Before - Legends The Wise

Hahaha! J.J. Abrams got nothin' on me!
For the record, it was Oqi who suggested I split this chapter up.


Hi Oqi!


Ale: I like that passage too. It's especially interesting because Mouse claims there are "thousands and thousands' of examples, and yet she chooses one so vaguely moral. Surely there were instances where Averus proved herself to be unquestionably dispicable. I think it really says more about Mouse than it does about her Averus.

Which is fine, since later chapters will be diving deep into that particular Sith Lord's mind and past.
We don't need to be jumping ahead of ourselves.


Lanna, do what you want to my throat, just don't mess up this new jacket, okay?
Gimme a week, guys.
Hell less than a week, even. Gimme till tuesday.

Scout's honor.


And I can say that, cuz I made Eagle in '01.
(yeah, that's right. I can tie knots)

 

[double post]
I hate comcast. I hate comcast so much.

 

Oh, there it is! I remembered reading this, but having blanked on both title and author made finding it again something of a challenge. I kind of figured I might as well wait until it updated anyway.

I, too, am intrigued by the double Darth Averus. And both the kids, really.

This doesn't appear to qualify as "without alerting" Ten's Averus, offhand....

 

Persephone: Hello and welcome! I'm quite taken that the memory of this story was stuck in your mind for that long...even if you couldn't remember that I wrote it
And no, no, that does not constitute 'without alerting the impostor'. Not at all.

Healer Leona: "Why do I think that's exactly what Averus expects?"
Because she's a Sith Lord? Honor amongst thieves need not apply here.

Mouse's dream does sound righteous...and also impossible. The sad truth here is, even if she doesn't replace the monster, her dream will never come true, because it only exists in this idealized child-like world. In attempting to force such a thing into the real world, she will inevitably cause more damage than she will fix. I'm recalling Galadriel's words to Frodo here, after he offers her the Ring. That vision of a world where someone with truly good intentions can bring about destruction really stuck with me.




Expect then next update in....

... Now.

 

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[b]Chapter 10 pt. 2: Despair[/b][hr]


Of course, before Mouse could kill this boy, she would have to track them to a place where she could best do the job. People, it turned out, were not the same as animals. Mouse discovered during the trip that there were an enormous number of things she never thought about until she had to hunt a living, intelligent being. Things like ? how do you find out their next destination without them noticing? That?s an adventure by itself. Just keeping them from becoming suspicious was a high art. In comparison, figuring out how to remain downwind of a hidden predator was cake.

Then there were the other issues, like, you can?t just assume they?re going to leave a planet on the same ship they arrived on. They might not even leave from the same city. Or they will, but on a public transport. Or separately, intending to meet up at some previously agreed on location. But you can?t shadow them forever or, again, they?ll get suspicious. So how much time can you afford to spend watching them when they?re planetside? Or this one: when do you take off after them? How much space can you put between you and your targets so that they don?t notice you every time they jump in, but aren?t long gone by the time you get there? And that merely scratched the surface of the kinds of dilemmas she faced.

But throughout all of it, there was one thing keeping her going, and it wasn?t some moral drive or philosophical determination. It was the threat of Averus. It hung stale in the air like a phantom. If she failed, Mouse would be humiliated, and if Averus saw that humiliation, her Mistress would most certainly find a way to make it unbearably worse. It kept her awake at night. Before the trip, that knowledge made her study Darth Averus?s face carefully, meticulously. That way, if the Dark Lord showed even the most miniscule sign of disapproval, Mouse would know. She would be prepared.

Which meant, of course, that Mouse knew Darth Averus?s face extremely well.

Every detail, important or trivial.

Even in the dark.

Which was why she smiled.




Because, when the impostor took off her cloak to make her threat, it wasn?t some stranger, some faceless enemy. It wasn?t even a twin. It was her Mistress, the Lord Darth Averus herself ? the real one ? standing at her full height, shoulders square, silver hair done up, in all her monstrous glory. The impostor, in other words, was an impostor.

?I see you?ve brought a friend,? said her Mistress, using her usual voice.

?I have, Lord Averus,? Mouse quickly replied, before the boy could say anything. She betrayed nothing of her emotions, even though she couldn?t wait to see the look on the boy?s face. This?ll teach him to drive a stick into her thigh.

The boy was surprised, she saw. He hid it carefully, but it came through well enough for her to see ? by the light flowing from the cabin ? his eyes expand for a second then dart back and forth between her and his ?Master?. [i]MY ?Master? now, kid.[/i]

?I told you to kill him before he got back to me.? Averus said sternly, staring straight at Mouse.

?What? What?s?how do you know her, Lady Averus?? the boy said in such an exasperated, demanding tone, Mouse half-expected the woman to strike him in the face right there.

But Averus didn?t break her gaze. She didn?t even act like she?d heard the boy, ?I gave you very strict orders. You were to wait for the boy to be isolated, and then you were to kill him [i]without alerting his master![/i]?

?Lady Averus!? the kid couldn?t conceal his shock any longer.

Mouse bowed her head, ?Forgive me, Lord Averus,? she made sure to emphasize ?lord?. In the Sith Order, there were no ?ladies?, ?I guess you trained him better than you realized.?

The old woman laughed, humorless, ?Or you?ve simply learned nothing.?

?I learned only what you taught me. Nothing less.?

?Please, Master, what?s going on?? the boy came close to tugging on the woman?s sleeve, but thought better of it.

And at that, Averus finally turned to him, ?You don?t look well, bo

 

She heard the boy scream. He screamed and he screamed and he cried. Even though the burst of light was short, he cried for a while. Before he was done, Mouse turned to face him, saw him curled up on the ground, shaking. She was sick at how wrong that was, how unnecessary.
.
.
.
?Finish it and become something worth training,? she spat, ?Become something worth mentioning in history books. Either that, or die. I don?t care.? and she walked back inside.
.
.
.
His vibroblade flashed brightly in the moonlight. Then it suddenly didn?t flash so bright anymore. She saw, as a stinging pain began to reveal itself to her nerves, that it was her blood that had dulled the shine.

Curse that Averus! Curse her!

Blast it! Why don?t we have a shaking-fist smilie?

I?ll say this, Yodimus ? you?ve jacked up my loathing for Averus big time.

 

Yod
You took that cliffie away. Thanks a lot.

It's not over yet. I expected it to be over, but it's now. Wow.
I was expecting Averus to be the Master of both, but her stance *shakes head* incredible. And now he wants to kill, too. Conveninet trick, but I don't like it the least.

Of course he?s confused, you kriff! He has a concussion and a broken kriffin? foot! And he?s scared! And he?

?is my kill, not yours.

Mouse is really on the edge now. i wonder what would have happened if the boy hadn't been so keen on killing her suddenly. Mabye they could have teamed up on Averus.

Such a nice place for a fight to death. Nighttime on a cliff, deep abyss included.
I can't wasit to see how that's going to end.

 

Wow! I didn't even pull out anything to comment on my first run through Yod...

I don't know why, but the whole time I couldn't shake the feeling that it was a lesson for the boy and not Mouse though, as if I knew the boy chasing Mouse would be the end result (or something similar). It's just with Averus, I couldn't take what was going on at face value.

It was Mouse's moment of sympathy that solidified my thoughts on it.

She put herself between the cliff and the forest, turned to face the sounds of the pursuing boy, and got her knife out. He approached faster and faster, getting louder and louder. Then there was silence. All she could hear were the waterfalls. The breeze. Pebbles tumbled down the cliff face. An avian called its mate, flapped its wings. The foreboding quiet felt familiar.

The boy lunged out with a battle cry that shook her with its primal fierceness. A jarring treble howl, straight from some distant nightmare, that froze her in terror. Froze her like a little creature in a dark field, trapped in the dead gaze of a raptor, in its promise of a terrible and unimaginable fate.

Mouse's nightmare has come to life!

Magnificent update Yodimus, I can't wait, seriously, to see how the next chapter plays out.

 

I was right!!

Wow. Poor Mouse and the boy I think they should team up to kill Averus -- that is, if the blow wasn't a killing one. I hope it wasn't; I like Mouse.

Anyway, great chapters!!!

 

BigE: I've made you hate her? Good.

MsLanna, you're welcome.
Such a nice place for a fight to death. - yeah, so romantic.

Ale: "I don't know why, but the whole time I couldn't shake the feeling that it was a lesson for the boy and not Mouse though, as if I knew the boy chasing Mouse would be the end result (or something similar). It's just with Averus, I couldn't take what was going on at face value. "
Yeah, I'm going to go more in depth on that issue pretty soon.

Mouse's nightmare has come to life!
Ah, it looks like my attmepts to switch your sympathies from the Boy to Mouse are complete. Mouse has never had any nightmares about shadow demons. For my next trick, I will convince your mind's eye that the shower scene in Psycho showed red blood, even though the film is black and white.


Healer: Yes well, if I'd relied on twists to drive the story, it wouldn't be much of a story. I'm glad you found it spectacular!


NYC: that is, if the blow wasn't a killing one. I hope it wasn't; I like Mouse.
Well, it was a knife wound.
I imagine those things suck. A lot.
But I'll bet there's still a little fight left in her.

..Maybe.


I know you're all gonna hate me, but the next chapter will be all about Averus and nothing to do with the kids.
But trust me, it's all for the best. Now that you hate her, I must find a way to make you not hate her. Because I'm just evil like that.

 

<status update>
Sorry for the delay guys, I've been having some computer problems..

[EDIT]
To avoid interfering with the story, I'm putting the summary here.

So I'm back in the swing, which is good. But now I'm worried that it's taken too long. In general this story has bounced in and out of active updates more often than I'd intended. My concern is that those important details I've written into earlier chapters will be lost in the ever-changing whirlwind that is our memory. I'd hate for someone to feel like they're out of the loop because I'm referencing something that everyone forgot. So here's a fresher. This summation is supposed to be a way to remember events; not a cheat sheet. I can't guarantee that I've fit everything that's important here. The only way to grasp the story as a whole is to read it from the start. (but this will sure as hell make it easier)


================================================
[RECAP]
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A young boy has been taken to a cold, uninhabited planet by his Master-to-be, the ancient Darth Averus. This boy is an orphan, found by the Sith Lord after a Force-related incident at a sweatshop left a supervisor dead by his hand (so to speak). She took it upon herself to train him, and now she has made it clear that his ascention to Sith Apprentice is very close. He spends most of this time learning as much as he can from the old woman, soaking in as much information as his incredible brain can handle during this rare moment of openness that she shows him. He also reveals to her the nightmares he's been having, of what he calls a "Shadow Beast". She assures him that these are visions, and he should be careful because he probably has an enemy. Shortly after, Averus begins teaching him saber combat for the first time. After one session, he wanders on his own for a bit and discovers an unusually large alien tree, which is strikingly out of place in this particular forest. He takes a note of it.

During a solo training session later that week, he is ambushed by an assassin. This assassin turns out to be a somewhat older girl named Mouse. Also an orphan, her own past even more storied and dark than the boy's, she was sent here by her Master ? a brutal Sith Lord who claims to be the true Darth Averus ? specifically to kill the boy. The reward, she has been told, is that she'll become an Apprentice. Her preparations for the attack are careful and studied, but ultimately she underestimates him. After the first miss, Mouse chases him to the large tree he'd found, which he climbs up to hide. Though he is clever and gets in a few attacks, it proves futile once she finally closes in. He is stabbed in the foot and thrown to the ground. He barely survives, fighting consciousness. Meanwhile, Mouse casually descends the great tree. Thanks to her leisurely pace, the boy is able to notice her spear leaning against the base, and stabs her in the leg before running off again. Another long chase begins, as he slowly leads them both on the grueling, freezing path back towards his Master, and what he imagines is salvation.

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[/RECAP]
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From there, all you need to do is read the previous chapter.

 

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[b]Chapter 11: Ambition[/b][hr]


?Finish it and become something worth training; become something worth mentioning in history books. Either that or die. I don?t care.? said Averus.

But she did care, on second thought. The child could not be left helpless. So in the height of generosity, she flung a weapon in the snow. Something to even the score. He survived this far, after all. What he managed to do with it?that was his concern.

After dealing with the boy, Darth Averus walked back inside the collection of sticks the two had called shelter. It was funny how things changed, she thought. There was a time when releasing that kind of energy storm had taxed her powers greatly. Now, it felt almost like she had even more power for doing it. The older she grew, the more backwards the Force seemed to work. Funny.

She sat down in front of a mirror and casually ignored whatever was going on outside. She had played the role she needed to play. The rest would work out however it worked out. Averus could only do so much. It would be a shame if the girl came out the victor, but not a disaster. The girl was nowhere near as smart as the boy, but she was smart enough. It might even be a better outcome, Averus thought, to have the one who is more easily manipulated. Not that Averus had a clue what she would manipulate the girl into doing. That would be the problem in ending up with her, of course.

But Averus?s mind moved on. The important thing was: it was a win-win. And if by some fluke they both killed each other, then they weren?t worth training in the first place, and Averus would just have to accept that nobody alive in the galaxy deserved to be heir to her legacy. Force knew she had tried as hard as she could. What Averus had to focus on now, was straightening out all those horrid tangled locks still hiding up there.

All this time spent pretending to be disinterested in her looks had taken its toll, especially on her beautiful silver hair. That needed to change immediately. Whoever walked out of that forest alive, they needed to see a form of ancient greatness, of terrible iconic beauty. Not a kindly grandmother or stern taskmaster, but a magnificent lord?queen?empress?god.

She needed her Robe. Not the woolen brown-black cloak the boy saw, or even the ruddy dark blue thing she wore around the girl. She needed the one that was true black, like a midnight storm, like an eclipse, like the deep of space. The one that was thick and long and solid, with a hood that covered her eyes in shadow. The one that had alchemical runes stitched invisibly down the back to curse anyone who stole it. The one that had tiny deep red bloodgems infused into the lining like hidden spider webs, and acted like expensive, blaster-resistant chain mail. The one with the mechanism that allowed her to keep her lightsaber up her right sleeve, to be used at a moment?s notice. The one that felt like it should be saying, to all who looked upon the wearer, FEAR ME. She needed that one. [i]That[/i] was the robe of a Sith Lord.

It was tucked away somewhere in the cabin. All along, her plan had been to stage the final test here, on this planet. So this had been the place she hid the most ceremonial, most solemn of wardrobes. It was only a matter of pulling out the right stone from the correct side of the fireplace, let the secret door swing aside, and?

[i]No![/i] the old woman bounded into the hidden compartment and pulled the robe out like it was a baby caught in a house fire. She laid it on her cot and fumbled around for a needle. She snagged one, threaded it, and rushed back to her patient.

?This better be the right color thread.? She fretted as she meticulously stitched the centimeter-long tear along the shoulder.

Darth Averus had a single, terrible weakness that had plagued her throughout all her life: she was vain. Luckily, she understood this weakness, and used it to her advantage. Take her former Master, Darth Pyre, for instance. When Pyre had her kneel as young Tira Sarogga, then

 

Awesome post!! I especially loved the bit about her name

And very cool realization on the part of Averus.

 

I don't really have time to say much, but wow. Just wow.

That, and it's really mean of you to delay the decision of the fight for so long!

 

I though that was the end. Very avant-garde.

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[b]Chapter 11: Ambition[/b][hr]

[face_shock] What a comeback! Are you sure Averus' name shouldn't be Darth Narcissust...[face_grin]


[i]Tira Sarogga[/i](?) [face_raised_brow] [face_thinking]


Averus' backstory was incredible yodimus. As was the revelations of who she was truly rooting for/training.


[i]And it occurred to her ? sitting at the little table where she kept all her makeup and brushes, the mirror reflecting that ancient face back at her, the hood of her true robe still hanging behind her back waiting to be used ? that perhaps vanity was not actually her greatest weakness at all. Maybe?just maybe?her greatest weakness was lack of ambition. [/i]

How does it go? One to Control the Power, and the Other to Covet it? Averus doesn't seem to care for a whole lot of coveting, does she?



[hr]

[quote=Yod][quote=ale]Mouse's nightmare has come to life![/quote]

Ah, it looks like my attmepts to switch your sympathies from the Boy to Mouse are complete. Mouse has never had any nightmares about shadow demons. For my next trick, I will convince your mind's eye that the shower scene in Psycho showed red blood, even though the film is black and white.[/quote]

[i]ash[/i]...[face_tongue]

 

That was a very interesting and informative chapter on Averus. Very interesting indeed.

Especially to learn that she was a Sith without the typical Sithly ambitions.

 

You asked for it...

*grabs Yod by the throat and shakes him*

Aaaaaargh!
You and your intercliffe chapters.

I think Averus' stroy is very interetsing and rather unique. I am having suspicions about the boy, too, and that does not bode well for Mouse.
Damn! Why can't those Sith stories have a 'Happy ever after'- end?

 

NYCG: The thing about stuff like that is, as an author, you're constantly paranoid that someone's going to point it out ahead of the reveal: "Uh, hello, you spelled 'Avarice' wrong...", and then it looks like you're trying to cover your ass instead of doing something clever. I remember a popular webcomic author I read regularly once ran into that speedbump regarding a multi-comic joke involving zucchini. When a thousand people email you a correction you already knew, and intended to write into the story, it can screw things up a bit.


Leona: Thanks! Adding to the story is what I do best!!


raisedby: Look, the fact of the matter is, I am mean. Damned to Hell, in fact (if Satan will have me. Who knows at this point) As far as I'm concerned, the decision of the fight isn't technically delayed. In fact, I'd say it's right on schedule.


Ale: The coolest movies I watched in film class back in college were "Sunset Boulevard" and "Double Indemnity". That said, it would have been incredibly nihilistic of me to end this on a chapter titled, "Despair"
And yes, her real name is in fact Tira Sarogga, finally hammering home that, yes, she...um..
Hold on, lemme check my notes.. (my GOD, I've had this story for an eternity)

Averus doesn't seem to care for a whole lot of coveting, does she?
But there's also that other saying, "Once you have power, the only thing you fear is losing your power." I'd say this saying has a tendency to undermine that other saying.


BigE: I've never believed that Sith Lords were as predictable as the films kind of implied. I bet there was a ton of turmmoil and bizarre, unique perspectives and philosophies tossed around throughout the thousand-plus years the Order stayed hidden. The Sith are essentially Extremist Individualists, after all. (Heh..Ayn Randian Terrorists) In fact, I think I'm going to touch on that subject a tiny bit in the next chapter, if I recall.


Lanna: You know if you kill me, you'll never find out what happens, right? Just throwing that out there. But here's some reassurance for you anyway: I'm leaving for Pittsburgh on Saturday, for the Holidays. So, because of this, I'll be updating tomorrow to get that out of the way. This Next chapter is, I'd say, slightly less cliff-ish than others. Scout's honor.


[EDIT]
For the record, I had to take three words out of their italics coding to get the following chapter under the character limit. This update is huge.
Merry freakin' Christmas.

(PS: this will not be the last chapter either, Ale)

 

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[b]Chapter 12: Wild Flower[/b][hr]


Tira Sarogga was born Lusivina Sellette Liam Dee Sarogga, first and only child to Danusar Liam Vit Sarogga and Sellette Murrasanna Toorin Dee Sarogga. Her parents were the Baron and Baroness of Dolus?s capital city of the same name. All four of Tira?s names were shared with ancestors who maintained their fingerprints to this day, through city names, monuments, and sprawling cathedrals or fortresses across the sector. Across [i]worlds[/i]. Their family history could be traced back three millennia. Sadly, most of it had been spent in bloody and devastating feudal wars they?d rather not speak about. In fact, for the most recent thousand years, the Sarogga name only counted for a minor territory in the bitter Polar Regions. That is, up until several decades ago, when the planet?s ruling kingdom fell in a coup. Thanks to a quick response from the Jedi, the resulting military regime was reigned in and gave way to a fragile democratic government.

When this happened, the Saroggas were the first to petition the Republic for legal amnesty. They cited the Nobility Protection Act, which let monarchal and oligarchic hierarchies survive beyond their relevancy, but only if evidence could be shown that their dissolution would cause instability. This was done by giving the right people the right amount of credits. The evidence created itself.

Because the new democracy annihilated the old territorial battle lines, putting them up for grabs, and because they were the first to petition, the Saroggas had pick of where ever they liked, upon any portion of the globe they wished. Predictably, they chose the biggest and most visible ? Dolus?s capital itself. Because of this, they spent the next twenty years simply maintaining their right to exist. Not just legally, but politically as well. It was crippling. An elegant, bejeweled curse for them to bear. Everything they did was put under a microscope; every move they made was questioned. Hundreds of hungry, powerful eyes hounded them ceaselessly, searching like carrion eaters, waiting for a sign that they were weak enough to devour.

By the time Lusivina was born, the situation had settled down. The Baron Danusar?s platoon of lawyers had done their job well. The biggest scandals had blown over, the most embarrassing missteps covered up. Lusivina got to be the first Sarogga child in forty years to grow up with some semblance of privacy. So of course, her parents made every effort to ruin that privacy as often as possible. Even when they didn?t mean to.

It wasn?t overt, but Lusivina could sense that deep-running jealousy anyway, even if her parents couldn?t. It made them seem cold and distant to her, the way they would play to others when they spoke to her. It made her feel like a prop instead of a person. She retreated from their embrace, seeing it as cold and phony. Instead of bonding with them, she bonded with the house servants. They didn?t treat anybody like a prop. After all, they knew what it felt like.

With the servants, she had room to be herself. Lusivina discovered that she never felt restrained or held back around them, so she let herself push boundaries. And she pushed hard. After the tutors left each afternoon, Lu would go outside to play. The servants would take turns watching her. When they let her play up to the orchard, she?d play into the orchard. When they said, ?That?s fine, but don?t do it again.? then next time, she went even further. When they said, ?Okay, you can go as far as you like, but only as long as you stay in view of someone,? she started playing the toughest game of hide-and-seek ever conceived by an eight year old. When the servants finally threw up their hands and said, ?Okay, go where you wish!? she disappeared for an entire day and night. When they hired a bodyguard to shadow her, she kicked him in the shin and stole his stun blaster.

The servants found it all quite adorable. She became known affectionately as ?Tira? ? ?Wild Flower? in the ancient Dolusian tong

 

So you managed to put in another whole history before telling us who won the fight. But I won't complain, at least, you did tell us.

I'm not sure whether her preference to bend people instead of braking them is commendable. It's probably harder for those she bent.

 

Yeah, that would really suck. I never thought of it, though, because I can't spell

Awesome chapter!! I think this is my favorite. I love her history and I thuoght it was sweet that she cried and prayed for the beings she'd killed.

Though I'm really sad that Mouse is dead

Anyway, way cool chapter