Atonement (Maia, Niccademus, Raymious)

[Dios Kane]

:: I staggered to my ship, tired and feeling very very confused. I remember a little, the timer had gone off sometime and the tormenting memories of what had happened in the last 48 hours was horrible. But I had come to sanctuary, the Space Cowboy. This is where I told Maia to meet up with me if seperated. This is where she should be, surely she realized the link was lost, the link that kept us close even when we were far away.

My tattered jacket lay in scraps from my shoulders to my knees as I drug my feet to the ramp of the ship. I sat down outside of the entrance before thinking of entering. I was tired, exhausted, mentally and physically. Kaytor had messed me up more than she probably knew. Her attempts would've been feeble if not for Fiend's help. I'm just hoping Fiend didn't go after her...::

[Maia Tharrinn]

Maia made her way back to the Space Cowboy, the ship she and Dios shared. Her thoughts lost with worry. Fiend had once again done unspeakable things to her. Niccadimas had come to her rescue, but Dios had not answered her call. She felt so lost, and alone. The link, the bond they shared was broken. Maia felt her heart clench at the thought of him being dead. It was the only explanation she could think of.

"Please, please don't be gone Dios." She said in broken tones, her body following after her feet. She had left Niccadimas at the small loft she, and Dios shared when on Corascant. Raymious had stayed behind with him to keep him company.

Maia stopped walking when she was only a few feet away from the Space Cowboy. Her eyes scanning the area hopefully. She didn’t see him, and most importantly she did not feel his familiar, loving presence.

Maia closed her eyes, and let loose the cries that she had kept locked behind clenched teeth, her sprit close to broken. Without Dios she had nothing.

"Diossss!!!" She cried out, her eyes closed tight against the pain....

[Dios Kane]

:: I was so tired that at the sound of HER voice I just fell over from where I was sitting. I turned my head and on the other side of my Correllian Corvette I could see her. I waved exhaustedly and as franticly as I could, I tried to call out but my voice was a bit raspy.::

MAIAAAAAAAAAAA!

[Maia Tharrinn]

Maia's eyes snapped open when she heard his voice. She looked to where it had come from, wondering if perhaps she had finally lost her mind. She could not see him, and she most certainly did not feel him through the bond.

She stumbled quickly toward the ship, hope creeping back into her broken heart. She skidded to a sudden stop when she came around to the docking area, he lay on the ground, hurt, and bruised. Her hand automatically went out to touch him, but fear held her in check. She had a horrible feeling Fiend was once again playing his deadly game.

"Dios? Tell me that is really you." She moaned....

[Dios Kane]

:: I closed my eyes coughing for a moment. I looked back to Maia, my silver eyes pained that she had stopped so close yet so far away.::

Maia... tis... me.

:: I knew I shouldn't have stood, but I pushed myself up as much as I could onto staggering legs. I ran a hand through my hair, knowing it was in horrible condition with the rest of my body. I staggered to her, the best smile I could work up.::

Please...

:: All she had to do was touch me. The link could begin again... All I needed... My eyebrows furrowed...::

[Maia Tharrinn]

She wanted desperately to believe, to touch him and know that what he said was true. But her mind kept shifting back to the moment in the shower. When she had trusted, when she had thought Fiend to be Dios. Fiend had ripped at her heart again, he had played her for a fool, making her think that the one she loved most was standing before her.

He had taken parts of her innocent heart, and forever broken them. The Jedi knight who had always trusted, who had always believed in the goodness of life, trusted no more. Her eyes sparkled with tears, her sobs telling Dios just how broken she was, how hurt and tainted her soul had become at the hands of their enemy.

"Dios.... If it is not you. If.... it is you Fiend. Please just kill me, and hurt me no more." With those words gasped out, she stumbled into his arms. Her eyes squeezed shut hoping to block the pain that might come. In her heart she prayed it was indeed her husband, and that he was not dead. But her mind clamored and insisted that it was Fiend who now held her trembling body....

[Dios Kane]

No... I'll never kill you... you, never die. My blood, my heart is yours, you cannot die, even if you are stolen from me...

:: I pushed my self up, my clothing in tatters as I held her in my arms.::

Can't kill my own heart, we must both continue...

:: My head hurt beyond it all but now that I looked into her face, the almost silver tears running down her face. I could feel the link... coming but not working yet, we were both... broken and hurt. Our souls had tears in them that needed healing, something the holy water couldn't heal alone.::

Maia, look at me. Look into my eyes, please. The sins... sins...

[Maia Tharrinn]

Maia, look at me. Look into my eyes, please. The sins... sins...

Maia clung to Dios, her heart aching with each sob that shook her small frame. She could feel a touch of the link. Just enough to give her hope. But the pain they had both suffered had broken a small piece of them.

She looked up into his eyes, filled with silvery tears, they made his cheeks glimmer where they had fallen. Her own did the same. She could see her love in those eyes that looked deeply into her own. The man who had given her the world with his very touch.

"Don’t ever let me go Dios. I would be lost without you...." She whispered. "Niccadimas is waiting at our place. We should go there and see if he can help." She looked at him again, seeing he was in pain that he had been through just as much as she.

"Let’s go home Dios...." Her lips touched his in a kiss, sealing them once again.

[Dios Kane]

:: The link was back, not as much but there. I hugged her close to me now, crying as my hands clutched her shoulders.::

Maia... sure... never... Niccadimas? Whatever... let's go.

:: I held her for a moment more, whispering assurances into her ears of never leaving her side. I picked her up in my arms and caried her until we could get a lift to our place... My sins, for what atonement did I need to make to deserve the love of my eternal star?::

[Maia Tharrinn]

Maia tucked her head into his shoulder, her eyes slipping closed at the familiar comfort of being once again in his arms. This was where she knew she belonged, it was where her heart resided.

"I think it will be ok now Dios. What happened to you? Where were you at?" There was no blame in her question only worry, as she tucked her self closer. She wanted to tell him of what Fiend had done, and how Niccadimas had helped her. But at that moment she could not bear it.

"Where were you my love? Who did this to you, and why did Fiend say you were in Kaytors arms?"

[Dios Kane]

Kaytor...

:: I closed my eyes tightly.::

No I wasn't but I was... Fiend... It was Fiend, his sins are my sins... he was behind this than really... she mentioned him and I didn't believe her... Fiend...

:: I stopped and my eyes opened slowly, Maia... I knew she could sense it now, the sins, the essence of Fiend that had resided in me for that short but eternal period of time.::

[Maia Tharrinn]

Maia closed her eyes against what she could sense in him. Her body tensing in his arms. The things that had been done to them, the things Fiend had made them do. Her soul shrank from all realization....

"You were with her..?" Her voice was barley a whisper, it held stark pain and hurt. She knew she could not fault him for what had happened with Kaytor but the knowledge hurt none the less.

"No.... Don't tell me... It doesn’t matter. It was not you Dios. It wasn’t you." Her arms tightened around his neck, and her heart broke for she already knew the answers...

[Dios Kane]

I know... I'm sorry Maia... so sorry... atonement must be made to you.

:: we continued walking, my arm around her shoulder tighter.::

It doesn't matter Maia, you're right but I will atone. I'm so tired, I can sense your weariness. Please, let us meet with Niccadimus... let us rest... I love you...

[Maia Tharrinn]

"Some time later"

They stood before the door to the small place they shared. It had been a sometime home when they had left the GJO. When they had not been in there ship. It felt so good to be in the place they now stood. Under the warm glow of the out side lamp. They had both come through a battle for there very souls.

She waited for him to open the door, her eyes searching his face. Looking at his weary face and loving him all the more. Maia could feel Niccadimas within, his calming peace.

Slipping her hand into his, they stepped through together. "There was never a need for sorry my husband. I thought you were dead, when I could not feel the link. Now I can feel you again, and that is more than enough...."

[Niccademas]

The old man was slumbering sitting upright in a chair at the far end of the room. Obviously the chair had been moved from its original place to face out a window that looked out into the night sky of Corriscant. A candle that burned with an incandecent brightness hovered mid-air, not far from the resting Jedi, seamingly casting its glow in a protective manneraround Him. An old tattered book lay open opon his chest with the cover facing out, words scripted into the leather bindings were foreign to those who tryed to make them out.

A slight smell of oranges still lingered in the air grabbing at the nostrills of the two who entered.

[Dios Kane]

:: I nodded my head to her, my eyes closed half way through weariness. A hand came to my forehead, I'm not sure if it was weariness or a real headache...either way, I couldn't concentrate. We entered the house and my eyes shot open, my arm flashing in front of Maia protectively, my other hand resting on my lightsaber handle.

I opened myself to the force, the darkside... I knew it for its filth and taint now as I accessed it and I tried to pinpoint its frantic power. My eyes roamed about, falling on the old man who sat practically right in front of us at the window in the living room. I chilled at sensing him... he would help me atone... my gaurd dropped fast as my shoulders slumped.::

Is that... is that Niccadimas, Maia?

[Maia Tharrinn]

Is that... is that Niccadimas, Maia?

Maia senses cleared somewhat in the presence of the elder Jedi. His soothing calm was like a peaceful reprieve. Closing her eyes she basked in the light side that always seemed to emanate from Niccadimas.

"Yes Dios it is. He will help us, he will help you to purge your soul once and forever." She whispered, not wanting to disturb the slumbering Jedi...

[Raymious]

Rounding the corner, making his way into the elaborate room where his old friend Niccademas rested, he could feel the presence of a famailiar feeling. He had felt it many times with his master. Jedi Knight's Maia Tharrin and Dios Kane were in the room where the elder jedi lay. Raymious was holding onto a leather bound book with one hand at his side. There was symbols inscripted onto the cover of the book, but it was covered up by the mouse colored robes of the Jedi Padawan.

Walking into the room, he now could see the two people in which the force had informed him of their presence earlier in the hallway. He walked over to an empty chair across from Niccademas, trying not to interupt the conversation between his master and her lover.

Raymious opened the book on his lap and started to read the first few pages of the book, the lamp providing enough light for him to read.

[Niccademas]

The peacefilled slumber was hampered by a dark sliver that danced in and about the light. the familliar presence of Maia was felt as was Ramious. This newcomer that entered was familliar only on a Force-scent that Maia carried in her heart. Opening His eyes, Niccademas spoke softly to the pair that stood in the entryway...

"Darkness dances in your being. Its tendrills intermingle with the light and thus you are not whole..." The candle disapeared as The old man closed the book. "Only you can seek to free yourself!"

[Dios Kane]

:: I grunted at that. I was too tired to hear an old man ramble. I ran a hand through my hair in irritation.::

You can either put it simply for me old man, or tell me this stuph all over again after we get some sleep.

:: I closed my eyes for a moment. I knew he was right, but I was too agitated and tired to care. I just wanted Maia to be better rested, I wanted more rest.::

Darkness already danced in my being, trust me. His name is Fiend and he's not in me anymore, until... I dunno. I think he found some way to mess with me again. Through some poison, either way... I'm tired. Need rest. You can help me later.

:: I closed my eyes again, slightly leaning against Maia as she was to me, using each other to hold ourselves up.::

[Maia Tharrinn]

Maia's eyes slid closed at Niccadimas's words. She knew the darkness that surrounded Dios. She could in fact feel it seeping from his heart, and soul. It was eating into her, tainting her in the way it tainted him.

She of course did not blame Dios in any way. It was Fiend who had done this, and it was Fiend who would pay. Maia leaned into Dios, there exhaustion apparent. Maia knew that they could not afford to rest. Not in that moment, they needed to be cleansed.

"I know you are tired Dios but we cannot afford that luxury. We need Niccadimas to help us now." She stated as softly but firmly as she could.....

[Niccademas]

The Old Man appeared to vanish from there sight ... you could say in a blink of an eye... but the blink of these two's eyes lingered for moments longer than normal, especially in the pease of there dwelling.

Niccademas was standing to there right when they reopened there eyes insynk. The draining that Dios felt drew upon Maia as well, and her love fed this man her strength... draining the two into a comatosed state.

A single word undecernable by the two was spoken and the feling of restlessness and euphoria welled up in the pair, turning there attention towards Niccademas.

Holding both his hands in a cupping motion, the old mans eyes were fixed on the pair....

"This I do as a teacher in the Force, so you can Draw upon this GIFT and heal the darkness inside yourselfs!" The tingling felling washed over the two like waves of an ocean...

"To fully retain the knowlage of how to self administer this power will take a few days.... interested?"