Behind Enemy Lines (Day Three)

[Akirapryde]

She nodded, "yes" she uttered softly as she looked at the flower in her hand. Her mind fighting a war against the demon his touch unleashed upon her. Her hands trembled with the urge to unleash judgement upon him. Her voice betrayed her conflicting emotions.

"Did you know that Darkness is generous," she said softly as her eyes remained focused on the flower. "One of its gifts is concealment. Our true faces lie in the dark beneath our skins, our true hearts remain shadowed deeper still. But the greatest concealment lies not in protecting our secret truths, but in hiding from the truths of others.
The dark protects us from what we dare not know."

"You can not see in to darkness," she dared not turn to face him this time. "You see only darkness. Not the ugliness that it hides." Once more her voice betrayed the pain of lost forgotten wounds ripped open. "In this gift, Darkness is merciful."

[Jaden_Starchaser]

Jaden could hear the conflict in her voice. It resonated with what Duncan had told him about her being conflicted. He saw the tremble in her hands. He knew that she end him here and now if she wanted. He took a deep breath and knew with what he said next he may very well have signed his death warrant. "I felt the darkness before. Very recently in fact. I felt it as I saw Duke Saar use my brother as a battering ram. I thought him dead and in that moment the darkness spoke to me. Like a mother speaking to her child. It told me to strike him down with all of my hate. To take my revenge on him." He stood behind her now, knowing that he gave her easier access to end him. "I heard that voice two more times. Once to again take my rage and strike Saar down when he attempted to break you in half and again when Frija used that family as an example."

[Akirapryde]

She finally turned to face him, the flower still in her hand, "let me guess you refused the call" she said not looking up from her flower. "That you found the strength to deny the darkness. How incredibly noble of you. But the truth is, at one point you will. We all do."

She looked up in to his eyes, "some things are simply too dark to save" she said showing him the flower. The thing was untouched, but it's colors have all faded to shades of dark purples and deep blues. The flower wasn't crushed nor damaged. There was no outward sign as to the reason behind the change.

She handed him the flower, "I loved it," she said with a deep sense of sadness in her voice. "but you need to know something about me. Everything I touch turns dark. And you are not immune to my touch, Jedi"

[Jaden_Starchaser]

A light chuckle escaped Jaden. He wasn't surprised she knew. "Padawan actually. We met before all this. You tried to kill me by the way. You and the other Saberblades called to "kill the tech." I don't hold a grudge for that." He came up to her and put his hand on hers. "Not everything in darkness is lost forever."

[Akirapryde]

She blinked a few times trying to make the connection, "sorry I really have killed so many since we landed on this world." She looked down at the flower once more. "There was a time that that was a badge of honor. But now I just feel this emptiness inside."

She gave a half laugh, "if you believe that, than you know nothing of the Darkside."

Once more she loomed back in to his eyes, "the darkness is generous, and it is patient, and it always wins." She paused a moment as she drew in a deep breath.

"It always wins because it is everywhere.
It is in the wood that burns in your fireplace, and in the kettle on the fire. It is under your chair and under your table and under the sheets on your bed. Walk in the midday sun, and the dark is with you, attached to the soles of your feet."

She motioned to the near by shadows, "everywhere you look, you will see darkness. But you don't understand." She looked back at the flower as a frown crossed her lips, "you can't see it," she said taking his hand. "It's even in me," she said putting the little flower back in his hand.

[Jaden_Starchaser]

" 'We awaken by asking the right questions. We awaken when we see knowledge being spread that goes against our own personal experiences. We awaken when we see popular opinion being wrong but accepted as being right, and what is right being pushed as being wrong. We awaken by seeking answers in corners that are not popular. And we awaken by turning on the light inside when everything outside feels dark.' There is a light inside you Trysta. If there wasn't you would have killed us days ago." Jaden said while he kept his hand on hers.

[Akirapryde]

Trysta hadn't realized the trap she laid her hands in or the lecture about right and wrong. The situation was uncomfortable enough just feeling these things that she couldn't explain. She tried to withdraw her hands from his, mind it, weakly. She didn't like this kind of contact. Her inner struggle far from over as her mind raced, 'I had awaken in to darkness long before anyone should,' she thought. 'No arrogant Jedi, Padawan, or whatever will school me on whats right or wrong.'

Deep in her mind, she looked in to the darkness and saw herself starring back at her. "Killed you days ago," she questioned snapping her hands from his. With lightening reflexes she quickdrew her swords as one weapon. She stopped just under his jaw, "I haven't made my mind up on you......YET!" There was fire in her eyes that was completely unavoidable. The same fire that Jaden saw on that roof top as she chanted 'Kill the Tech'

She pulled back her blades and took a step back, "Next time you think you can win my affections with a weed," she said moving her blades at speeds that even his Jedi Training was pressed to its limits to track. Before he realized her maneuver, she sled the twin blades back in to its sheaf. Jaden's pistol and holster slipped from his belt. "Remember your only warning," she said with anger in her voice.

She wasn't angry at Jaden. She was angry at herself for falling for such a stupid token of affection. She was angry at herself for not stopping this before it started. She shouldn't have been out here in the first place. And lastly she was angry at herself for allowing herself to forget who she really was. She was Trysta Shiloh, first daughter of Amalica Shiloh, Hair to her House and loyal servant to the Lord of Darkness. She was never some silly girl playing games of affection with boys. That was stolen from her a long time ago.

She looked to the light and prayed that it had changed. Trysta slumped her shoulders in defeat and turned from Jaden, "you still have your time," she said as she walked over to a log and found a seat. And now she was angry that she had made such a statement with this Padawan in the first place. She gritted her teeth as she looked down in to a near by mud puddle. Her foot played with the water and mud as she waited for her next question from him.

[Jaden_Starchaser]

Jaden sighed as he thought about what she had said and done. He noticed three major things. One, the flower he had given Trysta had changed back to its original colors when she had put it back in his hand. Two, touching her set her anger off so that was a big no no. Three, her blades had Sith markings on them. "Why do your blades have Sith markings?" He asked.

[Akirapryde]

Trysta looked up a bit confused at the question, she almost laughed at the surprising question. She reached over and drew the weapon from its sheaf. This time much slower, "you mean to tell me, you don't recognize this?" she said holding the weapon in such a way that he could see it more clearly. "Well its a replica, but its a prefect replica," she said explaining the weapon.

"The real weapon that this was fashioned off of belonged to Zilvra Druu'giir. She was a famous warrior from my world. Like me, she was sensitive to Force. Fought along side Darth Malgus during his crusade against the Jedi. She gave her life during the sacking of the Jedi Temple. I remember my mother telling me stories of the great Zilvra. For little girls like me, Zilvra is a role model that I wanted to be like. I used to pretend to be her. We used to play games where we would relive her greatest battles."

She smiled as the memories filled her mind. They were pleasant memories and helped her overcome her anger. "I remember when I was tested for the Force. My mother and father were so proud, that they had a prefect copy of Zilvra's swords." She moved the swords around so that he could see them, "they are not touched by the Force like hers were. Her blades were actual Sith Swords, made for her family by Raven himself." She drew in a deep breath and sighed, "After the war, it was said that the Jedi had stolen her swords and are holding them in their Temple on Coruscant."

[Jaden_Starchaser]

Jaden listened to her as she spoke of her past. He remembered not only feeling exactly what those blades could do, but seeing her duel with them. "I remember seeing you use those blades before all this. I saw the Bakloid Games when you and your sister dueled each other. Not in person though. I was still in the academy, but I caught the holo of it."