Scarlet Shadows
© Kaz, 2003-2005

Chapter Ten – Rivalis

"What about the girls?"

Corran hesitated for a moment, throwing a glance at his wife. What he had to say would surely upset Arica, that he knew well, and he didn't want to become the object of the redhead's fury. It would be better if Mirax would be the one to break the news, the two women being best of friends; however, she only gave him a disapproving glare. At that, he swallowed the lump that had formed in his throat. He didn't want to become the object of her fury, either.

But before he could even say a word, Arica jumped in. Her emerald eyes were staring at the couple almost impassively, and her voice had a cold shiver as well. "Let me guess. You're here to tell me that I shouldn't have brought Moirae back and put the lives of these girls in jeopardy."

It took a moment for Corran to recover, apparently having forgotten how brilliant the redhead was at reading people. He sighed and raised his arms up in a surrendering motion. "Guilty as charged," he admitted, shaking his head. He then met her gaze with his calm one. "The shadows of Clotho, Lachesis and Atropos fall upon those who wear their masks, shadows that inevitably lead to destruction and death. We know that to be true. Mara, they're only kids–"

"They're no better off on the streets, as pawns of the deadly game those in power play! Things have changed, Corran – and for the worse!"

"That's not an excuse," he countered. She was being stubborn again. Just as she always was. But that, too, meant that he could talk her out of it, being the levelheaded one, the man of reason. Like always. "Their leader. Nadine, was that her name? How old is she? Seventeen? Yet she kills without hesitation, as if she can't feel a thing. And Tahiri Veila!" He cut her off before she could say anything, having seen her open her mouth to interrupt. "Fifteen and fragile. Bend her even further and she's definitely going to break. Then there's Danni Quee. You said you saved her from living a life of death and pain, and yet what you actually did was turn her the other way to do the exactly the same! What do you have to say now?"

If the redhead was furious, she didn't show it. Her voice failed to conceal her anger, however. "First of all," she began in a steely tone, "Nadine is eighteen, Tahiri is not fragile, and I didn't do that to Danni. You don't know them as much as I do, so you better keep your mouth shut about them! Second, I never forced them to become Moirae. It was their choice. They wanted to continue the fight – the fight that you ran away from!"

Silence.

"I didn't run away," Corran protested, but the softness of his tone said otherwise.

Mirax reached out to squeeze his shoulder in encouragement silently telling him that it was okay. Then, she turned to look at Arica, taking over as her husband had apparently lost the battle. "I was hoping you've already forgiven us for that, but it seems that you haven't. I don't blame you, but please, let's not bring the past up anymore."

The expression on the other woman's pale features changed noticeably; she was at the verge of breaking down. She felt herself grow weak, and she sunk into her chair, bowing her head. "But I can't forget it," she said a low voice, almost inaudibly. "No matter how hard I try, I just can't. The past haunts my dreams every night, making me relive every single moment of pain, every single moment of helplessness, every single moment of guilt. I wasn't strong enough. I could've achieved victory for all of us, but at that battle my weakness destroyed everything we had and everything we hoped to gain. And the worst part is…"

She looked up at Mirax with tear-stained eyes. "Luke is dead because of me."

-x-

Do-ro'ik vong pratte!

Tahiri froze, the monstrous roar causing every muscle in her body to immobilize. Even though she had no idea what those words meant, she knew she had heard those words before. Those very same words escaped the lips of little Wynessa, who had become some sort of ugly, evil monster out to rip them into shreds at Soontir Fel's command.

It was something else that terrified her, however.

The voice sounded like her own.

She could feel a solid presence behind her, and even without looking she could tell that, whoever or whatever it was, it was poised to strike, should she make the wrong move, however slight it may be. Countless thoughts ran through her head, but the more she thought about fleeing, the stronger the urge to turn around became.

Her curiosity won the silent war that plagued her from the inside. Having made up her mind, she closed her eyes and slowly whirled around. She prepared herself for the worst; she predicted that it would be another Wynessa monster thing, one as strong as the girl had become, and one much craftier. The fact that it was able to mimic her voice was enough for her to suppose that it was trying to lure her and her friends into a trap.

She opened her eyes.

The two of us are inseparable. Cut me, and you bleed; kill me, and you die. And impossible as it seems, Tahiri, we're stuck with each other.

The creature smiled – but it wasn't just any smile.

It was a cruel smile.

Twisted.

Sardonic.

We either live together, or die together. There is no in between.

Tahiri screamed.

-x-

Danni was instantly by Tahiri's side, her arms wrapped around the shaking girl. The younger assassin's scream had sent a jolt of panic through her system, and without hesitation she had abandoned her task to attend to her need. She felt the girl cling to her, as if she would die if she would let go, and that made her swallow. Whatever she had dreamt about was awful; it wasn't easy to scare the wits out of her. "Hush now, it's okay… It's okay, Tahiri, it was just a dream… It was just a dream…"

"It was awful," Tahiri relayed in a muffled voice as she buried her face into the older woman's chest, her tears soaking her shirt. Then, she looked up at the other blonde, fear shining brightly from the corners of her emerald eyes, and she held on even tighter. There was no way she was letting go; at least, not just yet. "Don't leave me, Danni. Don't leave me. I… I'm scared."

-x-

He stared at the pistol that he had concealed inside his drawer, and as he ran his fingers over its shiny metal hull, he could see the destruction of Moirae with it in his hands. Gingerly, he picked it up and examined it intently, all the while thinking of the perfect way to put an end to the female vigilantes' atrocity. Ah, yes. He would shoot the tall one on the head, the small one at the back of her neck while she would be on her knees to beg for her life, and the leader on the chest, with the bullet going straight through her heart. He wouldn't even bother unmasking them; it would only be a waste of his time.

He saw his image through the weapon's reflective coating, and he once again remembered his sister. She meant so much to him, and because Moirae had hurt her, he was going to make them pay. Painfully, at that.

He carefully tucked the pistol into its holster, which hung suspended from his hip, and then took the piece of parchment paper that was laid out on his table – the floor plan of the Fel's mansion, his territory. He held it up high against the light, once more running through his plan of action to make sure that there wouldn't be any lapses.

It was to be an entrapment operation. He would lure the girls back into his home and finish them off one by one. Having seen how they maneuver in their missions, he knew that they weren't the type to charge into their target's assassination area all at once. The small one would come from the roof; the tall one from the window or a secret passage, if there was any; and the leader from the front door.

He was also aware of their strengths and weaknesses. The small one was flexible and agile, and no doubt good at hand-to-hand combat. However, she was much too aggressive, and she relied more on impulse than strategy. The tall one was great at defense and with projectiles, but she was physically the weakest of the three. The leader was fierce and strong, and her ability to handle weapons was impressive; but as much as she had that much firepower she didn't have a lot of stamina to keep her going for long.

It was going to be a piece of cake.

-x-

When the blonde-haired waitress opened the door she didn't expect to see Anakin Solo. He didn't really seem to know why he was standing in front of Tahiri's room in the first place, and was apparently feeling a little bit too shy. She, however, realized what he was there for almost immediately; he was holding a bouquet of red roses and a card. He must've heard that the courtesan got sick and snuck out of their grandiose villa to visit.

"May I see Tahiri?" he requested, blue eyes meeting her green ones.

"Just a sec," she told him, smiling, before she quickly closed the door. She then turned around to face Tahiri, who had pushed herself up and was now sitting on her bed, a quizzical expression on her face. She hadn't completely recovered from the injuries she had acquired from their brawl with Wynessa, but Danni could tell that she was well enough to walk and socialize. And of course, flirt with cute guys.

"Who is it?"

"Get dressed, hurry! You wouldn't believe who it is." She resisted the urge to just giggle and leave the other girl on her own to find out who her visitor was. As much as she enjoyed the confused look on Tahiri's face, she also felt giddy about the young man visiting her. It was just too sweet. "It's Anakin. And guess what, he's bringing flowers!"

Tahiri's eyes flew wide open in shock, and she immediately bolted out of bed, as if she wasn't injured at all. She opened her dresser and hastily picked out something to wear, causing random things to fall out and make a lot of noise. She didn't even notice it until one of her bags fell on top of her head, but she only grabbed it and threw it away.

She finished changing – and fixing her hair – in record time. She was about to rush out of the room and meet him, when Danni pointed out that she wasn't wearing shoes and that it didn't look good with the dress she was wearing. Scowling, she reached out for a box, randomly selecting her footwear, but as soon as she managed to pull it out of the stack of boxes, the rest toppled down and made even more noise.

She cringed.

"I'll handle it," Danni offered, rushing to the fallen objects and scattered debris. Before she started picking them up and putting them back into place, however, she turned to the younger blonde and gave her an impatient look. "Well, what are you waiting for? Go! You've made him wait far too long. Don't forget that his father's Han Solo; he might've gotten infected with his obsession with time."

"Thanks, sis. I really appreciate this." She winked. "I'll ask him to say hi to Jacen for you."

The mention Jacen Solo's name was enough to make Danni blush. She wanted to melt and evaporate into thin air, if only it was possible. Embarrassed at what her companion had said, she grabbed the object nearest to her – which happened to be one of Tahiri's small but fluffy heart-shaped pillows – and hurled it towards the unsuspecting girl. Unfortunately, she was opening the door by then to meet her visitor, and was, in no time, out of the pillow's target zone.

So it came soaring towards Anakin instead, hitting him right on the face.

---

Author's Notes

I have not abandoned you guys:-)

You heard me right. I'm still alive, and I hope you're still there, too. It just so happened that I was attacked by Darth Writer's Block (and consequently lost inspiration) while college life ganged up on me, so I've been unable to update, except those fics of mine that require short chapters. This fic happens to have the longest words per chapter requirement. –sweatdrops–

Speaking of that, this chapter didn't meet the requirement I had set (but I do hope it's long enough!), so instead of letting it sit in my computer and risk being eaten away by worms as I don't know when I'd be able to continue writing, I decided to just post it anyway. However, on my next update (hopefully soon), I'll be putting up chapter ten and one-half along with the eleventh chapter. Would that be alright?

And also, I feel that the characters are OOC in this chapter. But I can't think of any other way to let them act considering all that's happened (and will happen) to them. Hope it doesn't bother you guys too much.

Anyway, this chapter's title rivalis is actually the Latin word for rival. You'll know why the title is such by the time I get chapter ten and one-half out. And I'm still not sure, but this might be a double-episode again, with chapter eleven comprising part two.

And I actually just took the dialogue of the second scene (the one in bold and italic after the Vong battlecry) from Reunion, page 191. It's obvious who the other person is, isn't it?

Saber Girls – I'm so sorry for taking so long! I hope you're not sad anymore. I swear, I did not intend to make the cute little Ewoks suffer! –winks– Oh yeah, about your question. This is on a planetary scale; the places (Corellia, Coruscant, etc.) are countries. About the Vong, well, I leave that up to you to figure out. Hehe. Anyway, I'm really glad that you're still with me even though I haven't been writing anything for a long time. I'll do my best to get the next chapters out soon. Please do review, cuz reviews really inspire me! Thanks!

Satan's Advocate – Hehe, cellphones are cool. Hm, can you guess what the unit of Jag's phone is? Haha! Thanks so much!

Valentia – Jag, green eyes. Got that. Thanks for pointing that out. Sometimes I just don't remember the tiny details anymore. Thanks a lot!

Zetta – Hey, don't feel bad! I really don't mind, though it would really be nice to get more reviews and get fueled to write even more. Hehe. About Wynessa/Wynssa, I haven't actually read the book in which she appears (Refugee, right?) so I haven't really seen for myself how her name's spelled, and my friend just told me about her, name spelling included. I'll do some research sometime. Thanks for everything, for the complaints and the compliments; I really appreciate them!

mowat – Thanks! I really like hearing your thoughts and ideas, because you guys also think of a lot of things that I don't or miss out. Thanks again!

Gwendolyn Rogan – Wow, I'm speechless. Thanks very much! Yes, school is evil, and the Vong are evil. I'll go read your stories sometime, I haven't done so in a long time. Thank you for your undying support since the beginning, I really appreciate it!

Jaina – Thank you! So, is there anything in particular you want to see in this story? –winks–

Thanks again, guys! Until next time!