WriteHaven

This was stupid, absolutely kriffing stupid. Brentaall IV was hardly the place he wanted to be at the moment but this is where he had to be, this is where he was called to be and he was not happy about it. He had more important things to be doing in less conspicuous areas, he was taking a bigger risk than he normally would by coming to the commerce hub of the entire galaxy, but he knew what his target was up to and where he was at any given moment, in fact Adrian had witnessed just about everything that had transpired up until this point and his target was none the wiser.

Cautiously the fifteen year old Sith Apprentice approached the abandoned warehouse in one of the more seedy areas of the city. He was dressed in all black as he normally was, but on this day he was wearing a new leather coat instead of a cloak for his Sith robes, the coat may have been a touch big on him, but he was in the middle of a growth spurt and realized that he would grow into it in a few months time. It being larger hid his lightsabers well so the size certainly served a purpose. His pants were tactical in nature, clearly designed for combat and the carrying of weapons and assorted articles, nothing overly conspicuous in this galaxy. As he had grown he began to learn that announcing you were a Sith every single place you went was not always the best of ideas, he had seen more obvious Sith attire land apprentices his age in the grips of the Ji'dai, not all had survived either. For the moment his eyes were blue, in case he ran into anyone on the streets who might give out his location to the Ji'dai, not that he couldn't take them...some of them. He was young and arrogant, but he was beginning to understand his limits and his own mortality, he he knew he could take on most any Padawan, but he did not want to take on a Knight alone, he reasoned it might not end well for him.

He breathed out through his nose and looked at the keypad to the door and sighed. Now I wonder what code he'd have chosen? He thought to himself as he stared for a brief moment. He then reached out and typed in the first thing that came to mind. (7226589) The door slid open with a hiss and Adrian shook his head in disbelief.

"Idiot. He hasn't changed much."

The same combination that his target had used at the Sith Academy all those years ago had worked, which was moronic as Adrian had long ago learned this combination and routinely broke into his locker and room. What made matters worse is that his target knew that someone was breaking into his personal areas. How had he survived this long? Adrian cautiously made his way through the warehouse and slowly turned the corner to a room where there seemed to be a blue light glowing. He heard voices, or rather a familiar voice. Slowly Adrian stopped disguising his aura and let the darkness return and his eyes changed back to their typical red color, not quite glowing just yet, but they still radiated Sith Power.


Another teen, dressed entirely in Sith robes stood there with his lightsaber hanging from his belt and the Academy's logo sewn into his the sleeve near the cufflink. Much more obviously a Sith than what Adrian had been wearing. The blue glow noticed by Adrian were ray shields, just a few feet in front of him, they held captive a prisoner whose arms and legs were stretched out and bound. He was clearly Ji'dai, a Padawan with jet black hair and blue eyes. His nose was broken and blood had recently ran down his face and dried, covering the front of his robes.

"Little Ji'dai, are you going to tell me what I want to know or am I going to half to cut something off?"

Adrian walked into the room and mad himself visible to the other Sith teen in the room before looking at the prisoner in the ray shields.

<<Keep your kriffing mouth shut!>>

He then looked towards the young Sith in the room.

"Alaric, so nice to see you again."

The Sith's eyes flashed yellow and his lightsaber flew into his hand and ignited instantly.

"LYND! What the hell are you doing here?!"

Adrian smirked as a small knife slid down his left sleeve near his wrist, totally invisible to Alaric. Adrian raised his right hand in a calming motion, before reaching into his coat pocket and retrieving a datapad.

"Relax, if I was here to kill you, you'd be dead already. I'm here with orders from Lord Stormcrow for you."

Alaric took a defensive stance, remembering what had happened the last time he underestimated Adrian.

"Why would Lord Stormcrow give you orders for me?! You were expelled after...stabbed me."

Adrian shrugged nonchalantly, not making any aggressive or sudden moves, he merely just glanced down at the datapad.

"I got invited back, this is my first mission. Probably a kiss ass mission I'm sure, but it's a mission. Lord Stormcrow orders that you bring him the prisoner alive and more or less unharmed. Before you say anything else, yes it was a quick response. I was on world already and Stormcrow contacted me directly, I'm to go with you both."

Adrian held out the datapad.

"It's all here. Who is this Ji'dai anyway?"

Alaric looked stunned, as if the life had just been beaten out of him. Adrian Lynd sent to escort him, the student he was expelled for stabbing. It didn't make any sense, Alaric studied Adrian and watched as he held out the datapad. He seemed sincere and he wasn't doing anything suspicious. Alaric extinguished his lightsaber, and took a few steps closer to Adrian snatching the datapad from his hand.

"Just some Ji'dai kid. He got sent out alone to pick up an ambassador. The Ji'dai had no idea we were here, that's why they sent him alone."

Alaric looked down at the datapad and read the messages, nothing looked suspicious, all legitimate academy messages. He turned and scratched his head facing away from Adrian.

"I just don't get why he sent you? We hate each other."

Adrian shook his head as Alaric turned away from him.

"I don't know man, that's probably why he sent me. After what happened three years ago, he's probably testing me to see if I'm worthy of being back at the academy and can play nicely with other Sith. Meanwhile he's testing you as well, to see if you can work with me after what I did to you."

Alaric burried his face in the datapad as he tried to get to the next screen, but it was lagging.

"Yeah probably. Damn thing won't go to the next page."

"Oh. Hit recall."

Adrian said casually using the sound of his voice to mask his two steps that he took closer to Alaric he was busy fighting with the technology.

"Ahh got it. Damn academy datapads."

The screen moved to the next page and a message popped up titled read me Alaric. Odd, this was Adrian's datapad. The young Sith quietly looked down at tapped the icon and the message opened. It read as follows: "Alaric, what was it I told you I was going to do to you if you ever messed with my family again? ~Adrian"

Instantly Adrian drew his knife across Alaric's throat, cutting deep and severing his major arteries. Blood sprayed from the young Sith's throat as Adrian quickly took Alaric's lightsaber from him and severed both of the young Sith's arm's leaving him with no opportunity to retaliate. As Alaric's legs begain to buckle, he tried to screem in pain but all that came out was a gurgling sound as blood bubbled in his throat. Adrian lowered him slowly to the floor and leaned in and whispered into his ear.

"You are so dumb. Sith take orders from themselves, I'd never kriffing go back to that academy again with all you weak minded fools. You should be honored, because you are dying at the hand of a true Sith, something you will never be Alaric. I told you I'd slit your throat if you did anything to my family again, that Ji'dai is my brother and look what you did to him."

Adrian grabbed Alaric by his hair and titled his head up to stare at the imprisoned Alex. Adrian felt the last of Alaric's life force drain out of him and he shoved the lifeless body to the floor in a puddle of his own blood.

"Kriffing worthless excuse for a Sith."

Adrian's red eyes were now indeed glowing as he stood up and looked at Alex, his face was contorted in near rage as he walked towards the control panel and met his brother's eyes.

"YOU COMPLETE KRIFFING MORON!"

He screamed at his younger brother, blood still dripping from the knife in his left hand.

"HOW STUPID ARE YOU?! NO WAIT! DON'T KRIFFING EVEN BOTHER ANSWERING ALEX! I'M GOING TO TELL YOU HOW STUPID YOU AND YOUR MASTER ARE!"

Adrian's eyes were piercing as he stared deep into Alex's blue ones.

"He stalked you and your master for THREE DAYS and you didn't notice. Neither of you! What's worse?!? I was KRIFFING STALKING HIM THE ENTIRE TIME!!! You had two DEADLY Sith stalking you for THREE days and neither of you noticed. You're kriffing lucky you're alive, and you're luckier I'm your brother you idiot."

Adrian tossed his knife on the ground, there was an ominous metallic clang as it bounced hit the duracete floor. He'd need to clean it later so it didn't rust, but no use in sheathing it now. He then disarmed ray shields and Alex dropped to his knees in pain. Adrian approached him and reached out and grabbed the thirteen year old Padawan's broken nose with his blooded left hand, quickly he squeezed hard and popped it into place, before pushing his brother over onto the ground.

"I could kill you right now. How weak are you Alex? You think you're kriffing old enough to mess with the likes of me or him?! Where is your lightsaber? Where is your self defense? How did you let him capture you?! Kriffing Ji'dai! Learn to defend yourself or you'll die. Do you need me to kriffing train you? Obviously what you learned from the Ji'dai isn't good enough. Now get the kriff on your feet."

Everything was a blur as his eyes fluttered open, his head was throbbing, his right eye was nearly swollen shut. The cut on his left arm was deep, and it was throbbing. His eyes burned as they tried to focus, the strain on his legs and arms against the restraints was painful in and of itself. The thirteen year old Jedi Padawan was not in good shape, he had been surprised and attacked out of nowhere, he remembered his lightsaber flying into his hand and igniting and then a sharp pain against the back of his head. He remembered losing his grip and the hilt of his lightsaber hit the ground with a thud as he had begun to see stars. The next thing he knew he was in the restraints being yelled at by a Sith...and Adrian was there. Adrian?! He was about to speak as he heard Adrian's voice inside his head, the telepathy actually hurting his concussed brain, but he got the message. He watched and listened to everything that was happening, he wasn't sure what was going on. He watched Alaric? That was his name right? Turn his back on Adrian which didn't seem overly intelligent of the other Sith but, Adrian wouldn't hurt someone in such a unfair way. He listened to the two talk, he was slightly worried about being taken back to the academy but reasoned Adrian would keep him alive. Then he watched his brother take two silent steps towards Alaric and then...so fast he couldn't even see it, he saw the blood before he saw the knife. There was so much of it, so much blood. He watched as some splatted in front of the shields and Adrian lowered Alaric to the floor.

Alex's eyes widened as he tried to focus, he tried to listen to what Adrian had said to Alaric but he couldn't hear him. Alex's heart started racing, his blue eyes still wide as saucers as Adrian stood up and turned his attention to him. He had never seen his brother act like this and it was utterly terrifying, then Adrian started screaming at him. Alex could hardly believe it, the darkness was palpable and Alex was at a loss for words as he truly saw Adrian for the first time. The shields and clamps released, he hit the ground and in an instant Adrian was grabbing his nose, the sticky blood was still warm as Adrian's hands gripped Alex's nose and popped it into place. The pain was sharp and extreme as Alex saw stars and felt Adrian push him back to the floor. Was he in a survival scenario? He listened as Adrian spoke and seemed to threaten his wife while questioning his abilities at the same time. He heard Adrian command him to get on his feet and he struggled to do so but he soon somehow or another found himself standing facing his brother who was at least six inches taller than him at this point.

He looked around the room and saw Adrian's knife, quickly he called it to his hand, the blood from the handle squishing against his palm.

"I...can defend myself....I have no excuse for getting captured, he jumped me, I wasn't prepared. We weren't expecting Sith on a routine mission...you're....Adrian you're....thank you? I think..."

Alex glanced at the lifeless body of the other Sith on the floor.

"You betrayed him for me? What about his master? Now you...my head hurts. Are threatening to kill me or train me?"

Adrian watched the knife fly into Alex's hand, for a moment he was mildly impressed. He wasn't sure that the younger Ji'dai could handle touching the blood that soaked the handle. At least he wasn't squeamish he had that going for him. He felt his younger brother's presence in the force, there was potential there but nothing a dark sider would waste his time with. Alex would take too long to make a decent Sith, then there was the natural tendency he had for the light side, it radiated off of him. Adrian rolled his eyes at the thought.

"This is why Svo'k took you to the Ji'dai Alex. You're thirteen!! Why are you not better?! You can't defend yourself, I saw how slow you reacted and how quickly he defeated you! When I was thirteen I could take on someone older than me and win. In fact I DID."

Adrian grit his teeth and clenched his fist, he watched the way Alex was holding the knife and shook his head. He may not be squeamish but he hadn't had much in the way of training in knife combat. His arm was...uggh. Adrian or any other good combatant could take the knife from him, breaking his arm in the process and then plunge it into his throat. Maybe that would be better, certainly less long term suffering. Why was he this way? It was probably Svo'k's fault, kriffing weakling made one strong kid and two weak ones....Damien had potential though. Adrian narrowed his eyes and looked at his wounded brother, he made sure Alex could feel the anger in his aura.

"You need to get something through your head. You are a force user, Ji'dai or Sith, this universe is a dangerous place. There is no room for pacifists like you, Sith will prey on you because right now you are an easy target. They'll brag to their masters and friends about the Ji'dai they killed and you'll just be dead. I'm going to show you some stuff, but it's not training you're used to, so you're just going to need to deal with it because unlike Ji'dai our training can kill. You're going to get hurt, but pay attention to why. Oh and one more thing idiot, be suspicious of the void. You had TWO Sith on you, we were hiding in the void of force energy, learn to look for it, it's hard, because we blend it with background people, but once you figure it out, you won't get jumped again. Don't kriffing tell your little Ji'dai friends about that one and I'm not going to show it to you either, you're just going to have to kriffing figure it out."

Adrian paused for a brief second.

"His master? I'm not worried about him, he's already dead...check your food and drinks too Alex some poisons taste like nothing."

Adrian smirked, to the point he was nearly laughing his aura became less intense, deliberately trying to lure Alex into a false sense of security. That's when he struck, quickly his left hand seized the wrist of the hand that held the knife against him, Adrian brought the arm down twisting Alex's wrist, his other arm came down hard on Alex's forearm until he heard the pop, meanwhile Alex's left hand came up to attempt to strike Adrian in the head, he spun around and the knife fell to the ground as Adrian bent forward and Alex's fist struck him hard in the upper back. This was happening so fast Alex was just now reacting to the pain he felt, Adrian raised planted his feet and pulled Alex up and over him by his now likely broken arm and slammed him to the ground in front of him. Adrian produced another knife from his write sleeve and came down on top of Alex with the knife at his throat. He took the tip of the blade and neatly sliced a superficial cut into the throat of his younger brother.

"DEAD! Is that the best you've got?! Use your PAIN! Use it! It doesn't have to be a hinderance to you, it can focus you and drive you! "

Adrian pushed himself off of his younger brother and was immediately back on his feet. He took two steps back and kicked the knife Alex had dropped over to him.

"Get the knife and attack me. Don't hold back, I won't. NOW!"

Everything happened so fast again. Adrian was lecturing him about being a pacifist, but Adrian was a Sith, a Sith was hardly the person he was going to listen to about the merits of pacifism. Then Adrian had went on to say that Alex was an easy target for Sith, a lot he knew. Alex had been training diligently his entire life and...truth be told his swordsmanship could use work, so could his defenses. In fact he was a relative novice as actual combat with another force user, it wasn't his specialty. He knew enough but he hadn't sparred as extensively as some of his peers...

Then in a flash Adrian struck again, Alex had tried to move, but Adrian was so fast that his wrist was already trapped. He threw a punch as he felt the bone in his forearm snap. Once again he saw stars, he tried to block out the pain Adrian had a point there, but he couldn't. He had felt his fist make contact but clearly it didn't do anything as Adrian had now spun behind him and was lifting him by his broken arm and flung him into the ground. The impact knocked the wind out of the Padawan who coughed and gasped for air. Both of his arms now throbbing his left from the cut from Alarik and his right was clearly broken. He lay there twitching in pain as Adrian screamed, but the worst of it wasn't the physical pain. It was the emotional pain, Alex felt his heart break as he realized this attacker was his own older brother, he had always trusted Adrian would never hurt him and now here he was. He felt tears form in his eyes as he tried desperately to manage his emotions. He pulled himself to his feet and looked at Adrian who looked so much more like a real Sith than anything he had ever seen before. He swallowed hard and narrowed his eyes, he called on the force to calm him and to ease his pain as he glanced down at the knife.

A sense of warmth seemed to come to his aide as he felt some of the pain dull.

"Oh Adrian. Ah...I am not a Sith...I won't use my pain against you. I think maybe you're underestimating me just a bit, what I lack in...raw hand to hand combat, I make up for in other areas...."

Alex glanced behind Adrian and saw box after box stacked a shelf, he raised his left hand and one began to move slowly at first but then incredibly quickly. He saw Adrian move to avoid it and then called on another which hit the Sith teen in the right shoulder hard, he watched Adrian flench, his eyes glowing red as he rolled to avoid yet another box flying directly at his head. Meanwhile Alex moved his broken arm and Alaric's lightsaber flew into his hand. He flicked the ignition and the crimson blade sprang to life causing a sharp stabbing pain in the palm of the Padawan. He glanced down at lightsaber and wondered if it was his arm that was hurting him or it was the lightsaber. He switched hands quickly as Adrian jumped to his feet and felt the same pain in his left hand. It had to be the darkness, the crystal had been poisoned by Alaric and it was reacting negatively to a Jedi's aura.

He'd have to deal with it. Alex took a defensive stance with both hands on the hilt of the lightsaber, if this is how it was going to end at least he'd go down like a Jedi.

"I miss my brother Adrian, the Adrian that brought me a pet snake, the Adrian that took care of me. Who are you?"

In truth Adrian had not expected the wounded Alex to put up much of a fight, that wasn't the point of this. The point of this was showing his younger brother just how easily he could be killed if he encountered another Sith. Alex was gravely unprepared for combat that much was clear, so when his younger brother began throwing boxes as him it came as a bit of a surprise. He quickly reacted to the first one and it missed outright, but the second one hitting his back near his upper shoulder nearly took the breath out of him. Whatever was in it was heavy and it was no small impact, he quickly moved to avoid the third and watched Alaric's lightsaber fly into Alex's hand and ignite.

Not bad he thought to himself. He used the environment to his advantage and was able to at least momentarily keep Adrian occupied, but now that the Sith had adapted more boxes wouldn't be a problem, after all, he could use telekinesis as well. Still in a fight to the death, it might have given Alex the upper hand for a moment to make his escape and live to fight another day, had he not been wounded already. In this scenario he was just delaying the inevitable and hoping for a break. He watched as Alex moved the hilt to his off hand and Adrian scrunched his eyebrows as bit. He was using his left arm to control the weapon and his broken right arm as more of a brace. Smart...but painful. He knew Alex would lack any dexterity of value in his right arm, even aided by the force his full range of motion would be limited by blocking out any pain that he was in, using his strong arm to control would give him a better shot at blocking Adrian's attacks. Which led Adrian to his next question, should he use both of his lightsabers or not? It was an interesting thought, he was more than skilled fighting with one, but Alex had likely never seen two. It really came down to what the motive was in this fight, teach Alex a lesson, or humiliate him? Adrian pondered this thought for a second as Alex spoke, he also took the time to notice his Ji'dai brother holding a Sith blade, the irony was not lost on him.

He snickered and shook his Alex's words finally landed.

"How naive you are Alex. I'm still protecting you and don't you dare think otherwise for a second."

Adrian's voice dropped to a much darker and sinister tone, there was anger and frustration present before, but now his voice took on a less blunt but some how more serious tone.

"Are you breathing? That is the only proof you need that I am actively protecting you every single day of my life. I have killed in defense of you and Johanthon...not just today either. The truth is you are a liability to my reputation as a Sith. That said no peer of mine has questioned my reputation as a Sith and lived to talk about it. You shouldn't question who I am as a Sith either. If you do have doubts as to who and what I am, ask Kaytren where the scars on her leg came from..."

Adrian paused and slowly crossed his arms as he pulled both lightsabers from his belt.

"I don't speak your names among Sith, I don't show any attachment for you among Sith, by doing that I protect you. I am the reason you are alive, but....."

Adrian ignited both sabers and their red blades hummed in dark unison.

"I can stop at any time, including right now..."

Adrian's eyes burned with a fiery resolve as he stared at his younger brother, he thought momentarily about giving him a chance to respond, but in an instant decided that it was his duty to teach him a lesson and at this point he did deserve humiliation as well. If he was anyone else Adrian would have killed him where he stood, in fact he wasn't sure he had decided not to yet.

Quickly Adrian closed the gap between the two, he felt another box coming at him from behind and he moved his left blade up and the box flew into the wall with crash. The young Sith then immediately struck low against Alex's blade with his right arm and high with his left in a powerful spin attack. Alex blocked both by using the energy of the first hit to carry his blade up and into the second one. Not terrible, but not good reasoned Adrian as he immediately put pressure on Alex's blade with his left one dumping more force into that wounded bracing arm, which Alex directed down as Adrian quickly, brought his right blade up, the tip slashing Alex's left wrist causing him to drop his own weapon which promptly extinguished and Adrian jammed his foot on. Then Adrian's left blade extinguished and flew to his belt, as a knife flew into his hand which he immediately shoved into Alex's right thigh. He pulled it back and watched his brother fall to the floor, Adrian kicked Alaric's lightsaber far behind him and stood over Alex staring down him at him. He extinguished his remaining lightsaber and it flew towards his belt.

"That wasn't even my best and you're dead again. Continue on the path you're on and I won't be able to protect you, but I shouldn't have to protect you. We both have the same blood in our veins, you don't want to be like me. I don't for the life me understand why Alex, but you don't so whatever. You can kriffing fight like me though, maybe not exactly like me because for some stupid reason you Ji'dai have a kriffing rule book, but you can be better with your lightsaber. I don't care how wounded you are right this second, Alaric was a pathetic little shit, he never should have been able to capture you. You should have killed him, but you didn't because you don't train appropriately. It should be crystal clear to you that I could have killed you any time I wanted to and your little speech there almost made me do it."

Adrian sighed and offered Alex his hand.

"But I'm still your brother. Come on, lets get you cleaned up and back to your Master...I'd suggest you ask him for lightsaber training, lots of it."