Private Love and Corruption: Shadows of the Past

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The wind whipped and howled as they braved their way towards the building. Kat was soaked to her core in about a minute, but luckily Hawks lightsaber blade stood out enough that she could squint against the rain and still follow along. Was it always storming on this planet? How did anybody manage to live here?

Once inside however she realized she preferred the storm. The air was stale and the place felt incredibly dark. Seeing how the darkside made Kat dizzy this wasn't exactly a fun time, let alone an atmosphere she wanted to be acrobatic in. But of course when did these missions ever give her what she wanted? They hadn't walked five steps until sure enough it came time to climb.

She followed the tall man and the little girls body into the shaft and began to climb down. It's odd how the mind chooses to think of the worst possible outcomes in situations like these. When she spoke up her tone was sarcastic but she was only half joking, knowing they were about to hit a flooded lift shaft.

"This place doesn't have sea monsters does it?"

Hawk Hinata

 

[Hawk Hinata]

As if in answer to Kat's question another sound emerged from the shaft, an eerie low mournful screech that sent a shiver up Hawk's already very cold and wet spine.
The climb itself was not a difficult one, but it was made difficult by the fact that centuries of slimey gloop made the metal slippery and hid the rust making it difficult to find a safe place to grip. To add to this, the cold of the metal bit bone deep leaving their fingers and hands numb. Hawk had to keep switching the hand he climbed with and the hand that held his blade for light in order to allow some feeling to return.

"Here," Phoenix finally spoke through Thistle's lips.

Hawk reached to pull himself across to the twin turbo lift door, but the ledge was rusted through beneath the slime that covered it. For a moment Hawk's arms flailed as the ledge came apart in his hand, but unbalanced his feet also slipped on their slick purchase. With no free hand to find a new grip, Hawk toppled backwards and he and his lightsaber disappeared down into the darkness of the shaft.

Ten...twenty...thirty meters, Hawk continued to fall. Some peripheral sense informed him that he was approaching the water below, so at the last possible moment, Hawk took a deep breath; tucked into a diving position before thrusting the force ahead of him to break the water's surface and allow him to enter smoothly instead of merely impacting it.

Every muscle in Hawk's body screamed and tensed tightly as the cold washed over him. The cold of the ocean water made the numbing of the metal seem like the memory of a warm caress. The impact had not killed him, but it had dazed him somewhat knocking the breath he had held out of him, and the shock of the cold caused him to involuntarily inhale, flooding his lungs with the icy water. Hawk could hear the slowing of his heart and the strength ebbing from his body, even as he desperately exhaled under water to expunge the liquid from his lungs. The edges of his vision blurred, and the last thing he saw was the alien device that had been attached to him drift past his face.
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Meanwhile, back up the shaft.

Phoenix watched the fall of his grandson with the emotionless eyes of someone who has watched loved ones die every day for a millennia. He quickly turned back to the shaft door, and scrunched up his face with concentration.

"I've always wanted to try this." He half whispered to himself as he crudely reached out with the force to open the doors.

What Phoenix failed to remember at this point was that, despite her appearance, Thistle was a master of the dark side of the force and her power was great. The doors exploded out of the wall they were attached to and the wall itself buckled. Fissures appeared and began to spread up the shaft they had just descended.

"Oh," was all Phoenix could say as the entire shaft started to come apart above them.

Quickly, he scrambled through the hole where the doors had been and reached a hand down towards Kat to help her up.

"Quicky, or you'll be burried with him!" he implored her.

 

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Watching Phoenix try the Force brought back memories of padawans long gone whose first attempts down the Jedi path included the ever tempting mistake of using too much power when a situation called for finesse. Of course those memories were all festering wounds now. Katarine had lost so many people in her life that it was hard to look backwards without horror creeping in. Without the people that mattered in this galaxy she was an empty shell who continued onward because she simply didn’t know what else to do. Not one ounce of her wanted to be alive, a sensation she really hadn’t realized until she watched Hawk fall.

How had Phoenix survived watching someone he loved die day after day for centuries? How could he stand there now without showing the slightest concern over Hawks fate? Was this what it meant to be a true survivor? If it was Katarine wanted no part of it.

"Quicky, or you'll be buried with him!"

Then so be it. A watery grave was cheaper than a double burial plot and Katarine could think of no better final resting place than one with Hawk. Not that she was ready to let death have Hawk just yet. She might not want to live but the galaxy needed Hawk Hinata.

Without a moments hesitation she let go of the slime covered lift cable and fell downwards. Using the Force to slow her fall she didn’t plunge into the water as Hawk had, but rather let the icy sensation wash over her slowly as she dipped in. It was freezing and her muscles screamed against it. The cold numbed everything but the real danger was the debris now falling down the shaft. If something struck her over the head they were both done for.

She took a deep breath and closed her eyes for a moment. When she opened them they were no longer deep green, but instead glowed white. She could see through the dark water and saw Hawk floating. This was troubling enough but next to him was the small device that had left his head. She swam towards them both. The small device she grabbed and slipped inside her pocket along with his lightsaber, while Hawk she grabbed around the waist.

Unfortunately up was no longer an option. The debris falling and the shaft collapsing saw to that, so Kat swam down, towards the lower levels of the building. The first air pocket she found was like being born again as air rushed into her lungs, but it could do nothing for Hawk until she could find a place to administer CPR. Every second spent dragging him underwater was another second he had to hold on. The galaxy could not lose him.

She could not lose him.

When she finally found an air pocket big enough she pulled him up onto what looked like a floating door and ripped his robes away to expose his frighteningly pale chest. She stared compressions and mouth to mouth, willing him to spit up the water and breath.

“Come on Hawk!”

She was shivering and they were still screwed even if he did wake up. There was no guaranteeing there were air pockets where they needed them or that the way back to Phoenix was even open. The cold water might kill them even if they tried the swim and the worst part was Kat had a feeling they weren’t alone in the water.

Hawk Hinata

 

[Hawk Hinata]

Cold. So cold. So cold, and dark, and quiet. Hawk had never imagined he would die a peaceful death. Even the frozen wastes of Hoth had only served to suspend his body in stasis for a thousand years. It seemed a little anticlimactic that he should drown deep under this abandoned facility while so much still needed doing...but then, the galaxy had not been fixed in a thousand years, so there would always be more that needed doing. Perhaps his turn tending the garden was over, and someone else would come to uproot the weeds.

The Jedi's mind drifted as consciousness escaped him, and slowly he began to feel warm. Part of him knew that this was just his body shutting down, but he could not fight it. He stopped shivering as his body gave up the fight, it could no longer warm him and the cold would seep into his vital organs and they would fail.

Except, he could feel his fingers. Despite the fog in his brain, Hawk knew this was wrong. The extremities were always the first to go in the cold. Blood was diverted from them to keep the internal organs warm. The heat he felt continued to grow. It was now clearly more than the dying sensation. The heat that he had been feeling for months contained within the alien device was spreading through his body.

Consciousness came to him in a rush of numerous unpleasant, but one particularly pleasant sensations. He lay upon the damp floor; his body hurt; his lungs were raw, and his brain was on fire...but Kat's mouth was on his. He could taste her lips and feel her warm breath as she leant down to breathe more air into his lungs. Hawk coughed most unattractively, but reached up a hand to touch Kat's worry-lined face, and then his lips were on hers. He kissed her and kissed her, his hands becoming entangled in her wet hair as steam rose around them.

It was the steam that caused Hawk to realise that he was no longer merely warm, but hot. His body was a furnace, all except for his hands and lips where he touched Kat, but he had no time to consider why that might be. Steam continued to pour off him, and he could feel what was coming. The water nearby erupted into the air and an enormous Sea Dragon reared above them, but Hawk just smiled.

The dark, mouldy air pocket they were in shivered. The mould withdrew; the rust upon the walls bubbled and shone, and finally, light filled the room that they were in. The two of them were still lying upon the floor, but now they were completely dry and the facility appeared to be new and operational, and no Sea Dragon to be seen.

"I think I just time jumped," Hawk breathed before continuing to kiss Kat as if he couldn't care less, only stopping when the sound of voices coming their way could be heard.

"Yes, that's what he said. Hinata, wants the child brought to Aviprine as soon as he is born. The order came straight from...him."

"Quick, in here." Hawk kissed Kat once more before taking her by the hand and drawing her into a nearby cupboard to hide until the voices had passed.

 

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The seconds seemed to be centuries as she waited to see if he would return. Finally the agonized waiting stopped and Hawk was responsive, very responsive. He didn't seem to have a care in the world, despite almost drowning and oh yea the dragon. Just an average kiss with Hawk Hinata. Her mind was spinning.

"More time travel?" That couldn't be good could it? When Hawk finally pulled away from her because he heard voices Kat blinked and realized her eyes were no longer glowing. They were no longer in the water. She was no longer shivering. Where did the dragon go? This must be what crack felt like she determined.

But one word caught her attention and snapped her out of the fog. Aviprine. A planet so far in the unknown regions and so far out of the way of everything that the only way you ended up there was on purpose. A planet so far behind the times that Katarine had grown up without the technology that the rest of the galaxy took for granted. She still struggled with technology in embarrassing ways. An agricultural planet that only existed because it was too far away for anybody to bother blowing it up. A planet the dark Jedi cult had told her and her twin they were destined to rule. A planet full of people she had abandoned. A planet full of secrets, lies, and horrible histories.

She followed Hawk into a nearby cupboard as the voices went past them. She noticed he was no longer wet either.

"Where are we?" When are we? Was that the right question? "What do they want with Aviprine?"

Hawk Hinata

 

[Hawk Hinata]

"I believe we are exactly where we were," Hawk whispered as two Kaminoans entered the room and approached a set of consoles at one end. "As for when...this has to be before Phoenix betrayed Tenebris."

Hawk strained his eyes to see what they were doing through the crack of the cupboard door. He could see strange glyphs moving across their screens but could not read them. He was certain that it was not Kaminoan though, he had seen the script of the cloners before and this was not it.

"I don't know what they want with Aviprine, but I'm feeling less and less surprised to find links to us scattered through this. Phoenix laid plans spanning centuries and fooled a dark God that can read minds..." Hawk trailed off as two single words in galactic basic crossed the screen.

Project Daxium

A holographic projection of a foetus manifested at the centre of the room and the two Kaminoans approached it with data pads, looking back and forth between the script scrolling beside it and typing away on their pads.

"This is most odd," one of them exclaimed. "There is a hidden script here scrubbing half of the data...let me just..."

The hologram flickered, and then where there had only been a single foetus before, there were now two. Hawk looked at Kat in the dark cupboard. She was no doubt coming to the same realisation as he was about who the babies were.

The door at the other end of the room slid open again and Phoenix walked in, looking much the same as he had when they had left him.

"Sir! We have been betrayed, HE must be informed at once." The Kaminoan exclaimed.

Two perfectly aimed blaster bolts crumpled the Kaminoans to the floor.

"He will know what I have done soon enough, but you will not be the ones to tell him." Phoenix picked up one of the data pads and, after a long hard look at the second foetus, restored the image to only one.

Hawk emerged from the cupboard causing Phoenix to whirl in his direction with blaster levelled. Their eyes met; their very similar eyes, and Phoenix paused, but Hawk didn't get to say anything before the room shivered and in an instant grew damp, rusted, mouldy and dark. They were back when they had been...and there was a very angry looking Sea Dragon none too pleased to see them back in its domain.

"I need my device," Hawk told Kat. He would have loved to go back and see what happened. To speak to the old Phoenix, but he knew that doing so was not just dangerous to his own mind, but the entire time line.

Hawk raised his hands as the beast lurched towards them. Animals were not his speciality. He had no hatred of them, but he was not a fan of the smell and the mess they caused. But right now, he needed to get into this creature's mind before it turned them into just a bit more goo in this room. Hawk projected feelings of calm and safety towards it, and then sensing it was a female he also projected more maternal emotions as well. The idea of eggs; it's young and the protectiveness a parent had for them.

The Sea Dragon paused in its lunge just inches from them. It's salty breath mussed Hawk's hair and it gave a low rumbling hum.

"She's trying to soothe us," Hawk laughed.

The laughter died on his lips as the moment of danger passed and he recalled what they had both just seen in the past.

"Kat, are you alright? We can't assume what all this means. We need to find Phoenix and make him tell us."

 

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Katarine's eyes went wide when she saw the two projected images on the screen. A horrible sensation was building up inside of her as she stared so intently she barely realized what else was going on in the room. Only the arrival of the dragon and the realization that she was once again wet and shivering broke her concentration.

She reached in her pocket and pulled out the alien device and Hawk's lightsaber and handed them to him, though her deep green eyes did not meet his as she did so.

"Kat, are you alright? We can't assume what all this means. We need to find Phoenix and make him tell us."

She shrugged, not really knowing what to say. Still she could not look at him. Truthfully the female Jedi didn't know what she was feeling. She had suspected that she wasn't human for a long time now, but she had never expected that she might just be some freak designed in a lab. Hadn't she dreamed about her real parents? Hadn't Lady Sinistra told Daxium that his parents names were Troy and Anastasia and that both were dead? Of course Lady Sinistra had lied about everything else so what would keep the dark Jedi from lying about where the twins came from? Katarine's history was starting to unravel. She'd been told since birth that she was a reincarnated god, then reunited with Hawk and suspected she was an angel, and now she was worried she might just be some genetic mistake put together by cloners. She felt dirty, and shameful, which was absolutely stupid because she had known several clones in her days and never once felt any type of discrimination towards them. Hadn't Talon Shadowdragon Sky been a clone and an amazing friend? Where were these feelings coming from?

The only way to deal with these feelings were to ignore them so that's what she did. She focused instead on her ice cold clothes, the prospect of another horrible swim, and the hope that the mother dragon didn't decide to reconsider eating them.

"Phoenix is to the west but he destroyed the lift shaft when he got a little too carried away using the Force."

Or had that been intentional? Suddenly she realized that one of her new feelings was a deep mistrust and irrational anger towards Hawks relative.

Hawk Hinata

 

[Hawk Hinata]

Hawk could feel the confusion, conflict and anger within Kat, even if she refused to let it show. It was not healthy for her to bottle up her feelings, and Hawk did not want to leave things as they were...but, they were several meters below sea level in a pocket of swiftly staling air with a Sea Dragon less than two feet from them. If there was one thing he could do, it was reassure her of one thing.

"Kat, you're not a clone. Your DNA will have been recorded in the Jedi Archives and Temple screening protocols would have detected any genetic markers common in clones."

It was likely the smallest of comforts to someone who had just seen themselves as a floating foetus within the depths of the facility of an evil genius only just developing a conscience, but it was all Hawk had to offer at the moment.

"I reckon she knows a way back above the water," Hawk nodded in the direction of the Sea Dragon as he clipped the device back onto his head and the lightsaber to his belt. "I think she'll let us ride her."

 

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"Kat, you're not a clone. Your DNA will have been recorded in the Jedi Archives and Temple screening protocols would have detected any genetic markers common in clones."

These words did ease the small lump that had formed in Kat's throat. Of course, she felt ashamed that it made her feel better, but some small part of her was relieved that she wasn't a clone. She met Hawks eyes and offered him a small smile.

"Evil scientists, clones, phenomenal cosmic powers, alien head devices, and now we get to add dragon-riding to the list. You know one of these days we are going to have to go on a real, normal, boring, date."

She slipped back in the water and swam over to the dragon, who was still making low purring sounds to try and comfort the humans. Sure enough, the dragon let the humans get onto its back.

Hawk Hinata

 

[Hawk Hinata]

"As romantic as riding a Sea Dragon through a crumbling facility to save the galaxy is. I look forward to this boring date you speak of," Hawk grinned heaving himself up behind her on the Sea Dragon's neck before wrapping his arms around her waist and planting a small kiss atop her head.

When they were securely in place he pushed the idea of the surface into the Sea Dragon's head along with a sense of urgency. A deep breath later and they plunged under the surface. This time Hawk was better able to regulate his body with the force, not having almost knocked himself unconscious from the fall, but even still it was difficult to hold on as the beast raced through the water.

Barely a couple of minutes later and she surfaced, bending enough to allow the two Jedi to disembark. Hawk sent her off with contented emotions and the image of dinner being somewhere below.

"Look," Hawk pointed across the hall where the remains of a turbo lift shaft stood. It's doors blown apart and debris filling it's broken walls. "We'll have to find another way out, but that's where I fell."

There was no sign of 'Thistlix' anywhere, but, as possibly the only living thing above water in this facility it would be a simple matter of sensing them.
A mechanical sound caused Hawk to turn his head and he raised an eyebrow at what he saw. Four staff wielding bodyguard droids were shambling down the corridor towards them. Two simply fell apart with the effort of moving their rusted appendages, but the other two had perhaps avoided the worst of the decay and shambled on spinning their staffs menacingly as they came. A thousand years ago the four droids would have been little challenge for the two Jedi, but now, the two that remained were just a sad reminder of their time displacement.

 

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As they surfaced and were met with the pathetic guard Kat found herself wondering if Phoenix had wanted to separate her and Hawk all along. The thought was paranoid but seeing the flashback of the lab had really freaked Katarine out. Instinctively she reached for the back portion of her mind where her twins presence always was. She felt him reach back and took a deep breath.

Her lightsaber was happily still in working order despite the frigid water and the rusted out droids proved just enough trouble to get blood flowing to her freezing limbs. When this was over she was taking a nice warm bubble bath.

They moved onwards through the slime covered walls. The place smelled of mildew and abandonment and Kat couldn’t wait to put it all behind them.

Hawk Hinata

 

[Hawk Hinata]

Kat made short work of the antique bodyguards. No doubt they had lay dormant for centuries until he and Kat had disturbed them. Hawk led the way onward, the familiar heat of the alien device at his temple. He could sense Phoenix some way ahead and only just realised that they were able to see without the light of his lightsaber. The power, at least in this part of the facility, was working.

The dank atmosphere penetrated into this powered section for a few turns of the corridor, but then, apart from the obvious signs of age, it began to resemble the working facility that he and Kat had seen in the past.

"This part must be heavily shielded and have a nuclear based power source," Hawk mused to himself.

A door slid upward as they approached and 'Thistlix' was inside the room beyond, moving around a tube with a data pad. Inside the tube was the body of his grandfather.

"Well, here's some more weird."

'Thistlix' turned at the sound of Hawk's voice and flashed a disturbing smile...but that was probably just because the sight of a smile was so out of place on Thistle's face without the demented gleam of evil in her eyes.

"You're just in time for my resurrection," he said to Hawk and narrowed his eyes at Kat. "I'm new to this force sensing thing, but I could sense your mistrust and anger coming up the hallway...Thistle here quite enjoyed it," he motioned to his left where Hawk could also sense a dark aura.

"You don't exactly invite trust when we're still very much in the dark about what happened here," Hawk stated, keeping the information that he and Kat had learned to himself for now in classic interrogation style. It was always best to see what a suspect said in relation to a truth you knew. "Glad to see you're happy I'm alive as well," Hawk added.

That final statement actually seemed to elicit a reaction from 'Thistlix' and what looked like hurt crossed her face.

"Hawk, listen son. I waited for you for a thousand years. When it wasn't my wife I was watching die...it was every version of you that came. I consoled myself with the knowledge that these Hawks were merely shadows in time, but now...Hawk, there has been no time line that I have seen where you survive, and so I have tried to remain distant...waiting for it to happen."

For a moment the weirdness of having Thistle talk to him in this manner, and the sheen of tears in her eyes was too much, but then the weight of the words hit him. Phoenix wasn't callous and cold because he didn't care; he had learned to be that way to protect himself from the trauma of losing those he loved. He was afraid. Hawk could sense it all as Phoenix had never learned to guard his emotions in the force. He was afraid that he would ultimately fail; that Tenebris would finally get him; that Hawk would die, and so much more. It was a wonder he was able to hold it together at all.

In a few short strides, Hawk moved to embrace Thistlix. Phoenix hugged him back, but the dark aura that was the spirit of Thistle was not amused. It was a strange situation to be sure, but fortunately a beeping sound from the tube broke the moment.

Thistlix fell silent for a moment as the tube opened and Hawk felt the shift in their spirits as Phoenix returned to his body and Thistle slipped back into hers.

"You! You...ever! Ever! Cry with my eyes again and I will use your lab to genetically modify a sarlacc so it's skin is transparent and feed you to it so I can watch you be digested for the next thousand years!" Thistle raged at Phoenix. "And you!" She whirled on Hawk. "I will..."

Hawk cut her off with a hug that left her too angry to speak or move.

Phoenix's body, now containing Phoenix's spirit rose from the tube and stood looking at them all.

"There's still a lot to do, but it's probably past time I told you everything. It's not a happy story; I did a lot of bad and made a lot of mistakes long before I did any good. Are you certain you want to know?" He looked directly at Kat when he asked this. "Nothing you hear can change the person you are or the choices that got you here."

 

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Katarine narrowed her deep green eyes at Phoenix, but did not move as she watched Hawk embrace his body switching family members. It would have been a touching moment, had she been able to enjoy it alone.

I think its rather touching. Why can't we have a family reunion like that?

Ours is coming

Is it going to end in a hug?

I wish it could

Katarine tried to block out the dark chuckle in her mind because it was infuriating to listen to. Where was all this anger coming from? Was it really just concern over the story Phoenix had to tell or was something else going on? She took a deep breath and waited while the Hinata family wrapped things up.

"Nothing you hear can change the person you are or the choices that got you here."

It wasn't the person she was that worried her. If Daxium wasn't in this picture Katarine might never need know any of these things, but she couldn't help wondering who she was, where she came from, could she die, and a whole list of other things. Dax was going to figure this out one way or the other, and if he got there first she didn't know what that meant for the galaxy.

She nodded at Phoenix, not really sure what he could tell her. All she knew was he had some connection to Aviprine and that was a start.

Hawk Hinata

 

[Hawk Hinata]

Phoenix nodded resignedly and began to tell his tale.

"My traditional research into eternal life was going nowhere. I could achieve cellular immortality, but always at the expense of the organism itself. All I ever ended up with was an unrecognisable mass of immortal cells. I had come as far as the science of the time could take me. So, I started looking for alternatives outside of science. I turned to religion; to legend, and to folklore. I chased down priests, mystics, and even managed to get my hands on some ancient Jedi and Sith holocrons. But none of it led anywhere."

Phoenix paced back and forth as he spoke, his hands expressive and his face anguished.

"Your grandma thought I was insane and had lost whatever mote of rationality I had ever had. She was probably right. I don't even know why she stayed with me all those years...right up to the end..."

He looked far away for a moment before shaking himself back to the present.

"My search spread further and further into the galaxy and into the unknown regions, and that was when I came across Aviprine. A world so entirely backward that myth and legend were still being written. The inhabitants worshipped a primordial deity forgotten by the rest of the galaxy. He had as many names as there were people to speak them, but most commonly he was Tenebris. I learned all I could about this deity. The war he lost against his brother who gave birth to the force; the weapon that seeded life in the galaxy. I was skeptical after hundreds of dead ends previously, but I allowed their priests to induct me into their order. The final stage of the induction took me into the heart of a mountain, where I was told the immortal heart of Tenebris had crashed when his celestial body had been destroyed at the end of the war. I wish now that I never entered that mountain."

Phoenix had stopped pacing and was simply staring at the floor at this point. Lost in memory.

"He was in my mind the moment I reached the heart of the mountain. I had no defense against him at the time, and he wanted me; he wanted me with such a ferocity. I could feel him tearing through my mind, picking at my every thought and desire. He offered me immortality in return I was to create a weapon for him and to help bring about his return so he could wield it. Of course, I agreed immediately. I could pretend that he forced me; that he took control of my mind, but he didn't. He just knew what I desired most and offered it to me...and I took it, damned be the consequences."

The remorse in his voice was clearly evident.

"Time passed and the details of this weapon, and the method of his return were gradually revealed to me. The greatest weapon of his enemy was the force. He could not stand against it. Even a mortal like yourself Hawk could overcome him with the force as their ally. He needed a weapon that could destroy the force, and to do that the weapon needed to be a living being connected it. To restore his celestial body and return he required a huge disturbance in the force. His followers on Aviprine called it the rapture. The death of every living thing on that planet would create a disturbance in the force great enough to set him free."

Phoenix paused to take a few short breaths. It was clearly difficult for him to speak with such candour.

"He wanted me to create a child with the power of a celestial and the connection to the force of a mortal. To accomplish this he bid me harvest a sample of the ancient corrupted tissue of his own heart. All that remained of his celestial form. Tenebris was in my mind constantly now, but I had developed a method of keeping him out of my most deep consciousness. Thanks in part to his own gift to me. So, I did as I was bidden, but I understood the implications of Tenebris' plan far better than he knew. If he were to destroy the force than he would also destroy every living thing in the galaxy. Apart from myself who would linger on alone in an immortal hell. I ended up there anyway, but at least he didn't get what he wanted. Anyway, it was safe to say that I had great reservations about working for Tenebris, but he was in my mind and I could only conceal so much from him. He would have known instantly if I was not working on the project. So, I created his weapon. It was called 'The Daxium Project'."

Phoenix looked up and focused intently upon Kat.

"Your brother was Tenebris' intended weapon. He was to be born with the power of a celestial being and the connection of all living mortal things to the force and to destroy it from within. What Tenebris did not know; what I kept from him...was his sister. The genetic material from Tenebris' heart corrupted the foetal cells of your brother, but I countered it's effect in you. You had regular mortal parents, with a little extra added in. I made it so Daxium could not wield the power without his twin; and I made it so that you could not access and control the power without the key."

Now Phoenix turned to look at Hawk.

"I hid the key in my own genetic line. Only to manifest in those with the force. My son possessed it initially, and he passed it down to you and your brother. Something went horribly wrong with it when witch magic entered the equation," he cast a glance at Thistle. "So, now it only exists in you Hawk. Without you Kat can not control the power within her and so Daxium can not wield it. You spent all these years trying to save the galaxy, not knowing you were the key to it's destruction. I managed to keep all of this hidden from Tenebris right up until the end. He was furious when he found he could not use his weapon, and the people of Aviprine became somewhat disillusioned when the promises of their God remained unfulfilled. New sects began to emerge telling stories of angels, and Tenebris' return was thwarted. I went into hiding for many years, but he eventually caught up with me, detaching my spirit from my body before I escaped to that hell you found me in...and there you have it. More or less everything."

Phoenix appeared deflated after getting it all off his chest...and somehow looked more his age than he physically could.

 

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As Phoenix spoke Katarine could see how hard some of these moments were for him. He wasn't an evil monster, just a man who had wasted time on a foolish pursuit with grave consequences. He also seemed to be the person to thank for her existence, at least in some part. She felt the knot of anger loosen in her stomach as the answers came. She was human, at least partially, but she was also partially celestial. Dax was a special snowflake like he always wanted to be. She was sure when her twin realized his place in the galaxy he would be thrilled, at least for the first few seconds until he realized the rest of the tale. The thought made her smirk.

As Phoenix finished the story Katarine remembered part of the prophecy the dark Jedi cult had preached. Neither can live while the other survives. This was the closest thing to the truth the cult had preached. Dax would hunt her for the rest of her life because without her he couldn't play his part in this evil plan. Why did he even want to? The destruction of everything in the galaxy didn't sound ideal, and it would probably end with Dax sitting around spending eternity with Phoenix and Tenebris. She supposed there were worse drinking buddies out there but seriously, what a bleak outlook for all eternity.

Of course Daxium's heart was corrupted so he couldn't think straight. He would hunt her forever, that had always been her fate, but for once Katarine realized she didn't have to fear her twin. He couldn't kill her without ruining his chances at this power, and if he did kill her then the galaxy was safe because without her Dax couldn't get his hands on the power. No matter the outcome all she had to do was never surrender to her twin's will. It felt like a huge weight was lifting from her shoulders as she realized just how powerless Daxium was against her. All thanks to Phoenix.

She smiled at the old man, her deep green eyes lit with hope for the first time in a long time. "Thank you." She then turned those deep green eyes on Hawk. He was carrying the burden of her power because she was too scared of it, but this was something she couldn't force him to do any longer. His body wasn't meant to contain this energy forever. Perhaps the celestial energy was the cause of the injuries Hawk was suffering, or at least it wasn't helping his health. She had to take it back, but she didn't have to do any of this by herself. As long as she had Hawk she never had to do any of this alone. It was a wonderful feeling to know she had him. The one person she had always trusted to save the galaxy just so happens to be the one person destined to help her. If you had to have a guardian angel Hawk Hinata was the one to ask for.

She smiled at Hawk and walked over to him and gently wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him softly. She could hear what sounded like Thistle's noise of disgust, but she didn't care. At that moment all she cared about was Hawk. She kissed him softly and happily and when she pulled away from him her deep green eyes sizzled with white energy as she took back the white energy Hawk had been holding. She was finally ready so she relieved Hawk of the burden. As long as he was here with her, she felt like she could learn to control the power. They could do it together. She didn't have to be afraid. She smiled at Hawk with tenderness and happiness that he would be with her through this. She appreciated him so much and she felt love towards him surge within her.

A light clapping sound from the corner interrupted the tender moment and Kat turned, not surprised to see her twin. His form was fuzzy and distorted, and she realized he was astral projecting his form into the room. He must have gotten the idea from Thistle. He was smiling but it wasn't a happy smile. It was an annoyed smile that made his handsome face look sinister.

"Well... .well.... well. Finally... the story comes out. And what a story it is! I always knew you were a thorn in my side Katarine but this.... this is a new level. And who do we have to thank for this? Phoenix Hinata! The man who ruined my shining moment. I can't tell you how loathsome it is to know who you are and yet be unable to end your blip of existence thanks to your immortality. And then there is the great Hawk Hinata! Yet another miserable mortal whose existence I cannot end just yet. Do you have any idea how infuriating it is to be dependent on creatures so far beneath me?"

He was shaking with anger, but the sight didn't cause the same panic in Katarine as it once had. There was nothing he could do about the situation. It had all been engineered so perfectly.

"Come to Aviprine so we can finish this."

She laughed and shook her head. "Why would I go anywhere near you?"

"I won't ask again Katarine."

She laughed again and walked over to his projected form, staring straight into those poisonous yellow eyes. "Yes, you will. You will spend the rest of your life begging for the thing you want most in this galaxy and I will never give it to you. You will go to your grave wishing you could be with me but knowing deep down you'll never get to see me again."

She leaned close to him and hissed the next sentence in a deadly whisper that carried across the room. "Just like James Terran did."

She walked past his projected form, towards the door of the facility. She would never give her twin the power to destroy an entire galaxy, no matter what he did. As far as she was concerned this decades-long dance was over. She would learn to control this power and then she would hide it from Daxium until they both ceased to exist. There was nothing he could do to change things now.

Or so she thought.

"James Terran never went to his grave."

She stopped, suddenly stiff and tense. Her muscles started to shake, willing her feet to keep walking, but she just couldn't move. Behind her Daxium was smiling his most vicious smile. Then an image of a weakened, man hanging from chains in a stone dungeon entered the Force for all to see should they wish. Familiar golden locks fell over a pointed chin covered in blood, but his chest was moving as he breathed in and out.

She turned around, her eyes seeking Hawk, panic on her soft face.


Hawk Hinata

 

[Hawk Hinata]

"I can sense your desperation from here," Hawk spoke to the projection of Kat's twin and placed a calming hand on Kat's shoulder. "My grandfather thwarted your rise before you were even born, all under the nose of a celestial deity. You may possess celestial DNA, but your sister got the power and I was given the ability to control it. You call me a lesser being, but by any definition you are merely a parasite."

Hawk glanced at the image of James Terran and wrinkled his face in distaste.

"We will come to Aviprine, but I wouldn't celebrate. You will regret getting what you asked for when you find there is nowhere left for you to hide. I'm done letting you hurt Kat. That's not a threat. It's not even a promise. It's just what happens when I turn up on the bad guy's doorstep. I do one thing, and I do it very well!"

 

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"I look forward to your arrival Hinata."

The projection faded and the room they were in seemed dimmer afterwards. Kat felt like hyperventilating. This had to be some type of trick. It was beyond impossible that yet another person from their past had survived a thousand years. She pushed her long brown hair out of her face and held her head, which was throbbing. The life she could have had kept creeping into her mind. Images of children playing in a yard while their blond father watched on. It was like a knife in her gut, twisting over and over again. She had been so foolish to think Dax wouldn't win this. Her one fleeting bout of self confidence was over and the worry, struggle, and pain was back. She couldn't even find joy at the thought that her husband was alive. For decades she had been lead to think he abandoned her until the love she had for him had faded into nothing but a bitter memory. That was bad enough but this was worse. She hadn't ever wanted him to suffer capture, torture, and being used in some stupid game of sibling rivalry. She and Hawk were going to show up and rescue the man, who would probably only survive for mere moments afterwards, or worse he would live and be furious that Katarine had fallen in love elsewhere, or even worse Dax would kill them all and then destroy the galaxy. There was no happy ending here, and she supposed the sooner she accepted that the sooner they could get on with this.

"Is the heart of Tenebris still on Aviprine?" Even as she asked the question she felt a guilty pang surge through her. James Terran might be a fellow Jedi, her padawan, and legally maybe even still her husband, but he probably wasn't the priority of this mission.

She lifted her head out of her hands to look at Phoenix so he could answer her question, but her eyes never made it that far. Instead they rested on Hawk and suddenly she wondered what it would feel like to watch him die. She felt a wave of shame and stupidity wash over her. How could she have been so happy three seconds ago? How could she have been overjoyed at the thought that Hawk was going to be with her forever. If he were it meant he was in danger constantly. Why did she keep doing this to people she loved?

"I'm sorry."

Hawk Hinata

 

[Hawk Hinata]

Phoenix seemed confused for a moment. Perhaps he had not expected anyone to want to talk to him after relaying his story.

"Yes, as far as I know it remains where it has always been. I assume you seek to destroy it?"

The old man in a youthful body stepped towards Hawk. "That hilt," he pointed to the one that Kat had fashioned for him. "I saw many of your shadows wear it. I felt the presence of Tenebris' mind for a millenia, and the only time I ever felt anything other than his malevolence was when one of your shadows ignited that blade. I felt his fear."

Hawk considered what his grandfather was telling him for a moment before he caught on to the old man's train of thought. The lightsaber was created with celestial energy, but its crystal would have a connection to the force as all lightsaber crystals did. Tenebris sought to make a weapon out of Dax, part celestial and with a connection to the force because it could destroy every living thing in the galaxy and the force itself...but that was if the power was in the wrong hands. What could a blade forged from those same ingredients do in the right hands? Perhaps kill an immortal? Slay a celestial? Destroy the heart?

"You're as sharp as ever," Hawk grinned at his grandfather.

"Yes, but you're not." Phoenix raised a hand to the device on Hawk's face. "You are exceptional my boy, but you have suffered the effects of forces no mortal was ever meant to and if you do this in your current state, you will die. Even should you win the fight, the toll on your mind and body will overcome you. Remember, I saw no time line where you survived." Tears brimmed at his eyes when he spoke.

"Phoenix, I..." Hawk lofted an amused eyebrow. "Still as sharp as ever." Hawk almost laughed as he raised a hand to where Phoenix had pressed a needle into his neck before crumpling to the ground unconscious.

"Forgive me my dear," Phoenix said to Kat as he eased Hawk to the floor. "He never would have stayed behind while conscious, and you're not the only one here who loves him." He held his hands aloft as he said this to indicate he meant no harm to anyone, but also because he needed to activate a switch above his head.

With a hiss, the wall behind him swept aside to reveal a trio of beskar suits behind it. They were crafted from the Mandalorian metal, but differed in style from the traditional. One was an ostentatious mix of hot red and silver for a start.

"I spent the last few years of my life evading Tenebris and bringing vigilante justice to worlds occupied by the Empire," Phoenix said as he backed up arms still raised. "I started this over a thousand years ago, and I am going to finish it."

The machinery behind him purred into action and the suit was fitted to his form. He stepped back out moments later completely clad in metal before plucking the celestial blade from Hawk's unconscious form and attaching it to his own hip. From Hawk's robes he also took a comm device and then wth aparant ease he then slung Hawk over his shoulder.

"Hello R4," he spoke into the comm. "I've just sent you some coordinates. We'll be popping out of an escape hatch shortly, be a good droid and have the ship waiting for us with the cargo bay doors open would you?"

Phoenix ushered Thistle forward with a hand to her back and moved to stand in front of Kat.

"I'd clench if I were you my lovely."

With that, Phoenix tapped a button on his wrist and the floor where they stood dropped open and they plumbeted into a tube. They fell far quicker than the influence of gravity would have made them. The walls pulsed withe energy as they passed, moving them faster and faster while also preventing then from hitting the sides. They went further and further down before the tube exited the facility. The ocean was all around them, a beautiful sight as majestic creatures swam by completely uninterested in their brief audience.
Eventually the tube angled upwards and erupted from beneath the waves. The storm that had raged upon their arrival had disappeared and there was only endless miles of serene blue ocean glittering in the morning sun...and then abruptly the tube ended, and just as it seemed they must be catapaulted into the sky to then fall to a watery death, the Phoenix moved beneath them and they landed in its cargo bay.

"That's one clever droid," Phoenix laughed. "I sent him coordinates to where the tube was supposed to end."

 

[Delete]

Katarine wasn’t sure how to feel about knocking Hawk unconscious. On the one hand the thought of Hawk being safely tucked away from the dangerous mission made her extremely happy. On the other hand the thought of going up against celestial evil without Hawk Hinata seemed extremely stupid. This was the problem with Kat. She wasn’t a very good Jedi and certainly nowhere near a Jedi like Hawk was. She had no confidence and no astute ability to make split second decisions. She was also entirely too emotional, something that was getting worse. Ever since this trek into her past had started her emotions were all over the place. It had something to do with her connection to Tenebris, or at least in her mind it had too. It had never been this bad before she met him.

They boarded the ship and once she was satisfied Hawk was resting comfortably she curled up in a seat to stare blankly out one of the viewports. It might not have been the classiest pose to meditate in but she just needed to be alone with her thoughts. Luckily the trip to the unknown territories was a long one.

After a while she approached Phoenix with her mind made up.

“When we land you need to find the heart before Daxium can. I will deal with him.”

She took a deep breath and glanced towards the room where Hawk was.

“Can we be killed? If Daxium and I are part human … we aren’t truly immortal are we? I don’t want either of us to walk away from this. It has to end. How?”

Hawk Hinata

 

[Hawk Hinata]

Phoenix looked up from the the controls of his namesake vessel, and had his face not been encased in metal Kat would have seen the pity in his eyes.

"I knew, when I helped create what you are, that you would not have an easy life. I knew the same for Hawk. The old priests of Aviprine had a saying from their ancient native tongue 'Ko te oranga katoa he tumanako'. It translates to 'All life is hope.'" He reached out to take her hand in a paternal gesture. "Your mother and I took to calling you Katoa Oranga as you grew secretly within her, All life...not only because all life depended on you, but because you gave us hope. I like to think Katoa Oranga became Katarine in the basic tongue, because you are still my hope for all life, and...," Phoenix placed a gentle hand on Kat's stomach. "New life."