Private Pain Remembers

[Varin Mortifer]

VARIN MORTIFER

Equipment: Durum Mantle | Black Blade of Chandrila | Eye of The Dragon | Heavy Sith Mace | Cross Guard Broadsaber​

Varin watched as Acier scrolled through documents and files within the terminal. The evidence of a power vacuum succumbing the empire to its impending doom was something Varin did not see as surprising. Their ideology of ridding the weak and maintaining their dying group did have the same element as the Sith, but Varin knew the difference.

He looked over at Acier.

“The main difference is we do not jump ship when things get hard. While the Empire is busy ridding themselves of burdens and thinning their numbers they refuse to adapt. They die off, they start over and the cycle begins again.”

He turned to face the shelves looking at the various tomes.

“Their chain may be of a similar look to ours, but the metal is made of something far more brittle than ours.”

Acier Moonbound​

 

[Acier Moonbound]

Location: Coruscant

Equipment:
Apprentice Attire | Lightsaber | Shoto | Cybernetic Arm

Ace stayed quiet for a moment after Varin spoke, eyes still fixed on the terminal though he wasn't really reading anymore. The glow from the screen reflected dimly across his face as the words settled in the space between them.

A more durable chain. Maybe. But Ace found little comfort in that distinction, because stronger convictions didn't make the aftermath look any cleaner. His thumb tapped once more against the edge of the console before he finally spoke.

"Doesn't change the outcome much." His tone was level, clinical, and he lifted his gaze slightly from the display. "Most civilians don't care whether the people overrunning their world collapse afterward or survive long enough to do it again later."

There was no heat in the words. Just observation.

"The Empire destroyed worlds because it was failing." His eyes drifted briefly across the archives around them. "We destabilize them just because we can. Or whatever it is we're telling ourselves now. Either way, cities burn. Governments collapse. People die in the middle of it while someone higher up calls it necessary."

His gaze returned to the terminal.

"Efficiency doesn't make it better."

The room fell quiet again aside from the low hum of the archives around them. Ace finally leaned back slightly from the console, folding one arm loosely across himself while the other rested near the terminal.

"The Covenant's difference is honesty." He said after a moment. "The Empire buried its intentions beneath order, patriotism, whatever sounded acceptable."

His eyes shifted toward Varin.

"We don't bother pretending conquest is anything else."

Varin Mortifer​

 

[Varin Mortifer]

VARIN MORTIFER

Equipment: Durum Mantle | Black Blade of Chandrila | Eye of The Dragon | Heavy Sith Mace | Cross Guard Broadsaber

“Such is the nature of being conquerors.”

He spoke quietly, quiet enough that if they were in any other room he would not have heard him.

“It is not about who is better or higher in morale, it is strength and brains versus strength and brains. Survival of the fittest.”

He stopped, his hand resting on the shelf before he slowly turned back to face him.

“Governors can dress it up how they wish to make it seem prettier with patriotism but war is always war. I see it all the time, new acolytes brought in with promise of power and secrets only to step into their first blood bath, usually their only blood bath.”

A small hum left him.

“That is probably why I have chosen to stay in the Covenant. We do not hide the gory details, we display it. Those who do not have the stomach for it dare not to enter, and we grow stronger from that.”

His finger lightly tapped on the shelf.

“I think about my first day in the Covenant often. A field exercise, training to measure all of the new faces.”

He paused as the memories flooded to him.

“I remember the cold air, the Jedi that were taken in as apprentices clutching desperately to their beliefs. I remember when Kirie tried her best to hide amongst the many faces around her, I advised her not to and to stand up straight. Arris then planted a beanbag into her sternum.”

The tapping ceased bringing about a deafening silence in the room.

“I knew then what I was getting myself into.”

Acier Moonbound​

 

[Acier Moonbound]

Location: Coruscant

Equipment:
Apprentice Attire | Lightsaber | Shoto | Cybernetic Arm

Ace understood conquest. Not academically or philosophically. Intimately. He'd known its shape long before the Covenant ever planted banners over Tapani and Coruscant. Conquest existed in everything from galactic occupations down to kids fighting in alleyways on Bonadan. Bigger systems swallowing smaller ones. Stronger people deciding what belonged to them and taking it because they could.

He had lived inside that structure since before he could speak. Didn't mean he respected it. And despite what Varin seemed to think, this was never really about morality to Ace. He wasn't naïve enough for that anymore. War was ugly. Power always had a cost attached to it. He understood that better than most.

But there were smarter ways to build something. Better ways to conquer than descending onto a world, crushing anyone who resisted, then calling the ashes stability afterward.

Survival of the fittest. The phrase sat wrong with him. Maybe because he actually came from that environment instead of studying it from above. He knew exactly what survival looked like at ground level. Hunger, fear, and violence becoming routine before you were old enough to understand it properly. Necessary? Sometimes. But necessity and virtue weren't the same thing, and it didn't have to stay that way.

None of it showed on his face. Ace kept the thoughts where they belonged, buried beneath the same restraint he applied to almost everything else. Disagreement was manageable, but saying too much wasn't.

So instead he listened. Varin spoke about his first days within the Covenant while Ace drifted away from the terminal toward one of the older shelves lining the archive. His fingers traced briefly across worn lettering before he pulled free an ancient tome bound in darkened leather.

Dust shifted faintly as he opened it. His eyes skimmed silently across faded script while Varin spoke behind him about Kirie, Arris, blood, expectation. About understanding exactly what he was stepping into.

Ace turned a page slowly, he still didn't look back at him.

"Glad you have it all figured out." The words came dryly as his eyes continued scanning the tome. "You'll go far here."

The delivery was flat, but the intent underneath it carried just enough sardonic edge to make it clear he wasn't entirely complimenting him. A brief silence followed after that.

"I'll remember it next time I see you struggling up a staircase."

Varin Mortifer​

 

[Varin Mortifer]

VARIN MORTIFER

Equipment: Durum Mantle | Black Blade of Chandrila | Eye of The Dragon | Heavy Sith Mace | Cross Guard Broadsaber

He sensed the change in Acier, he had said something that stirred something up inside of him. His gaze slowly looked over to him, noting the dry remark.

Varin could have done a lot of things in this situation, some form of violence, he could have blown up on him, he could have left it be. But something of his Father's teachings rang in his head.

Listen

Varin slowly turned to face him, the scabbard of the Black Blade scraping along the floor. A curious look in his eye as he looked at him.

“You disagree. I see that.”

He did not raise his voice, he did not bring any sound of hostility towards him. He knew that everything Acier did, everything he said and whatever tone he used had reasons. Whether he stated it or not.

He looked down beside him at a chair, Varin gently pulled his finger towards him, pulling the chair over where he slowly took a seat. An exhale of pain leaving him as he did.

A moment to sit and rest, and to listen.

He picked up his scabbard and laid it across his legs.

“Would you tell me what it is you believe then?”

There was no mockery in his voice, just a man who was willing to listen to someone holding something in. Acier could choose to tell him or not, but either way, Varin was here to listen.

Acier Moonbound​

 

[Acier Moonbound]

Location: Coruscant

Equipment:
Apprentice Attire | Lightsaber | Shoto | Cybernetic Arm

Ace's eyes remained on the tome for several seconds after Varin finished speaking. The archive settled into a quieter stillness around them, broken only by the distant hum of terminals and the faint shifting of old ventilation somewhere deeper in the temple.

Varin waited and Ace noticed. Most people in the Covenant didn't ask questions to understand someone. They asked to dissect them, measure them. To find weak points hidden beneath the surface, but Varin was actually listening. That made the question more dangerous.

His thumb brushed once along the edge of the page before he finally answered. "Doesn't matter what I believe."

The words came flatly, absent of hostility.

"People get too attached to ideology." Ace said, turning another page slowly. "Gives them something clean to point at when things stop being clean."

His eyes skimmed absentmindedly across faded script.


"The Jedi have philosophies. The Sith have philosophies. Governments do too." A faint shrug rolled through one shoulder. "Most of them still end with cities burning when pressure gets high enough. Governments and Jedi are too slow to respond. The Sith are usually always the reason."

Only then did he close the tome softly, resting it back against the shelf.

"I care more about results. And whether the cost was actually necessary."

That was probably the closest thing Varin was getting to a genuine answer. Even now, Ace could already feel the conversation brushing too close to places he preferred kept buried. So, like always, he redirected before it could linger there too long.

His gaze shifted toward Varin at last.


"You're asking the wrong person for ideology anyway." His tone remained dry. "Half the people here think I'm detached. The other half think I'm a bleeding heart."

A faint exhale left him through his nose.

"It doesn't matter."

Varin Mortifer ​

 

[Varin Mortifer]

VARIN MORTIFER

Equipment: Durum Mantle | Black Blade of Chandrila | Eye of The Dragon | Heavy Sith Mace | Cross Guard Broadsaber

A scoff left Varin’s chest when Acier refused to explain further. His thumb gently tapped on the scabbard as he chewed over his words.

“You really think it does not matter?”

He kept his eyes on him after he spoke, a quiet now filling the air as Varin waited to continue, a small breath leaving him like a quiet chuckle.

“Weighing the cost of results is something I can agree with.”

He spoke quietly, his voice only reaching Acier. His foot tapped, almost anxiously so before he decided to continue.

“My Father…”

He started, almost hesitating to continue. He has spoken about the man many times and probably too many times. But he did not care. His Father had taught him much about ruling, about taking care of your people. Varin took a breath before he corrected himself.

“Well, it doesn’t matter what he did, he’s dead now. But what I have learned from him is to listen when allies speak of something that means something. You may not ever tell me what it is you believe compared to mine, I get it.”

He paused as he looked at Acier, a glare now in his eye.

“But do not feed me bantha shit about what you think does not matter.”

The words may have come off as aggressive, but something about the way Acier said what it was he said bothered Varin deeply.

“Maybe it doesn’t matter to Mercy or Arris, who cares. They are not here with us at the moment. It’s just you and me here. I am not asking for advice on ideology, I want you to have a word out for yourself. Now is your chance to do that. If you decide to refuse this time, I will drop it. But do not waste your chances.”

Varin’s body had gone still while he was talking. No tapping, no fidgeting. Just pure focus on Acier.

Acier Moonbound​

 

[Acier Moonbound]

Location: Coruscant

Equipment:
Apprentice Attire | Lightsaber | Shoto | Cybernetic Arm

Ace's eyes stayed on Varin for a moment after the other apprentice finished speaking. Quiet settled back into the archive again, heavier this time.

The pressure behind Varin's words wasn't difficult to understand. He wanted something real back. Not ideology or deflection, but something belonging to Ace himself. And that was exactly why Ace wasn't going to give it to him.

His gaze drifted briefly toward the shelves beside them before returning again.

"You're reading too far into this." The words came calm and even. "I respect you. You're strong. Reliable in a fight. You don't break when things get difficult." His eyes flicked once toward the Black Blade resting across Varin's lap. "That already puts you above most people here."

There was no mockery in it. Just direct acknowledgment.

"But that's all this is."

Ace leaned lightly back against the shelf beside him, arms folding across his chest now.

"We fought together a few times. Went to a beach one time." His tone stayed dry, grounded. "That doesn't suddenly give you access to every thought sitting in my head."

The statement wasn't cruel. If anything, it sounded matter-of-fact. Like someone establishing the boundary before the conversation wandered somewhere it shouldn't.

"You ask what I believe." Ace shook his head once, faintly. "I don't trust people enough to hand them that." His gaze held on Varin steadily now. "Not just 'cause I think you'll use it against me. But because people hear what they want to hear once you start talking too much."

The archive hummed softly around them again. Ace finally pushed himself off the shelf.

"So no." His tone remained level. "It really doesn't matter."

Varin Mortifer​

 

[Varin Mortifer]

VARIN MORTIFER

Equipment: Durum Mantle | Black Blade of Chandrila | Eye of The Dragon | Heavy Sith Mace | Cross Guard Broadsaber

Varin was quiet for a long while after Acier spoke. He understood then what Acier meant and a long sigh left him.

“Very well.”

He spoke quietly, Acier's words having reached something within him. Slowly he pulled himself up from the chair, towering above him, but the body language he gave off was that of understanding. But something else was attached to it, not pain but something slightly impactful within him.

He looked down at him as he rested the scabbard to the floor the tap of the blade announcing itself softly.

“I suppose you are right. You should not say too much here and it is smart that you do not. I will respect that decision.”

He walked past Acier, a slow pace stopping by another tome that caught his eye. His hands picked it up opening the pages allowing the spine to creak. His hands slowly turned each page as his gaze glossed over the details of High Sith runes.

After a moment, he spoke quietly.

“Thank you for walking with me, Acier.”

Acier Moonbound​

 

[Acier Moonbound]

Location: Coruscant

Equipment:
Apprentice Attire | Lightsaber | Shoto | Cybernetic Arm

Ace watched Varin quietly after the other apprentice accepted the boundary without resistance. Varin didn't argue, or try to force the conversation further open.

For a brief moment, Ace wondered if things would've been easier if Varin had reacted like most Sith did. Anger, ego, suspicion, something simpler. Something easier to note and move on from.

Instead, Varin listened. Ace kept his expression neutral as the larger man moved away toward the shelves again, the soft scrape of the Black Blade against the archive floor echoing faintly through the chamber. His gaze lingered there a second longer before drifting elsewhere across the towering archives around them.

It was better this way. People got themselves killed here by getting too close to others. Or worse, they survived long enough to become leverage against them later. Friendship inside places like this always came with a price attached eventually. The Covenant sharpened people into weapons first and stripped pieces out of them second. Opening up inside an environment like that was stupidity masquerading as trust.

So when Varin thanked him, Ace only gave a small nod in return.

"Yeah."

Nothing more complicated than that. He pushed himself away from the shelf and started toward the archive exit. The distance between them widened slowly through the dim light of the chamber.

Then, just before disappearing beyond the aisle, Ace stopped. He didn't turn back fully.

"Careful out there."

Varin Mortifer​