Painful Memories [Arc & Daansn3]

[Arc <3 (who is a girl)]

Kane slipped the hood over his head as if to hide, even though there was no danger at all on Alderaan. He had grown so accustomed to keeping his allegiance hidden, mostly because he had spent most of his time on Sith-infested planets. Being a Jedi came with its disadvantages - hiding was one of them. Visiting Alderaan had been a last minute decision. A vacation, so to speak. It was a trip that Kane had been looking forward to for quite some time. He just hadn't had the time, nor the will, to visit his birth-planet until now.

He had left his padawan at the Temple. This was a solo mission. It was something he had to deal with on his own, without Jarael's aide. Kane's past was his own business; he hated thrusting it upon his padawan as well. No matter how much Jarael had whined and tried to persuade his master, Kane would have none of it. Alderaan wasn't a dangerous place, but it was definitely full of painful memories, and Kane had to fight them off alone.

As he walked the streets of Aldera, Kane tried to remember his childhood. Much of it was a blur to him. He remembered waking up to the smell of fresh bread, with his mother calling his name. He remembered helping his father with the daily chores. He remembered staying up late, watching the stars. He remembered trying to teach himself how to read. Oh, had that been fun... But he couldn't, for the life of him, remember any of his other pleasant memories. He could only recall the bad ones. The day the Jedi had come for him. He had been forced to leave his family, the only people who had ever truly cared about him, behind, and it had been difficult. There were other memories that Kane didn't even want to remember, and he pushed them from his mind.

After leaving Alderaan, his life had been a struggle. Training to become a Jedi was hard. Kane hadn't made friends easily. Now all of his friends were dead, and he couldn't help but remember that as well. All of them... dead. Except Kemuel, his old master, and Eryk and Aarati. But they had both fallen to the dark side. As far as he was concerned, they were both dead.

Alderaan brought back so many painful memories.

Kane stopped when he reached his old home. It was in the middle of nowhere, in an open field. As far as he could tell, it was abandoned. His family had left the place long ago - Kane knew that. He was only visiting for the sake of remembrance. So many good things had happened to him in this place... So many horrible things, as well. Did he really want to remember? Kane nodded to himself. Of course he did. Why else had he come here?

Kane's heart leaped in his chest when he felt a familiar presence nearby. Someone else was here, watching him. He could feel them, hear the breath catch in their throat. Someone was behind him. He spun around, to no avail. There was no one. No one but him. But he could still feel it - that familiar presence. Who was it? Finally, he gathered up the nerve to speak.

"Who's here?" Instinctively, his hand strayed to the lightsaber at his belt. "Show yourself!" Hopefully whoever this was didn't want to fight him. Kane grit his teeth, bracing himself for whatever was to come, and the presence only grew stronger as time passed.

[Dean]

Her ship touched down on the peacefull and grassy world of alderaan. She remembered having a few missions here, as well befriending a jedi that came from this planet through those missions. She couldn’t help but feel a little sadness as she thought of the guy. She had no idea what happened to him as these six months passed. She knew that he was not a friend anymore. He could be marked as the enemy now. She knew that she couldn’t persuade him to tag along on the path that she had chosen to follow.

She stepped out of her ship and left it. She pulled her old jedi robes tight around herself to protect her from the soft chill that was making the grass move, she had only one motive for being here. She needed to think. Being a sith was not just belonging to a faction for her. It was a sudden change of philosophies. She had to bend around the things she had learned almost every day. She didn’t begrudge herself, Oh no she didn’t she thought it made sense. The dark side just explained much more.

She just walked and walked until she saw something coming up ahead, It was a house just in the open, she reached out with the force to see if anyone was there. When it appeared to be empty she went closer and closer until she was in what appeared to be the kitchen located at the rear of the place. The lock on the door just screamed ‘’OPEN ME’’ through the force, it was just that easy to open.

She took the stairs and looked around only to see pictures of a little kid, it was a boy. When she touched the pictures she could vaguely feel the stench of the previous owner of the pictures through the force. She suddenly realized whose house she was in. Well she wasn’t sure, but she thought that it was the house of an old friends. It was weird to notice that she didn’t really care at all.

Then she spun around as she realized that it was not the picture she had felt. There was someone outside that was familiar. ’’Shit!’’ she grunted as she took the stairs down and looked out of the window only to see a hooded figure that was all too familiar.

She heard him demand that she should show herself. She reached into her pocked and got out a little blue crytal and smiled, This would be so much fun for her. She walked to the front door and opened it. She walked outside and closed in some distance between her and her old friend. ’’Could you take this back to the temple, I don’t need it anymore’’ she threw the little crytal at him

[Arc <3 (who is a girl)]

Behind him, the front door opened. Kane spun around to face the intruder, only to find himself face-to-face with an old friend. It was a woman - blonde-haired, blue-eyed, and a small, skinny appearance. She was his senior by about ten years. Kane distinctly remembered looking up to this woman, respecting her, trusting her... and now they were enemies. Only six months had passed since he had seen her last, and already she had changed. She was darker. Evil swirled about her, tainting her presence. That was probably why he hadn't recognized her at first.

"Aarati," he hissed, his hand tightening around the hilt of the lightsaber attached to his belt. The door closed behind the woman and she raised a hand to through something at him - a blue lightsaber crystal. Kane caught it with his free hand, studied it for a moment, and slipped it into one of his many pockets without a word. Her words stung.

’’Could you take this back to the temple, I don’t need it anymore."

Kane reached up a hand to remove his hood, letting it fall loosely to rest on his shoulders to reveal his appearance. Unlike Aarati, Kane hadn't changed much within the past six months. He was still the same brown-haired, haggard man he had always been, his youthful face marred by past pains and suffering. But he had overcome those troubles, contrary to Aarati. She had let them affect her. She had let them control her. Now that he was standing in front of her, what could he possibly say to make things right? Nothing, he supposed. Nothing would change her. But he could still try.

"Aarati, you know I can't let you get away with this. You abandoned the Jedi." He wanted to add "you abandoned me" but decided against it. That was selfish. Kane released his grip on his lightsaber and sighed. "But I want to help you. It's not too late. The Jedi can still forgive you." Kane reached out a hand, as if she would take it and turn away from the dark path. "I can forgive you."

Kane knew that Aarati probably wouldn't listen to him, but it was still worth a try. He had to let her know that the Jedi still cared about her, that he still cared about her. Hopefully she would remember their last friendship and actually consider his offer. If not... Well, he didn't want to think about the "if's".

[Dean]

She smiled a bit as he caught the crystal and tucked it in her pocket, now at last she would be one of the lost. One of the Jedi that had left the order for some reason. Her head would be made out of bronze and displayed in the archives, with a little plate beneath it telling how much she had done for the order before she thought of leaving. It didn’t matter anymore; she should focus on the here and now. Kane standing on front of her was quite a surprise, one she hoped not to face, but it was as it was and she couldn’t help it anymore.

Kane stood there, just like a Jedi was supposed to. His face showed no visible emotion as if he didn’t care. This was a lie of the Jedi. They all cared, they did. The only thing they did was put it away in a far corner of their soul like a small child that it crying because it’s pet died. Aarati started to slowly pace back and forth on a respectful distance, she wanted to see the incoming attack when it came at that point. And seeing as Kane had always listened to the Jedi, he would do everything now, even kill an old friend.

She took deep and controlled breaths, she thought back of the anger she had when she had realized what the jedi really were, Liars. Her pacing started to speed up a little as she became fuelled by her own rage over the light of the jedi. The air around her should be almost touchable. On her appearance there changed little though. Maybe she frowned a bit but furthermore it stayed normal. Her old jedi robed were dragging behind her as she was once again turning on the spot and walking in a straight line to the next spot.

She had rage burning inside her as she remembered everything that had made her angry in the past few years, or the pain she had in fights. They made her furious and she got only stronger when she caressed those feelings. It was the most easy path to gain strength she knew this. But it felt so damn good that she couldn’t stop doing it. But for now she kept the rage inside and got her voice under control.

’’Go home Kane, your nothing compared to me. Don’t die a fool.’’ The last mercy left Aarati with that little speech as its place got filled with anger and rage almost directly after it. ’’Your lies can’t make me come back, I did my job, but it didn’t make sense anymore. Why would a peaceful organization kill those who don’t agree?’’ She hissed the last part because it was actually meant as to ridicule the order. They claimed to be pacifists in heart, but still hunted others for millenias.

’’Go away now and you will live!’’

[Arc <3 (who is a girl)]

Kane's fingers traced the curves of his lightsaber hilt, eyes narrowing as he listened to Aarati's speech. Her words were the words of a Sith, her tone heavy with conflicting emotions - anger, hatred, confusion... She had turned away from the Jedi Order because she had let those emotions control her. Kane wouldn't do the same. Silently, he promised himself that he would never end up like Aarati. He didn't want to be like her. He didn't want to be consumed by his emotions. Kane had always enjoyed being in control. He had thought the same about Aarati, but apparently he had been mistaken.

"The Jedi fight for the good of the galaxy. If they kill, it is only to preserve peace." Of course, Kane couldn't expect Aarati to agree with him. She was past the point of redemption, or so it seemed. "I'm sorry you didn't see the truth, Aarati. I'm sorry if you feel like the Jedi betrayed you." His words were obviously having no affect on his old friend. It seemed as though he would have to resort to other means... violent means. Kane didn't want it to end like this, but he wouldn't go down without a fight. He wasn't about to walk away from Aarati now.

Kane grasped the hilt of his lightsaber firmly, drawing it from his belt without a second thought. His thumb pressed down on the ignition button and the blade hummed to life, casting an ominous, blue glow upon his face. He took a step to the right, beginning his slow circle around Aarati. "If you want a fight, so be it. I can't stop you," Kane warned, raising his blade. "But if you strike out at me now, you'll be taking another step down that dark path. It will control you forever, Aarati. It will ruin your life. There is no turning back after this."

Those would be his last words of friendship for Aarati. She could accept the truth now and turn back, and he would accept her as his friend again. If she chose to ignore him and struck out at him, Kane knew that there would be no turning back for her. She would be lost to him forever, and no amount of persuasion could ever save or reconstruct their friendship. Kane had once looked up to the older woman. Now he almost resented her for leaving the Order. Almost... There was still a part of him that cared - a part of him that wanted to surrender and let Aarati live.

"Your move," Kane finished, lips pulled taut in a thin line. He took long, deep breaths to calm himself, releasing his anxiety to the Force. Closing his eyes, Kane concentrated on his opponent, searching for flaws. Once they began their duel, he would search her defenses, looking for an opening. If she offered him one, he would take it. He would use it to his advantage. If Aarati attacked him, he would kill her.