Thud… Thud… Thud… The sickening sound of wet flesh as it beat the chest of a broken man, chained to the ceiling, a twisted smile on his face as he stared down at his captor. With every punch the bound man recoiled and kicked, his binds rattled and skittered across the ferrocrete flooring, further frustrating both men as they stood deadlocked. The captor a hulking Mandalorian of 6’ 4" stood to full height and wiped the sweat and hair from his face in a single action, before he cocked his arm back to unload another battery of blows on the man’s solar plexus, shouting as he did so. Every throw was animalistic, unfocused, driven solely by inflicting pain on the man who had for so long been the driving force of his hatred. The man who had destroyed the peace of his childhood a second time after The Night of a Thousand Tears took the first hope of peace he had away from him.
“You know… Maybe if you actually tried asking questions, or focusing on one point of torture at a…” The man managed through bloodstained lips before a fist found its way into them.
Wulfram snapped out of his rage after he reopened the wounds on the man’s face again, with a sorrowful look in his eyes he turned and looked at the broken helmet that lay on the floor, a beskar spear stabbed through it.
“Goddamn it Zerril. Two days you’ve managed to stay up there an’ take a beating. Now you’ve gotta be snarky? I preferred it when you were just looking down on me like you did when I was a child.” The younger Mandalorian shook his head and shrugged as he walked over to his belongings slung over a table, checking his datapad to see another series of messages from both Asani and Lillian.
Shit. Lillian was onto him.
“Oh, look at that. That’s the expression you used to make any time you got into trouble, right before I beat the shit out of you and the two brats I reared. My aliit on the way? I told you they would…” He tried to bluff.
. “You’re Clanless. The one person who still holds onto your name does so because she doesn’t know the truth about who you are. Your money is Lady Vera’s, which you’ve been spongeing off of for years, until you found out she was still able to access her family vault.” Wulfram grunted as he took off the sweat stained shirt he wore and toweled himself off, before pulling on a new tank top. “Trust me, I’ve done my homework. I even accepted your hit under priority to keep other people from trying to find Vera.”
The Armis patriarch sighed as he started to rewrap the binds on his knuckles as he approached his adoptive father.
“As much as I want to say I take no joy in this, I’d be lying. I’m doing everything I taught my children never to do and it feels good, because you lied to so many damned people. I don’t need you to lie to me about something else.” He said as he doubled back and threw a punch for the man’s abdomen. “And you’ve hurt so many people that I’m not give you the chance to hurt me.”
“Wait, wait, I can tell you where to find Alexandyr and Vera… My spies have been tracking them. I know who owns them now, and where they’re living. If you let me go, I’ll send you to their buyers.” The bastard couldn’t help but lie, always, to try and save his own skin.
He did it after The Purge and he did it now in the face of his consequences coming back to him. Wulfram’s beatings only grew worse, each blow more fierce after the lie. Until the sound of doors opening, and then fractured ribs.
Lillian stormed into the house, a house she hadn’t even known existed. Another lie, another mark on the list for things she was gonna punch Wulfram in the karking face for. She had ditched Asani and Sagitta on their commandeered ship and had made a blazing line towards the house on Selen. Her head was pounding and the world was pitching in all directions like she was stuck on a marine ship– she didn’t care in the slightest. Hungover or not, she was going to make Wolsha pay.
She had knew Wulfram was hiding something. She had felt it, and she wasn’t sure if she was more offended that he thought he could keep it from her, or that he thought she didn’t know him well enough to know his tells.
The curses spilling from her mouth dripped in rage.
She had felt who was here. Sasha was in on it too.
And like she was speaking of the devil, her brother appeared to block her advancement into the house. A hiss escaped her scarred lips as she stared daggers into eyes the same color emerald as hers. It was a look of ‘move or I will mow you down where you stand’. But he didn’t move, he stayed where he was, and she wanted to kick him in the gett'se for it.
“Move Sasha. I know he’s here.”
“Sister-”
“Let me see my buir, Alexandyr.”
Alex went to say something else but she was already ducking around him, moving on towards the door she knew would lead her to the basement. She felt Wulfram down there, felt him and his broody anger. But she was all fire and venom and rage, a force to be reckoned with, and she would show him. A force amplified kick nearly sent the door to the base level of the house off its hinges.
The interior had been a blur in her blackout anger. She didn’t even notice how lived in it looked.
“WOLSHA,” she bellowed down the steps as she began to descend, her frame trembling and scarred gloveless fists gripped so tight at her sides that her trimmed nails began biting into the flesh of her palms.
“Ah, there’s my girl.” The old man choked through bloody spittle as he heard the familiar shouts and outrage of Lillian storming down the halls of the fortified building.
The doorway that had been barred to Zerril the first day when he tried to escape, locked behind bio-scan locks, opened as she approached. Zerril’s eyes narrowed at the fact, then focused on Wulfram before he spit blood and mucus at the man’s feet.
Once she adjusted to the light, Lillian would be able to see her father’s face had been carved with a scar that mirrored the one he had left her with. And Wulfram’s fists dropped as he heard his name shouted across the room. He looked to the bastard, strung up and bloodied. His index finger pointed up to the man, a smirk came to his face.
“You and me, Zerril, we’re not done. You’ve got crimes to answer for. 37 years worth of crimes that I’m holding you for.” He mocked, before he rounded to Lillian and walked towards the table with his dataslate.
“Did you know?”
Sagitta knew better than to talk. For once in her life, she was quiet. Lillian was fuming and the anger was making her sick. On top of the hangover, Sagitta was barely coherent. Occasionally, she glanced over at Asani with a concerned expression. She had sips of water over time during the trip and had started to feel better.
Never drinking again… The tired Mirialan declared to herself. The ship had come to a sudden stop and Lillian was gone in a blink of an eye. Sagitta frowned and paused for a moment. Was it really a good idea to follow her? Should they?? Family. She had to make sure that Lillian would be okay even though she hadn’t been in their lives for that long.
“Come on…” Sagitta muttered to Asani in Mando'a, “She’s family. Let’s help her.”
Headed out of the ship, she was cautious as they approached the house. Entering the house, she looked rather confused.
“Uncle Dyr?” She questioned in confusion, “What’s going on?” She did not expect Alexandyr to be here. Was he the reason why Lillian came here? Lillian was so mad and so angry…she gasped. Just like that adrenaline rushed in her and that hangover was put on the backburner.
Was Buir in trouble? Without a moment of hesitation, she went to go find them.
She didn’t need to be the best force user in the galaxy to feel the rage emanating from Lillian. So much so that it surprised Asani to see Sagitta looking sickly and quiet. She was never quiet. It was unnerving to have her sister just be there with her, they were both concerned. Taking precautionary glances at Lillian and back at Sagitta she almost signaled with a confused look, as if to ask what had happened. The ships sudden halt hadn’t escaped the lagomorphs notice, so small she was nearly sent flying off her seat. Finally stopped Lillian dashed out as if there was someone that needed to be beaten into submission. That wasn’t a good sign.
She hesitated for a moment but seeing her sister follow she willed herself forward, matching her sisters pace.
“She’s acting stupid we need to stop her what if she does something reckless?” she responded.
Upon entering the abode she could hear the kick, that was her direction. Seeing their Uncle there was possibly a bigger sign of trouble. He wasn’t the type to do reckless things, but hearing Lillian yelling WOLSHA let Asani know this wasn’t the time to be still. “Whats going on?” Sagitta asked, giving Asani a moment to inspect the area, there didn’t seem to be anything dangerous, this was Nana’s house, why would there be trouble? Their Uncle being here caused more confusion. What was happening?!
“Sorry Uncle Dyr gotta go!” she slipped between the mans legs with a dash, her small frame was useful for a variety of reasons, being slippery and hard to catch was one of them. She followed the sounds Lillian was making with worry, had something happened? Had Buir done something reckless and gotten hurt? Her fur started to tint a greyish blue color, her nerves betraying her. She found the steps “Over here Gitta” she let her sister know which way to go and began to descend as best as she could. She felt like she was intruding on something, something she may not need to be a part of. Yet she needed to see things through.
Lillian pointed at her father when she entered, hissing between her teeth at the man who raised her.
“I am not your little girl. I stopped being your ad’ika when you humiliated me, buir.”
She was not about to rehash her loss against her father, about their argument when she refused to stop searching for Wulfram, about him keeping her from the knowledge of where he was.
Wulf’s question made her turn her blistering glare on him. “What?” she dryly responded, “Knew that you’ve gone of the fucking deep end? Just face first barreled into the dark side? T-“
Wulfram thrusts the dataslate into her hands and she gasped. On the screen was a kill order for her mother, a mother she didn’t even know was still alive. Her blood ran cold— then hot again, especially when she flicked the screen to look at the timepoint.
“You knew? What the kark Wolsha!! What happened to kriffing trust?! Why didn’t you— you thought I was in on this?!” Her voice kept raising in octaves, getting more and more hysteric, her fingers tightening around the device. “You thought I was in on an order to kill the mother I adored?! The mother who’s armor I wear to honor her?!”
Her breaths were coming quick, tears in her eyes, it felt like her world was crumbling around her.
“I trusted that you didn’t knowingly order the hit on your Mother, because I know you didn’t even know if she was alive or dead. Zerril’s spent years saying she’s dead. He said Alexandyr was dead when I first picked him up, too.” Wulfram fired back through clenched teeth as he turned to face the Douve Patriarch, bloodied and hanging from the ceiling.
“Told me something curious, he did, after a few rounds of beatings. Told me he knew where to find Alexandyr and Vera, who owned them, and how I could free them. Question is… Why would I need to free them, and why does he know where they are?” He asked as he walked towards Zerril, eyes locked on the man, unafraid to turn his back on Lillian.
His trust in her was forged in fire, from the trauma they endured in childhood to the fights they marched through since she joined the Brotherhood. No matter how angry she grew at him, and how far gone she believed him to be, he trusted her never to shoot him in the back.
As if to answer his question, however; another voice spoke from the doorway. Alexandyr stood straddling over Asani as he tried to squeeze himself into the basement ahead of her and Sagitta.
“He knew where we went, because he sold us. But what he doesn’t know is that I was sold again, and again, and again after he refused to acknowledge me as his son.” The stony-eyed Mandalorian spoke as he looked over his sister to the wretch suspended from the ceiling.
She couldn’t breath, she couldn’t karking breathe.
Had everyone been lying to her? All her life? Who else? The kids? The crew? Who else knew? Wide emerald eyes flicked from Wulfram to her father, then back, then back again.
She couldn’t breathe.
Her mother and brother were both sold by her father? But… but he had told her they were taken. That he had tried… is that why Wulfram hadn’t taken her when he left? Why he left silently without even a goodbye?
She couldn’t breathe. She couldn’t breathe.
She wanted to rip the armor she was wearing off, it felt like a reminder of the cosmic godsdamn joke her life was. Everything she had been through.. Lillian very slowly put the datapad back on the table as her breathing became more erratic, came faster and uneven.
Then she saw her, gently pushing past Alexandyr who moved without a second thought to let her inside. It had been years, decades, since she last saw her mother’s face— but she recognized it immediately. She was a splitting image of Vera after all, a fact her father had reminder her of often. And the look her own mother gave her? A look of distrust, a look of disappointment.
She didn’t need to ask why she hadn’t been told her mother was alive. Her own mother hadn’t trusted her. She would have given her life for anyone of them, and not a kriffing single person trusted her with that information. The world spun and the younger redhead had to grip the nearby table to support herself, tears gathering in her eyes, a ringing screaming in her ears.
Her father cackled, a disgusting wet chuckle.
Couldn’t breathe couldn’t breathe couldn’t breathe couldn’t-
Vera just shook her head at her and she felt like she was going to be sick. There was no compassion in those eyes, no sign she had missed Lillian.
The table under her fingers cracked.
She could hear the erratic breathing, the exchanges of words. Wulfram explaining things to Lillian. Their Uncle managed to push past Asani, not that it would be a challenge considering her stature. But she had remained at the midway point of the stairs. Enough to hear everything after Lillian had entered. Buir was there, she could hear him.
“He knew where we went, because he sold us. But what he doesn’t know is that I was sold again, and again, and again after he refused to acknowledge me as his son.“ she heard Alexandyr explain. Asani covered her mouth as if to stop any sound emanating from her. She looked at him, what she could see from this vantage point in the stairs anyway, staying silent. Her fur changing to azure, until it finally stayed a nearing navy like color.
Their Uncle had been a slave because he had been sold by this person? No he wasn’t just any person, it was his buir. His father had sold him. Tears where threatening to surface but she held them back. Her fur managing to be a decent cover for her near crying. She wanted to hug him.
Then Nana walked down. Asani couldn’t quite place any emotion on her face. There was just a heavy feeling emanating from her. As if she had spent years waiting or avoiding any kind of mention of this. Disappointment was all she could place there.
Lillians breathing was more erratic, she was panicking. Maybe she should remove her from the situation. A gross wet chuckle and more panicked breaths, the crack of something. She should be removed from the situation. Taking a deep breath, Asani walked down the rest of the steps, spotting the hanging bloody figure and recoiled. Buir there, a helmet with a spear breaking into it just off the side.
Her Navy fur changed then, to an almost black midnight blue. “Buir?” she asked hesitant. She had never seen him do anything like this. This went against everything they had been taught. This felt wrong, even if that man deserved it, it felt wrong.
That smell. It wasn’t helping her stomach at all. Asani stopped midway but Sagitta did not. She kept going. The moment she was able to see inside more clearly, she was frozen. Unable to breathe. The smell was overpowering to her. Her throat was tight and she felt like she was choking on air.
A hand placed on her back. She was younger and shaky. This was going to be her first kill. Wulfram’s helmet leaned into hers as he whispered, “Quick.” Her eyes glanced around at this room. This was not quick. There was so much blood. The man’s swollen face indicated that he was like this for a long time. The half-dried blood around his wrists and the coloration of his hands. He had to be there for a while at least. Eyes continued to go down to the ground. Smears of blood from his foot. Dried droplets. Not quick.
Her hands were shaking at the rifle. He moved his hand to her hand and took a deep breath. Sagitta followed his breathing and heard the next words from Buir. “Clean.” The strong smell of iron and other bodily fluids did not escape unnoticed. It lingered in the air for a long while. The tortured man’s clothes were soiled. Bile stopped at the back of her throat. Not clean.
With a squeeze, he let her go and Sagitta was able to breathe better. The rifle wasn’t shaking anymore. She took in a deep breath and focused. Pulled the trigger, it was a perfect hit. Wulfram nodded, expression unseen under the helmet. “Merciful,” The young Mirialan added.
This. Was. Wrong.
Her mind was faded and gone when Alexandyr told them about the man selling them. She only had pieces. The table cracking had brought her back to reality. It was then she noticed Ba'buir walking passed them.
“….Buir?”
Not Merciful.
Zerril’s sick laughter continued as he saw Lillian falter, more faces poured into the room, the children of Wulfram, Alexandyr his forsaken son dared to finally show himself, and then the piece that brought him back to a semblance of sanity. Vera.
“A whole gaggle of Dar'manda. My worthless daughter, taken in by the traitorous ingrate she peeled off of the lifeless corpse of his bitch sister. The wife and son who rejected our only way to survive when their failures in faith led to the collapse of our civilization… Whelp children, no true…” The room began to rumble as Wulfram barely constrained his anger, the chains, tables, and debris slowly eased from the floor as the man focused his hatred.
“Ah, there’s that damned gift of yours. Further proof you’re no…” A familiar screech broke the air as Alexandyr reached out for his mother, attempting to wrench the RSKF-44, Wulfram’s blaster, from her but it was too late.
A wet cough, a hole in his lung and stomach where the blaster burned true. Vera held the gun and fired a second time but was wrenched upwards by The Force as Wulfram lifted the gun from her.
“At least these children have Aliit. They know their Buir and I have watched him watched him raise these beautiful girls into respectable Mandalorian Women. Alexandyr knew a real father in his Vod, who took us in, who worked to free us from a life you bound us to. Douve dies with you, you monster.” Vera cried as she fell to the ground, sobbing into Gitta and Alexandyr’s legs, wrapping herself around them.
“Nonononononononono…” her cry was just a whisper, a choked sob, but it didn’t matter. No one was listening. The force brought her to her father immediately, checking the wound, checking for any way to save him. Her hands shook, her movements were frantic, but her efforts didn’t matter either.
He spit blood on her as his ragged breaths slowed, mumbling something in Mando'a only she could hear due to their closeness.
“You’re alone, daughter. Always have been, always will be.”
Tears filled her emerald eyes as she beat against Zerril’s shattered chest, a single drop breaking free and rolling down her left cheek and across her scar. This wasn’t how this was supposed to happen! This wasn’t supposed to be how this ended! She was supposed to get closure, to get answers, to get vengeance. All that was gone now, gone as the only other member of Clan Douve died.
Leaving her so painfully alone.
“No!! Come back you bastard! I’m not done with you! I-I’m.. I-I’m not-” her throat snapped shut, smothering the words in her mouth before they could keep going. Emerald eyes began to bleed into a leaf-gold color. The blood drenched hands that held Zerril’s face crackled with sickly green lightning.
He was dead. She was alone. She had no aliit. No one here was her family, not truly. Family didn’t hide things from each other, family trusted eachother. Not a single one of them held any shred of loyalty to her, even though she had given her entire kar'ta to them– if they had they would have discussed this with her.
Discussed any of it with her.
She would have been prepared. She would have been ready to let go. Hell– maybe she would have even helped Wulfram beat the life out of this piece of duse. But no one had, not a single karking one of them thought to include her in one of the most pivotal moments of her entire kriffing life.
The noise that escaped her lips was some heartbroken mixture of a pained sob and a hysterical laugh.
She would have killed for any of them, burned the world to ashes for them, sacrificed herself for them.. Hell she almost had on several occasions! Why didn’t they trust her?! She had given everything! Everything she had!
She had almost taken the name Armis for her own. She was going to talk to Wulfram about it after the Kote Ky'ram.
No aliit. Alone. Dar'manda.
Lillian sank to her knees, shin plates clattering dully against the ground, and stared at her blood covered hands as her eyes continued to burn that sickly golden green.
The tortured man laughed. Laughed. How could he laugh? In his position? This made her feel sick. A slew of insults emitted from the man as she grimaced. Though, they had no poison on her. There was no bond between the man and her for the words to hurt her. They were affecting someone. Things started to rattle into the room and Sagitta felt defensive. Was it the man? Or one of their own? Who was being affected by these horrid insults?
In a blur, she saw Ba'Buir going for the blaster. “Ba'buir!” Sagitta shouted as she tried to help Alexandyr stop her but she was too late as she grimaced at the tattle-tale sound of the blaster. Wulfram managed to get his blaster back. After their grandmother had said her piece, the confusion rose. She was Grandma Armis… wasn’t she? Ba'Buir Armis? Ba'buir’s body dropped as she clung to her legs and Alexandyr’s, Sagitta was shocked and unable to respond. “Ba'Buir…Douve?” She said in confusion. No. She was Ba'Buir Armis.
Then the feelings hit her hard.
She was not prepared for it.
Waves. Anger. Sorrow. Despair.
Rage.
Sagitta couldn’t breathe. Was this from Lillian? Or Wulfram? Maybe Vera?
Sagitta struggled to break free and to hand Ba'Buir to Alexandyr, “Asani,” choked the Mirialan, she could feel her pain. Her anger. Her Sorrow. “Buir needs us. Asani.” She gasped, she couldn’t breathe. Drowning. The emotions were drowning them.
“Buir,” Her pained pink hues glanced at Wulfram as if begging him to do something. Pleading him to fix this. He saved Asani. He saved her. Her sisters. Can’t he save Lillian?
Why was he not saving Lillian!? Don’t let her fall too deep!
Fix this!
The blaster clattered across the room as Wulfram threw it with The Force and sighed. Sorrowful eyes watched as Lillian pounded on Zerril’s chest, hands bloodied, eyes erratic, lost, darkened. The swelling of the Force around her was palpable and he stepped towards her as she fell.
Damnit Vera, your personal vendetta wasn’t one to be settled here. He thought to himself as he shook off the shock and knelt beside the wild-eyed woman.
“Lil, cyare.” He whispered, as they only did when alone on those tense nights under enemy fire.
His hand found its way to her cheek and his thumb brushed over her cheek and to her lips, across the pointed scar her father had given her.
“It’s over. He can’t hurt us anymore, any of us. I can quit running, I can come home, to you, to us.”
Lillian was frozen for a moment, letting Wulf hold her cheek as she stared blankly at the floor. It was enough to fade the gold from her eyes, but not enough to save her from the betrayal. His words rung hollow and her mind screamed out at her other half that this should have been something they did together.
The redhead ripped herself away from him, snarling, moving so that she was only partially kneeling now. She looked like a frantic animal, eyes wide and chest heaving, body posture preparing her to run. She didn’t want to be here, didn’t want to be lied to or kept in the dark anymore. Her love, her brother, her children, her team, her family keeping her in the dark, even if they hadn’t meant to– no trust, no loyalty… what were Madalorians if they had no loyalty? No family?
Nothing. They were nothing. She was nothing.
“Narir va tigaanur ni, gar tah'da aruetii,” she spat, pain and sorrow and anger pouring from her words. Because he had, he had betrayed her, betrayed them. He had taken it upon himself to insert himself into an ending she was so carefully constructing. An ending that was just as much for her as it was for any of the other people in this room– if not more. An ending she deserved, having endured decades of abuse and blaming and pain and… and…
She was a victim too, damn it.
She had never pushed that narrative, never mentioned it out loud, never admitted it but she was. While everyone else got to run, got to get away, it was her that endured all of Zerril’s hatred and anger. It was her that took his verbal beatings, carried his vitriol on her shoulders, desperately tried to save the name of the clan that echoed her own nickname– Dove.
Clawing with blood and sweat and tears to redeem her family’s name, brushing off the words of other Mandalorians who knew them, taking the worst jobs to bring honor back to them. She had done everything, and it didn’t matter. It had all been in vain anyways.
The last member of Clan Douve stood and simmered. Even when her buir had removed her helmet in their dual, when she had been cast out of her home and off of Concordia, when she drifted with mercs in deep space, she had never felt this alone. Because she knew some day she’d find Wulfram, even though Zerril had told her that he didn’t want her. That he had left her because he had never cared, that she was just a reminder of everything Wulfram hated about Mandalorian culture.
“I… I-I thought I had finally found my yaim, my aliit, but none of you my aliit. Not… not after this. Not after you hid, and lied, and excluded me from making my own karking decisions! Not after you didn’t trust me to fight by your side, like we always have!”
She whirled and started for the steps, simmering, boiling, wanting to disappear. She felt so empty. Kark this house and this planet and this planet and everything connected to it!
The shock of the moment made Wulfram bring her closer before he let her go, his eyes locked on her as she spoke. As she called him a traitor. He stared at his hands and sank to his knees as he questioned everything he’d done up to this point. The hatred that burnt in his stomach was quietly replaced with emptiness, then a soft yearning as Lillian berated him and made her way to leave.
He had wanted to tell her. For years he wanted to steal her away, to take her from Zerril, make a new life, with his new family. With those he saved and could yet save. Now he felt her anger, confusion, and bitterness as they rose. He could see the concern on the girls’ faces, and the heartbreak on Alexandyr’s as Lillian stormed up to them.
“Let her through. These halls are hers, as much as any of yours, to enter or leave as she wishes. A home, for her, I hope she returns to one day.” Wulfram spoke softly, eyes barely raised.
“Asani”
She could hear her sister calling to her. “Buir needs us. Asani.”
It had all happened too fast.
She begged her body to move to stop him. He had never moved furniture or things in such a way. He rarely used the force. He was always reserved about it, which only ever made her feel like she should be too. And that sickly laugh. As if some monster would eat her alive.
A screeching painful sound. A wheeze, the smell of burnt flesh. Yet she couldn’t move. She felt like she couldn’t move. Her body betrayed her. Her fur pitch black now. Her eyes blank. She was frozen. All she could see was the wall and red.
“…Not after you didn’t trust me to fight by your side, like we always have!“
She heard a muffled Lillian shout at Wulfram.
“…A home, for her, I hope she returns to one day.” her father spoke softly, he sounded so far away.
“If you intend to leave…” Asani began her eyes showing no real focus, she stared at a wall, at nothing, as if she wasn’t there at all. “Know that you do so while turning your back on your family. Buir has only ever done what’s best for us.” she spoke to Lillian. She moved slowly, stiff. Her body refused to do anything.
She approached her Buir. He knew the look she had. His eldest child wasn’t really there. She looked like she had been spooked. “Buir, I’m going to move Alexandyr, Sagitta and Ba’buir from here. Do you need any help?” She asked, her hand finding place on his leg, she didn’t look at him. She was not really all that there, she might as well have been a ghost. Her concerned features replaced by wide blank eyes. She was staring at a red spot on the wall. “When you’re ready to come up, I’ll get some caf for you.” she continued, it would be casual if her tone didn’t betray the fact she wasn’t all that there. “We’ll wait for you upstairs” she turned, giving Alexandyr, Gitta and their Nana the same blank expression. Urging them to move up and away from this place. She couldn’t stand the colors in there.
“Let go of me,” Sagitta hissed at Ba'Buir. “Ba'B- Vera, let go of me,” Sagitta warned. Sagitta got more aggressive and managed to get Vera off of her legs. Lillian stormed up the steps.
She hissed at Asani, “She has every right to be mad. We were lied to as well, Asani. Family don’t frackin’ lie. He doesn’t even uphold what he taught us. What else could he be hiding from us? We’re kriffin’ adults and so is Lillian.” She shook her head, her arm around her stomach. She dry-heaved once as she groaned before standing up straight. She needed to get out. “I’m moving out,” Sagitta declared. Sagitta followed up the steps as well and her footsteps got more rapidly to get away from the smell.
Lillian was outside quickly, the world spinning again. How dare he say those things as he left? How dare he feel bad for the bond he had shattered? She had always trusted him, without word, without thought, without him needing to prove himself worth of that trust. And for Asani to turn on her so easily, for Asani to spit words at her like it was her that destroyed this family–
She was already at the stolen ship, already inside of it. She reeled and punched one of the walls, shattering the bones in her left hand and denting the durasteel siding.
She let the tears out then, assuming that no one had followed her. The Human crumpled to the floor, cradling her broken hand as she sobbed brokenly. Everything was gone. Her revenge, her family, her love, her children, her purpose, her pride, her honor, her plans.
Everything.
“Kark!” she screamed, kicking something hard and metal nearby into the opposite wall– a crate of some sort. She would need an alternate place to stay, not here, not on the ship… She had enough credits, or could do some bounties to get the credits.
Would Sivall let her stay at her place? Did she know about her mother? Was she in on everything? It felt like she couldn’t trust anyone anymore, not a single soul alive.
Something snapped in Asani then. To her Buir was nothing less than love care and safety. He may not have always done the best, but he did everything to protect them. Why did they brush over the fact this now gone creature was a threat that had been extinguished.
“Would you have preferred to be hunted down? Or does the threat being eliminated mean nothing to you? We may be adults but he did what he had to in order to protect her and us” Asani demanded answers from her sister still in that monotone voice, her eyes still gazing blank. Did their fathers protection mean nothing to her?
“Im moving out” she heard her sister declare, before she could say anything else Sagitta was storming out. Asani kept making her way out but of the area, slow stiff walking didn’t help, she was forced to do things slowly for the time being.
As Sagitta fought to free herself from her grasp Vera only held for the first moments before she gave way. She understood the confusion everyone faced, her minds eye aflutter with the thoughts, anxiety, and foresight of what everyone in the room was facing as she could barely reel her own emotions in. She tried to call out to Gitta as she rushed up the stairwell, but a stern voice called to her as her son knelt beside her.
“Don’t, Buir. She doesn’t understand right now. She can’t, unlike Asani, Gitta never dug into who my parents were, or who adopted me after the dome fell.” Wulfram said as he stood up onto his own feet and looked at Zerril.
“She’ll talk to me about this when she’s ready. She’ll come to understand that as much as Coteen was my Buir, you are as well. Unfortunately, this man here was once your husband. There was never a lie, you’re their Ba'buir. Aliit ori'shya tal'din.” He continued as he crossed the threshold and pressed a button on the table, lowering Zerril’s limp corpse onto the floor, the chains that bound his wrists clattering loose without the tension.
“She’s forgotten that, in the shock. Just as they are my foundlings, I became yours when my parents and siblings died, when Lillian brought me, broken and burned back to you, face drowned in tears after I slept at Meda’s side during the bombings.”
“And don’t tell me what your visions showed you. I saw the light behind your eyes, mom. I know you started seeing things as soon as everyone was arguing. You couldn’t focus and your veil dropped. I want to face whatever comes on my own.” He finished as he stood before her, offering a hand to lift her to her feet.
Alexandyr stared at him a moment, before he walked past him to collect the gun.
“This could have all been avoided if I had just put your damned gun in storage. It’s my…”
“Shut the fuck up, Alex, she has two knives and at least three other blasters on her. This was going to happen, with my gun, or her own.” Wulfram snapped.
“Buir. Alexandyr. Ba’buir.” Asani began, her body moving a bit more normally now, her ears close to her head rather than their usual upright. It seemed she might actually start processing what it was had happened and she had said. “I’m going to go…” she seemed to be trying to finish the though for a while, as if the sentence were impossible to finish. “I’ll be upstairs.” she finally finished, it took her a moment to be able to but she managed.
“I can help you if you need anything, just ask.” she said as her more smooth yet still slow paced movement let her climb up the stairs. The sound of running water and other gentle clatters of items moving could be faintly heard by the trio. Whatever she was doing it was likely a way to keep busy.