An oath does not mean anything until you are presented with that which you have sworn.
Looking down on his hand, he saw what he knew to be true in his mind… a black gauntlet desperately holding on to the ivory stone. When this gauntlet let's go there will be no going back to what was.
When you find that you are stuck in darkness, rely not on your sight for it will only betray you. Rely on your sense of touch for it will not lie, it may not give you accurate information but it will let you visualize even in the darkest of places.
He could trace the shape of his gauntlet against the ivory stone, black on white, darkness on light… you were my everything… my angel… the light in my life… without you there is no purpose… only darkness.
When you find yourself at the lowest point, you will see only darkness around you. But if you look down by your knees you will find it, the smallest white flower defying the abyss. When you find this flower, it will give to you one thing… Hope.
Looking up from his hand he could see a single ray of light cut through the darkness inside the tomb. Tracing the ray he found that it was right above the inscription on the stone.
Here lies Padmé Amidala, Queen, Senator, beloved daughter, beloved sister, taken to soon, may she now rest for eternity
Let her be at peace
By the time he had read the inscription in full that single ray had placed itself upon one word
Peace
Peace…
Peace…
Yes…
This power in me…
That is my purpose…
"Upon this grave, upon the grave of my wife and child I swear this. I shall bring this galaxy to a time of peace, I shall finish what began 3 years ago and once more let the galaxy be at peace… I will fulfill your wish… my angel"
"Rest now…"
"I hope…"
"I hope, that one day…"
"You'll be able to forgive me"
At this he withdrew his hand, sliding it off the edge and back underneath his cloak. Turning to see the sun rising he realized that he must've been standing there for several hours completely blank, the last thing he remembered had been that Jobal said in a mixed statement and question that he was the father. He couldn't remember anything after that, maybe he had answered, maybe he had stood there silent not moving at all, all he knew was that Jobal was not here anymore. She would've undoubtedly left to leave him alone to grieve his wife and child, she was a very kind and considerate person… she most likely knew that leaving him here would've been best. But now… now he was done, he had things to do, things to accomplish, this oath was one he would never break, he would die before that. Heading out of the tomb he felt renewed, not tired nor bursting with energy, he felt as though the anger and hatred that had been consuming him had transformed. Before it had been an all consuming tempest, now it was different, now it was an endless ocean still all consuming but calmer almost still, simply waiting to be unleashed. With this power he would fulfill his oath.
A Step Towards the Future"When all else is lost, the future still remains."
Christian Nestell Bovee
Flashback to after "Returning to a departure" from chapter 2
After Vader had arrived on Coruscant after his mission on Tatooine he had gone directly to Palpatine so there had been plenty of time before he had to depart for Naboo. In that time he had actually managed to do many things, with the help of Palpatine he had managed to overhaul his suit somewhat, nothing major like upgrading his prostheses. Even though the prostheses were painful at times they served a purpose which he had realized during his battle on Tatooine, the pain which they caused was a constant reminder of his failure… That was powerful if utilized correctly so he had no plans to change them, after he had thought of these things is when he realized another thing. His master was very knowledgeable, he knew exactly what Vader needed to attain the power he had sought, this knowledge made him wish that he had sought his help sooner, then things could've… no, would've worked like he had wanted them too…
The changes that he had made to his suit had mostly been superficial like the replacing of the outside of his mask and helmet to something closer to his tastes, but mostly retaining the same inner workings of the mask. The biggest change however would be the armor that he added to the suit, made from the same polished metal as Nubian starships but he had made one critical change, making it black. His master had been very pleasantly surprised by the choice, as with Nubian ships you could see your reflection in it but when it was coloured black it took on a totally different meaning. Palpatine was one for symbolism and this was perfect in his mind after he had seen the light reflect off of the armour, jet black armour reflecting all attempts of the light to influence it for every time the light leaves the same darkness would remain.
Sidious, in his good mood after his apprentice's radical transformation, even put aside the rest of the day's agenda to instruct his apprentice further in the ways of the dark side. For one he explained the sith code to his young apprentice.
Peace is a lie, there is only Passion
Through passion, I gain Strength
Through strength, I gain Power
Through Power, I gain Victory
Through victory, my chains are broken
The force shall free me
Sidious and Vader were walking through a corridor towards the landing platform flanked by two guards, Vader was dreading what he had to do now… the funeral of his wife and child…
Sidious felt his apprentice's unease and dread, walking through the door and onto the landing platform Sidious stopped…
"Lord Vader, there is one more matter I wish to discuss with you before your departure."
"Yes, master" Vader said inquisitively
"If you are to act as my right hand you would need a base of operations, no?" Sidious stated
Thinking it over quickly Vader found himself in agreement.
"Yes master, that would be most prudent, is there something you have in mind?" Vader's interest was peaking, what was Palpatine thinking… or planning he wondered.
"I believe it would be only fitting that the emperor's right hand would have a world of his own or at least secretly lord over, a place to recuperate, to train and organize his operations from." He could sense Vader's mind tumbling about at that "A world of his own?"
"Some place close to you would be best I believe, a place from which you can draw powerful emotions from. Mustafar perhaps? Tatooine?" He used those examples to probe the state of mind of his apprentice, yet he found it blank all of a sudden which shocked the emperor.
"Something the matter, my friend?" He asked to ascertain his apprentice's blank mind.
"Naboo" Vader stated coldly "Naboo would be a good choice… if you would allow it, my master."
"You wish to use my homeplanet as your base?"
"If you do not wish it then I could find another candidate… but I believe Naboo would be the most fitting choice for a base of operations."
"Any reasons aside from the obvious ones… does it have to do with your late wife?
"Yes… the planet is wealthy, well connected and I could easily find a remote place for a base… but most importantly… it reminds me of my greatest failure." Vader included the more logical reasons for his choice but they did nothing to allay the true reason for the choice.
"It will serve as a constant reminder, yes?" Sidious had understood the reason, that reminder would fuel his anger, his hatred, it would fuel him with the emotions to serve his master better. That is at least what Sidious could understand from the mind probing he was doing into his apprentice's mind and thoughts… he was a proper whipped beast, Sidious mused to himself incredibly satisfied with the current situation.
Before Vader could reply Sidious spoke again…
"I do not require an answer, it shall be so, make your base of operations on Naboo. Go now and serve me well, there is much that we must do and accomplish in the coming weeks".
With a simple "Yes, my master" Vader headed off towards his new base of operations… and the funeral of Padmé and their child…
Sentiments of the Grieving"The greatest enemy to human souls is the self-righteous spirit which makes men look to themselves for salvation."
Charles Spurgeon
Vader was sitting in the pilot's seat on his ship scrolling through the extranet, to think… the mighty Darth Vader, the right hand of the emperor… looking at real estate. The thought had struck him, although it made him amused he was also reminded of the fact that he was doing it alone… Naboo was the obvious choice, but it hurt all the same. Palpatine had said that one of the important factors when deciding was connection and except from Tatooine the only one that could qualified to compete would've been Mustafar for obvious reasons… but Naboo stood out as the most fitting choice by a rather large margin, for one… no sand… secondly his connection with the planet was tied much closer to his great failure.
Checking another category he saw a name… Lake District… clicking on it he was taken to a tab with the currently for sale estates and homes in the region. Yes, this would be a suitable location, somewhat remote but not too remote, a base in the middle of nowhere was in and of itself suspicious so this would be perfect. He managed to find an estate that was a bit far from others in the area but still accessible by water; having access to the emperor's coffers was rather convenient most of the time. To the outside world it would be just another idyllic estate… in reality, the homebase of the emperor's fist.
Vader looked out the window of the ship after he was done with all the things required when buying a estate on Naboo, if that was anything like the work bureaucrats had to do everyday then he could not imagine how they managed it. He had landed inside the city in an open area only accessible by alleyways, people only came here for maintenance on systems for other buildings as nearly every wall had at least one control box on it. Yet Vader was a bit confused by what he was seeing now… the nose of the ship was staring into a particular alleyway. In that alley Vader could clearly see a person slumped against the wall… how odd… Theed wasn't "that" kind of city so what could this person possibly be doing there. They did not wear anything outwardly distinguishable like worker gear or fancier clothes, in all measures they looked like they had just run through a garbage heap in fact. Vader thought for a moment to himself and then looked back at the datapad… he had more important things to do, planning a way to achieve galactic peace as he had sworn no fewer than 3 hours ago.
Persecutus Terror - Pursued by Terror"The more the panic grows, the more uplifting the image of a man who refuses to bow to the terror."
Ernst Junger
Tap… tap… tap. Waking up to rain… it was not something she was unfamiliar with, in fact her current predicament wasn't too dissimilar from what she had experienced in the past. Although… she did look back on those days with more fondness than at her current situation, the hardships during that time in her life had not been only hers, it had been a shared hardship.
Yet it all changed in the blink of an eye…
Thinking back to that day made tears flow down her cheeks and reminded her of why she was currently holed up in a dark alleyway, burying her face in her hands only made things work.
"Why?" she muttered through her sobbing, why are you so weak Dalia? Why are you crying in an alleyway? You're supposed to be stronger than this… so why are you a disheveled shell of your former self, a mere week ago you thought yourself invincible… Why have you become this?
When her tears started drying up she made an effort to at least get off the ground, pools of water had started to form on the ground now. The rain was a good alarm clock if anything she thought to herself managing a half smirk still feeling the tensed muscles in her face after her self pitying. She had been repeating this cycle for six days now, waking up, crying her eyes out, getting up when she had no more tears to shed and then wandering aimlessly in the city in search of something to eat, and then she would find another alley to sleep in. Every second of these days had been mental and physical hell, she felt like vomiting every step she took and on occasion that had come true. What had she done to deserve this? She wondered to herself… where is the justice? Was this how people lived, those displaced by the war? How did they endure this and more importantly why had nothing significant been done about it? All these questions and no one to answer them…
Night was once again falling over the city… the seventh day in this damn city, 9 days since… nausea took over her mind, she knew what was coming… but this time it stopped. She wasn't sure why but she wasn't complaining, she felt a strange pull in her mind. She glanced over to her right and saw the spaceport… that's where she had arrived in the city… she started laughing to herself… not in a happy manner, just pointless, insane laughter. She realized that she remembered nothing in the city, everything had simply been a massive blur, she was completely useless, absolutely worthless, all that she had endured and she was down for the count with one fell swoop… she was utterly pathetic, why did you even run from it…
She noticed a transport that was about to depart, she did not know where it was going but it would probably be better than here she thought.
One act of stowaway later.
Looking out the window of the star ship she saw the endless void… it was… comforting… in a way. She had felt comfort before and this somehow felt different from all those other times, there was a lingering sensation in the back of her mind… something was going to happen, maybe in a few moments, maybe in a month but she could feel it. What was it? She wondered, was it the light at the end of the dark tunnel? Perhaps not… perhaps yes… all she knew was that she could not avoid it, whatever it may be…
"Please…"
"Please end this nightmare…"
Refocusing her eyes to look into the reflection in front of her, a Mirialan, deep green skin tone, golden yellow coloured eyes… black hair… no… raising her hand and brushing away the chair that had been hanging over her face she saw the true colour… white, pale white like snow… Her natural hair colour was white unlike the normal black or brown. She hid her true hair colour… it made her feel unnatural… outcast, she used to dye it regularly to black to not stand out but now… now it was starting to show. She had of course been unable to dye it ever since that day… being on the run and all that…
"Dalia A'parr…" she muttered, that is my name… a name had been haunting her ever since that day. She was a liability to herself, her name was, her weakness was… was there something about her that she could rely on? Then at the signal of some slight inertia in her stomach the vessel shot into hyperspace, a mix of blue and black streaks filled her field of view instantaneously…
Six hours later..
There had been no sleep for her only respite from looking over her shoulder and constant walking in a city. She hadn't had a good night's sleep in over 9 days at this point. She had to stay awake so that she could make it off the ship before any person checked who she was, so even if she would have slept on the ship it could have jeopardized herself… there it was again… the weakness.
Having made it past customs with some clever tricks that took all her energy and focus to pull off, she once more slumped down in an alleyway, she couldn't make sense of anything around her, it was all just a big blur. She only felt the light breeze passing through the alley when it sought its way around her face to continue the endless journey that it was on… just like her… she felt the last of her energy seep out of with one last sigh, hopefully tomorrow would be different… hopefully.
A Cherished Past"The paradox of trauma is that it has both the power to destroy and the power to transform and resurrect."
Peter A. Levine
On board the Venator class cruiser "Excellence", current barracks of the 84th Marine Regiment, 19 BBY, 10 days.
"Ok Sprinter, you better have something good in that hand of your's I cannot take another loss to the Commander."
"No worries Clue, I've got a perfect counter for our dear commander." Sprinter gave a wide smirk in response to his comrade.
"I think you boys are focusing on the wrong player in this game" Commander Stag was referring to a one who in reality stood out clearly among the clones.
The game had four players playing against each other, the current players were Specialist "Clue", Sergeant "Sprinter", Commander "Stag" and the regiment's second commander, Jedi Padawan Dalia A'parr. Unlike his brothers he was focusing on the real threat in the game… Dalia, she did not look it nor did anyone expect much from her being a 16 year old jedi padawan but she was a grizzled veteran like those around her in the barracks, but not only when it came to battle. She was actually a damn good card player, she hadn't been one when she and Stag had first met but she quickly caught on during the extended periods of time they spent on venators cruising around the galaxy from battlefield to battlefield.
Stag was brought back in his mind, to the first time they had met… Walking onto the bridge of the Excellence was a Jedi Master and her apprentice, Stag had been looking over a report from the engineers about the engine status which he surmised were up to snuff. Lifting his head from the datapad he saw the two Jedi walking towards him, he had been informed earlier of his new CO, Jedi General Velna Harée a Mirialan with light green skin and elaborate facial tattoos. He had however not been informed about the kid that was walking behind the general, the kid looked nervous or maybe a bit nervous, what was a kid doing on a military starship was his first question, second was why a jedi had brought one onboard which did not quite conform to his preconceptions of the jedi. But the kid did have clothes that resembled the ones the general was wearing, his thoughts were broken by the General.
"Commander, something on your mind?" She made the remark emotionlessly, which made the commander rather unsure how to proceed.
"Well, I would like to enquire about the kid walking behind you, this is hardly a place for her to be." He had decided that remaining somewhat neutral would be prudent in the scenario he found himself in currently.
"Ahh yes, no need to fret commander this is my Padawan Dalia A'parr…" He had unintentionally filtered out the rest of what Master Harée said. He was very much busy looking over the kid that had stepped out from behind her master, deep green skin colour, golden eyes, long black hair reaching down and resting on her shoulders…
"Hey! Stag? Commander? You there?" Stag awoke from his flashback to Sergeant Sprinter's hand waving in front of his face. Looking quickly at the table he placed one card which crushed his subordinates' hopes.
"I swear Clue we're never going to hear the end of this." Sprinter said as though he had lost all of his credits.
Then a green hand stuck itself out above the table dropping a card, which was then promptly followed by specialist Clue's jaw dropping.
"Perfect twenty one boys, count em and weep." Dalia had adopted a smug face of victory after having gotten a twenty one, the essentially auto win hand in the game.
"How do you manage commander? Every time we play you manage to get a good hand, I don't think I've ever seen you play a bad hand." Sprinter was in disbelief at the utter insane luck that Dalia could seemingly muster up from nowhere.
"Ahh, you know, jedi intuition." She replied smugly, trying hard not to break into an ear to ear grin at the disbelief of those around her.
Then her comm lit up, her face dropped and became expressionless…
"Seems, like my master requires my presence, I hope Stag can find a fitting dare for you to perform."
Stag frowned… he hated that… the machine-like behavior she switched into…
Stag was very good at hiding his emotions, Master Harée had even complimented him on his mental fortitude before. Always managing to find a way to hide his emotions from those around him, was a part of the reason he got the nickname "Stag", stoic and majestic is how he had been described on occasion. He liked the name but hated what it had come to remind him of… he couldn't understand the jedi… what kind of life was that?
So many times… so many times he had seen that switch flip over the years, at first he simply found it to be weird but gradually it turned into anger. Why was she subjected to that? What was that supposed to achieve? What was the purpose of not having attachments, what purpose did it serve? To turn bright girls like Dalia into emotionless machines? Dalia was such a bright presence… All of Stag's brothers could attest to that fact, they had modeled their markings of her facial tattoos, four squares, forming a bigger square with the corners pointed up, down, left and to the right. Dalia's master also had this tattoo but it was an unspoken agreement among the soldiers of the 84th that they depicted Dalias, they had all noticed how happy she had been after they had made them the regiments distinct markings. They had also seen how master Harée had shrugged it off just like that, on the battlefield they all worked together excellently, but off of it was another story entirely.
The regiment in its entirety subscribed to the belief that Harée was an uncaring machine just like the droids they fought. The one key factor that held the ship's morale together was Dalia, completely unbeknownst to her, but all the same. If she hadn't been there from day 1 alongside them… Stag was certain that he would've hated the jedi even more. Stag was sure that he would be unable to find a single one of his brothers in the regiment that did not see Dalia as their sister, she was as much a sister to them as Clue, Sprinter and Stag was. Nothing could change that…
or so they thought…
The first few missions that he 84th had participated in had been pretty standard, nothing out of the ordinary. When they were assigned to retake the world of Karros IV from the Separatists, was when things had shifted. Stag and Dalia had been caught in an ambush and thrown off a cliff into the forests below the mountain pass. Stag had awoken to being carried on the back of an exhausted kid trekking through a dense forest with a fully armoured clone on her back. It took them almost 3 days to get back to temporary headquarters since both of their comms had been trashed by the fall, during that time Stag found himself interacting with the padawan constantly and the bond that formed between them would come to be incredibly strong… something her master seemingly missed entirely.
After the mission on Karros IV was when the regiment adopted the tattoo markings. Dalia got them to remember the struggle that she endured, the regiment got them to remember her courage and selflessness…
9 days
They were currently on leave on Coruscant… Dalia and Harée had returned to the temple during the shore leave, meanwhile Stag was accompanied by Clue and Sprinter. They were looking for a present… one for Dalia, she was going to be turning 17 in one week which was when they were shipping out again to the front. The trio had spent a rather large amount of time trying to figure out what present she would like the best, to claim that it had been hard was an understatement. The only times when they were really able to get any type of information was when she was not with her master… when she was with her master she became a different person, "The Regal Jedi". That concept was something that master Harée was really focused on to the point of fanaticism… and it took its inhumane toll on Dalia. How did she endure that type of treatment from someone supposed to be her mentor?
Stag was ripped from his thoughts by Clue who had elbowed him in the shoulder. He was pointing over to a shop window.
"Hey, look there, that's perfect." Clue exclaimed
Looking over to the shop he found himself agreeing with his brother… That would be perfect.
2 days
Dalia and Master Harée had just left the temple in an airspeeder, they were heading for the landing dock where the Excellence was currently. Dalia was excited, something that she was expertly hiding just like her master had taught her. Every time they had returned to the temple she found herself more distant, it didn't feel like home to her anymore, this time the temple felt alien to her… The place where she had lived the majority of her entire life was alien to her now, she felt more at home on the Excellence by wide margins at this point. She was free around the clones, they treated her like a person… That was in stark contrast to how those in the temple treated her, they were all polite, but distant… it was her 17th birthday and not a single person had congratulated her or even remarked about it, not even Master Harée… Her heart sank when she thought those thoughts… she was a jedi, there was no time for personal enjoyment, she had a duty to fulfill to the people of the Republic… although… some little acknowledgment wouldn't be too much to ask for… was it?
Walking down the ramp and into the Venator she found herself experiencing fear… what if Stag and the others had forgotten… or worse, didn't care about her birthday. A cold sensation surged through her spine at those thoughts.
Stag was as usual on the other side of the airlock waiting for Master Harée and Dalia to come aboard the Venator, stoic as usual and leaning against the wall… hiding his excitement was actually rather difficult for once in his life. The doors opened and he shot to a standing position.
"General, Commander" He gave a salute and then relaxed.
"Commander, anything to report?" Master Harée asked.
"Nothing in particular, general, there is a full written report on the bridge if you would like to go over it." At this Master Harée nodded to signal her approval. "I could use the assistance of Command A'parr with some things down on the personnel deck." He continued setting the plan in motion.
"Yes, that's no problem, meet me on the bridge when you're finished so that we can depart for the frontline."
After receiving the go ahead Stag and Dalia headed for the elevator…
Dalia was in a rather depressed state at the moment, she had hoped that Stag would've acknowledged her birthday when master Harée was present so that she might've remembered if she had forgotten what day it was. But that was seemingly too hopeful of her to expect…
Stag was catching the occasional glance over towards Dalia while they were standing in the elevator, there was something off about her today, she was usually more talkative than this. The typical conversation between them was Stag just following along with what Dalia had to say so this silence made him nervous and a bit confused. Had something happened before she had come aboard? She was clearly trying to hide whatever was troubling her, but by this point Stag knew her too well to be fooled.
Walking beside Stag had never been something she disliked before, but today it was different, maybe it was due to her time in the temple the past week or maybe it was due to the fact that he too had seemingly forgotten about her birthday… They were in the barracks area now, Stag opened the door to one of the barracks and walked in and she followed after him.
Having stepped to the side when he had entered into the barracks he revealed the surprise which they had made, a small banner that said "Congratulations" and a bunch of his brothers who were excitedly cheering for their Jedi Commander. Looking over towards Dalia he saw the look on her face, disbelief and happiness combined into one.
She was shocked to say the least, she had been so preoccupied with all of her negative thoughts that she failed to notice the lingering feelings of excitement and anticipation in the corridors leading to the barracks. If she had actually been paying attention she would've noticed it immediately, which made her kind of happy about the negativity that had been washing over her. This meant so much more now with the surprise than it would've if she knew it was coming.
She felt a light jab in her right arm and looked over to Stag who had a wide smirk on his face.
"Thought that we would forget our sister's birthday did you? Stag asked, his smirk that had now transformed into a warm smile filled her with happiness, Stag was usually so stone-faced but he was not hiding anything now. Then another thing struck at her heart, he called her "sister"...
"Sister?" Dalia asked looking at Stag confused
"You are more than that to us, but I do believe I speak for all of us when I say that we see you as our young sister." Reaching under his kama he pulled out a rectangular box, holding it out in front of him and gesturing for her to take it.
A gift? They even got her a gift? If her heart had been made out of ice then it would've melted instantaneously, she had never gotten a gift before, at least not one out of kindness.
Separating the two pieces that the box consisted of revealed its contents, she was speechless… she'd seen these before when she and some others had snuck out of the temple back before the war had broken out.
Stag was completely and utterly unable to contain his happiness, when the trio of clones had chosen the gift for Dalia they had all collectively chosen which pair to buy but the color was something Stag insisted on deciding, silver. What they had bought for her was finger armour, pieces of jewelry that covered the fingers with fine crafted metal. They chose a pair that was particularly beautiful, the slithers of metal forming intricate patterns which ever so slightly would reveal the fingers inside. Each finger had three interconnected parts that flexed with the fingers, the top part on the finger was extended beyond the finger forming a point, all five fingers had small chains connected with a bracelet to form a glove-like look. The colour was something Clue and Sprinter were confused by but they had not argued being able to understand that it was clearly something Stag knew was special about that colour.
A single tear formed in her right eye when she looked over the incredible gift… this was something she had always wanted, but something her master was very disapproving of. She couldn't remember the reason right now, something about pride or vanity, she didn't care now, she was simply overjoyed…
Broken by the PresentThe 84th had been assigned to the Praesitlyn theater to assist in the counter attack operations there; they were currently on Praesitlyn itself having defended a large communications facility from a droid attack…
T Minus 1 minute
Master Harée was standing in the middle of the staging area for the planned counter attack they were going to launch against the droids. Looking over her shoulder she saw her padawan standing on the barricade looking out across the field… then she felt it… the pain… the suffering… death…
Commander Stag was standing at the communications center when he received a top clearance level communications from Coruscant, what could this possibly be about? Turning it on he heard three words… Execute Order 66… the transmission ended. The jedi have betrayed the Republic and are to be executed… turning around he started walking over towards Master Harée who was hunching over trying to regain her balance… it would be for nothing…
Dalia was looking over the fields where battle droids lay strewn about where they had fallen in the previous attack, soon this war would be over… she felt strange for a moment, then that strangeness was replaced by death and suffering, what was going on? She turned around and saw her master hunching over nearly falling to the ground… Why was no one helping her? She saw all the clones look at her master… it felt like everything had come to a standstill. Then she saw Stag walking over towards master Harée, yes, he would help her, but something was off. He was so stiff… almost… robotic, then a shot rang out across the staging area… Dalia saw her master drop to the ground, having been shot through the head by none other than Stag… What? Why? No… this must be some kind of dream, no nightmare. Then Stag raised his blaster towards Dalia… she could sense confusion, reluctance, unwillingness…
"RUN!" "ESCAPE!" He didn't understand what was going on, master Harée he cared not for but why was he aiming his pistol at Dalia? His hand started to quiver uncontrollably, he was fighting whatever it was that was forcing him to do this, he would not go along with this willingly. With his free left hand he ripped his helmet off, tears starting to flow at the thoughts going through his head, the mere idea of killing her was unthinkable. He was fighting his finger with all of the willpower he could bring forth to prevent it from reaching the trigger… no… please… please don't do this… looking into Dalia's golden eyes he saw the confusion, the terror.. the way she was looking at him felt like a million daggers piercing his heart and soul… please… the tears trickling down her face made it no easier for him… please…
"Run" "Please" "I beg you" Only she could hear those words… filled with insurmountable pain, confusion, sadness. Then another shot rang out after he uttered those words, it whizzed past Dalias face grazing her left cheek.
She did not react to the bolt grazing her face nor the pain caused from it, her heart was filled with a pain greater than what a blaster ever could inflict. Looking at Stag, uncontrollably shaking, tears flowing down his eyes like rivers, teeth gritting so hard they might be crushed under the pressure. He was always so calm and collected, rarely expressing his feelings openly, yet here he was at the brink of collapse from the onslaught of feelings overwhelming his mind… then another shot rang out, this time instinctively dodging it she did a 180 degree turn and ran.
The pain in his voice, the confusion, the sadness, it was too much for her heart to bear. Why did he do something like that?
