Private You Can't Save Everyone, You Can't Save Anyone

[Elise Ahana-Gwyneira]

"You cannot save anyone, let alone yourself."

As the bacta bubbled around her, she winced in her sleep.

"You can keep fighting, only to watch everything turn to ash."

Eyes still shut, she thrashed in the tank. Bacta fizzled around her as her breathing apparatus flailed.

"I will show you exactly where all this futility will bring you."

Even as the bacta healed the plethora of scars on her body, she felt every single blow.

She gasped, waking up to once again find herself encased in her bacta tank. Everything outside was muffled and blurry, as she only processed life within her isolation cell. She had failed. She was only ever a failure. Her mentor should not have saved her. Her mentor's brother should not have taken his own wounds for her. Her lover should not have risked revealing his treachery to his overlord, saving her from his wrath. As she bobbled in the bacta tank, the young Mandalorian once more wept for the failure she had become.

From outside the tank, all her wounds were exposed and available to observe. Darkshear impalement, countless lightsaber cuts and strikes, bruises, beatings. It was her humiliation in her attempts to play hero. It was her punishment for daring to think that she could change a thing in this cruel galaxy.

She was limp in the tank, letting herself fall into misery. She was so beat up, she could not even aid her vode in cleaning up the damages of the recent battle. She was stuck in here, because she was a fool, and she did not deserve the bacta healing and received.

She closed her eyes, suffering alone... her eyes closed... she saw his wrath as he struck her again... She watched him mock her from his throne again... She...

...

...

...

... Beep!

She awoke with a jolt, as some sort of light flashed in the corner of her eyes. She looked forward, trying to make sense of the world of medical wires, machinery, and concoctions outside her bacta tank. She saw, through the tank's blurred glass, that a figure stood just outside. Has he come to finish her off?! But wait, she recognized that silhouette. And she recognized the Force Signature... this was her mentor, Mia Monroe .

Elise closed her eyes, still limp in the tank, as Mia had open access to the sceptical that was Elise's failure.

Did you come here to gloat that you're right? Did you come here to gawk at how badly he actually stung me? Did you come to tell me I'm not worth it?

The thoughts she could not speak, stopped by the apparatus pumping her oxygen, were cynical and ashamed as her shaky vision focused on the silhouette outside.

 

[Ordo]

“No, Ad’ika.” He said Calmly, His bass growl echoed in the chamber. Had He read her thoughts? No. He didn’t need to. His pale grey green eyes scanned her face, the blinking lights of the tank cast light just right to reflect in the yellow sunburst around his pupils and he just knew.

He couldn’t count how many times he had been where she was. That desperate gnawing need to be the one to save everyone. That insatiable desire to put himself between his people and death.

That utterly selfish, self centered, drive to suffer so others didn’t have to. It was foolish, brave in a way, but foolish. She could have been a small carbon copy of him from 40 years ago, had he not changed in the netherworld, he would be in a tank beside her and he knew it, but that didn’t make him any less likely to let her off easy. She was his Sister’s adopted daughter and that made her family no matter where she had come from, but the reckless kid could have been his very own blood for all the good sense she had shown.

“You just soak there a moment.” He said his voice taking on a stony edge, “You, me and your buir are gonna have a chat….”

Mia Monroe Elise Ahana-Gwyneira

 

[Mia Monroe]

It was reckless, even by Elise's standards. She had known how hard Mia had fought on Garos IV when she'd faced Carnifex. that Mia herself had even lived was purely because Carnifex lived for the fight, because he knew that she would keep coming at him. She truly was a walking definition of insanity.
Sapphire eyes traced too many wounds, her fists clasping and unclasping at her sides. He'd almost killed her. If Ordo hadn't gotten there in time...if she hadn't...

"I'll feed all your children to wolves."

She swallowed against the lump in her throat, turning away from the tank as anger pulsed through her, a fist lashed out, connecting with the chrome metal of the cabinet, it crumpled, its contents skittering everywhere. The sapphire of her eyes vanishing beneath an orange hue for the briefest of moments. She sucked in a breath, forcing it back down, back into the bottle in belonged in.

One day that lid was going to come off.

She turned back, glassy eyes settling on Elise's.

"What were you thinking, Elise?" she breathed. "What in manda possessed you to stand against him? He...you... He could have killed you!?"

That Darth Malum of House Marr wasn't here, that he had chosen to slink away to lick his own wounds, to hide away from the pain Elise was in. She was in two minds about adding him to the list of people to kill.

Ordo was a sea of calm. He was always a sea of calm. Ever the reasonable one.

 

[Elise Ahana-Gwyneira]

Mia was not the only one here.

Elise picked up on another, the one who had helped save her, Ordo.

"You just soak there a moment. You, me and your buir are gonna have a chat…."

The Ajayid winced, even while taking ahold of the breathing apparatus. His voice had an edge to it, suggesting that she was in trouble. But even then, he was calm as still waters. Meanwhile, Mia brought the flames. The sound of Mia slamming a cabinet to the ground made Elise flinch... she was angry. Of course she was angry. But Elise deserved it. She looked down, at her bare feet, as Mia tore into her.

"What were you thinking, Elise? What in manda possessed you to stand against him? He...you... He could have killed you!?"

As Elise gazed downwards in shame, the bacta bubbled around her. She knew, fully well, that Carnifex has not even been trying. Elise had thrown everything she could at him, but never struck him once. But he had so much power, looking back, that he had merely been toying with her. For the prodigy, the Third Dreamrune, the talented one to be reduced to that... it stung. Elise's grip on the breathing apparatus tightened. She wanted to ignore them. She wanted to close her eyes. She wanted to hide behind the protective glass and stay secured by the healing bacta. But... Mia did not deserve that. Elise had to face her guilt, Mia's anger, and all the music that came with it. She kicked her legs, swimming up to the top of the tank. She had to explain herself. She pushed the top open and emerged from the liquid, yanking the apparatus off with a heavy gasp. Her hands slapped against the brims of the tank as she slightly pulled herself up. As bacta dripped off her, Elise shivered from the frigid temperature of the dry air. Her eyes slowly focused on Mia and Ordo, all her shame still there.

She looked down, back into the tank, and at her own wounds. She... she had only wanted to...

Tears swelled in her red eyes.

"I'm sorry..."

Her voice was the faintest of whispers. But she closed her eyes, grimacing. She needed to explain. Explain the drive within her. Explain the guilt that would have hung over her if she had ran away. Explain why it all had depended on her, because no one else had taken the initiative to slay that demon... or... as Elise discovered... no one had been strong enough to slay him. She gulped, cleared her throat, and spoke louder. She never looked directly at Ordo, or especially Mia, but she at least could speak to them as her eyes darted away from theirs'.

"He was right there." She shivered, "He was right there. I had to try. If I could just kill him, I could have saved the whole galaxy from his crimes."

She loosened her grip on the tank's brim, sinking just a little more back into the back. "I couldn't run, because I couldn't live with myself if I did. I was no coward, who would abandon their goal because there was a chance of death. I couldn't live with the thought of turning back, because I was angry that apparently, others had."

She grimly looked down again, at her wounds, "I was angry that no one killed him yet, so I had to."

An ironic chuckle escaped her, showing just how assumptious and stupid she realized that anger was.

"I was an absolute moron, I know. A jare. And I'm sorry... I shouldn't have worried you, or Malum, like that."

She wasn't even sorry for her own life. Her life was a pointless nothingness, she knew that now. She was sorry, however, that she had made others worry about her. She made them worry, about an insect, who could never fix the galaxy's problems and bring about true peace.

Mia Monroe Ordo

 

[Ordo]

What in manda possessed you to stand against him? He...you... He could have killed you!?"

He nodded. He wouldn't interfere yet. No, He would hear the young Vod out. She was Mia's ad'ika and she could handle far worse than a reckless fool woman.

He carefully picked up her medical charts and checked the wounds. Checked the blood and medical history. It was...extensive. This was a pattern of injury that with a few more years would rival His own. He had expected as much. He had expected a stubborn willful woman had was so convinced that she had to protect everyone that she would throw herself at every single challenge she came acrossed. He had expected all that and more.

He hadn't expected to see the name Angharad Craft.

He looked up at the still talking warrior and narrowed His eyes. A vein in His temple started to throb.


His finger tips brushed across her cheek as he looked down at the woman that had spent the last few years with him. Her cerulean eyes met his and he saw the challenging mischief there inspite of his seriousness.

"Mand'alor is calling everyone back. I've got to go."

"So, go then you big ape!." Shee replied with a chuckle.

"You could come." He said as he fought the urge to pull her her close one moree time. "Nothing says you can't. We have a good thing, don't we?"

"We have a great thing, but This is what I do. I can't sitting around waiting for you to die."

"It doesn't have to be that way. You're as good in a fight as anyone."

"So we can both die you big idiot? Go, I'll see you back out here."

"Yeah, see you when I see you, Ang."

"See you meat head." She said eyes glistening.

A very olld memory caused emotions to well within Him as the power within Him started to slowly push the force away. So, deep was his well of anger that this girl, a...He checked again...great-granddaughter of one of His first loves in the galaxy was so blindly reckless, so careless with a life that was so precious to someone who had been precious to Him. He checked the birthdates of Elise Ahana-Gwyneira and her mother...and the air...the room froze. Color began leaching from the room as the force fled further, as a nagging suspicion turned to realization....They had been in hyperspace alone when this woman's mother would have been conceived. And the young woman looked so much like her.

The datapad turned to powder in His hands as He turned back to face them both.

"I was angry that no one killed him yet, so I had to."

"You hear that, Ner Vod." Ordo began His calm growling voice taking a sharp mock amused tone, "YOU KNOW NOTHING!"

His buy'ce cracked with His anger before it slowly stitched itself back together as He shot forward and grabbed the girl, Angie's great-granddaughter, His great-granddaughter, by the shoulders and pulled her from the tank cords, hoses and all.

"He's been killed THREE TIMES BEFORE YOU GIRL!" He shouted, as the force rushed back in and color returned to the room. "And somehow you thought that just one person, even as skilled as you are, would be the one to make it stick. You're Mia's ad'ika for sure."

He didn't elaborate. It was time to teach her war the way He was taught.

Pain.

He looked down and a stool and table that sat on the other side of the room appeared beside them. And he sat her on the stool and took needle and thread from the table. He watched the thread as it ran itself through the eye of a needle and then picked it up and pulled her arm acrossed the table, and started field stitching her larger wounds. Slowly. One by one.

He didn't explain who she was to Him. Too great was his anger...at Himself for leaving.

Mia Monroe

 

[Mia Monroe]

Mia opened her mouth to respond, but felt a shift in her brother, one that never bode well. He was alwsys the calm one...until he wasn't and when he wasn't, people and things tended to break.

She watched the datapad turn to dust in his hands.

"Jasper, don't..."

Too late.

Mia flinched as he pulled Elise from the tank, dumping her into a stool. The old ways had always served them best, and this was the old way.

She blinked back tears, she seemed so small, a tiny thing in comparison to Ordo. Silence hung in the air for a long moment as mia tried to find words.

"We've been fighting sith for a hundred years, in this life and the next, almost as much as we've been fighting our own kin. We knew Kaine before he was Carnifex, when he called himself Vornskr... and served under the Emperor Moridin. The battle we fight with him, is enternal, ad'ika, there is no end."

She stepped forward, placing a hand on Ordo's shoulder, a quiet comfort for whatever the source of his rage was. She'd find out later.

"There is no death, there is no peace. Not for him, nor for us. This is our burden. Something its taken me a long time to come to terms with." She moved, grabbing a blanket to wrap around her where Ordo wasn't stitching.

"There is death for you, Elise. Your life is so precious..." her voice wavered, she swallowed against the lump in her throat, placing a kiss on the top of her head.

"You keep throwing yourself at foes without thought, without care. Retreating doesn't make you a coward, it makes you smart. Knowing when you are out matched and when to live to fight another day, that is just as important as the fight itself."

Ordo Elise Ahana-Gwyneira

 

[Elise Ahana-Gwyneira]

The Force pulsated in a cold, violent manner. Elise gasped, sensing that the "calm" one in this scenario was not so calm anymore. He turned around, screamed at her.

"YOU KNOW NOTHING!"

That was when he suddenly was right before her, yanking her out of the bacta tanks as chords and wires were yanked and flung around. Panic shot through her body, and her heart jumped. In the moment, being seemingly attacked by a large, powerful person, Elise cried for help. "Malum!-"

"He's been killed THREE TIMES BEFORE YOU GIRL! And somehow you thought that just one person, even as skilled as you are, would be the one to make it stick. You're Mia's ad'ika for sure."

The force and might of his manhandling caused her to not even process any of that, not yet anyways. Suddenly, Elise was tossed into a chair. Bacta streamed down her soaked body, chords and IVs were still attached to her or falling across the floor. Elise only had enough clothes on the hide what was absolutely necessary, and she was insanely uncomfortable and in pain. She was reeling, still processing, when the man started stitching her up in a deliberate manner. The sting of the stitches made her grimace, but her heart pounding from everything made it the least of her concerns. At least, the feeling of being threatened was starting to go away, as he started working on her worst wounds. Tears streamed down Elise's face as she looked around. For Malum, for Mia. She even searched for people who were not there, her mentor Siyarr, her mother Gwyneira...

At least, Elise saw Mia approaching them. In such a pitiful, unbecoming state, Elise was hunkered as she looked up to her with a pathetic look in her eyes.

"We've been fighting sith for a hundred years, in this life and the next, almost as much as we've been fighting our own kin. We knew Kaine before he was Carnifex, when he called himself Vornskr... and served under the Emperor Moridin. The battle we fight with him, is enternal, ad'ika, there is no end. There is no death, there is no peace. Not for him, nor for us. This is our burden. Something its taken me a long time to come to terms with."

These words, combined with Ordo's from earlier, started to seep in. Elise's frown only deepened in despair. Her once bright, sparkling eyes were dull as her naive optimism was once again crushed. There was truly no end? No end to the suffering? No end to the woe? No end to the tragedies of countless billions slaughtered for the sick pleasures of a madman? Hopelessness drowned her heart, asking why it had to be this way.

"There is death for you, Elise. Your life is so precious..."

Elise felt the blanket around her tiny frame. Meaningless. Elise felt the kiss, so much like her mother's back home, pressed against her wet forehead. Vanity. What was the point? Anything precious in this galaxy was doomed to be crushed, one way or another. So why then? Why did they...

"You keep throwing yourself at foes without thought, without care. Retreating doesn't make you a coward, it makes you smart. Knowing when you are out matched and when to live to fight another day, that is just as important as the fight itself."

Elise looked downwards, hard in thought. The circles under her eyes were visible, despite having been sleeping in a bacta tank for... quite a while now... The stitches were a pricking, painful background to the far greater pain inside. She slowly looked up to Mia, with so much exhaustion and hurt, that she looked ten times older than she actually was.

"If we can't defeat him," Her tone was crackled and depressive, "If the galaxy was always, and always will be, full of wretched people like him, then-"

Her eyes doubled their tears, "Then what's the karking point!"

In frustration, she threw her arms. The arm being stitched was yanked in such a manner, a long trail of bloody chord was ripped up from her skin. She shouted in the burst of pain, paused, looked at the glistening red thread, then dulled. Apathy towards her own pain was blatantly obvious as her eyes narrowed in tired nihilism. She looked away from her own reopened wound, as her blood dripped from her arm to the table.

"It's a cruel galaxy, where evil always wins, and those who wanted nothing to do with it get no respite. Eat, or be eaten. It's savage, barbaric, and it's how the galaxy rotates around such a supermassive black hole, filled with void."

She closed her eyes, "I was an idiot to think I could save the galaxy from suffering. And I was a fool to think that I change a damn thing. All I've ever done when I've tried to do good was hurt the people around me. When there is no hope in this galaxy, and all I've ever done and achieved was waste."

She hung her head, her tears pounding against her lap. She was just on the edge... and all she wanted to do was give up.

Mia Monroe Ordo

 

[Ordo]

"Rianna, Maeve, Aden, Angharaad, Brikasse, Gini, Kal, Anija...gone. You failed them. Failed sons or daughters You had never known and then! Then! Your own flesh and blood stood in Your stead, performing Your duty and You did nothing. Now all You can manage is more violence toward her...Coward...weak...broken thing...."

He jerked as she bolted up. Rage and despair etched into her soft features. Her small frame filled with hate for a galxy that could be so casually cruel. He understood.

He stood as her shoulders slumped and he saw the hope draining from her. His rage and anger died inside him.

"Don't fail her now, Ordo."

He took her softly in his arms, engulfing her with his heavy form.

"I'm sorry, Ad'ika." He began, "Your Buir and I didn't mean it's impossible to defeat him. We just need to do it right. And that takes planning..."

She still didn't know why He had exploded at her.

"And I'm sorry, for everything. Angharaad, your great grandmother, was my lover, and dear friend, and I should have been here. The whole time, I should have been here. And none of this would be happening now."

He let Mia into his mind, deep, hiding nothing as he showed her the truth he had discovered.

He didn't let go of the girl.
"Mia is your buir, but you're probably the only blood I have left in this universe and I'm sorry I wasn't beside you fighting. It would have been My greatest honor and someday soon we can do it, all of us and put Carnifex down for good."


He rested His chin on her head like he had done with His little girl, Maeve, when she had come home bloody from training, and how He held Mia, much to her chagrin, when she had felt lost forever. He didn't know what else to do, but he couldn't bring Himself to let go now.

Elise Ahana-Gwyneira

 

[Mia Monroe]

Mia reeled from the emotions from both of them, from the memory he shared. Had that been why she'd been so drawn to Elise, why her instinct had told her that she needed her protection and her love more than anything. As he scooped Elise into his arms Mia saw Ginnie...she saw Maeve...she saw all his children ad something took a vice grip on her chest.

All the children He had taken.

All the children She had failed to protect. She sank slowly to her knees, eyes dropping to her hands trembling under her gaze, the blood that stained them in her minds eye was so ingrained it was part of her skin, part of her soul. And She had almost become a part of it. Sapphire gave way to red as she looked back up at them, her voice was layered with voices that were not hers, souls that echoed her rage.

"Mhi malyasa'yr gotal'ur kaysh tecara par anay jibr kaysh ganar hiibir. Par anay i'gr be aaray kaysh ganar baova, mhi malyasa'yr yaim'ol at kaysh o'r hra'ne kot. Ibic cuyir cuun srusala."

The force swirled around her, the room groaned with pressure as if ready to explode. Then her eyes found Jasper's and she blinked. The red fell away, the force left her with a sigh. With great effort she got up, moving forward to embrace them both.

"There are things, that you do not understand. That I have not taught you, for fear of losing you. I...we will teach you all Elise. There is more in this galaxy than cruelty. There is hope," she pulled back from the embrace, quiet tears rolling down her cheeks "there is joy," her hand found hers and gave it a gentle squeeze, "and above all, there is love."

Ordo Elise Ahana-Gwyneira

 

[Elise Ahana-Gwyneira]

"I'm sorry, Ad'ika." He began, "Your Buir and I didn't mean it's impossible to defeat him. We just need to do it right. And that takes planning... And I'm sorry, for everything. Angharaad, your great grandmother, was my lover, and dear friend, and I should have been here. The whole time, I should have been here. And none of this would be happening now. Mia is your buir, but you're probably the only blood I have left in this universe and I'm sorry I wasn't beside you fighting. It would have been My greatest honor and someday soon we can do it, all of us and put Carnifex down for good."

What... what was... What was going on?

Mia's brother, previously forceful to the point of making her fear for her life, was hugging her. Two hundred pounds of muscle, even more intimidating than the Giant that was her grandfather, was hugging her in an embrace she could not escape. But even more, the words he said... they were related? How!? But clarity entered her mind when she heard of a potential grandmother. She had never heard of her, but she also knew her father's line way better than his mother's biological lineage. It was most likely an ancestor of Gwyneira's. But the news, so sudden and so in the midst of despair, made her head swirl. Her vision went grainy as everything became a blur. Her family... was so far away from her. Her father had been missing in action, presumed dead, a long time ago. Her mother was on Kestri, performing duties as a Karjr despite the Enclave's darker path. Her grandfather was the War Master of the Enclave itself. And... her sister... her sister's wrath and loneliness still burned her, months after their duel.

And now, suddenly, here stood family had never realized she had. And now, the news that like through Eliz, she had historical Mandalorian blood, well... it was bound to make Gwyneira happy that her blood family was more than lowlife scum. But Elise herself, she had no idea how to process any of this. What was happening? Why? What...? She was not even processing the promises of defeating Carnifex, she was suddenly swarmed with her bloodline. She was limp in Ordo 's arms, as he declared his familial bond. She only blinked out of her stupor when her mentor, Mia Monroe , spoke.

Well, Mia also joined in the hug. That made Elise feel awkward.

"There are things, that you do not understand. That I have not taught you, for fear of losing you. I...we will teach you all Elise."

Elise slowly looked over to her mentor, more shocked than anything else about her newfound family, but still drained and exhausted from the fighting. What was the point? What was the point when all that remained to be found was misery and despair? The slavery of the weak, the cruelty of the powerful. The cold metal and scorching fires of industry. The twisted pleasures of the hutts, the wrath of the Sith... the doom of Darth Carnifex. Her despair flared in her eyes, as she wondered if even her new family ties were worth anything in this sick, cruel, merciless galaxy-

"There is more in this galaxy than cruelty."

Elise could not believe it. Not now. Not when she watched her own vode die to protect her. Not when the "kindest" thing to do to slaves was to kill them. Not when... the Enclave... not when she had to betray her own family for what she thought was "right." What a waste that turned out to be. Especially when now, her aunt was dead, her sister hated her, and she even hypocritically loved a Sith-

"There is hope."

Hope? What hope? Hope was dead. Hope was - but Mia looked down at her, tears streaming down her cheeks. As she looked up at her, she did not see her usual cynicism and spite. She saw something softer. And it struck her, reminding her of her own mother. Gwyneira was always kind and sweet, no matter how ugly the galaxy got. She protected her girls, and she protected her people. And Elise saw the Mandalorian Protectors, rebuilding Keldabe and all of Mandalore. What kept them going? What did they see? When they were beat down, time and time again in life, what hope did they see? It was then that she remembered her Dreamseer mentor, Siyarr, encouraging her. The time he told her that there were still good people in the galaxy had always stayed with her.

"There is joy."

Elise blinked through her tears. Every time her eyes shut, she saw another memory. Her father eagerly explaining how Chiss naming structures worked to a little Elise. Her mother laughing as Mevia pouted, because there was whipped cream on her nose while eating ice cream after training. Siyarr, vigorous and gregarious, explaining his more personal to perceptions of the Ancient Ones while the two studied in a garden. The blooming flowers, the graceful palm leaves, the swirling acacia trees, all accompanied by a gentle, cool breeze. A galactic expanse of wonders. Stars glistening with the promise of ajayid experiences, waiting to be explored.

"And above all, there is love."

Her mother dabbed a cold, wet cloth on Elise's forehead after training. Elise ran up to Siyarr, eager to show him the new red cape she bought in his honor. And... Darth Malum of House Marr ... he loomed over her, gazing at her with such passion and affection as he reached down and gently touched her face, smiling. Elise still had... so much love... And now, family enveloped her in a hug and told her that there was such a thing as warmth in this cold galaxy. And despite everything wicked she had witnessed in this galaxy, she also witnessed kindness. And suddenly, she could begin to believe again.

A hint of light returned to her eyes.

But then, she realized something. She had called his name, but he did not answer her. She was suddenly looking around, confused and soft, as she was unable to find him in the medical wing. She shivered as chords, bacta, and blood hung on her and dripped off. Baffled, hurt, and craving his comfort, she asked simply, "... Where's Malum?"

 

[Ordo]

Ordo released the small woman. Still dripping from the tank. He regretted His out burst. He regretted many things. His eyes bore through steel and duracrete as He looked back through a world of people that He had once sung songs with, and danced beside on wooded shorelines. He looked to Vode missing from a galaxy that had hardly deserved their goodness, and in their places, He saw death.

"He'll come." Ordo said simply, He didn't hate the sith, He didn't really hate anyone, but He did hate what people did to what He loved. "I have to go now, Mia...Ad'ika.

"I need to remind the Sith that they aren't fighting jedi." He said as His buy'ce grew like mercury over His face, "They have forgotten their Place!"

The last word reverberated through the room like distant thunder.

"If I see your Malum." He said His heavy strides moving toward the door, "I'll send Him in."

Elise Ahana-Gwyneira Mia Monroe Darth Malum of House Marr

 

[Mia Monroe]

"... Where's Malum?"

Mia let out a sigh. "He couldn't stay Elise, he is still marked as an enemy of the Protectors." She was going to kill him for putting Her in this position, to be covering for him for the sake of saving Elise's feelings. He could have stayed, She would have made it work. "When we figure out a way to get him here without causing ripples, he will be here."

She'd drag him here herself if Ordo didn't get there first. Her sapphire eyes tracked Her brother to the door, recognising what was rising in Him.

It was time. And She hated that.

Do not go to war without Me, Brother.

She spoke through their bond, pulling her eyes away from Him and back to Elise. "Lets get you back in the tank. You heal fast, ad'ika, but you still need to take the time to rest properly. No sneaking off this time."

Elise Ahana-Gwyneira Ordo