S H A D O W B A N E
Something stopped her; she was so close to him, so close to accomplishing that deeply rooted, primal desire to destroy. She had hunted him, found him, and made him bleed.
Yet something held her back. Something strong wrapped its arms around her and kept her from moving forward.
Another voice, another feeling connected to whatever restrained her, stopped her from flickering again. If she could have, maybe Allyson could finally end the danger that loomed over Taiia's head.
She reached and clawed, desperate to succeed, to sink her hands into his wounds and rip the Dark Lord apart. Each strained breath hissed through her tightened jaw as she reached, even with her broken arm; she reached. Pain didn't matter anymore to the Corellian. Her entire being wanted to destroy him. Even here, she could smell it — the blood spilled from her most precious secret.
Taiia's words fell silent in her wife's ears. Panic surged through the K'paur as she reached again, only to watch the battlefield and her prey disappear.
It was gone; he was gone — her one chance to exact the revenge she felt was needed.
Frantically, her eyes searched as they arrived back on Taiia's ship. Prazutis had to be close. He had to be somewhere aboard. Allyson inhaled deeply, searching for him by scent, her senses sharpened by whatever state she had fallen into.
Hunt. Kill.
Two words repeated over and over again, a mantra that kept every part of her on edge. It wasn't until Taiia turned her, forcing her attention somewhere else, that something changed. Allyson recognized the woman's face. She recognized everything about her, but the pain she had watched, the wound that still bled, all of it only made Allyson want to tear herself free and find the one responsible.
Before she could protest, Taiia kissed her, holding her face like she had so many times before.
Allyson's bloodshot eyes remained open, confused by the gesture when it was the furthest thing from her mind. She wanted to rip and maim, to destroy everything that could ever harm Taiia. But with the woman there, the only thing in front of her, the animalistic urges slowly began to lose their hold.
Her voice finally broke through as the kiss ended.
Allyson felt Taiia's hand against the back of her neck, then her cheek, the gentle stroke of her thumb cutting through the frenzy little by little. The tenderness, the reassurance in her voice... all of it calmed her.
She was okay.
They had escaped with their lives.
Allyson's deep, ragged breaths slowed, and with them, her heartbeat. The frantic need faded from her eyes as she stared at Taiia, confusion lingering there even as she began to believe what the woman was telling her.
"Taiia…?"
Allyson finally found her voice. Even forming the letters, shaping the sound of the woman's name, felt like a struggle. Like she hadn't spoken in decades until now.
But Allyson remembered.
Her hand shook as she reached forward, her fingertips gently grazing Taiia's cheek, then her lips — the woman she had fought so hard to defend, to protect.
Allyson paused, still taking in what was happening, trying to understand everything. It felt as if her mind had pushed her somewhere far away and allowed something primal to take her place.
Her breathing steadied. Her heartbeat followed.
A soft sigh escaped her.
The pain sharpened around her arm and wrist now that there was room for it, but she didn't move from where she stood. Everything that had happened moments before felt like a fever dream, fractured... distant.
Allyson wondered if anything would feel normal again.
Then another kiss drew her attention, keeping her mind from spiraling once more.
Her arm hurt. Her body hurt. Her stomach twisted itself into knots.
Yet somehow, this kept her grounded. Somehow, Taiia washed everything else away.
Allyson leaned into the gentleness of the kiss. She didn't push it, nor did she try to guide it somewhere else. The softness was what she needed — to be brought back to her center, away from the chaos of the battlefield and the thing she had become within it.
She brought her hand up, resting it against the small of her wife's back and pulling her closer. Allyson lingered there for a breath longer before finally pulling away, her forehead settling against Taiia's.
With every breath, some of the fury left her.
"I'm sorry," she whispered, knowing she must have done something horrible for Taiia to come to Thyferra.
Her eyes remained closed against her wife's forehead.
"Why did you come… it was dangerous…"