Force, just let me be able to fix this one thing

[Scherezade deWinter]

Petra was his. She could understand that, give in to that. Scherezade had a bigger fish to fry. For all of Petra's wrongdoings to Angelo, which she didn't really know about because the writer realized she raelly doesn't, the grandmother that Scherezade was after was Shery, even if Celestine had her reasons to be after Petra. There would be mutual aid and help, but Shery's killing blow was reserved for Scherezade, just as Petra's killing blow was reserved for... Well, either Angelo or Celestine, come to think of it. They were going to decide it between themselves.

If it was the other way around...

"No, Uncle Angelo," she said, shaking her head, pausing briefly only to drink again, "if she felt you die she might have closed herself off and not realized you were back. If she felt you die it's very possible that a part of her died with you, even if now you're back. If she wants nothing to do with you, she needs to out right say it, you don't need to assume it. So focus on Celestine. A girl... A girl needs her daddy. But go and at least talk to Asteria too before you decide random things about her. It's been centuries for all of us. You don't know what's changed."

[member="Angelo Cavataio"]

 

[Angelo Cavataio]

Another example of an inebriated person dispensing sage advice when lease expecting it. Angelo really could not argue the points. It had been centuries, but his daughter did say it was more like instant for her. Even though he knew of that, it was small thing to use argue with since Scherezade pretty much nailed it on head. He knew Asteria could be cold and hold feelings close, but he never saw that in person. Still he easily believed that she closed that part of her off. It left him in the position that he had to see her. A spot that he had been ignoring. Drunks, the little tricksters of the galaxy.

Angelo had nothing to say about agreeing; however, the spell was screaming in his head. It wanted more. There was no way of stopping it because if Angelo did not do it. Then the spell would take over, and he did not want the spell have control like it did before. Sighing to himself, he replied. “Fine… I’ll go and see her, but first you need to spill it about the two and what all happen. I don’t care if you have told others about in length. This is different, we’re family and I need know to be a better supporting uncle for you, kid. You're well being is important too.”

[member="Scherezade deWinter"]

 

[Scherezade deWinter]

He... He agreed? He agreed?! Scherezade's jaw dropped on the counter and she just stared at him like a nerf caught in headlights. It was... It was more than she had dared to hope for. But then why had she come here at all, if she didn't dare hope? She had no answers. Everyone always reacted badly to her endeavors on these matters. She'd been mocked, humiliated, smacked. It was hopeless. But... But he agreed. She could've burst into tears of joy if there was any joy left in her.

But now... Now Angelo wanted her to spill. To tell him everything.

Scherezade sighed. "I'm so tired of talking about it," she whispered, and raise a single hand, "can I show you instead?" Angelo's writer gave permission to make Angelo nod.

With great effort, Scherezade downed what remained of her drink, and then made her way to him. Very carefully, so he would not think she was attacking him, her hand touched his temple. Maybe... Maybe after this he would betray her too. Everyone betrayed her. Everyone she let close. But what could he do? There was nothing worse that could happen.

The memories flashed in Angelo's mind. All her memories. She poured it all into it. Who Katrine was to her, how she had adopted her that first night she was out of the pebble. How she had met Gerwald on Dragonflower. How something had begun to develop between her and Gerwald, not on Dragonflower, but later, on Ryloth. How Gerwald had told her I see you, how they had adventures together. How her feelings developed to him. How it looked as though his were too. How he had held her on that bathroom floor, told her he was drawn to Katrine but then made promises, then stayed for two more days. How she had considered offering him the Warrior King crown of Endelaan if she was ever to be Queen, and how she knew she would never vie for the crown if he was not interested in it. How he came with her to Melida/Daan. How... How he was her shield against the Darkness. And how he then disappeared when she was held in quarantine.

And then... Then came the memories of the Darkness. How the Jedi that had stabbed her in the heart with his lightsaber for the sin of being a deWinter and a Darksider had thrown her in there. The visions she had seen in there. How she had turned her heart to stone inside the Darkness, how she had built her Sword of Darkness. Scherezade held nothing back. She'd made a very conscious choice to show Angelo everything, omitting only the very personal stuff like all the times she and Gerwald had shared a bed, a patch of grass... Those things. Even if he was Dathomiri, some things were private.

And then she showed him the night after the Darkness. How when she realized she was no longer in the Darkness, she loved Gerwald again. Her I remember speech and many of the moments that were attached to it. How Gerwald said it had always been Katrine. How he told her that he and Katrine had loved and chosen and claimed each other while she was fighting for what seemed to be years in the Darkness. How she had told both of them that they had brought her back from the brink of death just to kill her on their own. The sounds of the wounded animal that had escaped her throat. How Katrine claimed she loved her, such an obvious lie. How she had told Katrine she was releasing herself from her and anything that had to do with her. How she had then slammed her head against the sidewalk until her skull cracked.

How she had later skinned her own back to remove the mark of the Mandragora's Jart. How she had used the blood to write all the memories on the walls of the hangar bay in her ship. How she could no longer eat, or sleep. How truly alone she was. How she had burned almost everything. She held nothing back. Now Angelo was the only person who knew she had kept that single pillowcase and that single shred of fabric in a room that had been locked and unentered since. How she had seduced a Jedi but could not find joy in sleeping with him because she was thinking of Gerwald the entire time. How she had found Katrine's mother and tried to convince her to go back to her daughter. How Darth Tacitus had responded, and how in return she used one of the abandoned guest rooms on her ship and wrote the good memories on the wall there, this time with ink and not with blood. How she could always feel Gerwald if they were on the same planet, no matter how far from each other they physically were. How everywhere she went there was always something somewhere reminding her of Gerwald because he had been involved in so many parts of her life that not even a memory wipe would be able to fix it.

When it was done, Scherezade's hand dropped to her side. Her face was wet with tears, her cheeks red and swollen.

And now Angelo knew everything.

"You can't support me in this, Uncle Angelo," she said between sobs, "no one can."

[member="Angelo Cavataio"]

 

[Angelo Cavataio]

Of course, Angelo would agree to Scherezade showing him over speaking about it. He wanted her to be open and if that was the way. Then it had to be done. He knew there was little prep work; however, she came around to him. So, the time to get ready was extremely short. He tried to dump some of the emotions he had at the surface. Those did not need to be there to get in the way.

Scherezade’s fingers over his temple made it clear that it was happening. Exhaling slowly, his breath got stuck in his throat. It was like all the air was taken out of his lungs. Also like someone knocked the wind out of him with a strong drop kick to the chest. The memories punched him hard. The emotions tied to her life were intense. The rawness of the emotions laced deeply in each and every memory had overridden his own. Tears easily came, but they were Scherezade’s tears. He was absorbing the knowledge. Even when Scherezade was done, he was still dealing with processing everything. It was so much. This was not what he was expecting. It all could easily be from three other people, but it was all rolled up in one package.

It took Angelo a minute to get some control and awareness. Looking at Scherezade, he saw the sobbing girl and he was going to ignore what he was told earlier since it was breaking his heart that she had gone through all of it. His arms wrapped around her, holding her close to him. Touching rule was garbage. As he held her, it was clear he was not going to accept what she said too. “Wrong, Scherezade… You are family and will have my support to my last breath. We always make sure family is taken care of over everything else. You are stuck with me now.”

[member="Scherezade deWinter"]

 

[Scherezade deWinter]

This time, she did not pull back as Angelo's arms wrapped around her. She couldn't understand why he was doing it, considering her sweaty and smelly sweat, but this time, after she had unleashed all her memories into his mind ad started crying herself in the process, she just let him, her muscles going limp as he held her, her face pressed against his shoulder. She didn't move. She tried to find some solace in the embrace, but she couldn't, and she said nothing for a while.

But when Angelo mentioned family...

"Katrine was supposed to be family," she said quietly. He would know what it meant. "Shery is family." One that was much more dangerous than Katrine, even though it was Katrine who was part of why she'd broken, whereas Shery just screwed her life up entirely from the very start. "I don't even know you," she continued, still being held, still not fighting against him, still just letting him embrace her. She wanted to say that it felt safe. She wanted to say that it felt like home. She couldn't. "How do I know you won't betray me like they did?"

[member="Angelo Cavataio"]

 

[Angelo Cavataio]

It was true what Scherezade said. She did not know him. Angelo needed to show the same faith in her as she did with showing him her pain. However, he could not just show her. Such an act could be manipulated from Petra’s spell or himself. He did want to set all doubts aside. The decision was made up in his mind. The only way to achieve all he wanted at the moment. Scherezade had to do it all, and he had to be willing let her dig in the past.

Still holding Scherezade, “Yeah… Shery is family like Petra is. Doesn’t mean all family members are like them. They’re ways what drives us to be nothing like that.” Then Angelo released his hold. He kept his hands resting on her shoulders as he looked at her. “To show you who I am… you may dig around in my head for anything. I’m not going to resist. Anything and everything you want to know is in your reach now.”

This was not his first choice, but she did not grow up with him around. So he was going to let her see it all or none of it. All his crimes, murders, terrorist attacks, and on the other side of him and his siblings being close, protecting over them, supporting, and did not stop there as everything about Asteria would be open to her. Scherezade had to make the choice.

[member="Scherezade deWinter"]

 

[Scherezade deWinter]

They’re ways what drives us to be nothing like that.

Scherezade could do little but nod at that statement. Yes. It was true. She couldn't deny that she wanted her grandmother's powers and strength. But she wanted to be nothing like her grandmother. She wanted her family together, not apart. She wanted her family members to be safe with each other, not a danger. She wanted... She wanted to love and to be loved by them, and leave the chaos and destruction to everyone else in the 'verse.

And now... Now Angelo said that he'd show her who he was. That she could dig around for anything. Scherezade nodded and wiped her face on the back of her hands before bringing her hands up to touch his temples again. She knew how to give memories, but she'd never actually searched for them before. You didn't need memories when you wanted to dominate someone's mind, but that was not what she wanted to do with Angelo.

With a sigh, she closed her eyes, and use the Force to link their minds together. She didn't want to choose. She had shown Angelo everything. And everything he would give her, she wanted to see.

[member="Angelo Cavataio"]

 

[Angelo Cavataio]

Angelo relaxed as Scherezade’s actions showed that she was on board. Feeling the link strengthening, he let the easy memories float to the surface. They were old but as a child there was not all the baggage. A life of him with the siblings that were around his age. They were older, but he still was one that played overly protective brother. He gave freely all the moments of him and siblings just being themselves. It was fun and games. Kids being kids without the stress of an evil mother trying to mold them into what she desired. Even that was shared, Angelo showed moments of Petra being herself with manipulating him into being a raged filled killer. Still made sure that even Petra’s involvement did not change his behavior when his siblings.

The memories changed to more violent ones. It was when clans fought against each other. In those battles, he kept protecting his sisters and brother. He would do everything he could ensuring their safety in the battle. It did not matter if it were witches, jai, or rancors. He was putting himself in front of the harm. It did not matter about his will being. The drive each time was strong in protect. That showed up even when they were not fighting other clans, he shared those memories of protecting them from wild rancors, crazy witches, and standing in between them and Petra.

All the memories were flowing to support him on his stance of being a protector. The memories of prices paid for each act was shared. The beatings, verbal assault, and being driven to kill his brother. The exile that came from it all. From the exile, he offered everything with Nox and all they spoke about for years about Petra. Still continuing to carry out missions for her. Letting it be known, he carried out such acts in belief that his punishment would come in form of not being able to save his siblings from death.

Then it came up. First time his path crossed with Asteria’s path. The cheese-ballness of Angelo with her. Even the first meeting, he was more relax and not so angry about everything. All that night was shared with Scherezade. He shared the memories of Asteria and how the two were completely different together compare to what he had heard about her to how he was all other times with his anger. He wanted to share it all. One was about them, but they were not physically together in the memory. It was few years of dating Asteria. His crew and him were in shoot out. Blaster fire aimed at him while ducked behind a half wall. In that moment, he felt the connection of how she was feeling at that moment. For Dathomiri, connection to another is an important and him knowing that. He was like a giddy school boy and leapt in danger feeling invincible. After that fight, he dropped everything to be with her. It was his first time to actually profess his feelings to her.

A few more memories of him interacting with other deWinters like Scherezade’s mother. He did not hold back and let her see how he saw her when they crossed path. There was not a negative memory in the mix. If there were, he would have withheld them out of respect towards Nessa. Also, other members in the family was shared, but he had focus on Nessa.

Finally came the end of it, or it was the start of this. He shared his fight with Petra. How the deal went down and his death. Everything about it in the memory shared. It shifted to few months ago when he saw his adult daughter. The fight he had with the spell, his time with her, and feelings. He showed it all, so it could be understood that he was still in the fight with Petra. Death did not end their duel and he was still fighting to protect.

After that, Angelo pulled back. Stepping back physically and in the force, he was done. Relaxed and willing still did not stop the pain or being drained emotionally on top of being worn out. He sat down on the floor. “That’s everything… the good, the bad, and the awful Petra.” He sort of snarled at the end when saying his mother’s name. He gave his memories, all of them, to Scherezade. Sleep was what he was feeling like doing next.

[member="Scherezade deWinter"]

 

[Scherezade deWinter]

A full life. That was what Angelo had. A full life, growing up with his siblings, then changing into clan wars. It was still a full life, getting to grow up normally, like a normal person. Protecting his brothers and sisters. She nodded, closing her eyes, hoping to keep the tears in. Protector. She knew that role well. She had failed in it. Angelo had thrived in it, at least in the earlier memories. The kinslayer. She gasped at that memory. No, it had to be some mistake... He didn't do it without reason.

And then... Asteria. Years together. Knowing each other. Being different around each other. That connection. The love confession, one that ended well and not in heart break.

Her mother...

And then the deal.

Scherezade's tears subsided, only to be replaced with rage. A spell, an agreement, and lies. Petra had lied. Petra was carved of the same stuff Shery was. She was dangerous. She... She had to die.

When Angelo stepped back and sat on the floor, Scherezade sank to her knees with him. This time, she was the one hugging him.

"Petra must die," she declared. Through her own pain, through the mess that she was, the determination was all too easy to see, to read, to hear. It wasn't her kill to make, that much was obvious. But it didn't mean she couldn't help Angelo, Asteria, and Celestine to get that kill. "But first, Uncle Angelo," she resumed, "you need to go see Asteria. You can sleep on the way to Spira."

[member="Angelo Cavataio"]

 

[Angelo Cavataio]

Angelo hugged his niece back. He softly replied, “She will die with her heart in my hand… until then, we have to do what we always done. We play the game until it is time to strike.” Last time he acted it was too early, but however in the end, the family took Petra out of the picture for hundreds of years. This time he was alone as many that were brought back were loyal to Petra. He would think of something. Cavataio games were never quick ones.

Then he continued with words he knew she would fight with; however, they were true. “We aren’t seeing Asteria until tomorrow… you are going to use Celestine’s bed and rest. Before you start, you need it more than me, but we need rest for our minds to handle all this information. He chuckled as his next set words came. “Now you can say me no to what I said.”

[member="Scherezade deWinter"]

 

[Scherezade deWinter]

"No."



[member="Angelo Cavataio"]