Hoth: Blood and Ice

Cold…

Dim light hid behind obstructions…

Ever so cold…

Life?

Is that what this was…

It had been so long…

Cold all around…

Something hard in his hand…

The Mask of a dead man…

Multiple dead men?

Ever so cold…

His eyes forced themselves open to blue skies and dim blue sunlight.

OOC: Have some mood music.

Footsteps crunched up to him, the sound emerging from the wind relatively close, and soon, it was darker, filled with two familiar faces. Arymis and Luth, leaning over him.

A pair of fingers reach under his collar and press gently against his neck. "He's here! Alive!"

Luth looked down to him. "Can you hear me? Do you think you can move?"

His eyes struggled to focus on the faces in front of him.

More dark visions?

Were they about to be torn apart in front of him again?

Hoth… was the cold that ice world from eons ago?

Whether it was real or not did not matter… He would have to follow this vision as he had all the others… And they would be taken from him as always…

Yet something felt different this time… it wasn’t all dark around and in him.

He looked to his daughter… Something different…


“I… believe I can…”

She looked over her shoulder at something, then looked back. "Good. Give it a minute to get a little more oriented, you're in a bad way. The others have stims. Also, just so you know, if try to walk out into the snow again after this, I'm going to tie you to the bunk."

“You’ve said that before…” he replied softly.

“But you’ve said many things… many times…”

He began to lift himself up as Arymis moved to his side to support him.

“This is Hoth?”

Zeno's voice enters the conversation not long after. "Let's get him onto the ship. Longer he's out here, more likely he'll need the kolto tank for frostbite."

He moves to Syl's other side to help him up alongside Arymis.

"Agreed," She said, simply. "We'll catch you up with stuff once you're inside."

She headed toward the ship's entry, doing her best to clear the way so they had an easier time helping Syl get there.

Sylvain allowed the others to help him…

This vision is so cold…

They don’t seem to hear me in this one…

He walked up the ramp until they found a suitable place for him to sit.

Arymis took his hands and looked into his eyes, “Father… are you hurt?”

Sylvain did not know how to reply. His whole existence had been pain for so long… but now he oddly did not feel as much as he was used to.

He shook his head in the negative.

“No, Ary… No injuries.”

"We're on Hoth, yeah. It's been... busy, while you've been gone."

"What happened? We all went into that cave and you were gone when I came to."

Zeno looks to Sylvain, "Warm up."

He then places a couple stimpacks in Luth's hand. "You two stay with him."

He nods to the room then makes his way to the cockpit.

Sylvain’s mind stretched to understand what Luth was saying.

It had been so long since he was in the void… What was the impetus behind his suffering again?

“Hoth… the vergence… I am there. Have been for longer than I can recount. Always…”

She got up and got another blanket, wrapping it around him. She wasn't sure if a stim would actually cover exposure, but she kept them at hand just in case.

"You're probably not going to believe me if I tell you you're not there anymore, huh?" She said with a sigh.

“I could be… Or not… I’m not sure it matters.” He replied.

“If this is real… then it will end. And if not… it will continue. Infinite forms… Potential futures… All sharing the same final destination… an Eternal Empire.”

His words made Moyr shudder. She had lingered in the doorway with a cup of power tea meant for him, watching, listening, and waiting for her turn. Now she stepped forth and handled it.

"All futures lead to that calamity?"

He nodded as he took the tea.

“The Dark has no answer for them… Be it Valkorian or any combination of Vailyn, Arcann, or Thexan.”

He sighed, “There is no hope to be found in the Dark… No victory…”

He took a sip of his tea and looked at each face in turn, “I have lived many lives… Spent my days with each of you… and spent them apart… Some futures are better than others. But I have seen you all live and die countless times… Sometimes at my hands… and sometimes my life taken at yours. Together we have fought the incoming threat thousands of times… But no matter the strategic approach, the Eternal Empire cannot be defeated by Empire, Republic, or any other alliance of convenience…”

He lifted his hand to his daughter’s cheek.

“So… real… So much like your sister; with Light still in you…. Though you cover yours in growing Dark.”

His face looks to Moyr, Luth, and Layne in turn… Keeping his observations silent for now.

“I am sorry to bear such news… There have been times when you have not taken it well. You… yourselves will believe what you will. And you will act as you must…”

He stared down into the cup, “I have not given into despair yet… So why would I start now… There is more light in this world… Perhaps something truly has changed… Perhaps this time will be different… Perhaps…”

Moyr was not taking it well. She had to sit down. She felt being caught in crossfire.

The Dark has no answer?

The Eternal Empire cannot be defeated?

There can be a lifetime for... us?

The woman didn't really cover the emotions that blew through her face and lekku like sand during a storm on a desert, pinching, searing, scattering.

If what he was saying was true, it all came too early. Her plan for sentient life was good, she just wasn't given enough time to make it bear fruit.

"If there is no victory, Syl, perhaps there is an escape? There must be places the Eternal Empire cannot reach, or paths it cannot follow. Perhaps all we need is to give the Dragon the time to consume itself."

“You must first ask yourself if that is the life you would want Moyr…” He replied.

“If it is… then you must act as you see fit. With conviction in every step.” He looked deep into her eyes.

“The Eternal Empire will outlast each of us on our own… Its stamina and strength are beyond us…”

"It's not about me, or either of us, Syl. It's about life keeping its shot to be free. If my death could buy as much, it's a bargain I'd take. Either of us individually means little, legacies can go kriff themselves, let deserts eat them. The only real calling we should share is to not let it all, the galaxy of opportunities, end."

He nodded.

“I know Moyr… I know many of the desires of your heart… I know your willingness to give of yourself.”

He looked around the room, “I would say only one thing I have not seen…”

He paused only a moment, “Trust… genuine… enduring… trust…”

He sighed, “I have never seen it accomplished. There are so many who will not… On both sides.”

"Valkorion is dead for good. Vaylin is free of him. I was there for those, so we can narrow it down that much," she said, beginning to pace.

"... It's not impossible, though."

“To trust is anathema to many Sith… Your… ‘master’ included.”

He spoke with increasing strength as the tea moistened his throat.

“And many of the Jedi believe that the Republic is superior… The Sith cannot be trusted and are evil or misguided at best… They think themselves better and believe that only the Sith need change. They do not trust fully…”

He nodded solemnly.

“It is not impossible… That’s why I don’t relent even now… But it is not possible with simple platitudes. It involves change… on all sides… Forging bonds that not all will wish to pursue.”

"...It has to start somewhere." Moyr approached Sylvain, pecked him on the cheek, and put her lightsabre in his hand, then sat on the floor, cross-legged. Twi'leks don't cry, but her voice trembled. "You know those things about me. You know who I am and what I cherish. I entrust you with all that, regardless of everything in the past and in the future. If it makes me less of a Sith, then perhaps I've outgrown the label."

Her eye twitched at Sylvain describing Baras as her master to her. Then Moyr...

"We'll have to do our best."

She turned and made her way to the cockpit to copilot for the landing. And no other reason.

“Luth…” He said firmly but gently in an attempt to stop her.

He then extended Moyr’s lightsaber back to its owner.

“I am nothing… I am no savior… I have nothing but failures to my name… I do not deserve your trust.”

He looked at each of them in turn, “But I trust you all with everything I have… I cannot save us. We… need… each other… We need everyone we can… And none of us can do that on our own…”

He looked deeply into Luth’s eyes… with the pleading of a man who had spent lifetimes with her at his side.