Private The Past Has Passed Away

[Amea Virou]

No rain, not even a cloud. A wind carried the stale smell from the nearby ‘cultural district’ towards the duo as they wandered down the main street and took a left into a back alley. The weeks had passed into months at this point. The promised date pushed back until finally there was an opening. Not just to meet up and catch up in private but to get a job done. Or perhaps it was more fair to call it a personal errand of sorts.

With the money from both the Cosm’s Well job as well as a few other smaller ones, Amea had managed to get herself enough to run this once without backup from Jerec. In his stead she had brought Kelsie. Once a stranger and brutal assault survivor, now a somewhat accomplished spacer and by chance a friend of Amea’s. Maybe the survivor part was ramped up a bit to bruise the other woman’s ego, but Kelsie had some to spare so Amea figured it was pretty safe.

So hey, beyond the new artificial wrist everything was practically the same.

“Right, well, it’s like I said. What remained of the old empire and whatever power structure the republic ever had was corroded and bastardized over time when the Gulag Plague hit.” Amea said and rolled her fingers into her palm to form fists before she quickly let the tension go. “These empires and confederacies, and republics, are just imitating old values of their dead precursors.”

There had never been any intention to get political, but Amea’s nerves were starting to play with her. The entrance to the apartment block stood before them and she gave Kelsie a genuinely worried look. Friends were not good collateral. No collateral was, but friends were even worse.

“The girl was last seen being carried through that door.” Amea slowly nodded. “If this place is anything like the other safehouses, things are about to get twisted. In a really, really bad way.”

“So, last chance,” Amea exhaled with a nervous chuckle. “If you want out I wouldn’t hold that against you.”​

Kelsie Sylvan​

 

[Kelsie Sylvan]

T E R M I N U S

Tag: Amea Virou ​

---

"For sure," she said, nodding in agreement. All the nations these days were uniquely terrible. She might've complained about the Confederacy being completely run by humans now, but in truth she preferred that to a senate full of aliens... actually, that was rather accurate to the original Separatist deal, wasn't it? Dooku was human, as was Palpatine, who had been pulling the strings the whole time. Whatever. At least the OPA let people do basically whatever they wanted to...

Maybe that was why there were places like this apartment building. From what Amea had told her -- and Amea hadn't said much -- this was a place of grade-A goons and thugs and kidnappers. Well, maybe b-grade. They got spotted. Sure, this corner of Terminus wasn't the safest, but it wasn't bad, so the witness reported it to the local authorities... who'd subsequently not believed the person. After that, only a little digging got Amea her lead.

This was... personal, for her, wasn't it? Kelsie turned her gaze to her friend -- wow, that was a weird thought -- to give her a worried look, only to receive the exact same look from Amea. "What?" Last chance to back out? Kelsie liked Amea, but clearly they needed to get to know each other better. "Not on your life," she said, her worried expression turning to a playful grin. "You don't need to be worried about me." Sure, maybe dinner and drinks would've been better, but this was exciting, and there was no chance of Kelsie abandoning Amea tonight. This was dangerous, and it wasn't something Amea needed to face alone.

Kelsie lazily draped her arm around her friend, beginning to drag her towards a thin alleyway beside their target. Neighbouring it was another apartment building of around the same height. As she'd guessed, they were close enough that windows between them would be fire hazards. No one would see them moving here, unlike the front. "We'll enter from the roof." Kelsie wasn't one to come unprepared; she produced a pair of grappling hook launchers, offering one to Amea if she didn't have one. A quick glance up and shot towards the roof, and the hook caught on. Kelsie hooked it onto her belt. "You ready?" She glanced over at the other woman.

 

[Amea Virou]

Kelsie Sylvan

So she wouldn’t be going in alone. Amea wasn’t sure whether or not that was a good thing. All the other runs had been done on her lonesome with varying measures of success. Their meet-up on Nar Shaddaa had been a task that was set-up just like this one. The only reason she picked up on where the report had been going was because she had learned of their movement patterns and tactics. The MO was all them as well, and when cam girls were your usual target it wasn’t hard to see why someone might have reported it. They were too afraid to act, yet cared enough to report it which was perhaps the lesser evil of the two.

Still, a lopsided smile spread on Amea’s lips. She exhaled in both relief and amusement. If Kelsie didn’t want to leave Amea to her potential death then Amea wasn’t going to stop her from trying. It didn’t mean Amea would be any less worried about the fact that Kelsie might be one to suffer the same fate as she had, but together they most certainly had a higher chance of success than if Amea went in alone, guns blazing and fists flying at whoever was between her and righteous retribution.

Not normally one to let others get too close, physically, Amea made an exception as she was dragged into the alleyway and offered an alternative point of entry. The roof would have crossed her mind but the effort was always more trouble than it was worth. In so many ways ‘ready’ was a question that meant a great many things here.

Ready to end anyone and anything that stepped between her and the kidnapped woman, yes. Ready to face what could certainly be her own death, also yes. Ready to see the repercussions of her actions slowly extend towards those that she surrounded herself with now that Kelsie was involved, not in the slightest. Still,

“Yeah.” Amea nodded and began the ascent up the side of the building. It was challenging not to turn around and take in the sights as they cleared the building behind them, but this was not why they were here. After a good set of levels had been cleared they’d find the ledge beneath their feet. Amea promptly unhooked herself and finally turned around to look out at the city.

A neon-lit hellscape, ripe with corruption and some of the worst scum of the galaxy. And yet it was the closest thing to a home that she could think of. Many good contracts came out of Terminus, depending on your moral compass. Amea turned away from the sight and got herself over to one of the nearby ledges that went down to the roof below them.

“I, uh…” The warden closed her eyes and let out a deep sigh. “I plan on murdering every single person involved in this.” Her eyes opened again as she looked up at Kelsie. “Either before or after I get my answers.”

Right, she hadn’t actually said what the question she sought an answer to even was. Had been too busy for that. Amea shook her head and looked at the roof entrance below them.

“They take people’s memories. They scatter them to the wind and make them forget who they were or ever could have been.” Didn’t make her feel any less sane to tell it, but if Kelsie had come this far she deserved to know. “These people are kidnapping women specifically. They strap them to machines, and turn them into something… Else.”

It would be clear this was something deeply personal. Amea’s hands curled up into fists, her nose scrunching up, her teeth bared with a scowl. Her brows furrowed as she grabbed the ledge, eased herself down onto the roof below.

“They don’t deserve mercy, and they won’t get it from either of us.”

 

[Kelsie Sylvan]

T E R M I N U S

Tag: Amea Virou ​

---

The climb was easy enough -- a quick check to see that her line was stable, then Kelsie quickly rappelled up to the roof. She stayed at the same level as Amea out of habit. The days when she'd learned how to do this were so far away, but the satisfaction of her first window breach was unforgettable. The room clearing protocol as well was always exhilarating.

By the time they set foot on the roof Kelsie had decided on doing this professionally. In a single fluid motion she hopped onto the roof and unhooked herself. Her pistol, a reliable .48-caliber, was already drawn and raised, though it looked a little silly considering the size of the silencer that the weapon needed needed. The woman stalked across the roof towards the access door, stopping and taking up a position beside it. She looked back at Amea, and...

Well, it was some view, contrasted by her rather malicious intentions when it came to this whole deal. Kelsie hadn't bothered to ask why they were doing this, as she assumed it'd become apparent when they got there. All she'd known was that her friend needed her support; it was just more prominent now. She holstered her weapon and walked over, giving an understanding nod. Killing people wasn't exactly an unfamiliar business, and if these people were as bad as Amea said, Kelsie had no issue with a little 'righteous' murder. She better understood why it was more personal to Amea, now, what with the erasure of memories. Kelsie was just here to be a reasonably good and supportive friend. Morality had nothing to do with it.

"That they don't," she said with a nod, placing a hand on Amea's shoulder and looking out at the city. It was probably bad to be waiting around like this, and Amea had already proven herself a little bit not-touchy, so maybe everything was going to go wrong and someone was about to pop out of the door and shoot them both. She waited a few moments, but no blaster bolts came, so she was forced to continue on helping Amea. "Look, Amea... I'm here to help you out, because I like you. You've been doing this all alone, and I don't think that's very healthy, so... I'm here for you. And don't worry," she said, glancing at the door, "I've seen worse, I promise."

With that she set back over to the door, placing her hand on the handle and beginning to turn it. "After you," she said, gesturing for her to enter.

 

[Amea Virou]

Kelsie Sylvan

There was a flinch as the hand was placed upon her shoulder. The scowl softened up and Amea gave herself a moment to take a deep breath and let it all out again. Under most circumstances she would have been perfectly calm at this point but this run was nothing if not out of the ordinary. And Kelsie’s kind words didn’t go unheard. Amea would look up at her and give her a slow yet determined nod to show that she was ready.

The door handle turned and entry was gained. Amea raised her gun before her and began to check her corners before they stepped in. It was by no accounts a good check, but something that could generally pass for trying. Her forte was her fists and not firearms. Good with her hands, she would have joked at times but, well, the delivery more often than not fell flat.

Stepping down a small staircase led them into a somewhat spacious corridor of doors. By Amea’s count there were six rooms on each side of a wide staircase that divided the hallway at the center. Sounds from all walks of life, muffled as they were, distorted any and all attempts Amea gave at trying to discern where her targets were. Yet her gut told her it was on the floor below them.

Amea began her descent along the walls of the staircase. By the time she reached the bottom there was a sound coming from the far end of the corridor to the right. Amea thrust herself out of cover and raised her weapon.

It was empty. One of the doors remained open, but the rest of the hallway was empty. She brought Kelsie along and placed herself by the door. Her hand pushed against the cold wooden surface to open it up. She charged in, her gun at the ready, and yet it wouldn’t be necessary. The signs of the former inhabitants were there but they were all gone.

A heavy stench of sweat that was all too familiar mixed with the growing sense of defeat that spread across Amea’s mind while she began to stumble around the room, grasping at her head.

“We’re too late.” She gasped and turned back towards Kelsie. “They’re gone. This was it, this was where they were bringing her.”

No, there was no time for that. Amea let her hands drop from her head before she threw herself at a nearby table to sift through the trash that littered it. Spent glitterstim casings, wrappings from spent needle heads, and more soft beverages than any one man or woman could consume. It was all the same as everywhere else that Amea had been except the perps were gone.

“They always leave a trail.” Amea said and motioned for Kelsie to start searching. “They’re rarely smart enough to evade me. They must have been expecting something at this point.”

She threw a quick glance around the room.

“Imagine you’re a depraved criminal with no respect for human lives.” Amea said and looked over at Kelsie yet again. “You have just kidnapped a woman, you know that someone is out there and they want to end your life, so you need to hurry with the procedure.”

“What do you do?”

 

[Kelsie Sylvan]

T E R M I N U S

Tag: Amea Virou ​

---

Kelsie followed Amea as she moved into the building. In truth her skills had waned after all this time, but with Amea leading the way there was no one to give her pointers. They weren't really checking all the rooms. Oddly enough the sounds of people nearby was comforting -- crime happened just under where people were just living their lives. That was awfully poetic.

Well, crime also thrived in the darkness, and this place was awfully lit.

And then... bad news. "How do you know?" Maybe it was a gut feeling of Amea's. She'd been to a lot more of these things than Kelsie. Still, how could she be sure that this was the apartment? At least Amea kept going, sifting through the trash and whatever else was in the room. That was good. She wasn't getting distracted by the personal stake in this mission of hers. Kelsie, though, wasn't quite as in the zone. With the apartment empty she dropped her guard, wandering around lazily. There wasn't anything interesting for her to pick up -- bags of trash, used needles, glitterstim on the dining table... glitterstim on the dining table. Somebody had been about to do a line. She leaned over, her eyes searching...

Amea's question brought her back. "Well, they really were in a hurry... this was opened a little while ago, the stim's still fresh," Kelsie said, refraining from explaining how she knew that.

"I don't really know anything about the procedure, so it's more up to you really. Did they have special equipment? Could they do it on the road? Or is this a decoy place, and they're still in the building?" She really didn't know. Tracking, sure, but investigations? She needed a little more information for that kind of thing. Maybe a suspect list, or face ID, or...

Her eyes wandered to the far door. A closet, she'd first assumed, but from what the size of the apartment should be, it had to be bigger than that. Kelsie walked briskly over to it, trying the handle first, only to realize it was locked. No matter -- a firm kick to the door broke the lock and it swung open. A dim purple light spilled out and she poked her head inside, searching for something, anything, until-

"Amea," she said, beckoning her companion.

 

[Amea Virou]

NOSTALGIA

“This place reeks of sweat and fear.” Amea said and continued to shuffle around the trash spread across the room. “See this?” She said and raised a spent needle from the floor before her to show Kelsie. “They use Z-Zen Injections to keep the girls from waking up for the procedure.”

Kelsie showed her another stim and Amea nodded. “They were here recently, be on your guard.”

The two of them continued to search the apartment, and what they found was the usual. Signs of an initial struggle. No blood marks, yet plenty of narcotics that would imply someone had been in need of some serious surgery. This was definitely one of their hideouts, but the problem was finding where they had left the evidence to prove it.

As Kelsie suggested they might have changed how they operated, Amea couldn’t help but chuckle. They had operated in the exact same way, in the exact same kind of places no matter where she had gone. And yet, “I sure as hell hope they haven’t made it mobile.” Amea said and stopped her search to look around the room. “And that’s not a bad idea. This could very well be a decoy, I suppose. Though it feels like they’d be throwing a lot of resources around just to get me off their trail.”

And yet a grin spread on her lips at the thought. Was she that much of a threat? There had been a good dozen bodies cut down in the wake of her bloodied path of vengeance already. They had certainly suffered under her boot. So, perhaps it made sense they would try to change things up after the dozenth loss that they had suffered.

Kelsie brought attention to something in a closet and Amea looked over at her. Upon approach they’d both realize it wasn’t a closet at all but rather something more: a room. Black lights drowned the area in a purple sheen, and almost as if on instinct Amea stepped in. An avalanche of memories began to flood her as she felt the all too familiar aura that had spread about the place. Her hand reached for her forehead as she struggled to contain the memory of waking up for the first time. The smell was there, the lingering taste of defeat as the victims struggled against a tidal wave of pain and despair. Amea’s shoulders began to rise and sink in rapid succession as the panic grew all too real.

And yet soft shuffling footsteps from outside the hallway echoed into the room where she had told Kelsie to wait. Into the apartment snuck a man of small stature, his face covered in acne that did very little to bring attention away from the big round glasses that rested against his nose. He froze in place at the sight of the other woman that was by some accounts the wrong woman he had expected to see. His lips trembled nonetheless as he struggled to open his mouth. He sucked in a big stream of air before,

“Feth! She’s not alone!” He screamed into the hallway and set off into a sprint. “The schutta brought help!”

The door pushed open and with it the man’s voice continued to echo down the hallway with cries for help. Amea snapped out of her state and pushed herself out of the blacklit room. She was too late to spot him, yet not too late to hear him go. There was no time to think. She took off in a chase after him, the door pushing open only for her to find herself at the receiving end of a suckerpunch straight to the face. Her back hit the ground with a thud, the air in her lungs knocked passing through her lips with a surprised gasp.

In her hazed state Amea could make out the form of three more men; enforcers. From their silhouettes they seemed to be sizable opponents. At least more well-built than the man that had spotted Kelsie, though that hardly said much.

“Kelsi-” Amea’s voice rasped against the burn in her lungs as she tried to warn her friend of their presence. But with a boot to the side of her head she was shut up real quick. It was like a reverse of what had happened when they first met. Had this been any other time Amea would have laughed about it, but in this very moment…

Well, she really couldn't.

T A G S

Kelsie Sylvan

 

[Kelsie Sylvan]

T E R M I N U S

Tag: Amea Virou ​

---

"Yikes." To be fair, Kelsie was no stranger to a variety of injections and stims. She just... didn't do them too often. Alcohol was just cheaper most of the time, and more readily -- and legally -- available.

Amea's rather odd reactions to the whole ordeal weren't missed by Kelsie. The chuckle, the grin, all of it was pointing her in different directions. It was a sign of a healthy mind to use humour even in serious situations, but that grin was one of someone who sought to harm. Kelsie knew that intimately; she'd worn the same expression many times before. But Amea still had time to turn back. This was just something personal to her. Kelsie made a quiet vow to herself that she'd see this solved and justice delivered, just so that Amea would finally be able to rest and reflect.

The small side room smelled of blood and reeked of something... else, but again it was Amea's reaction that worried Kelsie the most. "Hey, are you okay?" The woman stepped inside, trying to comfort her friend in hope that she was alright. Memories flooding back to her... Kelsie didn't miss that feeling.

She almost missed the sound of footsteps though. If there was immediate danger, that was only marginally more important than the stewing emotional trauma of her companion. Kelsie returned to the door, her weapon raised as she prepared to take down the little man who'd poked inside, but she was too slow. Amea, on the other hand, went too fast -- she rushed past Kelsie, as if she was on a warpath. "Amea, slow down!" She managed to call out, before...

Thump.

"Kelsi-"

Thump.

This was why it wasn't good to rush into things. Oddly enough Kelsie found herself being the cautious one these days. Now, she supposed, she had people to care about. Amea needed her help and Kelsie was quick to give it -- she peeked out the door, spotting a silhouette of a pair of men, one with his foot on Amea's head.

Oh, how the tables had turned...

Kelsie sighted and shot four times in quick succession; three hit their marks, the .48 caliber rounds tearing through the thighs of the men, though one just missed. The two enforcers crumpled to the ground, whining out in pain. Kelsie wanted to be careful, but if there were any more of them out there she was risking Amea's life every second that she waited. She rushed to the apartment's entrance, spotting the spectacled man running down the hall... then out of the corner of her eye, movement. It seemed that both she and the remaining enforcer had the same idea -- they couldn't allow the other to shoot first.

Her opponent was much stronger than she was; he grabbed her right wrist and twisted. The barrel of a blaster swung towards her chest, but with her free hand she smacked it away, the blaster bolt flying instead into the wall behind her. With his guard broken she capitalized, lashing out and slamming her palm into his throat. The darkness made it difficult to see, but she could tell his eyes had widened in surprise as his trachea began to contract and his breaths became short. His grip began to slack. Next she kneed him in the groin and ripped free her right hand. In a swift motion she leveled her weapon once more and painted the wall behind him red.

Three more shots rang out -- even with the fat silencer attached to the end of her weapon, it still sounded like a sledgehammer hitting hardwood. Down the hall the spectacled man crumpled, clutching his side and wailing in pain, while the two other enforcers laid still as their third. She knelt down next to Amea, offering a hand to help her up. "You okay?" Stupid question.

Kelsie grunted and rolled her eyes, picking up the blaster Amea had dropped and handed it back to her. "You've got this for a reason. Be more careful. Please."

 

[Amea Virou]

N O M E R C Y

It was a sight to behold from her prone position. Had there ever been doubt about who Kelsie was there was no longer any doubt that she was more than capable. She raised her gun, lined the shots up and pulled the trigger with an admirable efficiency in a near-perfect salvo of shots. Four shots, three men dead and Amea had her good deed from months ago repaid. The men fell to the floor in pain and Amea took that as her cue to get up.

There was discomfort but it was all in her head. A dizziness and nausea disrupted her system, but she knew better than to let it get to her now. Her lungs still burned, but the air was slowly coming back to her with each passing breath. Yet Amea had to stifle a cough nonetheless as she reached out for the blaster that Kelsie handed back to her.

“Yep.” Her lips parted with a scowl-like grimace at the lecture. Amea weighed the gun in her hand for a second before she pointed the blaster at the two men writhing in pain on the floor and pulled the trigger on them both. Their heads arched back with one final breath parting their lips. Amea’s focus set on the man with the glasses, her fury carrying her forward as she approached him. She knelt down to pick him up by the collar to press him against the wall, her elbow pressed against his chest with a firm push.

“Where is he?” Amea growled and thrust the man against the wall.

“A- a- a warehouse on Fourth Street, but she’s— they’re— ” The barrel of the blaster whipped against the side of his shoulder. “Oh god, stop!”

“Where is HE? Where is Oliveira?” Amea threw the man to the ground. He caught his fall using his elbows. With a slight shuffle the fabrics of her jacket would slide down by his sides to expose the two crimson holes in his waist. The spectacled man’s eyes rose to meet with hers. The indignation that had been so evident in his stare quickly faded into fear the longer Amea stared him down. That fire, the spark that he and his people had set off was more evident in ever as she towered over him, gun pointed straight for his head with seemingly no intent on letting him see the sun rise one more time unless he cooperated. His lips trembled as he struggled to find the words and speak.

“They’ll kill me if I tell you,”
“I’ll kill you if you don’t.”
“And if I do?”
“I will let you go.”

The man looked around as he contemplated his options. It was either to die here, or to have a chance at escaping into the Outer RIm somewhere. The blood from his wounds poured onto the floor. He glanced at it before he finally closed his eyes to look up at Amea. She lowered her gun to let him speak with a relative measure of peace.

“Coruscant.” He said with a defeated look to him. “Level 1342. Sector 22. There’s a front, looks like a cupcake store.” The man coughed. “Now, will you let me g—”

“No,” Amea raised the blaster and put the last shot between his eyes. “I don’t think I will.”

Kelsie Sylvan

 

[Kelsie Sylvan]

T E R M I N U S

Tag: Amea Virou ​

---

"That was..." Scary? Horrifying? Brutal? "Pretty metal." To be fair, Amea had promised to kill everyone involved with this whole deal. She was just following through it seemed. The way she was acting betrayed her deep anger and frustration, and it seemed like Amea was indeed deep in her need for revenge. Kelsie couldn't claim to be any better or more moral, so she didn't voice her concerns just yet.

For now... if they finished the mission, some of the pressure would be relieved. Hopefully.

Kelsie took a moment to consider the information they'd just been given. The location of the woman they were looking for was a warehouse on Fourth street -- not super helpful, considering that Terminus was pretty big, and there'd certainly be a lot of warehouses. And they'd gotten the location of... "Who's Oliveira?" She assumed he was the head honcho behind this whole ring, probably the man that Amea wanted to take down the most. Coruscant was far away, though... road trip time?

With all of the 'bad guys' dead, the hallway fell silent, and Kelsie looked at the carnage they'd wrought. It was pretty gross. Not that she'd stick around to clean up. "So, uh... what's our next move? I'm following you," she said to Amea.

 

[Amea Virou]

N O M E R C Y

For a second longer the words of her friend were lost in a cloud of adrenaline as the pressure in Amea’s heart and head slowly began to even out into something more manageable. The breaths that blew through her nose caused her shoulders to rise and sink with the push and pull of a woman whose guilty conscience seemed to fade away piece for piece with every day that passed. Her arms finally lowered, brown eyes seeking hazel as Amea holstered her gun. Behind those eyes the hurt was all the more evident, like a dam just barely holding back a flood that threatened to spill over the walls.

Who was Oliveira?

“Former One Sith operative turned crime lord. Specializes in humanoid trafficking.” Amea said and crossed her arms. Her back met the same wall she had pressed the spectacled man against and she looked to the ceiling. “His goons were the ones that ripped everything from me. My life, my memories and friends…”

Her eyes closed. “Everything that used to make me whoever it is that I once was.”

The thought caused her fingers to curl up into the palm of her hands, her nails pushing against her skin with a threat to pierce straight through to the bone if not for the fact that it was all just a robotic facsimile of what her hand had once been. Amea let her attention set on the floor and then back to Kelsie.

What now?

“I don’t know.” Amea said rather matter-of-factly. “If the girl has been taken away from here she’s already gone. Which is to assume the girl even existed in the first place.”

Amea pushed from the wall and looked at the dead bodies again. It reeked of a trap. The girl was probably a rumor they had spread for themselves in order to ensnare Amea. Arguably they would have succeeded had it not been for the rogue variable in this case: Kelsie. Amea’s attention set on her friend yet again with a guilty look. It wasn’t right to rope her into this. It was Amea’s fight, friends still made for poor collateral.

“Kelsie, I…” Amea swallowed. “Thank you. For being here. You saved my dumb ass back there. It means a lot, really.”

Meant she had someone she knew she could count on. A rarity in this galaxy, Amea had found. She glanced over towards the stairs that would take them back to the roof again. Her arm rose to point in its direction and usher them towards it.

“We should probably leave the same way we came in.” Amea said and began to walk towards the exit. “Gets us one more chance to take in that Terminus skyline.”

Besides, fresh air would probably do them both some good by now. Or well, as fresh as the air would be in a place such as this.​

Kelsie Sylvan​

 

[Kelsie Sylvan]

T E R M I N U S

Tag: Amea Virou ​

---

Crime lord, huh... honestly, that was probably a great business to get into after a stint in Special Forces. Oliveira would've already had all of the skills he needed to amass influence, acquire assets, and drop the competition. If Kelsie didn't know better she might've tried the same thing. She could've been crazy successful, and she already had so many contacts in so many corners of the galaxy...

Sometimes she hated knowing better.

Sometimes not knowing was better. But if she was ignorant and imperceptive she'd miss the pain behind the eyes of another, and she certainly wouldn't have the capacity to change things. The guilty look, too, betrayed Amea's thoughts. Kelsie took a deep breath and calmed her nerves; the adrenaline stopped flowing and she holstered her weapon, as always comforted by the familiar weight on her hip. With her disposition the missions had never been difficult, but ever since she'd arrived here she'd found the most difficult part was the aftermath.

She wasn't very good at it, but Kelsie forced herself to try, anyways. With Amea's 'confession', Kelsie smiled and moved in to give the other woman a warm hug. She held it as long as she was allowed. When she finally did pull away she just felt satisfied. This all was terrible, but today she'd helped someone she liked very much. And that was enough. Despite their rather gloomy and bloody surroundings, she really just wanted to relax a bit.

"Of course, Amea," she replied. "I'm here for you, like you were there for me, when I needed it. And... I know we haven't spent a ton of time together, but I just feel like you should be allowed to be happy. Getting you through this is just the first step, I guess." No therapist in their right mind would say murder and vengeance were healthy for one's state of mind, but Kelsie didn't know how to do much else, no matter how hard she tried. If getting to the end of this ordeal would help Amea realize that she might've been given a clean slate for a reason, then it was worth it.

It was time to get out of there, anyways. Kelsie started towards the stairs, not looking back at the corpses they'd left in their wake. "Na... let's find a building that we haven't killed people in, yeah? I think the stars are more beautiful when they're a little closer than some little apartment building anyways." She decided to head down instead, then walk back out into the city. From there, she suggested they grab some takeout and have a picnic someplace. Top of a tall building, or maybe they'd take her ship up? Whatever Amea wanted to do, Kelsie would roll with it. After all, she was there for her.

 

[Amea Virou]

N O M E R C Y

There was a brief moment where Amea did not know how to react. Her wide-eyed stare set upon the wall behind Kelsie as the other woman’s arms hastily wrapped around Amea in a hug. She blinked, she was petrified. It was not how she had seen this playing out in the slightest. Her arms slowly eased up until her hand found a place against the other woman’s back soon to be followed by the other against her shoulder before Amea gave Kelsie a careful squeeze for comfort.

Her eyes closed to let the moment soak for a moment. Undeniably it felt weird to be doing this right now in a hallways of corpses. The bloody footprints from Amea’s boots stuck to the floor with a crimson stain, the trace amounts of dirt from her fall clung to her arm and back. A dull pain slowly spread across the back of her head and her neck that forced her to separate from Kelsie and roll her arm to try and rid the pain to no effect.

There were no words. To a greater extent Amea wasn’t sure what to even say. Thank you felt awkward given that it was a thank you that caused it to happen. Instead she stepped towards the stairs as planned and placed a foot on the first step when Kelsie decided to go the other direction. Amea raised her brow and quickly pushed to follow behind.

“I mean, I was thinking we rappel up to the roof, then rappel on the other side so that no-one makes note of our exit, but uh… Sure.” Amea let out a half-hearted chuckle as the two descended the staircase and out the door anyway. The sky was still as clear as when they had stepped in, the streets just as busy. Amea threw a few glances over her shoulder to ensure that they weren’t followed and when the coast seemed clear she finally let her guard down. Nobody was on their tail, but word would undoubtedly have started to spread by this point.

Luckily, this was Terminus. Nobody gave a damn about yet another gang shootout.

With time, the duo would get themselves a box of food each and a spot on what was undoubtedly a taller building than the one that they had just cleared. The winds blew cold from their little ledge that overlooked the greater neon-lit skyline. Speeders soared beneath their feet, the sun offering its first few rays of light against the metal towers that littered the view before them.

“So,” She chuckled again with yet another errant laugh. Amea looked over at Kelsie and raised the noodle cup in her hand to bring attention to it. “If the sun’s up, does this count as dinner or breakfast?”

Kelsie Sylvan​

 

[Kelsie Sylvan]

T E R M I N U S

Tag: Amea Virou ​

---

"You know there's more than two meals in a day, right?" Kelsie laughed. She'd just been munching on the takeout noodle bowl and enjoying some silent company, but with Amea's question her eyes turned to the sun. Years ago she would've already had the answer. Being aware of the time of day was pretty important when the monsters came out at night. She squinted at the ball of fire for a little while before coming up with her answer. "It's about to set, so this is dinner." Spending most days on a ship messed up her sleep schedule when she got dirtside again.

She went back to shoveling the noodles into her mouth. It was nutritious and tasty. Not much else she could ask for. Her eyes wandered back over to Amea as she thought about how similar this whole deal was to when they first met. Beat up four guys, went and got some food... the next part was the heart-to-heart, she supposed. Kelsie continued eating until she figured out what to talk about next.

It took her a little while.

"This is good," she muttered, her mouth full of food. She chewed a bit before speaking. "Gotta ask... where did you learn to fight? With your fists, I mean, because obviously nobody taught you how to shoot," she joked. Kelsie had set aside her gear and weapons while she ate; up there in the middle of nowhere she felt reasonably safe. She'd already proven she knew how to use her weapon, but she was curious about Amea's experience.

 

[Amea Virou]

D I N N E R

“Yeah, mom.” Amea deadpanned and laughed along with Kelsie. Amea looked back at the sun, surprised that she got the time wrong. Sunset, not sunrise? She let out a quiet yet clearly surprised noise. Perhaps the sunset made it all the more fitting. The day’s deeds were done and things started to wind down. Amea continued to shuffle food into her mouth with a masterful grip around her chopsticks to let the silence linger.

And linger it did. Amea stared off at the setting sun as it slowly began to hide behind the buildings that stood tall on the horizon. She might have called Terminus a wretched hive of villainy and scum, but even villainy and scum could be made attractive behind this golden-red glow.

Kelsie spoke up and Amea turned to look at her.

“Yeah.” She nodded in quiet agreement with the other woman and turned back towards the sunset again. Although she might not be aware of it, the question asked was one that Amea herself had thought on a lot, and the only real answer was, “I uh,” Her head bowed down, accompanied by a chuckle to mock herself into speaking up. “I don’t know.”

“I’m a Warden.” She said and looked back up at Kelsie. “Of the sky, if that tells you anything. Or at least, I suppose I used to be.”

It felt weird to even say when the only evidence Amea had to support the fact was that she instinctively seemed to recall several movements from a wide array of martial arts as well as a deep understanding of life aboard ships. At first she had embraced this lifestyle when Jerec had rescued her from the mindwipe, but after that it had been nothing but a steep slope leading downhill.

“Been a while since I did much for anyone other than myself at this point.” Her head shook. “What about you? You told me special forces, but never where.”

Kelsie Sylvan

 

[Kelsie Sylvan]

T E R M I N U S

Tag: Amea Virou ​

---

Mom.

Kelsie nearly choked on her mouthful of noodles. She sat up and coughed, momentarily glancing at Amea to be sure she was joking. "I'm okay," she said, a little preemptively. Her hand had found its way to her stomach, not because she felt sick but because she remembered it so vividly. Well, she did feel sick, but that wasn't the point. Kelsie so rarely thought about that time, about those things, but even a single word could bring her back...

She grimaced for a moment. Not now. She closed her eyes for a bit, just focusing on Amea's response. Stupid of her to think that Amea knew where her skills came from. "Warden of the Sky?" Kelsie asked, a little weakly. "That's cool." She didn't know much about them anymore. Many of those old lessons had long since left her memory.

But certain things stayed. They always stayed.

"Where am I from?" Well, she was from Nelvaan. A small installment where she'd trained, and then...

Alignment. Life. Love. Son.

And she'd never see him again. She'd never go back. She'd tried to forge something new here but that couldn't replace everything she lost. Kelsie knew exactly what Amea felt like, but remembering it all was so much worse. Her eyes began to water, and she looked away, trying to hide it all. She'd tried to bury it before. She'd tried to accept it before. But nothing worked.

She couldn't control herself. Just talking about these little things should've been fine but instead Kelsie found herself sobbing uncontrollably. She desperately missed everything she'd lost. There was nothing she could do. Faces flashed through her mind, memories flooded back to her, and she couldn't change the feeling of horrible failure and regret. Worse, now she was burdening Amea with her issues because she couldn't control herself.

 

[Amea Virou]

U H O H

Kelsie Sylvan

The weak smile on Amea’s face quickly changed into horror as it grew more and more obvious that what she had just asked wasn’t as much of a simple question with a simple answer as she would have hoped. Her eyes blew wide open, her hand reaching out on instinct to place itself on Kelsie’s shoulder as she stammered and struggled to find the right words.

“Shit, I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have— Uh, you know. It’s…” Amea let in a deep breath to quell the growing panic. The noodle box in her other hand was placed by her side. “Everyone is— this is— okay…”

“Sorry, I shouldn’t have asked. Uhhh,” Amea panicked more. Her free hand grabbed the other shoulder to pull Kelsie in for a tight hug. “You don’t have to answer if you don’t want to. I’m sorry. You are right, not everyone needs a home or has one and...”

“You are stronger for it, right? Your home is… You know what I mean, it’s—”

“Uhh…”

 

[Kelsie Sylvan]

T E R M I N U S

Tag: Amea Virou ​

---

The words of attempted comfort were drowned out by the ugly sobbing that Kelsie found herself occupied with. All those fragile barriers, and as soon as someone reminded her of something better they came tumbling down. She was a kettle, and the emotions inside her boiled, slipping out in little puffs of steam until they found some place to pour out. Today it was Amea. Kelsie only hoped that she wouldn't burn one of the few people she might call friend.

The touch, though... the touch set her off. As if on instinct she grabbed Amea's shoulders as well and wrenched her to the side.

A little puff of steam slipped through.

---

Kelsie tumbled out of the throw, her body slapping the training mat. With a groan she rolled onto her hands and knees and pushed herself back onto her feet. Her opponent, a tall and muscular teenage boy, was dressed in the same style of black tank top and athletic track pants. He laughed. Some sort of officer observed the training. He shook his head. "Get up. Do better," he barked at Kelsie.

She obeyed, standing and stepping forward again. The two fighters placed their hands on each other's shoulders and got in their stances. She needed to adjust her grip a few times; the sweat made her hands slick, and she couldn't get a solid hold. Her opponent didn't wait, and again she was thrown across the room. Her vision blurred, but the words from the officer were as clear as day.

"Keep failing, and you'll be cut from the program." She hadn't needed the reminder. Kelsie stood and headed towards the showers.

---

Instead she found herself back, in the arms of Amea. A look of shock crossed Kelsie's face, and finally the uncontrollable sobbing became a little more controlled. Her breathing slowed, her heart stoppe racing, but tears still flowed freely down her face. She hugged tightly back and buried her face into Amea's shoulder. "I'm sorry, I just- I can't-" She couldn't.

Still, even this most safe and warm of situations, more memories bubbled to the surface of a time when she held someone in the same way.

A little puff of steam slipped through.

---

She pulled out of the embrace with the dark-haired man, giving a warm smile. It wasn't exactly a comfortable hug, considering she was shelled up in her full combat gear. It was a modified set of Storm Commando armor, top of the line equipment. Kelsie expected nothing less. The man returned the smile. "Don't worry, I'll take care of him... are you going to tell me what this mission of yours is?"

"Sorry Voron, it's classified," Kelsie replied lazily, beginning to head towards the shuttle powering up on the landing pad behind her.

"As usual."

"Yep." She turned towards the ship, but called back one last time. "And if he's acting up, just give him those little cookies he likes!"

The man smiled and nodded, waving to Kelsie as she entered the ship and the landing ramp began to raise. Suddenly a look of concern flashed across his face, as if he realized he was seeing someone he was close with for the last time...

The ship took off and slipped out of sight.

---

The tears stopped, but Kelsie stayed close to Amea, just trying to calm down. "Sorry," she muttered. Aside from that she kept her mouth shut. She didn't want to stutter. In the distance the sun slowly dipped below the horizon, and a cool wind washed over the two as darkness fell on the city.

 

[Amea Virou]

Kelsie Sylvan

The hug grew tighter. At first Amea was taken aback by it, but then she eased up to put her hand against Kelsie’s shoulder and merely accept the other woman’s need for it. A deep breath went in through her nose to try and make Kelsie do the same, but instead she got something far different. An unfamiliar torrent of emotion poured over Amea like gusts of winds that didn’t seem to stop. They were cold and distant at first, but the longer they went on the warmer they got. They spoke of love and loss.

Amea hushed her friend and kept her close with a quiet ‘ssshh’ against a backdrop of steam bursting at the seams. Though the visions were unclear, blurry, and hard to interpret it was clear that they held a great importance to the woman in Amea’s arms. It said all that needed to be said, and that was enough for Amea. Imperial armor, the embrace of a lover, and the indirect mention of a child. As the memories faded away it left the two of them in a darkened city. A harsh contrast to what they had just seen within the confines of Kelsie’s mind.

The friend apologized yet again, and Amea quieted her with a tight squeeze.

“Stop apologizing.” She whispered and eased her grip on Kelsie to look her in the eyes. “That’s some heavy shit. Ain’t nobody going to blame you for feeling it.”

She pulled Kelsie back in again. “We’re here and there’s strength in that too. Pushing on despite adversity and hardship. Refusing to sit down and just take whatever the world throws at us. Taking each day for what it is. One more step, one more scar.”

The grip eased up and Amea separated from Kelsie with a warm smile.

“Your trust means a lot. Thank you.”

 

[Kelsie Sylvan]

T E R M I N U S

Tag: Amea Virou ​

---

This was the kind of thing she'd been missing. Someone -- anyone -- to talk to. Someone who gave a shit. She'd been alone for so long and yet Amea's words helped Kelsie accept that idea. There was camaraderie in isolation and life without purpose. Her timetable, her wants and needs, all floated away in a puff of steam, and Kelsie finally smiled as she watched them go. Just existing was enough. Being near someone was enough.

She started to cry again, this time less out of heartbreak and more out of overwhelming joy. A weight had been lifted off her shoulders and a flood of realizations came to her. It was a winding path she'd taken to get here but even looking back it didn't much matter if there was a grand plan or reason. When she looked back out at the skyline of Terminus, neon-lit against the dark sky, she saw a new world. An old story had come to an end, and now something else could take its place.

Looking at Amea, too, felt like she was seeing the other woman for the first time. Kelsie smiled to her and let out a little laugh. "Thank you for helping me, Amea. Even if it's not much, and even if we've been messing around like this, I just... it means the galaxy to me, having someone close. I've been wandering and struggling and searching, when really I just... needed something to remind me what life's about," she said. "You're really something, you know that?" Kelsie wasn't very funny, but she laughed anyways.

A thought occurred to her, and she removed her arms from the embrace to look at her own hands. "I think... I'm going to get that little farm I talked about. Someplace quiet. And... well, if you want to stay every once in a while, you can stop lying about your home being some farm on Dantooine." She looked back up at Amea. No, it didn't entirely matter if she said yes, because Amea still had a lot to work through. But Kelsie felt freed from it all and wanted to offer a piece of that to the woman. It wasn't much but it was something.

And that was enough.