AN: Sorry it's been a little while. I had Finals and other pressing matters, as well as working on my other stories. Hope everyone had a good couple weeks!
Leon woke up feeling better than he had in a long while. His arm was slightly numb from the weight of the woman's head resting on his bicep, a dull tingling running down the length of his arm and up his fingers. It wasn't uncomfortable, instead reminding the Knight of the almost electric nature of how her skin felt against his. He slowly raised his hand over the sheets and delicately pushed a stray strand of her blue hair from her face to rest it behind her ear. She stirred slightly, murmuring in her sleep, but quickly returned to her rest. Leon didn't move his fingers from her face, his skin just barely dragging against hers. He examined her face, the curve of her nose, the dip of her eye sockets. The corners of her lips were tugged up in a natural smile. Being both a Chiss and a Sith, it was slightly arrogant and more than a little self assured, though Leon preferred it that way. It showed that innate confidence he found so appealing in her.
Mari turned again, causing the sheets atop her to rustle and her metallic arm to drag across Leon's chest, the fingers carrying a slight metallic chill before leaving his skin and coming down again on his own hand. His fingers instinctively curled around hers, warming the synthetic nerves laced through the metal. He gripped her midsection and slid his face down, nuzzling his chin over her shoulder, breathing in her hair, taking in the moment. He wasn't sure, but he thought he'd even let his guard down enough to take in some of the emotion-strengthening empath field. Leon sighed contentedly into her neck and shut his eyes again.
He stayed like that for a while, just enjoying being with her, feeling skin against skin. The edge of her unconscious thought drifted across the periphery of his mind, giving him fleeting, accidental glances into her dreams. His face popped up a few times. A starship – the Eagle. Two Chiss with faces obscured by light. A blood red lightsaber clashing in a brilliant light with one of a glowing white. Memories faded by time and the subconscious' fleeting whims. Things even her sleeping mind considered important.
The memory of the prior night resurfaced, scratching against his psyche. He smiled and clutched her closer. "So that's what you're thinking about?" she asked, her face turning towards his until their noses dragged across one another. "I'm glad you liked it – though I don't remember that much dim, red light."
Leon smiled – that last memory had been coming from his own thoughts. "Passion of the memory," he suggested, thinking of the Sith Code.
"Passion?" Mari laughed at that, angling her head down so her breath collided with his throat. Her gaze drifted back up to his; her small, flirtatious smile was visible only for a moment before her lips found Leon's, pulling him into a passionate, hungry embrace. She twisted between his arms and grabbed his face with one hand, letting the other circle around one side of his neck. She pulled away a moment later, letting her lips hover just apart from his. "How does that passion compare?"
He answered wordlessly, moving his mouth forward to lock with hers. His hands ran up her back until his fingers entangled in her hair, clutching her head closer to his own. Her own hands drifted down to his chest and then around to his back, clutching at him. Leon shifted the weight of his body to the side until he was laying atop her and moved his mouth to her neck. Marien moaned appreciatively and Leon continued through the beeping of a comm on the floor beside the bed. He began drifting down Mari's body, causing her to shudder with every plant of his lips.
Then the comm beeped again and Deranis' voice drifted through. "Gray, Blue – we've got trouble." Leon stopped at Mari's abdomen, considering ignoring the call. What could be so important when he had this beautiful, blue Chiss beneath him? The two of them could get into their own trouble, and it would undoubtedly be a thousand times more fun than whatever was going to happen once he picked up that communicator. "Big trouble, and it involves you, glorious leader."
The Gray Knight sighed, but still tried to ignore it. At least until Mari pushed his up to his knees, glaring in annoyance at the place from where the Echani's voice had come. "I can't even feel the empath field anymore," she said.
Leon began to retort angrily, thinking she didn't want to continue because of that. Then he froze. If she couldn't feel it, that means something was disrupting it. Something was attacking, and it was big. "We'll be picking up where we left off later," Mari said, gripping Leon's shoulders to pull herself into a sitting position. Her voice said it was a suggestion. Her eyes: a command.
"Promise," Leon agreed, leaning forward and planting a quick, but no less passionate kiss on her mouth. He broke it and jumped from the bed to dress himself for whatever crisis it was this time.
"Guys!"
"On our way!" Leon growled into his communicator.
SWSWSWSWSW
"What in the name of a half-blooded, bastard Sithspawn could have been so important to pull me from," Leon began, glancing over at Mari for a moment before looking back at Deranis, "incredibly important matters?"
"You mean finishing the Kessel run?" Cade asked, eyes glinting with sarcastic joy. Leon glared dryly at the old man, completely annoyed. "Less than twelve parsecs, or could you last longer?"
"Parsecs are distance," Leon grumbled angrily, turning his gaze from Cade and back to the Echani. "What. Is. It?"
"I'd stop with the jokes. His eyes have that same yellow glint as Stauen's," Deranis suggested to the old Jedi, who just shrugged nonchalantly and gestured for the Echani to hurry it up. He sighed and response and turned back to Leon. "Your old buddy's back. The one from Coruscant. And Corellia."
"Kriff," Leon grunted, running his hand through his hair and leaning on the table and groaning. "That Jedi asshole again? What's going on?"
"Well, that's the where the problem comes in. The resort's trying to keep it hush hush, though I don't think they'll be able to for much longer," Cade said, drawing Leon's gaze. "We only heard about it because some droid from the front desk contacted us. Said he couldn't reach you and decided to call us instead. Your buddy? He's got this place on lock down, screaming for the 'Black bladed Sith' to come and face him."
"Oh, kark," Leon groaned, rubbing the bridge of his nose. "I knew letting that guy live was going to come back and bite me in the ass."
"Just another problem the traitorous bitch left for us to fix," Mari growled, shaking her head. "I should have let you kill him on our way out."
"Can't focus on that now," Leon said, grimacing. He looked around the room. "What else is there?"
"He's apparently placed bombs all around the building. He'll blow 'em if we try to escape," Cade explained. "So bolting now isn't an option."
"How did he even find us?" Leon growled to himself. He sighed and shook his head, letting his chin fall to his chest.
"What's the plan, Commander?" Cade asked.
Leon sighed and ran both of his hands through his hair, thinking it through. "We give him what he wants," Leon said coolly. He unclipped his saber from his hip. "I'll keep him busy so that you three can find and get rid of the bombs. I'm sure he's got people with the disarming codes guarding them."
"And if he doesn't?" Mari asked.
Artoo whistled. "He can defuse them. It'll just take some time getting him from site to site," Cade explained.
"Then that's our backup plan. I'll keep the Jedi busy while you three – four, sorry Artoo – track down and get rid of the bombs," Leon said. He thumbed the activator for his lightsaber, the black blade igniting with a dangerous hum of power. "Let's go."
SWSWSWSWSW
"I told you to bring me the Sith!" the Falling Jedi Knight screamed, waving his saber around him, the burning hot plasma searing through the air inches from the faces of many bystanders. The people screamed in fear, shrinking away from the violently unhinged Jedi. "Where is he!?"
"We do not have any Sith staying here currently," the manager said, trying to use his empathic abilities to calm the Jedi.
It only made him angrier. His yellow saber flashed towards the manager, immediately removing the man's arm from his body. "Do not try to control a Jedi," the man growled, sticking his arm out towards the Zeltron and exerting a noose of power on his throat.
"Sir," the former Triumvirate marine cautioned.
The Jedi paid his underling no heed, instead twisting his fist and instantly snapping the manager's throat. "Is there anyone here who will tell me what I want?" he growled, tossing the Zeltron's body aside lazily. "Anyone!?"
"Statement: He'll kill you."
The Jedi turned slowly towards the source of the smug, mechanical voice. It was a simple serving droid, though it appeared to have been passed over for more than a few dozen memory wipes. He was unique, an impossibility on a planet where the species wanted so much control over the experiences of all present. An anomalous twist in the fabric of the Force. An annoyance. "So you know who I'm looking for," the Jedi muttered, his voice a low, dangerous growl. "Where is he?"
"Response: I am unsure. Thinly Veiled Threat: Likely watching you. Waiting for you to make a single mistake. Explanation: The idiots here were mumbling about an organic with a black lightsaber that took out twenty Mandalorians on his own. Gleeful Statement: He'll kill you... Meatbag."
"You believe you have a connection to him?" the Jedi asked, examining the droid. He raised his yellow saber to its thin, metallic neck, causing the droid to groan in annoyed frustration. "Perhaps you know a way to contact him?"
"Sarcastic Reply: Yes, threaten me. I'm a one of a kind droid after all," the sarcastic synth said, crossing its arms over its chassis. "Caustic Remark: And I thought the meatbags I met on a daily basis were morons."
"You're right, this one wins the race, HK," a familiar voice said from the other side of the room. There was a flurry of blaster bolts being shot, the barrels of multiple former Triumvirate soldiers vworping as they cast plasma through the air and towards the Gray Knight. An equal number of rebound noises came just moments later, the newcomer's saber flashing through the air to send each shot through the face of the man who had sent it. Every former soldier fell to the ground, dead.
The Jedi turned slowly, his eyes flaring into a dull yellow. "Monster," he said, performing a Makashi salute and narrowing his eyes hidden behind his Force Mask. The Gray Knight was wearing new skin but he was the same man beneath the clothes. Arrogant, dry. Powerful. Even now, on a planet where the empath field could permeate every thought, it was like the Gray Knight was a bubble of his own thoughts and energies. A maelstrom of the Force and of power itself. "I was hoping to see you again. Repay you for the embarrassment you brought me through my defeats."
"Hah. Well if it weren't for the traitor, I would've killed you twice already and been done with it," Leon retorted, holding his weapon in front of him. The Jedi looked... unhinged. His hair was perfectly done, and he likely looked composed to any eye of a normal man. But in the eye of the Force? There was a black emptiness where he stood, a palpable darkness of hatred and anger. He was filled with rage and a desire to spread that rage to all who came near him. Leon could see the gleaming yellow eyes even in the brightness of the Zeltronian atrium, the rage filled eyes glancing around to cast fear into the hearts of all the bystanders. "Though maybe this is a better victory – you look the part of a Sith, now."
At that, the Jedi roared in rage and leaped into action. The yellow saber flashed through the air, crashing with a heavy hiss against Leon's weapon. "If it is a Sith that can kill you, I would become the darkest of Dark Lords, the most power hungry master of ancient rage," the Jedi snarled, his voice a low, angry hiss that matched the clashing blades. "I would do anything to flood the starways in the blood of a monster like you."
"Well, then you could kill yourself," Leon suggested, lashing out with his leg. The Jedi dashed back, dodging the move. "Look around, Jedi! Are these people not those you swore to protect?!"
"I protect them best by destroying the Sith at all avenues," the Jedi retorted, twirling and bringing his blade around to bisect Leon. The Knight flipped over the blade, the yellow saber passing centimeters below his head as he did. "Your destruction is my greatest gift to them."
"Even at the cost of their safety? Their lives!?" Leon snapped as he landed. He drove his weapon forward, only to have his stab parried by the yellow weapon. Leon turned that deflection into his own spinning, sweeping blow. The Jedi brought his own weapon around and blocked the attack, barely budging from the force of the blow. "Do you hear yourself?"
"I am a Jedi! I am never beyond redemption, Sith," the Jedi growled, his blonde hair more of a sickly gray by this point. Leon felt his heart pumping hard in his chest, terrified thoughts running across his mind. Was this the final result of the Dark Side, a hollow, raging shell of what once lived? Was this what the Emperor looked like? This was similar to what Darth Vallen looked like, though she somehow made it work for her; a dangerous attractiveness locked behind her eyes. Which would she inevitably become? What would Mari become if she Fell too far?
"Concentrate on me, Monster!" the Jedi snapped, slamming his forehead into Leon's. The Gray Knight stumbled backwards, stars flashing in his eyes and his lightsaber floundering in front of him. The Force must have had further plans for him, because his wild slash deflected one of the Jedi's incoming blows. "I'm not going to be ignored! Give me your all! Die like the animal you are!"
"Damn, your a few crystals short of a lightsaber," Leon muttered, dashing forward and launching into a flurry of attacks so that their sabers crashed into each other like a series of thunder blasts. Leon feinted an attack, then brought the blade around and slashed it upward at the Jedi's head. The warrior jumped back so that only his robes were hit, leaving a huge gash along the chest of his robes. "Wonder why you're so kriffing stupid you'd want to go for round three when you've lost every time so far."
"A Jedi never gives in!"
"Except to the Dark Side, apparently," Leon sneered, redirecting the yellow blade of the Fallen Jedi and leaning to the side to dodge, giving the whole movement an effortless look. "That's somethin' you guys give in to left and right, huh?"
The Jedi hissed angrily and Force jumped towards the Knight again, only for Leon to laugh and flick his wrist. The Jedi tumbled through the air as soon as the Force blast collided with him, crashing into the wall. "Is that the best you've got? I gotta say, I'm a little disappointed," Leon said with a shrug. He advanced on the prone Jedi. "But I'll tell you what – you tell your Triral rejects to disarm your bombs, and I won't holomessage your Jedi Master that his padawan is nothing more than another second rate Fallen Jedi who can't keep the Dark Side in his pants longer than an hour."
"You've probably seen him more recently than I!" the Jedi snarled, surging to his feet. Leon scoffed and raised his weapon, knowing he would soon effortlessly deflect the blow. However, the attack never came. Instead, Leon watched in horror as the Jedi appeared beside HK-i. "Now, you seem to care about this droid. I don't know why, but you've somehow linked with it through the Force. That's rare. Which tells me one thing: this is how I can let the monster out to play."
Leon jumped forward, already hearing Revan's dark laughter in the back of his mind. Leon knew that this is what the late Sith had intended when suggesting that Leon name the droid. He knew things were coming and planned accordingly, all in the name of driving Leon further towards the Dark Side. Now decapitating a droid wouldn't necessarily kill it: it's possible that the droid's personality matrix would survive, or that it could at least be partially salvaged. But Leaon couldn't help but fall prey to that trap when the Jedi decapitated HK-i. The Dark Side was released, just as Revan had planned it.
