THE FIRST OF THE NEW.

FOR A BEING OF DARKNESS , HE BURNS LIKE A SUN .   Calloused fingers tracing her rib cage , her stomach , her hipbones , seeming to leave a trail of sparks wherever they touch .   He sets her aflame , no trace of the cold that had surrounded him upon their first meeting   ━━━   not from him , and not from her .   Only the heat between bodies , SPARKS STRUCK wherever they touch .   She burns , she melts , at his touch , as much as she tells herself she won’t .   As loudly as she tells herself that she cannot fall to his advances ; whether to promises of power , or to passion of the other type .   It was so easy , she thinks , to resist the former   ( no DESIRES has she for dominion )   but it is the latter , the type of promise pledged without words   ( in heated touch , and limbs entwined )   that is so much harder to DENY .

Her fingers dig into his shoulders , the heat of his breath seeming to burn across her throat , eliciting a gasp from between her lips .   They remain parted as he trails kisses across the column of her throat , and where his lips touch , rosy blush appears , a flush of life in cold marble .   ( Oh Pygmalion , you foolish man ! )   With warmth given to lifeless stone comes voice from newly pliant tongue ; wear flesh may yield , mind is not of a COMPLIANT Galatea .   Though gasp is rent from rosy lips , words still still come in between the breaths ,     ❛   This means nothing .   ❜

She feels , rather than hears , the rumble of a chuckle against her throat .   Are you sure about that ?   It seems to say , and she can almost hear it , like a voice   ━━━   HIS voice   ━━━   in her head , that smug tone she knows is coupled with a cocky smirk .   That she can feel , the way he smiles against her skin , with teeth , nipping at her pulse point .   It’s almost predatory , and she digs her nails into his arm in retaliation , frustrated gasp falling from her lips ; he thinks he knows so well how to undo her , how to strip bare her every defense .   ( What being told you this ; the ritual , the word that would send the walls down before you ?   What gave you right to try and conquer ? )   She is not Canaan , no promised land for him to hold ,     ❛   You’re no conqueror just because I’ve allowed you into my bed .   ❜

JOAN OF ARC ; patron saint of prisoners & soldiers , martyrs & captives

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send  💀   for luke to die in  ________’s  arms     //     @didntkill

IT WAS THE ONLY WAY;  he saw that now, he saw it very clearly. It was the only thing he could be sure of here, this & his love for the woman standing before him. They were close, clinging to each other in the darkness & the cold, ignoring the thundering outside & the knowledge that they shared: there was only one way out of this.      One of them would die.     The Force had, as always, been a fickle guide. Its continuous presence did not always mean he had a good sense of the path before them, but his trust in that mysterious, beautiful energy had led them here & it would lead them —— no, it would lead her out. Because even if the Force was not always comprehensible, sometimes it spoke with undeniable clarity.       He felt the darkness of this place lapping at his heels, he felt it clawing at his heart – he felt the sinuous strands of evil doing their best to bind him, to take hold of his thoughts & actions. Since they’d touched down on this starforsaken planet, he’d been fighting the whispers of temptation. It was all around him, & it was undeniably seductive. There were thoughts of endless power, the stability & peace he could bring to all warring worlds with the wave of his hand, the intoxicating feeling of having his name lauded by the masses, instead of being mistrusted, being brushed aside, being accused of wrongdoing when all he had ever done, all he had ever done, had been for the benefit of the galaxy.      It is your time, Skywalker, the voices said, it is the dawn of a new age, an age guided by your loving hand. All peoples will yield to your power, if you let us help you.      He had fought, long & valiantly, against the whispers. But he knew that he couldn’t hold out much longer. It was already changing him.      They had begun to tell him how easy it would be to get rid of her. How her power was nothing compared to his. How her blood didn’t sing with the Force, how she wasn’t a Skywalker & wasn’t worthy to be associated with him. How she was holding him back, how she would keep him from achieving his goal, their goal.      It was getting increasingly difficult to ignore them.      But he didn’t believe them. He loved Mara. He loved her more than his own soul, because she was his soul. They were one, inextricably bound – together in more ways than anyone else could possibly comprehend. She must have sensed what the voices were doing to him. He could see it in her eyes, when she looked at him, fear & pity & love all mingled in that deep emerald gaze.      He loved her more than his own life. He was going to prove it.     Because killing her was not an option.     And it was becoming clearer, with every passing moment, that even he, especially he, could not withstand the temptations much longer. He had always been arrogant. It had always been his greatest fault. Now he would pay the price —- but it was a sweet price to pay, if it would ensure her survival.     “Mara,” he said quietly. She was so close to him, her face a breath from his, their bodies no more than a few centimeters apart. When he said her name, she stiffened. She knew what he was about to say. She always knew what he was thinking.     No, she whispered back. I won’t.     “You have to,” he said. “It’s the only way. I won’t —–” he paused, overcome with emotion. He fought it, buried it – now was not the time. He must be strong. “I won’t kill you. They want me to, but I won’t.”     Of course you won’t, she said, trying to be brave. He could feel her fighting against the knowledge that he had just acquired from the Force. That only one of them would leave this place. It would be her. It had to be her.      “I can’t keep this up much longer,” he admitted. “It has to be now. It has to be —–” Again, emotion clouded his voice. She was the only one who knew the extent of his private struggle. She was the only one who could possibly understand how difficult it was for him to stay strong in the face of such seductive power. She knew, better than all others, the faults of the Skywalker lineage. She’d brought him back from the brink more times than he could count – but this time, this time, there was no coming back.      “Mara, I love you.”      The words were stronger than any mental defense he could possibly erect. They were a light, his final hope. If she didn’t do this – he was frightened of what might happen to the galaxy. The damage that he could do. Arrogance again? Perhaps. Perhaps not.      “Mara, you’re the only one who can stop this from happening,” he said, a whisper strained with love & fear & sadness. “I need you to do this for me, please.”     He hated asking it of her, he hated putting this unspeakable burden on her shoulders, but it was the only way.      Slowly, he unclipped his lightsaber from his belt. From now to the end, they had entered a sacred space, where every moment was a consecration, where every breath was a prayer. He could feel her wavering, he could feel her horror & her love pouring out of her mind & into his, but he also felt when she acknowledged the inevitable.      He loved her, oh, how he loved her! More than his own breath, more than his own life, more than every star in the sky! If this was it – he’d make sure she knew.     Leaning towards her, closing the minimal gap between them, he kissed her. He kissed her long, & deep, & drank from her the resolve he would need to see this through. He gave her his love in every unspoken way, he caressed her mind as only he could, he filled her with all the courage, all the faith, all the hope he could muster. He kissed her, & he forgot where he was or what he was doing. He forgot all his arrogance, he forgot all his pain. There was only her. Only her. A beacon. His light. His hope.      When they parted, the universe around them seemed to join in their sorrow.      He pressed the hilt to his chest, right above his heart. Once the blade was ignited, that would be it. He knew that she would escape this place. If he was killed, she would live.      But even now, he felt the dark clamoring for him to turn that hilt around, to pierce her heart instead. The voices did not want to lose their prize, & they filled his mind with all the horrors that would come from this action, all the glories that would come if he just changed his mind.      It would be so easy to change my mind ….    “Please, Mara,” he begged her, no longer fighting the tears that had sprung from his eyes during their final embrace. “Do it now.”      There was a second of hesitation, a final look. He felt her hand on the lightsaber’s hilt, felt her grip it tightly. He raised his hand, his true hand, the one of flesh & blood, & cupped her cheek. She was so beautiful.      In a moment that felt like eternity, they stared at each other. Without looking down, he knew that the green blade had ignited, he knew that it had cut his heart in two. Green —- green like her eyes. Those beautiful, beloved eyes.     “Mara, I ——” his tongue felt woolen, his eyes felt heavy, he couldn’t breathe. He didn’t care.     “Mara, I love you.”