| abstract
| - The Jedi School. Much has changed within it's walls since the Master had left. The unbelievable had taken place. Two students had began to kill each other off. One serving his own need and orders, the other doing so unwittingly. However, only one of them lives now. The wiring of the survivor's bomb make their way throughout the school, each leading from a central timing unit to the other various parts of the school. Around the courtyard lay three bodies of the other students. Closest to the bomb is the body of Aubrey. Her broken body lies twisted, discarded like some child's doll, in the sand. The woman's once beautiful face twists in a strange direction, her neck appearing to have been broken. Not too far from her lays Priti, the beautiful woman who had come from a world of ice and had died upon this desert planet by her friend's own hands. An obvious lightsaber wound can be seen upon her midsection. Her face seems peaceful, as if she had been serene and calm at the end of her short existence in this galaxy. Lastly, the form of the near human named Tholt is sprawled out near the door to the dormitory. Laying with his face buried in the sand, many wounds are exposed to those who care to investigate. The wounds are obviously from a lightsaber, due to their cauterization and their shape. It appears that someone had repeatedly slashed away at his back as he laid in the sand, even after he had died, in a fit of rage. A deep braying sounds from the southwest, far out in the desert. A shadow can be glimpsed there, two riders on a lone Dewback gradually making their way toward the school. The faint haziness of a dust cloud blurs them from sight.. the speck dips into a sand dune, reappearing moments later flickering like a mirage in the desert. On the beast, Ethan grips the leather reins in his gloved hands, moving seamlessly with every bulky step of the pack animal. He squints through a dust clogged visor at the outline of the school in the distance, and turns his head to the side to check on his passenger. See Threepio wasn't meant for riding beasts, so the lad had to end up strapping the golden droid in the saddle behind him. His legs wouldn't bend properly to accomodate the fatness of the ride, so the droid looks more like cargo, suspended at an angle with netting. "Alright back there Threepio? It's not much further." Ethan says, trying to steady his voice. Luke had sent him back to check on things, mentioning a disturbance in the Force. Ethan purses his lips, he didn't really feel anything.. but the butterfiles in his stomach. "He's probably imagining things.. everything looks fine." he murmurs under his breath while snapping the reins to spur the Dewback onward. He didn't really believe his own words though.. something was wrong.. he could sense it like a cloud of smoke in the air. His eyes squint behind the visor as he voices a command to the animal, "Hyeah!" The animal bellows beneath the two, straining against the reins and kicking up flourishes of sand. The buildings loom larger as they approach. From behind Ethan can be heard a steady stream of wailing following the inquiry, "No, I am not all right! My chassis was designed for human-cyborg relations, not for being pulled around on such horrible creatures!" Every move of the beast jars him in an unnatural manner which only illicts louder cries of protest, "Master Ethan! My circuits are not meant to endure this kind of aaa-aaa-aaa-aaaigh!!!!" As the beast picks up pace, his voice trails off in that pitiful whine, gold parts flopping about stiffly. The dark side wanted him so much, needed him so much, that It was willing to give him all he could ever ask for or imagine. Cort's senses have become stronger than he could have ever imagined in these last few hours. Everything had become easy for him. He felt invincible. He felt drunk on it's power. He felt the anger and hatred of generation after generation of Sith. He had become everything and at the same time nothing. As the two lifeforms near, Cort can feel their presence drawing ever closer. Slowly, he makes his way towards the stares, peeking over their edge into the desert for some visual confirmation of who it might be. Silently, he prays it's not Luke. Smiling thoughtfully, his prayers appear to have been answered. Ethan and some desert creature, carrying what looks to be some golden statue. Maybe another Jedi relic, he muses. He slinks back towards one of the many doorways off of the courtyard, as the twin suns of Tatooine give way to darkness. For the moment, he clears his mind of all emotion, as difficult as it is, becoming one with the Force. It flows through him, instead of around him, making him a bit harder to detect by supernatural means. It's just Ethan, he tells himself. Just another blind apprentice. Originally, he hadn't planned on challenging his equal and his absence from the School along with Luke was a blessing. It appears that things have changed, however. Ethan's attention is now riveted on the school in front of him. The wailing of Threepio droning off in the background. "Shh!" he says tersely, returning his view to the buildings before quickly dismounting from the animal ten meters or so from the entrance. He pauses there for a long moment, reins in hand, eyes focused on the entrance, clearing his mind of all thoughts.. feeling the Force coursing through him.. all his senses at the alert as he had been taught. Upon detecting another possible complaint from the droid, the young apprentice merely raises a gloved hand to stop him. "Something's not right.." He says before turning to begin the tedious task of untying the golden droid. He finishes and helps him to the ground, steadying his mechanical frame, "Be quiet." the lad warns, then turns to move toward the entrance at a sort of jog while gesturing for Threepio to follow. At the reprimand to be quiet, Threepio's loud intoned complaining is hushed down to a muttering noise several decibels lower than before. ".. of all the.. blasted creatures.. joints freezing over.. oil bath.." is all that is heard, the golden protocol unit positive that what was 'not right' was the torturous and neglectful treatment he was receiving at the hands of this ruffian. Why Master Luke had sent him with this inhospitable creature was beyond him. It was probably Artoo's fault. The faint creak of leather accompanies Cort's withdrawal of his blaster, as he unfastens it from it's holster. The dark apprentice raises it above his shoulder, peeking into the darkness. For a moment, he reflects upon what he had done, even as he struggles to remain at peace. He had come to this school as a student to learn... Liar. And now look at what he had become? Realizing who he truly was had sent him over the edge. It had made him a slave to the dark side, even if he couldn't admit it to himself. Faker. He had murdered his friends. Be it with his own hands or through trickery, he had murdered them. No. No, he must not allow himself to be weak in his moment of triumph. He had been sent here to destroy. Ethan will be next and it will be done. The apprentice will return to his Emperor victorious and throw it in his damned face. Maybe someone will take the boy seriously for once. Entering the courtyard cautiously, Ethan too touches his hand at the blaster on his hip. His eyes narrow faintly catching the glimpse of some movement out of the corner of his vision. Bram was cowering under a table near the door, he whimpers softly, creeping forward on his belly as he spots Ethan. "What's the matter boy?" Ethan says, bending to scratch at the dogs head before straightening again and drawing his weapon. He pulls the dusty goggles from his eyes and scans the area.. Things looked normal.. nothing out of.. wait.. The boys breath catches in his throat. There were three bodies lying here. As if in a dream, his eyes had failed him yet again.. for he only momentarily saw rumpled piles of clothing. Never trust your eyes. They deceive you. It was clear to him now, his friends weren't merely sleeping.. Like flashbulbs searing his brain he caught glimpses of them one by one.Tholt by the dormitory doorway, a sand fly landed on the soft flesh where thumb meets hand.. Priti's broken form colored with crimson at her side.. peaceful.. and Aubrey's placid features.. bones seeming oddly out of joint.. horrific.. Gasping, Ethan goes wide eyed and stumbles toward them, dropping his blaster and goggles into the dirt.. falling to his knees.. he whispers, merely a breath from his lips, "No.." and trying beyond his means to make sense of the scene before him.. Could he trust what he was seeing? He pushes out with his feelings toward the broken bodies, searching for some faint flicker of life.. feeling only cold stone.. Tottering along at a fraction of Ethan's pace, Threepio is yards and yards behind the man who has rushed up ahead, leaving him to wallow in his own misery. "Blast that Artoo Detoo," the droid intones bitterly, his feet shuffling and causing a flurry of dust to swirl about his feet. "When Master Luke hears of this.." Of course, by 'this', Threepio means nothing outside of himself and his own personal woes. The dirt he was sure was creeping into his gears and mechanisms, the dry heat wearing at his motor fluids, the sand wearing away at his shiny finish. And of course, how this was all the fault of his devious astromech counterpart, who simply did not seem to comprehend how good he had it with Threepio around. Little does he realize that another world exists outside his own, a world of pain, death and remorse. Friends lost. Dreams cut short in their prime. Hopes for the future lost in rage and despair. Now, a voice tells Cort. He will hear this voice in his dreams for the years to come. A voice which sounds sounds so much like his own, one would think it was their own subconscious, but he knows better. The most dangerous intruder in ones mind is one that disguises itself as part of you. The door opens silently, but revealing only the darkness behind it. There he stands. The boy who had caused all this pain. All this misery. Slowly, he raises his blaster for it's target. No regrets, he tells himself. ...And suddenly Cort's silence is broken, not with a word, but with the defeaning scream of his blaster. One shot is fired at Threepio. One shot that is hopefully enough to put a legendary droid down. Almost as quickly as the shot is fired, the blaster is thrown to the grown, discarded. Without looking to survey the damage he caused, Cort steps forth into the courtyard, his saber withdrawn. His eyes first divert to the sabers he had left laying on the ground in the courtyard, being too lazy to carry them around. One of them is Aubrey's saber and unfortunately, it is very real. He turns his attention back to Ethan though, his face glistening in the light from the courtyards lanterns. As he nears, one can see that it's not sweat that reflects the light from his face, but the splash of fresh blood. Short, heaving sobs erupt from the boy. His back is turned, on his knees in the sand before the bodies of his fallen friends, tears stain the sand as he reels from the sight.. it doesn't make sense.. "No.." he says faintly again through a throat dry from sand and misery. A chill shivers up his spine causing him to spin and claw through the sand backwards away from the vision.. Silhouetted against the twin suns is a dark shape.. He must be dreaming.. for it resembles the haunting image from his nightmares.. the image he could never quite sculpt to satisfaction.. Recognition barely touches his mind and he croaks, "Cort?", while wiping at his cheek with a sleeve. adding weakly, "Something terrible has happened." -- A low growl reverberates from the shadows behind Cort, Bram lunges, teeth bared and howling with fury toward the dark apprentice.. On the far edge of the courtyard, a precise bolt of energy makes its mark. The self-absorbed protocol droid didn't even know what hit him as a laser bolt impacts his abdomen, sending a pulse through his circuits and processorts that scrambles them within fractions of a second. His mobility impaired, the force of the bolt sends him toppling over backwards like a falling tree that lands with a dull thud in the sand. A noise muck akin to a holo being played backwards at varying speeds emits from him weakly just before his golden eyes fade out. Another victim has fallen lifeless within the confines of the Jedi School. Ethan's words don't seem to register on the crazed face of Cort. After he had revealed himself, he had given into his hate. Given into his anger. As the sound of the droid hits the desert sand, he can't help but smile at his own marksmanship. "Bye," he says allowed in the droids direction, giggling slightly. He then turns his glare back towards Ethan. As the Dark Jedi closes his eyes, the growling behind him turns into a yelp as Bram is lifted off of his paws and into the desert air. Cort's smile widens, another threat being taken care of. "Yeah," he answers, as Bram levitates behind him. "Aubrey went and killed Priti. It was pretty bad." Somehow, his words don't seem that comforting. "One big massacre. Kinda like the Jedi Purge Luke told us about..." He shrugs indifferently, but the smile on his lips doesn't do much to comfort. Looking down to the saber, he knows it's obvious that he's lying. The apprentice may as well have fun with this for the moment. Looking back to Bram, he points to one of the walls on the other side of the courtyard. "Die," he growls, as the dog begins to careen towards the wall. Bram hits the wall with a sound like a bag of cement hitting pavement, accompanied by a bone-like crack and a brief, stunted squeal. His body flops to the sand, unmoving. A red bloom foaming at one of his nostrils. "Nooo!!" Ethan screams, scrabbling even more backward in the sand and breathing heavily. He eyes his pet's unmoving form briefly before staring incredulously back at the attacker. This couldn't be true.. Cort was his friend. This wasn't the same person.. how could he have been so blind.. Blinking about him, feeling trapped, Ethan catches sight of Aubrey's saber in the sand nearby. The rage within him bubbles up slowly, gaining strength. "She didn't.." he blurts, "..she couldn't have.. not her.." His face contorts in agony, the bubble of rage reaching the surface and popping. Clenching his teeth and with one quick movement of his hand, Aubrey's saber skitters through the sand toward him, clapping into his outstretched palm. In a flash of green the weapon is ignited and crackling against Cort's blade between them. Ethan's face is a sculpture of pain and terror. "That's not true.. /you/ killed them." he croaks through his teeth. In an instant, Cort's ruby saber ignites to fend off Ethan's attack. Aubrey's saber had once again become a thorn in his side. Using his strength and the Force, he pushes Ethan away to give him a bit of space. "You sound just like, Aubrey," he says to his former friend. The blood red blade moves in front of his face, bathing his already blood splashed face in it's crimson light. "Well, alright. You got me," he admits humorously. "I'll take credit Tholt and Aubrey, but I didn't touch Priti." The apprentice giggles madly, then abruptly stops, as his brows narrow and his teeth grind together. Give into your hatred... "Though, from the way I seen you looking at her, I'm sure you would have -loved- to touch her." Enough, it's time to leave this god forsaken planet. Laughing madly, he twirls his saber along side of him, rushing towards Ethan and swinging his blade with enough force to fall a Bantha. Their blades meet in a quick succession of vibrant clashes, leaving Ethan to back up a step with his emerald saber wooshing behind him in a poetic arch. "So you say." he retorts, lingering on that feeling of anger and madness.. relishing it for just a moment, feeling the strength and power it gives him, "..but I'd /never/ hurt her.." The terror he feels.. the bitterness and rage.. the sense of sorrow and resentment over the young lives snuffed out because of Cort's apparent dementia.. every molecule in Ethan's body screams for revenge against this monstrosity of betrayal before him... yet his training is not entirely lost.. he pushes it back for a moment, taking a deep breath and just.. letting go.. //concentrate on what you are doing// he can hear Luke's gentle voice.. //stay in the moment.. don't give in to hatred..// "You won't live through this.." he says calmly, "..you may kill me.. but you won't kill Luke." -- Even now he could sense the rate at which Cort had progressed, the Dark Side accellerating his training, giving him skill and technique most students would take years to attain.. "I can't believe you Cort.. we were friends." His saber held behind him in a ready pose, his left hand comes up, the hand turning to beckon his new found enemy on, As the two part, Cort takes a few steps back at the mention of his "name," his head bowed slightly and his eyes glaring at his opponent. If looks could kill, this one certainly would do more than that. His saber arcs around him, tracing the sandy ground and stops in the sand to his right. The sand, burnt and melted by the blade, begins to solidify into glass. For a moment, he says nothing of Ethan's words. Whether they have affected him or not, is hard to tell. The apprentice is so deep, drowning under the waves of his own darkness, that nothing short of a miracle could save his soul. "Cort is dead. Luke is miles away. It's just me and you now Ethan." Once again, he raises his saber, pointing it at his adversary. "You and Etrigan," he finishes, revealing the name Palpatine had given him. "Soon, this school will be burnt to the ground. You will be dead." The dark jedi rushes forth, his saber raised above his head, meaning to finish Ethan once and for all. Ethan defends with a double handed thrust overhead with his own weapon, the two lightsabers crackling and flashing as they bang together. The two trade several alternating blows with the glowing weapons, with Ethan being backed against a wall, holding his blade defensively before him, "Etrigan huh?" he snorts, "You're mad. You know that? Why did you do it Cort?!" the boy nearly shrieks, all of the anger over his lost friends seething within him once again. "Don't you see what you've done?!" -- Then he attacks more out of a defensive posture than anything, to give himself some maneuvering room, sending his blade hacking toward Cort.. the rage boiling in his mind. Quickly, his rage at being called Cort again increases. "SHUT UP!" he bellows, his throat raw from his scream. "Shut the hell up!" Swinging his saber like mad, he stays on Ethan, attacking nonstop. The hum of his saber drowns out almost all of the sound in the courtyard, as the two students fight for their lives. Then something happens... Cort feels as if he has become an observer to this fight. The man wielding his saber is not him, but someone else. He watches as one of the lanterns in the courtyard is ripped from it's hinges, flying directly towards Ethan's back. Whether it is Cort himself doing it or something else, he can't be certain. He just knows it's happening. His descent only quickens. Suddenly, he's seeing once again through his own eyes, growling like some crazed animal, his teeth grinding together to the point which causes him pain. The death grip he has on his saber only tightens, his nails pressed into the metal hilt causing them to bleed. Batting away attacks one after the other, Ethan is overwhelmed by the intensity of the assault. He continues moving backward, barely catching some of the swings in time before his legs are chopped from under him or his head is seperated from his body. Cort never fought like this in training.. the Dark Side /is/ powerful.. Ethan could sense it.. and the rage focused toward him caused him to fear for his life.. Just as he is trying to regain his calm.. call forth on the liquid oceans of placidity that is The Force, something extraordinary happens, the lantern, loosed from its hinges bangs solidly into his temple, sending the young apprentice to his knees.. blood trickles into his eyes and Etrigan becomes a blurry, red-tinged figure.. Holding up his saber in futility, dizziness overcomes him.. "Stop.." he pants, sending one hand to to the side of his head and staring incredulously at the smear of bright red on his palm. In another moment, his saber is easily batted out of his hand.. it careens into the sand, extinguishing itself with a squeal of energy.. Ethan trips backward over something near Aubrey's body, his heel catching on the wiring.. and lands with a thwump near Priti's lifeless yet peaceful visage. "Don't.. do.. this.." he rasps, the fear and terror enveloping him.. his blood streaked hand moving up defensively in front of him.. Words are meaningless in Cort's fit of rage. Valak himself could have told him to stop, but he wouldn't have cared. A sand storm could have ripped through the Jedi School, but he wouldn't have noticed. His attention, his focus is upon his enemy and nothing else. His rage is great enough to move mountains. As Ethan falls to the ground before him, Cort's mad eyes realize that his feet had pulled out the wiring of half of his device. His deactivates his lightsaber, returning it to his belt. Pointing at what was Aubrey's lightsaber, it lifts into the air, being sent off towards the stairs at blinding speed. The former Jedi stomps forth towards Ethan and says nothing to his pleas of mercy, not even hearing them or realizing what he is doing and what he is capable of in this frenzy. His only response is a backhand across Ethan's bleeding face, sending his friend into the desert sand. Lunging forth, he raises his booted heel and slams it into the student's head, stomping it into the ground for the God's know what purpose. Cort needs to feel vindicated. He needs to feel better for all this pain. Only by causing it, can he find whatever he is looking for in his mind. Straining to even see his attacker now, Ethan looks up, his vision blurred, the blood on his face now caked with sand, "I'll.." he croaks out, his consciousness quickly fading from his grasp.. the Light Side of the Force fleeing from him.. ".. make you.. pay.." he finishes, the last word causing blood to fleck from his lips as his head meets sand again.. a low gasp emitting from his throat. This one thought encompasses his thoughts.. not of dying, or the fear of it anymore.. part of him knew he would not wake up.. but his thoughts were sustained by this single impulse.. he would make his former friend pay for what had befallen the students.. make him pay for the betrayal.. Even if it meant he himself would have to fall headlong into the Dark Side as Cort had done.. And finally the world around him blurs to darkness, and dreams.. in his minds eyes, he could see the shadowy figure from his nightmares clearly now. Etrigan, face streaked with blood and anger in his eyes.. walking away from the burning ruins of the Jedi School, the black smoke clotting Tatooine's serene blue skies. After Ethan's final words of revenge, the Dark Jedi kicks his boot into his head one final time for good measure, even though he knows Ethan is far beyond feeling it now. He says nothing. All of his humor gone, as he returns to his bomb, looking over the wiring. Ruined. Half the wiring torn apart because of Ethan. Who knows if it will work now, but there isn't enough time to figure it out. The clock ticks down from the final nine minutes remaining as Cort gathers up his trophies from his victims and his backpack of meager belongings, then begins his trek into the desert. He doesn't look back, as he makes his way towards one of the nearby settlements, even as the loud explosion tears through the desert, a cloud of black smoke rising from it's ashes. The winds pick up around him, obliterating the footsteps he leaves behind. The Jedi School is behind him now. It will be good to return home.
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