Crait's Terrain

Crystal:

"NO!" the raw scream tore from her throat as Adonias collapsed. He wasn't moving. He needed to move. He needed to be okay. A haze of anger overtook her mind, akin to that of the one that consumed her when her family was destroyed. Reaching out with the force, she snagged the metal piece still in the air and sent it hurtling back at the Jedi. While it tumbled end over end, she called her blaster to her hand and sent a few shots Selvek's way to distract him as she raced towards him. "You will pay for your cruelty, piece of humanoid waste!"

Darth Strife:

He paused mid stride, frozen for a moment as he watched Adonias' fate. His son. In his mind, ashes slipped between his fingers as he knelt at the edge of his burned down farm a few decades ago. Ashes. So many ashes. The world around him sounded as if it was underwater until it all came rushing back. Crystal reacted faster than he did, already returning an attack at the Jedi. His eyes narrowed and he brought up his lightsaber. Igniting it, the red cast a glare on his unforgiving face. "You will try." With a snarl, he called upon the force and leapt across the remaining distance between himself and Selvek, raising his lightsaber to attack from the side.

Crystal:

Her respect grudgingly grew just a little as Crystal watched Selvek deflect the bolts and sheet of metal. Igniting her lightsaber as she approached him, she slid easily around the deflected bolts and focused on her target. Her heartbeat thundered in his ears, wanting only to maim or kill the foe before her. Not sensing the force push Selvek threw her way, she was knocked backwards a good twenty feet and barely kept her footing. Snarling, she pressed onwards, blue lightsaber blazing.

Darth Strife:

Strife felt into form VII, pressing his attack coldly and clinically. When his lightsaber clashed against the Jedi's he barked harshly at his nearby face, "Give up, the dark side of the force will always be stronger than the light. The light is a plague on the land, one that needs to be extinguished by the dark." He kicked at a booted foot at the Jedi's left knee while the Jedi was focused on using the force on Crystal.

Crystal:

As she approached Selvek and Strife fighting, she watched as the Jedi left himself open on the right. She moved to attack, swinging her saber at his right wrist, attempting to even the field a little and hoping to cause some agony. All she could see in her mind was Adonias falling to the ground over and over. Crystal knew the longer this battle played out, the less likely it would be that they would find Adonias still alive at the end. She fought the panic. Anger made one strong, panic would weaken her hold over the force and leave her blind to attacks.

Darth Strife:

"Only a Jedi could be so blind." Savagely grinning at the man before him, Strife kept him locked in place. With their sabers spitting sparks and casting a bizarre glow of green and red upon both of their faces, Strife hoped the Jedi could still see the determination and utter hatred in his eyes that he felt inside of himself. And this is why he would always dwell in the shadows. An arrogant man cut down an innocent in his quest to kill 'evil'. Strife would renew his quest to destroy the light after this. He vowed it deep inside as he sought to distract the Jedi as he could sense Crystal engaging in a brutal attack.

Crystal:

She expected Strife to move on the fallen Jedi. He was always merciless in the past, destroying anything that had gotten in their way on the few off world missions they had went on as master and apprentice. But the moment her attack succeeded and her blade severed the Jedi's hand, he almost sprinted across the ground between himself and Adonias. As Adonias fell unconscious and her anger built even stronger, Strife knelt beside him and rapidly assessed his wound. She turned her attention to Jedi Selvek. She relished the opportunity before her. Walking leisurely towards the Jedi, she reached out with the force to call his saber to her hand as he lay helpless on the ground. "You made a big mistake thinking you could kill one of ours, Jedi nut. You will pay for it with your life." She smirked cruelly at the man, lips twisted in a sneer.

Darth Strife:

Almost the moment his former apprentice planned and carried out her saber attack, he knew it would strike true. He sensed it. And so, as soon as the Jedi fell and his hand went flying, he ran towards Adonias. It was the longest few moments of his life as he watched Adonias' final attack before succumbing to an unconscious state. Worried billowed up in his chest. He trusted Crystal to finish what they had started, all thoughts of revenge were pushed from his mind. All he could think of was that he needed to get to his son right now. In what felt like an eternity, he was beside Adonias and ripping off the cloth from the middle of his shirt to stem the bleeding. Pressing both hands tightly against the thick material pillowed on Adonias' abdomen, he called frantically to his son hoping he was still there. "Adonias! Can you hear me? Adonias!" Strife tried to center himself. He needed to focus, every second counted and he needed to heal his son if possible. He would not allow him to die here. Not now.

Crystal:

She stumbled and almost lost her footing as the inured Jedi sent an unexpected force push her way. Thankfully, she was so deeply enmeshed in the embrace of the force, she didn't loose her focus. She concentrated on the man's saber on the ground and smoothly switched tactics. Instead of pulling the lightsaber towards her as before, she used the force to send it shooting almost straight at the wounded man, assuming that in his state, he wouldn't be ready for the violent maneuver.

Darth Strife:

He almost smiled, lips twitching, at his son's words. "Good to see you still have a bite after all. I thought you were going soft, hanging out with a deluded Jedi." Calling on the force even further, he sank into it's warm depths as he slowly healed Adonias' wound from the inside out. He worked to knit organs back together, cell by cell, incredibly exhausting work. He was thankful for his age difference, he didn't know if he would have had the energy to do this before the relic had changed his age. He wondered how his son would react once he realized his father was barely a decade or two older than him now. They were more like colleagues than master and apprentice Strife thought ruefully.

Crystal:

She smiled gleefully as the lightsiber found it's mark and the blade ended Jedi Selvek's life. He had been an annoying thorn in their side since they had first stumbled upon him so she should have been more overjoyed at his passing but a prickle of unease did make it's way down her spine at his words. Brushing off the paranoia, she turned from the Jedi's unmoving form and moved over to Adonias and Strife. Looking down at the younger man on the ground she finally felt more settled as she realized his eyes were open and he was bantering once more with Strife. This day hadn't ended the way she had feared. Thank the force. She pushed old memories aside for the moment. "I am glad you aren't dead, Adonias." Though blunt, she was honestly happy he was alive. She was surprised to realize as she finished her sentence, that she considered Adonias to be a good friend at this point. She didn't really have friends. Though Sith certainly didn't preach the abstinence of friends that the Jedi belief forced upon their followers, she had never stopped her quest for power long enough to entertain the idea really. She was suddenly awkward and hoped her companions didn't notice her change in behavior or the blossoming pink across both cheeks.

Darth Strife:

A full fledged chuckle escaped him at Adonias' joke. He was hit by a wave of surprise. Laughter? This day really was surprising. Remaining focused despite the mirth bubbling up inside of himself, he finished the boy's kidney repair and started on the intestines. Those were even more tricky. Cell repair at such a level was beyond difficult but applying it to organs, and then such lengthy organs as intestines with so many twists and turns to them was nearly impossible. One mistake and the boy could have life long problems to deal with, or worse. "The relic decided to do something helpful for once, or perhaps that was it's intent all along. I theorize that the energy it built up from reversing and then restoring your ages was used to give me youth once more. No dentures now, son." He made the small joke without thinking as he worked on healing Adonias. Crystal walking up saved him from analyzing his previous words. He smiled slightly at her bluntness, discerning the cause of her changed demeanor quickly. He had known her for a very long time and he could tell she was not quite sure how to proceed in regards to her connection with Adonias. A plan began to form in his mind.

Crystal:

She crossed her arms, tempted to ignore him but then sheepishly nodded. "I guess I missed you for at least a second or two. The ship's cell just didn't seem right without you in it." She grinned at him teasingly until she followed his gaze to the Jedi's form behind her. "I'd like to say that he's the exception to the Jedi in the world but I'd be lying. Don't take it personally. Jedi have a warped sense of what should happen when it comes to the force. That is one of many reasons why I joined Strife here after my family was killed." She motioned at the man knelt by Adonias' side, concentrating completely on the man he presently healed.

Darth Strife:

He focused on Adonias' body but also kept one ear attuned to Crystal and Adonias' interaction. He knew at this point, that things needed to change. He couldn't continue to sequester on a hidden world and ignore what was going on around him. He needed to take another apprentice on. He fully believed that this was the Sith way, that the Master should impart wisdom, strength, and power on through the generations. However, perhaps there could be more than just two? He waited patiently for his work to be done knitting Adonias' flesh back together and for there to be a lull in conversation.

Crystal:

"I guess that was the point I was trying to make. With Strife, there was freedom in the way I explored my connection to the force. I could grieve, rage, feel peace. It didn't matter. There weren't separate evil emotions to avoid. And I felt a kinship with him, every time I connected to the force I knew he had experienced as much loss as I had." She avoided eye contact with Strife, unsure why she had even shared that last part. "The Jedi are not free. They are slaves to their obsession with avoiding the dark side. And it is that obsession that will always make them dangerous." She stood silently for a moment in thought, just watching Strife work.

Darth Strife:

He answered Adonias' question almost before Adonias finished his sentence. "Though I consider myself to be utterly Sith, there are some that would claim I am but a grey Jedi pretender." He tilted his head to the side in concentration, slowly finishing up with the organs and knitting together the skin and muscle as best he could at the entrance site. "The force is there to be embraced. We should not fear the ability to use it for power. Nor should we shy away from using it to heal. Too many individuals would deny themselves invaluable skills due to their arrogance and hatred of what is different." He finished and sank onto his rear, exhausted. Looking calmly at Adonias he asked him an essential question. "What do you want with the force? When you connect to it, what do you feel? What does it whisper to you in your most trying moments?"

Crystal:

She took a step back, a little surprised at his intensity. It all seemed like a really long time ago to her, and pain was part of life. Pain made one strong. The pain of losing a loved one was infinitely more difficult than any physical pain a person could feel. But she didn't know how to explain that to the man who glared at her. Had he really not been tortured before? He seemed so young to her at this moment in time. "Yes. He did. And I hate him every time he does. I hate that I have asked him to do it in order to gain strength. I hate that he isn't even sorry when he does it. Passion is what helps us gain strength though so I may hate it but I also understand it." She looked Strife fully in the face, gaze hard as she continued to speak to Adonias. "I do think I will kill the next person to try torturing me again despite that understanding."

Darth Strife:

He chuckled as Crystal glared at him. Then he clutched his sides as he allowed belly laugh after belly laugh to find it's way free. "The apprentice has grown up I see?" He wipe tears from the corners of his eyes as his laughter subsided. "And I am not sorry. I would do it again and again. Passion begets strength and if a few children get upset because they are growing stronger then they need to rethink things." He looked pointedly at Crystal and Adonias. Crystal crossed her arms again but relaxed a little. Turning to Adonias, Strife's voice gentled. "When the force screams at you, that is when you scream back. And once you have screamed as long and as loud as you can, you listen again." He stood and offered a hand to his son still laying on the ground. "That is the best job I can do out here. It isn't perfect and you need to take it easy still but it won't bleed out and we can put bacta on it back at the ship. Come, I have something I want to discuss with the both of you."