Chapter 10 -Act I- Illusions of Pain, Part II
Eyes fluttered open, squinting in the glaring artificial light. A pasty grey ceiling greeted her, view. Slowly, she pulled herself up and took in the whole room.
It was uncomfortable close to the design of the slave barrack she had lived in, but at the same time, it had obvious differences. For one, only single beds lined the walls, each with their own little holocomputer next to the head. Another difference was, at the end of the room, where four tanks filled with a turquoise liquid and instead of one door for the exit, there were four leading to other rooms.
Louise recognised this place as the Academy Infirmary. While she had visited this place quite a few times, usually to fix up any wounds from the various creatures around the tombs, it was never anything serious.
For a few moments, Louise just sat there, collecting her thoughts, processing what was going on and why she was here. Then she realised, vividly, the events that lead up to her current predicament. Seeing the-
Immediately Louise froze, the very image of what she had seen burning into her mind, just as it had been burned on to her. Quickly, the pinkette put up her walls, trying to make her face as neutral as possible. It would not do to show weakness in such a public place such as the infirmary. At the same time, the young acolyte tried desperately to overcome the self-destructive urge to once again see the brand under the hospital gown she now wore.
Breathe in, and out. She mentally chanted, trying to use the Jedi's calming technique. If she had ever been more grateful for sir Dorjis' help, it had been now.
Luckily, by the time someone had entered the room, she had sufficiently calmed herself. It was a man, looking as if he was in his late thirties with short hair that looked to already be greying. Louise recognised him as Dr Kilik, the head medical officer for acolytes, soldiers and lower apprentices alike. He was dressed in a crisp white medical uniform that seemed immaculately clean, just as he had always been to Louise.
It did not take him long to realise that one of his patients was awake. "Ah, Acolyte Louise, you're awake. That is good to hear." He said, the false pleasantness painfully obvious to her ears, "How are you feeling?"
Truth be told, she was feeling horrible, but that was only how she was feeling emotionally and mentally. Physically, she felt okay, average, maybe a bit better than that. "I feel fine," Louise replied, knowing that the doctor only cared about her physical well-being, not that she truly cared. "How long have I been here?"
"Over a day and a half," he answered, briefly grabbing the datapad at his hip and reading through it, "not that your wounds were bad or anything, your body was completely exhausted. Had we gotten you up earlier, you would have only collapsed. As for your injuries, majority have healed without issue, though..." In that moment, she knew exactly what he meant. He looked like he wanted to press for answers, but instead, he chose to be quiet.
Louise closed her eyes and sat in the silence Dr Kilik had given her. A small part of her wished that he had been quiet, that a small part of her could still hope that what she had seen was not real. Thoughts whirled through her mind as she tried to cope with the information.
"Acolyte," He said after a few minutes. The pinkette opened her eyes, looking towards the doctor, "What do you remember before you fell unconscious."
"I remember walking back to my room, but other than that," Louise replied.
"Well, you managed to cause a massive disturbance across Korriban." he said uneasily.
"What do you mean?" She questioned hiding her worry behind confusion.
"You screamed. To be honest, a scream would not be the right word." the doctor chuckled anxiously, "Before I knew the origin, I had thought it was either the planet somehow screaming in agony or some ancient Sith Spawn awakening."
Louise nodded absently as she digested the new information. She remembered screaming, but what the doctor was talking about brought worry to her mind. Great, just what I needed, more worry. The pinkette grumbled internally.
Kilik coughed, bringing her attention back to himself, "This brings me to my next point… There's a few people who wish to see you."
"And they might be?" She asked. Of course this would garner attention. Louise thought bitterly.
"Lord Kahn, Lord Zash and Overseer Harkun." Louise visibly shuddered at the mention of her Overseer's name. Luckily, the doctor was distracted, "In fact, I should inform them. One moment" With deft hands, the medical officer replaced his datapad with a small round disk Louise recognised as a Holocommunicator. After fiddling with it for a moment, a holographic image of a woman's profile sprung to life above the disk.
"Ah, hello Dr Kilik." The woman greeted, "I was wondering when you would call. Is your patient awake?"
"Yes, Lord Zash, she's awake," answered Kilik with a nod. Louise, herself, found herself startled to hear the name of her -hopefully- soon to be master.
"Wonderful news," Lord Zash, if the doctor was to be believed, praised, "I'll call Lord Kahn, and the Overseer as well. Send her up here once she's ready, we have much to discuss."
"Yes, my Lord." Dr Kilik said before deactivating the holo-communicator and turning to Louise, "As you heard, Lord Zash wishes you to head up to her office on the second floor, though, you might want to get changed into something more decent. Luckily, an acolyte arrived and dropped off a set of clothes for you." He said, bending down behind the foot of her medical bed, before popping back up with a pile carefully folded robes. From the looks of it, they were her old robes, the replacement from Lyira.
"Thank you," Louise said meekly.
"You can get dressed in there," He gestured to one of the four doors near the Kolto tanks, "and I will organise someone to take you to Lord Zash."
Louise nodded silently, crawling out of bed and heading towards one of the adjoining rooms with the clothes to get changed. The hospital gown slid off neatly, revealing her naked skin. She stood there for a moment's, questioning whether she should look upon the brand if only to assure herself of its existence. But still, she hesitated. The pinkette knew that if she saw the runes again, she would not react as badly as she did before, however her nervousness was palpable.
Slowly, she lifted her right hand and covered where she knew the burns to be. The former slave could feel where the skin became leathery and dry. She began to blindly trace the lines from top to bottom. Slowly, Louise twisted her head and arm so she could get a clear view of it, biting down a sob once she did.
The word 'ZERO' written in clean and neat lines of darkened flesh matching that of the Aurebesh script. So similar, yet different from the runes on her hand.
A knocking at the door interrupted the petite girl procuring an 'eep' from her. "acolyte?" Came the voice of Dr Kilik, "Are you alright?"
"Ye-" Louise croaked pathetically before clearing her throat, "…Yes, Just one moment." She answered in a clearer voice.
Quickly, Louise grabbed the articles of clothing she had been given and began to dress. Once done, she could not help but feel a large amount of resentment for her clothing; the tightness around her chest and especially the sleeveless nature of the top. Anxiety over leaving the room gripped her. Even if Kilik had seen the burns, she did not want him stareing, as he would undoubtedly do, not to mention the other beings she would run into on the way to Lord Zash.
With a resigned sigh, she picked up the gown, making sure it would cover the mark.
"I contacted one of the Guards to come and escort you to Lord Zash," Kilik said once she had exited the room.
"Thank you," Louise replied before hesitating. She did not want to draw attention to the burns, but at the same time, if she did not ask, all would be able to see, "Do you have something I could cover my… burns with?"
Dr Kilik glanced at the general area of the scar before answering. "Eh- I don't have any long sleeve clothes you could don, but I guess I could bandage it for you."
By the time Louise's guide arrived, she had a fresh bandage wrapped snuggly around her arm. While not the most conspicuous choice, it meant that nobody could see the marks.
...
Lord Zash's office was quite similar to Lord Kahn's, well, at least what she could see when she was not ogling the Sith Lord -not that she would ever say that aloud. The room was shaped much like an inverted 'L' with a large desk set facing the entry, up in the corner of the office.
Sitting inside of the room was Lord Zash who turned to the pinkette the moment she entered, from the head of the desk. Louise had also noticed two others from her position at the entrance, one was Kahn, sitting down in one of three chairs set before Zash, the other was…
Louise tried her best to ignore the other member in the room. The memories were too fresh in her mind, and she did not want to break down in front of two Sith Lords; one being her perspective master. Though, this did nothing to stop a grimace to form on her face.
"Ah, acolyte, welcome." Lord Zash said pleasantly, looking ever so much like Louise had seen in the archives; light tanned skin, and brown eyes and short blond hair styled in a bob cut. All in all, she looked quite nice dressed in an extravagant robe of red and grey. "It is so nice of you to join us."
Lord Kahn looked like he was going to speak, however, the third member of the room cut in, "Yes, how nice of you to join us." Sneered Harkun. Had the situation been different, Louise would have smirked at the reproachful looks Kahn and Zash had given him. Though due to her current thoughts on him, she instead turned to glare at him with as much ferocity she could muster, which was apparently a lot as Harkun visibly flinched in surprise but otherwise held his sneer.
A small cough ended the glaring contest and Louise resumed actively ignoring the Overseer. "Yes, well, there's a reason we called you up here." Lord Kahn said.
"It's about the little event that happened two days ago." Zash continued, "The higher ups wish to know about what happened."
Louise nodded, having known that previously, "What do you wish to know."
"In short, everything." Kahn explained, "Starting from the beginning, and up until you fell unconscious. Come, take a seat."
Thanking Zash and Kahn, Louise took the middle most seat, pulling it back a bit to face only Kahn and Zash.
"You may begin when ready…" Zash prompted.
Louise grimaced, she really, really did not want to go through that again. Merely being in the same room as the man who- no the illusion which looks exactly like the man in the room was incredibly uncomfortable. Yet, she did as she was told and began to recount her tale of the day previous.
She told them about meeting Kahn, omitting the fact she was practically ogling him the entire time, she went on, on how she entered the tomb, how she was jumped -though not who attacked her. It was then that Harkun opened his mouth.
"Are you telling us you got injured by mere illusions," Harkun asked, looking thoroughly unimpressed drawing the attention of the other three in the room.
A furious growl escaped Louise's lips, as she looked upon the Overseers amused face. "Harkun," Louise hissed venomously, "unless you wish for me to burn out your tongue, I would shut up." To enunciate her point, she snapped her fingers, sparking lightning between them and created a small flame in her hand.
Harkun's mouth gasped in outrage before he shot up from his chair, growling menacingly as he brandished his lightsaber, "How dare you!"
The pinkette jumped up from her seat as well, glaring back at the Overseer with equal parts rage and hate, uncaring of the notorious weapon. All the emotions from the tomb came flooding back, the urge to kill Harkun, the want to hear him scream for mercy as his blood covered her hands. She did not care if he was her overseer, a Darth or even the Emperor, she just wanted him dead.
But before the two could come to blows, the sound of three other lightsabers igniting drew their attention away. Zash, standing at the head of her desk looking quite miffed with her crimson saber glowing, and Kahn with his double ended purple saber held behind his back in a fancy fashion.
"Enough, you two." Zash demanded, "We are gathered here to discover what went down in the tomb, and I will not have blood stain my floors! Both of you, sit down."
"Unacceptable!" Harkun shouted furiously, "She threatened-"
"That is enough!" Lord Zash snarled, "Louise will get off on a warning, and so will you."
Louise, not wanting to alienate the blonde, dismissed the small flame and sat down quietly. Harkun, on the other hand, looked between the three people in the room with his trademarked sneer before following the pinkette's lead.
"Good. Hopefully, we will be able to get through this without you two fighting." Kahn scolded, switching his saber off and clipping it to his belt just as Zash did the same. "Now, continue."
The acolyte squirmed in her seat for a moment, feeling slightly ashamed at blowing up in front of Zash and Kahn, but continued nonetheless, "After beating the illusion, I tried to escape, when I found that the door was locked, I eventually decided to continue through the tomb. I faced another illusion before finding a lightsaber."
"Yes, the lightsaber." The blonde Sith Lord said knowingly, "When you were recovered, I was given the lightsaber for safe keeping. Though, nobody is going to get any use from it, as it broke… along with the rest of the room."
"Oh," Louise said evenly. She did not particularly care that the lightsaber was broken, but one part of that explanation caught her ear, "The rest of the room?"
"Yes, you managed to tear the room apart." Came Kahn's amused remark, "Don't worry, it was easy enough to repair."
"Okay… Well, I continued on, fought another illusion, then met the ghost of Lord Kressh."
"You met Ludo Kressh?" The handsome Sith asked, his interest piqued. It also seemed that Zash also found interest in her meeting with the long-dead Sith Lord.
"Yes."
"What was he like," Kahn asked eagerly, "what did he say?"
"Lord Kressh was courteous." The pinkette described, "He explained what happened in the tomb, and gave me the datapad. After that, he told me to leave. I gave you the datapad, then left back to my room before finding the… thing, on my arm. I blacked out after that."
"Was that all?" Zash questioned, looking not at all content with the information provided.
"…Yes." Louise replied, her hand automatically covering the bandages.
"Alright then." Zash said eventually, "You've told us all the relevant information." She turned to the other two in the room, "Could you two leave, I wish to talk to the acolyte alone."
"Mhm, I will go inform the higher ups of what we've heard," Kahn said, standing up from his chair and exiting the office. Harkun followed soon after, looking none too happy.
"Now, I won't hold you up for long," Zash said, a smile adorning her lips, "I just wished to congratulate you on acquiring that magnificent holocron from Ragnos' tomb."
The pinkette blushed minutely at the praise, "Thank you, my lord."
"Yes, it is quite hard to imagine that, after a thousand years, the most unlikely person comes along and succeeds where others had failed. How did you do it?" She asked inquisitively.
For a moment, Louise sat there, she had no idea how to explain it in a graceful way. "First, I... ah, meditated, then I bled on it, burned it. Finally, I shot it with lightning, that opened it up."
"Such a simple solution. Why did none of us think of that?" The blonde mused, "We must have thought too deeply on it, believed too strongly that it could not be done, maybe it was all of those together that opened it… or perhaps we were simply not meant to open it." Zash seemed interested with the three hypothesises she conjured, thinking about them for a moment before turning back to the pinkette "Aside from that, I have something to give you." Deftly, she reached into her desk and pulled out a cylindrical object.
Louise recognised it immediately, "The lightsaber?" she asked confused, taking hold of the familiar weapon with trepidation.
"Yes, I thought it prudent to give it back." Zash explained, "After all, you did go through that mess in the tomb."
"I thought you said it was broken?" The pinkette questioned, looking over the saber. Now that she did not have illusions and death to worry about, she could get a good look and feel for the weapon. It was quite bulky, too big for her dainty hands and the design felt off. She did not really need the runes to tell her that it was built for a man a lot bigger with her.
"It was… but I managed to repair. It's yours if you want it." Said Zash.
"Thank you, my lord." Louise did not want it, its presence marred by horrible memories, yet there was something about it that drew her to it; not the weapon itself, but something else entirely. I'll keep it… for now. She thought.
"You're welcome, acolyte. Now, I shouldn't have to tell you, but don't tell Harkun, he is enough of a hassle as it is."
Louise nodded in reply, she knew how much of a hassle the Overseer was; if he found out she had a lightsaber, he would have a fit. The pinkette turned the lightsaber over in her hands once more before clipping it to her belt, "May the Force serve you well, my lord." She said quietly, though Lord Zash could still hear her, and bid her a good day.
Once she exited the office, she let out a deep sight. She really did not want to go through that again. The pinkette began to rub the brand under the bandages. At the moment, Louise had no idea what to do, she should probably go find Lyira… but… she had been asleep for nearly two entire days.
Slowly, she began to make her way down to the cafeteria, finding that it was sparsely filled. She took a small meal, finding that she really did not have an appetite. After about ten minutes of manoeuvring her food around the plate with scares moments to actually eat her food, she finished her meal.
Now that her stomach was full, she thought it prudent to have a shower, however, that came with its own problems. Unlike when she was a slave, the showers were split by gender with the added privacy of small cubicles for each person. This added privacy did nothing to quell the anxiety she felt, as the only thing that stopped her from being seen in the nude, and in turn, her brand, was a thin plastic curtain. Louise was already unhappy that Dr Kilik, Kahn, Zash and most importantly Harkun, had seen it.
After a moment of deliberation, Louise decided to go to the showers; if it was crowded, she could simply slink away. Surprisingly, or unsurprisingly depending on the time, the showers were quite empty, so she was able to quickly discard her clothing in one of the lockers -hiding the lightsaber under the bulk of it- grab a towel, and hop into the showers.
While a slave, she did enjoy the lukewarm showers as the water pressure would act like a light massage on her back but compared to the heated showers of the Academy… So, Louise stood there, trying her best to let her worries wash away with the water, not that they did. First, she started working on the monstrous task of keeping her hair clean. Once done, she administered some liquid soap onto her hands, she began the task of cleaning her body. She was almost done when she reached her arms, hesitating before the brand.
Slowly and delicately, Louise began to clean around the brand, rubbing the soap into her arm. Her speed quickened, and she found herself rubbing the brand more and more, a scant thought of simply washing the scar away. Flesh became red and the burn inflamed, and yet still she persisted; rubbing her arm over and over again until she thought she would have worn through her arm with sheer force. Tears intermingled with the shower droplets and her breath quickened, but try as she might, the wound stood firm.
The sound of the washroom door sliding open was barely audible over the running water and the hollow sobs. Someone else had entered the showers. Taking a muted, but deep breath, Louise pulled herself together and finished up, turning off the water and drying herself off.
...
Once the bandage was reapplied to her arm, she slowly made her way back to her room. The door slid open with a mechanical hiss and Louise took a step into her room, only to get blindsided by a red and black blur that grabbed her in a bone crushing embrace. Startled, she went to grab the lightsaber at her hip, but stopped once she realised who was hugging her.
"Lyira?" the pinkette questioned.
"Louise, are you okay?" the Pureblood asked worried, pulling herself back to arms reach. "When I heard your scream, I rushed over to our room as fast as I could, but…"
Louise let out a sigh, before saying, "I'm okay."
"You sure? Do you want to talk about… you know?" The Pureblood asked, glancing sparsely towards the white bandage.
"No, I don't." She replied tiredly. She really did not want to repeat what had happened in the tomb.
"Come, sit." Lyira said, pulling the pink-haired acolyte to the bed, "Something is definitely wrong. I don't know if it is the brand, or if it is something else entirely." The pureblood fretted, "I don't like seeing you like this. Please, tell me what's wrong."
"It's nothing." Louise shrugged, "Just some problems in the tomb."
"Did you get that in the tomb?" Lyira asked carefully.
"I don't want to talk about it. Not yet, anyway." Said the pinkette morosely.
Two arms wrapped around the petite girl's small frame, "Okay then… Do you want to talk about something else?"
Louise paused. Really, she did not have much to talk about, but the sound of Lyira's voice was a comforting one. "I blew up at Harkun." She said eventually.
"Your overseer?" Lyira asked in surprise. The pinkette bobbed her head in replied, "...what do you mean, 'blew up?'"
"I threatened to burn off his tongue." The petite teenager answered casually, "In front of two Sith Lords… one of which was Lord Zash."
Lyira gaped at Louise for a second, trying to process how her roommate was still among the living for doing such a thing, "You must be insane."
In response, the pinkette pouted, "I'm not insane… just differently rational." She replied petulantly, before grimacing "You can blame the Lord Kressh."
"Blaming long dead Sith Lords isn't helping your case." The Pureblood quipped, "What happened afterwards?"
"Well, I'm not dead, if you were wondering." The pinkette retorted dryly, "I got off on a warning… and was given a lightsaber."
"So you do," Lyira said, looking down at the legendary weapon clipped to her best friend's belt. They sat in silence for a moment more, Louise comfortable in her roommates embrace, and said roommate thunderstruck by the fact Louise was given a lightsaber, "Are you sure you don't want to talk about it?"
"Yes." The pinkette replied, snuggling closer to the red-skinned woman.
"Okay, I won't push… today." Lyira said, returning the favour.
Since that day, Louise had tried to continue with her life in the Academy. But dreams of burning flesh and dead siblings continued to haunt her. Though, she was never alone. Lyira would often wake during the worst nights, clambering down from her bed to whisper words of comfort and encouragement. The Twins, Wyrd and Balek, whilst comforting during the first month, had vanished late into the second month. Lyira assumed they had died, Louise was… conflicted.
Life became bland within the Academy as her previous interests seemed dull, and she could not find the same drive that made her want to succeed. Her roommate soon noticed and tried to get her back on track, occasionally barring the dormitory door closed and forcing the pinkette to either spar or study. Louise would rather walk around the Valley of the Dark Lords, letting her mind drift to things she came across. She humoured the pureblood, sparred a bit, meditate. All in all, she enjoyed having Lyira with her, it made her happy.
Ffon had become more antagonistic despite the few times they met. Louise assumed Harkun told him. However, she never raised to his barbs, only choosing to glare hatefully towards him. That is, until he had called her a Zero.
"Hello, Lou." He greeted arrogantly. Louise was currently seated in the cafeteria during the late hours of lunch, so there were not that many patrons hanging around.
The pinkette visibly bristled at the sound Lyira's nickname for her rolling of his tongue. "What," Louise replied monotonously.
"Oh, come now, Zero, I thought we were-" Ffon really did not get to finish his sentence as he was unceremoniously thrown across the room, slamming into the durasteel wall with an unhealthy thud. Before he could react, he had an impossibly strong hand around his throat and a blaster shoved into his mouth. Looking up to his attacker, he found the furious face of Louise glaring down at his with eyes filled with Dark Side malice.
"If you ever call me that again, je te tuerai." Threatened Louise softly. Despite not knowing what the pinkette had said, the threat was understood. The next second, Louise had pulled herself off of him and left the cafeteria.
Surprisingly, the event was never brought up afterwards. A week later, the deadline for her trial, came to an end.
When Louise woke on that day, she was reluctant. She did not want to see Harkun any more than was necessary. So, when she finally pried herself out of bed, she did her best to take that extra minute longer to do her daily routine.
But soon, reason took hold and once she got dressed in her long-sleeved acolyte uniform, she made her way down to the Overseer's office. Upon entering, she noticed only Ffon and Harkun in the room, the twins were conspicuously absent. At least that's confirmation enough…
"What kept you, slave." Harkun spat upon her entrance. If the glare he gave her was any indication, he was still angry about the threat. "I was just about to send Ffon off." He gestured to the glowering acolyte off in the corner. It seemed Ffon was also still sore about the threat she gave him.
"It is none of your concern, Harkun." The pinkette sneered back. "You know I completed my trial. Just give me my next one and be done with it."
Harkun snerred at the disrespect, but otherwise did not comment, "Lord Zash wishes her apprentice to be a competent fighter." He said, "Obviously, she's a bit worried that your little tryst in Kressh's tomb. You have two months to satisfy the Korriban Battlemaster. You'll find the facility on the second floor of the Academy. You are not to speak to anyone up there, except the Battlemaster."
"Fine," Louise replied.
"Now get going to the second-floor training grounds. You don't want to keep him waiting."
Obeying the order, Louise stormed out of the office and towards the training room. In the months, previous, she had sometimes passed by when wandering the Academy, though all those times, she would always hear the sound of training, but as she drew near, she heard no such thing. Passing through the entryway, Louise found the room seemingly devoid of life.
Seemingly, because if it weren't for the Force's warning or her hearing a lightsaber igniting, she would have had her head removed from her shoulders. Instead, she lunged forward into a roll and dodged the attack. Once landed, she quickly pulled herself up to faced her attacker, her hand resting on a pouch on her belt containing her lightsaber.