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"The dark is generous. Its first gift is concealment: our true faces lie in the dark beneath our skins, our true hearts remain shadowed deeper still. But the greatest concealment lies not in protecting our secret truths, but in hiding from us the truths of others. The dark protects us from what we dare not know." - An excerpt from the Revenge of the Sith Novelization by Matthew Stover.
A week passed after the Battle of Rimbor and its integration into the Empire. The planet, once a hive of piracy and scum, was now under construction and planning to be an Imperial mining world for its vast amounts of raw minerals and precious metals it has under its rocky surface, which the previous government neglected over for their steady stream of revenue from corruption and crime.
After Rimbor was secured, an Imperial task force attached to a diplomatic team was sent to Talcyion Omega to incorporate the world under Imperial rule. No guns were raised or casualties taken, the Talcyioners were reported to greet and welcome the Imperials. But after the diplomatic teams stated why the Empire was there, the cat-like peoples got hesitant.
They didn't resist or attack; the cats only questioned and maybe politely declined, saying that their people's society had no need to be under the Empire and their world was peaceful as it was. But the diplomats made counterarguments as well. They mentioned the Talcyioners were having some problems with pirates and stated that their society would've been pillaged and enslaved if it weren't for the Empire. They also said how the species could benefit under rule; roads, cities, power plants, houses, hospitals, and space ports can be built with medicines and schooling provided.
The Talcyioners, while not very technologically advanced, appreciated the Empire solving their problems. Though reluctantly, and some days passed after their arrival, they accepted the proposal. Out of thinking their race would prosper, out of fear if they said no, sadness for those who died ridding of said pirates, or a mixture of all of them. All of that was besides the point; what mattered was that Talcyion Omega was under the Empire and its resources for the New Galactic Order.
The Gordanian cruiser the Imperial fleet captured during the battle of Rimbor is being picked apart and studied by the Imperial corps of engineers, searching for any weaknesses for a future war with the reptiles. The Imperial fleet has been baptized in fire; their first victory was achieved, and Vader was satisfied with the outcome. Pirates and bandits around their section of space have become afraid of the Imperial Navy, and raids of any sort from criminals have decreased dramatically.
The Sith Lord returned to his dark fortress sanctuary in the forbidden jungle, or 'Thusla's Doom' called by some Imperials. Deep within the castle was a chamber with one lone tank filled with liquid that acted as amniotic medical gel, very similar to Bacta fluid. Within this purple liquid was Vader, naked, his white damaged skin bare, his cybernetic prosthetics gone, and his armor off so that the servant girls could clean it. A rebreather wrapped around his face as his body bobbed slowly up and down in the thick medical liquid.
The medical gel that Vader is able to have in this new realm is slightly better than Bacta, but ultimately, it cannot repair his body. The practice of solely using technology to return his limbs and normal self, however, has been long abandoned. Technology and the dark side
alone couldn't fully heal his body. The combination of dark side techniques and science could only achieve the task of rejuvenating his well-being.
Speaking of which, Vader's new assistant entered his chamber, and the sliding doors opened to reveal a multi-armed medical droid in the designation of 11-4E. The droid shuffled into the round, dark chamber as the doors closed behind it. The droid spoke in an electronic voice with a masculine, whimsical voice, "Greetings, my master, I have many things to report."
While Vader created 11-4E in his droid workshop within his castle, he simply copied the design from one droid model he usually encountered in Sidious's palace on Coruscant, 11-4D. Not much was known about 11-4D; the model wasn't found anywhere when Vader tried to look it up. The droid was only seen in Palpatine's own medical suite in his palace. Though Vader could have shrugged it off as just some special droid, something drew him to the droid—that the droid was somehow part of something great and grand in the past but was completely a mystery.
[Note: 11-4D is from Legends, just look it up, he's in the Darth Plagueis Novel]
When pressed, the droid showed a remarkable knowledge of midichlorians and biology but said nothing that would imply they met before. When Vader asked why the droid was there to begin with to his master, Sidious only waved it off and said to stop asking moronic questions. Still, the sense of mystery to Vader didn't change, and he secretly downloaded the droid's design and memory. Though there was much medical research and information in the droid's memory, there was no evidence that suggested that 11-4D had crossed parts with Vader before then. If he did, the memory wouldn't even be wiped.
11-4D's design and memory files were stored in Vader's suit along with many other droid files. Vader recreated the droid by hand and uploaded the original's medical expertise into 11-4E.
The droid served Vader well during its creation weeks ago. With its medical knowledge, it helped him during his experiments on the red mercies creatures. At the same time, the droid was ordered by Vader to conduct multiple surgeries on animals taken from the jungle and operate on them with teleportation technology.
Using the teleporting machines to harvest organs and put them back to see if that recipient can live or not, most operations were successful, and the animals were let go and studied afterward. This was so that when Vader could get his cloned body parts and organs, they could use the teleporting equipment to take out his cybernetic implants and quickly replace them with the cloned organs before major damage could occur.
That was, of course, if he could get the Psions and Dominators with his plan. He was confident that he could 'convince' a few members of the species to help his quest, but that was only if he could meet them in person. A scheduled meeting would need to happen.
Yes, Vader could get the abundant amount of professional Almeracian doctors and bio-engineers to help him, but couldn't, for could not trust them. He didn't trust them, not for the sake of paranoia, but if he chose to have doctors help him, it could prompt Maxima to investigate why there were so many doctors visiting him. If someone sees his true form and Maxima probes their mind out of curiosity, that will lead to trouble. Doctors and no one at all must see him in his condition, for Maxima could find the truth from them, telepathically or using spies.
She can't conduct a mind probe on a droid, however.
While she could have someone capture the droid and try to retrieve its memory banks, this would be a challenge. Vader has thought of that possibility and made a contingency: if someone doesn't use the specific computers and codes that Vader uses to recover data from 11-4E, the droid will completely wipe its memory and self-destruct. The knowledge of Vader's body will be kept safe at the thieves' own peril.
But at the moment, Maxima has not grown suspicious of her husband; he had continued mind-tricking her into thinking that the suit he lives in is for show and he was completely normal, and her carnal desires for him are satisfied through forged memories she somewhat believes in. But for how long he can keep this up, he cannot say.
11-4E finished his final report, and Vader returned to reality. "Red Mercy number five eight still shows signs of being healthy after its bonding with host number one nine eight. Neural activity, the continued release of stress hormones, and the rise of blood pressures indicate that host number is continuing to have nightmares in his coma."
Test subject 198, or by his real name, Byth Rok, was a Thanagarian gangster leader who was captured by Imperial forces during the Rimbor War. In his past, he was a former Thanagarian lawman, or 'wingmen' as they were called, until he chose the life of a thief, weapons seller, and drug trafficker. At some point, he lost his wings and became insane. Some time passed when Thanagarian wingmen chased him off from Thanagar space and into the depths of this part of the galaxy.
There he traveled planet to planet, building his criminal empire until he unfortunately happened to be at Rimbor for a "business transaction," which also happened to be at the same time when the empire invaded. Captured trying to flee the system in his own yacht, Imperial Marines would have shot him there on the spot, but a low-level officer interrogated him and thought him to be a useful asset.
Eventually, Vader was informed about the situation and would have killed the low-level officer for not obeying the rules of getting rid of criminal prisoner but stopped when he found out Byth Rok was a Thanagarian. Anything about the major factions of the Milky Way was valuable, so Vader shipped Byth to his castle. Vader then subjected the wingless Thanagarian in the many ways of torture and force probing. Now he was stuck in the nightmarish influence of Vader's red mercy.
From all of the information gathered from the hawkman, by means of force probing or physical and psychological torture, the Dark Lord of the Sith recovered many intriguing facts and secrets that Thanagar kept from the wider galaxy.
"Good," Vader answered through the medical-gel tank. He went on with heavy emphasis, "See to it that his mind isn't damaged in the process; he can still be useful to me."
"Of course, master."
"Anything else, droid?"
"There is, master," 11-4E added, "Empress Maxima sent a transmission no more than an hour ago about the whereabouts of the Duke of Tae Tamarac."
Vader, in his unprotected, limbless body, groaned. He looked into the droid for a moment and said, "Tell her...that her cousin has been reassigned to his military duties for the betterment of the empire, and some time will pass before he can return to Almerac."
"Very good master." The droid nodded its head, "I'll send the message post haste."
Vader, thinking he got rid of that nuisance, skipped to more pressing matters, "Tomorrow, 11-4E, we will begin advancing the experiments. We will start testing on our prisoners with the teleporter. Testing on sentients will be the next step to our goal. This is an important cover to have if I must gain my body again."
"Yes, my master, I will prepare the laboratory tonight." 11-4E bowed, "Is there anything else?"
"No," Vader said, "Now leave me."
"As you wish, master." The droid turned and closed the door to leave Vader alone in his gel tank.
After feeling that he had accomplished many things of importance today and these past weeks, Vader thought he could reward himself with a night of sleep. He closed his eyes in the liquid, his mind clearing and welcoming darkness.
Vader, during his sleep, always had nightmares and night terrors that plagued his mind. This one, however, wasn't much of a nightmare to him, but rather to someone else across the galaxy.
***
Pain has been part of her life for some time now. It never goes away; it is always there. This was not how things began. She was a princess of Havania, a world that offered so much to her, and she didn't need to give anything back. She had wealth from her family that was well above what most beings can comprehend. She was free from all amounts of worry and fear; now though, she was enslaved.
She doesn't know how long she's been imprisoned by them—weeks? Months? For the vile and unspeakable things they did to her and her body, it felt like years. She stooped crying and struggling when they came into her room.
They, the Gordanians, monsters, bastards, killed her mother in front of her, took Bleez for themselves to be used for pleasure and entertainment, and the Havanian princess was helpless. She couldn't do anything when she watched her mother die before, taken up to their ship, placed into chains in a cell, and subjected to their laughter and lusts. They broke her wings as a sick form of joke; their laughs of enjoyment still ringed in her ears.
She couldn't do anything; she was a princess, not a warrior or a hunter. For the longest time, she mused to herself about taking her own life as an act of defiance and getting peace in death.
But she didn't, not because she was scared; she has been scared in this hell for a while; it was because something was stopping her from doing. A feeling that was like a quiet whisper from a distant voice. It spoke a promise to her: a sense of reassurance and relief will transpire if she gathers the necessary strength to continue living.
The voice spoke of her tormentor's deaths.
Was this a hallucination? A dream within the living nightmare she was in? Has she finally gotten insane? These questions had no answers to give.
She lost hope a long time ago; a dream of escaping and returning to her home was but a false memory. The idea of their deaths—the thought of their demise—brought a small spec of joy to her soul, an aroma that she wanted to trace back to a delicious treat and watch.
It gave her strength to bear through the torment and laughter. That somehow, despite all of the lack of food, water, sleep, and damage done to her body, their deaths, their painful cries of agony will rejuvenate her, despoil any hunger and quench her thirst, and bring life back into her.
So she waited—for how long she couldn't say. Will her desire to see their deaths happen in a week? months? A lifetime? It didn't matter now; she could only hope that it was her to do so, and a dark pit in her heart grew black and cold as space.
***
Darth Vader woke up from his slumber when he felt a massive wave of the dark side hit him and cause his sleep to cease. His eyes darted through the thick gel around his chambers. As though a boulder was plunged into a pond, he felt a massive eruption of the dark side sprang out from the force. For a moment, he thought something terrible had happened; he was right, but nothing bad happened to him though.
Wanting to investigate, he drew inward to find the source of the disturbance. He followed the ripples to where it originated. Calling deeply into the force, he escaped out of the mundane and into the non-physical.
It took time to trace the path to the anomaly, going against the currents of the force, its drag forcing him to gather strength. After a while, he found a small trail that was a mere echo. Again, he went deeper and deeper to unravel the mystery when an image appeared in his mind.
An angel of sorts.
Chained, haggard, and defeated, the angel was in a cold, dark cell with no way of escape. Her wings were damaged; she wouldn't be able to fly to freedom. Her clothes were torn to the point where they barely covered her modest parts. Bruises and scratches tarnished her blue-skinned body, but her skin would still be considered beautiful. Her gorgeous raven-colored long hair is a mess from the crimes done to her. She was a young woman, but her innocence was taken.
At first inspection, the only thing that this angel had was her immaculate beauty that defied the punishment she went through; over time, Vader realized that she was more than that.
He pierced through her being and saw it—a spark, a little flame of hot, burning anger and hatred, with fear at its fuel. Little as it was, Vader saw the potential of a little blaze if properly nurtured. He saw her future, the beauty of the very angel, becoming the fiery desire of men and disgusting jealousy of women. Her beautiful glow warped the minds and hearts around her. Within this profound beauty hid something truly terrible and powerful, something that has been in the depths for too long and is wanting permission to be released.
She was to become desire incarcerated, sin made in flesh, to bring those into her fold and trap them forever.
Vader's vision of the chained angel vanished and was back to the material world. A new purpose was given, a task that he figured must've been deployed by the dark side itself.
A forceful girl ripe for the taking.
He has wondered if his new realm had any forceful beings to begin with, but now that riddle was answered, the mystery ended. He wasn't the only one to be able to touch the force.
But a new and greater question appeared while he was alone in his chamber: What could he do with that information?
Darth Vader in the past had apprentices and candidates to be his acolytes; Galen Marek was the strongest out of all of them. But he cannot deny that he did so out of the plan of challenging Sidious for the master of the Sith order; a task with his suit was thought impossible. But that mantle automatically conferred to Vader when he entered this new realm, with no contest over control of the Sith; rather, it was a gift bestowed onto Vader when he was taken into his new realm to spread the Sith's influence and take whatever is rightfully theirs.
Now he can direct the Sith to any course he desires, a path he can forge out of his own design and needs. It was a clean slate for the Sith; they were totally unchallenged in controlling the currents of the Force and therefore the universe if they so wished.
An apprentice at this time would be beneficial while also dangerous. The Sith in the future will spring from him only or not at all; he was the progenitor of all the Sith Lords that will rise from this new order, and they will have to pay honor and glory to his name as tribute for giving them such power and knowledge to begin with. Doing this, however, he will need to restructure the Sith from the order he left in his home galaxy.
The rule of two has expired, for the main mission of that power structure was to see the destruction of the Jedi, the Republic, and take back the galaxy to Sith rule. While Sidious respected Bane's lineage by only keeping him and Vader as true Sith, that hasn't stopped the Sith master from taking on many dark side acolytes and adepts allied to the Sith that could be considered violating the unspoken rule.
The Inquisitors like Jerec and that former Jedi Temple guard, that male Pau'an; Cronal, or what he likes to fancy himself to that stupid name 'Blackhole', and that red-headed brat that wanted Sidious's attention, Mara Jade. There were other dark siders who were admittedly strong in the force and talented enough to be capable of using the title of Sith, but Sidious only kept them as underlings and for good reason, as Vader thought. Powerful as they were, they would not have been worthy to be the leaders of the Sith as Sidious and Vader were. They were followers and nothing more.
Now, there is no need to limit the Sith by only two, but that mentality of expanding the dark side's reach to many beings has led the order to misdirection and infighting. Darth Bane, as stated in his memoirs, said that during his time in the Brotherhood of Darkness, there were many Sith Lords in the order at that point who had little strength in the Force and didn't deserve to associate themselves with the Sith.
So much was the Sith at the time unknowingly denouncing the order's characteristics by having "equality" and "unity" instilled into their ranks that it made Korriban grow weak to the connection of the dark side in that era. As if the brotherhood's mere existence disgusted the dark side itself to leave Korriban and brought shame to the spirits of the Sith lords before them in the valley of the dark lords.
Vader cannot fall into this trap, for it could spell total destruction to the Sith. Increasing Sith numbers more than they should be will only dilute and weaken the overall well of power that was the dark side. He will need to recruit a select few: strong, audacious, bold, intelligent, and above all else loyal beings capable of handling the true power of the dark side and able to use it with no remorse or guilt. They will be the very few beings permitted to use such gifts, and he will grant them that. The Sith will need to evolve and change much like how the Sith had to adapt under Darth Bane.
But Vader's grand vision of a cabal of powerful beings cannot happen, for he hasn't even begun training his first apprentice; of course she passed his test if she is truly worthy of his and the dark side's attention. He will save her, but only to damn her to a path that very few can traverse and travel across, and even fewer that survive it. But at that end of that path, she will be unspeakably powerful.
His eyes were fixed on the angel. She fell some time ago from the heavens and learned from a brutal, unfair, and cruel way that the universe doesn't care for her. But he will show her another way, a way that many shunned against, but it is a path that leads to glory and true freedom where her wings can spread and fly.
She was his now, and she cannot escape what is to come.
"Droid!" Vader amended 11-4E to enter.
The doors to the chamber opened to have 11-4E quickly shuffle in and bow in front of Vader. "Yes, my master?"
"Alert my star destroyer." The Dark Lord, in his therapeutic fluid-filled tank, ordered, "There is a disturbance that requires my presence."
The droid bowed, "Of course, Lord Vader, if I can make an inquiry, what has gained your interest that demands your full attention?"
Vader looked up to an unspecified spot in his chamber. His yellow eyes stuck to a direction, and while she was in a vessel far above in the vast expanse of space, he could still see and feel her. Hunched over in a bleak cell, her beauty defied logic and physical punishment. In that profound beauty was a rising spark of energy and heat that could combust at any moment with the help of a guiding hand. One nudge to one path and she'll destroy herself in a supernova of fear, anger, and hatred.
He was already there with her. His presence over her person was like a phantom.
"Nothing more," Vader finally replied when the image of the angel faltered back to the reality of his chamber, "than that we will be catching a bird very soon."
***
She thought it would be another day like the one before and the one before that one. A day with them giving her scraps of their food. Making her debase herself in whatever show of skin they want and desire. Laugh at her while forcing themselves onto her.
This was her life for the past months.
But she felt that this day was like none other. A day where it would change her. She didn't know where this instinct came from. This sense of foreboding was like seeing a storm, inching its way and its dark shadow ever so closer. A force of nature approaching towards her, she was but a simple girl compared to its vast, dark coverage.
This feeling of something coming to her only increased moment by moment.
That wasn't the only thing she noticed. A quake took the ship; it stopped momentarily, and it happened twice again after the first time. A screaming alarm outside of her prison cell echoed throughout the ship. She heard her reptile captors rushing behind the door to whatever battle station they were assigned to. She can hear the space battle beyond the hull of the ship happen. Who could take on the Gordanian cruiser she was in prison for months was above her guess. But for some reason, that was the least of her worries, for the storm—that shadow—the void—was getting closer to her.
Minutes passed of loud energy blasts that thundered in space until one large eruption rocked the ship so hard that she almost fell out of bed. Though she was still bound to her tight chains on her hands, so her lower body fell off the bed. When recovering from the surprise, she could hear the distinct blaster discharges sounding off within the hull of the cruiser. More Klaxons yelled with Gordanians outside, issuing and barking orders at each other while the blaster fight was getting closer.
That void was still encroaching her until that was the only thing she could fixate on; her mind, her senses, her entire world was being darkened by the void's near presence. Then she heard the slaughter begin. She heard an angry hum of a weapon weaving around. The thudding and dropping of bodies and limbs. The screams of pain and begging Gordanians.
She secretly enjoyed the agony of her tormentors at the hands of her unseen rescuer.
This new feeling of emotion distracted her momentarily as the screaming, cries of pain, and blaster bolts stopped. She noticed this silence, and her eyes were immediately drawn to the door. The only sounds made were heavy footsteps clacking onto the metal floor, the hum of a weapon, and the deep inhales and exhales of a respirator that clouded her ears.
The noises got close; their highest point of volume happened when whatever or whoever made them stopped at the front of the door. This was where the void was its strongest, its darkest. She realized that she was shivering, a strange feeling even though the Gordanian ship was constantly hot to support their reptile pilots. Yet it was like she was instantly dropped into a tundra with no clothes on.
The door slides open and reveals a figure made out of pure darkness. He was covered in gleaming black and lacked any form of light, just like the infinite void of space itself. Somehow, the room she was trapped in with its constant lights being on seemed to dim and its color wan, as though he was a black hole, destroying the light so he may cover her universe with darkness.
He was a living shadow.
The shadow had the red energy weapon that made the hum on his black gloved hand, then he deactivated and hid it under his cloak. He enters the room, his breathing becoming the only thing she hears. She was frozen solid like a statue; the shadow waved a hand from his dark figure, and the metal cold bindings she was forced to wear for months undid themselves.
Joy entered her so quickly and so much that she wanted to cry and thank her rescuer, but she didn't; any emotion she had left was overcome by fear and shock of the shadow.
The shadow finally speaks, but it wasn't a voice of his own. "Follow me."
He turns and disappears into the hallway. Not wanting to be left alone, Bleez struggles to get up. She nearly falls back to the bed but catches herself by using the wall for support. After some heavy breathing and struggling, she walks out of the room she was trapped in.
The hallway was a graveyard. The smell of death hit her with no mercy. Bodies and limbs littered outside of her cell, Gordanians, the beings she despised and hated for months now lay dead. Torsos were missing heads, arms, and legs cut off; evidence showed and smelled that whatever dismembered the bastards cauterized the wounds. She always wondered what barbecued reptiles would smell like; now she knows.
There were other bodies that weren't burned; some had their heads caved in, some had their bodies turned and twisted in preternatural ways, and others looked like they exploded like a balloon.
She turned her head towards the shadow and went quickly in his direction. He was walking away from her, not minding her existence, as if he had better things to do. In a moment of confusion, she says weakly, "I…I don't understand…are you here to save me?"
His response was his unnatural cold breathing and his heavy footsteps. Minutes have passed of them walking through a body-infested hallway when the shadow stopped behind one wide door with two soldiers in white shining armor at the guard.
"Are you here to rescue me?" Bleez boldly pressed to the shadow, "Aren't you here to set me free."
The shadow looked at the door for a moment and turned around to face her, his mask hiding any expression she could decipher. "Not yet." He said it cryptically.
Before she could ask what he meant by that, the wide doors opened, and she stopped when she saw who was in there. Them, right in the middle, were right Gordanian men who were cuffed and were on their knees. They were the men that regularly defiled her, laughed, and tortured her for amusement. They were guarded by two other white-armored soldiers.
She suddenly wanted to run away, but the shadow moved faster than she could react. He grabbed her by the arm and flung her behind him. She crashed into the floor as the shadow turned and went into the wide room. "Leave us." He commanded the soldiers, and they bowed then left, leaving her, the shadow, and the tied-up Gordanians alone in the room. The doors closed behind them.
Still on the cold artificial floor, she looked up to the shadow and had fear in her eyes about what he had stored in for her. "What…are you going to do with me?"
"The question you should be asking, young bird," the shadow said, "Isn't that what I will do." He pointed at her, "But what will you do?"
"I…just want to go home." She begged, near tears. "I don't want to be here anymore; I just want to go back home. Just take me there already!
The shadow stood silent for a moment. "That's not the only thing you want, girl." He motioned to the tied-up Gordanians. "Kill them."
Bleez stood up and couldn't find the words to reply, "K-kill…kill them?"
"That is what you desire…Bleez of Havania."
Her eyes went wide. "How do you know my name?"
The shadow replied, "I know more about you than you could possibly imagine, your thoughts go every now. But more importantly, I know what you desire. Now is to end these men's lives with your own hands. Kill them and take your revenge."
Confusion and panic entered her, "No! That's not what I said, I didn't say anything about that!"
"Your thoughts betray you, girl. You should rid yourself of this act and stop trying to be innocent. Your true self lies in your desire. Your path to vengeance is at hand, young bird." He balled a fist for emphasis, "Control your fear, release your anger, your hatred for them! Only then will you be truly emancipated."
"No!" She protested and brought her hands to her head, "I just want to go home! Why can you see that! Please, I don't want them to be near me!"
The shadow, disappointed, dropped his hand. "Very well, if you won't concede to your desires, then I will make it so." With one hand gesture, all of the Gordanians bindings were released. Surprises were shown in the Gordanians' faces, then they exchanged looks between themselves, then at Bleez.
Her heart sounded as though it wanted to run away. She desperately looks at the shadow, who takes a step back behind the entrance's threshold. "WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!"
The shadow's reply before the doors closed was, "I will give you a choice…live...or die." The shadow's face was the only thing she saw when the doors closed. She quickly turns around to see the Gordanians getting up to their feet and starting their pace at her. She bangs at the door.
***
Vader, with his back to the door where he left the angel, crossed his arms and waited, albeit impatiently waited.
Despite giving the young bird the tools she'll need to free herself and granting her desire to kill the men who wronged her, she continues to deny any such intention and even seems to be shackled by morality. As much as he wants to take her and train the angel, he cannot guide her into the eventual journey to the dark side she'll partake in if she won't let herself be in her true form and free herself.
If she needs to relive her most horrific memories to unleash the dark in her, then so be it. In his mind, it is a sink or swim reality, or in her case, fly or fall. She didn't disappoint him at the end.
At the start, she pounded her fists in desperation, as if that would open the bulkhead doors. She screamed and cried for help and to open the door, but he gave no answer, for she already had it. He could hear the slow steps of the Gordanians coming close to her. As she realized this, her pounding stopped, and she fell to the ground in a sobbing fit.
Then it hit him just as hard as it hit her. The mocking, festering fear that bubbled out forth from the depths of her being. All of the things that they did to her were now being revived and reimagined in her own mind, fearing what would happen to her now. That fear emerged from the surface, where it turned into boiling rage for the Gordanians. Anger over how she was victimized. Fury over her mother to let this all happen. Then that heat of hot anger morphed into a storm of hatred—for the Gordanians, her mother, and him.
These emotions awoke a creature in her that had been sleeping within the darkness in her for years. It rose from the dark depths like a nightmarish monster out of a dream. A demon possessed her now.
This dark shift was even felt by the Gordanians, who had thoughts of killing and maybe having their way with her, now quickly regretting it. Without warning, bloodcurdling screams ruptured behind the door. He heard flesh being torn apart, bones cracking, and pools of blood rushing around the room. In all of this, the dark side surged and bended. The last one fell in a heap as he heard multiple poundings by fists splatter brain matter.
There is much time left between the emergence of the demon and the door opening. He turned around and opened the doors to slide open and to reveal the gore-covered chamber. There, he saw her, the angel.
Hands and arms engulfed in blood, sky blue skin caked with the thick crimson liquid. Fingers arched like talons. Mouth and face contorted into unbearable rage. And her eyes, her once blue eyes that were merely a mask, were taken off, and her true self was shown—irses in the color of fire with a rim of red.
Yes, the angel was in front of him. An angel that the dark side gifted to him. "You did well, young girl."
The angel stepped forward, and the bloody mesh behind her disappeared when the doors closed. She pointed a blood-covered finger to Vader, "YOU!" Her voice slightly shook the room while words were infused with rage. "WHAT DID YOU DO TO ME!"
"The only thing I did was give you the tools for your own freedom. I found you broken and used. Now you are reborn and strong."
"YOU MADE ME KILL THEM!"
"And?" Vader asked, "If I hadn't come to help, then you would have been dead or set in a fate worse than death. I only watched. You, on the other hand, murdered them on your own accord."
She put her blood-covered hands in fists and stopped her shaking when she looked down at them. Realization set into her, the demon quickly receding back to the depths, and the yellow eyes that showed herself disappeared into the blue-eyed mask. Her arms shook from anger to fear and shock. "I….what…what have I done?"
"You did what you had to do," Vader said.
Horror held a grip over her, "They were people…."
"No!" Vader berated her and took a step forward, "Feel no pity for them, they have not done such a thing to you! They dared to cross your path, and now they paid the price with their lives. Understand now you are free from such morals and restrictions society sets upon you."
The angel steps back, "Who are you?"
Vader put his hands behind his back and went to a long observation window that showed the dark universe in its glory. "No one," he said while his back was turned against the angel, "but I could be someone worthy of value to you if I choose to accept my offer."
She glowered, "What offer?"
"To use your newly discovered gifts without consequence and contradiction."
She looked down to the floor, making a face of deep reminiscing, "I just want to go home." She admitted.
"Home?" Vader repeated, "You could never go home for powers beyond your understanding have made our parts cross." He finally faced her, "What has happened to you and what transpired today, nothing for you, my dear, will be the same." Vader started slowly walking in her direction, arms folded at his armored chest. "You could go back to our planet, your people, Princess. You can gain back your wealth and your status with your beauty. You could go back to your home and pretend your life was back to normal." He continued walking, the Angelic Princess didn't move, her eyes stuck in one place, her thoughts running in all directions.
"You can return to your life before and know that you will never be the same. Go back to your people and house, be blind that they will despise you for your innocence was taken and wings broken. The many suitors that buzzed your presence like flies will not desire you anymore. You can ignore what the Gordanians have done to you and never get your revenge. You could go back home and live a unremarkable life; you will have nothing to return to."
In this entire time, he paced around her until he stopped behind the angel. "Or…you could follow a path that will lead you to your desires and cravings. For I see you want more." He walks straight behind her, his height towering over behind her.
"You can go through a journey to seek the power that you have just unlocked. You can go through a world that I speak of and gain abilities well above the mundane and ideas that transcend morality and the laws of this material realm. This power can heal your wings and offer you more. You can become a woman who all beings desire to have and be. When they look upon you, their hearts will never be satisfied by having their eyes on you, for this is what you secretly crave in your entire life, because I sense it in you. You can take this path and butcher the Gordanians like the animals they are."
His chest almost touched her black, damaged wings. She didn't move.
Vader said to the angel. "Few can manage to take this power and discover it. This path I show is a dark one and dangerous, but in the end, you will become so strong and powerful that this will never happen to you." He placed a black gloved hand onto her smooth, light blue skin. "Join me."
A moment passed, and the girl exited out of his grip; she became very cautious and stepped away from him. "Who…are you."
Darth Vader becomes haughty, "I go by many names and titles, girl. But I only wear one name and title that you should care about. I…am Darth Vader, a Dark Lord of the Sith, and if you so choose it, your guide to the path of true power."
The angelic girl looked into his helmet's eyes and for a while then at her blood covered hands out of reflection. The buzzing thoughts in her head lessen to where there was only one, one true thought. She spoke, there was a sense of unbelievable clarity while desire leaked into her answer. "I…wish…to join you."
"Then kneel before me." The angel did so. She genuflected in front of him, bowing her head while Vader placed a black head onto the crown of her head. "Pledge that it is your will to join your destiny forever with the Order of the Sith Lords."
The angel uttered out the oath, "It is my will to join my destiny forever with the Order of the Sith Lords."
Vader closed his eyes and meditated into the miasma of the dark side to locate her true name. A whisper woke him up, and he dropped his hand, for he found her true name.
A dark angel.
"For now on, your true self will be…Darth…Angelicus."
Darth Vader, Sith master, now heard the dark rise around him, all the voices of the past Sith entered his ears and announced his victory was at hand with her. Power surged into him like a rushing river that had been dammed for the longest time. The dark side itself coiled around him with its black tendrils, and he did the same for Angelicus.
The dark side has brought them together to enforce and spread its will to the ordinary world. Their partnership, their pilgrimage through the dark, will grant them power above thought and morality.
"Rise…" he said his first commandment to Angelicus.
Darth Angelicus rose from her kneeled posture and looked up to her master. "In the future, my apprentice." He said, "The powers of the dark side will be unleashed, and none will have the strength to fight against our combined wills, but until that day, your descent to your rebirth will need to continue…"
***