumbled in a thick baritone, rolling the word across his tongue as if he could taste the worthiness of its owner. The ‘r’ rolled slightly as he said it, his Twi’lek accent tingeing the word and he growled it again just to hear the sound. He preferred to know his victims. It made the eventual death all the more beautiful a thing. He murmured the name again, a taunting sound, as if calling the other man out to play.

“I am Di’Shan,” he said slowly, offering a light mocking bow, his eyes never leaving the Jedi and every muscle in his body prepared to move in an instant if need be. “I doubt you’ll be needing my name for meditation though. Should you survive this encounter, you’ll be far too busy burning the bodies of your fellow Jedi. The young woman whose body now lies growing cold out in the courtyard, her precious blood turning the snow around her to garnets…tell me, did you know her? Will you mourn her, Gabriel?” Di’Shan laughed then, a low guttural sound of pure mirth tainted by a hunger that would soon need new blood. The question had more purpose than simply to hurt the Jedi though, it was also letting Di’Shan take a much needed rest even as his mind reached out with the Force to twist around a large stone bench behind him. Suddenly, and without warning, he dropped to the ground and used the flats of his palms to shove himself backward as the massive bench rocketed over his head toward Gabriel. As soon as it had passed overhead, the Sith was on his feet in its wake, his saber swinging down toward the Jedi in an attempt to catch him off guard. The shot was blocked but the momentum of it was hard enough to drive Gabriel back and once more it was Di’Shan on the offensive.

He grinned as his blade batted again and again against the twin orange sabers of his opponent but it wasn’t just a physical push that Di’Shan was attempting and he reached out to press his thoughts against Gabriel’s, the dark twisted taint of his mind seeped around the Jedi’s defenses like dirty water through the cracks of a dam. As he searched for a way in, he carried with him horrifying images he wished to gift to the Jedi. A child screaming, its face turned up and mouth wide as tears of blood streamed from where eyes had once been. A man watching his wife be raped brutally before he was strangled with her own entrails. A being so badly burned that it was hard to tell what species it had been as it rolled on the floor in agony. And with all of these images came the pervading message, a whispered thought pressing against Gabriel’s mental shields.

“Give in to me, Gabriel…I have such wonderful things to show you…”

(Heh... I got kinda going... Here's what I threw together. >:3)

Gabriel’s eyes narrowed as the words hit his ears. The complete disregard for life which this being displayed made his insides cringe and twist into a knot. The enjoyment he took from the suffering and death of another creature was as foreign to Gabriel as a Rancor was to Hoth. He could never imagine cause anything pain for pain’s sake; there was better chance that the Galaxy would come to eclipse, than there was for Gabriel to comprehend this horrid creature before him and just how much the suffering of other cause him glee. He felt it the moment the Twi’lek, this Di’Shan, had thrown him to the floor and watched his pain. He could feel the pleasure which it brought the Sith, he could feel the bliss which Di’Shan reveled in as he watched his target writhe on the cold stones. It became cleared to the young Jedi, that this creature would toy with him like a felinx would a rodus until his eventual death. That could not happen… that would not happen. If he was going to die, it would be a quick one, as to steal that bit of elation from this Sith.

He watched at his adversary continued his questions, studying the subtle curl in the Twi’lek’s eyes are he spoke, finding his own words to be rather amusing apparently; little did Gabe know he was mistaking the curl of the Twi’lek’s eyes for amusement of words, he was finding amusement in the slowly rotating bench meters behind. Though the Sith’s words over flowed his mouth like that of a vat of venom too full to hold any more of the evil within. Gabriel simply shook his head at the Twi’lek as his own words spilled from his mouth un-summoned. “I would only mourn for myself, that I didn’t know her…” His voice barely above a whisper, though still holding a certain depth which resonated like a heavy bell. “She is more powerful than ever, Sith.” He intentionally left the Sith’s name unspoken; if he was going to defeat this foe, there could be no amount of attachment to him, no name to the face; his name was simply Sith.

It was completely unexpected and the only thing keeping Gabriel from being crushed by the heavy bench was nothing more than a subtle whisper from the force, ‘duck’. He barely had time to drop backward from his knees and hips, to avoid the stone bench hurdling toward him, as the Twi’lek dropped forward. The young Jedi came back up only to find a saber swinging hard toward his head from the top; his block was pure instinct as he was once more on the defensive. He heard the sound of stone smashing into stone as it filled the hall; the bench hit the stone wall and shattering and exploding in a spray of sharp shards and chunky rubble. Had either been near the happening the sure pure of the bench hitting the wall would have sent those sharp shards shrapneling into the bodies of the two combatants. This was not the case, and instead it was replaced by the danger of the red and orange glowing weapons buzzing and locking briefly over and over in a treacherous dance.

Gabriel was a whirlwind of orange as he blocked each quick blow from the Sith, finding it was far easier to keep up with the Twi’lek when his feet were under him. He his parries were each designed to throw open the Sith’s defenses with quick powerful movements; throwing his strength into each. Though he tried, he couldn’t open Di’Shan’s defense enough; the same was not the case with the Twi’lek. While Gabriel found hard to open the Sith’s physical defense, the Sith was working equally hard at opening Gabriel’s mental ones. He could feel the darkness begin to invade his mind as he struggled to keep enough focus on the buzzing sabers burning around him, as well a throw up mental barriers to keep the Sith from entering his mind.

Gabriel’s strong suit was not telepathic warfare, though he was not weak of mind or body. He knew that the Twi’lek was strong of both, but how strong, was an unknown. He simply maintained his best, relying on the living force to guide his burning arms and concentrating his energy to keep the Sith out of his thoughts. Unfortunately Di’Shan was far too experienced at break the will and mind of his opponents. Gabriel’s eyes widened as he felt the Sith slip into his mind for the briefest of moments. The whispered thought was all that managed to slip in, “Give in to me, Gabriel… I have such things to show you.” He heard the voice clear as daylight.

Gabriel knew that the Sith had managed to slip into his mind; clearly this Sith’s strong suit was in mind play. From the comments earlier, trying to inflict fear; to the comments of the female Jedi lying cold in the courtyard, an attempt to inflict an emotional response of anger. Neither had been successful, and his eyes burned with an intense determination. This Sith was searching for something to use; be it fear, anger, hate, doubt… anything. What ‘things’ did he have to show the young Jedi? Gabriel wasn’t about to find out. As soon as his barrier had been broken and the whispered though pressed into his head, the young Jedi dropped to one knee, as the red saber buzzed to where his head had once been. His powerful legs kicked out, launching him into a tackling roll with the Twi’lek, all sabers disengaged as instincts told both that a burning saber could mean death for both in such a maneuver.

The two rolled in a quick ball, as Gabriel ended on the bottom and launched the Sith up and over head with his arms and a powerful push of force energy. The Sith rocketed up flipping, only to regain his feet, as Gabriel rolled to one side and charged in his wake, both meeting in a clash of squealing sabers. Both pushed off simultaneously releasing the beams in a spark-filled moan. Gabriel’s strength shoving the Sith back only a step as he stepped forward. Neither opponent would give ground, both stayed locked in position for a moment, two wide stances, as sabers whizzed about searing air and cloth. The Sith took a wide swing at Gabriel, throwing his own strength into the blow and knocking the orange saber from Gabriel’s right hand. The young Jedi was quick to block a kick with his free hand, and shove the leg sideways, where the Sith stepped rotated and attacked with the opposite end of his dual-sided saber; another blow blocked by the single whizzing saber.

From nowhere it seemed the Twi’lek sprung up in a force aided areal over Gabriel’s head launching a quick attack with his left saber, only to have it blocked. As the Sith came began his decent on the other side of the young Jedi, Gabriel reached out with his left hand and grasped the booted ankle of the Sith, surprising Di’Shan, as the young Jedi spun about (the force and speed of which keeping the Twi’lek suspended momentarily) and launched him into a wall. The Twi’lek hit the wall with his whole right side roughly a meter from the ground. Gabriel allowed a brief break as the Sith bounded back to his feet and the Jedi was on him again, this time keeping Di’Shan corner against the wall and blocking a frenzied saber blow. He punched out with his free hand landing it square on the Twi’lek’s lower lip/cheek region, and reached back out with his right hand once more grabbing hold of the side of the Twi’lek’s head and slamming the opposing side into the wall which he had just been chucked into. Not giving the Sith a moment to recover, Gabriel grabbed onto the base of his neck, spun about to face the center of the hall, and launched him into the middle of the hall way. Quickly the young Jedi summoned his once lost saber to his hand and ignited it with a hiss. He stepped forward and once more waited for the Twi’lek to take footing as he readied himself back in a Jar-kai preparation.

He looked the green, Tattooed, Twi’lek in the eyes as he stood readied once more, his deep voice shaking the air around him. “Stay out of my head, Sith. Keep your mind here and now where it belongs.” He sneered. His piercing eyes staring into the Sith’s once more as the creature stood, igniting one end of his saber and then the other. The Sith once more took the offensive battering away at Gabriel’s defenses, as the two locked once more in an epic duel of light a dark energies. Both forces swirling about as the two exchanged placement in the hall of the Temple, as Jedi and Sith launched saber attack after saber attack. Once more, Gabriel was caught off guard by the unexpected palm to his face; this Di’Shan wielded a saber like no one Gabriel had ever encountered, he wasn’t afraid to let loose a hand on a dual-side weapon; a ballsy and danger move, which would continue to catch Gabriel off guard. The same was true with the sure speed of the Sith. He moved like a divto, lashing out with multiple attacks at once, only leaving a green blurred trail.

Gabriel could feel his muscles burn and begin to fatigue; he needed to find an opening, though little did he know, an opening wouldn’t come for some time, as the Sith continued to quickly hammer at his defenses. He could feel the cold biting his lungs with each breath, and the warm trickle of blood run from his nose and the side of his head, from a kick landed where the saber had earlier. Another Kick send Gabriel spinning into a wall, leaving him with only a fraction of a second to duck and side step to dodge a slash at his head and stab at his stomach; where the saber left a long trench and a deep hole in the gray stone wall. Gabriel shoved out with the force from his fists, pushing his opponent back enough for him to roll under another attack and come up with his back to the center of the room. The Sith quickly found two objects to launch at his opponent; an iron wall hanging in the shape of the Jedi insignia, and a tank stone block used as a stool for meditation. Gabriel ducked the wall insignia, though was not fortunate enough to completely block the stone stool. It slammed hard into his torso, only slightly muffled by the all-too-late shield of force energy, which Gabriel attempted to raise.

The young Jedi was send soaring back from the force which the block was launched with, sending him flying back several meters with the stone stool firmly planted in his chest. While in the air The young Jedi managed to work the base of his palms under the base of the stool and as he landed he allowed his arms to push the stone up and behind him as he rolled. The only which protected his ribs from cracking from the impact was the quick instinctual reflex which caused the force to protect and house his organs and bones. He breath was gone once more and he slid and rolled, sabers off as he did so.

As he gathered his feet under himself he slowly stood coughing and sputtering fresh blood once more. Though this time the Sith left no time to enjoy Gabriel’s pain, he was fighting out of anger fueling his agile form. Gabriel’s sabers ignited once more to block another attack, which was replaced by another, and another. The blood trickled down his lip as he managed to keep his feet under himself and spin about blocking attacks once more. It was in a moment of pure fortune which the gale climaxed in a powerful saber lock. The Sith meant to pound his saber hilt into the Jedi’s face, horizontally. Though Gabriel was quick enough with both sabers; bringing either arm open wide and locking his sabers vertically with the horizontal red sabers, blocking the blow a causing the two to take a wide stance and push into one another. Muscles burned as Gabriel searched the searing gold eyes crunched in a evil sneer. He had never experienced such evil; this being was something to be feared. The lock went on, both pushing into the other as Gabriel’s words exited his mouth through gritted teeth.

“What are you, Sith?” Was all he could think to ask.

Like cracks in a levy, Di’Shan could feel the young Jedi’s mind starting to give way beneath the battering of his thoughts and he knew it was only a matter of time before he would sunder those mental walls Gabriel was using to keep him at bay. So intent was Di’Shan on breaching his opponent’s defenses that the Jedi’s next action came as a complete shock. One moment, the Sith was slashing away at the man’s sabers and in the next instant a large shoulder slammed into his gut, throwing both men into a tangled ball of arms and legs as they rolled across the floor. Di’Shan shut down his saber the instant he was tackled, knowing full well that the blade would do more harm than good at that point and twisted his large form as best he could until he could gain the upper position as they skidded to a stop. It didn’t last long however as a boot caught him right across his belt and powerful legs kicked him up and over Gabriel’s head. A snag of the Force and a light twist allowed the Twi’lek to land on his feet but there was little time to reflect on what had just happened and once more both sabers snapped to life, sparking against one another as their siren song echoed around the room.

Oh how Di’Shan loved this music. The squeal of saber against saber, the pant of harsh breath, the creak of leather boots scuffing across the floor, the growl of the Force in his ears as it called for blood like a hound baying in the night. This was a good fight. Gabriel was proving strong, capable, and swift, a deadly combination in the right hands, and he was holding his own well against the constant surprises being thrown against him but the smile on Di’Shan’s face wasn’t only because he was enjoying this duel. It was also because he knew full well that he had yet to play the more devious of his tricks in this fight. He was feeling out his enemy’s capabilities in the meantime, testing the young knight to see how strong he truly was, how ferocious a fighter, how strong a spirit that he might enjoy the Jedi’s fall even more. To truly gain the most from a death, Di’Shan needed to know the person, needed to see them as an individual instead of just a face, needed to love them in his own strange way. Only then could he truly know the epitome of a good kill, only when his victim was strongest did he revel in their breaking even more. Everything else was enjoyable but never kept him satisfied for long and Gabriel was turning out to be someone Di’Shan was going to truly enjoy.

A lovely welt was forming purple and ugly against the bronzed skin of Gabriel’s forehead just below the hairline from where Di’Shan’s saber had struck him early in the fight. It was a good start and the sight filled Di’Shan with pleasure but the Sith wanted more. He needed to see the man bleed in earnest. He needed to feel his pain more fully than just this. He slammed hard with the left end of his saber and rejoiced silently as one orange saber flew across the room and clattered to the ground deactivated. Even with only one weapon at his command though, Gabriel was not to be underestimated. He was far too clever and powerful to be given any leeway, a fact which Di’Shan was soon to discover as he made the mistake of giving the Jedi an opening to grab his boot. He’d intended to gain the Jedi’s back once more but instead found himself hovering for an instant as a strong grip wrapped around his ankle and in the next moment, he was flying across the room. His back hit the wall with enough force to knock the wind from him and despite the thick leather protection covering them, his lekku stung from the impact. The blow to those twin tails was far more detrimental to him than the blow to the rest of his head and the world shuddered around him for a moment.

His eyes unfocused briefly while he wobbled on hands and knees and Di’Shan readied himself for the blow that didn’t come. He kept waiting as his vision cleared, kept expecting the Jedi to skewer him at any time as he struggled to get back to his feet but still death did not come for him and as the dizziness subsided and Di’Shan finally stood upright, it was to turn and look with open confusion at his enemy. The confusion didn’t last long though as Gabriel once again rocketed in to wail at him with his saber. Back pressed to the wall, Di’Shan had no room to use his acrobatics and so he found himself hard pressed to keep the saber of his foe away. A fist came from seemingly nowhere to crack against the left side of his face and a copper tang filled his mouth as his lip split. The next moment found Di’Shan in even more pain as his right lekku was slammed hard into the wall and though he didn’t scream at the agony that ripped through his head like an explosion, he did release a low animal growl. His vision once more shuddered in its sockets and once more a hand grabbed hold of him, wrapping around his neck this time to toss him halfway across the room.

As his body impacted the ground, Di’Shan curled in on himself to protect his headtails from further damage. He couldn’t afford to keep taking that sort of blow without risking a concussion and a brief moment of rage flared inside him. He hated and loved his own pain. It was infuriating that anyone would DARE to harm him but at the same time, the rage it fueled left him more powerful in its wake. The Force roiled around him, crackling with his fury and he snarled openly as he once more made it to his feet. Again the Jedi didn’t attack him, didn’t finish the fight when he could have. The mistake of honor would cost this Jedi more than he could possibly know.

“Stay out of my head, Sith. Keep your mind here and now where it belongs.”

Di’Shan sneered and growled deep in his throat. “I am not one of your Jedi younglings, Gabriel. My mind belongs anywhere I decide to have it.” He launched himself across at the Jedi once more, determined to keep the offensive, fueled by a rage that tainted the Force around him. His palm connected solidly to the knight’s jaw, snapping his head back and sending a small patter of blood spraying into the air from Gabriel’s earlier wounds. Anger drove the Sith now, rage that burned so hot it was all consuming, and he drove with a violence against his opponent that had not been unleashed before. A kick landed to the Jedi’s face, another to his gut, sending him against the wall, and DI’Shan dove in with a fury, slicing down with his saber and lacerating a good four feet of stone as Gabriel ducked out of the way and still the Sith did not slow. A Force push sent him back a few feet but like a juggernaut in a nightmare, the Sith would not be slowed. He lashed out again and, finding his opponent out of arm’s reach, he wrapped the Force around two loose items he could manage to find.

The first was a Jedi emblem, ironically fitting, and he half hoped that it would skewer the Jedi on the spot. It would be a poetic death if ever there were one but the Jedi ducked below it only to find himself I the path of the second item Di’Shan had thrown. The stone impacted into Gabriel’s gut and the Sith could actually hear the wind leave the man’s body as he was thrown back. Di’Shan trailed eagerly in his wake, greedy for the taste of victory. He narrowed joyful eyes at the sight of crimson as it spattered from the Jedi’s mouth onto the floor but he wasn’t about to under-estimate this particular fighter again and he didn’t allow the man time to recover fully before sabers once more clashed together. The cold grey of the stones around them flickered in rapidly changing sunset hues as the sabers twirled and met over and over. The battle outside had been forgotten in that moment, the goal nothing more than the death of one of them, and Di’Shan could feel the burning rage in his heart curl into the maw of the hunger within him. The monster needed to be fed and he needed to see Gabriel suffer more than ever. The nobility, the honor, the strength of the Jedi fascinated Di’Shan. Truly this was a worthy opponent if ever there had been one and in that moment, Di’Shan was glad he’d not been able to take down the healer. This was meant to be. The Force willed it so. Gabriel was his chosen victim, Gabriel would fulfill what the Sith needed to feel complete.

Their sabers locked at last into a press that neither could break from as Di’Shan pushed in toward his enemy’s chest and Gabe pushed back to keep the red saber from searing his flesh. Bright gold eyes, rimmed for a few moments with the tainted red of pure evil stared into vibrant blue that faded to white. Such strange eyes. Di’Shan wanted to see fear in them and he leaned forward, mere inches separating them. His lip curled into a ferocious growl as he pressed his entire six foot frame against the slightly shorter man.

“What are you, Sith?”

The question momentarily abated some of Di’Shan’s anger. Good….good. His enemy was asking questions again. That would prove most useful. “I am everything that ever scared you as a youngling,” he whispered in a voice dripping with venom, “I am the thing in your closet. Under your bed. I am that which waits for babes to fall asleep and steals them from their mother’s arms. I am that which lives on your pain, boy. I am broken dreams, shattered hopes, and the cries of the damned.” As he spoke, Di’Shan pushed once more with his mind, curling the Force around him and using his pain and hate to fuel his attempts. Again his thoughts pressed against the Jedi’s shields, slipping in around them, dragging with them the horrid images of Di’Shan’s past victims as they grasped for the most precious memories of Gabriel’s mind. What did he fear? What did he love? What did he not want anyone to know? He could feel the resistance of the Jedi, his disgust at the touch of Di’Shan’s mental energy as it stripped away at his defenses, forcing the Jedi to recoil mentally from the assault. Finally, a word formed in the Sith’s mind.

“R’Hanna,” Di’Shan snarled the word aloud and grinned openly, “Tell me, Gabriel….tell me all about her…Confess to me why she haunts you.”

(Not ecstatic about this one, but I had a good one and my stupid computer restarted and I lost it... Meh, que sera-sera. Sorry Otter, hope you can find something to do with this... :\)

“I am everything that ever scared you as a youngling,” Gabriel’s eyes narrowed as the words hit his ears. “I am the thing in your closet. Under your bed. I am that which waits for babes to fall asleep and steals them from their mother’s arms. I am that which lives on your pain, boy. I am broken dreams, shattered hopes, and the cries of the damned.”[/color] The pure, unbridled evil flowing in each word cause Gabriel to push harder with his arms; he wanted this Sith away from him to once again have him at his saber’s mercy.

Then he felt it… the cold, evil, putrefied presence seeping into his mind like sand through the narrow funnel of an hour glass. The fought with his own barriers once more, attempting to keep the creature out, keep it at bay, though nothing he did could stop the slow flow of evil. He felt him slip in, once more for the briefest of moments, as he broke Gabriel’s barriers causing his mind to recoil to protect it from the corrupting presence. And all at once it vanished from his mind.

“R’Hanna,” The Sith snarled. Gabriel’s eyes widened, jaw releasing slightly as he stared into the orange and red tainted eyes in front of him. He felt his heart drop, feeling too heavy for his chest, as the pain once again flowed through his body like blood from an open wound. That name had not been so much as uttered around Gabriel for nearly two years. R’Hanna Duhl; the woman who broke his heart, whom he had loved, now used as a weapon. He had loved her; be it as he would have a lover, or family, it mattered not… it was something more than words, something deeper, something which couldn’t be explained, and was why he could not let go. He couldn’t stand to have her completely torn from him; which was why he kept her in the back of his mind, and in his heart. It help the temple to feel less big, just as it had done when he was a youngling. She was kept in his heart as she had been before succumbing to the darkside; and hidden so that no one could find the love he felt. It wasn’t allowed for Jedi to love, but how can you completely deny the most basic of emotions, when it complicates things so completely. R’Hanna Duhl was gone from his life, but not his mind.

“Tell me, Gabriel….tell me all about her…Confess to me why she haunts you.”

Gabriel’s mind snapped back to the present, looking at his adversary’s face as it twisted and curled. His eyes burned with a pain so deep, it felt like his soul had been pierced. He couldn’t bring himself to think of anything but R’Hanna, and how he had been the one to arrest her… to condemn her… but had he not, would she be here? Would she have been killed on the snow? Would he be dueling her now? Would she care about him at all? All of these questions flooded his mind, though one resonating fact remained: it didn’t matter, because she was gone, and it was due to him.

His fur lined gloves creaked slightly as his powerful hands tightened on his twin saber hilts. “You do not get to say that name!” He shove off with the power of his arms coupled with the force; the pure strength of his cordy muscles completely throwing the Sith back a step and the push sending him staggering backward slightly.

Gabriel was on him like a hound to fresh meat. Rage fueled his every attack. He hands moved in a blur of cream and orange as each attack was blocked or dodged. He was pushing the Sith back hard; his muscles seemed to gain strength as he viscously lashed out at the green Twi’lek. Each strike of orange saber seemed to grow harder and more determined as he thundered on; sending sparks from the sabers at they clashed momentarily only to clash and spark once more in a new place.

Love – in its pure form – was not forbidden amongst the Jedi. A Jedi should feel love for each and every creature in the galaxy. Should feel remorse at their deaths, should feel glee at their birth. Love was encouraged, it was essential for attaining enlightenment through the lightside. Being in love however; was strongly discouraged to the point of being forbidden. Love of this nature blinded one to the splendor of all else. Being in love with another being took focus from every other being and put a cloudy veil over one’s eyes. Though it was the most basic and primal instinct of most living creatures. How can one deny the most basic of things, when the cost is so high? The Jedi denied it; forbid it. And it was that which gave Gabriel the strength in that moment on Alderaan; it save him from falling victim to the darkside, from joining the woman he loved; all of those years of training, used to deny the most simple emotions. It saved him, but at what cost.

Gabriel knew deep down, that he was losing control. But he couldn’t stop, he could stop his body from lashing out at the Sith. To Gabriel in that moment, Di’Shan Pano embodied every Sith and dark being in the galaxy; and he became something else. Di’Shan had become Gabriel’s mirror. It wasn’t Di’Shan, which Gabriel lashed out at; it was the darkness growing within himself which he attacked. The darkness which had started as the most corrupt seed, and the seed’s name was fear. Fear that he could fall victim to the darkside, just as R’Hanna had. Fear that he wouldn’t be strong enough to deny the will of the darkside. And fear had sprung up, creating a tree which would linger on, and on; the fear that he would never be quite strong enough to oppose the taint of the darkside.

It was then that Gabriel first heard the infuriating cackle. It started as an airy, rasping sound and grew to a full blown cackle as the young Jedi continued to hack away at the Sith. Gabriel smashed his saber into the Twi’lek’s red blade, knocking the Sith into a spin, where another attack was blocked. Gabriel’s vision was tunneled, and rimmed in red. All he could see was the evil creature spinning and ducking; and it was all due to one word, ‘R’hanna’. The Jedi, swung his sabers hard, slamming them into the red saber once more, and sending the Twi’lek into another spin, though this spin and block was not completed. The anger flowing through Gabriel’s body had manifested itself into a powerful shove, channeled through his fists and out into the Twi’lek’s back, allowing him flight.

Unfortunately it was a short flight with a harsh landing. The Twi’lek hit the ground on his stomach, sliding and rolling before skidding to a stop. He scrambled to get his feet under himself as Gabriel charged headlong toward his opponent; sliding to the ground and under a slash at his midsection. He had gained the Sith’s back, but not for long enough to do anything about it. The Sith spun about on his heal, shoving the red saber forward as he did, only to have it deflected by the same powerful blows of orange. Again the Twi’lek spun about, sending the opposing side of his saber toward Gabriel in another stab, this time however, the attack was deflected up, as Gabriel flicked his right wrist. The butt of his saber hilt came slamming down hard into the back of the Twi’lek’s head, sending him into a sprawl forward, regaining his balance in time to feel the power of a force enhanced boot, smash into his back and send his soaring into a slide on his stomach once more. The cackling once more grew into an air shaking echo about the hall of the temple.

It was for the briefest second, that Gabriel’s mind took back his body from his emotions, allowing him to see the damage of his rage. Shallow glass lined trenches scored the walls, and floors of the temple. A stone bench lay in two, as a trail of crisscrossing trenched led to his current position. He had been so engrossed by his anger and fear, that he hadn’t realized just how much danger he had put himself in; at any moment he could have made a mistake that the Sith could have exploited. His heavy breathing was testimony to how hard he had exerted himself; though the true proof was in the pudding. He hadn’t realized when it happened, but a cool breeze made him acutely aware of the long line of burnt cloth across his chest. He wasn’t entirely sure when the close encounter had happened, but luckily the red saber hadn’t claimed more than the cloth and some hair.

Gabriel stood back with his saber glowing like two long extensions of his arms, waiting for his opponent to rise as realization hit him. He had showed his enemy a great weakness. And this Sith would use it, he knew, in every possible way. He began hardening himself as best he could, as to protect against any attacks which Di’Shan might think to throw his way. Though he knew this Sith would find a way in; he was like water, it always finds base.

The words had barely left his mouth when Di’Shan found himself suddenly hurled backward by a mighty shove from Gabriel. Apparently he’d hit one heck of a nerve but he had little time to gloat as he found himself suddenly fighting for his life like never before. Every blink of an eye had him batting away another blurred saber strike as the Jedi pressed in on him in a fury. The Force seemed to crackle like lightening around them as calm patience gave way to wrath and rage and every second suddenly became an effort just to stay in one piece. Di’Shan ducked, turned, rolled, flipped, and spun as fast as he could, his legs and arms pushed to their limits as he fended off his infuriated opponent but every time he thought he’d gained some space, Gabriel was there to fill it, a snarl on his face and those twin sabers at the ready. Each strike was blocked but only by the merest fraction of an inch and Di’Shan could smell his own clothes burning on his body from sabers strikes that had come far too close for comfort. A loose flap of tunic took the brunt of a blow aimed at his inner thigh and fluttered to the ground, suddenly severed free and he just barely ducked in time to skip his own beheading. It was an invigorating fight.

As the blows continued to rain down on him again and again, Di’Shan finally caught a glimpse of his opponent’s blazing eyes, consumed by the very hunger that Di’Shan held deep within him. So much hate was written across that face, so much pain in every line of the man’s body and it was then that the laugh began to bubble up inside the Sith. He’d won. Even if it was a small victory, it was a victory none the less and even if the Jedi killed him right then, he knew he’d already won this battle. He’d shattered that infuriating calm that the Jedi carried around them all the time, had driven the man to act on anger and pain, and he could feel the Force reacting to it. The Jedi was tainting himself more and more with every blow sent Di’Shan’s way with nothing but anger behind it. The sound started as a low chuckle, rising with each successive blow as Gabriel lost connection with all of his years of training and fell to the most basic of instincts. Oh if only the Jedi could see himself now…snarling like an animal, his face twisted in pain as he struck out with the power of the Dark Side nipping at his heels.

The Jedi was being reckless and his aggressive attacks were leaving gaping openings in his defenses but Di’Shan couldn’t manage to take advantage of any of them to any real extent. He was far too hard pressed to keep his own defense intact but it afforded him a few close blows that he would not have managed had Gabriel been paying closer attention. A few coppery hairs were sliced from the Jedi’s trailing ponytail as the red saber slashed in close but the Sith had no time to watch them as they floated to the ground and curled up in singed rings. Another blow sliced cleanly through the front of the Jedi’s tunic, narrowly missing the skin beneath but Gabriel didn’t slow, didn’t even seem to notice. The Twi’lek wondered what the other Jedi would think if they could see their Gabriel Alaris, Jedi Knight, practically foaming at the mouth as he lunged again and again for Di’Shan’s throat. This was a temporary distraction though and wouldn’t last forever.

Di’Shan knew that the Jedi’s training wouldn’t let him fall so easily, not so completely in such a short time, but he had taken a first step, had given in to his anger, and now no matter what ending this battle had the seeds of doubt had been planted. If Gabriel managed to walk away from this fight, he would do so knowing that he’d look a monster in the face and seen some of himself there. Even as Di’Shan felt himself being hurled through the air, he had a smile on his face. He slammed into the ground and coughed harshly in his attempts to get his air back but there was little time to stop for breath as he scrambled to his feet only to find Gabriel on the offensive once more. His saber just barely deflected a blow aimed at his back and a searing pain along the left side of his back and lower ribs told him that the blow came far too close to actually cutting him. The Jedi was a force to be reckoned with in this state of rage and while his saber hadn’t actually touched Di’Shan’s skin, it had come closer than ever before, searing clean through his tunic and coming within millimeters of his skin. There would be a burn there but Di’Shan thought little of it. There would be not much in the way of scarring from such a wound and what little there was would join the other myriad lines that crisscrossed his back.

Di’Shan twisted and turned to keep the sabers away, trying to bat them far enough to give himself an opening once more only to find a sudden dull throb rip through his head as the hilt of Gabriel’s saber connected. Light flashed behind the Sith’s eyes as he sprawled to the ground and even as he scrambled to his feet and tried to take a few stumbling steps forward, he found a large boot slammed into his spine, sending him flying face first back into the floor a few feet away. And still he was laughing. The sound echoed through the room, as devoid of warmth as the air around the two fighters, paused only now and then long enough for the Sith to spit a mouth full of blood tinged saliva to the ground. Di’Shan staggered once more to his feet and turned at the ready to face his opponent…only to find the man standing stock still, his chest heaving with the exertion of finding his breath again after such a hard pressed attack.

It appeared that the man’s rage had abated at long last, much to Di’Shan’s disappointment, but the Sith had to admit he needed the break. His back was aching, his head was pounding, and his lungs were burning with the cold air that rushed in to fill them. What a sight they made, faced off against each other, their clothes tattered and burned, blood smeared across their faces, dirt staining what remained of their garments and sweat slicking their skin. Steam rose from both men as their bodies, overheated from their struggle for survival, met the bitterly cold air of Rhen Var. Like two mythical creatures dragged up from the pits of Mustafar, they squared off and stared at one another, pleasure and amusement written across Di’Shan’s face as he watched the realization of his own actions crash down around Gabriel.

“Oh…that was glorious,” Di’Shan called approvingly to the Jedi. There was no mocking in his tone, merely a respect for what the other man could do when…properly motivated. “Truly you are a worthy fighter, Gabriel. Such a pity you don’t give in to that more often. You should see yourself.” The Sith let his head roll back on his shoulders as he stretched his aching muscles back out but his eyes never left the Jedi’s face. He wasn’t foolish enough to let this man out of his sight for even a moment. “I bet R’Hanna would be ever so proud…”

Gabriel’s battered form swayed slightly. His muscles burned as they took the moment to rest and soak up each molecule of oxygen his lungs sucked in. His eyes like glazed vortexes, as he stared blankly at his opponent. Blood from his slightly swollen lower lip, trickled down his chin; apparently he’d reopened the frozen wound, as he could feel it’s warmth quickly drop as the blood began to once more freeze. His head throbbed from the various blows it had taken; aching and sending lightning down his back and back up from his feet. The blood from his temple had frozen from the egg which had been split minutes earlier; a reminder that this was reality. His tunic had actually taken the least damage; with the exception of a couple places here or there when a saber had come close it was mostly intact; the slice across his chest however had come close enough to burn his flesh, which he could now feel the cold lick at.

Oh yes, the two made some sight. Battered, but not broken… yet. Neither had yielded much in the battle, though deep down, Gabriel knew he had given the most. He had lost control and given in, the Sith could feel it, he knew what that loss of control felt like, and he knew he had conquered enough of the Jedi’s training to allow for even the smallest of victories. It was a victory, one which the Sith should have been proud of. Gabriel had snapped, if even for the briefest of moments, he had lost all control and longed for nothing but Di’Shan’s life.

Stock still, like the pillars of this great temple, Gabriel stood, awaiting his opponent’s next move. Where would this fight go next? What would erupt next from the two? Would there be satisfaction for either? He didn’t know. The only thing which ran through Gabriel’s mind was the constant meditation he had become so accustomed to. The meditation which had allowed his head to stay firmly attached for so many battles, the head which he lost moments ago. It was as though his very being had over flown, and now he was trying to gather the essence back into its container. Keep his fears and emotions hidden far from this Di’Shan.

He watched his enemy rise to his feet and spin about, clearly expecting Gabriel to be on him, though instead the Twi’lek beheld the calm once more returned to silently reflecting man. The young human regained his sense of control, regained his personal code of honor and waited for his opponent to rise. He could feel the Sith’s senses reach out and press against his form, searching for any give away of an attack, only to find nothing of the sort prevalent on the Jedi’s form. Instead Gabriel focused ever harder on burying his emotions, and putting them in a place where they could be used for his benefit, not for the amusement of this creature standing before him.

Gabriel allowed his sabers to disengage as his senses could feel no attacks being readied. His thumbs welcomed the break as he loosened his grip on the sabers slightly. He could feel the Sith wearing down, as well, knowing that the two of them could not possibly keep up this level of ferocity for too much longer before one of them would make a mistake. However, he knew this to only be a brief intermission to their duel, knowing full well that the battle would renew with a new vigor after this rest.

“Oh…that was glorious,” The words stung, like salt on an open wound. ‘Glorious’? No, it was something far from glorious… something so very far from it. “Truly you are a worthy fighter, Gabriel. Such a pity you don’t give in to that more often. You should see yourself.” Gabriel’s face curled into the very image of disgust. Disgust in himself as much as the words of this monster; he had been as much a monster as the being he looked across at.

”I bet R’Hanna would be ever so proud…”

The mocking, sing-song purr which accompanied the Sith’s words, caused the young Jedi’s eyes to snap up in ferocity. They connected with the Twi’lek’s own, knowing full well he had to suppress the emotions which flared inside him briefly. He suppressed them, allowing the intensity to slowly fade from his eyes. His form calmed once more and thick puffs of condensation exited his overheated form. His body heat poured steam from his shoulders and head as the cold sweat on his brow began to freeze. He could feel the Sith feeding off of the anger which welled up inside of him at the mention of her.

“You have no idea.” His words were simple as he squared his form to that of his opponent, taking a slight step forward, closing the distance ever so slightly. He could feel the tension grow; knowing the Twi’lek had gotten enough reaction from him to continue this interlude. He simply stood awaiting the next dig at his soul.

((Sorry this post is a tad bit shorter than normal for those following this thread but there's some important batner that has to happen here. WWFF and I will get back to your regularly scheduled @$$ whoopery shortly. ))

Di’Shan watched Gabriel eagerly for any sign of emotional reaction to his words. He wanted to fuel that hatred in the knight, wanted to push those buttons again that had caused such a violent reaction last time. The last attacks from his opponent had been vicious and he could tell from the burning in his lungs and the muscles of his arms and legs that he’d pushed himself hard, pressing Gabriel into another such attack was perhaps foolhardy at that point, but the Sith couldn’t resist. He’d so enjoyed the reaction, the pain and the hurt. He did so want to know who this R’Hanna person was. What had she done? What had been done to her? Gabriel’s cryptic words hinted at the former being a more likely scenario. You have no idea. What had that meant? Would she have indeed been proud of Gabriel for losing his temper that way? Couldn’t have been much of a girlfriend then but Gabe’s violent reaction said she had meant a lot to him in some way, more than just some random acquaintance. As he stared into those bizarre blue eyes, Di’Shan couldn’t help but want to know more. He wanted to truly taste the depths of this knight’s sorrows and pain before snuffing out the light of his life like a candle.

“Then tell me,” the Twi’lek whispered in a voice more seductive than hateful. It was a tone of voice that called for the sharing of secrets, a far too intimate thing for two enemies. It was the voice Di’Shan reserved for the dying when he would pry the darkest confessions from their souls so that he might drink them in before his victim expired. It was amazing what someone would confess to when they knew they were going to die. So many secrets, so many pains, and everyone was guilty of something. Most would pour out their hearts to any who would listen just so they wouldn’t die with the weight still on their souls. That was a lesson Di’Shan had long ago learned. There were no perfect people, no matter what the Jedi said or how they hid behind their precious code; they were just as fallible as all the rest. They lusted, they envied, they knew greed and despite all their best efforts and intentions, they would eventually succumb to them to some extent. Every soul had a stain on it somewhere and the confessions of the Jedi would taste the sweetest for they alone would feel more remorse and guilt over their transgressions than any other beings. Di’Shan wanted to hear Gabriel’s confession, wanted to taste his pain.

Seeing that no answer was forthcoming, Di’Shan’s lip curled into a sneer. This simply would not do. If there was one thing Di’Shan hated more than anything, it was being ignored or refused. No, he would not tolerate that. This Jedi was his now. He’d broken through that armor, had affected the man deeply. He wasn’t about to let that go. “Look at you, Gabriel,” he hissed, “look how easily you threw away your Jedi code. Why do you cling to an antiquated set of ideals that do little more than veil the pain you’re feeling? Your precious calm hasn’t stolen away the hurt…or her memory. Has it, Gabriel?” Di’Shan’s fingers curled tightly around his saber once more. He flexed every muscle in his arms and legs one by one, contracting them tightly and then letting them relax to force bloodflow back through them. Behind him he could hear the continued sounds of the larger battle. The screams of the dying, the clash of sabers, the call of friends to rally to one another all drifted through the open doorway in hushed tones muted by the thick walls around them.

(As Otter said. A brief intermission in the @$$ kickery. Shorter, but hope it's enough O'.)

Gabriel’s jaw set tight. He set his eyes into those of his adversary; those red-orange orbs longing for more. More hate, more fear, more blood; anything which he could use as a weapon, anything he could utilize in a manner which contradicted everything Gabriel stood for. The more his piercing eyes pushed aside all things the more he found those eyes to house the very essence of the darkside. The same entity which took refuge in her eyes. How it tainted the waters of the force, like venom into a well. There in those hate-filled eyes, Gabriel found only a reflection of what he could be, what he fear so much becoming. The young warrior knew all it took was a slip and the slope could be too steep for him to claw his way back. Of the few things he feared, becoming a tool of the darkside was by far the one thing he could admit to himself as a fear. This is why the seductive voice attempting to stir him into another fury, was met only by the same cool, calm, silence which the temple walls had been so accustomed to.

“Look at you, Gabriel,” The voice cut into his thoughts. He had lost himself momentarily, staring it those orange mirrors. “look how easily you threw away your Jedi code. Gabriel’s eyes snapped back to focus, taking the whole room into their view and began reaching out with his senses. He tensed his hands and arms, keeping them ready for the inevitable attack to come.

Of course the Sith was right. Gabriel had thrown the code away for that moment; all of his years of training, and he threw them all the to wind because the Sith pushed a sore nerve. How he felt when the Sith mentioned her name, it was little less than complete and utter emptiness. As though the name had become a part of his very being, hidden and housed away, and when the Sith removed it the resulting hollow spot was filled with the only emotion eager enough to fill the void.

“Why do you cling to an antiquated set of ideals that do little more than veil the pain you’re feeling? Your precious calm hasn’t stolen away the hurt…or her memory. Has it, Gabriel?”

The words fell on deaf ears. Gabriel’s calm had returned. It shielded him from the harshness of these words. While the calm hadn’t taken the pain away, the calm had allowed (and would continue to allow) Gabriel time to find a way for the pain to pass. The calm was like a window, it allowed him free vision; free from the tunnel of anger. His stance shifted, ever so slightly and he felt the energy of the force begin to once more swirl to life around the two.

“Calm is not for stealing pain… It’s for looking at it and understanding it, that it may pass. His voice coolly echoed the words of this former master. Words she had reminded him any time the young human lost his calm in frustration. “You’ll get nothing more from me, Di’Shan.” He stated as he stood square and ready for any attack which the Sith would throw his way. He simply waited for his words to sink in.

Di’Shan reached up with one hand to pull the cloth the rest of the way off his face. It had come mostly undone by that point anyway and he tossed the remnant to the ground. A grin split his face from ear to ear at the sound of his own name uttered from Gabriel’s lips. “I already have,” he hissed jubilantly, “I’ve already taken more than you know, Gabriel.” Triumph washed over the Sith in waves. He’d managed to get the Jedi off guard enough to call him by his name and that was all Di’Shan’s ego needed to hear. He knew now that no matter what, this Jedi would remember him, would associate a name with his face and to name a thing was to know it. He was part of Gabriel now, part of his memories and part of his mind more than if he’d pushed his way in there forcibly. “And now…now I’m going to kill you.”

The speed with which Di’Shan pushed his next attack left his muscles protesting once more. He’d already pushed himself hard to fight this Jedi to a standstill but he wasn’t about to quit now. He’d won already, now he just needed to seal the deal, to spill that innocent blood all over the cold stone floor so that he could watch the regrets die right along with the light in Gabriel’s eyes. He’d tainted his prize, it was now time to claim it. The double bladed saber was ignited and whirling in an instant as the Twi’lek dove toward his opponent’s right side. He tumbled through a roll that brought him up behind the Jedi but Gabe had already turned to catch the blows aimed at his back. Sparks flared and died before they hit the ground as the sabers slammed into one another again and again, Di’Shan pushing all his weight behind each blow as he forced the Jedi backward into the center of the room. The left end of his saber came up to sweep both of Gabriel’s to the side, allowing Di’Shan to roll along the man’s shoulder till they were back to back. He dropped low and brought his blade up to catch the unexpected and clever strike from above as Gabe brought his own weapons up over his head. As he crouched, beneath the blow, the Sith reached out for the fallen stone bench he’d tossed at Gabriel before and yanked it harshly toward them.

As it cut through the air, the Sith leapt up high over it and gave the stone an extra kick with one foot to add to its momentum in the hope of catching his opponent off guard. He twisted his body in midair as the bench passed below him, swinging his saber out wide as he did so. The Jedi managed a fairly impressive feat then as he kicked his legs out while his upper body bowed down and for a brief instant, Gabriel was flat in the air as the stone skidded past mere inches below his chest and the saber mere inches above his head. He tucked into a roll and came up fighting but the move had cost him something much to Di’Shan’s delight. The red blade of light had not caught Gabriel’s head but it HAD caught the trailing ponytail that had flown up during the Jedi’s acrobatic maneuver. The thick tail of red, gold and black was severed cleanly and it fell to the ground almost exactly where Gabe had been standing not a moment before. The Jedi’s hair fell around his face, suddenly no longer held in place by the band that had been keeping it back. It was a distraction that would help Di’Shan immensely.

He pressed in suddenly, all of his ferocity behind the attack and drove Gabriel back as hard as he could, not letting the man take the time to brush the suddenly loose flow of hair out of his face. He slapped the twin orange sabers up high to the right and then dropped suddenly, spinning on his heel to bring his opposite blade around in a devastating blow that would have sliced the Jedi clean in half had Gabriel not barely managed to bring his own weapons across and stop the strike. As it was, Di’Shan heard the sizzle of skin as his saber came close enough to sear through the thick tunics, landing a nasty deep burn along the knight’s side. He let his saber be batted away and took the moment of distraction and pain to send a mighty Force assisted kick straight into the Jedi’s chest, throwing him back several feet. In the next instant, Di’Shan was back on him again, refusing to let up this time. He had wounded the Jedi badly, now it was just a matter of delivering the final killing blow.

(Closing soon, here it is Otter!)

“And now…now I’m going to kill you.”

No sooner had the words slipped from those delicate lips was the Twi’lek on Gabriel. Gabriel the room snapped back to life with a blaze of force energy stirring about the two combatants. Gabriel’s sabers hissed and whined as they quickly ignited and blocked the attacks from this opponent. The Twi’lek attacked with more vigor than ever, leaving no trick up pulled; a surprise dive and roll sent Gabriel in a spin on his heel, quickly blocking the blow and slamming his own saber into that of the attacking Sith. The room lit with though proceeding sparks, as both sabers slammed into one another again and again, sending sparks flying with the power of the two attacking sabers.

Gabriel was giving ground, but not much; he let loose a volley of his own attacks, each sweeping high and then low, followed by three lunges, stabbing with right, then left, then right again. As his last lunge finished he found the sliding his defenses open and sideways; the Twi’lek rolled in along his shoulder, bring the two back to back. The Sith swung his sabers up and over in a high arch; Gabriel’s senses screamed out, in little more than the twinkling of an eye, Gabriel listened. His shoulder pushed off as he felt the Twi’lek push to gain power, the young Jedi spun about himself, dropping to one knee and bringing both sabers up to an ‘X’ above his head. Gabriel felt the Sith’s hand release from the hilt of his own; the next moment Gabriel felt the Sith’s energy reach out, and once again, the force came ringing into the young Jedi’s ears.

Time seemed to stand still; his ears picked the sound of stone sliding on stone for the briefest of moments, the whine of the sabers and he pushed with his legs to clear his path, and then the soft crunch of his boots on the stone and he became air born – flat as a plank, head dropped, arms and sabers open wide. The Sith’s saber whizzed over head with a soft hot hum, while the cold stone slid under his form, both mere inches from his form. As the Jedi landed in a quick tumbling roll, his saber swept up in a blur to block another attack form the Sith, and slash his own in. It was then that the smell of burnt hair hit his nose, as the lopped off chunk of long ember hair fell stone floor. The long bangs and the rest of his hair flew forward into his face covering his eyes.

Gabriel was blind. He struggled to keep the hair from his face, as he managed to block the new flow of attacks. The Sith was not about to let this opportunity pass. He closed in, batting at Gabriels sabers and then stepping in and slashing high, spinning about, and again the force came screaming at Gabriel like a wounded bantha. Again time seemed to slow as the quick happening unfolded. Gabriel slid his sabers in a block to his upper right as he heard the force will him to the left, he watched the Sith spin about on his heal and bring the opposite end of the saber to Gabriel’s left midsection. He moved with all of the speed his muscles could muster, his left saber slid down quickly muffling the attack, though not completely stopping the blow. The red saber slid in close, burning through his tunics and searing into the bronze toned flesh beneath.

“Argh!”

The shout of pain echoed through the halls, and he batted the saber back. The smell of burnt flesh sizzled to his nostrils, as the pain rushed to his brain. He felt the power of the Sith’s boot hit his chest, and the quick pulse of force energy sent Gabriel staggering back several steps. The pain flooded his mind, but he didn’t have the time to allow the pain to stop his movements. Di’Shan was back at his throat. Gabriel knew the Sith could feel a victory coming, and if something was to be done about it, Gabriel needed to pull it out.

The opportunity came about as Gabriel felt the power of the force push him back again, and the Sith’s saber sweep in hard, knocking the Jedi’s left saber from his grip. It was then that Gabriel took his space from the Sith. He blocked a rebound blow and shoved off with his legs, forcing himself into a high flip over the Sith’s head, blocking a slash at his flipping form as he crested over the Sith. As he landed and blocked another blow and shot his left hand forward, shoving out with every fiber of his being in one massive wave.

“Enough!” His voice echoed as the Sith was made air born by the powerful attack. The force rippled from Gabriel’s fingers as the massive force wave flowed from his hand and found its mark on Di’Shan’s body. The Twi’lek slammed through a thick wooden door, causing a spray of splinters at follow in his wake. Gabriel could still sense the Sith’s presence, but neede to take a brief interlude, as the pain waved through his body from his seared side. He summoned his left saber back to his hand, and simply knelt holding his side waiting for the Sith to emerge from the splintered boards he had been thrown through.

“Enough!”

Di’Shan’s eyes widened as the sudden blast of Force energy hit him square in the chest. His breath was gone in an instant, sucked right out of his body, and he felt his feet leave the floor as he was hurled backward. His head snapped forward and it felt as if he’d just caught a boulder to the stomach as he was flung through the air. The flight was short but its termination was harsh indeed as the Sith’s back impacted against a wooden door at the end of the hall. The wood gave way against the sheer magnitude of Di’Shan’s momentum and it shattered behind him, leaving him to tumble and skid across frozen stone in a whole new room. Shards of fragmented door rained around him as he lay for a moment trying to convince his lungs to take in air once more and when he finally did suck in a shuddered harsh breath, it was to suck in a lungful of dust from a floor that hadn’t seen any use in who knows how long. He coughed violently and raised himself from the floor as best as he could but as soon as he put weight on his left elbow, a flare of pain shot up his arm that set the world exploding into sparks of white behind his eyes.

Di’Shan hissed and used his right arm to pull himself up until he was sitting on his knees, his left arm tucked in close to his body as his mind sought out the agony there. He felt along his own body using the Force and located the issue right away. The impact to the door had dislocated that shoulder. Several cusses that would have set even the most travel worn of smugglers to running dripped from the Sith’s lips as Di’Shan willed himself to his feet. He took a few staggered steps toward the closest wall and rested his forehead against it for a moment. He could feel the presence of the Jedi still in the other room but he wasn’t approaching. Apparently they both needed a moment to collect themselves. The Twi’lek rocked his left shoulder back and closed his eyes, concentrating on the coolness of the stone pressed against his sweaty forehead and then, in a swing of as much strength as he could muster, Di’Shan slammed his dislocated shoulder into the wall. The bone re-settled into place with a loud sickening pop and the Sith grunted around a mouthful of blood as he bit almost through the inside of his cheek to keep the scream at bay.

The world wobbled precariously for him for a moment but Di’Shan would not fall. He would NOT be bested, he would NOT be killed like this. He reached out with his mind to absorb the pain, to redirect it into power he could use against this foe. A low, menacing growl rumbled up from his chest as he pulled away from the wall at last. Blood, warm and sticky, dripped from a cut above his brow and slid unheeded down the side of his face as he flexed his fingers one by one to ensure he still had feeling there. Rage crackled in the air around him, tainting it to bile and filling it with such darkness that it was practically tangible. He’d been hurt worse in this fight than he had in any previous and that fact enraged him. ‘Enough?’ Oh no. It wasn’t enough. It wasn’t even the start. The Jedi would pay for daring to think he could tell Di’Shan when to stop. He would pay for spilling the Sith’s blood. He would taste anguish unlike any he’d ever known before.

The dark form of Di’Shan materialized in the broken doorway once more, the Force curling and writhing around him as his agony boiled into a thick, seething hatred. His mind slammed against Gabriel’s mental barriers once more as he stepped through the tattered remnants of the door, slivers of wood snapping and cracking beneath his boots as he emerged like some nightmare thing. Di’Shan seeped in once more around Gabriel’s shields but the attack was much less subtle this time and he wasn’t looking for anything, he was bringing something with him. The air in the room seemed to grow colder and the sounds of the battle faded into echoes as Di’Shan pressed forward, forcing image after image against Gabriel’s mind. The Jedi healer, his eyes blank and staring up into nothingness from a face spattered in blood, his body gutted and hung from the pillars of the courtyard like some horrifying sacrifice. Female Jedi being handed over to the Sith forces for their amusement, their cries rising into the air. A young padawan from the courtyard being held down while a hot brand was brought to his eyes, one at a time, his blood curdling screams of pain washing over the now ruined and desecrated Temple.

“This…” Di’Shan growled in absolute contempt, “is what you have to look forward to.” He closed the distance between them with a snarl, his saber slashing and blocking, ever seeking an entry where he could plunge it into Gabriel’s chest. The muscle in his shoulder screamed in protest with every shot Gabriel blocked, a reminder that he wouldn’t be able to keep this up for long, but Di’Shan would not, could not, walk away then. He would see this Jedi on his knees or he would die in the attempt. Di’Shan leapt high over a low swinging blow that would have severed him at the knees and then collapsed into a roll across his shoulder to avoid the cross cut from the other saber. He felt the heat of the second blow as it brushed close to his shoulders and he brought up his saber in time to stop two powerful downward strokes that were halted mere inches from his face. The Sith slammed up ward as hard as he could, ignoring the protest of his injury and pushing off with his legs to bring the two orange sabers as high as he could. He pressed himself hard against the Jedi and their sabers locked above them in a battle of strength that Di’Shan knew he would inevitably fail but he had no intention of allowing the battle of sabers continue.

Di’Shan had known that he wouldn’t be able to fight Gabriel any longer, not with his shoulder as wounded as it was, and so he had taken a precaution for this last fight when he’d had a moment of opportunity. The Jedi was too swift and cunning a warrior and his own injury was not as debilitating as the Sith’s so it would be a sure deathblow if Di’Shan played the rest of the fight fair. Thus, when he had rolled, he had also tucked his left hand into the sash around his belt to reach for his last line of defense. There, he had slipped a thin silver band onto his index finger. The ring bore a tiny razor along one side which was now settled to the inside of Di’Shan’s hand, hidden from view. It wouldn’t cut through leather, wasn’t large enough to cut through cloth, but if he could hit skin with it, the Jedi was in for a surprise. Now, as he pressed the Jedi’s sabers high, his face broke out into a wide evil grin, his teeth coated in the blood spilling from the bite to his cheek. “And THIS,” he grunted against the pressure of the Jedi’s push against his sabers, his own driven slowly and inevitably lower, “is what you are.”

With that, Di’Shan pressed an image against Gaabriel’s mind, no horrific thing made up of his own imagination, but his own memory of Gabriel’s face, twisted in rage as he had driven against Di’Shan earlier. The memory spilled forth like an infection from a wound, the Jedi, his code forgotten in his own pain as he slammed again and again into his foe, heedless of danger or consequences. Gabriel given wholly in that moment to the Dark Side. As the image pressed against Gabriel’s barriers, slipping between the cracks, Di’Shan twisted it and darkened it, tainting it to show a Gabriel whose bright blue eyes had given over to yellows and reds of the fallen. In that moment of distraction, the twi’lek let go of his own saber with his left hand and slapped it palm down across the bridge of the Jedi’s nose. He let his body drop and fell backward, kicking out to put space between himself and his opponent as he waited for the poison to kick in. He’d taken one heck of a risk with that move but he couldn’t help grinning when he saw that there was indeed a thin line of crimson welling up over the spot he’d sliced. “You have never tasted pain, Gabriel…till now.”

Gabriel sat back on both heels, cradling his side. The saber had come closer than he thought initially; leaving a third degree burn on his flesh. The burn would scar, leaving a constant reminder of this encounter, should he survive the duel to come. He knew the Sith wouldn’t be satisfied with this duel ending in anything less than death; knew the Sith would give all he had upon his return. Gabriel was unsure of the shape which the blast of force power and the subsequent crash had left the Twi’lek in, though was sure of one thing: He was alive.

Gabriel took a deep breath as he leaned slightly to his right side and peeked down at the singed flesh. Black and red mingled in a line where the heat of the single edge had cut so very close to his body. His hair fell in his face as he looked down at his wound; the ends where the saber had slid through were left in burnt curls, as the rest of his fiery hair fell about in slightly curling locks over his eyes. He moved the multi-colored hair with either hand as he tucked it behind his ears, and resumed his original position on his heels. His eyes shut as he began meditate on what minute healing energy he knew, all the while attempting to keep his mind focused on the man in the next room.

It was then that the pain began to flood forth from the room. The Twi’lek was obviously hurt, though how bad was a mystery to Gabriel. Regardless he was using it as a weapon now. Gabriel could feel the pain as it grew and boiled into power, power being harnessed by the Sith in the next room, causing it to grow and change into anger, and curdle into rage. The force became a torrent once more as the sickening feel of the Darkside slowly began to ooze back toward Gabriel. The young man sitting on his heels a moment ago, now struggled to his feet and ignited his sabers in two separate hisses. He mind pulling all force energy readying for the attacks to come, knowing he could do no more to deaden the pain with his healing power.

The young eyes watched the evil form slowly come from the dust and frost now filling the broken doorway. Steam rose from the broad shoulders and head as the long green form slowly made its way from shadow to the fully hate-filled form of Di’Shan Pano. What a terrifying image he made: Tattered leather hanging from his form, lekku causing steam to rise and trail behind him; eyes burning with a hate and anger which made the very air around him shake. Had Gabriel been of lesser composition, the chill which ran up his spine might have been one of fear rather than cold.

It was then that Gabriel felt the raw telekinetic power which Di’Shan was unleashing. Unlike before the Sith’s power was not seeping in slowly, by passing his barriers, instead it was violently breaking through his barriers, just as the Twi’lek had broken through the door minutes before. Gabriel was not weak of mind; in fact he was a relatively intelligent man, but his powers in telekinetic battle were lacking in comparison to this mental behemoth. And it was then that the images hit.

Gabriel eyes widened as the images were forced into his head. The powerful dose of Force Fear sending a chill back down his spine as horrifying image after image flooded in front of his eyes; each given to the young Jedi like some absurdly morbid gift from the mind of a sadist.

“This…” The word flowed as nothing more than the vague echo of what the force had already been made to whisper in Gabriel’s mind, as he was forced back into the present. “…is what you have to look forward to.” And the Sith was at his throat again. Gabriel Was on his toes; blocking, spinning, over and over. His side ached and screamed at him to stop the aerobic battle; he oculd feel the warm blood begin to trickle from the skin as it began to tear and open the harsh burn. He battered and blocked – high, low, high, and then a crouching low slash. The Sith was up and over the slash at his legs, and Gabriel’s left saber flew across narrowly missing his target, though he was not detoured. Gabriel brought both saber up and over head, as the Sith landed, bringing them both down with power enough to press the red saber close to the Twi’lek’s orange eyes. The Sith pushed up hard throwing Gabriel arms back briefly, though he was right back on the defensive crossing his sabers and beginning to press down and forward toward the Sith’s body.

Gabriel could feel the power of his muscles strain as he pressed hard, and while his side was on fire, and his throbbing head begged for him to stop – just to simply press off for a moment’s rest – he knew it wasn’t an option, if he lost any focus, or caved even the slightest, it would mean his end. It was then that the voice shot through his mind again, followed by the sound of the seductive voice echoing a grunt in his ears.

“And THIS – is what you are”

The image flooded into Gabriel’s mind. All of his fear could be seen pouring from his eyes as he lost focus for the briefest of moments. It his mind, he watched his features twist with the rage he had let loose earlier. His eyes burned with a feral ferociousness as they lashed out in the memory now pressed to Gabriel’s own mind. He could feel all of the pain which flowed from him in that instant, all the anger, and hate, flooding from the very essence of the image. Every inch of that familiar face filled with the horrible power of the Darkside; the one thing which Gabriel feared more than anything, succumbing to those animalistic instincts. As the image was pressed, the face of the blood crazed Jedi morphed as he features darkened, his distinct eyes darkening as the blue was replaced by black and the white morphed into a combination of orange and red – completing the evil transition.

The fear which flooded through Gabriel was nothing short of terror, as his eyes widened, he could feel Di’Shan’s aura change as the force screamed into his ears. His muscles were stuck however; he couldn’t move them quick enough to dodge the kick to his abdomen or the hand lashing out at his face. Gabriel took an extra step back, complete surprise painting his face as he felt the cold air on a tiny cut.

“You have never tasted pain, Gabriel…till now.”

Seconds after the words left his mouth, did the pain start. It was dull for a mere moment, and then the poison made its way to his brain. Gabriel’s jaw clenched down hard as his eyes widened with pain; as the thousands of nerve endings of his body screamed out with pain. His skin felt as though it were burning. Each nail on his hand and feet felt as though spikes were being driven into them, slowly peeling away the hard enamel. His muscles tensed and relaxed over and over as they began convulsing causing his legs to fall out from beneath him; the aching and throbbing through each inch of his body. His eyes rolled back as the pain blinded those piercing eyes, as they began to water; though even the tears hurt the young man. The cold of the freezing water seemed to cause even more, pain, pain so intense his muscles couldn’t even eek out a sob or grunt of agony. His body squirmed on the ground in front of the wicked creature taking such glee at the pain of the young Jedi. He clawed at the stone with his well kept nails, pounding lightly when his muscles would allow it. He simply laid on the stone floor, unable to stop the pain, unable to defend himself, unable to so much a cry out in pain. Gabriel was all but finished as he lay there… So deaf and blind with pain, he couldn’t feel the growing presence of light, nor the distant sound for footsteps making their way through the halls of the Temple.