Old Friendships, New Wounds (Xazor)

[Sage Hazzard]

Why did she turn on me? How could she do it? Why did she make me... do that to her? Did I really slap her? I swear... I could have sworn it was someone else I was hitting. She's changed somehow. She was never completely innocent... but now she has none of her niavity about her, her mind is in fact complete and closed to new ideas now. She knows her path now and sadly... I have a feeling she's becoming me. May the Force save her if that's so... for I'm lost.

He was standing in the center ring of a large concrete circle. It had five carved rings originating from the center. It was a battling pad... Actually, it was Sage's creation, just now. He cut the rings into the plain stone. His sabre was still ignited, the ground still hot from his carve. This would be a place where it'd be settled. He'd ask her what she was thinking... acting like him, killing Sith simply because they lived. Sage had no problem with doing it himself... but he'd be damned if she'd do it. Somehow, he knew she'd killed her share of people in her time... but maybe he foolishly wanted to keep her hands clean now. Keep them clean from blood.

"Come in. I know you're here."

He could sense her approaching. He'd left a message on her message service. She would undoubtedly know what it meant. It simply read:

Come to where I know you'll find me. You can find me anywhere. I know it. How you leave me though... is up to you.

He kept the one sabre ignited and ignited his other. He closed his eyes, looking down on his now finished center ring, trying to draw peace and solice from the simple shape. He didn't.

"Answer for yourself, Xazor. Why?"

[Xazor Elessar]

Indeed Xazor was near and she heard Sage call her out. From the depths of the shadows a figure clad in black robes came forth, hooded and hidden in the darkness. One hand rested upon the hilt of her Lightsaber -- the very weapon that Sage himself had given her the day of her promotion to Jedi Knight.

"Answer for yourself, Xazor. Why?"

Somehow his words tore at her heart -- deeper than the words she had spoken to him earlier this day had. Still she hurt from the proceedings gone down outside of the Bar and Grill. A sigh escaped her lips yet he heard it not as she drew near him.

"Answer what, Sage?"

She questioned in a tone unlike her innocent self. The voice was deeper and perhaps -- dark. Her bright cyan eyes fell to the floor as she lifted a hand and removed the hood of her cloak. Her long blonde hair spilled out behind her into their formal Garou Warrior Braids. Silver coins were woven into each lock and as they fell they clanged together softly until utter silence engulfed the space and the room around them. Her eyes were shadowed by guilt but not only that -- perhaps anger as well. Upon her left cheek she bore a handprint red and defined -- his handprint.

"I know not what to answer, for was it not you that struck a comrad -- a friend?"

The hand upon the saber tensed as she noted he weilded two. Her eyes flickered down to the design upon the floor. She knew he had made it, it was not there before. Somehow she figured this would not be a conversation with words but perhaps more would come from this and the Knight hoped it would not escalate to that -- but it appeared hope of diplomacy was lost.

"All my time here at the Order was spent trying to live up to your name, Sage. I wanted to be just like you."

She began circling him slowly as her mind remained clear. The woman awaited any warning in the Force that perhaps he would make a move and strike her again. For now, the trust between them was broken and was in need of repair -- but that would wait. Indeed, Xazor was heavy with child but to make her point, she would risk it all. Suddenly she stopped before him, her eyes moving to look deeply into those of Sage -- perhaps, they even softened as she looked upon the man she cared so deeply for. He was like a Brother, but more than that -- he was her best friend, the one she trusted most here. He was always there for her and she for him.

"What happened to us?"

The words were broken and cracked just like the meaning behind them as Xazor drew out her lightsaber and with one press of the ignition switch, two blue blades shot forth from each end of the hilt. Love hummed gently in Xazor's right hand as she carefully detached the sabers from the middle forming two blue bladed weapons. It felt good to hold them once again for being out of the fighting scene many months had made her long for battle -- but not with a friend -- not here and now.

"And why did it ever come to this, Sage?"

Again the words were broken and a tone of emptiness hung upon them. It was the moment of truth now. Would he attack her, or would her instincts take over? Would she live up to the title she had secretly held now for the longest time? She, The Lost Jedi, was on the spot facing one so much like her he surely understood everything going through her mind at that very moment. He too faced these things daily and Xazor knew -- she knew.

[Sage Hazzard]

Sage's face couldn't help but twitch as he saw the handprint. Had I hit her that hard? He couldn't deny it though, he had hit her, there was no running from that now.

"You, you... want to be like me?"

Sage's face turned red and for few precious seconds, he was angry. Something a Jedi must never be, especially someone as powerful as Sage.

"You fool!"

He nearly leapt at her and might as well have, for he had ran close to her, his sabres raising from his side... then he stopped, forcing himself to stop, to calm.

"No, I won't allow this. You are with child! This cycle cannot continue!"

Sage had feared she had turned into him, but now he relised her child would in turn become her. No, he wouldn't aid in the next generation's destruction. He was sacrificing himself to these causes but he never wanted that burden for others. For it killed him a little each day.

"What happened to us? What happened to you! I cannot let you become a monster! Don't make me stop you," he pleaded. "Please."

This was indeed what he did, his burden. To kill all Darksiders and all... Jedi who became them. Sage always knew he walked that line where it nearly became gray but he could always escape the Dark Side allures... but could she? He couldn't let her turn, never, that would be worse than her death.

[Xazor Elessar]

Xazor growled deeply and thrust her sabers before her in a defensive crossing block forming the letter "X" before her body.

"Do not advance on me when I have done nothing wrong."

She locked her eyes upon her friend -- at least, she still considered him so. An inward sigh fell upon Xazor as she kept her guard up and watched him carefully.

"Nothing happened to me. I am the same person, Sage -- in fact, I am in control of my anger more so than I used to be. Much more than I can say for you."

The words were meant to hurt him, but she knew not why she felt the need to. 'He's my friend! What am I doing?' she thought to herself as her gaze became distant momentarily before drawing back upon his face.

"If this is all about my desire to rid the galaxy of Darksiders who will not conform and who insist on needlessly taking lives, then I must defend my platform. Sage -- I do what I do because I have been trained to do it. I was once a Sith myself and the blood millions is upon my hands. I took the lives of thousands of Jedi and in turn killed millions of people. I will make up for what I did by making sure that it can't happen to a comrad or worse -- a friend."

She gritted her teeth as she spoke, keeping her tongue in check from the anger that boiled within her heart. How the wolf within her reared its head, but Xazor could not allow it to show itself this day. The Garou Knight shifted her weight uncomfortably and eyed her friend with curiousity.

"Why do you do this Sage? Do you think that I am falling? Is that what you think? Do you think I am an uncapable Jedi? Do you think I should even be a Jedi Knight? Maybe you would like to see me back in the position of a learner? Perhaps you should -- punish me, if you think you see fit."

With each word she moved forward on him, holding her sabers strong before her, not backing down or loosing ground. Slowly the stance moved from defensive to one of offense. Now she was half way between the two and could move either way if Sage suddenly attacked for no reason. Somehow she knew that he was not here just to talk -- he wanted much more than that.

[Sage Hazzard]

Sage's face became locked into stone.

"You desearve the rank of Knight but you do indeed have much to learn! The Jedi protect the innocent not hunt and destroy the wicked."

What was he saying? Those weren't his words, they were the words of all those Jedi he opposed. The ones who'd wait for an attack instead of stopping it. But for some reason, he'd rather see her as one of them, instead of one of his.

"Punishment is not the issue here. It is respect for the Jedi ways," again, he wasn't speaking for himself. "And a lesson you must be taught. That you should not be fighting, for you do not belong there. I do..."

Somehow Sage felt that by defeating her, hurting her, destroying her belief in her fighting ability, that he could convince her to not be the Warrior she wished to be. It was an insane thought but it was the only one Sage could come to, without looking at himself and his own views, and how he was a hypocrit. To accomplish his goal... he'd have to fight harder and better then ever before.

"I'm sorry Xazor but you must learn that I am the exception not the rule. I am the one the other Jedi would rather never be amonst them again, though they'll never admit it... I am the outcast still walking among them. I am the warrior they tolerate as one of their own, but can never accept. That is not for you, believe me."

He raised both his sabres above his head, pointing them towards the sky.

"I see though that you won't listen to my words. I'll have to convince you through other methods."

He brought his sabres down as the signal for himself that it had begun, like a race flag. The Jedi Master made the swing he fought so strongly against, the swing at his friend. Both sabres slashing down towards the center of her protective X.

[Xazor Elessar]

The words that Sage spoke echoed through Xazor's mind. Her heart filled with pain at everything he said for she was the description he layed before her.

"I am a Jedi, Sage -- but I too am a Warrior and I walk the path of a killer. I am not afraid of who I am -- I shall never be like the others!"

With that he brought his sabers down between her defensive block. She shoved him off of her with physical strength, knowing he was unaware of her loss of telekenisis several months ago. She spun around and chambered her leg for a kick to his solar plexis, but instead, the Knight slipped a foot behind one of his and slammed a heavy elbow into his ribs. A painful shoulder roll followed for Xazor and she got up, fearing that her unborn was injured from such a move.

"Why are you doing this? You know my abilities! If it is a fight you want, why not go out and kill a Sith, you hypocritical bastard! At least I'm honest with myself about who I am!"

She yelled in his face before reaching into the pouch on her weapons belt for a handful of powder. The Garou Knight thrust it into the Jedi Master's eyes rendering him blind for at least a good fifteen minutes. It was a very itchy dust that she had cultivated from a plant grown on her home planet.

"I think you're wrong, Sage -- I think it is you who needs to be taught a lesson. Indeed, I can teach very well."

[Sage Hazzard]

Sage had heard few words after she started her attack. He was in another place... a scary place. A place of anger and hostility, a place he feared but fought to block out. He did, finally.

Sage's lips compressed into one thin line as he was blinded. He often fought better when blinded, emersing himself in the Force. But would doing just, emersion, make him more open to the Dark Side? Being in the Force and having spots of Anger?

"I've killed enough Sith for today Xazor. It's my penance and my cause. You're simply playing in the wrong playground."

He brought his sabres out to his side, facing both of them horizontally away from him, making a lower case T out of his body.

"Teach on."

He brought the sabres together, pointing them both at Xazor. It was a visual signal to a Force push, a powerful one, that swept her across the area...

Was she pregnant? Hadn't he heard that? Was... No...

He stopped her mid air, through his limited telekinisis abiltites, and lowered her more gentley than expected to the ground.

"What lesson must I be tought teacher?" He barked out, despite the act of mercy he just performed.

[Xazor Elessar]

Xazor got up to her feet, though she had mentally and physically prepared to be slammed into the far wall. Her eyes locked on Sage and though they remained calm, there was a fire within them that echoed his.

"You need to be taught how to control yourself! You're attacking me, a fellow Jedi! These grounds are not used for revenge!"

She growled deeply and put her own words aside as she rushed at Sage. The Knight dodged around him with a fake strike to his head with her far saber and she stopped a few meters behind him. The Knight still held a strong connection with nature, and in times like these it was a powerful tool. She focused deeply on the outside of the Academy, drawing the Force around her and calling upon the winds. Suddenly a gale forced gust blew open the doors of the large training grounds and swept up the dust and garbage from the ground outside of the building. It flew at Sage, picking up small branches and glass objects -- the wind carrying everything at the Jedi Master. It was moving at speeds hundreds of miles per hour -- something Xazor had been working on, obviously. He would need to think and move quickly or be savagely attacked by nature's own force.

[Sage Hazzard]

In something that had to be seen to believe, Sage stood firm. The objects and wind hit him, but he didn't budge. In fact, he wasn't moving at all... he was meditating. His eyes closed and his sabres crossed over his chest. Even as a tree limb slammed into his body, he didn't move, he couldn't be moved. The Jedi Master had always practiced in physical aspects of the Force. He could, through proper meditation, protect his bones from breaking and hus muscles from bruising. He could become an immoveable pillar when he needed to be.

However, that did have it's down falls. He couldn't move when he was in this deep of concentration. Which is why it only worked well for an assualt such as this.

Slowly though, the area around his body where the objects and wind stopped seemed to expand to a meter in diameter. It was a building Force Wall/Shield/Sphere. He opened his eyes as he stood inside his bubble, his concentration no longer as paramount.

"Revenge? What am I revenging? I'm stopping lunacy!"

[Xazor Elessar]

Xazor halted the wind and for just a moment in time, the objects hung in the air -- then suddenly everything fell to the floor.

"Lunacy?!"

She called out and quickly gaped the distance between them. Just a meter off, the woman came to a halt and glared at Sage.

"I'm going to live my life the way I want to! I am a Warrior, Sage! I've been trained to walk this path!"

The Knight yelled at him, keeping her saber out before her in defense.

"What the hell is your problem? Can't you understand that I follow the same beliefs as you? Sage, I'm a lost cause, okay? I can never change and I won't! Even if you dismember me, I will still be Xazor Elessar -- Warrior Jedi Knight!"

[Sage Hazzard]

Sage gritted his teeth together, nearly to the point of shattering them.

"Lost cause? So you admit you should be something else! Leave the murder to those who already have too much blood on their hands!"

He broke his shield. His two sabres raised in the air, crossing. Then he brought them down, bringing them apart to his sides as he slashed at her chest.