The characters in this story are property of me, if you wish to use them,
ask me. A friend of mine wrote this originally, she just wanted to wreck
the universe with them, but I typed it up and decided to post it, and
finish the entire saga, after I'm done with "Elements of the Ages." I'm
not to sure if she did post it or not. Anyway, all elements pertaining to
Star Wars is property of Lucas Arts, and all elements pertaining to DBZ are
property of Funimation, or what ever that company is called that butchered
that series, it was great too. Anyway, without further ado.
The Ravenous Saga Episode IV
Derek hit the marble floor hard. Pain shot up his back and screamed at him, but the man pushed it away and rolled quickly to the side as a blue lightsaber struck the floor, hitting where he had been mere seconds ago.
Derek leapt to his feet. His left arm hung uselessly by his side, and sweat ran down his face. He whirled to swipe at his attacker with his own lightsaber. It's deadly blade a startling crimson color, as if the blade had absorbed the blood of all those who it had slain before. He aimed for his attacker's ribs.
But the nameless Jedi was just as fast. It turned, catching Derek's lightsaber with it's own.
The blades hissed and crackled as red met blue.
Derek swiftly jumped away. He landed on the wall of one of the fountains that populated the garden in which he fought. He was panting, exhausted, on his perch on the thick, three foot-high, stonewall. Water trickled down a small artificial waterfall at his back, only to rest peacefully in the pool only inches from his black boots.
Derek hungrily sucked air into his lungs, causing his bare chest to heave with each breath. Sweat caused his well-defined muscles to glimmer in the starlight. His loose fitting, dark pants, were bloodstained, torn and scorched.
The Jedi was in much better shape. Wielding its lightsaber expertly, the knight breathed easily, though sweat beaded its brow, which was the only outward sign it gave of fatigue.
Derek forced himself to breathe through his nose, willing his heart to abandon its frantic drumming, and assume a calmer rhythm.
He suddenly found himself glancing back up the path to a small figure that was slumped over on the ground.
"Elijah." Derek thought.
The boy wasn't moving.
Derek mentally kicked himself yet again for getting into this mess. If only he had been more aware.
He had been meeting with another very powerful Sith Lord, the one who trained him as a young child. Derek felt no loyalty to the man (if he even was a man.). He had learned what he could and struck out on his own. If the man thought training Derek to use his "gifts" would win his loyalty, then the man was a fool. Jonathan Derek Ravenous lived by his own rules. But the man had connections to other Sith spread out across the universe, and had set up for a "Jedi Purge" as he called it. He had been waving an offer to join in right in Derek's face, and as a Sith, it was his obligation to accept.
The meeting went quite astray suddenly, when a guard came in dragging a struggling child that he had caught spying. Derek had protested when the guard was ordered to kill the boy. He was then forced to admit that the five year-old part Saiya-jin, part vampire, was his son, and Derek was further pressed in admitting he had taken a wife.
Thus opposing the Sith code, Derek was stripped of his robe and tunic, as well as his lightsaber. He was sentenced to die, along with his family. But in a brief struggle, father and son escaped; bruised, battered, and dog- tired, but otherwise, unharmed. Derek had even managed to reclaim his lightsaber.
Once safely away from their pursuers, Elijah confessed that he had been curious when he awoke in the night to find his father silently leaving, and had followed.
Derek was upset to wonder why he had not been able to "feel" his son through the Force. True, the boy had not been trained to use the Force, focusing more on his Saiya-jin skills, but he was his son and the Force was with him, at least enough to for Derek to form a bond with him and because of it, always know where his son was and how he was feeling. Even if the boy was unaware of the bond, Derek should have known Elijah was trailing him. But it was a mystery to be solved at another time.
Derek also planned to punish the boy, but it would have to wait until he returned home and gathered up his three years-old daughter and could flee with his two children to another planet where people would not try to kill him. Running away went against his dignity, but he knew he could not fight, and win.
That was when he came upon the Jedi.
Ducking through random lawns and allies to avoid being found, he had ended up in the huge public gardens that the government funded. Elijah followed close behind, keeping his mouth shut and brooding over his expected punishment. The boy was so young that he did not quite realize what he had done, but knew it was bad, whatever it was. Derek had closed himself down to his anger at this unforeseen twist of fate, and hadn't really registered the warning the Force issued. If he had, then he would have known there was a Jedi Knight just ahead. And considering the mood he was in, (and the fact that he was already tired and battered) he would have avoided confronting the knight.
But once the Jedi was alerted to Derek's presence in the Force, it had its own ideas.
Now, here he was, fighting off a Jedi, and hoping his first-born was okay. The ex-Sith Lord was also painfully aware that the duel could easily attract unwanted attention. And right now, any attention was unwanted.
Derek held himself erect, staying perfectly still. He could feel the blood running down his left arm, could hear the drip, drip, drip, as it fell to the cold stone. The wound from which it flowed throbbed, on fire with pain. The smell of smoke and scorched flesh hung in the air, over-clouding the ancient battle of Jedi and Sith.
Derek was considering grabbing his son and jumping over the tall wall on the other side of the area, the wall that separated the lush garden from the street; when the Jedi pounced.
Derek jumped away, somersaulting in the air, and landed a good bit away from the fountain. But no sooner did his feet touch ground; a barrage of fast, powerful strokes from the knight assaulted him. He met each blow with his own lightsaber, but the Jedi was advancing.
It was not long until Derek felt the cold, hard stone of the outer wall on his back. Eight feet tall, and Derek had no room to maneuver. He was literally pinned. The next stroke from the Jedi yanked Derek's saber from his hand. There was a buzz as it deactivated and clattered to the ground, skidding several yards away.
The Jedi drew back to take another swipe, aimed at the ex-Sith's throat. It would have been a killing blow, but Derek had other plans.
At the last possible second, he dropped to the ground. The blue lightsaber emitted an odd sizzling noise as it hit stone. In a moment, Derek pulled a small, but sharply honed knife form his boot, and slashed at the Jedi's ankles.
It jumped away in surprise, having not anticipated the move.
Derek glared up at it and scowled when he saw that his knife had not broken through the thick leather of the Jedi's boots.
The Jedi charged to press another attack. Derek instantly called his lightsaber to his good hand.
But he did not even get the chance to ignite it as the Jedi was on top of and swung at the saber. The metal handle was once again plucked from him and them chopped cleanly in two. Each half flew in opposite directions and issued sparks.
Derek unleashed a furious growl deep in his throat and suddenly found himself at the business end of the Jedi's lightsaber.
Derek lie still on the ground, with the nameless Jedi Knight looming over him. He was truly pinned this time with nowhere to go. The end of the blue saber was only inches from the tender flesh of his throat and chin. He could feel the heat from the blade, and the hum of the mechanism filled his ears. The blade cast and eerie blue light in his face.
Derek scowled, presenting the Jedi with a perfect view of his razor-sharp vampiric fangs . The Jedi Knight was stone-faced. Not giving away even the slightest hint of emotion.
Derek's breathing was shaky and uneven. His whole body was consumed by pain, but above it all, his heart screamed.
He was probably going to die at the hands of a Jedi. But worse than that, his children would be taken away from him, as was his wife. The Jedi would probably kill Elijah, thinking he was Derek's apprentice, and the other Sith would find his daughter, Shyra, and kill her. Derek's mind was overwhelmed by pain and anger. This was the most painful death he could imagine. And it was happening.
Even if his son and daughter could escape to safety, where would they go? They would be parentless, and money less; too young to work. They would end up in an orphanage, where the Sith would eventually find them.
Derek stared deep into the Jedi's clear blue eyes with his own clouded, aqua green eyes. He knew the Jedi could see the conflict in his eyes. But he also knew the Jedi would not understand what the conflict was about.
All options gone, Derek could only accept his fate. his demise. He swallowed hard and then closed his eyes. He let his head fall back onto the hard marble.
As the Jedi drew his weapon back to deliver the killing blow, Derek opened his eyes to look at the sky. He had not realized how light it had become. It was almost morning. Suddenly, the sky turned a beautiful red, then pink, a rich purple. Finally, a streak of the most glorious gold appeared. The sun had risen. A new day had begun. Songbirds welcomed the day with delightful songs. The sky to its usual azure color.
Warm sunlight fell on Derek's face. He blinked against the sudden brightness. He felt the new sunshine warm his face, and then suddenly. he felt nothing as a certain blue lightsaber slashed through his throat.
His last thought was: "it's going to be a beautiful day."
* * *
Shyra awoke to the feeling of Daichi, her brother's bronze fire-lizard, eagerly pulling at her nightclothes. The creature, which was basically a dragon the size of a house cat with deep bronze colored skin and multifaceted eyes, chirruped urgently in her ear, pulling her from the sweet dreams that graced her youthful slumber.
She groggily peeled open one eye to find Daichi crouched on top of her chest watching her intently. His multifaceted eyes whirled at an alarming pace with the swirls of bright red of anger and panic.
Shyra was instantly confused and alarmed. What had happened to aggravate Elijah's fire-lizard this badly? And further more, what was it doing in her room?!?
These thoughts and questions stayed with Shyra for only a few seconds as she became aware of a stifling heat. And was that just her sleep-filled eyes, or was her room foggier than usual? There was an oddly familiar smell hanging in the air, but the 4-year-old couldn't place it.
Curious she called out, "Daddy?"
No answer.
She silently slipped out of her bed and padded to the door. "Daddy? 'lijah?"
She opened the door and was almost instantly thrown back by a wave of intensely hot air that rushed into her room, followed shortly by a gust of greasy smoke.
And where there's smoke, there's...
"Fire!!" Shyra gasped out loud when she saw the unmistakable flicker and curl of the raging flames that were steadily making their way up the stairs to greet her.
Shyra stood frozen staring at the raging inferno her house had become.
* * *
Elijah groggily opened his ice-blue eyes. His brain seemed to be fogged over and his small body protested against his movement. Various parts of his body claimed injury and screamed pain at him.
Slowly he sat up, fighting off the wave of nausea that threatened to overwhelm him. He forced his eyes to focus while racking his fogged over mind in an attempt to recall what had happened.
Elijah was surprised to find himself in a beautiful, lush garden. Rainbow- colored flowers gave off sweet fragrances that tickled his nose.
As the seven-year-old lied underneath a thick bush who's flowers where already dying and falling away, he suddenly remembered. The guard, running away, the garden...what happened next wasn't too clear. He remembered falling down, glimpsing a figure behind him, and then he remembered nothing.
The sound of shuffling feet caught his attention. Elijah turned to look. When he saw what had made the noise, he froze in place.
On the other side of the garden, his father stood; pushed up against a tall, stonewall. He held his blood-red lightsaber in his right hand. He was scowling, revealing long, vampiric fangs. Before him was a mysterious hooded figure, wielding a blue lightsaber. Elijah recognized it as the person that had hit him and caused his to pass out. He felt a sting of anger directed at the nameless person.
Instinct caused Elijah to reach for his sword, and belatedly he remembered that he had lost it earlier to the guard.
The figures moved. The lightsabers flew, clashing and hissing. In a blur of movement, Elijah suddenly saw his father fall, the Jedi standing over him, saber aimed for the man's throat.
'Jedi? Yes, that's the word.' Elijah assured himself, now remembering a picture his father had once shown him.
"This is a Jedi, Eli." Derek answered his son's question, as he pulled a rugged photo from his wallet. Elijah eyed the photo. The man in it wore a long brown robe over an off-white tunic and pants. Attached to his belt was a 'light sword' as Elijah then called them.
"Jedi are bad, Eli. Never trust one. They are evil." Derek warned his son.
"He doesn't look evil" Elijah had protested.
"Looks can be deceiving." Derek informed him. "Never trust them."
"Alright." Elijah consented.
Yes, the Jedi were evil, Elijah decided. And now one was about to kill his beloved father.
A surge of hatred swelled up in Elijah. The Jedi could not win! He would not let it! The thought that there was no possible way for him to fight against a Jedi and have any hope of winning had not occurred to Elijah, yet before he could run from his hiding place, he suddenly saw his father give up.
In shocked horror, Elijah watched Derek close his eyes and rest his head on the marble floor of the garden. The Jedi drew back and then thrust it's saber into the ex-Sith lord's chest, burning a hole straight through Derek's heart.
Derek's body convulsed once, twice, then was still. The Jedi pulled its saber from Derek's chest. The wound when all the way though and was burned completely black. Derek's body then slowly began to fade from view, till nothing was left, save a few smudges of blood.
The Jedi disengaged its lightsaber. Elijah watched as it pushed its hood away so he was allowed to see the back of its head. The Jedi returned its lightsaber to its belt, and then turned to look at the golden sunrise. The fresh morning light shone on its face, giving Elijah a perfect picture of his father's murderer.
* * *
Shyra screamed as the railing cracked and then fell over into the fire, leaving her on the second floor landing. She dashed down the short hallway to Elijah's bedroom.
" 'lijah!!! " She cried.
The room was empty. The bed sheets were disordered from where her brother had been sleeping, but he was not there any longer.
"DADDY!!!" Shyra screamed, the heat and terror made tears run down her face, and the smoke sent her into dizzying coughing fits.
She ran back out into the hallway and peered over the edge hoping to see the master bedroom, but the smoke was thick in her eyes were filled with unshed tears.
She collapsed into a fit of lung-racking coughing. "No, this isn't right!" She sobbed into the carpet. A feeling of desperation washed over her, threatening to drown her. "It's not right..." She mumbled, slurring her words, almost to the point of incoherence.
Suddenly a new feeling came over her, crushing the desperation. It started as a sort of tingling in her tail and then swiftly spread to the rest of her body.
Shyra didn't know what the feeling was. It was like nothing she'd ever experienced before. It was a survival instinct. It was more.
A wave of energy passes through her. It cleared her vision and erased her panic, replacing it with calm. It stopped her thoughts from spinning in her head, and gave her a definite goal: survival.
Yes, she would survive. She was a Saiya-jin after all.
She strode calmly to the window in her room, and felt a surge of power. She slipped the lock and lifted the window. Then, she jumped.
There was a split-second feeling of total freedom, wind rushing in her ear, tearing at her hair and clothes, an aurora of golden energy surrounding her, protecting her. The energy brought her safely to the ground.
Shyra's human mind took over then as the powerful Saiya-jin instinct of survival loosened it's grip on her, and Shyra was left completely clueless as to how she had gotten out of the burning house.
As instincts relaxed and control of her body returned to her, the panic returned as well, and Shyra took off running.
* * *
As soon as Elijah was sure that the Jedi was really gone, he crept out of hiding and rather numbly stumbled over to where his father had died.
There was nothing left there now, save a small smudge of blood. It was stain the marble forever, never washing away. Elijah felt glad it was there. It would serve as a memorial. It would tell generations, "A great man died here!"
Elijah stared at it numbly. No tears fell. He was too shocked to cry. He felt as if a chunk of his soul, his very life, had been brutally ripped from him. In a way, it had. When Derek died, the bond he had with Elijah died as well. Albeit, Elijah had not been aware of the bond, he still felt the incredible loss that comes when it was severed.
After several long minutes, with the morning sun in his face and the three puny moons of Kalesmeir at his back, Elijah turned away. There was no expression on his young face, only the pain of loss in his ice-blue eyes.
As he walked away, Elijah stumbled over something. Glancing down he saw it was part of his father's lightsaber. He picked it up and a large ruby, of the deepest red possible, fell out into his hand. Elijah blinked at it and rolled it around in his palm. The sunlight danced on the jewel causing it to glitter and glow.
Elijah was suddenly aware that since the sun was now up, that meant that people would be waking up now. Shyra would be waking up.
Elijah hesitated. He should be there when Shyra woke up, but what would they do then? Go to school like normal? Maybe tell a teacher what happened? Elijah could do that. He would have to take Shyra to her baby- sitter before he went to school, but that wouldn't hard. True, getting there on foot would take longer, but was that too bad?
"But what if the teacher doesn't care?" Elijah wondered grimly, still gripping the ruby. "But what if Shyra gets stubborn like she does sometimes and won't let me take her?"
That would be just like Shyra, refusing to follow him. The siblings got along well for the most part; the problem was that they were both too stubborn. Shyra was especially stubborn when it came to Elijah telling her was to do. She absolutely abhorred being called a 'baby' or being told she was too little to do something. Yet the fact was, at four years old, she was too little to do a lot of the things Elijah could do.
Elijah sighed looking up at the sky. What was he going to do? He could try the police...and hope that the people trying to kill him hadn't gone there already.
Elijah suddenly shook his head. This wasn't doing anything but wasting time. And it didn't look as if he had much to waste.
The Saiya-jin / Vampyre boy slipped the ruby into the pockets of his pants, and started off towards his home. His empty stomach rumbled. He was hungry, tired, and bruised. And he wasn't looking forward to what the future had in store.
"What a rotten day this will be..." Elijah muttered to himself.
* * *
Tears swelled up in Elijah's icy blue eyes. But if they were because of his deep sadness, or because of the sharp reek of sulfur hanging in the air, he didn't know.
He looked once again at the address on the mailbox. It assured him he was indeed in the right place. Yet nothing else was right.
His house was gone.
There was the mailbox, the chain link fence, and the woods behind the fence, but there was no house.
Instead of a cozy, white, two-story house, Elijah found ashes and burned timbers. He saw ruined furniture, and melted hunks of plastic where toys use to be. Scorched bits of pipe stuck up out of the rubble in various places, a testament to where the frame of the house once stood.
He was so caught up in this new twist of fate, Elijah didn't notice when Daichi popped out of between and landed on his shoulder. The bronze fire- lizard wrapped his tail around Elijah's neck to help maintain his balance. He rubbed his wedge-shaped head up against Elijah's cheek. When Elijah still took no notice of him, Daichi chirruped softly in Elijah's ear.
The noise snapped Elijah back to reality, and he stroked Daichi's soft hide. He could "feel" that Daichi was upset and scared because of the mental bond he had with Daichi, but the bond wouldn't allow him to speak to the fire-lizard, because fire-lizards have limited intelligence and cannot understand words. However, Daichi could interpret emotions, images, and pure thoughts.
So Elijah poured loving reassurances through the mind-link. As soon as Daichi was calm enough for his thoughts to make sense, Elijah "asked" him what had happened.
Daichi showed Elijah his memories of the event. Images formed in Elijah's head and he "saw" the event through fire-lizard eyes.
***He woke to sounds of people outside. It was dark out. Rising to his feet, Daichi/Elijah lunged from his perch over Elijah's bed. He spread his wings and flew down the stairs and into the living room. There, through a window, he could see strange people in dark clothes. They had torches and were talking.
A wave of fear washed over Daichi/Elijah. This was not right! Who were these people? ***
In his own mind Elijah recognized them as the men he and his father had fought against. Why had they come here? And what happened to Shyra? Elijah slipped back into Daichi's memories.
***He cried out, startled, as one of the men flung a torch at him. It smashed the window, sending glass flying everywhere. He weaved in the air to avoid the shards of glass, then pivoted on his tail and when back upstairs to Shyra's room. She was still asleep in bed. He flew to her and attempted to wake her, but she was deeply asleep and it took some time to rouse her. By the time she got up, the entire first floor was a raging inferno. There was no way out!
Well, there was a very easy way out for him. He could easily slip between and simply come out in a safer place, but Shyra couldn't do that. Only Pernese fire-lizards and Pernese dragons could go between. Between was no space, a postulate. Pernese dragons and fire-lizards would jump between when they wanted to travel long distances with out having to actually fly the entire distance.
In a sickening, chaotic haze, Daichi/Elijah suddenly saw a golden aura of energy form around Shyra. He watched as she softly flew to the ground. She was out! The golden light around her faded, and then she darted off into the woods.
Then he went between. ***
The image in Elijah's mind suddenly went pitch black when Daichi went between. It returned three seconds later as Daichi came out of between high over the house, but Elijah mentally turned away. He'd seen what he wanted to. He allowed his gratitude to reach his fire-lizard.
Almost instantly the fire-lizards eyes turned to the rich purple-blue of happiness. Daichi was delighted he'd helped his bond mate.
But happiness was not what Elijah was feeling. Now his home was gone, and his little sister had run away. Not that he could really blame her; he probably would have run too. He had recognized the aura she had created as KI, an omnipresent energy that a few talented species can call to them and control, giving them incredible power. He, himself, was being trained to use KI when he sparred or fought.
With a sigh, Elijah trudged forward to the heap of ashes and ruined junk. He climbed carefully over burned timbers, mindful of all the shattered glass that littered the area.
Daichi yelped a protest as Elijah's movements threatened to dislodge the bronze fire-lizard. He tightened his tail hold around Elijah's neck and dug his sharp talons into Elijah's blue jacket.
Elijah steadied himself and gently pried Daichi's tail from his throat and coaxed the lizard onto his forearm. Staring him in the eye, Elijah focused once again on the bond.
Elijah warned the creature to "listen carefully". He supplied the lizard with a very detailed image, and informed the creature that this was what he was looking for, and did he understand?
Daichi crooned his compliance and took off to look through the junk on the side opposite Elijah. Elijah smiled. This search would go faster with two pairs of eyes.
He dug into the stuff before him; he was in the general area of what would have been the master bedroom. Turning over timbers, Elijah hunted through cinders and ashes. Soot coated his hands and he was stuck by bits of glass, which opened several different wounds.
Under one of the pipes, Elijah discovered a burned photo. It was covered with soot and grime, and Elijah had to pry it loose of its frame. When he did, he found it was a picture of him and his father. His mother had taken the picture so she was not in it, and of course, Shyra wasn't either since it was her birth that had kill their mother. The photo had been taken just after he got his sword on his fourth birthday. In it, Elijah was challenging his father to a mock duel, and Derek was grinning as he held up his hands to show that he was unarmed. Elijah turned the picture over in his hands. He remembered that day. It occurred to Elijah that this picture was probably all that was left of Derek. Fortunately, Daichi called to Elijah before Elijah had time to expand on that rather morbid train of thought.
Elijah dropped the photo and clambered to where the bronze fire-lizard was. Just below him Elijah could see a glint of something gold under the cinders.
Elijah set about digging the object out. Shortly thereafter, he had in his hands a katana. He used a clean corner of his shirt to wipe most of the grime away.
It was a good, strong katana, with a sharply honed blade that gleamed in the sunlight. The hilt was golden with a design of rose vines on it. There were diamonds on the hilt, and on the handle, a name was engraved.
Katrina Beverly Dawson Ravenous
Derek's wife.
Elijah's mother.
Elijah ran a finger over the engraving. His mother had died giving birth to Shyra. He had been three at the time. It was she who gave Elijah and Shyra their Saiya-jin heritage.
Elijah dug around in the ashes bit longer and then came up with the scabbard for the katana. He shortened the shoulder strap as much as he could and slung over his back. It was a bit awkward, seeing as the strap was still a bit on the long side as was the katana itself.
Elijah crawled out of the wreck and called Daichi to him. The little lizard perched again on the boy's shoulder.
Elijah faced the woods in the direction Shyra had run. He held his chin out, his eyes narrowed, his face set in an expression of pure determination. He had lost a lot in the past twenty-four hours; the loss of father was still fresh in his mind and still had not truly sunk in. But he was still alive.
So long as he had a sword, his fire lizard, and his life, he would survive. He would find Shyra, and everything would be all right.
But something somewhere in the back of his mind was not so sure.
* * *
Naivi's eyes scanned the newspaper. She didn't see anything of interest. What a boring little planet Kalesmeir was. It was certainly a beautiful planet, with flowers that could enchant even the worst scrooge, it was too bad that most of them couldn't' grow on any other planet. No, it was certainly a charming planet, with its cities and wild land evenly spread out over the surface of the world, but not much happened.
At least, not anything she cared about.
Naivi found herself glad that she would be leaving this evening to return to Coruscant. There, at least, there would be stuff to occupy her. Naivi disdained being idle.
Which was what she was doing now.
She had nothing to do until her transport left, and that would not be until late this evening. And on Kalesmeir, days lasted for twenty-nine hours. She had quite a wait before she left.
Naivi's eyes wondered around her hotel room. She had gotten a suite, with a visiting room, small kitchenette, a bathroom, and a bedroom barely big enough for the bed. It was actually rather cramped. But she had not actually been in the room much; this was a "business trip" for her and had been kept busy "working". This the only time she had had to herself.
Naivi sat there in silence for a long time, before she rose to her feet. She decided that wondering aimlessly about the city would be better than nothing.
She stepped outside and breathed in the air. It was so much fresher and cleaner smelling than at home. The sunlight gleamed on her metallic, blue- gray skin. Her eyes were a darker blue shot with silver. She was wearing her long silver hair up in a partial braid with the rest flowing down her back to mid-shoulder.
Naivi started a leisurely pace down the sidewalk, looking at the woods near her. Birds flew from branch to branch, locked in a contest to see who had the best mating call.
Naivi did not get very far before she heard the unmistakable sound of someone crying. She stopped in her tracks and peered around. It was late enough in the morning that most people were at work or school. The only other people in the street besides her were a young couple up ahead of her. They did not appear to hear the quiet sobbing.
Naivi carefully peered around her before she left the sidewalk, climbed over a small chain link fence, and was in the woods. The women paused to catch the sound again in her pointed ears before she followed it a few paces into the woods.
There, huddled behind a large tree resembling an oak, she found a small, dirty, sobbing little child. It was hard to tell, but Naivi judged that under all the dirt and grime, it was probably a girl. Her decision was supported by the fact that the child wore long plain dress with a pattern embroidered to the sleeves and bottom. Under the dress, Naivi could just pick out the ends of a pair of biking shorts. The girl was bare-footed, and had soft pink hair with a sleek silver streak running down her bangs on each side of her face. She also had a fuzzy brown tail.
"Hey there." Naivi said softly.
The child jerked her head up to look at Naivi with wide horrified eyes. She gasped and started to run.
"No!" Naivi grabbed her arm to keep her from running. "I'm not going to hurt you."
The child stopped struggling and turned to look at Naivi. Its eyes still showed fear, but now, there was also a mixture of mistrust, curiosity, and . pain?
Naivi released her hold on the girl's wrist. "Who are you? Are you alright?"
The child watched her for a moment, studying her, before suddenly, and quite literally, throwing herself into Naivi's arms and began babbling something completely incoherent.
"Shh, it's okay now." Naivi whispered soothingly. She ran her hands up and down the child's back, not caring about the dirt that came off onto her own hands.
The child stopped trying to talk and just let the tears flow.
Naivi could tell the child was relieved to not have to bear this load alone. She could also tell that the child probably was not going to stop crying anytime soon. Naivi decided to take the poor girl back to her hotel room. It wasn't far, and she would be able to clean the girl up a bit.
* * *
"So, can you tell me your name?" Navi prompted. She had brought the child back and had cleaned her up. Now the girl sat on the couch, shirtless because Naivi had put it into the wash, but she had the tight fitting shorts and now had a fuzzy blanket wrapped about her. She munched hungrily on a sandwich (the only food stuff Naivi had).
"Shyra." The girl answered.
She was cute once the grime was gone.
"Shyra, huh? That's a pretty name. What were you crying about? Did someone hurt you?" Naivi asked tenderly, least she set the child off again.
Tears appeared again, but Shyra fought them off. "My daddy was gone, and 'Lijah too, there was fire!" She started to choke on her words.
"Fire? Where? What kind of fire?"
Shyra frowned. What kind? What different kinds did fire come in? "Big fire, it was all inside the house. Downstairs. It scared me. Daichi was scared too."
"Wait, who's Daichi?"
"'lijah's pet."
"Who's li-ja?"
"My brother."
"Where was he?"
"I dunno, gone."
Naivi frowned. Gone? What did that mean? "Where was your mom?"
"Oh, she left a long time ago, when I came. daddy said she went to heaven."
'So, she's dead.' Naivi thought. She nodded, "Where do you think your daddy went?"
Shyra shrugged. Now that her hunger was gone, she felt sleepy and the soft couch was very inviting.
Naivi seemed to realize this. "Can you tell me your last name? Then you can sleep."
"Rav'nous." Then Shyra made a nest for herself of pillows and was asleep.
Navi felt a smile tugging at her lips and left silently. She dug a phonebook out of a drawer in the kitchenette and looked up the last name.
Ravenous, Jonathan Derek.32 Dawnshadow St.
'Hmm, Dawnshadow Street.that's not far, there's a lot of big expensive houses there, and they're all set apart pretty far. If there's a fire, it's probably not been found yet. I should call the fire department.' Naivi turned thought into action and reported the fire. Then, hoping Shyra would not wake for a while, she hurried off to meet them.
* * *
Elijah had fallen, and he did not think he could get up. His wounds burned and throbbed. His legs ached and his vision swam. He had collapsed in the forest near the base of a tree. His stomach hurt, crying for food. The soot was making his skin itch and his sweat was not helping.
He had been looking for Shyra all day. The sun was high in the sky, casting very little shadow, so Elijah figured it was about noontime.
Daichi chirruped from his perch in the tree. He was getting hungry too.
Elijah moaned and sent him off to hunt. At least he would get to eat.
Elijah rolled over onto his back. The thick branches of the trees hid the sun from his eyes. He closed them and was all but asleep when Daichi burst out of between chattering excitedly.
The image of broken twigs and snapped branches was projected into Elijah's mind. Something had run by in a blind panic and left a trail! Daichi then issued the image of footprints, small *human* footprints.
A surge of hope swelled up in Elijah. Fire lizards had limited intelligence, as stated before, so not only can they not understand words, but they also have no imagination. So Daichi had actually seen these things.
Elijah instructed the little bronze to lead him to the path and then he was off.
* * *
Naivi was lost in thoughts, as she sat in the small living room. She had met the fire department at the address; the house had been burned to a crisp. The firemen found no trace of bodies, so Shyra's father and brother had gotten away. Naivi had not told the men about Shyra. She knew she should turn the child over to them so they could reunite her with her family, but Naivi could do that. She didn't know why, but something inside of her wouldn't let her. Which was silly seeing as she was leaving tonight, and she had no real connection to the girl.
Shyra herself was also in the living room. She had waken shortly after Naivi returned, and now she was propped up against the window, staring out with a far-away look in her eyes. She had put her now clean dress back on and as Naivi looked at her, Naivi could see nothing more of the dirty, terrified little girl she had found in the woods. There was an unexplainable strength about her. She was sitting perfectly still, only her monkey-like tail twitching from time to time.
Naivi watched her, wondering what she was thinking. She felt a growing interest toward this strange child. 'What is her full story?' Naivi wondered.
* * *
Shyra floated in her mind, drifting aimlessly between thoughts. She wondered where her daddy was, where her brother was. She wondered about Naivi too.
She felt curious about this new person. Where was she from? What was she going to do with Shyra? Would she take Shyra with her? Would she help find her family?
Shyra found herself wanting to ask these, and a million more questions, but she did not. Well, maybe she would. Shyra mentally debated whether she should give voice to her questions or not. But her debate was cut short when she saw *him*.
Elijah.
Walking down the sidewalk with Daichi on his shoulder.
He was coming to her.
Shyra froze. It was so unexpected! A thousand emotions washed over her, and each one brought with it a thousand more questions.
Suddenly she made eye contact with him.
He saw her.
His eyes widened in surprise, then he broke into a dead run.
Shyra dropped to the floor and, ignoring the Naivi's alarm, darted out the door.
Naivi was immediately in pursuit.
Shyra got out the door and took four steps before she found herself wrapped in the arms of her older brother.
"Shyra!" He cried joyously, embracing her.
"Brother!" Shyra mumbled happily into his shirt, before tears once again appearing in her jade green eyes. "Oh, 'Lijah! Where were you? I was all alone! And there was fire! I was scared, you weren't there, Where's daddy? 'Lijah." The words came tumbling out of her mouth without thought.
There were tears now in Elijah's eyes too. He would have to tell his little sister how their father died. He could say nothing; only hold her for several minutes.
Shyra fell silent. Something had happened, she realized. Something bad.
Elijah opened his mouth, but before he could say anything, he saw Naivi in the doorway watching him with an odd expression on her face.
Elijah gasped and jumped away from Shyra abruptly. "You!" He declared, pointing an accusing finger at Naivi. "You killed him! You killed my father!"
* * *
Naivi was not at all surprised by this accusation. She recognized the boy as the one she had seen with the Sith last night. She had thought the hit on the head had killed the child, because she had not seen him after that.
Naivi was shocked at what was happening now though. This was Shyra's brother? But that meant that. Shyra was the daughter of a Sith!
The realization hit hard. That was why the girl seemed so strong! She had the Force! But she didn't know how to properly use it.
* * *
Shyra was shaken to the core. Naivi? Killed her father? What was her brother talking about?
* * *
A fire now burned deep within Elijah. He recognized the dark brown robes Naivi wore. And he recognized her face from when she had turned to look at the sunrise.
She was a Jedi!
She killed Derek!
Elijah felt the fire growing; it thrived on his hatred for his father's murderer. Suddenly, all his pain and weariness vanished as the fire grew. Elijah could feel the shrill power of it. He would kill the Jedi.
"Shyra! Run!" Elijah commanded.
Shyra blinked in confusion, then stuck her chin out in a way, that every one who knew her recognized as a sign that she was about to get really stubborn, and what ever you were about to ask her to do, she was not going to do it. "No! 'Lijah stop!"
"Shyra!"
"'lijah!"
The two locked eyes, each trying to have their way.
"She helped me, 'Lijah! Leave her alone."
"She killed dad!" Elijah hissed.
Shyra did not answer. Killed daddy? What?
Elijah turned to Naivi. She watched him silently. She did not want to fight the boy, but she would leave the choice with him.
Elijah powered up. The golden flames of KI appeared around him, forming an aura of energy.
"No!" Shyra screamed and ran at him, but without so much as batting an eye, Elijah used the KI to push her away.
Shyra yelped in surprise as she was blown back against the wall.
Naivi shot a quick glance in her direction to make sure Shyra was all right, and then Elijah attacked.
Giving Naivi no time to draw her saber, Elijah threw a KI blast at her.
Naivi ducked, instantly grabbing her lightsaber. The familiar blue blade hissed to life.
"You won't get away with this!" Elijah threw another ball of glowing energy at her.
Naivi raised her saber to deflect it but when it hit her blade, there was a loud hiss, and the force of the contact sent waves of shock shooting up her arm. The blade hissed, sputtered, and went out, while Naivi was thrown off balance.
Elijah flew at her, hoping to land a punch to the mid-drift area, but Naivi ducked at the last minute, jumping away. She toggled the power control on her lightsaber hilt and the blue blade sprang back to life.
Suddenly, Naivi was aware of the Dark Side near by.
Elijah saw Naivi suddenly turn and leap away, a black lightsaber blade slashed through the air where she had just been.
Elijah blinked; the KI flames diminishing somewhat as surprise overcame his concentration.
The Sith scowled at Naivi.
The Jedi prepared to fight.
The Sith suddenly lunged at Elijah. Elijah was caught completely off guard and was frozen to the spot of air he was levitating in.
"No!" Navi whirled to get between the child and his attacker. Black and blue clashed, hissing.
Navi threw a glance over her shoulder at Elijah.
* * *
The shock had left Elijah and now he was confused.
This was the man that had stripped his father of his title.
These were his two enemies. And they were fighting each other!
Elijah watched as the two skilled Force-users dueled. As he watched, he released the KI so it disappeared, and dropped to the ground. He turned to look at Shyra.
She, too, was watching the fight. But there was something in her eyes that told Elijah she was cheering for the Jedi.
She turned then, and caught his eye. And in that instant, Elijah disowned her. She trusted the Jedi, and now hated him for trying to kill the Jedi.
Well, that was fine. If she would rather trust their father's murderer than her own brother, then she was not his sister.
And Elijah had a gut feeling, that she had already renounced him.
He turned and walked to her, his hand pulling the ruby from his pocket. Elijah stopped in front of Shyra and held out his hand, palm down.
"Good bye, Shyra Angel Ravenous." His voice had a hard edge, born of betrayal.
Shyra's eyes widened in surprise. So she had not disowned him.yet. She slowly raised her hand, and Elijah dropped the ruby into it.
Shyra blinked, looking at it, then looked back up to watch Elijah walking away form her, without ever looking back.
* * *
Naivi, surprised by the other's quickness and ferocity, barely blockied the blow wither own weapon, the blades sliding apart with a harsh rasp. The attacker spun away in a whirl of dark clothing, then attacked anew, lightsaber slashing at his intended prey, face alight with a killing frenzy that promised no quarter. Her attacker closed on her again, forcing her back, striking at her from every angle. Naivi began hammering at the demonic faced attacker with renewed determination, always moving, never stopping. The Sith was fast, and Naivi had to focus all her attention on it. She did not see Elijah's bitter farewell.
But the Sith did, and when his attention faltered, Naivi struck.
A powerful swipe right through its middle. There was a strangled cry as the two halves toppled and then vanished, before the top half even touched the ground.
Navi deactivated her saber.
She turned to look at the pink haired Saiya-jin /vampire child, Elijah was gone. Shyra looked up at her, tears pooling up in her eyes.
Naivi sank to her knees and hugged the child. "It'll be okay, Shyra. You can come with me to Coruscant. I'll find you a good home, alright?"
Shyra nodded, the tears fell silently down her cheeks. She would survive this. She was part Saiya-jin after all.
THE END
The Ravenous Saga Episode IV
Derek hit the marble floor hard. Pain shot up his back and screamed at him, but the man pushed it away and rolled quickly to the side as a blue lightsaber struck the floor, hitting where he had been mere seconds ago.
Derek leapt to his feet. His left arm hung uselessly by his side, and sweat ran down his face. He whirled to swipe at his attacker with his own lightsaber. It's deadly blade a startling crimson color, as if the blade had absorbed the blood of all those who it had slain before. He aimed for his attacker's ribs.
But the nameless Jedi was just as fast. It turned, catching Derek's lightsaber with it's own.
The blades hissed and crackled as red met blue.
Derek swiftly jumped away. He landed on the wall of one of the fountains that populated the garden in which he fought. He was panting, exhausted, on his perch on the thick, three foot-high, stonewall. Water trickled down a small artificial waterfall at his back, only to rest peacefully in the pool only inches from his black boots.
Derek hungrily sucked air into his lungs, causing his bare chest to heave with each breath. Sweat caused his well-defined muscles to glimmer in the starlight. His loose fitting, dark pants, were bloodstained, torn and scorched.
The Jedi was in much better shape. Wielding its lightsaber expertly, the knight breathed easily, though sweat beaded its brow, which was the only outward sign it gave of fatigue.
Derek forced himself to breathe through his nose, willing his heart to abandon its frantic drumming, and assume a calmer rhythm.
He suddenly found himself glancing back up the path to a small figure that was slumped over on the ground.
"Elijah." Derek thought.
The boy wasn't moving.
Derek mentally kicked himself yet again for getting into this mess. If only he had been more aware.
He had been meeting with another very powerful Sith Lord, the one who trained him as a young child. Derek felt no loyalty to the man (if he even was a man.). He had learned what he could and struck out on his own. If the man thought training Derek to use his "gifts" would win his loyalty, then the man was a fool. Jonathan Derek Ravenous lived by his own rules. But the man had connections to other Sith spread out across the universe, and had set up for a "Jedi Purge" as he called it. He had been waving an offer to join in right in Derek's face, and as a Sith, it was his obligation to accept.
The meeting went quite astray suddenly, when a guard came in dragging a struggling child that he had caught spying. Derek had protested when the guard was ordered to kill the boy. He was then forced to admit that the five year-old part Saiya-jin, part vampire, was his son, and Derek was further pressed in admitting he had taken a wife.
Thus opposing the Sith code, Derek was stripped of his robe and tunic, as well as his lightsaber. He was sentenced to die, along with his family. But in a brief struggle, father and son escaped; bruised, battered, and dog- tired, but otherwise, unharmed. Derek had even managed to reclaim his lightsaber.
Once safely away from their pursuers, Elijah confessed that he had been curious when he awoke in the night to find his father silently leaving, and had followed.
Derek was upset to wonder why he had not been able to "feel" his son through the Force. True, the boy had not been trained to use the Force, focusing more on his Saiya-jin skills, but he was his son and the Force was with him, at least enough to for Derek to form a bond with him and because of it, always know where his son was and how he was feeling. Even if the boy was unaware of the bond, Derek should have known Elijah was trailing him. But it was a mystery to be solved at another time.
Derek also planned to punish the boy, but it would have to wait until he returned home and gathered up his three years-old daughter and could flee with his two children to another planet where people would not try to kill him. Running away went against his dignity, but he knew he could not fight, and win.
That was when he came upon the Jedi.
Ducking through random lawns and allies to avoid being found, he had ended up in the huge public gardens that the government funded. Elijah followed close behind, keeping his mouth shut and brooding over his expected punishment. The boy was so young that he did not quite realize what he had done, but knew it was bad, whatever it was. Derek had closed himself down to his anger at this unforeseen twist of fate, and hadn't really registered the warning the Force issued. If he had, then he would have known there was a Jedi Knight just ahead. And considering the mood he was in, (and the fact that he was already tired and battered) he would have avoided confronting the knight.
But once the Jedi was alerted to Derek's presence in the Force, it had its own ideas.
Now, here he was, fighting off a Jedi, and hoping his first-born was okay. The ex-Sith Lord was also painfully aware that the duel could easily attract unwanted attention. And right now, any attention was unwanted.
Derek held himself erect, staying perfectly still. He could feel the blood running down his left arm, could hear the drip, drip, drip, as it fell to the cold stone. The wound from which it flowed throbbed, on fire with pain. The smell of smoke and scorched flesh hung in the air, over-clouding the ancient battle of Jedi and Sith.
Derek was considering grabbing his son and jumping over the tall wall on the other side of the area, the wall that separated the lush garden from the street; when the Jedi pounced.
Derek jumped away, somersaulting in the air, and landed a good bit away from the fountain. But no sooner did his feet touch ground; a barrage of fast, powerful strokes from the knight assaulted him. He met each blow with his own lightsaber, but the Jedi was advancing.
It was not long until Derek felt the cold, hard stone of the outer wall on his back. Eight feet tall, and Derek had no room to maneuver. He was literally pinned. The next stroke from the Jedi yanked Derek's saber from his hand. There was a buzz as it deactivated and clattered to the ground, skidding several yards away.
The Jedi drew back to take another swipe, aimed at the ex-Sith's throat. It would have been a killing blow, but Derek had other plans.
At the last possible second, he dropped to the ground. The blue lightsaber emitted an odd sizzling noise as it hit stone. In a moment, Derek pulled a small, but sharply honed knife form his boot, and slashed at the Jedi's ankles.
It jumped away in surprise, having not anticipated the move.
Derek glared up at it and scowled when he saw that his knife had not broken through the thick leather of the Jedi's boots.
The Jedi charged to press another attack. Derek instantly called his lightsaber to his good hand.
But he did not even get the chance to ignite it as the Jedi was on top of and swung at the saber. The metal handle was once again plucked from him and them chopped cleanly in two. Each half flew in opposite directions and issued sparks.
Derek unleashed a furious growl deep in his throat and suddenly found himself at the business end of the Jedi's lightsaber.
Derek lie still on the ground, with the nameless Jedi Knight looming over him. He was truly pinned this time with nowhere to go. The end of the blue saber was only inches from the tender flesh of his throat and chin. He could feel the heat from the blade, and the hum of the mechanism filled his ears. The blade cast and eerie blue light in his face.
Derek scowled, presenting the Jedi with a perfect view of his razor-sharp vampiric fangs . The Jedi Knight was stone-faced. Not giving away even the slightest hint of emotion.
Derek's breathing was shaky and uneven. His whole body was consumed by pain, but above it all, his heart screamed.
He was probably going to die at the hands of a Jedi. But worse than that, his children would be taken away from him, as was his wife. The Jedi would probably kill Elijah, thinking he was Derek's apprentice, and the other Sith would find his daughter, Shyra, and kill her. Derek's mind was overwhelmed by pain and anger. This was the most painful death he could imagine. And it was happening.
Even if his son and daughter could escape to safety, where would they go? They would be parentless, and money less; too young to work. They would end up in an orphanage, where the Sith would eventually find them.
Derek stared deep into the Jedi's clear blue eyes with his own clouded, aqua green eyes. He knew the Jedi could see the conflict in his eyes. But he also knew the Jedi would not understand what the conflict was about.
All options gone, Derek could only accept his fate. his demise. He swallowed hard and then closed his eyes. He let his head fall back onto the hard marble.
As the Jedi drew his weapon back to deliver the killing blow, Derek opened his eyes to look at the sky. He had not realized how light it had become. It was almost morning. Suddenly, the sky turned a beautiful red, then pink, a rich purple. Finally, a streak of the most glorious gold appeared. The sun had risen. A new day had begun. Songbirds welcomed the day with delightful songs. The sky to its usual azure color.
Warm sunlight fell on Derek's face. He blinked against the sudden brightness. He felt the new sunshine warm his face, and then suddenly. he felt nothing as a certain blue lightsaber slashed through his throat.
His last thought was: "it's going to be a beautiful day."
* * *
Shyra awoke to the feeling of Daichi, her brother's bronze fire-lizard, eagerly pulling at her nightclothes. The creature, which was basically a dragon the size of a house cat with deep bronze colored skin and multifaceted eyes, chirruped urgently in her ear, pulling her from the sweet dreams that graced her youthful slumber.
She groggily peeled open one eye to find Daichi crouched on top of her chest watching her intently. His multifaceted eyes whirled at an alarming pace with the swirls of bright red of anger and panic.
Shyra was instantly confused and alarmed. What had happened to aggravate Elijah's fire-lizard this badly? And further more, what was it doing in her room?!?
These thoughts and questions stayed with Shyra for only a few seconds as she became aware of a stifling heat. And was that just her sleep-filled eyes, or was her room foggier than usual? There was an oddly familiar smell hanging in the air, but the 4-year-old couldn't place it.
Curious she called out, "Daddy?"
No answer.
She silently slipped out of her bed and padded to the door. "Daddy? 'lijah?"
She opened the door and was almost instantly thrown back by a wave of intensely hot air that rushed into her room, followed shortly by a gust of greasy smoke.
And where there's smoke, there's...
"Fire!!" Shyra gasped out loud when she saw the unmistakable flicker and curl of the raging flames that were steadily making their way up the stairs to greet her.
Shyra stood frozen staring at the raging inferno her house had become.
* * *
Elijah groggily opened his ice-blue eyes. His brain seemed to be fogged over and his small body protested against his movement. Various parts of his body claimed injury and screamed pain at him.
Slowly he sat up, fighting off the wave of nausea that threatened to overwhelm him. He forced his eyes to focus while racking his fogged over mind in an attempt to recall what had happened.
Elijah was surprised to find himself in a beautiful, lush garden. Rainbow- colored flowers gave off sweet fragrances that tickled his nose.
As the seven-year-old lied underneath a thick bush who's flowers where already dying and falling away, he suddenly remembered. The guard, running away, the garden...what happened next wasn't too clear. He remembered falling down, glimpsing a figure behind him, and then he remembered nothing.
The sound of shuffling feet caught his attention. Elijah turned to look. When he saw what had made the noise, he froze in place.
On the other side of the garden, his father stood; pushed up against a tall, stonewall. He held his blood-red lightsaber in his right hand. He was scowling, revealing long, vampiric fangs. Before him was a mysterious hooded figure, wielding a blue lightsaber. Elijah recognized it as the person that had hit him and caused his to pass out. He felt a sting of anger directed at the nameless person.
Instinct caused Elijah to reach for his sword, and belatedly he remembered that he had lost it earlier to the guard.
The figures moved. The lightsabers flew, clashing and hissing. In a blur of movement, Elijah suddenly saw his father fall, the Jedi standing over him, saber aimed for the man's throat.
'Jedi? Yes, that's the word.' Elijah assured himself, now remembering a picture his father had once shown him.
"This is a Jedi, Eli." Derek answered his son's question, as he pulled a rugged photo from his wallet. Elijah eyed the photo. The man in it wore a long brown robe over an off-white tunic and pants. Attached to his belt was a 'light sword' as Elijah then called them.
"Jedi are bad, Eli. Never trust one. They are evil." Derek warned his son.
"He doesn't look evil" Elijah had protested.
"Looks can be deceiving." Derek informed him. "Never trust them."
"Alright." Elijah consented.
Yes, the Jedi were evil, Elijah decided. And now one was about to kill his beloved father.
A surge of hatred swelled up in Elijah. The Jedi could not win! He would not let it! The thought that there was no possible way for him to fight against a Jedi and have any hope of winning had not occurred to Elijah, yet before he could run from his hiding place, he suddenly saw his father give up.
In shocked horror, Elijah watched Derek close his eyes and rest his head on the marble floor of the garden. The Jedi drew back and then thrust it's saber into the ex-Sith lord's chest, burning a hole straight through Derek's heart.
Derek's body convulsed once, twice, then was still. The Jedi pulled its saber from Derek's chest. The wound when all the way though and was burned completely black. Derek's body then slowly began to fade from view, till nothing was left, save a few smudges of blood.
The Jedi disengaged its lightsaber. Elijah watched as it pushed its hood away so he was allowed to see the back of its head. The Jedi returned its lightsaber to its belt, and then turned to look at the golden sunrise. The fresh morning light shone on its face, giving Elijah a perfect picture of his father's murderer.
* * *
Shyra screamed as the railing cracked and then fell over into the fire, leaving her on the second floor landing. She dashed down the short hallway to Elijah's bedroom.
" 'lijah!!! " She cried.
The room was empty. The bed sheets were disordered from where her brother had been sleeping, but he was not there any longer.
"DADDY!!!" Shyra screamed, the heat and terror made tears run down her face, and the smoke sent her into dizzying coughing fits.
She ran back out into the hallway and peered over the edge hoping to see the master bedroom, but the smoke was thick in her eyes were filled with unshed tears.
She collapsed into a fit of lung-racking coughing. "No, this isn't right!" She sobbed into the carpet. A feeling of desperation washed over her, threatening to drown her. "It's not right..." She mumbled, slurring her words, almost to the point of incoherence.
Suddenly a new feeling came over her, crushing the desperation. It started as a sort of tingling in her tail and then swiftly spread to the rest of her body.
Shyra didn't know what the feeling was. It was like nothing she'd ever experienced before. It was a survival instinct. It was more.
A wave of energy passes through her. It cleared her vision and erased her panic, replacing it with calm. It stopped her thoughts from spinning in her head, and gave her a definite goal: survival.
Yes, she would survive. She was a Saiya-jin after all.
She strode calmly to the window in her room, and felt a surge of power. She slipped the lock and lifted the window. Then, she jumped.
There was a split-second feeling of total freedom, wind rushing in her ear, tearing at her hair and clothes, an aurora of golden energy surrounding her, protecting her. The energy brought her safely to the ground.
Shyra's human mind took over then as the powerful Saiya-jin instinct of survival loosened it's grip on her, and Shyra was left completely clueless as to how she had gotten out of the burning house.
As instincts relaxed and control of her body returned to her, the panic returned as well, and Shyra took off running.
* * *
As soon as Elijah was sure that the Jedi was really gone, he crept out of hiding and rather numbly stumbled over to where his father had died.
There was nothing left there now, save a small smudge of blood. It was stain the marble forever, never washing away. Elijah felt glad it was there. It would serve as a memorial. It would tell generations, "A great man died here!"
Elijah stared at it numbly. No tears fell. He was too shocked to cry. He felt as if a chunk of his soul, his very life, had been brutally ripped from him. In a way, it had. When Derek died, the bond he had with Elijah died as well. Albeit, Elijah had not been aware of the bond, he still felt the incredible loss that comes when it was severed.
After several long minutes, with the morning sun in his face and the three puny moons of Kalesmeir at his back, Elijah turned away. There was no expression on his young face, only the pain of loss in his ice-blue eyes.
As he walked away, Elijah stumbled over something. Glancing down he saw it was part of his father's lightsaber. He picked it up and a large ruby, of the deepest red possible, fell out into his hand. Elijah blinked at it and rolled it around in his palm. The sunlight danced on the jewel causing it to glitter and glow.
Elijah was suddenly aware that since the sun was now up, that meant that people would be waking up now. Shyra would be waking up.
Elijah hesitated. He should be there when Shyra woke up, but what would they do then? Go to school like normal? Maybe tell a teacher what happened? Elijah could do that. He would have to take Shyra to her baby- sitter before he went to school, but that wouldn't hard. True, getting there on foot would take longer, but was that too bad?
"But what if the teacher doesn't care?" Elijah wondered grimly, still gripping the ruby. "But what if Shyra gets stubborn like she does sometimes and won't let me take her?"
That would be just like Shyra, refusing to follow him. The siblings got along well for the most part; the problem was that they were both too stubborn. Shyra was especially stubborn when it came to Elijah telling her was to do. She absolutely abhorred being called a 'baby' or being told she was too little to do something. Yet the fact was, at four years old, she was too little to do a lot of the things Elijah could do.
Elijah sighed looking up at the sky. What was he going to do? He could try the police...and hope that the people trying to kill him hadn't gone there already.
Elijah suddenly shook his head. This wasn't doing anything but wasting time. And it didn't look as if he had much to waste.
The Saiya-jin / Vampyre boy slipped the ruby into the pockets of his pants, and started off towards his home. His empty stomach rumbled. He was hungry, tired, and bruised. And he wasn't looking forward to what the future had in store.
"What a rotten day this will be..." Elijah muttered to himself.
* * *
Tears swelled up in Elijah's icy blue eyes. But if they were because of his deep sadness, or because of the sharp reek of sulfur hanging in the air, he didn't know.
He looked once again at the address on the mailbox. It assured him he was indeed in the right place. Yet nothing else was right.
His house was gone.
There was the mailbox, the chain link fence, and the woods behind the fence, but there was no house.
Instead of a cozy, white, two-story house, Elijah found ashes and burned timbers. He saw ruined furniture, and melted hunks of plastic where toys use to be. Scorched bits of pipe stuck up out of the rubble in various places, a testament to where the frame of the house once stood.
He was so caught up in this new twist of fate, Elijah didn't notice when Daichi popped out of between and landed on his shoulder. The bronze fire- lizard wrapped his tail around Elijah's neck to help maintain his balance. He rubbed his wedge-shaped head up against Elijah's cheek. When Elijah still took no notice of him, Daichi chirruped softly in Elijah's ear.
The noise snapped Elijah back to reality, and he stroked Daichi's soft hide. He could "feel" that Daichi was upset and scared because of the mental bond he had with Daichi, but the bond wouldn't allow him to speak to the fire-lizard, because fire-lizards have limited intelligence and cannot understand words. However, Daichi could interpret emotions, images, and pure thoughts.
So Elijah poured loving reassurances through the mind-link. As soon as Daichi was calm enough for his thoughts to make sense, Elijah "asked" him what had happened.
Daichi showed Elijah his memories of the event. Images formed in Elijah's head and he "saw" the event through fire-lizard eyes.
***He woke to sounds of people outside. It was dark out. Rising to his feet, Daichi/Elijah lunged from his perch over Elijah's bed. He spread his wings and flew down the stairs and into the living room. There, through a window, he could see strange people in dark clothes. They had torches and were talking.
A wave of fear washed over Daichi/Elijah. This was not right! Who were these people? ***
In his own mind Elijah recognized them as the men he and his father had fought against. Why had they come here? And what happened to Shyra? Elijah slipped back into Daichi's memories.
***He cried out, startled, as one of the men flung a torch at him. It smashed the window, sending glass flying everywhere. He weaved in the air to avoid the shards of glass, then pivoted on his tail and when back upstairs to Shyra's room. She was still asleep in bed. He flew to her and attempted to wake her, but she was deeply asleep and it took some time to rouse her. By the time she got up, the entire first floor was a raging inferno. There was no way out!
Well, there was a very easy way out for him. He could easily slip between and simply come out in a safer place, but Shyra couldn't do that. Only Pernese fire-lizards and Pernese dragons could go between. Between was no space, a postulate. Pernese dragons and fire-lizards would jump between when they wanted to travel long distances with out having to actually fly the entire distance.
In a sickening, chaotic haze, Daichi/Elijah suddenly saw a golden aura of energy form around Shyra. He watched as she softly flew to the ground. She was out! The golden light around her faded, and then she darted off into the woods.
Then he went between. ***
The image in Elijah's mind suddenly went pitch black when Daichi went between. It returned three seconds later as Daichi came out of between high over the house, but Elijah mentally turned away. He'd seen what he wanted to. He allowed his gratitude to reach his fire-lizard.
Almost instantly the fire-lizards eyes turned to the rich purple-blue of happiness. Daichi was delighted he'd helped his bond mate.
But happiness was not what Elijah was feeling. Now his home was gone, and his little sister had run away. Not that he could really blame her; he probably would have run too. He had recognized the aura she had created as KI, an omnipresent energy that a few talented species can call to them and control, giving them incredible power. He, himself, was being trained to use KI when he sparred or fought.
With a sigh, Elijah trudged forward to the heap of ashes and ruined junk. He climbed carefully over burned timbers, mindful of all the shattered glass that littered the area.
Daichi yelped a protest as Elijah's movements threatened to dislodge the bronze fire-lizard. He tightened his tail hold around Elijah's neck and dug his sharp talons into Elijah's blue jacket.
Elijah steadied himself and gently pried Daichi's tail from his throat and coaxed the lizard onto his forearm. Staring him in the eye, Elijah focused once again on the bond.
Elijah warned the creature to "listen carefully". He supplied the lizard with a very detailed image, and informed the creature that this was what he was looking for, and did he understand?
Daichi crooned his compliance and took off to look through the junk on the side opposite Elijah. Elijah smiled. This search would go faster with two pairs of eyes.
He dug into the stuff before him; he was in the general area of what would have been the master bedroom. Turning over timbers, Elijah hunted through cinders and ashes. Soot coated his hands and he was stuck by bits of glass, which opened several different wounds.
Under one of the pipes, Elijah discovered a burned photo. It was covered with soot and grime, and Elijah had to pry it loose of its frame. When he did, he found it was a picture of him and his father. His mother had taken the picture so she was not in it, and of course, Shyra wasn't either since it was her birth that had kill their mother. The photo had been taken just after he got his sword on his fourth birthday. In it, Elijah was challenging his father to a mock duel, and Derek was grinning as he held up his hands to show that he was unarmed. Elijah turned the picture over in his hands. He remembered that day. It occurred to Elijah that this picture was probably all that was left of Derek. Fortunately, Daichi called to Elijah before Elijah had time to expand on that rather morbid train of thought.
Elijah dropped the photo and clambered to where the bronze fire-lizard was. Just below him Elijah could see a glint of something gold under the cinders.
Elijah set about digging the object out. Shortly thereafter, he had in his hands a katana. He used a clean corner of his shirt to wipe most of the grime away.
It was a good, strong katana, with a sharply honed blade that gleamed in the sunlight. The hilt was golden with a design of rose vines on it. There were diamonds on the hilt, and on the handle, a name was engraved.
Katrina Beverly Dawson Ravenous
Derek's wife.
Elijah's mother.
Elijah ran a finger over the engraving. His mother had died giving birth to Shyra. He had been three at the time. It was she who gave Elijah and Shyra their Saiya-jin heritage.
Elijah dug around in the ashes bit longer and then came up with the scabbard for the katana. He shortened the shoulder strap as much as he could and slung over his back. It was a bit awkward, seeing as the strap was still a bit on the long side as was the katana itself.
Elijah crawled out of the wreck and called Daichi to him. The little lizard perched again on the boy's shoulder.
Elijah faced the woods in the direction Shyra had run. He held his chin out, his eyes narrowed, his face set in an expression of pure determination. He had lost a lot in the past twenty-four hours; the loss of father was still fresh in his mind and still had not truly sunk in. But he was still alive.
So long as he had a sword, his fire lizard, and his life, he would survive. He would find Shyra, and everything would be all right.
But something somewhere in the back of his mind was not so sure.
* * *
Naivi's eyes scanned the newspaper. She didn't see anything of interest. What a boring little planet Kalesmeir was. It was certainly a beautiful planet, with flowers that could enchant even the worst scrooge, it was too bad that most of them couldn't' grow on any other planet. No, it was certainly a charming planet, with its cities and wild land evenly spread out over the surface of the world, but not much happened.
At least, not anything she cared about.
Naivi found herself glad that she would be leaving this evening to return to Coruscant. There, at least, there would be stuff to occupy her. Naivi disdained being idle.
Which was what she was doing now.
She had nothing to do until her transport left, and that would not be until late this evening. And on Kalesmeir, days lasted for twenty-nine hours. She had quite a wait before she left.
Naivi's eyes wondered around her hotel room. She had gotten a suite, with a visiting room, small kitchenette, a bathroom, and a bedroom barely big enough for the bed. It was actually rather cramped. But she had not actually been in the room much; this was a "business trip" for her and had been kept busy "working". This the only time she had had to herself.
Naivi sat there in silence for a long time, before she rose to her feet. She decided that wondering aimlessly about the city would be better than nothing.
She stepped outside and breathed in the air. It was so much fresher and cleaner smelling than at home. The sunlight gleamed on her metallic, blue- gray skin. Her eyes were a darker blue shot with silver. She was wearing her long silver hair up in a partial braid with the rest flowing down her back to mid-shoulder.
Naivi started a leisurely pace down the sidewalk, looking at the woods near her. Birds flew from branch to branch, locked in a contest to see who had the best mating call.
Naivi did not get very far before she heard the unmistakable sound of someone crying. She stopped in her tracks and peered around. It was late enough in the morning that most people were at work or school. The only other people in the street besides her were a young couple up ahead of her. They did not appear to hear the quiet sobbing.
Naivi carefully peered around her before she left the sidewalk, climbed over a small chain link fence, and was in the woods. The women paused to catch the sound again in her pointed ears before she followed it a few paces into the woods.
There, huddled behind a large tree resembling an oak, she found a small, dirty, sobbing little child. It was hard to tell, but Naivi judged that under all the dirt and grime, it was probably a girl. Her decision was supported by the fact that the child wore long plain dress with a pattern embroidered to the sleeves and bottom. Under the dress, Naivi could just pick out the ends of a pair of biking shorts. The girl was bare-footed, and had soft pink hair with a sleek silver streak running down her bangs on each side of her face. She also had a fuzzy brown tail.
"Hey there." Naivi said softly.
The child jerked her head up to look at Naivi with wide horrified eyes. She gasped and started to run.
"No!" Naivi grabbed her arm to keep her from running. "I'm not going to hurt you."
The child stopped struggling and turned to look at Naivi. Its eyes still showed fear, but now, there was also a mixture of mistrust, curiosity, and . pain?
Naivi released her hold on the girl's wrist. "Who are you? Are you alright?"
The child watched her for a moment, studying her, before suddenly, and quite literally, throwing herself into Naivi's arms and began babbling something completely incoherent.
"Shh, it's okay now." Naivi whispered soothingly. She ran her hands up and down the child's back, not caring about the dirt that came off onto her own hands.
The child stopped trying to talk and just let the tears flow.
Naivi could tell the child was relieved to not have to bear this load alone. She could also tell that the child probably was not going to stop crying anytime soon. Naivi decided to take the poor girl back to her hotel room. It wasn't far, and she would be able to clean the girl up a bit.
* * *
"So, can you tell me your name?" Navi prompted. She had brought the child back and had cleaned her up. Now the girl sat on the couch, shirtless because Naivi had put it into the wash, but she had the tight fitting shorts and now had a fuzzy blanket wrapped about her. She munched hungrily on a sandwich (the only food stuff Naivi had).
"Shyra." The girl answered.
She was cute once the grime was gone.
"Shyra, huh? That's a pretty name. What were you crying about? Did someone hurt you?" Naivi asked tenderly, least she set the child off again.
Tears appeared again, but Shyra fought them off. "My daddy was gone, and 'Lijah too, there was fire!" She started to choke on her words.
"Fire? Where? What kind of fire?"
Shyra frowned. What kind? What different kinds did fire come in? "Big fire, it was all inside the house. Downstairs. It scared me. Daichi was scared too."
"Wait, who's Daichi?"
"'lijah's pet."
"Who's li-ja?"
"My brother."
"Where was he?"
"I dunno, gone."
Naivi frowned. Gone? What did that mean? "Where was your mom?"
"Oh, she left a long time ago, when I came. daddy said she went to heaven."
'So, she's dead.' Naivi thought. She nodded, "Where do you think your daddy went?"
Shyra shrugged. Now that her hunger was gone, she felt sleepy and the soft couch was very inviting.
Naivi seemed to realize this. "Can you tell me your last name? Then you can sleep."
"Rav'nous." Then Shyra made a nest for herself of pillows and was asleep.
Navi felt a smile tugging at her lips and left silently. She dug a phonebook out of a drawer in the kitchenette and looked up the last name.
Ravenous, Jonathan Derek.32 Dawnshadow St.
'Hmm, Dawnshadow Street.that's not far, there's a lot of big expensive houses there, and they're all set apart pretty far. If there's a fire, it's probably not been found yet. I should call the fire department.' Naivi turned thought into action and reported the fire. Then, hoping Shyra would not wake for a while, she hurried off to meet them.
* * *
Elijah had fallen, and he did not think he could get up. His wounds burned and throbbed. His legs ached and his vision swam. He had collapsed in the forest near the base of a tree. His stomach hurt, crying for food. The soot was making his skin itch and his sweat was not helping.
He had been looking for Shyra all day. The sun was high in the sky, casting very little shadow, so Elijah figured it was about noontime.
Daichi chirruped from his perch in the tree. He was getting hungry too.
Elijah moaned and sent him off to hunt. At least he would get to eat.
Elijah rolled over onto his back. The thick branches of the trees hid the sun from his eyes. He closed them and was all but asleep when Daichi burst out of between chattering excitedly.
The image of broken twigs and snapped branches was projected into Elijah's mind. Something had run by in a blind panic and left a trail! Daichi then issued the image of footprints, small *human* footprints.
A surge of hope swelled up in Elijah. Fire lizards had limited intelligence, as stated before, so not only can they not understand words, but they also have no imagination. So Daichi had actually seen these things.
Elijah instructed the little bronze to lead him to the path and then he was off.
* * *
Naivi was lost in thoughts, as she sat in the small living room. She had met the fire department at the address; the house had been burned to a crisp. The firemen found no trace of bodies, so Shyra's father and brother had gotten away. Naivi had not told the men about Shyra. She knew she should turn the child over to them so they could reunite her with her family, but Naivi could do that. She didn't know why, but something inside of her wouldn't let her. Which was silly seeing as she was leaving tonight, and she had no real connection to the girl.
Shyra herself was also in the living room. She had waken shortly after Naivi returned, and now she was propped up against the window, staring out with a far-away look in her eyes. She had put her now clean dress back on and as Naivi looked at her, Naivi could see nothing more of the dirty, terrified little girl she had found in the woods. There was an unexplainable strength about her. She was sitting perfectly still, only her monkey-like tail twitching from time to time.
Naivi watched her, wondering what she was thinking. She felt a growing interest toward this strange child. 'What is her full story?' Naivi wondered.
* * *
Shyra floated in her mind, drifting aimlessly between thoughts. She wondered where her daddy was, where her brother was. She wondered about Naivi too.
She felt curious about this new person. Where was she from? What was she going to do with Shyra? Would she take Shyra with her? Would she help find her family?
Shyra found herself wanting to ask these, and a million more questions, but she did not. Well, maybe she would. Shyra mentally debated whether she should give voice to her questions or not. But her debate was cut short when she saw *him*.
Elijah.
Walking down the sidewalk with Daichi on his shoulder.
He was coming to her.
Shyra froze. It was so unexpected! A thousand emotions washed over her, and each one brought with it a thousand more questions.
Suddenly she made eye contact with him.
He saw her.
His eyes widened in surprise, then he broke into a dead run.
Shyra dropped to the floor and, ignoring the Naivi's alarm, darted out the door.
Naivi was immediately in pursuit.
Shyra got out the door and took four steps before she found herself wrapped in the arms of her older brother.
"Shyra!" He cried joyously, embracing her.
"Brother!" Shyra mumbled happily into his shirt, before tears once again appearing in her jade green eyes. "Oh, 'Lijah! Where were you? I was all alone! And there was fire! I was scared, you weren't there, Where's daddy? 'Lijah." The words came tumbling out of her mouth without thought.
There were tears now in Elijah's eyes too. He would have to tell his little sister how their father died. He could say nothing; only hold her for several minutes.
Shyra fell silent. Something had happened, she realized. Something bad.
Elijah opened his mouth, but before he could say anything, he saw Naivi in the doorway watching him with an odd expression on her face.
Elijah gasped and jumped away from Shyra abruptly. "You!" He declared, pointing an accusing finger at Naivi. "You killed him! You killed my father!"
* * *
Naivi was not at all surprised by this accusation. She recognized the boy as the one she had seen with the Sith last night. She had thought the hit on the head had killed the child, because she had not seen him after that.
Naivi was shocked at what was happening now though. This was Shyra's brother? But that meant that. Shyra was the daughter of a Sith!
The realization hit hard. That was why the girl seemed so strong! She had the Force! But she didn't know how to properly use it.
* * *
Shyra was shaken to the core. Naivi? Killed her father? What was her brother talking about?
* * *
A fire now burned deep within Elijah. He recognized the dark brown robes Naivi wore. And he recognized her face from when she had turned to look at the sunrise.
She was a Jedi!
She killed Derek!
Elijah felt the fire growing; it thrived on his hatred for his father's murderer. Suddenly, all his pain and weariness vanished as the fire grew. Elijah could feel the shrill power of it. He would kill the Jedi.
"Shyra! Run!" Elijah commanded.
Shyra blinked in confusion, then stuck her chin out in a way, that every one who knew her recognized as a sign that she was about to get really stubborn, and what ever you were about to ask her to do, she was not going to do it. "No! 'Lijah stop!"
"Shyra!"
"'lijah!"
The two locked eyes, each trying to have their way.
"She helped me, 'Lijah! Leave her alone."
"She killed dad!" Elijah hissed.
Shyra did not answer. Killed daddy? What?
Elijah turned to Naivi. She watched him silently. She did not want to fight the boy, but she would leave the choice with him.
Elijah powered up. The golden flames of KI appeared around him, forming an aura of energy.
"No!" Shyra screamed and ran at him, but without so much as batting an eye, Elijah used the KI to push her away.
Shyra yelped in surprise as she was blown back against the wall.
Naivi shot a quick glance in her direction to make sure Shyra was all right, and then Elijah attacked.
Giving Naivi no time to draw her saber, Elijah threw a KI blast at her.
Naivi ducked, instantly grabbing her lightsaber. The familiar blue blade hissed to life.
"You won't get away with this!" Elijah threw another ball of glowing energy at her.
Naivi raised her saber to deflect it but when it hit her blade, there was a loud hiss, and the force of the contact sent waves of shock shooting up her arm. The blade hissed, sputtered, and went out, while Naivi was thrown off balance.
Elijah flew at her, hoping to land a punch to the mid-drift area, but Naivi ducked at the last minute, jumping away. She toggled the power control on her lightsaber hilt and the blue blade sprang back to life.
Suddenly, Naivi was aware of the Dark Side near by.
Elijah saw Naivi suddenly turn and leap away, a black lightsaber blade slashed through the air where she had just been.
Elijah blinked; the KI flames diminishing somewhat as surprise overcame his concentration.
The Sith scowled at Naivi.
The Jedi prepared to fight.
The Sith suddenly lunged at Elijah. Elijah was caught completely off guard and was frozen to the spot of air he was levitating in.
"No!" Navi whirled to get between the child and his attacker. Black and blue clashed, hissing.
Navi threw a glance over her shoulder at Elijah.
* * *
The shock had left Elijah and now he was confused.
This was the man that had stripped his father of his title.
These were his two enemies. And they were fighting each other!
Elijah watched as the two skilled Force-users dueled. As he watched, he released the KI so it disappeared, and dropped to the ground. He turned to look at Shyra.
She, too, was watching the fight. But there was something in her eyes that told Elijah she was cheering for the Jedi.
She turned then, and caught his eye. And in that instant, Elijah disowned her. She trusted the Jedi, and now hated him for trying to kill the Jedi.
Well, that was fine. If she would rather trust their father's murderer than her own brother, then she was not his sister.
And Elijah had a gut feeling, that she had already renounced him.
He turned and walked to her, his hand pulling the ruby from his pocket. Elijah stopped in front of Shyra and held out his hand, palm down.
"Good bye, Shyra Angel Ravenous." His voice had a hard edge, born of betrayal.
Shyra's eyes widened in surprise. So she had not disowned him.yet. She slowly raised her hand, and Elijah dropped the ruby into it.
Shyra blinked, looking at it, then looked back up to watch Elijah walking away form her, without ever looking back.
* * *
Naivi, surprised by the other's quickness and ferocity, barely blockied the blow wither own weapon, the blades sliding apart with a harsh rasp. The attacker spun away in a whirl of dark clothing, then attacked anew, lightsaber slashing at his intended prey, face alight with a killing frenzy that promised no quarter. Her attacker closed on her again, forcing her back, striking at her from every angle. Naivi began hammering at the demonic faced attacker with renewed determination, always moving, never stopping. The Sith was fast, and Naivi had to focus all her attention on it. She did not see Elijah's bitter farewell.
But the Sith did, and when his attention faltered, Naivi struck.
A powerful swipe right through its middle. There was a strangled cry as the two halves toppled and then vanished, before the top half even touched the ground.
Navi deactivated her saber.
She turned to look at the pink haired Saiya-jin /vampire child, Elijah was gone. Shyra looked up at her, tears pooling up in her eyes.
Naivi sank to her knees and hugged the child. "It'll be okay, Shyra. You can come with me to Coruscant. I'll find you a good home, alright?"
Shyra nodded, the tears fell silently down her cheeks. She would survive this. She was part Saiya-jin after all.
THE END