hadriel_logs | Even though your hate for me is strong (OTA)

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Even though your hate for me is strong (OTA)

A. There was only so long that Kylo could take being in an enclosed space with Hux. The two of them had been plotting each other's deaths for weeks now and had carried out at least a few half-hearted attempts. But today, Kylo couldn't stand it any longer. After yet another idiotic arguement about the proper way to make a bed, he'd put on his mask and stormed out, slamming the door to punctuate the end of his arguement. Who only knew what their neighbors thought of the two of them?

He stomped down the stairs, looking as his feet landed on each one as if he was five seconds away from murdering someone at any moment. It was best not to test that theory.

B. As Kylo made his way through Hadriel, his temper began to fizzle out. There was only so long he could keep his rage around him before he couldn't even remember why he was angry to begin with. Well, while he was out, at least he could pick up supplies for the apartment. Hux wouldn't know how to cook if the food jumped out of the fridge and into a pot on the stove, so it was up to Kylo to make sure that they didn't starve.

The shop ahead looked promising. As he made his way towards it, he had the sensation of a pair of eyes on him. Scanning the streets, he saw no one. He turned around three hundred and sixty degrees and still saw nobody. With an impatient growl, his voice distorted through the mask's vocoder, he said, "Come on out. I know you're there." He wasn't in the mood to play games.

C. Was there really a reason he was doing this? The woman who called herself Fulcrum had fascinated him from the start. She was a Force user but wasn't a Jedi. She was much more centered than he was. He could feel her balance in stark contrast to the turmoil he felt within. As with anything in Kylo's life, when he didn't fully understand something, it frustrated him. That frustration turned into anger and there was only one way to get it out of himself.

He tracked Ahsoka down, approaching her with a purposeful step. When he was about ten feet away, he ignited his lightsaber. The blade seemed to match its owner, unstable and crackling in ways that it shouldn't have been doing. He pointed it at the former Jedi. "Defend yourself," was all the warning he gave before he raised it high, aiming with a downward slash towards her face.

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Muscle memory and the Force served her well here, letting Ahsoka parry or dodge all of Kylo's blunt, sweeping attacks while she tried to parse his words. It didn't make any sense for him to be complaining of her in his head when she always refrained from reaching out to him, when they didn't have any sort of bond beyond that of two Force users in a relatively small, enclosed space. But you had to be used to that to not find it invasive, didn't you? She'd had the benefit of being raised in the Jedi Temple, the benefit of having spent her weeks before coming here in the presence of Kanan and Ezra. She was used to having people around and aware of one another.

And maybe he wasn't.

"You don't spend a lot of time with your Order, do you?" she asked over the sound of their lightsabers coming together once again, Ahsoka's shoto out to the side to block his latest attempt to hit her. "And you're not used to fighting Force users at all. You have no idea know what you're doing."

Ahsoka's words spurred him on, feeding his anger as she hit the nail right on the head. He was the only member of the Knights to carry a lightsaber, so he had no one to practice with or spar. Most of his fighting techniques are largely theoretical and patchwork, what he's picked up from his uncle and Snoke. What was driving him was his stubbornness and general toughness rather than any sort of actual finesse with the blade.

She blocked his latest attempt and so he was forced back a step or two, unable to gain any sort of advantage over the former Jedi. "If I'm not used to fighting them--" Parry and an attempt to slash again. "--it's only because I killed the only ones that were left." That was something he might brag about, but Kylo didn't like to think back on that often. He wasn't so far gone as to take pleasure in the killing of the Jedi students, most of whom had been children.

"Oh, really?" Her tone was as light as her footsteps as she twirled to one side, blocking his attack from in front of him and then lashing out with her own lightsabers from his side. None of her movements, nor her presence in the Force, gave any indication that she was aiming to do more than catch his clothing with her weapons, maybe scorch his skin. For someone who was clearly capable of being aggressive, this was a defensive dance Ahsoka was doing now.

"I hear that a lot, coming from Dark Siders, and they never seem to be right."

"You've never met a Knight of Ren before," Kylo said. It frustrated him that she was still just defending herself and with a sense of ease he'd never seen before. She could have gone on the attack at any time and ended this conflict in a matter of minutes. He'd never faced a Force-user in their prime before and it had to be painfully obvious. But he wasn't done, not by a long shot.

He took a step forward, but this time, instead of slashing at her, he suddenly dropped his sword down to the side, and grabbed both her wrists, halting the movement of all three of their lightsabers. It brought the two of them close together as he struggled with Ahsoka. It was a risky move and not one would see from a typical Dark Sider.

It was an uncomfortable position to find herself in, one Ahsoka would have broken from immediately facing any other enemy. But Kylo didn't intimidate her nearly as much as he confused her, so she stayed in the position, not giving him any ground, but staying coiled and ready to move instead of moving. For someone who moved as much as she did, stillness was a rarity.

"You know that you don't have the skills to beat me," she told him evenly- not even to goad him, but simply as a fact. "Why keep this up?"

"I can do this! I can!" He said the words, but they were directed more towards himself than Ahsoka, as if he were trying to convince himself of something that he had no chance of succeeding at. "I have to!" If there was one quality about Kylo that was good, beyond the anger and arrogance, it was his determination. Once he had set out to do something, his stubborn nature wouldn't let him stop, for better or for worse. It was the one quality of Leia and Han that had survived even the warped brainwashing Snoke had put him through.

"It's not me you're trying to convince, is it?"

A rhetorical question and one she wasn't going to give him the opportunity to answer, anyway. Rocking her weight back, she tugged her wrists from his grasp, pushing out with the Force as she did, fingers splayed to knock him back from her. Not too far, not enough to throw him into the rock wall behind him, but just enough to prove that she could.

"You lack the discipline, the focus, to defeat me," Ahsoka said evenly, keeping one lightsaber in front of her, parallel to the ground between them. "Raw power means nothing without the skill or inner strength to wield it. You won't ever stand a chance of beating me until you figure that out."

He'd heard that before. Everyone, his parents, his uncle, they had tried to tell him and he just didn't want hear it. The Dark Side had been a quick and easy way to what he wanted. All he had to do was turn his back on love, loyalty, friendship, and everything else that his grandfather had wished to possess.

"You're wrong. Power is everything." That right there spoke volumes about what was wrong inside Kylo's head. He was teetering not only between the Light and Dark, but the fractures of insanity were worming their way inside, causing him to unravel even further. Weary and still unwilling to concede, he raised his lightsaber up once again, and charged her.

A frustrated growl tore from Ahsoka's throat as she parried again, catching his saber with hers a little too close to the hilt, pressing on the crossguard to turn his weapon away from her and then slashing across his unguarded chest. But her motion was carefully calculated: even if he couldn't stop it, even if he didn't move, it wouldn't do more than singe a clear slice along the front of his robes.

"If power was everything, I'd be breaking a sweat," she said, hopping a step back again and letting her lightsabers hang low at her sides. "You know nothing about the Force, Kylo Ren, and I have no interest in fighting a man with your delusions."

He braced for the sting of lightsaber on flesh...and felt only the edge of his clothes part. That should have been his clue to back off and concede the match. He was far outclassed here. Some part of him knew this. But Kylo was too far gone to listen to reason.

"I'll show you my delusions!" He roared out, calling on his anger for another charge. Out of all the foolish things Kylo Ren had done since arriving in Hadriel, this was the worst.

Without meaning to, she'd goaded him into proving her point. Even assassins or Inquisitors knew enough to quit while they were ahead (or just while they were still in one piece) even if it meant aiming to hurt or trap her in their retreat. Tactically, that made sense, but this didn't and one of them was going to get hurt.

Well, Ahsoka wasn't going to let it be her.

Taking another step back as he charged at her yet again, she only needed to buy herself a fraction of a second for her plan to work, thumbing off her lightsabers and tossing the hilts out to her sides. They didn't need to be close, not when she had the Force. And the former Jedi was calling on the Force now, sweeping her arms wide and bringing them together just in time to clasp Kylo's lightsaber between her palms, one hand partially over his and the other simply trying to avoid its sparking side vents. If she'd thought it looked and sounded wrong, it felt even worse, like an explosion shoved in a box and hoped not to destroy its casing and everything around it. Poorly made or not, though, it was still mechanical and mechanics were something Ahsoka knew how to work with.

"Let me start you off with some advice." Her tone was cold and even, her eyes locked where his would be behind his mask. His lightsaber crackled between them, dangerously close to one montral and tinting everything red. And then it started to shut down, his power supply acting as though it was being shut off slowly as she pressed on it with the Force, only to shut off entirely with a sharp snap of a noise a moment later as Ahsoka continued, "Know when to respect your betters."

And maybe, just maybe, stop swinging this Force-forsaken weapon anywhere near her.

The Knight didn't even see what move she was making until he had already walked right into it. She had grabbed his lightsaber, stopping it inches away from her head. Kylo had never even heard of a move such as this and was wholly unprepared for what happened next.

He was stunned, frozen as he watched her shut his dangerously-crackling monstrosity down with little more than her mind. For a moment, he stood there, and the foolish thought of trying to continue on even without his main weapon. But while Kylo Ren treaded close to insanity most of the time, he wasn't suicidal. To continue now would spell his own death, for Ahsoka had proven herself to be far above him in terms of skill.

He bowed low, cloak sweeping behind him, and eyes on the ground as a testament to her power. She had gained his respect in one swift, dramatic movement. He looked back up at her and there was something fragile in the Force, a tentative thread from his mind that wasn't as dark as the rest. "I've never seen such skills. You're almost as good as Darth Vader." It was meant as a high compliment.

So that was what it was going to take to get him in line. Alright. Ahsoka should have seen this coming, she supposed, needing a clear display of power to get him to come to his senses.

"Really? I'd like to think I'd give him a run for his credits if I had to," Ahsoka said dryly. An apprentice facing off against her former master - it would be far good Sith-like for her liking. But Vader still flew like Anakin did. Maybe he would fight like him, too. She forced the thought of him to be fleeting as she kept Kylo's lightsaber, tucking it into her belt for safekeeping before gesturing her hands to call her own weapons back to her so they could return to the hooks on her hip guards.

"You have potential," she continued. "But you have a long way to go before you can reach it. Accepting that will do us both good."

Edited 2016-12-27 06:49 (UTC)

Kylo shifted uncomfortably as she hit the nail on the head. "My masters... neither of them..." He didn't finish the thought. Luke's own training had been piecemeal and incomplete, even before Kylo had accused him of holding him back. Snoke, despite Kylo's blinders, was even worse, seeking to push the Knight into an even more fragile state of insanity before completing his path to the Dark Side.

"Teach me," he suddenly blurted out, a desperate, almost pleading note working its way past the flat tones of the vocoder. Kylo's goal had always been to gain power, enough of it so that he would never be weak or unsure again. With enough of it, he could restore peace and order to the galaxy. That was his ultimate plan.

Edited (Hit enter too soon) 2016-12-27 08:41 (UTC)

She knew that she couldn't say no. Whatever his ultimate goals were, here was a Force user brimming with potential, asking for assistance. He was reckless and leaning too far to the Dark Side for her comfort, but wasn't that just further proof that this was what the Force had in store for her here? Reckless was something she knew well. And he wasn't so lost to the darkness that there wasn't a hope of helping him find a middle ground.

Sometimes a fulcrum had to do more than simply lead by example.

"I can't promise I'll be a very good teacher." And she had never had the inclination to be, for that matter. Taking an apprentice of any sort while she did her part for the Rebellion had never felt right. Ahsoka paused, letting out a breath. "You'll have to get used to being patient sometimes, with me and with yourself. I won't go easy on you, either. But if you can agree to that, I'll teach you what I can."

He was relieved when she didn't immediately tell him no. He wouldn't have blamed her. Had the positions been reversed, he wouldn't have been feeling too charitable. Kylo huffed, the sound of his chuckle coming out garbled from his mask. "I can't promise I'll be a very good student," he told her. Kylo was impatient, reckless, and had a bad temper. But he was eager to learn and had a keen sense of determination that he had inherited from both of his parents.

"But I'll do my best to learn all that I can from you," he promised. Kylo had never been the easiest of pupils for either of his masters. Still, he had a lot of potential and never knew what his limitations were, allowing him to push ever onwards in his quest to become the strongest. Now that Ahsoka had gained his respect, guiding him back from the precipice he was sliding down would be that much easier.

"Then we have our agreement," Ahsoka said with a nod. She was already prepared for him to be a frustrating student, no matter his promise just now. But that was, she supposed, payment for being a difficult student herself. Obi-Wan and Anakin would have found humour in the cycle continuing, she thought.

"For starters, no lightsabers until your technique improves." Best to lay ground rules now, she thought. Basic lightsaber katas and practices would be the easiest place to start helping him find balance. "This one of yours makes me nervous enough as it is. We'll spar again when I can trust it won't blow up in my face."

"It's not going to blow up," he said indignantly before adding on in an almost sheepish tone, "...maybe." He'd crafted his lightsaber in an ancient style, incorporating the crossguards as vents to allow the cracked crystal to form the blade properly. That was part of the problem to begin with. Lightsabers were supposed to be one with their owners, an extension of a Force-user's body. Kylo had forced the crystal into the setting until it cracked, much as he'd forced himself to turn from the Light. In that respect, it did reflect his personality quite well.

"Maybe is not a certainty any warrior should accept with their weapon." Everyone from her Masters at the Temple to the clones to mercenaries she'd encountered over the years was likely to agree on that. This weapon is your life, time and again, from every source she knew to be reliable at her side in combat. Even her old clone captain would have had a lecture on this lightsaber.

"But perhaps when you are more certain of yourself," Ahsoka continued, "It will be as well."

Kylo didn't say anything. It was a lovely sentiment to have, but he doubted it greatly. He'd always been torn between the Light and the Dark sides of the Force. That wasn't going to change any time soon. At least now he had a master to follow in this new place. This was number three.

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Even though your hate for me is strong (OTA)

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