Mos Espa

Darth Strife:

He swallowed a smile at the child's defiance. What in the world was he going to do with another child? Suddenly he felt old and really wished he'd never left Dathomir. Why in the world had he felt the need to chase after his old apprentice a second time? "Hush, don't be rude, boy. A sith is an ally of the dark side of the force. I'll explain later. I am your master which means you have to listen and do everything I tell you to. Now stop talking and let me think." He tried to remember how to undo this side effect of the relic. Did they have to travel somewhere? Or maybe there was a potion. The wailing of a baby grated on his nerves. Baby? He looked towards the sound and groaned. The other child had become a baby.

Crystal:

She swam slowly towards the light, finally pushing away from the darkness surrounding her. She opened her eyes, blinking a few times then wincing against the pain in her head. A sound nearby finally penatrated the fog. That was what woke her up, a baby was crying. She sat up a little too quickly, everything around her spinning until she sat still. Next to her lay a little baby, surrounded by much larger clothing. She reached over slowly, curiously, and untangled the little one. "What are you doing here, small one?" She smiled down at the baby and cooed instintively at it. She'd always loved babies and had often helped with tending the ones in the village back home. Alarm shot through her. Where was she? The cold metal bneath her and walls of the cage she sat in told her she was far from home. She picked the baby up and wrapped him in the shirt that had been pooled on him earlier. Then she held him comfortingly to her chest, lending it her warmth. This was not good. She was lost, trapped, and felt so different.

Darth Strife:

His attention was pulled back to Adonias at the sound of the lightsaber igniting. With a wave of his hand, he used the force to yank the saber to himself and thumbed the activation switch to turn it back off. "Watch it! It's a weapon and I'll be holding onto it for now." He muttered a few choice curse words before clipping the saber to his belt and striding over to the cell. No use locking up two children. They could always go back in once he reversed tis side effect. Opening the cell door, he looked over the results of the relic's work on the child and Crystal. Crystal had reverted back to her 15 year old self. He had raised her himself, though it'd been a decade so he'd almost forgotten what it had been like. Looking at her now though, he remembered how sassy and dark she had been at that age. No matter what he'd put her through, she had flourished. He shook his head, "sit tight, everyone. I need to do some research. Crystal, you are in charge. Don't disappoint me." He gave her that look she was familiar with, the one that promised pain if anything happened. Then he retreated to his cabin and shut the door behind himself.

Crystal:

Crystal stood up shakily, still wobbly on her legs and head still throbbing. She held the babe to her chest still, swaying slightly to comfort him as she took in what was going on around her. Her memory came back, that was Master Strife. What were they doing here, off Dathomir? And why did he have her locked up? Had she failed him again? When he unlocked the cell, her heartbeat slowed down slightly. But none of his words really explained what was going on. His pointed look made her stiffen her spine though. She wouldn't let him down. As he shut himself into the cabin on the far side of the room, she left the cell, still carrying the baby. Looking at the boy standing in front of her, she examined him curiously. "Hi, who are you? Are you Master Strife's son? I know he has kids, I saw a picture one time. I'm Crystal. I'm not sure what's going on but c'mon, let me find you some food! Food fixes everything." She shoved the baby into Adonias' arms to hold and then went over to the cabinets nearby. Rummaging through them, she continued to try to remember how they all got to this point but her mind was blank and hurt too much to think for more than a minute. She quickly found some soft food for the baby and rations for her and the other boy and offered everyone the food. Her movements quick and sure, she sat cross legged on the floor and began to eat her food. She was used to the unexpected living with Strife for all of these years. The size of her clothing, the odd location, and the unique passengers only sparked curiosity but nothing more.

Crystal:

She ate quickly and eagerly, feeling famished and knowing at any point, her master could return and remove the food. "Hi Adonias! I don't know, you still look like Master Strife to me." She made a face at the boy next to her as she studied him. The features were similar and she could envision Master Strife running around with a similar attitude. "Anyways, I don't have the picture. He kept it in his room back home on Dathomir." Looking around again quickly she continued, "And this looks like a ship of some sort though I am not sure if we are in space or somewhere else so I doubt it's onboard." She shrugged at Adonias before pulling the baby from his grasp and cleaning him up. Standing, she propped him on a hip and moved with one hand, what little garbage remained to the ship's onboard garbage container. "If you aren't Master Strife's son, who are you?"

Crystal:

The girl looked at Adonias questioningly. There was no such thing as bad, just unplanned or ill thought out. Her master had taught her that. "What do you mean?" She wasn't sure what a little kid could even do. She had done a lot in her life but she was a sith apprentice. This child probably couldn't even use the force. Her face screwed up at the thought, to not be able to feel the force at all times, use it and bend it to her will. She shuddered. It was the only thing that gave her solace at times, working towards harnessing the power at her finger tips.

Crystal:

She looked at him, then blinked slowly. "And? Sounds like they were bad people. Hurting bad people is good. When I find the people who killed my family I am going to spend months torturing them before I kill them." She turned and walked away, not understanding the boy's obvious confusion and disgust. This was why she'd looked for a sith, someone who could train her to kill and destroy the bad guys. That made her a good guy so sometimes she didn't know if she was a sith, but either way she wouldn't stop what she was doing. Nothing would get in her way. "C'mon little guy, let's go play!" She cooed to the baby as she sat down in the middle of the cell once more and gently levitated him a little off the floor before lowering him. Repeating the action over and over she grinning, knowing this movement would soothe the little one to sleep.

Crystal:

Crystal nodded at the boy, "I'm glad you are starting to understand. We're the good guys you and me. We see those who hurt for fun and we end their reign of terror. I wasn't even your age when I held my mom in my arms after she was slaughtered like little more than an animal. I would never wish that on an innocent. That's why I train so I am strong enough to keep that from happening ever again to anyone." She allowed the sleeping baby to lower slowly to the ground to the nest of blankets she had built underneath of him. she lovingly stroked his hair, looking at his soft face for a moment before looking back at Adonias. "I don't hate my master. I asked him to train me. No matter how it might hurt, I wouldn't kill him for making me into a weapon." She let her dark hair fall over her face, shadowing her eyes from view. "You'll figure it out one day. Just because someone is cranky it doesn't make them a bad person."

Crystal:

She stood up and left the cell, closing it behind her in case the baby woke while she was gone and went roaming. She'd rather have a crying baby than a hurt baby. Then she followed the boy out of the ship. "Where are you going, Adonias? I'm pretty sure we should stay on the ship. Judging from the suns on this planet," She squinted at the bright light, "We are most likely on Tatooine and that's a dangerous planet. You are too young to wander around." She propped her hands on her hips as she got to the end of the ramp.

Crystal:

"Ew. As if!" Crystal scrunched her nose up and gagged at the thought. "I'm not old enough or stupid enough to have children. People can hurt you by hurting your kids, ya know." She shot Adonias a serious look. "Besides, any son of mine would be smart enough not to wander around on a slave planet when he's just a child. Can you even protect yourself?" She shot out one hand, intending to grab his wrist and yank him back towards the ship. "C'mon. You are such a baby, we can't leave the actual baby by himself. He could die. Only a real bad guy wouldn't care about a baby." She glared at the boy she considered a royal pain in her rear at the moment.

Crystal:

She frowned at the boy, worried the sun had gotten to him. "No, you are just an annoying boy. I still have a long way to go before I can destroy the people I need to destroy. And the baby?... Hmmm, I actually don't know where the baby came from but I'm sure it's here for a good reason!" She almost shouted the last sentence. She felt panicky, like she couldn't breathe and she didn't like the feeling. She had no idea why she would be worried. Master Strife had never let her down, never veered from training her, he always kept her focused. There was no way she had been an adult and now was a child. The pain in her head flared up and she fell to her knees in the sand, hands clutching at her skull. Groaning she called as loudly as possible, which was quite muffled, "Master!"

Darth Strife:

He heard a shout from outside and felt the call deep in his soul. His apprentice, his child. Ancient sith texts lay scattered around himself on the bed in his cabin. He had buried himself in the research trying to determine how to reverse the side effects of the relic or at least figure out how to keep anything like that from happening again just by touching the frigging thing but he'd hit stone wall after stone wall. This relic was so ancient there wasn't much written and little known.

The shout pulled him from the depths of his fervor and he shot up and was out of his cabin before he really knew why. He felt rather than heard the panic in his apprentice, knew something was distressing her and nothing was allowed to do that but himself. He kept what was his safe. He ran from the ship and came to a halt at the bottom of the ramp. Kneeling beside Crystal he placed one hand on her shoulder and leaned closer. "Apprentice." He spoke the word softly, a question and a comfort as he gathered his rage around himself in order to fight what had distressed her. It was only after a moment of reflection that he realized what was going on. "Shhh... remember, my apprentice." And then the dam broke in Crystal's mind and he held her as she cried, experiencing memories that had happened to an older Crystal.