Behind Enemy Lines (Day Two)

[Akirapryde]

Trysta glared at Duncan as her anger fueled by the darkside pressed back the light. Her eyes narrowed at the question as her mind started to regain its focus. Part of her wanted to talk about it, bit she just couldn't. How could she, she had kept this secret for this long. What would everyone think of her.

As her mind considered all options, her hand slowly reached for the hilt of her blades. She walked towards Duncan, not completely sure if she should kill him or not. Rage continued to bubble over but was quickly becoming more focused. The grip of darkness had weakened on her, but it's taint was still very present within her.

She walked right up to him and starred in to his eyes, "how could you possibly understand or relate," she said coldly. The image of running her blades up his gut like he was a game being gutted flooded her mind. She had done it before when others attempted to pry in to her past.

As her last mental walls start to close her off, the darkness regained it's dominance over her judgement. She partially drew her blade to get her point across, "and if you ever mention what happened up here, I will kill you!"

Despite calls from the darkness to strike him down in her rage, Trysta resisted. She knew that Dunn and Jay were close and she didn't want to see Jay suffer needlessly. She couldn't explain why, but she cared for him. And that was enough to spare Dunn's life for now. Darkness might had returned to dominance, the internal battle over her soul was far from over.

She pushed her blades back in to their sheath, causing them to make a metallic clicking sound. She side stepped him to move to the other side of the roof. Part of her, the darker side of her, was begging him to do something foolish. To give her a reason to kill him. Any reason.

As she took those first steps from him, her whole body was ready to engage him. Her ears focused on the slightest sound that she could interpret as an attack. The same time, her heart fought back the urges that were fueled by the darkness. Her long legs allowed her to grow the distance with ease. She wanted to move quickly so he wouldn't have time to consider something stupid.

As Trysta reached the other side of the roof, she rested her hands on the wall, which marked the edge of be roof. She hung her head in sadness. She wanted to talk to someone about it. She wanted to express her pain, but she simply didn't trust Dunn enough. She slowly raised her eyes and looked over the destroyed Market District. She saw Nayla and her fighters forcing a family down the street.

Back down in the District Center, Frija turned to Jaden. "I understand what you did and why," she said. "But like it or not, you delivered to us a great moral victory. Duke Saar was a legend to the hunters. Famous beyond my wildest dreams. His death will resonate throughout the Twenty Seventh for years. This day will go down in history as the day one of the brightest stars of the Order was sniffed out."

She motioned him to follow her, "if you choose to reject my reward, that's fine. But at least see it first."

As she led Jaden through the center, the fallen Republic Troopers were being displayed in such a way that made him sick to his stomach. The level of brutality, disregard and disrespect was something Jaden could never accept. The bodies were laid out in such a way that they were frozen in time, praying to Duke Saar. Who's uniformed body was hung by its feet from a post.

From his feet, a sign in both Republic Basic and Olivanese said, 'Traitors to Olivan, the Jedi can't protect you!'

Behind that body, a rig was being finished. It was clear that a group of people were going to be hung. All Jaden could think of was Anong. The Olivan teen that he had saved during the opening hours of the invasion. During that horrific night, Anong watched her family parish. It was through his own personal courage that Anong was saved, though the loss of her family rested heavy on his soul.

The following morning, members of the Olivan Militia discovered Jaden in an Olivan Hospital. For being a Jedi and held responsible for the attack on Olivan, the Militia was going to execute Jaden. It was Anong, who placed herself between the armed Militia and a wounded Jaden. And in doing so, made herself an enemy of Olivan.

The horror of the scene just got worse as Jaden saw a family being brought to the District Center under guard. It was clear that they were prisoners and were under guard. The family consisted of a father, mother and two adolescent males.

It then hit him, the Partisans were going to make an example of them to warn other locals not to render any aid to the Jedi or their forces. Jaden scanned the scene and noticed that the Olivanese who were members of the Partisans were the most edger to get this done.

"Jay," Frija said softly, "you can choose one who will not be hanged. The rest will be hung." She turned to him, "unless you choose not to accept my reward."

(OOC: *Edited to correct Anongs name)