Paradise Lost

[Zereth Lancer]

Ord Mantell, the so called Heart of the Bright Jewel due to it's position at the center of the Bright Jewel Sector. The Bright Jewel, the yellow star located within the system, was the primary star and the sustainer of all life on Ord Mantell. Without it, life in that system would not exist, let alone be even possible. Even today inhabitants of Ord Mantell worship the Bright Jewel, manifesting it's life giving nature in the form of the goddess Se'yoko. Churchs devoted to the Goddess exist in every city on the planet, each filled with religious zealots pledging their lives to the model that Se'yoko had set for them. They are good natured, pleasant, warm, and always giving and never taking more than light praise from anyone.

It was within one of these churches, or rather temples, located in the capital city of Worlport that a dark clad outsider stepped within. He entered the sunstone building, which was built so that all of it's walls absorbed and radiated the heat of the Bright Jewel, making the temples virtual suns themselves as they let off warmth during the night whilst the Bright Jewel was away. The stranger was garbed all in black, quiet an unusual color for the temperature of this area of Ord Mantell. A blood red cloak with tattered edges laid across the man's shoulders with an attached hood covering his head. The cloak and hood obscured his body and shadowed his face, making it impossible to discern who he is.

The stranger stood near the doorway, leaning against the back wall as he watched the ceremonies of the temple through red glittering eyes. Only when someone entered and or exited, having walked by the stranger, did the collosal size of his body become apparent. The stranger towered above all in the building. It was this dark, brooding, gaint nature of the stranger that caused the worshipers inside the temple to become uneasy.

Eventually the ceremonies ended, and everyone filtered out of the building until only the stranger remained in the warm room. He stood there for a few moments, as if contemplating something important, and then turned to leave. Stepping out into the dimming sunlight of an Ord Mantellian evening, the stranger slipped a hand out from beneath it's uncompassing cloak. A stim was held gracefully between two cut-off black leather gloves, the kind seemingly popular among swoop racers. The stim was slipped between pressed lips and a flame sprung to life at the end of the man's fingertip, which was in turn used to light the stim.

A puff of smoke escaped through the man's nostrils before he continued walking, heading off with no direction in mind. His time here on Ord Mantell was for healing purposes. He had made a large decision by leaving those he had began to care for, and he needed time to come to qualms with his actions. And to hide should his former brethren decide to hunt him down for his crimes against them. Should they find him here, lightyears away, then he would run first and fight only if necessary. Should he be cornered, than he would have no choice but to kill those he had personally trained in the arts of combat, to kill those he had watched grow up from children to young adults. This fact weighed heavily on his mind and kept him from sleep, and what sleep he had was filled with troubling nightmares.

But he moved on. Zereth Lancer moved on. He would see what the next street held for him, and continue to the next street, and so on and so forth until he was exausted or dead. This is how he spent his days, trying to find meaning in every day life.

[Ashe Sieris]

Yavin 4

The dark, forest moon of Yavin, fourth in rotation. The home of ancient ruined sith temples and angered animals. For months, this place had been the home of another being. But now, it was time for this being to leave the forsaken moon and move on. It had learned all it could from the temples of Yavin 4. Shortly after the ship landed to pick it up, it took off again, the pilot not wanting to stay long on the moon. They now made their way to a new destination.

***

A woman stepped out of the ship and onto the floor of the hanger on Ord Mantell just before sundown. Her black hair was worn loose and hung down to her tail bone. The evening breaze picked it up and blew it away from her pale face and dark eyes. The glint of her many earings going up the arch of her ear could be seen in the lowering sun along with the peircings that adorn her right eye brow. A black cloak covers most of her body but the wind picks it up every once in a while showing the black sarong style skirt and black crop top tank undernieth. A chain belt hangs around her hips and, barely noticable, is a lightsaber hooded to it. The woman had not been seen in the civilized galaxy for months to years. Her facial features were barely recongizable as the woman that had left Courscant so long ago in such a hurry. Ashe Sieris, the renegade Jedi had returned. But very much changed.

Ashe brings a half black sleaved hand up to pull the hood of her cloak up around her head and face. Barely noticable under the sleave are strange tattoos that winde their way up her forearm. She then pulls the cloak around herself and begins walking through the city. She walked up to one of the well known temples of Ord Mantell and noticed it was closed for the day. She sighs slightly and begins walking away again, down the street. Her bags had already been dropped off at the hotel she was to stay in but she did not wish to settle down for the night quite yet. The force was stiring in her, urging her to walk down this street and that street. Leading her somewhere unknown to her. But she followed it willingly...

[Zereth Lancer]

One foot after the other, he pushed himself down the street at a slow, even pace. His red eyes moved rapidly in comparison to his body movements, taking everything in, looking for a sign, an omen, anything that could add direction to his life. Yet, it was not his eyes that, in the end, detected something. It was his mind.

From behind him, from the direction he had just come from, he felt something. A spark in the dark, a torch in the mist, a signal from a distant mountain top... a familiar aura in the force. Who or what this familiar presence was eluded him, so he stopped and turned where he stood. Red eyes peered out from under the lip of his hood, peering out of the shadow created by it. At the end of the street he saw a woman, her appearences hidden within a black cloak.

But who? He traced his memories, searching for where he had felt this before. In the meantime, he stepped off to the side of the street and found a wall to lean against. He watched the woman through hooded eyes. If he could not remember by the feeling of the force signature, then he would watch and learn this woman's identity instead.

[Ashe Sieris]

Ashe walks slowly down the street towards. Her mind reached out with the force, senseing all the beings around her, but none imparticular. She sensed the other force user but had become so disconnected that it did not attract her attention or seem familier. She continued walking down the street until she came to a small square with a fountain in the middle. The statue was of the patron goddess of the Planet and water fell all around her.

Ashe stepped up to the fountain and sat down on the edge of it, lowering her hood. Her left hand dropped to the water's surface and drifted across it gently. The low sun lit up the fountain as children ran past, laughing and talking with each other. No one seemed to pay much attention to the woman. She did not greatly stand out of the ordinary. Just another strange tourist, they suposed. And there she sat for a long while, just watching the setting sun through the fountain.

[Zereth Lancer]

Red eyes followed the every movement of the woman, stalking her as she walked to and sat beside the fountain. Still he could not place her, not yet. He knew there was a memory in his mind, so hidden and locked away that all he could do was stretch his hand out toward it, but it was lost on the other side of a mental chasm. If only he could reach the other side... or convince the memory to cross over to himself. How it had become so hidden was a mystery to him. He had a sharp mind and could remember backwards a hundred years. So the only way for a memory to become lost like this is if he forced himself to forget.

He wondered if he wanted to risk remembering...

Instead, however, he moved from his place against the wall and cross the street to the city square, moving towards the fountain that sat at it's center. He circled his way in, rather then going in straight, so that when he finally reached the fountain he was standing on the opposite side of the woman. From there he made his way slowly around the fountain, take one careful step after the other until, finally, he stood beside the sitting woman. His red eyes bore down on her from above and his towering form blotted out what was left of the light of the setting sun.

"Good evening, miss..." If he could not remember her then perhaps she would remember him, if not, perhaps her name was help pull a few bars from the mental cell that held his memory at bay.

[Ashe Sieris]

Ashe paused her hand's movement in the water as the man beside her spoke. Her back was too him as she was still looking down at the water. She slowly lifts her head up to look at the goddess in the center of the statue as the water grew still around her hand. Not even the spouts from the fountain caused the area within a few feet of her hand to stir. She slowly lifted her hand out of the still water and a few droplets fell from her hand onto the glass like surface below it, finaly disturbing the still surface of the liquid. The water returned to its normal state.

She lifts her dark eyes up to look at the siloet of the man before her. The sun managed to darken all of his features into a siloet so she could not make out much about the man, except for one thing. His glowing eyes that were stareing down at her. Those eyes sparked a Fight or Flight urge within her. But she stayed her hand and her feet. Slowly, she rises to her feet, looking at him. She knew those eyes. But where. Soft words from an unknown language slip out of her lips. She takes one step back so her feet are at the edge of the fountain. Finaly, she speaks in the basic language of the galaxy.

"Good eve... Morier..."

[Zereth Lancer]

She turned, and her face came into sight. The lack of light did not hinder his sight, as his eyes were specially augmented to not only see well in optimum light, but in the darkness as well. His eyes traced over every feature and curve of her face. Gliding along her cheeks, over the bump of her lips, and around the edges of her eyes. So familiar, yet so alien. The memory, still locked away, was beginning to loosen, but too slowly. The wait was agonizing, like having a needle thrust beneath your finger adn you are powerless to remove it. It pained him so much that he desired to forcively prove her mind to find the answers, but such intense probing could render her comatose, and that was simply counter-productive.

Instead he sat down on the lip of the fountain beside her. "Yes, it is a fine evening. Warm, and perfect for stargazing," He said as he cast his eyes skyward. The first stars were only beginning to appear. It would be another hour or two before the entire heavenly host could be observed. "May I have the priviledge of knowing your name, miss?"

[Ashe Sieris]

Her eyes remained on the sky when he moved and spoke. She searched the skies for something, it seemed. But she found nothing of what she was searching for. Even though she was not looking at him, she could still see his eyes. They were familier to her. She remembered them belonging to a monster of emense power. A horrific memory of being tortured and interigated by this monster and another. She looks at the man out of the corner of her eye. He did not have the look of a monster. But those eyes were unmistakeable...

"My name?"

She paused for a long moment. Many would believe she was just avoiding the question. In truth, she was searching for an answer. It had been a long time sense she had used her name. What was it that it had been? What was the name that her master had given her so long ago. She closes her eyes a moment then looks down at the covered palm of her right hand. It ached for something. Wispering dishonorable thoughts to her. She pushed it out of her mind as her name finaly returned to her thoughts.

"Ashe..."

[Zereth Lancer]

Finally the last few pieces of the puzzle clicked into place, and the locked away memory was broken free and came flooding back into Zereth's mind. Ashe Sieris, the woman he had met that one rainy day, discovered was a fallen Jedi, and then proceeded to extort for information with the aid of Ambrose Braeden. He suddenly felt quite tired as he reviewed the memories over and over. They had been friends, however unlikely, and then he turned around and hurt her. Honor was something he held above all else, and what he had done to her was everything but honorable.

That was why he had locked it away...

Silence prevailed in that moment in time, killing out all sound for the pair, or was it simply his subconscious using the force to cut out noise? After several moments he looked up from the cobble stone below him and, after turning his head, gazed into her face. "I'm sorry..."

It was all he managed to say...

[Ashe Sieris]

Ashe's thoughts had gotten lost in the past when he had gone silent. Her mind wandered its contents silently as she stared at the horizon, the low sunlight reflecting in her eyes. Thoughts of her master and the monster that took her. Thoughts of the pale faced monster that had tortured her previously and the dark monster that accompanied him. No faces were on these creatures, just the glowing eyes from both of them.

His words woke her from her thoughts and she turned her head to look down at him as he sat apon the fountain's edge. She cocked her head to one side, the way an animal might when confused about something. Her eyes bore into him, searching for the monster that plagued her thoughts. She stares at him for several moments before she responds to his appology. To her, he had done nothing that he needed to appologize for...

"What is there to be sorry for? Or were you not speaking to me, Morier?"

[Zereth Lancer]

His red eyes met her gaze, and what looked back was so alien. This was Ashe Sieris, he was certain of that. So why did she seemed to different and unresponsive to his presence? By all reality, she should be either fleeing his presence or attempting to kill him. Possibly both in either and/or repeated order. Yet she was looking at him as if she knew him not, as if he was a stranger. He laws the smallest signs of recognition in her features, but it faded as quickly as it showed.

All rather confusing...

"Do you know me?" He asked finally, "Does the name Zereth Lancer ring any bells?"

[Ashe Sieris]

"...Zereth Lancer..."

The name rang through her mind like the sound of a canon going off nearby. Her head and eyes snap towards him so she is fully looking at him. Her body soon follows but a bit more slowly. Her eyes are alight with a firey anger and smokey fear. The two emotions clash and fight in her eyes for control as the images of what happened months ago in her appartment on Coruscant flash through her mind. The images are clouded and unclear, distorted and nightmareish. She speaks to him in a lowered voice, her teeth clenched together.

"That name... belongs to a monsterous creature. A creature whose brother and he tortured me long ago... A monster who shares your eyes...."

She closes her eyes and takes a deep breath. As she lets it out, she opens her eyes too look at him. A deep look of saddness fills her eyes as she looks back at him.

"But you... You do not appear to be the monster I know... So... who are you?"

[Zereth Lancer]

Monster!

His eyes narrowed at first, but eased back into their natural, emotionless standing point shortly afterwards. How dare she call him a monster. In truth, it was a most accurate assessment, but not one that Zereth enjoyed. He knew that he is a monster, and that deserves such a title, but he also believes in self-redemption, and that he has more then earned redemption for his previous crimes against life. But, as an advocate of Death, he knows that he can never find true redemption, only something similar, but not the same. Had he redeemd himself for what he did to her? No, not yet.

"I am Zereth Lancer," He mentally gritted his teeth in order to steel himself enough to say what he had to say next, "... I am that monster that, along with my brother of sorts, stole information from you, and for that I am sorry."

[Ashe Sieris]

The sun behind Ashe sinks below the horizon, casting the city into darkness. Her eyes, as well go dark, fear encasing them as she takes a step back. She focuses on him, the force pulsating through her. She focuses her mind on him, pushing her way into his thoughts and memories, searching specificly for the memories of the nights they were together. Her memories of the nights begin clearing up and unclouding as Zereth and Ambrose's voices echo through her mind. The memories come to her from last time of meeting with Zereth to the first time they met.

Ambrose, "The time for the Jedi is over..."

Zereth, "Yes we are wicked and evil creatures...She already has one foot over the fence, so there is no point in pushing her..."

"Use your anger and aggression Ashe, control the shadows..."

"This is my brother; Ambrose Braeden..."

"Or talk to a attractive woman..."

"...Zereth..."

She snaps back into reality. Her eyes refocus on him as she slips from his mind back into her own. The lights on the streets and in the fountain suddenly turn on, lighting her face. As they brighten the area, her fear melts away. Her right hand slips within her cloak to graps the lightsaber hidden within them. Her eyes narrow apon him as one word crosses her thoughts and escapes her lips, barely whispered.

"Betrayer"

[Zereth Lancer]

He felt it, the intrusive feeling akin to having a finger thrust painlessly through your forehead. A pressure, moving inwards toward the center of his mind. On reflex, he began erecting mental shields that, although weak, would slow the mental probe. But he checked that reaction, and stopped it. Rather, he dropped all his mental shields instead, revealing his mind to her probe while using his own mentalic powers to guide her probe to the desired memories. He felt her accessing and rummaging through the memories as he felt the effects of the probe moving deeper, which caused his equilibrium to become unbalanced for a moment, which in turn caused him to sway slightly.

Finally she finished, pulling her probe out without injuring his brain. It was like having a knife plucked from your head, only without pain or incision. He was about to speak when the street and fountain lights suddenly activated, momentarily blinding him until his eyes adjusted and causing him to pause. And then she spoke.

"Betrayer..."

He hung his head, unfit to look at her anymore. "That is the truth of the matter," He replied in an equal whisper. His fine sense of being and his surroundings, as seen through the force, gave him an extrasensoral glimpse of her hand slipping into her cloak and grasping something from within. A weapon, perhaps? It really did not matter to Zereth, not anymore. He simply remained looking down, making no motion to grab his own weapons, or even planning to do so. Perhaps this was how he was to redeem himself for his sins, to die.

[Ashe Sieris]

Ashe's eyes scan the people on the street. She wasn't about to cause a scene like this infront of them. It would just be wrong of her and it could get innocent people killed, which is the last thing she wants. Her eyes land on Zereth again. A twinge of fear flashes across them but is replaced very quickly with determination.

"Why are you here? What do you want and why have you not tried to kill me yet?"

[Zereth Lancer]

"I am here because I felt compelled to come here, to search for new meaning to my life. My life has grown stale and old, dead and decayed," Oh, how the bitter truth of the matter burnt his body like a fire against naked nerve endings. The Sith Order on Korriban had crumbled away to dust before his very eyes. They were all nothing more then power hungry bottom feeders who cared for nothing but furthering their own goals. The order of brothers that Zereth had attempted to forge did not exist, and never had. They were a group of individuals, with one eye on their own goals and another on the goals of others, so that they might steal or destroy them. It was a cult of sinners, so he left. His zealous, near-religious nature could not stand it anymore.

"I want nothing, only your forgiveness if such was possible, and I am not here to kill you."

[Ashe Sieris]

Her eyes narrow at him. She scoffs slightly.

"My forgiveness... Why would you want that? And what would make you think I would give it? You have done Nothing to deserve it... Who knows how many of the Jedi you have taken down by now after you took that information chip from me."

She lets out a small growl and looks away from him and up at the sky. The stars reflect off of her eyes, along with the hurt that she felt from what he had done. The faintest sign of tears begining to form graces her eyes. She quickly pulls her hood up to shadow her face.

[Zereth Lancer]

"I want your forgiveness because I need it, and I do not expect you to ever grant it to me, but I ask nonetheless. As for that information chip, neither I nor Ambrose have acted upon it. Our plans were crushed when our Order was crushed from without. I doubt that Ambrose is even alive anymore. I have that chip here with me. If you would like, I would gladly give it back to you."

Even as she pulled her hood up around her head, he pushed his hood down, letting the blood red material fall back to reveal his face in greater clarity. His hand came up, lifted and placed in the air between them palm up with his fingers opened.

"Please, I want to make things right..."

[Ashe Sieris]

As he dropped his hood, she turns her head away from him again. Her face was shadowed by her hood so he could not see her expression. But her aura read fear and saddness corsing through her body. She raises her hand into the air and the chip is lifted off his hand and floats into hers, where she closes her hand around it. Her hand slips back inside her robes where she stashes the chip.

"Did you copy the information?"

[Zereth Lancer]

"Never," He replied, although they would have if the Sith Order had not been completely destroyed by the myserious invasion force that came from nowhere with knowledge of their location and destroyed them. Only a few had gotten away, but had that event never taken place then Zereth would have by all means made a copy of the chip for Ambrose and together they would have hunted down suspecting Jedi. They had been so close to doing it too. Zereth had even hired a mercenary to break into an Imperial Database to locate the names on the list. Since then he'd kept the chip with him at all times. That habit had not ended when the Sith Order fell.

[Ashe Sieris]

Ashe brings her right hand up to her face within her hood. She takes a deep breath before lowering her hand again. Slowly, she turns to face him again, walking towards him until she is standing within just a few feet of him, looking down at his face. Her eyes took in every feature of him, commiting it to memory. He could see within the shadows of her hood, her eyes dark and cold. They showed every emotion running through her mind. The fear of being this close to him, the pain that she felt that he had caused her, the hatred for what he and ambrose had done and something else. It was harder to tell what it was, Regret? Longing? Forgiveness? Hard to tell. She finaly spoke. Her voice was low and trembled slightly.

"What do you want from me, Zereth? To mentaly torture me more then you already did? What is it? You already stripped me of everything. What more is there?"

[Zereth Lancer]

His eyes met hers, seeing the pain that so vividly surged through her body. They say the eyes are a portal into the soul, and if that was the case then her very soul was filled with nothing but pain unbearable. What horrors she must have faced to be so filled with pain. He could only wonder if those horrors had all involved him.

She moved closer, perhaps to kill him finally. He made no reaction, no move to grab his weapons and defend himself. If she wanted to kill him then he would allow it. After walking the planets of the galaxy for over a hundred years, his mortal life was not something he held desperately on to anymore. He would welcome death, but at the same time he did not want it, because there was still more for him to do. No matter the theology involved, his life was in her hands. If she killed him, then he would take it humbly.

"I. Want. Your. Forgiveness." He said, pronouncing each word slowly with a pause between each, "I want nothing else."

He wondered if that statement was true...

[Neo-Genesis]

From planet to planet, it moved. Never resting, never stopping for anything. It had a mission, to find and destroy anyone or thing that resembled the Sith Knight known to the world as Zereth Lancer. Ord Mantell had been one planet on a list of a hundred others from Bakura to Corellia, Nar Shaddaa to Csilla. The mission would appear neverending. Sith forces had been located on Corellia and destroyed, but Zereth Lancer had yet to be located. The self-styled "Nord Necross" was quite the illusive target.

Yet all journeys must come to an end, it is destiny, and the cyborg known now only as Neo-Genesis' journey came to an end this day as it, or rather he as it stilled retained a bit of it's male humanity, discovered, at last, the location of Zereth Lancer.

From atop a nearby rooftop, it observed the Sith Knight, matching it's uncovered face to the files it had programmed into it's memory core and then cross-refrencing it was notable Nagai facial characteristics. It found these. Zereth possessed near-Nagai black spiky hair, several similarities in facial composition, and a clothing style that was also similar, but that was inconclusive information.

.TARGET LOCATED.

Without a word, Genesis slipped it's hands out of the tattered brown cloak it used to hide it's android body, and with them came the customized blaster pistol he was issued. It was large, taller then long, and bulky, not to mention heavy. Yet, it's augmented body allowed it to manipulate the weapon quite easily. The weapon was lifted and held in both hands. Sighting down the barrel, targetting software was activated and used to line up the weapon with the small of Zereth Lancer's back.

.COMMENCING FIRE.

The finger squeezed around the trigger in quick succession. The weapon buckled and golden bolts of energy flew from the snub barrel, flying towards the back of the unaware Sith.

.90% CHANCE OF SUCCESS.

[Ashe Sieris]

Ashe sighed and looked away a moment then looked back at him.

"Zereth... I....."

A disturbance in the force. Before the sound of the discharge went off from the gun far above them, Ashe had her lightsaber activated, the deep purple beam slipping out of the silver and black hilt, and had jumped over Zereth, spinning her saber rapidly, deflecting the blaster bolts into the water below her. She landed on the fountains edge, just behind Zereth, as the last bolts were deflected away. Her hood had fallen off in the flurry of movement.

The citizens in the square started yelling and running, most retreating from the area, some remaining, but finding cover, to try to watch what was going on. Ashe pushed Zereth down, below the edge of the frountin with her foot before dropping down beside him, using the fountain for cover.

"We have to get out of here...!"

[Zereth Lancer]

"Zereth... I....."

She paused, and then suddenly moved to action, pulling her hidden lightsabre out. Zereth, ready to accept his end, opened his arms wide to give her an easier target, but instead of striking him down, she flew over him and the familiar sound of energy hitting energy filled his ears. He began to turn, but was then uncermonially pushed off the edge of the fountain, to hide behind the cover of it's edge.

Blaster bolts continued to rain down upon them, shattering the tiles of the fountain and blowing craters in the street around them. Zereth slipped his hand into his cloak pocket and pulled his lightsabre from it's hiding place. The onyx handle, black with thin, white streaks, slipped into his palm and he gripped the extended handle tightly. Whoever was shooting at them must have a reason for it, why else shoot at the only two socially awkward people in the street center? There had to be a motive, but Zeret was sure that everyone that he had ever given reason to kill him was either an ally or dead, killed by Zereth's own hand.

He stuck his head up and peered over the lip of the fountain edge, only to tuck it back down again. A blaster bolt scorched the stone just in front of where his head had been a moment ago. Whoever was shooting was good, but not perfect. The firing continued, and then suddenly stopped. Using the force to boost his already augmented hearing allowed him to hear the sound of something metalic falling and hitting the roof the assassin crouched upon.

It was reloading!

"Move!" Zereth hissed, standing up and grabbing her arm to pull her up with him with his free hand. The street was long and wide, a parade ground of sorts by the look of it, and there were not many ways out of it that would not leave them in the sights of their would-be assassin. So, instead of running down the street, Zereth instead pulled Ashe with him to the front door of the closest building, a multi-leveled house by the look of it.

A swift kick of his boot knocked the door off it's hinges and into the house. Thankfully no one was on the other side. "Inside!" He ordered before spinning around, lightsabre activating in his hand. The crimson beam flashing to life and extending out several feet. The handle itself was modified for dueling with both hands, thus the grip was extended to accomodate two hands, and as a result the blade could be easier manipulated at an extended length, so Zereth had modified the blade emitter to project the beam several inches over the normal maximum length.

Blaster bolts came and rained down upon him, but he used the lightsabre to block those that would come closest to injuring him while he let the wider shots hit the frame of the door. As he delt with the rounds, he backed up into the doorway and then moved to the side, taking refuge just to the right of the door. His red eyes darted around the dark house until falling on some stairs leading upwards. "Look for a way out up there," He said. If he was lucky he could find a window on to the rooftop of another building, which would allow for a speedier escape, even if it would put them in greater danger.

Deactivating his sabre and putting it away, he moved his cloak away from his side to reveal a black blaster pistol attached to his hip. Slipping it from it's holster, he moved out the door and fired back at the assassin, who also returned fire. Zereth ducked in and out from behind the door, his blaster firing loudly from his hand.

All he needed was to distract the assassin long enough for Ashe to find a way out, and possibly long enough for her to get away on her own.

[Neo-Genesis]

Perhaps 10 percent uncertainty was too much, for the the woman with the target managed to detect his attack, mark his trajectory, and re-direct his blaster bolts with an energy weapon that knocked his well aimed shots helplessly away. Running the image of the weapon, and the properties he could not from here, his weapon database identified it as a Lightsabre. The brief information tag equipped noted it capabilities, such as cutting through virtually anything and being able to stop energy weapons, but it also mentioned that the lightsabre was the principle weapon used by those devoted to the force religion. It was too much to digest for now. He would have to read into it later. Right now he had a mortal to kill.

Regardless, the target and the woman, who was now tagged in his mission criteria as a secondary target, had dropped down below the edge of the ornamental fountain and were not virtually unreachable by his weapons. So, instead of waiting for them to emerge from behind it, which may never happen, Genesis decided to shoot through it and kill them upon decimating the fountain. He fired blindly down upon the fountain, hitting the lip of it near where the two are hiding.

But, before he could come close to his objective, his weapon ran out of energy cells. So he dropped the clip to the rooftop and began inserting another clip into the ammo dock located in the handle of the weapon. No sooner had he began this action then the primary and secondary targets darted out from their cover and ran for an urban dwelling and moving inside it.

.TARGET ON THE MOVE.

Finished reloading, Genesis opened fire again at the back of Zereth Lancer, but the Sith turned around brandishing a like weapon to the one the secondary target employed, and, as the woman had, stopped his attacks. Zereth Lancer disapeared into the house, only to pop out again firing his own blaster outwards. Genesis continued firing, not even daring to react to the red bolts of energy flashing around him. Unlike Genesis, Zereth's skill with an blaster was somewhat weak.

Yet, Genesis could not help but feel it was being toyed with.

[Ashe Sieris]

After being yanked into the house by Zereth, something that sparked a fear of him as well as what ever was attacking them, she backed up in the room to where she was unable to be seen by the attacker. Slowly, she crouched down to where she could barely see out the window before she pushed her senses outward, using the force. She could not see the attacker, but from this distance, she could hear the distink sounds of metal against metal as he moved. She snapped back into herself again.

"Android?"

She gives Zereth a quizical look then dodges away from some more blaster fire. She moves to the stairs quickly and force jumps her way up them. She dodges around to the second story before looking around. The second story was a loft area. Other then another set of stairs on the other side of the room, it was completely open. That included windows all around the walls. She quickly ducks to the stairs to avoid being seen.

"Zereth, the second story is all windows. We can escape to the next building. it has a low roof..."

She raises herself up off the stairs a bit to look across the square at the building where the attacker was on the roof. It was not human, or atleast didn't look human from this distance.

"I can see it. Its a risky escape cause it might see our mo..."

Indeed, she had been seen. Blaster fire rained through the windows facing the front of the house, shattering them. One managed to make their mark on the renegade jedi's body. She was thrown backwards and down the stairs onto the landing, a blaster bolt wound in her right side, in her rib cage. Her lightsaber slipped from her hand, deactivateing, as her hand flew to her wound, a cry of pain escapeing her throat.

[Zereth Lancer]

"Android?"

A droid, an assassin droid? They had truly fallen into hell then. Assassin droids, although commonly clunky devices that were more brutish thugs than refined assassins could be a tough gambit to beat, but this particular assassin droid seemed quite adept at what it was doing, which made everything much, much more worse. But, when Zereth extended his being out to touch the droid, he felt a soul there, some force of humanity that still existed inside the metal carapace. Not an droid, but a cyborg.

Cyborgs were even worse.

"Zereth, the second story is all windows. We can escape to the next building. it has a low roof..."

Perfect, then they could escape easily by jumping to the building behind this building, thus putting a building between them and the cyborg. Although, he highly doubted the attacker would wait for long before leaving it's place atop that rooftop and come after them on foot, and then things would get really hairy.

"I can see it. Its a risky escape cause it might see our mo..."

She suddenly stopped, at about the same time blaster bolts stopped firing at him and instead impacted the story above him. He also felt a stab of pain through his conscience. Had Ashe been injured? He could not think of anything esle that would cause her to project pain so intensly.

Pulling back from the doorway, he holstered his weapon as he headed for the stairs. No sooner had his foot hit the edge of the first step then he was shooting up through the air as if pulled up suddenly with a rope. He landed on the landing and bent over Ashe's fallen body. He picked up her lightsabre and clipped it onto her belt so that it would not be lost. Then he moved her hand away from the injury and checked it. Black, burnt flesh greeted his eyes and the ozone smell of singed flesh irritated his nostrils. The injury was extensive, having burnt away several layers of skin and was just short of revealing her ribs.

By quickly tearing strips off the edge of his cloak, he had strips of cloth that he could then wrap around her body to cover the wound and keep it from bleeding out at the least. The cloth was nothing close to clean, but some bacta would help clean up any infection, if only he could get to a hospital or back to his hotel room, where he kept several emergency kit style bacta patches.

Once finished wrapping the wound, he pulled her up, picked her up in his arms, and ran up the stairs, crouching low to avoid being easily seen and shot by the assassin. He moved towards a back window, picking up speed as he went until he was standing and running. Using the force, he concentrated a grouping of air particles and fired them together at the window in the form of a bubble of air, which shattered the window and blew it outwards. Several more were employed to enlarge the hole, so that he could dive through it, still holding Ashe in his arms.

He sailed through the air, ignoring the pain from his arm were a stray beam of the wall had cut a gash through his clothing and into his left arm. He landed lightly on the roof below, crouching down to allow his knees to absorb the impact better. Setting her down, he checked the wound again. Thankfully it the burnt flesh was not bleeding, due to being sealed by the heat of the blaster bolt. Regretably, though, such a burn would hurt incredibly.

"Can you walk?" He asked. There was no point in asking if she was okay, because clearly she was not.

[Ashe Sieris]

The blaster had hit her hard. The pain clouded her thoughts when Zereth had appeared over her. She cringed as he inspected the wound and wrapped it and a cry of pain had escaped again as he had picked her up, iritating the wound and causing more pain. She wraped her arms around his neck and tucked her head in, close to his chest as he jumped out the window, through the falling debree. A second later, they landed on the next roof, causing her to cringe again.

"Can you walk?"

She looks up at him and nods, slipping out of his arms.

"I... think so... I cant run fast. It will risk opening the wound."

She had learned a bit about injuries and treatment during her time on Coruscant with Lorca, another young jedi that had ended up disappearing.

Ashe looks at the lights that lined the street below them. They would not be able to sneak around on the roofs because of them and the android would catch up with them unless something was done about the lights.

"He will spot us if those lights remain on... ugh... I can take care of them, I think."

She starts leaning on him for support as she holds her right hand out, focusing on the force. Her mind reaches out to the shadows around her. The lights lineing the streets nearby begin to flicker and then completely fade away as shadows engulf the lamp lights for a good deal of area around them.

"Were are we going to go?"

[Zereth Lancer]

Zereth's eyes darted around, looking for a way out other then roof hopping, but nothing presented itself to him. Despite the drowning of the sun, the night air was well lit by the lights of the street and nearby buildings, but not for long, as Ashe put them out with some form of shadow manipulation akin to the powers that Zereth himself possessed, but seldom used. The effect was an increase in darkness, which make them harder to see, but also made it harder for them to see. This was not a problem, as Zereth saw well in the dark, but it would still make it difficult to make out details, which could prove the difference between life and death.

"We move until he can lose it. It's a droid, not a God. We'll lose it eventually if we keep moving," He picked her up again, lest be slowed down by her injury. "Or we fight it."

He ran along the rooftop, kicking off it at it's edge, virtually the last second, and sailed upwards and out until he landed on the next rooftop, which was a bit higher then the last. He continued this, moving from one roof to the next and putting as much distance as he could between him and the assassin. Running in a straight line was not tactful, but the buildings to either side were too far away to make in a single jump while holding on to Ashe, lest he break his legs.

They would have to keep moving.

[Neo-Genesis]

Genesis stopped firing when no movement was detected. Something was wrong. Either the target was still inside or it had left through a back door, either was likely. It was time to move. So Genesis dropped down from the rooftop, reloading as it did so. It's metalic feet hit the ground with a the sharp noise of slapping metal, and then it was off, sprinting across the street at a speed that would rival a force user.

Upon nearing the building, Genesis jumped into the air, flying high and rolling into a ball. It collided with the wall of the second story loft wall and plowed right through the bullet weakened materials and into the loft room. It stopped it's roll and came out at a crouch, looking around with it's electric blue eyes for a moment before spotting the missing window and enlarged hole, which was large enough to permit the large body of Zereth Lancer to escape through.

Genesis jumped out the hole, it's smaller body easily moving through the large hole, and landed heavily on the rooftop outside, putting dents in the roof. Speeding off it jumped from roof to roof, following the escaping targets he could see in the distance. Rather then employing it's blaster, Genesis put the blaster away and pulled out a large, bulky device that looked like a sword handle. Pressing a button, a green beam of energy came to life in the shape of a wide sword blade that slowly tapered to a point. The blowing beam looked very much like a lightsabre, and was similar in many ways except that it could not slice easily through non-organic materials.

Moving easily twice as fast at the Nagai and human, Genesis closed on the targets, energy blade shimmering in hand.

[Ashe Sieris]

Ashe looked over Zereth's shoulder and saw the blue glowing eyes gaining on them. She slipped out of Zereth's arms, using the force to avoid tripping him, and grabbed her blaster. She drops to one knee and begins to shoot at the cyborg that was racing straight at them. While doing so, she reaches out with the force, searching for anything that could help them. Then she finds it.

"Zereth. Parked speed bike just below us in the ally way. Use it to get out of here. I will hold him off."

She glances over her shoulder at him, flinching slightly from the injury.

"Go. I'm just slowing you down..."

[Zereth Lancer]

She twisted in his grip, fighting to get out. So he released her, lest she hurt herself trying to get out on her own. She dropped to the ground and pulled a blaster out and began firing behind them. Zereth turned and saw the approaching cyborg, who was moving at an intense speed and closing on them quickly. Something had to be done.

"Go. I'm just slowing you down..."

He turned and looked down at the speeder, and then back at her, and then at the approaching assassin droid. Several senarios floated through his mind. Possible side-paths and endings floated around in his head in the gap of several seconds, and only one of them prevailed. His cloak fell from his shoulders, the clasps seeming to come undone on their own. It fell away to reveal his black trousers and sleeveless black tunic. He walked to the edge of the rooftop, watching the approaching cyborg.

He looked back, his red eyes meeting her's. "Never," He said softly before gritting his teeth, activating his lightsabre, and jumping off the edge of the rooftop with a growl forming in his throat. He hit the next rooftop at the same time as the cyborg and the two went rushing at each other. Zereth jumped, pivoted in the air, landed behind the cyborg facing it and brought his blade down with him, aiming it at the Cyborg's backside.

[Neo-Genesis]

A flash of red light ahead of Genesis inticated that Zereth Lancer had activated his laser weapon, as the female's weapon was purple rather then red. Genesis hit the rooftop and found itself barreling towards the primary target. The two rushed each other, but the agile Nagai jumped over it's head and landed behind it. Genesis reacted by diving forwards, rolling into a ball and skidding across the rooftop several feet before sticking it's feet out to stop itself from rolling off the edge of the builting.

Whipping around, Genesis eyed it's target through narrowed eyes, the blue irises glowed intensly in the darkness. A moment of stillness passed as both parties eyed each other, but did not dare move as they waited for the other to do so. Genesis moved first, darting forward with it's energy blade in hand. It rushed Zereth Lancer and, ducking low, slashed at the Sith Knight's thighs with enough force cyborg enhanced strength to cleave a bantha in half.

[Ashe Sieris]

Ashe watched Zereth sail over the gap in the buildings and over the cyborg before her. She lowered her blaster as the two began fighting. The cyborg had rolled to right infront of her. Her keen eyes saw into his and saw his human face and it startled her. How could something that looks that human act this inhuman.

She snaps out of her reverie and takes aim at the attacker and shot a few more rounds. Her blaster would not last long so she slipped it back into its holster before pulling out her lightsaber again. She raises her hand as the lightsabre activates and begins to summon shadows to her command again. They create tendrils near the android's feet and begin wrapping their way around his feet, slowing him down and causing him to, eventually, be unable to move his feet and legs.

[Zereth Lancer]

Zereth, in turn, ducked down and raised his sabre, angling the blade downward to intercept the incoming blade. The blades connected, but there was no flash of light and energy, or the static crackle associated with two lightsabres connecting. Instead the two blades simply connected and repelled each other. Which meant that whatever the android was using did not use lightsabre technology. It was something else entirely.

Zereth pushed off from the cyborg's blade and stepped back. He wanted to examine this adversary's techniques and weaponry before risking a full frontal assualt, and there was also some tendrils of manipulated darkness wrapping around it's legs. If it fell down, then Zereth would only need to finish it off.

[Neo-Genesis]

Foiled in it's attaack, Genesis attempted to push Zereth Lancer over, but instead it only aided in the Sith Knight's retreat. The retort of blaster fire caused it to raise it's left arm, from which a circular energy shield sprung to life and intercepted any shots that came close to hitting me. With that out of the way, it was time to silence the illusive Lancer.

Walking toward the Sith, Genesis realized that it's leg motors were not operating properly and were moving quite sluggishly. Glanding down, it saw black tendrils of some dark material attempting to entangle it's legs. Running an image of this through it's database produced no results. It was an anomaly, and therefore an unknown factor that could change the outcome of this engagement.

Rather then let it's leg become entangled by this material, Genesis instead squated down and then pushed itself up into the air, it's small body flying upwards and out of the darkness, but tearing free did reduce it's speed and free time. Activating a small micro-thrusted located in it's back, it propeled itself downward towards Lancer, with the intent of slicing him in half again.

[Ashe Sieris]

Ashe released the shadow tendrils to sink back into the darkness that they came from. She raises herself up slightly and flinches from her wound. She ignored the pain for now as her hand raised towards the cyborg. She focused on the force and the air around her and sent a wave of the force out at the cyborg, knocking him off corse and causing his sword to hit the ground a few feet away from Zereth. But she was over excerting her body and her own power. Her wound had opened up and was beginning to bleed. She growls slightly, pulling her cloak around her to hide her wound before calling out to Zereth.

"Zereth! We have to get out of here... its too strong!"

[Zereth Lancer]

As the unbalanced cyborg flew off to the side, Zereth dashed out from under it, rolling to safetly and barely dodging the blade that should have removed his head from his shoulders. Thankfully he had someone watching over him, for now. Run, run, run, was that all they could do?

He heard Ashe's cry, but he ignored it. Spinning around, he faced his foe again, but this time he was going to change the odds. He had always, even as an amateur acolyte, relied on his physical prowess and intelligence first, and his force powers last. Always last. It was for that sole reason that after his numerous years of practicing the darkside that his body had not yet begun deteriating.

The cyborg was charging again, and all Zereth did in reply was raise his fist, palm facing the approaching assassin. He opened his hand suddenly, fingers splayed, and a sharpened bolt of collected air particles short forth toward the Cyborg. These merged air particles formed a spear rather then a bubble, thus have a more piercing effect than the usual wide, explosive effect.

And it was headed straight for the Cyborg's center of mass; it's chest.

[Neo-Genesis]

.ERROR.

Something had thrown off it's descent, causing it to move away from the target as it fell towards the rooftop. This allowed for the target to run underneath and to the side of Genesis, and get away. It swiped at Lancer once with it's sword, but missed by a distance so small that scientists and mathmeticians did not have a word for it. This served to only infuriate Genesis more.

Hitting the ground, it instantly spun around and headed back towards Lancer, only to suddenly be hit in the chest by an invisible projectile. The force of the impact knocked Genesis of it's feet and on to it's back, it's energy weapon falling from it's hand as an electronic "burp" caused it's fingers to involuntarily spasm and open. The weapon skittered across the rooftop before coming to a rest several feet away.

System reports told Genesis that it's chest plate was breached and it was leaking cooling fluid. Several other systems were damaged, but not destroyed. Without cooling fluid flowing properly, it could not risk moving, or fighting especially, lest it power generator overheat. So it lay there, running what internal repairs that it could while making itself appear offline and destroyed to the best of it's pre-programmed abilities.

.ERror...

[Zereth Lancer]

Without even confirming the cyborg was down, Zereth whipped around and jump across the gap that seperated the two rooftops. Landing beside Ashe, he carefully picked her up and then ran to the edge of the rooftop. He did not jump off, he simply stepped into the air and fell to the durocrete walkway below. The landing jarred the bones in his legs, especially around his knees, but he ignored the pain and ran toward the speeder Ashe had pointed out before.

Setting her on first, Zereth climbed on behind her and pressed his finger against the activation slot while his other hand grabbed one of the wide handlebars. It needed a activation card to start, which likely was in the pocket of whichever person owend this vehicle. No matter. Zereth slipped his mind into that slot, found the activation stud, and slipped it into the appropriate position.

The speeder came to live.

Twisting the throttle and stepping on the accelerator pedal was all that was necessary to get the speeder into the air and zooming down the street. He did not dare look back to see if the Cyborg was following, because those precious miliseconds spent would take his eyes off the road, and there was more than a few obstacles to dodge, which included speeders, people, and, well, buildings. They exceeded the max speed limit for this sector by a lot, but that did not stop them. The local authorities were likely off chasing real criminals and could not be bothered dealing with a few thrill junkies.

Zereth pushed that speeder until the fuel cells ran out. Ditching it, they got in a cab, which took them halfway to the hotel Zereth was staying at, and then they got out and took another cab, this one going the long way. He left nothing to chance. Upon reaching the Hotel, Zereth carried Ashe in his arms through the lobby, but employed his masterful art of illusions to make it look like it was only him walking through the lobby. Everyone watching was fooled by the very realism of the illusion.

Taking the turbolift, Zereth headed up to the third floor, which deposited them into a hallway, which led them to a door, which in turn led into his hotel room.

Closing the door behind them, He set Ashe on the small, luxury couch near the door and then ran off into the small bedroom, only to return a moment later with what looked like a sack of gel in one hand and a wet tower in the other. Removing his make-shift bandage, he began mopping up the released blood with the towel, fighting to keep the blood flow under control. Once it was reduced to a trickle, he applied the bacta patch, taking extreme care to make sure it was properly adhered and unlikely to fall off any time soon.

"How are you feeling?" He ask once he finished.

[Ashe Sieris]

Ashe had felt his arms scoop her up and alowed it to happen. Being placed on the speed bike, she slipped her blaster into its holster slowly and closed her eyes a moment. When she felt him slide on behind her, she leaned back, her strength weening. She kept her cloak close around her, hiding the wound from prying eyes and keeping the blood from dripping to the ground and leaving a trail for their attacker to follow.

Vehicle change to vehicle change, Zereth could tell she was getting weaker from the blood loss. Finaly, the two made it to the hotel. Every step sent another wave of pain twitching through her, causing her to flinch slightly. Her fingers curled weakly into the fabric of his tunic, as if desprately trying to hold on and fight the pain.

Finaly, safe within the room, she is layed down on the bed, her eyes half open and barely coherant. As he bandaged her wound, her eyes watched him silently. Some unknown emotion was hidden within her eyes, but he could see that it was still there. What it was is a different matter. The most he could tell is confussion. She looks away as he finished bandageing her.

"How are you feeling?"

For a long moment, she is silent and doesn't move. Finaly, her voice comes out, softly.

"Why did you not leave me behind...?"

[Zereth Lancer]

Zereth shushed her by pressing his finger against her lips. "Ssh. You lost a lot of blood. You need to rest," He whispered before gently picking her up and carrying her into the connected bedroom. Laying her down on the bed, he slipped a pillow under her head and laid a light blanket over her body. A light sedative was injected into her arm to help her sleep and stay asleep. It would take a few moments for it to kick it, but hopefully not too long. Every moment she stayed awake increased the chance of her not recovering properly. She needed sleep, to regenerate the lost blood. If he had extra blood to give her, he would have set her up for that already, but there was no extra blood, and his own was likely incapatable due to it's genetic alterations, and he was not going to take her to a hospital. Too many questions asked. He also would not stoop as low as to steal blood. Killing, yes, but stealing, no. He was a honorable warrior, not a lowly thief. When he killed people, he made sure they had a weapon in their hand first, giving them a sporting chance.

The pity was that he always killed them in the end.

"Now sleep..." He whispered.

[Ashe Sieris]

She turns her head to look at him. She flinched slightly as the sedative had been injected into her. Her tired eyes watched him the entire time he moved around her. The pain from her wound still corsed through her body every now and then, but it was fading quickly as the bacta took affect and as the sedative began to take affect. Finaly she spoke again.

"Are you going to leave? Or will you be here when I wake?"

[Zereth Lancer]

"I'll still be here. Now sleep," He stretched out his hand to her, but it fell short. His finger's twitched, and he entered her fragile mind. Whatever barriers she may have had were shattered by the shock of the wound she recieved. He easily entered, found the correct location in her brain, and flipped that switch between "awake" and "sleep". Before she knew it, she was gone. Asleep. Would she dream or have nightmares? Who could tell?

"I'll be right here," He said, moving around the bed and sitting down on the other side of it, reading his back against the giant backboard of the rather luxuriously large bed. He watched her sleep.

[Ashe Sieris]

Dreams are such strange things.
A darkness all around her, Ashe searches for a way out. The darkness changes into Yavin 4's surface, near one of the many temples she knew of. A faded image of a young girl stood beside the entrance to the temple. A hooded figure is knelt down several feet away. Ashe tries to tell the figure to stop the girl. But when she touches the shoulder of the figure, the body just falls back, cloak falling, empty.
Ashe rushes to stop the girl from touching the rune. But too late. Shadow tendrils erupted from the rune, wrapped around the girl and around Ashe, yanking the two into itself.
Ashe fell into darkness. She landed on soft ground and looked around. There was nothing but shadows. Her eyes darted about. When she looked down, she noticed she was standing in a pool of blood. She looked at herself and saw the wound she had recieved from the cyborg bleeding down her side and dripping into the pool. She collapsed to her knees and looked forward. A pair of glowing red eyes looked at her from the darkness. She reached out for it but couldn't get to them. Finally, she fell unconcious...

----

Ashe suddenly woke, sitting up quickly and giving a slight gasp. A twinge of pain in her side made her grunt, slightly. Her hand went to her side and she looked down and saw the bacta pack. The solution was mostly gone, but her wound was almost all healed. She sighs slightly and looks around.

The room was empty, but there were signs of someone having been in there in the past hour or so. The bed beside her looked as though someone had been lieing there but had gotten up a while ago. She stood up and wrapped grabed her robe, wraping it around her and tieing it off, covering up the close to empty bactapack and bandages.

It had been a day and a half sense she had taken the injury from the Cyborg. She barely even remembered seeing the room when Zereth had brought her in. She couldn't even remember the details of a few nights ago.

Slowly, she walked out of the empty bedroom of the hotel room. She looked around to see if anyone was even in the quarters with her. Her head was still a bit groggy, so using the force was not something she was willing to risk right now.

[Zereth Lancer]

"Awake already?" Zereth asked as he looked through the large window that took up the entire back wall of the main room of the apartment. Outside airships darted back and forth, and down below speeders moved about. Ord Mantell, like Coruscant, was a city that never slept. It's airways and streets were always bustling with an activity that never ceased, never slept, never died out. The galaxy could be coming to an end and the streets and airways would still be filled with people, people who were blinded by lies and incapable of grasping the truth. Cattle, that is what they are. The Empire's cattle. They grazed, but were always led to the slaughter one day by the velvet gloved hand of the Empire. If only they knew that beneath that glove existed an iron fist.

Turning away from the window, he faced her. His red eyes were rather dull now, barely luminious and tired looking. His chin was covered in a thin patch of black stubble, which seemed quite out of place in his normally perfectly groomed appearance. He looked tired, and he was. He had not slept during the entire time she had been resting. He could not let hid guard down for a moment, lest the cyborg return.

"How do you feel?" He asked for the second time in several days.

[Ashe Sieris]

Ashe turned her gaze away from him, looking out at the city scape that surrounded the hotel. The bowl-like buildings were much different from the sharp points of the buildings of Coruscant. But it still had much of the same feel to it. She slowly and quietly walks over to the window. Her eyes gaze across the horizon, almost in a trance like state. She suposed that there had been no sign of the cyborg sence they had left it behind on the roof top, several days ago.

"I'm alright... But why didn't you leave me there?"

[Zereth Lancer]

He turned away, looking once again back out the window. He had never in his life missed the city life, it was too much for him to handle. He liked things quiet and simple, away from the mundane efforts of man. He simply could not stand watching people throw their lives away.

A sigh escaped his lips.

"Because I still had not been granted your forgiveness. I could not allow your death before then, nor would I regardless. I am not that kind of person."

[Ashe Sieris]

She felt tears welling up in her eyes as she looked across the city. She wasn't even sure why. Confusion clouded her mind. Thoughts raced across it about him. What sort of a man is he, then? A sith, a dark jedi? An honorless evil creature, or an honor bound man? What sort of man assisted in the torture and interogation of a renegade jedi that already had lost most of her hope, and then the next time they meet, he saves her life as if he cared? What sort of man went back and forth constantly on the way he acted. She clenched her eyes shut and lowered her head, not alowing the tears to fall from her eyes. She would not alow him to think of her as being weak again. She had shown that to him too many times already. She would not alow it to continue.

"And what sort of man are you, Zereth Lancer... The kind that acts like a careing person one day, then a monster created for torture the next, and then again, the next time we meet, begging for forgiveness of what you have done? What is to happen tomorrow? Shall I loose my head because of you? Will you break me or try to seduce me to the dark side?"

She raises her head to look at him, the faintest trace of the tears still left in her eyes. Her eyes and her aura gave away the pain she was trying so desprately to hide within herself and to not alow him to see it. She took a deep breath, trying to calm herself.

"What sort of man will you be the next time I see you? Who are you, Zereth Lancer?"

[Zereth Lancer]

It was strange how she had known him for so short a time, yet she knew him so well. A monster one moment and a savior the next, the very story of his life. She wanted answers, she wanted them now, but he was unwilling to give the answers. No one knew who he was, he preferred it that way. Those with enough courage to ask ended up without answers and occasionally five feet under the ground. What could he say? That he did not trust her, that she could not handle the truth? Why would she believe him, anyways? A rogue super-soldier prototype who has lived for over a hundred years and spent most of that time learning various fighting styles, prominantly the ancient arts of Ninjutsu and Bushido, and had then become a sith despite his Bushido believes. Why would she ever believe such a tale. Why would he, a creature of courage and honor ever side with the darkness of the sith? The answer was easy, because he'd always been an evil, power hungry person.

"I hold no answers to the future, that is for the Gods to know, not man," He replied, still looking out the window. "I am Death's advocate, and that is all the need know. My past is... irrelevent. Who I am is what you see. I hide nothing."

Truths anmd half-truths, but no lies. He did not lie, it was not his way. but he was more than willing to beat around the bush, to hide the true meanings behind verbal facades. A master of illusions, he was not used to even being this truthful and forward. Why did she have to do this to him, to change him. He disliked change. He liked things to remain consistent, as they had with the Sith Order. Yet, consistency breeds decay, which is why he left the Sith Order, but was still very much a sith.

And she spoke of seduction, of him turning her to the darkness, when the truth was she kept turning him to face the light. Seduction was not his game, and had only occured once, with the pale beauty Shilandra. Whatever happened to her? She had just up and disapeared, right as they're relationship was taking off. Yet, he felt nothing anymore for that former flame, only an emptiness she could never fill, an emptiness no one had ever filled. Some could cover it, but never fill it. An empty hole in his soul, one of many. Would they ever be filled, or was he condemned to be empty forever. He had only his honor to cling to, and that was rapidly degenerating as the darkside gripped him harder with each passing day.

[Ashe Sieris]

She gives him a sideways look. Thoughts drifted to the first day they had met. She bites the inside of her cheak and blinks once, trying to calm herself again. She takes a deep breath before she continues.

"And what of the first day we met? You are not the man that you were that day. That day you were just a man who was out having fun with someone you just met. Learning about the person and spending time with them. Back then, you were not who you were showing me. You were showing me just a normal person. But the truth of what you were was hidden deep within you. I was not to find out until months later. What of now? How am I to know that you do not hold other darker secrets within yourself that you are just not telling me...?"

[Zereth Lancer]

Zereth did not meet her gaze and continued to look out the window. "When we first met, that evening in the rain, I had been trying to be a normal person. Oh, how I would try, but to no avail. I am not a normal person. I am a sith, Ashe, but a sith who does not follow all the mandates of the sith and whom follows mandates of the Jedi as well. If not for my power, my fellow sith would have cast me out long ago for my beliefs. If not for their own lack of devotion, I would still be among them today. I have always been the person you see now. Just sometimes I feel the need to cover it up, to pretend to be normal. Everyone has a desire to fit in, even one such as I. I stopped that long ago. There is no where for me to fit in. There is no Zereth shaped shaped hole in the galaxy for my puzzle piece to fit. I am a monster, and monsters exist solely to be destroyed by a hero."

Finally he cast his crimson gaze down upon her face, "And who are you to speak of dark secret?" he ask, not angrily, but with the same even, slow paced voice. "What of the sith rune that is engraved upon your hand, Ashe? Even I, a sith of monstrous qualities, does not possess such a sign of evil upon my body. It would appear that I am not the only one with dark secrets," He concluded and then returned to looking out the window.

[Ashe Sieris]

Ashe lowers her eyes to the palm of her right hand where the sith rune of shadows was burnt into her flesh. It constantly taunted her and tempted her. Her mind dodged across the memory of how she recieved the wound. She shakes her head then closes her hand into a fist, lowering it to her side. Her gaze is determined as she turns her head to look back at Zereth. Their eyes connected and she studies him for a long moment before her voice escapes her lips, slowly and calmly.

"Your eyes show you for what you truely are. Not many humans have eyes of that color, Zereth. I have never seen any other then yourself. Mind explaining that one to me? For I am rather confused as to how you would have something such as that and yet you claim to have no marks on your body showing you to be evil..."

[Zereth Lancer]

"You assume too much, Ashe," He replied, blinking his eyes several times at their mention. "These are not a source of evil, but rather the result of genetic tampering, but that is all I can say, for I know nothing more beyond that," How pitiful was that statement, that he did not know the exact origins of his eyes. Everyone else in the galaxy knew the origin of their eyes. They were born with them, usually resembling shape and color of their parents, but not Zereth. His were the result of Zanon cutting his eyes out, fiddling with them, and sticking them back in, for lack of a better way of putting it. What he had done exactly was unknown, but his eyes were red, luminous, and glowed at different intensities in accordance to his emotional state. What a genius this Zanon must have been. Pity he was dead now and all his secrets lost, along with all knowledge of his past.

A revelation hit him, and he began erecting his mental shields again, hiding his current thoughts from Ashe. He did not want her to know his past, at all costs. He did not want her pity, nor did he feel he needed it. Pity was for the weak.

[Ashe Sieris]

She sighs slightly and growls. She was getting no where with him and it did nothing but frustrate her and drive at her nerves. She remains quiet for a long moment, stareing at the window, trying to control her annoyance and anger at him not trusting her or telling her anything. She was a jedi, why would he not trust her? Her eyes dodged across the city scape out the window, as if searching for an answer to her anger and frustration. Finaly, it was just too much for her. She turns quickly to fully face and grabs his arm, pushing him to try to get him to face her. Her voice trembles as she speaks to him, barely containing herself.

"Why do you not trust me, Zereth? What have I done to cause you to mistrust me? You know much about me. You knew I was jedi months before I knew that you were even force sensative, let alone a sith... Do you not trust me just because we are on different sides of the force?"

She stares up at him, trying to keep eye contact with him. She searches for answers within him and his eyes, scared and hopefull at the same time.

"What is it, Zereth? What have I done?"

[Zereth Lancer]

She forcefully grabbed him and turned him. How he could so easily have batted her aside or resisted her push, but he let her move him, he let her rotate him, to turn away from the window to face her. "I will not have you share my burden," He replied, a bit harsher then he desired. "Ashe..." He continued, his voice softening and his arms coming out to hold her shoulders, "You have so much to deal with already. I cannot abide you becoming more burdened down. Who I am, what I am, my past, my life, knowing the answers would only weigh you down more. You have a long, bright future ahead of you, and I would not have that darkened. Nothing good would come from you knowing the answers. It is not a matter of trust, it is a matter of how much I care for your well-being." To know the truth is to become attached and there is no future between us. You are a angel of light, I'm a monster of darkness. We are incapable. I cannot allow myself to hurt you more... Those were the words he wanted to add, desperately so, but stopped himself from uttering.

He released her shoulders and turned once again to the window, his hands folding behind his back. "I am sorry..."

[Ashe Sieris]

She felt her anger riseing out of her control. How could he be this calm and collected about this when she, the jedi, was freaking out? How could he affect her this way and cause her emotions to flair like this time and time again. The force around her rippled and the shadows quivered from her emotions rising as they were. She took a step towards him and grabbed his arm again, forceing him to look at her once again. She was tired of him pushing her away like he was. So many emotions were rising in her that she couldn't even figure out which was which. So she just lashed out.

"Why do you keep pushing me away? What is wrong with me? What is wrong with you??"

She growled at him and pushed on his chest, not strongly, but enough to cause him to take a step or two backwards. Tears were welling up in her eyes again.

"I am not afraid of your past! You are the only one afraid of Your past. Afraid that I will judge you on it and hate you because of it. Your past is what makes you what you are. I am not afraid of what you are! I do not Hate what you are!"

She gives him another slight push, weaker then last time.

"You just... I... Gah!"

She turns quickly, growling. She steps away from him and sits down, heavily, on the couch, sighing.

"You just dont get it, Zereth..."

Her eyes raise to look at him and he can see tears dripping down her face.

"I am not afraid of you... I am not afraid of your past... I just want to help you."

She sighs again and shakes her head, lowering her eyes. The shadows had returned to their places as her mood calmed...

"I just want to help."

[Zereth Lancer]

He was taken off guard by her sudden shove to his chest, which forced him to take a single step backwards in order to maintain his balance. She screamed and ranted at him, and all he could do was keep his face straight and unfocused his eyes, lest he focus on her face and break down emotionally. Her argument was sound and concrete, but that would not sway him to open up to her. He could not, he would not. It was not his way, and he had lived his life by his rules for a long time. He broke then on occasion, as he did with Ambrose, but not now. He had to be stoic.

As she sat down, he walking over behind the couch, his back facing her. "I cannot be helped, Ashe," He whispered, barely audible, and then turned away, walking to the door. Pressing the pad on the wall beside the door, which caused it so slide open whisper quiet. Looking back once, his eyes faded from red to black, his sorrow betrayed in his eyes. "I will not have you corrupted by my evil," And with that he turned his head about and walked out the door, which closed behind him.

He had to get off Ord Mantell, lest she follow him. The docking bay where his ship, the Star of Oblivion, was kept was not far from here. He could reach it in a matter of minutes and be off the planet in a half-hour. He needed to put some distance between himself and Ashe, lest he return to her...

[Ashe Sieris]

Ashe sat there for a long time, just thinking. Chasing after him would do her no good. He had made it rather clear he did not want her in his life. There was nothing more for her to do then to just disappear again. And thats what she planned on doing....

[Zereth Lancer]

Please help me cuz I'm breaking down
This picture's frozen, and I can't get out
Please help me cuz I'm breaking down
This picture's frozen, and I can't get out of here
Release me, I'm just as lost as you
Believe me, I'm just as lost as you

And every time I think I've finally made it
I learn I'm farther away than I have ever been before
I see the clock and its ticking away
And the hourglass empty
What the freck do I have to say

Please help me cuz I'm breaking down
This picture's frozen, and I can't get out
Please help me cuz I'm breaking down
This picture's frozen, and I can't get out of here
Release me, I'm just as lost as you
Believe me, I'm just as lost as you

Keep it inside, the image portrayed
As if I couldn't stand losing, as if I couldn't be saved, no way
A small confession, I think I'm starting to lose it
I think I'm drifting away from the people I really need
A small reflection on when we were younger
We had it all figured out, cuz we had everything covered
Now we're older, it's getting harder to see
What this future will hold for us
What the freck are we going to be

Please help me cuz I'm breaking down
This picture's frozen, and I can't get out
Please help me cuz I'm breaking down
This picture's frozen, and I can't get out of here
Release me, I'm just as lost as you
Believe me, I'm just as lost as you

Lost
Lost
Lost
Lost
Lost
Lost
Lost
Lost
I'm just as lost as you, what am I gonna do?

I'm afraid I'm falling farther away
I'm falling farther away
I'm falling farther from where I wanna be
I'm afraid I'm falling farther away
I'm falling farther away
I'm falling farther away..

Please help me cuz I'm breaking down
This picture's frozen, and I can't get out
Please help me cuz I'm breaking down
This picture's frozen, and I can't get out of here
Release me, I'm just as lost as you
Believe me, I'm just as lost as you
I'm just as lost as you

The End...