OOM: AU Child! Ibani

[last_kallig]

The last few months have been even harder than usual, after the death of her mother figure. Perhaps grief made her weaker, more vulnerable to sickness, because she knows she's dangerously ill. She hadn't meant to wind up here, wherever here is, but it has shown up in the nick of time.

Ibani shivers against one of the walls of Milliways, her body wracked with fever and hunger both. She's somewhere between seven and ten, clothed in fabric with far too many holes in it, and wearing a slave shock collar around her neck. Her bones stand out too sharply against her skin, and her eyes are fever bright and darting around the room.

She's not sure if this is some dying hallucination, if she's gone mad, or if she truly HAS wound up somewhere utterly strange. Whatever this is, instinct and her body DEMAND food, fuel to fight the sickness that is killing her. Untrained in the Force, she's grasping on instinct for any energy it can give her.

Maybe, maybe if she gets close enough to one of the tables she can steal some food without anyone noticing. Yes, yes that's a good plan

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[27_53]

In the back of his mind, her presence is still a shadow on the radar of his awareness - she is hurting but she is not hurting, not at this very moment as he snuffs the life of this guard out with his bare hands.

Eventually, the struggle and the kicking and scrabbling stops and the guard's weight grows heavy; Skellig presses harder until he can feel the trachea collapse beneath his palm, the bones of the spinal cord crush. Once he is satisfied that the guard is DEAD, not just unconscious - he allows his grip to go slack, the dull thud-thump of literal dead weight hitting the ground likely one that Ibani has heard before.

Many times before, though softer and smaller, for children do not have as far to fall to hit the ground.

Skellig does not immediately turn to her, has to take a moment to steady his breathing, calm his heartrate down a bit.

[last_kallig]

Ibani has heard one or two adult bodies hit the floor, but most of them were children. She feels him die, in the Force, relaxes.

Ibani walks right up to him, unafraid. "You saved me," she whispers, knowing Skellig will hear her. "And he won't hurt anyone ever again."

[27_53]

"He will not hurt anyone ever again," he echoes, keeping his eyes away from her gaze (he can feel it, but he would not want her to see his eyes like this, as dark as they are with his feral nature running strongly beneath the surface) and his head turned. "You are safe from him."

There are others. The key. He has to find the key.
But what if there is no key?
What if another guard comes looking if this one does not check in?

Panic is creeping in at the edges of the nightmare, his own dread taking hold around the cracks at the sides of the shadows.

"Does he usually carry a key? We need to get you out of here--"

[last_kallig]

Ibani is growing deeply concerned that Skellig won't look at her, as it's vastly unlike him. Did she do something wrong, was she not good enough?

"Skellig?" She touches his arm, the one he crushed the guard's throat with. "Why won't you look at me?" Her voice is a mix of worry and desperate pleading. "I must have done something wrong, but I won't do it again, I promise!"

[27_53]

Thankfully, his reaction when she touches him is not to jerk his arm away from her, but he allows his glance - it is still dark, but there is shame and something else, something darker (is it fear, fear of himself, of what he is capable of?) running underneath the surface. Vulnerability, maybe?

"Ibani, no, you have done nothing wrong." He swallows hard, shaking his head. "I just know...I am raw, when I am like this. Unfiltered. I did not...I did not want to scare you, when I am like this."

He covers her hand that is on her arm, and it is him that is reaching for something to hang on to a bit, some form of support. When it should be her that is using him as the rock, the holdfast...

"You have done nothing wrong, I swear it."

[last_kallig]

She's relieved when he says she's done nothing wrong.

She seems older, wiser, than she ought to be, when she meets his eyes unafraid. She wraps her other arm around him. "It wears on you, using the Dark that lives inside, but it's nothing to be afraid of, or ashamed. We all have it, and surviving and protecting is what it's for. Ma'Vena told me that, before she died."

[27_53]

"You are right, little one."

Skellig takes her into a hug, presses his lips to the top of her hair - it is dirty and gritty but he does not mind, just so grateful she is not injured worse than she already is by that collar and being back (where ARE they? is this real? it does not feel entirely real, but he isn't sure) in the mines.

"I still have much to learn from you," he mutters.

[last_kallig]

"And I've got a lot to learn from you," she tells him.

"This, this place doesn't FEEL right, but I can't put my finger on why," she grumbles. She glances at the body. "He won't have a key, they don't even bother removing the collars from the bodies." She bends down, tears the communicator off of his wrist. "I know where one might be, but we'll need another communicator for both of us to get in there."

She eyes the death wound in a considering sort of way. "There are big cats here that kill like that, crush the throat. They come into the outer edges of the mine sometimes, eat people, when they are very hungry."

[27_53]

"I just don't want you to get in trouble, or hurt."

Or killed.

Skellig glances at the guard. "Do we need to move him? Or will he be fine there, until he is located at some point? If we need to hide him...is there a place we can do it?" A pit, perhaps? An alcove in the rock, an unused passage?

[last_kallig]

"There should be another guard out patrolling, farther toward the edge of the mines, alone. If we take this body with us, we can dump it out there where the creatures might get a meal out of it and it might be more readily believed to be an animal attack."

[27_53]

"I can make him lighter," he says, already stepping back slightly to move towards the body - that is all it is to him now, a shell of a being that he doesn't even really want to consider as a person, for several reasons.

Skellig is grateful that he was not more...violent in his methods. The broken elbow and arm are bad enough, but at least that will not leave a bloody trail to tie them to the scene.

"I can carry him, if you lead us."

[last_kallig]

"We won't be able to go my usual way, you won't fit," she mutters. "This way." She takes his hand, leads him down the winding passages farther away from the sounds of people, of mining. The lighting is sparse, but it doesn't seem to bother Ibani at all. She's used to navigating in total darkness.

"I can take care of the second guard, if we can catch him by surprise near a ledge," Ibani offers, matter of fact.

[27_53]

With his highly-enhanced vision, this is not an issue. The corpse he has slung over one shoulder is...kind of annoying, because even having made him lighter, it is still a corpse. Thankfully it is still fresh, as far as dead bodies go.

He is only mildly taken aback when she mentions 'taking care of' the second guard.

He keeps close to what she's doing, trying his best to stay close to her as they move through the tunnels.

"We will have to remember for the communicator," he points out. "Before you knock someone off the ledge."

[last_kallig]

"True," she admits. "That complicates things." She frowns. "Could you make someone not notice you enough that you could get close enough to grab it off their arm and get away safely?"

[27_53]

Nodding: "I could do that."

There is another heartbeat nearby, faint and different - much more casual. At some point, Skellig will leave their first 'effort' slumped up against a wall, and choose to creep closer alongside her, moving towards their second guard.

[last_kallig]

This guard is big, bigger than Skellig, with tiny horns all over his head and orange skin. He is also very, VERY bored, mind wandering. This patrol is such a drag, nothing to see and he can't even entertain himself by harassing the slaves!

They're in luck, as he wanders near a ledge that drops steeply away onto some VERY sharp rocks. Skellig could take care of him himself, once the communicator is gone. Wouldn't be TOO hard to shove him over the edge...

[27_53]

Keeping himself hidden is key - he moves swiftly, throws a rock in one direction, causing the guard's attention to shift away from the both of them as he looks in the opposite area towards the clattering sound.

With a 'nudge', he adds another layer of distraction. The guard hardly notices the communicator going missing - no need to worry about it either - before Skellig tosses another rock over the side of the ledge, causing another clatter that clearly needs investigating!

And with his back turned and looking down at the sharp rocks, it will only pain Skellig slightly to give him a solid shove...

[last_kallig]

It's quick, for what it's worth. The sharp rocks pierce right through his hearts and death comes quickly.

"You're really clever," Ibani praises him, giving him a hug. "Though I was trying to spare you from more darkness today."

Probably a futile effort, since she's not free yet.

[27_53]

"I will be able to adjust," Skellig says, holding up the second communicator. "Then once you are free, I can relax further. I do not know...I don't quite understand what is happening, but I will help regardless."

Didn't he already DO this, somewhere else?

He glances back into the dark, towards where the first guard's corpse is slouched against the wall. "Are we far enough that he will be fine there, or do we need to keep moving him?"

[last_kallig]

"Should be far enough," Ibani decides after a moment of thought.

"There's an office, where the person who oversees the operation for the owner works. I've only ever seen them once or twice, from a distance. They might not even be planetside right now. I'm HOPING there's a key in their office."

She doesn't know WHAT they'll do, if there isn't a key there....

[27_53]

"Which way?"

Hopefully they will not run into any others as they make the walk to the office - he tilts his head, trying to listen to where the majority of the 'noise' might be coming from.

That way, apparently. Skellig takes her hand into his as they walk. "There should be a key," he says encouragingly. "I am sure of it. Then we will get this off of you..."

[last_kallig]

The walk back is a long one, but they manage to avoid any people. The sensors beep quietly as they enter the area, the communicators acting as keys to let them pass. The door slides open as it senses their approach.

A great deal has been written about the banality of evil. Of people who were just following orders, clerks and accountants filing paperwork and making numbers dance, without thinking too much about the cost and the consequences. The architect and overseer of this hell is that kind of soul, a man who looks about Skellig's age, dressed in a gray uniform with red and blue squares on one side of his chest to show his rank.

He sighs irritably as he hears them enter, but doesn't look up. "I already told you we haven't got the money to advance you your first paycheck."

[27_53]

This is all so...normal.

Skellig feels a pang of regret, knowing what he has to do in order to get this done - but it is dampened by knowing that if he doesn't do this, then Ibani could end up injured, or worse, with her brains splattered against the wall...

He 'nudges' the attention of the overseer in the opposite direction as he circles around the back of the desk; does he feel the shift in the air, the presence of another being so very close to him? It is hard to say. Fighting back the bile in his throat, Skellig reaches up quickly - much too fast of a motion to be human - and snaps the man's neck, his body slumping in the chair.

(It hurts him, deep in his chest in a place he can't ignore, it is worth it because it is to protect HER but it still hurts.)

[last_kallig]

Normal, mundane. Evil without passion, rote.

Ibani goes to Skellig immediately, wraps her arms around him. She can FEEL how it hurts him. "I'm sorry it hurts you so much."

[27_53]

At least this time, he looks at her without hesitation. He is grateful for the contact, the faint surge of Light; it eases some of the hurt, some of the ache in his joints and the weariness on his spine.

"I will recover," he says softly. "We need to get you out of here, get that thing off of you."

Skellig allows the body to slump down in the chair and then pushes it further under the desk - no need for it to be visible in case there are any monitors and cameras in here - and begins rifling through the drawers. He knows vaguely what the key looks like - after all, there was one in Bar, it should be the same, right?