[Fic]An Inverse of Stars: Part Two

[PazaakPrincess]

NotesThis part is dedicated to Zadi for adding the idea of a child between Revan and Malak. It has given me motivation for a follow-up story. Which I'll post once finished with this one. I am happy for comments. Enjoy.

 

Part One

 

 

At first everything was blurry. The light was dim. Blinking a few times Tana tried to focus her vision. Slowly she sat up. Wincing at the pain behind her eyes she rubbed her temples. She looked around. Where was she? She could feel the soft covers of the bed beneath her, calling her back to sleep. She resisted throwing her legs over the edge to sit up properly. What she needed was healing.

 

Throwing out her right hand, palm vertical she said the word 'cure' in her mind. She expected to feel the tingle and the spark of the force cure as it filled her body healing the pain in her head.

 

Searching inside herself she felt for the ball of power churning away ready to be released. There was something there but it was faint and it would not answer her summons.

 

She tried again. Still there was nothing and the pain only seemed to worsen. There was a soft, menacing chuckle nearby. Malak. She closed her weary eyes. Now she remembered.

 

“That won’t do any good now” Malak said sliding out of the shadows toward her. His cold, metallic voice sent a chill through her

 

He stood for a moment contemplating her. Tana opened her eyes to see him there before her. His own eyes were lifeless and dreadful. She could remember a time when they had been bright and eager and had held something other then contempt for her.

 

Malak reached out a pale hand toward her face. Without thought she pulled back slightly in disgust. Her repulsion seemed to delight him. His fingers gently touched the side of her cheek. She shivered at the instant shock of cold. The edges of his eyes crinkled. Was he grinning?

 

Then he grabbed the side of her face with his whole hand. His fingers dug into the flesh of her neck just below the ear they felt like shards of marble piercing her skin. She gasped and her flesh trembled.

 

He leaned dangerously close to her. The icy breath filtered through his mask and evaporated against her skin. She wanted to look away from that dead gaze.

 

Malak laughed. He was enjoying her fear. Revelling, as she trembled before him. He gripped her face tighter pressing the tip of his middle finger against the hinge of her jawbone. She cringed at the pain the pressure caused.

 

Tana grabbed at his arm with both hands to pull it away. This only made him tense his muscles and press harder. She let out a sharp cry and she could feel tears welling up in her eyes. Desperately in her head, she named each power she had ever perfected but none of them came forward to defend her. She was helpless in his grasp. This was all going to end before it had even begun.

 

“Your force powers will not help you now” Malak snickered triumphantly.

 

Tana took a deep breath in, releasing it through her nostrils slowly. She must remember why she was there. There is no emotion there is only peace she chanted inwardly.

 

Closing her eyes, she gave in, relaxing every muscle in her body, her hands falling into her lap.

 

“Please” She whispered through the pain opening her eyes to meet his.

[PazaakPrincess]

Malak glared down at her. Holding her completely in his power satisfied him. Watching her discomfort, feeling her flesh crawl as he touched her, all of this filled his need. Once she had held the power over him. Bending to her will in all things, he had worshipped her. He had followed her into the darkness with little hesitation. She had been everything to him.

 

The craving to hurt her fed the darkness inside him, but he must be careful. He must not allow the appetite for her destruction over come him. There was much at stake for the future of his new Sith Empire and she was necessary to that end. He could make her pay for her treachery in other, more interesting ways.

 

Slowly he released his grip and she slumped backward on the bed raising her hand to her throat to rub the wounds left where his fingers had dug in.

 

As she massaged the sore area her fingers brushed something cold and hard around her throat. Gingerly, her fingers glided over the surface. There were many raised nodules and each seemed to have a tiny jewel fixed with in its centre.

 

She looked at Malak with puzzlement. Then her throat began to feel tight and she coughed gasping for air. It was so tight and hard to breathe. She could feel the panic again, rising from the pit of her stomach.

 

If he could have Malak would have smiled to himself as her expression changed from one of bewilderment to alarm. Again he tasted her pain and it was delicious. He allowed himself just a moment to enjoy it as she began to choke to death. Then he focused his thought and it was all over.

 

She doubled over coughing and panting and trying to stop herself from breaking down in tears.

[PazaakPrincess]

“You are wearing a Force Collar” Malak said dryly.

 

She only nodded. Whatever it was she got the point.

 

“I created it especially for you Revan.” He said with particular emphasis. “It suppresses your force abilities, and as you have experienced leaves you…quite vulnerable.”

 

Then his eyes turned wide and black as he focused his gaze upon her “All it takes is one faint thought and I can end you” he added with malice.

 

“I thought we had an agreement.” She said still breathing heavily. “There is no need for this thing”

 

He laughed wickedly and she thought there was actual light in his eye for a moment.

 

“I am no longer the fool who blindly followed you everywhere as Padawans” he growled.

 

Malak pulled her off the bed into his terrifying embrace. He crushed her against his chest till she thought she might break in two. Like twin black holes pulling her in with an irresistible gravitational force his eyes were empty, she had been mistaken that any light could live within them.

 

“Your treachery across both sides of the force knows no boundary Revan, I will not allow you any opportunity to betray me again” he hissed in her ear.

 

She felt his strength and could sense the menacing dark inside of him. With the collar she had no defence against its power. Beginning to feel ill she swooned a little. She could not allow it to get inside her or she would be lost forever. He released her and she stumbled falling back onto the bed.

 

He folded his arms over his chest and cocked his head to one side staring at her for some time as she shifted uneasily under his penetrating gaze.

 

“This new name of yours, Tana Honour…where does it come from?” he asked almost thoughtfully.

 

“You know where it comes from” she replied not meeting his eyes. Her frustration pleased him. And he did know the answer as she had surmised.

 

“What false hope naming you after such an infamous Jedi who dared to challenge the Sith centuries ago, obviously they do not understand that merely wiping your memory and giving you a ‘heroic’ name does not make you the instrument of my destruction” he said sardonically, chuckling to himself.

 

“Revan’s purpose is as always her own” he added with an air of vindication.

[PazaakPrincess]

He turned away from her and moved silently across the shadows of the room. The deep red cloak he wore billowed behind him marking his path through the gloom.

 

Malak stood in front of the window looking out into space. The stars glinted in their ancient call signs to the deep void. Some were no longer there. Only their memory remained, enticing explorers out into the blackness and toward their doom. It was a dance, a charade of light and time.

 

He recalled how they had lain side by side on the long, flat, stone steps of the Jedi temple garden on Coruscant. She had taught him the constellations as they would have been visible from her homeworld and he had loved her. The vision of her gleaming eyes turned towards the heavens dreaming of the endless possibilities that awaited them had never left him.

 

He had done it for all for her, only to have her betray him by returning to the Jedi. It amused him though to think of the Jedi bolstered by the idea that they had captured her, had turned her again to their cause. Not one of them was confident enough to face him directly. They had thought to use her as weapon against him only to discover far too late that Revan was the master of lies and the Republic would fall to him with only a mere whimper of protest.

 

“I wonder” Malak said looking at her from the corner of his eye, “does he know what deceptions you are capable of?”

 

Tana stared blankly at the bed cover, “I do not know what you mean” she replied flatly.

 

He snorted and turned to face her, “Do not lie to me” he commanded. “I will always know when you are lying.”

 

“I have learned from my mistakes, and now you will learn from yours.” He seethed.

 

“You were not aware but I heard your conversation with Bastila as you debased yourself trying to return her to the worthless path of the Jedi.” he said with icy disdain. “You spoke of the one named Carth, that insipid Republic veteran.”

 

She had not realised he had heard so much and he thought that for a moment he detected that she betrayed concern.

 

Moving back towards her he said, “You told her that you loved him”

 

A shadow crossed his face hiding his eyes as he moved closer. All she could see was the glint of the metal plate where his mouth should be and the hard lines of his chest in that blood red tunic.

 

“I still do not know if it was the child you came for” he whispered from the gloom. “Or was it only to destroy the Star Forge?”

[PazaakPrincess]

Revan had always been able to make him question the truth of his reality. Even now, there in that moment when he held her life in his hands she could still make him experience doubt.

 

Malak advanced towards her menacingly. Her hands moved to her throat as she looked around wildly, there was nowhere to run. Grabbing her by the arms he lifted her up and flung her to one side, she flew up against the door. Her vertebrae and her shoulder blades connected with the unforgiving metal and a new shock of pain shot through the nerves of her back. Like a rag doll she slid down the door and slumped to one side against its frame.

 

Reaching down he dragged her to her feat by the neck. She waited for the feeling of tightness as her throat would close under his power. He held her there glowering at her for a long moment as he searched her eyes for the answer he wanted.

 

“Did you use him to help you get here?” Malak demanded pressing his thumb against the artery in her neck. “Did you use him, as you used me?!”

 

He did not need the force to crush her, he was strong enough to do it himself and he would enjoy feeling her death by his hand rather then remotely through the force. Instinctively she tried to struggle but her resistance was futile.

 

“Yes”, she finally said with breathless resignation and guilt.

 

“Yes”, she repeated softly.

 

Without further thought he let her go. Satisfied by the simplicity of her admission, he stood back gloating over this little victory.

 

“He will come for you” he said wryly, “Like any man stricken by the affliction of love he will have no choice”

 

“If he does, it will only be to kill me” she acknowledged,

 

“Ah yes, I understand all too well.” He said with sinister delight at the thought of her new lover tormented by the revelations of what she really was.

 

“I shall turn him as I did Saul before him." he announced, "These Republic Soldiers are not very much good but sometimes they have their uses.” He chuckled and she imagined he was smirking at her.

 

Tana leaned back against the door catching her breath. “When may I see the child?” she asked ignoring his threat.

 

“Now, if you wish”, he replied.

[PazaakPrincess]

Malak crossed the room and passed the great expanse of window. There he entered a code into the keypad on the wall and a door slid open with a rush of air. It was a small circular room with computer screens on every wall. A small child played on the floor in the centre with strange hexagonal shapes of glittering black metal. It giggled to itself trying to open the various “toys”.

 

Hesitantly Tana followed him and stared in amazement at the child on the floor. Hurriedly she looked to Malak for approval. He nodded indicating it was alright for her to enter.

 

Quietly she padded toward the centre of the room. She stood over the child watching it play on the floor; it was dressed all in black and had wispy locks of dark hair. It turned its face upward towards her and smiled with large, bright blue eyes. Eyes like her own. The child thrust its arms upward as if asking to be lifted. The tears threatened at the edges of her vision.

 

“The child’s name is Lahren”, Malak said behind her.

 

In her heart she had held another name for the child who had been ripped from her at birth, but she said nothing. Tana reached down to finally enfold her child in her arms. All the struggles and the pain she had endured would now count for something. Her journey had led to this one joyous moment and she could feel the emotion well up in her as she gave into her happiness.

 

As she reached to pick the child up, it and its toys disappeared in a flash of hologram particles. She gasped in disbelief and cried out in astonished agony. Malak cackled wildly with malicious glee.

 

She turned to him the fire in her eyes a mirror of the fire in her heart, without hesitation she rushed at him.

 

“Where is my child?!” she screamed with all the power and indignation of a mother protecting its young.

 

He had not expected such an outburst and she managed to punch him several times before Malak could react.

 

He caught her fist with his palm as she moved to strike. He crushed her small hand in his stone cold fist, twisting her arm. She writhed in agony and kicked him in the stomach. Malak released her in a force push that sent her crashing into the computers on the far wall. Her elbow bashed through one of the screens sending sparks flying that burned through the flimsy cloth of her robe.

 

Tana pushed herself away from the screens ignoring the pain and the acrid smell of her own burning flesh. She stumbled back towards him, but Malak held up his hand stopping her in her tracks.

[PazaakPrincess]

“Revan!” He bellowed.

 

“You have no power, and no weapons. Your pitiful blows do not injure me” Malak said pointedly.

 

“I am disappointed in you. I thought you were a far more adept learner. Did our interaction in the other room not prove to you that you live merely at my whim?” He asked coolly.

 

Of course he was right. This battle would only lead to her death. She clenched her fists and searched within for the strength to continue. There is no passion; there is only serenity she repeated to herself.

 

“Where is my child?” Tana asked again, this time more calmly trying not to show her anger and despair.

 

“Our child is safe.” He replied.

 

“I have kept the child safe, far away from here. I knew you would return to me if the child lived” he said with satisfaction.

 

“This shall only remain, as long as you serve me” he added with an air of severity.

 

The deep sorrow in her eyes was more satisfying to him then the pain in her body. Tana lowered her head nodding in submission. It was that one gesture he had been waiting for, her utter resignation. The contest was over he was the master now.

 

“Good” he said and with a swoop of his robes turned, exiting from the circular room, through the bedchamber and out through the main door. There was an unmistakeable clicking noise as the lock was engaged.

 

Tana limped slowly from the circular room into the bedchamber. She held her arm across her chest to relieve the pain in her elbow. Trying to hold herself up with her other hand as she followed the curve of the bulkhead toward the bed and then leaned on it for support as she made her way toward the far wall with grim determination.

 

There was a small closet set into the centre of the wall. She looked at the torn and singed robe she was wearing. Wondering what had become of her real clothes, she leaned against the closet door for a moment recovering her strength. Gently she touched the mechanism and the door slid open with a faint hiss.

 

It was pitch black inside.

 

“You know what must be done” she whispered to the darkness.

 

A faint circle of blue light slowly appeared as gears and systems hummed and whirred to life. A small digital voice replied, “Beep-bop-boop”.

[Jae Onasi]

Heh, interesting story. I was starting to have a tough time imagining the woman who used to be Revan being that submissive, when you came out with that little twist in the last chapter. Keep going....

[Writer]

Captured my interest, you have. Write more, you must... speaking like Yoda, I am

 

This is pretty good. I look forward to more

[PazaakPrincess]

Thanks guys, I am working on part three probably be out at the weekend or Monday.

[Jae Onasi]

You just have to post part 3 here. It's terrific.

[Writer]

Oooh... am looking forward to more

[PazaakPrincess]

Hi guys thanks for the support, I haven't posted more here as I am concerned that part 4 may fall out of the guide lines of posting decorum will have to check with the mods.

[Jae Onasi]

You can always 'tone it down' a bit for LF. Some things are better left to the imagination than to graphic detail, anyway.

[PazaakPrincess]

Yeah it wasn't really that it's graphic because it's not...you'll see what I mean when you read it

[machievelli]

read