A Beautiful Curse

[Darth Abyss]

Nar Shaddaa, Underground Bunker

Time was a peculiar and unforgiving thing. Always passing by too quick or too slow, but never in the pace those caught in its flow expected it to move. Years he had said, but as it was with time years could become months, weeks, days, even hours, when time decided to play its game once again. When he had told [member="Miss Blonde"] about his condition he had been sure that there still were years to come in which he would walk the galaxy in the shackles of flesh, but now he was not nearly as certain.

Since Soothe had enkindle his strength the corruption of his body had began to affect him at a accelerated rate. He still wasn't dying today or tomorrow, but years were off the table as well. Without a mask in front of his face, wearing a simple pair of black trousers and a white shirt, Darth Abyss stood in front of a mirror.

"Patricia, I am sorr..."

The words trailed of, as an otherworldly echo followed behind them, a million voices speaking at once. Abyss looked at his reflection with frustration. His power was near its peak, and his body and mind more and more transformed under its weight. Would he allow himself to use it all, it would break him apart, a single moment of absolute power only to die miserably.

"Not yet."

This time the words lacked the echo of before. He wouldn't surrender to the dark within, not yet at least.
---------------------------------------------
Abyss waited in the back of a speeder, the windows dark enough to keep the eyes of anyone outside away. His time was limited, but that meant that he had to make the best out of the little he had left. It would've been easy to simply disappear now, leave behind this little glimpse of a normal life he had build with her. But that wasn't the path he meant to go. Despite all he was his feelings for Patricia were real and he would stand by them, as a man and beyond.

"Meet me. Alone. -A"

The message would be send to her comm, leaving her a navpoint close to her position where his speeder waited. This was not an easy topic to discuss, but Abyss had prepared something that would make it easier, at least a little bit.

 

[Miss Blonde]

Blonde had been a little less than stable lately, between all the pregnancy hormones and the stress of training a successor for her retirement. She was kind of a mess, though Abyss knew that all too well when she had pulled a shotgun and had the idea of murdering Serenity over a potential security breach. Really it was a time in her life where Abyss needed to realize she tended to get a little crazy. That and the lack of alcohol which usually kept her pretty mellow most of the time. Hell, their entire relationship existed because of a few drinks and bedroom. They had certainly come a long way in the short amount of time they had together.

So once Blonde got the message she walked to her closet and tried to think of something to wear. Since she had started to show a little, she couldn't go with the classic suit, tie, and protective vest. Something more comfortable was in order, and that was going to be a grey dress and her mask. Something that wouldn't make her stick out against the drab shades of Nar Shaddaa.

So with her outfit ready and primed she made her way to the meeting site with a few guards tailing her in case someone wanted to try something with the two of them potentially exposed in a speeder. But she highly doubted that would happen. She'd then maker her way to the back seat of the vehicle and got in.

"Well well, we haven't done it in the back seat of a speeder yet. Makes me feel like I'm eighteen again. Alright." Taking off her mask once inside Blonde started to lower the straps of her dress mistaking what this meeting was all about.

Though to be honest, with all the hormones and stress she kind of needed some form of relief in order to not burn everything to the ground.

[member="Darth Abyss"]

 

[Darth Abyss]

"You can keep your cloths on. For now."

There was a slight chuckle, but it could barley mask the sadness that waited below it. Abyss knocked on the window to the driver, to inform the droid pilot to start moving. That he had fairly bad news to bring had inspired him to give her something to hold on, a beautiful night that would at least mask a part of the pain he would cause her late on. The speeder moved forward through the air, only to start a sudden, almost rapid descend down into the depths of Nar Shaddaa, far below the levels that normal people lived on, even beyond the rotten slums somewhere deep into the darkness of the world under another world.

Very few people made their way down here, as many places here were dangerous and uncontrolled, with wild men and even wilder animals roaming around, while myths spoke about even more deranged remnants of older ages. Their targeted location on the other hand was nothing like these horrific tales, instead it was a beautiful small sanctuary. Whenever he search for his focus he ended up wandering the smuggler moon hidden under shadows, and his wanders he had found many abandoned wonders that no eyes had seen in years, maybe longer.

"Come."

Abyss offered [member="Miss Blonde"] his hand, while the door of the speeder opened, revealing what he had prepared for her. The ruin of what had once been a fairly exclusive hotel was overgrown with vines, which lived from the water of several fountains which were broken but had not yet run dry despite the passing of time. He would lead her inside, where a table and two chairs waited for them that clearly had been placed here recently, not fitting in with the rest of the interior.

Right now the old room was almost too dark to see, but the second she would sit down it would be filled with light, created by fire summoned from rune clusters placed in a circle around their table, close enough to spend warmth but still far enough of to not get burned. The light would reveal more than the inside of the hotel, as he had spend even more time to make this a night to remember. On the walls around them pictures had been placed, each of them showing Patricia from a different perspective, each of them painted in another style and on another level of abstraction, each of them signed with a single red "A" on the lower right corner.

"Sorry if this is a bit overkill."

Again he chuckled slightly, waiting for the droid pilot to come by to serve them food and drinks.

 

[Miss Blonde]

At first Patricia was more than a little concerned about the whole crazed room full of her pictures, but she calmed herself remembering her stint as a playhutt model and all the weird gifts she had gotten from her fans. So while this was definitely in the top ten of the weird crap men did for her list, it certainly wasn't number one. They didn't need to talk about the number one though, she'd rather not relive it. Cause that was a very very regrettable night she wished she was more than intoxicated for.

"No no, the Beautiful Mind-Silence of the Lambs stalker room is uh... well you know.... good?" Patricia said as she did her best not to stare at the pictures and detail that was put into them.

What mattered was that there was something wrong with Abyss, something that wasn't right. And she wasn't referring to the creepiness that was this entire building. But despite said creep factor she took a breath and realized that this wasn't anything to start making regrettable decisions over. She loved him and he had been there for her, he had seen her vulnerable many times and maybe this was just his own way of portraying that vulnerability.

So she sat down next to him in the seat and put her hands out to grab his. Gently she wrapped her own around his and pulled one up to her face to brush against her cheek. She smiled at him and spoke in a loving tone.

"I know, Atton. I see it in your eyes and in your body. I sense it like a stain on your soul. You don't think I can see when the father of my child isn't doing well? I love you, Atton and whatever this is." She paused as she took a breath.

"We can beat this." In truth she wanted to say something at the meeting with Ingus, she had seen how his condition was progressing but she kept her mouth shut for the sake of professionalism.

[member="Darth Abyss"]

 

[Darth Abyss]

As before the chuckle about her remark did little to hide what was underneath. He had been fully aware of the vibe the room held due to the way he had decorated it, but he was a sith lord that many called the Mindeater after all. The plan had been to walk on the small line between unnerving and intimate, a mirror of his inside, the broken soul of a broken man that had only one source of light in the dark that was everywhere around him, that consumed him more with every passing hour.

"I know you want to talk about it, and I want to talk about it too, but not now. Please just enjoy this night with me before we go into such a depressing matter."

He hadn't dragged her down here into this slightly horrifying gallery to start of with bad news. All he wanted was a memorable, romantic night with her, a shining memory to fill the endless void that was his mind. His eyes wandered over the pictures around them. They clearly showed that he had talent, but they also clearly showed his tendency to obsess over things to an unhealthy degree, each of them representing another impression Patricia had left on him.

"Before I meet you I never painted another person, only the temples and ancient places that I had traveled to. You found something in me that I could not find myself Patricia. You and our child are the only gifts that the galaxy ever offered to me."

His lifetime had been pain and suffering, lose and death, war and destruction. He rose to power only to fall from grace time and time again. Yet it all had been worth it, as the path of darkness had lead him to her, to this exact moment. If life would've been nicer to him, chances were that he would've never meet her in the first place. That was a far more painful thought than anything his violent past could offer.

"People always say that they will never forget the other, but time is unforgiving on the mind."

He reached below the table, placing a small black box on the table, in it a ring that he had found and further altered with the art of alchemy and runes into a token that would truly allow her to never forget what they shared. He pushed the box over to [member="Miss Blonde"], waiting for her response. That his words in combination with a ring could be understood as something else had not yet come to his mind.

 

[Miss Blonde]

Patricia wanted to say no. Desperately she knew it was the best option. She knew that Abyss was quite possibly dying and that she was just setting herself up for more heartbreak, more pain that was going to torture her more. Another broken promise that she would have to live with. Just one more ex husband in the wake of those who had come before him. She understood that to save herself the most pain she'd have to say no to him and maybe even just walk away from it all.

But this love, her love for him was the most excruciating pain she wanted to feel over and over again. So when the ring was slid over her eyes filled with tears and she held her hands up to her face to cover her mouth and nose as her eyes continued to redden.

"Atton I..." She paused and remembered that pain and love she felt for him. There was a slight pause and then she spoke once more.

"Yes. Of course I will." Placing her hand outwards she lowered then until Abyss could easily grab one and slip the ring on.

There was no doubt that blonde had her reservations and her doubts about everything. But she knew that if you found someone you could tolerate then you sink your nails in and you never let go. Because otherwise you just spent your time filling your life with your career, your friends, and meaningless sex. And that hole of loneliness in your chest never gets filled, and one day you realize that you wasted the best years of your life being cold and hard.

So as they said, third time was the charm.

[member="Darth Abyss"]

 

[Darth Abyss]

It took him a second to fully realise what he had accidentally proposed to [member="Miss Blonde"], and it would take more than a few seconds to figure out a answer that wouldn't end up with pretty severely hurting her feelings and their relationship. Why couldn't things be easy? He could wake up right now in a high security First Order blacksite in his underwear armed only with a kitchen knife and would easy find a way to get out. But telling his girlfriend that he didn't actually meant to ask her to marry him was something he was unprepared for. Or was he? After all this could be a sign given to him by the force, by his fate.

Now getting married was on the table anyway, and it wasn't the first time he trusted his guts and made a leap of faith. Even if in the most of these situations the word "leap' had been meant fairly literally. Overplaying his confusion with a wide grin, born out of a feeling of actual happiness Abyss reached for the ring. Might as well make this as good as he could then, as turning back now wasn't an option anymore.

"Two Lovers, together even when apart, united by a beautiful curse"

He recited a translation of the words write on the inside if the ring in the old sith language, while slowly lifting the small item out of the box and towards her hand. Yet before putting it on, he whispered the original words as well, allowing the spell he had webbed into the purple gem on top of the ring to show.

"Yun Akir, doru dar tikazi avitsu, xunj'tis sas zo dhasias diable"

The second her flesh would touch the metal she would feel, see, hear, smell even taste what the true gift in this ring was. Not gems or expensive metals, but his essence embedded into it. Every seconds they had shared, right from the day they meet up this moment, would be vividly accessible to her, the pain, the confusion, the happiness and the love, the good times, the bad times and everything in between. All he was had been channeled into this artifact, his power, his thoughts and even his blood.

 

[Miss Blonde]

It was an odd sensation when the ring was slid onto her finger; however it was not foreign to her. Not the sensation of feeling another's emotion via the force, but the familiar presence and feeling that was Atton. The mystery Sith Lord that had managed to sweep her off her feet and make her love him unconditionally. Though what she felt was rather bittersweet, what was supposed to be one of the happiest moments of her life had an undertone of sadness and fear. Fear that the expectation date of what they had was rapidly approaching, she could feel that much from not only the ring but from her now fiancé as well.

"Atton I- I don't know what to say." And that was true, she really didn't know.

Were they living on borrowed time? Were they just pretending to be happy while the clock ran down and the day had come? Their relationship had been reduced to animated death and she was struggling not to think about it in this moment, she knew Atton wanted this to be a happy time and that was difficult for her. As the residential healthy person in the group, she wanted him be ok, she wanted so much from this relationship and didn't want the cycle to repeat itself.

But she had to carry on, she had to at least try and get through what she felt. If not for him then for their child within her, for whoever they might be. So placing her head against his shoulder and nape of his neck, she let out a soft sigh.

"It's beautiful, my love. I just wish things were different you know? I wouldn't change anything about this moment, well... maybe the weird beautiful mind stalker room. But that's not important!" Blonde chuckled softly and moved her head to stare at him a bit.

"I just wish we could stay like this forever. No problems of the galaxy, no dealing with the problems of life. Just this." She then gave him a kiss on the cheek and then smiled happily at him despite there being bits of sadness and fear in it.

[member="Darth Abyss"]

 

[Darth Abyss]

"Me too Patricia, but I have to little time left to dream about a better future, a better galaxy. This is all I have left."

The path of his future wasn't a faint whisper anymore, it was so close that he could almost touch it. For once he was truly the Prophet, foreseeing the days, weeks and months to come. It wasn't the future he wished for, but it was the only one he had, and that meant that he had to make the best of the hand dealt to him as always. In this case it meant becoming some metal demigod, marrying [member="Miss Blonde"] and raising a child, while somehow making sure that neither of these things stopped the others from happening.

"The next time I leave I will return as something else. But no matter what I am then, you and our child will always be what is most important to me."

It was true to a degree. Seeing future and past was a strange experience to say the least. It could switch what currently seemed important in mere seconds, but somewhere deep below the darkness was always his desire to make her happy, however he could. To do so he even had begun to experiment with a option to return to human form without risking his life with every essence transfer already, before even leaving his body behind.

"I know you and me a very different views on fate and the force, but for once have faith. Because faith brought us together once and I trust that it will do so again."

He wasn't trying to change her opinion on such things, all he wanted to do was to give her hope for the future, the same he had in it. They wouldn't have a normal relationship, but it never had been to normal to start with anyway so they would manage somehow.

"I should go now, give you some time to think. Also you can keep the pictures or burn them or whatever makes you happy."