(Everything between the ~~~ Is a memory. Just so there's no confusion! Enjoy!)
~~~The snow never seemed to stop. Weiss could feel the chill deep in her bones even with her robes wrapped tightly around her; it was excruciating and never ending, but she had no other choice. “Damn him…what in the galaxy could be so important that I need to be roaming around this forsaken icy wasteland.” Weiss growled under her breath she was exhausted as she trudged through the thick sheets of snow, only vaguely aware of the faunus bounty hunter her father had hired to tag along.
“I’m not to thrilled to be here myself, Micro-Sith,” the hunter grumbled, to which Weiss immediately bristled and turned in her.
“Listen you!” she yelled into the white void of the blizzard, and her shoulders slumped. She was suddenly alone.
Weiss sighed as she trudged through the dust covered ruins of the ancient Sith temple. What she sought was at the very center, mounted to a shrine to harness the dark energy of the Force. Her mission required that she take the kybar crystal and return it to her father for use in a grander scheme to bring the galaxy to its knees.
A simple task really, were it not for the fact that she was directly below the Jedi Temple where the council and countless other masters and knights were currently residing. She sighed and momentarily pinched the bridge of her nose before proceeding deeper into the ruins. The communicator in her ear chirped briefly, signaling that Blake wished to make contact. “What do you want…” she growled impatiently.
Her companion scoffed on the other end before responding, “Well since you asked so nicely, I could really go for some bark tea, Micro-Sith.”
A lonely winter wasteland trickled from Weiss’ memory for the brief moment before she barked into the communicator, “What do you want, Blake!”
“Hey, hey, loosen up. I just wanted to make sure you were doing alright; you’ve been gone a while…”
Weiss furrowed her brow at the tone of Blake's voice, “Are you worried about me? I’ll have you know that I’m stronger than any Knight they have here, on my WORST day.” She was confident in that. She knew for a fact she wasn’t as weak as her Master pushed her to believe. She was strong enough to take any one of them right now.
“Is that so? Then perhaps I’ve come for no reason.” A foreign, masculine voice came from within the darkness where the kybar crystal was currently housed, halting Weiss’ thoughts as the hair on the back of her neck stood on end.
“Who is there!?” She yelled into the darkness. Partially hidden behind the pillar threshold of the main hall. She could sense the heavy evil of the shrine at the center, and it clouded her mind making it difficult to pin point the other body.
Blake was suddenly full alert on the other end, “Weiss, is someone in there with you..”
The Sith apprentice held her breath before speaking very softly onto the communicator, “I'm not alone…”
~~~Weiss looked as well as she could in the snow covered valley, there weren’t any tracks, there was nothing but snow and ice and she couldn’t possibly track with the blizzard whipping around her as it was. “Blake?! Blake where did you go?!” she cried out. Her throat felt raw from all the yelling, having to compensate for the howling winds had proven difficult, and she was growing weary.
Not far from her was a relatively large hill she could perhaps use to give her a better view of the surroundings. However, just as she was about to begin climbing the ground below her gave out, and she plummeted into the ice cave system below. She wasn’t prepared, unfocused and tired from the trek through the blizzard above, and landed on her arm smashing her shoulder. “GAH! HNNGH…!” she yelped, wheezing as she struggled to pull air into her lungs. A loud rumbling in the depths of the of the cave pulled her attention from her pain. Slowly, dread washed over her as a giant pair of horns crept from within the darkness. ~~~
Weiss felt her stomach twist in knots as a man wearing robes blacker than the abyss, and eyes as red as blood stepped from the shadows beside the large kybar crystal. However it wasn’t those that unnerved her, it was the long curved horns that jutted out from just below his hairline. “Hello, Weiss, you certainly took your time,” he mused as he stepped farther into the dim light of the crystal.
She ignored his taunt, gripping the hilt of her lightsaber with white knuckles, “What are you doing here?” She demanded, it was difficult to keep herself steady, to sound firm, with old fear creeping up from the depths of her heart and wreaking havoc on her psyche.
“I’m here to complete a mission of my own,” he said with a light hearted shrug.
“And what mission is that?”
He smirked, and she immediately felt like a fool for having stepped into whatever game he was playing at. “I’m here to destroy this crystal, and everyone in the temple above.” He said with casual disregard as he reached under his cloak and pulled forth his own lightsaber.
“I can’t let you do that,” she said, bristling as he took a step forward, “My mission is to retrieve this for my master, I will not have you destroying it and ruining everything we have planned.”
“’We'…?” the man questioned, raising a brow curiously. He then looked at his lightsaber with a quizzical expression on his face, as if his weapon was some foreign object. “I think you're confused…” Weiss gasped as a rush of wind staggered her half a step back, and before she could even process the motion the man was in her. Instinct was the only thing that saved her as she swung her saber upward, meeting his downward slash. As they locked blades he leaned in close to her, “Your mission was to die with the rest of the inferior critters scurrying about up there. With the Jedi.” Before she could grind out a curse he planted his boot in her gut and kicked her away, forcing her to roll several feet before slamming into a pillar.
She was on her feet in an instant, rolling to the side just as he swung his saber in another downward arc, and she ran. She ran as fast as she could until she felt he was within range of her counter attack. Weiss knew how fast she was, but he was far faster and she would use that to her advantage. With a wide arc she swung her saber horizontally, aiming for his midsection as she threw her off-hand forward as he would dodge back, blasting him with as much Force Lightning as she could muster. But there was nothing. She had felt him on her back, right on top of her and then there was nothing.
Weiss, eyes went wide as realization dawned on her adrenaline fueled mind. She began to spin around only for the blade of his lightsaber to swipe diagonally across her back. It was shallow, he could have finished her then, but he hadn’t. As she screamed out in agony she could vaguely hear him cackling like a mad man. This man was enjoying his little game, and Weiss hated him for it.
“You bastard…if you’re going to kill me just get it over with. I don’t have any interest in your games!” she yelled, she didn’t mean any of it, Weiss would never resign herself like that, but she hoped it would buy her time.
“Oh, you WILL take part in this game,” he said as he waved his saber about, mere inches from her ear, her shoulder. The sound of the energy blade making her skin crawl, “I want you to feel just how outclassed you are, Weiss.” He stomped on her back now, grinding his heal into the slash across her back. Her eyes widened as a new wave of otherworldly pain left her seeing flashes in her vision. “How does it feel to be nothing but a pawn? Even to your own father.” He grinned menacingly as she glared up at him.
~~~“Weiss!” Blake cried as she bolted into the large open chamber of the ice cave system.
The white haired apprentice had been stunned in fear as a large tusked beast lumbered towards her. Her lightsaber had scattered from her when she had landed in the room, and with her arm potentially broken the only thing she could do was stare at the beast as it came at her. However, when Blake had called out to her she immediately relaxed. That was a mistake.
Blake had given reason for the creature to feel threatened, and it responded with a blood-curdling roar. Weiss did her best to move away, to run, to give herself more space, but her body was weakened. She had yet to truly master the Force enough to strengthen herself and push beyond her normal limits. Weiss was useless as the beast lowered it’s head to charge her. She stared on as the next few moments played before her minds eye. It would run her down, gore her, break her apart as if she were nothing, then scatter her across it’s nest like dust in the wind.
However, Blake was not one to let her go down so easily. “Cover your eyes!” she heard Blake cry, immediately ducking her head just as a capsule erupted midair between the beast and Weiss; the room flooding with a blinding flash of light. The ice monster roared, but Weiss could faintly hear Blake charging in. She opened her eyes and was utterly shocked as the feline faunus pulled something from under her cloak and popped the top, chucking it into the beasts open maw. In the same moment Blake launched the grappling hook she attached to her arm when this whole venture had started, latching to the beasts horn as she flipped up on to the confused creatures face. She worked quickly now, wrapping it’s mouth shut, ejecting the line from her wrist and launching herself into the air towards an awestruck Weiss.
Blake twisted her body in the air and landed on top of Weiss who shrieked only to be drowned out by an explosion which echoed through the chambers of the ice cave. Her companion, ever the show off, through the cloak over them just as the shrapnel of the creatures skull and flesh began raining down.
“I’m sorry, there was a hole and….I’m so sorry, Weiss.” Blake stammered and struggled to find the words before finally finding that apology. The faunus had apparently been searching for a way out just as long as Weiss had been searching for her. Now they were together and Blake was a mess trying to examine the Sith apprentices injuries. The Sith, someone who should want nothing more then to rip the literal soul out of this person who had nearly had her killed, let out a full blown laugh. One that left the smartass Blake with a look of utter shock and total disbelief, “Weiss?” She asked hesitantly.
Weiss wiped tears that had started to stream down her cheeks as she tried to calm down, “I was so scared when you vanished. I thought I was dead and now…” she half giggled and opened her eyes to look into Blake’s, her lip quivering slightly, “I'm just so relieved you’re ok. I owe you so much…” ~~~
Weiss tightened her jaw, and for a fleeting moment she thought she might see Blake charge into the room and save her just a she had many times before. However, with that very thought she knew how deeply seeded her weakness was. To rely on the strength of another woman every step of the way. She ignored the sting of tears in her eyes, the crack in her heart that formed at the idea of Blake abandoning her, and clenching her fist around the grip of her saber. She would need to be quick, but she wouldn’t let this end without a fight.
As he was about to speak, perhaps to drill even more darkness and despair into her before dealing the final blow, she threw a pulse of force energy into the ground below her, throwing a large amount of dust into the air and catching him off guard. It was just enough, his foot coming off her just barely, but giving her enough space to maneuver. She twisted herself around, sweeping her saber at him in a wide arc to knock him back, when she felt her blade collide with him she twisted farther and threw her other hand at him as lighting spilled from her fingertips.
The man cried out in agony, but it didn’t last. She felt her lightsaber knocked aside and then searing hot pain washed over her from her left side and she started to cried out only for it to die on her lips as he plunged his blade into her chest. He leaned in, and she could see the damage she had done as the edges of her vision began to close in and darken. His red eyes glowed with unholy fury, a fresh, horrendous streak of cracked and bleeding wounds marred the right side of his face, a permanent sneer on his lip as he growled down at her. “You’ll have company soon…” he said as he wrenched the blade from her body and raised it to deal the final blow.
And the world went black…
