((ooc: The following is a short little fic with Kalneth and my characters Setie and Sharlina. It takes place during their short flight in a shuttle between the Infinity and the Fate Shatter. To recap, Sharlina has been told to protect Setie (her blood sister) at all costs, but is a bit shocked currently since Setie has told her she intends to eventually marry Marik Fatir aka Zelkin Infinium. Zelkin then stated his intentions to destroy the Force in front of Sharlina before Setie could further explain the situation. Both were ordered to the Fate Shatter by Zelkin and Setie is grabbing this alone time with her sister to quickly explain a few things.

 

Please hold all comments you wish to state till the end of the fic which will be when Setie and Sharlina are stepping onto the Fate Shatter. Thank you! ))

 

Setie sighed and rubbed her hands over her face as the shuttle cleared the Infinity's hanger. She was tired already and it bothered her to no end.

 

Tired because she hated acting, didn't think herself good at it, but now it was the only way she could manage. She had to keep her head down for now, not just for her sake but for everyone she cared about.

 

The thought had her setting the shuttle on autopilot as she got up to go check on her sister. Sharlina had not moved a muscle since Setie had pulled her into the shuttle and it was starting to wear on the younger of the two.

 

"Alright so which question do you want me answer first? If I've gone insane or How the heck did this all happen?"

 

When Sharlina said nothing Setie frowned and snapped her fingers under her sister's nose. It was quick enough that one might have thought it was a punch being thrown but it was really harmless.

 

((Posted by Setie))

Sharlina saw the move, but did nothing. Nothing at all. Inside, her heart was breaking. She liked Setsuna. She had trusted her, now... She found out the girl she had found out was her sister just a short time before wanted to marry(!) a lunatic who wanted to destroy the Force. She didn't even blink when Setie snapped her fingers in front of her. She did focus her eyes on Setsuna's face however.

 

"The mistress need explain nothing." Her voice was perfectly respectful. Also empty. No emotion at all. It would have done any brainwashed conscript Sith trooper proud. On a Bladeborn it was just... wrong... She looked at the clock.

 

"We will arrive on schedule."

Setie frowned at the cold tone. She had to put up with it from Marik or there would be problems but she sure as heck was not going to tolerate it from Sharlina.

 

Because she knew Sharlina was horribly stubborn, and it certainly would give her an outlet for frustration. Plus the tactic had worked before. Setie whipped out her saber hilt and holding it by the emitter wacked Sharlina on the head with it.

 

"Pay attention. I need you to listen to what I'm saying here Sharlina, or should I figure out how to find your Master Trugoy and tell him your being dead weight with your moodiness? Yes Zelkin is a nut job that wants to kill the Force. You were there though right before we left. Compare that Zelkin with this one real quick for me please? He said it himself he's split in half and they are butting heads."

 

Surely Sharlina could connect the dots here. She wasn't just some mindless, blood crazed, butcher like a lot of people like to paint her.

 

((Posted by Setie))

Sharlina looked at Setie. if the impact on her head fazed her at all, it was unapparent. Her voice was still unemotional.

 

"My duty is to protect you and I will." She stared at Setie. "Nothing else matters."

 

No matter how hard she tried, she could not summon the energy to act any other way. Empty, that was what she was. Empty.

That hurt was to much for her. After having to deal with Marik, Setie was not about to deal with it from Sharlina. She was already on edge from everything else on her shoulders and she did not need this!

 

Her hand slapped across Sharlina's face as Setie sneered. She looked so much like Kaosis right then that it would have frightened the younger girl to no end.

 

"Dammit I said listen to me Sharlina!" Setie yelled in frustration. "I do not need this right now with Marik, Jan, and all this stupidity! I need help and dammit your going to help me!"

 

((Posted by Setie))

For a moment, Sharlina did not see Setie, she saw the single most hated figure in her life. Their mother. As the figure reached back for another slap, Sharlina reached out and grabbed the arm and took the still unclear form to the deck, hard. But when her eyes cleared it wasn't Kaosis she held with a fist cocked back for a deathblow... Sharlina released her sister and recoiled in horror.

 

"no... No...!" Sharlina shook her head, but the image of her sister lying on the floor didn't vanish. "Setsuna... I'm sorry... please..."

 

She gathered her sister into her arms and for the first time since she had found her sister, Sharlina cried.

 

"Setie... I didn't mean it, I... I thought you were her... You... I thought you were Kaosis... Please..." She bowed her head over her sister and cried harder. "I am sorry, sister... Please..."

"I'm gonna be feeling that for a week." Setie groaned to herself. "Must make sure never to slap Sharlina in the future."

 

Then her sister was hugging her and crying. This alarmed Setie since the Bladeborn was usually cold as stone or at least lukewarm.

 

"It's ok Sharlina. I shouldn't have slapped you. You just were...shut off and we don't have a lot of time. I kind of panicked."

 

Setie sighed then in worry. "Sharlina I need you to trust me on everything please? Do you remember how Marik was before we left the outpost? Not the fight with the Mandos but when I was fixing him up and such. Before I had you get on the ship with Lucas and the troops?"

 

Before she had ambushed Marik and hijacked his ship. Maker she missed her Marik, she wanted to hold onto him and feel like the universe was right again. For now though she had to deal with Zelkin and his egotistical craziness.

 

"I'm going to save you Marik...I promised." She thought, closing a hand over her half of the pendant Marik and her shared.

Edited June 21, 2012 by kalenath

Sharlina hugged her sister again, then helped her sit up.

 

"Please don't slap me again. She... She did that the last time I saw her. I am sorry... I..." She thought back to what little she had seen of Marik on Korriban, then she shook her head. It wasn't the same man. The mannerisms, the voice, everything was different. She slumped.

 

"Setsuna, Setie... if he has two minds in the same body... How..." She shook her head. She had seen some very strange things as a Bladeborn, but this... She shook her head again.

 

"What can we do? And what help of mine do you need? You have but to ask little sister."

Setie nodded then at Sharlina's request. "I'll try to remember that and I'm sorry too. I just needed your attention, not your cold duty mind."

 

At the question of what to do Setie twisted her fingers together nervously. "I...I'm not entirely sure. I...I learned something on Dantooine from a force ghost named Torim Fatir. He's Marik's father see, and he taught me Makashi. Anyways I'm not exactly going to be able to defend myself while doing it. Zelkin will be busy at the time but it could end really badly if someone thinking I'm the enemy comes out of nowhere. I would prefer you not kill them though since they really won't know what I'm doing."

 

((Posted by Setie))

Edited June 21, 2012 by kalenath

Sharlina sighed.

 

"If you wish me to disable rather than kill I can, but... If it comes to a choice between you and someone else, I WILL choose you, Setie. Even if it wasn't my duty, I would choose you. If you wish, I will try not to kill, but... It may come to that." Sharlina hugged her sister again. Then looked at her oddly.

 

"Makashi... hmmm, you must show me what you learned from this ghost. Chari, the Twilek you met, does Makashi almost exclusively, and she is good. It can be beautiful."

 

Chari had met them on the Fate Shatter. Sharlina had no idea at all how the Lethan Twi'lek Masterblade of the Bladeborn had gotten there. Matter of fact, she wasn't sure how her old master, Trugoy, had gotten there. Wasn't important now.

"I know it may come to that Sharlina. I know this whole thing could come to me having to literally stab Marik in the back cause he's stuck with Zelkin. I know this could all come down to having to let someone die." There was look of fear in her green eyes then. As if she knew death was just around the corner. Stalking her to take everything away.

 

She shook her head then. She would try her hardest, her best. She hoped it was enough to save Marik and the Force.

 

"I won't let the Force just die Sharlina. I promise you that. I made another one though to Torim. I will not just let his children kill each other."

 

She gave a crooked grin at Sharlina's comment about Makashi. "Yeah. The one who taught me got dubbed the graceful, much to his dislike. We'll have to see where we all land at the end of this and then maybe we can have a bunch of friendly duels."

 

Taking the controls again Setie started to pilot the ship again. The Shatter looming over them like a shadow threatening to consume. "Thank you for agreeing to help me Sharlina. Is it bad that I feel better not doing this alone?"

 

((Posted by Setie))

Sharlina listened to Setie's words and for a moment, didn't reply. When she did, her eyes glistened.

 

"I have fought alone most of my life Setie. Now that I find I am not alone... I don't want to go back to that." She gave her sister another hug.

 

"I may act cold, impersonal and unemotional again. IF I do, please believe it is an ACT. I don't want to hurt you, and I don't to see the Force die. I was scared earlier."

 

That admission was maybe the hardest thing she had ever told anyone, but with her sister, truth was all that was important.

 

"I am scared now. But you are not alone. You know I won't let anything happen to you. But... Setie... You... you haven't seen what I really am, I... I don't want to show you that.... I don't... The woman you see before you is not what I am. She is a shell I created when I found you. And I... I don't want to lose you if my true nature comes out. Please..."

 

She gave her sister's shoulder a gentle squeeze. She hoped it wouldn't drive her sister away, to see what Sharlina really was... A truly horrifying bloodthirsty witch...

Setie gave her sister a reassuring smile then. "Well it really can't be worse then Marik's dark side now can it? I mean he wants to kill the Force here Sharlina."

 

She squeezed the Bladeborn's hand then. "I have to disagree with you one the shell part though. We all put on masks for the rest of the universe to see. Yours is that of dutiful soldier, Marik's is a tyrant bend on crushing Fate. Who you present yourself as is not always all of who you are. This shell you speak of, is simply a part you reserve for those you care about. It might have been awhile since it's been out, but it is still a part of you as much as the scary blade master that wades though fields with blood up to her knees."

 

As they finished docking in the hanger Setie squeezed her sister's hand one more time before heading for the shuttle doors. She jerked then in surprise before blinking and shaking her head.

 

For just a moment she though she had seen something in her twisted reflection off the metal. She was under a good deal of pressure though so it was probably just her imagination.

 

"So Sharlina, do you have any spare boots that might fit me?" Setie asked as she stepped off the shuttle and onto the Fate Shatter. "Mine kinda got ruined on Dantooine and I really do not like the idea of running about in the middle of a fight barefoot."

 

((Posted by Setie))

Sharlina could only shake her head. Setie was such an innocent about some things. Just because Marik's plan to destroy the Force was larger, didn't make it more horrifying. Or less... She thought with a sigh. She admired that about her sister. She really did. She just hoped that when the time came, her sister wouldn't recoil on seeing her do what she did best. Then she heard Setie's question about boots and made a sound somewhere between a sigh, a snort and a groan.

 

"You mean you walked around that horrid ship with no shoes on? Setie...." Her voice contained equal parts resignation, amusement and pride.

 

"Come on... I know they have boots somewhere on this ship, they have everything else... And I will want to take a look at your feet and make sure they're OK. I don't doubt your abilities, Setie, but its part of protecting you. get used to it. I have to. And I will protect you, even from yourself."

 

She stepped off the ramp and followed her sister.

 

"Do I want to know why your boots got messed up?" This time her voice held only amusement as she strode beside her sister to face their destiny. And to find some footwear. "Well, the boot's on the other foot now, since I think I know where we can find some...And you do know that without shoes or boots on there is no joy in defeat."

Setie gave a sigh and a look of annoyance. "Of course I didn't wander around without shoes. Give me a little credit here Sharlina. I kinda ...borrowed a pair but they're a bit big on me."

 

It annoyed Setie that people always seems to treat her like she was going to suddenly walk out an airlock or something. She knew Sharlina was just being protective of her though so she curtailed her impulse to scowl.

 

Setie had to grin at the bad joke though. "Apparently our senses of humor are inherited. Anyways, no I don't think you want to know what happened to my boots and my feet are perfectly fine here. I'm a medic for the love of..."

 

As the sisters moved off into the hanger something flickered on the shuttle. For a second a woman was standing there with a worried look, frowning after the two. Red hair was straight as rain down her back as green eyes watched with a look of fear.

 

"The brightest of stars, are always the first to fade." Kaosis whispered.

 

Almost as if she had heard Setie looked over her shoulder, nothing was there though.

 

((Posted by Setie))

((This was during the Infinium Conflict. If you missed that craziness, I am sure someone, SOMEWHERE has them preserved. I HOPE so anyway. There was no way I was going to be able to back up all of that. Comments or suggestions always appreciated. Flames might get taken as an attack on Setie. Do you WANT to see Shar angry? Thought not...))