Private The Wild Youth

[Sibylla Abrantes]

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High Republic Prison
Interacting with: Acier Moonbound
Items: x | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | x

The quiet tap of approaching footsteps broke the silence long before the figure herself appeared.

Word had reached Sibylla through the grapevine after Dominique quietly informed her that Acier Moonbound had surrendered himself to the Republic. The moment she had heard, duty had come first. Messages to Adelle with a secure call to Aether as soon as she could. Careful conversations about jurisdiction, diplomacy, and how to prevent another incident from becoming yet another fracture between governments already stretched dangerously thin.

And while the duty was that of an Ambassador -- the woman standing here now was simply Sibylla... and the friend.

The Force dampeners blanketed the secure Naboo detention facility, denying Ace even the faintest brush of her familiar presence. There would be no warning beyond the soft rhythm of polished heels across marble before she finally stepped into view beyond the pale blue shimmer of the security barrier.

For a long moment, Sibylla simply looked at him.

So much had happened since the Trinity. Since the arguments. Since the choice he had made despite every plea she had offered. Since the blood spilled escaping the very office where Knight Reingard had tried to stop him.

Time had passed...but the hurt had not.

Hazel eyes searched Ace's face, finding it older somehow. Wearier. The silence stretched between them, carrying seemingly a lifetime's worth of unfinished words until Sibylla drew a slow breath.

"...Hello, Ace." Her soft voice seemed steady, but the slight treble in it carried an unmistakable ache beneath its composure. A faint, bittersweet smile flickered across her lips before disappearing almost as quickly as it came. There were so many things she could say, but the deep breath she took and the slight nod that she delivered after was honest with the relief she felt.

"...I am relieved I no longer have to wonder whether you are alive. I thank Shiraya for that."

 

[Acier Moonbound]

Location: Republic Space - [REDACTED]

Equipment:
Inmate Jumpsuit | Cybernetic Arm

The quiet rhythm of approaching footsteps echoed through the detention block. Ace barely acknowledged them. He assumed it was another visitor. A politician wanting answers he'd already given. A Jedi hoping to find some hidden justification buried beneath months of confessions. They all asked different questions that somehow circled back to the same thing.

Why?

He was tired of answering. His gaze remained fixed on the polished floor beyond the energy barrier, shoulders slumped against the wall of his cell. The Force dampeners wrapped around his senses like suffocating static, leaving only the silence and the weight of his own thoughts for company.

Then he heard the visitor's voice, and his breath caught. The voice reached him long before his mind accepted it. Slowly, almost afraid the sound would vanish if he moved too quickly, he lifted his head.

"Sibylla..."

The name escaped him little more than a whisper. For a moment, he simply stared. It had been months since he'd seen her... since the Trinity, when he'd finally surrendered to everything she'd spent so long trying to stop. Since he'd chosen the Covenant over her warnings. Since he'd looked her in the eyes and walked willingly into the darkness.

He'd never imagined their next meeting would be here. Or that they'd ever meet again. His eyes drifted across her face almost involuntarily before stopping.

The scars. Three pale marks crossed her features now, softened with time but impossible to miss. Remowa's work. Permanent reminders of the Chiss assassin who had nearly killed her.

Ace felt something cold settle in his chest. Remowa was dead now. He should probably have regretted the satisfaction that knowledge still brought him. But he didn't, not after what she'd done to Sibylla. Or Rattatak. Or Kuar.

His own left shoulder ached faintly beneath the prison clothing, phantom nerves remembering the Force Tempest that had coursed through his cybernetic arm and burned branching scars across his chest, shoulder, and back. Damage that would never truly heal.

They'd both walked away from Remowa. Neither had walked away unchanged.

His gaze fell to the floor. He couldn't keep looking at her. Not because he didn't want to... he couldn't bear what he saw reflected back at him. The shame settled over him heavier than the binders ever could.

She had warned him. She had pleaded with him. She had believed in him long after he had stopped deserving it. And he'd repaid that faith by becoming everything she'd feared.

"...I'm surprised you did." His voice was quiet, stripped of the certainty it once carried. "Was sure you were done with me after what you said on the Trinity..." A humorless breath escaped through his nose. "...and I wouldn't have blamed you."

His fingers laced together loosely in his lap as he kept his eyes fixed anywhere but on her.

Sibylla Abrantes​