Hatebreed: Trials and Tribulations

[Gitane Van Derveld]

"Vega... Veeega......Wake up, Love..."

The familiar voice rang through the Sith Lord's mind as a blurred figure called to him through the darkness. Was it a trick? The remnants of a forgotten dream?

"Vega ...Vega!"

At the last call, the voice lost its gentle haze. Vega pryed his eyes open with annoyance to see whom it was that was pestering him. Taunting him. The air around him was dark, chilled. Through the darkness, the sillohuette of a lone female stood above him, a set of ivory eyes, the only visible feature, gazed down at him. Small, sharp teeth flashed into a grinning smirk.

"You're finally awake.. Always were stuborn, even upon waking up."

The figure leapt up, seeming to disappear until he noticed that the dark outline was crouched down upon his stomach, without so much as an impression of weight against him. The woman leaned her face down close enough that they were nearly touching. Only then could he see the jade skin and X-shaped scar of Gitane. His deceased wife.

"Hello there, my dearest Vega."

Gitane grinned slowly, the same loving tenderness still spread through her features. Her fingers seemed to brush past his cheek without him feeling anything more than a frozen breeze.

"Have you missed me?"

[Vega Van-Derveld]

"Have you missed me?"

Staring up into the pure white eyes of the previously dead woman, Vega froze. He remembered vividly seeing her dead body when he had attempted to ressurrect her. He and Xanatos had tried with all their abilities to transfer her soul from the body of Kerri Maximillian - the one which Darius destroyed - into her original Falleen form.

"Y-yes..."

He stammered his words. In the time she'd been one, Vega had obsessed over many women, and every time the result was the same - they left him. He didn't question this, as he thought it was purely because of their own faults, not his. All the while he'd told himself Gitane was weak and feeble, and that was why she had died; but if that was so ...

... how could she be here now.

[Gitane Van Derveld]

A warm smile spread over her lips before Gitane bent her head lower to kiss Vega. However, instead of the feeling of heated flesh against his own, a cold breath touched his lips. She slipped her legs to either side of his stomach and sat up, her fingers seeming to toy with his shirt, although there was very little feeling of her doing so.

Her lips twisted into a sneering grin as she looked at him. Even with the solid color of her eyes, one could see every emotion she felt. A seething anger burned through the pupilless ivory, despite the joyous look on the rest of her features.

"That's a shame, really... Because I didn't miss you."

[Vega Van-Derveld]

Though his face remained blank his eyes showed what he was feeling - another rejection added to the endless collection he stored away inside. Vega swallowed down his pride and gingerly brought one hand to touch Gitanes, to test whether she was actually there. He doubted her presence simply because there was no feeling of pressure on his body, and she seemed almost transparent in the shadows.

"...You didn't?"

[Gitane Van Derveld]

"How could I miss something like you?"

She nearly spat at the last word, pulling her hand away from his before he could draw close enough to touch it. A scowl grew on her lips as she stood, staring down at him.

[Vega Van-Derveld]

A pout edged onto his lips.

"You love me... isn't that reason enough?" he said in a voice that was almost a whine.

[Gitane Van Derveld]

"Love you..?" A giggle started growing in her mouth. "Love you?" Gitane gave a loud laugh before crouching again.

"How blind you are, Vega..."

She sighed and tilted her head.

"Nothing's ever loved you, and nothing ever will..."

She sneered and leapt up to stand a foot away from him.

"..Why do you think you've had to pass yourself around like a free whore?"

[Vega Van-Derveld]

In a second pity turned to anger, and anger in turn to rage as Vega leapt from his lying position into a perch on the end of his bed. Mentally, he restrained himself from lashing out at 'Gitane', whilst physically he clenched his fists and gritted his teeth, speaking in rasps.

"Whore?! Better a whore than weakling who fell to a mere child!"

[Gitane Van Derveld]

"My time in that life was up! It was better he live than I.."

A deep growl rose from her chest as she paced around him. Kneeling by his side, Vega could see the fierce tears that glistened in her eyes. Her chest heaved with trembling breaths. The cold mask was breaking.

[Vega Van-Derveld]

It was hard to tell what Gitane was feeling. He could not sense any emotions from her, therefore had to base all judgements on her physical show. Her forming tears he could see, though whether or not they were real ...

"... No. His life was and is unimportant in comparison with yours,"

Even if they weren't real, she was successfully playing him like a harp.

[Gitane Van Derveld]

"..Is that why you cherish him closer than you ever had me?"

She frowned slowly, her head jerking away from his direct view, her fingertips absently clawing the covers of his bed.

[Vega Van-Derveld]

"How am I to possibly embrace a dead woman?"

Frustration struck him.

"Perhaps I did not treat you as I should have done, but it's not like I have a chance to correct my errors with you! Darius was all that remains as a link to you... surely you can understand why I have watched over him so closely."

[Gitane Van Derveld]

"Galatea..."

Her eyes stared at the ground as she murmured the name.

"She's your own flesh and blood... Neither Sith, nor Jedi. Simply a daughter."

She turned slowly to look at him, a tear dropping to hit his cheek as her head bent over his.

"Shall you embrace her death as you have mine and Thanatos'?"

[Vega Van-Derveld]

"What else am I to do? Grieve? We are Sith, we do not grieve, we embrace death ... "

Staring up into the burning white eyes, Vega sighed heavy-heartedly.

"... But she shuns me, she will not love me, there is nothing I can do about that."

[Gitane Van Derveld]

"You grieve for Athena."

Gitane closed her eyes and sat up, hugging her knees.

[Vega Van-Derveld]

"I grieved for you also ... I tried to bring you back,"

He replied stubbornly, easing his eyes closed also.

[Gitane Van Derveld]

"Vega... Do you think others will grieve your death?"

She lift her head slightly to look at him, her lips hidden behind her knees, covering a slow grin.

[Vega Van-Derveld]

"My passing will be like any other," he said reluctantly.

"My name is written in water, and the memory of me will fade as another steps in to take my place.."

[Gitane Van Derveld]

"How about we test that theory?"

Her hand disappeared beneath the cloak before a silver gleam shone from within her grasp. A long dagger was slowly exposed, the blade seeming to be reaching from a dragon's golden mouth.

[Vega Van-Derveld]

He may have been sympathetic towards Gitane, but he had no hesistation in lunging out to grab her wrist, before cracking it around so that she was unable to move it. He held the hand with the dagger in it against his chest, tearing away the knife.

"How about you remember which of us is the Master in this relationship?"

[Gitane Van Derveld]

"Mmn... Yes, true. You were my Master..."

She grinned softly and snapped her hand forward, pressing it tightly to his throat.

"But you forget... I'm dead. I have nothing to fear of it. You have your life."

[Vega Van-Derveld]

Vega rasped out a growl before lashing out with a Force push to send Gitane across the room from him. He glared across the room at her.

"Why are you plaguing me like this?!"

He rose one clenched fist, which quickly became encircled with electric tendrils.

[Gitane Van Derveld]

"Because, my dear..."

Gitane shoved herself up and glared at him.

"It's time you understand what you are. The filth. The monster. The lonely little boy playing God, taking lives as he pleases."

[Vega Van-Derveld]

She was right, he was just a little boy, but he'd never admit it.

"I don't need to play God, I AM God! I hold the fate of the masses in MY hands!"

His voice had escalated into a roar now, his face becoming red.

[Gitane Van Derveld]

"Is that so..?"

She paced towards him carefully, the thin fabric of her cloak swirling in the air.

"Then why were you unable to bring me back? Why did you have to send a child to kill your son? Why can't you keep anything near you?"

[Vega Van-Derveld]

Visibly, he was straining to keep what little composure he had left; with veins throbbing on his temples.

"I DON'T NEED TO ANSWER TO YOU!"

The Force lightning that had been massing on his forearm spiralled out wildly into the ceiling and walls, shattering the concrete and scorching the steel. The dark energy surged through his body, draining him at a rapid pace before he eventually captured himself and ceased the chaos.

[Gitane Van Derveld]

"Then answer yourself!"

Her hand slapped against his cheek in midst of the sparking energy. She growled lowly, her head leaning towards his.

"You know that all of these thoughts... these questions... They're all from you. You want to know why everything happens. But you're too scared to find the truth. You're too afraid to admit that you're not all you say you are. You call me a weakling for being defeated by a child? You can't even defeat yourself.."

[Vega Van-Derveld]

Hand still in midair, Vega shook visibly.

"...L-lies,"

He looked to Gitane, unsure of how to act, unsure of himself, knowing what she was saying was the truth.

[Gitane Van Derveld]

"The only lies are the ones you keep telling yourself..."

She lifted her hand, wrapping her fingers slowly over his own hand. Her grasp tightened very slowly, cracking each joint in his hand carefully.

"Stop this pathetic cherade you've set up for yourself. Open your eyes to the world around you! Face your flaws before your become them and only them"

[Vega Van-Derveld]

As the bones shattered slowly in his fingers, Vega gasped and almost crumpled backwards. He wanted to strike back, but couldn't bring himself to do so. Under his ribcage, his heart thudded and sent ripples of pain through his every fibre, making him feel weaker by the moment.

"I...I can't.."

[Gitane Van Derveld]

She released his fingers, pushing him back against his bed before looking at him, a faint, taunting grin on her lips.

"You've already begun."

[Vega Van-Derveld]

He hit the bed, cracking it under his weight as he toppled onto the splittered wood.

"... I don't understand."

[Gitane Van Derveld]

"You let down your mask."

She called the dagger to her hand and held it by the silver point, the hilt facing him.

"Now defeat your fears. Your flaws. Kill each sin of slaughter."

[Vega Van-Derveld]

He took the dagger firmly in his hand and looked at the blade, eyes darting between it and his 'apprentice'.

"... I can't, I don't know how," he choked.

[Gitane Van Derveld]

Gitane crawled onto his lap, leaning down to whisper against his lips, a small grin on her own.

"What do you think I am..? Your wife? I'm everything wrong about you.."

[Vega Van-Derveld]

"You want me to destroy you...?"

His breathing was paced so unevenly now that when he inhaled he was gasping for air.

[Gitane Van Derveld]

Giggling coldly, she pushed herself to sit up.

"Not really.. I rather enjoy torturing you. Seeing the big, brave God become a sniveling little child so easily. It's quite the opposite.. I know you can't destroy me. So..."

She giggled again, tilting her head before pulling his torso up to kiss him rather passionately.

"..I'll just destroy you."

[Vega Van-Derveld]

What was he supposed to do? Go along with it, destroy her, destroy himself? His mind became overloaded with ideas, plans and memories as he leant his head backwards with a deep groan.

"Never..."

With a lazy beginning, he drove his palm against her stomach and dug his nails against the flesh, dark energy seering through his finger tips into her being, with the feeling of knives pricking at her.

[Gitane Van Derveld]

A surprised look froze on the woman's face as Vega's fingers sank into her flesh. She let out a shuddering scream, a sharp, cold breeze swirling through the darkness of the room. Shadows leapt and tore through the rubble, encasing it before any sign of damage, or of her was gone. A dull light of early morning glowed in the room, only an echoing of screams remaining.

[Vega Van-Derveld]

The dagger was gone, as was every sign that Gitane had been here. Still though, the room was wrecked, and Vega himself was in terrible shape. With a few stumbling steps, he got to his feet and made his way through the darkness to the door out into the hallway (http://pub59.ezboard.com/fthesempirefrm2.showMessage?topicID=312.topic) ...