The Price Of Loyalty (Raphael. Ask to Join)

[Kressara Thryn]

Crow song left no aspect of silence alive as the endless murder flocked within the branches overhead. Amber light flooded through the autumn canopy so impossibly far above and lit the forest floor with an eerie glow, Golden liquid dripping from any break in the foliage down to the ground below. This shimmering fluid drizzled like oil from some unseen ocean where the sky ought to be, upheld by the scarlet, orange, citrine, and velvet purple leaves of the towering trees. Deer wandered the forest, though only their shadows could be seen from afar as they grazed in and out of sight. So many orb weavers spun their metallic webs between the trunks which shined like burning silk when the light fell just so...cold winds blew in gusts that whistled over the bark and rustled the leaves while her birds sang a deep woods sonata. This place wasn’t heaven...it wasn’t hell either. It was a purgatory of her own making.

She sat with her legs tucked beneath her, wearing the black jacket she loved so well. The hood was draped over her pale blonde locks, giving her the impression of a dark bird nesting atop the dusty earth. The murder cried louder. Her ever present smile widened just slightly in response. Who was coming? Someone must be drawing near…

At first only a few leaves drifted down to the dry ground, but then more followed until it seemed the trees were dying all around her. That once slowly trickling gold was now coming down like rain without a shelter to protect the girl from it’s descent. It coated her, drenching her in luminescent water as her beloved birds took flight through the opening in the forest shade. Her eyes opened, colorless until the water soaked through her hood and pooled down her feminine features, causing her irises to erupt in vibrant hues of sunlight and peridot.

The sky fell and drowned the forest beneath.

”I should wake up…” Kressara thought to herself.


Her eyes opened to see the cold grey metal of her cell walls. She didn’t have to look behind her to know that this steel surrounded her, just as she didn’t have to call for an answer from the guards outside her cage to realize that they were there. Kressara’s coat was covered in dust, grey and tattered, and her lovely tresses were far overgrown and messy. It didn’t fit her as well as it used to, hanging loosely over her frame. She’d lost weight in her time there. She was dying in that place, physically at least. The guards didn’t have much to report back to their supervisors, and in turn Lord Blood would receive only tales of the girl sitting still in the center of that prison for hours on end. She would sit, eyes open, lips curled, unmoving for days sometimes.

Frankly, it scared them.

She used to eat what little they gave her, but it would seem she stopped doing that sometime around her last “nap”, or so they called it. Five meals went untouched at the door since last she woke. The guards only gave meals once a day.

”I’ve been dreaming for quite a while. Maybe...I should just go back…”

Kressara’s eyes did not blink, her chest only barely rising. All thoughts were spoken only within her own mind as her body remained unmoved.

”I could have sworn I felt someone…”

[Raphael Xandir]

Sounds of large engine echoed throughout his head, the familiar feeling of a ship entering the atmosphere of a planet accompanied it as well. The young man sat comfortable in the engine room upon the floor, legs and arms crossed. He sat, searching through the force, through his feelings. In the chaos that surrounded his exit from the Sith and the death of Slade, Raphael was forced to leave his beloved companion behind. They had grown close in their training and assignments together; they were the beginning of a very strong duo. Though, he only knew her for a short amount of time, he felt a sense of responsibility as he was the reason she was broken down. Broken down until the point of seeing his previous delusions of the Sith as the only way to go.

Seeing the light of his mistakes was the first step in exiting his chains. Being born into the Sith he had no other choice, but now he held all of his own cards in his hand. He was free of those chains and actively worked to free others from the chains of his past. The reign of terror the devil Blood now brought down on its subjects had to be stopped, but first Raphael would have to free his companion.

Through the force, he continued to search out the presence of the Crow. She was near; the ship only brought them closer together. He only regretted now that he hadn’t learned the ability to communicate through the force yet. Still, as he felt her presence surely she would as well.

Feeling the ships landing gears smack the ground of likely a random landing pad, Raphael quickly hid his weapons and armor in one of the many crates upon the ship. He knew these types of transport ships that frequented Dromund Kaas and this specific prison facility. They would unload these crates into storage as they held the prisoners personal belongings. Raphael made not to carve a symbol into the side of his crate before heading into the hull of the transport ship.

Eyes turned from back as the scum of the galaxy turned around to witness Raphael entering the room. They gave no second glances, as they no longer cared. Raphael took an empty seat and slapped a pair of cuffs on his wrists as he intended on blending in.

Prisoners, all from different backgrounds, were marched into the facility and down the hall of cells as they were placed one by one. Raphael in the midst of the group felt her presence grow nearer and nearer. She was in one of these cells. Just before he was placed into his cell, Raphael called out to her in the force, hopeful she would at least catch a glimpse of him.

“Time to wake up Crow!” he called out in his mind.

[Kressara Thryn]

The gold slowly crept up her spine and towards those eyes now drooping shut, dreams reclaiming consciousness. But something felt so familiar…

”Please...just let me sleep.”

Kressara was always so tired now. Crows beckoned her to drown again in her own lucidity, but that irksome feeling kept bringing her back.

”It’s not worth being awake here…” Her thoughts echoed and the gold stretched outwards from her vision. It would be so easy just to stay there and never come back. Why come back anyways? The sensation of familiarity pinched the back of her mind and caused her teeth to grit with a disdainful sneer. What was that! Why now? Why when she was finally alright with slipping away into the force forever did this feeling perturb her so insistently? A spike of rage and loathing made the room seemingly go cold as she struggled to wake fully.

And then the gold was gone. A presence she new well called out to her, anger and hatred faltering as desperation took their place. Her eyes were wide open for the first time in days and at last her spirit was anchored to the body it belonged to. Kressara would have leapt from the ground to the door if her legs could respond to the urgent commands of her mind. Instead she fell forwards onto her palms, using the strength left in her arms to drag herself to her knees, then to her feet. Her heart pounded violently in her ears as it struggled to perform under the sudden increase of movement and the imprisoned sith fell against the door. Her fingers pulled at the ledge of the small window so that just her eyes could peak outside.

“Raph…” Her eyes made out the blurry image of a person she never thought she’d see again. “Raphael…” Kressara tried to call him, but her voice failed her from months of silence. No. No he can’t leave her there. He can’t just keep walking! But wait...he was being placed into a cell? That couldn’t be right. Why would he be here?

RAPHAEL.

The force itself reached beyond her jail cell and clashed like waves with Raphael’s, overwhelmingly so. It was heavy, sick, and unrefined like the way Kressara’s aura usually felt. Stronger, but not because she herself had grown more powerful. Negative energy radiated from behind that door, though wrapped within it all was still the signature of Raphael’s companion. She might have grown ill since last they met as this place slowly ate away at all she had, but her connection to the force was stronger than ever. It would feel as if she were more ghost than living being, proof of her wakeless days in captivity.

[Raphael Xandir]

She was nowhere to be found. The guards had stuffed him into his solitary cell not knowing how his companion fared. He felt her near, the force; it lived so vibrantly inside of her. Yet, she was faint. She was almost now a disturbance in the force rather than an actual life force. This confused the young man as he had so much to fill in since his time of leaving the Sith. The young man trusted the force; he trusted it so much that he knew for a fact that it would guide her way. It would keep her alive in such drastic and disparaging times.

Trust. Faith. The force would see her through. Now to wait…

Some Time Later
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Organized chaos followed. Prisoners being escorted to the mess halls in mass numbers. Surely they wouldn’t trust the individuals here to be put into the same room? Yet, it seemed they were armed well enough. The Sith prisons were nowhere near the humane prisons of the Alliance. If you caused uproar, if you breathed wrong, you were dead. The guards here got so much target practice, so when they were rotated off world, they were prepared to face the enemies of the Sith.

So with the mumbles groans of bored prisoners, they marched slowly down to the mess hall. Receiving a rather bland meal on a tray, Raphael sat at a table near the corner of the hall. He would not want to attract any unwanted attention, but he did understand he was new blood. But still, his mind wandered to other things. Did the Crow give up so easily? He would not seek her out; he needed to know she still had some fight left in her. IF she did not, well, Raphael couldn’t save a broken girl. This galaxy would swallow them up and spit them back out if she was broken, he needed her to be strong.

So instead, he sat and ate. Waiting patiently, he trusted that the force had made her aware, given her life enough to find where he was. He hoped she had enough fight to exit her cell and find a new fight within her life. The young man would give her new fight, if only she made it to him, unbroken.

[Kressara Thryn]

The night was long for the first time in weeks. Kressara didn’t sleep. She couldn’t possibly afford to. Raphael was so close right now and he couldn’t reach her! She couldn’t reach him either and with her weakened condition who knew what would happen if she left her cell when prisoners were released for their daily (well, mostly daily) lunch. Morning rolled around and so followed the afternoon when all cell doors opened, a nerve wracking click! signifying that her door had been unlocked as well. Raphael’s presence drew further away towards the center of the facility. It was now or never...he wasn’t going to walk through that door like the first time she was in such a horrible place. He wouldn’t guide her by the hand this time.

”Stand on your own two feet...get it together.”

Crow exhaled and rose from her spot against the wall to her unsteady feet.

”This is your fault. You’re the one who gave up.” That internal voice scolded her for letting her condition slip so badly, but leaving her cell was unquestionably a bad idea. People in the prison recognized her, they knew she was a sith. Blood himself made SURE they knew. That marked her. ”But you could have been braver…” Kressara shook her head, dirty strands of platinum hair falling over her face and past her nose as her neck hung. ”And now look how pathetic you’ve become. How many lives have been spent at your cost, only to become this?” Seething, Kressara turned to the door and opened it slowly. She peaked out to see the hall was mostly empty now, so cautiously she leaned against the wall and made her way to the cafeteria.

It was bustling, for a jail, though the feeling of dread and misery was never stronger in any place she had ever been to. Her eyes were scanning the large mess hall for Raphael when a group of inmates started leering her way and talking amongst themselves. Fear made her stomach turn when her eyes met with the bruiser at their table. She didn’t waste any time vanishing into the lines of shuffling people who waited to receive their gruel.

Disgusting filth...I wouldn’t even give this garbage to bottom feeders. Like before, Kressara wasn’t keen on taking their trash even if it was the only thing offered.

His presence seemed to warm the room, making her aware that he was somewhere nearby. Funny, she didn’t ever recall Raphael’s force signature being so bright...but then again, anything familiar would lighten up this wretched hole. He was seated at a table alone when her senses told her to look ahead. Kressara’s eyes spotted Raphael just as someone less friendly spotted Kressara.

“Raph?” Disbelieving, her small voice carried far.

[Raphael Xandir]

Silver eyes followed her movements the whole time she was out of her cell and in the mess hall. He watched closely as she limped in despair toward the smell of grueling grub, yet it didn’t seem she had a single sign of any physical marks upon her body. Raphael wondered if this was all psychological, did she really give up so easily? He would leave her here if he had to, if she wasn’t strong enough to fight through this wretched galaxy. Maybe the more humane thing would be to end her suffering here and now… That would prove difficult for the young man; he had grown very fond of the farm girl. It would prove a release of her pain, but he hadn’t the strength to do it… that was off the table.

She would have to come to him. He waited comfortably with this terrible excuse for nutrients.

Taking another gulp of the bland food, Raphael’s line of sight was interrupted by a Delphidian. The young man knew of this species, the leathery skin on these brawlers could be seen a mile away. What this particular man wanted though was unknown to him. The dark grey faced man stare blankly at Raphael as he still focused on the Crow.

Turning to see what Raphael was looking at, “Who do your eyes follow boy?”

A simple question. It could of received a simple answer, yet Raphael had no time for the inmates who would be here the rest of their lives. But the blasted brawler would no give in that easily. His eyes scanned the room looking for the target… One or two moments and he knew exactly who it was; she stuck out like a sore thumb.

“Ahhhh… The Sith Girl… I see,” he blatantly stated.

Again, no reply from the silver eyed man.

Turning back to the man across the table, “What is it you want from her? Does she have a healthy bounty on her head?”

As the Delphidian received no response yet again, he cracked his knuckles and stood up aggressively from the table.

“Very well then,” he added.

The brawler strutted towards the girl, holding a hand out to grasp her shoulder. It was a firm grasp; she would likely stop dead in her tracks. Raphael still sat motionless at the table, passively observing his surroundings as well as keeping an eye on the Crow’s reactions.

“No… The name is Chron, not Raph. But who might you be little one?” he questioned.

The muscular arms of the Delphidian were enough to cause a scene anywhere, but within this prison, everyone noticed everything. A large crowd began to form in the nearby vicinity as they discussed this mysterious new girl.

[Kressara Thryn]

She stared back at him, a million thoughts running through her head as the once perfectly healthy woman tried to unravel the mystery of why he was here. If it wasn’t for his presence in the force, she might have believed it was only a cruel hallucination, a trick of the mind to make her feel less alone. No, her mind would have done that much sooner if it was capable. This was Raphael, but why? For a second she thought back to his escape, a small sting hurting her heart as she thought about all she’d given up to make sure he was safe. Now he was in the same hellish prison as she was? Raphael wasn’t an idiot, that she could recall. It began to click that her friend had some sort of plan hidden away in that mind of his.

A mountain of a Delphidian rose within her peripheral vision and lumbered her way. The man was physically worth about four of Kressara in her current state, out matching her even when she had been in peak condition. His words snagged her attention, unmoving accept for her piercingly angry gaze which shown beneath the shade of her hood. Her body tipped and a foot stepped back to right herself at his grasp.

“No one of your concern. Unhand me…”

A scraggly looking woman with tattoos over her face came forth from the gathering crowd and sneered at Kressara. “Hey, that’s the brat who came here a few months ago...the sith tossed her in here.”

“Aaaah, so you couldn’t keep up could you? We’ve had a few sith rejects here before. They don’t last long. By the looks of it, you won’t either.” Another inmate added his opinion to the mix and Kressara kept her eyes locked with the one whose fingers were digging into her shoulder. Sickness, anger, and static entropy hung like invisible fog around her, pupils narrowed on his. With more gruffness to her voice than before, the crow glowered at him as all of her negative energy zeroed in on him alone. “There are a total of three joints per finger...it only takes a second to break one...you have three before I break all of them.”