Pain.
Such…horrible pain.
Air refused to come. She could not breathe. She could not move. She could not think.
Logic and reason ceased to exist. All that was left was a hole, ripped so violently and suddenly from her that she was left in shock. Her arms and legs would not respond to her muted thoughts of standing up. She couldn't move.
Was someone talking to her?
Seyje turned her head, staring blankly at the man kneeling down next to her. His sky blue eyes were brimmed with tears, his expression holding more grief than she'd ever seen in a person's eyes.
"Seyje…" Quinn whispered hoarsely.
The Sith gasped loudly, realizing she hadn't been breathing. Her body shook as the wave of shock began to release its hold on her. Seyje looked blankly at her hands, her knuckles white from clenching the Captain's chair so tightly.
What had just happened?
"Quinn," Seyje gasped, letting go of the metal frame. She was shaking uncontrollably and couldn't stop. "Quinn, we have to – she's with – she's in."
Her husband stepped forward, wrapping his arms around his wife. The blow struck her in the chest with the strength of a boulder. A strangulated cry clawed its way out of Seyje's throat, followed by a horrified screech.
"Noo! No, Valisea, no!"
The Fury echoed with her screams as the tears streamed down her face. All the bones she'd ever broken, all the sleepless nights and fiery burns she'd ever endured, even Malavai's betrayal…not even all of those combined hurt as much as this.
Seyje was not a widow. Quinn was not a widower. Valisea was not an orphan.
There were no words for this.
This was no ordinary pain. Everything hurt. Every part of her mind, her body, her heart, her soul – every cell from the tips of her red hair to the tips of her toes. It was as if every tiny molecule within her fibers was screaming in protest, "No, no, no, this can't be true!"
"She killed her!" Seyje wailed. "Valara killed my baby girl!"
Quinn's own crying was drowned out by his wife's, but he wept all the same, unable to do anything but sit there and hold her as she sobbed.
No one really knew how much time passed before Seyje's grief warped into a fiery rage. The crew had only seen such anger once before, and the circumstances back then were not nearly as dire as they were now. So when the Sith Lord told them they were all staying behind, including Quinn, no one argued except the Captain himself.
"I will not allow your twisted sister to get away with this. If you think you're getting revenge on your own, you're wrong," he hissed.
"Quinn, were this any other enemy, I would let you kill her yourself," Seyje snarled. "But Valara is mine to handle. You're staying behind with the crew, and that's final."
"She killed our daughter, Seyje! I will not stand here and do nothing about it!"
"That is enough, Malavai!"
The air went silent. The other four members of the crew stood waiting anxiously for the argument to reach an end. The Captain glared at his wife, taking a deep breath in an attempt to cool his temper. Seyje was furious, on the verge of insanity, and everyone else knew it.
"You're staying here, because I don't know what is going to happen down there. Valara will die, I can promise you that," she stated coldly, her cutting through the air like a whip. "What I can't promise is how many I will take down with her."
Quinn's featured softened as he understood. "You want me to use the serum from Doctor Lokin."
"I can think of no other circumstance that would call for it."
He exhaled quietly, the situation starting to assert itself in his mind. The Davire Curse had strengthened with time, even altered itself to the point where Seyje could now physically shift into the wolf-like form of a Shistavanen. That had happened only a few times, but when it did, it had taken hours for Seyje's bloodlust to satiate enough for her to shift back to human form. The serum from Doctor Lokin would allow her to shift back within a few seconds after it was injected into her system.
"Alright…I will wait aboard the ship and keep track of your progress," Quinn said quietly.
Seyje's expression tightened, and she nodded once. "Vette, lower the ship to the surface." The Twi'lek rushed out of the lobby towards the bridge.
Pierce and Broonmark slunk off to other parts of the ship, seeing as they had no part to play in the upcoming battle. When the Fury was close enough to the ground, Seyje leaped out of the open door, her black-core purple lightsabers coming to life. The ship departed back into space, and Quinn resolved to lock himself in his and Seyje's shared quarters.
Everything in his head was a complete disaster right now. This wasn't supposed to happen. He, an Imperial officer, was supposed to be incapable of grief. Shut up. You know that part of your resolve shattered a long time ago. Quinn sat on the edge of the bed, his fingers clinging to the sheets as sobs wracked his body. Valisea's personality had always been like her mother's, though her physical qualities took a lot after Quinn. She kept her dark brown hair tied up in a neat bun as often as possible, only letting it loose in private. She was a natural leader, taking after both her parents in that aspect. Her likeness to Seyje caused them to butt heads at least once a day, so she would often go to her father for comfort and advice. Those moments were what Quinn treasured most – to see the fiery spirit of his daughter and think about what she would do for the Empire.
She was only seventeen…
With a shout of frustration, Quinn grabbed the glass on the nightstand and threw it across the room. It hit the opposite wall, shattering into dozens of broken pieces. His chest heaved as he released a shaky breath, staring blankly at the fragments. How ironic, it seemed, that the glass looked just like his heart in its broken state. Quinn sighed deeply, wiping the tears from his face, and he grit his teeth against the pain.
I will have revenge, whether I'm on the surface or not.
Quinn stormed out of the bedroom, heading straight for the bridge. Vette was sitting in the Captain's chair while Jaesa stood beside her. They were speaking in low voices when he walked in.
"Move," he snarled.
Vette cast him an uneasy look, but slid out of the chair. "You're not gonna go blast everyone off the planet, are you?" she asked.
"It's a tempting thought."
"Quinn!"
"But no, I will be tracking Seyje's progress from here. If she requires it, then yes, I will start shooting," he growled.
Jaesa and Vette exchanged worried glances. A grief-stricken officer at the helm of the ship was probably not the best idea, but they didn't want to argue with him. Jaesa placed a hand on Quinn's shoulder, catching him by surprise.
"If it will help, I can offer a temporary shield from your emotions. It might make it easier to focus," she said quietly.
He was silent for a moment, contemplating the outcome of ignoring her offer. The destruction would likely be much worse without. Quinn looked up at her and nodded. Jaesa closed her eyes, willing the Force to create a barrier around his heart while he steered the ship. He was slightly taken aback by the numbness that washed over him, but it was a welcome feeling. With a renewed determination, Quinn focused on the monitors in front of him.
As soon as her feet hit the dusty red ground, Seyje took off. She ran through the rubble to the edge of what was left of the landing pad. The sight before her made her head reel. Bodies of both Imperial and Republic soldiers littered the ground, from where she stood all the way to the Academy's entrance. Korriban was already a planet of ruins, but now it looked like one itself. Metal walkways and stone pillars were collapsed. Holes had been blown out of the ground by air strikes and bombs.
Anger.
Rage.
Hatred.
Seyje let such emotions flow through her. She could feel her blood beginning to flow faster, her cells starting to warp. Using the Force, she held her ignited lightsabers in front of her hands, and as soon as the claws formed, she struck through the purple blades. With a single spasm, red fur sprouted out of her skin, covering her entire body. A broad muzzle took the place of her lower face, and pointed ears formed on the side of her head. She flicked her long, slick tail, snarling angrily at the wasteland before her.
The Curse had completed her transformation. Instead of a light skinned redhead, she was now a red-furred beast with claws and teeth like iron and skin like durasteel. Seyje had also grown two feet taller in this form, standing at a towering seven feet. Thanks to another adjustment from Doctor Lokin, her armor stretched itself to match her physical needs.
With a ferocious snarl, wolf-like Seyje took off loping across the sand. It was a two-legged run, though she appeared to be on all fours due to her hunched shoulders. Her black claws, having absorbed the power of her lightsabers, glowed purple.
It took her less than an hour to cut across Korriban's ruined tundra. A stream of bodies and blood were left in her wake; none were spared. With every kill, the Sith became more and more corrupted by the Curse. Her once sapphire blue eyes were a bright, sadistic orange. By the time she reached the Academy, Seyje's wolf-like form had become fully animalistic. Her body build had changed so that she now stood on all fours. Blood stained her paws and teeth, dripping onto her tongue and driving her mad with revenge.
The creature roared, its thundering call shaking the planet to the core. From inside the Academy, Valara sneered. Her own beastly transformation had already taken place, though she still stood on two legs. Her build was much thinner due to a lifetime of dark side corruption, but she still held considerable power. With a chuff, the wolf-like Jedi picked up its prey in its front paws and teeth, stalking through the collapsing halls with sinister pride.
Outside, the wolf Sith stamped its paws, sensing the approach of its target. The lust for blood was almost overwhelming. Red fur bristled from her shoulders, making the already large animal look twice its size. A shadow moved in the doorway, catching Seyje's attention, and she snarled a warning.
The wolf-like Jedi stepped out into the bright sunlight, holding a body in her hands and the brown hair of a head between her teeth. The Sith growled low, her hungry eyes set on Valara. However, the moment her gaze shifted down, Seyje's blood froze. A high-pitched whine came from her throat, and she paced in the sand restlessly.
Valara laughed, a sound that scraped through the air like nails dragging across metal. As her mouth opened, the head dropped into the sand. In her two-legged form, Valara's voice was still intact.
"Have you come for this, sister?" she taunted, kicking the cauterized head towards the wolf. It rolled down the dusty slope, stopping once it hit a rock sitting in the collapsed entryway of Ajunta Pall's tomb.
Seyje stared down at her daughter's head in shock. Valisea's face was frozen in an expression of defiance, her eyes shut tightly. She had died fighting to the very end. The Sith coughed, regaining her ability to breathe, and she shook her furry head. A deep, vicious growl rumbled in her chest, her orange eyes locking on the Jedi. Hatred flowed through her veins, death being the only thought on her mind. Words were not needed to convey the fierce desire for Valara's blood. She stomped her front paw, tail flicking back and forth as she issued her challenge. Valara chuckled.
"Perhaps you want this instead?" she asked, and dropped Valisea's body to the ground, letting it slide down the same slope towards her head.
Every fiber in Seyje's body snapped.
Not only had Valara killed her daughter, but she had dared to do it in the most dishonorable way possible – beheading.
With a roar, Seyje lunged. Valara hissed and spat as she dodged, but ended up miscalculating her step, and the wolves collided. Snarls, roars, and the thundering clap of paws filled the air. Seyje had the size and strength advantage, but Valara was faster and had Force-stealth on her side.
When under the influence of the Curse, the Davire sisters could not be harmed by anything but each other – with the exception of a pure silver blade, which had not yet been found.
The battle was long and bloody. Seyje massacred Valara at every chance, but Valara would disappear and reappear so fast, Seyje would be caught off-guard before regaining her ground. Almost every other person on the planet had already been slaughtered, so there was no one left to give one sister an advantage over the other.
At one point, it appeared that Valara would triumph when she used Telekinesis to throw pieces of rubble at Seyje. The Sith tried to dodge, but a shard of shrapnel whipped through the air and pierced her on the left side. She yelped loudly, stumbling as her footing was lost. Valara's eyes gleamed, and she leapt up in the air to deliver the final blow. Seyje stopped her midair with the Force, and threw her sister into one of the Academy's pillars. Valara coughed, waving the dust from in front of her face.
That moment of pause was all Seyje needed.
She bounded forward, smacking Valara's head into the rock and stunning her. Seyje then leapt upon her, seized Valara's neck in her mouth, and crushed her vertebrae without a second's hesitation.
Her sister's blood poured into her mouth, thick and sweet as Seyje eagerly drank it. Doing so should've satiated the Curse, but she was not yet satisfied. The Sith could sense another presence inside the Academy – another soul who needed to suffer for the atrocities against her and her beloved Empire. With a snarl, she crushed her front paw into Valara's ribs, the sharp crack resonating in her ears. Seyje then dropped her sister's body to the dust, kicking it away as she sauntered towards the chambers of the Dark Council.
"Quinn, do something! If she goes in there, we'll lose track of her!" Vette shouted hysterically.
The entire Fury was in a state of panic. The Curse had taken an unexpected turn by changing Seyje into full wolf-like form, and no one knew if Doctor Lokin's serum would still work. It hadn't been made to deal with such drastic changes. They had seen, by the way Seyje had brutally murdered her sister just like an animal, that the Curse was now affecting her mind just as much as her body.
"I'm trying, Vette! If I bring the ship any closer to the surface, we'll either hit the collapsed statues or the dust will clog the vents and we'll lose air mobility," Quinn said sharply.
Vette huffed in exasperation. "Jaesa, isn't there something you can do? Use the Force to call out to her or something?"
Jaesa shook her head. "Seyje and I do not share the same telepathic bond like she does with Saiyah. Even if I did, she is in no state to listen to reason."
"Wait! Wait, I think I've got something," Quinn said hastily.
They all crowded around the console, watching the camera zoom in on the screen. The large red wolf they were tracking was staring directly at them. Quinn's breath hitched. Those bright orange eyes did not belong to his wife. Seyje was merciful and kind. This beast staring back at him, with cold dead eyes, was something else entirely. A shiver went down his spine as he realized they weren't trying to stop Seyje; they were trying to stop a monster.
Quinn reached for the controls, intent on firing the missile dart at the wolf, but his fingers froze as a sound came through the speakers. A laugh, as void of emotion as Valara's, only it came from the creature below. Quinn's gaze darted back to the screen, and his fingers froze as he saw the sneer spreading across the beast's face. Blood-stained fangs glinted in the bright sunlight, its chest rumbling with the taunt.
Then, with a flick of its tail, the wolf disappeared through the doors. Silence fell upon the ship. Minutes passed, and though they couldn't see, the crew could hear the screams of those still inside the Academy. Whoever was in the Dark Council chambers would not be leaving alive. Quinn wordlessly switched the scanners to monitor transmissions, and a conversation piped up on the intercom.
"Commander Jensyn! There's a-a-a beast approaching us! Blasters don't hurt it! Its tearing through our soldiers like – aaaargh!"
"General? General! Damn."
A few minutes later, the same voice came through again. This time, low vicious snarls could be heard in the background.
"So it's happening. I didn't think I'd have served my purpose so soon. I may not survive this encounter, spawn of Sith alchemy, but you cannot stop what's to come."
Angry barks drowned out the humming of a lightsaber, but the battle was brief. Judging by the sounds, Quinn guessed that Commander Jensyn had tried slicing the wolf down the spine, only to find its skin impenetrable. The beast had then turned and slashed open his neck before he could make another futile move.
The Dark Council's chambers became eerily silent. Vette began to grow restless, and started to pace. Moments later, they heard Seyje's voice on the intercom. Her voice was quiet, and she sounded exhausted.
"Quinn, I don't know what just happened, but you better be ready to get me the hell out of here."
A sigh of relief went up from the crew. Quinn put his elbows on the console and rested his forehead in his hands.
"It's over."