Chapter Text
About a week later, Ahiyah and Lana had the cover story for their trip into the Odessen wilderness; a cover story that heavily involved Xalek, Ahiyah’s slightly feral apprentice. Although Xalek found his place in the Force Enclave, and could work well with his fellow students, he was loyal only to Ahiyah and his circle, and he didn’t make it a secret for a minute.
“Master; my Lord” he greeted Ahiyah and Lana respectfully when they walked into the Enclave and went straight to him.
“Hello, Xalek” Lana smiled at him. “Your master and I’ve arranged some one-on-one training for you.”
The Kaleesh looked at his master questioningly, but Ahiyah just smiled back, rather tensely, as Xalek noticed. He wanted to ask what was wrong and if he could help, but his instincts told him not to, at least not yet, while they were still in the Enclave, surrounded by so many people.
“Come on” Ahiyah sighed, leading his friends out of the huge hall.
They headed toward a less well-known exit of the base that was basically on the edge of the forest. It was for emergencies like excessive fire on the base, frontal siege from ground forces and things like that. In such cases, the base personnel at least had a way of escape.
Ahiyah already saw the reinforced durasteel gate when he heard nearing footsteps, and soon enough, Theron caught up with them. Lana grabbed the sleeve of Xalek’s tunic and they walked away a few steps, giving the agent and his Sith some privacy.
“Hey, I know it’s your business how you train your apprentice, and I wouldn’t dream about telling you how to do it, but… Please, be very careful out there, okay? We don’t exactly know what’s in the deep woods, so if you find something too dangerous to face… just turn around and run back. Please.” Theron couldn’t make himself say it out loud that he couldn’t bear the thought of Ahiyah dying out there, but he didn’t have to.
The Sith knew very well how worried Theron was, and he felt awful for making his lover so nervous and distressed, but it was something he had to do.
“We’ll be fine. I’m the Big Bad Dark Council Sith, remember? There’s nothing I can’t face” he muttered, trying his best to hide his own nervousness. “Besides, Lana’s gonna protect us if needed.”
“With my life” she said.
“Hey, no eavesdropping!”
Ahiyah chuckled, turning Theron’s attention back to himself. Then, when the agent looked at him again, Ahiyah leaned closer and kissed him gently. Theron didn’t hesitate to return the kiss, burying his hand into the Sith’s silky hair and caressing his nape gently as he pulled him closer. Ahiyah shivered, and the possessiveness of the gesture made him moan loudly.
“If you don’t get back in three days, I’m gonna send out a search party” Theron said when they eventually broke the kiss.
Ahiyah’s face was almost as red as his dark crimson hair, his lips wet and well-kissed, and Theron just wanted to pull him into his arms and never let him go again. Instead, he just squeezed his shoulder, nodded to Lana and Xalek, then turned around and went back to his tasks. Ahiyah watched him longingly until he disappeared behind a corner, then he walked to Lana and Xalek, and they left the base.
“Not. A. Word” he muttered when he saw Lana’s knowing smile.
“Red suits you well, dear” she grinned at his magnificent blush.
Xalek tried his best not to listen. He respected his master’s choice regarding his mate, but he didn’t want to know details.
Ahiyah just growled.
“Where are we going, master?” the Kaleesh asked after about ten minutes of silent walking in the forest.
“Well… Look, Xalek, we weren’t entirely honest with you” Ahiyah said, stopping and turning toward his apprentice. “We’re not on a training mission.”
“Then what are we doing?”
Xalek didn’t take it badly that his master wasn’t telling the truth earlier, he was sure there was a reason for it; a reason he’d know soon.
“We’re searching for a place in the wilderness Ahiyah has recurring dreams about” Lana answered. “But since we know basically nothing about what we might find there, we didn’t want the others to worry about it needlessly.”
“Understood, Lord.”
“But it doesn’t mean we can’t teach you anything in the meantime” Ahiyah added. “So if you have questions or anything, shoot.”
They continued their way, and soon, Xalek indeed started asking the questions he felt the Force Enclave didn’t answer adequately. Ahiyah and Lana complemented each other’s answers, giving Xalek more perspectives at once, so the boring walking turned into an interesting conversation about the Force, the Sith philosophy, and of course lightsaber combat.
By dusk, they found the clearing Ahiyah saw in his dreams, deep in the woods and quite far from the path they were following. The Force helped them, both he and Lana felt a tug when they were near enough to the glade, so they didn’t have to spend long hours with wandering around in the forest. However, they didn’t feel the presence they both sensed when Ahiyah shared his vision with Lana.
“We camp here, in any case; it’s almost dark now” Lana said, and the others didn’t contradict.
They made a small fire, enough to warm their canned food, then Ahiyah just watched Xalek and Lana going through lightsaber exercises while there was still some light.
“Care to join?” Lana asked, knowing Ahiyah’s skills with the lightsaber all too well.
“Nah, I’m good” he declined, leaning back against the log behind him and stretching his legs.
Lana’s gaze was clearly disapproving, but Ahiyah just smiled at her innocently. She shook her head, and he could’ve sworn he heard her muttering You’re impossible, with such warm fondness in her voice that it made his heart squeeze.
Somewhere along the way, he fell asleep to the steady hum of his friends’ sabers and the soft noises of the night. When he woke up again, late into the night, he was curled up on the forest floor, covered with a blanket, and with Lana’s wrapped up cape under his head for a pillow. He sat up with a sleepy moan, looking around in the small camp.
Lana and Xalek were fast asleep, curled into their sleeping bags. The fire was completely burnt down by now, only the bright stars provided some light. Ahiyah felt thirsty, so he got up in silence and walked to the small stream on the other end of the clearing to drink some water; they checked earlier, it was safe.
As he crouched down and took a few gulps of the cool, refreshing water, he suddenly felt like he was being watched. He looked up, and not far he spotted a dim spirit of some sort. He’d had enough experience in the past with ghosts, he knew it when he saw one, so despite it not yet taking any form, Ahiyah was sure that it was the presence he sensed in his dream-vision. He stood up and slowly walked closer, ready to wake Lana and Xalek up if needed, but before he could’ve opened his mouth to cry out to them, the spirit did transform, and soon took a painfully familiar form.
Ahiyah just stared at it, his throat so tight it hurt, and his heart shattering all over again.
“Child” Marr said softly, his voice so deep, so comforting, just like Ahiyah remembered it, and the way he said that one word was so affectionate, so caring, as it was all those years ago; hearing it again tore into his soul too deep, and the crushing wave of grief that came with it sent him to his knees.
For long minutes, all he could do was crying so hard he could barely breathe, his tears fell like an endless torrent as the desperate, heartbroken sobs wrecked his body. Somewhere far away, he heard Lana and Xalek waking up to the noise he was making, then he felt Lana crouching down next to him and hugging him tight, her gentle hands stroking his hair and back, trying to soothe him, and he held on to her for dear life, sobbing into her shoulder until he had no more tears to cry.
When he eventually calmed down and pulled away from Lana’s arms, wiping his face, he still saw Marr. Xalek was wise enough to stay in the background, not trying to interfere, but he was ready to protect his master if needed, Ahiyah knew that.
“Tell me you see it, too” he muttered, his voice rough and raspy after the severe crying fit.
“Yes, I see. And I’m glad you were right, and we don’t have to deal with something hostile.”
Marr waited for them to stand up and face him again, only then he stepped closer.
“I never meant to cause you such pain, Ahiyah” he said, and the redhead’s lips started quivering again until Lana reached out and grabbed his hand as emotional support.
She was also shaken, but not nearly as much as Ahiyah was, who squeezed her hand as if she was the sole anchor keeping him from total collapse. Soon, however, the trembling in his hand ceased, and she felt him finding some balance again.
“I know” he answered, and the shaking in his voice was barely noticeable. “But… if it was you all along… why didn’t you come to us?”
“Because I can offer this only to you.”
“This? What are we talking about exactly?”
Marr was silent for a moment before answering.
“Before defeating Darth Thanaton, you’ve learned a ritual, if I remember correctly, yes?”
“Yes. Force walking” Ahiyah nodded, already nervous about where this conversation was going. “It’s for… binding ghosts. And using their power.”
He heard Lana gasping, and he pulled her closer instinctively, both to calm her and himself.
“You want Ahiyah to bind you?” she asked, shaking her head. “I’m not sure it’s a good idea.”
“It’s possible… And as far as I know, I’m the only one who can do it” Ahiyah muttered. “But I don’t want you to serve me; or anyone. It wouldn’t be you. You deserve better.”
“I’d spent all my life serving the Empire, child. And by helping you to defeat Arcann and restore the glory of the Empire, I’m still doing what is the best for the Empire. It is my duty to help you, and this is the best way I can: to lend my power to someone who might one day lead that Empire” Marr explained, and Ahiyah felt his resistance crumble; Marr offered him something he did want with all of his heart, but not because of the power it’d have given him.
He wanted it because it’d have meant that Marr was a part of his life again.
“Right… Let’s do it this way: I bind you with a pact in place. When Arcann and his fleet is defeated, I’m going to release you, so you can become one with the Force and find peace. I’m not sure I could let you go, but I know I must, at some point. So we do this with the pact, or not at all.”
From the corner of his eye, he saw Lana smiling proudly, and he knew he was doing the right thing; he won’t let his own weakness make Marr a slave.
“So be it” Marr nodded, and he heard the pride in his voice as well.
“Okay… Xalek, may I have your knife for a moment?”
His apprentice walked to them and gave the blade without protest. Lana joined Xalek when the Kaleesh retreated to his position near to their camp, and now both watched curiously what was happening.
Ahiyah quickly ran through the steps in his mind, checking if he was still remembering it correctly; it was a long time ago he’d used the ritual for the last time.
“You’re bound to me until Arcann is defeated, after that, I’ll release you. Do you accept?” he asked.
“I accept” Marr answered, and with that, Ahiyah cut his own palm with the knife, letting the big drops of blood fall on the ground between him and Marr.
Soon enough, these drops began sizzling and turned into reddish-purplish gas that slowly dissolved into thin air. The burning, painful cut on his hand was bad enough, but he clearly forgot how much the actual binding sucked, even if the ghost was a willing one. As he bound Marr’s ghost to himself, the cold of the dead seeped deep into his bones, and he knew he’d be shivering for long hours, with a hell of a migraine after this.
When he was done, he found himself on his knees again, hugging himself in a desperate attempt to warm up as cold shivers ran through him, making his teeth chatter.
Are you alright, child?, he suddenly heard in his mind, and despite his every misery, he smiled.
Yeah, I just forgot how much this shit sucks… I’ll be fine, don’t worry.
“Please tell me you know what you’re doing!” Lana said as she and Xalek ran to him and helped him back to their little camp.
“Yes, I do, I’ve done it before. I’ll be feeling like shit for some time, but it’ll pass” Ahiyah explained as Xalek got the fire going again, this time a much bigger one, and Lana tended to the wound on his hand with some antiseptic and a kolto patch. “I’m gonna need a painkiller, though…”
Soon, Ahiyah shivered curled up under his blanket and Xalek’s robes, using Lana’s cape again as his pillow. Despite the fire and his blankets, he still felt cold and miserable, but at least the painkiller worked, and Marr also did his best to keep the migraine at bay, so his head didn’t hurt too badly.
“How long are you going to be like this?” Lana asked quietly as she smoothed the dark crimson strand from his face gently.
“About a day… give or take a few hours…”
“Alright. Try to sleep. We’re here, nothing’s going to hurt you” Lana smiled at him, and he smiled back weakly.
She’s right. Sleep, child, you will need your strength.
Soon, Ahiyah indeed fell asleep, listening to Lana’s and Xalek’s quiet conversation about the Sith Code, as Lana interpreted it.