Pandora's Box

[Scherezade deWinter]

Madalena laughed. "I don't know what's true and what's not true as far as how Alwine sees the picture. I will tell you this though – your sister is a remarkable woman, and I'm both excited and sort of dreadful when the day comes that she realizes the Knights Obsidian is too small for her."

Yes, she already knew the Lechners were a stubborn lot. It didn't change the fact though that she adored Alwine. With Gerwald, she wasn't so sure, and since she'd never met the third one, she had absolutely no opinion of him.

Either way, he was agreeing to lean on her now, so Madalena didn't falter; he was big, he was heavy, but she was strong even without use of the Force. As Gerwald continued to speak, Madalena started to walk, step by step, letting him lean on her as they did so. If he wanted to let the blood flow, to get his legs moving, that was exactly what they were going to do, and they were going to move out of the kitchen.

"So if you admit to be so selfish," she posed the question, "why are you so judgy about this Scherezade for being selfish? I don't know if you do this all the time, but in this convo at least, you're accusing her mostly of behaving like you. Is there a reason?"

And of course, there was his last question.

"My big effort," Madalena explained, "was getting you out of those caverns and into the bacta. For one, I don't want your sister to have a reason to mourn you. For two, I don't like it when fellow Knight Obsidians die on me. We need more of us around and you might need more training, but you're still good to have around when battle erupts. For three… I don't have a three but I can make something up if you want to."

Grinning, she began to walk them out of the kitchen. The corridor opened and Baal ran around them, darting forward. The walls and the murals of the corridor were covered from floor to ceiling in Madalena's paintings; and both the mural of the Princess and the mural of the wolves were not too far from them.

"Other than that," she resumed, "we're stuck with each other until we get to Geonosis, so… We talk to make time pass. You pretty much dictated the direction of the conversation and I'm fine with going with the flow for now."

As Madalena's words came to an end, the two had reached the mural of the Princess; standing bare footed on the grassy forests that stretched around her, her body made of delicate curves though it was clear her arms and legs were strong, but whereas detail was drawn on every piece of wall that Madalena had gotten her hands on, the woman's face lacked in detail almost entirely, allowing only for a few shadows and big green eyes that omitted the emerald glow. Her hair dark and long, and Madalena had managed to make it look as though it had been captured while blowing in the wind.

Of all of her paintings, it was one that Madalena loved the most. Of course, no one really noticed the area next to the Princess. Madalena had attempted to paint the Prince there so many times, but it never came out right. Eventually, she just covered it with more and more layers of the forest.


[member="Gerwald Lechner"]

 

[Gerwald Lechner]

"Why are you still prodding when I asked you to stop, hmm?"

Gerwald looked at her sideways. It didn't take him long to see that the same things that frustrated him about his sister were evident in the Madalena. He would put up with them in Alwine because she was family. Gerwald didn't have the same obligation with this one. Even if she really was Scherezade somewhere, Gerwald didn't have to put up with having his wishes ignored on the matter.

"If you have to know though, it is because I would have never killed myself. Especially over someone. There is no way you can slice it... she ended her life over what happened. It's not just selfish... it's dumb, lacks any sense of logic or reason, and speaks to how unstable she truly was. I'm not judging as much as I am simply discerning things from the evidence and observations I have. Like I said... the fact she could do that makes me question everything I thought I knew about her... and had I known this would have happened, I would have never gotten involved with her to start."

The truth was the behavior could have easily to emotional abuse or manipulation in different circumstances. Gerwald had suffered enough of that under his mother. While it was not that, Gerwald could not help but wonder had Scherezade remained alive, what else could she have been capable of under the influence of the darkness? Part of Gerwald still thought perhaps he could have saved her from it. He owed her that much at the very least. Aside from the anger he had toward her chosen method of dealing with it all, Gerwald had detached his feelings from it all.

"You can always feel free to change the topic of conversation. I really think we should stop talking about someone who is dead like this. Regardless it won't solve anything. I want to move on from it, and I wish Alwine would just let me by dropping her criticism. I can't get through to her on the issue... maybe you could help her see how it might drive a wedge between us if she can't let it go?"

Gerwald would do anything to keep that from happening, short of actually breaking another heart, and certainly not because his sister wanted him to. No, this seemed a better route. He was barely beginning to feel his legs and adding more weight to them as they moved to where it was they were going. His head canted at the sight of the painting.

"Did you paint this, it looks really good. I couldn't do it that well."

[member="Scherezade deWinter"]

 

[Scherezade deWinter]

"Because you keep talking about it, silly," Madalena laughed again, "I mean, if you have this 'last word' sort of a complex, just tell me, I can let it go, or you can change the subject yourself, but if you need someone mute to just listen and nod and stay quiet you really chose the wrong person to almost die next to."

While her words might have been grave, her tone was light, bubbly, with a strong underlying giggle. The subject might have been heavy for Gerwald, but for Madalena, it was like talking to almost anybody else at the moment. There were a precious few people who could make her dark and somber, and Mr. Selfish was not one of them.

"And you're uber judging," she pointed out, "and also deciding how some things went, when you don't know if that's how they actually did. Are you lacking for reasons to feel guilty about stuff or something? There's heaps of civilians who got hurt during Confederacy missions, you should pick up the mantle of guilt for them too while you're at it."

Meddling with Alwine's? "Ha," Madalena responded, "ha. Ha. Absolutely not. I'm not getting between a sibling rivalry even if it kills me. Especially considering if someone tried to do that between me and my brother, I'd stab them until they had no insides left on the inside of their bodies."

Slowly, they made their way into the corridor, and Gerwald asked about her painting.

"Yeah," she said softly, the giggly undertone disappearing entirely, "when we were kids, my brother and I used to make up stories about a magical kingdom far away. I paint them on the wall when I can't sleep normally because of my night terrors. It helps soothe the mind. This was the main protagonist of the stories I used to make up; she's the Princess of the magical kingdom."

[member="Gerwald Lechner"]

 

[Gerwald Lechner]

That was a dumb excuse if he ever heard one... blaming him for not stopping when asked, that was fresh. Yup, Gerwald decidedly did not like this woman.

The only saving grace in the matter was the paining. It was certainly a change of subject until she explained what the painting was. Of course it did not take Gerwald long to know that she had painted Scherezade. He smirked slightly.

"You painted Scherezade you know... and that magical kingdom... you didn't happen to call it Endelan did you?"

The look on Gerwald's face was pretty smug as if he was pretty sure she had her finally. If anything Gerwald hoped that he had at least caused her to doubt what she was certain was true. She didn't have the truth. Whatever it was that Scherezade had done to herself, she created a fiction to hold the truth back. A truth that seemed to come out in her paintings.

[member="Scherezade deWinter"]

 

[Scherezade deWinter]

It you asked someone to stop but then continued, you put yourself in a place to have it all continue. She'd saved his life, but she wasn't his babysitter. He was way too big for babysitting.

"No, I painted the Princess," she corrected him. That was most definitely not a Scherezade on the wall. The Princess in her stories didn't have a name, and mostly, Madalena had never actually seen Scherezade.

But then Gerwald mentioned Endelaan and Madalena paused in her step. She stared at him and blinked. How had he known? Why was he looking so smug about it?

"Alwine told you, didn't she?" the curvaceous brunette asked, "I told her some of the stories about Endelaan and the Princess."

Of course, there was also the story that continued on the opposite wall, but that was one she hadn't told her. Hadn't told anyone, in fact Everyone who got on the ship could easily enough see the painting of the wolves as well,but no one ever really asked about it. Not even her brother, though she owed him the end of that story.

[member="Gerwald Lechner"]

 

[Gerwald Lechner]

"No, you painted Scherezade, and I know about Endelaan because Scherezade told me about it. It was her home and she wanted to take me there."

Gerwald looked over the painting even more, letting go of Madalena and walking on his own strength finally.

"All this proves is that Scherezade is still in there somewhere, and the truth is trying to get out. But hey, I cannot possibly be right because only just met on Hypori and I was on Stewjon when you were on Coruscant, and the bit about the scar on chest... that was just a lucky guess."

Yes, Gerwald was pushing the issue, but only because he knew he finally was in a position where maybe someone would finally listen to him. It was all he really wanted. Alwine was too stubborn to listen. Madalena didn't know enough, but was maybe getting close. Gerwald was honest more than he was not, and he would not lie about a thing like this. Hell, he had been honest with Alwine about why he left, and that he would have done it regardless. She refused to believe him, but that did not make Gerwald a liar.

"Oh... and those wolves... yeah, Scherezade had this plan in place to make a home for my species on her planet. It's all in that letter Alwine has. It's also one of the reasons I told her to stop meddling. It was in Scherezade's head that she could make more Lupines, but that is not possible without actually being able to splice Lupine DNA into whatever it is you are making. It is a foolish plan, and one I will never get behind..."

"Anyhow... Scherezade is still up there somewhere... and you are her."

[member="Scherezade deWinter"]

 

[Scherezade deWinter]

Glowing eyes narrowed as she looked at the giant Lupine finally walk on his own. It was a good thing, sure, but she couldn't deny there was some form of comfort in having someone lean on you like that. Still, that was not the part that bothered her. What bothered her was is insisting on knowing Endelaan. Endelaan did not exist. It was a figment of imagination, something that she and her brother had made up. Would she have loved to see it? Yes, she would have, but that did not change the facts in one form or another.

"I wear deep cleavages more often than not when I'm not in armor, I can't even begin to guess how many people have seen the scar on my breast," she pointed out.

But it wasn't all of it, was it? No, he kept talking, something about Lupine DNA and such. At least on that front, Madalena knew something.

"Splicing Lupine DNA doesn't make a difference," she pointed out, "or at least, shouldn't. As Alwine has told me, the Lupine gene is dominant; any child of a Lupine and a non-Lupine would result in a full blooded Lupine, no? But that… Pretty much has nothing to do with me. I can easily sniff a Lupine out, but I can't actually make any. I have neither the knowledge of the power to do it. But you… You and Alwine and the red-furred Lupine I found, none of you smell anything remotely human, even though that's the shape you take on when you're not wolves. Your blood scent is unique. That's how I knew the red-furred one wasn't just a wolf, but a Lupine; I already had the species' scent down. Whatever other members of your family were, you're a Lupine, though you probably know this without me needing to point it out."

Looking at the painting of the wolves, Madalena shook her head and leaned against the wall with her shoulder, only keeping an eye out on Gerwald, making sure he wasn't about to fall down or something like that.

"That's not what those two wolves represent," she pointed out, "they're the last story I made up for my brother, before we split. I was supposed to come up with the ending for that story by the time he came back around our twenty-first birthday, but he came back two and a half years earlier and…"

Her voice faded out. Brayden had come back, and things had taken a horrible turn. He was back, but she was still alone, without her brother, because her brother insisted that things would never be the same. She'd noticed his body language. He somehow found her revolting now. Madalena was certain that something bad had happened to him in the Unknown Regions, but she wasn't sure what, and she hadn't been able to get it out of him before he just got up and left, a little before Life Day.

[member="Gerwald Lechner"]

 

[Gerwald Lechner]

"You may wear plunging necklines, but I have never seen you in such things, and it is covered now. You really need to stop handwaving away the issue that I know something about your body that I should not."

It was a moot issue at this point. Even if she was not ignoring the facts that were right under her nose, she was giving the appearance of it.

"I didn't mean to speak out of turn. The subject is one of the tension points between myself and my sister, but to your observation, splicing DNA does make a difference. You have to have Lupine DNA on supply to be able to do that. While Alwine would likely volunteer to be a donor... anything less than that would mean a person takes it by force. Our species should never be a science experiment, and the line is very thin when following that path."

That was all Gerwald was going to say on the matter. Madalena didn't need to be involved in the details of why his relationship with Alwine was strained. In some ways he wished that he would have never known about the letter that Scherezade had left Alwine. It was foolishness, and the fact Alwine could not see it, it bothered Gerwald greatly. They had come to the point of knowing they needed to disagree on the matter. Their relationship was dependent on not trying to convince the other they were right or wrong.

Gerwald put his hand on the two wolves.

"It sounds like you are having your own issues with your brother. I met him that night... I've seen him on a couple of missions. While I have not been around him much, he seems a difficult person to get along with. Have you addressed it with him?"

Now Gerwald was prodding, and it was because he was curious. Brayden had to know, he had to know that Madalena was in fact Scherezade. Why did he let her live the lie?

[member="Scherezade deWinter"]

 

[Scherezade deWinter]

Never seen her in such a thing? She had most of her bobs out except the nipples on both Hypori and the location where his sister had started the fires. Gerwald was being almost insulting at that point; Madalena knew exactly what she looked like in those dresses. Not taking at least a glance was… Well. And then there was that whole gene splicing thing, as though he was trying to convince her of anything beyond that he himself had as little info about the matter as she did. Was he really trying to forcefully pretend that she was that other woman who'd done or hadn't done other things? Madalena could fight, she could stab people, she could sniff our bloodlines and species, but she couldn't fight in the place of made up claims for those who weren't her. That was simply too tall of an order, and she was getting pretty tired of it by now.

She was also about to chew his head off, but then he put his hands on the wolves, and she lofted a brow. She'd expected him by then to ask for the story, ask about the wolves, try to make another frivolous claim that she was someone she was not, but instead… Instead he asked about her brother.

Of course, Madalena knew the two had met. There had been that mission with the worms and the undead where both Brayden and Gerwald had been; her first mission as a team leader. And then there had been that love potion party, where the two had gone after the same woman, though Brayden had treated Alwine miserably, and Gerwald had generally been a butthole too, though Madalena had protected both Lupines from the fires that erupted. Not that Gerwald would bother looking past the tip of his snout to thank her or anything.

"He is currently difficult," she eventually said with a sigh, "I think… I think something happened to him, and he won't talk about it. I was so glad when he came back that much earlier… It was supposed to talk another two and a half years, and we'd never been apart before we decided to split. I thought that him coming back early was a good sign. But instead it was just a mess. Nothing specific happened, we never fought or anything, but he treats me like I'm the most disgusting thing in the 'verse right now, like he loathes to even look at me. He said he'd be leaving for a while, and that was just before Life Day. I sent him a message to wish him happy holidays but… But he never even responded."

Madalena sighed. Her brother was a touchy subject. She'd been in pain and tears most of the holiday season because of their last conversation, she had missed him so terribly in the month and some that had passed. It was hard to make her cry; but Brayden could bring her tears out in an instant.

"I just wish I knew what was wrong so I could help him…" she whispered, looking away from Gerwald, away from the paintings.

[member="Gerwald Lechner"]

 

[Gerwald Lechner]

"Currently," Gerwald chuckled though he didn't mean to. "No offense, but in the short moments that I had to observe him... I would say that difficult is his default. Whether that is him, or what life has done to him... I don't know. What I do know is that difficult can be worked through. Alwine is the same. She would tell you I am... and we find ways to make it work... at least I hope."

Difficult siblings were nothing knew to the universe. They had been in existence ever since the idea of siblings had come into existence. Gerwald was convinced this was just how thing worked. People were unique and those different qualities made it hard to not clash with those closest. Gerwald loved his sister, but he certainly would agree that she could be difficult. Even on Stewjon she proved to be, though Gerwald and Varick had helped it along by training her to fight.

"Then ask him, and make him be honest with you," Gerwald said as he started to walk out of the room. "It is hard, and and he may only share bits and pieces at a time, but the only way to get back to what you want with him is honesty. Force knows that is one lesson I have learned the hard way. Trust me on this one."

Ger yawned, and a rather large one. A few deep breaths were taken to stabilize his breathing, but he was certainly feeling tired.

"I think I need to lay down for a bit... 15 hours to go you said.... huh?"

[member="Scherezade deWinter"]

 

[Scherezade deWinter]

He chuckled. Why was he chuckling? What was so funny about her having said currently? "You have seen him from a distance for several moments and you think that's enough to deduct that difficult is his default?" she asked, her voice dipping low. "It's one thing to be judgy much, it's quite another to base it on… Nothing, pretty much."

Sighing, Madalena rubbed her eyes. It was almost impossible to say anything bad about Brayden without inviting her anger. The fact she hadn't punched Gerwald in his selfish little smug face for saying that was a measure of how much self control she was displaying right there and then. He definitely deserved one.

"I asked him," she said as she followed him out of the corridor, wondering where he thought he was going to. Was he smart enough to not open the airlock by accident? "He refused to say anything and only told me to stop wanting things to be the way they were because we're not children anymore. He won't say a word to me about it, not even hint at anything other than that something's seriously wrong."

And now he wanted to rest. Of course. It wasn't like he'd just spent hours in a bacta tank. That was weird to her though, usually when Madalena climbed out of bacta tanks she wanted to break out and run for hours and hours. Then again, she usually didn't climb out of them while in hyperspace, away from everything.

Taking a few quick steps, she led him to the second room that was meant to be a personal, but she'd converted it into a living and weapons room that could be used as a weapons room too. She only paused once to grab some fresh linens from the closet, and then they were there. Two sets of armor were displayed on mannequins; one Obsidian Strike armor, and one her own green one, already starting to show some wear and tear. She was really going to have to fix it or get a new one soon. The wall behind those mannequins were covered in weapons; lightsabers, knives, swords, a lightwhip, a few short spears… Madalena Antares was a walking armory most of the time, and had zero shame about it.

If Gerwald looked closely enough, he might recognize some of the knives; they had not changed since that evening on Ryloth so long ago, though there were many new ones added. And besides that, the walls here were covered as well, in paintings of animals and rivers as well as of trees and grass, though there were no people on the walls of this room.

Within minutes, Madalena had pulled the couch open, and put the linens out for him. "Here you go," she said, motioning for the bed, "if you need anything, scream. If Baal bugs you, tell him you'll call me. He understands well enough. Feel free to walk around and go to the kitchen or whatever, just try not to do any big noise stuff."

And unless he had anything else he wanted to add, she left the room, and made her way towards her own.

[member="Gerwald Lechner"]

 

[Gerwald Lechner]

"Discernment, not judgement. Discernment deals with observations and judgements means making assumptions about his motives. I have never made that assumption where your brother is concerned."

"Though I likely could and be most likely be right," Gerwald thought to himself careful not to say it out loud.

Gerwald only smiled as the rest of what Madalena said only confirmed his suspicion. Brayden didn't have the supposed memories that Madalena talked about because Madalena was not who she thought she was. It was an exercise in futility to think otherwise. There was really only one thing he could do, and that was resign himself the fact that Madalena was all there truly was anymore. Scherezade had truly killed herself, without actually killing herself. It was strange, but it was also final. Yes, Gerwald had made his choice, but he had never wanted Scherezade to go this far. It also made him question things, questions that only Scherezade could answer, questions she never would.

He was led to a room, and simply nodded when it came to what she said about the dog.

"I truly don't mean to rush to sleep, but I must have come out of the bacta a bit early. I feel like something is still healing inside, and I am a bit sluggish..."

Gerwald paused and looked Madalena in the eyes... the eyes that belonged to Scherezade.

"Thank you for saving me."

With that he turned and walked toward the bed.

[member="Scherezade deWinter"]

 

[Scherezade deWinter]

"Discernment is a word people use when they feel uncomfortable at the thought they're being judgy and try to cover it up, mostly to themselves," Madalena replied with a simple shrug.

But yeah, he looked like sleep would do him good. Normally Madalena would have loved to stay up and continue this battle of words, but she was tired as well. While she might not have shown it, the entire situation that had happened on the planet had sapped much of her, and just keeping her energies up and continuing to smile was draining more than she thought it was. There was really no reason to keep the opening Gerwald had provided for her to get some rest as well.

Besides, they still had enough hours to kill before they were near civilization, and that was assuming that her calculations were right. She'd never been on her own in the Unknown Regions before and her own systems were not as advanced as those that the Confederacy's military grade stuff had to offer.

When Gerwald looked at her though for that final time before they parted, Madalena felt something strange inside of her. She knew it was strange, but she wasn't sure why or what.

"You're welcome," she said softly.

Well. There wasn't much else to say or do, so she turned around and walked to her own room as well, leaving the door behind her ajar for only an inch or two so that Baal could freely come and go without disturbing her. Within moments she'd removed her clothing and hopped onto bed, setting her alarm clock to ring within 20 minutes. She knew the drill. There was no sleeping for her when other people were on the ship; not full sleep, anyway.

And that was because Madalena did not sleep like a normal person. Every single night she would wake up multiple times, screaming and crying, because of her night terrors. Twice, it had happened while people were around. She did not want a third time. So the alarm clock was the answer; wake up before she hit the REM stages of sleep, stay awake for a few minutes, then go back to sleep. It meant she'd be even more tired in a few hours, but some rest could still be had, and a cold shower would wake her up properly when it was all done.

~*~*~*~*~**~

It was fifteen minutes later that Madalena was sleeping peacefully, that the door to her room opened, and in came Baal, walking with more care than a four legged creature of his size looked like he was capable of doing. He picked the alarm clock up carefully in his mouth, and left the room just as quietly as he had entered it, walking himself to the kitchen, where he dropped the alarm clock into the 'chute.

If wolves could smile, he would be smiling now as he walked to her room again, and lay himself in the corner, his own green eyes watching carefully.

~*~*~*~*~**~

It had been over an hour before it happened, but it happened. The night terrors were back.

Eyes still closed, her mind still inside her dreams, Madalena began to trash around in her bed, screaming uncontrollably at the top of her lungs, tears coming through her closed eyes.

[member="Gerwald Lechner"]

 

[Gerwald Lechner]

Gerwald had fallen into a deep sleep. After the injury, the recovery, and an exhausting conversation with Madalena, not much was going to wake Gerwald up. He was tired, plain and simple. Gerwald also wished that just for once someone would actually listen to what he had to say. Alwine was beginning to listen. Katrine had already moved on, and it was clear that Madalena held nothing of who she had once been. They were complete strangers to each other, and considering the reality of certain decisions, it was likely for the best. Still, Gerwald couldn’t help but feel as though he had lost something.

There was a shrill scream. It was loud and filled the entire cabin of the ship. Gerwald jumped out of the bed and called for his weapon. The lightsaber was not ignitied, but it was ready in his hand as he moved toward the sound.

Another scream. It was coming from Schere... Madalena’s room.

Gerwald entered and found her thrashing about. Had she mentioned night terrors? Ger could not remember, he just knew he had to wake her up, so he tried to shake her awake.

”Hey it’s okay... wake up!!”

[member="Scherezade deWinter"]

 

[Scherezade deWinter]

Baal sat quietly in his corner in the room, his eyes following every motion. He had known what he was doing when he removed the alarm clock, and he knew that the screams would wake the wolf-man up. There was but one thing he had not known, but was now happy to see that he had gambled correctly. Gerwald tried to wake Madalena up by touching her in order to shake her. Satisfied, Baal put his head down, resting it against his pillow.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

It was a few moments after [member="Gerwald Lechner"]'s hands touched Madalena that the room around him vanished entirely. The bed, the paintings, the boots on the ground, and even the woman that had been trying to sleep in it were gone, their appearances dusting away from sight.

Instead, there was a beach now. A dark beach, with sand that was grey and coarse, and murky waves that broke against it lazily, as though they had all day and no reason to worry at all. The skies above were a pale gray, and the wind was howling everywhere, giving the sensation of cold that was not for the skin, but for the soul. Behind the beach, far away, black mountains with white tops stretched as far as the eye could see.

But not too far, only a handful of feet away from Gerwald, there was color. A woman was standing there, her eyes glowing bright with their emerald green. The wind tossed her hair to every direction, but it was more than clear that this did not bother her in the slightest, for she was not even looking at him right now. Instead, she seemed to be fighting what looked like a dark cloud.

The dark cloud though was easily not just that; it appeared that everywhere it touched, things vanished. Looking into the sky where it was coming from, it was easy to see that where it had been, now there was nothing. Not air. Not more sky. Not other skies, but utterly and completely nothing. And the cloud was trying to get to the woman, yet she fought it, hands bare as she lacked any weapons, her feet bare as well, their heels digging into the sand as the impact pushed her backwards but she still held her ground against this cloud that managed at the same time to look both the same size as her, and twenty times bigger.

It took both the woman and the cloud a few moments to realize though that something had changed.

The woman noticed it first, inhaling deeply, the look of shock easy to see on her face even if Gerwald could only glimpse at its side. She turned her head, looking at him, her arms still up to defend against the black cloud, but there was no longer a need for it, for part of the cloud materialized then into something that might resemble a human face if you squint your eyes hard enough, and its mouth opened to scream, though no sound came out. A moment later, the cloud flung itself backwards and continued to move further and further away, until it became the size of a pin head in the sky, where it still remained.

The woman turned to look at Gerwald, her eyes still wide with amazement. For a moment, she felt as though she'd forgotten how to breathe.

"Gerwald?" Scherezade mouthed, but the wind carried her voice, almost as soft as a caress. "Gerwald?" she asked again, now stepping towards him. A moment later she was sprinting, and suddenly she was against him, her arms wrapping around him. "Gerwald!" she breathed with excitement, "please, please Gerwald, before any of us say something stupid that starts another fight…" And then she began to pull her hands away. Maybe… Maybe she had been too presumptuous and should not have hugged him in the first place.

 

[Gerwald Lechner]

It happened all too suddenly. One moment he was trying to wake Madalena up and the next he was... well wherever here was. It wasn't the location that had him so perplexed, but the person who was also there with him.

[member="Scherezade deWinter"].

How was this possible? Gerwald knew she could not have been truly dead. The woman was in some kind of prison of her own making, but that still did not change the fact Gerwald was disappointed in her. It was good to know she was not dead, but was it really? There were too many thoughts to process, which was why he did not react in anyway when she tried to hug him. By the time she hesitated, Gerwald was reacting, and this time he stepped back.

"No... you don't get to do that," he found himself saying.

Whatever was about to happen, whatever the conversation, Gerwald knew there was going to be no thought to the words that came out of his mouth. He was in shock which meant his words would be pure shock and pure heart.

"Why..."

It was the only question he had. There were many things he could say, even wanted to say. All of it beginning with how selfish she had been. That was a funny thought coming from Gerwald considering his behavior, but it was true nonetheless. She may not have seen it that way. Her answer may not provide any evidence that his opinion was somehow wrong either. All Gerwald knew was that this was the last place he wanted to be after having tried convincing to Madalena she really was Scherezade.

Still, Gerwald wanted answers.

 

[Scherezade deWinter]

No response at first, and then a step back. Scherezade did not move from her place, though she seemed at that moment as though she had been smacked in the face. What hopes she dared have for a single moment of respite were shattered so quickly, and she had not even dared hope for much at all. A hug. A short embrace between people who'd once been close. But it was too much to ask for.

Thunder sounded, rolling from a distance. Scherezade moved her arms now, wrapping them around herself. She took a step back, and then another, but she had been in the place too long. Her eyes caught the movement, that black dot that had been the size of a pin's head now becoming bigger. She blinked, and took a single step towards Gerwald now, looking at the pin retract to its former tiny size.

She opened her mouth, wanting to say something, and then closed it again. What was there that she could possibly say? She had wanted the briefest of moments of just hugging, of just being okay before things went back to not being okay, and now nothing was okay, and the threat that loomed, almost invisibly right now, but much visible and much tangible for so many months of her life, both among the living and not, thudded in the back of her mind, warning her of the dangers.

And his question. Why. Why what? Why was she here? Why was Madalena there? Why a million of other things?

And why did she have to answer him, anyway?! Even when they last met, he could not bring himself to say a single kind word, could not bring himself to show any form of kindness. It had been an ongoing barrage of her trying to explain, and crying, and him telling her the most horrible of things.

Emerald green eyes moved to look over at him again. Gerwald. Of all the people in all the 'verse, of all the men and women Madsy met regularly, why did it have to be him? Why couldn't it be a stranger, or at least someone why didn't have a history of mistreating her? Why… Why couldn't it have been someone who would actually listen?

But what if… Scherezade blinked. What if he still didn't really care? What if that why simply meant… Why he was there? It was the simplest of solutions, really. It was the one that made most sense. She'd simply been jumping to conclusions. Someone who would've cared that she was gone would've at least afforded her that stupid hug that she so longed for, that touch of someone else who was alive and not the cold air that was this place. She'd been so stupid, again.

"When she thinks she's having night terrors, she becomes a conduit to this place," she finally said quietly, averting her gaze back at the pinhead sized drop in the distance, "touching her while it happens brings whoever is doing the touching to this place."

But did that… Oh, by the Force. He'd been with Madalena as well?! It was too damn cruel.

[member="Gerwald Lechner"]

 

[Gerwald Lechner]

Had Gerwald been able to hear the inner monologue going through Scherezade’s mind, he would laugh. The truth was, none of what she thought was the truth. He wasn’t there because he’d been sleeping with Madalena. Gerwald would never bring himself to that. Yes, Katrine and he had an agreement about what was and was not acceptable in their relationship, but Gerwald knew Madalena was Scherezade. He’d broken her heat once, he’d broken Scherezade’s heart, and he was loathe to repeat the same mistake. Gerwald knew it would be more than foolish. How could he cause more pain or even more damage?

Gerwald looked up at the sound of thunder. “What was that,” he asked uncertain of what was happening inside wherever it was they were.

Scherezade still hadn’t answered his first question though. It was why was he there. She had misunderstood. Ger took one step closer, but he still was cautious of giving the woman any hope that things were different.

“Why did you do this? There was always another choice, but something so... permanent? You’ve always been one that is so drastic and given to extremes, but this? Why?”

Maybe now she would understand that Gerwald was trying to understand.

[member="Scherezade deWinter"]

 

[Scherezade deWinter]

"That was the Darkness," Scherezade answered quietly. There was no reason to hide that from him, even if he'd shown through his actions time and time again that he did not care about it. He claimed through words a whole bunch of stuff, but they were both Warriors; what were words to the, when actions spoke so much louder? "It's upset that you are here."

And now Gerwald took another step closer on his own and they were so close to each other; close enough that if one reached out with their hands, they would be able to touch the other. Why? Why was he doing that? Scherezade remained rooted in her place, unsure of how to physically respond. Should she move away? Would she be able to handle it if she tried to get a hug again and would be turned down once more?

No. Best was not to respond to that at all. She remained standing there, listening to Gerwald's questions.

That was what he wanted to know. Why she'd done what she'd done. There was another choice? She could have laughed at such a statement coming from him, even though he probably hadn't realized why. But she did not laugh. There was nothing funny about it.

"Because there was no place for me," she said. Did he not remember the last words she'd said to him on Geonosis? She wished her voice was neutral, that it had been distant enough for those words to be emotionless and empty or uncaring. But they were not. "Do you know what the most common reaction was, when people called Madalena by my name and she corrected them? She was speaking the truth when she said she wasn't me, so people had no reason to doubt it. And the most common reaction was happiness. Pretty much everyone was glad that I wasn't there."

She should not have been surprised. People in the Confederacy had always mocked her, treated her like she was less than dirt. The snide marks and the horrible gazes had never been secret or hidden. But to see that open happiness when people were told she wasn't there… And to make it worse she had seen it all at once, the first time out of two that she and Madalena had met, before she wiped the meeting from Madalena's memories.

"I wasn't supposed to end up here though," she admitted, "I screwed it up. Again."

[member="Gerwald Lechner"]

 

[Gerwald Lechner]

"That's because for once you might actually listen to me and understand that what Katrine and I tried to tell you was the truth. That the Darkness had lied to you."

It was the truth Gerwald would always hold to. Scherezade had always denied that, but she had believed a lie. She had destroyed any chance to reunite with Katrine because of it, and the same could be said with Gerwald. As long as Scherezade believed the lies the darkness told her, she would always be alone. The anger she had for what had been done was justifiable, but she did not have to believe the darkness had been right. They were not the ones who had left or abandoned her. She had been the one to leave them.

Ger just shook his head as Scherezade continued with the idea there was no place for her. Had she not learned anything?

"So not even that Josh guy wanted to help you anymore? He didn't help you find a place after you walked out on everyone and everything? Look I know you think this... and truly believe it... but it is just wrong. Do you know what everyone who looks at Madalena and knows it is you really thinks? They are not happy. They are confused... wondering why a girl would do this to herself. What is it that she was running away from? And the kicker... Madalena doesn't even know why YOUR brother is different around her. She is at a loss as to why things are now what she hoped they would be, and it is because everyone just ran with it... they aren't happy... they are just letting her believe a lie. A lie I seem to be the only one to actually challenge."

Gerwald stepped back again. He just shook his head. Scherezade didn't see it, she didn't want to maybe. She really had made things worse in a way.

"What do you mean by that, you weren't supposed to be here? Were you really trying to actually erase yourself? Did you really want to be dead?"

[member="Scherezade deWinter"]