XIII - Death

[Asteria deWinter]

§ Pre-Gulag

Asteria slipped into consciousness for a moment and slipped out again. After a short while, her eyes opened again, her gaze blurry. A quiet groan exited her lips as she attempted to move, feeling she hadn't even managed an inch. After that, she passed again. In an our a few more times, when a voice brought a temporary sharpness to her mind. "You should be sleeping, child of my blood." Her head attempted to turn but instead only her turquoise eyes moved to the side, catching a blurry figure ahead, the insense green pierced through clearly.

The figure approached but it only made her seen the grew glow more intently. "W.." Asteria barely managed to sound through her close her mouth when she heard what seemed to be a chuckle but it brought chills down her spine. Instead, in her mind she finished: Who are you? But no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't move her lips to actually speak. "That is irrelevant now. The figure responded. Her brain, just sharp enough quickly realized her mind was being read.

What are you going to do with me? She quickly continued. I will make you sleep. I will have use of you, child of my blood. Dark times are ahead and you do not possess the strength to see them through. Instead, you will be preserved." Her gaze darted from the figure, seeing only darkness above her. What was the woman talking about? Dark times? Let me go. And that only brought another chuckle. "Sleep. When you open your eyes again, a new era shall rise for us."

And as if a command through the Force had been given, Asteria's eyes felt heavy and closed bringing her into deep slumber.

§ Post-Gulag; unknown planet

Her eyes opened abruptly, a scream coming through her as clear as if it was right at her side. Her eyes took a few moments to adjust to the new setting, her senses feeling the oddness beneath her. Slowly, her fingers moved, recognizing sand.

Her other senses slowly kicking in, Asteria felt her throat was completely dry. But now, as she opened her mouth slowly, she remembered herself being paralyzed just moments ago... was it a moment ago? She felt like it, but her throat didn't feel like it.

Slowly, she sat up and looked around. Asteria was alone. But then, her mind began to slowly work and a scream returned to her memory. Somebody had screamed. Was it her? No, it wasn't her. But who was it? As soon as she asked herself that, she remembered the scream, the voice.

Quickly, she rushed to her feet, only to fall back down, her palms meeting the sand first to soften her fall. She remembered the voice first. Slowly, Asteria reached through the Force and called out into it: Nessarose. The voice of the green eyed creature pierced through her mind then, reminding her that dark time had been coming, her sleeping through it. Was it Nessarose at all? It had to be. She had heard the scream.

But through the Force, she felt not one but many presences. Only two had been familiar, the other were not.

[member="Nessarose deWinter"] | [member="Cameron Centurion"] | [member="Enigma"] | [member="Alexandra Cinthra"] | [member="Daichi"]

 

[Alexandra Feanor]

Alexandra cursed once more as the woman let out her force scream, landing on her feet hard and pulling up her own barrier to block what more of the scream her body was being assaulted with, problem was she still felt her ribs and could swear that a few were broken. She still laugh though through the pain, keeping her mind off it best she could as she poured herself into the barrier. "How many of these people were thrown on this planet, i mean this is just plain insulting that there are so many of them to interrupt the pleasant conversation me and miss dark side was having five minutes ago..." She grinned at [member="Daichi"], the comment meant for the man that had accompanied her to this planet.

[member="Asteria deWinter"] [member="Nessarose deWinter"] [member="Enigma"] [member="Cameron Centurion"]

 

[Cameron Centurion]

Cameron wasn't quite sure how anybody in the immediate vicinity was doing anything other than reeling from the pain of [member="Nessarose deWinter"]'s force scream or actively working to block it, but he didn't much concern himself with the actions of others. The instant the Sith Lord sensed a...shift in Nessarose's drawing of the Force, he withdrew from her mind. However, the unrelenting intensity of her Force Scream started before he could do much to stop her.

Instinctively, Cameron erected an invisible barrier of Force Energy around him. Ordinarily the passive ability was very easy to manipulate and maintain, but the constant assault of Nessarose's attack made it slightly more complicated. Pouring his strength into the effort to keep from succumbing to the effect of Nessa's Force Scream, Cameron elected to wage a war of attrition...she would tire long before he would. Somewhere in the back of his mind, Cameron sensed another familiar presence, but he kept his focus on the task at hand for the moment.

 

[Onrai]

Pausing, Circe focused her best, drawing herself into the White Current in an attempt to avoid the Force Scream the young woman had produced. And to a degree, it worked - she was not physically harmed by it. However, when she exited the White Current, she found herself a good thirty feet back from where she was previously standing. The scream was like a wave in the White Current, and she as a pebble had just been moved. Silently she thanked the Force that she hadn't ended up stuck in a building.

"Alright... Calm down." She would have tried to exert her influence by attempting to penetratate Nessa's mind, but that likely wouldn't work.

"My experiment's here..."

[member="Asteria deWinter"] [member="Cameron Centurion"] [member="Alexandra Cinthra"] [member="Nessarose deWinter"] [member="Daichi"] @Whoever I may have missed

 

[Scherezade deWinter]

Her scream might have lasted forever if it wasn't for another presence that came to her consciousness, hitting her hard in the gut, knocking the breath out of her lungs. The sound came to an abrupt halt, but the skeletons were still attacking the other three people who were not related to her, with whom the meeting on this planet had not caused any kind of a stir in her confused mind.

It was in that moment that she felt the attempted probe of [member="Enigma"] . A split of a second, but enough to let her enter deeper than any person had by right. Her mental barriers did not simply rise, but shot out of her, pushing against the unwanted intrusion. What few near climbs to sanity that might or might not have already happened in the past few minutes were gone, replaced by the raw instincts of the girl who had been trained to be highly lethal prior to the Gulag and had no true memories of it beyond the flashes, but her body knew, and her abilities were as sharp as ever.

The clear blade came from her lightsaber as she rose once more, her fingers wrapping around the hilt just as her father had taught her, beginning a quick spin, shielding her from incoming physical attacks from the intruder's direction, her free hand motioning for [member="Cameron Centurion"] though if she'd had a moment to think, she would agree that she had no clue what it was she was trying to motion at all.

In the glow of her green, Nessarose's gaze burned with fire.

[member="Asteria deWinter"] [member="Alexandra Cinthra"] [member="Daichi"]

 

[Alexandra Feanor]

Alexandra dropped her barrier as the scream ended and moved backwards to get a look at what was happening, and in a single moment she cursed herself as she felt the pain in her ribs. Looking at Daichi she yelled for him to pay attention. "DAICHI, We need to get out of here now, theres no point in getting ourselves killed over whoever the living hell this woman is and im more than certain my ribs are broken.. a few atleast." She put every ounce of concentration she could, while still remaining vigilant of the area, and tried to subside the pain for now, groaning at the pain that she felt.

[member="Nessarose deWinter"] [member="Enigma"] [member="Daichi"] [member="Cameron Centurion"]

 

[Darth Ferus]

The Dead Rise.​

The Dead Walk.​

The Dead Fight.​

​

Daichi fought back. Yes, this was perfect. A perfect test. He wanted to make his own undead. So what better then to fight against that which he wants to make? He was no longer here, but in his own world, dismantling the risen dead in as many ways as he could think of. His own dead fought with him, shielding him as he experimented, testing and toying with new ways to destroy the unliving.​

​

And he smiled.​

​

There were no thoughts to the others. No thoughts to the group of people that chose to come out of no where. Between all the masters suddenly congregating, he didn't notice a single one. It wasn't until the scream from [member="Nessarose deWinter"] that he finally came to. A force barrier formed in front of him, sending the energy to either side of him, and destroying his own undead. His gaze finally turned to [member="Alexandra Cinthra"] . Yes, she was talking to him. Wanted to leave this mess. Was she right though..? Could he simply leave after learning so little of what he wanted to? He wanted to know more. Much, much more.​

​

So he turned to the female once again. The woman who was a leach. This was going to be interesting. Through the Force he reached out, not gently, not hidden or stealthy, and assaulted her mind. His presence would fold around her, firing away to pierce into her mind, to learn what he could about the undead. He was not probing randomly, no. He wanted her knowledge. He wanted to drain it from her very being. Then, and only then, would he leave, and allow the female herself to continue trying to find something to feed off of.​

 

[Cameron Centurion]

As Cameron released the invisible barrier around him, the Sith Lord allowed his silver-green gaze to focus on the young girl from his past. Her actions to prevent attack from...an unidentified individual confused Cameron for a moment. In this particular circumstance, the Sith Lord judged that his goddaughter could easily handle the one person that seemed...intent on something. In the past when she was but a child, Cameron might have felt a massive calling to be protective of [member="Nessarose deWinter"].

However, those days were certainly gone. Shifting his attention briefly to [member="Daichi"], the Sith Lord exhaled softly. If only the...whatever he was...had any idea. Keeping his scan, Cameron's eyes passed over a woman with white hair before settling on [member="Enigma"]. The Sith Lord's piercing gaze lingered only because she...reminded him of someone from his recent past. The mother of his daughter Cosette. Shrugging the sensation off, Cameron returned his gaze to Nessarose. Wrap this up, please, Nessarose. I detest sand and I have...many questions.

Naturally, Cameron presumed to liquidate whatever time the girl had for an as-yet-undetermined amount of time.

 

[Alexandra Feanor]

With the pause she had been granted Alexandra focused on her wounds, pouring now into the ones that would impede her movements or cause her any more damage if they weren't tended too, she wasn't sure how long the pause would be though and made sure not to exhaust herself, though it wasn't much to work with by this point, especially after so much shes had to deal with already, luckily though she hoped that Daichi and Circe would act as perfect distractions as she stayed near the back and began to bring her focus inwards to deal with her wounds.

[member="Cameron Centurion"] @Daichi @Nessarose deWinter [member="Enigma"]

 

[Scherezade deWinter]

[member="Daichi"] 's assault had come too late. All her defences were already up before he tried to pierce her, allowing the Sith Sorceress to block the attack with relative ease. She blinked in more confusion, but found no reason to put more effort into it for the time being.

Again her name was said.

Nessarose.

Yes, that was her name.

She turned around to face [member="Cameron Centurion"] again. "We may leave," she said with a hollow voice, "but we must fetch my blood as well." But before she took a step, her gaze moved to the other three again. There was no attempt at a drain this time though... Instead, she merely smiled as she looked upon each in turn, memorizing their signatures within the Force.

"Their dreams are mine," she giggled, and began to walk towards her godfather.

[member="Alexandra Cinthra"] [member="Enigma"] [member="Asteria deWinter"]

 

[Onrai]

[member="Nessarose deWinter"] [member="Daichi"] [member="Cameron Centurion"] [member="Alexandra Cinthra"]

"Well, joy." She paused, watching the young woman walk away with the enigmatic man she sorta remembered from the Sith Empire. "Welp, we need to go, I assume." Her eyes then turned to the creation of hers forged from what remained of Darth Ferus. "And here I thought you'd abandoned the New Order and all who'd been a part of it."

Evidently, it was too late to try and talk to the woman, or generally speak with her at all. This made Circe sad, and it was likely that Nessa could feel as such.

 

[Darth Ferus]

Daichi frowned. So there were more super powered Sith Lords out there. Annoyed, he threw up his hands before simply turning to leave. He was done here.

 

[Asteria deWinter]

Calling out her young sister had been a centering point enough. Asteria slowly began to stand up again. She could feel the weakness of her legs which alone told her her nap hadn't been so short it may have seemed. But right now, she couldn't think of time. Instead, she could feel her natural defenses kick in as she focused on keeping herself on her feet, taking a step forward. Her feet bare touch sand in the first step but in the second, there was cold beneath her. Ice, her most natural defense, an element part of her system began to spread behind her as she moved forward.

Her eyes could take in the shapes in front of her, a path she could take but Lady deWinter trusted the Force more as it guided her out, locked into a single source which was her destination. Nessarose, she whispered through the Force again as she moved forward.

The other signature she knew came almost as a tickle but for the moment, Asteria pushed it at the farthest corner of her mind where it would not be forgotten but pushed down the line of priorities as she moved forward, to the youngest of her pure bloodlines.

Losing a moments balance, her feet danced, her hand instinctively finding a wall to her left. The moment her fingers came in contact with it, the ice spread across it. But she didn't pay much attention to notice, moving forward. The destination had to be sought out, the signature had to be found.

[member="Nessarose deWinter"] | [member="Cameron Centurion"] | [member=Enigma] | [member="Alexandra Cinthra"] | [member=Daichi]​

 

[Cameron Centurion]

In that very instant, [member="Nessarose deWinter"] reminded Cameron a great deal of her mother. Managing a slight roll of his eyes, the Sith Lord turned his body slightly to walk alongside Nessarose. "Your blood..." In this particular family that was a definitively vague statement. However, the Sith Lord had sensed the familiar presence...distant yet near. "I imagine you are referring to Asteria...or Astrie as you so often called her." Silver-green eyes fell to Ness's face as mention of her sister, [member="Asteria deWinter"], came up.

"We can cut the mystic overtones anytime you're ready. Where have you been, Nessarose?"

 

[Scherezade deWinter]

The teenager blinked blankly at the sound of her sister's name and nickname. More flashes flooded her mind, of time spent together with the one who answered to that name. Time of teaching, and learning, and experiencing. Mostly, memories that were a bad distraction at present. She had no need of them.

"Gone," came the simplistic answer as she turned her gaze to the direction of her blood. "We can walk through the past later. For now, let's fetch... Asteria," the name sounded weird upon her lips. Odd. "And leave this place."

[member="Cameron Centurion"] [member="Asteria deWinter"]

 

[Cameron Centurion]

Cameron's silver-green eyes shifted briefly to [member="Nessarose deWinter"]. The little candy demon had changed from what he last recalled. Then again...the circumstances of their last interactions had been far different than they currently were. Managing a thin smile, the large Sith Lord turned his gaze back to the horizon without a reply.

Allowing his presence to expand forward, Cameron groped the terrain for [member="Asteria deWinter"]'s presence. For a brief moment, he thought on her thoughts of half-siblings she had. His smile widened ever so slightly, knowing that he'd spent quite a bit of time with another child of Xander Starkiller. The blue eyes of the two girls matched rather definitively...despite the green of both of their mothers.

 

[Asteria deWinter]

As if an invisible line was forming before her eyes, Asteria let the Force guide her to her sister. Everything else was secondary right now. Some turns were made but she hardly noticed even making them.

When finally, she could feel her almost at her reach, a tiny smile spread across her light facial features. "Nessarose," she softly called out into the vacant space, knowing she was almost at her goal, almost within actual reach of her youngest sister.

Except now, her mind was suddenly sending her a flare of warning. The signature she had felt alongside her sister, one that she knew was coming too. It was like a distant memory in her mind, emerald green eyes flashing first before her eyes, causing her to blink. Just as the figure who had put her into her deep slumber. But that wasn't the figure, Asteria had enough sense to know, it was someone else. Someone she trusted.

"Godfather." She suddenly spoke up, realizing. Except, she'd never actually used that with him. He had always been Cameron to her, despite the connection between them. And without seeing, she knew they could hear her and they would find her soon enough.

[member="Nessarose deWinter"] | [member="Cameron Centurion"]

 

[Scherezade deWinter]

"And here we all are," Nessarose commented as the one who was her sister stood by them and acknowledged the man. There were no more reasons for them to linger on this desolate place. More memories flooded her mind, times of happiness on the Spira beaches, of learning, of traveling around the Galaxy.

And just as soon as they were there, they vanished. She squinted her green eyes, every instinct in her body knowing that something was wrong. The other one had seemed to respond better. But this was no matter for the present. Turning towards Cameron's ship, the Sith Sorceress motioned for the other two to follow.

[member="Cameron Centurion"] [member="Asteria deWinter"]

 

[Cameron Centurion]

Cameron's gaze landed squarely on [member="Asteria deWinter"] before shifting back to [member="Nessarose deWinter"]. These deWinters were going to be the death of him with all of their hocus pocus mumbo jumbo one day. He couldn't blame just them, however. The entire family seemed to be routinely encased in so much shadow and mystery it was mind-boggling.

However, when Nessarose motioned to the Nemesis, the Sith Lord raised a single hand and spoke a simple yet forceful command. Any hint of tolerance quickly left is voice. "Stop. When we step aboard this vessel and until I say otherwise, you will refer to me as Aatrox." Cameron's silver-green gaze held the blue and similarly colored gazes of his relatives for one silent moment. Lowering his hand, the Sith Lord resumed his original pace. There was no need to convey a threat. They were counterproductive. A consequence never required an introduction.

 

[Asteria deWinter]

Soon as she had seen them, Asteria stopped and the small traces of ice beneath her feet stopped in an instant. Nessarose was the closest she had to home, closest to family. And right now, she felt like she was the only family. Sure, Cameron was family too, now that the truth had been out about Boadicea and Ashmedai but Nessa was her sister, a child of Xander and Shery as she was. Nobody came closer than her true blooded siblings.

But then... Nessarose merely said 'and here we all are' as if this was some sort of business meeting. Asteria blinked once, slowly and then continued to stare at the much taller deWinter, suddenly feeling like a bucket of ice water had been thrown at her. Had the most adorable and loving of them all given the coldest welcome in this galaxy? Not even Asteria possessed such cold, with all her ice. Not for Nessa. And she could have responded to it different, could have reached out for a hug anyway when she felt like she hadn't seen her in a millennia. Instead, her head rose a little and her turquoise gaze iced a little, closing off. Cause and effect. Asteria couldn't help herself there.

Instead, she followed after the two, not speaking another word again. It was all she did until she noticed Cameron rise is hand. The blonde halted her movements and glanced in his direction. A request. To call him Aatrox once they boarded the ship. "Very well, Aatrox," Asteria merely responded and continued walking on. Whatever his reasons, they were no her business. Asteria didn't bother to ask nor did she expect him to tell her. So this merely saved them all time.

[member="Nessarose deWinter"] | [member="Cameron Centurion"]