The plot bunnies are coming fast and furious... it probably helps that my boss is out of town right nowand I have all day to work on this.
As always, let me know what you all think. I appreciate all the positive comments, but if you all don't like something, I have a thick skin. Really, constructive criticism is appreciated too.
Finally, I got a request for more action in the story in my email, so hopefully this will satisfy.
Hope you all like! With the way the plot bunnies are rampaging through my head, I'll prolly have an update shortly. I don't have a beta, so if anyone is interested, you can email me.
The month passed too quickly. Telos was a burnt out shell of a planet. The Republic was starting the rebuilding process. There was a station under construction. Carth met up with some of the survivors and asked around for Dustil. Dustil was no where to be found and hadn't been seen in months. I could tell Carth was upset that he missed Dustil. Carth remembered the relatives on Corellia that Dustil knew and so we were off to Corellia.
Corellia was a series of interesting encounters. Carth spent most of his time searching for Dustil. The rest of us, in the meantime, searched for entertainment. Mission found a couple of Pazaak dens. She and Zaalbar spent their time gambling and increasing their nest egg. A couple of times, spacers got upset at being beaten by a Twi'lek teenaged girl but Zaalbar dissuaded them pretty quickly from pursuing their ire.
Canderous and I were bored out of our minds, however. There wasn't much action there of the type that Canderous and I enjoyed. I wasn't very good at swoop racing. That win on Taris was a fluke, as I learned when I tried to race on Manaan. So, swoop racing was out. Mission was ruling the Pazaak dens so that was out for me also. I enjoyed dueling but we couldn't find any serious rings right away.
We finally found some worthy competition close to the end of the month. Canderous' reputation preceded him and he found it tough to find opponents willing to face him. He was too famous and too Mandalorian. He fought when he could but he spent most of his time intimidating those around him instead. I guess he found this entertaining in a different way.
My opponents, on the other hand, were more than willing to match up with me. At the beginning, my opponents allowed their first impressions to influence how they fought me. I had disguised my appearance when we started the month, so it was hard to recognize me as a Jedi, let alone The Revan. I looked just like a normal small human female. Canderous just scoffed at the caliber of the initial opponents, but I knew he was just jealous that I was getting matches and he wasn't.
The dueling rings satisfied something in me. That bloodthirsty aspect of my personality enjoyed each combat. For some reason, there isn't anything more satisfying when I'm upset than the meaty thud of a fist into flesh. Some of the opponents weren't worthy and Canderous and I enjoyed laughing at their attempts. To keep a bit of nostalgia in the dueling rings, I took the name of "Mysterious Stranger".
I worked my way up the ranks pretty quickly. I loved hearing the Mysterious Stranger announced over the com. It made me think of happier and perhaps more innocent times. Sure, we were on Taris and it was a stinking rat-hole of a world, but I didn't know I was Darth Revan. I didn't worry about saving the galaxy. Instead, I only worried about keeping Carth with me since I couldn't get off that rat-hole by myself. I finally reached the top and got to face this rings reigning champion.
"In this corner, we are pleased to announce a contender that is quickly rising through the ranks. She's tough, she's rambunctious and she can kick…your…ass, it's the Mysterious Stranger!"
I bowed to the crowds. I got ready to thumb on my vibroblades and put my body in the ready position. I was slightly crouched over with my knees bent and my weight resting on the balls of my feet.
The announcer's voice came back on. "And in this corner, she's rude, she's crude, she's your reigning champion, Maggie May!" Maggie May just thrust her blades into the air. When the light flashed signaling the beginning of the duel, she arrogantly beckoned me over to her. To answer her arrogance, I sauntered to the center of the ring and posed as if I was checking the finish on my nails.
This set off the champion. She came running and flipped in the air as she approached. Her blades flashed down at my head in a chopping motion as she landed. I rolled my head to the side so the blades crossed where my head had been. She chopped a bit of my hair off as she finished the move.
Maggie May seemed to lose control easily. She didn't seem to appreciate my arrogant insults to her skill level. I figured she started it with beckoning me on, as if I wasn't worth the effort of walking to the center of the ring. I also figured that she was one that didn't take kindly to insults and would quickly lose even more control.
I was only too right. Her blades whirled around me, moving quicker than most people could combat. She was hyped up on stims and her reflexes were almost without equal. Luckily for me, I had all that Jedi training and the Force helped me anticipate her next move. I was having a problem keeping up with her. With all the stims racing through her body, I knew she wasn't going to tire for a long time.
This left me with very few options to win the fight. I could start using the Force and win the duel unfairly. I could just try to keep up, but I could see that plan was doomed for failure. Another option was that I could see what happened when I made her lose control even worse than she had so far. The final option was that I could yield.
The last alternative wasn't going to happen. I had way too much pride for that. Using the Force gave me an unfair advantage and I wasn't going to cheat. So, using the Force to attack was out also. I wouldn't be able to match or keep up with her stim-fueled rage either. So, I decided to make her lose control even more. I hoped that with the further lack of control, she'd also lose control over her skill and just start berserking or something. At that point, maybe I stood a chance to get in some shots and win.
I leapt back to give myself some space and then turned my back on her and took a step away from her. I heard an animalistic growl behind me and the crowd roared its approval for the daring move. I could feel her racing at me. She did the same leaping maneuver she'd done earlier. I waited until the last moment and then kicked backwards into her gut. My foot connected solidly and she collapsed onto the ground.
As she stood back up, I polished my nails on my leg and admired the polish, well, lack of polish, once more. My bored stance was the final straw. She came rushing at me and swung her blades with a definite lack of skill. I met her rage with calm. One of her blades went flying to the other side of the ring. Maggie May dropped her other blade and started punching at me.
I threw my blades away and met her head-on, fist to fist. This was what I wanted; this was the combat I'd been searching all over for. I wanted to feel the impact of flesh hitting flesh. Of course, I didn't really enjoy the feeling of my shoulder dislocating as a roundhouse kick connected solidly with my right shoulder. I also didn't really enjoy the feeling of my collarbone snapping under the pressure. I answered her aggression with a leg sweep and knocked her on her butt.
She flipped herself back up and twisted with a kick at my chest. I grabbed her foot and spun it away. As her one leg spun and the other stayed in place, I could hear her knee popping. I winced in sympathy but had little chance to catch a breath as she used the momentum I'd just given her to complete a spiral with her upper body and clipped me solidly on the left side of my face. The skin over my eye split and blood started dripping into my eye. I could feel my eye swelling shut.
An irrational thought popped into my head. I knew Canderous would revel in the level of battle and admire the wounds. I also knew Carth was going to be furious with me. While he was out searching for signs of Dustil, instead of helping him in his search, I was getting the stuffing beat out of me. Even worse than this, Carth would feel a slight betrayal because I enjoyed this so much more than tracking down a recalcitrant teenager that I didn't really want to see again.
While I was thinking these random thoughts, Maggie May had popped her knee back in place and punched me solidly in the stomach. All the air in my body whooshed out with an audible sound. I doubled over and went down. The crowd roared and groaned at the same time. With their reactions, the entire stadium could tell who had bet one whom. I felt for the ones that bet on me, I was feeling their pain. I'd bet on myself also.
Unbelievably, I could hear Canderous' voice from wherever he was in the stands telling me to get back up and stop toying with my opponent. Like I was toying with her, I scoffed to myself. She was beating the crap out of me fair and square. My ploy to get her to lose control had definitely backfired on me.
I was really wishing for some stims at this point. I was in so much pain and my energy was going to keeping me upright and breathing. It was time to end it. I decided that I had enough energy for one more move. I got back up and arrogantly beckoned her back over to me. Her eyebrows winged up and she smiled a very nasty, very scary smile at me. She flipped through the air at me and stuck her leg out for a kick. I grabbed her foot and spun around. As I did so, she went flying with me and I released so that she would hit the wall of the arena. Her head connected and she went out like a light.
I didn't have the energy to even wave at the crowd that was chanting my alias. I simply walked out of the ring and into the office area. All I wanted was to sit down. I subtly channeled the Force to take the edge off the pain and give me some energy.
"About time you finished her off. You wouldn't be so hurt if you hadn't toyed with her." Canderous' voice broke into my stupor.
"I thought I'd play it up for the crowd. Try to get more bets on me so I'd get a bigger purse." I think the sarcastic tone of voice flew right over Canderous' head.
"Next time, just finish her off. She has too much pride for you to play games with her." Canderous grabbed my dislocated shoulder and with no warning, popped it back into place. I was proud of myself for hiding the wince and keeping the shriek that I wanted to let loose inside my head.
"I wasn't playing games with her, Canderous. She was kicking my tail fairly. Man, I'm hurt. I wonder if I can heal the worst of this before Carth sees me?"
"Too late." Canderous only smirked at me. He looked over to the corner of the room. Carth was quickly approaching me with a bag of credits in his hand. I didn't keep the groan in my head this time. Canderous only chuckled at me as he looked back and forth between the approaching Carth and me.
"You think he's seen me? I could still get away, couldn't I?" I asked the question rhetorically. Canderous let loose with a laugh.
"So, beautiful, instead of spending time with me, you'd rather get the crap beat out of you?" Carth's voice was disturbingly blasé. I knew that tone of voice. That tone meant that I was in for it as soon as we weren't in such a public forum. I could hear the argument starting and almost winced. Canderous' knowing smirk let me know I hadn't completely succeeded in hiding the gesture.
"I couldn't find any trace of Dustil. The people I talked to hadn't seen or heard from him in years. I was getting tired of the people I talked to being so blatantly rude. I figured if someone was going to duel with me, I'd rather get the chance to hit back than just fire verbal barbs. That's why I'm here in a legally sanctioned dueling ring. I didn't think you'd appreciate me hitting your great-great aunt or your second cousin twice removed or whatever relation it was." My tone wasn't nearly as polite as Carth's. "Those my winnings?"
"Yeah, there's enough for you to visit a med facility and get healed up." Carth's voice was losing its calmness.
"I don't need a med facility. I feel fine." Slight lie, but it was a white lie so I figured it wasn't too bad one. I couldn't feel my right arm. The left side of my face throbbed in time to my pulse. My stomach hurt, I wanted to throw up, my hip grinded against itself and I was still shaky from so many hits. Canderous, blast him, just laughed at me and pointed to the ladies' refresher.
"You should take a look at yourself before you say how fine you feel." I walked over to the ladies 'fresher and groaned when I caught a glimpse of myself. I didn't think it was possible to look worse than I felt since I felt like twice chewed bantha fodder. I was so wrong that it was comical. I looked like bantha fodder after being twice chewed, digested and starting the decaying process. I was already black and blue all over my body. My right arm hung funny, even though the shoulder was back in place. The left side of my face was extremely swollen and I couldn't see my left eyeball at all. My hair was cropped short on top from where Maggie May's vibroblades had given me an impromptu haircut. No wonder Carth was so upset with me.
I walked back out. I tried to saunter flirtatiously, but failed miserably when I winced at every step I took as my hip ground. Carth and Canderous watched me with disparate expressions. These expressions really showed where the differences in their outlooks lay. Canderous looked at me with a smirk that said way to go; you triumphed over your enemy. Carth looked at me almost as if horrified. His slightly bemused expression reminded me that I'd been so shocked at my appearance that I'd forgotten to wash the blood off my face.
"You guys want to go get something to eat?" I tried to wink at them but my face was so swollen that my eyelid didn't really move.
"I think you need to see a doctor and wash up." Carth's voice was dour. I wasn't sure if he was going to pout or not. He wasn't a very attractive pouter. I'd rather see him in a temper, so I teased him like I did on Taris when he pouted.
"Why don't we go back to the Hawk and we can play doctor instead? I'll be the innocent patient and you can be the eager doctor?" Canderous snorted and turned his face to hide the grin. Carth just rolled his eyes at me and slung his arm around my shoulders. I couldn't hide the wince as I almost dropped to the ground in pain.
"Oops, forgot the shoulder, sorry." If he was sorry than I was a Gammorean bride. He laughed at my expression and pulled me out of the arena offices. "Come on, you've got an appointment with a doctor."
"Carth, I really don't need a doctor. I'll just use the Force to heal myself. Let's just go back to the Ebon Hawk."
"Nope, you owe me. You're going to see a doctor to repay part of that debt. Then, you're going to buy me dinner out of your winnings to keep making it up to me. After that, maybe I'll let you play doctor on me." My snort quickly turned into laughter. I was laughing so hard that people were looking over at the three of us. Canderous' deep laughed joined in with mine. Carth joined in with barely any hesitation.
I put up with the doctor's ministrations to make Carth feel better. In addition to all the other injuries, I had a couple of broken ribs. My cheekbone was fractured from that one hit to the face. The doctor gave me some kolto and sent me on my way with a warning to be more careful in the ring. I just waved at him and walked out.
Canderous kept chuckling to himself as I tried to make Carth happier about my dueling. I was really starting to feel like a little kid caught stealing candy from her parents. I didn't want to fight with Carth, though, so I sucked it up and put up with the chastisement. We found a cantina and had some halfway decent food. Canderous got even more of a laugh when a couple of guys that looked way too fancy to be in such a hole wandered over to our table and lectured the guys on how to treat a woman. Guess I still wasn't looking so good. To keep Carth from losing what remained of his control over his temper, I gracefully paid for the dinner for all three of us and we all left before anything could escalate.
Canderous didn't help out with keeping Carth's temper under wraps as he ribbed Carth the entire way back to the Hawk. I could see the temper rising in Carth's face. He looked over at me and I started laughing again. I pinched his butt and he looked scandalized and then started laughing too.
We were all still laughing as we made our way up the ramp into the Hawk. Mission and Zaalbar were there, playing with the credits that had been won so far on the trip. Mission looked up as we walked into the common area. Her mouth dropped and her color drained as she took in my appearance. This set Canderous and me off even harder.
"It's not as bad as it looks, Mission. I'm fine. Carth even dragged me to a doctor for some treatment. I'll be fine." I dropped into a chair. It felt great to finally get to relax.
"If that's fine, I'd hate to see the other guy. Did you win?" Mission came over and started poking at my bruises. The cut over my eye really hurt when she stuck her finger on it.
"Yeah, I won. Knocked her out on her crazy butt, that's what I did. She finally didn't get back up. She was raging on stims and something I really don't want to know about. She was frikken crazy." I giggled at the thought of Maggie May hitting the wall. Guess I was getting a little punch drunk or something. I forgot all about the drugs that the doctor had given me. The world started blurring and moving. "Hey, Mission, when'd you get cloned? There's at least five of you now." With that thought, I passed out.
When I came to, I was laying in the bunk I shared with Carth, a cool cloth on my head.
"It's nice of you to rejoin the land of the living, beautiful." Carth's hand stroked down my cheek.
"Nice to be back. Did I pass out?" I was a little embarrassed at that.
"Yeah, it was pretty funny. You hit your head on the same spot. At least you won't get another bruise since it's so bruised anyway." Carth moved the cloth over the spot in question.
"That's a comfort, alright. I'm so relieved I won't have anymore bruises. Then again, I'm just one big bruise anyway." I rolled over and put my head on his lap. He smoothed my hair off my face and kept stroking it. As he stroked, he dug his nails in a little, scratching my head like I liked.
"Why'd you do it?" Carth's voice was still calm.
"I was getting frustrated with talking to all those stuck up people that thought they were better than me. I figured going to the dueling rings instead of going all Darth Revan on them would work better. So, I went to the rings. It was fun. It reminded me of our time on Taris."
"I suppose I could see that." He said it but I could tell that he didn't see it. He couldn't understand why I was risking myself like I was. I couldn't explain it to him either, mainly because I didn't really understand all of it either. Part of me just enjoyed the thrill of battle. I liked knowing that I could triumph over worthy opponents without using Jedi powers. I liked the concussive feel of flesh ramming into flesh. I loved knowing I possessed enough survival skills that if the Force deserted me, I'd still be able to live.
The part that I didn't understand was the part of me that felt the pain at the end of a duel was a way of atoning to the galaxy. I'd caused the galaxy so much pain that I deserved to feel it too. Then again, how did the galaxy know I was feeling pain? How would the galaxy know, in some masochistic way, I was trying to harm myself as I had harmed it? The answer is that it wouldn't know.
"We still good?" I hated that my voice was tentative. I just wasn't the tentative type. Carth's hand froze on my head.
"I love you, I just don't understand you." Carth's hand went back to stroking my head.
"At least I'm keeping a bit of mystery around you; I'd hate to see you get bored with me."
"I can promise you this, Revan, I'm never going to be bored around you. Life's never dull when you're around."
"I know. I also figure you kind of wish that it was a bit duller with my around. Do you ever wish I was like Morgana?" The question popped out before I had a chance to even think it.
"Sometimes, sometimes I wish that we could just settle down somewhere and live happily ever after." The honest admission caused a bit of pain to go through my heart but I knew he was only saying what I'd thought a few times before.
"Yeah, I wish that too. I wish we could be normal instead of saviors of the galaxy or whatever crap the holovids are calling us now." I snuggled deeper into his lap. Carth leaned back onto the wall and slid down a little so my head was pillowed on his chest. I pulled myself closer to him and put my one leg over his. My arm went around his stomach and I held on tightly.
"Month's almost up, Revan. When are we going to talk about what's next?" I wasn't prepared for his softly spoken question.
"We can talk now, Carth." My voice echoed his softness. I almost whispered the response. The blinders were off and it was time to come back to reality.
"We have to go to Coruscant soon. I got a request for appearance from Admiral Dodonna. They want to hold some big ceremony for my promotion." Carth's hand kept stroking my head as his other arm came around me and pulled me even closer to his side. I was practically sprawled on top of him by this point. I didn't mind, time was running out and I wanted to be as close as possible to him as much as possible.
"Yeah, the Council sent me a status request. I need to report in soon to see what they want to do about the Sith threat. Master Vandar sent me some further information on the machinations of the remnants."
"Well, then, we'll head back to Coruscant shortly. What do we do after we get there?" Carth's voice was extremely hesitant as he asked that last question. That was the crux of the whole issue I wanted to keep avoiding.
"Take it one day at a time, I guess. I don't know what's going to happen when we get to Coruscant so I can't tell you where we go from there."
"Fair enough, I suppose. I don't know what's going to happen on my end either." He didn't sound happy with that, but then again, I wasn't all that happy with it either.
"Carth?" My voice was so soft, I didn't know if he heard me or not.
"Yeah, beautiful?" Guess he heard me.
"Make me a promise?"
"What?" He didn't say anything. We were trying to be honest with each other and there were things we just couldn't promise.
"Promise that you won't ever say goodbye. I won't say goodbye either." He hugged me even tighter. My ribs protested and my breath hitched, but I wasn't going to complain.
"I promise. It'll never be goodbye. I love you, Revan. I will always love you. I can't say goodbye to a part of me. I'll just say, see you later, ok?" His voice was that of a parent soothing their child. I felt like a child at that point. I was so scared and nervous. I just wanted someone to tell me everything was going to be alright. He didn't say it but I could feel the implication in his words.
"Yeah, see you later works for me. We will see each other later." I held on tighter to him. I looked up and could see the tears in his eyes. I think he realized that there might come a time that we didn't see each other later. Our lives were driven by danger. It was the nature of the beast when it came to our careers.
"K." He left it at that. I slid up as he slid down and our lips met, sealing the promise with a kiss.