Two Sith, a Pirate and an Opera Ghost

Chapter 5

By Erik

o.o.o.o.

Well it's been three days since Warious made us go shopping. Maul and James went to see a baseball game. Maul was saying something about, "watching those Yankee's get their butt's kicked."

To which Tiger (Warious) rolled her eyes and shooed them out the door.

"Be nice to James, Maul."

I've seen those 'games' on the T.V. and I wasn't very interested in going when Maul offered, neither was Tiger.

After the 'boys' left, she tromped off to her room to do only Apollo knows what.

Then I heard music coming from upstairs. This house isn't very sound proof.

I half-listened as I continued to struggle with the piano-that-refuses-to-be-tuned. It will be tuned or else! I was making progress yesterday when the C natural actually sounded right. That was the biggest annoyance so far, but then I found another note. F sharp was going flat. This will probably take yet another month to complete.

Will it never end?

I got fed up with the piano and went to see what Warious was up to.

Odd name 'Warious' I liked the name 'Tiger' better. Perhaps that is because I first knew her as Tiger.

"Dear God, Guide me! With your wisdom inside me, Henry Jekyll will follow where ever you lead!"

That was Tiger singing. She's become awful obsessed with her Jekyll and Hyde Cd's.

The musical isn't really that bad though, for something created by mere mortals that is. No I don't have an ego, why do you ask?

She really needs some singing lessons. Perhaps…no! I refuse to follow that train of thought! Last time I did it ended with heartache.

"Feeling like, this feeling Alive! Like the moon an enigma, lost and alone in the night. Damned by some heavenly stigma but blazing with light! It's the feeling of being alive, filled with Evil but truly alive. It's the truth that cannot be denied! It's the feeling of being Edward Hyde!"

But then she was putting her heart into what she sang. It was a very dark type of song. I guess that's part of being a Sith, but coming from her? She who ran to me to escape from her demons?

Her voice became more powerful and darker then I'd ever heard her as the song continued to play. Soon the song ended and I knocked on her door.

"Come in with you mask off!" Tiger yelled through the door, her voice back to normal.

"Isn't that 'come out with your hands up'?" I called back removing my mask. It's better to not fight her on this count. She had always insisted I keep it off before. Since coming here she'd never asked it of me till now.

"In your case, no."

I opened the door and came in. "I'm starting to worry about your choice of songs to sing."

"Hey Erik, long time no see." Tiger replied grinning. "I've missed your beautiful face. All I've seen is your golden eyes staring out from behind that mask. Come sit." She patted the bed beside her.

I sat down in the indicated spot. "You hide behind a mask too, my little Tiger. Don't think I haven't noticed."

She looked down. "I wasn't trying to hide it from you. I don't have anything to hide from you."

"Then who? Maul?"

"Maul knows about the madness, Erik. It's James who doesn't know."

"What have you been doing to keep your madness from gaining control?" I asked her.

"I haven't," she confessed still not looking up at me. "Maul ties me to a titanium-durasteel pole and we just let it happen. There isn't much else I can do about it. The one time since coming here, that it was actually stopped, was when I met the Lady of Light, Galadriel. She was so beautiful Erik; you would have to see her to believe it." She looked up into nothingness as she remembered.

Tiger had explained about the 'Force surge' that sent her to my home under the opera house and then back to where and when she came. It was slightly confusing.

"But that was the only time anyone stopped it?"

"Yes, since this time period anyway." She replied, finally meeting my eyes.

We were silent for a few minutes. Then Tiger scooted closer and reached out her hands to my face, but I didn't see it at first. I was busy thinking about, other things.

I felt her lightly stroke my face, caressing my cheek, tracing the outline of my lips.

Her eyes were fixed on me with child-like wonderment as she touched my face. Oh how I wished it was Christine touching me, though she would never touch me willingly. But Tiger wasn't repulsed by my face as Christine was, she didn't seem to care.

I closed my eyes and savored the small bit of human contact Tiger was giving me with a small sigh. Her fingers lingered over and massaged my lips gently. It took me a few moments before I realized it wasn't Tiger's fingers on my lips. She was kissing me, willingly. She seemed to know I realized this and stopped. I opened my eyes again and saw her looking straight into mine, her hands on either side on my face.

Memories of what had happened between me and Christine passed through my head. Then the Persian's betrayal of me to the Vicomte de Changy, how I was going to let them die in that torture chamber. How the rage filled me to the point of not caring who I hurt. The pain after letting Christine go. My own desire to die. Things I didn't want Tiger to know about me.

After the last memory faded from my sight I saw Tiger's eyes, still looking straight into mine, filled with tears. I felt that somehow she saw everything I saw and knew the whole truth.

"How could you have endured so much more pain?" She finally chocked out. "Why didn't you tell me the pain was still strong inside of you?"

I looked down, not wanting or able to answer. I felt her wrap her arms around me pulling me to her. Now I was the one who felt like the child. For the first time in years I allowed myself to cry. Tiger stroked my back mutely, unable to speak either. I knew she understood. She's matured a lot, I realized.

I don't know how long we were like this. Finally my crying gave out, but I didn't move from Tiger. I felt safe from my past and my pain in her arms. Vaguely I wondered if that was how she felt when I held her and kept her demons away.

Those were my last conscious thoughts for two hours for I fell asleep.

When I woke up I found myself lying down, half on top of Tiger, who was reading a book. "Why didn't you push me off when I fell asleep?" I asked her.

She jumped slightly when I spoke. "You're awake. You're too heavy to move and my back was killing me so I lay down."

"Liar, I know you can move me off when you want to. I'm not that heavy."

"Then leave me to my own reasons. I don't always pry into yours." Then she lowered her voice. "I shouldn't have dragged your memories to the surface Erik. Not because it hurt or it invaded your privacy, because I do that anyway, but It is coming. When I took on your pain It felt me weaken."

"It?" I asked finally moving up into a sitting position.

"It's been three months since the last time It struck, they're coming for me."

Maul had told me Warious (Tiger in my mind) was afraid of nothing save for one thing.

Neither Warious nor Maul really knew why or how it happened, but Maul suspected she was targeted by something called 'Ehda Lungee Jeejees'. "If literally translated from the Ewok language," Maul told me, "it would mean Bad or Evil Lost Faces. It might be something she picked up when she was on Endor. Every once and a while someone in the Ewok tribe is designated to haunted by these 'evil spirits' in order to keep the rest of the tribe safe from them and their mischief, if you can call it mischief. Only the Chief and the Shaman know which person is chosen. The one chosen is never told about it. If I had to guess, they sent them to Warious when she was there."

Maul and Warious had told me about their strange set of adventures with their elf friend. Warious had been adopted by a tribe of creatures that looked like stuffed bear toys.

"The madness?" I asked.

She nodded silently once again not willing to look at me. "I don't want James to know Erik. I'm scared to know what might happen if I do tell him."

"A Sith has no fear," I quoted to her. "Your fear in this is unreasonable. Why are you afraid of telling your 'beloved' pirate?"

"I have my reasons!" She shot back glaring at my accusation. "I can't tell him. Not yet anyway." Then she said something I did not ever expect to hear her to say. "You didn't tell Christine the truth about you either. She found out on her own when she pulled your mask off."

"You think this is the same situation?" How dare she bring that up! "You're face is human looking, look at me and tell me what you see? You dare to compare our situations? I have to wear a mask to hide this," I gestured at my deformed and ugly face, "hideous piece of work. What do you have to hide!"

"I see a man who's been unfairly treated and isn't a mad man when he chooses not to be. I HAVE NO CHOICE! I CAN'T CONTROLL MY OWN MADNESS! Do you even know what it's like to have little to no warning when your demons will strike? In today's society madness is cured by stuffing pills down the person's throat and hoping they'll work. Well I've got news for them; pills don't work all the time. Depression is one thing but TRUE madness cannot be cured. Do you think I want that kind of life? To be pumped full of chemicals? To be separated from my brother Maul? To not watch over you? To not be near people who can actually stand me? I tried being alone before Maul came, it isn't bearable for me. You can't bear to be alone either Erik, why else would you have put up with my rotten antics as a kid?

And though my mask doesn't hide my face, I still wear one over my heart, my emotions." She'd stopped yelling and grew quieter as she spoke. She took in a shaky breath. "I've never needed to hide anything from you, just as you have not needed to hide your face from me."

We were quiet for a few minutes before she spoke again. "I'm sorry for exploding on you like that Erik. I shouldn't have done that, nor should I have brought up your own pain." She gave a small laugh. "You see? I'm the monster here. You aren't the monster people believe you to be, I am."

We were both quiet again. I had no idea how much she'd kept bottled inside her. And now I'd seen the extent of her pain as she had found mine. I noticed her eyes and saw they were empty of emotion. Drained. Weakened. She was going to need help tonight. Should I help her? I knew I still had the power to send her demons away. But she should tell her pirate. If they decided to marry she would have to tell him before anything happened. 'But what if I don't want her to marry him?' a traitorous voice in my head spoke. 'What if you can find another to control and destroy her madness? What if that person isn't him?'

'What if it is?' another part of my mind said.

"I'm right down the hall Tiger," I made up my mind for now, "When they start appearing, come to me. I'll do it this once. But I have a price," my traitorous side taking over.

"What is it?" she asked.

I knew she would pay almost any price for her demons to be sent running. I also knew what she wouldn't do. I fought for something that was not as extreme as what my inner self was ready to demand of her. She was a full grown adult now at the age of twenty-one as opposed to the eight-years-old girl I knew. Could I ask it of her? Could I bear it?

"When you come to me, you must lie beside me unclothed and kiss me like you kiss your pirate. I won't take you for the sake of your honor. That is my price." This would test how desperate she was and possibly how much she trusted me.

At that moment two car doors slammed shut bringing an end to our conversation and time for Tiger to think about what I asked.

I put my mask back on leaving her room, and went to mine.

I heard her go downstairs and greet her brother and pirate. Was what I asked of her fair? Probably not. What I asked of Christine wasn't fair to her either I guess. But if Tiger really wanted my protection she would pay the price.

When I came down Maul looked at me and I think he knew what I had done.

"Erik, I want to tell you what you missed the baseball game." Maul said motioning for me to follow him.

We got to his workout room before he turned to face me.

"What is this you have asked of Warious?" He knew.

"It is the price I ask for keeping her demons away. She won't tell her pirate it seems. She's scared of what he'll do."

"My sister is not to be trifled with." Maul held up a warning finger to my mask. "I know your story, but that is no excuse. If you do what you promised not to I will not spare your life, even if Warious asks it."

"I hear your words and I consider myself warned, but it is still her decision. Either Hook is told by her and he can help or she will come to me." I replied.

I don't know what came over me when I said that. But somewhere inside I knew it was true. Maul did too.

Maul sighed. "Just don't hurt her. Perhaps she'll forget about Hook."

"Why would you want that?" I asked Maul.

"I don't like him," He said bluntly. "He's a pirate of the worst reputation. Throughout the galaxy children of every race hear about the evil and fearsome Captain Hook and his adversary Peter Pan. He is the man parents threaten their children with when they don't eat their vegetables or nutrient packs. To my late master, Hook is a known piece of history to the Sith. He can kill them far more easily then any Jedi in the galaxy. He transcends time and space. Years before the great Sith War, Hook roamed the galaxy killing Sith for sport. A group of the most powerful Dark Lords gathered together in an attempt to get rid of him. Nothing at the time could kill him. Many Sith masters had died trying to kill James Hook. The Dark Lords of the Sith gathered and opened a dimension sending Hook there to live for all eternity. Only a calling by the Sith could ever bring him back. The more I observe him the more convinced I am that he is the Sith killer of legend. I'm not even entirely sure he loves Warious. Perhaps he does. But he might kill her too. He's known to wait years before striking. Captain Hook is ageless and indestructible save for the crocodile he fears. That Crocodile and only that one can kill him."

I stood there in stunned silence for a moment. "Then even if I did use my lasso he would still live."

"Yes."

"Do you think Warious is in danger?" I asked. "I thought my little Tiger had more sense then that. Doesn't she know?"

"Master Sidious didn't tell me this story till I turned twenty like his master before him. Our Master died before Warious was 15. She's never been told the story. If I tried to tell her now she would never believe me. Our Master would have to come from beyond the grave to speak to her before she could even consider it as truth." Maul replied dejectedly.

"Then she is in danger." I stated.

Maul nodded as he began removing his prosthetic face, revealing his red and black face and skull horns.

o.o.o.o.o.o.

It really is an odd page break.

Warious seemed to act normal during dinner and after.

I went up to my room again and thought about what I asked her again and if this was what I really wanted. Instead of answering my own question, I decided to sleep.

It was almost midnight when I heard Tiger/Warious creep into my room shutting and locking the door behind her. I stood up observing her and then spoke. "Are you really willing to pay my price?"

Tiger looked down at the floor shyly. "Nobody's ever seen me the way you have asked me," She looked up at me, "But can you deal with them now? I hear them coming closer."

Ah yes, her 'demons'. Her eyes sought my face. Odd that she did not see me as one of the monsters that haunted her dreams. I reached out my hand to her, beckoning her closer.

"You may pay what I have asked when they go." I replied. "But you will pay tonight."

Tiger came into my arms, wrapping hers around me. "You ask so little of me." Her muffled reply came from where she had hidden her face against me. "When I would give you nearly everything, you ask so little."

Mon Dieu! Did she know what she was saying? Did she know who she was saying it to?

"Tiger, you don't know what your saying."

"You don't understand what I'm saying," she countered still muffled and her arms tightened around me.

I sighed. When she got cryptic there was no understanding her until she was willing to explain. "They're getting closer Erik." She spoke; her voice filled with fear.

Pulling Tiger closer to me, I did something I hadn't done since before coming to this present time. I sang for a woman. Not to make her fall in love with me, but to send her tormentors far away.

As I sang, I felt grateful Maul 'soundproofed' my room. I just wouldn't do for that pirate to hear me with Tiger.

Tiger moved from my arms after some time had passed while I sang. I continued singing as she slowly and shyly removed her clothes.

When she finished undressing Tiger moved back into my arms. She reached up a hand removing my mask slowly. She gazed up at me in complete trust as I finished the song.

"Well?" I asked returning her gaze.

"You do realize James has to bend down to kiss me and you're taller then he is." Tiger hinted.

I smirked, "So?"

Tiger mock glared at me.

"Go lie down Tiger, I'll join you momentarily."

She sighed sounding exasperated. "What do you have to do?" she asked doing as I asked.

Suffice to say she found out and you'll have to leave the rest to your imaginations. I did not do anything that I said I would not do.

o.o.o.o.o.o.

Review please.